The McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion is no stranger to Olympic medalists, and the nation’s best have descended on campus to compete this weekend.Before taking to the pool in the 2012 NCAA Championships, some members of the Ohio State swimming and diving teams will participate alongside headliners Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin in the Columbus Grand Prix Friday through Sunday.”Many swimmers from around the world will be here,” said OSU men’s swimming coach Bill Wadley. “There’s a lot on the line.”OSU is the fourth stop on the USA Swimming Grand Prix Series, a seven-city tour that allows swimmers the opportunity to compete against the best in the sport and prepare for the U.S. Olympic Trials, which are scheduled to take place June 25-July 2 in Omaha, Neb., and U.S. Olympic Games in London.
First place performances are awarded five points. Three points go to second place and one point for third.The athlete with the most points at the end of the series is given $20,000.Frontrunner and 14-time Olympic gold medalist Phelps leads the pack with 41 points. Defending Grand Prix Series winner Missy Franklin trails by six going into the meet.Additional visiting American Olympians include Jason Lezak, Matt Grevers, Christine Magnuson, Allison Schmitt and more.But to other contenders, the competition site will feel like home.Former OSU swimmer, Elliott Keefer, who broke school records in his senior season as a Buckeye last year, will compete in the breaststroke representing the U.S. National team.
Keefer’s former teammate, junior Tim Phillips, is on the roster of the OSU men’s swimming team but chose to redshirt this season.”He has decided to sit this year out because he is so close to making the Olympic team,” Wadley said. “It’s difficult to balance 20 to 30 hours of studying and 20 to 30 hours of swimming. One of them is going to suffer.”Phillips will participate in the Columbus Grand Prix in the same bout as Phelps.”Tim is in the butterfly event and they only take the top two to the Olympics,” Wadley said. “In order to be in the top two, you either have to be No. 2 behind Michael or beat him.”
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marzec 9, 2012
A new Eurasian Studies concentration for the International and Area Studies (IAS) major will allow students to study the culture and society of Eurasia.Students in the concentration will take a core course, Ancient Eurasia and the New Silk Roads, to lay the foundation for future studies. Administrators hope that the new concentration will fill a void in the major.”We started to talk about this and think it would be a good concentration for students, especially because that area is sort of neglected by other major studies like the Far East or Europe,” Nicole Svobodny, the curator for the new program and assistant dean in the College of Arts & Sciences, said. “So it would give students a chance to look at this neglected area.”
Unlike comparable programs at other universities, the Eurasian studies concentration was not developed out of another program, such as Russian studies.”Ours is also different in, we’re a little bit more concentrated on re-conceptualizing regional studies, so its not just an inheritor of what was the Soviet Union, but seeing connections between cultures that weren’t always seen as being connected,” Svobodny said.As of yet, no students have declared the concentration, but Svobodny is not discouraged.”It’s still a new initiative, we’re hoping probably next year we will start to get more of a mass of students,” she said.
Ashley Britts, a sophomore, is an IAS major with a concentration in Latin American studies. Though she is happy with her concentration, she thought that the new concentration would help the department meet student needs.”It’s good they added another concentration. The general IAS major is fantastic, but I think if you can focus on one specific area and get to know a lot about one place it gives you a lot of credibility,” she said.The Eurasian studies concentration is one of six tracks in the major. Other concentration options include development studies, European studies, global cultural studies, Latin American studies, and sustainable development. All concentrations are interdisciplinary and may include courses in departments from history to economics.
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Tagged: New Silk Roads marzec 7, 2012
So it is curious that he embodies a contradiction at the heart of their premise: the notion that free thinkers are to be venerated unless and until they challenge the legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party.Mr. Zhou is the inventor of Pinyin, the Romanized spelling system that linked China’s ancient written language to the modern age and helped China all but stamp out illiteracy. He was one of the leaders of the Chinese translation of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in the 1980s. He has written about 40 books, the most recent published last year.Leaders here might hail him as a role model for young Chinese, but for one flaw: Mr. Zhou does not support one-party rule or think it can last.
So within China, he remains largely uncelebrated. As the state-run China Daily newspaper remarked in 2009, he should be a household name but is virtually unknown.A telling example of the party’s discomfort with him: when the government summoned 500-plus scholars in 2009 to celebrate the Encyclopedia of China’s second edition, Mr. Zhou was disinvited at the last minute. Friends say they believe it was because the Communist Party propaganda chief, Li Changchun, did not wish to shake his hand.Mr. Zhou does not dwell on such snubs. Nor do they intimidate him. He is a relative latecomer to controversy, turning his attention to politics only after retiring from his full-time job at age 85.
But he is making up for lost time. Chatting recently in his study, filled with overflowing bookshelves, Mr. Zhou declared democracy “the natural form of a modern society.” He rejected the argument that China is not suited to it. “You can have democracy no matter what level of development,” he said. “Just look at the Arab Spring.”Many Chinese intellectuals share such beliefs. But the most outspoken are often the aged — Communist Party elders or retired cadres who either rely on the Chinese reverence for the elderly or who no longer worry about the consequences.China’s state news media ignore Mr. Zhou’s political views but not his role as the architect of Pinyin. Three years ago, he figured prominently in an hourlong documentary on Pinyin on the state-run CCTV network.
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Tagged: Chinese Voice of Dissent marzec 6, 2012
Baby Riddle has chosen to carry the Kicky Pants line due to the reactions of their customers which have been overwhelmingly positive.Kicky Pants clothing which is made of bamboo is luxuriously soft and easy to wear. The patterns are both whimsical and modern. They also carry a basics line that include the classic colors like Pond (Baby Blue) or Lotus (Baby Pink). Modern colors are available also known as Twilight (Navy), Moss (Moss Green), Bark (Brown), and Orchid (Pink-Red).Baby Riddle carries extremely adorable newborn clothes for pregnant women whether the baby gender is a boy, girl or a surprise. They offer a great service to women who are keeping the baby gender a surprise. Pregnant women can receive boy or girl newborn clothes right at their due date even though they are keeping the gender a surprise.
Amanda Hamilton who has purchased the Kicky Pants clothing for her son from Baby Riddle states, “I love the Baby Riddle clothes. I love the Kicky Pants brand they fit my baby so well from when he was little until now, as he is six months old. I love the feel of the clothes and they wash so nice. He is so comfortable in the clothes.”One of the favorite pieces is a the Kicky Pants Coverall. The coverall has a sweet little back-flap that is not only cute but it makes diaper changes and checks much easier. Some other favorites are the Kicky Pants footies, bodysuits, pants, knot hats, layette gowns, and newborn gift sets.
Baby Riddle carries extremely adorable newborn clothes for pregnant women whether the baby gender is a boy, girl or a surprise. They offer a great service to women who are keeping the baby gender a surprise. Pregnant women can receive boy or girl newborn clothes right at their due date even though they are keeping the gender a surprise.One of the favorite pieces is a the Kicky Pants Coverall. The coverall has a sweet little back-flap that is not only cute but it makes diaper changes and checks much easier. Some other favorites are the Kicky Pants footies, bodysuits, pants, knot hats, layette gowns, and newborn gift sets.
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Tagged: Bamboo Newborn Clothes marzec 2, 2012
Google once considered its own digital money system called Google Bucks, but scrapped it because of regulatory concerns.Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is delivering a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona. A questioner asked him if he’d like to take a look at an alternate currency system he’d devised.Schimdt answered by noting that most alternate currency systems are illegal, but other than that they’re a great idea.Regulators are most often concerned that alternate currency systems can be used for money laundering and trading in illegal goods. For instance, last summer New York Senator Charles Schumer called on authorities to shut down Silk Road, an online trading marketplace that accepted the alternative digital currency Bitcoin.
In his talk, Schmidt also said that he expects $70 smartphones to emerge next year, that people will want to move to Kansas City to take advantage of the super-fast fiber network Google is building there, and that self-driving cars are “a lot closer than you think.”Gunmen wearing military uniforms stopped a convoy of buses in northern Pakistan on Tuesday, ordered selected passengers to get off and then killed 16 of them in a grisly sectarian attack, police and a lawmaker said.The victims were Shiite Muslims, a minority in Pakistan that is frequently targeted by extremists from the majority Sunni community, said lawmaker Abdul Sattar. The gunmen spared several dozen other people in the four-bus convoy. A spokesman for a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, a Sunni militant group, claimed responsibility for the killings.
The incident in the remote Kohistan region was the latest in a spasm of violence in the country in recent weeks that has demonstrated the resilience of militant networks, including groups allied to al-Qaida. The U.S. has tried to support Pakistani security forces in the fight against the extremists, but strained relations between the two nations hamper cooperation.The bloody attack took place in the mountainous village of Harban Nala, which is some 210 miles (340 kilometers) north of the capital Islamabad. The area, part of the famed Silk Road linking northern Pakistan to China, is populated by Sunni tribes.
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marzec 1, 2012
Ann Massey’s house is part convenience store, part thrift shop.But Massy doesn’t charge a dime.Why?Because some people in her neighborhood off U.S. Highway 20 have lost their jobs. Because God put it on her heart. Because she and her husband live off a disability check and she knows what it’s like to go hungry.In June of 2010, she opened Ann’s Hope Chest and began giving things away for free.”She’s an angel from above,” said Louise Krueger, who met Massey about a year ago and now helps her with the ministry. “It amazes me what she gets accomplished on a few dollars.”
Now Massey’s house — or more accurately, the storage shed in her yard — is bursting at the seams. She’s hosting an auction Saturday to raise funds for a warehouse.”By working out of my home, we’re limited by the weather,” Massey said recently outside her shed. “When it rains, we’re not able to have tables out here in the driveway and work.”Massey is hoping the community will donate more goods, services and gift certificates for the auction.”Whatever God puts in your heart to give would be great,” she said.Massey spends hours every week collecting, sorting and washing donated clothes. She’s often joined by volunteers from the neighborhood or the larger community.
Then, once a month, she hosts a “distribution day” so people can pick out clothes she places on racks or divides into sizes on tables in her yard. More than 100 people usually show up.She also collects food. She’s not an official food bank, but she keeps a freezer full of bread and a cabinet full of canned and dried goods to give out in emergencies.Dennis Young — pastor of Bible Believer’s Fellowship Church which oversees the ministry — is impressed with how much Massey has done in less than two years. In addition to giving away clothes and food, Massey has provided furnishings to 60 families who lost their belongings in house fires. She’s fed more than 200 homeless people at the Haven of Rest every three months. She has driven neighbors to food banks and visited shut-ins who need assistance.
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luty 28, 2012
UNWTO announced its activities at ITB Berlin 2012 that includea high-level session on tourism trends in the Mediterranean, the Silk Road Ministers’ meeting, a session on consumer protection and a meeting of the World Tourism Network on Child Protection.Ministers of the Silk Road will meet to discuss how they can work together to capitalize on the revival of the Silk Road. This year’s meeting will include a special session on the importance of route development in strengthening the Silk Road product offer and attracting investment. The Ministers’ Meeting will be followed by the VIP Walk ‘Flavours of the Silk Road’ where UNWTO Secretary-General and ITB management will visit 10 countries showcasing the Silk Road’s most celebrated cuisine.
Tour Operators will convene at the Tour Operators’ Forum on the Silk Road – Creating a stronger business environment for growth (8 March, 11.00 – 13.00, Palais West), to discuss how to overcome the challenges and create opportunities for doing business on the Silk Road.Destinations around the Mediterranean, the world’s most visited region, face a number of challenges; economic, political and environmental. This session, moderated by UNWTO media partner CNN, with Ministers of Tourism from the region and private sector representatives, will address questions such as: What trends are affecting the region? What challenges and opportunities face these destinations in the long-term and how can they adapt to changing market conditions? In view of the UNWTO forecast Tourism Towards 2030, what is the outlook for the region over the next two decades?
A joint initiative of UNWTO and the European Travel Commission (ETC), the Global NTO Think Tank will provide an opportunity for NTOs from around the world to collaborate on common issues and strategic priorities.UNWTO will also launch the World Tourism Day 2012 official celebrations with the presence of the Secretary of State for Tourism, Isabel Borego Cortés, under the theme: Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development. World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) President & CEO, David Scowsill, will also be present to highlight the joint efforts of WTTC and UNWTO in advancing a common agenda on visa facilitation as a driver of economic growth and job creation.
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luty 27, 2012
Baila Steinman first noticed the numbness in her leg on a trip to Israel in December. “From the knee to the pelvis, it was numb to the point of being painful,” recalls the 52-year-old occupational therapist.Back home in Brooklyn, a neurologist had her balance on her toes, walk backward on her heels and push back when he put pressure on her legs. Then he asked, “Do you wear tight clothes? Control-top pantyhose? Tight belts?” When she nodded yes, the doctor, Irving Friedman, exclaimed “That’s it!”
The culprit: the cinch belts Mrs. Steinman loves to wear. Dr. Friedman said they can compress a major nerve, the lateral, femoral cutaneous nerve, that runs from the abdomen to the outer thigh. He said he frequently sees the condition—called meralgia paresthetica—in policemen who carry guns on their hips and ballet dancers who wear tight tutus. “Anything that puts pressure on that nerve can cause it,” he said. “It’s very, very common.”Mrs. Steinman still wears the belts she loves, just not buckled quite so tight. “I told my friends about this and they cracked up,” she says. “I said, ‘I’m just letting you girls know, this can happen to you.’ “
Apparel and accessories that are too tight, too loose, too heavy, too high or too floppy can all create health issues. Wearers sometimes have no idea that the culprit is their clothes. Of course, modern sartorial trends aren’t nearly as punishing as Chinese foot binding or Victorian-era corsets, which could crush women’s ribs and displace internal organs.Squeezing into matchstick jeans with cheese-stick legs cannot only cause nerve compression, it can interfere with digestion, as the Archives of Internal Medicine noted in 1993. Internist Octavio Bessa of Stamford, Conn., wrote that he was seeing 20 to 25 patients a year, usually middle-aged or older men, suffering from abdominal discomfort, distention, heartburn and belching a few hours after eating. “The diagnosis can be made easily in the office by comparing the size of the trousers with the abdominal girth.
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Tagged: Clothes luty 22, 2012
On the corner of Holt Boulevard and Monte Vista Avenue in Montclair sits 15,000 square feet of space dedicated to Kings Street Wear.Amidst the caps, wool hats, T-shirts, hoodies and skateboards you can find owner Brian Oh, ringing up customers or folding clothes.On a recent Saturday afternoon, Oh took some time out from a store full of customers to discuss his business, the philosophy surrounding his store and clients.Oh looks more like one of the customers who would patronize the store, at 4889 Holt Blvd., than the owner. His hair is long, black and curly and his head is topped by one of the baseball-style caps similar to those on display.
“I’d always been in retail, so I wanted to have my own store for awhile,” Oh said.His decision to set up in Montclair was a practical one and for the year-and-a-half he’s been open, has served him well.”Montclair is a pretty small city, but it’s easy access from the bigger cities (surrounding it) such as Pomona, Claremont, Upland.”And so far, the business has taken off, he said.Several people were in line Saturday and about 25 more were milling around, inspecting the merchandise.Oh estimates that the majority of his customer base is male and most of his customers (90 percent) come from referrals. He does not advertise in local newspapers, but the store has a Twitter and Facebook page, he said.
“We sell a lot of hats, because we give them a lot of variety,” he said. “We sell quite a few skate boards as well. They have the freedom to choose the board and customize it.”Oh said about 30 percent of business comes from shoe sales. As with the hats, there are several brands to choose from.Many of the young men on his staff are skaters, so they know what that demographic is looking for when it comes to apparel and accessories.Store manager Matt Virata said he enjoys his job because of the variety the business offers.Kings even offers some collector items, such as a Maglite flashlight with the brand name “Undefeated” on it.
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luty 20, 2012
Two University of Rhode Island alumni are taking their work from stage to stage and across the world through the expansion of a music, concert booking and clothing company they began their senior year.Abdul Adio, who goes by the nickname “Spocka Summa,” (”When I was younger, I used to watch a lot of ‘Star Trek,’”), and Laura “Lex Effects” Wrath, graduated the university in 2011 and 2010, respectively, and began to expand on a concert promotion and booking business they began during their undergraduate years at URI.
The duo brought Big Sean, a rap artist who signed with Kanye West’s label G.O.O.D. Music in 2007 and Def Jam Records in 2008, to downtown Providence in April 2010. The event marked the first time Big Sean had performed in Providence and the show, which offered discounts for college students, was a sell-out. From there, Adio and Wrath brought a variety of artists to the stage, including Curren$y, formerly of Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment, and Neako, who often collaborates with Wiz Khalifa.For these artists, Adio and Wrath’s company, Winner’s Circle Lifestyle, does a variety of promotions, including interviews, postings on their website, email blasts and other marketing techniques, Adio said. While at URI, Wrath, who does graphic art, also worked to create event posters and party flyers around campus.
However, Winner’s Circle Lifestyle has become more than just a promotional and booking company for artists. The URI alumni expanded their company into something that included their other pursuits, including their own music and clothing brand.”It became an umbrella, [and] it evolved into everything from concerts to booking to clothing because it was all stuff we were already working on,” Adio said.The duo performs what Adio describes as hip-hop and experimental music, which they were able to perform alongside the artists they were promoting.Their clothing brand, which is available on their website downforthewin.com and winnerscircle.bigcartel.com, is “upscale urban clothing,” consisting of sweaters, shirts, hats and accessories that is released on a monthly basis in limited quantities.
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Tagged: online clothing brand luty 17, 2012
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