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Tennessee community colleges are running math labs in local high schools to prepare students for college math, reports Inside Higher Ed. Encouraged by early results, Gov. Bill Haslam came up with money to expand the experiment.
Math labs are designed for high school seniors who appear likely to place into remedial courses in college.
Pass rates have been high. For example, 83 percent of a group of 200 students in the remedial, dual-enrollment group at Chattanooga State Community College completed all of the college’s required math “competencies” during their senior year of high school.
Even better, 25 percent of those students completed a credit-bearing, college-level math course while still in high school (remedial math is typically noncredit). These were also students who scored a 19 or below on the ACT Mathematics Test as high school juniors, meaning they had deficiencies in the subject.
“They were completely done with math before they even started” college, said Kimberly G. McCormick, interim associate vice president for academic affairs at Chattanooga State.
Three years ago, Chattanooga State helped set up a remedial math lab at a nearby high school. Teacher Deborah Weiss used Pearson’s MyMathLab courseware, which lets students work at their own speed.
The class was “wildly successful,” McCormick said. The state funded a larger pilot at high schools near Northeast State, Cleveland State and Jackson State Community Colleges as well as Chattanooga State.
This year, all 13 of the state’s community colleges are running math labs at 1134high schools throughout Tennessee.
Colorado Gear Up‘s Early Remediation Project starts even earlier — in eighth grade. This year, some 1,300 students in grades 8, 9 and 10 are enrolled in classes mirroring the remedial math and English sequences taught on Colorado campuses. Once students pass the courses, as verified by Adams State University, they can enroll in college-level courses. Some start earning college credits in 10th grade.
States are trying to prevent, accelerate or limit remedial education, reports Stateline. But some say remedial reforms will doom the college hopes of poorly prepared students.
Indiana high schools must provide extra help to students at risk of placing into remedial classes in college.
Florida will let many public college students skip developmental classes and enroll in college-level courses.
Colorado now lets state universities place borderline students in college-level classes, with extra support, instead of sending them to community colleges for remedial classes.
Starting in fall 2014, Connecticut’s public colleges will be required to build remedial education into credit-bearing courses. Students will be allowed only one semester of remediation.
Many of the new remediation models work very well for students who need minimal extra help, said Patti Levine-Brown, president of the National Association for Developmental Education. But for students who need more time to get their skills up to college level, she said, “placing them in courses for which they are not prepared is akin to setting them up for failure.”
“We learned in the 1960s that allowing students to take and fail college level courses and retake those classes did not increase completion rates,” Levine-Brown said. “In fact, it resulted in high withdrawal rates and diminished finances for students.”
Unprepared students will pay a price for skipping remediation, predicts Kenneth Ross, vice president for academic and student services at Polk State College in Florida. “I think they’re going to struggle, and unless we have some other kind of massive tutoring support which they’ve not funded us for, they’re going . . . to struggle and then flunk out.”
Going a step behind dual enrollment, high schools and community colleges are combining a “fifth year” of high school with the first year of college, reports Community College Times.
In Oregon, nearly 200 high school students will spend a fifth year earning an advanced high school diploma while attending and earning credits at Klamath Community College (KCC). Since these students are still considered to be enrolled in high school, their tuition, fees and textbooks for their first year at KCC are covered by the state’s funding to K-12 school districts.
The students will attend KCC as a cohort and take a college success course together. If they complete the year, they’ll earn an advanced high school diploma and as many as 39 college credits — for free. They’ll be able to continue at KCC, transfer to another college or enter the workforce.
Colorado’s Ascent program lets high school students delay graduation for a year while they attend a community college; the cost is covered by the state’s K-12 funding.
Community College of Aurora (CCA) has close to 100 Ascent students and 3,000 dual enrollment students, said Elena Sandoval-Lucero, dean of student success. To qualify for Ascent, students must complete at least 12 dual-enrollment credits before 12th grade and be ready to start in college-level courses. Some will be able to earn an associate degree in their “fifth year,” said Sandoval-Lucero.
High school educators hope fifth-year programs will encourage low-income students to start college at no cost and keep on going.
Federal programs to help disadvantaged students earn college degrees “show no major effects on college enrollment or completion,” concludes “Time for Change: A New Federal Strategy to Prepare Disadvantaged Students for College, a Brookings report. The U.S. Department of Education’s TRIO programs (Upward Bound, Talent Search, Upward Bound Math-Science, Student Support Services and others) cost $1 billion per year.
The TRIO programs are designed to augment disadvantaged students’ academic preparation, give them direct experience with college work, or help them apply to colleges or seek ﬁnancial aid. . . . Half a century and billions of dollars after these federal college-preparation programs began, we are left with mostly failed programs interspersed with modest successes. Preparing disadvantaged students for college is still a major challenge, with no well-tested solutions in sight.
Summer programs, mentoring, tutoring and parent involvement activities may boost college enrollment, the policy brief found. “These may be the threads from which we can begin to weave together a new kind of intervention program.”
Forced to end affirmative action preferences based on race and ethnicity, California’s state universities “have embedded themselves deeply in disadvantaged communities, working with schools, students and parents to identify promising teenagers and get more of them into college,” reports the New York Times. Outreach efforts start in middle school.
In Colorado, College Summit helps first-generation college students prepare for the challenges they’ll face on campus, reports Colorado Public Radio. That includes the psychological barriers.
Reporter: Self-doubt is just one obstacle – there are many others low-income students are vulnerable to: feeling alienated – from peers and family, not having the safety net their more affluent peers have, culture shock — even the fear of success. Ryan Ross, who oversees student retention at the Community College of Denver, says programs targeting first generation minority students, are crucial.
Ryan Ross: Without these programs, the dismal numbers that we see would be even worse.
Reporter: But he and others estimate that only about 10 to 15 percent of students who need these bridge-to-college support services are getting them. There’s just not enough money. It costs College Summit about $200 per student each session. And it pays off. Drop out rates are high among first generation students. But 77% of College Summit graduates carry on for a second year.
In “neighborhoods where kids don’t believe college is for them,” it makes a big difference to see somebody from the neighborhood who’s now a college graduate, says Ross. ”The light turns on that, hey, I can do this college thing too.”
Only 34 percent of students from disadvantaged backgrounds enroll in college, notes TIME. Eleven percent graduate. High achievers often enroll in less-selective colleges that have lower graduation rates and provide less support to students.
Colorado university leaders are fighting a bill that would let community colleges offer bachelor’s degrees in vocational fields, reports the Boulder Daily Camera. In a letter to the General Assembly, seven state university presidents argued the proposal would divert scarce state funding, cause overlaps in missions and produce a degree with low value in the workforce.
Nancy McCallin, president of the Colorado Community College System, said there’s demand for four-year degrees in areas such as culinary arts and dental hygienists. At Front Range Community College, she envisions offering a bachelor’s degree in “geographic information systems,” technical training required to build GPS systems.
Two-thirds of the state’s 163,000 community college students work to put themselves through college, McCallin said. Many can’t afford to uproot their families or leave the farms they work on in rural Colorado to transfer to a four-year institution. Offering four-year degrees, she said, would extend educational opportunities to those types of students — not draw students away from other colleges.
The bill would let community colleges offer up to 10 degree programs only in technical and career programs. State officials would decide if a proposal overlaps with programs already offered at four-year colleges.
Colorado University has been working with community colleges to streamline the transfer process in 14 degree tracks, the Daily Camera notes. Community college students who earn 30 credit hours and at least a 2.7 grade-point average are guaranteed admission as transfers.
CU Regent Stephen Ludwig, who attended two community colleges before transferring to CU’s Colorado Springs campus, said state universities could use technology to enable students with associate degrees to earn a bachelor’s degree without relocating.
College graduates’ skills don’t match the available jobs, said participants in a community forum in Fort Collins, Colorado, reports The Coloradoan.
Matt Dinsmore, co-owner of Wilbur’s Total Beverage in Fort Collins, said he employs three people with masters’ degrees, including a beer stocker with a physics degree.
Martin Shields, a Colorado State University economics professor, said a college degree is an important investment, but the first four to five years after college are “tougher than they’ve ever been.”
Dawn Putney, CEO of design and marketing firm Toolbox Creative, most four-year graduates don’t have the job skills she needs. Young people are encouraged to go for a university degree, not to explore alternatives such as community colleges, she said.
Jim Neubecker, a member of the Governor’s Workforce and Small Business Development Council, said union electricians, pipe-fitters and plumbers can work 40 hours per week while attending school two nights per week, learning skills while avoiding debt. Community colleges often partner with unions to get students certified on otherwise prohibitively expensive equipment, Neubecker said.
Colorado community colleges generate more than $3 billion a year in economic benefits, according to a statewide study, reports the Denver Post. Students receive an annual return of 11 percent on their investment in education, Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. estimates. Over a working lifetime, associate degree graduates can expect to earn $502,100 more than someone with a high school diploma.
Only 70 percent of Colorado’s ninth graders go on to earn a high school diploma and only 44 percent go on to college, said Nancy McCallin, president of the Colorado Community College System.
“It seems so few high school students want to go to college. They’re saying, ‘What’s in it for me? I can get a job,’ ” McCallin said. “But studies like this show the importance of education…if we don’t grow our own in terms of people being prepared to enter the work force, we’re going to be in trouble.”
The $3 billion in benefits may be low, McCallin said. It doesn’t include the impact of students who transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions or those who improve their basic skills in non-credit classes.
Colorado community colleges are getting better at advancing remedial students to college-level classes, concludes the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. However, more high school graduates require remediation.
Arapahoe Community College has boosted retention rates by 11 percent, reports the Denver Post.
. . . students who are not ready to take college-level math take remedial classes at their own pace in a flex-format program. They use the computer lab on their own time and can move through assignments and tests alone or with help of tutors or lab staff trained to teach the math skills.
The college is creating flex-format courses for remedial reading and writing courses.
Morgan Community College, which retains 59.6 percent of remedial students, had the highest retention rate among the state’s community colleges. The college blended two remedial math classes into one and added tests to monitor students’ progress.
Colorado community college students helped low- and moderate-income taxpayers collect $6 million in refunds this year through Tax Help Colorado.
The program, funded by the Piton Foundation, targets working families who are eligible for tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.
Participating students take a tax-preparation class in the fall to earn IRS certification. In the spring semester, they operate a free tax preparation service at the college. Students receive credits for both semesters, real-world experience and exposure to careers in tax work and accounting.
New Mexico colleges that participate in Tax Help New Mexico report enrollment increases in accounting and business majors.
While dual enrollment often is touted as a way to motivate struggling students, that’s not who’s enrolling in Colorado, reports the Denver Post. Dual enrollment attracts successful students who hope to cut college costs.
“My English class was a lot of work, but I had already taken AP English and IB classes before these college classes, so it’s been pretty easy,” said Vonia Adams, a concurrent-enrollment student from Hinkley High School in Aurora.
Concurrent-enrollment programs authorized by state law allow high schoolers to take college classes, paid for by their home districts. Students first take the Accuplacer test or the ACT and must test at a college level, unless they are in 12th grade.
Most concurrently enrolled students attend community colleges.
Colorado also offers ASCENT, which lets students to stay in high school for a fifth year so they can graduate with a diploma and an associate’s degree.
“When you have no clue about what college you can go to or what you want to study, this is a great opportunity because I would have only been able to pay for a few classes,” said Sally Varela, an ASCENT student from Aurora Central High School.
Varela became a certified nursing assistant and earned a business certificate using the concurrent-enrollment programs while in high school.
Next year, the state expects about 750 students will enroll in the ASCENT program, at an estimated cost of $4 million.
To make the funding go farther, the Concurrent Enrollment Advisory Board may remove students who qualify for Pell Grants to serve students with no other way to pay for college, the Post reports.


Policy & Politics
Senate Appropriations Committee Approves $2.4 Billion for AIDS, TB, Malaria Programs
September 16, 2004
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a $19.5 billion fiscal year 2005 foreign aid bill, which includes $2.4 billion for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs, USA Today reports. The majority of the funding -- which is $200 million more than President Bush originally requested for the programs -- would go to the 15 countries covered under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, according to USA Today (USA Today, 9/16). However, the committee on Wednesday also approved $150 million in "off-budget emergency funding" for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, according to the Wall Street Journal (Rogers, Wall Street Journal, 9/16). The House-approved FY 2005 foreign aid spending bill included $2.2 billion for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria initiatives. Although the House-approved funding met Bush's request for FY 2005, the House allocated a larger portion of the money to the Global Fund than Bush had requested. Bush's proposed FY 2005 budget includes $2.8 billion for international HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria programs. That amount includes $1.45 billion for the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, which will administer PEPFAR, and $200 million for the Global Fund. Because the House spending bill would double the requested Global Fund contribution to $400 million, less money would go to PEPFAR (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/16). The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday also approved $1.1 billion -- $1.4 billion less than Bush had requested -- for the Millennium Challenge Account, a program designed to encourage poor countries to make political and economic reforms in exchange for aid from the United States, according to the AP/Las Vegas Sun. The House approved a "similar" decrease in MCA funding, according to the AP/Sun (Fram, AP/Las Vegas Sun, 9/15).
Vermont HIV/AIDS Advocacy Group Decides Not to Apply for Federal Funding Due to New Regulations, Privacy Concerns
This article was provided by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. It is a part of the publication Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report. Visit the Kaiser Family Foundation's website to find out more about their activities, publications and services.


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Beginners Crochet (Adult class)
Central Standard Time
N. P. Sims Library
515 W Main St
Want to learn how to Crochet? Join us for this beginners class learning the basics of how to start a project along with your basic stitches and how to read a pattern.
Please bring a size H crochet...

domain: hobby


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Purina Cat Chow Complete Formula, 18.5-Pound
Whether yours is a one, two, three (or more!) cat household, Purina Cat Chow Complete Formula is a great choice. It provides 100% complete and balanced nutrition for cats of all life stages and lifestyles. Purina Cat Chow Complete Formula provides a healthy balance of protein, fat and carbohydrate and with its cat-tested, cat-approved great taste, it is sure to please all the felines in your loving home.
Features of Purina Cat Chow Complete Formula, 18.5-Pound
- 18.5 lbs. bag
- 100% complete and balanced nutrition for cats
- Helps maintain a healthy heart and immune system
- Vitamin A and taurine for healthy vision
- Whole-grain wheat and brewer's rice for energy and digestibility
Specifications of Purina Cat Chow Complete Formula, 18.5-Pound
|Product Dimensions||14 x 5 x 20 inches ; 18.5 pounds|
|Item Weight||20 pounds|
|Item model number||09541|
Write a reviewYour Name:
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domain: pet


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Mom is a special word. For months, I couldn’t wait until my babies said it back to me – though, to be honest, at this point, I wish they’d use it a little less often over the course of the day. Still, there’s no question that it’s a special thing to be called. It’s a privilege to be a mom to these incredible children.
It’s difficult to separate – whether through a divorce or a breakup – from their dad, too. I’m sure that’s not something that you envisioned but it’s still, somehow, your reality. And now, whether you’re working custody out yourself or whether you’ve been to court to have custody, visitation, and/or child support resolved (or worked out a parenting plan with an attorney rather than litigate), you have to share your time with your children with their father.
No matter what, it’s hard not to call the shots. It’s hard to miss out on Christmases, and time during the summer, and to try to reach an agreement about which summer camps and sports to enroll it, and navigate the trickiness of visitation exchanges. It’s difficult, too, when one (or both) parents start dating and then, eventually, remarry.
It’s especially difficult when remarriage involves an entire second family, or where there’s a stepmom involved that you don’t like or trust.
There may be a lot of things driving those feelings. In many (though not necessarily all) divorces, there’s a fair amount of residual trauma. Your feelings may (or may not) have anything at all to do with her personally. But, then again, they might. Especially in a formerly abusive relationship, the new girlfriend (or wife) can often be a really challenging figure to reckon with.
It can be hard to lead with grace where your children are involved, but it’s almost always better if you do. Even in a former abusive relationship, it’s better to lead with kindness and understanding in as many ways as possible – because, after all, she’s just the new stand in for you. She’s likely experiencing all of the things that you did that altered your perception of reality and made you hate the women who came before you, too.
At the end of the day, once you and your child(ren)’s father separate, you lose control. You can’t change who he dates, how he treats them (or you), or what is encouraged in his home. Yes – even if the kids start to call their new stepmom ‘mom’. Yes – even if you hate her.
Hey, I get it. It’s not easy. Hearing your child call someone else mom – someone who didn’t birth them, didn’t nurse them, didn’t encourage them as they learned to walk, didn’t kiss all the booboos, didn’t hold them when they were sick, on and on and on – would sting. It would rankle. It would drive me crazy, too.
But, legally at least, it’s not really an issue. The court almost certainly won’t intervene on what is likely to be considered – to the court – a relatively inconsequential point. I mean, sure, if there’s something super weird and abusive going on, the court might intervene, but it would take awhile to get to that point. There’d be a full litigated case, a Guardian ad litem involved, and a thorough investigation. (And, frankly, let’s hope not, because these cases are some of the most time consuming, expensive, difficult to prove, and overall miserable to live through.)
Mostly though, I find that the court is open – unless there’s been a pretty concrete finding of abuse – to letting each parent do it his or her way. Maybe, after all, calling another woman ‘mom’ is a sign that these children love her, feel comforted by her, and feel safe in their new home. Maybe it was a choice the kids made themselves, even.
Is it disrespectful? Maybe. Is it hurtful? Certainly. Is it intentional? Also maybe. But, ultimately, will there be any recourse? Probably not, even if it does raise a few eyebrows – which it might. But it’s also not entirely unprecedented, not completely inappropriate, and it doesn’t inherently mean that there’s some wrongdoing on dad’s side that can be easily and conclusively pointed to.
Have you considered counseling? No – you’re not crazy. What you’re feeling is completely legitimate. It just might not also be serving you. I’m not going to give you some BS sunshine and rainbows message about coparenting and kids having enough love to give all of their grown ups in their lives; what you’re living through is challenging, and hurtful, and really, really difficult to navigate.
The legal reality is, though, that the court often won’t intervene in these matters, and will let each parent parent the children in whatever way they see fit inside their own homes. It would take something pretty egregious for the court to step in – and, again, I hope that you don’t fall into that category, because those cases are brutal.
If this doesn’t sit right with you, talk to an attorney. Talk to a therapist. Talk to anyone who can help you cope with what you’re going through. Your feelings aren’t wrong, they’re just probably not serving you. You can live with them – and you can be prickly, resentful, hurt, sad, volatile, depressed, or whatever – or you can work through them so that you can be the best mom (hey, you’re still mom, no matter what they call that other person – who, it must be said, may not last) and coparent you can possibly be. Not for his sake, and certainly not for hers, but for the sake of those sweet little lives you created.
There’s no question that putting your kids first is hard to do, especially with something like this. And you’re only human for struggling with it. But I’d suggest that you focus your energy where it will do the most good and that, unfortunately, is probably not here.
You won’t be able to control what he does in his own home, just like he won’t be able to control what you do in yours. You’ll both likely to be free to parent in the way that you think is best. And, if you can’t coparent together, parallel parenting often works just fine.
For more information, to schedule a consultation, or to register to attend one of our upcoming custody seminars for Virginia moms, give us a call at 757-425-5200.

domain: psychology


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If you have the time, we’ve prepared a questionnaire about the Literary Festival. It’s divided into parts, and shouldn’t take too long to fill in! And it would help us greatly in our planning for next year.
The Literary Festival at Fantasy Faire ran right through the 2019 event … and beyond!
We had poetry prompts and open mics sessions, guest readers (including our Guest of Honour, Elizabeth Bear), a dramatic performance in Overtroll, and, of course, the LitFest Tours (also known as The Company of Faire Folk Rides Out). We even had a Book Table which helped you purchase the books of authors who had appeared here!
Throughout the Faire, every night (bar one), a small band of explorers set out to visit all of the Fairelands, one by one. Some people came every night … some came to explore regions that particularly delighted or intrigued them.
Sometimes the Company spent all their time exploring. Sometimes they paused to tell stories. And sometimes they concluded by dancing to music chosen by Nyza Stillwater and (for two tours) Astoria Luminos.
Eventually, the Fairelands will fade back into the mists. But the Company enjoyed their explorations so much that they came up with a plan.
This year, for the first time, the Fabulous Jewell Theatre will be coming to Fantasy Faire with an exciting new production – Scheherazade’s Daughters – and they are making the second of their two appearances today!
Scheherazade’s Daughters is a modern take on an old classic. Cursed to tell endless tales endlessly in Cyberspace, Scheherazade’s Daughters spin their stories until they break the rules and tell their own forbidden story.
The play will be staged in Overtroll on Trollhaugen – a special theatre built high above the clouds.
Today’s performance will be at 2pm.
There are stories within stories …
And that is very true of the Quest where every year the story of the Quest tells another story, an allegory where the fight against the Unweaver and his minions becomes a fight against cancer, and the many forms of the disease.
We say that the words that are the worst to hear are “You have cancer”. But they’re really not. Worse than that is when the physician says, “Your child has cancer.”
The votes are in and counted and after a stiff competition, we can announce the results for King, Queen and Chancellors of Fantasy Faire.
Yes, note that plural! For the first time ever we had a dead heat for Chancellor!
So … without more ado, please welcome the new rulers of the Faire!
Competition is hotting up in the voting for the King, Queen and Chancellor of Fantasy Faire on The Celestial Plain!
We checked the kiosk this morning, and this is how the voting stands:

domain: artistic


Game Informer caught a cache of a GameSpot article that apparently flipped early, in which the site discusses a Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb podcast that hasn't been posted yet.
In the podcast, Microsoft's corporate VP Marc Whitten tells Hryb the system's GPU running speed has been increased from 800 MHz to 853 MHz.
"This is the time where developers have the final dev kits in their hands, they're really working closely with us on how things have come together. There's some things that have really started to come together quite well," Whitten reportedly said.
This latest news doesn't appear to be aimed at consumers so much as developers. More power in the system means longer hardware life, which for developers means a longer tail to sell games.
Update: The Major Nelson podcast officially confirming the leaked info is now live.


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Slowdive have announced plans for their first new album in 22 years.
The self-titled record will be released on May 5th, via the band's new home of Dead Oceans.
The cover features a still from Harry Smith’s cult classic animation Heaven and Earth Magic, with Slowdive also taking time out to share a new track.
'Sugar For The Pill' is submerged in watery guitar effects, yet the tightly wrought songwriting provides an incredible sense of balance.
Superbly atmosphere, this is pristine shoegaze with a future-facing ethic. Tune in now.
Slowdive have also confirmed plans for a surprise London show tomorrow night (March 29th) at Islington's Garage venue - tickets go on sale HERE from 1pm today.
Can't make the show? Don't worry, Slowdive will stream the entire thing via their Facebook page from 9.10pm.
'Slowdive' will be released on May 5th - pre-order LINK. Tracklisting:
2. Star Roving
3. Don’t Know Why
4. Sugar For The Pill
5. Everyone Knows
6. No Longer Making Time
7. Go Get It
8. Falling Ashes


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Anna Seward (1742-1809) – The six-volume Letters of Anna Seward written between the years 1784 and 1807 appeared in 1811. Volumes 4, 5, and 6 include letters to the Ladies of Llangollen. The most impressive, however, in terms of first-hand accounts of the Ladies, was sent to the Rev. HENRY WHITE of Lichfield, the letter dated Barmouth, September 7, 1795. Their aeolian harp (and Seward’s production of one for her own use) is described in the letter to Miss WINGFIELD (vol. 4; letter XLVII).
I kick myself – for I find I never posted the WHITE letter! The Ladies deserved much better from me.
And I originally thought a letter to Mrs Parry Price was of equal importance until I had to hunt up the original image views of the letters (from microfilm). I was furiously typing, when, half-way through, I realized her letter dated 15 October 1795 doesn’t mention them. No wonder that one never got transcribed…
But I do find a letter to Mrs Parry Price dated 15 September 1795 does mention them. Only there seems to be no letter in my stock pile. I transcribed it from a copy of Report of the Royal commission on Historical Manuscripts.
The letter to Miss Mary Powys mentions Sarah and Eleanor – could I have meant to highlight that letter? I just don’t remember. It is about this time of year, eight years ago, that I first put up a website (now defunct) about the Ladies of Llangollen. It was in looking for contemporary reports on them, by people who had met them, that I first found dear little Mary Gosling. Her travel diary to Wales in 1821 (Mary’s short story of meeting the ladies) is what lead me to Mary and Emma.

domain: library


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FLORENCE, Ala. – Authorities said that Mr. Grover has been found safe.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency issued a Missing Senior Alert for a man from Florence. Kenneth Paul Grover, 73, suffers from dementia.
Authorities say the last contact with Grover happened Wednesday around 7:30 p.m. at his home in Florence.
Grover should be driving a red, 2013 Hyundai Genesis. It has an Alabama license plate #354APPF.
Anyone with information about Grover should contact the Florence Police Department at 256-760-6610. Or you can just call 911.

domain: news


Almost five months have passed since the UT Administration submitted the detailed project report (DPR) for the Metro Rail to the Ministry of Urban Development (MUD) for its appraisal,yet a green signal from the MUD is still awaited.
The ministry had filed some queries in February,which the UT has replied to.
Meanwhile,a meeting of the officials of Punjab and Haryana as well as Chandigarh,scheduled to be held in Delhi to discuss the issue has been postponed several times.
However,the project will still not start after the nod as atleast one year will be needed to prepare the ground for the project,which includes shifting underground wires,streetlights and other underground amenities. The Metro is proposed to be underground within sectoral grid of Chandigarh.
The calculations on the basis of which DPR has been prepared including number of passengers and vehicular traffic are based on the premise that the first phase of the Metro will become operational by 2018.
UT Finance Secretary V K Singh sais,The MUD is appraising the report. The meeting with officials of Punjab and Haryana is expected to take place soon. Following the meetin,future course of action be decided.
In the first phase two corridors of Metro have been proposed. The North-South corridor would extend from Capitol Complex to Gurdwara Shaheeda,while the East-West corridor would be from Transport Area in Mohali to Grain Market in Panchkula.
Five months and counting
The detailed project report (DPR) for the citys metro was prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and submitted to UT Administration in August,2012. As per the DPR,the first phase of the Metro is proposed to be completed by April 2018,if construction started in April this year.
The Engineering Department of the UT Administration has completed the process of physical demarcation of the Metro route and preparation of the layout plans. Officials state that these would be authenticated by DMRC officials. As per the DPR,79 families are likely to be affected due to the Metro.


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China Stock Alerts
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
10:17AM China Digital Tv Holdings (NYSE:STV) announced
that it has reached an agreement with Beijing Gehua CATV Network Co Ltd to establish a strategic partnership on cloud computing technology and related businesses, to cooperate on overseas business expansion, and to enter into an equity investment agreement.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
10:04AM Highpower Intl (NASDAQ:HPJ) announced
that its subsidiary, Huizhou Highpower, has officially become a supplier to SONY and has begun receiving orders and shipping products.
U.S. Stock Alerts
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
GeoBargain on the Radar Ctd Holdings (PINK:CTDH) announced
that it has closed on a Securities Purchase and Collaboration Agreement with Novit LP an affiliated entity of the USP Group, a major manufacturer and distributor of over-the-counter pharmaceutical products in Poland.
China Stock Research
Thursday, April 17, 2014 - Lentuo Intl (LAS)Comments & Business Outlook.
BEIJING, April 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Lentuo International Inc. (NYSE: LAS) ("Lentuo" or the "Company"), a leading non-state-owned automobile retailer headquartered in Beijing, today announced it has launched a quality certification program to support its growing Certified pre-owned car business and improve confidence and transparency in the pre-owned car industry.
Effective today all of the Company's mid- to high-end pre-owned cars
Thursday, April 17, 2014 - China Xiniya Fashion (XNY)Comments & Business Outlook.
Fourth Quarter 2013 Financial Results
Revenue during the fourth quarter of 2013 decreased 8.6% to RMB486.9 million, from RMB532.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2012; within the prior guidance range of (12)% to (8)%.
Earnings per ADS were $0.14 in the fourth quarter of 2013 as compared to $0.16 per ADS in the fourth quarter of 2012; exceeded the prior guidance range of $0.05
Thursday, April 17, 2014 - Tianyin Pharmaceuticals Co (TPI)Hot Bio-Tech News.
CHENGDU, China, April 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Tianyin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NYSE Amex: TPI), a pharmaceutical company that specializes in the development and sale of patented biopharmaceutical medicine, modernized traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), branded generics, and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), updated regarding the recent progress of the Jiangchuan Macrolide Facility (JCM). JCM has developed a new line of Azithromycin (Azi) API products that support steady monthly
U.S. Stock Research
Thursday, April 17, 2014 - American Heritage Intl (AHII)Research.
New Due Diligence Strengthens Short Thesis on American Heritage
Reverse merger filings appear to mask the involvement of Daryl O.Anderson, one of the players in the AHII story.
According to a source, it appears that Daryl Anderson changed his name to Cash Anderson.
Daryl O. Anderson has been fined by the SEC due to his alleged involvement in past stock fraud schemes.
Please see our full report here.
To be among the first
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - Sparta Comm Services (SRCO)Comments & Business Outlook.
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Apr 16, 2014) - Sparta Commercial Services, Inc. (OTCQB: SRCO) announced today that for the second time in four months, Candor, NC has selected Sparta's Municipal Lease Program for the acquisition of essential major equipment for the municipality. The latest transaction is for a new Fire Department Brush Truck that will replace a thirty-year old unit. The previous transaction, which occurred in January, 2014,
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - Ctd Holdings (CTDH)Joint Venture.
More of the latest research...
ALACHUA, FL--(Marketwired - April 16, 2014) - CTD Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: CTDH), a manufacturer and distributor of cyclodextrins for the pharmaceutical, medical device, cosmetics and other markets, announced today that it has closed on a Securities Purchase and Collaboration Agreement with Novit LP an affiliated entity of the USP Group, a major manufacturer and distributor of over-the-counter pharmaceutical products in Poland.
The transaction involved the signing of a

domain: economics


text:
What Are Advantages & Disadvantages of Prospective Payment System?
In the United States, a tension often exists in how healthcare centers are managed, regulated and paid for. Typically a hybrid of public support and consumer revenue flows help healthcare facilities exist, but both of these systems can change over years through political developments. The prospective payment system is one such example of how healthcare centers, specifically inpatient hospital services, should be calculated according to Congress. The system, like many others, has both its good and bad points.
With the prospective payment system, or PPS, the provider of health care, such as a hospital, receives one fixed payment for a particular type of care over a particular period of time. The system tries to make these payments as accurate as possible, since they are designed to be fixed. As a result, the formula to make the prospective payments is highly complex and accounts for many different factors, including statistical variance, teaching-related costs and other situations.
The PPS is not purely static. Because it is based on government regulation, it can be changed. Congress can vote in new factors and change old factors to make the system more accurate. This is very useful when accounting for changes in money value due to inflation, or when accounting for new technology, drugs and hospital processes. The PPS is updated frequently to stay on top of the healthcare industry.
Because so many factors are present, the PPS formula is highly complex. This means that it is very difficult for anyone but professionals to understand, including patients, doctors and those in Congress voting on changes. This can lead to misunderstandings and the miss-classification of medical procedures within the formula. The formula cannot easily account for quality or safety, for example, because those factors simply cannot yet be accurately expressed in figures.
While the PPS can be changed through voting and regulatory changes, it is not always changed in the right way. While the goal is to update the system for inflation and other changes, voting is often influenced more by political motivation than the desire to better the system. As a result, changes can sway back and forth with political leanings, becoming unpredictable.

domain: finance


text:
Contributed by Maine Historical Society
Purchase a reproduction of this item on VintageMaineImages.com.
Henry Withee, left, and Horace Bailey at the confluence of the Allagash and St. John rivers in 1911. The two paddled from Kineo to Fort Kent in nine days.
About This Item
- Title: Confluence of Allagash and St. John rivers, 1911
- Creation Date: 1911
- Subject Date: 1911
- Location: Allagash Plantation, Aroostook County, ME
- Media: Photographic print
- Dimensions: 9 cm x 14 cm
- Local Code: Coll. 1955, Box 1/2 (#86)
- Collection: Henry L. Withee collection
- Object Type: Image
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
- Allagash River (Me.)--Photographs
- Bailey, Horace A.--Journeys
- Rivers--New Brunswick
- Saint John River (Me. and N.B.)--Photographs
- Withee, Henry L.--Journeys
For more information about this item, contact:Maine Historical Society
485 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
(207) 774-1822 x230
The copyright and related rights status of this item have not been evaluated. Please contact the contributing repository for more information.
Please post your comment below to share with others. If you'd like to privately share a comment or correction with MMN staff, please send us a message with this link.

domain: history


text:
Published: August 6th, 1996
Publisher: Bantam Books
Series: (A song of Ice and Fire #1)
Format: E-book, Hardcover, Paperback, Audio
Purchase*: Barnes and Noble/ Amazon
Add on Goodreads
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
Can I just say how amazing this book/novel is? Because it was truly amazing! I loved it! Every chapter of this book! The plot, the characters were outstanding!
Game of Thrones follows three principle story lines. The stories are told from eight different perspective of views, which I found really helpful and interesting because you can follow the story from different views and you get to know the characters better and to see how each character view one another. The first story line is in the seven kingdoms, which follows Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell. Eddard leaves Winterfell to King's Landing to help the king with the ruling of the seven kingdoms. He becomes the Hand of the King, since the previous Hand of the King died unexpectedly. Through out the book Eddard tries to figure out what happened to the previous Hand of the King, and he unfolds some deadly secrets... Eddard and the King have a really good relationship, since the king loved Eddard's sister and out to marry her but she died in a hands of Targaryen, the previous "mad king". The story is also told from the perspectives of Eddard's daughters Sansa and Arya. Sansa is betrothed to King Robert's son and heir Prince Joffrey. Left in the Winterfell, the story follows Eddard's son Bran, who was suppose to go to king's landing with his father but unexpectedly while climbing fell and survives but wakes up not remembering what happened and paraplegic. During his coma someone tried to murder him, his dire wolf saves his and Catelyn's Stark life. Catelyn is Eddard's wife who senses that something is wrong and leaves to warn her husband. She leaves Robb Stark, oldest brother to rule as Lord of Winterfell. In a kings landing the story is also told from Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf brother of the Queen, Cersei, and Queen's brother, Jaime, "The king Slayer".
The second story line follows Jon Snow, the bastard son of Eddard Stark. Catelyn Stark despises him. Jon decides to join the Night's Watch at The Wall. The Wall barrier of ice and stone shields the Seven Kingdom from the North, protecting the Kingdoms from "The Others".
Also there is my favorite, the story of Daenerys, she and her brother are the last of the Targaryen House. They are said to have blood of dragons running through their veins. Her brother marries he off to Dothraki Khal Drogo, in return for Drogo's army, in hopes to return home to the Seven Kingdoms and claim their family's throne from King Robert.


text:
Emeralds in the Valley
“In the great valley of Grande Vaste, something small is about to happen,” Tarja announced.
“Small?” Sydon’s eyes narrowed. “You promised something magnificent.”
“Yes,” croaked Tarja’s frail voice, “but small can be magnificent.”
“Show me,” he said. “Otherwise you will burn, just like the rest of those foul witches.”
A distant rumble echoed from the depths of the valley, shaking the ground beneath their feet.
“What is that?” Sydon asked.
“An angry mother.”
“What do you mean?”
Tarja shuffled towards a cave, her hunched frame shrouded by the tattered cloak dragging behind her.
“You coming?” she asked, glancing back.
Nodding, Sydon, followed her, their shadows creeping across damp jagged walls.
Tarja swiped a spider as it scuttled across a rock. Holding it aloft by a single leg, it dangled between her bony fingers, spinning in a hopeless bid to free itself. Chuckling, she shoved it into her mouth. Then, with a crunch, yellow liquid oozed from her lips.
Sydon clutched his stomach. “Can we just get on with this?”
“You’re just in time,” Tarja said as she pointed to a box. Inside, an egg nestled on a bed of straw, gently wobbling; hairline cracks appearing as a tapping sound intensified.
Then it emerged – blinking emerald eyes, delicate wings folded against its backbone.
“You will be his master for life,” Tarja said.
Sydon reached in, his clammy hands within an inch of the soft scales. Tarja grabbed his wrist. “You know the deal,” she said. Sydon gazed down at the beast, fragments of shell still scattered over its body. “Is he real?”
Tarja jabbed the creature. It sprung to life, a wildness in its eyes, a hiss and a single spark from its open mouth. Wings stretching, minuscule veins and bones just visible under paper-thin skin.
“He’s real alright. Take him and leave me alone.”
Another rumble, this time closer. “You have his mother?”
“Yes, but she’s old and useless. You have what you need. Everyone’s happy.”
“She doesn’t sound too damn happy,” Sydon said.
With that, he snatched the infant, ignoring its squawks. “Alright, it’s a deal,” he said, bolting back into the sunlight.
A tremendous roar ripped through the cave, shaking the walls with its force. Tarja shrieked as a blast of heat swept over her, engulfing her cloak in flames. As the stench of burning flesh filled the space, a creature emerged from the shadows; staring through the smoke with emerald eyes.
Title image by Shutterstock


text:
- NYT’s David Brooks: Obama has ‘manhood problem’ in Middle East
- Ted Cruz thanks Obama for denying visas to terrorists
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Two plead guilty to murder of babies, woman at abortion clinic
PHILADELPHIA | Two abortion clinic workers pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree murder in deaths at a Philadelphia clinic where seven babies were said to have been killed with scissors and a patient died from an overdose of painkillers.
Andrea Moton, 34, admitted her involvement in the death of one baby. Sherry West, 52, pleaded guilty in the February 2009 death of Karnamaya Mongar, a Bhutanese immigrant. Neither worker was properly trained for the work they did at the clinic run by Dr. Kermit Gosnell, authorities said.
Dr. Gosnell and nine employees, including his wife, were charged earlier this year after a grand jury report detailed the macabre conditions at the West Philadelphia clinic. Dr. Gosnell, the only doctor, and other staff are accused of performing illegal late-term abortions and killing babies born alive by severing their spinal cords with scissors.
Dr. Gosnell, who denies the allegations, is being held on $2 million bail.
Moton, of Upper Darby, Pa., knew Dr. Gosnell through his niece. She worked evenings to assist with abortions, but, like the others, had no relevant training or license. She assisted with procedures and cut the spinal cords of aborted babies, the grand jury report said.
West, of Newark, Del., may have administered at least some of the fatal dose of Demerol that killed Mrs. Mongar, 41, in November 2009, defense lawyer Michael Wallace said after the hearing. However, he noted that she was the only clinic employee to accompany Mongar to the hospital and stay with her and her family until she died, he said.
“She’s very sorry about the death of that young lady,” Mr. Wallace said. “She got caught up in a series of things that probably she did not realize the significance of.”
West was a long-time patient who sought work at the clinic as she fought with the Veterans Administration over a pension, he said. She was hired in October 2008, and made $8 to $10 an hour in cash to perform ultrasound exams, administer anesthesia and monitor patients in the medical room.
Prosecutors said she was not licensed or trained to perform those duties, but Mr. Wallace disputed that. “By my analysis, she was doing the same things she was doing at the VA,” he said.
Neither prosecutors nor Moton’s attorney, Thomas L. McGill Jr., would comment after the hearing, citing a gag order.
Ten people are charged in the case, several of them with murder. One defendant pleaded guilty last month to a perjury charge, leaving seven people awaiting trial.
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domain: law


SoCalHoops High School News
Beverly Hills Tournament: First
From Today & Yesterday--(Dec. 8, 1998)
Three games were played on Monday in this 16 team tourney. Here's what happened:
Cleveland 76, Bishop Amat 69--Kent Dennis and Brian Smith combined for 43 points and 26 rebounds and Cleveland downed Bishop Amat, 76-69, in the opening round of the Beverly Hills tournament. Dennis finished with 23 points and Smith had 17 rebounds for the Cavaliers (2-0). Kenny Mason had 12 points and 11 assists for Cleveland. Bishop Amat was led by Josh Call with 21, and a guy we don't know named Rodriguez who scored 18.
Beverly Hills 57, Birmingham 53--Birmingham pulled to within 49-48 on a three-point shot by Derek Tucker with 2:30 to play, but Beverly Hills hit five consecutive free throws to seal the first-round win in its own tournament. Billy Smith led the Normans (1-4) with 21 points. Mshak Ghazarian had 16 points for Birmingham (0-2).
Palisades 65, Canoga Park 40--Even though Jammie Harris scored 13 points it was not enough for Canoga Park which dropped to 2-3 on the year. Reggie Fritz scored 12, while Steve McMaryion had 8, and Edward Estevan scored 10 for Palisades. Oh, and some kid named "Berumen" scored 5 for Canoga Park. A cousin maybe?
Agoura 53, Ventura 47-- Jeff Staniland scored 25 points for Ventura, but it wasn't enough as Agoura won it's first round game Monday. Adam Allegro had 11 for Agoura, while Mike Patterson scored 23.
And the other half of the first round games were played today. Here's what we know:
Venice 74, Culver City 42--Glen McGowan (6'-8" Sr. PF) scored 27 points and had 9 boards, while Joe Dural (6'-8" Sr. F) scored 20 and had 8 rebounds. The bench for Venice played very well down the stretch, holding Culver City to just 4 points in the fourth quarter. After the game, there were a number of college scouts and coaches who were dying to get with Glen McGowan, and we wouldn't be surprised to see him get some additional letters pretty soon from some big time programs.
We only have very sketchy details of some of the other games:
Rolling Hills Peninsula lost to Buena (Channel League);
Campbell Hall beat Canyon (Canyon Country) by a score of something like 57-50.
Hamilton beat Hart by about 10. We don't know the score. So here's what happens tomorrow:
At 3:30 p.m. Buena will play Campbell Hall;
At 5:00 p.m. Venice will play Hamilton-- This should be a very good game, and if you can catch it do so. Venice has the two big guys (we've already done a preview of the team, and here's the link) and we know that Hamilton has Abadeyo Shabazz (6'-7 Sr. PF), Chris Foster (6'-6" Sr. SF), Sterling Brown?? (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF) who reminds us a lot of Steve McMaryion, a point guard named (we think) Brian Glass (5'-10" Sr. PG), and another guy capable of scoring 30, Damien O'Connor (6'-1" Sr. SG), and they also have David Fisher (6'-3" So. SG), who played on the LA Maccabi team for the last two years, winning a gold medal in the Seattle games in 1997.
At 6:30 pm. Pali will play Agoura;
And at 8:00 pm. Cleveland will go up against Beverly in the showcase game.
This is turning out to be a pretty good tournament, and if your're over on the Westside of LA, stop by Beverly Hills High. You won't regret it.
©Copyright 1998 All rights reserved
Questions? Comments? Need Information?


text: We at Perfect-32, strive to achieve equilibration for patients suffering from jaw joint pain or muscle fatigue. The term equilibration literally means to establish balance or equality. The importance of equal forces on the teeth is intuitively easy to understand. If only a few teeth engage when a person bites together, those teeth will endure much more force than they are structurally able to withstand. They will wear excessively (a condition called attrition), chip, crack, or the patient will (often subconsciously) continuously move their jaw in an attempt to locate a position where the forces are more in balance. Unfortunately, repositioning the jaws to provide balanced force distribution on the teeth may not be possible for the patient, due to crowding or misalignment of the teeth. The problem of poorly distributed bite forces on the teeth is magnified if teeth are lost. The patient's jaw muscles may become fatigued (myalgia) by continuously trying to achieve a position of balanced force distribution on the teeth. The muscles may also become painful. The patient may chronically brux (grind) their teeth until they wear the teeth into a position of more equal force distribution. The jaw joints themselves may be the weak link and develop popping, clicking, grating (crepitus) or pain from the unequal balance of forces. Collectively, these symptoms represent various stages of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction, or TMD. We adjust the way the teeth mesh such that when the jaw muscles are at rest and the jaw joints are in a stable, neutral position, the teeth are engaging uniformly with equal contacts between the upper and lower teeth to achieve equilibration in regard of the jaw joints, jaw muscles and teeth (the stomatognathic system). The temporomandibular joints (i.e. the jaw joints) are not pure hinge joints like knees or elbows. Instead, only the first 15 degrees or so of opening is rotational (hinge). With further opening, the lower jaw begins to slide along the skull base until it reaches the maximum opening. It is the only joint like this in the body. In order for this type of motion to be possible, we free the mandible (lower jaw) to move in all three dimensions (forwards, backwards and side-to-side).

domain: medical


text:
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Voters will decide whether to approve another key piece of legislation passed by Republican lawmakers, this time an election reform bill that Democrats have called a "voter suppression" bill.
A referendum on House Bill 194, a sweeping reform of election laws, will appear on the November 2012 ballot, Secretary of State Jon Husted's office announced Friday.
Opponents of the bill, largely Democrats and voting rights activists, collected 307,358 valid signatures, according to the secretary of state's office. Petitioners needed 231,150 signatures to put the law on the ballot.
The successful petition drive comes on the heels of Democrats' victory in overturning Senate Bill 5, a controversial collective bargaining law. That law, supported by Republican Gov. John Kasich and GOP legislative leaders, was overwhelmingly rejected in the November election.
Members and supporters of the Fair Elections Ohio coalition cheered the news Friday and predicted victory next November.
"We will wage a robust campaign in 2012 that reflects that spirit," former Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a lead organizer of the effort, said in an emailed statement.
By hanging a referendum on HB 194, Fair Elections Ohio preserved the existing elections law through at least next year's presidential contest. That means a 35-day window for early voting and other practices seen as advantageous to Democrats in 2008 will remain in effect.
President Barack Obama carried Ohio by four points that year. His re-election campaign participated in the HB 194 petition drive.
"Today's news is also further proof that we have a solid and robust grassroots organization in the state, and we plan to carry this momentum into 2012 and look forward to getting the vote out early next year," Greg Schultz, state director for Obama for America, said in an emailed news release sent by the Ohio Democratic Party.
Democrats are opposed to several provisions in the bill, most notably those that shorten the time frame for early voting from five weeks to three weeks, eliminate most weekend voting hours and drop a requirement that poll workers tell voters when they are in the wrong precinct in a multi-precinct voting location.
"This law, with its restrictions to early voting, vote by mail and other provisions, clearly targets our seniors, college students and minorities, as well as the disabled and other vulnerable populations," Democratic Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, who supported the petition drive, said Friday via email. "It deserves to be repealed."
Republican lawmakers who have supported HB 194, which was approved in June, say the measure is needed to prevent voter fraud and to bring uniformity to elections across Ohio. The law does not include a photo identification requirement -- the centerpiece of legislation that is still pending in the Senate.
"House Bill 194 increases voter access, saves significant taxpayer dollars by streamlining board of election operations and ensures voting accuracy and integrity through technological enhancements," Mike Dittoe, spokesman for House Speaker William G. Batchelder, said in response to Friday's news. "How can anyone be against common-sense good government policies like that?"
The referendum will not disrupt next year's elections because the new law also was in limbo during the general election this November, said Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials.
"We're going to basically operate by the same rules we did for November," he said.
Husted, a Republican, last month ruled that the petitioners came up about 10,000 signatures short of the requirement. Ohio law, however, provides an extra 10 days to collect supplemental signatures in such a case.
Separate from HB 194 is a directive Husted issued in August that banned county boards of elections from mailing unsolicited ballot applications. Husted's argument echoed those made in favor of HB 194: that policies should be uniform among all counties to ensure fairness.
To get around that order, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a Democrat, proposed having his administration send the applications. He and Husted eventually struck a compromise, under which Husted agreed to mail the forms to all Ohio voters before next year's election.
FitzGerald said Friday that his deal with Husted stands.
"I'm glad it's going to be on the ballot because I thought it was a totally unwarranted step backwards on voting rights," FitzGerald said of HB 194. "For what it's worth, I am going to try to be helpful to the repeal effort."
Written with Plain Dealer reporter Henry Gomez.
To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: email@example.com, 800-228-8272


text:
Singer Davido and his beautiful girlfriend Chioma have stole the spotlight from Banky W and Adesua as the most popular celebrity in Nigeria at the moment especially after Chioma Avril Rowland’s much publicized 23rd birthday party.
Davido who recently appointed himself as the manager of his new girlfriend just signed her first deal.
Nollywood actress Mercy Aigbe who couldn’t hide her excitement took to the social media to shower encomium on the singer for supporting Chioma.
The actress is sending an indirect message to men who do not support their women especially her estranged hubby who battered her last year.
Davido who is fond of dumping his girlfriends once they become baby mama is showing all his love to Chioma who many believe will soon become history like the singer’s other girlfriends.
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domain: celebrity


text:
Sign in to customize your TV listings
Currently not available to stream. Add it to your Watchlist to be notified when it becomes available.
There are no TV airings over the next 14 days. Add it to your Watchlist to receive updates and availability notifications.
The second half of Season 5 is still a ways away, so get your fill with these
Plus, the series finale of Brockmire
Their seasons are being split in two
Billions gonna Bill

domain: entertainment


text:
UFC President Dana White spoke to MMA-In-Asia.com while on his tour of Europe promoting UFC Macau in August about the possibility of Metamoris being added to UFC Fight Pass.
“Absolutely, Metamoris is something we’d look at for Fight Pass,” Dana White exclaimed as he spoke to MMA-in-Asia, “I think people are going to be absolutely surprised at what are going to pop up at Fight Pass.”
“It started out as a way to give the library to all our fans so they’ll have full access, but now it keeps evolving and it keeps getting better and better.”
Metamoris has gained more and more media attention as of late after hosting the rematch between Eddie Bravo and Royler Gracie, and now bringing in Chael Sonnen for the main event in their upcoming show.
Dana White gave his thoughts on Chael Sonnen making the jump to competitive Jiu-Jitsu saying:
“Chael retired. He’s doing his thing on Fox, and what he wants to do on his spare time is up to him.”
Ralek Gracie on the other hand spoke to MMA Fighting about the potential of Metamoris being added to UFC Fight Pass saying Metamoris is “open to just about anything.”This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


text:
Karachi firing claims two lives
KARACHI: Two persons were killed in different firing incidents in different parts of the Karachi, ARY News reports.
Unknown persons opened fire at a shop near Expo Centre due to which two persons were injured. They were shifted to a nearby hospital for medical care where one of the wounded, named Shams, succumbed to his injuries.
Shams was the salesman in the shop.
According to police, the incident occurred during a robbery attempt. The armed persons had entered the medical shop with intention of robbing the store. The robbers opened fire at the shop in which Shams was killed whereas the owner was injured.
LEAs arrived at the shop after the incident and have started collecting evidences.
Another person was gunned down near the Bakra Peedi area of Malir. The deceased person has not yet been identified.


text:
Gun violence concerns rising again after another incident in Gainesville
Two members of the city’s police advisory board shared their frustrations about inaction over gun violence in the city
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Shelia Payne is a member of Gainesville’s police advisory board and she is feeling frustrated.
“We are not doing enough,” said Payne.
The board held a meeting in wake of two more incidents of gun violence involving Gainesville residents.
K’twona Frazier was arrested on attempted murder charges, accused of shooting her boyfriend.
City leaders recently announced they’ll be holding a summit about gun violence in the city come august.
However, some members of the city’s police advisory council say talking about it is not enough.
“When we’re asked by the police chief what we’re doing,” said Payne, “my answer is ‘I tutor, I’m involved in the community, I do a lot of volunteer work’ but it’s a society issue.”
“This problem goes so far beyond this community,” said another member of the board, Kali Blount, “this state. It’s the whole nation. We’re armed to the teeth. Guns are too available.”
Earlier this year city leaders declared gun violence as a crisis in Gainesville.
At the meeting, GPD reported 28 incidents of shots being fired in Gainesville from January 1 to March 31 and four gun-related homicides.
Both Blount and Payne shared what they believe could be some solutions to solve the issue.
“I want my young folks to find out who they really are in history,” said Blount, “because they have a distorted, devalued sense of self that has to be corrected before the violence stamps down.
“We need more one-on-one help,” said Payne, “not community leaders getting together to talk.”
The city’s summit on gun violence will take place on august 6 and 7.
Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
Copyright 2023 WCJB. All rights reserved.


text:
While the yachting press fawned over Volvo Ocean Racers and their tribulations rounding Cape Horn, not a peep was heard about a young fellow named Matt Rutherford who also recently rounded the infamous cape. His 36-year-old, 27-foot Albin Vega had been christened St. Brendan, in honor of the patron saint of navigators and explorers. And with a barebones budget, a bit of Irish luck, and lot of able seamanship, Rutherford pulled off a major voyaging feat—with minimal fanfare—becoming the first sailor to circumnavigate the Americas solo and non-stop.
As he was homeward bound in the South Atlantic, a handful of ardent supporters began spreading the word. Rutherford’s Cape Horn rounding was just part of a bigger picture, that when laid out on a small-scale chart revealed the track of a single-handed, nonstop voyage around the Americas via the infamous Northwest Passage. On April 18, 2012, St. Brendan re-entered the Chesapeake Bay, and Rutherford’s 309-day nonstop voyage, stretching 27,077 miles, was almost over—and the press was finally there.
In the aftermath of a hero’s welcome, with even the governor of Maryland on hand to recognize a job well done, many wondered what led Rutherford to attempt such a journey, how he prepared for the voyage, and what experience he had before he set sail. Hoping to find the answer to some of those questions, I interviewed Rutherford and looked over his driven-hard, put-away-wet pocket cruiser.
Acorn barnacles hung from the counter; the topsides were streaked and smeared; and the austere, weathered accommodations below gave a new meaning to Spartan minimalism. But the gleam in the eyes of the skipper spoke well of his nearly yearlong adventure.
Part Everest climb, part self-actualization, part escape, Rutherford’s approach to extreme sailing defines a razor’s edge balance between risk and reward. And at a time when we hear of sailors aboard well-equipped, fully crewed boats running into near-shore islands or tacking too close and getting caught in the surf zone, we can’t help but wonder how Rutherford avoided the obstacles, dodged the ice, and coped with the wind and waves, to pull off such a feat. Add to this the fact that a good bit of the “must have” gear deemed essential was not even part of Rutherford’s kit, and the St. Brendan saga gives us a lot to think about.
The basis for Rutherford’s success is a nuanced blend of sailor and sailboat, and the way in which he learned what the Vega could and couldn’t do. In essence, Rutherford figured out how to make a boat with modest design and structural attributes behave well in a wide range of conditions. And in this blend of boat and boat-handling, Rutherford realized that seamanship had to take first chair. Yes, some may say that there was a fair dose of run-the-table luck in play, but over the course of 309 days, the flip side to good luck was bound to show up, and that’s when decision-making and seamanship are tested.
Small boats are neither inherently safe nor unsafe at sea. They vary according to their design and structural attributes. But one thing is certain, they do bounce around at sea a lot more than larger sailboats, and one needs to be ready for the ride. Decades ago, I talked a couple of friends into joining me on a passage from California to Hawaii aboard my Excalibur 26. It was about the same size as the Vega 27, and the prospect of turning my 21-day passage into a 309-day, ice-to-ice odyssey seems unfathomable. But regardless of one’s opinion on Rutherford’s boat and gear, it all pales in comparison to the gumption it took to close the loop.
The Albin Vega 27 is a good old boat, but by no means the epitome of an offshore pocket cruiser. She’s a shoal-draft, sloop-rigged, Swedish-built fiberglass favorite, and over 3,400 hulls have been built. A few have stretched their legs crossing oceans and carrying their crews on well-chronicled adventures. John Neal wrote about his Pacific odyssey in “The Log of the Mahina,” a tale of a Vega 27 and a voyage among the tradewind islands of the South Pacific. Rutherford didn’t linger in the tropics; his course was north and south across climate barriers and through some of the worst weather regions on the planet. It was a voyage in a small production boat that’s equivalent to taking the family sedan on the Dakar Rally.
The Vega was designed by Per Brohall in 1964 for Lars Larsson, a Swedish boatbuilder who saw the promise of fiberglass production boats and wanted a pocket cruiser/racer to enter the new market. Larsson’s company was renamed Albin, and the Vega took off, becoming very popular in northern Europe. Production came to a halt in 1979 with 3,450 boats launched. It’s not surprising that a cult following continues today and that many find the vessel’s proportions, simplicity, and capability as a pocket cruiser to be compelling.
From a going-to-sea perspective, it has pros and cons, and like any small boat, regardless of design, progress to weather in a breeze and a seaway is a test of patience and tenacity. Rutherford’s track shows time spent coping with headwinds and even laying to a sea anchor when conditions became untenable in the Bering Sea and off Cape Horn.
With a relatively heavy FRP hull laminate, the boat was billed as a rugged and durable cruiser by the builder, but I’m sure he didn’t have “ice capable” in mind when referring to her scan’tlings. The boat’s shoal draft may be an attribute in the Bahamas, but in oceanic conditions, the decreased windward ability and shallow draft negatively impacted the boat’s limit of positive stability.
The Vega’s design did, however, include 2,017 pounds of ballast in the form of iron or lead encapsulated in a long run of keel. This kept the ballast low in the boat and the 40-percent ballast ratio and relatively short rig lessened the threat of wind-induced capsize. The cutaway forefoot and long run of keel aft with an attached rudder led to a few steering issues. Rutherford’s powerful Monitor pendulum-servo self-steering vane had no problem coping with the unbalanced rudder design and the lively motion of a small boat at sea.
The deck and coachroof are another story, and many owners have alluded to core deterioration in the sandwich structure. Rutherford had wisely re-rigged the Vega thanks to some inkind sponsorship help from Eastport Rigging and Spars. The spar was stepped ondeck, supported by an athwartship fiberglass-reinforced beam between the coachroof coamings, rather than the usual compression post directly under the mast, which distributes the load to the hull. Many sister ships have had the secondary bond between the beam and coaming crack. St. Brendan was no exception.
During the voyage, the extra reinforcement held, but the loads transferred to the cabin coamings and deck caused some buckling. However, the rig stayed in place.
Getting through the Northwest Passage requires a lot of motoring, and fortunately, one of the previous owners had repowered the Vega with a Volvo MD 2002 diesel that helped make the transit a realizable feat.
On three occasions during the voyage, Rutherford needed replacement parts and equipment, and in keeping with the concept of a nonstop voyage, he had the gear transferred from vessels that rendezvoused with his route. One of those stops was for a replacement watermaker. His rendition of a watermaker was a hand-pump PAR that delivers 1.2 gallons for every hour of pumping.
Perhaps the old Vega’s biggest downside was the confluence of leaks that turned the boat into what Rutherford referred to as the “wet cave.” The bedding of the mechanically fastened deck had long since given up the ghost, and the stiffer hull and more flexible deck caused rig loads to flex the hull-to-deck joint and allow water from spray, rain, or waves to drip, dribble, and cascade down the inner skin of the hull creating a pervasive dampness.
It is clear that the boat and sailor had an affinity for each other that seemed to tip the scale in success’s favor.
One of these “right fit” factors was the ultra-simple masthead rig that was supported with fore and aft lower shrouds, a single set of alloy spreaders, upper shrouds, plus a headstay and backstay. The modest 340-square-foot sail plan was made even easier to handle with a Harken MKIII roller furler. Rutherford had nothing but praise for the unit.
Hyde Sails had donated the sails, and despite the fact that there were only four in the quiver, Rutherford was able to cope with the constantly shifting conditions. He lacked storm sails, but relied upon a third reef-point sewn into the well-reinforced Dacron, 7.5-ounce mainsail. This approach is not ideal for larger boats, but in this case, the mainsail was small to start with, and the high-cut working jib could be partially furled into a heavy-weather jib.
A single-line mainsail reefing system aided the reefing process. Rutherford also gave high marks to his New England Ropes VPC Vectran/polyolefin core running rigging, supplied by West Marine Annapolis, that kept stretch to a minimum.
The sails and sail-handling gear were essential to reducing the amount of time Rutherford had to spend out of the cockpit. The pure simplicity and functionality of the rig is driven home by the fact that 90 percent of the time, Rutherford sailed under working jib and some amount of mainsail. The genoa was used for 7 percent of the passage, and the asymmetric spinnaker was up for only 3 percent of the voyage.
The percentages are a little misleading. For example, the 3-percent under spinnaker means that it was up for about 223 hours, a substantial period of time, especially when fuel is scarce and getting through light-wind, high-pressure systems means doing so under sail. All-in-all, Rutherford’s harmony with his rig and sail inventory was a big plus and so was the seasense he developed that told him when to reef and when to add sail area.
Most electronics gave him trouble, but an exception was a satellite communicator from predictwind.com, which gave him worldwide access to sophisticated weather predictions, enabled online boat tracking, and allowed for text e-mails.
Rutherford met his worst weather in the Bering Sea when nearing Cape Horn. In the worst of it (when his course was off the wind), he favored running before the seas, towing a warp that comprised 200 feet of half-inch anchor line with 30 feet of attached chain. He found the Vega to be small and light enough to respond to the drag of this simple towed warp. It slowed the boat slightly and significantly increased its directional stability. When really bad weather settled in and the wind came from where he was headed, he dropped sail and deployed a sea anchor off the bow. The helm was lashed amidships and Rutherford learned to wait it out.
At the top of his list of valued equipment and gear was his Monitor windvane. Rutherford had used it aboard his Pearson 323 for two Transatlantic passages, and it was just as capable in steering his Vega. Monitor guru Hans Bernwall gave Rutherford sage guidance plus all the parts to mount the unit on the Vega.
Creature comforts were few, but when it came to the things Rutherford valued most, a half-broken galley stove made the list. Only one burner of the boat’s original Origo two-burner alcohol stove gave off heat, but it never missed a beat. The “big wick” cooker provided BTUs to heat up Rutherford’s freeze-dried cuisine. One of his favorite foods was the creamy lineup of soups from Self Reliance, a freeze-dried food company that dominated in his provisioning.
Unimpressed by fancy foul-weather gear, Rutherford swears by the plain PVC rain gear favored by Alaska fishermen. He said that all too often, the “fancy stuff” ends up breathing both ways. In cold weather, and even when it’s raining and the spray is flying in warmer latitudes, he liked the watertight barrier the PVC provided, and was never bothered by moisture buildup inside the material.
As with most sailors, Rutherford is set in his ways. At the heart of his prejudice resides a valid sea-trialed cause/effect justification. Another of his strong opinions relates to lazy jacks and why the best thing to do with them offshore is remove them from the mast. His logic is pure and simple. Lazyjacks aid in hoisting and dousing the mainsail—a process that’s replaced by reefing and unreefing on a passagemaking boat. Getting rid of the lazy jacks lessens chafe and reduces lines that can hook battens or catch the tip of a spreader.
Also on his gear letdown list was a Kindle reader stuffed with some 30 books that gave up the ghost. Rutherford went through three GPS units, probably due to the wet and wild conditions on deck and below. His bargain-priced, roll-up solar panels (frequently maligned by PS readers, soaked up water and shorted out, but the Rutland wind generator held up well until the last part of the voyage when a starter problem also rendered the diesel inoperable.
Stopping for a refit would have resolved most of the issues, but Rutherford was intent on his goal and carried on with fewer and fewer gadgets.

domain: geography


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on June 21, 2002
This is another collection of celebrity photographs from the John Kobal collection. This time the focus is on the stars of the 1950's. Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Doris Day, Gina Lollobrigida, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren are just a few included in this collection. Also included are stars that were primarily from the 1930's and 1940's that managed to maintain their star status. They include Marlene Dietrich, Vivien Leigh, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth and Gene Tierney. There are also a few pictures from 1949 as well as from 1960. While the photographs are nice, the elegance, sophistication and glamour that were trademarks of 1930's and 1940's Hollywood photography is clearly missing. That's not to say the photographers that photographed these stars didn't produce high quality work, it's just that Hollywood and the country as a whole were changing and becoming more casual and these photographs reflect that. If you're more interested in photographs from Hollywood's earlier decades I highly recommend "Hollywood Glamor Portraits: 150 Photos of Stars, 1926-1949" and "Movie Star Portraits of the Forties: 163 Glamour Photos" both are by John Kobal and feature Hollywood glamour photography at its very best!


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To follow on from my list a couple of weeks ago, here’s another batch of memoirs I can highly recommend for reading:
Who Knows Tomorrow: A Memoir of Finding Family Among the Lost Children of Africa by Lisa Lovatt-Smith. From editor at British Vogue at the age of nineteen, Lisa continued her glamorous life across Europe in the company of supermodels and celebrities, until her daughter, Sabrina, is expelled from school. Lisa gives up her career and takes Sabrina to volunteer in a Ghanian orphanage in an attempt to turn her daughter’s life around. She doesn’t know that it will also change her life. Lisa stays in Ghana to found OAfrica to reunite children with their families and shut down corrupt orphanages. This is her story of perseverance and courage against setbacks and dangers.
Her Father’s Daughter by Alice Pung. This is Pung’s sequel to Unpolished Gem, her story of straddling Australian life as the child of immigrant Cambodian parents. In this book, Alice leaves her family home in Melbourne, but her wish for independence is marred by her father’s worries, which stem from his traditional Cambodian values. Alice thinks her father’s concerns are misplaced in contemporary Australian society, but when she delves into his past she understands the painful memories of war that shape his outlook. It is a moving story of a father-daughter relationship complicated by cultural differences and scars of the past.
The Blue Door: A Little Girl’s Incredible Story of Survival in the Japanese POW Camps of Java by Lise Kristensen (also published under the title, The Little Captive). Lisa enjoyed a carefree childhood on the island of Java with her Norwegian parents, until she and her family were imprisoned in a POW camp during WWII. Lise recounts through ten-year-old eyes the brutal treatment from her Japanese captors over the two years she lived in the camp. Surrounded by disease and squalor, her family avoid the rat-infested floors by spending time on a blue door sitting horizontally above the ground.
Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace – One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson. After an unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world’s second tallest mountain, a sick Greg stumbled across an isolated and impoverished Pakistani village, where the villagers sheltered him. In return, he promised to build them a school, but he did better than that; over the next decade he built 55 schools for girls across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan, using education to combat Islamic extremism.
Stay Alive, My Son by Pin Yathay. Pin survived two years in a Cambodian forced labour camp under Pol Pot’s forces, but his family unit did not survive the months of overwork, starvation and disease in the killing fields. With his family reduced to just himself, his wife and their one remaining son, Pin made the harrowing decision to desert his son at a hospital, telling him to “Stay alive, my son,” before making a desperate escape to Thailand. This book is a heart-wrenching insight into civilian life during the Khmer Rouge regime that devastated the land and its people. Pin wrote his story in the hope that the son he left behind would see it and they could reunite.
*Disclaimer: You may wonder why I read so many Cambodian memoirs; well, as an adoptive mother of two Cambodian girls, I have a biased interest. Whether you’ve been to Cambodia or not, these stories are a great read and a good education in the country’s disturbing history.