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Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator Keynote address at the Commonwealth Local Government Forum Conference 2013; "Local government's role in helping achieve development goals"May 16, 2013
Thank you for inviting me to participate in the Commonwealth Local Government Conference once again.
I acknowledge the Co-chairs, Honourable Adolf Mwesige, Ugandan Minister of Local Government, and Mayor Lawrence Yule, Chairperson of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, for their leadership of the Conference, and Carl Wright, Secretary-General of the Forum and his team for their ongoing work to support developing the capacities of local government.
UNDP welcomes the work of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Leaders for Post 2015 to promote the role of local government in implementing and designing the future global development agenda. Today's session is an opportunity to build on the work of the Taskforce, and for the members of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum to participate directly in the dialogue about the post-2015 development agenda and the shaping of sustainable development goals.
In my speech today, I will address local government's development role, the part it plays in achieving development goals – including the MDGs, and the importance of bringing local government perspectives to the debate about a renewed global development agenda.
UNDP places great importance on the role of local government as a key partner in the fight against poverty, achieving the MDGs, and advancing sustainable human development. We observe that the success of any development agenda depends on the ownership taken and leadership generated at both the national and the local levels. An understanding of this must be factored in to the post-2015 agenda and implementation of new goals and targets.
Local governments with clear mandates, adequate financing, and sufficient capacity help drive development. Your convening power is used to bring public, private, and non-governmental stakeholders together. You are a critical interface with other tiers of government. You have vital roles to play in planning for economic development at the local level and often for service delivery in a number of critical social sectors such as health, education, and housing. These strengths and attributes have been important to MDG achievement, and they will be vital to implementation of new goals and targets too.
UNDP and its associated programme, the UN Capital Development Fund, strongly support the CGLF's objective to maximize the potential of local government for development. In recent years we have been able to formalize our partnership and join forces to help build local government capacity to that end - for example, in empowering women in the Asia-Pacific region to run for local office and be effective as elected representatives.
Three years ago, with support from the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, Uganda hosted the UN Global Forum on Local Development with UNDP and UNCDF. The outcome of that meeting was a call for action to "empower local governments and their associations to fully realise their potential as key agents of change and development".
Since then, this call has been echoed in other key global development fora.
For example, at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development last June, Member States highlighted the important role of local government in:
- engaging citizens in decision-making,
- helping to deliver results shaped by local realities, and
- taking integrated problem-solving approaches.
They also acknowledged that co-operation between local governments was becoming an increasingly important way to share practical lessons and advance proven development solutions.
Similar messages emerged from the UN Development Co-operation Forum last year in New York, and at the Busan High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Korea 2011 where it was agreed that development actors should "work more closely with local authorities to prepare, implement, and monitor development strategies."
Getting the importance of local government recognised in such high level discussions matters. It means that when UN Member States come to determine what the renewed global development agenda and sustainable development goals will be, the important role of local government in driving development should be affirmed. That empowers local government.
"Localising the MDGs": Why local actors are essential to achieving the MDGs
Launched in 2000, the MDGs mobilised the international community around common goals. The MDGs were set as global targets, and were considered feasible at that level. When translated to the national level, however, some developing countries had surpassed many of the targets at the time of their launch, while others are still achieving few twelve years later.
Progress measured at the global level does disguise wide-disparities – both between countries and within them. For example, by 2010 the world is estimated to have met the MDG target to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty. This was largely due to the exceptional progress in just one very large country China. Some countries, however, have seen little reduction in their extreme poverty rate. Many have seen progress at the national level, but large inequities across regions and demographic groups remain.
As early as 2002, UNDP began to work with local governments to "localize the MDGs" in order to stimulate action on the ground. That included adjusting the global targets, higher or lower, to reflect what could be achieved locally.
We have worked with many local leaders who saw the opportunity represented by the MDGs and were keen to apply them to their areas. The drive to achieve the MDGs led to improvements in local data collection, enabling the needs of marginalised communities to be revealed and then targeted.
Some global MDG-related campaigns worked through systems of local government to expand immunization, healthcare, and HIV-prevention. A good example is the work of the Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV and AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL) in Africa. Some 1500 mayors associated with this initiative in thirteen countries have played a very important role in reducing rates of HIV significantly.
Localization of the MDGs has helped achieve their targets in three main ways;
First, it has encouraged the different levels of government to work together to improve service delivery.
In Pakistan, for example, the strengthening of co-operation between central, regional, and local government through the Orangi Pilot Project led to improved water and sanitation for close to 100,000 families. The result was a fall in infant mortality rates in the area from the 130 deaths per 1,000 live births of the early 1980s to fewer than forty deaths per 1,000 by 2006.
In Africa and the Asia Pacific, local governments have worked with sector ministries and development partners to give families incentives to send their children, particularly girls, to school. These incentives, which included providing free basic schooling and transport to it, along with school feeding programmes, have helped lift school attendance.
In a number of countries, local governments in partnership with civil society groups have been examining and analysing the different impact which development initiatives and policies have on women and men. They have then used the results to target and shape better policy, helping their countries make significant strides towards MDG 3 on gender equality.
Second, localising the MDGs has helped engage citizens and mobilised them to participate in development. Tailoring the MDGs to local conditions has made them more relevant to local people and thereby increased ownership of them.
An example: the government of the Kukes region of Albania used MDG messages on local radio and posters to engage citizens in designing their MDG-based development strategy. The process generated citizen support and greater involvement from central government and development partners in these efforts.
Third, MDG localisation helped national governments address the inequalities holding back achievement of MDG targets. The Government of the Philippines, for example, worked with local governments to make the MDGs the focus of regional development plans and investment schemes and seventeen sub-national MDG progress reports were produced, helping the Philippines address geographic disparities in MDG progress.
Overcoming gaps and growing challenges
Despite significant MDG successes and high economic growth rates in a number of developing countries, many people and communities have yet to see the benefits. In 2010, close to half the population of sub-Saharan Africa still lived on under $1.25 per day. Inequalities and pockets of poverty are still evident in many of the world's middle income countries.
The role of local governments is critical to reaching those left behind, including women, indigenous people, ethnic minorities, people living in remote areas, youth, the disabled, and other excluded groups. Yet both limited capacity and limited authority to generate revenue may make it difficult for many local governments to translate global and national goals into local action. Many may also lack access to the data and evidence needed to guide effective MDG action.
UNDP is working with central and local governments to accelerate MDG progress, including by applying the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) at the local level.
The MAF works by bringing a wide range of stakeholders together to identify the bottlenecks in the way of MDG progress, and to devise pragmatic solutions. This includes addressing bottlenecks at local levels and targeting support to disadvantaged communities and groups.
Colombia, for example, is applying the MDG Acceleration Framework in 76 of its poorest territories, departments, and municipalities. Local authorities and stakeholders there are defining their own MDG Acceleration Action Plans, which reflect local priorities for reducing poverty, advancing gender equality, and addressing health service and other deficiencies. With the support of development partners and the central government, many are now implementing their action plans, raising the prospects of Colombia achieving more MDG targets.
Another example of work through the MAF: UNDP and UNCDF have been working in Laos to address capacity constraints in local government so that the needs of disadvantaged groups in remote communities can be met.
Applying the Acceleration Framework has confirmed for UNDP that when local and national actors work together to solve problems they will identify solutions to implementation and delivery bottlenecks which might otherwise have remained invisible. Collaboration works.
Through support for decentralisation of central government functions, UNDP and UNCDF can also help build the development effectiveness of local government. But where authority is devolved, local governments need capacity and resources. It helps to be transparent and accountable too. Local governments need the capacity to budget effectively, and to deliver results and report on them.
We have also supported co-operation between local governments across countries, including through the ART programme, which has linked local and sub-national governments in developing countries with their peers in developed countries. I saw this in action in Morocco on a visit last year – in just one of the more than 600 sub-regions and municipalities in nineteen countries benefiting from decentralised co-operation.
Towards a Post-2015 Global Development Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals
Looking forward, local government's role in accelerating achievement on the MDGs through the end of 2015 is critical, and so is its participation in shaping the future global development agenda.
Momentum is building for a post-2015 agenda which can lead to the eradication of extreme poverty, tackle inequalities, and put the world on a sustainable path which does not wreck the ecosystems on which we all depend. These ambitions won't be realized without the full involvement of local government.
This session today is one of a great many consultations facilitated by the UN about the shape of the future development agenda. Close to 100 national consultations have taken place - or will soon, along with those on eleven major themes from governance to inequalities, environment, education, health, and other key issues.
Themes emerging from the consultations to date include:
People want the unfinished business of the MDGs to stay high on the global agenda- there is still a lot to do.
People want a focus not only on quantitative targets, but also on quality. It's not just the number of children in schools which matters, but also whether they are learning anything while in school.
Marginalised groups are demanding visibility, rightly pointing out that aggregate data often disguises inequalities.
There is a groundswell for honest and effective governance to be recognised as a critical driver of development.
A consensus is emerging on the need to have just one global development agenda aimed at achieving poverty eradication within the context of sustainable development. This can combine the unfinished MDG business with a transformational sustainable development agenda as envisaged at Rio +20. We need to see higher human development and maintaining ecosystem integrity as entirely compatible objectives. Green and inclusive economies and societies can deliver both.
Many local governments have long been leaders in holistic approaches to sustainable development. Mayors from my country and around the world were inspired by the 1992 Earth Summit's Agenda 21 to take action locally.
My hope is that a renewed global development agenda will inspire a new generation of local and national leaders to act to build a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world.
The place of governance in a renewed development agenda
Experience with the MDGs suggests that corrupt and/or weak governance is a serious obstacle to broad-based development. Countries and communities with the least MDG achievement also often face violence and armed conflict – often exacerbated in turn by poor governance.
In the on-going global My World survey on priorities for the renewed development agenda, honest, responsive, and accountable government has ranked very high on people's priorities. Elsewhere, some are calling for a stand alone global goal on governance. Parliamentarians, in a global survey, expressed a strong preference for such a global goal to boost participation, transparency, and integrity in public institutions.
Measuring governance is not an easy task. I understand that this meeting will discuss this topic shortly, and I will be very interested to hear your views. Feedback from consultations to date has suggested a range of possible goals and targets around governance including the following:
- A target to close the gap in representation of men and women at all levels of elected government.
- A goal expressing zero tolerance for corruption. That would be challenging to measure, but could focus on indicators for budget transparency and citizen access to information.
- A target incentivizing greater local level reporting on development progress to citizens. That would spur both better data collection and greater transparency.
- A global goal on inclusive, productive, green and resilient cities, stressing the need to improve the governance and resilience of the world's rapidly expanding urban areas.
- A global goal on the rule of law, with a target aimed at the provision of a free legal identity to all citizens. That would provide a better basis from which to claim rights, settle disputes, register a business, and open a bank account.
Where from here?
Last year, the UN Secretary-General appointed a High Level Panel to advise him on the on Post-2015 agenda. Its report is expected at the end of this month.
A High Level Meeting on the MDGs will be held at the UN General Assembly in September. It will focus on both MDG progress and on what follows.
Rio+20 called on the UN General Assembly to establish an Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. It will report by September 2014.
Thereafter it is expected that UN Member States will negotiate what the renewed global development agenda will look like, with a view to affirming that at a high level UN meeting in the Spring of 2015.
Thus this process still has some two years to run. It is vital that local government stays engaged and is heard throughout. Having the recommendations of this discussion presented to the Commonwealth Heads of Government later this year will be very important, as it is the governments of UN Member States who will take the decisions on the new agenda.
The need to localise the global development agenda is no longer contested. As ministers in charge of local government and decentralisation, representatives of local government and of associations of local authorities, participants here are champions of turning people's aspirations for a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable world into reality. I wish you all well in your development work and in making your voice heard on the role local government can play.


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Here's one thing I rarely saw during my time working in government: permission to screw up. That's not to say people didn't mess up. It was quite the contrary—people screwed up constantly (myself included). But instead of owning it, people felt pressure to obfuscate, cast blame or change the definition of success to meet their paltry performance.
All of these actions stemmed from fear: fear of being thrown under the bus, fear of a reprimand or fear of being fired (truly irrational…if only it were that easy to get rid of a poor performer). Operating out of fear, fear that is often self-imposed, is never a good formula for success (though it's great for achieving that gray-haired Anderson Cooper/Steve Martin look).
Instead, writes Heidi Grant Halvorson of the Columbia Business School, give yourself permission to screw up by following these three steps:
Step 1: Begin a new project by explicitly acknowledging what is difficult and unfamiliar, and accepting that you will need some time to really get a handle on it. You may make some mistakes, and that's ok. That's how ability works – it develops. (Repeat this to yourself as often as needed.)
Step 2: Reach out to others when you run into trouble. Too often, we hide our mistakes, rather than sharing them with those who could give us guidance. Mistakes don't make you look foolish – but acting like you are a born expert on everything certainly will.
Step 3: Try not to compare your own performance to other people's (I know this is hard, but try.) Instead, compare your performance today to your performance last week, last month, or last year. You may make mistakes, you may not be perfect, but are you improving? That's the only question that matters.
If you give yourself permission to fail, and take some pressure off yourself, you can redirect those negative energies in more positive ways—namely, toward the creativity and critical thinking needed to exceed expectations.
[via 99U]
Image via Everett Collection/Shutterstock.com

subset: commoncrawl


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What's Garret shoving into Stimpy's mouth?
Hey Mush,Upon closer inspection you'll see that Stimpy is generously hwarfing a delicious hairball into my eagerly outstretched hand. Couldn't be more chuffed with the result - Cheers John!Gareth
Thanks Gariffage!
These are really funny caricatures. I especially like the one in which the guy is getting kicked in the nuts.
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"Romeo & Juliet," Shakespeare's popular romantic tragedy of two star-crossed lovers, runs for two weeks on the Wagner College Theatre's Main Stage: from Wednesday, Nov. 13 through Saturday, Nov. 16; and from Wednesday, Nov. 20 through Sunday, Nov. 24. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. For more details, visit our online Newsroom.
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'Romeo & Juliet'
November 21, 2013 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
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- Thursday, November 21st 2013


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Larry "The Flag Man" Eckhardt's life just got a little easier thanks to a product engineered and manufactured in Kewanee.
Larry "The Flag Man" Eckhardt's life just got a little easier thanks to a product engineered and manufactured in Kewanee.
Rhino Tool Company, 620 Andrews Ave., noticed the tireless volunteer who has lined streets with American flags at homecomings and funerals for American soldiers since 2006, was using a homemade slide hammer to drive a three-quarter-inch steel rod manually to install flag posts.
Eckhardt, of Little York, who started his mission to make sure no soldier is forgotten with 150 flags, can now provide up to 3,000 flags to line streets from the airport to the church, or the church to the cemetery, or both.
"Rhino Tool Company is proud that our product will be used to install displays to honor military and public servants," Tellier said.
Established in 1975, Rhino Tool Company is a manufacturer of top quality post drivers and post pullers." Our product line includes several models of air operated post drivers, gas powered post drivers, manual and hydraulic post pullers," Tellier said.
Rhino's post driver product line consists of eight air operated models covering the application range from medium-duty to heavy-duty, and two gas powered light-to medium-duty models. Rhino's Post Puller product line consists of three models of manual post pullers and one hydraulic.
Rhino serves many industries which includes fence installation, sign installation, agriculture, vineyards, marine construction, construction, landscape construction, and more.
Located in Kewanee, Rhino Tool Company is served by a sales network of distributors and dealers across the United States, Canada, and around the world.
This is not the first time Kewanee has provided support for Eckhardt's efforts. In 2009, he was surprised with a 12-foot, enclosed trailer donated by the community at the homecoming for Kewanee National Guardsmen from Afghanistan. At that point, Eckhardt was up to about 530 flag poles which he carried in the back of his pickup. Since then, a Kentucky community has presented him with a van.
For Eckhardt, a humble man who seldom attends the funerals where he installs the flags, admits that one of his greatest honors was placing 1,000 flags along the route President Obama took when entering Atkinson, Ill., for a speech on the economy at Wyffels Hybrids in 2011. Obama sent Eckhardt an autographed photo and a thank you for what he does for American soldiers, veterans and their families.


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A mysterious and hypnotic track with ambient essence composed of mesmerizing tabla, violins and thrilling rhythmic loops.
Available in both mp3 and wav formats.Also listen to Hypno Logo
Thank you so much for buying this item!
In order to provide an invaluable product advertising opportunity to our customers, we strongly recommend our customers to send us an e-mail whenever you do buy one of our items. This will enable us to update our item description with the link to your project/product item where you use our item.


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What IPC$ share?
What is it exist for in windows?
I know just that it is some unwanted shares in windows.
If thay exist so how can I use them? What is IPC$ good for?
I traid to mount but that share was empty and I was able to execute just shell commands in that folder where IPC$ was mounted to.
==My OS==
Local=linux mandriva 10.1
Remote=windows XP pro


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|Seattle, Wash.
|High School:
2013: A three-year letterwinner and captain, Thomas will be the team's top returner this season.
2012: Ran in five races for the Generals in his third season ... took 19th at the ODAC Championship with a time of 28:09.64 ... had a career-best time of 26:48.00 (23rd place) at the Don Cathcart Invitational (9/29) ... came in seventh (27:28.52) at the DeSales Invitational (10/13) ... finished sixth at the ODAC Preview in 29:44.00 (8/31).
2011: Competed in three races for the Generals in 2011 ... was the team's top finisher at the ODAC Championships, taking 18th in 27:16.00 (10/29) ... competed at the Lehigh Paul Short Invitational (9/30) and the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble (10/15).
2010: Ran a season-best time of 27:43 at the Great American Cross Country Festival ... finished sixth overall in his first collegiate race, posting a 29:24 in the W&L Invitational.


text: All you have to do to achieve that seal is to place this collar between the vent pipe and the roof flashing. It keeps moisture from seeping in from rain and weather, it's perfectly compatible with other Dura-Vent Type B venting components with a 4 inch inner diameter, and it carries a 25-year warranty. The weather protection your vent system needs is as easy as applying this easy-to-install Dura-Vent Type B Storm Collar.


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North West Photo - Kim Kardashian & Kanye West's Baby Pic!
Check out the first photo of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's two-month-old baby girl North West!
The 35-year-old rapper made an appearance on Kris Jenner's talk show Kris and revealed the photo to the audience.
Kanye made a joke about his incident with Taylor Swift, where he interrupted her acceptance speech.
"The last thing I would want to happen to my daughter is some crazy drunk black guy in a leather shirt to come up and cut her off at an awards show," Kanye said jokingly. "That's the last thing I'd want."
WHAT DO YOU THINK of North West's first photo?


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|Vitamin C
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|RAW Organic Fruit & Vegetable Blend
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|RAW Probiotic and Enzyme Blend
|60 mg
|Lipase, Protease, Aspergillopepsin, beta-Glucanase, Cellulase, Bromelain, Phytase, Lactase, Papain, Peptidase, Pectinase, Xylanase, Hemicellulase, [Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus bulgaricus] (500 Million CFU), Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Tour de Pologne Stage 3: Stybar Sprints to Victory – Quick-Step News
Tour de Pologne Stage 3: Stybar Sprints to Victory
Zdenek Stybar earned the 44th win in three disciplines for Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team this season, winning the 201km stage in the final meters by more than a bike length.
Stybar led around the final corner as the peloton surged to catch two escapees in the final meters. Michal Kwiatkowski was not far behind, and finished fourth. Kwiatkowski remains in 2nd overall, trailing Moreno Moser (Liquigas-Cannondale) by a second. Francesco Gavazzi (Astana Pro Team) was 2nd and Sacha Modolo (Colnago) 3rd. Kwiatkowski would have taken over the leader's jersey had he made the podium.
"It was a quite hard race," Stybar said. "We had to work a lot to chase down the breakaway, but we shared the work with other teams. We were always in the first part of the group. In the local circuit, Trentin went in a breakaway and then I also entered in a breakaway at two laps to go. I didn't chase to protect Matteo and even because Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team), who was with me, could be dangerous for the GC. But then when Matteo was caught I still managed to stay in the front and make the sprint. Matteo put me and Kwaitkowski in the best position possible before the cobblestones at 1km to go. At 500 meters to go, I let Moser and Gavazzi pass me and I waited for a good moment. I made my move just before the last corner and I won. I'm really happy because the race passed in Czech Republic, in my home country. I could really feel the crowd on the road supporting me. I'm also happy because I won my first UCI WorldTour race. The level here is very high, it's another important step in my career. This victory gave me more confidence."
"I was so close to the leader's jersey today," Kwiatkowski said. "At the sprint I did my best, but I was 4th. In any case I'm happy about my condition. Today I also tried for the bonification sprint and I took 3 seconds. Now I'm only at 1″ from Moser. The race is still open and we will fight to win until the end. I want to congratulate Styby for his victory. He showed to everybody how strong he can be."


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The Sweet Song String Band of Bennington, OK will be performing and leading a hands- on-workshop on Hammered and Mountain Dulcimers on April 6th, 2013. Come and learn how to play these instruments and how to make them too! This free event will be held in the Mary H. Herron Community Conference Center of the museum of the Red River, 812 E. Lincoln Road, Idabel, Oklahoma. Performance and workshops are from 10-12 and 1-3pm. This concert is part of the Smithsonian's New Harmonies Exhibit that is open until April 27th.
David Lindsey has been building and playing his own hammered dulcimers since 1978. The following year, David's wife, Annette, became interested in the mountain dulcimer and together they helped found the Sweet Song String Band, a group that is still active today. This family band (David, Annette and daughters) enjoys playing and singing old-time and gospel songs, and all are very involved in the Red River Valley Dulcimer Club. Their favorite thing to do is help others find the love for the music that changed their lives so completely that day back in 1978.


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3:00 pm
Teaching Channel Presents "Digital Literacy in the Classroom" Digital Literacy in the Classroom: Students learn how to become proactive digital citizens. From understanding safe behavior online to learning how to find reliable sources to seeing how online activity leaves a lasting identity trail - - these lessons are designed to develop critical thinking skills. D
4:00 pm
Making Meaning In Literature: A Workshop for Teachers, Grades 6-8 "Workshop 2. Encouraging Discussion" Introduced by Dr. Langer, this program concentrates on discussion and its importance in helping engaged readers go further in the text. The onscreen teachers talk about ways to encourage wholeclass and smallgroup discussion, the importance of asking the right questions to provoke thoughtful discussion, and making the discussion inclusive, including both talkative and reticent students. Their discussion is punctuated by visits to their classrooms, where discussion flourishes. D
5:00 pm
Wild Photo Adventures "Southern Killer Whales" Host and professional wildlife photographer Doug Gardner and photographer Aaron Baggenstos brave the Pacific Northwest's Salish Sea to photograph killer whales. D
5:30 pm
Wild Photo Adventures "Pacific Northwest Rainforest" Host and professional wildlife photographer Doug Gardner travels to Washington State to photograph the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park with photographer Aaron Baggenstos. D
6:00 pm
Barbecue University with Steven Raichlen "Louisiana and the Gulf Coast" Raichlen collects regional treats, including new shrimp and smokies, grilled blackened catfish with fennel and Cajun roasting chicken on a beer can.G
6:30 pm
Taste of Louisiana with Chef John Folse & Co.: Our Food Heritage "Spanish Rule" Spain was one of the first countries to explore the New World and was responsible for Louisiana's system of laws, the architecture of the "French" quarter and the food markets of New Orleans. Dr. Paul E. Hoffman introduces us to early Spanish Louisiana. Chef Folse along with Tee Wayne Abshire and Ricky Breaux demonstrate how to make jambalaya, one of Louisiana's most common dishes, which was inspired by Spanish paella. D
7:00 pm
Chef John Besh's Family Table Garlicky Baked Oysters; Marinated Crab Fingers; Seafood Gumbo. D
7:30 pm
Taste of Louisiana with Chef John Folse & Co.: Our Food Heritage "Italian Immigration to America" Oppression, religious freedom, heavy taxes and deplorable working conditions brought many immigrants to the New World. The Italians were no different. Disappointed and betrayed by their government, many Sicilians emigrated from the harbor of Palermo to the port of New Orleans. D
8:00 pm
Rick Steves Special "A Symphonic Journey" Rick Steves, America's leading authority on European travel, teams up with the Cascade Symphony Orchestra and maestro Michael Miropolsky for a musical journey that begins in the United States, and touches down in seven different European countries. The special, taped at the Edmonds Center for the Arts near Seattle, Wash., celebrates music's power to stir the patriotic soul. D
9:30 pm
Burt Wolf: Taste of Freedom "Carnival" January 6, known as Twelfth Night, Epiphany or King's Day, begins Shrovetide, which leads to Mardi Gras.G
10:00 pm
America's Test Kitchen from Cook's Illustrated "Breakfast Standbys" Man on the Street John "Doc" Willoughby challenges viewers to a blind oatmeal tasting to see if steel-cut really is better than instant. Then, host Christopher Kimball goes into the test kitchen with test cook Bridget Lancaster to learn how to make the best bowl of 10-Minute Steel Cut Oatmeal. Next, equipment expert Adam Ried is in the Equipment Corner reviewing his favorite moka pots, and Chris answers questions from viewers. D
10:30 pm
Simply Ming "Jody Adams & Cooking Greens" We're all supposed to eat more greens, but how do you cook them? Well, Chef Jody Adams knows her foliage and she's going to help Ming make it tasty on the fly on this episode of Simply Ming. D
11:00 pm
Taste This! "Veal Medallions" Chef Joe prepares various cuts of veal. During this episode, Chef Joe is experimenting with different recipes, flavors, and combinations. D
11:30 pm
Rick Steves' Europe "Norway's West: Fjords, Mountains and Bergen" Rick sails under towering fjord cliffs, hikes on glaciers and finds surviving traditions in remote farm hamlets. He delves into Hanseatic heritage and takes in the salty hospitality of Norway's historic capitol, Bergen.G


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Like a great many others, the walls of my office in the Liberal Arts North Building on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus are decorated with plaques, certificates, and other flotsam of a life involved with professional and civic organizations. They are there because I don't know that else to do with them.
What DOES one do with such? Mostly, when you receive them, someone is thanking you for serving on some board or in an elective office and the plaque or certificate is evidence that the job is completed. You hang it there pridefully; hoping visitors will take notice of your previous achievements and importance. For a while, a few might comment, if the plaque is unusual, or what it commemorates is of sufficient significance. After that, they just gather dust, take up space.
Viewed altogether, one can track a career through them. Here are a couple that testify to my service for the Nacogdoches County Rodeo, sponsored by the Jaycees. These bring back good memories of a little work and a lot of watching budding community leaders take hold and run a major enterprise.
This one says that I helped give away a good deal of grant money during my tenure with the Texas Committee For The Humanities; here is a medal that my mother had sufficient influence with the UDC to convince them to give me the Jefferson Davis Award became I came to Lake Charles to sing Civil War songs for her chapter; and here's another that proves that the Sons of the Republic of Texas let me be an "honorary" member even though my ancestors weren't native Texans.
On another wall there are a couple of certificates from the Texas Historical Commission that say I am a pretty fine fellow, and two from other historical organizations that say I am indeed one of their Fellows, whether a "fine" one or not; I have two plaques with gavels on them—one from Rotary and the other from the Booster Club—certifying that I took my turn presiding when it came up.
A couple dealing with state agency appointments have signatures of governors on them –even though I didn't vote for either one of them.
The latest addition is a bas relief—of me—prepared by noted sculptor Paula Devereaux Kurth and presented to me by members of the East Texas Historical Association. I know this is narcissistic, but that one is my favorite, because of the source. But when they make me leave here, what in the world am I going to do with all the rest of this splendid wood?
Archie P. McDonald was a professor of history and Community Liaison at Stephen F. Austin State University. His commentaries were also featured each Friday morning on Red River Radio.


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Back - 1988 > Volvo > 740 > Suspension > Control Arm Stay
1988 Volvo 740 Control Arm StayReview Fitment Notes to Ensure Proper Fit
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MTC Control Arm Stay
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Part Number: W0133-1605879
Notes: Diagonal arm This control arm stay is 388.5mm in length and is a service alterntive to be used (with special outer bushing #6819057) to reduce brake vibrations. The inner bushing on this stay is an integral part of the stay and is not replaceable separately, but only as part of the stay. WARNING: These parts must be installed only while there is a load on the front suspension, otherwise damage to the bushings may result!
Product Remark: See Service Note
Condition: New
Shipping Options:
Ground, Overnight, 2 Day


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The following housekeeping tips and other bits of country lore were submitted by readers.
Rhubarb Pest Deterrent
Anna Laitala of Ely, Minnesota learned by accident about the strange powers of "Rhubarb Magic." Weeds and quack grass were invading —successfully—every side of her beloved garden except for the one edge lined with a row of rhubarb plants. Curious, she moved some of the tasty-stalked (but poisonous-leaved) pie plants over to another besieged border. The rhubarb "wall" blocked attacking underbrush there, too!
Before long, Anna was using those potent perennials everywhere. Discarded leaves and flower stems eliminated weeds and pests between the rows of her crops. Huge rhubarb blades draped over cabbage and cauliflower plants thwarted cabbage worms. And slit fronds—wrapped around her young broccoli shoots— successfully checkmated cutworms.
Any plant that can do all that must be—as Anna says—"truly magical."
Icebox Seed Incubator
Most folks wouldn't think a refrigerator would grow much other than mold on bread. But William Kiewel of Crookston, Minnesota made a perfect spring seed-sprouter out of a "well-used" icebox that he got for only $20. Bill simply unplugged the food chiller and installed a small thermostatically controlled heater (set at 75°F). Then all he had to do was add the seeds and shut the door. The dark, humid atmosphere proved to be perfect for sprouting all his tomatoes, cukes, squash, peppers, etc. (A plant starter like Bill's would be especially helpful to folks whose homes get pretty chilly on spring nights.)
But Bill doesn't stop there. Come fall, he takes the heater out, plugs in the fridge (set at about 40°F), and uses it to force flower bulbs. With this method, he has fragrant hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, and crocuses decorating his home even when it's 20 below outside!
Fence Post Anchor
You say you really want to build a fence this year, but you've got soil so rock-hard it'd blunt a steam shovel and an "inconvenient" shallow creek runnin' through your back forty besides? Gary Blanford of Louisville, Kentucky has a simple solution to help you out. Just use an old tire as a form, fill the discarded road rider with ready-mix concrete, and stick your post in. The round anchor rig'll hold your fence stands secure on land or stream. (You can even use a big old truck tire for your base, if you figure that you'll need extra ballast.) Best of all, Gary notes, this handy tip recycles "eyesore-ing" countryside litter into useful homestead items.
Pavlovian Cattle
Well, we never thought we'd get a "down-home" country tip from Ivan Pavlov! But Marjorie Watt of Old Monroe, Missouri tells us that an idea she borrowed from the eminent Russian scientist helped her get out of a very difficult situation. Marj's brainstorm came to her when a fence washed away, and she and her husband spent the next four days searching for their strayed calves. After that, the Watts decided to ring a cow bell every day at 6:00 p.m.— right before they fed the young heifers—to try to call the animals home.
Did the treatment work? Heck, those hungry calves came a-scurryin' at the sound of that dinner clanger after only three days! Not only that, says Marjorie ... "now everything answers the call of the bell: calves, horses, ducks, geese, and pigs!"
Flower Stand Tomato Stakes
Do you hate shelling out cash at the local nursery for plain old sticks just to prop up your tomato plants? Then quit doing it. You can get the best tomato stakes in the world for nothing (says Charles Dowling of Shreveport, Louisiana) at the local cemetery's flower dump. The heavy-gauge wire tripod stands (florists use 'em to display their funeral arrangements) that you'll find at "flower graveyards" are very sturdy. And such plant proppers come in various heights, require no maintenance, last for years ... and even fold flat for storage. Besides that, pushin' their sharp-tipped legs into the soil is easy. (The tripods can also double as display stands at arts and crafts shows.)
So check your cemetery sexton's office for the location of the flower dump near you, and get some free "veggie easels" for your tomatoes to lean on!
Spice Jar Small Seed Spreader
Did you ever think there must be a better way to sow those hard-to-handle tiny garden seeds than letting them slip (all in one place) through your fingers? Don Snyder—who holes up in Marianna, Florida—felt that way, too. So he created some homemade seed spreaders out of old spice jars. First, Don drilled the lid openings slightly bigger (enlarging the punctures with a nail would work, too). Then he loaded his future carrots in an old onion salt container (and his radish motes in a rescued garlic salt holder), went out in the garden, and started shaking. The result was some very easy—and even—plant sowing that stretched his seed package (and his money) while it reduced the need for later thinning.
Seed Planter
What Don Snyder's spice-sower did for the little seeds, Alfred Goolsbee's invention does for the big ones. This Pt. Neches, Texas native made a no-stoop, no-crouch planter that consists of a funnel attached to some lightweight aluminum or plastic pipe. Al says, "Just take this seed tube and a long stick into the garden with you at sowin' time. Poke a hole in the prepared soil bed with your stick, insert your pipe in the opening, and drop the seed down the funnel. The kernel'll land right where you want it. Then simply flip the earth back over with your stick and ease on down the row!"
Manual Windshield Defogger
When those spring rains hit your windshield and the whole dang inside of your car fogs up, you can be in for some pretty hairy traveling. But you don't have to drive blind. Not if you lake this tip from Glasgow, Kentucky's Ronald Hunter. Simply buy a large felt blackboard eraser (you know, the kind Teacher made you clap after school) at a large variety store. One swipe of the slate-scrubber will wipe that murky window clean. And the felt block will store right comfy in your glove compartment, too.
Homemade Gelatin
Tired of swallowing sugar-filled, artificially flavored commercial gelatins? Well, you don't have to stop eating the sweet jellied concoctions. Instead, follow this recipe from Lorraine De Souza of Chester, New Hampshire and create your own! First, brew up a pot of your favorite herb tea (make the batch potent so it'll maintain its flavor after dilution). Next, mix until dissolved 2 cups of this hot herb broth with 2 packets of unflavored gelatin and honey (to taste). Stir in 2 cups of cold water, let the finished treat chill, and then sit back and relax with your "junkfree gel joy!"
To make this homemade goodie even tastier, Lorraine suggests substituting fruit juice for the cold water and adding some chunks of fresh fruit as well.
Bird Seed Wedding
Robert Weiss of Stoughton, Wisconsin has figured out a nature-loving idea to try at your friends' spring weddings. When the bride and groom leave the church (or field or whatever), don't throw rice, throw bird seed! You won't waste the grains, or have anything to clean up. Some feathered wedding guests will take care of it all.
Saw Counterweight
A one-man two-man saw?! That's what Ray Ginsbury of Stratford, New Hampshire had to rig up when he couldn't find anyone to help him use his two-person woodcutter. Ray hung a 20-pound, rock-filled sack from a tree branch. Then, he positioned his log-loaded sawbuck under the limb so he could tie the bag to one end of his crosscutter. Ginsbury grabbed 'holt of the other end of the saw, pulled once, and then—like a pendulum—the tree-tied bag pulled the blade on back.
Ray was real pleased with his bag "buddy". He said it was the only partner he'd ever had that didn't tire out.
Battery Collars
Do you remember Lois Meloney's idea for usin' those leftover cardboard toilet paper tubes? ( Sure you do!) Well, Annette Marcotte of Burnt Hills, New York was so struck by Lois's idea that she decided to contribute her own restroom roller suggestion. Ms. Marcotte sticks the tubes inside of flashlights before she drops in the batteries. That way, the tiny power plants—and the terminal connections—fit tight and stay tight. Ever since Annette started using battery "collars", she's never had to shake, cuss, or fiddle with a flashlight to get it working.
Kangaroo Pouch Organizer
"Those old-fashioned 12-pocket hanging shoe bags can be used in every room in the home," writes Kathy Streich of Pine Island, Minnesota. And sure enough, Kathy's got sets of the helpful "kangaroo pouches" all over her house. One batch of the former footwear holders adorns her kitchen. It contains wooden spoons, mixing whips, spatulas, and other large cooking utensils. Another is nailed low on the wall of her child's room, for the little fella to stash his toys in.
Ms. Streich even created a hanging "budget organizer" in her study. She labeled each shoe pocket with the name of a month ... and now she files her bills in them!


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Custom cakes filled with love
In cake making, Kate Sullivan combines her love of designing and painting with an infatuation for chocolate. Growing up in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, where her personal benchmark for fine cuisine had amounted to a Coney Island hot dog, she now lives and works in Manhattan (but still gets to Coney Island when she can). For over fifteen years, Kate worked as the director of photography for magazines including Patenting, Family Life and Smart Money magazine.
She then started LovinSullivanCakes and was dubbed "baker extraordinaire" by Modern Bride magazine. Kate believes that, in fact, a really good way to a man's (and woman's) heart is through his (or her) stomach.
A wedding cake can be a great metaphor for sharing your tastes, passions and dreams with the people you love. Kate's vibrant modernist and whimsical custom cakes are created with loving attention to detail, and that love becomes contagious with every bite.


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Galapagos: Nature's Wonderland
There's only one place on Earth where grinning iguanas claw their way along the seafloor alongside tropical penguins and the largest fish in the ocean. Go there with Galapagos 3D: Nature's Wonderland on New England's largest screen. Soaring aerial footage affords sweeping views of this unique constellation of volcanic islands, while intimate wildlife footage puts you in muddy bogs with grunting giant tortoises and basking on lava rocks alongside black iguanas. Slip underwater for glimpses of whale sharks and flightless seabirds rocketing through the water. Take the trip of a lifetime to the islands that gave us a greater understanding of life on our blue planet—both above and below the water.


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Urban Fidelity Art Speakers Add the Element of Sight to Sound
Laptops, headphones, computers, tablets, gaming consoles, and smartphones...they've all gotten the skin treatment, with a variety of artists and designers embellishing stock equipment with personalization in mind. Los Angeles audiophile Josh Ray is hoping to follow the footsteps of fashionable-tech accessories like Beats by Dre, adorning a category of electronics normally considered conservative and staid: floorstand audio speakers.
Urban Fidelity made the leap from Kickstarter now to a shipping product, offering a range of reasonably priced passive speakers for $399.00 a pair, with its differentiating appeal their catalog of forty-two art-adorned designs to choose from ($448 if you want to customize the speakers with your own images).
All of their speakers are equipped with an unusual open air, double cone design (Air Flow) producing sound from both the front and the rear of the floorstanding units; they believe this "liberation" from a typical enclosed cabinet design produces a more accurate sound and requiring less parts (without the cabinetry, crossovers, and required customer assembly, prices are kept down too).
Additionally, the speaker drivers exhibit an eco-friendly streak. Urban Fidelity speakers are manufactured in the US, with the wood responsibly sourced from North American forests and constructed using formaldehyde-free wood and low/no-VOC water-based paints and inks. Because you want definitely want to hear your speakers, may enjoy looking at your speakers, but you certainly don't want to smell them.
We hope to followup soon with our resident audiophile to see what he thinks of these nicely priced entry-level audiophile units and see if they sound as cool as they look.
Prototype desktop speakers are in development, with a hairpin leg stand propping each unit (more about the mini speakers here).
Urban Fidelity Art Speaker Specifications:
- Frequency range: mid-50Hz to 20kHz
- Power handling: 8 to 80 watts
- Sensitivity: 87dB, 8 ohms impedance
- Dimensions: 13" wide x 13" deep x 41" tall (artwork 40" x 11.25")
- Air Flow Driver: 8" double cone, cast aluminum frame, ceramic magnet
- 5-way gold plated binding posts accept banana plugs, spades and bare wire
- Printing: eight color high resolution printing
- Finish: high contrast gloss
- Made in the USA
(Images: Urban Fidelity)


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John Porter's Full Throttle Leads The 2008 Melges 32 Rolex Big Boat Series
11 September 2008
The first day of racing at the Melges 32 Rolex Big Boat Series was stellar with two races completed and Lake Geneva's John Porter on USA-32 Full Throttle seated in first place overall. Porter carries four points overnight, tied with Pieter Taselaar (New York, N.Y.) in second place on USA-169 Bliksem. In third is defending champion Philippe Kahn (Santa Cruz, Calif.) on USA-166 Pegasus 32.
It was a somewhat foggy morning start for the nine Melges 32s. Winds were around 5-8 knots and building, calm seas and blue skies slowly but surely opened to give way to some warm welcomed sunshine — the perfect compliment to San Francisco's cool, breezy racing conditions. Fast off the pin end was Taselaar, Porter, new boat owner Don Jesberg (Belvedere, Calif.) on USA-162 Viva and Michael Illbruck (Munich, Germany) on GER-401 Pinta all taking to the left. Upwind it was a heated battle between Taselaar, Illbruck and Porter with Taselaar taking the lead several boat lengths ahead of the fleet at the first weathermark. Porter and Illbruck were left to battle it out for second place, both hugging the left side as the breeze was gradually increasing. Porter took over second place downwind rounding through the gate only half a boat length behind Taselaar, and Illbruck in third. Joe Woods (Torbay, UK) on GBR-700 Red made up ground on the the downwind run rounding fourth. Back upwind it was a real dogfight between Taselaar and Porter going into the mark. Taselaar managed to edge out Porter for the lead, but it was obvious he was loosing his grasp. Porter eventually took over the top spot at the final gate of the race with Woods and Illbruck charging in as well. Porter separated himself from the fleet with an aggressive upwind performance for the win. Taselaar, now several boat lengths behind was left to deal with Woods and Illbruck. Taselaar held his own for second and Illbruck was third. Woods settled for fourth.
The second race was a challenge, even for the race committee as they struggled to set the starting line for the fleet with a frequently shifting breeze. It was optimum sailing conditions as the breeze was now pumping around 20-22 knots — perfect city front racing! Illbruck blasted off the starting line, shooting out almost an entire boat length ahead of the fleet on the pin end. Along with him was Taselaar and Giovanni Maspero (Como, Italy) on ITA-999 Joe Fly and Porter on the left. There was much to be learned from the locals on race two as Kahn, Jesberg and Stephen Pugh (San Francisco, Calif.) on USA-158 Taboo stayed only a little left of center. Kahn and his Pegasus 32 team made good use of the ebbing tide, smooth water surface and great big breeze for the win. The downwind planning conditions were incredible as all the teams seemed to enjoy to opportunity to sail their Melges 32s at maximum speed. The finish line was conveniently positioned right in front of the St. Francis Yacht Club. Spectators lined the balconies as all the competing fleets finished race two.
The regatta is young as more races are scheduled for Friday, and again on Saturday and Sunday.
FULL RESULTS (After two races)
1.) John Porter, Full Throttle; 1-3 = 4
2.) Pieter Taselaar, Bliksem; 2-2 = 4
3.) Philippe Kahn, Pegasus 32; 5-1 = 6
4.) Michael Illbruck, Pinta; 3-4 = 7
5.) Joe Woods, Red; 4-7 = 11
6.) Giovanni Maspero, Joe Fly; 7-5 = 12
7.) Stephen Pugh, Taboo; 8-6 = 14
8.) Don Jesberg, Viva; 6-8 = 14
9.) Caleb Everett/Andy Costello, Stewball; 9-9 = 18
Visit the official event website of 2008 ROLEX BIG BOAT SERIES. Also, see the official website of the INTERNATIONAL MELGES 32 CLASS ASSOCIATION.
For media photos and/or additional information about the Melges 32 at the Rolex Big Boat Series, please contact JOY DUNIGAN, INTERNATIONAL MELGES 32 CLASS PRESS OFFICER on e-mail, or via phone at +1 (912) 398 5776.


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|FreeBSD General Other questions regarding FreeBSD which do not fit in any of the categories below.
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Mac Os X here we go
I am a Mac user at the moment but I am not that kind of typical mac user the one that can not live without the Apple symbol in each corner. So I want to try FreeBSD especially because it is open Source and I want to give open source a try.
Now what I am looking for ? I have the following Applications and I want to replace them with free open source, so tell what is best, or your preferred choice.
Mail, ical, Addressbook= mozilla collection, because that works best, or ?
itunes = banshee
Safari = Firefox
ichat= gajim (just wondering if it is possible to get a ichat skin for this application) or any other small jabber client
TexShop=a LaTeX with the result on the one side and the code on the other like this
textmate = gedit and this tutorial
photoshop= gimp
dashboard= the option to press F12 and have a bunch or small little applications that show for example the to do's for today, some notes, quick access to google and leo.org as well as wikipedia, maybe the weather, and rss feeds
dock= the bottom line in Mac Os X you know with the option to launch applications from and maybe also the option to have things like stacks.
quicklook = in mac OS X we have the feature to preview any kind of file by simply hitting the space key.
pages, Microsoft office = open office
cocoa Mysql= an mysql client that allows me to access mysql database through an ssh tunnel
some calculator that plots math functions and can calculate LaTeX code
skype = skype
windows emulation = As some people require me to have windows to be compatible I need some emulation running.
Sounds easy does not it so I want it a bit more specific I am going to use freeBSD + fxce + compiz on an PowerPc based mobile computer.
And the aim is to look like a Mac, behave like a Mac (stable and secure) but run even faster, much faster. Therefore the application should look nice but run fast.
I would be pleased to here your answers. And suggestions if you think I should take a look at some other applications.
Regrades Snoop1990
For an itunes replacement I recommend amarok, i chat I like pidgin. Dock I use xfce 4 which does the job though its not as flashy its light weight and quick. windows emulation wine of course. I once wanted my desktop to look like osx but then I found xfce.
But amarok is KDE so this would required further binaries to be installed which slows down the performance, I guess.
About pidgin I agree with you, that seems to be a better choice!
SO I am still searching for :
a LaTeX enabled calculator
some quicklook replacement
and a mysql client
Or is quicklook already contained in Mac4Lin ?
I am also looking for a application to collect photos with. Some great database system where I can sort them by date location and so on ... any ideas ?
Maybe F-Spot ? native GTK and nearly as smooth as digiKam.
Last edited by Snoop1990; 25th June 2008 at 05:35 PM. Reason: Added important information !
Safari uses the Konqueror engine....but I like Opera.
Showimg for photos.
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words." -Philip K. Dick
Konqueror in KDE3 uses KHTML and KJS for the redner and javascript engine.
Safari uses WebKit, which started life as a fork if memory serves.
When it comes to Amarok and Banshee, Amarok depends on KDE and Qt libraries but Banshee is a C# program dependent on mono and gtk bindings afaik.
If your planning on the Gnome route, Banshee would be a better idea; vice versa if going the KDE route; if not going either route, try both and keep the one you prefer ;-)
My Journal
Thou shalt check the array bounds of all strings (indeed, all arrays), for surely where thou typest ``foo'' someone someday shall type ``supercalifragilisticexpialidocious''.
I'm a Mac user, a Linux user, and a FreeBSD user. Actually, I've probably tried most Unix operating systems out there. I don't know how attached you are to a GUI, but a full-featured command line environment is really all I need. I use Xfce 4.4 and Xterm + Screen + Zsh on FreeBSD, and I use standard interface plus the same on OS X. I use MPD for music with ncmpc client to manage on both platforms. Look into that, and see if you like it. It's a nice and elegant setup that hardly takes up much resources.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
I am a web developer and I like the Mac to be fast, secure,stable and because of its nice applications, for example textmate.
But seeing the actual development process I do not want to be bounded to Mac OS X any longer, it is just to much ilife too much I do not need too much hidden under the hood, less options to customize and quite expensive.
Now I choose FreeBSD as it is unix and I like the changed changed copyright as this brings ZFS and other technologies to FreeBSD. I chose xfce because it is very fast.
As I am used to the Mac environment at the moment I like my to look similar, so the transmission is easier for me and maybe other mac users that join my way. It should be rock stable, faster as Mac OS X (which is not that difficult ), secure and highly customizable, to fit the workflow as best as possible. Mac OS X does these things out of the box, but the missing feature is the option of customization, it is all hidden behind this beautiful user interface.
About showimg and konqueror I think both of them are nice but both are based on KDE and I do not want to use KDE as it seems to be a bit slower than xfec. Therefore I want to stay with the GTK libraries as long as possible to keep the system slim and fast.
To sum up what I need is a full office, with calender, emails, notes, to-do, address book, web, instant messaging as well as a development area based on a text editor with code highlighting and project structure, that is what I like about textmate, a msyql client as I do not like to edit database queries in the command line, some windows environment for testing, especially for internet explorer, and maybe some emulation to run a web sever as a separated operation system. And finally I need some LaTeX environment again with code highlighting.
That is what I need but to make life a bit more enjoyable I also want music and a nice looking interface with some of those features Apple comes up with for example the quicklook. These things that make your all day stuff easier.
If I finally go with the PowerPC or with the X86 structure is a decision of lifestyle for me. Because I like the PowerPC as it is the theoretically more effective environment but the point is there are not that many PPC computers available on the market. I do not need the newest, as speed is not that important (I choose a fast operation system to be able to run on a older chip) but the problem are all these things around. If you look at older ppc mobile computers, they all have reduced screen resolutions, about 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768 especially the smaller ones ... Therefore I maybe choose a X86.
You do realize that Apple develops Darwin, their own open source flavor of Unix. They use some FreeBSD technology in it on top of the mach kernel. You can download Darwin sources, compile it, and run it on your system if you want. Apple uses Darwin as the base for Mac OS X on which they add on they're own proprietary libraries and user interface and such, then it becomes OS X. Mac OS X is Unix, as much as Unix as FreeBSD or any other flavor for that matter.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
Regrades Snoop1990
Darwin is a clean Unix, and it performs very well. Apple develops Darwin with a different purpose in mind. Mac OS X is not the fastest operating system in the world, according to microbenchmarks, but that's because the developers don't want to "waste" time implementing features that may not translate into a real-world performance increase. If you want to switch to FreeBSD because Mac OS X's interface gets in the way, then that's a good reason, but if you want to switch because FreeBSD is Unix, then that's the wrong reason because you have all of that functionality available to you on OS X.
I don't know if I'd stick with PPC, though. If you're a web developer, then lack of flash might be interfere with that, if you ever need to use it.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
The reason why I want to switch is the performance and the price for further computers. My business is quite small at the moment, only two Macs so I am at the beginning and now the question is: Is is possible to use Open source only software for web development, to reduce costs to a minimum. And while switching from closed source on the mac side I noticed that I do not have to persuade a Mac to have all those open source applications they are all available on freebsd as well. So if it is possible to get the same fast workflow (which is based on the graphical user interface) on an cheaper computer that would be perfect ! And I guess a lot developers on the Mac side think similar, there is so much user entertainment stuff in nowadays Mac OS that slows down the system and I do not need all these. I want more performance instead and more options to customize my operation system. So as Apple locks down the customization I am looking for an alternative operation system to replace the Apple system.
Regards Snoop1990
( the geeky inside of an usual boy )
my own small forum:pro-connect.co.cc
Mac OS X actually performs quite well, even on older computers. Also, for open source applications, install pkgsrc on Mac OS X, and you're good to go. If you want something easier, but less flexible, then install MacPorts. I understand where you're coming from, and for price reason, any BSD is great.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
>Mac OS X actually performs quite well, even on older computers.
That's rather 'nonsense', trying Leopard on my G4 will blow it away (to some extent).
>install pkgsrc on Mac OS X
Use fink or macports - made with Mac OS X in mind.
>according to microbenchmarks, but that's because the developers don't want to "waste" time implementing features that may not translate into a real-world performance increase.
Another nice marketing saying of Apple. You want to learn something about FreeBSD (as mentioned in another posting), try Mac OS X first. We have some 8-way core machines at our institute because of some Apple-maniac (it's in fact a good friend of mine). It doesn't scale well with two cores (compared to other operating systems) and it is at its limit while using more than two cores. You cannot even use more than 4G of RAM because the kernel _is_ 32 bit. So in fact you can, but it's something similar like PAE - in the end another performance hog. But using this machine together with Linux ... speed, just pure speed :-) We will get more of 64 bit with snow leopard and someday they will even implement a proper scheduler.
By the way we're using this machines as render slaves. So if you want something for the Desktop and you do like blackboxes and don't want to bother with configuration etc. well get some Apple. But if you want something similar to UNIX or you do like the console, then get some proper hardware and something similar to the original UNIX spirit, not the trademark and some UNIX03 paper.
That said, I like some technologies of Apple, like Webkit or the iPod (touch), even the 8-way core is some real nice hardware if you're using this power-horse together with some proper 'power-horse operating system'.
use UNIX or die :-)
And that is exactly the reason why I want to leave Mac OS X ! I chose it two years ago because I thought it is a pure unix with the ability to run commercial software. But the more I looked inside Mac OS X I noticed that is not that kind of unix I was looking for. I want the speed and the customizability of unix and that is what is not available in Mac OS X. Mac OS X runs out of the box, but that is the only option, there is no way to change Mac OS X it is always like you get it when opening the box
As I am more familiar with unix now I decided to choose FreeBSD but I have to replace some apple applications I use everyday and that is what this thread was desired for.
Regards Snoop1990
( the geeky inside of an usual boy )
my own small forum:pro-connect.co.cc
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From Openmoko
Read more on how the project is going here. I will release a video on YouTube that will demo the gesture recognition framework at the end of June. I'm currently working on continuous recognition. I've already done isolated recognition. Continuous recognition is almost like isolated recognition, only that I'm using a two-class gaussian classifier as the end-point detector.


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The great theme of every overrated writer in the past twenty years has been the interconnectedness of things. Butterflies flap their wings in China and famine kicks off in Africa. A man gets on a plane in Sydney and another man jumps off a balcony in Paris.
You can get your interconnectedness fix from Thomas Friedman's New York Times column as he marvels at the flattening of the world or any one of an endless number of fictional tomes in which strangers from around the world collide and influence each other's lives.
The interconnectedness of things is not just the theme of the next TED talk you'll watch or the next Wired article you'll read. It's the theme of policy as well. Pull one string and everything changes. Policy is no longer about making things happen by doing them, it's about finding the precursor to them and doing that and when that doesn't work, finding the precursor to that.
The growth of government means that everything is interconnected and instead of trying to cut the cost of health care by trimming back the bureaucracy, you ban sodas to fight obesity in the hopes of eventually cutting the cost of health care. It's the sort of thing that sounds smart when it's made into the theme of a book that discusses how connected everything else is to everything.
It's stupid in real life, but who pays attention to real anyway?
Public policy is wired into the next great insight into interconnectedness and the one after that. Doing things to do them is stupid. It's the sort of thing that Bush, poor dumb ape man, would do. The smart set, the Obama set, do the things that they don't want to do to do the things that they want to do. It's the sort of thing that sounds stupid if you try to explain it to a cab driver, but sounds like absolute genius when explained to an audience consisting of dot com people and people who wish they were dot com people.
And sometimes it even works. Most of the time though it makes things confusing and miserable.
The opening premise of interconnectedness theory is that trying to do what you want to do is futile. You don't make a hurricane by turning on a fan and aiming it as a cloud, you do it by getting on a plane to China and then irritating a butterfly so that it flaps its wings. And then the hurricane comes or it doesn't. But while you're there you'll probably meet a monk or a street urchin who will go you a deeper insight into life or steal your wallet which will inspire you to write the next bestselling book about how everything in life is really connected to everything else.
Wars? Naturally we don't do them. Only dumb brute apes think that you win a war by killing the enemy. That's a positively medieval point of view. Even Bush knew better than that. No, you win a war by dealing with the root causes of the war. You find all the links to all the events, you win over the natives with candy bars and briefcases full of infrastructure money and then it all converges together and the war is over. Or it's not. But either way you write a book about it.
Interconnectedness is the search for causes. It's never a mismanagement problem, because that's not a revelation.
Tell Mayor Bloomberg that health care costs are high because it takes four administrators to a doctor to get a patient through the system and he'll look bored. That's obvious. Tell him that recreating every new government building so that visitors are forced to use the stairs and those cold black marbles in his head will come awake.
Tell Obama that we're losing the war because we're not killing the enemy and he'll hand you a pen and excuse himself, but tell him that the war is being lost because we need to get more Muslims into space and he'll hand you a czarship.
We are becoming a subtle and stupid society, obsessed with nuance and a mystical search for the hidden social engines of life. And while that may seem advanced when you're reading through the latest New York Times bestseller that explains how fishermen in Southeast Asia are influenced by sales of cotton candy in Michigan and the price of coffee in Brazil, it's actually quite debilitating.


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Retail pro sql server 2005 työt
Build A Mobile Phone Recycling and Retail Website in UK Only UK based developers are acceptable. Priority for a developer who already has experience in electronics recycling platforms. Requirements: • Accounts Management • Price controls • Automated payments integration with the bank • BACS Payment Management • Cheques Payment Management • Testing
I have one product to sell on Amazon. I require 7 to 10 photos of the product itself and some in use with a model. Also need two or three lifestyle photos. Need Hi Res photo ready for digital and print packaging use. Will give complete direction on how photographs are to be taken.
We are looking for someone to pull retail store addresses from competitive brands' store locators on their website- we will provide website list of brands
Need a plugin in Retail pro software which will calculate the value of the items scanned in the billing screen based on the flag of that item scanned and sum the total value and plot it in the comment field of the billing when the bill is updated.
...issues with SQL server (2005 and 2008) on my server that need to be fixed. There are databases on each instance of SQL server, so I need them to be maintained and not broken. There seems to be a missing shortcut for 2005 and SQL 2008 does not connect from Management Studio due to a blocked port issue. There have been a few changes on th...
We are renewing one of our retail stores with souvenirs and gifts (tshirts, mugs, magnets etc ...). The interior will be as shown in attached photos. 1.: Logo must include the name of the store (Staf or STAF). 2.: Interior is designed as a hand line drawing, and logo should reflect that. 3.: No 3D effects. 4. Please don't copy other people designs
If you are a expert in these part , will work with you for a long time . We are looking for long te...We are looking for long term relationship with NAV developer who is willing to join us in LS Central project. Requirement: 1. Strong development skills in NAV C/AL 2. LS Retail solutions knowledge 3. Perfect English and good communication skills.
HI Looking for quality shopping traffic for new webstore . Please only serious and proffessional with expertise acceptable. With Regards;
I need someone in Dubai to work with me on this small project. I should be able to collect email address and mobile numbers, accept payments on a locql bank in UAE
Rekisteröidy tai kirjaudu sisään nähdäksesi tiedot.
We would like to build an webapp with web and mobile front end for a retail store chain. I'm attaching the requirements and the features needed in the attached word document.
WE have requirement of mobile app development for Retail segment. we will provide all specification during finalization. Pl send your profile so that we can able to discuss.
...Specific requirement and details will be shared with the selected freelancer. 1) Android App development for B2C Retail market with all modern features as prevailing in current market 2) Back-end management system for managing the retail operations 3) World Class UX/UI and simplicity in design 4) Technology Expertise - Android, Java, RDBMS, MySQL 5)
I am trying to get ideas for building Augmented reality experience for retail/ecommerce space. Specifics for this project would first cater to finalizing the AR experience for consumers. Products that we are targeting would be in two categories: 1. Hair care products for brands like Pantene. [kirjaudu nähdäksesi URL:n] 2. Herbal essence products h
Small startup security company trying to aquire security service contract with a retail shop. Need some with a high level of experience in the proposal writing for contracts of service
Need a Retail pro (POS billing software) plugin in billing module to send One time password to customer mobile number when the customer is availing he/her discount. And it should ask for only those customers which we flagged in the customer master with a customer type field and the customer discount should be more that 0%.
Design a retail packing box design
...a creative designer to design a new range of retail gondolas & sales counters for our new catalogue. You MUST understand the retail market and the designs MUST be fit for retail shops, shopping centres and pop up shops. You MUST be able to prove your experience with joinery in a commercial and/or retail environment. Preference will be given to someone
Hi, the Reject Shop in a N...tested the course material and are looking for skilled trainers to help us with the delivery between the 4th Feb and 5th of April . Previous exposure to fast paced environment( Retail) would be ideal. If you are interested contact me on [Removed by Freelancer.com Admin - See Section 13 of Terms and Conditions] Robert
My writing skills aren't the best, as part of a 2019 initiative, I'm trying to elevate my online profile as a thought leader within social media, specifically in retail. I'd like to work together with a freelancer to help produce a monthly Linked article/blog that looks at the current state of play within the market and predictions for trends to watch
Accounting Data Entries I have about 220 deposit entries that need to be made into Quickbooks Premier Retail Edition 2016 for online sales. The payments have already been recorded in Quickbooks, but the deposits haven't yet been recorded. Each deposit needs to be recorded separately. The attached image shows one example. The first line is provided
need an IT expert in server to overlook this brochure, edit english and add any technical info about IOT IT
Enable the following: TakePOS to associate with dolibarr warehouse based on USER/GROUP Goal: Each Retail locations instance of TakePOS will affect the "warehouse" and feed a cash account associated with that site. Preferably User Groups can be associated with POS/Warehouse?Account associations so Users inherit from group.
I have a Kids Garment Store. I require a POS , that can handle purchase , Sale , Returns and Exchange of clothes using Barcode. Please Check the attached files for more details
I want to have image listing online with option to buy my products with payment online.
Meeting with new customers After training is complete — understanding product knowledge Meeting the needs of our clients with integrity Creating a positive experience for our customers
I need a high-level concept design for a mall showroom/retail store. For the contest submission, it is enough to have one layout design and several draft views. With the winner, we will work on a more detailed version as a separate project. The concept: You need to create a store design. (Please see the examples I like in the attached photos) Aim
I need a simple app, to be able to search and navigate a small database of products with fields sku number, sku name, description, EAN number. Search should be done by text input, or by barcode scanning. Once a product is found and selected, info about the product should be displayed, with the option to show the barcode in full screen. Said operations should be done offline. The product databas...
I need a 3D model of something.
Create a template which will be used on a weekly basis to advertise the retail store specials on Facebook and Emails. This would be using the information provided by us along with our logo and the theme of our logo to be blended into the template.
I am looking for a designer to draw a perfect 3D plan of a retail store showing what areas are best for high volume displays.
I need an existing website rebuilt. I need you to design and build a website for my small business. Need a quick return.
I need a 3D design retail store just interior design.
Need a 1 page brochure to handout to potential customers. We build mobile retail stores. We are needing a brochure to hand out to our clients in the Agricultural livestock feed market.
We are on a mission to spread eco friendly and biodegradable disposable products Globally. To do so, we are forming a tribe or coop with shops of the same vision and mission to come together with us on this. Join us in creating this app for us and you will be empowering Mother Earth and aspiring small shop owners to grow and to be sustainable.
Hi I am looking for a ~ 10 page research report on the positive AND negative impacts of the upcming 5G networks on the Australian retail environment. I am looking for commercial impacts, consumer use cases, retailer use cases and building management use cases. Only 1 page should be devoted to the explantation of how 5G networks work, their speeds
i need 4 us online product retail buyers with long term contracts ..i need u to prove u can take this task then work
i need US online product retail buyer for my firm ..i now with corporateservicesdiirect. but they for services ..In similar fashion i need a list of 5 to 7 firms who loyally buy US retail products from us so i shall buy for them keep in my US warehouse and then forward it to their destination .i need this contract from 5 or 7 buyer firms as a long
Jewellery store needs upgrade and restoration
PROJECT DESCRIPTION Need a logo designed for an online retailer that sells products that are well made, innovative and not ordinary. COMPANY BELIEF "My Tilted World" is a store/company that celebrates that the world is tilted (23.5 degrees) and from that tilt, our world is better because of it: we enjoy and celebrate the beautiful seasons, humor, irony, wit, beauty, the creative spiri...
...out a migration of our current website onto Shopify keeping themes, styles and having it as a secondary website, with a sub domain URL. i.e. we are selling to business and retail customers on one website and we need someone to make a shopify website with a new sub domain URL so customers can still identify the brand and company name. We need the same
We are seeking amazing graphic designers to submit a unique logo. The concept of our logo is a beautiful flower with different faces from different ethnicities on each petal of the flower. The outline of the flower in rose gold, The outline of the shape of the woman in each petal in royal blue with white petal . The woman can be either cartoon or more realistic looking. The idea is that the flower...
i need a us online retail product loyal buyer firm or individual with a long term contract with me more than 2 years clients wishing to purchacse from amazon ,banana republic etc..client buyers from around the world accepted so i will ship those goods to u ..client buyers with good financial standing with long term contract only accepted
I need a new website. I need you to design and build my blog.
1 logo for company SimplySMARTChoice 1 box design 20X12X2 retail packaging box i am trying to keep prices low so best quotes for quick turn around will be appreicated
We are looking for an experienced individual to put together a small business plan for our retail salad dressing company. The plan will be submitted to a local business organization for application of a grant. Plan and financial templates provided by the organization will be given to you. We would require any additional information you might need to
We have a new chain of hearing centers and need a frugal lobby design done with spec-ed carpet, paint colors, counter/cabinets with a built-in display, counter colors, etc.
I have a new creation, about 200 pages, shadowing a recent event in small-town, involving a beauty queen, missing for 11 years, unexplained; then a local friend of two low lives spills the beans to the local Chief/Police about the crime. Tough to cover the missing 11 years b ut I tried. The two in jail awaiting trial in April, 2019 for several murder charges. No body or remains. I have 3 books wi...
El contenido deberá tener como mínimo 650 palabras más dos imágenes de 1280*720. Fecha de entrega: 14 de enero
I want a customize Point of Sales solution which can be deploy as Saas solution so, I can sell it my customers on subscription bases. I am looking for a long term relationship once the POS is build I would like to have a support model on-going basis as I onboard clients. One of the main requirements is that POS should be able to work offline and store credit card information and as it gets back o...


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All farming gases must be cut, scientists say
19 Dec 18 - Cutting methane and nitrous oxide emissions from farming are critical to keeping the world to no more than 1.5deg of warming, scientists say in new research.
New tech hailed as tool to protect oceans
30 Nov 18 - New technologies that can remotely monitor the high seas will be crucial to enforcing a proposed deal to preserve the biological diversity of oceans, researchers say.
Solar geoengineering could be cheap option
26 Nov 18 - Cooling the Earth by injecting sun-blocking particles into the stratosphere could be remarkably inexpensive, according to the most detailed engineering analysis to date.
Fog, freezing cold, plague, hunger ... 536 was a shocker
21 Nov 18 - Ask medieval historian Michael McCormick what year was the worst to be alive, and he's got an answer: 536.
Academics call for emergency action
20 Nov 18 - One hundred and fifty New Zealand academics calling for emergency action on climate change say economic growth has to stop.
Messed-up ozone layer is on the mend
9 Nov 18 - The entire ozone layer even the highly damaged parts over the North Pole and South Pole could be completely healed by 2060.
This crab could save your life - if humans don't wipe it out first
5 Nov 18 - The wellbeing of people might one day depend on a blue-blooded crab that looks like a cross between the facehugger from Alien and a gigantic louse.
MEATLESS MEAT: One major issue is what do we call it
31 Oct 18 - The debate around the regulation of cell-based meat has stepped up significantly with one of major issues being what to call the new product.
Jet makes historic flight on LanzaTech fuel
5 Oct 18 - One-time New Zealand company LanzaTech developed the fuel for a Virgin Atlantic jet which has just flown from Orlando to Gatwick powered by a blend of aviation fuel and ethanol produced from waste...
WASTE NOT: Dumped plastic can be worth its weight in gold
5 Oct 18 - Plastics are among the most valuable waste materials its possible to convert all plastics directly into useful forms of energy.
Even fish can eat this latest replacement for plastic
3 Oct 18 - A new alternative to plastic has the possibility to replace all the packaging we know, because it is so safe that even fish can eat it.
Scientists have high hopes for solar-flow battery
2 Oct 18 - Scientists in the United States and Saudi Arabia have harnessed the abilities of both a solar cell and a battery in one device - a "solar-flow battery" that soaks up sunlight and efficiently stores...
Plastic-eating mushrooms are the new waste superheroes
2 Oct 18 - Mushrooms are capable of expediting the breakdown of plastic waste, says a new study from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London.
Changing climate is destabilising mountains
28 Sep 18 - It's not just the atmosphere and the oceans that are heating up. An ever-denser blanket of greenhouse gases is also sending warmer air and water deeper into the planet's rocky bones.
What happened to solar panels on roads?
28 Sep 18 - Four years ago, a viral campaign wooed the world with a promise of fighting climate change and jump-starting the economy by replacing tarmac on the worlds roads with solar panels.
Building walls on seafloor might help, say scientists
24 Sep 18 - Building walls on the seafloor might become the next frontier of climate science, as engineers seek novel ways to hold back the sea level rises predicted to result from global warming.
Sun-powered golden sandwich gives solar panels more bite
24 Sep 18 - Japanese scientists have developed a sun-powered golden sandwich: an experimental solar panel that they claim could be up to 11 times more effective than most equipment on the market.
Satellite will precisely track how ice is melting
24 Sep 18 - The world will soon have a much clearer picture of how quickly humans are melting Earths ice and expanding the seas, with data collected by a sophisticated satellite launched by Nasa.
Microplastics take to the skies by riding with flying insects
21 Sep 18 - Microplastic can escape from polluted waters via flying insects, research has revealed, contaminating new environments and threatening birds and other creatures.
More in the Latest science Archive
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- Photographers
- Photos
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Search on the website
- Jorge Romero jorgeromerofoto Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
MyWed member for 3 years and 10 months
- hometown rating Wedding photographer: Puerto Vallarta 1 place
Hi I am a Wedding Photographer, I think this job is the best in the world because I get the privilege to capture one of the most important moment in someone's life. I love my job, the people, lights, and the magical moment people shares with me; I admire the cities where I have worked in.
MyWed Award 2017
Winner of the "The bouquet toss" nomination
Winner of the "Engagement" nomination
Finalist of the "First dance" nomination
Finalist of the "Rings" nomination
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MyWed Award 2016
Winner of the "Rings" nomination
Finalist of the "The wedding dress" nomination
46 photos and 8 wedding storiesin the Best of the Year
232 photos and 18 wedding stories in the Best of the Week
360 photos and 61 wedding stories in Editors' Choice
Phone number+52 33 3954 0200 jorgeromero.com
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Lebanese Junior Writes About Middle East Conflictby Wassim Labaki '08 • July 31, 2006 Share:
After the end of the bloody Lebanese civil war (1974-1990) which I witnessed as a kid, the people of Lebanon have rebuilt their country, and the capital Beirut regained its status as a tourist and cultural centre of the region, as well as a centre for commerce, fashion and media. Every summer, hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Lebanon taking advantage of its beautiful beaches on the Mediterranean Sea, its green mountains, its many archeological sites and its modern resorts. This summer was no exception at all; Lebanon was filled with more than a million and a half tourists coming from the Arab Gulf, Europe and the Americas. This is a huge number for a country whose size is only 10 percent the size of Indiana.
I too decided to visit my home country after a long spring semester and two months (May and June) doing science research. The atmosphere was incredible in Lebanon. There were so many things to do in one day. My friends and I would go to the beach in the morning, spend the afternoon in the mountains and go out to a café at night to follow the soccer World Cup games which are very popular there. Everybody was enjoying his time and everything seemed so peaceful. Beirut was like a shining star on the Mediterranean and nobody suspected that a terrible war was awaiting us.
On July 12, Hezbollah, an Islamist militant organization financially and militarily supported by Iran, killed eight Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a cross-border raid without the approval of the Lebanese government. Support for Hezbollah is very mixed in Lebanon. In response Israel attacked the southern cities and villages of Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the major infrastructure of the country: the airport, all sea ports and the important roads and bridges. In a few hours, Lebanon became the symbol of destruction and Beirut a ghost city. At first a lot of people thought that this conflict would be a matter of days, but it quickly became evident that the war would be a long one.
I live in the mountainous Christian region north of Beirut, a relatively safe area. However, we constantly feared a lack of food, drugs and medical supplies because the Israeli army had blocked all the ports of the country. People were buying food in huge quantities. I was helping the elderly who needed assistance in storing the right drugs depending on their medical conditions. It was chaos and no one wanted to believe that we might be enduring a humanitarian crisis in the near future.
Israel has the right to defend itself against Hezbollah but it is not acceptable at all that innocent civilians and pacifist sites be targeted. Those pacifist sites include a UN post in the south, an ambulance for the Red Cross and television antennas. I was particularly affected by the pictures of killed and mutilated children I have seen on television. The sight of those children made me wonder if we were really living in the 21st century. I am deeply sad for all the casualties among civilians on both sides of the conflict.
Taking into account the disastrous situation, I decided to leave the country earlier than planned. Since the airport had been attacked, the only way to escape was to fly from Damascus, the capital of neighboring Syria. The road from Beirut to Damascus was not safe; the Israeli warplanes had already hit big trucks circulating on this road from fear that they might be carrying arms coming from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah. Nevertheless, I have decided to take the risk because no one could guarantee that this road would remain in operation in the days to come. Indeed, I made the right decision at the right time: the road between Beirut and Damascus was destroyed this Saturday, just two days after I left…
It was very difficult for me to say goodbye to my beloved ones. What would happen to them in my absence? Was it fair to leave them while they were facing such horrible conditions? I was a little bit nervous but I tried to stay strong and focused. My father insisted to accompany me to Damascus. He didn't want me to make that trip alone. Our journey was marked by several scary moments such as the sight of already destroyed trucks on the road or when we had to overtake other running trucks. Luckily, we made it to Damascus. I was very tired both physically and psychologically. But my worries did not end here; my father had to go back to Beirut on the same road at night, when the Israeli air strikes are usually more violent and more frequent. He succeeded to reach Beirut safely, but I didn't know that until I arrived to the States. Thank you Dad, I will never forget this.
After a long and exhausting trip, I finally made it to Crawfordsville. I had left my family to join another one, the Wabash family, who stood beside me throughout those difficult moments. I am very touched by the support I have received from the Wabash community, and I am thankful to every person who asked about me in the last two weeks. I knew from the beginning that I wouldn't face my hardships alone because I know very well how caring and engaged the Wabash community is.
I am very disappointed by the second half of my summer: I had planned to relax with family members and friends, and I was also supposed to have an internship in a leading hospital affiliated with Johns Hopkins International. It is definitely annoying to disrupt my summer in such a shocking way, but I still realize that the price I had to pay is absolutely nothing compared to others.
Not only did Lebanon lose the six billion dollars it was supposed to earn from tourism, but its infrastructure was severely damaged. Nothing but rubbles remains from the southern suburbs of Beirut, rubbles that return the echo of crying women and children and reflect the dark light of misery and pain in this hot month of July.
Beirut has been compared to the phoenix bird because it was burned down and rebuilt several times through its long history. It will resurrect once again; the people of Lebanon won't let their capital down because they are hard-working people who have endured a lot through the years and centuries. It will be very painful to them to reconstruct their country when they had just finished rebuilding it after the recent civil war. But they will draw their will and strength from the heart of their extreme suffering.
Lebanon is one of the oldest countries in the world, the country where the first alphabet was invented and the first law school ever was built, and it is not today that Lebanon will collapse.
In photos: In both photos Wassim is chatting with Director of International Students, David Clapp. Wassim arrived at the Indianapolis airport July 27.