text:
Afghanistan is suffering a crisis of confidence – and given what's on the horizon, it's not so difficult to see why.
Next year is shaping up to be a perfect storm of security, political, and economic transition. And many Afghans, from shopkeepers to members of Parliament, are uncertain that their fragile ship can withstand the tossing waves.
After more than a decade of a massive foreign military presence and an associated aid effort that have showered tens of billions of dollars on one of the world's poorest countries, the US and other Western powers are preparing, if not to say goodbye, then to substantially scale back.
Next year will mark the end of NATO's combat mission in Afghanistan. By December 2014 the 99,000 US and other foreign troops still here will be gone. The Afghan National Security Forces – army and police – will be left to largely stand on their own against a nasty insurgency.
Marking perhaps an even more critical milestone, Afghanistan will hold presidential elections next April, testing the ability of a population deeply divided along ethnic and urban-rural lines to form some level of political consensus, and rally behind a new leader.
On top of the security and political uncertainties, economic activity driven by the large international presence is expected to fall off substantially next year. An economy growing by nearly 10 percent annually in recent years could see the growth tumble by nearly half next year, according to the World Bank.
The coming trifecta of change would challenge almost any of the world's countries, but for many Afghans – especially urban dwellers who have seen life fast-forward into the 21st century during the past decade, the uncertainty and prospect of regression seem traumatic.
Daydreams of leaving
"We are afraid about our future," says Fatima Aziz, a surgeon who is a member of Parliament from Kunduz Province. "The ANP [Afghan National Police] is not strong, we don't know how security will be without the international forces."
Afghans in and around Kabul reveal anxieties about the US and NATO drawdown, and many say they have daydreams of leaving before chaos sets in – a recent Asia Society survey found that one-third of Afghans would leave the country if they could. Many express fear of the Taliban's return to power – even though many Afghan experts assert that the country has evolved and modernized too much for that to happen.
Others acknowledge the challenges posed by "the transition," but they blame the country's leadership for not addressing the national malaise.
"People are worried, but I blame the government for not preparing themselves for the worst," says Mustafa Sadiq, chief executive officer of Afghanistan's largest privately owned fruit processing company, Omaid Bahar. By "the worst" he says he means "the vacuum that will be created when 100,000 troops withdraw."
Mr. Sadiq, whose company employs 700 people and collects fruit from 35,000 mostly small farmers, says businesses are closing as the foreign presence shrinks and contracts dry up. Unemployment is rising, and real estate prices are plummeting – down 40 percent or more in Kabul, he says.
Even some of Afghanistan's most prominent leaders acknowledge the public frenzy over the specter of 2014, even as they insist that the solutions exist to carry the country through the storm – perhaps even to come out of it stronger than when it went in.
"There is a problem of confidence – it's a problem of public psychology, and that public psychology is about 2014," says Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister who came in fourth in Afghanistan's 2009 presidential election.
Moving on to a national dialogue
Dr. Ghani, who now heads a national commission focused on the transition (and who swats away queries about whether or not he will again be a presidential candidate in 2014) says Afghanistan needs a "national dialogue" to prepare the country for next year.
That national dialogue would not focus on reconciliation with the Taliban insurgency – a project that has floated around for years without advancing – but rather on creating a national consensus for the April 5 elections.
Ghani rejects the widespread worries about the security transition, citing evidence from the field of the Afghan National Army's growing effectiveness and surveys showing high public confidence in the military.
"The security piece is largely in place, the key event now is political," he says.
Some Afghan political and business leaders say nothing could calm the 2014 jitters like an announcement from President Obama of the number of US troops that will remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Speculation has swirled for months that the number will be around 8,000 – for a total international commitment of perhaps 12,000. Mr. Obama has said that the troops he deploys to Afghanistan post-2011 will be "narrowly focused" on training and counterterrorism.
But Ghani says Afghanistan's "key challenge" is to prepare next year's election. Nothing would go as far in building the country's confidence as a well-prepared, transparent, and uncontested election able to "give the next government a mandate."
Part of the angst about 2014 stems from memories of the 2009 election, which was won by President Hamid Karzai but so stained by fraud and discrepancies that many Afghans dismissed the result as illegitimate.
Ghani's idea this time: to hold well before the election a "national convention" where a broad spectrum of Afghanistan's political leadership would debate and agree on "the rules of the road" for next year's election. Pointing out that the early Americans held more than 100 conventions at various levels before settling on the constitution, Ghani says Afghans would be reassured by a discussion that delivers political consensus.
What about traditional elites?
Yet as soothing as a national dialogue might sound, it will do little to address Afghans' fears if it is limited to the country's traditional elites, others say.
Any effort to build confidence in the future must include those who have most at stake in it, and that's Afghans 25 and under who make up 70 percent of the population, says Parwiz Kawa, editor in chief of Kabul's Hasht a Subh newspaper.
Afghanistan's economy poses critical challenges for young people, Mr. Kawa says, but he adds that the "other transitions" take a back seat to the overriding importance of a successful political transition next year.
"We have to have a free and fair election that builds trust and brings back confidence, that's the most important thing," he says.
Kawa says he knows many Afghan young people who, though they may be worried about 2014, still see the coming changes, including a smaller foreign footprint, as an opportunity for Afghans to take responsibility for their country.
The challenge will be to convince more Afghans that their country can withstand "the transition," but accomplishing that will likely require a focused effort from Afghanistan's leaders.
As Ghani says, "The test of Afghan leadership is to create confidence in the future."


text:
Submit Your Questions for Mayor Glen Robertson
Friday on Lubbock's First News, Mayor Glen Robertson will join Tom Collins and Laura Mac starting at 7am. The Lubbock City Council will meet on Thursday night and Friday will be your chance to get some answers from the Mayor.
It will be a busy night at City Hall with many topics up for debate.
During the hour, you are of course welcome to call in and ask the Mayor a question but sometimes you might get a little busy. That's why you can submit your questions for the Mayor here.
What would you like to ask Mayor Glen Robertson?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
So, who told you only big cities have great vegan food? Sometimes the best spots are the big fish in little ponds, which is exactly what is occurring in upstate NY. Rochester, a pretty little city who is often overshadowed by New York and Boston, especially when it comes to restaurants, now has a big vegan fish! Within the city lives a delicious gourmet restaurant who caters to people who love food no matter what their diet is. The Owl House, which opened it's doors in the Fall of 2010 focuses on local, gourmet American foods and specialty beers and cocktails. Although the restaurant serves meat and dairy, it also has tasty vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free dishes including desserts!
On a recent road trip through upstate New York, we had the chance to indulge in this restaurant. After driving six hours we were more than happy to see the adorable Owl House, which living up to its name is in a house in a residential area. One step inside and we felt like we were at part 20's style bar, part art gallery, part cafe, and part cozy house. Needless to say, we found it hip and relaxing. After a long drive we were happy to treat ourselves to their unique cocktails such as the Townsend, Bright Eyes, and Upstate.
And what goes better with drinks than appetizers? The Owl House boasts a vegan appetizer we have never seen elsewhere:Vegan Mozzarella Sticks! These definitely live up the hype. We really don't know how they've done it, but it is quite possibly the best mock vegan dish we've ever tasted! The "cheese" was perfectly melted and the crust delicious. Honestly, they haven't left our minds since and the non-vegans among us were just as enthused! We also tried their Rosemary and Cracked Pepper Fries with house made ketchup, House-made Pickles, and Marinated Olives. We love how everything here is house made and it definitely shows.
Next we shared the Viva Verde Tacos with smoked tofu (you guessed it, done in-house) and the Saigon sandwich. The tacos were delightful, especially with the house smoked tofu and black bean and corn salsa. They were filling and really great. We also enjoyed the Saigon sandwich which is a modern take on the Vietnamese Bahn Mi. The sandwich was made with more of the great smoked tofu, pickled veggies, and roasted garlic Vegenaise on a baguette! Boy, were we satisfied! As Bahn Mi connoisseurs this sandwich, although not traditional, was tasty and it was great to have the Vegenaise, which is normally hard to find unless added yourself.
Even though the Owl House has a great list of vegan desserts, we opted for a bowl of soup to round out our meal. One of the best features of the Owl House is their daily specials. Some recent specials include: Grilled Citrus Tofu, Tomato Braised Seitan & Chickpeas, and daily soups. The daily soup for the day was Vegan French Onion soup with vegan cheese! Once again, the Owl House surprised us with a dish almost impossible to find vegan. And let us convince you, this soup was wonderful. The Daiya cheese and soup flavor was perfectly blended. To see their daily specials which include appetizers, soups, entrees, desserts, and drinks, check their Facebook page, which often causes us to almost buy a plane ticket to Rochester just from checking our news feed.
It is too bad the Owl House is so far from us, well perhaps it is good for our hips, we wish we could eat every meal there! However, it provides a haven for vegans living upstate that have limited choice. This restaurant makes visiting Rochester completely worth it, even on top of its quaint beauty. It is clear the Owl House offers unique vegan dishes and really takes care in the food they prepare. We must say, it has landed itself a spot on our Top 10 Vegan Restaurants!!


text:
Publishing Freedom: "The printed page is paramount."
Here's the fourth installment of my interview with Seamus Heffernan, whose new comic Freedom promises an epic look at a Revolutionary America that never was.
SH: Actually, I had originally planned to publish it as a broadsheet sized "newspaper". It was going to be 11"x17" and folded up, with some kind of card-stock folio-cover to keep it in. It turned out to be difficult to find a printer who could do that cost-effectively, and it turned out to not be the best format for stores either.
On abandoning that format, I tried to settle on something close to it, but also closer to the traditional comic-book format. I went to the rare book room in the Boston Public Library to see if there were any smaller pamphlets or broadsheets printed at during the colonial period and tried to line my project up with those dimensions. The 8"x12" did the best job of letting the dense line work breathe while not being too cumbersome. I'm sure there will be many vendors out there who will disagree with me on that.
I never planned to publish it on the web, and perhaps I am a fool for doing so, but I'm doing my best to make this project reminiscent of the revolutionary era, so the printed page is paramount.
B75: Freedom is one of the (I believe) second-to-last set of Xeric Foundation grantees. For folks outside the comics world, what does that mean?
SH: The Xeric Grant is a charitable grant set up by one of the creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Peter Laird. It is a grant to help aspiring comics artists start their career as self-publishers by funding the printing and promotion of a creator's work. Your work has to be finished (in other words, they won't give you a stipend to live off of while you work on your book full-time), and it has to be approved by six jury members. I was very fortunate in that they liked Freedom No. 1 so much they gave me twice the money I had asked for!
Sadly, the Xeric is closing its doors to funding self-publishers as the comics market has changed dramatically. With the advent of web comics and Kickstarter (now considered one of the largest independent comics publishers because of how many projects gets funded through them), I think they felt that their grant was no longer suited to today's trends in publishing. The final Xeric Grant deadline is May 2012, so if you have a project you want funding for…better wrap it up!
Boston Comics Roundtable, one detail that caught a lot of people's eyes was your style for emphasized lettering—not just bigger, bold letters but serif as well. What other ways are you working to give Freedom an eighteenth-century feel?
SH: Like I said above, I tried to print the book in a format that would evoke an eighteenth-century publication. I've always felt that lettering does as much as art style to develop the flavor of a story. Its importance is often overlooked in modern comics (especially with the rise of digital lettering, which I kind of regard as a carnal sin), so I made certain to use typefaces that would have been prevalent during my story's period. I studied a lot on how typesetting was done in those days, and tried to design text pages to match how pamphlets, flyers, broadsheets and books would have been laid out.
The cover is also meant to reflect the period, as will all the covers to come on future issues. Each cover will be a faux historical oil painting, mostly in the Enlightenment or Romantic traditions. I also do my best to write in the over-wrought, floral style of the day, even when just doing acknowledgements or section breaks.
TOMORROW: The question that must be asked.


text:
Running unopposed, 6th Judicial District Attorney Todd Risberg was formally elected Tuesday to a second four-year term.
Im happy with what weve been doing in the last four years, Risberg said Tuesday. Weve assembled a great team, and were ready to do another four years.
Risberg, a Democrat, was first elected in November 2008 on a promise to rely more heavily on programs that rehabilitate low-level offenders rather than place them in jail.
During his first four years, Risberg supported efforts to expand drug courts, restorative-justice programs and implement a mental-health court.
He also called for a grand jury to be empaneled in La Plata County the first of its kind to be established here.
Local Republicans tried to court someone to run against Risberg, but the person didnt feel up to it, said Velbeth Jones, chairwoman of La Plata County Republicans.
We just didnt have anybody to put up, otherwise we would have put somebody up, she said.
Risberg said he thinks the reason no one challenged him is because he is doing what he promised, and it has been working. He joked: I guess the cynical view is nobody wants my job.
As the chief prosecutor of Archuleta, San Juan and La Plata counties, Risberg oversees 24 employees and a $1.9 million budget.


text:
Rent vs Own 2017
Renting vs Owning
The decision to purchase a home or keep renting is one of the biggest decisions you will ever face. There are definitely benefits and drawbacks to renting and owning, it truly depends on your situation, however, this short video will provide some thought provoking information. Take a listen!


text:
Your shopping cart is currently empty.Continue shopping
This product has been added to your cart.
Click here to continue to checkout.
Free CD: original music harmonizes with the chime & enhances yoga practice.
Listen to the Woodstock Yoga Chime during your yoga practice; its relaxing tones will help you focus on your poses. Tuned to the notes of a North Indian Raga scale, the traditional Indian sound is further enhanced by the included bonus CD of original music composed specifically to harmonize with this wind chime. Yoga means "union" in Sanskrit, and the practice of yoga is all about balance - physical balance to hold the poses, but also balance between mind, body and spirit and the balance between yourself and your environment. This windchime was designed with that last balance in mind - making your environment as peaceful and calm as possible to enhance your yoga practice. Part of our Soloist Series of chimes.This chime carries a lifetime tuning guarantee. Listen to a sample of the CD.


text:
🍿 ThreadHunt
Los mejores hilos de la semana
Add a new thread
🔥 Today
🕯 This Week
📆 This Month
👴🏻 All time
🇺🇸 In English
🌍 All languages
🇫🇷 En Français
🇲🇽 En Español
🏳🌈 All topics
❌ Reset filters
Created with
Vote Button for Product Hunt
You must log in to do that!
Sign in with Twitter
We will never post to Twitter without asking.
Don't miss out!
Follow Threadhunt on Twitter
Be the first to see hot threads
Follow founder William on Twitter
Get the inside scoops on how Threadhunt is built
Receive the weekly digest
Never miss a thread
Join ThreadHunt
You can always change that later
Please enter the URL of the last tweet in the Twitter thread 👇
Post this thread


text:
Difference between revisions of "Montevideo"
Revision as of 16:05, 13 June 2013
Montevideo is the pleasant capital city of Uruguay, a country in South America. It is situated on the east bank of the Rio de la Plata and is the southernmost capital city in South America.
Montevideo was founded in 1724. For much of its early history, the city consisted of what is now known as the Ciudad Vieja (Old Town). By the mid-19th century the city began to grow eastward towards what is now known as Centro. The demolition of the old fort that used to mark the eastern boundary of Old Town enabled the construction of what is now Plaza Independencia. Eventually Boulevard Artigas was built around Centro, but by 1910, suburbs were already developing beyond it which were later annexed into the growing city.
Get in
By plane
Carrasco International Airport (IATA: MVD) is about 15 km east of the city center, in the suburb of Carrasco in the department of Canelones. The airport is linked to the city center via major four-lane divided arterial roads. Route 101 (the national highway running by the airport) terminates at a roundabout where it connects to Avenida de las Americas, which in turn connects to Avenida Italia, which runs all the way to Centro.
People used to complain all the time about Carrasco's dilapidated and overcrowded old terminal. In 2009, Carrasco Airport opened a beautiful new terminal and expanded to eight gates (four jetways, four remote parking spots). Unfortunately, to pay for the $134 million terminal, the government sold a lot of bonds backed by a USD $31 airport fee charged to all departing travelers.
Based on where you are from, some airlines already include this fee in the price of the ticket (in the United States it is mandatory), but if your airline did not already charge you the fee, you will be required to go to the airport fee counter (next to the check-in counters) and pay the fee before you can leave the country.
Buses depart right outside the airport to Terminal Tres Cruces, just north of many major sites downtown (easily walkable to hotels). Airport transfer by bus costs about UYU31.
By remise from airport to center cost UYS 700 or USD 37 (http://www.bybremises.com). The airport taxi to the center costs UYU1500 or USD70; metered and prepaid prices are about the same as of September 2012. Payment in USD is possible, but using UYU works out to be about 20% cheaper.
During weekdays one can take the normal radio taxi from the city to the airport for around 600 UYU.
By boat
Another possibility for travelers who are heading to Montevideo from nearby Buenos Aires is to take the high-speed ferry operated by Buquebus [11]. A one-way ticket, tourist class, costs about UYU 940 and takes about 3 hours. There are several boats a day. The ferry arrives in the Ciudad Vieja district of Montevideo, situated very close to downtown - a cab ride to a hotel in El Centro or Pocitos is much shorter and cheaper than from the airport.
By bus
Ferry service to Buenos Aires is also available via the same company Buquebus or ColoniaExpress [12] via Colonia. The ticket can include the bus from Montevideo to Colonia, it is cheaper and about 1 to 2 hours longer than the direct crossing. You can buy a bus ticket, about 188 Uruguyan pesos from the city terminal (Terminal Tres Cruces) to Colonia, 2 to 3 hours, stay a couple of hours or days, which is highly recommended, and then buy a ferry ticket in Colonia to Buenos Aires whicht takes about 1 hour. If you book well in advance via internet (MasterCard works, even if it takes a couple of attempts) you can get the Express service (1 hour) for around 500 UYU.
Bus to Salto - 6 hour direct transfer is 640 pesos with Agencia Central SA (June 2012) - several departures throughout the day/night.
By car
For those leaving from Porto Alegre, Brazil, there are two options: one that enters Uruguay via Chuí and another via Jaguarão. For both, you start by taking the route BR-116 up to Pelotas. Next, if you want to visit Chuí, the southernmost city of Brazil, or the Santa Teresa Fortress or even see the beautiful beaches of the coast of Uruguay, then, at Pelotas, take the route BR-392 to Rio Grande and next the route BR-471 all the way to Chuí. Takes about 6 hours and 30 minutes to go from Porto Alegre to Chuí. On June 6th of 2010 there were 5 tolls between those cities, a total of R$ 34.60 (it's important to note that they only accept Brazilian Real). Around 30 minutes after crossing the border, you can visit the Santa Teresa Fortress. An option is to stay a night at Punta del Diablo, in case you are too tired to keep driving to Montevideo. From Chuí to Montevideo, just stay in route 9. Takes about 4 hours and 30 minutes. Again, there are 3 tolls between Chuí and Montevideo, each cost UYU 45.00. In this case, they do accept foreign money. However, it's strongly recommended that you pay in Uruguay Pesos, as they charge a lot more if you pay in Real or Dolar.
If you want the fastest route to Montevideo (about 2 hours shorter than the first one), you should cross the border at Jaguarão. To reach this city, just stay in route BR-116. After that, take route 8 to Montevideo.
Get around
By bus
Montevideo is not a large city and it boasts a very efficient public transportation system so getting around is not difficult at all. If you are not bashful about your Spanish, feel free to ask people which bus route you need to take to get to your destination as it can be the most effective and cheap option (UYU $20 as of 2013). Alternatively if you know some Spanish there are two websites similar to Google Maps that are useful: Cómo ir [13] and MontevideoBus [14].
It is useful to know that if you choose to ride a bus, upon boarding you will pay either the driver or the assistant who sits on the right-hand side of the bus (door-side) a few seats from the entrance. There is a small device that will dispense your receipt, make sure you hold on to it for the duration of your ride as sometimes company supervisors board buses checking for these receipts (making sure no one is riding unauthorized). If you are unsure where to get off you can always ask the driver or assistant to let you know when your stop is coming up and they'll be happy to oblige. Just try to remain visible so they can tell you (though if the bus gets full and you've moved to the back they'll yell out the street name). It is also important to note that you do not need to have the exact fare as the driver or the assistant carry change. Of course, expect disgruntlement if you pay with a large bill.
The city's central terminal is called Tres Cruces. Aside from being a full-fledged mall, it sports companies with fully-equipped tour buses that can take you anywhere in Uruguay and even into neighboring countries. Expect UYU $179.00 one-way to Colonia, about 2 to 3 hours. Efficient and on time. All destinations, timetables and hours are available online [15]. Any bus from the airport marked "Montevideo" will reach Tres Cruces in about half an hour and cost a bit over 30 pesos. It helps to ask the bus driver to inform you when to get off because the Tres Cruces terminal building is rather nondescript from some sides and you may miss it.
By car
You can use a Remise a bit like a taxi but more professional and you can ask the company to send you a driver in your language, for example: you can rent it for an hour and the cost is approximately U$S16. Here is the website http://www.bybremises.com
Taxis are plentiful but not too cheap (gasoline is expensive in Uruguay). It helps to know a little Spanish. A ten-minute cab ride costs about UYU100. Taxis are metered and upon the end of your ride you are shown a chart depicting distance and cost (though on some vehicles this chart will be on the window between you and the driver). Generally there are two fare schedules. The first is for Monday-Saturday from morning to mid-evening. The second fee schedule is for Sundays and late at night, and is slightly more expensive. Tipping is not expected, but you might round up to an even number to be polite. It is also not uncommon to sit on the front.
Car rental is cheaper if booked ahead but be aware that places like the airport and the ferry terminal charge higher rates than the same agencies in other locations around the city. A few phone calls and a cheap taxi ride to a location other than the air or sea ports will save you half the rate for the same car at the same company.
Driving in Montevideo is not too difficult, especially for those visitors from Europe or developing countries that lack strict lane enforcement and have lots of roundabouts. (Visitors from countries with few roundabouts and strict lane enforcement, like the United States, will find it baffling at first.) For a variety of political and historical reasons (similar to most other socialist countries), most Uruguayans could not afford automobiles until recently and instead developed a strong tradition of using the bus. Thus, road traffic in Montevideo is amazingly light outside of rush hour, and even during rush hour is relatively good compared to, say, North American cities of similar size.
It is not too hard to find parking in most of Montevideo. Indeed, if you do not see a "Reservado" sign, or red and white stripes or red paint on the curb, you can safely assume that one is allowed to park at any particular curb.
The only major obstacle for visitors is that from Monday to Friday, from 10 am to 6 pm, there is a "Estacionmento Tarifa" parking management system in place in much of the Ciudad Vieja and Centro. However, the exact method of properly paying for parking under this system is quite mysterious, as the city government's relevant Web page does not explain it very well at all, and the local tourist information offices are unable to explain it clearly in plain English when asked in person. The safer thing to do is to park outside of the tariffed area and walk in.
Montevideo is not a large city, and most of the sites can be seen in about a day as they are clustered together.
BIKE RENTAL - Bicicleteria Sur (Aquiles Lanza 1100 y Durazno) - Monday to Friday 9 -13:00 and 15-19:00 Saturday 9-13:00 For rentals on Sunday or the price for a day, should do consultations. $20 pesos per hour. Phone: 901 07 92.
The not-so-big capital of a small country that is not often in the international news, and while not exactly a world center of gourmet gastronomy, Montevideo is a city where one can eat wonderfully and relatively cheap, with plenty of local character (no, it's not the same cuisine as in Argentina), yet not too exotic for most tastes.
And yes, there are also restaurants specialized in many international cuisines, as well as some gourmet places run by talented chefs - as well as American fast food chains.
Get out


text:
Two time-sensitve areas of activity were discussed by participants at the April 2010 CEC Steering Committe Meeting in Aviemore, Scotland. CEC is making plans for the 2012 IUCN Congress in Korea. And CEC wants people to care and to take action in the International Year of Biodiversity -- Futerra has some great ideas.
A. The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2012 is an opportunity to showcase CEC work, share innovative learning experiences, initiate new partnerships and provide learning services. Participants proposed a number of activities.
Planning for the IUCN Congress:
- Identify and start relations with new partners for strategic dialogues to draw new sectors to the Congress (e.g. the private sector for greening the economy, or food and agriculture);
- Apply to the IUCN Secretariat for CEC to host the Learning Opportunities programme and marshal expertise from the network to run these capacity building workshops;
- Renew the 'Buddy' experiment partnering young people with mentors in Intergenerational Partnerships for Sustainability, leading up to and including Congress as its theme, this time with the participation of all Commissions;
- Plan an incentive to support young people to attend, through a subsidy on fees, e.g. 'Blog It Earn It' to sponsor bloggers to participate in and document Congress;
- Work with IUCN Members to prepare motions to support the CEC agenda to present at the Congress;
- Develop South Korea networks to organize local CEPA events during the Congress.
During the IUCN Congress:
- Hold strategic dialogue sessions at the IUCN Forum on new emerging themes such as agriculture, food, soil and population;
- Develop scenarios on war/peace games about climate change and security with the project 'Climate Change and the Military' and NGOs looking at disaster relief;
- Launch/unveil the IUCN World Conservation Institute;
- Hold dialogues with journalists to expose them to the thinking such as Futerra's findings on climate change communication;
- Ask CEC members to hold a Knowledge Café, a social media forum event;
- Ask young professionals to help with CEC stand;
- Award CEC prizes during the CEC meeting as incentives for action in the regions and in specialty groups, and perhaps to recognize journalism reporting;
- Profile CEC work on Sustainability Centres and greening campuses.
Next steps:
- Create a group of people to start concentrating on Congress planning;
- Adapt existing Congress manual into a small CEC manual to provide guidance on how to prepare for Commission engagement at Congress.
B. CEC wants people to care and to take action in the International Year of Biodiversity.
Guest speaker Laurie Bennet of Futerra Sustainability Communications gave a compelling presentation on communicating biodiversity to inspire people to care and take action. He shared some of the lessons that Futerra has learned about messaging: keep it simple; don't use guilt; don't talk about sacrifice or fear; don't be boring.
He encouraged CEC to promote messages that:
- Make connections between people and nature;
- Tell visionary stories, putting emotion into scientific data;
- Focus on the opportunities of biodiversity conservation;
- Use humour and enthusiasm to catalyze action; and
- Thank those who act.
Futerra worked with the Secretariate for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to develop a series of messages to be disseminated widely during the International Year for Biodiversity (IYB). These messages were developed in extensive consultation with CEC members: see http://www.cbd.int/2010/messages/. The messages are generic, but deliberately so. CEC Regional Vice-Chairs and National Activators are encouraged to adapt these for local use and our own contexts. A suggestion was made to develop a CEC 'message box' where members could provide examples of how they shared the IYB messages and the resulting impact.
CEC members are encouraged to use the IYB logo whenever communicating CEC work, to disseminate it as widely as possible. Find the logo at http://www.cbd.int/2010/logo/. When using the logo, inform CBD by email to email@example.com or to email@example.com
To gain leverage for biodiversity messages and promote the International Year of Biodiversity CEC members are encouraged to link biodiversity messages to other topical issues in the media such as climate change, livelihoods, or the economy. For example forest conservation is an important means of limiting carbon emissions and releasing carbon into the atmosphere.


text:
Tigers Drop Two on Final Day of 2013 Season
Nashville, Tenn. – Tennessee State softball closed out the 2013 season with a pair of Ohio Valley Conference losses to cross-town foe Belmont. The Bruins came from behind to grab game one 4-3, before recording a 10-2 win in the night cap.
Belmont struck first with an unearned run in the first inning only to see the Tigers pounce in the second. Freshman Brianna Roberts gave TSU a 3-1 lead with a towering home run to leftfield to plate Audrey Sensing, who singled to center, and Kate Morris who walked with two outs.
The Tigers tried to continue their two-out rally as Jennifer Givens and Kiarra Freeman picked up back-to-back singles, but the threat ended as Kacie Daugherty grounded out to end the inning.
The Bruins would use two two-out rallies to earn the win in the opener, as they scored two runs in the fifth and one run in the seventh. Shea Morris (10-18) suffered the loss as she gave up four runs, three earned, on nine hits. Morris fanned nine batters on the game and finished with 195 on the season.
In game two, Belmont took advantage of six Tiger errors to secure a 10-2 victory. After giving up four runs in the fourth inning to the Bruins, the Tigers cut into the lead as Daugherty walked and Lindsey Burgess singled to lead off their half of the inning. Sensing advanced the two runners 60-feet on a sacrifice bunt to give TSU a pair of runners in scoring position. Daugherty would be the first Tiger to cross home plate on a wild pitch making the score 4-1. Ashley Haynes cut the lead in half with a two-out single into left center driving in Burgess.
That would be as close as the Tigers would get as BU added runs in each of the final three innings. Olivia Gamache fell to 4-17 on the year as she allowed 10 runs, six earned, on 11 hits and two walks. Gamache recorded three strikeouts on the game.
Mia Vierra (5-7) earned the win in game one for Belmont surrendering just seven hits and three walks, while striking out a season high six batters. Brittanie Albright worked four innings in game two and was credited with the win scattering three hits and two walks. Albright (4-8) struck out three.
The dinger by Roberts in the first game, marks the first time in program history that all players from an incoming class hit at least one homerun.
Audrey Sensing led the way for TSU with three hits on the day. Givens, Burgess and Haynes each added two knocks a piece.
TSU finishes the season at 14-35, 5-18 in the OVC, while the Bruins improved to 17-33, 6-19 in conference.


text:
Just to follow up on Two-Line Pass' recent entry about how Flames fans should feel fortunate that the Sutter brother No. 5 has agreed to pace behind the Calgary bench, let's look at the major reason why Brent could be the right man for the job.
Initially, there wasn't a whole lot of analysis about Brent's coaching virtues beyond the highlighting of his impressive resume as a junior boss and the fact he has a last name that carries a lot of weight in this part of the hockey world. The fact that Flames general manager Darryl Sutter barely acknowledged the fact he and his newest employee had shared the same dinner table as youngsters only served to whet the media and public fascination with the bloodlines angle.
But once you get by the common DNA business and after you forget about the ruffled feathers in New Jersey about the Viking two-step that led to Brent being the Flames coach in the first place, you're left with this possibility if you're a Calgary supporter – the man known as Pup just might be the rump-kicker and name-taker to take the talented but flawed Flames out of their comfort zone and beyond the first round.
Of course, Mike Keenan was supposed to be that guy too but anyone who had dealt with Moustachioed Mike in his true tyrannical days will tell you the Keenan who called the shots in Calgary was clearly de-ironized. Keenan may still have had the reputation, but the intimidation factor was long gone.
Brent Sutter, on the other hand, still gives the impression of a coach not to be trifled with. Ask Jamie Langenbrunner, who publicly incurred Sutter's wrath this past season. Ask Patrik Elias, the Devils' best unmasked player, who was stripped of the captaincy. Ask Dion Phaneuf, who possesses firsthand knowledge of Sutter's propensity for a special brand of tough love.
Years ago, Sutter was the major-domo for the Red Deer Rebels and Phaneuf was a member of the Western Hockey League club. One night, after a Red Deer loss to the Calgary Hitmen, Sutter was approached by the media and asked to explain the Rebels' sub-par performance.
"Ask the superstar defenceman," he retorted.
Just in case there was any doubt about his meaning, Sutter marched into the visitors' dressing at the Saddledome and fished out a sheepish Phaneuf, who was left address the media jackals as best he could.
Now there's no denying that some of tactics that worked with insecure teenagers may fail miserably when attempted on multi-millionaire professionals, but a well-executed glare, the right combination of nasty words and the timely cracking of the whip can be an effective coaching weapon at any level, especially when the peons see that the disciplinarian doesn't play favourites. And there's definitely a school of thought – some of the students of that school have stalls in the Flames dressing room – that some of Calgary's big-name players are in need of a little square-toed boot motivation.
In addition to Phaneuf's career development going into wobble mode in 2008-09, the usually above-reproach Jarome Iginla was questioned on his defensive habits. And won't it be interesting to see what happens the first time the new head coach tosses a "Well, that's not how Marty Brodeur does it" in Miikka Kiprusoff's direction?
If the scared-straight tactics work even just a little, that could well be all the boost the Flames need to capture the pennant in a very winnable Northwest Division.


text:
STORRS — Jim Calhoun sat in the front row of a near-empty Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday and he watched Kemba Walker, now in the NBA, push the ball up and down the court with the current UConn men's basketball players. Calhoun's legs were crossed, he was smiling.
"Life is full of tough decisions," Calhoun said when asked about his possible retirement. "We're having the discussions we need to have about moving forward ..."
Then, picking up the crutch he needs to get around with his fractured hip, he walked out to his car and drove off. It was hard to imagine it ending this way, that this would be the last time that Calhoun, 70, walked off the court at UConn as head coach, but he had at last made that tough decision, even though he was not ready to say so publicly. That will come at a press conference Thursday at 2 p.m. at which Calhoun will announce his retirement after 40 seasons (26 at UConn), and Kevin Ollie, who played for Calhoun in the early to mid '90s, will be named his successor.
Ollie, who played for 13 years in the NBA before rejoining Calhoun as an assistant coach two years ago, will not have the interim label — meaning that Calhoun more or less prevailed in his last battle as head coach. Calhoun wanted Ollie to succeed him and have some security, although details of Ollie's contract are unclear. Karl Hobbs, director of basketball administration, has been promoted to an assistant. Hobbs, a former head coach at George Washington, was an assistant at UConn when Ollie was a point guard. Ollie, 39, was a two-time captain for the Huskies and graduated in 1995.
Calhoun will go out with 873 career wins, No. 6 all-time. He is No. 3 in games coached with 1,253. He has 17 Big East trophies, either from the regular season or tournament. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005. And he will remain involved with the program in some capacity.
The unusual timing of Calhoun's decision could affect UConn, at least in the short term. The Huskies have had a difficult time recruiting this spring and summer, the coaching uncertainty playing a part as several highly regarded players crossed UConn off their lists. UConn did land Kentan Facey, a 6-foot-9 center, and Terrence Samuel, a 6-4 guard, both from the New York area, both of whom have said they would be comfortable playing for Ollie. However, neither has signed a letter of intent yet, so that will be one of Ollie's early tasks, securing those commitments.
The press conference Thursday will probably draw reporters from throughout the country, rushing to Connecticut for the occasion, and that, in itself, is an apt indicator of what Calhoun did for UConn. "To do what he did in Storrs, Connecticut — it's a miracle," said Dee Rowe, UConn's coach from 1969-77.
The Huskies were a notable New England program, but after joining the new Big East Conference, they were often near the bottom of the league, and considered out of their league. Calhoun, who had coached at Northeastern, was hired to replace Dom Perno in May 1986, with Calhoun disregarding the advice of friends who had told him he couldn't win at UConn.
The Huskies were 9-19 in his first season, but that would be his only losing season at UConn. The Huskies surged to the NIT title in 1988, and two years later reached the NCAA Elite Eight on Tate George's miracle shot against Clemson. That 1989-90 season is still known as the Dream Season, but under Calhoun much bigger dreams were to be realized. UConn knocked on the door to the Final Four several more times, and finally made it in 1999, beating Duke for the national title. The Huskies went on to win two more, in 2004 and 2011, with Walker leading a miracle run of 11 wins in a row in the Big East and NCAA tournaments. By then, UConn men's basketball had come to dominate the sports conversation in Connecticut year-round, and drew coverage from national media outlets on a nearly day-to-day basis.
"The passion with which I coach," Calhoun once said, "I've never not left it on the floor. Have there been games where I haven't been so good? Without question. Have I ever made a mistake? I hope I feel like I have."
Along the way, there were problems. Calhoun's fiery nature led to confrontations with officials, reporters and sometimes school officials. He drew an NCAA suspension for infractions stemming from the recruiting of Nate Miles in 2008. And in recent years, UConn's academic performance fell below new NCAA standards, resulting in postseason ineligibility for 2013.
"As an institution and I, personally, took our eye off the ball and we made mistakes," he has said. "There's a lot of reasons. No one is saying we didn't make mistakes."
Calhoun has overcome cancer on three separate occasions, and come back from other health problems. Last season, he missed more than a month with back pain, eventually having spinal surgery. After UConn's loss to Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in March, Calhoun left the door open to possible retirement, but he remained fully engaged in the job throughout the spring and summer, doing more traveling for recruiting than in recent years.
In midsummer, talk began to circulate that Calhoun was seriously considering a retirement in the fall, so that UConn athletic director Warde Manuel would have little choice but to give Ollie the job. Complicating matters, Calhoun, an avid cyclist, fractured his hip on Aug. 4, hours before his charity basketball game. Still, he set a goal of returning to the office in time for the start of classes and made it on Aug. 30, addressing the team, admonishing players to "get ready for the grind" of the coming season. Players, assistant coaches and staff members have been divided for weeks on what Calhoun might do, believing one day that he was certain to continue to coach, and on other days that he had had enough.
"He's around way too much to not be coaching," sophomore Ryan Boatright said this week.
But Calhoun, Manuel and UConn President Susan Herbst had been holding discussions in recent weeks to find a way to move forward and please all sides. Manuel seemed to favor naming OIlie only interim coach, keeping his options open to conduct a national search next spring, although there was some concern that this option would make recruiting difficult.
Ollie will be surrounded by experienced head coaches, including George Blaney, Glen Miller and Hobbs, and Calhoun figures to be a frequent presence in the office as a retiree.
Calhoun has two years left on his contract, but he will get a severance package that could include a one-time payment of $1 million, or five years at $300,000 a year.
Calhoun, who has maintained homes in Pomfret and Madison, has been increasingly involved in charities, including the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiac Center at UConn Health Center, Autism Speaks and cancer research. He runs a holiday food drive in Hartford each November.
Calhoun will be best remembered for putting Connecticut on the national sports map, and sending dozens of players on to the NBA with his "tough love."
"He breaks you down, and then builds you back up," said Rudy Gay, now with the Memphis Grizzlies. "Some players can't handle being built back up, but in my case, it worked."
Said the Indiana Pacers' A.J. Price: "I came in a spoiled kid from Long Island and I left an adult, and that's because of Coach Calhoun."
Those sentiments have been echoed by numerous players, from Ray Allen, a likely future Hall of Famer who played at UConn in the 1990s, to Walker, now with the Charlotte Bobcats.
In May, just before he turned 70, Calhoun sat for a long interview with The Courant, and discussed his life, long career, his methods and the legacy he hoped to leave behind. He lost his father at age 15 and had to leave college to work at menial jobs for a time, but he returned to earn a degree at American International College in Springfield. He first coached at Old Lyme High, working his way to college ranks at Northeastern in 1972. Through his years at UConn, although he came to earn millions, he fashioned himself in the image of the blue-collar brawler, and what he fought for the hardest was entry for UConn into the pantheon of elite college basketball schools. With three national titles, few would dispute that he led the Huskies to that promised land.
"I want people to say, 'The five best programs in the history of basketball are North Carolina, Duke, Indiana, Kentucky and — they have a tough time saying it sometimes — Connecticut. We are one of those teams. I want that legacy very badly for UConn. The passion of the people here, there is always a very thin line between love and hate, depending on the day, the recruit kid who didn't play as well as they thought. But the worst thing to have, as when I came here, was apathy."


text:
The title of this post – "Stolen Title Pages" – is not mine, instead, I have borrowed it from Chaim Lieberman.[1] I have used this title because there are many forms of plagiarism – some, totally innocent – others involving lack of citation, borrowing a sentence here or there, but the plagiarism under discussion in this post is much worse than all of the above.[2] The plagiarism discussed in this post is limited to just changing the title page – that is, the entire book is the same with the only alteration being the name of the author and, at times, the title of the book. For example, if I republished Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but instead of putting Shakespeare's name I substituted mine.
The kabbalistic work on the holidays of the year, by R. Yitzhak Isaac ben Yoel HaKohen, Brit Kehunat Olam, was recently republished. This work was first published in 1796 in Lvov, and has been reprinted many times since then. In the introduction of this new edition, the publishers list the various printings of this work. But, they neglected to mention one reprint of this work. One can't really fault them as this reprint was not published under the name Brit Kehunat Olam, nor did R. Yitzhak Isaac's name appear anywhere in this reprint. Instead, although the book is word for word the same as Brit Kehunat Olam, a totally different title and a totally different author is given. As we shall see this is not the only time this person has taken someone else book for his own. This reprint which was done sometime around 2000 is instead titled Pardes haMo'adim 'al Moadi Yisrael. The author is הצב"ר which, according to the many approbations he has received, is an abbreviation of R. Tzyion ben Ratson Lahat.
The Pardes haMo'adim contains approbations from R. Shimon Sherabi, the Rabbis of Kiryat Melachi – R. Hayyim Pinto and R. Yisrael Areyeh Gerstenkorn, R. Meshumar Tzubri, and R. Yisrael Sherabi. Some of these praise Lahat for his erudition in writing this work, others note his "great fear of sin," but none of these haskamot note that every word in this book is plagiarized.
For purposes of accuracy, I must note, that Lahat did alter one thing aside from the title page. Perhaps in an effort to avoid detection he shifted the sections around. So, one can't take page one and match it up, instead, you just need to find the section. This is not as hard as it would seem as Lahat used the same chapter headings as the original. So, for instance, the scan below you have the chapter titled מאמר מצות משוחים בשמן from both works. The newer type (on the right), without the commentary of the Sha'ar Shimon, is Lahat's edition while the other (on the left) is the original.
Lest one think it is just that section or just the Brit Kehunat Olam that Lahat copied, I have provided another section – מאמר סכת שלם. Again you can see it is copied word for word. But, I also want to point out it is not just the Brit Kehunat Olam he copied but the commentary, Shem miShimon by R. Shimon Englander as well. As one can see, the notes on the bottom provide citations as well as further elucidations of the Brit Kehunat Olam. Although Lahat did not use footnotes – he used endnotes – they are the same as well.
I have provided below the pages from both Brit Kehunat Olam (on the left) which includes the Shem miShimon at the bottom. The other pages (to the right and bottom) are Lahat's page from this section and the final page is Lahat's notes which match up perfectly with the Shem miShimon.
As I mentioned above this is not the first time Lahat has stolen a prior work and substituted his name for that of the author. Instead, I have found at least two other times, where he did the same thing. In fact, one of the approbations for Pardes haMo'adim actually makes mention of this prior plagiarized work. This other work is Lahat's book Minhagei haAriza"l. This work was published sometime after 1996. It contains four parts. Again, הצב"ר appears on the title page and all the approbations are written to R. Tzyion ben Ratson Lahat (as an aside his last name may actually be רווה [Ravah] as he dedicates this book to his brother Naftali bar Ratson Ravah). This work, with one slight change which I will discuss in a moment, is word for word from the book Minhagei haArizal haNikrah Petura d'Abba by R. Uri ben Asher Strizinitzer [3] first published in Jerusalem 1905.
This work takes fifth and the sixth sha'ar from R. Chaim Vital's Shemonah She'arim which contain the bulk of the customs of R. Yitzhak Luria(Ari"ZaL). R. Strizinitzer, then includes his commentary, titled Beni Abba, which explains and offers sources for the customs of R. Yitzhak Luria. This work contains the approbation of R. Shalom Mordechi haKohen (the Braziner Rebbi). When he originally published this work, R. Strizinitzer did so anonymously. When he published a similar work Me'ori Tzion he revealed himself based upon an acrostic on the title page. The Meori Tzion was the fourth and final part of R. Strizinitzer's work on the customs of R. Yitzhak Luria – as we shall see this was also copied. So R. Strizinitzer has three titles – Petura d'Abba, Beni Abba, and Meori Tzyion. The Petura d'Abba contains the portion from Shemonah She'arim and Beni Abba is Strizinitzer's notes.
Now, we go to sometime after 1996, and a new book, again re-typeset, comes out with the title Minhagei HaAri"Zal with the three works Darkei Tzyion, Sha'ari Tzyion, and Me'ori Tzyion with הצב"ר's name as the author.
The only thing Lahat did, however, was alter the titles of the first two sections, he didn't even bother moving things around to avoid detection. In Lahat's edition the Darkei Tzyion contains the portion from Shemonah She'arim and Sha'ari Tzyion contains the notes. Below, I have provided two pages, one from each book, to demonstrate the plagiarism.
In fact, in Strizinitzer's book at the end he has "השמטות" – things he left out. Lahat, also has at the end things he left out – and coincidentally, they are the same as well. There is one other small change aside from the title page, and that is in the introduction. In Strizinitzer's introduction at the end he explains why he decided to title his books as he did. Now, Lahat's titles are different, so Lahat (left) removed that one line from the original introduction (right). The relevant passages are below.
Now, we return to the third title – Me'ori Tzyion, which Strizinitzer published separately in 1911,[4] and Lahat has included in this book. For this one, Lahat couldn't be bothered with coming up with a new title so he uses the same title – perhaps to finally be able to say he really did copy everything perfectly. Both pages are below (Lahat, left; original, right).
Finally, we get to the at least the third example of Lahat's stolen title pages. In this case it was fairly easy to locate the original. Lahat titled this work Pirush 'al Birkat Kohanim, which as the title implies is a commentary and discussion about Birkat Kohanim. But, Lahat was kind and at the top of each page he has כה תברכו. This title כה תברכו is the same as a book published in 1881 in Solenika by R. Chaim Hemzi. And, it turns out not only is the title the same but the content is as well.
Lahat is by no means the first to merely switch the title pages – as I noted at the beginning of this post, Lieberman has examples of this phenomenon and there are other articles which discuss other instances of plagiarism as well.[5] What is perhaps unique about Lahat is that he seems to have done it more than once, in fact, I can not say for sure the rest of Lahat's 13 (!) other books [6] are not merely copies as well. Additionally, many have assumed that in the digital age, when from the comfort of one's home they can call up the card catalogs of almost every major library in the world and thousands books are available online or on one of hard drives – some of which are even searchable, this would have been detected. In fact not a single catalog entry in any library notes that these are copied – even when Lahat did not change the title of the book.
Further, aside from the approbation to Lahat's Pardes haMo'adim, in his Minhagei haAriZal, Lahat includes approbations from his other works. Some of these are leading Rabbis who also have failed to detect their approbations are on stolen works. These Rabbis include (aside from those already mentioned above): R. Ovadia Yosef, R. Mayer Getz, R. Shalom Messas, R. Yosef Tzubeyri, and R. Tzion Tzubeyri.
Perhaps, now, this can be corrected and Lahat will cease stealing the works of others.
* I apologize as most of this post appeared last week, however, as the images stopped working and they are important to this post I removed the post until I could correct it. In the interim, however, I was able to confirm another instance of Lahat's plagiarism. Also, prior to posting I have attempted to locate Lahat without success. His books generally provide none of the standard information such as publisher/printer or any contact information.
[1] Chaim Lieberman, Ohel Roch"el, vol. 1 (New York, 1980), 477-480, 529-531.
[2] There are no lack of examples, both real and imagined in this category. For one example of lack of proper citation, see R. Natan Neta Leiter, Tzyion l'Nefesh Hayyai (Jerusalem, 1964), no. 109.
[3] His surname comes from a town outside of Lvov.
[4] In some reprints of Strizinitzer's Minhagi AriZal, Me'ori Tzyion is included.
[5] See Lieberman supra n. 1. Lieberman notes [p. 477] the case of Hemdat Tzvi, where the original was printed in 1876 and the stolen version with the same title was printed in 1879. However, he leaves out one worthwhile point. Although in the stolen version he knew enough to remove the original authors name, apparently he didn't even read through the whole book as on p. 72b, the original author quotes his grandfather by name, and this same passage appears in the stolen version. Further, on p. 87, the original author includes a teshuva which he signs by name. In the stolen version it appears without change signed by the original author!). See also Kitvei Pinchas Turburg, ed. A. R. Malachi, 24-36; C. Leshem, Shabbat u'Mo'adi Yisrael (Tel Aviv, 1969), 379-409; Y. Sternhill, Kochavi Yitzhak (Brooklyn, 1969), Introductions to volumes I & II; Marc B. Shapiro, Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox (Scranton, 2006), 5 n. 9, discussing the example of Rabbi Nosson Dovid Rabinowich which was also discussed in a previous post at the Seforim blog; Shraga Abramson, "Chasad b'Ameirat Daver shelo b'Shem 'Omro," Sinai 112 (Nissan-Iyyar 1993): 1-24; Alei Sefer 16 (1990): 177-79; Moriah 83-84 (Adar I,1978) 79-80; A. Perls, "Das Plagium," in Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums / MGWJ 28 (1879): 305-322; R. Margolis, Shem Olam, Jerusalem, 1989, introduction.
Regarding the halakhic permissibility of plagiarism, see Nahum Visfish, Mishnat Zechuot haYotser (Jerusalem, 2002), esp. 95-115; Nahum Rakover, Zechut haYotsrim beMekorot haYehudim (Jerusalem, 1991), 17-72, a portion of which appeared as "Plagiarism of Torah Teachings," Areshet 6 (1980): 222-226; and idem., "Plagiarism and the Obligation to Cite Sources: Aspects of Copyright Law in the Halakhah," Dinei Yisrael 6 (1975): 93-120;
[6] There is one book which is particularly suspect, as Lahat's book is titled מאיר לארץ and it is kabbalistic interpretations on ברכת המזון and there is another book with the same name on the same topic. Thus far, however, I have been unable to secure a copy to compare the two.


text:
Mike247 necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 13 diseños de 6 diseñadores freelance.
Start up company trying to match triathletes up with other triathletes. Website is built and it needs final touch up with purchased stock photos.
Single triathletes looking for dating, love, marriage, etc. Target age is 20-50 years old.
This will be a redesign of the current website.
The basic content blocks you see at single-triathletes.bestworldsit.com would still need to exist, as would the navigation bar links.
Your job is to redesign and cleanup the background, font, color choices and images attached. The winner will be the design which is most visually appealing and clean. to this project posting can all be implemented in whatever way is most visually appealing and clean.
This is built on top of a framework so the design has to be something that could be rendered in pure CSS/HTML and the fonts should be web friendly fonts.
IMPORTANT: Please find a way to use the image of the man and woman jogging in the header, and use the attached logo. (filename- iStock_000009970882small.jpg)
website link:


text:
Former Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) vice president Fabrice Tourre, author of perhaps the most infamous e-mail in the history of Wall Street, heads to trial today in a case heavily loaded in symbolism for those who believe law enforcement has gone too easy on bankers in the wake of the financial crisis.
Continue Reading Below
Tourre faces civil fraud charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that Tourre was the key player at Goldman in a scheme to create an investment product that was doomed to fail from the outset, and then lying to attract investors into the scheme.
Jury selection was scheduled to begin today in federal court in Manhattan.
"The SEC's image has been tarnished in the past few years. They've been seen as not particularly hard on Wall Street, especially when it comes to the financial crisis. So it's important to them to win this case," said white collar attorney David Marder, a former assistant director of the SEC's Boston office.
Specifically, the SEC claims that in 2007 Tourre, then a 28-year-old bond trader with Goldman, worked with hedge fund guru John Paulson to create an investment product called Abacus 2007 loaded with mortgage-backed securities that both Tourre and Paulson expected to go bad. Indeed, part of Goldman's deal with Paulson allowed the fund manager to not only pick the securities packaged into Abacus, but also to make side bets that Abacus would eventually tank.
"Tourre structured the transaction, prepared the marketing materials, and communicated directly with investors," the SEC said in a statement at the time Tourre was charged.
Tourre, according to the SEC, was aware Paulson had bet against – 'shorted' in Wall Street parlance – the very securities Paulson himself had picked. Tourre then allegedly convinced investors and others drawn into the deal that Paulson & Co. had invested about $200 million in Abacus, suggesting that Paulson & Co. had a big stake in the success of Abacus. But that wasn't the case, the SEC claims.
In reality, Paulson's and investors' interests were "sharply conflicting," the SEC said. Losses to investors in the Abacus deal rose to more than $1 billion, according to the SEC.
Goldman was also charged with defrauding investors and settled in 2010 by agreeing to pay a then-record $550 million penalty and promising to reform their business practices.
A Car Engine Lined With Explosives
Paulson famously made billions of dollars for his hedge fund betting that the U.S. housing market would collapse and take with it most of the mortgage-backed securities whose values depended on the bubble.
Tourre, a French citizen working in New York in 2007, might have slipped under the radar as prosecutors and the media focused on fraud charges filed against the venerable Goldman. But Tourre allegedly expressed his personal skepticism for the deals he orchestrated – and the U.S. housing market in general – in a now-notorious e-mail sent to a friend and obtained by the SEC.
"More and more leverage in the system, The whole building is about to collapse anytime now...Only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab[rice Tourre] ... standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstruosities!!!" Tourre allegedly wrote.
A media star was born and 'Fabulous' Fab Tourre instantly became the face of greedy, cynical bankers among those who blamed Wall Street for instigating the financial crisis.
Marder said the Tourre case has struck a chord among the public and become something of a litmus test for the SEC because so few other individual bankers have faced trials for their actions leading up to the crisis.
"These cases are very difficult to prove," the attorney said.
In most cases involving mortgage-backed securities that imploded, sophisticated products were sold to sophisticated investors and the deals went bad, Marder explained. In contrast, he likened Tourre's case to a car dealer who sells a car with an engine lined with explosives and then travels to Las Vegas to bet the car will explode.
"Where you go off the rails is a case like this," Marder said. "The SEC has alleged egregious conduct and they have e-mails allegedly confirming that conduct."


text:
DailyDirt: Bad Science Is Coming to Get Us
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
- The number of retractions from scientific journals has increased tenfold over the past decade. But it's not clear how much is misconduct and how much is honest scientific mistake... [url]
- Data detective Uri Simonsohn has published his statistical methods for exposing the suspicious data of social psychologists. Lies, damn lies and statistics... but at least statistics can be used to ferret out the lies. [url]
- Apparently, the UK is notorious for its bad science journalism. We're talking "labvertisements" -- industry/product-funded science stories about (possibly fake) studies conducted by questionable scientists with dubious methods. But at least they're honest about it and take their research with a huge grain of salt. The US just re-packages many of these reports as serious news. [url]


text:
|OpenBSD General Other questions regarding OpenBSD which do not fit in any of the categories below.
|Thread Tools
|Display Modes
OpenBSD 4.7 - Cellular Modem - iCON322
I'm attempting to set up a machine with a cellular modem. While I have programming experience, I'm fairly new to both OpenBSD and to Cellular Modems.
Machine OS: OpenBSD 4.7 /i386
Modem Hardware: Option iCON322
Has anyone gotten one of these devices to work, and if so, could someone share a little insight.
I see in the docs that most cellular modems are supported by OpenBSD. The manufacturer does not provide BSD support -- only Windows, OSX, and Linux.
At this point, I have:
1. Confirmed that the device is working on a windows device.
2. Confirmed via usbdevs -v that the OS can see the device
3. Set up the ppp.conf file
4. I have created a ppp.log file, but have not successfully gotten output
> ppp -background mobile
fails to dial
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Information on subscribing (if you are interested, but is not required to search...), along with a list of various archive sites can be found at the following:
Thanks. I have done some research.
Here is some more information that I have discovered:
vendor: 0x0af0
product: 0xd033
DMESG info
umass0 at uhub0 port 8 configuration 1 interface 0 "Option Wireless Technology GlobeTrotter Icon322" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 3
scsibus0 at umass0: 2 targets, 1 initiator0
cd0 at scsibus0 target 1 lun 0 <zcoption, Icon322, 1.00> scsi2 5/cdrom removeable
It appears that the problem is the ZeroCD technology and that BSD is interpreting the device as a CDROM instead of a USB Cellular Modem.
The log (which I got working) indicates that the device is not configured. Is there a way to configure it? Research from FreeBSD indicates that a program like usb_modeswitch is necessary to correct this problem ... but other posts indicate that OpenBSD 4.0 built in support for this ZeroCD technology specifically to address the Option Icon (GlobeTrotter) devices.
Assuming that OpenBSD does support this device, I'm sure that I'm failing to understand some that I need to configure (so any help would be appreciated).
If it is a known fact that this device does not work, are there any known USB GSM Cellular Modems that work with OpenBSD? (I have US Sim card data-only plan)
Ferreting out what might be useful is up to you.
There are a few quirk methods in the driver to nudge devices into the proper mode, but it requires adding your product to a list and recompiling.. usually it involves testing a few of the methods and picking the one that works.
If you're fretting this, a temporary solution that works in some cases is to use eject(1) in base to send a SCSI command to the virtual cd(4) device.. more specifically, it tells it to "eject the tray" which is often used to indicate you're finished installing the bundled drivers.
So, try this and report back:
$ sudo eject /dev/rcd0c
Posting the full dmesg in [code][/code] blocks is usually a better idea, just so we're sure you haven't missed anything or improperly truncated.
Thanks for the help. Again, I realize that I'm new to this, so if there is some information that I can provide that I am not, please let me know.
Below is my attempt at the eject command. Also I have included the full DMESG output.
1. Attempt at eject comand
> sudo eject /dev/rcd0c
Here is the result:
cd0(umass0:1:0): Check Condition (error 0x70) on opcode 0x1b SENSE KEY: Not Ready ASC/ASCQ: Medium Not Present
OpenBSD 4.7 (GENERIC) #558: Wed Mar 17 20:46:15 MDT 2010 email@example.com:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC cpu0: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.66GHz ("GenuineIntel" 686-class) 2.67 GHz cpu0: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,SBF,SSE3,MWAIT,DS-CPL,TM2,CNXT-ID,CX16,xTPR real mem = 1063378944 (1014MB) avail mem = 1021603840 (974MB) mainbus0 at root bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+ BIOS, date 02/20/06, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xffe90, SMBIOS rev. 2.3 @ 0xf0450 (73 entries) bios0: vendor Dell Inc. version "A06" date 02/20/2006 bios0: Dell Inc. OptiPlex GX520 acpi0 at bios0: rev 2 acpi0: tables DSDT FACP SSDT APIC BOOT ASF! MCFG HPET acpi0: wakeup devices VBTN(S4) PCI0(S5) PCI4(S5) PCI2(S5) PCI3(S5) PCI1(S5) PCI5(S5) PCI6(S5) MOU_(S3) USB0(S3) USB1(S3) USB2(S3) USB3(S3) acpitimer0 at acpi0: 3579545 Hz, 24 bits acpimadt0 at acpi0 addr 0xfee00000: PC-AT compat cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 0 (boot processor) cpu0: apic clock running at 133MHz ioapic0 at mainbus0: apid 8 pa 0xfec00000, version 20, 24 pins ioapic0: misconfigured as apic 0, remapped to apid 8 acpihpet0 at acpi0: 14318179 Hz acpiprt0 at acpi0: bus 4 (PCI4) acpiprt1 at acpi0: bus 2 (PCI2) acpiprt2 at acpi0: bus 3 (PCI3) acpiprt3 at acpi0: bus 1 (PCI1) acpiprt4 at acpi0: bus -1 (PCI5) acpiprt5 at acpi0: bus -1 (PCI6) acpiprt6 at acpi0: bus 0 (PCI0) acpicpu0 at acpi0 acpibtn0 at acpi0: VBTN bios0: ROM list: 0xc0000/0xa800! 0xca800/0x2000! 0xcc800/0x3800 pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios) pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82945G Host" rev 0x02 ppb0 at pci0 dev 1 function 0 "Intel 82945G PCIE" rev 0x02: apic 8 int 16 (irq 11) pci1 at ppb0 bus 1 vga1 at pci0 dev 2 function 0 "Intel 82945G Video" rev 0x02 wsdisplay0 at vga1 mux 1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation) wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (80x25, vt100 emulation) intagp0 at vga1 agp0 at intagp0: aperture at 0xe0000000, size 0x10000000 inteldrm0 at vga1: apic 8 int 16 (irq 11) drm0 at inteldrm0 "Intel 82945G Video" rev 0x02 at pci0 dev 2 function 1 not configured ppb1 at pci0 dev 28 function 0 "Intel 82801GB PCIE" rev 0x01: apic 8 int 16 (irq 11) pci2 at ppb1 bus 2 bge0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Broadcom BCM5751" rev 0x01, BCM5750 A1 (0x4001): apic 8 int 16 (irq 11), address 00:13:72:c8:32:3c brgphy0 at bge0 phy 1: BCM5750 10/100/1000baseT PHY, rev. 0 ppb2 at pci0 dev 28 function 1 "Intel 82801GB PCIE" rev 0x01: apic 8 int 17 (irq 10) pci3 at ppb2 bus 3 uhci0 at pci0 dev 29 function 0 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 8 int 21 (irq 9) uhci1 at pci0 dev 29 function 1 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 8 int 22 (irq 5) uhci2 at pci0 dev 29 function 2 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 8 int 18 (irq 3) uhci3 at pci0 dev 29 function 3 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 8 int 23 (irq 10) ehci0 at pci0 dev 29 function 7 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 8 int 21 (irq 9) usb0 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0 uhub0 at usb0 "Intel EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1 ppb3 at pci0 dev 30 function 0 "Intel 82801BA Hub-to-PCI" rev 0xe1 pci4 at ppb3 bus 4 auich0 at pci0 dev 30 function 2 "Intel 82801GB AC97" rev 0x01: apic 8 int 23 (irq 10), ICH7 AC97 ac97: codec id 0x41445374 (Analog Devices AD1981B) ac97: codec features headphone, 20 bit DAC, No 3D Stereo audio0 at auich0 ichpcib0 at pci0 dev 31 function 0 "Intel 82801GB LPC" rev 0x01: PM disabled pciide0 at pci0 dev 31 function 1 "Intel 82801GB IDE" rev 0x01: DMA, channel 0 configured to compatibility, channel 1 configured to compatibility pciide0: channel 0 ignored (disabled) pciide0: channel 1 ignored (disabled) pciide1 at pci0 dev 31 function 2 "Intel 82801GB SATA" rev 0x01: DMA, channel 0 configured to native-PCI, channel 1 configured to native-PCI pciide1: using apic 8 int 20 (irq 5) for native-PCI interrupt wd0 at pciide1 channel 0 drive 0: <ST3808110AS 41N3267 LEN> wd0: 16-sector PIO, LBA48, 76324MB, 156312576 sectors wd0(pciide1:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 6 ichiic0 at pci0 dev 31 function 3 "Intel 82801GB SMBus" rev 0x01: SMI iic0 at ichiic0 spdmem0 at iic0 addr 0x50: 512MB DDR2 SDRAM non-parity PC2-4200CL5 spdmem1 at iic0 addr 0x52: 512MB DDR2 SDRAM non-parity PC2-4200CL5 usb1 at uhci0: USB revision 1.0 uhub1 at usb1 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb2 at uhci1: USB revision 1.0 uhub2 at usb2 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb3 at uhci2: USB revision 1.0 uhub3 at usb3 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb4 at uhci3: USB revision 1.0 uhub4 at usb4 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 isa0 at ichpcib0 isadma0 at isa0 com0 at isa0 port 0x3f8/8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5 pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61 midi0 at pcppi0: <PC speaker> spkr0 at pcppi0 lpt0 at isa0 port 0x378/4 irq 7 npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: reported by CPUID; using exception 16 mtrr: Pentium Pro MTRR support umass0 at uhub0 port 8 configuration 1 interface 0 "Option Wireless Technology GlobeTrotter Icon322" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 2 umass0: using SCSI over Bulk-Only scsibus0 at umass0: 2 targets, initiator 0 cd0 at scsibus0 targ 1 lun 0: <ZCOPTION, Icon 322, 1.00> SCSI2 5/cdrom removable uhidev0 at uhub1 port 2 configuration 1 interface 0 "Plus More Enterprise LTD. USB-compliant keyboard" rev 1.10/1.00 addr 2 uhidev0: iclass 3/1 ukbd0 at uhidev0: 8 modifier keys, 6 key codes wskbd0 at ukbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0 uhidev1 at uhub1 port 2 configuration 1 interface 1 "Plus More Enterprise LTD. USB-compliant keyboard" rev 1.10/1.00 addr 2 uhidev1: iclass 3/1, 3 report ids uhid0 at uhidev1 reportid 1: input=2, output=0, feature=0 uhid1 at uhidev1 reportid 2: input=1, output=0, feature=0 ums0 at uhidev1 reportid 3: 0 button, Z dir wsmouse0 at ums0 mux 0 vscsi0 at root scsibus1 at vscsi0: 256 targets softraid0 at root root on wd0a swap on wd0b dump on wd0b
From some reading on various posts, it appears that in FreeBSD and some Linux flavors, you can compile this program to change the mode of the modem. People online seemed to have "given up" compiling this for OpenBSD. I suspect that the underlying problem is that the libraries are not compatible.
4. Compiling
I'm open to compiling some c code, etc.; within limits.
Alright, that method doesn't appear to work for you.. again, a userland device mode switcher is NOT available on OpenBSD.
You'll have better luck sending usbdevs -v output to the mailing lists, alone with a dmesg, perhaps someone can assist you in patching the appropriate driver.
|Thread Tools
|Display Modes
Linear Mode
|Similar Threads
|Thread Starter
|Last Post
|[3G modem] HDM EC122 installation
|General Hardware
|16th July 2010 10:50 PM
|modem network.
|OpenBSD General
|15th March 2010 12:06 PM
|Modem PPPoE vs OpenBSD PPPoE
|OpenBSD Security
|15th June 2008 10:07 PM
|proftpd and ppp modem
|General software and network
|11th June 2008 11:33 AM
|USB EV-DO modem support
|FreeBSD General
|6th June 2008 09:50 PM


text:
Could Take-Two be giving 2K Boston back their unique identity? A trademark application for Irrational Boston seems to point in that direction.
Irrational Games was purchased by Take-Two back in early 2006, and then were "rewarded" with a name change to 2K Boston and 2K Australia in November of 2007, following the success of the original BioShock. Now a trademark application filed on March 27th for the name Irrational Boston, along with some t-shirts that were floating around during the Game Developers Conference last week (as seen on Joystiq) seem to be pointing towards a changing of the names.
While the trademark application and the t-shirts are certainly not a definitive announcement, it would be nice to see Irrational's name popping up in our posts once again. Besides, this way Take-Two could re-reward them the 2K Boston name once BioShock 2 comes out. Everybody's happy!
Take-Two has filed a trademark registration for Irrational Boston [Superannuation]