EU’s Ashton accepts Iranian offer of nuclear talks
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton wrote to Iran‘s chief nuclear negotiator Tuesday, accepting an offer to meet to discuss Tehran‘s nuclear program.
Ashton represents six powers – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – in dealings with Iran, and her offer of talks came after weeks of consultations with them.
It follows the expansion of sanctions by Europe and the United States to exert economic pressure and force Tehran to hold back on its nuclear program, which they fear aims to produce atomic weapons. Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes only.
In a letter last month, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, proposed that negotiations with global powers should resume after more than a year’s standstill, and said Tehran would have “new initiatives” to bring to the table.
“Today I have replied to Dr Jalili‘s letter of February 14,” Ashton said in a statement. “I have offered to resume talks with Iran on the nuclear issue,” she said.
Ashton’s letter proposed an initial round of talks to focus on building confidence by developing concrete steps for the future.
“Our overall goal remains a comprehensive negotiated, long-term solution which restores international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program, while respecting Iran’s right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” she said in her reply to Jalili.
Ashton said the time and venue for talks should now be decided but noted she wanted talks to resume as soon as possible.
“In practical terms,” she wrote, “our deputies could get together in the near future in order to prepare for the first round of our resumed talks.”
In another possible step toward greater cooperation, Iran said Tuesday it would let U.N. nuclear investigators visit a military complex where they had been refused access, to check intelligence suggesting Tehran has pursued explosives research relevant to nuclear weapons.
Western states are likely to tread cautiously, mindful of past accusations that Iran’s willingness to talk has been a tool to buy time and not a path to agreement.
Officials say Iran faces an unprecedented strain on its economy due to the expansion of sanctions on its oil and financial sectors. In July, an EU embargo on Iranian crude is due to take full effect, drastically shrinking its export markets.
(Editing by Ben Harding)
Maryland Governor Legalizes Gay Marriage
The bill that was signed into law by Democratic Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley yesterday would legalize gay marriage in Maryland beginning in January of 2013. But the matter is far from decided and it is a near certainty that the issue will be put to a public referendum during the upcoming voting season in fall 2012. Despite passing the Democrat-controlled Maryland legislature, there is widespread and well-organized opposition to the bill among religious and conservative groups.
The irony, of course, is that Maryland was originally founded as a state based almost entirely on its desire to allow freedom of religion. And that inalienable freedom is now pointed to as the primary reason to restrict gays from legally marrying one another. The debate has been raging for months, but both sides seemed content to let the real fireworks wait until the run-up to the referendum, which has been seen as a near certainty from the start. Maryland is a liberal state by almost every measure, but its minority population, in particular, holds very strong ties to their church groups. And it is the minority church leaders who are leading the charge against the legalization of gay marriage.
The other element to the gay marriage debate in the state of Maryland is what it does for the long-term political aspirations of Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. O’Malley rose to prominence as a well-connected Mayor of Baltimore and has positioned himself as a viable Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate in 2016. Assuming Barack Obama wins another term in November, O’Malley would be an ideal candidate to take the baton for the Democratic party moving forward. He’s young by presidential standards, he’s good looking and has just enough of a folksy manner to be considered likable and “honest.” The whole gay marriage issue is just a piece of the puzzle for O’Malley, so we’ll have to see how that plays out for him over the next five years.
Facts About Basic Woodcarving Tools
Cutting Tools
As a woodcarver, you will cut into wood pieces to create unique shapes and designs. The size and style of the cuts you desire will determine what tool to use, whether it’s a carving knife, a chisel or a gouge. A carving knife is a handheld bladed instrument about the size of a hobby knife. It’s the most indispensable tool for woodcarving, and you’ll use it continuously for scoring wood and detail work. A chisel has a rectangular-shaped blade with a flat, sharp edge at the tip. Use chisels for incising straight lines or removing chunks of wood from projects. Gouges are similar to chisels but with a semicircular blade. A gouge allows you to cut curves and other rounded shapes easily.
Sharpening Tools
Using a dull tool can cause serious personal injury and damage your project. The amount of exertion required to use a blunt tool makes it more likely that you’ll make a mistake or cut yourself. Your tools are only as trustworthy as their edges are sharp. Keep tools sharpened by using a strop and sharpening stones. Sharpening stones are available in varying degrees of coarseness. Some stones require oil or water lubrication while others are used dry. Use stones to grind a sharpened edge on cutting tools and use a strop to hone the edge to acute sharpness.
Mallets
A mallet used for woodcarving is a striking tool with a blunt head like a hammer. The mallet handle is typically made of wood, whereas the striking surface is usually rubber. Using a mallet adds force to the cutting action of a chisel or gouge. This helps decrease the energy you exert, making it less likely to lose control of the cutting tool.
Power Tools
Although many people still practice traditional woodcarving with manual tools, the advent of power tools has offered exciting opportunities for woodcarvers. Power woodcarving tools allow carvers to produce finished work more efficiently than hand tools. New tools are often developed for carving projects, which enable carvers to produce finished work quicker than ever before. A power woodcarver’s workshop includes tools for a number of uses, from cutting raw material to a generalized shape to highly detailed finish work. These power tools include chain saws, industrial rotary carvers, reciprocating saws, grinders, sanders, drills and handheld rotary tools.
Safety Equipment
The proper safety equipment can make the difference between a harmless mistake and needing stitches. Because you’ll be working with sharpened blades, hand protection is a must. One solution is wearing work gloves, such as flexible safety gloves made of Kevlar and stainless steel. If you don’t want to sacrifice dexterity, however, consider wearing a thumb guard. This is similar to a leather work glove but fits over your thumb. You wear a thumb guard on your knife hand, which protects that digit from accidental slips.
Angelina Jolie’s Leg Still Talk of Oscars
You know something noteworthy happened when Angelina Jolie’s right leg starts its own Twitter account – and promptly attracts 12,000 followers. That’s what has happened in the aftermath of Jolie’s repeated striking of awkward poses that purposefully revealed her right leg jutting out of the high slit in her gown. After pulling the move on the red carpet, she also assumed the position while presenting the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The winners of the award included Community actor Jim Rash, who was a co-writer of the winning screenplay.
During the acceptance speech for the award, Rash spontaneously posed in exactly the same way Jolie was standing, much to the delight of the audience. And anyone who’s familiar with Rash’s Dean Felton character from Community surely found the tongue-in-cheek homage especially hysterical.
Rumors have started to swirl that Jolie didn’t find the move humorous, although claims that she was angry or upset have yet to be confirmed. After the ceremony, Rash insisted that he wasn’t making a conscious effort to mock Jolie, but that it was just an impulse that came over him to stand like that.
As a veteran comedian, Rash has instincts which basically force him to mock something so ridiculous, especially when on a stage in front of millions of viewers around the world. No self-respecting comedian could have passed on that opportunity. With the Twitter account and increasing news coverage of the pose, the Internet is abuzz with opinions and comments about the whole ordeal. Most commenters seem to be focused on why Jolie would have chosen to pose repeatedly in that way, correctly pointing out how awkward and uncomfortable she appeared to be. For his part, Rash probably upped his stock a bit, on a night when he already brought home an Oscar.
Is Your Child Truly ADHD/ADD?
I have had many students cross my path over the 15 yrs I taught and I have met some students that were truly ADHD. The ones that needed medication were severe and with the integration of a good behavior modification plan and quality one to one instruction, those students would begin to thrive. I was also given students that were being labeled as such and I found them precocious, and sometimes in need of behavior modifications, but far from ADHD/ADD. I can honestly say that this is where things can get subjective. I am a parent and an early childhood specialist but more importantly I am ADHD and have been as long as I can remember. What I considered to be ADD/ADHD behavior compared to that of a teacher without the actual symptoms seems to be vastly different.
When early childhood students enter a classroom it could be a few years before they are properly diagnosed if at all, unfortunately by the time the diagnosis comes the student is already behind academically and more than likely frustrated and even angry. If in a public school, the student is really at the mercy of a poorly-run special education system.
Unfortunately even when students are serviced, the actual time they spend learning new strategies that will help them in the classroom is meager at best. The responsibility often falls squarely on the shoulders of over-worked and under-paid teachers. Most teachers are skilled at finding resources to handle almost any student with a disability, however with ADHD/ADD the symptoms often spill over into the behavior category which will get the student flagged as a having a problem or being an “at-risk” student.
What does this mean to students and parents? If the student is flagged at-risk this is supposed to be a way to provide the student with extra one-to-one instruction in order to help the student make progress in the areas they are lacking, however, with the classrooms bursting at the seams it is not likely a student that is diagnosed with ADHD/ADD will get more than the bare minimum!
When parents get ADHD/ADD inferences from teachers or caregivers, it’s important to consider the source, to ensure it’s not just a case of your child not being a cookie cutter kid. Is the behavior just part of their character or something more that requires medication? Often this is subjective from teacher to teacher, do you know what your options are?
The other thing that can happen that is very frustrating is if a student is not just as content to sit, focus or stay on task as long as the others, teachers will sometimes encourage parents to have them seen by a doctor. Parents already overloaded and unsure of why their child isn’t doing well may go ahead with having the student seen. In almost every case the doctor then gives the teacher a form to fill out asking for their professional opinion on the student’s behavior. If the student is more than a cookie-cutter kid and requires more re-direction and constant interventions; the teacher will cite examples of students having the symptoms of ADHD/ADD then they get diagnosed and medicated all because they may have a different learning style. I am not by any means saying to not get your child seen by the doctor, it’s just important to look at all the ingredients before adding the label.
So what can parents do to help their child be themselves, avoid misdiagnosis, and get the academic support that they need?
- Parents first have trust their gut instincts; if you know that your child is the happy-go-lucky type that is perhaps a bit more active than others their age or shy and likes to day-dream, communicate your concerns to the teacher. Don’t let the fear of your child failing or getting into trouble intimidate you into going along with what you know inside.
- If your child’s not doing well, is always getting notes in their folder and unhappy with school, ask for your child to be moved for a trial run to another classroom and see how they work with that teacher. In many cases it makes all the difference in the world.
- If the school is not supporting what you think is best for your child, go beyond the school. Don’t settle for an end of the year answer because by that time the damage will be done, and your child will already not want anything to do with school. Go to the district, to get the ball rolling!
- If things still don’t change think about moving to a charter school or private school. There are lots of private schools that take state funding and offer affordable payment plans.
- There is another option that you will start to see more and more of and that is home-schools run by other qualified parents or teachers. They offer one great value compared to that of any large school and that is the specialized attention your child will receive. Most take only a handful of students, and some specialize in students with special needs.
- Get your child a good tutor that is qualified to work with students with special needs. This will help set clearly defined goals for your child and tutors can customize the curriculum.
- The last option is online-classrooms. There are so many options now however this takes some work on the part of the parent, so consider your schedule before committing to this option.
The point is don’t give up! If your child is truly ADHD/ADD then most teachers will go above and beyond to meet the educational needs of your child, but there are teachers that are just way too over-loaded and find it easier not to deal with the behavior at all. Just get a second opinion and a third if the teachers are in the same school and be very clear about your expectations for your child’s education. Parents have the loudest voice in the schools; they often just don’t know it.
Swedish airport reopens after security incident
The Associated Press
STOCKHOLM — Air traffic at Sweden’s second largest airport was suspended for several hours Sunday as bomb technicians investigated a suspicious bag that turned out to be harmless.
All incoming and outgoing flights were halted at Landvetter airport in Goteborg in the afternoon after police said a bag with suspected dangerous content was discovered in the security check area at the international terminal. The terminal was evacuated.
Airport officials said in a statement later Sunday that the content was identified as harmless and that the airport had reopened to traffic.
Earlier in the day, airport operator Swedavia’s spokesman Jan Lindqvist said about 2,000 passengers were affected.
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February 26, 2012 02:26 PM EST
Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
University of Northern Iowa Calls for Closure of Price Lab School
UNI’s President, Benjamin Allen, listened to the concerns of the individuals at the meeting. The parents proposed raising the money to keep Price Lab open. Allen stated that it was just not the yearly budget that was necessary but the cost of refurbishing the building. It is estimated that the refurbishing costs range between $ 17 million and $ 30 million.
Now, parents are looking at a sizable increase to keep the school open. UNI officials have stated that $ 1 million is the projected operating budget for the coming school year. These means that UNI must have an endowment of at least $ 30 million to maintain Price Lab.
This is not the first time that UNI has threatened to close Price Lab but all indications are that they will finally achieve this goal. Parents have paid the price to keep Price Lab open over the past nine years. It was at that time that enrollment went from $ 200 a student to well over $ 2,000. Parents were very concerned at that time that the quality of education their children were receiving was worth the extra tuition. We were one set of those parents and opted to pay the increase in tuition to keep our daughter in a small school setting.
Forcing the students from a small school system into the Cedar Falls public school system will be a shock for not only the students, but the parents. Teaching styles are extremely different and the students. The student to teacher ratio is much higher within the Cedar Falls area. Those students who are open enrolled from other districts will no longer have the choice of the quality education that Price Lab provides.
Information for this article was attained via the meeting held on Wednesday evening and the Waterloo Courier.
What’s Good About Looking Older
How to look younger is a common remark
Looking years older can be good too
It can imply knowledge, wisdom, experience,
Tolerance, so many things that are admirable
All these qualities can register on the
Looking older’s face
The looking older can be a
Good listener, a great conversationalist,
A wonderful companion
The list can go on and on
Having surgery to look younger
Is a great asset when you have
Character to go along
Forex Megadroid Reviews
Forex MegaDroid – What is it?
Forex MegaDroid is considered to be a new age forex robot. Forex robots are a piece of software with specific parameters that will make Forex transactions automatically for you. However, Forex MegaDroid is considered to be a new age Forex robot. New age in the sense that it will automatically analyze the past market conditions and trades. It will then analyze the data and adjust its trading parameters in the hopes of adapting to the changing times of the Forex market. The idea behind this adapting ability is to give the Forex robot an extra edge when making transactions. The creators are aiming to make a Forex robot that will give you extra few points of profit, which can significantly add up in the long run.
Forex MegaDroid Review – Does It Work?
When it comes to testing profitability of Forex robots, there are basically two ways to do it. There is the forward testing and backtesting. Backtesting is a method where you collect past Forex data for a certain period of time, and run the Forex robot against that data and see how it performs. Forward testing is the opposite; you are basically testing the Forex robot in real time.
Actual backtesting of Forex MegaDroid resulted with a huge profit gain over the span of one year. It showed a gain of almost 100%. However, you should not take these back testing results at face value, especially when it comes to Forex MegaDroid that continually adjusts its trading parameters. Forex back testing is a little bit tricky because there are lots of variables that may have been altered in the past that will give it a “butterfly effect” on the future. However, Forex MegaDroid is still considered a good performer because of its back testing results. Even if you only gain 50% of its theoretical back testing profits, it is still considered as a significant profit.
Forex MegaDroid Review – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Most Forex robot reviewers fail to mention that there is an inherent risk when you let a robot do all the trading for you. Robots still have an inherent weakness, and that is they are limited when it comes to logic and reasoning. That is why I suggest that you try the Forex MegaDroid with an account that does not involve real money, but allows you to create transactions with real-time data feed. This will give you a good feel on how the robot performs, and make your necessary tweaks and adjustments so that it can work harmoniously with your situation.