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Books have long been regarded by many people as friends, but as an old adage says, "in order to have a friend, you have to be one."
Many books in the MU Libraries are fragile, others need minor repairs, still others require extensive help if they are to survive this century. Those of us who consider books our friends cannot bear to lose them, and it is in that spirit that the Friends of the MU Libraries have initiated the Adopt-A-Book Program. By adopting a book, you will ensure that it gets the help it needs to remain with us for years to come.
Please consider sponsoring a book. All monies will go directly to the care and maintenance of rare, fragile and just plain good books.
Lugduni: Gryphius, 1566. | <urn:uuid:ab63b536-d5bb-427a-8ad3-f7218ac0bb15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/about/adoptabook/adopted-by-donor2.php?donor=82 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951509 | 164 | 1.6875 | 2 |
|Output Group 3
|Provision of advisory and drafting services to non-government senators.
Provision of procedural advice and training to senators, staff, public servants and officials from other parliaments both within Australia and overseas.
Provision of secretariat support to the Regulations and Ordinances Committee and Scrutiny of Bills Committee.
Provision of parliamentary information services to the community.
Provision of parliamentary education services to schools, teachers and students.
Provision of policy advice and secretariat support for the maintenance and development of interparliamentary relations, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union, overseas conferences and delegations
program for senators.
||The degree of satisfaction of the President, Deputy President, committee members and senators, as expressed through formal and informal feedback mechanisms, with the quality and timeliness of advice and support and the achievement of key tasks.
||The 2009 survey of senators revealed high levels of satisfaction with the group’s outputs. This was supported by consistently favourable feedback from the group’s ongoing evaluation processes.
|Procedural advice is accurate and covers all foreseeable eventualities.
||Senators continued to acknowledge the accuracy and value of procedural advice.
|Amendments and bills are accurate and legally sound.
||Legislative amendments and bills were prepared to the satisfaction of senators.
|Public information and parliamentary research is accurate, comprehensive and targeted for particular needs.
||Public information resources were updated as required to reflect arrangements and procedural changes in the Senate.
|Education Centre teaching and other PEO projects accurately reflect the parliament and its work.
||The Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) continued to deliver its Education Centre program at near capacity and further expanded its services to include greater online interactivity and a range of new resources.
||Procedural advice is timely.
||Procedural advice met all chamber deadlines.
|Scrutiny committee meetings held, documentation provided and reports produced within timeframes set by the Senate or the committees, as relevant.
||All meetings of the scrutiny committees were held as scheduled and documentation was provided within the timeframes set by the committees.
|During sitting periods, amendments drafted as soon as possible after receipt of instructions.
||Amendments were drafted in accordance with timetables set by senators and the Senate.
|Seminars and lectures held on time and in accordance with advertised schedule; public information projects delivered according to programmed schedule.
||All seminars and lectures were held on time and in accordance with advertised schedules.
|PEO teaching programs held on time and in accordance with booking schedule.
||All programs were held in accordance with the booking schedule.
|PEO projects delivered according to programmed schedule.
||Projects, programs and outreach activities were delivered as scheduled.
|Information available on the internet and in publications is up to date and available as soon as practicable.
||Information resources were updated as required to reflect changes in personnel and procedures
The PEO website was constantly monitored, with required changes addressed immediately.
The Procedure Office provides a range of advisory, support and information services closely aligned with the role and work of the Senate. The office is divided into the functional areas shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10 Elements and responsibilities of the Procedure Office
Executive and Legislative Drafting
Richard Pye, Clerk Assistant
Procedural advice and training
Drafting of legislative amendments and private senators’ bills
|Public information and parliamentary research
|David Sullivan, Director, Research Section
||Chris Reid, Director, Parliamentary Education Office
||James Warmenhoven, Secretary, Regulations and Ordinances Committee
Julie Dennett, Secretary, Scrutiny of Bills Committee
|Publications, seminars, exhibitions and research on parliamentary matters
Production of The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate
|Parliamentary education services and resources for schools, teachers and students
||Secretariat, advisory and administrative support to the committees
The office is managed by the Clerk Assistant (Procedure), who also undertakes procedural and legislative work, principally for non-government senators, and performs duties as a clerk at the table in the Senate chamber.
The office provides secretariats for the Senate’s legislative scrutiny committees, the Regulations and Ordinances Committee and the Scrutiny of Bills Committee, which examine bills and legislative instruments against certain rights and accountability criteria.
The Research Section undertakes parliamentary research and produces publications, lectures and exhibitions, each with a focus on the work and role of the Senate and the parliament. The section also provides and coordinates training and seminars on parliamentary and procedural matters for a wide range of audiences. A unit within the Research Section produces The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate, a multi-volume work containing biographies of senators focusing on their parliamentary careers.
The Parliamentary Education Office produces educational programs and resources for school students, teachers and others, with an increasing focus on outreach activities through school and regional visits and through its website: www.peo.gov.au.
In 2008–09, the cost of the Procedure Office in providing its services was $6.1 million ($5.3 million in 2007–08). The full-time equivalent staffing level for 2008–09 was 34 (32 in 2007–08).
Procedural support and legislative drafting
The Procedure Office provides direct support to the work of senators by two principal means:
- providing procedural advice and support
- drafting legislative amendments and private senators’ bills.
The services are provided to ensure that senators are supported in undertaking their legislative work. The demand for these services is substantially driven by the requirements of senators and the Senate chamber.
In 2008–09, the office assisted non-government senators and their staff by providing procedural advice relating to the role and work of the Senate and its committees. The office does not keep statistics on the quantum of advice given, but there was consistent demand for such advice during sitting periods.
The office prepared an average of seven procedural scripts per sitting day for senators’ use in the chamber and elsewhere. This was slightly lower than the 2007–08 average of eight. The scripts included notices of motion, the text of procedural motions and terms of reference for committee inquiries. The closely balanced numbers in the Senate chamber also led to a demand for procedural advice and the drafting of procedural motions designed to test support for dealing with motions and legislation other than in accordance with government programs.
In 2008–09, the office provided legislative support to senators’ work by:
- drafting amendments to bills, in response to instructions from senators and their staff and recommendations contained in committee reports
- drafting private senators’ bills, in response to instructions from senators and their staff.
This work was undertaken primarily for non-government senators, but a small number of backbench government senators also used these services.
Peaks in demand for legislative amendments reflected the concentration of legislative work within a small number of sitting weeks, and an unpredictable legislative timetable.
The office drafted and circulated 147 sets of ‘committee of the whole’ amendments, containing 859 individual amendments. Committee of the whole amendments are amendments proposed to the text of bills dealt with by the Senate. Two key debates—on the Water Amendment Bill 2008 and the Fair Work Bill 2008—jointly accounted for a quarter of those amendments.
The office also prepared and circulated 25 ‘second reading’ amendments. These are proposed resolutions which comment on or affect the passage of bills, but do not propose specific changes to the text of bills.
Many more committee of the whole and second reading amendments were drafted—for use in negotiations between parties, for instance—but were not proceeded with.
Private senators’ bills continued to be used as vehicles for non-government parties and individual senators to put down policy footprints and advance debate across areas of interest. During the year, the office drafted, finalised and processed 23 private senators’ bills for introduction—a record number for any reporting period. Another 28 bills were drafted to different stages of development, for introduction at a later date or for use by senators outside the chamber. Two private senators’ bills were passed by the Senate during the year, but neither was debated by the House of Representatives.
Table 1 summarises senators’ use of the office’s legislative drafting and procedural services over the past four reporting periods.
Table 1 Legislative drafting and procedural advice services provided to non-government senators, 2005–06 to 2008–09
|Committee of the whole amendments
|Second reading amendments
|Private senators’ bills prepared
|Private senators’ bills introduced
|Procedural scripts prepared
Legislative scrutiny committees
During the year, the office provided secretariat, research and administrative support to the Regulations and Ordinances Committee and the Scrutiny of Bills Committee, assisting the committees to fulfil their responsibilities in accordance with the standing orders. The two committees examine all bills and disallowable instruments within their jurisdiction.
The secretariats, assisted by their legal advisers, completed all of the necessary administrative work to enable the committees to undertake these tasks. The Regulations and Ordinances Committee staff processed 3,404 instruments during 2008–09 (2,982 in 2007–08). The Scrutiny of Bills Committee secretariat processed 210 bills during 2008–09 (207 in 2007–08) and the committee commented on 111 bills (108 in 2007–08).
The secretariats also prepared material arising out of the work of the committees, for use in the Senate chamber and for publication elsewhere. This included:
- publication each Senate sitting week of the required reports and alert digests
- publication of the Delegated Legislation Monitor (each Senate sitting week), the Disallowance Alert and Scrutiny of Disallowable Instruments Alert (updated online as required) and biannual volumes of committee correspondence
- preparation of disallowance notices.
In addition to its regular alert digests and reports, the Scrutiny of Bills Committee published The Work of the Committee during the 41st Parliament, November 2004 – October 2007, which provides an overview of the legislative scrutiny work undertaken by the committee during that period, along with statistical data.
Staff from both secretariats briefed several international delegations about the role and operations of the Senate legislative scrutiny committees, and conducted a training seminar for public servants.
The secretariats also organised the Biennial Australia–New Zealand Scrutiny of Legislation Conference, to be hosted by the Commonwealth Scrutiny Committees in July 2009.
Public information and parliamentary research
The Research Section of the Procedure Office continued to coordinate and deliver seminars and professional training programs for senators and their staff, departmental staff, Australian public servants and other audiences. The section also produced publications, lectures and exhibitions, each with a focus on the work and role of the Senate and the operations of the parliament. The section also managed an internship program and a formal research partnership with the Parliamentary Studies Centre at the Australian National University.
The aim of these programs is to ensure that senators and their staff are supported in their legislative work, and that other audiences are able to develop appropriate levels of knowledge and awareness of the Senate and its work.
Seminars and training programs
In July 2008 a major orientation program was conducted for new senators who commenced their terms on 1 July 2008. The three-day program, conducted by senior officers of the department, focused on the operations and procedures of the Senate and its committees, as well as services provided by the Department of Parliamentary Services. The program is widely regarded by new senators as an essential part of their preparation for legislative duties.
A series of training seminars was also offered to the staff of senators. The seminars, delivered by senior officers, explained in detail the operations and procedures of the Senate and its committees.
The department’s seminar series continued to provide members of the Australian Public Service with comprehensive training in the operations of the Senate and its committees, and the accountability to parliament of the executive and government departments and agencies. During 2008–09, a total of 1,090 people attended 33 seminars.
The seminar series remained an integral part of most graduate training programs in the public service. Some of the larger departments enrolled all of their graduates in the full-day Introduction to the Senate seminar. A range of half-day seminars on the budget and the Senate estimates process, Senate committees, the legislative process and role of legislative scrutiny committees was also well received. The section also conducted half-day seminars for Senior Executive Service officers on the accountability of public servants to parliament and the law and practice of parliamentary privilege. The seminars were conducted by senior officers of the department.
The section organised seminars tailored to the needs of individual government departments and other interested groups, including the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism; the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts; AusAID; the Office of the Chief Scientist; the Defence and Industry Study Course; the Rural Leadership Program; and a group of Indigenous graduates.
Seminars and training programs were also organised for parliamentary officers visiting from overseas parliaments, including from Hong Kong, Jordan and Namibia. The Inter-Parliamentary Study Program, conducted jointly with the Department of the House of Representatives, provided training for 15 officers from overseas parliaments, including Afghanistan, Bhutan, Canada, China, East Timor, Estonia, Ghana, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and Vietnam.
During 2008–09, the section produced lunchtime lectures as part of the popular Occasional Lecture series. Topics ranged from the implications for Australia of the 2008 election result in the United States, to the powers of a republican head of state in Australia and the role of parliament under an Australian charter of human rights.
The department published lecture transcripts in its free journal Papers on Parliament and made audio recordings available on its website. Lectures were filmed and broadcast on television and the internet by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Public Affairs Channel, increasing the audience for, and accessibility of, the lectures.
Publications and information services
The Research Section edited and published two editions of Papers on Parliament during 2008–09. Entitled Constitutional Politics (August 2008) and Parliament, Politics and Power (March 2009), these editions largely comprised papers in the Occasional Lecture series. A number of Senate Briefs and Brief Guides to Senate Procedure were revised and reissued to account for the election of Senator Hogg as President in August 2008 and changes to the structure of the committee system which took effect from May 2009.
The third volume of The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate, covering senators whose terms ended between 1962 and 1983, was submitted to the publisher in May 2009 for publication in early 2010. During 2008–09, editing and checking of the manuscript was completed and extracts were read by specialists in military history and state politics. Genealogical research and the acquisition of illustrations for the volume were also concluded. Work continued on the 109 entries for the fourth volume, which will cover 1983 to 2002. A total of 75 entries have been allocated to authors.
The section continued to issue a range of free publications raising awareness of the Senate and parliamentary processes. A revised and updated Senate Brochure was issued in May 2009. Details of the publications available in 2008–09 are provided in Appendix 4.
During the year, the section responded to requests for information and research support from a range of sources, including senators, the Clerk, Deputy Clerk and Clerks Assistant, and members of the academic community and the general public.
During the year, the department commenced a major new public exhibition in the Presiding Officers’ exhibition area on the first floor of Parliament House. Entitled ‘Acting Wisely: the Work of the Australian Parliament’, the exhibition documents and illustrates the work of the contemporary parliament.
The introductory segment of the exhibition describes the role of parliament and illustrates its power to make laws under the Constitution. Leading off this segment is a display dealing with the way that parliament makes laws, including documents used by both houses during the legislative process, a graphic illustration of the passage of a bill on a video loop, and some illustrated case studies of bills that were considered by parliament before passing into law.
The next stage of this exhibition will incorporate Australia’s copy of Magna Carta, which will move from its current position in the Members’ Hall once appropriate preservation and security arrangements are complete.
As in previous years, the department successfully ran the Australian National Internships Program in partnership with the Australian National University. During 2008–09, 39 students were placed in parliamentary departments and 34 students were placed in other departments and agencies. Interns continued to see Parliament House as an outstanding venue in which to be placed. The Research Section coordinated an induction seminar for each group of interns and organised some of the functions associated with the program.
Research partnership with the Australian National University
During 2008–09, the department continued to play an active role in the Strengthening Parliamentary Institutions research program, which is funded by the Australian Research Council and run by the Parliamentary Studies Centre at the Australian National University. Senate officers participated in a series of workshops which provided feedback to authors who had submitted papers for publication.
In October 2008, the department co-hosted a two-day international conference on bicameralism as part of the research program. The conference investigated trends in bicameralism in Australia and related these trends to international developments in bicameral parliamentary systems. In April 2009, the department co-hosted a half-day workshop on parliaments and bills of rights. The workshop focused on ways that parliaments can respond to bills of rights by reforming their institutional rules and procedures.
Parliamentary education services
During 2008–09, the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) continued to deliver a high level of educational services to schools, teachers and students, with demand for its services and resources also remaining very high.
The PEO has two main strategies:
- Through its Education Centre, the PEO delivers a role-play involving simulations of chamber and committee proceedings of the House of Representatives and the Senate, for students visiting Parliament House.
- Through a sophisticated outreach strategy, the PEO provides other opportunities for students and teachers to learn about the parliament. To support this strategy, the PEO produces materials and resources on its website, on CD and DVD, and in print.
The PEO also undertakes several joint ventures and invests in a range of training and development activities for staff. During 2008–09, the PEO continued to work with and report progress to the PEO Advisory Committee and received positive feedback from the 2009 senators’ satisfaction survey.
Education Centre activities
The Education Centre delivered its one-hour role-play program to 90,786 students in 2,533 groups during 2008–09. Trends in Education Centre attendance are shown in figures 11 and 12. The Education Centre continues to provide excellent opportunities for data and market research to assist the PEO evaluate and develop its programs and resources.
Figure 11 Students who visited the PEO Education Centre, 2004–05 to 2008–09
Figure 11 text description
Figure 12 School groups that visited the PEO Education Centre, 2004–05 to 2008–09
Figure 12 text description
Website and other resources
In 2008–09, the PEO continued to develop its website and other resources, as well as its capacity to produce quality educational resources in multiple formats.
- enhancing the interactivity, usability and accessibility of the PEO website, including technical developments to reflect changes to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
- introducing a multimedia section to incorporate new video learning initiatives on the website
- developing Assignment Assistant, an interactive online study tool for students
- introducing an in-house video production unit to produce educational videos for the website and other outlets—two short videos were available on the website by the end of June 2009.
In addition, the site was developed to allow more PEO resources to be ordered online or downloaded from the website.
The PEO continued to produce and update print resources and publications, including:
- Parliament of Wizards, a new CD-ROM resource for teachers that introduces primary school students to the work of parliament through the world of magic
- an updated version of the successful Parliament in Pictures poster series which features as a public display in the schools hospitality area of Parliament House
- reprints of the pocket-sized Australian Constitution, Peeling back Parliament, and Unravelling the parliamentary role-play.
As an indication of the growing demand for PEO resources, web patronage increased again this year, with the website recording over 3.5 million page views, an increase of 21 per cent on 2007–08.
An important part of the PEO’s objectives is to provide educational resources for students and teachers who cannot make the journey to Parliament House in Canberra. One popular solution to this has been conducting outreach activities across the country, taking the parliamentary role-play and other activities ‘on the road’. A satisfying geographical spread has been achieved in recent years. In 2008–09, the PEO participated in activities in the following locations: Ballarat, Bendigo, Brisbane, Caboolture, Canberra, Castlemaine, Colac, Dakabin, Dandenong, Deception Bay, Geelong, Gladstone, Grovedale, Gympie, Maryborough, Melbourne and Norfolk Island.
Plans for outreach activities in Western Australia were confirmed during 2008–09; the activities will take place in July and August 2009. Planning for visits to several other regions during 2009–10 has commenced. Figure 13 shows the geographical spread of outreach activities in the five calendar years from 2006 to 2010.
Figure 13 Locations of PEO outreach activities, 2006 to 2010
An important feature of many of these outreach activities was the involvement of senators and members in both creating and executing PEO programs, especially in conjunction with local schools through an initiative called Parliament Alive.
The PEO continued to work with a range of groups and organisations as part of its broader educational aims.
For the twentieth successive year, the PEO, in partnership with Rotary International, hosted the Rotary Adventures in Citizenship program at Parliament House. The five-day program for students from across the country gave 31 Year 11 students an opportunity to experience the work of the parliament, meet members of parliament and participate in an intensive learning program.
The PEO again contributed to the Talkback Classroom program by assisting secondary students to interview a member of parliament about issues important to young Australians. In 2008–09, students interviewed the Honourable Stephen Smith MP and met the Honourable Warren Truss MP, the Honourable Greg Hunt MP and the Honourable Pat Farmer MP in preparation for the interview.
As in past years, the PEO contributed to the Australian National University–sponsored National Youth Science Forum and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Heywire program. These events attracted senior secondary school students from all states and territories to Parliament House where the PEO delivered specially designed experiential learning programs focused on the processes of parliament.
The PEO continued to work with the Australian Secondary Principals Association and helped coordinate periodic association meetings at Parliament House.
Staff training and development
In addition to standard training exercises, over recent years the PEO has developed and refined a comprehensive training program for new staff teaching in the Education Centre. This program continued in 2008–09. All participants have successfully completed the training and joined the PEO teaching staff.
The PEO’s publishing capability continued to expand with the appointment of a dedicated web developer in March 2009. Training and development was also a focus, with an emphasis on the use of new web technologies, improved interface and application design, usability and accessibility.
From November 2008 to May 2009, a committee secretariat was created within the PEO to serve the Senate Select Committee on Men’s Health. This six-month development opportunity was completed according to plan, and the committee’s report was tabled on 29 May 2009.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) brings together representatives of the parliaments of 153 sovereign states to foster contacts, coordination and the exchange of experience among parliamentarians, to consider questions of international interest and concern and to express its views on such issues in order to bring about action by parliaments and parliamentarians.
During 2008–09, the department supported the work of the IPU by funding the attendance of delegations at two IPU assemblies. The Secretary of the Community Affairs Standing Committee served as secretary to the delegation that attended the 119th IPU Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, in October 2008 and the Director, Journals and Notice Paper wassecretary to the delegation to the 120th IPU Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in April 2009. Both officers provided sound advice on the procedures and practices of the IPU as well as administrative support.
The Deputy President of the Senate and the Deputy Clerk attended the thirty-ninth Conference of Presiding Officers and Clerks, held in Adelaide in July 2008.
The department also provided experienced officers to serve as secretaries to delegations that went to:
- Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in September–October 2008
- Serbia in October 2008
- Papua New Guinea and East Timor in October–November 2008
- Switzerland in April 2009
- Canada and Mexico in April–May 2009
- Austria, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States in April–May 2009.
Factors, events and trends influencing performance
As noted, the demand for procedural and legislative services is substantially driven by the requirements of senators and the Senate chamber. Factors influencing demand include the frequency of sittings, the number of bills dealt with by the Senate and the legislative priorities of the government and others. The composition of the Senate is also a factor: a situation in which no one group controls Senate outcomes typically leads to a strong demand for these services.
The capacity of the office to undertake drafting work was increased in 2008 by the addition of a senior legislative officer on a trial basis. The trial was successful, and the arrangement was made permanent in October 2008.
The facilities for the PEO’s education program at Parliament House operate at near capacity, with schools making bookings for the program many months in advance. This has been an important factor motivating the PEO to expand the range and quality of its online and multimedia services and resources.
The main vehicle for evaluating the services provided by the office is the survey of senators which is undertaken every two years. The 2009 survey reported continuing high levels of satisfaction with support to the Senate chamber, advisory services and support for the legislative process, all of which reflect well on the work of the office. Specific questions relating to legislative drafting services and procedural support for non-government senators found that 62 per cent were highly satisfied, 23 per cent were satisfied and the remaining 10 per cent were neutral. The survey also reported that five government senators had used such services, and each was recorded as being highly satisfied.
The survey reported an improvement in satisfaction since the 2007 survey with the promotion of public awareness of the Senate, reflecting well on the information resources and seminar programs provided by the Research Section. High levels of satisfaction were again recorded for the PEO.
The Procedure Office monitors levels of satisfaction with its performance through formal and informal channels including letters, emails, phone calls, seminar evaluation forms and direct advice from senators and their staff and members of the public. This continual performance appraisal assists the office to make timely and responsive adjustments to the way it delivers its services. High levels of positive feedback were received in 2008–09.
The PEO in particular monitors feedback of its activities and resources from senators and members, as well as its target audiences of students and teachers. Figure 14 provides a few examples.
Figure 14 Comments on PEO services and resources
From senators and members
‘The students were able to gain a better understanding of the workings of the parliament through the skilful delivery of the educational and entertaining role play exercise … The experience provided a valuable opportunity for students to learn about democracy and law making in Australia, some of whom may never travel to Canberra.’
‘The Parliament Alive sessions with the students from primary and high schools from my electorate were a great success. Thanks to the educators for their excellent work.’
‘The PEO resources are a fantastic aid when visiting schools in my electorate and have been well received by teachers. I am impressed with the knowledge and understanding that students have retained from their sessions in the Education Centre.’
‘Congratulations on a wonderful support system to make our teaching job easier. All teachers at our school are impressed with your resources, which will add so much to our classroom and I’m sure that the students will gain a greater understanding of the functions of parliament.’
‘Thank you for all of the fantastic resources that you have sent to our School. We are looking forward to making good use of the fantastic resources available, especially “Parliament of Wizards” …’
‘Congratulations on the Parliamentary Education Office website. The information is clear, factual, inspiring and accessible.’
‘It was good making decisions and feeling like you’re a part of the outcome.’
‘We were very proud to be part of the program and for the opportunity to speak out and act like a real government with cabinet ministers. It has a lot of meaning to us to see how a bill is passed and the process.’
In 2009–10, the office will continue to provide its procedural and legislative services to meet the requirements of the Senate and individual senators. Training and seminar programs will continue, including a new round of procedural training for senators’ staff.
The Research Section will further develop its information resources with publication of Volume 3 of The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate, a revised version of The Pocket Guide to Senate Procedure and an A to Z reference guide on the parliament.
The first segments of the ‘Acting Wisely’ exhibition on the legislative process and Magna Carta will be officially launched, and work will commence on additional segments that will explore the themes of representation and accountability.
The Senate will continue to participate in a range of activities as part of the Strengthening Parliamentary Institutions project, including conferences on benchmarking parliamentary performance, the state of oppositions, comparative legislative responses to global crisis management, and parliaments and architecture.
The office will also be involved in planning an event to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Senate’s system of legislative and general purpose standing committees.
A new Richard Baker Senate Essay Prize aimed at secondary school students will commence in the second half of 2009, managed by the Research Section and promoted via the PEO.
The PEO will seek to complete and consolidate a range of projects and programs. In addition to facilitating role-play classes at Parliament House for more than 90,000 young Australians, the PEO will release new material on its website, with an added emphasis on interactivity and a specific focus on secondary students. Strategic outreach involving senators and members has been planned, as has the release of new interactive resources and print publications. | <urn:uuid:b9018f3f-f23d-4de9-b5d0-d8dae93e60cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Department_of_the_Senate/Annual_Reports/Annual_Report_2008-2009/Procedure_Office | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956145 | 6,436 | 1.523438 | 2 |
A Wrinkle Reducer That Works
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All of these pointers will work as a natural wrinkle remover aid. You will not only save lots of money, but also lots of frustration. | <urn:uuid:d3d81c13-6d67-4c31-a5b1-d86598271e57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://antiwrinkle-eyecream.org/a-wrinkle-reducer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958666 | 604 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Originally Posted by Galbi
What you fail to grasp is that Samsung uses American workers down in Austin, Texas (my alma mater city, I went to UT Austin). They use American engineers to make Apple's A5 chips.
There is nothing wrong with making things "cheap". Cheap does not necessarily equate to "low quality". It requires a lot of infrastructure and technology investments to bring down the per unit costs. Going from a 200mm wafer to a 300mm wafer production process (in the case of semiconductor manufacturing) requires R&D money, time and lots of talent. It also requires business acumen in utilizing those said resources. Therefore, this infers that Samsung has the capability that no other "western" companies has. And with the recent news of other companies having a tough time meeting the stringent quality/cost/delivery time specifications
As for the Nobel prize, nobody sets out their research to "win" the Nobel prize. Yes, its an honorary distinguish to have and brag about to others, especially if you are working in the research field but not something that is necessary in order to be labeled a "high tech" country. And the work of one individual doesn't necessarily mean that is the practice of an entire nation. I'm sure a guy of your stature who is into research would (or should) know this by now.
So what you're saying is that even with chip production, Samsung relies on American high-tech expertise? Yeah, we already knew that just like we know Samsung or Korea Inc. didn't invent microelectronics or even the production methods. Like shipbuilding, western powers-that-be simply found it more 'cost-efficient' to allow labor to migrate to nations where it was a much cheaper hourly rate - and this practice sadly continues to this day. Well,sad for western workers but obviously good for their Korean counterparts.
And exactly how do you know what motivates world-leading scientists? If you're Korean you don't come from a country that has even one to boast about. I do.
As for what constitutes a high-tech country most people would CERTAINLY count Nobel prizes (along with associated awards like Fields medals) as they're a very solid indicator of the world's most important scientific research that leads to things like landing men on the moon, splitting the atom, a better light bulb (also a western invention), the Internet, and antibiotics. And as I'm sure a fellow of your stature has figured out already, very little of the modern world would be recognizable without such discoveries. I.e there would be no Internet in Korea, no Starcraft, no K-pop (maybe a good thing
and certainly no power with which to power those things.
Then there are other things like the mobile phone and the camera, two other high-tech western inventions which companies like Samsung simply slap together albeit maybe in a different casing, and then market. Yes they companies are extremely good at marketing and creating a global brand, but at truly ground-breaking scientific R&D, not really. So yeah, when I think "high-tech nations' I guess Korea doesn't exactly come to mind like true powerhouses the US, England, France, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Japan and so on, it's just another place that's benefitted enormously from the R&D of others. | <urn:uuid:346b9a8f-e6c7-4fb3-bac3-ce5c6fa7d3b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/146092/samsung-is-sole-supplier-of-apples-ipad-retina-displays-report/120 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962593 | 690 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Competency-Based Education: Learn From My Follies
I had a conference with a parent this morning. I love meeting parents and talking with students, and I try to avoid the typical rhetoric that goes along with these interactions in favor of rawness.
This student hadn’t really done much towards meeting his competencies. He was a in-and-out kind of student. I called him on it, and his behavior totally changed today. I hope tomorrow bodes well also!
There’s a fine line between expecting students to fill in competency gaps using feedback and just mailing them a bobcat. I haven’t found that line perfectly yet, but I can’t help but believe that a more psychologically-sound how-to-teach-responsibility has to somehow distill out of this zaniness.
Will students truly learn to value feedback as the currency of learning rather than points or grades? As I leave something like 75-100 text/video comments each day, I have to hope so.
And then you get this email:
Mr Cornally, I uploaded a paper I wrote last night to BlueHarvest. I’m going to be gone the rest of the week for state Jazz, and I’m bummed because I think my paper is really good and I want to talk to you about it and maybe get something check off [marked proficient, in our parlence]. Can you please leave me some feedback before Friday so I can revise it at while we’re at contest?
This student has crossed the Feedback Threshold (FeedThresh, as we call it). He:
- Knows that first attempts are rarely perfect, and often require serious revising.
- Wants expert feedback on work that is established and based on research and the literature.
- Knows that his learning is not tied to class time or any other arbitrary unit of time or space.
The small victories, right? I feel kind of like Hawkeye shooting arrows at the end of The Avengers. Look at me, I’m helping! right? Right? | <urn:uuid:91fe03e8-2bdb-4075-83d9-3fd39b3df177> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shawncornally.com/wordpress/?p=2553&cpage=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968237 | 441 | 1.515625 | 2 |
I'm throwing this out to see if anyone has any comments. Any input would be appreciated.
This isn't a Linux problem, but I am hoping to use Linux to solve a problem.
It's like this: there is a host on the internal network (most likely a Windows virus-infected machine) spewing spam.
I think I can solve this problem by blocking all outgoing SMTP traffic except for authenticated SMTP traffic. This way, those with a legitimate reason/need to access Port 25 will be given a password and can still use it, but a virus-infected machine with its own SMTP engine will not get out of the internal network. Additionally, I would like to set up some kind of logging to help identify the culprit. Anybody have any suggestions on what firewall can help me achieve this?
And, am I correct in my belief that the zombie computer will make use of its own SMTP engine (and thus be blocked, because it will not know to authenticate), rather than hijacking and using a local mail client like Outlook or (gasp!) Outlook Express?
Any ideas or comments welcome.
Spyware and other forms of malware will generally use their own smtp server within their code. What I would do is ensure that all of the machines are clean (use adaware and spybot and whatever your AV software can do), and monitor all machines somehow. What I have done in the past is block almost everything. I allowed http, https, smtp (only on the mail server), pop, imap, and any special ports that cannot be changed for softwares (like updaters that use weird configurations). Really, though, a good firewall strategy is ideal here. Your webserver should not need http or https, nor ftp or telnet, so block that there too, regardless of whether or not the service is running.
I found that OpenBSD can do this real well, and alot simpler to setup. I had created IP address groups that had similar priveledges and setup the DHCP server to give static IPs for specific MACs so they could have special priveledges. Then those groups get rules applied to them. Read up on pf.conf for details on the structure of the script and soforth. Iptables can do the job, but its much more of a strain (to me at least). | <urn:uuid:0c29615e-5f36-4297-bff3-d543cf1499f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/forums/showthread.php/18182-basic-commands?goto=nextoldest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944229 | 490 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Interview with New Yorker music critic Alex MAR 27 2007
Interview with New Yorker music critic Alex Ross about, among other things, his upcoming book on 20th century music. "Why, when paintings of Picasso and Jackson Pollock go for a hundred million dollars or more on the art market and lines from T. S. Eliot are quoted on the yearbook pages of alienated teenagers across the land, is twentieth-century classical music still considered obscure and difficult? In fact, it's better known than most people realize. Post-1900 music is all over Hollywood soundtracks, modern jazz, alternative rock." | <urn:uuid:a4214906-46ec-470c-9f28-bcd5abfb0927> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kottke.org/07/03/interview-with-new-yorker-music-critic-alex | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95482 | 121 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Awhile back, I decided I needed to solve a problem I was having. No, it wasn't a plumbing problem. (Whew, says my reader. They come to this blog thinking I'll write about politics, or transgender issues or something and all they see is "Plumbing from a Man in a Dress"...) :-) ... Where was I? Oh yes. I was writing some code, in PHP, and I decided I needed something other than git's arcane and basically non-existent versioning to keep track of the code. (That checksum is *not* a version flag. It's an unnecessarily confusing and pedantic way of proving that Linus Torvalds refuses to understand normal programming problems if they are connected in any to "people".) I came up with something that was remarkably similar to the way Ruby does it. :-)
But with one significant difference.
In Ruby, you have the idea of a "Gem"; it's a self-contained bit of code that does something, and it has a defined directory [sic] structure. The entire edifice relies on a single property: the version number. Here's how: when you download the gem from rubygems.org and install it - the gem name is transformed from "my_widget" to "my_widget-1.0.1". If you supply version 1.0.2, the gem name is, predictably, "my-widget-1.0.2" When I was pondering my problem, I didn't know about Ruby's code naming pattern; it was so long ago it might not have coalesced. However, I did think of that pattern; I rejected it because it was cumbersome.
I came up with "mywidget", and a numbered folder for the version. A file would point you to the right folder. So if you inadvertently released a buggy bit of code - a big consideration for me! - you could simply change to the older version and all would be well.
mywidget/mywidget.php/rb/whatever <- point to the relevant folder
So, in Ruby, mywidget.rb would say:
current_version = "1.0.2"
(I'd do the PHP version, but quite frankly I'm having a brain-freeze on it. Sorry!)
The PSR-0 standard would be:
(For some unknowable reason, PSR-0 uses backslashes, like Windows and MS-DOS... :-) <- Just causing trouble smiley... )
The advantage with my naming standard was that all the ancillary bits only have to be published once. Not that that is such a big deal in the day and age of humongous disks... Except it is, isn't it?
When we waste space on a zillion copies of the MIT license, for instance - the standard license for Ruby code - it becomes annoying. It's not efficient, that's for sure! If we ever get to the point where our file systems really are databases, then it won't be so bad - supply a pointer, with a bit of logic to make it's actually pointing at something relevant and Bob's yer uncle. (And who doesn't have an Uncle Bob? ... Erm, I don't. :-) )
But one of the main problems I thought about was common code. Let's say you have some code that doesn't change very often - there's a common bit of code called "deep merge", it merges to two simple arrays in a common-sensical and mathematically correct way, and it doesn't change. The problem has been solved and everyone wisely includes that bit of code when they need that feature. It's often accompanied by a "Thanks to whomever produced this bit of code". So my idea would have this included in a folder "common code"; I don't know if you need the same 'deep merge' as me, but I do know I need it. So I pop it into a common, known, folder and Uncle Bob has a Mrs. (So to speak... :-) ) The point being: I don't have to repeat it. (I do have to repeat it across "gems" with different authors and purposes, however.
Currently I can do something like that in PHP. But in Ruby? Not a chance.
Anyway, my musings don't get rid of the 'code management' problem - someone still has to go in there and delete unneeded code. And, without automated checking, there could be a security issue; that exists whenever you leave unneeded and old code lying around on your server, so it's not exactly a "new" problem. The biggest problem it solved was versioning.
I've been a system admin; I've managed large networks. When I did such foolishnesses for a living, one of the most frequent issues I've come across is version mismatching. Now, PHP is embracing interfaces and abstract classes as a partial solution to that problem. Ruby programmers break out in hives and think you're waving wooden stakes at them if you even suggest such heresies. Personally, I like interfaces - they're a contract, and I like those - and abstract classes (who doesn't want functionality for free? That's the basic idea behind gems...) What I'd really like is a sensible versioning system that doesn't rely on my repeating code that hasn't changed!
Anyway, it was just a thought. I tried implementing it in PHP (the code worked) but tossed it all out when I got fed up with Drupal's foibles. I did look into writing it into Ruby, but the whole gem system is entrenched and is nothing if not conservative. So, in a moment of idleness, I wrote about My Idea. Will anything come of it? I'd be surprised if it did.
And you know what? I'm good with that. :-) | <urn:uuid:cdf2b567-8e81-4c5b-8ded-506f1778f3c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://carolyn-ann.blogspot.com/2012/08/that-has-snow-ball-in-hells-chance.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973162 | 1,213 | 1.601563 | 2 |
This article was originally distributed via PRWeb. PRWeb, WorldNow and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
SOURCE: GS Plumbing Inc
GS Plumbing has started using expansion tanks in the cold winter months to help water heaters.
Greenville, SC (PRWEB) February 11, 2013
GS Plumbing, a plumbing contractor serving Greenville and the surrounding areas, has important information about how water heaters can be affected by the cold during the winter months. Homeowners can prevent costly repairs or having to purchase brand new water heaters by adding an expansion tank to their water heaters.
Water heaters in winter are subject to breaking due to the cold water entering the tanks. The lining of the tanks are stressed from having the cold water hitting the warm tank. Thermal pressure is then created and has no outlet. This is why expansion tanks are important to have. They allow space for the increased water expansion. Without an expansion tank, the water heater itself acts as the expansion tank and is more likely to leak or break.
Homeowners can greatly extend the life of a water heater by installing an expansion system. An expansion tank will reduce the stress put on a water heater over the winter months, which will extend the life of the heater overall, and ultimately save them money from possible water damage. GS Plumbing can advise homeowners on the best expansion tank options, and with installation. For more information visit their website or call (864)326-4318.
About the company:
GS Plumbing has over 30 years experience in all aspects of the plumbing field. They are accredited with the BBB, a Member of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, licensed & insured, and offer 24 hour Emergency Service. GS Plumbing has been awarded the prestigious 2011 & 2012 Angie’s List Super Service Award, an honor bestowed annually on approximately 5 percent of all the businesses rated on the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews on local service companies. GS Plumbing offers plumbing services beyond fixing clogged drains, they are also equipped for bathroom and kitchen remodeling, water filter installation, and can service tankless water heaters. For more information, please visit their website at http://gsplumbing.net.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/2/prweb10407934.htm | <urn:uuid:ca3682db-d53f-4c52-bf3c-b64c207924b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abcnews4.com/story/21099459/gs-plumbing-begins-extending-life-of-water-heaters-by-using-expansion-tanks | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938053 | 495 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Laying down blunt budget markers for debt crisis
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — The battle over whether tax increases can be used to cut the nation’s debt flared Tuesday as the Senate’s Democratic budget writer floated a possible millionaire’s surtax to help cut projected deficits over the next decade. But Republican leaders flatly said no to tax increases.
Democratic officials said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., raised the idea of an extra tax on the wealthiest taxpayers and the Senate’s Democratic leader, Harry Reid, D-Nev., called for an end to tax subsidies for oil and gas companies. House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell both staked out seemingly unyielding positions against tax increases
The parties exchanged volleys over taxes even as bipartisan congressional negotiators working with Vice President Joe Biden struggled for common ground on spending cuts that would help erode long-term deficits.
Boehner is calling for trillions of dollars in spending cuts, and the Democrats, too, acknowledge that spiraling annual deficits require spending restraint. But the differences over possible tax increases, even if they would spare regular wage-earners, underscore the chasm between the two parties.
The conflicting approaches put added pressure on the bipartisan budget negotiators who met with Biden for the second time in a week. At the same time, the administration is seeking an increase in the government’s borrowing authority, and Republicans see that debt ceiling vote as critical leverage.
Biden, emerging from a two-hour meeting with congressional negotiators across from the White House, voiced optimism about the talks, but indicated that top House and Senate leaders might ultimately have to become involved to seal any bargain.
“Whether we get to the finish line with this group is another question,” he said.
One of the Republicans’ top negotiators with Biden, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, signaled flexibility Tuesday. Cantor said the talks were designed to find where the White House, Democrats and Republican were “in terms of commonality right now” and indicated that an agreement on spending cuts in broad terms could be enough to win support for increasing the debt ceiling.
Still, he said, “there’s got to be assurances that the commitments are real” to cut spending.
Cantor, Biden and five other negotiators from the House and Senate are focusing on spending cuts by seeking budget programs that both sides agree can be cut. So while congressional leaders battle along partisan lines over large goals and approaches, Biden and the six lawmakers are poring over budget proposals, program by program, in hopes of cutting a deal.
McConnell, emphasizing the point, said: “Taxes will not be on the table in the discussions the vice president’s leading.”
Senate Democrats appear caught in a budget crossfire of their own as Conrad struggles to assemble a budget blueprint reflecting party priorities in the chamber. Reid told reporters that Conrad briefed members on a draft budget plan cutting projected deficits by $4 trillion over the coming decade with a “50/50” split between tax increases and spending curbs. Party liberals were unhappy with an earlier plan calling for tougher spending cuts.
Meanwhile, Boehner laid down his party’s clearest marker yet, insisting on Monday that any legislation to raise the government’s debt limit should be accompanied by spending cuts larger than any proposed increase in the debt ceiling. The administration has not yet proposed a figure.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the government must increase its debt ceiling by Aug. 2.
Democrats such as Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the party’s House whip, portrayed Boehner as a captive of the Republicans’ conservative base. And several Senate Democrats introduced legislation to strip highly profitable oil companies of tax breaks that give them $2 billion a year and use the money to make at least a small dent in the federal deficit.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, one of the lawmakers negotiating with Biden, plans a hearing Thursday with top oil and gas industry executives on the tax breaks. But that idea is unlikely to go anywhere, since Republicans and oil state Democrats would be likely to filibuster it to death.
Boehner’s office cast the end of such tax breaks as equivalent to a tax increase that would be felt at the gasoline pump.
“Making that a precondition for budget talks is . well, batty,” Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said.
The White House tried not to get drawn into the contretemps. “Maximalist positions do not produce compromise,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
“We understand that there are starting positions,” he said. “We also understand that compromise involves acknowledging that you have to move off of your starting position.”
Carney was armed with past quotes from Boehner in which the speaker declared that not raising the debt ceiling, thus prompting the U.S. to default on its debts, could mean disaster for the world’s economy.
The last increase in the debt ceiling was in February of last year, from $12.4 trillion to $14.3 trillion. Under Boehner’s proposal, that would mean that a similar increase this year would have to include about $2 trillion or more in spending cuts, an unprecedented reduction in spending.
Such cuts would require lawmakers to deal with spending in the government’s biggest benefit programs, such as a Medicare and Medicaid. But Cantor and other top Republicans appeared to concede last week that overhauling those programs would be virtually impossible before the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.
A Republican budget plan passed by the House last month would change Medicare, the health care program for older adults, from direct government payments for medical bills to a voucher-like system. The change would affect future beneficiaries who are now 54 years old or younger.
Without Medicare or Medicaid on the negotiating table, the list of budget items facing trims is far more limited. The House Republican budget lists about $715 billion in non-Medicare and non-Medicaid cuts. They include spending reductions in farm subsidies, food stamps and changes in mortgage finance programs.
Associated Press writers David Espo, Jim Abrams and Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:abec443d-1f13-46d7-addc-d5a3340dc6c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newstribune.com/news/2011/may/11/laying-down-blunt-budget-markers-debt-crisis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949848 | 1,301 | 1.726563 | 2 |
By Sarah E. Needleman
Andy Rubin, creator of the Android operating system and the man behind Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion Motorola deal, hails from humble entrepreneurial beginnings.
According to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Mr. Rubin, 48, struggled to get funding when he started Android Inc. in 2003. At one point, he needed a friend’s help to pay office rent.
But Mr. Rubin didn’t give up, and today it’s clear that his determination to succeed paid off. Android was acquired in 2005 by Google, where he’s now one of 18 senior vice presidents. He’s also become one of the most powerful executives at Google and played a key role in Monday’s deal for Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., the WSJ reports.
On the flip side, Mr. Rubin is no longer running a business of his very own. He may be highly paid and have a great deal of authority at Google, but he’s still working for someone else. (For more, see the WSJ video, “Google Android’s Special Sauce: Andy Rubin.”)
Readers, would a lucrative acquisition that comes with a prominent job appeal to you? Or would you prefer to be the top dog no matter what kind of career opportunity lands in your lap?
Follow Sarah E. Needleman on Twitter @sarahneedleman. | <urn:uuid:a09ac4f7-6ba7-4252-9b0f-041e1f9510f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.wsj.com/in-charge/2011/08/17/from-entrepreneur-to-employee-google%E2%80%99s-andy-rubin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947413 | 304 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The design industry is rethinking Skeuomorphism lately. Whether flat design is a more appealing approach or Skeuomorphism is still in its prime time.I was reading all those arguments and think to myself: Maybe they can work hand-in-hand instead of mutual exclusive? So I went out and did some inspirations search. The results are encouraging, not exactly proved my point but still offer a possible direction, here’s what I found:
1. Tiny Tower
‘Tiny Tower’ is a mobile business simulation game developed by NimbleBit. It’s 8-bit ‘Pixel Art’ style created a new genre on game graphics. Look at the above picture closely, you’ll find there are some little ‘glow’ effect on top of the arcade machine, and some strong shadow on the wall from ceiling down. So the art style is 8-bit pixelized and very 2-D (flat), but it also has some shadows, glows and subtle textures (which all add up to the chrome just like skeuomorphism design do), to create some depth and visual appeal.
Minecraft’s graphic design is ’crude’. The entire world is built by all the little square blocks. Yet, if you put up some torches on the little hut you just built at night, you’ll find a very cozy orange glow around the torch. The glow is totally not ‘crude’. Another good example of combining lo-fidelity ‘flat’ elements with subtle hi-fidelity effects.
Fez is another platformer game using pixel art style. The game play is quite unique. You are a 2D creature that performing all the jumps and climbing in a 2D world, but you can change perspective, which will result in a 90 degree turn where a 3D world is revealed to you.(See picture above) The visual is 2D, but the interaction and the more dynamic part of the design is 3D, which offer another new approach.
Path is a perfect example of the strength when you combine flat and simple UI elements with subtle textures and effects. They really get it right and have the best of both worlds. The title bar is very subtly ‘textured’ yet still looks very clean and digital.(Upper part of the picture) The ‘Flyout Menu’ (red circle with ‘+’ or ‘x’ int he middle) has a very light ‘glossy effect’, but all the other action buttons are represented by flat circles (Middle part of the picture). All the emotion icons are totally flat though. (Lower part of the picture) The overall design language is flat for sure, but they spice it up with some textures, shadows, glossy effects here and there without breaking the clean look and feel. Really a marvelous job done.
Clear is the app that pioneer the ‘movement’ from skeuomorphism to flat design. But even Clear has gradient in it. It also support different themes, so if user get bored with one color scheme, they can switch to another one that they like.
Image: By TheNextWeb.com
Also, Clear’s static visual design is flat and simple, its interaction animation is very interesting. For example, to create a to-do item in the middle of a list, user can simply pinch apart the list where they want the item created, then the list will unfold like a folded paper. It’s 100% skeuomorphism in action, drawing reference from real world experience of childhood paper-folding.
To Sum it up…
Skeuomorphism and Flat design are all but two different design languages. Each has its strength and limitation, and will fit into different scenarios to solve design problems. There’s no absolute right or wrong about using them, it’s just how well it fits into the problem you want to solve and the audience you want to please. And be creative! The above examples proves that you can use them both and still yielding fascinating results! | <urn:uuid:42e9bd8d-fe50-4281-a378-d5a2f7215d2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://linwangge.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/skeuomorphism-vs-flat-design-some-inspirations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937997 | 853 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The facet joint block is an injection serving two purposes: 1) to identify the source of your pain, 2) to relieve your symptoms and alleviate your pain. In other words, facet joint block is both a test and a treatment. By process of elimination, Dr. Siddiqui treats the facet joints to see which ones respond to the injection. This pinpoints the source of the pain. Once the source is identified, The Spine Center can more effectively manage the pain to create less discomfort for you.
What to Expect with Facet Joint Block
On the day of your facet joint block, we advise you to avoid any strenuous activities that could place more strain on your back. You’ll be given a local anesthetic in the area of the injection, and then, a long needle will be inserted into the facet joint. Cortisone is then injected, and if the injected joint is the one causing the pain, you should notice your symptoms reducing within a few days. If the pain persists, this eliminates the joint as a source of pain, and future diagnostics may be required.
Common Questions about Facet Joint Block
To help you understand the facet joint block injection procedure as best as possible, we’ve provided some answers to the most common questions we’re asked about it.
- Does it hurt? We use local anesthesia in the area of the injection to minimize the pain. However, this is a deep injection, so there will be some level of discomfort involved.
- How does it work? The facet joint block uses process of elimination to determine which structure is causing your pain. If the joint being treated truly is the source of your pain, the injection should relieve your symptoms. If it’s not the source, your symptoms will persist.
- How long do the results last? Every case is different. Assuming the true source of your pain is the joint injected, your relief could last up to a few months.
- When can I return to normal activities? Typically, you can return to work the next day. Dr. Siddiqui will provide specific recommendations after your treatment. | <urn:uuid:56b09403-2f63-4fee-b17b-b0d68be8285a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spinecenter.net/facet-joint-block | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932362 | 434 | 1.546875 | 2 |
In retrospect, a better title for the terrific film "Zero Dark Thirty" would have been "Rorschach." Like the famous ink blots developed by Swiss psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach, some people look at the film and conclude that torture works and others conclude it doesn't and still others think the movie advocates torture while some — and now we have gotten to me — don't know what to think. I am implacably opposed to torture ... unless it can save lives.
This foggy position of confusion and ambiguity has been largely missing from the debate over the film. Everyone seems so sure of everything. The rush for certainty started, I think, with the basso profundo statements from the filmmakers that the movie is — as the credits state — "Based on Firsthand Accounts of Actual Events." I have no idea what this means since the director, Kathryn Bigelow, and the screenwriter, Mark Boal, concede that they used composite characters and have necessarily compressed the 10-year hunt for Osama bin Laden into a two-and-a-half-hour movie. Some things get left out, like truth.
Almost instantly, three members of the Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein, Carl Levin and John McCain, protested the film's depiction of torture as instrumental in locating and ultimately killing bin Laden. They insisted instead that it was dogged intelligence work, the piecemeal accumulation of information that, say what you will about it, is not inherently dramatic. No one will ever make an action movie about an accountant.
For me, the debate has gone beyond the veracity of the film — all movies are lies to some extent and the greater lie is to claim they are not — to all these declarative statements about the morality of torture. They come out, veritably smoking, from various journalists, who cite reports of detainees who died under torture with their lips sealed. Our own fear of intense pain is beside the point: What would work on you or me might not on a diehard jihadist, for whom torture is a mere occupational hazard.
Perhaps the most unequivocal statement comes from Steve Coll in The New York Review of Books. Coll is a former editor at The Washington Post and the author of "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001" for which, appropriately, he won the Pulitzer Prize. He is, in other words, a highly serious and thoughtful person who says the following: "Even if torture worked, it could never be justified because it is immoral." Really? Is it immoral to waterboard someone who knows of an imminent Sept. 11-type attack? Wouldn't it instead be immoral not to do everything in your power to avoid the loss of thousands of lives? Torture in that case might be hideous, repugnant and in some rarefied way still immoral, but I could certainly justify it. This is far different than waterboarding an al-Qaida member who knows something about bin Laden's whereabouts. After all, if it took a decade to get him, a bit more time would not have mattered. Morality and the clock are, inescapably, connected.
The trouble with this debate is that it has taken on an MSNBC-Fox News quality — the need to establish uncomplicated positions. The phrase "it depends" has been chased from our political life — a sign of feared wishy-washiness, which is, crucially, bad for TV ratings. But it would be all right with me if the government were silent on torture so that no detainee could be confident of civilized treatment or if, in a crisis, an understandable looking away was permitted. Life ain't neat.
The Rorschachian qualities of "Zero Dark Thirty" have proved beneficial. We are getting a robust debate over torture that we should have had years ago, and we are finding out a bit more about it — whether it works and whether it can ever be justified. In this way, what the film says is really less important than what is being said about it. In the category of "thought provoking," it deserves an Oscar. | <urn:uuid:d8765243-46de-40ee-9600-781982d7aa30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130201/OPINION/302010319/-1/COMM05 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967515 | 848 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Architect: William Wykes
Never constructed as designed, the Grand Theatre was built in a modified form in 1883. The Theatre had a capacity of 2,200 on four levels, Stalls, Two Circles, and Gallery, plus boxes. The Theatre ran as a Variety Theatre until it was closed and converted to a Cinema in 1933. The building did not remain in Cinema use for very long, closing down in May 1933 and remaining closed for several years until it was reopened by Mecca Dancing as the Grand Casino Ballroom. This closed in 1960 and the building was demolished in 1963. | <urn:uuid:b4419af9-f1cf-471a-a7a0-73297f44b038> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archiseek.com/2010/1883-theatre-corporation-street-birmingham/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992589 | 119 | 1.671875 | 2 |
31 August 2010
What's It All Mean, Mr. Natural?
The issue is: what does Oracle think it can win? The answer appears to be a fat license fee from Google. The fact that some Google folk once worked at Sun is irrelevant. Dalvik was built independently of the jvm, and doesn't resemble it. It does not translate/compile java bytecode/classfiles on the fly. The development is done in java (SE, I believe, via Harmony/Apache; if they use the ME, then there's trouble). Once the .class file exists, it is translated to Dalvik .dex format. This is no different from using C to write a java compiler. Or using java to write any other DSL. Unless, and I don't know the answer, there is verbiage somewhere that .class files "must be" run on a certified jvm, then Google is fine. | <urn:uuid:41d4902a-0c64-47c3-a9b0-9f08ef9c1225> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://drcoddwasright.blogspot.com/2010/08/whats-it-all-mean-mr-natural.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935015 | 190 | 1.5625 | 2 |
One of the crewmen spots a group of people on the beach. ("Dr. Linus")
In 2007, as the submarine was approaching parallel to the Island, one of Widmore's crewmen saw through the periscope eight people standing on the beach camp: Jack, Hurley, Sun, Frank, Miles, Ilana, Richard, and Ben. ("Dr. Linus")
The submarine later docked at Hydra Island, where Widmore's team, led by Zoe, began setting up a portable sonar fence to protect the dock area. The team later captured Sawyer and took him to Widmore aboard the submarine. The two struck a deal: if Sawyer led the Man in Black into a trap, Widmore would transport him and his friends safely off the Island. ("Recon")
Sawyer and Widmore talk aboard the submarine. ("Recon")
Sawyer later decided to capture Widmore's submarine as the vehicle to get him and other survivors off the Island. ("The Last Recruit") However, the Man in Black attempted to sabotage his plan by placing a bomb inside Jack's backpack, which Jack brought aboard the submarine, not knowing that the bomb was inside it. Sayid took the bomb away from the group and it blew a hole in the sub, killing him, and filling it with water until it sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Sun and Jin drowned. ("The Candidate")
The submarine sinks to the bottom of the ocean. ("The Candidate")
The submarine type resembles the 1980s Japanese Yūshio class submarine, which was widely decommissioned in the early years of the 21st century.
The submarine is the only sea-vehicle that was not given a name, or whose name has not been revealed. | <urn:uuid:639dde87-4d87-4a63-9820-336f5c5d86e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Widmore's_submarine?interlang=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971182 | 363 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Are you taking an out-of-state summer vacation?|
Story Archives: Jindal's seat in 'the Indian room'
|Jindal's seat in 'the Indian room'|
Commonly referred to by the media as John McCain's ranch, the McCain spread in Phoenix, Ariz., was acquired by the senator's wife's family in the early 1960s.
McCain's wife, Cindy McCain, spent her childhood there.
Built in 1951, the McCain ranch house is no outhouse by any means.
It entails some 8,300 square feet with 5 bedrooms and 5 ½ baths.
It's valued at more than $900,000. The property tax bill on the home and 2.16 acres it sits on tops more than $12,000 annually.
Those figures are dated, too.
Three bricks from the Hanoi Hilton, the prison camp where McCain was held for five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, rest near the entrance of the senator's favorite room in the home, "the Indian room." The bottle that christened the USS John S. McCain destroyer can be found in "the Indian room," too, along with Native American dolls and pottery the senator's children made.
According to published reports, McCain and his wife don't talk politics in "the Indian room." They discuss their children.
It's not known if Sen. McCain entertained Gov. Bobby Jindal in "the Indian room" when McCain hosted Jindal for what was dubbed as a casual Memorial Day weekend retreat. We know barbeque was served, but that's about it.
That's it because little has been said on what the Louisiana governor and the presumptive Republican Party nominee for president talked about at the McCain ranch.
We could assume they bantered about, discussing the weather, the cactuses and the Diamondbacks, Arizona's professional baseball team. They may have talked a little football. LSU kicks off the 2008 season in three months, you know.
Something tells us, though, that Jindal and McCain did more than engage in small chit-chat.
While the company line was Jindal took McCain up on his offer to spend the weekend in Arizona to discuss issues important to Louisiana, that doesn't pass the smell test in this corner.
Instead, it would be within reason to assume Jindal was there to undergo a different kind of test, a litmus one, if you will, to determine how a Vice President Jindal would fit, or work out, in a McCain administration.
At the very least, we could say McCain sized up the 36-year-old governor, who is widely popular these days among Republicans of literally every stripe, including hard-core conservatives, or the so-called Religious Right.
The country clubbers, or moderate Republicans, appreciate Jindal's record on cutting taxes for business and industry. Income tax cuts for individuals, which Jindal supports, too, look pretty good to country clubbers as well.
Hard-core conservatives like his positions on social issues. Every one of them.
The latter would serve McCain well, for he has never been the most popular fellow on the block in the eyes of the hard-cores. They've never cared for him, and they're reluctantly supporting him now because there exist the possibility that Barack Obama could become president. They can't stomach the thought of that.
Yet, the attribute that most likely raises Jindal's stock in the McCain camp would concern Jindal's baggage, or lack thereof.
In laymen's terms, Jindal is clean, meaning there aren't any skeletons in his closet that we know about or suspect at this time.
That's more than we can say about Florida Gov. Charlie Crist Jr., who, according to one McCain operative, is the other candidate—besides Jindal—who McCain is seriously considering tapping as his running mate.
Unlike Jindal, Crist has baggage, including questions about his sexuality and allegations that he fathered a child out of wedlock. He denies both charges, of course.
Any hint of homosexuality or an illegitimate child, though, will sink Crist from the get-go, especially among the faithful followers of the so-called Religious Right.
That brings us back to Jindal.
If Jindal plays his cards right, he will be spending more time at the McCain ranch.
Who knows, he may be allowed to take a seat in "the Indian room." | <urn:uuid:a3295a14-7d2c-4f46-b17f-ae590e6c107c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.franklinsun.com/archives.php?id=1037 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976008 | 901 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The 85-page opinion said, however, that the judiciary would keep an eye on lawmakers to make sure they fully implement education reforms by 2018.
"The court cannot idly stand by as the Legislature makes unfulfilled promises for reform," Justice Debra Stephens wrote in the majority opinion. She notes that deadlines for reforms keep getting moved back and if left up to the Legislature, the court expects the delays would continue.
Lawmakers, who convene next week for a 60-day session, will also need to focus on what to do about a nearly billion-dollar budget shortfall.
A coalition of school districts, parents, teachers and community groups won a lawsuit in King County Superior Court in February 2010. Judge John Erlick ruled the state was violating its constitution by not fully paying for basic education.
The state appealed, saying Erlick reached beyond the high court's previous ruling on this issue in 1978.
A similar battle failed in Oregon, when the state Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that the Oregon Constitution could not be used to force the state Legislature to adequately fund schools.
In Washington, the state's Supreme Court held a lively public hearing on the case at the end of June. Many of the justices' questions concerned whether the Legislature had made any progress lately in improving the way the state pays for education.
In the strongly worded conclusion of the ruling issued today, the court outlines the ways the Legislature has failed to meet its obligations -- by talking about reform but cutting school funding at the same time.
The court does not lay out a plan for maintaining that oversight, and Stephens acknowledges that work won't be easy.
"While we recognize that the issue is complex and no option may prove wholly satisfactory, this is not a reason for the judiciary to throw up its hands and offer no remedy at all," she wrote.
In a partial dissent, Chief Justice Barbara Madsen disagreed with the majority on the issue of who should make sure the court's decision is carried out.
"We have done our job; now we must defer to the legislature for implementation," she wrote, noting the Supreme Court set a precedence of having the Legislature do this work when it ruled in a 1978 decision on a similar case.
"The means of compliance are firmly within the realm of legislative power," Madsen wrote. She said the majority claims that the judiciary will "facilitate progress" by maintaining authority over the case but then fails to say how it will do that.
House Speaker Frank Chopp said the priority this legislative session will be to maintain current funding for basic education and then take a look at what should be the next steps in education reform.
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said there are valuable education programs outside of the basics that may still be in danger of losing state dollars, including levy equalization, which gives financial help to property-tax poor school districts.
"Simply protecting basic education does not mean there won't be some significant cuts," she said at a legislative forum this morning.
Brown said the Supreme Court could help out the Legislature by taking a closer look at the constitutionality of a citizen initiative that forces lawmakers to get a two-thirds vote on any tax or fee change.
Gov. Chris Gregoire said one of the next steps should be finding a more stable source of money for education in Washington state.
"This ruling reinforces my call for a half-penny sales tax increase to invest in education," she said in a statement, although the ruling does not mention the tax increase.
"If we don't, we take a step backward and not only threaten a violation of the court's ruling, but make it more difficult for students to gain the skills and knowledge needed to compete in today's global economy," the governor said.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn said the ruling reinforces what he's been saying for years, that education funding is not adequate and further cuts are out of the question.
Dorn thanked the court for issuing its ruling before the 2012 Legislature convened.
"The court understood that the issue of education funding is too important to Washington state to have waited until the end of another session," he said.
-- The Associated Press | <urn:uuid:d88af8d7-4ea8-4c1a-af69-79e670e33b75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/01/washington_supreme_court_rules.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967681 | 859 | 1.679688 | 2 |
It makes sense to make an effort to keep good staff
Losing trained staff is a major cost for businesses but only a minority of firms make keeping people a priority, a new survey suggests.
When more than 600 people were asked what aspects of a sustainable workplace their organisation possessed, most ticked flexible working options, learning and education, equal opportunities and a culturally sensitive environment.
Bottom of the heap in the 2012 Sustainable Business Council/Fairfax Business and Consumer Survey was attention to staff turnover and retaining talent, with only 38 per cent saying their workplace did this.
That was despite the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand suggesting that losing a staff member after a year or more can cost approximately three times their salary, depending on the position.
Also, morale, brand image, service delivery and reputation can suffer from high staff turnover, says the institute.
Booker-Spalding director Peter Grayling is in no doubt: his company's philosophy is to put people ahead of returns to shareholders or even clients.
"If you get that right, the other two will look after themselves - it is your staff that look after your customers."
This year has been a bad one for turnover by the corporate uniform maker's standards: it is losing four of its approximately 50 staff because two are pregnant and two are following partners to live in Australia. Typically, turnover is about 0.1 per cent a year.
Grayling says relocating all staff to a single level in a single premises in Petone has helped staff cohesion, along with multi-cultural bake-offs and an active commitment to involving staff in business changes, including the company's sustainability policy.
Booker-Spalding often designs and manufactures uniforms for banks and insurance companies which have their own corporate responsibility requirements.
Grayling said the perception of being a good corporate - for example, donating money and raincoats to schools - was an important element in keeping staff.
Of the survey respondents, 43 per cent said they would leave an organisation whose corporate responsibility did not meet their expectations.
At Booker-Spalding the extremely long tenures of some staff had led to an older workforce, but the company was able to re-balance that by hiring new, young designers rather than having to let people go, said Grayling.
"We've had most of our clients 15 or 20 years and that is because the staff look after them."
Entries are open for the 2012 Sustainable 60 awards, promoting sustainable business practices. To download the entry criteria, see sustainable60.co.nz.
- © Fairfax NZ News | <urn:uuid:9a2c11b7-f9d5-4c55-8ee4-147c93f0e8e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/small-business/7282688/It-makes-sense-to-make-an-effort-to-keep-good-staff | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969021 | 526 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Over the past few weeks I have been posting articles to help improve the studio health and well being of my fellow artists. Continuing on with this theme, I asked my good Twitter friend, social media’s favorite fitness guru, Joyce Cherrier to give us some easy, healthy lifestyle advice for the busy artist.
Joyce is a specialist in sport’s conditioning and helping people create healthy lifestyles. A lot of my artist friends work long, obsessive hours without taking the proper time for themselves to eat, drink and exercise. Joyce shares some easy fix tips to help.
Guest author & fitness specialist: Joyce Cherrier
I think every kind of work and hobby comes with its own set of health challenges. Artists are no different. Many hours are spent doing what you love. My personal philosophy has always been to find a way to do what you love forever. It’s fine to look great in your jeans, but it’s even better to make sure you’re healthy from the inside out.
When a doctor told me that after years of aerial tricks while windsurfing, I would likely suffer in the future with an arthritic spine, thanks Doc, instead of taking up scrap-booking I began to do yoga and found it helped me tremendously. I tried to do what I could to make sure I could be as active as I could despite what Dr. Doom said.
And artsy people are no different. (Except for maybe the aerial acrobatics part.) So what health issues should you address as an artist?
Along with fitting in daily exercise, focus on nutrition. Whenever you’re focused on a task, time can pass quickly; and before you realize it, you’ve skipped eating or drinking for long periods of time. That’s not healthy!
- Always fill your glass and water bottle before starting: Even better, keep a container that holds at least a half gallon of water which you can refill conveniently.
- Keep healthy snacks available: Keep snacks like nuts and seeds available. But don’t place the whole bag next to you to avoid mindless overeating. Raw veggies are also a great snack and provide fiber too. So important for digestion for people that sit for long periods of time.
- Keep your protein intake up and it will help you stay energized and alert, and by avoiding sugar you’ll save yourself from a work-halting sugar crash
- The Healthy Workspace
Like many people who spend much of their day in front of a computer, artists face the same sedentary challenges. In the British Journal of Sports Medicine studies have suggested that prolonged bouts of sitting time and lack of whole-body muscular movement are strongly associated with obesity, abnormal glucose metabolism, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, and cancer, as well as total mortality independent of moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity.
That’s bad news for those of us that sit, including artists. In the past, the thinking was if you are physically active other times of the day you make up for the sitting time, but now experts are saying that’s not the case.
- Use a resistance ball: One of the best ways to get in movement throughout your day while sitting is sitting on a resistance ball. Constantly readjusting to keep yourself balanced on the ball, the muscles of the core, pelvis, hips, and legs are being engaged. Many people report they have reduced back pain too. At first you might find you can only use for a few minutes at a time, but over time try to lengthen the time you spend sitting on the ball. A resistance ball is a favorite to use in an exercise program too, so it’s a great purchase.
Set a timer: Time flies when you’re focused, and before you know it you’ve been sitting for 3 hours. Set a timer to make sure you get up and move around every 20 minutes or so. Get up, move around, and stand and do a reach-for-the-sky stretch. Make a point of scheduled breaks. They don’t have to be long. A great time to fill the water glass to make sure not to forget to hydrate!
Many artists like Lori stand when creating and that poses a different set of concerns.
The lack of position choices causes the health problems. Muscles are continually at work to keep you upright, but standing motionless causes a lack of blood flow to the muscles being used. Lack of blood flow causes fatigue in the working muscles. It also can cause problems with vein inflammation. The result over time can be varicose veins. Joints in the feet, knees, hips, and spine become locked in a prolonged standing position and this can contribute to damage of tendons and ligaments.
- Change your workstation: Having options in your work space allows for changes in body position which will help with blood flow and give your joints a break. Use a small foot rest to use to shift your weight. If working on a particular part of your art that might cause you to have your arm in one position for a long period, try to use something to support your arm to help curb any fatiguing of your arm and neck.
- Keep a stool nearby: Have a stool that will help you stay in your favored working position but also allow you rest. Just a bit of support can help take a tremendous amount of stress off muscles and joints. Remember that it’s important to position yourself close to the working area and face your work as straight-on as possible to avoid bending and stooping.
Good health will allow you to keep doing what you love for many years to come. Some simple planning is all it takes to make sure you’re staying healthy while doing what you love!
Joyce Cherrie surfed, skim-boarded, professionally windsurfed, was a personal trainer, managed a gym, and co-owned a health-food store. Now she is a mom, wife, bass-player bass-player and slightly obsessive health nut (I mean ‘nut’ in the best sense of the word) studying to be a specialist in sport’s conditioning and helping people to create a healthy lifestyle by eating well and encouraging physical activity. After over 25 years in sports and fitness, Joyce knows what works!
She was recently feature in the Huffington Post article, 16 Health Experts to Check out on Twitter and the Ladies Home Journal article, Ladies we Love. Joyce is also a sista’ to me on the Top 75 Badass Women of Twitter! Thank you for sharing your great advice with us Joyce! (((Hugs))) ~Lori
Please be sure and check out her blog, About Freaking Fitness | <urn:uuid:586e3f16-15a8-42fd-853a-1abbea21e1d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.finearttips.com/2011/04/the-healthy-artist-simple-ways-to-stay-that-way/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945762 | 1,394 | 1.796875 | 2 |
8:28 PM CST, February 1, 2013
Gary Fencik plans to watch Sunday's Super Bowl on a big screen TV from the comfort of his own home.
The former Bears safety, who played in Super Bowl XX in New Orleans, also says he enjoys the comfort of not knowing whether he might be predisposed to developing CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), the degenerative brain disease that was found in his late teammate Dave Duerson after he took his own life on Feb. 17, 2011.
Fencik, 58, said he was asked to participate in the recent study that purports to be able to diagnose signs of early stages of CTE, but he took a pass. Fencik has agreed, however, to donate his brain posthumously for study to a Boston research group.
Researchers say they found tau protein in the brains of five living retired NFL players who are experiencing various levels of cognitive and emotional issues. The microscopic tau protein had been found in the brain tissue of NFL players after death.
Gary Small, professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, was the lead author of the study, published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
"I have talked to some friends of mine who are in research," Fencik told me. "We all have markers in our body that could potentially lead to illnesses, but it is only a probability. My view right now is that I am not interested in seeing whether there is a probability that I may have cancer or I may have CTE. I hopefully am living my life as I choose to do it.
"The threshold of this whole issue about brain damage changed when Dave committed suicide. Then you look back and say: 'I guess I did see some changes, I just didn't realize that they were attributable to concussions.' So I don't want to be dismissive. I know it is a real serious issue. I know that when I go to alumni dinners now with Bears, people are not necessarily talking first-hand about knee replacements and hip replacements. It's more about: 'How many concussions do you recall having?'"
Fencik, the Bears' all-time interceptions leader with 38, is not alone in his reticence to look into life's scientific crystal ball.
"I would rather find out when I am done playing," former Bears defensive lineman Anthony Adams, 32, said. "Sometimes that's not possible, but during the season I wouldn't want to know."
Adams, who the 49ers drafted in 2003, played for the Bears from 2007-11. He is a free agent and still hopeful of continuing his career.
While still a young man, Adams said his perspective about his mortality has changed.
"Once you have kids you want to start getting life insurance and start taking care of your body," he said. "Kids change your whole dynamics of what you do. It is vital that we see more information to prepare us for that and have someone we can talk to."
Bears Hall of Fame defensive end Richard Dent says he experiences short-term memory loss and offers a different perspective.
"I guess I would rather know (about having CTE) than not know," Dent said. "Because if you wait until (CTE takes total effect), I guess you would know. If such a thing would take place, I would love to know. Dave (Duerson) was a good friend. We got drafted together (in 1983) and we all used to play cards over at his house."
Fencik finds the whole CTE research topic fascinating in terms of philosophical approaches to life.
"There is probably a high likelihood that males at some point in their life will develop prostate cancer," he said. "But you don't know whether you will, or at what age you will. But if you knew that, would you live your life differently? That's kind of the question each player is going to have to address. Do you want to know, and what kind of certainty does finding tau protein mean?"
Fencik and former Bears safety teammate Doug Plank, were known as the "The Hitmen" because of their aggressive tackling style. Plank, in particular, often led with his helmet before such hits were flagged routinely.
"I have been very fortunate, at least to date," Fencik said. "I do forget names, like everyone else. And I think it is only natural to say: 'Wow, does this mean that something is happening to me?' But my health is good. I might have a different position (about CTE testing) if I noticed changes that I think were occurring that would lead me to try to find more information about whether there was some activity in my brain.
"I shouldn't need to have a test that says I may have a problem where I want to live my life differently."
Copyright © 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC | <urn:uuid:de7dabf8-671d-49f4-8d12-d78b4a751b32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redeyechicago.com/sports/ct-spt-0202-mitchell-fencik-bears-brain-issues--20130202,0,292989,print.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986588 | 1,025 | 1.726563 | 2 |
We’ve had a pretty rough weekend. There have been two severe thunderstorms that hit our city in the past 72 hours. Plenty of individuals are still without electricity and many have experienced damaged to their homes and property. Fallen trees caused some of this damage. So what happens in the situation where your neighbor’s tree has fallen into your yard? What happens when that tree has caused damage to your property?
Fallen trees after a severe thunderstorm or tornado are pretty common. However, you will be hard pressed to sue anyone for damage caused by “their” tree to your property UNLESS you can show that their tree was diseased or a hazard before the storm occurred. However, if the tree fell simply because of the storm and it was assumed to have been a perfectly healthy tree, you will have no cause of action against your neighbor. If your neighbor’s tree fell into your yard because of the storm, and the tree was not diseased or a hazard previously, it will be your burden to get the tree removed from your property. Each county is responsible for the removal of trees from their resident’s property. Therefore, should this be the situation you’re currently in, please contact your county’s housing department. If the tree fell and caused damage to your property (home, car, yard, or etc.) without fault of your neighbor, it will be your burden to get it fixed. You will need to place a claim with your homeowners insurance for them to fix it. If the tree fell and it was the fault of your neighbor, then you have the ability to sue your neighbor for damages. You will have to prove that it was the fault of your neighbor in court in order for you to be successful at getting a judgment. You may do this by taking pictures of the tree when you’ve noticed the hazardous situation, as well as notarized letters sent to your neighbor informing them of the hazardous situation their tree presents.
In summary, if you and your neighbor had no idea of any hazard or disease of the tree, if the tree fell during the storms this weekend into your yard (whether or not it caused damage), it will be up to you to get the tree removed and report to your insurance any claims related to the fallen property. If you can prove that before the storm your neighbor knew their tree was hazardous, you may bring suit against them in court for fallen tree that occurred over the weekend.
The same goes for city trees, if the city knew of a hazardous condition in the tree before the storms this weekend and they chose not to cure it, should the tree have caused any damage to your property you may have suit against the city for the damage.
Tree removal will be the responsibility of your neighbor or the city if you can show that there was a hazardous condition present before the storms as well, otherwise, this again will be your responsibility to remove it.
Stay cool this week, and be safe!
Visit Smith Legal Services, LLC. at www.mysmithlegal.com | <urn:uuid:0677c7b8-9414-43f0-92f2-1a76f341a68d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bowie.patch.com/blog_posts/blog-timber-falling-trees-and-your-rights | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973554 | 623 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,
Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sear.
Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the withered leaves lie dead;
They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread;
The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay,
And from the wood-top calls the crow, through all the gloomy day.
Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that lately sprang and stood
In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood?
Alas! they all are in their graves, the gentle race of flowers
Are lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and good of ours.
The rain is falling where they lie, but the cold November rain,
Calls not, from out the gloomy earth, the lovely ones again.
The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long ago,
And the brier-rose and the orchis died amid the summer glow;
But on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood,
And the yellow sun-flower by the brook in autumn beauty stood,
Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls the plague on men,
And the brightness of their smile was gone, from upland, glade, and glen.
And now, when comes the calm mild day, as still such days will come,
To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home;
When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still,
And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill,
The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore,
And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more.
And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died,
The fair, meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side:
In the cold moist earth we laid her, when the forest cast the leaf,
And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief:
Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young friend of ours,
So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers.
-- W.C. Bryant
Apologies for my extended absence, many thanks for those who made comments to existing posts while I was away and that I've just recently seen since my return to the internet (many thanks also to Sarah from Forest Grove Botanicals for the nifty award!)
I've had some personal issues which kept me from being online, one of which was recent surgery (gallbladder removal last month). While I was able to have the laproscopic form of the surgery my recovery is still somewhat slow but I wanted to make the trek up to the Witch House (my little library/office on the hill) to share this poem that has always been an especially poignant one to me at this time of year and to give a quick update about some web stuff.
My website at http://www.hedgewytchery.com is currently down. I will retain the domain name but have ceased hosting at GoDaddy at this time. GoDaddy has always been dependable and inexpensive in their services offered so it isn't because of anything they have done, I just need a break from hosting at this time. I may move some of the contents here so that folks can still access some of the material that has proven to be so popular such as the cartomancy essays but that will take some time on my part so please be patient. You can still search for older versions of the website at http://www.archive.org so if you are looking for something that you really need quickly you can find it that way. I think both Yahoo and Google keep cached pages as well that would be somewhat current.
I hope that everyone is doing well and preparing for the upcoming Hallowmas Tides. I am slowly preparing to have a few folks up here to Rocking Witch Farm for a celebratory camping adventure and am looking most forward to the activities we have planned. I'll try and post some pictures afterwards and give more information and explanation about our events.
Blessings of the Season Upon You All! | <urn:uuid:6bbe3e37-3eac-40df-b13f-5b33fc217557> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webwytchery.blogspot.com/2009/10/death-of-flowers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96574 | 904 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Review: Hunger Games
By Kristen Coughlan
The book is good read. The movie does follow the book very well but they added some extra scenes since the original book is from the point to view of Katniss and took some elements from Catching Fire, the second book in the series, to fill in some gaps.
Hunger Games takes place in the future in Panem which was once North America. Panem is ruled by the Capital and is surrounded by 13 Districts. Each district has their own job for Penem and trained in only that job. People in those districts are locked into their district and are forbidden to leave. Peacekeepers guard the district.
Seventy-Four years before the series begins, the districts rebelled against the Capital in the time known of the Dark Days. Because District 13, had nuclear technology and possibly of creating the a nuclear weapon, the capitol destoryed it. Since the Dark Days as punishment for rebelling, the Capitol has hosted an event called The Hunger Games where a boy and a girl aged 12-18 are chosen through a lottery or volunteering on Reaping Day and sent to the Capital to fight in an arena until there is only one remaining. A child can have more food and oil rations for their home for more ballots per member of household and the ballots roll over to the next year.
The book starts off in District 12, the mining district, through the point of view of Katniss Everdeen. District 12 is the poorest outlanding district were the citizens are very poor and starving. She takes her sister Prim’s place when she is called to be the female tribute. Peeta Mellark becomes the male tribute. Peeta once saved Katniss from starvation when Katniss father died in the mines and it would be months before she can qualify to get extra food by extra ballots in the reaping.
Katniss and Peeta are trained for the games and made over to look good for the cameras. Peeta makes a remark in the final interview before the games that she loves Katniss. Katniss doesn’t feel the same but the media spins it as they are star-crossed lovers.
During the games, after Katniss gives a final respect to Rue(District 11 female) by covering her in flowers. She had a tempary alliance with her before she was killed by Marvel (District 1 male). It in the movie, it causes a riot in District 11 and President Snow calls on the Head Gamemaker to make changes to prevent an uprising.
The gamemakers change the rules of that if two of the same district are left win but when Katniss and Peeta are left, they retract the rule wanting a dramatic finale. . Katniss and Peeta take poisoness nightlock berries to their mouths and the game makers change their minds making them both winners. Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta mentor, tells Katniss what they did would anger the Capital because not everyone would see it as an act of love but as an act of rebellion.
The book and movie does have a lot of predictive programming.
Both the book and movie show how propaganda is used on the citizens of Panem. The Capital doesn’t want people to see like Katniss laying the flowers on Rue and is cut out of the highlights. It has the feel in the book that some of citizens of the Capital are sheeple. The only people that leave the Districts are Peacekeepers, high officials, tributes, mentors, and their escorts. What the Capital tells them about the districts are from the propaganda. During the reapings as part of the speeches (PSA video in the movie) they talk about the destruction of District 13 as a way of saying to the people, remember what happened to District 13 if you think of going against the Capital.
The book makes a good ploy on the real reason for having fences. Katniss mentions how they are built to keep dangerous animals out but they are used to keep the people in. In District 12 an electric fence is used but due to the pity of the Peacekeepers and mayor it is not kept on all the time and some major laws are overlooked. Katniss learns from Rue that District 11 is run like a police state where theft is punished by death. Even that District 11 grows food, they are not allowed to take any of it.
My personal favorite parts in the book and movie is Katniss shooting the arrow at the Game-makers when they don’t pay attention to her and when Katniss bonds with Rue and learns of District 11 and how things can be worse off than she is. | <urn:uuid:794440dd-765d-4311-b639-df34c1e660a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://deadlinelive.info/2012/04/16/review-hunger-games/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974637 | 964 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The states are powerful enough to stand up to the federal government when it violates citizens’ rights. Learn how we can better leverage the power of states.
What does poisoning a goldfish to get revenge on a cheating spouse have to do with the President’s power to make treaties? The constitutionally correct answer is: Nothing at all. Unfortunately, that’s not how the Obama Administration sees it. The Administration is claiming power to get into a domestic dispute under the authority of a chemical weapons treaty. And it is aggressively advancing the proposition that Congress’s power is essentially unlimited when based on the treaty power.
Contact: Lucy Caldwell
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FIXING FEDERAL DEBT IS UP TO THE STATES
Compact for America is exactly what Founders intended to check Washington
Webmaster's note: Nick Dranias will present on Compact for America, Saturday April 26, in Orlando, Florida. For more information about that event, click here.
Even in his sunset years, Ronald Reagan understood too well that Congress will never tie its own hands when it comes to debt spending. Lamenting the repeated failure of Congress to propose a Balanced Budget Amendment, Reagan wrote on May 23, 1994:
We can’t depend on Congress to discipline itself . . . we must rely on the states to force Congress to act on our amendment. Fortunately, our Nation’s Founders gave us the means to amend the Constitution through action of state legislatures . . . . That is the only strategy that will work.
There are many reasons for Arizona to reject the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, but one reason which has not gotten the attention it deserves is the increasing possibility that the provider tax being proposed to fund the expansion may be reduced or phased out, leaving Arizona with a bill we cannot afford.
A recent article in Time magazine by Steven Brill documents the enormously high prices we pay in this country for health care, including the markups and significant profits of “nonprofit” hospitals. For example, M.D. Anderson marked up an anti-cancer drug some 400 percent. Stamford Hospital billed an individual $8,000 for a test that Medicare would have reimbursed at $600. Blood tests are often marked up by more than 1,000 percent over verifiable costs. Brill’s article is 28 pages long and includes dozens of examples.
On August 12, 2010 the Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit against President Obama's federal health care law. The lawsuit employs two unique arguments not used in any other case against national health care, in combination with the best arguments used in those cases. | <urn:uuid:4e44f6d6-09ff-49a6-bad8-8a5037fa026b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://secure.goldwaterinstitute.org/state-powers-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930541 | 533 | 1.765625 | 2 |
|Federal Reserve hacked||
The U.S. Federal Reserve bank has confirmed one of its internal websites was broken into by hackers after the activist group Anonymous was claimed to have stolen details of more than 4,000 bank executives.
“The Federal Reserve system is aware that information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product,” a spokeswoman for the U.S. central bank said.
“Exposure was fixed shortly after discovery and is no longer an issue. This incident did not affect critical operations of the Federal Reserve system,” the spokeswoman said, adding that all individuals affected by the breach had been contacted.
The admission follows a claim that hackers linked to Anonymous struck the bank on Sunday. The technology news site ZDNet separately reported that Anonymous appeared to have published information said to containing the login information, credentials, internet protocol addresses and contact information of more than 4,000 U.S. bankers.
The claim was made via Twitter using an account registered to OpLastResort, which is linked to Anonymous, which has claimed responsibility for attacks on other government and corporate sites.
OpLastResort is a campaign some hackers linked to Anonymous have started to protest against government prosecution of the computer prodigy Aaron Swartz, who killed himself on 11 January.
The bank declined to identify which website had been hacked. But information it provided to bankers indicated that the site, which was not public, was a contact database for banks to use during a natural disaster.
A copy of the message sent by the bank to members of its Emergency Communication System (ECS) and obtained by Reuters warned that mailing address, business phone, mobile phone, business email and fax numbers had been published. “Some registrants also included optional information consisting of home phone and personal email. Despite claims to the contrary, passwords were not compromised,” the bank said.
The website's purpose is to allow bank executives to update the Fed if their operations have been flooded or otherwise damaged in a storm or other disaster. That helps the bank assess the overall impact of the event on the banking system.
Hackers identifying themselves as Anonymous infiltrated the U.S. sentencing commission website in late January to protest against the government's treatment of Swartz.
Swartz was charged with using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's computer networks to steal more than 4m articles from Jstor, an online archive and journal distribution service. He faced a maximum sentence of 31 years if convicted.
(Source: The Guardian)
Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader | <urn:uuid:dce4e4e5-5104-41af-b683-664c36455d43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tehrantimes.com/world/105453-federal-reserve-hacked | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969727 | 534 | 1.75 | 2 |
8:46 a.m. | Updated
The Swiss drug maker Roche Holding made a $5.7 billion hostile bid on Tuesday for Illumina, a provider of genetic analysis services, going directly to the company’s shareholders after months of failed efforts to begin deal talks.
Roche said it would pay $44.50 a share in cash through a tender offer, 18 percent above Illumina’s closing share price on Tuesday. It is also 63 percent higher than Illumina’s closing price on Dec. 21, when Roche said market speculation about a potential offer began to surface.
Jay T. Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina, declined to comment on Roche’s offer. “Obviously we just got it, and it has to be evaluated by our board of directors,” he said in a brief conversation by phone on Tuesday night.
By buying Illumina, Roche is hoping to bolster its diagnostics business by adding one of the biggest players in genetic sequencing, a field that has gained prominence over the past decade. Illumina is the leading vendor of the current generation of high-speed DNA sequencing machines, with over half of that market.
Sequencing has been used until now mainly for research projects aimed at understanding genomes. But as the cost of sequencing plummets, it is beginning to be used for medical diagnosis. Cancer centers, for instance, are starting to sequence numerous genes in patients’ tumors to help select the most effective drugs. In a few cases, mysterious diseases in infants have been diagnosed by sequencing their genomes.
That means that sequencing is becoming an increasingly important part of the diagnostics business, one of Roche’s mainstays. Roche acquired another sequencing company, 454 Life Sciences, several years ago but those machines have a small market share compared with Illumina’s.
Still, Roche would be buying Illumina at a time its business faces threats from new competition.
One rival, Life Technologies, is making gains with inexpensive sequencers that can do some simple jobs in less than a day. And while Ion Torrent’s machines lack the capacity of Illumina’s, they are far less expensive, starting at around $50,000 compared to about $700,000 for Illumina’s main product, the HiSeq 2000. Illumina has countered with a smaller cheaper machine called the MiSeq.
Other technologies are in development that could sharply lower sequencing costs. Sequencing an individual’s entire genome now runs to only a few thousand dollars. That figure is rapidly heading toward $1,000, a level that would make whole genome sequencing practical for many medical uses.
Meanwhile, there are concerns that federal budget problems will lead to decreased spending by the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies on DNA sequencing projects. Those concerns have contributed to a decline in the stock prices of Illumina and some other DNA sequencing companies
In a call with analysts Wednesday morning, Roche executives said that a merger could help expand the distribution of Illumina’s products beyond major academic centers and government laboratories to smaller labs and into medical clinics.
Roche said it expected the worldwide DNA sequencing market to grow from to more than $2 billion by 2015 from about $1.2 billion now.
The acquisition would also strengthen Roche’s product offerings in diagnostics and life sciences research and enhance its ability to develop genetic tests to predict which patients would be most likely to benefit from the company’s drugs.
“We firmly believe that we will create value for both companies,’’ Severin Schwan, the chief executive of Roche, said. He said the offer “certainly represents full and fair value of Illumina.’’
Still, he and other executives said, the acquisition would be accretive to Roche’s earnings per share from the outset.
Illumina, which is based in San Diego, had revenue of about $900 million in 2010 and grew at a rate of 49 percent a year from 2006 to 2010, according to information presented by Roche. But in 2011, sales fell short of expectations, partly because of tightness in government research funding. In October, Illumina said it would cut its workforce by 8 percent.
Daniel O’Day, the chief operating officer of Roche’s diagnostics division, said it would take time for DNA sequencing to move into clinical use, particularly in the United States, because of regulatory hurdles.
When asked about new sequencing technologies under development that could outdo Illumina’s machines, Mr. O’Day said those were still in “an early feasibility stage’’ and were unproven.
Roche said executives of the two companies first met on Dec. 13. On Dec. 21, Roche’s chairman said the company would consider a bid up to 50 percent over Illumina’s then price of $26.71.
On Jan. 3, Roche sent a private letter offering to pay $40 a share. Illumina formally rejected that offer on Jan. 19. That prompted Roche to plan a tender offer at $44.50 per share.
Roche said it planned to nominate director candidates and make other corporate governance proposals that could give it control of Illumina’s board. But Roche added that it would prefer to strike a consensual deal. (In 2008, the company pursued an initially hostile bid for Ventana Medical Systems, before winning over the diagnostics company with a $3.4 billion offer.)
Illumina’s shares have dropped nearly 46 percent over the last 12 months, giving it a market value of $4.6 billion.
Roche plans to pay for the deal with a combination of cash on hand and new debt. The company said its offer was not conditioned on financing.
James Bullard, a member of the Federal Reserve’s policy committee, warned Europe of becoming trapped in the economic stasis from which Japan is only now emerging.
Rising bond yields left the central bank with less room to maneuver as it injects money into the economy, analysts said.
In the convoluted world of corporate tax accounting, corporate money that is technically overseas is often held in American banks.
Why do communities fail to secure the buildings that house their children against momentous hazards?
There are affordable ways to live more safely in tornado zones.
Poland, pushed by E.U. directives to change the way it deals with waste, is adopting a Canadian technology that allows energy to be created through the burning of trash.
The Army is trying to produce commercials styled like a television reality series because younger people increasingly ignore traditional forms of advertising.
Microsoft’s new game console also serves as a home entertainment hub, a response to the rising popularity of mobile devices for playing games.
Paul Finebaum, the radio host known for his popular college football show, will reportedly start his new job Aug. 1.
A federal judge’s ruling could halt the resale of digital music as well as other digital good like e-books.
A world-renowned physicist meets a gorgeous model online. They plan their perfect life together. But first, she asks, would he be so kind as to deliver a special package to her?
The Winklevoss brothers have moved on from their battle with Mark Zuckerberg and are more active than ever.
An important new study suggests that statins, the cholesterol-lowering medications that are the most prescribed drugs in the world, may block some of the fitness benefits of exercise, one of the surest ways to improve health.
While a recent article by Angelina Jolie about her mastectomy and reconstruction raised awareness, it may have left the impression that the surgeries are quick and easy procedures, some doctors fear.
Although most attention is focused on the safety of infants and toddlers, their sudden jabs, bites, head-butts and kicks can inflict injuries on parents and other caregivers.
To understand Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr, consider Yahoo’s deal for GeoCities in 1999. | For technology deal makers, business is booming. | SAC Capital Advisors is bracing for another round of withdrawal requests. | Apple avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world, Congressional investigators disclosed.
Sign up for the DealBook Newsletter, delivered every morning and afternoon, and receive breaking news alerts throughout the day. | <urn:uuid:15022be7-0a54-4a38-b9cc-2dc7a7bdfc46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/roche-offers-to-buy-illumina-for-5-7-billion/?_r=1&scp=3&sq=dna&st=cse | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960398 | 1,734 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Mike's Mail Bag: Same-sex marriage
POSTED: Monday, May 23, 2011 - 6:55pm
UPDATED: Thursday, November 29, 2012 - 7:58pm
TYLER — For the first time ever, a new Gallup Poll found a majority of American's support gay marriage.
The survey posed the question, "Do you think marriages between same-sex couples should or should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages? 53% of respond ants said it should be valid.
What do you think? Leave us a comment below. | <urn:uuid:415c52b3-49c0-4759-a75f-fbc93f81b2bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ketknbc.com/news/mikes-mail-bag/mikes-mail-bag-same-sex-marriage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942897 | 123 | 1.664063 | 2 |
K.l. Fogg Visits Book Cliff Elementary
|K.L. Fogg talks with children while signing authographs.|
Author of Serpent Tide, K.L. Fogg visited with the children at Book Cliff Elementary on April 6.
Fogg started by telling the children a little bit about herself. It was around five years old when she realized she wanted to be an author. She would always make her mother little books with drawings in them. She said, " And then I actually grow up and became an author." She asked the students if they knew what they wanted to become.
After college Fogg moved to Japan with her husband. She became an English teacher there for about two years. They moved all over and now have three kids. Fogg went back to school and received her masters degree in journalism. She became a news anchor for the Missouri morning news where she able to cover some exciting things like riding in a hot air balloon, riding jet skis down and Mississippi river and covering tornado's. Fogg and her family then moved to Salt Lake City where she really started to miss writing. That's how the writing began.
Fogg had the children watch a movie where she interviews one of the characters Jack Mackie from her book. She then asked them questions about the movie where they received a snake pen for a correct answer. Following that Fogg answered questions for the children.
Fogg said she is already started on the second book and she thinks there will be three books in the series. | <urn:uuid:7d85f34d-7243-496b-abdb-8e16ebeb20f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecprogress.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=3980 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988095 | 311 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Fall River Orthodontics
"I was always very self conscious about my bucky teeth. The doctor explained everything to me and always took the time to give me the best care possible. I love my new smile, it was definitely worth getting the braces!" B.K.
The doctor, as New England Chapter President of the International Association of Orthodontics provides seminars in orthodontics and children's dentistry. This organization is the longest continually operating non-specialty school and study group, dedicated to the latest advances in children's dentistry and orthodontics. He is also a certified Invisalign ® provider.
The Doctor also participates in orthodontic training through NYU dental School and other organizations. All patient's receive an orthodontic evaluation as a part of their regular dental exam.
Orthodontics for Children
As a part of our emphasis on children's dentistry, we have incorporated orthodontics into our practice. An orthodontic screening is done for each child. This allows us to diagnose problems in tooth position and facial growth at an early age. Then, if necessary, a treatment plan is developed to optimize the effectiveness of treatment and to decrease cost. Interceptive orthodontics utilizes appropriately timed early treatment to deal with orthodontic problems and helps growth progress in a more normal fashion.
Orthodontics for adults
Many of our adult patients have received orthodontics as a part of a comprehensive treatment plan to address all of their dental problems. This is often combined with periodontal treatment (for healthy bone and gums) and other therapies to replace missing teeth. Adults appreciate the wide range of alternatives to traditional braces (such as Invisalign ®) that we provide. These can eliminate or reduce the need for traditional braces. | <urn:uuid:94e22576-576b-4369-bdef-ff658c30f219> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://advancedfamilydentalgroup.com/index.php?p=196369 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950739 | 374 | 1.734375 | 2 |
With any celebration, there's a cake for that. Cake creations today, whether miniature or multi-tiered, are expressions of someone's personality. No longer are organizers of festivities running out to buy the standard iced sheet cake.
Instead, cake lovers are reaching for gourmet cupcakes, layered cakes made with several different flavors and fillings, and miniature versions of intricately designed cakes.
“People are going beyond the typical sheet cake and they are seeing that you can put your own personality in it,” said Teri Dixon, owner of What-a-Cake! in Winona.
Since the mid-2000s, a swarm of reality-based television shows that focus on artistic bakers cluttered the primetime lineup. According to “Modern Baking,” cake sales have steadily increased over the last five years. The average weekly sales of cakes at U.S. stores in 2011 were $2,968, compared to $2,882 in the previous year. Decorated cakes are the most lucrative type of cake, comprising 30.8 percent of sales, followed by dessert cakes at 19.4 percent and cupcakes at 12.2 percent.
By now, many people have weaved the terms fondant, gum paste and sugar flowers into their culinary vocabulary, as they carefully follow the most elaborate work created by today's celebrity bakers. In local craft stores, classes are available for the amateur baker, to allow them to design their own celebratory sweetness.
The trend of cake design and innovation over the last few years is evident here in East Texas. There are plenty of bakeries and cake shops to satisfy the sweet teeth of all residents. From cake pops and three-dimensional cakes to upscale cupcakes and table-length, themed creations, the world of baking is ever-evolving, everywhere.
Let Them Eat...Cake Pops And Cupcakes
Fluffy dollops of a whipped, flavored cream top cupcakes, which range in flavors such as salted caramel and lemon curd-filled lemon cake. Everything is hand rolled and baked with fresh, local ingredients.
Mrs. Short, the mother of two, has baked since she was knee-high and returned to her love of baking after leaving the nursing field. She opened her store in March 2010. There, she employs people who range from “very experienced home bakers” to “employees who have artistic talents.” Her grandmother always made ganache, a type of icing, hence the name of her bakery.
“I decided to do my next passion, which was baking,” Mrs. Short said.
She bought Jen's Pop Shop at the peak of the cake pop phenomenon. Cake pops, which are rich and fudge-like, not only are used as party favors, but Mrs. Short said some people have used them as centerpieces at weddings instead of the traditional wedding cake.
“It's very trendy,” Mrs. Short said. “A lot of people like them because they can grab and go. People like it at weddings, graduation, anything. It really starting taking off in when L.A. and New York started having them at the candy shops and then it's come into smaller towns.”
Mrs. Short wants to take her cake pops to Hollywood. They have submitted the treat to be included in the “swag bag” for the daytime Emmy Awards.
“We're hoping to get on the Ellen DeGeneres Show with the cake pops,” she said.
The wrong temperature in the store and of the ingredients can throw things off. She typically bakes early in the morning but by the afternoon, she works with cake pops and decorations.
“If it's hot in here, these don't feel the love — at all,” Mrs. Short said. “They will flop off in the chocolate or they'll go through the stick.”
She added, “It's mad science, actually. That's what baking is. Baking is truly a science.”
Creating the more intricately designed cakes takes time and costs a lot more than traditional cakes. Bakers can spend up to three days working on a sculpted cake.
“We have a lot of people who will order from us but what they don't realize is when they want that sculpted Angry Birds cake they saw on TV, they don't realize how long it takes,” Mrs. Short said. “We can do it. We've done them but it costs a lot of money.”
From Home To Storefront
With the allure of creating whimsical gourmet cakes, it's no surprise that the cottage bakeries are attracting people who've always dreamed of running their own shop.
“That's how I started,” Ms. Dixon said. “It was a necessity for my family.”
Ms. Dixon, who'd been baking since she was 15, already owned a bakery in Tennessee but she moved back to her hometown of Winona to look after her ailing father. She said other people in her community bake cakes from home and share ideas on Facebook.
With the help of the new law, she began operating a “cottage bakery” in November. However, today, she's transitioning into a full-service store front operation.
In between this transition, she's made wedding cakes, sculpted cakes, cupcake bouquets, cake pops and specialty treats such as strawberry bouquets.
Her specialty flavors include chocolate strawberry and pina colada. She also makes her own fondant with marshmallow.
“I'm very artistic and I'm able to express my artistic flair through my cakes,” Ms. Dixon said. “The biggest thing that I love about my cakes, and this is my motto for my business: we create smiles with our creations. I get a big kick out of seeing someone flabbergasted after seeing their cake for the first time.”
Keeping Up With Cake
Ms. Dixon's prediction for next year's hot item is Sugarveil, a bendable sugar that looks like a doily of lace. Brides want to recreate the lace patterns on their wedding dress for their cake.
“I believe it's going to be the next popular thing,” Ms. Dixon said.
She also believes themed cakes for parties, or movie premiers, and elaborate grooms cakes will continue to trend in 2013.
Mrs. Short said she believes next year's trend will lean toward simplicity: classic, elegant cakes. She also favors butter cream frosting with fondant accents instead of a cake covered entirely by fondant.
Right now, smash cakes—individual cakes made just for a one-year-old to smash on their first birthday—are a hot item. Gender reveal cakes are also the rage at baby showers. Bakers make blue- or pink-centered cakes to indicate the sex of the curious couple's baby. Sculpted pregnant belly cakes, complete with the impression of a baby's foot inside the tummy, have been another baby shower favorite.
Mrs. Short makes macaroons, more specifically, Parisian macaroons, filled with a ganache or jellies. Vegan, sugar-free and gluten-free cupcakes are also gaining momentum.
“Everyone wants their own flavor and with cupcakes and doing a gourmet shop like that, everyone can have that, along with people with special diets,” she said.
Mrs. Short said Tyler is a good place to try new things.
Ganache will reveal a new concept in food to East Texans in October. Mrs. Short is tight lipped about the news, but says people on the east and west coasts are raving about this gourmet treat. Whatever it is, it's “affordable, beautiful and extremely unique.”
“Ganache will debut that with a large party and we will also have it at a Mistletoe and Magic booth,” Mrs. Short said. “It is super top secret but it is all over New York and LA. We are going to be the first ones to bring it to Tyler. It's going to be big.” | <urn:uuid:c7cbdab1-0ef3-4ec1-b343-e05cf216aeff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20120826/FEATURES01/120829816/-1/FEATURES0608 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972972 | 1,722 | 1.5 | 2 |
High: 81°F ~ Low: 61°F
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
To donate, or not to donatePosted Tuesday, March 20, 2012, at 8:18 AM
Invisible Children's Kony 2012 video has received a massive amount of attention since its debut over a week ago. Nearly 78 million people, including myself, have viewed the controverisial half-hour documentary on YouTube.
Haven't watched it yet? Here's the short version: Joseph Kony, a Ugandan war lord, is a sick and evil man. He's abducted some 20,000 children in the past 26 years, forcing them to become child soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army or sex slaves. Most current estimates guess Kony has a few hundred children with him.
Invisible Children, a San Diego non-profit advocacy/awareness organization, has rallied for viewers to donate to their cause and contact politicians to urge them to take necessary steps to take down Kony.
For a $30 donation, one can receive a Kony 2012 bracelet, buttons, a few stickers and two posters. Since the film's debut, Invisible Children has raised $15 million from selling these action kits.
Is buying this kit really going to make a difference? Yes, it will, to some degree.
Invisible Children has undergone intense scrutiny in the past few days about their finances, prompting CEO Ben Keesy to release a video reply on Monday. About 37 percent of donations fund programs in Central Africa, such as schools and an emergency radio system. The other 63 percent goes to salaries, overhead and advocacy campaigns.
Jedidiah Jenkins, Invisible Children's Director of Ideology, said the organization does not exist to deliver shoes or food; rather, they deliver advocacy and awareness.
Is that the best way to spend money? Shouldn't more than 37 percent of donations go to aid?
But then again comes the question - are we, as wealthy Americans, qualified to swoop in and solve Africa's problems? Did anyone ask the Ugandans what they think?
The Guardian did, and investigated what people in the heart of the LRA's territory thought of the film.
Victor Ochen, director of African Youth Initative Network, arranged a screening of the documentary in Northern Uganda. Following the film, viewers became outraged, especially over Invisible Children's use of merchandise, such as posters and bracelets emblazoned with "KONY 2012."
"It was very hurtful for them and their families to see posters, bracelets and buttons, all looking like slick campaign ads of the person most responsible for their shattered lives," Ochen said. "One man who lost four brothers and one of his arms said afterwards: 'How can anybody expect me to wear a T-shirt with Kony's name on it?'"
He continued, "That fame is not what Kony deserves for causing so much suffering was one overwhelming reaction. People were asking: Why give such criminals celebrity status? Why not prioritize addressing the plight of victims whose sufferings are visible?"
During Keesy's response film, he said there's one thing critics and supporters alike can agree upon: Joseph Kony must be stopped. The Kony 2012 video has certainly done a good job of capturing attention.
It remains to be seen whether the campaign is causing more hurt than good. Perhaps the campaign will spur political activism, ensuring Kony's capture by the end of the year, and perhaps not; however, there is one important thing to remember.
There will always be Joseph Konys.
* Ashley is a member of the Pilot-Tribune news staff. Reach the columnist at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:8080a9d1-15f2-418f-b265-05eabe58425c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stormlakepilottribune.com/blogs/1642/entry/46892/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965201 | 762 | 1.570313 | 2 |
AMMAN - Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday warned of a spillover of the Syrian turmoil into the countries it neighbours, saying the risk is "looming closer," in an exclusive interview with AFP.
"I am extremely worried about the risk of a fragmentation of Syria. Over the past few months we have witnessed an increase in sectarian violence," the king said.
"This not only endangers the unity of Syria, but it could also be a prelude to a spillover of the conflict, into neighbouring countries with similar sectarian composition. We have already seen signals that this risk is looming closer.
UN investigators have said that growing numbers of victims of the conflict in Syria are being targeted on account of their religion while gross violations of human rights are occurring on a regular basis.
More than 27,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad broke out in March 2011, according to human rights monitors.
During the interview at his palace, the king called for "a formula for a political transition where all components of Syrian society, including the Alawites, feel that they have a stake in the country's future."
"An inclusive transition process is the only way to stop the escalation in sectarian violence," he said.
"It is in the best interest of the Syrian people, as it would preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Syria, and it is in the best interest of regional stability and the international community."
Jordan is hosting more than 200,000 Syrians who have fled the bloodletting.
"I have been saying all along that the issue is not the individual, but the system. If President Bashar were to leave tomorrow, but the system stayed, then what would the Syrian people have achieved?" the king said. | <urn:uuid:a652ad32-ad0d-45e4-b69f-3caa3f39fb56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/09/12/news/foreign/jordan-king-warns-of-looming-spillover-of-syria-turmoil/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975754 | 358 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Ala. community holds vigil to remember tornadoes
IDER, Ala. (AP) — Hundreds of Alabamians gathered at a high school stadium to remember the 35 members of their community killed last year by a tornado outbreak. As they left the stadium, they left behind hundreds of burning candles.
Pastor Russell Carnell tells The Fort Payne Times-Journal (http://bit.ly/IvYPTN) that people don't feel like they're doing much when they light one candle, "but all the darkness in the world can't extinguish (it)."
Those gathered were remembering the one-year anniversary of a deadly tornado outbreak that killed 253 people across Alabama and left thousands more homeless.
Ider High School's marching band opened the service with a rendition of "Amazing Grace."
Pastor Luke Mckay says the tragedy has brought the community closer together, but they still have a ways to go.
Information from: Fort Payne Times-Journal, http://www.times-journal.com | <urn:uuid:e18f10ea-a811-41a2-ab3b-ffbc9aabd11d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.waka.com/news/across-alabama/149402845.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933613 | 208 | 1.632813 | 2 |
For Immediate Release
August 15, 2012
Contact: Gulliermo Meneses
+1 202.813.4812 | +1 202.445.1570 (mobile)
EAST MEETS WEST TO BRING IMPROVED SANITATION AND HYGIENE PRACTICES TO 1.7 MILLION IN VIETNAM, CAMBODIA
$10.9 million grant supports innovative effort to end open defecation, accelerate behavior change in rural communities
OAKLAND, CA– East Meets West has received a US $10.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve sanitation and hygiene practices among the rural poor in Vietnam and Cambodia. In these countries, open defecation and the unsafe disposal of human waste result in an estimated 17,000 deaths annually, 90 percent of which occur in children under age 5 – and US $ 1.2 billion in economic losses each year. The grant is the first of its kind from the Gates Foundation to support a results-based approach to sanitation and hygiene aid, which requires an initial investment from recipient families and communes, and then rewards them when results are achieved.
An international development agency working to transform health, education and sanitation systems of disadvantaged communities in Asia, East Meets West was awarded the grant to expand their unique business model, which applies an integrated, community-driven approach to supporting sanitation and hygiene-related behavioral change among the rural poor. The program combines community-based education about proper sanitation and hygiene; access to credible sources of financing for families to install latrines and hand washing devices in their homes; a cash rebate to families once installation and use of a latrine has been independently verified; and conditional cash transfers to communes that achieve at least a 30 percent increase in sanitation coverage.
Fully 50 percent of households in Vietnam – and approximately 80 percent of households in Cambodia – do not have sanitation facilities, according to government data. East Meets West aims to address this crisis by increasing the sanitation adoption rate and ensuring lasting behavior change among poor, rural households, specifically those earning less than US $2 per day.
The East Meets West business model for sanitation solutions is attractive to donors, because it results in latrines at a cost that is low by comparative industry standards – ensuring that the investment dollars are leveraged to reach the maximum number of families. Thanks to this approach, the program will benefit 1.7 million people in 344,000 households and 290 communes in Vietnam and Cambodia, which represents a significant undertaking in hard-to-reach rural communities.
“Change requires innovation, and with our results-based approach to aid, everyone involved has skin in the game,” said John Anner, President of East Meets West. “By ensuring that funders, suppliers, educators and aid recipients alike share in both the responsibility and the benefit of aid, we’re turning sustainable behavior change into a win for everyone.”
Alix Zwane, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, echoed this comment. “This is an innovative approach and we hope to learn a great deal about how paying for performance can enhance the value for money and transparency of donor funding in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector through this grant. We believe that smart investments like this can have a real impact, leading to healthier people, and stronger communities.”
East Meets West is working with local organizations, government partners, banks and private enterprises in this grant-funded project. In Vietnam, partners include the Vietnam Women’s Union, Vietnam Bank for Social Policies and the Health Environmental Management Agency of the Ministry of Health. In Cambodia, partners include the Cambodian Women for Peace and Development, the Kampot Province Department of Rural Development and the Ministry of Rural Development.
“As countries like Vietnam stand poised to advance economically, poor sanitation and hygiene practices threaten to cripple our progress, creating a breeding ground for illness, decreasing the productivity of adults and threatening human lives,” said Minh Chau Nguyen, Vietnam Country Director for East Meets West. “We’re working with our local partners to change this one household at a time, to increase demand to ensure healthier communities and to scale progress to support the development of our host nation as a whole.”
Since 1988, more than 5.5 million impoverished families have benefited from East Meets West’s high-impact health, sanitation and education programs. The organization has invested more than US $105 million in development solutions in Asia, and currently operates programs in Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines and Timor Leste. They have earned a 4-star rating – the highest possible – from Charity Navigator, which also just recognized East Meets West as an organization to watch for its rapid growth. | <urn:uuid:4bd9503d-ae3f-487b-956a-57837f3f624f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eastmeetswest.org/page.aspx?pid=792 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936007 | 995 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Guy M. Condon
Decoding Abortion Rhetoric: Communicating Social Change
by Celeste Michelle Condit
University of Illinois Press, 236 pages, $24.95
Students of Western thought have long understood the correlation between public discourse, conviction, and practice. Even as far back as the fifth century B.C:. Democritus said, “Word is the shadow of deed.”
But less obvious is the impact of words and story on public policy, the drift of statutory and judicial development, as played out In a democratic environment. The late Yale law professor, Robert M. Cover, explained this dynamic as “a system of tension between reality and vision.” He wrote that “no set of legal institutions or prescriptions exists apart from the narratives that locate it and give it meaning. For every constitution there is an epic, for each decalogue a scripture.”
The dynamic that Professor Cover described has taken particularly significant form in the debate over abortion. For that reason. Decoding Abortion Rhetoric: Communicating Social Change has come at a timely moment, helping partisans on either side of the issue to understand bow linguistics, imagery, and story affect the way we think, believe, vote, and live.
Celeste Michelle Condit, who teaches speech communication at the University of Georgia, calls rhetoric “the most immediate source for the flow of social meanings.” She traces the story lines developed by the right-to-life and right-to-abortion “rhetors” from the early 1960s to the present, explaining the tactics used by each group to control the public debate on the issue. Her analysis embraces public interest pronouncements, television drama, legislation, judicial opinions, and private discourse.
Condit promises “not to buttress any particular position,” but her failure to include information necessary to put many of her examples and interpretations in a proper context skews her analysis in a prochoice direction. That tendency is emphasized by disproportionate focus on the tactics and failures of the prolife side of the abortion debate.
But it is the author's lack of discussion about the news media— the dominant channel of rhetoric in support of the abortion license— that raises the most serious question about her objectivity. One wonders if Professor Condit recognizes the possibility that even she, a presumably dispassionate student of public communication, might have been swayed by the rhetoric of the abortion debate. But whatever her blind spots, her study effectively highlights the link between public conversation and public policy.
The analysis begins in 1962 with the TV Romper Room host, Sherri Finkbine of Phoenix, who had taken a Thalidomide tranquilizer while pregnant with her fifth child. Once Finkbine learned that her baby might be deformed, she sought not just an abortion, but one that would be legally sanctioned. When she could not secure legal approval, she flew to Sweden to find, as one newspaper put it, “a more civilized attitude toward her plight.” The episode of Sherri Finkbine, a woman whose career and private life both indicated a deep love of children, helped shape a prochoice mythology that pitted decent, desperate women against an uncaring legal system that denied them access to necessary abortions.
Condit might have explored the discrepancies between public myth and fact in Finkbine's story, as Marvin Olasky has done in his Press and Abortion. She could have mentioned that Finkbine's baby had only a 20 percent chance of being deformed, or that people from around the United States offered to adopt the baby no matter what. And in a study of rhetoric it would have been appropriate to note that in the early stages of the story reporters referred to Finkbine's unborn child as a baby, but over time shifted to the term fetus.
In any case, the Finkbine case marked a major turning point in public attitudes toward abortion. A Gallup poll taken shortly after the incident (which goes unmentioned by the author) indicated that 52 percent of Americans believed that Finkbine had done the right thing. That was the first recorded instance of majority support for a woman seeking an abortion. Though the circumstances had been extreme, the shift was nonetheless significant.
Although her account is incomplete, Condit provides an orderly description of the phases in abortion discussion over the past thirty years. She shows how Judge John Noonan early on used Judeo-Christian themes of love, sacrifice, and protection of the weak to argue that condemnation of abortion was “an almost absolute value” of Western Civilization. She then notes Lester Kinsolving's counterargument that the idea of life beginning at conception was a contemporary invention, “denied by three of the Roman Church's most prominent saints and by two of its popes.” (The author should in accuracy have noted that the Catholic church has in fact consistently maintained a proscription against abortion since the first century and that it is the argument to the contrary that is a modern invention.)
By the 1960s, pro-abortion language achieved full expression. The various streams supporting it came together in the word “choice,” a term that has remained effective up to the present. But Condit overlooks another shift within the theme of choice: from “freedom to choose” to “who will decide.” The latter point plays off public fears, even among many of those who consider themselves opposed to abortion, of state control of personal matters. This in turn strengthens the rhetorical link between a constitutionally protected right of privacy and a fundamental right to abortion.
The author's analysis of figures of speech, in using examples solely from the prolife side of the debate, reveals a bias of selection. Thus she defines the ideas that “the fetus is human” and that “abortion is murder” as metaphor, and sees the symbol of the tiny feet of fetuses as synecdoche. Why not, for balance, include the illustration of “abortion is a right” as metaphor, or of “rape-and-incest pregnancy” as synecdoche (a tiny part of the whole class of women using the abortion license)?
Condit's discussion of the dynamic between ideology and rhetoric again uses almost exclusively prolife examples, but prolife advocates seeking a more effective public rhetoric would nonetheless do well to attend to it closely. The author notes that the rhetoric of partisans succeeds insofar as it convinces the general public that particular partisan interests “are in the general interest.” Both the actions and the language involved in the Gideon Project abortion clinic bombings in Pensacola, Florida, on Christmas morning, 1984, did just the opposite, and their negative impact continues to this day.
The bombers described their action as being in accord with “God's will” and as “a gift to Jesus on his birthday.” Such language reinforced the activists' own ideological commitment, but as Condit notes, “the act of persuading . . . requires activists to abandon their own narrow views of the world, to address the audience in its own terms.”
Some of the more strident activists of the prolife movement have yet to understand this. Their efforts may well militate against achieving their goal of restoration of the public consensus on protection of the unborn. Even as Molly Yard advances the prolife cause when she affirms China's coercive abortion policies, so Randall Terry advances the pro-abortion cause when he advocates what sounds a lot like theocracy to humanistic and otherwise pluralistic ears. Such behavior serves the opposition's stereotyping of prolifers as religious zealots and extremists, a gang of fanatics led by bullying white males indifferent to the needs and concerns of women.
Terry and other high-profile activists should recognize that the media probably do not have the prolife movement's best interests in mind in choosing them as spokespersons. Condit's discussion of public expression of insular ideology could prove helpful in restructuring the rhetorical strategies of prolife partisans.
Mention of the media returns us to the greatest weakness in Condit's work: its lack of analysis of the crucial role of the press (broadly understood) on the abortion story. Journalists themselves have recognized the pro-abortion bias in news coverage, as in David Shaw's recent comment in the Los Angeles Times that “the news media consistently use language and images that frame the entire abortion debate in terms that implicitly favor abortion-rights advocates.” John Leo noted similarly in U.S. News & World Report “that since so few editors and reporters seem to know anybody who is anti-abortion, abortion protestors have been relatively easy to demonize.”
Condit partially compensates for her failure to discuss the news media by her useful exploration of the treatment of abortion in television drama. Such treatment is obviously important. As Condit notes in quoting David Thornburn, “Television is the contemporary medium of ‘consensus narrative,' the primary source of ‘shared stories' that explain ‘life as an American.'“
A single television drama can provide a broad range of viewpoints and cultural images on the abortion question. One of Condit's examples is an episode of Cagney and Lacey, in which Detective Sergeant Chris Cagney, who is Catholic, protects an indigent Hispanic woman seeking an abortion and tracks down an abortion clinic bomber.
A number of prochoice themes are sounded. Cagney's father urges his daughter to get off the case, because the “big boys” downtown (predominantly Irish Catholic) will not like her involvement in this abortion activity. Similarly, the woman's reasons for wanting an abortion are treated in a highly sympathetic manner. She is poor, she explains to Cagney, and her husband is on disability. “I don't want to be on welfare, I want to finish business school.”
But a dialogue between Cagney and her partner, Mary Beth Lacey, at least offers some ambiguity on the question. Cagney says of abortion. “I don't know when it's murder.” Lacey insists that “abortion is not murder. It's not even a person yet.” But Cagney responds: “Tell that to your belly.” Condit summarizes the episode as “circumscribing the cultural meaning for the practice of abortion, supporting legal choice as a pragmatic necessity but defining abortion as a morally undesirable act.”
The author also compares differences in private and public discourse in terms of justification for abortion decisions, relying on a book called Pregnant by Mistake, a collection of interviews with women who have had abortions. For example, the reference to a “mother's life” in public language in defense of abortion bas to do with physical survival. In private discourse, that reference is broadened to encompass the whole matter of a woman's identity, the “everything I was” before pregnancy.
Moreover, the “wants” of women as discussed in private discourse may offer acceptable non-public warrants for a decision to abort. But, according to Condit, in the public realm “want” did not seem to offer “a comfortable or successful social defense of abortion.” Therefore, the term was transformed in public discourse into a concern over “unwanted children.” Condit asserts that it was the Zero Population Growth movement that made it possible to relate “unwanted children” to a greater good offering benefits to “wanted” children and to society at large. In this way “individual wants... became social choices.”
Since a majority of Americans do not agree that ZPC or personal advancement justify abortion, exposing these discrepancies between public and private meanings could have a favorable impact on the public debate from the prolife perspective.
However, the book's greatest contribution comes in the discussion of how prevailing rhetoric affects not just public opinion but legal and constitutional understanding of the issue as well. Condit points out that “because the law must be able to control the public behavior of government officials and private individuals, legal discourse occurs, necessarily, in public space.”
In reference to Justice Harry Blackmun's opinion in Roe v. Wade, Condit asserts that “the Court decided that the prochoice vocabulary was constitutionally legitimate. . . . Blackmun repeatedly employed the precise vocabulary from the prochoice discourse, citing a ‘fundamental right to choose' and ‘freedom to choose.'“ The dissenting justices, for their part, “described abortion and motherhood precisely within the characterizations used by the prolife movement,” referring to the pregnant woman as a mother and indicating that it was the issue of her survival, not the conduct of her life, that presented an issue of fundamental freedom.
Perhaps most significant here is the Court's assumption of the authority to decide the question in the first place. According to Condit, “the procedural matter of accepting the case had breathtaking consequences: it allowed women to bring pregnancy (perhaps our single most important issue as women) into the judicial process in a definitive way.” This gave an enormous rhetorical advantage to prochoice women, since, as Condit says, “fetuses could not bring such cases” nor shape the public discourse on the issue in the direction of their right to exist.
For partisans and non-partisans alike, Decoding Abortion Rhetoric adds much to an understanding of the flow of public language and story in the abortion debate. In the aftermath of the Webster decision, with major cracks appearing in the structure of Roe, the stress on public consensus has increased dramatically. Each side recognizes the need to build a legislative cathedral, if you will, that shelters either emerging human beings or women's right to abortion.
Within the architecture of democracy, the group that is successful is the group that builds the sturdiest flying buttresses of public and judicial conviction. Leaders on either side who attempt to build their structure without both of the buttresses solidly in place will risk its collapse. In the end, as Condit recognizes, it is rhetoric and its impact on both public conviction and judicial interpretation that will ultimately determine whose structure will stand.
Guy M. Condon is Executive Director of Americans United for Life. | <urn:uuid:c60515bb-9dea-48b7-b033-6e54a19c8a90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/10/003-abortion-talk-5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956851 | 2,958 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Former Ophthalmology Chief, Caring Physician, Dies
May 03, 2010
Albert C. Snell Jr., M.D., a former head of the Division of Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, died April 20 at the age of 97.
Calling hours will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 22, at the Rochester Academy of Medicine, 1441 East Avenue.
Dr. Snell, a member of the School of Medicine and Dentistry faculty for 34 years, was the first full-time faculty member in the Division of Ophthalmology and also the first full professor. He became chief of the division in 1961 and remained in that position until 1978.
Dr. Snell was instrumental in the establishment of a research program in ophthalmology at the School of Medicine and Dentistry. He also was an active clinician and teacher. He trained more than 25 residents. His work helped pave the way for the establishment of the Department of Ophthalmology in 1978.
“Dr. Snell will always be a remembered as a superb teacher, clinician, and humanitarian,” said Steven Ching, M.D., associate professor of ophthalmology. “Patients to this day remember his kind and caring demeanor. Residents and students appreciated his keen intellect and encouragement. Under his guidance, the division of ophthalmology expanded in many areas.”
Warren Hill, M.D., who practices in Mesa, Ariz., described Dr. Snell as “one of the most kind and thoughtful physicians I have ever known.”
“He had a gift for making those around him feel at ease,” Hill said. “Most of all, I enjoyed the historical perspective he gave to the residency program. He was 70 years old when we first met and I'll always remember our conversations about ophthalmology as practiced in another era.”
Dr. Snell, a Rochester native, was the son of Albert C. Snell, M.D., who organized the Division of Ophthalmology in 1929.
After graduating from the School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1940, Dr. Snell completed his residency at the Wilmer Eye Institute of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. After practicing privately with his father for several years, Dr. Snell concluded that a career in teaching best suited his talents and interests. He returned to the School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he became the first full-time faculty person in the Division of Ophthalmology.
In 1982, Dr. Snell received the Albert David Kaiser Medal for Distinguished Service, awarded by the Rochester Academy of Medicine for all that “the University and the medical community have gained from his quiet, wise counsel.”
Dr. Snell is survived by his wife of 68 years, Margaret Snell of Rochester, two sons, David Snell of Bronxville, N.Y, and Stephen Snell of Rochester, a daughter, Sarah Singal of Rochester, and seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Donations in Dr. Snell’s memory may be made to the Albert C. Snell Sr. Memorial Fund of the Rochester Area Community Foundation, 500 East Ave., Rochester, N.Y. 14607, and the Palliative Care Program at the University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave., Box 687, Rochester, N.Y. 14642. | <urn:uuid:956c96f2-1647-4ba6-b559-49589fbb24e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=2837 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973074 | 714 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Description: An audit of the value and qualities of existing streets showing the historic design clues and what should be retained, the production of a Design Guide and, for one major route from the station to the seafront through the main commercial street, the production of an arts brief to bring a special quality to the route.
Why we carried out the project: We were commissioned by the Council after competitive tender, to act as lead consultant in studying and writing a prescriptive guide to the improvement and enhancement of the streets of central St Leonards, which includes residential and commercial streets, streets with mixed uses, squares and the seafront/major link road/esplanade. We sent a research team including urban design students (who learned from KAC on the job) to audit around 40 streets in the area, recording key features, appointed Creative Cultures to work with us on the Arts brief, and then, following consultations, produced a highly illustrated design manual for the area’s important streets and routes.
Client: The Neighbourhood Regeneration Manager, Hastings Borough Council, supported by the Regional Development Agency.
Testimonials: This guide clearly explains the historical development and importance of St Leonards public domain and gives both the Council, the Highways team and developers the basis for coordinated regeneration of these spaces.
Return to PROJECTS | <urn:uuid:e301c2a9-14d8-4481-864e-3575ae07007d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://architecture-centre.org/326-2/valuing-a-place/the-meads/streetscape-design-guide-for-central-st-leonards/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932079 | 273 | 1.632813 | 2 |
The privacy of our medical records has already been compromised by federal legislation prior to the passage of ObamaCare, such as the Stimulus bill of 2009. In an article entitled, "Obesity Rating for Every American Must Be Included in Stimulus-Mandated Electronic Health Records, Says HHS," CNSNews.com reported on July 15 that:
During the course of monitoring the Glenn Beck TV Show from the perspective of a longtime member of The John Birch Society, I made another pleasant discovery this past week. During the July 15 show, Beck spent a few minutes discussing the book, Philip Dru: Administrator, by Colonel Edward Mandell House.
On last night’s TV show Glenn Beck spent most of the first segment of his show discussing how similar the Democratic and Republican parties have become in recent years. To help his audience understand how this has come about Beck used a famous quote from Carroll Quigley’s infamous book Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, which was published in 1966.
As a longtime member of The John Birch Society, the premier organization warning Americans about the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) for the past 50 years, it is always gratifying to see others raising the warning too. However, before looking at what Glenn Beck said about the CFR yesterday, let's review what the JBS has been saying over the years.
Yesterday President Obama announced the recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to be the new Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services within the Department of Health and Human Services.
As a longtime member of The John Birch Society (JBS), I’ve been watching the Glenn Beck TV Show closely since he moved over to Fox News in 2008. I’ve been fascinated to see how Beck has been getting progressively (sorry for the bad word choice) closer to presenting American history in the way that The John Birch Society has been doing it for over 50 years.
Update, July 2: Yesterday Rep. King's discharge petition got 29 new signers for a total of 109! Immediately after ObamaCare was passed into law back in March, many representatives and senators introduced repeal ObamaCare bills, including Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). Those bills are now in limbo in various congressional committees and will never see the light of day, much less come to a vote, unless further action is taken.
UPDATE, June 24: House passed H.R. 5175 by 219-206 today. Senate still must vote. As you might be already aware, House Speaker Pelosi had to pull the DISCLOSE Act, H.R. 5175, from a scheduled vote last Friday, when widespread outrage erupted over a special exemption for the NRA in exchange for not opposing the bill. Well, the bill is still alive and well with a vote now scheduled in the House for tomorrow, June 24. The Senate leadership has already promised Pelosi that if the House passes the bill, then the Senate will vote on it in time for it to take effect for the elections this fall.
Last night Ron Paul made an urgent appeal via a 2 1/2 minute video (see below) for immediate help in contacting senators to reject Bernie Sanders' new, watered-down Fed transparency amendment and to support an amendment with the original "Audit the Fed" language of H.R. 1207 and S. 604. A vote on Sanders' amendment to S. 3217 (the financial services overhaul bill) is expected on Tuesday, May 11. (For results of the votes on May 11, read "Senate Caves to Fed Pressure, Waters Down Audit.")
There’s a lot of confusion occurring over what’s being nullified by the “Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act” legislation that’s been introduced in over 30 states, and already enacted into law in Virginia, Idaho, Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, and Louisiana. This legislation has been based on model legislation developed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) back in December 2008, over a year before ObamaCare finally became law. | <urn:uuid:e1e02d1d-68db-4679-900e-66318be3b68e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jbs.org/agenda-21/author/larry-greenley?limitstart=70 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958027 | 828 | 1.695313 | 2 |
On the Chesapeake bay, a Fishing Cottage Gives Rise to a Beautifully Utilitarian Complex
The extraordinary modernist camp on a barrier island in the Chesapeake Bay that belongs to Michael Minnemann and Richard Bernstein owes its existence to the creative destruction of nature and the creative imagination of the architect, David Jameson. In August 2001 Minnemann and Bernstein, a mechanical engineer and a property manager, respectively, bought an old fisherman’s cottage on Upper Hooper Island, about two and a half hours by car from their primary residence in Washington, D.C. The cottage, recalls Minnemann, “was a falling-down mess—the floor had collapsed under the water heater—but cute.” Points out Bernstein, its superb site “consisted of five secluded acres on a point at the end of a single-lane dirt road, with the Honga River on two sides, salt marshes and wooded wetlands.” For two years they spent weekends fixing up the house. Then, in September 2003, Hurricane Isabel wrecked it, leaving three feet of water inside.
Instead of trying to salvage the cottage, the pair decided to build something entirely new. They quickly chose David Jameson, based in Alexandria, Virginia, to design their island residence and signed a contract in December 2003. (Excellent choice: In 2004, the first year of the three-year construction project, the AIA recognized Jameson with its Young Architects Award.) When he asked his new clients what they had in mind, they said they had “no real notion of what we wanted the house to look like,” reports Minnemann—“more a sense of how we wanted it to feel: contemporary, not standard, with no disconnect between inside and out. We needed it to be low-maintenance, since our wet dogs would be running around. We wanted a screen porch, high ceilings, an outdoor shower, space for flower and vegetable gardens, two bedrooms, two baths—we’d add a pool and third bedroom eventually. That was it.”
In April Jameson came back with dramatic plans (including three bedrooms and a pool) that were, remembers Minnemann, “nothing I expected but everything I wanted.” The plans did not change significantly from that first rendition.
Jameson took the clients’ essential request and “broke it apart,” he says, creating “fragments in the landscape.” What holds the design together is an architectonic integrity of aesthetic, geometry, physical materials and respect for the natural elements of the site. Drawing on the agrarian vernacular of the island’s fishing shacks and farm buildings, Jameson conceived separate though connected structures for each section of the main house. The exteriors are clad in sensuous lead-coated copper with half-inch standing seams: The “locking” of the seams adds to their strength, and the strong lateral lines, creating shadows in summer and collecting snow in winter, reflect the horizontal lines of shore, water and, well, horizon.
Partly because county zoning ordinances put in place after Hurricane Isabel required new residences to be set three feet above mean high tide, Jameson built all the new structures on concrete plinths, including the freestanding guesthouse and the fire pit—only about half of the 3,000-square-foot camp touches the ground. Although you’d expect soil at the shore to be sandy, the ground at this site is mostly red clay, the color of Sedona rock. Bernstein, the principal landscaper, scattered native-grass seed around the property and planted several trees, but for herbs, flowers and vegetables, Jameson designed large Cor-Ten steel planters that rust to the color of the clay.
Entering from the parking court, a visitor passes between a pine forest on the right and a guest room on the left—you see the room cantilevered on its plinth—before climbing a set of Pennsylvania bluestone steps to the entrance deck. To the right on the bluestone deck is one of the house’s most stunning features: an outdoor shower with three etched-glass walls and bead-blasted stainless-steel framing. It has no wall on the pine-forest side, just nature.
To the left at the top of the stairs, an ipe (Brazilian walnut) bridge leads to the entrance proper and three choices. (1) Straight ahead you find a long screen porch, with ipe floors and gorgeously curated views of the sundeck, pool and Honga River; the master bedroom opens off the far end of the porch. (2) Immediately to the left from the entrance is the guest room. (3) To the right you enter the main living area, or lodge. This magnificent room, with battleship-gray concrete floors and clear vertical-grain Douglas fir walls, has a portal window (a signature Jameson detail) looking northeast, with views of the pool and the river, and an enormous wall of windows facing another section of the river to the southeast. The ceiling of the lodge slopes up, back to front, and the line of the front roof rises on the left—which means that all the top windows in the southeast wall are trapezoids. The master bedroom and guesthouse have exactly the same shape and walls of windows, with no shades (Bernstein rises at 6:15 with the sun and the dogs; Minnemann sleeps in). With a river two miles across out front, no one worries about privacy.
The architect selected furniture that complements the lodge—the clean, functional elegance of Danish Modern designers Hans Wegner, Poul Kjaerholm and Børge Mogensen and a countertop of aluminum lathe shavings embedded in resin (“the refined and the raw,” he says). He gave his clients 20 safari lanterns as a housewarming gift—to set on the deck or in the fire pit, or to light the way to the guest cabin at night.
Jameson actually grew up on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and at the time thought there was no architecture in the area—just fishing shacks and barns. He has since come to appreciate the “proud little buildings” around the Chesapeake Bay. Today, of course, even someone who does not value those lovely vernacular structures could not say there is no architecture on Upper Hooper Island. | <urn:uuid:f1847220-6eea-4975-a6d9-b8fb95f6c8be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.architecturaldigest.com/decor/2008-10/jameson_article | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94469 | 1,347 | 1.773438 | 2 |
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Home and Travel Security Tips
The need for tight security has never been greater and it is even more important when going away from home, whether it be on business or for that much earned holiday.
Here are some useful tips some of which are fairly basic but, nevertheless, very important safeguards.
Credit cards. Always keep a list of card numbers and “lost or stolen” telephone number to ring if the worst happens. Keep the list separate from your handbag or wallet.
Passports.Take 2 photocopies. Keep one with you when you are travelling and leave the other in a secure place at home.
Keyrings. Never leave your address on your key ring. Never leave your car registration number on your car key ring.
Access to your house. If you are going away from home leave a spare set of keys with a friend along with your contact details.
Time clocks. Install a time clock to switch lights on and off whilst you are away.
Power supplies. Leave some electrical equipment running, eg a fridge. Thieves have been known to check the electricity meter to see if any power is being drawn. Alternatively contact your utility supplier and get a lock fitted to the power meter. For gas a lock on the meter box is the best answer.
Car parking. An empty driveway can be a give away. Ask a neighbour if they would occasionally park on your drive way.
Garden maintenance. Arrange to have your grass cut and for your wheelie bin to be put out and returned.
Health cover. If you live within the EU then you should take a European Health Insurance card with you when you travel. This has replaced the old E111 **
** More detailed information on this subject can be found at -
Hotel details. When you leave your hotel take their business card with you. If you need to return in a hurry and a taxi driver cannot understand your instructions then show him the business card.
Rucksacks. If you are carrying valuables in your rucksack then consider placing some chicken wire in the base of the sack. This will prevent thieves slashing the base of the sack with a razor and stealing your valuables through the hole.
Be aware. You need to be aware of the “risk” times when you are travelling around a city. The best times for pick pockets tend to be when you are moving and distracted. For instance when you are getting off a busy tram or struggling with your shopping as you come out of a shop.
More pages on Home security
How to identify the vulnerable areas in your home and how to make them more secure.
Information on home security systems including alarms, window and door locks and exterior lighting.
Home security tips - how to beat the burglar.
Home Security - basic precautions.
Copyright © 2000-2013 Hints and Things Hints and Things cannot be held
responsible for any information given on this site nor do they necessarily agree
with, or endorse, the views given by third parties.
Copyright © 2000-2013 Hints and Things
Hints and Things cannot be held responsible for any information given on this site nor do they necessarily agree with, or endorse, the views given by third parties. | <urn:uuid:9eb1113a-6aa7-4084-a590-834ebff27a08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hintsandthings.com/livingroom/homesecurity.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935908 | 678 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Chit Snow is a young woman who suffered from rheumatic heart disease. She went to Chiang Mai twice for treatment. The first trip was for investigation and the second was for heart surgery. She received a valve replacement on 25 January 2012 and stayed in the hospital for six days. Everything went well. Before the surgery, Chit Snow was very tired. She couldn’t do anything and her mother and everyone she knew were certain that she would die. Her family spent a lot of money on ineffective treatment prior to coming to the Mae Tao Clinic and being referred onto Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF).
Following her operation, Chit Snow has more energy and can do everything better. She is also sleeping and eating well. She likes to sew clothes and hopes to be able to earn money and help her mother in the future.
All of her family is happy and surprised at her recovery. Her mother says she is so happy she could cry. Chit Snow and her family have given permission to share her story because her mother thought she would die and now that she hasn’t she wants to tell everyone what happened. Chit Snow has written a thank-you letter to express her feelings. She had a follow-up appointment in March 2012 and has said that when she goes home, she is planning on having a rest.
Chit Snow’s Thank You Letter:
I would like to thank the donors from my heart. I felt like my life was hopeless. Thanks to all the donors, medics, and heart surgeons for giving me hope. I would like to pray for them to have happiness, prosperity, and long lives. Now that I am better, I will be able to care and provide for my parents. Again, thank you very much for treating the heart disease I had been living with for three years. You have kept me alive, and I will continue to pray for you.
Chit Snow War (all healthy now)
Chit Snow’s Story:
Chit Snow is 19 years old and currently lives with her grandmother on the Burma side of the Thai-Burma border. Her younger sister and mother work in a factory on the Thai side of the border; her father works as a farmer in Mon State and supports his parents while her older brother works in Bangkok at a sewing factory (though his income supports his own family and he is not able to support his sisters or parents).
Chit Snow grew up in Mon State where she attended school up to 6th standard (14 years old). When she was fifteen, she came down with a fever and was suffering from swollen and painful joints. Her mother took her to a clinic for treatment and she was given medication which didn’t seem to improve her condition. The family heard about a good Karen doctor in Myawaddy (on the Thai border) and they decided to move to Myawaddy so that Chit Snow could get treatment. Her father stayed behind to continue working to support the family. To travel to Myawaddy, Chit Snow’s mother had to sell many personal possessions including her jewelry. When they arrived in Myawaddy, they rented a room and set about getting Chit Snow treatment.
Chit Snow was diagnosed with rheumatic fever and her treatment plan included monthly injections at the clinic. She continued the injections every month for 8months. However, after 8 months, the doctor informed Chit Snow that the rheumatic fever had damaged her heart and that she would need an operation. He told them to go to the Mae Tao Clinic.
When Chit Snow was 17, she started work in a factory on the Thai side of the border with her sisters – her younger sister was just 12 years old. Chit Snow worked 6 days a week for a meagre wage. Her day started at 8 and she finished around 11pm (with two one-hour breaks for lunch and dinner). Chit Snow and her sisters were responsible for painting children’s toys (made from plaster). The type of paint used required acetone to clean their hands after their work was done. They didn’t use gloves or masks. Chit Snow says that the smell in the factory was very strong and that she had to stop working because she was too sick. Despite travelling out of the factory once a month for her injection, Chit Snow’s condition continued to deteriorate while she was working. Her chest began to feel very tight, she had difficulty breathing and she was always tired. She went to live with her grandmother while her sister and mother continued to work at the factory.
Chit Snow first came to the Mae Tao Clinic in April 2011 suffering from oedema (generalized swelling). In June 2011, her condition became severe and she was admitted to the medical in-patient department for one month. She was suffering from chest pain, fever, palpitations and a persistent cough. She was sent to Mae Sot Hospital for further testing and to get a clearer diagnosis.
Back home in Burma, Chit Snow’s father works as a farmer – he is a daily worker so he picks up whatever work he can on a daily basis. He picks coconuts, grows rice and beans and does other agricultural work. Her father says that Chit Snow became very ‘fat’ (from fluid build-up and swelling) but she has now lost a lot of weight and is now very thin. Her mother says that she wants to accompany her daughter to Chiang Mai because she is worried about her. Before her surgery, Chit Snow said that she had chest pain and that she was short of breath.
Her mother said that she worried about her daughter a lot and felt stressed. She thought that her daughter would die because they didn’t have enough money to afford her treatment. Chit Snow said that she just wanted to get better so that she could continue to work. She wants to get a job sewing garments. | <urn:uuid:b9f40336-a027-4da9-9469-7291fa512d0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.burmachildren.net/our-programs/success-stories/adults/chit-snow-heart-disease/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992726 | 1,221 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Senior citizens would be protected from untrained financial advisors under legislation approved by the state House of Representatives and co-sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Giuliano. The measure, adopted unanimously and sent to the Senate, prohibits financial salespersons from using a fake certificate or falsely claiming they have special training in advising senior citizens.
The legislation applies to agents who sell financial products including stocks, bonds or insurance. It is aimed at preventing cases where unsuspecting elderly people have been deceived into thinking the financial salesperson has special expertise in advising seniors. “Many times we have heard of older people who were duped into investing their life savings with an unscrupulous advisor and then ended up losing their entire financial nest egg,” said Rep. Giuliano. “We may have even had parents or grandparents in our families who were bilked of large sums of money.”
“This legislation will go a long way toward protecting the elderly against fraudulent senior financial advisers,” Rep. Giuliano added. “I hope to see this bill passed in the Senate and signed into law promptly.” The legislation expands on existing state laws regarding securities and insurance that prohibit the use of fraud, deceit and untrue statements in the sale of financial products to people of any age.
The new legislation, an amendment to HB 6231, specifically targets financial salespersons who prey on senior citizens with false claims of special training or expertise.
“People have worked their whole lives to save for their retirement years,” said Rep. Giuliano. “We should do all we can to help people support themselves comfortably in their own homes.” | <urn:uuid:51a8d5b2-f2f8-4a35-83fc-98792e225d60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cthousegop.com/2009/05/protecting-seniors-from-fraud/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971521 | 333 | 1.835938 | 2 |
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THE EVENING WORLD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1912.
Grandfather and Father of the
Roosevelt Assassin Were
HIS LIFE IN NEW YORK.
Always Moody, He Brooded
Constantly Over Deaths of
Aunt and Uncle.
For at Inast three urnoratlons
there has been a taint of insanity In
hft fttmllV rvf Inhn Onli.nRl. 1
Schranks grandfather, a rich Ba
varian brewer of the same name,
vas almost a lvnatlc before ho died. J
The same uncoundnrsn cropped out In
Sehrank'g youthful father. The son,
known from boyhood In many sec
tions of the east side and In Hrook-
lyn, was a taciturn, moody, morose,
brooding character. lie had fo Inti
mates. A few members of his imme
diate fumlly he appeared to love to
Idolatry. He had no politics, lie
waa not a professed Socialist. People,
who know him best say he is only a
In all S'rhrank'a rarrer not nn Inci
dent has oeen nnrarthcl to explain his
hatred of Col. Roosevelt, Which seems
to have developed after the death, last
year, of hli uncle, Domlnkk riammuiiK.
Sitting In the back room of the White
House Hotel at No. lraj Canal street,
where he lived from last May until
July, lehraok drank moodily by hin,-
elf and looked up at the pictures of I
four Presidents of the United States, j
One was of Lincoln, one was of Gar- I
field, both victims of assassins. Th j
Ird was of lirant; the fourth Of
oaevelt. Night after night, accord-
to Uustave Just, the , proprietor,
hrsank would (tit In lh room, drink-
ing, brooding, looklnx at tlu-se pi tures. !
Domlnlck snd Anna rltnnui cants .
to America twenty-nine years ISO. I
brlnclng with them i boy. Flammanl 1
opened a saloon at No. 370 Kapt Tenth
tTMti and lived upstairs. The bey sral
known a" John l'lammang, ard the
thrifty Germans in tha nolchborltood
understoo 1 mat the I 'lamming! ha'l '
brought him from his gratidyaremj' 1
home in Qtrmany,
YOUNG 4LAMMANQ WAS JOHN !
For 1 years the boy attended the
puM'c schools, anil wnen fifteen becamo
bartender In his uncle's saloon. In
1902, the Flnmmangs moved to East
SUteentli street, and Flam man I an
nounced that he had given his hiitlni ,
to his young nephew. Great was the
peculation and wonder when the new
name over the door was John .Shrank
Instead of John Flammang, The old
people then moved to No. IW Baat
Eighty-first street, where they had
bought a house, and Schrank lodged
with a family named Zelgler, over j
The new owner made no friends.
Neighbors say that at that time he
regularly received remittances from
Europe. JUS eaucatiun siijini mm in ;
good stead. He spoke English and
Oerman fluently, and at times was a
(uislator for the Staats Zeltung.
M...I. 1',, ...1,1. ,,, ,.t the i
(inn. DaaUra' Association, says he .
remembers SrhraJik as a young leuow
irho was "a little off In his head."
That he had some social Instincts is
Indicated by the fact that ho was a
member of the Hungarian Club at No.
431 Eaat Thirty-first street.
Eventually Schrank sold his business.
Anna Flammang died In 1007. Schrank
waa beside himself with grief. He had
attended her with great devotion. Phy
sicians at the Presbyterian Hospital
aid she was goiag Insane. Schrank,
In hysterics, refused to leave the room
In which her body lay and had to be
put out After she was burled 'n Ever
green Cemetety, Brooklyn, he spent
days beside her grave. Another aunt,
to whom he had transferred his violent
affection, died in 1911, and about the
same time Domlnlck Flammang died,
leaving Schrank worth 136,000.
MOVED TO BROOKLYN TO BE
(trhrank lived alone In the Elghty-firot
treet house, shut up and brooding
again. He disappeared one day. None
of his old Tenth street acquaintances
heard of him after that until the news
came of hla attack on Col. Rooaevelt
ehrank, however, only went to Brook
lyn and took lodging at the 'Old Home
stead," a little hotel a Cooper and
Centra streets, convenient to the ceme
tery, where he still spent hours at his
aunt's grave. He lived at '.he "Old
Homestead" until last January. Shortly
bsfore leaving he asksd Edward Lurln
ger, the manager, to be his agent and
collect the rents at the Eighty-first
street house. He frequently received
letters from Germany, but never di
vulged their contents.
In February Schrank. appearing to
have suffered severe reverses, went to
work In the saloon of Edward Haber
atroh and Theodore Thumann at No.
H Flushing avenue, Brooklyn. He car
ried only a shabby big, and bis moat
treasured possessions ere the photo
graphs of a man and a woman. He was
tried in two positions, failed In both
snd was dts-hirged n March the
saloon proprietors were served with a
summons in a suit brought by Schrank
for HI salary. The suit went to trial
March I si'1 every day while It was In
progress Schrank would appear at the
saloon or st the offices of the proprietor!'
attain. y nl demand his money. On
Mart U a rwaifj waa
Heir to $30,000,000 and Girl
fwrt ww w rt fu
wnom tie is
him. He left the court room sullen and
"He was a uueer man," says Txitils !
Mriada, chef at the saloon. "I could ,
Rot understand aim. He would come t ;
me for his meals, but he never talked
very much. We were not sorry when he j
WAS ALMOST SHRINKING IN HIS
"lOhrank wai a little ihap. short an
tlbby," sayi Mr. Just, of the White
House. "H had a calm face, t quiet
voice and was Inoffensive an i almo.it
shrinking in manner ll seldom hud
anything to My. He would come in and
get his beer, and sit In the room anJ
quietly watch the other men. 1 never
wai so surprised In my life as w.ien I
heard hi1 had snot Uooscvelt."
' Jicrnard Berger. who came to own
8chrank's former saloon, remembers his
Doming there on a visit about four yt-ira
"One of the men present, who knew
Echrank well." said Mr, Berger, "usked
him where he wan living, and I think
he said he was staying with old Klam
tr.ang, bis uncle. Xn one said anything
to me about his being a Socialist then or
any other time, although I th'nk some
one In the party that day expressed the
opinion that the Socialists would rule the
Country some day. I can't recall wheth
er or not It was Schrank who said this."
Mr. Just confirms the statement that
Schrank was never head to talk about
socialism or politics In any form. He
iy he Is sure Schrank never even men
Schrsnk'a Eighty-first street house 1s
now In the name of F. P. Hummel, an
attorney, who lives at No. 24 Marble Hill
avenue. Mr. Hummel declines to say un
der what circumstances he became the
owner of the house.
WOMAN STILL HAS THE UNCLE'S
Mrs. Margaret Daxeklng, who has an
undertaking room at No. 176. East Tenth
street, still has in a Jar the ashes of Mi
Flammang, and told to-day of S-hrank's
bchAvlor at the time of his uncle's
"The young man was terribly ner
vous," she said. "He walked up and
down the floor so fast and so many
times that the men could hardly go
on with the funeral. He talked and
muttered to hlnnelf, and .lust walked
and walked and walked. He got the
embalmer so nervous he couldn't do
his work at all. He had the old man
cremated, and I brought the ashes here.
Two weeka later Schrank he comes and
pays the bill, but he never says a
word about the ashes, and they are
Thuruan, Juai and severs! others
heard from Schrank that he had i sis
ter and brother somewhere In Hrook
lyn, but the police have been unable
to locate them. Just says Schrank
gave his brother's name as Charles, and
said he lived near Cooper and Myrtle
A visit by detectives to Iaurlnger's
hotel In Cooper street unearthed a v illse
left there by Schrank last January. It
contained a photograph of Schrank.
a number of letters In German and
English, some memoranda, mortgages
and deeds. Schrank'a last appearance
there was Sept. 22 The police also
learned that Schrank had borrowed tl'.o
from a man whose name Is withheld,
This Is the money on which Schrank Is
supposerl to have been able to follow
Col Roosevelt over the country.
Outsider Wins ran re h 1 1 e Ii .
newmakkf.t, England, Oct, 16.
The Cesarewltch Stakes was won to
day by the th ree-y ca r-ol.l Watllngli.ini,
an outsider, agilnst whom olds of St
to 1 were laid. Tootles was second and
Wlnthorpe third There were eighteen
runners. Ths race was a weUht for
age handl lap, run over a distance of
two ml,es and a quarter.
Another 24-page Magazine
next Sunday. Don't fuil to
et it. Order next Sunday 'a
orld in advance. See your
newsdealer to-morrow morning.
unaaaea to nea
I UUIHU rmlfl I i initio
$400 PUP IN PARK
FAR MAMMA'S JSI1
s vn iiiiirii i w www
Taxi Drivers, Footmen and
Bicycle Corps Beat Bushes
for Mrs. Griffin's Child.
At 7.30 o'clock to-day while Lieut.
Matter was scrachlng the frosl from the
windows of the Ar.-i n il police station
in Central Park a stylishly dressed
woman rushed breathlessly Into the
"My child!" she cried. "Oh, Captain.
Inspector. I've lost my precious child!"
"Tag," said Matter, reaching meehan
tcally for one of the big twioks at his
rinlit behind the desk. ' How old Is the
"In perambulator? What sort?"
POOR DEAR! HE'S THE ONLY
CHILD SHE'S GOT!
"Oh. dear, no! He was walking."
"Huh!" ejaculated Maher. "Well, how
was he dressed?"
"He wo-e a little cute brown blanket,
but I left his little fin: warmers off "
"What's that? Easy now!"
"Oh, stupid! You soe, I didn't have
the heart to keep him on a leash on a
fine morn;ris like this, ami a wagon ran
over his hind, leg right In front of the
Hotel I'lasa. Then he ran away Into
the park." I
said the Lieutenant In a tone of
"It's a dog you're missing,
"Yes. the only child I've got. the poor
Then the lady, Mrs Robert 5tlffln,
four-months bride of the 1'rcsldent of
the Urlffln Wall Paper Company of No.
t2", Fifth avenue, hurried back to her
home, No. M West Fifty-ninth, street.
On the way she stopped every park
policeman and employee ami give a
minute daacrtotlon of "Patrick," wh ',
siie s;ud. w 1 1 the iinest French poodle
avar and so intelligent he answert I
the punwise of a lady's maid. S.ic
offered a reward for his retura.
Stopping in front of the Hotel Plaza,
she engaged the chauffeurs of n half
dozen taxi "ahs to run their machines
through every highway an 1 byway In
the park until they found Patrick,
money no object, and $.Vi reward, In ad
dition to what the meter said. Doyi on
bicycles and fleet-footed men. spurred
not alone by the promised reward but
by a cash guarantee for their time,
raced Into the park and began to beat
through the bushes, In gross violation of
"Keep off the ilrass" signs.
PATRICK COST $400. BUT HE'S
Finally a part laborer found Patrick
In the summer bouse atop the knoll a
Slili avenue and Pifty-nlnth ere.-'. I.
took 'he do tO Mrs. (ii itlit.'s home and
got the reward She sent at once for
Ir. French, the veterinarian, who bait9
dageii Patlrt'a wounded member,
"I'm going to nurse Patrlok myself,"
she told an Evening World reporter.
'Why, he's been Just as good as n
lady a maid t me. when i want my
slippers or anything slSS he can carr ,
all I have to do Is to ask Patrick t0
get them "
Mrs. Orlffln laid she paid W'm fo,-
Patrick when she w is a.'fOad On be
honeymoon, several months ago, bill
W iuldn'1 take $.".ki for him u iw,
For Thai Sweal Note, Clear Your
VCna -e Ceng Dnp at, e
ton nnn nnn &w nFQFPTrn RDinr
l-iii ii i Mini in 1 1 in ill mini
SEES NO ROMANCE BLAMES PARENTS
"All Done in Old-Fashioned
Way," Says Fiancee of
William Ziegler jr.
Yachting Trip Put Finishing
Touch to Their Long
In the sitting room of a modest home
In an unpretentl vis Harlem neighbor
hood, at No. KB West One Hundred an 1
Twenty-second street, Mlas (lladys Vir
ginia Watson told to-day of hnr engage
ment to WMllam Ziegler jr., heir to
$30.ono,000 left to him hy his foster
father, the late Wiiiism legler. manu
facturer of baking powder and support,
of polar expeditions, whU-h bore his
"Will and I have been chums for
years.," Mian Watson said. "He went
to Harvard ami latar to Columbia, srMIe
I attended the Finch School for youtu
ladles. Our families are friends, and he
and 1 took In the round of concerts. We
are both Interested In music, dances, en
tertainments and outings. He Is an ar
dent yachtsman, and we were tngethc
In many jtartles on his yaicht an i
"His health ns a hoy was anything
hut robust. But as he grew older In
also grew in strength, until to-day h'
enjoys the best of health and his tast
runs to ont-of-dofir sports. Aside from
his business, he Is Intereted In all tin
arts, particularly music.
"He Is a member of the Lambda
chanter of the ri ITpslHon fratarnlt)
St Columbia and we would meet nt the.i
dances. Friendship grew, and our en
gagemenl was no surprise to QUI
fi lends. In fact," with a smile, "It a!
took place In the old-fashioned wa
No; we have not yet set the date ol
Soon after Mr. Blagier came into pos
session of the estate which makes lUtn
one of (ha richest young men In the
country, he chartered the sttam yacht
Waklva and took on a pleasure cruise
a pprty which Included Miss Watson
and was chaperoned by Mrs. Fairfield
Carpenter. It w.is on that cruise that
the engagement was first made known
to the friends of the young people.
Mr. Zeigler Waa of age July 2h last
and Is cceupicd by day at the Ham
mond National Hank. He has a city
home at No. ?A Central Park South and
has Inherited an estate at Nnroton.
Conn. He came Into possession of the
Income of the entire estate up in com
ing of age and will receive one-quarter
of the principal every five years there
after. One of the trustees of the estate
Is Mayor Waynor.
GOT A PEEK AT HER KNEE
AND GAVE HER ONLY $500
Unftcling Jury Cut Down Carrie's
Claim tor Injuries She
Fixed at 120,000. t
A Jury In Justice Blaokmar! Supreme
Court. Long Island City, to-day re
turned a verdict swarding Miss Caroline
ijrotitzncr, who lives st mill street and
Flushing road. long Island City, Vki
damages aaginst Adolph Kaufman, s
wealthy mining expert who lives at
the Hotel Manhattan. Miss flroctsner.
who Is sixteen years old. was suing to
recover Kn.mio for Injuries received when
she was struck hy Kaufmann's automo
bile on June 24 of this vear as she
was walking on Flushing road.
The young woman's plea was tha,t the
blow from the machine. In which Kauf
mann was riding at the time of the ac
cident, had broken her kneecap I'pon
the order of the Court, which had been
Import und by th Jury. Miss QroUtgnar
took down her stocking in court and
showed the twelve good men arid true
the scare Of the automobll's assault. ,
HERE'S ANOTHER DOG
YARN; IT'S ABOUT WILLIE,
WHO PUZZLED COURT.
Just where Nellie, material witness
In the case of Mike Itatlnsky, charged
with larceny before Magistrate Mreen
Iti the Tombs Pollen Court, Is to tie
kept until trial, was the cause of an
argument between the Court, the District-Attorney
and Nellie herself to
"She might go to the House of De
tention," suggested Assistant District
Attorney Thomua Nolan.
They won't take bar," replied Ma
"She can't go home," said Mr. Nolan.
"And she can't stay at the station
house." emphatically declared Detic
tlve McKec, as he tweaked Nellies
Thereupon Nellie kissed the feet of
I one Jacob Cohen of No H4 Monroe
t street, and with yelps of delight, In-
dlcutcd that her own inclination was
i to go with him
Nellie Is a well-formed, it ff ect :oria t f
brtndle bull dog nohen, who owns
her, values her at $",r'. and was com
I plaining witness to-day against llat
I Insky. who, he says, took Nellie for a
! walk on et : and failed to return her
I Max Eerlrisky. a saloonkeeper In Park
j How. also was In Court and del l.neri
i be had bought Nellie from Itatlnsky
for $2 50.
Itatlnsky was held In 11,000 ball,
and It was finally decided Nellie must
go to the "c.tre and custody" of the
property clerk until the trial
C!nv. Menu to Slump Here.
RlOHMON'n, Va.. Ool ii Oov. Vann,
i was announoad to-day. win leave Frl-
day for Massachusi tts. where he m-l!l
make six or seven speeches for the
i Democratic national ticket, la'er tour
ing thsouvh Connecticut, Kea York
and New Jcrs- v. He w ill be on the
stump for two weeka gnd aspects to
mas on an average three addraaaM
Pretty Mrs. Weaver, Left With
30 Cents, Is to Sue Min
ister and Wife.
ELOPI-D A YFAR AGO.
Then Both Returned to Homes
and 19-Year-Old Husband's
Love Grew Cold.
Mrs Florence Weaver, wife of na.ne
r.arr.ibee Weaver, nineteen yars old.
son or nav, Thomas 51. Weaver, sat
In her mother's apartment at No. 9i
West One Hundred and Fourth street
to-day and tearfully told of her shat
tered romance which began s year ago
list Labor Day with an elopement and
which Is ending wllh a still for Repara
tion on a charge of desertion.
The young wife Is a beautiful dark-
eyed girl, the freshness of her face en
hanced and made more attractive by
the little tinge of melancholy her sor
row has wrought. She says sh feels
no hatred against her husband, hut
rather blames his parents and declares
she Is going to sue them for alienation
of his affections. Mrs. Weaver's mo
tion for counsel fee and alimony of
1100 a week comes up before Justice
Ureenbaum In the Supreme Court on
Mrs Weaver said that her husband,
although only nineteen, la a man of the
world, with all the theories of a man
if forty One of the most advanced of
his Ideas of matrimony, and which
irouglit forth a storm of objection from
lier, she said to-day. was his apparent
willingness not to expect her to tie her
self down to him entirely, but to permit
,ier to receive the attentions of other
men, saying he also WOUln lnta to have
the privilege of attending to social
Mrs Weaver last saw her husband
ept. IX. when he left her In their cozy
i part 'i i en t at No. Ill Manhattan stnt
to go to business In the office of Spen
er. Trask & Co., where he Is employed.
When the young snd happy wife re
turned home that afternoon shs as
informed by the hallboy that her hus-
band had left, taking all his clothing
With him. She found he had not left
yen a note saying farewell, but list
pU 30 cents on the dining table.
BOTH RETURN TO HOMES Of
"I knew Deane for ten months before
I married him." said the young wir to
day in the presence of her mother, Mrs
Mice Sborlle. "I loved him devotedly
when I consented lo elope with him. We
were merrled at the home of my aim',
Mrs. Margaret Held, at WatervleM, N.
y. I thought we were going to Iks very
happy. That was on Labor Pay. I'll
Two weeks la,ter we came to New York.
My husband went to the home of his
parantl and I returned to my mother. I
objected to this, but Deans said his ia-
rents objected to the marriage, and that
lie did not have enough money to sup
port ma, Several times be culled on me
lining the winter and would take me to
the theatre anil restaurants; hut but lie
made no effort then to furnish a home
for me, I loved him all the time and
always tol l him so. I waa making al
lowances for his youth.
"Last winter we made several trips to
my aunt's borne In Wa-tervlelt, but when
we returned he always went back to his
paranti and I to my mother,
"Laal winter Daana'a father called
me over the telephone and asked me to
meet hint In the Hotel Astor Wo had
a plea-ant conversation, snd he prom
ised on behalf of his son to furnish a
home for tc. Dr. Weaver said, how
ever, that Mrs. Weaver was not pleased
with Deanes marriage would not
receive me. Dr Weaver was a kindly
Inclined man and I liked him, but the
home for Deane and myself fsJled to
HER LOVE AT LAST KILLED,
"This last act of desertion has killed
my love for him lie made me very
unhappy the last week we were to
gether He told me that I was repul
sive to hint and that he could no longer
tolerate me One of my girl friends
told me that De ine to I her that I no
longer luid any attraction for him.
"He called her up tiy phone sever!
OF YOUNG SPOuS
MENS & BOYS' CLOTHING. HATS & FURNISHINGS
Proof of the style and fit of our
Suits and Overcoats is conclu
sive when they are tried on.
Wc like comparison, knowing that the
style, fabrics and tailoring of all our
garments will convince you of theii
Astor Place &, Fourth Avenue
SUBWAY AT THE DOOR-ONE BLOCK FROM BROADWAY
SHE st Es MINISTER'S
SO FOR SEPARATION.
limes and Invited her to dinner, which
she says she Indignantly resented. Miss
Mnrlnn Igmc.a, mho Is known In vaude
ville as Sunshine.' who has been a
friend of mine since early childhood,
and who Introduced Deane to me, told
me that she had to threaten to inform
his parents In order to keep him from
calling on her when she was at the
"The defence that Deane and his
paronts make that he Is unaMe to sup
port me is absurd. He nlways seemed
to Itave money before our .marriage
When WO eloped and were married he
was preparing to go to Princeton t'td
verslty. He dresses well. In of the
Ideal ope of college 009 In appearance
and carries himself with n'.most sang
froid. "I don't exxnt to hurt Deane t he
has niado me most unhappy, and I
think he should tie made to support
me. My suit Is tiding conducted by
Milton Spelgel of No 170 Hrondway."
BROKER RUN DOWN
BY BIG TRUCK AFTER
Driver of the Machine Takes
Mr. Boardwell to the Red
Panned In by a moving street ear In
fromn of hint and spparimtly so panic
stricken Mat ho could not Jump hack
toward the curb, Lavera Boardwell, a
wealthy broker with an offlOO at No.
41 Broadway, was run down to-day and
seriously Injured by an automobile truck
at lllghty-thlrd street and Amsteidam
Mr. Hoard well was taken to the Itsd
Cross Hospital II" was unconscious
arcl suffering from Internal Injuries and
a fraoture ,,f the left arm. Hla head
was badly cut and brlllgad, The front
wheel of the truck nail passed over his
Ir. McKettrlck, of the hospital Ktiiff.
-aid (list It was doubtful whethor he
The Injured broker wis taken to the
hospital by Qeorga Quertn, drlver of th
truck (luerin told, I 'r. McKettrlck that
the Injured man hid Started SCrOS tin'
trawl hut had stopped in front of the
oncoming truck, when a street cat
passed In front of lilrn.
He Hitld the I r k was too close upon
Boardwell to be stopped, and although
be triad to turn In toward the iiirb as
soon as he raw Boardwell, the broker
moved lack In the game direction lust
far i-nough to git in front of the ma
chine. Tbo police later found Ouerln at No
IH Qresnwloh street, when David Le
haney is in tin pa In I bustnasa, whleh
namo nnd address i luerin bad given to
the hospital authorities,
PYom I luerin Story of the accident
ley could not lodge a cnarge of reck
less driving agatnsi htm, bUl be whs
arrested on the charge of operating the
automobile trick without a driver's
lloirdwell llv-s In a hoarding house st
NO. til West Bight y-t hi rd street. Mrs.
Rhoppafdi who i ins th, establishment,
sh.1'1 Mr oBardweli w,i unmarried, and
aboUl forlv-dve veirs of ng"
Ouerln deolared that no on on the
(treat -ar saw thi accident, ns II had
paused by Just before the truck knocked
the broker down. He could not find a
Ill to $50
$16 to $42
HER BATTLE WITH
A NEGRO FOOTPAD
Miss Ikvhlolf Tells of Attack
on Her and Friend in W ilds
VICTIM IS BADLY HURT,
Miss Hay ward, Cruelly Choked
hy Rohhcr, Is in a Critical
Condition, Doctors Say.
Miss Susie Hayward. one of two
trained nurses who were beaten, choked
and rohbeil by an unidentified negro at
Jerome avenue and Mosholu Parkway,
the Krnnx. last night, la tn a serloua
condition to-day. She has had several
hemorrhages from the throat, where the
fiendish grasp of the negro's hands waa
sufficient to break the tissues Inside of
ths thoracis cavity, and there are r vl
dences she may have a fractured skull.
kllsa Kllsshrth He. htolf. who lives
with Miss Hayward at the Nurses'
Home at No. M 1-xlngton avenue,
though not so seriously hurt as her com
panion, suffered from nervous hysteria
all last night ami to-day was suffering
from the shock of the encounter.
She told the story of the assault to an
livening World reporter.
"Miss Hayward and I were watting
for a Jerome avenue car at the Moeholu
Parkway crossing," she said, "at about
IM o'clock last night. The nearest
building to us wss the power house, a
block away. Woods and vacant lota
wsri behind us.
".Suddenly we saw a nesro step from
the darkness swiftly toward us. He
appeared to be a young man. about
twenty-two. I should sa.y. He waa coffee-
colored and wore bla k clothes snd a
black derby bat.
"He ran first at me
Each a Liberal $25 Value.
$ f 17.98
Fifteen new models, displaying to perfection
the long, sweeping curves of the ultra-fashionable
cutaway. Several showing the rounded pannier
corner of the overskirt, set off with wide midship
Soutache Embroidered Models
Dressy Wide Wale Suits
English Tweeds and
Smart French jacket suits, trim nnd trig as a
Hussar unifoim square rut belted coats with!
mannish lines the postscript models from Fifth j
Avenue. Fach coat richlv lined with silk or(
satin. Nothing prettier at any price.
The Htdcll Lint of $25 Suits LhMtnges
Comparison Anylvhert in Iht Wor.d
SALE AT ALL BEDELL STORES
14 ard 16 West 14th Street New York
460 and 462 Fulton Street Brooklyn
645-651 Br .ad Street Newark, N. J.
hy coMrin:ssi:i aik in
438, 410, 442 WEST M-a BT,
TBLBPHONB 567 COLUMBUS
16 PAGES IN COLORS
thing that glittered In hla right hand.
I I Mid not see whether ,i n a re
volver or not.
" '(live me your purse!" he shouted, at
th,, same time nmkli i a swing at me
with the thing he held In hi hand. I
sJVgatl snd cried out that he could have
tny purse, at the ssma time holding out
"Ma grabbed thai and then turned Ilka
a Hash on Miss Hayward. who bad been
too scared to run. Ho strm k her sev
eral times on the heaf. She sank to th
grauwg and then he knelt on her and
tried to wrest her purse out of her
hand, Che fl ight blm nnd thrn tt was
that he put his hands on her throat and
She hi came unconscious. H grabbed
her purse sad ran Into the woods be
hlhd the avenue. For some minutes
Miss Hayward continued unconscious.
Though I called nobody came, and It
was not until I got strength enough to
walk to the iower house and tell the
story or the assiull that help came to
Dr. William A. Robert of No. t40
Kast Two Hundred and Ktrat street waa
Summoned and had the two women as
sisted to bis home. After treating them
there he took them In an automobile to
their home, on lexlngton avenue. De
tectives Tlerney and (Juick of the Bronx
Detect! Pireiii were put on the case,
but have found no trsce of the negro
who attacked th women.
AIRMEN HURLED INTO BAY,
Army Aviators Have Narrow Es
cape on Trip to Washington
Saved hy Naval Crew.
ANNA POMS, Md.. Oct. MSelling
Into a faulty pocket of air Just after
they started from the Naval Acade-nT
on a trip to Wahelngton to-day, Lieut.
O. II. Kllyson and 11. I., smith of the
Navy Aviation Nrna had the most sert
out smashup which has occurred ilnca
the establishment of the fixing echool
Neither F.llyson ttir Smith were hurt
beyond a few contusions and a plunge
Into the waters of the harbor, but their
hydroaeroplane waa completely demol
ished. They had been skimming along
on the surface of the water for half a
mile and had taken to the air, attaining
a height of about twenty-five feet when
the accident occurred. The crew of a
navy launch packed up the aviators.
Mlaasmrl Hull Manse 1 pheld.
JHKKKllfON '1TY, Mo.. Oct. K The
Supreme 'ourt to-day unanimously up
held the right of the Progressive party
to have Its State and presidential elec
tor th'ki'ts placed upon ho offtcinl ballot.
The t'ourt overruled the action of the
1 i, mod alc tate Committee 111 ousting
I Frank II Harris, as a irrcaldentlaU sksc
wavlng some-1 tor at large.
FOR HOUSEHOLD GOODS
as ' tL AVK.
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How prosperous Saskatchewan agriculture has become is evident in a couple recent developments.
The first comes in the less-than-pleasing news from Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart that Saskatchewan Crop Insurance premiums will increase by a whopping 12 per cent this crop year.
The double-digit hike will mean coverage levels in 2013 will increase to a record $194 per acre — a $20-an-acre increase from last year and double the level of courage from 2007.
In order to deal with the potential additional payout, the Saskatchewan Party government is setting aside a record crop insurance budget of $198 million. So premium rates will have to increase to an average of $9.98 per acre from $8.91 per acre in 2012.
Crop Insurance cited the need for addition private reinsurance coverage — a move that Stewart said was needed because liabilities have become higher because of the increase in commodity prices.
In fact, total program liabilities have also more than doubled in just five years to $5 billion this year from $2 billion in 2008.
“Reinsurance is a way of sharing some of the risk with private industry in the event of a large claim year,” added Shawn Jaques, president and CEO of SCIC. “It will help stabilize producers’ premiums, should they have that (large claim).”
Also of interest in the Crop Insurance announcement was the news that hard red spring wheat and oats will be eligible for yield trending that recognizes the recent improvement in yields over historical trends. For hard red spring wheat, the increase will be nine per cent while oats yield will increase 13 per cent, on average.
Stewart also stressed that this will be the second year without the ad hoc AgriRecovery coverage, so producers cannot rely on bailouts and need to seriously consider enrolling in crop insurance.
So what is all this really telling us?
Well, mostly that farming is more prosperous, but that it is also becoming big business.
Disaster relief protecting the livelihood of relatively small family farm has gone the way of getting a single-desk seller to market your grain. Instead, the expectation today is for producers to run their farms like a business.
This also seemed to be the message from Canadian agricultural leaders that emerged from the recent inaugural “Agricultural Awareness” summit in Regina.
The tone of the event was significantly optimistic — especially when contrasted with the historic gloomy mood of such agricultural gatherings of where discussion was dominated by low commodity prices, tariffs and the need for subsidies to competing against aggressive American and European Union farm subsidies.
But as a recent editorial in the Regina Leader-Post aptly put it:
“This isn’t your grandfather’s version of Saskatchewan agriculture.”
Just how big Saskatchewan farming has gotten can be measured in agri-food exports — $11-billion worth in 2012, which surpassed energy exports in this province.
In a province where all the economic talk seems to focus on oil and potash, it’s important we remind ourselves that the backbone of our economy has been and still is agriculture.
And it’s great to know that agriculture is more prosperous than ever, albeit, it is a very different kind of prosperity.
Long gone are the days when small farms were run by new immigrants who supported the small communities that grew up around the local elevator every nine miles along the rail lines.
The elevators and rail lines are long gone, now. And the section farm has been long replaced by operations the size of entire townships.
But while many bemoan this passage, it shouldn’t be loss that farming is contributing more to the Saskatchewan economy than every before.
It is, however, different than the farming we once knew. It is big business.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years. | <urn:uuid:9e752331-23ca-4586-9837-64bb029c77d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yorktonthisweek.com/article/20130220/YORKTON0302/130229927/-1/yorkton0302/farming-has-become-big-business | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956666 | 793 | 1.703125 | 2 |
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SOURCE William McDonough + Partners
Renowned university chooses the internationally recognized thought leader, designer, and author, William McDonough, to manifest a real-time archive—a prototype for the future of digital archiving.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- William McDonough, co-author of Cradle to Cradle, sustainability advisor to business and government leaders, and renowned green architect, has been chosen by Stanford University as the leading academic institution's first living archive-including digital and hard copy artifacts from the past and present. This archive will give current and future generations the opportunity to see inside the creative mind of one of the sustainability movement's most important champions.
Roberto Trujillo, head of the Stanford University Libraries' Special Collections, hailed McDonough's partnership with Stanford and sees the potential in digital archiving to include real-time and more universal access that could increase collaboration and exposure to one of the foremost green thinkers of the decade. "We see the possibility to capture not just the writings and artifacts but the activities and conversations of a designer and thought leader-and the many influential individuals he works with-as they happen. It's a real-time archive." Stanford announced the acquisition at the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute gala honoring McDonough in San Francisco in November, which also featured Susan Sarandon as the emcee and Meryl Streep as a guest speaker.
The extensive historical collections of McDonough cover more than 40 years of the designer's professional career and the archives will continuously grow in tandem with the generation of McDonough's work. Creating this new type of archive will be no easy task. One challenge will be to perpetually manage new material and keep up with a living donor's many activities, appearances, projects, writings ... and even his Tweets.
Stanford is an international leader in creating standards and best practices for realizing the digital library-one of the reasons McDonough was attracted to Stanford in the first place. McDonough also has a long-standing relationship with the university; he has served as a Consulting Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department for nearly a decade.
The Stanford University Libraries and McDonough have agreed to collaborate on a comprehensive approach to archiving the McDonough collections, which include paper and born-digital material. The libraries will use the digital components to create a set of open-source archival technologies that will allow creators, archivists and selected contributors to actively participate. Speaking to the collaboration with the libraries, McDonough said he is "especially excited about their interest in new ways of archiving and looking forward to working with their team. We are doing something new here. It's not just pulling the past into the present. We are pulling the present into the future."
Stanford acquired the Buckminster Fuller archives in 1999, and it is one of the libraries' most in-demand collections. It is also one of the most extensive personal archives anywhere. In a sense, the new McDonough acquisition is an extension of that visionary effort. It is a connection, also, that is personally meaningful for McDonough. As a student at Dartmouth, McDonough heard one of Fuller's famously long lectures (more than three hours)-an encounter that left an indelible mark.
ABOUT William McDonough
William McDonough is a globally recognized leader in sustainable development. Trained as an architect, McDonough's interests and influence range widely, and he works at scales from the global to the molecular. Time magazine recognized him in 1999 as a "Hero for the Planet," stating that "his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that-in demonstrable and practical ways-is changing the design of the world." McDonough is the founder of William McDonough + Partners, McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), and the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. McDonough co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things in 2002 with German chemist Dr. Michael Braungart; the book is widely acknowledged as a seminal text in the sustainable design movement. Their eagerly awaited follow up, The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability-Designing for Abundance-which includes a foreword by President Bill Clinton-will be out next month.
©2012 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:cfe77cc8-be57-42b0-ab96-4815c1791b6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cw15kxvo.com/story/21741437/pulling-the-present-into-the-future-william-mcdonough-to-be-stanford-university-libraries-first-living-archive | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943111 | 959 | 1.625 | 2 |
All students with disabilities residing in the District, including those of preschool age, shall be provided with full access and opportunity to participate in School District programs, including nonacademic and extracurricular programs and activities, that are available to all other students enrolled in the public schools of the District. Nonacademic and extracurricular programs and activities may include counseling services, athletics, transportation, health services, recreational activities, special interest groups or clubs sponsored by the School District, referrals to agencies that provide assistance to individuals with disabilities and employment of students (both by the School District and assistance in making outside employment available).
Parents/guardians of students with disabilities, including those students placed in out-of-District programs, shall receive timely notice of such District programs and activities.
The School District may compile a list of community resources (appropriate and/or helpful services that may be available outside of the school setting) and provide this information to parents or persons in parental relation of a child with a disability. Such a list shall clearly state that these services are in addition to programs and services provided by the School District and will not be paid for by the School District. Any member of the School District's committees or subcommittees on special education, or the School District, who, acting reasonably and in good faith, provides this information shall not be liable for such action. | <urn:uuid:2be98599-5d39-4fda-b5bc-d6eee54304bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oswego.org/policies.cfm?pid=277 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96847 | 276 | 1.75 | 2 |
Make Herbs Simple and Accessible for All
We make herbs simple for you to stay away from chronic diseases through natural remedies. We would love to hear from you on health, diseases, natural remedies, products and shipments. Email us:- WeCare@GoodLifetimeHealth.com
Modern medical treatments for diabetes involve controlling blood sugar and preventing symptoms. By not tackling the causes, this is tantamount to mere damage limitation. Learn how to proactively improve your quality of life through natural remedies for diabetes.
High blood pressure is called "the silent killer" because it often causes no symptoms for many years, until it finally damages certain critical organs, such as kidney failure, stroke and heart attack. Learn how to control high blood pressure through natural remedy.
Calcium is more than just bones and osteoporosis. Calcium is used by the body to heal and to get rid of toxins from the body. However, 80% of the solid calcium supplements are not absorbed by the body. Learn how to absorb adequate calcium and prevent calcium deficiency.
Modern medicine often treats the symptoms, instead of the causes. This is tantamount to damage limitation. I refused to bear with such deteriorating quality of life and be a burden to my beloved family. I sought natural remedy for my Diabetes. It worked. Now I enjoy everyday of my life. I feel alive again! | <urn:uuid:4785b59f-96a0-41dc-9840-241308f2c156> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://goodlifetimehealth.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938481 | 277 | 1.539063 | 2 |
About this video: In this Property Rights Network video, the third in a series, Charlie Curtis of Lakeview, Mich., contends he is being unfairly prohibited from developing a 1.1 acre parcel of commercially zoned property he owns due to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality continually raising the ante on its requirements. The expenses incurred by bringing the property into compliance with requirements put forth by the DEQ could quite possibly exceed what Curtis paid for the property or what he could reasonably expect to sell it for whether it’s developed or not.
Curtis asserts that the wetland designation for the property is incorrect, and that he is being unfairly prohibited from using his land and recognizing its full value by what amounts to a regulatory taking. As a result, he believes his property has no value and that he is left only with the option to sign over the deed to his property to the State of Michigan. The video is 10 minutes and 39 seconds. | <urn:uuid:075dd364-ce50-4e91-955d-f8acb1bd3dd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mackinac.org/9465 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970856 | 191 | 1.609375 | 2 |
expert advice MORE
Twelve-Year-Old Throws Tantrum
Q: Yesterday my almost 12-year-old son became angry with me when I would not let him go alone to deliver flyers door to door. He was being paid by a neighbor to do this, but I thought it would be safer if he paired up with his sister(11 years old). He responded by running into his room and throwing his bike helmet though his window. He has never reacted violently before. I think that he was somewhat surprised when it broke.
I plan to have him do extra chores around the house/yard to work off the cost of replacing the window. What do you think? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
A: I think he was probably shocked and scared when he broke the window. At his age I'm sure he was angry at you that you didn't think he was grown up enough to deliver flyers door to door. After all, here he had gotten a paid job from a neighbor who trusted him to do this grownup job and how does his mother respond? She insists he go out with his younger SISTER to be safer. Although I can understand your point of view, I hope you can understand why he felt humiliated by your suggestion that he couldn't handle this alone.
The natural consequences of his breaking the window are for him to replace it so your discipline is most appropriate and fair. It might help your relationship if you told him you understand now why he got so angry with you. Try to let him assume more responsibilities like his self-initiated flyer delivery, he's trying to grow up and separate from you, get his own adolescent identity. Help him out on occasion.
More on: Expert Advice
Carleton Kendrick has been in private practice as a family therapist and has worked as a consultant for more than 20 years. He has conducted parenting seminars on topics ranging from how to discipline toddlers to how to stay connected with teenagers. Kendrick has appeared as an expert on national broadcast media such as CBS, Fox Television Network, Cable News Network, CNBC, PBS, and National Public Radio. In addition, he's been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, USA Today, Reader's Digest, BusinessWeek, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day, and many other publications. | <urn:uuid:38e22c62-f640-4341-9e9c-46bae52d18bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://life.familyeducation.com/teen/behavioral-problems/41491.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992392 | 474 | 1.59375 | 2 |
A funded ratio is a measure of assets to liabilities. A ratio of 100 percent indicates employer contributions will approximate the expected long-term rates. If a funded ratio is above 100 percent, employer contributions will generally be less than the expected long-term rates while employer contributions will generally be more than the expected long-term rates if a funded ratio is below 100 percent. According to the Public Fund Survey of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, most public plans are currently funded at 75 percent.
As of April 1, 2012, the funded ratio of the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) was 87.2 percent, while the funded ratio of the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) was 87.9 percent. As a result, the average employer contribution rates for 2014 will be 20.9 percent in ERS, and 28.9 percent in PFRS. | <urn:uuid:87a409b5-e4a8-4680-ac19-e4b85e96a2fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nysouf@osc.state.ny.us/retire/employers/employer_partnership/contribution_rates/our_funded_ratio.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939857 | 177 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Since the heady days of the Apollo program, NASA has asked friends and family of astronauts to select “wakeup music” for slumbering spacefarers.
Astronaut Gregory C. Johnson rests in his sleeping bag on the space shuttle Atlantis in May 2009.
—Picture courtesy NASA
After all, sunrises are a dime a dozen in low-Earth orbit, and the hyper-chickens from a backwoods asteroid haven’t made it here yet, so astro-workers have to have some way of marking the morning.
With just two scheduled shuttle flights left on the roster, NASA today made the wakeup-song selection a matter of national importance.
Anyone on Earth can vote for their favorites out of a “top 40″ hit list, and the two winning songs will get played during the final flight of the space shuttle Discovery in November.
I *just* cast my vote, and I can see that I’m among 8,817 people who’ve done so as of 7 p.m. ET.
I can also see there are three clear leading candidates: “Countdown” by Rush, the Star Trek theme, and “Beautiful Day” by U2. Huh.
Polling closes when Discovery launches, which is slated for November 1—it should be interesting to see if/how the rankings change as word spreads.
Meanwhile, aspiring rock stars are being asked to write and submit their own wakeup songs, with two winners to be played during the last planned shuttle mission, when Endeavour lifts off next February.
NASA will be the judge of song quality for original works, based on:
- relation to or suggestiveness of human spaceflight;
- catchy or lasting impression of the song;
- originality; and
- overall quality of the song.
One wacky feature on the contest website is the participation map, which is keeping tabs on how many people submit original songs and where they’re based.
So far today there are 27 entries, most from the U.S. and Canada, but also one each from Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Switzerland, and two each from India and Iran.
I wonder if any superstars will toss in a submission or two. Paging Dr. Dre … | <urn:uuid:4ca9518a-3029-4f50-8963-b6490d397674> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2010/08/20/astronaut_idol_nasa_wakeup_song_contest/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949512 | 480 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The European Commission released findings from an interesting study recently, into bundled services. The study showed that four out of ten European households were buying services in bundles, e.g. internet plus phone plus TV, from a single provider, rather than individually. The study goes on to say that not all subscribers to bundled services believe them to be cheaper than paying for services individually - just over 40% thought them to be the cheaper option. Moreover, some subscribers raised concerns about receiving services in the bundle that were not required, as well as the lack of transparency and clarity around costs and conditions associated with the service.
These findings - particularly those relating to the pricing of multiplay services - are not at all surprising to us. Teligen has carried out extensive analysis of multiplay services internationally, and what we have seen is that pricing structures and options can be very confusing, particularly for consumers who are not used to negotiating this kind of information. Moreover, while users often expect to pay less by purchasing service bundles supplemented by individual services, this is certainly not always the case. In reality, the cost savings associated with multiplay are highly dependent on the type of user and how much they are using various services. Users with fairly modest requirement are less likely to achieve any cost savings over buying services singly and indeed, in some situations, in some countries could well find themselves paying more - sometimes considerably more. Some of our analysis has shown a premium of almost 50% for multiplay as compared to singly purchased services. In such scenarios, it is highly debatable whether the benefits of a single supplier/single bill are sufficient to offset such a significant increase in cost.
In general, multiplay offers comprising two services tend to provide the best value for users. It goes without saying that savings can generally be expected when actual usage matches that offered by the multiplay plan - which doesn't necessarily apply to every household.
While higher usage of comms services may be more suited to multiplay, it is not always a given. In particular, consumers who have a heavy mobile usage, and comparatively modest fixed usage rarely benefit from multiplay offers. This is because these offers are typically geared towards fixed services, and as such are less relevant to the more mobile-intensive users, who may only have relatively basic fixed needs.
Providers are refining and redefining their multiplay offers more frequently now, offering a wider range of options with broader appeal and relevance to their target audience, but there is arguably still a long way to go before multiplay becomes the best value option for many - particularly with the continuing rise in mobile usage. | <urn:uuid:2a37eaf7-0bb9-44c5-895d-8da96fd181f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.strategyanalytics.com/TG/?tag=/bundling | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97104 | 525 | 1.804688 | 2 |
RANGOON—This is the tale of two young Burmese women, Aye Aye and Cho Cho, both sold to farmers in China as brides-to-be, both beaten after they got there, both back in Burma now after daring escapes.
Both were victims of human trafficking: “brokers” luring impoverished Burmese women with the promise of good jobs, then selling them in China, Thailand, Malaysia, and elsewhere as brides, laborers, even sex workers.
Ohnmar Chaw, of the U.N. Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking, says prices depend on what the woman, or girl, is destined for.
On one hand, she told me, Chinese men will pay a broker up to $4,000 for a Burmese bride.
On the other, she said, the family of a Burmese teenage virgin, desperate for money, can command as much as $5,000 for their daughter to be sold into prostitution in Thailand. She called this the exception, not the rule.
“It still happens in eastern Shan State,” Ohnmar said. “It’s an accepted norm in the community. Girls think it’s the honorable thing to do for their parents.”
Two women among hundreds
There are no reliable statistics on how many women, and men and children, are trafficked from Burma. But the U.N.’s Ohnmar told me Aye Aye and Cho Cho are among probably hundreds of women sold to men in China.
The stories of Aye Aye and Cho Cho—they asked me not to use their real names—are alike in many ways but strikingly different in how they end. Both women want to talk, to help keep others from being exploited.
Aye Aye was a 16-year-old housekeeper helping her widowed father and two brothers, earning a dollar a day, when her boss offered her a better life and a U.S.$90-a-month job on the border with China. For someone with only a kindergarten education, the choice was simple.
“We were very poor,” Aye Aye said. “I wanted to help my family.”
Cho Cho, who was 18 and married, was selling the betel nut chew so popular with Burmese men when a man from her neighborhood approached her with the promise of a job in Mandalay. She had a sixth-grade education.
“It was after the monks’ revolution in 2007 and there was a curfew,” she said. “I couldn’t do business. It was a bad economic situation.
From broker to broker
Both women ultimately found themselves on buses or trucks bound for China, passed from one broker-captor to another.
“One of the brokers told me not to worry,” Aye Aye said. “He said after three months, I would have enough money for a car and a new house back in Burma. I didn’t believe it and kept saying ‘no.’ But there was no way to escape.”
“I told them I wanted to go home,” Cho Cho said. “But they said they wanted $250 as a ‘refund.’ I had no money.”
“Even if the women are promised money, they get nothing,” said Mai Nyou Nyou Aung, Worldvision’s Victim Protection Project manager in Burma. “Brokers are the only ones who profit.”
The most recent statistics show the Burmese government prosecuted 351 brokers in 2011 but, she said, with little money, and no help from China, it has been unable to reduce number of women victimized like Aye Aye and Cho Cho.
Beatings and abuse
After exhausting journeys, guarded all the way, each woman reached her destination and was introduced to the Chinese farmer who had bought her. That’s where their stories begin to diverge.
Aye Aye married her owner, even though she said she didn’t love him, and said she tried unsuccessfully to escape several times. Then she bore him two children, a son and daughter.
“I learned to love him later,” she said. “But when he was away during the day, his parents would beat me and pull my hair because they didn’t like the way I cooked or raised my children… He wouldn’t do anything about it.”
Cho Cho, with a husband at home, refused to be married to the man who bought her.
“He locked me in a room and beat me with his hands and sticks,” she told me. “Then he took me by the hair and beat my head against the brick wall… That was the worst part, to be beaten again and again.”
Aye Aye’s beatings at the hands of her in-laws never stopped. Cho Cho’s beatings stopped only after she agreed to work as a laborer in the farmer’s fields. As time passed, both women yearned for home.
Aye Aye said she asked her husband several times if she could go to Burma to visit her family, just for a month. Each time, she said, the answer was no.
She faced a terrible dilemma: stay with her children in China and be abused, or abandon them and go home to Burma. Then she had a dream that her father was sick. She hadn’t seen him in five years. She decided to go.
“I felt very sad,” Aye Aye said. “I knew I might never see or talk to my children again.”
It took Aye Aye five days to reach the border after she slipped away when no one was watching. She got help from Chinese women who took pity and gave her directions and bus fares.
“I was frightened all the way,” she said.
With the help of World Vision workers at the border, she arrived in Rangoon in February to learn that her father had died.
Cho Cho, too, had decided to run for home. Her way back took much longer.
Alone one morning, she walked away and fled to a police station in a nearby town. Instead of taking her back to her owner, as they sometimes do, the police held her for three months as an illegal alien and then deported her to Burma.
“I told my husband everything when I got home, and he accepted me back,” Cho Cho told me. “The scars are gone. No more scars…(but) I’m still heartbroken telling this story.”
She is now 26, with a two-year-old son.
Back to China?
For Aye Aye, being home has brought little relief. With her father dead and brothers now estranged, she has only her children, back in China. She has talked with them, and her husband, on the telephone.
“They want me back,” she said.
And she’s decided to go back, but only on the condition that she has a Burmese passport, a Chinese visa, and a guarantee in writing that her in-laws will leave her alone.
“My children don’t speak Burmese,” Aye Aye said. “Living in China will give them a chance to have a better life.”
Tyler Chapman is a regular contributor to RFA. | <urn:uuid:6d327287-a98f-4c3f-982f-42520d83c709> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/trafficking-11302012172957.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986515 | 1,604 | 1.804688 | 2 |
If there’s one thing to admire about Joel and Ethan Coen as auteurs (besides… well, just about everything), it’s their ability to bounce around from genre to genre, while always managing to churn out films that are identifiably and uniquely their own.
The Oscar-winning siblings plan to venture into pure horror territory in the future, but their next project – which now has a title, Inside Llewyn Davis – will concern a strikingly different subject matter: the New York folk music scene during the 1960s.
Variety has the lowdown on the film, which reunites the Coens with their No Country for Old Men and True Grit producer Scott Rudin. StudioCanal is co-financing and handling international sales, but the project has not yet secured a distributor. Expect that to change soon.
Inside Llewyn Davis chronicles its namesake’s attempts to make a living as a folk musician “during the genre’s 1960s heyday in New York City.” The main character is said to be partially modeled off real-life musician Dave van Ronk, whose experiences were recorded in the posthumous memoir “The Mayor of MacDougal Street” (in reference to the artist’s nickname).
Quick history lesson: van Ronk worked in a variety of different musical genres (ballards, blues, gospel, jazz, swing), but his main inspiration is said to have been famed blues and gospel guitarist Gary Davis, a.k.a. Reverend/Blind Gary Davis. He was a prominent member of the Greenwich Village coffeehouse folk culture back in the day, and worked alongside the likes of Bob Dylan, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Joni Mitchell, among others.
In summation – he’s definitely the sort of colorful real-life inspiration who would be an animated character in the Coens’ hands.
Among the early tidbits of information revealed about Inside Llweyn Davis (tip of the hat to /Film for these) are that it will feature a good amount of live-performance music and also, according to the Coens, resemble Noah Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding, in terms of its naturalistic atmosphere and dialogue. That description alone also definitely prompts comparisons to the collective work of the late Robert Altman (MASH, Nashville, Gosford Park, etc.).
This sounds like one of the more interesting Coen Brothers projects (isn’t that saying something) simply because the pair are known for being extremely meticulous and planning out everything in their films well in advance – to the point that they always storyboard their scripts before pitching them to studio heads. So a film that feels more on-the-fly and sporadic could be an interesting change of pace. It should also be the most music-oriented Coen production since O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which is good news for those who loved how the filmmaking siblings incorporated old-fashioned tunes into that period comedy.
We’ll keep you posted on the status of Inside Llweyn Davis. | <urn:uuid:004b0de7-9b46-4f1a-adb1-0f229a16b241> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://screenrant.com/coen-brothers-inside-llewyn-davis-sandy-130126/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950722 | 643 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will be the first candidate to campaign in hurricane-stricken Virginia with a rally on Thursday in the Richmond area.
The Virginia Republican Party released an invitation Tuesday morning to a Romney event in Doswell, Va. later this week, the GOP candidate's first trip to the state since preceding Hurricane Sandy.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney walks off of his campaign bus at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on Oct. 29, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The afternoon event was promoted by the Virginia GOP as a makeup for the rallies in Virginia the Romney campaign had scheduled for last Sunday. The Republican's campaign canceled those events so as to not distract resources from preparing for the hurricane, and subsequent relief efforts.
Recommended: Storm aftermath not likely to delay election
Northern Virginia — one of the state's population centers and a firm chunk of battleground territory — was more heavily affected by the storm; power outages and storm damages are thought to be less severe in central and southern Virginia, which includes Richmond and was not as severely struck by the hurricane. Moreover, Romney called Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) on Monday to consult about emergency preparedness.
MSNBC Political analyst and former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Former Democratic Senator from Arkansas Blanche Lincoln and USA Today's Susan Page talk about where President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are Tuesday and how Hurricane Sandy could impact the last week before the election.
But the decision to return to Virginia for the first time carries a degree of sensitivity. President Barack Obama was set to resume campaigning later this week, though his schedule doesn't call for any stops in states most acutely affected by Sandy, including the battleground states of Virginia, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
But with the election just a week away, it's not clear that Romney could afford to stay out of Virginia much longer. His last visit to the state was on Oct. 17, for a rally in Leesburg. | <urn:uuid:73a801b3-d802-4375-babe-0c201a3772ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/30/14805176-romney-set-to-return-to-hurricane-stricken-va-on-thursday?pc=25&sp=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966467 | 400 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Is Baseball Still America’s Favorite Pastime? — Sports Survey of the Day
If you talk to someone who grew up in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s or ’70s, there would be no doubt that baseball would be their favorite sports, but is it still true today?With so many sporting options these days, baseball has kind of been lost among today’s youth. Soccer and lacrosse have grown in popularity, and many people are pursuing those alternatives over traditional sports. As a matter of fact, the football has topped baseball the past few years as America’s favorite sport.
Since the strike ended the 1994 season, the love of professional baseball has never been the same. Despite Major League Baseball trying to get people back to the ballpark, some teams are still struggling to fill seats. Some say the game moves too slowly, while others use the excuse that the game simply doesn’t work in certain areas. Those answers may be the case, but the simple answer is that America is losing interest in its traditional national pastime. | <urn:uuid:5017bf1b-70a8-4c98-8c95-64c666def1bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newstalk1290.com/is-baseball-still-americas-favorite-pastime-sports-survey-of-the-day/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978677 | 224 | 1.773438 | 2 |
A USC report has named Orange County High School of the Arts as one of the 10 best charter schools in California.
The fifth annual "USC School Performance Dashboard" released by the university's Center on Educational Governance ranked the Santa Ana campus as the seventh best charter out of more than 800 statewide.
Students of The Orange County High School of the Arts Music and Theater Conservatory perform at the Orange County Performing Arts Center Sunday in this file photo.
ANDY TEMPLETON, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The top 10 California charter schools:
1. Heritage K-8 Charter School, Escondido
2. Rocklin Academy, Rocklin
3. Temecula Valley Charter School, Winchester
4. Aspire Vincent Shalvey Academy, Stockton
5. Aspire River Oaks Charter School, Stockton
6. Willow Creek Academy, Sausalito
7. Orange County High School of the Arts, Santa Ana
8. St. HOPE Public School 7, Sacramento
9. Aspire East Palo Alto Charter School, East Palo Alto
10. Wilder's Preparatory Academy Charter, Inglewood
The top charter schools were chosen based on academic ratings - including an index based on various state test scores - and school productivity indicators that rate a school's academic success based on its per-student spending, the report's authors said.
"It's a way to take the data collected for accountability purposes and transform it into information that will help parents, teachers and investors," said lead author Priscilla Wohlstetter, director of the Center on Educational Governance.
"We were really struck by the diversity of the schools in the top 10," Wohlstetter said. "There's not one model of schooling that is dominant: they are large and small, urban and suburban, high schools and elementary schools."
Orange County High School of the Arts earned an Academic Performance Index score of 901 last year, with 92 percent of students testing proficient in English and 75 percent in math.
The 7-12-grade campus, located in downtown Santa Ana, has also been recognized as one of the best performing arts schools in the state. Auditions are required as part of the admissions process. Students receive training in dance, music, drama and other artistic fields.
The report also included snapshots comparing charter and non-charter public campuses during the 2009-10 school year. Among the most notable findings are:
- Charter schools have nearly twice as many black students (13.1 percent) than non-charter public schools (6.8 percent). Still, the majority of charter school staff members are white (65.7 percent), with only 5.4 percent of staffers who identify as black.
- Charter schools' average enrollment (398 students) is smaller than that of non-charter public schools (610 students). Enrollment on charter campuses has increased from last year's average of 382 students.
- Non-charter public schools have a higher student to computer ratio – 11.4 students per computer – than do charter schools (9.3 students per computer). Last year, charter schools had about seven students per computer.
Contact the writer: email@example.com | <urn:uuid:c65304f5-c037-4f6e-aaa0-47ddc55face8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ocregister.com/news/charter-304606-schools-school.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958077 | 665 | 1.53125 | 2 |
In the long run, all the hullabaloo about the various global banking crises is just hot air.
The old establishment banks — the ones that have been bailed out this week in Spain, and in 2008 in America — are unnecessary middlemen. This is because of the ludicrous spreads from which they profit. They borrow from central banks and from depositors at absurdly low rates of interest (that’s what ZIRP is all about) and lend at vastly higher rates. What useful function does it serve? At one time, banks generated value by being wise lenders, lending to businesses that they determined would add value. Today they prefer gamble up even bigger profits in the zero-sum derivatives casino and shadow banking whorehouse, requiring frequent bailouts when such schemes go awry. They are dinosaurs that offer no real value to their shareholders, their customers, or to society.
And for all their claims of systemic importance, for all the bailouts, all the whining, all the pontification they are gradually being sidelined by other forms of intermediation, specifically peer-to-peer lending wherein lenders and borrowers are matched directly often via the internet. The lender gets interest, the borrower pays interest, but because there is no middleman taking a (huge) cut both rates are more favourable — the borrower pays less interest, the lender receives more interest.
The market for such lending has already grown to £250 million-a-year in the UK alone. The BBC reports:
Lending via three websites that link savers with borrowers – bypassing the banking system – has topped £250m.
The “new age” finance carries no protection for deposits, but is being tipped as a serious threat to traditional banks.
The peer-to-peer sites are led by Zopa, which has lent more than £200m since it started in 2005.
Funding Circle, specialising in business loans, has topped £34m, and RateSetter has reached £24m.
Last month the government said it would lend these sort of firms £100m to help expand their own lending to businesses.
Alas, the government could lend these firms ten times that (that would still be a tiny sliver of what they have channelled to the establishment banks in recent years) and the market would still be rigged in favour of the establishment banks.
That’s because of deposit insurance. Money lent peer-to-peer is not insured by the government, whereas money deposited in banks is. This is a heinous advantage that the dinosaur banks have been given by government fiat, and certainly a huge stumbling block to peer-to-peer lending forcing the dinosaur banking system to either massively cut their spreads, or go out of business.
Governments who want a fair free market banking system with the benefits of real competition should either extend some form of deposit insurance to peer-to-peer lending schemes, or should get rid of deposit insurance altogether. Everyone wins except the banks and large financial corporations — lenders get more interest for their money, borrowers pay lower rates, and the parasitic establishment banking system that has vampirised the taxpayer for trillions must either choose to drastically reform itself to compete against peer-to-peer lending, or go out of business.
In a free market without the unfair advantage of deposit insurance the banking dinosaurs profiting from huge spreads would be an endangered species. They are only surviving and prospering because the government has rigged the rules of the game for their favour. That cannot last forever. | <urn:uuid:590f22f5-d0c9-407b-9f74-eee635530eb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://azizonomics.com/tag/limited-liability/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959144 | 718 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Published in Medical Verdicts and Law Weekly, January 18th, 2007
Study 1: Research findings, "Long-term trends and geographic variations in the survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: analysis of 11,312 patients in Taiwan," are discussed in a new report. "The survival rates of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were investigated over the past 20 years to clarify the long-term survival trend. A total of 11 312 patients with HCC from seven medical centers from 1986 to 2002 were included," scientists writing in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology report.
"Survival was analyzed by...
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NewsRx also is available at LexisNexis, Gale, ProQuest, Factiva, Dialog, Thomson Reuters, NewsEdge, and Dow Jones. | <urn:uuid:3380dbd9-3b80-418a-b918-c76d4e67fdc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsrx.com/newsletters/Medical-Verdicts-and-Law-Weekly/2007-01-18/3801182007256MV.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938865 | 208 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Stephanie Zia shares some top tips!
Stephanie Zia is the author of several stain removal guides and the cleaning expert for The Guardian’s Weekend Magazine. Below she shares some of her top cleaning tips using e-cloths!
1. Some of the nastiest chemicals still allowed in everyday cleaning products are to be found in oven cleaners. There are however many non-toxic alternatives: bicarbonate of soda (sprinkle over surface and spritz with water to dampen, leave for 30 minutes, longer for burnt-in spills, wipe off). Alternatively, invest in a long-lasting e-cloth oven kit or use the textured side of a Stainless Steel cleaning e-cloth.
2. Keep an e-cloth and water spray close to the phone. The next time a call centre's holding system threatens to send you insane, get wiping. e-cloths work best with just water so only one cleaning hand is needed. With Vivaldi's 4 Seasons blaring from the phone in one hand and damp e-cloth in the other, polish off your surfaces, kettles, sinks, taps, draining boards, cupboards handles, doors, fridge doors, handles, skirting boards, sofas, chairs, mirrors, windows and more. One all-purpose e-cloth costs £4.99 and lasts years (guaranteed for up to 300 washes).
3. Chemical anti-bacterial sprays may destroy 99.99% of all germs but they remove the good as well as the bad. What's worse the 0.1% left behind are the toughest of the lot, left on your kitchen surface to breed and evolve with even more resistance. In their fight against MRSA, some hospitals have started using microfibre cleaning technology and it's working. Clean your home surfaces with an e-cloth and water (or use a non-chemical Antibacterial e-cloth). e-cloths remove dirt and bacteria which other cloths leave behind. The Antibacterial e-cloth incorporates natural nano-silver to kill bacteria caught in the cloth, RRP £4.99.
4. To avoid the amount of germs and bacteria that can be spread around by J-cloths why not try e-cloth’s dual-sided washing-up pad which works with just water on pans, cutlery, crockery and glass. Use the special scouring side for pots & pans and really dirty crockery and the yellow side for general washing-up tasks.
5. To make sure you’re on top of the endless drying up between meal times, the super absorbent e-cloth e-towel absorbs 4x as much water as cotton tea towels, meaning your crockery is dry in an instant and left smear free, while you can carry on celebrating. Not only is the e-cloth e-towel perfect for drying dishes, Stephanie Zia recommends keeping one handy along with some soda water for any wine or food spillages. You get an extra boost as the carbonated bubbles sink into the stain and lift the dirt with them as they rise.
6. If you've had the silver and finery out for Easter, Stephanie Zia’s top time saving tip is to polish up metal candle sticks and candelabras with a Stainless Steel e-cloth and glass holders with a Glass & Polishing Cloth. This will ensure any candle wax is removed without leaving any greasy residue. | <urn:uuid:6dd0c8da-91ca-4a87-b1b6-e9c1659cda50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.e-cloth.com/news/news-article.aspx?nid=7ba621fb-0002-4f5d-b98d-876c89ea0934 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932743 | 726 | 1.75 | 2 |
WITHOUT HER "YOUNG FACE" THE CHURCH
WOULD BE DISFIGURED
VATICAN CITY, MAY 10, 2007 (VIS) - Today shortly before 6 p.m. (11
p.m. in Rome), Benedict XVI arrived at the "Paulo Machado de
Carvalho" municipal stadium of Pacaembu where he was welcomed by
more than 40,000 young people. At the same time, tens of thousands
of others followed the event on giant screens outside the stadium.
The Pope then presided at the Liturgy of the Word during which
passages from the Song of Songs were read out as images of Brazilian
landscape were projected on the screens.
The Pope addressed the participants by quoting words used by John
Paul II during his visit to the Mato Grosso in 1991: "Young people
are the main protagonists of the third millennium. ... It is they
who will decide the destiny of this new stage of humanity." Benedict
XVI then added: "God's charity is infinite, and the Lord asks us, or
rather he requires us, to expand our hearts so as to contain ever
more love, goodness, and understanding for our fellows and for the
problems that involve not only human coexistence but also the
effective preservation and protection of the natural environment, of
which we are all a part.
"Our woods have more life," added the Pope quoting from the
Brazilian national anthem. "Do not let this flame of hope go out.
... The environmental devastation of the Amazon and the threat to
the human dignity of its people call for greater commitment in
various fields of social activity."
The Holy Father then turned to the central theme of his homily, the
dialogue between Jesus and the rich young man as recounted in the
Gospel of St. Matthew, the central point of which is the question:
"What must I do to have eternal life?"
"This query," the Pope explained, "does not only concern the future.
It does not concern only the question of what happens after death.
Quite the contrary, there is a commitment in the present, here and
now, that must guarantee authenticity and consequently the future.
In a word, the query concerns the meaning of life and could
therefore be expressed thus: what must I do in order for my life to
Christ, "a Master Who does not deceive, ... invites us to see God in
all things and all events, even where the majority of people see
only the absence of God. He encourages the rich young man "to keep
the Commandments ... at the foundation of which are grace and
nature." They "stimulate us to do something towards our own
self-fulfillment. To fulfil oneself through action is in fact, to
"We hear talk of the fears of today's youth. These fears reveal an
enormous lack of hope: fear of death; ... fear of failure for not
having discovered the meaning of life; and fear of exclusion in the
face of the bewildering pace of events and of communications. ...
Yet when I look upon you young people present here ... I see you as
Christ sees you: a gaze full of love and trust, in the certainty
that you have found the true path. You are the youth of the Church.
... Be apostles to the young!"
"There exists, in the final analysis, an immense field of action in
which social, economic and political questions are particularly
important, so long as their source of inspiration is always the
Gospel and the Church's social doctrine. The building of a more just
and united, reconciled and peaceful society; the commitment to halt
violence; initiatives aimed at promoting fullness of life,
democratic order and the common good and, especially, those that
seek to eliminate certain forms of discrimination that exist in
Latin American society ... are not grounds for exclusion but for
The Holy Father called on young people to maintain "great respect
for the Sacrament of Marriage," and "to respect one another during
the period of courtship and engagement." He also highlighted how
some of them "are called to a total and definitive sacrifice,
consecrating themselves to God in the religious life ... and bearing
witness to the hope of the heavenly Kingdom among all men and
"Youth is a form of wealth," said Benedict XVI returning to consider
the dialogue between Jesus and the rich young man, "because it leads
to the rediscovery of life as a gift and as a task." But the young
man of the Gospel, "at the moment of the great choice, did not have
the courage to wager everything on Jesus Christ, ... he realized
that he lacked the generosity and this prevented him from complete
"Do not waste your youth," Pope Benedict concluded, "do not seek to
flee it. ... Consecrate it to the ideals of faith and of human
solidarity. You young people are not just the future of the Church
and of humanity, as if you were trying to flee the present moment.
On the contrary, you are the existing youth of the Church and of
humanity. You are the young face ... without which the Church would
Coverage - History -
News - Words - | <urn:uuid:3d4f43f6-7233-4f55-b939-577ccde44efe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ewtn.com/brazil07/news/disfigured_bz.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948061 | 1,109 | 1.773438 | 2 |
|"He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time [...]"
The subject of this article does not meet our notability standards. Although it is based on canonical/valid information, it was suggested it does not merit its own article and, as such, is to be either deleted or merged with similar articles.
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|"Are you a wizard or not?"
The title of this article is conjectural. Although it is based on canonical information, the actual name is conjecture and may be supplanted at any time by additional information released from canonical sources. If this occurs, please move this page to the appropriate title.
This individual was a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Ravenclaw in 1991. She participated during the Battle of Hogwarts and was seen running out of the Great Hall and into the Viaduct Courtyard while the Protective Enchantments were set up. | <urn:uuid:6bff2e91-bbdb-4885-bccf-fe00bc9741b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Unidentified_Ravenclaw_black_girl_during_the_Battle_of_Hogwarts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943137 | 225 | 1.570313 | 2 |
AnalyzeMyCareer.com is the most comprehensive set of online tests available on the Internet. The site has been online since the year 2000. Thousands of people interested in finding out more about their careers have taken the tests.
The concept was developed by a team of occupational psychologists, who specialize in career counseling and have decades of experience in helping people to find the right career. The goal of the site is to give visitors an opportunity to discover what their aptitude abilities are and where their real career interests lie.
This is achieved by analyzing the occupational interests, the personality type and the aptitude ability of subscribers to the service. Once the tests are completed, suitable careers are recommended to the subscriber. Detailed information, including the job outlook and salary information, is also provided for each career choice which is recommended.
There are several different tests, which uniquely identify your aptitude ability: numerical reasoning, mechanical reasoning, abstract reasoning, spatial relations, verbal reasoning, language usage and spelling.
This subscription enables you to analyze all dimensions of your career choices - an Occupational Interest Inventory, a Personality Test and Aptitude tests are combined into one package saving you over 35% off the cost of the individual components.
The gold subscription is the most complete career assessment available. All facets of your career are analyzed - an Occupational Interest Inventory, a Personality test, Aptitude tests and an Entrepreneurial Index are combined into one package saving you 40% off the cost of the individual components.
This assessment identifies your personality type. Find out your true nature - Are you an introvert or an extrovert, sensate or intuitive, are you the thinking or feeling type and what is your perception versus your judgement?
On completion of this assessment, you will be provided with a report, which answers these questions. Careers matching your personality profile will also be described in detail.
The Occupational Interest assessment identifies the type of career interests that you have. During the assessment, our system develops this career profile by presenting you with different types of careers, which you must rank in order of your preference. The assessment will help you to establish where your true career vocation lies - Computational, Science, Mechanical, Medical etc.
The EI index has been devised by Dr. Cormac Lankford, Phd in Entrepreneurship, and has helped leading entrepreneurs to fully understand their capabilities.
The EI index analyzes entrepreneurial qualities by building a Career Profile and a Psychological Profile of the candidate. The Entrepreneurial qualities interrogated by each profile are outlined below. | <urn:uuid:20c222f5-bfd8-46a1-a5f6-6a2aa57d6175> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.analyzemycareer.com/index.php?auid=256&action=careerSearch&letter=L | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941706 | 521 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Customer Relationships in the New AgeIt may seem strange to call this the new age of cataloging when all the talk is about how the old economy will win out over the new economy.
The problem is that the terms old economy and new economy have nothing to do with what is happening to the relationship between a business and its customers. Like it or not, the Internet and the capabilities of the computer are changing this relationship.
Old economy and new economy refer to a business model for an individual company - that is, to survive, a company must be profitable.
The new age refers to how the world of business is changing, and a company must adapt and adopt new techniques and tools to survive and be a winner.
A few months ago, I started writing a series of articles regarding what remote shopping companies must do to succeed in the new age. One of the keys is the customer relationship.
Traditional remote shopping companies have relied on the RFM model to determine their relationships with their customers. Most think of RFM as a marketing segmentation tool. In reality, what a company is doing when applying this model to its customers is determining the customer's value based on when he last took an action - that is, when he last bought from the company.
This is a very reactive approach to managing a company's customer relations.
This is a primary reason for the ridiculous 3 percent to 7 percent response rates produced by all remote shopping, regardless of the medium.
The response rate is so poor because all channels of direct marketing are still mired in push marketing. This includes most dot-com companies.
You contact your customers and prospects based on your schedules and needs, not when the customer is in the market. The vast majority of classic catalogers do little, if anything, to determine their customers' needs and timing. Last year, you mailed on the second Monday of January, and this year you will do the same. This tendency is already beginning to be seen among dot-com companies.
There is no question that the cash flow demands of running a company have some bearing on this decision and cannot be ignored.
However, even with these considerations, as well as economies of scale in printing and mailing/sending e-mails, the old method of RFM selection of a company's customers and contacting based on the company's historical sales pattern will not make the company a winner.
So how do you change the pattern, and how do you go about being part of the new age?
The starting point is your database.
Most data for the marketer are totally underused.
Even worse for many classic catalogers, their data collection can only be charitably called poor. For that group, the first step is to improve their data collection, even if this means investing in new software and systems. The competition for the wallet does not allow anyone to be behind in data collection.
What does this mean? Think about the data collected by most dot-coms. They not only get all the transactional data that classic catalogers get, but in most cases they also gather a great deal of demographic and shopping-habit information by asking customers to fill out a questionnaire/survey at the point of purchase.
Yet few classic catalogers do this when they have customers on the telephone line - which they pay for anyway. This is not because they have tested it and found that customers refuse them, but because they have never done it and are afraid of offending customers.
Assuming that you have a good database that contains at least the full transactional history of a customer, the next step in developing the relationship is to make sure that all departments in the company use the customer data in their planning and decisions. Not just marketing, where the data normally reside, but with every function.
The merchandising staff should be using this in its selection and continuation of products.
How many merchants really pore over the data to see who buys when, the relationships between those who buy from one category and those who buy from another, etc.?
The potential data for merchants are unlimited, and the data will assist them in their product selection rather than them having to rely on gut feeling and vendor recommendations. That may work for a few gifted merchants, but not for the vast majority.
The operations are where customers finally come into contact with the company, and this department should be using all the richness of the database to both answer customer queries and be proactive in contacting them.
Even the finance department, in budgeting and evaluating expenditures, should be studying the growth and activity of the database - not only overall, but down to finite segments.
Another thing that needs to be done is to better determine the customers' buying patterns. Reliance on RFM is not sufficient. This requires additional communication with the customer. Fortunately, there is now an inexpensive and easy way to communicate - e-mail. But you have to capture every e-mail address, on the Web, on the phone and in the mail. Some classic catalogers will have to redo their systems to capture and use this data.
The dot-coms had the advantage of building their data collections from scratch as well as having the financing to afford it. Thus, the dot-com survivors typically have some of the richest databases, but do they use them?
This effort to improve your customer relations one by one has its cost in terms of systems, cash and even the culture of the company. However, if you can improve response by approximately 30 percent - it will increase an overall response rate from 7 percent to 9 percent, for example, and you will be on the way to doing one-to-one marketing.
You also will be improving your relationship with each of your customers, treating them not as a class but as individuals you value. This is similar to the shopkeeper who greets you by name when you walk into his store. Therefore, if you are to be a winner in the next manifestation of remote shopping, you better make sure to study your customers as you never have before and serve them better than ever. | <urn:uuid:f389382a-8025-4f9c-a0ea-af44c18bba44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmnews.com/customer-relationships-in-the-new-age/printarticle/71205/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968506 | 1,239 | 1.671875 | 2 |
I read this on OneStdv via Dalrock, and thought the comment had enough merit it was worthy of its own post. it is in reference to men "not growing up" or "manning up;"
Also, jobs are far less stable, which makes guys less stable. The days of working for the same company for 30 years are over. Finally, there are fewer prospects for advancement these days. The Boomers have all of the senior jobs, and don't want to leave them, which means that young guys can't move up as easily.
Also, and this is harder to explain but I am sure there is something to it, I think there is an intangible component to all of this. Back in the day, the institutions of our society actually reached out to young guys. Big companies had "executive training programs," the unions had apprenticeship programs, etc. The institutions of our society were actually reaching out to young men, saying "come work with us," and "we need you."
That stuff really doesn't exist today. Instead of going into an "executive training program" for IBM or GM, most people who finish college do temp office work for a few years until they eventually find something permanent, and then they change jobs every couple of years because they have to.
I am 40, but this is basically what it has been like for me. When I started out doing temp work, it wasn't because I was a slacker who wasn't "interested" in a real job with real responsibilities. I desperately wanted a permanent job. but there just wasn't one to be had. Similarly, no one wants to still be clubbing at 30 or 35. Most guys are a little leery of the responsibility of having kids, but they still want to get married.
It's almost hilarious to think at one point in time there were recruiters approaching college campuses and looking to incorporate young people into the workforce. I, like the commenter, am more or less the same age and now with enough distance between graduating from college and now, I'm actually a little appalled at the blatant indifference of employers and industry had towards employing youth.
Admittedly Gen X was not known for its reliability, but the amount of scrutiny, let alone political and outright corrupt BS I, and I assume others, in my generation had to tolerate was just not justified. Tell me if you haven't had to deal with this type of behavior in your 20's?
1. Misleading job descriptions and titles. "Analysts" "Interns" "researchers." And all you did was file and fax and do meaningless data entry.
2. Psychotic bosses. One 42 year old woman would keep me hostage in her office complaining about work. A conman and a liar who damn well knew what he was doing just to make commission. And an outright megalomaniac who specialized in getting naive Asian investors to invest in his "dotcom" company, as he just took the proceeds and bought cars and flights with it. This one runs the gambit I'm sure, but a disproportionate percent of my bosses had genuine psychological problems or just completely lacked a moral compass.
3. Lack of training. "Must hit the ground running" means "we're too damn lazy to train you and we'll blame your guaranteed future mishaps not on the lack of training, but you." Did ANYBODY out there EVER had ANYONE train them in adequately? I'm not talking an abundance of hand holding, I'm just talking showing people the ropes to the point they're functional on their own.
4. Suffering the inanity of HR. I could go on for pages, but you know precisely what I'm talking about.
5. The BS of "if you work hard and put your time in, you will be rewarded." No, they'll just give you more work, and that's if you're lucky enough to have an employer that is managed well enough to be around and not file for bankruptcy.
Of course at the time, I thought I was a failure. I couldn't find a job, I couldn't find a job that would use my skills, heck, most of the time I couldn't get past the 23 year old girl asking me stupid questions. But then I had an epiphany much like when I was 23 about dating 20 something women. It wasn't me, it was the system.
When I was about 30 I noticed the sheer corruption infecting the banking industry, and how incompetent corporate America had become. I was able to step back and maybe grant myself some credit, and noticed how poorly managed corporate American was by its stewards. I realized just what a psychotic, sick and twisted game our elders were playing on us. There was never any intention of "helping out" the next generation get their feet wet and incorporate us into the working world. There was never any "grooming" or "preparation" for us to inevitably get the experience needed to take the helm as they retired off into the night. And there was never any desire on their part to mentor or train. It was just "forget long term planning and forget long term consequences. Just use them and get rid of them if they aren't a "self-starter." Or they can't handle the "steep learning curve." And, just like men in the manosphere started waking up to the systematic problems in American courtship, people are waking up to this systematic problem too.
There will be a consequence. Heck, there already is. A stale and increasingly ineffective managerial and executive class that can't get this country out of a recession. Additionally a managerial and executive class, that as far as I can tell, can only increase the bottom line through rent seeking, lobbying and graft. None of which will lead to genuine economic growth or a boost in standards of living. They are what the Japanese referred to as "dinosaurs," and is yet another parallel between the US economy today and that of Japan in the 1990's-2000's. Economic decay will be one thing, generational resentment and indifference will be another.
But still, I'd like to think that back in the day, there was a time where such outreach programs did exist to help bring aboard the best talent. I'd like to think back in the day companies wanted you to join their team and would deal with you honestly and directly. Of course, I know those days are gone. To quote a friend of mine whose brother recently graduated with a Harvard MBA;
"So, did he learn anything that common sense wouldn't have told him?"
"Oh, no, of course not. But he didn't go there for that. He went there for the connections. He's got a digital Rolodex of all the children of east coast billionaires who went to school with him."
Surely there is no consequence to cronyism. | <urn:uuid:df2af633-2f88-4d4a-86bc-b806aecc17fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://captaincapitalism.blogspot.com/2011/09/no-we-wont-invest-in-children.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986986 | 1,413 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Thanksgiving is a time we spend with family and friends and a time to be thankful for all the blessings in our lives. Unfortunately, it can also be a time of great indulgence and can wreak havoc on our diets. Here are some great tips to moderate your indulgence and still have a fabulous holiday!
1. Start the day off right with a good breakfast. Even though you will be eating a lot later in the day, eating breakfast will actually help you to keep your metabolism going. It will also prevent you from feeling starving and wanting to eat all the goodies in sight. People who skip breakfast tend to overeat during the day. Start the day with some scrambled egg whites and a slice of dry wheat or gluten free toast. Be sure to also drink plenty of water with your breakfast as well.
2. Hit the gym or the pavement before your big meal. Doing 30-45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise before Thanksgiving dinner can not only help to burn a lot of calories, but it can ease a lot of holiday stress! If you are stressed about seeing certain family members or in-laws, take it out on the elliptical and burn out the aggravation! Is your kid wreaking havoc on your kitchen while you are trying to cook? Take a break and hit the road for a couple miles and let it out! This will also help you to avoid stress eating.
3. Begin your meal with an antipasto, salad, or high protein and fiber appetizer. By doing this, you will fill yourself up quicker with lighter and healthier options. The fiber of a leafy green salad mixed with water will help to fill you up quicker. The water will bind to the fiber and create a fuller feeling in your tummy without having a big heavy meal! Some great options besides a starter salad are carrots and broccoli with hummus dip or lean turkey meatballs. Skip out on the heavy cheese and crackers! These are loaded with saturated fats, high glycemic carbohydrates, and will also increase your thirst because of the high level of sodium. You may end up drinking more wine because you feel thirsty, More wine = more calories!
4. Save the wine for dinner. It’s difficult to avoid drinking on a family holiday that’s focused around food. Wine can have between 150-200 calories per glass, depending on the size of the glass! Pour yourself a glass of flavored sparkling water with a splash of cranberry juice to sip on instead or start out with a cup of coffee and skim milk. These choices are much less calories and you won’t feel as fatigued later on in the day.
5. Use a smaller dinner plate. When we are hungry, our eyes tend to be larger than our tummies. If the food is in front of you and there is room on your plate, chances are you are going to fill your plate up with more food. Instead of grabbing for everything in sight, use a smaller plate that’s meant for a salad. This will help you to control your portion sizes. You can still fit the turkey, potatoes, corn and cranberry sauce all on there! As Americans, we think the normal portion size is what we see at restaurants but this couldn’t be further from the truth. A normal portion size of meet is approximately 3 oz. or the size of a deck of cards. A normal portion size for potatoes or corn should fit in the palm of your hand.
6. Try to eat gluten free. Gluten is a protein found in breads, processed foods, desserts, pastas, and many more foods. By eating gluten free, you will feel less bloated and natural eat less high starch foods that tend to be higher in calories. Items that you may find gluten in at the thanksgiving table are: cornbread, stuffing, pies, certain turkey gravy, biscuits, and if you are a beer drinker, gluten is in your beer. “But wait, that’s cutting into most of the good stuff at the meal!” Not necessarily, you can have turkey and use gluten free gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, and sweet potatoes or yam pie.
7. Share dessert with your sweetheart. A slice of apple or pumpkin pie can run between 300-600 calories each, depending on how it’s made! Yikes! For some of us that is a 1/4or a 1/3 of what our daily caloric intake allows for. Sharing a dessert with your husband or wife or even your child can save a bundle of calories! If you’re apple pie is 400 calories and you cut it in half, that’s only 200 calories!
8. Bring your own dessert. Notice that eating gluten free pretty much leaves out any dessert. Some gluten free dessert options are saving the sweet potato pie, apple sauce, or yams for dessert. You can also try a baked apple with brown sugar and cinnamon or how about a liquid dessert of home-made apple cider!
9. Skip the nap, hit the pavement. Bring a nice warm coat with you so while everyone is in a food coma after the meal, you can use this time wisely and have a nice brisk walk. A half hour brisk walk can be enough to burn off that extra glass of wine and will help to boost your metabolism. You will feel much better by the end of the day and less bloated if you get some exercise!
10. Concentrate on conversation with friends and family. Focus your energy and thoughts around people instead of food. This will help to keep you away from nibbling and snacking and you can use your mouth for less calorically challenging activities! Talk to a family member who makes you laugh, tell stories, have a good time. Laughing burns calories too! | <urn:uuid:3276c2aa-651c-4a6b-b479-b177a34f3429> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://barrington.patch.com/blog_posts/10-tips-to-keep-the-turkey-tummy-away | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943799 | 1,191 | 1.585938 | 2 |
As we enter the season during which much of the world pauses to celebrate the birth of our Savior and King, Jesus, Christians everywhere will reflect on the last year and hope and pray for better times in the coming one.
It has been a difficult year for many people. From the war in Iraq to the terrible tsunami in southeast Asia in December 2004; from rising gas prices to bankrupted airlines; from massive layoffs to the horrible destruction brought to our own Gulf Coast by recent hurricanes, disasters have brought suffering to hundreds of thousands around the world. This holiday season will be very different for them.
Certainly, they are not alone in their difficulties. We all face storms from time to time-some more severe than others. I can understand why people ask, “Why the storms?” “Why do I have so many problems and struggles?” “Isn't God supposed to protect me?”
In considering these questions, I've determined that it is Satan who plants them in our minds in an attempt to keep our focus on our problems and off God's goodness. Satan strives to trap us in the storm and cause us to live in misery. But endings always bring new beginnings.
Remember when Jesus visited Mary and Martha after their brother Lazarus had been dead for four days? When He finally arrived, Martha said: “Master, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever You ask from God, He will grant it to You” (John 11:21-22, The Amplified Bible).
Did she really believe those words? I wonder, because when Jesus said to her, “Your brother shall rise again,” Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (vv. 23-24). I don't think she really understood what Jesus was saying. She was looking toward a future possibility, not a present reality.
When Jesus first arrived, Martha didn't ask, “Why didn't you come sooner?” or “Why didn't you do something?” What she said instead was, “If You had been here-if You had been on the job-he'd be alive.” But her statement had the same effect as a question.
Aren't many of us like Martha? We want our lives to run smoothly. When they don't, Satan takes advantage of our insecurity, encouraging us to doubt God's concern for us.
Our first reaction is to ask why? What we really mean is, “God, if You truly care about and love me, You wouldn't have let this happen.”
Have you found yourself at some point during this last year asking God, “Why the storms in my life?”
For one moment, let's imagine that God tells you the reason you've faced difficulties. Would His explanation change anything? The effects of the tragedy would still be with you, and the pain would be just as severe as it was before. What would you have learned?
I've begun to think that why isn't what Christians are really asking God. I think the real questions we're asking are: “God, do You love me? Will You take care of me in my sorrow and pain? You won't leave me alone, will You?” Is it possible that, because we're afraid God doesn't truly care about us, we ask for explanations?
Instead, we must learn to say: “Lord, I believe. I don't understand, and I'll probably never grasp all the reasons bad things happen, but I know for certain that You love me and are with me-always.”
I believe it often takes more faith to go through something victoriously than to be delivered from it. Most of us go through emotionally difficult times when tragic loss occurs. Those who are walking in faith come out of them-often better than before.
Don't lose hope. If you are hurting right now because of loss in your life, you have a new beginning in front of you. You may go through some things you will never understand, but God has promised in His Word to work them out for your good. Stop asking why and start trusting Him.
Joyce Meyer is a New York Times best-selling author and one of the world's leading practical Bible teachers. She has written more than 70 books, including the popular Beauty for Ashes and Battlefield of the Mind, and her most recent, Approval Addiction (all Warner Faith). She is also the founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries Inc. and the host of Enjoying Everyday Life radio and TV programs, which air on hundreds of stations worldwide. | <urn:uuid:0e2d07b9-6a7e-40a9-bcc7-187326100d3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/straight-talk/1772-dont-ask-why | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979951 | 972 | 1.632813 | 2 |
New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg and Long Island Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy announced on the steps of New York’s City Hall this morning that they planned to introduce new legislation which they said would have prevented the type of massacre which occurred earlier this month in Aurora, Colorado.
“Words alone don’t show that we are resolved to prevent this from happening again,” Sen. Lautenberg said. “We in this country have to stand up against these brutal attacks…those who favor gun ownership, put that aside and stand up for the safety and well-being of our citizens.”
The bill, they say, would prevent criminals from stockpiling ammunition by limiting the ability of people to order ammunition over the Internet. The bill would require anyone selling ammunition to become a licensed dealer, and would require dealers to maintain records about the sale of ammunition, and require dealers to report to the police anyone who buys more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
Ms. McCarthy, whose husband was killed and son wounded during a Long Island Railroad shooting in 1993, slammed the National Rifle Association for the pressure they put on lawmakers to vote against sensible gun control legislation.
“The NRA is nothing more than a front for the gun manufacturers and their job is to intimidate legislators and members of Congress. Their job is to try to convince people that everybody should own a gun in this country,” she said.
President Barack Obama, mindful of the 2012 elections, has said that there need to be common sense gun laws in this country but has declined to push for any specific measures. Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who appeared on the press release with Ms. McCarthy and Mr. Lautenberg but not at the press conference today, has slammed both Mr. Obama and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, for their silence on the gun issue.
Asked about whether or not the White House supports the bill, Mr. Lautenberg said, “The White House supports limits on gun violence. They are very clear about that. The president has said it. Now, I am not able to say that they support every dot and period that goes with it. It is still in formation and we are moving along.”
When pressed, Mr. Lautenberg responded, “I don’t think the president has said he won’t support any new gun laws. I think he said that serious legislation has to be promulgated and I think the chances are pretty good. We are not going to spell out here all of the elements of the technique of getting it done, but we got it done before.”
And Ms. McCarthy said that in Mr. Obama’s heart, he is a gun control proponent.
“I believe in my heart that the president will do the right thing, but the Senate and the House have to do the right thing first,” she said. “And I guarantee you that the president will sign that bill when it gets through our two chambers.”
And in the wake of polls that show that even NRA members favor some gun laws, Ms. McCarthy urged the president to ignore the bills opponents.
“Obama’s not going to get any of those votes anyhow,” she said.
Mr. Lautenberg didn’t agree.
“There may be a family dispute here. I think he will get a few.”
Follow David Freedlander via RSS. | <urn:uuid:8e445924-0bb7-4106-a899-a34257808eb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://politicker.com/2012/07/mccarthy-lautenberg-slam-nra-say-that-obama-really-favors-gun-control/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969946 | 711 | 1.546875 | 2 |
A purchase agreement is a legal document that will be signed by the buyer and seller for making a legal offer and acceptance to buy a product or service.
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Click on the download button to use this purchase agreement template as your own. | <urn:uuid:f4e614fe-7175-413f-9916-710d118a9ea0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.templatesmob.com/purchase-agreement-template.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956124 | 162 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Our state’s death penalty
The very first lesson you learn as an elected official is that you have to decide what the heck you want to accomplish. It’s too easy to get sucked into different categories and topics that consume your emotional and political energy but that might not be your passion. You can’t knock on 15,000 doors, raise $$$ and work like a dog away from your family for months or years and then win a job that you don’t enjoy. So–the question–what’s my passion?
I plan to work hard next year and into the future on a number of issues: Education reform, Workforce development & training, higher education infrastructure, transportation, clean energy and much more. I don’t generally include hot button social issues on the list. With one exception. I intend to actively strive to eliminate the death penalty in our state as I view it is a moral imperative to change our fundamental model of punishment.
The decision by Dr. Marc Stern to resign his post with the Department of Corrections rather than lead efforts to execute prisoners on death row is a ‘teachable moment’ in our state about the death penalty.
Amnesty International’s efforts to abolish the death penalty recognize that the arguments in favor of the tactic are losing moral ground as we strive to understand why people make the decisions they do: Deterrence? Punishment? Retribution? The arguments against the death penalty grow stronger: Life in prison without the possibility of parole adds meaning to the idea of ‘deterrence’ for many; a sense of justice for families? I cannot judge that nor can any other policy maker. But the idea of someone who committed such an unspeakable crime spending a lifetime in prison can certainly bring a sense of justice to victims. It is not easy to judge but it is easy to recognize that our society faces a choice and the moral issue does not disappear when the headlines fade.
As a husband and father of four children I cannot imagine the pain of the type of crime that would lead to the death penalty. I offer no judgement for those who have faced this pain. I only offer the deeply personal belief that we do not serve our society’s interest in leading a moral and just community by using the death penalty as a central tool of punishment for these awful crimes. The Hebrew Bible shows no reservation about the death penalty. My religious views of the issue come from a sense that today’s approach to the death penalty is inherently inequitable, and that life in prison represents a more viable alternative morally, socially, financially and practically. It also holds open the view from Jewish teaching that “better 10 guilty go free than one innocent be put to death.” The common view is that Washington has not executed guilty prisoners but in today’s age of DNA it’s not hard to imagine being put to death without that sort of certainty.
Last session I co-sponsored Rep. Brendan Williams’ bill bill to eliminate the death penalty in Washington. I will continue the effort to pass this legislation until we are successful. | <urn:uuid:883b055d-a91a-4a7d-ba0b-ab09c12d6009> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reuvencarlyle36.com/2009/06/23/our-states-death-penalty/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955782 | 638 | 1.664063 | 2 |
This 21-year-old college student is making it cost-free for deployed troops to call their families.
CAUSE: Calling home from abroad is an expense that many United States military personnel cannot afford, and Brittany Bergquist believes that staying in touch with family should not be an inaccessible luxury. With her brother, she started the non-profit organization Cell Phones for Soldiers to provide free pre-paid calling cards to those serving overseas.
EFFECT: Since 2004, Brittany and her brother have provided more than 150 million minutes of free talk time to deployed military members and raised more than $7 million.
GET INVOLVED: Cell Phones for Soldiers just launched a new initiative called Helping Heroes Home. AT&T is jumpstarting the initiative with a $450,000 grant, and will also donate $2 (up to $50,000) each time a viewer watches the video on Causes.com. Click to make a difference! | <urn:uuid:ae87be77-8903-4aaf-b898-7c39e10d9577> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teenvogue.com/my-life/giving-back/2012-07/brittany-bergquist-cell-phones-for-soldiers?slide=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957635 | 194 | 1.828125 | 2 |
What is a typical reaction to high-performance analytics? Consider these scenarios:
- What do investment bankers say when you tell them the risk calculations they used to do every three days on a subset of their portfolio can now be done within minutes - all while analyzing the full portfolio?
- What do retailers say when you tell them they can optimize prices for all items in stock, customize prices per store and even predict pricing changes over the next few seasons?
- What do patients say when you tell them their entire medical history can be stored, analyzed and compared to similar family and geographic healthcare data to help predict and prevent disease?
- What do government executives say when you tell them they can use public record data to find connections in random activities and identify fraud rings that could save tax payers tens of millions of dollars?
They say, "That's incredible!" Just look at the numbers in these ads. They really are incredible:
There's a sense of incredulity that comes along with these types of promises, and that's understandable. When some of our high-performance analytics (HPA) experts presented these - and other - scenarios to customers recently at a SAS customer advisory board meeting, the initial reaction was skeptical. But after the developers discussed the technology at a deeper level, even the skeptics started to understand - and then they got excited about how they might use the technology in their organizations.
Understanding what you need: analytics and speed
Solving the problems above require two things: advanced analytics and fast computing capabilities. Just getting the data quickly won't give you those incredible results. And analytics alone won't give you those results either. You need high-performance analytics.
In other words, each of the examples above require some type of advanced analytic technique: optimization, forecasting, text anaytics or social network analysis. But they also require implementing those techniques at faster speeds, on larger amounts of data and on data collections that are changing by the minute.
When you move the analytics to work inside or alongside the database, you overcome all of those issues. That's what high-performance analytics does.
In a recent National Post interview with Jim Goodnight, the SAS CEO explains it like this:
There's a lot of business processes that will be changing because of the speed at which we can do analytics; using a thousand processes in parallel to do these computations can make it possible to do huge problems that we would never have been able to do before because it would take too long on a single processor.
Did you catch that? One thousand processes in parallel. That's incredible! But he's serious. Goodnight has been testing these calculations himself on his own configuration of blade servers.
Reduce your large analytic problems to a series of smaller problems
How does it actually work? In "The promise of high-performance analytics," Paul Kent, VP of Platform R&D SAS simplified the answer:
We’re not inviting data to come to us so we can munch on it anymore. We’re finding clever ways to go where the data are, and move the work out to all the different slices of data as it exists.
Paul went on to explain how multiple calculations are conducted on different nodes simultaneously and brought back together for a final answer. That's a big part of how HPA gets its speed: it breaks larger problems down into smaller pieces.
So, really, it's not that hard to believe when you think about all the large tasks you accomplish in a similar manner all the time. We solve big problems at work and at home all the time. We just break them down, spread the work around and come together in the end to create something amazing. Yes, that's incredible too - but it's also very believable.
What incredible things can your organization accomplish if you could break some of your largest problems down into manageable chunks to be solved simultaneously? We'll do the chunking and the analyzying. Just bring us the problems. Or, as Rhadika Kulkarni said at a recent SAS conference, "Bring us your challenging situations. Bring us the problems you thought were not solvable. That's what we revel in." | <urn:uuid:904fde6d-2cc8-4556-a6ea-257ebc7bb784> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.sas.com/content/sascom/2012/02/14/hpa-thats-incredible/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955769 | 853 | 1.5625 | 2 |
JIM LEHRER: Now: keeping good teachers and letting go of bad ones.
Nearly four out of five Americans think it should be easier to fire weak teachers. But more than half think teachers are not paid enough. That's according to a new poll by the Associated Press and Stanford University.
The NewsHour's special correspondent for education, John Merrow, profiles an Ohio school system with a unique way of reviewing teachers.
JOHN MERROW: In most public schools, it's extremely difficult to fire a bad teacher. Unions are often blamed for this. But, here in Toledo, things seem to be different.
To protect the privacy of some individuals, we have concealed their names.
MAN: The next person I will present is ...
JOHN MERROW: Mike Johnson and a handful of experienced educators have been mentoring rookie teachers for the past year, and now must present their recommendations to this panel. Should Toledo renew their contracts or let them go?
MAN: She doesn't engage with students when teaching the lesson. Uncooperative behavior was prevalent, and directions stated by the teacher often go unheard for followed.
JOHN MERROW: The panel, comprised of five teachers and four administrators, will vote on Mike's recommendation.
WOMAN: Does she have support from the administration when she refers a student out of class?
MAN: She does. We have discussed this before.
JOHN MERROW: The process is part of a larger program called PAR, or peer assistance and review. It' a system in which teachers have the power to evaluate each other.
WOMAN: The recommendation is non-renewal of contract and no further employment with Toledo Public Schools. All those in favor of the recommendation, please raise your hand.
JOHN MERROW: A first-year teacher has just lost her job.
WOMAN: Thank you.
JOHN MERROW: The process that leads up to this final vote begins in the fall. That's when veteran teachers like Peg McAfee begin mentoring as many as a dozen first-year teachers.
One of her assignments this year is William Hofland (ph), a science teacher.
MAN: Does anyone know one of those characteristics? How about egg-laying? Most reptiles lay what kind of eggs?
PEG MCAFEE, Toledo Public Schools: I make it clear from the beginning I'm a support system for him. I am his evaluator, but my job, especially for my career technology people, is to teach them how to be teachers.
JOHN MERROW: She will work with Hofland and her other teachers once a week, and then present her recommendations to the panel in the spring.
So, it's not gotcha?
PEG MCAFEE: No. It's not a gotcha, walking in and caught you doing something bad. From my personality, it's more I caught you doing something good, and we are building upon the good things that you're doing, and then working on the things that I think you can strengthen.
JOHN MERROW: Husband-and-wife team Dal and Francine Lawrence, who have been leading the local teachers union for almost half-a-century, are strong supporters of the program. Back in the 1970s, when Dal was union president, he felt the traditional system, in which principals evaluated teachers, was flawed.
DAL LAWRENCE, former president, Toledo Federation of Teachers: The old system, the "top-down, I'm the boss and you're not" kind of stuff, that produces natural byproducts like distrust, lack of responsibility, and lack of accountability.
JOHN MERROW: He proposed peer assistance and review as an alternative. All first-year teachers would be coached, and those who were ineffective would be fired.
The Toledo plan, a radical departure from the norm, was approved by the Toledo School Board in 1981.
DAL LAWRENCE: I was just trying to look at medicine, how you become a doctor and how you become a teacher, and realizing that we were just so casual about the process. No wonder we were not respected.
JOHN MERROW: The plan does seem to be working. On average, for nearly 30 years, about 8 percent of first-year teachers have been weeded out. Moreover, those who stay have had the benefit of a year of coaching.
JOHN MERROW: Sarah Kirkbride-Hurley went through the mentorship program four years ago.
SARAH KIRKBRIDE-HURLEY, Toledo Public Schools: It was nice to have my own person sort of to come in and answer my questions that spend time with me.
JOHN MERROW: In most school systems, first-year teachers are simply left on their own, sink or swim, but not in Toledo.
Do you now -- if you're in trouble, are you -- would you ask another teacher for -- how do I do this?
SARAH KIRKBRIDE-HURLEY: Oh, yes. I believe is not reinventing the wheel. So, if somebody else did it really well, you should help me figure out how to do it really well, too.
JOHN MERROW: Francine Lawrence thinks peer assistance and review helps, not only their teachers, but also the profession as a whole.
FRANCINE LAWRENCE, president, Toledo Federation of Teachers: It's teachers taking ownership for standards and enforcement, and feeling that sense of community, which is what a real profession is all about.
And when teachers are excluded from that or excluded from real influence over curriculum and instruction and school policy, then it's so easy to say, well, you know, it's the principal's problem.
JOHN MERROW: PAR clearly benefits brand-new teachers, but the program is also supposed to retrain or remove ineffective veterans.
Here at Bowsher High School, Peg McAfee and principal Larry Black are meeting to discuss a tenured teacher who has been reported to be ineffective.
LARRY BLACK, principal, Bowsher High School: In the one class that I have observed, the students were kind of left on their own. They weren't given any direction. There didn't seem to be a lot of student engagement with -- from the teacher's side.
JOHN MERROW: McAfee is going to be working with this veteran teacher for a year. He's been placed in what's called intervention.
So, intervention is a kind of training or a rehab, or what...
LARRY BLACK: Well, it's -- we like to think of it as a way to help people step back up their game. But, if they don't, the other option is, yes, they will be looked at for termination.
JOHN MERROW: Sounds good, but very few tenured teachers actually get looked at, and even fewer get fired. Toledo has about 2,000 teachers. Over the last six years, just 22 veterans have been placed in intervention, and only 15 have been fired. That's not even three a year, just two-tenths of 1 percent.
We got together with a group of parents, who gave us their thoughts on the Toledo plan.
CHRISTINE VARWIG, parent: I love our teachers, but, at the same time, there's a few that need to be reevaluated. And that's where the school district, A., doesn't have the means or the time, and the teachers' plan doesn't affect that.
JOHN MERROW: Most said the plan wasn't working, not when it came to dealing with bad teachers who have tenure.
TERRY GLAZER, parent: All of us have had experiences where there has been a teacher identified in a school that even other teachers know need to be removed, but they continue to serve in the school system.
JOHN MERROW: Others felt the Toledo plan has given teachers and the union too much power.
MARCUS SMITH, parent: It seems like we have a system that's built on self-policing.
JOHN MERROW: And that doesn't work?
MARCUS SMITH: And, no, I don't think that works. I don't think that works in any system.
DAL LAWRENCE: See, we now have intervention.
JOHN MERROW: The Lawrences disagree. They maintain that most bad teachers are fired after their first year, and those who struggle later on are given help.
FRANCINE LAWRENCE: Plus, we have robust professional development. We have peer coaches in classrooms throughout the district. So, there's a lot of support to advance teachers' practice.
JOHN MERROW: These supports and mentoring the new teachers can be expensive, anywhere between a few hundred thousand dollars to over a million dollars a year, depending on how many new teachers have been hired.
Although peer assistance and review has a 30-year track record here, fewer than 100 other school districts out of 14,000 nationwide have followed Toledo's lead. Dal Lawrence believes that the two big national unions, the NEA and the AFT, would rather fight with management than collaborate.
DAL LAWRENCE: There are people who don't want this stuff to succeed. They're afraid of the new workplace culture that's evolving. They're scared to death about it.
JOHN MERROW: Why?
DAL LAWRENCE: They're afraid that the union won't be strong if we're working together with management.
JOHN MERROW: Does the Toledo plan, which nurtures teachers, improve the academic performance of students? After all, that's the bottom line. Here again, results are mixed.
Toledo's test scores are generally better than those in Ohio's seven other large cities, but they lag behind the rest of the state in all subjects and all grades. | <urn:uuid:6a772bb9-fd81-42fe-8709-32132d3c66be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec10/teachers_12-14.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97471 | 2,070 | 1.835938 | 2 |
A beer, a butterfly and Obama
But such was the case Monday, Jan. 21 for butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis.
See, Shapiro sponsors the annual "Beer for a Butterfly" contest to see who can collect the first white cabbage butterfly of the year in the three-county area of Yolo, Solano and Sacramento. A noted butterfly expert, he's been monitoring the butterflies of Central California for more than three decades and maintains a website, Art's Butterfly World.
Shapiro has sponsored the "Beer or a Butterfly" contest since 1972 to draw attention to the first flight of the butterfly. He awards the winner--usually himself!--a pitcher of beer or its equivalent.
This year he netted the first white cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapae) on President Barack Obama's Inauguration Day, Monday, Jan. 21. Perhaps coincidentally, he also caught the first white cabbage fly of 2009 on President Obama's first Inauguration Day--Jan. 20.
“The constitution mandates the swearing-in for Jan. 20, though it does not require Pieris rapae to emerge on that date,” Shapiro quipped.
“Thank you, Mr. President!”
For the record, Shapiro caught the 2013 winner near railroad tracks in West Sacramento, Yolo County, and the 2009 winner near railroad tracks in Davis, also in Yolo County. (Shapiro’s first catch of 2013 was actually on Jan. 1 at the same West Sacramento site, but “it was a slopover from the fall brood.” Thus, he declared the contest still under way.)
Now the contest is over and Shapiro says that since “Pieris rapae is out, I can ‘stand down.’ It’s now officially spring.”
He declared it spring, and so it is.
Now, the big question: Will Professor Shapiro share his beer with the President?
“I'd be delighted to buy Obama a beer," Shapiro said, "but I suspect he has better things to do with his time!”
This is the cabbage white butterfly that Art Shapiro collected on President Obama's Inauguration Day, Jan. 21. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) | <urn:uuid:f5ed035f-c447-4f3b-bdba-0015868d531e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/?blogpost=9125&blogasset=45538&close=yes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937508 | 482 | 1.78125 | 2 |
The Lord Burlison, who died on Tuesday aged 71, was better known as Tom Burlison, and played several important roles in Labour politics in the north-east of England as a trade union official and party "fixer"; he was also the first professional footballer to sit in the House of Lords.
A tough operator but mild-mannered and, unlike many of his ilk, a master of the media, Burlison kept a low public profile but possessed acute political antennae which he kept sharply tuned. During the Labour Party reforms of the early 1990s, however, he became publicly embroiled in controversy, accusing the then leader John Smith and his modernisers of "arrogance and inflexibility" as they strove to loosen the unions' grip on the party.
When in 1994, following John Smith's death, rival contenders for the Labour leadership travelled to Blackpool to address the annual conference of the giant General and Municipal Workers, Labour's second-biggest affiliated union, the question arose as to whether Tony Blair or John Prescott should speak first. It fell to Burlison, as deputy general secretary, to settle the issue by tossing a 20 pence coin.
In 1997 Blair – by then the newly-elected prime minister – rewarded Burlison's political skills as Labour's eyes and ears in the party's north-east heartland by making him a working peer in the reformed House of Lords.
Thomas Henry Burlison was born on May 23 1936 at Edmondsley, County Durham, and left school to become a panel beater in 1951. From 1953 he was a professional footballer, playing for Lincoln City, Hartlepool United and Darlington before retiring from the game in 1965. Between 1959 and 1961 he did National Service in the RAF.
A lifelong trade unionist, Burlison became a regional officer of the General and Municipal Workers' union in 1965 and north-east regional secretary in 1978. He stood for the union's national leadership in 1985 but finished runner-up to John Edmonds. For nine years he served as chairman of the northern region of the TUC and was a member of Labour's national executive committee.
He served as the Labour Party's treasurer in the 1990s and as a government whip in the Lords from 1999 until 2001.
Tom Burlison married, in 1981, Valerie Stephenson, who survives him with their two sons and a daughter. | <urn:uuid:dee668f9-4f2e-4ddf-bc0d-b43237231b41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2016928/Lord-Tom-Burlison-Trade-union-stalwart-and-Labour-fixer-who-became-the-first-professional-footballer-to-take-a-seat-in-the-House-of-Lords.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983788 | 493 | 1.5 | 2 |
Jordan is located to the northwest of Saudi Arabia. It has warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters, with annual average temperatures ranging from 12 to 25 C (54 to 77 F) and summertime highs reaching the 40 C (105-115 F) in the desert regions.
www.jordantravelmart.com The Jordan Tourism Board North America announced their 1st Annual Jordan Travel Mart(JTM)will be held onFebruary 10-12, 2008 at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center at the Dead Sea. The format of JTM will include two days of pre-scheduled appointments between USA, Canada, and Latin/South America “Buyers” and Jordan “Suppliers,” presentations on various tourism products, and a great selection of exciting pre and post tours throughout the entire Country. Jordan is unveiled as a distinctive destination offering breathtaking and mysterious sights, luxury accommodations, exquisite cuisine and countless activities that can provide visitors with inspiration, motivation, rejuvenation, and a guaranteed experience of a lifetime! In making the Jordan Travel Mart announcement, Malia Asfour, Jordan Tourism Board North America Director, said: “This is a tremendous opportunity for travel professionals to learn and become experts on all the wonders Jordan has to offer and truly experience the diversity of this unique destination. We have witnessed a significant increase in interest from the North/South American travelers and have been working closely with the trade to capitalize on this trend. I am sure that Petra winning the title as one of the New 7 Wonders, will also dramatically increase consumers awareness and tourism arrivals to Jordan.” Irma Coleman, President & CEO of William H. Coleman, Inc., the Jordan Travel Mart Event Management Firm, said: “We are very excited about being a part of the Jordan Tourism Board’s Team, and for the opportunity to help make this Event a vital part of Jordan’s Tourism development activities in 2008, and years to come.” | <urn:uuid:9cec1679-0ecf-4590-8283-7ce28ed14426> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://islamictourism.com/country_E.php?year=2007&country=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938234 | 401 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Contacts: Donna Sellers/Sheree
ATF National Laboratory Center
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Laboratory Center and Fire Research Laboratory were recently selected as award winners by the 2004 General Services Administration Design Award Jury. Nine ATF employees, the ATF contractor and GSA construction company were also cited for their contributions to the project.
The GSA Design Award Program is held every two years to honor the best of the best of the federal projects designed and constructed by GSA.
The National Laboratory Center (NLC) and Fire Research Laboratory (FRL) building project received an award for “Architecture and Engineering.” The FRL project was one of 15 award winners and one of 143 entries nationwide to be considered for an award. The award was presented today in a ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Center, Amphitheatre in Washington, D.C.
ATF employees cited for their contributions are:
National Laboratory Center employees:
ATF contractor and lead construction manager Robert Hando from McKissack and McKissack was also cited for contributions to the project.
“The National Laboratory Center and Fire Research Lab are vital assets to the ATF mission,” said ATF Director Carl J. Truscott. “Studies conducted at this facility are helping law enforcement agencies throughout the world solve some of their most challenging criminal cases including the crime of arson. Designing and constructing the world’s first laboratory devoted to fire investigation support and forensic fire research was a challenge.” Truscott added, that it is important to acknowledge John W. Magaw and Bradley A. Buckles, two former ATF directors, under whose leadership and guidance the NLC was built.
“The Fire Research Laboratory provides the state of the art and cutting edge technology to give fire investigators and forensic scientists the tools they need to do their job,” said Mary Galvin, Connecticut State’s Attorney Office and the National District Attorney’s Association liaison to the Fire Research Laboratory Partnership Council.
The National Laboratory Center houses three laboratories:
The ATF Forensic Science Laboratory - Washington, which evaluates evidence obtained in crimes involving firearms, arson and explosives incidents and alcohol and tobacco diversion investigations.
The ATF Fire Research Laboratory, the first facility in the world dedicated to fire scene investigations, including the ability to reconstruct fire scenes to determine how fires begin and spread. The FRL has the facilities, equipment and staff to work on important fire investigation issues such as fire scene reconstruction, flashover studies, validation of fire pattern analysis indicators, impact of accelerants on fire growth and spread, ignition studies and electrical fire cause analysis.
Until the development of the FRL, there were no fire measurement facilities in the United States, or elsewhere, dedicated to the specific needs of fire investigation community.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s Scientific Services Division laboratory, which works to ensure the integrity of alcohol and tobacco products and to accurately classify these products for tax purposes. | <urn:uuid:e99b79e7-9b5f-4b67-8450-54001ad83e8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2005/03/032405-atf-labs-receive-gsa-award.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935493 | 618 | 1.65625 | 2 |
A library is more than a collection of books. In a small town like Sutton in the Matanuska Valley, the library serves many functions. It’s a meeting place for people of all ages, a storehouse of information, and a door allowing a peek into the community’s past. Sutton residents have worked for years to raise funds for a new library, and last month, that dream became reality.
After year’s of bake sales, grant applications and planning meetings, Sutton’s new library opened quietly in mid June of this year. A grand opening a few weeks later drew a crowd. Perhaps in keeping with the hush normally associated with libraries, the chamber music group Fireside String Quartet entertained
“And then we had bluegrass music, so it was a full afternoon,” librarian Nancy Bertels said.
But now, in mid July the tidy, cedar sided building surrounded by murmuring cottonwoods already fits the town like a favorite pair of sneakers.
Bertels is just finishing up pre-school story hour with a few rambunctious members of Sutton’s future generation.
“Our parking lot has been full every day since we opened. And I think, part of it it’s a beautiful facility and we’re offerering some great programming to our community, so people are excited to come and participate. We had over twenty kids for a story hour this morning, and then arts and crafts and a little chaos afterwards,” Bertels said.
Bertels finally gets a quiet moment to reflect on the new library’s significance
“It creates a perfect community center here in Sutton. People are walking through the park, visiting the library,” Bertels said.
As if on cue, a teenage girl walks to the front door with at least 10 books piled high in her arms. Sutton is a readers’ town.
The library replaces the worn out old frame building down the road that served the community since the 1980s. Bertels says the old library was so cramped for space, that when a new book came in, an old book had to be disposed of. This new one is purposely located next to Sutton’s Alpine Historic District . The Historic District is an acre of green lawn, on which are displayed in haphazard fashion, the rusted hulks of coal mining paraphernalia from ninety years ago. A crumbling foundation marks the spot where the Sutton coal wash house stood. The wash house’s dimensions were used in the library’s floor plan
“And it’s designed after the old coal washing facility that used to sit on the cement ruins in the historic park right in front of our building,” Bertels said.
Sutton is sticking to its heritage. The town was founded on coal, although more recently, opposition to that type of mining is rife. But the controversy has not rocked Sutton as it has split other communities.
“It’s part of the history of this community, and it [the library] was designed in that period, to look like that period of housing. I don’t think that anybody disputes the fact that coal has been a part of this community’s history. Nobody had anything really bad to say about that,” Bertels said.
Once barely a blip on the map, Sutton has become a not quite suburban community popular with young families.
SUVs and compact sedans have replaced battered pickup trucks on the local roadways, a sure sign of gentility moving in. Bertels says the iconic Alaska bachelor, once prevalent in these parts, is now a rarity
Bertels: ‘Even those old bachelors have kind of cleaned up and at least bought a new truck.’ Ellen: ‘Do they read?’ Bertels: ‘They do, they read a lot, and they use the computers a lot.’
Although improved Glenn Highway conditions bring Anchorage and Wasilla closer now, Suttonites identify strongly with their town and are a close knit bunch.
“We are so proud of our new building. The visibility between the library and the Historical Park has been a wonderful partnership,” Former Matanuska Susitna Borough Assembly member Lynn Woods said.
Sutton got lots of help in paying for the new building. The Borough, the Rasmussen Foundation, BP and Conoco Phillips, and Usibelli coal added corporate dollars to the donations gained from garage sales and benefit raffles. Names of donors large and small are engraved on gilt leaves decorating a tree mural inside. Free first time library cards are a bonus for Borough residents, but woe to the procrastinator. Late book return fees will be strictly enforced. | <urn:uuid:ea58bf43-1bbf-4106-be7b-98153e9213c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/07/27/ak-libraries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958618 | 990 | 1.664063 | 2 |
We fought the claw and the claw won.
In the extraordinary book Phaidon: Fashion, a young makeup artist named Topolino gets his own page. Born in Marseilles, the beauty wiz created runway looks for Alexander McQueen - and the insane thorn manicure you see above.
This story was published on July 21, 2010.
Not one to shrink from a challenge, we bought some roses and tried the look ourselves. Here's how:
1. Take three roses and slice off their thorns with gardening shears. Be very careful, or you will bleed.
2. Paint each thorn a blood red, or whatever color you'll use for your manicure (though aside from red, we think black is the only other hue that would work).
3. Paint your nails the same shade.
4. Take your nail polish and slick the bottom of the thorns with the brush, using it as "glue" for each thorn to stick on each nail.
5. Wait for it to dry (about 20 minutes).
Obviously, you'll have to be cautious when flaunting this sharp new look (and we'd only recommend it for something very special and relatively brief - you don't want thorns on your hands all day). But if you've ever wanted to embody the phrase, "Dangerous Beauty," well... this is it. | <urn:uuid:d9006299-010c-4c79-bec8-2b57df83fd39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nylonmag.com/?section=article&parid=4899 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946428 | 282 | 1.640625 | 2 |
The Delhi Police has favoured an amendment in law to reduce the age of juvenile from the present 18 to 16 years against the backdrop of the gangrape of a paramedical student here in which a minor was involved.
"The Delhi Police feel that the age of juvenile should be 16 years. This is our view. I understand there is already a bill pending (to be passed)," police commissioner Neeraj Kumar told a press conference in the capital, while replying to a question on changes needed in defining a juvenile in the wake of the gangrape of a 23-year- old on December 16, an incident which sparked a debate on this issue.
According to the police, it was the juvenile involved in the incident who enticed the girl and her male friend to board the bus in which the paramedic student was gangraped before being thrown out of the vehicle. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.
Facing a volley of questions on the rape incident, the police commissioner spoke about the demand being made for death penalty for such offenders but did not say whether he was in favour or against it. "There is a lot of debate about it. The Justice Verma Committee is looking into. It will take a view on this," he said.
To a question on constable Subhash Tomar's death during the protests here following the incident, he stuck to the stand that he suffered a heart attack in the protest area and that he did not have any history of heart ailment. Further, the Delhi Police gazetted officers have collected Rs8 lakh by contributing a day's salary while another Rs8 lakh has been raised for the family of Tomar. | <urn:uuid:8d5d9f6c-63f2-441b-803f-2cc544a4c919> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1790254/report-amend-law-to-reduce-age-of-juvenile-from-18-to-16-years-delhi-top-cop | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983355 | 340 | 1.671875 | 2 |
I’ve noticed that a lot of people get really scared about sewing stretchy fabrics. I was too until I gave it a try a few years ago – and you know what? It’s not so hard! Really!!
Basically the only trick is to use stitches that will maintain the stretch of the fabric. There are just a few simple techniques you need to know, and then you’re set!
There are two main ways that I sew seams on stretchy fabrics
I either use my serger/overlocker as it creates a stitch that has stretch in it
2) ZIG ZAG
Or I use the zig zag stitch on my sewing machine, as the shape of the stitch will allow the fabric to stretch a little after sewing.
A lot of machines have built in stretch stitches, that many people swear by. I personally don’t use them, because I don’t think they add that much value – but check your sewing machine’s manual, as you may find you like using those stitches better.
One of the super cool things about strech fabrics is that you often don’t have to finish the edges as they won’t fray (unless it’s a loosely woven sweater type fabric).
If you used a serger to sew your seams you don’t need to neaten anything at all!
2) ZIG ZAG
But if you used a zig zag or other stretch stitch on a sewing machine, then you can either leave the seams as is – or you can neatly trim away the excess fabric. That’s it :) no stress!
Hemming is also not as scary as you might think!!
1) DOUBLE NEEDLE
My absolutely favourite method of hemming stretchy fabrics is using a double needle. I don’t often mention it though, as it seems to terrify many people. But double needles are awesome and you will love them if you try! You don’t need a special machine, and the resulting stitch has a great amount of stretch built into it.
You simply thread your machine as per normal, just using 2 spools of thread instead of one,
and then thread your needles.
The only thing that is tough is that you have to do all top stitching on the outside (right side) of the fabric, which can be a little hard with wide hems that go beyond your machines measures.
My trick is to iron my hem, then place a piece of tape the correct distance from the needle on my machine, and then use that as my sewing guide.
2) ZIG ZAG
If you’re still worried about using a double needle, another easy method is using a zig zag stitch. Just top stitch your hem and you’re done!
** Just like in regular sewing projects, always prewash and dry your fabric in the way you will after sewing. Keep in mind that many stretch fabrics shrink a lot. I like to tumble dry mine after washing, as I know that’s more than likely how I’ll dry them after sewing my clothing.
** When cutting make sure that you lay your pattern pieces so that the stretchiest part of the fabric is going across your body (side to side) rather than up your body (up and down) – or else you won’t be able to get it on!!
** When sewing do not stretch the fabric unless the pattern calls for it. If you stretch your garment will more than likely come out misshapen. | <urn:uuid:b3c6a46e-f3da-40b6-8958-b52601abeb18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diymaternity.com/misc-tips/basic-guide-to-sewing-with-stretch-fabrics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936264 | 743 | 1.703125 | 2 |
SAFETY CONSULTANT, J31
Positions in this job family are assigned responsibilities involving the administration of an agency safety program or providing consultative services to the public or private sector in planning, developing, implementing and administering occupational health and safety programs. This includes promoting the adoption by agency management and safety personnel of new policies, safety equipment and programs directed toward reducing accidents and improving safety awareness; preparing and delivering public group presentations pertaining to health and safety practices; and providing guidance, assistance and training to other safety personnel in the performance of assigned tasks.
The functions within this job family will vary by level, but may include the following:
The Safety Consultant job family consists of four levels which are distinguished by the complexity of assignments, the size and scope of the program, the level of expertise required to perform the duties assigned, and the responsibility assigned for providing leadership to others.
Level I: Code: J31A Salary Band: H
This is the basic level of the job family where incumbents perform routine entry level work in a training status to build their skills in planning and conducting workplace inspections and programs related to occupational health and safety for public or private sector employers. In this role, incumbents will perform beginning-level tasks in the identification of mechanical, structural or other hazards which result in physical injury to the worker or damage to the workplace or in the identification of physical hazards and/or potential safety hazards which would impair workers’ health or safety.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities required at this level include knowledge of occupational health and safety standards and procedures; of safety devices and protective equipment; of federal and state laws and agency regulations and policies governing agency operations and regulating worker’s compensation; of safety consultation methods and analysis techniques and procedures; of report writing; of personnel practices and principles; and of public relations. Ability is required to establish and maintain effective working relationships with others; to follow written and oral instructions; to review and analyze technical information; to read and comprehend policies and procedures, manuals, rules and regulations; to detect hazards and recommend remedial action; to analyze situations and formulate effective courses of action; and to express ideas clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing.
Education andExperience requirements at this level consist of a bachelor’s degree in geology, safety, engineering or a closely related field; or an equivalent combination of education and experience, substituting one year of experience in industrial relations, safety, safety inspection, safety education, engineering or risk management for each year of the required education.
Level II: Code: J31B Salary Band: I
This is the career level of the job family where employees are assigned duties and responsibilities at the full-performance level and perform a wide variety of tasks involving planning, organizing and implementing an occupational health and safety hazards program which is small in size and scope. Some positions may be assigned responsibility for conducting workplace inspections as a Safety Consultant or Loss Prevention Specialist and/or providing assistance to employers in the prevention of industrial or other accidents. Employees will conduct comprehensive industrial and/or other workplace inspections to identify actual or potential safety hazards and other dangers. Inspections are performed in either public or private sector workplaces according to the division to which the position is assigned. Tasks are performed independently and are concerned with the identification and correction of mechanical, structural or other hazards which result in physical injury to the worker or damage to the workplace.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities required at this level include those identified in Level I plus demonstrated ability to conduct work place inspections and identify and correct potential safety hazards.
Education andExperience requirements for this level include those identified in Level I plus two additional years of qualifying experience.
Level III: Code: J31C Salary Band: J
At this level of this job family employees are assigned responsibilities involving advanced level professional work related to an occupational and health safety program. This may include responsibilities such as directing or coordinating a safety program of limited to moderate size and scope, independent responsibility for planning and implementing safety programs at an institution or facility, or similar responsibilities. Direction or supervision will be provided to assigned staff as required.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities required at this level include those identified in Level II plus additional knowledge of training techniques; and of supervisory principles and practices. Ability is required to anticipate, identify and resolve safety problems; and direct the work of others.
Education and Experience requirements at this level include those identified in Level II plus one additional year of qualifying experience.
Level IV: Code: J31D Salary Band: K
At this level of this job family employees are assigned responsibilities for directing and coordinating an occupational safety and health program which is large in size and scope. This may include programs in large agencies, programs involving statewide functions or positions, or other similar programs. It may also involve direction or oversight of facility or institutional programs, risk management analysis and planning and similar activities.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities required at this level include those identified in Level III plus the ability to administer a large occupational health and safety program.
Education andExperience requirements at this level include those identified in Level III plus one additional year of qualifying experience.
Applicants must be willing and able to fulfill all job-related travel normally associated with this position.
Some positions may require possession of a valid Oklahoma Driver’s license in order to operate state owned vehicles. | <urn:uuid:62c84a47-eccd-4fec-a803-0645ac48f0d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ok.gov/opm/HR_and_Employee_Services/Job_Family_Descriptors/J000_-_Genl_Safety,_Security,_Inspection,_Investigation/J31_-_SAFETY_CONSULTANT.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94025 | 1,090 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The historic settlement of Lincoln was selected as one of eight communities to participate in a social communication project connected to the newly released film on the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
Assets and Information Manager Michele Caskey received approval Tuesday from Lincoln County commissioners to move ahead with the project that ties two free screenings of the film at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Old Lincoln Church in Lincoln with discussions involving community leaders and the public.
County Manager Nita Taylor told commissioners that Caskey has been working with representatives of Active Voice for Lincoln to be part of a nationwide program called, "Stand Tall. Live Like Lincoln."
Villages and towns in Kansas, Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, Michigan, Missouri and Arkansas are participating in the initiative, she said. "The feature film 'Lincoln' will be shown to the public and a panel of civic leaders is being identified to discuss the importance of community leadership and citizenship," Taylor said. Questions and discussion points will be provided by the company.
Checking the website for background on Active Voices, the group's leaders declare that the organization, "tackles social issues through the creative use of film. We believe that real progress requires real connection, and that film has a unique power to bring people together in meaningful ways."
Another statement notes that, "When you need to put a human face on social issues, count on Active
Some of the organizations current projects deal with immigration and issues facing young men of color as they try to succeed.
Caskey told commissioners the county was contacted by someone who saw the new county website a few weeks ago.
"They are a company that has been hired by the production company of the Oscar-nominated feature film 'Lincoln' and they were looking for eight towns named Lincoln across the country where they could show a free screening accompanied by some discussion among civic leaders about the moral character, courage and values of Lincoln," she said. "We have been selected as one of the eight to host one of these events."
The company will be using the film as a launch pad to prompt public discussion and education in schools and different types of events for people to consider the values of Lincoln, "and whether they are relevant today as we serve the people and we are citizens in our own neighborhoods," Caskey said.
The film was nominated for 12 Oscars and Caskey thought the screenings would not compete with the local theater, but Commissioner Dallas Draper said "Lincoln" currently is playing at the Allen Sierra Mall Theater in Ruidoso.
"Following each screening of the movie, we will have a moderated discussion among civic leaders about the moral values of Lincoln and whether they are important to us today," Caskey said. "I will be looking for civic leaders like yourselves to be part of one of the 45-minute discussions. The organization will provide discussion points and questions. I hope to have citizens show up who are interested in talking about Lincoln."
In some of the other participating community, similar events are being used as starting points for civic projects and campaigns in their communities, she said. "It's an opportunity for us as well other organizations that might want to get involved as part of some bigger program on what it is to be a citizen and to have moral courage."
She asked for suggestions about whom to invite. Seating is limited to about 75 people, but screenings are open to the public.
"I think it's going to be a very cool thing, actually," Caskey said. "I have not received the promotional material yet, but just the fact they will be showing the movie free is a great opportunity. I understand it's a very moving film."
Lincoln is located on U.S. 380 between the community of Capitan and U.S. 70. | <urn:uuid:9c1dc00e-28bb-48bf-8538-dc48d4ae1284> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ruidosonews.com/serviceclubs/ci_22445153/lincoln-be-screened-lincoln | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976166 | 775 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Submitted by Madison County Extension Service
Do you experience envy of a beautifully manicured and landscaped lawn? Ever wish you had a green thumb in efforts to grow your own fruits and vegetables? Would you like to make a difference in your community? Do you like teaching/helping others or just wish to be more involved in the community? Are you an experienced gardener and just want to nurture your keen interest in horticulture? Maybe you just like being outside.
If any of these apply to you, then you may be interested in the Florida Master Gardener program offered by the Madison County Extension Service.
Members of the Master Gardener program are provided with a minimum of fifty hours of in-depth horticultural training in a variety of topics. In return, graduates give at least seventy-five volunteer hours helping the local Extension program.
Master Gardener volunteers help the county Extension office in many ways: answering garden related phone calls from homeowners, staffing plant clinics, working with 4-H youth, helping with school gardens, and many others.
For more information, contact Covey Washington or Heidi Waller at (850) 973-4138 for an application. The deadline for receiving applications is February 25. | <urn:uuid:55444280-dd27-4a0d-acb5-9cc9e69f8b9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenepublishing.com/?p=83 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931827 | 249 | 1.625 | 2 |
|Portmahomack Community | sitemap | log in|
Portmahomack is well known in Easter Ross because of the picturesque nature of the village. Uniquely for an east coast village it faces to the west producing spectacular sunset views in the evening.It also benefits from it's own micro climate being one of the driest areas in Scotland.
Portmahomack also has a historical links to the early Picts. You can visit an archaeology dig site at the Tarbat Discovery Centre which is situated within the village. The village also has a General Post Office/store, open 7 days a week, two hotels, a first class restaurant and both Self-catering and B&B accommodation
In close Proximity to Portmahomack are the historical Towns of Tain (10 miles) and Dornoch (21 miles), with Inverness only 40 miles away.
This site is an attempt to let everyone know what's happening in this small community so if you have a news item, an event or local business you wish to promote get in touch!
Also if some one wants to help with maintaining this site and is resident in the area then please let this one man band know!!!! | <urn:uuid:fe42703b-2110-43fe-a9b2-1f9b22e65a24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portmahomackcommunity.org.uk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949001 | 255 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Israel is the fourth most scientifically active nation in the world, according to data compiled by Israel's Council of Higher Education and presented on Monday at Bar-Ilan University.
Israel placed just behind Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark for the number of scientific publications per million citizens.
In 2005 alone, Israeli scientists and researches published 6,309 essays and articles in foreign scientific journals. That meant nearly one percent of all scientific publications in that year came from Israel.
Even more impressive was the number of times those Israeli publications were cited by other scientists. For instance, Professor Avram Hershko of the Technion in Haifa, who in 2004 won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, wrote 148 essays that year which were cited more than 16,000 times.
By comparison, the US ranked number 12 on the list for scientific activity. | <urn:uuid:93ff0807-5aee-41f2-afcd-0a6f20643f51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/19985/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958692 | 168 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Too many professors are spending too much time "writing papers for each other," researching abstruse topics of no real utility and no real incremental contribution to human knowledge or understanding.I write papers mainly for myself. I have my own opinions on what problems are important and where my interests and research strengths lie. One of the main draws of being a professor is having the freedom to choose our own research.
But we have to write for our peers as well. It's our peers that review and cite our papers and make decisions about grants and jobs. For the most part our peers are the only ones who read our papers.
In the end we write papers for society. Most of our papers taken individually add a small amount to human knowledge and are only of interest to fellow specialists. But taken together our research drives a field of inquiry allowing us to understand and take on new challenges. Even if we have trouble selling a specific theoretical computer science papers to a broader audience, taken as a whole theory helps us model and understand the power of computation and leads to smarter and faster algorithms on real world machines. | <urn:uuid:a1ba1f0d-84d0-4195-88d0-614c21de9f5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2013/01/who-do-you-write-papers-for.html?showComment=1360094891994 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943304 | 220 | 1.820313 | 2 |
How Do You Leave and Cleave?
- Friday, July 20, 2001
There are many ways to cleave to one another physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. Lets take a look at some of these individually.
In the process remember that what works for some people doesnt always work for others. However we surveyed hundreds of couples and came up with the following techniques that seemed to rank among the most popular ways to cleave in those early days and weeks of marriage.
We asked couples what helped them physically cleave to one another after getting married. The top response was geographical distance between the couple and extended family.
For some people this was merely a matter of doing what weve already talked about taking time away from extended family in order to strengthen the brand new marital bond between the two of you. Physical distance from extended family during this initial stage of marriage causes the following benefits, all of which help develop the cleaving time.
- You will need one another for daily support
- Neither of you can go to your former home, even if you want to.
- Knowing that when you get back together with extended family you can share experiences and bond over again to reconnect.
- You will be forced to depend on each other.
- You wont rely on parents to solve problems.
It was a wonderful time of developing our own lifestyle as well as dependence on each other.
On an emotional level, the cleaving period is when you will share your feelings and hearts desires with your husband or wife rather than your parents. Of course you will have discussed many of these feelings during this, the engagement period. But situations will come up than can only take place once you are sharing a home together.
We recommend that you use this time to set limits on the involvement of outsiders, whether from extended family or friends or co-workers. Spend as much time as possible talking together, getting to know each other as husband and wife. This is the beauty of cleaving.
The following are some of the benefits that come from this type of emotional cleaving:
- You will learn to keep personal issues between you and your spouse.
- You will learn to say no to excessive demands outside the marriage relationship. husbands wisdom help protect from interference.
- You will feel committed to holding your spouse first in important decision-making and points of change in your life.
Leaving Past Behind
It is crucial that this cleaving period involve the fact that your spouse is now your central relationship. Perhaps you had a serious relationship prior to getting married. That is fine and probably has contributed greatly to the getting-to-know-each-other period that leads up to engagement.
Now, however, it is time to put the past behind you and press on to what is ahead. And that means your relationship with your spouse. If you always remembered your old girlfriends birthday with a dozen roses stop the flower delivery immediately. Nothing is more damaging to the cleaving period than making your spouse believe they are not after God first place in your heart.
The following is a list of things that might be involved in letting past relationships go as you cleave to the single most important relationship you will have in your life from this point on.
- Get rid of old letters and pictures of past relationships.
- If a possession was from a former relationship, perhaps sell it or give it away.
- Be sensitive to your spouses feelings when talking about the past and past relationships.
- If necessary, attend counseling together to work through issues that might have come up as a result of past relationships.
Depending on Your Spouse Spiritually
Spirituality is a very important part of your impending marriage. If you are not both believers, now is the best time to talk through those issues. There is nothing more heartbreaking than believing ahead of time that you will be likeminded spiritually only to find out that after the wedding vows one spouse has a completely different viewpoint than the other.
Talk through all issues of spirituality now. Include traditions, biblical interpretations, biblical translations, church attendance habits, prayer habits, Bible study habits, and any other issue important to you.
We knew one couple wherein the husband would not allow the wife to talk about God or put Scripture verses in any visible place in their home. We asked if theyd discussed spiritual matters ahead of time, and the wife shrugged.
I told him I couldnt marry him unless he believed in the Lord like I did. She glanced at her husband. And I told her I believed.
We looked at him, confusion clearly written across our faces. But you dont believe in God, isnt that right?
The man nodded. Yes.
We were beginning to wonder if wed stumbled onto the set of a Candid Camera shoot. Okay, then whyd you tell her you believed back when you were dating. The man frowned. That was the only way shed marry me.
Whatever you do, dont lie to your fiancé this way. Issues can be talked through, differences can be examined. But a lie can only cause irreparable harm.
Once you think alike when it comes to matters of God, realize that this will be the holy cement that will truly bind you together during this cleaving period. The following is a list of things that will help you cleave spiritually:
- Prayer for each other.
- Prayer together.
- Church attendance together.
- Serving in some type of church or mission service together.
- Bible reading together.
- Scripture memorization together.
We know one couple who memorized Scriptures together and then played a game whenever they were in the car. One at a time they would recite a verse until one of them was stumped. They spent hours this way, laughing, memorizing Gods word, and having fun at the same time.
This is a perfect example of spiritual cleaving.
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Add Crosswalk.com content to your siteBrowse available content | <urn:uuid:050aeb7d-8be9-4f64-bf7e-91b32dfd8aee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crosswalk.com/family/marriage/how-do-you-leave-and-cleave-677998.html?ps=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970103 | 1,243 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Chief Justice John Roberts will lead a contingent of six Supreme Court justices at the State of the Union address Tuesday night. That word from the Supreme Court, ending speculation that he would skip the event.
Roberts has attended every State of the Union since his appointment in 2005. But after last year's speech, he suggested he might not in the future.
In the 2010 State of the Union speech, President Obama criticized a decision by the conservative Court majority that unleashed corporate and union spending in elections.
In response, Justice Samuel Alito shook his head and mouthed the words, "not true."
The chief justice later characterized the event as a "public hazing," in which members of the Court "according to protocol," have to sit by, expressionless, surrounded by members of Congress "cheering and hollering."
Those comments seemed a signal that Roberts would not attend again. But in the wake of the Tucson shootings, he has apparently reconsidered.
After all, the mood of the country right now seems to call for alleviating, not aggravating divisions.
The court would not identify who the other five justices are who plan to attend, but it is believed that they are Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee, Clinton appointees Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Obama appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
That leaves as absentees the Court's most conservative Justices — Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas.
Alito is out of town, teaching a course in Hawaii. Scalia has not attended since 1997, and Thomas rarely attends, though he did attend President Obama's first speech in 2009.
In reality, Supreme Court attendance is often spotty, even non-existent.
Breyer is the only Justice who thinks going is important, and since 2001, he has four times been the only Justice there. Indeed, in 2000, when he was sick, none of the Justices went.
So the decision by Scalia and Thomas not to go is hardly remarkable. However, the two conservatives have been in the limelight over the past few days for other reasons.
Justice Scalia gave a lecture on the Constitution to the Tea Party Caucus Monday night, which sparked heated cries of partisanship.
But the controversy fizzled when the caucus invited Democrats to participate and when legal ethics experts said there was nothing wrong with Scalia's appearance, especially since he talks to the ACLU too.
Justice Thomas, on the other hand, couldn't escape his critics so easily when it turned out that he failed to disclose information about his wife's income, as required under the Ethics In Government Act.
After the liberal watchdog group Common Cause revealed the omission over the weekend, Thomas amended his financial disclosure forms for 13 years, detailing her employment — including nearly $700,000 in salary over four years from the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Thomas said the omission was based on a "misunderstanding of the filing instructions." There is no criminal penalty for such a failure to disclose. | <urn:uuid:0708983b-7e87-4fc7-b0b9-951290f5a785> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/133219813/supreme-court-majority-to-attend-state-of-union | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972683 | 620 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Video chat glasses that map your face, catch every blink
Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo is demonstrating a chat system that aims to accurately portray your facial emotions online.
NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile operator, is demonstrating a prototype pair of glasses with multiple video cameras that scan wearers' faces to accurately portray their expressions online.
The company is demonstrating the glasses at the Ceatec electronics show in Chiba, Japan, with the goal of eventually replacing the fuzzy, two-dimensional avatar images that are common on chat programs today. The glasses use tiny, wide-angle cameras to capture large portions of the face at close range, then send the data over the network, where software then attempts to convert it back to a realistic recreation of the wearer.
(See footage of the glasses on YouTube.)
In live demonstrations on the show floor, the result was a slightly cartoonish, bloated-looking version of the subject, although subtle changes in the eyes, eyebrows, and overall expression were accurately portrayed. Hair and other features are still not captured by the cameras, so they are filled in automatically by the software, and DoCoMo only showed the system with a single, male model. The researchers designing the system say their intention is to make it as realistic as possible, with the goal of taking it live in the next five to ten years.
"There are many types of avatar, or computer-graphics based real-time communication systems, but this system is completely different to previous systems," said Masaaki Fukumoto, a senior researcher at DoCoMo.
"For example, previous systems just detect the position of the (facial) parts, such as the eye or mouth and so on, but this system actually takes the image of the face and directly transmits it to the receiver side," he said.
The glasses also include a rear-facing camera, to accurately record the wearer's background and send that along with the facial data, as well as cameras that record hand gestures. Fukumoto said they will eventually be wireless and run off of battery power, but the current version has a bulky control unit that sits on the back of the head, which houses several different wire connections.
A mock-up on the Ceatec show floor includes speakers and microphones, and eyepieces that will be used to display augmented reality images to the wearer.
Ceatec, Japan's largest electronics exhibition, runs this week in Makuhari, just outside of Tokyo. | <urn:uuid:b6e2fe8c-8ee0-43f9-a00f-1ff1e57ace2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itworld.com/print/299958 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958457 | 513 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Notes On "Camp"
by Susan Sontag
Published in 1964.
Many things in the world have not been named; and many things, even if they have been named, have never been described. One of these is the sensibility -- unmistakably modern, a variant of sophistication but hardly identical with it -- that goes by the cult name of "Camp."
A sensibility (as distinct from an idea) is one of the hardest things to talk about; but there are special reasons why Camp, in particular, has never been discussed. It is not a natural mode of sensibility, if there be any such. Indeed the essence of Camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration. And Camp is esoteric -- something of a private code, a badge of identity even, among small urban cliques. Apart from a lazy two-page sketch in Christopher Isherwood's novel The World in the Evening (1954), it has hardly broken into print. To talk about Camp is therefore to betray it. If the betrayal can be defended, it will be for the edification it provides, or the dignity of the conflict it resolves. For myself, I plead the goal of self-edification, and the goad of a sharp conflict in my own sensibility. I am strongly drawn to Camp, and almost as strongly offended by it. That is why I want to talk about it, and why I can. For no one who wholeheartedly shares in a given sensibility can analyze it; he can only, whatever his intention, exhibit it. To name a sensibility, to draw its contours and to recount its history, requires a deep sympathy modified by revulsion.
Though I am speaking about sensibility only -- and about a sensibility that, among other things, converts the serious into the frivolous -- these are grave matters. Most people think of sensibility or taste as the realm of purely subjective preferences, those mysterious attractions, mainly sensual, that have not been brought under the sovereignty of reason. They allow that considerations of taste play a part in their reactions to people and to works of art. But this attitude is naïve. And even worse. To patronize the faculty of taste is to patronize oneself. For taste governs every free -- as opposed to rote -- human response. Nothing is more decisive. There is taste in people, visual taste, taste in emotion - and there is taste in acts, taste in morality. Intelligence, as well, is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas. (One of the facts to be reckoned with is that taste tends to develop very unevenly. It's rare that the same person has good visual taste and good taste in people and taste in ideas.)
Taste has no system and no proofs. But there is something like a logic of taste: the consistent sensibility which underlies and gives rise to a certain taste. A sensibility is almost, but not quite, ineffable. Any sensibility which can be crammed into the mold of a system, or handled with the rough tools of proof, is no longer a sensibility at all. It has hardened into an idea . . .
To snare a sensibility in words, especially one that is alive and powerful,1 one must be tentative and nimble. The form of jottings, rather than an essay (with its claim to a linear, consecutive argument), seemed more appropriate for getting down something of this particular fugitive sensibility. It's embarrassing to be solemn and treatise-like about Camp. One runs the risk of having, oneself, produced a very inferior piece of Camp.
These notes are for Oscar Wilde.
"One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art."
- Phrases & Philosophies for the Use of the Young
1. To start very generally: Camp is a certain mode of aestheticism. It is one way of seeing the world as an aesthetic phenomenon. That way, the way of Camp, is not in terms of beauty, but in terms of the degree of artifice, of stylization.
2. To emphasize style is to slight content, or to introduce an attitude which is neutral with respect to content. It goes without saying that the Camp sensibility is disengaged, depoliticized -- or at least apolitical.
3. Not only is there a Camp vision, a Camp way of looking at things. Camp is as well a quality discoverable in objects and the behavior of persons. There are "campy" movies, clothes, furniture, popular songs, novels, people, buildings. . . . This distinction is important. True, the Camp eye has the power to transform experience. But not everything can be seen as Camp. It's not all in the eye of the beholder.
4. Random examples of items which are part of the canon of Camp:
The Brown Derby restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in LA
The Enquirer, headlines and stories
Aubrey Beardsley drawings
Visconti's direction of Salome and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
certain turn-of-the-century picture postcards
Schoedsack's King Kong
the Cuban pop singer La Lupe
Lynn Ward's novel in woodcuts, God's Man
the old Flash Gordon comics
women's clothes of the twenties (feather boas, fringed and beaded dresses, etc.)
the novels of Ronald Firbank and Ivy Compton-Burnett
stag movies seen without lust
5. Camp taste has an affinity for certain arts rather than others. Clothes, furniture, all the elements of visual décor, for instance, make up a large part of Camp. For Camp art is often decorative art, emphasizing texture, sensuous surface, and style at the expense of content. Concert music, though, because it is contentless, is rarely Camp. It offers no opportunity, say, for a contrast between silly or extravagant content and rich form. . . . Sometimes whole art forms become saturated with Camp. Classical ballet, opera, movies have seemed so for a long time. In the last two years, popular music (post rock-'n'-roll, what the French call yé yé) has been annexed. And movie criticism (like lists of "The 10 Best Bad Movies I Have Seen") is probably the greatest popularizer of Camp taste today, because most people still go to the movies in a high-spirited and unpretentious way.
6. There is a sense in which it is correct to say: "It's too good to be Camp." Or "too important," not marginal enough. (More on this later.) Thus, the personality and many of the works of Jean Cocteau are Camp, but not those of André Gide; the operas of Richard Strauss, but not those of Wagner; concoctions of Tin Pan Alley and Liverpool, but not jazz. Many examples of Camp are things which, from a "serious" point of view, are either bad art or kitsch. Not all, though. Not only is Camp not necessarily bad art, but some art which can be approached as Camp (example: the major films of Louis Feuillade) merits the most serious admiration and study.
"The more we study Art, the less we care for Nature."
- The Decay of Lying
7. All Camp objects, and persons, contain a large element of artifice. Nothing in nature can be campy . . . Rural Camp is still man-made, and most campy objects are urban. (Yet, they often have a serenity -- or a naiveté -- which is the equivalent of pastoral. A great deal of Camp suggests Empson's phrase, "urban pastoral.")
8. Camp is a vision of the world in terms of style -- but a particular kind of style. It is the love of the exaggerated, the "off," of things-being-what-they-are-not. The best example is in Art Nouveau, the most typical and fully developed Camp style. Art Nouveau objects, typically, convert one thing into something else: the lighting fixtures in the form of flowering plants, the living room which is really a grotto. A remarkable example: the Paris Métro entrances designed by Hector Guimard in the late 1890s in the shape of cast-iron orchid stalks.
9. As a taste in persons, Camp responds particularly to the markedly attenuated and to the strongly exaggerated. The androgyne is certainly one of the great images of Camp sensibility. Examples: the swooning, slim, sinuous figures of pre-Raphaelite painting and poetry; the thin, flowing, sexless bodies in Art Nouveau prints and posters, presented in relief on lamps and ashtrays; the haunting androgynous vacancy behind the perfect beauty of Greta Garbo. Here, Camp taste draws on a mostly unacknowledged truth of taste: the most refined form of sexual attractiveness (as well as the most refined form of sexual pleasure) consists in going against the grain of one's sex. What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine. . . . Allied to the Camp taste for the androgynous is something that seems quite different but isn't: a relish for the exaggeration of sexual characteristics and personality mannerisms. For obvious reasons, the best examples that can be cited are movie stars. The corny flamboyant female-ness of Jayne Mansfield, Gina Lollobrigida, Jane Russell, Virginia Mayo; the exaggerated he-man-ness of Steve Reeves, Victor Mature. The great stylists of temperament and mannerism, like Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Tallulah Bankhead, Edwige Feuillière.
10. Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It's not a lamp, but a "lamp"; not a woman, but a "woman." To perceive Camp in objects and persons is to understand Being-as-Playing-a-Role. It is the farthest extension, in sensibility, of the metaphor of life as theater.
11. Camp is the triumph of the epicene style. (The convertibility of "man" and "woman," "person" and "thing.") But all style, that is, artifice, is, ultimately, epicene. Life is not stylish. Neither is nature.
12. The question isn't, "Why travesty, impersonation, theatricality?" The question is, rather, "When does travesty, impersonation, theatricality acquire the special flavor of Camp?" Why is the atmosphere of Shakespeare's comedies (As You Like It, etc.) not epicene, while that of Der Rosenkavalier is?
13. The dividing line seems to fall in the 18th century; there the origins of Camp taste are to be found (Gothic novels, Chinoiserie, caricature, artificial ruins, and so forth.) But the relation to nature was quite different then. In the 18th century, people of taste either patronized nature (Strawberry Hill) or attempted to remake it into something artificial (Versailles). They also indefatigably patronized the past. Today's Camp taste effaces nature, or else contradicts it outright. And the relation of Camp taste to the past is extremely sentimental.
14. A pocket history of Camp might, of course, begin farther back -- with the mannerist artists like Pontormo, Rosso, and Caravaggio, or the extraordinarily theatrical painting of Georges de La Tour, or Euphuism (Lyly, etc.) in literature. Still, the soundest starting point seems to be the late 17th and early 18th century, because of that period's extraordinary feeling for artifice, for surface, for symmetry; its taste for the picturesque and the thrilling, its elegant conventions for representing instant feeling and the total presence of character -- the epigram and the rhymed couplet (in words), the flourish (in gesture and in music). The late 17th and early 18th century is the great period of Camp: Pope, Congreve, Walpole, etc, but not Swift; les précieux in France; the rococo churches of Munich; Pergolesi. Somewhat later: much of Mozart. But in the 19th century, what had been distributed throughout all of high culture now becomes a special taste; it takes on overtones of the acute, the esoteric, the perverse. Confining the story to England alone, we see Camp continuing wanly through 19th century aestheticism (Bume-Jones, Pater, Ruskin, Tennyson), emerging full-blown with the Art Nouveau movement in the visual and decorative arts, and finding its conscious ideologists in such "wits" as Wilde and Firbank.
15. Of course, to say all these things are Camp is not to argue they are simply that. A full analysis of Art Nouveau, for instance, would scarcely equate it with Camp. But such an analysis cannot ignore what in Art Nouveau allows it to be experienced as Camp. Art Nouveau is full of "content," even of a political-moral sort; it was a revolutionary movement in the arts, spurred on by a Utopian vision (somewhere between William Morris and the Bauhaus group) of an organic politics and taste. Yet there is also a feature of the Art Nouveau objects which suggests a disengaged, unserious, "aesthete's" vision. This tells us something important about Art Nouveau -- and about what the lens of Camp, which blocks out content, is.
16. Thus, the Camp sensibility is one that is alive to a double sense in which some things can be taken. But this is not the familiar split-level construction of a literal meaning, on the one hand, and a symbolic meaning, on the other. It is the difference, rather, between the thing as meaning something, anything, and the thing as pure artifice.
17. This comes out clearly in the vulgar use of the word Camp as a verb, "to camp," something that people do. To camp is a mode of seduction -- one which employs flamboyant mannerisms susceptible of a double interpretation; gestures full of duplicity, with a witty meaning for cognoscenti and another, more impersonal, for outsiders. Equally and by extension, when the word becomes a noun, when a person or a thing is "a camp," a duplicity is involved. Behind the "straight" public sense in which something can be taken, one has found a private zany experience of the thing.
"To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up."
- An Ideal Husband
18. One must distinguish between naïve and deliberate Camp. Pure Camp is always naive. Camp which knows itself to be Camp ("camping") is usually less satisfying.
19. The pure examples of Camp are unintentional; they are dead serious. The Art Nouveau craftsman who makes a lamp with a snake coiled around it is not kidding, nor is he trying to be charming. He is saying, in all earnestness: Voilà! the Orient! Genuine Camp -- for instance, the numbers devised for the Warner Brothers musicals of the early thirties (42nd Street; The Golddiggers of 1933; ... of 1935; ... of 1937; etc.) by Busby Berkeley -- does not mean to be funny. Camping -- say, the plays of Noel Coward -- does. It seems unlikely that much of the traditional opera repertoire could be such satisfying Camp if the melodramatic absurdities of most opera plots had not been taken seriously by their composers. One doesn't need to know the artist's private intentions. The work tells all. (Compare a typical 19th century opera with Samuel Barber's Vanessa, a piece of manufactured, calculated Camp, and the difference is clear.)
20. Probably, intending to be campy is always harmful. The perfection of Trouble in Paradise and The Maltese Falcon, among the greatest Camp movies ever made, comes from the effortless smooth way in which tone is maintained. This is not so with such famous would-be Camp films of the fifties as All About Eve and Beat the Devil. These more recent movies have their fine moments, but the first is so slick and the second so hysterical; they want so badly to be campy that they're continually losing the beat. . . . Perhaps, though, it is not so much a question of the unintended effect versus the conscious intention, as of the delicate relation between parody and self-parody in Camp. The films of Hitchcock are a showcase for this problem. When self-parody lacks ebullience but instead reveals (even sporadically) a contempt for one's themes and one's materials - as in To Catch a Thief, Rear Window, North by Northwest -- the results are forced and heavy-handed, rarely Camp. Successful Camp -- a movie like Carné's Drôle de Drame; the film performances of Mae West and Edward Everett Horton; portions of the Goon Show -- even when it reveals self-parody, reeks of self-love.
21. So, again, Camp rests on innocence. That means Camp discloses innocence, but also, when it can, corrupts it. Objects, being objects, don't change when they are singled out by the Camp vision. Persons, however, respond to their audiences. Persons begin "camping": Mae West, Bea Lillie, La Lupe, Tallulah Bankhead in Lifeboat, Bette Davis in All About Eve. (Persons can even be induced to camp without their knowing it. Consider the way Fellini got Anita Ekberg to parody herself in La Dolce Vita.)
22. Considered a little less strictly, Camp is either completely naive or else wholly conscious (when one plays at being campy). An example of the latter: Wilde's epigrams themselves.
"It's absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."
- Lady Windemere's Fan
23. In naïve, or pure, Camp, the essential element is seriousness, a seriousness that fails. Of course, not all seriousness that fails can be redeemed as Camp. Only that which has the proper mixture of the exaggerated, the fantastic, the passionate, and the naïve.
24. When something is just bad (rather than Camp), it's often because it is too mediocre in its ambition. The artist hasn't attempted to do anything really outlandish. ("It's too much," "It's too fantastic," "It's not to be believed," are standard phrases of Camp enthusiasm.)
25. The hallmark of Camp is the spirit of extravagance. Camp is a woman walking around in a dress made of three million feathers. Camp is the paintings of Carlo Crivelli, with their real jewels and trompe-l'oeil insects and cracks in the masonry. Camp is the outrageous aestheticism of Steinberg's six American movies with Dietrich, all six, but especially the last, The Devil Is a Woman. . . . In Camp there is often something démesuré in the quality of the ambition, not only in the style of the work itself. Gaudí's lurid and beautiful buildings in Barcelona are Camp not only because of their style but because they reveal -- most notably in the Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia -- the ambition on the part of one man to do what it takes a generation, a whole culture to accomplish.
26. Camp is art that proposes itself seriously, but cannot be taken altogether seriously because it is "too much." Titus Andronicus and Strange Interlude are almost Camp, or could be played as Camp. The public manner and rhetoric of de Gaulle, often, are pure Camp.
27. A work can come close to Camp, but not make it, because it succeeds. Eisenstein's films are seldom Camp because, despite all exaggeration, they do succeed (dramatically) without surplus. If they were a little more "off," they could be great Camp - particularly Ivan the Terrible I & II. The same for Blake's drawings and paintings, weird and mannered as they are. They aren't Camp; though Art Nouveau, influenced by Blake, is.
What is extravagant in an inconsistent or an unpassionate way is not Camp. Neither can anything be Camp that does not seem to spring from an irrepressible, a virtually uncontrolled sensibility. Without passion, one gets pseudo-Camp -- what is merely decorative, safe, in a word, chic. On the barren edge of Camp lie a number of attractive things: the sleek fantasies of Dali, the haute couture preciosity of Albicocco's The Girl with the Golden Eyes. But the two things - Camp and preciosity - must not be confused.
28. Again, Camp is the attempt to do something extraordinary. But extraordinary in the sense, often, of being special, glamorous. (The curved line, the extravagant gesture.) Not extraordinary merely in the sense of effort. Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not items are rarely campy. These items, either natural oddities (the two-headed rooster, the eggplant in the shape of a cross) or else the products of immense labor (the man who walked from here to China on his hands, the woman who engraved the New Testament on the head of a pin), lack the visual reward - the glamour, the theatricality - that marks off certain extravagances as Camp.
29. The reason a movie like On the Beach, books like Winesburg, Ohio and For Whom the Bell Tolls are bad to the point of being laughable, but not bad to the point of being enjoyable, is that they are too dogged and pretentious. They lack fantasy. There is Camp in such bad movies as The Prodigal and Samson and Delilah, the series of Italian color spectacles featuring the super-hero Maciste, numerous Japanese science fiction films (Rodan, The Mysterians, The H-Man) because, in their relative unpretentiousness and vulgarity, they are more extreme and irresponsible in their fantasy - and therefore touching and quite enjoyable.
30. Of course, the canon of Camp can change. Time has a great deal to do with it. Time may enhance what seems simply dogged or lacking in fantasy now because we are too close to it, because it resembles too closely our own everyday fantasies, the fantastic nature of which we don't perceive. We are better able to enjoy a fantasy as fantasy when it is not our own.
31. This is why so many of the objects prized by Camp taste are old-fashioned, out-of-date, démodé. It's not a love of the old as such. It's simply that the process of aging or deterioration provides the necessary detachment -- or arouses a necessary sympathy. When the theme is important, and contemporary, the failure of a work of art may make us indignant. Time can change that. Time liberates the work of art from moral relevance, delivering it over to the Camp sensibility. . . . Another effect: time contracts the sphere of banality. (Banality is, strictly speaking, always a category of the contemporary.) What was banal can, with the passage of time, become fantastic. Many people who listen with delight to the style of Rudy Vallee revived by the English pop group, The Temperance Seven, would have been driven up the wall by Rudy Vallee in his heyday.
Thus, things are campy, not when they become old - but when we become less involved in them, and can enjoy, instead of be frustrated by, the failure of the attempt. But the effect of time is unpredictable. Maybe Method acting (James Dean, Rod Steiger, Warren Beatty) will seem as Camp some day as Ruby Keeler's does now - or as Sarah Bernhardt's does, in the films she made at the end of her career. And maybe not.
32. Camp is the glorification of "character." The statement is of no importance - except, of course, to the person (Loie Fuller, Gaudí, Cecil B. De Mille, Crivelli, de Gaulle, etc.) who makes it. What the Camp eye appreciates is the unity, the force of the person. In every move the aging Martha Graham makes she's being Martha Graham, etc., etc. . . . This is clear in the case of the great serious idol of Camp taste, Greta Garbo. Garbo's incompetence (at the least, lack of depth) as an actress enhances her beauty. She's always herself.
33. What Camp taste responds to is "instant character" (this is, of course, very 18th century); and, conversely, what it is not stirred by is the sense of the development of character. Character is understood as a state of continual incandescence - a person being one, very intense thing. This attitude toward character is a key element of the theatricalization of experience embodied in the Camp sensibility. And it helps account for the fact that opera and ballet are experienced as such rich treasures of Camp, for neither of these forms can easily do justice to the complexity of human nature. Wherever there is development of character, Camp is reduced. Among operas, for example, La Traviata (which has some small development of character) is less campy than Il Trovatore (which has none).
"Life is too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it."
- Vera, or The Nihilists
34. Camp taste turns its back on the good-bad axis of ordinary aesthetic judgment. Camp doesn't reverse things. It doesn't argue that the good is bad, or the bad is good. What it does is to offer for art (and life) a different -- a supplementary -- set of standards.
35. Ordinarily we value a work of art because of the seriousness and dignity of what it achieves. We value it because it succeeds - in being what it is and, presumably, in fulfilling the intention that lies behind it. We assume a proper, that is to say, straightforward relation between intention and performance. By such standards, we appraise The Iliad, Aristophanes' plays, The Art of the Fugue, Middlemarch, the paintings of Rembrandt, Chartres, the poetry of Donne, The Divine Comedy, Beethoven's quartets, and - among people - Socrates, Jesus, St. Francis, Napoleon, Savonarola. In short, the pantheon of high culture: truth, beauty, and seriousness.
36. But there are other creative sensibilities besides the seriousness (both tragic and comic) of high culture and of the high style of evaluating people. And one cheats oneself, as a human being, if one has respect only for the style of high culture, whatever else one may do or feel on the sly.
For instance, there is the kind of seriousness whose trademark is anguish, cruelty, derangement. Here we do accept a disparity between intention and result. I am speaking, obviously, of a style of personal existence as well as of a style in art; but the examples had best come from art. Think of Bosch, Sade, Rimbaud, Jarry, Kafka, Artaud, think of most of the important works of art of the 20th century, that is, art whose goal is not that of creating harmonies but of overstraining the medium and introducing more and more violent, and unresolvable, subject-matter. This sensibility also insists on the principle that an oeuvre in the old sense (again, in art, but also in life) is not possible. Only "fragments" are possible. . . . Clearly, different standards apply here than to traditional high culture. Something is good not because it is achieved, but because another kind of truth about the human situation, another experience of what it is to be human - in short, another valid sensibility -- is being revealed.
And third among the great creative sensibilities is Camp: the sensibility of failed seriousness, of the theatricalization of experience. Camp refuses both the harmonies of traditional seriousness, and the risks of fully identifying with extreme states of feeling.
37. The first sensibility, that of high culture, is basically moralistic. The second sensibility, that of extreme states of feeling, represented in much contemporary "avant-garde" art, gains power by a tension between moral and aesthetic passion. The third, Camp, is wholly aesthetic.
38. Camp is the consistently aesthetic experience of the world. It incarnates a victory of "style" over "content," "aesthetics" over "morality," of irony over tragedy.
39. Camp and tragedy are antitheses. There is seriousness in Camp (seriousness in the degree of the artist's involvement) and, often, pathos. The excruciating is also one of the tonalities of Camp; it is the quality of excruciation in much of Henry James (for instance, The Europeans, The Awkward Age, The Wings of the Dove) that is responsible for the large element of Camp in his writings. But there is never, never tragedy.
40. Style is everything. Genet's ideas, for instance, are very Camp. Genet's statement that "the only criterion of an act is its elegance"2 is virtually interchangeable, as a statement, with Wilde's "in matters of great importance, the vital element is not sincerity, but style." But what counts, finally, is the style in which ideas are held. The ideas about morality and politics in, say, Lady Windemere's Fan and in Major Barbara are Camp, but not just because of the nature of the ideas themselves. It is those ideas, held in a special playful way. The Camp ideas in Our Lady of the Flowers are maintained too grimly, and the writing itself is too successfully elevated and serious, for Genet's books to be Camp.
41. The whole point of Camp is to dethrone the serious. Camp is playful, anti-serious. More precisely, Camp involves a new, more complex relation to "the serious." One can be serious about the frivolous, frivolous about the serious.
42. One is drawn to Camp when one realizes that "sincerity" is not enough. Sincerity can be simple philistinism, intellectual narrowness.
43. The traditional means for going beyond straight seriousness - irony, satire - seem feeble today, inadequate to the culturally oversaturated medium in which contemporary sensibility is schooled. Camp introduces a new standard: artifice as an ideal, theatricality.
44. Camp proposes a comic vision of the world. But not a bitter or polemical comedy. If tragedy is an experience of hyperinvolvement, comedy is an experience of underinvolvement, of detachment.
"I adore simple pleasures, they are the last refuge of the complex."
- A Woman of No Importance
45. Detachment is the prerogative of an elite; and as the dandy is the 19th century's surrogate for the aristocrat in matters of culture, so Camp is the modern dandyism. Camp is the answer to the problem: how to be a dandy in the age of mass culture.
46. The dandy was overbred. His posture was disdain, or else ennui. He sought rare sensations, undefiled by mass appreciation. (Models: Des Esseintes in Huysmans' À Rebours, Marius the Epicurean, Valéry's Monsieur Teste.) He was dedicated to "good taste."
The connoisseur of Camp has found more ingenious pleasures. Not in Latin poetry and rare wines and velvet jackets, but in the coarsest, commonest pleasures, in the arts of the masses. Mere use does not defile the objects of his pleasure, since he learns to possess them in a rare way. Camp -- Dandyism in the age of mass culture -- makes no distinction between the unique object and the mass-produced object. Camp taste transcends the nausea of the replica.
47. Wilde himself is a transitional figure. The man who, when he first came to London, sported a velvet beret, lace shirts, velveteen knee-breeches and black silk stockings, could never depart too far in his life from the pleasures of the old-style dandy; this conservatism is reflected in The Picture of Dorian Gray. But many of his attitudes suggest something more modern. It was Wilde who formulated an important element of the Camp sensibility -- the equivalence of all objects -- when he announced his intention of "living up" to his blue-and-white china, or declared that a doorknob could be as admirable as a painting. When he proclaimed the importance of the necktie, the boutonniere, the chair, Wilde was anticipating the democratic esprit of Camp.
48. The old-style dandy hated vulgarity. The new-style dandy, the lover of Camp, appreciates vulgarity. Where the dandy would be continually offended or bored, the connoisseur of Camp is continually amused, delighted. The dandy held a perfumed handkerchief to his nostrils and was liable to swoon; the connoisseur of Camp sniffs the stink and prides himself on his strong nerves.
49. It is a feat, of course. A feat goaded on, in the last analysis, by the threat of boredom. The relation between boredom and Camp taste cannot be overestimated. Camp taste is by its nature possible only in affluent societies, in societies or circles capable of experiencing the psychopathology of affluence.
"What is abnormal in Life stands in normal relations to Art. It is the only thing in Life that stands in normal relations to Art."
- A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated
50. Aristocracy is a position vis-à-vis culture (as well as vis-à-vis power), and the history of Camp taste is part of the history of snob taste. But since no authentic aristocrats in the old sense exist today to sponsor special tastes, who is the bearer of this taste? Answer: an improvised self-elected class, mainly homosexuals, who constitute themselves as aristocrats of taste.
51. The peculiar relation between Camp taste and homosexuality has to be explained. While it's not true that Camp taste is homosexual taste, there is no doubt a peculiar affinity and overlap. Not all liberals are Jews, but Jews have shown a peculiar affinity for liberal and reformist causes. So, not all homosexuals have Camp taste. But homosexuals, by and large, constitute the vanguard -- and the most articulate audience -- of Camp. (The analogy is not frivolously chosen. Jews and homosexuals are the outstanding creative minorities in contemporary urban culture. Creative, that is, in the truest sense: they are creators of sensibilities. The two pioneering forces of modern sensibility are Jewish moral seriousness and homosexual aestheticism and irony.)
52. The reason for the flourishing of the aristocratic posture among homosexuals also seems to parallel the Jewish case. For every sensibility is self-serving to the group that promotes it. Jewish liberalism is a gesture of self-legitimization. So is Camp taste, which definitely has something propagandistic about it. Needless to say, the propaganda operates in exactly the opposite direction. The Jews pinned their hopes for integrating into modern society on promoting the moral sense. Homosexuals have pinned their integration into society on promoting the aesthetic sense. Camp is a solvent of morality. It neutralizes moral indignation, sponsors playfulness.
53. Nevertheless, even though homosexuals have been its vanguard, Camp taste is much more than homosexual taste. Obviously, its metaphor of life as theater is peculiarly suited as a justification and projection of a certain aspect of the situation of homosexuals. (The Camp insistence on not being "serious," on playing, also connects with the homosexual's desire to remain youthful.) Yet one feels that if homosexuals hadn't more or less invented Camp, someone else would. For the aristocratic posture with relation to culture cannot die, though it may persist only in increasingly arbitrary and ingenious ways. Camp is (to repeat) the relation to style in a time in which the adoption of style -- as such -- has become altogether questionable. (In the modem era, each new style, unless frankly anachronistic, has come on the scene as an anti-style.)
"One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing."
- In conversation
54. The experiences of Camp are based on the great discovery that the sensibility of high culture has no monopoly upon refinement. Camp asserts that good taste is not simply good taste; that there exists, indeed, a good taste of bad taste. (Genet talks about this in Our Lady of the Flowers.) The discovery of the good taste of bad taste can be very liberating. The man who insists on high and serious pleasures is depriving himself of pleasure; he continually restricts what he can enjoy; in the constant exercise of his good taste he will eventually price himself out of the market, so to speak. Here Camp taste supervenes upon good taste as a daring and witty hedonism. It makes the man of good taste cheerful, where before he ran the risk of being chronically frustrated. It is good for the digestion.
55. Camp taste is, above all, a mode of enjoyment, of appreciation - not judgment. Camp is generous. It wants to enjoy. It only seems like malice, cynicism. (Or, if it is cynicism, it's not a ruthless but a sweet cynicism.) Camp taste doesn't propose that it is in bad taste to be serious; it doesn't sneer at someone who succeeds in being seriously dramatic. What it does is to find the success in certain passionate failures.
56. Camp taste is a kind of love, love for human nature. It relishes, rather than judges, the little triumphs and awkward intensities of "character." . . . Camp taste identifies with what it is enjoying. People who share this sensibility are not laughing at the thing they label as "a camp," they're enjoying it. Camp is a tender feeling.
(Here, one may compare Camp with much of Pop Art, which -- when it is not just Camp -- embodies an attitude that is related, but still very different. Pop Art is more flat and more dry, more serious, more detached, ultimately nihilistic.)
57. Camp taste nourishes itself on the love that has gone into certain objects and personal styles. The absence of this love is the reason why such kitsch items as Peyton Place (the book) and the Tishman Building aren't Camp.
58. The ultimate Camp statement: it's good because it's awful . . . Of course, one can't always say that. Only under certain conditions, those which I've tried to sketch in these notes.
1 The sensibility of an era is not only its most decisive, but also its most perishable, aspect. One may capture the ideas (intellectual history) and the behavior (social history) of an epoch without ever touching upon the sensibility or taste which informed those ideas, that behavior. Rare are those historical studies -- like Huizinga on the late Middle Ages, Febvre on 16th century France -- which do tell us something about the sensibility of the period.
2 Sartre's gloss on this in Saint Genet is: "Elegance is the quality of conduct which transforms the greatest amount of being into appearing." | <urn:uuid:56755797-3648-4ccc-b0c6-40046a1dd691> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/sontag-notesoncamp-1964.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947997 | 8,316 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Memories of a childhood in wartime Leith. The trials and tribulations of the period, allied to the camaraderie of the community in facing up to an uncertain future made a lasting impression on John Stewart.
Picnics were another source of enjoyment to us in those days. A more gentle pursuit than we were used to, they were nevertheless looked forward to greatly in the summer months.
We took a No 12 or No 25 tramcar to Seafield for a day at the beach, or a No 7 to Liberton Dams got us away for a few hours from the austere surroundings of the town.
Mrs Lynch, a mother of six children would accompany us with her brood. Another six of us would augment her family for the day. She was a very tolerant and understanding person.
Foodstuffs were very basic as was to be expected in those times. Plain bread that could be saved from the rations, margarine with a spreading of jam to enhance the taste. A bottle of 'vinecta' or lemonade washed it all down.
Whilst at the dams, we would fish for minnows in the running water although this did not compare with Puddocky, a stretch of the Water of Leith flowing past Warriston Cemetery.
Sunday school picnics were a little different. For these we were provided with a bag of buns and sandwiches and tea was sipped from our tinnies that were slung round our necks with a ribbon.
The Salvation Army took us to Ashbrook, an eventide home in Ferry Road for our annual outing. This meant a journey by special tram to the junction of Ferry Road and Granton Road and a walk of what seemed like miles to our destination.
'Where were the girls all this time?' you might ask. There were plenty enough, but the sexes kept to themselves most times. Boys would play boys' games and girls likewise. However there were times when we did mix.
Bearing in mind that we were all mainly in the six to ten years age group, the fraternising was simple.
Often I would take part in their games of 'beds' (hopscotch) and play a customer at one of their shops. A shop would be drawn out on the pavement with a piece of red sandstone. Champed rock of various colours would serve as stock whilst pieces of glass recovered from the crevices in the road setts would be used as currency.
The game of 'doctors and nurses' did take place at times. Be honest, anyone reading this must have taken part in a game of this sort at times. Our hormones were beginning to stir.
Although nothing really came out of this rather than our interest in the opposite sex was becoming more apparent. Our innocence was being challenged.
Only as we approached our teens did we find the girls more interesting to know and likewise them.
John Stewart, 2001
To add a comment you must first login or join for free, up in the top left corner. | <urn:uuid:31c92949-4f16-4459-add2-7320cf59b0e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pasttimesproject.co.uk/lsl_browse.php?subsite=ll&story=1215 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986832 | 625 | 1.75 | 2 |
I have this pile of wood in the backyard from the old roof on the swing set. It is pretty warped but I have managed to make some pretty cool things out of it so far including this bench.
Well our scrap wood pile from the swing set is getting smaller but we still have a pile left. My husband cut it down so we can burn it in our fire pit, but it is really not the greatest burning wood.
We got our garden planted this year and we are going back to veggies. More than last year or the year before when we cut back on veggies because I was too busy with babies. Well now that the babies are all settled in and getting bigger... Back to veggies.
But we were short on signs. We have made signs before here out of rocks, and in our children's garden too, but we needed a tomato, cucumber, and green pepper sign...
I took a couple boards off our pile. I trimmed them down to a good size. Took some other scrap wood and make a stakes for them. Had the kids hammer them together, and pant some veggies on them with craft paint. Then when they were dry I covered them with a couple coats of clear spray paint to seal them. This way the craft paint won't wash away in the rain.
Cute, Kids had fun, and now they know what is growing where in the garden.
Even better I can get rid of even more of our wood, keep my kids busy, and teach them about giving to others all at the same time by making a set for a friend who has a VERY LARGE garden. They had so much fun painting these. They did some in the morning, then wanted to do more in the afternoon.
Linking up here:
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CHARLOTTE, NC. --- Those who claim that the party conventions have become nothing more than pre-packaged speeches are missing an entire element of what modern conventions are about. Inside the convention halls, yes the parties put forward a line-up of loyal speakers to promote their candidate, party and platform. But outside the convention halls, interest groups (as well as lobbyists and businesses) are engaging in a whole range of activities that aren’t necessarily observed by the mainstream media or by political scientists. Yet, these activities make an important contribution to the role of conventions in modern elections.
One of the most active interest groups I observed on the first day of the convention was JStreet, an organization that describes itself as pro-Israel and advocates a two-state solution that will result in Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security. The JStreet activists assembled mid-morning at their hotel to go over their strategy for the day. Their efforts targeted state delegations and they had lists of hotels where state delegations are staying for the week. Armed with leaflets and matching shirts, the group divided up and set out to educate delegates about their policy positions to achieve Middle East peace. The lead organizer reminded the volunteers that while some of them may be “intense partisans,” the reason they were here today was to represent JStreet, which she reminded them is a non-partisan organization. She gave strict instructions that volunteers not wear any partisan buttons or gear.
What effect did their efforts have? That is less observable since I didn’t have the opportunity to follow the activists from hotel to hotel. Once they were finished with leafleting, the JStreet volunteers joined a meeting with other groups and members of the Jewish community. This was only one of the events advertised in a Democratic daily calendar to convention-goers. Indeed, this year, the Democratic Party has been serving as a communications hub of sorts to allow interest groups to share their activities, meetings, and events.
Yet, while some groups are focused on being part of the mainstream by engaging in such activities as educating delegates, others are protesting. Today, for example, former war veterans, individuals affiliated with the Occupy movement and others staged a marching protest outside of the convention. Some of them support neither candidate nor party. Others called President Obama a “war criminal” for his target kill list and use of drone strikes in Pakistan. Some were concerned about limits to free speech. Others were out to call for Bradley Manning’s freedom. And anti-abortion protesters also staged demonstrations today.
Another event from the first day about which you are only likely to see minimal coverage was a protest of undocumented immigrants that occurred this afternoon. The group, which is traveling with Undocubus, advocates immigration reform. In English and in Spanish, they chanted “Undocumented and unafraid,” and “Obama, listen, we’re in this fight.” One of the organizers called it a “protest against ethnic cleansing” and said that immigration rights were human rights. The police arrested ten of the undocumented workers.
At least in Charlotte, it’s not solely about the formal speeches or promoting the Democratic Party. The convention is also an event around which individuals and interest groups have the opportunity to organize, strategize and express public opinion. Such activities outside the formal convention are just as important to observe and monitor because they raise issues that you may not hear about in the official party agenda and they provide an opportunity for all individuals, not just the party loyal, to engage in political expression. | <urn:uuid:6e94f791-eabd-4f69-b2af-bff2dee04cb1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://millercenter.org/ridingthetiger/more-than-prepackaged-speeches | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977305 | 736 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Neurons that can multitask greatly enhance the brain’s computational power, study finds.
Cambridge, MA--In a time of shrinking government budgets, declining industrial research, and hard questions posed by the new Republican Congress, Dr. Charles Vest, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has called together President Clinton's science advisor and top scientists from industry and universities for a Feb. 7 forum on the nation's science policy.
The keynote address by Dr. John H. Gibbons, assistant to the president for science and technology, will come hours after President Bill Clinton submits his budget to Congress on Monday. Dr. Gibbons' address will discuss the budget proposals on science and developments since the administration's policy paper, "Science in the National Interest," was issued last August.
The all-day forum, "Science in the National Interest: A Shared Commitment," will be held in the Bartos Theater in the Wiesner Building, 20 Ames Street. Among the participants will be Dr. Gibbons' predecessor, D. Allan Bromley, who was the science advisor to former President George Bush and is now the dean of engineering at Yale University.
The program begins at 10 a.m. with MIT Chairman Paul E. Gray, who will discuss briefly the developments in national science policy over the past 50 years. MIT Dean of Science Robert J. Birgeneau will discuss the background of the program. Provost Wrighton will introduce Dr. Gibbons and chair the discussion following responses from Dr. Miller of DuPont and Dr. Rhodes of Cornell.
NEWS CONFERENCE: 12:00 noon, Tuesday, Feb. 7,
Wiesner Bldg., 20 Ames St., 2nd floor.
Speakers: Dr. John H. Gibbons, Cornell University President Frank H.T. Rhodes, MIT Provost Mark S. Wrighton, and DuPont Senior Vice President Joseph A. Miller.
"Basic Research and Industry: Perspectives on the Life, Physical and Information Sciences" is the early afternoon program, from 1:15 to 3:30 pm. Chairing the panel will be Harvard University Dean Jeremy R. Knowles, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences. The speakers:
- Dr. Leon E. Rosenberg, president, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute
- ������������������Professor Philip A. Sharp, Nobel laureate, head of the MIT Department of Biology
- Dr. John P. McTague, vice president, technical affairs, Ford Motor Co.
- ������������������Professor George M. Whitesides, Mallinckrodt Professor of chemistry, Harvard University
- ������������������Dr. William F. Brinkman, vice president, physical sciences research, AT&T Bell Laboratories
- ������������������Dr. Anita K. Jones, director, defense research and engineering, US Department of Defense
"Education for Our Future Industrial Needs" is the topic of the program from 3:45 to 5:15 pm, chaired by Dr. M.R.C. Greenwood, associate director for science, US Office of Science and Technology Policy. Speakers will be:
- Dr. Sheila Tobias, consultant, Research Corporation, Tucson, Ariz.
- ������������������Mr. James L. Vincent, chairman and chief executive officer, Biogen, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
- Professor D. Allan Bromley, dean of engineering, Yale University, and former science advisor
MIT Professor Ernest J. Moniz, head of the physics department, will moderate a discussion at 5:15 followed by MIT President Charles M. Vest's closing remarks which will conclude around 6:00 pm. | <urn:uuid:f824f918-4121-4973-8139-ec46569967e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1995/sciencepolicy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954569 | 1,103 | 1.679688 | 2 |
On August 31st, 2006, Falun Gong practitioners in Pingtung, Taiwan collected signatures at a busy train station. The signatures were to be faxed to the office of Lee Kuan Yew to call for the unfair charges against Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore to be dropped and to call for the cancellation of deporting a Falun Gong practitioner to Mainland China.
They successfully collected many signatures. The assistant director of the train station also learned two sets of Falun Gong exercises from them.
|Falun Gong practitioners in Pingtung collect signatures calling for the Singapore government to drop charges against Falun Gong practitioners|
Ms. Chen said that they went to the director's office to request permission to collect signatures in the train station. The director wasn't in, but the assistant director not only granted permission but also learned two sets of Falun Gong exercises. He also planned to find out more about the organ harvesting on the Internet.
Ms. Chen said some people didn't seem overly concerned at first, but after hearing about the persecution, they changed their minds and signed in support.
A college student from Taoyuan said he had heard about the persecution on the Internet. He said the organ-harvesting crime was too cruel! A student from Kaohsiung was very sad to hear about the persecution. She wished there was something more she could do to help. After signing a petition of support, she was happy she could participate in a noble cause.
Ms. Chen said Falun Gong registered as a legal organisation in Singapore in 1996. It grew without any obstruction from the government before the persecution in China began on July 20th, 1999. However, the legal rights of Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore have been violated since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in China. Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore have been discriminated against by the Immigration Department. There have been increasing numbers of such incidents recently. In June, the work permit of a Falun Gong practitioner was cancelled. Some practitioners have been subjected to deportation and unfair lawsuits. Ms. Chen and Falun Gong practitioners request that the Singapore government not assist in the CCP's persecution.
Falun Gong practitioners in Pingtung condemn the Singapore government's assistance with the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. They called for the Singapore government to drop charges against and cancel plans to deport Falun Gong practitioners.
You are welcome to print and circulate all articles published on Clearharmony and their content, but please quote the source. | <urn:uuid:ff4bef05-a37b-4371-bb53-4272850c3170> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/Taiwan_Falun_Gong_Practitioners_in_Pingtung_Condemn_Singapore_Government_and_Call_for_Charges_to_be_Dropped-a35197.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972286 | 516 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Editor's Note, July 30: Jonah Lehrer has recently admitted that he fabricated some of the quotes attributed to Bob Dylan in his book Imagine. As a result, its publisher has stopped its sale while it determines whether further steps are needed. Although this is separate from the issue of self-plagiarism, it does suggest a wider disregard for publishing ethics.
Jonah Lehrer has long been one of the rising stars of the science writing world. I was a huge fan of his work when he wrote for Wired (a sister publication of Ars) and was happy when he recently left for the New Yorker full-time (again, another Conde Nast publication). That continued rise might be imperiled now, however, after the discovery of several instances of Lehrer re-using earlier work he did for a different publication.
Yesterday morning, Jim Romenesko, a well-known media watcher, noticed striking similarities between a piece by Lehrer published last week in the New Yorker, and one that Lehrer wrote for the Wall Street Journal last October. The blogosphere being what it is, it wasn't long before others were digging. More than a handful of other instances of this happening were quickly uncovered—to the extent that this should be seen as carelessness rather than misfortune. Writers beware: in the age of crowdsourcing, this sort of investigation is child's play.
A day later, and the Twittersphere being what it is, there's been much discussion on the topic. Can you really plagiarize yourself? Is it plagiarism to get paid to give talks that rehash work you've written? Is it plagiarism to give the same talk to different audiences?
The thing is, this isn't a once-size-fits-all problem. There are a lot of apples-to-oranges comparisons being made. On one end of the spectrum you have bloggers who write for themselves, publish for themselves, and don't see any issue with what Lehrer did. Diametrically opposed are those who are screaming for Wired to sue the New Yorker, the New Yorker to sue Wired, the Wall Street Journal to sue the New Yorker, and for everyone to sue Jonah Lehrer. At the risk of pissing off Chris Mooney* here, I'm going to say that both sides are wrong.
To the first crowd: no, this isn't the same thing. Reusing content on one's own blog is not the same as content that someone else paid you for. To the other side (who must include a lot of lawyers, and I haven't seen the various contracts involved), we have no way of knowing whether or not there's a tort that needs to be addressed. It all depends upon who owns the copyright. Let's consider a couple of possible scenarios.
Scenario one: a writer has a blog at a large Web publication. His contract with the publication deems content produced by him (for them) as "work made for hire." This means they own the IP rights to that work. He then reuses large amounts of the work for another publication, where he has a similar contract. In this case, the second publication has benefited from the first publication's IP without licensing or compensating them for it.
Now imagine that the writer's contract with the first publication doesn't involve work for hire, but instead the writer keeps copyright and gives the publication a permanent, non-exclusive license to use that work. Makes a lot of difference legally, right?
That's not to excuse Jonah Lehrer's actions here. This was a mistake on his part, and I'm sure he doesn't need me to tell him that. On an ethical level, I have problems with being paid to write something for one outlet and then reusing it for another paying customer when it's done without everyone knowing. Upfront, when both publications know it's happening? That's fine. But as we can see from the hastily added editorial notes on the New Yorker posts, that doesn't seem to be the case here.
Finally, it needn't have been an issue if he had just done the one thing that could have made this all right. It's the one thing that separates scholarship from plagiarism: reference your quotes! Throw in a few "as I said last year" lines, sprinkle some links back to the old content, and congratulations, you're making use of hypertext. It would clear who said what to whom, and when they said it, and everyone would be happy.
Without having any knowledge of Jonah Lehrer's contracts, I don't know if this is the case. And it also feels to me like there's an element of tall poppy syndrome going on here, with people taking delight in the misfortunes of a highly successful peer.
Both in my experience and those of friends and colleagues, when contracts arrive from publications, it does the writer well to read them carefully, run them past a lawyer, and to ask for changes, or not to sign them if they're disagreeable. For Jonah's sake, I hope the second scenario is closer to the truth.
*No, I don't really think that's going to annoy Chris—it's a joke. But read that post of his anyway. | <urn:uuid:94b46b8b-4e46-4322-a56c-d0af3a267e8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/06/the-ethics-of-recycling-content-jonah-lehrer-accused-of-self-plagiarism/?comments=1&post=22979783 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977728 | 1,074 | 1.515625 | 2 |
MARCO ISLAND — Watching beach houses on Plum Island, Mass., fall into the sea last week must have hit home for residents in Hideaway Beach’s 5000 and 6000 buildings.
For years they have seen Marco Island’s northern beachhead in front of their condominiums eroded by wind and storms. They have known that one hurricane, or a series of monster storms like those that battered the Northeast this year, could put them in the same predicament.
This week, residents learned they can breathe easier. The Hideaway Beach Taxing District Board announced Friday work will begin to build up the gated community’s northern beach. That action will save buildings perilously close to encroaching waters.
Engineers plan to reduce wave action that up until now has scoured previous renourishment attempts. New T-groins will be placed in the area of greatest loss and sand will be added to rebuild the beach.
The process has been laborious for the board, requiring years of permitting and accumulating enough money to fund the more than $1.7 million project. Two attempts to seek partial funding through Tourist Development Council funds failed.
On March 4, Marco Island city councilors learned the Collier County Board of County Commissioners approved a $350,000 grant for T-groin construction at Hideaway Beach.
Commissioner Tom Henning cast a key vote, noting Hideaway Beach was important to the physical protection of Marco as a barrier island.
The county also is responsible for maintaining Collier Pass that leads to Collier and Smokehouse bays. About 200 boats per week travel through the pass to visit the Esplanade. The pass required emergency dredging last year to provide safe passage for vessels. The T-groins should increase the number of years between dredging in the future.
Even with the grant and income received from Hideaway’s Municipal Service Taxing Unit, the project will need greater funding. The board plans to ask Marco Island’s City Council for a promissory note of $500,000. Terms would include interest of 2 percent and payback on or before Feb. 1, 2014. The request will come before council on March 18.
Michael Poff of Coastal Engineering Consultants, Inc. presented the board with his schedule of fees. As the principal engineering firm for the project, the company will provide surveys, monitoring, testing and administration during construction. Cost for services will be $199,930.
In addition, Huckleberry Environmental Services, Inc. will provide vegetation management at a cost of $2,000 per day. Work will include removing and relocating mangrove seedlings taller than six inches and applying herbicides to any remaining vegetation in the work area. Seedlings will be temporarily placed in a nursery next to the 7000 building. The board approved a purchase order of up to $30,000 for vegetation management.
Dredging and renourishment should be completed by May 12. T-groins and all other construction requirements should be done by mid-July.
“We are enormously grateful to the employees of the City of Marco Island for helping to make this happen,” board member Dick Freeman said at the end of the meeting. He also praised the board’s chairman, Erik Brechnitz, for the phenomenal effort he put forth to get the project done.
The board scheduled its next meeting for 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 28, in City Hall’s first floor conference room, 50 Bald Eagle Drive. | <urn:uuid:a70e7a75-a78f-44f2-be23-d5db010c6161> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marconews.com/news/2013/mar/11/finally-hideaway-beachs-notice-to-proceed-with/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94959 | 724 | 1.515625 | 2 |
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