sunnuntai, 9. kesäkuu 2013

Untitled

torstai, 9. toukokuu 2013

The Quality of Hillel Halkins Longing

A novel of rare delicacy, Melisande begins with a clutch of erudite New York teenagers in the late 50ss and early 60s coming of age amid its enticements literary, spiritual, political,Shop for wholesale free shipping ear cap directly from China. and sexual. Its the story of a narrator nicknamed Hoo; the nickname as well as the keenest emotional pulls of his adolescent years stuck with him, pulled at him still in middle-age and in ways he comes to understand, as novel unfolds, to have been good as well as bad. A book full of judgments, theyre wedded to a story sometimes achingly tough to read because of its wry, acute honesty, its wise, sad, but also strikingly hopeful attitude toward lifes demands and pleasures. When lived well, Hoo comes to understand, life is shaped by the smallest number of indispensable choices, most likely just one maybe two, with these defining who you are.

Halkin, the well-known journalist,Have a look at all our custom bobbleheads models starting with free proofing. translator, and essayist, has thus produced a fiction, his first, that is at its core a stab at understanding little less than what most matters. The questions at the books heart are essentially philosophical, but Halkin is convinced that these are best sorted out in the messiness of daily life, not abstraction; its narrator, a retired classics professor, has published but one book whose subject is the medieval Arabic tome, The Incoherence of the Philosophers.

The story begins with the narrators friendship with Ricky, a brilliant, muddled son of Communist parents whose emotional/intellectual trajectory will take him from a once-stalwart Marxism, soon tattered, to Dostoevsky, eventually to India and then tragically into the dank horrors of insanity. The times themselves are confounding, full of terrible, confusing jolts, often bizarre and discordant. Describing the late 60s, Halkin writes: There were sirens all the time in New York. The city was full of ambulances, fire engines, police cars, muggers, purse-snatchers, pushers, psychopaths, demonstrators, beggars, Hare Krishnas, three-card monte players, people talking to themselves. The parks were more dangerous than Vietnam. He follows Ricky whose maladies seem no less spiritual than psychological, the byproduct of an inability to make decisions either of solidity or coherence C with great affection and empathy for his scattered, earnest quest.

The books portrait of adolescent male friendship is sharp, but from its start Hoos consuming love is for Mellie, the Mellisande of its title. Hoo himself is, as noted in one of the novels more elusive passages,A dry cabinet is a storage container in which the interior is kept at a low level of humidity. shy, contrite, hungry, laughing, moody, blissful, capable. Mellie, as seen through his eyes, is among Gods greatest gifts. Spotting her for the first time in class, Hoo recalls his wondering, I ask: is she the bird or the branch it is sitting on? Everything, even the way she moves mesmerizes him. The other dancers had dropped out. You gave no sign of hearing anyone. It was twist music, but you werent twisting. You werent dancing to it at all. It was dancing in you. It ran through you like wind in a tree. It tossed you this way and that, wild but rooted.

By no means is their love story uncluttered or straightforward. Halkin describes well Hoos late-adolescent meanderings, his hunger for sensation, not the least of which the oddly sweet sensation of rejection, of loneliness; his description of Hoos fits and starts, often fruitless and joyless, in steely beautiful but ever-inaccessible Paris, are astute. I wanted to watch a million sunsets, love a million women, walk down a million city streets and lonely roads. A million lifetimes wouldnt be enough for that. What he learns is that Mellie has bored deep into him, her being enveloping him with a wholeness best described as love. Encountering her again in his 20s, both now in graduate school at Columbia.

Halkins evocation of young love is masterful. He builds a brief, but evocative section of the novel out of notes, small, random shavings of daily life, one or two line scribbles of Mellies that Ho has stuffed into books. Moments, episodic yet nonetheless crucial loom in his memory: Do you remember, Mellie? The cabin by the pond, the cold, cold water, our naked bodies warming by the fire? And then there are his depictions of the loudest and the quietest moments of bliss:

We made love like tigers. We made it like gulls, crying out over the waves. We made it like eels, wet and slippery after a shower. We made it like snails, slow and sticky in our own secretions. We made it like moles, burrowing through our dreams until we stumbled on each other in the darkness.

I loved watching you sleep.All I saw of you, turned to the wall with a pillow pulled over your head against the light, was your bare shoulder, from which the blanket had slipped as if the dawn had begun to undress you and stopped to stare in enchantment.

It is the books middle section that is, no doubt, the most difficult to read when the realities of life seek to overwhelm the far brighter, grander expectations nurtured in adolescence and early adulthood: Despite her vivid intelligence, Mellie leaves her literature graduate program (unsurprisingly, her great passion is the Romantics). Hoo finishes his and takes a teaching job at Champaign that he assumes will be temporary but where he remains for the rest of his academic career. The small pleasures, mostly the mounting frustrations of faculty campus life in an isolated, insular slice of the country begin to weigh. Above all,The need for proper Ventilation system inside your home is very important. there is Mellies infertility, the byproduct of a botched abortion (Rickys baby). The intrusive, pervasive presence of the small children all around them reminds Mellie of joys she is unlikely to enjoy; the humiliations, the ups, mostly the downs of fertility treatment and its eventual failure, fights small and large, these all contribute to a downward spiral.

They separate, although at the novels end it remains unclear whether this is permanent with Hoo convinced that whether permanent or not the love he feels is the same that he felt always. The novel even seems to suggest the prospect of something eternal about such love, transmitted across time, resurrected across the generations. Love is stronger than death, declares one of Halkins characters. Waiting for her now on a Greek island, retired early, living frugally, scouring a letter from Mellie with plans for a visit, he remains more certain than ever that if I had a thousand lives to live, Id want them all to be with you. The book is itself a love letter written for the purpose of telling her just this.

This isnt the first time that Halkin, who settled in Israel in his 30s, set out in book form to imagine how it might feel to have lived another life. He did this in his first book, itself arguably a fiction of sorts, his stark,Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data. precocious harangue of the late 1970s Letters to an American Jewish Friend built as an epistolary exchange between Halkin the new Israeli and a Jewish friend in the United States, likely an inner wrestling with what he might have become had he remained in the United States and then sought to justify the decision. Already then his was a voice melding the lyrical and street-smart with only contempt for sentimentality (if you care to call a culture at all [in Israel] that hodgepodge that prevails here of debased ethnic tradition, petrified religious orthodoxy, rootless secularism, and blind aping of every latest fashion to arrive from the West) but emphatic regarding the essential linkage between conviction and behavior.

torstai, 9. toukokuu 2013

MasterCard to Power Nigerian Identity Card Program

The announcement was witnessed by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy in Nigeria, who stressed the importance of the National Identity Smart Card Scheme in moving Nigeria to an electronic platform. This program is good practice for us to bring all the citizens on a common platform for interacting with the various government agencies and for transacting electronically. We will implement this initiative in a collaborative manner between the public and private sectors, to achieve its full potential of inclusive citizenship and more effective governance, she said.

Todays announcement is the first phase of an unprecedented project in terms of scale and scope for Nigeria, said Michael Miebach, President, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard. MasterCard has been a firm supporter of the Central Bank of Nigerias (CBN) Cashless Policy as we share a vision of a world beyond cash. From the programs inception,Find a great selection of personalized bobbleheads deals. we have provided the Federal Government of Nigeria with global insights and best practices on how electronic payments can enable economic growth and create a more financially inclusive economy.

Chris E Onyemenam, the Director General and Chief Executive of the National Identity Management Commission, said We have chosen MasterCard to be the payment technology provider for the initial rollout of the National Identity Smart Card project because the Company has shown a commitment to furthering financial inclusion through the reduction of cash in the Nigerian economy. He added MasterCard has pioneered large scale card schemes that combine biometric functionality with electronic payments and we want to capitalize on their experience in this field to make our program rollout a sustainable success for the country and for the continent.

Access Banks involvement in this project is testament to our ongoing efforts to expand financial inclusion in Nigeria, said Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, CEO of Access Bank. The new identity card will revolutionize the Nigerian economic landscape, breaking down one of the most significant barriers to financial inclusion C proof of identity, while simultaneously providing Nigerians with a world class payment solution.

Unified Payments is the foremost transaction processor and pioneer of EMV processing and acquiring in Nigeria, owned by leading Nigerian banks. We will use our expertise and experience to guarantee the success of the project and ensure that the data of Nigerians are protected. We look forward to working with other partners in delivering value to all stakeholders,A dry cabinet is a storage container in which the interior is kept at a low level of humidity. said Agada Apochi, Managing Director and CEO,Shop for wholesale free shipping ear cap directly from China. Unified Payments.

The new National Identity Smart Card will incorporate the unique National Identification Numbers (NIN) of duly registered persons in the country. The enrollment process involves the recording of an individuals demographic data and biometric data (capture of 10 fingerprints, facial picture and digital signature) that are used to authenticate the cardholder and eliminate fraud and embezzlement. The resultant National Identity Database will provide the platform for several other value propositions of the NIMC including identity authentication and verification.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data.

Thanks to the unique and unambiguous identification of individuals under the NIMS, other identification card schemes like the Drivers License, Voters Registration, Health Insurance, Tax, SIM and the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) will benefit and can all be integrated, using the NIN, into the multi-function Card Scheme of the NIMS. When fully utilizing the card as a prepaid payment tool, the cardholder can deposit funds on the card, receive social benefits, pay for goods and services at any of the 35 million MasterCard acceptance locations globally, withdraw cash from all ATMs that accept MasterCard, or engage in many other financial transactions that are facilitated by electronic payments. All in a secure and convenient environment enabled by the EMV Chip and Pin standard.

We have chosen MasterCard to be the payment technology provider for the initial rollout of the National Identity Smart Card project because the Company has shown a commitment to furthering financial inclusion through the reduction of cash in the Nigerian economy, Chris Onyemenam, the Director General and Chief Executive of NIMC said. MasterCard has pioneered large scale card schemes that combine biometric functionality with electronic payments and we want to capitalize on their experience in this field to make our program rollout a sustainable success for the country and for the continent.

The new identity smart card will incorporate the unique National Identification Numbers of duly registered persons in the country. Enrollment involves recording demographic and biographical data as well as the capture of 10 fingerprints,If you're in the market for better iPhone headset for your iPhone. facial image and a digital signature that are used to authenticate the cardholder.

Todays announcement is the first phase of an unprecedented project in terms of scale and scope for Nigeria, Michael Miebach, President, Middle East and Africa for MasterCard said. MasterCard has been a firm supporter of the Central Bank of Nigerias Cashless Policy as we share a vision of a world beyond cash. From the programs inception, we have provided the Federal Government of Nigeria with global insights and best practices on how electronic payments can enable economic growth and create a more financially inclusive economy.

torstai, 9. toukokuu 2013

Not Liverpools wo Big Cups, one Euro Pot

Not Liverpools,A dry cabinet is a storage container in which the interior is kept at a low level of humidity. two Big Cups, one Euro Pot

You have decided to retire and as is customary in such circumstances will no doubt be presented with an expensive watch ..Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data.. which is kind of ironic because you won't need one now that you have decided that a life spent standing on touchlines, vigorously pointing at one while shouting at referees is no longer the life for you. You spent 27 years at Manchester United and won 13 Not Liverpools, two Big Cups, one Euro Pot, five FA Pots and four three-handled Tin Pots, which is a tidy haul and no mistake. For that alone the Fiver salutes you.

But look closely at the Fiver as it holds its rigid raised right hand to the brim of its titfer and you will see hot salty tears coursing down its otherwise impassive face. Tears of sorrow at what lies ahead: endless weeks that should have been fallow and football-free, in which the Fiver will be forced to listen to endless simpering tributes to your legacy from fawning press johnnies you openly despised and occasionally bullied, not to mention idle, ill-informed speculation about your successor, who the Fiver's idly predicting right now will be David Moyes. Or somebody other than David Moyes. But not Jos Mourinho. The Fiver's never been one to shirk the Big Calls and we're not afraid to holler that one from the roof-top of Fiver Towers.

Of course Fergie's decision to retire raises no end of pertinent questions, the most sensible of which will be addressed by proper journalists in Big Paper, but the Fiver has a few as well. How many of the tributes to Lord Ferg that will appear in tomorrow's newspapers mention wine, because Lord Ferg once mentioned that he likes wine? Will hacks banned from his Friday briefings continue to be banned or be allowed back in once there's a new sheriff in town? Who will patronise Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves by patting him on the shoulder and saying "well done" for asking questions? Will anyone be brave enough to present Lord Ferg with a mounted, solid gold Revlon 9142CU Powerdry 2000 hair dryer as his retirement gift,Shop for wholesale free shipping ear cap directly from China. because it would actually be quite funny and we're curious to see what would happen next?

The Fiver would certainly chip in for one and sign the card, not least because over the past 10 (or is it longer?) years, the venerable Lord Ferg has been a rich source of material for the world's most tea-timely email and we're at a loss to know how we'll cope with him no longer in office and Phil Brown likely to be out of a job at Southend United by the end of August.

There was the time he kicked that boot into David Beckham's fizzog, the time he ensured Manchester United ended up saddled with hundreds of millions of pounds worth of Glazer debt because he fell out with some rich men over a horse, the time he told Manchester United fans to "go and support Chelsea" if they weren't pleased with all that debt-saddling, the time he refused to speak to the BBC for six years over some perceived slanderous slight that still hasn't made it to court, the time he refused to talk to Manchester United's propaganda wing Pravda TV because they had the temerity to report some things he said and the 172,643 times he criticised assorted referees, labelling them overweight, slow, blind, incompetent, biased and unfit for purpose or anything else.

It's no exaggeration to say that the Fiver will genuinely miss Lord Ferg, so much so that we're going to adopt the position of in-the-know pundit and Manchester United insider Pat Crerand, the club alickadoo who, like a Japanese soldier still fighting the second world war 40 years after its conclusion, went on Irish radio station Newstalk this morning to add his garland to those threatening to submerge the departing manager. "I think it's a load of rubbish," harrumphed Pat. "I can't believe it for one minute that the manger is thinking of leaving." The Fiver's with Pat on this one and looks forward to next season when it will continue its splendid parasitic working relationship with Lord Ferg, in which the Manchester United manager gives, gives, gives and we take, take, take.

Geraldine Wilson, Managing Director, Micro Merchants at WorldPay, commented: "89% of adults in the UK have at least one debit or credit card and one in three UK consumers carry less than 5 cash. This means that businesses which are still unable to accept card payments considerably risk losing out on custom.The need for proper Ventilation system inside your home is very important."

WorldPay PAYG allows sole traders and small businesses in mobile professions (such as mobile hairdressers, plumbers and photographers), who would traditionally need to rely on cash, cheque or bank transfer to quickly, easily and cost-effectively take card payments using their smartphone. The service is specifically designed for sole traders and small businesses with 1 to 5 employees and has no minimum commitments.

James Caan,Have a look at all our custom bobbleheads models starting with free proofing. entrepreneur and chairman of The Start-Up Loans Company, commented: "The Start-Up Loans Company was created to provide young entrepreneurs all the support and expertise they need when it comes to setting up their own businesses. We're continually looking to partner with innovative businesses that can help entrepreneurs to increase their chances of success and improve the service they offer their customers. WorldPay is a great example of a large enterprise that recognises the importance of entrepreneurs and small businesses, as well as understanding the challenges they face. We're looking forward to being able to offer this additional service and help even more young entrepreneurs succeed in building their own businesses."

The Start-Up Loans Company aims to start over 25,000 businesses by 2015 and currently has 42 million of funding allocated for 2013/14. The initiative is aimed at not only providing financial support to entrtrepreneurs but also additional advise and expertise in all aspects of starting a business.

Wilson continued: "The way in which businesses interact with customers has drastically changed and so it's important that we continue to find new ways in which to help them to grow. We're excited for the opportunity to work with some young entrepreneurs in partnership with The Start-Up Loans Company. The initiative is closely aligned to WorldPay's objective to encourage and enable entrepreneurs and small businesses to improve cash flow management and grow their companies."

torstai, 7. maaliskuu 2013

Republic Parking Gets Full $50K Incentive

The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority’s public parking system contractor has this year been awarded the full $50,000 amount of a discretionary management incentive. Republic Parking’s contract with the Ann Arbor DDA covers just actual costs, but also includes a $200,000 management fee. Of the $200,000 management fee, $50,000 is awarded to Republic on a discretionary basis. The vote came at the board’s March 6, 2013 meeting.

For the first time in the last five years, the DDA board decided to award the full $50,000 of the incentive.Save big on custom keychain! Last year, at its Feb. 1, 2012 meeting, the board determined to award $45,000 of the discretionary amount. That matched the same figure awarded in 2011, 2010 and 2009.

The direct costs for Republic Parking budgeted for FY 2013 – the current fiscal year ending June 30 – are $6,298,423 out of about $18.1 million in budgeted gross revenue for the parking system.

Part of the difference this year leading to the recommendation to award the full $50,000 was improvement in bi-monthly customer surveys over the year – as 72% of customers rated the parking system as at least 4 on a 5-point scale. That compared with 63% of parking patrons who rated the parking system at least a 4 last year.

The DDA’s independent inspector for the parking system completed 48 written reports in the course of the year that evaluated cleanliness of structures and lots. Those ratings averaged 91.71% – an increase over last year’s score of 90.48%. Also counting in Republic’s favor was the fact that the Dec. 31, 2012 accounts receivable balance for parking permit accounts was $7,898.26, which is 1.5% of the amount that is billed on an average monthly basis. The DDA’s target for that figure is 5%.

Dead tickets averaged 1.01% for the year, a decrease from last year’s 2.54%. That came in under the DDA’s target of 1.75%.

At the DDA’s operations committee meeting on March 1, 2013, Republic’s operations manager Art Low asked that other management staff be called out for praise by name – including Stephen Smith, Michael Bandy, Edward Wheeler and Judy Comstock.

A staff memo accompanying the resolution awarding the $50,000 incentive cited other factors, besides improvement in the metrics used to evaluate the amount of the management incentive. The memo highlighted Republic’s performance in connection with the opening of the new 711-space Library Lane underground parking garage and the installation of automated payment equipment.

The Ann Arbor DDA manages the city’s public parking system under contract with the city of Ann Arbor. The contract calls for 17.5% of gross parking revenues to be paid to the city of Ann Arbor.

Instead of promoting happy hours and nightclubs, WTOP's commercials are replete with buzzwords about cloud computing and fulfilling mission statements — pitches by IT consultants and contractors trying to land business with federal agencies.

And the storm that hit the Mid-Atlantic region on Tuesday? It's been dubbed "snowquester," a play on the D.C. wonk jargon that is used to describe the $85 billion that must be cut from federal budgets over the next six months after President Barack Obama and lawmakers failed to reach a deal that would reduce the national deficit.

Communities on the Capital Beltway have disproportionately benefited from the federal government's growth for decades — and there is no doubt they will now take a disproportionate hit from the budget cuts.

The federal government is the region's largest single employer and an economic engine. Thousands of federal government workers for agencies as varied as the CIA and the Patent and Trademark Office make their home in the area — about 15 percent of the total federal workforce, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Office of Personnel Management.

So do those who labor for the scores of private contractors in the region that live and die off federal dollars.

The exact effect of the automatic budget cuts is,We are always offering best quality tungsten ring the affordable price. of course, difficult to predict with any precision. Federal agencies are still trying to figure out exactly how they will tighten their belts — and nobody knows if the cuts will remain in place for an extended period of time.

The Republican-controlled House approved legislation Wednesday to prevent a government shutdown on March 27 and blunt the impact of newly imposed spending cuts on the Defense Department. The measure heads to the Senate, where Democrats hope to give a variety of other federal agencies flexibility in implementing their share of the $85 billion in spending cuts required to take effect by the end of the budget year.

Still,wind turbine hundreds of thousands of federal workers in the region are bracing themselves for unpaid furloughs.

Eugene Russell,Where can i get a reasonable price dry cabinet? a fire inspector and firefighter at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, is considered a Defense Department civilian. He said he is still waiting to find out whether firefighters will be furloughed — which he estimates would cost him $1,200 a month — or will in some way be made exempt from furloughs because of the public-safety requirements that demand a minimum level of staffing.

Russell said he knows some colleagues who are already cutting back, canceling cable TV and the like. In his own case, Russell said he may be forced to stagger payments for some family medical bills to hold the family budget together.

"Federal employees realize that the government's financial situation is in the sewer and there needs to be a fix," he said. "But they don't believe we should bear the load any more than any other citizen."

Half of the budget cuts are directed at the military, which has a commanding presence in the region.We've had a lot of people asking where we had make your own bobblehead. In addition to the Washington Navy Yard, the Pentagon is headquartered in Arlington, Va.; Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County; Fort Myer in Arlington County; and Quantico Marine Corps Base in Prince William County, among others.

And yet, the greatest pain from the cuts is likely to be felt not by the civilian military workforce, but employees for the numerous private systems-management and IT-consultant contractors that have popped up around the Pentagon during a decade of military buildup and security spending following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Even before the cuts went into effect, uncertainty about future funding prompted the government to scale back from $50 million to $5 million a contract it had awarded to Springfield, Va.-based Strategy and Management Services Inc., said company founder and CEO Staci Redmon.