MICRO FINANCE

The experience after training rural youth at Udyamita Vidyapeeth, Deendayal Research Institute’s Rural Entrepreneur Training Centre at Chitrakoot, showed that, after training, except for raw material based industries, no individual was able to set up need based industries due to a lack of To overcome this problem, Udyamita Vidyapeeth, drew out project proposals for the rural youth to have them avail of bank loans. However, none of the youth wanted the loans. They listed various difficulties, including the payment of interest, as the reason for their reluctance.
Udyamita Vidyapeeth realized that the funding requirements of a majority of the applicants were minor. From donations received by the Institute, Udyamita Vidyapeeth opened a bank account under the name ‘Swavalamban”, to advance interest free micro loans to those in need.
The methodology to ensure repayment and zero default was as follows:

1. Meeting in the village, attended by the villagers and Samaj Shilpi Dampati of a particular
cluster, where the villagers themselves recommend the case of the candidate.

2. Where possible, the candidate contributes up to 50% of the capital requirement – his/her
ability to raise capital is verified by the villagers themselves.

3. At the end of the meeting, a list of successful applicants are given a date to come to
Udyamita Vidyapeeth to collect their cheques and complete other formalities.

4. During their visit to Udyamita Vidyapeeth, the candidates are welcomed, shown around
the campus, fed lunch, explained where the funds have come from and also introduced to
any senior DRI functionaries who are available. This is to give them a sense of belonging
and togetherness, as opposed to the fear that they inherently have for funding institutions.

5. The candidates are photographed and made to sign a mortgage agreement on Rs. 10/-
stamp paper that would be in force until the repayment of the total loan amount. The
cheque is then handed over.

6. The Samaj Shilpi Dampati ensure that the shop/enterprise is started within 2 working
days from the date of receipt of the cheque, and on the 3rd day, staff from Udyamita
Vidyapeeth check that the loan has been properly utilized at the village itself.

Since its inception in May 2004, a total of Rs. 6,00,782.00 has been distributed to 207
beneficiaries. The loan recovery rate in clusters where Samaj Shipli Dampati operates has been
100%. The loans have been made available to all – whether educated or uneducated; young or
old; man or woman; farmer or landless worker. The sole criterion was need.
The main impact of Udyamita Vidyapeeth enabling unemployed rural youth through micro
finance has been to check migration to urban centres, and increase a demand for trainings of
employment generating skills.

Dirty Rotten Imbeciles

Como podemos ver que nos últimos posts que fale da volta de 27 anos da banda DRI (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), onde esta fazendo alguns pequenos shows de sua volta aos palcos. Então aqui vai um vídeo deles tocando em Texas. Tocando um clássico Five Year Plan e também Nursing Home Blues.

I had to go back into my extremely neglected archives so that I can vary my recently posted photos a bit instead of nothing but Turkey, I need to get away from work and go on a trip! That will be Thailand to meet my wife leaving in exactly in one week. This will be a second attempt at getting good pictures in that country as my first one was what prompted me to get a DSLR after my P&S became full of dust particles that ruined almost every picture I took the first time I was there. Anyways, here is another one of my favorite buildings–if not my favorite–in Tokyo, the Tokyo International Forum. The first batch I had processed I went really heavy on the orange hues for some reason. I have quite a few that I shot with a fluorescent white balance under these incandescent lights which gave a very blueish result.

Im Hamburger Hafen entsteht seit geraumer Zeit ein neuer Stadtteil, die Hafencity. Das “Oval” am Kaiserkai wurde von der Düsseldorfer Architektengruppe Ingenhoven & Partner entworfen. Das Gebäude hat einen elliptischen Baukörper.

Wer viel Beton, Stahl, Glas und verschachtelte Häuser liebt ist in der Hafencity gut aufgehoben. Wer das alles nicht mag, dafür gibts ja noch die schöne alte Speicherstadt.

- Die Hamburger Speicherstadt bei Nacht! – Teil I
- Die Hamburger Speicherstadt bei Nacht! – Teil II

Crossover on sellainen genre, jota en ole jaksanut kuunnella enää vuosiin. Silloinkin kun sitä muutama vuosi sitten eniten kuuntelin, oli bändirepertuaari melko suppea: D.R.I, Suicidal Tendencies, Nuclear Assault, Cryptic Slaughter ja S.O.D. Listaan tuli myöhemmin muutama bändi lisää, kuten The Accused ja Wehrmacht sekä helsinkiläinen Dirty Damage. Tämän hetken kovimmat crossover-bändit ovat ehdottomasti jenkkien Municipal Waste ja Delta Force II Nykäskylästä. Samannimisen leffan mukaan nimetty ja Chuck Norrisin kunniaksi käden (väännettyyn) lippaan nostava Delta Force II julkaisi ensimmäisen levytyksensä kesällä 2007, 20 vuotta koko genrelle nimen antaneen D.R.I:n  Crossover-levyn julkaisemisen jälkeen. Levy kulkee nimellä Chuck Norris and the Colombian Connection Orchestra – Symphony for the good booze and bad heavy metal mutta se tunnetaan lähinnä vain Delta Force 2-nimellä.

DF2:n esittämä rytke on äärimmäisen perinnetietoista. Bändin soitto on railakasta, kitarat sahaavat, käheät huudot raiskaavat kuulijan korvat ja tanakka komppi potkii persiille. Musiikki kumartelee Suicidal Tendenciesille (teki jopa coverinkin), DRI:lle ja jopa Slayerille, vaikkei kyseinen orkesteri crossoverin genreen tipahdakaan. Sanoituksellisesti bändiin tulee suhtautua samanlaisella vakavuudella kuin Chuck Norrisiin. DF2 ei ota itseään (tai ketään muutakaan) vakavasti vaan laukoo asioita päin naamaa humoristisella otteella. Käsiteltäviä aiheita ovat Chuck Norris, juntit, Chuck Norris, fasistit, rähinä, Turku ja ennen kaikkea MOSSAUS.  Sana “Mossaus” tosin töksähtää hieman korvaan, mutta se varmaan johtuu siitä ettei termille ole suomennoksia aiemmin juuri tullut. Eipä ole kovinkaan moni bändi paiskonut tämänkaltaista musiikkia suomeksi muutenkaan.

Onnennumeroni oli näissä arvonnoissa 308/414. Painos ei ole siis huikenteleva ja oman kappaleenikin löysin (löysin ja löysin, Oi Polloin skotlantilainen vokalisti sai myytyä sen minulle Puntalassa mitä vakuuttavimman mainoslauseen avulla: “A feckin’ great album!”) sattumalta. Paketti on kumminkin gatefold-kansissaan komea ja sisäkannessa on jopa asiaankuuluva (Euroshopper-sipsipussi bongattu!) kollaasikin. Mikäs Crossover-levy se sellainen on, jossa ei ole moista kuvakollaasia? Levystä on tehty myös spesiaalipainoskin  käsinpainetuilla kansilla. Aika herkullisen näköinen.

DF2 on julkaissut myös splitin Escape to Deathin kanssa ja julkaisi juuri uuden Personal Vietnam-albuminkin. Uuden levyn cd-versioon sisältyvät myös EtD-splitin ja tämän ensimmäisen levyn biisit, joten sitä saa sittenkin! Ja livenä bändi on kuulemma hyvä, pitää jossain välissä katsoa kun siihen tarjoutuu mahdollisuus.

so erstmal hab ich 4 neue Bilder eingestellt! Diese bilden den Anfang meiner neuen Fotogalerie. In unregelmäßigen Abständen werde ich meine eigenen Bilder und Arbeiten einstellen. Wer also interesse an den Fotos hat, sollte von Zeit zu Zeit einfach schauen was es neues gibt.

Die Knipserei steckt noch in den Kinderschuhen im Hause Eberwein, aber Übung macht den Meister…

Über Kritiken oder Verbesserungsvorschläge freue ich mich immer…

Also dann – viel Spass beim anschauen….

Link im Kopf der Seite oder aber im Inhaltsverzeichniss in der linken Spalte

a message from me and ice

~KRF

Here is the main “tourist” entrance for the Sultan Ahmed, aka Blue Mosque in Istanbul. I am not sure why there are 2 entrances since they both deliver you to the same massive room with towering dome ceiling, circular light fixtures hanging on strands strung up to the underside of the dome accentuated with the musty smell of tens of thousands of sweaty tourist feet. I was glad that a few birds made it into this shot. It almost looks infrared to me, but it is just a 3 exposure DRI converted to black and white.

The Dietary Reference Intake can be defined  a system of nutrition recommendations that estimates the amounts of nutrients required to prevent deficiencies and maintain optimal Health.

The DRI includes some concepts that sometimes are used as equivalents, when they are not. In other cases, the same concept receive different names, depending of the source of the article you are reading.

DRIs consists of four dietary reference standards:

1.- Estimated Average Requirement (EAR): Average daily nutrient intake level estimated to meet the requirement of one half of the healthy individuals in a specific age and gender group.

 2.- Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA): Average daily Dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97-98%) individuals (EAR+2DS) on each life state and gender group. It is approximately 20 % higher than the EAR. RDA are printed in food labels in the United States and Canada.  (The definition of RDA is similar to the definition of  Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI)  used by the World Health Organization and other international organizations).

 3.- Adequate Intake (AI): Estimation of nutrient intake in healthy people (used when EAR and RDA are not known)

 4.- Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL): Highest average daily intake level from food, water and supplements that is likely to pose no risk of adverse health effect from excess in almost all apparently healthy individuals in an age and gender specific population group. (This concept is important mainly in relation to nutritional supplements, since the ingestion of natural foods is regulated in the body through mechanisms of absorption and excretion), In absence of observations of known adverse effects, it is used a default value of 10 times de Recommended Dietary Allowance.

More information about these reference standards can be found at:

Dietary Reference Intake

Reference dialy Intake 

 Interactive DRI for health care professionals

 Yates, A.A.: Dietary Reference Intakes –What is new and how to use them (Power point presentation)

Who Experts Committee:

Vitamin and Mineral requirements in human nutrition

World Health Organization, 2004

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) was supposed to crush Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) in the premium coffee business when the world’s largest restaurant chain introduced a line of premium java more than a year ago.

It turns out that McDonald’s impressive start as competition to Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, and other specialty coffee retailers has begun to flag.

New research shows the momentum in terms of store traffic patterns has turned in Starbucks’ direction and it is likely that the trend will continue.

New research done in September by ChangeWave shows that those surveyed were 5% more likely to buy coffee from Starbucks in the upcoming 90 days than in the 90 days just past. The figure for McDonald’s was down 3%. Starbucks almost made gains in the previous survey. The research confirms what Wall St. has suspected that the coffee store chain is doing well. Its shares are over $20, near a 52-week high and up from a period low of $7.06.

In the restaurant category, the companies that can expect an improvement in traffic, according to ChangeWave ,are Olive Garden (NYSE:DRI), Chipotle (NYSE:CMG), and Red Lobster. Denny’s and Morton’s are likely to do more poorly.

Looking at trends across the industry, ChangeWave reports better than one-in-ten respondents (11%) now say they will spend more money at restaurants going forward. That represents a 1 point improvement over August. Another 36% say they will be spending less, also 1 point better than before.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Lecciones de la batalla por los medios

Por Rubén Dri *

La larga y exitosa batalla que dieron los sectores populares y el Gobierno para dar a luz la Ley de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovisual dejó algunas enseñanzas que será bueno tener en cuenta para futuros combates.

- Se construye desde abajo. Una ley de la democracia se construye democráticamente. Nos referimos a una democracia real que hoy se denomina “participativa”, lo cual en principio es redundante, porque si no hay participación no hay democracia. Pero no está de más el adjetivo por cuanto generalmente la democracia se ha vaciado de contenido al ser sólo “representativa”. La democracia necesariamente es representativa, porque la democracia directa como la pensó Rousseau se ha demostrado inviable como él mismo lo sabía, cosa que dejó aclarada en las propuestas que formuló para su aplicación en Córcega y Polonia. Pero si “sólo” es representativa se vacía de contenido. En efecto, la participación del pueblo que debiera ser el verdadero sujeto de la misma se reduce a poner periódicamente un voto en un sobre. Democracia es kratos del demos, es decir, “poder del pueblo”. Este, como sujeto colectivo actuando, debatiendo, decidiendo y proponiendo las leyes, velando por su aplicación, es el que hace que la democracia sea una realidad y no una mera formalidad.

Recurriendo a la figura espacial, la “representación” conformada por los poderes del Estado se encuentra “arriba” y los movimientos sociales, “abajo”. El “arriba” en las democracias puramente representativas tiende a separarse totalmente del “abajo”, transformándose en un cuerpo con intereses propios. Cuando ello sucede, se aprueban leyes que no sólo nada tienen que ver con los intereses populares, sino que los contradicen. Es lo que sucedió en los ’90 cuando se aprobaron las vergonzosas leyes denominadas de “flexibilización laboral”.

La “representación” debe responder a los intereses de los representados, pero para que ello suceda éstos deben actuar, hacer sentir su presencia, construir poder popular, poder que vaya de abajo hacia arriba, debatir, proponer. Las leyes serán favorables al pueblo cuando éste haya tenido verdadera participación en ellas. Es lo que ha sucedido con la Ley de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovisual. Fue producto de un largo proceso de debate en el seno de los sectores populares, radios comunitarias, pueblos originarios, organizaciones sociales y culturales, asambleas barriales, organismos de derechos humanos, Madres y Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Serpaj, universidades, organizaciones estudiantiles, agrupaciones políticas, en una palabra, todo el espectro del campo popular. Tras este proceso, el Poder Ejecutivo presentó el proyecto a las cámaras legislativas, es decir, a los “representantes”, para que lo debatiesen y terminasen con la aprobación. La objeción de los grupos opositores en el sentido de que no tuvieron tiempo de discutirlo es, pues, una de las peores mentiras que se pudieran haber formulado. Si no lo debatieron, fue porque no les interesó.

De esta manera, en el proceso de formulación de esta ley se ha hecho realidad la relación dialéctica entre arriba y abajo, representantes y representados, en un proceso de creación de poder popular. Con ello se ha dado un gran paso en la superación de la mera democracia representativa hacia la democracia participativa. Depende ahora, en gran parte, que los sectores populares continúen su lucha por hacer de esta ley una realidad viviente que haga sentir un verdadero concierto de voces con tonalidades diferentes.

- La batalla por el lenguaje. En el paso del Estado feudal al moderno fue esencial la función cumplida por el lenguaje, según lo analiza Hegel en la Fenomenología del espíritu. En el Estado feudal el noble obedece pero mantiene a resguardo su propio juicio. Es el “orgulloso vasallo” cuyo lenguaje es el “consejo” por el bien universal. Se reserva su conciencia particular. Para el paso al Estado moderno fue necesario que el noble vasallo cambiase su lenguaje pasando del consejo al “halago”. El vasallo, que en el anterior Estado ejercía el heroísmo del servicio, dispuesto a jugar su propia vida en el campo del combate, pasa a ejercer ahora el “heroísmo de la adulación”, es decir, se transforma en cortesano dándole el yo o la conciencia al Estado y el poder real al yo, de manera que el monarca pudiera decir “el Estado soy yo”.

En la concepción de Hobbes, los hombres se entregan completamente al Estado que lleva el nombre mitológico de “Leviatán”, ese monstruo marino de poderes asombrosos. Pero ese monstruo es, en realidad, una máquina. Le falta la conciencia, el convertirse realmente en sujeto, transformación que sólo puede realizarse por medio del lenguaje. Esa es la tarea que realizan los nobles al transformar el lenguaje del consejo en el de la adulación. La dialéctica de práctica y conciencia, práctica y lenguaje, atraviesa todas las luchas sociales. El triunfo o la derrota en el ámbito del lenguaje tienen consecuencias profundas para el resultado final de la contienda. El momento del lenguaje, que en el paso del Estado feudal al moderno realizan los nobles, actualmente lo cumplen los grandes medios de comunicación, entre los cuales la radio y la televisión junto con los periódicos cumplen la tarea fundamental.

En la lucha que las patronales agrarias entablaron contra el Gobierno y los sectores populares el año pasado, la primera victoria que consiguieron las patronales fue la del lenguaje. De entrada, mediante el monopolio de los grandes medios de comunicación, lograron instalar la idea de que la lucha era del “campo” contra el Gobierno. El “campo” es un símbolo que mueve a la imaginación a dibujar románticas figuras campestres. El campo es el aire puro, lejos de la contaminación de la ciudad, es el frescor de la brisa, el trinar de los pájaros, el perfume de las flores silvestres. Es el trabajador campesino que se levanta con el sol y con él se acuesta. Es el que proporciona el alimento a toda la población. Es todo eso y mucho más. Siendo así, ¿quién puede estar contra el campo? Media batalla ya está ganada. La superconcentración de tierra y riqueza, la explotación de la peonada, las evasiones, la manera como se adquirieron las tierras, las consecuencias para la salud que acarrean los fumigaciones, las superganancias, todo ello queda oculto bajo el manto del “campo”.

En la batalla aún en curso por los servicios audiovisuales, las cosas se presentaron de la misma manera, pero esta vez el Gobierno y los sectores populares no dieron el brazo a torcer en la cuestión del lenguaje. Es necesario tener en cuenta que los grupos sociales y políticos enfrentados son los mismos que estuvieron en la lucha por la cuestión agraria, y la primera batalla se dio en torno del lenguaje. Los grandes medios que estuvieron en contra de la ley en cuestión siempre la nombraron como “ley K” o “ley mordaza” o “ley de control de medios”. De aceptarse este vocabulario, más de media batalla hubiese estado perdida. Los sectores de la “oposición” tuvieron siempre claridad sobre el problema, decididos a dar la batalla por el lenguaje. Pero esta vez, de parte del Gobierno y de los sectores populares no se cedió. La ley siempre fue designada con el nombre que le corresponde: Ley de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovisual. Esta ley otorga a los sectores populares un excelente instrumento para las futuras batallas culturales. Ya no se escuchará una sola voz que les pone nombre a esas batallas, sino que será un concierto de voces que permitirán a la población contrastar opiniones y hacer su propia evaluación.

* Filósofo, profesor consulto de la UBA.

Fuente: Página 12 – 13/10/09

I had a three-day weekend and headed up to Istanbul for the 1st time in over three years. The first time I went with a good friend and my wife whom I was just beginning to date at the time. We had an amazing time and I would easily say that Istanbul is only 2nd to Prague when it comes to big cities. If I was offered a job there that could support me and my wife, I would take it in a second and I am sure my wife would probably back me up on that statement as well.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque), completed in 1616… Not even the coolest mosque in Istanbul. I should have a few acceptable shots of the coolest that I will post on the blog sooner than later.

And this is inside of the Sultan Ahmed. I didn’t bring a tripod so I had to hand hold and crank up the ISO to 4000 for this 5XP DRI shot @ f2.8. The corners are out of focus, but usually high ISO shots will turn out extremely noisy as the HDR and DRI process seems to amplify every little spec of noise. I was highly impressed with the results this D700 is turning out at such high ISO though.

Here I am trying to trying to venture out and take shots with human subjects in them for a change. Of course, Istanbul has all types of people since it is the gateway to Europe. I really dig the Middle Eastern dress that you find, but I am typically most shy about taking pictures of those who are wearing that kind of traditional dress for some reason. I’ll have to steal a few from behind I guess.

And 2 guards that were stationed at the entrance of the Topkapı Palace. I knew they wouldn’t care if I took their picture because they were unflinching statues until they were called out of their pose. I didn’t see them blink, instead they had a guy go up to their faces with a tissue to wipe away what was most likely crumbling stone out of the eyelids that were a result from such seriousness.

These two were good. I have never seen such an intense pose held so well that you wouldn’t be able to tell if they were wax figures or not.

Lots more to come. I am excited to go through and start processing the rest of my shots!

On the weekend me and a buddy (whom I just turned onto the Darkside with a Nikon D90) rented a car for a day to visit some nearby sights. The Sabancı Mosque is probably the largest attraction to be found in Adana. It is the largest mosque in Turkey and can accommodate 28,500 people at one time!

The accompanying park has got to be about 3 km long and is very ornately decorated with all kinds of statues, fountains, gardens, playground equipment, and plenty of places for a picnic.

There were a lot of people out when we first arrived, and let me tell you about being a foreigner rolling up to a park in Southern Turkey… You become the center of that world. Everyone wants to look at you or talk to you to practice their English or just find out what in the hell these 2 white boys are doing in Southern Turkey. I was a little apprehensive about rolling up with all of my photo equipment because I already knew what to expect, but I was totally surprised to find that when they see all the equipment, especially the 70-200 hand cannon, they immediately want you to take their pictures.

Almost none of them even wanted to ask if they could see the picture, instead they were totally surprised when I offered to show it to them on the camera LCD. They didn’t even try and ask me to email them a copy of the shot. So basically this is like free practice for someone timid about asking to take portraits.

Hell yeah! This kid below was so excited that he literally wet himself. Well, maybe he did it before he saw me, but I didn’t even notice until I got home and looked through my shots. I had to cut out about half the picture and clone some extra shirt to spare the poor kid some embarrassment.

This last shot isn’t the most interesting shot in the world, but what is interesting is that this was taken at ISO 4 million (4,000 for non-sarcastic types) and still looks pretty damn acceptable and let me take this at 1/60 hand held in the middle of the night @ 105mm! I did run this through Noise Ninja, another great little program.

Anyways, I need to keep going back to practice portraits because I have learned it is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, especially when using my external flash. I have figured out that the exposure meter is basically worthless and trial and error or experience is what you really need to just get the exposure right.

By Charles Rotblut
September 25, 2009

Five S&P 500 companies are confirmed to report: Constellation Brands (STZ), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Jabil Circuit (JBL), Nike (NKE) and Walgreen (WAG). A total of 27 companies are on the calendar.

We are still a week away from the “official” start of third-quarter earnings season. Alcoa (AA) will release its results on Oct 7. The majority of companies will not start reporting until the latter half of October, however.

The economic calendar is most active towards the second half of the week with the release of the ISM manufacturing survey and the monthly employment surveys.

* Tuesday: September Conference Board consumer confidence survey, July Case-Schiller home price index
* Wednesday: September Chicago PMI, September ADP employment survey, final Q2 GDP, weekly crude inventories, weekly mortgage applications
* Thursday: September ISM manufacturing survey, August personal income and spending, August pending home sales, September auto sales, September Monster employment index, September Challenger employment survey, August construction spending, weekly initial jobless claims, weekly natural gas inventories
* Friday: September unemployment and nonfarm payrolls, August factory orders

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will appear before the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on Tuesday morning. Also on Tuesday, Fed General Counsel Scott Alvarez will testify before the House financial services committee, Fed Governor Kevin Warsh will participate in a panel discussion about economic policy at the Chicago Fed Bank and Philadelphia Fed Bank President Charles Plosser will speak about the economy at the Lehigh Valley Economic Outlook.

On Wednesday, Vice Chairman Donald Kohn will discuss the Fed’s exit strategy at the Cato Institute. Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto will speak in New York on Thursday evening.

Monday is Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Therefore, volume should be lighter than usual.

Given the calendar, I expect most of the market’s action to occur during the latter part of the week. Though the Dow failed to get much above 9,900, I continue to think there is enough short-term bullish sentiment to get the average above the 10,000 mark. This said, investors should realize that getting above 10K amounts to a group hug for the markets rather than signaling any significant change.

Companies That Could Issue Positive Earnings Surprises
Earlier this month, Xyratex (XRTX) preannounced fiscal third-quarter revenues of approximately $247 million. CEO Steve Barber credited a rebound in the economy and the storage market for helping sales. All 3 brokerage analysts raised their profit projections in response, pushing the Zacks Consensus Estimate 13 cents higher to a profit of 10 cents per share. XRTX topped expectations last quarter by 8 cents, ending a streak of 3 consecutive disappointments. Xyratex is scheduled to report on Wednesday, Sep 30, at the close of trading.

Companies That Could Issue Negative Earnings Surprises
Walgreen (WAG) has missed expectations for 3 consecutive quarters. Ahead of the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter report, nearly a third of the covering brokerage analysts have cut their profit projections. The revisions have resulted in the Zacks Consensus Estimate falling by a penny to 39 cents per share. The most accurate estimate is more bearish at 37 cents per share. Walgreen is scheduled to report on Sep 29, before the start of trading.

Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching 'archive' footage from 2008 and asking: why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance?

“We could have saved ourselves, but we didn’t. It’s amazing. What state of mind were we in, to face extinction and simply shrug it off?”

These were the words that reverberated in my mind in the darkness of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Manuel Conde.

Watching the movie reminded me of a line from crossover-thrash song that I used to listen to when I was younger.

The line reads:

“Will our children look back
With hatred or despair
At a generation of idiots
Who just didn’t care”

The title of the song is Acid Rain, which was a single from D.R.I.’s 1992 album Definition. As the title of the song suggests it is about acid rain and how our unsustainable lifestyles are slowly destroying the earth, upon which the presence of acid rain is an indication of how messed up our environment is at the moment.

More than a decade later we are now faced with something more menacing than acid rain –climate change.

We already know the causes – humankind’s relentless burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. We already know some of the impacts – the melting of polar ice caps, rising oceans, severe droughts, the spread of diseases, massive flooding, coral bleaching and surging storms. We already know who will be hit hardest – coastal countries, island nations, and underdeveloped regions like Southeast Asia.

Yet in spite of this, little action is still taken by those who have the power to change the tide on the matter.

Part of the movie’s aim is to help turn up the volume of public pressure ahead of a make-or-break UN conference in Copenhagen in December charged with delivering a planet-saving climate treaty.

Hopefully this movie will contribute to change our collective consciousness on the issue of climate change that it would stir us all into becoming a critical mass that would pave the way for a breakthrough deal in the Copenhagen Summit.

• Know more about The Age of Stupid
• Read about the Greenpeace premiere of the movie
• Help us tell President Obama to make the smart move

Chuck Baclagon

BCC Management Canada – Lebanon, Is proud to present Business Continuity Training in Lebanon on October 5-6 2009 in Radisson Hotel – Beirut Lebanon.

Recommended Participants:
::: Business Continuity Managers
::: MIS / I.T Managers
::: Project Managers
::: Head of Operations
::: Audit Professionals
::: Internal and External Auditors
::: Financial Controllers
::: Risk Manager
::: IT Security Manager

Objectives:
The Objective of this course is to facilitate the
participants to understand the Business
Continuity concept.

The Course Content will cover 5 major processes
as endorsed by the Business Continuity Institute BCI.

::: Understand your business
::: BCM Strategies
::: Developing a BCM Response
::: Developing a BCM Culture
::: Exercising, Maintenance & audit
::: Understanding compliance requirement regarding Basel ii, BDL.
ISO 27002 and BS 25999

Outcome of the Course:
::: Understanding of the different standards
(BS 25999 and ISO 27002)
::: Understand how BCM works towards your organization
::: Understand the Benefit of Business Continuity Management
::: Understanding how to be an accredited certication

Material Provided:
::: Workshop Manual
::: Support documents & Solutions for exercises (ON CD)
::: Course certificate
::: BCM Case Studies (ON CD)

Registration:
Price: 530 USD
Includes:
::: Lunch
::: Free Internet Available

To Download the registration form :
lebanon.bccmanagement.com/ or
lebanon.bccmanagement.com/registration.doc
Email it to info@bccmanagement.com
Or Fax it to +961.9.232406

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160537960405&ref=mf

http://events.linkedin.com/Business-Continuity-Training-LEBANON/pub/120404

About BCCManagement:
We’ve been in Business since 2006, we have participated in several related International Conferences
and seminars held in many countries including Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Also, we published numerous Business Continuity studies and articles in renowned magazines and international
websites, noting that BCCManagement had been actively involved in the development of standards dealing with Business Continuity namely the Business Continuity Standard BS25999.
In 2009 BCCManagement has done a corporate partnership with Business Continuity Institute BCI to Bring It’s Client the state of the art Business Continuity practice.

Einige DRI Aufnahmen unserer bisheringen Route.