Harry Potter author JK Rowling has been made a knight of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civilian award. The best selling writer, whose great-grandfather was French, was given the honorary title by President Nicolas Sarkozy at a ceremony in Paris. Speaking in fluent French, Rowling apologised to the crowd for giving Potter's evil nemesis a French name. Voldemort means either thief or flight of death in the language, but Rowling says the bad guy is "100% English".
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has been made a knight of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civilian award.
The best selling writer, whose great-grandfather was French, was given the honorary title by President Nicolas Sarkozy at a ceremony in Paris.
Speaking in fluent French, Rowling apologised to the crowd for giving Potter's evil nemesis a French name.
Voldemort means either thief or flight of death in the language, but Rowling says the bad guy is "100% English".
Barbie turns 50 this year. But in addition to the birthday bash, toymaker Mattel also found time to honor German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- by turning her into a Barbie doll. It may be her 50th birthday this year, but Barbie certainly doesn't look her age. Perhaps it is appropriate then that the Angela Merkel Barbie Doll, debuted at the 60th annual International Toy Fair in Nuremberg on Thursday, hardly looks anything like the German chancellor. Mattel, it would seem, wanted to honor Germany's first female chancellor as a role model for girls. The problem, though, is that some people might have trouble recognizing her.
Barbie turns 50 this year. But in addition to the birthday bash, toymaker Mattel also found time to honor German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- by turning her into a Barbie doll.
It may be her 50th birthday this year, but Barbie certainly doesn't look her age. Perhaps it is appropriate then that the Angela Merkel Barbie Doll, debuted at the 60th annual International Toy Fair in Nuremberg on Thursday, hardly looks anything like the German chancellor. Mattel, it would seem, wanted to honor Germany's first female chancellor as a role model for girls. The problem, though, is that some people might have trouble recognizing her.
My wife and I are not planning to move our piano. We are therefore looking for someone we trust who would like to borrow a piano (straight piano, so suitable for a flat) for a few years.
Please let me know if you'd like it. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair met new US President Barack Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. President Obama was announcing faith-based initiatives to work with communities. Current PM Gordon Brown has not yet made Mr Obama's acquaintance.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair met new US President Barack Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.
President Obama was announcing faith-based initiatives to work with communities.
Current PM Gordon Brown has not yet made Mr Obama's acquaintance.
Uh...
Heckuva job, Beebie. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Apparently that is a huge difference.
Disgusting.
President's Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships | WSJ | 5 Feb 2009
The president found one of the problems with the previous initiative was that tough questions were decided without appropriate consideration and data," Mr. [Joshua] DuBois said in an interview Wednesday. President Obama, he said, "doesn't have an interest in rushing questions that are so complex." "Instead, the president will sign an executive order making clear that the director of the new office should seek guidance from the Department of Justice on specific legal issues regarding "how to respect the Constitution" and nondiscrimination laws, Mr. DuBois said. The same case-by-case approach will govern another tricky question: whether federal funds can pay for secular portions of programs that also include proselytization, he said. ... But the new [sic] approach will please people like David Kuo, who was deputy director of the Bush faith-based office, and who says that too much energy was spent on questions that have little impact in the real world. ... In unveiling the office Thursday at a morning prayer breakfast, Mr. Obama will set out a structure that is similar to the Bush program: a White House office supplemented by offices in 11 federal agencies [exactly the Bush organization]. He will add a new 25-member advisory council made up of a diverse group of religious and some secular leaders. ... The goals, Mr. DuBois said, will include ensuring access to health care and support for adoption. The office also will also be asked to encourage interfaith dialogue "at home and, more pressingly, abroad," he said."
"Instead, the president will sign an executive order making clear that the director of the new office should seek guidance from the Department of Justice on specific legal issues regarding "how to respect the Constitution" and nondiscrimination laws, Mr. DuBois said.
The same case-by-case approach will govern another tricky question: whether federal funds can pay for secular portions of programs that also include proselytization, he said. ...
But the new [sic] approach will please people like David Kuo, who was deputy director of the Bush faith-based office, and who says that too much energy was spent on questions that have little impact in the real world. ...
In unveiling the office Thursday at a morning prayer breakfast, Mr. Obama will set out a structure that is similar to the Bush program: a White House office supplemented by offices in 11 federal agencies [exactly the Bush organization]. He will add a new 25-member advisory council made up of a diverse group of religious and some secular leaders. ...
The goals, Mr. DuBois said, will include ensuring access to health care and support for adoption. The office also will also be asked to encourage interfaith dialogue "at home and, more pressingly, abroad," he said."
See the peenackers' bible, The Quiet Revolution, The President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative: A Seven-Year Progress Report (Washington DC: White House) 2008, 122pp, in particular Chapter 4: "Measurement Matters: Objectives, Outcomes, and Accountability" Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
After decades of dragging our feet, this plan will finally spark the creation of a clean energy industry that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next few years, manufacturing wind turbines and solar cells, for example -- millions more after that. These jobs and these investments will double our capacity to generate renewable energy over the next few years. We'll fund a better, smarter electricity grid and train workers to build it -- a grid that will help us ship wind and solar power from one end of this country to another. Think about it. The grid that powers the tools of modern life -- computers, appliances, even BlackBerrys -- (laughter) -- looks largely the same as it did half a century ago. Just these first steps towards modernizing the way we distribute electricity could reduce consumption by 2 to 4 percent.
We'll fund a better, smarter electricity grid and train workers to build it -- a grid that will help us ship wind and solar power from one end of this country to another. Think about it. The grid that powers the tools of modern life -- computers, appliances, even BlackBerrys -- (laughter) -- looks largely the same as it did half a century ago. Just these first steps towards modernizing the way we distribute electricity could reduce consumption by 2 to 4 percent.
Sending large files as attachments that exceed the recipient's email box limits has always been a problem for which FTP or .mac were the only solution - neither of which were user friendly.
But if both ends are online on iChat, you can simply drag the file onto the iChat user, the user accepts, and bingo - off it goes. You can't be me, I'm taken
