2013年5月28日 星期二

Freedom fighter reduced to pauper

He risked his life, braved bullets and endured extreme torture at the hands of the authorities while fighting against the party-less Panchayat system in 1990. The country saw new change after the movement with the establishment of multi-party democracy. That change was not enough so people agitated again and the April 2006 movement overthrew the monoarchy forever. The country became a republic.Online shopping for stonemosaic from a great selection of Clothing. 

But Tara Khadka of Khalanga-6 of Rukum, who was a well to do man, has become almost a beggar now. Many of us have seen the photograph that splashed across newspapers post 1990 -- of a man atop King Mahendras statue in front of the Royal Palace holding the kings sceptre. 

He lost his leg due to police bullets and his tongue from torture duirng the 1990 movement. Then a well to do man, he spent all his property in the treatment of his wounds. Now he walks with a prosthetic leg and some plastic surgery of the tongue restored his voice but it is still unclear. 

Khadka informed that the post-democracy government flew him to the US and provided Rs 5 million for treatment but that was not enough. In the course of treatment, he had to sell the 12 ropanis of land and a three-story house in Kathmandu as well. But that was still not sufficient to foot the bills. 

Khadka talking to this reporter in Dang on Sunday rememberd that fateful day. It was April 6, 1990 and the democratic movement was simmering.We printers print with traceable happmart to optimize supply chain management. Pro-democracy demonstrators had started targeting the monarchy. With hammers on hand, a group of 9 protestors on April 6 climbed the statue of King Mahendra in front of the Royal Palace in an attempt to tear it down. Khadka managed to take out the sceptre of King Mahendra. Police responded with a barrage of gunfire. Eight of the protestors died and Khadka was the sole survivor albeit with severe injuries. "Eight people were shot dead in front of my eyes. I received three bullets," informed Khadka. 

He was arrested and suffered severe torture at the hands of the police. They cut off his tongue and sprinkled salt and chilli powder on his wounds. He was also given electric shocks in the course of interrogation. 

A few days later his friends rescued him from under the Bishnumati bridge, where he had been dumped for dead by the authorities. 

He now blames the state for ignoring his contribution in the fight for democracy. He said that he visits various social organizations asking for some money to keep wolf from the door. "No one takes interest until I show my ID card that says I am a freedom fighter." 

The Heat Elite wing challenge at Parrots Cay in Grand Forks began in November 2011. The challenge asks the eater to consume seven wings with a special hot sauce within the span of five minutes, then wait for five more minutes.We provide payment solutions in the USA as well as buymosaic. 

I like to watch them squirm a little bit, said Rob Drahovzal, owner of the bar and grill on 36th Avenue South. I like to have fun with it,We sell 100% hand-painted smartcard online. too. 

He said the sauce, called The Source, costs about $85 per ounce. Thats why its not on the menu. We only use it for the challenge. 

According to Drahovzal, The Source is rated at 7.1 million Scoville heat units, a standard measurement of spicy heat for a chili pepper. 

For comparison, a banana pepper is less than 1,000 Scoville units and a habanero pepper is about 300,000. Most pepper sprays measure less than 2.5 million Scovilles. 

You definitely dont want to get this stuff in your eyes or anywhere else on your skin, Drahovzal said. 

Parrots Cay is known for its spicy food, but especially for its wings the reason to go to Parrots Cay, according to customer Pat Sexton. The sauces are rated by hotness on a number scale. A previous challenge had contestants eat 15 wings with the No. 15 sauce hot compared to most of the regularly used sauces, but only rated about 234,000 Scovilles. Winners would receive a T-shirt and have their photo taken to be displayed on the walls of the bar. Those photos have since been taken down, and a video screen above the bar displays a slideshow of the pictures.High quality howotipper printing for business cards. 

Drahovzal said he started the Heat Elite challenge because some of those who had passed his previous wing challenge said it was too mild. 

Some people that have taken the Heat Elite say I should make it harder, like having 15 wings, Drahovzal said. But that would just be too mean. 

Taking the challenge costs $25. If you win, you get your money back, plus a black Heat Elite T-shirt and a $100 gift card to the bar. If you lose, you get a white T-shirt on which everybody in the bar gets to write mocking messages. 

People stop what they are doing to watch the challenge, Drahovzal said. Its a lot of fun for everybody. Well, except the guy doing the challenge. 

Its a young mans game, Drahovzal said, also noting that three out of the four women who have tried the challenge also have passed. I was thinking about it until I heard some of the horror stories. I dont know if they are true or not, but Ive heard about a guy that went to the hospital and given morphine for the pain.

Pole Makes Hamlin Feel Even Better

Denny Hamlin feels nearly 100 percent recovered after fracturing a vertebra on March 24 at Auto Club Speedway. And starting from the pole for Sundays Coca-Cola 600 is possibly the best medicine the Joe Gibbs Racing driver could ask for as he continues the recovery process. 

"I think winning would do that,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host careel-tech platforms. Hamlin said.If you are looking for glassbottles for your bathroom walls. I think ultimately getting the big trophy on Sunday is the validation that you're truly back. For me, it's going to take some wins and some really good consistency throughout these summer months to put ourselves in position to have a chance at a championship. That's what we're here for. 

Even these small victories, though, give me that confidence that I'm still capable, and I'm still able to do the job at 100 percent like I should be. Any kind of confidence booster for me it's always a plus on Sunday." 

Hamlin started the race at Talladega and was relieved by Brian Vickers after just 25 laps. He then tackled Darlington the Track too Tough to Tame and posted an impressive second-place finish to his teammate and winner Matt Kenseth. His first top-five showing since Hamlin posted a third-place finish in the second race of the season at Phoenix elevated the driver from 31st to 27th in the point standings. 

However, the next challenge will be battling through the next seven positions along with winning a race or two in order to earn one of the wild-card positions in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Certainly, qualifying for one of the top 10 positions is still mathematically possible, but not likely. 

Still, Hamlin hasnt missed a Chase since he started racing full-time in the Cup Series at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2006. He and Jimmie Johnson are the only drivers to contend for the title in every year theyve been eligible. 

Although Hamlin is in catch-up mode, hes not feeling the pressure yet. He has an excuse not earning driver points if he misses the Chase. On the flip side, there would be a sense of pride in forging one of the most hard-fought comebacks in NASCAR history. 

We have a great opportunity to make a great story if we make it and can be competitive in the Chase, Hamlin said.You must not use the rfidtag without being trained. If we dont, we had a hill that we just couldnt climb and well be tougher because of it. 

Plus, Hamlin has the resources at JGR to persevere. In the first 11 races of the season, Gibbs cars have won five times. Hamlin says there is constant competition due to the caliber of his teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth,We provide payment solutions in the USA as well as buymosaic. who joined the organization this season. When Busch moved to JGR from Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, it elevated Hamlins game to a different level. 

He took me from being a one- to two-win guy a season to five, six, Hamlin said. A lot of it at this racetrack, Kyle Busch is why I perform so well here over the last two to three years. Not that hes spending all this time with me, but Im studying the things he does as a race-car driver because hes good here. 

If the tools are out here for me to use, I have to be smart enough to use them to my advantage. And Matt is just another Kyle Busch on our race team, and I dont want to be the last guy. We constantly text each other all the time about who is the last guy on our team and thats good competition. Were going continue to push each other to not to be the last guy and eventually, well just be one-two-three and the last guy wont be too bad. 

Hamlins doctors are impressed with the progress on his back. He has no MRI scans scheduled in the next few weeks. Currently, Hamlins recovery routine includes "just changing up my workouts and doing different things and continuing to work on my twisting ability and things like that. But Hamlin doesnt feel limited in any way in any kind of activity in or out of the car. 

Despite the scheduled 600 miles of racing from day into night on Sunday, Hamlin actually believes the task will be easier on him than the demanding tight turns of Darlington. 

Darlington is way tougher physically,This model includes 2 flush mounted reverse inhomedisplay. Hamlin said. Its always a real hot race because the air doesnt escape and everyone is running right up against the wall. You usually beat the right side in so youre taking carbon dioxide in for most of the race, so its a tough race physically and mentally for that long (500 miles) at that track. 

Here, youve got some straightaway to kind of breathe for a second, gather your thoughts. I think now my muscle memory is back to where it was before, so I think Ill be less sore this time around than I was for Darlington. It took about two days after Darlington before I felt good again. Everything should be fine by Monday here.

Americas Ecological Precipice

Alaska is a good-sized part of the Arctic, the worlds epicenter of climate change, where sensitivity to human-caused global warming is magnified much more than in the 48 lower states, but the likely consequences of this climatic drama have not sunk in with the public, just yet. 

As such,If we don't carry the bobblehead you want we can make a ultrasonicsensor for you! Americas largest state, Alaska (twice the size of Texas), is part of the ongoing, rapid meltdown of the Arctic, which is certain to bring more scorching heat waves and more severe weather patterns, i.e., extreme droughts and sudden, torrential downpours onto Americas landscape. And, most disturbingly,Virtual formalofficdresses logo Verano Place logo. as a result of the rapidity of the meltdown of the Arctic, a group of top-level scientists fear the onset of unstoppable global warming. 

As the Arctic warms, which is currently happening 2-to-3 times faster than elsewhere on the planet, two prongs of looming disaster occur with increasing frequency and severity: (1) The warming Arctic alters the atmospheric jet streams, bringing in its wake embedded droughts similar to the 2012 blistering drought, the worst drought since the 1950s. (2) Additionally,The Wagan Wireless Rear oilpaintingsforsales help you be safe while parking. and more critically, the warming Arctic is flat-out releasing methane into the atmosphere like there is no tomorrow, threatening to heat up the entire planet, which, over time, could turn into a worldwide scorcher, possibly triggering an extinction event. 

This lackadaisical attitude in America is one of the most haunting aspects of the very real threat of an extinction event. But, the threat is no longer just a threat. It is already in its early stages! According to the Arctic Methane Emergency Group (www.ameg.me), a group of world-renowned scientists, The planet is on the verge of runaway climate change, leading to the distinct possibility of an extinction event because of the massive release of methane trapped under the warming Arctic,Wear a whimsical Disney contemporarylighting straight from the Disney Theme Parks! which is currently happening with wild abandon all across the Arctic from Russia to America. 

As it happens, if the American public is ill-informed and if people are of the opinion that the threat is distant let future generations worry about it this attitude, in turn, almost guarantees nothing constructive will be done about the threat of an extinction event. Left to its own devices, the extinction event will simply creep up on humanity over time until all hell breaks loose. Moreover, in this regard, the creeping up is already in the process of shifting into higher gears. 

Based upon eight (8) joint Russian/American scientific expeditions into the Arctic under the aegis of the International Arctic Research Centre at the University Alaska Fairbanks, methane fields of a breathtakingly fantastic scale have been discovered with plumes over a half-mile wide spewing methane directly into the atmosphere in concentrations 100 times higher than normal. The Russian and American scientists have never before experienced anything of such magnitude, and in addition to powerful emissions from shallow waters where over 100 readings were recorded, it is spewing up from within cracks in the Arctic ice in the open seas far from land. 

As the NCA report makes clear, during this century several nasty consequences are expected as a result of the changing climate. People will experience increased risk of asthma. The country will undergo widespread power blackouts, similar to third world countries, and mass transit shutdowns. As well, for the first time in living memory, food shortages are likely in America, also similar to third world countries. 

The NCA report, which is not due for official adoption until 2014, is meant as a guide for governmental jurisdictions in making long-term plans. And, the report clearly states the steps taken by the Obama administration are not close to sufficient to prevent the harmful consequences of climate change. 

As mentioned in the NCA report, America is already feeling the effects of climate change, for example, 2012 was by far and away the hottest year on record, an off-the-charts rate of increase. In March 2012 winter turned to summer with temperatures into the 80s, overnight, leading to the worst drought in 50 years, a prime example of the effect of the warming Arctic interfering with the jet streams. And, if not for Americas extensive system of aquifers and natural resources, crops would have suffered much more severely. 

And, the same report concludes: Of all the climate-related changes in the US, the rapid decline of Arctic sea ice cover in the past decade may be the most striking of all. 

The Northeast, in particular, is at increasing risk of coastal flooding because of sea-level rise and storm surges. Alas, New York City has already gotten a taste of this. As well, the Northeast is subject to massive river flooding because of heavy downpours. Between 1958 and 2010, the Northeast experienced a 74% increase in heavy downpours. 

Asthma, flooding, droughts, power outages, and food shortages, similar to a third world country, should be enough to light a fire within the government of any advanced society, but, and contrarily, an earlier National Climate Assessment report released in 2009 was swept under the rug, according to Lou Leonard, director of the climate change programme for the World Wildlife Fund. The response by Americas leading political operatives seemed to be: Who cares? 

This pronounced lackadaisical, carefree attitude ensconced within Americas political establishment is nearly unconscionable. Furthermore, the White House response to the 2013 report is extraordinarily circumspect, as stated: The draft NCA is a scientific document C not a policy document C and does not make recommendations regarding actions that might be taken in response to climate change. Implicit in this statement: Nobodys in a big hurry no alarm bells are ringing. 

Somebody in the White House needs to re-review,Find the best selection of high-quality collectible solarlamp available anywhere. re-read, and maybe memorize, the portion of the report that mentions the most striking of all climate-related changes is the rapid decline of the sea ice cover in the Arctic, which is setting the stage for an extinction event because of the massive release of methane directly into the atmosphere. Methane is at least 20 times more powerful than CO2. And, the repercussions, down the line, will likely make the 2012 drought in Americas breadbasket seem like a walk in the park given a few more years of methane gushing into the atmosphere, as Americas crops are toasted.

2013年5月21日 星期二

BBB warns donors of scams that follow disaster

In the wake of the devastating tornadoes that ripped through Oklahoma Monday, and in north Texas last week, Better Business Bureau and BBB Wise Giving Alliance have issued tips to help donors make smart giving decisions and to avoid scams.

After every natural disaster and manmade catastrophe,ST Electronics' howotipper provides drivers with a realtime indication of available parking spaces. we see an outpouring of generosity, along with the inevitable scams and frauds, said Art Taylor, president and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. We urge donors to take the time to make sure their donations are going to legitimate charities that can do the most good for those in need.

BBB Oklahoma City is so grateful for the immediate response from people all across the country, said Kitt Letcher, the new president and CEO of BBB of Central Oklahoma, who started in the position just yesterday. We will be keeping a close eye on the situation in order to prevent, as much as possible, scams related to charity relief, as well as restoration and rebuilding services.

BBB Wise Giving Alliance is offering the following tips to help donors decide where to direct donations to assist victims:

Be cautious when giving online, especially in response to unsolicited spam messages, and emails and social media posts that claim to link to a relief organization. If you want to give to a charity involved in relief efforts, go directly to the charitys website. In response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the Asian tsunamis, the FBI and others raised concerns about websites and new organizations that were created overnight, allegedly to help victims.

Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity. Be cautious when relying on third-party recommendations such as bloggers or other websites, as they may not have fully researched the relief organizations they list. The public can go to www.bbb.org/charity to research charities and relief organizations and verify that they are accredited by the BBB and meet the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Be wary of claims that 100 percent of donations will assist relief victims. Despite what an organization might claim, charities have fundraising and administrative costs. Even a credit card donation will involve, at a minimum, a processing fee. If a charity claims 100 percent of collected funds will be assisting disaster victims, the truth is that the organization is still probably incurring fundraising and administrative expenses. It may use some of its other funds to pay these costs,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host bestsmartcard platforms. but the expenses will still be incurred.

Find out if the charity has an on-the-ground presence in the impacted areas. Unless the charity already has staff in the affected areas, it may be difficult to bring in new aid workers to provide assistance quickly. See if the charitys website clearly describes what the charity can do to address immediate needs.

Find out if the charity is providing direct aid or raising money for other groups. Some charities may be raising money to pass along to relief organizations.We are one of the leading manufacturers of plasticcard in China If so, you may want to consider avoiding the middleman and giving directly to those that have a presence in the region. Or, at a minimum, check out the ultimate recipients of these donations to see whether they are equipped to provide aid effectively.

Gifts of clothing, food or other in-kind donations. In-kind drives for food and clothing, while well intentioned, may not necessarily be the quickest way to help those in need C unless the organization has the staff and infrastructure to distribute such aid properly. Ask the charity about its transportation and distribution plans. Be wary of those who are not experienced in disaster relief assistance.

Nearly 48 million Americans currently receive SNAP benefits -- by far the largest number in the program's 50-year history. At a time when national and family economic challenges remain significant, critics contend that SNAP is an unsustainable entitlement. Many have said the question facing Congress at the moment is not whether to cut SNAP, but -- rather -- by how much. The respective Farm Bills passed by the Senate and the House Agriculture Committees last week would slice billions from the program -- more than $4 billion in the Senate version and more than $20 billion in the House version over the next decade -- and sharply curtail eligibility. Any benefit cuts would be on top of the $110 million sliced earlier this year from SNAP's education component, which provides federal grants to states for efforts to help SNAP participants get the most out of their benefits by encouraging smart shopping and healthy eating habits.

Cutting SNAP is precisely the wrong prescription for our children and the nation's economic recovery. The notion that SNAP benefits are an overly generous handout could not be further from the truth. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average monthly benefit in FY2012 was $133.41 per person, or less than $5 a day. Yet, overall, those funds have a profound effect on the economy. Economists have found that SNAP is one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus, especially in a weak economy. According to Moody Analytics, every dollar increase in SNAP benefits generates $1.72 in economic activity.

In addition to the economic consequences, cutting SNAP also would undermine the health of children and families. Nearly half of SNAP's beneficiaries are children.More than 80 standard commercial and iphoneheadset exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. The proposed cuts to SNAP in the bill passed by the House Agriculture Committee would cause 2 million people to lose their food assistance entirely and prevent more than 200,000 children from receiving free school meals. Cuts of this magnitude would be a huge setback in the fight against both childhood obesity and hunger. Nearly a third of our nation's children and teens are overweight or obese,The whole variety of the brightest smartcard is now gathered under one roof. and youths from lower-income families are disproportionately affected. They struggle to maintain a healthy weight while managing limited resources and the daily stresses that come with living in underserved neighborhoods. SNAP helps families stretch their food dollars to alleviate hunger and buy healthier foods.

SNAP has the potential to be a public health tool that can help address the complex problems of hunger and obesity. Many states and cities have established public-private partnerships to increase the value of SNAP dollars for the purchase of healthy foods. For instance, if you use a SNAP card to buy food at a farmers' market in Michigan, the amount of money you spend is matched with up to $20 in tokens per day that you can use to buy Michigan-grown fruits and vegetables. That's a win-win situation. Customers get more healthy food for the dollar, and the state's farmers generate greater revenue.

Jamie Dimon Gets What He Wants, But Is It Best for JPMorgan?

Like a petulant child whos been told he cant have chocolate cake for breakfast, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon indicated before todays shareholder vote that he might have quit if shareholders had voted to split the roles of chairman and CEO.

If Dimon is as smart a corporate leader as many claim he is, he would recognize that a wise CEO recognizes that checks and balances are essential for sound corporate governance, and that an independent board C led by an independent chairman C is vital to any public company, particularly one with business operations as vast as JPMorgans. There is an inherent conflict in having a CEO who reports to himself as chairman. Typically when CEOs serve in both roles, it is the chairmans position that tends to get short shrift.The 3rd International Conference on make-your-own-bobblehead and Indoor Navigation.

Theres no dispute that shareholders have benefited financially from Dimons leadership.chip-card But profits alone dont equate to good governance.

The need to have different people serve as CEO and chairman is particularly acute in JP Morgans case given the litany of problems the firm has had recently.

At the top of the list is the London Whale fiasco, causing trading losses that so far have cost the bank more than $6 billion. Dimon initially dismissed media reports about the scandal, calling the situation a complete tempest in a teapot.Weymouth is collecting gently used, dry cleaned cableties at their Weymouth store. A damning report by a Senate investigation subcommittee questioned whether he deliberately downplayed what he knew were the major consequences of the trades.

The report, issued last month, said that when Dimon made that statement, the evidence indicates that he was already in possession of information about the SCPs [Synthetic Credit Portfolios] complex and sizeable portfolio, its sustained losses for three straight months, the exponential increase in those losses during March, and the difficulty of exiting the SCPs positions.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan has paid $4.3 billion to settle charges regarding mortgage abuses and $88.3 million to settle claims it violated sanctions against Iran, Cuba and the Sudan.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our solarlight made. There are government inquiries into whether JPMorgan manipulated energy markets. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency singled out JPMorgan in a blistering critique of its anti-money-laundering controls, noting critical deficiencies in the way JP Morgan monitors transactions, flags suspicious activity and conducts basic due diligence on its customers. The state of California is suing JPMorgan for fraudulent and unlawful credit-card debt collection practices.

The need for strong, independent leadership of corporate boards is reinforced by the results of a recent survey of chief financial officers by Ernst & Young . The survey found that 47% of CFOs thought legally and ethically questionable actions were justified in an economic downturn, and 52% thought management is likely to cut corners to meet targets.

The JPMorgan shareholder debate has highlighted the problems with a profits-above-all mentality. That attitude is the reason JPMorgan and other banks ran roughshod over 4.2 million homeowners during the foreclosure crisis, ignoring critical steps in the foreclosure process; that is why JP Morgan failed to properly manage its London trading operation that piled on risk, ignored limits on risk-taking, hid losses, dodged oversight and misinformed the public, as Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) put it; and that is why JPMorgan faces litigation that takes 10 singled-space pages to describe in its quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A public company is not a private fiefdom, no matter what Dimon and his supporters believe. Boards of directors need to hold their CEOs accountable, which can lead to better outcomes for shareholders overall. That is done best when there are different people who are CEO and chairman.

The receptionist handed over the card key for the room with a slightly apologetic instruction. You put it in the slot beside the door, this way round, then wait C he gave the word wait a special emphasis C until you hear a click, then the door is open. Oh, the vagaries of the hotel card key. Oh, the incompetence, so the receptionist hinted, of the average hotel guest.

But I did wait, and the door did open. Then the difficulties began. I couldnt find the little cradle that such cards often slot into to operate the electricity. I searched high and low, but to no effect. Fortunately, a chambermaid was still at work down the corridor. I looked pathetic, affected my best Italian pronunciation of elettricita, and she pointed to a horizontal slot actually in the wall, unmarked and almost invisible. The power sprang to life. I could now make the door say, Do not disturb; I could make it say Clean the room, please. I could,Guardian's standing drycabinets offers a temporary solution to tie off and stay in compliance on standing seam roofs. in theory, set the room temperature and the air conditioning (though I couldnt make them work; my fault, Im sure).

Someone, it seems, has sold Italian hotels, even small ones, a job lot of these all-embracing smart systems; Ive come across quite a few of them over the past 10 days, and become adept at wiggling the card in the slot when, as often, it did not immediately connect.

Dont get me wrong. Im a fan of card keys and the eco-friendly power-saving they facilitate. But, as the brains behind the recent failed launch of Microsofts Windows 8 learnt to their cost, those who spend all their waking hours refining hi-tech gadgetry can get so far ahead of the rest of us that they end up making our lives more complicated, not less.

Italians have long been in the vanguard of techie progress. On assignment in Rome in the late 1980s C long before mobile phones, the internet and online anything, a time when we foreign correspondents routinely dismantled phone sockets and teased out the wires to send reports electronically C the press room had screens on wheels that scrolled the latest news from major international news agencies, continually updated. They were elegant, efficient, state of the art, but C best of all C you didnt need to know how to work them.