text:
Mexico police officers 'underpaid, under-equipped'
Despite years of talk of police reform, little has changed, even as Mexico's violence rises to unprecedented levels.
by John Holman
Mexico City - Ismael Ramos Mendez had always wanted to be a police officer.
Now 45 years old, he has found himself patrolling a Mexico City metro station, on foot, with his only way home, a police car that won't start because the battery is dead.
It is not much to show for 20 years of experience, two decorations for exhibiting bravery under fire, and a masters in police administration.
But Mendez said he knows very well why he is here rather than as a police chief or first inspector. He said it's because doesn't pay "the quota" - money officers on the street have to hand to their superiors in some of Mexico's myriad police forces.
"When you refuse to pay the quotas, you end up like this," he told Al Jazeera.
"You end up here. Walking, without a car, completely alone. Isolated."
Many Mexicans don't trust the police, seeing them as, at best inefficient and at worst, corrupt and in the same as league as organised crime. But many low-level police officers, like Mendez, are not only being forced to pay "the quota" to their superiors, but are also struggling with substandard equipment. Some do not have working patrol vehicles and many lack training. Despite years of talk of police reform, little has changed, even as the country's violence rises to unprecedented levels.
The quota
Half of the 10 retired or active officers who agreed to speak to Al Jazeera, admitted that in their force some sort of quota system existed.
Paying it can mean getting a safe or lucrative beat or up-to-date basic equipment. Others told Al Jazeera that in their forces, it also extended to getting a promotion.
For a promotion it "goes from 20,000 pesos to 100,000 pesos (roughly $1,000 to $5,000) depending on the level of the position that you want," said Ramos Mendez, who is also a spokesman for the National Movement for Security and Justice, a civil society group that claims to consist of around 2,500 active and retired police officers.
Many police officers struggle with substandard equipment [John Holman/Al Jazeera]
The Mexico City public security department told Al Jazeera it knew of no cases of officers paying superiors for promotions, and that if they did exist, then they would be extremely rare and punished severely within the department.
Last year, NGO Causa En Comun, which works with police forces across the country, surveyed nearly 5,000 state and federal police officers about their working conditions.
"We've been told by some officers that they've been asked by their chiefs to give them $1,000 so they can have a higher rank or to not be assigned to a very dangerous neighbourhood," Marcela Figueroa, one the Causa En Comun investigators, told Al Jazeera.
Public pays
According to National Movement for Security and Justice and Causa En Comun, it's not just the officers who must pay, but also the public, who end up paying bribes called "mordidas" (bites) to police so that they can hand over the money their superiors demand.
The most notorious and regular cases involve police stopping motorists for alleged traffic infractions and getting mordidas off those who would rather not pay the fine.
According to Causa en Comun, officers regularly take their own cut of the money exhorted from civilians. This may be in part due to the often meager salaries they receive, even by Mexican standards.
About 45 percent of the police officers Causa En Comun surveyed said that they received a salary of less than $600 a month. About 89 percent said they'd never received a bonus or formal recognition for their work. However, those are state and federal forces. Many municipal police receive far lower salaries, according to Causa en Comun.
This makes low-level police officers especially vulnerable to the overtures of the many criminal organisations operating in Mexico, especially at the municipal level.
"If you get paid 200 bucks a month, and organised crime comes and gives you $1,000 a month, of course, you're going to take it," Figueroa said.
This has happened in multiple documented cases. Most notoriously in September 2014, when 43 students were taken by municipal police working with a drug gang. The students were never seen again, an act that horrified the country.
In Allende, a small town in the Northern state of Coahuila, a report by human rights activists and academics showed the Zetas cartel had paid off the entire police force with about $5,000 dollars a month in the lead up to committing a drawn-out massacre in 2011 in which nearly 200 people were killed. In other places, entire police forces have had to be detained or disbanded because of widespread corruption.
This has led to widespread distrust in the police. About 68 percent of the members of the public surveyed by the National Institute for Statistics and Geography in 2017 said they saw the municipal police as corrupt. About 48 percent said they were untrustworthy.
Not enough guns, broken down cars
Officers who spoke to Al Jazeera say that they are ill-equipped to improve that perception, because they lack the basic equipment and training to do their job.
"There's not enough arms to go round, supposedly," said one officer in the municipality of Cuautitlan Izcalli in the State of Mexico, one of the most violence entities in the country.
"Just look at how we patrol," he told Al Jazeera, standing by the side of his patrol car.
He added he had been told there weren't enough radios either.
"We just work with the ones they leave us," he said, adding that if he became aware of any crime, his only method to call it in was with his mobile phone.
The officer didn't want to give his name, indicating he was being watched.
Another officer who also didn't want to be identified in Tijuana, the border city with more than 900 murders so far this year, said many officers had to buy bullets smuggled in from across the border.
"There are colleagues who have families that are residents in the US and they buy boxes of shells, bring them back in secret and let us know via the Whatsapp group that they've got them," he told Al Jazeera .
"Logically, if it's cost them 20 dollars they sell them to us at 40 dollars. It's their profit for bringing the shells here," he added.
Authorities in Tijuana did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment.
It's not just weapons and munitions that are lacking. Francisco Esquivel Romero, who also served in Cuautitlan Izcalli, had to push start his police pick-up truck every day at the age of 58, because the battery was run down.
"My superiors always told me the same thing - put up with it or buy it [a new battery] yourself," he told Al Jazeera.
"Just like everything else," he said.
"If a tyre went flat, you had to pay for the patch; change of oil - we did it ourselves; when there wasn't enough gas, we needed to buy it ourselves."
Eventually, he suffered a spinal injury from his exertions in starting the truck and was discharged on medical grounds.
If a tyre went flat, you had to pay for the patch; change of oil - we did it ourselves; when there wasn't enough gas, we needed to buy it ourselves.
Francisco Esquivel Romero, former police officer in Cuautitlan Izcalli
Authorities in Cuautitlan Izcalli told Al Jazeera in an email that the police "have the necessary equipment to cover the requirements of the 688 officers".
The two-page statement also added that there are enough radio transmitters and bullets for each officer and that the police officers "don't pay for car repairs".
The complaints from officers in Cuautitlan Izcalli and Tijuana are consistent with what the NGO surveying police - Causa en Comun - found to be a nationwide problem in equipping and training police.
A quarter of the almost 5,000 state and federal officers Causa en Comun questioned said they had to pay for car repairs from their own pocket, 41 percent said they had to buy boots from their own salary and 38 percent had to pay for their own uniforms.
The organisation told Al Jazeera that they believe the municipal police, who weren't included in the survey, are working in worse conditions.
Additionally, Causa en Comun also found that police in 13 out of Mexico's 32 entities don't have the full set of benefits that should go with a government job.
Police are blocked by law from forming unions in Mexico, so they have little power to push from below for those benefits or better equipment, pay and training.
Hollow talk of police reform
Successive presidents have talked about improving police working conditions and standards, but those promises have rarely turned into actions.
The current president, Enrique Pena Nieto, and his predecessor, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, both pushed a plan to establish one police force in each state - phasing out more than a 1,000 municipal police forces - seen as the least professional and most corrupt in the country. The plan was called Mando Unico or one command, but it has been repeatedly blocked by Congress.
Marcela Figueroa of Causa en Comun said that behind the continued rhetoric from the country's leaders on police reform, there's a fundamental lack of political will and that the past two administrations have instead relied on the armed forces to quell outbreaks of violence.
"A police force takes a lot of money, a lot of time and effort," she said.
"Of course, it's easier if you're just taking office to call the [federal] government and they're going to send you 2,000 military officers and you're not going to develop your own police."
And while authorities have continued to depend on the army and navy, the murder rate has rocketed upward. It's currently the highest in two decades, surpassing even what was previously the bloodiest year of the drug war in 2011.
Leaders have talked about improving police working conditions, but those promises have rarely turned into actions [John Holman/Al Jazeera]
President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he is going to change the strategy. He plans to take the military off the streets and develop a training plan so that the police can take their place. He has said that officers will also be better paid.
But the strategy has yet to be defined in detail and Lopez Obrador is still more than four months away from taking office.
Meanwhile, Ismael Ramos Mendez says that he will continue to fight for a well-equipped non-corrupt police force, if not for his generation, but for his three children, all of whom want to be police officers.
"That's what drives me on," he said.
"I want them to be part of a clean, professional institution, not like the one now."


text:
Instead of creating various rooms for specialty functions, schools are now incorporating educational spaces that can serve many needs.
By Doug Everhart January 13, 2020
Photo courtesy: Henderson Engineers
Adaptability is a common term in today's construction climate as more building spaces are becoming multi-functional. Instead of creating various rooms for specialty functions, schools are now incorporating educational spaces that can serve many needs. This helps districts future-proof with adaptable spaces that can be repurposed as needs change in the future.
ADAPTABLE SYSTEMS FOR FLEXIBLE SPACE
At Henderson Engineers, we know the landscape of educational environments is constantly evolving, so we provide design strategies that account for inevitable shifts in curriculum and student populations. We make sure the building systems we design will support future flexibility.
Missouri Innovation Campus was planned with future adaptability in mind. A collaboration between Kansas City-area businesses, a local school district, and two nearby colleges, this facility was designed to provide high school juniors and seniors with real-world work experience. Students can earn a four-year bachelor's degree within just two years of graduating from high school. The Missouri Innovation Campus program received national recognition from former President Barack Obama who called it, "a recipe for success for the long-term." Here is how we helped the team at Missouri Innovation Campus create a flexible learning space:
STRATEGICALLY DESIGNED FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS
Understanding that curriculum and student populations are ever-changing, our team is driven to design spaces that can change with them. We look at how the building systems are laid out and work with district leadership to plan for future needs. This approach helps protect the long-term operation of major pieces of infrastructure equipment while granting students and teachers flexibility in the classroom.
At Missouri Innovation Campus, we maximized flexibility and longevity with durable central systems and zoneable downstream control. Dependable and robust, the central system is fully equipped with air-cooled chillers and boilers, natural gas condensing boilers, and variable speed VAV handlers — making the system capable of zone-based control and future modification to ensure high performance and flexibility. Classrooms are outfitted with local controls to allow adjustments to temperature and lighting as needed. This same principle of performance and adaptability is applied to every building system in the facility. For example, many of the electrical receptacles in this facility are mounted to cord reels overhead which can be adjusted on flexible power busways and relocated should the layout of the room need to change at any point.
ENHANCED FUNCTIONALITY FOR VARIOUS SPACES
In the world of educational facility design, 21st century learning means that every space is a learning space. Additionally, career readiness programs require environments that are as close to the real thing as possible. As engineers, we have to expertly coordinate every building system and incorporate sophisticated controls where possible to achieve optimum functionality in these complex projects.
Because the Missouri Innovation Campus program incorporates vocational training, the building systems had to account for specialized systems in certain areas. For example, rooms like nursing labs required dedicated exhaust and power for specialized equipment while the broadcast technology studios needed unique lighting arrangements and dimming control in addition to an increased amount of power availability to accommodate mobile equipment. The open concept of the building makes it possible for even corridors to be used for group work and coordination, which enhances the demands of low voltage systems and wi-fi. Each area has unique requirements for specific systems and those systems must function both individually and as a whole for the space to be successful.
OPERATED AND MAINTAINED FOR UNINTERRUPTED LEARNING
Ongoing coordination with facility managers is key to making sure the building systems in these flexible spaces are properly maintained — not only to meet the needs of those using the space but also the needs of those running it. Utilizing building monitoring and trending to manage these systems can help prevent issues and resolve them before they're even noticed.
Incorporating highly maintainable, fully-automated building controls at Missouri Innovation Campus allows the facility's staff to stay informed and have complete control over the building systems. This readily accessible system gives them the freedom and flexibility to make adjustments from anywhere, at any time. By equipping them with the information they need, the facility managers are able to maintain every detail of the complex building systems.
The key to designing adaptable building systems is inviting end-users to the table. That's why we not only meet with teachers and staff to get input, but also step into their day-to-day to see how they interact in their space so our design meets their specific needs. At the end of the day, our goal is to bring an environment to life where learning can thrive both now and in the future.
This article originally appeared on Henderson Engineers' website. Henderson Engineers is a CFE Media content partner.
Author Bio: If you need an expert in K-12 education design, look no further than Doug Everhart, a vice president and our K-12 practice director at Henderson Engineers. Although he is well-known for proactivity and responsiveness, what really makes Doug stand out is his awareness and knowledge of a client's needs with a great understanding of the future of education design. Doug leads a team of education experts, and lucky for us, he is as talented in fostering a strong work ethic within his team as he is in designing innovative learning environments for the students and teachers who use the spaces he's been creating for more than a decade. His calm and steady leadership throughout the design process makes him a favorite with clients. No surprise he's a favorite of ours, too.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Copyright © 2014 Jin-jiang Yao and Zhao-lin Jiang. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Jin-jiang Yao and Zhao-lin Jiang, "The Determinants, Inverses, Norm, and Spread of Skew Circulant Type Matrices Involving Any Continuous Lucas Numbers," Journal of Applied Mathematics, vol. 2014, Article ID 239693, 10 pages, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/239693.


text:
14-Yr-Old James Savage Becomes Youngest to Complete 21.3 Mile Lake Tahoe Swim
14-year-old James Savage has successfully completed a 21.3 mile swim across Lake Tahoe, becoming the youngest person to ever do so. Current photo via Erik Savage
Lydia Jacoby lowered her girls' 17-18 100 breast national age group record to 57.45 during day 1 of Texas' dual meet with NC State.
NC State clocked a 200 medley relay time of 1:33.49, nearly a second faster than the previous NCAA-leading mark of 1:34.33 that belonged to Virginia.
With Emma Sticklen's 49.79, The Women's 100 Fly Just Got A Lot More Competitive
Out of the elevent women who have gone sub-50 in the 100-yard fly, six are currently swimming in the NCAA, and now Sticklen is one of them.
Kelly Pash Swims NCAA-Leading 1:42.73 200 Free At Texas-NC State Dual Meet
Pash beat out her old season-best of 1:43.40, and is the first woman to break 1:43-point in the 200 free for the 2022-23 NCAA season.
Jack Dahlgren Pops Off 1:40.66 200 Back in Mizzou Dual Meet with Southern Illinois
Mizzou hosted Southern Illinois for a men's and women's dual meet today in Columbia, beating the Salukis handily in both the men's and women's meets.
by Nicole Miller 4
August 03rd, 2021 National, News, Open Water, PR Submission, Records
Share 14-Yr-Old James Savage Becomes Youngest to Complete 21.3 Mile Lake Tahoe Swim on Facebook
Tweet 14-Yr-Old James Savage Becomes Youngest to Complete 21.3 Mile Lake Tahoe Swim
Submit 14-Yr-Old James Savage Becomes Youngest to Complete 21.3 Mile Lake Tahoe Swim to Reddit
Share 14-Yr-Old James Savage Becomes Youngest to Complete 21.3 Mile Lake Tahoe Swim on Pinterest
Share 14-Yr-Old James Savage Becomes Youngest to Complete 21.3 Mile Lake Tahoe Swim on LinkedIn
14-year-old James Savage has successfully completed a 21.3 mile swim across Lake Tahoe, becoming the youngest person to ever do so.
With his feat, Savage also becomes the youngest person to complete the Lake Tahoe Triple Crown, which is a series of 3 different swims across the lake including:
Vikingsholm swim: from Cave Rock to Emerald Bay (10.5 miles)
Godfather swim: from Cave Rock to Godfather Mansion (12 miles)
Lake Tahoe Length: from Camp Richardson to Hyatt Regency Beach (21.3 miles)
The previous world record for the youngest person to complete the circuit was held by 15-year-old Angel More, who completed the 21.3-mile swim back in 2018.
Last year, at only 13-years-old, Savage completed the 12 mile Godfather Swim, becoming the youngest person to ever swim that distance. At the time, he said he was planning to attempt the Lake Tahoe Length swim during the summer of 2021.
Savage completed his most recent attempt beginning at midnight on August 1, and finished in 11 hours, 53 minutes, and 3 seconds, swimming until almost noon. In order to complete the attempt, Savage swam from Camp Richardson to the Hyatt Regency in Incline Village, Nevada, and was not allowed to gain support from any of the vessels or crew that accompanied him on the trip.
"Even though this was my hardest swim, it seemed easier than some of the others because I went into it better mentally prepared. I knew I had a goal, and that was to finish, and I would just have to deal with anything that came my way," said Savage.
"A lot of big swims take a lot of physical training to accomplish but I train hard daily so there wasn't much I had to do differently to train for this. Mentally training was a different story. Even though you're out there with a big crew around you, you're still out there alone and the crew can't really help you in that aspect. That is something you have to be prepared for on your own. It was a great swim though and I felt great throughout the entire 21 miles. There is absolutely nothing I would have done differently. I left everything."
"As for my next goal? Not quite sure what's next on the agenda. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what looks fun."
Savage's attempt was led by Captain Tom Linthicum of the Lake Tahoe Marathon Swim Federation, along with John Grusstand, Cathy Harrington, Brad Schindler, Jillian Savage, and Haydee Acebo.
« US Olympic Viewers Shift to Streaming; Japan and AUS Ratings Rise
Swimming's TopTenTweets: Important Message From Summer Finke »
Debbie Makowski
Absolutely incredible accomplishment!
Great Job James. We are proud of you. You never cease to amaze me.
dad joke central
what a savage
collegeswimmer
Word on the street he's a savage.
About Nicole Miller
Nicole has been with SwimSwam since April 2020, as both a reporter and social media contributor. Prior to joining the SwimSwam platform, Nicole also managed a successful Instagram platform, amassing over 20,000 followers. Currently, Nicole is pursuing her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After competing for the swim …
More from Nicole Miller
Junior Nationals Finalist Hayden Penny Adds Commitment to Large Kentucky Class of 2028
David Quaresma to Remain In-State With Commitment to the University of North Carolina
Streaming Information + All the Links for the 2023 Pro Swim Series – Knoxville
Sarasota's Aidan Siers Announces Commitment to Auburn's of Class 2028
Multi-Time FHSAA State Champion Brooke Beede Announces Commitment to South Carolina


Amvets Homestead is a subdivision within the city of Urbana, Illinois. There are currently 0 Homes for Sale within Amvets Homestead, with asking prices ranging from $0 to $0. The average list price per square foot of the available inventory in Amvets Homestead is $0, which is the Urbana average of $25. The Average Sales price of all sold real estate in this subdivision for the past year is $78,000. Recent comparable homes have been selling for 48.03% of their asking price. Waterfront homes represent of the available Amvets Homestead inventory. The population of Urbana, according to the 2010 Census, is 41,250. The total number of households in the zip code of Amvets Homestead is 12,336, with an average household size for of 1.98 people. The total number of renter households within the zip code of 61801 is 8,504, which means that 31.06% of households in this zipcode are owner occupant households.
1301 East FAIRLAWN DR, Urbana IL 61801 is a Home, with 3 bedrooms which is recently sold, it has 0 sqft, 0 sized lot, and 2 parking. A comparable Other, has bedrooms and 0 baths, it was built in and is located at and for sale by its owner at $ 0. This home is located in the city of , in zip code , this County Other, it is in the Subdivision, and ENNIS RIDGE are nearby neighborhoods.


Yes, medical marijuana is legal in Virginia.
There are three medical exceptions to the statutes that criminalize the possession of marijuana. The statutes that make exceptions for medical marijuana appear broad, but actually Virginia courts have limited them significantly.
C. In any prosecution under this section involving marijuana in the form of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil as those terms are defined in § 54.1-3408.3, it shall be an affirmative defense that the individual possessed such oil pursuant to a valid written certification issued by a practitioner in the course of his professional practice pursuant to § 54.1-3408.3 for treatment or to alleviate the symptoms of (i) the individual's intractable epilepsy or (ii) if such individual is the parent or legal guardian of a minor, such minor's intractable epilepsy. If the individual files the valid written certification with the court at least 10 days prior to trial and causes a copy of such written certification to be delivered to the attorney for the Commonwealth, such written certification shall be prima facie evidence that such oil was possessed pursuant to a valid written certification.
That's where the good news ends, however.
Even though the above quoted statutes appear broad, they really aren't. The third statute, Va. Code § 18.2-250.1(A), is especially broad because it appears to allow anyone to possess marijuana so long as they have a valid prescription. However, the Virginia Court of Appeals has basically robbed 18.2-250.1(A) of any meaning. The court did that in Murphy v. Commonwealth. In Murphy the court held that because 18.2-251.1 allows Virginians to possess marijuana pursuant to a valid prescription, but only to treat cancer or glaucoma, that means that the much broader language of 18.2-250.1(A) is also limited to prescriptions for cancer or glaucoma.
Medical marijuana is legal in Virginia, but really only pursuant to a valid prescription and only if the prescription is issued to treat cancer, glaucoma, or epilepsy. If you have a prescription to take marijuana for pain relief or to relieve anxiety, you are still committing a crime in Virginia.


With Christmas just around the corner, and last-minute shopping in full swing, here are five holiday gift ideas your dog is sure to love this Christmas!
Track your dog within 300 feet on your app so you know what your pup is up to!
With its ability to easily attach to your dog's collar, it can even alert you when they've went outside of their zone!
Elite Bulldogs created a list of five must-know French Bulldog winter care tips to help keep them safe and sound as we say hello to winter's cold.
If you have ever been outside and noticed a dog wearing a sweater and immediately the word "Diva" comes to mind, you are not alone.
The term "designer dog" may have a whiff of the pretentious, and maybe even horrifying, to it. Like designer jeans or designer shoes, the term implies that you're wealthy and have loads of money to spend on a dog that's customized to your liking. But that's not the case at all!
It's pretty common knowledge that, while dogs have notoriously resilient tummies, it's best to avoid feeding your furry friend certain people foods. It's definitely ok to feed your dog some foods (more on that later), but the list of toxic human food is considerably longer. Here's a list of human foods you should never feed your dog.
This is a biggie, and most people know this one. But different types of chocolate come with varying levels of toxicity. The darker the chocolate, the more harmful it is for your dog.


Karen & Rei's sits back off the road on Route 9 in Clermont, NJ about two miles from the turn on to Avalon Boulevard. They moved here 9 years ago from their previous home in the heart of the Avalon beach town. We had heard some great things about this hidden gem and all 9 of us were anxious for a great Saturday night meal. I will admit that the men in the group might have been a tad preoccupied that our 8PM reservation coincided with the kick-off of the Eagles – Dallas playoff game in Texas but, John B. was getting constant text updates from his son so we weren't far away from each tidbit of bad news.
The wines for the evening were discussed in an earlier post but as a refresher we had the Thumbprint, the Cinq Cepages, the Atlas Peak Cab and the Wither Hill, Pinot Noir. All excellent wines. We were seated at a nice round table affording us the opportunity to chat easily with anyone in our party. Most of the chat was about the football game but I was able to multi-task and focus on choosing an appetizer. When Gerry B. chose the Beef Satay I decided I would like the Shrimp and Crab Boudin, a delicate sausage made with a blend of shrimp, jumbo lump crab meat, scallions, fresh dill and rice; roasted then served in a light sherry cream sauce with diced tomatoes. I thought it sounded great! In fact, it did sound great. Unfortunately, it now ranks as possibly the worst appetizer I have ever half-eaten. I mentioned in the previous review on my chicken entree at Sorella Rose that it lacked flavor. In retrospect, that chicken had tons of flavor compared to my Shrimp and Crab Boudin. In order to make sure that I wasn't missing some subtle culinary magic I offered some to a few of the others. They all concurred that this item was totally lacking in any redeeming value. I even checked with the waiter to make sure I had received the correct item. He assured me that the concoction on my plate was, indeed, the Shrimp and Crab Boudin.
Fortunately, we fared better with the entrees. There were a lot of interesting fish offerings on the menu for that night. The "Specials" Menu tempted with Walu (Hawaiian Butterfish), Australian Baramundi and Grilled Pacific Ono. All of the women chose one of the fish entrees. There were no complaints from any of them as each was nicely seasoned and served over a bed of basmati rice. It was readily apparent that Chef Karen knows what she is doing with fish. Gerry B. made it two consecutive nights of shrimp and pasta as he chose the Spicy Shrimp Grand Marnier , seared shrimp with ginger, shiitake mushrooms, jalapeño and fresh orange zest, deglazed with Grand Marnier and honey over angel hair rolled in fresh basil. That was some combination of exotic flavors and Gerry enjoyed it on a par with his meal from the night before. John B. couldn't resist the Maryland Crabcakes, dusted with breadcrumbs and served with a roasted sweet pepper coulis, tartar sauce and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. He said it tasted every bit as good as it sounds.
As for myself, I was anxious to find proof that chicken could taste delicious and therefore chose the "Original" Grilled Chicken Avalon. Marinated chicken breast over basmati rice pilaf and fresh spinach, garnished with jumbo lump crab meat, simmered in a toasted garlic and basil beurre blanc and finished with tomatoes and scallions. The dish restored my faith in chicken. It was very good.
Karen & Rei's features a huge dessert menu but the guys were itching to get back to Avalon for the second half of the Eagles-Cowboys debacle. Had any of us known just how bad the game would be, we would have certainly made the decision to stay for dessert. Karen & Rei's is open all summer and on weekends during the winter.


text:
Parent Teachers Association
Education Review Office
NCEA Qualifications
Hostel 150th Reunion
Boarding Overview
Boarding Life
Mitchell Cup
Boarding Facilities
Boarder Parent Committee
The Last Word - Helping Out
By George Gray | Posted: Wednesday July 26, 2017
When this school turns 200, we seniors will all be in our 60s. We may have children, possibly even grandchildren. What stories will you tell them? One of mine will be when I was in Year 10 and getting made to eat 16 cups of peas by three seniors.
We were at Mount Aspiring Camp, a standout event in my 5 years here. Unbelievable memories still sit in my mind. The friendships that were formed, the breath-taking views we witnessed, the bone-chilling rivers we dived into, the never-ending yarns we had around the campfire. It was the best week of my life, and I remember being genuinely upset when we had to leave.
When I returned home, Mum asked me how it was, and the first thing I told her about was indeed the pea-eating incident. Not because of the fact that I ate so many peas, but because the seniors had given me the attention to make me do it. To them, this was a small act with not much thought (and definitely no sense) behind it, but to me it was unforgettable. Throughout that whole week, all the other Year 10's and I looked up to the three seniors. They were big, funny, kind, and exactly the kind of people I wanted to be when I was Year 13. And they were there just to help out.
I asked myself, who would be willing to give up a week of classes and sport, to spend it in the back of beyond with a bunch of juniors? These guys were.
This speech will be about the value of helping people out. Whether it's a big act or a small one, it is better than nothing.
First, I will give an example of a family that personifies the value of helping out. To stay on the topic of Mount Aspiring, I'll talk about the Aspinalls.
Looking up at the four house banners, I see four of the most illustrious old boys that have ever walked under the archway. All great in their own right, however I see John Aspinall as a little different.
He didn't captain his country in sport like Saxton; he didn't adapt a new science that would save hundreds of war victims like McIndoe; he was not a hero in the Battle of Britain like Park. Aspinall gave back. He and his family helped out his school in such a generous way.
By allowing and assisting OBHS to build an incredible lodge on their land, the Aspinalls have benefited 40 years of students, including you and me. Millions of memories have been made because of the kind act of the family, and that would never have been possible otherwise. No other school in the world has the opportunities that we do. Just let that sink in. The family helped the school out in a way that could not be repaid; and while it is far from the best house at Otago Boys', any student placed in Aspinall certainly has a lot to live up to.
To help someone out does not have to involve an act as big as this. Whenever you are with someone you can easily help them.
Picking up a piece of paper that someone drops, and giving it back to them, could prevent days of stress and misfortune for them - while it is easy for you.
Sending some notes to a mate after they miss a day of school could cause them to pass an exam which they otherwise would've failed. Again this is easy for you.
And while this may sound ridiculous, even just saying hi to someone you don't know too well as you cross paths, is helpful. They might be going through tough times or be low on confidence. Saying hi can make someone's day, and it takes no time out of yours.
Everyone who took part in, or donated for the "Shave for a Cure". Just think of all the unfortunate people who we will be helping. That gold coin entry, that could be the difference.
Help out at school working bees, ask a teacher if there's something that needs done, turn up to the Open Night! I really urge every one of you to make an effort to help people out in your own way.
When the opportunity arose to go to Mount Aspiring as a Year 13, I jumped at it. Because I remembered those three seniors, and I wanted to help out some Year 10's as the seniors had helped me. And also because I wanted to force one of them to eat some peas, but that's beside the point.
I met some incredibly diverse boys at camp this year, and did my best to get to know, and help each one – I knew first hand just how memorable it might be for them. Funnily enough, I think they helped me more than I could help them. They were a top bunch and I will never forget the week.
I know that when those Year 10 boys are in their 50's and attend the school's 200th reunion, they will tell stories about that camp. I just wonder if I helped them out enough to be in those stories. Because they will definitely be in mine.
As Ronald Reagan once said, "We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone."
2 Arthur Street, Dunedin, NZ
Copyright 2019 Otago Boys' High School
Web Design by Firebrand
Powered by Hail
Junior homework timetable
NCEA Information
NCEA Revision
Sign Up To The OBHS Newsletter
Keep up to date with the Latest Otago Boys' High School news


text:
Is it me or has the GOP gone insane?
What a week. Our president wows and woos Europe to everyone's relief, and even gets brittle relationships with China and Russia on track and far more manageable and workable. In response, Rush Limbaugh claims that Obama's absence is the reason for any rise in the stock market. Oh, and Barack is busy infecting Gordon Brown's asshole, in case you missed the latest Rushism.
Rob Kezelis
What a week. Our president wows and woos Europe to everyone's relief, and even gets brittle relationships with China and Russia on track and far more manageable and workable. In response, Rush Limbaugh claims that Obama's absence is the reason for any rise in the stock market. Oh, and Barack is busy infecting Gordon Brown's asshole, in case you missed the latest Rushism.
Eric Cantor claims that the economy is just fine, thank you very much, despite unemployment approaching 9%, and Rush Limbaugh has great ideas for the GOP and the country. He also thinks that the GOP will have a majority in the House in 2010. If whatever Eric is smoking also helps with chronic back pain, pass it down here, dude.
A greedy, conniving criminal, Ted Stevens, is released by a DEMOCRATIC DOJ, because the GOP prosecutors who put him rightly in jail were so unethical, that the conviction simply could not stand. His release does not change the fact that the man's a serious crook. It does confirm that many of the GOPers in DOJ are incompetent boobs who should lose their licenses. Hiding exculpatory evidence and witnesses from the defense? It almost seemed as though the GOP prosecutors tried to louse up this case on purpose.
The Alaskan GOP response? They want a mulligan for last year's election. Excuse me, but can you say "Don Siegelman?" A new election simply because a crook was convicted by truly pathetic Republican prosecutors?
Mike Steele proves that insanity is contagious. The more he says, the less sense he makes. If nothing else, he truly is the face of the new, regional GOP. He claimed that they would win NY-20 hands down. Now that it appears that a Democrat will score an upset, obviously, fraud has to be involved. Mike promises to keep us guessing in the future. Be still my heart.
And then, we have Sarah Palin. Enough said about her. Even the GOP disinvited this maroon from an upcoming conference.
What is stranger than the GOP acting like a bunch of rabid, mentally challenged reprobates is how the media is reacting to this incredible display of non-stop idiocy. The MSM takes the current GOP madness and nonsense seriously, without comment, or even a smirk. The geriatric, regional party known as the GOP does provide one thing – grand entertainment for those not afflicted with neoconmanism or other serious mental illnesses.
Imagine, though, how our corporate media would react if any democratic leader acted like these buffoons. We'd never hear the end of it.
18 thoughts on "Is it me or has the GOP gone insane?"
RichardKanePA
Insane in the wrong word, macabre-ly clever I think is more accurate.
Rush Limbaugh is trying to unite hate of them, Muslims and Spanish immigrants against us which includes Israel but conceivable not England. People should try to corner him whether Prime Minister Gordon Brown is part of the problem.
German history has shown that under total desperation Rush's blame game could become very popular.
Bin Laden vowed to drive US troops out of Sacred Saudi soil, and got his wish in 2003 when Bush withdrew US forces. But he was cheated out of coming home to the cheers of the Saudi people. So he had to plan attacks elsewhere in the world in order to try to be able be in the in-crowd in Arabia again. But the US imagined a steady determination to attack the US. Meanwhile Cheney is preaching there will be a horrible new attack because Obama likes civil liberties. Are we criticizing Obama's Afghan policy in such a way that it won't benefit Rush?
According to William Black an expert on the Savings and Loan Scandal, the economic problem today is similar fraud and leaving the crooks in charge to hide the true danger won't work. His interview on Bill Moyers Journal mentions amazing similarities. Google, "William K. Black: CSI Bailout". Republicans cleverly didn't vote for the bailout. Again are we criticizing Obama's use of band-aids and reluctance to draw blood in such a way that it won't benefit Rush?
AustinRanter
Nicely stated, Griff.
What's so hard about understanding what government truly is?
What's so difficult in see the parties for what they are?
What's so profoundly insane is that We the People have allowed the Republic for Which it Stands…to become the type of government we have today.
I think that people in the U.S., by in large, would be so much more happier if the Government converted totally to a Theocracy. That way that wouldn't have to admit that they turned the Republic over to dictators. Hmmmm, they can't admit that they've turned it over to a legalized form of organized crime.
IMHO…it's the American people who have gone insane. The government, parites, politicians are the ones who have it altogether.
adamrussell
The legal definition of insanity is the inability to distinguish right from wrong.
"What is stranger than the GOP acting like a bunch of rabid, mentally challenged reprobates is how the media is reacting to this incredible display of non-stop idiocy."
Add yourself among the mentally challenged. Rush Limbaugh is a radio host, for the millionth time. Like his sheep-like following and the party he proclaims to represent, he is nothing more than distractive entertainment, and should be treated as such.
The whole lot of them, Republicans and Democrats alike, are nothing more than neo-liberal fascists. As Jesse Ventura likes to point out, our politicians are much like the WWE. They pretend to hate each other when the cameras are rolling, but they all hang out later and drink up, all the while reveling at the ease in which they pull of this charade.
This government is nothing short of a criminal enterprise cleverly disguised as legitimate government. Both parties are partners in crime, two-bit players in a Hegelian power-sharing scheme, whether some of them know it or not.


text:
What digital tools do you use during your travels?
Big events
Highlights of Lausanne
Olympic Capital
Cafés, bars and drinks!
Coronavirus: situation in Lausanne
Access to Lausanne
Getting around in Lausanne
Lausanne in short
The Lausanners
Lausanne Montreux Congress (LMC) is the extension and the expression o...
8 events we're looking forward to experiencing in 2022 in Lausanne
Get ready to pop the champagne … 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … It's the new year! An...
Plan your tailor-made stay
Lausanne is the Olympic Capital, to say it is THE Olympic Capital is not bragging. It is a fact: there is only one Olympic Capital, in the same way that Paris, London and Berlin are the only capitals of their respective countries. When Juan Antonio Samaranch gave this title to Lausanne in 1994, he did so because he believed that, if it was to be the universal embodiment of the values he defended, the Olympic Movement needed to have a clear territorial expression, a place recognised by all as the repository of these values. And he chose Lausanne.
"The Olympic spirit will find an independent and proud atmosphere where reigns the pledge of freedom that it needs to progress", declared Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1915, when he chose the town on the shores of Lake Geneva to set up the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).Since then, the city captures the Olympic spirit so perfectly that it was promoted Olympic Capital in 1994. Indeed, the main institutions related to the Olympic Movement as well as over 50 international sports federations and organisations have joined the IOC in making Lausanne their home.
The Youth Olympic Games – Lausanne 2020
26 years after becoming the Olympic Capital, Lausanne became an Olympic City, as it hosted the 3rd edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games.
The Olympic Museum
A marathon of emotions. Would you like to relive great Olympic moments...
Countdown clock
The countdown clock has been designed to symbolise the Olympic spirit ...
Olympic walk
'The sense of independence and pride nurtured by the city of Lausanne ...
Lausanne and the olympic spirit
The IOC
For a century the International Olympic Committee has found on the sho...
Pierre de Coubertin and Lausanne
The informations below are from the brochure created by Jean-Loup Chap...
Over the years, thanks to the presence of the IOC and numerous interna...
International sports federations
The City of Lausanne regards itself as the point of contact for intern...
Olympic cities
The World Union of Olympic Cities has been created by the city of Athe...
Our tourism offices
General terms and conditions for use of website
There are no favorites in your list.
These Cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around our Website and to use its features. Without these Cookies, some elements of our Website may be blocked or not function correctly.
We use these Cookies in order to let you access our Services. The processing of the Personal data collected by these Cookies rely on our legitimate interest and allow a correct functioning of our Website.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that each time you visit this site, you will have to enable or disable cookies again.
These Cookies are used to know better our Website's Users, to adapt its content, to keep statistics about our Website's use and to deliver more relevant adverts on third parties' websites, based on your interest that you demonstrated during our Website's use. In some cases, We use these Cookies to deliver more relevant adverts to you and your interests.
Please enable the strictly necessary cookies first so we can save your preferences!


text:
Q: How to stop observing after activity destroyed? When I return to the activity the livedata remember the last value,
i need to clear the value when i destroy the activity.
How to clear the last value?
    translateViewModel = translateViewModel.of(this).get(TranslateViewModel.class);
    translateViewModel.getTranslatedText().observe(this, textToPlay -> fireTextToSpeech(textToPlay));

The problem is that when I destroy the activity and start him again, the livedata observe the last value of textToPlay.
i tried
translateViewModel.getTranslatedText().removeObservers(this);

but it is not working

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Sanders Pharmacy after the screens were installed.
Cambridge manufacturer quickly adapts
By Richard Walker on	 31/03/2020 News
One enterprising Cambridge manufacturer saw the writing on the wall and quickly pivoted as Covid-19 began to bite.
Fiasco makes road cases for the events industry, and expanded into Los Angeles about three years ago.
But co-owner Joe Bradford said the industry got "toasted" around mid March on both sides of the Pacific.
"We rallied ourselves to do something different, and we tried to think ahead," he said.
Thinking ahead meant looking at the approaching Covid-19 storm, and their brainstorming has had impressive results: two new products, with virtually instant websites to boot.
They switched to making screens for the essential industries and flat-pack desks for those working from home.
Within four or five days of receiving their first order, they had installed their portable screen dividers at Sanders Pharmacy in Te Awamutu, just two weeks after starting on the design.
They are marketing the perspex screens, which include a transparent option, as room dividers/screens for hospitals, pharmacies, grocery stores and essential industries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
During a hectic week that coincided with the start of the level four lockdown, Bradford talked to the DHB the same morning as the website was launched, and expected to be installing at several more pharmacies in the coming week.
"We've got the materials to make more than 100 in the coming weeks," he said.
The work-at-home desks are equally impressive. They started on them when New Zealand was at level two, so it became a race against time. The launch, including website, came one day before the level four lockdown.
"So it's not going to be as available to the general public, it's more going to be for essential services," Bradford said.
"Right now for some essential services, we're making some desks so that their staff can work from home and not sit on the floor."
The desks come as flat-packs and only need slotting together, offering a range of heights.
"There's good research out there about what is ergonomic, and we incorporated that into our desk."
Bradford said they have capacity to produce hundreds of both the screens and desks weekly in their Cook Street, Leamington, and US factories.
Their speed of adaptation comes from their background in the events industry, which Bradford said requires constant reaction to changing situations. "We've set ourselves up in a way where we can be making one thing one day and one thing the next."
They were also quick to create new websites for each of their products (https://www.screenserve.co.nz/ and https://www.workfromhomedesks.co.nz/), using the expertise of another Cambridge company, Rocketspark. "We already had our old websites with them and we're good friends with those guys. So it was kind of a natural fit when I said to them, hey, help get this online for us. They've done that, which is great."
Richard Walker
Product development leads to scheduling calendar


text:
Amanda Kessel is the NWHL's premier playmaking forward
The Riveters offense may be struggling, but Kessel has still been brilliant
Share All sharing options for: Amanda Kessel is the NWHL's premier playmaking forward
Connor Murphy
After setting an NWHL record with five assists against the Connecticut Whale on Jan. 6, there's little doubt that Amanda Kessel is one of the best playmakers in the NWHL. Truth be told, that was evident long before the Riveters' 6–3 win in Connecticut.
Now past the midway point of her second season in the league, Kessel has played in 18 regular season games of NWHL hockey. In that time she has piled up 25 assists for the Metropolitan Riveters. Thanks to her five-assist game against the Whale on Sunday, Kessel is now second all-time in assists for the Riveters franchise. She trails defender Courtney Burke, who holds the franchise record, by just three helpers. That's impressive. What's more impressive is the fact that Kessel has played in half as many games as Burke has in the NWHL.
To date, Kessel has played in only five regular season and playoff games where she didn't earn an assist. Her ability to move the puck and set up teammates has made her a mainstay in the NWHL's highlight videos on YouTube. Since the 2016–17 season, Kessel has more primary assists than any other player — and she missed more than half of the 2016–17 season because of injury and Team USA duties ... and all of the 2017–18 season because she was in residency for the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang.
Those primary assist numbers are clear evidence of Kessel's gift for creating offense and making the players around her more impactful. In her first NWHL season she picked up a staggering 14 assists in eight games. Ten of those 14 assists were primary. This season, in 10 games with the Riveters, Kessel has 11 assists — and eight of them have been primary.
This season, the rest of the Riveters roster has just 11 primary assists combined. If that doesn't illustrate just how valuable Kessel's playmaking ability is and has been to the Riveters, nothing else will. When the puck is on her stick, the Riveters are a more dangerous hockey team. It's as simple as that.
Like most playmakers, Kessel's vision and quick hands are best witnessed when her team is on the power play. When the best passers in the game have a little bit more time and space to work with, they know how to exploit mistakes in coverage and exhaust penalty killers. In 18 games of NWHL hockey, Kessel has earned six primary assists on the power play, which is second all-time in the NWHL behind Burke. She also has assists on three of the Riveters' four power play goals this season.
The Riveters' struggles this season have been well documented. How can a team that won the Isobel Cup last year have a record of 3–8–0 this season with Kessel in the lineup? The Riveters offense dropped from 4.0 goals per game in 2017–18 to 1.90 goals per game through 11 games this season. That's a devastating drop in production, but as it turns out, Kessel has not been part of the problem. She has assists on 11 of the Riveters' 21 goals this season and is tied for fourth in the league in primary points.
Fortunately for the Riveters, Kessel wasn't the only key forward who had a big game on Sunday. Madison Packer, Miye D'Oench, and Audra Richards all had multipoint games, and Alexa Gruschow scored her second goal of the season. But until the Riveters prove themselves against one of the NWHL's top-three teams — the Buffalo Beauts, the Boston Pride, and the Minnesota Whitecaps — it's still premature to claim that they are back on track. With that being said, there should be some comfort for Riveters fans in knowing that their superstar forward is doing everything she can to bring out the best in the players around her.
When the puck is on the blade of Kessel's stick, anything is possible — especially in a league that has one-game playoff series.
Data courtesy of Even-Strength.com, NWHL.zone, and from the author's own tracking.


It is hard to describe this rose cobbler apron other than gorgeous. Both sides of this cobbler apron were made using blue rose prints. We like the combination of the two prints and hope that you will like this unique one-of-a-kind cobbler apron.


text:
Do Bees Like Thyme?
Thyme is a woody, herbaceous perennial herb, and like many herbs, it's popular with bees and other pollinators.
Not only do thyme flowers provide nectar and pollen, research shows that some Thymus species may help protect bees against diseases.
Read on to learn more!
Why Bees Like Thyme
Thyme is an aromatic, evergreen herb that provides nectar and pollen for bees during the summer, when populations of bees are at their peak, and there are more adult bees as well as their young to feed.
Thyme is an easy to grow, is fairly free of pests, and will attract bees and butterflies. You can't go wrong with 'Common Thyme' - Thymus vulgaris.
Plant it in your garden border or rockery (or in pots) to provide pollen and nectar for a variety of bee species. Choose a well-drained, sunny spot, preferably with some shelter. Plants can grow to about half a meter in height, but check the variety.
How Else Do Bees Benefit From Thyme Plants?
It may surprise some readers that along with fulfilling general food requirements, nectar and pollen not only provide vital nutrients such as carbohydrate (for energy) and protein, they may also contain beneficial chemicals that provide protection against diseases and pathogens1.
For example, it has been found that honey bees forage and store (in the form of honey) highly antibiotic plant products1. In fact, it has been found that nectar, pollen and resin (propolis) are used as a form of self-medication, both at individual bee and colony level.
Plant nectar is particularly full of secondary metabolites and the self-medication potential of honey for bees (such as inhibiting pathogen growth) has been shown in multiple studies1. (As an aside, this is one of the reasons why it is essential beekeepers leave plenty of the honey bee's winter stores (honey) in the hive, so that the colony is not weakened unduly).
Additionally, it has also been found that certain compounds within floral nectar (e.g. anabasine, nicotine and thymol) can also reduce parasite loads in bumble bees2.
How Thyme May Help Bees Stay Healthy
The flowers of thyme may be small, but they may offer additional important health benefits to bees in the form of terpenes.
Terpenes are natural chemical compounds that are especially found in aromatic plants, such as herbs, and research has shown that terpenes gathered mainly in pollen from common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) may offer beneficial antibiotic activity, by reducing the growth of bacteria associated with bee diseases.
In particular, one study1 found that Thymus vulgaris offers 6 terpenes. According to the study, two of the terpenes (carvacrol and thymol) were especially effective at reducing growth of bacteria even at low concentrations, (including 2 out of 5 tested bacteria that are associated with European foulbrood).
How To Grow Thyme For Bees
Thyme can be grown from seed, cuttings or by dividing mature plants.
Select a well-drained spot in the garden in full sun. Alkaline to neutral soils are preferred.
1. Wiese, N., Fischer, J., Heidler, J. et al. The terpenes of leaves, pollen, and nectar of thyme (Thymus vulgaris) inhibit growth of bee disease-associated microbes. Sci Rep 8, 14634 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32849-6
2. Richardson, L. L. et al. Secondary metabolites in floral nectar reduce parasite infections in bumblebees. Proc. R. Soc. B282, 20142471 (2015).
Plant Herbs For Bees
Flower Borders For Bees
6 Flower Shapes To Include And Why It Matters
Climbing Plants For Bees


April 19, 2018 The lecture was sponsored by the Hosokawa Journalism Endowment, established in 2000 in honor of Robert R. Hosokawa '40. As part of the event, the Hosokawa Family Foundation also funds a journalism contest for the staff of Whitman's student newspaper.
November 10, 2017 The money will help more than 300 Walla Walla elementary schoolchildren eligible for free and reduced lunches to receive weekly Backpack Bridge bags filled with two breakfasts, two lunches and two snacks on Fridays.
October 5, 2017 Whitman is playing host to works by pop artist Jim Dine, whose pieces are part of public collections at the Tate Modern, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Smithsonian, among other galleries in the U.S. and abroad.
September 5, 2017 A campus tradition for more than 20 years, the Interest House Community (IHC) block party took over Boyer Avenue last Saturday with games, activities, arts and crafts and free food.
May 15, 2017 The speakers, a combination of rising stars and midcareer successes, represented technology giants such as Google, Microsoft and Apple; financial institutions including Silicon Valley Bank, Goldman Sachs and Baker Boyer Bank; and management consulting firms McKinsey & Company and Booz Allen Hamilton.
May 4, 2017 Whitman hosted the 51st annual meeting of the Heidegger Circle, with more than 50 scholars from around the world convening to discuss the renowned German thinker.
May 1, 2017 Several hundred well-wishers celebrated the mindful life of R. R. "Pete" Reid '49 last Saturday.
April 25, 2017 Ingwerson helped President Kathleen Murray present the awards to students who submitted work published in The Wire, the weekly student-run newspaper, in the last year.
April 24, 2017 Whitman College continued its commitment to its neighbors by cohosting a series of weekend community forums in mid-April at the Walla Walla Public Library.
April 5, 2017 In 1965, Whitman College student Bruce Jones helped organize a solitary march in Walla Walla for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the thousands of nonviolent demonstrators who, over five days and 54 miles, walked from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol of Montgomery to register black voters in the South.
March 9, 2017 Lincoln High School students created original works of art in response to conversations with Whitman volunteers.
March 2, 2017 Whitman students recently took part in the InterNation Celebration, hosted by the Beyond Borders Club, Whitman Events Board and Intercultural Center, and Chopsticks Night, held at the Japanese Interest House.
November 1, 2016 The 15th annual Mr. Whitman pageant has raised a record-breaking sum to support the creation of a new mental health professional position for The Health Center at Lincoln High School.
October 4, 2016 This presidential election cycle, Whitman is offering two fall semester courses encouraging students to engage with today's heated political discourse.


text:
American Terror
Graham Hughes
Criminal Violence, Criminal Justice
by Charles E. Silberman
Random House, 540 pp., $15.00
Violent crime is always with us, but today more obtrusively and frighteningly than in earlier remembered times. Or at least so it seems. But where can we look to verify this? Reconstructing the crime and fear of the past is a delicate task. Until the late nineteenth century we have to rely on indirect or impressionistic sources, fragmentary public records, literature and letters. They often paint a lurid picture. Henry Fielding, the London Bow Street magistrate, wrote in 1751:
The innocent are put in terror, affronted and alarmed with threats and execrations, endangered with loaded pistols, beat with bludgeons and hacked with cutlasses, of which loss of health, of limbs, and often of life, is the consequence, and all this without any respect to age or dignity or sex.
Some twenty years later another Londoner, Jonas Hanway, complained:
I build an elegant villa, ten or twenty miles from the capital; I am obliged to provide an armed force to convey me thither, lest I should be attacked on the road with fire and ball.
In the United States, as Charles E. Silberman tells us, Lincoln warned in 1838 that internal violence was the worst domestic problem. In 1872 visitors to New York were cautioned not to go into Central Park after sundown and one late-nineteenth-century observer wrote that "municipal law is a failure…we must soon fall back on the law of self-preservation." Is it then really a case of plus ça change and do our own times just always seem the worst of times? Criminal statistics of a sort have been gathered since the mid or late nineteenth century but the methods by which they were compiled and their reliability have been the subject of withering attack. Standards of reporting were frequently changed depending on whether the criminal justice administration of the moment was more interested in promoting fear of a crime wave or convincing the voters of its vigilance and efficiency. With the shift of an index, the stroke of a pen, or the punch of a key the incidence of serious crime could be reassuringly shrunk or disturbingly inflated. Only political promises called for more jaundiced scrutiny than crime statistics.
Standardized definitions and improved monitoring have in recent years led to statistics that hold more promise of reliability, though the "dark figure" of unreported crimes, which may be large, must always be guessed at. Scholarly combing of sources has also contributed to a broad view of the ebb and flow of violent crime over the last two centuries. In his important book, Crime and Industrial Society in the Nineteenth Century,1 J.J. Tobias showed that in England there was a marked decline in violent crime in the second half of the nineteenth century. The worst upheavals and urban strains of the Industrial Revolution were easing; prosperity increased and the numbers of deracinated, unemployed urban youth dropped. This improving trend continued into this century until property crimes increased markedly in the 1930s and subsequently, in the last decade, the English have recorded a significant upsurge of violent crime. In the United States, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, reporting in 1967, wisely concluded that society had not yet found reliable methods for measuring either the volume or trend of crime. Nevertheless it ventured the assertion that between 1933 and 1965 there had been a tripling of forcible rapes per 100,000 of the population and a doubling of aggravated assaults. The murder rate, however, had dropped to 70 percent of its 1933 peak and was lower in 1967 than in 1960.
Silberman, in his useful new survey, asserts that crime statistics have recently become more dependable. He cites them for the proposition that the chances of being the victim of a major crime have tripled between 1960 and 1976, though the chances of being the victim of a serious accident are still enormously greater. But he sensibly reminds us that the crime wave of the 1960s and early 1970s took off from a very low base. From the early 1930s to the late 1950s the level of violent crime was abnormally low. For the first quarter of this century the crime rate had climbed steadily. But then homicides dropped 50 percent between 1933 and the early 1940s. This was, Silberman suggests, an exceptional lull in the enduring American storm of violence, but for older and middle-aged Americans in the present population it came to be regarded as a standard of normalcy, so that the present reversion to ancient national traditions of bludgeoning, garroting, knifing, and shooting has the shocking appearance of a blizzard in Miami.
How long the present bull market in violent crime will continue we of course cannot know. There are signs of a leveling off and even perhaps a slight contraction. The New York State Division of Criminal Justice in a report of November 1978 recorded a decrease of 3.8 percent in the number of serious crimes reported to the police. (There is a corresponding national decrease of 3.3 percent.) Governor Carey of New York immediately hailed the figures as proof that the New York approach to crime was working. Unhappily, this political habit of claiming credit for sunshine while disavowing earthquakes has nothing to do with reality. Crime rates, like the use of heroin and other drugs, go up and down for reasons that have to do with deep social stigmata that American politicians are not much interested in erasing or do not have the means or skill or support to do much about.
These reasons have much in common with the proletarian malaise created by the Industrial Revolution in England which, as we have seen, was a prime cause of the crime wave of the first half of the nineteenth century. The nature of that malaise was well described in a different context by the report of a United Nations conference on crime in 1960. Drawing attention to the dangers of increasing crime in what are euphemistically referred to as "developing" countries, the report referred to "cultural instability, the weakening of primary social controls and the exposure to conflicting social standards" as prime causes for such upheavals. These very afflictions, probably never far removed from any modern society, are oppressively evident in American cities today. The 1940s and 1950s brought a sudden lift from the worst economic miseries of the Depression; World War II gave some sense of national unity and purpose and provided energizing openings for activity and occupation; blacks, while socially not much better regarded, began to make some money and achieve mobility. These were the prime reasons for the decrease in violent crime. But the wave of optimism broke. Huge urban ghettos developed with very high rates of unemployment for young people; omnipresent television constantly juxtaposed the bleak realities of city life for the poor with the tormenting emblems of American success; resentment and a need for action, unrestrained by deeply felt social norms of control, led to the filling of empty or marginally engaged young lives by acts of criminal violence.
As Charles E. Silberman eloquently documents, there are especially chilling aspects to the increase in violent crime in recent years. One is the extreme youth of many of the offenders. The President's Commission on Law Enforcement showed in 1967 that 44 percent of those arrested for forcible rape and more than 26 percent of those arrested for homicide and assault were in the eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old age group. For burglary and larceny 50 percent of those arrested were under eighteen. In the last decade these percentages have not diminished. So much publicity is given to crime by the very young that we may pardonably fear that soon even the babes and sucklings of the cities may assail us with knife and gun. Accompanying the youth of the offender there often seems to be a superfluity of viciousness, exceeding the amount of force necessary to effect the robbery. We are told of killings and maimings that seem to stem more from rage or inhuman brutality than a calculation of what is necessary to make off with property. The seeming senselessness of this conduct (though of course it is psychically charged with meaning) multiplies terror and bewilderment in the victim and in the rest of us who are zealously informed of the details of these crimes by the press and television.
Unnecessary viciousness and excess of zeal in the commission of crimes are of course not new. Christopher Hibbert has told us2 that eighteenth-century gangs in England would disfigure their victims "by boring out their eyes or flattening their noses." Indeed, the fury of criminals has always been a subject of fascination. As so often, Aristotle knew all about it. In the Politics he wrote:
There are some crimes that are due to lack of necessities…. But want is not the only cause of crimes. Men also commit them simply for the pleasure it gives them, and just to get rid of an unsatisfied desire.
This is a splendid summary of the chief cause of violent crime in America today—"to get rid of an unsatisfied desire." The desire may be vague and not quite definable to the person it inhabits. It may appear as a simple wish to acquire something, or to relieve boredom or to be revenged on another class or group of people. Elements of psychic rage and a need to find identity in violent self-expression are surely often as important as more overt impulses to acquire some of the things that others have. But, if these observations are correct, no very dramatic reduction in violent crime is likely until the psychic trauma created by social inequity and the broader neurosis-generating character of American life are significantly modified.
This thesis, conventionally thought of as a "liberal" one, is the main theme of the first half of Charles E. Silberman's book. The writing of Criminal Violence, Criminal Justice was supported by the Ford Foundation over six years, during which the author was provided with a staff of research and administrative assistants and a consultative commission of experts. In his foreword Silberman seems to suggest that, for all this support, the writing of the book was a travail that could only be adequately rewarded by canonization. The book is, indeed, eminently commendable, though it may seem a less than overwhelming production for the expenditure of so much time and resources. It is a neatly packed compendium of the results of the best modern scholarship, for the most part sharp, sensible, and bright, though sometimes a bit rambling and often chatty and soothingly anecdotal in the style of a Time-Life popular primer. Silberman, though, stays cool and honest about important matters. He is not in the least afraid to say depressing or unpopular things, and the chief merit of his book is the uncompromising and convincing way he conveys to the general public certain truths that have for some time been well known to professional scholars of criminal justice.
The first of these (knowledge of which has been by no means confined to scholars) is that a very high proportion of crimes of violence is committed by young blacks. This is not merely an aspect of the "culture of poverty," for Silberman points to sharply lower crime rates among Hispanics with lower income levels than blacks. Indeed, the connection between crime and poverty has always been complex and uncertain. What more tranquil and crime-free society could be found than Portugal under Salazar? The gutters of Calcutta are much safer than many a quarter of Detroit, Cleveland, Houston, or New York. Poverty must be mixed with other ingredients to produce the anger that can only find an outlet in violence. America readily furnishes these ingredients for blacks—the proximity of sumptuous wealth, a history of slavery, and continuing inequality of status and opportunity that leads to feelings of hopelessness and rage. Hispanics can take shelter in and draw sustenance from language, church, and family, sources of cultural confidence and self-control that are lacking for many blacks.
The proper conclusion of course is hardly tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner. Dangerous black criminals, like dangerous white criminals, must with fairness and firmness be put in prison. Equality demands no less. Equality might also demand that large-scale business criminals, who are hardly ever black, should also be better acquainted with our prisons, and Silberman does not say enough about this.
But while the focus on blacks will occasion no surprise, other conclusions reached by the author will disappoint or puzzle many readers. Little can be done, he contends, to reduce violent crime by changing police methods, increasing the number of visible police, or cutting down the time it takes to get to the scene of a crime. Recent research in this field strongly supports this finding. It does not mean of course that we do not need police or that they generally do little good. The absence of an organized, active police force can catastrophically increase serious crime, as police strikes in many cities have shown. The prohibitions of the criminal law are observed for two reasons—because they have become absorbed into the moral personality of the citizen and because of a simple fear of consequences. For many people, much of the time, the awareness of a functioning law-enforcement apparatus provides sufficient immediate deterrence. In a more subtle fashion, the immemorial existence of the organized force of the state, always standing ready to intervene, helps all of us to invest legal prohibitions with aspects of obligation. Right leans on might as might should lean on right.
Obviously for some people this connection breaks down, or else we would have no criminals. Without organized deterrence it would break down devastatingly. But the law of diminishing returns applies here as elsewhere and there is no evidence that more police placed more visibly on the streets would make much difference.
The public's favorite villains—judges, legal doctrine, and court procedures—are also largely exonerated by Silberman's researches from charges of excessive softness. It is not true, he points out, that violent offenders are saved from their just deserts by constitutional protections such as the Miranda rules. These constitutional holdings obstruct convictions very little for crime generally and scarcely at all in cases of violence. Nor are dangerous criminals turned swiftly back into the streets through the revolving doors of "plea bargaining." As many as 65 percent of those who are arrested for serious crimes of violence receive prison sentences, and the usual reason why such an arrest does not end in such a disposition is that the offense was committed between persons who previously had relations with one another, such as lovers or family members, and the complaint is eventually not pressed. In a rough and ready fashion prosecutors and courts (with the exception of juvenile courts that have not functioned responsibly) do identify dangerous criminals and do not treat them with undue tenderness.
It seems extraordinarily unlikely that any lessening of violent crime could be realized by sending more people to prison or extending the stay of those who do go there. A report published in August 1978 by the Bureau of National Affairs put the prison and jail population in the United States at 500,000. This is a sizable percentage of the national population and enormously higher than the percentage found in Western European countries. Prisons are, indeed, necessary for some of the reasons that police are necessary and for other reasons too. The existence of prisons and the prospect of incarceration make up a backdrop of deterrence that keeps the crime rate from overflowing. Prisons also serve the melancholy social task of consuming the youth of violent offenders and returning them to the community drained of the vitality necessary for aggression. Finally, prison sentences serve the morally unifying and emotionally releasing purpose of expressing communal reprobation through ceremonies of degradation that bind people together in separating them from the criminal. But, as with the police, more is not necessarily better, and prisons have probably already fulfilled their essentially limited capacity to control crime.
Silberman's conclusions are clear, honest, and, to an extent, grim. Every society gets the crime it deserves, though unhappily the impact of crime falls for the most part on those who deserve it least and are least able to bear it. The improvement of law enforcement institutions will do very little to bring about any perceptible reduction of crime. As with inflation, we must grit our teeth and bear violent crime until the slowly changing rhythm of affairs shifts enough to bring relief. Or else we must dynamically seek to bring about basic social reforms that might dilute the sour bile of nihilistic anger. Such serious and far-reaching changes hardly seem likely.
These conclusions may well be correct, though prediction in these matters is a great risk. After all, it is also conceivable that poor, crime-ridden city communities will be swept with religious revivals whose enthusiasm would extirpate crime and provide energizing and perhaps temporarily satisfying outlets for action. This at least is more likely than the prospect that armed groups of ghetto bandits will harass the opulent fringes of Scarsdale or Sausalito. But, faced with the probability of having to accommodate a high level of violent crime for a long time, we could certainly undertake morally urgent practical tasks, some of which are acknowledged and advocated by Silberman.
The criminal justice system wears an appearance of rank injustice and harrowing inefficiency to most of those—defendants, complainants, and witnesses—who are subjected to it. This appearance is often not contradicted by the reality. Plea bargaining may be a roughly efficient device, but its present forms exact a terrible price in the sacrifice of that inquiry into acts and responsibility that the criminal process must conduct if it is to do justice. Many judges are ignorant and abusive. They radiate antipathy to defense lawyers and do not heed even gross constitutional violations. This happens in federal courts as well as in state ones and Chief Justice Burger's laments about the quality of the bar would be better directed at the quality of the judiciary. Criminal courts are conducted in an uncivil and contemptuous fashion. In some cities—Philadelphia and Houston may serve as examples—at least a section of the police force conducts lawless and racist attacks on citizens. The prison systems of many states, nicely distributed across the nation and including Texas and Rhode Island, are horror chambers that intervention by the federal courts cannot adequately reform. In Rhode Island, until a recent federal court ruling, the treatment for attempted suicide in a juvenile facility was solitary confinement.
This deeply stained judicial and correctional process must be cleansed if respect for the law is even to become a possibility. For, if sympathy for violent criminals is misplaced, prudent self-interest as well as moral imperatives require that, while we deal with them firmly, we must also deal with them in ways that are fair and not barbarous. Many people today are puzzled and angry about the threat of violent crime. In some cases, notably politicians, this is because of the aggravation that confronting a complex phenomenon produces in the primitive mind. Other people have real cause for alarm, because they have been victims, or know victims, or see danger in the streets around them. But the impulse to commit violent crimes will only be refueled by irrational and violent criminal justice. Charles E. Silberman's book is a useful contribution to a calmer understanding of the problem.
More by Graham Hughes
Copping Pleas
We Try Harder
How Bad Are the Courts?
Letters:
Lawrence K. Karlton
Criminal Violence: An Exchange
Now in print as Urban Crime in Victorian England (Schocken, 1972). ↩
In The Roots of Evil: A Social History of Crime and Punishment (Little, Brown, 1963). ↩
Lars-Erik Nelson
The Perils of Secrecy
Mad About Guns
Another Dirty Secret


text:
Metal Genres
Review: Skullview - Metalkill the World
www.skullview.com
Metalkill the World
Label: Pure Steel Records
Review online: July 22, 2010
Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible
Rated 3.83/5 (76.67%) (24 Votes)
I have been waiting so long for this one. Skullview put out their third album, Consequences of Failure, back in 2001 – damned near a decade ago – and then broke up, vanishing into the wilds of Indiana. Gone were the forgers of such epic metal anthems as "Armed with an Axe" and "In League with the Dragon", and I was pretty sure we'd never hear from them again. But I guess the lesson here is to never count a True Metal band out. I started hearing rumors of a reunion years ago, and now we finally get the release of the massive Metalkill the World, complete with an awesome Kris Verwimp cover painting.
Any worries that this band might have lost their spark are exploded by the awesome opener "Legions of the Star Scroll", which is easily one of the band's best songs ever. Skullview remain as dedicated as ever to their age-old formula of being awesome: chugging, galloping riffs, sprawling epic songs, and the wailing vocals of Mike "Earthquake" Quimby Lewis. Killers like "The Bruise" and "Behind the Cell" cement the ass-kicking in place. There are some low points here, like the sometimes irritating vocal lines on "Blind and Unconscious", or the extended narration that opens the otherwise killer "Remnants of the Storm". Like all Skullview albums except for Legends of Valor, this one does lose some momentum in the second half, and seems to drag a bit, but even on half-power Skullview are kickass, and I am very, very glad to have them back.
Other related information on the site
Review: Consequences Of Failure (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Kings Of The Universe (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Legends Of Valor (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Metalkill the World (reviewed by MetalMike)
Click below for more reviews
Latest 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Various Books/Zines
The Metal Crypt - Crushing Posers Since 1999
Copyright © 1999-2021, Michel Renaud / The Metal Crypt. All Rights Reserved.


The majority of Norwegians have a great liking for the outdoor activities, and if you are in Norway, there is no reason for you to lock yourself in a hotel. Whether you are a mountains lover or enjoy taking a slow stroll along the coastline, there are plenty of thrilling and fun things to experience.
Skiing is probably the most popular outdoor activity in Norway with Trysil, which is two and a half hours from Oslo, being the revered destination for this sport. This is where the Norway's biggest ski resort located. The resort provides a great variety of challenges catering for your taste. Here you will find everything from terrain landscape and steep slopes to off-piste and dog sledding.
If you would love to try cross-country skiing adventure, you will get to explore around 100 kilometers of groomed cross-country trails around the mountain.
Let me be honest on this one, unless your physical shape is on a high level, you will hardly be able to enjoy your cycling holiday in Norway. The mountains are high and extremely challenging with some of the downhills being quite steep and the terrain being rough. Yes, here you have to be as fit as a fiddle.
However, if you are a thrill and challenge seeker, the country is right for you! There are also biking tours offering specially selected easy-level routes that will give ensure you have had a good ride without breaking your neck.
The Geiranger Fjo is located in the west of Norway and is considered to be the area with the 'wildest nature.' The tourist office will provide you with a free map of routes and trails, some of which are easy while the other ones are more demanding. One of the routes will even take you behind the Storseterfossen waterfall! Take a walking tour in the Geiranger Fjo and immerse yourself in the magnificent scenery of wild nature.
Cruising on a ship might be fun, but if you are seeking to get personal with the deep Norwegian coastline, canoes and kayaks are the best choice. The Helgeland coast situated in north-west of the country has acquired the status of the Norway's best venue for water activities. Indeed, the area boasts fantastic mountains, narrow fjords and a range of varied islands creating unique settings. Here you can also stay overnight in a rorbu — traditional fishermen's seasonal house and try the local cuisine as part of your kayaking tour.


Roofing – super 6 sheeting.
Flooring – ACM particle board.
Tiles – linoleum tiles and associated tar based adhesive (black jack).
Insulation – friable asbestos lagging or roof insulation.
Asbestos can also be found in soil, and if you suspect that is the case, read more about Asbestos Soil here.
Australian Enviro Services are licensed, trained and experienced in the removal of non-friable (bonded) and friable asbestos. If you need to discuss anything about asbestos management please just give us a call on (02) 9557 8886 and we will call you back.


text:
UCLA Researchers Investigate Age-Related Cognitive Decline
Here are new insights into understanding changes in learning and memory.
By analyzing the effects of altered neuronal function in mice, researchers have gained new understanding of how changes in a particular neuronal characteristic, neuronal excitability, may negatively impact learning and memory as we age. The work is reported by Geoffrey Murphy and Alcino Silva and their colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Learning and memory impairments that arise independent of overt pathology are considered to be a normal component of aging. It is estimated that about 40% of people over the age of 65 years suffer from some sort of age-related cognitive decline. The exact cause of these age-related deficits in learning and memory is not currently known, but there have been numerous studies in the past that have implicated age-related changes in two neuronal attributes: a decrease in neuronal excitability, or the ability of neurons to be stimulated to fire, and age-related deficits in synaptic plasticity, or the ability of neurons to change some types of connections to other neurons. In the new study, funded by the National Institutes of Aging, researchers have established the link among neuronal excitability, synaptic plasticity, and aging.
Studying mice that had been genetically engineered to lack a particular ion channel auxiliary subunit, the researchers showed that the mice maintained enhanced neuronal excitability into old age, and, most importantly, that these mice exhibit a reduction in the threshold for the induction of specific forms of synaptic plasticity – in other words, these mice appear to change some kinds of inter-neuronal connections more readily than do normal mice of the same age. Furthermore, the aged mutant mice out-performed their age-matched wild-type littermates in the spatial version of the Morris water maze, a laboratory test for learning and memory.
Previous data suggested that in humans, the severity of age-related cognitive decline is affected by the genetic background of the individual. This was also the case for the genetically engineered mice. By manipulating the genetic background of the mice, the investigators were able to demonstrate that in some backgrounds the engineered mutation did not significantly increase neuronal excitability and that, in these cases, the mice did not exhibit the enhanced learning effect.
The new findings indicate that interactions between neuronal excitability and synaptic plasticity play a role in learning and that manipulations of either of these two parameters could be effective in ameliorating age-related cognitive decline.


text:
CIS Somalia with Nick Butter in a Marathon against Cancer
Fri 5 Jul 2019
On 6th June 2019, Nick Butter a famous endurance athlete, adventurer and also charity fundraiser from the UK arrived at Mogadishu International Airport to run Marathon 149 of 196 Marathons which he plans to complete in 196 countries in 675 days, creating 8 World Records, and all on behalf of the charity Prostate Cancer UK.
Prostate Cancer UK's top priority is funding research to stop prostate cancer killing men. They are investing to find better treatments and better tests that can spot fast-growing cancers early, and could be used in a screening programme to save thousands of lives.
CIS Somalia sponsorised the event, supplying 120 bottles of Gatorade, 40Kg Bananas and 72Kg of Oranges, to be distributed to the runners at the 3 aid stations set out around the course.
CIS Somalia Project Manager was invited to stay at Chelsea Village and participated in the event on Saturday 8th June 2019.
Nick was joined by some 20 plus enthusiastic runners of varying standards at 06:00 on a warm Somali morning, where he thanked all those taking part for their support in aiding him complete Marathon 149 of his epic 196 Marathon attempt. As the morning progressed and the heat increased, it was a relief to be running along the beach section of the course with the sea breeze. Nick eventually completed the Marathon around 12:30, after which the runners were treated to a Brunch at Chelsea Village.
In the evening Nick was presented with a cheque for $3,000 from Chelsea Village and he explained why he had undertaken the challenge and thank the sponsors and everyone for their support whilst he was in Mogadishu.
CIS Chad pursues its commitment towards "Dieu-Bénit" orphanage
Regis Arnoux, CIS Group CEO, received by his excellency the President of the Republic and the first lady of Chad
CIS Chad celebrates 14 years without a work accident and is commended by its client EEPCI for its exceptional safety performance
CIS Mali organise the event ''The Field School 2019''
SSM, a subsidiary of CIS in Mongolia, wins the contest for the best end-of-year cake organized by CIS.
Our subsidiary in Mongolia, SSM organized donations for the new year.