Huge plumes of black smoke could be seen across Liverpool this morning, with Merseysiders believing there was a huge fire coming from a chemical and oil tanker berthed at Bootle Docks.
Dozens of people contacted the ECHO to say they had seen what appeared to be a major blaze in the industrial area.
But the reality - that the thick smoke, visible for hours, is believed to be from a routine procedure - has caused even more frustration for nearby residents.
People living and working nearby were outraged at the smoke, which dock workers explained began "after the ship switched on its engines".
The huge vessel, owned and operated by Chemship, completed its journey from Turkey to Bootle at 6am on Tuesday, according to tracking site Marine Traffic.
The huge black clouds were spotted over the city around three hours later and it was originally believed a fire had started at the docks.
One man living nearby told the ECHO "there was a terrible oily burning smell in the air" as the smoke spread across the area.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that there was no emergency incident at the docks and they were not in attendance.
It was then revealed an 8,000-tonne called Chemical Marketer, berthed in Bootle, was the catalyst for the plume.
The owner of a car wash close to the docks said the fumes could be an environmental hazard.
He tweeted a picture of the vessel and stated "send that away from us ASAP".
It is not currently known when the ship is due to leave the port.
Chemship and Peel Ports, who run the docks, have been contacted for comment.


text:
How to Turn Your Car Payment Into a Million-Dollar Retirement
Do you ever feel like you're out of cash before your paycheck even clears the bank? If so, you're not alone.
Over three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck—and that money crunch affects their ability to build a bright future.1 After all, it's really hard to save for retirement when your biggest wealth-building tool—your income—is tied up with bills and debt payments every single month.
So, what's one of the biggest costs holding people back? Car payments. Americans now owe more than $1.4 trillion in car loans.2 That's a problem!
Millionaires Avoid Car Payments
According to The National Study of Millionaires, the average millionaire drives a four-year-old car with 41,000 miles on it. And you'll probably find a Toyota or Honda in their driveways, which are the two most popular car brands among millionaires (not Ferrari or Lamborghini).
And more importantly, 8 out of 10 millionaires buy their cars with cash and no car payment to worry about. In fact, research done by Ramsey Solutions found that non-millionaires are twice as likely as millionaires to have outstanding car loans.3
You see, millionaires figured out a long time ago that trying to build wealth while being saddled with car payments is like climbing a mountain with a backpack full of bricks—it just doesn't work! So what did they do? They avoided car loans and leases like the plague so they could save and invest for the future.
What would happen to your retirement outlook if you got rid of your car payment? Is that goal even possible? Absolutely! We'll show you how.
Dave's new book, Baby Steps Millionaires, will show you the proven path that millions of Americans have taken to become millionaires—and how you can become one too! Grab your copy today to learn how to bust through the barriers preventing you from becoming a millionaire.
Americans Spend More and Pay Longer for New Cars
Americans love their cars. Unfortunately, that love affair has led a lot of folks to make some really dumb financial decisions. Each quarter, Experian Automotive releases data on the latest car financing trends. Their latest reports show just how much car loans are crippling people:
More than 8 out of 10 new cars are purchased with a loan or a lease.4
The average new car loan totals $37,280 with monthly payments of $609 at 4.05% interest.5
The average new car loan term is 69 months—that's more than five and a half years!6
Now, take a second and let those numbers sink in. Research shows that new cars lose around 60% of their value after five years.7 So if you're the average car buyer, you'll spend the next five and a half years paying more than $42,000 for a car that will probably be worth about $15,000 when it's paid off (if you're lucky). Does that sound like a good deal to you?
By then, the new car smell has worn off. So, you go out and buy another new car, and the process starts all over again.
It's no wonder millions of Americans feel like they're stuck in the mud, spinning their wheels without ever gaining traction. It's time to say goodbye to car payments once and for all!
How Your Car Payment Destroys Your Retirement
Instead of permanently dedicating a chunk of your income to car payments—and having nothing to show for it except a car that's losing value every year—put that hard-earned money to work for you by investing it!
Simply put, if you didn't have a car payment and instead worked with a pro to invest that $609 a month in your 401(k) or Roth IRA, you could retire with more than $7.1 million after 40 years, based on a 12% average annual rate of return. We hope you like the freakin' car!
The good news is, you can stop this insane cycle of car payments and start saving for retirement. It'll take some sacrifice and a lot of discipline, but it's worth it all to change your future. Here's how.
Eliminate Your Car Payment Forever
Let's say the paid-for car you're driving now is worth $15,000. Instead of taking out another loan to buy a new car, stick with your set of wheels a little longer. In the meantime, put your $609 car payment into a good money market account specifically to save for a car replacement. In about two years, you'll have more than $15,000 cash plus your trade-in to buy a nicer, new-to-you car without owing the bank a single penny.
Once you learn how awesome life without a car payment is, you won't mind driving your current car a little longer while your car-replacement fund grows. So, let's say you really get into the spirit of saving and add $609 a month to your fund for five years. Then—in less time than it would have taken you to pay off a new car loan—you could have $36,500 plus your trade-in to buy a new ride in cash!
Of course, you don't have to use all that cash to buy another great used car. What you could do is leave enough in your car-replacement fund to keep growing until your next car purchase. At this point, you can stop contributing to your car-replacement fund and put that $609 toward retirement instead. Now that is something worth working toward!
Want to find out how to get the best deal on a car you love? Download our free Ramsey Car Guide today!
Can This Plan Work for You?
Getting rid of car payments isn't a fairy tale. It just takes planning and patience. And isn't your future worth it? No car—no matter how fancy—can give you peace of mind in retirement. That kind of security comes from having a plan and following through with it.
Looking to put your retirement vision into a practical plan? We can connect you with an investing professional who's committed to educating and empowering you about your retirement goals. Find a SmartVestor Pro in your area today!
The National Study of Millionaires
Learn the habits and traits of millionaires, in the largest original research study ever with over 10,000 participants by Ramsey Solutions.
If you're looking to save for retirement, look no further than a Roth IRA. It's a great option because it lets your investments grow tax-free.
What does your retirement dream look like? Whether you want to travel the world or spend time with your grandkids, you need a plan! Here's everything you need to start saving for retirement.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Sorry for the delay. I got sidetracked by those having a hard time accepting that Ocean Heat Content uptake has slowed.
The January 2012 Reynolds OI.v2 Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data through the NOAA NOMADS website won't be official until Monday, February 6th. Refer to the schedule on the NOAA Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis Frequently Asked Questionswebpage. The following are the preliminary Global and NINO3.4 SST anomalies for January 2012 that the NOMADS website prepares based on incomplete data for the month. I've also included the weekly data through the week centered on January 25, 2012, but I've shortened the span of the weekly data, starting it in January 2004, so that the variations can be seen.
Based on the preliminary data, Monthly NINO3.4 SST anomalies are at -1.03 deg C. Monthly NINO3.4 SST anomalies are still bouncing back and forth at the threshold of a moderate La Niña. One would expect them to start rebounding next month.
The preliminary global SST anomaly has dropped to +0.029 deg C.
The weekly NINO3.4 SST anomalies for the week centered on January 25, 2012 are still not showing any signs that the La Niña is weakening. They are at -1.12 deg C.
Weekly Global SST Anomalies have rebounded. They are presently at +0.069 deg C.
Could you add a 3rd order polynomial fit to the data in these graphs (for entertainment purposes only) ?
Sun Spot: I'd prefer not to add the poly trend. Looking at the monthly Global data, it's pretty clear which way global sea surface temperature anomalies appear to be going since 2004-ish.
I remember having seen various tipping points, one from the activity from the sun, going down at around 2003 and another of earth's albedo, seemingly increasing from about 2003. Curiously enough the albedo measurements (via the moon) seemd to have stopped in 2007.
For example, lets say we magically increased air temps a degree holding everything else constant (absurd, I know) how much heat would the ocean aquire? Is it insignificant considering the heat capacity? Is it insignificant considering the evaporation? Are these observed or modelled quantities?
If you or any of the learned readers can offer help or links I would be most greatful.
Dave still learning: I don't believe I've ever run across a paper that describes the surface air temperature warming the ocean. Also, Marine Air Temperature has a lower trend than Sea Surface Temperature.
The only place where Marine Air Temperature rises faster than Sea Surface Temperature is in climate models.
lgl: The steps show in the monthly data for the Atlantic-Indian-West Pacific data (90S-90N, 80W-180), not the global data.
Thanks Bob, very useful graph.
The tropics don't represent the globe. And I don't see the clear steps in your link.
I'll disregard the taunt about the PDO.
Nit-picking. The shapes are the same, just a bit bigger jumps in the global.
And I don't see the clear steps in your link.
I still would be hard pressed to see them in the data without the blue lines. Are the blue lines average temperatures for the periods?
Nino3.4 is offset in steps to match tropical.


text:
Nicole Zuraitis
Brilliant Baltimore Concert Stage
West Shore Park, Light Street, Baltimore, MD, USA
+ YOUTUBE
not your average jazz singer
Grammy® Nominated New York based musician Nicole Zuraitis blends clever songwriting skills, an effervescent presence and dazzling vocals in a consummate package that has thrilled audiences across Manhattan and across the world. If recently you happened upon Greenwich Village's 55 Bar or Birdland Jazz Club and were enchanted by the seismic versatile talent of inspired vocalist, keyboard player and songwriter Nicole Zuraitis, you're officially part of the lady-powerhouse burgeoning fan club.
Nicole was nominated dually with her husband Dan Pugach in the arrangement category the 61st annual Grammy® Awards for their version of Dolly Parton's "Jolene". She is the 2016 New York City Songwriting Competition Coffee Music Project Winner, 2015 second runner-up in the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition and the 2014 Herb Alpert ASCAP Young Composer Awards Winner. She's also the People's Choice and Johnny Mercer Award winner in the National American Traditions Vocal Competition. She is the vocalist for the world famous Birdland Big Band in New York City and her album Hive Mind won Best Jazz Album in the 2018 International Music and Entertainment Awards. Her brand new project, Generations of Her: Women Songwriters and Lyricists of the last 100 years has sold out both the Birdland Theater and the Cell Theater in New York within months of its conception. Nicole has headlined the Blue Note (NYC) and maintains residencies at the 55 Bar (every second Thursday of the month), Rockwood Music Hall (with the Dan Pugach Nonet), and Redeye Grill. Audiences love Nicole's limitless enthusiasm, but that's only part of her story; only part of her talent.


text:
Binance CEO Says He and Warren Buffett Use Similar Investment Strategy but Doubts Buffett Has Skills to Keep Crypto Safe – News Bitcoin News
November 27, 2021 wedgeframe
Binance CEO Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said that they share an identical investment strategy. But he stated that he could not persuade the Oracle of Omaha into investing in cryptocurrency. "I get worried if he uses crypto. He may not have the necessary skills or the knowledge on how to keep his own crypto safe," the Binance CEO stressed.
Binance's CEO on Warren Buffett and Crypto Investing
Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance CEO, spoke on Wednesday about Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett's cryptocurrency investments and Yahoo Finance.
Zhao recently praised Buffett's investing skills after reading a book about him titled "Warren Buffett: Inside the Ultimate Money Mind." The book provides "a deep analysis of Buffett's essential wisdom, an intricate mosaic of wide-ranging ideas and insights that Buffett calls a Money Mind," according to its description.
If he could sit down with Buffett and tell him why crypto is a good investment, the Binance boss answered: Zhao replied:
I wouldn't convince him to invest in crypto. I think it's not necessary that everybody has to invest in crypto.
"My mom doesn't use the internet that much and that's fine. Internet is great. My mom is fine," the Binance executive continued. "I think basically it's a free world. We don't have to convince everybody to use crypto. It's only for the people who want to use crypto."
Zhao explained that the book was about Buffett, and that he had read many other investment books. "I recently just stumbled upon it, and it's a great book, actually," Zhao emphasized, adding that the Oracle of Omaha "has many investment theses that are timeless. That is still true for crypto. It's just that he's not personally interested in crypto."
The Binance executive also believes that Buffett and he have similar investing strategies. According to the book, he explained that Buffett does not like to diversify his portfolio. Zhao described:
He enjoys keeping a limited number of stocks he understands well. And he doesn't want to diversify across hundreds of stocks. That's very similar to my personal mentality. BNB is my sole crypto asset. BTC is not mine. I don't diversify myself across different crypto assets.
"Because of his non-diversification, he is not into bitcoin or crypto. That's fine. We don't need to convince him," Zhao emphasized.
"He is not short of money. He is at a different stage of life where I think the learnings, the philosophies, the teachings are valuable to the world," the Binance executive added. The Berkshire Hathaway CEO "is super successful which I respect a lot," he added, noting that there is no need to get him into crypto.
Zhao stated that he was concerned if Buffett started using crypto.
He may use crypto. I am concerned. His knowledge and skills may be lacking.
Buffett is a strong critic of cryptocurrency and bitcoin. He called BTC "rat poison squared" in 2018. The cryptocurrency gambling was also referred to as a "game" rather than an investment. His righthand man, Charlie Munger, said bitcoin is "disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization" at Berkshire's annual meeting in May.
Zhao was also asked about his recent discussion on Twitter with Tesla CEO Elon Musk about Binance's dogecoin problem. Musk, a proponent of the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin, tweeted Tuesday morning that the Binance's problem "sounds shady."
"Well, I don't intend to be sassy on Twitter," the Binance boss explained, emphasizing that Musk was "incorrect" and "lacks research." He continued: "I am not aggressive by nature, but I'm also not submissive or cowardly when it comes to defending our business. I view defending Binance as my job and defending BNB and the crypto industry as my life's mission."
Are you in agreement with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao regarding Warren Buffett's views on crypto and cryptocurrency? Please let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
Image creditShutterstock. Pixabay. Wiki Commons
DisclaimerThis article serves informational purposes. This is not an invitation to purchase or sell directly, nor a suggestion or endorsement of products, services or companies. Bitcoin.com doesn't offer investment, tax or legal advice. This article does not contain any information, products, or advice that can be used to cause or alleged result in any kind of damage.
If You Forgot It
← Major Estonian Bank LHV Starts Offering Cryptocurrency Trading via Bitstamp – Finance Bitcoin News
Crypto Is Here to Stay and Will Become Mainstream in 5 Years – Regulation Bitcoin News →


The Astros may be looking to add another bat to their lineup.
Houston has expressed interest in potentially dealing for White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, according to a report from MLB.com's Richard Justice. The 31-year-old slugger has spent his entire five-year career with Chicago.
The White Sox may not be willing to trade Abreu because they value his clubhouse presence, the report says.
Abreu appeared in his second All-Star Game earlier this week. He has slashed .253/.311/441 and hit 13 home runs so far this season. He has also tallied 52 RBIs.
Abreu, who won the Rookie of the Year award in 2014, has driven in 100 runs or more in each of his first four MLB seasons. He is a career .295 hitter.
The Astros currently lead the American League West by five games with a 64-35 record.


text:
class Pmc::PropiedadesController < ApplicationController
  before_action :set_propiedad, only: [:show, :edit, :update, :destroy]

  # GET /propiedades
  # GET /propiedades.json
  def index
    @propiedades = Pmc::Propiedad.all.order(ancestry: :asc)

    render 'peces/propiedades/index'
  end

  # GET /propiedades/1
  # GET /propiedades/1.json
  def show
    render 'peces/propiedades/show'
  end

  # GET /propiedades/new
  def new
    @propiedad = Pmc::Propiedad.new
  end

  # GET /propiedades/1/edit
  def edit
  end

  # POST /propiedades
  # POST /propiedades.json
  def create
    @propiedad = Pmc::Propiedad.new(propiedad_params)

    respond_to do |format|
      if @propiedad.save
        format.html { redirect_to @propiedad, notice: 'Propiedad was successfully created.' }
        format.json { render :show, status: :created, location: @propiedad }
      else
        format.html { render :new }
        format.json { render json: @propiedad.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  # PATCH/PUT /propiedades/1
  # PATCH/PUT /propiedades/1.json
  def update
    respond_to do |format|
      if @propiedad.update(propiedad_params)
        format.html { redirect_to @propiedad, notice: 'Propiedad was successfully updated.' }
        format.json { render :show, status: :ok, location: @propiedad }
      else
        format.html { render :edit }
        format.json { render json: @propiedad.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  # DELETE /propiedades/1
  # DELETE /propiedades/1.json
  def destroy
    @propiedad.destroy
    respond_to do |format|
      format.html { redirect_to propiedades_url, notice: 'Propiedad was successfully destroyed.' }
      format.json { head :no_content }
    end
  end

  private
    # Use callbacks to share common setup or constraints between actions.
    def set_propiedad
      @propiedad = Pmc::Propiedad.find(params[:id])
    end

    # Never trust parameters from the scary internet, only allow the white list through.
    def propiedad_params
      params.fetch(:propiedad, {})
    end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Adam Lamhamedi (Québec, 1995. április 22. –) marokkói–kanadai kettős állampolgárságú alpesisíző.

Élete
A kanadai Québecben született 1995-ben marokkói apa és kanadai anya gyermekeként. Szülei ötéves korától vitték rendszeresen síelni. Két évvel fiatalabb öccse, Sami szintén alpesisíző. 2011 őszén úgy döntött, hogy édesapja hazájának, Marokkó színeiben méretteti meg magát és áll a versenyeken rajthoz.

Mindjárt ez első ilyen megmérettetés 2012-ben Innsbruckban volt, ahol az első téli ifjúsági olimpián – 16 évesen, a szuperóriás-műlesiklás (szuper G) 55 fős mezőnyének döntőjében – aranyérmet szerzett. Teljesítményével történelmet írt, hiszen általa sikerült Marokkónak elsőként aranyérmet szereznie az afrikai nemzetek közül.

Két évvel később, a szocsi téli (felnőtt) játékokon óriás-műlesiklásban a 47. helyen végzett, míg a műlesiklók mezőnyében nem ért célba, így helyezetlen maradt. Almatiban, a 2017-es téli universiadén már öccsével együtt képviselte Marokkót, ahol óriás-műlesiklásban a 15. helyen végzett.

Jegyzetek

Források

  Adam Lamhamedi adatlapja a fis-ski-n

Alpesisízők
Marokkói sportolók
Marokkói olimpikonok
1995-ben született személyek
Élő személyek
Ifjúsági olimpiai bajnokok (2012)
Ifjúsági olimpiai bajnokok

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Command Team Protecting Most Vulnerable in Community
Posted On Wednesday January 12, 2022
To find ways to safely serve the vulnerable population with the help that they need during the pandemic, the Isolation Shelter Command Team was established in April 2020 to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among individuals experiencing homelessness and precarious housing, and to mitigate risks associated with outbreaks in emergency shelters and within the community.
Meeting three times weekly, the Command Team is a subsection of the Vulnerable Populations COVID-19 Planning Table that was established in March 2020.
Last year, the Command Team developed and implemented protocols, procedures and pathways to effectively support isolation for vulnerable individuals. These remain in place to ensure people are connected to the appropriate places and services while minimizing the spread of COVID-19 among those experiencing homelessness and under-housing in Thunder Bay.
"The community is only as safe as its most vulnerable people," said Cynthia Olsen, Chair of the Vulnerable Populations Table and Isolation Shelter Command Team, and Manager of Community Strategies at the City of Thunder Bay.
"The pandemic continues to create unique demands on those working in and utilizing the emergency shelter system, and those who are experiencing precarious housing. Public health regulations like physical distancing means not as many people can be served in one location, and individuals who are experiencing homelessness have no safe ways to self-isolate."
She added that the COVID-19 Planning Table has an opportunity to show its role in identifying needs across multiple sectors and populations, and bring the many parties together for a coordinated response.
With St. Joseph's Care Group as the lead agency, a dedicated, staff-supported isolation shelter continues to be available for safe and effective isolation spaces that comply with public health standards, including infection prevention and control standards. It would also not be possible without the funding provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada and their ongoing responsiveness to changing needs.
Membership of the group includes representatives from the City of Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay Fire Rescue, St. Joseph's Care Group, District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board and Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
Regular briefing updates are also provided to community partners and other key stakeholders. There are many additional organizations contributing to the success of the Isolation Shelter Project, including NorWest Community Health Centres, Grace Place, Salvation Army, Superior North EMS, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre, Lakehead Social Planning Council, Alpha Court, Shelter House, Getting Appropriate Personal & Professional Supports (GAPPS) Program, Urban Abbey and People Advocating for Change Through Empowerment (PACE).
- 30 –
Contact: Stacey Levanen, Supervisor – Corporate Communications & Community Engagement, 625-3650


"... I knew that you should be able to serve multiple domains behind a single IP address and have it work with no problems. So, I set off to prove it. ..."
"First, you should familiarize yourself with Apache and how to set it up. The defaults when installing FreeBSD works fine all you need to do is fine tune it a bit for virtual servers or whatever loads you may be handling. You can find documentation on Apache 1.3.x at http://httpd.apache.org/docs/. I already was serving web pages off of my PC behind a Umax 3000 Cable/DSL Router and was not having any difficulty with any pages or CGI. Here's what I did to get this working." I knew that you should be able to serve multiple domains behind a single IP address and have it work with no problems. So, I set off to prove it.


text:
More Undercover Mosque
August 11th, 2007 by Monitor in censorship
Some more backlash about the West Midland Police and CPS extraordinary decision to widen their remit to that of TV criticism.
First, a ballsy letter to The Guardian from Channel 4's Kevin Sutcliffe:
In response to Mohammed Shafiq (Letters, August 10): neither the West Midlands police nor the Crown Prosecution Service have produced any evidence whatsoever to support their extraordinary and damaging allegations of unfairness made against Dispatches: Undercover Mosque. I am very confident of successfully defending this charge against the programme should the police decide to provide Ofcom with any evidence.
The highly offensive comments made in the programme speak for themselves – the speakers concerned were clearly shown making abhorrent and extreme comments in mainstream Islamic institutions. Many of these speeches were made in DVDs and in internet broadcasts which Channel 4 had no involvement in producing and which our journalists found available in the community.
Undercover Mosque allowed these comments to be seen in their proper context. All the speakers featured in the film were offered the opportunity to respond and their response was reflected in the programme. None of them denied making these comments and none of the individual speakers have to date complained of unfair treatment to Ofcom.
Channel 4 was fully aware of the considerable sensitivities surrounding the subject matter of this; however, I believe there was clearly an important public interest in exposing the unpleasant and even offensive views that were being preached in the name of Islam in some British mosques. This view was shared by the moderate Muslims interviewed in the programme who were appalled by the footage.
Kevin Sutcliffe
Deputy head of news and current affairs, Channel 4, and editor of Dispatches
And an editorial in The Telegraph by Charles Moore clearly arguing that the CPS and WMP are, in fact, off their heads. It contains a quick reminder of the contents of the documentary:
One preacher speaks of a British Muslim soldier killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan and says: "The hero is the one who separated his head from his shoulders." Another says that all Jews will be killed at the end of time, and makes a snorting noise as if imitating a pig.
Shame on Channel 4 for showing this decontextualised snorting:
Channel 4 fights back
August 9th, 2007 by Monitor in censorship
Channel 4 has responded robustly to the West Midlands Police and Crown Prosecution service. In last night's Channel 4 News Krishnan Guru-Murthy investigated the CPS's claim that Undercover Mosque "completely distorted" what the speakers had said by interviewing one of them – Abu Usamah At-Thahabi.
As the accusations are about misrepresenting the views of those filmed, Guru-Murthy asked Abu Usamah:
Which of these views that 'women are deficient', that 'non-Muslims are pathological liars and terrorists' and that and that 'homosexuals are dogs that should be murdered' do you not believe?
You can marvel at the demented imam's squirming question-avoidance by downloading the 13-minute report from Channel 4's website (if you are using Windows XP with IE 5.5 or 6 and WMP 10, that is).
Dispatches commissioning editor Kevin Sutcliffe is also interviewed. He continued to express bafflement at the police complaints, saying that they have presented "no evidence" that the views of the speakers had been distorted, or that Channel 4 deliberately tried to "undermine community relations". Responding to Guru-Murthy's observation that his integrity has been impugned by the police accusations, he replied
I will take advice from my legal department.
As Bartholomew notes, this would not be the first time the UK police have responded to a TV documentary with an investigation, only to turn on the documentary-maker:
In 1999 Donal MacIntyre went undercover for a programme about the abuse of adults with learning disabilities in care homes in Kent: when the subsequent police investigation floundered, they accused MacIntyre of wasting police time. MacIntyre sued for libel and won.
Tables turned on C4's Undercover Mosque
The BBC reports that the Crown Prosecution Service will not press charges against three speakers filmed in the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary Undercover Mosque. Instead, the West Midlands Police have complained to Ofcom about the programme itself.
CPS lawyer Bethan David said:
The splicing together of extracts from longer speeches appears to have completely distorted what the speakers were saying.
The CPS has demonstrated it will not hesitate to prosecute those responsible for criminal incitement.
But in this case we have been dealing with a heavily edited television programme, apparently taking out of context aspects of speeches which in their totality could never provide a realistic prospect of any convictions.
The programme is still available on YouTube.
The investigation initially focused on the speakers, but eventually turned on to the documentary itself. ACC Anil Patani for West Midlands Police said:
As a result of our initial findings, the investigation was then extended to include issues relating to the editing and portrayal of the documentary.
The priority for West Midlands Police has been to investigate the documentary and it's [sic] making with as much rigour as the extremism the programme sought to portray.
According to the Press Release the West Midlands Police wanted to charge Channel 4 with stirring up racial hatred (which is odd considering Islam is not a race), but were advised by the CPS that this is not possible. So they have filed an official complaint with Ofcom, where details of the alleged distortions will emerge.
MWW will keep you informed.
UPDATE (14:55): Channel 4 has responded:
We believe the offensive views expressed by the people revealed in the programme speak for themselves.
We didn't put these words into people's mouths and all extracts were carefully contextualised.
The West Midlands Police have provided no evidence whatsoever to support their allegations.
Life of Mammals censored in Holland
Dutch News reports that an evangelical Christian broadcaster EO has purchased exclusive rights to the BBC's Life of Mammals and censored out all references to evolution.
The cuts to David Attenborough's documentary series were apparently made with the BBC's agreement. If this is true it is, as Bartholomew points out, a gross betrayal of its remit.
EO director Henk Hagoort explains:
We've been 'adapting' nature films since we started. It's no secret. We don't believe that man descends from monkeys.
By controlling exclusive rights in Holland, EO has ensured that the Dutch public will be sheltered from Attenborough's dangerous evolutionary propaganda.
Comparative clips of the English and Dutch versions can bee seen at Cloggie.
(Hat Tip: The Pagan Prattle)
UPDATE: As noted in the comments, if the EO's buying of exclusive rights to the show is an attempt to shield the Dutch public, it is an ineffective one. 80% of the Dutch have cable, which includes to BBC1 and 2 as well as the Discovery Channel. Perhaps the rights only cover Dutch language versions?


This Premier Christmas Santa figure will bring joy, happiness and illumination to all who see it over the festive period.
It reaches up to 91cm (3ft) high and is filled with energy efficient LEDs which are dotted around Santa and the lamppost. He would make a great addition to your home and is popular as a centrepiece.


Larimar is a rare blue variety of Pectolite found only in the Dominican Republic, which is located in the Caribbean. Its colour varies from white, light blue, green-blue to deep blue. While Pectolite in general is not a rare occurrence, none have the unique blue coloration of Larimar, which is the result of cobalt substituting for calcium.
Larimar resonates with the gentle, soothing energy of water, bringing a sense of tranquillity and a reminder to ?go with the flow?. It carries a strong energetic connection to dolphins and the sea.
Larimar can assist with chemical imbalances, mood disorders and infections. Use Larimar in healing layouts or grids. This is such a joyous piece to keep with you! Carry in pockets, pouches or medicine bags.


text:
Phnom Penh Post - Chinese envoy accuses EU of using EBA to interfere in Cambodia's affairs
Chinese envoy accuses EU of using EBA to interfere in Cambodia's affairs
Mech Dara | Publication date 23 July 2018 | 10:19 ICT
Chinese ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo met with Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon in November 2016. Heng Chivoan
Mon, 23 July 2018
Mech Dara
Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo has criticised the European Union (EU) for threatening Cambodia's participation in the bloc's Everything But Arms (EBA) trading scheme if it failed to live up to its obligations enshrined in the trading program.
Xiong made his remarks when speaking to students at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. He said the EU should not exploit the Kingdom's political situation to put commercial and economic pressure on it.
Answering a student's question, Xiong said trade relations should be conducted according to trade and economic rules and shouldn't change for political reasons.
"I think in terms of trade relations between the EU and Cambodia, these trade relations should not be changed in accordance to any political reasons. It is our hope that the EU can seek to correct this path and take real action to uphold free trade.
"We think that some European countries would like to change trade rules for political reasons that would be agreed to by all European countries.
"No matter what the EU decides to do, China will continue to expand and deepen our corporation with Cambodia in all fields, especially in term of trade and economic relations," he said.
He said the EU's EBA scheme – which grants developing countries duty-free access for certain products to member states' markets – should not be used as a political weapon to interfere in the Kingdom's internal affairs.
Earlier this month, the EU said it could remove Cambodia's duty-free access to its markets if the government failed to address perceived human rights violations, including the jailing of former opposition leader Kem Sokha and the Supreme Court dissolution of his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).
Political analyst Meas Ny said it was normal for Western countries to impose conditions in conducting trade and investment, and that the Cambodian government should ensure that Chinese investments furthered peace.
"We want to have investment bringing peace to our country – not investment that benefits a small group of people. We are still a vulnerable country," he said.
In June, Prime Minister Hun Sen sent senior adviser Sok Siphana to Brussels in order to persuade the EU not to withdraw the EBA scheme.
China has invested billions of dollars in Cambodia in the past few years via direct investment, loans, concessions and grants.
In supporting Xiong's remarks, Cambodian People's Party (CPP) spokesman Sok Eysan insisted that the government does not violate human rights and that it is untrue that democracy had taken a step backwards in the Kingdom.
He said Ny was not independent and his remarks did not reflect the reality in Cambodia.
"The analyst just analyses without clear principles. It is just the opinion shared by one or two people and is not based on reality. Countries that promote mutual interests are honest and helpful friends – they help us and we help them."
"Cambodia receives aid from China and they say that we are under China's influence or that we sell ourselves to China. We follow China's policy and so we lose our independence and sovereignty, they say.
"Therefore, they should accuse the US as well because that country conducts thousands, tens of thousands times more trade with China. Why don't they accuse the US of being under China's influence?"
"The EU also buys products from China, so the EU should be accused of being under China's influence as well," he reasoned.
Contact author: Mech Dara
Kingdom, EU ready for trade, investment talks
Kingdom to talk cooperation with EU at online meet
GMAC sues EU in European court for withdrawing EBA scheme
Academics: Kingdom ready for EBA, Covid
Covid more pressing than EBA, says gov't
GMAC: EC didn't reject EBA delay
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) on Sunday denied a news report that the European Commission had rejected its request to postpone the withdrawal
Garment sector requests EU to postpone EBA withdrawal
Exporters seek delay of EBA withdrawal
FDI on the rise despite virus, EBA withdrawal
GMAC's Ken Loo examines EBA, Covid-19


text:
Fundraisers in Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Get help paying bills & expenses in Birmingham today
Galloway for MP
I seek to replace Tom Watson MP. I am the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for West Bromwich East constituency. I will stand as an Independent candidate supporting Brexit and the traditional values of the labour movement; the values of Tony Benn, Michael Foot, Barbara Castle, Peter Shore etc...
Last donation 1mo ago
£24,151 raised of £25,000
£24,151 raised
Pause ⏯
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/man-faces-deportation-to-jamaica_uk_5d249696e4b0583e4827971c Dear all, My name is Chadwick Jackson. I am 27 years old. Though I was born in Jamaica, I have been living in the UK for the past 17 years. My life came to a pause when my "limited leave to remai...
Last donation 3d ago
£6,593 raised of £7,500
£6,593 raised
Mini me's take on Snowdon -The Battlefund
We- Abby (14), Millie (11), Kian (10), Aiva (9) and Jake (9) have decided that we want to raise some money for Tom and The Battlefund. Tom used to play football with Kian and Aiva's dad and was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease October 2013. This has changed Tom's life and make's everyday livi...
Last donation 5mos ago
£520 raised of £200
£520 raised
GoFundUs to Sweden (and back!)
Hey there! We're super excited because this summer we (Ansy, Alex and Tricia) will be going to Sweden on a mission trip! It's a super exciting opportunity to be used by God to serve at an annual Nordic Chinese Christian Church Summer Conference, held in Sweden. Ansy and Tricia will be serving in...
Eastside Co for SIFA FIRESIDE
Funds go to SIFA FIRESIDE
Help & support to Edmundas Vispulskis in disaster
Help and support in the accident of a critical disaster for the Edmundas Vispulskis family. On January 7, 2020, a loading crane on a large construction site in Birmingham city (United Kingdom) hit and overturned a nearby 12-meter-high construction hoist with two workers Edmundas Vispulskis and (...
£130 raised of £50,000
Jayla's Wish
This is our Godsend Jayla ~ Loren. Osagie Agbonlahor , 6 years old She cannot walk or talk , she cannot eat she cannot drink , she gets fed through her stomache through a tube and requires oxygen and suction frequently to keep her alive when having seizures she stops breathing goes blue and have...
Last donation 11mos ago
£5,586 raised of £10,000
Young Elhaam desperately needs a kidney transplant
Please support our young orphan sister named Elham who needs urgent kidney transplant within a week. She and her brother were only raised by their mother who sold her entire livestock to support her to get treatments in Turkey. Elham is waiting for a kidney transplant and her brother is willing...
Johnny's medical fundraiser
Since birth Johnny has suffered with seizures where he loses the ability to move his body and communicate, his mouth drops open and he slumps over. He is still fully conscious and can look at you while he is suffering one. They usually last between 10 to 120 seconds and can occur from 40 to 100 t...
R.I.P Jordan Moazami
On the 24th of April 2019, Jordan's life was sadly taken away from him after he was fatally stabbed at the young age of 18 in Birmingham. Jordan was an outgoing, bubbly and polite young man who always had a smile on his face. He was extremely enthusiastic about helping and guiding the youth and...
SkyDive in Dubai
On the 2nd October 2019, I will be completing a SkyDive over the palm in Dubai, to raise funds for the awareness of Epilepsy. The reason I am doing this is because my dad suffers with Epilepsy. He suffered his first seizure at the age of 23 and went undiagnosed in hospital for nearly 2 weeks. Hi...
£550 raised of £1,000
Indestructible Paint/BCF 's Charity Cycle Ride
Funds go to Lymphoma Action
Save Simba
As most of you are aware, my dog Simba was seized by the police on 3rd December 2015, when he was just 15 months old. This was due to him getting into my previous neighbour's garden on a few occasions, despite me trying my best to secure the fencing. During the time he was in the neighbour's gard...
Last donation 1yr ago
Community Well in the name of Dad.
Hi all, My dad (Ajaz Qureshi) passed away on the 2nd June, early hours of the morning, at the tender age of 49. He passed away from a heart attack; the root cause of his heart attack was laryngeal cancer. Something we were told he never had. After undergoing about 12 biopsies, chemotherapy and...
Elaine Bennett's rehabilitate fund
As some of you already know, one of my best and oldest friends Elaine Bennett (Shore) suffered an acute stroke on Sunday 1st April 2018. This was caused by a blood clot, affecting the left hand side of her brain and the right hand side of her body, leaving her unable to speak, swallow or use her...
The Battle Fund -Kilimanjaro time!
So I'm back here asking for you to support me in helping to support a good man! Tom Stevenson was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease back in October 2013- since then, Tom has become a shining beacon in the community with his immense strength and character in his fight with this battle. Tom ha...
Get lexi to HOLLYWOOD
Let's help this little super star get to HOLLYWOOD! So Lexi has been given a once in a life time opportunity to go to L.A and dance with some amazing choreographers such as Brian Friedman (the one who does xfactors dances), also the founder of the Hollywood summer tour has appeared on americas g...
Fight to save Madisson's life
It is now reaching a very critical stage for my friend's daughter, little Madisson who is two years old and has been diagnosed with Idiopatic Pulmonary Hemosiderosis. Madisson is a beautiful, little girl from Cebu City in the Philippines and has a very loving mother and father, however she has be...


text:
The Vega gull, East Siberian gull, or East Siberian herring gull (Larus vegae) is a large gull of the herring gull/lesser black-backed gull complex which breeds in Northeast Asia. Its classification is still controversial and uncertain. It is variously treated as a separate species, as a subspecies of the American herring gull (L. smithsonianus) or included with both the American herring gull and European herring gull in L. argentatus. The Mongolian gull, Larus mongolicus, has previously been regarded as a subspecies of the Caspian gull (L. cachinnans) but is now sometimes lumped with the Vega gull.

Description

Vega gull (Larus vegae)
The Vega gull is similar to the herring gull but is slightly darker grey above.  The head of the Vega gull is heavily streaked with brown in winter, especially on the back and sides of the neck forming a collar.  The legs are usually bright pink. First- and second-winter Vega gulls are darker than the similar Mongolian gull, notably on the crown of the head where Mongolian gulls even in first- and second-winter are a bit paler.  Almost the full body of first- and second-winter Vega gulls displays darker brown flecks and streaks.  Adult Vega gulls in winter can often be mistaken for the very similar-looking slaty-backed gull (L. schistisagus) and the western gull (L. occidentalis), but the Vega gull's gray is lighter than the two similar species.  Eye colour is variable but tends to be dark with a red orbital ring.  The bill is yellow with a red spot except for first- and second-winter gulls where the bill can be almost entirely dark gray/black, with the gray portion shrinking until it reaches maturity.

Vega gulls in the northwestern part of their breeding range are paler above. They are sometimes considered to be a separate subspecies named Birula's gull (Larus vegae birulai).

Mongolian gull  (Larus vegae mongolicus)
The back and wings of the Mongolian gull vary in colour.  They are often medium grey similar to Birula's gull but can be much darker.  The head of the Mongolian gull is mainly white all year round with only faint winter streaking.  The legs are usually pink and the eye is usually pale with a red orbital ring. The bill is yellow with a large red spot and often with dark markings in first-, second- and third-year gulls.  First- and second-winter Mongolian gulls have heavy brown/gray streaking and flecking over most of body and wings, much like the Vega gull, but not as dark.

Distribution and habitat
Vega gulls breed in northeastern Siberia and winter in Japan, Korea, southern and eastern China, and Taiwan. They are regularly seen on St. Lawrence Island and Nome, Alaska and may breed there. There are also records from other parts of western Alaska, and a few photo documented records from Washington and California. In their winter range they are typically found in harbours, on rocky shores and at river mouths.

The Mongolian gull nests in Mongolia, neighbouring parts of Russia (such as Lake Baikal), northeastern China (e.g., Lake Hulun) and possibly South Korea. It migrates southeast to winter in southern and eastern China and Korea, with small numbers reaching Japan. In South Korea, it winters on inland waters more often than the Vega gull.

References

 Paul Doherty & Bill Oddie (2001) Gulls: A Video Guide to the Gulls of Europe, Asia & North America. Videocassette. Bird Images.
John MacKinnon & Karen Phillipps (2000) A Field Guide to the Birds of China. Oxford University Press.
Craig Robson (2002) A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia. New Holland, London.
George C. West (2002) A Birder's Guide to Alaska. American Birding Association.
Mark Brazil (2009) Princeton Field Guides: Birds of East Asia (China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia). Princeton University Press .

External links
Mongolian Gull photos, Japanese Gull-Site
The "Herring Gull" Assemblage in South Korea, Birding Korea
Vega Gull photos, Japanese Gull-Site

Vega gull
Birds of North Asia
Vega gull


Friends, we're currently in a blog series in which we're taking a hard look at some of our wrong thinking when it comes to the gospel of Christ. In the first week of the series, I offered twelve faulty statements which rest on false assumptions, and since then we've been diving deeper into each one of the twelve. Today we'll consider the final three. Each one in some measure exposes the fact that you and I tend to lean quickly on our own merits instead of on the merits of Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). So here goes.
I'm so glad that I was raised right, and that I was smart enough to choose Jesus. Whenever we start thinking like this, we can rest assured that we have forgotten what the Bible says about the insidious nature of sin. None of us was "smart enough" to choose Christ. Jesus Himself made this abundantly clear (John 6:44, 65). Because of Adam's sin, and our own nature which we inherited from our first parent, we are powerless even to understand our need for salvation unless God opens our hearts to comprehend the truth. Theologians often label our unregenerate spiritual condition "total depravity." That term doesn't imply that we're as bad as we possibly could be, but it means that no dimension of our lives is unstained by sin. Regarding our family of origin, we may have been blessed with a wonderful mom and dad, but no parent can accomplish what only the Holy Spirit can do.
If I lack humility, I know several ways in which I can work on that. This one's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it also demonstrates our all-too-natural propensity toward pride. Pride is the precursor to all other sins. Pride is the soil in which all other sins grow and flourish. When it comes to killing our pride, our only hope is grace. When you and I fix our hearts on the sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ, then and only then can we begin to see ourselves for who we really are (First Corinthians 4:7). It's at the end of us where God begins to look wondrously beautiful in our eyes! That's when the gospel of Jesus becomes life-transforming good news! Here's the bottom line: we can't work ourselves out of pride any more than we can work ourselves into salvation.
After I do (or think) something terrible, I withdraw from God until I feel worthy again. Here's the thing: were you and I ever "worthy"? Even the Roman centurion knew the answer to that one (Matthew 8:8). No! In fact one of the reasons why you and I tend to shy away from God when we're feeling guilty over something is because we've subtly bought into the notion that we "deserve" to be in God's presence only when we're "living right." Nothing could be further from the truth. You and I are privileged and invited to "draw near to the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16) only because of the finished work of Christ on the cross. We never have to earn what Jesus has already earned for us! Hallelujah!
I'm loving sharing this grace revival with you!
This blog series has been so truthful and compelling. Please continue to share it with others throughout your ministry.


If you or your group would like to be in the Solvang Julefest Parade, please fill out and submit the form below before November 28.
Just click in each field (underlined and checkbox area) and start typing your response. When you have filled in all the areas that apply, click the submit button at the bottom of the form. Instructions will be emailed to you no later than December 1. Back to Solvang Julefest information page.


text:
SCAI is Opening its Membership to the Entire Cath Lab Team!
For the first time in the history of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), we now invite our partners in the lab to become members of the SCAI. We work together, play together, and now learn together as colleagues and p…
This month, Cath Lab Digest would like to congratulate…
Conversations in Cardiology: What Should You Do If Your Guide Wire Breaks? Dealing With Equipment Malfunction
A challenging access case required a coronary 0.014-inch wire to deliver a micropuncture sheath into the internal jugular vein (the standard micropuncture wire couldn't be manipulated into the superior vena cava [SVC]). At some point during the sheat…
An Alternative to Complex Saphenous Vein Graft Intervention With a Covered Stent: The Suck-U-Surge Technique
When embolic protection is not possible, physicians can use this fairly simple technique in order to prevent distal embolization. Although we do not disagree with the utilization of a covered stent for a complex lesion, sometimes the use of a covered…
Alcohol Septal Ablation as a Percutaneous Therapy for Symptomatic Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy
Percutaneous alcohol septal ablation has received more recent attention as an attractive alternative for drugrefractory hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and can be performed with excellent results and immediate clinical outcomes. We present he…
A Look Ahead… Further Implementation of Healthcare Reform in 2015: Cardiac Cath Program Implications
It has become quite apparent that the impact of national healthcare reform is going to be broadly felt across hospital departments, and the confines of the cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL) are no exception.
An Overview of CLI Therapies
Introducing a new, monthly column for CLD readers, headed by section editor J.A. Mustapha, MD, Metro Health Hospital, Wyoming, Michigan. Dr. Mustapha shares his perspective on available therapies for critical limb ischemia and his plans for upcoming…
Applying a Cost-Effectiveness Methodology to Angina
There are many causes of angina, but what is very clear from research that has been done over the last several decades is that angina has an important impact on patients' quality of life. It limits the activities they do, it limits their enjoyment an…
ABSORB III and IV: Evaluating the Safety and Effectiveness of the Absorb Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold
With the Absorb BVS, by a year, there is a loss of some of the radial strength. By two years, we start to see loss of the scaffold itself, meaning the mass and structure of the device, and by three to three and a half years, the BVS is gone.
Spotlight: Sheridan Memorial Hospital Cardiac Cath Lab
Like most of Wyoming, Sheridan is very remote to most other facilities and cath labs in the state. Up until July 2014, Sheridan was only the third cath lab in the state.


text:
Major General Ameer Faisal Alavi (28 March 1954 – 19 November 2008) was a Pakistan Army two-star general and special operations expert who was the first General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the elite Special Service Group of Pakistan Army. A former member of Special Service Group, he was credited with masterminding the Angoor Ada operation in 2004, where many Arabs and Chechens based in the tribal areas were killed or arrested and turned over to the Americans.

2 months before his death, he threatened to expose Pakistani army generals who had made deals with Taliban militants. He had given a copy of a letter he had sent to then Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, to author Carey Schofield and told her to publish it if he was killed. The letter contained names of two generals. On 19 November 2008, while driving to work in his car in Islamabad, he was shot dead by three unknown gunmen. It was alleged that Ilyas Kashmiri, the chief of Jammu & Kashmir chapter of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, was behind the murder of Maj-Gen Faisal Alavi at the behest of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in North Waziristan.

Early life
Alavi was born and raised in British Kenya, a British national. His parents had migrated to the country from Pakistan. In 1966 at the age of 12, he moved to Pakistan to study at Abbottabad Public School where he studied from 1966 to 1971. Out of his love and zeal for the military he renounced his British nationality. He got his Pakistani citizenship when he wrote to then President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to be granted citizenship in order to be able to join the Pakistan Army. He thus renounced his British nationality to join Pakistan Army. He was commissioned in the 49th PMA Long Course in 1974 in the 26th Cavalry Regiment of the Armoured Corps.

Family
Maj Gen Alavi has two daughters who live in with their mother but at the time of his death they were both in USA. His sister Nadira Naipaul is a former journalist and married to noted British-Trinidadian novelist and Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul At the time of his death he was living with his wife in Bahria Town, Rawalpindi.

Commander SSG and forced retirement
Alavi was promoted to major general in January 2003 and assigned as the first General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Special Service Group (SSG). This post was upgraded from brigadier to major-general level post. He was also the first Pakistan Army officer who captained the Armed Forces Skydiving Team (AFST) as a General Officer on 23 March 2005. While serving as the chief of Special Service Group, Major General Alavi spearheaded an operation against the Taliban in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, the first-ever Army operation in North Waziristan in 2004.

In August 2005, however, he was sacked by General Pervez Musharraf from his post as head of Pakistan's Special Service Group (SSG), for "conduct unbecoming." Carey Schofield, writing for the British newspaper The Sunday Times, reported that there was a plot by Major General Faisal Alavi's enemies using an affair with a divorced Pakistani woman to discredit him. While having a conversation with his colleagues he was challenged on the issue, Faisal Alavi made a remark considered disrespectful to General Pervez Musharraf, then the president. Some of his enemies played the recording of this conversation to General Musharraf and Faisal Alavi was sacked.

Post-retirement years
After his retirement he worked as CEO and executive director of REDtone Telecommunication Pakistan Ltd, a privately held telecommunications company in Pakistan.

He however, continued to make efforts to clear his name from the allegations made against him that lead to his sacking. He wanted his honour to be restored and to be given then Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) or the Crescent of Excellence, a medal he would have been given had he not been dismissed.

Assassination
On 19 November 2008, while driving to work in his car, he was shot dead by three unknown gunmen on Islamabad Highway near the PWD Colony in the Koral police precincts, close to his home in Bahria Town.

Earlier on 21 July 2008, General Faisal Alavi had sent a letter to the chief of Pakistan Army, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, requesting to restore his benefits and suggesting that two army general officers had plotted to get him expelled from the army because they wanted to hide their involvement in "a matter he was privy to". He had threatened to expose Pakistani army generals who he believed had made deals with Taliban militants and warned that he would "furnish all relevant proof."

In October 2008, risking his life, he gave a copy of this letter to Carey Schofield in Talkingfish Islamabad restaurant which was also his favorite. When he did not get a reply from General Kayani he was concerned for his life and mentioned that to Schofield in a conversation, "It hasn't worked, They'll shoot me."

Four days after his conversation with the British journalist while he was driving through Islamabad his car was halted by another vehicle and the gunmen opened fire from either side. He was shot eight times. His driver was also killed. The gunmen had used 9 mm pistols, a standard army issue, and the killings were believed to be "far more clinical than a normal militant attack" giving rise to speculation of involvement of Pakistani Army personnel in the murder.

Revelations to Carey Schofield and British SAS
In August 2005 while visiting Hereford, the home of the Special Air Service (SAS) he was keen to revive the SSG's relationship with British special forces and expressed unhappiness about the way some elements of Pakistan's army were behaving. He wanted kit, skills and training from the UK for the SSG. When he was bluntly asked by an SAS officer why the Pakistani army should be given all this help if nothing came of it in terms of getting the Al-Qaeda leadership, he replied "he knew that Pakistan was not pulling its weight in the war on terror."

He told Carey Schofield how one general had done a deal with Baitullah Mehsud, the 35-year-old Taliban leader. Mehsud, was the main suspect in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007. He was also believed to have been behind a plot to bomb transport networks in several European countries including Britain, which came to light when 14 alleged conspirators were arrested in Barcelona. He revealed that a senior Pakistani general came to an arrangement with Mehsud "whereby – in return for a large sum of money – Mehsud's 3,000 armed fighters would not attack the army."

Carey Schofield later reported that Faisal Alavi had suggested that two senior generals named in Faisal Alavi's letter to Kayani were in effect complicit in giving the militants free rein in return for refraining from attacks on the Pakistani army.

Role of Ilyas Kashmiri
The editorial in Daily Times claimed that Maj (Retd) Haroon Ashiq was the assassin of Maj-Gen Faisal Alavi "for Rs 150,000 given him by [Ilyas] Kashmiri." This was consistent with Interior Minister Rehman Malik's statement on television in August 2009 that "officers of the rank of major" in the intelligence agencies with links with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda had been arrested "because they wanted to target army generals."

Ilyas Kashmiri was reportedly killed in a US drone attack in Waziristan on September 7, 2009, but survived and remains at large. He had reorganized 313 Brigade in North Waziristan (it was earlier active in Kashmir before 9/11) that was responsible for carrying out multiple terrorist attacks throughout the country. Earlier Kashmiri was arrested after the twin attacks on President General Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, but was later released in February 2004 at the insistence of United Jihad Council led by Sayeed Salahudeen.

Funeral
He was buried at the army graveyard in Rawalpindi a few days after his assassination. Soldiers had come from across Pakistan to bury the general with military honours. Wreaths were laid on behalf of Kayani and most of the country's military leadership.

After his death he was described by his daughter to a Pakistani newspaper as an "easy going, humble, compassionate, but very fearless" person.

References

External links
 Carey Schofield: UK may help find Pakistani general's killers
 Hamir Mir: How an ex-Army commando became a terrorist

Pakistani generals
Pakistan Armoured Corps officers
People murdered in Pakistan
Terrorism deaths in Pakistan
1954 births
2008 deaths
British emigrants to Pakistan
British people of Pakistani descent
Kenyan emigrants to Pakistan
Kenyan people of Pakistani descent
People of the insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Citizens of Pakistan through descent
Special Services Group officers
Deaths by firearm in Islamabad


text:
David Boaz
Independent Thinking in a Red-Blue Town
Authoritarian Governments Use Old Smears to Tear Down Their Opponents
Anne Applebaum reports on how old smears are still used to support illiberal ideas and authoritarian government:
Halfway through an otherwise coherent conversation with a Georgian lawyer here — the topics included judges, the court system, the police — I was startled by a comment he made about his country's former government, led by then-president Mikheil Saakashvili. "They were LGBT," he said, conspiratorially.
What did that mean, I asked, surprised. Were they for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights? For gay marriage? Were they actually gay? He couldn't really define it, though the conversation meandered in that direction for a few more minutes, also touching on the subject of the former president's alleged marital infidelity, his promotion of female politicians, his lack of respect for the church.
Afterward, I worked it out. The lawyer meant to say that Saakashvili — who drove his country hard in the direction of Europe, pulled Georgia as close to NATO as possible and used rough tactics to fight the post-Soviet mafia that dominated his country — was "too Western." Not conservative enough. Not traditional enough. Too much of a modernizer, a reformer, a European. In the past, such a critic might have called Saakashvili a "rootless cosmopolitan." But today the insulting code word for that sort of person in the former Soviet space — regardless of what he or she thinks about homosexuals — is LGBT.
None of this is new, as Applebaum notes. We've seen it recently in Venezuela. In 2012, as soon as Henrique Capriles won a primary to become the candidate of the democratic opposition against Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, the Wall Street Journal reported that he
was vilified in a campaign in Venezuela's state-run media, which insinuated he was, among other things, a homosexual and a Zionist agent.
Homosexual and Jewish, I thought. When they attack him for being rich, they'll have the trifecta of populist prejudices.
And sure enough, they did. Chavez himself declared:
The bourgeoisie have their candidate – the candidate of the anti-fatherland, of capitalism, of the Yankees. We are going to thrash that bourgeoisie.
Chavez, of course, also threw in "the candidate of the Yankees," that is, the Americans. German democrats used to say that "anti-semitism is the socialism of fools." Now in many countries we could say that anti-Americanism is the new anti-semitism. They're often found in tandem.
The authoritarian government of Malaysia calls its chief opponent, Anwar Ibrahim, a homosexual and a gay propagandist, and has even prosecuted and jailed him on trumped-up sodomy charges.
All of these epithets – homosexual, Jewish, bourgeoisie, and more recently, "American" – have been staples of illiberal rhetoric for centuries. Liberals – advocates of democracy, free speech, religious freedom, and market freedoms – have been tarred as "cosmopolitan" and somehow alien to the people, the Volk, the faithful, the fatherland, the heartland.
Authoritarians such as Putin and Chavez's successor Nicolas Maduro also like to denounce their opponents as "fascists," even though they themselves fit most of the textbook definition of fascism – nationalism, anti-liberalism, a charismatic leader as the embodiment of the nation, and an economy controlled indirectly by the state, typically through nominally private owners.
Liberals should denounce these sorts of vile and illiberal attacks, whether they stem from the American far right or far left, Vladimir Putin, the ruling party in Malaysia, or the Venezuelan socialists.
Posted on March 31, 2014 Posted to Cato@Liberty
Is libertarianism history?
American liberals have some shameful things in their past. But what about the conservatives?
On Sunday the New York Times ran a remarkably ill-informed reviewof Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement by Brian Doherty.
Over at Cato@Liberty, I responded in great detail. Noting reviewer David Leonhardt's litany of embarrassing moments in libertarian history, I argued:
If that's the sum total of embarrassing libertarian moments, it's a pretty darn good record over 70 years or so. Modern liberals have to deal with the fact - not an embarrassing fact but a shameful one - that many of their forebears supported Stalin and the Communist party, or were at least fellow-travellers.
As for conservatives, I could mention their long resistance to liberty and legal equality for blacks, women, and gays, but instead I'll just say: George W Bush and the Iraq war. In 70 years, libertarians have done nothing to compare to expressing support for limited constitutional government while also supporting Bush, his disastrous war, and his accumulation of unprecedented presidential power.
Posted on March 28, 2014 Posted to Newspapers & magazines,The Guardian,World news
A toast to Yeltsin
Boris was one of the authentic heroes of the 20th century, and deserves credit for being the first Russian leader to voluntarily give up power.
More than any other man, Boris Yeltsin moved the Russian people from tyranny to a rough approximation of freedom. For that he was one of the authentic heroes of the 20th century.
In a way he personalises Mikhail Gorbachev's accidental liberation of the Russian and Soviet people. Gorbachev intended to reform and reinvigorate communism. He brought Yeltsin from the rural region of Sverdlovsk in 1985 to shake up the stagnant party as the Moscow party boss. But Gorbachev set in motion forces that he couldn't contain. Once people were allowed to criticise the communist system and glimpse an alternative, things moved rapidly - partly because of Yeltsin's unexpectedly radical leadership.
His greatest achievement was to avoid the violent "Yugoslav scenario" and allow the Soviet Union's 15 republics to go their separate ways peacefully in 1991-92 without civil war. Yeltsin defied nationalist demands for the restoration of a greater Russia and made huge concessions to the other successor states, notably Ukraine, but got little credit for it.
On a visit to the United States in 1989, he became convinced that Russia had been ruinously damaged by its state-run economic system, in which people stood in long lines to buy the most basic needs of life and more often than not found the shelves bare. Visiting a Houston supermarket, he was overwhelmed by the kaleidoscopic variety of meats and vegetables available to ordinary Americans.
Posted on March 28, 2014 Posted to Europe,Russia,The Guardian
David Boaz is the executive vice-president of the libertarian Cato Institute, a non-profit-making public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington DC. He is a leading authority on US domestic issues such as education choice, drug legalisation, the growth of government, and the rise of libertarianism.
He is the author of Libertarianism: A Primer, described by the Los Angeles Times as "a well-researched manifesto of libertarian ideas", the editor of The Libertarian Reader, and coeditor of the Cato Handbook on Policy. His latest book is The Politics of Freedom: Taking on the Left, the Right, and Threats to Our Liberties.
Posted on March 28, 2014 Posted to The Guardian
The US is a country formed in rebellion against dynasty. So why are 18 members of the country's Senate family legacies?
We Americans know that the head of state in a monarchy is an inherited position. But we rebelled against that system and created a republic, in which men (and later women) would be chosen to lead the republic on the basis of their own accomplishments, not their family ties. Sure, we had the Adamses, and we may well be fortunate that neither George Washington nor Thomas Jefferson had a son. And there are other dynasties, often combined to one state, like the Longs of Louisiana and the Breckinridges of Kentucky. Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen is the sixth member of his family to represent New Jersey in Congress, dating back to the 18th century. One of his ancestors inspired the classic campaign song, "Hurrah, hurrah, the country's risin'/For Henry Clay and Frelinghuysen!"
And today, of course, we face the prospect of replacing the son of a president in the White House with the wife of a president. We may have 24 or more years of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton. One leading Republican strategist has recommended that Florida governor Jeb Bush run for president this year, on the grounds in this of all years he won't lose points for being a dynastic candidate: what are they going to say, "don't vote for the president's brother, vote for the other president's wife instead"?
Lynne Cheney, whose husband served as a congressman from Wyoming before becoming vice president; state house majority floor leader Colin Simpson, the son of former senator Alan Simpson; and two of Thomas's three sons, Greg and Patrick.
Posted on March 28, 2014 Posted to The Guardian,United States
Asking too much of DNA
Genes can't tell us if US president James Madison fathered a child with a slave.
Several years ago newspapers reported that a study of DNA proved that Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, had fathered children with his slave Sally Hemings. Now some African-Americans want a genetic history to prove that they are descended from James Madison, the father of the US constitution. But DNA can't prove what they want.
The Washington Post reports that Bettye Kearse, an African-American physician, wants to confirm her family's oral tradition that they are direct descendants of Madison. This past weekend she attended the Montpelier slave descendants reunion at the fourth president's mansion. "Working with Bruce Jackson, co-director of the Roots Project, which helps African Americans trace their genetic histories," Kearse wants to:
compare the Y chromosomes - which are identical across generations - of male descendants in Madison's family to the Y chromosomes of some of Kearse's male cousins. Jackson and Kearse have been searching for Madison relatives in England but recently located a descendant of one of Madison's brothers in North Carolina.
begins with a kidnapped African slave, Mandy, who Kearse says was impregnated at Montpelier by Madison's father. The child, Coreen, later gave birth to Madison's child, whom she named James Madison.
Jackson, speaking to attendees Saturday about how genetic research is conducted, noted that if Kearse's claim proves correct, it would mean Madison's only living direct descendants are African American.
A more accurate headline, of course, would have been "A Jefferson - not necessarily Thomas Jefferson - fathered" Sally Hemings' youngest child.) The article on the DNA test results was accompanied by an article "Founding father," co-authored by Professor [Joseph] Ellis, which proclaimed that the DNA analysis "confirms that Jefferson was indeed the father of at least one of Hemings' children."
Jefferson's place in American history - his central role in our nation's founding and the evolution of its system of government - justly derives from his ideas. As I see it, genealogy is irrelevant: the true "children" of Jefferson today are those who understand his ideas and work to keep them alive. His lasting legacy is the body of ideas he has given us, ideas still quite relevant today, to the perennial problems of protecting individual rights and limiting the powers of government.
Posted on March 28, 2014 Posted to Genetics,Human rights,The Guardian
Taking Marxism to China
Vermont socialists are trying to revive socialism in formerly communist China
Marxism is a bore in China, but tie-dyed American socialists are trying to revive it. Apparently it's easier to believe in socialism if you haven't actually tried to live under it.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
It isn't easy teaching Marxism in China these days.
"It's a big challenge," acknowledged Tao, a likable man who demonstrates remarkable patience in the face of students more interested in capitalism than "Das Kapital." The students say he isn't the problem.
"It's not the teacher," said sophomore Liu Di, a finance major whose shaggy auburn hair hangs, John Lennon-style, along either side of his wire-rim glasses. "No matter who teaches this class, it's always boring. Philosophy is useful and interesting, but I think that in philosophy education in China, they just teach the boring parts."
Classes in Marxist philosophy have been compulsory in Chinese schools since not long after the 1949 communist revolution. They remain enshrined in the national education law, Article 3 of which states: "In developing the socialist educational undertakings, the state shall uphold Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung Thought and the theories of constructing socialism with Chinese characteristics as directives and comply with the basic principles of the Constitution."
China's communist revolution has gone off the rails, David-Friedman adds. The party "has divorced itself, tragically, from allowing itself to be led by the needs of workers," she adds. But maybe, in some small measure, these Vermont Progressives can help put the world's largest country back on the track toward socialism.
Talking over tea at the Education Ministry's modern offices in central Beijing, education official Zhou laughed a bit about today's students.
"They don't believe in God or communism," he said. "They're practical. They only worship the money."
Posted on March 28, 2014 Posted to Asia Pacific,China,Politics,The Guardian,Vermont,World news
Is America's nanny state growing?
Despite bans on smoking and trans-fats, we're not necessarily less free.
In the Washington Post, Anita Allen of the University of Pennsylvania reviews Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists and Other Boneheaded Bureaucrats Are Turning America into a Nation of Children by David Harsanyi. She makes a point that I've thought a lot about in discussions of our growing "nanny state":
But Americans were never as free as Harsanyi imagines... . It is true that in 1960 US automobile drivers did not have to wear seat belts. But overreaching rules of other sorts reigned supreme. Under "blue laws," most retail stores and virtually all liquor stores were closed on Sundays, presumably so everyone could stay sober and go to church. More profoundly, in 1960 married couples could not legally obtain birth control in Connecticut, mixed-race couples could not marry in Virginia, black kids in Georgia attended underfunded segregated public schools and homosexual sex was against the law.
Readers have to wait until the final pages of this book to learn exactly why Harsanyi thinks the nanny state is a bad thing. The nanny state creates a moral hazard, he claims. "People act more recklessly when (purported) risk is removed." Plus, "the rigidity of nanny regulations does not allow consumers to practice common sense and protect themselves."
Posted on March 28, 2014 Posted to Politics,The Guardian,World news
This perfect book
Ira Levin should be remembered for his dystopian novel This Perfect Day, which ranks alongside Brave New World and 1984
Ira Levin - who died this week at the age of 78 - was known for his bestselling novels Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives and The Boys from Brazil, all of which became successful movies. But another of his novels, This Perfect Day, deserves to be better known than it is. Indeed, given its tight plot about a revolt against an all-providing world government, I don't know why it hasn't gained the attention of Hollywood. As libertarian historian Ralph Raico wrote in The American Enterprise back in 1998:
This Perfect Day belongs to the genre of "dystopian" or anti-utopian novels, like Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984. Yet it is more satisfying than either. Not only is its futuristic technology more plausible (computers, of course), but the extrapolation of the dominant ideology of the end of the 20th century is entirely convincing.
Investment returns
America shouldn't try to correct its record-high trade imbalance with China by rushing to increase exports
As US Treasury secretary Henry Paulson meets in Beijing with Chinese vice-premier Wu Yi to discuss the US-China trade balance, the US commerce department has just released its monthly report on the widening trade deficit. Journalists report this in hand-wringing terms that consistently reflect little understanding of real economics. "Oh no, imports from China are up," blares my radio. "The only solution is to increase American exports to China."
And that's supposed to be the free-trade position, a counter to the argument for tariffs or other coercive measures to prevent China from forcing its products on innocent American consumers. (I'm omitting the safety and health problems with Chinese products for now, as we heard the same economic complaints when Japan was the biggest non-white exporter to the US. Somehow we've never worried so much about imports from Canada, the UK and Germany.)
Posted on March 28, 2014 Posted to Asia Pacific,Business,China,International trade,The Guardian,US economy
Budget & Tax Policy
Cato Publications
Cato@Liberty
Comment is free
Constitutional Studies
Defense & National Security
Economics & Economic Philosophy
Education & Child Policy
Global recession
Int'l Economics & Development
Law & Legal Issues
Libertarian Philosophy
Race issues
Regulatory Studies
Tech, Telecom & Internet
US economic growth and recession
Welfare & Workforce
Purchase The Libertarian Mind by David Boaz
About David Boaz
"Libertarianism Is on the Verge of a Political Breakout" TIME, February 5, 2015
"Hard Choices" Publishers Weekly, January 20, 2015
"Eric Garner Could Spark American Spring" USA Today. December 5, 2014
"In Big Government, Breaking Up Is Always Hard to Do" Washington Times. October 14, 2014
"The Libertarian Surge" Politico Magazine. April 7, 2014
"America's Libertarian Moment" The Atlantic. August 18, 2013
"The Empty Case for Big Government" Reason. October 15, 2012
"Our Collectivist Candidates" The Wall Street Journal. May 28, 2008
"Starbucks and 'Laissez Faire'" The Wall Street Journal. April 7, 2008
"Where There Is No Vision, the People Perish," Cato Unbound, May 8, 2006
"Libertarian Orphans," Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2006
"The Big Government Building Boom," New York Post, October 3, 2005
"Franklin Delano Bush," Cato.org, September 29, 2005
"Defund PBS," Baltimore Sun, June 27, 2005
"Liberty at the Movies," Cato.org, June 20, 2005
"No Federalism on the Right," Foxnews.com, May 13, 2005
"Left and Right in the Same Sorry Rut," Los Angeles Times, August 3, 2004
"The Bush Betrayal," Washington Post, November 30, 2003
"The Selective "Right to Choose"," Cato.org, November 5, 2003
"Grand Old Party of Immigrants?," New York Post, October 25, 2003
"The Sixties, the Eighties, and the Irrelevance of Clinton," Cato.org, September 15, 1998
"Expansive Solutions," Washington Post, September 27, 1995
"A Right to Safer Schools," Washington Post, February 25, 1995
"Don't Forget the Kids," New York Times, September 10, 1994
"Yellow Peril Reinfects America," Wall Street Journal, April 7, 1989
"Let's Quit the Drug War," New York Times, March 17, 1988
"The Who and Why of Big-Bucks Politics," Wall Street Journal, November 15, 1983
Cato Scholars on Vaccine Policies
The Nixon Shock and the Libertarians
Is Orban Protecting Hungary from Libertarianism?
David Boaz's chapter in the book, El Manual Liberal, is read on the Centro Ricardo B. Salinas Pliego's Vivir en Libertad podcast
Federal Student Loans and Rising Tuition Costs: An Insider Speaks Up
Copyright © 2023 David Boaz | Design by Sadhana G, modified by Dancing Mammoth | Xhtml Happy | CSS Happy | Ported by GFXedit.com |


You may not know it, but Manhattan is known for its cupcakes! From Magnolia's to even the smaller cupcake shops, you'll find plenty of delicious treats in every corner of this cupcake capitol! Bake your own version of this famous cake treat for everyone to enjoy!


Get more info about the show here.
"Ride" spent five consecutive weeks atop the charts at Modern Rock radio outlets nationwide – the band's second #1 single at the format in 2016 – while also ascending to #5 on the overall "Hot 100." Another global smash, "Ride" is certified 4x platinum by the RIAA with additional platinum carts around the world. In addition, the track's companion video – directed by Reel Bear Media – has now garnered over 657 million views via Twenty One Pilots' hugely popular YouTube channel.


This course is designed for public safety personnel who are interested in improving their overall physical fitness. Topics include nutrition, weight and fitness training, cardiovascular fitness, and workout program design.
Students must bring walking/running, non-marking court shoes and workout clothes. Please review the student manual below for this course.


text:
Wedge metroplasty for the septate uterus: An update
S. J. Muasher, A. A. Acosta, J. E. Garcia, Z. Rosenwaks, H. W. Jones
Twenty-one patients with septate uteri and 2 patients with a T-shaped uterine anomaly and recurrent abortions underwent wedge metroplasty during the period from September 1978 to August 1983. Thirteen patients had a characteristic history of one or more abortions associated with the septate uterus and absence of other metabolic and endocrine abnormalities. Ten other patients, including the two with a T-shaped uterine anomaly, either had one or more abortions of an uncharacteristic nature with absence of other abnormalities or had one or more characteristic abortions in addition to the presence of other metabolic, endocrine, or surgically correctable disease. The application of wedge metroplasty for the surgical reconstruction of the uterus yielded equally gratifying results in both groups with approximately two thirds of the patients having a term delivery or carrying a pregnancy in the third trimester.
Fertility and sterility
Dive into the research topics of 'Wedge metroplasty for the septate uterus: An update'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Uterus Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
Uterine Anomalies Medicine & Life Sciences 67%
Habitual Abortion Medicine & Life Sciences 27%
Third Pregnancy Trimester Medicine & Life Sciences 22%
Muasher, S. J., Acosta, A. A., Garcia, J. E., Rosenwaks, Z., & Jones, H. W. (1984). Wedge metroplasty for the septate uterus: An update. Fertility and sterility, 42(4), 515-519. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0015-0282(16)48131-8
Wedge metroplasty for the septate uterus : An update. / Muasher, S. J.; Acosta, A. A.; Garcia, J. E. et al.
In: Fertility and sterility, Vol. 42, No. 4, 1984, p. 515-519.
Muasher, SJ, Acosta, AA, Garcia, JE, Rosenwaks, Z & Jones, HW 1984, 'Wedge metroplasty for the septate uterus: An update', Fertility and sterility, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 515-519. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0015-0282(16)48131-8
Muasher SJ, Acosta AA, Garcia JE, Rosenwaks Z, Jones HW. Wedge metroplasty for the septate uterus: An update. Fertility and sterility. 1984;42(4):515-519. doi: 10.1016/S0015-0282(16)48131-8
Muasher, S. J. ; Acosta, A. A. ; Garcia, J. E. et al. / Wedge metroplasty for the septate uterus : An update. In: Fertility and sterility. 1984 ; Vol. 42, No. 4. pp. 515-519.
@article{9595c289ab61446a88fe0dcd781fc8c7,
title = "Wedge metroplasty for the septate uterus: An update",
abstract = "Twenty-one patients with septate uteri and 2 patients with a T-shaped uterine anomaly and recurrent abortions underwent wedge metroplasty during the period from September 1978 to August 1983. Thirteen patients had a characteristic history of one or more abortions associated with the septate uterus and absence of other metabolic and endocrine abnormalities. Ten other patients, including the two with a T-shaped uterine anomaly, either had one or more abortions of an uncharacteristic nature with absence of other abnormalities or had one or more characteristic abortions in addition to the presence of other metabolic, endocrine, or surgically correctable disease. The application of wedge metroplasty for the surgical reconstruction of the uterus yielded equally gratifying results in both groups with approximately two thirds of the patients having a term delivery or carrying a pregnancy in the third trimester.",
author = "Muasher, {S. J.} and Acosta, {A. A.} and Garcia, {J. E.} and Z. Rosenwaks and Jones, {H. W.}",
journal = "Fertility and Sterility",
T1 - Wedge metroplasty for the septate uterus
T2 - An update
AU - Muasher, S. J.
AU - Acosta, A. A.
AU - Garcia, J. E.
AU - Rosenwaks, Z.
AU - Jones, H. W.
N2 - Twenty-one patients with septate uteri and 2 patients with a T-shaped uterine anomaly and recurrent abortions underwent wedge metroplasty during the period from September 1978 to August 1983. Thirteen patients had a characteristic history of one or more abortions associated with the septate uterus and absence of other metabolic and endocrine abnormalities. Ten other patients, including the two with a T-shaped uterine anomaly, either had one or more abortions of an uncharacteristic nature with absence of other abnormalities or had one or more characteristic abortions in addition to the presence of other metabolic, endocrine, or surgically correctable disease. The application of wedge metroplasty for the surgical reconstruction of the uterus yielded equally gratifying results in both groups with approximately two thirds of the patients having a term delivery or carrying a pregnancy in the third trimester.
AB - Twenty-one patients with septate uteri and 2 patients with a T-shaped uterine anomaly and recurrent abortions underwent wedge metroplasty during the period from September 1978 to August 1983. Thirteen patients had a characteristic history of one or more abortions associated with the septate uterus and absence of other metabolic and endocrine abnormalities. Ten other patients, including the two with a T-shaped uterine anomaly, either had one or more abortions of an uncharacteristic nature with absence of other abnormalities or had one or more characteristic abortions in addition to the presence of other metabolic, endocrine, or surgically correctable disease. The application of wedge metroplasty for the surgical reconstruction of the uterus yielded equally gratifying results in both groups with approximately two thirds of the patients having a term delivery or carrying a pregnancy in the third trimester.
JO - Fertility and Sterility
JF - Fertility and Sterility


Mid Atlantic Waterproofing is seeking to hire a new Brand Ambassador to join our team. As a Brand Ambassador, you will be the first point of contact for prospective customers, laying the groundwork for our promise of providing excellent customer service and superior waterproofing solutions. Our Brand Ambassadors work at all types of events, from community days and county fairs to home shows and outdoor shows, and everything in between. This is a part-time position between 15 and 30 hours a week.
Engage prospective customers at our events- this is not a position where you sit at a table and wait for them to come to you. Our proven training will help you engage every individual who walks past you.
Establish a problem/concern with a potential customer's basement or foundation and set them up for a free basement inspection.
Return all appointments and expense reports in on a timely fashion.
Please complete the application below to apply for Brand Ambassador at Mid-Atlantic Waterproofing.


We are pleased to announce that U.S. News – Best Lawyers® ranked the Firm to the 2018 "Best Law Firms" Philadelphia Metropolitan list. Cohen Seglias received Tier 1 recognition in Construction Law and Litigation – Construction, Tier 2 recognition in Labor Law – Management, and Tier 3 recognition Employment Law – Management.
The 2018 rankings are based on the highest number of participating firms and the highest number of client ballots on record. To be eligible for a ranking, a firm must have a lawyer listed in The Best Lawyers in America, which recognizes the top 4 percent of practicing attorneys in the U.S. Over 13,000 attorneys provided more than 1,000,000 law firm assessments, and over 7,500 clients provided more than 65,000 evaluations. Five Cohen Seglias attorneys were listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2018: Ed Seglias, George Pallas, John Greenhall, Marc Furman, and Jason Copley.


text:
Tales of the Last Moonshiner
nealh2008/Flickr
Bybee, Tennessee—The road to Cocke County from the Great Smoky Mountains takes us through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, the Crabbe and Goyle of modern American tourist sprawl. You'll pass by, in no particular order, a "Ripley's Believe it or Not!" museum (ubiquitous wherever geographical oddities and commercial zoning coincide); a "Hollywood Wax Museum"; no fewer than 15 places to buy moccasins; frontier-themed amusement parks; fake waterfalls; "Hillbilly Golf"; some place called "Magiquest," which I think has something to do with magic; a dinosaur museum; a store selling nothing but "As Seen on TV" products; and Dollywood, the world's only Dolly Parton theme park. It's the real-life equivalent of an avalanche of pop-up windows, made all the more jarring by the fact that it immediately follows the serenity of the Smokies.
But the roadside SPAM ends by the time you get to Cocke County, an hour up the road. Cocke used to be the moonshine capital of the United States, but now, with bootlegging no longer worth the risk (for the most part), younger generations have turned to more modern occupations: White lightning was replaced by marijuana, which was replaced by cocaine, and now that, according to Ray Snader, who covers the area for a local radio station, has been replaced by chop shops and salvage switch operations—a process in which car thefts swap vehicle information numbers of a stolen car with that of a wrecked car. Those lines of work, coupled with perpetually high unemployment figures, lend themselves to a distrust of government and anyone who comes between you and your community, which is part of the reason why Eastern Tennessee is one of the more conservatives regions in the United States. As Ray puts it: "You talk to some of the old people, and they say, 'You can say it was illegal and we don't like to break the law, but when it comes down to breaking the law and feeding the family, or not feeding the family, we feed the family.'"
Moonshine may be entering its twilight—the Tennessee legislature recently passed a law legalizing moonshine distilleries, which means that pretty soon it'll be just another piece of roadside kitsch you can buy with your moccasins in Gatlinburg. Ray tells me the story of "Popcorn" Sutton, a notorious moonshiner who committed suicide in March of 2009 before he was set to begin serving an 18-month prison term. Popcorn, says Ray, "was the end of an era." Here's his story:
"He was a short, skinny fella, who always wore his hat—that was kind of his claim to fame, his hat that he always wore. And his bib overalls—he always wore bib overalls. Even when he came to federal court, he was wearing bib overalls. He was a friendly fellow, and of course every time you would talk to him, he would say, 'Ray, I've run my last run of moonshine, I'm not gonna do it anymore, I'm just getting too old to be doing this stuff.' And so that's what he'd say every time! But he'd tell me that, and he'd let everybody know, but his cellphone number was very available—he'd give it to people to call to order some moonshine. And one of the stories that came out in his federal court case was that he had met up with a fellow and sold him 50 gallons of moonshine, because there was a discounted rate…he had ended up selling 50 gallons to this undercover agent, helped him load it and everything.
"I guess, probably about two years or so ago, he married a woman, and he was married at the time that he committed suicide. He was actually buried in a very isolated plot in western North Carolina, near the graves of his mother and father, but the vandals came in and stole all of the grave markings of the grave site. And so several months later, his wife had his body exhumed and there was a large public memorial service to him. And after that memorial service, his body was taken on a horse-drawn caisson to his property in Parrotsville, Tennessee, where it was reburied. Before his death, he already had his coffin—the shovels were there. And he also had his grave marker, a small grave marker that was already made, to put on his grave. And I didn't see it personally, but I've seen photos of it. And it said simply, "Popcorn says 'Fuck You.'"
Before we leave, Ray shows me a photo he took of Popcorn during his trial. When they'd last spoke, Popcorn had pleaded with Ray not to snap any photos of him and his stills, lest they be used against him by the feds. But of course, after the ATF saw the place, that wasn't going to be much of a problem. So Popcorn relented, and Ray gave him a three-count to smile for the camera.
In the photo, Popcorn is wearing his bib overalls and his trademark hat. His beard, characteristically, looks like it might comfortably house a small migrating population of water fowl, and his eyes are set back in their sockets from decades of close-calls with what Ray calls "the revenuers." His face is largely blank, although he's squinting a little; considering his circumstances, you can imagine what may have been going through his mind. But with his right hand, Popcorn said all he needed. Addressed to the law, the camera, the fates, and his last (for real this time) run of moonshine: a one-fingered sneak preview of his final resting place.
Update: Popcorn's daughter, Sky, responds in the comments:
His corpse was stolen, hidden and reburied in THE LAST PLACE he'd want to be laid to rest. I find it more than disturbing that this article refers to a rash of vandalism THAT NEVER HAPPENED. Only one stone was ever disturbed in the private cemetery where my father was buried. That stone was removed because the individual who placed it there- beside my father's head stone- never received permission to add their stone to a private cemetery.
This was the subject of considerable controversy at the time, and Sky would of course have been closer to the situation than I was. But for what it's worth, Ray stands by his narrative. Either way, the larger point of the story stands.
The View From My Windshield: Free Speech Zone
Now Entering the Barbecue Belt