Stevie Wonder cancels show at Israel Defense Forces fundraiser

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran singer and United Nations Messenger of Peace Stevie Wonder has canceled a planned performance for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces after several organizations asked him not to perform.

The soul singer, 62, was scheduled to sing at a December 6 fundraising gala in Los Angeles hosted by the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), an organization set up to help those serving in the Israel Defense Forces and families of fallen soldiers.

"Given the current and very delicate situation in the Middle East, and with a heart that has always cried out for world unity, I will not be performing at the FIDF Gala," Wonder said in a statement sent to Reuters by his spokeswoman.

Wonder said he would make contributions to organizations that support Israeli and Palestinian children with disabilities.

The singer added that as a Messenger of Peace, a title he's held since 2009, "I am and have always been against war, any war, anywhere."

According to a statement from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a coalition that aims to change U.S. policy toward Palestine and Israel and support human rights and equality, Wonder's decision came after a "growing outcry" from several organizations and three international signed petitions.

The protest is part of a "cultural boycott" led by organizations that oppose Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, the statement said.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stevie-wonder-cancels-show-israel-defense-forces-fundraiser-011742028.html

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South Africa makes progress in HIV, AIDS fight

In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 an unidentified patient prepares to be tested for TB, at the US sponsored Themba Lethu, HIV/AIDS Clinic, at the Helen Joseph hospital, in Johannesburg. In the early 90s when South Africa?s Themba Lethu clinic could only treat HIV/AIDS patients for opportunistic diseases, many would come in on wheelchairs and keep coming to the health center until they died. Two decades later the clinic is the biggest ARV (anti-retroviral) treatment center in the country and sees between 600 to 800 patients a day from all over southern Africa. Those who are brought in on wheelchairs, sometimes on the brink of death, get the crucial drugs and often become healthy and are walking within weeks. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 an unidentified patient prepares to be tested for TB, at the US sponsored Themba Lethu, HIV/AIDS Clinic, at the Helen Joseph hospital, in Johannesburg. In the early 90s when South Africa?s Themba Lethu clinic could only treat HIV/AIDS patients for opportunistic diseases, many would come in on wheelchairs and keep coming to the health center until they died. Two decades later the clinic is the biggest ARV (anti-retroviral) treatment center in the country and sees between 600 to 800 patients a day from all over southern Africa. Those who are brought in on wheelchairs, sometimes on the brink of death, get the crucial drugs and often become healthy and are walking within weeks. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 Christinah Motsoahae, has blood taken for testing, at the US sponsored "Right to Care", Themba Lethu, HIV/AIDS Clinic, at the Helen Joseph hospital, in Johanneburg. In the early 90s when South Africa?s Themba Lethu clinic could only treat HIV/AIDS patients for opportunistic diseases, many would come in on wheelchairs and keep coming to the health center until they died. Two decades later the clinic is the biggest ARV (anti-retroviral) treatment center in the country and sees between 600 to 800 patients a day from all over southern Africa. Those who are brought in on wheelchairs, sometimes on the brink of death, get the crucial drugs and often become healthy and are walking within weeks. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, Tshepo Hoato, left, and colleague, Mongezi Sosibo, pose for a photo in Johannesburg. The two help run a support group for teens at the US sponsored Themba Lethu, HIV/AIDS Clinic, at the Helen Joseph hospital, in Johannesburg. In the early 90s when South Africa?s Themba Lethu clinic could only treat HIV/AIDS patients for opportunistic diseases, many would come in on wheelchairs and keep coming to the health center until they died. Two decades later the clinic is the biggest ARV (anti-retroviral) treatment center in the country and sees between 600 to 800 patients a day from all over southern Africa. Those who are brought in on wheelchairs, sometimes on the brink of death, get the crucial drugs and often become healthy and are walking within weeks. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 Christinah Motsoahae, back receives her medication from a pharmacist at the US sponsored Themba Lethu, HIV/AIDS Clinic, at the Helen Joseph hospital, in Johannesburg. In the early 90s when South Africa?s Themba Lethu clinic could only treat HIV/AIDS patients for opportunistic diseases, many would come in on wheelchairs and keep coming to the health center until they died. Two decades later the clinic is the biggest ARV (anti-retroviral) treatment center in the country and sees between 600 to 800 patients a day from all over southern Africa. Those who are brought in on wheelchairs, sometimes on the brink of death, get the crucial drugs and often become healthy and are walking within weeks. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, Dr. Dave Spencer, a physician who treats patients at the US sponsored Themba Lethu, HIV/AIDS Clinic at the Helen Joseph hospital in Johanneburg, talks during an interview with the Associated Press. In the early 90s when South Africa?s Themba Lethu clinic could only treat HIV/AIDS patients for opportunistic diseases, many would come in on wheelchairs and keep coming to the health center until they died. Two decades later the clinic is the biggest ARV (anti-retroviral) treatment center in the country and sees between 600 to 800 patients a day from all over southern Africa. Those who are brought in on wheelchairs, sometimes on the brink of death, get the crucial drugs and often become healthy and are walking within weeks. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? In the early '90s when South Africa's Themba Lethu clinic could only treat HIV/AIDS patients for opportunistic diseases, many would come in on wheelchairs and keep coming to the health center until they died.

Two decades later the clinic is the biggest anti-retroviral, or ARV, treatment center in the country and sees between 600 to 800 patients a day from all over southern Africa. Those who are brought in on wheelchairs, sometimes on the brink of death, get the crucial drugs and often become healthy and are walking within weeks.

"The ARVs are called the 'Lazarus drug' because people rise up and walk," said Sue Roberts who has been a nurse at the clinic , run by Right to Care in Johannesburg's Helen Joseph Hospital, since it opened its doors in 1992. She said they recently treated a woman who was pushed in a wheelchair for 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to avoid a taxi fare and who was so sick it was touch and go. Two weeks later, the woman walked to the clinic, Roberts said.

Such stories of hope and progress are readily available on World AIDS Day 2012 in sub-Saharan Africa where deaths from AIDS-related causes have declined by 32 percent from 1.8 million in 2005 to 1.2 million in 2011, according to the latest UNAIDS report.

As people around the world celebrate a reduction in the rate of HIV infections, the growth of the clinic, which was one of only a few to open its doors 20 years ago, reflects how changes in treatment and attitude toward HIV and AIDS have moved South Africa forward. The nation, which has the most people living with HIV in the world at 5.6 million, still faces stigma and high rates of infection.

"You have no idea what a beautiful time we're living in right now," said Dr. Kay Mahomed, a doctor at the clinic who said treatment has improved drastically over the past several years.

President Jacob Zuma's government decided to give the best care, including TB screening and care at the clinic, and not to look at the cost, she said. South Africa has increased the numbers treated for HIV by 75 percent in the last two years, UNAIDS said, and new HIV infections have fallen by more than 50,000 in those two years. South Africa has also increased its domestic expenditure on AIDS to $1.6 billion, the highest by any low-and middle-income country, the group said.

Themba Lethu clinic, with funding from the government, the United States Agency for International Development and the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, is now among some 2,500 anti-retroviral therapy facilities in the country that treat approximately 1.9 million people.

"Now, you can't not get better. It's just one of these win-win situations. You test, you treat and you get better, end of story," Mahomed said.

But it hasn't always been that way.

In the 1990s South Africa's problem was compounded by years of misinformation by President Thabo Mbeki, who questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, and his health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who promoted a "treatment" of beets and garlic.

Christinah Motsoahae first found out she was HIV positive in 1996, and said she felt nothing could be done about it.

"I didn't understand it at that time because I was only 24, and I said, 'What the hell is that?'" she said.

Sixteen years after her first diagnosis, she is now on anti-retroviral drugs and her life has turned around. She says the clinic has been instrumental.

"My status has changed my life, I have learned to accept people the way they are. I have learned not to be judgmental. And I have learned that it is God's purpose that I have this," the 40-year-old said.

She works with a support group of "positive ladies" in her hometown near Krugersdorp. She travels to the clinic as often as needed and her optimism shines through her gold eye shadow and wide smile. "I love the way I'm living now."

Motsoahae credits Nelson Mandela's family for inspiring her to face up to her status. The anti-apartheid icon galvanized the AIDS community in 2005 when he publicly acknowledged his son died of AIDS.

None of Motsoahae's children was born with HIV. The number of children newly infected with HIV has declined significantly. In six countries in sub-Saharan Africa ? South Africa, Burundi, Kenya, Namibia, Togo and Zambia ?the number of children with HIV declined by 40 to 59 percent between 2009 and 2011, the UNAIDS report said.

But the situation remains dire for those over the age of 15, who make up the 5.3 million infected in South Africa. Fear and denial lend to the high prevalence of HIV for that age group in South Africa, said the clinic's Kay Mahomed.

About 3.5 million South Africans still are not getting therapy, and many wait too long to come in to clinics or don't stay on the drugs, said Dr. Dave Spencer, who works at the clinic .

"People are still afraid of a stigma related to HIV," he said, adding that education and communication are key to controlling the disease.

Themba Lethu clinic reaches out to the younger generation with a teen program.

Tshepo Hoato, 21, who helps run the program found out he was HIV positive after his mother died in 2000. He said he has been helped by the program in which teens meet one day a month.

"What I've seen is a lot people around our ages, some commit suicide as soon as they find out they are HIV. That's a very hard stage for them so we came up with this program to help one another," he said. "We tell them our stories so they can understand and progress and see that no, man, it's not the end of the world."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-01-South%20Africa-AIDS%20Clinic/id-27ac6b4970e847e6b20cb3d9281d5cc2

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Mid Century Magic - B-Metro

Mid Century Magic

By Lee Ann Brown, Photography by Billy Brown, Styling by Mindi Shapiro

I first fell in love with Mid-Century Modern architecture when I was a kid, although I didn?t know it then. When I think back, my earliest recollections of being aware of liking a style of house was when I saw the father?s house in the original Parent Trap movie and, the iconic Brady house in the television show The Brady Bunch.

Whenever I watched The Brady Bunch, I always found myself looking at the house, the way it was laid out, the indoor planter, the exposed rock, and my favorite feature, the open staircase. These were features that I had never seen in a house before, certainly not in my own house or even in my neighborhood. Even though the houses were all based on the idea of MCM, sadly all the ?cool? features were left out. I had no idea that it was a ?style,? and in fact, I?m pretty sure I had probably never heard the word ?architecture?, except on the show, since Mr. Brady was an architect. I certainly was not aware at that young age of the term Mid-Century Modern. But I was drawn to it and the way it seemed to play a role in the life of the family.

After years of living in several different styles of houses as an adult, I have found myself being drawn back to the Mid-Century Modern style house that I grew up in, particularly the Ranch? style house. I can hear the groans from here, and I can relate, because the ranch?style house I grew up in, is probably a lot like the ones most people my age grew up in?a one-level with no distinguishing characteristics, just a boring brick house with small rooms. And that is most people?s view of this type of home. But, I have come to appreciate that even in that small, plain ranch?style house I grew up in, there was an underlying feeling of ease, and a casual laid back style to living that you just don?t seem to get with a soaring three?story house,? with a sky?high deck off the back that keeps you from enjoying your yard, and Palladian windows that don?t open to let in fresh air. You are practically hermetically sealed off from the outside world in today?s homes, starting with the moment you pull into the garage and close the doors behind you.

I must say that I am certainly no student of architecture or historian of architectural styles. What I am is an enthusiast of the Mid-Century Modern style, and I have developed a strong interest in the casual, laidback lifestyle that this type of home seems to invite. In fact, there are many different variations on the MCM style?some ranch style, some more modern?but that casual feeling is what they all seem to have in common and what I remember most fondly about the house I grew up in. And that?s what I have found myself wanting to have in my own home now. Certain features of the MCM?style house offers this casual lifestyle.

First and foremost, the home is usually a one-level house, though there are styles with second floors, and even basements. The main goal is to have the main living areas flow directly to the outside, ground level. Ideally, most of the rooms would have access to the outdoors, but at the very least the kitchen, den/living rooms, and master bedroom would all open to the outdoor patio. Not a deck. No steps to have to maneuver down to actually touch the grass. Other features include lots of glass, sliding doors, built in planters, atriums, exposed stone, natural floors. It?s all about blending the indoors and out. Bringing as much of nature in as possible. And it?s about embracing an ease of living that closes out the workday world, and is all about enjoying time with family and friends, or a peaceful retreat to enjoy the peace and quiet surrounded by light and nature. In fact, a lot of these homes present a closed off wall to the front, but are almost all glass and open to the back.

What I loved most about the ranch?style house I grew up in is the sliding glass doors to the outside patio. Most of the time the doors were open to the screen sliding door, and my dad was always out on the patio grilling steaks on his built?in gas grill (we got the very first one when the gas line was available on our street), and always, always Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr, Nat Cole, and the rest of the Swing Set were playing through the house on my dad?s beloved stereo console.

Everyone was always welcome at our house. We didn?t even lock the doors. On weekend mornings? I can remember waking up to a party that had already started. That is another thing about this type of house, it is great for entertaining. And my parents enjoyed this feature very much.

But this type of house is great for enjoying family time, too. Backyard games are especially fun since you don?t have to go up flights of stairs every time you need to use the bathroom, or forget something inside. Favorites include grilling out burgers and dogs, playing badminton, croquet, ping-pong or tag. And a swimming pool is groovy cool, too.

To me, Mid-Century Modern represents a chic and sophisticated style of living that celebrates quiet time alone, surrounded by nature, as easily as it embraces the casual ease of family living. It is an indoor/outdoor lifestyle, shoes optional with no stuffy worries about dogs, kids, or dirty feet running in and out. There?s grilling on the patio or a game of charades in the family room; and sophisticated but cool and casual adult entertainment. Have your friends over for cocktails, with a well stocked bar, swinging tunes on the sound system and maybe a game of cards or dominoes and sparkling conversation. Here we can make room for sharing good times and plenty of laughter. Oh, the glamour of it all!

My parents were always getting my brothers and me to take them their cocktails: Bloody Mary?s, Salty Dogs, Tom Collins, and I must admit that I sneaked my fair share of sips when I got the chance. So, a good cocktail is synonymous with entertaining in a MCM Style House. Along with the classics enjoy this recipe for a ?Rancher,? tastes like a Jolly Rancher. Cheers! 3 oz. Amaretto 1 oz. Cranberry Juice 3 oz. Watermelon Schnapps 2 oz. ice Pour into cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and pour into chilled martini glass.

Luckily more and more people are starting to appreciate what this style of architecture has to offer aesthetically as well as functionally, and hopefully more are being saved from the wrecking ball to build another McMansion. However, MCM is not a style suited just for private homes. Some of the most iconic buildings in the world are Mid-Century Modern, and we are fortunate to have a few MCM gems tucked here and there right here in Birmingham. These are some of the coolest, and most architecturally interesting, buildings and homes built by some of our own architects. The artistry and vision of these architects come to life in these buildings and create that same sense of design and space for the people that work in them that the houses do for the people that live in them. Next time you are out and about in the city, take a few minutes to enjoy looking at these ultra hip Mid-Century Modern buildings that help define the skyline and character of our Magic City.

Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.

? Posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2012.

Source: http://b-metro.com/mid-century-magic/8515/

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Find Out How An Internet Marketing Vancouver Firm Can Help You ...

Miscellaneous Written by Anonymous ??Friday, 30 November 2012 23:05 The Internet and worldwide web has changed a lot about our daily lives. From the way we shop and communicate to the way we market our wares and engage in commerce have all been changed by the web. This great tool gives persons the ability to do things that were undreamt of just a short while ago. Te power to reach out to millions of potential customers with just a few clicks of a keyboard or digital pad enables individuals to enhance their marketing prowess in extraordinary ways. Internet Marketing Vancouver can help individuals and firms further their business through the use of web-based tools. Using a Vancouver Internet marketing firm can put you in touch with trends and consumer groups you may not even be aware of.

Among the many web-based tools used by Vancouver Internet marketing firms is SEO. Search engine optimization is the ultimate front in trying to gain notoriety and publicity in the virtual medium of the worldwide web. Search engine optimization can help put your company or product in the top listings for individual searches. However, this can only be accomplished through a careful analysis of the algorithms used by the SEO forums. Google and other search engines are making constant upgrades to their systems which can make it difficult to keep maintain or advance the ranking of your site. Indeed, Google updates require change to SEO methods regularly. In order to keep up with the latest updates you will need to work with a Vancouver Internet marketing firm with in-depth knowledge and expertise. If you have SEO experts on your side, you can stay ahead of the game. Such professionals can keep you very much in the vanguard of being found.

Nowadays, few companies can afford not to incorporate the web in their overall marketing strategy. Knowing the best ways of achieving search engine optimization is vital in executing such plans and attracting online users to your site. The most important thing for a company, in regard to its web presence, is to be found before its competitors are. This is essential if a company is to outpace its rivals in attracting new customers and new business. Now, there are many who believe that they can apply a few tricks and techniques to their online postings and all will be fine. But keeping or advancing your search engine rankings can be very complicated, and it is best to have the work properly done by professionals with the knowledge and insight to provide sound solutions.

Fortunately, it is not that difficult to get the help you need. The place to begin your search is, of course, the worldwide web. The web will allow you to bring all of the experts who work with SEO and other web-based marketing tools to your computer screen. It will also allow you to review the quality, service, and value of such vendors. Using the web will also enable you to find out the reputation of those offering such service. And this can be essential in helping you make the final decision on who to go with.

An Internet Marketing Vancouver can help your company keep up with the latest trends and advancements in web-based marketing.

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Last Updated on Friday, 30 November 2012 23:05

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Source: http://www.workoninternet.com/business/reviews/miscellaneous/220462-article.html

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