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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Is this Texan a fit for Syrian opposition?

A former information technology executive who spent decades living in the US has taken the helm of the Syrian opposition. Although Syrians may be skeptical of Ghassan Hitto because of his long absence from the country, his potential to bring in international aid appears to be what is winning him support for now.

Mr. Hitto is originally from Damascus and has lived in the US since the early 1980s, most recently in Texas. Delegates representing the Syrian opposition coalition elected him as the group?s new interim prime minister yesterday morning in Turkey.

Now he must unite a fragmented opposition, garner international support, and win the trust of Syrians traditionally skeptical of opposition leaders who arise from the Syrian diaspora. Despite the enormity of these tasks, some Syrians hold out hope that Hitto may be able to use his position to overcome these challenges and bring much needed aid into the beleaguered nation.

RECOMMENDED: Sunni and Shiite Islam: Do you know the difference? Take our quiz.

Hitto has been heavily involved in efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and support for Syria. In November, he quit his job and moved to Turkey, where he began working full time to support opposition relief efforts.

?I think that maybe he will be good for the country. He?s helped people in Syria with food, medicine, and money,? says Yassin Sabak, a Syrian who defected from the Syrian Army and now lives in Turkey, who adds that he is also impressed by Hitto?s son Obaida who has traveled inside Syria to help rebels.

Having spent decades of his adult life overseas, Hitto faces a difficult road as he works to win the support of many Syrians who remain adamant that they will not be ruled by Syrians from abroad. Most Syrians say they prefer whoever leads them be someone who has stayed inside the country and taken an active role in the revolution.

Still, Hitto may be given some leeway, given that many political dissidents were forced to flee the country during the 40-year rule of the Assad family.

?It?s normal someone like Hitto to come from outside because anyone thinking about these things had to go out of the country before the revolution,? says Amir Qasr, a Syrian journalist now living in Turkey.

The opposition?s ability to deliver services and assistance to those inside the country will be a key measure of the interim government?s success and ability to gain legitimacy inside Syria.

Western donors remain reluctant to provide military supplies and backing to the opposition and the need for humanitarian aid has far outpaced international donor contributions. But Hitto?s experience in the US, particularly his time as a business executive, may reassure international donors.

?The positive side is that this guy is an executive who has experience trying to deliver goods into Syria. The opposition, at this point, is a song and a prayer. To a certain degree they just need to do something, anything,? says Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. ?Syria is desperately poor. It needs everything. Whoever comes into town with some money and a little bit of skill, may be able to get something started.?

In a speech after his election in Istanbul, Hitto said that the new interim government will work to bring an end to President Bashar al-Assad?s rule. He added that the opposition will not negotiate with Assad?s government.

Hitto immigrated to the US while still a teenager. He earned degrees at Purdue University in computer science and mathematics. All four of Hitto?s four children were born in the US and Hitto himself is a naturalized American citizen.

Prior to moving to Turkey, he lived with his family in Murphy, Texas, near Dallas. He lived in the Lone Star state long enough to become a football fan and is said to follow the Dallas Cowboys. While living in the US, Hitto was involved in a number of local Islamic charity organizations and is perceived by most as a liberal Islamist.

Among other organizations, he served multiple terms as a board member at the Brighter Horizons Academy, an Islamic school in Texas. Three of his children graduated from there and his wife, Suzanne, teaches English there.

In a statement on the academy?s website following Hitto?s appointment as Syria?s new opposition prime minister, the academy described him as a ?practical man with great management experience? who was ?always open-minded and open to debate.?

American officials have welcomed Hitto?s new appointment, saying he became ?well and favorably? known to US officials while coordinating the opposition?s aid efforts in from Turkey.

?[W]e know him well from the work that he?s been doing since he returned to the region,? said Victoria Nuland, spokesperson for the US State Department. ?I would simply say that this is an individual who, out of concern for the Syrian people, left a very successful life in Texas to go and work on humanitarian relief for the people of his home country.?

House of the Week: Home Made From a Shipping Container | Zillow ...

2627 Banks St, New Orleans, LA
For sale: $159,000

Shipping containers are the mainstay of the import business. Sturdy enough to crate cargo thousands of miles and handle the squalls of crossing the ocean, shipping containers are now getting second lives as the building blocks for homes.

Several containers can be combined for a larger residence or business, or one or two work just as well for a starter home, as is the case in this New Orleans home.

Made of two shipping containers, the structure is New Orleans? first shipping container home, says real estate agent Natalie Lafont of Talbot Historic Properties.

Manufactured by MekaWorld, a modular home builder, the structure came partially assembled, and the homeowner finished the home on site.

The review and planning process took more than a year, explains Lafont. ?But it was well-received by the city, neighborhood and community in general. I would anticipate a growing popularity of [shipping container homes] in our marketplace,? she said.

Despite its size?? measuring just 640 square feet?? the Tulane-Gravier home feels remarkably spacious, Lafont says.

?There are lots of windows on each side, with some being floor-to-ceiling and front-to-back, offering tons of natural light.? For a 1-bedroom home the feeling is airy with an open floor plan,? she said.

Bamboo floors and neutral colors enhance the expansive feel.

Besides the obvious and very sustainable nature of using a recycled container, the home is also a strong structure, designed to withstand 130-mph winds.

The home is also available as a rental for $1,200 a month with a one-year lease. Or buy it and pay a $575 monthly mortgage payment, according to Zillow?s mortgage calculator and assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year mortgage.

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Mustek S400W iScan Air Wireless Scanner ? Scanning without a wires

Brando?is now offering the?Mustek S400W iScan Air Wireless Scanner, which will allow you to scan documents to your Mac and iPad/iPhone photo library via WiFi. My first scanner was a Mustek flatbed scanner, which was HUGE compared to this little sheet-fed desktop model. It offers 300 DPI, scan to JPEG format, and a real-time preview [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/20/mustek-s400w-iscan-air-wireless-scanner-scanning-without-a-wires/

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Katy Perry and John Mayer reportedly split again

By Us Weekly

Christopher Polk / Getty Images file

Katy Perry and John Mayer attended the Grammys together in February.

Katy Perry?and?John Mayer?have once again said goodbye -- for now. The pop songstress, 28, and singer-songwriter, 35, have split for the second time, multiple sources confirm to?Us Weekly. The high-profile pair began casually dating during summer 2012, and briefly?called it quits?back in August before reconciling the next month.

"It's sad," one pal tells?Us, but cautions that it might not be a permanent break. "It's not over until it's over. You have to see how things play out." Adds another source: "She's leaving the window open. They have both been so focused on work."

Photos from Us: Katy's sexiest, craziest looks

Indeed, Perry has been busy recording her third studio album in Los Angeles, while Mayer -- on the mend following serious vocal problems and throat surgery last year -- is prepping for upcoming tour dates and a live Google Hangout chat this Thursday, March 21.

Photos from Us: John Mayer's romantic history

Following their September 2012?reconciliation, the twosome seemed to ramp up their relationship: The "Waiting on the World to Change" troubadour visited Perry's Santa Barbara?hometown?in November, they attended?high-profile events?together as a couple, and Mayer, famous for his string of A-list exes, gushed about Perry in a January 60 Minutes interview. "I'm very happy in all aspects of my life," said Mayer, who had messy splits with the likes of?Jennifer Aniston,?Jessica Simpson?and?Jennifer Love Hewitt, to name a few.

Photos from Us: Katy and Russell Brand's romance

Perry, who?finalized?her divorce from?Russell Brand?in February 2012, was?tweeting?happily about her man as recently as March 2. "My boyfriend is taking me to a kitten shelter in his truck," she wrote to her nearly 34 million followers. "I can't think of a more perfect Saturday." But on Monday, March 18, she suggested she's been dealing with turmoil. "ATTENTION: Mercury is OUT of retrograde today. Thank GOD," Perry wrote.

More in Entertainment:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/03/19/17376025-katy-perry-and-john-mayer-reportedly-split-again?lite

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Congress works on budget for both 2013 and future

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., appears before the House Rules Committee to testify on his party?s budget proposal, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2013. He is joined at left by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the ranking member on the House Budget Committee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congress is finally cleaning up its unfinished budget business for the 2013 budget year with a bipartisan government-wide funding bill. But even as that measure heads toward approval, the House and Senate are moving toward divisive votes that will underscore sharp differences on a bigger problem: how to fix the nation's long-term deficit woes.

The Senate is positioned to approve the catchall spending bill Tuesday after it cleared a procedural hurdle Monday by a strong 63-35 vote. The House, which approved a narrower version two weeks ago, is expected to quickly clear the measure and ship it to President Barack Obama for his signature.

On a separate track, the GOP-controlled House and Democratic Senate are readying votes this week on sharply different budget blueprints for next year and beyond. The measures are non-binding and largely symbolic. But they veer off in opposite directions at the same time President Barack Obama seeks to nurture a future compromise blending new tax revenues with spending cuts beyond what his Democratic allies are willing to offer now.

The rival House and Senate budgets for the future are party-defining documents with zero chance of making their way into law as written, given the division of power in Washington, where Democrats control the White House and Senate and conservative Republicans dominate the House.

House Republicans are moving first with a plan sharply slashing health care for the poor, budgets for domestic agencies like the FBI and the National Park Service, and safety net programs like food stamps. Senate Democrats are countering with a mostly stand-pat approach that hikes taxes by almost $1 trillion over a decade while reversing already-enacted across-the-board spending cuts that are slamming both the Pentagon and domestic agencies.

The House budget measure, if enacted into law, promises a balanced ledger by the end of a decade; the Senate budget would leave significantly larger deficits but stabilize the national debt as a share of the economy, a measure that economists say is essential to avoiding a debt crisis like Greece and other European nations have experienced.

"Here is a responsible path to a balanced budget, which we think is far better than yet another tax increase and more spending and borrowing, which would evolve into a debt crisis," said Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "We would like to see some similar leadership from some other folks around town."

Avoiding a government shutdown this year, however, required a more delicate approach on the government-wide funding bill.

Republicans controlling the House pushed a catchall spending measure repairing Pentagon accounts devoted to military readiness and training, as well as veterans programs and several initiatives like modernizing the nation's nuclear arsenal. Senate Democrats countered with full-year, line-by-line budgets for the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, among others. All agencies would be subject to across-the-board cuts of 5 percent to domestic agencies and 8 percent to the Pentagon.

Other agencies, including those responsible for implementing Obama's health-care plan and an overhaul of Wall Street regulation, would be denied increases and run on autopilot with last year's budgets in place, subject to the across-the-board cuts.

The catchall bill advanced on a 63-35 procedural vote that sets up a vote Tuesday to pass the measure and send it back to the House, which is likely to clear it later this week for Obama's signature.

While top Senate leaders like No. 1 Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada focused on the big picture ? preventing a government shutdown ? rank-and-file senators were sweating the small stuff, focusing on local concerns like keeping meat inspectors on the job, preventing furloughs at rural airports and trying to ease layoffs at Army depots.

But 10 Republicans, mostly members of the appropriations committee, joined with Democrats to send the measure over the 60-vote hurdle set by Republicans, probably blocking amendments sought by senators in both parties.

Passage of the huge spending measure would draw to a close a mostly overlooked battle between House Republicans and Obama and his Senate Democratic allies over the annual spending bills required to fund federal agency operations, paving the way for Congress to turn away from the current budget year and resume battling over the future.

Looking ahead, the latest plan crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., generally resembles prior ones, relying on higher tax revenues enacted in January and improved Medicare cost estimates ? along with $4.6 trillion in spending cuts over a decade ? to promise a balanced budget in 10 years.

The budget counterproposal from Senate Democrats would repeal the sequester cuts at a cost of $1.2 trillion over a decade and blends about $1 trillion in modest cuts to health care providers, the Pentagon, domestic agencies and interest payments on the debt with an equal amount in new revenue claimed by closing tax breaks. The net result would cut about $600 billion from the deficit over 10 years.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-19-US-Budget-Battle/id-21bbcdeebb0a4b3a8e16f0959e472f0a

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

CLIMATE : Teachers should be given free rein to teach climate ...

The?teaching?of?climate change?in schools has long been a hot ? and sometimes controversial ? topic among educationalists, teachers, parents and politicians. How and when it should be taught have sometimes run up against the fundamental question of should it even be taught.

Today?comes the news?that any specific mention of ?climate change? has now been erased from the?draft geography curriculum in England?up to and including?key stage 3?(all children aged up to 14). Such a move was?trailed back in 2011?when Tim Oates, the government?s new curriculum adviser, said he wanted to see a move away from the teaching of scientific ?issues? and instead a desire ?to get back to the science in science?. In particular, Oates signalled that he wanted the?national curriculum?to be greatly stripped back and simplified, given that it was running at almost 500 pages in length.

As Juliette Jowit reports in?her story today, it looks as if Oates has got his way:

The latest draft guidelines for children in key stages 1 to 3 have no mention of climate change under?geography?teaching and a single reference to how carbon dioxide produced by humans impacts on the climate in the chemistry section. There is also no reference to sustainable development, only to the ?efficacy of recycling?, again as a chemistry subject.

Predictably, this has not gone down well in some quarters. Prof Sir David King, the former government?s science adviser, told the Guardian:

What you seem to have is a major political interference with the geography syllabus? If all of these aren?t issues for geography classes, then where should they be taught? It would be absurd if the issues around environmental pollution weren?t core to the curriculum. I think we would be abdicating our duty to future generations if we didn?t teach these things in the curriculum.

But organisations such as the?Geographical Association, which represents more than 6,000 geography teachers, and the?Royal Geographical Society, seemed to welcome the draft guidelines saying that it is better for a pupil to first gain a basic understanding of geography before then using such ?building blocks? to develop an understating of climate change and sustainability as the pupil moved towards GCSEs and A-levels (aged 15-18).

Having?written a book?about climate change for children aged 8-12, I have some sympathy with this view. As I?wrote in a feature?for this paper in 2009 (upon the book?s publication), climate change is an almost uniquely challenging subject to teach children ? both in terms of the complexity of its underlying science and its physical/societal/political impacts and implications. There is fierce debate ? as indicated by the range of views in the article I wrote ? about how old a child needs to be before they can start to absorb and understand these varied and inter-linked themes.

I agree with the view that climate change should largely be taught under the umbrella of geography (both human and physical geography). Yes, it reaches across many subjects ? including, obviously, the physical sciences ? but geography seems the most appropriate subject from which to ?discuss? it as a topic. However, in my own view, key stage 3 is the earliest point at which pupils should begin to specifically address climate change in the classroom.

And, from what I can see, this is still possible under the new draft guidelines, given the intentionally loose wording (which starkly contrasts with the detailed, prescriptive wording of the previous version).

Let?s compare them. Here?s what the existing wording says for the geography curriculum in relation to climate change and ? yes, that notoriously unsatisfactory term ? ?sustainability?. You will see that the term ?climate change? isn?t even mentioned until key stage 3, but right from key stage 1 (5-7 year olds) there is the inclusion of generalised environmental concepts such as litter and ?traffic pollution?. I have picked out the specific references below, but you can see the complete wording here (KS1;?KS2?and?KS3).

Each key stage begins with this general statement:

Teaching should ensure that ?geographical enquiry and skills? are used when developing ?knowledge and understanding of places, patterns and processes?, and ?environmental change and sustainable development?.

And here are some specific guidelines:

Key Stage 1

1. In undertaking geographical enquiry, pupils should be taught to:
c. express their own views about people, places and environments [for example, about litter in the school]

Knowledge and understanding of environmental change and sustainable development

5. Pupils should be taught to:
a. recognise changes in the environment [for example, traffic pollution in a street]
b. proved and sustained [for example, by restricting the number of cars].

Key Stage 2

Knowledge and understanding of environmental change and sustainable development

5. Pupils should be taught to:
a. recognise how people can improve the environment [for example, by reclaiming derelict land] or damage it [for example, by polluting a river], and how decisions about places and environments affect the future quality of people?s lives
b. recognise how and why people may seek to manage environments sustainably, and to identify opportunities for their own involvement [for example, taking part in a local conservation project].
Breadth of study
6. During the key stage, pupils should be taught the knowledge, skills and understanding through the study of two localities and three themes:
e. an environmental issue, caused by change in an environment [for example, increasing traffic congestion, hedgerow loss, drought], and attempts to manage the environment sustainably [for example, by improving public transport, creating a new nature reserve, reducing water use].

And I include this because I think it?s particularly important when teaching children about climate change?

Note for 2d ? Cross reference to English

f. distinguish between fact and opinion [for example, by looking at the purpose of the text, the reliability of information]

Key Stage 3

1.6 Environmental interaction and sustainable development

a. Understanding that the physical and human dimensions of the environment are interrelated and together influence environmental change.
b. Exploring sustainable development and its impact on environmental interaction and climate change.

Explanatory notes

Environmental interaction and sustainable development: Understanding the dynamic interrelationship between the physical and human worlds involves appreciating the possible tensions between economic prosperity, social fairness (who gets what, where and why), and environmental quality (conserving resources and landscapes and preventing environmental damage). The interaction of these factors provides the basis for geographical study of the environment and understanding of sustainable development.

2.1 Geographical enquiry

Pupils should be able to:
c. identify bias, opinion and abuse of evidence in sources when investigating issues

Range and Content

The study of geography should include:

h. interactions between people and their environments, including causes and consequences of these interactions, and how to plan for and manage their future impact.
Explanatory notes

Interactions between people and their environments: This should include the investigation of climate change. Making links between people and their environments at different scales helps pupils understand interdependence (eg considering how their consumption of energy has a global impact on physical systems such as climate). Pupils should investigate different perspectives and values relating to these interactions, including sustainable development. They should also consider future implications of these interactions.

By comparison, the new draft guidelines (pdf) are far simpler. In fact, they only amount to four pages across key stages 1, 2 and 3.

Yes, it is correct that there are no specific references to climate change, but the wording is loose enough for any teacher or school to introduce climate change as a topic as early as they feel it necessary:

It begins with a ?Purpose of study?:

A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth?s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge provides the tools and approaches that explain how the Earth?s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

But by key stage 2, some teachers might interpret the document to mean that they can start to talk about concepts such as climate change:

Pupils should be taught to name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, including hills, mountains, cities, rivers, key topographical features and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time.

And by key stage 3, teachers have the licence to be exploring climate change in depth, if they so choose ? even if, again, the term itself is not specified:

Pupils should be taught to: understand, through the use of detailed place-based exemplars at a variety of scales, the key processes in:
* physical geography relating to: glaciation, plate tectonics, rocks, soils, weathering, geological timescales, weather and climate, rivers and coasts
* human geography relating to: population, international development, economic activity in the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors, urbanisation, and the use of natural resources
* understand how human and physical processes interact to have an impact on and form distinctive landscapes

What this seems to largely come down to is the ideological differences between the present and former governments over whether education should be top down or bottom up. Should teachers be allowed to choose the topics they introduce in their classes, as long as they adhere to a broad ?purpose of study?? Or should they be ?forced? by central government to include certain topics?

This is not about climate change being ?banned? from schools, as some might want to portray this. Just the same as it was equally false to say that, until now, children have been ?brainwashed? by teachers about climate change.?As I written before, there is simply no evidence of this having been the case.

I still feel confident that by key stage 3 ? and certainly beyond ? pupils in England will come away from school with a good understanding of the causes and impacts of climate change, as well as a keenness to debate the various proposed policy and technological solutions.