A lawyer and an associate dean at Liberty University, a columnist for Glenn Beck's The Blaze, and the founder of WND's Christian fundamentalist site Barbwire.com, Matt Barber might seem like an evangelical fringe character, but, clearly, he means to have his voice heard and his pronouncements taken seriously: his work appears under the portentous slogan RELATIVISTS BEWARE: TRUTH TOLD HERE.
Yet he is affiliated with Glenn Beck, so, in pursuit of Truth-Telling, he sees fit to publish such essays as "You Won't Believe What the Devil Said to Me!" and "Sympathy for the Devil" -- a Means to Destruction, in which the authors, in complete earnestness, write of a horned-and-dangerous Beelzebub as an existent being looming over their daily lives. One would be tempted to dismiss such scribblements as ridiculous, but six out of 10 Americans do believe in Satan. Christianity, that multilevered vehicle for the dissemination of "blind and naked ignorance," has warped the minds of a majority of Americans, and Barber's blog reflects (sadly) mainstream religious convictions.
On April 26, in response to my recent Salon article denouncing the rancid mire of superstitious gobbledygook in which our presidential candidates are wallowing, Barber published "Will Christians Be Fitted with Yellow Crosses?" The arguments he makes against my exposé are as foolish as they are grounded in widely held misconceptions regarding atheism and the nature of reality itself, and so merit rebuttal – a task I find both pleasant and entertaining.
Accusations of "bigotry," trotted out with the intent to silence, should still the tongue of no outspoken atheist. We attack not religious folks as people, but the irrationality inherent in their religion, which is nothing more than hallowed ideology, and therefore is, or should be, as much fair game as, say, socialism. Would Evangelicals heed calls to "respect" Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (who has just announced his candidacy for 2016) and avoid engaging in "anti-socialist" bigotry with regard to his political views? Of course not. Nor should they, necessarily, if they disagree with him. Being a socialist, just like being a Christian, is a matter of choice, save one important fact: at least socialism constitutes a coherent ideology to which nothing resembling the benighted principle of "Credo quia absurdum" (I believe because it is absurd) has ever applied.
All those who, in the public arena, advance Christianity's bizarre supernatural propositions about our world and our origins, and worse, use them to justify legislation, should expect relentless demands for evidence from rationalists. But before Barber or other faith-addled folks take to their keyboards and type out what is usually their first argument against atheism, I'll dispense with it myself. Yes, we atheists freely admit that no one can epistemologically prove there is no God. But the strength of our convictions should match the validity of the evidence on which they are founded. Shelley put it succinctly: "God is an hypothesis, and, as such, stands in need of proof: the onus probandi rests on the theist." Verse and chapter cited from a potentially unreliable translation of a supposedly holy book composed millennia ago by unknown humans cannot pass as "proof." But if there is no real evidence to support belief in God, there's plenty to assume He is nothing but a figment (if a vengeful and despotic one) of our overactive imagination -- a product, mostly, of our fear of death. Again, it's up to believers to justify themselves, not atheists.
But back to Barber's blog.
Barber takes issue with my statement about "The electorate's gradual, relentless ditching of religion." This has been well documented in surveys, to which I link in my essay. Unable to refute them, Barber reminds us that that "over 80 percent of Americans identify as Christian" (which I had acknowledged), and then goes on to claim that "the vast majority of those who don't . . . nevertheless acknowledge[e] the transcendent reality of a Creator God." A Gallup poll conducted last year blows apart this contention: 42 percent of all Americans now believe God created the universe, down from 47 percent in 2000, with 19 percent (up from 9 percent in 2000) of all Americans holding that God had nothing to do with it. So even among those purporting to believe in him, the "God as Creator" idea is losing out.
Every man, woman and child understands through both general revelation and human reason that this unfathomably intricate, staggeringly fine-tuned universe didn't create and fine-tune itself. It's a tiny minority of angry, self-deluded materialists like Jeffrey Tayler who deny this self-evident truth.
Scientists are working hard to plug the lacunae in our knowledge. Answers will come from physicists and biologists and empirical observation, not preachers ranting about the "revelations" bespattering their "sacred" tome. Barber's Creator God is nothing more than a shopworn deus ex machina, whose mysterious emergence poses its own obvious question: what created Him? And so on, ad infinitum.
I chose the term "faith-deranged" with care. I meant it literally, lest there be any doubt that I intended to be merely incendiary. Derangement is clearly rampant across large swathes of America. Citizens of one of the most technologically advanced nations on earth who opt, of their own volition, to believe in a magic book negated by science and peppered with all manner of bilious behests and misanthropic myths cannot be esteemed to be thinking sanely. Given the extreme nature of the delusions of these citizens and the resulting behavior – for example, petitions whispered to an invisible celestial tyrant with the goal of securing favorable outcomes, otherwise known as prayer, and hallucinated responses from said invisible tyrant – only one conclusion presents itself: faith has disrupted their mental faculties and is producing symptoms that, were they not sheltered under the adjective "religious," would qualify as pathological.
I do consider Barber's addressing me as "Herr" inapt, since it raises Hitler's overworked ghost and implies that I think that I'm carrying out the Lord's work. Those who would dispute me might wish to consult volume one of "Mein Kampf," in which Hitler announced: "I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator," and "I had so often sung 'Deutschland über Alles' and shouted 'Heil' at the top of my lungs, that it seemed to me almost a belated act of grace to be allowed to stand as a witness in the divine court of the eternal judge and proclaim the sincerity of this conviction." They might also check the next chapter, in which Hitler predicted that "inwardly armed with confidence in God and the unshakable stupidity of the voting citizenry, the politicians can begin the fight for the 'remaking' of the Reich as they call it." They surely would wish to know that Hitler's Wehrmacht soldiers launched themselves into battle wearing belt buckles emblazoned with the motto "GOTT MIT UNS" – God is with us. This was all, really, par for the course. Throughout history, self-sainted barbarians have pressed their imaginary deity into service and used him to justify their lust for bloodshed.
I actually like Barber's use of "twixt" – the only instance of elegance in his otherwise pedestrian prose. But according to its own site, Liberty University has 13,800 students, not a "100 thousand-plus." "Boxcars" -- that's Barber's extrapolation. Atheism has no "holy book" of any sort that could serve as a manual for repression (as, say, the Bible did for the Inquisition). Furthermore, my suggestion of "quarantine" was, besides being obviously facetious, quite charitable and open-minded. After all, to earn their release into society at large, Liberty University students would be free to redeem themselves by renouncing fealty to their bogus deity and de-matriculating.
Such a statement only bolsters the point I made above, if in other words: faith deranges, and absolute faith deranges absolutely.
Barber's blog is but a symptom of the seemingly incurable malady of faith. In fact there is a remedy -- free speech, applied liberally to infected areas. Rationalists must resist all calls to show respect for religion, be it Christianity or Islam or any other faith with universalist pretensions. Recall the damage these stultifying ideologies of control and repression have done the cause of progress throughout history. And remember the stakes now, with so many of our presidential candidates flaunting their belief, and seats on the Supreme Court likely to free up, especially post-2016. We either fight back by speaking out now, or we may end up living in a Christian-theme-park version of Iran, with Ted Cruz as our ayatollah.
Those sleeping the slumber of faith hang DO NOT DISTURB signs about their minds.
No rationalist should feel obliged to comply.


About the controversial figure Sherri Finkbine, biography and history of the woman who had a public abortion.
At the Peak: It's one of those names from the past that rings a bell, but very faintly. Need a clue? Think back to the thalidomide scares of the early 1960s.
At the center of that tragic emotional storm was Sherri Finkbine, a pregnant TV children's program hostess in Arizona, who for several months had been taking a tranquilizer that her husband had obtained in Europe. Then the news broke that this drug, thalidomide, was responsible for terrible deformities in newborn babies.
The 30-year-old mother of four and her high-school-teacher husband decided she should have an abortion--a decision that provoked worldwide headlines, a condemnation on the Vatican radio, and thousands of critical, as well as a few threatening, letters. Still, Sherri was determined to go ahead. When U.S. medical authorities refused to approve the operation, she flew to Sweden, where the abortion was performed and doctors verified that the baby would indeed have been deformed. After that, the controversy gradually died. Sherri returned to the U.S. and faded from the public eye.
And Today: After losing her TV job, having two more children, and shedding her husband in a 1973 divorce, Sherri moved to La Jolla, Calif., where she worked in a women's center counseling people on abortion issues and other problems.
Mind you, though her name remains synonymous with abortion, she has no shortage of children. Now married to a La Jolla physician, she has at times had 12 children at home--6 from her first marriage plus her 6 stepchildren.


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Home Exhibits & Education Find of the Month
Quarantines, swill milk, and nuisance laundries
Astronauts visit Seattle
Seattle Rumor Center
Women's Protective Division
Swimsuit regulations
1960s miscellany
The embezzling comptroller
Cows in Ballard
The city's early General Files cover several topics relating to public health:
In 1894, a hotel owner filed a claim for damages after his hotel was quarantined for 19 days during an epidemic. He listed the loss of pillows, blankets, and mattresses that were destroyed or taken to the "Pest House," and also claimed expenses for rent, licenses, and lost lodging income. The Claims Committee recommended he be reimbursed for the destroyed bedding but not for the last three items, as "all persons engaged in this business assume the risk of epidemics."
Over 100 Seattleites signed a petition in 1891 asking that the sale of "swill milk" - milk from cows that were fed discarded malt from breweries - be prohibited in the city. The petitioners claimed that "it is a known fact that the milk produced from such feed is very injurious and conducive to diseases." Health Officer G.H. Sparling appended a note to the petition stating that swill milk was "the cause of a great number of deaths from cholera."
An 1890 letter to the mayor and common council complained of a "disagreeable nuisance" on Yesler Avenue. A sanitary officer subsequently inspected the property and discovered that the issue was "slops flowing from a Chinese Wash House." He explained that the laundry, along with several others in the city, had no sewerage connections, causing its "slops and filth" to run out over the ground and under the sidewalk. He stated that all such laundries constituted "a Public Nuisance and a menace to the health of the neighbors," but offered no solution to their runoff problem.
A file in Mayor Uhlman's records documents the 1970 visit to Seattle of the three Apollo 12 astronauts, Charles Conrad, Alan Bean, and Richard Gordon. The Apollo 12 mission was the United States' second manned lunar landing, and occurred during a time of high national excitement about the space program. Gordon was from Seattle, which gave the visit additional meaning for local residents.
The astronauts came to Seattle directly from Pasadena, where they served as grand marshals of the Tournament of Roses parade on New Year's Day. Numerous local officials, as well as Senator Magnuson, took part in the festivities. The itinerary for the visit included two welcome ceremonies, a luncheon hosted by Boeing, a motorcade and parade through downtown, a dinner, and two receptions. The astronauts also presented a public program at the Pacific Science Center to discuss the Apollo 12 mission and answer questions.
The visit brought out the musical talents of local residents, showing how the space program had captured the nation's imagination. A Seattle man rewrote the lyrics of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" with "new space age lyrics" that began:
We've been riding on a moon ship, all the live long day
We've been flying on a moon ship, along the Milky Way
The man suggested the song could be used as part of the ceremonies, and that perhaps the "moon men" would like copies of the lyrics.
Additionally, a Bothell woman had written and self-published sheet music for a "march song" entitled "You're the Pride of the Human Race." The lyrics read, in part: "We are proud of ev'ry one for a job well done/That has made our space dream come true." She sent a copy to the mayor and apparently was able to present one to the astronauts in person as well.
Files in the archives describe the establishment and activities of the Seattle Rumor Center. Modeled on similar programs in cities like Chicago, the center provided "a central source of accurate and reliable information on subjects of concern to the citizens of Seattle and affecting the public peace, safety and welfare."
The Rumor Center opened on an experimental basis in 1968; by 1969, it was open from 10:00 am to midnight seven days a week. In addition to fielding calls and serving as a rumor clearinghouse (one "minor incident" at the Seafair Torchlight Parade led to over 200 calls to the center), the staff also produced a biweekly rumor report, documenting everything from fights at Meany Middle School to buzz about an upcoming "rumble" between motorcycle gangs.
In a 1969 letter to the mayor, the Rumor Central General Secretary sounded off on the kind of damage his center worked to prevent: "Recently, a group of drivers started what they considered a humorous rumor. It spread throughout a portion of the City until a fire station phoned asking us for verification. In this case, we were able to trace the course of the rumor to its source and to explain what harm this 'fun' had caused."
The center's annual report for 1971 described how local events affected the types of rumors that were circulating. School desegregation plans prompted a rumor that there would be mandatory busing of 4-year-olds, and the Boeing layoff led to a number of rumors related to the potential cancellation of unemployment benefits.
The work of the Rumor Center did not go unnoticed. The mayor praised them for their "fine work," and the Superintendent of Schools wrote, "We believe that on a number of occasions serious trouble has been avoided because of the splendid service rendered the community by the Center."
In the early part of the 20th century, the Police Department had a Women's Protective Division that specifically looked after the welfare of women and children. Annual reports of the Division give a flavor of the kinds of issues officers dealt with.
The reports recount how the Division's officers helped children find medical treatment, avoid workplace exploitation, and escape abuse and neglect. Women newly arrived in the city were assisted at the docks and railroad stations, and homeless women were referred to the Salvation Army.
The 1916 report relates how "for many girls, family homes and employment were secured and for several marriages arranged, thus legitimatizing [sic] children who otherwise would have been nameless. In many cases misunderstandings between parents and children have been settled, restoring harmony to the house."
The dedication of Division officers to their work is apparent in the reports. One 1916 case where a man was accused of taking advantage of a minor girl was successfully prosecuted based on shredded letters found in the girl's room. It took "hours of painstaking effort" to piece the missives together, but the reconstructed evidence led the man to plead guilty.
As part of their protective services, officers investigated "soft drink parlors," skating rinks ("frequented, to a large extent, by sailors and young girls"), and other places of amusement. The 1920 report contended that "moving picture shows" and their "false ethics" were increasing juvenile delinquency, and suggested banning the exhibition of any films that depicted a crime being committed.
Several Clerk Files from 1956 contain letters from teenagers (all girls) protesting the city's refusal to allow Elvis Presley the use of the Civic Auditorium, apparently over concern about potential unruly behavior by youth attending the concert.
The arguments took several tacks, with some following the fairness angle. One girl wrote, "What did we teen-agers ever do to deserve this? Nothing!…Why have we teen-agers of Seattle been refused when teen-agers all over the U.S. have not?"
Many contended that Seattle's youth were being condemned based on what those in other cities had done. An Elvis Fan Club member asked, "Are we the kids in the other towns? No we are not… Then why are you afraid we'll start something?" Another girl attempted to reassure the Council that "so many kids want a chance to see him, that they wouldn't let a riot start."
Others defended the music itself. A girl from Renton argued, "The reason some people don't like him is usually because he has a different way of singing, and people don't like anything that's different." A Seattle teen wrote, "Elvis has a good 'beat' to his music. It's different. It isn't this drawn out mushy slow music." Another argued, "Think of when the Charleston was the craze and the teen-agers were crazy over Sinatra!"
However, one girl conveyed a different message than she intended when she wrote, "I want Elvis Presley to come to Seattle because we have never had a Rock and Roll riot in Seattle before, and I think it would really be fun."
A 1934 folder in a Parks Department collection highlights the changing standards for proper beach attire. Seattle was apparently behind other parts of the country in terms of what styles of suits were allowed on city beaches. A Bon Marche vice president complained to the Park Board that "practically all the bathing suits in demand from a fashion standpoint would be barred." The sporting goods manager from the University Book Store contended that men wanted to wear trunks (rather than one-piece suits with tops), and since trunks were not permitted on city beaches, they would "avoid the beaches and risk their lives swimming in places that are dangerous or at least unprotected."
He also argued that scantier swimwear was good "from a hygienic standpoint…because we have so little sunshine." In a similar vein, the Bon Marche vice president claimed that "no one will deny that acquiring a good coat of tan…has much to do with one's well being."
These and other petitions persuaded the Park Board to look at their policy. A representative from Olympia Knitting Mills appeared at a May 1934 board meeting, along with several models, to show the new styles of suits. The board decided to allow men to wear topless trunks, while women were allowed for the first time to wear white suits (as long as they were wool). Two-piece suits were still barred, however; the P-I reported that the board decided "a strip of bare anatomy between trunks and tops…isn't quite decent." The paper quoted board president Samuel Martin as saying, "Ah, ha! Now we're modern at last!"
The archives holds almost twenty leather-bound volumes detailing search warrants and court cases related to the illegal possession of alcohol during Prohibition. Seized liquor varied from amounts as small as half a pint to thousands of bottles. Officers also confiscated stills, mash, funnels, and jugs.
Prohibition in Washington State began in 1916, three years before the U.S. Constitution was amended to outlaw the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol on a national level. Here, as elsewhere, the law was widely violated. Bootleggers and rumrunners did a thriving business supplying Washingtonians with illegal liquor, and many people built stills to manufacture their own. Bootleggers even held a convention in Seattle in March 1922.
Seattle civic leaders cracked down on this activity to varying degrees. Mayor Hiram Gill was among the more severe, establishing an unpopular "Dry Squad" to raid businesses and homes suspected of violating the ban. The squad's excessive zeal caused thousands of dollars in damages and managed to alienate even die-hard temperance activists. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the Seattle City Council immediately passed an emergency ordinance allowing beer and wine to flow in the city once again.
Three items of note discovered in one day in the 1969 Mayor's Office records, proving that the sixties were alive and well in Seattle:
A 45-rpm record of Johnny Nash singing "Love and Peace," sent by the record company as a way to help prevent race riots. The accompanying letter expressed concern about the "long, hot summers" and the "onslaught of hate and prejudice which leads to riots and breakdown of law and order." Copies of the record were apparently sent to mayors, governors, and members of Congress, with the suggestion that the song be made the theme of the summer.
A newspaper photo of Mayor Braman with both legs in casts after a skiing accident. The clipping was sent to the mayor by an elderly citizen, accompanied by a Polaroid photo of the citizen in an upper-body cast. The man did not send a letter with the photos, but did type a list of his injuries on the back of the Polaroid. The mayor wrote a letter to the man wishing him a speedy recovery.
Promotional materials from the Seattle Visitors Bureau displaying their groovy official logo: a colorful Yellow Submarine-style design incorporating the slogan "The Swinging Gateway." (London wasn't too worried about the competition.)
A 1965 file in Mayor Dorm Braman's records contains dozens of letters from citizens protesting a scheduled Opera House performance by Pete Seeger. Many of the writers asked the mayor to enforce Ordinance 91981, which prohibited "the rental or use of any city-owned buildings…to any subversive organization, or member thereof."
Letters cited Seeger as "an identified Communist" and noted that "he edits the magazine 'Sing Out' where Communist Party songs appear." One writer described his performances as "a large dosage of Red propaganda interspersed with bad music," while another warned that "communism uses the arts - including music perhaps most of all - to destroy us." Several writers were concerned that he would take profits from his Seattle concert and donate them to the Communist Party.
Many of the correspondents had apparently written first to the Superintendent of Buildings, Fred McCoy. McCoy replied with a form letter stating that he had reviewed the program and determined it was not subversive. One citizen took exception to his judgment, asking, "Have you been trained in the methods of Communist psychological warfare and brainwashing?"
A response letter from the mayor explains that the city did not have legal justification for canceling the performance, as no government agency would definitively label Seeger as being "dedicated to the destruction of our form of government by force." But Braman was proud that as a result of the city not making a public fuss, "the attendance at his show was very small compared to others."
The archives holds a set of audits and reports relating to the alleged embezzlement of city funds around the turn of the last century. A 1907 audit discovered that over $68,000 in city funds were missing. Also missing was the former Comptroller, John Riplinger, who served two terms from 1902 to 1906.
The city attempted to locate Riplinger using Pinkerton detectives. When he was eventually found in Honduras, the City Treasurer worked with the State Department to negotiate an extradition treaty. Within a month of the treaty's enactment, however, Riplinger "voluntarily" returned to Seattle, claiming the timing was coincidental. (Meanwhile, a "Lee Christmas" had offered to kidnap the fugitive for trial.)
Riplinger was charged with nine counts of larceny by embezzlement. The prosecutor decided to try the strongest charge first - a case where the state was able to prove both the delivery and the cashing of a check by Riplinger, and where a City Council member witnessed him carrying the cash out of the bank.
Riplinger's defense was based on the claim that the cashed check, while initially written to the city, was later offered as a personal loan. Riplinger could not account for why he had not come forth with this explanation two years before when he was first accused.
The jury deliberated for only 30 minutes before finding him not guilty. The prosecutor, stunned by the verdict, said he still planned to try the other eight counts, and threatened to prosecute Riplinger for perjury. However, he later dropped the charges, admitting "there would be little hope of securing a conviction." Riplinger, in the free and clear, immediately made plans to return to his banana business in Honduras.
At the turn of the last century, the City of Ballard was starting to become more urbanized but still retained many aspects of rural life. In 1905, a law was passed restricting where cattle could graze, prompting citizens to write to the mayor and city council to comment on the new limitations. Dueling petitions found in the Ballard City Clerk's files show some of the conflict that resulted from the town's development.
One petition pleaded that the city government "give we people owning cows a chance to live, as well as those that do not own such." The signers claimed that by "pushing the boundary of herd law back so far, many will be obliged to sell their cows which in many cases is over half of their living."
However, another petition claimed that the law didn't go far enough and that the herding limits should be extended further. The petitioners state, "We consider it an imposition to have 25 or 30 cows herded right in our door yard and each cow with a bell on. They also herd on the Bay View school grounds where the children have to play, and annoy and make the Teachers nervous. Also those herd boys use all kinds of profane and obscene language in the presence of women who come near them."
A 1964 file in Mayor Dorm Braman's records contains a number of letters from teenage girls in a high state of excitement about the Beatles' impending Seattle concert. They ask the mayor for favors ranging from front row seats ("I promise you, I will not scream") to advice on what the band members might like as gifts (the mayor claimed ignorance about their preferences) to a declaration of an official Seattle Beatles Day ("I have talked to several of my friends about this and they think it's the greatest idea since cornflakes"). One girl asked that she and three of her friends be allowed to officially greet the Beatles when they arrived, while another was hoping to escort the band up to the top of the Space Needle after hours.
The lone letter from a citizen over the age of 18 was from a Mrs. Pinkham, who wanted to be sure taxpayer money wasn't paying for expenses associated with the visit, which she claimed "upset the whole city."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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EDITORIAL: Sandy's recovery lessons can't be ignored
We need better preventative measures, and a more effective response
EDITORIAL: Sandy's recovery lessons can't be ignored We need better preventative measures, and a more effective response Check out this story on dailyrecord.com: http://dailyre.co/2gB9cgM
AsburyPark Published 12:08 p.m. ET Oct. 22, 2017
Crews work Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, in Seaside Heights, N.J., to replace the boardwalk that was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who has praised President Barack Obama's handling of Superstorm Sandy, has blasted U.S. House Speaker John Boehner for delaying a vote for federal storm relief. Under intense pressure from angry Republicans, House Speaker John Boehner has agreed to a vote this week on aid for Superstorm Sandy recovery. The speaker will schedule a vote Friday for $9 billion for the national flood insurance program and another on Jan. 15 for a remaining $51 billion in the package, Republican Rep. Peter King of New York said after emerging from a meeting with Boehner and GOP lawmakers from New York and New Jersey. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)(Photo: ~File photo)
Five years after Hurricane Sandy, many storm victims are still trying to recover. More than 20 percent haven't yet been able to return to their homes. More than 50 percent have encountered serious financial hardships, and 70 percent report deteriorating physical or mental health related to the storm's impact.
Those are the survey findings from the New Jersey Resource Project, a group that was put together by storm survivors in 2014, and the numbers are troubling. Worse, though, may be the realization that it isn't at all clear anyone is meaningfully heeding the lessons of Sandy and its aftermath underscored by this report.
The failings of the recovery process have already been well documented. Stories of bureaucratic delays, insurance scams, underpaid claims and other problems have been plentiful. Government officials and courts have stepped in with some short-term fixes designed to try to make victims whole, including ordering the reopening of cases involving claims that had either been unfairly denied or shortchanged. But even many of those who have received timely payments have struggled to put the pieces back together, with a shortage of qualified contractors among the challenges.
The National Flood Insurance Program has been particularly problematic, dominated by an overemphasis on controlling costs that prompted many of the underpayments. The NFIP has been running at a deficit, but that's neither surprising nor unreasonable in the wake of massive national disasters. But government officials had been wringing their hands for years over what they believed was excessive aid directed toward Hurricane Katrina relief after that storm blasted New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005. The Sandy response, therefore, has suffered from a kind of overcorrection.
With NFIP soon up for reauthorization, some lawmakers have been promoting possible program reforms based on the Sandy recovery experiences. Among them are caps on profits for companies underwriting NFIP policies, and limits on premium increases. There are no guarantees Washington will see any of these reforms through, but the need continues to grow; multiple hurricanes have wrought havoc on Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico in recent weeks alone, and the ongoing effects of climate change should only amplify the power and frequency of future storms.
Smoothing out the claims process and maintaining some integrity within it would be meaningful steps. In New Jersey, however, there's an enduring sense officials aren't close to the same page on how to responsibly restrain coastal development and better prepare for future threats. Approaches tend to vary from town to town, and the inconsistency has led to the resurrection of an idea for a regional coastal commission that might better manage the process. But will local leaders be willing to give up control for the greater good?
New Jersey faces great challenges ahead as sea levels further encroach on the Jersey Shore. More storms with the potential to cause Sandy-level damage — and worse — are inevitable. The New Jersey Resource Project's recommendations are rooted in the experiences of storm survivors. But will the right people bother listening?
Read or Share this story: http://dailyre.co/2gB9cgM
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Who will power the Consumers' Power Trust?
Sandwiched between our parliamentary election, culminating on September 23rd and the Hastings mayoral election, results on November 25th, is the far more 'under the radar' election of five trustees to the Hawke's Bay Power Consumers' Trust (HBPCT).
HBPCT, as most BayBuzz readers would know, is Unison's sole owner on behalf of consumers, appoints the company's board of directors and approves its investments over $10 million.
Eligible voters by now have received their voting papers, which must be returned by Monday, October 2nd.
In the past, this particular election has hardly been electrifying, generally a mere rubber-stamping of incumbent trustees.
But this year a real contest has emerged that deserves voters' attention.
With two incumbents having served their maximum three terms, the remaining three incumbents – Diana Kirton, Helen Francis and Ken Gilligan – seem desperate to cling to their seats.
These three face a host of ten challengers, but most formidable of these is a slate of five – Kevin Atkinson, Barbara Arnott, Chris Tremain, Russell Wills and Peter Dunkerley.
The contest between the two groups has become intense.
The 'Incumbent Three' have – mischievously in my judgment – resorted to scare tactics, claiming that the 'Power of Five' group would threatened the annual dividend payment (this year $200) so-treasured by the 59,000 consumers eligible to vote in the Trust election.
That false claim – captured in their slogan 'Your cheque, your choice' – seems to be the only basis of the group's re-election bid. The trio sought to capitalize on their cheque-delivery identification by advancing payment of this year's cheque to before the election, as opposed to its normal November delivery. Their version of 'power pork politics'.
The 'Power of Five' group has made quite clear that they are committed to the annual dividend paid directly to consumers, and in fact wish to see it increased if increased profitability on the part of Unison is achieved.
They have also committed that power consumers should be consulted on whether any portion of increased dividends Unison pays to the Trust in the future – over and above the guaranteed consumer payment – should be directed toward support of other worthy community initiatives.
The existing Trust actually does just that, without consultation, devoting nearly $2 million of its dividend to putting overhead powerlines underground, subsidizing home insulation and safety testing of electric blankets.
However, when the 'Power of Five' proposes transparent public consultation on whether there should be any diversion of dividends (after guaranteed payment of individual consumer cheques), the 'Incumbent Three' hypocritically portray this as somehow a sinister plot.
Given that Unison's future profitability is the sole driver of (hopefully) growing dividends, which of these two teams is best qualified to oversee Unison's future path?
The Commerce Commission appropriately determines – and effectively, caps – the profitability of Unison's core lines business. Moreover, the company faces flat lining of electricity demand as consumers and businesses become more energy efficient and, in the longer-term, even less dependent on grid-supplied electricity (think solar and consumers generating their own power).
Any real growth in Unison's revenue will come from the kind of diversification into non-regulated energy businesses, such as transformer manufacturing, recently begun during Kevin Atkinson's tenure as Unison chairman. Protecting – let alone growing – your dividend cheque will require an entrepreneurial Unison attuned to revenue opportunities outside its conventional lines business.
I strongly support this path and believe the 'Power of Five' team is far better qualified to help provide the seasoned judgment and the vision required of Unison as the energy environment evolves in ways that empower us consumers.
Is the 'Power of Five' group motivated by some sinister plot?
Here's their plot: a) guarantee your consumer cheque; b) ensure consumers continue to own Unison; c) consult with the public on any community use of additional dividends; d) review the excessive $22,000 per person fee now paid to trustees.
Shocking! Does that sound sinister?!
Kirton, Francis and Gilligan are attempting, unbecomingly, to paint as sinister five individuals each with outstanding – I mean, really outstanding – records of service to the Hawke's Bay community.
Atkinson: sinister. Arnott: sinister. Tremain: sinister. Dunkerley, sinister. Dr Wills: wildly sinister. Yeah, right.
I'll take the 'Sinister Five' over the 'Incumbent Desperate Three' any day!
However you come down on this choice, please vote. Response to recent Trust elections has been less than 25%. If you don't have your voting papers, call the Trust at 873-8037 and get a fresh ballot.
P.S. Somewhat lost in the shuffle are five other candidates: Garth Cowie, John Geoghegan, Giles Pearson, Bill Reilly, Liz Remmerswaal. Good on them, but with battle lines drawn, I suspect it will be tough for any of these to break into the top five.
Don't count out Liz. Tom!
Tom one thing in your favour is that you are well versed in the power of 5!!!! I will confess that I have voted online, and have voted for a brand new Broom to sweep a few of the trough feeders off out to greener pasture, it's time for some fresh faces with fresh ideas perhaps. Can you please be reminded that there are a massive amount of HNZCI rental houses in the Unison catchment, that might help explain the low voter turn out.
My latest Power account was $503 half of that went to Unison, that is a huge amount of money per month to get my Electricity to my Gate, I want as much as I can returned to me via a dividend, why because we are seriously over charged in the beginning!! Tom it's like our water fee in our Council Rates demand it was $226? Per Quarter, tell me where was that fee spent over the passed time?? because when Council got tripped up they slugged us AGAIN!! To fix their problem when the annual fee was used elsewhere obviously!! Unison is going to return record profits for many years to come, everything about Unison is now brand new and pristine, they are now out of things to upgrade, so the Piggy Bank is going to grow into a big fat Pig very quickly, so we the consumers need to be reimbursed for some serious overcharging, I base this on the fact that does it really cost $250 to get Electricity to my gate per month!!!???
"When the 'Power of Five' proposes transparent public consultation on whether there should be any diversion of dividends" the article says. Well, when the power of five recommend public consultation they have the intention of diverting dividends if they can get away with it. Otherwise why even bother. People like this should not be allowed anywhere near public office. The last little effort of with the big dam rort (Wilson,Hewitt, Pipe et al) demonstrated the risk of encouraging the asset strippers and cost ratepayers many millions of dollars.


Game Of Thrones season 5: Tyrion Lannister and Ser Jorah to fill the void in Team Daenerys?
The promo of Game Of Thrones season 5, episode 5 teases the aftermath of that brutal final battle in episode 4 where two crucial members of Team Daenerys die.
However, fans need not worry about Daenerys' fate especially now that Ser Jorah and Tyrion have arrived on the scene. The episode will also have Tyrion seeing Drogon the dragon for the first time.
Game Of Thrones Season 5: Will Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys be The Three Dragon Riders?
The promo (below) also shows the sadistic Ramsay Bolton and Sansa Stark and fans are eagerly waiting to see if their storyline sticks to a popular but rather dark Game Of Thrones plot theory.
Game Of Thrones season 5: Sansa's cannibalistic revenge plot revealed?
The official synopsis for episode 5 titled, Kill The Boy, reads: Dany (Emilia Clarke) makes a difficult decision in Meereen. Jon (Kit Harington) recruits the help of an unexpected ally. Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) searches for Sansa (Sophie Turner). Theon (Alfie Allen) remains under Ramsay's (Iwan Rheon) control.
Kill The Boy airs on 10 May at 9pm on HBO.
Game of Thrones season 5 episode 4 live stream: 'Horrible event' at Sansa and Ramsay's Grey Wedding revealed?
Game of Thrones season 5: Faceless assassin Jaqen H'ghar and Arya Stark's mysterious connection revealed?
Game Of Thrones season 5: Cersei and Jaime's dark fate secretly teased in premiere episode opening scene?


Save $50 On New Patient Exams!
Contact Us To Save $50 On New Patient Exams!
with lunch from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.
Or please call our professional staff at 910-256-9040.
Salling & Tate General Dentistry is located on the first floor of Sea Towers Professional Building, at 2002 Eastwood Road, in Wilmington NC. We are across the street from the Port City Chop House and between Military Cutoff and the Wrightsville Beach drawbridge. For specific directions from your location, please call 910-256-9040.
© 2019 Salling & Tate General Dentistry. All rights reserved.


If you live in an apartment complex or condo, dog barking can become an issue quickly. Not to mention, living in a complex increases the chances that someone will walk by your front door and cause your dog to bark. So today, I want to discuss a few ways to train your dog not to bark …... When the bark response to sound/people is triggered at night, immediately praise her so she learns to associate her action with a good outcome for her, as dog that respect the authority of and have a bond with their owners, are eager to please.
My pet belongs to Labrador retriever is 2 months old is not at all barking how can I make my dog bark Most dogs will naturally find their voice as they get older, and 2 months old is still extremely young for a puppy to bark too often or loudly. how to get weapon bribes in bo3 2017 How Do You Train A Dog To Bark At Strangers. How to Train Your Dog to Be Calm Around StrangersYour dog is going to come into contact with guests in your home, service people, delivery people, and strangers on walks and trips.
There are 3-4 major types of behavior for dogs when it comes to guarding their home. First are the bark a lot, run fast type. These guys are the best alarm system because they don't stop if … how to get rid of a dog you dont want Anyone got some good tips? I need to start training our dog to walk to heel as it is quite annoying taking her for a walk. She pulls ahead the whole time.
How do I get my dog to walk to heel and not bark at strangers?
Why is My Dog So Aggressive Towards Strangers?
If your pooch barks at strangers and passersby in the yard, get him inside. You have to understand how your dog thinks. Rover barks at a stranger outside the house, the stranger moves away.
Anyone got some good tips? I need to start training our dog to walk to heel as it is quite annoying taking her for a walk. She pulls ahead the whole time.


The Cadet Cap will provide shade on your face and a spring in your step. Make it with an upbeat print in a sturdy twill or repurpose a pair of softly worn khakis. The Cadet Cap is fun to make and it's sized to fit the whole family.
My 7-page printable PDF instructions include color photographs, pattern templates, diagrams, glossary and all the assembly directions you'll need to make hats for everyone! Sized XS, S, M, L, XL. Fits head circumferences from 16" (40.5cm) to 25" (63.5cm).
Good. Instructions,quite easy to follow. Really enjoyed making this cap. Will shorten side height next time as making largest size and it looks too high. Overall a great pattern.
Quantities are listed for the largest hat size. Smaller sizes will use slightly less fabric.
All images and patterns copyright 2011, Betz White Productions, LLC. All rights reserved. Purchase of this pattern does not constitute transfer of copyright or license for commercial usage. For personal use only, do not sell items made using any portion or derivation of these designs.


text:
Q: Visual Studio debugging issues after windows 10 update Windows 10 has installed updates today and now for some reason Visual Studio is horrendously slow when debugging. I'm trying to debug an ASP.Net application and in Chrome developer tools it seems to either be Stalled or be Waiting (TTFB) for Web Api operations for more than 30 seconds at a time that usually take less than a second.
I have tried disabling 'Enabling Diagnostic tools', 'Javascript debugging in ASP.Net' and 'elapsed time PerfTip' but makes no difference.  I have cleared WebCacheFiles and Temporary ASP.Net files as well.
Is it possible it's SQL Server that is stalling? Apologies if my question is very broad, I'm not sure what information is best to provide to be more concise. Please ask for any information helpful to resolve this.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


What does it mean to be disabled? Which job would you rather have?
$35,000 income while you are working.
-$0 if you are unable to work.
-$35,000 income while you are working.
-$24,000 tax-free if you are disabled.
YOUR ABILITY TO EARN AN INCOME IS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ASSET. YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR WEALTH SO WHY NOT INSURE IT?
Possible Solutions... Workers Compensation - Covers disabilities that occur on the job only. Employment Insurance - Short term coverage with a limited benefit amount. Canada Pension Plan (CPP/QPP) - Disability must be "severe and prolonged". Group or Association Plan - Designed more for a group than an individual.
- Covers you 24 hours a day.
- Can provide coverage up to age 65 or longer.
- Can provide partial disability benefits.
- Can be tailored to meet your individual needs.
- Can provide portable coverage.
- Can provide premium rates that are guaranteed.
- Can be purchased with a return of premium option, so if you don't use the coverage you can have your premiums returned to you upon maturity of the policy.


Microsoft made its first official acquisition announcement of 2010 on October 6, when company officials said they had bought long-time Microsoft partner and application-performance-monitoring vendor AviCode, a Baltimore-based private company recognized as a leader in .NET app performance monitoring. AVIcode will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft, with the software being delivered through System Center product family.
"AVIcode has developed solutions that deliver these enhanced scenarios–all integrated with SCOM. We've been using AVIcode solution in conjunction with Operations Manager in our datacenters on services such as XBOX Live for a number of years," stated Brad.
For more information, you can also check out this video. Listen to what Brad has to say about the ways AVIcode's solutions will complement System Center, in particular by delivering on unified managment across physical, virtual, and cloud environments.


text:
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Read out The "Erdbahnkreuzer" in the sights. In space lurks death. But so far only a few astronomers keep track of the chunks that can collide with the earth. The "Project Spaceguard" would be a life insurance against the ultimate disaster. On March 22, 1989 flew the over 200 -meter Earth orbit cruiser 4581 Asclepius (1989 FC) in the double lunar distance to Earth over. If he had hit our planet, one of the greatest tragedies in human history would have happened. The encounter did not go unnoticed at the time and was reconstructed only after the orbit had been recalculated after the object was discovered by astronomers at the Mount Palomar Observatory on March 31st.
But Asclepius is just a cosmic vagabond among many who can be dangerous to us. "Earth is in a swarm of planetoids, " warned the acclaimed American geologist Eugene Shoemaker, who died last year during Australia's search for craters. That's no exaggeration. It is estimated that around 2000 kilometers of planetoids drift through the area close to the earth without any knowledge of it for a long time. So far, only about ten percent of them have been discovered and not even every thousandth of the chunks below 100 meters in diameter.
The data to date suggest that the Earth's orbit is crossed by more than a billion planetoids and comets over ten meters in diameter, and also by about a million over 100 meters and perhaps 10 000 between 0.5 and 5 kilometers. As a rule of thumb, a 100-meter near-earth object (NEO) hits Earth every 10 000 years on average, a body of one kilometer in diameter every one million kilometers, and every 100 million years at one in ten kilometers.
Shoemaker, who in 1960 was the first to prove the impact nature of the Nördlinger Ries, which was then interpreted by many colleagues as a volcanic crater, belonged to the "Near Earth Objects Search Committee". It was established in 1994 on the collision of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter, which he had discovered, by the US Congress. Objective: to develop a cheap but effective space surveillance proposal to capture as many orb cruisers as possible over the next ten years. display
However, most telescopes are not available for search and are usually unsuitable because they are designed for the observation of distant, faint galaxies with high magnification. For the search for the Erdbahnkreuzern, however, only medium-sized instruments are needed, but must have a special design to quickly scan extended sky regions for objects up to the 20th brightness class. Such objects are a million times fainter than the stars, barely visible to the naked eye, over a large city on a moonless night.
The improbability of an impact in the next few years is no argument for inaction. Because larger objects on a collision course could demand a huge number of dead, the risk of a human being being killed by an extraterrestrial celestial being converted over a period of one year is not so small. It is about the same risk of being killed in a plane crash in normal line traffic. The chance is about 1 to 20, 000 per year and passenger. Considering that over 100 million dollars are spent on aviation safety worldwide each year, similarly costly precautionary measures against space bombs - primarily observation programs - are not a luxury.
As late as April 1997, Shoemaker had suggested in a hearing before the US Congress to build at least two 2-meter-class telescopes and equip the unused 1-meter Air Force telescopes with sensitive detectors. It would also be necessary to have an improved infrastructure to track new NEOs in a targeted manner and to be able to determine their course quickly. This would also reduce the risk of an irritating false alarm, as triggered by orbit calculations of the minor planet 1997 XF11 last spring.
With this slimmed down Spaceguard project, 90 percent of the one-kilometer NEOs and about 10 percent of NEOs with diameters between 100 meters and one kilometer could be detected within 15 years. With the support of the Air Force, which is actually responsible for such dangers, and through international cooperation, this could even be achieved within ten years. Cost: $ 24 million for the first five years, then $ 3.5 million a year, for a total of about $ 60 million. David Morrison of NASA's Ames Research Center: "The entire Spaceguard program would cost less than either Deep Impact or Armageddon."
=== Rüdiger Vaas
© science.de
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What you really see at a glance
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When it crashes in the cosmos
Copyright 2020 \ https://orionoir.com: Astronomy + Physics


text:
package com.mopub.mobileads.util;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.util.Log;

public class Utils {
    private Utils() {}

    public static boolean executeIntent(Context context, Intent intent, String errorMessage) {
        try {
            if (!(context instanceof Activity)) {
                intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            }
            context.startActivity(intent);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.d("MoPub", (errorMessage != null)
                    ? errorMessage
                    : "Unable to start intent.");
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Boy do the Houston Astros have an insane farm system. Just a year after they unveiled monster shortstop prospect Carlos Correa, the Astros brought up the number 2 pick of the 2015 draft in third baseman Alex Bregman last summer. Considered just as much of a can't-miss as Correa, Bregman sailed through the Houston farm system with little resistance. After smacking 14 home runs in only 62 games while in Double-A, Bregman next went to town at Triple-A where he batted a scorching .333 and hit another 6 home runs in 83 at-bats. Thus it was impossible for the Astros to keep Bregman down any longer and his promotion was a "run to the waiver wire" moment. While Bregman didn't exactly light things up with the Astros (.264/8-HR/2-SB in 47 games), there is no argument to be made that he is as bright a prospect as there is in all of baseball. A hamstring injury that Bregman suffered toward the end of the year was the only negative to really speak of and so he should be on the short list as one of the most sought after fantasy baseball sleepers for 2017 drafts. We are talking about a future 30-home run masher who also can run a little and bat around .300. That is outfielder 1 territory and it is a status that Bregman will reach before too long. Do what you can to get a piece of this.


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CommentaryISLAMIC UPRISING
Uncle Sam wimpers, cries like a girl
Exclusive: Ben Kinchlow explains why U.S. must take Mideast threats seriously
By Ben Kinchlow
He was huge. We all remember when he came on the scene, as his size made an impact on grade-schoolers. His name was Wilbert, and his parents had "divorced or died or something," and he came to live with his grandparents. His huge ham hocks for hands, bulging biceps and tree-trunk thighs automatically generated respect. Though he never bullied anyone, we all walked softly around him, just in case.
Then one day it happened. No one remembered exactly what brought it on and truth is, it didn't really matter. A much smaller boy got bumped in a football game, lost it and hit Wilbert in the face. Wilbert reached up and touched his face and said in a slightly higher pitched voice, "You hit me!" There was a collective gasp and a kind of weird anticipation took hold of us. What would huge powerful Wilbert do? Would he bash the boy's face into a bloody pulp, then pull his arms off, or would he break his arms and legs, then smash his face?! We all held our collective breaths; then something happened, something no one expected, something so strange it stunned us all.
Wilbert said again, "You hit me!" and then he began to cry, a whimpering, sniffling, tearful cry, almost like a girl. No one could believe it! This giant who was bigger, taller and heavier than all of us standing there sniffling like a baby, a big ham-like hand wiping his nose. We just looked at each other.
Well, needless to say, Wilbert's reign, his influence, came to an end that day and, henceforth, any complaints he made were ignored or laughed off.
The thing is, it was not that Wilbert had changed; our perceptions of him had changed. Though in reality he had never committed any acts that would have labeled him a "bully," our assumptions and his size, not his actions, had made him dangerous in our eyes. Now, absent any forceful definitive actions on his part, his status was dramatically reduced in our estimation. Even little kids bullied him. All it would have taken was one swat of his huge paw, and that would have forever cemented his status with all concerned, but because he did not act, he was a drastically diminished presence on campus.
As has been often said, "Perception is more powerful than truth." This is the essence of the current situation in the Middle East, and it will doubtless get worse. There is a very simple reason why these attacks on U.S. embassies have spread to more than a dozen countries, and unless something dramatic occurs, more diplomats and security personnel could be killed. We witness the current chaos throughout that region, numerous countries staging anti-American protests and wonder, "Why?"
Here is the core of the problem: We think everyone thinks the way we think. We understand what we are doing and saying, so we think those who are hearing and seeing us understand. We speak and what we say in English is translated into their native tongue, so we are subsequently confused when they don't respond appropriately. Our meaning is clear, concise and definitive to us. We reiterate our statements or repeat our actions to demonstrate our sincerity in anticipation that our ally, or adversary, as the case may be, will respond in like manner.
Here is what we (and our diplomats) often forget: We know what we mean, but too often we don't know what they mean. If you were to ask the average diplomat or Joe Citizen if the behavior of these "dissidents" or "protesters" is "normal," the answer, nine times out of 10 would be "No!" The reason being, normal means the way we do it (e.g. Western civilization). We think as we have been conditioned to think according to our cultural norms, as have they. The difference is, what they do is not normal to us, and vice versa. They do not understand "compromises" in the give and take of negotiation. They see the give in negotiation as weakness, and so demand more.
Finally, and most seriously, consider Iran and Israel. Since we could wipe any nation off the map with our nuclear capability, but would not, we think these Middle East mobs and dictators (many educated in the West) have the same sense of restraint. We hear Iran (which is feverishly seeking to obtain nuclear weapons) making threats to "annihilate Israel," or "wipe Israel off the map," but we think they think like us. Though we can, we would not, so we don't take the threats seriously. Israel does because it remembers: No one believed Hitler, either.
We have a choice facing us right now. Remember, restraint to them is seen as weakness. There is a reason why there is only one democracy in the Middle East. The predominant mindset therein is not the "turn the other cheek" basic mindset of Western civilization, but the "eye for an eye" concept of the past.
You want to know what is really going on and where we are headed today? Substitute Uncle Sam for Wilbert, and you have the situation in a nutshell.
Ben Kinchlow
Ben Kinchlow is a minister, broadcaster, author and businessman. His latest book is "Black Yellowdogs." He was the long-time co-host of CBN's "The 700 Club" television program and host of the international edition of the show, seen in more than 80 countries. He is the founder of Americans for Israel and the African American Political Awareness Coalition, and the author of several books.
Here's what real racism looks like
5 requirements for America's survival
The West must declare consequences for terror
The beheading of self-government
What Memorial Day means to me


I am pleased to announce that starting today Medicare will cover two new preventive benefits to help detect osteoporosis and manage diabetes. These important benefits were part of the Balanced Budget Act I signed into law last year, which contained the most significant reforms in Medicare since the program's enactment in 1965.
Medicare's new prevention benefits will provide older American the tools they need to fight some of our most devastating chronic diseases. While one out of two women over the age of 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture during her lifetime, many women are not aware that they have this disease until they have a broken bone or fracture. I am extremely pleased that the First Lady, Mrs. Gore and Secretary Shalala will be helping to publicize this new benefit to help women detect this disease early. Also, the new diabetes benefit is critical to the over 7 million Medicare beneficiaries who suffer from this disease. This benefit is part of our diabetes initiative that the American Diabetes Association believes is "as important to people with diabetes as the discovery of insulin in 1921."
This month marks the 33rd anniversary of the Medicare program -- one of our nation's most important commitments to older Americans and people with disabilities. I am extremely pleased that we can strengthen this important program and help some of our most vulnerable Americans stay healthier and stronger.
New Benefit To Help Women Detect Osteoporosis. Twenty-five million Americans suffer from osteoporosis, and one out of two women over the age of 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture during her lifetime. Unfortunately, many women are not aware that they have this disease until they have a broken bone or fracture. Medicare will now cover bone mass measurement tests to ensure that women are aware if they are at risk and can take the steps they need to prevent it.
New Diabetes Management Benefit. Medicare will also now cover blood glucose monitors and testing strips, as well as a wide range of education programs to help people with diabetes manage this disease. Sixteen million Americans and nearly 20 percent of Americans over the age of 65 suffer from this devastating disease. Too often, these Americans do not have the information or tools to manage diabetes and prevent costly side effects, such as blindness or amputations. This new benefit is critically important to the over 7 million Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes and it is part of the diabetes initiative the President signed into law that the American Diabetes Association praised as being "as important to people with diabetes as the discovery of insulin in 1921."
Builds on Other Important Prevention Benefits the Administration Implemented Last January. Today's announcement builds on the other Medicare screening benefits for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cervical cancer implemented last January. Medicare now guarantees annual mammograms for every Medicare beneficiary over 40, and waives the deductible, making annual breast cancer screenings more affordable. Coverage was also expanded for the early detection of cervical cancer and for regular examinations for colorectal cancer.


text:
Prevost named new dean of Alabama's nursing school
TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama has named Suzanne S. Prevost as the next dean of Capstone College of Nursing. Prevost is scheduled to begin work Aug. 16, succeeding Sara Barger, who is stepping down as dean.
TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama has named Suzanne S. Prevost as the next dean of Capstone College of Nursing.
"I am anxious to work with the faculty, staff and the college's board of visitors to grow the programs and facilities in directions that will continue to meet the changing needs of the community and the state," Prevost said in a released statement.
Prevost is scheduled to begin work Aug. 16, succeeding Sara Barger, who is stepping down as dean.
Barger, who has served as the dean since 1995, is taking an academic year off before returning to the college in a new role, according to a UA news release.
"Dr. Prevost has an outstanding background in nursing, teaching and university administration," said UA Interim Provost Joe Benson on Tuesday. "She will bring excellent leadership to our College of Nursing."
Prevost, now an associate dean for practice and community engagement and a nursing professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, has held teaching posts and various nursing positions at medical facilities in Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Pennsylvania, according to information released by UA.
Prevost earned her bachelor of science in nursing at Villa Maria College, her master of science in nursing at Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston and her doctorate at Texas Women's University in Houston. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.


Anyway to get custom maps on Xbox one. " For more info on how to submit your map or just.
Minecraft on Xbox One supports split- screen play for you to build with. Versions of Minecraft Windows 10 , Xbox One S , Minecraft on mobile Xbox.
Learn about the differences between the Xbox 360 Edition and the Xbox One version of Minecraft. - Share and discuss glitches on the Xbox One edition of Minecraft;.
Sep 06, · " What is up my fellow Crafters? Minecraft Java Edition does not require Xbox Live.
\ Users" and it should be one of the folders in there. Minecraft PS4 Maps; Minecraft Pocket Edition Mods; Map Categories.
Featuring 3 magnificent new maps! This is ShockeDCrafty here and I genuienly hoped you guys liked the video!
Download Minecraft for. How to Download and Install Minecraft Xbox Maps. Dropper Maps; Hunger Games Maps;. Minecraft Xbox One: Wall Jump map Download Minecraft Xbox One. Unofficial minecraft fan site, providing thousands of community made custom maps to download for minecraft on PC/ Mac & Pocket Edition. Download Minecraft: Java Edition.
Download the map that you want to play ( all the latest Minecraft: Pocket Edition maps should work on it). Download the Minecraft launcher to start your.
How to download maps in minecraft xbox one edition. Mar 10 · How to Download Custom Maps Mod on Minecraft Xbox 360 + One. For Minecraft: Xbox One Edition on the Xbox One, a GameFAQs message board topic titled " How to download adventure maps on Xbox one? Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition lets you create worlds from the.
Minecraft PS4 Maps; Minecraft Pocket Edition Mods; Submit Your Map;. Wall Jump map Download Minecraft Xbox 360/ One:.
Modded School map Download Minecraft Xbox 360/ One: Wall Jump map Download Minecraft Xbox 360. Com - Archive of downloadable maps.
Overview of The Walls map. Minecraft is available on Xbox 360 as a digital download or as a.
This really awesomeThe Walls map got made by Deepercomb41 the showcase video below got made on the Xbox 360 by Deepercomb41, but the map can be played on both the Xbox 360 the Xbox One. Com/ en- US/ xbox- one/ console/ photosensitive.
Minecraft PS4 Maps; Minecraft Pocket Edition Mods;. Minecraft Xbox One Map Downloads. Minecraft Xbox One Remake Maps Download; Minecraft Xbox One Run From The.
Minecraft PS4 Maps; Minecraft Pocket Edition Mods;. Blair Witch Hide and Seek map Download Minecraft Xbox One:. Minecraft Xbox One Remake Maps Download;.


Anyone in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, Naples, Marco Island, Lehigh Acres, FL or surrounding areas who recognizes quality and reliability in HVAC services knows that D & D Air Conditioning and Heating is the right choice for homeowners. Ranging from new or replacement HVAC installation to high-quality HVAC repair and maintenance, the lineup of HVAC services we offer is extensive and allows us to easily meet the combined heating and cooling needs of you and your family.
Whenever you are in the market for an HVAC system upgrade or even a comparable replacement system, you'll be happy to know that our installation specialists are standing by to discuss your family's unique indoor comfort needs, based on your lifestyle, personal preferences and typical HVAC usage patterns. We're here to help you determine the best combination of heating and cooling equipment for making your home the haven of comfort you've always dreamed it could be.
As a company that has been family-owned and operated since 1983, we are dedicated to offering you the personal touch that makes all the difference as we work with you to find the HVAC solution that works best for you. We consider it an honor that you've placed your trust in us, and you can count on us to do our very best to come through for you, making your equipment selection and HVAC installation experience a smooth and seamless one.
Keeping every component of your HVAC system in good working order is one secret to flawless performance and high energy efficiency. Our COMFORT CARE Service Program helps you do that with ease while offering you preferred customer status and HVAC repair service discounts. It's just one more way we put the customer first at D & D Air Conditioning and Heating.
We hope you'll give us the opportunity to help your system run better, last longer and save you money on utility bills, repairs, overtime charges and system replacement costs. Contact us today to learn more about the difference regular HVAC maintenance can make to your equipment.


The Chobe River , The Kwando River and The Okavango River. Our Safari will be along the waterways and banks of these four rivers. There is a high concentration of wildlife, bird-life and local settlements along these four rivers. An ideal opportunity to take our time and discover the natural co existence of natural wildlife, bird life and the people of Okavango ,Kwando, Chobe and Zambezi.


Originally formed in December 1976 as the Ontario Historic Landmarks Society and the name was changed in 2000. Its original purpose was to "identify sites of historical interest located generally in the west-end of San Bernardino County, to preserve and restore said sites, and to educate the local citizenry to them.
The mission of Ontario Heritage, a nonprofit advocacy organization, is to protect, preserve, and promote the historical environment and cultural heritage of our Model Colony.


text:
As some readers here may have noticed, there is an odd tech glitch that happens on rare instances when someone is trying to send a Comment. Usually, all is fine -- but every once in a while, an error message pops up that says the comment couldn't be delivered, and so the person sends a second one...even though the original message went through fine Sometimes that will happen repeatedly, and three or four messages get sent, despite the error message saying none went through.
I've been trying to resolved this for many months with the company that runs the site, but so far they're as bewildered as anyone. What they asked today is that if anyone who gets that error message could please take a screen shot of the error message and then forward it to me, I can then send it to the company.
Mind you, I don't expect anyone to take a screen shot of any error message. Just saying that if the error box does pop up, and you are able to take a screen shot, it could possibly help resolved this. Though even that is in question.
Fortunately, the error message doesn't occur too often. Just more often than it should.


I have lived most of my life in the beautiful Dandenong ranges, which provides me with endless inspiration for my paintings. Starting with a blank canvas and transforming it into a beautiful piece of art is my passion. My work is mainly in acrylics, with a diverse range of birds, animals and places.
For as long as I can remember, I have always felt the need to create, and as a young teenager I started out with oils and teaching myself with how to paint books. I have been influenced by the old traditional masters striving for realism with a twist of vibrant colour and depth. Today I work mainly in acrylics, using a wide variety of painting mediums and techniques. Each piece is individually created with great care, paying careful attention to fine detail and creating depth with light and shadow.
I find beauty in every corner of the world and also in everyday life and especially in nature. If I can create a painting that sparks a memory or emotion, or even of a place you have once been or would like to go, or if it gives you tranquillity or peace, then my goal has been achieved.
Over the years I have painted purely for my own satisfaction and kept it privately to myself. In 2002 I decided to enter a section of the royal Melbourne show, my piece won 1st prize and I didn't feel the need to enter in anything again. I have always painted private commissions for customers by word of mouth, and it is only in the last 12 months that I have decided to show my work both online and via display at Sherbrooke gallery. A very traumatic time in my life followed by a life threatening illness prompted me to make dramatic changes. So now here I am, following my passion and sharing it with you.


Waves closed over me, choking my instinctive gasp and tossing me so hard that, in only a heartbeat, I lost all sense of up and down. Flailing, I tried to reach out and find something, anything, to grab onto as the water pummeled me like it was a prize fighter and I was its punching bag.
Strong hands caught me. Steadied me. Pulled me from the maelstrom into a space of calm. I clutched at them, thinking Noah had managed to find me in the chaos.
Eyes like brilliant sapphires met mine.
I stared at him. In the impossibly black water, I could see nothing but his face and his arms, both pale as though he'd spent his life out of the sun. He seemed only a year or two older than me, and his features were angular, carved like they came from stone, and strangely mesmerizing. In the darkness, his eyes shone like deep blue jewels, simultaneously seeming to reflect light and yet glow from within.
But we were underwater. We should be drowning. And instead, I could hear him as clearly as if we stood in the open air, and the oddest sense of peace was settling over me.
I wondered if I was dying.
— Excerpt from AWAKEN (Awakened Fate #1). Copyright Skye Malone.


text:
Urga () ist ein Film des russischen Regisseurs Nikita Michalkow aus dem Jahr 1991.

Handlung
Der mongolische Hirte Gombo lebt mit seiner Frau Pagma, ihren drei Kindern und seiner Mutter in einer Jurte in der Steppe, weit entfernt von der nächsten Siedlung. In diese – für ihn fremde – Welt gerät der russische Kraftfahrer Sergej, als er mit seinem Lkw liegen bleibt und von Gombos Familie herzlich aufgenommen wird.

Nach anfänglichem Unverständnis für die mongolische Kultur, u. a. das Schlachten eines Schafes, der Geschmack von "Airag" (Kumys, gegorene Stutenmilch), entwickeln Gombo und Sergej eine Freundschaft, die sich im Verlauf einer "Einkaufsreise" in die nächste Stadt vertieft.

Dort versucht Gombo, in einer Apotheke Präservative zu kaufen, weil die chinesischen Machthaber die Geburtenkontrolle vorschreiben. Sergej hingegen möchte wieder einmal ordentlich auf den Putz hauen. Dies führt zu seiner Verhaftung, aus der ihn Gombo mit Hilfe eines Freundes aber recht schnell "befreien" kann. Erleichtert kehren sie zurück. Gombo konnte den verlockenden Angeboten an Konsumgütern nicht widerstehen und bringt ein Fahrrad und ein Fernsehgerät mit, zwei in der Steppe völlig sinnlose Geräte.

Bedeutung
Es geht um die Freundschaft von zwei Männern aus verschiedenen Kulturen und über den Gegensatz zwischen der archaischen Nomadenkultur und der Industriegesellschaft. Dabei kündigen Symptome an, dass sich die Zerstörung der unberührten Natur wohl nicht aufhalten lässt.

Auszeichnungen
Für den Film erhielt Nikita Michalkow bei den Internationalen Filmfestspielen von Venedig einen Goldenen Löwen. Urga war 1993 für den Oscar als "bester fremdsprachiger Film" nominiert.

Trivia
Die Urga ist ein langer Stab mit einer Schlinge am Ende. Damit fangen die Mongolen in der Steppe die Tiere ein. Wer sie in den Boden steckt, will beim Liebesakt nicht gestört werden.

Weblinks

Filmtitel 1991
Sowjetischer Film
Filmdrama

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Pages Brings Books to Manhattan Beach
Co-owners Linda McLoughlin Figel (left) and Margot Farris on Pages' opening day.
Blue Willow Brings Authors to TeenBookCon
The April 10 Greater Houston TeenBookCon proved that "yes indeed, Houston can put on some great events," said Cathy Berner. As the events coordinator and children's/young adult specialist at Blue Willow Bookshop, Berner was one of the festival's organizers.
Consignment Expands at Northshire Bookstore
"What we are after is working with vendors that want to be real partners in selling quality products to our customers," said Northshire Bookstore owner Chris Morrow. That's why Northshire has just entered into its second consignment partnership, this one with publisher Chelsea Green.
The Island Bookstore Turns 35
Mary Jane Barnwell and her sister and brother-in-law, Diane and Joseph Brandonisio, bought The Island Bookstore on Mackinac Island, Michigan, in 1989. They have since expanded from a 300-square-foot space above a market to a 1,000-square-foot store. In 1996, they added a second, 2,000-square-foot store in Mackinaw City, on the mainland. Both locations are seasonal, and are open from May through November.
British Booksellers Are IndieBound
The IndieBound program, launched by the American Booksellers Association in 2008, has just made its debut in the United Kingdom. As Bookselling This Week noted in an earlier article, the Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom and Ireland (BA) has licensed IndieBound marketing materials for use in the U.K., and independent booksellers began receiving those materials this month.
Will Britain's Bookstores Survive?
On World Book Day, the biggest annual celebration of books and reading in the U.K. and Ireland, Scotland's The Big Issue asked if browsing in a book shop is an endangered pastime.
By Vicky Davidson
Sales Tax Initiative
ABA Policy Staff Goes to Washington
This week, American Booksellers Association staff traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with key legislators and other associations to discuss sales tax equity and other policy issues. Over a two-day period, ABA CEO Oren Teicher, Content Director Dan Cullen, and Senior Public Policy Analyst David Grogan met with senior staff from the offices of Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA), and with representatives of the National Retail Federation (NRF) and AARP. In addition, they attended the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) American Associations Day 2010.
Remember to Cast Your Ballot for the ABA Board
The American Booksellers Association is encouraging all Regular Bookstore members to cast their ballots for the 2010 election of ABA officers and directors. The ballots, which were sent to stores via e-mail on Monday, March 22, are due back by midnight on April 26. All voting is being conducted electronically, as authorized by a 2009 amendment to the ABA Bylaws.
ABA President & CEO Meet With SBA Head
This week, ABA President Michael Tucker, of Books Inc. in San Francisco, and ABA CEO Oren Teicher traveled to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with Karen Gordon Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, to discuss issues of importance to independent booksellers. Joining them at the meeting was SBA Chief of Staff Ana M. Ma.
Cross-Promotions Generate Goodwill, Sales & More
Cross-promotions are great vehicles for reaching new customers and spreading the Buy Local message and goodwill, both with fellow merchants and customers. And costs are usually shared, if not minimal or nonexistent. BTW spoke with Susan Weis of breathe books; Cindy Dach of Changing Hands Bookstore; Heather Duncan of Tattered Cover Book Store; and Kerry Slattery of Skylight Books about one of the most cost-effective ways to promote their indie businesses.


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Pakistani Ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan Shot
BreakingInternationalNews
By Ivan Gomez
On November 3, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot in the leg while giving a speech in Wazirabad, Punjab Province. According to officials from Khan's political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), he was hit in the shin and thigh and was rushed to a hospital in Lahore. He is currently in stable condition.
Imran Khan after being treated for his injuries, November 4.
Photo by The Independent
Police have detained a suspect in connection to the incident after a supporter tackled him. An automatic 9mm handgun and two empty magazines were seized from him. The suspect reportedly fired around six shots at Khan's container-mounted truck. The suspect was recorded saying "I could see him misleading the nation. I only wanted to target Imran Khan and no one else," when questioned about the shooting by the police. At the time of the incident, Khan was participating in the Azadi March-II, a political march from Lahore to Islamabad to push for new elections. Hundreds of his supporters were present and armed police were reportedly at the scene on standby. A supporter was shot dead trying to disarm the shooter according to reports on the ground.
A journalist present at the scene, Zoraiz Bangash, told the BBC that "It all started when Khan was leading the rally and all of a sudden there were gunshots heard and the moment we all realized there was person seen with a pistol, a 9mm pistol and the moment he fired some shots which unfortunately landed on some of the PTI leadership and [Mr] Khan who was shot in the leg."
Earlier this year in April, Khan, 70, was ousted after losing a no-confidence vote. Since then, he has been holding political rallies all over the country in order to garner support and push for early elections. Khan has alleged that Shehbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah, and Major General Faisal, all high-ranking members of the government, were responsible for the attack. Protests have broken out in multiple cities against the shooting and in support of Khan.
Khan's rival, and current prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif denounced the shooting and ordered an immediate investigation. Several world leaders and governments such as Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and the White House have also spoken out against the attack.
Featured image by: YahooNews
Ivan Gomez
Civil Unrest in Sinaloa After Mexican Authorities Arrest El Chapo's Son
Jordan Rocked by Protests Over Increasing Fuel Prices
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo Ousted After Attempt to Dissolve Congress
Spanish Government to Change Sentence for Catalan Separatist Leaders
Analysis: Nayib Bukele's War on Gangs
Market Driving Power: A Greener Future Through Trade
What Was Discussed at the 2023 World Economic Forum Meeting?
Ugandan Officials Announce End of Ebola Outbreak
Venezuelan Teachers March for Higher Salaries Amidst Inflation
Rishi Sunak Appointed as British Prime Minister
Ukrainian Refugees: A Life They Did Not Choose


text:
Could and Should All School Buses Have Seatbelts?
JerryX
You might think that some school buses have seat belts, but they actually don't and there is a big push for them all over the state. The last time I was on a school bus was about two years ago and I never really thought about seat belts because school buses are safe. This is a thought that most people have and actually studies show that school buses are the safest way for students to travel, so what is the push for seatbelts now? It is because the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services is recommending all new school buses come with three-point seatbelts.
According to WLNS, Dean Transportation is on board with putting seat belts on all of their buses around the state. The only thing is that there is a budget shortfall, due to coronavirus, and it will cost $10,000 per bus to put seat belts in. With the school year up in the air and when school comes back there might be less children on the bus which could give companies time to install seat belts, but most are saying they shouldn't wait.
The Michigan Association for Pupil Transportation have other ideas for buses as they want to have better brake technology and technology for stability control. You can see more about it here.
But how do you feel about it, should all school buses have seat belts or should they do other advancements to buses? Tell us with our app (link below) and use the CHAT feature.
MORE: Tour the World From Your Couch
Filed Under: bus, kids, safety, school, seatbelt


text:
Wendy Sharpe (born 25 June 1963) is an association football player who represented New Zealand at international level. Sharpe is New Zealand's leading women's international goalscorer.

Sharpe made her full Football Ferns debut in a 3–3 draw with Australia 18 May 1980 and finished her international career with 51 caps and 29 goals to her credit, her last cap being in a 0–2 loss to Australia on 19 March 1995.

References

1963 births
Living people
New Zealand women's international footballers
New Zealand women's association footballers
Women's association football forwards


Nordic Webdesign specialize in Web Design Haymarket, Gainesville, Manassas, Centreville, Warrenton, Chantilly, Fairfax, Washington DC and Northern Virginia area. Established in 1997 Nordic Webdesign have developed hundreds of projects to date, including to some leading industries. Our specialties are the creation of clean well designed websites for businesses and organizations of all sizes. We provide strategic, integrated, digital driven business and marketing solutions.
Our growth is due to world-leading products, skills and experience, plus our focus on fulfilling Clients' business objectives that integrate smoothly into their organisation and culture.
We are constantly striving to test the boundaries and limitations of ever-evolving web development Haymarket Gainesville and multimedia technologies. We get the most out of current technology so you get the most out of your IT investment. Through a healthy mix of forward thinking, visionary design, creativity, technical excellence and a genuine love for what we do, we will create solutions to meet and exceed your expectations.
We understand business. We understand the concept of professionalism, and the term "time is of the essence". We realize your business has a budget, a time frame, and high expectations. We know you demand only the highest quality from your vendors.
Creating online visual impact, drawing users further and further into a website, simply because they want to see what's next - creating a visual story or a thousand stories - that's the kind of web design studio we are. With web design Haymarket Gainesville we don't just make it look good, we make it functional. We can easily and quickly help your personal business succeed online.
Meet the needs of your target audience.
Build or further reinforce your brand, image and awareness.
Attract a loyal user base through personalised information delivery.
Be beautiful through design and functionality.
Your business is very important to us, and we would love to have the opportunity to show you the key success factors our projects present for your company. Your organizational advancement is our goal.


So… In a slightly different direction than usual we've made a parody gnome of the notorious Rob Ford.
He comes in both a "Classic" and "Stupored" edition and he's available now in our Etsy shop..
Can't Get enough controversy from the media about Toronto's mayor?
Than it's time to bring the mayor and all his controversy to your garden!
That's right folks, now you too can have your own political circus right on your front lawn!
Your garden gnome community will now have a leader to look to and follow on all their gnomish adventures.
All in an alleged "drunken stupor" right on your front lawn!
Adopt this gnomish RoFo, bring him home today.
Place him in your garden and you can be sure thats where he'll stay!
Each of these mythical mayoral figures are sculpted meticulously in water/oil clay, cast in rock solid premium grade gypsum cement.
Then hand-painted to bring out all of their mayoral detail (and to ensure that no two are exactly the same).
and to help prevent any further mishaps by means of weather.
Happy Canada Day and Pride Weekend to all our fellow Canadians!!
Zombie Gnomes and Bloody masks and Chainsaws, Oh my!
Willie Walker The Zombie Gnome!


text:
namespace opt = boost::program_options;

opt::options_description optionsDescription() {
    opt::options_description desc("Allowed options");
    desc.add_options()
    ("iterations,n",opt::value<size_t>()->default_value(1<<16),
     "Number of iterations.")
    ("help","Show help message")
    ("verbose,v", "Show extensive debugging info")
    ("ising", "Use Ising reservoir. Requires -d.")
    ("stoch", "Use Stochastic reservoir. This is set by default, and overridden"
     " by --ising.")
    ("dimension,d", opt::value<int>()->default_value(10),
     "Set the dimension of the Ising reservoir")
    ("tau,t", opt::value<double>()->default_value(5))
    ("distribution","Output the energy distribution of the ising reservoir.")
    ("clusters,c",opt::value<int>()->default_value(10),
     "The number of cluster steps used by the ising model.")
    ("tmgas", "Use TMGas reservoir. Requires -d.")
    ;
    return desc;
}


text:
British Columbia Discovery Fund Exercises Warrants to Acquire Shares of Vigil Health Solutions Inc.
May 27, 2013 19:32 ET | Source: British Columbia Discovery Fund (VCC) Inc.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 27, 2013) - British Columbia Discovery Fund (VCC) Inc. (the "Fund"), a venture capital investment fund managed by Discovery Capital Management Corp. ("DCMC"), is updating its reporting of security holdings in its portfolio company, Vigil Health Solutions Inc. ("Vigil").
The Fund has exercised warrants previously issued to it in May 2011 to purchase 1,153,846 common shares of Vigil. These shares represent 9% of the outstanding common shares of Vigil prior to exercise of the warrants held by the Fund or of any other outstanding warrants to acquire common shares of Vigil. The exercise price was $0.10 per share, so that Vigil receives proceeds of $115,385 as a result of this transaction.
Following this transaction, as well as a disposition through the TSX Venture Exchange on May 22, 2013 of 1,182,346 common shares of Vigil, the Fund holds 3,026,906 common shares of Vigil, representing 21% of the outstanding common shares of Vigil immediately after the Fund's exercise of its warrants.
In addition, Discovery Capital Management Corp. ("DCMC"), which has voting control and direction over the holdings of the Fund, is custodian of and has voting control over 376,106 common shares of Vigil which are being held for the benefit of former shareholders of Discovery Capital Corporation ("DCC"). These shares represent approximately 3% of the outstanding common shares of Vigil immediately after exercise of the warrants. Accordingly, DCMC presently has voting control and direction over a combined total of approximately 24% of the outstanding common shares of Vigil after exercise of the warrants. Harry Jaako, director of the Fund and of Vigil, and a principal of DCMC, also holds common shares representing an approximate 0.2% interest in Vigil.
The purchase of common shares on exercise of the warrants was made by the Fund for investment purposes. The Fund may acquire ownership of additional securities of Vigil, or the Fund (and/or DCMC on behalf of the Fund and/or the former shareholders of DCC) may dispose of securities of Vigil, as circumstances arise or market conditions warrant. The Fund and DCC have been long-term investors of Vigil.
Further details are available in the accompanying report filed by the Fund on SEDAR pursuant to National Instrument 62-103.
About British Columbia Discovery Fund (VCC) Inc.
British Columbia Discovery Fund (VCC) Inc. was established to make venture capital investments in a portfolio of small businesses in British Columbia that qualify under the Small Business Venture Capital Act, focusing on all of B.C.'s top internationally recognized technology clusters: information technology (software and hardware); mobile technology (wireless and networking solutions); clean technology (alternative energy and energy-saving technology solutions); new media; and health and life sciences.
Established in 2002 and managed by Discovery Capital Management Corp., the Fund is focussed on making diversified investments in British Columbia with the objectives of achieving long-term capital appreciation for its shareholders and contributing to the growth in value and employment of the technology industry in British Columbia. In addition to offering a means of participating in the potential of British Columbia's newest technology ventures, the Fund offers significant tax savings to eligible British Columbia individual and corporate investors. The Fund, which offers its shares on a continuous basis, has raised approximately $72 million to date and has active investments in eleven developing technology companies. To obtain further information about the Fund, please contact a registered advisor or visit www.sedar.com or www.bcdiscoveryfund.com.
John McEwen, CEO, B.C. Discovery Fund (VCC) Inc.
Harry Jaako, President, B.C. Discovery Fund (VCC) Inc.
This press release is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy common shares. This press release may include statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. The issuer cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, many of which are beyond its control. Future events and results may vary substantially from what the issuer currently foresees.
British Columbia Discovery Fund (VCC) Inc.
Todd Riley
info@discoverycapital.com
www.bcdiscoveryfund.com


text:
Ancient land of theater to get a new, modern venue
By Vassilis Angelikopoulos - Kathimerini
A modern, open-air amphitheater will soon stand near the ancient Greek theater of Epidaurus, to be used primarily for performances of ancient drama for which the centuries-old structure is not suitable. The Culture Ministry has approved proposals for the theater, having decided in favor of a 1,500-seat structure in a location that has already been chosen, and which is close to the ancient theater but will not damage the archaeological site or be a blot on landscape. The ministry is now carrying out a final examination of the location, building schedule and purpose of the theater. The site that has been chosen is Melana, situated behind the left corner of the ancient theater, 400 meters from the dressing rooms and the Xenia Hotel and easily accessible from the Horn Estate. It is not clear whether the new theater, like the one set up at the Temple of Olympic Zeus for Vangelis Papathanassiou's concert, will be prefabricated or not. It will be used instead of the ancient theater, which is inconvenient. The Central Archaeological Council will announce its decision when the studies are finalized. The theater was to have been ready by last summer but the completion date has been postponed to the summer of 2003. The idea of creating a new theater in the area is by no means new. When Thanos Mikroutsikos was president of the Epidaurus Festival, he was keen to have a new theater that could host both ancient drama with music and dance performances. The current president of the Hellenic Festival, Periklis Koukos, has adopted the idea. In addition to catering for the needs of the festival, the new theater will also host many events for the Cultural Olympiad, which will sponsor the theater.
Greek film makes it to Berlin festival
Highlights of Van Abbemuseum collection
Sunday 20/1
The Kathimerini family celebrates the New Year
Archbishop Demetrios gives hope to kids
Greek professor receives the Herder Award


A wedding means a lot of rituals, enjoyment and most importantly people. For guests to be able to turn up on your big day, it is important that your invites are sent out on time and in the most appropriate form. We are here for all theseneeds of the day. There are different kinds of forms in which RSVP and Invitations are sent out and you might have a particular idea in mind. Our team of experts are ready to meet your expectations in every way possible. If you do not have any clue which could be a good way to let your guests know that their presence is important on your big day, fret not. We will always make sure to let you know, all that there is to know to make your invitations all the more special.
Our templates have been doing wonders for our customers for a long time now. We have a specialized form of hand drawn motifs and classicpatterns along with classic glided patterns. Our templates also include richly embossed invites. We are ready to make sure that you send out the invites to all the guests in time so that they can be a part of your big fat wedding. You can hand us your invitee list and we can take care of the rest from there. We take all the pains of preparing the invites and sending them out to the individuals as top priority.
Our team of specialists will take care of everything that needs to be taken care of so that your invitees reach the venue on the special day and you are able to have a great time together. We can ensure that your invites are customized in such a what that it can symbolize the auspicious start of the new chapter in your life and make it a memorable day for everyone.