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If you have a report, op/ed, news article or letter to the editor explaining the real pitfalls of IRV, you might send it to the Long Beach City Council. You might also recommend that the city do a fiscal analysis and study implementation in other towns/cities in the US. The email addresses are lower down the page. Here is the report on the meeting:
Instant Runoff Voting Headed For Oct. 6 Study Session...But Only After CouncilCity Council Member names and email addresses:
Majority Opposition Nearly Stops It Outright
(Sept. 23, 2009) -- Significant Council opposition surfaced on a proposal to implement "instant runoff voting" in Long Beach (in which voters vote for their first and second choices, effectively deciding an election without a runoff). The proposal, agendized by Councilmembers S. Lowenthal, DeLong and Garcia and Lerch, is now scheduled for an Oct. 6 Study Session, originally directed in October 08 but never held. Scheduling the Oct. 6 study session scheduling came only after Council opposition indicated the measure may lack a majority to advance it to the Council's Charter Amendment Committee; the measure requires citywide voter approval to implement.
A number of podium speakers indicated they support instant runoff voting; they were advised to hold their substantive comments until the Oct. 6 study session.
Councilmembers Patrick O'Donnell and Tonia Reyes Uranga indicated they don't support the proposal.
Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal first tried to send issue simultaneously to a Study Session and to the Charter Amendment Committee (to avoid having to hold a future Council vote on referring the item to the Charter Amendment committee)...but the Council ultimately voted only to schedule the item for a Study Session
The item appeared to be over...until Councilwoman Reyes Uranga moved to reconsider its referral to a study session; her reconsideration motion carried 5-4. Councilwoman Reyes Uranga then made a motion to receive and file the Instant Runoff Voting item...which would effectively end discussion on the item.
Councilmembers Lowenthal and Delong argued against this, citing asserted cost savings and greater public participation; Councilman Garcia said he favors receiving more information.
City Attorney Bob Shannon indicated that since the public was told to withhold its comments on the merits until an Oct. 6 study session, he recommended continuing the item to another date at which time the public could be heard on whether to receive and file it.
On questioning by Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, City Clerk Larry Herrera said the Council voted in Oct. 08 to approve a consent calendar item to hold a study session on Instant Runoff Voting...and acknowledged it was never scheduled.
Schipske asked whether it's coincidental that the item hadn't come up for over a year; Herrera said such election items typically arise in advance of election cycles and when the issue came up in his recent budget study session, he sensed Council consensus on holding a study session now.
Councilwoman Reyes Uranga said there was no consensus because there was no Council voted action. She asked rhetorically, "What was the whole facade...of going through [a new request for a study session on instant runoff voting] when it was already [set] for a study session [from an October 2008 Council voted action]?"..and then withdrew her motion to reconsider, effectively letting the Oct 2008 Council referral to a Study Session proceed.
"If we're going to have a study session regardless of what the Council [majority now] wants, then let's go ahead and hold it" she said.
The Council then voted to receive and file the evening's agendized item for a Study Session item...and let Council's Oct. 2008 referral to a Study Session proceed on Oct. 6, 2009; a Council majority will subsequently have to vote to refer the item to the Charter Amendment Committee if it is to advance. (Motion carried 7-2, Garcia and Lowenthal dissenting).
Earlier in the meeting, City Clerk Larry Herrera indicated that the final date on which the Council could place items on the April 2010 citywide election ballot is in mid-January 2010.
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Long Beach (Sept 2009)
Vice Mayor/1st Dist. Bonnie Lowenthal email@example.com
2d Dist. Suja Lowenthal email@example.com
3d Dist Gary DeLong firstname.lastname@example.com
4th Dist. Patrick O'Donnell email@example.com
5th Dist. Gerrie Schipske firstname.lastname@example.com
6th Dist. Dee Andrews email@example.com
7th Dist. Tonia Reyes-Uranga email@example.com
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The Battle Of The Bands
The Albuqurque Battle Of The Bands was promoted by Gorilla Music, hosted by the infamous Launchpad, and featured many promising musicians with the potential to go far in the industry. Gorilla, although a sleazy behemoth of a company, gives something back to the artists of whom it takes advantage. The contest featured no cash award, but instead boasted the "Opportunity" to do further collaborations with Gorilla. Despite this disappointing, self-proclaimed prize, … read...Read More »

subset: commoncrawl


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- Augmented Reality and Aurasma: Audrey Homan and Susan Hennessey -30 minutes
- Your app or workflow recommendations: Group -30 minutes
- Next Gathering? October 18th at 9 a.m.? Agenda-
- Technical nitty gritty for creating Auras with Aurasma. How can Augmented Reality and Aurasma be utilized in your classroom? More apps and workflows from the group.
Augmented Reality and Aurasma- A few notes
- http://tinyurl.com/tiie-aurasma – Lots of great information and tutorials posted by Audrey here.
- What does Augment mean? Augmented Reality allows you to layer content over static images to provide more context.
- Students and schools are using AR . Its predecessor was QR codes or other barcodes that could be linked to more information. Now AR allows for deeper construction of knowledge about a subject by creating augmented content to add to an image.
- Great examples from schools linked from the TIIE site above.
- How could you see this working in your context?- Graduate Research Poster sessions, differentiated instruction for unpacking texts, adding video to two dimensional documents posted in public spaces are some examples
The group worked through some account creation challenges to try some of the examples that Audrey and Susan created.
Apps and Workflows
- Check the Fleming museum offerings for more interactive collections.
- iClick app– Official supported UVM app for polling, used with iClickers.
- Socrative for Students– Another polling app frequently used by students in schools to participate in quizzes, formative assessment, and comprehension. I wonder if students create these assessments too? I wonder if Teachers take them too?
- Socrative for Teachers-Another polling app frequently used by teachers to create quizzes, formative assessment, and comprehension. A helpful video from Richard Byrne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80psYr6T240
- PollEverywhere– A web app for polling that is also used in schools.
- Thinglink– An app to add content to still images (text, video, audio, and more) where the product can be emailed or posted online. A helpful video from Thinklink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsFeZcVrZtw
- Touchcast– A dynamic app that allows for adding touch interactive Twitter feeds, webpages, and many other "Vapps" to augment a video recording. A helpful primer from Touchcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyLK8N4ovdg
- iTransfer– An app with a Secure File Transfer Protocol feature that allows for uploading and downloading files from an iPad to someone's Zoo server space (each faculty, staff and student has server space to store important files while at UVM). Tutorial is on its way.


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We may be big fans of Barbie around here, but it seems like a few West Virginia lawmakers disagree. They're proposing a ban on all sales of the doll, because they think she places too much emphasis on physical beauty. Find out more, after the jump.
West Virginia makes a move to outlaw Barbie (MSNBC)
Let's just hope Karl Lagerfeld's new Ken doll is safe! (Fashionista)
The crying model mystery, finally solved (Heard on the Runway)
Get your first look at Tracy Feith for Target (Bust Magazine)
Guess who's taking style cues from Sarah Jessica Parker, circa 1982? (Off The Rack)


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Vacancy expired!
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A new hobby
Last May I went to the Copenhagen beer festival with friends. We had a great time at the festival and at Fermentoren, and I managed to stay in touch with some lovely people that we met from a Norwegian brewery called Nøgne Ø. The webshop manager told me that they actually sold beer kits. Brewing was something I'd vaguely considered trying for years, but I'd never really understood what exactly was involved, despite having spoken to a few homebrewers. That all changed when I got the complete starter kit from Nøgne Ø and brewed my first all-grain batch of beer.
When I ordered the kit, I did not really know what was in it, nor did I understand that most beginners start with malt extract rather than from grain, but the instructions were actually quite simple and written for a total neophyte (albeit in Norwegian, which I worked out using a combination of an English copy of a recipe for one of their other beers, and Google translate). The complete starter kit includes a 1 imperial gallon (4.5L) glass carboy with rubber bung and airlock, siphon, thermometer, hydrometer and trial tube, and percarbonate-based disinfectant. It also includes a 4L beer kit, with the all-grain grist, bittering and aroma hop pellet packets, and a packet of dried Safale S-04 yeast. The great people at the brewery also sent me a few polo shirts, a bottle opener, and some Ø shaped stickers.
Things I had to acquire were a few pots (7.5L and 11L for the mash, boil, and sparge, and a 19L one to disinfect things in). I also got a funnel which can help with taking gravity readings using the hydrometer, an auto-siphon which obviates suction (and potential infection) and is required to move wort/beer, a 1L Pyrex cup for measuring, and StarSan which sanitizes more quickly than the PCB cleaner.
At the time I didn't understand all the terminology, but I basically mashed in for 45 minutes at 65 C, then mashed out at 72 degrees for another 15. I then sparged put the mash into a big colander over another pot according to the instructions, so no mash tun or lauter tun was needed (not that I knew what these were at the time). I ran the wort through a few times until it ran clear. I then sparged with another 4L of 77 degree water.
The boil went smoothly. The "hot break" was unspectacular, and unlike a few later attempts I came nowhere near a boil over. I added the hop pellets at the specified times, and at the end of the boil cooled using a lot of ice in the sink. The hops smelled much stronger than I was expecting!
I did make some mistakes on brewday. First, I broke my hydrometer before I could take any gravity readings. They are made of thin glass and very fragile and while sanitizing it with other equipment I snapped it in the pot of disinfectant. This meant I couldn't take an original gravity reading, which would have allowed me to correct for the far too high gravity that I ended up with. The result was that I wound up with much less wort than I should have—I'm guessing at pre-boil I had somewhere around 4L instead of 5L, and I'm guessing that just over 3L went into the fermenter. I did not understand enough to know that I could add boiled-then-cooled water at the point of putting it into the fermenter, so I just accepted the lower volume.
While cooling the wort, I also managed to stir up some of the sediment at the bottom, and rather than siphoning to the fermenter I actually just poured it through a funnel. Apparently sediment (spent hops, cold break, hot break) can contribute off-flavours or affect clarity, but in a beer this strong and this dark I doubt it matters much. But in the future I will be siphoning and maybe using finings for lighter beers. I got a bit confused because once the wort is cool and off the sediment, you do want to agitate it in order to aerate it before pitching the yeast.
My third mistake actually complemented first mistake, in that I probably overpitched yeast. The instructions called for 1/4 of the packet of dried yeast. First, I made a yeast starter at the start of the day. I used sugar rather than wort, since being used to baking yeast I didn't understand that beer yeast prefers/needs maltose. I also absent-mindedly used the whole packet of yeast. The starter rose very quickly in my warm kitchen, so I might have been overpitching by quite a bit. Luckily, when fermenting very dark, very high gravity beer (which I had accidentally brewed), you want to have a lot of very active yeast. Within a few hours the bubbles had started and fermentation was underway, so in a way my two mistakes cancelled each other out.
This stayed in the carboy for one week. It did blow the top off the airlock at one point but the airlock never blocked, thankfully. I now understand that the beer can sit on the yeast for quite a while (even up to three or four weeks) without ill effects, and some people say that this should be done for strong, dark beer. However the instructions said that fermentation would be done in 3-7 days, as you want the yeast to still be active for the carbonation step. Rather than recommending multiple gravity readings, the instructions just said it was probably done when the airlock bubbles were more than fifty seconds apart. By the sixth day it was about a minute between bubbles, and by the seventh it was quite calm, so I bottled that afternoon.
Bottling went reasonably smoothly. I racked into a secondary (really just a pot) into which I'd put about 18g of unrefined cane sugar syrup that I had boiled then cooled. Bottling with the autosiphon and no racking cane meant a few drips but I just about filled six 500 mL bottles. I now know this amount of sugar means about 2.2 volumes of CO2 of carbonation which is on the low side for this style, but I was (probably unecessarily) a bit scared of the dreaded "bottle bombs" so I kept it a bit low.
The alcohol percentage (ABV) is harder to judge, as I don't know what the original gravity was. The beer was supposed to be about 7%, but my volume was about a litre short at the end. My final gravity was 1.026. Using BeerSmith, my original gravity was likely between 1.098 (assuming I got roughly the estimated mash efficiency of 76.5%) and 1.115 (assuming I got the estimated brewhouse efficiency of 72%). This puts my alcohol between 9.9% and 11.9%. When I tasted it I guessed it at around 10.5% but a friend thought it was higher. In any case I have succeeded in making an incredibly strong beer, and I'm very proud to have done so. I tasted the beer around a week after bottling, and this was definitely not long enough as it tasted unfinished. I expect some carbonation may still be occurring, and from what I've read a beer this big could well improve for several months.
I learned a lot in my first brewing endeavour. I've now got a Scottish 60 Shilling Ale that's just finishing up its primary fermentation. In this beer I used an extract kit with speciality grains to determine how much easier this was. It certainly did eliminate some steps, but I think going forward I'd like the freedom and flexibility of brewing with all grain. In one-gallon batches, it's really not too much work, and London water seems up to the task at least of brewing porter from all grains.


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The Ohio State University
Creating the Extraordinary Student Experience
Time: Wednesday, January 16, 2019 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Location: Multicultural Center Alonso Family Room
The Student Life Multicultural Center is dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness about those who identify as multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural, multifaith or mixed heritage. We will be hosting dialogues dedicated to building community for students who identify as having mixed heritage. Please join us on these days to connect with other students, share your stories, and learn more about how to be involved.
These dialogues will take place on the third Wednesday of every month from 6 - 7:30 pm.
This event also counts for 1 DICE Credit toward your DICE Certificate. More information about DICE and how to earn credits can be found here: go.osu.edu/dice.
Melissa Beard Jacob
Add to your calendar
© 2020 The Ohio State University – Multicultural Center
Ohio Union, Suite 1000, 1739 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43210
Phone: 614-688-8449 | Fax: 614-292-4462 | email@example.com
If you have trouble accessing this page, request an alternate format.


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Elite Skills Day Academy II
Event Description
Elite Skills Day Academy
This elite training experience caters to specific skills and will feature very low camper-to-coach ratio. Our elite positional camp is geared towards serious and advanced volleyball players. Camp enrollment is limited and we place great emphasis on preparing high level 9th-12th graders to play at the elite level. Training sessions are developed by Maryland Women's Volleyball coaching staff and include the use of current Maryland players, other highly skilled college coaches, and successful club program coaches. Specific positional training sessions will enhance and develop technical skills and tactical awareness for highly competitive players.
Frequently Asked Questions
What To Bring
Required Release Forms
- Self-Medication Form if you will be taking medication during camp.
- Snacks
- Water Bottle (We will have water and gatorade on-site for you).
- Athletic gear, t-shirt, shorts, spandex, extra shirt, tennis shoes, kneepads, and a good attitude!
- Money For Camp Store (Cash Only)
Location & Parking
Parking for all Maryland Volleyball DAY Camps and Clinics is available by following the Visitor Paid Parking Signs upon entering campus. For simple drop offs/pick ups, paid parking may not be necessary. The nearest Visitor Paid Parking for the Xfinity Center is located in Lot 9b closest to the Lacrosse/Field Hockey facility. Further instructions will be given at check in.
Arriving To UMD By Metro
Take the Green Line train (toward Greenbelt); get off at the College Park/U of MD station. The university's Shuttle-UM buses (#104) pick up university-bound passengers on the EAST side of the station. Buses are clearly marked UMD buses, #104. Get off the Shuttle-UM at the "M circle" (or second) stop. The Comcast Center is a 5-10 minute walk to your left of the M circle on Regents Drive. Continue on Regents Drive until you hit the Comcast Center. Enter in the doors to the bottom right of the main staircase (do not go up the main staircase) and the Volleyball Pavillion will be at the end of the hall on the right.
Maryland Volleyball Camps & Clinics are open to any and all entrants (limited only by number, age, grade level and/or gender).


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Donilon praises Iran deal as 'a very solid achievement'
Former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon on Sunday called the Iran nuclear deal "a very solid achievement" for the Obama administration."
"It's going to have to be rolled back, the Iranian program...for there to be a comprehensive deal at the end of the six-month negotiation," Donilon said on ABC's "This Week." "But the interim steps are quite significant. And I think positive in this way, they freeze the program in place."
The deal, he said, is a "very good foundation as a backdrop against which to have comprehensive negotiations."
(Sunday Shows in 90 seconds: Iran, NSA, Obamacare)
"I think it's a very solid achievement by Secretary [of State John] Kerry and President Obama and the administration," Donilon said. "And, again, I think a very solid basis on which to go forward."
Host George Stephanopoulos also asked Donilon to address President Barack Obama's standing with other world leaders in the wake of the deal.
"You know, one of the things we've seen though is that it has created a lot of upset, not only in Israel, but also among some other allies in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia," Stephanopoulos said. "And it feeds into a general perception among some of our adversaries, like Vladimir Putin, like the Saudis, that the president has been vacillating and weak. How do you respond to that?"
"I don't see how in this case you can call the president vacillating and weak," Donilon replied. "I mean, how did we get here with respect to Iran? We got here through a U.S.-led, very tough isolation and pressure campaign."
"There is a direct line here between the sanctions, [Hassan] Rouhani's election, and their coming to the table," he said. "Why? Because we put tremendous pressure on the Iranian economy. We've also isolated the Iranians politically. And we've had a fairly major defense build-up in the region to indicate to the Iranians that all options are on the table."
This is a result of the "U.S. pressure campaign to bring the Iranians to the table," he said. And "the test now is whether or not the Iranians can do the things they need to do to assure the United States and international community they don't have a dangerous program."


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The Royal Rumble is coming up on January 25th and the winner will get a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXXI. But while this is a regular event that everyone is used to by now, it all had to start somewhere. In honor of the very first Royal Rumble winner in 1988, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, you can win a free t-shirt bearing his likeness and show everyone how much of a tough guy you are.
|Hacksaw Jim Duggan America! Adult White T-Shirt
Participants can earn the equivalent of one raffle ticket for each of the following tasks they complete.
There are no limits on how many points you can earn:
1) Share the Facebook contest image post
Post by Smark Out Moment.
2) Retweet the Twitter contest post
Retweet this and follow for a chance to win a free WWE t-shirt as part of the #RoyalRumbleRewards contest! http://t.co/1WbC31pkqN
— Smark Out Moment (@SmarkOutMoment) January 9, 2015
3) Share this link throughout the Internet Wrestling Community (post a comment below linking to the forum, message board, subreddit, or website's page that you shared it)
You must be following at least one of the following accounts — but you earn multiple chances to win by following each one of them.
Like Smark Out Moment Facebook page
Follow Smark Out Moment on Twitter
Subscribe to Smark Out Moment on YouTube
The more points you earn, the more chances you have to win! The winner will be chosen in a random draw and contacted through their social media account next week.
DISCLAIMER: The prize(s) that may be awarded to the eligible winner are not transferable, redeemable for cash or exchangeable for any other prize. If the winner has not redeemed his or her prize in 7 days, a new winner will be chosen. No points will be awarded to contestants who unsubscribe and resubscribe to an account. Only one point is awarded per account subscription. No members of the Smark Out Moment team are eligible to win.
Thank you for supporting Smark Out Moment and TV Store Online!


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Do you have a website that is built on WordPress? If yes, then you must get enrolled in our monthly WordPress Technical Maintenance Plan. The reason why we recommend a monthly plan for WordPress is the higher rate of WordPress websites that almost gets hacked everyday.
If you have an existing WordPress website or your website is already compromised by malicious hack, then do not wait and contact us immediately. Our email services are open 24×7. We are here to help you resolve the issues you have with your website.
Why WordPress Has Higher Security Risk?
Where WordPress is the most popular CMS to build and manage website, it is backed by open source community of web experts. Even though Google treats WordPress as a blog, which is the main reason for higher Google ranking, WordPress is prone to security risks. Unfortunately the sheer volume of sites and extensive documentation available also assist hackers to learn enough about the system to identify the weaknesses of a WordPress site and capitalize on those weaknesses. One such example is called Brute Force. This attack can compromise any WordPress website and the hacker can insert malicious scripts that makes it more vulnerable.
Once a malicious script gets inserted into a WordPress CMS, it can automatically duplicate itself and can create redirect links, spam content, or can even get completely hacked showing pages from another website. Even after removing such virus, malicious scripts from the website, the website is never as the hacking can reoccur because it is very hard to investigate the parts of database that were hacked earlier. Thus, a monthly technical plan assures 100% safety, where we run daily antivirus scans and keeps updating various plugins, widgets and WordPress versions. In case of hack attempts, we can reinstall your website from our local backup within 24 hours. Check our Technical WordPress Maintenance Plans here.
Below is an interview with Internet Marketing Guru Vivek Raj Shivhare on hacking. Hope you like it.


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Aug. 3, 2012
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – While all but the most fervent track & field fans were still in bed Friday morning, a pair of former Florida State stars were stepping into the Olympic spotlight on the opening day of athletics competition at London's Olympic Stadium.
It was 5 a.m. ET when Seminoles Dorian Scott and Kimberly Williams, each representing their native Jamaica, began competition in the shot put and triple jump, respectively. They were the first of 12 athletes with Seminole ties – a number that shares the lead among US colleges – to get things started.
And they didn't disappoint.
A year ago Kimberly Williams was wrapping up her Seminole career as the most decorated women's athlete in FSU track & field history. The first-time Olympian didn't waste any time finding her comfort zone on the runaway.
Williams needed just one attempt to establish a new lifetime best – 14.53m (47-8) – and earn a spot in Sunday's final. That one attempt also the second-best mark from the field of 35 triple jumpers, bested only by Kazikstan's Olga Rypakova (14.79m/48-6.25).
"It was a great start for Kim," said FSU assistant coach Dennis Nobles, who is also Williams' personal coach. "Qualifying rounds are always nerve-wracking for everyone, more so in your first Olympic Games. But Kim is a fierce competitor and she handled it like a seasoned pro.
"Ideally, you want to take one jump and achieve the automatic qualifying mark and she did that to perfection. I don't know that the qualifying round establishes her as a medal favorite – the marks don't carry over – but it definitely serves notice that she can contend for a medal."
Scott, making his second Olympic appearance, earned his first trip to the finals later Friday night with a morning qualification round throw of 20.31m (66-7.75). It was a big step forward for the 2005 FSU graduate, who spent this past year as a first-year throws coach at San Diego State.
"Dorian was really on his game," FSU head coach Bob Braman said. "To make an Olympic Final at nearly his best is a fantastic accomplishment."
Entering the finals seeded 11th out of 12 throwers, Scott got off his meet-best toss of 20.61m (67-7.50) on his second attempt, but came up just .08 out of eighth place, to earn three more throws in the finals. He finished 10th overall.
Unfortunately for the Seminoles, Ciaran O'Lionaird was unable to join those advancing past the opening round. The Irish 1500-meter runner, whose training has been limited by an Achilles injury suffered during the indoor track season, finished 13th in the third of three heats.
"Ciaran got bumped badly with 500 meters to go and never recovered," Braman said. "Still, it's been a great comeback for him from Achilles injury."
O'Lionaird earned his first Olympic berth by reaching the finals of the 2011 World Championship in the 1500 with a brilliant A-standard time of 3:34.46. He was well off that standard Friday afternoon, finishing in 3:48.35.
There will be plenty of Seminoles in action on the track Saturday as well, with USA pole vaulter Lacy Janson leading things off at 5:20 a.m. (ET). Janson, a 2006 FSU graduate in her first Olympic Games, will be competing in Group B and hunting a spot in Monday's finals. The top 12 vaulters – or anyone who clears 4.60m (15-1) – will move on from the qualifying rounds totaling 39 athletes.
Janson who has cleared a season-best 4.65m (15-3) this season.
Belgium twins Jonathan and Kevin Borlee will go to work in the 400-meter qualifying heats at 10:35 a.m.. Jonathan, who boasts a season-best time of 44.74, has drawn lane six of the third heat. Kevin, who was third at the 2011 World Championships and has a season-best time of 44.56, drew lane two in the seventh and final qualifying heat.
The top three runners in each heat and the next three fastest times overall will advance.
Great Britain's Barbara Parker will make her second Olympic appearance – this time in front of the home crowd – while competing in the qualifying round of the 3000-meter steeplechase. Parker, whose all-time best of 9:24.24 earlier this summer ranks 16th out of 44 runners in the field, is heavily favored to move on. She can do that by finishing fourth or better in her heat, which is scheduled to go off at 11:35 a.m.
Kemar Hyman, the 2012 ACC 100-meter champion and an All-American, earned a pass through the morning preliminary round but will compete in the second round of the 100, set for 12:30 p.m. Hyman, whose 9.95 time earlier this summer ranks among the top 10 in the world, is a heavy favorite to move on to the semifinal round.
All of the events can be accessed via live video at www.nbcolympics.com at the time they are scheduled.


text: Ainol Novo 7 Tornados is one of the latest innovations of Ainol Technology. Adopting 7 inch HD LCD 800*480 resolution screen and Android 4.0.3 OS, 2nd generation ARM Cortex-A9 1.0GHz Core, Mali-400 3D processing GPU and 1GB DDR3 RAM&1GB ROM, Ainol Novo 7 Tornados is a great android tablet. Exclusive Flash & HTML5 Decoding, 1080P Full HD Video Supporting Ainol Novo 7 Tornados has built-in flash adobe 10.2 version specific for Amloigc which supports online 1080P Full HD video flash decoding. HTML5 online video supporting is another plus, this enables the user to watch online video freely. All video formats can be decoded. Multi channel & point capacitive touch screen and ALPS key make precise click and touch effect on Ainol Novo 7 Tornados. HD LCD screen with 800*480 is just right for 3D games and HD videos. Internet surfing is one of the main function for android tablet users. Ainol Novo 7 Tornados provides three Internet connection options: high speed Wi-Fi, 3G and Ethernet. Uses realtek8188 chip which supports 802.11b/g/n, the transaction speed is as fast as 150M. G-sensor is also pretty sensitive.


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St George's Hall
St George's Hall, designed by Cyril Farey (1888-1954), was completed in 1929. An accomplished architect (in 1924 with Graham Dawbarn he won a British Empire-wide competition for Raffles College, Singapore) Farey was a pre-eminent architectural draughtsman, engaged by the likes of Edwin Lutyens and Frank Lloyd Wright to provide technical illustrations of their designs. Farey's watercolour of the proposed St George's Hall, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1927, was reproduced in black and white in The Builder. He subsequently amended the design, reducing the size of the structure, when the lowest builder's tender was significantly over budget.
Cyril Farey's hall for St George's was designed in an eclectic style incorporating Arts & Crafts, neo-Georgian, Art Deco and Art Moderne features. The building includes a small hall, classrooms, an office, kitchen and lavatories on the ground floor, with a large hall/auditorium with stage and two-storey flat, above.
As well as St George's own activities the hall accommodates Acorn Montessori Nursery, Harrow Theatre Dance and Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church.
To see a video of the building and dedication of St George's Hall click here.


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Your life in food
We've been making good food for more than 150 years. Since we started the world has changed and the food we eat has too. Select your birth year to find out more about your life in food, or just take a tour through history. Don't forget to share your favorite facts and figures with your friends!


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Equity has been a huge buzzword in the field of education this year. Education advocates and politicians alike have called for an increase in educational equity, but what does the term really mean? Equity is not Equality. Equity creates equality by prioritizing resources to students who need them the most.
For example, think of a typical track meet. There are five runners— each in their own lane. Each runner must run one lap around the track. The first runner to complete the lap, wins the race. Now let's use this analogy to inform our understanding of equity.
Equality would mean that every runner would start the race at the exact same spot in their lane. However, the track is oval-shaped. If each runner began at the same spot, each runner's distance to the finish line would be different. The runner in the innermost lane would run a shorter distance than the runner in the outermost lane. Sure, they would both start in the same spot (EQUAL), but the runners in the innermost lanes would have an advantage— in distance— than their counterparts in the outermost lanes.
This is precisely why track meets do not operate this way. Since the track is oval-shaped, each runner begins the race in their own lane, at different, equal distance, spots along the track; ensuring that each runner, runs the exact same distance needed to complete the race.
Now, think of our current public education system in this same context. Students— regardless of race, geography, household makeup— start on the same marker on the track. Some students, like the runner in the outermost lane, have to run harder and faster to get to the finish line. The barrier here is distance. In the real world, barriers include low-income, resource deprived neighborhoods, disabilities that require additional expertise, culturally negligent curriculum, outdated technology, inexperienced teachers or access to critical supportive services.
Meanwhile, the runner in the innermost lane has it a lot easier. They don't have to run as fast or as hard to get to the finish line because of their initial position in the race. The barriers here are fewer in number. In terms of education, these innermost runners attend schools in affluent neighborhoods with a surplus of resources. These students have the advantage of local tax-based funding formulas, parent lead fundraising efforts and/or private funding, and state-of-the-art technology.
What we need is education reform that promotes fairness. Fairness equals equity. As Debby Irving in her book Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race states, "Equality means giving all students the exact same thing to meet the same expectations.
"Equity means holding people of differing needs to a single expectation and giving them what they need to achieve it." In other words, the playing fields need to be leveled. It's critical that our public educational system undertakes reform— changes so that each student is given what they need to succeed.
Our education system should support students by allocating the most resources to students who are most in need, just as track athletes arrange themselves for fairer competition. The national education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) targets dollars to the highest poverty schools and districts.


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When we are living our day to day life, it is normal for us to go through certain discomfort and pains that will often make life much harder than it is. Most of the time, you might not be aware of the certain causes of pain in certain parts of your body. If you are going through a pain in the body, the first thing that you have to do is seek for the professional care of chiropractic. Here are some of the reasons why you should hire a professional in the of the field of chiropractic:
To Identify Biomechanical Actions the Body Associated with Pain
When you are going through some certain pains, it is important that you look into the deep of it. When you look into the pain causer, you will be able to bring about better functioning of the body. When you gain the help of a chiropractor, all the issues in your body that lead to the cause of the pains will be identified and treated. That is not all, all kinds of dysfunctions and misalignments will be treated right.
To Treat Your Whole Body for Wellness
Even though professionals in the field of chiropractic are known for treating issues in the spine, these professionals are best in treating the whole body. If you are going through backpains and if you want to dig deep into the cause and make your body much healthier as a whole, the best thing that you get yourself a back pain treatment.
To Better the Performance of your Body
When you are going through certain issues in your body, it will lower the performance of the body. You have to assure that you look into maintain the performance of your body at optimum levels because if not, it would affect your whole lifestyle. When you gain the help of a professional, you have the chance to treat the slight imbalances in your body that will cause the pains, lead to injuries and discomforts.
To Prevent Injuries and To Provide your Body with Essential Care
The more you care for your body, the healthier that you will be. If you feel that your body is weakening, to boost up your wellness and if you feel the performance of your body lowering, gaining the needed professional help is of much importance. When you get treated by a professional it will lower the chances of any sickness or injury and will bring about a much better lifestyle.


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Adoption Advocate No. 115Posted Jan 01, 2018
NCFA's Legislative and Policy Priorities for 2018
By: Erin Bayles, Ryan Hanlon, and Chuck Johnson
As our name indicates, National Council For Adoption (NCFA) is an organization for and about the advocacy of adoption. NCFA is narrowly focused on the issues of advocacy, policy, and practice across all adoption types, including domestic, foster care, and intercountry adoption as viable solutions for children who need stable permanency that will only be achieved through the legal and time-tested option of adoption. Passionately committed to the belief that every child deserves to thrive in a nurturing, permanent family, NCFA's mission is to meet the diverse needs of children, birth parents, adopted individuals, adoptive families, and all those touched by adoption through global advocacy, education, research, legislative action, and collaboration.
Within that list of actions, NCFA is very often associated with our legislative work on Capitol Hill in support of adoption-related legislation—a record and reputation for which we are quite proud. As much as NCFA may be rightly associated with legislative action, we also devote significant time and resources to other types of adoption-specific advocacy across all three types of adoption, promotion of best practices in adoption, educational and public awareness programs/campaigns, and oversight of our ongoing and acclaimed research projects.
We have been fortunate in our legislative advocacy at the federal level in that adoption is viewed as one of the least partisan issues on Capitol Hill. With the exception of a very small handful of adoption-related policies, adoption is not seen as a "liberal" or "conservative" issue, evidenced by the fact that the Congressional Coalition on Adoption is the largest bicameral, bipartisan caucus in Congress.1 And it is in that spirit that NCFA has pledged to take no position or engage in any activity that would appear to politicize or polarize the strong bi-partisan support of adoption in Congress. Lastly, and in keeping with our mission statement, we would be remiss in not mentioning that NCFA works very closely and collaboratively with a diverse network of adoption professionals, child welfare organizations, groups, and individuals in which we have found common ground on one or more specific legislative issues—and these partnerships have contributed to our collective successes. A good example of effective group advocacy is with the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group—more than 150 organizations committed to preserving and improving the adoption tax credit, and for which NCFA serves on the executive committee.2
Annually, NCFA staff, Board, and consultants assess the most critical needs in adoption to develop a strategic plan for addressing existing legislation that NCFA will support as well as the potential for new legislation for which we will advance or stake out a public position. This legislative strategy helps us better know how to allocate resources, effectively direct our advocacy efforts, identify areas for collaboration with others, and discipline ourselves to remain on mission. Avoiding "mission-drift" requires our internal discipline, as all of us at NCFA identify as advocates for children and, as an example of the potential of drifting, nowhere is significant reform more required than in our nation's broken foster care system. However, with adoption as our only focus, NCFA must restrict our advocacy efforts to the nearly 118,0003 children in foster care awaiting adoption and not to the larger issue of foster care reform that many of us personally would like to see.
For 2018, NCFA has identified five legislative goals for which we will advocate. In this article, we will articulate a rationale and a justification of the need for passage of each one.
Adoption Tax Credit
By Erin Bayles
The Adoption Tax Credit (ATC) is a nonrefundable tax credit that adoptive families use to help offset some of the high costs of adoption. The current credit is $13,570 per child for couples finalizing an adoption in 20174, though the credit can be spread out over several years to reduce the families' tax liability for multiple years and help them get the most value from the credit. The tax credit can be used for adoptions from U.S. foster care, domestic infant adoptions, and intercountry adoptions.
While NCFA believes the ATC is a vital credit that has helped thousands of families afford costly adoptions, we also believe that making the adoption tax credit a refundable credit would make it work better for children and families, particularly in the area of encouraging the adoption of children currently in foster care. In tax years 2010 and 2011, the adoption tax credit was refundable, meaning that families did not have to have any tax liability to receive the full amount of the credit and could claim it in a single year rather than having to spread it out over several years. In its current nonrefundable state, not all families can utilize it in the same way, and most will never receive its full benefit. In the past four years, the tax credit has helped more than 220,000 families, providing an average annual tax credit of just under $4,500.5
Three key facts about the ATC:
- When the ATC was refundable, families with lower incomes were able to receive the full benefit of the credit, increasing the likelihood of more children being adopted from foster care. In its nonrefundable state, the ATC only goes against tax liability—which benefits middle-income families but is not as helpful to families with lower incomes who presumably would benefit most from the credit. Of the families adopting from foster care, 62 percent do not receive the full benefit of the ATC, even when spreading it out over several years. Families making between $50,000–$75,000 receive a mean credit of just over $5,000 while families making $30,000–$50,000 are receiving just $1,200.6 Refundability would assist all adoptive families, except those excluded due to high incomes, by allowing them the full amount of the credit to go toward not only their original adoption costs but also helping them better care for the ongoing needs of their child(ren).
- Many of the high costs of private and intercountry adoption come before a family even brings home their child. Homestudies, lawyer and court fees, agency fees, background checks, and fingerprinting are required for an adoption and can be pricey. Many families will take out loans, borrow money from friends and family, fundraise, or rack up credit card debt due to all these fees. Refundability helps ease the financial burden of these families immediately following the legal finalization of the adoption.
- A refundable ATC will actually save taxpayer money and help ease the strained foster care system by incentivizing some foster families to pursue finalization of the adoption. The onetime adoption credit of $13,840 pales in comparison to keeping a child in the foster care system. The average annual net savings for one child being adopted out of foster care is estimated to be $15,480 nationally.7 Not only that, but many states' foster systems are currently overrun due to the opioid crisis and do not have a sufficient number of foster or adoptive families in which to place children.8 With almost 118,000 children in the system waiting to be adopted, getting children out of the system and into a stable family would ease that burden and give children the permanency that is in their best interests.
What Others Are Saying
The adoption tax credit historically has been a popular tax policy and has enjoyed broad bipartisan support for more than two decades. The main criticism of the ATC is that, in its current form, it is not realizing its full potential and helping all the families who are adopting children. Although made a permanent part of the tax code in 2012, the ATC was scheduled for elimination in the original Tax Cuts and Jobs Act proposal introduced in the House of Representatives in November 2017. In response, thousands of families and hundreds of organizations on all sides of the political spectrum spoke out in favor of preserving the ATC. Many influential groups, such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued statements, calling the ATC "life-affirming resistance" and "vital to the pro-family movement."9
The swift actions of the proponents of the ATC and intense public backlash against elimination of this specific tax credit resulted in an amendment by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady to reinstate the ATC. The Senate soon followed with its own budget proposal, which included retention of the ATC—and the ATC was fully preserved in the final passage of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017. For now, it remains a permanent part of the tax code and families can continue to utilize it to offset adoption expenses, but the credit was not made refundable.
NCFA's Position
NCFA was very involved in the original conceptualization and passage of the ATC and counts the ATC among its signature legislative victories. NCFA was pleased to work alongside a diverse coalition of child welfare organizations to effectively advocate for preservation of the ATC during the tax reform debate—which was aided by a successful social media campaign and with the courageous support of many members of Congress. As important as this victory is, we were disappointed that we were not successful in convincing Congress to return the ATC to refundability in the discussion of comprehensive tax reform.
With the debate about the ATC hopefully settled once and for all, it is time to return our attention to highlighting the benefits of refundability. With passage of comprehensive tax reform now complete, NCFA will continue to encourage Congress to consider making the ATC refundable, and the time may come when technical corrections to the tax code become necessary. The good news is that there are already versions of the propsed legislation, the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act, in both the House of Representatives10 and in the Senate11, which would make the ATC refundable. Given the clear and convincing evidence that refundability encourages adoption and saves state and federal dollars12, NCFA will continue to work through 2018 and beyond, if necessary, with like-minded proponents to see the ATC made a refundable credit once again.
A Positive Mandate for Intercountry Adoption
By Ryan Hanlon
The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 designated the United States Department of State as the U.S. Central Authority, with oversight over the intercountry adoption process.13 Within the Department of State, the Bureau of Consular Affairs' Office of Children's Issues oversees intercountry adoption (as well as international child abduction). Since its inception, many in Congress and other pro-adoption child welfare advocates believe the U.S. Central Authority has operated without a clear, positive mandate to pro-actively promote adoption as a means of helping unparented children find families. Previous legislative attempts seeking to clarify this mandate for the U.S. Central Authority have failed to progress through the committee process, despite what many believe would be strong bipartisan support if the legislation came to the floor for a vote of the full Congress.
In 2013, hundreds of child welfare advocates, including NCFA, supported the Children in Families First (CHIFF) legislation which would have moved the Central Authority functions out of the Bureau of Consular Affairs and under the purview of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, with the mindset that intercountry adoption should be treated like other human rights policy issues.14 When Congress chose not to act on CHIFF before the end of the 113th Congress, the legislative effort failed.
Later, during the 114th Congress, the Vulnerable Children and Families Act of 2016 was introduced.15 This legislation was also designed to streamline the process of children finding families. In addition to appointing an Ambassador-at-Large for vulnerable children, the goal was to strategically align the Central Authority to work in concert with The Action Plan on Children in Adversity, created by the federal government in 2012. Notably, this legislation also had a provision requiring the Department of State to include information on children living without families in the annual country reports on human rights practices. Like CHIFF, Congress failed to pass this legislation into law.
Currently before Congress, the Vulnerable Children and Families Act of 2017 (VCFA) is bi-partisan legislation designed to take into account previous concerns about the size and scope of reconfiguring intercountry adoption within the Department of State. This legislation is more narrowly focused than previous iterations, with an emphasis on providing a clear, positive child welfare mandate, but without restructuring within the Department of State. It also does not include the language requiring human rights reporting, which was subsequently introduced as stand-alone legislation in both the House and Senate.
What Others Are Saying
Critics of the CHIFF legislation said it was costly, caused unneeded bureaucratic changes, and would provide too much authority to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to adjudicate child welfare cases. Despite clear language in the legislation that no new resources would be used, proponents of small government did not want to risk adding new layers of bureaucracy by the creation of a new office within the Department of State. As is discussed separately within this Adoption Advocate, the human rights reporting found in the VCFA has also been criticized as both too expensive and unrealistic.
As a supporter for a positive, stronger mandate for the U.S. Central Authority, like NCFA, Diane Kunz includes the Vulnerable Children and Families Act of 2017 as among the top legislative priorities for the Center for Adoption Policy's agenda. Kunz says:
"The dearth of options for unparented children around the world to find permanent, loving homes demands that the Department of State take a lead role in creating and supporting the finding of families for unparented children, wherever these families are found. To accomplish this goal, VCFA requires the President to appoint an Ambassador at Large who will head the Office of Vulnerable Children and Families (which will replace the Department of State's Office of Children's Issues) and take the lead in turning the aspirations of the bill into reality. The catastrophic decline in international adoptions to the United States over the last decade is one symptom of the failure of U.S. institutions to promote the most effective solution to global poverty: a permanent, loving family."
Although the supporters of the re-designed VCFA are much more optimistic with this streamlined version, there remain practical challenges to getting this legislation passed. Today's more contentious political climate has seen fewer bipartisan efforts than in previous years. Nevertheless, the current legislation has taken into account the previous issues of concern in hopes of a clearer path toward passage. There is also the issue of the Department of State: Although the current VCFA has addressed the issues most objected to by the Department of State in previous versions, the legislation does clarify its mission as the Central Authority and will require that those in charge of intercountry adoption policy be much more proactive and supportive in advancing solutions for intercountry adoption—and, in the process, be far more accountable for the outcomes of its policies. It will be interesting to monitor the Department's position on VCFA given that, by opposing this new version, it will also be opposing the greater transparency and accountability the legislation will require of it.
NCFA's Position
NCFA supports the passage of the Vulnerable Children and Families Act of 2017 and urges Congress to pass this bill. With millions of children living outside parental care, more work is needed to ensure children have a path to a permanent family. Providing a positive mandate that recognizes adoption as an integral means of helping children without parents join families is essential to the U.S. Department of State's mission to serve as an effective and capable Central Authority.
The role of the U.S. Central Authority ought not to be limited to simply protecting against potential abuses; instead, a pro-active mandate to help unparented children find families should be central to the U.S. adoption authority's mission. In so doing, U.S. policy will match the sentiments of the American people at large: That children belong in families. It also will bring into alignment the original mandate given to them by Congress when they were delegated this role.
Coordinating federal government efforts, so that the U.S. Central Authority has strengthened cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) can ensure that our nation's efforts to help vulnerable and parentless children are more effective.
Setting concurrent planning as the official United States policy to facilitate children finding families means that children for whom reunification, kinship placement, and domestic adoption are not an option will not unnecessarily languish while waiting to be approved for a family. This is not only the right thing to do for children, but will align intercountry practices with decades-old domestic child welfare practices that integrate concurrent planning throughout a child's time outside family care. Failing to do so deprives children around the world of the opportunity for a timely and appropriate placement.
Citizenship for Internationally Adopted Children
By Erin Bayles
The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA), which originally became effective on February 27, 2001, amended the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to provide automatic U.S. citizenship to some children adopted abroad by U.S. citizens. Internationally adopted children already living permanently in the U.S. who were under the age of 18 when the Act passed were granted citizenship automatically. Prior to the Act, they had to go through a lengthy immigration process after their arrival in the U.S. Children who came to the U.S. on an IR-3 visa—meaning their full and final adoption was completed abroad—were also given automatic citizenship as long as they entered the U.S. prior their 18th birthday and resided here permanently with their parents. At the time of its passage, the CCA was considered a major victory for many international adoptees granted citizenship and whose adoptive families no longer needed to go through a lengthy and costly immigration process once their adoption was finalized. The legislation, however, provided an incomplete fix for many internationally adopted individuals, and the Act must be amended again to adequately address the citizenship of adoptees for whom the Act did not cover.
As stated, the language of the CCA excluded a significant number of international adoptions, estimated to be as high as 35,000 individuals.16 Through no fault of their own, many persons who were internationally adopted have come to find out that they are not, in fact, U.S. citizens because the CCA did not apply to their adoptions. There are two main groups of adoptees that the CCA passes over:
Adoptees 18+
Prior to the CCA, all internationally adopted children had to go through a naturalization process prior to their 18th birthday in order to gain their full U.S. citizenship. For one reason or another, some adoptive parents failed to take this crucial step and their children never became citizens. Parents may have been confused about the paperwork and requirements, felt it was an unnecessary expense, or believed their child was a U.S. citizen by virtue of their adoption.
When the CCA was passed, it helped make this right for children under the age of 18 as of February 27, 2001, but it did not apply to anyone over the age of 18. That means anyone adopted internationally to U.S. parents, born before February 27, 1983, who had not previously been granted citizenship was not covered by the CCA.
Many internationally adopted persons find out that they are not U.S. citizens at certain milestone events such as applying for FAFSA college loans, joining the military, registering for social security, applying for a passport, or after the September 11th attacks, when employers began requiring proof of citizenship. As security and proof of identification has become more scrutinized in recent years, more adoptees are finding out about their non-citizenship status. In the most tragic of possible outcomes, some have been deported or not let back into the country after traveling abroad.
IR-4 and IH-4 Visas
The other group the CCA excludes is children coming to the U.S. on the other type of adoption visas, the IH-4 and the IR-4. These visas are issued to children of Hague (IH-4) and non-Hague (IR-4) adoptions where the child's adoption will be fully finalized after arrival to the U.S. Children arriving on these visas are in the U.S. legally and are given permanent resident status (a.k.a. a green card), but they must be "re-adopted" by their families to obtain U.S. citizenship to which they are entitled. Some parents have failed to complete the citizenship process, not realizing how important this final step is and the resulting very serious risks to their child.
What Others Are Saying
The Adoptee Rights Campaign (ARC) and National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), along with NCFA and many other intercountry adoption advocates, have been vocal proponents of automatic citizenship for internationally adopted children. There have been legislative solutions offered in the past, primarily the Adoptee Citizenship Act last introduced in the 114th Congress17,18, but currently there is no pending legislation in the House or Senate addressing this issue. NCFA, however, took special interest in noting that Suzanne Lawrence, Special Adviser for Children's issues at the U.S. Department of State, recently spoke in support of a legislative fix.19
NCFA's Position
NCFA seeks to rectify this legal loophole and ensure that internationally adopted individuals are provided the U.S. citizenship to which they are legally entitled. Although there is no pending legislation in Congress to address this important issue, NCFA will continue to advocate a legislative solution that ensures every internationally adopted individual—the legal child of a U.S. citizen—is granted U.S. citizenship, regardless of visa type or when the adoption took place. NCFA calls for new bipartisan legislation to be introduced and passed in 2018 that enables internationally adopted children and adults the same citizenship rights as any child born to U.S. citizens.
Creation of a National Putative Father Registry
By Chuck Johnson
If a man who may have fathered a child is not involved in an adoption proceeding because he did not know about it, those adoptions, even if legally finalized, can be later disrupted or even dissolved, which is not in the best interest of the child and can be a painful experience for all involved. An effective solution to that problem is to enable the man to register in a database (called a putative, paternal, or responsible fatherhood registry) so that the man can be notified of court proceedings related to the child. NCFA and many in the professional adoption community have been strong advocates for the creation of state-based putative father registries throughout the 1990s and to present day.20 Approximately 34 states have some form of a registry that allows unmarried men who believe they may have fathered a child to sign within a state-specific time frame and, in doing so, secure legal notice of a planned adoption of his "putative", or possible, child. Putative father registries are Supreme Court-tested and provide putative fathers who register with the state registry the right to legal notice, but also allow adoptions to proceed with greater assurance that they will not be subject to a legal challenge when putative fathers do not register.
Many state legislatures enacted putative father registries following some tragic and protracted legal challenge in their state by a biological father in which the courts dissolved a legally finalized adoption because the biological father did not receive notice of the proceeding that terminated his parental rights. These registries, which ensure the man who registers receives such notice, is in the best interests of children, because they prevent such challenges from happening in that state in the future. NCFA supports and strongly encourages the participation of expectant fathers throughout the adoption process,21 but also recognizes the necessity of ensuring adoption offers the child legal permanency without the risk of later legal challenges when biological fathers are unresponsive in asserting their rights in a timely fashion or whose identifies are unknown for various reasons. NCFA believes that putative father registries balance the legal rights of biological, unmarried fathers by creating a legal access point for them to be involved along with rights of adoptive parents to rely on the finalization of their adoption. This balance is in the best interest of the child, as it enables the child's future with a family to be legally determined without subsequent disruption—and this is why we have supported implementation of the paternal registry system at the state level.
Although most states have a putative father registry system in place, there are 16 states without such protections—and, with many adoptions occurring across state lines, state-based registries do not necessarily cooperate with each other. For instance, a putative father may live in one state, but the adoption will be finalized in another—and he may not receive notice, even if he signs in his state of residence, or he may be uncertain in which state he should register. Several legal challenges have resulted.
What Others Are Saying
Some have expressed concern that requiring a man to register in a putative father registry to receive notice deprives him of legal rights. However, most states have registries in place and the courts have consistently upheld the legality of putative father registries. According to attorney and NCFA Board Member Andrea Vavonese,
"A national registry would only enhance protections to biological fathers that they may not currently have because it would ensure that if they register they are not deprived of notice if they register in the 'wrong' state. A national registry would also protect the privacy of the biological mother, who would not need to 'find' the possible father by providing notice in a newspaper, disclosing her identity and pregnancy."
In introducing the Permanency for Children Act in the House in 2017, the co-sponsors of the legislation, Representatives Hartzler and Kuster had this to say:
"A consolidated fatherhood registry will greatly benefit the adoption system and families across the country. Every child deserves to have a safe and stable home to grow up in, and this common sense legislation will make it easier for birthfathers to voluntarily assert their rights as parents by connecting the 34 state Responsible Father Registries with the Federal Parent Locator Service."22
NCFA's Position
A national registry would allow states to voluntarily participate, give fathers a place to register once for every state, and supply a more uniform system of information. A single, national registry would also provide adoption professionals a mechanism to access more complete information from all participating states, helping to ensure that the best, most complete and ethical checks are completed before adoptions of children are finalized.
It is for these reasons that NCFA supports the establishment of a national putative father registry and, in particular, passage of the Permanency for Children Act (HR-3092), which accomplishes this objective. We also hope to see a companion bill introduced in the Senate in 2018, and NCFA will advocate for the passage of both.
A Human Right to a Family
By Ryan Hanlon
Every year since 1977, the U.S. Department of State has formally reported to Congress on the status of countries' human rights practices during the previous year. This includes reporting on issues ranging from civil and political freedoms, anti-Semitism, corruption and transparency, discrimination based on sexual orientation, trafficking in persons, worker rights, HIV and AIDS stigma, and many other important issues that can and should be reported on around the world.
Over the last few years, a growing chorus of child welfare advocates have pointed to the millions of children growing up without parents and asked: Why are we not reporting on countries who deny children the fundamental right to a family?
When we consider the issues that are reported on, it is not clear why we discriminate against children without parents. The following breaks down a sampling of the current report on human rights practices:
|Prohibition of child labor
|Access to domestic and intercountry adoption
|Arbitrary arrest or detention
|Unnecessarily prolonged child institutionalization
|Prison and detention center conditions
|Orphanage conditions
|Freedom of movement for stateless persons
|Ability for parentless children to join families
|Denial of a fair public trial
|Denial of child welfare best interests determinations
Reporting on unparented children's access to find a permanent family is important because researchers have shown that human rights monitoring and reporting changes the attitudes and behaviors of both U.S. and foreign policymakers.23,24,25
There are two main challenges to passing this legislation. The first one is logistical. We really do not know how many orphaned and abandoned children there are in the world, nor do we know where they are. Many countries with large orphan populations do not know either, nor do they have the resources or the wherewithal to find out. This is not to say that we do not have these data in every country or region (there have been regional surveys), but overall, it is simply not a priority to find out. It suits the political and economic purposes of some to not know. More to the point, there is not even a universally accepted definition for exactly who is an orphan.
Another challenge comes from the U.S. Department of State. As was discussed previously, the Office of Children's Issues within the State Department does not have a mandate to proactively seek families for unparented children; further, the Department of State does not include unnecessarily prolonged institutional care as a human rights violation because it does not hold to the conviction that children have an inherit right to a family.
What Others Are Saying
Critics of adding unparented children to the human rights report say that reporting on nations' human rights abuses is a form of nation shaming. In part, they are right: We shine a light on human rights abuses in hopes that by making the issues more visible, policymakers in the United States and abroad will work to address them. The end goal is not to shame nations' practices, but to change them.
Critics also raise concerns about the expense of reporting and capacity of the Department of State to report on this issue. Existing legislation already requires the Department of State to report on a wide range of human rights issues, requiring extensive work by human rights officers at U.S. missions all over the world. Given the current scope of reporting26, adding children's rights to a family would not be cumbersome or cost prohibitive.
Supporters of adding children's rights to a family to the Department of State's annual report see this as a way to raise awareness on behalf of children who cannot speak out on this issue for themselves. Why? Because, social science evidence on this is clear: Institutionalization of a child can have lifelong ramifications.
Elizabeth Bartholet, the Director of Harvard Law School's Child Advocacy Program, supports this legislation, saying:
"This represents an important step in vindicating the child's right to family, something that is essential to changing cultural understanding worldwide and to related policy. It would require the Department of State to recognize in its annual report on human rights violations that keeping children in institutions and denying them available homes through adoption constitutes a violation of their most fundamental human rights."
NCFA's Position
Over the last few decades, the profound extent of global human rights abuses has been raised in the consciences of individuals both in the United States and abroad. Unparented children's lack of access to find a family is perhaps the single largest unrecognized human rights abuse issue of our time.
As a matter of mission and purpose, NCFA embraces the conviction that all children have a right to grow up in a nurturing, permanent family. Countries, including the United States, ought to seek family preservation and reunification as a first means of finding families for children. If this is not successful, and if a permanent kinship adoption is not possible, domestic and then intercountry adoption ought to be pursued to ensure that children do not remain in orphanages longer than necessary.
Children are not chattel and should never be used as bargaining chips or leveraged for trading purposes between nations. However, if a country severely restricts children's access to domestic and intercountry adoption, the United States ought to impose the same foreign aid and trading ramifications it would if that country were guilty of other human rights abuses.
NCFA respectfully disagrees with those who cite expense or concern about nation shaming as reasons for not reporting. Nations that restrict or prohibit children from joining permanent families ought to be ashamed of their treatment of children; reporting on these actions only shines light on practices currently being kept in the dark.
As for the expense of reporting, it is laudable that we should be concerned with the costs of government-sponsored initiatives, but why is it acceptable to incur the expense of reporting on issues such as workers' rights to collective bargaining or individuals' freedom from interference with correspondence—and yet arbitrarily draw a line to say "we cannot afford the expense of reporting on children"? Because they have no voice, too often children's rights are overlooked while the rights of adults are upheld.
The United States has been a global leader on child welfare issues for decades. We must continue to lead by proclaiming that children have a fundamental right to a family and subsequently reporting on countries' efforts to find families for children in need.
Bi-partisan legislation has been introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to address this issue by requiring that the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices include violations of children's rights to a family.
In the House, Representatives Marino and Cicilline introduced H.R. 2643 in May 2017. The bill has been referred to the House Foreign Affairs committee. Also in May 2017, Senator Blunt introduced S. 1177, which has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations committee. NCFA calls on both chambers of Congress to pass this legislation in 2018.
These five issues are the not the full extent of the legislative issues that NCFA will work on in 2018—they are just the issues identified as primary legislative priorities due to either an urgent need or to support legislation that has already been introduced. Ongoing updates about these legislative areas can be found at www.adoptioncouncil.org/advocate. We encourage all those whose lives are impacted by adoption to educate themselves about legislative opportunities and to advocate for reform and change on behalf of children's well-being. As part of our effort to organize for change, on June 20, 2018, NCFA will lead an Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill for adoption supporters to work together to advocate on these issues.
- http://www.ccainstitute.org/about/about-us
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trump-effect-tax-powerless/how-parents-of-adopted-children-foiled-a-u-s-republican-tax-proposal-idUSKBN1DU33L
- https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/afcarsreport24.pdf
- http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-adoption-tax-credit
- https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-individual-income-tax-returns-publication-1304-complete-report
- http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-adoption-tax-credit
- http://www.afamilyforeverychild.org/Adoption/AFFECreportonchildreninfostercare.pdf
- http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/opioid-crisis-strains-foster-system-kids-pried-homes-51738944
- http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/07/health/adoption-tax-credit-families/index.html
- https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/2476
- https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/937
- http://www.adoptioncouncil.org/publications/2015/05/adoption-advocate-no-83
- Pub. L. 106-279 Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000
- H.R. 4143: Children in Families First Act of 2013; S. 1530: Children in Families First Act of 2013
- S.3279 - Vulnerable Children and Families Act of 2016
- http://nakasec.org/adopteerights
- https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2275
- https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr5454
- http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3042279&cloc=joongangdaily|home|newslist2
- http://www.adoptioncouncil.org/files/large/bed26063416cc19
- http://www.adoptioncouncil.org/files/large/67d91b35329369a
- https://hartzler.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/representatives-hartzler-and-kuster-introduce-permanency-children-act
- Kim, H. J. (2015) Reporting North Korean Refugees in China: The Case of the U.S. Department of State Human Rights Country Reports. Korea Observer, 46(1), 117-144.
- Sikkink, K. (2004) Mixed Signals: U.S. Human Rights Policy and Latin America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
- Krommendijk, J. (2015) The domestic effectiveness of international human rights monitoring in established democracies. The case of the U.N. human rights treaty bodies. Review of International Organizations, 10(4), 489-512.
- U.S. General Accounting Office (U.S. GAO), "Human Rights: State Department's Commitment to Accurate Reporting Has Increased." Report to the Chairman, Legislation and National Security Subcommittee, Committee on Government Operations (Washington, D.C.: House of Representatives, September 1990)


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Nursing Home Abuse
Due to low wages and understaffing, patient abuse and neglect in nursing homes occurs more often than all of us want to see. In the websites whose links appear below, you will find Information about the many symptoms of neglect and the resulting medical conditions that can arise from inappropriate care. You will also be able to find lawyers in your area who specialize in nursing home abuse cases. Simply click on the link for the website you would like to visit.
California Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys — Demas & Rosenthal has been defending your rights since 1993.
Nursing Home Abuse Newsletter by the Consumer Justice Group.
Nursing Home Abuse Resource — an informational site which offers resources for elders and their family members concerning abuse and neglect at nursing homes. Information is offered on many symptoms of neglect and the resulting ailments that can arise from faulty care. Through this site, seniors and family members are able to contact lawyers in their area to learn more about their rights and decide whether they should seek legal action.
Personal Injury Lawyer Resource — Personal Injury Lawyers site provides consumers with easy access to lawyers experienced in nursing home abuse, wrongful death, auto accidents, trucking accidents, motorcycle injuries and many other types of injury litigation in their area.
Phoenix Medical Malpractice Attorney — Arizona wrongful death lawyers, Solomon & Relihan, will give you a free nursing home neglect and abuse case consultation right over the phone. Contact a Phoenix malpractice attorney before it's too late.
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Is your story stuck or running out of juice? We asked screenwriter David Warfield to share his top-secret weapon against flagging momentum: the Set Piece. With over 20 years of Hollywood experience, David has sold screenplays to MGM, written for Warner Bros., and analyzed countless scripts via his story consulting website, storysolver.com. Take it away, David!
Most of us find at some point, despite all our careful plotting and well-developed character motivations, that some section of the script (usually in Act II) feels flat. We sense the audience will perceive the trajectory of the story too easily and we're waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for things to heat up.
While the term "Set Piece" means different things to different people, and is often associated with big action scenes, à la James Bond, the Set Piece can be any "big" or "memorable" scene. It's often the scene that audience members are most likely to discuss after the movie. The Set Piece doesn't usually do a lot to move the plot forward or tell us more about the characters. It takes advantage of the situation that's been set up thus far and exploits the characters and plot for a sequence of sheer fun, often of "pure cinema." Another characteristic of the Set Piece is that it may delve into the irrational or chaotic, or deliver the kind of out-of-left-field "I can't believe they did that" creative blow that leaves audiences amazed or in stitches.
If you find a section of your Act II is falling flat, or that you can't point to any specific scene or sequence as "memorable," it may be productive to stop thinking in terms of plot and character, and come up with some wilder ideas that would be just plain outrageous fun to see in your story—something that will cause the audience to gasp in astonishment at a character's predicament or audacity, something that will make people talk. It's no accident that some part of the Set Piece makes it into the trailer.
Think of the train wreck in The Fugitive, the crop duster sequence in North by Northwest, Meg Ryan doing the orgasm act in When Harry Met Sally, or the bowling/musical fantasy sequence in The Big Lebowski. These could all be considered Set Pieces, or memorable scenes, ones that have an indelible "wow" effect on the audience. Note that the examples above are not part of the climax, or even of the third act. Like the shower scene in Psycho, the Set Piece can come at any time in the story.
Look at it from this perspective: The writer's goal is to create a story that facilitates one or more major Set Pieces: unforgettable moments of cinematic energy. In some cases the Set Pieces even drive the story, rather than the other way around! The extreme example is any James Bond movie—films that consist essentially of a string of action Set Pieces—but we may think of scenes as diverse as the puppet sex scene in Team America or Hannibal's murdering the two police guards in Silence of the Lambs as possessing this quality. Here is where you hold up your end of the pact to entertain and amaze the audience, be it through laughter, passion, pity or terror.
*Article pulled from scriptfrenzy.org**
They are a great authority on script writing…please check them out!


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Top>People>The Multitalented Popular Golfer
Mr. Take Koyama [profile]
Mr. Take Koyama
Professional golfer
Yane-Ura Professional Golfer is a segment of a television program popular among fathers' generation of university students. That segment airs towards the end of the TBS Television show Sunday Morning. Yane-Ura Professional Golfer is Chuo University alumni Take Koyama (age 49).
Take holds a handmade board and gives an explanation during filming of Yane-Ura Professional Golfer at the TBS Television studio
(Photograph provided by Sankei, co.)
Having lived in the United States for 18 years, Take uses his network to give a fresh and interesting report on the latest golf information from Japan, Europe and America. Viewers of the show cannot wait to share the latest Take's scoop with their friends. Take is truly a popular figure in the golf world.
Take is responsible for selecting the 10-minute segment theme and layout. He sends a PowerPoint presentation of his proposal to the director by Wednesday. A detailed plan is formed during meetings held on Friday and Saturday. The meetings are also attended by Hiroshi Sekiguchi, emcee of the program.
"I want to give an analog image to a digital program," says Take. He focuses on giving easy-to-understand explanations. Sometimes, he uses handmade models when explaining rules or gear. Although it takes Take 4 or 5 hours to make a model, the passion he puts into his work has paid off. He has many fans and the program maintains a high viewer rating.
Take first appeared on Sunday Morning in January 2009. Initially, he was responsible for a 13-week special featuring his unique perspective to discuss the Masters Tournament. This was around the time that professional golfer Ryo Ishikawa was attracting a lot of attention. Take's clear and interesting explanation of golf became a trend of the times.
Last February, professional golfer Hiroyuki Fujita suffered a stress fracture in his right ribs. Fujita had competed in the Masters Tournament this year and was the top money winner in Japan last year. Many people worried about the effect of Fujita's injury. At that time, Take showed exclusive images of Fujita making a remarkable recovery and competing in a small tournament held in America.
Take was able to catch this big news thanks to his in-depth knowledge of American golf and his relationship with star players. Before he started working on television, Take appeared on InterFM from April 2008. InterFM is an FM radio station which mainly conducts foreign-language broadcasts. Take appeared in the Saturday morning program Green Jacket and gave tips to amateur golfers who were heading out to play golf.
Take introduced a lot of information on the world's top players. For example, he spoke about the fact that Greg Norman (Australia) used to be a pilot in the Air Force and now holds a pilot's license for jet aircraft. Although Norman had purchased a Boeing 737, the aircraft was not able to land on the runway of the airport where he has his private air hangar. Take also revealed that Nick Price (Zimbabwe) can operate a twin-jet engine aircraft.
The program was so popular that its start time was moved to 5:00 AM from April, and became a 3-hour program until 8:00 AM. Take just talks and talks by himself with an articulate manner of speaking. One listener favorably compared the program to the sound of cabbage being sliced at a pork cutlet restaurant.
It seems like Take was born with a gift of speaking. "People often say that," he says. "But, actually, I was not good at speaking."
Take entered the Faculty of Economics, Chuo University in 1982. In December 1984, during his 2nd year at university, he passed the Assistant Professional Golfer Certification Test and became to be called a non-professional. Take had always wanted to turn professional and compete at tournaments in America.
While at Chuo University, Take was a member of the Albatross Club and became friends with a student two grades ahead of him. That friend had gone to America, managed several golf courses and acquired his MBA (Master's of Business Administration). Take took advice from his friend and went to America in June 1989. While living in Orlando, Florida, Take competed in tournaments mainly in America and some in Canada, Australia and the Caribbean.
Take returned to Japan in 2007. He competed in the Japan Tour and also played in the Japan Open Golf Championship. Unfortunately, he was unable to survive the elimination round the following year. This marked a turning point in his life.
InterFM was searching for a DJ that knows about golf. Take was also invited by Sekiguchi to try working on television. While taking a Master's course in top sports management in the Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University from April 2008, Take started television and radio work on the weekends.
An InterFM studio where electronic screens are placed and the speakers sit separately
"I still compete in small tournaments. Golf is a sport which you can continue as long as you have the desire to play. I balance golf with my working life. I have to keep up my knowledge of golf—there are always new gear and balls being introduced. There are literally tens of thousands of types of golf balls."
Previously, Take served as emcee for the popular golf lesson program Fujita Hiroyuki no Shinguru e-no Michi (Fujita's Path to a Single Score) which was broadcast on NHK E-Tele. According to Take, he tried not to talk much during the show in order to elicit words of wisdom from Fujita, who was Japan's top money-winner in the previous year. Take was highly recognized for being an attentive and bright listener. A sequel to the program was broadcast this autumn.
Take was able to improve his speaking ability to its current outstanding level thanks to advice from a former television announcer.
"Although some people say that TV programs are nothing more than what is just broadcast, I was told that recording my television and radio programs and then check them would help me to improve. Even now, I use commercial breaks during broadcasting to listen to the previous 3 or 5 minutes of my speaking. Thanks to this advice, I was able to improve my speaking in a relatively short period of time."
If Take had not joined the golf club at Chuo University, he would not have met the older student and might not have traveled to America. After returning to Japan and no longer participating in the Japan Golf Tour, his life might have been different if he had not received an invitation to try television from Sekiguchi. If that had been the case, Saturday and Sunday mornings would lose their appeal for a lot of middle-aged men.
Offered by: Hakumon Chuo 2013 Autumn Issue, No. 233
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Want to Join Us?
We're thrilled that you are considering membership in the Knights of Columbus! First, understand that as a Catholic fraternal organization, membership in the Knights is open only to practical Catholic men age 18 or above. "Practical" means that you regularly attend Mass, and are in accord with the Holy See.
Second, you should know that membership in the Knights of Columbus is extremely rewarding, but it does not necessarily need to be all-consuming. You can be an active Knight with as little as 24 hours of participation a year, or much more, depending on your interest and availability.
Benefits to being a member of Council #12423 include:
- Fellowship with fellow Knights, both here and around the world
- Opportunities for service and charity
- Opportunities for leadership at the Council and District level
- Subscription to Columbia Magazine
- Access to members-only Insurance Products
- A quarterly newsletter, Knightly News, detailing the activities of Council #12423
Council #12423 holds monthly meetings for those who are available on the second Monday of each month. We are always seeking leaders who are willing to chair an event, organize events as a service coordinator, or fill one of our several officer positions each year. But even if you're not interested in leadership, we can always use your help at one of our many annual events!
If you would like to be contacted by a member of our Council about joining the Knights of Columbus, click on the "Request a Contact" link on the left hand side of this page. We also encourage you to attend one of our upcoming events and talk to our members!


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As announced on July 23, 2016 by the Kaliningrad branch of the "Vesti-24" TV channel, a team of Marines from China arrived at the main base of the Baltic fleet of the Navy of Russia, Baltiysk (the Kaliningrad region) to participate in the international competitions in field training "Marines 2016." The Chinese team brought with them four modern Chinese marine corps combat vehicles ZBD05.
The combat vehicles were reported to have been delivered to Kaliningrad by ferry, then they were transported to Baltiysk by rail, and then they were delivered to the shooting range of the Baltic fleet marine corps in trailers. The Chinese team is the only team inf the "Marines-2016" competition to use their own combat vehicles, the rest of the competing teams will use Russian vehicles. In 2015, during similar competition, "The Caspian Derby", the Russian team was the first in the team event, while the Chinese team was the second.
The ZBD05 marine corps combat vehicle of the Chinese Marines team that arrived for participating in the international competitions in field training "Marines 2016." Baltiysk (the Kaliningrad region), 23.07.2016 (C) Daria Kalinicheva / vesti-kaliningrad.ru.
The Chinese always fly to Aviadarts over our territory. I get them for the third time. The aircraft are always the same – 2 Xian JH-7 Flying Leopard fighter-bombers and an accompanying Il-76MD.
They arrived in the morning on July 24, and stayed for one day. This time I managed to get a picture of them in the parking. The careful Chinese had wrapped their planes almost completely, even the chassis had not been forgotten.
The Ilyushin Il-76MD | 21041 | China – BBC | 1991 |
On Monday morning, the squadron moved further along the route to Ryazan, where the international stage of the Aviadarts competitions would take place.
The Il-76 had been the first to take off, so I missed it. I arrived after the "leopards" had already grouped in a pair in the lineup.
The first craft is taking off.
The blaze after the first craft has not yet dissipated, but as soon as the runway is clear, the wingman immediately turns on the afterburner.


text: It is my firm conviction that because of me the publishing industry will never go bankrupt. After downloading the series to my Kindle I now have the Lux series additionally as paperback edition (minus Obsession because this one was just bad). This is how I am going to spend my weekend: Rereading the whole Lux-series. Goodbye social life. Hello Daemon (again).