'The best is yet to come'

Jonathan Bain enters a new chapter in his life with profound gratitude to God, his family and the many people whose confidence in him have made his dream of appointment to the United States Naval Academy come true."I truly appreciate the many people who assisted and encouraged me throughout the complex application process," said Bain in his formal acceptance of the appointment Wednesday. "Among these are my parents, grandmother and the rest of my extended family, along with my pastor and church family."Another group of people who have helped me get to this point in my life are my teachers, coaches and many friends.

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Fundamentals, Technicals And Common Sense

"Having an informational abundance of riches in the trading business can make you crazy. It seems every week somebody has a new-fangled trading idea, or mysterious black box they claim is better than sliced bread and divided highways. What we’ll rant about today is not something that creates instant zillionaires but rather suggests proven, basic trading ideas used by millionaires. If you want to learn this business, watch the guys and gals who actually earned millions trading-not the ones always yammering about it." – Traderrog

When we first became interested in trading over 20 years ago, we noticed two standouts in the crowd. They are Jim Sinclair the famous gold trader and Barry Lind of Lind-Waldock. Both subscribe to keeping things simple. Get a paper chart, a pencil, ruler, and draw channels.


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Mental health group: Kids on psychiatric drugs not well monitored

State government spent nearly $10 million providing psychiatric drugs to more than 6,000 children in a six-month period last year, in a mental health system that an advocacy group on Wednesday labeled "out of control."

"Our contention is that no one is paying attention to a system that is out of control, costly and potentially harmful to some children and adolescents in Vermont," Ken Libertoff, executive director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health, told reporters.

"Drugs have greatly replaced clinical interventions and counseling in the world of children's mental health and we need to change this environment in Vermont," said Libertoff, who got his figures on cost and children's participation from a state report.

Both Mental Health Commissioner Michael Hartman and Joshua Slen, director of the state Office of Health Access, agreed that the use of psychiatric prescription drugs with Vermonters under 18 is a cause for concern.


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Get GPS for Discovery Process Management

Recent litigation heavily sanctioning attorneys for discovery violations is a key motivation driving the legal community to evaluate legal hold solutions in 2008.

Today, lawyers must proactively identify a client's case management and discovery failures as well as create a roadmap for discovery obligations. This theory, however, doesn't take into account the entire management of the discovery process. Any revised protocols will fail without being fully integrated into business processes. It is too late for imprecise outlines in this heightened era of accountability. Instead, lawyers need a global positioning system for document management beginning with an automated legal hold strategy.

The industry believes that discovery is one continuous process; however, this thought is a misconception at best.


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Prevention advocated as part of mental-illness treatment

David Brenna wants people to think about mental illnesses the same way they would other kinds of diseases.

For instance, imagine a doctor treating someone for a heart attack but not telling the person to eat a healthy diet and to get more exercise.

Brenna, a senior policy analyst from Gov. Christine Gregoire's office, said that's the equivalent of what the mental-health system does now — treats illnesses when they become crises without putting an effort into prevention.

Brenna met this week with area mental-health advocates in Kennewick to gather ideas for the governor's Mental Health Transformation Project, a statewide initiative aimed at reforming the mental-health system and taking a more preventive approach to mental-health care.

He'll take ideas from community meetings across the state to a mental-health summit May 13 in Tukwila, where participants will vote on which policies they'd like to see adopted.



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Nebraska lacking in mental health resources

The most vital of mental health services are often unavailable or under-funded for the individuals that need them the most, health officials say.

10 to 20 percent of Nebraska's populace suffers from some kind of mental illness, and the state lacks the resources to comprehensively address and treat them. Reform is slow in coming and funding is even slower.

In 2003, Nebraska lawmakers passed LB1083 in a move to transform regional centers to more community-based centers. Three years later, Nebraska received a nearly failing grade from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, an organization for individuals with mental illnesses and their families.

"One of the big problems was the lack of community-based services where people can get services right in their own area," said Jonah Deppe, the executive director for NAMI Nebraska.



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Spirituality of the individual and ways to work with it

Spirituality is not dependent on what one's outlook on God or higher consciousness is. Everyone and every organization has a spiritual component. It could be God, working with a sustainable environment, the pursuit of knowledge, or the law and the profits.

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Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making

This seminar is designed for supervisors, managers and executives who are required to handle various issues and challenges. This course is also recommended for professionals who desire to enhance their critical thinking, problem solving and decision making for better workplace performance. This seminar aims to enable participants to achieve the following objectives: - Provide tools and techniques to enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills. - Learn how to find out what you don't know and solve the real problem. - Build a workplace culture that promotes creative problem solving. - Become familiar with different styles of thinking and identify your personal preferences. - Develop critical thinking for improved leadership. .


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In print

Dreams and psychotic ruminations have certain strange features in common, and psychiatrists have now measured the degree of similarity.

Both dreams and waking psychotic moments share cognitive bizarreness — a well-defined term in psychology. It consists of impossible plots, characters and actions: flying over Elvis' first concert or conversing with Fido the dog. It also includes discontinuity or uncertainty in time and place: stepping outside your house, which is really your aunt's house, and onto Mars, the day before.

“We are not talking about hallucinations," says Silvio Scarone of the University of Milan in Italy, “but rather the organization of thinking." When awake, normal people don't have bizarre fantasies, he says. But when asleep, their dreams are as bizarre as a schizophrenia patient's waking fantasies.


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Katrina victims cool to mental-health help

NEW ORLEANS, April 30 (UPI) -- Mental health advocates are urging a new push to provide psychiatric help for Louisiana residents still suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

A survey released Tuesday found that two-thirds of the residents surveyed in coastal Louisiana could not identify any of the resources available to Katrina survivors plagued with mental health issues.

"I don't think we're doing as good a job as we can at meeting communities where they are," said women's health advocate Ghairunisa Galeta.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune said professionals meeting in the Crescent City Tuesday noted that mental healthcare still has a stigma in the region; however it was proposed that teaming up with faith-based groups and other trusted organizations might be effective.


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Granting wishes a top priority for Make-a-Wish

The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wyoming would like to express its gratitude to Midas of Cheyenne and Cool Customs of Torrington for their participation in helping grant the wish of Wyoming wish child, Travis, from Torrington, whose wish was a �Car Makeover.� The time and effort to �transform� Travis�s car was overwhelming, and we cannot thank them enough.

Travis, who has been diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition, when asked by Make-A-Wish what he wanted more than anything, chose having his car �made over� with a new stereo, wheels, tires and new paint job! He was thrilled beyond belief and couldn�t wait to drive his �new� car! �

At the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wyoming, our first priority has been and always will be the special children whose wishes we work hard to grant.


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From inspiration to repudiation

In his achingly slow steps toward repudiating the repugnant words of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama has run the risk of serious political damage by leaving vague what it was that attracted him to this outspoken critic of American society.

In the rational part of Wright's appearance Monday at the National Press Club, before he got to the self-justification and the denunciations of our government and the nation's values, he offered some clues to that question. They came in the form of his succinct interpretation of the historic goals of the black church.

They can be boiled down, he said, to three words: liberation, transformation and reconciliation.

To Wright, liberation means more than opposing all forms of oppression. It also encompasses freeing oneself from any feelings of inferiority or superiority and recognizing that "being different does not mean one is deficient."

Transformation, in his terms, is all-encompassing: "Changed lives, changed minds, changed laws, changed social orders and changed hearts in a changed world."

Reconciliation, he concluded, "means we embrace our individual rich histories, all of them.


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Success crucial for 2008 Celebration of Excellence

As the signature event and largest fund-raiser for the Boys & Girls Club of East Mississippi, the success of the annual Celebration of Excellence is essential to the youth-serving organization. This year, the significance of that success is even greater. "Because of increases in costs for the program, especially the summer program, this year's dinner has to be successful," said Ricky Hood, chief executive officer. Plans for the 16th Annual Celebration of Excellence were announced Wednesday by the board. The event is set for July 17 at the Frank Cochran Center in Meridian's historic Highland Park. Area youth, staff and volunteers will be recognized for their outstanding contributions to the club. A seated dinner will be provided and attendees will have the opportunity to win door prizes from area businesses.


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MARKET TALK:CBOT Soy Futures Down, Bearish Psychology

1245 EDT [Dow Jones] - CBOT soy futures are on the defensive, taking on a bearish psychology. Spillover weakness from falling crude oil, metals and Asian soybean and vegoils markets continue to feed bearish thoughts in the market, analysts say. Technical pressure has helped pinned prices in negative territory, as bearish momentum surfaced following the markets ability to penetrate near term chart support Monday, traders say. Meanwhile, uncertainties tied to 2008 acreage amid corn planting delays and concerns surrounding future export demand as Argentina works on their issues with farmers keep traders limiting their risk exposure, analysts add. July soybeans are 10 1/2 cents lower at $12.87, and Nov soybeans are 1/2 cent lower at $11.96. July soyoil is 73 points lower at 57.75 cents per pound, and July soymeal is $3.70 lower at $331.80 per short ton.



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I do not believe in marriage: Salman Rushdie

London, Apr 30: After marrying four times and perhaps heading for the fifth one, author Salman Rushdie has ironically attacked the institution of marriage, saying he does not believe in it and that women rush to tie the knot only because they want to wear the wedding dress.

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Sharing the spotlight in Edwards

EDWARDS, Colorado � Faced with an abundance of guy talent and a shortage of guy roles, musical directors at Vail Christian High School this spring arrived at a unique solution.

They cast two students to play the lead in �Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.�

Senior Blair Halverson will play Joseph tonight; fellow senior Galen Jacobs plays Joseph on Friday. The teens learned the same songs and perfected the same moves, bringing consistency to the part they share.

�Actually, we�re both kind of blending into one being,� Halverson joked.

While directors routinely cast understudies for leads, giving two actors equal stage time as the same character is rare. Teachers said they didn�t want to shortchange either actor by denying him the starring role.


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Job titles get quirky

Four Legacies Mortgage customers don't work with a loan officer. Instead, they are connected with the company's chief motivation officer or its wealth creation specialist.

"We wanted to be creative with our titles," said Brent Rauch, chief inspiration officer at Four Legacies in West Des Moines, Iowa. "And I help inspire financial freedom for customers."A growing number of companies are looking at clever job titles to create a buzz and set themselves apart from competitors. And it's not just the technology and advertising firms that are ditching traditional titles in favor of fun and funky ones.Companies sometimes use nontraditional titles to mix things up at a company, said Paula Morrow, marketing professor at Iowa State University. Or it signals a change in leadership in which executives are trying "to show they are different than what's been in the past," Morrow said.Computer repair chain the Geek Squad, a division of Best Buy Inc., hires special agents, field marshals and mission controllers to operate on the front lines, while back-office operations still are conducted by the chief executive and a bevy of presidents and vice presidents.Food service employees tend to have unique job titles.



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Building wealth: Truth or consequences

Above the strains of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" and beneath the fragments of light spilling from an enormous crystal chandelier, 244 fortune hunters file into a Toronto hotel ballroom on a cold and dim February morning. They're here to brighten their financial futures through Donald Trump's "Way to Wealth" seminar, which, according to materials promoting this event, will reveal the secrets of real estate investing and business management.

Could it possibly be so simple? You bet, says "personal Trump instructor" Rick Brown, upon taking the stage and congratulating attendees on the "tremendous step forward" they've taken. It's not long before Brown is unleashing a flurry of tidy platitudes from the stage, such as "Money's a game; you know the rules, you win." He also confides that most people's biggest mistake in the business world is to fail to give themselves a "consequence," defined roughly as an investment of time or money in an objective, such that one's failure to work toward that objective will result in a material loss.


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Faith matters

Tony Blair gave an extraordinary lecture at Westminster Cathedral in London the other day. It was a speech that outed him, so to speak, as a man of deep spirituality.

Not that he had ever made a secret of his religiosity when he was Britain's Prime Minister, openly converting to Catholicism after he left office. But, as he explained to his Westminster audience, for various reasons connected with the culture in Britain and parts of Europe, politicians are not expected to "do God".

Freed from those constraints, however, Mr Blair spoke, with characteristic eloquence, in terms of faith "giving the use of reason a purpose and society a soul and human beings a sense of the divine".

This is a life purpose, he said, "that cannot be found in constitutions, speeches, stirring art or rhetoric.


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Gary Snyder wins $100,000 poetry prize

Gary Snyder, a poet known for his verse about nature and spirituality and a former member of the beat movement along with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, has won the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, awarded annually by the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation. .


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UF: Consumer confidence in Florida hits 16-year low

Consumer confidence in Florida fell in April to its lowest point in 16 years, according to researchers at the University of Florida.

Confidence fell four points to 66, passing a previous 16-year low recorded earlier this year in January and March.

"Consumer confidence in Florida is now at the same recessionary levels as it was during the 1990-91 recession," said Chris McCarty, director of UF's Survey Research Center. "Unlike the relatively mild recession of 2001, the recession of 1990-91 resulted in a longer time to recover. This is a likely scenario for the current economy."

Four of the index's five components fell in April with the biggest decline being the nine-point drop to 79 in perceptions of personal finances a year from now. The only component that rose was the perception about whether it is a good time to buy a big-ticket item, which climbed three points to 67.


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Santana plays what's on his mind at UCF Arena

Carlos Santana likes to tell wanna-be guitar heroes to find out what's inside his head if they want to imitate his sound.

On Tuesday at the UCF Arena, Santana opened his mind, as well as his musical soul, in a show that was both skillful and generous.

"We believe in the concept of live your light," he told a multi-generational audience that almost filled the hall.

He talked about "pollinating" the world with positive energy and about the notion that everyone is part of a "beam of light that comes from the mind of God."

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Opposing view: 'Dangerous thinking'

Opposing view: 'Dangerous thinking' Best way to reduce U.S. costs is to stabilize Iraq, raise our oil output.

By Samir Sumaida'ie

The Iraqi government understands its responsibilities. We have already taken over practically all costs associated with our security forces and reconstruction by the American government.

But some people are going a little bit too far looking at the Iraqi surplus and the gigantic American deficit and putting two and two together and saying, "Let's fix one with the other." This is dangerous thinking.

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Drug dog gets bulletproof vest

Taryn Dyess wanted to do something special for her senior project at Petal High School, and she found inspiration in a furry friend who keeps her school safe every day.

Maggie is a 3-year-old black Labrador retriever who helps patrol the school in narcotics investigations with school Resource Officer Michelle Mitelsztet. Thanks to Dyess' senior project, Maggie is now equipped with a bulletproof vest.

Dyess, who owns two dogs, said she got the idea from her grandfather.

"My grandad works on the Coast, and they had it in their department so I thought it would be good for us," she said.

Dyess held a garage sale at her house and then received donations from businesses in the area to raise the money to pay for the $500 vest. She said there were a lot of businesses wanting to help out in any way they could.


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Albert Hofmann, father of mind-altering drug LSD, dies at 102

GENEVA � Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery grew into a notorious "problem child," has died. He was 102. Hofmann died Tuesday at his home in Burg im Leimental, said Doris Stuker, a municipal clerk in the village near Basel where Hofmann moved following his retirement in 1971. Hofmann's hallucinogen inspired � and arguably corrupted � millions in the 1960s hippie generation. For decades after LSD was banned in the late 1960s, Hofmann defended his invention. "I produced the substance as a medicine. ... It's not my fault if people abused it," he once said. The Swiss chemist discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938 while studying the medicinal uses of a fungus found on wheat and other grains at the Sandoz pharmaceuticals firm in Basel. He became the first human guinea pig of the drug when a tiny amount of the substance seeped onto his finger during a repeat of the laboratory experiment on April 16, 1943.


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Russians believe in country's attractiveness

RBC, 30.04.2008, Moscow 13:55:14.More than half of Russians (53 percent) believe that Russia can become the most attractive places for living, while 28 percent have the opposite opinion, a poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) showed. Some 30 percent of respondents believe that in order for Russia to become a more attractive place for living, its citizens' wellbeing needs to be improved. Among other factors Russians named developed economy, good employment opportunities, Russia's stability and security, as well as high-quality medical care and improved living conditions.

Some respondents (9 percent) say that a lot depends on the government, while another 6 percent think that the country's leader should be the person to change the situation for the better.



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(AFX UK Focus) 2008-05-01 09:45 Norseman Gold says drilling results demonstrate potential of its prospects

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Norseman Gold Plc. said preliminary results from exploration drilling demonstrate the potential of the AIM-listed company's prospects close to its Norseman treatment plant in Western Australia.

At Lady Miller North, 33 drill holes were completed to test 800 metres of northern strike extent of mineralisation from the previously mined Lady Miller open pit, which has a current resource estimate of 480,000 tonnes at 2.7 grammes a tonne of gold. The company said it received assay results from the first four holes and was gave positive information about three of the results.

It also said the result from the first hole on Mararoa North was pleasing and announced results from four of the 23 holes drilled at Slippers and from two of six holes drilled at Groundlark.



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Malaysia To Play Major Role In Harmonising Universal Thinking About Religion

PUTRAJAYA, May 1 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will play a major role in finding ways to harmonise universal thinking about religion, particularly Islam. As such, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said, Malaysia would host the 3rd international conference on "The Muslim World and the West - Bridging the Gap". "This is a very important convention, involving Islam and the west and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) has invited luminaries from outside to discuss with us future cooperation, understanding and harmonising Islam vis-a-vis the world at large. "We cannot be antagonising each other all the time. We must find a lasting solution and perhaps having leaders of iconic stature (to promote the idea) would be the best thing. We look forward to that and Wisma Putra will play the key role," he told Bernama in an interview recently.



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Albany church receives a special proclamation

Albany--Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

For thousands of people who volunteered to help people in areas devastated by the storm, thank you was gratitude enough.

But one city in Mississippi is doing more than just saying thanks.

Bay Saint Louis is giving out proclamations to those who lent a helping hand.

An Albany church got one of those proclamations.

The City of Bay St. Louis Mississippi took a direct hit when Hurricane Katrina came ashore.

"In Bay St. Louis is where the eye of the storm came across, our church had 13 feet of water inside" Said Jeffrey Reed.

He is a City Commissioner and a pastor in Bay St. Louis.

Hundreds of miles away in Albany a friend, and fellow Pastor knew he had to do something to help.



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Rural Sector's Mixed Confidence

Meanwhile, the third leg of the National Australia's Bank's confidence surveys each quarter is the report on confidence and conditions in agri-businesses: both before and after the farm gate.

And the latest survey for the March quarter shows there's a curious "we'll be rooned but things are looking up" dichotomy which some how sums up attitudes in rural areas some times.

But this time around it's more important than for several years: the last two and a bit years have been pretty bad for rural and regional areas with the drought, the wine bust and the damage to grain crops, offset by the beef and sheep meat boom and of course the resources booms in parts of rural Queensland, Western Australia and parts of South Australia and NSW.

But with generally good rain (and more needed in the next few months) there are hopes the impact of the drought will fade and winter grain crops in particular will flourish and catch the world-wide price boom.


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Kate & Gerry McCann: We believe Maddie is still alive

KATE and Gerry McCann believe their missing daughter Madeleine is still alive and think one key piece of information will reveal her whereabouts.

Speaking two days before the first anniversary of the day she was abducted, the couple said their ordeal had been "almost unbearable" and said they had been pulled through by their young twins, Sean and Amelie.

Launching a media campaign in a renewed bid to find Madeleine, Gerry McCann said: "Any parent will understand we will do anything to get that child back. We will go to the ends of the earth."

Kate added: "We're Madeleine's parents; if we're not there for her, who is?"

The couple were speaing in a live TV interview this morning.

Kate admitted the couple had received hate mail for leaving the little girl and her younger siblings alone in the unlocked apartment while they went to dinner at a nearby restaurant.



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