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EPA finally gets tough with states on Chesapeake Bay pollution; localities will feel the impact
"Federal officials began a sweeping crackdown on pollution in the Chesapeake Bay on Friday, threatening to punish five mid-Atlantic states with rules that could raise sewer bills and put new conditions on construction," reports David Farenthold of The Washington Post.
"The move by the Environmental Protection Agency is part of the biggest shakeup in the 27-year history of the Chesapeake cleanup. Earlier, when states failed to meet deadlines to cut pollution by 2000 and 2010, nothing happened. Now, the deadline has been moved to 2025 - but the EPA is already threatening states that lag behind." Yesterday's threat went to Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and New York, "which together account for more than 70 percent of the pollution that causes 'dead zones' in the bay," Farenthold writes. EPA said the states' cleanup plans have "serious deficiencies."
EPA could force the states to take "expensive new measures" that could raise sewer bills and property taxes, and impose new rules on farms, Farenthold notes. he calls that "a significant political risk. In an era when environmentalism seems to be losing steam, it is betting that residents of the Chesapeake region care enough to pay the cost of saving the bay." Pennsylvania Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger, who works for Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, told the Post that EPA was issuing dictates like the Chinese Communist Party, but "Environmentalists cheered Friday's news as a potential turning point for the Chesapeake," Farenthold reports.
Written by Al Cross Posted at 9/25/2010 02:40:00 PM No comments:
Labels: agriculture, environment, farming, fishing, water pollution
Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers still major threats to streams and groundwater, study finds
Nitrogen and phosphorus from fertlizers remain a serious problem in American waterways, the U.S. Geological Survey announced today. "USGS findings show that widespread concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus remain two to ten times greater than levels recommended by the EPA to protect aquatic life. Most often, these elevated levels were found in agricultural and urban streams," the agency said.
Patrick Reis of Greenwire writes that from 1992 to 2004, "More streams experienced an increase in nitrogen and phosphorus levels than saw a decline, said Neil Dubrovsky, USGS's chief of nutrient research and leader of the national water quality assessment. Nutrients are also on the rise in groundwater, and an increasing number of wells are drawing from supplies that fail U.S. EPA's standards to protect public health, Dubrovsky said." He also told Reis that conditions in groundwater, which supplies many major public ewater supplies, have probably declined since 2004 and will keep doing so as the nutrients move down the water table. The USGS release is here.
Labels: agriculture, farming, fertilizer, research, water, water pollution
Genetically engineered salmon could signal the future of agriculture and food
On Wednesday we reported on the controversy around the Food and Drug Administration's decision to approve genetically engineered salmon for human consumption. The salmon, engineered to grow twice as fast as normal salmon, would be the first genetically engineered animal to reach the dinner plate but could be just the first step in changing the face of U.S. food and agriculture, Seth Borenstein and Malcolm Ritter of The Associated Press report. Among the other projects being evaluated in labs and on experimental farms are vaccines grown in bananas and other plants, "enviropigs" with less polluting manure and cows that don't release methane.
"To the biotech world, precise tinkering with the genes in plants and animals is a proven way to reduce disease, protect from insects and increase the food supply to curb world hunger," Borenstein and Ritter write. "To skeptics, genetic changes put the natural world and the food supply at risk. Modified organisms can escape into the wild or mingle with native species, potentially changing them, with unknown effects." Over the last 15 years genetically engineered plants have accounted for more than 2 billion acres of crops in over 20 countries.
Traditional breeding has been compared to using a sledgehammer, while genetic engineers say their process is more like using a scalpel. "All of the animals, plants and microbes we use in our food system, our agricultural system, are genetically modified in one way or another," Bruce Chassy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign told AP. "That, or they're wild." Martina Newell McGloughlin, director of the University of California's Biotechnology Research and Education Program, added, "Genetic engineering is more precise and predictable, yet it is regulated up the wazoo. Yet there is no regulation at all on the traditional breeding system." (Read more)
Written by Jon Hale Posted at 9/24/2010 03:15:00 PM No comments:
Labels: agriculture, farming, food, food safety, genetic engineering, nutrition
Senators tell EPA boss she's too hard on farmers
Lawmakers lashed out against Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and the way her agency is regulating agriculture during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing Thursday. Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, chairwoman of the committee, criticized EPA for allowing "people that normally sit behind a computer" to set and enforce regulations on farmers, Gabriel Nelson of Environment & Energy Daily reports. Republican South Dakota Sen. John Thune told Jackson, "Out here, what seems to make sense, it just really doesn't in the rural areas of our country."
Lincoln, who is polling well behind her Republican challenger in her re-election bid, also took EPA to task for "new guidance on pesticide spraying, proposed restrictions on toxic emissions from biomass boilers and the possibility that the agency will move to tighten the national air quality standard for coarse particulate matter, or dust," Nelson writes. Nebraska Republican Sen. Mike Johanns said EPA rules are having a negative impact on small farmers, who are struggling to adapt to rules meant for large-scale agriculture.
"There's a feeling out in the country that you walked in, the president walked in, and every idea for more regulation was dusted off and cut loose and agriculture is under attack," Johanns told Jackson. "That's how people feel." Jackson countered that EPA actually imposed fewer rules on farms last year than the Bush administration did in its final year. "I believe that we cannot be a strong country without a strong agricultural sector, that we cannot be prosperous if we cannot feed ourselves. And from an environmental perspective, importing food with the huge carbon footprint that it means is much less preferable," Jackson said. "Any belief that there's an agenda that somehow targets that sector would be the furthest thing from who I am." (Read more)
Labels: agriculture, air pollution, Congress, environment, farming, pesticides
Workplace discrimination complaints by Muslims reached a record high in fiscal 2009
We reported earlier this month that JBS Swift was facing a lawsuit alleging discrimination against Muslim workers at two of its meatpacking plants. That example is one of many; Muslim workers filed a record 803 claims of employment discrimination in the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2009, up 20 percent from the previous year and 60 percent from 2005, Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times reports. The number of complaints filed in the current fiscal year won't be announced until January, but with American Muslims in the spotlight, claims are expected to rise again.
"The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has found enough merit in some of the complaints that it has filed several prominent lawsuits on behalf of Muslim workers," Greenhouse writes, pointing to the one against JBS, one against retailer Abercrombie & Fitch and another against hotel company Four Points Sheraton. "There's a level of hatred and animosity that is shocking," Mary Jo O'Neill, regional attorney of the EEOC's Phoenix office, told Greenhouse. "I've been doing this for 31 years, and I've never seen such antipathy toward Muslim workers."
Muslims, who make up less than 2 percent of Americans, accounted for about a fourth of the 3,386 religious discrimination claims filed with the commission last year, Greenhouse reports. Claims of race, sex and age discrimination fell in fiscal 2009. The number of complains filed against Muslims even exceeds the number in the year following the 2001 terrorist attacks. "We can go back in history and find other times when there were hot emotional and political tensions over religion," Michael J. Zimmer, co-author of several books on employment discrimination and a law professor at Loyola University in Chicago, told Greenhouse. "Right now, there is a lot of heat as to the Muslims." (Read more)
Labels: civil rights, discrimination, Muslims, religion
Massey executives sue to avoid testifying in investigation of disaster that killed 29 miners
Six Massey Energy executives, including the company's safety director, have filed a lawsuit challenging subpoenas that would force them to answer questions about the April explosion that killed 29 West Virginia coal miners. "Lawyers for Massey . . . mine managers allege the state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training is wrongly using its subpoena power to help federal Mine Safety and Health Administration officials force them to appear for interviews with investigators," Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports.
"It is apparent that MSHA has inveigled OMHST to serve as MSHA's stalking horse in this matter, a role the state of West Virginia neither has nor could assign to the state agency," the lawyers wrote in papers filed in Raleigh County Circuit Court. Longtime mine safety advocate J. Davitt McAteer, who is conducting an independent probe of the disaster for Gov. Joe Manchin, countered, "It is unprecedented in the history of mining accidents in this country for a substantial group of mine management to refuse to provide information which will help to prevent this kind of accident from occurring in the future."
In the filings, the Massey executives specifically object to MSHA investigators taking part in any witness interviews conducted by state officials. State law allows West Virginia officials to compel witnesses for questioning about mining accidents in private or public hearings, but federal law allows MSHA to only issue subpoenas for public hearings, Ward writes. MSHA officials did not respond to request for comment about the Massey lawsuit. (Read more)
Labels: coal, courts, freedom of information, mine safety, mining, open government
Gas drilling, proposed severance tax on gas are issues in race for governor of Pennsylvania
We have reported frequently on the effort to get natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation that stretches from Ohio to New York and across two-thirds of Pennsylvania. The formation is believed to hold the largest untapped natural gas reserves in the United States. John Gramlich of Stateline.org explores the political implications of drilling, the upcoming election in Pennsylvania and the possible outcomes. (Map of Marcellus Shale)
Political contributions by the gas industry in Pennsylvania have gone up as lawmakers there have debated placing a severance tax on gas, reports Gramlich. The industry has spent more than $7 million in combined campaign donations and lobbying expenses to state politicians, which have tripled in the last three years. The Republican nominee for governor, Tom Corbett, is opposed to the severance tax and received $284,000 from natural gas drillers last year. The Democratic nominee, Dan Onorato, is a severance tax supporter and received only $59,000 from drillers.
"There's no one here who doesn't have an opinion about it," says Fritz Mayer, editor of The River Reporter, a local weekly newspaper whose entire staff now covers the drilling beat. The paper's circulation has risen because of intense interest in the debate, Mayer said to Gramlich. In an effort to win over the public, the gas industry has "taken out full-page newspaper advertisements promising an economic revival for a Rust Belt state known for played-out coal mines and long-shuttered steel plants," reports Gramlich.
The Delaware River Basin Commission has so far refused to allow drilling to commence. "At issue for the commission is whether natural gas drilling — and particularly a commonly used technique known as 'hydraulic fracturing' — will contaminate local drinking water supplies, which happen to include those for many of the East Coast's biggest urban areas," according to Gramlich. (Read more)
The Obama administration has decided to stay out of efforts to block Marcellus drilling, reports Mike Soraghan of Environment & Energy Daily. Brig. Gen. Peter "Duke" DeLuca, commander of the North Atlantic Division of the Army Corps of Engineers, last week declined a request from Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) to use DeLuca's vote on the Basin Commission to seek a temporary ban on gas production in the watershed. DeLuca was unwilling to wait on the DRBC's cumulative impact statement saying that could delay drilling for years. (Read more, subscription required)
Written by Lu-Ann Farrar Posted at 9/24/2010 02:10:00 PM No comments:
Labels: gas prices, natural gas, water
Jobs program in Tennessee kept some rural residents working -- for a while
Last year, when the unemployment rate in Perry County, Tennessee, hit 27 percent, Gov. Phil Bredesen initiated a $10.8 million jobs program. This month, the program ends and only 100 of the 400 residents who got private-sector work at offices, stores and factories will be able to keep their jobs, reports Bonna Johnson for The Tennessean. "We'll be treating this like a mass layoff," Jan Mc-Keel, executive director of South Central Tennessee Workforce Alliance, said to Johnson. But not every business that received funding is laying off employees. The Armstrong Pie Company, in Linden, Tenn., was able to keep its new employees because their business expanded with the new staff.
Tennessee's program has drawn interest from around the country, including from Colorado, Florida and Mississippi, according to Johnson. To qualify for the program, families had to be at a certain income level, and in most instances had to have a minor child at home. "The major success is the number of people that had jobs during this time were able to get a paycheck and take care of their families," Commissioner Gina Lodge of the Tennessee Department of Human Services, one of the agencies that coordinated the program, said to Johnson. Continued high unemployment in the participating counties doesn't point to failure, Lodge said. Rather, it underscores the limited opportunities in those rural areas and the need for long-term solutions. (Read more)
Labels: economic development, economy, jobs, labor, poverty
Records show how Ky. zoning board was pressured to reject permit for storefront mosque
A Western Kentucky city zoning board's denial of a permit to open a mosque has drawn legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union, raising questions about the reasons for the denial. The Mayfield board cited parking and building capacity issues in its denial of a Somali man's request, but an open records request from religion reporter Peter Smith of The Courier-Journal reveals the board faced pressure on both sides of the debate that had little to do with land-use issues.
"The application was caught up in a nationwide debate over the expansion of mosques across the United States, with opponents fearing they could breed terrorism and the implementation of Islamic law, and proponents saying Muslims want to live and worship peacefully under the same rights other Americans enjoy," Smith, reports, offering an important example of the value of traditional investigative reporting even on a beat that is feature-oriented.
A letter from the ACLU said "the Board of Zoning Adjustment's rejection on Aug. 24 was 'procedurally defective,' based on false assumptions and violated constitutional and statutory protections for freedom of religion," Smith writes. Those assertions will rest partly on an Aug. 20 e-mail exchange that City Planner Brad Rogers had with a local resident. Rogers said he had "many concerns" that the Somalis "were free to practice their religion," adding, "Although we don't agree with it, and there are radical elements in some parts of the world, we have to be tolerant until they do something they are not supposed to do. The city cannot legally prevent a mosque from being built, as long as codes are met."
In another e-mail conversation Rogers told a supporter the controversy was a "media driven mess." Several board members said during the meeting when the permit was denied the issue was not one religion versus another, and that everyone had to be treated the same, but an overflow crowd expressed anti-Muslim sentiments. The board reversed its original decision to approve the permit even after acknowledging it failed to let the proponent of the mosque speak at the hearing. "The board made the right decision when it originally granted the permit," Michael Aldridge, ACLU of Kentucky executive director, said in a statement. "It is troubling that it reversed course when there were no changes in circumstances." (Read more)
Labels: accountability journalism, church and state, First Amendment, freedom of information, journalism, land use, local government, open government, religion
Report points to community engagement as key to turning around rural schools
Rural schools face a unique set of challenges compared to their urban counterparts, and a new report from a rural education advocacy group says the community-school model may be the solution to those challenges. In citing "community school" definitions from both the U.S. Department of Education and Coalition for Community Schools, Doris Terry Williams of The Rural School and Community Trust concludes, "Engagement in community schools occurs when parents, students, school staff, and neighbors invest in the school, co-creating and owning it. There is a conscious effort to ensure that services are not merely co-located but integrated in a way that increases the social capital that goes into overcoming or removing the barriers to student, family, and community success and citizenship."
In the report, "The Rural Solution," Williams argues, "Full-service community schools have the potential to mitigate the negative influence of poverty and other ills on children's ability to succeed in school and in their adult roles later in life," and those schools "might be the most economically feasible way to accomplish that goal in low-resource, rural areas." The report examines three examples of thriving rural community schools in Booneville, Ky.; Bennington, Vt.; and North Berwick, Maine. At the Owsley County School District in Kentucky, "School and district leaders have leveraged scarce resources to provide a number of innovative programs, including a Save the Children literacy project, an artist-in-residence, gifted and talented services, Reading First, and Everyday Mathematics," Williams writes.
"Folks realized that in order to facilitate education and address the physical, emotional, and social needs of students, you had to work with the entire community," Owsley County High School Principal Stephen Gebbard told Williams. "In order to better the children, you have to better society." The report acknowledges implementing the community-school model isn't easy for rural schools. To facilitate the change, Williams suggests that states and rural districts develop a rural-teacher recruitment strategy that emphasizes the benefits of teaching in a community school; rural districts should remove barriers to substantive parental and community engagement in schools; new school planning should incorporate multiple related community needs; states should help to reduce financial risk to community school partners when they undertake new construction projects, and Congress should invest in and encourage community schools. (Read more)
Labels: community development, education, research, rural-urban disparities, schools
Journalism group urges Senate to move ahead with shield law
The U.S. Senate's delay of a federal shield law is hurting the American public, says the Society of Professional Journalists. Delays in passing S. 448, the Free Flow of Information Act, "continue to place U.S. journalists at risk of heavy civil fines and imprisonment," SPJ writes in a news release. "That leads to reluctance to investigate stories and ultimately is a disservice to the American public and an open, democratic society." The bill would prohibit the enforcement of federal subpoenas against reporters who refuse to identify their confidential sources in certain circumstances.
"We are rapidly closing in on the end of this congressional session, and we remind the senators that U.S. journalists have an expectation that this bill will be resolved," SPJ President Kevin Z. Smith said in the release. "After years of advocacy for this bill, we are close to a resolution, and we have hammered out what should be the last points of contention. We strongly encourage senators to allow a vote." He continued, "Delaying or killing this bill isn't just a blow to journalists covering the federal government; it's a blow to the American people who will see fewer stories about their government. Unprotected sources don't generally share information with the media. Killing this bill is a win for secrecy in government." (Read more)
Labels: confidential sources, First Amendment, freedom of information, journalism, reporter's privilege
Energy resources help states weather recession
States with strong revenue from energy are among those emerging from the recession in the best shape. "Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, a group of about 10 states that have outperformed the nation almost continuously for 25 or more years again is generating new income at a faster pace than the rest of the nation," Dennis Cauchon of USA Today reports. States including Texas, North Carolina, Idaho and Alaska have used energy revenue to weather the recession. "Even coal states such as Kentucky have enjoyed strong income gains," Cauchon writes
"Idaho ranked 10th in personal income growth in the year since the recession's end, up from 50th among states and Washington, D.C., during the recession," Cauchon writes. "That's the USA's biggest rebound." Bibiana Nertney of the Idaho Department of Commerce, explained, "Our pipeline of companies looking to expand or relocate here is the biggest it's been in a decade." Sun Belt states, including Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia are among those doing the worse since the recession officially ended in June 2009. (Read more)
Several western states are hoping to get in on the energy boom in preparation for an oil rush. "Not many wells have been drilled yet, but just about everything else is in place for an oil boom in eastern Wyoming, northern Colorado and western Nebraska, where the Niobrara Shale and its hard-to-tap crude lay nearly two miles underground," Mead Gruver of The Associated Press reports. "Preliminary work is under way to map underground geological formations to figure out the best places to drill. Oil prospectors are poring over courthouse records to see who holds mineral rights so they can negotiate deals."
Oil money has helped North Dakota coast through the recession will the lowest unemployment of any state at 3.6 percent and a $500 million budget surplus. Companies are hoping the Niobara Shale holds vast reserves of recoverable oil like North Dakota's Bakken Shale. Still, fear of oil spills and possible water contamination from hydraulic fracturing have tempered enthusiasm in the region. "Beverly Hillbillies, rags to riches, (because) we've got oil," Diane Bishop, who owns 70 acres near Cheyenne, told Gruver. "Not necessarily. ... We'll be lucky to get enough money to pay the taxes on our property out there," Bishop said." (Read more)
Labels: energy, environment, jobs, oil, recession, state budgets
Further research and special labeling urged for genetically engineered salmon
Earlier this month we reported the Food and Drug Administration was moving ahead with its decision to approve genetically engineered salmon for human consumption. The independent panel made up largely of veterinary scientists, convened by the FDA to discuss the salmon decision said yesterday, "while a genetically engineered salmon is almost certainly safe to eat, the government should pursue a more rigorous analysis of the fish's possible health effects and environmental impact," Paul Voosen of Greenwire reports for The New York Times. Since the salmon decision will likely carry heavy precedent in the future, the board said the agency should be especially rigorous in its evaluation. (Read more)
Meanwhile, consumer groups are pushing for FDA to require genetically-engineered salmon to be labeled as such, while industry groups say no labeling is needed. "The FDA said it couldn't require a genetically modified product to carry a different label under current food-labeling rules, unless there was something materially different about the product," Jennifer Corbett Dooren of The Wall Street Journal reports. "A preliminary review of AquaBounty's salmon hasn't found any major differences between it and conventional Atlantic salmon."
"The FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine will make a decision on whether to approve the modified salmon, while the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition will make a decision on the label," Dooren writes, noting both decisions are likely months away. Alexis Baden-Mayer, who represented the Organic Consumers Association, said that "consumers want to know if their fish is genetically engineered." (Read more)
Labels: agriculture, farming, fishing, food, food safety, genetic engineering
MSHA issues emergency coal-dust ruling
The Mine Safety and Health Administration issued an emergency rule to control the buildup of highly explosive coal dust in underground mines. The rule will "force operators to apply more crushed stone to the walls, floors and other surfaces in underground coal mines," Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. "It's something that's long overdue," said Dennis O'Dell, safety and health director for the United Mine Workers union. "We support it, absolutely."
"Experts from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health urged a toughening of federal 'rock dusting' standards in reports published in 2006 and 2009," Ward writes. "But MSHA officials did not act until another NIOSH report was published this May, a month after 29 miners died in an explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County." Federal and state investigators have pointed to a buildup of the dust as a key contributor in the Upper Big Branch disaster. (Read more)
Labels: Appalachia, coal, mine safety, mining
New York Times blasts Republicans for delaying bill to improve mine safety
The Senate's delay of new mine safety regulations during the election season is intolerable, writes The New York Times in its Sunday editorial. "The case for far stronger safety laws was tragically made last April when 29 miners were killed in an explosion down in the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia," the Times writes. "The shoddy safety record of the mine owner, Massey Energy, soon became clear — along with the need to plug gaping flaws in regulations and enforcement biased toward owners over miners who take all the risks"
The newspaper notes the House has a mine safety bill moving toward a floor vote, but the Senate's "attempt at a bipartisan bill is floundering." West Virginia Democratic Sen. John Rockefeller is blaming Republican staffers on the delay, but the Times asks, "Where are the elected principals on such a vital issue?" The House bill would give the Mine Safety and Health Administration subpoena power over recalcitrant owners, increase civil and criminal penalties, provide protection for whistle-blowing miners and mandate faster disaster investigations.
The House bill now includes safety amendments to account for some of the issues raised by the Gulf of Mexico summer oil blowout, providing even more motivation for passing the bill, the newspaper writes. "Republicans insist that they are not obstructionists serving Big Coal, but Mr. Rockefeller has the greater credibility," the Times concludes. "Last April, the death toll from Upper Big Branch found both chambers resounding with regret and resolve for reform. So, where's the action? Can lawmaking be any harder than mining?" (Read more)
Labels: Appalachia, coal, mine safety, mining, Senate, workplace safety
Rural editor wins Ky. First Amendment Award
John Nelson, editor of the Advocate-Messenger in Danville, Ky., last night received the James Madison Award for service to the First Amendment, presented by the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center in School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. (A-M photo by Clay Jackson)
Nelson, who also oversees editorial operations of other Schurz Communications newspapers in Kentucky, won the award because "He has fought for open government in a number of important ways," former Kentucky Post editor Judith Clabes, the award's first winner, said in presenting it to him. She cited the nomination from Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson, who wrote, "Few people in Kentucky are as adamant about open government. If more had the drive that John Nelson has exhibited during his journalism career, there would be a demand from every corner of the state that all public agencies operate in 'sunshine' and make the agency's business truly the public's business."
As KPA president in 2004, Nelson led Kentucky's first statewide public-records audit and was instrumental in creating the KPA Legal Defense Fund and a lawsuit that KPA filed to open juvenile court proceedings. Federal courts rejected the suit's arguments, but the Court of Appeals "interpreted state law in a way it had never before been interpreted, giving judges an opening to allow the press into the courtroom at their own discretion," he said in his acceptance remarks. Nelson has also been president of the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Labels: community journalism, courts, freedom of information, juveniles, open government, rural journalism
Some prefer to invest in farmland, not Wall Street
"Pension fund managers, hedge-fund operators and hungry investors," weary of the vagaries of the stock market, are investing in farmland, reports P.J. Huffstutter of the Los Angeles Times. Average U.S. farmland prices have nearly doubled in the last decade to $2,140 an acre, according to the Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Those with the resources are buying up apple orchards, corn fields and sugar plantations, says Huffstutter. After the purchase, the land is generally turned over to someone else to manage the day-to-day operations. "If all goes well, investors can receive rent, proceeds from crop or livestock sales, or some combination of both."
Like Scarlett O'Hara, investors know the value of arable land, which is dwindling and is affected by nature. The growing interest in knowing where food comes from is also motivating these investors. While investing in farmland does not guarantee a return on investment, one investor said, "Why can't you make money by doing the right thing?"
Some of the land deals have "sprouted a backlash and raised concerns of speculators becoming wealthy at the environmental and economic expense of local communities. John Peck, executive director of the anti-corporate farming group Family Farm Defenders, said institutional investors could distort global food production patterns by planting crops for profitability rather than nutrition." (Read more)
Labels: agriculture, farming, investing, real estate
Monthly midnight trips to buy necessities are a sign of continued economic stress
Despite this week's announcement that the recession actually ended in June 2009, many Americans are still financially stressed. That effect may be most visible at a time and place you might not have reckoned: turn-of-the-month midnights at Wal-Mart.
Bill Simon, CEO of the company's U.S. business, said at a recent Goldman Sachs conference, "It is our responsibility to figure out how to sell in that environment, adjusting pack sizes, large pack at sizes the beginning of the month, small pack sizes at the end of the month — and to figure out how to deal with what is an ever-increasing amount of transactions being paid for with government assistance," which comes at the first of the month — at midnight, through electronic government electronic benefits cards.
"About 11 p.m., customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket with basic items, baby formula, milk, bread, eggs,and continue to shop and mill about the store until midnight, when [the] cards get activated and then the checkout starts and occurs," Simon said. "And our sales for those first few hours on the first of the month are substantially and significantly higher. And if you really think about it, the only reason somebody gets out in the middle of the night and buys baby formula is that they need it, and they've been waiting for it." (Read more from The Wall Street Journal)
Labels: economy, jobs, recession, unemployment
FCC plans to provide rural schools with more Internet options
The Federal Communications Commission is expected to overhaul the E-Rate program, mainly a boon to rural areas, to give schools more options for Internet service. "The proposed E-Rate order would allow schools and libraries to use federal funds to lease unused local communication lines, known as dark fiber, to connect to the Internet, a potentially faster and lower-cost connection than currently offered through many local telecommunications companies," Edward Wyatt of The New York Times reports. The $2.25 billion program subsidizes Internet service for schools and public libraries, mostly in poor and rural areas.
"At its monthly meeting on Thursday, the FCC also will consider allowing schools to open the use of Internet resources paid for with E-Rate funds to the local community after school hours and when school is not in session, which is currently not allowed under E-Rate regulations," Wyatt writes. The E-Rate program is funded through a fee collected from all telephone users. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told Wyatt, "For the good of our economy, we need all of our kids to be digitally literate." (Read more)
Labels: broadband, education, Internet, libraries, rural-urban disparities, schools, telecommunications
Farmers say EPA 'dust-up' is over nothing
As the Environmental Protection Agency considers tougher regulations for farm dust, some farmers say dust isn't a real pollutant and is an accepted part of rural life. "EPA is reviewing its airborne pollutant standards, as required every five years under the Clean Air Act," Rick Callahan of The Associated Press reports. "It's looking both at its standards for tiny particles of industrial pollution, and slightly larger particles called 'coarse particulate matter' that include dust." Indiana grain farmer Charles Schmitt called tougher dust regulations "ridiculous" and told Callahan, "Mother Nature has more to do with it than we do — there's going to be dust and dirt no matter what."
"Supporters of tougher restrictions said they're needed to help clear the air of tiny grains that can lodge deep in the lungs, worsening heart and respiratory problems," Callahan writes. Agriculture groups and farmers say those concerns are overstated, and "tighter rules could hurt rural areas, which they fear might exceed new limits and be required to implement plans to reduce dust," Callahan writes. In a July letter to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, nearly two dozen farm-state senators urged the agency to keep current standards.
"Every industry that sees that they're going to have to clean up have had the same concerns and we've seen time and again where they were able to figure out a solution," said Janice Nolen, vice president for national policy and advocacy for the American Lung Association, which favors stricter regulations. Industry advocates maintain the concern is much ado about nothing. "When you get out into the agricultural areas of this country what you have is dust — dust is a part of doing business," Tamara Thies, chief environmental counsel for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, told Callahan. "And most of rural dust is just dust." EPA is expected to announce any proposed changes in February; it would finalize a new rule by October 2011. (Read more)
Labels: agriculture, air pollution, environment, farm safety, farming, health
States weigh merits of cleaner coal vs. high costs
Climate legislation faces an uncertain future in Congress, and with it the proposed billions in spending for "clean coal" technologies. That has focused new attention on technologies that don't elminate carbon-dixide emissions but greatly reduce them. Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is one of those low-carbon options. "It essentially extracts carbon dioxide from coal and concentrates it before the remaining gas is burned to generate power. The CO2 can then be dispatched for storage underground," Saqib Rahim of Environment & Energy Daily reports. "Yet like many low-carbon technologies, IGCC is unproven at scale. Capital costs can top a few billion dollars, so investors are reluctant to build an IGCC plant fully on their own dime."
"The investors and utilities have argued that IGCC plants offer a hedge against two trends: rising electricity costs and the likelihood of federal climate legislation," Rahim writes. At the state level, "Public service commissions have had to consider whether the benefits -- emissions cuts, jobs from carbon capture and storage -- outweigh the costs." Results have been mixed, with a few plants being approved despite fears of growing price tags and others being denied due to high costs. "The fundamental problem is that the commissions, for the most part, are required to do the cheapest thing and most reliable thing they can," John Thompson, director of the coal transition project for the Clean Air Task Force, told Rahim. "How does a public service commission consider the impact of future carbon regulations when those regulations aren't on the books yet?"
Rahim reports, "Industry observers . . . lament that 'everyone wants to be the first to build the second one'." They say the only way to bring down the cost of such facilities is to start building them so they can be evaluated and future projects will know where to cut costs. The availability of natural gas has also dealt a blow to IGCC advocates, offering a cheaper, cleaner option than coal.
Some say without climate legislation from Congress, carbon-capture and storage technology will not be implemented, and then it may be too late. "Many utilities are in denial about carbon management. I believe any plant built today will need to manage carbon sooner rather than later," David Hadley, a former member of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, told Rahim. "One hundred new coal plants. Only a handful are IGCC. Utilities like to do things the way they have always done them." (Read more, subscription required)
Labels: air pollution, climate change, coal, electricity, environment, global warming, natural gas
Health-reform benefits, and costs, start Thursday; poll shows most Americans still don't grasp it
The health-care reform law passed by Congress will begin taking effect Thursday, six months after passage. The complex package has been the subject of much post-passage debate and demagoguery, which is escalating as the congressional elections come closer, so this week is an ideal time to give readers, listeners and viewers an evenhanded description of the law and its ramifications. UPDATE, Sept. 20: "The nation still doesn't really know what's in it," The Associated Press reports, citing its latest poll.
Starting Thursday, when a health-insurance company writes or renews a policy, it must, for example, cover offspring of policyholders until they are 26, cover pre-existing conditions for children, allow an external appeal of its refusal to cover a service, and not include any lifetime limits on coverage. There are some exceptions, which Cheryl Powell explains in The Akron Beacon Journal. She notes that Ohio has passed related measures of its own; some other states have done likewise.
There are several independent, reliable sources for information on the health-reform law. One is the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has a summary of the law, a timeline for implementation, an explanation of how it will expand access to coverage, and other useful information. Just added to the site is an animated short movie that explains the law "to an American public still confused by how it works," the foundation says. Narrated by journalist Cokie Roberts, it explains problems in the current system, short-term changes set to take place between now and 2014, and major provisions to take effect in 2014.
Jim Gallagher, personal finance columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has an easy-to-read listing of the changes and the important details to watch for. He also points out that when Congress passed the law, it told federal agencies to write rules filling in the details, and they're still at it. The White House website on the law is here.
Labels: health, health care, health insurance, health journalism
Barbecue ribs and buck dancing help convince Chinese to trade with Tenn.
Tennessee business people entertained Chinese business executives in Leiper's Fork, Tenn., to "connect at the heart before they can connect on a business deal," Aubrey Preston, a musician and wealthy business mogul said to Josh Adams of The Tennessean. A hoedown, barbecue ribs and corn pudding combined to make a memorable visit for 10 Chinese business executives and government officials. In 2008, Chinese consumers bought more than $1.3 billion worth of Tennessee goods and services, making China the third largest importer of Tennessee goods (behind Mexico and Canada). (Photo by The Tennessean.)
Uncle Lester, a "Leiper's Fork legend in his silver-sequined shoes," got the dancing started. Within minutes, the wood floor bounced rhythmically as dancers pounded out the steps, reported Adams. "We can take them to the governor's conference and to Nissan and that's it. But they will never forget this for the rest of their life," said Li Weaver who works for Tennessee's department of Economic and Community Development. (Read more)
U.S. agriculture is facing serious phosphorus dependence
Modern farming methods depend more and more on fossil fuels, and while oil has garnered much of the focus, another fossil fuel may be nearing a dangerous shortage: phosphorus. "We know peak oil is fast approaching, if it has not already arrived. This isn't the only shortage that should concern us," C. Robert Taylor, professor of agricultural economics at Auburn University, writes for the Daily Yonder. "Peak phosphorus is occurring along with peak oil. The earth's supply of these critical resources is dwindling rapidly." Control of these resources may be among the most important issues facing U.S. agriculture, Taylor writes.
"A New York Times writer recently said that phosphorus availability is 'the gravest natural resource shortage you've never heard of,'" Taylor writes. "The fact is, corporate and political control of essential plant nutrients may be the gravest long run competition issue you've never heard of." At present consumption rates the U.S. phosphorus reserve will be exhausted within 10 to 15 years, Taylor reports. Modern agriculture worsens the problem with wasteful phosphorus usage. Phosphorus removed from fields during harvests must eventually be replaced to avoid food and plant biomass yield decreases, Taylor writes.
"Between the world wars, 90 percent of phosphate rock exports were controlled by cartels. And cartels still dominate fertilizer reserves and trade," Taylor writes. Export taxes in China have essentially removed the country from the world phosphorus market, leaving the U.S. and Morocco as the major suppliers. "Trade in phosphorus is dominated by three corporations: Mosaic (Cargill), Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, and OCP," Taylor writes. The companies exhibit even more political control as Cargill and Potash form an expert cartel called PhosChem.
The U.S. has developed an ambitious plan to reduce dependence on foreign oil through domestic plant-based biofuels, but Taylor worries that plan shifts oil dependence to phosphorus. "The countries of the world must begin meaningful discussion about what kind of food production system and food economy are best for humanity," Taylor concludes. "Those with narrow political interests or the selfish few corporate executives and their puppets should not prevail in developing a new food system." (Read more)
Written by Jon Hale Posted at 9/20/2010 03:22:00 PM 1 comment:
Labels: agriculture, biofuels, farming, oil
Three-month investigation examines meth labs in east Tenn.
About one-third of all methamphetamine labs reported nationwide in 2009 were in Tennessee, and the state ranked second to Missouri in the number of reported labs. In a five-day series, the Knoxville News-Sentinel examined the problem ravaging east Tennessee, discovering despite the recent crackdown on meth in the state that meth cooks have simply adopted the "shake-and-bake" method to go around restrictions. "I've made it every way there is, and I've never bought a thing," Jason Thomas, a convicted meth cook, told Matt Lakin. "I can make it anytime I want."
The newspaper's three-month investigation reveal meth cooks have simply recruited others to buy the drug's key ingredient, psuedoephedrine, after the state moved it behind pharmacy counters. While meth abuse used to be a distinctly rural problem in Tennessee, now some cities see more cases in a month than rural areas see in a year, the News-Sentinel reports. "Roughly two-thirds of the old labs still sit empty, unused and unfit for human habitation," Lakin writes. "The state can quarantine property, but it can't force a cleanup." The investigation also revealed some labs are never quarantined, meaning homes across the state can "sit seeping poison," unknown to future residents. (Photo of two grams of meth by Brimer)
The five-day series from Lakin and Adam Brimer also examined the drugs' cost to families in the state and its toll on Tennessee's children. Ten east Tennessee counties accounted for over one-third of the 9,000-plus meth lab busts statewide in the past decade, Lakin writes, with nine of those counties being clustered just off Interstate 75. Still state law enforcement says the problem is no longer a rural one. "When all this started, everybody kept comparing it to moonshining and calling it a hillbilly drug," Tommy Farmer, director of the state meth task force, told Lakin. "But just because you don't have meth lab seizures in your area doesn't mean you don't have a meth problem. It's not moving west. It was already there. We're just doing a better job of going out and getting them."
You can read the index of the entire series here.
Labels: Appalachia, drugs, meth, methamphetamine
Ethanol industry takes issue with EPA emission rules
Biofuels aren't usually thought of as one of the leading causes of global warming, but new Environmental Protection Agency emission regulations could treat them as such. "The regulations, due to take effect in January, would count as greenhouse gases the carbon dioxide that's released when corn is fermented into motor fuel or when corn stalks, straw and other sources of biomass are burned to make electricity," Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports. "That means a paperwork and financial burden for most of [Iowa's] 39 ethanol plants. The regulations won't require polluters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but could in the future."
The ethanol industry is appealing to EPA for the agency to reconsider how it regulates biofuel emissions. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports "a typical Iowa ethanol plant would release about 300,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year - if the emissions from fermentation are included - three times the 100,000-ton level that triggers the agency regulation," Brasher writes. The rules won't have much impact on the 15 Iowa ethanol plants already regulated by the federal Clean Air Act, but now the rest of the state's plants will be regulated by the act.
Marnie Stein of the DNR's Air Quality Bureau told Brasher that fees paid on pollutants would likely average between $5,600 and $11,200 per year for the plants. "Those fees could be quite costly for some ethanol plants," Geoff Cooper, who follows regulatory issues for the Renewable Fuels Association, a Washington trade group, told Brasher. Most greenhouse gas calculations don't include emissions from biological sources because carbon released from corn or biomass will eventually be returned to earth as crops and other biomass sources. RFA wants Iowa regulators to exempt such emissions without EPA action, but Stein said the agency has no choice but to mirror EPA's position. (Read more)
Labels: air pollution, biofuels, climate change, environment, ethanol, global warming
Rural black youth may not see a future in farming
Just 1.4 percent of the nation's 2.2 million farms are operated by African Americans and some fear that number may be on the decline. "At the turn of the last century, there were probably hundreds of thousands of black farmers, mostly sharecroppers in the South, federal agriculture experts say," Deborah Barfield Berry reports for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. "For economic reasons, many moved elsewhere and left farming behind." The number of black farmers actually increased by 5.2 percent between 2002 and 2007, in part because of outreach efforts aimed at better tracking of black farmers.
In addition to the problems all farmers face, black farmers point to discrimination in applying for federal aid as an additional challenge. Willie James Brown, a black farmer who has spent 60 years farming in Marbury, Ala., said he doesn't see a future in agriculture for his 18 grandchildren. "They're not thinking about no farming," Brown, 77, told Berry. "They see us go to the banks and get turned away." Black farmers who missed a deadline to file claims as part of the 1999 settlement in the class-action lawsuit claiming discrimination by agriculture officials have reached a separate $1.2 million settlement. Congress has yet to make the money available.
Census data shows "about 27 percent of all black farmers received government subsidies in 2007 compared to 39 percent of whites," Berry writes. Subsidies include aid and conservation payments. "If I'm not getting those funds, I can't compete," John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, told Berry. Still Robert Binion, a 61-year-old black farmer from Canton, Ala., hopes to attract black youths to farming. His pitch is that growing your own food is rewarding, even if "you don't do nothing but plant two rows by your house." (Read more)
Labels: African Americans, agriculture, black farmers, farming, race
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This is a quote fitting for this month at Watkins Landmark where our employees and families enjoyed the 2nd Annual Company Picnic at Moonlight Beach, celebrated the completion of The Promenade at Creekside project in San Marcos, and were awarded the 950 Industrial Blvd. project in Chula Vista! Typically July is the month of vacationing, but at Watkins Landmark we are busier than ever. Currently the crews at the Upper Voltaire project in Pt. Loma and the Valley Ave project in Solana Beach are in a heated head to head battle towards the finish line. This fun competition between the project teams builds pride as well as achievement on our job sites.
Our first article highlights The Promenade at Creekside Apartments Complex in San Marcos. This project includes (4) four separate (3) three story buildings that contain (43) residential units and commercial/retail spaces. The project team worked closely with our long time customer Jeff Peterson as they recently turned over the last and final Building 6!
The second article celebrates not only a new project (950 Industrial Blvd in Chula Vista, CA) but more importantly, this project introduces a new client and relationship between Watkins Landmark Construction, Bruce and Rita Carlin of 950 Carlin Prop LLC and Fred Nolta of Nolta Consulting Group. We thank you for this opportunity and look forward to a successful project!
In our Company Culture section, we recap our 2nd Annual Company Picnic along with a special spotlight on Christian Ryan's day at his son's school for "community helpers". Make sure you take a look!
The Promenade at Creekside apartments just wrapped up final construction this past month, receiving TCO on the 6th and final building just last week! After many months of hard work and dedication, these affordable-living apartments will be opened up to the public, just in time for the new school year.
The Creekside apartments is a 214-acre project located in the beautiful San Marcos Creek District of California. The apartments include a state-of-the-art community center, which consists of a learning center, a lavish kitchen, computer and business center, exercise facility, community room, media room and more.
Also, the complex provides 2 hours per day, year round after school child learning and enrichment, and 60 hours of adult education. These new apartments are perfect to call home for anyone striving to live in the beautiful Southern California area, such as San Marcos.
Although there were some tough challenges that occurred at the end of production, making sure that there was enough manpower to get the project done in time was the most important one. Also, quality control had to be checked daily, as for cleanliness of the site. Team members worked to fill the interior of the apartments, patching sidewalks, landscaping and installing electrical to get the project finished.
Ron Travillion, John Munoz, Ruben Bravo, and Flynn Grace have been instrumental on the success of this project! Alissa Messerschmitt, Katie Wilkie and Chanel W. should also be recognized as aides for this team!
Congrats and great job to all involved!
We have recently been awarded the 950 Industrial Blvd. project in the city of Chula Vista, CA. This new project will be built on an extensive 77,000 s.f, and will start off by completely tearing down the previously existing buildings. The existing site used to be home to a Fun-4-All theme park. The lot will now be turned into a cold shell industrial building, which will be used as a storage facility. As you can tell from the photo below (taken at our initial site walk), we have a lot of work to do to make this a landmark!
The Chula Vista region of San Diego is known for being one of the most culturally diverse cities in the United States, as well as economically wealthy. The city holds many popular destinations for visitors and residents, such as Aquatica San Diego, Marina Park and numerous sunny beaches to spend warm days at. We have previously completed the Turtle exhibit at the Living Coast Discovery Center, which is located on the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This aquatic center is an environmental education center that features animals of all types and serves as a perfect source of entertainment for all ages. We are very excited to begin this new project!
The 2nd Annual WLC company picnic was a huge success! Friends and family from all 3 offices gathered on a beautiful Saturday morning to enjoy the surf, sand, and delicious food. The picnic was held at Moonlight State Beach in Encinitas, CA. WLC provided tents, beach toys, games, drinks, food and new company towels for those who attended. WLC employees enjoyed meeting and socializing with family members and friends. Many people participated in fun activities like spike ball and volleyball, while some of the young kids built sand castles and played in the waves. Needless to say, we will be continuing this WLC tradition for many years to come! Take a look below at some of the fun photos.
Watkins Landmark Orange County Regional Executive, Christian Ryan, presented at his son's school, Country Montessori School, in Poway for their class theme "Community Helpers" this past month. There he discussed all the good construction workers do for our world and how we help and give back to our community everyday by building "big landmarks" that make our communities easier to navigate, safer, more secure, healthier and provide the possibility of jobs to hundreds of other kids moms and dads.
The kids played with construction trucks, tried on construction safety gear and even hammered nails into wooden boards. The "Community Helpers" theme aims to bring out the importance of individuals that assist and contribute to bettering a community. These presentations work to educate young kids on different ways to impact the community in a positive way, and appreciate the work these individuals do.
There were lots of great and exciting questions to answer as their minds and imaginations were working overtime. We might just have a few more energetic construction workers in about 15 more years. Thank you Christian for inspiring these young children!


Subsidiary Company *Most Popular* - Incorporate a Private Limited Company in Singapore under any entity name that can conduct all available business activities and enjoy the most tax benefits and government grants.
Branch Office - Register an office under the same name and business activities as the parent company and must by 100% owned by the head office. Taxed as non local entity and does not enjoy local tax benefits and most goverment grants.
Representative office - Register an office under the same name as the parent company and can only conduct research and liaison activities.
Professional fees for incorporation of Foreign owned Singapore Company.
Please enquire for a list of the information required for Foreign owned - Singapore Company incorporation (Shareholders are foreigners or foreign company). You can either make an appointment with us or complete the setup via email.
For Foreign owned Singapore Company - You will need a local resident director. Let us know if you need to appoint a nominee local director.
For Branch Office - The Companies Act requires a foreign company to appoint at least two local agents from Singapore to act on behalf of the company. The agents must be "ordinarily resident" (the usual place of stay of a person) in Singapore. Enkindle Corporate Services can provide you with nominee local agents or directors for a fee until you are able to arrange your own staff to be relocated in Singapore.


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Bachelorarbeit aus dem Jahr 2012 im Fachbereich BWL - Rechnungswesen, Bilanzierung, Steuern, notice: intestine, FH Krems (Unternehmensführung), Sprache: Deutsch, summary: Die externe Bilanzanalyse ermöglicht die examine eines Unternehmens anhand öffentlicher Daten. Die vorliegende hermeneutische Arbeit behandelt das Thema der externen Bilanzanalyse mit Hilfe von Kennzahlen anhand von drei, als Kapitalgesellschaft geführter, Fußballklubs aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum (FK Austria Wien, Borussia Dortmund, FC Basel).


text:
Biography Celebrity's Kids Indian Actor Tulu
Ahan Shetty
Ahan Shetty wiki, age, height, movies, girlfriend, family, education, caste, religion & more
Name Ahan Shetty (अहान शेट्टी)
Full Name Ahan Suniel Shetty
Nickname Baba [1]https://www.instagram.com/p/CJT7GQxhKnA/
Profession Indian actor
Famous for Being Suniel Shetty's son
Hometown Mulki, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
Ethnicity South Indian
Caste Bunt/Nadava
Mother Tongue Tulu
in Feet Inches- 6ft
Girlfriend(s)/Affair(s) Tania Shroff
Father Suniel Shetty (Actor)
Mother Mana Shetty
Sister(s) Athiya Shetty (Actress)
Cousin(s) Nikara Prathap
Rohil Prathap
Neil Hegde
Shane Hegde
Brother-in-law(s) KL Rahul (Cricketer)
Uncle(s) Tarun Prathap
Ravi Hegde
Rahul Kadri
Aunt(s) Sujata Shetty Hegde
Sumita Shetty Prathap
Isha Kadri Mehra
Grand Father (Paternal) Late Veerappa Shetty
Grand Mother (Paternal) Prema Shetty
Grand Father (Maternal) I. M. Kadri (Famous Architect)
Grand Mother (Maternal) Late Vipula Kadri
School American School of Bombay, Mumbai
College US University
Educational Qualification Acting and filmmaking course
Debut Movie Tadap (2021)
Famous Movies Tadap (2021)
Instagram instagram.com/ahan.shetty (638k followers)
Food Habit Non-Vegetarian
Hobbies Playing guitar
Childhood Picture
Ahan Shetty is an Indian actor known for Tadap (2021). He was born on 28th December 1995 to actor Suniel Shetty and his wife Mana Shetty in Mumbai, Maharashtra. His elder sister, Athiya Shetty is also an actress.
His father, Suniel Shetty belongs to Tulu speaking Bunt community whereas, his mother, Mana Shetty was born to a Punjabi Hindu mother and a Gujarati Muslim father. [2]https://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/suniel-shetty-birthday-special-amid-politics-of-religion-suniel-mana-interfaith-love-story-is-one-for-the-ages
Ahan did his schooling at the American School of Bombay, Mumbai and then graduated with a degree in acting and film-making from a US University. [3]https://www.jagrantv.com/en-show/ahan-shetty-biography-age-career-early-life-girlfriend-family-movies-bollywood-debut-and-photos-rc1016108
He was the captain of the football team during his school days.
He made his acting debut in 2021 opposite Tara Sutaria with the romantic action drama film 'Tadap' directed by Milan Luthria and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. The film was an average grosser at the box office but Ahan won the best male debut award at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards. [4]https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-iifa-awards-2022-complete-list-of-winners-vicky-kaushal-kriti-sanon-win-top-acting-honours-2958025
His sister, Athiya Shetty got married to Indian cricketer KL Rahul in a private wedding ceremony on 22nd January 2023 at Suniel Shetty's farmhouse 'Jahaan' in Khandala near Mumbai. [5]https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/not-true-that-athiya-shetty-kl-rahul-got-audi-diamonds-as-wedding-gifts-say-family-3728225
Ahan Shetty is a relationship with fashion designer Tania Shroff and they are dating each other since their school days. [6]https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-ahead-of-his-debut-in-tadap-all-you-need-to-know-about-suniel-shetty-s-son-ahan-shetty-2919050
He is a fitness lover and is also trained in martial arts.
He is a very talented singer and also knows to plays the guitar pretty well. [7]https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-ahead-of-his-debut-in-tadap-all-you-need-to-know-about-suniel-shetty-s-son-ahan-shetty-2919050
Salman Khan to launch Naagin actress Mouni Roy in Bollywood
I. M. Kadri (Mana Shetty's father)
KL Bhavana
Tania Shroff
Dr. K. N. Lokesh
Meet Ahan Shetty's girlfriend Tania Shroff
Athiya Shetty
Mana Shetty
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJT7GQxhKnA/
https://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/suniel-shetty-birthday-special-amid-politics-of-religion-suniel-mana-interfaith-love-story-is-one-for-the-ages
https://www.jagrantv.com/en-show/ahan-shetty-biography-age-career-early-life-girlfriend-family-movies-bollywood-debut-and-photos-rc1016108
https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-iifa-awards-2022-complete-list-of-winners-vicky-kaushal-kriti-sanon-win-top-acting-honours-2958025
https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/not-true-that-athiya-shetty-kl-rahul-got-audi-diamonds-as-wedding-gifts-say-family-3728225
https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-ahead-of-his-debut-in-tadap-all-you-need-to-know-about-suniel-shetty-s-son-ahan-shetty-2919050
Ahan ShettyAthiya ShettyMana ShettyNeil HegdeNikara PrathapRavi HegdeRohil PrathapShane HegdeSuniel ShettyTania ShroffTarun Prathap
Kiara Advani Kiara Advani is an Indian actress.… (100)
I. M. Kadri (Mana Shetty's father) I. M. Kadri (Iftikhar Mustafa Hasan… (63)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


It is not unusual to get stuck with the idea without knowing how to take it forward. Often the fear of having to manage operations and finances and people is what stops people from getting started on their idea.
Having an idea is a good starting point. The first thing to do is to let that idea rest for a few day. Think about it every day. But don't act on it. Think through all the positives AND all the negatives. Think of how great it can be. And also think about what could go wrong and how worse it can get. You will start seeing different aspects about the idea. Not all will be good. And that's OK.
And even after a few days of thinking about various aspects of the idea, if it still excites you as much as it did on the first day, then you take the next step of thinking about how to convert that idea into a product/service, how do you get users/customers, who is your user, who is your customer i.e. who pays, how much do they pay, how much money will you make out of what they pay i.e. what is your margin, what are the costs… and as a result of all this thinking through, you will get a sense of whether this makes sense for you commercially.
Once you have done that, start thinking in details about all the cost structures, the time gap between when your expenses start and when your revenues start coming in, and the gap between your costs and your WORST CASE estimates on revenues. That will give you an indication of the kind of monies you may require to get your concept into the market.
Then think of what the relevant funding sources for this concept are at this stage (and VCs are NOT the only option… often it could be alternates like getting advances from customers or funding from family & friends, or a small loan from a bank, or plain bootstrapping).
Family & friends funding explained: If you, say, need Rs.15 lacs of funding for your business. Would it be possible to raise that through a co-investment of Rs.1 lac each from 15 individuals of Rs.50,000 each from 30? That's a family & friends round.
Start talking to potential customers and other stakeholders – distributors, intermediaries, influencers, other founders (to get their perspective on your plans), media folks, vendors, etc. Conversations with different folks give you diverse perspectives on the BUSINESS dynamics around your concept.
Parallely, start thinking very, very hard about how you are going to implement it… for the first few quarters you should have a week-by-week plan on what the milestones and goals should be, and how you will go about meeting those. i.e. it is not very useful to say "we will have 500 users by end of month 1″… it is important to nail it down to "To get 500 customers registered by end of month 1, we will have to reach 10,000 potential users. We aim to do this by online marketing in Gurgaon area, and through posters in housing complexes." (In fact, in your operating plan, it will be important to nail down the specific housing complexes that you will be approaching to get your posters on their notice boards). When you start planning to this granularity, you will notice that a lot of things become more apparent e.g. how many visits will you have to make to a housing colony before the poster gets on their wall, who will put it up, how much will it cost, how will you monitors, etc.
As you immerse yourself into the operational aspects, you will start understanding the complexity and the multi-dimensional aspect of business that founders need to think deeply about. And this is the fun and the challenging part, which gives entrepreneurs the adrenaline rush – in understanding the challenges, the clarity that one keeps on getting as you immerse yourself more into the domain, the tweaks that you make in your plan as you learn… and the decisions that you have to make based on whatever data you have.
As you start seeing the various dots that need to be connected, you start realizing that this is much bigger than what you had originally thought it to be… and that is fun. (Well, often scary too… but in a nice, 'keeps you awake at night but gets you raring to start your day' type of scary way.).


text:
The Bulldog Tribune
National Champion Leonardo Chang
Evelyn Noronha, editor in chief
Freshman Leonardo Chang not only qualified for the 2018 National Collegiate taekwondo competition, but he also placed first at the competition.
Chang is trained by his coaches Master Dennis Kim and Master Alex Kim at Phoenix Taekwondo in Ashburn.
"First there is a qualifier event where you have to qualify," Master Alex said. "He qualified through the Virginia State Governor's Cup. He won that, which qualified him for the National championship."
A couple years ago, Chang won Nationals in the Cadet Division. He has moved up to Junior with 15 to 17-year-old.
"It was just hard because I'm 14 years old and I'm fighting older people," Chang said. "I just moved to a new age category, so I'm fighting 17-year-olds."
Despite being a little fish in a big pond, Chang has been working hard to further his career.
"When it comes to taekwondo, he's a great student," Master Alex said. "He wants to learn and he is very motivated. He is pretty smart in the ring. He has the temperament and the work ethic."
Chang is at a very competitive level. The next step forward would be the Olympics.
"The Olympics is our ultimate goal," Master Alex said. "Leo's goal would be the 2024 Olympics."
Chang has big shoes to fill. His brother, Alejandro Chang is ranked number one in the world.
"Leo is trying to catch up to him," Master Alex said.
The head coach for the team is also a national team coach. Master Dennis Kim has been training Chang to achieve his goals.
"We are the number one ranked team in the country," Master Alex said. "Seems like every other person on our sparring team is some sort of National champion. We have someone competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics."
SBHS 62 - John Champe 58
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Ex Starbucks CEO for President
The student news site of Stone Bridge High School


I have an Excel 2010 workbook that connects to two other 2010 workbooks. It does a SUMIF of the connected workbooks to give me figures for the main workbook. When I open the main workbook, I select the 'update' option from the dialog box, but in all the cells where the SUMIF appears, I get #VALUE appearing. If I then open the other two workbooks, the #VALUE changes to the correct values. It's not practical to have these other two workbooks open all the time in case someone wants to open the main workbok. Any ideas?
Tried it and it works - thanks a lot!


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Ignore pressure funds put on shareholders to gain proxy votes
CHARLES JAFFEThe Baltimore Sun
Don't be pressured to vote fund proxies.
Over the past few weeks, several readers dropped me lines to say that they had been surprised by ugly calls from Fidelity Investments about their mutual fund accounts.
They wanted to know how to respond.
Fidelity wasn't really checking up on shareholders and trying to make sure everything is all right - which is how some of the investors first took the call - but rather was calling to drum up proxy votes.
Specifically, Fidelity needs shareholders in many of its mutual funds to vote on a shareholder proposal that would make the firm's investments "genocide-free," avoiding companies known for extreme abuses of human rights.
The proposal in question was filed with more than two dozen Fidelity funds, and with many more issues from T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, Franklin Templeton and others. Specifically, the proposal requests that fund boards "institute oversight procedures to screen out investments in companies that, in the judgment of the Board, substantially contribute to genocide, patterns of extraordinary and egregious violations of human rights, or crimes against humanity."
It is a noble cause, but Fidelity had asked the Securities and Exchange Commission in the fall to exclude the shareholder-driven proposal from its proxies. The basis for Fidelity's argument - and many industry watchers say it has merit - is that investors are allowed to manage their investments, but not to micromanage the process; the SEC does not let shareholders dictate a company's "ordinary business operations," but it also does not let fund firms exclude proposals that raise social issues.
And, so, Fidelity had no choice but to issue proxies in preparation for a March 19 shareholder meeting and then for funds with subsequent meetings tomorrow and May 14.
As much as the firm did not want the vote, it really does not want the issue to linger. As a rule, funds know they can generate enough votes their way to defeat almost any proxy vote, provided they get enough people to make a decision. Getting a quorum, however, is hard to do when most investors do not read proxies, which is why firms solicit votes - a fairly common industry practice - and make those surprising calls to shareholders.
The investors with whom I spoke - including MarketWatch colleague David Weidner, who wrote about his experience - all said they were given little information, no chance to have a new proxy sent to them and almost no information on precisely what they were being asked to decide.
They were asked to make a decision by phone, on the spot.
All felt a bit wronged. A few said they voted against Fidelity, just to spite the company for not giving them much to go on (though they acknowledged having not read the proxy they were sent).
Had they truly wanted to show their displeasure with the vote-solicitation process, however, they should have hung up the phone without voting.
While many proxy issues are about much more mundane - and less emotional - issues than genocide, all proxy votes for mutual funds are supposed to be related to significant issues, usually related to the structure, management firm or operation of the fund.
Typically, a fund needs to get votes representing half of its outstanding shares; two-thirds of that pool is needed to approve a change. More often than not, funds use a solicitor - a cost paid by the shareholders - when it needs to reach quorum.
As such, solicitors want votes - preferably going the company's way - but mostly anything that moves the firm to the level of shares needed to make the election valid. Big investors may get pampered, but many solicitors will not send new proxies to small investors, noting that the fund met its obligation when it sent the original and does not want the expense of another.
If that spurs you to vote against the fund, so be it; the votes help to generate a quorum.
That is precisely why an investor who gets a proxy solicitation and feels a bit mistreated by a fund should withhold the vote. Do not abstain (that counts, too). Just refuse to vote your shares. Then dig out the proxy or go online to see what the issue is and decide - on your own time and with full information - whether and how you would like to vote. The only way to make your vote matter is to make an educated decision about the issues.
In the end, if your mutual fund company is telling you that your vote is important - but is treating you a bit as if you are not deserving of information - put the fund on your watch list, check out the issues that required the vote and make sure the fund is not going to somehow be changed for the worse in the future.
And remember: Fund companies typically do not believe that your votes matter.
All they really care about is that your votes count.
cjaffe@marketwatch.com
Chuck Jaffe is senior columnist for MarketWatch. His postal address is Box 70, Cohasset, Mass. 02025-0070.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission


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Remembering Egypt's bloody military coup
On this day: The Egyptian army overthrew the country's first democratically elected leader, Mohammed Morsi
July 3, 2017 at 10:00 am | Published in: Africa, Egypt, On this day, Videos & Photo Stories
amyinthedesert
Four years ago today the Egyptian army overthrew the country's first democratically elected leader, Mohammed Morsi. In the aftermath of the coup Egypt's armed forces suspended the constitution and appointed the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, as interim head of state. Morsi and his presidential team were detained in an unknown location and later stood trial.
What: Military coup
When: 3 July 2013
Where: Egypt
In January 2013, then army Chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi warned that the political crisis in the country might lead to a collapse of the state. Two months later the Tamarrod movement collected signatures for a petition calling for new presidential elections in light of Mohamed Morsi's failure to restore security and fix the economy and organised mass protests to this effect.
On 30 June demonstrators took to the streets. Armed vehicles were deployed around Cairo and armed forces to areas they expected protests in support of Morsi, such as Cairo University.
Morsi warned the country that he was the elected leader and that attempts to overthrow him would lead to chaos but on 3 July he was arrested by the army and detained in an unknown location alongside other members of his presidential team.
Read: Torture in Egypt up by 16 per cent
That evening Al-Sisi set out his roadmap for Egypt in a televised statement. President Morsi had ignored the calls of his people, he said, and therefore he was suspending the constitution, calling for early elections, putting the chief justice in charge, putting in place an interim government and setting up a committee to amend the constitution.
Opposition leader and then Vice President Mohamed El-Baradei and the Coptic Pope Tawadros II stood by his side.
In the weeks that followed, Morsi supporters joined mass protests and demanded his release. On 14 August 2013 1,000 people were massacred by the army in Rabaa Square where they had gathered to call for his immediate return to power.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders were prevented from leaving the country and Morsi and his presidential team were held at secret locations. In September 2013 state television announced that Morsi would stand trial for "incitement to murder and violence" during a protest between his supporters and the opposition and for ordering others to be tortured and unlawfully imprisoned.
#AntiCoup
In November 2013 Morsi and other top Brotherhood figures were put on trial for the first time. In April 2015 they were sentenced to 20 years in prison. They still face trials in a number of cases.
In March 2014, Al-Sisi officially announced his presidential bid and assumed power on 8 June that year. In the four years that have followed the coup the military-led government has inflicted a wide-scale crackdown on all members of the opposition, not just the Brotherhood.
Unprecedented numbers of people have been forcibly disappeared, tried in mass trials or military courts, given the death sentence, tortured in detention and denied medical care once detained. Children are arrested, detained with adults and sexual violence used against them. Human rights organisations and workers have been targeted as well as journalists, activists and lawyers.
AfricaEgyptOn this dayVideos & Photo Stories


I wonder if someone can throw some light onto a problem with a new piece of kit.
Last week i purchased a Seaward NTB1 RCD isolation box, which i thought would be handy when testing RCDs without the fear of tripping the main RCD on the board of the building.
The problem i am having is, when i use this box it doesn't trip the RCD under test and just makes 2 buzzer sounds for the 2 tests.
I had the first box changed because i thought it was faulty, but the replacement is doing the same.
I'm using a PT300 for the tests, which works fine when testing RCDs without the isolation box.
Any ideas, or is it better to get my money back, and put up with tripping the main RCD each time?
I have spoke to the distributor referemce this issue. I understand it is solved now and was just a small misunderstanding.


NANTERRE: French rail authorities said on Tuesday (Feb 12) they were investigating the cause of a rare tram collision in a Paris suburb which injured 12 people, one of them seriously.
The collision took place late Monday in the Issy-les-Moulineaux suburb southwest of the capital just after 9pm (2000 GMT).
"Two tram carriages collided with passengers on board," a spokesman for the RATP Paris rail operator said.
"The one in front was stopped, and the other crashed into it from behind," causing the first tram to derail.
"One victim is in serious condition, and 11 others have minor injuries," a spokesperson for the fire department said, adding that nine of the victims had been brought to local hospitals.
Traffic was "entirely cut off" during the night, and bus services were put in place as repair work was carried out at the site of the crash.


Now it's time to hear what it all sounds like with the backing track. If you're ready for it, you can play along with either of the parts, but it's always a good idea to listen and watch a couple of times before you start playing yourself.
I hope you've had some fun with this song. It's a great example of how far you can stretch your blues playing, because it's really just a blues song in disguise! The riff and the rhythm parts are super fun to play and really useful, and all the lead playing is powerful, melodic and great to learn from.


Description: Gorgeous 3 bedroom 2 bath condo on 1st floor w/huge private patio! Newer maple kitchen cabinets, ceramic tile in foyer and kitchen! Private master w/full bath! Fireplace! Fireplace! All appliances stay! Upgraded lighting! Large closets! Cats ok, no dogs and no renters allowed!


text:
XB-47 Stratojet
XB-47 Stratojet in Flight
XB-47 Stratojet lin Low Flight Over Wichita
XB-47 Stratojet Takeoff
XB-47 Stratojet First Takeoff
XB-47 Stratojet Rollout
XB-47 Stratojet on Apron
XB-47 Stratojet JATO Test
XB-47 Stratojet Engine Maintenance
XB-47 Stratojet First JATO Takeoff
XB-47 Stratojet Rollout in Front of B-50
XB-47 Stratojet Radio Car
XB-47 Stratojet JATO Takeoff from Moses Lake
XB-47 Stratojet Bomb Drop Test
Building the XB-47 Stratojet Prototype
XB-47 Wind Tunnel Model
XB-47 Stratojet in Flight over Victoria, BC
At the time of its first flight, Dec. 17, 1947, the B-47 Stratojet represented a radical departure from traditional design, and it set the design standards for all large jet aircraft until the present time. The six-engine Boeing B-47 was America's first multiengine swept-wing jet bomber. Its thin 116-foot wing was extraordinarily flexible and swept back at a 35-degree angle. Eighteen small rocket units in the fuselage provided jet-assisted takeoff (JATO), and parachutes cut its landing speeds. Later models were powered by 5,200-pound-thrust axial-flow jet engines, and top speeds were 600 mph. A total of 2,032 B-47s in all versions were built.
Boeing ID 102094
right front views


text:
3508 Tom Miller ST, Austin, TX, 78723
Listing Agent: Hilary Herrin
BlantonElementary School
Lamar (austin Isd)Middle School
Northeast Early CollegeHigh School
Address: 3508 Tom Miller ST
Neighborhood: 0.12, Mueller
A unique opportunity to own one of the last Muskin yard homes in Mueller, designed by award-winning architect, Don Harris. This to-be-built home has a classic architectural aesthetic with clean, modern lines. The exterior is finished in a smooth stucco and complemented with board & batten siding. This 4 bedroom, 3 bath home has two living areas and a separate study space. It is ideally situated across from the newly developed Southeast Greenway with expansive views and is walkable to Morris Williams Golf Course and the brand-new skate park. Features include a screened-in porch, Thermador appliances, a butler's pantry, built-in bar with wine refrigerator, a linear gas fireplace, Zellige tile, vaulted ceilings in the owner's suite & second living area, mudroom, fenced-in yard, and an energy-efficient metal roof. Thoughtfully selected Interiors by Allison Crawford Design. Her studio brings a wealth of experience designing high-end residential interiors with her work being featured in a multitude of publications including Austin Monthly, Architectural Digest, Forbes and Austin Home Magazine.
Listing Agent: Hilary Herrin Courtesy of: Compass RE Texas, LLC Attribution contact: (512) 575-3644 Based on information from the Austin Board of REALTORS (alternatively, from ACTRIS). All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. The Austin Board of REALTORS, ACTRIS and their affiliates provide the MLS and all content therein "AS IS" and without any warranty, express or implied. Copyright © 2022 Austin Board of Realtors Updated: 30th January, 2023 3:17 PM (UTC)


text:
Joe Wildon (* 29. Juli 1922 in Königsberg als Julius Bernhard Wildermann; † 27. September 2003 in Bad Meinberg) war ein deutscher Zauberkünstler und Zaubergerätehersteller, der in den 1950er und 60er Jahren zu den führenden Tricklieferanten Deutschlands gehörte.

Leben
Joe Wildon war ursprünglich Verwaltungsbeamter. Nach dem Krieg gründete er 1949 in Bielefeld sein Zauberfachgeschäft. 1950 veröffentlichte er die ersten, hektografierten Rundbriefe, die ab 1951 mit "Magische Monatsbriefe" betitelt wurden. Daraus entwickelte sich ab 1952 die Fachzeitschrift "Magisches Magazin", das Wildon bis 1961 publizierte.
1951 heiratete er. Durch finanzielle Probleme geriet Wildon Anfang der 1970er Jahre zunehmend in Lieferschwierigkeiten.
1976 schloss er sein Unternehmen ohne vorherige Ankündigung und zog nach England. Hier bildete er sich zum Heilpraktiker aus und arbeitet in diesem Beruf bis in die 1990er Jahre. 1999 kam er zurück nach Deutschland und lebte in Bad Meinberg, wo er auch starb.

Veröffentlichungen
 "Magisches Magazin", Zauberzeitschrift; sie erschien von 1952 bis 1957 monatlich, bis 1961 quartalsweise.
 "Wildons Zauber Katalog", großer Jubiläumskatalog zum zehnjährigen Bestehen, 1959.
 "Der Trickspiegel", Angebotsorgan, das ab 1962 insgesamt 21-mal in professioneller Heftform (DIN A5) erschien.

Literatur
 Klaus Bertram: Joe Wildon – Begegnung mit einer Zauberlegende. In: Magische Welt. 51. Jahrgang, Heft 6, Dezember 2002, S. 685 f.
 Joe Doran: In Memorian Joe Wildon. In: Magische Welt. 52. Jahrgang, Heft 6, Dezember 2003, S. 338.
 Herbert von der Linden: Ich verlor einen Freund – Zum Tod von Joe Wildon. In: Magie. 83. Jahrgang, Heft 12, Dezember 2003, S. 587.
 Stephan Oettermann, Sibylle Spiegel: Bio-Bibliographisches Lexikon der Zauberkünstler. 4500 Becherspieler, Eskamoteure, Manipulatoren, Falschspieler, Illusionisten und Experimentatoren, Entfesselungs- und Verwandlungskünstler, Papierzerreißkünstler und Handschattenspieler, Fakire, Schwertschlucker, Feuer- und Hungerkünstler, Rechenkünstler und Mnemotechniker, Bauchredner und Stimmen-Imitatoren, Laternisten und Phantasmagoren, Mental-Magier, Muskelleser, Hypnotiseure und Telepathen. Edition Huber, Offenbach am Main 2004, ISBN 3-921785-86-3, S. 370.

Einzelnachweise

Zauberkünstler
Autor
Deutscher
Geboren 1922
Gestorben 2003
Mann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Leaders hope for further WB support
PM and President both call for continued wide-reaching assistance to Vietnam.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and President Truong Tan Sang both expressed a desire for further support from the World Bank (WB) during different receptions in Hanoi on March 30.
Assistance is sought in resources, policy consultation and technical assistance in infrastructure, sustainable poverty reduction, healthcare, education and training and human resources training, and the response to climate change and rising sea levels.
President Sang expressed his hope that the WB would continue to speak out about the effective and sustainable use of the Mekong River's resources.
PM Dung also spoke highly of the outcomes of WB President Jim Yong-kim's visit to Vietnam last February and the joint work done to compile the "Vietnam 2035: Toward Prosperity, Creativity, Equity and Democracy" report covering specific recommendations for Vietnam's development orientations.
Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, WB Country Manager in Vietnam, said it is working closely with ministries and agencies to effectively realize commitments reached during Mr. Jim's visit and the goals set in the Vietnam report.
The WB pledges to liaise with partners in seeking a suitable roadmap for Vietnam to achieve priority development goals and ensure the State budget's sustainability, she said.
Ms. Kwakwa's term in Vietnam is ending soon as she is taking charge of the whole East Asia & Pacific region shortly but she committed to providing further attention and support to Vietnam.
Source: VTV
Victoria Kwakwa
Nguyen Tan Dung
Truong Tan Sang


WASHINGTON – -(AmmoLand.com)- U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Wyoming Governor Matt Mead today announced the Department will prioritize the conservation of a mule deer migration corridor in southwest Wyoming through both deferred lease sales and lease stipulations.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will defer nearly 5,000 surface acres from potential oil and gas developments that intersect the designated Red Desert to Hoback big game migration corridor in southwest Wyoming. Additionally, a special lease notice will be attached to the remaining parcels.


Utilizing the philosophy of Eric Voegelin, this essay delineates the contours of the various paradoxes that govern human existence. It does so in order to reveal the precise nature of the dilemma the mystic faces when attempting to symbolize his or her experience of apophatic participation in a divine Beyond within the available conceptual parameters. Then, after a brief discussion of the dangers attendant upon conceptual reification, the essay shows that one of the classical apophatic gestures of evading such reification consists in the ceaselessly playful oscillation of symbols that seem to bear within themselves the seeds of their own dissolution. The essay also argues that the play of symbols at the heart of apophatic mystical texts functions as a symbolization of the paradox that Voegelin calls 'consciousness-reality-language' – the central paradox that defines human existence. The essay argues, finally, that such play also functions as an actual invitation to the reader to enter into an experience of participation in the divine Beyond him or herself.


For the April 24. edition of Central Texas Living Ann Harder spoke with Rory and Amy Barros.
">For the April 24. edition of Central Texas Living Ann Harder spoke with Rory and Amy Barros.
Rory was a central Texas paramedic who was gravely injured in an accident while on the job in 2017.
During the interview, he talked about that accident, how he is doing now and an upcoming benefit for him and his family.
For more information about Rory, click here .


text:
Klæbo shoots Halfvarsson's torch to give up on high-altitude skiing
Najuma Ojukwu January 4, 2023 4 min read
Disapproval: Swedish star Calle Halfvarsson (TV) and Tour de Ski leader Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. Photo: NTB
OBERSTDORF (VG) Swedish personal Calle Halfvarsson (33) wants elite skiing to stop at altitude skiing. This is what makes Johannes Hosflotte-Klabo and many Norwegians smile.
– Explodes. There's going to be something extra about charging altitude and that whole part. I think it's superfluous to have a huge advantage because you charge from the height up front. There are places you can compete in the lowlands, Havvarsson tells VG, so it will be the same for everyone.
Aftonbladet Al Suwaidi's proposal was mentioned first. The higher the sea level, the less air. High-altitude skiing, such as in Swiss Val Müstair on the opening weekend of the Tour de Ski, means that many athletes need to acclimatize for a while in order to be at their best.
round stand
Tour de Ski overall after 3 of the 7 stages:
Johannes Oflot Klapow 49:27
Pål Golberg +37 seconds
Semin Hegstad Kruger +40
Diederick Tonseth +57
Kali Halvarsson +1: 11 min
Federico Pellegrino +1: 13
Hans Christer Holland +1:17
William Buroma +1:23
Sindre Bjørnestad Skar +1: 33
Ben Ogden +1:43
remaining stages:
In Oberstdorf (Germany):
Wednesday, January 4: The 20km freestyle game begins.
In Val di Fiemme (Italy):
Friday, January 6: Sprint Classic.
Saturday, January 7th: 15 km combined start in the Classic.
Sunday, January 8: The start of the 10 km freestyle swim.
Note 1: Men and women walk the same distances throughout the round.
PS 2: The Tour de Ski is shown on TV 3 and Viaplay.
See also He didn't leave Liverpool because the salary was too low
Viaplay expert Martin Johnsrud Sundby went among others In the direction of Emil Iversen Because he paid a fee to race the Tour de Ski in the Lowlands. This is in contrast to, for example, Johannes Hosflotte Klabo, Pal Gulberg, Tyrell Odnes Wing and Anne Kjersti Calva, who have spent Christmas on the high and have done well so far on the Tour.
This is the "problem" that Havvarsson wants to revive.
– I don't think there are any so amazing high-altitude places where so many people come. I don't understand why we don't get in Ulrichehamn
UlrichehamnSki resort in Sweden, in Västergötland, in the Lowlands. It gets to 40,000. It's completely incomprehensible to me, says Halvarsson.
The 33-year-old adds that his opinion is influenced by the fact that he struggles in high-altitude competition and has become a family man.
On the other hand, the proposal meets resistance from the Norwegian national team.
"Only high-altitude skiing is my answer," Klæbo, who has stayed at altitude three times this season, tells VG.
Last winter, the Olympics were held in Beijing at altitude, while this winter the World Cups at altitude were held in Davos, Val Moustairs and Livigno.
For me, it's a great sport. If you do better in the lowlands, you have to go there. If you are the best in heights, go there. He's part of 'the game', says Klæbo – who has won three out of three races so far in the Tour.
"The combination of the fact that you have to take assessments and improve your training plan in order to be the best you can be on the ski runs you do is part of the magic," Klæbo continues.
See also Tin Hag set foot towards moving
Nor was Pål Golberg impressed by Halvarsson's performance.
Being a top athlete requires you to make choices and get far from home. If that's what you're saying, you can come up with something else, says Pål Golberg.
– Yes, I can come up with something else, Halvarson replies.
He also does not have the support of his colleague William Buruma.
– I think competitions at heights also have their charms, so I don't agree with him, says Buruma.
Simen Hegstad Krüger is known as one of those that perform best in the air at high altitude.
– I think you should be able to handle running at altitude. "I think I've shown that it's possible to do well on the hills without being up front," says Kruger.
For his part, Emil Iversen struggled to perform at altitude. He smiles at Halvarson's trick.
– I think those of us who don't think it's fun to go to the mountains can go on our ski trails in the lowlands. Kale can come to Grova in Mirocare then we can have a separate cup for those who don't like heights. Sundby will be allowed to be a technical rep there, says Iversen and laughs his jab in the direction of his former teammate afterward. The war of words in the last days.
Najuma Ojukwu
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