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This is part 2 of our conversation with Skekptical OB, Dr. Amy Tuteur. Be sure to read Part 1 before you start reading this post.
Go here to listen to other interviews by Podcast Beyond Belief. Go here to check out the Skeptical OB blog.
Colin: I wanted to ask you about the Midwives Alliance of North America. You've been really critical of them because they haven't been releasing their data? Or they've been suppressing their data?
DrAmy: I think it's an enormous red flag and something that American women need to know about.
The Midwives Alliance of North America, as I said, is the trade organization that represents home birth midwives. They were the ones that collaborated with Johnson and Davis on that BMJ 2005 study. They gave them all the data for the year 2000, and after that study was finished, MANA continued collecting statistics, and has collected statistics to this day.
They are currently sitting on the largest single repository of American home births ever assembled. They have, by their own publicly stated numbers, they have in the range of 20,ooo+ home births. Over the years, in their publications and press releases, they kept promising that this data was going to be released and that it was going to show that home birth with a Certified Professional Midwife was safe.
It was due to be released in 2008; well, first it was going to be released any minute, but nobody could ever get it. Then they said they'd be all done collecting it in 2008, but even before that, they started offering the statistics publicly. According to the midwifery newsletters, you could get access to the statistics if you could prove that you would use it for the benefit for home birth midwifery. They have an elaborate application process, and you have to show who you are, and who you work with, and what you're going to do with it…
Colin: and whether or not your name is Dr. Amy Tuteur
DrAmy: Yeah, well, I haven't applied, but you can't make it any more plain than they made it – you have to use it for the benefit of midwifery. Not for the benefit of patients, by the way, for the benefit of midwifery.
Colin: Has anybody leaked the data to you, have you seen it?
DrAmy: The icing on the cake of that whole thing is that once you're approved to get the data, the last step is that you have to sign a confidentiality agreement with legal penalties if you let anyone else see the data.
Colin: So, you can't answer my question…
DrAmy: I haven't seen it, but I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out what's in that data is pretty solid evidence that home birth increases the rate of neonatal death, and that's why they can't let it out. They're pretty up front about the fact that they got it and nobody else can see it. In fact, they invoked something, and you have to give them points for cleverness, they announced that, in retrospect, they've decided that this is for "community-based research".
Community-based research, typically, when that's used is to get members of the community, the study subjects, to buy into the study. You tell people, for example, that you want to collect their DNA, but you're not going to use it in any way that will harm them, and that's why people come forward and be volunteers. But, you don't ask the doctors. You don't set it up so that it protects the researchers. You're supposed to set it up so that it protects the subjects, but they say right in their own publication that they have a responsibility to the midwifery community to make sure that the data is used in ways that the midwifery community would approve of.
JohnP: There's a lot of anecdotal discussion on blogs and board that have to do with home birth. One thing that is often is brought up is someone will say, "Well, my midwife has done a thousand births and never had a complication." In your career as an OB, how many births do you think you attended?
DrAmy: Thousands. In OB, when I did a residency, I probably did 20, 30, 40 deliveries a week… for years. You see a massive number. This is the benefit of working in a hospital setting, even when I didn't do the delivery myself, any interesting case was presented, so you learn a lot more than what you personally see. During the period of time that I was in training, my hospital probably did 30, 40, 50,000 deliveries. Anything that went wrong, or anything that was unusual, I knew about, I learned about it. So, you have an experience that cannot be captured in any other way.
Colin: Did you have home birth transfers? Did you see any issues with those?
DrAmy: Yes. Of course, if somebody transfers there's always an issue. Home birth midwives are not licensed in Massachusetts and so anybody can call themselves a home birth midwife, and believe me, anybody did. I met people who announced that they were midwives after they had gone to eight births, and other women hired them.
They're really completely misrepresenting their experience. They don't even have a tiny fraction of the experience that Certified Nurse Midwives have. Certified Nurse Midwives, some of them, not many, some of them do home births, and they have better statistics on home birth than Direct Entry Midwives. Although, their home birth statistics show that they have double the neonatal mortality at home than they do when they're working in the hospital. Which only stands to reason because obstetrics is basically preventive medicine. You know about a whole bunch of things that can go wrong, and you don't want them to go wrong. And if they do go wrong, you want to make sure you know about it so that you can minimize the consequences. An emergency can happen from one second to the next.
I know that all obstetricians say that, and so it sounds kind of cliche, but it's really really true. I always say that some people drive race cars for excitement and other people deliver babies…
JohnP: Could you give us an example of a situation where something could suddenly or unexpectedly happen that you would need to have training to deal with?
Colin: …A worst case scenario.
DrAmy: There are two major things that they have trouble with at home birth. One is fetal distress, all of a sudden the baby's heart rate goes down and won't come back up, and that baby needs to be delivered immediately. It can happen. Usually you have some warning, but every now and then, some baby, for whatever reason the bottom drops out and you need to deliver that baby immediately. In the hospital, you can do a C-section in 10 minutes, but at home, the average transfer time to the hospital is 45 minutes, and that's before you even get anywhere in the hospital. So, you have serious fetal distress at home and that baby is going to die.
The other thing is that there are babies who are born who need an expert neonatal resuscitation with an incubation. Say there's a shoulder dystocia, the baby gets stuck. The head comes out, but the shoulder gets stuck. And then it's a long time before the rest of the body gets delivered. That baby can be really compromised by the time it's delivered. Without an expert who has training in neonatal resuscitation and has done it many times, and by training I mean somebody who hasn't just read it in a book or did it on a plastic doll, unless somebody has had training and has equipment and knows how to use it, the baby will die. It's just that simple. If any of those kind of things go wrong, there's just no way that the baby will make it to the hospital.
In the Wax study, the deaths that occurred in the home birth group are all related to things like that. The excess deaths are from what they call anoxic injuries when the baby, either for fetal distress or for whatever reasons isn't getting enough oxygen, and therefore dies.
Colin: I wanted to ask you about more alternative birthing experiences. They seem like they're more and more out there…
JohnP: Water birth!
Colin: Water birth would be the first one that I wanted to ask about. What is the deal with water birth?
Elyse: Women are crazy about water birth. I know women who are like, "I want to get pregnant just so I can have a water birth."
DrAmy: I think water births are great for whales and dolphins.
Colin: It's not natural for humans to have birth in water?
DrAmy: That's the funny thing about alternative health. It's supposed to be so natural, and then they do all this stuff that is not natural. For example, what's so natural about acupuncture? How did that end up in alternative health? Steel needles?
It's the same thing with water birth. Water birth has existed for 200 years. It was made up by somebody in Russia. Primates aren't supposed to be born in water. It's very simple.
Elyse: You mean, we didn't blow up kiddie pools in the caves?
DrAmy: What's even worse is that the explanations that are evoked as to why water birth should be safe are complete and utter bologna. One of the things that water birth proponents say is that when the baby is delivered, the baby won't breathe because of the diving reflex. There is such a thing as the diving reflex. Most higher mammals have a diving reflex. When they're immersed in very cold water, their heart rate slows down, they won't gasp or do anything for a while… but ultimately they'll drown. The diving reflex is elicited by cold water, and the whole thing about water birth is that it's done in warm water, so it can't even elicit the diving reflex.
So, that's a bunch of baloney. If the baby is going to suck in water, it's going to suck in water, and nothing's going to stop it. The fact of the matter is that inside the uterus the baby has breathing movements. That's how the baby's lung develops. The baby sucks in amniotic fluid and pushes it out again. If there's not enough amniotic fluid, the baby's lungs will not develop properly. So the idea that babies don't inspire, and won't inspire until you bring them up in the air… that's just baloney. That's not true. It's not surprising that babies have died at water birth because they have sucked in a lung-full of water, which is, by the way, toilet water…
Elyse: It's filled with blood and poo right?
DrAmy: Exactly. Somebody did a study of what's in the water at water birth, and it's appalling. It's basically toilet water. So, if a baby gets a lung-full of that, that's bad news. The baby can get pneumonia and die from that. And the other thing is, even if the baby doesn't suck the water in it's lungs, if it swallows enough water (because babies are so tiny and because the water is fresh water and doesn't have electrolytes in it) they will get hyponatremia, their electrolyte concentrations will drop so profoundly that they will die just from that. There are have been a number of water birth deaths related to that.
There are some women who say that laboring in water is very relaxing for them, and laboring in water is fine. Just don't delivery the baby under water because… would you drop the baby in a toilet when you delivered it?
Elyse: I would, but I don't really like my kids very much. I'm not a very good Mom.
DrAmy: All you have to do is think about it. What's in that water? It can't possibly be that good.
Colin: NO! I don't want to think about it.
One of my friends had a lotus birth recently. I want to respect their decisions, but it seems really… different.
DrAmy: First of all, one of the things about the competition about child birth is that everybody is trying to one up everyone else. This happens in various areas: somebody says "I had a birth at the hospital", and somebody else says "I had a better birth because I had a midwife", and then somebody else says "I didn't even go to the hospital. I had a home birth".
The thing with the placenta and the cord is that it used to be "oh, my husband cut the cord". That was the trump card that you could play at the playground. Then it became, "Oh, we waited to cut the cord so that all the blood could be transferred to the baby". Now it's, "We didn't even cut the cord. We waited for it to rot off."
Elyse: OH MY GOD!
DrAmy: That's what they do! They don't cut the cord, and they carry the baby around with the placenta attached. The reason that they call it "lotus birth" is because the placenta is like a flower, so beautiful.
Elyse: If you go to the hospital, it's a bio-hazard, right? You can't even leave with it from the delivery room.
DrAmy: Right. It is a bio-hazard.
Let's go back to square one. Is it natural? Do you see any other animals with newborns dragging their placenta around? I haven't seen that. So, it's completely unnatural. It's an incredible infection hazard for the baby because it's dead. The placenta comes out, the blood leaves it – it's dead. So, now you have this giant dead thing hanging off the baby. You just have to hope that it's not going to get infected and make the baby really sick or kill it.
There's a whole lot of that because there's not only lotus birth; the new thing is unassisted birth. DIY Birth. Don't have anybody there. That's just a disaster waiting to happen.
In the area of pain relief, the progression is "I didn't have an epidural". And there's people who say "Well, I didn't have an epidural, but I didn't even have any pain. My labor was painless". And then there are the people who say "Not only was my labor painless, but I had an orgasm when the baby was born".
Colin: OH NO! That's not right!!!
DrAmy: Yes. YES!
So, if you step back, you can see the competitiveness of the whole thing. It's very unfortunate. Saying that you had an orgasm during birth, that's not going to hurt anybody; if you want to say that, go ahead and say that.
Elyse: It's going to really really upset your child when they see you wrote it on the internet in fifteen years.
DrAmy: I can only imagine what's going to happen down the road when people see this. It speaks much more about the competitive nature of mothers than it says anything about child birth. It has nothing to do with child birth; it's about beating other mothers over the head about what a good mother you are.
Elyse: I've gotten into a lot of trouble. I wrote a post on skepchick about the things that pregnant women don't tell you. I wrote about pooping during child birth, and that your genitals swell, and that you get kicked in the cervix. I got just angry angry responses that I would dare talk about such a thing. I got a lot of angry letters from dads.
I've seen the posts in the natural parenting boards that they're talking about how I don't understand what a beautiful experience child birth is, and that I'm mourning my birth experience. I just want to say that I'm perfectly happy with my over-medicalized "big pharma" hospital births.
DrAmy: There's an unbelievable amount of "ostentatious sadness". They're always sad for you what a terrible birth you had. People write to my blog all the time and say, "You're a horrible, terrible person. You must have had four c-sections". Well, I didn't. And, "Oh, you must have never had a child birth without anesthesia". Well, actually, I had a couple of those. They just imagine that anybody who doesn't make the choices they made are deficient in some way.
Elyse: For me, it was even that I dared say it was unpleasant. People accused me of sterilizing the human race with a blog post. Honestly, that would be an amazing accomplishment, and I kind of wish I did just to say that I did it!
DrAmy: If you think about it… it' in the bible. It was so incredibly impressive, the agony that child birth is, and that is what it is… agony. There are some people who have easy labors, but they are few and far between. The rest of the people aren't faking. They are screaming their heads off for a reason. It really really really really hurts. That was so impressive to the ancients that they decided it must be a punishment from god, otherwise how do you explain something so dreadful?
So, they have people turn around now and say, "Oh, it's just fear that makes it painful."
Elyse: No, it's the contractions!
DrAmy: It's just that baby's head that makes it painful.
Colin: Do you have any advice for mothers who have decided to do a natural birth and are worried about the pain? Is there any evidence for hypnotism or lamaze?
DrAmy: I always told my patients, "Have an open mind". Child birth is the only thing where people tell you to decide not to get pain medication before you feel the pain. That doesn't make sense to me because shouldn't you know how painful it is before you decide whether or not you're going to need anything for pain relief? But, people make up their minds and say "I'm not going to have anything. I'm going to try hypno-birthing."
Most of that stuff does not work. The only thing that works is an epidural. Some things help people. Some people find that the water is soothing. Other people hate it. Some people say that hypno-birthing works for them, but for most women it doesn't work.
Colin: What about the idea of standing up? They say that lying down makes things harder for women.
DrAmy: There's really no evidence of that either. If you think about it, if gravity were necessary to have a baby, babies would be falling on the floor all the time, every time a woman stood up. If only! If only standing up made your labor easier.
Which is not to say that you shouldn't stand up. If you feel comfortable standing up, go ahead and do it. You should labor in whatever position makes you feel comfortable. But, the idea that moving around or standing up is somehow going to make your labor better or shorter… if only!
Colin: Let's talk about some of the accusations that the alternative birthing advocates make that kind of ring true to me, or at least make me think twice. The first one is that doctors schedule c-sections out of convenience because they don't want to be there all night long waiting on a baby to be squeezed out. Or that they schedule c-sections for reasons of profit, rather than safety.
DrAmy: In most places where doctors work for health organizations, they don't make any more money by doing a c-section, and c-section rates are just as high in those places. In fact, if you look at systems like Canada or the UK, where the doctors are all on salary, they have skyrocketing c-sections too. So, it clearly is not the profit motive.
Do some people schedule things for their own convenience? I don't think there's any question over that, but I think more commonly women schedule c-sections for their own convenience. My feeling is that a c-section or an induction, those are medical procedures and they should be used for medical indications. And that's actually what The American College for Obstetrics and Gynecologists says too. You need a medical reason, and convenience is not a medical reason.
Colin: What about the accusation that epidurals and pitocin have a cascading effect, or a domino effect? That one causes the other causes the other, and now… oops, you have a c-section?
Elyse: It's not that the pitocin or the epidural end up with requiring a c-section, but now that you've gotten one intervention, your doctor thinks you now want a c-section.
DrAmy: It certainly can happen like that, but most women who get epidurals don't get c-sections.
Does it increase your risk? There are big studies that say it doesn't. What people don't realize is that epidural is a technique. It depends on how much medication is put in it, and how often medication is put in it, and how often it's refilled, or whether it's done continuously. I do think those things have an impact on how labor goes, but you can change them. If somebody has no feeling when it's time to push, you can turn down the epidural so they can get the feeling back. I always discuss that with my patients beforehand, if you're not going to make progress with this epidural, we'll talk about turning it down and you'll get some of the pain back, but you'll be able to push better. Those things can have an impact, but you can change the impact.
I will be the first person to say that the c-section rate is completely out of control. There's absolutely no medical justification for a 33% c-section rate. But what's driving it is for a large part the medical legal climate. People expect to get a perfect baby, and if they don't get a perfect baby, they expect that it must be somebody's fault and that somebody should have to pay for it. And when you're the obstetrician and you're looking at a monitor strip and you say, "Well, I don't know. This baby could be doing OK, but there are some signs that are worrisome to me." There are no downsides of doing a c-section because the obstetricians primary job is to present a healthy baby to a healthy mother, and a c-section is usually a guaranteed way of accomplishing that.
Colin: I want to ask you about birthing centers. I feel like they're a good compromise for people who want the comfort of a home but don't want to feel like they're in a hospital.
Elyse: But with access to a hospital.
Colin: Right. They have access right there to a hospital but they feel like they're at home. Are you down with birthing centers?
DrAmy: They have a good safety record. They have an excellent safety record. One of the things about birth centers or CNMs, they are very up to date on research on what is really going on, and what could happen, and they have real concrete plans on how to handle emergencies. The problem with home birth in the US is that they're all about not having any plans. It's about trusting birth. When you trust birth and don't make any plans, the potential for disaster exists. Birth centers, they are a homey atmosphere, they're much less technological, but the bottom line is that they don't completely trust birth. They know that things can go wrong and they're prepared when things do go wrong.
Colin: Thank you so much, Dr. Amy, for speaking with us!


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Angels are visibly invisible!
The FIFTH BEAUTIFUL ANGEL – Bollywood Director Prawaal Raman came in the disguise of Sai Baba with his SMS – 'For sure Johnny... any time... J thanks for involving me...' The coincidence of meeting him on the day of Sai Baba's birthday in Bombay and his extended assurance that he is and will always be there in future too for the movement, made me to thank Sai Baba for coming in my aid at the right moment. I have met few of such amazing angels ever since I started the "Journey of Destiny" each time I have lost hope against hope!
I had met Prawaal Raman during my stint as a film journalist many years ago, when his first film DARNA MANA HAI was about to release. It was a nice interview and knowing the young creative mind was an insight. His first film was highly acclaimed! Over the years, we did lost touch and in 2011 once again we met when I went to shoot his lovely apartment. He had just released his new critically acclaimed film 404 ERROR NOT FOUND on college ragging. We exchanged our lives and happening and it was like old times. I have been blessed to have got kind support and help from few kind-hearted Bollywood and Television personalities ever since I started the "Journey of Destiny". I am truly grateful to each one of them from the bottom of my heart.
Prawaal indeed was glad to support me for a year. He revealed how urban suicide among school students has increased tremendously all over Indian cities. Prawaal revealed that when his old school Loyola School in Jamshedpur invited him as the Chief Guest for a function last year, "I was shocked that a group of students had made a documentary on students' suicide. It made me to do something for the students. With like-minded support from few of other actors and directors, we conducted seminars for a span of two months with the help of JIVAN, an NGO in Jamshedpur. Rahul Bose, Sunita Menon, Randeep Hooda, National Award Winner Director Nishikant Kamat and Sufi Singer Satyakam addressed gatherings of 42 schools' students and their parents. So many issues erupted during the sessions and it is sad that we have been losing so many students to suicide. I am deeply affected knowing these students were not saved. There are multiple layers to suicide and it is fast increasing in many cities."
I was shocked to hear that Jamshedpur records a high percentage of students' suicide and as per the National Record, 21% suicide happening in Jamshedpur are that of students. Prawaal is thankful to Father Victor of Loyola School Jamshedpur for assisting his team to organize such seminars to benefit the students and their parents. He continues, "I am also thankful to all the individuals who came forward to address the gathering. I plan to conduct more of such sessions whenever I am free from my work to help do what I can to help a few."
We shared a great deal about the movement and future projects in the pipeline. Prawaal kindly said, "Johnny, do let me know whenever you need assistance, I will chip in from my side and also try to gather more support from few of my friends. I am glad you have involved me with such a cause that I am deeply affected with." Beautiful Angels like Prawaal Raman assures me that my Sai Baba is working in tandem with me all the time... testing me at times and providing me with all his kind support by sending me the BEAUTIFUL ANGELS to help and assist me.
Prawaal I am truly-truly grateful to you for all your kind help and support from the bottom of my heart. Sai Baba bless you always and forever!
I still need FIVE BEAUTIFUL ANGELS more... I know SAI BABA will send them soon!

subset: commoncrawl


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Crazy Cat Lady Theories
We have a puppy.
A 10 week old German Shepherd named Misha.
I wrote, not so long ago, about not being a dog person.
Its ok, everyone told me, once you have a puppy you'll fall in love with it.
A puppy takes work. It needs to be fed, taken outside, walked, played with, trained, loved, loved, and oh my god just love it some more because it's not quite sure you love it enough.
So far, I enjoy aspects of having a puppy. I like walking around my neighbourhood with her. I like training her to do new things. I'm sure I'll even eventually like the company she'll provide. But what seems to be missing is the joy that I'm supposed to feel from having a creature to take care of. CJ is thrilled with the puppy. He's been getting up in the middle of the night to let her pee. He cleans up her messes. He is concerned with vet visits and what the dog should and shouldn't be doing. I mostly view the dog as an inconvenience in my day.
I'm not surprised by the amount of work a puppy takes. I was fully warned. CJ was fully warned. We both agreed to commit to taking care of the puppy so we did. I view her as a chore, something that needs to be done that I've committed to – like eating healthy – sure I don't hate it but I'd rather not be doing it.
Here's the thing about me: I don't like taking care of other things. I don't have that maternal instinct that makes me go all gooey when a baby is around. While I'm good at taking care of other creatures (really good actually) I don't enjoy it. I prefer to work by myself, not on a team. While I have a natural tendency to lead (being a type A control freak) I will step away from a management role because I don't like to deal with other people's problems. I expect too much from small children and small animals. And I don't receive any joy from being needed by something. I find it a nuisance.
This complete selfishness is the reason I won't have children (maybe I'll grow out of it but I doubt it). Unless something's on my schedule doing what I want or leaving me alone I want nothing to do with it. (Insight into mine and CJ's relationship – we're adults, we do what we want, when we want to do the same things we do, when we don't want the same things we don't do it together).
This leads to my crazy cat theory: (OF COURSE I HAVE A CRAZY CAT THEORY!)
Children take a lot of work. Those with children have infinite amounts of time and energy to give to raising their children. They are patient and kind, receiving a true joy out of taking care of another being. (There are also those who have children because they need to be needed, or for a social obligation, or due to poor sexual education, but let's leave that for another day, I only want to address the good parents here).
Those with only dogs, tend to be caretakers but with a lesser degree of dedication. They want something to take care of but without the commitment of 18+ years and a few hundred thousand dollars.
Those with a cat are like me. Selfish people who attempt to prove they aren't selfish by having another creature to take care. Except with a cat you can fill up its dish and leave it for the weekend. Or get a friend to check in on it once a day and feed it. Little effort. Low maintenance. Proves you aren't a psychopath because you take care of another animal without killing it. A cat is also good for keeping you from being too lonely. Something to pass the time until you find a man to procreate and have multiple babies. If that's your style. Personally I use mine to kill the mice and prove I'm not heartless.
Crazy cat ladies? What happens when you started with a cat to keep you from being lonely in your early 20s only to slip into your 30s and 40s without a husband or children? You get multiple cats to fill that void of being wanted; of needing to take care of something. It takes a minimum of five cats to equal the energy needed for one puppy. Three puppies and I think you probably have the energy needed for a baby.
My sister with three children thinking about a fourth? In another lifetime, one without children and a husband, she would have 15-20 cats.
Think about it.
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
My wife and I got a dog because after 3 children she wanted more and I wanted less…so we compromised.
I'm not a dog person either and for the past 8 months or so I've been learning to live with him, but for the most part I still consider him an inconvenience (even more so when he pees on the carpet.)
I am finding things that I do enjoy about him. Like you, I enjoy the training. Mostly because once he learns something, it's pretty much hardwired in him. I only have to tell him to "sit" or "stay" once as opposed to the countless number of times I have to say "clean your room."
I'm still waiting for the "I'll fall in love with him part though". If left to my own devices, I'd flush him down the toilet like a goldfish.| Posted 8 years, 7 months ago
I'm not a dog person. I actually think they're more work than kids. Kids eventually learn to go to the bathroom on their own and bathe and feed themselves. Dogs are like babies that never grow up, you're stuck taking care of them for the rest of your life!| Posted 8 years, 7 months ago


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The Keen Team, a Chinese hacker who win the contest
by Mar 15, 2014 6:53 am0
On March 14th, there is a hacking contest that held in Vancouver, Canada, and the hacking contest winner is come from China, by The Keen Team, who sucessfully knock over Apple Safari in the Pwn2Own contest.
Keen Team consecutive break Apple's latest 64-bit desktop operating system (MacOS X Mavericks 10.9.2) and Microsoft's latest Windows 8.1 64-bit desktop operating system, the Keen Team has won the Pwn2Own contest. Along with Keen Team, there is a Vupen security research team from France, they winning after exploit for Google Chrome browser.
For the Keen Team, this is the second time they won the competition, back in2013 they also win the hacking contest in Tokyo, Japan Pwn2Own Mobile 2013 since they successful to break Apple's latest mobile operating system iOS 7.0.3.
Since then, Keen Team Pwn2Own contest to become the first team to desktop operating systems and mobile operating systems break all world-class security research team, is the only team to participate in the history of China.
Pwn2Own as the world's most famous hacking contest, because it reflects the technical requirements of the world's most advanced computer exploits technical level.
Pwn2Own, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard and organized by the HP-owned Zero-Day Initiative, featured up to $1.085 million in prizes, and security researchers going after Adobe Flash and Reader, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox.
Eight research teams earned $850,000, with another $82,500 going to charity for Pwn4Fun over the two-day competition, which concluded on Thursday at the CanSecWest conference at the Sheraton Wall Hotel here. HP has summarized results for Day One and Day Two
The new Pwn4Fun charity contest saw Pwn2Own co-sponsor Google nailing Apple Safari for $32,500, while Pwn2Own organizer Zero-Day Initiative hit Internet Explorer for $50,000. Both teams donated their prizes to the Canadian Red Cross


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Welcome to the 8th Edition of Womanhood With Purpose LINK-UP Party!
Jennifer from This Gal's Journey shares The Blessing of a Bloom! My favorite paragraph " Yet, just as we never know what is going on just under the surface of a tree or flower, so can one never be sure what is churning, germinating, growing, pushing through just beneath the surface of a heart; of a soul. He has not forgotten those things to which He has called me. Or you. He has not sat back and hoped for the best. No. Just beneath the surface of it all, yes, even way down deep, He has been cultivating and pruning and working." - So inspiring! thanks for sharing!
Each and every Friday, bloggers are cordially invited to link-up any blog post that encourage, build and inspire women to serve and love God in everything they do, as wives, mothers and homemakers.
For this week Link-Up I'm looking for posts on marriage, parenting, housekeeping, recipes, testimonies of power,etc.


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SGA President McCorkle set to be panelist on "Louisiana Public Square", Oct. 24
Southern University Student Government Association President Willie McCorkle will be a panelist on this month's Louisiana Public Broadcasting's "Louisiana Public Square" show. The panel will focus on "Louisiana's Youth Vote 2012" 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 24 on the LPB in Baton Rouge.
"Louisiana Public Square" is a citizen roundtable discussion followed by questions and answers with the panelists. Audience members will be college students from Southern University and LSU.
Craig Freeman, an LSU media law professor, will moderate the panel that includes: McCorkle; Buddy Roemer, former Louisiana governor and presidential candidate; Dr. Jas Sullivan, an assistant professor in LSU's Political Science Department; and Matt Dardenne, Creative and Political Media Director of Red Six Media.
"Louisiana's Youth Vote 2012" will discuss how energized the state's young voters are about this year's presidential race, what issues matter most to this demographic and where does this voting bloc stand on the two political parties' platforms?
Tune in Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. to LPB COX channel 12/1012HD and AT&T U-verse channel 27/1027HD. For more information, visit www.lpb.org/publicsquare .


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It looks like everyone in Raleigh has been keeping to their fitness goals. (Can you say packed gym!? But seriously, the North Hills Fitness Connection gym has reached its maximum capacity.) But, how are YOU doing on your 2016 fitness resolutions or mantra?
While I secretly despise the overcrowded gym, I am very proud of everyone for making it an entire month with their New Year's fitness goals. But how long will you be able to keep it up, and how can you make your fitness routine stick? It can be tough to keep to your fitness goals and routine in the winter, especially when your bathing suit is telling you to go to the gym, but your sweatpants are like, "nah girl, you're good." Ha!
Here are a few tips to help us stick to our tough (but attainable) fitness routine:
1. Find a (reliable) workout bud.
Accountability is a beautiful thing especially when it comes to working out. Find a friend or acquaintance that has similar fitness goals to you as you both embark on getting toned, fit, and healthy together! The key here is to choose someone you can rely on to pump you up and encourage you. Nothing is worse than a gym partner who tells you, "There's always tomorrow" or "It's just one cookie!" In fact, try to find someone who inspires you and who will take your goals to the next level!
2. Ditch the treadmill.
Who says you have to limit your workout to the walls of a gym? If going to the gym isn't your thing that is totally fine. Find other ways to keep fit – join a running club, play tennis with a friend a few times per week, grab a yoga class every Saturday. Find what type of fitness routines get you excited and go for it. There is no right or wrong way to get active – just do it (thank you, Nike).
3. Keep track!
Whether it be with a mobile app or your FitBit, keeping track of your steps, mileage, or workouts can really help you see your progress. Tracking your workouts and/or steps will help you see how you can improve or challenge yourself even further.
I don't have a FitBit (yet!) but I've found that the built-in Health app on my iPhone has helped me keep track of my daily steps. While I don't lug my phone around with me 24/7, it still gives me a pretty good idea of how active I have been each day.
Side note: Thank you CaseApp via shanndelier for my iPhone case! If you're picky like me when it comes to phone cases – opt for designing your own smart phone case via CaseApp! CaseApp is seriously so easy to use and I LOVED how my case turned out.
4. Invest in new workout clothes.
For some, all it might take to get motivated and out the door is some new workout gear. I mean if you look the part you can play the part, am I right? Invest in some new shorts, leggings, tanks, and headbands – whatever it takes to get you motivated and feeling good to get your fitness on!
5. Reward yourself.
If you are working hard and you're still keeping to your fitness goals, reward yourself – you deserve it! When you have an immediate goal to look forward to it makes it easier to crank out another set of burpees or sit-ups.
So tell us, how are you keeping yourself motivated and on top of your fitness goals? We'd love to know your secrets!


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Last week we were out in the Brecon Beacons. This week we're up in the Lakes helping some Scouts take their first trip on the water. Where else can you make a difference and have an excellent time yourself? Scouting – it's recommended.'
Scout Network is the fifth section of The Scout Associations youth programme and is for all young adults aged 18-25.
Scouting exists to make young people's lives better, helping them realise their full potential and make an impact on their community. Scout Network enables this to happen through a programme of projects and events divided into three Programme Areas: Adventure, International and Community.
We have two Networks in Solihull, one in each district. Cole Network, also known as Pyro Network,
meets regularly throughout the year, whiles the newer Blythe Network tend to meet during the
School/Univeristy Holiday to support Students on their return home.
If you're moving away from home, for example to go to university, you can carry on Scouting through Scout Network (or as an adult volunteer) by informing your County Commissioner or similar that you are relocating. They will be able to put you in contact with the County Commissioner for the area you are moving to and pass them your details.
Another option is SSAGO, the Student Scout and Guide Organisation. SSAGO has branches at many universities and is open to all students at university or higher education college in the UK.
To get involved with network please see the New National Network Page HERE.
OR contact Spoff, the Network Commissioner firstname.lastname@example.com


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Stasi veteran to manage censorship on Facebook
The German government is about to establish a special censorship group dedicated to identifying and deleting immigration-critical messages on Facebook.
To help with this task the government has included a former agent for the East German secret service Stasi, who today is a dedicated radical left-wing "anti-racisist".
The German Minister of Justice, Heiko Maas, in August published an open letter to Facebook requesting that the social networking service started to systematically erase "xenophobic" material.
After a meeting with a delegation from Facebook on Monday, the minister has now drawn up a plan on how the censorship will happen. A special working group will deal with deleting of comments.
- The objective is to facilitate the identification of criminal statements, says Maas to the German newspaper Bild.
The working group's members are appointed by both the Government and Facebook, but also the organization Network Against Nazis ("Netz gegen Nazis") has been invited. The network was founded in 2007 by Amadeu Antonio Stiftung, and is led by left-wing activist Anetta Kahane (pictured).
In the years 1974-1982, Kahane worked under the code name "Victoria" as a secret agent for the East German security service Stasi. That an old Stasi informer should devote herself to censor material on Facebook is being sharply criticized by the anti-immigration German news site PI News.
"25 years after the German reunification, former DDR citizens, along with their West German brothers and sisters, are to be monitored by former Stasi cadres", the site writes in a comment.
Today, Anetta Kahane works as a professional "anti-racist", and attracted attention last year after after an interview with RT, having proclaimed that the European countries have to open their borders and to adapt fully to the immigrants from the Third World.
- Immigration is the future. We really need to change the immigration policy in Europe. This is very important, you have to adapt the education system and adapting countries' self-understanding. They are no longer just white or just Swedes, or only Portuguese or German. They are multicultural places in the world, she said.
Shame on the German government for censoring free speech, and shame on Facebook for allowing it!
Comment below.
Comments at Speisa are unmoderated. We do believe in free speech, but posts using foul language, as well as abusive, hateful, libelous and genocidal posts, will be deleted if seen. However, if a comment remains on the site, it in no way constitutes an endorsement by Speisa of the sentiments contained therein.comments powered by Disqus
Swedish embassies ordered to combat 'negative image'
The international media describe Sweden as an increasingly lawless country that is characterized by 'no-go zones' and rapes. Now Swedish embassies worldwide are instructed to prevent having this "false image" of the country spread.


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Energy Audits
Contact Us for a professional energy Audit!
Want to pay online? Fill out this form and you will have an option to pay on the next page.
Energy Audits & Assessments
Do you have a cold or drafty family room that never gets used in the winter, or a hot upstairs that is unbearable in the summer? Our certified comprehensive home energy audit will get to the root of your comfort problems and outline a personalized energy efficiency improvement plan to help you enjoy every room in your home all year long.
Why Should I Start My Home Improvement Project with an Energy Audit?
Consumers Reports and ENERGY STAR both recommend starting your home improvement project with a certified home energy assessment for the following reasons:
- Evaluate all the systems of your home to understand how they impact your comfort
- Ensure you install the best energy efficiency improvement for the investment
- Confirm the health and safety of your home along with the energy efficiency
What To Expect from Your Ecotelligent Home Energy Audit
Ecotelligent Homes' award-winning energy audit is among the most thorough evaluations in the Metro Detroit area, providing clear and actionable next steps to improving the comfort and energy efficiency of your home. Our Comprehensive home energy audits and assessments provide you with the best solution for reducing your energy use.
A Building Performance Institute (BPI) certified energy auditor will come to your home and perform the energy assessment. Home Energy Audits typically include all of the following in a single 3-4 hour appointment:
Visual inspections of your attics, crawl spaces and basements for insulation
and ventilation
Health and safety tests for natural gas leaks and carbon monoxide testing in your furnace and water heater exhaust
Efficiency evaluations of your heating and cooling equipment and ductwork system
Blower door testing to measure the total amount of drafts in your home and compare to indoor air quality standards
Thermal infrared scans to identify missing or flawed insulation and to locate the source of your drafts and air leaks
Clear and concise presentation of the findings comparing your home to ENERGY STAR standards
Three detailed quotes for Ecotelligent Homes to install the insulation, HVAC, or renewable energy solutions for your home
Details on available energy efficiency rebates, tax credits, and financing
Is it Better to Work with an Independent Energy Auditor or a Home Performance Contractor?
Ecotelligent Homes is a home performance contractor, which means we are a one-stop-shop and we manage the project from start to finish. We follow a three-step process when assessing and improving the comfort and energy efficiency of your home.
Step 1: Identify Energy Improvements
Our certified staff perform energy audits and use their building science background to identify the energy efficiency improvements needed to solve your home's specific issues.
Step 2: Install the Improvements
Our licensed and trained team installs those improvements like insulation, heating and cooling equipment and renewable energy systems.
Step 3: Quality Assurance Check
Our certified staff performs a quality assurance check (basically another energy audit) to confirm the quality of the install and the health and safety of your home.
Independent energy auditors, on the other hand, do not install improvements. They rely on the homeowner to act as a general contractor to coordinate all the skilled trades. You don't take your car to one mechanic for diagnosis and then relay the message to another mechanic for the repair, so why would you do that with your home?
The Ecotelligent Advantage
Home performance contractors can identify more customized improvements and transfer that detailed information and work scope to their in-house installation teams for a seamless install. And if an issue is identified during our Six Point Quality Assurance Check, which we must admit can happen from time to time, we have processes in place to ensure a timely and accurate repair, whereas an independent energy auditor typically relies on the homeowner to hunt down the contractors and enforce the quality issue.
Call 248-291-7815 or contact Ecotelligent Homes today to schedule your award-winning comprehensive home energy audit and assessment!
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National Tractor Trailer School in NY Military Friendly
Tuesday, Jan 30 2018 admin
The National Tractor Trailer School is a truck driver training center with locations in Liverpool and Buffalo, New York. Students living in New York who want to train to be a commercial truck driver can graduate from here with the skills needed for their career. The school is also recognized as a Military Friendly School, which means it provides military service men and women with the tools they need to be professional truckers. Check out what it takes to be a Military Friendly school and how you can attend trucking school in New York at the NTTS.
About Military Friendly Employers
Military Friendly is a program that identifies and recognizes the employers around the US that are, well, military friendly. What does this mean? These employers go above and beyond the basic requirements for Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. They work with military members and veterans to help them achieve their civilian career goals. The National Tractor Trailer School in New York has been a Military Friendly school since 2015.
Going to Trucking School in New York
In addition to being a Military Friendly truck driver training school, the NTTS has been serving the trucking industry since 1971. Along the way, the school has achieved accreditation by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges. The school is also offering truck driving courses that are Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI) certified. This ensures that students at this trucking school in New York are getting the best training in the industry. It prepares student drivers for the rigors of the road and to be able to excel on their CDL exam.
Trucking School for Military Drivers
The National Tractor Trailer School is focused on training active duty and military veterans to be truckers. These soldiers may have military driving experience, or they can be transitioning into a civilian career and need guidance. The NTTS is also dedicated to providing training for active duty military members based on Fort Drum in New York. As someone who has been in the military, you may have GI Bill benefits that you can use to pay for trucking school. The National Tractor Trailer School recognizes this and understands the route to take for securing these benefits for you.
Thanks to the extensive experience with working with soldiers and veterans training to be truckers, the NTTS is well equipped to provide all necessary services. It is a great resource for student drivers with military backgrounds who simply want to get started with a commercial truck driving career.
Enrolling in New York Trucking School
While the NTTS provides extensive training opportunities for service members, the school also trains civilians. To get started, you'll need to be 18 years old and have your GED or high school diploma. From there you will also need to have a valid driver's license. Before you can start the training, you will be required to pass a DOT drug and alcohol test, as well as a DOT physical exam. This is part of the process of getting your CDL, and all trucking schools require this step.
Before you start trucking school in New York at the NTTS, request a school tour and personal interview. The school provides free tours for interested applicants, which gives you the insight toward whether you feel the program is the right fit for you. This is also the perfect opportunity to ask questions about admissions, courses, job placements, and training on the road.
Courses Offered at the NTTS
As a student enrolled at the National Tractor Trailer School, you will be provided with a comprehensive education. This includes both classroom instruction and behind the wheel training. The school also has a laboratory where you can use driver simulation technology to practice your skills.
The school offers several programs that are geared at specific driving needs and experience levels. For someone who wants to learn everything they can before becoming a truck driver, or who has zero experience, the Advanced Commercial Driver's Course is the way to go. This course offers 602 hours of instruction and experience. It is ideally suited for future company drivers, owner-operators, and heavy trucking job applicants.
If you have limited time to train to be a trucker, consider the Commercial Driver's Course. This class runs for 302 hours and is an expedited program. While you still gain all of the skills you need to pass a CDL exam, you have less time in which to grasp the concepts. However, if you have some experience in trucking and are able to practice on your own, this might be a class for you.
There are two location-specific programs. Active duty soldiers can take the Contract Training Course at Fort Drum, which is a 225-hour program. IN=n addition, there is a program located in Buffalo that takes only 178.5 hours to complete. This is an intermediate course that requires students to have some of the wheel knowledge. For students interested in getting a Class B CDL the school provides a heavy driver course that is a 90-hour program. This is better suited for local drivers of straight delivery trucks or dump trucks.
Source: Military Friendly - Schools
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You would be forgiven if you did a double-take upon reading a synopsis of Swedish film Let The Right One In. A romantic drama about the relationship between a young man and woman, one of whom is a vampire? Wasn't that also the plot of Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke's adaptation of the best-selling novel by Stephenie Meyer?
Yes, but don't worry: this isn't a rehashed cash-in on that film's success. In fact, it's everything Twilight wanted to be but wasn't: beautiful to gaze at, achingly romantic, emotionally involving, unexpectedly terrifying.
Let The Right One In has been adapted by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his own novel. Its name comes from a song by Morrissey ("Let the right one slip in/ And when at last it does/ I'd say you were within your rights to bite/ The right one and say,/ What kept you so long?"). Fittingly so, for the former Smiths front man has long been a friend indeed for these who feel lonely, tentative and in need.
Twelve-year-old Oskar (a captivating Kare Hedebrant) fits that description to a tee. A pale, androgynous boy, his skin as soft and white as the snow-cased expanses of the Stockholm suburb where he lives with his divorced mother, he is often attacked by bullies at school. "Little piggy!" taunts their leader Conny (Patrik Rydmark). Oskar stares at his Rubik's cube (the year is 1982), and dreams of being tough and cold-blooded enough to take on his enemies.
One evening, while out stabbing a tree repeatedly with his hunting knife, he comes across a young girl called Eli (an almost distressingly soulful Lina Leandersson) who doesn't wear a coat and doesn't seem to feel the sub-zero temperature at all. She has sad eyes, slightly grubby features, and a manner gentler and more beguiling than that of any of his classmates.
She tells him he should confront his fears, attack those who attack him harder than they "or even he" can imagine. He's drawn to her. The thing is, as he gradually learns, she's drawn to blood.
Lindqvist and director Tomas Alfredson downplay some of the darkest elements in the original novel. There, Eli's father, Hakan (Per Ragnar), was a paedophile; here, though we may read all kinds of diabolism from his dry, hounded face, he's primarily the poor gopher whose job it is to find fresh plasma for her to gulp down.
It's a thankless task: he goes out of his way to identify and ensnare victims, hang them upside down, cut them so that their blood drips via a funnel into a plastic container " only for a silly pooch to come along and spoil his work. All throughout the film, its mordant, understated comedy is inextricable from the grotesque, shocking effects it is so good at achieving.
Those shocks, when they come, are utterly bizarre and will never let me see cats in the same light again. And though Alfredson is intelligent enough to know that it's many of these literally off-the-wall moments that audiences will not only tell all their friends about but want to see again, but what's so wonderful about this film is the grace and sensitivity with which it emphasizes the love story at its centre.
Of course, as will be known to all those music fans who have fallen in love recently with the endless stream of brilliant pop coming out of Stockholm and Gothenburg from the likes of Boat Club, Air France and Taken By Trees, Swedish people are unable and unwilling to draw a line between beauty and melancholy. Let The Right One In will make you swoon with sadness and sigh with happiness.
Even to call it a vampire movie – and it's certainly got more in common with Murnau's and Herzog's versions of Nosferatu (1922 and 1979) than it does Blade: Trinity (2004) – risks underselling what a gorgeous, romantic film it is. Some of Oskar and Eli's exchanges will break your heart: "Will you be my girlfriend?" "Oskar, I'm not a girl," she replies. On another occasion, Oskar asks her: "Are you old?" She answers: "I'm twelve. But I've been twelve for a long time."
What distinguishes it from Twilight, and might make it more attractive to adults than adolescents (though it isolates the loneliness, yearning and compassion of adolescence better than any film I've seen for a very long time), is that it doesn't remotely look or feel like gloopy, MTV-ified schmaltz. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema composes every shot with rare elegance and makes telling use of crops as well as off-kilter close-ups.
The sound design, too, is superlative. The dribble of blood down plastic funnels, Oskar breathing, the Morse Code taps he makes on a wall that divides his bedroom from Eli's, snow falling on winter trees: all are captured and retransmitted with delicate and detonating precision. There are other sounds, rare and delightful especially in modern cinema, I promise you'll be able to hear: your heart beating, your heart breaking.
Like many memorable films, Let The Right One In seems to have appeared from nowhere. Alfredson is not a newcomer, but nor is he especially well known. He won't be obscure for much longer. A Hollywood remake of this is already under way; it will of course be terrible. This, by contrast, is worth skating over thin ice to see and fall in love with.
Telegraph Rating * * * * *


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Better Bass
Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)
Works perfect Subwoofer is alive now much more definition than with old cables.
California customers: click here for your Proposition 65 warning.Please
Item # 703IRED5M | MFR # IRED05
Low Stock
$121.99 Earn up to 122 Rewards points
Our VA-based experts can help.
AudioQuest's Irish Red cable helps any powered subwoofer sound more realistic by minimizing any loss in the signal as it travels from your receiver to the sub. This cable features two identical solid conductors, and each conductor is a single, unbroken strand of AudioQuest's high-purity Long-Grain Copper, coated with silver. Solid conductors eliminate electrical and magnetic interference that can make multi-strand conductor cables sound brittle.
Irish Red features RCA connectors made of gold-plated copper. The connectors are fastened by cold welding — a solder-less process that uses high pressure and silver paste to minimize signal loss. By contrast, solder tends to impede the signal, and heating the copper conductor can negatively affect its performance.
AudioQuest takes a lot of care and pride in every aspect of their cables, including their appearance. Irish Red cables come with a good-looking black-and-red braided covering for the shorter lengths (5 meters and under). Longer lengths use a smooth PVC jacket that's CL3/FT4-rated for in-wall use.
Met expectations for product quality. The cable was thinner and less bulky than expected, judging by the appearance on the website photos, which facilitated installation while still delivering the good performance.
Alex, Tampa, FL
Average Customer Review(s):
Works perfect Subwoofer is alive now much more definition than with old cables.
Met expectations for product quality. The cable was thinner and less bulky than expected, judging by the appearance on the website photos, which facilitated installation while still delivering the good performance.
Pros: Good quality and performance. Thin gauge.
Cons: Price
Great for the money
Pros: Very functional!!
Cons: None
Solid, easy to use (if its not, you are the rare traveler here who needs an Installer - Now). Reputation seems to be on par with my experience, as it has definitely made a difference for the other sub in my 7.2 set up. You really do not need Solid Gold Braided with Silver and Copper, wrapped in Carbon Fiber for everything. But good interconnects really do make a difference, and not just to audiophiles whose ears bleed at wow, flutter or some signal loss. I'm guessing that if you're reading this you need an informed, real world recommendation. Consider this one of them.
Pros: Easy and sturdy
Cons: Bound to get surpassed in bandwidth as 8K comes on, like bricking ANOTHER AVR.
Excellent product and on-time service delivery!
A high quality, robust cable.
Since the placement of my powered sub required a fairly long run of interconnect cable I wanted to make sure I purchased a high quality cable. This cable appears to be well built, looks good and sounds good.
Cable helped to "clean-up" bass sound. No background noise with this cable.
Pros: Bass sound is very clean with this cable.
Cons: None
Fantastic product! Very easy to run through the wall.
Worth the extra money if you want your subwoofer to work its best.
The AudioQuest Irish Red sub-woofer cable is very well put together. The main thing with sub-woofer cables is that they have to be well shielded to avert hum and distortion. This cable does that and delivers a strong signal to the Sub-woofer.
Pros: Well shielded,very flexible, extra ground wires on each end if needed
Cons: None noticed
A high quality sub cable for long runs does indeed make a difference. Great product.
Fantastic cables!
This cable reduced about 95% of the subwoofer humm. The only way I can hear a slight humm is if I turn the gain to max, I have a 15 inch Rythmik sub and max is unnecessary. I strongly recommend buying this cable.
Pros: Substantially reduced subwoofer humm
Cons: I'd be nitpicking
I am running a pair of Def Tech 8040 towers, with built in subwoofers. I had an audioquest sub cable running to my old cube, and it sounded great. Now having two subs with the 8040's, I needed a new cable, and this one keeps things tight, precise, and without distortion. Over time, I have updated all my cables to audioquest. They make quality products all around. Discerning ears can certainly hear the difference.
Pros: Build quality, size, performance
Cons: Audioquest can be pricey.
Excellent Quality & Sound
Cons: Expensive
Like everything AudioQuest makes, this is great cable . It won't radically change the sound coming out of your subwoofers, but the sound will be slightly smoother in quality, at least better than what I was getting out of the stock cables that came with my two JBL SUB250 subwoofers.
Pros: Nice looking well made cable.
Cons: Pricey just like everything else AudioQuest sells but then, you get what you're willing to pay for when it comes to electronics.
If you buy a good subwoofer buy a quality cable.
Nice looking cable. Silly me! I thought I was buying a pair. Only one arrived. I will update review after I buy another one.
Crutchfield's good service, plus AudioQuest's high quality at a reasonable price (for cable). Maye you can go wrong there, but I can't see how. Can you?
Pros: Relatively inexpensive for what it represents Welded, not soldered (longer useful life) AudioQuest: A name and a company you can trust Crutchfield gives the best price on AudioQuest I could find
Cons: Well... You could buy more expensive stuff and maybe get better sound; but have you voiced your system yet? (HINT: Voicing your system will always do more for you than upgrading yours ICs and cables.)
Solid 0.5% Silver Conductors: Solid conductors eliminate strand-interaction distortion and reduce jitter. Solid silver-plated conductors are excellent for very high-frequency applications. These signals, being such a high frequency, travel almost exclusively on the surface of the conductor. As the surface is made of high-purity silver, the performance is very close to that of a solid silver cable, but priced much closer to solid copper cable. This is an incredibly cost effective way of manufacturing very high-quality subwoofer cables.
Foamed-Polyethylene Insulation: Irish Red uses air-filled Foamed-Polyethylene Insulation on both conductors because air absorbs next to no energy and Polyethylene is low-loss and has a benign distortion profile. Thanks to all the air in Foamed-PE, it causes much less of the out-of-focus effect common to other materials.
Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System (NDS): AudioQuest's Noise-Dissipation System prevents a significant amount of RFI from reaching the equipment's ground plane.
Symmetrical Coax Geometry: Identical positive (+) and negative (-) conductors prevent the shield being used as an inferior audio conductor.
Cold-Welded Gold-Plated Plugs: This plug design allows for a connection without the use of solder, which is a common source of distortion. Because the ground shells are stamped instead of machined, the metal can be chosen for low distortion instead of machinability.
Grounding: If you hear noticeable hum in your system after connecting your subwoofer, please attach the subwoofer cable's ground leads to your audio gear. Some audio equipment have a ground (GND) connection on the back-panel, if not, attach the ground spade lugs to any screw on the equipment chassis of both the source and the subwoofer. Usually, this wire will not need to be connected.
At Crutchfield, you'll get detailed, accurate information that's hard to find elsewhere. That's because we have our own in-house Product Research team. They verify what's in the box, check the owner's manual, and record dimensions, features and specs. We stay on top of new products and technologies to help people make informed choices.
Quality. [ Mark Aug 26, 2016 ]
Best cable for home theater audio [ RAJWINDER Dec 30, 2018 ]
its what I needed [ jose Jul 26, 2018 ]
Needed it for the subwoofer i just purchased and its reviews are extremely high. Quality seems to also be top knotch. [ John May 16, 2018 ]
Bought them for another home theater setup. Impressed with sound improvement over old Monster THX Cert cables. [ James Apr 24, 2018 ]
Hopefully a better way to connect to my SW. [ Nick Apr 13, 2018 ]
Brand is known for making great products. I expect nothing but the best results from this item, especially for being used with such a great subwoofer as the SVS Ultra [ RODOLFO E Sep 21, 2017 ]
Recommended by my adviser, Zac. [ EddieMac Jun 14, 2017 ]
I purchased Cambridge speakers and amplifier. Both these more than met my expectations. Also the small sized of the subwoofer was appealing. [ John Jun 09, 2017 ]
I originally bought the cheapest BB insignia cable available, because what do cables really add, right? Noticeable hum at even mild gain is apparently what they add. So I decided to try a better product. [ Clyde LaMar Jan 06, 2019 ]
good balance of price and quality [ Edward Jul 20, 2018 ]
Good Speakers deserve good cables [ Edward Jul 14, 2018 ]
Quality sound [ GREG May 27, 2018 ]
Improvement in sound depth and clarity over old Monster THX Cert cables. [ James Apr 24, 2018 ]
quality of the product and honest, knowledgeable customer service [ ROBERT A Feb 13, 2018 ]
Recommended [ Nathan Jan 22, 2018 ]
Quality 1st, 10' is sufficient. [ Douglas Nov 25, 2017 ]
Highly recommended [ Timothy Sep 03, 2017 ]
Previous experience with Audioquest cables. [ John Jul 06, 2017 ]
solid core leads with separate ground wire to create same ground potential between receiver and subwoofer chassis to prevent ground looping. [ Jeffrey Jan 31, 2019 ]
To get the best sound from my subwoofer [ Jose Aug 16, 2017 ]
Don't want to risk performance. Need length for placement optionality [ Edward Jun 18, 2017 ]
Sub-woofer cables need to be shielded well to prevent hum and distortion. The Irish red should do the job. I have had cheaper sub-woofer cables that had hum. You get what you pay for. [ Joe Feb 03, 2017 ]
Top highend brand! The best of the best!! [ ISIDRO Jan 20, 2016 ]
The reviews made it sound like this cable is just what I need. [ R Mar 10, 2018 ]
That's how I used it. It's a pretty durable cable I just woul be careful with the ends. [ John Dec 22, 2016 ]
Yes, the 8-meter and longer lengths of the Irish Red subwoofer cables are in-wall rated. The 5-meter and shorter lengths are not. I used the 8-meter in-wall and works great. [ MICHAEL Dec 22, 2016 ]
This cable is not rated for in-wall installation. [ MICHAEL Dec 22, 2016 ]
I used mine under the baseboard. If I were to put in wall or hang in ceiling I think the shielding would be sufficient. Can't tell you if it up to your city code. Good luck Dean [ DINO Dec 21, 2016 ]
I don't see the harm in it. The cable is pretty sturdy. I run a few cables underneath my house and haven't had any problems. [ Jason Dec 21, 2016 ]
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silver-plated solid copper conductors for superior sound quality (silver layer is 1.25% of total conductor)
black-and-brown braided covering


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Citing defamation and "suffered embarrassment" allegedly caused by online comments posted at
, Jefferson Parish interim President Steve Theriot has
requesting the identities behind 11 user accounts on the website.
The suit, which is seeking an unspecified amount of money for damages, alleges that anonymous comments left on the site through those accounts "were made with malice, and a blatant, intentional disregard for the truth, and with the intent that such statements damage plaintiffs."
NOLA.com is the web affiliate of The Times-Picayune. The suit was filed against the commenters. It asks the website to reveal their identities, but it does not name NOLA.com or The Times-Picayune as a defendant.
James O'Byrne, NOLA.com's director of content, said, "We have received a subpoena and we will discuss it with our attorneys. We have no comment at this time."
In addition to Theriot, the parish government is a plaintiff in the suit. Theriot said the parish is paying for it.
An examination of the screen names listed in the lawsuit shows that the comments are mostly reactions to news stories about a scandal that tore through former Parish President Aaron Broussard's administration. Federal authorities launched a criminal investigation last year after reports that an insurance agency co-owned by Broussard's top aide, Tim Whitmer, was doing business with public agencies and parish contractors.
The user accounts at NOLA.com on Tuesday appeared to show varying degrees of activity. Two appeared to have been blocked by the website, and only three mentioned Theriot by name.
In one instance, a comment posted under the name "watchout41" on Jan. 23 lambasted the Parish Council for selecting Theriot, a retired state legislative auditor, as the interim president within days of Broussard's Jan. 8 resignation.
"Worse than that thier (sic) golden boy Theriot who is supposed to be the know all and king of ethics and ethics laws took the appointment knowing what happened," the post stated. "He is so great that he did not know the law was broken with his first official act as parish president which was taking the oath to the office. ARROGANT MORONS I TELL YOU!"
Another user goes after Theriot more directly.
"Theriot, just another Jefferson Parish politician thug mobster trained by his mentor John Alario, dressed up in a facade of respectability by a corrupt Louisiana Legislature," stated a Jan. 27 comment under the user name "viewfromhell."
Other comments on the remaining accounts seemed to focus more on Broussard, Whitmer and former Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson than on Theriot's administration. Whitmer resigned Jan. 4; Wilkinson resigned March 4 after Theriot placed him on administrative leave in February.
The other commenters are identified in the lawsuit as watchout40, repentingamigo, jpigpen4, fauxu, taxesfortom, taxesfortim, riverbirch, prayerwarrior2, and lettenhaveit.
"I really can't make any comments regarding the litigation, just as I would on any litigation," Theriot said Tuesday. (On Wednesday, Theriot offered another explanation for the suit.)
The suit was filed by attorneys Nan Alessandra and David Korn of the Phelps Dunbar law firm.
The lawsuit also references messages posted on a local web log called slabbed.wordpress.com, but doesn't specifically identify any comments, screen names or accounts used there.
"We haven't actually been contacted by Jefferson Parish at all, as far as official channels," said Doug Handshoe, who co-founded that site in Mississippi. After reading the lawsuit, he said: "I think it's certainly designed to intimidate and silence online commenters.
"We don't intend to alter what we're doing at all," he said.
. . . . . . .
Richard Rainey can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or 504.883.7052.


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What is Pantech P1000 phone unlocking ?
A good number of Networks Service providers lock their Pantech phones to their network, stopping you from making use of your phone on another carriers. Basically , they want to keep your business as the Pantech phone will only work solely on their Network. Pantech Phone unlocking is the way of releasing the Network lock from the Pantech phone. Pantech P1000 Unlocking can be accomplished by either ordering an unlock code that is calculated from your Pantech P1000 unique IMEI number or by downloading unlocking software to unlock your Pantech phone directly. Notice: An network unlocked 2G phone will not accept a 3G simcard. However an unlocked 3G phone will take and work with a 2G phone. 3G handsets have reverse compatible use which enables them to recognize and operate with a 2G simcard Nonetheless, an network unlocked 2G phone is unable to recognise the newer 3G/4G sim card technology.
Is Pantech P1000 unlocking illegal?
Throughout the uk removing the lock on your Pantech P1000 phone is perfectly legal nonetheless unblocking a Pantech P1000 phone that was reported lost or stolen is illegal. In the USA as outlined by a ruling on the 28th October 2012 , means that it is illegal to unlock phones bought ninety days after this date without the carrier's permission. In other words, customers can unlock phones they currently own, and phones bought before January 29 , 2013 , however phones bought after this point can only be un-locked with the carrier's permission. For other country laws and regulations visit this online site:
How can I find out if my Pantech P1000 phone is locked ?
The quickest way to test if your Pantech P1000 phone is locked is to stick in a SIM card from a different network and see whether the phone will accept it. In the event that your Pantech P1000 phone is locked you are likely to typically see an error message of some kind. A majority of these messages differ dependent upon your handset manufacturer. Listed here are some examples ;
- "Enter restriction code" or "SIM card rejected"
- "Enter special code" or "Enter Subsidy code"
- "Enter Correct SIM"
- "Incorrect SIM"
- "Invalid Network SIM…Enter Code"
- "Invalid SIM"
- "Phone disabled ! NETWORK LOCK"
- "Invalid Network SIM"
Should you not have access to a SIM card from another carrier in that case there is a less scientific method you may use to check if your Pantech P1000 handset is locked. Simply just look to see if your network has placed their company logo on your Pantech P1000 phone some-where. For example in great britain orange always lock their phones and they usually "badge" their Pantech P1000 handsets with their unique Orange company logo either on the front part or even the back of the Pantech P1000 handset.
Pantech P1000 PUK Codes
PUK is short for Personal unblocking Code. You must enter it if you have inserted your personal pin code wrong. This acts like a security feature on your Pantech P1000 phone. If you do not have your PUK code , you should contact your Network provider that can provide the PUK code after a number of security checks.
How to Unlock your Pantech P1000 Phone
There are a number of methods to get your Pantech P1000 Phone unlocked;
Pantech P1000 Unlocking by Unlock Code using your IMEI number:
Unlock your Pantech P1000 by unlock Code is far the least difficult way to unlock your Pantech P1000 phone. You may simply order your Pantech P1000 unlock code from an internet site which will later email your Pantech P1000 unlock code to you you now quickly insert the Pantech P1000 unlock code into your phone. Simple as that and also a good number of site will certainly send you the code within a day or so and some are quick. You can even obtain the Pantech P1000 unlock code from your service provider.
Pantech P1000 Unlocking via Pantech P1000 Unlock Software
In the event that you're technically experienced and are feeling adventurous , an increasingly popular option to unlock your Pantech P1000 phone using Pantech P1000 Unlock software. To unlock your Pantech P1000 phone via Pantech P1000 unlocking software , you will need a Pantech P1000 data Cable to connect your Pantech P1000 phone to your PC in-order to make it possible for the software program to unlock your Pantech P1000 . The cable that is provided with the Pantech P1000 phone will continue to work generally however for specific phones , you may need a Pantech P1000 unlocking cable
Where can I get my Pantech P1000 Phone Unlocked?
Here a number of websites that you can get you Pantech P1000 phone unlocked;
Click here to order your unlock code today.
Will unlocking my Pantech P1000 void the warranty ?
If the carrier who locked the Pantech P1000 phone agrees and supplies you with the code to unlock your Pantech P1000 then is entirely acceptable and will not affect your warranty. If however you unlock the Pantech P1000 by any other strategy you will totally void the warranty and void any future assistance from the carrier or manufacture.


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Podd Sound
PODD are a leading audio specialist based in Surrey who support bands, dj's and live artists throughout the UK. They are also responsible for the hugely popular Happy Days Festival.
Our Task
To modernise the website and showcase the products and services in a more professional manor. The Joomla 3.0 install allows client full control of website via easy to use front end tools and full back end admin.
Skills Involved
- Joomla 3.0
- Photo Editing
- Theme Manipulation
Contact Us
If you are looking for a professional and reliable website developer, call us on FREE Phone 0800 756 9975


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Review of the United States Marshals Service's
Apprehension of Violent Fugitives
Evaluation and Inspections Report I-2005-008
July 2005
Office of the Inspector General
The performance of the USMS in apprehending violent fugitives improved significantly from FY 2001 to FY 2004. The number of violent fugitives apprehended by the USMS and its state and local partners increased by 51 percent from 14,348 fugitives in FY 2001 to 21,600 fugitives in FY 2004. The number of violent fugitives apprehended per staff year also increased from 18 violent fugitives per staff year in FY 2002 to 21 violent fugitives per staff year in FY 2004. The improvement achieved by the USMS fugitive apprehension program represented a significant contribution to the Department's efforts to reduce crime and improve public safety.
Our analysis showed two main reasons for the increases in the number of violent fugitives apprehended. First, the USMS increased the staff years it devoted to fugitive apprehensions by 21 percent, from 911 in FY 2002 to 1,104 in FY 2004, and became more efficient in its apprehensions. Second, Congress directed and the USMS created five RTFs, which were effective in increasing fugitive apprehensions.
Notwithstanding these results, the number of violent federal fugitives at large increased by 3 percent from FY 2001 to FY 2004. We found several factors not within the USMS's control that accounted for the increase in violent federal fugitives at large. The number of violent federal fugitives sought by the USMS increased because the increased number of federal task forces throughout the country generated more federal fugitives. We also found that the USMS investigated more federal fugitives referred from other federal agencies, and that state and local law enforcement agencies requested more assistance from the USMS in apprehending fugitives.
We also identified three other factors, each within the USMS's control, which contributed to the increase in the number of violent federal fugitives at large. These factors were that not all districts assigned violent federal fugitive investigations to the task forces; the USMS did not fully change its focus from apprehending all federal fugitives to apprehending violent fugitives; and most districts did not enter data regarding their state fugitive investigations in WIN when the investigations were opened so that the USMS could fully assess its progress at apprehending violent fugitives at large. By addressing these factors, we believe the USMS can improve its apprehension of violent fugitives and reduce the number of violent fugitives at large.
The Department has proposed the creation of six additional RTFs. Our analysis of the fugitive apprehension data from the districts that make up the five existing RTFs compared to the non-RTF districts indicates that the six new RTFs can be expected to apprehend more violent fugitives, and we believe the creation of new RTFs is warranted. However, to maximize the effectiveness of the RTFs and the fugitive apprehension program in general, we believe that the USMS needs to consistently assign violent federal fugitive investigations to the RTFs and focus more on apprehending violent fugitives.
To further improve the USMS's effectiveness in apprehending violent fugitives and begin to reduce the number of violent federal fugitives at large, we recommend that the USMS:


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Shorpy is funded by you. Help by purchasing a print or contributing. Learn more.
Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.
Vintage photos of:
Toledo, Ohio, circa 1910. "Riverside Park and boat house." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Electric cars were preferred by the gentler sex because they didn't need to be crank-started. A feature that, alas, is not mentioned the the advertising of modern electrics.
The bank-presidentish dog between the girl and the woman seems art directed to pick up their clothing colors, white on the girl's side, black on grandmother's. All extremely elegant.
Electric cars in 1910 cost 2-3x a gas one and got 100 miles to the charge. Just like today's electric cars.
[Well, yes. Top speed of these primitive electrics was around 20 mph. - Dave]
In August of 1888 Bertha Benz got sick and tired of Carl always messing
with his Motorwagon and never doing anything about promoting it for
possible sales. So, she got the kids and swiped it to drive to mom's house
(wink-wink) about 60 miles away in Pforzheim. Along the way she made
the best out of getting all the attention possible. And she did! This distance
was unheard of. So, a lady driver put Carl Benz on the map, so to speak.
There is a Bertha Benz Memorial Route in Germany, and to this day, people
would like to own a "Benz."
As Vance Packard noted in 1959: "The primary function of the motor car in America is to carry its owner into a higher social stratum."
Somehow I never thought of women driving back then, but it looks like she was "shutting 'em down," ha. Don't know how you do all this great stuff, but I'm sure glad you do. Just love it!


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Afternoon all.
I pulled out some Authentique papers that i bought ages ago for this week's sketch over at Creative Scrappers. I fell in love with them when i bought them, but didn't quite know how to use them. I must say, i'm pleased with how this layout came together!
Used Authentique 'Gathering' papers, Green Tara flower & leaves, Prima flowers, Kaiser alphas, Twiddlybitz chip butterfly, shipping tag, twine, paint, doily.
Love the new Green tara flowers, so pretty and so affordable!
Thanks for stopping by.


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Battery drain in iOS 9 is identified and added low power mode to give 60 minutes extra backup:
Battery Drain in iOS or Battery Drain in Android:
Battery drain issue became severe problem in every smartphone devices and it is a headache for all smartphone device users. This problem persists in every smartphone regardless of the operating system that you use. Android operating systems or iOS operating systems or any operating system can provide best battery life instead of using high powered batteries.
What is Battery Drain problem? Why Smartphone Battery Life is poor?
Did you ever think about these questions? The Battery Life will be poor in smartphones compared to basic models. The reason behind the poor battery life or battery drain is the features that are available in your smartphone. Your smartphone is coming with a number of sensors and number of applications. So what is the problem if we have number of applications? The problem is battery backup. If you turned off your mobile screen it doesn't mean that the apps and sensors will stop running. Yes this is the obvious reason behind the poor battery life.
Each and every app and sensors will keep on working even though you off the screen. If you turn on cellular data or Wi Fi in your smartphone, each app will run in background. No app will show notifications without running background. So, if you get a notification means that the app is running in your device.
Battery Drain in iOS 9:
As I said above the battery drain happens in any operating system. Memory leaks and poor logic implementation also causes these battery issues. Don't blame your device's operating system on battery drain problem for every time. Sometimes it may cause due to the apps that you have installed in your device. If you install an app that have poor logic and iterates programming loop infinitely, then it consumes battery to run the app in background also for infinite time. This may lead to battery drain. This looping may also happen in iOS 9 programs and causes the battery drain in iOS 9.
There is a problem of battery drain in iOS 9 Beta 1 version. After installing the iOS 9 Beta 1 in iPhones and iPads, every one faced the problem battery drain in iOS 9 Beta 1. Luckily they identified this issue and fixed it in iOS 9 Beta 2. After upgrading to iOS 9 Beta 2, users boosted up with good battery life in iOS 9 Beta 2.
Battery Drain in iOS 9 spread in to the world vary fast and this is due to lack of testing by Apple before releasing the iOS 9 Beta 1 version. In iOS 9 there is an option 'Low Power Mode'. By enabling this mode in your device will increase the battery back up in iOS 9.
What is Low Power Mode in iOS 9?
Low Power Mode in iOS 9 is an option to increase the battery backup in iOS 9 devices. This mode disables all sensors to run in background, stops all apps to run in background and turns screen off when it is face down. So the battery life will increase approximately to 60 minutes. You can turn on this option at any time in iOS 9. And also your device will notify you to turn on Low Power Mode when the battery power dropped to 20% and 15%. So it helps to reduce battery drain in iOS 9. This option is also available in Android Lollipop with name 'Power Saving Mode'.
How to improve battery life in iOS 9? (Or) Tips to improve iPhone battery backup in iOS 9:
You can reduce battery drain in iOS 9 and can improve battery life in iPhone by following few simple steps.
- Enable Low Power Mode when you are going to sleep.
- Enable Low Power Mode when battery life is low.
- Turn off GPS sensor when you are not using it.
- Reduce the device screen brightness.
- Turn off auto sync options.
- Don't use wallpapers with heavy graphics or animations.
- Charge only when the battery life is completely drain and remove charging soon after the battery is full.
Originally posted 2015-07-10 21:10:26.


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Today, I Have a Dream
In Memory of Martin Luther King
There is something that troubles this country. It is found almost everywhere that roles and duties exist. It is found each week when the city waste collectors empty your trash cans. It is found in the streets where one man drops a coin in the cup held by another man's shivering hand. It is even found in the home where a husband props his feet with a newspaper before his face and his wife serves him dinner.
Nothing appears to be inherently evil when I mention these three pictures. But underlying each is an evil that troubles this nation. It is not found in every picture, but it is all the more popular than we wish to admit. It is one built on the praise of man and in the hearts of the jealous. It is pride concealed in the cloak of democracy and status. It is authority twisted. It is unjust, unruly, and wrong.
It reeks of sin but is cloaked in normalcy. We are so used to it that we have become blinded to its evil. Moreover, we curse its confronter, the Word of God, as ugly, hateful, chauvinistic, wicked, and demeaning. We praise and uphold an ideology that is quietly, yet quickly, destroying our culture. We are delightfully standing in the toilet of waste and pulling the handle to flush ourselves to our own demise.
This evil waves the flag of equality. Its message, however, is one of disorder and chaos. It sounds as if it is a cry for freedom but it is a destroyer of good. It tells the man who strains his back to lift your trash can, "You are lower then they who toss their trash in these containers." It tells the man on the street who holds his cup up to those passing by, "You are lesser because of where you sleep." It tells the wife who labors to raise children and serves a dish to her husband recently home from work, "You are small because you have not success in the world of economics."
Yes, this evil misguides the waste worker, the homeless man, and the homemaker alike. It confuses roles and duties with value and worth. It classifies those made in the image of God in categories that are weighed on the scale of human praise. Those who receive more praise than others, weigh the most. It is they who are righteous and important. It is these others who are nothing more than slaves and animals.
But God is not praising these who praise others by their own moronic measure. His canon is far different. He created both male and female, Jew and Greek, husband and wife, rich and poor, office manager and trash collector. The god of this age has deceived us into thinking that what we do and how much we make and where we live and what pigment our skin is, determines our value.
When we scoff at those whose work is dirtier or sneer at those whose pocket is thinner or scorn those whose wages are unseen, we are no better than our country's forefathers who treated Africans as livestock. We are the same as the mother who kills her unborn child. We are like the German leader who slaughtered countless Jews. Yes, whenever we hold our nose to the air in regards to another human being, we are in essence the brother of Hitler.
What is this evil? It is the switching of roles with nature. It is defining our value by our situations. It is racism. It is hatred. It is gravely wrong. It is sin against the Lord who created us all equal.
Such a thinking, although seemingly righteous in our own sight, has created a wall so thick that when the truth of Scripture is spoken, we condemn it as if it were from Satan himself. For the Scriptures say that even God, in His mysterious unity, has difference of role. He reveals Himself as submissive yet equal. The Father sends the Son and the Son obeys. But the Son never assumes to be lesser than Him whom has sent Him. Neither does the Father assume to be greater than He whom He sends.
We are commanded to do the same.
I don't know much about Martin Luther King, but today we celebrate him and his stand to destroy racism and its ugliness. Still, years later after his death we find ourselves with new racism's – ones we so blindly esteem.
Each of us, made in the image of God, share an equality both spiritually and naturally. We are born the same. We breath the same air. We suffer the same laws. We sin the same and are saved the same. The man who dumps the trash is every much a sinner as the man who fills the trash. No one is different in this respect. We all need a Savior. We all must bow to the Most High.
Until we know and understand our equality and embrace our likeness, we will never live without our racists thoughts. Until we are convinced that those whom this world casts down for their lack of achievements are no lessor than us, we will remain in this spiral slope to suicide – killing ourselves to be better, to be more, to be praised.
We have confused duty with value and class with dignity. For this evil, we must repent and beg the Lord of Mercy for forgiveness. Men and women, rich and poor, black and white, we are all equally sinful and equally needing a Savior to rid us from our hatred and sin.
The beautiful reality is this: God has made us equal, yet diverse. No on is subhuman, but we all serve differently. So the next time your waste collector stops at your curb, consider him to be like yourself. When the homeless man, shakes an empty cup in hope, think of him as your brother. And husbands, when your wife welcomes you home with a hot-cooked dinner, love her for her grace.
We the people are called to compliment each other with spiritual and natural equality. Let us hope for the day when this rabid dog called racism is once and for all killed at the alter of our hearts.
Today, I have this dream.
One Comment on "Today, I Have a Dream"
Scott, February 16, 20109:56 pm


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Luzviminda ''Mindi'' Zaporteza has received the Dr. Carl J. Brunoehler Award for Outstanding Nurse of the Year at Winter Park Memorial Hospital.
Zaporteza, who has worked for the hospital for 11 years, is a staff nurse in the surgical unit.
She earned her registered nurse's license at San Juan de Dios Hospital in Manila, Philippines. Since receiving her license, she has worked nearly 22 years in hospitals throughout the United States.