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Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates to Offer New Wireless Services for Hotel Guests
Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates to Offer New Wireless Services for Hotel Guests
Aruba Networks' Wireless LAN solution Equips Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates, with Secure, High Speed and Reliable Wireless Internet Services
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Kempinski Hotel at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai has partnered with Aruba Networks, Inc. (NAS: ARUN) to provide upgraded wireless network access to meet the growing demand for secure and high speed wireless internet access by hotel guests who carry a multitude of devices ranging from smart phones, tablets, gaming devices, and music players to notebooks. Aruba Networks has upgraded the legacy network at the luxurious alpine-themed retreat to the latest 802.11n technology to deliver the network requirements of today's business and leisure travellers who demand reliable connectivity for high bandwidth intensive applications. Combining comfort with convenience, the upgrade will enable the Kempinski hotel to increase the range of wireless services offered to include features such as IPTV, complimentary internet access in suites and enhanced guest services.
Kempinski Hotel at Mall of the Emirates is one of the Kempinski group's flagship properties, combining shopping, entertainment and dining options with 5-star accommodations, including luxury ski chalets. (Photo: Business Wire)
Kempinski Hotel at Mall of the Emirates is one of the Kempinski group's flagship properties, combining shopping, entertainment and dining options with 5-star accommodations, including luxury ski chalets. Kempinski selected Aruba Networks to ensure that its IT team could incorporate future-proof options to not only centrally manage and configure all access points within one location, but also to ensure efficient management of both hotel guest and staff wireless connectivity demands.
Prasanna Rupasinghe, Director of Information Technology at Kempinski Hotel, said: "The satisfaction of our guests is of the utmost importance and, for many travellers today, that means the ability to securely and reliably connect to personal applications and hotel services wirelessly. With the solution provided by Aruba we can be confident in the speed and reliability of our connection in the hotel, and also introduce new features that make us stand out as a modern luxury retreat."
The partnership adds the Kempinski Hotels group to Aruba's growing portfolio of customers in the Middle East and further demonstrates the company's strength in providing mobility solutions and wireless Internet connectivity at work and in leisure environments. The 802.11n solution installed at Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates comprises more than 400 wall-mounted units of multi-service AP93Hs and 63 AP105 access points to provide reliable wireless connectivity in high traffic areas such as corridors and meeting rooms, as well as Aruba's 6000 Mobility Controllers for network scalability, security and access management.
Ammar Enaya, General Manager for Middle East at Aruba Networks, added: "Our work with Kempinski reinforces our expertise in providing network solutions to customers that demand the utmost in reliability, security and scalability across their wireless network infrastructures. Our technology provides the flexibility that Kempinski needs to make sure that guests have first class internet access in the hotel and IT support teams are equipped to manage the demands on the network from both the company and visitors."
About Kempinski Hotels
Created in 1897, Kempinski Hotels is Europe's oldest luxury hotel group. Kempinski's rich heritage of impeccable personal service and superb hospitality is complemented by the exclusivity and individuality of its properties. Kempinski now comprises a portfolio of 73 five-star hotels in 31 countries and continues to add new properties in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Each one reflects the strength and success of the Kempinski brand without losing sight of its heritage. The portfolio includes historic landmark properties, award-winning urban lifestyle hotels, outstanding resorts, and prestigious residences. Each one imbues the quality guests have come to expect from Kempinski while embracing the cultural traditions of its location. Kempinski is a founding member of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the world's largest alliance of independent hotels.
About Aruba Networks, Inc.
Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company's Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture unifies wired and wireless network infrastructures into one seamless access solution for corporate headquarters, mobile business professionals, remote workers and guests. This unified approach to access networks enables IT organizations and users to securely address the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon, dramatically improving productivity and lowering capital and operational costs.
Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.
© 2012 Aruba Networks, Inc. Aruba Networks' trademarks include the design mark for AirWave, Aruba Networks®, Aruba Wireless Networks®, the registered Aruba the Mobile Edge Company logo, the registered AirWave logo, Aruba Mobility Management System®, Mobile Edge Architecture®, People Move. Networks Must Follow®, RFProtect®, Green Island®. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130108007099/en/
Aruba Networks, Inc.
Dayle Hall, +1-408-754-8059
Senior Director, Corporate Marketing
Aruba Networks, Inc.
Manish Bhardwaj, +971 50 495 6143
Marketing Manager
KEYWORDS: United Arab Emirates United States North America California Middle East
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As always, start simple. I took a fresh Windows VMImage and loaded WAS V126.96.36.199 and DB2 V9.5. I then installed the Trade 6 application which worked superbly well.
Now let's look at Figure 1 :
So the Windows VM, as I mentioned, had WAS, the Trade Application and DB2 in it. My intention was to use IBM Workload Deployer V3 to provision a new database in the cloud, migrate the trade data to it, and modify the WAS datasource to point to the new database.
Having re-populated the Trade database successfully after initial installation, I logged in as uid:0 and decided to make a few changes from the default values. Note in Figure 2 that I changed the full name, email and also made a few bucks on buying/selling some stock!
As a basis for this migration I used the following document :
According to the link above, the migration begins with a 2-step process : db2move and db2look.
The db2move utility retrieves a list of all user tables in a database from the system catalog. It then exports these tables in PC/IXF format, which is a version of an adaptation of the Integration Exchange Format (IXF) data interchange architecture.
The db2look utility extracts the DDL statements that are required to reproduce database objects on a different system.
On the command line I entered : db2move tradedb export
Action: EXPORT
Start time: Fri Nov 04 12:04:23 2011Connecting to database TRADEDB ... successful! Server : DB2 Common Server V9.5.1
Binding package automatically ... C:\PROGRA~2\IBM\SQLLIB\BND\DB2COMMON.BND ... successful!
Binding package automatically ... C:\PROGRA~2\IBM\SQLLIB\BND\DB2MOVE.BND ... successful!
EXPORT: 46 rows from table "ADMINISTRATOR"."ACCOUNTEJB"
EXPORT: 46 rows from table "ADMINISTRATOR"."ACCOUNTPROFILEEJB"
EXPORT: 234 rows from table "ADMINISTRATOR"."HOLDINGEJB"
EXPORT: 3 rows from table "ADMINISTRATOR"."KEYGENEJB"
EXPORT: 236 rows from table "ADMINISTRATOR"."ORDEREJB"
EXPORT: 1000 rows from table "ADMINISTRATOR"."QUOTEEJB"
EXPORT: 1 rows from table "SYSTOOLS"."STMG_DBSIZE_INFO"
Disconnecting from database ... successful!
End time: Fri Nov 04 12:04:25 2011
A DIR showed that these files had been created :
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 353 db2move.lst
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 876 EXPORT.out
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 16,058 tab1.ixf
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 146 tab1.msg
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 15,919 tab2.ixf
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 146 tab2.msg
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 27,622 tab3.ixf
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 147 tab3.msg
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 4,627 tab4.ixf
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 145 tab4.msg
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 58,689 tab5.ixf
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 147 tab5.msg
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 135,595 tab6.ixf
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 148 tab6.msg
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 4,391 tab7.ixf
11/04/2011 12:04 PM 145 tab7.msg
I then ran the db2look : C:\temp>db2look -d tradedb -e -a -o db2look.sql
-- Generate statistics for all creators
-- Creating DDL for table(s)
-- Output is sent to file: db2look.sql
-- Binding package automatically ...
-- Bind is successful
-- Binding package automatically ...
-- Bind is successful
To create a new copy of this database in the cloud I needed to run these three steps :
1) create a database called tradedb in the cloud2) run db2look with the previously created db2look.sh
3) run db2move with the rest of the files
Within IBM Workload Deployer it is possible to deploy Virtual Systems or Virtual Applications depending on your requirements. Because of the need to run scripts to populate the database with the trade data, a Virtual System is a much better fit in this case. Virtual Systems on IWD give you the ability to run script packages. One existing script package was available to create a database of my choosing (in this case tradedb). I needed to create two script packages to run the db2look and db2move.
Creating a script package basically involves writing a cbscript.json file and compressing that file, together with any other required files, into a ZIP. The ZIP is uploaded to IWD and during deployment is sent to the virtual system, unpacked and executed.
For db2look, this is my cbscript.json :
[ {
"name": "DB2Look",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "This script package runs db2look to re-populate a tradeDb",
"command": "/bin/sh /tmp/db2look.sh",
"log": "/tmp",
"location": "/tmp",
"timeout": "240",
"commandargs": "",
"scriptkey": "",
"scriptvalue": "",
"scriptdefaultvalue": ""]}]}
To begin with I tried to run the db2look directly from the json script but kept getting an execution failure (DB21007E). I tracked this down to the fact that I needed to run dos2unix on the db2look.sql file because of file mismatches between dos and unix. I created a shell script called db2look.sh and called this from the json :
su root -c "dos2unix db2look.sql"
su db2inst1 -c "/opt/ibm/db2/V9.7/bin/db2 -tvf /tmp/db2look.sql"
I then zipped up the cbscript.json, db2look.sql and db2look.sh.
Db2move proved a little easier. This is the cbscript.json contents :
[ {
"name": "DB2Move",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "This script package runs db2move to re-populate a tradeDb",
"command": "/opt/ibm/db2/V9.7/bin/db2move",
"log": "/tmp",
"location": "/tmp",
"timeout": "240",
"commandargs": "tradedb load",
"scriptkey": "",
"scriptvalue": "",
"scriptdefaultvalue": ""
As before I zipped up the cbscript.json file and all the files previously created with the db2move export command.
Next, I logged in to IBM Workload Deployer (IWD) and created the two script packages for db2look and db2move.
I then created new virtual system pattern
called tradeDb repopulate and added my new script packages together with the IBM-supplied one to create the tradedb.
I decided to order the execution of the script packages to make sure they ran in the correct order :
then deployed to cloud. After a short while I could check that the script packages had successfully ran :
modify the Trade datasource to point to the new remote database (Figure 8) :
I then retested the Trade Application. It performed flawlessly, and logging back in as uid:0 you will observe that the details I changed before migration have obviously been retained.

subset: commoncrawl


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maybe is an adverb; may be is a verb.Originally Posted by vladz
verb: It may be ('may be' comes after the subject "It")
adverb: Maybe it ('maybe' comes before the subject "It")
EX: Maybe you should call John. (Subject "you")
EX: John may be at work. (Subject "John")
maybe, like other adverbs, can also occur in other positions in the sentence:
EX: It's going to rain, maybe.
EX: It maybe is going to rain.
EX: Maybe it's going to rain.
When in doubt, if you are not sure if you should use 'maybe' or 'may be', try moving 'maybe/may be' to the end of the sentence:
EX: John at work, maybe. (Incorrect. There is no verb after "John", so 'may be' should be two words and it should come after the subject: John may be at work.)
EX: You should call John, maybe. (Correct. 'maybe' should be one word)


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School tour slated for Thursday, Jan. 10 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Check in at the front office and meet at the campus library. Learn more about the international baccalaureate (IB) program and all that MBHS has to offer. Meet the IB coordinator, staff and parents while learning about opportunities for students in academics, sports, technology, fine arts, science and the IB program. For more information about the tour, call (858) 273-1313, or email Doug McIntosh at email@example.com.
A PBMS prospective parent tour is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 10 from 8 to 10 a.m. Join the PBMS tour to learn more about the school's highly-acclaimed international baccalaureate program and tour the campus. Check in at the front office. Parking will be available in the Felspar Street lot.
• Friends of Pacific Beach Elementary School monthly meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at
6 p.m in. Room 9. All are welcome, childcare will be provided.
• PBE's annual Intramural Four-Square Tournament takes place between Jan. 14 and Jan. 18.
• PB Elementary School tour takes place Thursday, Jan. 17 at 8 a.m. Meet at the front office. Join a tour of the school and learn about all PB Elementary has to offer.
School-choice applications are now available online to select your school of choice for the 2013-14 school year. Crown Point Junior Music Academy school tours are now available every Thursday at 8 a.m. for kindergartners through second grade and at 10:20 a.m. for third through fifth grades. Learn about the great music programs, visit classrooms and meet the staff. For more information or to set up an appointment for a tour, school secretary Cathy at (858) 273-9830.
• Mission Bay Cluster meeting on Thursday, Jan. 10 at 6 p.m. at Crown Point Junior Music Academy. Hear the latest up-dates about the six schools in Pacific Beach.
• Interested in learning more about your local Pacific Beach schools? Visit the Mission Bay Cluster All-Schools Fair on Saturday, Jan. 26 from noon to
3 p.m. at Mission Bay High. Pacific Beach (Mission Bay Cluster) schools include Kate Sessions Elementary School, Pacific Beach Elementary School, Crown Point Junior Music Academy, Barnard Mandarin-Chinese Magnet Elementary School (a new addition to the cluster), Pacific Beach Middle School and Mission Bay High School. All schools will have informational booths, activities for children and performances throughout the afternoon. The huge fair will be the perfect opportunity for interested parents and students to meet the principals of each school and learn about the wide range of programs offered locally. The international baccalaureate (IB) progam will be highlighted at MBHS, PB Middle and Kate Sessions Elementary, as well as the music programs at Crown Point, the GATE/Seminar program at PB Elementary and the Mandarin Chinese Magnet program at Barnard.
For more information on Pacific Beach Middle School and Mission Bay High School, visit www.fopbss.org. Find past news, upcoming events, ways to volunteer and a link to donate to local school causes.


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Marigolds are associated with Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. It is said that their vibrant yellow colors guide spirits into the afterlife.
The marigold is also called the "herb of the sun", representing passion and even creativity. It's also said to symbolize cruelty, grief, and jealousy; another meaning being mourning, sorrow, and despair.
This article is a stub. Please help Symbolism Wiki by expanding it.
No annual is more cheerful or easier to grow than marigolds - Rosingly. These flowers are the spendthrifts among annuals, showing a wealth of gold, copper, and brass into our summer and autumn gardens. The flower's popularity probably derives in part from its ability to bloom brightly all summer long.
Marigolds have daisy-like or double, carnation-like flowerheads and are produced singly or in clusters. Although there are some 50 species, some marigolds we know come from just three:
Tagetes erecta are the tallest, at three to five feet. They are sometimes known as African, or American, marigolds.
Bushy T. patula, or French marigolds, are somewhat smaller and more compact. Elegant and eye-catching, they have relatively demure flowers and usually grow from 6 inches to 2 feet tall.
The dainty T. tenuifolia are the signet, or rock-garden, marigolds that like hot, dry sites and make a wonderful edging. Their flowers are edible.
Marigolds have been sterotyped but they offer tremendous variety; some have fantastic aroma; all marigolds are good in containers and provide long-lasting cut flowers.
- Marigolds need lots of sunshine.
- Though they grow in almost any soil, marigolds thrive in moderately fertile, well-drained soil.
- Sow them directly into the garden once the soil is warm, or start seeds indoors about a month to 6 weeks before the last spring-frost date.
- The seeds germinate easily, but watch out for damping off if you start them inside.
- Separate seedlings when they are about 2 inches tall. Plant them in flats of loose soil, or transplant them into the garden.
- Space tall marigolds 2 to 3 feet apart; lower-growing ones about a foot apart.
- If planting in containers, use a soil-based potting mix; during growing season, water freely and apply a balanced liquid fertilizer weekly.
- Germination from large, easily handled seeds is rapid, and blooms should appear within a few weeks of sowing.
- If the spent blossoms are deadheaded, the plants will continue to bloom profusely.
- Do not fertilize marigolds. Too rich a diet stimulates lush foliage at the expense of flowers. Marigolds bloom better and more profusely in poor soil.
- The densely double flowerheads of the African marigolds tend to rot in wet weather.
Farmers and gardeners have long known that marigolds make important companion plants all over the garden. Not only does the scent of the marigold (Tagetes spp.) repel animals and insects, but the underground workings of the marigold will repel nematodes (microscopic worms) and other pests for up to 3 years.
Marigolds themselves are hearty but may be prone to gray mold, bacterial leaf spot, powdery mildew, Alternaria leaf spot, damping off, and root rot.
Harvest/Design Cost/Storage
- In flower arrangements, strip off any leaves that might be under water in the vase; this will discourage the overly pungent odor.
- Marigolds can be dried for long-lasting floral arrangements. Strip foliage from perfect blossoms and hang them upside down.
Cooking Notes
- The bright petals of signet marigolds add color and a spicy tang to salads and other summer dishes.
- The flower petals are sometimes cooked with rice to impart the color (but unfortunately not the flavor) of saffron.
- 'Mexican Mint' (sometimes called Texas tarragon) is a study little herb that can be substituted for French tarragon in cooking. This species has been long used in Latin America for tea as well as seasoning.
Wit & Wisdom
- In the late 1960s, Burpee president David Burpee launched an energetic campaign to have marigolds named the national flower, but in the end, roses won out.
- For years, farmers have included the open-pollinated African marigold 'Crackerjack' in chicken feed to make egg yolks a darker yellow


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Comedian Beppe Grillo Wants to Be Taken Seriously
Beppe Grillo, founder of the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement, spoke to WSJ's Giada Zampano in Verona, as he hits Italian piazzas in his "tsunami" tour. Photo: Getty Images
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... or was ... that it expects something glamorous ... turn out to the tsunami tool which is Arturo Italian-made UPS ... has been doubly ... to move its growth is exponential ... noted in India ... and what I see it again it's a virus that is expanding ... our rivals don't have the fuel ... they don't know who to dealing with ... he will be defeated and we'll send them home ... they'd get off ... my factor at play a sport I don't wish to pray ... he's not just destroy this country ... to the region's recession with an unsustainable debt ... any economic vested by this government would make things worse ... we will introduce new ideas energy policies in the economy added one level this economy and energy ... this is not a political movement aimed at replacing the current political establishment with another one ... this is a civic movement ... of which are then the timing was good on court of law ... or the kid is really happening icon in the ... years from now to realize that we accomplished starting from scratch in only three years with no money on it ... given that it was another Lafarge purported to give him praise ... we became close ... to forcing it to the music online elections choose out and that it's ... it's fantastic ... yet mean a lot I didn't bottom until we got ready to step it ... will open ... on the election just not time to achieve about that ... with anyone to stop the roll please them ... and deals with US's ... biggest the world the money goes the winds the mistresses of a deal that would reduce dangerous ... Realty record ... this will be like computers connected ... a bit of a chain of the storm according to the millions of people ... outside the column ... a will be on the way to build on them with the proposals ... until after


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The Theatre Group at SBCC presents ARSENIC AND OLD LACE
The Theatre Group at SBCC will present the classic comedy, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, by Joseph Kesselring and directed by Katie Laris, July 9-26 in the beautiful Garvin Theatre.
Abby and Martha are two charming old ladies with a deadly habit of sharing their arsenic-laced elderberry wine with all their lonely gentlemen callers. When their nephew Mortimer, a drama critic on the eve of his engagement, finds the body of one of their victims, he soon discovers that his whole family is insane. Between one brother's belief that he is Teddy Roosevelt, and another on the lam from an international crime spree and his two homicidal aunts, Mortimer is forced to put his marriage plans on hold indefinitely, until he can restore some degree of sanity into the household.
Arsenic and Old Lace will feature John Brindle, Jay Carlander, Samantha Eve, Ed Lee, Linda MacNeal, Edward K. Romine, Donal Ross, Matt Schuster, Christopher Short, Leslie Ann Story, Brad Strickland, Allan Stewart-Oaten, Jerry Vassallo and Tim Whitcomb.
Performances will be July 9-26, Thursday through Saturday @ 7:30pm, Sundays @ 2pm. Previews on July 9 & 10 @ 7:30pm. The Sunday, July 13, 2pm performance will be live-captioned for the hearing-impaired. All performances have the assisted listening system available and the Garvin Theatre is wheelchair accessible. Ticket prices are: Previews $16 general/$13 seniors/$8 students, Thursday evening and Sunday matinees $22 general/$17 seniors/$12 students, Friday and Saturday evenings $24 general/$19 seniors/$15 students. Parking is free and near the Theatre. For information or reservations call the Garvin Theatre Box Office at 805-965-5935 or purchase tickets online at www.theatregroupsbcc.com.
Event Details
- Organizer/Sponsor: Theatre Group
- Starts: July 24, 2014 7:30pm Thursday through Saturday, 2:00pm Sun. Matinees
- Price: $12-$24
- Location: Garvin Theatre, SBCC West Campus, 900 block of Cliff Dr.
- Website: http://www.theatregroupsbcc.com


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Ginseng dealer gets probation
Ginseng dealer gets probation
DAVENPORT, Iowa —
An eastern Iowa ginseng dealer has been sentenced to two years of probation for conspiring to buy and sell illegally harvested ginseng.
A federal judge on Friday ordered Jeffrey Sargent of Lamont to stay out of the ginseng trade during his probation.
Prosecutors say Sargent in 2010 and 2011 bought ginseng from sellers who he knew that obtained the medicinal root illegally and without the required state permits.
He then sold the ginseng to a fur and trading company in Minnesota, obtaining $10,000 in those two years.
Sargent pleaded guilty to the felony conspiracy charge under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources regulates the harvest and export of ginseng and helped investigate the case.


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Two Queensland police officers have been attacked during a raid on a property where drugs were later found.
The officers were called to a disturbance at the Toowoomba property, west of Brisbane, on Sunday afternoon.
When they arrived a man and a woman attacked them. The officers eventually managed to restrain the pair.
A subsequent search of the property uncovered drugs and drug-related chemicals.
The man, 34, and woman, 36, have both been charged with assaulting and obstructing police. The man will face the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday, the woman on January 22.


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LAS VEGAS — Attention Hollywood casting agents: Seth Rogen is looking for someone to play the part of baby North in the next Kim Kardashian-Kanye West spoof with pal James Franco.
The 31-year-old actor made the press rounds Thursday at CinemaCon in Las Vegas to promote his upcoming movie, "The Interview" (co-starring Franco).
"Michael Cera would be good," joked Rogen. "Get Annie Leibovitz to take the pictures."
Rogen says he's "a huge fan of Kanye West" and that's at the heart of his mimicry.
"I'm like just really into his music, and when we made the original (spoof of West's "Bound 2″ music video featuring Kardashian), we were filming 'The Interview' in Vancouver and we kept trying to go to Kanye West shows that kept getting canceled or the dates kept changing and it happened like two or three times. We were just talking about him all the time and then the video came out so we were just like, 'Let's just try to do that.'"
Their remake, titled "Bound 3," featured a topless Rogen doing his best Kardashian impression on a motorcycle driven by Franco as West.
Most recently, the pair spoofed Vogue's April cover photo — featuring Kardashian and West — by Leibovitz. Franco's head is seen on West's body and Rogan's face is seen on the reality star.
— Jessica Herndon, Associated Press


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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Food Fighter
I'm always willing to cop to my somewhat retrogressive knee-jerk reactions, so here goes.
Last night I happened to catch a few minutes of the season premiere of chef Jamie Oliver's ABC reality series, Food Revolution. The basic premise of the show is that Jamie travels across America doing essentially the same thing he's become both famous and notorious for in his native Britain: trying to educate people about the dangers of the processed foods they're eating and drag them, kicking and screaming if necessary, toward a more healthy diet, all in the name of combating the dreaded "obesity epidemic." It should surprise no one that Jamie concentrates a substantial portion of his effort on what kids eat -- specifically what schools feed to kids. Obviously at face value this is an inarguably noble cause.
It should be said that I'm actually a big fan of Jamie Oliver's. I used to watch his BBC show The Naked Chef semi-religiously; I bought several of his cookbooks and I always admired not only his technique as a chef but his philosophy of teaching people to cook rather than simply training them to adhere to recipes and mimic styles. In other words, I'm always more than willing to give Jamie the benefit of the doubt. But something about the tone of last night's show, and maybe the show in general, really irked the hell out of me.
You'd be a fool to deny that we have a very serious problem with obesity -- particularly childhood obesity -- in this country. While I've argued plenty of times before about the media's irrepressibly giddy lust for slapping the term "epidemic" on any and every problem that affects a large enough group, there are far too many obscenely overweight people across this great land of ours and if you think it's simply a personal decision that affects no one but them and the Wal-Mart scooters whose suspension systems they push to the point of collapse, think again; the fact is that you and I ultimately pay for the health issues all that weight brings with it, even if we're not the ones packing on the pounds (which statistics say we likely are at this point). We pay via higher health insurance premiums, higher prices from businesses forced to either accommodate the obese or work around the days off from work they're inevitably forced to take, and more strain on Medicare. According to one statistic, if the obesity rate in this country continues to climb, by 2018 it will cost America $344 billion annually. So, yeah, it's our collective best interest as a nation to slim the hell down.
So why did it bug me to watch Jamie Oliver condescendingly castigate the owner of an independent restaurant in Los Angeles for having the temerity to serve milkshakes that contain actual ice cream as opposed to, say, yogurt and fruit? That's exactly what happened at one point, with Jamie seeming exasperated at the notion that someone would want to serve a customer a milkshake if that's what he or she orders. "That's not a milkshake; that's a smoothie," the restaurant owner says. "But why does it have to be? It's a milkshake," Jamie responds. I get that Jamie Oliver is undertaking the herculean task of trying to get us to change the way we think about the food we eat on a level that's DNA-deep, but I couldn't help but think that the hapless guy trying to run the restaurant aimed at, oh I don't know, giving people what they ask for, was right and his inquisitor from across the pond was wrong. People should be encouraged to buy smoothies rather than milkshakes; each of us should know what one can do to our health versus the other. But if somebody wants a milkshake, that person should be able to get a freaking milkshake. Once again, while there's an argument to be made that I'll eventually pay for the ingestion of too many shakes one way or the other, I'm not sure I or anyone else should be denied something that's harmless in moderation just because somebody else can't control him or herself and treats fatty foods like cocaine.
Jamie Oliver's biggest push, though, is something he and his army of acolytes have been following up for the last 14 hours or so via the circulation of a petition on Twitter. Jamie's white whale of the night -- one which keeps jumping out of the water as the series progresses -- was of course school cafeterias, mostly because they've got a captive audience and have a monumental impact on how someone's diet develops throughout his or her life. So what do Jamie & Co. want? No "sugary milk" in school cafeterias. In other words, they want to see chocolate milk, strawberry milk, any milk besides just plain old milk banned. Again, I get the argument that little good comes from giving kids milk that pumps them full of sugar and empty calories, but is an outright ban on it really the way to go? What about the child who just likes chocolate milk and can actually handle drinking a carton of it without ballooning into a mocha-colored Violet Beauregarde? At what point do we draw the line? At what point do we decide to stop protecting some at the expense of the legitimate desires of others?
I'm all for healthier options at America's schools; that and food education are musts at this point in our evolution as a nation. But there's a difference between an option and a mandate. And while it makes sense for Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolutionaries to fire all guns at once with the understanding that it may be what's required to effect even a small amount of necessary change, there's still something decidedly draconian about pushing to reflexively relieve us of our freedom of choice when it comes to what we eat.
Now, who's up for an In-N-Out Double-Double?
Related: DXM: Feast of Burden/11.25.09
28 comments:
or work around the days off from work they're inevitably forced to take,
Just for the record, because anecdote is the plural of data, I'm fat and my hypochondriac skinny co-worker is always out sick, calling her doctor, scheduling appointments because she's got a fever of (gasp) 100, or a runny nose, etc etc etc. I haven't been to the doctor more than once a year for the annual physical in... ever.
I'm guessing most fat people don't go to the doctor because it's generally humiliating and uncomfortable. I sure as hell avoid it.
I promise you I will do my absolute best to get taken down by a massive coronary, thereby avoiding any medical care and also kicking up anyone else's premiums.
Finally, I can comment with substance!
See, I live in Huntington, WV, home of football teams that fall from the sky and Jamie's first American food revolution. I am also a teacher in said town.
I wish I could speak to the true success or failure of his mission, but I don't think its been Langdon enough to say. From school to school the reaction is different. In some schools the food actually improved, even in taste. In others, the cooks just didn't "get it" and make everything as bland as possible.
In town, fresh local produce is more available as well as local "more organic" meats. Healthier places have got more press.
BUT there is major resentment among a lot of the populace. Maybe because we are West Virginians and that is sometimes just what we do, even with ourselves. Maybe because Oliver did have to strongarm his way into some of the less receptive schools.
Personally, I think he made a positive impact here. That said, he wasn't going around snatching away people's milkshakes and we still have heavenly strawberry milk.
- VOTAR said...
The issue of school lunches is dicey-er than that simple topic though. Kids in school are something of a captive audience, without the kind of choice an adult might have available, and are at much greater risk because physically they are still developing and what ingredients they consume matters a bit more.
And, for the last few decades at least there has been a trend toward privatization of school lunch programs, to the point that many cafeterias are little more than food courts operated by fast food franchises. The school boards look at the money saved, not so much at the nutritional content of the meals. So in this arena, Oliver makes a very good case, albeit in a rather douchey way.
Well put sir. I could stand to lose 20 or so pounds and know what I should and shouldn't eat, but, sometimes I just feel the need for the Supersonic Double cheeseburger in all of it's glorious, greasy goodness. It's the nutritional equivalent to smoking a bowl of crack, but whatever. I know it's bad for me and that I may pay for it in other ways. I also hate it when someone sanctimoniously tries to tell me how I should eat and live. I absolutely despised the smarmy prick in the Truth commercials from a few years ago, to the point where I would go and smoke when they came on. I think Michael Pollan's books do a pretty good job of putting the information on nutrition and food production out there and letting people make their own decisions without a lot of preaching.
- The Bacon said...
I don't have a problem at all with telling kids what they can and can't eat.
If a school is full of a bunch of lard ass kids, it shouldn't take Jamie Oliver to deal with it. The principal or Cafeteria manager should have dealt with it long before he got there.
Maybe it's also the American adaptation of his television show that's pushing him to be more 'draconian', because that's what he has to be to work on U.S. television.
I know the British version of his, and even Gordon Ramsay's, show (and most shows, for that matter) are more subtle (dare i say, intelligent) and less hit the audience/subjects over the head to make a point. A point which, yeah, is pretty admirable...
- Chez said...
Really, Bacon? That's odd coming from you. I thought you were a self-proclaimed "libertarian" or something like that.
- Becky said...
Thank you. This was bothering me as well. I drank chocolate milk and ate a sugary snack that my mom packed for me everyday for lunch until middle school. I've always stayed thin, maybe because when school was out we would play outside for hours.
Moderation and healthy lifestyles are what Jamie (who I really respect) should be advocating, more so than this condescending view he's adapted. I'm all for a healthy smoothie, but if I'm having a rough week and feel really stressed, I will absolutely down a pint of Ben & Jerry's and not feel bad about it.
- Chez said...
Great point, Jeff. If there's one thing we Americans love more than milkshakes, it's mindless conflict.
I watched the first episode of the first season last night and thought that while his intentions are noble he's going about it in a historically ineffective manner. I thought it was rather insulting how he went into the town and thought he could immediately impact change without taking into consideration any of the cultural or societal factors that had made them the fattest city in America in the first place. You can't just impose a set of standards on people and expect them to comply because it's the "superior" way to live. He's no better than the white anthropologists/missionaries who went into "savage" populations preaching a message of salvation from their wretched ways, and ended up eventually having their throats slit in the middle of the night or driven out by an angry mob. How little we learn from repeated lessons.
- The Bacon said...
I am chez, but they are the kids and we are the grown ups. We decide what is best for them.
When they become adults, then they get to decide what goes in their bodies. Until then, it's up to us.
I agree with you on milkshakes, Chez. Any adult should be allowed to get a damn milkshake whenever they want.
Not with you on school cafeterias, though. Given our country's childhood obesity numbers, and knowing that how a child eats growing up has a huge impact on their eating habits for the rest of their lives, our schools should be doing all they can to promote healthy foods. Yes, these things should be the responsibility of the parent, but so many parents don't even bother. My kid is 10, and I pack his lunch for him every day because the school cafeteria serves chicken nuggets & tater tots almost every week. And what kid wouldn't pick chocolate milk over plain milk? If a parent is cool with their kid having chocolate milk, then awesome. They can serve it at home.
And really, was it entirely necessary to bring up an In-N-Out Double Double? You bastard.
- Chez said...
Very fair point, Bacon -- and yes, I do understand the argument that if left to their own devices kids would eat garbage 24/7 (my own child would subsist totally on a diet of Skittles). But there's still something about the draconian nature of prohibition over education that gets to me.
- Deacon Blue said...
If an In-N-Out Double Double is something that involves two women and a double-headed dildo, yeah, I'm down for that.
(Sorry, feeling somewhat crunchy that I actually don't have an In-N-Out in this fucking state...or a Sonic...or a Jack-in-the-Box...or even a proper Popeye's--the one Popeye's we do have is at a restaurant and serves up cafeteria style)
- Deacon Blue said...
Ummm..."restaurant" should have been "rest stop." Guess I need to eat soon.
Fat chick weighs in (duh dum dum)
Now the restaurant owner is going to have to offer smoothies along with milkshakes and keep smoothies ingredients on hand that will go bad.
Now the bartering rate at school cafeterias will increase as will the black market trade of "goodies." I used to run a thriving business myself, and I can't be the only one that thought of it. That was back in the 80's, and I lived right next door to a candy store, and all the rich kids lived up on the hill and had alfalfa in their cubbards.
I watched the first episode in hopes of...change. Problem is I don't eat all that much. I eat about the same in calories as my friends who can see their toes without leaning forward. I maintain my current weight, just like skinny folks, but I don't lose weight (for the most part gained in two bouts of pregnancy).
None of my problems were addressed, like how expensive healthy foods are and how cheap crap is. I recall an episode of Biggest Loser where the trainer guy was sanctimoniously prepared to tell the fat mother of four how easy it would be to change her lifestyle, only to be confronted with the fact that she could feed her whole family a take-out pizza for $5 (I've done that many times...I did it last week). How can healthy food compete with that?
- CNNfan said...
I needed an inspiration, so I watched CNN. Then it hit me, if CNN professionals can do it, well then I can too, as a CNNfan. Why not? So, I googled the preferred body weight for a male model for my height. "To lose weight, you have to stay under 1200 calories a day.", advised my doctor during my physical exam checkup.
Ice cream, fast food and beer I gave up, to quickly drop the first ten pounds. "A haircut like a news anchor.", I told my hairstylist, and she knew exactly what I was talking about.
For the finishing touches on my CNN look, I enrolled in a class for six pack abs at the gym to learn how to do crunches with a medicine ball and stability ball. A few weeks later and twenty pounds lighter, "That's it, you got it! Don't lose any more weight than that.", said my certified fitness trainer.
My friends complimented me, but did not hesitate to embarrass me, "Now you're fit, but your clothes don't fit." Suddenly everything I own fits me loose and I'm the last to notice. Fantastic! It ought to be an awesome summer!
Totally off-topic, but important, I think: I follow your tweets. I clicked on your tweet of this article and was magically taken to HuffPo. Since I assume you don't get paid by HuffPo, wouldn't it be wise to link to your own blog, where clicks = ads = money? If it matters either way, please let me know.
- Chez said...
I tweeted both links at separate times, Trix.
I hate obese (not overweight, but obese) people. They are lazy and don't make tough choices, like opting for 1 big mac instead of 2. That being said, I completely agree that "there's a difference between an option and a mandate." In schools, I think they should mandate healthy food, and educate children on the importance of eating healthy, because kids are clearly not getting this education at home. Most kids are also not getting healthy food at home, so this way they would get at least 1 good meal a day. On the contrary, I think Mr. Oliver is wasting his time with restaurant owners. What next- is he going to have a meet and greet with the CEO of McDonald's? Restaurants and food manufacturers will continue to sell whatever they please as long as they continue to make money. It is the individual's responsibility to make the choice to have a generally healthy diet. In a perfect world, people would refuse to eat this crap and those places would go out of business. However, junk food triggers the same receptors in our brains as most illegal drugs do so I don't see people completely giving up junk food.. ever. However, if you are overweight, get off of your fat butt, go for a walk, and stop eating the majority of your calories from processed, high-fat food. Instead, eat some fruits and vegetables. A small McDonald's milkshake won't kill you, but going there twice a week and not exercising will.
Bottom-line: like your points, love Jamie Oliver's overall goal, hate obesity.
Back when I was a kid... we had phys ed class from first grade through end of high school - five days a week. I doubt there are many school districts in the country that come close to this in our must cut school budget mentality.
Another thing that bothers me is on a perfect spring afternoon - weekends or after school - I'll ask my wife what is missing? It's kids playing outside. Don't know if it is TV, video games or concern over safety; but unless it is an organized sport (that usually suck with parent coaches) you almost never see kids outside playing. Seems to me sitting on your ass is more of a problem than what you eat. My friends and I would eat anything but most all of us were skinny as a rails (some chubby, but not like what you see now). We would be constantly running around playing real or made up games.
- whatever said...
Putting aside the shock and awe I experienced at the size of Americans, the amount of crap food they consume, and the quantities dished up to them in restaurants, I was completely bowled over by the fact that said restaurants unashamedly do NOT cook from scratch. They buy pre-made stuff and heat it up and put it all together. This is "restaurant food"????
I had to spend a great deal more money than I would at home just to get a decent meal that looked/tasted like it was actually cooked on the premises.
American "recipes" are full of pre-made ingredients: a packet of this, plus a box of that, add in a packet of something else. That's NOT cooking!
Americans + food = Utterly and irretrievably clueless.
The average smoothie is really not much better for you than a milkshake. And they're not at all the same thing, so I'll disagree with Jamie Oliver on this as well.
I have to say, I also think improving school lunches won't make that big of a difference in childhood obesity rates. It mostly comes down to the parents. They're the ones controlling dinner and usually breakfast, as well as summertime meals. How often do you see an obese child trailing a couple of healthy looking parents? I can't think of ever seeing it happen.
We've got chubby kids in the family and you know how they got that way? Their mom and dad always give them adult sized portions and always put another helping of food on their plates if they ask for it. There's no kid portions, no 'are you sure you're really still hungry?' and no asking them to wait a few minutes for the food to hit their stomachs. They can and do eat whatever junk food they want with no limitations of any kind. It's endlessly frustrating to me. I was never a skinny kid (took after the wrong side of the family for that), but I was also never really overweight. And you know what? The same can be said for how I am at 28. We are very much as our parents teach us.
(Note: This is written by someone who has not seen his dick in several years)
Make fatties pay for being fat. Charge them more for health insurance, doctor services, and the like. When you sign-up, you weigh in. Very simple. Limit Medicare disbursements for fatties. I am a card-carrying, undiluted, FDR-New Deal-Great Society DEMO-crat, but this is an issue of personal responsibilty. Diet or die! Call out and beat down food processors and purveyors who load up carbs and fat in cheap, avaialble food stuffs. Do all the PSA's you want to help steer fatties away from the fodder. But, the decision to stuff something in one's pie-hole is a solo flight.
- J. Dack said...
I'll have my fries Animal Style thx.
Hey Chez, you're in the LA Times...
- Chez said...
Classic. I'll have to use a couple of those comments when I put together the usual post of outraged indignation at my silly little piece.
Maybe I sound like an old fart here - yeah, I know that food has a lot to do with the obesity in this country, but seriously, exercise should be stressed too. Unplug the damn video games and have your kids run around for a while.


text:
Vanderbilt University: Refusal to Approve Constitutions of Student Groups that Require Leaders to Share Beliefs
Category: Freedom of Conscience, Religious Liberty
Schools: Vanderbilt University
The Vanderbilt chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) was told in April 2011 that recognition of its constitution would be "deferred," and Vanderbilt claimed that the group's Statement of Faith violated university policies prohibiting organizations from selecting leaders based on religious belief. Vanderbilt even told CLS that it was not allowed to expect its leaders "to lead Bible studies, prayer and worship." Despite FIRE's September 2011 letter to Vanderbilt and the ensuing uproar in the local and national media and on campus, in January 2012 Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos persisted in the discriminatory treatment of belief-based student organizations, stating that membership must be open to everyone, even those who do not share the group's beliefs and seek to undermine it. By prohibiting groups from maintaining their identities, Vanderbilt is discriminating against political and religious organizations and violating its promises to its students. In spring 2012, Vanderbilt Catholic refused to affiliate with the university under the new policy and 11 other organizations flouted the policy in solidarity when they applied for recognition as belief-based groups.
Vid: "Harvard of the South," Vanderbilt, as Repressive as Harvard of the North
August 24, 2012
Here's a new video from ReasonTV alum (and maker of our Nanny of the Month vids) Ted Balaker and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Vanderbilt University, the self-proclaimed Harvard of the South, is meddling with freedom of association in a way that even the most hard-core aficianado of political correctness would find repugnant: From the writeup of the doc at YouTube: Religious and political groups in the United States have traditionally been free to choose their leaders and members without interference from authorities. That's no longer true at Vanderbilt University, where the school banned belief-based groups from making belief-based decisions about […]» Read More
Country Star Blasts Vanderbilt For Stifling Faith
August 22, 2012
Country music star Larry Gatlin, who lives across the street from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, charges the school has chosen the wrong path in its effort to control the membership and leadership of student organizations. "People in power over there are really trying to impose their religion, their worldview," he said in a new documentary about the dispute by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE. FIRE, which has battled with Vanderbilt over the issue, created the video to warn that other universities likely will follow the Nashville school's lead.University officials have adopted an "all-comers" policy for their campus, […]» Read More
Vanderbilt exiles evangelical Christians, Catholics
August 20, 2012
"You may hear the argument that Vanderbilt is discriminating against religious groups. I want to assure you that in my opinion, we are not." That's what Vanderbilt University provost Richard McCarty told a "town hall" meeting of Vanderbilt students during the one event in which Vanderbilt deigned to answer students' questions after passing a new "nondiscrimination" policy. We're talking about a policy so absurd that Vanderbilt itself says that religious student groups can no longer even require that their leaders conduct Bible studies because it implies that they have to believe in the Bible. Admittedly, it's hard to believe that […]» Read More
Religion on campus: Status of religious student groups is challenged by court ruling
July 13, 2012
The atmosphere in the crowded Vanderbilt University classroom was heated. Three men in suits sat at the front of the room one Tuesday night in January taking the brunt of student complaints about a nondiscrimination policy for campus clubs. The policy wasn't new, the men said, but the school wanted to fix some "loopholes" that had been in effect for years that gave students control over who could run their clubs. The school wanted any student to be able to lead or be a part of any campus club. The problem is, many religious clubs on campus adhere to strict […]» Read More
Sending Catholics Running for Cover
May 4, 2012
Religion and academia have never had an easy relationship. American conservatives often think of college professors as wildly left-wing, politically agitating atheists bent on undermining American, Western, and otherwise Judeo-Christian values. Right wing radio shock jocks frequently bemoan the university as a hotbed of liberal propaganda, spinning it as a battleground in the "war on religion" that the left is supposedly waging. These sorts of jeremiads against liberal fascism and its beef with belief have tended to huddle within the bastion of conservative rhetoric, generating little interest beyond those who already agree with it. Recently, however, the issue of religious […]» Read More
TN Legislature Seeks to Overturn Bizarre Vanderbilt Rule
May 3, 2012
Lawmakers in Tennessee have approved a bill that would effectively rescind Vanderbilt University's controversial policy requiring student groups to have completely open membership admittance and freedom to run for office within that group. The bill comes after Vanderbilt University took its policy to the extreme by informing a Christian studentgroup that its official recognition was to be revoked because it required its members to have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. "It just shows how radical the Vanderbilt administration has become in enforcing a policy that is nonsense," said Kim Colby, senior counsel for the Christian Legal Society's Center for […]» Read More
Vanderbilt University's Non-Discrimination Policy Causes Catholic Student Group To Leave Campus
April 2, 2012
by Tyler Kingkade The Huffington Post Vanderbilt University's Catholic student group is disaffiliating with the school due to a clash with the college's non-discrimination policy. Vandy Catholic, a group with 500 members, disagrees that they must permit non-Catholic students to serve in leadership positions. While Vandy Catholic isn't forced to give non-Catholic students leadership positions within the group, they aren't permitted to disqualify somebody because of their differing beliefs either. "Our policy requires that all students are presumed to be eligible for membership in registered student organizations and that all organization members in good standing are eligible to compete for leadership […]» Read More
Schools work to balance gay, religious rights
February 22, 2012
Dozens of colleges have scrutinized how on-campus Christian groups operate after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed a law school to deny funding to a Christian group that would not admit gays. The 2010 ruling touched on gay and religious rights on campus, and the tension is now at the center of a handful of disputes at colleges. A chapter of the Christian group InterVarsity at the University of Buffalo was temporarily suspended. The student government is evaluating its groups after a treasurer, who is gay, felt pressured to step down. The University of North Carolina is reviewing its student […]» Read More
Vandy's advice to clubs 'makes no sense'
February 3, 2012
by Bob Kellogg and Fred Jackson One News Now Vanderbilt University is continuing to defend its policy of forcing Christian clubs on campus to allow students who don't agree with Christian teachings to run for leadership positions in those organizations (see earlier story). The university held a campus meeting last night to hear varying points of view surrounding the school's requirement that Christian student organizations comply with its non-discrimination policy. The Christian groups have argued that the policy violates their right to be led by fellow believers who support their beliefs and principles, including sexual abstinence before marriage. Dr. […]» Read More
OK to discriminate against Christians, says law, Vandy
December 1, 2011
Four Christian groups at Vanderbilt University are "under a serious threat" from the legal and cultural climates and may soon be booted from the campus because of a new university policy that says they must accept anyone and everyone into their organizations. Vanderbilt adopted the policy after an on-campus Christian group expelled a member because of his homosexual relations (see earlier story). Robert Sibley of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) warns that an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case could do further damage "by specifically setting out the principle that religious groups can be discriminated against when it comes to […]» Read More
Private Universities and the Conflict Between Mission and Speech
July 15, 2013
Madeline Gootman is a FIRE summer intern. When private universities send out their shiny pamphlets to high school seniors, they highlight their commitment to all things politically correct and otherwise acceptable in academia. However, these commitments to civility, respect, and social comfort are often at odds with the broad promises of free speech that universities make to their incoming students. Unfortunately for students, too many private universities want to have it both ways, promising students the right to free speech and then violating that right when someone's speech proves too unpopular or controversial. Vanderbilt University's packet for recently admitted students […]» Read More
Student Column Urges Vanderbilt to Reconsider Stance on Belief-Based Groups
August 23, 2012
"Considering the damage it has done to the diversity of student organizations on campus, the policy deserves continued debate and Vanderbilt should reconsider its stance on the issue." That's what Vanderbilt University junior and 2011 FIRE intern Kenny Tan has to say about his school's controversial "all-comers" policy, implemented during the 2011–2012 school year and in full effect as students head back to campus this week. Yesterday, Kenny penned an article for The Vanderbilt Hustler explaining the policy for new students, who may not be familiar with the debate. Vandy's all-comers policy requires that all registered student groups accept any […]» Read More
FIRE's New Video Featured in 'Daily Caller'
August 20, 2012
Fresh off the release of our new short documentary, "Exiled from Vanderbilt: How Colleges Are Driving Religious Groups Off Campus," FIRE's Robert Shibley has written a new column for The Daily Caller exploring the Vanderbilt case and the video's message. Visit The Daily Caller to learn more and be sure to check out "Exiled from Vanderbilt"!» Read More
Exiled from Vanderbilt: How Colleges are Driving Religious Groups off Campus
August 20, 2012
Featuring Larry Gatlin and Jonathan Rauch! Religious and political groups in the United States have traditionally been free to choose their leaders and members without interference from authorities. That's no longer true at Vanderbilt University, where the school banned belief-based groups from making belief-based decisions about their members and leaders and drove 13 religious student groups off of campus. In this video, FIRE talks to Vanderbilt students and faculty about how this decision is affecting them. Country music legend Larry Gatlin and author and scholar Jonathan Rauch also explain why Vanderbilt has done both its students and the idea of […]» Read More
New FIRE Video: How Religious Groups Were 'Exiled from Vanderbilt,' Featuring Larry Gatlin and Jonathan Rauch
August 20, 2012
Religious and political groups in the United States have traditionally been free to choose their leaders and members without interference from authorities. That's no longer true at Vanderbilt University, where the school banned belief-based groups from making belief-based decisions about their members and leaders and drove 13 religious student groups off of campus. In "Exiled from Vanderbilt: How Colleges are Driving Religious Groups Off Campus," FIRE talks to Vanderbilt students and faculty about how this decision is affecting them. Country music legend Larry Gatlin and author and scholar Jonathan Rauch also explain why Vanderbilt has done both its students and the idea […]» Read More
Belief-Based Student Groups Score a Win at SUNY – Buffalo
August 15, 2012
For some time now, Vanderbilt University has been ground zero in the battle to decide whether belief-based student groups on college campuses will be allowed to make membership and leadership decisions that are influenced by their core beliefs. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, this has been a thorny legal issue, one that has come to a head at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt has taken a firm stance against student groups' belief-based decisionmaking, enacting an extreme policy that even forbids religious groups from requiring their leaders to lead Bible studies, prayer, or worship. […]» Read More
Fight for Religious Liberty Continues
May 23, 2012
In what can serve as an excellent lesson for campus officials who target the associational rights of their students, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) has reversed its ruling against a campus religious group and will now allow the club to operate at UNCG. Citizen Link reports that the school reversed its denial of recognition to the Make Up Your Own Mind club after the Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the school for refusing to accept the club's religious status and belief-based membership requirements. The decision comes in light of the ongoing debate at Vanderbilt University […]» Read More
Vanderbilt Reaps What it Sows: Tennessee Legislature Passes Bill Banning 'All Comers' Policy
May 2, 2012
Vanderbilt's assault on religious liberty on campus looks like it's headed for a crushing, if utterly predictable, defeat. Last night, the Tennessee legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill that would ban Tennessee's public universities as well as any private university that gets more than $24 million in funding a year (there's only one: Vanderbilt!) from telling religious student groups that they can't have belief-based requirements for membership or leadership. Interestingly, the legislature did give Vanderbilt an out: If it's willing to apply an "all comers" policy to fraternities, sororities, and all other groups as well, it can keep its "all comers" […]» Read More
Vanderbilt Update: Board of Trust Urged to Reverse Discriminatory Policy
April 19, 2012
Vanderbilt University's Board of Trust is meeting late this week in the context of a hailstorm of local and national criticism of Vanderbilt's new, discriminatory policy. The new policy, which prohibits belief-based student organizations from requiring that their leaders share the group's beliefs, has sent the organization Vanderbilt Catholic off campus (the organization may not use Vanderbilt's name anymore) and led 11 student organizations to defy the ban. FIRE has been fighting for religious liberty at Vanderbilt since last September, and in October, 23 members of Congress intervened to no avail. State legislators in Tennessee are now working to ban […]» Read More
11 More Vanderbilt Student Groups Revolt over New Discriminatory Policy
April 11, 2012
After Vanderbilt University issued a new, discriminatory policy that prevents religious student groups from maintaining belief-based membership and leadership requirements, 11 Vanderbilt student organizations have refused to accept second-class status at the university because of their beliefs. Organized together as Vanderbilt Solidarity, these organizations have applied for recognition as belief-based groups. Their decision follows the choice of the student group Vanderbilt Catholic to accept self-exile by no longer officially registering with Vanderbilt rather than lose its unique identity. Vanderbilt has refused to permit belief-based groups to maintain their missions despite significant national outrage, including intervention by FIRE and many others. […]» Read More
'Huffington Post': Catholic Group Withdraws from Vanderbilt over New Policy
April 9, 2012
FIRE is not alone in noting that the student organization Vanderbilt Catholic has withdrawn from Vanderbilt University due to Vanderbilt University's infringement on student groups' freedom of association. Writing for The Huffington Post, Tyler Kingkade points out that under Vanderbilt's new non-discrimination policy, a faith-based organization like Vanderbilt Catholic can no longer require that leaders of the group share its core beliefs and values. This fundamental denial of students' right to associate around shared beliefs has forced Vanderbilt Catholic (and possibly other groups in the near future) to disaffiliate with the school and lose official student organization status, which means […]» Read More
Vanderbilt University's Non-Discrimination Policy Causes Catholic Student Group To Leave Campus
April 2, 2012
by Tyler Kingkade The Huffington Post Vanderbilt University's Catholic student group is disaffiliating with the school due to a clash with the college's non-discrimination policy. Vandy Catholic, a group with 500 members, disagrees that they must permit non-Catholic students to serve in leadership positions. While Vandy Catholic isn't forced to give non-Catholic students leadership positions within the group, they aren't permitted to disqualify somebody because of their differing beliefs either. "Our policy requires that all students are presumed to be eligible for membership in registered student organizations and that all organization members in good standing are eligible to compete for leadership […]» Read More
Vanderbilt Drives Out the Catholics–Who's Next?
March 29, 2012
When Vanderbilt University introduced its new "nondiscrimination policy" for registered student organizations back in January of this year, the Vandy administration was met with an irate group of students from religious student organizations that would be negatively affected by the new rule. As these students—along with many other organizations and individuals, including the Christian Legal Society, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nashville, the American Center for Law and Justice, more than half a dozen law professors, and 23 members of the U.S. Congress—pointed out at the time, the policy essentially dictates that religious and political organizations cannot determine their leadership […]» Read More
Law Professor Explores Freedom of Association Controversy at Vanderbilt
March 20, 2012
In an article for the Witherspoon Institute's Public Discourse last week, University of St. Thomas law professor Michael Stokes Paulsen addresses Vanderbilt University's controversial decision to institute an "all-comers" policy for student organizations on campus. As Paulsen explains, the policy forbids students groups from "impos[ing] faith-based or belief-based requirements for membership or leadership." In his piece, Paulsen explores what he calls the "irony" of the constitutional principles and court decisions relating to freedom of expressive association, noting that the same freedom that protects the rights of individuals to form organizations based on shared beliefs also guards Vanderbilt's ability as a […]» Read More
All-Comers Supporters: Don't Worry, Bad Things will 'Never Happen'!
February 23, 2012
If tomorrow the laws against insider trading were revoked in their entirety, would you expect more insider trading to take place, or about the same amount? If you think more would result, congratulations; you apply logic the way most people do. But if you think there would be no effect, I think I might have found someone who agrees with you. In a recent Associated Press article about the trend of universities considering the adoption of "all-comers" policies banning belief-based student groups from making belief-based choices about their membership or leadership, I was quoted warning of some of the potential […]» Read More
Help FIRE Defend Liberty on Campus
February 23, 2012
This year is shaping up to be an important one for campus liberty. In the past two months alone, we celebrated the inclusion of the University of Mississippi on our exclusive list of "green light" schools, won an important legal victory in Barnes v. Zaccari, and secured a quick resolution to an outrageous case at Syracuse University. Each of these victories provides testament to our continued commitment to defending the expressive rights of students and faculty on campus. And, of course, today we announced a lawsuit aimed at removing an unconstitutional speech code at the University of Cincinnati. But a […]» Read More
FIRE in 'National Review Online' on Impact of Discriminatory 'All-Comers' Policy at Vanderbilt
February 6, 2012
This morning in National Review Online, FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley explores the negative impact of the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez for students at Vanderbilt and nationwide. Focusing on Vanderbilt University's recent invocation of the case to justify its decision to ban belief-based student groups from requiring that group leaders actually share the group's stated values, Robert writes: The complications of adopting ["all-comers"] policies have delayed their adoption by many public universities. Ohio even passed a law against such policies at its state schools. Yet the Supreme Court's seeming endorsement inspired Vanderbilt to […]» Read More
After Vandy's Ill-Advised Choice, Revisiting 'CLS v. Martinez' Warning
February 1, 2012
Last night, Vanderbilt University held a "town hall"discussion of its decision to require registered student groups to accept all students in leadership positions, barring belief-based student groups from requiring that leaders actually agree with the group's stated mission. According to The Tennessean, more than 200 students participated, and FIRE has received reports from students that the discussion, planned for 90 minutes, ran for over three hours. Vanderbilt student publication InsideVandy.com reported that tensions were extraordinarily high: This pressure reached its breaking point when starting quarterback for the Vanderbilt Commodores Jordan Rodgers spoke out on behalf of the Fellowship for Christian Athletes, a group currently […]» Read More
Debate Over Religious Freedom Comes to a Head at Vanderbilt
January 31, 2012
This evening, Vanderbilt University will hold a town hall "discussion" about its new nondiscrimination policy that prevents belief-based student groups from making belief-based decisions about their leadership. Vanderbilt effectively is discriminating against political and religious groups that seek to promote a common message. Vanderbilt has told students that their organizations are engaging in prohibited discrimination if they require that leaders of the Vanderbilt College Democrats be Democrats, that Christian groups be Christian, that Muslim groups be Muslim, that single-sex singing groups maintain their identity, or that political publications exclude students who do not share their views. This is huge news […]» Read More
FIRE's Open Letter to Vanderbilt Regarding Religious and Political Organizations
January 27, 2012
In an open letter today, FIRE asks Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos important questions about how Vanderbilt will handle the ramifications of its recent decision to ban political and religious student groups on campus from making leadership decisions based on their core beliefs. FIRE points out that Vanderbilt must be willing to explain whether the university will, for example, force a Muslim group whose leader converts to Christianity to retain that person as a leader, or whether politically oriented student newspapers will now be forced to accept columnists who denigrate the newspaper's own beliefs. The full text of the letter […]» Read More
George Will Castigates Vanderbilt for Discrimination Against Belief-Based Student Groups
November 3, 2011
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George Will, writing in The Washington Post, takes Vanderbilt University to task for its new policy prohibiting certain student organizations from instituting belief-based requirements that their members or officers affirm the official values of the group. FIRE has been actively working to turn back this violation of student groups' right to freedom of association, as have 23 members of Congress. Most recently, FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley wrote about the matter in The Daily Caller. (Will's column also points readers to this Torch piece on the case that Robert wrote in September.) Will reminds us of the Supreme Court's previous wisdom on freedom of association-which […]» Read More
Robert on Vanderbilt's Nondiscrimination Policy Issues in 'The Daily Caller'
November 1, 2011
In light of recent transgressions by Vanderbilt University against the freedoms of religion and association, FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley has penned an opinion article in The Daily Caller bringing some attention to the absurdity of Vanderbilt's student group policies when dealing with the Vanderbilt chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) and other religious student groups. Robert writes: Nobody should be surprised that religious groups, on or off campus, prefer to be led by people who share their faith. Demanding that a religious student group not ask its leaders to share the beliefs of the group serves no one. Who benefits when nonbelievers have […]» Read More


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The Gilded Palace of Sin was formed in late November/early December 2006 when the previous band Vini and Pete were both in stalled.
They went for a night out and contemplated their fates and decided it was for the best if they formed a new band making the kind of music that they liked listening to.
They asked Michelle if she would like to join the band as what they had planned seemed a bit too much for two people.
She said yes.
They immediately called the band The Gilded Palace of Sin.
They had another round or two then went dancing.
After short period of practising they got their first gig from a friend who was promoting a night.
They decided it was probably time to practice a bit harder.
The songs came thick and fast and the first gig went well (although there were few there to see them).
Usually Pete sings and plays guitar, does stuff with computers, etc.
Vini Plays guitar, banjo, drums and sings, etc.
Michelle plays Theremin, glockenspiel, ukulele, jaw harp, music box and percussion, etc.
There are other things they play and do when the need arises.
They all write the words and music for the band.
They like a lot of styles of music and are influenced by lots of bands/artists/films too numerous to mention (have a look at their MySpace for an idea).
The Gilded Palace of Sin has a musical direction, however the band aren't sure what it is as the music has a way of running away with itself and the band just have to try and keep up with it.


text: EPA Succumbs to Pressure to Reduce Ethanol Mandate November 30, 2013 04:52 AM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Boyce Thompson AgWeb Email Critics who have been taking shots at the national ethanol mandate finally got their way this month when the federal government reduced the amount of ethanol that gasoline producers must purchase next year. The EPA proposal to reduce the biofuels mandate by 2.94 billion gallons in 2014 drew howls of protest from agricultural groups that accused the government of giving in to big oil interests. Opponents of the mandate, on the other hand, complained that it didn't go far enough to reduce ethanol consumption. No one, it appears, was happy. The requirement that gasoline producers use corn-based ethanol has been a lightning rod of controversy nearly since it was enacted by Congress in 2005 and then strengthened in 2007. Some scientists questioned whether substituting corn-based ethanol for gasoline produces an environmental benefit, given that land in recent years has been taken out of conservation to grow corn. Economists criticized the fixed mandate for raising corn prices since producers have to buy more ethanol even if prices are rising. Livestock producers have complained bitterly that the mandate raises feed prices. And some hunger advocates have linked U.S. ethanol policy to high food prices that leave people around the world hungry. Everyone, it seems, has forgotten the program's original seemingly beneficial goal: to wean the U.S. economy from oil. In recent years, advocates have used a second strong argument to support the program—the beneficial impact on the mostly rural economies that are home to ethanol plants. The budding biodiesel industry supports 62,000 jobs, some of which are imperiled by the reduced mandate. No one disputes that the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) has led to rapid growth in ethanol production. It tripled tripled between 2005 and 2011, reaching a high of 13.9 billion gallons, then dropping to 13.3 billion gallons in 2012. This created demand for nearly 5 billion bushels of corn. It also made ethanol the No. 1 use of corn, surpassing livestock feed and exports. Click here to view a slideshow of ethanol stats. Ethanol Takes a Pounding An Associated Press investigative report, released a week before the EPA announcement, brought national attention once more to the environmental trade-offs. The article highlighted the 5 million acres of "fragile and erodible" land that has been taken out of conservation to grow corn and other crops. It cited a study published by the journal Science concluding that plowing over conservation land "releases so much greenhouse gas that it takes 48 years before new plants can break even and start reducing carbon dioxide." But the ethanol standard had also come under fire for the last two growing seasons from world hunger advocates who questioned whether food should be diverted to create fuel when so many people around the world are starving. That argument has its share of detractors, given that field corn, which is fed to livestock, not humans, is grown for ethanol production. Yaneer Bar-Yam, founder of the New England Complex Systems Institute, a research organization, linked U.S. ethanol policy, along with commodity deregulation, to political instability around the world in a presentation at a Chicago Council conference in Washington D.C. earlier this year. He attributed the Arab spring of political uprising to unstable food prices, caused in part by burning fuel for food. "The original [ethanol] legislation was created when people didn't know what the impact would be" on prices, he said. "Now we know." An academic study by agricultural economists at UC Davis and UC Berkeley concluded that corn prices between 2006 and 2010 were about 30% higher than they would have been, had ethanol production remained at 2005 levels. The authors also write that it's "highly questionable" whether ethanol produced from corn makes the U.S. less dependent on fossil fuels or reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Other academics think the impact of the ethanol mandate on corn prices is far less. Bruce Babcock, speaking at the Federal Reserve Board of Kansas City's annual ag outlook meeting, said it only increases corn prices by 25 cents per bushel. He added that gasoline producers would buy some ethanol even if they weren't required. "If you don't have the mandate, ethanol would still be 9% to 10% of the nation's fuel supply." It's easier to argue the detrimental impact on the livestock industry, since field corn would otherwise be used to feed livestock. In recent years, livestock producers have been hit hard by extremely high feed prices that put some companies out of business. Even though feed prices are much lower today, the cash-constrained industry is not out of the economic woods yet. Normally when prices go up, buyers can stop making purchases until prices moderate. But ethanol producers by law have to keep buying more corn, putting even more upward pressure on corn prices and making it even more difficult for livestock producers to feed animals. Speculators Make a Killing In recent years, the country's ethanol policy has come under fire for promoting Wall Street speculation. When the program began, the government created tradable ethanol credits known as RINs. Gasoline producers who didn't want to use ethanol could buy the tradable credits instead. Speculators stepped in to make money on the spread between bid and asking prices on the credits. Meanwhile, the oil industry hit a "blend wall" and demand for credits accelerated, causing the price of credits to skyrocket during 2013. From a macro-economic perspective, an even bigger event transpired during the last several years, putting a damper on the national will to develop alternative energy. The spread of fracking technology has revolutionized oil and natural gas drilling, putting the nation in a position of energy power. Suddenly, alternative energy production doesn't look as compelling. "The bloom is off the rose," said Michael Boehlje, an agricultural economist from Purdue University, at a Federal Reserve Board of Chicago meeting on agriculture policy shortly after the announcement. The EPA decision will take some steam out of the ethanol industry. "We probably won't see any more new plants." The decision to set ethanol volumes at less than 10% of projected gasoline consumption effectively puts a lid on the amount of ethanol that will be used by American motorists. The oil industry had complained that it had reached a "blend wall" and that requiring the use of more ethanol in gasoline would impair vehicle performance. Have We Hit a Blend Wall? "The so-called blend wall is a crisis manufactured by the oil industry, which is interested in eliminating the competition so they can continue reaping even greater windfall profits," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), chairwoman of the U.S. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. The proposed rule would cost thousands of good-paying, clean energy jobs and mean less competition at the pump." Jeff Lautt, the CEO of POET, one of the nation's leading ethanol producers, didn't rule out the option of suing the EPA, given that its proposal is below the levels required by law. He questioned why EPA would lower the mandate when the country is looking at a possible record crop. "The proposed reduction from EPA is troubling as it not only cuts grain ethanol use below the levels set by Congress; it cuts them below the 13.8 billion that was met in 2013. The Renewable Fuel Standard was created to provide a choice to consumers outside of oil-based fuel." The oil industry successfully argued that requiring it to blend more ethanol was a bad idea because car owners would avoid the product. They note that older model (pre-2001) car engines can't handle fuel that contains more than 10% ethanol. But changing over gas stations to sell a 15% blend (E85) could have cost the industry as much as $300 million, according to some reports. Only 3,000 of the 100,000 filling stations in the U.S. sell E85, which sells at a discount to other blends because drivers get 25% fewer miles to the gallon. Advocates, on the other hand, argued that increasing the mandate would force automotive companies to design more cars that could accept higher blends. Currently, only flex-fuel cars and some 2013 vehicles are candidates for fuel with a higher ethanol percentage. "We need higher blends of ethanol," said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in the wake of the announcement. The ethanol mandate has produced a rift in agriculture, to be sure. Organizations representing crop producers generally derided the EPA decision, saying it would reduce demand for corn at a time when industry profits are expected to decline due to much lower corn prices. On the other hand, the USDA recently announced that farm income will reach an all-time high of $120.6 billion in 2013. The industry will have two months to raise its concerns during the comment period for the proposal, which was made on November 15th. Agricultural economists are already weighing in. "It is a mistake to put the RFS that low," said Wally Tyner, a Purdue agricultural economist, who recommended that the federal government create an incentive for refiners to blend and sell more fuel with a 15% blend. Tyner said that refiners have an incentive to produce more E85—ethanol prices are falling compared with gasoline. Plus, they may be able to get additional revenue from blending credits. The consequence of setting the RFS at 13.01 billion, he said, would be to "destroy that incentive." Back to news


text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - General stuff.... Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in General stuff.... Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Brazil View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message Phil_bJoined: 14 Oct 2003Posts: 239Location: Back in London Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:28 am Post subject: General stuff.... I'm thinking about going to Brazil to teach Englsih in just over a year's time.. It does look like there is a market for English teachers, but that it is almost impossible to do it legally and that illegally is only really feasible for 6 months..... however a lot of people seem to be talking about Rio and São Paulo, if I was to look n other smaller cities would it be the same situation? Is the situation the same in places like Curitiba, Floripa, Belo Horizonte.... Is there any point in looking towards the northeast of the country - I know the wages are lower, but then I could earn far more If I stayed in London, that's not the point, how do they relate with the cost of living - I would love to work in somewhere like Salvador, Recife or Fortaleza I hope you can help.... any info is greatly recieved........... até logo Back to top Tiger BeerJoined: 08 Feb 2003Posts: 778Location: Hong Kong Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 9:54 pm Post subject: I taught in Sao Paulo and Rio de Jainero. Sao Paulo is the easiest to find work.. but being its Sao Paulo and how much Brazil has to offer.. looking back now.. I see it was probably the most undesireable place to work. Although I did have ALOT of fun there. I loved it actually. But next time I go back (and I'm sure there will be a next time some time).. I'm definetely gonna choose a city like you are choosing. I'd say go for it, something will work out. I don't know the salaries in the northeast.. but I know my wages in Sao Paulo and Rio were really low.. and I had a really difficult time making ends meet. In fact, I went into debt. If I were to go back, I'd do what you are doing and choose an unexpensive place to live. At least that way if you aren't making ends meet.. you aren't going TOO FAR into debt. When I was in Brazil (1997-1998), the Brazilian Real was pegged to the U.S. Dollar.. and things were quite expensive to me. Now days the economy has changed quite a bit.. so I don't know what kind of economic purchasing power you'd have even in the cities that I know. Regardless I'd say choose a city that you are interested in and try it there. Things will work out, and if you can't make ends meet, at least you'll be in an inexpensive place and won't spend too much money that you don't have to lose. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Brazil All times are GMT Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Where to Begin----------------General DiscussionNewbie ForumCurrent Events ForumTechnology ForumOnline Teaching Forum Africa Forums----------------General Africa Forum Asia Forums----------------CambodiaChina (Job-related Posts Only)China (Off-Topic)Hong KongIndiaIndonesiaJapanMalaysiaPhilippinesSingaporeTaiwanThailandGeneral Asia ForumVietnam Caribbean Forums----------------General Caribbean Forum Europe Forums----------------Czech RepublicFranceGermanyGreeceItalyMacedonia and the BalkansPolandRomaniaRussia & C.I.S.SpainTurkeyUkraineUnited KingdomGeneral Europe Forum Latin America Forums----------------ArgentinaBrazilChileColombiaCosta RicaMexicoMexico (off-topic)PeruGeneral Latin America Forum The Middle East Forums----------------BahrainEgyptIsraelKuwaitOmanQatarSaudi ArabiaUnited Arab EmiratesGeneral Middle East Forum North America Forums----------------General North America Forum Oceania----------------Australia/New Zealand You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved. Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group Teaching Jobs in China


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As an established company that needs to stay agile with project coordination, Hilti Corporation chose Project Online because it delivers all the benefits of process centralization and enhanced control without the risks involved in being locked in to large home-grown IT infrastructures. With Office 365, Project Online offers the security, global availability, disaster recovery, and the ability to handle heavy workloads critical to enterprise operations at a fraction of the cost. Many businesses know the challenges and associated costs of these requirements, but with Project Online and Office 365, it's easy to scale out and scale up–and have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that data is safe.
Hilti Corporation's Head of Workplace Platform Services, Dr. Christian Buddendick, is a business leader who embraces software as a service. "Using a cloud-based solution is clearly an advantage compared to setting up a customized server environment," says Dr. Buddendick. "We don't have to worry about maintenance, upgrades, or compatibility issues. All the capabilities we need are there, and are easily customizable."
Through the Office 365 infrastructure, Project Online delivers the agility modern companies need to be competitively efficient. Many of our customers' goals include increasing control and communication in their organizations without creating excess process burden. The "just right" process mix is different for every organization, and with Project Online, business leaders have more freedom to try new things and innovate internal processes, since retooling friction is minimized.
Hilti Corporation appreciates this agility and uses it to create global efficiencies. "By using a cloud-based solution, we got the agility we were seeking," says Buddendick. "We can scale the use of Project Online from 20 people up to 10,000 users. It is easy to use and satisfies nearly 100 percent of our business needs."


text:
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Alfred Lord Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892 / Lincoln / England)
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The Princess: A Medley: Come Down, O Maid
Come down, O maid, from yonder mountain height:
What pleasure lives in height (the shepherd sang)
In height and cold, the splendour of the hills?
But cease to move so near the Heavens, and cease
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By the time you read this, there will be a new option for iPhone copy and paste functionality available, and it doesn't even require a jailbroken iPhone or an App Store download. In fact, you can already see it in action, thanks to a demo that was spotted yesterday. Called Pastebud, the service allows iPhone and iPod touch users to copy and paste text from Safari to Mail, or between web pages.
As you're probably painfully aware, the iPhone 2.2 release still didn't bring with it copy and paste functionality, and by now, some developers have taken things into their own hands. Developed by translator and developer Jed Schmidt, Pastebud uses JavaScript bookmarks in Safari as well as a web backend to make things happen. As you can see in the demo, while viewing a page, one bookmark will get the page ready for text selection. Once text is selected, users can choose between copying and pasting. Then, the text is either copied into a Mail message, or pasted into another Safari window. And as the Pastebud Twitter feed notes, you can also copy text from Mail using your "secret Pastebud address."
Perhaps best of all, the Pastebud service is free, although there will be an advertising footer added to copied text. If that's not your style, you can always pay $5 per year for a "premium" version that doesn't include the Hotmail-style footer. And if you're getting ready to sign up now that you've gotten this far, just keep in mind that Pastebud has already gotten a substantial amount of press before its launch, so things may be a bit bogged down today as hordes of iPhone users play with the new copy and paste options.


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Alex Rios' two-out infield single was the only thing that stood between Matt Harvey and a perfect game.
Managers don't usually say these things, but Terry Collins thought in the fifth inning Harvey was heading toward history. Even Harvey knew he was on Tuesday night.
"Everything was obviously working,'' Harvey told reporters last night. "When I can throw my slider for a strike and also bounce it when I need to, that's when it starts getting fun. That was definitely the best I felt all year.''
He was that on and didn't get it. The way baseball works, and Harvey understands this, is he could get it on a night he feels awful.
While we are engrossed in the no-hitter pursuit, they are rare because of the nuances in the game. Jim Qualls broke up Tom Seaver's perfect-game bid in 1969 with a clean single, but as Rios showed they all aren't line drives.
Rios beat out a dribbler in the shortstop hole. Other no-hitters have been broken up by broken-bat bloops or balls lost in the sun, or bunts. And, who doesn't remember how Armando Galarraga lost his perfect game on Jim Joyce's blown call?
Seaver, Dwight Gooden and David Cone threw no-hitters with other teams, when their electric stuff lost some voltage.
No-hitters are flukes, thrown by forgettable names, and not thrown by the greatest arms the sport has ever witnessed. That Nolan Ryan threw seven and Sandy Koufax threw four, and Johnny Vander Meer had them in consecutive starts is incomprehensible. They had skill and stuff, but perhaps it was a matter of the Baseball Gods smiling on them those days.
Harvey has already lost two no-hitters after seven innings this year, so we know the stuff is there, but it isn't always about stuff. Hey, if a guy swings a bat anything can happen.
What I liked about Harvey was his stuff, his demeanor and his concentration. Do you know how hard it is to breathe and focus when you nose is stuffed with cotton? Harvey started the game with a bloody nose that continued in the early innings.
His focus only sharpened.
What I also liked about him was his acceptance in losing the perfect game. He didn't regret the slider he threw Rios, and praised Ruben Tejada's effort.
"In that hole it's tough,'' Harvey said. "Obviously anything going away and then making that long throw, I knew it was going to have to be absolutely perfect. He made an awesome attempt.''
Harvey remains at 4-0 after three straight no-decisions. His 58-12 strikeouts-to-walks ratio illustrates dominance on both the stuff and command levels. What can you say about a 1.28 ERA?
One more number about Harvey is intriguing, and that is his "24 Hour Rule,'' in which he gives himself a day to relish in a good start or lament something negative, such as losing a perfect game.
Then, it is back to work. On Thursday he will start focusing on Sunday's start against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Yes, Harvey has no-hit potential. No, I can't say he will ever throw one, but I don't care. Harvey might not ever get that great moment, but he's on the way to a great career, and I don't want to miss a start.
Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos


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Why Microsoft's Impending Doom Is Overblown
Why Microsoft's Impending Doom Is Overblown
It's All About the Cash
With billions of dollars in cash on hand, it's hard to see any way that Microsoft will face impending doom anytime soon. After all, the company has enough cash to buy out competitors that might be challenging its empire. And if it can't develop any parts of its products, it can acquire companies that can.
Microsoft is currently under fire from critics who say its Windows 8 was a massive misstep. The operating system was such a blunder, they say, that Microsoft's entire Windows division could eventually come crashing down. Those folks are not so foolhardy as to say the division will be folded anytime soon, but they believe Windows 8 is enough of a mistake to worry its stakeholders.
Microsoft is also being slammed for its slim market share in the tablet space and for its inability to attract enough smartphone vendors to make significant inroads in the mobile space. And although Microsoft is strong in the cloud, it's not dominant.
Amid all of the criticism, many detractors fail to see the ways in which Microsoft is doing quite well. Granted, business could be better at the software giant, but until its billions of dollars in quarterly profits dwindle and Windows is finally toppled, any claims that Microsoft is on the road to ruin are pure nonsense.