I am in graduate school and my best friend and I share many friends in the same program. However over the past few months I have noticed odd behavior from her that I think might be jealousy and its bothering me I dont know what to do. I can not be her friend completley because we do a lot of class projects together but I need a tactful way to deal with her.
Examples of what she has done:
*If someone compliments my photo that she took she will say oh (Elle) is not that pretty in person , she just looks that way in the photo because I touched it up.
* When I get good grades she says I only get them because I am lucky and the teachers like me…..and she says I know you cant be that smart.
* Asked me if my eyebrows were fake because they look too nice and why dont her eyebrows look like that ( I am spanish she is asian we have different eyebrow growths…that was my explanation.)
*She also has started dressing like me? HELP Please

you might want to talk to her about it. The things she said was very rude and uncalled for. IF she REALLY was your friend, she would support you, not put you down.

It refers to the development of urban areas. For instance, it tries to avoid "urban sprawl" by concentrating development inside the established city limits. It tries to make transportation in the city more energy efficient, while cutting down on pollution. Basically it attempts to build cities with as little undesirable effects as possible on the surrounding country side and in the city itself.
I would presume that a smart growth legislator is one that supports smart growth.

Certified financial planners are people who are licensed in the insurance or securities business, and they have generally taken some type of advanced training to gain a better understanding of how money is used. Learn about using caution when using certified financial planners with help from a financial services specialist in this free video on certified financial planners.

Expert: William Rae
Contact: www.hbwfl.com
Bio: William Rae has been licensed in the insurance and financial fields for over 30 years.
Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

Duration : 0:2:8

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This is the introduction to Jefferson County’s Economic Element planning for the Smart Growth compliant, ten year plan update.

Duration : 0:3:8

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February 19, 1958

From the Forum Network’s free lecture titled “Frank Lloyd Wright – Creative Mind: The Architect as Creator”
http://forum-network.org/lecture/creative-mind-architect-creator

The host is Lyman Bryson

Duration : 0:9:56

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This Video is getting a LOT of attention, see STATS graph: http://mormonanswerman.blogspot.com/2009/05/gay-marriage-tyranny-of-tolerance.html New York Gov. David A. Paterson who is black is pushing gay marriage onto the State and comparing the battle to civil rights/slavery. The Black Clergy in the State say they resent his comparison to the Black Civil Rights movement. Me too, it just seems wrong-headed. Watch the video. 6 months ago, Keith Oberman said of Prop 8’s passage: “This vote is HHHHorible. HHHHorible! This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it. If you voted for this proposition or supported those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because truly, I do not understand, why does this matter to you? What is it to you?”
If Keith doesn’t understand, why does he then call it HHHorible? If he doesn’t understand, how can he be emotional about it? In fact, that makes him prejudiced, angry and intolerant, the very definition of bigotry.
Taking a stand for traditional marriage and protecting it from being redefined is not bigotry, anymore than defending a culture or heritage against historical revisionism is bigotry. Someone is trying to change the status quo here, the long established traditions of 1000s of years.
A bigot is defined as: a person who is intolerant of or takes offense to the opinions, lifestyles or identities differing from his or her own. The key words here being intolerant and taking offense. That sounds like what many against Prop 8 think of those that supported Prop 8. They are against our opinions, our lifestyle, and our vote. Bigots have attitude that engenders profanity laced tirades, and Hollywood stars labeling legitimate voters as un-American. Un American?!!? You mean the lawful kind that exercise their right to vote in a democratic society, that kind of communist? When you disagree with someone based on morals, based on ideology, it does not make you a bigot. It does make you true to your principles, however. If disagreeing was bigotry, all gays would be bigoted against anyone who voted for Prop 8. Are they?
Well, I can feel the heat of bigotry. Just do a video for Prop 8. I feel the hate, I hear and read the hate speech. I feel the disdain. This marriage issue is about morals, about choices, and the definition of marriage as being between man and woman The origin of which can be validated by ancient books originating 1000s of years ago. History! Truths that transcend nations, and cultures, civilizations, and 1000s of years. Are we going to let the fad of a 21st century change all of that?
Gender is a key ingredient to our very existence. Gender spells out what we are. A guy not feeling good about his manhood does not change the fact that he IS a man and has all the characteristics of a man. A guy is a guy, because when a guy and a girl come together in marriage, the natural result is children. When a guy and a guy come together, nature doesnt validate that with procreation. Thats because, its unnatural. To most people it is as simple as that.
If one chooses to, they can join the ranks of the GLBT community. If you want to, you can do it, and they would accept you. All it takes is a choice. Isnt that an amazing truth? All you have to do is say you are one! Then they have to believe you! I choose not to. Its not because I was born to choose not to, its because I choose not to. We are not born gay. We are born babies, and we learn from our environment.
The teen years are when children start making decisions for good or bad, moral decisions, because its a time of intense physical, moral, and intellectual growth. This is the time that some youth decide to join the ranks of the GLBT community, having made a decision.
If you cant tell what a person is when they are born, then that person is not born that way. For example, I can tell a Chinese baby from an African baby. I can tell if the baby is a boy or a girl. The obvious things. No one, and I mean, no one can tell if a baby is going to turn out gay or turn out a doctor. That they may have resources in genes to be smart, physically strong, etc. is one thing, but absolutes on what they will be? No way. No one can tell if a boy will grow up to be a professional baseball player, or a bartender. Who knows?
You might hold a child in your arms and say this boy will grow up to be a football player! and that will happen if the boy is shaped, trained, and directed to do so, AND, if he wants to. Ultimately, he chooses. The influence of parenthood can be powerful for good or bad.

Duration : 0:4:54

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Look at how Japanese media treated Miki Ando at Olympics. They asked if she was dedicating the performance to her dead father. Was this smart? She cried and had to leave press conference in tears. Japanese media criticized Miki for wearing make up at school. They criticized her for the clothes she wore. They said she was fat. Even recently an ex-Japanese skater criticized Miki for clothes she wears. But now suddenly Japanese like her? Whatever.

To those who think I bash Japanese skaters I say this. I never said negative things about Shizuka Arakawa. I believed with confidence she could win Olympic gold. Did you?

To have credible opinion about how skaters will do you need to consider 2 important points other than just looking at protocals of recent results.

1) Injuries. When a skater has a season with injuries it will affect results in that season. Shizuka had boot problems the season after winning 2004 world’s. People should have recognized how she was re-gaining form in 2005/2006 season for her concentration of Olympic goal. But many “experts” chose to look only at 9th place at 2005 world’s. Stupid. Miki had injury problems in 2005/2006 season too.

2) Psychology. If you don’t consider what a skater says before and after performance you cannot have idea about skater’s mental approach. Then you can see patterns that partly determine skater ups and downs in history. Before 2006 Jr. world’s Mao said she wanted to “skate perfect” performance. She said she “might try a 4 loop.” This was not a defined, concentrated, focused approach. She then lost. Now after 2007 world’s she says exact same words. Wants to do “perfect performance” and “would like to do 4 loop.” So mentally she has not grown and changed. It is reasonable for me to make this remark. Her drastic inconsistency will continue if there is no mental growth and change. Look what Shizuka said about how she focused on doing “her best” not “the best” in Olympics. Look at how she used learning from failure and developed step by step, patient approach to improvement. Yu-na’s wise recent statements about her first senior level season are similar to Shizuka’s. But Mao does not show this learning.

As early as march 2006 I said Miki would be contender for gold medals in 2006/2007 season. How many of you thought so? In autumn I predicted Mao, Yu-na, Miki to be the skaters on the podium at 2007 world’s. Just before world’s I was more doubtful about all 3 for following reasons.

1. Yu-na’s injury seemed bad enough to keep her off podium.

2. Miki had recent shoulder injury although it was said to be healed. It could have been a potential problem though.

3. Mao’s inconsistency. 171.23 at Skate America. 102.39 in freeskate. 4th place in freeskate. 172.52 at GPF. 103.18 in freeskate. 4th place in freeskate. So 199.52 at NHK trophy and 194.45 at world’s were not a proven normal result for Mao. Can you show me a skater with greater inconsistency between competitions than 28.29 points? I now nickname Mao “the coin toss girl.”

However, my initial prediction about world’s podium proved correct again.

I bash Japanese skaters? Actually I believed in Shizuka and Miki’s ability when few others did. It will not be as easy for Miki, Mao or even Yu-na to get medals for 2007/2008 season. Because Carolina Kostner and Elene Gedevanishvili will be prepared, healthy and able to challenge. A healthy Yu-na will be best I think. I will stay with that statement so deal with it.

Duration : 0:0:56

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You can see various videos of starlings, and people are feeding them and treating them like pets or other birds. Many people think they are simply cute birds without knowing anything about them. However, people need to educate themselves about starlings, as they are basically cockroaches with wings. They do NOT belong in the U.S., and are categorized as a nuisance to society, pests to the environment, and are a threat to native birds. As a result, they are one of the few birds not protected in the U.S. by laws, or even the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

Starlings are vicious birds that harass and scare native birds off from feeding sites. They are a major threat to the natural habitat of many birds, such as woodpeckers, martins, barnswallows, waxwings, flickers, jays, and song birds such as grosbeaks. Starlings will even attack nests, eggs, and young chicks of other species. (There are great examples of nasty starling attacks here on YouTube.) Starlings have voracious apetites, and not only crowd out other birds at feeders, but require bird watchers to put out food more frequently for native birds in effort to prevent food shortages caused by starlings.

Unfortunately, European starlings were brought over to the U.S. from Europe (and released to Central Park in NYC) back in the late 1800’s, and they have spread like the plague ever since. The situation is not the starling’s fault, but nonetheless, it does not change the fact that starlings must still be effectively dealt with.

There have been many attempts to eliminate the starling problem by traps, but most starlings are smart enough to avoid them, and if native birds get caught in the trap, then they must be released unharmed. As a result, traps are not effective at eliminating starling problems, and they are more likely to interfere with native birds. Others have tried to use sirens and other ridiculous noise contraptions to get rid of them, but such measures are anemic and pathetic, as starlings simply get used to the noise. Such noises are more likely to disturb your neighbors than they are the starlings. What little effect sirens or other noises will have on starlings will also be equally effective at scaring off native birds, and therefore, are highly ineffective at eliminating starling problems. Even if sirens and other noise contraptions were even remotely effective, the problem would only be swept under the rug, as the starlings simply move on to wreak havoc in another neighborhood. Some have tried to get rid of starlings by putting poison in bird food, but this should be avoided, as poison would kill off native birds as well, and really would not be a humane way to get rid of starlings.

Moreover, none of these solutions actually eliminate the threat of starlings anyway. What makes things even more challenging, are scenarios where people are putting out food out for native birds and squirrels. As if the situation could not be worse, starlings also have multiple clutches per year, and lay many eggs, allowing starlings to overrun food supply and peaceful birds, while starling population growth destabilizes the natural habitat.

I enjoy feeding and watching birds as much as the next person, but starlings must be dealt with head on. The only effective and humane way to rid starlings from neighborhoods is to shoot them. However, most people are uninformed and / or incapable of dealing with starlings.

I use a .22 cal. Condor, and a shroud to eliminate report. My rifle is scoped and zeroed for 60 yards, but I use a laser for quick target acquisition at shorter ranges. The Condor is highly accurate, efficient, extremely quiet (when used with a shroud), and it allows death to be instantaneous to prevent cruelty. It is such an effective setup, that you can quickly get rid of starlings without disturbing other birds from feeding and socializing. You can safely take out starlings without other birds knowing whats going on.

The starling in this video is the last one in a group of 5 that I took out while it was on one of my feeders, and it was killed instantly. As a result, I have already noticed an increase of visits by native birds, which will be maintained until (if / when) the next group of starlings show up in the neighborhood.

Starling numbers multiply much faster than most other birds, which is one of the reasons why there are so many of them across the U.S. The key to ridding your neighborhood of starlings is to kill as many as you can, and as quickly and efficiently as you can without disturbing native birds or your neighbors. Doing so will help mitigate having to kill more offspring later on. If you have a bunch of them, just keep killing them very efficiently without scaring them off, and before you know it, you will notice a major improvement to the natural bird habitat in your neighborhood.

Duration : 0:0:12

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The Patrick-Murray Administration announced a commitment of $42.5 million in state assistance to construct a new east-west parkway through SouthField, an award-winning, smart-growth community on the 1,400 acre site of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station. The construction of the parkway is vital to the redevelopment of the base into a thriving model of smart-growth development and will bring significant relief to regional traffic ills.

Duration : 0:4:2

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Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and MP Scott Brison speaking at Kwantlen University, responding to a broad question about trade with China and concerns about the impact of the Asia Pacific Gateway strategy and the local highway infrastructure in the Vancouver lower mainland area (close to where they were speaking).

Sorry about my hands being shaky with the camera, next time I will bring my little steady cam thingy.

This is an interesting video, its both concerning and hopeful which I guess compared to Harper is a step in the right direction but we need more than baby steps we need real leadership that will take us into a new sustainable economy that must be built from the ground up in Canada.

The question is does Ignatieff want to be a world leader in addressing climate change or does he want to pass the buck and point the finger. If Gateway means a pipeline to get more of our oil over there or if it means sprawling development built around the car instead of smart growth communities then it is truely a gateway to global warming.

Brison’s comments are hopeful but its yet to be seen what the Liberals would do. Personally I think a coalition would be the best case scenario because it would ensure that Iggy would have to “play well with others” and it will definitely produce the best social policy we have seen from our government for a while and hopefully a sense of ecological reality.

Duration : 0:7:58

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