A woman was found shot to death inside her car in North Hollywood, and police Wednesday were trying to determine her identity and learn what led to the shooting.
Police found her in the 12200 block of Gault Street being notified at 10:09
p.m. Tuesday, said Lt. Leon Mims of the North Hollywood
station.
Anyone with information was asked to call the North Hollywood
station at (818) 623-4016.
— Los Angeles Times wire services
This week’s piece on BMW got me thinking: we’ve previously told you how to break into a car (bad idea, if you ask me), but we’ve never covered how to keep your car from getting broken into and / or stolen. There’s good news and bad news on this topic. First the bad news: if a professional wants your car, there probably isn’t a damn thing you can do about it. Now the good news: unless you drive something really expensive or in high demand, car theft is generally a crime of opportunity. Make it difficult for the thief, and chances are they’ll look elsewhere.
Want to avoid coming out to an empty parking space or a seat full of shattered glass? Here are a few pointers that should help.
Nice ride, just don’t park it in the NYC metro area.
BMWs are a dime a dozen in California, and the theft rate for BMWs isn’t particularly high there. In the NYC area, you’d be hard pressed to find a two year old BMW that hasn’t been broken into. Why? Years ago, some NYC area BMW dealers used to leave valet keys in the owners kit. Thieves quickly learned that BMWs are easy to break into and even easier to steal if you have a key. Want piece of mind? Ask your insurance agent or a cop friend what cars have the highest break in or theft rates in your area.
An empty GPS mount still says ‘break in, it’s in the glove box’.
Know what that GPS system on your windshield looks like to a tweaker? A fifty dollar bill and more meth. Know what that empty GPS or radar detector mount tells him? You probably left it in the glove box or under the seat. Either way, your window is getting smashed and your electronics are gone, sold to the nearest pawn shop.
This is so obvious, I don’t even know why I have to say it. Don’t leave ANYTHING visible in your car. Use a GPS on a windshield mount? Make sure to clean the suction cup circles from the inside of your windshield, because they broadcast “look in the glove box” to a thief. Use a radar detector? Don’t leave the power cord visible when you leave the car. In fact, make sure you snap the 12v accessory cover over the outlet when you leave the car. Nothing to see here. move along is the message you want to convey.
Don’t park next to anything that obscures the view of your car.
Never park between two trucks, because they give a car thief plenty of cover to work on your locks. Don’t assume that parking under a light will help either, if the light is next to foliage or a dumpster. Car thieves don’t like to work in the open; the better line of sight you have to your car, the less attractive it is to car thieves. Ditto for crowded areas; the more people walking by your car, the less likely it is that a thief will target it.
This won’t stop a thief, but it’ll slow him down. Photo: Michael McCauslin
Let’s face it: steering wheel locks (like The Club) are a pain in the ass to use and can be defeated in under a minute. As an anti-theft device, it’s not much good on its own. As part of a layered defense, on the other hand, it makes your car less attractive than the similar one without the steering wheel lock. A car thief isn’t going to do more work than he has to.
Extreme, but functional.
Again, this should be obvious. So why do I see so many cars with unlocked doors and partially opened windows? Unless you’ve got a 130 pound Rottweiler in the back seat, it’s a bad idea to keep your windows down. On the other hand, if you do have a 130 pound Rottweiler in the back seat, leaving your car unlocked may cut down on your food bill.
Don’t be the guy behind the wheel.
Always make sure your doors are locked when you’re driving. At an intersection, leave enough room between you and the car in front to allow an emergency exit. Above all, have situational awareness: see that dude in the hoodie (hood up, of course), rocking back and forth on his heels, with his hands in the front pocket? The one trying real hard to make it look like he’s not eyeing you? I always notice things like this, but most people don’t. The most dangerous place you’re likely to be? A shopping mall or discount store parking lot. Ask any cop to recite crime statistics for his area, and I guarantee these places will make the top 10
This isn’t a piece on defensive tactics (although I’d be happy to teach you that as well), so I’ll keep it simple: if something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Do whatever you have to do to get yourself out of the situation.
If they have your registration, they have your address. Sleep well, OK?
Yeah we all do this, myself included, but it’s a bad idea. If someone breaks into your car, now they have your address as well. If they’ve stolen a garage door opener, chances are they have your address and an easy way into your house. Even if you have a house alarm, how much stuff can you lose in the two minutes a smash and grab guy is in your house? Think you have a hiding spot he hasn’t already seen?
If your car has a Homelink transmitter and you keep it parked in the driveway, don’t program it to open your garage. If a thief snatches your GPS in the driveway, do you really want to give him free access to your garage as well?
How much would this suck?
How do you think the garage gets your wheels off when you forget to give them the key to your locking lug nuts? They have a universal key, one that works on nearly every wheel lock made. Guess what? So do car thieves.
Nice wheels and tires are serious money and can easily be sold on the street. Want to minimize the chances of getting yours stolen? Use multiple wheel locks on each wheel (preferably from different manufacturers) and don’t keep the keys in your car’s tool kit like everyone else.
So you just spent good money on a top-shelf car alarm. It’s got a motion sensor, a glass breakage detector, an ignition interlock and shifting codes. It’s powered by a bigger CPU than we used to put a man on the moon. And it won’t even slow a determined car thief down, because he’ll just tow or flatbed your car with the alarm going off.
Think about it – when was the last time you paid any attention to a car alarm? Think the police pay attention to them, with false alarms caused by everything from open-piped Harleys to a poorly tossed Frisbee? Alarms are for your piece of mind – if you need one, great; just don’t expect it to stop a car thief.
Airport and mall parking lots are good shopping for car thieves.
Airports, sporting events, shopping mall parking lots, concerts and university parking lots are all great places to get your car broken into or stolen. If you regularly park in any of them, think about what you’re buying: sure, an M5 is cool, but it’ll be snatched in no time if you take it to the airport every week. Store manager at a shopping mall? That new Mustang GT will net someone good money when the thief unloads it.
Too bad OnStar can’t electrocute a car thief.
You can’t stop someone from stealing your car, but you can help in locating it after it’s been stolen. Services like LoJack and OnStar cost money, but they can seriously increase the odds of getting a stolen car back before it’s parted out or containerized for overseas shipment. They’re a better investment, in my opinion, than even a good vehicle alarm system.
Child nutrition and anti-hunger advocates have reason to be excited this spring, and it’s not just because of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative, ABC’s new show Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and all of the other great press the issue has been getting recently. Recently, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) introduced her version of the Child Nutrition Re-authorization Act, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which would provide $4.5 billion in new funding over 10 years for Child Nutrition Programs, expand the Afterschool Meal Program nationwide, and take steps to improve the nutritional quality of all food sold on school campuses.
Though the bill falls short of President Obama’s budget request of $1 billion in new funding per year for child nutrition programs, the bill goes a long way to fighting childhood obesity – the New York Times calls the issue “yet another side of the health care issue because better childhood nutrition is preventive medicine at its best” – and increasing the reach of these programs to all children in need. It is crucial, however, that more money is found for these programs before the bill is voted on. Social safety net programs that provide food are being utilized by more and more people: in January, 39.4 million people relied on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The time is now to assure that no children – especially those in food insecure households – have to make it through the school day without nutritious food.
Chairman Lincoln’s bill already has bi-partisan support and passed unanimously out of committee in late March. The House of Representatives is yet to act, but the pressure is already on. Jilly Stephens, Executive Director of City Harvest, a New York-based anti-hunger group, has challenged the House to “at least meet the President’s request for an increase of $1 billion per year.” As she writes, “It’s time to find the money to make sure federal child nutrition programs can fulfill their promise to American kids.” This year’s reauthorization of child nutrition programs is Congress most opportune moment to make a difference in securing the long-term health of low-income children – they must give these programs everything they can to succeed. Write your Members of Congress to increase funding for Child Nutrition Programs at the RAC’s Legislative Action Center.
Three men delivered emotional testimony, describing how they were allegedly molested when they were children by the former director of a state hospital.
The three men claimed that Claude Edward Foulk Jr. molested them in Long Beach and used threats and intimidation to prevent them from telling authorities.
"I remember him telling me, ‘This is normal. This is part of what a grown man needs to do,’ " said one of the men during a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Long Beach court. "He had such a power over me that [I thought] nobody would ever believe me, and I had to do whatever he said."
Foulk pleaded not guilty to 35 felony counts involving his
son.
According to court
records, Foulk allegedly molested a foster child in his care from 1973
to 1985. In 1974, prosecutors allege, Foulk molested a friend of the
foster child, who as an adult went to police last September.
In 1977, Foulk allegedly
molested a friend of a second foster child living at his home in Long
Beach. Prosecutors allege that he masturbated in front of two children
in the early 1990s, asking the minors to participate.
All these cases fell before the statute of limitations, so prosecutors said they could not file charges.
Foulk is being prosecuted for alleged molestations of his son, which
began in 1992 and continued through 2003, according to charges. During these years, Foulk worked as a mental health professional at
several facilities in Southern California, eventually landing the top
job at Napa State Hospital.
According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the alleged victims portrayed Foulk as manipulative and controlling, using their vulnerabilities to his advantage.
"In the past five years, I knew that this day
would come, and I wasn’t the only victim," one of the men said in court. "I
knew he needs to pay for what he’s done. …. I thought I was being taken out of the foster system and
being put in a good home … with a loving father. I’m here to close this chapter on my life. I want to move on."
— Shelby Grad
Photo: Long Beach Police Department
Seriously, Verizon hasn’t actually announced the HTC Incredible yet? No matter, because it’s now live on Verizon’s staging site — and it’s been renamed the Droid Incredible. Also looks like that April 29 date is still on the money, and you can give Big Red your e-mail info to be notified when it’s ready. Check it all out here. Thanks, Nick!
Update: Whoopsie. Verizon’s put a password on the site. Too late, though. The horse is out of that barn.
For those of us who aren’t in the U.S. (or who aren’t willing to pay the markups on Craigslist and other sources to get early access), that “late April” international release date for the iPad was getting tantalizingly close. That’s why Apple’s announcement of a delay for international release today comes as such a disappointment.
That’s right, the “late April” date is off the table, and now buyers outside of the U.S. will have to wait until at least late May before they can get their hands on the much sought-after device. At least we have one firm date to look forward to, though, as Apple did announce that May 10 would be the day it would begin taking pre-orders for international sales. The delivery date is still ambiguous, mind you.
Pricing will also be announced on the May 10 pre-order date, but not before, so you won’t know exactly how many ducats you have to put aside in advance. Personally, I’m going to be quite irate if the pricing is that much different here in Canada, where our dollar is pretty much at parity. Of course, if they do charge something ridiculous, it’s nothing a quick trip to Buffalo can’t fix.
The reason Apple gives behind the delay doesn’t come as a surprise. Basically, the company is saying that with over 500,000 units sold in the first week alone, demand is simply far outpacing supply. The press release doesn’t talk about specific numbers for 3G pre-orders, but it does imply that those, too, are beyond what the company expected to have to ship at the end of this month in the U.S. market alone.
Apple is quite optimistic about the attitudes its potential international customers will take regarding the news:
We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason–the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far.
Yes, that’s right, they just want us to be happy for them. Well, I for one am just ecstatic that I get to twiddle my thumbs and download iPad apps for a device I have yet to own for another whole month. Thanks very much for your conservative launch sales estimate, Apple.
Kidding aside, strong sales do bode well for all iPad customers, even if some have to wait a little longer to get their hands on one. It means the platform is not in any danger of losing support from the development community or Apple itself anytime soon, as might have been the case if the launch was a total flop.
On the crucial question of where Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will be tried and in what forum — where nuance will be heavily scrutinized — Eric Holder held out maximum flexibility for President Obama and himself. “The administration is in the process of reviewing the decision as to where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 defendants will be tried,” Holder said. “New York is not off the table as a place where they might be tried, although we have to take into consideration the concerns” that the Bloomberg mayoralty has raised about the wisdom of trying KSM in New York. Holder said he expected a decision “in a number of weeks.”
Madonna’s daughter might be enrolling in the Big Apple’s so-called “Fame” high school.
Lourdes Leon, 13, will reportedly enroll at New York’s LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts next fall, The New York Daily News said Wednesday. The 51-year-old Material Mom recently confessed that Mini-Madge who already takes acting classes in Manhattan, was recently admitted to a “performing arts high school” and would major in drama.
The singer’s publicist, Liz Rosenberg, would only confirm that Lourdes is likely to attend a school somewhere in the five boroughs.
“They live here now. Madonna didn’t tell me, and I know she’s not going to tell.”
LaGuardia inspired the 1980 cinema gem Fame, which spawned an ’80s sitcom, which was also set at LaGuardia. Several students at the popular city school told the Daily News that they heard they might soon be in class with the daughter of a pop legend.
Students said she had been given a private audition – and therefore shielded from the pressure of a public one, sparking concerns about preferential treatment.
“A lot of kids are talking about how she had an advantage,” Brittany Evans, 14, a freshman drama major, said. “LaGuardia is a great school. It really is, but I think that sometimes it wants to be more of a Fame school.”
Since the release of Android, Google had made numerous updates to their core Android Apps (with the exception to the music player). All of the changes have made the Android experience more visually appealing. These changes usually slide by “stealthy” without the user being notified of the change.
Now the address field automatically expands, allowing users to see all email addresses entered. Similar to your desktop email experience, now an auto complete dropdown window provides contact choices. You can now type in the first few letters of the address then click on the selection of the person you want to send it too. To get the full updated Gmail Mobile experience, you have to access it from your phones browser, these features should make their way into the app soon.
Some other nifty new features which will help you compose your emails faster:
* Remove the contact you just added by tapping Backspace.
* Press the ‘+’ button to see your top contacts, or hide them by pressing the ‘–’ button.
* If for some reason autocomplete fails you and the person you are trying to reach is a Gmail user, just type their Gmail username and a comma, and we’ll take care of the pesky @ sign and the rest (so [hikingfan] becomes [[email protected]].)
* The page now fills the entire screen, giving you more space to see what you’re writing.
[via google]
While the rest of the known world (in the U.S., anyway) not-so-patiently awaiting the arrival of the HTC Incredible on Verizon, U.S. Cellular could be slipping in treat of its own. The HTC Desire (see our hands-on) has appeared on a rebate form, which usually points to the device actually being available on said carrier. No word on pricing or when it will be available, but it should be relatively soon, folks. Full pic after the break. [Howard Forums via One Part Per Million] Thanks, Ken!
One of the more interesting CableCard HTPC solutions, the SilicondDust HDHR CableCard device is accepting signups for their beta beginning today according to the SiliconDust forums:
The beta is moving ahead as planned… beta signup now online!
https://www.silicondust.com/beta/signup/
Nick
As mentioned earlier this year, the SiliconDust HDHR CableCard device is interesting because of these two facts:
I’ll provide more information as I learn more. In the meantime, you can sign up for the beta by following this link.
Outside of Los Pinos (photo by Lynn Sweet)
MEXICO CITY–I’m in a van with other print reporters holding on a street outside of Los Pinos, the Mexican presidential residence. Our van is one of 11 vehicles on the brick road. We are on an edge of Chapultepec Park. It’s a lovely day. The motorcade zipped from the hotel to Los Pinos (“The Pines”) and what was kind of strange–there were almost no people on the street.
First Lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to be meeting with Mexican First Lady Margarita Zavala right now but I’m not going to kid you—we don’t know if Mrs. Obama is there.
Click below for a pool report from the Washington Post’s Robin Givhan, who I am sitting next to in the van now.
Robin Givhan, Washington Post
Pool report mexico
The pool rolled out from the Hotel Sheraton Maria Isabel at 8:45am Mexico
time. Cool temps. Slightly overcast skies. Eerily empty streets.
The few folks along the way are curious but aren’t cheering, waving or
protesting. Just standing quietly and watching.
Obama’s first stop of the morning is at Los Pinos, (Spanish speakers on
board tell your pooler it means “the pines”) the presidential compound,
where she’s greeted by Mexican first lady Margarita Zavala. Your pooler
could not see the actual greeting, but there will be TV pool evidence of
the encounter, I am told.
Did your pooler actually SEE the palace? No. Saw some very lovely jacaranda
trees. Saw some joggers in the neighboring Chapultepec park. Breathed in
exhaust from the motorcade vans.
Am told that she was greeted near the Seal of Mexico, which depicts an
eagle atop a cactus eating a serpent. Meaning? According to the White
House, it’s a reference to an Aztec legend: Seeing this vision would tell
them where to settle.
The only vision your pooler had was of fierce looking German shepherds
guarding the perimeter of Los Pinos.
After greeting, the two first ladies meet. Read-out to come.
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has received $7,942,500 in federal stimulus funds from the Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP), the state designated entity for health information exchange development.
The funding positions the School of Medicine as a regional extension center (REC). The designation will allow the school to help 1,765 health care providers in Lorain, Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties advance the use of health information technology (HIT) in their practices. The School of Medicine will provide administration and management to multiple contractors whose overall goal is to provide select products and training on how to use the technology to aid in the improvement of patient care.
The formal announcement was made Tuesday afternoon at the Cleveland Clinic by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.
“This is great news for Case Western Reserve School of Medicine’s facilities and patients in northeast Ohio,” said U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown. “Health information technology helps reduce medical errors and improves patient care. By helping doctors and nurses consult with one another through technology, we will improve the quality of medical care offered across our state – particularly in rural areas. And by helping medical facilities adopt new information technologies, we will reduce medical errors and lower health costs.”
Pamela B. Davis, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at Case Western Reserve, explained how the new initiative could ultimately lead to healthcare advancements in the region. “The School of Medicine is committed to improving the health of our community. We believe that HIT is a key tool in healthcare reform and we look forward to partnering with independent healthcare providers to encourage quick adoption of HIT. Once enabled, HIT provides a two-fold benefit: 1) improving patient care, for example, through electronic alerts that notify healthcare providers of a patient’s need for annual testing e.g., mammograms, and 2) by lowering healthcare costs by reducing redundant testing.”
The REC endeavor, as directed by the federal government, is specifically targeted toward primary care providers.
“Electronic health records tend to be financially out of reach for private practitioners and small practices,” said Julie Rehm, senior associate dean of the School of Medicine and associate vice president of strategic initiatives for Case Western Reserve.
The federal and state initiative is providing smaller primary care practices with an incentive to early adoption of health information technology.
“If healthcare providers adopt early they are eligible for additional reimbursement from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services until 2011,” Rehm stated.
The CWRU School of Medicine is one of seven RECs in Ohio established by OHIP and made possible by funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). An eighth REC was awarded directly by the federal government to HealthBridge, a not-for-profit health information exchange serving Greater Cincinnati and surrounding areas. The medical school’s REC designation has dozens of partnering stakeholders, including the region’s major hospitals, health care agencies and programs, health care insurers, and colleges and universities. Several national partners are also part of the REC.
“Success for the CWRU REC will be measured in three ways,” said Rehm. “First, we must meet the milestones and metrics that are being asked of us by the federal government. Second, we must enable the earliest adoption possible which will allow primary care providers to pull in the maximum amount of federal dollars from reimbursements. And third, we must improve the quality of care through the utilization of this technology which will ultimately improve the health of Clevelanders.”
The REC award builds on the recent Center of Excellence designation by the State of Ohio to CWRU School of Medicine for “Translating Technology and Research into Better Health” which included HIT as a major component.
The Case Western Reserve REC is expected to begin work later this month.
Jason Salavon is a new-media artist whose solo show at Ronald Feldman Gallery opened last week in New York. He is also a research fellow in the Computation Institute and assistant professor in Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. I asked him last week about his image, Generic Mammal Skull, featured in the current show.
RH: Where did this idea of creating a generic mammal come from?
JS: I’ve been interested in evolutionary processes for a long time and wanted to explore them in my own way. I was specifically interested in representing fictional, imagined forms, things missed or skipped by evolution, in a rich, historical way. Combining that with a renewed interest in 17th century Dutch still life made for a challenging project.
RH: Do you decide what percentages of what mammal to use, or does the software determine that? If you decided, how did you determine which mammals to use, and what percentages? For example- why wild boar instead of blue whale?
JS: I designed four very accurate, high resolution models (bear, human, baboon, wild boar), hoping to capture much of the large land mammal “design space.” Percentages in the photographs were chosen for visceral impact as well as representing opposed regions in the “design space.” There is a parent project, a video animation of sorts, that covers a larger range of possibilities.
Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
Generic Mammal Skull (21% baboon, 18% bear, 17% human, 44% wild boar), 2010
It was a good weekend for racing junkies, with NASCAR in Phoenix, the IRL at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, and MotoGP making its season debut in Qatar. Here are some personal pet peeves and pleasant surprises from the weekend.
NASCAR: The pleasant surprise is that the open-wheel converts are getting there at last. Well, Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose have been doing a good job already, but the fact that five road racers were among the top seven qualifiers was shocking. Sam Hornish, Jr., A.J. Allmendinger, and Scott Speed didn’t fare quite so well in the race, but JPM was fifth and all five finished among the top 21 cars. The pet peeve was yet another green-and-white checkered finish. All these do is cause an utter crapshoot at the end of the race. This may sound weird, but if there’s a yellow 10 laps from the finish of the race, why not declare the result at the point the flag came out? At least a driver’s hard work in the race would be rewarded, rather than lose a race because he spun the rear tires on a restart.
IRL: On the good side of the ledger, Marco Andretti led a ton of laps, which made a nice change to Will Power’s Penske car or one of the Ganassi boys riding off into the sunset. Oh, and Helio Castroneves won, which was pleasing. On the bad side? The IRL’s obsession with putting a pace car out when a local yellow would make more sense on road courses. Every single IRL race is a fuel-mileage strategy battle, when one would rather see a flat-out drive between pit stops. Mind you, with the lack of overtaking opportunities at Barber, perhaps they just wanted to spice up the show.
MotoGP: Nothing bad here. Sorry. These boys are stellar in every regard, none more so than Valentino Rossi, who picked up yet another win after Casey Stoner crashed his Ducati. From an American perspective, Nicky Hayden had his most competitive showing on the Ducati yet, a reward for the hard work he has put in during the past 12 months. A lesser rider would have looked at the difference between his speed and Stoner’s and gone crazy, but Hayden has gradually got the Ducati working to his liking. Ben Spies showed why he got a ride with the Tech 3 Yamaha team, finishing in a fine fifth place. And Jorge Lorenzo’s charge from fourth to second in the last few laps was something to behold, too.
Related posts:
Last week, this article landed in my inbox: “Jewish Group Boycotts Canadian Kids’ Book.” The comments are also well worth reading. Then a friend sent me another related article which announced, “Controversial Mideast book stays in Toronto schools.” The running quote box on the left side is not to be missed …
Book banning/boycotting always frightens and fascinates me. So of course I had to read the book in question, especially a title that has been honored in eight award programs, including the Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year for Children. No small recognition there! Not to mention a portion of the book’s royalties gets donated to the Children in Crisis Fund of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People.
The story is haunting and inspiring both; it’s also just a really good bookl. At age 6, Amani, the youngest daughter of an extended Palestinian family, already knows exactly what she wants … to be a shepherd just like her grandfather, and continue the thousand-years-plus family shepherding tradition. In a world of cell phones and email, Amani is almost an anachronism, but she’s also a tenacious child who learns quickly and establishes a touching relationship with the well-tended flock.
In spite of her family’s protestations, her grandfather – elderly, but still the head of the extended family – agrees to take her on as his apprentice. Under his loving guidance, Amani becomes an expert shepherd, and carries on even after the beloved patriarch passes away. Initially homeschooled by siblings and cousins, Amani – who also proves to be one smart student – does get to high school, determined to learn English, which she realizes she must speak in her quickly-changing world. Most disturbing and dangerous of all, a Jewish settlement is quickly encroaching upon the family lands. Violent conflict proves inevitable and Amani’s family can never be the same again.
Author Carter opens her book with “This novel is a fictional rendering of a complex situation,” an understatement at best. The destructive history of the Middle East seems both timeless and neverending. Politicians, soldiers, theorists, religious leaders, students, mothers, artists, peacemakers, every day people everywhere have tried to find a solution … one has to believe that peace is inevitable in the future …
Should this book be banned? No. Is this book controversial? Yes. Can it be used to start dialogue? Absolutely. Toronto School Board Executive Director of Equity, Lloyd McKell is quoted in the parentcentral.ca article mentioned above, “… this book can certainly be used to explore issues of bias and prejudice, and that students can learn from such exploration…”
By book’s close, much to her family’s initial dismay, Amani’s calls for outside help are to her father’s friend, a Jewish rabbi, who brings along a determined Jewish lawyer. Meanwhile, Amani and the teenage son of one of the Jewish settlers’ leaders become promising friends. The message –at least here – is clear: The children will be the ones to find and make that peace.
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2008
Filed under: ..Middle Grade Readers, ..Young Adult Readers, .Fiction, Canadian, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Palestinian Tagged: Civil rights, Family, Friendship, Grandparents, Religious differences 
Back in 2005, former AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre (now the head of GM) boldly proclaimed that Google was getting a "free ride" on his company’s "pipes," and that they should be charged an additional toll (you know, just because). As we’ve discussed several times now, Whitacre’s argument made absolutely no sense, given that Google not only pays plenty for bandwidth (as do AT&T’s customers), but the company owns billions in international and oceanic fiber runs, data centers and network infrastructure. Despite making no sense, this idea that Google was some kind of free ride parasite quickly became the cornerstone of the telco argument against network neutrality. In response,Techdirt has suggested that telco spokespeople should pay for Google’s bandwidth bill for a month if it’s so low — with no takers.
Of course, lost under the circus of the network neutrality debate was Whitacre’s real goal: to get content providers to subsidize AT&T’s network upgrades, something many myopic investors don’t want to pay for. Whitacre was also afraid; he understood Google poses an evolutionary threat, the likes of which traditional phone companies like AT&T had never seen before. Incumbent phone companies had grown comfortable sucking down regulatory favors, subsidies and tax cuts while operating in non-competitive markets. Suddenly, increasingly-ubiquitous broadband allowed companies like Google to enter "their" telecom space, gobbling up ad dollars and offering disruptive products like Google Voice — which threaten sacred cash cows like SMS and voice minutes.
Instead of competing with Google by out-innovating them, Whitacre’s first reaction was to impose an anti-competitive toll system like some kind of bridge troll — which should tell you plenty about pampered phone company thinking. Whitacre’s fuzzy logic was given a new coat of paint in pseudo-scientific studies paid for by phone carriers, and has since floated overseas. In the UK, incumbent phone companies have taken a page from Whitacre, insisting that the BBC should pay them extra money — just because people were using the BBC iPlayer. Now Google’s non-existent free ride has popped up in Europe this week, with Telefonica, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom all jointly insisting that Google should be paying them a special toll for carrying Google traffic:
Cesar Alierta, chairman of Telefonica, said Google should share some of its online advertising revenue with the telecoms groups, so as to compensate the network operators for carrying the technology company’s bandwidth-hungry content over their infrastructure. "These guys [Google] are using the networks and they don’t pay anybody," he said.
Yes, Google doesn’t pay anything — except for the billions they pay for bandwidth and extensive infrastructure. Were Google a telecommunications carrier, they’d be the world’s third biggest according to Arbor Networks. It’s absolutely stunning that such a ridiculous argument remains in circulation (and that many press outlets don’t debunk the concept as painful nonsense). If electric companies went to AT&T or Telefonica to inform them that they wanted a cut of revenues on top of payment for electricity "just because" — they’d be laughed out the building. Yet somehow we’re supposed to take phone companies seriously, when in reality they’re simply repeating total nonsense in the hopes that repetition will magically make it true.
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O novo e esportivo Seat Leon Cupra R mal chegou e a empresa alemã especializada em preparação JE Design tratou de lançar o seu pacote esportivo para o modelo, que além de ganhar mais potencia em seu motor, recebeu um esportivo kit estético.
Seu motor original quatro cilindros de 2.0L turbocharger que rende 265 cavalos de potência recebeu um afinamento técnico com um novo filtro de ar menos restritivo, sistema de escapamento redimensionado e um remapeamento em sua central de injeção. Com isso, sua potencia pulou dos 265 cv originais para 330 cavalos.
Dessa forma, a aceleração do esportivo hatch de 0 a 100 km/h é feita em 5,8 segundos, atingindo a velocidade máxima de 268 km/h. Com a capacidade de atingir velocidade mais altas, seu comportamento dinâmico também foi melhorada com uma suspensão regulável que pode ser rebaixada em até 40 mm, fazendo com que o modelo grude mais no chão em velocidades altas e no tangenciamento das curvas.
Visualmente o Seat Leon Cupra R da JE Design ficou mais esportivo e um pouco extravagante com um bodykit que inclui novos para-choques, extrator traseiro, ponteiras duplas de escapamento e aerofólio como principais destaques, além é claro da indiscreta pintura tipo fosforecente de algumas peças do modelo.
Sua rodas que também são pintadas da indiscreta cor, são de 19 polegadas e são calçadas com os pneus de perfil 235/35. De acordo com a JE Design, o seu interior também poderá receber alguns detalhes diferenciados, como a pintura na parte inferior do volante, saídas de ar e na costura dos bancos de couro.
Seat Leon Cupra R by JE Design
Fonte: CarScoop
Today, Google added another feature in search result pages – Recipe snippets. That means, the next time you search for a food recipe on Google, chances are you will end up seeing a thumbnail of the dish along with some more information such as preparation time, user reviews etc.
For example: A simple search on thai mango salad, shows the following results
In the above snippet, there are 3 things to take note of. First, you can see the user reviews and ratings directly from the search result page. This helps to know whether other users have found the recipe useful or not. Secondly, you can know how much time is required to prepare the dish by looking at the “Total cook time” data. Finally, you can see a small thumbnail of the dish in the search result page.
The “Recipe snippets” is the fifth type of snippet introduced in Google search results, the earlier types being reviews, people, video and events respectively.
If you write about food recipes and want to optimize your blog for “Recipe snippets”, here are a few things you should know:
1. Always include the necessary micro data in your blog posts. This includes author information, preparation time, summary, review, cooking time etc. For a complete list of micro data and RDF’s, check this Recipe snippets help page.
2. Follow the correct format for organizing your recipe’s micro data. Do not lay all the information scattered but try to nest them properly. Here is a small example template that Google provides:
Google will add the recipe snippets gradually in the search results and there is no guarantee when your pages show up as recipe snippets in search results. You can always check and test your pages using the rich snippets testing tool. [via Google Webmaster Central ]