Freedom tops Observers final boys basketball Sweet 16

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The 2013-14 Sweet 16 boys basketball champion is Morgantons Freedom High School.

The Patriots finished 31-1 and won the N.C. 3A championship after Kasen Wilson hit a 12-foot jumper to give his team a 59-57 win over Wilson Hunt in March. Freedom never led until Wilsons shot.

Freedom trailed by 12 points in the first quarter and by 13 in the third, but rallied each time. The Patriots also jumped from No. 11 to No. 1 in the Observers final poll. Freedom will receive a Sweet 16 banner to hang in the schools gym.

Lake Norman, which reached the 4A state final with a surprise run through the playoffs, finished second. West Charlotte reached the regionals for the fifth time in six years and finished third.

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Freedom tops Observers final boys basketball Sweet 16

Strength of religious freedom must be built in US courts, LDS leader says

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Strength of religious freedom must be built in US courts, LDS leader says

By Dave McCann

April 16th, 2014 @ 10:34pm

SALT LAKE CITY Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will give the keynote address at Utah Valley University's Spring Constitutional Symposium on Religious Freedom.

In an interview with KSL Newsradios Amanda Dickson and Grant Nielsen, he said he won't be speaking as a leader of the LDS Church, but as an interested, knowledgeable citizen concerned about the condition of democracy and free speech in the United States of America.

The contention that comes from unresolved controversies in this area is poisonous to the civic atmosphere, and it is a disadvantage to all of us as citizens, Elder Oaks said.

Over the last century the U.S. has faced many challenges to religious freedom, but Elder Oaks says his concern now is how political and divisive they've become.

Specifically, weve got non-discrimination which is a very important civic value being set in opposition to religious freedom, and people are choosing up sides as if you couldnt have both of them, he said.

He believes some of the current contests also impinge on free speech, and that should concern all citizens.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks

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Strength of religious freedom must be built in US courts, LDS leader says

Catch Up on Orphan Black With This Handy Cheat Sheet

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Image: Steve Wilkie/BBC America

There are perfectly legitimate reasons why you missed the first season of Orphan Black. Youve got plenty of things going on in your lifeand frankly, there are plenty of shows youre more likely to be spoiled on via social media. You might have gotten a casual recommendation here or there, but you havent been flooded with urgent texts telling you to get on it, so you didnt. And thats okay.

But on Saturday, Orphan Black is back for a new season. In other words, your grace period for getting into one of the best sci-fi thrillers on TV is officially over. At this point, you probably dont even have time to binge-watch the 10-episode first season in time. Never fear, though; with help from this handy-dandy cheat sheet, you can get through the first episode or two of the new season without having seen a minute of it.

Orphan Black is a show about a bunch of genetically engineered clones (all played by the terrifyingly talented Tatiana Maslany) who were separated and released into society as orphans.Its all the work of Aldous Leekie, charismatic geneticist whos convinced hes the Steve Jobs of neolutionisma fancy word for altering your genetic makeup to suit your whims.Neolutionism has developed a new-age cult following of people who get off on the idea of genetic enhancements (one dude in the first season had a Jason Alexander-esque tail). At its core, the ideology is pure, unadulterated eugenics, which isnot great, Bob.

Anyway, the clones grew up (and were closely monitored) under different circumstances around the world. We dont exactly know Leekies motivation, apart from observing nature-versus-nurture in its purest form. (Eventually, we found out that each clone has a single differentiating gene that acts like a nametag.) Two clones, Sarah and Helena, were spirited away by their birth mother to protect them, which means theyve grown up unmonitored, outside the experiment.Meanwhile, several of the other clones have begun to suffer from a mystery illness that involves coughing up your own blood. So far its affected Cosima, a dreadlocked Berkeleygenetics student, and Katja, a red-haired German who sought out other clones (and in doing so tipped off detective and fellow clone Beth Childs to the entire conspiracy). Meanwhile, yet another clone was brainwashed by a group of anti-Neolutionist religious extremists called the Proletheans; she believes that shes the original, and has been hunting down and killing the clones, one by one.

The surviving clones have discovered not only that they are the products of a highly unethical, super-illegal science experiment, but that their DNA sequences have been patented like any inorganic commodity, effectively turning them, living humans, into products. (Leekies moneyed lobbyists convinced governments to pass pro-business, genetic patent lawsa practice ruled illegal in the United States around the same time the episodes were airing.) At the end of the first season, Leekie has coerced the clones into a fishy set of contracts: Alison signs hers after shes promised safety and freedom (obviously untrue), in exchange for regular medical testing; Cosima is on the verge of signing one that offers employment at the Dyad Institute and freedom to study her and the clones genome; and Rachel seems to have kidnapped Sarahs daughter Kira to strongarm her into signing hers.

Image: Steve Wilkie/BBC America

Sarah Manning: Our protagonist clone. Sarah is a badass/screw-up British grifter who, before the story starts, has had some trouble staying out of, well, trouble. She dates thugs (like wantonly violent drug dealer Vic), sells drugs, and partakes in myriad other behaviors that prevent her from maintaining custody of her daughter, Kira. The show begins with her witnessing Beth Childs, a well-dressed woman who looks exactly like her, throw herself in front of an oncoming train, she assumes her identity, thereby setting in motion a chain of events that will eventually lead her to Alison, Cosima, Helena, and the whole clone plot.Her motives for anything and everything she does on this show are twofold: one, self-preservation (which makes her the de facto leader-slash-wild card of the clones), and two, regaining custody of Kira.

Image: BBC America

Cosima Niehaus: The lesbian scientist clone. Cosima is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota, where she studies experimental evolutionary developmental biology (or evo devo). Shes the brain, researching the clones genetics and trying to stay two steps ahead of the Dyad Institute; through her connection to Leekievia her love affair with Delphine, orchestrated by Leekie to reel her in but somewhat backfiring considering Delphine flips and Cosima is aware of the manipulationshes able to keep the clone club informed.

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Catch Up on Orphan Black With This Handy Cheat Sheet

Using the KKK to Fight Abortion Rights

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"#Abortion is the KKK's dream come true. It kills more blacks in 3 days than the KKK did ever. #ProLife #tcot"

On Feb. 19, Mississippi State University's anti-abortion student club, Students for Life, retweeted that statement from Personhood Florida's Twitter account (tcot stands for Top Conservatives on Twitter).

Nick Bell, SFL president and a junior majoring in communication, said in an interview that the club is not a political group and does not advocate for Personhood.

Bell, who is white and handles the club's Twitter account, said referencing the KKK is a way to target and bring awareness to the history of Planned Parenthood, which he says wincludes ties to eugenics and race purification.

Eugenics was a movement popular with both conservatives and progressives in the early 20th century: More than 65,000 supposedly "feeble-minded" men and mostly women, of a variety of races, underwent forced sterilization in mental institutions (then called "insane asylums") across the country to keep them from reproducing and supposedly corrupting the gene pool. That included hundreds of victims in Mississippi, including at the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield, just outside Jackson, and the Ellisville State School (then called the Mississippi School and Colony for the Feebleminded) in nearby Jones County.

Planned Parenthood's 'Racist' Goal

Margaret Sanger, birth-control pioneer and founder of Planned Parenthood, was a Ku Klux Klan ally, Bell said. He insists that Sanger believed the purpose of birth control and abortion was "to eradicate the black race and the unfit in society." Sanger did, in fact, speak to a group of KKK women in 1926 as documented in her autobiography. She spoke to many groups of women about contraception during her lifetime.

While eugenics was viewed as less controversial than birth control, Sanger sought to make contraceptives available to all women, especially those who could not afford them. A primary difference between eugenics and abortion was that eugenics did not allow the victims freedom to choose whether to have a child, and abortion does allow that choice. Planned Parenthood has promoted the principle that women should have the right to make their reproductive choices since its inception.

Laurie Bertram Roberts, Mississippi state president of the National Organization of Women and a columnist for the Jackson Free Press, said the historical context of Sanger's involvement in eugenics is important in understanding her goals.

"First of all, Margaret Sanger did not work on abortion. She worked on birth control. Context is everything. I will never deny that Margaret Sanger was connected to the eugenics movement," Roberts said. "What they (abortion opponents) never bothered to say is that eugenicists also wanted to limit the birth rate of poor white people and disabled people. It wasn't just black people; it was a whole lot of people they deemed to be unfit."

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Using the KKK to Fight Abortion Rights

Non-native species not the bad guys in a changing eco-system

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Non-native species not the bad guys in a changing eco-system

April 17, 2014

University of Canterbury researchers are investigating some positive features of animals being introduced to New Zealand.

Exotic animals are generally considered to be a major threat to native species in New Zealand and worldwide.

Despite numerous examples of invasive species harming eco-systems, exotic species may actually be able to fill ecological gaps in their new home, such as those left by native species that have become extinct.

University of Canterbury ecologist Professor Jason Tylianakis says no study has explicitly tested whether exotic species fill the roles left by declining native species.

``A collaborative research project between scientists at the University of Canterbury and the University of Oviedo, Spain, has examined the role of exotic birds in dispersing the seeds of native New Zealand trees and shrubs.

``Many fruiting plants require birds to carry their seeds to new locations and drive the persistence and recovery of native forests.

``New Zealand fruit-feeding birds have historically suffered a strong decline but the country has also gained new fruit-eaters in the form of introduced European birds, such as blackbirds and song thrushes.

The Canterbury researchers studied the network of feeding interactions between different species of plants and birds in the North and South islands. They found that the intermediate body and beak size of exotic birds allowed them to feed on a great variety of different fruits.

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Non-native species not the bad guys in a changing eco-system

Beaches named best resort for families

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KINGSTON - For the second consecutive year, Jamaica-based hotel Beaches Negril Resort and Spa, has copped the coveted TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Award for the Top Hotel for Families in the Caribbean. Sister property, Beaches Turks and Caicos walked away with the third place title.

Half Moon in St James copped the fourth place while Tryall Club in Hanover came in at number ten.

TripAdvisor is the worlds largest travel site, connecting real travelers who share advice and reviews on vacation destinations. It also links visitors to hotels, restaurants, attractions and other businesses in the hospitality industry. The TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Award is in its twelfth year and winners are determined based on the reviews and opinions of millions of travellers globally.

The worlds most outstanding properties were identified in the categories of top hotels, bargain, B&Bs and inns, family, luxury, romance, and small hotels.

This is a wonderful achievement, stated Adrian Whitehead general manager of Beaches Negril, upon learning of the milestone achievement.

We always strive to provide our guests with the most high quality and innovative products and amenities on the market; Beaches is also bolstered by a team committed to excellence. I am positive we can take it to another level and in doing so, highlight the Jamaica tourism industry as a powerful brand a force to be reckoned with regionally and worldwide.

In 2013, the resort was also named among the TripAdvisor Travelers Choice awardees for Top 10 Best Family Resorts in the World, and voted the #1 hotel for the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda, in the world-leading Travel + Leisure magazines readers survey.

For 14 consecutive years, Beaches Resorts have held on to the World Travel Awards for Worlds Leading All-Inclusive Family Resort Brand. Nestled on the world famous Negril seven-mile white sand beach, Beaches Negril has among its offerings, adrenaline packed unlimited land/water sports, a Kids Kamp & Nursery as well as an interactive teens program, Caribbean Adventure with Sesame Street and a Pirates Island Water Theme Park. (PR)

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Beaches named best resort for families

Astronomy – Measuring Distance, Size, and Luminosity (30 of 30) Expansion of the Universe! – Video

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Astronomy - Measuring Distance, Size, and Luminosity (30 of 30) Expansion of the Universe!
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain how we know the expansion of the universe is speeding up!

By: Michel van Biezen

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Astronomy - Measuring Distance, Size, and Luminosity (30 of 30) Expansion of the Universe! - Video