Slideshow: Freedom High School: East Coast Sound Brass Quintet
Slid show of the Freedom High School Holiday Concert 2010 to the music of the East Coast Sound Brass quintet. Moral of the story: Brass quintets should warm-...
By: Andrew Lynn
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Slideshow: Freedom High School: East Coast Sound Brass Quintet - Video
Piglets Enjoying Their Freedom at Natick Community Organic Farm
Our four-week old piglets enjoy exploring the snowy barnyard.
By: badzootus o #39;badzootus
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Piglets Enjoying Their Freedom at Natick Community Organic Farm - Video
2012 Topps Valor Box Break Freedom Card Board com
This is a box of 2012 Topps Valor broken as a means to do a tutorial of the mobile app for FCB. You can find it on Google Play and iTunes as FCB Sports Cards...
By: freedomcardboardcom
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Unboxing of the action figures of Strike Freedom Gundam and Providence Gundam
Providence Gundam from Gundam Seed and Strike Freedom Gundam from Gundam Seed Destiny. got some pictures at the end.
By: Davy Hirano
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Unboxing of the action figures of Strike Freedom Gundam and Providence Gundam - Video
Freedom Minute: Three Year Anniversary of Obamacare
By: SenTedCruz
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Italian Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Amanda Knox #39;s Freedom
Knox faces appeals court for overturned conviction in 2007 murder of roommate Meredith Kercher.
By: ABCNews
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Italian Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Amanda Knox's Freedom - Video
Zanele Muholi has won the Freedom of Expression Index award over punk group Pussy Riot, filmmaker Haifaa al Mansour and cartoonist Aseem Trivedi.
The Index Awards, which are part of the Freedom of Expression Awards, are, according to the organisers, "an extraordinary celebration of the courageous and determined individuals around the world who have stood up for free expression, often at great personal risk".
The prizes are handed outby the Index on Censorship Institute, which also compiles the Media Freedom Index.
Muholi received her award from Indexs chair, writer and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby. Dedicating the award to two friends who were victims of hate crimes and later succumbed to HIV complications, Muholi said: "To all the activists, gender activists, visual activists, queer artists, writers, poets, performers, art activists, organic intellectuals who use all art forms of expressions in South Africa. The war is not over till we reach an end to 'curative rapes' and brutal killing of black lesbians, gays and transpersons in South Africa."
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The Jewish holiday of Passover begins at sundown on Monday night. The celebratory meal, the Seder, is one of the most universally observed rituals in our tradition. Jews and non Jews alike sit together, share traditional food and explore the central theme of Passover.
As human beings we are entitled to be free, and we have a responsibility to help others be free. Thats why we must begin by asking the central question of the evening: What does it mean to be free? At the Seder, the notion of freedom is about freedom from slavery - from the enslavement that the ancient Israelites experienced - and from enslavements today.
This ritual, repeated year after year, is designed to reinforce both the commitment to keep the value of freedom front and center to help remember that the past is a most critical factor in determining the future. Indeed, remembrance is the vehicle that enables us to be truly free. The annual reenactment of enslavement serves to remind us to avoid using our freedom to restrict the freedom in others. The Seder makes us confront the consequences of lacking freedom in visceral ways- tears symbolized by salted water, plagues recollected one by one, and poor mans bread- unleavened bread that is like a cracker and called matzah. Yet along with the weightiness of the themes of the Seder experience we are commanded to sing joyously, sit back in comfortable chairs and eat hors doeuvres in the way that the rich merchants of Ancient Greece would have done 2,000 years ago.
Repetitive rituals in religion are meant to remind us that certain values are so important that they have to be woven into the very fabric of the experience of faith. The tension between slavery and freedom is one such theme in the Jewish tradition. At Passover we celebrate freedom from slavery. Often overlooked is that the tradition takes this theme much further. Whereas Passover is understood as freedom from slavery, there is another lesser known holiday seven weeks later that ends a cycle in which we are to take what we learn from the Seder and build on it. This lesser known holiday is called Shavuot. The holiday celebrates the giving of the Torah, the five books of Moses, to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai.
This giving symbolizes the awesome responsibility that freedom embodies. The idea here is that the concept of freedom is not a static one, we can be free from something and still misunderstand the very nature of freedom. Freedom from slavery is a moral imperative. But it must lead to freedom to perform moral and righteous actions that freedom from slavery allows us, another moral imperative. The movement of freedom from to freedom to completes the purpose of the Seder ritual. Escaping slavery is only the first step on a journey that culminates with the acceptance that as members of a just society we must accept upon ourselves the obligation to act - to embrace a particular set of laws and social norms.
But this obligation to be free to commit ourselves to a just society is also not a simple concept. There are three categories of this obligation in the Jewish tradition. In one category is the relationship between human beings and God; in another, the relationship between one person and another; in the third, the relationship between humanity and the earth which enables us to live and gives us sustenance. These three sets of relationships form a triangle such that our obligations to God inform the way we are obligated to treat our fellow human being and the way we can expect to be treated. It also informs the way we treat the earth upon which we live. The theme of the holiday of Shavuot is that by including God, all of our interactions can be elevated. In a very real sense, Gods inclusion was meant to mitigate what might be our default position - indifference or worse - to our fellow human beings and disregard for the earth from which we are made and which sustains us, nurtures us and to which our bodies return upon death.
Passover is the celebration of freedom from oppression, and Shavuot is the celebration of the obligations that we freely accept upon ourselves as creatures of God destined to live our lives with infinite other beings on one shared space we call earth. At this time of year, we can all look at what we require to be free from in order to be free to find our own potential and the potential of our world.
Dr. James Hyman is CEO of the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning.
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Rancho Santana - One Destination. Five Distinct Beaches
Experience the 5 distinct beaches at Rancho Santana, a Pacific resort and residential community located in Nicaragua. 2700 acres of rolling hills and 2 miles...
By: Jan K Glenn
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Rancho Santana - One Destination. Five Distinct Beaches - Video
The latest Good Beach Guide from the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has found the number of Scottish beaches rated as "excellent" for bathers is now well below the UK average.
Tests on water quality carried out last year found 42 of Scotland's 109 bathing beaches are fit to be included in the guide, while four failed to meet even a minimum European standard for water quality.
Among those beaches where ratings fell this year are Machrihanish in Argyll and Bute and Croy in South Ayrshire. Both dropped to the bare minimum "mandatory" standard, after being rated excellent last year.
Now the charity has called for greater action to keep Scotland's beaches clean and say the latest figures should serve as a wake-up call to the Scottish Government, water bosses and local authorities.
MCS Scotland programme manager Calum Duncan said more work was needed to ensure Scotland's beaches remain open and to cut down pollution from farms and populated areas.
He said: "With stricter bathing water standards from 2015 and summers that appear to be getting wetter, the image of people bathing off golden beaches could be at serious risk."
Two of Scotland's most popular beaches Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire and Heads of Ayr in South Ayrshire failed to meet European Standards for bathing. Last year the Scottish Environment Protection Agency said both bathing waters recorded levels of faecal contamination above safety levels.
The two other beaches where pollution levels breached international standards were Greenan, also in South Ayrshire, and Lower Largo in Fife.
MCS said flooding during the summer led to an increase in the bacteria and viruses ending up in Scotland's waters, originating from a variety of sources including agricultural and urban run-off, storm waters, leaky plumbing, septic tanks and dog faeces.
Among the beaches rated as "excellent" by the MCS were Pease Bay in the Borders, Portobello in Edinburgh and Portmahomack in the Highlands. West Sands in St Andrews, made famous by the film Chariots of Fire, was judged to have met only the minimum MCS water standards.
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Call for action as majority of beaches fail to meet water quality standards
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) A Texas House panel on Monday debated where private property rights end and public beaches begin, as lawmakers considered a proposed constitutional amendment and another measure that could reverse two contentious state Supreme Court rulings on coastline boundaries.
Rep. Harold Dutton is sponsoring an amendment and companion bill that would more clearly define boundaries for public beaches and hold them in a public trust. The amendment means the law would become impervious to future court challenges should it be approved by Texas voters and added to the state Constitution.
Both are in response to a 2010 Texas Supreme Court ruling on the Open Beaches Act that found if an act of nature erodes a beach, the landowner's right to the remaining property is not diminished by state law even if it is now part of the beach. A federal appeals court questioned that decision, but the court reaffirmed it last year.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit that was filed after Hurricane Rita pounded the Texas shoreline in 2005, eroding the sand and leaving Carol Severance's home on a sandy beach along Galveston Island's West Beach. The state ordered Severance to demolish her home, saying her land was now considered a public beach. Instead, Severance sued.
Dutton, D-Houston, said Monday that since 1959, the Open Beaches Act has stated that a beach up to the vegetation line is state property and therefore open to the public.
In the Severance case, Texas argued that its right to the land automatically shifts with the sand, but the court disagreed.
Dutton said the decision effectively "turns on its head" the Open Beaches Act. He said "that's not the way Texas is willing to recognize" property rights.
"My intent was to get the Legislature to start to speak on this issue," Dutton said.
Later, he added: "We have a controversy and the Legislature has to insert itself into that controversy."
Bill Peacock, director of the Center for Economic Freedom at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential conservative think tank in Austin, spoke against the bill. He argued that "under this bill, you'd basically have takings without compensation" of private property, while also "removing a check on public authorities."
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If academic Howard Zinn were to make a video game, it would be BioShock Infinite.
The game's theme is a massive homogeny of American xenophobia, imperialism and ignorance mixed into a first-person shooting adventure with heavy tones of Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff. Visually, there is just enough steam punk in the design that the environment almost becomes a character in itself.
When the game is not hitting you with satire of 1920s-style American exceptionalism, it engages you with fast-action sequences and a nonplayer character artificial intelligence that verges on perfect. The AI is probably the best I've ever seen in a video game.
Infinite has dragged BioShock out of the cacotopian underwater city of Rapture that dominated the series' first two games and sets it afloat 40 years into the past somewhere in the skies of early 20th-century America.
The floating airship city of Columbia is where America decided to put the virtues of its excellence on display for the world to admire, but at the same time to stay the hell away from, too. You play as a former Pinkerton agent who has been hired by an unknown benefactor to rescue the main NPC, Elizabeth, who has begun to manifest powers. And it seems the whole weird city is out to stop you.
The developers have injected originality into this shooter by way of a zip line form of transportation that is fun and addicting to watch. The aerial rail line shoots you around the city's various platforms and airships; and when incorporated into combat, these rail lines morph from transportation into game gravy.
The story is intriguing and a little bit droll in its suggested political commentary, but the visuals and sound are great and game play is outstanding.
2K Games and Irrational Games, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, $59.99, PC, $59.96, First-person shooter, Mature 17+, Tuesday
Where BioShock Infinite slashes at you with bits of dry intelligent wit and subversive giddiness, Army of TWO The Devil's Cartel just plain shoots you over and over and over.
Don't look for subtlety in this over-the-top third-person shooter. There is a story somewhere in Army of TWO The Devil's Cartel, but in the same way there is a story in Steven Seagal movies.
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BERKELEY
Robert Wilensky, professor emeritus of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the campuss first faculty members in artificial intelligence when the field was just taking off, has died at age 61.
Robert Wilensky (Peg Skorpinski photo)
He died at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland on Friday, March 15, of a bacterial infection.
Wilenskys career at UC Berkeley spanned nearly 30 years, beginning in 1978 when he joined the faculty in computer science. He later was appointed a professor at the School of Information and Management Sciences (now the School of Information, or I School), which he helped form.
His many research interests included the role of memory processes in natural language processing, language analysis and production and artificial intelligence in programming languages.
One of Wilenskys most notable contributions to the university was the UC Berkeley Digital Library Project, launched in the early years of the World Wide Web to develop techniques to make books and research materials from any library available online. The project also linked technical material together so that different layers of information can be selectively displayed and linked to other documents. This has become commonplace on the Web and in tools like Google Earth.
The system allowed scholars and researchers to add material, and it enabled general users to easily find and retrieve information, including environmental reports, historic photos, video files, maps, databases of California flora and more, said David Culler, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. These are conveniences we now take for granted.
The UC Berkeley Digital Library was launched in 1994 with a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA. Two years later, the project got a big boost when IBM donated a 6 terabyte data-storage system valued at nearly $750,000.
During Wilenskys tenure at UC Berkeley, he served as chair of the Computer Science Division, director of the Berkeley Cognitive Science Program, director of the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Project, and board member of the International Computer Science Institute.
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LANGKAWI: Aerospace manufacturer UPECA Aerotech Sdn Bhd (UPECA) has signed a RM763mil contract with US-based aerospace company UTC Aerospace Systems to manufacture precision machined components on their fan cowl assemblies over the next 17 years.
UTC Aerospace System's Aerostructures business unit developed the fan cowl for the General Electric and Rolls-Royce engines on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the fan cowl for the Airbus A350 XWB. The company awarded UPECA the components to manufacture, making UPECA the single-source producer of these parts worldwide.
This will be UPECA's biggest contract award to date and will cover all aspects of manufacturing development, design and fabrication of all jigs and fixtures, procurement of raw material, machining, testing, treatment and assembly of the machined components.
Under the agreement, the first-article components of the 787 fan cowl will be completed by May 2013, and A350 XWB component development will begin subsequently.
The contract was signed by Tim Martin, Vice President of Supply Chain and Strategic Initiatives at UTC Aerospace Systems - Aerostructures and Simon Yew, chief executive officer of the UPECA Group of Companies.
The contract award ceremony was conducted at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima 2013) and was witnessed by Mida chief executive officer Datuk Noharuddin Nordin.
Datuk Noharuddin said: We are honoured to witness this important milestone.
This project is a testament of the capabilities of the Malaysian companies.
Not only is UPECA is one of few Malaysian companies to achieve AS/EN9100 approval, they also carry approvals from Airbus, Spirit AeroSystems, Honeywell, Singapore Aerospace Manufacturing (SAM) and Meggitt, enabling them to produce a range of aircraft components that include aerostructures, avionics components, and aircraft engine casings.
We are proud to have UPECA as a partner in Malaysia, to support key machined aerospace products for United Technologies Aerospace Systems. These parts will be used on key Boeing and Airbus platforms. says Tim Martin.
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ASEAN countries, including Malaysia, are actively pursuing opportunities in aerospace, which is fast becoming one of the most dynamic industries. Be it the commercial aerospace, defence and maritime industries, all areas promise high growth over the next few years.
Aerospac industry embraces many advanced technologies and offers abundant opportunities in engineering, electronics, composite materials as well as manufacturing and systems integration.
Today, Malaysia has about 200 aerospace-related organisations, with estimated combined earnings of more than RM27.5 billion and some 54,000 employees.
Realising this, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) is tapping into the expertise as well as resources in aerospace industry by developing partnership with the aerospace-related companies to strengthen the local human capital development. At the same time, this can enhance the agency's ability to produce a world-class professional workforce.
"For this purpose, MARA is now in the process of consultation with other industry players, domestically and internationally, inviting equity participation," he said.
Through the interest that exists in the knowledge-driven companies later, Ibrahim said MARA is not only able to provide opportunities for students to undergo training and serve in the company, but also enhance the capability of teaching and learning modules in line with the industry requirements and current market conditions.
In realising the vision to produce aerospace professionals and experts in the country, MARA will start exposing the students in the secondary level in Maktab Rendah Sains MARA to prepare them all the way up to higher level of education at the University of Kuala Lumpur.
MARA's advantages include human capital development expertise, infrastructure in education, research and development (R&D), strategic investment in the existing aerospace and maritime companies, government incentives and financial capacity.
Ibrahim said MARA is also enhancing the ability to create the workforce in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for the aerospace industry.
"These measures are in line with the industry growth through the creation of new airlines in Asia Pacific as well as fleet expansion by existing companies," he said.
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LANGKAWI: Malaysia's aerospace industry last year grew 9.4 per cent to RM30.3 billion compared to 2011 and contributed 3.23 per cent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
According to Malaysia Industry-Government Group for High Technology's (Might) Aerospace Industry Report, the turnover was backed by the vibrant airline activities particularly the low-cost carriers, the expansion of aerospace manufacturing businesses and the positive development in the airport sub-sector.
"The industry's positive development is also a result of the execution of investment projects including the Eurocopter, BHIC Aeroservices and Sepang Aircraft Engineering," Might said in a statement today.
The report, together with the Maritime Industry Report, was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak here today.
"A total of 11 projects were approved last year for the aerospace industry with investment totalling RM2.3 billion representing 30 per cent of the transport equipment industry.
"In terms of job creation, the approved projects are expected to create 2,739 employment opportunities mostly in the aerospace manufacturing sub-sectors," it said.
It added that the country's exports last year were worth approximately RM2.2 billion comprising mainly aerospace parts and components, while imports involving aircraft, raw materials and spares were valued at RM13.2 billion.
"The difference between imports and exports can be significantly reduced through the localisation of aircraft parts and components such as the production of aerospace grade raw materials which will be the next investment proposition strategy for both MIDA and Might," it said.-- Bernama
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TORONTO , March 25, 2013 /CNW/ - Magellan Aerospace Corporation ("Magellan Aerospace") (MAL.TO) will release its earnings report for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2012 on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 before the markets open. The results will also be posted on the Company's website at http://www.magellan.aero.
The Company will then host its financial analyst conference call on Wednesday, March 27 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss its results for the year ended December 31, 2012 . Participants may join the call by dialing 1-866-551-3680 and entering the participant PIN code 71098437# at the scheduled time of 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time . A replay will also be available for 90 days, which can accessed by dialing 1-866-551-4520 noting the following playback reference: 286563# and entering the participant PIN code 71098437#.
Jim Butyniec, President and Chief Executive Officer will lead the discussion and will be accompanied by John Dekker , Chief Financial Officer and Daniel Zanatta, Vice-President, Business Development, Marketing and Contracts. The discussion will be followed by a question and answer period.
Thank you for your interest in Magellan Aerospace and we look forward to your participation in the conference call.
SOURCE: Magellan Aerospace Corporation
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Magellan Aerospace conference call announcement - Year end 2012 results and discussion
Many of Colorado's aerospace organizations, companies and educational institutions gathered Monday at the state Capitol for Aerospace Day in an attempt to raise the visibility of Colorado's aerospace industry and send a message to Washington.
Area businesses and universities set up booths near the rotunda before and after the House and Senate passed Joint Senate Resolution 20, officially making March 25 Colorado Aerospace Day.
"We are trying not to be a secret,"said Joe Rice, director of government relations at Lockheed Martin Space Systems and a former state representative. "Even though (the Colorado legislature has) been largely supportive of aerospace, it would be great to get all 100 onboard."
The resolution, which unanimously passed both the House and the Senate, was meant to remind the legislature that aerospace adds monetary and intellectual value to the state.
Gov. John Hickenlooper has been a vocal supporter of Colorado's space economy the second largest in the nation but area industry leaders hope to heighten public awareness of its contributions to society.
In 2011, aerospace-related business contributed $8.7 billion to the state economy and employs more than 66,000 in high-paying jobs.
These statistics, the event's organizers say, need to be highlighted as the industry increasingly faces both financial challenges due to Washington's budget problems and huge opportunities stemming from technological progress.
In addition to mentioning several of Colorado's notable companies and space missions, the resolution offered subtle hints about the industry leaders' political goals.
"It is largely symbolic ... to make this Aerospace Day, but really the language in the resolution urging the U.S. federal government is the substance of today," Rice said.
The closing section of the resolution called on the Colorado's General Assembly to encourage the federal government to support space activities, specifically efforts to build up the United States' ability to send humans into space again and to ask them to fund innovative work.
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