NATO countries are poised to add 7,000 soldiers to the 30,000-troop US escalation in Afghanistan, providing a cover of multilateralism for the Obama administration and the NATO commander, US General Stanley McChrystal. The NATO decision is expected to be ratified January 28 at a conference called by the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Karzai administration and the United Nations Afghan Mission (UNAM).
To assuage European public hesitation, McChrystal is describing the troop surge for the first time as a step towards negotiating a political settlement with the Taliban. The London paper points out that “the prospect that an eight-year war could end with some Taliban leaders in power represents a remarkable turnaround” in US and NATO policy.
While NATO escalates its troop commitment, the London conference is billed as a display of “soft power” that will stabilize Afghanistan. One of the conference sponsors, the discredited Afghan president Hamid Karzai, will ask the conference for a $1 billion commitment to lure Taliban fighters onto the Kabul regime’s payroll, a replica of the payments to 99,000 Sunni insurgents during the Iraq surge of 2007-8.
Afghanistan and Iraq are not identical conflicts, however. Iraq’s Sunnis were a 20 percent minority fighting a majority Shi’a government and army, which the United States installed in power. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are powerful among the 45 percent Pashtun population, and cannot be defeated by Karzai’s dysfunctional government or the northern Hazara, Tajik or Uzbek minorities. The situation resembles an ethnic-based stalemate, which Secretary of Defense Robert Gates acknowledged this week , in saying the Taliban are woven into the “political fabric” of Afghanistan.
One reason for the dovish hints is that European and Canadian public opinion strongly oppose the escalation. In Germany 71 percent are opposed, and in the UK 56 percent . In France, 82 percent are against increased troop commitments. Canada is committed to withdrawing troops in 2011, and pressure is building for other NATO nations to follow.
Obama’s escalation is causing increased US and NATO casualties, a toll that is sure to increase rapidly as more troops arrive. In January, twenty-five Americans and twelve Europeans and Canadians have died, compared to twenty-four Americans and nine Europeans and Canadians during the same month last year. The 57 percent spike shows that the Afghan “fighting season” is becoming year-around rather than concentrated in the summer months.
Twenty-five deaths may seem a small number in the so-called war on terror, but the toll accumulates. The American dead in the war so far number 972, and will pass the 1,000 mark in the coming weeks. At that rate, an additional 1,000 Americans will die before the Obama administration’s planned date for beginning withdrawals, in summer 2011. The numbers of American wounded leaped to 350 per month last summer. The cumulative European and Canadian death number is 617, doubling in a single year.
The cost of the eight-year war so far is $250 billion, and roughly $1 million per US soldier. It will become another trillion-dollar war by the end of Obama’s second term. Along the way, the budget costs are likely to capsize Obama’s domestic agenda and intensify inflationary pressures.
In keeping with the new tone of the escalation, the UK’s Gordon Brown describes the London plan as “fully aligning military and civilian resources behind an Afghan-led political strategy,” an echo of McChrystal’s recent strategic plan. Brown promises that Afghan troops will begin replacing NATO units as early as this year. But beneath the rhetoric, Brown is pledging 500 additional British troops, bringing the number up to 9,500.
The London-based Stop the War Coalition is calling for mass protests in London this week, at both the conference and Friday’s so-called Chilcott inquiry, an official investigation of the deceptions British and American officials employed in launching the Iraq War. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to testify Friday. Protests in several other European capitals are being organized as well.
Germany is particularly conflicted because both constitution and custom forbid the deployment of troops in war zones for aggressive purposes. Yet a German commander ordered the September 4, 2009, airstrike that killed some 142 Afghan civilians. The civilian deaths were denied at first, then acknowledged, then defended, resulting in the German official’s resignation and widespread German debate. This week the Angela Merkel government is expected to send 500 more German troops, raising the total to 5,000. And Germany will train another 30,000 Afghan police and soldiers, doubling its current commitment.
The Karzai government recently raised alarms by predicting that NATO will remain in Afghanistan until 2024, to train and protect the still-weak Afghan security forces.
The current “talk about talks” runs counter to the neoconservative espousal of the “long war” doctrine, but there is no reason to believe that peace is at hand. Instead, the Obama/Pentagon plan is for brutal combat, including an emphasis on drones and special operations, for eighteen to twenty-four months, in the belief that the Taliban can be pounded into accepting an American-imposed peace settlement, and to permit Karzai’s Afghan army time to grow into an effective force.
The sides are far apart. The Taliban, the Karzai government, some Europeans and the peace movement all agree that the United States and NATO must set a deadline for ultimate withdrawal of its forces, to be replaced by nonaligned peacekeeping troops. Further, negotiations must include the Taliban leadership, particularly Mullah Omar, who currently are headquartered in the Pakistan state of Baluchistan, over the Afghan border. They demand a lifting of the UN’s so-called blacklist, which classifies 144 Taliban leaders as criminals and bars them from travel. Until the blacklist is suspended, no direct talks will be possible. Peace advocates also demand that 750 detainees be granted due process to avoid another Guantánamo. As an incentive towards peace, the Taliban have implied in recent statements that they may separate themselves from any Al Qaeda agenda in exchange for a power-sharing role in the future Afghanistan.
The United States and many in NATO, on the other hand, refuse so far to set a deadline for withdrawal, although Obama has announced a timeline to begin withdrawing. Nor will they negotiate with the Taliban leadership, viewing Omar as an ally of Al Qaeda. The United States has demanded that Pakistan “eliminate” Omar and the Taliban leadership in Baluchistan, or permit it to launch a military assault there. Recent statements by Gates and other US officials insist that the Taliban is linked irrevocably to Al Qaeda. Any US offer to negotiate at present is aimed at lower-echelon Taliban fighters in Afghanistan’s villages. Although the United States has promised to identify the 750 detainees, any semblance of the rule of law is at best a work in progress in occupied Afghanistan.
The present quagmire is likely to result in bloodshed through 2011, reaching a crisis point when Obama is scheduled to begin the withdrawal of US troops. The Europeans and Canadians will be packed and ready to go by that point, and likely will linger no later. But the Pentagon, and the domestic hawks, could be predicting catastrophe if the United States departs, leaving Obama and the Democrats to choose between a deeper stalemate and the politics of strategic disengagement as the 2012 elections approach.
Research for this article was contributed by Emily Walker, of the Peace and Justice Resource Center.
I am still pursuing my 365 Days of gratitude….just had a holiday away without access to upload my photos. Lots of things to be grateful for family time together, our creature comforts of home, the great coffee Australia has to offer (was hard to get my latte fix in USA, sorry if your a US resident, but you really need to do barista training). I will put up my photo’s in slideshow few since there are 30 days to catch up on and some days have more than one photo as I found so many beautiful things to shoot!
In the previous two posts I enumerated the promises of Barack Obama campaign promises and how to rebound. Bill Adair (Pulitzer Prize) published the Obama program that included 510 promises. Promises being executed are 240 promises, 86 promises were kept, 26 were compromised, and 62 were blocked by the oppositions.
Russell Banks reported the restrictions of the US political systems on the initiatives of President Barack Obama campaign program. The US system is Not democratic for two reasons: First, in a democratic system the leader of the winning party is the leader of the nation and it is the way around in the US except when the President is running for a second term: Once a President is elected then his party appoint him leader of the party. Thus, the President is controlled by the heavy weight politicians and administrators of his party. Actually, the President is not elected by the majority of popular votes but by the delegates of the States. There are many instances when the majority of the popular vote was defeated (Bush Junior is the most recent example)
Second, even if the winning party has majority in the Senate, any text of law needs 60 out of 100 Senators to agree on reading a text. A Senator from Nebraska has as much power as the one representing New York State. Thus, the President is constantly managing the heavy weight politicians and Senators of his party to passing any law before even negotiating with the opposing party. Anything in the US to get moving needs frequent popular active pressures on the Senators of the States of both parties to reaching a law favorable to the neediest: a Senator has to realize that financial backing by lobbyists cannot counter balance the angry voters.
The US is a Republic trying for a century to becoming a plutocracy (run by the heavy weight politicians and lobbyists); the US political system might get there if Obama fails to capitalize on his landslide victory. We can understand why for a century the successive Administrations did their best to alienate people from getting involved in politics by making the political process more complex and by extending activities that shun people away from politics such as sports and entertainments.
In a bipartite system it is the center that is the determining factors; mainly the economic and internal policies. Obama shifted the center a bit to the left by moving from total privatization concept that began 40 years ago to involving the Federal government. Obama re-appointed the culprits of the financial disaster such as Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers, Peter Orszag, and Ben Bernanke; all of whom coming from Wall Street related institutions. For example, the Administration refrained from selecting among the syndicate leaders, militant associations, intellectuals and university professors. It seems that Obama started with a high dose of confidence in the authority of the richest class in matter of financial and economic management.
Obama managed to bring public opinion around the classes that need more attention and care or what is more likely, it is the American people that opened Obama eyes to new realities and he grabbed the opportunity. If the public was not convinced that banks, lobbyists, and multinational financial institutions are pure robbers of their public wealth then Obama could not have won with such a landslide.
So far, Obama was successful in forging ahead and putting in execution many promised reforms of his program announced during his campaign trail by shear momentum: The public that supported him failed to get on the move; thus, Obama had to relent and bend before the opposition public activities before launching new “controversial” initiatives. The new public health program added 30 million more citizens but it is to kick in by 2013. More citizens are demanding and expecting to witness a Presidential will for stringer regulations and control on the banks and multinational financial institutions.
Unfortunately, in foreign policies Obama is playing the traditional and exhausting Washington provincial game that requires internal consensus: Obama is resuming the traditional strategy save in his rhetorical ability in the selection of words, tones, and style.
Obama did not prove to the public that he exercised good imaginative alternatives to redressing the financial and economic crisis. Obama has to remind the public that he is the victor so that the public may extend him voluntary rights to guide the nation against the many political restrictions that are erected against public opinion pressures. For the time being, if you inhale deeply then you realize that US policies didn’t make a qualitative dent for long-term reforms.
Chỉ còn vài tiếng nữa tôi sẽ ra phi trường, rời Orlando trở về New York. Mùa đông đã qua. Mùa xuân đang tới trên thành phố thân yêu tôi và người tình trăm năm đã sống 34 năm nay.
Mùa xuân New York rất đẹp. Bông hoa nở rộ sau mùa đông lạnh giá, rực rỡ vô cùng. Sau đây là một vài loại hoa nở vào tháng tư ngoài hoa anh đào. Tôi sẽ post một entry riêng về hoa anh đào..
Tại New York nơi tôi đang sống, Hoa Mộc Lan nở vào đầu tháng Tư, rất đẹp. Một ngày đẹp trời mùa xuân mát mẻ, cùng người tình trăm năm đi dạo vườn hoa New York, ngắm nhìn bông hoa, lắng nghe tiếng chim chíu chit trên cành, cuộc đời đáng sống lắm..
Mời các bạn thưởng thức một vài hình ảnh các loài hoa nở vào tháng Tư ở New York: hoa magnolia (Hoa Mộc Lan), forsythias (cây đầu xuân), hoa thủy tiên, hoa lan dạ hương (hyacinth), pansies (hoa păng-xê hoa bướm), crocus (hoa nghệ tây) và witch-hazel…(sẽ bổ túc sau).
Magnolias (Hoa Mộc Lan)
“Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae.
The natural range of Magnolia species is rather scattered and includes eastern North America, Central America and the West Indies and east and southeast Asia. Some species are found in South America. Today many species of Magnolia and an ever increasing number of hybrids can also be found as ornamentals in large parts of North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The genus is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol, from Montpellier…”
Tại khu hoa “magnolia” (Magnolia Plaza) trong vườn hoa BBG ở New York, hoa magnolia (Hoa Mộc Lan) nở đầu tháng Tư rất đẹp..
Forsythias (cây đầu xuân)
Lúc đầu xuân khi trời New York hảy còn rất lạnh, có thể lạnh hơn mùa đông Hà Nội, hoa đầu xuân forsythias đả nở rồi, màu vàng rất đẹp, đàng xa nhìn như bông mai ở Saigon ngày Tết.
“Forsythia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae (olive family). There are about 11 species, mostly native to eastern Asia, but one native to southeastern Europe. The common name is also Forsythia; the genus is named after William Forsyth.
They are deciduous shrubs typically growing to a height of 1–3 m (3–9 ft.) and, rarely, up to 6 m (18 ft.), with rough grey-brown bark. The leaves are opposite, usually simple but sometimes trifoliate with a basal pair of small leaflets, and range from 2–10 cm (1–4 in.) in length and, rarely, up to 15 cm (6 in.) long; the margin is serrated or entire. The flowers are produced in the early spring before the leaves, bright yellow with a deeply four-lobed corolla, the petals joined only at the base. The fruit is a dry capsule, containing several winged seeds.”
“Chi Thủy tiên (danh pháp khoa học: Narcissus) là tên gọi để chỉ một nhóm cây dạng thân hành cứng, chủ yếu ra hoa về mùa xuân, trong tiếng Việt có tên gọi chung là thủy tiên. Có một vài loài thủy tiên ra hoa vào mùa thu. Các loài cây này chủ yếu có nguồn gốc ở khu vực Địa Trung Hải, nhưng một số loài được tìm thấy tại Trung Á và Trung Quốc. Các giống cây thủy tiên khá nhiều và nói chung chúng đã được biến đổi và mở rộng rất nhiều, với các giống mới được đưa ra từ các vườn ươm mỗi năm.
Tên gọi Narcissus có nguồn gốc từ tên gọi của một nhân vật thần thoại Hy Lạp chỉ yêu bản thân mình là Narkissos.
Hoa thủy tiên đôi khi còn được gọi là hoa trường thọ, nhưng một cách chặt chẽ thì tên gọi này chỉ áp dụng cho một loài là Narcissus jonquilla và các giống trồng được tạo ra từ loài này.
Tất cả các loài thủy tiên có bao hoa hình loa kèn trompet ở trung tâm được bao quanh bằng một vòng các cánh hoa. Các loài hoa thủy tiên truyền thống có màu vàng kim, nhưng bao hoa thường có màu tương phản. Các nhà nhân giống đã tạo ra một số loại thủy tiên với 2 hoặc 3 hàng cánh hoa, làm cho chúng trông giống như một quả cầu nhỏ màu vàng. Các giống khác có các cánh hoa xếp nếp hoặc bao hoa trung tâm được kéo dài hay nén nhỏ.
Các loài thủy tiên chứa chất độc và có thể gây tử vong nếu ăn phải…
Hoa của thủy tiên là loại hoa trang trí phổ biến trong ngày Tết cổ truyền Trung Hoa.
“A Hyacinth is any plant of genus Hyacinthus, which are bulbous herbs formerly placed in the lily family Liliaceae but now regarded as the type genus of the separate family Hyacinthaceae. Hyacinths are native to the eastern Mediterranean region east to Iran and Turkmenistan. Hyacinths are sometimes associated with rebirth. The Hyacinth flower is used in the Haftseen table setting for the Persian New Year celebration Norouz held during the Spring Equinox…
The Dutch, or Common Hyacinth of house and garden culture (H. orientalis, native to southwest Asia) was so popular in the 18th century that over 2,000 cultivars were cultivated in the Netherlands, its chief commercial producer. This hyacinth has a single dense spike of fragrant flowers in shades of red, blue, white, orange, pink, violet, or yellow. A form of the common hyacinth is the less hardy and smaller blue- or white-petalled Roman hyacinth of florists. These flowers should have indirect sunlight and are to be moderately watered.
The related grape hyacinths (Muscari), sometimes called baby’s-breath, are very low, mostly blue-flowered plants similar in appearance to hyacinths and are also commonly cultivated.
Several types of brodiea, deathcamas, squill, and other plants that were formerly classified in the lily family and have flower clusters borne along the stalk also have common names with hyacinth in them.”
The pansy or pansy violet is a plant cultivated as a garden flower. Pansies are derived from Viola tricolor also called the Heartsease or ‘Johnny Jump Up’. However, many garden varieties are hybrids and are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana but sometimes they are listed under the name Viola tricolor hortensis. The name “pansy” also appears as part of the common name of a number of wildflowers belonging, like the cultivated pansy, to the genus Viola. Some unrelated species, such as the Pansy Monkeyflower, also have “pansy” in their name…
Pansy breeding has produced a wide range of flower colours including yellow, gold, orange, purple, violet, red and even black (dark purple)many with large showy face markings. A large number of bicoloured flowers have also been produced. They are generally very cold hardy plants surviving freezing even during their blooming period. Plants grow well in sunny or partially sunny positions in well draining soils. Pansies are developed from viola species that are normally biennials with a two-year life cycle. The first year plant produce greenery and then bear flowers and seeds their second year of growth and afterwards die like annuals. Because of selective human breeding, most garden pansies bloom the first year, some in as little as nine weeks after sowing.”
(Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pansy )
“Hoa pensée được đưa từ Pháp vào nước ta hồi đầu thế kỷ 20 và đã thích nghi với một số nơi như Sapa, Ba Vì, Tam Đảo và các tỉnh Tây Nguyên. Đặc biệt, Đà Lạt với điều kiện khí hậu quanh năm mát mẻ, ôn hòa đã được coi là quê hương thứ hai của loài hoa này.
Hoa pensée có cánh mỏng như cánh bướm, tên khoa học Viola tricolor Linn., nghĩa là loài hoa có ba màu thuộc loại hoa tím (Violaceae). Tuy số lượng ba màu ở mỗi loài hoa không bao giờ thay đổi và đã trở thành đặc trưng của hoa pensée, nhưng ba màu này được “tổ hợp ngẫu nhiên” từ các màu đen, đỏ, vàng, xanh, trắng, cam, để tạo nên nhiều giống hoa pensée với những màu sắc lạ, rất hấp dẫn.
Theo truyền thuyết, pensée là tên một sứ thần có tư duy sâu sắc và có cách ứng xử tế nhị… Ngày nay, người đàn ông nào tặng hoa pensée cho một phụ nữ là có ý khẳng định tình cảm và hy vọng của mình. Còn người phụ nữ nào nhận hoa pensée thì điều cô ấy muốn nói là: “Tôi đang trong sự mong chờ về một điều gì đó”…
Ở Đà Lạt hoa pensée gần như có quanh năm, nhưng đẹp nhất là vào những tháng mùa khô, trời nắng hanh, se lạnh… Du khách hay gặp pensée ở vườn Bích Câu, thác Prenn, thung lũng Tình Yêu… nhưng trước đó nó được trồng nhiều ở trạm khí tượng và khảo cứu nông nghiệp Dankir, khách sạn Palace và Trường Lycée Yersin… Lứa tuổi “mực tím” cũng rất thích loài hoa này, hay ép hoa pensée vào trong sách vở, lưu bút và vì thế ở Đà Lạt hoa pensée còn có tên là hoa học trò.
Hoa pensée được trồng bằng hạt, giâm cành hoặc có thể bằng công nghệ cấy mô. Nhưng nhìn chung các nghệ nhân và nhà sản xuất hoa vẫn thích trồng pensée từ hạt, vì mỗi lô hạt giống của loài cây này đều luôn chứa những bất ngờ, thú vị… Hạt hoa pensée rất quý, thường nhập từ Pháp, Hà Lan và gần đây đồng bào ở Bắc Mỹ cũng đã gửi giống về…
HOÀNG NGUYỄN
Nguồn: Tuổi Trẻ Chủ Nhật, 1999
Crocuses (Hoa nghệ tây)
“Crocus (plural: crocus, crocuses) is a genus of perennial flowering plants, native to a large area from coastal and subalpine areas of central and southern Europe (including the islands of the Aegean), North Africa and the Middle East, across Central Asia to western China.”
(Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocus )
Witch-Hazels
“They are popular ornamental plants, grown for their clusters of rich yellow to orange-red flowers which begin to expand in the autumn as or slightly before the leaves fall, and continue throughout the winter. Numerous cultivars have been selected for use as garden shrubs, many of them derived from the hybrid H. × intermedia Rehder (H. japonica × H. mollis).
The bark and leaves are astringent; the extract, also referred to as witch hazel, is used medicinally. Extracts from its bark and leaves are used in aftershave lotions and lotions for treating bruises and insect bites. Witch-hazel is the active ingredient in many hemorrhoid medications. It is also a common treatment for postpartum tearing of the perineum. The seeds contain a quantity of oil and are edible.”
Vi har varit runt och tuffat i USA några gånger. Första gången var 2005, och då skrev jag en ambitiös reseberättelse som jag tänkte dela med mig av igen. Särskilt spännande är den för er som tänkt att bila i Kalifornien och Nevada. Trevlig läsning!
Las Vegas by night
SAMMANFATTNING:
Jag och min flickvän (numera fru) flög till San Francisco, stannade två nätter. Vi åkte kustvägen sedan söderut och spenderade tre nätter på vägen – innan det bar av till Vegas. Vi stannade i Vegas fyra dar där vi också hade en halvdag i Grand Canyon inplanerad. Efter Vegas bar det av mot Los Angeles där vi stannade tre heldagar (fyra nätter) innan vi stack norrut igen för en sista natt i San Francisco innan flyget tog oss till Sverige. Jag tänker dela upp berättelsen i lite delar så man kan läsa det man är intresserad av, det blir en kombination av resguide och reseberättelse, håll till godo!
RESA DIT:
Vi valde billigaste flygresan som gick att få tag på, denna bokade vi på sembo.se där vi även kunde boka två hotellnätter downton San Francisco till ett otroligt bra pris jämfört med på plats! Det går även att boka hotell i flera andra städer, men utbudet är begränsat. Via sembo kan man även boka bil, dock ställs vissa krav om man är under 25 år, därför var det krångligt för oss att resa dit. Nåja, Kastrup-london- san francisco med brittish airways (genom sembo) kostade drygt 4500:- ToR/person. Räkna med två timmar till London, plus väntetid där sen ungefär elva timmars flygning till USAs västkust.
BIL:
I bilens förlovade land är bilen tyvärr ett måste om man ska färdas utanför San Francisco, de allmänna kommunaktionsmedlen är unde all kritik. Vi valde att boka på holidayautos.se eftersom dom hade ett extra-paket för de som var under 25 år, för runt 5000:- kunde vi boka en hyfsat stor femdörrars bil i två veckor inklusive alla försäkringar och självrisker etc, full tank ingick också – det enda som tillkom var övrig bensin. Jag tror vi betalde drygt 100 dollar för drygt 250 mils körning till slut. Priset per gallon (3,7 liter) ligger på ungefär $2.5.
SAN FRANCISCO:
Den mest europeiska staden av de alla, staden har ett downtown med hyfsad shopping, restauranger med mera. Det går att åka runt i de klassiska spårvagnarna samt med bussar, vi tog oss dock runt med bilen till bland annat Twin Peaks (utsiktsplats över hela staden). Vi var också i ett mysigt turistområde som heter Fisherman’s Warf där det bland annat guidade turer (förhandsboka!) till Alcatraz avgår. Det är ett gammalt fiskeområde som är av lite gammaldagsstuk och helt klart värt ett besök! Parkera 100 meter in mot land så blir det billigare . Tilläggas bör att parkering downtown är svindyrt, nästan överallt kostade det $18 för ett dygn. Spelade även en del poker i San Francisco, se pokeravsnittet nedan…
KUSTEN:
Som första stopp söderut är Monterey värt ett besök, en ganska mysig småstad. Den stora attraktionen är byns akvarium, vi bevittnade här bland annat pingvinger och världens enda vithaj i fångenskap, mäktigt! Strax söder om Monterey återfinns kustbyn Carmel som har ett rykte som en mycket ren stad, ganska turistigt men ändå mysigt centrum och en stor fet sandstrand vid vattnet som bör vara värd ett besök sommartid!
Efter Monterey börjar världsberömda highway 1 på allvar. Den krokiga vägen har Still Havet på ena sidan och ett berglandskap på den andra. Åk denna väg i dagsljus helst med klart väder så lär ni inte uppleva något liknande, grymt vackert (inget ord jag slösar med .
Vidare söder ut ligger Solvang, en dansk by! Byn grundades av utvandrade någongång (runt år ????) och består av korsvirkeshus och väderkvarnar, lite småskön kontrast till de amerikanska unga städerna. Byn är dock ganska exploaterad av turistnäringen så det räckte med en timmes strapats för vår del.
Nästa stopp var Santa Barbara (med flest plastikoperationer i världen?), värmen tilltog här neråt och det var ju såklart positivt. Vi hade trott att Santa Barbara skulle vara flott och lyxigt, detta stämde dock inte riktigt och stället var faktiskt en liten besvikelse med en del smuts och avloppsrör på stranden.
OUTLETS:
Första outleten vi besökte var också den bästa på resan och den låg i Camarillo (söder om Santa Barbara på väg 101) och hette helt enkelt Camarillo outlets (på 101ans högra sida om man åker i North bound). Prisexempel på kläder: DCShoeCO,skate-sko runt $40. För den som är intresserad av kläder och mode finns det också outlets i Barstow mitt mellan Los Angeles och Las Vegas, dessa höll dock inte alls samma klass som i Camarillo. Näst bästa återfanns precis söder om Las Vegas och hette Las Vegas premium outlets.
LAS VEGAS:
Okej, det ska erkännas att jag är en pokerdåre. Därför extra fokus på Vegas
När vi släpat omkring oss själva på Las Vegas Premium oulets tills klockan nådde 14:40 var det dags för avfärd mot Strippen och vårt hotell där incheckningen startade 15.00. Vi kom in från söder och möttes av Mandalay Bays mäktiga hotellbyggnader, trafiken på Strippen var tjock som sirap och man fick vänta tre gånger om på grönt ljus när man skulle svänga av därifrån eftersom det var så mycket bilar. Jag har läst att det är mäktigare att anlända kvällstid till Vegas och där lär ligga viss sanning i det. Efter en kort bit på strippen svängde vi av vänster och efter en mile (1.6 km) ungefär så hade vi vårt hotell, Orleans på vänster sida. Vi bodde alltså inte på strippen utan på ett av de få hotellen som ligger s.k off-the-strip.
Orleans hotell (***) har 1860 rum, 72 bowlingbanor, 18 biosalonger, 9 restauranger men framförallt 35 (!!!) pokerbord (http://www.orleanscasino.com/gaming/poker-room.html). Vad jag förstod det så hade Orleans flest pokerbord i hela Vegas. Hotellpriserna i Vegas fördubblas på helgerna, därför åkte vi strategiskt nog dit måndag-fredag och fick bo på 40 kvadratmeter för priset av 65$ per natt för båda två! Orleans lär vara det bästa hotellet off-the-strip och jag tror inte man kan vänta sig samma standard för samma pris på The Strip. Vi var mycket nöjda med vår vistelse och jag kan starkt rekommendera ett par nätter på Orleans. Däremot så betvivlar jag inte att Bellagio, Mirage, Ceacars, MGM, Venetian, Mandalay Bay och dom andra har bättre klass och kanske är ännu skönare att bo på – men räkna med det dubbla priset (minst!). Det där är efter plånbok och tycke och smak, man kan få hotell i Vegas för till och med så låga priser som 29$!
Vad tyckte jag då? Det var mycket större än vad jag väntat mig, The Strip hade säkert fyra filer i vardera körriktningen och snabbaste vägen över var oftast gångbroar mellan casinona. Hela strippen var späckat med hotellkasinon och byggena var enorma. Det tog säkert en halvtimme att köra hela strippen ner till downtown. Det kanske jag ska utveckla… Södra delen av strippen består av alla de hotell jag räknat upp plus ett femtiotal mer eller mindre kända till, sen kommer lite ingenmansland med låga hus och bröllopskappel innan man når downtown där Freemont street är pulsåldern, där återfinns bland annat Jack Binions Horseshoe (WSOP).
Missa inte:
Freemont Street (en 300 meter lång storbildsskärm går som ett valv över gatan och på denna är det ljus- och TV-show varje jämn timma efter skymning!). Skulle även gissa att detta är Las Vegas enda gågata så det kan vara skönt om man vill strosa lite lugnt, det går bra att parkera i Jack Binions P-hus intill. Gamblers General Store, en komplett spelbutik som ligger i norra delen av Vegas, kör Strippen norrut och vik av in till vänster på Main efter Stratosphere, efter runt 500 meter (osäker här) så återfinns affären på vänster sida. Byggnaden är gammal lite nedgången och kan lätt missas så håll ögonen öppna! I övrigt så finns väl allt sevärt längs med strippen, ni lär hitta runt själva…
GRAND CANYON:
Det går sightseeing flyg från Vegas till Grand Canyon. Vi valde att åka med Look Tours då dom var absolut billigast, dom måste dock haft en dålig dag då det mesta var försenat (det finns massa bolag – så ta kanske ett annat). Hursomhelst hämtar dom upp en vid hotellet och kör en till flygfältet där ett 18-sitsigt plan väntar, efter runt en halvtimme med flygning över Hoover Dam når man Grand Canynon. Man blev sedan runtbussad av indianerna som bodde där och fick ströva omkring ett par timmar och se på utsikten – storslaget! Vi fick betal $159 var totalt och då ingick även mat hos indianerna på Grand Canyon.
POKERN:
Jag lirade bara på Orleans i Las Vegas eftersom det var absolut bekvämast. Spelen som erbjöds var 2/4, 4/8, 6/12 och 10/20 samt även 4/8 Omaha och 1/2 NL holdem när det fanns tillräckligt med folk! Dom har även turneringar varje dag, en vid kl 12.00 och en vid 19.00, registreringen börjar drygt en timme innan och buy-in ligger mellan 25-50$ med en jävla massa rebuys till halva priset (dessa knäckte mig). Mina resultat går ju att läsa ovan.
Jag har väl dragit det mesta högst upp i tråden? Fråga om det är något! Motståndet på Orleans var iaf i tuffast lagret , men jag låg ju plus på ring-gamet och så här i efterhand borde jag spelat 6/12 hela tiden för då hade jag nog dragit in ett par hundra dollar. Jag spelade istället mestadels 4/8 och några överaggressivt dåligt spelade händer från min sida fick mig att sluta på allt för lite plus (tycker jag).
Jag fick dock lite tips av de trevliga motståndarna vid bordet, MGM Grand hade återöppnat (i dagarna) och skulle tydligen vara jäkligt schysst att spela på. Vidare så gillade dom limit-spelet på Bellagio då det var många turister där (dom hade dock ett tillfälligt pokerrum när jag var där, lite tråkigt). Sen så tyckte dom att turneringarna var bäst på Sahara där man fick jäkligt många startmarker och allt var bra uppstyrt. Men jag tror inte det skiljer jättemycket de olika rummen emellan, det viktiga är dock att organisationen är bra och det var den verkligen på Orleans.
Spelade ju dessutom på Lucky Chances i San Francicso där det var riktigt tomte-motstånd på 6/12, rekommenderas varmt!
LOS ANGELES:
Överträffade helt klart förväntningarna, men så hade jag också tur med gästvänliga, generösa släktingar som bodde på ett utmärkt strategiskt läge för oss som turister. Jag orkar knappt skriva mer nu, men missa inte:
The Grove, jäkligt fint utomhusköpcentrum mellan Beverly Ave och Third i West Hollywood, ät gärna på Cheese Cake Factory (har även mat, jätteportioner!).
För den filmintresserade, dagspass på Universal Studios i Hollywood. Vi var där och det var rätt skönt att varva all shopping och sightseeing med lite nöjen i filmens värld. Pris, runt 50$ per skalle.
Venice Beach/Santa Monica Beach: Feta stränder helt enkelt.
Spänstiga killar på Muscle Beach, Venice Beachwalk
Santa Monica gågata, den enda gågatan i Los Angeles, say no more…
Annars så har Melrose Avenue i West hollywood bra (trendig) shopping och rekommenderas.
Missa inte heller Famous walk i Hollywood (alla stjärnor i marken)….
[PDF]. It describes itself as a “preliminary introduction” inspired by info in the ClimateGate leak. Primarily about the National Climatic Data Center at the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — a US Govt Agency) and the GHCN (the Global Historical Climatology Network, i.e. the world’s climatic databases):
[...] CRU’s Director at the time Phil Jones acknowledges that CRU mirrors the NOAA data. “Almost all the data we have in the CRU archive is exactly the same as in the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) archive used by the NOAA National Climatic Data Center.”
NOAA appears to play a key role as a data gatherer/gatekeeper for the global data centers at NASA and CRU. Programmer E.M. Smith’s analysis of NOAA’s GHCN found they systematically eliminated 75% of the world’s stations with a clear bias towards removing higher latitude, high altitude and rural locations, all of which had a tendency to be cooler. The thermometers in a sense marched towards the tropics, the sea and to airport tarmacs.
The PDF summarizes manipulation of data/data-sources around the world, including…
Canada: “…the number of stations dropped from 600 to 35 in 2009. The percentage of stations in the lower elevations (below 300 feet) tripled and those at higher elevations above 3000 feet were reduced in half.”
China: “…100 stations in 1950, over 400 in 1960 then only 35 by 1990. [...] CRU’s own Phil Jones showed in 2008 peer review paper that contamination by urbanization in China was 1.8F per century. Neither NOAA nor CRU adjusts for this contamination.”
“High elevation stations have disappeared from the data base. Stations in the Andes and Bolivia have vanished. Temperatures for these areas are now determined by interpolation from stations hundreds of miles away on the coast or in the Amazon.”
New Zealand: “…where raw data for major cities shows virtually no trend (0.06C/century), adjusted data has a 0.92C warming.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has lifted a six-year old ruling denying a visa for a Muslim scholar to enter the United States, the State Department said.
The department invoked the Patriot Act in 2004 when it revoked the visa of Tariq Ramadan, accusing him of contributing financially to a charitable organization the United States said was linked to terrorists. Clinton Wednesday signed an order allowing Ramadan to apply for a new visa, The New York Times reported.
"I am very happy and hopeful that I will be able to visit the United States very soon and to once again engage in an open, critical and constructive dialogue with American scholars and intellectuals," Ramadan said in a statement, the newspaper reported.
Ramadan’s line of thought can be called "Islamic socialism" and includes Jihad as a “struggle against oppression”.
NEWS Clinton: Internet ‘information curtain’ is dropping January 21, 2010 1:04 p.m. EST
Washington (CNN) — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Thursday that a “new information curtain is descending across much of the world.”
In a speech on Internet freedom and security, Clinton also urged China to investigate a wave of cyber attacks against Google and other companies.
The Internet and other technologies are critical to foreign policy, and those who engage in cyber attacks should face international condemnation, she said.
“In an interconnected world, an attack on one nation’s networks can be an attack on all,” she said at The Newseum in Washington.
Clinton made the comments as search-engine giant Google threatened to shut down its operations in China, five years after agreeing to allow some censorship in exchange for the right to work in that country’s massive emerging technology market.
Google charges that Chinese hackers have targeted Google and up to 34 other companies.
The Chinese government argues that the Google case is a business dispute and should not affect overall relations between the two countries.
Clinton has said that Google’s allegations of censorship and online attacks by China raise “very serious concerns,” and her agency has said it will file a formal protest over the company’s complaints.
Also this month, foreign correspondents in at least two Chinese bureaus of news organizations had their Google e-mail accounts attacked, with e-mails forwarded to a mysterious address, according to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China.
Clinton warned that the latest information technology — designed to open access to governments — can also be used by some governments to “crush dissent and deny human rights.”
“In the last year, we’ve seen a spike in threats to the free flow of information. China, Tunisia and Uzbekistan have stepped up their censorship of the Internet,” she said.
“In Vietnam, access to popular social networking sites has suddenly disappeared. And last Friday in Egypt, 30 bloggers and activists were detained.”
A member of that group, having since been freed, was in the audience, Clinton said.
“So while it is clear that the spread of these technologies is transforming our world, it is still unclear how that transformation will affect the human rights and welfare of much of the world’s population,” she said.
“The same networks that help organize movements for freedom also enable al Qaeda to spew hatred and incite violence against the innocent,” Clinton said.
Some governments also have “co-opted” the Internet to silence “people of faith,” Clinton said.
In an interconnected world, an attack on one nation’s networks can be an attack on all. –Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
“Last year in Saudi Arabia, a man spent months in prison for blogging about Christianity,” she said. Countries such as Vietnam and China have used similar tactics to “restrict access to religious information.”
The State Department will convene a high-level meeting next month of firms that provide network services for talks on Internet freedom, she said.
Citizens and businesses must be able to rely on the security of information networks, Clinton said.
“Our ability to bank online, use electronic commerce and safeguard billions of dollars in intellectual property are all at stake if we cannot rely on the security of information networks,” she said.
Referring to social and economic development, Clinton said the Internet can serve as a “great equalizer.”
By providing people with access to knowledge and potential markets, networks can create opportunity where none exist.
“Over the last year, I’ve seen this first hand in Kenya, where farmers have seen their income grow by as much as 30 percent since they started using mobile banking technology,” Clinton said.
Information technology has been a great help in addressing the staggering problems in Haiti, she said, pointing to a young girl and two women who were pulled from the rubble after they sent a text message for help.
The text message campaign to raise money for Haiti has raised more than $25 million for recovery efforts, Clinton said. Each texter was asked to donate $10, and the State Department said Wednesday that it is believed to be the largest amount raised for the country through a mobile phone campaign.
CNN‘s Jill Dougherty and Doug Gross contributed to this report.
We saw this type of Iraq-style disaster profiteering in New Orleans and you can expect to see a lot more of this in Haiti over the coming days, weeks and months. Private security companies are seeing big dollar signs in Haiti thanks in no small part to the media hype about “looters.” After Katrina, the number of private security companies registered (and unregistered) multiplied overnight. Banks, wealthy individuals, the US government all hired private security. I even encountered Israeli mercenaries operating an armed check-point outside of an elite gated community in New Orleans. They worked for a company called Instinctive Shooting International. (That is not a joke).
Now, it is kicking into full gear in Haiti. As we know, the member companies of the Orwellian-named mercenary trade association, the International Peace Operations Association, are offering their services in Haiti. But look for more stories like this one:
On January 15, a Florida based company called All Pro Legal Investigations registered the URL Haiti-Security.com. It is basically a copy of the company’s existing US website but is now targeted for business in Haiti, claiming the “purpose of this site is to act as a clearinghouse for information seekers on the state of security in Haiti.”
“All Protection and Security has made a commitment to the Haitian community and will provide professional security against any threat to prosperity in Haiti,” the site proclaims. “Job sites and supply convoys will be protected against looters and vandals. Workers will be protected against gang violence and intimidation. The people of Haiti will recover, with the help of the good people from the world over.”
The company boasts that it has run “Thousands of successful missions in Iraq & Afghanistan.” As for its personnel, “Each and every member of our team is a former Law Enforcement Officer or former Military service member,” the site claims. “If Operator experience, training and qualifications matter, choose All Protection & Security for your high-threat Haiti security needs.”
Among the services offered are: “High Threat terminations,” dealing with “worker unrest,” armed guards and “Armed Cargo Escorts.” Oh, and apparently they are currently hiring.
In case you haven’t already seen this, it’s been discovered that gunsights on weapons used by British and American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are inscribed with coded biblical references, including:
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
It’s absolutely mind-boggling to me that carved onto weapons of war are words of truth and peace, words from a man who embodied and heralded a kingdom characterized by peace, and from a man who announced an alternative to empire and spoke of faith, hope, joy, gentleness, goodness, and peace. How in the heck do these things go together?!
On the website of Trijicon, the US-based manufacturer, it states: “We believe that America is great when its people are good. This goodness has been based on biblical standards throughout our history and we will strive to follow those morals.” Which of course is clearly congruent with SHOOTING people.
Clearly.
No wonder Christians have a bad name. You’d think we’d learned our lessons from the Crusades, the Inquisition, etc. But apparently not.
I would like to introduce myself Anitha Mohanasundaram I am the head of operations for the company called Mooksha ayurveda based out of santa clara California. We bring in well qualified teachers in the field of ayurveda from india to teach the different ayurvedic massages and techniques in the USA
Our program would include a 5 day introductory course in the ayurvedic Massage and Body work.We come to your facility to train your students.
1. Introduction to ayurveda
2. Hands on training in the below treatments
a. Shirodhara
b. Shirovasthi
c. Abhayanga Traditional Ayurvedic Massage
d. UDvarthanam
e. Utsadanam
f. Nasya
g. Ayurvedic facial
h. Mukha Abyanga
Our teachers have been teaching international students for many years and they are well qualified doctors in the field of ayurveda.
For more information contact us
Phone: 408-982-9113
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Regards
For Mooksha ayurveda
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Feedback from our earlier training
I loved it!!! Would love to have more training. Loved the hads on parts. Love the video – Amanda Kinstar
Loved it! I feel so blessed. I am very thankful for this opportunity. I would love more training and to experience treatments – Candace Fruge
Throughly enjoyed it. Very informative. Enjoyed the videos and the techniques. Very interesting by the entire process and how the body responds — Connie Lafay
I cant express how grateful I am to have had this opportunity – mary Witman
He was wonderful Dr.Hari has a very soothing yet riveting voice. He is an incredible instructor. Thank you for your time & willingness to share your knowledge with us – Terra Jeffres
Migränen gav med sig till slut. Lite medtagen som vanligt efter en attack så det blev en skön vilodag. Började med en bok i fåtöljen, sen en stund i sängen med massor av glassiga magazine och träningstidningar. Sedan beställda jag hem Fame på OnDemand. Urk vilken jävla skitrulle, jag brydde mig inte ett dugg om de små tramsiga kidsen och deras små tramsiga problem. Nej tacka vet jag originalet med Leroy och Coco och c:o. Hmmm, nu blev jag så avslagen att jag tror jag måste ta bort den där Fame-låten från min cardio-lista på iPoden. Inte en suck att den låten kan peppa mig igen. Sen efter den filmfloppen blev det middag framför tv:n för att kolla Red Carpet och sedan Golden Globe Awards och äta glarre. Haha, Ricky Gervais är genial! När galan är över kryper jag i säng och tar nya, friska tag imorgon (som för övrigt är Martin Luther King Day och helgdag här i USA). Planen är att köra cardio och styrka.
P.S. Idag drar Beach 2010 igång på allvar på La Röhnisch-bloggen. Du hänger väl på?
President Barack Obama will continue to trust the United States Secret Service, despite the fact that its agents missed interlopers, Tarek and Michelle Selahi, at a state reception at the White House. “I have full confidence in the Secret Service, they do terrific work. They have been close to me ever since I became a presidential candidate. I trust them one hundred percent, and not only I do, but my wife and children do, too”, Obama said in an interview in USA Today.
Houston has a treasure trove of museums just waiting to be discovered. The bulk of them are located in the museum district near downtown. Over the next few posts, I will give an overview of the museums and a brief description/review of each. This first post is general information and getting around.
Transportation and Parking
Driving: You should generally be able to find free parking without a problem. Most museums have their own parking lot with limited spaces where you can park for free. Free parking is available in the various lots in Hermann Park, which is a short walk to the museums. The Museum of Fine Arts also has a free parking lot on Bissonnet St.
Public Transportation: from downtown- take the Metro light rail to the Museum District stop. Or take any of the Metro buses to the museum district.
Getting Around
The museum district is a pedestrian friendly area. The museums are clustered together and are within walking distance of each other. Some of them may be a farther walk though. The museums have a brochure you can pick up that has a map of the museum district and info on all the museums. Alternatively, here is a link to the map. The other option is to drive and most museums will have their own parking lot where you can park for free.
Free Admission Dates/Times
The vast majority of Houston’s museums are either always free or free on certain days/times, which makes the museums very accessible and easy on the wallet. I make note of the free days/times as I review each museum but it is a good idea to check with the museum to make sure they haven’t changed it.
Museum District Free Day
Once a year the museum district puts on a “Museum District Free Day” when all museums in the area waive their admission fees for the day. This is usually on a Saturday in September. Last year in 2009 it was on September 12th. They even have a complimentary shuttle bus that will take you to all the participating museums that day. It is best to plan out your route in advance because there are so many museums to see and it would be impossible to see them all on just one day. I used Museum Day to see all the smaller museums that I hadn’t gotten a chance to see yet, but did not want to make a special trip to the museum district to check out. Also keep in mind that there will be crowds on this free day, especially in the more popular museums, so patience goes a long way.
Confused in achieving its secret designs to become a super power of Asia, now India has started intimidating declared nuclear powers like Pakistan and China through threat of open war.In this regard, Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor vocally revealed on December 29, 2009 that Indian Army “is now revising its five-year-old doctrine” and is preparing for a “possible two-front war with China and Pakistan.”
India has received a matching response from Islamabad. Responding to New Delhi’s open threat, on January 1, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani warned that the situation would get out of control in case of any dangerous adventurism of New Delhi. A day after, Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) Chairman Gen. Tariq Majid stated, “The Indian Army Chief’s statement exhibits a lack of strategic acumen”. He further said that such a path could “fix India on a self-destructive mechanism.” In this connection, taking cognizance of Indian new war-mongering style, on January 6, Gen. Kayani also chaired the meeting of corps commanders, and showed satisfaction over the operational preparedness of the Pakistan Army.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s military and the political leadership has decided to be in active contact and to chalk out an effective strategy to counter hostile approach of India.
While taking notice of India’s tactics to disturb the regional balance of power in South Asia, the cabinet’s defence committee underscored that Pakistan would never allow its security to be jeopardised at any cost. It was decided in the meeting that until and unless South Waziristan operation and rehabilitation of war torn areas in Swat is not completed, no new military front would be opened and no foreign pressure would be tolerated in that respect.
As regards New Delhi’s belligerent approach, it is the result of Indian shattered hope to intimidate other regional countries especially Pakistan whom the former considers a continuous obstacle in the way of its ambitious policy. In fact, both the neighbouring adversaries are nuclear powers, Indians cannot ignore the principles of deterrence, popularly known as balance of terror.
In 1945, America dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as Tokyo had no such devices to retaliate. After the World War 11, nuclear weapons were never used. These were only employed as a strategic threat. During the heightened days of the Cold War, many crises arose in Suez Canal, Korea, Cuba and Vietnam when the US and the former Soviet Union were willing to use atomic weapons, but they stopped due to the fear of nuclear war which could culminate in the elimination of both the super powers. It was due to the concept of ‘mutually assured destruction’ that the two rivals preferred to resolve their differences through diplomacy.
Political strategists agree that deterrence is a psychological concept that aims to affect an opponent’s perceptions. In nuclear deterrence weapons are less usable as their threat is enough in deterring an enemy that intends to use its armed might.
A renowned scholar, Hotzendorf remarks that nuclear force best serves the interests of a state when it deters an attack.
It is mentionable that a few days after the November 26 tragedy of Mumbai, New Delhi, while embarking upon a hot pursuit policy towards Islamabad, under the pretext of that carnage, endeavoured to isolate Pakistan diplomatically in the comity of nations. For this purpose, India sent a number of diplomatic missions to various western capitals to convince them that Pakistan is officially behind Mumbai terror events, emphasising them to pressurize Islamabad in handing over the militants, responsible for the catastrophe.
Photographers, amateur and pro alike, can turn a summer trip into an enjoyable and challenging photograph opportunity. Scenic countrywide parks thru the continental US provide wildlife and landscape vistas not found any place else. Additionally, if you are really looking punctiliously, the glory of nature can be found on most roads and highways.
Opportunity abounds for great pictures in Glacier national Park, as an example. This area was created by glaciers and remains in its primitive condition for the main part. Just one road crosses the Park. Bears, wolves, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, deer, elk and moose are the bigger carnivores who call this Park home. Varied habitats provide conditions for a selection of plant and animal life, thus creating a unique environment not equaled any place else in the country.
Late June and July offers opportunity for a spectacular wild flower display which will thrill photographers. Some short roads ( more like trails ) lead to trail heads that one can span to find the fields of flowers throughout the park. Some fringe roads also provide this opportunity. Autumn brings the blazing colours that mark the fantastic thing about nature’s changing seasons. And photographers love blazing color.
Early morning shots of wildlife grazing are available for early risers. Traveling Going-To-The-Sun Road ( the one that crosses the park ) and taking some of the offshoot roads leads you to grazing areas. There is also opportunity for photos that combine wildlife and wildflowers, an especially staggering display of nature’s beauty.
Other photo ops in national parkland include Bryce canyon, also formed by glaciers and the Grand Staircase in Escalante, New Mexico. Arizona and Utah offer Monument Valley and its grand rock formations that were formed by wind and water erosion. Yellowstone national Park will be a state favorite for many years to come.
Our national parks are among the most spectacular in the world.
If you enjoy traveling and would like to read more on some of the most famous places in the world, visit famouswonders.com and also check out Redwood National Forest Camping.
Teenagers have been warned they are becoming unemployable because they use a vocabulary of just 800 words.
The limited linguistic range also consists of many made up words and ‘teenspeak’ which has developed through modern communication methods such as text messaging and social networking sites.
Today Jean Gross, who advises the Government on children’s speech, said urgent action was required to prevent children failing to find jobs because they are unable to communicate.
Mrs Goss, who last week issued a stark warning over the effect of television on children’s development said yesterday: ‘Teenagers are spending more time communicating through electronic media and text messaging, which is short and brief.
‘We need to help today’s teenagers understand the difference between their textspeak and the formal language they need to succeed in life — 800 words will not get you a job.’
The majority of teenagers should have developed a broad vocabulary of 40,000 words by the time they reach 16.
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3D modeling is beneficial for those instances in which we will benefit from seeing a physical object in a solid form. For this reason, 2D models cannot justify the results required from observing the model.
Medical surgery has come a long way, with the use of 3D models. Modern surgical tools have implemented schematics which include a 3D model of the body, showing the surgeon precisely where to create an incision or the exact location of a tumor that is to be excised. An x-ray, which uses 2D features and techniques, will not have this gravity throughout the surgery process, and can yield, at best, an estimation of where to cut.
If we think back to chemistry class, and the models in the textbook and in the classroom of the 3D representations of molecules, this is more than likely one of the most memorable influences that many students have faced when interaction with 3D models. Researcher, students, teachers and professors alike have benefited from the creation of 3D models.
Property development companies require 3D models of developments for planning committees, zoning, architects, and designers and most important, to pre-sell the properties before the buildings have been completed. Customers purchase the property based on the models alone, justifying the importance of creating accurate and concise 3D models, which can be rendered in the form of a tour of the unit.
Without 3D models and the rendering and animation of these models we would not have advanced graphics within video games and animated films. Not only are 3D models beneficial for entertainment purposes, but for teaching and instruction techniques, such as a 3D model rendered, to show the process of digestion within the human body. These 3D models engage the viewer and offer unique interaction that cannot be found in a 2D model.
Of course, there are always going to be objects that have shown better results when they are visualized in a 2D space, these are: the traditional x-ray, and perspective drawings.
The Advantages of 3D Modeling
3D modeling and 3D renderings serve multiple advantages in a variety of fields. Without these renderings, we would have no simplification in the form of animated video for complex processes such as surgery, or the complex journey through the digestive system.
Considering in the avenue of film, or in current events how time and cost consuming it could be to recreate an event such as a fire, or explosion that has occurred. The animation of 3D models allows artists to create these events using models, than rendering the models, which provides life into the structure to create a sequence of events.
The process of 3D modeling allows artists to learn a variety of techniques and forms to create models, animation and even visualizations. As these artists are taught varying techniques, productivity increases as each technique is best for create specific types of the models.
Using 3D models are learning tools are a business all in its own. We are each gifted with different abilities, and with these abilities comes different ways in which we are able to learn new concepts, easily and effectively. Through the use of 3D models and 3D visualizations we are able to create concepts which can easily be learned by visual or tactile learners. That is, those who learn best by visual recognition of an object, and those who learn best by being able to feel, or take part in an object.
We are able to create models that can mimic art through the use of complex lighting, and photo realistic capabilities created with 3D modeling software programs. We are able to create artistic 3D models, which can benefit the arts as providing another media. Sculpture is one of the earliest forms of 3D modeling, and now, we are able to take sculpture to a new level, with the use of 3D modeling software which can create new media.
The number of people filing for first-time unemployment help edged up last week, but the figure remained near its lowest level in more than a year and came in better than economists had expected.
The US Labor Department revealed Thursday that initial jobless claims came in at 434,000 for the week ended on January 2. This was up 1,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 433,000.
Economists had expected initial claims to edge up to around 435,000.
The 4-week moving average for initial claims, a statistic that flattens out week-to-week fluctuations in the data, dropped 10,250 to 450,250. This suggests that the overall trend for initial claims remains a move lower.
Continuing claims, a statistic that measures the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment help, dropped 179,000 to 4.802 million. This marked the lowest total since late January of 2009.
Attention is now focused on Friday’s monthly employment statistics.
The report, considered by many to be the most important set of economic statistics, is scheduled to be released at 8:30 am Eastern Time.
Mots clés Technorati : American Economy,Employment,fvtaiwan
A recent article in The New York Times describes Ugandan efforts to make homosexuality punishable with hanging. The shocking thing about the news, indeed the point of the article, was that a year ago three American evangelical Christians had spoken to Ugandans about the threat of homosexuality. In so doing, they had helped fan the flames of the anti-gay fervor in Uganda. I was disgusted and horrified when I read the article. Something about Americans being involved, however tenuously, in such an egregious act of persecution made the Ugandan efforts seem much closer to home. It was appalling to think that such intense hatred could spread to the United States, could in fact originate in the United States.
But the more I think about it, the more I believe that attempts to legalize the hanging of homosexuals in Uganda should shock the conscience of the United States, and of the world, whether or not Americans encouraged the attempts. The bottom line is that Uganda is trying to blatantly persecute an entire group of people, and this action threatens not only homosexuals everywhere, but heterosexuals too. Because when the rights of one are violated, the rights of all are compromised.
i found this pretty dope blog entry on my now new fav blog: amassblog.com
i’mma re-copy and paste it for your pleasure:
i receive lots of emails asking about paul rand. it seems many people want to know what it was like to have him as a teacher, or how many rand-designed items i have. like so many of his students, i have my own personal stories to tell. after leaving yale, I kept in touch with him and tried to visit often. the videos you see on youtube—or the interview with steve jobs about working with him—give a pretty accurate picture of what he was like. my association with him has engendered many stories. here is one. i once had the pleasure of interviewing withpeter arnell. this was in 1993 when he was still working with donna karan and i was an art director at bergdorf’s. (you may not know, but when apple did the “think different” campaign and chose paul rand as one of the featured artists, it was peter arnell’s photo they used. i have always disliked that he made money from that.) anyway, i walked into arnell’s office and sat down. he did not open my portfolio. he held up my resume and read it aloud. “so, you went to yale?” he asked. “i did,” i replied. “it doesn’t bother you that i went to princeton and my partner went to columbia?” “no,” i said, “not everyone gets into yale.” (i already figured I wasn’t getting the job.) “so you studied with paul rand?” ”i did.” “would he remember you?” “um, i guess. i would like to hope so.” at this point he yelled out to his assistant, “can you get paul rand on the phone?” ok. there is a first time for everything. the only thing going through my mind was what mr. rand could possibly say. and what if he didn’t remember me? although i was pretty sure he would. arnell put the phone on speaker and we listened together as it rang over and over. arnell was watching me the whole time. i remember this as if it were yesterday. finally the answering machine came on. arnell hung up without leaving a message. i wasn’t especially relieved, mostly just perplexed. what would he have asked him? we then proceeded to discuss rand and his work. what i liked about it, etc. the rest of the interview was pretty uneventful. for my follow-up to the interview, i sent arnell one of my prize rand books, “leaved canceled,” a book he designed in 1945 for knopf. i included a note of thanks and mentioned our shared enthusiasm for mr. rand. my southern roots expected some sort of response. it never came. mr rand touched many people, even someone like peter arnell. mr. rand’s business card sits framed on my shelf, like so many other things he designed. enjoy.
fyi: for privacy reasons the phone number was left incomplete
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It’s absolutely mind-boggling to me that carved onto weapons of war are words of truth and peace, words from a man who embodied and heralded a kingdom characterized by peace, and from a man who announced an alternative to empire and spoke of faith, hope, joy, gentleness, goodness, and peace. How in the heck do these things go together?!
