About 20 years ago, city leaders asked the state to raise a thoroughfare to help spur development of a master-planned community.
That plan, which hung on the horizon for two decades, is coming into view, with help from an economic stimulus package that funded a $10.44 million intersection at Willow Street and Emmett F. Lowry Expressway.
The state has awarded the contract to Lone Star Road Construction in Houston, and preliminary site work is expected to begin in December, Bill Babbington, an engineer with the Texas Department of Transportation, said.
The state in 1989 received a letter from D.D. Haney Jr., who was mayor, requesting the interchange, Babbington said.
In 1992, the city placed the extension on its comprehensive plan, ultimately seeking to connect Willow Street with 25th Avenue North.
The city’s primary reason for building the road was to improve the movement of people, goods, services and commerce, Don Carroll, the city’s planner, said.
“Growth and access to those properties is what the city wants to see developed for a sustainable master plan of communities,” he said.
Building Willow Street north to 25th Avenue North would be funded by the landowner as development warranted, City Engineer Douglas K. Kneupper, said.
The interchange at the expressway will resemble the shape of a diamond, similar to intersections at FM 517 and FM 518, Babbington said. The expressway would be elevated to allow Willow Street to pass beneath, he said.
Weather permitting, the state contractor is scheduled to complete the intersection in early 2011, Babbington said.
The most recent daily traffic counts for the expressway are 39,700, but that is projected to increase to 55,700 by 2029, Babbington said.
Willow Street’s extension to 25th Avenue North would open a large tract between state highways 3 and 146 for development.
Developer Dick Mallory planned a mixed use master plan for the area, Carroll said
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
The key difference is we don't run a strategy of these key items that we buy thousands of and that we mark down to these low, low amounts
The conventional wisdom is that the most stupendous bargains of the year are to be had on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But the marketplace has become so packed on that crowded shopping day that some retailers are shifting their strategy.
Deals on certain products are likely to be just as good, perhaps even better, in the days and weeks after Friday. In this economy, retailers need to stand out--and some of them are betting they can do so by offering bargains later in the season. Also, while chains are not discounting as deeply as last year, they know the primary way to get penny-pinching consumers to spend is to keep the deals coming all season long.
Exactly which strategy retailers are pursuing this year differs not only among shopping chains but among categories of merchandise. That means the best time to shop for the season could hinge on which items are on your list.
"Black Friday is about cheap stuff at cheap prices," said Daniel de Grandpre, the editor in chief of DealNews.com, which tracks such sales each year. "That means that high-end stuff is not on sale on Black Friday. It just isn't."
That is not to say consumers who brave the nation's stores on Friday will not find deals on flat-screen televisions and fluffy ear muffs. But the products on sale that day, particularly electronics, generally are lower-end products without many extras, or they are older models on the verge of being discontinued. That is, of course, a reason stores are able to offer them at low prices.
"It looks like a real mixed bag of deals and duds," said Andrew Eisner, director of content for Retrevo, a Web site that reviews consumer electronics and recommends where and when to buy them.
Many of the gadgets on sale this Friday will be outdated models, he said, like navigation devices without speech capability, Blu-ray players without Internet connections, and digital cameras without face-recognition technology.
Manish Rathi, a co-founder of Retrevo, cited some "over-the-hill" products, like a Nikon CoolPix digital camera being sold at Target for $88, reduced from $140.
De Grandpre said luxury retailers tend to stay out of the Black Friday fray because they would rather not associate with bargain-basement shopping. To participate in the nation's uber-shopping day in a way that is befitting their status, luxury chains do offer deals, but only in certain popular holiday and seasonal categories, like coats and home decor. And they do not bother to open at 5 a.m., a common opening time on the day after Thanksgiving for the lower-end retailers known as big-box stores.
The luxury chain Saks, for instance, is offering 40 percent off already reduced merchandise, but not its newest collections. The chain does not bring in merchandise specifically for the day after Thanksgiving. And the doors open at the relatively late hour of 8 a.m.
"The key difference is we don't run a strategy of these key items that we buy thousands of and that we mark down to these low, low amounts," said Kimberly Grabel, senior vice president for marketing at Saks. "That is the big-box mentality."
Stores have greatly reduced their inventories since last year, when the economic downturn forced them into panic selling. So while there will be sales, as there are every year in any economy, it is possible stores might run out of certain products or sizes. "For the best selection you are going to need to shop early this year," Grabel said.
Her best advice? "Stay home and shop online."
Deals on certain products are likely to be just as good, perhaps even better, in the days and weeks after Friday. In this economy, retailers need to stand out--and some of them are betting they can do so by offering bargains later in the season. Also, while chains are not discounting as deeply as last year, they know the primary way to get penny-pinching consumers to spend is to keep the deals coming all season long.
Exactly which strategy retailers are pursuing this year differs not only among shopping chains but among categories of merchandise. That means the best time to shop for the season could hinge on which items are on your list.
"Black Friday is about cheap stuff at cheap prices," said Daniel de Grandpre, the editor in chief of DealNews.com, which tracks such sales each year. "That means that high-end stuff is not on sale on Black Friday. It just isn't."
That is not to say consumers who brave the nation's stores on Friday will not find deals on flat-screen televisions and fluffy ear muffs. But the products on sale that day, particularly electronics, generally are lower-end products without many extras, or they are older models on the verge of being discontinued. That is, of course, a reason stores are able to offer them at low prices.
"It looks like a real mixed bag of deals and duds," said Andrew Eisner, director of content for Retrevo, a Web site that reviews consumer electronics and recommends where and when to buy them.
Many of the gadgets on sale this Friday will be outdated models, he said, like navigation devices without speech capability, Blu-ray players without Internet connections, and digital cameras without face-recognition technology.
Manish Rathi, a co-founder of Retrevo, cited some "over-the-hill" products, like a Nikon CoolPix digital camera being sold at Target for $88, reduced from $140.
De Grandpre said luxury retailers tend to stay out of the Black Friday fray because they would rather not associate with bargain-basement shopping. To participate in the nation's uber-shopping day in a way that is befitting their status, luxury chains do offer deals, but only in certain popular holiday and seasonal categories, like coats and home decor. And they do not bother to open at 5 a.m., a common opening time on the day after Thanksgiving for the lower-end retailers known as big-box stores.
The luxury chain Saks, for instance, is offering 40 percent off already reduced merchandise, but not its newest collections. The chain does not bring in merchandise specifically for the day after Thanksgiving. And the doors open at the relatively late hour of 8 a.m.
"The key difference is we don't run a strategy of these key items that we buy thousands of and that we mark down to these low, low amounts," said Kimberly Grabel, senior vice president for marketing at Saks. "That is the big-box mentality."
Stores have greatly reduced their inventories since last year, when the economic downturn forced them into panic selling. So while there will be sales, as there are every year in any economy, it is possible stores might run out of certain products or sizes. "For the best selection you are going to need to shop early this year," Grabel said.
Her best advice? "Stay home and shop online."
Monday, November 23, 2009
Seven young women vied for the rodeo queen crown, and most said they had dreamed of being rodeo queens since they were little girls
"I was asked the other day who the love of my life was,” 20-year-old Lacey McBeth told a crowd of about 50 supporters and judges at the Crooked River Roundup Queen tryouts Sunday afternoon in Prineville.
“Now, most of you would expect me to mention a big, strong, handsome cowboy’s name,” said McBeth, who is from Prineville. “However, that was not the case.
“I began to describe a big, stout, four-legged creature with a rather nice looking rear end. No, my heart does not belong to a cowboy, but rather a horse by the name of Doc’s Diamond Country. She seems to enjoy my attention, always does what I tell her and never talks back.”
McBeth’s speech — and perhaps her sense of humor — helped her win the crown of 2010 Crooked River Roundup Queen on Sunday, after a competition in which judges said Western heritage and rodeo knowledge were key characteristics of a winner. Seven young women vied for the rodeo queen crown, and most said they had dreamed of being rodeo queens since they were little girls. Tryouts took place at the Crook County Fairgrounds.
“It’s such an honor for me,” McBeth said Sunday evening. “I’m just on cloud nine.” McBeth said she didn’t sleep much the night before the competition, but if she was tired, she hid it well behind a broad smile that never seemed to leave her face.
From Sunday morning through the afternoon, the seven young contestants participated in interviews, demonstrated their horsemanship skills, gave speeches and answered random questions drawn from a container.
“Our queen is our ambassador,” said Hank Simmons, a board member of the Crooked River Roundup Rodeo and Race Meet Association. “We try to pick somebody who represents us, knows our community and our event.”
During the horsemanship portion, contestants had to show they could complete a horsemanship pattern and carry a flag around the arena. Heaters buzzed above the stands in the enclosed arena, but steam was still visible coming from the horses’ nostrils as each young woman took her turn.
Some competitors raced around the arena at top speed, with the rodeo’s flag occasionally whipping against the stands, while others rode more slowly. McBeth drew yells and whoops from her supporters as she raced around the arena a final time, waving to the audience.
Shay Perry, 18, of Bend, was the 2009 Crooked River Roundup Queen and on Sunday, she was at the arena to pass her crown to the next queen. Perry demonstrated the horsemanship pattern before this year’s contestants took their turns. “At this point, most of them are probably pretty worked up,” Perry said after the women finished the horsemanship competition.
Amorita Anstett, a board mem- ber of the Crooked River Roundup Rodeo and Race Meet Association and the rodeo queen adviser, said young women who serve as queen grow more confident through the experience.
“For example, with Shay, when she was crowned last year, she knew nothing about what this queen thing was about,” Anstett said. “She probably gave 20 speeches last year ... She’s still a teenager, and she’s got all the confidence of a 25-year-old.”
Perry said serving as queen was a new experience, since she was always a tomboy. “Amorita turned me into a girl for a year,” she said, adding that Anstett kept after her to apply lipstick and curl her hair. “It’s kind of like being Miss America on horseback. The kids are your biggest fans.”
McBeth wrote in her application for rodeo queen that the position is about more than appearance, and she hopes to put her experience from communications and business management courses at Central Oregon Community College to work in the position.
“First of all, I feel that being a rodeo queen isn’t all about being beautiful,” McBeth wrote. “It’s about taking charge and doing absolutely whatever you possibly can to benefit the association and represent the rodeo.”
“Now, most of you would expect me to mention a big, strong, handsome cowboy’s name,” said McBeth, who is from Prineville. “However, that was not the case.
“I began to describe a big, stout, four-legged creature with a rather nice looking rear end. No, my heart does not belong to a cowboy, but rather a horse by the name of Doc’s Diamond Country. She seems to enjoy my attention, always does what I tell her and never talks back.”
McBeth’s speech — and perhaps her sense of humor — helped her win the crown of 2010 Crooked River Roundup Queen on Sunday, after a competition in which judges said Western heritage and rodeo knowledge were key characteristics of a winner. Seven young women vied for the rodeo queen crown, and most said they had dreamed of being rodeo queens since they were little girls. Tryouts took place at the Crook County Fairgrounds.
“It’s such an honor for me,” McBeth said Sunday evening. “I’m just on cloud nine.” McBeth said she didn’t sleep much the night before the competition, but if she was tired, she hid it well behind a broad smile that never seemed to leave her face.
From Sunday morning through the afternoon, the seven young contestants participated in interviews, demonstrated their horsemanship skills, gave speeches and answered random questions drawn from a container.
“Our queen is our ambassador,” said Hank Simmons, a board member of the Crooked River Roundup Rodeo and Race Meet Association. “We try to pick somebody who represents us, knows our community and our event.”
During the horsemanship portion, contestants had to show they could complete a horsemanship pattern and carry a flag around the arena. Heaters buzzed above the stands in the enclosed arena, but steam was still visible coming from the horses’ nostrils as each young woman took her turn.
Some competitors raced around the arena at top speed, with the rodeo’s flag occasionally whipping against the stands, while others rode more slowly. McBeth drew yells and whoops from her supporters as she raced around the arena a final time, waving to the audience.
Shay Perry, 18, of Bend, was the 2009 Crooked River Roundup Queen and on Sunday, she was at the arena to pass her crown to the next queen. Perry demonstrated the horsemanship pattern before this year’s contestants took their turns. “At this point, most of them are probably pretty worked up,” Perry said after the women finished the horsemanship competition.
Amorita Anstett, a board mem- ber of the Crooked River Roundup Rodeo and Race Meet Association and the rodeo queen adviser, said young women who serve as queen grow more confident through the experience.
“For example, with Shay, when she was crowned last year, she knew nothing about what this queen thing was about,” Anstett said. “She probably gave 20 speeches last year ... She’s still a teenager, and she’s got all the confidence of a 25-year-old.”
Perry said serving as queen was a new experience, since she was always a tomboy. “Amorita turned me into a girl for a year,” she said, adding that Anstett kept after her to apply lipstick and curl her hair. “It’s kind of like being Miss America on horseback. The kids are your biggest fans.”
McBeth wrote in her application for rodeo queen that the position is about more than appearance, and she hopes to put her experience from communications and business management courses at Central Oregon Community College to work in the position.
“First of all, I feel that being a rodeo queen isn’t all about being beautiful,” McBeth wrote. “It’s about taking charge and doing absolutely whatever you possibly can to benefit the association and represent the rodeo.”
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Highland Grass, Black Diamond, Gene & Joe and the Valley Troubadours, and Delmas Evans are slated to perform
The fifth graders sat cross-legged on the floor of the Keyser Primary-Middle School library, listening intently as the mother of one of America's greatest Olympic athletes talked about her son, his dreams, and how they could reach their own dreams if they're only willing to work at it.
Walking easily in and among the students — only a year or two younger than the students who attend the school where she serves as principal in Baltimore County — Debbie Phelps, mother of gold-medal record holder Michael Phelps, asked the youngsters to name some of the things which they can do to succeed as students.
“Be a good sport.”
“Never give up.”
“Try to work hard.”
“Stay in school.”
“Do your best.”
“Be grateful for family and friends.”
“Stay out of trouble.”
As each student contributed, Hilary Phelps, Debbie's daughter and Michael's oldest sister, gave him or her an autographed photo of Michael taken during one of his historic races.
Phelps, who is a motivational speaker and author of “A Mother for All Seasons,” was in Mineral County Friday for the Mineral Daily News-Tribune's Warm the Children campaign.
She spent most of the morning visiting and speaking with the students at
Keyser Primary-Middle and New Creek Primary schools.
Having been born in Potomac Valley Hospital and attended Westernport Elementary and Bruce High School, Phelps said she felt right at home as some of the students Friday morning even asked if she had known one of their relatives.
“There are children here today that I knew their parents and grandparents; some of them I went to school with,” she said.
One young lady at KPMS even brought her own swimming trophy to show Phelps, who told the youngsters that all three of her children — Hilary, Whitney and Michael — have been active in the sport of swimming since they were young.
The children at the schools also had an opportunity to ask Debbie questions, which ranged from “Does Michael have any pets?” (a bulldog named Herman) to “What is your favorite color?”
“I used to like red,” she quipped, “but I have to say after the 2008 Olympics, gold is the best!”
After lunch at the Stray Cat Wing Shack with representatives of Warm the Children and the Mineral Daily News-Tribune, Phelps participated in a book signing at Main Street Books, then went to Peedbles for the annual WTC Open House.
There, she was joined by Santa Claus in greeting the public and walking about the importance WTC plays in helping to provide warm winter clothing to area needy children.
Although Phelps could not stay over, the WTC weekend will continue tonight with a bluegrass benefit concert at 7 p.m. in the theater at Keyser High School.
Highland Grass, Black Diamond, Gene & Joe and the Valley Troubadours, and Delmas Evans are slated to perform.
Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
All proceeds will benefit Warm the Children.
Walking easily in and among the students — only a year or two younger than the students who attend the school where she serves as principal in Baltimore County — Debbie Phelps, mother of gold-medal record holder Michael Phelps, asked the youngsters to name some of the things which they can do to succeed as students.
“Be a good sport.”
“Never give up.”
“Try to work hard.”
“Stay in school.”
“Do your best.”
“Be grateful for family and friends.”
“Stay out of trouble.”
As each student contributed, Hilary Phelps, Debbie's daughter and Michael's oldest sister, gave him or her an autographed photo of Michael taken during one of his historic races.
Phelps, who is a motivational speaker and author of “A Mother for All Seasons,” was in Mineral County Friday for the Mineral Daily News-Tribune's Warm the Children campaign.
She spent most of the morning visiting and speaking with the students at
Keyser Primary-Middle and New Creek Primary schools.
Having been born in Potomac Valley Hospital and attended Westernport Elementary and Bruce High School, Phelps said she felt right at home as some of the students Friday morning even asked if she had known one of their relatives.
“There are children here today that I knew their parents and grandparents; some of them I went to school with,” she said.
One young lady at KPMS even brought her own swimming trophy to show Phelps, who told the youngsters that all three of her children — Hilary, Whitney and Michael — have been active in the sport of swimming since they were young.
The children at the schools also had an opportunity to ask Debbie questions, which ranged from “Does Michael have any pets?” (a bulldog named Herman) to “What is your favorite color?”
“I used to like red,” she quipped, “but I have to say after the 2008 Olympics, gold is the best!”
After lunch at the Stray Cat Wing Shack with representatives of Warm the Children and the Mineral Daily News-Tribune, Phelps participated in a book signing at Main Street Books, then went to Peedbles for the annual WTC Open House.
There, she was joined by Santa Claus in greeting the public and walking about the importance WTC plays in helping to provide warm winter clothing to area needy children.
Although Phelps could not stay over, the WTC weekend will continue tonight with a bluegrass benefit concert at 7 p.m. in the theater at Keyser High School.
Highland Grass, Black Diamond, Gene & Joe and the Valley Troubadours, and Delmas Evans are slated to perform.
Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
All proceeds will benefit Warm the Children.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Love in Rumi’s poems is often mislaid against simplistic modern conventions
Rumi, the poet philosopher whose extraordinary poems extolled his love for Allah, alas loses magic in translation, losing the true meaning of his text. Writer Elias Khoury describes his frustration with the English word for love, ‘I use at least fifteen Arabic words to describe the levels of love.
You can formulate in language and make language very rich and nuanced.’ In translation, one has to be prepared to lose twenty to thirty per cent of the intended meaning.
Thus, love in Rumi’s poems is often mislaid against simplistic modern conventions: rendering an erudite scholar into a drunken, lovelorn wanderer. Thus missing the point that Rumi’s love was the source of the truth of his everyday life. The love that Rumi longed for and probably achieved was Sev.
Sev is a Turkish word used to express the indefatigable love we have for our parents, our children, and for our God. A soul satisfying love, that lasts beyond death and stays with us in the next world.
Rarely do we hear of Sev in this world between a man and a woman. A unique case of that perfect love can, however, be found in the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Reading about the love between him and his wife Khadijah, one is amazed and almost helpless with admiration. Their strength, loyalty, and their joint struggle epitomises an ideal that many of us long for. For the past fourteen centuries this powerful love story has been a model for those who are searching for Sev. Finding it is like searching for a diamond in a bag of coal.
Ironically, while reading about the US domestic war on terror’s latest victim Tarek Mehanna, I found a story of love with a Sev twist-the story of Danny and Tamekia.
Danny caught Tamekia’s eye while they were in school. She probably didn’t know it, but this boy would be her one and only true love. These two high school sweethearts’ love blossomed into marriage, children, and a lifetime of experiences that resembled a movie.
Danny embraced Islam and his wife, followed suit. Lack of opportunities at home had them trekking across the country to find stable work, which didn’t happen. Instead he got a better offer to work in Egypt. They packed their belongings and were off.
America, once the land of freedom, has become a dangerous place if you are Muslim. One new weapon in the Muslim community is the Cooperating Witness. CW’s are spies who look like you, dress like you, but once they get your confidence, it’s bam! You are in chains.
One minute it’s smiles and salams, then next, the SWAT team is busting down your door. It can be that quick. On October 29 this year, Luqman Abdullah was killed by the FBI in Dearborn, Michigan. Also, the recent arrests of Najibullah Zazi and Tarek Mehanna (who is supposed to be connected to Maldonado, although it’s not clear exactly how or why when you follow all the details), the convictions of the founders of the Holy Land Charity and call for investigation of the Muslims’ rights organisations, CAIR, signals a scary turn in the way Muslims are now perceived in my country.
These days when Muslims leave the US, they are refugees looking for a place to live without a fear of persecution. After living in Egypt for a while, the Maldonados decided to make another Hijira (migration), to live under Islamic law in Somalia. Husband and wife and their budding brood set off. Shortly their arrival, Ethiopia invaded Somalia, ripping up the calm lull in decades of chaos.
Now imagine yourself in their shoes. Can’t? Let Somali rapper K’naan help: You never know a single day without a big commotion. It can’t be healthy to live with such a steep emotion.
We can’t even imagine a young American family with their babies in the middle of airstrikes. Everyone begins to evacuate. Bombs fall, people lose each other. Many of the men that Danny travelled with were killed in an ambush. He and the rest of the survivors wandered without recourse to water in the jungle, Finally they found their way to a town where they felt safe, only to be arrested, blindfolded, handcuffed, put on a plane and taken to Kenya.
Danny sensing that one of his fellow prisoners was an American woman, asked desperately for news of his family. ‘Do you know my family? Are they okay?’ he said.
In a dark, dirty, and damp prison cell one of the other prisoners told him that his beloved wife Umm Musa and his children were scattered and lost. Reading this twenty-something’s description of these events, I can’t help but be selfishly thankful for my own sons being safe and sound.
I’m sure that it was love that helped him survive. Love for Islam and his family. His wife, Umm Musa, died from malaria, en route to safety. Their son, Musa at the time was about 9 years. Distraught over his mother’s sickness, he wandered into the jungle and got lost on the Somali-Kenya border (but was later found in Kenya). Danny’s daughters aged 4 and 7 months, were miraculously also found amongst some Somali refugees. Umm Musa lies buried in an unmarked grave along the road near the border. Subhan Allah.
Allah is the best of planners because somehow in all that madness, Danny and his children ended up all together, albeit in a prison cell without adequate food and water. One of his companions turned out to be a CW and implicated Danny as a member of Al-Qaeda.
As a result, he is now serving 10 years in prison for attempting to join a terrorist training camp and wanting to fight Americans in a foreign state. This is both sad and insane; who takes their wife and kids with them on a jihad? From his prison cell he writes verses lamenting the loss of his beloved:
Can you hug me?
Before I awake in pain
To clanking chains
Crying while I say your name?
Eyes are flooded
Yet, I can see the dawn
Now that she is gone...
I awake...
The story of Danny Maldonado and his family is one of love, endurance, and miracles. This is also, a story of putting our trust in Allah. This is Sev, the kind of love that Rumi was talking about.
You can formulate in language and make language very rich and nuanced.’ In translation, one has to be prepared to lose twenty to thirty per cent of the intended meaning.
Thus, love in Rumi’s poems is often mislaid against simplistic modern conventions: rendering an erudite scholar into a drunken, lovelorn wanderer. Thus missing the point that Rumi’s love was the source of the truth of his everyday life. The love that Rumi longed for and probably achieved was Sev.
Sev is a Turkish word used to express the indefatigable love we have for our parents, our children, and for our God. A soul satisfying love, that lasts beyond death and stays with us in the next world.
Rarely do we hear of Sev in this world between a man and a woman. A unique case of that perfect love can, however, be found in the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Reading about the love between him and his wife Khadijah, one is amazed and almost helpless with admiration. Their strength, loyalty, and their joint struggle epitomises an ideal that many of us long for. For the past fourteen centuries this powerful love story has been a model for those who are searching for Sev. Finding it is like searching for a diamond in a bag of coal.
Ironically, while reading about the US domestic war on terror’s latest victim Tarek Mehanna, I found a story of love with a Sev twist-the story of Danny and Tamekia.
Danny caught Tamekia’s eye while they were in school. She probably didn’t know it, but this boy would be her one and only true love. These two high school sweethearts’ love blossomed into marriage, children, and a lifetime of experiences that resembled a movie.
Danny embraced Islam and his wife, followed suit. Lack of opportunities at home had them trekking across the country to find stable work, which didn’t happen. Instead he got a better offer to work in Egypt. They packed their belongings and were off.
America, once the land of freedom, has become a dangerous place if you are Muslim. One new weapon in the Muslim community is the Cooperating Witness. CW’s are spies who look like you, dress like you, but once they get your confidence, it’s bam! You are in chains.
One minute it’s smiles and salams, then next, the SWAT team is busting down your door. It can be that quick. On October 29 this year, Luqman Abdullah was killed by the FBI in Dearborn, Michigan. Also, the recent arrests of Najibullah Zazi and Tarek Mehanna (who is supposed to be connected to Maldonado, although it’s not clear exactly how or why when you follow all the details), the convictions of the founders of the Holy Land Charity and call for investigation of the Muslims’ rights organisations, CAIR, signals a scary turn in the way Muslims are now perceived in my country.
These days when Muslims leave the US, they are refugees looking for a place to live without a fear of persecution. After living in Egypt for a while, the Maldonados decided to make another Hijira (migration), to live under Islamic law in Somalia. Husband and wife and their budding brood set off. Shortly their arrival, Ethiopia invaded Somalia, ripping up the calm lull in decades of chaos.
Now imagine yourself in their shoes. Can’t? Let Somali rapper K’naan help: You never know a single day without a big commotion. It can’t be healthy to live with such a steep emotion.
We can’t even imagine a young American family with their babies in the middle of airstrikes. Everyone begins to evacuate. Bombs fall, people lose each other. Many of the men that Danny travelled with were killed in an ambush. He and the rest of the survivors wandered without recourse to water in the jungle, Finally they found their way to a town where they felt safe, only to be arrested, blindfolded, handcuffed, put on a plane and taken to Kenya.
Danny sensing that one of his fellow prisoners was an American woman, asked desperately for news of his family. ‘Do you know my family? Are they okay?’ he said.
In a dark, dirty, and damp prison cell one of the other prisoners told him that his beloved wife Umm Musa and his children were scattered and lost. Reading this twenty-something’s description of these events, I can’t help but be selfishly thankful for my own sons being safe and sound.
I’m sure that it was love that helped him survive. Love for Islam and his family. His wife, Umm Musa, died from malaria, en route to safety. Their son, Musa at the time was about 9 years. Distraught over his mother’s sickness, he wandered into the jungle and got lost on the Somali-Kenya border (but was later found in Kenya). Danny’s daughters aged 4 and 7 months, were miraculously also found amongst some Somali refugees. Umm Musa lies buried in an unmarked grave along the road near the border. Subhan Allah.
Allah is the best of planners because somehow in all that madness, Danny and his children ended up all together, albeit in a prison cell without adequate food and water. One of his companions turned out to be a CW and implicated Danny as a member of Al-Qaeda.
As a result, he is now serving 10 years in prison for attempting to join a terrorist training camp and wanting to fight Americans in a foreign state. This is both sad and insane; who takes their wife and kids with them on a jihad? From his prison cell he writes verses lamenting the loss of his beloved:
Can you hug me?
Before I awake in pain
To clanking chains
Crying while I say your name?
Eyes are flooded
Yet, I can see the dawn
Now that she is gone...
I awake...
The story of Danny Maldonado and his family is one of love, endurance, and miracles. This is also, a story of putting our trust in Allah. This is Sev, the kind of love that Rumi was talking about.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Oppenheimer suggested to Lauck that his agency prepare a plan for creating a new image for diamonds among Americans
The diamond invention—the creation of the idea that diamonds are rare and valuable, and are essential signs of esteem—is a relatively recent development in the history of the diamond trade. Until the late nineteenth century, diamonds were found only in a few riverbeds in India and in the jungles of Brazil, and the entire world production of gem diamonds amounted to a few pounds a year. In 1870, however, huge diamond mines were discovered near the Orange River, in South Africa, where diamonds were soon being scooped out by the ton. Suddenly, the market was deluged with diamonds. The British financiers who had organized the South African mines quickly realized that their investment was endangered; diamonds had little intrinsic value—and their price depended almost entirely on their scarcity. The financiers feared that when new mines were developed in South Africa, diamonds would become at best only semiprecious gems.
The major investors in the diamond mines realized that they had no alternative but to merge their interests into a single entity that would be powerful enough to control production and perpetuate the illusion of scarcity of diamonds. The instrument they created, in 1888, was called De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., incorporated in South Africa. As De Beers took control of all aspects of the world diamond trade, it assumed many forms. In London, it operated under the innocuous name of the Diamond Trading Company. In Israel, it was known as "The Syndicate." In Europe, it was called the "C.S.O." -- initials referring to the Central Selling Organization, which was an arm of the Diamond Trading Company. And in black Africa, it disguised its South African origins under subsidiaries with names like Diamond Development Corporation and Mining Services, Inc. At its height -- for most of this century -- it not only either directly owned or controlled all the diamond mines in southern Africa but also owned diamond trading companies in England, Portugal, Israel, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland.
De Beers proved to be the most successful cartel arrangement in the annals of modern commerce. While other commodities, such as gold, silver, copper, rubber, and grains, fluctuated wildly in response to economic conditions, diamonds have continued, with few exceptions, to advance upward in price every year since the Depression. Indeed, the cartel seemed so superbly in control of prices -- and unassailable -- that, in the late 1970s, even speculators began buying diamonds as a guard against the vagaries of inflation and recession.
Advertisement
The diamond invention is far more than a monopoly for fixing diamond prices; it is a mechanism for converting tiny crystals of carbon into universally recognized tokens of wealth, power, and romance. To achieve this goal, De Beers had to control demand as well as supply. Both women and men had to be made to perceive diamonds not as marketable precious stones but as an inseparable part of courtship and married life. To stabilize the market, De Beers had to endow these stones with a sentiment that would inhibit the public from ever reselling them. The illusion had to be created that diamonds were forever -- "forever" in the sense that they should never be resold.
In September of 1938, Harry Oppenheimer, son of the founder of De Beers and then twenty-nine, traveled from Johannesburg to New York City, to meet with Gerold M. Lauck, the president of N. W. Ayer, a leading advertising agency in the United States. Lauck and N. W. Ayer had been recommended to Oppenheimer by the Morgan Bank, which had helped his father consolidate the De Beers financial empire. His bankers were concerned about the price of diamonds, which had declined worldwide.
In Europe, where diamond prices had collapsed during the Depression, there seemed little possibility of restoring public confidence in diamonds. In Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain, the notion of giving a diamond ring to commemorate an engagement had never taken hold. In England and France, diamonds were still presumed to be jewels for aristocrats rather than the masses. Furthermore, Europe was on the verge of war, and there seemed little possibility of expanding diamond sales. This left the United States as the only real market for De Beers's diamonds. In fact, in 1938 some three quarters of all the cartel's diamonds were sold for engagement rings in the United States. Most of these stones, however, were smaller and of poorer quality than those bought in Europe, and had an average price of $80 apiece. Oppenheimer and the bankers believed that an advertising campaign could persuade Americans to buy more expensive diamonds.
Oppenheimer suggested to Lauck that his agency prepare a plan for creating a new image for diamonds among Americans. He assured Lauck that De Beers had not called on any other American advertising agency with this proposal, and that if the plan met with his father's approval, N. W. Ayer would be the exclusive agents for the placement of newspaper and radio advertisements in the United States. Oppenheimer agreed to underwrite the costs of the research necessary for developing the campaign. Lauck instantly accepted the offer.
In their subsequent investigation of the American diamond market, the staff of N. W. Ayer found that since the end of World War I, in 1919, the total amount of diamonds sold in America, measured in carats, had declined by 50 percent; at the same time, the quality of the diamonds, measured in dollar value, had declined by nearly 100 percent. An Ayer memo concluded that the depressed state of the market for diamonds was "the result of the economy, changes in social attitudes and the promotion of competitive luxuries."
Although it could do little about the state of the economy, N. W. Ayer suggested that through a well-orchestrated advertising and public-relations campaign it could have a significant impact on the "social attitudes of the public at large and thereby channel American spending toward larger and more expensive diamonds instead of "competitive luxuries." Specifically, the Ayer study stressed the need to strengthen the association in the public's mind of diamonds with romance. Since "young men buy over 90% of all engagement rings" it would be crucial to inculcate in them the idea that diamonds were a gift of love: the larger and finer the diamond, the greater the expression of love. Similarly, young women had to be encouraged to view diamonds as an integral part of any romantic courtship.
Since the Ayer plan to romanticize diamonds required subtly altering the public's picture of the way a man courts -- and wins -- a woman, the advertising agency strongly suggested exploiting the relatively new medium of motion pictures. Movie idols, the paragons of romance for the mass audience, would be given diamonds to use as their symbols of indestructible love. In addition, the agency suggested offering stories and society photographs to selected magazines and newspapers which would reinforce the link between diamonds and romance. Stories would stress the size of diamonds that celebrities presented to their loved ones, and photographs would conspicuously show the glittering stone on the hand of a well-known woman. Fashion designers would talk on radio programs about the "trend towards diamonds" that Ayer planned to start. The Ayer plan also envisioned using the British royal family to help foster the romantic allure of diamonds. An Ayer memo said, "Since Great Britain has such an important interest in the diamond industry, the royal couple could be of tremendous assistance to this British industry by wearing diamonds rather than other jewels." Queen Elizabeth later went on a well-publicized trip to several South African diamond mines, and she accepted a diamond from Oppenheimer.
The major investors in the diamond mines realized that they had no alternative but to merge their interests into a single entity that would be powerful enough to control production and perpetuate the illusion of scarcity of diamonds. The instrument they created, in 1888, was called De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., incorporated in South Africa. As De Beers took control of all aspects of the world diamond trade, it assumed many forms. In London, it operated under the innocuous name of the Diamond Trading Company. In Israel, it was known as "The Syndicate." In Europe, it was called the "C.S.O." -- initials referring to the Central Selling Organization, which was an arm of the Diamond Trading Company. And in black Africa, it disguised its South African origins under subsidiaries with names like Diamond Development Corporation and Mining Services, Inc. At its height -- for most of this century -- it not only either directly owned or controlled all the diamond mines in southern Africa but also owned diamond trading companies in England, Portugal, Israel, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland.
De Beers proved to be the most successful cartel arrangement in the annals of modern commerce. While other commodities, such as gold, silver, copper, rubber, and grains, fluctuated wildly in response to economic conditions, diamonds have continued, with few exceptions, to advance upward in price every year since the Depression. Indeed, the cartel seemed so superbly in control of prices -- and unassailable -- that, in the late 1970s, even speculators began buying diamonds as a guard against the vagaries of inflation and recession.
Advertisement
The diamond invention is far more than a monopoly for fixing diamond prices; it is a mechanism for converting tiny crystals of carbon into universally recognized tokens of wealth, power, and romance. To achieve this goal, De Beers had to control demand as well as supply. Both women and men had to be made to perceive diamonds not as marketable precious stones but as an inseparable part of courtship and married life. To stabilize the market, De Beers had to endow these stones with a sentiment that would inhibit the public from ever reselling them. The illusion had to be created that diamonds were forever -- "forever" in the sense that they should never be resold.
In September of 1938, Harry Oppenheimer, son of the founder of De Beers and then twenty-nine, traveled from Johannesburg to New York City, to meet with Gerold M. Lauck, the president of N. W. Ayer, a leading advertising agency in the United States. Lauck and N. W. Ayer had been recommended to Oppenheimer by the Morgan Bank, which had helped his father consolidate the De Beers financial empire. His bankers were concerned about the price of diamonds, which had declined worldwide.
In Europe, where diamond prices had collapsed during the Depression, there seemed little possibility of restoring public confidence in diamonds. In Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain, the notion of giving a diamond ring to commemorate an engagement had never taken hold. In England and France, diamonds were still presumed to be jewels for aristocrats rather than the masses. Furthermore, Europe was on the verge of war, and there seemed little possibility of expanding diamond sales. This left the United States as the only real market for De Beers's diamonds. In fact, in 1938 some three quarters of all the cartel's diamonds were sold for engagement rings in the United States. Most of these stones, however, were smaller and of poorer quality than those bought in Europe, and had an average price of $80 apiece. Oppenheimer and the bankers believed that an advertising campaign could persuade Americans to buy more expensive diamonds.
Oppenheimer suggested to Lauck that his agency prepare a plan for creating a new image for diamonds among Americans. He assured Lauck that De Beers had not called on any other American advertising agency with this proposal, and that if the plan met with his father's approval, N. W. Ayer would be the exclusive agents for the placement of newspaper and radio advertisements in the United States. Oppenheimer agreed to underwrite the costs of the research necessary for developing the campaign. Lauck instantly accepted the offer.
In their subsequent investigation of the American diamond market, the staff of N. W. Ayer found that since the end of World War I, in 1919, the total amount of diamonds sold in America, measured in carats, had declined by 50 percent; at the same time, the quality of the diamonds, measured in dollar value, had declined by nearly 100 percent. An Ayer memo concluded that the depressed state of the market for diamonds was "the result of the economy, changes in social attitudes and the promotion of competitive luxuries."
Although it could do little about the state of the economy, N. W. Ayer suggested that through a well-orchestrated advertising and public-relations campaign it could have a significant impact on the "social attitudes of the public at large and thereby channel American spending toward larger and more expensive diamonds instead of "competitive luxuries." Specifically, the Ayer study stressed the need to strengthen the association in the public's mind of diamonds with romance. Since "young men buy over 90% of all engagement rings" it would be crucial to inculcate in them the idea that diamonds were a gift of love: the larger and finer the diamond, the greater the expression of love. Similarly, young women had to be encouraged to view diamonds as an integral part of any romantic courtship.
Since the Ayer plan to romanticize diamonds required subtly altering the public's picture of the way a man courts -- and wins -- a woman, the advertising agency strongly suggested exploiting the relatively new medium of motion pictures. Movie idols, the paragons of romance for the mass audience, would be given diamonds to use as their symbols of indestructible love. In addition, the agency suggested offering stories and society photographs to selected magazines and newspapers which would reinforce the link between diamonds and romance. Stories would stress the size of diamonds that celebrities presented to their loved ones, and photographs would conspicuously show the glittering stone on the hand of a well-known woman. Fashion designers would talk on radio programs about the "trend towards diamonds" that Ayer planned to start. The Ayer plan also envisioned using the British royal family to help foster the romantic allure of diamonds. An Ayer memo said, "Since Great Britain has such an important interest in the diamond industry, the royal couple could be of tremendous assistance to this British industry by wearing diamonds rather than other jewels." Queen Elizabeth later went on a well-publicized trip to several South African diamond mines, and she accepted a diamond from Oppenheimer.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
The Massicotte property is located 15 km from the Detour Lake mining project on the Quebec and Ontario border, along the Massicotte fault
Adventure Gold Inc. (TSX VENTURE:AGE) (the "Company"), is pleased to announce the acquisition of five gold properties, by staking and map designation, along the Detour Lake Gold Break in the Haricana-Turgeon Belt, in Abitibi, Canada. These new property acquisitions, 100%-owned by the Company, further enhance a growing portfolio of properties and generate new gold projects along major under-explored gold structures in Abitibi. They consist of 120 claims and cover an area of 6,651 hectares. These properties are strategically located over 25 km on the gold break between the Detour Lake mining project (proven and probable reserves of 8.8M oz Au, estimated from a global measured and indicated resources of 17.3M oz and inferred resources of 2.4M oz, Detour Lake Gold - 43-101 pre-feasibility report, September 2009) and the Fenelon American Bonanza gold deposit (measured and indicated resources of 30,200 oz and inferred resources of 11,200 oz - Innovexplo, 43-101 report, 2005).
These new properties have a high potential of discovery similar to the Abitibi gold mining camps associated with major gold structures. Historical drilling intersected gold structures, with values ranging up to 18.3 g/t Au over 1.1m, gold showings in outcrop ranging up to 54.0 g/t Au, and many significant gold till anomalies ranging between 1.0 g/t Au and 5.2 g/t Au, and electromagnetic conductors ("EM") (not adequately tested) have permitted the Company to selectively target prospective areas favourable for a new discoveries. The Massicotte, Casgrain and Nantel properties are located along the Massicotte-Grasset deformation break while the Sicotte property is located to the east of the Brouillian pluton and the St-Helene felsic complex. For more information on the property locations, please visit our website at www.adventure-gold.com.
Casgrain Property
The Casgrain property spans more than 18 km of the Massicotte-Grasset deformation break, a gold structure which encompasses many gold intersections with values of 7.7 g/t Au over 7.2m, 4.8 g/t Au over 13.3m and 24.1 g/t Au over 2.5m on the adjacent property to the west. This property also encloses the section of the deformation break known as Lower Detour Lake and its junction with the Massicotte Fault. A historical drill hole intersected 18.3 g/t Au over 1.1m on the eastern sector of the Casgrain property.
A compilation of the till geochemical survey on the entire Detour Lake sector indicated the presence of gold anomalies ranging between 1.0 g/t Au and 3.6 g/t Au. Following the dispersal train towards the south-east, historical drill-hole positions have outlined two distinct bedrock sources. The first sector is located to the south-west and is associated with the Lower Detour Lake deformation zone. The second sector is in the north-west section where the bedrock source likely corresponds to a deformation zone bordering on a felsic intrusion.
This property also presents a high potential for discovery of massive sulphide volcanogenic deposits ("VMS"). Diamond drilling in 1970, defined a felsic centre of over 4.5 km in length. To the top of the felsic centre, exhalative horizons which are highly anomalous in copper and zinc and ranging up to 1.8% Cu, 2.0% Zn and 7.8 g/t Ag over 1.0m, were observed. Isolated Megatem anomalies located to the top of felsic centre have remained un-tested and represent future drilling targets.
Massicotte Property
The Massicotte property is located 15 km from the Detour Lake mining project on the Quebec and Ontario border, along the Massicotte fault. The compilation of the till geochemical survey increased our interest in this sector due to the presence of significant gold anomalies ranging between 1.0 and 5.2 g/t Au. Following a gold dispersal train towards the south-west, historical drill-hole positions have outlined two distinct bedrock sources. The most interesting sector is located to the north-east and is associated with the Massicotte deformation zone. The targets are well confined and could be ready-to-drill.
Sicotte Property
The Sicotte property is located 16 km east of the Selbaie Mine, which produced 53 Mt @ 1% Cu, 1.9% Zn, 0.6 g/t Au and 4.1 g/t Ag between 1982 and 2005. The property geology hosted felsic rock related to the Selbaie Mine sequence, andesitic rocks and mafic and felsic intrusions (quartz-feldspath porphyry) belonging to the Brouillian volcanic complex. The property encloses three gold showings of interest including the Ruisseau Twinning showing, characterised by a network of quartz-tourmaline veins hosted in altered diorite affected by a carbonate and sericite alteration and a dissemination of pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite. High gold values ranging between 8 and 54 g/t Au (grab sample) were identified. An important ductile deformation zone of over 50 meters in thickness oriented towards the E-W and strongly altered in carbonate and silica equally affects the diorite of the Ruisseau Twinning showing. In addition, the property also includes the Lac Sicotte NE showing and a drill intersection returned values of 2.5 and 2.3 g/t Au over 1.5 and 1.0m respectively. The mineralization of these showings are associated with a network of quartz veins hosted in carbonate and silicified felsic rock and contains dissemination of pyrite and chalcopyrite. An induced polarization geophysic survey ("IP") is proposed to define the mineralized system. Drilling will follow to test the high-priority targets.
Jules Riopel P.Geo. Vice-President Exploration and Acquisitions, who acts as the Company's "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed this press release.
These new properties have a high potential of discovery similar to the Abitibi gold mining camps associated with major gold structures. Historical drilling intersected gold structures, with values ranging up to 18.3 g/t Au over 1.1m, gold showings in outcrop ranging up to 54.0 g/t Au, and many significant gold till anomalies ranging between 1.0 g/t Au and 5.2 g/t Au, and electromagnetic conductors ("EM") (not adequately tested) have permitted the Company to selectively target prospective areas favourable for a new discoveries. The Massicotte, Casgrain and Nantel properties are located along the Massicotte-Grasset deformation break while the Sicotte property is located to the east of the Brouillian pluton and the St-Helene felsic complex. For more information on the property locations, please visit our website at www.adventure-gold.com.
Casgrain Property
The Casgrain property spans more than 18 km of the Massicotte-Grasset deformation break, a gold structure which encompasses many gold intersections with values of 7.7 g/t Au over 7.2m, 4.8 g/t Au over 13.3m and 24.1 g/t Au over 2.5m on the adjacent property to the west. This property also encloses the section of the deformation break known as Lower Detour Lake and its junction with the Massicotte Fault. A historical drill hole intersected 18.3 g/t Au over 1.1m on the eastern sector of the Casgrain property.
A compilation of the till geochemical survey on the entire Detour Lake sector indicated the presence of gold anomalies ranging between 1.0 g/t Au and 3.6 g/t Au. Following the dispersal train towards the south-east, historical drill-hole positions have outlined two distinct bedrock sources. The first sector is located to the south-west and is associated with the Lower Detour Lake deformation zone. The second sector is in the north-west section where the bedrock source likely corresponds to a deformation zone bordering on a felsic intrusion.
This property also presents a high potential for discovery of massive sulphide volcanogenic deposits ("VMS"). Diamond drilling in 1970, defined a felsic centre of over 4.5 km in length. To the top of the felsic centre, exhalative horizons which are highly anomalous in copper and zinc and ranging up to 1.8% Cu, 2.0% Zn and 7.8 g/t Ag over 1.0m, were observed. Isolated Megatem anomalies located to the top of felsic centre have remained un-tested and represent future drilling targets.
Massicotte Property
The Massicotte property is located 15 km from the Detour Lake mining project on the Quebec and Ontario border, along the Massicotte fault. The compilation of the till geochemical survey increased our interest in this sector due to the presence of significant gold anomalies ranging between 1.0 and 5.2 g/t Au. Following a gold dispersal train towards the south-west, historical drill-hole positions have outlined two distinct bedrock sources. The most interesting sector is located to the north-east and is associated with the Massicotte deformation zone. The targets are well confined and could be ready-to-drill.
Sicotte Property
The Sicotte property is located 16 km east of the Selbaie Mine, which produced 53 Mt @ 1% Cu, 1.9% Zn, 0.6 g/t Au and 4.1 g/t Ag between 1982 and 2005. The property geology hosted felsic rock related to the Selbaie Mine sequence, andesitic rocks and mafic and felsic intrusions (quartz-feldspath porphyry) belonging to the Brouillian volcanic complex. The property encloses three gold showings of interest including the Ruisseau Twinning showing, characterised by a network of quartz-tourmaline veins hosted in altered diorite affected by a carbonate and sericite alteration and a dissemination of pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite. High gold values ranging between 8 and 54 g/t Au (grab sample) were identified. An important ductile deformation zone of over 50 meters in thickness oriented towards the E-W and strongly altered in carbonate and silica equally affects the diorite of the Ruisseau Twinning showing. In addition, the property also includes the Lac Sicotte NE showing and a drill intersection returned values of 2.5 and 2.3 g/t Au over 1.5 and 1.0m respectively. The mineralization of these showings are associated with a network of quartz veins hosted in carbonate and silicified felsic rock and contains dissemination of pyrite and chalcopyrite. An induced polarization geophysic survey ("IP") is proposed to define the mineralized system. Drilling will follow to test the high-priority targets.
Jules Riopel P.Geo. Vice-President Exploration and Acquisitions, who acts as the Company's "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed this press release.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)