Afghan forces also suffer from insider attacks

FILE - In this July 9, 2010 file photograph, an Afghan National Army soldier wears an ammunition belt around his neck during a joint patrol with United States Army soldiers from Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion of the 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, outside Kandahar City. U.S. military officials have noted that Afghan security forces are dying in insider attacks along with foreign troops, but so far, the Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number killed. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)

FILE - In this July 9, 2010 file photograph, an Afghan National Army soldier wears an ammunition belt around his neck during a joint patrol with United States Army soldiers from Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion of the 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, outside Kandahar City. U.S. military officials have noted that Afghan security forces are dying in insider attacks along with foreign troops, but so far, the Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number killed. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2009 file photo, U.S. Marine squad leader Sgt. Matthew Duquette, left, of Warrenville, Ill., with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines walks with Afghan National Army Lt. Hussein, during in a joint patrol in Nawa district, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. U.S. military officials have noted that Afghan security forces are dying in insider attacks along with foreign troops, but so far, the Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number killed. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghan Army Sgt. Habibullah Hayar didn't know it, but he had been sleeping with his enemy for weeks.

Twenty days ago, one of his roommates was arrested for allegedly plotting an insider attack against their unit, which is partnered with NATO forces in eastern Paktia province.

Afghan soldiers and policemen ? or militants in their uniforms ? have gunned down more than 50 foreign troops so far this year, eroding the trust between coalition forces and their Afghan partners. An equal number of Afghan policemen and soldiers also died in these attacks, giving them reason as well to be suspicious of possible infiltrators within their ranks.

"It's not only foreigners. They are targeting Afghan security forces too," said the 21-year-old Hayar, who was in Kabul on leave. "Sometimes, I think what kind of situation is this that a Muslim cannot trust a Muslim ? even a brother cannot trust a brother. It's so confused. Nobody knows what's going on."

The U.S.-led coalition said a NATO service member and an international civilian contractor were killed on Saturday in the latest such insider attack. The coalition said in a statement on Sunday that Afghan soldiers were also killed or wounded, but provided no other details about the attack in eastern Afghanistan.

Insider attacks are taking a toll on the partnership, prompting the U.S. military to restrict operations with small-sized Afghan units earlier this month.

The close contact ? with coalition forces working side by side with Afghan troops as advisers, mentors and trainers ? is a key part of the U.S. strategy for putting the Afghans in the lead as the U.S. and other nations prepare to pull out their last combat troops at the end of 2014, just 27 months away.

The U.S. military also has shown increasing anger over the attacks.

"I'm mad as hell about them, to be honest with you," Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday. "It reverberates everywhere across the United States. You know, we're willing to sacrifice a lot for this campaign, but we're not willing to be murdered for it."

So far this year, at least 52 foreign troops ? about half of them Americans ? have been killed in insider attacks. The Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number of its forces killed in insider attacks. However, U.S. military statistics obtained by The Associated Press show at least 53 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed as of the end of August.

A U.S. military official disclosed the numbers on condition of anonymity because he said it was up to Afghan officials to formally release the figures. An Afghan defense official who was shown the statistics said he had no reason to doubt their accuracy.

Overall, the statistics show that at least 135 Afghan policemen and soldiers have been killed in insider attacks since 2007. That's more than the 119 foreign service members ? mostly Americans ? killed in such attacks since then, according to NATO.

Typically, foreign troops are the main targets, but Afghan forces also have been killed by comrades angry over their collaboration with Westerners and many more get killed in the crossfire, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said. He said the ministry did not have a breakdown of how many had been targeted or killed in gunbattles during the attacks.

In at least one instance, an Afghan police officer with alleged ties to militants, killed 10 of his fellow officers on Aug. 11 at a checkpoint in southwestern Nimroz province. An Afghan soldier also was killed on April 25 when a fellow soldier opened fire on a U.S. service member and his translator in Kandahar province, the southern birthplace of the Taliban.

Last year, a suicide bomber in an Afghan police uniform blew himself up May 28 in Takhar province, killing two NATO service members and four Afghans, including a senior police commander. And just a week before that, four Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests under police uniforms attacked a government building in Khost province, triggering a gunbattle that left three Afghan policemen and two Afghan soldiers dead. On April 16, an Afghan soldier walked into a meeting of NATO trainers and Afghan troops in Laghman province, blew himself up, killing five U.S. troops, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter.

"It's difficult to know an attacker from a non-attacker when everybody is wearing a uniform, Hayar said.

The attacker was one of seven people rounded up earlier this month from various units within the Afghan National Army Corps 203, Hayar said. The corps covers the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, Wardak, Logar and Khost.

"He was together with me in my room with some of my other colleagues. He had a long beard. We didn't know anything about him. We were living together, sleeping together," said Hayar, who has been in the Afghan army for 2 1/2 years.

He said the suspected infiltrator was identified after a Taliban militant arrested in Logar told his Afghan interrogators that members of the fundamentalist Islamic movement had infiltrated the corps and were planning imminent attacks. That prompted Hayar's superiors to start questioning soldiers in various units.

Hayar said his roommate's uneasy reaction raised suspicion, and investigators found Taliban songs saved to the memory card of his cell phone. He was then detained by Afghan intelligence officials and confessed he was a member of the Taliban and planned to stage attacks.

Hayar says he assumes his former bunkmate was probably going after foreign forces, but it makes him uncomfortable nevertheless.

"It's very hard to trust anybody ? even a roommate," he said. "Whenever I'm not on duty, I lock my weapon and keep the key myself. I don't put my weapon under my pillow to sleep because maybe someone will grab it and shoot me with my own weapon."

To counter such attacks, the U.S. military earlier this year stopped training about 1,000 members of the Afghan Local Police, a controversial network of village-defense units. U.S. commanders have assigned some troops to be "guardian angels" who watch over their comrades even as they sleep. U.S. officials also recently ordered American troops to carry loaded weapons at all time, even when they are on their bases.

Then, after a string of insider attacks, Allen this month restricted operations carried out alongside with small-sized Afghan units. Coalition troops have routinely conducted patrols or manned outposts with small groups of Afghan counterparts, but Allen's directive said such operations would no longer be considered routine and required the approval of the regional commander.

For their part, Afghan authorities have detained or removed hundreds of soldiers as part of its effort to re-screen its security forces. The Ministry of Defense also released a 28-page training booklet this month that advises soldiers not to be personally offended when foreign troops do things Afghans view as deeply insulting.

The booklet urges them not to take revenge for foreign troops' social blunders, such as blowing their noses in public, stepping into a mosque with their shoes on, walking in front of a soldier who is praying or asking about their wives.

"Most of the coalition members are interested to share pictures of their families. It is not a big deal for them. If someone asks you about your family, especially the females in your family, don't think they are disrespecting you or trying to insult you," the booklet says.

"That is not the case. By asking such questions, they are trying to show that they want to learn more about you. You can very easily explain to them that nobody in Afghanistan would ask, especially about wives or females in the family."

___

Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-30-Afghan-Insider%20Attacks/id-e65bbd96bca4407ebbcd9b90e8adf413

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Thousands of Words - mutherhood - (On Top of the) Mutherload ...

A friend of mine rolled through town the other day... he was only going to be in Montreal for 36 hours before heading to New York (next stops Stockholm and Paris) and asked if I had time to do a little photo shoot with my family, since one of the things he does is take pictures. Oh hells to the YES!!

Martin is never home at this hour, for these kinds of shenanigans, but we manage without him. We just went outdoors, and Greg just clicked away for close to an hour in the park across the street from our house, and in the surrounding area before he had to leave. I served him freshly baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (from a mix, yo - don't get all excited) and apple juice to drink, since he doesn't drink wine or spirits of any kind. (What the...?!)

Anyway, what I love about rare experiences like these, is seeing how my kids look - indeed, how we all look - in front of someone else's lens. I take just about every single photo we have of ourselves, and it's amazing how different it all is when someone else's shutter is whining.

Amazingly great. And fun. And beautiful.

We laughed and we laughed, my delicious boy and I...

Thank you so much, darling Greg Wong, for the late afternoon fun! Please promise to come back soon!! (I promise to make more cookies...)

Do you have family photos taken, professional or otherwise? Where do you go? What do you do?!

Source: http://www.urbanmoms.ca/on_top_of_the_mutherload/2012/09/thousands-of-words.html

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Divided town a challenge to Myanmar democracy bid

In this photo taken on Sept. 8, 2012, Muslims gather during a visit by a delegation of American diplomats including U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell, unseen, at a refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar. Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar?s ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when -or even if- the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

In this photo taken on Sept. 8, 2012, Muslims gather during a visit by a delegation of American diplomats including U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell, unseen, at a refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar. Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar?s ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when -or even if- the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

In this photo taken on Sept. 8, 2012, a Muslim woman holds an infant at a refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar. Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar?s ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when -or even if- the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

In this photo taken on Sept. 8, 2012, a Muslim girl cleans cooking pots at a refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar. Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar?s ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when -or even if- the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

In this photo taken on Sept. 8, 2012, a Muslim woman poses with her children at a refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar. Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar?s ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when -or even if- the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

In this photo taken on Sept. 8, 2012, a Muslim boy fetches water from a pump inside a refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar. Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar?s ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when -or even if- the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

SITTWE, Myanmar (AP) ? There are no Muslim faithful in most of this crumbling town's main mosques anymore, no Muslim students at its university.

They're gone from the market, missing from the port, too terrified to walk on just about any street downtown.

Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar's ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when ? or even if ? the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here.

The conflict has fundamentally altered the demographic landscape of this coastal state capital, giving way to a disturbing policy of government-backed segregation that contrasts starkly with the democratic reforms Myanmar's leadership has promised the world since half a century of military rule ended last year.

While the Rakhine can move freely, some 75,000 Rohingya have effectively been confined to a series of rural displaced camps outside Sittwe and a single downtown district they dare not leave for fear of being attacked.

For the town's Muslim population, it's a life of exclusion that's separate, and anything but equal.

"We're living like prisoners here," said Thant Sin, a Rohingya shopkeeper who has been holed up since June in the last Rohingya-dominated quarter of central Sittwe that wasn't burned down.

Too afraid to leave, the 47-year-old cannot work anyway. The blue wooden doors of his shuttered pharmaceutical stall sit abandoned inside the city's main market ? a place only Rakhine are now allowed to enter.

The crisis in western Myanmar goes back decades and is rooted in a highly controversial dispute over where the region's Muslim inhabitants are really from. Although many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are widely denigrated here as foreigners ? intruders who came from neighboring Bangladesh to steal scarce land.

The U.N. estimates their number at 800,000. But the government does not count them as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups, and so ? like Bangladesh ? denies them citizenship. Human rights groups say racism also plays a role: Many Rohingya, who speak a distinct Bengali dialect and resemble Muslim Bangladeshis, have darker skin and are heavily discriminated against.

In late May, tensions boiled over after the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman, allegedly by three Rohingya, in a town south of Sittwe. By mid-June, skirmishes between rival mobs carrying swords, spears and iron rods erupted across the region. Conservative estimates put the death toll at around 100 statewide, with 5,000 homes burned along with dozens of mosques and monasteries.

Sittwe suffered more damage than most, and today blackened tracts of rubble-strewn land filled with knotted tree stumps are scattered everywhere. The largest, called Narzi, was home to 10,000 Muslims.

Human Rights Watch accused security forces of colluding with Rakhine mobs at the height of the mayhem, opening fire on Rohingya even as they struggled to douse the flames of their burning homes.

Speaking to a delegation of visiting American diplomats earlier this month, Border Affairs Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Htay described Sittwe's new status quo. Drawing his finger across a city map, he said there are now "lines that cannot be crossed" by either side, or else "there will be aggression ... there will be disputes."

"It's not what we want," he added with a polite smile. "But this is the reality we face."

While police and soldiers are protecting mosques and guarding Rohingya in camps, there is much they cannot control. One group of 300 local Buddhist leaders, for example, issued pamphlets urging the Rakhine not to do business with the Rohingya or even talk to them. It is the only way, they say, to avert violence.

Inside Sittwe's once mixed municipal hospital, a separate ward has been established to serve Muslim patients only; on a recent day, it was filled with just four patients whose families said they could only get there with police escorts.

At the town's university, only Rakhine now attend. And at the main market, plastic identity cards are needed to enter: pink for shopkeepers, yellow for customers, none for Rohingya.

The crisis has posed one of the most serious challenges yet to Thein Sein's nascent government, which declared a state of emergency and warned the unrest could threaten the country's nascent transition toward democracy if it spread.

Although the clashes have been contained and an independent commission has been appointed to study the conflict and recommend solutions, the government has shown little political will to go further.

The Rohingya are a deeply unpopular cause in Myanmar, where even opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former political prisoners imprisoned by the army have failed to speak out on their behalf. In July, Thein Sein himself suggested the Rohingya should be sent to any other country willing to take them.

"In that context, we're seeing them segregated into squalid camps, fleeing the country, and in some cases being rounded up and imprisoned," said Matthew Smith, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who authored a recent report for the New York-based group on the latest unrest.

In places like Sittwe, "there is a risk of permanent segregation," Smith said. "None of this bodes well for the prospects of a multi-ethnic democracy."

In the meantime, the government's own statistics indicate the crisis is worsening ? at least for the Rohingya.

While the total number of displaced Rakhine statewide has declined from about 24,000 at the start of the crisis to 5,600 today, the number of displaced Rohingya has risen from 52,000 to 70,000, mostly in camps just outside Sittwe.

The government has blamed the rise on Rohingya it says didn't lose homes but who are eager to gain access to aid handouts. Insecurity is also likely a factor, though. Amnesty International has accused authorities of detaining hundreds of Rohingya in a post-conflict crackdown aimed almost exclusively at Muslims. And in August, 3,500 people were displaced after new clashes saw nearly 600 homes burned in the town of Kyauktaw, according to the U.N.

Elsewhere in Rakhine state, the army has resumed forced labor against Muslims, ordering villagers to cultivate the military's paddy fields, act as porters and rebuild destroyed homes, according to a report by the Arakan Project, an activist group.

In Sittwe, mutual fear and distrust runs so high that 7,000 Rohingya crammed inside a dilapidated quarter called Aung Mingalar have not set foot outside it since June. It's the last Muslim-inhabited block downtown, a tiny place that takes about five minutes to cross by foot.

Thant Sin, the Rohingya shopkeeper who lives in Aung Mingalar, said that the government delivers supplies of rice, but that getting almost everything else requires exorbitant bribes and connections. There is just one mosque. There are no clinics, medical care or schools, and Thant Sin is worried his savings will run out in weeks.

The married father of five has been unable to open his market stall since authorities ordered it shut three months ago. One told him, "This for the Rakhine now," he recalled.

"All we want to do is go back to work," he said. "The government is doing nothing to help us get our lives back."

All four roads into Aung Mingalar are guarded by police, and outside, past the roadblocks of barbed wire and wood that divide the district from the rest of town, Rakhine walk freely ? sometimes yelling racial slurs or hurling stones from slingshots.

Across the street, a 57-year-old Rakhine, Aye Myint, leaned back in a rusted metal chair and peered at a group of bearded Muslim men in Aung Mingalar.

"I feel nothing for those people now," he said. "After what happened ... they cannot be trusted anymore. To tell the truth, we want them out of here."

Hla Thain, the attorney general of Rakhine state, denied there was any official policy of forced segregation, saying security forces are deployed to protect both sides, not keep them apart. But he acknowledged that there were not enough police or soldiers to make the two communities feel safe, and that huge obstacles to reconciliation remain.

"We want them to live together, that is our goal, but we can't force people to change," he said. "Anger is still running high. Neither side can forget that they lost family members, their homes."

For now, he said, the government is studying every possibility to make life "normal" again. For example: having Rakhine students attend university in the morning, while Rohingya go each afternoon.

Thein Htay, the border minister, was more blunt.

"We may have to build another market center, another trading center, another port" for the Rohingya, he said, because it will be "very difficult otherwise."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-30-Myanmar-A%20Town%20Divided/id-3e922680144c469ca4b97d8c2dcc317b

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US consumer spending rose 0.5 percent in August

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Americans boosted their spending in August even though their income barely grew. Much of the spending increase went to pay higher gas prices, which may have forced consumers to cut back elsewhere.

The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending rose 0.5 percent in August from July. It was the biggest jump since February.

Still, the increase was driven by a 1.7 percent surge in purchases of nondurable goods. That largely reflected a sharp rise in gas prices during the month. Spending on durable goods rose 0.3 percent, helped by gains in auto sales. Spending on services rose just 0.2 percent.

Income rose just 0.1 percent in August, reflecting the weak job growth. Taking into account inflation, after-tax incomes actually fell 0.3 percent in August ? the poorest performance since November.

High unemployment and weak wage growth have kept Americans from spending more freely, which has held back growth. Consumer spending drives nearly 70 percent of economic activity.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the April-June quarter, the government reported Tuesday. That's down from the 2 percent growth rate in the January-March quarter and far too weak to lower the unemployment rate, which was 8.1 percent in August.

Earlier this month, the government released a mixed report on retail spending that showed that consumers are feeling pinched by higher gas prices.

Consumers spent 0.9 percent more at retail businesses in August from July. But excluding the impact of gas prices and a sizeable increase in auto sales, retail sales rose just 0.1 percent. The retail sales report showed Americans cut back on clothing, electronics and at general merchandise outlets.

Gas prices rose more than 50 cents per gallon in July and August, but have since leveled off.

There have been some positive signs that spending could pick up. A measure of consumer confidence jumped this month to its highest level since February. Steady gains in home prices, along with record-low mortgage rates, have helped fuel a modest recovery in the housing market.

And a report Thursday offered some hope that the job market will strengthen. Weekly applications for unemployment benefits plunged 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 359,000. That's the lowest level in two months.

Still, most economists expect only modest hiring gains when the government releases the September employment report next week. The forecast is that employers added roughly 100,000 jobs, about the same as in August.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-09-28-US-Consumer-Spending/id-c51a08e9e95647eabf0625f5691778f7

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NFL refs approve deal, ready for Sunday games

IRVING, Texas (AP) ? NFL referees are ready to go unnoticed again, just as they prefer.

The refs approved a new eight-year contract with the league by a 112-5 vote Saturday, officially ending a lockout that led to three weeks of increasingly chaotic games run by replacement officials who drew the attention of everyone from the average fan to President Barack Obama.

After a few hours of final preparations with league officials, the next stop for the referees will be the airport. Most will be heading straight to their Sunday game sites.

"It was pretty much 'Come on in and vote,'" said Scott Green, president of the referees' association. "We're going to talk football now. We're going to stop talking about CBAs and lockouts and now we're going to talk about rules and video and getting ourselves ready to work football games."

They may get ovations similar to the one bestowed on the crew that worked Thursday's Cleveland-Baltimore game with the tentative deal in place. Before long, they expect to go back to being mostly anonymous and sometimes hated. They're OK with both.

"The last Super Bowl that I worked, when we got in the locker room, I said, 'You know, the best thing about this game, nobody will remember who refereed this game,'" Green said. "That's how we like to work."

The referees met for about an hour and a half Friday night to go over the contract, then gathered for another 30 minutes Saturday morning before approving the contract.

"We are obviously pleased to hear it," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email to The Associated Press on Saturday.

Because they were aware of the financial parameters, most of the discussion by the referees involved non-economic issues such as year-round work and developmental squads, said Tim Millis, the association's executive director.

The deal came quickly this week after an increasing chorus of complaints became impossible to ignore when a disputed touchdown call on the final play gave the Seattle Seahawks a victory over the Green Bay Packers on national television Monday night. Many thought the ruling of a Seattle touchdown instead of a Green Bay interception was botched, and the labor dispute drew public comments from Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

By late Wednesday, the sides had a contract calling for refs' salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019. The current defined benefit pension plan will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season or until the official earns 20 years' service.

The defined benefit plan will then be frozen. Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution.

Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option to hire a number of officials to work year-round. The NFL also can retain additional officials for training and development and assign those officials to work games. The number of additional officials will be determined by the league.

The officials that worked Thursday's Ravens-Browns game were cheered from the moment they walked onto the field. The difference between the regular crew and replacements was clear. The officials kept the game in control, curtailing the chippy play and choppy pace that had marred the first three weeks of the regular season.

"I think the thing we're most proud of is the lesson that we all learned," Green said. "If you're going to be in a professional league, you've got top-notch coaches, you need professional officials as well."

___

Online: http://bigstory.ap.org/NFL-Pro32 and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nfl-refs-approve-deal-ready-sunday-games-152115516--nfl.html

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Would Rose by any other name still be a Democrat?

A tremendous number of clues are encoded in our names: our gender, age, ethnicity, even from which region of the United States we hail. A person named ?Schmidt? is much more likely than average to have German ancestry, and therefore to have ancestors who settled in the Midwest. If a woman is named ?Helen,? which peaked in popularity in the 1910s, she is more likely to be of retirement age than if her name is ?Ashley,? which was all the rage in the ?80s.

Applied to a single person, this is called stereotyping. Applied to a group, it?s called microtargeting.

I first noticed that names seemed to loosely correlate with politics when thumbing through a list of delegates during one of the political conventions. The Republicans seemed to have a hold on the Donalds and Sharons, while the Democrats were rich in Angelas and Willies. But that was a sample size of a few thousand people, and not much of a sample at that: Those positions go to elected officials and local party bigwigs.

But the Federal Election Commission has a much larger database of names and political associations. Candidates for federal offices are required to report the names of any person who has given them at least $200, whether it came in one large check or dozens of smaller donations. (A psychotherapist in Chapel Hill, N.C., for example, has given $850 to President Obama in 81 installments to date.) The Obama campaign has reported 1.75 million individual donations through Aug. 31, while the Romney campaign has 353,000. The other Republican primary contenders reported a combined 320,000 donations. These records include some people who have not hit the $200 threshold but whose donations the campaigns reported anyway.

These donations come from roughly 452,000 unique people who gave to Barack Obama and 315,000 who gave to Mitt Romney and the other Republican presidential candidates. (The dreary methodology and code for how I computed that is at the bottom of this article.)

That adds up to 21,186 Johns, 7,081 Susans, 1,108 Harrys, and 41,400 other unique first names.

The data show that names are a strong predictor of support for one party or the other. Looking at names that occurred at least 1,000 times on the donor rolls, it is immediately evident that women give in much greater numbers to the Obama campaign, a fact that the site OpenSecrets.org has also observed. Within a gender, however, some names have much stronger correlations than others. While people with very common names?James, David, Michael?are roughly evenly split between the two parties, names like Brent, Tyler and Clayton are considerably skewed toward the Republicans.

Nicknames and diminutives also correlate to party preference. ?Christopher??just to pick a random name out of my hat?tilts slightly to Republicans, while ?Chris? trends slightly Democratic (though that could be because there are some women named Chris out there). People named William have a 57 percent chance of supporting the Republicans, while Willies are the most Democratic name on the list at 93 percent.

Along the same lines, people named Liz are extremely Democratic, with only 11 percent donating to Republicans. But 26 percent of Elizabeths give to the GOP, and Betty is one of the most Republican women?s names on the list, with 37 percent of women who share their name with Barney Rubble?s wife ponying up cash on behalf of a candidate who wanted to replace President Obama.

Of all names that appear at least 25 times, the most Republican men?s name on the list is Brent. (Willard is No. 4!) The most Republican women?s name on the list is Ashley. But that could include some men, as could the next two women?s names, Kelly and Courtney. So let?s declare Patsy, the No. 4 contender, the most Republican women?s name.

We?ve already mentioned that if you want to raise a Democratic son, name him Willie. Democrats expecting a daughter should go with Gwendolyn, the most pro-Obama girl?s name on the list.

So, while we have to be careful not to generalize too much from the list of presidential donors in 2012, it?s clear that in broad strokes, names can be useful for candidates who want to identify potential supporters and donors. Candidates who can?t afford fancy market research can get a lot of the same data from the phonebook.

Follow Chris Wilson at @chriswilsondc or email him at cewilson@yahoo-inc.com.

---

Methodology: FEC data is not the cleanest in the world. The task here was to take a bunch of names, many of which are listed multiple times with small variations (like a period after a middle initial), and reduce them to unique individuals.

I reduced each record to a first and last name only, and assumed people were unique by these two names, their ZIP code, and the candidate to which their donation was made. Thus, two John Smiths in different ZIP codes will not be confused with one another. However, two distinct John Smiths in 22901 each giving to Mitt Romney would be counted as one person. (In browsing the data for common names, I didn't once find an example of this.)

You can view the source code here.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/infographic-how-your-first-name-can-predict-your-politics.html

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'Sinister' Cinemagraph Won't Stop Freaking Us Out

It's bad enough watching a trailer for "Sinister." The new horror movie, which stars Ethan Hawke as a true crime author haunted by a box of old home videos, has terrorized us in the form of haunting previews, but those eventually end. This exclusive cinemagraph, however, does not. Taken from a scene in the film, [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/09/27/sinister-cinemagraph/

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Tragic Week In Himalayas Continues: Plane Crash Kills 19

Source: http://www.getoutdoors.com/goblog/index.php?/archives/4531-Tragic-Week-In-Himalayas-Continues-Plane-Crash-Kills-19.html

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The Life and Times of Skoticus: The Food at Baravoye

This is a post about the food we ate. It's still not about the Banquet, which was not just food, but also feast.

We got to the hotel late, but there was still a dinner ready for us when we got there. It was small and simple, but quite nice:

This bread, common in Kazakhstan, is call ballsac. It tastes like an unsweetened donut, since it is essentially just fried dough. Good.

A typical Kazakh salad (typical in size and ingredients):

Additional vegetables (the only ones we regularly find in any store):

The veggies were great finger food:

Some smoked horse meat (delicious.) with summer sausage and cheese.

The main course: a nicely portioned meatloafy thing wrapped in cabbage, with mashed potatoes.

Biscuits for dessert

And that is a nice, typical if not a bit fancy, Kazakh dinner. It was perfect and we loved it.

For breakfast the next morning:?porridge?and eggs.

Fun Russian Proverb: "You can't spoil the porridge with butter."

I've already posted about the picnic in the woods. And the pictures from the Banquet will be coming soon.

For breakfast on Sunday morning:

I don't recall the Russian word, but essentially crepes with sour cream.

And beef and noodle soup: ?Not what we expected for breakfast, but it was good.

Also, chai. They served it everywhere, everymeal. We don't drink it, of course, but it looks tasty. (I found herbal tea here, though! So we're not completely without.)

There was also a tea break on the patio before we went to the lake. Included tea, biscuits, and an apple tart.

For lunch before we got on the bus to head home:

Carrot salad (carrots in vinegar)

Tomato borchst

Horsemeat and onions, with bread, which was also served at every meal above.

Dumplings with ground beef and onions inside. A little oily, but the flavor was great.

A fruit salad for dessert

Source: http://skoticus.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-food-at-baravoye.html

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Video: Paris Auto Show: Gloom Over Glam

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49191729/

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Daily Tips for Business: Architecture-and-Interior-Design - sacovokina

All structures requiring lighting for safety, as an architectural feature or task level lighting should use a sustainable approach achieving the required effect or satisfying the need with the least amount of energy. Modular lighting controls as discussed in this article can achieve the right combination of security, user experience and significant energy savings.

Source: http://dailytipsforbusiness.blogspot.com/2012/09/architecture-and-interior-design_25.html

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Tags: lighting

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 at 2:22 am and is filed under wow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://imageonenc.com/1259/daily-tips-for-business-architecture-and-interior-design/

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Source: http://sacovokina.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/daily-tips-for-business-architecture-and-interior-design/

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Kane County committee OKs 3 percent property tax hike

GENEVA ? The County Board soon could decide whether to put in writing an intention to collect more in property taxes next year ? and whether to leave it to newly elected board members to reduce that amount come spring.

Tuesday, the County Board Finance and Budget Committee recommended the full County Board approve a budget that calls for the county to increase its property tax levy by 3 percent, the maximum amount allowed by law this year.

Should such a tax levy increase ultimately be approved, it could increase the tax bill owed by county taxpayers owning a house with an assessed value of about $250,000 about $5 to $12 next year, with an average increase of about $7 a year, according to county finance officials.

However, while the budget, which must be enacted by November, would state the county?s spending and taxing intentions, the actual tax levy on which that budget is based will not be acted upon until spring.

So, members of the Finance Committee said they believe the current County Board should leave it to the next County Board ? which will be seated after the November elections ? to decide whether to leave the property tax levy alone or scale it back.

Finance Committee Chairman Jim Mitchell, R-North Aurora, said the next County Board will know more about the county?s financial footing than the current board does.

He noted the County Board is still waiting to learn how much Kane County will have collected in sales taxes and its portion of the state income tax.

?It means that [the County Board] will actually know what you?re levying for,? Mitchell told the committee.

Other committee members also backed the levy increase.

?All we?re doing is setting a budget,? said board member Cathy Hurlbut, R-Elgin. ?We can?t ask for more than what we budget.?

The levy increase will not be needed to fund raises for county employees, committee members said.

Instead, the Finance Committee backed a proposal to use the county?s general contingency fund to pay for a 2 percent increase for most of the county?s nonunion, nonelected employees and for raises specifically for the county?s assistant state?s attorneys and public defenders.

In all, those raises would total about $1.06 million that would come from money the county already has on hand, Mitchell said.

While stressing the levy increase will not be used to pay for raises, committee members did not state why the levy increase might be needed.

Mitchell said that will be discussed by the full County Board when it takes up the matter, perhaps as soon as Oct. 9.

That lack of specificity caused at least one committee member, Christina Castro, D-Elgin, to question the need to increase the levy at all.

?When I talk to constituents, they say they can?t even take another $5,? Castro said. ?I?m OK with using the money out of contingency to pay for these raises, but I?m totally opposed to raising the levy.?

There are 13 hours, 57 minutes remaining to comment on this story.

Source: http://www.kcchronicle.com/2012/09/26/kane-county-committee-oks-3-percent-property-tax-hike/ab4f40y/

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BIO BUTE (Tea Tree Oil And Eucalyptus Oil) Oil [Medivet Pty Ltd]

RxNorm Names

Not yet provided

BIO BUTE (tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil) oil
[Medivet Pty Ltd]

Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca Alternifolia)? -?????????????? 4.25%??? (42.5 mg/ml)
Eucalyptus Oil (E. Polybractea)??????? -????????????? 3.86% ?? (38.6 mg/ml)

Massage Oil to assist with relief of joint and muscle pain

For External and Animal Use Only

Keep Out of Reach of Children. In case of accidental ingestion, get medical help or contact a Poisons Control Center right away

Olive Oil (INCI name: Olea Europaea (Olive) Oil)
Vanilla (INCI Name: Vanillin)

For Animal Use Only

Store below 30 degrees C / 86 degrees F

Manufactured By Elmore Oil Company
1/70 Powells Av, VIC 3550 Australia.
For Medivet Veterinary Supplies
A4/101 Rookwood Road. Yagoan NSW 2199

BIO BUTE? tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil oil

Product Information Product Type OTC ANIMAL DRUG Item Code (Source) NDC:51083-100(NDC:43979-400) Route of Administration TOPICAL DEA Schedule ????

Active Ingredient/Active Moiety Ingredient Name Basis of Strength Strength TEA TREE OIL (TEA TREE OIL) TEA TREE OIL 42.5?mg ?in?1?mL EUCALYPTUS OIL (EUCALYPTUS OIL) EUCALYPTUS OIL 38.6?mg ?in?1?mL

Inactive Ingredients Ingredient Name Strength Olive Oil ?

Product Characteristics Color ???? Score ???? Shape Size Flavor Imprint Code Contains ????

Packaging # Item Code Package Description Multilevel Packaging 1 NDC:51083-100-00 125 mL in 1 BOTTLE, PLASTIC None 2 NDC:51083-100-01 500 mL in 1 BOTTLE, PLASTIC None

Marketing Information
Marketing Category	Application Number or Monograph Citation	Marketing Start Date	Marketing End Date
unapproved drug other		09/15/2012

Labeler -?Medivet Pty Ltd (757292763)

Establishment
Name	Address	ID/FEI	Operations
Elmore Oil Company Pty Ltd		755881968	manufacture,?analysis,?api manufacture

Revised: 09/2012?Medivet Pty Ltd

Source: http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/lookup.cfm?setid=01fc03ae-666b-4b7e-b613-462f54ec9096

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UK soldier unexpectedly gives birth in Afghanistan

LONDON (AP) ? Hours after a British soldier in Afghanistan told medics she was suffering from stomach pains, the Royal Artillery gunner unexpectedly gave birth to a boy ? the first child ever born to a member of Britain's armed forces in combat.

Britain's defense ministry said Thursday the soldier told authorities she had not been aware she was pregnant and only consulted doctors on the day that she went into labor.

The soldier, who arrived in Afghanistan in March, delivered the child Tuesday at Camp Bastion, the vast desert camp in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province where Prince Harry is deployed and a Taliban attack last week killed two U.S. Marines.

"Mother and baby are both in a stable condition in the hospital and are receiving the best possible care," the ministry said in a statement. It said a team of doctors would fly out to Afghanistan in the coming days to help the soldier and her son return safely to Britain.

The U.K. does not allow female soldiers to deploy on operation if they are pregnant. Although the soldier's child was conceived before her tour of duty began in March, she is not likely to face censure. Britain has sent female soldiers home from wars after they became pregnant ? including about 60 from Afghanistan ? but hasn't previously had a servicewoman go into labor in a war zone.

In 2009, the U.S. military in Iraq issued a policy that could punish soldiers who became pregnant there and their sexual partners ? then quickly rescinded it after a storm of criticism.

The British soldier, a citizen of Fiji, is one of about 500 British military women serving in Afghanistan. She is also among around 2,000 Fijians who serve in the British military, even though the country became independent from Britain in 1970.

Camp Bastion, which hosts the U.S. Camp Leatherneck, is home to most of Britain's 9,500 soldiers in Afghanistan, including Prince Harry ? who arrived there earlier this month to serve as an attack helicopter gunner. Last Friday, a Taliban assault on the base ended up with two U.S. marines killed and six American fighter jets destroyed.

Maj. Charles Heyman, a retired officer and author of "'The British Army Guide" said the unexpected birth would cause some concern at the base.

"This sort of thing makes life difficult for everyone else, but the important thing is the welfare of the female soldier. This could have gone wrong and we don't know if the attack on Camp Bastion might have forced the birth," said Maj. Charles Heyman, a retired officer and author of "'The British Army Guide."

Heyman said it may have been "that the excitement of the tour masked the symptoms of the pregnancy."

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, a British parenting charity, also suggested the soldier's demanding work could explain why she either didn't know she was pregnant, or had attempted to ignore the signs.

"It could be that she was so very focused on other things, and because she was in a life-or-death scenario, that she simply didn't recognize that she was pregnant," Phipps said.

Phipps said the pregnancy may not have been obvious to the soldier's colleagues. "Not everyone has a very big baby bump, some women carry their baby far inside," she said.

Patrick O'Brien, a consultant obstetrician at University College London Hospital, said cases of unnoticed pregnancies were unusual, but that he encountered at least one each year.

"There are some women who have very irregular periods, often women who are very fit and exercise a lot. There are women who don't have sickness during pregnancy. Some women ? particularly those who are overweight ? don't recognize they have put on weight, or feel the baby moving," O'Brien said.

Many cases involved women who refused to accept that they were pregnant and attempted to disguise it, particularly young women living at home.

"It's not just that they hide the pregnancy from their parents, they often become in denial of the pregnancy," he said.

"If you have a combination of any or all of those things, a pregnancy can go undetected, or the woman can be in denial of it if the implications to their life are so great," said O'Brien, a spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist.

A study published in 2011 by Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary said that denial of pregnancy was more common than expected, suggesting it occurred in around 1 in 2,500 births.

In a 2002 German survey of Berlin obstetric hospitals, researchers found that 40 percent of women who didn't realize they were pregnant had seen doctors who also failed to spot the signs.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-09-20-Britain-Afghanistan%20Birth/id-7e3775cc5df5416a93ddc74dd6c7ad68

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Cornerstone family health - HEALTH, BEAUTY & FITNESS

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Deciding the Best Shared Website Hosting Service Supplier: 100 ...

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Moving targets: Biologists gain new insight into migrating cells

ScienceDaily (Sep. 20, 2012) ? At any given moment, millions of cells are on the move in the human body, typically on their way to aid in immune response, make repairs, or provide some other benefit to the structures around them. When the migration process goes wrong, however, the results can include tumor formation and metastatic cancer. Little has been known about how cell migration actually works, but now, with the help of some tiny worms, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have gained new insight into this highly complex task.

The team's findings are outlined this week online in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"In terms of cancer, we know how to find primary tumors and we know when they're metastatic, but we're missing information on the period in between when cells are crawling around, hanging out, and doing who knows what that leads to both of these types of diseases," says Paul Sternberg, Thomas Hunt Morgan Professor of Biology at Caltech, and corresponding author of the paper.

To learn more about those crawling, or migrating, cells, Sternberg looked at the animal he knows best -- the tiny Caenorhabditis elegans, a common species of roundworm that he has been studying for many years. Despite their small size, the worms actually share quite a few genes with humans.

"Migration is such a conserved process," says Mihoko Kato, a senior research fellow in biology at Caltech and a coauthor of the paper. "So whether it happens in C. elegans or in mammals, like humans, we think that many of the same genes are going to be involved."

Contained in each cell -- be it human or worm -- are thousands of genes, all of which have a special job, or jobs, to do. Of these genes, roughly one-third are active in a given cell. To see what genes are expressed during migration, Sternberg and Kato, along with Erich Schwarz, a research fellow in Sternberg's lab, studied a single cell, called the linker cell (LC), in the worms; during reproductive development, LCs travel almost the entire length of the worm's body.

Using high-powered microscopy, the team identified LCs at two intervals, 12 hours apart, during the worm's larval stage, and removed them from the animals. Then, using sequencing and computational analysis, they determined the genes that were actively expressed at these two migration time points. This method of study is called transcriptional profiling.

"By understanding the normal migration of a single cell, we can understand something about how the cells are programmed to navigate their environment," says Sternberg, who is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Our view of cancer metastasis is that the tumor cells confront some obstacle and then they have to evolve to get through or around that obstacle. The way they probably do that is by using some aspect of the normal program that exists somewhere in the genome."

He says that learning more about different ways that cells migrate may lead to the development of new types of drugs that block this process by targeting specific genes. The team plans additional transcriptional profiling studies to obtain more detailed information about the functions of particular C. elegans genes involved in migration -- and, eventually, of similar genes in higher organisms, including humans.

"We selected genes present in both worms and humans, but which have not been studied much before us," says Schwarz. "Since we found that some of these genes help worm LCs migrate, we think each one may have a related human gene helping cells migrate, too."

"The nice thing about this technology is that you can use it with any cell type," adds Kato, who points out that their studies have already helped identify new functions for known genes possessed by both the worms and humans. "It's a similar process to do transcriptome profiling using human cells."

In addition to identifying drug targets, the team is also hoping to find a good signature, or molecular marker, for migrating cells. "This kind of information could be very useful diagnostically, to help identify cells that are doing things that they shouldn't be doing, or weird combinations of genes that shouldn't be expressed together, which is what a tumor cell might have," says Sternberg. "This work lays the foundation for really understanding what information is critically needed from mammalian cells for tumor cells to be able to migrate."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by California Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Katie Neith.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. E. M. Schwarz, M. Kato, P. W. Sternberg. Functional transcriptomics of a migrating cell in Caenorhabditis elegans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1203045109

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/0Y-2pbLyM7s/120920153315.htm

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Using Drum Circles to Boost Office Morale ? Unique Ideas for Team ...

Here at Djembe Drum Shop, our products are pretty multi-purpose. We?ve previously talked about how simple is it to master the cajon drum. We?ve looked at how music can improve your state-of-mind. And more recently we?ve shown? how our products can be used in the classroom to keep kids eager and engaged.

But it?s not just children and wannabe rock stars that can enjoy musical instruments in this way. It is possible to use music to boost your day-to-day office life. And we?re not talking about just changing the radio station.

Unique Ideas for Team Building

Corporations up and down the country are always looking for unique ways to boost office moral.

The ?team building? day is either met with a cacophony of simultaneous groans or cheers. Groans because it means a long, lengthy meeting; cheers because it means an office night out.

For each business, team building exercises mean something different. But whatever industry you?re in, they shouldn?t ? and don?t have to be ? a reason to moan. Corporate activities like these are supposed to unite workers; help colleagues get to know one another.

Corporate psychology tells managers that a happy office is a productive one. If colleagues work well together, day-to-day harmony will remain. This is why business day trips and team building meetings are so heavily encouraged.

So where do our instruments fit in?

Using Djembe Drums for Corporate Events

A great idea for corporate team building with a difference ? especially when it comes to brainstorming new ideas for instance ? is to create your own drumming circle. Used to foster better worker relations, and boost moral; the corporate drum circle is a great alternative.

They are all about a team of likeminded people, working together to create one piece of music. But each drummer plays their own rhythm; each musician brings something new to the table. This is very much like how the people in your office work. Bringing unique ideas and skills to form one completed project.

Djembe drums are an ancient communication tool, used to build the community and bring people together ? you can read more about the drums history here. As your tool for team building, the corporate circle can drive creativity and inspiration.

How Does It Work?

Colleagues are all given a different djembe drum or percussion shaker. Someone takes the lead, and begins to beat out a rhythm.

Participants then have to listen to the beat, and join in when they feel they can add something unique. Everyone plays a different but complimentary rhythm.

This forces your team to listen to each other, and work together. If big project is getting too much, or there?s a conflict of ideas, beating out the tension in a corporate drum circle is a great idea. Got it yet?

Your drumming circle reflects your office environment. It helps members of staff realise that they need to work together, not alone, to succeed in the workplace. Music therapy is also a great way to relieve stress at work, and help your colleagues clear their heads.

What We Can Do For You

If you?re looking into this as a team building alternative, we have a great range of bulk percussion packs you can purchase. Each contains a different selection of instruments to create different sounds. You can also contact us regarding creating a unique pack for your work place.

We are currently running a special offer where if you purchase an individual djembe from the Jammer, Fibreglass, or Pro Africa range, you receive a free djembe hat. Perfect for helping you take care of your instrument.

Source: http://www.djembedrumshop.com/musical-instruments-percussion-blog/uncategorized/using-drum-circles-for-team-building/

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