Friends: Friday night Marty Gibbs is hosting a baby shower at 6pm at the Auction House for my daughter Gina ? her baby girl Rebecca Sue is due on Sept. 14.We don?t want to leave anyone out, and we would love to have our auction family come share this time with Gina and us. You all mean so much to us, and most of you have watched Gina grow from little blonde ponytails to a wonderful young woman. Please come by for cake and punch, or just stop and say hi!
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Some 3-5 year old children go to nursery school.? Others go to day care.? And some students stay at home with a parent, guardian, or caretaker.? In each of these scenarios, the level of exposure a child has to learning his or her ABCs, fine and gross motor skills, and social emotional skills may vary widely.? Kindergarten teachers often have no idea where the students came from and experiences they have had before kindergarten until after they conduct their own screenings (often conducted at a school-wide or district-wide level).? From a state-wide level, other than in special education (which I will talk about later), there has been no standard tool to measure kindergarten readiness.? That is, until now.
In the first 30 days of school, a cohort of Delaware?s kindergarten students will participate in the Delaware Early Learning Survey (DE-ELS).? By September 2015, 100% of the state?s kindergarten students will be participating in the DE-ELS.? The Survey, which is part of Delaware?s Early Learning Challenge grant, is based on the Teaching Strategies Gold assessment.? The benefits of the DE-ELS are simple and far reaching.? The Survey will provide a standard measurement for kindergarten readiness. ??The results will equip kindergarten teachers with data on the overall knowledge and skills their students possess and, moreover, inform the early childhood community on its strengths and deficits in preparing students for kindergarten.*
In addition to providing this measurement, the DE-ELS also can be an opportunity for the early detection of children entering the system with undiagnosed learning disabilities; it can be the basis for a decision to follow up with an in-depth diagnostic assessment.?? As a former teacher of students with special needs, I see this as a benefit to all children, especially those who otherwise may not be diagnosed until later in their public school education.
Like I mentioned earlier, the practice of systematically screening children before they?re immersed in kindergarten is nothing new in the realm of special education.? Since 2005, the US Department of Education has required preschool special education programs to report on early childhood outcomes using a standard assessment or survey (in addition to parent feedback, and professional observations).? In Delaware, local school districts use a Delaware Department of Education approved primary assessment instrument to measure early childhood progress.? One of these instruments is the Teaching Strategies Gold assessment?the same assessment that the Delaware Early Learning Survey will be derived from.
In closing, this fall marks an exciting time in early learning.? Information is power?I am quite certain the results from the DE-ELS will not only help kindergarten teachers, it will inform a system of supports for families?well before their child enters through the doors of their kindergarten classroom. This kind of survey has proven itself effective in special education, and will most likely do the same for all kindergarten students in Delaware.
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* It is important to note that it will not be used to make a determination about an individual child?s placement in kindergarten or promotion to first grade.? In addition, individual child or teacher level data will not be reported publicly.
The following article is one of a series of articles which focus on Self Improvement, Motivation and Empowerment. It is based on research done over twenty years as a personal and business coach. This self improvement article was written in response to questions which have been asked on exercising, keeping fit, losing weight and long term weight loss as well as address common challenges that people have with this subject. I sincerely hope that you find the following information of value.
The total number of overweight American adults is approximately one-third or 58 million Americans. (overweight defined as a BMI value of 273 percent or more for women and 27.8 percent or more for men).
Nearly 70 percent of the diagnosed cases of cardiovascular disease are related to obesity. Obesity more than doubles one?s chances of developing high blood pressure, which affects approximately 26 percent of obese American men and women.
Every year, 300,000 people in the U.S.A. die from being overweight.
Now imagine the statistics for the whole western world!
If you visit the articles following this one, You will continue to see the above stats.
I don?t apologize for that ? these are frightening statistics. However, in this day and age, thankfully, there are options for those wishing to either lose weight, get fit, or lead a far healthier lifestyle.
Weight Loss ? The Ups And Downs Of weight loss Planning
Most of us have probably heard of the expression ? ?Fail to plan, plan to fail?. For her university entrance exams, my daughter recently followed her study plan (with breaks). My wife plans the following day?s schedule to ensure all appointments are kept (with breaks). Most of us either have plans or may be required to follow someone else?s plan, say in the workplace. Some people even plan for their more intimate activities.
Others say we plan too much, we are not spontaneous enough, and it has an adverse effect on our creativity. In some cases, I believe this to be true.
When it comes to weight loss, however, I think planning is key. We need to give ourselves the chance to succeed by planning (with breaks) what we eat and when we eat it. If we are too rigid in our planning, we run the risk of getting bored or worse, giving up altogether.
Plan to change in smaller rather than drastic steps. Remember the ultimate goal is long term and permanent weight loss, not a quick fix that will only lead to disappointment.
Have a look at the ideas that follow. Incorporate them into you weight loss planning.
Don?t Over Do It
I know that this can be a tough call, We all want to see the positive results of our efforts especially when it come to weight loss. To emphasize an earlier point, have a specific target in your plan. Perhaps your plan is to increase your levels of activity every day for 30 minutes; perhaps it is to eat 10% less every day. Whatever it may be, stay with it, you will succeed.
Most of us know that if we use up more calories than we take in, we will reduce our fat levels and improve our ability to achieve our weight loss goals. If your plan is to eat less, then the next two points will certainly help.
Physical Activity / exercise
Your view of well being may be different to mine. I try to think of weight loss from an holistic viewpoint. This isn?t just about losing weight. It?s about looking good, feeling good. It?s about being mentally sharp. It?s about self esteem.
We all need to exercise to keep fit. The fitter we become, the fitter we will want to stay, the more motivated we will be in following our chosen weight loss plan. If we are significantly more positive about ourselves and our accomplishments, there is likely to be a far lower risk of becoming depressed.
You know as I know that when depressed, chances are we will end up eating fatty foods as well as forgetting about exercising or our goal for a ?healthy lifestyle?. What happens, we put fat and the pounds back on. We get more depressed. And on it goes.
Prepare And Eat Smaller Meals Throughout The Day.
Think nutrition, think variety, think balance.
Again, as stated previously, don?t over do it. Gradually change from your current eating habits to, say, eating every four hours. Then plan to eat even smaller meals every two hours.
Make sure you get enough protein and enough fiber. A smaller meal to me doesn?t mean a burger without the fries, or fries without the mayo. Make sure you include vegetables and fruit to balance out the meal.
The big benefit of eating smaller, nutritional meals throughout the day is that we avoid those pangs of hunger that can often lead to eating unhealthy snacks.
Whatever plan you develop here, make sure you stay with it.
Yes Breaks Are Allowed
Eat something that you know you shouldn?t. Enjoy your favorite treat.
Hey, Andrew, that goes against my weight loss plan! Well, it does and it doesn?t. I want you to stay positive, stay motivated. If we don?t allow ourselves to eat things we shouldn?t from time to time, or have a day off exercising from time to time, we can easily become demotivated and, before we know where we are, our weight loss plan is out the window along with our healthy lifestyle. We then get depressed. Need I say any more?
Watch What You Drink And How Much You Drink
I have to admit that I have to monitor how much coffee I drink each day. Certainly not conducive to a healthy lifestyle or long term weight loss.
Other may have to think about how much beer or how much soda they drink on a daily basis. Why?
Well, there is no point in working out your weight loss plan to reduce your food calorie intake if you are then going to make up the calorie ?shortfall? or even increase it by drinking more drinks which are high in calories.
Last But Not Least, What Turns You On?
With my wife, it is chocolate. With me it is the smell of fresh baked bread ? I can?t resist it. The taste of a fresh baguette (with nothing else) ? wonderful. I just have to avoid the local bakery or I know what will happen!
What turns you on? What food can trigger an almost ?must have? response with you?
If those foods are not part of your weight loss planning, think of ways you can avoid those must have situations.
Let me end as I started, fail to plan and plan to fail. Weight loss planning isn?t difficult, so do not be put off by it. If you seriously wish to get fitter, get leaner, look and feel great, develop your weight loss plan and have the determination to see it through (with breaks).
Take those first steps today to a leaner, fitter you and a more active lifestyle. Learn the facts about nutrition, diet plans, and how following a natural weight loss strategy will work for you.
Learn the truth from our articles and reviews and get the success you deserve?
Visit Our Natural Weight Loss Website Today [http://www.your-natural-weight-loss.com]
I am honored to share with you, my dear friend, Bessie?s story. She has been such a picture of Jesus to me and everyone around her as she has walked through the painful and beautiful road of love and loss through infertility, pregnancy, and adoption. Here is God?s story, in Bessie Cameron:
I?ve always had a heart for children, a desire to one day be a Mom was in my heart since I was much younger. When I married, my husband and I battled infertility. During this time when we kept trying to use medical technology to start a family, we also felt led to become foster parents. Our lives were touched by several beautiful children we had in our home, in October 2009 we were able to adopt our first child, Leila Bess. Just prior to her adoption, we also FINALLY achieved a pregnancy thru in vitro fertilization (IVF)! It was more than we ever dreamed! We were blessed with a precious new baby AND I was pregnant! But at 20 weeks devastation occurred. My body went into labor far too early and we lost our precious son, Jameson. Over the next two years we took a break from medical treatments and prayed about God?s plan for our family. We still had many embryos frozen, and we were not sure whether IVF or maybe another option like surrogacy or adoption was our calling. We even had a dear friend offer to carry the baby!
Towards the end of this time we gave a few more attempts at IVF- many that had to be canceled due to my adenomyosis, and we had two failed transfers.
We decided to take another break and really pray about the will of God in our lives and for our family. During this time I read the inspiring story- Kisses from Katie. We discussed it and prayed nightly. That?s when Gods will was clear to my husband and I?adoption. It was a way we could help out an unborn baby, a woman with an unplanned pregnancy, and expand our family. We did a home study and spread the word amongst friends and family.
Within a few months we found a young woman who needed us. She was all alone in her pregnancy with no support. We began walking with her and helping give her our support and leading her to resources. I knew all along that there was always a chance she could change her mind, but I felt we were walking with her and that we were right where God wanted us to be. I knew He would be faithful.
Lily was born in late May; I cut the cord after helping the mother, with my sweet friend who agreed to be her Doula, through an all night labor. We took Lily home and were thrilled to have a new addition into our family. We loved on sweet Lily for 12 days and then the unimaginable happened: the birth mother texted me to tell me she had changed her mind.
She wanted to parent Lily. I lost it, and I panicked! I was filled with fear. I thought and said things I shouldn?t. There was some question as to whether the change of heart had come too late for us to have to legally return her. Some people advised us to fight for her, saying it would be in her best interest in the long run. After several days of meeting with counselors, the birthmother, and consulting with Godly friends, I realized what we needed to do.
During one of those early morning feedings I examined the word of God, the ultimate resource for all of life?s problems, for how to handle disagreements and whether going to court was the right answer. I knew all along the right answer, and in retrospect I know that the reason I knew it was because the Holy Spirit resides in me. That night I read of kindness, forgiveness, and I knew what the next painful steps would be. At the same park where we first met, 2 months prior, we gave our precious Lily back to her mother. Not only was this a devastating loss emotionally, but financially as well. We lost the baby we thought was ours, but we also lost the money invested in lawyers, counselors, travel and other expenses. Much of that was not refunded. Not only that, I was worried we would not be able to now afford another adoption.
A week past and I returned home to Florida. I got a text from a dear friend asking if I had read her emails and texts and what I thought about this new situation. I went back and read them and couldn?t believe my eyes! When I had asked her to pray for us in the midst of our crisis- she had responded that God may already be moving. There was another baby!
She was to be born exactly 1 month after Lily?s due date. My husband and I prayed about it, and decided we would again open our hearts and our home. This birthmother needed us even more, and was so grateful for us to adopt her baby girl. Baby Libby Grace was born on July 4, 2012.
She has been in our arms ever since! The birth mother signed over her rights in the hospital. I have hesitated to tell our story, because until recently we were still waiting to see if the possible birthfather had registered to claim paternity. He did not! After this there will be several other formal steps of adoption to go through before it is final. We look forward to that day, when we know for sure she is ours to keep!
We?ve built our family through adoption and have been blessed beyond belief! We are so grateful for the support and encouragement we?ve found in friends and family along the journey! It is so worth it!!
Thank you Bessie for sharing your beautiful life story with us. I am excited there is a fun (and stylish) way we can help support Bessie?s family through their journey of adoption! These adoption tee?s sell for $15. ALL PROCEEDS go to help support domestic adoption! 100% cotton tee designed by Catalyst Promotions. The front reads: ?Love makes a family? and the back reads, ?I didn?t give you life, but life gave me the gift of you? Support Adoption. You know you want one!
Web site marketing is one of the most important methods for managing a business online. It allows for a business to get customers to the website who are most likely to buy from the company. Whether purchasing products, signing up for services or other activities, the only way to get results from a website is to let more people know that the website is there. Through effective web site marketing methods, this can be accomplished without a lot of risk.
Various tools are available to help a business owner to do well online. For example, web site marketing requires that you spend a good deal of time using several methods, not just one. Here are some of the various types of marketing your business may want to consider using to get full Internet exposure and maximum results.
1. The use of email marketing is quite important. Communicate with your clients through email. Emails must be designed to get them to click on the links to take them to the website. They need go out according to legal requirements, including anti spam laws.
2. Targeted traffic is key to building a website. Targeted traffic is traffic that comes to your website that has somehow been qualified. For example, the traffic could be coming in response to an ad or because the individual has already shown some interest in the products you have. Targeted traffic is much more likely to make a purchase than any other form of traffic. You want the largest amount of targeted visitors as possible.
3. Press releases are a tool to help any business to get the word out. Press releases work in mostly the same way as they would in the offline world. They simply communicate news to the media. This news gets around, and ultimately you can count on seeing an increase in traffic from these tools. Many of the businesses online that do not use them fail to reach their full potential.
As you consider what types of web site marketing your business needs, plan to spend some time learning the ins and outs of this field. A business owner does not necessarily need to have a budget as large as other companies, but they do need to know the proper types of web site marketing for their website and the tools for making it happen. There can be a rather steep learning curve but it can bear fruit.
A web site without any type of marketing is one that is not getting enough traffic, enough sales and enough return customers. Proper marketing can help to turn even a small business into a successful, financially strong company. Those that do not have successful web marketing may find themselves without the value that they could have had. The good news is that it is very possible to have this within a business today when you either educate yourself on how to market or hire a company to do it for you.
Being healthy and fit is the necessity of present day guy. Getting time in the busy agendas and taking part in tiring gym schedule is exactly what nobody loves to do. So, the significance of fitness at home equipment has lately increased.
Fitness at home equipment handover great large amount of privacy and provides enough scope to possess time versatility using the routine to workout according to individual convenience. Might be this facility isn?t endowed by the gym center you will enroll for such exercises.
Though, this process offers great comfort towards the fitness fanatics, still finding efficient fitness at home equipment become sometimes quite tricky and uneasy.
So, ideas have step-by-step guide that provide complete guidance in regards to what would be the ways to find the best and many appropriate fitness at home equipment in the available lot.
Budget: First and also the foremost factor to think about if this involves buy exercise equipment may be the budget. As, it?s not deal much like buying a hair pin, an investment required is commendably high. One needs to be wise to look into the available cash and credit in hands before really venturing out looking for fitness at home equipment. If you?re determined enough to purchase choice for you, it is best to search for discount rates on health exercise equipment inside your nearby shops and stores.
Space: The exercise equipment or machines are very large in dimensions. You must have a great deal of space or well-furnished and spacious gym areas to be able to put them in your own home securely. So, make certain you have an adequate amount of space of these equipment after evaluating extra room to maneuver and free working out before really getting these exercise equipment home.
Time: You need to think about trading within the exercise equipment only when you need to exercise together. You will find lots of people who purchase these equipment buy afterwards they cant use them and their investment kept in an area. Should you invest high, gain all of the possible benefits.
Kind of machines: Though such purchases could be sometimes quite overwhelming only one must always keep persistence and really should make an effort to choose the right available exercise equipment. Not every machines are appropriate to become practiced on by all kinds of customers. So have a sneak peak that they suites your financial allowance and can endow the expected benefits.
While cabinets ultimate idea for garage storage shelves, they are doing incorporate some drawbacks. What things can you are doing so they are employment in your garage? Consider some of the best solutions available?Cabinets are wonderful in the garage. They make the garage look cleaner and neater while you can hide your whole things inside them. They are enable you to organize your things easier and you're simply capable to separate things which really should not be stored together.
You need to get your items started and to a steel garage storage cabinet. Acquiring a storage cabinet can do 2 things to your garage. First rrt's going to protect your tools, garden equipment, shoe and whatever else you maintain your garage. No longer wasting money new equipment and tools. Second that works miracles affect organizing your garage, you may put your vehicle, motorcycle and even both in your garage. So why do you prefer to play outside and scrap snow off your automobile well before you try to school or work. Have that car in your garage and work out your winter easier.
I used to be making good progress, thereafter I saw that We could do many other conisderations to conserve space that didn't involved the effective use of garage storage cabinets whatsoever. I made the choice when i would get every bike as well as set them upside-down in the ceiling. I ensured them to be all secure, however were also no longer blocking people's way. It was actually quicker to find the way within once the different bikes were started, when i decide to take it even a pace further.
One other essential method to garage organizing is ty trying the ceiling. Ceiling racks can utilize space that would not normally stay in use. This would provide more floor area. They can quit easy to access. A number of people start using racks for seasonal items. This will make difficult access more sensible.The ceiling doubles with ceiling shelves and hoists. Human reviewers . but assist with storage of enormous items. Hoists may work well for something like wheel barrows.
A small, three-door utility garage storage cabinet is fun for storing small tools. A wide open wall storage cabinet, nevertheless, is made for keeping gardening materials along with other products that probably are not thoroughly dried before storage. Keeping damp components in closed cabinets can offer off a musty odor and encourages mold growth.A two-door base cabinet costs about $150 and protects long and high items including golf bags and hockey equipment. You may as well buy a wardrobe garage storage cabinet if you have formal clothes that would not folded right compact bundle. You could find a natural maple cabinet from this type bundle around $150. They're really easy you can save and now have adjustable shelves for flexibility.
NettingConsider a netting storage option just like a giant hammock for one's garage ceiling. Household keeps what exactly contained and also swing as easily as its hammock counterpart, it is manufactured from the exact same, netting type material. This may be a good way to store balls and sports gear. You can actually attach the netting by injection to the ceiling overhead or install hooks that a person to hang netted bags. It is a lowest priced option to add significant storage to your own garage, however even the most visually cluttering. For everybody who is seeking an extremely organized uncluttered look, netting probably are not just going to be your very best self choice.
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Twitter has gone official with changes that will land in version 1.1 of its API. Some of the changes will help twitter to reduce the number of spam accounts and bots that use the service, but the changes will also restrict third-party applications. Specifically, the changes to the new version of the API will place a limit on how often third-party twitter clients and other services are able to access information on twitter.
One key feature of the updated API that will affect third-party applications is the migration of twitter?s former Display Guidelines to Display Requirements. The change will enforce some design requirements on how third party applications present tweets. These changes will make it harder for third-party twitter applications to set themselves apart from each other and from the official twitter service.
That seems like a move by twitter to help push some users back to its official application. If all third-party apps look pretty much the same as the official twitter app, some people may opt to use the official app. One thing that carries over from previous versions of the twitter API is the request twitter places on developers to not mimic or reproduce the twitter consumer client experience. Twitter offered up two examples of applications that mimic its own application to closely including Tweetbot and Echofon.
One of the biggest changes is that twitter now requires all third-party applications that are preinstalled on a device to be certified. It?s unclear exactly what the certification process will entail at this point. All we do know is that any developers who have their app preinstalled on a device without having it certified could have their application keep revoked leaving their application useless. Another major change is that any application or service that accesses twitter data now has to authenticate via OAuth. This particular change will be enforced for all applications starting in March 2013.
Webmaster note: I did find this article interesting, but not fully convinced about this research yet?.But, it seems that eating healthier is still a better choice for your child ? on many levels. Hopefully, some of you will have an opinion on this new research.
From Philadelphia Inquirer?..
Brain food is real ? and so is ?brain-draining? food. So say Australian researchers who checked up on the diets of 7,000 little kids and then looked at their IQs eight years later. The study, from the University of Adelaide, found a connection:
1. Kids who were still being breastfed at six months and regularly ate good-for-you foods like beans, cheese, fruit and vegetables at 15 and 24 months had an IQ up to two points higher by age eight.
2. In contrast, kids who regularly munched on cookies, chocolate, sweets, soft drinks and chips in the first two years of life ? had IQs were two points lower by age eight.
This isn?t the first study to find a connection between what kids eat early in life and their later intelligence ? at least the kind of intelligence measured on an IQ test. In 2011, an on-going British study called the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children found that toddlers who ate more processed, fatty foods had slightly lower IQs. And the more healthy stuff a toddler ate ? like fish and produce ? the higher their scores.
The British researchers scored the diets of the toddlers, ages 1 to 3. For every one point increase in processed foods they ate, their IQs at age 8 were 1.67 points lower. And for every one point increase in healthy food, IQs at age 8 were 1.2 points higher. The interesting thing was, early diets were linked with later IQ even in kids whose diets got better or worse after age 3 ? suggesting that there?s an important early window for helping kids? brains be all they can be. That makes sense. Kids? brains grow fastest in the first three years of life ? when connections between brain cells are made at a rapid rate.
BEIJING (AP) ? The world's two biggest economies are entering the final stages of political campaigns to pick their national leaders. But that's where similarities in the politics of the United States and China end.
While American candidates wage loud, rah-rah campaigns with a clear timetable as they head toward the Nov. 6 presidential election, China hasn't even announced the date for this fall's Communist Party congress that will appoint the next top leader to replace outgoing Hu Jintao ? a post widely expected to go to Vice President Xi Jinping.
While U.S. candidates ricochet from one electoral appearance to the next, delivering speeches, shaking hands and kissing babies, China's future leaders are rarely seen outside of tightly scripted official appearances. In recent weeks, they haven't been seen at all, as part of an arcane communist tradition that sends them to a leadership retreat for about a month.
And while the U.S. process is an election decided by voters, it's not conclusively known how China's ruling party picks its leaders, including members of the inner sanctum: the all-powerful, nine-member Politburo Standing Committee.
For the first time in recent decades, cycles have aligned so that the leadership decisions are happening in the two countries at roughly the same time.
"The U.S. public can participate, they can criticize, they can vote. Over here all we can do is watch TV," said Li Fan, who promotes grass-roots democracy through his private, Beijing-based The World and China Institute.
The contrasts are especially striking in the mass media.
American TV broadcasts are festooned with up-to-the-minute ads produced at lightning speed to keep up with a 24-hour news cycle and often designed for shock value. Only hours after President Barack Obama declared that "the private sector is doing fine" in June, his opponents ran an ad mocking him as out of touch.
In China, the party runs turgid spots about farmers or factory workers and their breakthroughs in machine-assisted production and other deeds accomplished under the party's leadership. Lately, state media has revived a campaign to glorify a former soldier, Lei Feng, who became an everyman hero after he died on the job a full half-century ago.
While the U.S. does retail politics, with parties serving up several versions of their vision to cater to targeted constituencies, China's politics might better be described as wholesale: a drab and monolithic package that is the same for everyone.
Not surprisingly, the Chinese public is far less engaged. "Outside of the academics and those of us in the think tanks, it's difficult to find citizens who care much at all about what the party does," Li said.
China has settled into a system of turning over its top leaders about every decade in an evolving process that stresses collegial ? albeit secretive ? decision-making as a way of avoiding the strongman rule of its turbulent past. The Communist Party has never spelled out exactly how the transition works, but it gives signals about the leadership at the party congresses held every five years.
It is widely understood that Xi and Vice Premier Li Keqiang will end up on the Standing Committee again and become China's next two top leaders, partly because they were the only politicians named to the panel five years ago who were young enough to be below retirement age for this year's transition. But even that widely held belief won't be confirmed in state media.
And Chinese people can only speculate privately on who else will join the top lineup.
While Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney are seen daily, shirt sleeves rolled up, verbally sparring around the country for the four-year presidential term, the run-up to this fall's transition in China takes place behind closed doors.
The endgame formally got under way this week with the announcement of 2,270 carefully vetted delegates who will attend the party congress. Their chief task will be to select a Central Committee of about 200 members. That committee in turn picks the 25-member Politburo and its Standing Committee ? though the positions are believed decided in behind-the-scenes negotiations rather than in a direct vote.
Going by the last congress in 2007, this year's meeting should take place around mid-October, but it could be slightly earlier or a few weeks later.
The deputy chief of the party's Organization Department declined to say at a recent news conference when the congress would proceed. Wang Jingqing merely reiterated that it would take place in the second half of the year and said not even he knew whether the Standing Committee would remain at nine or be cut to seven members as has been speculated.
The insularity of the Chinese system has been displayed by the near-total absence of top leaders from Beijing since the end of July when they moved to the coastal resort of Beidaihe for holidays and informal meetings intended to finalize the leadership roster. The U.S. has no equivalent of China's nine-man ruling clique, but it would be unthinkable for the most powerful people in Washington to disappear from public view for even a week.
The massive gap between Chinese and U.S. political culture underlines how successfully leaders in Beijing have resisted calls to liberalize their closed system. Sixty-three years after seizing power in a violent revolution, the Communist Party has seen off all challengers, including some among the urban middle class now agitating for greater civil and political rights.
Over the past year, an unprecedented number of Chinese sought to run independently for seats in local people's congresses, the Chinese equivalent of a city or state assembly. Most were barred from even registering, waylaid by bureaucratic excuses and then threatened and harassed at home and work.
Many had sought to publicize their campaigns online, but Beijing monitors the Internet relentlessly for political challenges. In contrast, the net has been a game changer in the U.S. politics, both for fundraising and getting the message out. Attack ads are also common online, and some U.S. politicians may wish they had China's ability to adroitly delete content deemed politically sensitive.
In the U.S., election campaigning was open to all comers and started informally years ago. It began in earnest in recent months with Republican primaries. Many voters may be tired of the process by the time it ends, even if the outcome ? unlike in China ? is far from certain.
China's future leaders undergo no such open competitive process, because they are picked by a small circle of top officials whose decisions are later confirmed in "nominal procedures," said Yang Fengchun, of Peking University's School of Government.
In China, "there are no elections in the general sense, though the word election has been used," Yang said. "You can't compare the two systems."
The health care field is one of the fastest growing sectors in today?s economy; and as part of this industry, massage therapy is projected to experience faster than average growth. If you want to work in the field of health care, and enjoy helping patients, but you don?t want to spend years in medical or nursing school, you may want to learn about massage.
Massage therapists use the science and art of touch to manipulate the soft-tissues and muscles of the body. Massage improves circulation, muscle tone and promotes general overall health. Training in massage therapy focuses on its rehabilitative effects. Massage is used for variety of conditions, to treat painful ailments, overworked muscles, reduce stress,<a href=?http://www.blogster.com/jamyboy123/important-Wedding-Planning? target=?_blank? style=?text-decoration: none;?>important Wedding Planning</a>, and to rehabilitate injuries. As a licensed massage therapist you can work in a wide variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics, health care facilities, sports clinics and fitness studios. You also have the option to travel to your patient?s home or workplace. Doctors, physiotherapists and chiropractors often recommend massage therapy for specific health conditions; in addition, health insurance companies support the practice of it in many instances.You can typically complete training for massage within a few months. A quality therapy program will prepare you for a career as a licensed massage therapist.
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Keep in mind that giving massages can be physically demanding; if you want to give massages you should be in good physical condition and health. It is important that you train to use proper techniques to avoid injury while at work. The repetitive movements you use and fatigue from standing long hours can be very taxing on your body. You can lessen your risk of injury by using proper massage techniques, spacing enough time between your massage sessions, and by staying in good shape. You should also consider getting a regular massages yourself from another licensed therapist.
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Syrian forces pounded rebel hubs in the city of Aleppo and battled opposition fighters around Damascus on Friday, activists said, as the UN reported a surge in refugees and named a new envoy to try to end the conflict.
The United Nations announced that veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi will take over as international envoy from Kofi Annan, who quit earlier this month.
In his first tentative comments, Brahimi admitted he was not over-confident he would be able to end the 17-month-old conflict.
"I might very well fail but we sometimes are lucky and we can get a breakthrough," he told the BBC in an interview. But "these missions have to be undertaken. We have got to try. We have got to see that the Syrian people are not abandoned."
On the ground, violence was also reported in other towns and villages across the country, with the bloodletting showing no signs of any let-up a day after the United Nations formally called time on its observer mission.
"The violence and the suffering in Syria must come to an end," UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in a statement announcing the appointment of Brahimi.
Ban called on the international community to give "strong, clear and unified" support to the new envoy, after Annan complained that his mission had been mission had been hamstrung by the deep rift on the UN Security Council between the West and traditional Damascus allies Beijing and Moscow.
But in sign that the divisions remain as large as ever, Washington called for clarifications on Brahimi's mandate and Moscow called off a meeting on the conflict that had been planned for Friday after Western and Arab governments said they would not attend.
On the ground, at least 72 people were killed as the regime continued its onslaught on Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, a watchdog which has a network of activists on the ground.
The army clashed with rebels near the main military airport in Damascus and shelled southern parts of the capital as well as areas of the commercial city of Aleppo and the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, the Observatory said.
Deadly violence was also reported in the provinces of Homs and Daraa, the cradle of the uprising that began with peaceful protests in March 2011 but has escalated into an increasingly vicious battle between armed rebels and government forces.
Opposition factions reported that 65 bodies had been found dumped on a rubbish tip in a town near Damascus, claiming the victims had been bound, executed and set on fire by pro-government forces.
It is impossible to independently verify such claims as journalists are unable to report freely in Syria.
With the international community still deeply divided over how to end the conflict, the UN said the number of Syrians seeking refuge in neighbouring countries had now soared to at least 170,000.
"There has been a further sharp rise in the number of Syrians fleeing to Turkey," the UN refugee agency said.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called for President Bashar al-Assad's regime to be "smashed fast" as he visited Turkey's largest refugee camp near the border.
"After hearing the refugees and their account of the massacres of the regime, Mr Bashar al-Assad doesn't deserve to be on this earth," Fabius said.
Russia rejected a proposal to set up no-fly zones to help fleeing civilians after the United States said it was ready to consider the move.
"You have to solve citizen security issues using methods put in practice by international humanitarian law," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sky News Arabia.
"But if you try to create no-fly zones and safety zones for military purposes by citing an international crisis -- this is unacceptable," he said.
More than 23,000 people have died since the revolt against Assad's iron-fisted rule broke out, according to activists, while the UN puts the toll at around 17,000.
Assad has described the conflict as a battle for the very survival of his minority Alawite-led regime against a foreign "terrorist" plot aided by the West and its allies in the region.
But he has faced a string of high level defections, including by prime minister Riad Hijab and senior general Manaf Tlass, and a bomb attack that killed four security chiefs.
"It is clear that both sides have chosen the path of war... and the space for political dialogue and cessation of hostilities and mediation is very reduced at this point," UN assistant secretary general for peacekeeping Edmond Mulet said.
And in a damning report this week, a UN panel said government forces and their militia allies had committed crimes against humanity including murder and torture, while also accusing the rebels of war crimes but to a lesser extent.
As the two sides become more entrenched in Syria, there are fears the conflict could spread further afield, after mass kidnappings in Lebanon in retaliation for events across the border.
The United States warned that its nationals face increased threats in Lebanon, including the possibility of targeted kidnappings or terrorist attacks, after several Arab states in the Gulf ordered their nationals to leave.
Last night I was pondering sending my parents another email to start another discussion about my sexuality; to set another spark. Recently I have just been feeling depressed and lonely as I long to be in the companionship of another man yet my parents do not understand me and do not accept me being gay or being with another man.
It should never have to be like this for any family or for any gay teen. To use the Bible as a means of further separating the relationship between a father and son is not what God wants to see. It is one thing to not believe that gay relationships are acceptable to God but it is another to deny someone?s sexuality out of ignorance and pride. In saying this I do not put myself above my parents but to make a point. For I am not better than anyone else and I will never know everything or do everything right. How can my father know ?about my sexuality if he does not put in the time to research it? As the quote says ?Knowledge is power.? I have told my dad that his lack of wanting to understand me and my sexuality shows me that he does not love me enough yet he does not research because he does not believe in God accepting gay relationships or people even being gay. He has also told me that I should change my sexual orientation to straight and marry a woman. How is that even done? It is not just going to happen magically. Is not ex-gay ministries the answer to that question? In our discussion, my dad did not even know what ex-gay ministries were because of his lack of research on the topic. Shouldn?t you have facts to back up your argument before you choose a side? Apart from sexuality, a person would look at the facts of an issue and base their beliefs on those facts. My dad has the cart before the horse in trying to use whatever evidence he can to support his conviction. I respect his conviction yet at the same time his conviction has a lot to do with me and it hurts me and causing me much stress. He does not come to the topic with an open mind and look at all the evidence to come to a conclusion. He picks and chooses what other people believe and uses that to support his beliefs. The key is to come into the topic with an open mind and to look at all of the evidence and facts.
This is the path that I have taken.?My dad bought himself ?A Parent?s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality? by Joseph Nicolosi, which I later read. He also bought me an $80 kit of books for Exodus International that I read the summer before my freshman year of college. Knowing the ?Christian psychology? to sexuality and being gay really helped start my journey to reconcile my faith and sexuality. The biggest thing that I dislike and disagree with when it comes to that viewpoint is the blaming of the parents for their child being gay. Do I think that my parents played a role in my sexuality? Yes. I believe that it is a combination of nature and nurture. Studies show that the brain of a gay man fires and functions similarly with a straight woman than with a straight man. That would be part of the nature side of sexuality. I try to put myself in my parent?s shoes. How would I feel if I was a conservative Christian and someone told me that my parenting was the reason that my son is gay. I would not know what to do. I would feel so much guilt and hurt that I did this to my son. In one of the discussions with my parents about my sexuality, my mom broke down crying and said something along the lines of ?I?ll never stop loving you the way I know how. You are my son and I have always loved you that way.? My mom was really hurt by this view. I would totally agree that I have a distant father and an overbearing mother but not all gay men do and that is the point. No matter what my parents would have done to raise me, God wanted me to be gay because there was a purpose and a reason behind it. He is going to use it for His glory and to make His name known.
The big thing about this viewpoint is it not only says that there is a problem with the son that is gay, there is a problem with the way the parents have raised their son. I can understand the need for balance when it comes to anyone?s life, a balance of mother to father interaction with a child but this view comes to the conclusion that love can be wrong and I disagree with that. Jesus was the very essence love and through Him love was created through the Trinity. Jesus never sinned. He was the sacrifice for the world?s sin so that mankind could be reconciled back to God. A question that I have had from the beginning of my journey with my sexuality is how is my love for another man wrong? The Bible never says anything about love being wrong but encourages to love one another. I believe this discrepancy, in saying love is wrong, is a lack of human understanding of who God is.
The war on the topic of gay is not just about sexuality. It is also about a deeper understanding of God, his nature, and how He created humans. God himself is genderless and being made in the image of God, I am like God. I would disagree with the NIV?s translation of saying it is a sin to be effeminate. Effeminate is defined by dictionary.com as ?(of?a?man?or?boy)?having?traits,?tastes,?habits,?etc.,traditionally?considered?feminine,?as?softness?or?delicacy.? God does not work within our understanding of gender through from this definition God would be effeminate in society?s eyes today. God embodies both the masculine and the feminine. I am going to be bold enough to say that God is most like a gay man, having both masculine and feminine qualities. My mom and dad are very strict on gender roles, as most conservative Christians are. When I was in 5th grade, I would paint my two sister?s hands and feet with nail polish. I was never allowed to paint my own nails because it was ?effeminate?. A while ago I saw a YouTube video of Darren Criss (big fan of his) do an acoustic version of a song and as he was performing I saw that his fingernails on his hands where painted. Personally, I do not express myself in that way but it is just the principle of it. I would love to do it once to see what it is like and I should be able to it. I really support Darren Criss for the fact that even though he is a straight guy, who plays a stunning gay man on Glee, he has the confidence to perform and have his nails be different colors. He simply does not care what other people think and I admire that.
We see that God is not tied down my gender expression so why should humans? There are passages of the Bible that talk about the roles of the man and the woman in a relationship and I think those verse should still be lived out. ?When it comes to gender expression, I do not think it is wrong for a man to dress in drag as a woman. The problem comes in with society. Society determines what is masculine and what is feminine. Society determines who will succeed in it by what qualities they have and do not have. It is changing as more gay men come out and it is more accepted to be gay. There is still more work to do. God is not the one who put rules on gender expression, humans did. What is comes down to is someone sees a drag queen, for instance, and they think about it. It is different than the typical male or female expression we see on a daily basis. There is the opportunity of difference. At the moment, they have the choice to be open-minded and accept that person?s gender expression or to deny their gender expression. In seeing a drag queen and denying their gender expression, maybe the person who sees does not understand why a person would do that or want to do that. That is all it takes to go from being different than someone else to being against a group of people. I think there is fear in the unknown and fear towards a group of people because of a person?s lack of understanding. It is an interesting though that prejudice comes from a place of fear.
This post is getting long and there is still more I could write about so I will have another part to this post coming soon.
Posted by daronmancilla93 on Aug 15, 2012 in SPORTS | Comments Off
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A? top Turkish football club has found a novel way of raising extra revenue.
Forget scarves and shirts, and corporate entertainment, Trabzonspor is building a hydroelectric power station.
The team, which is competing at European level in the Europa League this autumn, this month received official approval to go ahead with a 28 megawatt plant in the hills above its Black Sea home of Trabzon.
The Trabzon region boasts big mountains and prodigiously high annual rainfall. Also, it?s helpful that club chairman Sadri Sener is a civil engineer controlling companies active in building everything from airport runways to luxury hotels.
But other European clubs may come under pressure to think equally boldly.
UEFA, the sport?s European governing body, is due in 2014 to impose its Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, which will prevent clubs from being funded directly by their owners? pockets ? be they billionaire oligarchs or Middle Eastern royalty. The ability to generate in-house revenues will become even more important.
Trabzon is due to play its 2012-13 Europa League qualifying games against Hungarian side FC Videoton on August 23 and 30. The club, which has won the Turkish league six times and the Turkish cup eight times, finished third last season.? But it has decided it needs more money to fulfil its European ambitions.
?The club needs a guaranteed source of income, and we have the ideal conditions for hydro power,? a Trabzon club official told the FT.
The plans have taken time to develop. The club set up its own energy subsidiary - Bordo Mavi Enerji Elektrik Uretim ? in 2007, naming after the new company after the team?s blue and purple colours.
The club isn?t saying what the investment might be in advance of a tender for a construction contract to be launched before the year-end. But industry experts estimate the proposed 28MW Uzungol I plant could cost $30m-$50m. Once completed, electricity will be sold through Turkey?s nascent power market netting the club an expected revenues of around $10m year, before taking account of running costs, financing and tax.
A license application for a second plant of 9MW is still being considered.
It looks like the club is investing in the right place at the right time. With Turkish power demand growing at over 8 per cent a year, ?official projections indicate the country will have to increase its current installed capacity by around 45 per cent from 55,000MW to ?80,000MW by 2020 to keep pace with growing demand.
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Related reading Turkey: Galatasaray profits from victory, beyondbrics Soccer scandal: Erdogan as referee, beyondbrics
Castlebride Dan determined to win Heat 5 at Monmore
Completing the first ever hat-trick will be the primary objective of the legendary trainer M. Wallis? black dog, Castlebride Dan, when he runs in the Heat 5 race here at Monmore racecourse on Monday night, August 13.
The Open Race over 480 meters is offering ?200 for the winner. After breaking from the orange box, he will deliver convincing performance to add third straight success to his career chart.
The two-year-old veteran hound has gained a lot of confidence after winning two back-to-back races on August 3 and 7. First, he clinched top spot in The Chase Restaurant Trophy Standard at Romford and then finished first in the William Hill 480 Standard
- Div 2 at Wimbledon. He had been the hot favourite candidate for both these events.
These victories have proved that the brilliant son of Scarty Lad out of Conna Rose possesses a lot of fighting spirit that will lend a great hand to him in the coming contest.
The experienced hound has had an excellent record in OR format of the game. He has gained favourite tags for many times in his career. Thus, it is expected that Castlebride Dan will be able to carry the day convincingly in tonight?s marathon.
Despite the fact that he is strong enough, the momentous hound will have to be wary of Tonbrie Ji who has made a number of glaring marks in his career.
The K. Billingham trained black dog marvellously won Ladbrokes.com 480 on January 28 and went on to grab first position emphatically in another high-profile open race on February 18.
The talented son of Crash out of Mays Liz impressed all by bagging a 7 ?-length clean victory in the Ladbrokes.com 480 Dogs that was held on February 25.
As a whole, the enthusiastic sprinter has been a consistent winner throughout his career. Now, he eyes on the Heat 5 and, for this purpose, he will give enough tough time to Castlebride Dan.
Thus, the spectators at Monmore will enjoy a fierce battle between the two mighty hounds. The event will be quite exciting. Good luck to all the six runners.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and do not reflect Bettor.Com?s editorial policy.
"We challenged each other a lot in the studio but it was a lot of fun," Kells says of working on the soundtrack with the singer. By Nadeska Alexis, with reporting by Rebecca Thomas
ScienceDaily (Aug. 13, 2012) ? H.E.S.S. II in Namibia observes the most violent and extreme phenomena of the Universe in very high energy gamma-rays.
End of July, the four 12 meter-telescopes of the H.E.S.S. observatory (High Energy Stereoscopic System), dedicated to investigating cosmic gamma-rays in Namibia, received reinforcement: The new telescope H.E.S.S. II has a 28-meter-sized mirror and is therefore the largest Cherenkov telescope ever built. With such telescopes, researchers observe the most violent and extreme phenomena of the Universe in very high energy gamma-rays. The University of T?bingen is part of the international H.E.S.S. collaboration, which builds and runs the telescopes, through the High Energy Astrophysics Section of the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics T?bingen (IAAT), financially supported by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research.
Today, scientists know well over one hundred cosmic sources of very high-energy gamma rays. With the new instrument near the Gamsberg in Namibia, the astrophysicists not only want to investigate these objects in superior detail, but also detect many new sources. The researchers hope for a deeper understanding of known high-energy cosmic sources such as supermassive black holes, pulsars and supernovae, but also to detect new classes of high-energy cosmic sources.
The new telescope has a mass of almost 600 tons, and its 28-meter mirror corresponds to the area of two tennis courts. It saw its first light at 0:43 a.m. (German time zone) on 26 July 2012, detecting its very first images of atmospheric particle cascades generated by cosmic gamma rays and by cosmic rays. "The new telescope resolves the cascade images at unprecedented detail, with four times more pixels per sky area compared to the smaller telescopes" states Dr. Pascal Vincent from the French team responsible for the photo sensor package (camera) at the focus of the mirror.
The astrophysicists from T?bingen collaborated with the Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics Heidelberg and Polish groups to provide the machinery that supports and aligns all 875 individual mirror facets. Those finally form the telescope's reflecting surface. "The sheer amount of individual parts was a challenge for the institute" states Gerd P?hlhofer who is coordinating the institute's high energy gamma-ray activities. "Not only did we design and produce the electronics and software for the mirror alignment system. We also equipped all 1750 actuators, that is the mirror alignment units, with our electronics, tested them, shipped them to Namibia and mounted them at the telescope. In addition, also all glass mirror facets went through our institute, for quality tests in our 70m testing ground in the basement of our institute, amongst other things."
"A lot of our workshop people, students, and scientists worked hard and tirelessly to get this done" says Prof. Dr. Andrea Santangelo, leader of the High Energy Astrophysics Section at IAAT. "Also at the preparation of the next generation of telescopes, the Cherenkov Telescope Array CTA, the University of T?bingen is strongly involved in the development of this exciting branch of astroparticle physics."
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Posted by daronmancilla93 on Aug 15, 2012 in SPORTS | 
A? top Turkish football club has found a novel way of raising extra revenue.
The team, which is competing at European level in the Europa League this autumn, this month received official approval to go ahead with a 28 megawatt plant in the hills above its Black Sea home of Trabzon.
