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I am competitive. There I said it and I'd like to enter that confession in the running for "Understatement of the Year". Recently, I have been analyzing that truth. I have always said that I was competitive with a certain amount of pride as if it were an attribute to be sought after, but is it really? In Hebrews 12:1 Paul says, "…Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." For most of my life I have read that verse and only focused on the word "race". If this life is a race, then there will clearly be a winner and then everyone else loses, right? But what if that was not the keyword; what if the key to the statement was something else entirely. Nowhere in Paul's verse does he say, win the race that is marked out for us. Friends, this where we are going to talk about the Holy 2×4. In my life, from time to time, God decides to hit me with the Holy 2×4 to wake me up to something He has been trying to teach me that I just missed, sometimes for decades.
So why is winning so important; is competition healthy in the workplace; and how then do we balance the competition, with the pursuit of excellence, with the character of a Saint? In reality, I think that is what the verse is really saying. After meditating on it for a while, I concluded the key takeaway is that you, whoever you are, are in a race; that means it has a beginning, and whether you like it or not, it has an end and our God is more concerned with how you run it than if come in first or last or in the middle. He just wants you to run to best of your "given" ability while loving thy neighbor and working as if you were working for Him. So in the office or the warehouse or the production floor, how do we harness the competitive nature of so many of our employee and direct it, in a health way, into productivity? Let's take a look at a few principals that we believe will make a difference.
Principle 1: Create the Competition
I walked through a manufacturing company the other day as I was preparing to give a presentation on the company's 401(k). I saw pictures on a big bulletin board for "Outstanding Employees". Displayed here were accolades for their "Employee of the Month", an award for the employee who caught a mistake in shipping, another award for an employee that refined a process and made it more efficient. Another company that we work with also highlights an accomplished employee every month and then chooses an "Employee of the Year" who gets a trip to Disney World! These companies created the competition to strategically benefit the employees and the company. This is a brilliant way to motivate and harness the competitive drive in your employees, BUT there are a couple of things that are must-haves in this principle.
- The rules must clear and definitive: the employees must understand how you win and the variable must be trackable. If this area is vague, you risk your employees accusing the company of playing favorites. Remember this isn't a popularity contest. The winner shouldn't be the person you like the best but instead, the person who meets the quantifiable goals you set forth at the beginning of the competition.
- Incentives must be appropriate for the effort required. If you want employees to refine a process that will ultimately save the company thousands of dollars per day and you give them a keychain and pat on the back as a reward, you should expect their effort in finding that solution to be worth about as much as your keychain. I'm not saying buy them a new car, but know your workforce and choose an incentive that will be meaningful and big enough for them to want to compete.
Principle 2: Build Team Competition
I know this one will not work with every company, but when possible organize all of the teams within your company to compete together. Collaboration is big desire for your millennials, but I think all ages enjoy a good strategy session on how to overcome the competition. Note: When you do this you should be very observant. In this process you will watch your leaders emerge. Watch how some people have the ability to align interest and influence their team to moving as one unit. This can be very helpful in raising up management.
Principle 3: Adopt a Zero Tolerance Policy for Unsportsmanship
I don't watch a ton of sports but I was at a minor league baseball game in Birmingham recently and one of our home team players was ejected because he took off his helmet and slammed it on the ground. I questioned the decision and someone I was with informed me that the rule was "no tolerance because the act was dangerous and trashy". If you are going to harness healthy competition, the standard of excellence and sportsmanship can never be in question. If you cheat, you're done. If you lie, you're done. If you sabotage someone, you're done. Zero tolerance and swift consequences are necessary, but so are swift praise and good rewards.
Competition can be a great driver but the truth is you, your team, and your company have to know why it's worth winning. The principles above are important for the process but don't forget to show employees why you're competing in the first place. What difference are you trying to make in the company or even in the community? You have to show people that the race is worth running and then you can guide them through competition to make a difference.
Caleb Bagwell/Employee Education Specialist
John Maxwell Certified Leadership Coach
Grinkmeyer Leonard Financial
Toll-Free: 866.695.5162 / Office: 205.970.9088
Birmingham: 1950 Stonegate Drive / Suite 275 / Birmingham, AL 35242
Contact Caleb


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Elevation Partners Squeezes Tiny Profit From Palm Investment
Anupreeta Das files this dispatch:
Did Elevation Partners make a profit on its high-profile investment in Palm?
Barely. In fact just $25 million on a $460 million outlay spread out over two years. That's roughly a 5% return on its money. Hardly the stuff of venture-capital dreams. But perhaps a respectable save for a company that faltered mightily over the past year.
How do the numbers shake out?
Between 2007 and 2009, the private equity firm with the famous partner — Bono — invested a combined $460 million in the smart phone maker.

subset: commoncrawl


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An ideal alternative perfectly fulfills every condition set for it without adding new difficulties. Unfortunately, ideal alternatives are rare. We must, therefore, evaluate each available alternative by measuring it against all of our objectives. It is the relative quality of that fit that concerns us.
If we must choose among several alternatives, we will have to decide which one will best fulfill our objectives with the smallest acceptable risk. In other words, we try to make a balanced choice. An alternative that best accomplishes the objectives but carries severe risks is not, after all, the best choice. Another alternative, perhaps less exciting but safer, may be the best balanced choice.
If there is only one alternative, we must decide whether it is good enough to accept. In this case our evaluation will focus on its relative worth compared with a perfect but unobtainable alternative.
If we must choose between a current and a proposed course of action, then we consider both to be alternatives. We evaluate their performance against our objectives just as we would if both had been proposed. Whatever is currently being done is, after all, an alternative; the choice is whether to continue that way or find another, better way.
If, in the absence of any alternative, we must create something new, we can usually build an alternative from available components. We then choose the best and most feasable combinations, treat each as a separate alternative, and evaluate all of them against an ideal model of an alternative.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight


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Our final week will be judged by LCP's own Beth Deitchman!
Beth Deitchman has been a dancer, a university lecturer, and an actor. While studying Spanish in Panama in 2011 she re-discovered her passion for writing and has been scribbling ever since. Co-founder of Luminous Creatures Press, she has authored two books of the Regency Magic Series, Mary Bennet and the Bloomsbury Coven and Margaret Dashwood and the Enchanted Atlas, and co-authored two collections of short stories with fellow Creature Emily June Street. Beth is currently working on a novel about ballet dancers. She lives in Northern California with her husband Dave and dog Ralphie.
Beth has this to say about what Kind of flash fiction she likes: "Every word matters, so I like them to be well-chosen. I prefer stories with an arc over meditations on a theme or image. I also want some juicy narrative tension. And I admire panache."
(Beth huddles in a cavernous chair with her dog, Ralpie)


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10/12 gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Photography, objects and performance.
See here the performance documentation.
The Installation 'A small matter in the eye' explores the intuitive relationships, dynamics and effects of the phenomena of everyday life.
The materials, the functions and the associations of the objects jointly generate strange duplication, differences and shifts. The result is a dialogue between subject and object, which alternates between the possible forms of real and artificial, literally and symbolically, original and imitation.
November 19, 2015
mixed media, object, photo


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http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=12544 Mark Watson <firstname.lastname@example.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC| |email@example.com --- Comment #2 from Mark Watson <firstname.lastname@example.com> 2011-04-25 17:16:14 UTC --- It is to be expected that adaptive streaming media formats will more often expose multiple in-band audio and video tracks, since with these formats it is possible to download only the media being presented. 3GPP have explicitly asked W3C [1] to define labels of this kind for in-band tracks and intend to align with W3C on the specific symbols. Specifically, they state: "It is possible, in our system, to express that the presentation can be built from multiple streams of media, and we have identified the need to be able to explain to the client software what the purpose of the separate streams is, in particular for the case where additional streams offer accessibility provisions; a textual caption stream is one of the more obvious cases. We are using a general labelling technique for this aspect, and other aspects, of our specification: we identify a specification, registration authority, or other source by using a URI (normally expected to be a URN), and then provide values from the set defined by that source. Though this enables multiple organizations to define sets of names, we are hoping very much that in the case of labelling of streams that we could recommend use of a set of labels defined by the W3C, as this will help the industry converge, and make it much easier to embed one of these streams in an HTML5 context." The MPEG DASH group is following the same approach as 3GPP, but their documentation of this discussion is not yet public. Certainly, this information will not be present in all container formats, so there is a need for getKind() to be able to return "unknown", in which case the situation is no worse than if getKind() was not present at all. [1] http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/tsg_sa/WG4_CODEC/TSGS4_64/Docs/S4-110502.zip -- Configure bugmail: http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are the QA contact for the bug.Received on Monday, 25 April 2011 17:16:17 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Friday, 17 January 2020 20:01:46 UTC


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sad sack, a(redirected from a sad sack)
sad sack
1. noun A hopelessly inept, blundering person who can't do anything right. That poor sad sack Sarah has been stuck in the same dead-end role in this company for years.
2. noun A sad, moping person, especially one who refuses to try and improve their mood or situation. Don't be such a sad sack—I know you're disappointed about missing the concert, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun tonight! He just sat there like a sad sack, sulking in the corner of the party.
3. verb To be in a sad, moping mood, especially while refusing to try and improve one's mood or situation. Usually used in the continuous tense; sometimes hyphenated. If you don't quit sad sacking back there, I'm going to turn the car around and drive us all straight back home! Bill's been sad-sacking around the office ever since he got passed over for the promotion.
sad sack
A singularly inept person, as in Poor George is a hopeless sad sack. This term alludes to a cartoon character, Sad Sack, invented by George Baker in 1942 and representing a soldier in ill-fitting uniform who failed at whatever he tried to do. It was soon transferred to clumsily inept civilians.
sad sackan inept blundering person. informal, chiefly US
sad sack
n. a sad person; a listless or depressed person. Tom always looks like such a sad sack.
sad sack, a
A pathetically inept individual. The term comes from a cartoon character named Sad Sack, invented by Sgt. George Baker and very popular during World War II. Baker's representation of a limp-looking soldier in ill-fitting, loose-hanging uniform, who tried to do his best but was neither smart nor lucky and consequently failed at whatever he undertook, caught on, and the name was transferred to the inept in civilian life.
See also: sad


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championship course
Membership Available
With 19 hitting bays on top-of-the-line mats and two full-time experienced golf instructors plus a full-size range, Fairways is the perfect place to improve your game, whether you are working on the full swing, short game, or putting.
We even have a practice pitching, bunkers and putting area.
Click Here to request more information about golf instruction at Fairways or call us today at 01463 713334.


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In the EU everything electrical comes with a two year warranty. I bought an MSF receiver module on eBay. It arrived from overseas and it took me a couple of weeks to get around to testing it when I realised it did not work.
I opened a PayPal dispute and they closed it because it had been longer than 45 days since I bought it. Some stuff takes nearly that long just to arrive from China! As usual PayPal are cocks.
I left the seller negative feedback because he refused to accept a return. I asked Santander about a charge-back but they refused too, the asshats.


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Features and Benefits
Supported Distributions & Kernels
Buy Now
About Us
Who We Are
Contact Us
Support Resources
KernelCare Resources
How to Install KernelCare
Subscribe to Patch Notifications
Open a Support Ticket
Try Free
Please configure GTranslate from WP-Admin -> Settings -> GTranslate to see it in action.
Live Patching Vulnerabilities on Linux Servers and Devices
Preventing Dangerous Patch Delays.
Trusted by Dell and 1,500+ others.
Learn about KernelCare in 60 seconds!
Run your servers for years without reboots with live Linux kernel updates.
Keep Linux kernels live patched and running without interruptions
KernelCare, the world's finest defender of Linux kernels, puts an end to rebooting servers just to apply patches to your kernel. It ensures that you never miss security patches, and your kernels are always up-to-date. KernelCare eliminates the need for staying up at night to deliver kernel patch updates, or coordinating downtime with your business units and various IT departments and locations.
KernelCare applies security patches automatically to a running kernel
. Live installation of security patches takes nanoseconds, doesn't alter the performance of servers, doesn't require a reboot, and quickly delivers a better, more secure Linux.
Bring all your kernels up-to-date with our free 30-day trial
Best of KernelCare
Never miss a critical patch
Promptly delivers the latest, best-in-class security patches for different Linux distributions -
never have vulnerable kernels again
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Installs automatic or managed kernel updates, with roll-back capability, to live or staging servers, without performance degradation or downtime -
run your servers for years without reboots
Quick, rebootless installation
Single-line installation is very easy and doesn't require a reboot -
your system will not experience any performance issues
. Enterprise-ready ePortal helps manage servers without internet access.
See Features and Benefits
Distributions live patched by KernelCare
KernelCare supports many popular Linux distributions; it works on different servers and environments.
See the list of supported kernels here
KernelCare supports CentOS/RHEL/CL 6, 6 hybrid & 7, CentOS 7 Plus, CentOS 6 Plus, OpenVZ & Virtuozzo, Debian 8 & 9, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, Proxmox VE 2.x, 3.x & 4.x, Xen4CentOS 6 & 7, Amazon Linux 1 & 2, Oracle UEK 3, 4 & 5, Oracle Enterprise Linux 6 & 7.
Details here
; other kernels will follow.
Custom kernel patching available.
servers running securely without reboots
Over 1500 customers trust KernelCare with their kernel security updates, including...
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What others think of our Linux kernel update service without reboots
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with a single line of code will ensure you never miss another kernel security patch.
Have Questions?
If you'd like to schedule a demo of KernelCare, have questions, or with trial and sales inquiries, please call us at
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, or
fill out this form
KernelCare is a product of CloudLinux, the company that is making Linux secure, stable and profitable since 2009. Its flagship product, CloudLinux OS, powers over 20 million websites.
© 2019 All rights reserved. CloudLinux Inc.


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Shares of Diebold Nixdorf Rank the Lowest in Terms of Return on Equity in the Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals Industry (DBD, CRAY, DDD, SSYS, EFII)
Below are the three companies in the Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals industry with the lowest return on equity. The ROE is a general indication of the company's efficiency; investors usually look for companies with ROEs that are high and are growing.
Diebold Nixdorf ranks lowest with a ROE of -5,108.3%. Following is Cray Inc with a ROE of -3,144.5%. 3D Systems Corp ranks third lowest with a ROE of -1,235.2%.
Stratasys Ltd follows with a ROE of -347.2%, and Elec For Imaging rounds out the bottom five with a ROE of -294.0%.
SmarTrend recommended that subscribers consider buying shares of Elec For Imaging on January 30th, 2019 as our technology indicated a new Uptrend was in progress when shares hit $25.32. Since that recommendation, shares of Elec For Imaging have risen 46.0%. We continue to monitor Elec For Imaging for any potential shift so investors can protect gains and will alert SmarTrend subscribers immediately.
Keywords: lowest return on equity diebold nixdorf cray inc 3d systems corp stratasys ltd elec for imaging


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From the in case you didn't notice files, readers and drivers, rejoice! This year is the 50th anniversary of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System. A special site called "Florida's Interstates - A Half Century of Progress" wants to "Welcome [you] to the party! There's a nationwide celebration going on in 2006.
It has been 50 years since the Interstate Highway System officially began with the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The Interstate System helps Florida provide many of the most livable communities in the nation for residents and visitors alike, while preserving the state's diverse environment.
Really? OK. I'm prepared to roll with that. But what about this?
I suggest you start off by viewing the video, Roads Well Traveled: 50 Years of Florida's Interstate System, or by reading Gerald Ensley's article, "When you think about it, interstate highways are pretty cool".
I view the video every day through a device I like to call my windshield. I'd prefer not to think about it.
America's would-be autobahn was the product of a February 1, 1939 directive to the Chief of the Bureau of Public Roads "to investigate and make a report of his findings and recommend to the Congress ... with respect to the feasibility of funding, and cost of, superhighways not exceeding three in number, running in a general direction from the eastern to the western portion of the United States, and not exceeding three in number, running in a general direction from the northern to the southern portion of the United States, including the feasibility of a toll system on such roads."
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The Bureau emphasized the need for action:
When one observes the countless impediments that embarrass the movement of twentieth-century traffic through the eighteenth century streets of some eastern cities one wonders how long it will be, with the assured further increase in traffic, before complete congestion will result.
Didn't we reach that point about 20 years ago, give or take? About 30 years or less after our "superhighways,
not exceeding [six] in number," opened for business?
In a stroke of unfortunate coincidence and having strictly nothing to do with this dubious celebration, Riptide is hard at work compiling New Times' upcoming Road Warriors' Guide to South Florida. Add your observations, anecdotes, advice, gripes and the like here at I-95 Sucks! and the best comments will be published with the guide in December.-Frank Houston


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Sigma 150-600mm lens F5-6.3 Contemporary-Nikon
Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM – C - Contemporary - Nikon Fit
Sigma have released a new telephoto zoom lens that will enable you to get superb quality shots even in demanding situations. This is the first hyper-telephoto lens from Sigma's contemporary range which aims for the greatest levels of portability possible.
Using this lens, you'll find it offers customisation and flexible adjustment for convenience and is compatible for use with the newly developed tele converters.
- High image quality and a compact construction based on the product concept of our Contemporary line.
- Enhanced functionality for better portability and usability.
- Customization and flexible adjustment for convenience or a specific purpose is possible.
- Compatible with the newly developed tele converters.
Park Verdict
This super tele-photo lens offer uncompromising optical performance, but at a more compact and lightweight size in comparison to their Sports version of this lens. This not only makes it easier to transport, it also means that is is possible to do handheld photography for a longer period of time. The supplied strap (which attaches to the tripod socket) makes it easier to carry, and doesn't affect the month of the lens if you were to carry the camera and lens only using the camera neck strap.
We Love
Light-weight and compact construction
Optical Stabilizer function using an accelerator sensor enables both vertical / horizontal panning with high accuracy
Dust-proof and splash-proof construction
Ability to keep lens up to date with firmware upgrade (using optional USB Dock)
|Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens Hands On Review


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Rest and Yoga
Downloaded "Dark Horse" by Nickelback last night. Gena and I listened to it pretty much all the way through. Some of it is really good, much what I expected. Some of it will probably grow on me. Some of it was sappy (Gotta sell to chics too!). And some of it was… meh. A little to much screaming, not quite the hard drive I was looking for, but all around not to bad. I'm afraid they've hit their peak though. "All The Right Reasons" was probably the top of the mountain. I'm glad Gena and I will always have that concert as one of our "first" memories.


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RARE Science works directly with patient families and foundations to find more immediate therapeutic solutions for children with rare diseases.
This year RARE Science is partnering with TQS (and a number of other great organizations) to bring you... the FIRST Ever Celebrity RARE Bear Auction! This is your opportunity to own a signed bear made by the quilt world's most talented artists while helping a great cause.
Meet "Flower" by Becky Goldsmith of Piece O' Cake Designs
Star Members can watch Becky in Show 1704: Color Challenges and a Quickie Quilt.
Flower is the kind of bear I'd like to find wandering around my garden. I chose yellow fabric because yellow is sunny and cheerful. Her shape reminded me of the 1960's (why is that?) so I chose daisy and butterfly applique designs to enhance that look. I think she's a very perky bear and she is ready for big hugs!
With "fur" of a wonderful sunshine yellow and featuring the trademark appliqué of Piece O' Cake designs, this lovely lady would bring joy to any home. Flower even features Becky's hand stitched "autograph".
Becky is an award-winning quilter who travels to teach quilting both nationally and internationally. Her classes are always interesting and informative, with an emphasis on teaching techniques that will help you improve your sewing skills—while keeping it fun.
Making quilts is interesting, fulfilling, and challenging—for all of us! Being a member of the greater quilting community is a bonus that adds to all of our lives. Becky never imagined that being a quilter would become her life's work, but she's so happy that it did!
Click here for links to see more Celebrity RARE Bears.


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Clean Water For the People: DigDeep Brings Water Rights to the Masses
Celebrating access to clean water. photo: digdeepwater.org
One of the biggest challenges developing countries face is the widespread lack of access to clean, uncontaminated water. Residents of remote villages with little infrastructure often have to spend an incredible amount of time and energy searching for potable water sources. Thiskeeps them from focusing on things like education, working to support their families and other activities that studies have shown are the key to breaking the vicious cycle of poverty. Furthermore, the water they do find is often dirty, contaminated and unfit for human consumption, leading to serious health problems that often prove to be fatal. It's a massive, worldwide problem that governments have made little progress on over the years—but a group of young, Los Angeles-based humanitarian visionaries are aiming to change all that by empowering the local communities they work with to take ownership of and manage their own water resources. DigDeep, which was founded in 2010 by George McGraw, first works with rural communities across the planet to develop access to clean water by providing infrastructure to dig wells and build distribution systems. They then collaborate with locals to form 'water councils'—groups of 8-10 villagers who care for a new water source. According to DigDeep, their input and decision making is crucial to ensure each project's long-term sustainability.
"Clean water is not a privilege,
but a human right"
What's unique about DigDeep is their philosophy and approach to solving the worldwide water crisis—to them, water is not a privilege, but a human right and one that is best managed by the very people who it is intended for. They simply help communities access their own resources and then empower them to take ownership. It's a beautiful model that has been massively successful to date, with projects currently operating in South Sudan, Cameroon and New Mexico and an education and outreach program in Kashmir, Pakistan.DigDeep also has an innovative organizational structure that allows them to pass 100% of donations directly into their projects. An egalitarian mirror of their field model, DigDeep has their own 'water council' made up of a group of 'venture philanthropists' who generously cover their operating costs so that they can focus on what matters—giving rural communities across the planet access to a basic human right—clean water.
This article originally appears in the Feb. – Apr. 2014 Issue of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine. You can download a copy of this issue by clicking here or subscribe by clicking here
830 Traction Ave, Suite 3A
Los Angeles, CA 90013
About The Author
Justin Faerman is the Co-founder of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine.


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Bungalow 8
Boasting uninterrupted views of Darling Harbour, Bungalow 8 is the perfect place to relax and socialise over food and drinks.
IMPORTANT: Bungalow 8 is currently not trading.
Escape the faced-paced surroundings of Sydney and revel in the beach side tropical vibes of Bungalow 8. Step into this sun-drenched sanctuary on Sydney Harbour for a taste of Beverley Hills old-world glamour and trust when we say, you'll be in no rush to leave.
Whether you're after a long lunch, a cocktail filled afternoon, after-work drinks or dancing away the night into the early hours of the morning, Bungalow 8 is an idyllic destination any time of the day, all week long.


text:
On Sale
Chantilly Girls Dress with Cap Sleeves
Chantilly is the grace and beauty of organza with Chantilly trim in this light and intricate girls dress.
- Ivory or White Organza
- Chantilly lace trim
- Cap sleeve
- Scoop neck
- full skirt
- Covered buttons and back bow
- Includes petticoat
- Perfect for wedding flower girls, communion dress, birthday dress, and cotillion dress
- Dress can be customized. Custom cuts, additional length, etc. Contact us for additional details.
- Sisters? See Chantilly Baby Dress with Cap Sleeves for sizes 12-24m.
Ethically Manufactured - Isabel Garretón, carefully crafted and designed while providing a dignified work opportunity to underprivileged women. Learn more.


text:
- This event has passed.
Morning Prayer – Every Weekday in Lent
March 25, 2019 @ 8:00 am - 8:30 am
MORNING PRAYER will be prayed each weekday, Monday through Friday, from 8:00-8:30 AM in the Chapel during Lent. Morning Prayer is a traditional Book of Common Prayer Service of prayer and scripture. All are welcome.


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Behaviour Advice
Advice and practical support with a range of behaviours that are worrying or
frustrating you. A home-visit lasting approximately 2 hours, followed by notes to help
remind you of the advice given.
Follow-up support over the phone or via email, or reduced cost for follow up visits.
To ensure that your dog's behaviour problem is not caused by an underlying medical condition, it will normally be necessary to visit your vet before my visit. I am very happy to liaise with your vet.
Please phone or email to discuss your needs, it isnt possible to book a behaviour visit online
Approximately 2 hour visit and notes from £60
All courses and one to one sessions are fully insured.


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GNOME.Asia was held in Bangalore from 28th March to 3st April. It included a hackfest from 28th March to 1st April and two days of GNOME.Asia summit on April 2nd and April 3rd.
On 1st of April I attended AndroidCamp and was drenched by the time I came back home. only to find myself not well to attend on the first day of the summit. The first day was cut short to half because you Cricket World Cup Finals. India was in finals, the summit is in India and India is a country where cricket is religion and you expect people to turn up? 🙂
As I heard from Manu, the first day turnout was huge. That day India won the World Cup (YAY!). Next day I somehow managed to get up and head towards the venue (only 30 kms from my home). I was one of the few people who reached the venue before 10AM on Sunday.
The first session I attended was from Allan Day on Designing the next generation desktop. Then I proceeded to another hall where Andre Klapper was giving his talk on Contributing to GNOME Documentation. He had some examples which was more easy to understand than plain talk on concepts and theory.
By the time Andre finished his talk, I met more friends – Yuvraj, Sindhu and Shashi. Next talk was from Yuvi who was talking on GStreamer 101. He explained GStreamer from a newbie perspective and slowly his talk started carrying more geeky explanation (expected). He continued even after his session got over by explaining his he got into GSoC on the Cheese project. He is the REAL motivator 🙂
When Yuvi finished his talk, Manu and Sankar were waiting for me outside the hall. This is the first time I met both of them even though Manu is from my college. There were more students from my college – two names I can remember is Vikas and Saurabh. Looks like LUG Manipal bore some substantial results.
After these session, I had a golden moment of my life when I went and met Vincent Untz. He is the current Godfather of GNOME. We both talked a bit on Zeitgeist when Allan Day and Andreas Nilsson also joined the conversation for a minute or two before we all moved for lunch.
The only two talks I attended in second half was on GDK(entered late so didn't remember much) and another on DLNA in GNOME3 world by Arun Raghvan. I could not attend any other talk because I came out to talk to our friends when we met after a long time.
I am a bit sad that I missed a few talks. One of them was by Manu on Libyui and Contributions made by a newbie to free desktop's empathy by Chandani Verma. I should have stayed back and also attended the Lightening talks. All the slides are available here
The event was well organized. I could not see any kind of chaos or anarchy. The openSUSE stall was filled up with students asking for it's CD. I saw many students trying out openSUSE and guess what – most of them had Ubuntu installed. Whenever I glanced here or there, I could see people using Ubuntu everywhere 🙂


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I'm a psychology professor/researcher and mom of three. When I was trying to get pregnant, I read everything I could find — and was surprised to find how much advice on fertility was wrong, according to the medical research. Or it was weird, like the statistics on over-35 fertility based on birth records from 17th century France (really!) Plus so many fertility books were boring, or written by men, or written by boring men. That's why I wrote The Impatient Woman's Guide to Getting Pregnant.
In this blog I'll write about some of the topics that came up when I was writing the book — I'd love to hear what you think about them, and about what your journey was like in trying to get pregnant. I'll also use this as a place to make sure the book stays up to date with the most current research.


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Vegan (baked or raw) Cookie
Vegan Gluten Free Cookie
So good, so simple….
1 cup Dates (soak for 15 minutes, peel, remove seeds)
1 Banana
2 tbsp. Natural almond butter
¾ cup Almond meal (ground from raw almonds)
1 cup Gluten free rolled oats (I use 2 packets from GF Oatmeal)
Into a food processor:
– Add the dates; pulse to finely chop.
– Add banana and almond butter to dates. Mix well.
– Add the almond meal and rolled oats; process until dough forms.
Place mixture into a mixing bowl. Stir in ¼ cup of rinsed raisins and ¼ cup of rinsed, chopped raw walnuts. Mix together.
Scoop out one tablespoon amounts of batter, place on parchment paper, and gently shape into round mounds.
If baked: place in preheated 325 degree oven and bake for 15 minutes. They can remain on cookie sheet as they cool.
If keeping raw: dehydrate at 115 degrees for 12 hours, or until dry on the outside.
If stored in a container at room temperature, good for 5-7 days. If stored in the freezer until gone.
Benefits of Raw Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds have the power to nourish the entire body.
- They are a rich source of easily digestible protein which is essential for the repair of tissues, nerves, and cells.
- Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of Vitamin D, B-complex, Vitamin K, and Vitamin E. Vitamin E, also aid in preventing heart disease, cancer, and eye degeneration such as cataracts.
- Sunflower seeds are also high in selenium, magnesium, zinc, and iron which helps to strengthen the blood and immune system.
- They are an ideal food to eat for those who are seeking better sleep and weight loss.
- Sunflower seeds have also been known to help prevent asthma, atherosclerosis, stroke, heart attack, clogged arteries, and osteoarthritis.
- They contain no cholesterol and are very low in saturated fats making them highly beneficial for the cardiovascular system.
- Raw sunflower seeds also contain pectin which has the unique ability to bind to radioactive residues and remove them safely from the body.
- Sunflower seeds can help to relieve sensitivity to light, eyestrain, and farsightedness.
- They also are highly beneficial for strengthening hair and nails.
Mock Tuna Pate'
Mock Tuna Pate'
2 cups raw sunflower seeds, soaked 4 hours, rinsed
1 cup raw pecans, soaked 4 hours, rinsed *
¼ cup minced onion (or 2 tsp. onion powder)
2 tbsp. minced fresh parsley (or 4 tsp. dry)
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. sea salt
¼ cup coconut aminos
In a bowl, place all ingredients, except the seeds and nuts. Mix well.
In the food processor, process the sunflower seeds into a paste. Add the pecans pulse until the pecans are the texture you like. If you prefer the pecans to be a paste, add seeds and nuts at the same time.
Scrape the seed and nut mixture into the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix well.
Store the Mock Tuna in a sealed glass container, in the refrigerator. Good for 5 days.
The Mock Tuna is very versatile.
~ Make a salad and place the Mock Tuna on top.
~ Use Bibb lettuce, place the Mock Tuna on a leaf, and roll like a burrito.
~ Hollow out zucchini and fill the boat with the Mock Tuna.
~ Use as a dip with your favorite crackers or veggies.
~ If you like a crunch, finally chop ½ cup of celery and mix in.
*I have used walnut and almonds. All the nuts give it a different taste.
Simple Coconut Sorbet
Simple Coconut Sorbet
1 can Coconut Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
6 Medjool Dates, soaked and pealed
~ Place all ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth.
~ Poor into an ice cream maker; takes about 15-20 minutes.
(If you do not have an ice cream maker, place in freezer container, freeze to consistency you like and enjoy.)
1 cup raw almonds, soaked for minimum 4 hours, drained & rinsed *
1 cup raw cashews, soaked for minimum 4 hours, drained & rinsed
1 cup raw filberts, soaked for minimum 4 hours, drained & rinsed
1 cup raw Brazil nuts, soaked for minimum 4 hours, drained & rinsed
1 cup pecans, soaked for 4 hours, drained & rinsed
1 cup walnuts, soaked for 4 hours, drained & rinsed
1 cup organic raisins, rinsed
1 cup cranberries (organic sweetened in apple juice)
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp vanilla (or non-alcohol vanilla if available)
2 tbsp cinnamon (more or less taste)
4 tbsp agave (more or less to taste)
~ Place all nuts and seeds into food processor, chop until crumbly. Transfer to large bowl.
~ Stir in lemon juice. Stir in vanilla.
~ Add raisins and cranberries. (Lightly chop if preferred.)
~ Toss with cinnamon. Stir in agave or honey.
~ Transfer to dehydrator sheets, lightly press.
~ Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 18 – 24 hours (or until dry). After 12 hours, flip the mixture.
~ When cool, place in glass jar and enjoy.
~ The Granola keeps for 4 weeks.
* I always peal the skin off of the almonds, after soaked
NOTE: You can use any combination of nuts and seeds to your liking.
Vanilla Macaroons
Vanilla Macaroons
3 cups raw shredded coconut
3/4 cup cashew nut flour (Grind cashews in food processor.)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. vanilla
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
~ Put agave, vanilla, melted coconut oil and salt in the food processor; blend.
~ Add cashew flour, mix well.
~ Transfer to a bowl, add the shredded coconut and mix thoroughly.
I have found I like to use the two-tablespoon cookie scoop. Place on dehydrator screens. Dehydrate for the desired amount of time, depending on how moist you would like the center; 10-12 hours at 115 degrees. Makes approximately 20 cookies
I prefer storing the macaroons in the freezer. When they thaw they taste just like they did out of the dehydrator.
1 cup Raw Macadamia nuts
1 cup Fresh Basil
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
1 tbsp. Cold pressed Olive Oil
1 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 cup Water (More or less for desired texture.)
Put macadamia nuts in a food processor, pulse. Add the rest of the ingredients and process well.
2 cups Tomatoes, chopped (I use plum, peel and I take out the seeds)
1 cup Sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for 1 hour, chopped
½ tsp. Red pepper flakes (optional)
2 Dates, peeled, lightly chopped
½ tsp. Sea Salt
Put all the ingredients in the food processor and process until smooth, or texture you like.
4-6 Medium Zucchini
With a vegetable peeler, peel the zucchini. Use a spiralizer, if you have one; the zucchini will look like spaghetti. Or, use the vegetable peeler to shred the zucchini; looks like fettuccini.
12 Kalamata olives, pitted, lightly chopped
Putting together:
Place Zucchini into a large bowl. Toss well, with the Pesto. Lightly toss with the Marinara and the Kalamata olives.
* The recipe is very easy to cut on half.
7 Benefits Of Quinoa
Nutty Flax Crackers
1 cup raw pecans or walnuts
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup raw almonds
¼ cup ground or unground flaxseed
1 med tomato
1 cup onion
1-2 tsps. sea salt
- Add all ingredients to a food processor. Process, until well blended, but still a little chunky.
- Spread onto dehydrator sheets. (I like to place another Teflex sheet over and use a rolling pin.) Score, for desired size of crackers.
- Dehydrate for 12 hours at 115 degrees. After 4-6 hours flip the crackers for even drying. (Longer if desired.)
- Store in glass container.
Mock Tuna Salad
1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked 4 hours and rinsed
¼ cup water
½ cup almonds, soaked 4 hours, peeled (if you prefer) and rinsed
½ cup walnuts, soaked 2 hours, and rinsed
¼ cup red onion, finely chopped, or more to taste
1 cup celery, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, finely chopped, (or 2 teaspoons dried)
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. Celtic sea salt
1 tbsp. Aminos, to taste, (I use the raw coconut aminos)
In a separate bowl, place the onion, celery, lemon juice, aminos, parsley and salt; mix well, set aside.
Process the sunflower seeds in a food processor, add water. Mix well and transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
Place almonds and walnuts in food processor. Chop to desired texture. Transfer to the mixing bowl.
Mix nuts and seeds well. Add the onion mixture and mix well.
Store in sealed container; keeps 5 to 7 days.
~ Serve a couple of different ways:
Roll in Bibb lettuce.
Chop lettuce and place mock tuna mixture on top.
Use as a pate.


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The Country Inn & Suites, Camp Springs is located less than 10 miles southeast of Washington DC. Complimentary shuttle is now available to and from the Branch Ave Metro Station-green line, as well as the Andrews Air force Base and Gaylord Convention Center. Shuttle runs Monday-Saturday 7am09pm and Sunday, 8am-4pm. We are conveniently located less than 3 miles from Andrews AFB, approximately 0.6 miles from the Branch Ave Metro station and 5 miles from the Potomac Gaylord Convention Center. We are right off of Interstate 495, exit 7B. The elegant decor, warm atmosphere and our friendly staff will make you feel right at home. Camp Springs hotel is conveniently located near numerous attractions which are accesible by the near by Branch Ave. Metro Station. These attractions include the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument Smithsonian, and more!
2 King Beds
Amenities· 24-hour front desk
· Accessible facilities
· Accessible parking
· Air conditioning
· Baggage hold
· Banquet facilities
· Brailed elevators
· Business center
· Business services
· Coffee shop - (In Area)
· Complimentary in-room coffee or tea
· Complimentary newspaper delivered to room
· Conference facilities
· Desk with electrical outlet
· Driving range - (In Area)
· Elevators
· Exercise gym
· Express check-out
· Fax service
· Free high speed internet connection
· Free parking
· Front desk
· Golf - (In Area)
· Golf - (In Area)
· Hair dryer
· Health club
· High speed internet access for laptop in public areas
· Hot breakfast
· Housekeeping - daily
· Ice machine
· Ironing board
· Laundry/Valet service
· Meeting rooms
· Nightclub - (In Area)
· Non-smoking rooms (generic)
· Outdoor parking
· Pets allowed
· Photocopy center
· Safe deposit box
· Security
· Spa
· Train access - (In Area)
· Vending machines
· Wheel chair access
· Wireless internet connection in public areas
Room InformationAir conditioning, CNN availaible, All news channel, Cable television, Coffee/Tea maker, Electrical current voltage, Fire alarm, Fire alarm with light, Grab bars in bathroom, Complimentary high speed internet in room, Iron, Ironing board, Kitchen, Microwave, Modem, Hairdryer, Newspaper, Free newspaper, Pay per view movies on TV, Refrigerator, Smoke detectors, Sofa bed, ESPN available, HBO available, Pets allowed, Non-refundable charge for pets, Accessible room, Silverware/utensils, Plates and bowls, Cups/glassware, Pots and pans, Stove
Miscellaneous Information
· American Dollars is the native currency.
· Check in time is 3:00 PM
· Check out time is 12:00 PM
· Time Zone is EST
· Opened in 2007
· Renovated in 01/01/2007
· 94 rooms.
· 13 suites.
· 3 floors.
Cancellation Policy
-Because the cancel policy may vary by rate please see individual rate details for cancellation policy.
Restaurant InformationRed Lobster
5051 Auth Rd, Suitland MD, 20746 Restaurant is 100 percent non-smoking Phone 301.423.3715Applebee's
1000 Largo Center Drive, Largo, MD 20774 only a ten minute driveDomino's
6426 Old Branch Ave, Temple Hills, MD 20748 Phone: 301-449-3030 DeliveryPopeyes
4913 Allentown Rd, Camp Springs, MD 20746 (301)967-1336Roma Pizza
Located in the Woodbury Shopping CenterAndrew's Chinese Restaurant
Located at 6407 Suitland Road, Suitland, MD 20746 Phone 301-735-9320Regina Pizzeria and Restaurant
Located at 6339 Allentown Road Camp Springs, MD Phone 301-449-6785Mama Stella's Ristorante Italiano
Located at 7918 Old Branch Ave. Clinton, MD Phone : 301-868-3057Breakfast Room
Located near the lobbyRuby Tuesday
10 min South on Route 5 8881 BRANCH AVENUE, CLINTON, MD 20735 301-877-8009Topolinos
6426 Old Branch Ave. Temple Hills, MD Phone 301-446-3030
Meeting FacilityMeeting Room
Class room style, conference style, board room style - available according to preferences. Tables and chairs available. ***Call hotel for prices***
Recreation Information
Fitness center on-site
Tennis court
Area Attractions- RONALD REAGAN NATIONAL ARPT
- Airmen Memorial Museum
-Museum - across the parking lot- The Boulevard Shopping Mall
Shopping at the Capital Centre Building - in Largo MD- Baltimore Inner Harbor
Baltimore Harbor- Bowie Maysox Club
Baseball Stadium- Branch Ave, Metro
DC Metro- BWI Airport
Airport- Dulles International Airport
Airport- Harmony Hall
Community Center- Hensen Creek
Six mile trail- Magic Johnson Theaters
Movie Theater- MCI Center
Convention Center- NASA Goddard Space Center
Winter Sports- National Capital Curling Center
Winter Sports- Naval Academy
Tour Center- Reagan National Airport
Airport- Rosecroft Raceway
Horse Raceway- Show Place Arena
Various Events- Six Flags
Amusement Park- Andrews Airforce Base
Military Installation- University Of Maryland
College Park- FedEx Field Sports
.- US Airways Arena
Arena- Andrews AFB
Military Installation- The White House
Monument- Bethesda Ntl Naval Medical Ctr
Military Installation- Coast Guard Headquarters
Military Installation- Coast Guard Yard
Military Installation- Dahlgren Naval Warfare Ctr
Military Installation- DC National Guard
Military Installation- Fort Belvoir
Military Installation- Fort McNair
Military Installation- Fort Meade
Military Installation- Fort Myer
Military Installation- Henderson Hall
Military Installation- Indian Head Naval Warfare Ctr
Military Installation- Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling
Military Installation- Marine Barracks Washington
Military Installation- Marine Safety Center
Military Installation- National Maritime Center
Military Installation- National Pollution Funds Center
Military Installation- National Response Center
Military Installation- Naval Support Activity Annapolis
Military Installation- Quantico Marine Corps Base
Military Installation- US Naval Academy
Military Installation- USCG Engineering Logistics Center
Military Installation- USCG Navigation Center
Military Installation- USCG Telecommunication Command
Military Installation- Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Military Installation- Washington Navy Yard
Military Installation- City Center
City Center


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Bloc Weekender Sells Out
The Quietus
, March 11th, 2009 09:35
5,000 ravers to descend upon Butlins
This year's Bloc Weekender has now sold out.
Taking place at Butlins in Minehead this weekend (March 13th-15th), the event's bill features the likes of Aphex Twin, Afrika Bambaataa and Lee 'Scratch' Perry alongside the cream of the upcoming dance set, with Kode9, Appleblim, Joker, Martyn, Rustie and Hudson Mohawke all representing.
Celebrating the selling of all 5,000 tickets, organisers were moved to promise "A ram-jam-packout pleasuredome of such audio paradise that the whole time you're there you won't dare close your eyes in case you go to open them again and it's all been taken away."
If you managed to get your ticket in time, The Quietus will see you there. We'll be the pale spods flailing around with fag-lungs in the deep end of the aqua park and making gun hands at Zion Train.
If you love our features, news and reviews, please support what we do with a one-off or regular donation. Year-on-year, our corporate advertising is down by around 90% - a figure that threatens to sink The Quietus. Hit this link to find out more and keep on Black Sky Thinking.


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87. Ambassadors, and all other diplomatic agents of neutral powers accredited to the enemy may receive safe-conducts through the territories occupied by the belligerent, unless there are military reasons to the contrary,and unless they may reach the place of their destination conveniently by another route. It implies no international affront if the safe-conduct is declined. Such passes are usually given by the supreme authority of the state and not by subordinate officers.
88. A spy is a person who secretly, in disguise if under false pretense, seeks information with the intention of communicating it to the enemy,.
The spy is punishable with death by hanging by the neck, whether or not he succeed in obtaining the information or in conveying it to the enemy.
89. If a citizen of the United States obtains information in a legitimate manner and betrays it to the enemy, be he a military or civil officer, or a private citizen, he shall suffer death.
90. A traitor under the law of war, or a war-traitor, is a person in a place or district under martial law who, unauthorized by the military commander, gives information of any kind to the enemy, or holds intercourse with him.
91. The war-traitor is always severely punished. If his offense consists in betraying to the enemy anything concerning the condition, safety, operations, or plans of the troops holding or occupying the place or district, his punishment is dearth.
92. If the citizen or subject of a country or place invaded or conquered gives information to his own government, from which he is separate by the hostile army, or to the army of his government, he is a war-traitor, and death is the penalty of his offense.
93. All armies in the field stand in need of guides, and impress them if they cannot obtain them otherwise.
94. No person having been forced by the enemy to serve as guide is punishable for having done so.
95. If a citizen of a hostile and invaded district voluntarily serves as a guide to the enemy, or offers to do so, he is deemed a war-traitor and shall suffer death.
96. A citizen serving voluntarily as a guide against his own country commits treason, and will be dealt with according to the law of his country.
97. Guides, when it is clearly proved that they have misled intentionally, may be put to death.
98. All unauthorized or secret communication with the enemy is considered treasonable by the law of war.
Foreign residents in an invaded or occupied territory or foreign visitors in the same can claim no immunity form this law. They may communicate with foreign parts or with the inhabitants of the hostile country, so far as the military authority permits, but no further. Instant explosion from the occupied territory would be the very least punishment for the infraction of this rule.
99. A messenger carrying written dispatches or verbal messages from one portion of the army of from a besieged place to another portion of the same army of its government, if armed,and in the uniform of his army, and if captured while doing so in the territory occupied by the enemy, is treated by the captor as a prisoner of war. If not in uniform nor a soldier, the circumstances connected with his capture must determine the disposition that shall be made of him.
100. A messenger or agent who attempts to setae thorough the territory occupied by the enemy to further in any manner the interests of


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All this curious development of the sixth century B.C. is extremely important for psychology. For with this wrenching of psyche = life over to psyche = soul, there came other changes to balance it as the enormous inner tensions of a lexicon always do. The word soma had meant corpse or deadness, the opposite of psyche as livingness. So now, as psyche becomes soul, so soma remains as its opposite, becoming body. And dualism, the supposed separation of soul and body, has begun.
But the matter does not stop there. In Pindar, Heraclitus, and others around 500 B.C., psyche and nous begin to coalesce. It is now the conscious subjective mind-space and its self that is opposed to the material body. Cults spring up about this new wonder-provoking division between psyche and soma. It both excites and seems to explain the new conscious experience, thus reinforcing its very existence. The conscious psyche is imprisoned in the body as in a tomb. It becomes an object of wide-eyed controversy. Where is it? And the locations in the body or out-side it vary. What is it made of? Water (Thales), blood, air (Anaximenes), breath (Xenophanes), fire (Heraclitus), and so on, as the science of it all begins in a morass of pseudoquestions.
So dualism, that central difficulty in this problem of consciousness, begins its huge haunted career through history, to be firmly set in the firmament of thought by Plato, moving through Gnosticism into the great religions, up through the arrogant assurances of Descartes to become one of the great spurious quandaries of modern psychology.
At the beginning, we noted that archaeologists, by brushing the dust of the ages from around the broken shards of pottery from the period of the Dorian invasions, have been able to reveal continuities and changes from site to site, and so to prove that a complex series of migrations was occurring. In a sense, we have been doing the same thing with language throughout this chapter. We have taken broken-off bits of vocabulary, those that came to refer to some kind of mental function, and by their contexts from text to text, attempted to demonstrate that a huge complex series of changes in mentality was going on during these obscure periods that followed the Dorian invasions in Greece.
Let no one think these are just word changes. Word changes are concept changes and concept changes are behavioral changes. The entire history of religions and of politics and even of science stands shrill witness to that. Without words like soul, liberty, or truth, the pageant of this human condition would have been filled with different roles, different climaxes. And so with the words we have designated as preconscious hypostases, which by the generating process of metaphor through these few centuries unite into the operator of consciousness.
I have now completed that part of the story of Greek consciousness that I intended to tell. More of it could be told, how the two nonstimulus-bound hypostases come to overshadow the rest, how nous and psyche come to be almost interchangeable in later writers, such as Parmenides and Democritus, and take on even new metaphor depths with the invention of logos and of the forms of truth, virtue, and beauty.
But that is another task. The Greek subjective conscious mind, quite apart from its pseudostructure of soul, has been born out of song and poetry. From here it moves out into its own history, into the narratizing introspections of a Socrates and the spatialized classifications and analyses of an Aristotle, and from there into Hebrew, Alexandrian, and Roman thought. And then into the history of a world which, because of it, will never be the same again.
Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.


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Thursday, 27 December 2012
8 comments:
I think that is an incredible idea Nilly, how exciting to open your gifts, think it was definitely a draw! Your worm mug was pure genius mind but the strawberry bag brought it back to even stevens! The strawberry looked funky in your hair, a multi purpose item if ever there was one! Happy Christmas - love those mittens!ReplyDelete
I don't get Gift Envy but ohhhhhhh that bag!!!ReplyDelete
You both deserve the top accolade. I am sure that it is lots of fun, and not just restricted to September or October. During the year I suspect that you are both giving some thought as to what you might do. Do you open them together?ReplyDelete
Shame it wasn't snails - I could have arranged to send some of my chocolate ones! Lovely unusual and distinctive gifts - a lovely idea, Nilly. Happy New Year - looking forward to reading more in 2013. AxxxReplyDelete
Just catching up with you, Nilly...ReplyDelete
Great picture of your wee grandchild and the Christmas turkey! Awwww.
I wanted to wish you and all you hold dearest a 'happy new year'~ And thank you for your blogging friend ship....Lets hope 2013 is a kind year for us all!
Love Maria x


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"Why favor the traitor…?": Highlights from The American Civil War Collection, 1860-1922
Also found here is an early 20th-century military history by James Madison Drake, a Civil War veteran and 1873 recipient of the Medal of Honor for "extraordinary heroism on 6 May, 1864."
By Charles Frederick Blake
Charles Frederick Blake wrote this work, Prerogative Rights and Public Law, in response to William Whiting's The War Powers of the President and the Legislative Powers of Congress in Relation to Rebellion, Treason, and Slavery. Whiting had postulated the U.S. government had full belligerent rights against the inhabitants of seceded states, and without going beyond the Constitution could confiscate their property, emancipate their slaves, and treat them as public enemies. Before countering Whiting's specific arguments, Blake begins his reply by noting the paradoxes in which both armed rebels fighting for secession and civilians living under secessionist governments found themselves:
The general doctrine, that the government may wield against the rebels sovereign and belligerent rights, admits of no serious doubt. It is equally clear that it is subject to some restrictions. It will not be claimed, for instance, that the government can accept the surrender of a military force, and then subject its members to indictment and trial for treason. It cannot take them as enemies and try them as traitors. And it may well be doubted whether the inhabitants of States whose governments have been usurped by traitors, can be liable criminally for acts done in obedience to the laws imposed upon them by the usurpers.
Blake continued introducing his opposition to Whiting by arguing the federal government is further restricted by the presumption of innocence and the separation of powers as prescribed by the Constitution:
It is a fundamental principle of law that every man is presumed to be innocent until he has been proved guilty; and nothing is more carefully provided for in the constitution than the separation of the legislative and the judicial power. Therefore Congress, in the exercise of its power of legislation, cannot treat the inhabitants of a certain part of the country as guilty of treason; for by its very nature it is incompetent to distinguish between guilt and the innocence of any portion of its constituency. It can indeed learn that the laws of the United States are impeded by combinations of armed men; it can provide laws by which the courts may condemn the guilty; it can furnish means to the Executive for the enforcement of his authority; but it cannot apply the penalties which it creates, nor wield the force which it calls into the field against any class of citizens, and concern them only. Guided by these familiar landmarks, we can now approach the position of Mr. Whiting.
Delivered in the House of Representatives, February 2, 1864
Representative John M. Broomall, who served in the Union Army prior to his election to the House of Representatives, spoke to another legal paradox. Broomall called the House's attention to the apparent loophole that allowed the government to take possession of a traitor's property for only the period of the traitor's life, after which possession would revert to the offender's heirs:
The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Cox] maintains that by the restriction the lands of the offender can only be taken for life as a punishment for the crime of treason…This position is singular. There are other crimes against the United States, besides the crime of treason, running from it down the scale of depravity, to the fraudulent use of postage stamps. A few of these are punished with death, but most of them by fine and imprisonment. To satisfy the fine imposed for some small larceny committed on the high seas, the lands of the offender may be sold from him absolutely; and yet it is gravely urged that for the crime of treason—the highest known to the law—they can only be sold for the life of the offender. The absurdity of this position becomes the more manifest when it is remembered that at the time of the formation of the Constitution there was no punishment known for the crime of treason in any country in the world except that of death.
Broomall noted the government could change the punishment for treason to a lengthy imprisonment, allowing at least a temporary benefit from the forfeited property, but he then returned to the crux of his speech, asking,
Why favor the traitor more than the murderer, the pirate, the forger, the thief?
By James Madison Drake
James Madison Drake was a Union soldier who, for his action during the Battle of Port Walthall Junction in Virginia on May 6, 1864, received the Medal of Honor. His citation reads, "Commanded the skirmish line in the advance and held his position all day and during the night."
Later in life Drake wrote this history of the American Revolution and Civil War. He began with this introduction:
The sketches of the Revolutionary War are founded upon legends I fondly heard when a youth from revolutionary sires and their descendants, as well as from official reports and statements appearing in the newspapers of that period, while those relating to the Civil War furnished by the actors, some of whom are still living, are given that the heroic actions of my comrades may not be effaced by time nor their wondrous deeds deprived of renown.
The modest work is submitted with the fond hope that it may revive proud recollections in the hearts of all true Americans, and inspire them with patriotism and greater love of country, for which its braves sacrificed so much.
What the author has done (in the pages which follow) in chronicling and perpetuating the brilliant history of New Jerseymen he much fears will be but an epitome of what might be recorded, but such as it is he dedicates it to the patriotic people of America.
For more information about The American Civil War Collection, 1860-1922, or to request a trial for your institution, please contact email@example.com.


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Environmental Film Festival Series
April 7, 2011 at 7:52 am (Bumblebee, Elaine Evans, Environment, Happy Tonics)
Tags: bumblebee, Elaine Evens, Environmental Film Series, Happy Tonics, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, LCOOCC, Silencing of the Bees
Peace Messenger from Center of Sacred Studies
April 6, 2011 at 12:12 am (Center of Sacred Studies, International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers)
Tags: Alena Hrabcakova, Art Therapist, Center of Sacred Studies, Change, Daily lives, Grandmother Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance, Grandmothers Tsering Dolma Gyaltong, Hospitality House Minong, International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, Kindness, Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Ohio, Peace in homes, Peace Messenger, Peace with familes and communities, Practice love, Red Lake Band of Chippewa, Red Lake Reservation Minnesota, Sacred Ceremony, Sp;iritual selves, Tribal Journal, Women
Dear Members,
Welcome to the Spring, 2011 issue of the Center for Sacred Studies Peace Messenger.
In this time of upheaval, we are called to our highest spiritual selves to respond with kindness in our daily lives. Thank you for your part in creating peace in your homes, your families and your communities. Thank you for practicing love in the face of change.
From all of us in the CSS community.
|CSS Mission: Sustaining indigenous ways of life through cross-cultural practices, ministry and education, and a commitment to peace and unity for all peoples.
On a personal note, my friend Alena Hrabcakova, Art Therapist, Red Lake Reservation, Minnesota, home to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, will graduate from the Center of Sacred Studies on April 17. I am very proud of her. Alena followed in my footsteps. She read my published article in Tribal Journal and decided to move from Ohio to work with tribal students and tribe after the tragic killings in the school several years ago. I am looking forward to her coming to Wisconsin in the summer of 2011. She will offer a Sacred Ceremony at the Hospitality House in Minong for women who come as sisters for the Sisterhood of the Planetary Water Rites. Alena will also visit the Monarch Butterfly Habitat in Shell Lake while here. I haven't seen her since she first visited several years ago. We both have reached milestones this year. A reunion will be so lovely.
Visit the Center for Sacred Studies at http://www.sacredstudies.org/
International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers at http://www.grandmotherscouncil.org/


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Route through South America
Here you can find every single stop along the way in this enormous route through South America. On the right a pie chart showing you the mount of days we spent in each country.
You can zoom on the map and find a related article to each stop/number, most of it is still in spanish but it might be useful.
Good luck on the way!


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PAOLO NUTINI is up against bands like Fatherson, The Twilight Sad, Belle and Sebastian, Errors and Honeyblood for The Scottish Album of the Year Awards.
The Paisley singer's 2014 No.1 Caustic Love is among the records on the long list for the fourth annual celebration of Scots music. It also includes Amphetamine Ballads by the now defunct Amazing Snakeheads who had been tipped as the next big thing by music experts.
The prizes will be handed out by radio presenters Vic Galloway and Janice Forsyth, at a ceremony on June 17 at the 02 ABC in Glasgow.
From Monday (April 27) fans will be able to stream one of the 20 nominated albums each weekday at www.sayaward.com , starting with Fatherson's I Am An Island. Listeners can catch up on each week's five featured albums over the weekend.
There will then be a 72 hour public vote starting on Monday May 25.
The album with the most public votes will secure an automatic place on the shortlist, with the other nine titles chosen by an independent panel of judges.
Stewart Henderson, chair of The Scottish Music Industry Association, said: "With another great longlist to promote The SAY Award is really coming into its own as one of the most unique and progressive music prizes in the UK.
"By encouraging the public to listen to all 20 albums and hopefully discover something new and exciting in the process, The SAY Award highlights Scotland's extraordinary musical output and reinforces how important it is that we value our artists' work and support them at retail."
Have your say on the SAY Award long list 2015
(in alphabetical order)
Visit our lifestyle section here.


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Your bridge between...
Only love can save our planet, heal our relationships and maintain our connection to the spiritual mentors who are trying to help us make this transition. That is why The Phoenix and The Rose exists; to provide constant support on all those levels for people who are willing to be part of the solution.
Love is that bridge between now and all possibilities.
That anyone can bear to love undefended is the only miracle left in this stone-cold, sober world.
The wonder is that I can meet your gaze and somehow we bridge the ocean of pain that love has wept.
With our hearts, our hands, we make a way where non exists.
A way to travel over un-utterable grief into one another's hearts.
No meek unmotivated soul can take this journey.
The bridge is dangerous, naked, urgent, and divine.
As promised, the new work that I've been developing will begin with the October 24-25 weekend workshop. It will be followed by some offerings of collaborative healing opportunities for your ongoing integration.
Channel, Intuitive, Healer, Teacher.


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Prices, promotions, styles, and availability could fluctuate. A lot of this, of course, has to do with regional markets, and comes as provincial measures in Ontario and British Columbia, meant to tame residence costs, and federal bank guidelines continue to work their means by the system. Some groups, comparable to those in areas prone to flooding, subsidence or whose home is left unoccupied for lengthy intervals, can discover it difficult to search out cheap insurance coverage cowl as they are considered too high a danger.
But within the suburban or Exterior Central Area (OCR), non-landed home prices may develop at a measured tempo as the market digests the supply, Ms Music added. It is necessary to check together with your insurer and notify it when you make money working from home – it might drastically have an effect on your coverage and could even invalidate your cover. Whereas more than 90 per cent of respondents would prefer to own their very own dwelling relatively than hire, a rising quantity are now so disillusioned by the difficulties in getting on the property ladder that they imagine they are going to by no means make the leap.
This is also the case …Read More


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I just had a workshop on Thursday and it turned out that Watercolor would become my theme. Didn't start out that way, but just kinda ended up that way.
My first card has a splash of watercolor. This pendant light is from the Pun Intended set. I bought this set because it has a super cute camera stamp, but saw this card by Linda Callahan and had to share with my group.
How clever was it to use the watercolor swoosh for the light??? Love it! The swoosh is from the Work of Art stamp set.
The Pun Intended set can only be purchased with Hostess rewards on a $150 order. It's really one of the best Hostess sets that SU! has had in some time.
|Item ID: 141804 Pun Intended $9.50
|Item# 134114 Work of Art $22.00
Stamps: Pun Intended & Work of Art
Paper: Basic Black, Real Red and Whisper White Cardstock; Flashback DSP
Ink: Jet Black Stazon and Crushed Curry Classic Pad
Accessories: Real Red SU! Marker


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July unemployment falls to 10.2%
Biden apologizes for comments on race
Is a vaccine by Election Day possible?
Is toilet paper bad for the environment?
More diversity in medicine may improve care
Families reunite with sick children
Pandemic sends plant-based meat sales surging
Restaurants at risk during pandemic
New York AG aims to dissolve NRA
Protests mount against Lebanese government
Democrats, White House clash on COVID relief
Big cities see elevated jobless rates


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Olde Homestead Golf Club, Par 3 Course
- 6598 Route 309, New Tripoli, PA 18066
- (610) 298-4653
- www.oldehomesteadgolfclub.com
The Par 3 Course at Olde Homestead Golf Club is a 9-hole par-3 golf course in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania. This 3-par layout features 5 sets of teeboxes for the enjoyment of golfers of all skill levels. There is another course on this same property, the Olde Homestead Course. Online tee times may be available at Olde Homestead Golf Club or at nearby golf courses, usually offered at a discount from the normal rate.
Although the information is typically correct, in some cases there will be errors. If you notice something that needs to be updated, please help us fix the issue.
Beneath this text, aerial imagery should load of Olde Homestead Golf Club at 6598 Route 309, New Tripoli, PA 18066. If you can't find the course, try panning around and looking at the surrounding area.
Please login to add your review.


text: A recent survey showed that the online retailer has the best smartphone shopping and service model. The results of a customer satisfaction survey performed by ForeSee Results, a market research firm, Amazon is creating the mcommerce experience that produces the highest degree of customer satisfaction. The study included a survey of 6,200 mobile consumers over the holiday season of 2012. This survey looked into the customer satisfaction levels provided by 25 of the top mcommerce websites. It was Amazon that led the pack after having achieved a score of 85…Read More


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In a departure from the norm, after packing camp and loading the bikes we rode a mere 100 meters and parked up. Squeezing the bikes in as best we could into the car park we bought return tickets in a bid to venture up to the peak via cable car. The trajectory of the tiny car was steep and fast enough to leave stomachs churning but the view from the cramped cabin was phenomenal. In next to no time the Earth beneath us began to resemble tiny model furniture, the massive trees that had dwarfed our camp and car park now resembling tiny topiary.
Disembarking our dangling greenhouse we stepped through the space aged tourist building into a bracing wind, the building a stark juxtaposition to it's surroundings. A steel mesh viewing platform hung over a sheer edge affording us an astonishing view, the Picos sprawling below us as far as the eye could see. Spectacular. It's scale and magnitude inspiring and at once humbling. We wandered around amongst the throng of tourists marvelling at the brave and hardy souls that had made the ascent the old fashioned way, snapping pictures with mouths agape in awe.
After some high altitude coffees, our journey back down to the bikes was no less hair raising. Crammed once more into the tiny uncomfortable vessel and suspended like an insignificant dot, high above the Earth by two small looking steel cables. The wind had picked up a bit now and rocked the car gently back and forth, the driver pausing to stabilise the carriage in mid descent.
Back on the bikes we went in search of our final planned trail of the trip. This close to the end I sensed a touch of trail apathy creeping into the mood of certain members of the team but as far as we could gather this was the last remaining trail of the Picos open to motorised traffic – it was too rare an opportunity to miss.
Popping over the cattle grid at the trail start Jackson inadvertently missed his gear change and got his bulky bike a bit sideways. He recovered it well and pressed on but I could tell that it would not bode well for his ride confidence. Nonetheless, it was a pretty cool trail, climbing a throttle twisting series of switchbacks no more than a cars width wide up to an imposing stone gated cattle grid from where the trail opened up eventually into a stunning high alpine pasture, complete with grazing cattle and wild horses.
This was supposedly the last remaining unpaved link between two villages within the Picos, affording locals a shorter alternative to the circuitous route that was the local road network. Alas, it looked as if it had also fallen victim to the recent deluge as it petered out into a gnarly un-passable rutted mess at what we thought must be about the half way point. Rob dismounted and walked a few hundred metres further on to where what looked like the trail disappeared under a rocky bog and eventually, ever so faintly over a crest ahead.
We'd followed "barely-there" tracks before, both at home on the Green Lanes and on previous overseas expeditions, and it had never ended well. With the questionable mood of the group in mind, darkening skies and fully loaded bikes Rob returned shaking his head. Frustratingly it looked like we were going to have to turn back and retrace our steps all the way back to Pido. In hindsight though, not half as frustrating as it would have been to have 5 bikes rubber side up or stuck in a quagmire up there, it really was the middle of nowhere.
The valley had, as had the trail, been stunning and well worth the visit. It was just a shame that we were unable to join the two ends of the loop. All in all it had been a fun packed and eventful morning regardless of the fact that, taking into account our U-turn, we'd so far barely made it further than a few miles from last night's camp. Lunch in Pido seemed the perfect opportunity to reflect, so we headed to a local restaurant for a bite to eat. It was here that it was pointed out to me that I appeared to be running a flat front tyre. I'd thought it had been handling a bit oddly, with laboured steering (I'd put it down to the nut that linked the seat to the handlebars).
We ate pizza and Jackson kindly re-inflated my tyre (from 11.5psi to 28psi – a notable difference). Wheeling back out on the open road the afternoon was brim full of twisting tarmac and winding valleys through the northern side of the Picos. We finished off with a dull blast down a speeding motorway to our last camp of the trip.
Our final overnight stop for 2013 was to be a well kept, classy and grassy camp site at Cabuérniga that wanted for very little except a functioning kitchen. So armed with some loosely translated directions we marched off in search of sustenance in the local village – after a couple of San Miguel's whilst we waited for the afternoon downpour to pass of course. The village was a pretty but deserted looking place, putting me in mind of dubious low budget vampire films. However, precisely as described we found our roadside restaurant and swiftly procured a table in the back.
It didn't look like much from the outside, and that theme continued inside too, but for the seemingly insanely cheap price of 10€ per head we all, after some loose translation cross referencing two menus, opted for the set menu; three courses with wine. Our starter was an impressive 5 litre vat of steaming local stew – Butifarra (Spanish Blood Sausage or Black Pudding), Chorizo, Jamon and creamy white beans in a thick sauce, accompanied by bread still hot from the oven. The team unanimously agreed that this stodgy delight would have been enough to completely sate our appetites but we still had the main course of steak and patatas and a sweet to come!
As I was toying with the idea that dessert may be a bridge too far the manager turned up with a tray of luminescent shots. We'd all experienced these 'digestifs' before, in Isabena, and knew that the herbal liquor could only lead to one end – a fuzzy headed night of crazy dreams. The manager whisked out an impressive tray of fresh desserts and we had no option but to eat our fill. Almost at bursting point we requested and anxiously awaited the bill, hoping there wouldn't be a re-run of the mid-meal price hiking we'd experienced earlier in the trip – we could barely believe it when the final total arrived showing a mere £8.50 each! Staggering value, and we left a large tip well in excess of the norm to show our appreciation.
Whereas the village had previously resembled the set of a vampire horror it was now, in the dim glow of the moonlight, more reminiscent of a dodgy werewolf flick as wild eyed dogs sniffed and snapped at our ankles, one taking a particular shine to Rob who obviously smelt like meat. All the same the walk was an appreciated digestive aid to our now distended lower abdomens.
However, for me at least, it inevitably led to a somewhat sleepless night and I had to finally succumb to my grumbling innards at five in the morning. The sky was shockingly clear though and I was treated to an uninhibited view of the Milky Way once more.
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The bill would require the Commerce Department to impose tough tariffs on certain Chinese goods in the event that China was improperly valuing its currency to gain an economic advantage.
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan cross-section of Congress seems to agree that China manipulates its currency in ways that make it harder for many American manufacturers to compete. Where they cannot find alignment is on how best to address that problem, while maintaining America's relationship with its biggest lender and a major trading partner.
On Tuesday, the Senate passed a bill that would require the Treasury Department to order the Commerce Department to impose tough tariffs on certain Chinese goods in the event of a finding by the Treasury that China was improperly valuing its currency to gain an economic advantage.
The measure passed 63 to 35, with 16 Republican votes, an unusual dynamic in the Democrat-controlled Senate. It enjoyed rare support from members of both parties despite the strong disapproval of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, who pressed his party colleagues to vote against it.
At the same time, House Republicans have made it clear they have no intention of bringing the currency measure to the floor, and the White House has given it a chilly reception, fearing it too blunt an instrument against China, which has slowly moved to increase its currency value.
This is a reverse of last year when a similar, though less stringent, measure passed the House and the Senate neglected to take it up, preferring its own bill. Democrats are now trying, against political headwinds, to force a vote on that same measure against the desires of Republican leaders.
The tennis ball volleying of the trade legislation underscores the vexing problem that China presents to Congress: Many members, especially those from manufacturing states, want to be seen as doing something about that nation's trade advantages, yet the White House and some leaders in both parties think it is far too risky to actually pull the trigger on a solution.
As a result, even as some Senate Republicans and many House Democrats pressure House Republicans to get on board, the Obama administration is counting on House Republicans to do what they want, which is to leave any bill to punish the Chinese government over its currency policies in a file cabinet. "Shifting political dynamics and changes in rhetoric about free trade tend to play out in unpredictable ways against the background of a bipartisan desire to get tough with China," said Eswar S. Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University. "A lurking concern is that this bill won't help the U.S. economy significantly and could instead hurt job growth if China retaliates aggressively and trade tensions compound economic uncertainty, setting back an already fragile recovery. I suspect both parties are a little concerned about supporting such legislation if it backfires. "
Regional politics, White House pressures and jurisdictional disputes have impeded a deal. Large multinational companies, especially those that have large investments in China, vehemently oppose the bill, while smaller manufacturers facing more import competition, tend to favor it.
The Senate bill would require the Treasury Department to determine whether China was manipulating its currency, and then order the Commerce Department to impose retaliatory tariffs on certain Chinese goods.
The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, issued a response to the Senate vote early Wednesday, denying that China had manipulated the value of its currency, the renminbi. "The renminbi exchange rate is gradually achieving a more balanced and reasonable level," the central bank said in a statement.
But critics have pointed out that a narrowing of China's broadly measured trade surplus mainly reflects surging imports of commodities like oil and iron ore, and that the renminbi has been rising gradually over the last year against the dollar but actually weakening against other currencies, including the euro.
The House version of the China measure has 225 co-sponsors, and passed that chamber 348 to 79 while it was under Democratic control last year, with support from 99 Republicans.
House Democrats have been circulating what is known as a discharge petition, a measure used by the minority party to force the party controlling the chamber to bring the bill back to the floor. Such a petition would require 218 signatures; currently only 176 members have signed. Representative Hal Rogers of Kentucky, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, was the only Republican to sign it but he withdrew his name. Getting further Republican support is unlikely since it puts the lawmaker in opposition with party leaders.
Republican House leaders, who openly criticize many Chinese policies, largely voted against the bill when it came to the floor last year. They oppose the measure because they are worry it would start a trade war with China, increase prices of American goods and pull at the threads of the gossamerlike relationship between the two countries. It is a view expressed by Senate opponents, too.
Senator Joe Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, said on the Senate floor, "During times of economic recession such as the one we are in now, over history nations have repeatedly become protectionists. But history also shows that protectionist policy makes the economic problems worse, not better."
However, lawmakers from manufacturing-heavy states have pushed hard for it, and will pressure House Republicans to get on board. "I don't believe you have a middle class in America without a vibrant manufacturing base," said Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama. "We'll stand up and take our lumps and take our gains in a fair competition."


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Of course, it is well known that Japan carries a special love for its sort of unofficial national flower, the cherry blossom. This being spring in Japan, many areas are already seeing the cherry blossom blooms. In honor of this flower, Mr. Semba chose to use this special flower to create works of art the likes of which I have rarely seen. Before he began the demonstration, he did begin with a presentation he had specially prepared for our Kamakura Chapter, which was to pay homage to his father and the more traditional roots of his school. Using illustrations he found in an antique book dating from 1776, Mr. Semba spent much time recreating these designs and showing us the results, allowing us all to see that they are still fresh ideas in today's contemporary world. At the end of the presentation, he began his work with three different cherry blossom blooms. The first piece had already been done and had taken him eight hours the day before to prepare. This piece was sitting on the far right of the stage when I had arrived that morning. My untrained eye had observed it and taken the curving willowy nature of the branches to be natural. To my shock, Mr. Semba explained that those curves had actually been created from the long branches he held in his hand by taking tiny wedge slivers out of certain points until the branch curved gracefully in its current position. Let me explain… we are talking solid tree branches here… that have been cut and bent just so to create something even more magnificent than the cherry tree already looks. If this had been me trying to manipulate those branches, I would have accidentally snapped the branches off at all the worst places when trying to bend them.
Mr. Semba then worked on the middle design again showing the graceful curve for which his school is famous for. I guess that curve is best illustrated in the other work of art he had also done the day prior, using pine branches in bamboo containers that all curved in the exact and perfect way as the next one. One last piece was created by three ladies of which I didn't entirely hear, but I am guessing that they are all sensei in his school. He described this piece in its most traditional form… as a work of art that demonstrates a mountain. The blooms at the top would only be just emerging. The blooms in the middle would be fully opened. And the branches at the bottom of the mountain where it is warmest are already displaying the greenery of leaves.
Sadly, at this point I had to leave. My babysitter was ever so kind to watch Kimono Pipsqueak for me, but with kids of her own, I didn't want to be an inconvenience on her time. There was to be a Japanese calligraphy demonstration next followed by a four-course French lunch to round out the day's program. Instead, I picked up my wee one and decided to treat myself to some ribs from the Chili's restaurant on base before heading home. It was a treat that even KP was fortunate enough to join when one rib jumped from my hands, only to land sticky side down on the child, splattering barbeque sauce across his face and over his head. Perhaps it was a good thing I didn't stick around for the fancy lunch. I was surely dressed up, but proved once again that you just can't take me out.


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Deuteronomy 16:19
You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.
God via Moses tries to impart this wisdom upon the Israelites. God knows what man is. God knows that governing produces power, which produces wealth, which produces greed and covetousness.
To those of you who put your faith in government I say read again Deuteronomy 16:19.
Government is big business. Government controls more wealth and power than most global corporations. The wealth and power is a bribe, a siren's call to all who enter.
As the wisdom of God teaches us in this verse power and wealth, "blinds the eye of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous."
No one person or side is immune to these bribes, although they all swear they are. And yet we listen to and believe these men and women who have been blinded by the bribes of power.
We take as gospel their promises to eradicate want and need as they fill their bellies with the very luxuries they condemn. The bribes to them, begat the bribes to us. The promises, the bribes of making our lives easy. The promises, the bribes that they will give us justice.
We accept these empty promises and bribes because we think it means the elimination of hard work and hard times. We fall prey to the promise of an easy fix on the backs of others.
In reality the only promise they are making is to continue to accept more bribes and offer us more false promises and bribes.
How perverse has government become?
The average cost to win a seat in the US House of Representatives is $1,600,000 and the average cost to win a seat in the US Senate is over $10,000,000. What was the average cost to win the Presidency in 2016? Both candidates combined spent in excess of $1,000,000,000.
That's a lot of bribes. That's a lot of perversion of justice.
The average salary of a member of the US House of Representatives and Senate was $174,000 in 2016. So why would you spend $1,600,000 every two years to make a total of $348,000? Better yet why would a US Senator spend $10,000,000 every six years to make a total of $1,044,000? That's a loss of anywhere from $1,426,000 to $1,492,666 per year.
Someone must be expecting a lot of bribes each year.
Yes these Congress men and women get their fat pensions and free health care, but over a twenty year period these "leaders" would have lost anywhere from $28,520,000 to $29,853,320. Again that's a lot of bribes to make up the difference. And how about those guys that hang on for thirty or even forty years!
There are 453 member in the House, so combine all those loses over everyone's twenty year career and it comes to almost $13,000,000,000. And if you look at the 100 members in the Senate their combined loses over twenty year careers are almost $3,000,000,000.
So what you need is $16,000,000,000 in bribes over twenty years or $800,000,000 a year in bribes for our "representatives" just to break even. And we all know these guys and gals aren't in this just to break even. We all know once we pry them away from the people's tit, they are pretty fat, dumb and happy.
So the next time your candidate looks straight into the camera and utters the words, "I'll work for you in Washington", ask them, "Where are you going to get the $1,450,000 each year to make sure you work for me?"
They need the bribes to stay afloat, and "a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous."
© Otis P Smith and About the Groove, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Otis P Smith and About the Groove with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.