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ILF Intern Stephanie Amoako Reflects on the Johannesburg Criminal Legal Aid Conference
I am a joint degree graduate student in law and international affairs at Columbia University in New York, and I just finished my third year of a four year program. I applied for an internship with the International Legal Foundation in order to learn more about the intersections of law and development from an organization that is a global leader in developing legal aid systems. I especially appreciate how the ILF empowers local lawyers to serve their communities. Columbia Law School provides funding through the Human Rights Internship Program for students to work abroad and fortunately I was able to use that funding to travel to Johannesburg, South Africa for a month to help with the preparations of the first International Conference on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems. The conference, held from 24 June to 26 June, was co-hosted by ILF, The Government of South Africa, Legal Aid South Africa, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Participating in the conference planning and execution gave me great exposure to important issues concerning law, development, and legal aid.
One of the aims of this high-level conference was to discuss how to practically implement the United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems, which was adopted in December 2012 by the United Nations General Assembly and is the first international instrument on legal aid. I was thrilled to be in the company of over 265 participants from 65 countries, including attorneys general and Supreme Court justices from several countries including the Maldives, India, and Liberia. Importantly, I was able to meet ILF staff from Afghanistan, Nepal, and the West Bank. Over three days, speakers, panelists, and participants discussed important topics in sessions such as Financing Legal Systems: Cost-Effectiveness and Sustainability; Promoting Children's Access to Legal Representation; and Monitoring and Evaluation of Criminal Legal Aid Systems: Case Administration, Data Collection, and Assessing Impact. During the conference I took copious notes for future reports on the fruitful discussions.
I gained an immense appreciation of the need for legal aid from this conference. Speakers highlighted the millions of people around the world held in pre-trial detention without representation. They highlighted how everyday people are sentenced for committing crimes when there has been no thorough investigation of the facts. They highlighted how legal aid systems are often woefully underfunded. Lack of legal representation is truly a human rights issue. Similarly, I gained an understanding of the solutions for this crisis and was exposed to the innovative strategies different countries are using to ensure access to justice. The conference was a model of international cooperation and learning with participants sharing their experiences and learning from each other. I am so glad that I was able to be a part of it.
For the month that I was working on the conference I was hosted by Legal Aid South Africa, another global leader in legal aid provision. I thoroughly enjoyed being in the company of dedicated and passionate advocates for justice. On June 19 I accompanied Impact Litigation Unit lawyers Achmed Mayet and Natasha Wagiet to the Constitutional Court to hear the verdict in Sali v. National Commissioner of the South African Police Service and Others. Justice Edwin Cameron read the verdict and afterward I was able to briefly meet with him.
Working on the conference has been a great and formative experience for me that I will take with me as I pursue a career in rule of law development. I am very grateful for my time in South Africa and I look forward to seeing the impact that the work of the conference will have on the world.
-Stephanie Amoako


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The engines of an aircraft are the most valuable and important component. For that reason companies are specialised in management of engines within the aviation sector. There are engine brokers, engine traders, engine disassembly facilities and engine MRO facilities.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Until relatively recently, the Iraqi town of Mosul was home to a flourishing Christian community which was one of the most ancient in continuous existence, tracing its origins to the first century A.D. and maintaining the Aramaic language spoken by Our Lord. Since the war in 2003, and especially since the arrival of the Islamic State two years ago, much of the Christian population has been forced to flee and significant numbers have been murdered. Many survivors have apparently preferred to go into hiding rather than enter refugee camps where they face the prospect of further persecution. Any who remain must pay a heavy tax called the Jaziya.
Last month, Islamic State henchmen turned up at a Christian house in Mosul demanding that the inhabitants pay the tax or leave. The mother of the family living there asked for a few seconds to collect the money, but they immediately set fire to the house, where the woman's twelve year old daughter was trapped in a bathroom. The mother made an attempt to rescue her daughter, who was horrifically burned, but the little girl later died in her arms. The very last words that she said to her mother were: "Forgive them."
Although that girl was killed, she is the victor in this terrible story. Her response to hatred and appalling cruelty was love and forgiveness. The word martyr means witness, and with those two short words "forgive them" that twelve year old girl gave a clear and resounding witness to our holy Catholic Faith which we should hope will be remembered until the end of time as we know it, and which has surely earned her the crown of sainthood for eternity in Heaven, where she is now in a position to intercede at the Throne of Grace for her mourning family and her tortured homeland.
We should reflect on the heroism and the simplicity of that girl's witness. Our Lord tells us that those of us who would follow him must take up our crosses daily, but how tempted we are to avoid and evade the Cross in favour of comfort and respectability. We live in a society in which, for the moment at least, we are free to witness to our Catholic Faith. This is not something that we should ever take for granted. When we hear Christianity being bashed and rubbished, do we speak up and say: "Actually, I am Catholic, and my Faith is the most important and beautiful thing in my life?" or do we remain silent, perhaps even preferring not to be exposed as believing and practising Catholics?
Christians living under the Islamic State who refuse to apostatise really have taken up the Cross on a daily basis. Remaining Christian in such circumstances means making huge sacrifices, and often the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives and the lives of their loved ones. What they suffer for the Gospel is a great witness to us and to the world of the power of grace to sustain us in the Faith.
Please pray for the Christians of the Middle East, whose future looks very uncertain. The recent killing of that little girl is just one example amongst many thousands of such terrible events. The media has largely lost interest, and so these Christians are easily forgotten. As they are dispossessed and their families are killed, they look to us in disbelief as our western leaders concern themselves with more fashionable causes favoured by the secularist press. Heaven forbid that we Catholics should ever forget our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters. As well as praying for them, we can also contribute financially to support them. Thanks to the generosity of our parishioners the Oratory has been supporting the charity Aid to the Church in Need, which works tirelessly to support Christians who have been driven from their own homes, and to bring their plight to the attention of the world.
The name of that little girl who asked her family to forgive her killers in Mosul has not yet been released. Perhaps one day she will be formally canonised, along with other martyrs in the Middle East. Meanwhile, we can be confident that she is a martyr and a saint in Heaven, and in our private devotions we can ask her to pray for us. By her intercession, may we be filled with a love of the Faith which is as great as hers, and the courage to profess it with as much conviction and charity.
Fr Julian Large


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Get Involved At MCC San Francisco
Opportunities for Volunteers
Generosity comes not just in the form of financial resources, but in time, talent and labor. Volunteer service allows people to meet others, deepen their connection to the community, and contribute to the greater good for all. There are a multitude of opportunities to help ensure the smooth operation of our church and community home. Are there areas in which you feel you are being called to serve? Do you have an hour or two out of your week to give us a hand?
We invite you to find your place in the spiritual practice of volunteer service at MCCSF:
- Administration
- Office help
- Filing
- Database Entry
- Newsletter
- Checking voicemail
- Updating website
- Board of Directors
- Lay Delegate
- Office help
- Publicity
- Marketing
- Graphic Design (cards, signage, flyers, etc)
- Worship
- Coffee Hour
- Music, Choir
- Welcome Team
- Setup sanctuary/altar
- Communion servers, greeters, ushers
- Multi-media (powerpoints, sound board)
- Recording sermons and posting online
- Congregational Care
- Contact missing members
- Visitor follow up
- Visiting sick
- Send cards
- Spirit Journey Small Groups
- Group Facilitators
- Hosts
- Social Justice/Serving our Community
- Homeless Children's Network
- Read Aloud Program (to schoolchildren)
- Bag Lunches (for the hungry)
- School Supplies (to schoolchildren)
- Community Events
- Pride Parade
- Fundraising
- Pride Treasury
- Castro Street Fair
- Folsom Street Fair
- Facilities
- Janitorial, cleaning
- Painting, repairs, maintenance
We welcome volunteers
We are trying to build a robust and diverse community so, whatever your background, whether you are able to contribute financially or not, we welcome you to share your time and talents with MCCSF. We do our best to help you develop your volunteer role with us by training, supervising and supporting our volunteers. We ask that volunteers perform your volunteer role to the best of your ability; be easy to reach, responsive and timely in communications, maintain confidentiality, and meet mutually agreed time commitments, or give notice if this is not possible.
Please call us at 415.863.4434 or contact us via email at firstname.lastname@example.com and let us know how you would like to be involved here at MCCSF.
I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Everyone can be great because anyone can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't even have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve… You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love…


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...a few thoughts about the show's content before the show:
Sexuality creates life, nourishes love and provides pleasure. How this can be shameful is only by mere construct of Human based fear and control.
Typically I'm somewhat of a worrier rather than a warrior but over the past few years I've been working to change that and to a large degree, I've succeeded. The freedom that comes with not giving a shit when you can't change certain circumstances or people cannot be overstated: worth the effort. With it, however, comes pain because there's a process of having to feel - and thus to understand - the difference between truly not giving a shit to just not giving your time to the worry that will often hardly change anything. It's not an easy road. A slippery slope took my foot in 2011 and it's really never been terrific since. In 2014 I took control in a flow kind of way: I trusted the intuitive and passionate path no matter how crazy it seemed, and that path led me to creating the ART PORN collection. I swear I was shocked at my commitment and completion and terrified at the thought of its exhibition but it all flowed rather well.
Since I'm in the American South for this 2 day sneak peek show before it heads to Sin City, I'll say it: "I'm doing God's work." This is valuable to be understood when "in Rome" to do "as the Roman's do". If one wants to be understood, one must speak the correct language and to me, sexuality is a universal language except my environment has ear muffs on -- so, I follow my intuition and strong sense of spirit and I listen to the voice within and here I am, backing it up, in Savannah, again. Sexuality creates life, nourishes love and provides pleasure. How this can be shameful is only by mere construct of Human based fear and control. It's undeserving to all of us. I still stand with my original view of porn when taken to its core basics (yes it can be more complex but you've got to accept its naked truth before you put on the clothing to manipulate its meaning):
Sexuality is universal, and pornography acts merely as the unedited documentation of sexual behaviors.
I certainly don't want to only make pornographic and erotic content for art but there are way too few female artists who do and so I step up to take that challenge on, to contribute a feminine view of sex, porn and eroticism to the supersaturation of porn out there. It doesn't have to be in your face but it doesn't have to be hidden in the closet nor should it break marriages apart. It's a part of ourselves that needs a tweak of a peek, not shame or banishment.
I make art that represents our most primal acts, that require elegant representation in an era of raunch culture (and I consider this merely an evolutionary state derived from feminism but that's an entirely different post) as well as an era of virtual porn where truth isn't hidden by eroticism or romanticism: "Just fuck me" as one might say.
My take on sexuality or pornography is no less valuable than anyone else who projects their take but to be added to the avenue of choices is the road less traveled by women -- and even less so by women who live in conservative landscapes.
I look forward to meeting everyone at the show this upcoming first weekend in June. Here are details if you need them.
Tatiana von Tauber


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Video Graphics (After Effects Course), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
In our After Effects Course, learn a professional video graphics software, Adobe After Effects, to create amazing video graphics.
Other Courses related to After Effects Course:
Duration: 6 classes (12 hours)
Fees in Kuala Lumpur :
Join our GROUP CLASS: RM 1050 per person
1-TO-1 CLASS: RM 2100 per person
Our group classes will have 3 to 6 students
You can also request your own group class, if you have a group of more than 3 participants.
In-House Corporate Training Sessions:
Minimum: 8 pax per class
Maximum: 20 pax per class
Basic Computing skills required, such as saving files and using the keyboard & mouse.
WebWeaver Learning Centre's Adobe After Effects Course will teach you to fully use this powerful motion graphics tool, with endless capabilities, to create moving graphics.
This software allows you to unleash your creativity – taking graphics to another level by putting your ideas in visual motion.
Adobe After Effects is a wonderfully powerful software & a definite must-learn for video creators.Our Adobe After Effect Course will teach you how to create motion graphics to enhance your videos, unleash your creativity, and take graphics to another level by putting your ideas into visual motion.
Learn to create videos for different needs:
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- Wedding Videos : Fun & touching video edits with beautiful music.
- Promotional Videos : Create interesting & convincing videos for you products/services.
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- Infographics : Publish and spread your facts through spellbinding video of words & icons
Want to be a full fledge Video Editor? Consider our Video Editing Course & learn both Adobe Premiere Course and Adobe After Effects.
Interested only in professional video editing software for editing footages? Opt for our Adobe Premiere Course instead.
Still uncertain of which course to choose? Give us a call and we will be happy to help you choose the right course.


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The 'Depopulation Dividend' is an expression I invented early in 2013 at the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) international conference in Busan, and which I first used in writing in an online article published by Prospect magazine on 7 October 2013 (Matanle, 2013). I define it as the advantages that can be derived from naturally occurring demographic shrinkage and which promote human and environmental sustainability.
Some Background: The Demographic Dividend
In 2003 David Bloom, David Canning and Jaypee Sevilla published The Demographic Dividend, which quickly became a seminal work in the study of population and economy. Short and accessible, the book argues that it is the age structure of a population - rather than its overall size or rate of expansion - that provides the conditions for rapid and sustained economic growth. Key to this is the transition to low fertility that accompanies improved public health and rising living standards; that demographic and economic change go hand in hand with responsible government to lift a country out of poverty and backwardness.
Bloom, Canning and Sevilla singled out East Asia's so-called 'economic miracle' as the most compelling evidence for the relationship between changes in population structure and the achievement of economic development. As such it is my belief that Japan's realisation of its demographic dividend - in other words, its emergence in the late 20th century as one of the world's richest and most developed societies - was a seminal moment in world history. It not only demonstrated conclusively that successful purposive accelerated economic development was possible for a country without a European heritage, but it has helped other East and Southeast Asian countries to follow, by a mixture of emulation, adaptation, creativity, and hard work. The East Asian model of economic growth, which Japan pioneered, has enabled hundreds of millions of people across Asia to live longer, healthier, more fulfilling, more productive, and richer lives. What could be better than that?
Consequences: Ageing and Depopulation
However, Bloom, Canning and Sevilla cautioned that this opportunity is time limited; that on the other side of the transition to low fertility lay the potential dangers of an ageing society and, later still, depopulation (2003: 38). In the 1950s Japan's Total Fertility Rate (the average number of children born to each woman) dropped rapidly and stabilised through the 1960s and into the 1970s at around the normal population replacement rate for developed countries of approximately 2.1 children. Since 1974, however, its TFR has remained below replacement, falling to 1.3 during 2000-05; one of the lowest rates in the world for the time. Japan has enjoyed a slight fertility bounce back in recent years, registering a rate of 1.43 for 2013. But, with four decades of continuous low fertility behind it, the number of women of child-bearing age has declined dramatically such that the number of children being born continues to drop, and sometime in the five year period between 2005 and 2010 Japan's total population also began to fall.
Figure 1 below shows the Japan's natural population rate of change going into negative territory first in 2005, and then continuously from 2007/8; but this data excludes the effects of international migration, which I will deal with in detail in my next blog post. Suffice it to say for now that international migration is not having a great deal of effect on Japan's overall population trends.
Figure 1. Japan's population vital statistics. Source: MIC Statistics Bureau (2014).
Demographers knew for a long time that Japan would enter a long period of ageing and, if circumstances persisted, of depopulation too. Current government estimates project that Japan may reduce in size from its current 127 million people to nearer 88 million by around 2060, while United Nations projections anticipate a slower fall to around 102 million (NIPSSR, 2014; UNDP, 2014). Of course, the actual outcome is subject to some variation from current projections. Nevertheless Japan is shrinking and ageing, and will continue to do so for some years, even decades, into the future.
Why aren't we celebrating?
The consequences of ageing and depopulation are almost always assumed to be negative. Some fear that the the government will fail to raise enough tax to pay for the care and pensions needed in an ageing society; or that the economy may even begin to shrink and encounter problems of over-capacity; or that Japanese society and culture may be destabilised in an attempt to maintain economic strength by large-scale immigration (Coulmas, 2008; Matsutani, 2006). To my mind any hand-wringing is misplaced. Here's why.
For some decades, even a century or more, over-population was understood as the major demographic problem facing humanity, due to the potential for humans to overwhelm the capacity of Earth's natural resources to sustain our consumption. In 1798 Thomas Malthus warned that the increasing rate of expansion in the world's population would outstrip our ability to produce enough food. The Club of Rome published its seminal work The Limits to Growth in 1974 with an update in 2004 (Meadows, Randers and Meadows, 2004). The underlying logic in these, as well as other, volumes being that fewer people would place less pressure on the natural environment and, combined with reductions in per-capita resource usage, the possibility of achieving long-term human co-existence within a sustainable natural environment would be within sight. If that is the case, then why aren't we celebrating the appearance of depopulation in Japan and elsewhere?
Barring a major and sudden change in fertility, ageing, longevity, and migration patterns, Japan will continue to depopulate over the coming decades, and the rest of East and Southeast Asia will follow suit. Most of Europe is either already shrinking or will do so soon. The demographic dividend is coming to an end. The age structure of Asian and European populations is changing rapidly and there is little that can be done about it. Indeed, do we need to 'do' anything? Perhaps there is an alternative.
The Depopulation Dividend
Populations are always in dynamic flux as individuals in their aggregate respond creatively to their endlessly changing circumstances with new patterns for living. Despite initial expectations that the demographic transition would produce a stable global population this has not occurred; and it was probably a naive expectation anyway. In the developed world we now face the prospect of reducing populations as a generalised condition. There is little that can be done to reverse that trend; so why not celebrate it and find out if we genuinely can realise the potential for depopulation to enhance the environmental sustainability of human life?
This is where the concept of the depopulation dividend comes into its own. Once we begin to think in this way a huge number of questions emerge, whose answers might point towards new directions for human life in the 21st century.
- Does depopulation reduce human pressures on the natural environment?
- Is there any evidence to support the expectation of a depopulation dividend?
- If not, where can we get the evidence that we need?
- What if the evidence tells us that the depopulation dividend is more difficult to achieve than we had previously anticipated?
The Future
Some say that Japan is facing a major crisis (NHK World, 2014). But every crisis also bring opportunities. I want to seek out some answers to the above questions and I am confident that researching the experience of Japan and East Asia will help us grope towards finding them. As my research unfolds I will document and track my progress on this blog. By doing so I hope to stimulate discussion, collaboration, and progress towards the goal of maximising the depopulation dividend and delivering a more harmonious and sustainable relationship between humanity and the natural environment on which we all depend.
Next instalment: International Migration in Japan.
My thanks to Professor Natalie Jackson, Director of the National Institute for Demographic and Economic Analysis, University of Waikato, New Zealand, and Mr. Roger Martin, Chairman of Population Matters, UK, for their cooperation and encouragement in developing the concept of the Depopulation Dividend.
Bloom, D., Canning, D. and Sevilla, J. (2003) The Demographic Dividend: A New Perspective on the Economic Consequences of Population Change, Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
Coulmas, F. (2008) Population Decline and Ageing in Japan - The Social Consequences, London and New York: Routledge.
Matanle, P. (2013) Why the 2020 Olympics won't solve Japan's problems, Prospect, Online Edition, 7 October.
Matsutani, A. (2006) Shrinking Population Economics: Lessons from Japan, Tokyo: International House of Japan.
Meadows, D., Randers, J and Meadows, D. (2004) The Limits to Growth: The 30 year Update, London: Routledge.
MIC Statistics Bureau (2014) Japan Statistical Yearbook 2015, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Statistics Bureau Website, Accessed: 30 December 2014.
NHK World (2014) Japan's Depopulation Crisis, NHK World, First Broadcast 2 May 2014., Available from Youtube, Accessed: 30 December 2014.
NIPSSR (2014) 将来推計人口・世帯数 (Population and Household Statistics Projections), National Institute of Population and Social Security Research Website, Accessed: 30 December 2014.
UNPD (2014) World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision, United Nations Population Division Website, Accessed: 30 December 2014.


text: We're not sure if Tom Windish realized it back in 2004, but The Windish Agency has turned into one of the best artist booking agencies out there. There's a reason why they have won Pollstar's "Independent Booking Agency of the Year" award two years in a row. Why are they winning? They don't just go about signing acts and getting them on the road; Windish has made it a point to have a particular voice, and filling voids in places that normally wouldn't be seeing this level of talent. They are respectful of their artists needs, and in turn their roster continues to grow with some of the freshest faces in the music scene. James Blake, A-Trak, Z-Trip, The Knife, Diplo, Lorde, and Skream are just a small sample of Windish acts, and in 2013 they added a massive number of acts to the agency. If you're going to continue to win, you need to beef up your roster, and with the artists that are now in Windish's fold this year? 2014 is going to be massive.


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At long last, the perfect score for arcade classic Ms. Pac-Man has been achieved, though not by a human. Maluuba — a deep learning team acquired by Microsoft in January — has created an AI system that's learned how to reach the game's maximum point value of 999,900 on Atari 2600, using a unique combination of reinforcement learning with a divide-and-conquer method.
AI researchers have a documented penchant for using video games to test machine learning; they better mimic real-world chaos in a controlled environment versus more static games like chess. In 2015, Google's DeepMind AI was able to learn how to master 49 Atari games using reinforcement learning, which provides positive or negative feedback each time the AI attempts to solve a problem.
Though AI has conquered a wealth of retro games, Ms. Pac-Man has remained elusive for years, due to the game's intentional lack of predictability. Turns out it's a toughie for humans as well. Many have tried to reach Ms. Pac-Man's top score, only coming as close as 266,330 on the Atari 2600 version. The game's elusive 999,900 number though, has so far only been achieved by mortals via cheats.
Maluuba was able to use AI to beat the game by tasking out responsibilities, breaking it up into bite-sized jobs assigned to over 150 agents. The team then taught the AI using what they call Hybrid Reward Architecture — a combination of reinforcement learning with a divide-and-conquer method. Individual agents were assigned piecemeal tasks — like finding a specific pellet — which worked in tandem with other agents to achieve greater goals. Maluuba then designated a top agent (Microsoft likens this to a senior manager at a company) that took suggestions from all the agents in order to inform decisions on where to move Ms. Pac-Man.
The best results came when individual agents "acted very egotistically" and the top agent focused on what was best for the overall team, taking into account not only how many agents wanted to go in a particular direction, but the importance of that direction. (Example: fewer agents wanting to avoid a ghost took priority over a higher amount of agents wanting to pursue a pellet.) "There's this nice interplay," says Harm Van Seijen, a researcher with Maluuba, "between how they have to, on the one hand, cooperate based on the preferences of all the agents, but at the same time each agent cares only about one particular problem. It benefits the whole."
Maluuba says this Hybrid Reward Architecture version of AI learning has expansive, practical applications, like helping to predict a company's sales leads, or making advances in natural language processing. Watch Microsoft explain its methods, above.


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Northfield Rotary's Jesse James Bike Tour web site and blog went live back in March.
I've been working most closely with 2007 bike tour chair Jack Hoschouer on it.
The rest of the bike tour committee keeps bothering us with their input: Brad Frago, Curtis Tiano, Dave Halsor, Ed Lufkin, John Stull, Kari Sobeck, Keith Covey, Mark Abbott, Neil Lutsky, Peggy Prowe, Rick Esse, and Steve Wilmot.


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Groomsmen: Victory Jump after fetching the bride! Yeah!
Bridesmaids: "Zuo Simi??"
Can I comment how amazing is the Groom and Groomsmen?
They did all the jump shots without a retake.
Partial thanks to my Nikon D4s amazing 11frames per second shutter speed.
Kwan Wei Ren & CarrMen Ang - Actual Day Wedding Photography in Singapore.
Gear: Nikon #D4s


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Hi, I'm a trainee undergoing an internship programme. During the interview, I've been told that I'm not entitled for any public holiday which puzzled me. I do have friends undergoing their internship in other company but they are entitled to public holiday. Is there any law protecting the interns? Do labour law in Malaysia clearly stated that trainee are eligible for public holiday?
Thank you
The Employment Act covers employees but I am not sure whether those going for internship are employees of the company. Consult the local Labour Department by giving more details about the internship programme. Anyway, don't sign any contract which you are not sure about the terms and conditions.


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Honoring the Past, Painting the Future
In honor of Veterans Day, we would like to express our deep gratitude for the service of all veterans. We would also like to share the stories of two UGallery artists, Rick Hamilton and Robert Holewinski, whose pasts in the military shaped their futures as artists.
For Robert, art was a pastime that he pursued while stationed in Korea. Whereas Rick would not find art until many years after his time in the Navy, but would reflect that his time stationed in Italy and France was guiding him to art all along.
Though their paths were different in time, place, and detail, they share a similarity in the way that their time in service led them to art.
Rick Hamilton in uniform
Rick served in the U.S. Navy from 1986 to 1992, spending two of those years in France and Italy. And though he was not painting during that time, he immersed himself fully into the new cultures around him.
"I have no doubt the things I've seen and stories I have heard have made it possible to tell my own story through my work," says Rick.
While he was abroad, he appreciated and yearned to understand the culture of his surroundings.
"When I traveled, I tried to escape the fact I was in the Navy and would try to blend into wherever I was to really get a sense of the place I was."
He began painting about 7 years later. His work today still bears the influences of his cultural, experiences, and the people he encountered while he was in the Navy.
Robert Holewinski in Korea
Robert Holewinski joined the military 46 years ago. He served for three years, one of which he was stationed in South Korea. Before exiting the army honorably in 1970. He has spent a good portion of his later life reflecting on his time in the military and has realized how much it has grown and shaped the man he is today.
The late 1960s was a time of turbulence on both a cultural and political level. There was "a war in Vietnam, possible war in Korea, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the three days of Woodstock, the first landing on the moon, a growing public dislike for the military, and large protest marches in Washington DC."
All of these events and changes strongly influenced Robert.
Robert grew up in a small town in New Jersey. And, like many who grew up in small towns he had "popular heroic Hollywood images of the military" quickly dashed and replaced by "the realities of army life, and the reality of Vietnam."
Despite the strong shock and stark realities of his environment, Robert is grateful for his years of service. It was a period of rapid growth and maturity that opened his worldview. Part of this growth was recognizing his artistic gift.
"It was while in the army that I had the time, space, and desire to develop artistically, and to realize that being an artist creating paintings was something that was alive within me."
For Robert, his art started as a way to pass time. While in Korea, Robert came upon a set of acrylic paints, brushes, and paper canvas. Because Korea was an active zone of conflict, he was not able to venture out to paint landscapes. So, his first subjects came from what he kept around him – photographs from the issues of National Geographic he saved, animation stills from a book he had about Disney animation.
Once he returned to the United States, while assigned to duty in Washington D.C., he purchased new materials and began exploring the mid-Atlantic vistas of the U.S.
"The smells of linseed oil and turpentine soon filled my apartment and car, as I ventured into both Maryland and Virginia to find landscapes," he says.
As he developed and nurtured his creativities, his earliest paintings were impressionistic – connected to the styles of Monet, Cezanne, and Van Gogh.
Robert's Current Studio
He has also written a book about his experience called "One Year There," which is a book of free-verse narrative poetry.
"I see my paintings and my books as equal parts of the same inner creative drive, as two sides of the same coin. And my being a veteran, serving in the military, was a big part of who I am today," says Robert.
Thank you to Rick and Robert for sharing their memories and stories. And, thank you to all of our veterans who have sacrificed and dedicated themselves to the service of others.


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A fundamental component of the long-term sustainability of the Woolcock is support through bequests.
Bequests to the Woolcock help solidify the Institute's financial underpinnings just as the legacy of Prof Ann Woolcock underpins the Woolcock's research culture and innovation.
We understand that your loved ones will always come first, but a gift of any size to the Woolcock can make a significant and lasting difference. Your support will allow us to find the causes, prevention, diagnosis and better treatment of respiratory and sleep disorders for the many people who suffer from long-term, life threatening and disabling conditions. Your legacy will enable our team of dedicated and hard-working physicians and scientists to make breakthrough discoveries helping people far into the future.
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It's been one year since I quit my "real" job - my minimum wage, unfulfilling, time-consuming job that had nothing to do with my degree. I felt trapped, suffocated, and I couldn't stand working for people who didn't respect me or my experience. I quit that job and jumped right into building my own business. I've dealt with lots of challenges since then - motivation, self-confidence, money handling, learning about product development, and so much more. Throughout this whole thing, I've kept one challenge untouched.
It's hard for me to wrap my head around pricing. I want to price everything as low as possible, because 1) I've been unconfident about my own skills and 2) I know what it's like to be poor and want quality in my life. I hate thinking that I'm putting my work out of reach of the people I grew up around and have loved throughout my life.
But standing here, well sitting here, one year after making that big jump, I've found myself broker than ever. I imagine what it would be like if I had a "real" job - not a minimum wage job, but one that pays a living wage, with health benefits and everything. I haven't had an eye exam since 2005, or a dental exam since 2007, and there's no way I see myself having either in the future, at least at the rate I'm going now.
Over the past few weeks, I've sat myself down to really think, examine, and create a better plan to keep my business alive. I learned that if I don't pay myself correctly, the business will die - there's no other way around it. I read that everywhere when I first started, but it didn't completely sink in until now, when it's really bad. Don't sell your items at a discount rate - you hurt yourself, your business, and other businesses. Even if you don't make any sales at first, don't sell something intricate for $5 just to make a little money. Keep working on your business in other ways, and the sales will come.
What are other things you can do to make sales, besides offering a discount? Create more products - this is the best thing you can do! Create variations of current products. Put yourself in front of the audience you want to sell to. Network with fellow artists. Work on your branding & packaging. Research local craft shows and/or small businesses you could sell to. There are a million ways you can grow your business without cheapening your work and your skills.
As far as pricing goes:
- I've learned specifically through Chickpea that you should always price for BOTH retail and wholesale, even if you aren't selling for wholesale right now. Since most of my work is labor-based, I charge myself one price for wholesale and a higher price for retail. This leaves you an actual profit, and gives you wiggle room for future wholesale accounts.
- Build fees into your price, don't let them cut into your profit. Sometimes Paypal, Etsy, and tax fees take so much of the sale that I actually LOSE money per sale. I've adjusted my prices to add on those fees, rather than let them dig into the overall price.
- Go slow and really research. Sometimes I just want to get items up as fast as I can, to get some money in my bank account. (Sounds greedy, but honestly, money's so tight now that I live sale to sale.) I don't pay attention to others' listings, or what shipping could potentially add up to. I sold an expensive vintage piece that I could've sold at twice the cost if I had researched what other people were doing. I can't even count how many times I've undercharged for shipping - get yourself a scale, and learn the ins and outs of the USPS system.
- Take your time when building your product list. Take a look at what other people are selling, and what people are buying. Get yourself a notebook and sketch out a product per page. Not just a drawing sketch, but see what your profit will be per item. Include material price, time spent, profit, fees, and what you'd sell it at. If an awesome thing takes a ton of work, but you're not making any money on it, maybe use that item as a DIY project or a giveaway instead.
Taking it slow might be a hard thing to hear, especially when you need money, or if you're just starting it out, but it is completely worth it. And when I say "take it slow", I don't mean just spend an hour a day on work - I work over 12 hours a day, I never shut off. But I do have to give myself time to eat, time to go outside, time to breathe. When I work, I work hard and smart. I think about what I'm going to do, then plan and execute it.
The "money thing" might not be fun, but it's necessary if you're serious about this. I've spent a ton of time waddling around, making sales but not actually making a living - not because I'm not selling enough, but because I wasn't looking at the pricing closely enough in the first place.
Here are some links that inspired me to change my thinking about pricing:
- Sue Bryce's blog. She's an absolutely amazing portrait photographer who has learned so well that pricing is an integral part of business & marketing.
- This speech by Tom Hodgkinson. It's been a struggle for me to juggle my ideals with my passion for being in control of my own income. His life story and ideas made me realize that it's okay to ask others for money, especially if you're giving them something great in return.
- Etsy's pricing series, which I think they're expanding all this week. There you'll find the basics and good tricks to find the best way to price your shop.
- Design*Sponge's biz ladies series. Lots of great advice there.
I guess what I'd like to convey here overall is that I shouldn't have been so hard on myself, and I should've just charged the correct prices from the beginning of my business. I think I would've been much better off today. But I am changing the way I'm working my shop - I'm working smarter, better, and hopefully it pays off.
If you have any questions about my experience so far, feel free to email me or comment below. I have so much advice to give, after jumping in and learning everything the hard way. So get in touch!


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I had a ride down to Spurn today.
First stop was Crown and Anchor-plenty of common migrants including quite a few blackcaps.Then on to canal scrape-it was very quiet so I had a look in the bushes again common migrants but nothing startling.
I then headed up to Sammy's Point here there were lost of wheatear and yellow wagtails. A walk to the far end yielded more common stuff including whitethroat, willow warbler and more blackcaps.
From Sammy's I went for some lunch at the Blue bell , it was here I heard the news of a red-rumped swallow crackling over the radio.Then back to the canal scrape, only a pied wagtail there so went back up to Sammy's for the second time.
As soon as I looked in the bushes there was a redstart and then looking over the paddock even better- a blue headed wagtail. With some very confiding wheatears it made for a nice afternoon,
Easterlies tonight so maybe something good in the morning?


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SHUT DOWN: A federal judge has put a ban on heart-stopping execution drugs in Mississippi, where wrongly convicted people like Michelle Byrom have spent years on death row. (The New York Times)
The man who murdered 12 at a Colorado movie theater in the summer of 2012 is going to spend the rest of his life — plus 3,318 years — in prison. (USA Today)
On average, police in Brazil kill six people per day. On Monday, people in the country's third-largest city rose up for change. They named their movement "React or Die." (Refinery29)
Sexual assault is a widespread problem at clubs in Australia. The government set up a task force to help put an end to this horrifying trend. (Broadly)
Data shows that poorer families spend more — we're talking $500 — on prom than families with household incomes of $50,000 or higher. Get the inside look at the industry designed to get high schoolers to dole out for the dress. (Racked)
Wednesday was not a happy day for employees at Angry Birds. The company that owns the game fired 35% of its workforce as part of an effort to spread its wings into newer territories. (Business Insider)
Rush hour is getting more painful; it's not just your imagination. As more jobs return to the American economy, your bumper-to-bumper boredom is likely to increase. (The Atlantic)
The proposed Burger King x McDonalds collaboration was a major fail. Turns out, Ronald has no interest the McWhopper or in befriending the enemy. (CNN)


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This will be an entirely ancillary operation to the main production brewing business and encompass a permanent area of approximately 20% of the total floor space available and operate outside of general business hours.
Primary coal deposits that can be accessed from the surface may exist adjacent to these tips and, where feasible, will be mined as an ancillary operation.
Hume said that may mean lawyers who are engaging in ancillary businesses are not disclosing to clients their interest in that ancillary operation.
He is a 50% shareholder along with Gooss in an ancillary operation that, among other things, specializes in pitting cherries and plums for further-processors that are primarily in the yogurt and ice cream industries.
Contract award notice: Three-year service of bus cleaning, Auxiliary vehicles, Fixed installations and offices of apam exercise spa and ancillary operations.
Excluding the fuel center business, other ancillary operations saw margins rise 6 basis points.
The principal is the person on whose behalf the Transport Agreement shall be concluded and shall be performed its ancillary operations and the consignor is the person who undertakes to conclude on his own behalf and on behalf of the principal, the transport agreement.
as senior vice president and chief operating officer, a new position charged with direct oversight of ready mixed, aggregate and ancillary operations in New York and New Jersey, Texas and Oklahoma, and California.
With headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, and ancillary operations in San Francisco, California, SKY Leasing has over USD250 million of initial equity capital available to provide sale/lease-back financing solutions globally to commercial airlines seeking to lease young mid-life Boeing and Airbus aircraft.
As the Senior Operating Executive at Disney, Lee led a team of 40,000 Cast Members and was responsible for the operations of 20 resort hotels, 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a shopping & entertainment village and the ESPN sports and recreation complex in addition to the ancillary operations which supported the number one vacation destination in the world.
Ancillary operations at JJ Engineering include drilling, milling, pitch-feed tapping, riveting, resistance welding, CO2 and programmable robotic welding and component assembly operations together with sub contracted finishing operations such as electro-phoretic painting, powder coating, anodising, polishing and electro plating.
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Starting his career in 2007, Casper Bosman is an aspiring young artist making a strong impression on the fashion industry in South Africa. Dressing celebrities like Lorna Maseko, Christina Storm and two reigning Miss South Africas; Melinda Bam and Rolene Strauss. He has recently also designed the winning Miss World 2014 evening gown. His label includes bespoke wedding gowns and evening wear. It is bold, daring, edgy, lively and elegant as well as offering a unique experience.
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text: First off, I gotta say, this is the best movie I've seen in a long time in the theaters. Just overall fun to watch. Some parts though were just so stupid, it was kinda funny. Like.. -When ever theres an epic car chase, the good guys always put more innocent people in danger than the bad guy. Like driving a contruction truck through a train, or driving down the wrong side of the highway. -When MoneyPenny shoots Bond on top of the subway train accidently, why the hell didn't she just take another shot? Instead of letting the guy escape through the tunnel. LMAO -Once again, I know this is an action film, But Bond getting shot off a train, falls off the bridge into a shallow river, and then gets pushed down river unconscious underwater. I don't think that's very survivable, but who cares. He's superman -Bond gets only a gun and a radio from Q, but somehow gets this car from a garage that has all the gimmicky bond technology, like Rockets outta the headlights or an ejection seat. I had a good laugh when I saw the car though. -And last but not least. I love the end, when that old guy and M escape the farm. And the old guy just starts waving a flash light in the field, almost to say, "HEY, WE'RE OVER HERE", lol. I can't think of any more. I'm not bashing the movie, its just fun Nitpicking sometimes. Any other dumb parts that made you laugh?


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Louisiana Demands More of Offshore Oil Revenues
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco is threatening to block future offshore oil leases unless her state begins getting a bigger share of taxes from oil and gas drilling in the Gulf. Blanco says the money is needed to help restore coastal areas damaged in part by oil and gas development.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Louisiana's governor wants more money for hurricane relief and here's how she's campaigning for it. Kathleen Blanco sent a letter to federal officials containing a plea and a threat. She says that unless her state gets more taxes from oil and gas drilling, she may block future drilling off Louisiana's coast. Here's NPR's Greg Allen.
GREG ALLEN reporting:
For years, now, Louisiana and other Gulf States have been asking for a larger share of the tax revenues from offshore drilling. Louisiana currently receives just a small portion, about $40 million last year out of some five billion dollars in total tax revenue. Governor Blanco's letter to the Department of the Interior comes, as a next round of offshore oil leases is due to be signed next month. While the governor isn't objecting to this round of leases, she raises the possibility that she may in the future; pointing to, quote, "The growing tension between uncompensated support for offshore drilling and the state's coastal management program."
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, like Blanco, a Democrat, is trying to build congressional support for a proposal that would give Louisiana the same 50 percent share that Western States get from oil revenue. At a time when there bans on offshore drilling everywhere in the country, Landrieu says in Louisiana, there's growing frustration.
Senator MARY LANDRIEU (Democrat, Louisiana): We're the only coast that has allowed drilling off of our shore, everybody else has shut it down. Yet, when we ask for a fair share of these taxes that are generated, we keep getting told no, no, and no. Meanwhile, our wetlands are eroding. And why are we continuing to just let drilling occur, and have all of the tax dollars go to Washington?
ALLEN: Last year before Katrina, Congress responded to that argument; approving a billion dollars to be split over four years among oil producing Gulf States. Landrieu believes, in the aftermath of Katrina, the time is right to finally give Gulf States, what she considers, their fair share of revenue from offshore drilling. Money that she says would be earmarked for coastal areas.
LANDRIEU: All of the money that we receive through revenue sharing would go to restore the wetlands, which protect all of this infrastructure that services the nation, and protects the ports of New Orleans; but it would also go for levee protection.
ALLEN: The plan, though, faces an uphill battle. The White House, and some influential members of Congress, have opposed giving Louisiana and other Gulf States a greater share of the billions of dollars that each year go directly into federal coffers. The president's coordinator for Gulf States Recovery, Don Powell, says the federal government has already allocated some $100 billion for the Gulf States following Katrina and that should be sufficient to protect coastal areas.
Mr. DON POWELL (Coordinator, Gulf States Recovery): I think there are monies available, to date, to meet the needs of the Gulf States; either through monies that have been allocated, or monies within this $100 billion to meet the needs of the people in the Gulf coast.
ALLEN: In her campaign to get a large share of offshore oil tax revenue, Governor Blanco also has the support of the state's oil and gas industry. Jeff Copesky, with the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, says while his group supports the proposal to increase its state's share of tax revenue, the industry is not comfortable with Blanco's threat to block future oil leases. Copesky notes that Shell Oil recently reopened its New Orleans headquarters, where a thousand people are employed. He says blocking future offshore oil leases would put those jobs and many others in jeopardy.
Mr. JEFF COPESKY (President, Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association): All those jobs in New Orleans are supporting the exploration/production that's going on in offshore Gulf of Mexico, off Louisiana's coast. So, I mean, the first people that get hurt in this are the oil and gas industry and the State of Louisiana's economy.
ALLEN: Blanco's position, and her not so veiled threat, comes at a time when Baton Rouge and Washington are at odds on a number of post-Katrina issues. But in this dispute, Louisiana has some leverage; it's the nation's largest producer of crude oil. And as Hurricane Katrina showed, anything that effects oil production there is quick to get the attention of the entire nation.
Greg Allen, NPR News.
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Creationism, often rebranded as Intelligent Design, is the belief that intelligent agency was involved in the creation and development of life on Earth. The view purports to be a science and to be deserving of consideration not only by the scientific community, but also students. For this reason Creationists have been involved in raising public awareness about the flaws they see in evolution, and have created major controversies, and it has become a particular issue in the United States. In Britain, schools must teach evolution as part of the National Curriculum, but are not barred from teaching creationism as well, and some religious schools, such as Emmanuel College in Gateshead, have done so, presenting creationism as fact and evolution as a matter of faith. In the USA, pressure has been put on school boards to enforce the teaching of creationism and evolution as equally controversial scientific theories (as in Ohio), or to remove evolution from the list of examination topics and therefore make it less likely to be taught (as in Kansas). While Creationists have found mixed success in the furtherance of their views on the political stage they have met with far stauncher and more unified opposition from the scientific community, which has largely denounced Creationism as religion in the borrowed clothes of science. The controversy remains in spite of this denunciation. Debates on teaching Creationism in school revolve around the questions of whether Creationism can be considered a legitimate scientific position, and whether it stands up to empirical scrutiny.
Important note: In any debate regarding evolution, abiogenesis, and Creationism, it is important to work out from the start what is under discussion. Creationists in particular use ambiguity to their advantage in debates. For example, if the debate is on evolution, should he feel cornered, a Creationist will often try to turn the conversation to the question of the origin of life, or of the planet. Sometimes they will go so far as to ask for an explanation of the beginning of the Universe. While all these do have scientific explanations, they have nothing whatsoever to do with evolution. Debates should always be kept on topic or else they have a strong tendency to get very messy indeed.
Useful Definitions.
- Scientific Theory: "A systematic ideational structure of broad scope, conceived by the human imagination, that encompasses a family of empirical (experiential) laws regarding regularities existing in objects and events, both observed and posited. A scientific theory is a structure suggested by these laws and is devised to explain them in a scientifically rational manner."[1]
-Evolution: "The biological theory that animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations."[2]
-Abiogenesis: "The field of science dedicated to studying how life might have arisen for the first time on the primordial young Earth."[3]
Many scientists do not accept the conclusions of the evolutionists. People like Dr. Michael Behe have dedicated themselves to exposing the flaws in evolution and showing that there is very real disagreement within the scientific community. This controversy is highlighted in the many court cases, books, and televised debates occurring in countries all over the world[1]. Children deserve to hear about the controversy, and not to simply be fed one story set for them by the prevailing majority in the scientific community, even if that community cannot claim anything near consensus. Until consensus is reached and indisputable proof of one theory or the other given, both sides should be taught in schools.
[1] Linder, Doug, 2011. "The Evolution Controversy". University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
There is no controversy. It is not even a matter of most scientists agreeing with evolution, but virtually all of them. This is demonstrated very clearly in the scientific literature, as thousands of papers are submitted for peer review every year on the topic of evolution, all bolstering and upholding the theory. On the other hand, on average zero are submitted supporting Creationism, because such papers would not meet the necessary criteria of being scientific research at all.[1] Some papers at best question evolution, but attacks on one theory are not supports of another. Furthermore, the reason there are public debates and court cases is that Creationists seek to capitalize on the relative scientific illiteracy of the general public, knowing they can only win by spreading disinformation, rather than facing off against real scientists in the academic realm.
[1] Kuhn, Thomas. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
The opinion of the scientific community with regard to facts and theories has a great propensity to change with time. Once scientists adamantly maintained that the Earth was flat. For centuries it also maintained that there were two kinds of blood flowing through the human body. Science is not infallible and the prevailing theory is no more than the opinion currently in vogue among scholars. In light of new evidence, theories can change over time, giving way to better explanations[1]. For this reason, the evolutionists' dogmatic adherence to their position in spite of contrary evidence provided by Creationists is hard to understand. However, it becomes clear why the scientific establishment takes such a confrontational position toward Creationism when one considers that many eminent scientists and researchers have built their careers within the paradigm of evolution, and their research often depends wholly on its acceptance. These scientists would lose their exalted position in the light of a paradigm-shift in scientific understanding away from evolution. It is for this reason that scientists who adhere to established norms so often fight things like Creationism, even though they provide explanations where evolution cannot. For science to progress, these conservative impulses must be fought against, which is why it is essential that when science is taught, so are all the prevailing theories concerning branches of the sciences, including Creationism.
[1] Understanding Science. 2011. "Science Aims to Explain and Understand". University of California Berkeley.
Of course scientific opinion changes over time. It does so because the process of scientific enquiry requires the search for new data. Theories are not rigidly adhered to, but are rather accepted when there is evidence for them. When evidence mounts against a theory it is rejected. The examples cited show this very well. The idea that the world was flat was proposed as a theory without proof but by the end of the classical world Pliny was able to say "Every one agrees that it has the most perfect figure. We always speak of the ball of the earth, and we admit it to be a globe bounded by the poles."[1] as scholars had provided evidence of the earth being spherical. This process of change can harm some scientists' careers, but it can also make others. There is no monolithic scientific establishment setting policy, denying younger researchers from exploring new hypotheses and avenues of inquiry. It is clear from this that Creationism is not a science, because it does not change in light of new evidence, but rather dogmatically adheres to its claims in spite of evidence. Science adapts to new information. Creationism is stagnant and intellectual barren.
[1] Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, John Bostock ed., Taylor and Francis 1855.
Nature is marked by clear design. The complexity of the human body, of ecosystems, and even of bacteria, attests to the existence of creative agency. It is impossible that such things as, for example, interdependent species could come to exist without the guidance of a designer. Likewise, certain organisms can be shown to be irreducibly complex, meaning that if one were to remove any part of it, it would lose all functionality. This refutes the gradualist argument of evolution, since there is no selective pressure on the organism to change when it is functionless. For example, the bacterial flagellum, the "motor" that powers bacterial cells, loses all functionality if a single component is removed.[1] Besides design, the only explanation of its development is blind chance, which is nonsensical. Creationism serves to explain the various mysteries of biology currently absent from the evolutionary biologists' picture of the world. The existence of complexity of the order found in the natural world is too great to envisage an origin other than complex design.
[1] Behe, Michael. 1996. Darwin's Black Box. Glencoe: Free Press.
There is no design in biology. People tend to anthropomorphize their environment, trying to assign human-like qualities to animals and nature. All of the complexity of life on Earth can be attributed to natural processes; life, diversity, and complexity are all the product of physical and chemical interactions and biological processes. There is no mystery in the basic process. Also, complexity is not at all indicative of design. In fact, evolution has been observed to occur from simple single-celled organisms into multi-cellular organisms under laboratory conditions. That degree of evolution completely refutes any claims about complexity requiring design. Furthermore, there are no irreducibly complex organisms. Every example offered by theists of irreducible complexity has been found inaccurate. The bacterial flagellum, for example, when several key components are removed loses its functionality as a motor, but becomes a form of secretory system that has a separate function.[1] Clearly, complexity is not indicative of a creator.
[1] Miller, Kenneth. 2004. "The Flagellum Unspun: The Collapse of 'Irreducible Complexity'" in Ruse, Michael and William Dembski (ed.). Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Creationism can be drawn as an entirely reasonable scientific hypothesis, and it forms a coherent theory of the origin and development of life that opposes the naturalist theories of abiogenesis and evolution. Abiogenesis describes the development of life from nonliving materials and evolution seeks to explain the development and diversity of life through a gradual process of mutation and natural selection, yet no one has ever demonstrated either process sufficiently in the laboratory. In the case of abiogenesis, all experiments to create an environment similar to the supposed prebiotic soup whence life first sprang have resulted in no new life forming. In the case of evolution, evolutionists consistently fail to show the development of new kinds of organisms[1]. While there is no doubt that some change occurs within species, such as the breeding of wolves into dogs, it appears to happen only within certain limited bounds. Certainly no experiment or study has shown evolution to be capable of explaining such huge diversity in the world of living things. Creationism, on the other hand, offers the explanation that abiogenesis and evolution cannot. The diversity of life and its origin are rationally explicable as the product of intelligent agency. This is not a statement of religious belief, but of scientific observation. Describing the nature of the designer, however, is another question all together, one that need not be answered in order to accept that there is such a designer.
[1] Wells, Jonathan. 2009. "Why Darwinism is False". Discovery Institute.
Creationism is not science. It makes no predictions that can be tested in the laboratory or field. Adherents of Creationism do not accept it because of evidence, but rather they shape disparate facts to fit their beliefs. That is the opposite of scientific enquiry; Creationism begins with a conclusion and works backward. Furthermore, all evidence does indeed point to a natural origin of life and its diversity. Experiments are getting consistently closer to creating new life, and there are no evident bounds to evolution. The arguments of Creationism are based on gaps in knowledge; rather than trying to find real answers through scientific enquiry, they fill them with "the designer did it". Such answers are the refuge of the ignorant.
Society is made up of communities with their own views on politics, religion, education, etc. School boards should be able to set curriculum based on the desires of the public, not just on what the scientific elites command to be taught. Children deserve to hear that their beliefs and those of their community are respected in the classroom. This is why Creationism, a belief held to varying extents in many countries, should be taught in the classroom. This is particularly true in the United States, where in several states the majority of people does not accept evolution, but have instead adopted Creationism, considering the evidence for the latter to be more convincing.[1] In a poll in 2009 a majority (57%) said that creationism should be taught in schools either without evolution or alongside it.[2] The teaching of Creationism should not be taught exclusively, but should share time with other prevailing theories, particularly those of evolution and abiogenesis. Furthermore, evolution taught exclusively threatens religious belief, telling children they are no more than animals and lack the spark of grace given by God. It is important for social stability that schools are allowed to teach what communities believe to be true.
[1]Goodstein, Laurie. 2005. "Teaching of Creationism is Endorsed in New Survey". New York Times.
[2] HarrisInteractive. 2009. "No Consensus, and Much Confusion, on Evolution and the Origin of Species." BBC World News America/The Harris Poll, 18th February, 2009.
Schools should teach what is true. Evolution is one of the most robust theories in contemporary science; it is not the place of communities to propagate lies, even if they are more in keeping with their religious beliefs. Indoctrinating children and denying them access to real science, which happens even if Creationism and evolution are given "equal time", is to fundamentally compromise the value of education[1]. It is an inculcation of false belief to suit a communal goal of maintaining a set of beliefs that may not stand up to scientific scrutiny. The Creationists cannot win in the scientific arena because they are not scientists so they have decided to try to subvert the political system. Their goal is to undermine science and reason, and they must be stopped.
[1] Rooney, Brian and Melia Patria. 2008. "Because the Bible Tells Me So?". ABC News.
95% of all scientists accept evolution, and only a fraction of those that do not accept Creationism.[1] The numbers are even smaller among biologists, the people most qualified to discuss the relative merits of Creationism and evolution, as the study of life and biological processes are their specialty. There is, in fact, greater consensus in biology than in virtually any other discipline. Evolution is often called one of the most thoroughly proven theories, more so even than such things as the observable laws of physics, which break down at the subatomic level. Evolution is a constant, which is why it has survived as a theory for 150 years.[2] The scientific community always fights any effort to institute Creationism in schools through the political process.[3] This is why, when court cases are brought on the issue of teaching Creationism, the panel of scientists is always on the side of evolution. Only a few discredited cranks support Creationism, and they invariably break down under cross-examination when they can offer no positive evidence for their claims. Furthermore, many scientists have religious faith and accept evolution. They simply see no reason to reject observable reality just to serve faith[4]. Creationists try to portray evolution as contrary to religion, which forms one of the main planks of their political campaigns against it, but such claims are fallacious. Science and faith can be compatible, so long as people are willing to accept observable reality as well as belief. The scientific community rejects creationism because it is not true and is not science.
[1] Robinson, B. 1995. "Public Beliefs About Education and Creation".
[2] Lenski, Richard. 2011. "Evolution: Fact and Theory". Action Bioscience.
[3] Irons, Peter. 2007. "Disaster in Dover: The Trials (and Tribulations) of Intelligent Design". University of Montana Law Review 68(1).
[4] Gould, Stephen. 2002. Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life. New York: Ballantine Books.
The scientific community was once convinced the world was flat. It was also once sure that women's brains were smaller than those of men. The scientific community "knows" lots of things only to be proved wrong. The scientific elitist establishment is built on the theory of evolution; many prominent academics' careers were made affirming it. Many people have a lot to lose if science changes and evolution is overturned as the prevailing paradigm in biology. That is why there is such resistance to the evidence piling up that contradicts evolution and affirms Creationism. The unwillingness of the scientific community to hear Creationists out in the scientific forums, where the old guard predominate and have all the power, is what has led them to pursue their objectives in the courts and through politics. The only reason Creationism is not accepted in the mainstream is because scientists fear the loss to themselves. Education is most effective when our children are exposed to the entirety of issues, not just parts. To contextualize and offer completeness to their scientific education, they should hear both sides.
Scientific enquiry is, at its core, a search for truth[1]. It is about shining light in dark places. Dogmatic adherence to beliefs in spite of evidence, and even trying to cover up facts that contradict those beliefs is academically dishonest and intellectually facile. Evolution is proven fact, a theory so sound that it is the cornerstone of all biology. Nothing in biology makes any sense unless considered in the context of evolution. Schools should teach this fact, not the pseudoscience of religious demagogues. It is a fundamental attack on children's rights to subject them to false information for the sake of upholding outdated and disproved beliefs. It is a right of all people to have a valuable education, because good education is required to be able to take part in the democratic process, to be able to make informed decisions. That right is compromised when the educational system gives them a worthless education in untruths, like Creationism, because informed decisions must be based on fact, and must be objective the way science is, rather than loaded with religious undertones, that skew ones view of the facts. The value of education is only as good as its applicability, either directly or through its fostering of critical thinking. So, when the political process is used to circumvent the curriculum set by teachers and experts, who actually know the subjects they are talking about, and replacing them with the curriculum set by a scientifically illiterate political body, the children suffer as the quality of their education decreases.
[1] Pauling, Linus. 1983. No More War! New York: Dodd Mead.
Truth is a complex thing. Scientists claim to know what is true and that schools should only teach their truth. But their truth changes with time. Communities can hold, and desire to hold, beliefs with more constancy. States everywhere recognize the value of communities and often give them special rights and exemptions for the sake of those beliefs. The Amish in America, for example do not need to attend education past the primary level, because the communities do not desire it. Communities give structure and lend stability to broader society, so they should be allowed to behave with a degree of leeway in terms of issues like education. Creationism is a truth for those who adhere to it and see that evidence fits that paradigm more than does evolution. Until irrefutable proof of evolution is given, as the scientific community has yet to do, both paradigms are equally valid and should be available to students in the classroom.
Creationists have never once offered a positive evidence for their claims. When challenged, they respond with vitriolic, and often deliberately false, criticisms of evolution and abiogenesis. They behave as if delegitimizing an alternative theory necessarily gives credence to their own. Unfortunately for Creationism, that is not how science works. Positive claims require positive evidence. Even if the Creationists were able to provide evidence that actually refutes evolution it would do nothing to support a theory that intelligent agency is behind the existence and development of life. For Creationism to be true, there would need to be demonstration of living organisms that are unambiguously designed, and not the product of evolution by means of mutation and natural selection. Proponents of Creationism have consistently failed to do so. When they point to things they claim to be irreducibly complex they are invariably forced to back off as soon as scientists appear on the scene to test their claims.[1] The truth is there are no examples of organisms that could not have evolved. Abiogensis and evolution, on the other hand are thoroughly proven by observation and data.[2] In the case of abiogenesis, self-assembling molecules have been observed that are akin to the first proto-life, and hopes have never been higher that they will be able to observe the development under laboratory conditions of fully-formed new life. Evolution likewise is extensively demonstrated. Speciation, phylogenetic mapping, a more and more complete fossil record, structural atavisms, junk DNA, and embryology provide just some of the proofs of evolution.[3] All of these disciples are in agreement with evolution. In fact, only in light of evolution does anything in biology make any sense at all. Clearly, Creationism has no basis in science and thus no place in the classroom.
[1] Miller, Kenneth. 2004. "The Flagellum Unspun: The Collapse of 'Irreducible Complexity'" in Ruse, Michael and William Dembski (ed.). Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2] Lenski, Richard. 2011. "Evolution: Fact and Theory". Action Bioscience.
[3] Colby, Chris. 1997. "Evidence for Evolution: An Eclectic Survey". TalkOrigins Archive.
Evolutionists point to all kinds of evidence "proving" their case, yet they still fail to offer a practical demonstration of their theory that would prove that all life could have evolved from a common ancestor. That still requires a great deal of faith on the part of the scientists. As to positive proof for Creationism, there are many co-dependent species relationships, as well as irreducibly complex biological structures which evolutionists have consistently been at a loss to explain. Creationism offers the explanation evolution cannot.
Creationism is, by definition, not science. It is not based in any empirical evidence. Rather, Creationists start with a presupposed answer and work back from it. They assume there is a designer, so they look for holes in evolutionary theory and claim only a designer can explain the gaps. When new evidence arises that gives a natural explanation of the phenomenon in question, the Creationists backpedal and start looking for new holes. No amount of evidence could convince a Creationist because his belief is not based on evidence, but rather on a usually religion-driven opposition to evolution on a political and belief level. A science proves itself through experimentation and submitting research for peer review. Creationism fears scrutiny by real scientists. Instead supporters of creationism attempt to further its agenda through politics and courts, where science is not the main goal, but popularity and where expertise is not in science but in law (Dawkins, 2006). Creationism couches itself in the language of science and does its best to look respectable in the eyes of the public. For example, in rebranding as Intelligent Design, Creationists sought to appear less overtly religious. These attempts show the illegitimacy of Creationism. The pseudoscience of Creationism must, for the sake of education, be kept out of the classroom.
Creationism is a legitimate scientific endeavor. Researchers struck by the apparent design in organisms look for evidence of that design. There is nothing pseudoscientific in that. There are many issues that evolution cannot explain, but which Creationism can (Behe 1996). Evolutionists can say the gaps in their theory will be filled over time, but that is not a scientific proposition either.
Ayala, Francisco. 2011. "Evolution". Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Behe, Michael. 1996. Darwin's Black Box. Glencoe: Free Press.
Colby, Chris. 1997. "Evidence for Evolution: An Eclectic Survey". TalkOrigins Archive.
Encyclopedia Britannica. 2011. "Scientific Theory". Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Dawkins, Richard. 2006. The God Delusion. Ealing: Transworld Publishers.
Goodstein, Laurie. 2005. "Teaching of Creationism is Endorsed in New Survey". New York Times.
HarrisInteractive. 2009. "No Consensus, and Much Confusion, on Evolution and the Origin of Species." BBC World News America/The Harris Poll, 18th February, 2009.
Gould, Stephen. 2002. Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life. New York: Ballantine Books.
Irons, Peter. 2007. "Disaster in Dover: The Trials (and Tribulations) of Intelligent Design". University of Montana Law Review 68(1).
Kuhn, Thomas. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lenski, Richard. 2011. "Evolution: Fact and Theory". Action Bioscience.
Linder, Doug, 2011. "The Evolution Controversy". University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
Miller, Kenneth. 2004. "The Flagellum Unspun: The Collapse of 'Irreducible Complexity'" in Ruse, Michael and William Dembski (ed.). Debating Design: From
Darwin to DNA. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pauling, Linus. 1983. No More War! New York: Dodd Mead.
Robinson, B. 1995. "Public Beliefs About Education and Creation".
Rooney, Brian and Melia Patria. 2008. "Because the Bible Tells Me So?". ABC News.
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, John Bostock ed., Taylor and Francis 1855.
TalkOrigins. 2006. "Abiogenesis FAQs". TalkOrigins Archive.
Understanding Science. 2011. "Science Aims to Explain and Understand". University of California Berkeley.
Wells, Jonathan. 2009. "Why Darwinism is False". Discovery Institute.
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A woman who is alleged to have tried to run down police while leading officers from Trent Woods and New Bern as well as sheriff�s deputies and state police on an hour-long car chase through Trent Woods and parts of New Bern, is now in jail and facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
A woman who is alleged to have tried to run down police while leading officers from Trent Woods and New Bern as well as sheriff�s deputies and state police on an hour-long car chase through Trent Woods and parts of New Bern, is now in jail and facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
Trent Woods Police Chief Tony Lee said that Rose Marie Burgess, 37, of Morehead City, was jailed in lieu of $200,000 bail and that additional charges are pending. She will have her first hearing in District Court on Monday morning.
Lee stated that the incident began when a Trent Woods resident on Country Club Road noticed a white Ford Focus parked at the end of the driveway. The resident called it in as a suspicious car and an officer was sent to investigate.
�The officer attempted to make contact with the operator and the vehicle sped off, making erratic maneuvers,� Lee said.
The officer, who suspected the driver was under the influence, then attempted to set up a traffic stop that, Lee said, �quickly evolved into a pursuit situation.�
Early on, on Country Club Road near Trent Shores, police deployed stop sticks � devices used to flatten a car�s tires. Although they flattened both her front tires, Burghess kept driving.
The pursuit quickly drew law enforcement assistance from several departments. Burghess led them through the Canterbury Hill area, then through Fox Hollow. After this she entered the city of New Bern, driving down Allen Drive to the end of a cul de sac.
Officers pursued her to the end of the drive when, as they approached her car, �it appeared she turned her vehicle around in the yard to intentionally aim her vehicle at the officers on the scene,� Lee said.
As she drove toward the one of the officers responded by firing four shots from his pistol. All four shots struck the car, but none hit the driver.
As she was driving, Lee said, officers �actually saw her making some movement in the car. She turned on the dome lights in the vehicle as if she was looking for something on a number of occasions.� Officers also observed her �possibly smoking some kind of substance,� which Lee described as a crack pipe.
By now driving on her rims, she led police back into Trent Woods, driving through the Fox Hollow area along Steeple Chase Drive and Highland Avenue.
She turned onto Madison Avenue, at the end of which she entered a cul de sac, again attempting to drive at the officers when they tried to apprehend her, Lee said.
The yard she was in was muddy and she went into a ditch that had some water and a lot of mud, Lee said.
She was led on foot back to Madison Avenue where she was briefly treated by EMTs before being loaded into a CarolinaEast ambulance and treated for minor injuries at the hospital.
She was released into police custody and taken to a magistrate, who initially charged her with assault with a deadly weapon before placing her in the county jail.
�At this point we�re not sure why she was in Trent Woods,� Lee said. �This woman has a criminal history,� he added, noting a history of fleeing from police, drug use, and a number of prior charges and traffic offenses.


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Guti Says Neymar 'Deserves Oscar' for Diving, Criticises Dani Alves, Jordi AlbaFebruary 26, 2016
Former Real Madrid star Guti has claimed Barcelona maestro Neymar "deserves [an] Oscar" after witnessing what he felt to be over-the-top dramatics from the Brazilian in Tuesday's UEFA Champions League win over Arsenal.
Neymar has fallen under criticism for diving in the past, and Guti didn't hold back when giving his take on the Barca star's theatrics when speaking at a promotional event in Madrid this week:
Neymar wasn't the only simulation suspect in the ex-midfielder's sights, however, and Guti also threw full-backs Dani Alves and Jordi Alba into the list, per Goal.com's Jon Fisher: "Neymar, Jordi Alba and Dani Alves exaggerate more than necessary when they need to. "
Guti may be considered something of a biased opinion on the matter considering he spent 24 years at the Santiago Bernabeu before playing the final year of his career with Turkish outfit Besiktas.
Neymar has risen to become one of European football's titular names since moving to the Camp Nou in 2013, and Guti will undoubtedly be left smarting from the success he and his club have enjoyed since then.
Barca were dazzling at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday as a Lionel Messi brace guided them to a 2-0 first-leg win in the round of 16, but Tony Evans of the London Evening Standard agreed there was deception at hand:
Standard Sport @standardsport
.@TonyEvans92a column: Barcelona dive and complain, but their ugliness runs much deeper https://t.co/U7gpDVCLhT https://t.co/g1cX0Dcwnk
Allegations of simulation are nothing new to Neymar; dribbling has been arguably the most prominent part of his game since first emerging at former club Santos, which is of little wonder considering how prolific he is in the art.
Moving at such high velocity, the slightest touch or tug can send a player at full speed tumbling, but Guti clearly feels the South American—and his two mentioned team-mates—exaggerate more than required.
The Academy Awards aren't scheduled to be announced until this Sunday, but Guti clearly feels Neymar's name may be missing from the nominees for Best Supporting Actor.


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EVH Wolfgang
A big part of what drove a lot of that was the fact that VH wanted to be more in control of his own destiny. He saw every manufacturer on the planet lift a bit of the mojo that had made him a hero and get rich off it (not to mention hearing how many rock guitarists blatantly ripped off his licks). The culmination of Eddie's quest was his partnership with Fender to launch the EVH brand of amps and guitars in 2007. GP reviewed both the 5150 III amp and the $25,000 (yikes!) Frankenstein replica in the April, 2008 issue. This year, EVH unveiled the new Wolfgang solidbody, an instrument identical to the one that Van Halen tours with. We tested it through a Soldano 44 combo, a Marshall JVM half-stack, as well as through several distortion pedals feeding a Traynor Hand-wired Vintage Reissue YGM-3.
The cosmetics of the Wolfgang are very pretty. The maple top is nicely figured but not overly extreme. The binding is perfect and the tobacco sunburst is sweet. The headstock shape provides perfectly straight string pull, which doesn't really matter, of course, because of the locking nut. The top of the headstock, which looks a little like a fish with its mouth open, elicited the greatest number of comments, mostly negative. The zebra pickups and chrome Floyd lend a cool, workman-like vibe and keep the guitar from looking gaudy.
As is my wont, I put some time in on Wolfie before plugging in. Not surprisingly, this thing plays flawlessly. The neck feels like a well-worn baseball glove—totally broken in and smooth in all the right ways. Front to back, it's what I would call medium beefy—not massive, but substantial enough to support your hand. The compound radius feels flat but not overly so. One of the boldest features of this instrument would have to be the stainless-steel frets. Difficult to work but almost impossible to wear down, these things should insure that the Wolfgang plays consistently for years, with no need for fretwork or setup beyond minor trussrod tweaks—easily accomplished with access just past the 22nd fret. The frets themselves, however, are small. EVH calls them vintage-sized, and they would seem to go against the oldschool Van Halen fret preference. I find that I have to be a little more careful when going for big bends on these frets—it's not as easy to get under the string—but once I do, I can bend into the stratosphere and it's smooth as silk. The other benefit is I can't squeeze notes or chords sharp, and that contributes to Wolfgang's amazing intonation. The only thing curious about the unplugged experience is how quiet this guitar is acoustically. Every other solidbody we have in the office is noticeably louder when not plugged in.
None of that mattered when I finally did plug in, because the Wolfgang instantly sprang to life. The bridge pickup, which is accessed by flipping the 3-way switch up, is clear, ballsy, and detailed. Harmonics jump out at you and VH-approved 17th-fret squeals are a cinch. The Bourns pot on the Volume control is super smooth and perfectly voiced. Rolling it back cleans up even viciously distorted tones for "Hot for Teacher" plunk—nice! As tough as it is for me to accept a neck pickup on a Van Halen guitar (at least a working one), this humbucker sounds gorgeous. It never gets into the wooly zone that renders some neck pickups unusable. This one is articulate and balanced.
The recipe for this instrument really does bring in some of the best attributes of Les Pauls and Strats. Think about it: two humbuckers and a maple top, but with a 25.5" scale and a bolt-on maple neck. Factor in the basswood body and it's clear that the Wolfgang has its own thing going. It's not a red, white, and black striped Frankenstein, but it's a great piece of work, designed and blessed by a living legend.


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Student By Day, Actress By Night
Amidst the whirlwind of assignments, exams and study sessions, most college students can hardly find time to take a deep breath. Juggling so many commitments at once seems impossible, and it can often result in some mental breakdowns. Before you bang your head against a wall in frustration, consider Adryella Perez, who manages to be a full-time student and working actress. Perez began her college career studying journalism, but she decided to take a "Performance for TV and Film" class for fun. While taking the class, she became close friends with working actor Aldo Quintino. Quintino saw potential in Perez and convinced her to contact his manager.
After only a few months, Perez booked her first on-screen job for CW's "90210." She recently landed an appearance in a McDonald's commercial, all while attending acting classes in the evening.
"She's very passionate about acting," said Perez's mother, Mary Elena. "...At the same time, I'm very proud of her because she's getting good grades and being responsible."
Although Perez chose to pursue a career in acting, she refuses to give up on obtaining her college degree.
"I'm not a quitter," Perez said. "A lot of actors look at me like I'm crazy when they hear that I am juggling school and acting."
With a marathon schedule like Perez's, solid time management skills are an absolute must. Through years of experience, she's learned how to focus on one thing at a time, instead of letting everything cluster into one, big, ball of chaos.
"It can be a little overwhelming, but in the end it's worth it for sure," Perez said. "I think taking those [acting] classes and also juggling school is manageable, but there are some times where I definitely need to sit down and tell myself, 'Relax, it'll be fine.'"
One of the trickiest parts of managing a full schedule is drawing the line between work and play. While many students say goodbye to their social lives at the start of each semester, Perez still finds time for some fun even when things start to get crazy.
"She always gets her work done and completed before she practices [her lines]," said Ensley Allmon, one of her three roommates. "She makes sure her free time is during the weekend, so she's really focused during the week. She doesn't really procrastinate so it never becomes a problem."
Giving yourself a break every once in a while can cut down on stress levels significantly. But as Perez would testify, it's important not to lose track of your priorities.
"Whether you want to become a doctor or a nurse, there's always some sort of sacrifice coming into play to follow your dreams," said Perez.
Even though Perez has an uncanny ability to manage her time, her level-headedness is due to her support system. Her parents have encouraged her to follow her dreams.
"I have always supported my daughter on what she wants to do with her life," her father, Jose Luis, said. "It is very important for her to follow her passion and her talent."
Perez's roommates are also very supportive of her and sometimes help her prepare for auditions.
"She'll ask me my opinion on how she's reading the lines or how her character comes across," roommate, Paige Kancor said. "Usually, I'll be holding the paper with the lines on it and do the actor's roles while she does hers. We'll do it a few times so she can practice."
While Perez builds her resume as an actress and works toward her degree, she continues to take on whatever comes her way. With a few helping hands and a healthy mind, Perez is well on her way to achieving her goals of becoming an actress and a college graduate.
"I have no control of the future, and I've learned to embrace that," Perez said. "All I can do is continue to work hard, and I know that one day it will all pay off."


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The maximum fines which Dutch food safety inspectors can levy on companies caught meddling with food has been increased from €4,500 to €810,000 following a vote in parliament on Tuesday evening.
'It was absurd that you could be fined €800,000 for sending spam email messages and not for deliberately adding rubbish to food,' Labour MP Sjoera Dikkers, who sponsored the motion, is quoted by broadcaster Nos as saying after the vote.
For example, fish processing company Foppen, at the centre of a major salmonella scare last year, was given four fines of just €1,050.
Ministers wanted to raise the maximum fines to €81,000 but Dikkers said that was not enough to force companies to keep to health and hygiene rules.
The consumers' association welcomed the change in the law. 'Consumers have had to deal with food scandals time after time,' a spokesman said. 'This has made the need for higher fines painfully obvious.'
Dikkers is also campaigning to have all fines administered by food safety inspectors made public.
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