Obama turns to private sector to feed world's poor

US President Barack Obama on Friday reached out to the private sector in hopes of lifting 50 million people in the developing world from poverty, as wealthy nations grapple with a budget crunch.

Ahead of talks of the Group of Eight major industrial nations, Obama pledged that the United States will keep providing emergency aid to feed the world's hungry but announced a partnership with companies to increase crop yields.

"As president, I consider this a moral imperative. As the wealthiest nation on earth, I believe the United States has a moral obligation to lead the fight against hunger and malnutrition and to partner with others," Obama said.

"We'll stay focused on clear goals -- boosting farmers' incomes and over the next decade helping 50 million men, women and children lift themselves out of poverty," Obama told a symposium in Washington.

Obama said that 45 firms, from major corporations to African cooperatives, had pledged to invest more than $3 billion for efforts that include providing better seeds and storage and helping farmers better predict climate patterns.

The initiative comes as pledges expire from 2009 in L'Aquila, Italy, where the Group of Eight promised more than $20 billion over three years to improve food access to Africans and others hit by the high prices and a global slowdown.

Obama insisted that the initiative, which he called the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, was not a substitute for aid. G8 leaders will hold a special session on food security Saturday at their summit at the Camp David presidential retreat, where the eurozone's woes are set to dominate the agenda.

"I know some have asked, in a time of austerity, whether this new alliance is just a way for governments to shift the burden onto somebody else. I want to be clear -- the answer is no," Obama said.

"As president, I can assure you that the United States will continue to meet our responsibilities so that even in these tough fiscal times, we will continue to make historic investments in development," Obama said.

In a rare public reference to his father's family in Kenya, Obama said that he had seen first-hand how African farmers "can be some of the hardest working people on earth" but still suffer from hunger.

"Fifty years ago Africa was an exporter of food. There is no reason why Africa should not be feeding itself and exporting food again," Obama said in the speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Officials said that corporate commitments included a promise by Norway's Yara to build Africa's first major fertilizer production facility and investment by US beverage giant Pepsi and engineering leader Dupont in small-scale farmers in Africa.

Anti-poverty advocates largely applauded Obama's initiative but voiced concern about broader commitment by wealthy nations.

"President Obama made an important commitment to increase US public support for the fight against hunger but we hear other G8 countries may not be prepared to make the same kind of commitment," said Neil Watkins, director of policy and campaigns for ActionAid USA.

"Without a clear pledge to sustain L'Aquila public funding levels, this year's G8 will be remembered as the summit that buried the L'Aquila pledge to fight hunger," he said.

Hunger has gone up sharply in recent years for a variety of reasons that experts say include the global economic crisis and climate change.

Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have died last year in lawless Somalia and neighboring countries on the Horn of Africa due to a drought. In a new crisis, more than 16 million people are said to be short on food in West Africa's desert Sahel region.

The European Union, which has joined the United States, Japan and other wealthy nations in supporting relief efforts, welcomed Obama's initiative.

"We are confident that, by making donors and the private sector work together, we can help tackle the root causes of hunger and eradicate hunger," said a statement by Kristalina Georgieva, the EU commissioner on humanitarian aid, and the bloc's development commissioner, Andris Piebalgs.

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Smartphone app could help blind navigate indoors

7 hrs.

For a blind or visually-impaired person, getting around a large building like a hospital or lab may involve a lot of guesswork and asking for directions. A new system?called Navatar created by engineers at the University of Nevada, Reno, uses the sensors in a smartphone to detect progress along a map of a building, allowing for natural navigation that's cheap to boot.

There are more sophisticated indoor-navigation systems, like the new Indoor Positioning System chips, but this one doesn't require any special hardware (other than standard sensors like an accelerometer) and no beacons or cameras need to be installed in the building. And because it doesn't use wireless signals, it can be used in places like hospitals and museums that frown on such transmissions.

All it needs is a 3-D map of the building, which in this case was created using Google's free SketchUp program, though it could conceivably be created automatically from blueprints or other records. The user puts in their starting point and destination ("South entrance, going to room 243") and the system gives them turn-by-turn directions, all the while counting footsteps and detecting changes in orientation in order to get a rough idea of where the user is in the building.

The creators of the program claim that using the sensors in the phone and the map data, they can locate the user to within six feet, which is more than accurate enough to get someone into the vicinity of their destination. And because it knows the layout of the building, it doesn't have to say "10 feet ahead," but rather says "turn right, then second door?on the left," and relies on the person's ability to navigate the environment to fill in the gaps or update?the location if necessary.

It wouldn't be just for the visually impaired, either; Eelke Folmer, who leads the project, told me that the technology is easily adaptable for other situations. A fireman navigating a smoky and unfamiliar building, for instance, or just a regular, sighted person trying to find their way around a big place like an airport without relying on battery-sucking wireless.

The bottleneck seems to be the mapping and annotating of environments. It's one thing to build a few models of buildings on campus, another to have thousands of buildings around the country mapped and accessible to the app. That said, it's a powerful approach in its independence from wireless infrastructure, and in how it utilizes both the?senses of the user and the "expanded" senses of their device.

More information on the system, along with some papers describing the techniques used, can be found at the Navatar site.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

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Florida Criminal Lawyer | Affordable Lawyer

There are many elements to consider when hiring a professional criminal legal southwest. We found a long list of some (but not necessarily all) of things you should look for when employing a lawyer Southwest criminal law:1. Make sure the firm that would like to use mainly to cases of imprisonment. Do not use your divorce lawyer or perhaps the law firm that drew up his will to take care of your event lawbreaker. Would not work with a doctor to control the nerves in the center right? Because criminal defense is actually a particular area of law, we must work with a law firm, who is an authority on this subject.

2. Ensure that the California prison law firm intends to hire the services address the specific type of criminal court you have. If you face with murder, do not use a lawyer who only ingested, travel conditions. Find a lawyer as a substitute for having a meeting to deal with difficult cases. Or if you are faced with a national crhyme, not using a Texas lawyer in the law that targets only condition crhymes judge. Find a legal professional, alternatively, may have the administration of government bodies meeting.

3. Make sure the representative of the Florida law lawbreaker intends to use knowledge management practice has many of its specific form of stage. For example, if the firm offers to use the simple drunk driving a vehicle cases, what he / she graduated from law school for 3 months and therefore management has little or no real knowledge, as the scenarios? 4. Avoid hiring a professional criminal legal California agrees that the "certain result. In fact, it is difficult for law firm that the team that just won and who knows nothing about your case that is not everything who shared with him to see how your situation will come up with any amount of the guarantee.5. But if your goal would be to resolve the situation without taking a test, you may not need to use the prison's attorney in the law best show around. You really should manifest itself as an alternative to an agent who has experience reducing productive variety of situations lawbreaker. By contrast, when certainly want to have a chance, make sure the criminal lawyer Sarasota has important practical cases retain the knowledge they struggle and not simply a place of "workin lawyer.

6. In If you are using a law firm west of the lawbreaker to be effective with their circumstances, ensure that specific lawyer, but not among their partners would be the lawyer who often repair their circumstances and go to court over.

7. Use a Florida attorney felony of the law that you feel relaxed using following to join him and go over your situation. Do not use a lawyer to be pressing to consult with trial run in the event that its goal is always reached sufficient agreement with the prosecutor immediately. On the other hand, not using a lawyer to press for a high demand for purchase if you really want is actually a trial.

8. Ensure that counsel for the prison Fl to be used have the opportunity to focus on your circumstances. In the event that the legal representative who wishes to use begins a month long national study in the future, it will not be the law firm offenders best suited to handle your case if the instance has a lot to operate, in addition to their test day is coming soon.9. Make sure the attorney Texas law felony that would like to use is to aid workers which adequately could handle your event. Does the legal professional has, for example, a secretary, a private investigator, a paralegal, and admission to qualified witnesses may be necessary to effectively represent you in the test? If you're not, you'd find another legal professional.

10. In case of felony southwest The legal practitioner must keep is quoting the rate that is much more or much less than the rhythm method, ask yourself why. If the remaining rate offered is a bit more compared to the load planning, which considering that the law firm that is as cool as your opposition? If she is certainly not higher, you will pay that fee? However, if the price of remaining payment is less than the price of intention, may be due to counsel only from the minor features and find their special variety of criminal circumstances? If so, you should find one more degree in Law.


About The Author

Ronald Chapman is a Florida criminal lawyer who has been representing clients charged with crimes since 1990. His office is located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Attorney Chapman?s blog is located at http://www.justiceflorida.com/articles/hiring-a-florida-criminal-atto/

May 18th, 2012 posted in Criminal Lawyer

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Car finance website Car Loan 4U explains the benefits of car loans ...

Car finance website Car Loan 4U explains the benefits of car loans The UK?s leading car finance website Car Loan 4U explains why motorists looking to buy a new vehicle may wish to consider taking out a car loan. Car loans can be a great way of helping motorists get on with their day-to-day lives with a brand new vehicle without having to fork out huge up front fees. There are a number of benefits to taking out a car loan and applying for one is easy and simple. Motorists can either apply online or call a car loan advisor to help and the application should take no longer than a few minutes. A growing number of British motorists are taking out car finance, as it is an easy and affordable option for buying a new car. Another benefit of taking out a car finance loan is that people with a bad credit history can still be considered. As long

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Groupon CEO, founders to keep shares after lockup

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New technique reveals unseen information in DNA code

Friday, May 18, 2012

Imagine reading an entire book, but then realizing that your glasses did not allow you to distinguish "g" from "q." What details did you miss?

Geneticists faced a similar problem with the recent discovery of a "sixth nucleotide" in the DNA alphabet. Two modifications of cytosine, one of the four bases that make up DNA, look almost the same but mean different things. But scientists lacked a way of reading DNA, letter by letter, and detecting precisely where these modifications are found in particular tissues or cell types.

Now, a team of scientists from the University of Chicago, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the University of California, San Diego and Emory University has developed and tested a technique to accomplish this task. The results are published May 17 in the online edition of the journal Cell.

The team used the technique to map 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) in DNA from human and mouse embryonic stem cells, revealing new information about their patterns of distribution. These studies have revealed that these DNA modifications play major roles in fundamental life processes such as cell differentiation, cancer and brain function.

"They regulate gene expression and have a broad impact on stem cell development, various human diseases such as cancer, and potentially on neurodegenerative disease. They may even shape the development of the human brain," said Chuan He, professor in chemistry at UChicago.

Scientists have been examining the patterns of 5-mC for decades, as part of the field of epigenetics: the study of the information that lies "on top" of the DNA sequence. However, researchers only recognized that 5-hmC was present at significant levels in our DNA a few years ago. 5-mC is generally found on genes that are turned off, and helps silence genes that aren't supposed to be turned on. In contrast, 5-hmC appears to be enriched on active genes, especially in brain cells. Also, defects in the Tet enzymes that convert 5-mC into 5-hmC can drive leukemia formation, hinting that changes in 5-hmC are important in cancer.

The Cell paper describes a method called TAB-Seq that directly measures 5-hmC, and presents the first map of the entire genome of 5-hmC at single-base resolution. He and three of his students conceived and developed the technique at UChicago. A patent is pending on their invention; UChicago is working with Chicago-based Wisegene to further develop the technology.

Researchers in epigenetics expect TAB-Seq to have a major impact on their work.

"This is a major breakthrough in that TAB-Seq allows precise mapping of all 5-hydroxymethylcytosine sites in a mammalian genome using well-established, next-generation DNA sequencing methods," said Joseph Ecker, a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, who was not involved in the Cell study. "The study showed very clearly that deriving useful knowledge about this poorly understood epigenetic regulator requires determination of the exact locations of 5hmC with base-level accuracy. I expect that their new method will immediately become widely adopted."

The other two laboratories of the team, Bing Ren's Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research/UCSD group applied TAB-Seq to human embryonic stem cells, while Peng Jin's group at Emory University applied the method to mouse embryonic stem cells.

Previous studies had shown that 5-hmC was found on genes that are turned on. Now, the additional resolution and subsequent research on mouse and human embryonic stem cells reveals that it is found most often on the stretches of DNA that control a gene's activity, called enhancers, in comparison with the parts of genes that are actually read out into RNA.

"We learned using this new technique that this modification is most abundant in the areas of the genome known as enhancers, which regulate the expression of genes. This potential regulatory role of hmC may explain its importance in embryonic stem cells, and why its disruption may result in the development of leukemia," said Gary Hon, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Bing Ren, who carried out the genome-wide analysis of 5hmC in the human embryonic stem cells at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UCSD.

Another difference with 5-mC is that 5-hmC is usually on only one side of the DNA. In contrast, 5-mC is most often found symmetrically. Overall, 5-hmC is around 14 times less abundant than 5-mC. Even at sites where 5-hmC is the most abundant, it is still present at about one fifth the frequency as 5-mC, the team found using the new technique.

Previous research has found that 5-hmC is 10 times more abundant in brain than in stem cells, so it may have an especially important role there. Jin's laboratory is using the new technique to finely map 5-hmC in the developing brain.

"To really see the kinds of functions 5-hmC can have, we need to look at how it appears and disappears over time, during processes like brain development. This technique will allow us, and other investigators, to dive in and get that information at high resolution," said Jin, an associate professor of human genetics at Emory.

###

University of Chicago: http://www-news.uchicago.edu

Thanks to University of Chicago for this article.

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Contagious equine ( horse ) metritis infection. | *A blog for Pets*

The Diagnosis of Contagious Equine Metritis is made by taking cultures from all accessible sites. In mares, this includes the endometrium, cervix, clitoral fossa and sinuses.
In stallions, cultures are taken from the skin folds of the prepuce, urethral fossa, urethra, and the pre-ejaculatory fluid.

All samples should be refrigerated and transported to an approved testing laboratory within 48 hours of collection.

Blood tests for mares are available for detecting antibodies to Taylorella equigenitalis. Blood tests are not possible for stallions. These tests become positive 10 or more days after infection. If positive, they only indicate that the mare has had the disease in the past, and do not indicate whether the mare is a carrier now.

Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) is a venereal infection of the genital tract of horses brought on by the Taylorella equigenitalis bacteria. Passed on through sexual contact, according to Robert N. Oglesby DVM, the disease was first reported in 1977 on horse breeding farms in England and was found in 1978 by Dr. C.E.D.

Taylor in horses imported from Europe into the state of Kentucky in the United States. A second American outbreak occurred a year later in Missouri but in both cases, the diseases were quickly eradicated. The American Association of Equine Practitioners has advised that the disease has also been found in a few but limited cases in California, Virginia and New Jersey.
Need a vacation?
On December 17, 2008 a case was reported by USDA-Aphis to the OIE in a 16 year-old Quarter Horse stallion standing at stud in Kentucky who had previously been located in Texas.
Contagious Equine Metritis has also been found in Japan, Germany, France, Netherlands, Scandinavia Bosnia and Morocco.

Signs in mares appear ten to fourteen days after breeding to an infected or carrier stallion. A gray to creamy vulvar discharge mats the hair of the buttocks and tail, although in many cases, the discharge is absent and the infection is not apparent.

Most mares recover spontaneously, although many become carriers. Infected mares are usually infertile during the acute illness. However, the infertility only lasts a few weeks, after which pregnancy is possible.
Stallions do not show signs of infection.

The first indication of the carrier state is the appearance of Contagious Equine Metritis and/or lack of pregnancy in the mares covered by the stallion.

Taylorella equigenitalis is susceptible to most antibiotics, although the carrier state in mares is difficult to eliminate. Most mares with acute endometritis recover spontaneously. Recommended therapy is to infuse the uterus with an antibiotic such as penicillin, cleansing the clitoral area with 2% chlorhexidine solution and then applying chlorhexidine or nitrofurazone ointment to the clitoral fossa and sinuses.

The entire treatment is repeated daily for five days.
It is relatively easy to eliminate the carrier state in stallions using local disinfectant.
Do you have a cat?
With the penis dropped and the glans extended from the foreskin, the shaft of the penis, including the folds of the prepuce and the urethral fossa, should be cleansed daily for five days with a 2% chlorhexidine solution. After drying, nitrofurazone cream is applied to these areas.
source :? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagious_equine_metritis

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RantWoman and the RSOF: Marriage Equality: Testimony

There is an alert about Marriage Equality at the bottom from the Friends Committee on WA Public Policy. This post is a rough draft for something Friends in RantWoman's Meeting are seasoning. There is a timeliness element which is why RantWoman is posting the top as rough draft.

Testimony
University Meeting has been taking same-sex and heterosexual marriages equally under our care for many years, having come to unity in our meetings for worship and business that this is what the Spirit calls us to do. But many people who've come to Meeting in recent years don't know about the deep and long spiritual discernment process which we went through, and so are less than fully prepared to talk to people in person, or via social media, about what we do and why. If you would like to help craft a more detailed collection of previous testimony about our history and numerous statements supporting our testimony in this area, please leave a comment.

Short history
University Friends Meeting was one of the first Monthly Meetings in the Religious Society of Friends to take same-gender relationships under its care. The first time this occurred was in the 1980?s and this Meeting has long been on record in support of full Marriage equality. Here we offer some excerpts from our many minutes and public statements.

Do you participate in discussions about marriage equality with friends or neighbors? Do you participate in discussions about marriage equality through social media? We want to know, are there any resources that would help you tell the story of our Meeting?s history or that speak to modern conversations about this? If you have ideas or questions, please leave a comment and RantWoman will either address herself or enthusiastically help route

Marriage and Commitment
from North Pacific Yearly Meeting1993 Faith and Practice http://www.npym.org/fnp/index.html

THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY of an individual can be enhanced and strengthened in a loving, committed relationship. Some call the relationship marriage; some call it by another name. Friends have long recognized that some couples are called into a covenant relationship, a ministry of caring, which with Divine assistance may open the door to deep and unreserved love, to forgiveness, to sharing strengths, to trust and to the nurture of each other?s growth.

Early Friends recognized that the joining of two people in such a covenant relationship ?is the work of the Lord only, and not the priests? or magistrates; for it is God?s ordinance and not man?s; and therefore Friends cannot consent that they should join them together: for we marry none; it is the Lord?s work, and we are but witnesses.? (George Fox, 1669)

When a couple feels called into such a covenant relationship, they seek clearness with their Meeting. When the Meeting finds clearness in the couple, and clearness within the Meeting to take their relationship under the care of the Meeting, a Meeting for Worship is specially called in which the couple publicly affirm and celebrate their lifetime commitment to one another.

Monthly Meetings within the Yearly Meeting have a variety of responses to accepting the role of clearness and oversight of committed relationships and marriages. ? A number of Meetings choose to leave the naming of the relationship and the celebration to the couple.

Coming Under the Care of the Meeting:
Before taking a couple?s relationship under its care a Meeting, through a Clearness Committee, counsels with the partners, seeking to establish their clearness in what they are undertaking. If the committee so recommends, and the Meeting agrees, the relationship and the couple are taken under the care of the Meeting. This means that the couple is surrounded by a loving community which may take action as necessary to support the well being of the two individuals, of the relationship itself, and of any children who may be, or become, involved.

A couple, regardless of sexual orientation, comes under the care of a Monthly Meeting in any of the following ways: first, through the clearness process which precedes the marriage or celebration; second, by the Meeting members attending the celebration and witnessing the vows; third, through the care, support, and guidance given to every couple in the Meeting throughout their lifetime journey.

2012: One of the always-cited arguments against gay marriage is the opposition of Christians and other people of faith. we not only endorse the gay marriage law, but feel that this is a position we must take as a religious testimony. We have as a faith community recognized, for many years, the God-given, sacramental basis of many committed same-sex relationships, and witness to this when we take same-sex marriages under our meeting's care. Tthis is similar in nature to our historic testimonies against slavery and racism, and in favor of women's rights.

1997 Letter to the Governor of WA:

Our faith community has spent many years in prayer and dialogue regarding issues of marriage and family. One result of our faithful work has been that we approve wholly of the married union of same gendered couples. This position was taken as a result of listening for Divine guidance and seeking the Truth as best we could. Thus we do believe that God desires and accepts fully those couples, heterosexual or homosexual, who make loving commitments towards each other. We take this stand for marriage as a spiritual and personal commitment within a faith community.

As a result of this stand, it is our practice to approve and perform marriage and ceremonies of commitment for same-gendered couples. These couples we accept fully as a part of our community. We know them to be deeply committed to each other and loving parents. They are essential to the strength of our community and are often models of love and care. In addition to offering these couples our spiritual support, we feel it is important that homosexual marriages be granted civil status equal to that granted to heterosexual couples. Friends believe that everyone is a child of God and should be related to in those terms. ? We see clear benefits in granting equal civil recognition of same sex marriage. The legal and financial stability of such social recognition offered to couples creates a more stable union and, for those who choose to parent, greater stability for their children as well.

Over the years of our consideration of this issue we did struggle. We prayed and "held each other in the Light" even when we disagreed. The result of all of this has strengthened our community. We are still growing and learning, but we have what we believe is a truer sense of love, family, commitment and community.

A historical note from a modern blog also about legal recognition of Quaker families:

The original purpose of a Quaker marriage certificate was to provide public recognition of the act of marriage. It was signed by everyone present to give legal weight to the public declaration by showing that it was witnessed by lots of people. The certificate could be presented by the meeting to a magistrate to show that the couple?s children were not bastards and that they could hold property together and bequeath it to them, and so subvert the challenges of disaffected relatives.

http://sheffieldquakers.blogspot.com/2012/05/same-sex-marriage-and-weddings.html

Resources outside our Meeting:

Friends Committee for WA Public Policy
http://www.fcwpp.org/
WA United for Marriage http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/
Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns, http://www.flgbtqc.org/

Decline to Sign / Vote YES FCWPP Alert on Marriage Equality

Friends Committee on WA Public Policy
Alert in Support of Washington State?s Marriage Equality Law

FCWPP endorses the Washington United for Marriage coalition and its efforts to uphold Washington?s Marriage Equality Law. Specifically, we support the effort by this coalition to collect pledges stating, ?I support marriage equality for all loving,?committed couples in Washington State. I pledge to approve Referendum 74.? We encourage you to visit? http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/? and pledge your support today. Physical pledge cards are also available to circulate and return to the coalition office.

BACKGROUND

On February 13, 2012, Governor Gregoire signed into law ESSB 6239, permitting same?sex couples to marry in Washington State and thus ending marriage discrimination against certain loving, committed couples. This law is consistent with Friends? testimony of equality and with the attached Minute approved by North Pacific Yearly Meeting 15 years ago, in 1997. FCWPP stood with others in supporting this legislation and has celebrated the action of the legislature and governor.? However, some citizens of Washington are circulating petitions to collect signatures for Referendum 74, in the hope of overturning this law. The way a referendum works is that before it goes into effect those who oppose a law passed by the legislature and signed by the governor may solicit signatures to place it on the ballot for a vote. Then they attempt to?overturn it with a majority REJECT vote. Thus those of us who support the Marriage Equality Law are in a curious position:

1. It is in our interest not to sign a petition to put Referendum 74 on the ballot, but

2. If Referendum 74 does qualify for the ballot, then we would vote APPROVE it.

Those promoting the referendum need to deliver 120,577 signatures to the Secretary of State by June 6, 2012. If they do?not, the law will go into effect on June 7, 2012. As part of the effort to uphold the law, Washington United for Marriage seeks to obtain more pledges supporting marriage equality than signers on Referendum 74. The support demonstrated by? these pledges will be used to counter negative messaging that turning in referendum signatures could create. FCWPP? supports this effort to help create the momentum needed to pass Referendum 74, if it gets on the ballot.

Meetings and other organizations may endorse this effort to sustain marriage equality at

http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/about/ . Individual Friends and others may also pledge their support online at

http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/ . Washington United for Marriage has a variety of suggestions for supporting? marriage equality and efforts to sustain the current law.

One final point. In the future, there may be an additional effort to place Initiative 1192 on the ballot. This would be another way to overturn the Marriage Equality Law. Friends who support marriage equality should also avoid signing petitions to?place this measure on the ballot. Should it appear on the ballot, a NO vote would support marriage equality.

To summarize the main points: FCWPP recommends that Friends

1. Do not sign a petition to get Referendum 74 on the ballot
2. Do circulate and sign the Washington United for Marriage pledge to support marriage equality
3. If Referendum 74 gets on the ballot, vote to APPROVE
4. As you are led, ask your meeting to support marriage equality
?? The FCWPP Legislative Committee

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Tiffen Dfx v3 Adds Support for FCPX and Motion 5 | ThePhotoTimes ...

Press release from The Tiffen Company:

Hauppauge, NY ? Tiffen announced that its award-winning digital filter suite ? Tiffen Dfx v3 ? is now available for use on Apple Final Cut Pro X (10.0.4) and Motion 5 (5.0.3). Winner of the Studio Prime Award (April 2012), Award of Superiority from MicroFilmmaker Magazine (March 2012), the Photo Industry Reporter?s prestigious Best of the Best award for CES 2012 (March 2012), the DV Black Diamond award (October 2011), Videomaker?s Best of Show CES 2012 (January 2012), and Digital Photography Magazine 2012 Editors? Choice Award (March 2012), the Tiffen Dfx digital filter solution simulates 2,000+ popular award-winning Tiffen glass filters, specialized lenses, optical lab processes, film grain, exacting color correction plus natural light and photographic effects, making it a definitive set of digital optical filters for any video editor, director of photography or still photographer.

?Our Tiffen Dfx v3 digital filter suite is a critical part of the compositing and effects production workflow for video editors and motion graphic artists,? comments Steve Tiffen, President and CEO, The Tiffen Company. ?Having support for the Final Cut Pro and Motion community ensures that these artists are able to use their Tiffen Dfx filters when they make the move to the latest Apple pro video application offerings.?

Tiffen Dfx Pricing and Availability
Tiffen Dfx for FCP X and Motion 5 is available this day for $599.00 USD. In addition to supporting Apple Final Cut Pro 10.0.4 and Motion 5.0.3, one Tiffen Dfx v3 video/film plug-in license will also run in Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro 6 & 7 and Avid editing systems if installed and activated on the same machine.

The Tiffen Dfx v3 pic plug-in is available this day for $199.95 USD. One Tiffen Dfx pic plug-in license will run in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and Apple Aperture if installed and activated on the same machine.

The standalone version of Tiffen Dfx v3 is available this day for $169.95 USD.

To download Tiffen Dfx v3, please visit: http://tiffensoftware.com/products.>

Tiffen, the One-Stop Shop for Visual Effects Software Solutions
Through a global distribution partnership with Digital Film Tools, a developer of visual effects tools, Tiffen provides the creative community access to an unprecedented breadth and depth of award-winning visual effects products with special production bundles that can be bought only through Tiffen and DFT.

?Tiffen has built a reputation on listening to our customers and giving them the ideal in visual effects technology ? part of which means ensuring our digital effects tools are available on the latest editing software products such as Final Cut Pro X and Motion 5,? notes Steve Tiffen. ?The other part is variety. In addition to supporting the new Apple releases with our flagship digital filter suite, we have significantly expanded our visual effects product offering through our relationship with Digital Film Tools. We can accommodate our customers? needs at any level, whether they are looking for a specific image treatment tool or an entire effects editing production suite, they can come to Tiffen.?

The extensive list of visual effects plug-ins and production bundles, which can be bought on the Tiffen website at http://tiffensoftware.com/products/dft-products, includes:

Details :
Submited at Thursday, May 17th, 2012 at 7:00 pm on Uncategorized by KuchanNaegeli924
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Human Resources Strategy: HR Today and Tomorrow!!!

The latest issue of HR Executive magazine is celebrating its' 25th anniversary. It is a great issue because it really tracks the progress of HR over the past 25 years and how it has arrived at the table today.


I am really proud and glad that I was a part of this growing trend in HR during my 35 years in the business and an HR leader for 30 of those great years. That being said, Hr today cannot stand on its laurels and set and take all the applause. As David Ulrich said, "the competencies that served HR well in the past will not be enough to propel it into the future." I fully agree with David on this. HR today need to look into the future and my prediction is the following:
  • HR leaders will need to be even more business savvy than they are today
  • HR will need to continue to drive business change and talent management
  • the leaders in HR going forward may come from the line who have run business segments
  • HR leaders will have to continue to innovate their business practices, master them and continue to integrate within the business
  • all HR practitioners will need to understand global initiatives and global business practices
  • HR executives will be chosen by the boards to run the business, and I predict within 5 years.?

These are my top of mind predictions for HR for the next 10 years. What are your thoughts on this? Write me at wgstevens2@gmail.com?

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