Friday, April 23, 2010

“International summit on Indigenous environment ... - Native American Times” plus 3 more

“International summit on Indigenous environment ... - Native American Times” plus 3 more

International summit on Indigenous environment ... - Native American Times

Posted: 23 Apr 2010 02:07 PM PDT

DALLAS (April 17, 2010) – From April 26 – May 1, 2010, leaders from indigenous communities from around the globe will gather in Okalahoma and then Dallas for sharing, discussion and solutions to the global climate changes occurring. Indigenous communities are perhaps the most impacted by climate change and the least responsible for causing it. Indigenous elders and environmental specialists have also been the first to warn of changes and offer viable suggestions for response strategies, yet their critical messages have usually gone unheeded by dominant societies. The Summit is a collaboration with the Memnosyne Foundation, The University of North Texas, the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Environmental Program, the Anadarko Schools Indian Education Program, The SMU Environmental Studies Department, The SMU Philosophy Department. A special thanks also goes to The Mexican Consulate's help in bringing the Maya and Toltec to Dallas to participate as part of their 2010 Bicentennial celebrations!


The International Summit on Indigenous Environmental Philosophy will provide a forum for Indigenous thinkers from around the world to gather in a retreat setting to discuss two important questions:

1.) What distinguishes Indigenous Environmental Philosophy from Western Environmental Philosophy?

2.) How should the Indigenous Environmental Philosophy be incorporated in the international dialogue on climate change?

Following a three-day retreat in western Oklahoma, the Summit delegates and elders will spend two days in the Dallas area. There, they will visit local schools and participate in the fourth annual International Indigenous Student Videoconference on Culture and Environment at the University of North Texas Gateway Center.

The week culminates on Saturday, May 1, in an open forum with the community at the Southern Methodist University Hughes-Trigg Student Center. The SMU program is free and open to the public from 2:00 until 4:30 p.m. and includes a summary of the week's discussions, cultural exhibitions and a question/answer segment.


From April 26 – May 1, 2010, leaders from indigenous communities from around the globe will gather in Okalahoma and then Dallas for sharing, discussion and solutions to the global climate changes occurring.

The Summit is a collaboration with the Memnosyne Foundation, The University of North Texas, the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Environmental Program, the Anadarko Schools Indian Education Program, The SMU Environmental Studies Department, The SMU Philosophy Department. A special thanks also goes to The Mexican Consulate's help in bringing the Maya and Toltec to Dallas to participate as part of their 2010 Bicentennial celebrations!

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Possum Philosophy: Just a run of bad luck - Southwest Virginia Today

Posted: 23 Apr 2010 01:46 PM PDT

By ROBERT "ROCKY" CAHILL/Columnist

I'm sure many area readers of this column remember the TV show "Hee-Haw." It featured Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Grandpa Jones, String Bean, Minnie Pearl and numerous other country singers, comedians, and various musical and comedy guests over the years. It was pretty much a staple in most homes throughout this region. One of its old standbys was a song that went "Gloom, despair and agony on me. Deep, dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair and agony on me."
I don't know who actually wrote the song, but there are times when I would bet good money the writer knew me. There are days, sometimes streaks of them, where I am about like the guy in the old comic strip "Li'l Abner."
This guy was named Joe $%^&#$ or something along those lines and he went around with a dark cloud over his head and lightning flying out of it. He was the epitome of bad luck and misfortune. For the last week or so, that has been me. I often have spells of bad luck. Just your ordinary run-of-the-mill stuff, the kind everyone has. But sometimes mine seems to step up to another level. You might say it's like getting called up to the Major Leagues, the major league of misery that is.
I guess you could say I hit the big-time when Terry fell and demolished her elbow. It has been over six months now and though much better than it was, it is not completely healed and it likely never will be as it was before the accident. She doesn't believe me, but the fall was indirectly my fault. We were just starting to drive over to a festival in Erwin, Tenn., and I had developed a headache from allergies. I asked Terry if she would drive over and told her the allergy stuff should start working soon. When she started around the car to the driver's side, Brandy, our rescue dog, tripped her and that's when she broke her elbow.
Then there is my sister Lynn and her poor health. She scared all her brothers half to death. And though she is slowly improving, she is still a long way from being in good health.
It's been just regular ho-hum bad luck for me, just same-stuff-different-day kind of luck. Then about 3 a.m. last Thursday morning (April 15) all that changed again. Bad Luck stepped up its game again. Maybe it was just rubbing off from Tax Day since Terry and I filed early and weren't worried. But whatever, the black cloud struck, fast and hard.
Ask any of my family or friends and they will tell you I am a light sleeper (OK just wanted to let them all get the laughs and yuks out of the way). In truth, I am a sound sleeper, sleep like a log. But, a ruckus woke me up. The noise I heard was my stepdaughter Melissa yelling for her mom to come help. Terry's mother had gotten out of bed to go to the powder room, fallen and was not able to get up.
She is 84 and has numerous health concerns. She has developed very thin skin and as she takes blood-thinners for another problem, the least scratch or tear (and she had a couple of pretty good ones this time) bleeds so it looks like a slaughter-house fight. But, this time she really did have a problem.
She had broken her right arm, above the elbow. We had to get the Washington County Rescue to help with her. (A small side-note here: My Dad helped start the Saltville Rescue Squad and was one of its earlier members so I know how hard it is and what a wonderful service these folks perform. Just wanted to say that the two young men who answered this call were two of the most polite, best trained and professional EMTs I have ever encountered.)
Once at the ER, the doctor agreed with Terry and after X-rays and such said there was little she could do other than immobilize the injury and let nature heal it. She referred her to an orthopedic surgeon, but said she doubted if the surgeon once she saw the X-rays would do much more than that. We will know later this week.
Then Saturday, after my mother-in-law's accident, I decided to go get a haircut. Now haircuts are not my favorite thing. Guess you could chalk it up to my being a child of the '60s. I fought many a battle with my Dad, who hated long hair on his sons, and Robert G. McCoy, the principal of R. B. Worthy High School, who hated it on his students, over the length of my hair and when it needed cutting. I only had two things going for me.
One was that both Dad and Mr. McCoy were good guys who liked me or so I suspect in spite of my efforts to defy their rules (But never doubt for a second that either of them were pushovers. They were pretty determined in their own right too.). The second was that the barber who gave me the majority of haircuts in those days, the infamous Pete Frye, liked me and also liked aggravating my Dad, who was a cousin of Pete's in some way. So he generally sided with my brothers and me.
I don't really know why, but I am pretty particular about my haircuts. I figure it's my hair and I pay someone to cut it so I deserve to have it cut the way I want. I went without Terry and just on the spur of the moment I picked a barbershop. It was pretty cool with a real retro-look to it, old chairs for customers, old-style pop cooler, not a copy of Cosmo or Vogue in the place, just Field & Stream, Guns and Ammo, Car and Driver and other "guy" magazines.
The barber had given the place a regular late '50s-early-'60s look. I felt right at home. Made me wish Pete and Dad were there, the one to entertain, the other to argue with. The guy was a nice, personable fellow. After a short wait, it was my turn in the chair. We talked a minute or two. He asked and I explained how I wanted my hair cut or at least thought I had.
One problem I have is that I am near-sighted. When sitting in a barber or stylist chair, they remove one's glasses. This puts me at a disadvantage since if the seat is very far from the mirror I can't really see clearly whether I like the way my hair is being cut. This one was a little farther than most.
I guess it was just a problem of miscommunication. I was lulled into a sense of complacency by the retro shop and the easy conversation with the barber. Before I realized it, he had cut far too much hair. And it was such that the only thing he could do was keep cutting. The shop not only looks like something out of the early '60s, but so do I. My hair now looks much like it did when I was about 12 or so, in the pre-Beatles days. It has been many, many years since it was cut this short. Needless to say, I am not a happy fellow. Yes, I know it will grow back. That's not the issue. It will be a good six months or more before it is even similar to the way I prefer it. The old black cloud of bad luck strikes again.
Like the country song, if it weren't for bad luck, I would absolutely have no luck at all. Hope its saving all the good luck up for me to hit the Powerball lottery this weekend. But I am not counting on it.

A freelance journalist, Robert "Rocky" Cahill writes regularly for the News & Messenger. His Possum Philosophy column appears in each Saturday edition.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Josh McDaniels Embraces Pick Stockpiling Philosophy ... - Sporting News

Posted: 23 Apr 2010 12:41 PM PDT

The Broncos are getting the most attention today primarily for their decision to take Tim Tebow with the 25th pick, but the team has made just as many waves with a series of trades executed before and during the first round.

In the last 10 days, the Broncos have been involved with six trades involving draft picks, four of which happened during the first round last night. All told, it's gotten them three additional picks in this year's draft (including an extra first-round selection last night), plus a bonus second-round pick for next year. In that process, the team has also dealt often troublesome receiver Brandon Marshall to Miami and tight end Tony Scheffler to the Lions.

Observers will note that head coach Josh McDaniels' strategy mirrors that of his mentor, Bill Belichick, who has often taken the Jimmy Johnson/Bill Parcells approach to drafting, which dictates that it's always better to stockpile draft picks unless a player available fits a clear need. Meanwhile, by moving down twice late in the first round last night, Belichick acquired an extra third and fourth round selection.

The question, of course, is whether stockpiling always translates to success. While getting a bunch of lower-round picks increases the chances that the team could stumble upon an undiscovered talent without risking a first-round pick's high salary, it doesn't always mean that the approach always works as intended. In recent years, the Patriots, who have been the principle advocates of this approach, have had a harder time plucking great players from obscurity. When Jimmy Johnson tried it in his coaching stint with the Dolphins, he was never ever to replicate the bounty that came his way from the Herschel Walker trade in Dallas.

The pressure placed on McDaniels to get high value with his remaining selections in this draft is immense. A star receiver, however frustrating off the field, is a proven commodity. And he's been replaced with a rookie who may not work out. A good receiving tight end is gone, and the future of the quarterback position is presumably being entrusted to someone whose ability to play the position on an NFL level has been frequently questioned. Right now, the best receiver in Denver is Eddie Royal, who had a decent but unspectacular rookie campaign. The coordinator who led the defense which served as the backbone of the team last year is gone. With all of that serving as context, McDaniels must have a lot of faith in the ability of Tim Tebow to take that much of a risk.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Monolithic Design: How Timeless Philosophy Sparks ... - Dexigner

Posted: 23 Apr 2010 03:59 AM PDT

Home entertainment products should be a welcome presence in our living room for years.

That's why they must embody something essential and not look outdated as new trends emerge.

Enduring qualities help these products blend in well and constantly satisfy us.

But designers must also capture something new, something that makes us want to update our living room-even our entertainment habits themselves.

One way Sony resolves this paradox is through Monolithic Design.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Posted by at

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)