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At the Venice Biennale, Balancing Hope with National Interests
Artsy Editorial
Nikita Kadan interweaves his activist work in Kiev with his artistic practice, creating pieces that co-opt a historical framework to comment on contemporary issues. Featured in the 2015 Venice and Istanbul Biennials, Kadan uses architecture and history to unpack the legacy of the Soviet Union and the impact of recent Ukrainian events, particularly the protests of the Orange Revolution and subsequent fallout. His series "Procedure Room" (2009–10) includes appropriated didactic visuals from the Popular Medical Dictionary—a well-known medical volume from the Soviet period—and features serene instructive drawings of police torture techniques. Printed on ceramic plates and posters, the series employs the conventions of Soviet design to critique contemporary Ukraine. "In this period of Ukrainian life, the position of a citizen, a normal citizen, and the position of an activist have became very close," Kadan has said. "To be a conscious citizen means to be a social-political activist now."
Ukrainian, b. 1982


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Towns seek to intervene in LGC's Supreme Court appealBy GARRY RAYNO
State House Bureau
January 18. 2013 12:25AM
CONCORD - Towns objecting to the way the Local Government Center intends to repay communities for health insurance premiums diverted to other uses are asking to intervene in the organization's appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The LGC is appealing the Bureau of Securities Regulations' order to repay communities $53.4 million in funds that were diverted from its health insurance program.
The LGC's proposed reimbursement through premium "holidays" to current members is opposed by 14 towns that have since taken their insurance business elsewhere and would not receive financial benefit.
The motion to intervene was filed by Durham, Northfield, Peterborough and Salem on behalf of the 14 communities.
They claim the refunds should be in proportion to what communities paid for insurance coverage through LGC programs.
"The (Bureau of Securities Regulations) does not distinguish among members. Some joined the risk pools early or late, some left early or late, and some joined, left, and later rejoined," said Durham Town Administrator Todd Selig. "By ordering the money returned to current members, it created windfalls for some, but inadequate recompense for others. That is, some members will receive an arbitrarily larger share than their contribution, and some an arbitrarily smaller share."
The protesting towns have asked the court to let them intervene to address the issue of refunds proportional to contributions.
"We just received late this afternoon a copy of the press release and the web link to the pleading," said Maura Carroll, LGC executive director. "We are in the process of reviewing these materials and talking about this with legal counsel. We'd be happy to make a comment after we've had a chance to discuss this with our attorneys and our governing boards."
The LCG came under fire for retaining large surpluses from its self-funded risk pools for liability claims and health care coverage for municipalities and other government agencies such as school districts, housing authorities and water districts.
The organization believes the large reserves kept rates stable for members and reduced long-term costs.
Instead, critics said the surplus should have been returned to its members rather that used for other purposes, such as a workers' compensation program.
The hearings officer set a lower threshold for surpluses and ordered the LGC to return money to its customers.

subset: commoncrawl


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It's pretty much a given that any time we stroll into Acrimony or ACRE/SF we're not likely to walk out empty-handed. The standout, contemporary sister shops are considerably stocked with hard-to-nab brands and innovative new labels we're always elated to explore — a bulk of which arrive in the store from abroad. And it looks like owner Jenny Chung has unearthed yet another up-and-coming import line and is giving us an insider, stateside peek at Scandinavian brand Second Female.
Chung discovered the label while on a trip to Copenhagen and instantly grew enamored with the sporty-meets-sleek silhouettes and zany prints. In fact, she was so inspired not only did she bring Second Female duds back to the Bay with her (ACRE/SF and Acrimony will sell them exclusively in the U.S.), but styled and shot a spankin'-new lookbook to show us what the label is all about.
"There's plenty of that kooky, oversized Scandinavian thing going on, but the brand really excels when it adds subtle and sophisticated details to great pieces that you'll want to wear forever," says Chung. We do have to admit, we see why Chung is flipping her lid over these pieces. Check out the lookbook and be sure to swing by and scoop the goodies in person, stat — with a finding this good, there's no doubt the items will fly off the shelves.


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In October two shabby buses filled with Walmart employees stopped unannounced outside the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. As the employees filed into the building's expansive parking lot, plainclothes private security personnel sporting sleek sunglasses and Walmart emergency response badges rushed in and swiftly corralled the employees onto a public sidewalk. Members of a new union-backed campaign to organize Walmart, the workers had come from around the country to ask Walmart's CEO, Mike Duke, for better wages and better treatment.
The hoped-for meeting was not granted. Within minutes, a dozen Bentonville police officers rushed in to reinforce the security guards in forming a barricade between the employees and their headquarters' front door. A labor relations representative emerged from the mostly windowless building. She announced that she would meet only with workers who carried Walmart employee discount cards in addition to their company badges and state IDs. Without discount cards, the protesting employees would be arrested.
"I didn't come here today to go shopping, so why do I need my discount card?" said Girshriela Green, a young mother who until recently worked at Walmart in Southern California. "I feel totally disrespected. Shame on them for not having the common decency to sit down and talk to their own associates."
This recent unrest in Arkansas—the second Bentonville action by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)–supported OUR Walmart group in a span of four months—is part of the widest effort yet to organize Walmart, the world's largest private sector employer and the labor movement's most intractable foe in the era of declining unionism. Over the past year, a loose coalition of labor groups has redoubled engagement with the retail giant in a series of campaigns using nontraditional organizing strategies—namely, the formation of informal groups of workers that are not union certified but attempt to assert themselves to management all the same. OUR Walmart, the largest initiative, focuses on the company's retail stores. Another new campaign, Warehouse Workers United (WWU), focuses on logistics workers in Walmart-contracted warehouses in Southern California and is launching a lean effort to coordinate workers internationally along Walmart's supply chain.
"A year ago, I would not have predicted this strategy of nonunion worker organization," says Dorian Warren, a professor of public affairs at Columbia University. "I see it in the context of failed past strategies. It's clear that you cannot run a formal NLRB election at Walmart. This PR strategy of beating Walmart over the head with bad publicity is reaching its limits. And frankly, when the Supreme Court struck down the Dukes case it became clear that the legal strategy was also reaching a dead end."
Indeed, until recently it appeared that the labor movement was lying prostrate in its engagement with the Arkansas colossus—a company whose anti-unionism, both visionary and vicious, has triumphed at every turn. In 2000 the UFCW won an election at a small meatpacking unit at a Texas Walmart, only to learn that the company would dissolve all in-store meatpacking companywide. Five years later, an entire Quebec Walmart was shuttered just weeks after its employees voted to unionize. The fines the $400 billion company incurs from such boldly illegal retaliations are minimal compared with the potential cost of raising wages.


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February 2014 California's Proposition 36, which allows qualified drug offenders to enter substance use treatment rather than go to jail or prison, saved the state close to $100 million in its first year.
November 2013 Women who reached their majority in states with policies that restricted teens' access to tobacco products were less likely to smoke from ages 18-34 than women in states without those policies. The research did not demonstrate that the policies had a comparable impact on men's smoking.
May 2013
The National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse introduced two new members at its May 2013 meeting.
July 2011 Reports on NIDA's research priorities—drug abuse and addiction prevention, treatment, and HIV/AIDS—which will remain consistent during these challenging budget times.
December 2009 Commemorates NIDA's 35th anniversary and highlights some of the major accomplishments since the Institute's inception in 1974.
November 2009 Announces the addition of three new members to NIDA's National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse.
October 2009 Highlights NIDA-sponsored research underway to understand and respond to substance abusers' needs at all points of care, from the initial presentation for treatment through recovery.
April 2009
Describes NIDA's drug abuse and addiction research priorities for the use of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds.
April 2009 Introduces five new members to the NIDA National Advisory Council meeting, including Drs. Xavier Castellanos, Steven Childers, Thomas Crowley, Anita Everett, and Hazel Szeto.
June 2008 Describes a knowledge- and resource-sharing system for NIH-funded neuroscientists to access to data, advanced research tools, and technical assistance.


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BRUSSELS (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expressing deep concern about North Korean plans to carry out a long-range rocket launch this month.
Clinton told foreign ministers from NATO and Russia to publicly demand that North Korea stand down.
The tests are banned by the U.N. Security Council. And Washington sees the launches as veiled tests of missiles designed to strike the United States.
North Korea has told nations it will launch the rocket sometime this month and that debris would fall into the Yellow Sea and in waters east of the Philippines.
The defiant declaration has already forced South Korean officials to reroute flights.
The North says the rocket will be mounted with a polar-orbiting Earth observation satellite.


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LONDON (AP) — Distiller Diageo PLC's net profit rose to 1.54 billion pounds ($2.43 billion) in the six months ending on Dec. 31, up 61 percent on the same period last year, thanks to cost-cutting in Asia, strong sales in America and price hikes across its markets, the company said Thursday.
Diageo, whose brands include Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, and Guinness, said it is shifting its focus to developing markets amid continuing economy uncertainty in Europe. Diageo announced a rise in net sales of 18 percent in Latin America, 6 percent in Asia, and new staff in African areas including South Africa and Nigeria. Market gains in Turkey, Eastern Europe, and Russia weren't enough to offset losses in Western Europe. Overall net sales in Europe fell 2 percent while performance in southern Europe was particularly weak, with a net decline of 19 percent.
"This bipolarity and chronic weakness in Southern Europe is striking and endorses Diageo's strategy of diversification into emerging markets," Investec analyst Martin Deboo said in an email.
Shares in Diageo rose 0.08 percent to 1,854.5 pence each in early morning trading.


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Dave White Profile
Dave White
Your Movies.com Man at the Multiplex
Dave White's first movie review was of the animated feature Snoopy Come Home. He was seven years old...Read full profile
Your Movies.com Man at the Multiplex
Dave White's first movie review was of the animated feature Snoopy Come Home. He was seven years old...Read full profile
Illiteracy encouraged. Read full review
Jen Yamato Profile
Jen Yamato
A movie fiend on a mission
Jen Yamato is a walking, popcorn-eating contradiction: she loves all kinds of cinema, from art films to schlocky B-movies...Read full profile
A movie fiend on a mission
Jen Yamato is a walking, popcorn-eating contradiction: she loves all kinds of cinema, from art films to schlocky B-movies...Read full profile
Denzel goes not-so-Mad Max in this closet Christian flick. Read full review
Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.
out of 100
Metascore®Mixed or average reviewsbased on a weighted average of allcritic review scores.
A ponderous dystopian bummer that might be described as "The Road Warrior" without car chases, or "The Road" without humanity.
Read Full Review
A didactic and humorless Western, Eli is too laborious for an action film and too brutal to be an inspirational tale.
The story requires a greater leap of faith than I was willing or able to muster, since Eli is also a saintly pilgrim on a God-given mission to save a ruined world.
The Hughes Brothers' measured, well-paced direction complements the comic-book simplicity of this narrative.
The film looks and feels good, and Washington's performance is the more uncanny the more we think back over it. The ending is "flawed," as we critics like to say, but it's so magnificently, shamelessly, implausibly flawed that (a) it breaks apart from the movie and has a life of its own, or (b) at least it avoids being predictable.
See all The Book of Eli reviews at Metacritic.com
Pause for kids 17 & under
Future-set action epic is heavy on comic book violence.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Book of Eli is very violent -- there's lots of weapon use, body parts getting chopped off, fighting, and dead bodies, as well as suggested rape (sounds of ripping clothes and women's screams) -- and takes place in a bleak future. But it has a "comic book" tone that keeps it from being a total downer, and it actually feels more like a Western than a sci-fi epic, with a loner hero (Denzel Washington) who wanders into a lawless town and tangles with the kingpin (Gary Oldman). The movie's subtext tackles religion: The bad guy wants to use the world's last remaining Bible to control and dominate the "weak and desperate," while the hero wants to deliver the book to a safe place. Expect some sexuality (though no nudity), strong language (including "f--k"), and -- worth mentioning again -- lots of action violence.
Messages: One possible interpretation of the movie is that it has a bone to pick with organized religion, instead celebrating individual spirituality. The villain wants to obtain the last existing Bible and use it for power and control over the "weak and desperate," while the hero's goal is to protect the book and deliver it to a safe place. He reads it regularly, but given his violent nature and loner status, it's not very clear that he's learned anything from it.
Role models: Eli is violent, stubborn, and single-minded, but he does ultimately learn the value of trust and persistence. Occasionally he also shows honor (for example, by refusing to drink alcohol or take advantage of Solora sexually).
Violence: Extreme violence, generally of a comic book nature. Eli wields a bow and arrow and shoots both animals and people (sometimes in some very uncomfortable body parts). He also carries an enormous knife, with which he chops off hands, arms and heads. Lots of hand-to-hand combat as Eli fights off crowds of attackers; plenty of gunfights (and hand grenades) as well. The movie shows the impact of the bullets and the arrows -- including those shot at a bird and a cat -- as well as plenty of blood. Viewers see dead (and sometimes decomposing) bodies, and there's a suggestion of cannibalism. Rape and attempted rape are also suggested (sounds of ripping clothes, women's screams) both on-screen and off, in chaotic crowd scenes and, notably, in the case of one important character.
Sex: The future world presented in the movie has the equivalent of prostitutes, though they're only mentioned and rarely seen. A woman tries to seduce Eli by the side of the road by exposing her cleavage (no nudity). Later, Solara is sent to Eli's room while wearing a skimpy, cleavage-revealing dress and ordered to provide him sexual favors (though her orders are more suggested than actually spoken aloud). But Eli refuses to take advantage of her.
Language: Several uses of "f--k" and "s--t." "P---y," "hell," and "bitch" are also heard. For the record, Eli himself doesn't use foul language.
Consumerism: Some brands survive the apocalypse intact -- Eli cleans himself with (and later trades) little individually wrapped handi-wipes from KFC, and Carnegie uses a bullhorn with "Motorola" clearly marked on the side. Partial sign for Puma shoes.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some background characters drink in a bar, become surly, and assault Eli.
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product description
Related Products:
Iizuka, Tokifusa (Shigefusa)
O'Malley, Daniel
Shigefusa (Tokifusa Iizuka)
Fixed Blade Knives
Carbon Steel - Damascus
Chef Knives & Santoku
Integral Guard
Japanese/Asian Knives
Mosaic Pins
Wood - Maple
Maker: Shigefusa & O'Malley (collaboration) (click to see more by this maker)
Item num: 86652
*** This is handmade and one-of-a-kind ***Blade length: 10.60 in.Total length: 15.81 in.Blade height (at heel): 2.06 in.Blade thickness (near bolster): 0.09 in.Item weight: 9.44 oz.Blade: San mai suminagashi (damascus) forged from carbon steels by ShigefusaBolster: Integral suminagashi bolsterHandle: Stabilized spalted maple set on a full tang
Description: This is the first collaboration between bladesmiths Shigefusa and Daniel O'Malley. During one of his visits in Japan, Mr. O'Malley met with Shigefusa to discuss the possibility of working on a series of collaborative knives. Shigefusa would forge and finish the blade. Mr. O'Malley would finish the tang and integral bolsters, completing the knife with deluxe handles better fit for the Western market. The results of this first effort were exceptional.
Shigefusa forged the san mai blade by forge-welding an ultra-hard (63-64 Rc) carbon steel core between softer layers of suminagashi (damascus). This results in a knife what will maintain its edge much longer than even high end European-made knives. Integral bolsters are something that we have got used to seeing on Western knives because it is relatively easy to do in a factory setting. It is an extremely difficult process to create by hand but the effect is well worth the extra effort. The damascus pattern continues from the blade onto the integral bolster.
The handle was formed from stabilized spalted maple burl. A single piece of wood was cut so as to have the wood's complex grain pattern travel across the tang. The convoluted pattern of the wood nicely reflects the suminagshi pattern of the blade and bolsters. The handle is profiled so as to be very comfortable and provide a secure hold. Two hidden bolt rivets and a complex mosaic pin secure the scales to the tang. The rivets are stainless steel and have been profiled to match the wood. The mosaic pin combines stainless steel with copper. This knife feels as good as it looks.
Availability: Not currently available


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From the linked article: "Jigsaw is an effort to make Java more modular, while Project Lambda aims to bring closures to Java, and Project Coin is an effort to make small changes to Java's behavior and syntax."
Although none of these, with the exception of closures, really speak to me (and Java is the language I earn a living with...), my personal feeling is summed up in the first question that came to my mind: why postpone features so that JDK 7 can get out of the pipes fast (i.e. 2011) and still have them in JDK 8 which is planned to be released in 2012?
In my eyes, Java is just fine as it is since it has always served any purposes I've ever had in my professional projects. I've always felt the language was overhyped for a long time, now it's threatened by the likes of Ruby, Lisp or Smalltalk. I feel like the way Java is either glorified or decried isn't how a language should be treated. I guess you can't fight the tides of progress. But keeping the final product consistent with the feature set until release time looks preferable to removing features, including the drastic change and power Lambda will bring into Java. Especially when the latest release is three months short of being four years old.
The ironic thing is that the "modularization" and "developer productivity" sections still list projects Jigsaw and Coin amongst the key features on Oracle's own website.


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Ian Clark's On Hockey: Rheault finds a home in TexasBy IAN CLARK
New Hampshire Union Leader
December 08. 2012 8:38PM
Jon Rheault has found a home in Texas, but the Granite State is never far from his mind.
The Deering native entered the weekend as the leading scorer for the San Antonio Rampage in the AHL. After two seasons with the Manchester Monarchs and two with Abbotsford, Rheault found himself having to adapt to life in the Florida Panthers' organization to start this season.
"It was a little adjustment with a new coaching staff, new guys. I didn't know anyone coming in, so that was weird. I underestimated just what that would entail," Rheault said via telephone interview. "You have to earn the respect of the coaching staff and the organization and the guys on your team. That was a little different and I feel like I had a slow start, but the last month and a half I feel like I've turned it on."
This year. Rheault has six goals and 12 assists for 18 points through 22 games, helping him surpass 100 points in his AHL career. Of those points, 14 came in November alone. His previous career highs are 12-22-34 in 79 games in 2010-11 with Abbotsford.
"I'm happy with the first quarter of the season. I feel comfortable," Rheault said. "I feel like I've earned respect and I'm playing well with a great line right now. We've got a young first-round (draft pick) in Drew Shore and a great left winger who has played some games in the NHL (J.F. Jacques)."
The coaches have liked what they've seen from Rheault, playing him on a top line and also on the power play and penalty kill units.
"He got off to a bit of a slow start for us but he really picked it up for us," Rampage head coach Chuck Weber told theahl.com. "He and Drew Shore have created a nice combination together. He works hard every night and I hope he can continue to build on that."
Rheault credits his time in Manchester under head coach Mark Morris for giving him an opportunity early in his career. Rheault played with Manchester from 2008-2010, scoring 5-6-11 in 59 games.
"I know coach Morris wanted to play me more and I did get a chance there, but in my own mind, I didn't have the confidence there," Rheault said. "I worked hard for it and I feel like I was still building my career in Manchester and trying to earn respect and finally that respect kicked in with Abbotsford when I was able to play on the top two lines and get some power play time."
"Fast forward to now, that success I had with Abbotsford gave me the opportunities here," Rheault continued. "I didn't have to start at square one with these coaches. They knew what I was capable of and that I would be a big-minute player here and have success here."
The transition to the warm weather in Texas hasn't been a tough one for Rheault. Abbotsford may be called the Heat, but the chilly British Columbia weather wasn't always the best for mental health.
"You walk out of the rink after a tough day and it's nice out and you can clear your mind and forget about the hockey side of it," Rheault said. "It makes it easier when you go through tough times when the weather is nice."
One of the hardest parts for Rheault is being away from his family. He will get to come home to New Hampshire for Christmas, however.
"I'm very excited for it. I haven't had the luxury that I did in the first years of playing in my home state. It's made it tough," Rheault said. "I'll be home for about three days. We were in Rochester and Cleveland and my parents came for a stretch of four days. Unfortunately, that's the closest we get to home. I'm lucky to have that family support and see them."
Rheault said he also gets a taste of home from time to time when fans who have followed him from his days with the junior Monarchs or Providence College or the Monarchs correspond with him.
"I miss the fan support in Manchester. A lot of the fans I made there still follow me on Facebook and Twitter and it's great to get messages from them and know that they care," Rheault said. "It means a lot to me. It was fun for me to play in my home state and I wish I at the stage I am now in my career when I was there because I feel like I could show them a lot more. It's awesome to have their support.
"I'm a New Hampshire guy and that will never change."
- - - - - - -
After playing at Providence Friday night and hosting Connecticut on Saturday, the Manchester Monarchs close the weekend with a visit from Worcester at 3 p.m. today at Verizon Wireless Arena.
While the brawl-filled games from last year's meetings between these teams have not materialized this season, the games have still be entertaining. Worcester leads the series 2-1 thus far, winning a pair of one-goal games last month.
The Atlantic Division rivals meet four times this month, including a New Year's Eve showdown at the Verizon.
- - - - - - -
Thanks to alert reader Sandra "Buzz" Whalen who pointed out that Andrew Bodnarchuk, Manchester Monarchs defenseman and the subject of Wednesday's On Hockey, also played at St. Paul's School in Concord.
His stats there don't show up on hockeydb.com, but sure enough, Bodnarchuk played 36 games at St. Paul's in 2004-05.
- - - - - - - -
Ian Clark covers pro hockey for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. He may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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For artistic pregnancy, newborn baby and family photography, take a look at Suzi Allen...
Stop Press!
Suzi wins
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Now you can have your 'Beautiful Bump' photographed by one of the top pregnancy photographers in the South West, with one of Somerset's best known baby bump photographers. Suzi is well known and admired for her pregnancy and newborn portraits and loves to create artistic maternity and newborn baby images in her studio.
For some of the best pregnancy and newborn baby photography in Taunton Somerset, come and enjoy a beautiful, intimate photo-shoot for you and your partner with Suzi Allen. Suzi is well known for her maternity portraits and she loves to work with newborn babies in the studio. You can include any other children you have as well - remember, older brothers and sisters are also very important at this very special time.
It's always more comfortable for a "Mum to Be" to be photographed by a female photographer. You're able to relax and really enjoy your photo-shoot. The studio is really peaceful and there are no interruptions. We can have a chat, help you all relax and then you can enjoy the session.
Our well-equipped studio is alongside the family home, in the village of Oake - just 15 minutes from the centre of Taunton and 5-10 minutes from junction 26 on the M5
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Suzi has just won another award in the BIPP South West Pet Photographer of the Year - for the second year running!
Pets are an important part of the family and as such deserve their very own portrait session! Suzi really loves to photograph dogs and cats - and sometimes other animals as well. If you live near enough, we can even accommodate your horse or pony in the garden!
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Listen to Jonathan Schell and Tom Engelhardt discuss America's nuclear trajectory and the dilemma of nuclear weaponry in the Obama era.
What is the purpose, if any, of the nuclear bomb, that brooding presence that has shadowed all human life for sixty-five years? The question has haunted the nuclear age. It may be that no satisfactory answer has ever been given. Nuclear strategic thinking, in particular, has disappointed. Many of its pioneers have wound up in a state of something like despair regarding their art. For example, Bernard Brodie, one of the originators of nuclear strategy in the 1940s, was forced near the end of his life to realize that "nuclear strategy itself–the body of thoughts that he himself had helped formulate–was something of an illusion," according to historian Fred Kaplan. In the introduction to The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, Lawrence Freedman airs the suspicion that the phrase "nuclear strategy" may be a "contradiction in terms." Henry Kissinger, a leading figure in nuclear strategizing for a half-century, has expressed a similar feeling of futility. In a remarkable reconsideration, amounting to an oblique recantation of his past thinking, he has written recently in Newsweek:
The basic dilemma of the nuclear age has been with us since Hiroshima: how to bring the destructiveness of modern weapons into some moral or political relationship with the objectives that are being pursued. Any use of nuclear weapons is certain to involve a level of casualties and devastation out of proportion to foreseeable foreign-policy objectives. Efforts to develop a more nuanced application have never succeeded, from the doctrine of a geographically limited nuclear war in the 1950s and 1960s to the "mutual assured destruction" theory of general nuclear war in the 1970s.
Now a new moment, full of fresh promise but also with novel perils, has arrived in the nuclear story, and all the old questions have to be asked again. As if responding to some secret signal sent out by a restless zeitgeist, the globe is seething with events large and small in the nuclear arena. Here in the United States, certainly, all the policy pots on the nuclear stove are at a boil. Soon, the Obama administration will complete its overdue Nuclear Posture Review, a statement that Congress requires of the president every four years on the disposition of the country's nuclear forces.
It will give the administration's answer to the key questions: What nuclear forces should the United States deploy? Why? What, if anything, does the United States propose to do with them? On April 8 the United States and Russia will sign a new Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) agreement, which will reduce warheads to 1,550 on each side and restrict delivery vehicles to 800 apiece. Also in early April, President Obama will hold a Nuclear Security Summit with the heads of state of forty-four other nations to consider measures to prevent the diversion of nuclear weapon materials into unauthorized hands. In early May will come the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, which is a kind of nuclear posture review for the entire world. Decisions on passage of the long-rejected Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as well as a resurrected Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty are also likely very soon.


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Fall is a great time of the year to emphasize the connectedness of the faith community and to encourage your youth to see themselves as "one" even when they aren't together at church. Try this creative worship experience to help encourage the group to stay connected all week long.
Set out markers, crayons, and "leaves" for each participant that you have cut out of green construction paper (see template here). Each leaf should be about the size of one half piece of construction paper. Have one or more youth read aloud John 15: 1-11. This is the well-known text in which Jesus shares with his friends "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit...." Invite the group to consider that one way we make this text real is in the way we stay connected to one another as the body of Christ.
Pass out the leaves and invite participants to choose a variety of crayons or markers. Begin by having each person place his or her name on one side of the leaf. Next, ask them to draw a symbol on the front of the leaf that reminds them of the group (it might be a heart or stick figure people or a cross, etc). When everyone is ready, have each person pass their leaf clockwise to the person next to them. This person should first add her or his name to same side of the leaf where the owner wrote his or her name. Now, invite everyone to write on the leaf something they are looking forward to about the new youth group year. Continue this process, passing the leaves, having each person add their name to each leaf and responding to prompts like these below:
- Write a "feeling" word to describe how you are feeling about your life right now.
- Draw a symbol or write a word/phrase describing how you feel about your relationship with God right now.
- List three things you are thankful for about this group.
- Write the name of at least one adult who has helped you experience the love of God.
- List at least one thing you hope we do in youth group this school year.
- List one class at school you are excited about.
- List one class at school you are dreading.
- Draw a symbol/write a word or phrase for something in your own life for which you'd like others to pray about
- Write the name of person/place in the world you hope others will pray for
- List one or more gifts you have to share with the group this year
You are finished when the leaves make their way back to their original owners (if your ministry is big, you will likely want to do this worship experience sitting in smaller groups). Encourage the youth to take a few moments of silence to meditate on all the responses on their leaf and to pray for the group. Then invite the teens to take their leaves home with them, post them in a visible place, and use them as a "touchstone" for keeping mindful about their connection to their fellow brothers and sisters in faith. When they see the leaf each day, perhaps they can stop for a moment to offer a prayer for those in the group.


text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Qualifications For Teaching English In Costa Rica Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Qualifications For Teaching English In Costa Rica Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Costa Rica View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message Preston866Joined: 11 Mar 2005Posts: 12 Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:49 am Post subject: Qualifications For Teaching English In Costa Rica Hello! I am new to the idea of TEFL and am trying to decide if it's right for me. My main question is will I be able to get a job teaching english with a tefl certficate alone? I do not have a college degree. Thanks for your help! Back to top ChezaJoined: 20 Jul 2004Posts: 26Location: San Carlos, Costa Rica Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 11:28 pm Post subject: Well, I did it, and I`m being promoted to the new acedemic director at my school, And I`ve never gone to College. However I did have a lot of travel, volunteer, and a little teaching experience, plus I`m bi-lingual; almost multi-lingual. Being bi-lingual helped me a lot in getting my job, not just finding my way around the city, but because the official language of the school is Spanish. Plus I`m living in rural Costa Rica where there is a shortage of native speakers to teach English. But if you really hit the pavment you should be able to find a job pretty easily. Back to top Preston866Joined: 11 Mar 2005Posts: 12 Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2005 2:01 am Post subject: Great! So you can get me a job! Just Kidding. Thank you so much for your quick response. Do you like teaching in Costa Rica? What is the weather like in the winter? And how are the people, friendly? Thanks! Back to top ls650Joined: 10 May 2003Posts: 3484Location: British Columbia Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 12:20 am Post subject: Re: Qualifications For Teaching English In Costa Rica Preston866 wrote: will I be able to get a job teaching english with a tefl certficate alone? I do not have a college degree. I once heard someone say that when it comes to TEFL, "there's a seat for every arse." There are plenty of teaching jobs out there, but without a degree or experience, you should expect to be stuck down on the bottom rung of the ladder. Back to top ChezaJoined: 20 Jul 2004Posts: 26Location: San Carlos, Costa Rica Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 11:16 pm Post subject: I love teaching here, the people are friendly, the beaches are awesome, the culture is very laid-back, and the women are georgous (I know I spelled that wrong). I work for 12 hours per week, plus a few hours of private lessons, and I make enough money to get by. So I have plenty of free time to slack off. The winters here kinda suck. The rainy season never seems to end, and it will sometimes rain for weeks non-stop. But you get used to it. Back to top Preston866Joined: 11 Mar 2005Posts: 12 Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:08 am Post subject: Cheza, do you have a degree? Back to top ChezaJoined: 20 Jul 2004Posts: 26Location: San Carlos, Costa Rica Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 5:11 pm Post subject: No, I have no degree, but I have a lot of applicable experience. I did an intern for an ¨Experiental Adventure Education¨ program, I have my TEFL, I´m bilingual, I have a lot of over-seas experience, and some volunteer experience teaching ESL at a community college. With those credentials I was given a job with out barely having an interview. The demand for qualified native-speakers in this area is very high, but the pay, and working conditions aren´t as good as they could be. But like I said before: I`m happy. 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Defining "Kinds" — Do Creationists Apply a Double Standard?
Creationists long ago gave up on their original idea of fixity of species. One reason is because simple calculation can show that Noah's Ark could not possibly have held pairs from each of some two to five million species (there would be less than one-half cubic foot per pair), nor could Noah and his family have possibly taken care of them all. A second reason is that the evidence for adaptive change and species formation is overwhelming. Therefore, they had to develop another concept.
Original Created Kinds
The current creation science stand on this matter is very nicely summed up by Dennis Wagner, editor of Students for Origins Research, in his answer to a letter by Dr. C. A. Zimmerman of Aurora College. Zimmerman asked whether or not creationists are "opposed to any and all evolution for any and all cases." Wagner defined three levels of evolution and stated that creationists object only to the third level-macroevolution-which leads to the formation of higher taxonomic categories such as genus, family, order, and so forth. He then said:
The main thrust of the creationist belief is that there is a set of originally created kinds that were designed with a vast but limited potentiality for variation. This variation was gradually released through the degenerative process of inbreeding in which the offspring species never again reach the hereditary variability of the parent.
He proposed that the term genus should apply to the original created kind and finished with:
Is the creationist opposed to macroevolution then? Well according to the definition of macroevolution, sometimes yes, sometimes no. If by macroevolution it is meant descent with modification of the coyote, wolf,
dingo, pampa fox, asiatic jackal, and domestic dog from the originally created Canid kind, then the answer is no, the creationist is not opposed to macroevolution. If, however, the definition of macroevolution means the descent with modification of the bird kind from the reptilian kind, then the answer is yes, the creationist is opposed to macroevolution.
Creationists do not have an exact definition of the original created kind for the same reasons that taxonomists cannot precisely define species: every imaginable gradation between species exists. Gish, a leading creation scientist, says that a basic animal or plant kind would include all species that have truly shared a common gene pool (1978). Furthermore, although no new kinds have arisen since the original creation, "the concept of special creation does not exclude the origin of varieties and species from an original created kind" (p. 40). In an article that first appeared in Creation Research Society Quarterly in 1971, F. L. Marsh says:
The descriptions of kinds in Genesis I give us ground for hypothesizing that the individuals of any particular Genesis kind would have chemistries sufficiently alike to make them fertile inter se, but sufficiently different to make them incompatible with individuals of every other kind. If this hypothesis is valid, then ability to cross would demonstrate membership in the same basic type.
He then lists examples of plant and animal kinds, based upon "true fertilization." that is, whether or not "both reduced parental sets of chromosomes join and participate in the first division of the fertilized egg." In cases such as horses and asses, or dogs, coyotes, and wolves, the genus is the kind (or the baramin, as creationists call it). If members of different families within an order can be crossed, that order is the created kind, and so on. He admits that in some cases mutation and chromosomal rearrangements may have occurred that prevent interbreeding, but membership in a kind can be determined from external appearance as in fruit flies.As biologists have recognized for over half a century, this is an objective and testable approach to the question of origins. An enormous amount of experimental hybridization has been done and is being done to help taxonomists assess relatedness in classifying many plant and animal species. Evolutionists interpret the results as strongly supporting the theory of descent with modification. Although creationists also appear to agree, within the limits stated by Wagner (1980) and Marsh (1971), they reject or ignore a large body of straightforward evidence that relates directly to the question of common descent and hybridization. Evidence is accepted by creationists only when it does not conflict with their beliefs.
Determining Genetic Relationship
An overwhelming body of experimental evidence clearly shows that the ability to
form hybrids is strongly tied to the amount of genetic relatedness between species. Genetic relatedness can be directly measured by a number of techniques (Dobzhansky, et al., 1977). Members of a local population exchange genes freely and are genetically very similar. On a scale of zero to one, their "genetic similarity" (one measure of the proportion of shared genes coding for essentially identical proteins) is 0.90 or higher. Some barriers to hybridization may exist between subspecies whose genetic similarity is about 0.8. Full species have genetic similarities ranging from 0.8 to about 0.3 and usually have substantial, if not complete, barriers to hybridization, and so on (Ayala, 1975).
Numerous studies show that chromosomal similarity is also a good measure of genetic relatedness. The fine structure of the gene-bearing chromosomes is an extremely complex pattern of bands and lines. The probability that two different chromosomes would independently arrive at identical banding patterns is essentially zero. Wallace details the evidence that identical chromosomes in two different species prove common ancestry just as surely as identical scratch patterns on two bullets prove both came from the same gun (1966). Even so, related species do not always have highly similar chromosome numbers or banding patterns because extensive chromosome rearrangements sometimes occur during speciation (White, 1978). Chromosome differences, when great enough, can cause the hybrids to be sterile, as in mules (Kaminsky, 1979), or to die as embryos. as in the cross between the domestic dog and the red fox (Chiarelli, 1975). If the differences are too great, the sperm will not even penetrate the egg. Conversely. the more similar the chromosomes of a sperm and an egg, the more likely their combination will result in Marsh's "true fertilization."
Evolutionists and creationists alike realize that all living species of a "kind" have inherited their genes from the same original ancestral species. Therefore, their body forms, chemistry, physiology, chromosomes, and genes are very similar. Conversely, the more similar any pair of species is for any and all of these features, the more likely it is they are descended from a close common ancestor and the more likely it is they can hybridize. If two species appear similar and are known to share most of their genes, creationists are usually perfectly willing to accept them as one "kind." If they are all interfertile, they are certainly one "kind." For example, asses, horses, zebras, and onagers all look rather similar. Their habits, behavior, diets, digestive systems, the proteins in their bodies, and the genes that manufacture those proteins are also similar. Moreover, the species in these four groups differ almost equally from other animals, such as rhinos. They form an obvious "natural group": the family Equidae. The final proof of their close relationship is that all are more or less interfertile, in spite of some differences in chromosome numbers (Ryder, et al., 1978).
The general rule is that the higher the genetic similarity and/or the more similar the chromosomes of two species are in number and structure, the higher the probability that they can hybridize (Dobzhansky, et al., 1977; Gray, 1971).
Thus, even in cases where hybridization experiments have not yet been conducted, the likelihood of successful hybridization can be objectively predicted.These objective criteria, for example, can be used to determine the relatedness of two ape species-the gibbon and the siamang-and, thus, how likely they are to be one "kind." They are easily distinguished, and taxonomists have placed them in different genera of the same family. These two species live together in Southeast Asia, but are not known to interact. The gibbon has twentytwo pairs of chromosomes, the siamang has twenty-five pairs. Their chromosome banding patterns have been so extensively rearranged that only one chromosome still bears a recognizably similar banding pattern in both species (Myers and Shafer, 1979).-Their genetic identity, another measure of the proportion of their genes coding for essentially identical proteins, is 0.76 (Bruce and Ayala, 1979). No natural hybrids have ever been reported. Their separation into different genera seems morphologically and behaviorally justified. However, they are genetically as closely related as most rodent species belonging to one genus (Ayala, 1975). They appear, chromosomely, to be at least as closely related as horses (thirty-two chromosome pairs) and onagers (twenty-seven to twenty-eight pairs) (Ryder, et al., 1978) or domestic dogs (thirty-nine chromosome pairs) and the red fox (eighteen to twenty pairs) (Chiarelli, 1975): Scientists view these observations as strong evidence for close evolutionary relationship. Since 1975, two hybrids have been born in the Atlanta, Georgia, Zoo (Myers and Shafer, 1979). Gibbons and siamangs unquestionably are highly modified descendants of a recent common ancestor, according to both evolutionist and creationist criteria.
Let us now apply these principles to another pair of mammal species. Their genetic identity is 0.70, about equal to the gibbon and siamang. Unlike the gibbon and siamang, their chromosomes are virtually identical even though one species has one pair of chromosomes more than the other. It is remarkable that 99 percent of the chromosome banding sequences of one species are clearly discernible in the chromosomes of the other species. The banding sequences are mostly in the same locations in the two chromosome sets, but in one species nine short segments are inverted, eighteen chromosomes have other minor changes, and one long chromosome has split to form two short ones, accounting for the different number of chromosomes. No hybrids have been found in nature, and no one has reported producing them in the laboratory. Nevertheless, if the proven criteria for genetic relatedness are objectively applied, these two species are merely one more example of close common descent or "variation within a created kind."
Few—whether evolutionist or creationist—would object to this interpretation if the species in question were fruit flies, horses, dogs, or even- monkeys; but the two species involved are actually humans and chimpanzees (Bruce and Ayala, 1979; Miller, 1977; King and Wilson, 1975; Yunis, et al., 1970). Evolutionists are not surprised, because these observations simply agree with previous fossil, anatomical, and embryological evidence. The picture suddenly changes for scientific
creationists, however, because they are irrevocably committed to the tenet that humans are unique. All members of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) must sign a statement of faith affirming their belief that humans were separately and specially created. The statement that humans did not evolve from an animal ancestor is ICR tenet number 4 and is incorporated in the ICR bylaws (Morris, 1980). This belief forces them to deny that all this evidence, which would be compelling proof of close relationship for almost any other species pair, has any relevance at all. A typical creationist reply might be that, at most, they show a common designer.
A Double Standard
The important question here is whether or not changing the meaning of evidence in cases where it conflicts with a belief is scientifically legitimate or intellectually honest. Accepting that a body of evidence infers common ancestry for flies, horses, cats, or dogs, but claiming that exactly analogous evidence infers nothing about human-ape ancestry is not sound scientific reasoning. It is blind prejudice. Creationists clearly reject evolution in this case not because there is scientific evidence against it but because it conflicts with a cherished belief.
When creationists finally acquiesced to the voluminous evidence that species had not remained absolutely fixed and unchanged since creation, they lost their war against the concept of evolution. Because the direct evidence for species divergence (that is, speciation) is so abundant and straightforward, "scientific" creationists had to accept it or appear as irrational as those who use the Bible to argue that the earth is flat. Creationists now argue that new species may arise within kinds, but that no species may change into a new kind. The question is: what limits divergence? Sheep and goats can hybridize. If one "kind" can diverge this far, why not as far as sheep and cattle or sheep and camels? If that far, why not further? Gene products and the genes themselves show no boundaries between kinds. All available evidence suggests that, as long as they reproduce, as long as their genes mutate, and as long as they are subjected to selection, species will continue to diverge, essentially without limit.
I suggest that creationists made a tactical error when they began to pay attention, albeit selectively, to scientific evidence. This is because that evidence actually contradicts their most sacred belief: the belief that humans are uniquely created. Even if "true fertilization" between human and ape were reported, would scientific creationists reject special creation and accept the evolutionary relationship of humans and apes? If they were rational practitioners of science they would.
Ayala, F. J. 1975. "Genetic Differentiation During Speciation." In Evolutionary Biology, eds. T. Dobzhansky, M. K. Hecht, and W. C. Steere. 8:1-78. New York: Penum Press.
Bruce, E. J., and Ayala, F. J. 1979. "Phylogentric Relationships Between Man and the Apes. Electrophorectic Evidence." Evolution 33:1040-1056.
Chiarelli, A. B. 1975. "The Chromosomes of the Canidae." In The Wild Canids, Their Systematics, Behavioral Ecology, and Evolution, ed. M. W. Fox, pp. 40-53. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold and Co.
Dobzhansky, T., Ayala, F. J., Stebbins, G. L., and Valentine, J. W. 1977. Evolution. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Co, p. 572.
Gish, D. T. 1978. Evolution-The Fossils Say No! Public School Edition. San Diego: Creation Life Publishers, p. 32.
Gray, A. P. 1971. Mammalian Hybrids. Farnham Royal, England: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau.
Kaminsky, M. 1979. "The Biochemical Evolution of the Horse." Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 63B:175-178.
King, M. C., and Wilson, A. C. 1975. "Evolution at Two Levels in Humans and Chimpanzees." Science 188:107-116.
Marsh, F. L. 1971. "The Genesis Kinds in the Modern World." In Scientific Studies in Special Creation, ed. W. E. Lammerts, pp. 136-155. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House.
Miller, D. A. 1977. "Evolution of Primate Chromosomes." Science 198:1116-1124.
Morris, H. M. July 1980. "The Tenets of Creationism." Impact, no. 85. Institute for Creation Research.
Myers, R. H., and Shafer, D. A. 1979. "Hybrid Ape Offspring of a Mating of Gibbon and Siamang." Science 205:308-310.
Ryder, O. A., Epel, N. C., and Benirschke, K. 1978. "Chromosome Banding Studies of the Equidae." Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 20: 323-350.
Wagner, D. Fall 1980. Students for Origins Research, p. 3.
Wallace, B. 1966. Chromosomes, Giant Molecules, and Evolution. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, p. 166.
White, M. J. D. 1978. Modes of Speciation. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Co., p. 455.
Yunis, J., Sawyer, J. R., and Dunham, K. 1980. "The Striking Resemblance of HighResolution G-Banded Chromosomes of Man and Chimpanzee." Science 208:11451148.


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Planning for the worst-case scenario (bear attacks included) helps me fall asleep.
...if our house caught on fire, we'd use the ladder and hook it on the window...
...if someone bad came in the window to attack us, I'd use the lamp to fight him, wrapping the cord around his neck...
It's not so different in our schools.
We feel safer knowing we are prepared, that our schools have done everything to keep children and adults safe, that they are completely ready for any worse-case scenarios, scenarios that probably won't happen but just in case, won't take schools by surprise.
I'm an elementary teacher from Colorado. The Columbine shooting happened ten miles away from my fifth grade classroom. After that day of evil and violence, security changed immediately for my school and schools everywhere.
We started keeping all the doors locked except for the short window of student arrival time in the morning.
We had automatic alarms that magnetically closed all classroom the doors, locking us IN our classrooms.
We added an emergency drill – not for fire, not for tornado, but for a lockdown.
That was in 1999.
Now, in 2012, more schools consistently practice safety drills, drills that are situation dependent. For example, when the safety is compromised inside the drill is an evacuation of the building, but when the outside area is unsafe, the drill is for a lockdown inside the building.
Illinois requires schools practice a minimum of one law enforcement drill to prepare for "incidents including reverse evacuations, lockdown, shootings, bomb threats and hazardous materials."
The State of New Jersey requires schools to practice a safety drill within the first 15 days of school with two minimum each year to prepare for an active shooter, evacuation, bomb threat, and lockdown.
Read your state's safety drill guidelines on the National Association of State Boards of Education website.
Safety drills don't take long but they do prepare the students, teachers, and staff. It gives everyone the knowledge that if an emergency happens, they don't panic, they know what to do.
If you don't know your school's emergency procedure and if it's practiced, ask.
The National School Safety & Security Services website says plans should address "procedures such as lockdowns, evacuations, parent-student reunification procedures, mobilizing school transportation during the school day, emergency communications protocols with parents and the media, and mobilizing mental health services."
ABC News reports that safety officials don't agree on what specifically should be practiced in a situation like at Sandy Hook elementary. However, safety expert, Ken Trump, believes the teachers at Sandy Hook did everything they could to protect their students. This same article says that SWAT officer Greg Crane and founder of safety program, ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) feels that teachers need to be trained to not passively wait for help but to actively improvise like the Sandy Hook first grade teacher Kaitlin Roig who hid her students in the bathroom and barricaded the door with a bookshelf, or music teacher Maryrose Kristopik who locked her students in the closet and barricaded the door.
We will never get over what happened at Sandy Hook to the lives of innocent children and brave adults. But together we will do everything we can to make sure our schools are safe now and always.


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Research Slideshow: CIOs Harbor High Expectations for Cloud Computing
By Dennis McCafferty | Posted 07-28-2010
CIOs and other top IT managers are more interested than ever in cloud-computing solutions for their enterprise needs, according to a new survey from Savvis. That is because many of them would like to get out of the business of managing their IT infrastructure and are looking to the cloud for outsourcing. But this does not mean that the cloud is getting a "free pass" from senior tech managers. Clear and distinct marketing challenges need to be faced by global cloud providers to overcome doubters, the report concludes. In addition, security dynamics must be transformed from inhibitors to assets. Still, it is clear from the survey responses that the vast majority of CIOs and top IT managers fully expect to be deploying some kind of cloud-computing solutions in the future. This independent report was commissioned by Savvis and conducted by Vanson Bourne. More than 650 CIOs, CTOs, IT directors and other top IT decision-makers were interviewed in the U.S., U.K., and Singapore. Here are some key findings. (You can also download the entire cloud computing report.)
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Good luck with that ever happening. So long as there are special interest groups that are empowered and effectively sway law and policy to their own advantage then policies such as affirmative action will remain in some way shape or form.
Suprised there was no topic about the case before the Supreme Court yesterday on U of Texas's affirmative action policies.
From reports I heard, ti sounds like the policy may be under some very heavy scrutiny and possibly knocked out altogether.
Actual equallity under the Law? Is it possible?
Good luck with that ever happening. So long as there are special interest groups that are empowered and effectively sway law and policy to their own advantage then policies such as affirmative action will remain in some way shape or form.
Affirmative Action in America; since 1619
What fact?
Race conscious (but not race based) admissions have been legal under supreme court precedent for about a decade, and should, IMO, continue to remain so. Schools have legitimate interests in maintaining diverse student populations, and race - as well as socioeconomic background, religion, and ethnicity are all viable factors a school should be able to consider in determining the composition of its incoming freshman class. All that said, I doubt it's a significant factor and the dismissal of the student plaintiff's case will and should be dismissed since there's no way (given the complex mix of factors involved) to assert that she "should have" been admitted.
Guidance counselors used to tell high schoolers that colleges were looking for well rounded students. That's a myth (and I know this from my days advising for Kaplan; we had contacts at the various admissions offices and knew what people were looking for).
Schools don't want well rounded students. They want well rounded student bodies.
Not 1000 students all equally mediocre at everything, but 1,000 students who are each outstanding in different things. Some math lovers, some science lovers, some english whizzes, some athletes, some thespians, some rich (well, lots rich, they hope, since they want alumni donations) some poor, some black, some white, some hispanic, etc., some from the northeast some from the deep south, etc.
It's about building a student population that embraces multiple perspectives and backgrounds, because that, in and of itself, is an important part of the college education process.
Of course, that doesn't mean you let in unqualified students based on race - but it does mean that, given two relatively equally qualified students, one of whom rounds out the student body better than the other, the one who rounds out the student body will get selected - regardless of what quality (race, talent, geography, etc.) it is that is the distinctive one.
So yeah, it sucks to be white, male, and otherwise average, since, from an experiential standpoint and without sufficient knowledge of the individual characteristics (knowledge no admissions officer can have) there are relatively more of us than, say, black females from Minnesota. But there's no illegality or equal protection violation or moral wrong in that reality.
It's not that a student's geographical or racial or socioeconomic background makes them more likely to succeed. It's that a well rounded student body provides educational benefits a less well rounded student body does not, and the only way you get to a well rounded student body is by paying attention to the gender, racial, geographical, socioeconomic etc. status of individual students.
So, from your experience, schools in general will seek a wide range of students (race, socio-economic, wealth, ability etc.) because it's better for the school, its students and its programs.
So, why is it necessary to have a law to force schools to do it if they already will do so on their own?
Granted, "back in the day", schools DID bar students based on race. So the law was necessary back then.
But is the law still necessary now?
I trully believe your post is well intentioned, but to me (obviously not as educated and erudite as youself) its alot of purty talk for Colleges should be allowed to discriminate against deserving white kids in the name of diversity and an improved educational experience...when if the opposite occured....there would hell to pay.
Since its so easy for you to dismiss this sarcastically when a mere white kid is involved (and who cares less about them, then uberlib white kids)....do some reading on how some deserving Asian kids are passed over because they dont fit this "student body" ideal that the colleges are allegedly looking for.
Many Asian families are being counceled to not check the Asian box when applying to some of the better schools.
Tell me again what the incentive is to study and apply yourself?
Its a slippery slope.


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The Colony, TX Retail Security Solutions
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Stripboeken browse by: Shop category:
Artist Joseph LambertBeschikbare series in de webshop categorie "Stripboeken"
Joseph Lambert in the COMICLOPEDIA
" Joseph Lambert is a cartoonist, illustrator and co-editor of the Sundays anthology. He was born in Kansas in 1984 and now lives and works in White River Junction, Vermont. A graduate from the Center for Cartoon Studies, he published his debut graphic novel 'I Will Bite You!..." [ Lees meer ]


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Suspension Policy for Clerical and Service Staff (VPBS 141)
July 29, 1970
To: Deans, Directors and Heads of Schools, Divisions, Departments and Offices
Re: BUSINESS OFFICE MEMORANDUM NO. 141
Suspension Policy for Clerical and Service Staff
To enable supervisors to discipline employees for misconduct or other undesirable acts of behavior, the following Suspension Policy concerning members of the Clerical and Service Staff is approved, effective immediately.
Department heads and/or supervisors shall use the Suspension Policy as a last means of disciplinary action prior to discharge of an employee in an attempt to improve behavior.
Employees of the Clerical and Service Staff may be suspended (not to exceed two work weeks) by a department head and/or supervisor as a means of disciplinary action for misconduct or other undesirable acts or behavior, such as: unexcused or excessive absence, excessive tardiness, violation of University and/or departmental policies, rules, regulations, safety standards; and improper care of tools, equipment or other property. Suspension will be used with fairness and discretion in cases where such incidents as listed have occurred, but in which discharge or other more severe discipline appears unwarranted. The suspension status will be designated by the supervisor for a specified period of time. If a suspension of more than two weeks is believed to be necessary, prior approval must be granted by the Department of Personnel Administration.
There shall be no discrimination with regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, sex, age, membership in a labor organization, or other employee organizations in the actions leading to or in the decision to suspend an employee.
Suspension is a non-working status of employment during which an employee is not paid wages, does not accrue vacation, sick leave, holiday, or other benefits which are based on time worked. However, an employee placed on suspension status will not lose previously accrued vacation or sick leave credits, and will continue coverage in the group insurance program in which he or she was participating prior to suspension. Length of service credit will also continue through the period of suspension.
- An employee shall be informed in writing that he is in the status of suspended employment, to include (a) the reasons for suspension, (b) the date and time to return to work, and (c) the action to be taken if he does not report for work at the end of the period of suspension.
- A copy of such notice shall be forwarded to the Department of Personnel Administration and to the Department of Staff Benefits and Payroll.
- In any instance when suspension is the only action taken, the employee is to return to work status in the same job and at the same pay rate as held prior to being suspended.
- If, by his own volition, the employee does not return to work and on-duty status at the end of the period of suspension or fails to notify the supervisor in the event he is unable to report on the specific date, he will be terminated from employment by the department head and/or supervisor.
F. R. Ford
Business Manager and Assistant Treasurer


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Style # 213355
No closet must exist without this perennially-cool weekend essential. This bebe denim jacket features front flat pockets and a bit of distressed detail to give it that love worn feel. Toss it over anything from skinny jeans to maxi dresses.
- 98% cotton, 2% spandex
- Center back to hem: 18" (46 cm)
- Sleeve length: 24" (61 cm)
- Machine wash
- Imported
- Model is 5'9" and is wearing a US size S
Denim Jacket is rated out of 5 by 1.
Rated 4 out of 5 by Lelah from Jean Jacket I love this jean jacket. It fits nicely and has some elasticity which make it more comfort than most. It's a little shorter than I hope for but other than that the jacket is perfect.
Date published: 2013-04-03


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Electronic Arts Repeats as "Worst Company in America"
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Thank you for pointing this out after people whining (^-^) about how bad Bank of America is I can't help but think why not switch banks or not use them in the 1st place, there are other banks. I don't have experience with BoA (being from the UK), HOWEVER I was with a bank that I found I liked the practices of less and less, you know what I did I switched to a different bank. If I don't like BP, I can use Shell. however If I want to play simcity there isn't an EA version, Blizzard version, CD Projekt version etc. etc. There is only EA's Simcity, which means I boycott EA's products and since they are taking this poll so seriously then why shouldn't we vote for them to send a message they will pay attention to, it will be enlightening to hear their response.
Okay, I'll say Atlus. They're pretty good. I won't say perfection, as that is a logical impossibility, but we generally don't hear much rage on them. Anyway, that wasn't the point of my post here, so...
OT: Okay, finally read everything.
Man, we're actually arguing over this? Okay, lemme lay it on the line here. Aside from it being all in good fun, because the consequences basically equate to a pie in the face, there is a good reason why EA won:
They're idiots.
Not just any idiots, mind you. They're the kind of morons who end up being just the thing Scott Adams makes comics about, an affably-evil company that cares not, wants everything, and has no means of making real headway because it's 62 flavors of DUH. Now, why might this outrank a properly evil corp? Well, if you'll push away what you think is the bias, there is actually a bit in here that makes sense. Evil, insofar as corporations go, is effective. It's shit, it's terrible, but it goes along its way in a manner of 'screw you' that they can laugh all the way to the bank about and keep it up in ways that will fool millions. It's devious, but it's also functional. By comparison, consider a group which is labeled as 'pretty damn stupid', evil or not. Imagine that they tread lots of water just to stand still and damage people in the process too.
To be a greater level of horrible, it's not JUST in how you treat your consumers. It's also being dumb enough to be caught in your own blast, to damage yourself in the process. When you kneecap someone, they're kneecapped, end of story. EA points a shotgun at its own face, blows its head off, and scatters both shot and bits of head all over everyone behind them. Get it? Collateral damage. A match in an explosives warehouse while trying to shoot someone. A 16-ton weight on top of a chisel meant to crack a rock in half. A crowd of panicking people trampling others while running away from Godzilla.
Now uhhh...this was still all just an internet thing, but don't tell me it doesn't make a lick of sense. The forces of evil have got nothing on a company of idiots, people you can't predict or stop from hurting themselves and everyone else. That's the trick people are missing here. It's not ABOUT the evil. It's about making Darwin cry.
My belief IS based on experience, EA have shown time and time again that they'll say anything or do anything for money and they have no integrity at all. EA only claims to support gay rights to play off poor guillible saps like you who think they're being liberal or progressive in guzzling down corporate soundbites without critically analyzing the intentions behind it. If you honestly think EA care about gay people at all you are extremely naive as to how the world works.
Also this notion that EA's homosexual romances are cutting edge is hilarious, they're backwards we've had gay characters since the 90's and they where considerably better written, EA's attempts to be progressive are almost patronizingly bad.
And it's Apple or no iDevice
No two companies out there make the exact same product. That's sort of how the system works.
If you don't want to buy an iDevice because you hate Apple, you buy a Samsung phone or some competing device that has roughly the same capabilities.
If you don't want to buy a Hummer because you hate the company of the same name, you buy a (from?) Land Rover or Toyota or some other car/company that also makes cars like that.
If you don't want to buy Dead Space because you hate EA, you buy one of the many other "Kill Bio-Horrors FPS" games
And as for the poll itself, this was only the logical progression from "GAMES THAT I CAN'T RUN[1] = THEY CAME FOR THE JEWS HITLER HITLER HITLAAARR!!!"
[1] but probably bought anyway (despite knowing full well that I'd probably be unable to run it.)
You'd EXPECT a giant bank to do evil and screw people over. It is what banks do.
EA is an entertainment vendor. They are supposed to (for a fee) spread joyful happiness into your life with video games. The betrayal is more personal when the happiness vendor kicks you in the nuts with its business practices.
When is it Activision's turn?
This result proves one thing to me:
The online video game community has their priorities messed up.
One can argue that the other companies won't care for the "award". One can argue that it's because we expect different things. You can say all those things and it still won't change the fact that people chose a company that sometimes delivers good games, sometimes bad and has an overall bad PR department/company policy over companies that literally RUIN the lives of other people.
In other words, people voted that their "entertainment" is more important than the livelihood and the general well-being of millions.
This is a sad, sad story. EA is "evil" yes. As in, they don't make games the way we would like to have them. Compare that to a Bank screwing over millions of regular people and not being concerned about consequences in the slightest, ruining lives, hopes and dreams left and right.
Wow. Just wow.
I voted for EA because I knew people would get mad. That pretty much sums it up.
It's a golden poo award. I think the well-being of millions will be left wholly unaffected by it.
I say we buy up all the EA stock we can.
If fans value their brands so dearly they should be in control of some part of it.
Doesn't stop people buying millions of EA's games every year though. I guess helping to destroy the economy and being the cause of a huge number of people's evictions and unemployment just isn't as much of a sin as an ending that doesn't wrap up a series as well as people hoped or releasing a game with too much DRM.
That doesn't change the idea behind it. The idea that just because "oh well, this poll won't do any good anyway, so I'll just vote for something else" makes the whole thing a farce.
So you could say, all of this is just a joke anyway, in which case it doesn't matter one way or the other. Or, if you're jaded like me, you believe that people ACTUALLY care more about their video-games than they do about other, much more "sinister" things.
I find that this is a good response.
I mean, ultimately they're just a money grubbing entertainment company with bad customer policy and a ton of titles under their control. Subpar, stupid, lying, and not worth supporting, sure. But worst company in America? I wouldn't even put them in the bottom 100. Walmart, every company involved in faulty weight loss pills, the entire alternative medicine/homeopathy industry, every conman/bait-and-switch/pyramid style company, copyright troll companies, and so many more are all much worse.
And the consumerist's article is pathetic. The majority of its arguments are based simply on the failure of Simcity 5. While it was a trainwreck, a single bad game hardly compares to the other crap companies pull.
I can't agree with this. It's just a gaming company, so how can it be worse than a bank (any bank)? EA puts something on the market which you either buy, or you don't. They don't have a monopoly on games so just ignore them. They are actually useful because every little shit they take gets so much publicity nowadays that every other game company takes notice and say "so that's what NOT to do...". EA is so easy to get rid off, it's laughable. Just don't buy the next FIFA (meaning, just don't upgrade that bloody team roster for ONE year) and Battlefield (cool graphics, but it's the same game, duh) and they will fall. That's it... no more. One FIFA update and a few less polygons for your current Battlefield.
Americans should really start to sort out their priorities. Games aren't one...
Naive? Dude you're the person who thinks they know what people's intentions are without actual evidence. I on the other hand don't claim to know their intentions, I simply state the fact that they're publicly opposing a law. And further that no other companies are doing that. So I give them credit for that. I don't care what their intentions are, the fact that they've put their name into the public eye is relevant in and of itself.
The fact that they have gay stories in their games is equally relevant and important. When's the last time Valve had a gay relationship in one of their games? Never.
I value actions. When one company is taking action, and others are not, it's puts them above the others. When one company has certain content in their games, and others do not, it puts them above those companies. I don't claim to know their intentions or motivations because to do so is the height of arrogance. I can speculate sure, I can make guesses, but to claim that I know for a fact what they're thinking? That's just absurd and childish.
Why the hell would Activision want to attract the kind of negative press this is generating. Granted Activision is just as guilty as EA in alot of same dickish moves, they seem more than happy to let EA be the spokesman for it at the moment.
Bobby and his fellow executives are probably just pissing themselves laughing about EA being double poo'd especially after all of EA's bluster in trying to catch up/one up them (ie MoH:Warfighter vs CoD)
Hey, here's a ca-raaaaaaaaaaaazy idea, but um, why don't you just not buy EA games? I haven't bought an EA game in a long time. As such I still haven't played Mass Effect or Battlefield or Crysis, and yet I'm still happily gaming along. Yea, I've missed out on some games worth playing, but EA also doesn't have my money. And if you absolutely must play an EA game, why not buy used, to ensure they still don't get your money? I'm not even trying, and I'm avoiding EA pretty well.
Buying used for the most part only works on console versions. PC users have been stuck with whatever they bought for at least 15 years or so. As much as I love Valve/Steam, they were the final nail in the used PC game market once you had to register your game to a service and a username.
So tell me this. Let's assume that one of these awful, nefarious corporations really did win the golden poo instead EA. What would that have shown? Would any of those other companies have done had they won the award? Would they behave like BoA did when it won the award (not giving a shit), or act like EA (who just ends up hiding behind half-baked apologies blaming everything else but them)? Would the world continue to spin as it does, or where there be an outcry for change? Would the golden poo do more than all of the other suits and fines that have been levied against companies like BoA or BP? Are you really losing your mind over what amounts to nothing more than a big middle finger voted on by people dissatisfied by EA?
Brother, this has nothing to do with being jaded: stop sounding as if some terrible wrong has been done and realize that you're upset that EA instead of some other company has won a statue in the form of a shit.
Hey, are you queer? Otherwise I don't think you should be speaking *for* queer people about what they should and shouldn't like.
EA is collectively a dick, seeing that they publish a game actually makes me hesitant to buy it, and I've actually decided against purchases just because of their crappy behaviour.
But they don't even make the top ten worst companies. Even a steaming pile of assholes like EA pales before the finance companies that brought on the bubble and recession that followed, the petro-corps that take reckless risks with ecosystes and human health, retailers that knowingly support death-trap manufacturing overseas (Hell of a body count on Wal-Mart's clothing department) or privatized prison and military companies that reap their profits from suffering and death.
Hell, what about Monsanto? Even EA's fairly frequent brick-stupid decisions pale in the face of the psychotic bullshit that company's pulled.
Sorry. I am really not upset about that. ;)
I am not losing my mind. I just find it very sad. It ties together with other community behaviors that just boggle my mind. All I was saying is that it is, in my opinion, a very weird sense of priorities when, in a poll such as this, you decide to go against the company that is the "least" of the presented evils. I was wondering WHY people would do this?
And like I said, if it is just because of the belief that it doesn't matter at all, then it still shows where priorities lie.
I honestly couldn't care less that EA won the award. Or any other company for that matter, because personally, I think that the people who voted for them in this poll have an absolutely twisted logic/set of priorities and their opinion really isn't that important in the first place.
But that's my personal opinion. Maybe, who knows, EA will actually take something away from this, other than "oh, look, the mob is at it again", who knows. XD
A)I am gay
I just want to know where that picture of the EA sign came from in the OP. I mean look at it, clean as a whistle, not one egg yolk in sight.
There's no way EA's the worst company. To gamers and internet users maybe, but not irl.
EA is terrible, but not THAT terrible.
For some that might be true, but EA seems to be the only company on the whole list who seems to even care about it. Plus, considering how immediate PR affects a company like them, as opposed to some of the other ones on that list, on top of the hot streak of blunders that EA is on, it makes sense why they're such an easy target.
In the end, the worst thing that could happen is that EA, like BoA, ignores the award and chugs along their path towards PR ruin.
Remember back in the heady days of 07-08 when Ubisoft and Activision were the scourge of mankind and evil incarnate and EA could do no wrong after releasing Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origin? Good times folks... good times. Oh, oh, or remember when Steam was the harbinger of corporate spyware, with Valve being a bloodsucking thief of your hardware information and could possibly flat out steal your CC information?
See, some of us remember a decade ago. Or apparently even have a memory.
Perspective people, perspective.
Hi guys. Hey, hi. I'm going to say something,
This wasn't the grand tournament for the title of the worst company of the year voted by the people of the USA. It was a poll on the internet. People are entitled vote for who ever they don't like the most. Stop blaming the gaming community for every single thing that happens. What people should have done instead? Voted for bank of whateverthefuck just because EA is a Video game company?
More people who didn't like EA voted I wonder why? Maybe EA's audience are more familiar with the internet than the consumers of Bank of America or Walmart. Also don't forget that, It may say "Worst Company of America" but Non-Americans are not excluded from voting.
Stop stressing yourselves over an internet poll.
Yes. And as we all know, when a company goes against expectations, it makes its faults exponentially greater. Bank of America may have made thousands homeless, with a large number of mistaken foreclosures, and, along with several other large financial institutions, nearly broke the economy of the whole fucking world. But dammit we expected that. Little wonder then that one of the companies that ruined the world lost to a company that screwed up an online game and charges you money for extra content. If ever I'm given the wrong flavor of ice cream from an ice cream truck or charged more money for it than other places, I feel confident that that will henceforth be known as the new worst business in America.
Seriously, it only "trades punches" because gamers decided that a broken game they paid $60 for was the equivalent of a bank kicking someone out of a house they'd already paid for or an oil company destroying a massive ecosystem. God so much of gamer culture makes me fucking sick.
I disagree with this assesment. I fly sometimes. I expect - and do - get good experience while at it. (except the turkish security folks, i found a very cool looking stone in Turkey, on a beach, the size of around 2x2CM, and they stopped and interrogated me for it because apparently i was smuggling "national cultural valuables" out of thier country, and in the end confiscated the stone.). I got a loan for my house and i walked out of bank smiling, because the costumer service was amazing, and the gal was looking out in my best interest (i study economy, i knew whats going on). So far its been 1,5 years and i have had no problems whatsoever with the loan. So no, i never go into any business expecting to be hurt, yet somehow gaming is one where i am hurt the most. Maybe i am lucky, i dont know, but personally while EA isnt the worst out there in my opinion, its no angel.
Is EA the worst company? No it isn't, but it does deserve the attention. Some have said, "Don't buy their games." Well, in the video game business there is more to it than that. I could easily say that I won't buy their games, but I loved Bioware so I bought their games. Now their owned by EA and their games suck now. Than I could say I love Insomniac games since earlier in the ps2 era. But now they are owned by EA and we now have Fused.
Unfortunately even though we wanna stay away from EA to get the games we want. EA tends to buyout the companies we like and either ruin them or close the studio.
The hatred for EA is quite deserved. It's not like they've screwed up one or two times. It's more like they've screwed up one or two decades now. They've continually bought up companies that don't fit their own portfolio or their goals and assimilating them into their own, therefore actively eliminating variety throughout their own industry.
Of course pretty much all the other companies did larger damage to the economy of the united States and the Bank of America even caused an entire recession.
Then again, what is "worse"? Do i "scale" the damages done by each company? After all, EA is much smaller, personell and moneywise so they couldn't do as much damage as the bank of America even if they tried.
That would make EA worse than the Bank of America. People who voted with that "scaling" in Mind might actually be onto something.
Then it comes down to which Company has the bigger Assholes.
On the other Hand, EA has the wonderful Potential to bring Peace and Serenity to the industry; There's some People that i'm sure helped vote EA through all the rounds simply because they make Videogames.
I bet everyone who voted for EA feels dirty and needs a Shower now :p
I suppose, that although yes, it is the easiest for the internet to be mad at, there are other issues at play here. For instance, the oil spill was not deliberate, and therefore can not really be a measure of how good a company is, despite the failed attempts to stem it initially. The banks' shenanigans are all a bit cloak and dagger and usually down to a few people doing things that fuck stuff up.
EA deliberately give us overpriced, half finished crap and expect us to take it. Perhaps it's the contempt they appear to have for their consumers that gives them the edge.
Say what you want about them, you all know they're instantly forgiven for any mistake when you remember they gave us..
I can understand the hatred at EA, and the recent fiasco that was SimCity certainly didn't help their case in this vote, but we also need to realize that EA really doesn't affect those who don't play their games. If you get ripped off by EA, you're partially to blame for letting them do that to you. Sure, that doesn't justify why they pursue it in the first place, but saying they are worse than companies that have affected the lives of millions of people who didn't even use their service in the first place is taking this EA hate way too far.
Bank of America deserves a lot of blame for the recession, which affected millions of lives regardless of which bank you happen to use. Most people I know who suffered most from the recession never used Bank of America, but they were still affected by its practices in a much more serious way than their entertainment.
BP is partially to blame for their oil spill in the Gulf, essentially damaging a wonderful ecosystem. You can also imagine the economic impact that would have, and the Gulf States are still trying to convince people to come down and enjoy it regardless of what happened as a result of the spill.
EA...charges too much for mediocre entertainment that you can figure out is bad before you even buy it and doesn't affect you if you don't purchase it...Yeah, pure evil right here!
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The 7th DimensionSD
IMDb: 4.7
91 min
Two young women arrive at a curious penthouse apartment, led by one's crush on her tutor. However, her love interest doesn't live alone. He's part ...
Country: UK
Actor: Kelly Adams, Jonathan Rhodes, Lucy Evans, Calita Rainford, David Horton, Cathy Murphy, Wayne Lennox, George Nicolas, Kris Tyler, Simon Thomas, Philip Gawthorne, Kevin Lehane, Saqueeb Butt, Tara Young, Micheal Kleinburg