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Posts Tagged ' Pakistani Christians '
Pakistani mobs use blasphemy as excuse to persecute, say Christians
By Sib Kaifee for Fox News
In Pakistan, the mere accusation of blasphemy is enough to spur angry mobs to violence, and human rights advocates say the victims are usually Christians.
Last weekend, some 3,000 Muslims stormed Christian churches, torched hundreds of homes and burned hundreds of Bibles in a Christian neighborhood of Lahore, the country's second largest city. It apparently began as an argument between two men, but once the accusation of blasphemy was invoked, it exploded into violence and mayhem.
"The attackers were given a free hand when they were torching the belongings and our homes," a witness told FoxNews on condition of anonymity. "The attackers were Pashtuns and workers of different steel factories and warehouses."
The violence came two days after Sawan Masih, a Christian sanitation worker , and Shahid Imran, a Muslim barber, scuffled. When Imran accused Masih of blasphemy, police and a local mosque got involved and the situation spiraled out of control. Remarkably, no one was killed.
"I was beaten by the mob despite the fact I had nothing to do with what happened," said a shaken up Chaman Masih, father of the suspect, "but I know one thing that my son is innocent.'' Masih accused the Police of prior knowledge of the attack.
In Pakistan, where Christians make up about 1.6 percent of the population of 180 million, a blasphemy conviction can bring a sentence of life in prison or even death. And a religious political party also made attempts to urged the Islamic nation's courts to ban the Christian bible altogether, arguing that "it contains blasphemous passages that are a cause of humiliation for Muslims". Although the nation has so far not taken that step, the sentiment provides cover for vigilante attacks on minorities, according to Christians.
Salamat Akhtar, founding chairman of the All Pakistan Christians League, told FoxNews.com it was the mob that committed blasphemy in the latest case, by burning two churches and destroying the bibles.
"We request the government to register the same blasphemy case against the perpetrators," said Akhtar.
Nearly 200 houses were burned in the Christian neighborhood, called, Joseph Colony. The destruction has left about 300 poor Christian families homeless and wondering why police, instead of providing protection, told them to evacuate ahead of the mob backlash.
A senior police official from Lahore told FoxNews.com that the Christian residential colony comprises a quarter of an otherwise industrial area, and noted the factory owners have long been trying to dislodge them so they could expand their operations.
After hundreds of Christians took to the streets to protest the day after the violence, Pakistan's Supreme Court criticized local police on Monday. A hearing has been adjourned for Wednesday, but Asif Aqeel, director of Center for Law and Justice, said the courts were not likely to be able to do much.
"Judicial inquiries into such incidents mostly remain useless as the administration influenced by [the] powerful government does not provide facts and dodges the judges," Aqeel said.
Though Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf both have ordered an investigation in to the attack and condemned it, Christian activists are skeptical.
"The government, courts and institutions are not serious about our plight and after so many incidents, our confidence level is decreasing,'' Naila Diyal, chairperson of Christian Progressive Movement, told FoxNews.com.
All Pakistan Christians League
Pakistan Blasphemy Law
Sawan Masih
Judge Grants Bail to Young Christian Girl Accused of Blasphemy in Pakistan
A Pakistani judge granted bail Friday to a young, mentally challenged Christian girl accused of insulting Islam for burning pages of the religion's holy book. Rights activists welcomed the decision after calling for her release since she was arrested three weeks ago.
The case has focused attention on Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws, which activists claim are used to persecute minorities and settle personal vendettas.
Judge Mohammed Azam Khan set bail at 1 million Pakistani rupees, or about $10,500, a significant sum in a country where many families live on only a few dollars a day. The girl's impoverished family may need outside financial support to free her.
The young girl, who is reported to be 14 years old and suffering from some form of mental impairment, was arrested after an angry mob showed up at a police station in her neighborhood in Islamabad and accused her of burning pages from the Quran, an act punishable by life in prison under the country's harsh blasphemy laws. Her lawyer has denied the allegation.
In an unusual twist, police arrested a Muslim cleric from her neighborhood a week ago after a follower from his mosque accused him of stashing pages of a Quran in her bag to make it seem as if she burned them. He allegedly planted the evidence to push Christians out of the neighborhood and is now being investigated for blasphemy himself. He has denied the allegation.
The head of Human Rights Watch in Pakistan, Ali Dayan Hasan, praised the judge's decision to grant the young girl bail.
"The fact is that this child should not have been behind bars at all," Hasan said. "All charges against her should be dropped, and Pakistan's criminal justice system should instead concentrate on holding her accuser accountable for inciting violence against the child and members of the local Christian community."
Hasan added, "Human Rights Watch hopes that the blatant abuse that has come to light in this case will lead to a considered re-examination of the law, and all stake-holders in Pakistan will actively seek to end frequent abuses perpetrated under cover of blasphemy allegations."
Rimsha Masih
Is Pakistan's Hard Line on Blasphemy Softening?
By William Dalrymple for The Guardian
It is rare these days to read any good news coming out of Pakistan. It is rarer still to read good news concerning matters of religion. However, in one week two stories seem to show that Pakistan is for once bringing the force of law to bear on those who abuse religion to provoke violence against minorities.
Last Sunday Mohammed Khalid Chisti, the mullah who had accused a 14-year-old Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, of blasphemy, was himself arrested and charged with the same law. The turnaround took place after the muezzin of his mosque gave evidence that he had framed the girl and falsified evidence. More remarkable still, the far-from- moderate All Pakistan Ulema Council came to Rimsha's defence, calling her "a daughter of the nation" and denouncing Chisthi: "Our heads are bowed with shame for what he did."
On Tuesday an even more unexpected event took place. Malik Ishaq, the leader of the banned Sunni terrorist group Lashkar–e-Jhangvi, which is accused of killing hundreds of Shias, was arrested on his return from a fund-raising trip to Saudi Arabia. Lashkar operates quite openly in Lahore despite being officially banned; yet on this occasion Ishaq was immediately brought to court. There he was accused of involvement in more than 40 cases in which 70 people have been killed. He now resides in Kot Lakhpat jail on 14-day judicial remand.
When Pakistan was created in 1947 as a homeland for Indian Muslims, its clean-shaven, tweed-jacketed, spats-wearing and pork-eating founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, made sure the constitution of his new country provided the right for all its citizens to profess, practise and propagate their religion: "You may belong to any religion, caste or creed," he said in his first address to the constituent assembly of Pakistan on August 11 1947. "That has nothing to do with the business of the state. In due course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to be Muslims – not in a religious sense, for that is the personal faith of an individual – but in the political sense as citizens of one state."
It was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who started the rot. In 1974 he bowed to pressure from the religious right and had the country's small Ahmedi minority declared non-Muslim. The situation became worse still in the 1980s with the military coup of General Zia. Zia was responsible for initiating the fatal alliance between the conservative military and the equally reactionary mullahs that led to the use of Islamic radicals as part of state policy. At the same time Zia started tinkering with the law. He introduced the Islamic punishment of amputation for theft, and established the Hudood ordinances of sharia law, which asserted that the evidence of one man was equal to that of two women, and made any sex outside marriage a punishable offence for women. Rape was to be punished with the public flogging of the female victim as well as the perpetrator.
Between 1982 and 1986 Zia introduced radical changes to Pakistan's blasphemy laws – the notorious sections 295 B and C of the penal code – prescribing life imprisonment for anyone who defiles a copy of the Qur'an and death for insulting or criticising the prophet Muhammad. Because there is no strict definition of blasphemy, and virtually no evidence above the word of the accuser is needed to bring a guilty verdict, the laws have often been exploited by individuals with grudges against innocent non-Muslims. In 1988 Bishop John Joseph of Faisalabad publicly committed suicide to protest against the laws; and although no one has yet been executed under the statutes, an estimated 1,200 to 4,000 blasphemy cases have been filed. The number of cases has multiplied in recent years, and the result is often prison sentences of three years or more.
Christians are widely derided in Pakistan; most are descended from "untouchable" converts who still perform the most menial tasks: cleaning the sewers and sweeping the streets. There has been a steady stream of attacks on the community, most bloodily in the murder of 16 Christians at a church in Bahawalpur in 2001. But it is not just Christians who have suffered. Hysteria about blasphemy has also been used to target Hindus, Sikhs, Ahmadis and Shias. In addition to formal convictions, there were at least 34 extrajudicial killings of people accused of blasphemy between 1990 and 2010. Of those, 15 were Muslim, 16 Christians, two Ahmadis and a Hindu. Indeed it is the Shias, not the Christians, who have suffered the brunt of the violence meted out by Lashkar–e-Jhangvi.
The high-water mark for religious intolerance in Pakistan was reached last year when the former governor of the Punjab, Salman Taseer, and the only Christian minister in the government, Shahbaz Bhatti, were both shot dead for suggesting that the blasphemy laws should be reviewed. Last week's turnaround seems to represent a dawning realisation that things had gone too far – that a descent into mob violence was imminent. "There has been some genuine remorse on the right," Pakistan's leading human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir told me. "They realised a line had been crossed."
This is certainly good news, but it is only a beginning. Rishma remains in custody and Malik Ishaq has yet to be convicted. "I am not optimistic that the laws will be repealed," says Jahangir. "In fact, you cannot even discuss it." While politicians such as Imran Khan have bravely called Rishma's arrest "shameful … against the very spirit of Islam", neither he nor any other major political figure has called for an outright repeal of the blasphemy laws. Nor, given the fate of Salman Taseer, are they likely to any time soon.
And as long as the laws remain on the statute books, cases like these will continue to occur, and major injustices will continue to be perpetrated on all of Pakistan's religious minorities.
Ahmedi
Christians in Pakistan
Hudood Ordinances
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Malik Ishaq
Mohammed Khalid Chisti
Pakistan Minister 'Hopeful' For Blasphemy Girl Bail
A Pakistani cabinet minister says he is "very hopeful" a young Christian girl accused of blasphemy will be released on bail later this week after spending more than three weeks in custody.
Rimsha Masih is currently on remand in the high-security Adiyala jail in Islamabad's twin city Rawalpindi after being arrested on August 16 for allegedly burning pages containing verses from the Koran.
She is "uneducated" and has a mental age of less than 14, according to a medical report, and her case has prompted international concern and anger from rights campaigners.
Proceedings to free Rimsha on bail have been repeatedly postponed, most recently on Monday when Judge Muhammad Azam Khan again adjourned the matter after the lawyer for her accuser asked for a stay to show solidarity with a provincial lawyers' strike.
Paul Bhatti, the Minister for National Harmony told AFP in an interview on Monday he was optimistic the youngster would be released at the next hearing, on Friday.
"Unfortunately there was strike of the lawyers and that was a technical problem and it was not possible to proceed (with) the hearing," he said.
"On the 7th we are very hopeful that she would be released."
The case took an unexpected twist on Saturday when the imam who first gave police evidence against Rimsha was accused by his deputy of adding pages from the Koran to the burnt papers taken from Rimsha.
Activists say legislation is often abused to settle personal vendettas, and even unproven allegations can prompt a violent public response.
But it is rare to see anyone investigated for making a false allegation or interfering with evidence of blasphemy and Bhatti said it could be an important turning point.
"The disclosure about the tampering with the evidence will discourage future accusers to misuse this law," Bhatti said.
Bhatti is Pakistan's only Christian cabinet minister. His brother and predecessor Shahbaz was gunned down last year for speaking out against the blasphemy law.
Adiyala
Judge Muhammad Azam Khan
Minister for National Harmony
Paul Bhatti
Pakistan Should Abolish Overly-Abused Blasphemy Laws
By Arsalan Iftikhar for The Washington Post
My grandfather was one of the most well-known literary figures in Pakistan's history and once famously told me that, "Anger is the most extravagant luxury in the world." I am always reminded of my beloved grandfather's poignant sentiment whenever I read stories about death sentences being meted out in accordance with Pakistan's blasphemy laws; with the most recent example being the case of an 11-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan who is facing blasphemy charges for allegedly burning pages of the Koran in rural Pakistan.
The child was arrested last week in a Christian area of the capital Islamabad, after a crowd of people demanded that she be punished for allegedly desecrating pages of the Muslim holy book. According to BBC News, it is not clear whether she burned pages of the Koran or was just found to be carrying them in her bag. Additionally, the BBC reported that doctors in Pakistan have examined this young Christian to further determine her mental capacity (some unconfirmed reports stated that she has Down's Syndrome), with the results due to be presented in a Pakistani court in the coming days.
Pakistan's Minister for National Harmony, Paul Bhatti, has said she is innocent of the charges and should be released. Shortly after her arrest, Bhatti told BBC News that, "The police were initially reluctant to arrest her, but they came under a lot of pressure from a very large crowd who were threatening to burn down Christian homes."
As an international human rights lawyer, it is my personal belief that Pakistan's blasphemy laws are one of the most obvious obstacles preventing the nation of Pakistan from protecting its religious minorities (including members of the Christian, Hindu and Ahmadiyya communities). According to Pakistan's penal code, here are the primary sections dealing with blasphemy charges and their potential criminal punishments:
"Whoever will fully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Koran or of an extract therefrom or uses it in any derogatory manner or for any unlawful purpose shall be punishable for imprisonment for life. Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine."
In recent times, these controversial blasphemy laws in Pakistan have created major international headlines and generated debate across the globe. In November 2010, a Pakistani Christian female laborer named Asia Bibi was sentenced to death after a fellow worker accused her of insulting Islam. Her sentence is under appeal, and Bibi is still in jail. Only a few months after Bibi's death sentence, provincial Gov. Salman Taseer and Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti – both prominent Pakistani politicians – were assassinated in cold blood after public calls to amend the blasphemy laws.
CNN also further reported that militants attacked two mosques in May 2010 and killed more than 90 worshipers of the Ahmadiya sect, a minority Muslim group often "viewed as heretics and blasphemers by hardline Sunnis" in Pakistan.
As a proud and practicing Muslim, I have written previously on "blasphemy" issues insulting Islam around the world and how modern Muslim societies should respond to such controversies. Most Muslims are aware of a well-known Islamic parable which tells the story of the prophet Muhammad and his daily interactions with an unruly female neighbor who used to curse him violently and then proceed to dump garbage onto him every day from her perch-top window each time he would ever walk by her house.
One day, prophet Muhammad noticed that the woman was not present to throw garbage outside of her window. In an act of true prophetic kindness, he actually went out of his way to inquire about her well-being and then proceeded to visit his hostile neighbor at her bedside inside of her own home when had found out that she had fallen sick.
This genteel act of prophetic kindness toward unfriendly (and overtly hostile) neighbors is the truly Muslim and Islamic standard that we should all use within our collective lives, not threats of violence and/or death sentences which disparately impact religious minorities in Muslim-majority nations. After all, if our prophet Muhammad treated those who cursed him with kindness, shouldn't other Muslims do exactly the same?
Thus, although Pakistan has a very long way to go in terms of protecting religious minorities within their national borders, it can take a giant step in the right direction by abolishing its overly-abused blasphemy laws and show compassion to people of other religions, something that Islam's prophet taught us over 1,400 years ago.
Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and author of "Islamic Pacifism: Global Muslims in the Post-Osama Era."
Ahmadiyya Community
Arsalan Iftikhar
Down's Syndrome
Free Rimsha Masih Now and End The Blasphemy Law Witch Hunts in Pakistan
The latest victim of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, is an 11 year old girl suffering from Downs Syndrome. Rimshah Masih screamed pitifully as she was brutally snatched from her mother by an angry mob intent on killing her. Burnt religious texts had been mischievously planted in a bag she was carrying. We call on the Pakistani Government to take action to stop the ongoing discrimination, persecution and hatred towards minorities living there. We call on the Britisha Government the EU and the Un to intervene on behalf of this poor child and to bring about her freedom.
To bring an end to hatred towards minority faiths in conservative Pakistan and to defend otherwise helpless victims like Rimsha please sign the petition below: http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/freerimshamasih
This petition will be sent to the Pakistan Government at the highest levels.
"Whilst the Burmese's treatment of the Rohingya is indeed appalling and deserves condemnation, our minorities are living in their very own Burma right here in Pakistan.
"As the rest of the country goes about its way, having just celebrated another joyous Eid, spare a thought for a little girl with special needs, languishing in a juvenile jail.
"She is probably all alone, and scared. With her condition, she very well might not even know the reason she is in there.
"But ask her neighbours, some who are frothing at the teeth to have a go at her, and they will tell you that she deserves to die.
"Rimsha Masih, an 11-year-old Pakistani girl of the Christian faith, who reportedly suffers from Down Syndrome, was arrested on allegations that she had desecrated the Holy Quran.
"The girl and her mother were severely beaten by an enraged mob that had converged outside their house, while the rest of her family managed to flee. If the police had not intervened, there is no telling what else could have happened…."
Please sign the petition and help free Rimsha and Aasia Bibi and put an end to Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws.
Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws
Rimasha Masih
Pakistan Police Arrest Christian Girl After Angry Neighbors Accuse Her of Burning the Quran
By Munir Ahmed, Zarar Khan and Matthew Lee for The Associated Press
A Christian girl was sent to a Pakistani prison after being accused by her furious Muslim neighbors of burning pages of the Islamic holy book, the Quran, in violation of the country's strict blasphemy laws.
A police official said Monday there was little evidence that pages of the book had been burned and that the case would likely be dropped. But hundreds of angry neighbors gathered outside the girl's home last week demanding action in a case raising new concerns about religious extremism in this conservative Muslim country.
Some human rights officials and media reports said the girl was mentally handicapped. Police gave conflicting reports of her age as 11 and 16.
Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad or defiling the holy book, or Quran, can face life in prison or even execution. Critics say the laws are often misused to harass non-Muslims or target individuals.
Police put the girl in jail for 14 days on Thursday after neighbors said they believed a Christian girl had burned pages of a Quran, gathering outside her house in a poor outlying district of Islamabad, said police officer Zabi Ullah. He suggested she was being held for her protection.
"About 500 to 600 people had gathered outside her house in Islamabad and they were very emotional, angry and they might have harmed her if we had not quickly reacted," Ullah said.
Almost everyone in the girl's neighborhood insisted she had burned the Quran's pages, even though police said they had found no evidence of it. One police official, Qasim Niazi, said when the girl was brought to the police station, she had a shopping bag that contained various religious and Arabic-language papers that had been partly burned, but there was no Quran.
Some residents claimed they actually saw burnt pages of Quran — either at the local mosque or at the girl's house. Few people in Pakistan actually speak or read Arabic, so often assume that anything they see with Arabic script is believed to be from the Quran, sometimes the only Arabic-language book people have seen.
But one police officer familiar with the girl's case said the matter would likely be dropped once the investigation is completed and the atmosphere is defused, saying there was "nothing much to the case." He did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the case.
A spokesperson for Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Farhatullah Babar, said the president has taken "serious note" of reports of the girl's arrest and has asked the Interior Ministry to look into the case.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the case "deeply disturbing".
"We urge the government of Pakistan to protect not just its religious minority citizens but also women and girls," she said.
The Associated Press is withholding the girl's name; the AP does not generally identify juveniles under 18 who are accused of crimes.
The case demonstrates the deep emotion that suspected blasphemy cases can evoke in a country where religion Many critics say the blasphemy laws are often abused.
"It has been exploited by individuals to settle personal scores, to grab land, to violate the rights of non-Muslims, to basically harass them," said the head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Zora Yusuf.
Those convicted of blasphemy can spend years in prison and often face mob justice by extremists when they finally do get out. In July, thousands of people dragged a man accused of desecrating the Quran from a police station in the central city of Bahawalpur, beat him to death and then set his body on fire.
Attempts to revoke or alter the blasphemy laws have been met with violent opposition. Last year, two prominent political figures who spoke out against the laws were killed in attacks that basically ended any attempts at reform.
The girl's jailing terrified her Christian neighbors, many of whom left their homes in fear after the incident. One resident said Muslims used to object to the noise when Christians sang songs during their services. After the girl was accused he said senior members of the Muslim community pressured landlords to evict Christian tenants.
But Muslim residents insisted they treated their neighbors with respect, and said Christians needed to respect Islamic traditions and culture.
"Their priest should tell them that they should respect the call for prayer. They should respect the mosque and the Quran," said Haji Pervez, one of several Muslims gathered at the local mosque less than 100 yards (meters) from the grey concrete house where the Christian girl lived.
"This is what should have happened. We are standing in the house of God. This incident has happened and it is true. It was not good."
"Even a 3-year-old, 4-year-old child knows: "This is Muslim. This is Christian. This is our religion," said shopkeeper Mohammed Ilyas.
Pakistanis for Peace Editor's Note– The case of this young Christian girl is reminiscent of the case of Aasia Bibi and many other lesser known unfortunate people who have been arrested under Pakistan's ridiculous blasphemy laws. These laws are draconian and have no place in the country's judicial system serving only to intimidate Pakistan's religious minorities and giving the zealots an official tool to harass the country's Christians, Hindus and other minorities. As we have done before, we call on the government of Pakistan to do the right thing and strike these absurd laws from the books and free the individuals who have been imprisoned under these laws.
Pakistan: More To Offer Than Bombs And Beards
By Asim Haneef for Al Jazeera
If you did not know anything about Pakistan and happened to pick up a newspaper or turn on the evening news, you might be forgiven for assuming that it is possibly the most broken, troubled and violent country on the face of the earth – a basket case just moments from imploding.
In the all-important arena of international public perception, Pakistan has taken an unprecedented battering in recent years, accumulating more bad headlines than nearly any other country and making places like Afghanistan and Iraq look relatively stable by comparison.
The list of challenges it faces is seemingly unending: terrorism, corruption, drone attacks, natural disasters, poverty, a deficit in leadership, discrimination against minorities, mistreatment of women, attacks on freedom of speech, mass tax evasion, match fixing, the murder of judges, politicians, union organisers and journalists – and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
So pervasive are the headlines pointing to a crisis in Pakistan that after a while they seem to blur into one another. Whether it is "hostages held in Karachi", "al-Qaeda hideout discovered in Swat", "floods bring pain to millions", "suicide bomber explodes in market square", "senior judge in blasphemy case shot dead" or "Pakistan's ISI actively supporting Taliban in Afghan war" the message is uniformly bad news. The result is that for many the image of Pakistan is one of bombers, beards, shaking fists, distressed women and utter hopelessness. It makes for a pretty depressing picture.
I guess that is why the work of Syed Ali Abbas and his Pakistan Youth Alliance (PYA) featured in this week's Activate, Pakistan: The New Radicals, is so refreshing. A courageous young social activist, Ali founded the PYA together with Maryam Kanwer when he was just 21 years old. It was born in the midst of severe political turmoil, as then-President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule and fired the chief justice on national television, while the security forces brutally cracked down on dissenting lawyers.
Fed up with watching their country's problems on the television, the PYA initially organised protests and rallies but quickly became more active. Its core premise and mission statement is to take a stand, to get as practically involved on the ground as possible and to exemplify the change they seek through their actions rather than merely proposing it on paper.
Their main goal is to create political and social awareness among the youth of Pakistan and to unite them irrespective of their religion, ethnicity, caste, race or language on an unbiased platform through which they can engage with one another and contribute practically to building a more progressive society in Pakistan – whether through protest, social and relief work or the arts.
Earlier this year, Ali was among a small group instrumental in organising counter protests to the hate filled ones celebrating and glorifying Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab who was murdered in January over his stance on Pakistan's blasphemy laws and his ardent defence of religious minorities like Christians and Ahmadis. Ali says he did this because: "This is not what the founder of Pakistan and 'Father of the Nation' Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah would have wanted for this country today, especially as he repeatedly stressed the importance of inter-faith unity and religious harmony."
Stories like these and others bring about something much needed in international news these days – a positive, hopeful narrative against the odds, showcasing some of the good news stories coming out of places like Pakistan, which often go unreported and deserve a spotlight too. So although we appear to have an extraordinary capacity to become fixated on negative headlines, there are also good things happening too and though progress and development is not as 'sexy' as a suicide bomber or a train-wreck, perhaps a little balance is in order, so that we do not become as, Ali says at the close of the film, "filled with dread, being hopeless about the future".
So do good stories actually emanate from Pakistan? And, if so, where are they? Well an initiative by brothers and social entrepreneurs Majid and Mahmood Mirza aims to answer this. They set up a website simply titled Good News (www.goodnews.pk) , which focuses solely on positive developments coming out of the country. They describe the idea behind the website via Skype as being "to highlight amazing, awesome and inspirational news stories coming from Pakistan, as opposed to the usual negativities that steal the headlines".
And they have plenty of examples ready. For instance, did you know that Pakistan has become only the sixth country in the world to map the human genome, joining the ranks of the US, the UK, China, Japan and India, which have all successfully sequenced it. Or, how about the fact that Pakistan has the largest volunteer ambulance organisation in the world started by "living saint" Abdul Sattar Edhi in 1948. Today, the radio-linked network includes 600 ambulances that work in every corner of the country. Or how about the recent news that Dr Umar Saif, an associate professor at the School of Science and Engineering in Lahore, has been recognised by MIT Technology Review as one of the top 35 innovators in the world – joining an elite group of researchers and entrepreneurs selected over the last decade, which includes Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, and Jonathan Ive, the chief designer at Apple. Now who has heard of those stories?
Then there are serial entrepreneurs like Monis Rahman, who just four years ago set-up Rozee.pk, which is now Pakistan's largest jobs website, with 500,000 unique visitors a month; or Karachi-born freelance designer Vakas Siddiqui laying to rest the myth that Pakistani students are limited to excellence in science and the humanities by being selected as one of the top 28 designers in the world; or filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy who has just been shortlisted for an Oscar in the 'best documentary short' category for her film Saving Face. Whether it be in music, fashion, academia, activism, technology, sports or science these are stories that people do not usually associate with Pakistan and which might just show that there is more to the country than just bombs and beards.
Some of these unreported positive stories, along with the courage and creativity shown by people like Syed Ali Abbas and the Pakistan Youth Alliance in challenging these problems, reflect a surprising shift in the country's growing and increasingly switched-on, globally-minded youth. They are using outlets like social media platforms and blogs to become more aware, educated and informed about their rights and more savvy to the different methods they must perfect in order to stop their country peddling even further backwards than it already has and to lead it to a brighter day, free from the same old headlines we're all universally tired of reading and hearing about.
Asim Haneef worked extensively on Activate, a new eight part series featuring grass-roots activists from across the globe who are challenging the status quo and bringing about a change in their society. You can follow him on Twitter @asimhaneef
Maryam Kanwer
Nabeel Arshad
Pakistan Youth Alliance
PYA
Rap Engineers
Saleem Shahzad
Shakeel Ahsan
Shehrbano Taseer
Swat Valley
Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi
Slain Pakistani's Daughter Takes Up His Cause
By Nahal Toosi for The Associated Press
A day after her father was gunned down by an Islamist extremist, a grieving Shehrbano Taseer wrote on Twitter, "A light has gone out in our home today." It wasn't long before the 22-year-old realized something else: Her father's death had lit a fire in her.
In the months since, the daughter of the late Punjab province Gov. Salmaan Taseer has emerged as one of Pakistan's most outspoken voices for tolerance. Through her writing and speaking, she warns any audience who will listen of the threat of Islamist extremism, and impatiently waits for her father's killer to be brought to justice.
And yes, sometimes she gets scared. She's received threats from militants, who've warned her to remember her father's fate.
"These extremists, they want to tell you how to think, how to feel, how to act," says Taseer, a slim, elegant young woman with intense brown eyes. "It has made me more resolute that these people should never win."
Salmaan Taseer was assassinated on Jan. 4 at a market in Islamabad by one of his own bodyguards. The confessed killer, Mumtaz Qadri, boasted that he'd carried out the slaying because the outspoken politician — a liberal in Pakistani terms — wanted to change blasphemy laws that impose the death sentence for insulting Islam.
To the horror of Taseer's supporters, many Pakistanis praised the assassin. Islamist lawyers showered Qadri with rose petals, and major Muslim groups, even ones considered relatively moderate, said Taseer deserved to die because, in their view, speaking out against the blasphemy laws was tantamount to blasphemy itself.
Two months after Taseer's killing, gunmen killed Shahbaz Bhatti, the sole Christian minister in the government and another opponent of the blasphemy laws, which have often been used against Pakistan's Christian minority. Bhatti's killers left a note promising to target others who pushed to change the laws.
Shehrbano Taseer still has trouble remembering those first moments and days after her father's death — her brother telling her their father was gone, the rush of grief, the hundreds of people flooding her family's home in the eastern city of Lahore. Mostly, it's a blur.
"I'd never lost anyone in my life, not a friend or anyone," she says. "For everyone else it was the governor and their leader and this man, and it was this big, sexy story and it was so sensationalist. But for me, it was my father."
Taseer majored in government and film at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and is by profession a journalist. She spends much of her time now writing columns and traveling in and beyond Pakistan to speak about Islamist extremism.
Salmaan Taseer, a father of seven, was not afraid to be blunt — a trait that attracted both enmity and grudging respect. On Twitter, Salmaan Taseer openly taunted and trashed extremists, once tweeting that he'd never back down on the blasphemy issue, "even if I'm the last man standing."
His daughter, who tweets under the handle shehrbanotaseer, is more gentle but just as firm. Her more than 9,000 followers on Twitter often receive notes that criticize Pakistan's discriminatory laws, especially blasphemy claims that have reached the courts since her father's death.
When she singles out a politically marginalized community, either on Twitter or her other outreach, Taseer recalls how well her father treated that group, how he was often the only public official to visit their homes after an attack or publicly speak on their behalf.
Once, Salmaan Taseer took his daughter along on a visit to meet Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman whose case attracted international attention because of allegations that she was gang-raped on the orders of a village council. The governor asked Mai to put her hand on his daughter's head, so that Shehrbano Taseer could gain the same courage to stand up for her rights.
Like her father and Bhatti, the Christian leader, Taseer wants the blasphemy laws amended to prevent their misuse.
The laws are vaguely written, and often used to persecute minorities or settle rivalries, rights activists say. The state has not executed anyone under the law, but the accused may spend years in custody. Some defendants have been killed by extremists after being freed by the courts.
But Taseer has found that many Muslims, even moderate, liberal ones, are extremely sensitive about blasphemy.
She recalls giving a speech in England when a woman in the audience suggested that her father deserved what he got because he was so blunt about the topic.
"I said, 'I don't care what he said, and I don't care how he said it. He didn't deserve to be shot and killed for it,'" Taseer says.
She's dismayed at the toll extremism is taking on Pakistan by spawning violence or an intolerant mindset. She's also disappointed at how few Pakistani leaders are willing to take a public stand against extremism or how many find some reason to excuse it.
She bemoans how for decades moderate or liberal leaders in Pakistan have appeased the religious right for short-lived political gains — whether it was by banning alcohol and nightclubs or passing laws that discriminate against certain religious sects.
Unlike many Pakistani politicians, she's willing to criticize the role Saudi Arabia has played in funding numerous hardline Islamist schools in Pakistan. And she's quick to note that the United States as well as Pakistan says little about it — after all, it needs Saudi Arabia's oil.
Pakistan has a tradition of dynastic politics. The most famous political family has been that of the Bhuttos, which spawned former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, also assassinated by Islamist extremists. Salmaan Taseer was a member of the Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party.
Shehrbano Taseer says she views Pakistan as an enticing challenge akin to a Rubik's Cube because of its many, convoluted problems. But she says she has no plans to run for office. "It's such a dirty profession," she says, laughing.
Sherry Rehman, a People's Party lawmaker who also has been threatened for speaking out against the blasphemy laws, says Shehrbano Taseer will "chart her own future."
"She's found a torch to carry, and she will do it," Rehman says. "It's what her father would have wanted."
Taseer is frustrated with the Pakistani justice system's delays in processing the case of Qadri, her father's confessed killer.
Pakistan's courts have very low conviction rates, even in terrorism cases. Qadri's confession may not be enough to persuade a court to punish him, considering the threats facing any judge who dares pass such a judgment.
Taseer wants the former bodyguard to spend his life in prison, in solitary confinement. A death sentence is "too easy," and a conviction would send a warning to other would-be assassins, she says.
"In Pakistan, we have very few brave and honest leaders," she says. "We need our heroes alive."
Gov. Salmaan Taseer
Low-key Easter Preparations for Pakistan's Christians
By Kamran Haider for Reuters
Christians in the small Pakistani town of Gojra are making low-key preparations for Easter this year.
Residents of the neighbourhood, known as Christian Colony, in the town in Punjab province, are haunted by memories of a 2009 attack by a Muslim mob in which seven members of a family were killed and dozens of houses torched.
A few days before Easter, which Christians believe marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his crucifixion, bare-foot children played cricket in the town's dusty alleys while some men chatted on a bench under a tree.
"If we celebrate it with a fanfare, we fear somebody might get annoyed and attack us," said Khalid Anjum, 45, the owner of a small snooker hall. The only sign of the approach of Easter was a few young men rehearsing hymns in St. Mary's Catholic Church.
"Fear is there but we cannot give up our religion," said Wilson Rafiq, the leader of the group of singers, who plays a traditional drum set known as a tabla.
Pakistan was founded in 1947 as a home for the Muslims of South Asia at the end of British colonial rule, with the country's founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, promising that all communities would be able to worship freely.
But today, Jinnah's pledge of religious tolerance often seems hollow as religious violence increases. Religious minorities account for about 4 percent of Pakistan's 170 million people, with about three quarters of members of religious minorities Christian.
The independent Human Rights Commission said at least 100 people from minority communities were killed in 2010. The bloodiest attack was on Ahmadis, a sect that mainstream Muslims consider heretical, when 86 people were killed.
This year, the liberal Muslim governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, and Christian Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, were killed in separate shootings for speaking out against a blasphemy law aimed at defending Islam.
Under the law, anyone who speaks ill of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad commits a crime and faces the death penalty but human rights activists say the law's vague wording has led to its misuse, often against members of minority religions.
Compounding a climate of fear, Islamist militants, angered by Pakistan's alliance with the United States since 2001, have carried periodic attacks on minorities as part of a campaign to destabilise the state.
"FEAR IN THEIR HEARTS"
In Gojra's Christian Colony, the level of fear has increased since the sentencing Monday of a Muslim to death for shooting dead two Christians who had been accused of blasphemy.
Rather then welcoming what some people might see as justice, Christians fear that if the sentence is carried out, it will only mean more trouble for them. "Things will only get worse. If one is punished, someone else will stand up to take revenge for him," said housewife Shahida Kashif.
"My kids still get scared whenever there's a small disturbance. They says 'mother, they've come. They'll set fire to our houses again'. They still have fear in their hearts," she said, referring to memories of the 2009 riot.
A mob of about 1,000 Muslims, incensed by rumours that a Christian had desecrated the Koran, rampaged through the neighborhood, firing guns and throwing petrol bombs.
Hameed Pannum Khan was shot dead and six members of his family, including two women and two children, were burnt to death when their hut was torched.
Authorities blamed militants linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban for the violence. Abdul Khaliq Kashmiri, a Muslim prayer leader, was locked up for 15 months on charges of inciting the attack.
He was recently released after Christians, fearing his continued detention would only make things worse for them, told authorities they had no proof of his involvement. Kashmiri denied any part in it and appealed for tolerance.
"Everybody should follow their own religion and should stop slinging mud at others," he said. Christian Allah Rakha, a relative of the family killed in 2009 said the hatred had to stop for the sake of future generations.
"We all should get rid of this evil," said Rakha, 70, sitting on a threadbare sofa in the drawing room of his single story home. "If we talk of revenge we'll never have peace."
Ahmadis
Christian Colony
Easter in Pakistan
Easter Pakistan
Pakistan Christians Increase Security
As reportd by UCA News.com
Worried Pakistani Christians have stepped up security following the assassination of minorities minister Shabhaz Bhatti last week, according to Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore.
The country's 2.5 million Christians fear for the future more than ever before and as a result security had been increased so much that his Sacred Heart Cathedral was "like Fort Knox," he said in an interview with the charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
"The murder means that we have lost a great leader in our community. Our people are quite down. They are fearful of the future – more so than before. People feel like second-class citizens. We cannot speak out. We feel oppressed, repressed and depressed."
Accusing the government of failing to tackle fundamentalism effectively, he said: "The religious parties have put a lot of pressure on the government which is very weak and cannot make a stand against the menace of extremism."
However, Archbishop Saldanha told ACN: "Our people are very resilient and determined. For centuries, they have been suffering. This is nothing new for them. They have always been under the thumb. We carry on with God's grace."
The archbishop was speaking five days after Bhatti, the only Catholic minister in the federal government, was gunned down on the streets of Islamabad, and less than two months after Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, was killed by his own bodyguard.
In its report of the interview, the London office of ACN pointed out that both men had spoken out against Pakistan's blasphemy laws. It said their criticism came amid widespread concern that extremists use the laws "as the pretext for acts of violence in response to unproven allegations of disrespect towards Islam."
Sacred Heart Cathederal
Shabhaz Bhatti
Shahbaz Bhatti, Modern Day Martyr in Pakistan
By Terry Mattingly for The Pocono Record
In the early days of Christianity, martyrs often gave their final testimonies of faith to Roman leaders before they were crucified, burned or fed to lions.
Times being what they are, Shahbaz Bhatti turned to Al-Jazeera and YouTube. The only Christian in Pakistan's Cabinet knew it was only a matter of time before his work as minister for minority affairs got him killed. Threats by the Taliban and al-Qaida kept increasing.
"I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ, who has given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of the cross and I follow him on the cross," said Bhatti, in a startlingly calm video recorded several weeks before his assassination on March 2.
"When I'm leading this campaign against the sharia laws for the abolishment of blasphemy law, and speaking for the oppressed and marginalized persecuted Christian and other minorities, these Taliban threaten me. … I'm living for my community and suffering people and I will die to defend their rights. So these threats and these warnings cannot change my opinion and principles."
The last straw was almost certainly the Catholic statesman's defense of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who was sentenced to death last November for the crime of blasphemy after she publicly defended her faith in a village argument. The verdict — which must be upheld by a higher court — further polarized a tense nation and sparked a global firestorm.
Then again, in 2009 Bhatti received the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's first medallion for the promotion of religious freedom. A year later, he met with Pope Benedict XVI to discuss interfaith work and religious liberty in Pakistan. Bhatti was not hiding his convictions.
The blasphemy laws in question went into effect in 1986, during the dictatorship of Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. They ban, among other actions, the use of "derogatory remarks, etc; in respect of the Holy Prophet. Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine."
These blasphemy laws have been used against hundreds of Muslim dissenters and Ahmadi sect members, whose approach to Islam is specifically attacked in the laws. In practice, conversion from Islam to another faith is considered blasphemy, as are attempts to advocate or defend minority faiths, such as Christianity or Hinduism.
Vigilantes often kill those formally or informally accused of blasphemy — making trials irrelevant.
This was the case with Bhatti's death in a wave of machine-gun fire into his unarmored car. Pakistani officials had denied his request for an armored car, despite the constant threat of drive-by shootings.
Formalities were also irrelevant on Jan. 4, when Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab Province, was assassinated by one of his bodyguards. This outspoken Muslim also defended Bibi and called for reform in the use of blasphemy laws.
Adoring crowds showered Taseer's assassin with rose petals and garlands as he arrived to face a magistrate, while moderate Muslim leaders remained silent. Pakistan's legislators observed a moment of silence for Bhatti, since it probably would have been fatal for anyone to offer a prayer in his honor.
After all, pamphlets left by those who killed Bhatti warned that they would keep fighting "all the world's infidels, crusaders, Jews and their operatives within the Muslim brotherhood. … This is the fate of that cursed man. And now, with the grace of Allah, the warriors of Islam will pick you out one by one and send you to hell, God willing."
Apparently, many radicals in Pakistan have concluded — a perfect Catch-22 — that it is blasphemy to oppose the blasphemy laws.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani conference of Catholic bishops is preparing to render a judgment of its own. Later this month the bishops will review a proposal to ask the Vatican to designate Bhatti as a martyr.
"Bhatti is a man who gave his life for his crystalline faith in Jesus Christ," Bishop Andrew Francis of Multan told a Vatican news agency. "It is up to us, the bishops, to tell his story and experience to the church in Rome, to call for official recognition of his martyrdom."
-Terry Mattingly is director of the Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
Asia Noreen
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
Minister for Minority Affairs
Pakistani conference of Catholic Bishops
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom


Blooming Color is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Zünd G3 digital cutting system. Offering state-of-the-art machines with countless functions, Zünd is the leading manufacturer of digital cutting systems worldwide.
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If your tummy can complain and growl out of hunger, your brain cells can die out of nutrients' starvation too. What you eat affects what you think. What you think and what you remember can be an indicator of your exam answering ability.
Kids, teens and even adult college students dread exams. And when exams are coming near, tendency is, students cram. But then sometimes even if they are well prepared mentally, their body physically won't hold it. This is where the nutrition comes in.
Each person, as study has found out, has different ways of learning and understanding but all in all, there are same foolproof way to pass an exam quietly if not ace it.
Here are some preparatory things you may find helpful.
Begin studying, have a schedule first made.
Read through and understand what you are reading.
Try some study techniques such as mnemonics or grouping.
Use the internet to supplement gaps in your study.
Avoid internet for a not-study-related surfing.
Develop a routine in studying, start from the major ones and go into specifics or the other way around.
Before the exam, set the alarm.
And during the studying time you had, eat the right brain foods.
Now, talking about brain foods, many would advice you that you have to snack smartly and intelligently. It was true, and you should heed it.
Exams aren't just strength draining, but brain busting as well. And most of the time, a brain exhaustion is even more tiring than a physical weariness.
So the next goal before the exam? Stuff your brain with the right food to keep it strong and unwaving while you hurdle long questions and confusing choices in your exam.
On the other hand, scientists and researchers have suggested a component which could boost learning and memory—something that is very helpful for exam takers. Omega-3, DHA are now the 'it' names in the field.
Omega-3 and DHA are often taken in by kids for brain development. It can be present in their milk formulas. For adults however, it can be provided by several sources. But supplements are most common resource for it.
But if these are inaccessible, oil supplements are found in drugstores. But of course to be safe, a doctor recommended brand can be chosen.
Once you have these supplements daily, long term benefits can be gained. So it isn't for your exams alone, it can be for life. Studies showed that DHA, omega-3 can help you think clearly even at an old age.
In recent research, students who have been taking omega-3 supplements have found improvement in their performances. And it can be in your grasp as well.
But of course, there should be the right diet too. Never just take supplements they won't suffice. Your overall health still matters.
Now, because of these tips, your only choice now is to ace your exams, no excuses!
A health blogger who embraces the healthy living. She is a fan of organic products and omega-3 rich foods.


The Oakford Transitional 2 Drawer Night Stand with AC Outlets by Highland Court at Morris Home in the Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, Ohio, Northern Kentucky area. Product availability may vary. Contact us for the most current availability on this product.


text:
Ben Thanh Station – The Mega Central Station of the Future Ho Chi Minh City Metro
Apr 29, 2021 | Press Releases
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 29 April 2021 – Ben Thanh Station is the central station of the future Ho Chi Minh City Metro. The station will be a junction for three lines, making it one of the few metro stations in Asia that has a triple-line interchange. The station will include a new pedestrian area above the station and an underground shopping plaza that runs between Ben Thanh and the next station at Opera House.
Not only is this an unusually large station, but it's possibly the world's first metro system that is pre-building a purpose-built station for three lines.
Ho Chi Minh City was in the enviable position of having a large open space in the most central point of the city. This space has allowed the urban railway planners to design an ambitious radial metro network, with enough construction space to build such a large central station where three lines could intersect. The underground station is in front of the historic Ben Thanh Market, under what was Quach Thi Trang Square.
Once the system is complete it will be possible to travel from six different points in the city via the central station. This radial network design will mean that the HCMC Metro will get the most coverage with the least amount of lines.
Metro Lines At Ben Thanh Station
Technically there are four lines being planned that pass through [Ben Thanh Station], though in reality, it's a three-line station with six platforms.
– Line 1 / Line 3A
Line 1 is the first line of the HCMC Metro, and it's being built in conjunction with Ben Thanh Station. The line travels from Ben Thanh to the new Mien Dong (Eastern) bus terminal in the northeast of the city. Line 3A is the western extension of LIne 1, which will go from Ben Thanh to Mien Tay (Western) bus station.
– Line 2
Line 2 will travel from Cu Chi District to the Thu Thiem New Urban Area. The first stage of Line 2 begins construction in 2022.
Line 4 is a north-south line that will run from Thanh Xuan to Hiep Phuoc via Ben Thanh Station.
Underground Plaza
The station has four underground levels, with the first underground floor being dedicated to passenger movement and shopping space. The plaza is also planned to be extended underneath Le Loi Street from Ben Thanh Station to the Opera House Station.
Around Ben Thanh Station
A new pedestrian plaza will replace the traffic circle that was previously in front of Ben Thanh Market. This will make the middle of the city a pedestrian-friendly space, and a new meeting point of the city.
On the other side of the pedestrian plaza is the One Central HCM project. This is one of the biggest construction projects in Ho Chi Minh City, featuring two towers on top of a retail podium. The two towers symbolise dragons holding a pearl, and this "double dragon" will be a new landmark of the city skyline.
To the east of the plaza is the historic Vietnam Railways Building, which is set to become a metro administration building.
To the west of the plaza is a park where the original Saigon Railway Station used to be. This park will be connected to the plaza and is planned to be landscaped.
Seeking Investors
While the station and two of the lines are in the construction phase, the city is now calling for investors for the underground shopping plaza section. Considering that the Ho Chi Minh City population is on the cusp of 10 million people, Ben Thanh will eventually be one of the busiest metro stations in Southeast Asia. The plaza will also become a destination in itself, so the surrounding retail area will be a sought-after address.
Future Southeast Asia News
Read more about construction, transport, and infrastructure at Future Southeast Asia. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter to keep updated on developments in Southeast Asia.
Future Southeast Asia
https://futuresoutheastasia.com/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


It has always been mutual: Malaysia needs workers, and Bangladesh has plenty of them. That's why, Malaysia, after Saudi Arabia, has become the second most sought-after destination for Bangladeshi jobseekers. Given this, a transparent system for labour recruitment could have dismantled the human trafficking chain and also save the lives of hundreds of migrant workers. But why the two countries have so far failed to devise one such mechanism?
Previous postJobs in Malaysia I: Govt initiative made to fail?


text:
The Wernher Open Pairs national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).

Typically starting on the Tuesday of the NABC, the Wernher Open Pairs is a four session matchpoint pairs event, with two qualifying sessions and two final sessions.
The event is open to any player, but due to its current conflicting schedule with the more prestigious Spingold Knockout Teams, it is generally considered to be the weakest open national event on the calendar.

History
The Wernher Open pairs is a four-session event with two qualifying sessions and two final sessions. It was contested at the Summer NABC until 1962. It moved to the Spring NABC in 1963 where it remained for 40 years.

In 2004, it returned to the Summer NABC lineup. From 1969 through 1971, it was contested as a three-session championship. In 1992 the event became Open Pairs II.

The winners have their names inscribed on the Wernher trophy, named after Sir Derrick J. Wernher, a leading personality in American bridge in the Thirties. Wernher -- a resident of both London and Deal NJ -- was president of the American Bridge League in 1933, chairman of its Master Plan committee and a member of the board of directors of the American Whist League.

Winners

During 56 years as the national or North American championship Men's Pairs, two champions successfully defended the title playing together: Doug Drury–Eric Murray in 1955, Phil Feldesman–Ira Rubin in 1962. Indeed, they were the only pairs to win the event twice.

Sources

 List of previous winners, Page 16.

 2009 winners, Page 1.

 "Search Results". ACBL. Visit "NABC Winners"; select a Spring NABC. Retrieved 2014-06.

 "Search Results - Updated 2018" Visit

North American Bridge Championships

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


This is a very simple light, but often it's the simplicity that is the selling feature for me, and that's definitely the case here! I love how uncomplicated the design is, but I also like the fact that this light's a bit bigger than most retro glass shades you find. We've paired it with a contemporary fabric cord, and one of those oversized Ikea ceiling roses that I was talking about, but because it's quite a large light I don't think the ceiling rose looks too out of place.
A very attractive retro light fitting that would work fantastically well in a contemporary home.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Mayim Hoya Bialik is an American actress widely known for her roles as Blossom Russo on NBC's Blossom, and currently as Amy Farrah Fowler on CBS's The Big Bang Theory, for which she was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Complete biography of Mayim Bialik »
Hey everybody, not sure if this is clickbait or not, but I have COVID.
– Mayim Bialik
Like, 'I saw you in a magazine. I was very confused. You looked pretty,' i get that a lot.
I'm feeling a whole bunch of regret that I ever took my mask off ever in the world, like even outside, i'm feeling a lot of fear. Why did I ever go out ? Why did I think that anything was fine ever ?
Found on CNN 7 months ago
I know that there are people who do not have resources or care, it's something I've been following since the beginning of COVID. I was thinking about all the people with young children, especially single parents, because of this level of exhaustion I cannot imagine needing to care for small children right now. I know that so many people in this world are in that situation, and it's just really devastating to me.
I have COVID, and it's no joke over here, it's very exhausting, the exhaustion is very special. I had mononucleosis when I was in college and the exhaustion hits like that where you cannot be awake, you can try to be awake but then all of a sudden you need to sleep.
One of the annoying things about COVID is that everybody has the things that you're supposed to do, i've got zinc and magnesium and immune stuff, D3, this insane vitamin C that tastes really bad but that means it's good for you.
I got to meet them when we dedicated the stage and just feel so humbled around them. I want to only honor. You can't match him, so there's no need to try, but do it continuously, and have their blessing and feel what they are doing is supporting that legacy.
Found on FOX News 10 months ago
I think being a female is its own mark, my grandparents were immigrants to this country, so I think for me, being in two generations being a woman and a host in that iconic role blows my mind.
I don't want to get less sharp, but there's a reason why when you see somebody on' Jeopardy' just killing it, they're probably right around 30.
Found on CNN 1 year ago
He was unbelievable, and also really, really fun to watch, i don't think that I've experienced in all the time that I've been here anything like that, with the pace and intensity that he was able to keep up.
I couldn't be more thrilled to join the Jeopardy! family. What started out with my 15-year-old repeating a rumor from Instagram that I should guest host the show has turned into one of the most exciting and surreal opportunities of my life! I'm so grateful and excited to continue to work with Mike Richards, and I'm just over the moon to join forces with him and Sony. After all the conversations we've had about this partnership, I am just so ready to get started!
Alex Trebek for decades believed the game itself and the contestants are the most important aspects of the show, i was fortunate to witness Alex Trebek for decades professionalism, intensity and kindness up close and that will serve as the ultimate blueprint as we continue to produce the show we love.
It is an incredible honor to guest host Jeopardy!, i was raised in a very creative and academic family, but it wasn't until high school that I fell in love with science, and that love led me to a Ph.D. in neuroscience. I so appreciate that 'Jeopardy!' is a show that tests all aspects of intellect and allows the brightest minds to shine.
I've gotten a lot of negative attention for visiting Israel, that's what's amazing...simply by going to Israel this summer and saying nothing more than, 'I've gone to Israel,' I got the same amount of hatred and threats and anti-Semitism for actually making a statement trying to support people whether I like it or not are serving in an army.
Being part of ' The Big Bang Theory ' for gosh, almost a decade of my life, was a thrill, it was a real thrill as an actor to be employed for that long and to be employed at something that I enjoyed so much with people that I enjoyed working with so much. As a neuroscientist in real life, I really enjoyed going to a job where our intellect is appreciated and our characters ' intellects were appreciated.
Kunal [ Nayyar ] has been one of those people kind of always was the heart of our cast, and so, often he's the one to sort of express that kind of missing-ness. For me, I still get to work with Jim, which is amazing. He's not able to be physically in Los Angeles because of COVID. But we do get to keep up in other ways.
Jim and I had a lot of nice moments together on set and I think one of the things that worked so well for us as actor partners, and maybe as producing partners too, is that we're not overly sentimental as humans, which I think is helpful, it was helpful in our acting and also in the way we kind of processed ending a decade together.
I got my undergrad degree in neuroscience and Hebrew and Jewish studies, and then I went on to a doctoral program.
We're a show about 'the other people.' And I think everyone has a little bit of 'not belonging' in them.
After thinking about it more, and realizing obviously I 'm trained as a scientist of both the male and the female body and as a mom of two boys, it was something that obviously I had some experience.
I think being a girl has its own set of pressures, which are very different from those of boys, a lot of the mixed messages girls get are more about appearance. ' You're perfect just the way you are, ' except that every image in the media indicates that you're not.
I definitely became more aware of how much I was becoming more and more clingy as they pulled away, which is a natural thing for boys to do. It's been a real exercise in patience and also trusting that they're not going to go away forever and that this is part of a normal pulling away. after thinking about it more, and realizing obviously I 'm trained as a scientist of both the male and the female body and as a mom of two boys, it was something that obviously I had some experience.
I think what I would have liked to tell my younger self about my mental health is that there are answers, for me, some of those answers I had to wait years to find and I needed to get different help, which ended up being really the right kind of help.
Everything was a competition, these were not my people. I left in tears. Moms are so competitive! Why is that? Is it because we're just catty and combative by nature? Is it because we're bored and we have nothing better to do?
I had never seen it. I had heard about it and thought it was a game show, 'cause someone told me I was mentioned on it, I think in the first season.
There's kind of two sets of opinions on if Amy were to date -- which way we should go, some people think we should go super hunky, really against type from what Sheldon is and from what we think of Amy, but part of me also feels like it's OK to keep it a little bit real in that someone like Amy probably would pursue someone — not that attractive people can't be intellectual — but pursue someone in her field, who generally speaking, might not be that concerned with appearance. Mayim Bialik added with laughs.
It really doesn't matter what I support or believe, the fact that I'm Jewish and go there is enough — that should be alarming to most people.
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Who said, "Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate."
A. C.S. Lewis
B. Desmond Tutu
C. Christopher Reeve
D. G.K. Chesterton


Please contact the store at (413) 283-4448 to register for classes and a list of supplies needed.
Paint abstract flowers using Dina Wakley Media paints.
Create journal pages using Dylusions paints and stamped images embellished with metallic gilding leaf (Gildenglitz).
"Happy Butterflies II" – create a Happy Spring journal page using Magenta stencils and stamp, alcohol inks and metallic embossing paste.
"Dreams of Spring" – learn a technique using Dylusions paints and rubbing alcohol to create a unique look.
"Go Bold or Go Home" – Practice Intuitive painting with bright colors and doodles.
Create these journal pages featuring Magenta Stamps, Stencils/Masks and Nuance Powders.
Come play along and learn to create your own printed pattern papers for collage, journal backgrounds, etc., using a gel plate. We will use multiple items to create patterns and visual texture.
Students will need to bring a gel plate 5″ x 7″ or larger, acrylic paints in assorted colors, a brayer, craft mat, baby wipes, and paper towels. All other materials and tools will be provided for use in class.
Create these whimsical journal pages using Dina Wakely Media Scribble Sticks, Stamp Sets and Media Tape.
Use Dylusions (from Ranger designer Dyan Reavely) Ink Sprays, stencils, stamps and Journaling Block to create these pages in your journal.
Students will create their own hand sewn art journal (measuring 6 1/2″ x 4 1/2″) and learn a technique to make a "faux leather" cover from a paper product.
Use Distress Oxide Inks and Tim Holtz Crazy Birds to create these colorful fun pages.
Use scraps of paper, paste and liquid acrylic inks to create lots of texture on these journal pages.
Use gelatos and stencils to create a lovely underwater scene on a canvas bag.
Learn techniques to create a "Seth Apter style" unique background effect using multiple layers of paint.


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By Harry McCracken | Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 3:07 pm
It's a PC convention that dates to the 1980s: Press the F1 key, and you'll pull up online help. Except Microsoft is now warning Windows XP users to ignore any Web site that asks them to press F1.
As Gregg Keizer is reporting over at Computerworld, a Polish researcher has discovered an XP (and Windows 2000) vulnerability that would let a Web page trick an unsuspecting user into pressing F1 and thereby launching a malicious program disguised as a Windows Help file. Microsoft has published an advisory recommending that users not press F1, and explaining how to disable Help altogether.
It's a way more fascinating security hole than your average exploit, since it could let a bad guy make trouble for a Windows user at the particularly vulnerable moment when that person is seeking help. But it's a sobering argument in favor of choosing a modern operating system–be it Windows 7 or Snow Leopard or Ubuntu–over a creaky old one that dates to the start of the last decade.
Read more: Microsoft, Microsoft. Windows, Security
Yet another Internet Explorer vulnerability that compromises Windows?
Wow, it looks like tightly integrating a web browser and an operating system was a bad idea after all…
Anyone still using Windows needs more help than the F1 key. I think counseling about the dangers of self-loathing may be in order.


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Sri Lanka launches international tender to import 200,000 MT of rice
Colombo, Oct 23 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lanka, on Monday launched an open international tender to import 200,000 metric tonnes of rice to prevent a severe rice shortage in the island country.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in a statement said the tender was open to suppliers worldwide and would close on Oct 30.
"We are making every effort to ensure that there will be no shortage for our consumers," Commerce and Industry Minister, Rishard Bathiudeen said in the statement.
Sri Lanka has launched the tender under the International Competitive Bidding Procedure, which means that any qualifying foreign government or a foreign private sector supplier is able to bid.
Sri Lankan rice importers too are eligible to take part in the latest bidding.
Of the 200,000 metric tonnes of rice called, Sri Lanka expects 100,000 metric tonnes to arrive in Colombo by the end of November while the remaining 100,000 metric tonnes is expected to arrive by end of December.
"Based on a recent assessment in the world market, the potential supply sources for the latest 200,000 metric tonnes of rice are India, Pakistan, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, though other destinations too could partner," the statement said.
Sri Lanka's domestic rice market failed to produce the necessary volumes due to a poor harvest since 2016.
Due to a severe drought and flash floods in 2016 and 2017, the production of rice in Sri Lanka fell by 50 percent leading to the government urgently calling for tenders to import rice from foreign countries.
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2009 NBA Consensus Mock Draft (6/25)
The draft kicks off (or is it "tips off"?) in less than three hours, so I thought it would be fun to publish one last edition of the consensus mock draft. I pulled in mocks from SI.com and ProBasketballNews since they are current and are well respected enough for NBA.com to use in their consensus.
If three or more mocks made a pick, then it's considered majority rules and that pick is listed in bold with the number of votes next to it in parenthesis. For those picks that have two or fewer mocks agreeing on a pick, I make the pick for them. For example, the five mocks have five different players going to the Knicks, so I made my best guess — Jrue Holiday. I went with Jennings over Flynn for the Bucks at #10 because Chad Ford reported that the Bucks are in love with Jennings' upside. Et cetera.
A few random thoughts…
– Even though the #5 and #6 picks aren't true consensus picks, three mocks had the T-Wolves using one of those back-to-back picks on Stephen Curry, while three mocks had the T-Wolves using the other pick on James Harden — who cares who is picked first? (Besides the players, of course. Their salary depends on it!)
– I'd be a little surprised if the Thunder drafted Rubio and kept him. Although I don't think it would be a bad move, as Russell Westbrook is too much of a shoot-first point guard in my opinion, Westbrook's camp has been pretty adamant that he doesn't want to move off the ball. If OKC sees Westbrook as a point guard, then the best fit appears to be James Harden.
Posted in: NBA, NBA Draft, Rumors & Gossip
Tags: 2009 NBA consensus mock draft, B.J. Mullens, consensus mock draft, DeJuan Blair, James Harden, James Johnson, Jordan Hill, Julian Wright, Marcus Thornton, Ricky Rubio, Russell Westbrook, Tyler Hansbrough, Tyreke Evans, Wayne Ellington
2009 NBA Mock Draft Version 3.0 + Updated Consensus
The draft is just a few days away, so it's a good time to take one final stab at mocking the first round of this draft. I'll continue to update the consensus draft this week, but this will be my last attempt at predicting what will happen this Thursday.
First, let's take a look at the most recent consensus. Chad Ford released the most recent version of his mock draft today, NBADraft.net also updated today, while DraftExpress updated their mock yesterday.
Now I'll go, pick by pick, through the first round, taking the consensus into account while also throwing in my $0.02 here and there.
#1 CLIPPERS
The Clips have shown no signs of trading away their opportunity to draft Blake Griffin. There is much fluidity with the next few picks, but the Oklahoma product is pretty much guaranteed to be the first pick. The Clippers will then (reportedly) try to move Zach Randolph or Chris Kaman, though it might be wise to move forward with Kaman and Griffin in the front court, Baron Davis at the point, and Eric Gordon and Al Thornton on the wing. Randolph is going to be tough to move. (I still can't believe that Mike Dunleavy traded for him last season.)
Pick: Blake Griffin, PF, Oklahoma
#2 GRIZZLIES
The consensus says that Hasheem Thabeet will be the pick and I don't disagree, even though he just pulled out of a workout with Memphis due to a shoulder injury. DraftExpress thinks that Memphis will go with James Harden and move O.J. Mayo to the point, which they say is his natural position. I don't know that they've given up on Mike Conley yet, so I think they will go big with this pick. Their biggest need is at power forward, so trading down and drafting Jordan Hill is a possibility. But if they stand pat, Thabeet could very well be the pick, even though he doesn't seem to want to play in Memphis.
Pick: Hasheem Thabeet, C, UConn
Posted in: NBA, NBA Draft, News, Rumors & Gossip
Tags: 2009 Mock Drafts, 2009 NBA Draft, 2009 NBA mock draft, Austin Daye, Austin Daye draft, B.J. Mullins, B.J. Mullins draft, Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin draft, Brandon Jennings, Brandon Jennings draft, Chase Budinger, Chase Budinger draft, consensus mock draft, DaJuan Summers, DaJuan Summers draft, Darren Collison, Darren Collison draft, DeJuan Blair, DeJuan Blair draft, DeMar DeRozan, DeMar DeRozan draft, Earl Clark, Earl Clark draft, Eric Maynor, Eric Maynor draft, Gani Lawal, Gani Lawal draft, Gerald Henderson, Gerald Henderson draft, Hasheem Thabeet, Hasheem Thabeet draft, James Harden, James Harden draft, James Johnson, James Johnson draft, Jeff Teague, Jeff Teague draft, John Paulsen, Jonny Flynn, Jonny Flynn draft, Jordan Hill, Jordan Hill draft, Jrue Holliday, Jrue Holliday draft, Marcus Thornton, Marcus Thornton draft, NBA Draft, NBA mock draft, Nick Calathes, Nick Calathes draft, Patrick Mills, Patrick Mills draft, Ricky Rubio, Ricky Rubio draft, Sam Young, Sam Young draft, Terrence Williams, Terrence Williams draft, Ty Lawson, Ty Lawson draft, Tyler Hansbrough, Tyler Hansbrough draft, Tyreke Evans, Tyreke Evans draft, Wayne Ellington, Wayne Ellington draft
2009 NBA Mock Draft Version 2.0
It has been about two weeks since I published my first mock draft, so it's a good time to check back in with all the news and rumors and take another stab.
Like I said in the intro of my first mock, it's tough for me to make predictions about what teams will do because I'm constantly thinking about what they should do. These are obviously two very different things.
For this go-around, I'm going to try something a little different. I've compiled the picks for four mock drafts from sites that I respect — ESPN (Chad Ford), Dime Magazine, DraftExpress and NBADraft.net — and then I'll provide my own picks taking their picks into account, to form some sort of consensus.
Let's get on with it…
With the NBA Draft Lottery behind us, we now know the exact order of the first 14 picks. The Los Angeles Clippers hit paydirt when they won the right to draft Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin with the first overall pick. The Grizzlies moved up from #6 to #2, and the Thunder moved up one spot to pick #3. The big losers Tuesday night were Sacramento and Washington, who had the best and second-best shot at the top pick, but instead fell to #4 and #5, respectively.
Mock drafts are tough for me because I'm usually thinking about what teams should do instead of trying to predict what they will do. This mock will be more predictive, but if I disagree with a selection, I'll say so. Over the next few weeks, I'll update this mock to jive with the latest news from around the league. It's still very early in the process so things are very fluid. One mock has a player going #11 while another may have him going #29.
I'm just going to make picks for the first fourteen slots on the first go-round and then provide the picks of a few different mocks that I respect for #15-#30, along with a short writeup for each team.
#1 LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
Even Mike Dunleavy can't screw this one up. Barring something obscenely out of the blue, Oklahoma's Blake Griffin will be the first overall pick. The Clippers could use a power forward to replace Elton Brand, and Griffin is the only "sure thing" in this draft. He's strong, skilled and athletic, and he has an improving offensive game. He has star written all over him.
Pick: Griffin, PF
#2 MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
The Grizzlies were reportedly one of the few teams more interested in UConn's 7'3" center Hasheem Thabeet than they were in Blake Griffin. The Grizzlies already have 7'1" Marc Gasol, so Thabeet wouldn't fill a need like Jordan Hill, Ricky Rubio or Brandon Jennings would (assuming the team isn't sold on Hakim Warrick or Mike Conley), but Thabeet has the potential to become a dominant defensive center along the lines of Dikembe Mutombo. But will he be willing to put the work in to become an effective post player?
Pick: Thabeet, C
Posted in: College Basketball, MLB, NBA, NBA Draft, Rumors & Gossip
Tags: 2009 Mock Drafts, 2009 NBA Draft, 2009 NBA mock draft, Austin Daye, Austin Daye draft, B.J. Mullins, B.J. Mullins draft, Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin draft, Brandon Jennings, Brandon Jennings draft, Chase Budinger, Chase Budinger draft, DaJuan Summers, DaJuan Summers draft, Darren Collison, Darren Collison draft, DeJuan Blair, DeJuan Blair draft, DeMar DeRozan, DeMar DeRozan draft, Earl Clark, Earl Clark draft, Eric Maynor, Eric Maynor draft, Gani Lawal, Gani Lawal draft, Gerald Henderson, Gerald Henderson draft, Hasheem Thabeet, Hasheem Thabeet draft, James Harden, James Harden draft, James Johnson, James Johnson draft, Jeff Teague, Jeff Teague draft, John Paulsen, Jonny Flynn, Jonny Flynn draft, Jordan Hill, Jordan Hill draft, Jrue Holliday, Jrue Holliday draft, Marcus Thornton, Marcus Thornton draft, NBA Draft, NBA mock draft, Nick Calathes, Nick Calathes draft, Patrick Mills, Patrick Mills draft, Ricky Rubio, Ricky Rubio draft, Sam Young, Sam Young draft, Terrence Williams, Terrence Williams draft, Ty Lawson, Ty Lawson draft, Tyler Hansbrough, Tyler Hansbrough draft, Tyreke Evans, Tyreke Evans draft, Wayne Ellington, Wayne Ellington draft
Curry, Lawson and Ellington enter loaded pool of guard talent in NBA Draft
Posted by Jeff Dooley (04/25/2009 @ 11:53 am)
As all eyes turn to today's NFL Draft, why not take a moment for a little speculating about June's NBA Draft.
Three significant underclassmen guards announced their entry into the NBA Draft this week – Davidson's Stephen Curry and North Carolina's Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson – joining a talent pool already loaded with guards.
Here are list of a few more who figure to be in the running to be top 20 picks in this year's draft:
Ricky Rubio, Spain
James Harden, Arizona State
Tyreke Evans, Memphis
Brandon Jennings, Italy
DeMar DeRozan, USC
Eric Maynor, VCU
Gerald Henderson, Duke
Jrue Holliday, UCLA
Terrence Williams, Louisville
Jonny Flynn, Syracuse
Jeff Teague, Wake Forest
Patrick Mills, St. Mary's
The question is, where are these three newcomers going to go? ESPN's Chad Ford doesn't even have Ellington in his top 30 available prospects, and while he did come up big in the Tar Heels' championship run this season, he had to withdraw from the draft last year because of a lack of interest from NBA teams.
Lawson's stock is up this year, and he has the reputation of being one of the fastest end-to-end point guard prospects in the draft. But will NBA GMs side with him over the just-as-quick and better-shooting Jonny Flynn, Eric Maynor or Jeff Teague?
Same goes for Curry. From a production standpoint, he's light years ahead of everybody on this list except perhaps Lawson or James Harden. But he would likely enter the NBA as the league's skinniest player, and given teams' tendencies to let workouts and physical potential rule the day, it may be tough for them to take Curry over say, a DeMar DeRozan, Tyreke Evans or even a Jrue Holliday – all players with NBA-ready bodies and major upside.
Posted in: College Basketball, NBA, NBA Draft
Tags: Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington
North Carolina dominates Michigan State…yawn
Pay attention! #3 North Carolina visits #5 Duke tonight on ESPN


Each set contains (1) Memorabilia Card, (5) Parallel Cards, and (100) Cards.
If a goalie dressed for NHL action, he's in Panini All-Goalies! Look for stalwarts like Tim Thomas, Carey Price, Roberto Luongo and Jimmy Howard alongside newcomers Corey Crawford, Sergei Bobrovsky, Thomas McCollum, Jordan Pearce and many more!
Plus, your favorite legends, including Patrick Roy, Felix Potvin and Curtis Joseph! It's a one-stop collection for puckstopper purists!


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The Seldom Scene in Concert!
« The Allman Betts Band
Artopia: After-Hours Party »
The Seldom Scene is an American bluegrass band formed in 1971 in Bethesda, Maryland. The Scene has been instrumental in starting the progressive bluegrass movement as their shows include bluegrass versions of country music, rock, and even pop. What does it take for a bluegrass bandto remain popular for more than four decades? For The Seldom Scene, it'staken not only talented musicians, a signature sound, and a solid repertoire, but also a sheer sense of fun. The band has thrived on playing bluegrass a little differently than everyone else. If other bands used a fiddler, the Seldom Scene used a Dobro; if others relied on old standards, the Seldom Scene played rock classics like J.J. Cale's "After Midnight." Through skilled musicianship and an urban approach to bluegrass, the Seldom Scene has become one of the most influential – if not the mostinfluential – bluegrass band of the last 30 years. The current lineup in


Tin Heart by Shivaun Plozza had just about everything I would want from a YA Contemporary novel – a funny yet awkward main character, an engaging supporting cast, a cute romance, and just the right amount of heartache. It was, however, missing any sort of real direction, which was a tad bit disappointing.
Marlowe is a witty yet awkward main character who will have readers laughing, crying, and rooting for her – sometimes all at once. After her successful heart transplant, Marlowe returns to school. She is quickly befriended by the confident and outgoing Zan Cheung. Zan is a Chinese-Australian teen who challenges stereotypes, sexuality, racism and advocates for equality. Meanwhile, Marlowe finds herself locked in a very Romeo and Juliet-esque feud with the butcher's son, Leo. He is charismatic and incredibly attractive – but beneath his self-assured demeanor, he and Marlowe have much in common. The relationship that grows between them is sweet and delightful to read – honestly, I may have enjoyed this book if it featured more of Leo and Marlowe's story, rather than focusing on Marlowe's convoluted friendship with Carmen, her donor's sister.
Marlowe is resolved to uncover her anonymous donor, compelled by gratitude and appreciation for the perpetual sixteen year old boy. This, at least initially, gives the story a direction and understandable plot. But when Marlowe finds the family of the anonymous donor almost immediately, the story quickly loses its sense of direction and purpose. Although morally ambiguous, once she has found her donor's sister (Carmen), Marlowe befriends her under an assumed name, a situation which is further convoluted by Zan's attraction to Carmen's friend Kari. As this false friendship continues, the reader can't help but wonder – Why is Marlowe leading the sister of her donor on, insinuating herself into her life, even when she knows (and is told) that she should be truthful? What is the purpose of dragging the story forward to its inevitably awkward and predictable conclusion? Personally, I feel that Plozza would have been better served by further investigating Marlowe's dissociation of identity and its impact on her life, family, and relationships, rather than exploring her somewhat odd friendship with her donor's sister – a sister who doesn't even know who she is.
Overall, Tin Heart by Shivaun Plozza wasn't exactly my cup of tea, though I didn't quite dislike it. I felt that Plozza lacked direction with the plot, and that this tale would have been more powerful and memorable if it focused more heavily on Marlowe's experience with dissociation of identity following her transplant, and on her relationships – with her family, her friends, and Leo (3/5).


no checking for inet_aton in -lresolv... no checking pwd.h usability... no checking for strerror... I tried /usr/bin g++-3.3 g++3 (3.1) cpp-3.3 cpp3 (3.1) All failed.
Something along the lines of: --enable-dynamic-link Use shared libraries ( .so and .dylib ) I imagine this is going to be required more often than not.
no checking for net/if.h... yes checking pwd.h presence... yes checking for vfork... Predictably reliable. > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=157508191&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > _______________________________________________ > Tcpreplay-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/tcpreplay-users > Support Information: http://tcpreplay.synfin.net/trac/wiki/Support ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Want excitement?
no checking for sys/param.h... yes checking return type of signal handlers... Does anyone knowhow I can fix this problem?


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Top>News>Professor Tanaka receives the Shinobu Shirakawa Award
Professor Tanaka receives the Shinobu Shirakawa Award
Professor Hiroshi Tanaka of the Chuo Graduate School of Strategic Management will receive the Shinobu Shirakawa Award-Special Achievement Award from the Tokyo Advertising Association.
(Reason for award)
As a leader of brand strategy theory in Japan, Professor Tanaka conducts a variety of international activities such as academic presentations at international academic conferences. Also, during the past 5 years, Professor Tanaka has greatly contributed to the activities of the Tokyo Advertising Association by serving as a director. He has also been responsible for setting discussion themes and selecting panel members for panel discussions held by the Advertising Issues Research Group of the association.
As a result of Professor Tanaka's efforts and contributions, a Special Achievement Award will be created and presented to him.
The award will be conferred at the 84th Tokyo Advertising Association Annual Meeting to be held at the Tokyo Kaikan in Marunouchi on February 23rd, 2012.


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John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara and Fidel Castro as playable characters in Zombie Mode in Black Ops
Gossip July 16, 2019 July 16, 2019 No Comments on John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara and Fidel Castro as playable characters in Zombie Mode in Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops will be out soon, but already we got some information about the game through the leaked gameplays. Of course, we got the chance to see Zombie Mode in action as well, but it seems that Zombie Mode in Black Ops will spark some controversy.
Nazi Zombies for Call of Duty: World at War were great, and fans were hoping that they would see zombies in new Call of Duty installments as well. With Call of Duty: Black Ops they got their wish, but it seems that fans got a lot more than they asked. There is a map that takes place in Pentagon, and it seems that it will feature some interesting characters from the history of United States. As you know, in Nazi Zombies, you played with other nameless soldiers against the zombie infestation, but in Black Ops, you will play as, although it is not confirmed, key historical figures from the last century. There are four figures in Zombie Mode, and two of them are former presidents of United States: John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Besides them, we will see Robert McNamara and Fidel Castro. A video trailer shows secret meeting that takes place in the Pentagon and involves the four characters. It seems that four of them are discussing the Cuban Missile Crisis, and during the discussion, zombies are breaching the Pentagon. The four characters team up and grab the weapons from the secret weapons closet preparing them for the attack. Although this might spark some controversy, it is just a game and it should not be taken seriously.
For more information and for video trailer, check out the link bellow.
[oxcng]
Gossip : black ops, call of duty, call of duty:black ops, nazi zobmies
The True Gamepad for Guys, But Made for Girls