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<<< << -- 4 -- Malcolm Miller REBUILT CITY
The second movement, which follows attacca, begins with bells and chimes which signify the churches of London, again set to alternating phrases for men and women. At 'St Alban' the women's voices are brightly doubled by chime bells and brass, while a mellower cello sound shadowed the men's voices. As the two sections dovetailed and combined for rising sequences at 'St Giles', the music conveyed the proximity of the fire, by interspersing the speaker and chorus, the cross-cutting of whose lines produced an intriguing irony, the juxtaposition of a natural disaster so powerful that 'one was not able to approach it', with a manmade disaster, the burning of St Lawrence, 'broiled on a gridiron ... in the reign of the Emperor Valerian'. The movement reached a brass-enriched climax as the clouds of smoke were compared by the chorus to the 'Last Day' whilst Evelyn commented memorably, 'London was but is no more ...'
The reverberating tam-tam signalling an extended and exciting interlude, reminiscent somewhat of Shostakovich and Prokofiev in its piquant march-like, explosive textures, which could stand alone as a concert miniature, a structural trough from which the piece grew afresh. The final bass drum outburst led smoothly into the third movement, radiant with a version of the 'Cries of London', derived from a 19th century book of interviews with Londoners. It started with very high tessitura tenors, then low basses, again alternating the choral sections, with a terse and brittle accompaniment. Though the mood is secular, I found here the music attained the most ravishing lyrical and spiritual highpoint, echoing the expansive ecstasy of Elgar's Gerontius, right up to the final tremolando.
The fourth movement is a sanguine meditation of the destruction of 'wasteful wars' in the most complex textures yet, in which Shakespeare's Sonnet 55, conveyed through growling basses, in oratorio-like style, emerges in a hymn like grandeur, layered against the speaker's recitative about the 'vehement heat', until the music, like the fire, is reduced to cinders with tremolando strings. Though tracing the textual meaning closely, there is never any sense of the contrived, but rather, as in the transition to the final dancelike movement, a graceful dramatic persuasiveness. Here the Scottish folk tradition seems to emerge in a playful theme, underscored and doubled in flute, celeste, and piano, the chorus repeating single words extracted from a 1952 document about rebuilding the Barbican Centre from a WWII bombsite. The movement forms an aptly vibrant conclusion to the symphonic design, the syncopation underlining the new note of optimism, the future vision, and hope ... We hear this juxtaposed with the Evelyn diaries about presenting plans for a new city -- the parallelism of 17th and 20th centuries once again captured and reflected in the use of traditional music and contemporary textures. The coup de theatre occurs in the climactic appearance of the word 'Resurgam', a word apparently inscribed on the few remaining stones from the St Paul's Cathedral prior to its rebuilding, and incorporated in the present St Paul's: big chunky chords, chant-like rising thirds, each syllable emphasised in turn: Re-Sur-Gam, and when the nonchalant diarist finally 'took leave and went home', so did the chorus, finishing on a blazing Resurgam, abruptly curtailed at the cadence as if to communicate, through silence, the presence of the rebuilt City of London, a pre-echo of the metaphorical rebuilt city of Jerusalem.
In Concrete, Judith Weir 'tells the tale' with consummate artistry: when the composer rose on stage at the end, the audience was aflame with cheering, and there was much applause also for Martin Brabbins, the superb conductor, the speaker Samuel West, the BBC Chorus and Orchestra. A bouquet was given to Judith Weir, and, after her deserved ovation, it was time, like John Evelyn, to take our leave and go home.
Copyright © 5 February 2008
Malcolm Miller, London UK
ROBERT HUGILL AT ANOTHER JUDITH WEIR CONCERT
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WASHINGTON - The Concord Coalition said today that an expensive, three-year, thirty percent special depreciation allowance in the economic stimulus bill passed by the House and Senate will do very little to provide short-term stimulus but will make it more difficult to achieve a balanced budget after the economy recovers.
“Unfortunately, the main effect of this so-called ‘stimulus' provision is to signal that it is now open season on the Federal budget. It will be much harder to hold the line on appropriations or anything else after giving away nearly $100 billion on something as dubious as this,” said Robert Bixby, Executive Director of The Concord Coalition.
“At a time when the economy is clearly rebounding on its own and the budget is plunging back into deficit, there is absolutely no good reason to give out $97 billion in depreciation tax breaks over the next three years, especially the $62 billion that comes in fiscal years 2003 and 2004. Even if the special allowance is justified as stimulus insurance for this year's recovery, the three-year window of opportunity to claim the allowance nullifies the incentive to move up investment decisions,” Bixby said
“The Concord Coalition does not oppose other provisions of the stimulus bill, but we have consistently recommended that any such legislation should be carefully designed to have its maximum effect in the very near future, minimize costs in later years, and provide the most bang for the buck. Back loaded options, whether tax cuts or spending increases, are not the right method of providing short-term economic stimulus. The special depreciation allowance in the economic stimulus bill fails that test. The first year stimulus of $35 billion is greatly exceeded by the $62 billion total cost in the second and third years,” Bixby said.
“Moreover, assuming that it will be allowed to ‘sunset' in September of 2004 ¾ two months before Election Day ¾ is not at all realistic. This provision will likely become a costly giveaway that is routinely extended at a cost of around $200 billion over the next decade. Indeed, in this very same bill Congress renews 15 expiring tax provisions, thus demonstrating the longevity of ‘temporary' tax provisions,” Bixby said.
“Under the guise of helping unemployed workers and providing economic stimulus, Congress has dug a deeper deficit hole in fiscal years 2003 and 2004 that amounts to $72.5 billion ¾ after the current economic slowdown has ended. Only 8 percent of the cost in these two years is due to the unemployment insurance provisions. Fully 85 percent of the FY2003 and FY2004 cost of this bill comes from the special depreciation allowance. If Congress is serious about wanting to balance the budget, it is off to a very bad start,” Bixby concluded.
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Heidi Holman: (603) 271-0467
Jane Vachon: (603) 271-3211 or 271-5619
Marilyn Wyzga: (603) 271-1197
May 15, 2007
NOTE TO MEDIA - To arrange to cover one of the lupine planting sessions, please contact Heidi Holman, at (603) 271-2461 or email firstname.lastname@example.org; or Liza Poinier at (603) 271-3211 or email@example.com.
Concord Schoolchildren and New England Zoos Participate in Karner Blue Butterfly Restoration
CONCORD, N.H. -- Many helping hands are involved in the effort to restore New Hampshire's state butterfly to the Concord Pine Barrens, one of two locations in New England able to meet the endangered insect's specialized habitat needs. Students representing every Concord public school, as well as South Meadow School in Peterborough, will participate in a planting project May 21-23, 2007. Staff from the New England Zoo Conservation Collaborative will pitch in on May 30, 2007, to plant more of the native lupine and other nectar-producing plants that the endangered Karner blue butterflies rely on to survive.
The Karner blue butterfly is both New Hampshire's State Butterfly and the Concord City Butterfly. Its restoration to the remaining pine barrens plant community in the Concord, N.H., area has involved a collaborative effort between state and local government agencies, non-profit organizations, private businesses and civic groups. Restoration efforts are focused at the Karner Blue Butterfly Conservation Easement, part of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Great Bay Wildlife Refuge, located at the end of Chenell Drive (an educational kiosk near the site explains the Karner project). The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program oversees Karner blue restoration efforts in the state.
The upcoming planting activities mark the eighth year of an ongoing partnership between Fish and Game, Concord Schools' Project SEE (Science Enrichment Encounters) and the National Wildlife Federation. "Over the 8 years that we have been involved in this project, students have seen the Karner blue butterfly move from extirpation in 2001 towards recovery," said Fish and Game Wildlife Educator Marilyn Wyzga. "As they arrived to plant their lupine in 2005, students had the rare experience of watching a biologist net, tag and release a wild Karner blue butterfly in the easement. This endangered species success story has provided the students with real-life experience in saving a local species."
May 21-23, 2007 -- Some 28 classes of Concord area schoolchildren (pre-school through 9th grade) will be at the Easement to help plant native lupine and New Jersey tea (another pine barrens plant) that they raised from seed in their classrooms. "This is a major expansion of our collaborative work with Concord area schools - topping our record of 18 classes by a third," said Wyzga. "Also new this year, the students are growing New Jersey tea, a native shrub that provides nectar for adult Karners." Ninth graders from Concord High School will help prepare the site and will assist younger students with planting. Volunteers from Fish and Game Wonders of Wildlife and UNH Cooperative Extension Tree Stewards programs assisted the students in classroom seed planting and will be on site to help them plant out the mature lupines.
May 23, 2007, from 9:00 a.m. - 1:45 p.m. -- In a unique partnership with the business community, Concord High School ninth graders will plant lupine and other native nectar plants on the grounds of New Hampshire Distributors, located adjacent to the Easement and a long-time partner in the Karner restoration project. Science teacher Donna Reardon has been helping her Concord High School students prepare for these activities by having them complete research projects on the best medium for raising native lupine plants from seed, as well as studying the Karner blue butterfly and pine barrens habitat in the classroom. Her students will complete the service-learning project with the help of Antioch University New England graduate student, Aleta McKeage.
May 30, 2007 -- The New England Zoo Conservation Collaborative will hold a planting day at the airport. In preparation, the Boston Museum of Science, Beardsley Zoo (CT), Roger Williams Park Zoo (RI), Franklin Zoo (MA) and Buttonwood Zoo (MA) all have had horticultural teams propagating lupine and nectar sources such as New Jersey tea and blunt-leaved milkweed for habitat restoration efforts at the Concord Pine Barrens.
The collaborative project has helped Fish
and Game implement a key component of its habitat management plan
for Karner blue butterflies. "Area
schools have not only dived enthusiastically into this learning opportunity,
but they have made a significant contribution to the Karner project," said
Heidi Holman, a Fish and Game wildlife biologist who works on pine
barrens habitat restoration and Karner blue butterfly conservation. "The
lupines raised in participating classrooms and planted at the Easement
support small subpopulations of Karners through all their life stages."
Area teachers seem equally excited about the project. "It's a fabulous program and the kids get so much out of it!" wrote Walker School Fourth Grade teacher Kris Cerami after participating last year. "I saw a girl who barely speaks or participates in the classroom come alive in her outdoor classroom. It's win-win all around. My kids know they are part of an important project."
"It makes you feel proud, because you are doing something that other members of your family, like maybe your own grandchildren, can come out here and enjoy someday. It shows everyone that kids can make a difference," wrote a "Kids for Karners" student who participated in the early years of the project.
The public should note that the native lupine being planted for the Karner blues on the Pine Barrens is different than the traditional garden lupine, "Wild lupine is a rare and protected plant in New Hampshire, so seed sources are not currently available," warns Wildlife Educator Marilyn Wyzga. "Homeowners who want to support butterflies in their own yards are encouraged to grow native plants that provide forage for caterpillars and nectar for adults and to avoid purchasing wild blue lupine seed from sources outside of the state. Since there is still a viable native population of wild lupine, it's better to keep that population intact rather than introducing other seed sources that might crossbreed."
To learn more about or to contribute to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program, click here.
For additional background on the "Kids for Karners" project, see below.
- ### -
The Kids for Karners program was initiated in 2000 by the National Wildlife Federation with its Keep the Wild Alive campaign. This classroom education and conservation project invited the Concord, N.H., School District to become involved in this local effort to increase available host plants for the butterflies on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) Karner Blue Butterfly Conservation Easement (located near Concord Airport), and to engage students in learning about and helping to restore an endangered species in their hometown. Partnering with New Hampshire Fish and Game, USFWS, and the Concord School District, the program introduced fourth graders to the Karner blue butterfly and the enterprise of raising wild lupine from seed and transplanting the seedlings to the easement. As the lupine seedlings grew in the classroom, students learned about butterfly ecology and life cycles, the important relationship between Karner blues and their host plants, the ecology of the Concord Pine Barrens and the concepts of endangered species, habitat and conservation.
The project began with four classrooms and has steadily grown each year to a total of 18 classrooms this year, including fifth grade students from Peterborough. Over the course of the project, more than 600 students in grades K-5 and high school have each cared for their own wild blue lupine plants and transplanted over 800 seedlings onto the easement. Each year, a special planting day is planned for the students. In this culminating service-learning event, N.H. Fish and Game and National Wildlife Federation staff, along with local volunteers, assist the students with the planting, giving the students an opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom to a real-life situation in their own community. Planting day is also a time for the students to take pride in helping to conserve the natural areas where they live.
Ninth grade science classes joined the effort in 2005, planting lupine, assisting younger students with planting on the Easement and helping with other restoration efforts on site.
The Dame School, which is situated on the historic Pine Barrens in Concord, N.H., has been involved in a special long-term workshop related to the project. The school has begun to create a lupine seed bank on their own site in their schoolyard, and has restored a portion of their school grounds to a pine barrens plant community.
Each year that Concord District Schools participated in the project, the District has integrated the service-learning experience with school curriculum and provided professional development training for participating teachers. This has included content and activities related to wildlife habitat, endangered species and pollinators; trainers have included Fish and Game biologists and National Wildlife Federation educators.
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This book addresses two fundamental questions in the philosophy and psychology of self-consciousness: (1) Can we provide a noncircular account of full-fledged self-conscious thought and language in terms of more fundamental capacities? (2) Can we explain how full-fledged self-conscious thought and language can arise in the normal course of human development? I argue that a paradox (the paradox of self-consciousness) arises from the apparent strict interdependence between self-conscious thought and linguistic self-reference. Responding to the paradox, I draw on recent work in empirical psychology and philosophy to cut the tie between self-conscious thought and linguistic self-reference. The book studies primitive forms of nonconceptual self-consciousness manifested in visual perception, somatic proprioception, spatial reasoning and interpersonal psychological interactions.
Below is the Precis of "The Paradox of Self-Consciousness" by Jose Luis Bermudez (799 lines). This book has been selected for multiple review in PSYCOLOQUY. If you wish to submit a formal book review please write to firstname.lastname@example.org indicating what expertise you would bring to bear on reviewing the book if you were selected to review it.
(If you have never reviewed for PSYCOLOQUY or Behavioral & Brain Sciences before, it would be helpful if you could also append a copy of your CV to your inquiry.) If you are selected as one of the reviewers and do not have a copy of the book, you will be sent a copy of the book directly by the publisher (please let us know if you have a copy already). Reviews may also be submitted without invitation, but all reviews will be refereed. The author will reply to all accepted reviews.
Full Psycoloquy book review instructions at:
Psycoloquy reviews are of the book not the Precis. Length should be about 200 lines [c. 1800 words], with a short abstract (about 50 words), an indexable title, and reviewer's full name and institutional address, email and Home Page URL. All cited references that are electronically accessible should also have URLs indicated.
AUTHOR'S RATIONALE FOR SOLICITING MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEW:
The book offers a novel approach to the study of self-consciousness, integrating philosophical argument with detailed study of empirical work from a range of disciplines. It provides a framework for linking together distinct areas of cognitive science which are rarely discussed together and discusses some fundamental problems in the foundations of psychology (such as the nature of concepts and the possibility of thought without language). I am continuing to work on some of the central themes of the book and would greatly benefit from feedback from the biobehavioral and cognitive science community.
1. Philosophy and the neurosciences have an uneasy relationship. Fruitful engagement is rare in either direction. This is partly the inevitable result of the division of academic labours. But there is also a deeper reason. The dominant methodological conception governing work in the cognitive sciences involves a distinction of levels of explanation. Marr's theory of vision has often been held up as a model which the cognitive sciences in general ought to follow mainly, of course, because it is one of the very few worked out and satisfying theoretical treatments of a cognitive capacity that cognitive science has so far produced. As is well-known, Marr's approach to the study of the visual system is top-down (Marr 1982). He starts with an abstract specification of the functional tasks that the visual system has to perform, hypothesises a series of algorithms that could compute these functional tasks and then speculates about the implementation of those algorithms at the neural level. Each of the levels of explanation at which the theory operates is relatively autonomous, although of course the computational level models the realisation of the functions identified at the functional level and the implementational level explains how the functions identified at the computational level are realized. The resulting theory is, of course, a dazzling achievement. But there are hidden implications in taking it as a general paradigm for cognitive science. Taking it as a paradigm makes it natural to think, for example, that the place of philosophy is at the functional level and, correspondingly, that the place of cognitive neuroscience is at the implementational level. The result, of course, is that the two disciplines are effectively insulated from each other by the intervening computational level of explanation.
2. There is an obvious problem, however, with generalizing Marr's approach. The problem is that the distinction of levels of explanation really makes sense only where one can identify a clear functional task or set of tasks that need to be carried out. But it is not clear that this can be done outside the restricted domain of encapsulated modules such as the early visual system, the language-parsing system or the face recognition system. Fodor, the most articulate defender of this methodological approach, has clearly appreciated this, and drawn the drastic conclusion that cognitive science cannot hope to shed any light on the so-called central processes of cognition. A more sensible lesson to draw, I think, is that outside this restricted domain a more interactive conception of the relation between the levels of explanation is appropriate. There must be constraints on theorizing at the functional and computational levels. On the top-down approach these constraints emerge from clearly defined functional tasks. But where there are no such functional tasks explanation cannot be purely top-down. There must be constraints and programmatic suggestions moving in both directions.
3. The difficulty in putting this programme into practice is identifying the points of contact between neuroscientific concerns and, for example, philosophical concerns. In this prcis of my book The Paradox of Self-Consciousness (Bermdez 1998) I identify some of the key areas where neuroscientific and philosophical issues intersect in the study of self-consciousness, a form of cognition about as far as it is possible to get from the encapsulated modules where top-down analyses can be so profitably applied.
4. In thinking about self-consciousness we need to start with the phenomenon of first-person thought. Most, if not all, of the higher forms of self-consciousness presuppose our capacity to think about ourselves. Consider, for example, self-knowledge, the capacity for moral self- evaluation and ability to construct a narrative of our past. Although much of what we think when we think about ourselves involves concepts and descriptions also available to us in our thoughts about other people and other objects, our thoughts about ourselves also involve an ability that we cannot put to work in thinking about other people and things - namely, the ability to apply those concepts and descriptions uniquely to ourselves. I shall follow convention in referring to this as the capacity to entertain 'I'-thoughts.
5. 'I'-thoughts of course involve self-reference, but it is self-reference of a distinctive kind. Consider the following two ways in which I might entertain thoughts that refer to myself:
(1) JLB thinks: JLB is about to be attacked by a poisonous spider (2)JLB thinks: I am about to be attacked by a poisonous spider
It is clear that these are very different thoughts, even though they are both thoughts about the same person, namely me. Even if I am suffering a temporary attack of amnesia that has led me to forget my own name I can think the first thought with equanimity. Not so the second.
6. This property of I-thoughts is sometimes described as their immunity to error through misidentification, where this means (roughly) that one cannot think an 'I'-thought without knowing that it is in fact about oneself (Shoemaker 1968, Evans 1982). This feature of 'I'-thoughts is closely tied to the well-known linguistic property of the first-person pronoun, namely, that the first-person pronoun I always refers to the person uttering it.
7. Putting these two properties together suggests the following deflationary account of self- consciousness: (A) Once we have an account of what it is to be capable of thinking 'I'-thoughts we will have explained everything that is distinctive about self-consciousness. (B) Once we have an account of what it is to be capable of thinking thoughts that are immune to error through misidentification we will have explained everything that is distinctive about the capacity to think 'I'-thoughts. (C) Once we have explained what it is to master the semantics of the first person pronoun (e.g. via mastery of some version of the token-reflexive rule that a given utterance of I always refers to the person uttering it), we will have explained everything that is distinctive about the capacity to think thoughts that are immune to error through misidentification.
8. The problem with the deflationary view is that first-person self-reference is itself dependent upon 'I'-thoughts in a way that creates two forms of vicious circularity which collectively I term the paradox of self-consciousness The first type of circularity (explanatory circularity), arises because the capacity for self-conscious thought must be presupposed in any satisfactory account of mastery of the first person pronoun. I cannot refer to myself as the producer of a given token of 'I' without, for example, knowing that I intend to refer to myself - which is itself a self-conscious thought of the type that we are trying to explain. The second type of circularity (capacity circularity) arises because this interdependence rules out the possibility of explaining how the capacity either for self-conscious thought or for linguistic mastery of the first person pronoun arises in the normal course of human development. It does not seem possible to meet the following constraint: The Acquisition Constraint If a given psychological capacity is psychologically real then there must be an explanation of how it is possible for an individual in the normal course of human development to acquire that capacity. Neither self-conscious thought nor linguistic mastery of the first person pronoun is innate, and yet each presupposes the other in a way that seems to imply that neither can be acquired unless the other capacity is already in place.
9. The strategy that I employ in the book to escape the paradox of self-consciousness involves making a clear distinction between (a) those forms of full-fledged self-consciousness which presuppose mastery of the first person concept and linguistic mastery of the first person pronoun, and (b) those forms of primitive or nonconceptual self-consciousness which do not require any such linguistic or conceptual mastery. It is these nonconceptual forms of self-consciousness that allow us to escape both the types of circularity Ive just identified. I identified such nonconceptual forms of self-awareness in four domains:
(1) perceptual experience (2) somatic proprioception (bodily self-awareness) (3) self-world dualism in spatial reasoning (4) psychological interaction
10. The basic result is that the domain of self-consciousness is far wider than it has been held to be by philosophers. Self-consciousness has often been thought to be the highest form of human cognition, and many philosophers, famous and not so famous, have correspondingly thought that a philosophical account of self-consciousness would be the Archimedean point for a satisfactory account of human thought. But the premise is flawed. Self-consciousness is something we share with prelinguistic infants and with many members of the animal kingdom. The highly conceptual forms of self-consciousness emerge from a rich foundation of nonconceptual forms of self- awareness. As I will try to bring out, recognising this builds a bridge between philosophical interests and neuroscientific ones.
11. One of J. J. Gibsons great insights in the study of visual perception was that the very structure of visual perception contains propriospecific information about the self, as well as exterospecific information about the distal environment (Gibson 1979). Visual perception involves self-perception at the same time as it involves perception of the world. This is the most primitive form of nonconceptual self-awareness, the foundation on which all other forms of self-awareness are built.
12. Gibson stresses certain peculiarities of the phenomenology of the field of vision. Notable among these is the fact that the field of vision is bounded. Vision reveals only a portion of the world to the perceiver at any given time (roughly half in the human case, due to the frontal position of the eyes). The boundedness of the field of vision is part of what is seen, and the field of vision is bounded in a way quite unlike the way in which spaces are bounded within the field of vision. The self appears in perception as the boundary of the visual field a moveable boundary that is responsive to the will.
13. The boundedness of the visual field is not the only way in which the self becomes manifest in visual perception. The field of vision contains other objects that hide, or occlude, the environment. These objects are, of course, various parts of the body. The nose is a particularly obvious example, so distinctively present in just about every visual experience. The cheekbones, and perhaps the eyebrows, occupy a slightly less dominant position in the field of vision. And so too, to a still lesser extent, do the bodily extremities, hands, arms, feet and legs. They protrude into the field of vision from below in a way that occludes the environment, and yet which differs from the way in which one non-bodily physical object in the field of vision might occlude another. They are, as Gibson points out, quite peculiar objects. All objects, bodily and non-bodily, can present a range of solid angles in the field of vision (where by a solid angle is meant an angle with its apex at the eye and its base at some perceived object), and the size of those angles will of course vary according to the distance of the object from the point of observation. The further away the object is, the smaller the angle will be. This gives rise to a clear, and phenomenologically very salient, difference between bodily and non-bodily physical objects. The solid angles subtended by occluding body-parts cannot be reduced below a certain minimum. Perceived body-parts are, according to Gibson, 'subjective objects' in the content of visual perception.
14. But these self-specifying structural invariants provide only a fraction of the self-specifying information available in visual perception.
15. The mass of constantly changing visual information generated by the subjects motion poses an immense challenge to the perceptual systems. How can the visual experiences generated by motion be decoded so that subjects perceive that they are moving through the world? Gibsons notion of visual kinesthesis is his answer to this traditional problem. Whereas many theorists have assumed that motion perception can only be explained by the hypothesis of mechanisms which parse cues in the neutral sensations into information about movement and information about static objects, the crucial idea behind visual kinesthesis is that the patterns of flow in the optic array and the relations between the variant and invariant features make available information about the movement of the perceiver, as well as about the environment.
16. As an example of such a visually kinesthetic invariant, consider that the optical flow in any field of vision starts from a centre, that is itself stationary. This stationary centre specifies the point that is being approached, when the perceiver is moving. The aiming point of locomotion is at the vanishing point of optical flow.
17. Striking experiments have brought out the significance of visual kinesthesis. In the so-called moving-room experiments, subjects are placed on the solid floors of rooms whose walls and ceilings can be made to glide over a solid and immoveable floor (Lishman and Lee 1973). If experimental subjects are prevented from seeing their feet and the floor is hidden, then moving the walls backwards and forwards on the sagittal plane creates in the subjects the illusion that they are moving back and forth. This provides strong support for the thesis that the movement of the perceiver can be detected purely visually, since visual specification of movement seems to be all that is available. An even more striking illustration emerges when young children are placed in the moving room, because they actually sway and lose their balance (Lee and Aronson 1975).
18. The theory of ecological optics identifies a third form of self-specifying information existing in the field of vision. This is due to the direct perception of a class of higher-order invariants which Gibson terms affordances. It is in the theory of affordances that we find the most sustained development of the ecological view that the fundamentals of perceptual experience are dictated by the organism's need to navigate and act in its environment. The uncontroversial premise from which the theory of affordances starts is that objects and surfaces in the environment have properties relevant to the abilities of particular animals, in virtue of which they allow different animals to act and react in different ways.
19. According to Gibson, information specifying affordances is available in the structure of light to be picked up by the creature as it moves around the world. The possibilities which the environment affords are not learnt through experience, and nor are they inferred. They are directly perceived as higher-order invariants. And of course, the perception of affordances is a form of self-perception - or, at least, a way in which self-specifying information is perceived. The whole notion of an affordance is that of environmental information about ones own possibilities for action and reaction.
20. Recognising the existence of the ecological self, as it has come to be known (Neisser 1988), is the first step in resolving the paradox of self-consciousness. It removes the need to explain how infants can bootstrap themselves into the first-person perspective. The evidence is overwhelming that nonconceptual first person contents are available more or less from the beginning of life. Illustrations are to be found in:
(1) neonatal distress crying (Martin and Clark 1982) (2) neonatal imitation (Meltzoff and Moore 1977) (3) infant reaching behaviour (Field 1976, Von Hofsten 1982) (4) visual kinesthesis (Lee and Aronson 1984, Butterworth and Hicks 1977, Pope 1984)
Let me turn now to some more bottom-level concerns.
21. When we move to considering the neural underpinnings of this form of self-specifying information in visual perception we move into an area that has been fairly closely studied by neuroscientists and experimental psychologists. Particularly relevant here is the proposal, currently under much discussion, that there are two distinct cortical pathways in the human visual system, each carrying distinct types of information (Ungerleider and Mishkin 1982, Goodale and Milner 1992). The distinction between the information carried by the dorsal (infero-temporal) and the ventral (occipito-temporal) pathways respectively has been conceptualized in different ways. Mishkin and Ungerleider see it as a distinction between information about the spatial relations in which an object might stand to the perceiver and information that allows the recognition of objects. Goodale and Milner, in contrast, take the distinction to be between recognitional information about the intrinsic properties of objects (eg their colour, shape and so on) and visuo-motor information about the extrinsic properties of objects (eg their spatial position, orientation, height and so forth).
22. It has been suggested that the action-based self-specifying information that Gibson discusses at the phenomenological level in terms of affordances and invariants in optical flow seems to be carried in the ventral stream (McCarthy 1993). It is far from clear to me, however, that Gibsons insights into the blend of propriospecific and exterospecific information in visual perception fits at all neatly into the proposed distinction of pathways, whether as construed by Mishkin and Ungerleider or by Goodale and Milner at least, if we assume that those processing distinctions are supposed to mark a distinction at the level of conscious phenomenology. The basic concept of an affordance seems to straddle the distinction between where and what, or between recognition and pragmatic. Interestingly, this scepticism about the phenomenological significance of the two cortical pathways is supported by recent work which suggests that the two visual pathways actually collaborate in the control of action (Jeannerod 1997).
23. Gibson's insights into the structure of visual perception were partly vitiated by his insistence on downplaying the importance of somatically derived information about the self. Visual kinesthesis and the perceptual invariants stressed by Gibson are adequate for distinguishing self-movement from movement of the environment, but they are unable to distinguish passive self-movement from active self-movement. They can inform the subject of his movement relative to the environment, but (crudely speaking) they do not tell him whether or not he is moving under his own steam. A different form of self-awareness is required at this point the bodily self-awareness of proprioception.
24. One particularly vivid illustration of the importance of these forms of proprioceptive information comes from the documented cases of complete deafferentation patients who have effectively lost all bodily sensation, either from below the neck in the case of Jonathan Coles patient IW or from below the jaw in Jacques Paillards patient GL (Cole and Paillard 1995). Although IW, unlike GL, can walk, everything he does has to be performed under visual control. Without visual feedback he is incapable of orienting himself and acting. So much so that he sleeps with the light on - if he woke up in the dark he would have no idea where his body was and would never be able to find the light switch. It is interesting, furthermore, to watch a video of him walking. His head is bent forward and pointing downwards so that he can keep his legs and feet in sight constantly.
25. There is a popular sense of self-conscious on which IW seems to be more self-conscious than we are, for the simple reason that everything he does requires his full attention. But this is not the sense of self-consciousness in which I am interested. What is striking about deafferented subjects is how the subjective sense of the body as a bounded spatial entity responsive to the will collapses in the absence of somatic proprioception and can only be partially reestablished with great artificiality and great difficulty. IW and GL are self-conscious in the popular sense precisely because they fail to be self-conscious in a more primitive and fundamental sense.
26. What is this more primitive and fundamental form of self-consciousness that we derive from somatic proprioception? It seems to me to have a tripartite structure. In exploring this it will be useful to start with a list of the principal types of proprioceptive information and their physiological sources. The following is taken from the general introduction to Bermdez, Marcel and Eilan 1995:
Information about pressure, temperature and friction from receptors on the skin and beneath its surface.
Information about the state of joints from receptors in the joints, some sensitive to static position, some to dynamic information.
Information about balance and posture from the vestibular system in the inner ear; the head/trunk dispositional system; and information from pressure on any parts of the body that might be in contact with a gravity-resisting surface.
Information about bodily disposition and volume obtained from skin-stretch. Information about nutritional and other homeostatic states from receptors in the internal organs.
Information about muscular fatigue from receptors in the muscles.
Information about general fatigue from cerebral systems sensitive to blood composition.
Information about bodily disturbances derived from nociceptors.
27. At the simplest level, somatic proprioception is a form of self-consciousness simply in virtue of providing information about the embodied self. This is not particularly interesting, although it is worth noting that proprioception gives information about the embodied self that is immune to error through misidentification in the sense discussed earlier. It cannot be the case that one receives proprioceptive information without being aware that the information concerns ones own body.
28. More importantly, somatic proprioceptive information provides a way, perhaps the most primitive way, of registering the boundary between self and non-self. To appreciate this we need to note that there is an important variation among these somatic information systems vary along several dimensions. Some provide information solely about the body (eg. the systems providing information about general fatigue and nutrition). The vestibular system, in contrast, is concerned with bodily balance and hence with the relation between the body and the environment. Other systems can be deployed to yield information either about the body or about the environment. Receptors in the hand sensitive to skin stretch, for example, can provide information about the hand's shape and disposition at a time, or about the shape of small objects. Similarly, receptors in joints and muscles can yield information about how the relevant limbs are distributed in space, or, through haptic exploration, about the contours and shape of large objects.
29. These latter information systems, underpinning the sense of touch, yield a direct sense of the limits of the body and hence of the limits of the self. This is one step further in the development of what might be termed self-world dualism than comes with the self-specifying information in visual perception. The self of visual perception, the ecological self, is schematic and geometrical. Its properties are purely spatial, defined by patterns in the optical flow. It is only in virtue of the sense of touch that the body is experienced as a solid and bounded entity in the world.
30. It is known that a somatotopic map of the surface of the body exists in the somatosensory cortex, and it is natural to think that this plays a key role in subserving the registration of the boundary between self and non-self. Some confirmation confirmation for this will be found in the fascinating work that has been done by V. S. Ramachandran (1994) on somatosensory remapping to explain the well-documented phenomenon of referred sensations in amputees experiencing phantom limbs. The felt boundaries of the body can change as the area in the Penfield homunculus that formerly received input from the amputated limb is invaded by sensory input from nearby areas.
31. The final feature of proprioceptive self-awareness extends this sense of the body as an object. Through feedback from kinesthesia, joint-position sense and the vestibular system we become aware of the body as an object responsive to the will. Proprioception gives us a sense, not just of the embodied self as spatially extended and bounded, but also as a potentiality for action.
32. In this context it might be helpful to point to the role of proprioceptively derived information in the construction of the cross-modal egocentric space within which action takes place. It is well- known that lesions to the posterior parietal cortex produce spatial deficits in primates, human and non-human, and the inference frequently drawn is that the posterior parietal cortex is the brain area where the representation of space is computed. Recent neurophysiological work based on recordings from single neurons has suggested that the distinctive contribution of the posterior parietal cortex is the integration of information from various modalities to generate coordinate systems. Information about visual stimuli is initially transmitted in retinal coordinates. Calibrating this with information about eye position yields head-centred coordinates and further calibration with proprioceptively-derived information yields a body-centred frame of reference. The distal targets of reaching movements are encoded on this modality-free frame of reference, as are motor commands.
33. The nonconceptual first person contents implicated in somatic proprioception and the pick-up of self-specifying information in visual perception provide very primitive forms of nonconceptual self-consciousness, albeit ones that can plausibly be viewed as in place from birth or shortly afterwards. A solution to the paradox of self-consciousness, however, requires showing how we can get from these primitive forms of self-consciousness to the fully-fledged self-consciousness that comes with linguistic mastery of the first person pronoun. This progression will have to be both logical (in a way that will solve the problem of explanatory circularity) and ontogenetic (in a way that will solve the problem of capacity circularity). Clearly, this requires that there be forms of self- consciousness which, while still counting as nonconceptual, are nonetheless more developed than those yielded by somatic proprioception and the structure of exteroceptive perception and, moreover, that it be comprehensible how these more developed forms of nonconceptual self- consciousness should have 'emerged' out of basic nonconceptual self-consciousness.
34. The dimension along which forms of self-consciousness must be compared is the richness of the conception of the self which they provide. Nonetheless, a crucial element in any form of self- consciousness is the way in which it makes possible for the self-conscious subject to distinguish between self and environment what many developmental psychologists term self-world dualism. In this sense self-consciousness is essentially a contrastive notion. One implication of this is that a proper understanding of the richness of the conception of the self which a given form of self- consciousness provides requires taking into account the richness of the conception of the environment with which it is contrasted. In the case both of somatic proprioception and of the pick- up of self-specifying information in exteroceptive perception, there is a relatively impoverished conception of the self associated with a comparably impoverished conception of the environment. One prominent limitation is that both are synchronic rather than diachronic. The distinction between self and environment that they offer is a distinction that is effective at a time but not over time. The contrast between propriospecific and exterospecific invariants in visual perception, for example, provides a way in which a creature can distinguish between itself and the world at any given moment, but this is not the same as a conception of oneself as an enduring thing distinguishable over time from an environment which also endures over time.
35. To capture this diachronic form of self-world dualism I introduced the notion of a nonconceptual point of view. Having a nonconceptual point of view on the world involves taking a particular route through the environment in such a way that one's perception of the world is informed by an awareness that one is taking such a route. This diachronic awareness that one is taking a particular route through the environment turned out to involve two principal components a non-solipsistic component and a spatial awareness component.
36. The non-solipsistic component is a subject's capacity to draw a distinction between his experiences and what those experiences are experiences of, and hence his ability to grasp that an object exists at times other than those at which it is experienced. This requires the exercise of recognitional abilities involving conscious memory and can be most primitively manifested in the feature-based recognition of places. This is the beginning of an understanding of the world as an articulated, structured entity.
37. The spatial awareness component of a nonconceptual point of view can be glossed in terms of possession of an integrated representation of the environment over time an understanding not just of how the articulated components of the external world fit together spatial, but also of the perceivers own spatial location in the world as a moving perceiver and agent.
38. That a creature possesses such an integrated representation of the environment is manifested in three central cognitive/navigational capacities:
The capacity to think about different routes to the same place
The capacity to keep track of changes in spatial relations between objects caused by its own movements relative to those objects
The capacity to think about places independently of the objects or features located at those places.
Powerful evidence from both ethology and developmental psychology indicates that these central cognitive/navigational capacities are present in both nonlinguistic and prelinguistic creatures.
39. This conception of a nonconceptual point of view provides a counterbalance to some important recent work on animal representations of space and their neurophysiological coding. Chapters 5 and 6 of Gallistels The Organization of Learning defend the thesis that all animals from insects upwards deploy cognitive maps with the same formal characteristics in navigating around the environment. Gallistel argues that the cognitive maps that control movement in animals all preserve the same set of geometric relations within a system of earth-centred (geocentric) coordinates. These relations are metric relations. The distinctive feature of a metric geometry is that it preserves all the geometric relations between the points in the coordinate system. Gallistel's thesis is that, although the cognitive maps of lower animals have far fewer places on them, they record the same geometrical relations between those points as humans and other higher animals. Moreover, he offers a uniform acount of how such metric cognitive maps are constructed in the animal kingdom. Dead reckoning (the process of keeping track of changes in velocity over time) yields an earth-centred representation of vantage points and angles of view which combines with current perceptual experience of the environment to yield an earth-centred cognitive map.
40. Without, of course, wishing to challenge Gallistels central thesis that all animal cognitive maps from insects up preserve geometric relations, it nonetheless seems wrong to draw the conclusion that all animals represent space in the same way. Just as important as how animals represent spatial relations between objects is how they represent their own position within the object-space thus defined. And it is here, in what we should think of as not just their awareness of space but also their awareness of themselves as spatially located entities, that we see the major variations and the scale of gradations that the theorists whom Gallistel is criticising have previously located at the level of the cognitive map.
41. Possession of a nonconceptual point of view manifests an awareness of the self as a spatial element moving within, acting upon and being acted upon by the spatial environment. This is far richer than anything available through either somatic proprioception or the self-specifying information available in exteroceptive perception. Nonetheless, like these very primitive forms of self-consciousness, a nonconceptual point of view is largely awareness of the material self as a bearer of physical properties. This limitation raises the question of whether there can be a similarly nonconceptual awareness of the material self as a bearer of psychological properties.
42. There appear to be three central psychological properties defining the core of the concept of a psychological subject the property of being a perceiver, the property of being an agent, and the property of being a bearer of reactive attitudes. Research on the social cognition of infants shows that there are compelling grounds for attributing to prelinguistic infants in the final quarter of the first year awareness of themselves as bearers of all three of these properties.
43. Psychological self-awareness as a perceiver is manifested in the phenomenon of joint selective visual attention, where infants (a) attend to objects as a function of where they perceive the attention of others to be directed (Scaife and Bruner 1975, Bruner 1975), and (b) direct another individuals gaze to an object in which they are interested (Leung and Reinhold 1981, Stern 1985). In (b), for example, the infant tries to make the mother recognise that he, as a perceiver, is looking at a particular object, with the eventual aim that her recognition that this is what he is trying to do will cause the mother to look in the same direction.
44. Psychological self-awareness as an agent is manifested in the collaborative activities that infants engage in with their care-givers (coordinated joint engagement). Longitudinal studies (e.g. Trevarthen and Hubley 1978) show infants not just taking pleasure in their own agency (in the way that many infants show pleasure in the simple ability to bring about changes in the world, like moving a mobile), but also taking pleasure in successfully carrying out an intention - a form of pleasure possible only for creatures aware of themselves as agents. When, as it frequently is, the intention successfully carried out is a joint intention, the pleasure shared with the other participants reflects an awareness that they too are agents.
45. Psychological self-awareness as a bearer of reactive attitudes is apparent in what developmental psychologists call social referencing (Klinnert et al. 1983). This occurs when infants regulate their own behaviour by investigating and being guided by the emotional reactions of others to a particular situation. The infants willingness to tailor his own emotional reactions to those of his mother presuppose an awareness that both he and she are bearers of reactive attitudes.
46. The four types of primitive or nonconceptual self-awareness provide the materials for resolving the paradox of self-consciousness. On the one hand, the problem of capacity circularity can be blunted by showing how it is conceivable that the capacity for full-fledged, conceptual self- consciousness could emerge from the basis of the primitive forms of self-consciousness discussed. On the other, the problem of explanatory circularity can be solved by giving an account of what it is to have mastery of the first-person pronoun that shows how the first-person thoughts involved can be understood at the nonconceptual level.
47. Instead of going into the details of how either of these goals can be achieved, I would like to return to the methodological reflections with which I began. I sketched out what I take to be a dominant approach to the methodology of cognitive science the top-down approach that clearly distinguishes the functional, computational and implementational levels of explanation. As I suggested, this approach really seems applicable only where there are clearly defined identifiable, functional tasks, and consequently is only going to work for peripheral rather than central cognitive processes. The corollary, as Fodor has clearly seen, is that we can expect little illumination of central processes from the cognitive sciences. What Ive tried to sketch out is an alternative approach, one where the distinction of levels of explanation does not correspond to a division of explanatory labour. Ive explored how attending to a particular philosophical puzzle about self- consciousness, perhaps the paradigm central cognitive process, brings out the importance of forms of self-consciousness that look as if they can only be understood by a more interactive collaboration between disciplines whose spheres of competence are so clearly separated on the conventional view.
Bermudez, J. L. 1998. The Paradox of Self-Consciousness. Cambridge MA. MIT Press.
Bermudez, J. L., Marcel, A. J. and Eilan, N. (Eds.) 1995. The Body and the Self. Cambridge MA. MIT Press.
Bruner, J. S. 1975. 'The ontogenesis of speech acts' in Journal of Child Language 2, 1-19.
Butterworth, G. E., and Hicks, L. 1977. 'Visual proprioception and postural stability in infancy: A Developmental Study' in Perception 6, 255-262.
Cole, J. and Paillard, J. 1995. 'Living without touch and peripheral information about body position and movement: Studies with deafferented subjects' in Bermudez, Marcel and Eilan (Eds.) 1995.
Eilan, N., McCarthy, R. and Brewer, M. W. (Eds.).1993. Spatial Representation: Problems in Philosophy and Psychology. Oxford. Basil Blackwell.
Evans, G. 1982. The Varieties of Reference. Oxford. Clarendon Press.
Field, J. 'Relation of young infants' reaching behaviour to stimulus distance and solidity' in Developmental Psychology 12, 444-448.
Fodor, J. 1983. The Modularity of Mind. Cambridge MA. MIT Press.
Gallistel, C. R. 1990. The Organization of Learning. Cambridge MA. MIT Press.
Gibson, J. J. 1979. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston. Houghton Mifflin.
Goodale, M. A. and Milner, A. D. 1992. 'Separate visual pathways for perception and action'. Trends in Neuroscience 15, 20-25.
Jeannerod, M. 1997. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Action. Oxford. Basil Blackwell.
Klinnert, M. D., Campos, J. J., Sorce, J. F. Emde, R. N. Svejda, M. 1983. 'Emotions as behaviour regulators: Social referencing in infancy' in Plutchik and Kellerman 1983.
Lee, D. N., and Aronson, E. 1974. 'Visual proprioceptive control of standing in human infants' in Perception and Psychophysics 15: 529-532.
Leung, E. and Rheinhold, H. 1981. 'Development of pointing as a social gesture' in Developmental Psychology 17, 215-220.
Lishman, J. R., and Lee, D. N. 1973. 'The autonomy of visual kinaesthetics' in Perception 2: 287-94.
Mccarthy, R. A. 1993. 'Assembling Routines and Addressing Representations: An Alternative Conceptualization of 'What' and 'Where' in the Human Brain' in Eilan, Mccarthy and Brewer (Eds.) 1993.
Marr, D. 1982. Vision. San Fransisco. W. H. Freeman.
Martin, G. B. and Clark, R. D. 1982. Distress Crying in Neonates: Species and Peer Specificity in Developmental Psychology 18, 3-9.
Meltzoff, A. N. and Moore, M. K. 1977. 'Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neomnates' in Science 198, 75-78.
Neisser, U. 1988. 'Five Kinds of Self-Knowledge' in Philosophical Psychology, 1, 35-59.
Pope, M. J. 1984. Visual Proprioception in Infant Postural Development. PhD Thesis. University of Southampton.
Ramachandran, V. S. 1994. Phantom Limbs, Neglect Syndromes, Repressed Memories, and Freudian Psychology in International Review of Neurobiology 37, 291-333.
Scaife, M. and Bruner, J. S. 1975. 'The capacity for joint visual attention in the infant' in Nature 253, 265-266.
Shoemaker, S. 1968. 'Self-reference and self-awareness' in The Journal of Philosophy 65, 555-567.
Stern, D. 1985. The Interpersonal World of the Infant. New York. Basic Books.
Trevarthen, C. & Hubley, P. (1978). Secondary Intersubjectivity: Confidence, Confiding and Acts of Meaning in the First Year in Lock, A. (Ed.) Action, gesture, and symbol: the emergence of language Academic Press
Ungerleider, M. and Mishkin, L. 1982. Two cortical visual systems. In D. J. Ingle, M. A. Goodale and R. J. W. Mansfield (Eds.), Analysis of Visual Behaviour. Cambridge MA. MIT Press.
Von Hofsten, C. 1982. 'Foundations for Perceptual Development' in Advances in Infancy Research 2, 241-261.
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St. Maries, Idaho: Paul Bunyan - Big FriendA Big-Friend-turned-Paul-Bunyan lumberjack statue that became the mascot of the local high school sports teams after it was reportedly found in a nearby field.
Visitor Tips and News About Paul Bunyan - Big Friend
It's not a Paul Bunyan statue. It's a Lumberjack. The high school sports teams are the Lumberjacks, so he's their mascot.
As your article notes, he's a Texaco Big Friend. This one was destined to be installed at the Texaco station across the street from the school, but when he was uncrated his feet were on backwards. They hauled the Big Friend to the airport, dropped him off, called the school board and told them they could have it. That's why he doesn't have any feet--they're encased in concrete.
When he was installed, they painted him with a red-and-black checkered logger's shirt and black logger's pants. He didn't have a beard when he was installed. That was added later, as was the fiberglass ax. His shirt was changed to green -- the school color -- when the ax was installed.[Jim Mowreader, 10/23/2008]
I live near Coeur d'Alene, ID and saw a reference to a missing 20' Paul Bunyan and wonder if this may be him. He resides on the front lawn of Heyburn Elementary School in St. Maries, ID.[Jim Rueckel, 04/19/2004]
The axe wielding Bunyan has been here since townsfolk found him in a field in 1967 (rolled off a truck is the accepted explanation). According to a local account, "Vandals set off homemade bombs under his footless legs and leave unsavory calling cards in his huge hands." Heyburn Elementary School is Home of the Lumberjacks. Paul's flannel shirt is sometimes painted traditional red/black and sometimes the school colors -- green and yellow.
Main Street, in front of Heyburn Elementary School "Home of the Lumberjacks." Holds a double-bit axe and wears a stocking cap. Flannel shirt sometimes painted traditional red/black and sometimes school colors green/yellow.[Destry Scheel, 09/05/1998]
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The United States believes Iran was behind a major cyberattack on Saudi Arabia's state oil company and a Qatari gas firm, a former US official who has worked on cybersecurity issues said.
File photo shows a flame from a Saudi Aramco oil installion in the desert near the oil-rich area of Khouris. The United States believes Iran was behind a major cyberattack on Saudi Arabia's state oil company and a Qatari gas firm, a former US official who has worked on cybersecurity issues said.
In a major cybersecurity speech on Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued a veiled warning to Tehran that Washington is ready to take preemptive action to protect US computer networks, the former official said.
US government agencies have concluded that Iran orchestrated the "shamoon" virus that disabled tens of thousands of computers at Saudi Aramco and struck Qatari natural gas firm RasGas as well, said James Lewis, who has worked for the State Department and other government agencies on national security and cyber issues.
American officials had "more than a suspicion" that Iran was to blame for the August attacks, that also possibly included recent denial of service attacks on some US banks, said Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
"There's generally a conviction that it was Iran," he told AFP.
Lewis said he was not privy to the intelligence reports that backed up the assertion, but said it was implausible the Iranian government would not be aware of a major cyber operation coming from sources inside the country.
"How could you do something that consumed a massive amount of bandwidth in Iran and not have the government notice, when it's monitoring the Internet for political purposes?" he asked.
US government officials had concluded that Iran likely launched the attack in retaliation for US-led sanctions over its nuclear program and a cyber sabotage campaign reportedly backed by Washington, he said.
A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP the cyberattack on the Gulf oil giants was believed to be carried out by a "state actor" and acknowledged that Iran would be a prime suspect.
In his speech, Panetta referred to the "shamoon" virus for the first time publicly, saying it erased critical files on about 30,000 computers at Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company.
He said the virus, which hit Qatar's Rasgas a few days later, was "probably the most destructive attack that the private sector has seen to date."
The Pentagon chief also spoke of "foreign actors" probing sensitive US networks and cited denial of service attacks on some large US financial companies in recent weeks.
While he reiterated US concerns about cyber threats linked to Russia and China, Panetta said Iran was building up its digital capabilities.
In the same speech to business executives in New York, Panetta said the United States had improved its ability to track the origin of digital attacks and suggested the military stood ready to take preemptive action in cyberspace to protect vital networks.
"He came as close to fingering Iran for some of the disruptions we've seen in the last month as you could do without actually saying it by name," said Lewis, who has advised the US government on cyber security.
"Hopefully, the Iranians picked it up as a warning."
Iran has advanced its digital warfare capacity faster than US officials had anticipated, Lewis said, though the attack on Saudi Aramco was relatively unsophisticated.
"We're used to China, we're used to Russia. But Iran is new, Iran is different. And a lot of people didn't think it would develop this quickly," he said.
US officials said information about the recent cyberattacks was declassified to allow Panetta to refer to the incidents in his speech.
The "shamoon" virus wiped out crucial files and replaced them with images of burning American flags.
Two weeks after the August 15th cyberattack on Saudi Aramco, the company announced it had restored its main internal network and that the assault had not disrupted oil production.
The firm targeted in Qatar, RasGas, is a joint venture between American oil firm Exxon Mobil Corp and state-controlled Qatar Petroleum.
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The Working Group on Clinical Research Methodology for Acupuncture met in Aomori, Japan, from 1 to 4 June 1994. The main objective of the meeting was to develop guidelines for clinical research on acupuncture and to make recommendations on further collaboration and activity on clinical research of acupuncture.
The meeting was attended by 12 members from six Member States, one secretariat staff from the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific and three observers from Japan.
Dr Sung-Keel Kang was elected Chairman, Dr K. Segami, Vice-Chairman and Dr Daniel Eskinazi, Rapporteur. Dr S.T. Han, WHO’S Regional Director for the Western Pacific, delivered a speech during the closing ceremony.
The members presented their papers to review the current status of clinical research on acupuncture. The drafts of guidelines for clinical research on acupuncture were discussed extensively. The issues covered during the discussion included: the definition of terms used in the guidelines; organization of clinical research on acupuncture; ethical problems involved in the process of clinical research; research methods; and concepts expressed in the guidelines.
In the course of these discussions, the Working Group developed the guidelines for clinical research on acupuncture and made recommendations for promoting the dissemination of the guidelines. A summary of these recommendations follows:
1. Each interested Member State should develop a national programme that will be proactive and designed to make available: (a) safe and effective acupuncture through clinical research studies; and (b) unbiased information to the public to help guide patients’ preferences.
2. Interested Member States should specify a centre or centres of excellence in order to coordinate their country’s programmes.
3. Research education of interested acupuncturists and other health professionals should form an essential first step in developing a research culture within each Member State through: (a) dissemination of the guidelines for clinical research on acupuncture; (b) publication of the guidelines in book form, multilingually; and (c) development of a programme of clinical research methodology workshops in interested Member States based on the guidelines.
4. Each Member State should consider the ethical problems involved in the process of clinical research.
5. Information exchange should be assured among all interested parties.
6. Standard acupuncture nomenclature should be used (wherever possible) in all clinical research projects.
7. Detailed research strategies in relation to disease-oriented research proposals should be developed.
8. Cooperation between acupuncturists and other health care providers should be fostered.
9. The practice of acupuncture should receive an introduction in the medical education system.
10. The Working Group realizes that WHO may not have the necessary resources to directly implement all the recommendations outlined above. However, it is recommended that WHO should play the leading and coordinating role, and involve appropriate organizations and associations in implementing these recommendations.
Acupuncture has been practised in China for more than 2500 years. It was introduced to neighbouring countries like Japan, the Republic of Korea and Viet Nam early in the 6th century. Because of the wide indication of its therapeutic properties, the simplicity of its application, and its low cost and rapid results for treatment of many disorders, acupuncture has spread worldwide during the last 20 years.
Following the growing interest in acupuncture, clinical research on its effectiveness has been carried out by acupuncturists, clinicians and other researchers, particularly in east Asia. However, it is noted that the quality of research still varies considerably, and some difficulty in applying common scientific principles to clinical research on acupuncture has been experienced by many researchers.
In 1987, during its thirty-eighth session, the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific adopted a resolution on traditional medicine which urged Member States to undertake research to evaluate the safety and efficacy of traditional medicine, based on the concepts of both modem and traditional medicines. The Scientific Group on Acupuncture which met in October 1989 in Geneva, recommended that WHO should play a role in consolidating guidelines on research methodology to ensure the comparability of results.
The WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WHO/WPRO) has played an important role in the development of standard terminology and technology on traditional medicine, including acupuncture. The Working Group on Clinical Research Methodology for Acupuncture was constituted by the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific to review and finalize the Guidelines for Clinical Research on Acupuncture prepared by the Traditional Medicine Unit in WHO/WPRO. The Guidelines provide the basic principles and standards for preparing, conducting and evaluating clinical research on acupuncture. The Working Group met in Aomori, Japan from 1 to 4 June 1994.
The objectives of the meeting were as follows:
1. to review the current status of clinical research on acupuncture in the Region;
2. to discuss the methodology used for clinical research on acupuncture;
3. to review and finalize the guidelines for clinical research on acupuncture; and
4. to make recommendations on further collaboration and activities in the field of research on acupuncture.
The Working Group is composed of 12 temporary advisers and one member of the WHO Secretariat. Three observers from Japan also attended the meeting. The list of participants is shown in Annex 4.
Professor Sung-Keel Kang and Dr K. Segami were elected Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Working Group. Dr Daniel Eskinazi was elected Rapporteur.
1.4 Opening ceremony
Owing to a previous commitment, Dr S.T. Han, Regional Director of the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, was not able to attend the opening ceremony.
Dr Chen Ken, Medical Officer for Traditional Medicine, delivered the speech on behalf of Dr Han. During his speech, Dr Han pointed out that acupuncture has been widely recognized as a valuable and readily available means of health care and is effective, requiring only simple equipment and inexpensive medical techniques. However, he indicated that a lack of well-designed and conducted research on acupuncture has affected its acceptance. He reminded the Working Group that WHO considered research on acupuncture to be essential and the main purpose of WHO in developing guidelines for clinical research on acupuncture was to guide researchers in designing and conducting clinical research to improve the quality of research activities. He insisted that the criteria and theories of oriental philosophy reflected in acupuncture should be respected, and that the promotion of clinical research did not mean that acupuncture’s efficacy should be evaluated only according to the methodology used by modem medicine. He noted that the Working Group had the responsibility to finalize the first guidelines in the Region to be applied to clinical research on acupuncture.
During the opening ceremony, Mr Masaya Kitamura, Governor of Aomori Prefecture,Dr Hiroyuki Doi, Deputy Director, International Affairs Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan and Dr Takayoshi Harada, Chairman of Aomori Medical Association, gave their welcome speeches.
The current status of clinical research on acupuncture and the methodology used for clinical evaluation of acupuncture were outlined in the working papers prepared by the members of the Working Group. The papers submitted are summarized below.
Dr Chen Ken indicated that WHO is aware of the value of acupuncture for maintaining health, and its possible potential contribution to WHO’S goal of health for all. In June 1977, WHO organized an Interregional Seminar on Acupuncture Moxibustion and Acupuncture Anaesthesia in Beijing, China In 1985 and 1987, two resolutions on traditional medicine were adopted by the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, which formed the policy basis and programme direction of traditional medicine. After summarizing WHO’S programme activities in the field of acupuncture, he introduced the procedure of preparation of draft guidelines. The guidelines drafted by WPRO, were sent out to 20 experts from different countries both within and outside the Region, for comments. Based on the comments received by the Regional Office, the guidelines were revised several times. The Working Group was asked to discuss and finalize the guidelines.
Dr Eskinazi, Deputy Director, Office of Alternative Medicine, National Institute of Health (NIH), United States of America, informed the group that the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) was created by the US Congress in October 1991 and is a permanent part of the NIH structure. It is currently located in the Office of the Director. Its mission is to evaluate any form of alternative medicine. Acupuncture is one of these “alternative medicines”. Thus far, OAM has taken essentially two approaches to research in acupuncture. First, it has funded a few research grants dealing with protocols evaluating the efficacy of acupuncture in dealing with specific medical conditions. Second, it has organized a conference with the cooperation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The purpose of the conference was to present a thorough analysis of the acupuncture scientific literature to help FDA re-evaluate regulations. This re-evaluation may have a significant impact on the acceptance and patterns of acupuncture use in the United States.
Professor S.K Kang, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea and Dr Y.S. Kim, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea, summarized the clinical research on acupuncture covered in tile Republic of Korea. There are a number of clinical acupuncture reports detailing excellent improvements; however, they have not been conducted by controlled studies owing to their cultural background. Most of the patients do not want to be experimental subjects. Therefore, many of the acupuncture studies have been conducted by animal experimental trials in the Republic of Korea. Currently, many doctors are interested in the clinical research methodology for acupuncture. By reviewing and analysing clinical research papers taken from MEDLINE, the general issues in acupuncture research in the Republic of Korea may be divided into three parts: selection of point, mode of stimulation and determination of placebo group for acupuncture. It is recommended that the compromised form of control-placebo for acupuncture is carried on in clinical trials.
Dr Lewith, The Centre for the Study of Complementary Medicine, United Kingdom, re-examined the three areas which have encompassed the major part of clinical research into acupuncture: chronic pain, addiction (in particular smoking cessation), and the treatment of nausea and vomiting. Clarification of the findings, and of the different control conditions that have been used, suggests that point location is an important variable in the treatment of chronic pain and nausea, but not of addiction. These observations can be explained by postulating that different underlying mechanisms are involved in the treatment of different conditions: addictions may be mediated purely by opioid peptides, nausea by the autonomic system and a combination of both may be involved in chronic pain, together with local trigger point action. A hypothesis is presented which suggests that the closer one gets to a purely endorphin-mediated effect, the less relevant it is to think in terms of point location and the more misleading a real versus sham acupuncture model is in the context of a clinical trial. The hypothesis is necessarily speculative but it does provide a coherent theoretical framework which integrates neurophysiology, our current knowledge of clinical trials, and some aspects of traditional Chinese medicine.
Professor Meng Xian Kun, Director, Acupuncture Department, Dong Zhi Men Hospital, China, described the most commonly-used clinical research methods for acupuncture in China. They are: (1) clinical observation; (2) clinical experiment; and (3) summing-up of the clinical experience of famous acupuncturists. Clinical observation is still the dominant method employed in China, although, the academic value of observational studies varies greatly. He suggested that careful consideration should be given to selection of research topics, selection of cases, use of control groups, randomization, use of blind technique, application of treatment, evaluation of outcome and statistical analysis.
Dr K. Nishijo, Professor, Department of Acupuncture, Tsukuba College of Medical Technology and Nursing, Japan; Dr K. Segami, Executive Director and in charge of Deputy Director-General, Department of Health and Medical Services and Environmental Control, the Government of Aomori, Japan; Dr T. Shichido, Head, Information and Evaluation Group, Research Committee, Scientific Group, Society of Acupuncture, Japan and Dr K. Tsutani, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Division of Information and Science, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan, reviewed two bibliometrical studies on acupuncture and analysis of the controlled studies of acupuncture. A MEDLINE search reveals that a sharp increase of the number of acupuncture papers occurred in the early 1970s, and that about 300 papers are produced annually. Altogether, 3000 papers on acupuncture are found in MEDLINE, of which 30% are from China, 20% from the former Soviet Union, 10% from the United States, 10% from the United Kingdom, 3% from Germany and 2% from Japan. However, biased inclusion of journals in MEDLINE was noted. For instance, no journals on acupuncture and Japanese oriental medicine are indexed there. Japan Centra Revuo Medicine was searched in its CD-ROM format. About 2000 papers were found from 1987 to 1993, or an average of 300 papers annually. Most of the papers are on human beings, and published in journals of acupuncture or Japanese oriental medicine, but few are controlled studies. Most of them are descriptive studies, some combining laboratory evaluation, mechanism of action, treatment technique, discussions on meridian and discussions in clinics. A manual search revealed that 13 controlled trials have been conducted in Japan since 1966. There are, however, several problems in design, sample size, description of randomization, blinding and control, handling of drop-out cases and incorrect statistical analysis and interpretation (i.e. inappropriate conclusions in the light of data reported).
Professor Nguyen Tai Thu, Director, National Institute of Acupuncture, Viet Nam, introduced experiences in clinical use and research on acupuncture. During the past 30 years, acupuncture has been used to treat not only common diseases but also difficult cases. Acupuncture analgesia has been carried out for about 28 000 patients undergoing surgery.
Professor Zhuang Ding, Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Traditional Medicine, China, reviewed the organization of clinical research on acupuncture in China, its current status and problems encountered during clinical research on acupuncture. In the last 40 years, a great deal of work has been done on clinical research on acupuncture in China and more than 20 000 articles have been published in various journals or presented at academic meetings. However, some researchers lack strict scientific training, and this can be identified in their reports. In some research reports, the observed patients were outpatients, who may still have been receiving other kinds of medical treatment without a control on them. Thus the observed therapeutic result was achieved through complicated treatment, not acupuncture alone. In other research, when the treating course lasted for several months, the number of patients who continued treatment was quite different from the number at the beginning. In another report, curative effect statistics included only those who continued their treatment, and not those who failed. Consequently, the statistics did not meet the requirements of medical statistics, although the survey was carried out in a statistical way. The high curative rate was therefore not solely the result of acupuncture.
The draft guidelines prepared by WPRO were used as the basic document for discussion.
The discussion was devoted to concepts expressed in the guidelines and to creating a sample outline of the guidelines.
In terms of concepts, it was agreed that no simple and methodological approach could cover all acupuncture research. Instead, methodologies need to be tailored to the questions asked. The notions of simple case prospective studies as well as that of outcome research were introduced and discussed. The purposes of conducting research for guiding physicians’ choices on the one hand and patients’ choices (which would also be reflected by choice due to ethnic background) on the other, were also discussed. It became clear that these two different demands could be best met by randomized controlled trials and by outcome research respectively.
It was agreed that it would be helpful to be very explicit and that a glossary should be included. In this context, the notion of randomization of sampling versus that of allocation was clarified.
After briefly debating whether a specific example (e.g. asthma) should be discussed, it was decided that only statements not referring to specific conditions should be made in the guidelines. However, examples should be randomly chosen to illustrate the various points covered in the final document.
Before closing the session, a tentative structure was adopted as a working model for the guidelines. This would include:
1. background on acupuncture;
2. the purpose of research and what constitutes research;
3. general considerations; and
4. research methodologies.
2.2.2 Specific issues
1. Research methods
This group considered the following issues in relation to research methodology:
a. Existing data on acupuncture have a cultural bias but form the essential first step of any research project.
b. Descriptive research outlines the uncontrolled effects of acupuncture with respect to:
- traditional medicinal systems;
- cultural aspects of each country’s health provision;
- the process or techniques of the acupuncture utilized; and
- outcomes (objective and subjective).
c. A clinical trial (CT) is one of the clinical research methods available. A clinical trial consists of four elements:
(i) it is carried out on human beings;
(ii) it has an evaluation purpose (efficacy and safety);
(iii) it is conducted intensively; and
(iv) it is a scientific experiment.
d. Randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) provide detailed outcome information. The problems and difficulties in relation to RCTs involving acupuncture are outlined by the group.
e. Outcome research analyses data retrospectively in relation to the clinical effects and cost-effectiveness of acupuncture with respect to other “possibly conventional” treatments.
f. Single case studies are analyses carried out prospectively on the effects of a planned treatment regimen on one individual.
New research strategies also need to be considered based on a realistic assessment of the cost and cultural and political environment in which health care operates. These include:
- pragmatic research that compares outcomes and cases of different treatment packages (conventional and traditional);
- development research (“fix, maintain, contain”) that allows us to develop a better understanding of cost and cost-effectiveness.
2. Outcome measurements in relation to research
The group agreed that research is needed to provide information about one or more of the following points:
d. preventive effects of acupuncture;
f. utility; and
Particular attention needs to be paid to:
a. cultural and ethnic factors that may promote research;
b. outcome measures designed to answer the questions raised by the hypothesis being tested;
c. statistical techniques relevant to the disease studied;
d. the assumptions made within a particular system of traditional medicine; and
e. the process of random allocation in relation to patient choice and outcome.
Proper understanding of terminology in clinical research such as randomization, blindness, placebo, validity, reliability and generalizability is most important in discussions on sound development of clinical research methodology for acupuncture.
The group agreed that a glossary with working definitions would be included in the Guidelines.
4. Ethical issues
Although fundamental human rights are fully recognized by the Working Group and should be respected in clinical research, including acupuncture research, there are different national interpretations in countries where acupuncture is officially recognized and those where acupuncture is not fully recognized.
In those countries where acupuncture has a long history, acupuncture practitioners as well as patients have a cultural barrier accepting the concept of ethical issues developed in the west, such as informed consent. In other countries where acupuncture is not yet recognized, to conduct clinical trial without informed consent is an abuse of human rights.
2.3 Field visit
The members of the Working Group visited Aomori Oriental Medical Hospital and the library affiliated with the hospital.
2.4 Closing ceremony
Dr S.T. Han, Regional Director of the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, pointed out in his closing remarks’, that this was the first attempt to produce research guidelines for acupuncture, and it would enhance scientific research on acupuncture not only in the Western Pacific Region but Other parts of the world as well. He indicated that WHO supports scientific research on acupuncture; however, the experience obtained by its use over many years should not be ignored.He noted that the group had fulfilled the objectives of the Meeting and he assured the group that the Regional Office would continue its leading role in the promotion of the proper use of acupuncture.
On behalf of all participants, Dr Eskinazi acknowledged the effort and support of the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific in holding the Working Group Meeting and in developing the Guidelines for Clinical Research on Acupuncture.
3. Conclusions and recommendations
3.1.1 The Guidelines for Clinical Research on Acupuncture were finalized. The Working Group successfully fulfilled the task assigned to it.
3.1.2 As a valid and effective health care approach, acupuncture should be accepted by health service systems, even though the Working Group recognizes that further clinical research is required.
3.1.3 The consensus reached by the Working Group on social, cultural and ethical considerations and basic principles, methodologies used in clinical research on acupuncture and other related issues, are set out in the Guidelines for Clinical Research on Acupuncture. The recommendations of the Working Group are outlined below.
It is essential to develop a worldwide research culture through which acupuncture can be evaluated, thus providing the background for all the detailed recommendations within this report. The advent of a research-led decision-making process will be achieved by a process of continued education and development. It is recognized that this ideal will not occur immediately but we believe that a number of simple recommendations can be implemented which will, in time, begin this process. Further review of these recommendations will be required over a certain time.
3.2.1 Each interested Member State should develop a national programme that will be proactive and designed to make available:
1. acupuncture where it has been shown to be safe and effective through appropriate clinical research studies; and
2. unbiased information to the public to help guide patients’ preferences.
3.2.2 It is recommended that interested Member States specify a centre or centres of excellence to coordinate their country’s programmes.
3.2.3 The research education of interested acupuncturists and other health professionals would form an essential first step in developing a research culture within each Member State. In order to implement this general principle, a number of specific activities are recommended:
1. the widespread dissemination of the Guidelines for Clinical Research on Acupuncture. This can be effected by publication of hard copy, electronic publication, the active assistance of acupuncture associations on a worldwide basis and the active participation of medical schools and medical research establishments;
2. the publication of the Guidelines in book form, in various languages; and
3. the development of a programme of clinical research methodology workshops based on the Guidelines in interested Member States. The workshops should be designed to initiate a research culture that is practical and should be realistically tailored to the audience and also relevant to the local health care system. The effectiveness of the workshops will ultimately be reflected in the quality of published research.
3.2.4 The group recommends that each Member State should consider the ethical problems involved in the process of clinical research. Particular attention should be paid to patient safety, confidentiality, informed consent, and overall care as it applies in the cultural context of each Member State. Further studies should be conducted in relation to the ethical issues involved in clinical research on acupuncture. Consideration should be given to the different value systems that are involved in human rights such as social, cultural and historical issues.
3.2.5 Information is now frequently exchanged worldwide. Effective clinical research requires an international database of published research. The development of a unified and effective research database is essential. All too often, databases are underused. Therefore, an active programme of promotion and education must go hand-in-hand with database investment and development. Duplication of efforts should be avoided. Institutions such as the National Institute of Health and the databases available in the Institute of Information in the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, supported by WHO, should coordinate their efforts to make research databases available on a worldwide basis.
3.2.6 Standard acupuncture nomenclature should be used (wherever possible) in all clinical research projects. Further promotional activity in relation to the standardization of acupuncture technology and point location is recommended.
3.2.7 Detailed research strategies in relation to disease-oriented research proposals should be developed. This will require specific workshops that focus on particular illnesses defined by clear conventional or traditional diagnoses.
3.2.8 To foster cooperation between acupuncturists and other health care providers.
3.2.9 The group recommends the practice of acupuncture in the medical education system. This may involve a simple basic introduction as a first step that just outlines its mechanism, uses and abuses.
3.2.10 The Working Group realizes that WHO may not have the necessary resources to directly implement all the recommendations outlined above. However, it is recommended that WHO play a leadership and coordinating role, and involve appropriate organizations and associations in implementing these recommendations.
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PORTSMOUTH — The state Department of Transportation reports their crews are working feverishly to repair the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, which was pushed off its track during a routine lift Wednesday afternoon by strong winds. The bridge could be out of commission through the weekend, though officials say they will have a clearer idea of a timeline at the end of the day on Friday.
The bridge, which carries Route 1 across the Piscataqua River to Kittery, Maine, is currently the state’s primary red-listed structure out of 500 bridges.
Standing at the end of the closed bridge with a group of news reporters, shivering in freezing temperatures which dipped down to 0 degrees Thursday morning, Assistant Administrator of Bridge Maintenance Steve Johnson explained how the bridge became skewed, which in structural steel damage to the bridge’s guides. Johnson said a fabrication of new structures was underway at the state department’s Franklin yard but the cold temperatures and bitter winds were making the work more difficult.
“It’s not an easy job, even in good weather, because you’re working in a tight space with fairly large structures,” he said. “…We now need to put the guides back, push them over and reinstall the guides.”
NHDOT Spokesman Bill Boynton told Foster’s the drawbridge's center span was damaged at about 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday, when the span stuck about a foot above the roadway.
Currently, both vehicular and marine traffic are unable to pass through.
Johnson said approximately eight workers have been conducting repairs since Thursday morning and it was unknown Thursday afternoon whether they would continue working through the night.
“It’s obviously a fairly long span so it’s not that easy to do,” he added.
The Memorial Bridge is unavailable for detours as well, as crews have been continually repairing that structure for a reopening in July. Johnson noted this bridge closure’s traffic problems were “greatly exacerbated” by the ongoing Memorial work.
All vehicular traffic has been rerouted to the I-95 “high rise” bridge, but Johnson noted one of his main focuses is repairing the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge for incoming shipping traffic expected this weekend. He said crews are remaining safe by wearing many layers of clothing, as well as lifejackets and harnesses when working near the water below the bridge.
Completed in 1940, the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge provides measures 2,800 feet, and on average, aids in the crossing of some 16,000 vehicles.
“We’re working to get this done as quickly as possible,” Johnson added. “We will start putting pieces in place, but the bridge is old. The bridge is definitely in need of replacement and any type of significant bridge is a fairly unique piece of structure. There are a lot of moving parts …”
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I’ve recently worked on a couple of blog sites that had been victim to malicious activity. The evidence was different in both cases and for one consisted of search results that promoted drugs that enhance performance. And we’re not talking about blog performance For both sites there was hidden text and html code in all the posts containing offsite links to seeming random and unrelated websites. The job I had was to remove any sign of malicious code and sanitize the sites. Additionally I was getting browser warnings indicating malware was present on the page I was navigating to. The warnings suggested I don’t continue lest my PC be infected further.
Investigating a hacked WordPress site
With WordPress there are a few good ways to speed up the job of troubleshooting a hacked site and speed may be of essence with something like this. I asked the client when there were first signs of the malicious content or behavior – believe me it’s actually very useful to know the exact date & time you first experience the issue as you’ll see later. So, if that time information is not available or cannot be remembered viewing the server error logs promptly could give you some more information. Armed with that information and presuming you can get into the site’s admin dashboard you try the following fairly standard actions to help uncover the culprit and mitigate further issues:
- Disable all plugins
- Switch to default theme
- Use Theme Authenticity Checker
The Theme Authenticity Checker plugin does a quick scan of all installed themes for unnecessary code – typically this code consists of statements or functions like “eval( blah blah);” code injected somewhere in any of a themes files. Pay attention to anything TAC highlights – perhaps removing un-needed themes. For any theme that is highlighted as containing potentially malicious code you’ll need to edit the affected file or remove and re-install the theme files from the originals. That’s a drag if you’ve made theme modifications but it means you can revert to being back online. In one of the cases here I was re-enabling the plugins one at a time and I found that a plugin was causing one issue (preventing the blog from displaying) and by removing it from the plugins folder I could continue.
However, perhaps your blog site is non-functioning and you can’t get into your site’s admin dashboard? Well, now’s the time you use FTP or SSH connect to the server hosting the website. Remember I said how useful it is to remember the date & time you first noticed the hacking / issue? Well, here’s where you can navigate to the following folders and look for files that have been changed around the same date/time:
- the folder above wp-content – sometimes public_html or public
* The above folder list is not exhaustive but typically this is where the malicious code is to reside
In each of these folders look for other folders or files that have recently been created. These are sure indications that modifications have been made and you need to target those files or folders.
Fixing a hacked site
After searching in the above folders on the clients sites here’s what I found:
- A folder called “backup” and in there was malicious file ”backup-loader” that had code to display an authentic looking message on the WordPress dashboard.
- An include statement at the top or within the index.php
- A file/folder combination called “__notes/notes” that was included in index.php
- Malicious code in wp-includes/theme.php
- Malicious code in functions.php – an eval statement that referred to a setting in the wp_options database
With FTP you can download, use a code editor, and then upload fixed files. With SSH using a code editor directly to removing the malicious code in the php files. Identifying the code to remove was pretty easy as often the code segments looked out of place and therefore easy to remove and test. The wp_options code required the use of a MySQL database client like PHPMyAdmin to manually edit the table and remove the code and the related entry / record to prevent re-infection.
Cleanse and Sanitize
I said before that one of the effects of this hacking was that all the posts and pages had been injected with additional HTML code. Again with a MySQL client I looked through the blog database tables and found that also infected were the “revision” records for each affected post or page. Each malicious link was hidden from view with a CSS “style display:none” command and each link was injected in random locations within the post content. This made cleansing a labor intensive job (I could have possibly written some code to scan and remove but time didn’t permit) as I had to manually edit each post in the database – copying and pasting to a code editor and then pasting it back into the database, view the page or post, view the source to ensure the malicious code was gone.
Check in with Google Webmaster Tools as well to see if Google has identified malware on your site. If it has then follow it’s suggestions as to how to get the information Google stores about the site updated to reflect the current, non-malware, site.
WordPress Security Review
Once your site is cleansed and working you might take a look at further locking down access to reduce the chances of this happening again. Changing your admin and FTP passwords regularly is always good practice but there are more hints and tips in my WordPress Security post.
I successfully managed to fix these sites using the techniques described above – if you ever experience similar incidents then this short guide will help you. I do recommend now after all of this, taking a database backup and upgrading to the latest version of plugins and WordPress as soon as possible.
Thoughts, ideas always welcome in the comments.
*Update* After I completed this project I came across an updated version of Exploit Scanner – more information here. A useful tool to assist in fixing a compromised WordPress installation.
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This is a really cool wildlife sanctuary just an hour out of Melbourne. A great place to see alot of Australias unique native wildlife, such as Kangaroos, Koalas & Wombats. They have an awesome Bird's of Prey exhibit and Reptile Exhibit. The Sanctuary is located in the Yarra Valley, which also has lots of great Wineries to visit . Best time to visit would be around March or April as all the vines are turning Golden at the end of summer. If you get a chance visit Hedge End maze in Healesville. This is a really fun hedge maze. A great spot to spend a couple of hours having fun getting lost in the maze.
Healesville animal sanctuary is a local favourite place to see Australia's native animals including the furry ones such as Koala, Kangaroo & Wallaby, not furry such as Snales and birds and of course the obscure Platypus and Echidna.
The highlights are the Reptile show, where you get to handle snakes and lizards (supervised of course) and the Birds of prey show.
If you come to Melbourne, you need to make the effort to come out here. Its around an hour drive out of Melbourne but well worth it. Best time to come is spring and Autumn for your own comfort but in summar the furry animals like to sleep during the heat of the day.
-Healesville Sanctuary is one of Australia’s most recognised attractions, showcasing more than 200 species of Australian wildlife, only one hour from Melbourne.
Get closer to Australia’s wildlife, featuring unique experiences with kangaroos, koalas and amazing birds of prey. Check on the progress of animals being cared for at the Australian Wildlife Health Centre.
- You can meet the keeper. Scheduled everyday, you can learn about iconic Australian species such as koalas and kangaroos, to our threatened species such as Tasmanian devils. Our inspirational keepers share their unique knowledge and insights into the animals they care for.
Here is where you will want to go if you wish to see a large number of Aussie animals all in the one place.
Plenty of guides on hand to answer any questions you may have!
Bring your own lunch if possible, as food at any of the States 3 Zoos is rather pricey.
If you enjoy Australian wildlife, give yourself a day to visit this place. There is so much to see and enjoy (after paying an admission fee) that you will not do justice to yourself if you rush through it. Make sure you see the wild brids display - usually every hour or so.
No visit to Australia is complete without visiting the natural inhabitant of this land ...yes the kangaroos....I prefer to go to the sanctuary in Healesville rather that the Zoo because
1) They live in a happier environment
2) I am against putting animals in small cages where they cant move around and enjoy the nature
Its just an hour drive from Melbourne city ..go there an dyou wont regret because there are many many more beautiful native animals waiting for you there . there are some local tours there too . just walk around Chinatown and look for tour operators
Wombats belong to the marsupial order of species from Australia. The other marsupials include the koala, kangaroo, wallaby, bandicoot, bilby, nabarlek, quokka, quoll, tasmanian devil, tasmanian tiger and ringtail possum. There is also one species of marsupial found in North America, the Opossum.
extract from a webpage which makes me smile ....
"Wombats are really much nicer creatures than koalas (too irritable when not drugged up on eucalyptus) and kangaroos (too stupid, and too tiring to watch). Why isn't anyone doing more to save the wombat?"
others said the following....
"Wombats do not appear clever or agile (for instance they prefer to barge
through any obstacle rather than figure out a way round it) and this has
made them an object of derision in Australia where "you wombat" is an
accusation of clumsiness or stupidity. In fact, however, although they
are extremely stubborn, wombats have proportionally the largest brain of
all the marsupials and in captivity are easily house-trained and recognise
their pet name when it is spoken.
A wombat is *not* a bat for hitting woms with.
But my fren told me that the Aussie called person who goes for a One Night Stand a wombat ...lol...hmmm...the Aussie are really fond of this animal , dont they ?
What you should know about koala bear !
A hundred years ago, millions of these marsupials (animals that carry their young in a pouch) existed in Australia, and it was a popular sport to shoot them out of the trees. They were easy targets, as the presence of people doesn’t seem to disturb them and they are placid and friendly by nature.
In the early part of this century, millions of these animals were slaughtered for their soft, durable, silver-grey fur, and were approaching the point of extinction when the Australian government passed protective legislation which may enable the koala to make a comeback.
Koalas feed exclusively on the leaves of eucalyptus trees and become so saturated with the essential oils of this plant that they smell just like cough drops.
Female koalas give birth to a single offspring every two years. A mature male koala usually has a small harem of females which he guards jealously
So , arent you gonna view those cuddly and gentle bear differently after reading this ?
The Healesville Sanctuary was opened in 1934 and it features Australian wildlife with more than 200 species of native birds, mammals and reptiles. A visit to Healesville is a must thing to do and also it is a truly Australian experience. The Sanctuary has enjoyed a long association with Platypus. The Platypus House is likely to be the only place you`ll see these amazing creatures, and certainly the only place you`ll see their underwater activities.
The staff give regular demonstrations, such as snake shows. The best is amazing birds of prey presentation, where raptors dive and swoop above your head. It`s held at 3.30 pm but get there early for good seat in a small amphitheatre.
Very near Melbourne city you can find an animal ecological kind of farm.
There I had my first contact with these amazing animals from down under.
I always thought that koalas were gonna be more friendly than kangaroos, but I was wrong. Kangaroos are very curious and lovely. But of all the animals I saw, the one that really impressed me was the wombat. It is a total different species that I had never seen before.
Langham Hotel Melbourne Melbourne
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Crown Towers Melbourne
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4 Reviews and 522 Opinions Everything was really good at this hotel, well located, comfortable, decorated with excellent taste,...
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Latest Deer Season Appears 'Average'
By DAVID RAINER
It may take a few more years to determine what an “average” deer season is with the advent of the three-buck limit for the 2007-2008 season. But as far as Chris Cook, Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) wildlife biologist who specializes in white-tailed deer, can tell, the 2009-2010 season completed Jan. 31 will likely fit in the “average” category.
Cook, who queried WFF biologists and deer processors around the state and reviewed deer harvest data collected from Alabama’s wildlife management areas (WMAs), said the success deer hunters experienced pretty much ran the gamut of what could be expected.
“In some parts of the state, it was average or maybe a littler better than average,” Cook said. “In others, it appeared a lot slower than in a typical year. That was the story even within some of our WFF districts with some areas having a good year and others being below average.
“Everyone seems to attribute (the slow areas) to the same factors – a lot of acorns throughout the state and good browse growing conditions (rain and mild temperatures) on into hunting season. We had some really cold weather that knocked the browse back in late December and early January. This impacted the deer movement and deer sightings, especially considering the way many hunters choose to hunt these days. They tend to sit on a food plot whether there is food in the woods on not.”
In addition to a record-breaking cold snap for the first half of January, hunters also had to deal with downpours on most weekends during the latter part of the season.
“Our wildlife management areas were affected the same way,” Cook said. “Some had a really good year and some were off. The WMAs likely were more affected by the weather than by food availability and hunting tactics. Participation was way off on most weekends with a lot of rain. When the weather was good, the WMAs usually had good hunts.
“I guess this would be a typical year. It wasn’t a unanimously good year or a bad year from one end of the state to the other. When you start talking statewide, most years are going to be highly variable.”
Cook said he talked to several processors and one expressed an observation that the three-buck limit had affected the animals brought to his facility
“His perception was there were a lot less yearling bucks brought in to be processed,” Cook said. “Of course, deer processors won’t see every deer that’s killed in an area, but his perception was there were more bucks two years or older brought in than in the past. There’s no way to tell whether that’s attributable to the buck limit or not.”
Of course, the weather has a great deal of influence of what the hunters and processors see.
“When you have a mild winter and lot of acorns, the number of deer killed is going to be down,” Cook said. “If we get cold weather prior to the rut and during the rut, the deer harvest is going to be great. Cold weather at the end of the season also can really improve the harvest due to a lack of available food. I know some processors were turning people away during the 2008-2009 season when the weather got cold because they didn‘t have any room in their coolers to hang more deer. I didn’t see that in my part of the state this season.”
Cook also said rutting activity across the state was as varied as the hunting success. He said the ancestry of the deer herd has a significant affect on when rutting activity occurs. Deer from Michigan were stocked in Lawrence and Winston counties in the 1920s, while some other areas were stocked with deer North Carolina. These areas have maintained an early rut in November and early December. Deer from Texas and Wisconsin and some of the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia were stocked in many Georgia counties that border the Chattahoochee River. Those deer also rut much earlier than most native Alabama whitetails and appear to influence the early rut dates we see in portions of the counties that border this part of Georgia. In most of Alabama, deer were stocked from the populations in southwest Alabama, hence the later rut experienced in most of the state.
“Oakmulgee WMA was one of the areas originally stocked with deer from North Carolina in the ‘30s and ‘40s,” Cook said. “Deer in that area have retained the earlier rut of their ancestors. They rut in early and mid December. Hunters typically take bucks that are chasing does and bucks were beat up from fighting on the hunts in late November through mid December.
“On the other hand, one of the biggest bucks brought to the check station this year during one of the December hunts showed no signs of actively participating in the rut. His tarsal glands were not stained dark like is typical for a mature buck at that time of year. His ear was split and he was beat up from fighting, but he didn’t appear to have been making scrapes or anything. I guess there is always at least one oddball in the crowd.”
Cook said intense herd management can influence the date of the rut; however, management can only do so much. Genetics is probably the most influential factor, at least here in Alabama.
“You can’t move the rut from January to November, but I have seen the peak of breeding moved earlier by a couple of weeks through intensive herd management,” Cook said. “On one particular property in Hale County, the hunters were very aggressive with doe harvest and very selective on what bucks were taken. After seven years, their average date of conception had moved from January 24th to January 8th. In the seventh year, none of the deer collected were bred later than January 14th.
“Not everybody may want to go to that extent, but with a more moderate approach, you can definitely shorten the (breeding) window and do a better job of ensuring the does are bred on the first cycle.”
WFF sends out a mail survey each year to gather information about the hunting seasons and when this year’s data is analyzed, Cook doesn’t expect anything out of the ordinary. The impact of the three-buck limit will take more time to quantify.
“When all the numbers come in from the mail survey I think it is going to end up being what should be considered an average year for statewide deer harvest,” Cook said. “But because of the buck limit, the ‘average’ year is going to be different from what it was three years ago. It’s going to take a little while to see how the buck limit will affect the long-term harvest trends.”
Cook did say there were some very nice bucks taken during the latest season and a rainy year and abundant mast crop probably contributed to that fact.
“I saw several exceptional bucks taken this year, including a 160-inch buck from Greene County and a 15-point taken from Stockton, which is a really nice buck for anywhere in Alabama, especially Baldwin County,” he said. “The supervising wildlife biologist in southeast Alabama told me he personally observed more big bucks taken in his area this year than in any year he can remember. We had some really nice bucks taken on our WMAs in west central Alabama, as well. People have told me of taking more big-bodied deer (200 pounds plus) this season. The abundant rain during the late spring and summer should have made conditions very good for growing antlers, and the heavy acorn crop helped deer put on additional weight last fall.”
Cook said WFF will again hold antler-scoring sessions across the state for it Records of Alabama’s White-tailed Deer program. Scoring sessions will start in May to allow for the mandatory 60-day drying time for antlers and will be held periodically throughout the summer. Check www.outdooralabama.com to find out more about the program and a schedule of scoring sessions in the coming weeks.
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Day after day, he must find ways to reconcile Muslim tradition with American life. Little in his rural Egyptian upbringing or years of Islamic scholarship prepared him for the challenge of leading a mosque in America....Much more at the link.
"America transformed me from a person of rigidity to flexibility," said Mr. Shata, speaking through an Arabic translator. "I went from a country where a sheik would speak and the people listened to one where the sheik talks and the people talk back."...
Mr. Shata settles dowries, confronts wife abusers, brokers business deals and tries to arrange marriages. He approaches each problem with an almost scientific certainty that it can be solved. "I try to be more of a doctor than a judge," said Mr. Shata. "A judge sentences. A doctor tries to remedy."...
It is a woman's right, Mr. Shata believes, to remove her hijab if she feels threatened. Muslims can take jobs serving alcohol and pork, he says, but only if other work cannot be found. Oral sex is acceptable, but only between married couples. Mortgages, he says, are necessary to move forward in America.
"Islam is supposed to make a person's life easier, not harder," Mr. Shata explained.
March 4, 2006
"I went from a country where a sheik would speak and the people listened to one where the sheik talks and the people talk back."
Says Sheik Reda Shata, the imam of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge:
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"We've had a number of requests for support from the French in support of their operation," Nuland said in a State Department briefing Tuesday.
"They've asked for information sharing, they've asked for support with airlift, they've asked for support with aerial refueling. We are already providing information and we are looking hard today at the airlift question, helping them transport forces from France and from the area into the theater."
The United States is training African forces being deployed. By this weekend, trainers will be on the ground in African nations that are contributing forces, the State Department said.
If the African troops are not well-equipped, motivated or need much more time to be deployed, that could affect the French mission.
France is sending 2,500 troops to Mali, from French military facilities in Africa and from France. Paris quickly deployed troops since it has permanent bases in Gabon and Djibouti.
It also has a few hundred troops in Ivory Coast as a result of the international peacekeeping mission two years ago. It has a permanent battalion of 800 to 1,000 in Chad.
A few hundred more will come directly from France.
"We want, and it's in the interest of everybody, to get back to the track of the U.N. process and of the deployment of an African-led operation, which was the whole idea of the last resolution of the U.N. Security Council," the French official said. "So we hope we will receive support from the African troops and others. But our troops will be there as long as necessary."
France has requested assistance from the United States. The official said it is getting "full political support" from the White House and the U.S. State Department.
"We have very good cooperation in intelligence, and they just have announced that aircraft transport will be provided by the U.S. and, as far as I know, they are still considering the question of a refueling plan. So they are on board," the official said.
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VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — The Obama administration on Friday declared the insurgent Haqqani network a terrorist body, a move that could undermine Afghan peace efforts and test fragile U.S.-Pakistani relations.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she notified Congress of her decision, which bans Americans from doing any business with members of the Pakistan-based militant group and blocks any assets it holds in the United States.
“We also continue our robust campaign of diplomatic, military, and intelligence pressure on the network, demonstrating the United States’ resolve to degrade the organization’s ability to execute violent attacks,” she said in a statement.
Enraged by a string of high-profile attacks on U.S. and NATO troops, Congress gave Clinton a Sunday deadline to deliver a report on whether the Haqqanis should be designated and all of its members subjected to U.S. financial sanctions. Clinton’s decision comes amid numerous disagreements within the administration about the wisdom of the designation.
The U.S. already has placed sanctions on many Haqqani leaders and is targeting its members militarily. But it had held back from formally designating the al-Qaida-linked network a terrorist group over concerns it could jeopardize reconciliation efforts between the government and insurgents in Afghanistan, and ruffle feathers with Pakistan, the Haqqanis’ longtime benefactor.
Washington long has branded the group among the biggest threats to American and allied forces in Afghanistan, and to that country’s stability after American troops leave in 2014. A subsidiary of the Taliban, it is based in northern Pakistan but crosses the border to launch attacks, including a rocket-propelled grenade assault on the U.S. Embassy and NATO compound in Kabul in September.
The Obama administration has been trying to coax Afghanistan’s fighting groups into peace talks, offering the prospect of a Qatar-based political office for insurgents and even the transfer of several prisoners being held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Negotiations have been dormant for months, and the Haqqanis have been among the least interested in talking.
A senior Pakistani intelligence official said the administration’s decision could hurt U.S.-Pakistani relations and negatively impact the ongoing peace process with the Taliban. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The group also has enjoyed a close relationship with Pakistan. The U.S. and its often reluctant counterterrorism ally have been at loggerheads over the Haqqanis for years, with Washington accusing Islamabad of giving the network a free hand in the remote North Waziristan region and even providing it with some logistical support.
Pakistan says that its forces are stretched thin in fighting an insurgency that already has killed more than 30,000 people and that it cannot also take on the Haqqanis. Many analysts attribute the military’s reluctance to its historical ties to the Haqqani network’s founder, Jalaluddin Haqqani, and an assessment that the group can be an important ally in Afghanistan after U.S. forces withdraw in 2014.
Congress wanted action. In July, it set a deadline to prod the administration into imposing blanket sanctions on the group by designating it a foreign terrorist organization.
Clinton’s decision will come into effect in seven to 10 days, U.S. officials said.
They cited disagreements about the designation. Some favored it, while others worried it could elevate the Haqqanis from their current status as an amorphous, tribal movement. That could end up hurting counterterrorism efforts by increasing their appeal among would-be jihadists.
Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss confidential evaluations.
Last month, the U.S. scored a major counterterror success when an unmanned drone strike in Pakistan near the Afghan border killed one of Jalaluddin Haqqani’s sons, Badruddin.
Badruddin was considered a vital part of the Haqqani structure.
The State Department said in May 2011 that Badruddin Haqqani sat on the Miram Shah Shura, a group that controls all Haqqani network activities and coordinates attacks in southeastern Afghanistan. It also blamed him for the 2008 kidnapping of New York Times reporter David Rohde.
Jalaluddin Haqqani created his network while serving as a leader in the decade-long insurgency against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which began in 1979. He developed extensive foreign contacts, getting money, weapons and supplies from Pakistani intelligence, which in turn received billions of dollars from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
He served as Afghanistan’s justice minister after the Soviets left, and minister of tribal and border affairs after Taliban fundamentalists seized power in 1996. He joined the Taliban insurgency when the U.S. helped overthrow the regime after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Haqqani effectively retired in 2005, passing responsibility for day-to-day operations to his son Sirajuddin, who is accused of expanding the network’s kidnapping and extortion operations. Reports also accuse the Haqqanis of lucrative drug trafficking and smuggling activity.
The U.S. already has designated Haqqani and his sons individually as terrorists.
Klapper reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Sebastian Abbot reported from Islamabad.
Follow Bradley Klapper at https://twitter.com/bklapperap
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IT officials in Contra Costa County, California have launched an investigation into how hundreds of internal e-mails containing private employee data were sent out inadvertently to a Swedish company.
The investigation was launched after Computerworld notified the county that Robert Carlesten, a 26-year-old managing director of internet company Ord&Bild, based in Sweden, could produce dozens of e-mails he said have been arriving at his internet.ac domain regularly for the past two years.
Carlesten said he tried to contact the senders of the e-mails on numerous occasions but received no reply.
In addition to a deluge of administrative communications from the county's Department of Information Technology and human resources director, the e-mails contain detailed discussions and attachments related to the payroll files for the county's Superior Court as well as current and former employee benefits.
Many of the e-mails, obtained by Computerworld, contained the names, employee numbers and benefits of Superior Court commissioners and other workers.
Tom Whittington, CIO of Contra Costa County, said the county became aware of the problem only after receiving calls from Computerworld. A preliminary investigation, he said, revealed that the problem was the result of some county employees using erroneous e-mail address books and wasn't caused by a virus or worm infection.
"We've started to take action to stop this, and I believe we have stopped it," said Whittington. "We shut off and blocked the internet.ac domain so our employees can't send any e-mails to that address."
Part of the problem, said Whittington, is that the county's naming structure includes ".ac" for the auditor controller's office. "Now we need to research who has the bad address book that has this address."
But that move poses a potential challenge for Whittington's IT administrators: Many employees have personal address books that are stored only on their PCs, making it impossible for the county's IT department to centrally update all address books.
Although Whittington said he has been advised by the county's chief information security officer that counties and cities are exempt from California's landmark identity-theft law, known as SB 1386, some legal analysts said the county may be required to notify those whose personal information was compromised.
SB 1386, which went into effect 1 July 2003, requires companies that do business with California residents to inform customers when their names, in combination with personally identifiable information, have been accessed by an unauthorised person. If Contra Costa County is required to follow the statute, it would be the first major test of the law.
Dan Verton writes for Computerworld
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Along with the childcare, Montessori style teaching, and play times, we engage children in several extra activities:
Music Classes: Cathy Cooper, who has been a music teacher for over 30 years, teaches music to toddlers and KG/preschoolers each Tuesday and Thursday. Cathy's husband, Richard Cooper, volunteers to help with the instruments.
Field Trips: During summer and some of the school release days, preschool and older children go out for field trips at places such as Como Zoo, Bowling Alley, Adventure Park, local library, local parks, swimming classes, etc.
Sign Language: Our teachers teach children sign language - something that children love and catch on fast.
Spanish: We teach Spanish to the preschool/KG children during 15 minute sessions, twice a week.
Sports Days: During summer, at Andover, on Friday mornings we rent the adjacent ball fields and a coach comes in to teach children beginning soccer.
Water Days: During summer, on Fridays, we use the sprinkler system in the back to let kids have a ball with water.
There are several more activities such as conference hours with parents every six months, picture day, Christmas Party with Santa, Graduation Party etc. which makes the year go by really fast!
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SACRAMENTO -- The California Highway Patrol doesn't take holidays.
CHP officers will be blanketing freeways throughout the state in a period of "maximum enforcement" Wednesday evening through Sunday night, keeping tabs on drivers through one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
Of particular focus for officers on patrol will be seat belt use, according to Commissioner Joe Farrow.
"Motorists are less likely to encounter one of our officers by simply wearing their seat belt," Farrow said. "Not only does the law require everyone inside the vehicle to be properly secured, seat belts are your best line of defense in a collision."
The 2011 Thanksgiving weekend was particularly dangerous on California roads. Thirty-two people were killed in collisions, an increase of more than 50 percent over 2010.
Two-thirds of the people who died in collision in CHP jurisdiction last year were not wearing seat belts, the CHP said.
Officers will also be looking for drunk, drowsy or distracted drivers. The CHP made almost 1,500 arrests for driving under the influence over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2011.
To report an unsafe or possibly impaired driver, call 911.
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The Economic Relations of Sex
From Libertarian Labyrinth
| Resources Relating to|
THE ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF SEX.
To the Editor of The Open Court:
POSSESSED of rather more than ordinary interest in the sex question, and agreeing with Professor Cope that any proposition for the amelioration of the condition of women should be discussed and decided by women, I am moved to certain remarks suggested by his article on "The Material Relations of Sex" in the first number of The Monist.
All through its perusal I was impressed by his unconscious recognition of an underlying question, which, apart from woman's inferiority, determines the relations of the sexes. This is plainly apparent in the paragraph alluding to the communistic system of wealth production and distribution, in which he admits the possibility of promiscuous sex-relations. While I agree with Professor Cope that to institute communism would be a decided blow at progress, since progress consists in a constant widening of individual liberty while communism invokes authoritarian direction, nevertheless, I hold that in acknowledging the possibility of variety in sex relations under the communistic regime, he has admitted that the present social arrangement of sex is the necessary outgrowth of our economic conditions.
Postulating the fact of woman's mental and physical inferiority, our writer sees no possible ultimatum for her but the service of maternity and child-bearing in return for "protection and support" from some man, or set of men called a "state." This brings us at once to two vital questions:
Is woman's inferiority the cause, or the effect, of her economic subjection?
Is economic independence for woman a possible ideal?
I think it can be clearly proven that the mental constitution of woman, like that of man, has never failed to rise where restrictions upon equal freedom have been torn down. Whenever woman has had the same opportunity as man, results have proven that her capacities for development are as unlimited as his. It may be objected that I am instancing exceptional cases instead of dealing with types. My reply is that only in exceptional cases have women enjoyed the same opportunities as men. Yet these cases are sufficiently numerous to warrant the conclusion that nature affords no insuperable obstacle to sex-equality in brain; and that inferiority in the typical woman must be regarded as the result of her dependent economic condition, created by the artificial restrictions of man.
Concerning the physical disability of the sex, it is more difficult to show the beneficent results of liberty, since even the most advanced of women are so hampered by body-dwarfing, dress, and custom that we have scarcely sufficient data for opinion concerning her possibilities of physical development. Such as we have would indicate that much of her present incompetence during periods of gestation and nursing, is incidental to the present defective social arrangement which condemns woman to the wasteful drudgery of individual housekeeping, and all the slavish work of the much lauded family-life.
However, even physical inferiority need not prove the eternal barrier to economic independence which Professor Cope would make of it. To-day industrial progress demands not so much physical strength as skill. Undoubtedly the elephant has physical strength superior to man, yet that he is no competitor against man I need waste no space to prove. Likewise the Hercules of ages past would have no place in competitive industry to-day simply because he would not be adapted to his environment. Granting the present physical disability of woman, it by no means follows that, with equal opportunity, she would be unable to compete with man in the fields of productive industry. Indeed one general com- plaint of the workingmen is that they are competing, and, by the law of the survival of the fittest, have already driven men out of several branches of employment, such as textile fabrics, shoe- making, etc. No great amount of strength is required, but skill and patience; and it is the universal testimony of the overseers that women are equally skilful and more reliable.
There is a class of economic reformers called anarchists, who contend that with opportunity to exploit nature thrown free to the human race, the hours of labor would be so reduced as to enable one to produce sufficient to satisfy all his needs by three hours work per day. This with our present machinery, the possibilities of further reduction being left to further developments. They also contend that such freedom must necessarily result in constant labor-demand, thus securing the laborer against the present nightmare of involuntary idleness. Under such conditions, bearing in mind that the ever increasing displacement of physical strength by machinery, keeps reducing the physical burden of productive labor, woman's economic independence becomes a realisable ideal, and the whole matter of sex association changes. When woman comprehends her independence, marriage will no longer be a matter of "protection and support," which Professor Cope declares is the basis of monogamic wifehood. It will become a matter of mutual co-operation, based, let us hope on something higher than the sale of the powers of motherhood, and demanding the same standard for man as for woman.
Whether monogamy or variety will then obtain depends on which of these systems produces the higher type of humanity. At present it is impossible to decide, since without the independence of woman there can be no equality, and without equality no true adjustment of sex relations.
Voltairine de Cleyre.
Source: The Open Court. V, 11 (1891), 193. 2801-2802.
To the Editor of The Open Court:—
As THE preceding notice of my article by Miss de Cleyre repeats the usual formula of a class of social reformers, I must again emphasise the foundation facts of the situation, as they appear from a physiological standpoint. These are somewhat opposed to our ideals, I freely admit; but it is the history of every human mind that is not incurably imaginative rather than exact, to learn the lesson which a bondage to material conditions imposes on us all alike.
Miss de Cleyre asks, "Is woman's inferiority the cause or the effect of her economic subjection?" She then expresses the opinion that it is the effect and not the cause of such subjection, as well as of "body dwarfing dress and custom." This is the fundamental error of a large class of women doctrinaires, and it needs but a superficial knowledge of Natural History to comprehend it. The inferior physical strength of the female sex is general (though not entirely universal) in the animal kingdom; and as mentality is one of the functions of human mechanism, it extends to the mental organism in man as well. It is a simple corollary of the law of the conservation of energy that where a large amount of energy is devoted to one function, less remains for expenditure in performing another. The large part of the female organism devoted to the functions of gestation, lactation, and maternal care of children, simply puts her out of the race as a competitor with man, on anything like equal terms. Even if those functions are not active, the machinery for the performance of other functions is not thereby increased in quantity or improved in quality, except in such small degree as one woman may accomplish in a life-time. And this small accomplishment she does not transmit, since the unmarried woman has no children. I call attention to the fact that although woman has had the advantage of the inheritance of male accomplishments and capacities since the origin of the species, the relation between her and man still remains about as it ever has remained. The one sex progresses about as rapidly as the other, and they maintain about the same relative position. This fact is so fundamental that it is unreasonable to expect any change in the future. What can be done is to improve both sexes as much as possible in all their powers, and to acquaint each with their limitations. In this way the greatest amount of happiness may be attained with a minimum of conflict and waste.
It is evident that marriage is the destiny of both sexes, and the question which I have considered in the article in The Monist is the nature of its conditions.
In the first place monogamic marriage is no more a slavery to women than the support of a family is to a man. Man is, to use this common, but inexact expression, in a state of "slavery" to the conditions of his environment, and no socialistic scheme can relieve him of the difficulty, though some mitigations can be doubtless introduced. Man is an essential part of this environment, and contributes to the "slavery" to which he is subject. Woman's environment differs from that of man, in the difference in the relation in which she stands to man, as compared with that which subsists between man and man. That she should escape the consequences of this environment is no more to be anticipated than is the case with man himself. She has the advantage of man however in having for her " master " a being who is naturally inclined to admire, aid, and support her; while, to man the environment is mostly controlled by grim necessity imposed by unfeeling forces. When man rebels against this environment, and makes reprisals on society by appropriating the property of others, he makes a serious mistake, and he finds it out, generally soon. So some women, discontented with their relations to a husband, are dishonest to him. They also have trouble. Community of wives is as impossible as community of property, unless wives surrender all claims to more than temporary consideration. There are both men and women who think this the better system, and who act on it. But the men generally abandon it ultimately and marry. It would be interesting to know what becomes of the women. More information is needed, but the general impression is that such women have not chosen wisely.
It is true that woman like "any animal" can bear children; but it is also true that man like "any animal " must make a living. The two occupations are on a par. But neither should neglect to develop their "self-hood" in such leisure time as they can command from these necessary occupations. Every girl should have a good education, especially in biology and housekeeping, and the more she knows of the science of life, the better will she be prepared to know and to fulfil her part in human society.
Another aspect of the question of woman's entrance into the industrial field as a competitor to man, requires more space than I can give to it here. It is the fact, that woman, not being responsible for the support of her husband and family, can afford to work at some occupations for much lower wages than man can accept. This is one of the reasons for the lower rate of women's wages; and it is not due, as many thoughtless agitators assume, to the parsimony of severe task-masters. The advent of this cheap labor into some fields has driven men out of them, and if the range of such work is to be much extended, a larger number of men will be thrown out of employment. This state of affairs is said to exist in some departments of iron manufactures in Pitts- burg, and in some other industry in Scotland. Under such circumstances men must emigrate, or cease to marry, since the can support themselves alone on their reduced wages. Any thoughtful person may follow this state of affairs to its logical consequences One of these would be the diminution in the number of marriages and the substitution therefor of a system in which women would be the chief sufferers. So that their success in some of the lighter fields of industry does not redound to the benefit of women at large.
I do not wish to be understood however to deny in toto the advantage of more or less industrial occupation for women. For temporary purposes and under peculiar conditions, it is often not only desirable but necessary that women should have remunerative occupation. But I merely wish to point out that this state of affairs does not represent the fundamental organisation of society, and cannot alter it in the least. It is only necessary where there is a surplus of female population.
It has occurred to me that, in order to escape further discussion on my part, it would be well to reinforce the fundamental fact on which my position rests, viz. the disadvantageous relation to man occupied by woman in an unprotected and unaided "struggle for existence." Some women do not appear to realise this fact, and some men support them in this mistaken opinion. Nevertheless the real state of the case is known to, or suspected by, the majority of mankind. To such as do not perceive it, it may be a help to refer to the fact that every pursuit apart from those connected with maternity, and the teaching of children, may be as well done by men as by women, and a majority of the pursuits of men cannot be followed by women at all. The fact that a number of women succeed for a time in occupations usually filled by men, does not alter the general principle. Indeed it is often entirely proper and necessary that they should do so, provided that they understand the general law of social equilibrium and act accordingly when occasion arises. But of this law they sometimes do not hear, but are taught by alleged reformers in the press and on the lecture platform, doctrines that falsely assert that in the nature of things the world is as open for an independent career to a young woman as to a young man. If I shall have prevented a single young woman from spending the best years of her life in learning the truth in this matter, my purpose will have been served.
E. D. Cope.
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How much nutrient loss after 24 hours?
I'd prefer to do all my juicing 1 time per day after work. This means some of my juice may be up to 24 hours old when drank.
So oxidation occurs over time that reduces the nutrient content of the juice, but to what extend? Over 24 hours: is it 50%? If it's 10%, then couldn't we just drink "a little more"? If it's 1%, couldn't we consider that negligible?
To say simply say there's nutrient loss over time is too vague a piece of information. Any studies or data on this?
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Monika Bulaj June 29, 2012Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Belarus.
Tartars Mosque. Minsk, Belarus 2004
Monika Bulaj (b. 1966, Poland) studied Philosophy at Warsaw University. She has explored the world of nomads, minorities, immigrants and outcasts in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Monika has published six books of the photography and creative non -fiction reportage and has participated in numerous exhibitions. Her photographs have been published in: La Republica, Corriere della Sera, GEO, National Geographic and others. Her work has been awarded by: The Aftermath Project Grant 2010, Bruce Chatwin special price for photography “The Absolute Eye” 2009, and the TED Global Fellowship 2011. She is based in Italy.
About the Photograph:
“The Belorussia Tartars are an incredible synthesis between Christianity and Islam. They read the Koran in Slavic, written in Arabic letters. They make use of incense in their Mosques, and spread it with the same passion as the Popes. They sing the Salah, the Muezzin prayers following the Byzantine polyphonic music. They cover the bodies of the dead with fragments of their Sacred Books, challenging one of the strictest Islamic taboos, that forbids one to set the Koran under the ground. But there is more: the sins of the dead can be alleviated by the living, with the same Catholic logic of indulgences. Once a year they visit the graves of their dead to share food with them. They cry and talk, as the Byelorussian farmers of the good old times. They pray only on Fridays, but for hours, much longer than any other Muslims. They have survived the darkest years of Stalinism. They paid unaffordable taxes to the regime and have managed to always keep their Mosques open.”
Julien Goldstein May 21, 2012Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Belarus.
School near Minsk, Belarus 2010
Julien Goldstein (b. 1979, France) decided to pursue a career as a photojournalist working as an assistant at Magnum. Drawing on his Romanian origins he explored its history and it’s transition from a socialist republic to a democratic state. He then went on to explore the former Soviet Republics, a report later exhibited in Visa pour l’image in 2003. Being particularly interested in Turkey and the geopolitical issues related to the Kurdish people, he completed a five-year project entitled ‘Kurdistan, The Anger Of A People Without Rights’, for which he was awarded a Lagardere Foundation grant in December 2009. A book of this work was released in January 2012. His photographs are regularly published in the French and international press, including: Geo France, Le Monde, The New York Times, Newsweek, Spiegel and others. He is represented by Reportage by Getty Images.
About the Photograph:
“This picture was shot during an assignment for Geo in Belarus. The general idea of the subject was to update the situation of the country on the eve of presidential elections in December 2010. This country is led by Alexander Lukashenko, long dismissed as the last dictator in Europe. His methods are annoying and intriguing the European Union and Russia. I went to a village near Minsk, to photograph a kolkhoz (agricultural cooperative where land, tools, livestock are shared). The kolkhoz was hardly a model example. My presence in the agricultural farm was quickly banned, so I decided to visit the village school which is also managed collectively. After I was forced to take a tour of the school, I entered a kindergarten classroom where the children were preparing to take a nap.”
Andrei Liankevich November 21, 2008Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Belarus.
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Elections in Minsk, Belarus 2006
Born in 1981 in Belarus and based in Minsk, Andrei Liankevich attended the Belarus State University, where he received a Bachelor Degree of Economy in 2004. In 2004-5 he studied at the Caucasus Media Institute in Yerevan, Armenia concentrating on the Yezidi minority in Armenia and was awarded a distinction for this work from World Press Photo. Since 2006 Andrei Liankevich lectures on “Photojournalism” at an European Humanitarian University in Vilnius, Lithuania. His works have been published in leading Belarussian newspapers like Nasha Niva, Leader, CD, Komsomolskaya Pravda and in international publications such as New York Times, Le Figaro, Newsweek (Russian edition), Die Zeit, Ogoniok (Russia), Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzecz Pospolita (Poland), Rigas laiks (Latvia). His work has been exhibited in Poland, Germany, Norway and Belarus.
About the Photograph:
“A member of election commission observing the voting process during the president election in 2006. Lukashenka’s re-election didn’t spark the kind of oppositional momentum which many had hoped. Belarus, at least for now, will not follow in the revolutionary footsteps of the Ukraine and Georgia. Although the events in Belarus may not have reached a tipping point for the Lukashenka regime, they have marked a change in the nature of the Belarusian opposition. Despite a concerted effort by the Belarusian government to destroy, undermine and embarrass the opposition, the “denim revolutionaries” have emerged as a force to be reckoned with. The night of the Presidential Elections was the beginning of protests and the largest gathering (of approximately 20,000 people) in October Square in Minsk. Following this, young activists set up camp and for four days people came to show their solidarity and protest the dubious election results.”
Bill Crandall September 17, 2008Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Belarus.
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Outside Minsk Belarus, 2000
Bill Crandall‘s formative years in Washington DC were spent with a guitar instead of a camera, but eventually photography became his mode of expression. His photos balance art and documentary, using an intuitive, personal approach. His images have appeared in magazines such as Newsweek, Le Figaro, New York Times Magazine and PHOTO among others. He has also worked for newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times on a regular basis. Bill has received two grants for his long-term ‘East’ photo project and won awards from the National Press Photographers Association. From 2000-2002 Bill also worked as photo director for the former Balkan Times website. In 2006 he was curator for a major photo exhibition on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, which was presented at a US Congressional event and at the United Nations. Crandall is a founding member of Metro Collective, a group of 12 photographers worldwide who work in the artistic documentary tradition.
About the Photograph:
“This image is from Kuropaty, the former killing fields on the outskirts of Minsk. Every year people come to memorialize the up to 250,000 people killed there in Stalin-era purges. Bodies are still being found. The event is seen by authorities as a rallying point for the opposition, so the KGB usually tags along and films everyone. Like most demonstrations in Belarus, there is risk for those who attend. It was taken on the last day of my first visit to Belarus in 2000. I was exhausted and almost didn’t go, especially considering that it involved a 15km march from the city center to the site. I remember towards the end the light was fading fast, my young fixers were urging me to leave with them. I’m glad I hung around a little longer, for me the image reflects the stoic nature of the people there and their deep sense of history and memory.”
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We have decided to devote a portion of our magazine to non-fiction. These are stories of things that have happened serendipitously, being in the right place at the right time or just heartfelt musings, thoughts, and feelings on life. Join us in our non-fiction section. These stories speak to anyone and everyone and are told by anyone and everyone who has a story to tell.
"The Railroad Building" by Christopher Woods; http://christopherwoods.zenfolio.com/
For The Sake Of The Neighborhood
By Thomas Sullivan
Every neighborhood has one house where people display holiday decorations for far longer than anyone else on the street. A month after Easter the plastic bunny and colorful eggs are still nestled together on the front porch. Two months after Halloween has passed, goblins still inhabit the front windows and pumpkins, soft and decomposing, still sit in the front yard. This extended timeframe for holiday displays is usually accompanied by an intensity and scale that dwarfs the neighbors. The Santa’s are bigger, the Halloween spider is large enough, once inflated, to drive a car under, and the yard is filled with reindeer up to the full carrying capacity of the land.
In most places this is a non-issue. But in an upper class neighborhood full of lawyers, doctors, and other types of professionals, these “over-decorators” constitute a threat. They outwardly challenge the visual harmony and order of the place. But they are actually defenders of liberty, people who refuse to be intimidated by the stern, uptight customs of the people surrounding them.
My neighborhood in New England was no exception. Two houses down from us lived a family that approached the holidays with gusto. Over the years the front porch and yard played host to a growing army of elves, reindeer, ghouls and goblins. The week before any holiday, the house would buzz with activity as the father, occasionally accompanied by family members, set out the proper accoutrements. You’d see him going to and from the garage for hours, carrying animals or strings of lights.
Large scale holiday displays were an anomaly in my neighborhood. People decorated windows with a single candle and hung an attractive, red wreath on the front door. Through the living room window at night you’d spy a tree lit up with bright bulbs. But that was it. Anything plastic or inflatable was strictly verboten.
But our neighbors two houses down didn’t play by these unwritten rules. I’ve since forgotten the family’s name, so I’ll call them the Smiths. Each holiday was a small festival for the Smiths, but Christmas was the true gala event. One year at Christmas two tall, illuminated candy canes appeared in the front yard, joined by a substantial creche scene. But the coup d'état was the large sleigh, with Santa and his reindeer, which appeared on their roof. People in the neighborhood might put small things in the front yard, but absolutely no one put things on their roof.
I loved the display. I often wondered what it would be like to come home from school and see something like that in the yard and on the roof. It looked like fun. This led me to two conclusions: first, the family obviously enjoyed holiday celebrations and, second, the Dad was willing to risk a plunge from the roof to make them happen.
My mother, however, did not love the display. It was none of her business, of course, and at first she tried to ignore it. However, as time moved on the sleigh and reindeer did not. When the decoration was still perched on the roof into late spring it somehow became her business. One night, unbeknownst to anyone in our family except my father, she typed up a letter entitled “For The Sake of The Neighborhood.” No one in our house ever saw the letter, but I imagine it politely requested that the owner dismantle the sleigh.
So my mother snuck over to the Smith house late one night and dropped the letter into the mailbox. The note, of course, was unsigned -- good counter-operatives never reveal their true identity.
Shortly before this stealth communication occurred, another event quietly rocked the neighborhood. The people across the street, whom I’ll call the Joneses, finally grew tired of the jungle that had grown in the yard next door. This neighbor, a man we’ll call Mr. Brown, commuted from our Connecticut suburb to Boston each day for work. His grass slowly grew out of control while he tried to sell his house and move to Boston. Yard work and neighborly relations were the last things on the guy’s mind, for good reason.
One afternoon Mr. Jones marched next door with a lawnmower in tow. Setting the wheels on High, he hacked and gnawed through Mr. Brown’s overgrown lawn. When he was done, large piles of grass lay scattered across the yard. The sidewalk was covered with clippings. The cutting wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.
The neighborhood had just witnessed a trespass onto a neighbor’s property. In many American neighborhoods such an act would be enough to set loose the dogs or get the guns out of the garage. But in this conservative neighborhood, people just quietly shook their heads.
To the best of my knowledge, the two neighbors never discussed the event. I imagine Mr. Brown rolled in exhausted from his commute and didn’t even notice the yard. However, the covert lawn job didn’t go unnoticed in the neighborhood.
A few weeks later our family was sitting in our formal dining room, having dinner. The Santa and reindeer display had finally come down. Across the street, Mr. Brown’s yard was defiantly returning to its lush, untidy state. Mrs. Cooley, another of our neighbors, was a guest at the table. Mrs. Cooley, it turned out, was friends with Mrs. Smith (spouse to the holiday decorator and co-recipient of one unsigned letter). My parents were talking shop with Mrs. Cooley, exchanging questions and answers about their kids and general news of our town.
Mrs. Cooley suddenly changed the topic. She looked at my mom and said, “You’re not going to believe this. Bill Jones, you know, across the street…he goes and cuts Larry Brown’s yard. Then he puts a letter in Carla Smith’s mailbox, telling her to take down the Christmas decorations.”
Mrs. Cooley paused for effect, letting the gravity of this information sink in. My dad cleared his throat and gently nudged Mom under the table. She managed to hold a straight face.
Mom looked at Mrs. Cooley and said, “No…you’re kidding.”
Mrs. Cooley grabbed her wine glass, took a sip, and said, “Carla told me the letter was…unsigned. The gall of that guy. Who does he think he is?”
My mom nodded her head, silently agreeing.
Reflecting back on the episode a few years later, I realized something – you should never listen to people who try to tell you how to live, be it a neighbor, political party leader, church elder, family member, or whoever. It’s not your interests they have in mind, it’s their own. But to hide this fact, they’ll insinuate that you’re threatening The Good of the group that you’re a part of. That’s the secret to conformity and why people push it. It’s the oldest trick in the book, and it works far too often.
Bio- Thomas Sullivan is the author of Life In The Slow Lane, a memoir about teaching teenagers to drive. He is a regular contributor at HumorOutcasts.com and has a book of essays forthcoming in March, 2013 from Wayman Publishing.
By Chrys Fey I was lying on my stomach, wrapped tightly in the thorny blanket of misery, as my mother massaged my back with her arthritis fingers to dissolve the pain that held my spine in its clutches. She could clearly see the wide curve of my spine, the culprit of my agony. It was the summer before my ninth school year, a time when teenagers are testing their freedoms and excitedly anticipating joining the chaos of high school, but I spent my summer visiting doctors and fighting to relieve the pain I was in from day to night.
When I was fourteen, I was diagnosed with scoliosis, which is a curvature of the spine most often caused by a sudden growth, especially for kids between the ages of eleven and seventeen. My spine was at a forty-eight degree angle and it was twisted. To fix it and relieve the constant pain I was in, my doctor had to rotate and straighten my spine. Fusion, a substance that becomes similar to bone, went in-between several vertebrae, and a steel rod was screwed into my spine.
The day after my fifteenth birthday, I woke up hours before the sun had opened its eyes. Wishing I could dive into bed and pretend it was not the day of my surgery, I groggily climbed into my mother’s car. On the way to the hospital, I watched the dove-gray sky lighten degree by degree. Slowly, as if its muscles ached, the sun stood up in the sky.
I followed my parents into the hospital as my heart pounded in my chest and my knobby knees quaked. With each step, I silently hoped we would get lost. Unfortunately, we found the right area and sat down in uncomfortable chairs to wait for the inevitable. I hugged my backpack to my chest and tried to calm my racing heart.
The woman sitting behind the receptionists’ desk saw me and called me over. I watched her heft a giant garbage bag off the floor and dig inside it, oddly resembling Santa. She pulled out a brown teddy bear with silky hair and a blue ribbon tied around its furry neck.
“You look like you need to hug something,” she said as she handed the bear to me. Normally I would have turned my nose up at such a childish gift, but at that moment that teddy bear looked like a life preserver to me. I took the bear and embraced it with all my might.
A few minutes later, a woman behind a plastic partition called me over to sit in a chair. She passed me a clipboard of papers beneath a small opening at the bottom of the plastic divider. I knew the papers said that paralysis and death were risks of having this sort of surgery, and I signed them. I was aware of what was happening, but I didn’t fully comprehend it. I had enough sense to be scared and yet I was naive enough to believe that it wouldn’t be a hard surgery. I was wrong.
The operating room was brightly lit and full of people in scrubs. I lay on the gurney and glanced over at where my three doctors were examining my latest x-ray. They didn't look at me though. In fact, no one in the entire room acknowledged that I was there. This made me feel as if I was in a dream, but then a nurse stood over me, put the gas mask on my face, and disappeared. I wasn't even told to breathe deeply or to count backwards from ten. I was scared, nervous, and utterly alone. And that was the very last thing I remember before the anesthesia pulled me into the darkness of my mind.
My operation lasted about four hours. During that time, my doctors successfully straightened my spine and only ran into a slight problem when one of my lungs collapsed.
Upon waking up the first time all I saw was red, blood red. It seemed as though the walls, the floors, the people; everything was drenched in this scary red. I fell back to sleep seconds later.
When I opened my eyes the second time, noise washed over me like a tidal wave.
I could hear people moaning and crying.
Where am I?
I had no idea. All I knew is that those cries were not coming from me. I felt paralyzed. I couldn’t flinch, let alone open my mouth to make a squeak.
Suddenly I was knocked out again with the great fist of Morphine, and when I opened my eyes once more I was still in the same place, but the room wasn't red and the noises weren't monstrous anymore.
I managed to turn my head slightly and a few feet away I could see my parents talking to one of my doctors. When they noticed I was looking at them they all came over, their faces like blank canvases.
I was so confused that the first thing I said in a soft voice was, "When is my surgery?"
Even after pulling myself out of unconsciousness many times, I still thought I was waiting for the surgery to begin.
“You already had it, sweetie,” my father told me.
I didn’t even have the strength to say, “Oh”. I merely closed my eyes and went back to the black world where all drug-induced patients in the hospital go after surgery.
The next thing I recall is waking up on a hard, cold metal surface with a bright light hanging above my head. I peered around, feeling as though my head was going to roll off the table. There were shadows all around me. I almost thought that I was on a slab in the morgue. Clearly, there was a mistake. I was alive!
I wasn’t in the morgue though. I was just in a freezing cold x-ray room. It seemed as though I was there for hours when finally I noticed someone sitting in the dark room next to me. They looked at me and said, "Oh, you’re awake.”
I thought, Well, duh, just before I went unconscious yet again. Then I woke up in my hospital room with my family all around me, smiles pasted onto their worried faces.
That night, the man who made my back brace came to take my measurements again. He rolled me around as I cried helplessly. My doctor had just cut open my body, twisted, pulled, and screwed into my spine, and here this man was rolling me back and forth like a lump of dough.
When he finally finished tormenting my surgery-battered body, he announced that I was two whole inches taller than I had been that morning.
The next day, I was brought down to what appeared to be the bowels of the hospital to have the tube in my side replaced with a bigger one, because my right lung was full of fluids and I couldn’t breathe. This procedure felt as though someone was slowly penetrating a stick of molten metal through my flesh and into my body. I cried hot tears and squeezed a nurse’s hand who told me, “I know it hurts. Just keep squeezing my hand!”
Even after I could breathe easier, I didn’t want to move because I was in so much pain. When two nurses helped me into a sitting position for the first time, I took slow breathes and remained perfectly still, fearing that any movement would break the rod screwed to my spine.
Five long days later, my doctor released me from the hospital. Every dip, every bump, and every turn in the road on the way home made me hold my breath against the jarring pain.
For two months I lay in a bed in my living room, wore a back brace that I hated, and used a walker like an old granny. I remember taking a shower for the first time by sitting on a stool, and when the gentle spray from the hand-held showerhead touched my back, I flinched so badly that pain rippled up and down my spine.
Pain. There was so much pain that I started to depend on pain medications. I even wanted them when I didn’t need them. Fortunately, I was able to recognize what was happening and I stopped taking the pills prescribed to me even when I was in pain. To this day, I still don’t like taking a pain reliever for a headache.
Recovering was no easy feat. I had to teach myself how to sit, bend, and walk with a rod in my back, which was harder than I expected. I had to practice sitting up in a chair, just five minutes in the beginning, and walking the halls of the house. Then I pushed myself to walk to the mailbox. Many people take that little act for granted, but I remember the first time I attempted it and those steps down the driveway and back again was physically taxing, but I eventually got strong enough to walk down to the end of the street. My steps were slow, my back stiff, but I didn’t give up.
Healing self-consciously was another story. When I opened my eyes in my hospital room, engulfed in pain, I realized that my presumption that the surgery wouldn’t be a big deal was a lie. Lying there, surrounded by my concerned family, I privately thought that I wasn’t going to make it through. I carried that thought with me during the whole five days I was in the hospital and even for the first month after I was released. I lay in the hospital bed in the living room, barely moving and almost always in tears, and I wanted to give up. It was weeks later when I told myself that I couldn’t give up, that I had to push through because there was no other option. I stopped taking the pain medications right at that moment and began to fight back.
Four months after my surgery I was finally back to normal. I was skinnier, with dark shadows around my eyes, and I needed a pillow in my backpack to cushion my spine, but none of my friends could even tell that I had surgery, which is exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want anyone to know about the struggles that I endured while they had spent their summers at the beach. They never even knew that a pillow was hidden in my backpack. In the beginning, I was ashamed of it, ashamed that I needed it. I wanted to keep my surgery a secret and pretend as though it never happened, but it did happen and that was another thing I had to face. I had surgery. I went through a hard recovery and survived it. I realized then that I wasn’t just a girl who had spine surgery; I was a warrior who had defeated spine surgery!
Even though I have healed I am left with a souvenir that won’t ever go away. My scar is a foot long and runs diagonally from the back of my side to my right hip. Of course, I didn’t view it as a souvenir when I first got it. For a long time I hide my scar under shirts, never wanting anyone to see it. Five years after my surgery, I questioned why I was so self-conscious about my scar. After all, a scar doesn’t make a person ugly and my scar certainly doesn’t make me ugly. I looked closer at my scar and I didn’t see a hideous mark anymore but a sign of my own strength. I conquered spine surgery, triumphed through the recovery, faced my own self-consciousness, and my scar is proof of that. It is a reminder of my strength, the same strength that is with me every single day.
Seven years have passed since my surgery. I cannot bend my back or rotate at the hips because the rod will not allow me to. If I sit in one place for a long time, I experience bad back pain, and if I stand for a long period, I get muscle spasms. However, if I were fourteen again and faced with the decision of needing spine surgery I would do it because I gained so much more than just a straight spine. I found strength and courage that I didn’t possess before. I learned that I am capable of a lot more and can handle any pain that is thrown at me. I also discovered love for myself, which is priceless.
I know now that overcoming spine surgery made me infinitely stronger than I ever would have been without it. I am not the same girl who first walked into the hospital clutching her backpack; I am a woman who doesn’t tremble in the face of surgery, as I have had two other surgeries since then. I am a woman who can help others because of what I endured. I am a woman who found herself through thick layers of pain. I am a woman of steel! Not even Superwoman has a metal spine.
Bio- Chrys Fey has published a supernatural-thriller titled “Fallen” with Freedom Fiction Journal and her inspirational poem “Falling Feather” is featured on the e-zine Long Story Short for the month of August 2012. She is a member of the Florida Writer’s Association.
By Beth McKim
My friends, Gina and Larry, bought and decorated their first Christmas tree that year. Larry was Jewish and Gina had never cared much for Christmas festivities. The tree marked quite a departure from their usual ignoring of the season during their five-year marriage. They even decided to buy a few gifts for each other, friends, and family for display under the authentic looking artificial tree from Lowe’s.
About two weeks before Christmas, a wrapped package from New York City arrived at their door. Gina noted with pleasure that it was addressed to her from her best friend, Patty. She and Patty grew up together and completely understood each other’s tastes, so she knew she would like the gift even before she opened it.
Gina smiled when she saw the beautiful colors of grape purple and lavender blue. Patty knew well these were her favorite colors. She pulled it out of the box with a puzzled look on her face as Larry watched expectantly. “ It’s really pretty,” they both said at once. Much like a well-rehearsed choir, they next questioned in unison, “But what is it?”
As they took a closer look, they noticed the material was primarily the grape color with a wide lavender trim at the bottom. The underside of the garment was also made of the lovely blue. When Gina saw the covered buttons and a big hole in the middle, she was sure she was looking at a cape or poncho and immediately put it over her head. A fairly small woman, she found it to be very long, even touching the ground, when worn that way.
Next, Gina put it around her shoulders to see if it might be a shawl of some sort, but it seemed very long and bulky that way as well. She felt a little irritated at that point, and Larry remarked that it didn’t look like something she would wear and he didn’t understand Patty buying something like that for her.
At that point they began to experiment. Gina wrapped it around her like a sarong, and they simultaneously burst into laughter. To carry the joke a little farther, she left the room and came back topless wearing her present as a long skirt wrapped around her several times to help it fit. At that point they went into amused hysterics, holding their stomachs while they laughed. Gina gave up on her gift and put it back into the box, determined not to let Patty know she hated the thing and probably would never wear it. She decided it was Patty’s thought that counted.
A week later, while shopping at Crate and Barrel, Gina noticed a display with the same material as her mysterious cape. As she picked it up to look at it, she thought again how pretty the material was and at the same time wondered to herself when Crate and Barrel started to sell clothing. And then she saw the tag that her gift had been lacking. At the very bottom of it, she saw the words “Xmas Tr Skt.”
Gina realized immediately that her thoughtful friend Patty had sent her a gorgeous fabric skirt to go around the bottom of her very first Christmas tree and was finally ready to thank her.
Bio- Beth McKim lives in Houston with her husband Buddy and their Labradoodle, Lucy. In addition to writing, she enjoys acting, training medical students, studying Spanish, traveling (including a recent trip to Cuba), practicing Yoga and spending time with her young grandchildren.
In addition to The Write Place At the Write Time, Beth's works have appeared in publications such as Della Donna, Cell2Soul, Front Porch Review, Mayo Review, Airplane Reading and the Birmingham Arts Journal.
By Denise Bouchard
“No stop asking me that.”
“It’s just a question. If I jump off this wall into the courtyard, will you give me fifty kisses?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Anyway, my father is coming to pick us up!”
“Not for awhile, they let us out early tonight.”
‘They’ referred to the teachers at the driving school. We were alone, this boy and I, in the once busy downtown section right near where the Bishop lived. I was what Billy Joel would’ve called an uptown girl, our house actually being in the country, surrounded by stone walls and a park and in that house, there were rules about how one should conduct themselves. One did not kiss on city streets- especially not a city where history carried the family name.
“Come on dare me!” It wasn’t really a question this time but an invitation to a dare while he weighed my response. Something had happened earlier that night even before this moment that had already changed me. I was walking back to my seat in class and I noticed the top button on his shirt was undone and the dark hair against his olive chest was peeking out over his shirt. He looked like a young Andy Garcia and this look stopped me in my tracks. Until that moment, I didn’t even know that I would prefer such a thing, but there I was noticing and he knew that I noticed, for perhaps a moment too long and now I was being tested.
We’d met only a month before at a summer fair. He was funny and attentive and when he couldn’t get a ride, he’d walk to our house, not a short walk but one from the city to the suburbs, just to spend a few hours with me. I liked him but thought he was a bit dangerous. He could be reckless, crude at times. I found his differences intriguing though, exotic. That September, I had long, golden, sun-kissed blond hair and blue-green eyes and I was just a waif of a girl with porcelain skin. I had an innocence of life that might have held me back had he not pushed me to learn to drive, to play, to not be frightened of things such as the cow giving birth at the fair on the night we met, it’s eyes bulging, seemingly frightened and left alone looking as if she might be dying. He summoned for help, then diverted my attention back to the fair, the cotton candy, the flirting.
“Come on, dare me.”
If he jumps, I thought, I’ll be spared his insistent comments. “Fine, yes, I’ll give you 50 kisses if you jump. OK? So jump!” It wasn’t like we hadn’t ever kissed before. He jumped, then held out his arms for me to follow.
“Come on, I’ll catch you.”
My thoughts ran to how foolish this was- how we’d be trapped in this low and deep courtyard, surrounded by wrought iron fencing, how I didn’t really know of a way to get us out, and what would happen if my parents caught us…and in the cathedral’s courtyard, what’s more... So...I jumped.
He took me into his arms. I loved the smell of his leather jacket; I sank into it safe, warm. Unfortunately, he was a chain smoker so I wasn’t exactly enamored in those first few quick kisses; as always, it was like kissing an ashtray but a promise was a promise. I thought, I’ll just have to get through these continuous soft kisses, but as he kissed me more slowly, deeply, the ashtray disappeared leaving just the sense of leather and sandalwood cologne. I started to kiss back and suddenly I didn’t care if the bishop himself showed up. 34, 35, 36...we counted in our heads. We were, as Stevie Nicks sings in her famous song, “on the edge of seventeen” and he awakened me in those 50 kisses as I’m sure he knew he could. We would continue to kiss and argue for four more years before we would go our separate ways.
He taught me about life and love, passion and anger and hope chests that are emptied of their contents in preparation for someone else. It would be emptied, I would come to understand, of things that were foreign to me – colors that were not mine – vestiges of someone else’s life. The afghan his grandmother knitted for me in orange and brown, might have covered up a young girl as she waited for someone who was out late, distracted and drinking with friends. These things were slowly replaced by Egyptian cotton sheets with embroidered birds and lavender blankets which my husband always covered me with if I fell asleep on the couch; the kind of man who would not turn away, distracted, even if I fell. I packed in silver picture frames, the colors of soft mauve, sage green, hopes of thoughtfulness, loyalty and the dream of a child who would look like me, vanity be damned.
The man in the silver frames gave me those things. And the house we moved into one November day, gave way to the surprise of spring and summer flowers, of hydrangeas, lavender bushes, hostas, and beach roses, echoing what was inside, including a child who did indeed look like us and who was a blessing from the day she was born.
Still, I sometimes think back to the boy who taught me to leap with joy and to the few who came after him preparing me for the rest of my life, showing me all that I would and would not want and need in order to fulfill my dreams.
See Bio for Denise Bouchard on our About Us page
By George M. Flynn
The childhood shows the man, As morning shows the day—John Milton (1608-1674)
It was another ordinary day in Mrs. Little’s fifth-grade math class—or so I thought.
“I’m returning your tests,” Mrs. Little announced. “Some excelled, while others, well, need improvement. Everyone must have a parent sign the test and bring it back to class tomorrow.”
“George Flynn,” she pursed her lips, “where were you when I was teaching percents?” She handed me my test. I scored a dismal 50%--5 out of 10 correct.
“Good grief,” I whispered under my breath. I glanced over at Mario Azzanati’s test—he had a big fat zero, a goose egg. “You mean someone actually scored worse than I did?” I mumbled.
“I’m subtracting ten points from your test for each day it’s returned late,” she continued.
Mario’s eyes widened bigger than grapefruits at the prospect of a grade lower than zero. Both of us worried how our parents would react.
Since Mario lived near me, we both walked home together.
“Maybe we should sign our parent’s names,” Mario suggested, looking for the easy way out.
“You mean forge their signature?” I asked.
“Yep, who’s going to ever know?”
“Sounds too dishonest,” I said. “Besides, they throw people in jail for forgery.”
Mario’s eyes widened again as he pictured himself doing time behind bars, or worse, digging ditches on the chain gang.
“Mario, look, I’m going to have my dad sign my test and you should do the same. Tell your dad it was a hard test. He’ll understand”
“Understand a zero?!” Mario howled.
After dinner that night, I held my breath, pulled out the test, showed my dad the grade, and asked him to sign it.
My dad adjusted his glasses. “Well, George, you got five out of ten problems correct,” he emphasized the positive. “That’s a good start. Next test see if you can score seven correct, then eight, until you finally ace the tests.” He signed the test. Boy, was I relieved! I got off easy, but I wondered how Mario fared.
The next day Mrs. Little directed us to take out our signed tests. She strolled up and down the aisles, scrutinizing each signature as she collected the tests. She gave my dad’s signature an extra look. Then she glanced across the aisle to Mario’s test. “Where is your parent’s signature?” she thundered.
Suddenly, Mario had a complete meltdown. “Mrs. Little,” he blubbered, “my dad would be so disappointed if he saw this test. He never had an education and expects good grades. I thought of signing his name, but that would be dishonest. Plus, I don’t want to go to jail. Please, Mrs. Little, I’ll do anything…anything!”
Mrs. Little quickly reacted with a box of tissues and some comforting words. “Mario, I have a gift for you for being so honest. Stay after school today to receive it.”
I was dying to find out what the gift was. I waited outside school until 4:20 when Mario finally appeared.
“What took so long?” I complained.
“Mrs. Little tutored me in percents and let me retake the test.”
“What was her gift?” I asked.
“A second chance,” he replied, smiling. He displayed the new test’s 100% grade. “I keep the 100% if I get the paper signed and returned by six o’clock. Mrs. Little said she’d wait for me.”
Mr. Azzanati signed Mario’s test and drove him back to school. The two raced into the building together, just making the six o’clock deadline.
“Here’s my signed test, Mrs. Little,” an out-of-breath Mario panted, waving it high above his head like a flag.
“My son’s pretty good with numbers, don’t you think?” Mr. Azzanati bragged.
“Certainly is,” Mrs. Little agreed, as she winked at Mario.
I lost touch with Mario after high school, but I heard he graduated college, law school, and became a judge in the inner city. I also heard that first offenders hoped to be arraigned in the Honorable Mario Azzanati’s courtroom because he had a reputation for giving second chances. Game-changing, life-changing, second chances.
Bio- George M. Flynn is a freelance writer and a retired English teacher. His stories have appeared in many magazines and books, including Organic Gardening, Greenprints, Birds & Blooms, Vermont Ink, Catholic Forester, and four different Chicken Soup for the Soul books, the latest being The Wisdom of Dads. George and his wife, Carole, live way out in the country, near Newton, NJ.
The Silver Service
By Carol Smallwood
The sterling coffee and teapots, creamer and sugar on a footed tray whispered cucumber sandwiches, lemon slices in steaming tea, white linen, and muted conversation in a library with leather covered books to the ceiling with a marble fireplace. It was when the kids were in high school I first saw it in a Ross-Simons catalog sent by some fluke when buying doughnuts as a divorced mother was an extravagance. I kept the catalog open to the page when I walked by to devour the curve of its handles, the way the tray's feet were as discrete as a lady listening to Tales from the Vienna Woods in a gown of pink tulle, so pale it was almost the white of pearls matching her satin shoes- magnolias in one hand, tasseled dance card in the other. My figure was as graceful as the curves of the silver, my chignon as thick as the heavy scrolls, feet oval, slim, as those holding the oval tray. Each time I passed the picture it became more a part of me till I knew where my reflection would appear, the sound the sugar lid would make. The tall coffee and shorter teapots faced each other like a couple in conversation, the sugar and creamer at their feet. The shorter teapot had a matronly bulge. The hum of conversation, the polite world, became quite real- a world where I belonged. It was after the kids graduated that I bought the set as an heirloom. They could tell their children it was mine and my grandchildren would connect me with that world. I'd taken a long time to own it. The set arrived and I waited a few days in anticipation to make a ceremony of it on Sunday. It was heavier than I imagined and where to put it? It was a pleasure to own but somehow it didn't look as elegant as in the catalog but when I was in another house it would. A silver polish was ordered that was a natural cleaner- a cow with a bell had fallen in a bog and when it came out its bell was shiny and so it was the beginning of the silver cleaner company. I found it had to be cleaned often to keep its gleam. People did admire it. It had a solid feel, something to enjoy and something I could pass on. The years passed, the kids married and it was time to move. I'd given it to one of them when they got their own house but after their children came they gave it back. It rattles when I walk by in my new stick built house- what the realtor called a house made in a factory and then constructed on site. Perhaps one of the grandchildren will want it; but until then, it is a solid delight.
Bio- Carol Smallwood co-edited Women on Poetry: Writing, Revising, Publishing and Teaching (McFarland, 2012) on the list of "Best Books for Writers" by Poets & Writers Magazine; Women Writing on Family: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing (Key Publishing House, 2012); Compartments: Poems on Nature, Femininity, and Other Realms (Anaphora Literary Press, 2011) received a Pushcart nomination. Carol has founded, supports humane societies.
By Chanel Brenner
“It’s just his baby teeth. He was going to lose them anyway,” my mother-in-law says as we walk across the parking lot from the dentist’s office to my car. I am holding Riley’s hand. He is three years old and yes, he would lose his baby teeth, but not for another three or four years. It is a loss I am not yet ready to bear.
My arm is being yanked down and pulled in the opposite direction as we navigate through parked and moving cars. I am looking forward to the age when he will hold my hand voluntarily and walk with me instead of against me. The afternoon sun is piercing through my black shirt. “It’s almost Halloween,” Riley has been saying since the end of August when they first started putting Halloween decorations in the stores. But now, it really is almost Halloween. Next week. He has already been wearing his fireman costume for weeks. We have taken many pictures of his smile, with his two front teeth intact.
I am in shock and the dentist’s words are engraved in my brain, “The roots are completely severed in both of his front teeth. He will lose them both sooner rather than later.”
I want to go back in time. Take it all back. If I just hadn’t been playing tickle mommy with him. If I just hadn’t been pretending to chase him. If I just hadn’t put the hooded giraffe towel on him. It was hard to believe that this could happen from a fall on the rug in our bedroom. The lump in my throat begins to loosen its grip, and I feel my tear ducts letting loose.
“I don’t know why you’re so upset about this. It’s not the end of the world. They’re not his permanent teeth,” my mother-in-law says. She is wearing silver sandals and her toenails are painted pink. She has told me, more than once, that she wants a facelift and would get one if she could afford it. Sometimes she puts her hands on her face and pulls back the loose skin for photographs. She has three grown children.
I take my cell phone out of my purse and dial Lee’s number. "The dentist says he is going to lose both of them," I say, as I feel the first tear sliding down my right cheek.
“What? How?” my husband asks with the appropriate level of shock.
“The roots are completely severed. He will lose them both sooner, rather than later,” I say, repeating the dentist’s fated words.
Three weeks later, I find out I am pregnant. I am standing in our master bathroom, staring at the two precarious pink lines in disbelief. “What Mommy? What?” Riley asks. I realized I had let the words, “holy shit,” slip out of my mouth.
“I’m pregnant,” I say.
“What, Mommy? What did you say?”
“I have a baby in my tummy.”
“Yay! Woo hoo!” Riley says, while jumping up and down.
I look at my son with his two temporary front teeth and then back at the two pink lines, feeling a new sense of balance, the imminent loss of those two sacred baby teeth diminishing in its power and fury.
His first tooth fell out the next month while he was at school. He brought it home in his pocket and we put it under his pillow that night for the tooth fairy. He came running into our bedroom with his one-dollar bill, “Look at what the tooth fairy gave me!” The second one, he swallowed with a hunk of cheddar cheese. He cried when he saw the blood. We put a note under his pillow that he dictated, “Dear tooth fairy, I swallowed my tooth with cheese. Can I still please have some money?”
It didn’t take long for us to get used to his trademark toothless smile. Eventually the idea of teeth in the space seemed unnatural and the wait for the permanent teeth didn’t seem quite so long.
The first one came in when Riley was six and a half years old, about a year earlier than normal. I discovered it while I was helping him brush his teeth one night. Its white jagged edges poking out like a treasure waiting to be discovered. I watched it grow, over the next week, trying to imagine what he would look like with front teeth again.
The last night I brushed it, was the night Riley died. It was about a third of the way out. Teasing me with its presence. We were so close, I could almost see it.
Bio- Chanel Brenner is a writer living in Los Angeles with her husband and their four-year-old son. She studies method writing with poet Jack Grapes and is a member of his Writers and Poets Collective.
Her work has been published in Cultural Weekly, Forge, L.K. Thayer’s Poetry Juice Bar, The Coachella Review and Memoirs Ink.
She has written a collection of poems and essays about the death of her six-year-old son, Riley, called The Christmas Boy Will Not Disappear.
She won a nationwide contest for her poem “What Would Wislawa Szymborska Do?” and, as a result, it was displayed at the James Whitcomb Riley museum in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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A controversial deal between Jeffco, Boulder and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service involving 640 acres of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant was finalized Dec. 31.
The deal transfers ownership of the land to the federal government to be used as a wildlife refuge. In exchange, Boulder has ended its longstanding opposition to a 3-mile, 300-foot transportation corridor being granted to the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority east of the refuge.
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Intel and Nokia are two of the largest tech companies on the planet, but when it comes to developing a new mobile operating system, they've opted to not just team up, but to enlist the legions of open source developers out there. And in the process, they've learned a great deal about interacting with the larger open source community.
The two companies' goal is to press forward on MeeGo, the joint project resulting from Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Nokia's (NYSE: NOK) move to combine their respective mobile Linux efforts. Even before they joined forces earlier this year, Intel and Nokia have been working closely with a number of high-profile open source projects -- putting the two in prime position to share some insight on productizing open source.
During a pair of sessions at this week's Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, Intel and Nokia executives provided some insight into where MeeGo might be going and talked a bit about what's necessary in being successful in open source and Linux.
"There is nothing secret about the secret sauce. You have to first understand where we come from at Intel in how we deal with software," Imad Sousou, director of Intel's open source technology center, said. "One of the primary drivers is that when somebody uses a piece of software, we want them to have the best experience using that software on Intel platforms."
As far as contributing to Linux, Sousou said that Intel's participation in the community is straightforward.
"It's about contributions," Sousou said. "You contribute what you want to see and, second, you use the open source model -- you don't try some other model."
For the MeeGo project specifically, Sousou said that Intel has hundreds of engineers working on the effort. He added that about 80 percent of Intel's MeeGo engineering work happens in upstream project communities like kernel.org and Qt that make up the underlying technologies used in MeeGo.
"We really want to push all the work upstream and then take it down from there to build our community," Sousou said. "When we talk about how we want to work with open source, it's really about working and contributing with the upstream. It's as simple as that -- there are no other secrets."
When it comes to the MeeGo project itself, transparency and openness are key aspects for Sousou. He added that the MeeGo project is run under the auspices of the Linux Foundation, which is important for keeping the project process as open as possible.
While the MeeGo project itself aims to be open both in terms of code and process, both Nokia and Intel execs admitted that the code that actually ends up on the final consumer devises that use MeeGo won't be entirely open source.
"When Nokia ships a product, there will be closed components in the products," Ari Jaaksi, vice president of Maemo devices and MeeGo operations at Nokia, told the audience. "MeeGo as a platform is fully open source and open."
As an example, Jaaski noted that if a Nokia MeeGo device includes Adobe Flash or Skype, those components are not open source. He added that if Nokia ships something that deals with its own specific manufacturing process, the Finnish mobile phone giant may choose to keep that code closed as well.
Intel's Sousou added that there are vendors who unfortunately insist on offering only proprietary drivers, and users will see those closed source drivers making their way into products as a result.
"You will see that MeeGo is a complete open source solution, but sure, there will always be -- as much as we hate it to be the case -- certain things that will be closed source," Sousou said. "Frankly, at the application level, I don't see that as a problem."
One of the ways around the issues of security and control that make some businesses wary of cloud computing is to build a private cloud -- one that remains within the corporate firewall and is wholly controlled internally. Private clouds also increase the agility of IT an organization's IT infrastructure and make it easier to roll out new technology projects. Download this eBook to get the facts behind the private cloud and learn how your organization can get started.
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Sunita Nanda, 33, from Alwar, Rajasthan, is just back from the Big Apple. She had a terrific time there. While in New York, Nanda sashayed down the ramp with leading supermodels and also attended a series of events held at the United Nations headquarters, marking the International Year of Sanitation.
Her children are delighted as they listen to their mother describe the interiors of the plush UN Millennium Plaza Hotel - where heads of states and leading diplomats and, more recently, Nanda stayed.
But that's where the similitude between world leaders and Nanda, as well as the 36 other women from Alwar, who were invited by the Prince of Orange of the Netherlands, ends.
Five years ago, Nanda earned a living cleaning dry latrines and disposing off night soil by carrying it in containers balanced on her head. She had married into a family of manual scavengers and was quickly initiated into the "family business" by her mother-in-law. She abhorred the work but since it was the only source of income, acquiesced to it. Between the two women, the family earned a paltry monthly income of Rs 400 (US$1=Rs 42.4).
But all that changed in 2003 when Dr Bindeshwar Pathak of the Sulabh International Social Service Organization met up with the women manual scavengers of Alwar district and resolved to liberate and mainstream them.
Through his NGO, Pathak set up a centre called Nai Dishayein (New Directions) where women are trained in vocations such as food processing, tailoring, embroidery and beauty treatments. The first batch in 2003 saw 28 women eagerly learning the new skills. The next batch saw the numbers double.
The women work at the centre from 10.30 am to 4 pm and earn a monthly stipend of Rs 2,000. Their food products, candles and other items are purchased by hotels and restaurants in Delhi and in the national capital region (NCR). "For a year, we couldn't sell anything that we produced because people said they were made by the 'untouchable' scavengers," says Santosh Singh, who manages the centre.
But things are looking up says a beaming Usha Chaumar, 33, who explains, "We make pickles, vermicelli and 'papad' (spicy savories) at home, too, which gets us an additional income of around Rs 2,000 per month."
"Initially, we didn't believe Dr Pathak. We couldn't believe anyone could liberate us from this age-old practice. But a few months after his Alwar visit, he invited us to Delhi for the World Toilet Summit and put us up at the five-star Maurya Sheraton hotel. The organization also gave us Rs 200 as travelling allowance. When we returned to Alwar, we were sure our life was going to change forever," recalls Nanda.
Shakuntala, 35, another former scavenger, says, "Most of us are now literate. Some of us can even speak a few words of English. We now send our children to English medium schools. Earlier, we didn't have any say in such affairs. The family decided where our children would go for their schooling. The centre has given us dreams and we want to realize them."
Besides rehabilitation, the NGO works towards helping then gain social acceptance, too. The recent trip to New York is the result of such efforts. Earlier in the year, the women had participated in a fashion show organized by the NGO at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. They had walked down the ramp with leading Indian models like Marc Robinson, Indrani Dasgupta and Tapur Chatterjee, in apparel designed by them under the six-month-long guidance of designer Abdul Haldar.
The show was attended by the Prince of Orange of the Netherlands, who then invited them to the UN this year. The trip was sponsored by Sulabh International in association with the Irene Network, a UN voluntary organization and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
"We could never ever dream that such a thing could happen to us. What happened in New York was much beyond our dreams," says Chaumar, who addressed the international community from the podium of the United Nations. There she spoke about her days as a manual scavenger, about how Sulabh International helped her do away with the humiliating job, and of her being the sole breadwinner of her family. Among her audience were leading diplomats and top UN officials. Later, Chaumar was unofficially crowned as princess of sanitation workers.
Talking about their visit to the Big Apple, the women say they loved the big-city experience - they were most impressed with the skyscrapers and enjoyed their trip to the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in the New York Harbor and the Battery Park in lower Manhattan. And what were their observations of the women of the metropolis? Though they were inspired by the working women in the city, the former scavengers were not too impressed with their clothes. "Less clothes and more exposed bodies. Our men would never let us wear such clothes and step out to work," says Shakuntala.
Of course, Nanda, Chaumar and the other foreign-returned women are the fortunate few in a state, which has the second highest number of female manual scavengers, after Delhi. This, despite the fact that Rajasthan had adopted the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. According to Pathak, the reason for the prevalence of the practice is the failure of the state to appoint an executive authority to prosecute violators of the Act. According to central government estimates, there are 342,000 persons engaged in manual scavenging in India. Voluntary organisations believe the actual numbers are at least four times this figure.
In Alwar alone, there are about 100 female scavengers, while Bharatpur tops the list with 600 as per figures sourced by the NGO from the state government. However, impressed by the results of the Nai Dishayein initiative, the Rajasthan government is now ready to provide financial assistance to Sulabh International to replicate the Alwar model in Tonk, another district of the state, where out of 225 scavengers, 190 are women.
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Chi Alpha Epsilon Induction and Pinning
History and Purpose
CHI ALPHA EPSILON National Honor Society was formed to recognize the academic achievement of students admitted to colleges and universities through non-traditional criteria/opportunity programs. Dr. Elbert M. Saddler, Ph.D., founded Chi Alpha Epsilon (XAE) in 1990 at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and there are now over 30 chapters in the United States.
Eligible students must be full-time (12 credit hours) and hold a 3.0 cumulative GPA for two consecutive semesters.
A private initiation, which included ritual materials for each inductee, was conducted before the EDP Awards Ceremony. The pinning took place during the awards ceremony.
20th Annual EDP Awards Ceremony - March '02
EDP General Meeting - January '02
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There are plenty of good reasons not to do your workout: job pressures, family commitments, and painfully long workout sessions that are equal parts boring and complicated.
Our solution: a three-step workout plan backed by science but built around your life -- to conquer your time constraints, speed your progress, and simplify your workouts. It's designed to increase muscle size and strength, improve flexibility and endurance, and, of course, burn fat -- all in less than 90 minutes a week. Start now and you're the odds-on favorite to be fit in 5 weeks.
Once you start, adopt a 3-day standard. "You'll see most of the benefits of exercise by working out hard just three times a week," says Michael Mejia, C.S.C.S., coauthor of Scrawny to Brawny. "And that's especially true if you're out of shape."
Save one workout for the weekend. That means you'll have to fit in only two sessions between Monday and Friday.
Track the ancillary benefits. Keep a job-performance journal on the days you exercise and the days you don't exercise. Each day, rate these three categories on a scale of 1 (poor) to 7 (excellent):
1. Your ability to work without stopping to take unscheduled breaks
2. Your ability to stick to your routine or plan (your "to do" list) for the day
3. Your overall job performance
"It's likely you'll find that you score higher and do more on the days you exercise, despite taking time out for your workout," says Jim McKenna, Ph.D., a professor of physical activity and health at Leeds Metropolitan University, in the United Kingdom. (Make sure you compare days that are similar in workload.)
Go to the next page to read more about how to stick to your workout...
New from MH!
The most popular workout in Men's Health history is now on DVD. Order your copy of The Spartacus Workout today and achieve the best results of your life in no time!
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The Groundbreaker: Oscar Pistorius
A sprinter's speed, tenacity, and able-bodied ambitions are transforming the world's view of disabled athletes.
Over the last four years, Oscar Pistorius and his carbon-fiber legs have left quite a wake: a trail of defeated competitors, old-fashioned notions about what constitutes disability, and a lot of debate over fairness, the limits of technology, and the soul of sport. On the track, the South African double amputee has reigned over his competitors, earning world records for the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter events (beating single-legged amputees) and gold medals in those three events at September's Paralympics. Off the track, he's fought to prove that a disabled athlete is capable of even more.
In 2007, the International Association of Athletics Federations banned the use of "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels, or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete," thus barring Pistorius from competing against able-bodied athletes. The sprinter disputed and appealed that ruling, saying, "If they ever found evidence that I was gaining an advantage, I would stop running because I would not want to compete at a top level if I knew I had an unfair advantage." Pistorius won his case last May, clearing him to run in Grand Prix events and laying the groundwork for future Paralympian-to-Olympian crossovers.
Pistorius has become many things to many people: a figurehead for Paralympic athletes, a symbol of better living through science, an example of technology run amok. But don't expect him to wax philosophical about his place in history. He refused to answer any questions about his landmark court victory. This obsessive, relentless competitor lives to go fast and to win.
That's not to say that Pistorius—who stars in a Nike commercial and is the sporting face of Pirelli—is opposed to endorsements. But his sponsor-friendly public face is at odds with the warrior within. While he's known around his hometown of Pretoria as a gregarious character who deals out hugs to shopkeepers and makes for a good off-season drinking partner, Pistorius is an unapologetic combatant when he hits the track. But that's okay. You wouldn't want to picnic with the Pistorius who settles into the starting blocks on race day and uncorks a 47.49 400-meter world record, and you'd never have heard of him if he were just a good-natured, handsome double-amputee.
Bob Gailey, a biomechanics expert who has spent two decades tuning the prostheses of U.S. Paralympians, says it will be some time before an amputee sprinter follows Pistorius across the line separating Paralympic runners from Olympic runners. "To match his athletic success and to overcome the same legal hurdles will take supreme athleticism and a tremendous amount of effort."
Pistorius's next four years are going to make for a riveting story. Now that he's been cleared to run in IAAF and Olympic events, Pistorius brings us closer to a historical inflection point for athletics and technology. As he closes in on his Olympic dream to make the 2012 South African team, the commotion over whether his equipment is helping him reach his potential or improving on nature will grow louder. It's a good bet that Pistorius won't hear it. He'll be focused on the finish line.
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New legislation could level the playing field for online radio royalties, as Rep. Jason Chaffez (R-UT) is writing a bill that would lower Internet royalty rates. Chaffez told The Hill, "It seems screwy that royalty rates change so dramatically based on the platform" and said his potential legislation would even things out for online broadcasters.
“When you’re listening to music in your house or in your car, you may be listening to it on your iPhone, you may be listening on the satellite radio or the FM radio,” he added. “Does that mean the royalties should be so vastly different? It doesn’t seem to make sense to me. We need to play catch-up here.”
Pandora is already throwing its weight behind Chaffez's legislation, as its founder Tim Westergren is in Washington, D.C. this week to meet with lawmakers about the proposed royalty changes.
"The current royalty rate structure clearly favors some providers over others, and the discrimination against Internet radio must come to an end," Westergren told The Hill. "Congress has an opportunity to enact legislation that will not only establish fair royalty rate-setting standards for Internet radio, but also drive more innovation in legal digital music distribution and treat artists as stakeholders."
However, another industry source tells The Hill they beleive Pandora is going back on its 2009 royalty rate agreement and merely trying to cut a better deal for itself. "They’re making a lot more money, but they want a lower rate," the source said. "If this bill actually passes, all it will do is take money out of the pockets of artists by letting them pay less."
Chaffetz’s bill, the Internet Radio Fairness Act of 2012, proposes to put online radio under the 801(b) standard of the Copyright Act, which is the same standard used by the Copyright Royalty Board when setting royalty rates for cable and satellite radio. The bill is still in draft form and Chaffetz says it isn't ready to be formally introduced yet, but he will continue moving forward with the legislation. He added, "There’s plenty of money to be made by all the various interests, it’s just I think moving toward parity is an important principle."
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The new year kicked off with Washington's failure to deal with its spending addiction. Far from restraining outlays, the "fiscal cliff" package is yet another budget-buster cooked up by Congress and the White House.
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, spending will be "cut" by $15 billion. Of course, these are cuts only as defined by Washington math, in which spending rises more slowly than originally estimated. Congressional Budget Office estimates show government spending is slated to rise every year in the next 10 years, adding $3.9 trillion in debt by 2022.
The deal does not renew the 2 percent payroll tax cut, which means more than three-quarters of American households will see their taxes increase. Without addressing Social Security reform, maintaining the cut would have further damaged the retirement program, which is already actuarially bankrupt, so this is not the worst aspect of the bill.
That honor goes to President Obama's politically motivated class-warfare tax hike. The highest-income Americans, including small businesses that file taxes on individual forms, will be writing bigger checks to the Internal Revenue Service. The income tax rate goes up to 39.6 percent for single taxpayers earning $400,000 and married couples earning $450,000. The successful will also be hit with more in capital gains taxes and dividends (20 percent instead of 15 percent) and a new 3.8 percent Obamacare tax. The new lower limits on itemized deductions on singles making $250,000 and joint filers making $300,000 also revives the marriage penalty for these families. Capital gains taxes are a pernicious form of double taxation that discourage savings and investment. Even Greece has better policy than we do on this point.
The estate tax goes up to 40 percent, from 35 percent, but only for estates valued at more than $5 million. That might seem to be a relatively small increase -- but the estate tax was zero as recently as 2010. The estate tax also is a particularly punitive and perverse tax, incurring disproportionately high administrative and other costs relative to the revenues it generates. The death tax hits particularly hard small businesses and family farms, which often have to sell the farm or business to pay the taxman.
It's a recipe for continued economic stagnation. The new taxes further penalize the thrifty, who are already suffering from the Federal Reserve's policy of artificially maintaining a near-zero interest rate. Unemployment benefits were extended, further eroding the incentive to work. The entitlement elephant in the room has been ignored.
The only consolation is the tax hikes came in at about $1 trillion less than Mr. Obama's opening offer. Americans will pay about $620 billion more over the next 10 years, instead of $1.6 trillion. That won't mean much to the unemployed and those hit hardest by the economic malaise as entrepreneurs see their incentive to succeed disappear.
Nita Ghei is a contributing Opinion writer for The Washington Times.
'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
By Susan Crabtree - The Washington Times
President Obama forgot to return the salute of a U.S. Marine while boarding Marine One Friday morning, then came back out to shake the Marine’s hand, according to a tweet by CBS News’ Mark Knoller.
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Posted By Claire on August 30, 2012
You may have heard that there is an archaeological dig taking place in the Greyfriars car park in Leicester as archaeologists attempt to find the remains of King Richard III, who was buried in the Franciscan friary on that site after the Battle of Bosworth.
You can read daily updates on the dig on the University of Leicester website – click here for today’s update. Obviously someone with a great sense of humour wrote today’s because the subtitle is “Relatively little to report right now. Richard III still dead.” Ha!
You can also read more in the following news reports:
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Preventing One Night in Jail from Becoming a Lifetime of Pain
Yesterday we told you about Adam, who was raped repeatedly by other inmates while officials at the Orleans Parish Prison did nothing.
Today, we want to share some good news: there are corrections officials all over the country who are committed to making sure that what happened to Adam will not happen on their watch.
Along with Orleans Parish Prison, the Miami-Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center was called before the Review Panel on Prison Rape, after government surveys found that it had shockingly high levels of sexual victimization. But rather than quibble over statistics, officials from Miami-Dade focused on what they have done -- and what they still need to do -- to improve inmate safety.
Large city jails tend to be noisy, crowded, and chaotic, with people cycling through for as little as a couple of hours. Straight off the streets, some detainees arrive under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, some still bleeding from a fight, and some having been homeless for weeks or months at a time.
Jails are the facilities where most people are held first after being arrested, before being charged or tried, and while awaiting sentencing. People given sentences of less than one year also tend to remain in a local jail, rather than being transferred to a prison. Thus, jails hold precisely those inmates who are most vulnerable to sexual abuse: young, nonviolent, first-time detainees lacking even the most basic prison savvy.
That means that every day, countless people picked up for disorderly conduct, or failure to make bail -- many never charged with a crime -- find that a couple of days in a local jail results in a lifetime of trauma.
But sexual abuse, even in crowded big-city jails, is not inevitable. On the contrary, prisoner rape can be prevented through strong management, sound policies, and proper training. Officials from Miami-Dade County have committed to working with JDI to implement such policies and training at their facilities, making them models for large jails nationwide.
We look forward to building our partnership with Miami-Dade officials to protect the basic right of all detainees to be free from sexual abuse, and give people a fair chance to return to their communities to lead productive lives.
No matter what crime someone may have committed, rape must not be part of the penalty.
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By Liz Jones, Community Networking Coordinator, HandsOn Twin Cities
“You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one”-John Lennon
Imagine a world where anything is possible. Where whatever you want to achieve, you can. Where whatever you want to change, you could. Now, imagine this same world has homeless families, uneducated children, and depleting environmental stability. What would you do?
In case you haven’t noticed, this imaginary world is real. It’s your world. You live in it, and you CAN change it.
Points of Light Institute along with HandsOn Network is launching a campaign encouraging people to volunteer and get involved in being this crucial change. This campaign is called The Get HandsOn Challenge and aims to mobilize 500,000 individuals to take part in 2 million projects that will help solve these worldly issues which are present in individual communities.
Are you up for the challenge?
Being the change is fun, so we want to make a game out of it. As part of the Get Hands Challenge, HandsOn Network is starting a game of virtual tag! You start the game by being “it” and going to www.GetHandsOn.com where you pledge to make a commitment to your community. This commitment can be anything-something you’ve always wanted to do, or even something you’re already doing! You then “tag” your friends, fans, and followers using your social media and online tools to get them into the game too! (Unlike the “tag” we all knew as children, this one involves cash and prizes!)
So, let’s get HandsOn together! I’m going to go make my commitment for change, will you?
TAG! YOU’RE IT!
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|<< Isaiah 31 >>|
Woe to Those Relying on Egypt
1WOE to them that go down to Egypt for help, trusting in horses, and putting their confidence in chariots, because they me many: and in horsemen, because they me very strong: and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought after the Lord.
2But he that is the wise one hath brought evil, and hath not removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked, and against the aid of them that work iniquity.
3Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses, flesh, and not spirit: and the Lord shall put down his hand, and the helper shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall al be confounded together.
4For thus saith the Lord to me: Like as the lion roareth, and the lion's whelp upon his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds shall come against him, he will not fear at their voice, nor be afraid of their multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon mount Sion, and upon the hill thereof.
5As birds dying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, passing over and saving.
6Return as you had deeply revolted, O children of Israel.
7For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you to sin.
8And the Assyrian shall fall by the sword not of a man, and the sword not of a man shall devour him, and he shall flee not at the face of the sword: and his young men shall be tributaries.
9And his strength shall pass away with dread, and his princes fleeing shall be afraid: the Lord hath said it, whose die is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
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International process control specialist Krohne’s R50-million contract to design and supply meter provers for State-owned freight logistics group Transnet’s new multiproduct pipeline (NMPP) from Durban to Johannesburg is expected to reach completion in August.
The project, which started in May, is overseen by the company’s local office and involves the design and installation of three meter provers with seven turbine meter runs.
The 24 inch meter provers and 16 inch meter runs are being installed at Terminal 1, in Island View, at the Port of Durban.
Krohne South Africa CEO John Boxley tells Engineering News the instruments will accurately calibrate the turbine meters through which products flow and ensure that these adhere to international standards.
He adds the main feature of the meter provers is the U-shaped pipework, which calibrates a known volume of 1 350 m3/h. This volume is transferred to the various turbine meters to generate output, which is then used in the computation parameters of the flow computer.
“The meter provers have several unique engineering subtleties, such as a British Standards 6374 Part 2 lining system, and effective launch and receive capabilities,” he adds.
The lining enables smooth transition of the sphere around the meter prover and gives the system a longer life span.
The meter provers are to be imported from Krohne Oil & Gas, based in the UK.
“This particular project has proven Krohne South Africa’s meter proving abilities in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa,” Boxley notes.
The company’s meter provers have been successfully used in various African projects, including the Mozambique–Zimbabwe Pipeline Company’s fuel pipeline project, as well as oil and gas company Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas’s production plant, at Bonny Island.
Other African Projects
Last year, Krohne received its biggest order to date: a R10-million contract to supply about 30 basic ultrasonic flow meters to Transnet’s NMPP project.
Boxley says three-beam in-line flow meters are being installed in the pumpstations to monitor flow from pumps, as well as on the pipeline to measure the flow rates at various points. The collected data will then be fed into the pipeline’s leak detection system.
“The project is currently 50% complete; however, its completion date depends on Transnet’s project schedule,” he notes.
Developed and constructed in Holland, the UFM 3030 flow meters are either 10 inch, 12 inch, 14 inch, 16 inch, 20 inch or 24 inch in diameter and can measure the sonic velocity to determine different products as well as the volumetric flow rate of clean liquids.
He adds that the benefit of the flow meters is that their non- moving parts, straight bore and three beams allow for compensation for flow profile and Reynolds number changes.
The devices can be used in all industries that require accurate flow measurements for nonconductive mediums, such as hydrocarbons, demineralised water, chemicals and black liquor, a by-product of the papermaking process.
To continue its growth, Boxley says Krohne is investigating further pipeline transportation project opportunities throughout Africa and aims to continually monitor the market and react accordingly in terms of product design and supply.
The company was recently awarded a R30-million meter prover contract for the Strategic Fuel Fund, at Saldanha Bay, in the Western Cape.
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While generally upbeat about investment prospects, Hispanic money managers nonetheless caution against the “irrational exuberance” of years past.
By Mark Egan
HISPANIC BUSINESS® magazine
After two years most investors would rather forget, money managers are optimistic that the worst is over. The S&P500 index fell nearly 10 percent and 12 percent in 2000 and 2001, respectively – the first back-to-back declines since the early 1970s. But despite that dismal backdrop – to say nothing of the current recession and the war against terrorism – money managers forecast good times ahead, predicting a rising stock market as the economy shakes off its lethargy. In contrast to the heady Internet bullmarket days when the sky was the limit, however, investment advisors are urging stock market investors to have realistic expectations. Julio Gonzalez, a vice-president of Georgia-based Miramar Securities and Hispanic-owned money management firm Diaz- Verson Capital, sees the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 12,000 and the S&P500 at 1,400 by year’s end. Though many investors pulled money out of the stock market during the past two years, Mr. Gonzalez expects that trend will reverse in 2002. “Investors are anxious to jump back into the market,” says Mr. Gonzalez, who aims for annual gains of 12–15 percent. “We think there could be a big boost to this market.” In fact, Mr. Gonzalez is almost unwavering in his optimism. “The key thing to keep in mind is that this stock market has withstood the Cuban missile crisis, the resignation of President Nixon, the assassination of President Kennedy, the oil embargo, depressions and recessions. It has withstood everything that has ever hit this country and has always gone higher.” Indeed, the market proved that point again last year. After September 11, stocks stumbled to three-year lows, heightening fears of a protracted bear market. But the uncertainty was short-lived, as stocks took just one month to return to pre–September 11 levels. And if optimism is the flavor of the day, the statistics support that view. The stock market has not declined for three consecutive years since the Great Depression, and during the first year of a recovery, stock prices have jumped an average of 38 percent. The S&P500 fell 17 percent and almost 30 percent, respectively, in 1973 and 1974 as a result of the oil crisis and Richard Nixon’s resignation. But in 1975 and 1976, stocks jumped almost 32 percent and 19 percent. Even if gains like those do materialize again, investors should not expect all stocks to rise. Mr. Gonzalez believes that means buying companies with solid earnings prospects. Kroger (NYSE: KR), Walgreen (NYSE: WAG), and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) are among the retailers he likes. He also expects gains from heath-care company Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), while among financials he expects that American Express (NYSE: AXP) and the Bank of New York (NYSE: BK) will benefit from higher interest rates in the coming months. Many experts say U.S. stocks are still overvalued, given mixed corporate earnings results. And while most expect the economy to shrug off the recession this year, many economists expect a patchy recovery with some key indicators like unemployment getting worse before they get better.
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Grading Clarity in Rough
Carat weight is very important but not without the color and clarity. If the piece is 10.00 carats but full of inclusions, it won't have much hope of finishing to be a valuable diamond. Just as in polished diamonds, the clarity is critical in determining value. Some pieces of rough are termed glassies due to their very clear nature. The octahedral faces look like they've already been faceted. This is ideal for easy clarity grading with good light.
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Showcased at the Cannes Surcar 2011 Congress, the Citroën DS4 is the first ever passenger vehicle in Europe to be exhibited using matt black textured powder coatings on the car body.
After initial trials with PSA Peugeot Citroën, the parent company of the Citroën DS4, a model was produced using Interpon A 5000. PSA Peugeot Citroën decided to showcase the car and its new coating system in Cannes.
“This is a great step forward for powder coatings in the automotive arena and one we are particularly proud of,” said Marie Cécile Dekker, global automotive marketing manager, AkzoNobel Automotive and Aerospace Coatings (AAC). “Historically powder coatings have been primarily used on the components of the vehicle, including the wheel and trim areas, providing aesthetic value and the high performance attributes required by the auto industry. We are now able to offer exciting new finishes, like the matt black texture, that are innovative and provide a unique and exciting character change that enhances the design features of the auto body. This type of design concept really is pushing the boundaries and inspiring design teams in the automotive world to think unconventionally.”
Powder coatings as a body coating alternative mark the start of a new era for automotive manufacturers who wish to reduce both their carbon footprint and their costs without compromising on technical quality or performance. Interpon automotive coatings are offering the automotive industry a sustainable alternative to liquid paints.
The powder mono coat system reduces the number of process steps and enables a significant reduction in energy consumption.
“This is not the first time powder coatings have been used as automotive topcoats. We have been coating commercial and passenger vehicles for many years and have made steady advances,” said AkzoNobel AAC’s Kevin Hales. “A lot of hard work has gone into refining the product and application techniques, working closely with PSA Peugeot Citroën to ensure their incredibly high quality demands are met and the coating is suitable for the European passenger vehicle market.”
PSA Peugeot Citroën has considerable experience in powder coating, especially for primer, which has been used at its Mulhouse factory since 2003. “This project was very exciting because it’s not only a practical response to customer expectations for more innovative effects, but also it’s obtained in the most simple way we can imagine, which was to apply a mono coat paint directly on e-coat with a fully automatic process,” said Antoine Vieu, PSA Peugeot Citroën expert for topcoat materials.
PSA Peugeot Citroën not only wanted a powder coating for this significant new finish, they also required a matching finish for the plastic body panels.
“Our challenge was to provide a high quality aesthetic match not only for color but also in surface structure,” said Regis Garcia of AkzoNobel Automotive and Aerospace Coatings. “The Citroën DS4 is evidence that AkzoNobel AAC rose to this challenge.”
AkzoNobel Powder Coatings driving sustainable automotive topcoat solutions
AkzoNobel’s Interpon Powder Coatings become the first full body monocoat powder coating to be used on a passenger vehicle in Europe.
Published July 22, 2011
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Setting Schedules: Creating Service Out of Order
In fact, you have so many employees now that your work schedule is full of paperwork for various government agencies, for the health care, for the insurance, and for so many other things that you can't remember them all.
When it was just you painting wooden signs in your basement, you knew what had to be done, when it had to be done, and when the job had to be installed. Collecting your money and paying your bills was a Texas-two-step.
Now confusion reins. You are lucky to remember which employee has the day off, let alone what job has to be done when. It is time for your business to get scheduled and organized. With many employees and multiple jobs going on at the same time, creating a scheduling and organization system is often harder than making the signs.
If your shop is not getting its work done on time, it may need some careful attention to scheduling. Once you get a system going, it becomes a daily routine, like brewing the morning coffee. But like the coffee, a scheduling system can get your shop going and can keep its employees and projects on task. Your customers will be happier.
Starting a system isn't even that difficult. Just start on Monday. With each new job that comes in, be sure to put it into your new system. In no time, the whole shop will have an orderly schedule. Work will be completed on time as promised.
Let the chaos end.
Here's what you need to do. Start with an order book or an in-take book. An efficient in-take book should have spaces to write down when the job was taken, when the job is to be finished and installed, who is to be billed, and what the job requires.
It will also be helpful if the book is used to assign invoice numbers for each job. This numbering will be important later in the organization process. The important thing is that everything is put in writing.
Make sure that the invoice number stays with the project or work order. The in-take book and the numbering system will keep you straight about each and every job. This comes in handy when you have so many projects going at the same time.
After you take the phone call or customer order down in the in-take book, fill out a work order. There are several ways to handle work orders. You can operate off of one copy of a work order. However, some shops use as many as five copies and send a copy to each department or employee.
Perhaps the most effective way to handle work orders is to have two or three copies. With this system, you can give one copy to the production manager (most likely the shop owner or foreman) and attach a copy attached to the job. Make sure that the work order and copies all have the invoice number on them.
A third copy of the work order could be sent to who will do most of the required work. This allows some planning in the use of employees, equipment, and materials.
Changes to the work order or changes in the job specifications must be noted on all paperwork connected with this particular job.
Those currently with the designated job are responsible for adding the latest amendments to the work order. Make sure, however, that the original copy (usually the one for filing that you, the foreman, or a supervisor) gets amended as well as the production copy (the one that accompanies the work).
Keep the each day's work orders posted in a central accessible location so that everyone in shop knows what is to be done on a given day. The best way to post orders is on a dry erase board.
There are, of course, again several ways to do this. One is to post columns for the days of the week and then place invoice numbers in the appropriate days that the jobs are to be done.
Another more technical way of posting jobs would be to run four copies of your work order. Place the fourth copy on a corkboard that has permanent columns for two weeks' worth of dates. This system allows for employees to look at the entire work order rather than just looking at an invoice number. It permits sign workers to see how the whole week's schedule looks.
This system is also a lot easier to alter if an order's due date is changed. (Of course, if a job is amend, make sure that the amendments are noted on the posted work order.)
If you do decide to actually posted the work orders, you may want to devise a system of marking the job's progress on the posted work order. For example, once the vinyl gets cut, the cutter should make the work order with a colored check mark, stamp, or sticker it so that the other people working on the job know that the vinyl has been done. You will also want to mark jobs that are to be installed and jobs that are finished.
An adaptation to the dry erase/corkboard scheduling board is an installation board. This can be a very important tool to getting jobs completed.
Sometimes sign workers lose track of which jobs are to be installed at what time and by whom. On the installation board, mark columns for the days of the week. Then note when a job is to be installed (by invoice number), and who is to install a job. This will prevent a lot of confusion and inevitable delays. Your employees will thank you; your customers will thank you.
Some sign shops use meetings to communicate what is going on with scheduling the crew. Meeting should be kept very short. They should go over all existing jobs-what they will require and their deadlines. Those jobs that aren't to be started until later in the week shouldn't take long to get through.
However, the jobs that must be completed soon will take a little longer. Let employees know what they should be doing on a particular job for the day. Make sure they understand where they are in project's process and when the whole project has to be completed.
If you do this, you can be more comfortable with leaving your employees for the day to go meet with potential clients. These shop meetings will also allow your employees to feel a part of something bigger. They can know how their role is important to the finished product and that the shop may be depending on their completing their assigned work on time.
Many businesses have gone high tech in the field of scheduling. Some shops generate several spreadsheets to cover one job. However, this tends to be unnecessary and ineffective.
For the most part, computer spreadsheets involve closing out existing projects, opening files, and entering data. These are three steps that can be cut out by simply writing down the information and putting the appropriate documentation where it belongs. That is, of course, assuming you do not have a data entry specialist.
Remember, invoice numbers are very important in scheduling and organizing jobs. Invoice numbers should be on every document concerning a project. These numbers make clear the filing system (for hard copy files and for computer files such as graphics.
If you start organizing and scheduling your business today, your business will run much more smoothly in no time. Organization brings structure, and structure brings order.
These organization techniques are rather low maintenance. If you can't do them all, pick out the ones that would be most beneficial to your business and use those.
Not every shop requires all of these techniques. But every shop should have some system for scheduling and organizing the work.
Late jobs and lost jobs can be expensive. The sign industry is service-oriented. Good service is good business. An appropriate scheduling system and organizing system helps ensure good service regardless of your shop's size or how much you wish for the old days.
© Copyright 1999-2013, All Rights Reserved.
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The Corpus Christi Independent School District Board of Trustees owes its community answers, not excuses, for reassigning Principal Danny Noyola from Miller High School to Moody High School.
Noyola isn't the only one blindsided by the board's capricious decision. Only a year ago this same board demonstrated nearly unanimous support for Noyola endorsing his leadership and credentials.
The problems at Miller have brewed for more than a year, yet the board wants to gauge Noyola's efforts in a year's time.
The entire board, including Mr. Flores and Ms. Rubio, are our elected representatives on the board and they answer to us. Rather than hiding behind the board's "rights" and the "better fit for the district," they need to explain their decision to the students of Miller High School, their parents and the taxpayers of the district.
The board's motives are questionable at best. At worst, they're secretive and dismissive. Does the board have plans to gut Miller High School, turning out only vocational grads, or is something more sinister on the horizon? We need answers. I am one of an entire family of Miller graduates. My brother, sister and I enjoyed a supportive relationship with our principal at Miller and are all college-educated, productive citizens. Tomorrow's Miller students deserve no less.
Reference to letter, June 21, "Fishing is key" by Fred Graham. Everyone will agree that preserving the aquatic environment in our area is important economically. However, let's look more realistically at the economic and environmental impact of the mandatory water releases from Lake Corpus Christi. As of June 22, 60 percent of the freshwater aquatic environment has been lost to the various vertebrates and invertebrates that inhabit this lake because the lake level is now 39.8 percent of capacity
We need to revisit the plan for these mandatory releases. Why is it that the Laguna Madre with its hypersalinity due to lack of freshwater inflow is able to produce such an abundance of saltwater species, including shrimp, yet we are being forced to release water for Nueces, Corpus Christi and Redfish Bays? Could it possibly be that these mandatory releases are more politically motivated to flush out pollutants created by refineries and other local byproducts? Why are there mandatory water releases monthly of 25,500 acre feet of water and no mandatory watering restrictions in Corpus Christi?
According to Mayor Henry Garrett, when the combined total of both lakes is at 70 percent there will be a major release from Choke Canyon, which will be any day now. Let's see if that promise is fulfilled. In the meantime, keep putting pressure on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to create a better plan to keep the environmental quality of all aquatic areas of our state healthy.
Sheila A. Boultinghouse
I applaud U.S. District Judge Janis Jack for taking official action to expose the filthy and unsanitary conditions in the Nueces County Jail.
214th District Court Judge Jose Longoria said it all when he remarked, "My concern is the safety of the prisoners. They are human beings like you and I." He reflects the sentiments of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, who in his book "The House of The Dead" wrote, "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."
The jail conditions uncovered by Judge Jack and the U.S. marshals were uncivilized. The squalid conditions found there were a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects citizens from cruel and unusual punishment.
Judge Nanette Hasette and the Board of Judges should be commended for acting quickly to correct the situation. I always say that systemic problems start at the top.
The Commissioners Court, the sheriff, her predecessor, and her captains should give the Nueces County Board of Judges and the federal judges of the Southern District of Texas a full accounting of how these deplorable conditions where allowed to come about, and detail what steps are being taken to prevent them from reoccurring. This is not a matter of placing blame; this is a matter of taking care of business. Perhaps the jail should hire a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant to advise them on the benefits of white glove inspections.
That was a great column, and all true, by Murphy Givens ("Are Corpus Christi drivers that bad? Yes," June 25).
A good mention in that column would have been about the bad-driving daredevils not having car insurance, which many in Corpus Christi do not have. I have been victimized by two drivers who had no auto liability insurance. I suffered property damage that my insurance carrier would not cover, not to mention the hundreds I was out on the deductible. If the driver of a car has no insurance, I believe the police should have the authority to impound the vehicle on the spot, whether it is in a wreck or in a traffic stop.
As it stands now, the police will issue a citation for no insurance and then allow the driver to knowingly drive off, still able to get involved in another accident without having any insurance to assist the parties involved.
Kind of dumb
Reference: Closing the beach at the new Packery Channel jetty. It seems kind of dumb to close a stretch of beach next to a public attraction like a boat channel to the Gulf. You might as well close the South Jetty Beach in Port Aransas too.
Oh, the Port Aransas leaders have a little more sense than to do that. I was in the Tampa Bay area in 1977, and tried to wade in the Gulf. My friend and I were standing in knee-deep water and a security guard from a resort down the beach yelled to get out, we were not allowed unless we were guests.
I thought it worth noting that one of the survivors aboard a worker's bus that was stopped last week and all aboard killed, barring women, children and Sunnis, escaped because his ID card identified him, incorrectly, as Sunni. We are devoting American lives to the cause of installing democracy in a country wherein your religion is posted on ID badges.
Hello, President Bush makes the case for this cause by assuming the American people won't notice the difference between Brand-X democracy and "Our Brand."
The difference is huge. Brand-X: You shoot or blow up as many of those who oppose you or are of a varying shade of your own religion. "Our Brand": We don't even ask what faith you cater to, only that you register to vote and take advantage of that democratic tool.
So remember, Brand-X, AK47. Our brand, a fair election. One's worth fighting and dying over.
I was raised in foster homes until the age of 14. I went to live with my uncle, aunt, and their three sons. My uncle came to the U.S. from Germany.
Never, never, in all of the years I lived with them, until I joined the Marines, did I ever hear a word, no not one, of German. My uncle was so proud to be an American, and he expressed it every day. You are American, be thankful, be glad, he would say to us.
All three of his sons graduated from A&M and went into the U.S. Army as second lieutenants. No need for another language, English for Americans.
Please tell me the freeway (between Weber and Crosstown) that has kept exits closed and halted traffic for years isn't finished.
Is the lane with all the potholes the finished product? I look down the freeway and can't believe the condition. Who would sign off on this project stating it's complete? I'd be embarrassed to say I had been responsible for this project after seeing the outcome. Shame on you.
San Pat proud
I have never responded to anything such as this before, but when I read the letter from Thelma Loftin, "Vice squad," in the June 12 Sunday paper, I had to answer.
Sheriff Moody is an extraordinary man and performs his duties in a manner consistent with the wishes of the residents of San Pat County and the laws of Texas. Those of us who live in San Pat County are proud of his performance. If Thelma Loftin lived in San Pat County, I could understand her letter. Since her letter indicates she lives in Aransas County her wishes are moot!
However, she should feel free to open her own gambling establishment in Aransas County.
Burma Shave quote
Bill and I strongly agree with Murphy Givens' column on June 25 ("Are Corpus Christi drivers that bad? Yes"), but we have a minor caveat about the tombstone quote: "Here is the grave of Mike O'Day; he died maintaining his right of way."
Actually, that's the first two lines of one of the old Burma-Shave signs. The rest of the quote goes: "His right was clear, his will was strong, but he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong."
We used to watch for those signs with great interest - one of the joys of travel in the "good old days."
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Old Hampton Tales of Sea and Shore: How Two Feuds Were Ended
By Thomas Leavitt
The Exeter News-Letter
December 9, 1898
How Two Feuds Were Ended
Mr. David Nudd, of Hampton, as I remember him in the forties (1840s), was a somewhat thick set elderly man of robust appearance. He was by far the wealthiest man in the town, and a large owner of real estate scattered in various parts of it. As I look back to that time I am sure he was a man of energy, enterprise, and business ability.
He was never seen afoot except in his door yard. His possessions called him to all parts of the town, and he always drove in an open wagon, seated at the extreme right with his left arm extended, the hand resting on the top of the back of the seat and with face square to the front, and at a gait of about five miles an hour. So that anyone who knew him could recognize him as far as he could see him.
He had a way of asking the advice of all sorts of men as to his affairs, hence he might be seen at any time, in any place, talking with any man. As most of the men of whom he asked advice were no more competent to advise him as to his affairs than they were to run a modern steam engine, I have thought he cared nothing for their counsel, but did it to flatter them, and thus make them more confidential and communicative -- and I have no doubt that many men, who had not the ability to increase their inherited patrimony one dollar's worth, confidently believed, to their dying day, that they had contributed materially to Mr. Nudd's fortune by their sage advice.
There were two men, however, with whom he was never seen talking up to the date of which I am writing. They were his own nephew, Jerry Nudd, commonly called "Jed," and my father. I don't know the cause of this, nor is it of any consequence, and I only mention it because of its connection with what follows.
I remember it perfectly, as if it were but yesterday. The soft June day, with the wind blowing from the cape just enough to temper the heat, and to make the sea a little choppy, when about the middle of the afternoon, Mr. Nudd was seen driving up the road that leads by Capt. Cutler's Sea View house, at what for him was breakneck speed. In fact his horse was on the gallop. And when he reached the corner by Leavitt's, instead of going on up the road, he drove straight up to the south side of the Winnicumet house as near as he could to where my father happened to be standing on the piazza alone. With his right arm stretched out towards the sea, and in otherwise excited manner, he said something. My father was evidently startled at what he heard, and immediately ran to the back yard fence, and in a startling tone called on three men by name to come out. Then he ran into the office and returned with a spy glass. He told the men that somebody was overboard, and to get the wherry into the water as quickly as possible, and that when he could find out where the man was, he would tell them where to row, at the same time sweeping the sea with the glass.
Almost more quickly than I can tell it, the men were in, and the wherry flying over the water for the outer end of the Sunken Rocks. If anyone of my readers has witnessed one of these strifes of the sympathy, hope and courage of man with the relentless ocean for the life of a human being, he can understand the feelings of these two men, my father and Mr. Nudd, as together they watched and discussed the chances of the struggle.
It did not take the men in the wherry long to make the distance of the miles and a half or two miles, and soon they appeared to be taking something aboard, and then one seemed to be hauling a fish. That was a puzzle. Soon the wherry was coming back, and, if anything, more swiftly than she went out.
As the boat drew near only the men who went out in her could be seen. The whole thing was explained, however, when they arrived, by the fact that the two rescued men were insensible in the bottom of the boat, and that the fish line was tangled about the leg of one of the them with a haddock on its hook.
The half drowned men proved to be George Marston, my mother's nephew, to whom our family was strongly attached, and Jed Nudd. It was George's leg around which the fish line was tangled. They were quickly got into bed in blankets. Hot drink was poured into them and they revived, and then went off to sleep. In an hour or so they awoke apparently as well as ever. Then Jed took it upon himself to "spin the yarn," as he called it.
George came down to his place and coaxed him to go fishing. The day was right, the tide served, and he knew where to go to catch "lots" of haddock. He always talked him round to his way when he tried, -- and he did then. They took their lines and trusted to luck to get a boat and bait.
They arrived at "Leavitt's Landing" between one and two o'clock, and found, as George said they would, a boat and bait. They took a small dory in which they found a hillock and rope to anchor with. The hillock was a very large, heavy one made to be used in a much larger boat than the dory, but they didn't mind that, as they would have to haul it up but once. All the time they were making their preparations they saw no person.
Jed rowed under George's directions, until they were almost to the outer end of the "Sunken Rocks" and nearly off the mouth of Hampton river. George had "unreeled" his line and baited his hook, and when he told Jed to stop rowing and "throw" the hillock, he at the same time threw over his line. Jed went forward and threw the hillock and as "quick as a flash they were over." When they rose to the surface they were some little distance from the boat, and Jed, knowing that George could not swim, helped him to the boat.
And now a new trouble appeared. Every little while the boat would roll over and break their hold on it, and then they would go under water and have to struggle up to it again. As he had to help George, it began to tell on Jed after a while. "At last George got it through his noodle what the trouble was." The hillock rope was not long enough to reach the bottom. George took out his jack knife, opened it, and worked his way to the bow of the boat, reached down, sinking himself entirely beneath the surface, got hold of the rope and cut it. Then the bow rose and brought him up. "And that crittur shut his knife and put it back in his pocket."
At last, when as he thought they had been in the water an hour and a half or two hours, he felt benumbed and exhausted. He recalled the fact that they saw no one when they went out, and thought no one had seen them. They were out of the thoughts of men. This was terrible -- and he lost heart and hope and thought he might as well let go and end his sufferings. The sea had them and it was a question of time when they would sink down into it. He did let go and sank face upward some ten feet, when he saw George's legs "kicking" in the water, and the thought went through his "head" that he would try once more. He arose and had got hold of the boat when he heard voices, and immediately he began to lose his senses. He had a dim consciousness of some large object end of being pulled and jerked, and that was the last he knew until he awoke there in bed.
When he had finished he suddenly looked up to my mother who was standing by the bed and said: "Mrs. Leavitt, how did they know we were out there?" She told him his Uncle David had heard their cries while coming up from the "Willows," and ran his horse up and gave the alarm.
Upon hearing that, he turned upon his side, his face away, and lay ten minutes perfectly still. Then he looked up and said: "Mrs. Leavitt, I shall have to speak now to old Uncle Dave, shan't I? I must, musn't I, to be decent? Well, I will." And ever after Jed was as good as his word.
This incident swept away whatever enmity there existed between my father and Mr. Nudd, and although they moved in different paths, they never afterwards refused to speak whenever they met.
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There is no shortage of words when an eye-catching criminal or civil trial takes place somewhere in the world. I should know; I have written hundreds of thousands of them over the past 40 years or so. The wordcraft of outstanding lawyers was the subject of a recent My Word column. But what a shame it would be if eloquence displayed in the courtroom were recorded only in legal documents seen by few. If we remember the brilliance of an advocate's closing speech, or the highlights of an incisive cross-examination, it is because they were captured in contemporaneous media reports.
At its best, court reporting is a great journalistic skill. The Press Association, Britain's domestic news agency, once maintained a sizeable team devoted to organising, covering and editing the proceedings of the Royal Courts of Justice in central London. The output was devoured by newspapers and other news outlets throughout the land, and beyond. Each day's developments in any case deemed sufficiently important would be reported in detail, and at impressive speed, by those occupying seats in the press boxes.
Whole sections of the court's deliberations would be reproduced in as close to verbatim fashion as the reporter's shorthand would permit. As a reporter who scraped through a Pitman's examination at 100 words per minute, I have watched in admiration at confrères able to keep up with the fastest speakers. Readers could learn much about a case and its characters from a quoted sequence of evidence or cross-examination, the barristers's questions given in full along with the witness or defendant's answers. Subsequent instalments were eagerly awaited.
Unfortunately, despite the extensive coverage given to such cases as the Michael Jackson child abuse trial, and murder trials involving OJ Simpson and, this month, the American student Amanda Knox (one of three convicted in Italy of killing a young British woman, Meredith Kercher), court reporting has generally become patchier. The decline began with a growing belief among editors, under the influence of marketing people, that readers wanted newspaper content to be less and less demanding. The economic ills of the press have steepened that decline.
Courts are still covered by the press, because they are such a ready source of news. Only on rare occasions, however, can readers expect the depth and continuity that was a common feature of previous times. The trend towards the use of "background" and "colour" has increased to the extent that the reporting of the evidence and submissions often takes second place, especially in "major" trials, to descriptive writing, analysis and material gathered outside the courtroom (interviews with witnesses or victims, for example).
In truth, a case may be considered "major" without the issues being genuinely important, and that was as true in the past as it is now. Trials do not attract media attention only when it is in the public interest for their details to be published; many are covered because they are interesting to the public, which is not the same thing. I have some words of caution for newspaper or blog readers, radio listeners and television viewers: do not form fixed views on the issues decided by the courts on the basis of short press reports that cannot possibly convey all that has been said. All the same, good journalism still offers the best mechanism we have for applying checks and balances to the judicial process.
When courts make mistakes, the press can help to ensure these are remedied. Some grave miscarriages of justice have been corrected because reporters, perhaps with the help and encouragement of concerned lawyers, have taken the trouble to investigate inconsistencies in the evidence or shortcomings in the way cases have been conducted. And in doing so, they have performed a vital social role which, I hope, will never be consigned to oblivion by economic constraints and changing editorial appetites.
Colin Randall is a contributing editor to The National and may be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.org
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FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT: Warriors Don’t Cry – currently onstage at African-American Repertory Theater in DeSoto - tells the story of one of the black high school students who helped to desegregate Little Rock’s Central High School. The one-woman show is based on a book written by Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals and stars Regina Washington. And the powerful story has the critics moved. ”‘Important’ plays certainly have their place, and the good ones transcend mere entertainment,” M. Lance Lusk writes on Front Row. “This play is one of those rare few that entertains, educates, and enlightens.” Meanwhile, David Novinski writes on theaterjones.com that the play should be “required viewing” in schools. Check it out through Sunday.
SHE’S BACK: About a week ago, Mary Preston was dismissed as organist for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. But now the DSO has reversed course, offering the 18-year veteran of the group a new contract for the 2012-13 season. Scott Cantrell says good move.
HELPING ARTISTS IN NEED: Have you heard of the Craft Emergency Relief Fund? How about Writers Emergency Assistance Fund or the Author’s League Fund? They’re all programs that are designed to help people in creative careers when they are down on their luck. Consider them mini-TARPS. And as nytimes.com reports, many artists are benefiting from them.
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HONG KONG—A retired physics professor and prominent rights activist from the eastern province of Shandong has called on the Chinese government to stop limiting the Internet access of people in the troubled region of Xinjiang.
Former Shandong university professor Sun Wenguang, 75, said the restrictions are equivalent to burning books and smashing historical relics, and make him ashamed on behalf of majority Han Chinese.
"The Internet was not blocked during the Lhasa protest in March 2008," Sun said, referring to weeks of unrest among Tibetans in China ahead of the Olympic Games.
"This policy was implemented only in Xinjiang after the July 5 [unrest]."
Residents of Xinjiang say Internet services are still extremely limited, nine months after deadly ethnic rioting swept through the regional capital, Urumqi, following demonstrations by the mostly Muslim ethnic minority Uyghurs.
Xinjiang was effectively offline for several months after the demonstrations sparked deadly rioting and clashes in July among local Uyghurs, Han Chinese, and armed security forces.
Still difficult to connect
Long-distance phone calls were also restricted, making it hard to get information even about the information freeze.
Recent official news reports have said that full e-mail services and some Web sites have been restored to the region.
But Xinjiang-based blogger Josh Summers, writing on the “Far West of China” blog, said the business of actually sending an e-mail is hampered by the fact that only one e-mail service is available to the region’s residents.
"Ever since July 2009 it has been virtually impossible to access Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or any other e-mail client from within the borders of Xinjiang," Summers, who recently returned to the United States from the region, wrote in a blog post Tuesday.
"Currently only one Web portal, Sina, has been given the privilege to send and receive e-mails, but if you can’t read Chinese you might find it difficult to set up an account," Summers wrote.
Uyghurs outside Xinjiang have reported that none of the popular, independent Uyghur-language sites have re-opened yet, and that some of their staff have been detained by police.
"The government announced that they opened some of the Web sites in Xinjiang," Sun said.
"Most of the reopened the Web sites were in Chinese. Except for some government Web sites, none of the Uyghur Web sites were opened."
Sun said these limitations are evidence that the Internet restrictions specifically target Uyghurs as an ethnic group.
"Over the past nine months, 10 million people have been living blindfolded, deaf, and silent," he said.
"Here exists not only an ethnic segregation, but also a hostility towards technology," Sun said.
"I am ashamed that this kind of backward policy is being implemented in my country in the 21st century."
He warned the government that policies that discriminate against Uyghurs, who have complained of being excluded from most of the benefits of economic development and of continual official interference in their religious practises, are doomed to fail.
"In my view, the Internet blockage is similar to radical groups burning books and demolishing historical relics," he said, in an apparent reference to the political turbulence of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).
"Maybe this is more backward than that even...The government is asking people in other Chinese cities not to say too much, but it is asking for complete silence from Uyghurs."
He said leadership in Xinjiang and good ethnic relations will continue to run into problems until such policies are lifted.
"Therefore, first of all we should not be trampling on the Uyghur people's economic rights, and secondly we should let them have some degree of self-determination," said Sun, who served time in labor camps after being labeled a "rightist" during the 1950s and a "counterrevolutionary" during the Cultural Revolution.
He has since campaigned vigorously for the abolition of the Chinese gulag and attempted to stage public memorial events for ousted late premier Zhao Ziyang and for those killed in the 1989 military crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters in Beijing.
Original reporting in Uyghur by Shohret Hoshur. Uyghur service director: Dolkun Kamberi. Translated by Memetjan Jume. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
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DoDEA Announces Results of 2010-2011 Customer Satisfaction Survey
ARLINGTON, VA — Parents and student continue to give increasingly high marks to Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Schools according to results of the 2010-2011 Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS).
The survey is administered every other year to sponsors with children in pre-kindergarten - 12th grade and to students in grades 4-12. For the 2010-2011 survey, more than 19,000 sponsors and 27,000 4th-12th grade students responded to the survey. These statistics represent an approximate response rate of 24% of eligible sponsors (down 1% from the previous survey) and 57% of eligible students (down 18% from the previous survey).
Questions posed in the survey related to school issues such as curriculum, instruction, standards, assessment, technology, student support, and communication. The survey was developed by representatives from various groups, including DoDEA Area and District representatives, DoDEA's Education Directorate staff, and the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC). Some questions were taken from the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward Schools with additional DoDEA-specific questions.
Highlights of Results - Education in General
Overall, 77% of parents and 73% of students rated DoDEA schools with an "A" or "B." Students and parents were equally satisfied with their particular school, with 79% of parents and 74% of students rating their school as "A" or "B." Nationally, 77% of parents rated their child's school as "A" or "B."
An increasing number of parents and students rated DoDEA schools highly in how well they were providing for all students to meet or exceed challenging academic standards. Close to three-fourths of parents (76%) and students (72%) rated their school "A" or "B," a 2-4% increase respectively over the previous survey.
Parents and students were also asked to indicate what topics they felt were major problems, minor problems, or not a problem at all in their schools. DoDEA parents and students continue to report the lunch program as the major issue at their school. According to students, the second major problem is bullying. Students' comments indicated that other students frequently "pick" on each other, but no one does anything about it. According to parents, the second major problem is financial support/funding. Parents remarked on being asked to "donate" supplies such as paper to the school; however students' comments referred to the lack of funds for field trips and sports competitions.
When asked to rank the top three actions with the most potential to improve their school, DoDEA students and parents continue to cite raising academic standards and reducing class size as the top two ways to improve their school. However, students and parents disagreed on their third choice, with students selecting "increasing access to instructional technology" and parents choosing "improving teacher qualifications and competence."
When asked to grade their school in preparing students in several specific curricular areas, parents and students continue to rate their school highest in preparing students in the core content areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies, with at least 70% of both groups giving their school an "A" or "B" in these areas. Both parents and students rated their school lowest in preparing students in foreign language with 59% of parents giving their school an "A" or "B."
Highlights of Results - Assessment
DoDEA parents differ from parents nationally with regard to the amount of emphasis put on achievement testing. While 44% of parents nationally report there is too much emphasis on achievement testing, only 15% of DoDEA parents and 23% of students reported the same.
DoDEA parents were in agreement with parents nationally about whether all states should be required to use the same standardized assessment - approximately two-thirds of both groups approve of this requirement.
Highlights of Results - Technology
Parents viewed the use of online learning positively, with slightly more than half of the respondents approving of students being able to earn high school credits online without attending a regular school - a percentage higher than the 47% of parents nationally who also approved of the practice.
Highlights of Results - Student Support
Parents continue to be less positive than students in their opinions of the counseling services at their school. While 70% of students graded their school's counseling services as "A" or "B", only 47% of parents did so. While students' responses represent an 8% increase over the response in the previous survey, the responses from parents was consistent with results from previous surveys.
Note. Should clarify this is secondary only - maybe either Secondary students and parents or Students and parents at the secondary level...Students and parents continue to express dissatisfaction with the help counseling services provide in preparing students for life after high school (college, work, military service, etc.). Approximately 39% of parents and 44% of high school students graded their school with an "A" or a "B" in this area. These results represent an 11% decrease in parent ratings from the previous survey (50%) and a 21% decrease in the positive responses from students in the previous survey (65%). Definitive conclusions may be difficult to draw from these two comparisons - the wording of questions was changed slightly in the current survey which may have been a factor in the decreased satisfaction ratings.
Highlights of Results - Communication
Parents and students are increasingly pleased overall with the communication by their school. More than 80% of parents rated their child's school with an "A" or "B" in communicating about academic progress, behavior, general information, and responding to their questions and concerns in a timely manner. Although generally positive, students were less satisfied with the communication from their schools than parents, especially in the timeliness with which the school responded to their questions and concerns, with only 64% rating their school with an "A" or "B."
A complete wrap-up of the Customer Satisfaction Survey results is available on the DoDEA website, www.dodea.edu.
DoDEA will administer the next Customer Satisfaction Survey beginning in November 2012. Delete this statement - as part of the efficiency review for data collections/surveys by OSD this was canceled. We're trying to get it reinstated but aren't sure this will happen. DoDEA plans, directs, coordinates, and manages pre-kindergarten -12th grade education programs for Department of Defense (DoD) dependents who would otherwise not have access to high quality public education. More than 190 DoDEA schools serve approximately 87,000 students worldwide in Europe, the Pacific, the United States, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. DoDEA also provides support and resources to Local Education Activities throughout the United States that serve more than 1 million children of military families.
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the part of a piece of clothing that covers all or part of your arm:
a dress with long sleeves
a short-sleeved shirt
to have a secret plan or idea that you are going to use later:
Don't worry. He still has a few tricks up his sleeve.
a stiff paper cover that a record is stored in [= jacket]
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I don't think it would do that much damage to the brain if you deprive the brain of oxygen it wouldn't matter as much as the brain does not need as much as the rest of the body. Although might cause a embolism
Yes. You do not feed your brain oxygen while choking. While given no oxygen, brain cells die (it takes more than a minute though). Unlike skin cells, brain cells do not grow back. Be it on water, candy or someones hand, brain damage can occur after long enough.
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One of the most rewarding stages of the treatment is the varnishing of the painting. The new varnish layer returns the colours of the painting to the saturation and depth which were intended by the artist and it is when we feel like we are on the home stretch of the treatment!
We use a synthetic resin that was specially created for the conservation profession, which has very similar optical qualities to the natural resins that John Webber would have originally used. It has favourable ageing characteristics, yellowing much less than the natural resins and remaining easily reversible with age.
The first layer of varnish was brushed and as can be seen in the photograph below, the change was dramatic.
Once the varnish has dried and hardened the next stage of the treatment can begin. Retouching, also known as inpainting, is carried out in areas of loss and abrasion, with the aim of reintegrating these areas so as not to draw the eye of the viewer. We want you to see the beautiful painting, without the distraction of areas of deterioration. We take care not to cover areas of original paint, our aim is not to return the appearance of the panting to its original state or make it look-like-new, the natural signs of age are retained and returning the appearance to the artist’s original intention is our aim.
Once the retouching was complete a final spray varnish layer was applied to ensure an even level of gloss and saturation across the surface.
The painting was returned to its frame which has also undergone restoration that Matthew will be blogging about soon.
After just over a 12 months work, the treatment of Poedua is finally finished. The painting will be put on display in Toi Te Papa on level 5 this week and we hope you get a chance to come and see it soon.
Katherine and I have enjoyed keeping you up-to-date with the treatment of this painting and hope that you have enjoyed it too! We will continue to blog when exciting things come through the paintings conservation lab that are worthy of sharing with you!
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Is my dog dominant?
November 18, 2008 14 Comments
Many of my clients ask me on a daily basis, if their dog is “dominant”. In most cases the clients see their dog’s misbehavior as dominance, when in fact; they are acting purely on instinct or learned behavior (from humans).
Lets look at the definition of dominance: “The right to give orders; having authority”.
Many people think their aggressive dog is “dominant”. Stop and think about it. A true dominant member of a dog pack is always calm and confident. They do not need to use force to keep the others in line. They are aloof and they control the resources, that’s it.
The dog striving for the dominant role is where we see aggression. This is usually the younger stronger dog in the pack challenging for rank. All dogs reach a stage where they will test their strength and rank in a pack. The true test of dominance is usually not seen until 15 months; this is when they hit sexual maturity (neutered or not). They are stronger and would like the right to run the pack. Some pups will test earlier depending on their experiences as a puppy. Pups that stay with mom until 12-16 weeks usually learn quickly that mom is in charge. She will not forcefully bite and shake them as a correction but rather give a quick corrective bite and move on. Simply because she is confident in her role as the dominant member.
A dog that strives for dominance is a strong dog with a persistent personality. This is not an awful thing if it is managed and controlled properly. By this, I do not mean making the dog fear you, nor do I suggest being physical with your dog. My definition (of manage and control) is to have rules and boundaries that your dog must follow on a daily basis and remaining calm and confident in your status. This is accomplished by starting foundation training and proper pack mentality with your dog. Too many people forget dogs are pack animals and instinctually follow a pack order and rule. Without a strong pack leader, you can’t have a strong pack and this is where anxiety and aggression starts to rear its ugly head. A dog’s first priority is to survive; they cannot do this with out a strong pack leader. So they will try to gain that role, which is where people get confused about dominance.
Just about all the clients who contact me regarding aggression issues start off by telling me they have established the “alpha” position. This is a very loose term people have developed over the years. Let me start by telling you, if your dog shows aggression to anyone or anything, you are not seen as a confident leader of your pack. ONLY a respected leader shows aggression and says when it is ok to show aggression. An “alpha” does not need to challenge their pack members on a daily basis (staring them down), nor do they need to use aggression to keep their status (alpha rolling your dog or spanking them). A true alpha merely needs to use body language and attitude to have the pack listen. An alpha is always calm and confident, not angry and demanding. There is no need for an alpha to fight, they are already confident in their position.
Most clients with more then one dog often get confused as to which is the “alpha” of the pack. Countless consults have started for one dog in particular and upon asking questions and observing behaviors, the dog they think is the alpha because of aggression is truly not the alpha at all.
Here are a few misconceptions humans have about their dogs:
- My dog sleeps in bed with me because he loves me. Growling at my spouse or sleeping between us just shows how much he loves me.
- My dog paws at me, leans on me, or jumps on me because he loves to be affectionate.
- My dog is protecting me when he growls at family members who get too close to me.
- When my dog growls over food or toys, he is just being a dog and it is his stuff
- My dog just loves to go for walks so much that he has to be the first one out!
- Rushing down the stairs is just a game to him.
- He just doesn’t like other dogs, not everyone likes all people.
- My dog isn’t very bright. It takes 3-4 times before he will down or sit on command, if he even does.
- He only growls at “certain” people. I think he senses something about them.
- He only sits on the back of the couch to be closer to me or he thinks he is a cat.
I have heard all of these in my 20 years of working with aggression cases. Every one of the above incidents clearly describes a dog striving for the dominant role. We have humanized our dogs so much that we actually make excuses for aggression and bad manners. It is our nature to want to coddle and over-love our pets; but to your dog it is yet another sign that you are not a strong leader.
Now let me describe the same 10 things in dog language:
- The leader of the pack gets the best sleeping area (which includes height) and there are only 2 leaders (generally male & female).
- Dogs display dominance by body checking other dogs. He who gets that space owns that space. Pawing at an owner is demanding attention, not asking. Jumping on an owner pushes them from their space, again “my spot”.
- Dogs claim their “territory” or mates by warding off other pack members.
- Dogs show resource guarding when they are confident in their leader status. “I own this. I tell you when you can have it.”
- I have an old saying, “whoever is in the lead, is the leader”. Dogs rush out the door first, so they can control the environment that you are entering.
- Again, “whoever is in the lead” is the leader. Pack members must follow their leader. Rushing down the stairs first is another way of doing showing leadership.
- Dog-dog aggression is the most common sign of striving for dominance. Strange dogs are never allowed into a pack. This will add to the challenge of leadership.
- Not listening to commands is not a lack of intelligence, but a sign of challenging your authority (if they were taught the command properly).
- Only the leader is allowed to show or direct aggression. Those “certain” people may carry themselves confidently. This is not allowed. It is a challenge.
- Dogs will seek “higher” ground to display their leadership. A dog striving for leadership will seek higher ground to display control of that area.
Now, there are many other signs as well but I think you get the picture. If you have a dog that is trying to gain rank, I strongly suggest some foundation training along with obedience. Foundation training will get you started in re-establishing yourself as the leader and laying down some rules and boundaries. Obedience comes after your dog knows you are in control.
Why obedience if your dog now sees you as the leader? You cannot expect your dog to know what sit, stay, down, come, and leave it means without properly being taught these commands. Dogs are not born with the knowledge of how to perform these commands. It would be unfair to get angry at your dog if they don’t “down” when you never taught them what it means.
Be calm, fair, and confident. Your dog will be calm, happy, and obedient.
Tara, Brandie & the “pack”
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PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Members of the state’s congressional delegation are fighting to keep in place a federal program that provides significant financial support for 110 airports across the country, including four facilities in Maine.
On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud voted against a four-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration when the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee considered the legislation. The bill would eliminate Essential Air Service program support for 110 airports across the country, including airports in Presque Isle, Bar Harbor, Rockland and Augusta, while preserving the program just for Alaska. The most recent long-term FAA reauthorization bill expired Sept. 30, 2007. Since then, Congress has passed a series of short-term extensions of FAA’s authority.
Despite Michaud’s efforts, the bill was approved by the House committee and awaits a full House vote.
The EAS program provides subsidies to air carriers for providing service between selected small communities and hub airports. The program was established in 1978 as part of airline deregulation to ensure a minimum level of air service to smaller communities that otherwise might lose service because of economic factors.
The U.S. Senate late Thursday passed its own version of the bill, which maintains the EAS program, by an 87-8 vote. Ed Gilman, communications director for Michaud, said Friday that if the House and Senate remain at odds after the final House vote, the two chambers would work to reconcile the differences.
“If that happens, the congressman will work to restore funding for the program throughout that process,” Gilman said.
U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe successfully took action to protect EAS funding when the Senate considered its version of the bill Thursday evening. During the process, U.S. Sen. John McCain proposed an amendment to kill the EAS program. Snowe opposed the amendment, speaking out against erasing financial support for an initiative that she said “provides vital support for Maine’s rural airports.”
The amendment was voted down and the full bill, with funding for the EAS program, passed.
Michaud noted that airports serve as “significant economic centers of communities and entire regions.”
“Without them we’d have an even tougher time attracting businesses to our state, promoting economic development and creating jobs,” he said. “I support updating the program to make it more efficient, but eliminating it will force airports in Maine to close their doors, dealing a significant blow to local economies around our state.”
Last week, Michaud sent a letter to his colleagues on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee urging them to preserve the EAS program.
In the letter, Michaud said that eliminating or drastically reducing the EAS program “would have a devastating effect on the economy of Maine’s second congressional district.” He said that if the program did not exist, families in remote areas of the state would have fewer travel options and businesses would reconsider their decisions to locate to rural and underdeveloped areas, which Michaud noted “desperately need their economic contributions.”
He pointed to Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport in Trenton, telling colleagues that it “provides a mode of travel to a wide range of businesses and is critical for the summer tourism industry.”
He also singled out Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle, saying the airport “serves individuals and businesses that would otherwise have to drive three to five hours to access air transportation.”
“Without EAS, these airports would struggle to survive, and the economies of these areas would suffer,” he wrote.
Scott Wardwell, director of the Presque Isle airport, said eliminating the program would have “a devastating effect on businesses located in rural communities.”
M. Allison Navia, airport manager for the Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport, noted how important the airport is in that county, especially in summer. She noted that President Barack Obama flew into the airport last summer during a brief vacation on Mount Desert Island.
She said that the region’s “massive summer tourism industry” would suffer if air carrier service were lost.
“During the winter months, many local businesses, including The Jackson Laboratory, that use our air service for their travel needs, would be left without this option,” she added. “Job losses would also result, hurting many people and their families in a time when the people of our country cannot afford to be jobless.”
Navia said that she would be in support of reworking the EAS program to make it more efficient and effective, but she was totally against “pulling the rug out from under my airport and my community, leaving us all scrambling to pick up the pieces and struggling for a solution.”
In opposing McCain’s amendment to kill the EAS program, Snowe pointed to the fact that Presque Isle and Fort Kent both recently hosted biathletes who took part in two World Cup competitions. Many of the athletes and the estimated 30,000 spectators flew into the Presque Isle airport.
Severing direct air links to major employers and popular vacation spots is precisely the wrong approach to incentivizing job growth while unemployment remains at 9 percent, said Snowe.
Gilman said Friday that Michaud is “hopeful” about the prospect of the EAS funding being retained.
The House is expected to take up the matter in a few weeks.
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ArtsMemphis Awards Education Grant to Tennessee Shakespeare Company to Introduce 2,150 Incoming High School Freshmen to Romeo and Juliet
(October 15, 2012) – ArtsMemphis announced that Tennessee Shakespeare Company, the Mid-South’s professional classical theatre, has been awarded a matching $19,000 Arts Education and Outreach grant to fund an enhancement and expansion of its successful Romeo and Juliet Project pilot program into three area schools in 2013.
The three participating schools are Bartlett High School, Ridgeway High School, and Kirby High School. A separate education grant from the City of Germantown and Germantown Performing Arts Centre will help fund the program and a host of other interactive and performance events at two additional schools, including Germantown High School.
TSC projects that over 2,150 students will be taught by its Teaching Artists across scores of classroom visits.
The Romeo and Juliet Project will reach every ninth grade student in each school. Each classroom will receive three TSC Actor/Teaching Artist-led sessions, including pre- and post-assessments. TSC will teach in English and Literature classes, not courses for the dramatic arts. This program serves to integrate the arts into the Common Core curriculum by moving the plays off the page and into the students’ lives.
TSC Education Director and resident director/actor, Stephanie Shine, piloted the program last year at Germantown High School by introducing each freshman to Romeo and Juliet interactively in their classrooms over the course of 23 visits. Both the anecdotal and testing results were extraordinarily positive.
With this program, TSC endeavors to turn students on to Shakespeare rather than off. Students will engage and collaborate with the text and with each other so that they can come to Shakespeare on their own terms. Class-time for students then becomes an hour of enlightenment and self-discovery physically, poetically, psychologically, politically, and personally.
This program prompts students’ questions and further inspires them to explore, read, and talk about the issues they face daily, specifically violence, peer pressure, prejudice, and feelings of passion, which will all be addressed through this interactive study of Romeo and Juliet.
“TSC believes Shakespeare is for everyone, not simply those who are arts-oriented, or of a certain background, economic status, or culture,” says TSC Founder and Producing Artistic Director Dan McCleary. “This generous grant from ArtsMemphis will allow TSC to give students an opportunity to learn about themselves, question and explore in a safe environment, and develop compassion for each other.”
Romeo and Juliet addresses three important issues that have a profound affect on Memphis youth: armed lethal violence, peer pressure, and prejudice. TSC’s curriculum prompts students to inhabit the problems caused by these issues within the play, not only asking them to engage in the issues but encouraging them to inquire how the tragedies could have been avoided had the play’s characters, both young and old, made different decisions. Students then discover the importance of the decisions they make in their own lives with their own peers in their own city and are given the opportunity to discover healing.
“Students will be given the language to articulate how they feel about the play’s themes, which are personal for too many of these young students,” says Shine. “They will discover ways to communicate, collaborate, and affect change. As the program continues to grow and provide hundreds of classroom victories each week, the entire school will have had this experience in three years, transforming not just a class but the culture of an entire academic community.”
A 2010 article in The Commercial Appeal noted that 85% of Memphis City School students are economically disadvantaged, up from 75% in 2004 (“5 Shelby County Schools Added to Title 1 List,” June 8, 2010). Statistics show that students coming from low-income families are seven times more likely to drop out of high school than their economically advantaged counterparts, and over one third of all dropouts are lost in the ninth grade (“Alliance for Excellent Education,” 2010).
Students who participate in the arts are more likely to make A’s and B’s in English; to read for pleasure; to score in the top 50th percentile in reading, history, citizenship, and geography; and to score in the top 50th percentile on standardized tests (“Involvement in the Arts and Human Development,” 1999). TSC’s pilot program assessment supports these statistics.
Students with low economic status but high involvement in the dramatic arts are more likely to be friendly with other racial groups and less likely to make a racist remark. Arts participants are also more likely to perform community service and to feel good about themselves (“Involvement in the Arts and Human Development,” 2009). These personal and social benefits can be the cornerstones of change not only in these schools, but in the communities that support these schools and their students.
About TSC’s Education Program
The mission of Tennessee Shakespeare Company’s Education program is to move the arts closer to the center of every child’s learning experience. This is achieved through TSC’s student matinees, accompanying study guides, and actor talk-backs; interactive playshops; touring productions; summer camps; residencies; Free Will Kids’ Nights; High School Prelude Scenes; and active participation in theatre and education conferences.
Since 2007, TSC has achieved nearly 100,000 student/Shakespeare interactions through these activities. These interactions represent 70 Memphis City, Shelby County, Home, and Charter schools and schools in Mississippi and Washington. In FY12, TSC engaged 46 Memphis-area schools in its professional, classical education programming. Students under 19 years of age also made up over one-half of TSC’s patrons this past year.
TSC has reached over 13,000 students from over 60 schools through seven student matinee productions of and performed in five partner venues throughout Shelby County: St. George’s Episcopal Church, Poplar Pike Playhouse, Germantown City Hall, the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, and Shelby Farms Park. For most productions, interactive study guides are distributed to each student who attends a matinee. These study guides are unique to TSC’s interpretation of the production, and provide pre- and post-activities through which teachers can maximize the educational experience of seeing Shakespeare in performance.
TSC’s program sponsors and partners include the Barbara B. Apperson Angel Fund, FedEx Corporation, the Dunbar Abston Fund for Sustainable Excellence, Nancy and Dan Copp, Margaret and Dr. Owen B. Tabor and family, Jack and Sandra Jones, Milton T. Schaeffer, Audrey L. Taylor (d. 2012), City of Germantown, Germantown Performing Arts Centre, and Commercial Appeal Media.
The Romeo and Juliet Project is made possible through a generous Arts Education and Outreach grant from ArtsMemphis. ArtsMemphis’ Arts Education & Outreach grant program provides quality arts education and outreach programs to a broad segment of people in the greater Memphis community. The program aims to increase awareness of, access to and appreciation of the arts; to encourage nonprofit organizations to be collaborative, innovative and inclusive in their education and outreach programs; and to work together to make a collective impact in our community. The ArtsMemphis Arts Education & Outreach program is made possible through a lead gift from the Assisi Foundation of Memphis, Inc, and generous donations from Gerber Taylor Capital Advisors, Inc., Hyde Family Foundations, Regions Financial Corporation, and Schadt Foundation.
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The number of private universities is constantly growing in India.
A recent report has confirmed that the number of private universities has increased in the last six years and the increase is more than two fold. Before 2005 the country possesses 20 private universities but last year it has surged to 107.
"Private Universities in India: An Investment in National Development "report to be released at a conference in New Delhi by union human resources development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal. The report has been compiled by Management consultancy group Parthenon.
As per the report, Private universities are defined as capital driven and are independent enterprises for entrepreneurs and investors. Private universities act like a platform for students and employers where it bridges the employability gap. Rupa Shah, educationist and former vice chancellor of SNDT University said that pay off well to the faculties and are also a main source of motivation. But there is also an immediate need to setup an efficient regulatory body to keep an eagle eye on the operations of these universities.
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Update: Singer Debbie Friedman died Sunday, January 9 at a Southern California hospital. The Sunday gathering, at the JCC in Manhattan, which was to be a healing service, will go on as a memorial service.
A worldwide effort is underway to bring about healing for one of American Judaism’s most beloved composers of healing and other Jewish liturgy.
Debbie Friedman is the widely-known composer of Jewish songs, including “Mi Shebeirach,” “Sing Unto God” and “Lechi Lach,” which have become standard parts of synagogue and camp life in Judaism’s liberal denominations. Friedman, who has long suffered with ill health but been private about the underlying cause, has developed pneumonia and is on a respirator, in a medically induced coma, in an Orange County, Calif., hospital. Her sister Cheryl Friedman reports that as of January 7, the doctors’ measures have not yet succeeded in opening up her lungs.
Close friends and colleagues are asking people worldwide to pray for her complete healing. In Manhattan, where Friedman lived for about 15 years until she moved to Los Angeles last spring, there will be a healing service at the JCC in Manhattan on Sunday at 8 p.m. Those unable to attend can view it online.
Friedman, who weaves together Jewish texts with folk tunes to create a unique and singable kind of music has, for many years, run Jewish healing services and conducted them personally for those who come to her struggling with serious health problems. She also created a highly popular liturgy for women’s Passover Seders, which she sometimes conducted herself. Friedman has been a mainstay at concerts and other performances.
“People just want to be together, they want to take the power of healing that she gave all of us and send it back to her,” said Rabbi Joy Levitt, executive director of the JCC and a close, longtime friend of Friedman’s. Levitt said that she is trying to arrange for a phone or computer to be brought to Friedman’s bedside on Sunday so that the service can be streamed to her.
An independent cantor, Shira Adler, is organizing an online effort to have participants worldwide sing Friedman’s “Mi Shebeirach” at the same time on Saturday night just after Shabbat ends on the West Coast at 6:12 p.m. (9:12 p.m. on the East Coast). Adler has posted a video asking people to participate on YouTube and sent it through listserves for cantors and through other online listservs, as well as posting it on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
Adler said she has gotten hundreds of e-mails from all over the world in the first 12 hours since after sending out her video.
“Her music has profoundly impacted my life professionally and personally, so I want to do everything I can within my power to make a difference,” said Adler, who has never actually met Friedman. “I know the power of the Internet and social networks, and the power of prayer, so I thought I’d make an attempt to get this out.”
In 2007 Friedman was appointed to the faculty of the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College. Recently, she has been teaching on its Los Angeles campus and was scheduled to teach a week-long course on “Music as Midrash” at HUC’s New York campus starting January 10. Now her cantorial colleagues and friends are stepping in to try and teach it in her place.
HUC sent out a note on Friday asking that people not try to contact the hospital, which has been overwhelmed with calls, or Friedman’s family members, and to respect the composer’s privacy.
Rabbi Richard Levy, director of spiritual growth at HUC, said in that e-mail: “Please pray for Debbie’s recovery. She is a strong believer in the power of prayer, she has elevated so many prayers with her music, and has taught us how to pray through the melodies she has written.
“Pray this week and on Shabbat, sing the songs that have accompanied your growing up, sing her Mi She-berach with all the power you have — get together with friends and colleagues and sing other songs of hers together — let her hear us in her bed in Orange County, and let the Holy One hear us in the heights of heaven.”
Friedman’s Hebrew name, traditionally used in prayers for healing, is Dina Lea bat Freidl ve-Gavriel.
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An Italian cream cheese from the Lombardy region of Italy. It is not made with rennet but uses citric acid to curdle the cream.
The fruit of the coconut palm, made up of a fibrous husk surrounding large, brown, hard-shelled seed. The coconut seed contains white flesh surrounding a juice-filled central cavity. Unripe coconut flesh is jellylike; when ripe the flesh becomes firm and white in color. The flesh of the coconut is shredded for use in food
No matter what side of the Valentine’s Day fence you stand on, our chocolate picks for this year are something you can appreciate. Say what you will about love, romance, and passion come February 14th. Some say it’s sweet to have an excuse to spoil that special someone. Others cry “sickly” and wonder … Continue reading →
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Much like one of his predecessors, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Barack Obama has all but declared war on the United States Supreme Court.
It will be remembered that in 1937 FDR was angry over the high court's refusal to put a stamp of approval on much of his New Deal agenda, and sought to bend the court to his will by adding new members to the existing court membership.
Contemptuously calling the court's members a collection of "nine old men," FDR sought to "pack" the high court with up to six additional members more likely to do his bidding. The proposal lost steam and, thankfully, failed.
Obama has not gone quite that far - yet. But he's getting close. Like most U.S. presidents who chafe under the high court's authority to rule on the constitutionality of aspects of their agendas, Obama is unhappy with the court's failure to recognize the divinity of his proposals, if not that of his personhood.
Too bad. As we are often reminded, "Into each life some rain must fall."
Thanks to the high court, Obama has been much in need of an umbrella of late. The president's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was correctly overruled in a case involving religious freedom. The court clearly stated that the First Amendment protects churches in their decisions regarding workers with religious duties, a "ministerial exception" to employment-discrimination laws. This exception had already been supported by lower courts and many states.
Tragically for Obama and his vastly elevated ego, choirs of angels singing of the glories of his agenda cannot be heard. Despite the frantic efforts of his captive media to tune them in, the president remains a mere mortal, subject to all the slings and arrows that always target any holder of high office.
Soon the issue before the court will be Obama's health care program, rammed through Congress despite the widespread opinion that it was, and remains, nothing short of an opening to national socialized medicine. A ruling is expected by early July.
The question is whether the Constitution's Commerce Clause can be stretched beyond recognition to reach into everyone's pocketbook with the Obamacare mandate. We pray that the Supreme Court will put the question to rest with an emphatic rejection.
The notorious failings of Britain's socialized medicine have not failed to diminish the hopes and plans of our own fans of socialized everything - of a government so big and so powerful that nothing can resist its meddlesome reach.
That is a lesson Barack Hussein Obama has yet to learn. If he doesn't learn his lesson by July, he will certainly learn it in November.
• Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, is a political consultant and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press, 2011). Visit his website at www.reagan.com, or email comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com.
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WASHINGTON — About as many left-of-center political groups in the nation's capital call themselves liberals these days as say they're Whigs. Instead, they call themselves "progressives."
What progressive means is "pretty murky," political historian Alan Brinkley said. Still, murky is a big improvement over "liberal," a mainstream term in the `60s that conservatives reduced to a dirty word in the '80s.
Pollsters say that the shift to "progressive" sheds the onus of the liberal label and enables left-of-center groups and candidates to fight again.
Although the term "progressive" has a distinguished early 20th-century history that includes reformers Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, uncertainty about what it means today works in favor of erstwhile liberals.
Mary Helms, for example, whose family raises peanuts and cotton in Dothan, Ala., said that she knew what a liberal was. "Someone who doesn't have very good morals," said Helms, who's 54.
And a progressive? "I don't really know anyone who says he's a progressive," Helms said. So she has nothing against them.
Among Washington L-groups that eschew the L-word in favor of "progressive" are:
_ People for the American Way, among whose stated missions is to "promote progressive policies" and "elect progressive candidates."
_ America Votes, a powerful voter-recruitment coalition that seeks to "increase progressive voter registration and turnout."
_ EMILY's List, "dedicated to building a progressive America" by raising money for left-of-center candidates.
_ MoveOn.org, a promoter of liberal causes whose constituent groups "work together to realize the progressive promise of our country."
_ President Barack Obama's favorite policy institute, the Center for American Progress, may be the most progressive of all. It uses the term 12 times in its online mission statement.
Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is on to the switch. To spread the old tar, he often refers now to "liberal progressives." So is Michael Savage, another leading conservative radio voice. Both liberals and progressives, he says, are "degenerates . . . on an express train to hell."
Founder John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, spelled out what he meant by progressive in a 2008 election season book, "The Power of Progress."
Liberals tend to care more about individual freedom, Podesta wrote, while progressives care more about the public good. Their number includes Republicans, he adds, citing historic reformers such as Roosevelt and Robert LaFollette. That liberals in their day also included Republicans goes unmentioned, as Podesta is at great pains to make the small point that liberal and progressive are "not exactly the same."
Still, when he's asked the difference between liberals and progressives, Podesta wrote, he responds, "Call me whatever you want."
Democratic presidential contenders were fey about the L-word, too, in the last campaign. "I prefer the word progressive," Hillary Clinton said in a July 2007 debate.
"We're all progressives," John Edwards chimed in.
The political gain from shifting to "progressive" is massive, according to a post-debate analysis by the public opinion research firm Rasmussen Reports.
Only 20 percent of respondents considered calling a candidate a liberal to be a positive description, it found. However, 35 percent considered it positive to call a candidate a progressive.
Equally telling, 39 percent considered "liberal" a negative, while only 18 percent saw "progressive" as negative.
Ralph Nader, an anti-corporate Progressive of the old school, isn't suffering one-time liberals who'd rather switch than fight. So many are "deserting the liberal ship and swimming over to the progressive ship," he said, that "you have people calling themselves progressives that make me laugh."
One of the few groups still aboard the liberal ship is Americans for Democratic Action, which describes itself as "committed to liberal politics, liberal policies and a liberal future."
Amy Isaacs, the national director of Americans for Democratic Action, dismisses progressives as "liberals who don't have the courage of their own convictions."
She and others blame Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis — a former member of Americans for Democratic Action's Swarthmore College chapter — for failing to stand up for liberalism in his 1988 campaign. Although Reagan spoke out against the "L-word" at the Republican convention that year, and George H.W. Bush baited Dukakis with it, the former Massachusetts governor ignored the jibes until his campaign's last days.
"I made the biggest mistake of my life when I decided not to respond to that attack campaign," said Dukakis, who now teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"But if 'progressive' sounds better and reflects better what we're talking about," he added, "I'm all for using 'progressive.' "
THE ORIGINS OF 'PROGRESSIVE'
The original Progressive era, from the 1890s to the 1920s, produced many important social changes, including women's suffrage, child labor limits, workers' compensation, open government laws, a minimum wage, the progressive income tax and open primary elections.
Faith in government intervention to achieve fairness was a hallmark of Progressive thinking, as was faith in science to improve humankind. Corporate power was the archfoe. Among Progressive leaders were Republicans Theodore Roosevelt and Wisconsin's Robert LaFollette, a governor and senator who ran for president as a Progressive in 1924.
Woodrow Wilson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Tarbell and Thorstein Veblen also were Progressives. Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt and Walter Lippmann helped carry Progressive politics into the `40s and beyond.
MORE FROM MCCLATCHY
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These are some of the Frequently Asked Questions put to Welsh Water
Q. Should I monitor my water consumption?
Customers are recommended to keep their own records of water usage by taking regular meter readings and comparing them with previous readings – you only need to read the black on white or white on black numbers. This will give you a rough idea of your 'normal' usage. If there is a sudden increase in consumption that cannot be explained, you may have a leak on your supply pipe. If you cannot read your meter because of dirt, condensation or for any other reason, please contact us on 0800 052 0140.
Q. How do I check if there is a leak on my supply pipe?
If there is a sudden increase in your usage of water that cannot be explained, you may have a leak on your supply pipe. In such circumstances, we would recommend that you take the following steps:
- Take a meter reading
- switch off your internal stop tap (usually found where the water main rises in the property)
- leave the supply turned off for at least 12 hours (you may find it more convenient to do this at night)
- do not use any water during the time that the stop tap is switched off
- after 12 hours, take another meter reading.
If the reading is the same, you do not have a leak.
If the reading has changed, please contact us on 0800 052 0140 for advice and assistance.
Q. If I detect a leak on my supply pipe, will I have to pay for the water that has been lost?
If connected to the mains sewerage system, business customers may receive an allowance for the sewerage element of their bill but only if it is evident that the water lost did not enter the sewerage system. No allowances are made for the water element of the bill.
For customers of mixed-use premises, the first time a leak is detected and reported, an allowance may be given for water lost in relation to the domestic element of their supply only. A full allowance for the sewerage element of the bill may be given but only if it is evident that water lost has not entered the sewerage system. If it is clear that a leak is the consequence of negligence either by a customer or by a third party e.g. a leaking tap, leaking overflow or faulty plumbing, an allowance for the water element of the bill will not be given. However, if the customer can prove that no water from the leak has entered the sewerage system, an allowance for the sewerage element of the bill may be given.
Q. I am paying full sewerage charges but not all the water used on my premises is returned to the mains sewerage system. Am I entitled to a discount?
Please click here to access a copy of our ‘Non-Return to Sewer’ application form. When completed, please submit the form as directed. On receipt of the completed form, your claim will be assessed. In some cases the assessment may require a site visit.
Q. The rainwater that falls on my premises does not return to the mains sewerage system. Am I entitled to a discount?
Please click here to access a copy of our ‘Surface water drainage’ application form. When completed, please submit the form as directed. On receipt of the completed form, your claim will be assessed. In some cases the assessment may require a site visit.
Q. How can I avoid receiving estimated bills?
Where possible we endeavour to send out 'actual' bills. Receipt of estimated bills may be avoided if your water meter is accessible for reading at all times.
Q. Do I have to have a water meter?
The company requires all business supplies to be metered wherever practicable. This includes business premises whose water usage might be mainly or solely for domestic purposes as well as mixed-use premises (premises that are part household and part business). Premises in multiple occupation e.g. guest houses and nursing homes may also be required to be metered.
Q. Can I be disconnected for non-payment of my bill?
Bills are due for payment within 14 days. If you do not pay within the 14 days, we will send you a reminder. If you persist to default on your payment, we will issue a ‘Pre-disconnection Notice’ or a ‘Warning of Legal Action’. If you still do not pay, we will either disconnect your water supply or take legal action against you.
If we do disconnect you, you will not be reconnected until you have made arrangements to pay the amount owing plus the expenses we incur in disconnecting and reconnecting your property. You will also be required to make a security deposit against future charges.
Q. Can I make a request for my water meter to be re-positioned?
In accordance with Part 2 of The Water (Meters) Regulations 1988, we will determine where any meter or out-reading apparatus should be positioned. If you would like to make a request to re-position your meter or out-reading apparatus, please telephone 0800 052 0140 giving the reasons for your request. If we agree to your request, we may request payment for the necessary work.
Q. Can I change the dates of when my meter is read and when my bill is issued?
No, unfortunately we cannot change your billing dates as we plan our workloads to ensure that meters are read within postcode areas - this helps us to keep operational costs to a minimum. Bills are issued when meter readings have been taken.
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It’s a simple truth that a homeless dog in the South or the Midwest may have a better chance of finding a good adoptive home in the Northeast or cities in the West. For these dogs in overcrowded, under-funded shelters, transportation can mean the difference between life and death.
When Bark editor Claudia Kawczynska adopted Kit and Holly from a rescue in Kentucky over Christmas, she learned the shelter had a program for sending dogs to new homes in the North but not out West where she lives. A little more digging to find a ride for the puppies revealed a formal and informal network of individuals and organizations with planes, trucks and automobiles working together—supported by countless Internet posters and email blasters—to get dogs to places where their future is brighter.
Inspired and intrigued by this grassroots cooperative effort, TheBark.com will be talking to folks who are part of this underdog railroad. We begin with Linda Fox, transport coordinator, and Lisa Mendelsberg, program administrator, for Colorado Animal Rescue Express (C.A.R.E.), a 501c3 public charity.
At least once a week, C.A.R.E. drivers provide safe transport for homeless dogs and cats in the Midwest to Colorado, where rescue organizations have promised to find them new homes or where adoptive families are already waiting. Through Jake’s Fund, C.A.R.E. also provides help, when possible, with veterinary expenses and spay/neuter procedures. C.A.R.E also collects donations of food and supplies and delivers them to shelters and rescues. In the two years since C.A.R.E. began, Fox, Mendelsberg and an army of dedicated volunteers have logged more than 245,000 miles to bring 3,993 dogs and 345 cats to 96 rescues.
In May, we talked with Linda Fox, while she drove in a three-van convoy through a rainstorm more than 300 miles to Hays, Kansas. She was on the pick-up leg of what would be C.A.R.E.'s biggest transport to date—73 dogs from Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas. In early June, we caught up with Lisa Mendelsberg, who was working on grant requests to cover the costs of the transports. They talked to us about the logistics, challenges and joys of transport.
TheBark.com: How did you get started?
Lisa Mendelsberg: We both volunteered for Golden Retriever Freedom Rescue in Colorado and met at a holiday party in December 2004. At that time, Linda was arranging intake and providing the transport for Golden Retrievers coming in from out of state. I started driving with her and it was evident that we felt our transports could help all breeds of dogs. We formed C.A.R.E. in June 2007 to provide lifesaving transport to all dogs and cats with rescue commitments.
Bark: How do dogs get onto a transport?
Linda Fox: Most of the dogs come on our transports because rescuers network the dogs on the Internet. For example, pictures and bios of dogs needing homes in Holton, Kansas, would be sent to me and to the other rescuers and we post them on our rescue network. Once rescuers in Colorado say they’ll accept a dog in their program, the shelter or rescue group sends me all the pertinent travel information, assurance that a Health Certificate will be obtained, and then transport is arranged as soon as possible.
Bark: Who pays for transportation?
Fox: C.A.R.E. runs on individual and rescue donations, grants and fundraisers. It costs an average of $26 to transport each dog to safety. We continuously need to fundraise.
The transports are expensive. We pay for rental vans in multiple cities, insurance, gasoline and we cover our drivers’ out-of-pocket expenses. This transport today to move the 73 dogs will be more than $1,300.
Bark: Where do the vans come from?
Fox: We rent cargo vans from Enterprise. We analyzed buying a van, but for safety reasons, it is better to rent with inspections and cleanings before each trip. Also, if we were to break down, Enterprise would respond with delivery of a similar vehicle. If we owned our own van, can you imagine trying to check into a hotel with 30 dogs while it was being repaired?!
Bark: Who are your passengers?
Mendelsberg: Dogs and cats come primarily from high-kill shelters, owner surrenders and from other rescue organizations. We are also fortunate to be able to transport dogs being released from puppy mills. This year because the economy has been so challenging, we’re transporting a lot of dogs that have been abandoned when people move, the ones that are the silent victims of the economy.
Bark: What does it mean for the dogs in Colorado when you bring dogs in from out of state? Or put another way, why shouldn’t regions take care of their own dogs?
Fox: I do think there will always be the need to transport some animals to safety. In the second half of 2009, Lisa and I will be working with our strong Midwest contacts to help them utilize the existing resources in their own communities. We will work with them to educate their local citizens on the benefits of sterilizing their pets, thereby reducing the number of unwanted litters and animals that will be euthanized in shelters.
What does it mean for the dogs in Colorado? The rescues that I talk to say shelters in Colorado are doing a good job of getting the dogs adopted. In the rural and remote areas, options for rescue and adoption are not very easy. If some dogs need transport instate from a rural area to a metro area, C.A.R.E. will help cover the cost of transport. Sadly, there are still dogs being euthanized in Colorado and Midwest shelters.
Mendelsberg: Each dog that we transport has a rescue commitment. Our network has dedicated individuals and organizations in Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas that work diligently to save the homeless animals in their area. The purpose of C.A.R.E. is taking a dog from a place where they have virtually no chance of being adopted and moving them to areas where they will go into rescues and have visibility and be placed correctly and hopefully permanently. We are just fortunate to have the resources in Colorado to help our neighboring states with their pet overpopulation.
Bark: Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the fact that there is this constant supply of dogs needing new homes?
Fox: I do feel that every day. You try to look at the good side rather than dwell on the bad. You think about the success stories and the wonderful new homes for these dogs that have come to Colorado rescues. Of course, you think about the ones you could not save, and then you start over working on obtaining rescue commitments for more homeless dogs.
Mendelsberg: Absolutely, I feel that we’re making a difference for the dogs we are able to save through our C.A.R.E. transports and Jake’s Fund distributions. However, basically what we are doing is just a Band-Aid for the overpopulation dilemma. We have learned that people must be educated on the necessity for sterilization and we are hoping our new C.A.R.E. brochure on spay/neuter will have some impact. We also are raising the awareness that people should adopt from shelters and rescues instead of buying from the pet stores.
Bark: What other goals do you have for C.A.R.E.?
Fox & Mendelsberg: Our key focus besides transport and Jake’s Fund is to really work with our excellent rescue contacts in the Midwest and help them help themselves more than just relying on C.A.R.E. to move the homeless animals to Colorado. We will be working on setting up and helping to fund spay/neuter events. We will work with veterinarians in these areas to offer their local population affordable spay and neuter procedures. Last, we’re hoping our new spay/neuter brochure will debunk some of the myths on sterilization and make people realize the best thing they can do for their pets is to get them sterilized.
Bark: Does your work for C.A.R.E. take a lot of time?
Fox & Mendelsberg: C.A.R.E. is a team success. We’re the engines but we rely so much on good assessments of the dogs, our tireless drivers, and all the rescuers who take these dogs into their programs. Everybody is a hard worker and makes such a special effort to assure the safety and comfort of those travelling. It takes a community to save one of these dogs. To make this work, we need an army of people committed. It’s total cooperation among so many people who put the dog’s best interest and well being first. Surely the Internet, digital cameras and cell phones have contributed to the rescue of countless animals from places where it would be hard for them to find a second chance at a real family life.
Why do we do this? We all love the dogs. It's not the dogs that are lucky; it’s the people who are getting the dogs that are lucky to have their lives so enriched. These animals have been through so much but they are so forgiving and so resilient. There is so much that can be learned from these wonderful rescue animals.
C.A.R.E. is always looking for volunteers to help with driving, fundraising, and educating the public on the necessity for spay/neuter.
To learn more about C.A.R.E., see photos of dogs saved through transport, and find out how you can support them, visit www.caretransport.org. Donations can be made online at or by mail to C.A.R.E., 5276 South Hanover Way, Englewood, CO 80111.
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Tag Archives: teaching
A big hearty welcome to Alex, our first international subject* of So What Do You Do Exactly? Alex lives in Turkey, teaching English to both willing and unwilling students alike, many of whom ask him for the definitions of awkward English phrases like “premature ejaculation.”
What’s your actual job title? I’m both a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) and English Language Instructor at a regional university outside of a major Turkish city.
What would your job title be if it described what you actually did all day? English Language Instructor is reasonably accurate, but it’s still missing something about socially drinking çay [Turkish tea]. I came to Turkey expecting to be a “native speaker” informant (running conversation classes, helping grade, doing side projects, etc.) for Turkish English-language instructors, but ended up being the sole instructor for five to six classes per semester, with only the name of the class I was supposed to teach to guide me (my favorite: “British Culture”**).
What’s a sample day like? Let’s take a busy day, which starts the night before:
Three to four hours on the internet trying to come up with grammar points (also relevant, fun, interactive activities). Curse that my students don’t all have working emails, that there is no way to make photocopies, and that nobody would do a worksheet anyway. Go to sleep, nervous about running out of things to do in class and being left with 40 pairs of eyes staring at me blankly.
9:00am: Yogurt with honey, walk down a smog-filled road to the dolmuş (shared minibus) stop. You pass your fare to the person ahead of you, who passes it up to the driver in a chain. If there’s change remaining, the still-driving driver passes it back to you person-to-person in the same way.
10:30: Class. Mostly slogging through my syllabus, and fending off personal questions (TEACHER DO YOU DRINK ALCOHOL?). Mostly lapse into chatting and walking around the room while they do in-class writing assignments (can’t copy from the internet!) Field some more questions (always about my personal life, never about grammar) and head over to drink çay and chat with the guys in my office.
1:00–5:00: Teach more classes, chat with the other American in the office over how ridiculous our students are. Go into “American Culture” class and give a Powerpoint which they will later memorize word-for-word and regurgitate on my short-response test specifically designed against regurgitation. They tell me how the Illuminati and the Jews run the U.S. Government. I’m speechless.
6:00–7:00: Bağlama [a Turkish folk instrument] lesson from a teacher in the music department.
Come home, realize I have to do more lesson-planning. Facebook. Lesson-plan. Look forward to some adventure on the weekend (what keeps me going.) Wish for a job that doesn’t spill over into my home life.
You weren’t a teacher before this program, right? How does one learn to teach on the spot? Classic sink-or-swim. I’d say I’m doing a decent doggie-paddle. I had volunteered to teach informal English classes to recent immigrants in Chicago’s Chinatown, but it didn’t really prepare me at all for the actual terror of coming home from a tiring day of class and thinking, “What the hell am I going to teach tomorrow?” It is a great learning experience to create syllabi and find course materials and write and grade tests and have the complete freedom to run my classes how I want, but at the same time a little bit more guidance would have been nice. I don’t even have a course book to use!
Lessons for the next guy? Try to chill out, be interactive, and make friends with the internet. Over-plan, don’t under-plan. And, unlike me, don’t try to teach without a course book, even if you think they’re stupid. For your first time teaching, you need some sort of backbone that you can then improvise from.
Fulbright has been around for a while, right? Do you feel like it’s a relic of a past system or still worth investment in our nation’s youth? I do think it does a great job getting Americans into foreign places (Kırıkkale: pop. 200,000) that might not see a lot of us but hear and read a lot about us. We’re purposefully sent to cities off the expat track (no İstanbul), so I think it’s good promoting some sort of international contact in places that are usually left out of the global loop. Only after I came on the program did I come to appreciate how much of a tool for soft diplomacy I am, but I’ve made peace with that.
Do you think the U.S. would be a better place if all 22-year-olds did some foreign service? It’s hard to think of anything that everybody “should” do, but I’m gonna go ahead and say getting some perspective on who you are and where you come from is generally a good thing. Of course, there are many other ways of doing this than by being abroad, so I’ll compromise and say foreign service should be more accessible and available.
What did you learn about the English language or American customs that you had never realized was so unique until you tried to explain it to someone else? “Phrasal verbs!” (e.g. verbs that are combined with prepositional phrases for differences in meaning, like “give up” or “pass out”). English has tons of them, and they’re weird and hard for non-native speakers.
I’ve appreciated more fully how awesomely diverse the U.S. is. Turks eat…Turkish food. Not much dietary variation (though there is some regional variation). I’ve come to appreciate how America’s culinary landscape is constantly changing and borrowing from itself and other traditions.
On another front, while there’s definitely cultural erasure in the U.S., Turkey hasn’t done a great job either. For instance, to become a Turk you must adopt a Turkish last name. I now have a strange, overwhelming sense of pride reading the names in the credits at the end of an American movie.
Higher education is a much debated thing in the U.S., what with rising costs and debatable preparation for the real world. How do the Turks look at it differently? One great thing is that the Turkish education system, including higher education, is essentially free. That said, it does sort of encourage young people to go to college for want of something else to do. Problems start early. I’ve had many Turks tell me this: educators are continuously, and fairly, complaining about ‘the system.’ Your score on a national university entrance exam determines both a) what university you can attend and b) what department you can take classes in. If you change departments, you must change schools. If you are in a department, you can essentially only take classes within that department, with the same students. For six hours a day. It sounds like hell to me. I understand why many of my students had problems paying attention.
Foreign language classes are traditionally teacher-focused and heavily multiple-choice test–based. In fact, classrooms even have a raised platform for the teacher and my classes were crammed with long benches that I couldn’t even arrange in a circle. These classes are mostly grammar-based and taught in Turkish. There’s this really messed-up governmental English test for which, with certain scores, you can get a pay raise, but the entire test is multiple-choice reading comprehension and grammar questions. No writing. No speaking. No listening. It’s absurd that it purports to measure language ability and also carries some serious real-life consequences. There are many dershane, or cram schools, that only teach English grammar as it applies to the test. But, no joke: I’ll meet people who’ve aced the test who can’t even hold a basic English conversation. Or, for that matter, English teachers who can’t even hold a basic English conversation.
So basically…let’s not look to Turkey to help fix our problems. They’ve got different problems of their own. To grossly simplify, we tend to have more problems of access, while they have more problems of quality.
What lessons from teaching college-aged Turks would apply in any American classroom? Has this made teaching your passion? Or turned you off of it forever? To put everything in perspective, I was thrown into the classroom with a week of training. I learned that no matter my energy and excitement for language, they’re not going to magically make everyone pay attention. I do like how, in teaching a language, shooting the shit with your students actually counts as teaching. I found those times to be the most effective for them, where they actually had to communicate with me in English, and most rewarding for me, where I got some insight into what their lives are like.
Finally, I really want to say that despite sounding negative about the job/education aspects of being here, I’ve met some truly lovely people and seen tons of beautiful things. And one of the most important lessons I’ll take away is learning to chill and take cues from those around me. The Turks love to sit around, drink çay, and shoot the breeze. As my boss told me, “You Americans work harder and get more done. But we know how to enjoy life.”
*The views expressed Alex’ and not those of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations.
**I made it into “American Culture,” and I now try to do some serious cultural essentialization to come up with something to teach to people who can’t even write a coherent paragraph in English.
Related Post: So What Do You Do Exactly? Magazine Edition.
Related Post: So What Do You Do Exactly? Code Edition.
Celebs + Causes = Frequently Opportunistic.
Matt Damon + Save Our Schools = Dead Sexy.
This weekend, Massachusetts’ favorite son (admit it, no one chooses Affleck when Damon is on the table) marched in Washington at the Save Our Schools rally. His mother was a teacher. His speech articulates really well my own feelings about my very high-end, very affluent public education:
“As I look at my life today, the things that I value about myself, my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity, came from the way that I was parented and taught. And none of these qualities that I just mentioned, none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, none of these qualities that have brought me so much joy, that have made me so successful professionally, none of these qualities that make me who I am can be tested.”
Also, his mom sounds like a badass. Her response to administrators who wanted to test Damon, ‘My kid ain’t taking that. It’s stupid, it won’t tell you anything and it’ll just make him nervous.’
This is why that Alfie Kohn essay was so damn good; it pinpointed how convoluted our benchmarks have become. We think we’ve succeeded if students can pass a test that we wrote, and then taught them exactly how to pass. We will have actually succeeded when students graduate high school with adaptable skills, an inquisitive attitude, and the desire to keep learning on the job (which is what most of us have to do anyway). Raising test scores is all well and good, but test scores aren’t enough to promise kids that we’ve prepared them for the “real world.”
It’s incredibly hard to measure imagination, creativity, curiosity, problem-solving, ambition, teamwork, especially on a macro scale. But it’s these skills that make for successful adults in the fast-paced, constantly-changing economy we live in. Too much emphasis on rote memorization, ask-and-answer drills and fill-in-the-blanks detract from classroom time that teachers need to stimulate the real learning.
Related Post: Math and beauty… apparently mutually exclusive. Or so says Forever 21.
Related Post: Teaching history well…. and terribly.
Academics have a term for how much people identify with math (i.e. identify with phrases like “math is for me”). It’s called the math self-concept. A March study out of the University of Wisconsin found that girls as young as second-grade have less of a math self-concept than their male peers, even though this is significantly earlier than when math achievement differences start to show.
The lead researcher, Dario Cvencek, is from the former Yugoslavia and was surprised by how pervasive the math-is-for-boys, reading-is-for-girls mentality is in the United States. “We didn’t have that stereotype where I grew up. People there thought that math went with girls just as much as it did with boys.” I’m curious to see what would happen if they conducted the same association studies in the former Yugoslavia; I’m hoping evidence would support Cvencek’s theory.
In the meantime, can we stop selling shit like this? How do you quantify what kind of damage you do on a daily basis when an 12-year-old opens up her locker every day to stare at this magnetic gem from Forever 21? It’s made by a company ironically called Ata-Boy.
This was originally posted on Sociological Images, which also made the excellent point that there is no “I’m to handsome too do math” magnet. In other words, while stereotypes about good-looking men being Ken Barbies exist, they usually aren’t displayed in middle-school lockers.
Related Post: 1000% cute lingerie (and no, that was not a typo) for tweens.
Related Post: What kind of messages do girls get when toys tell them that marrying a prince is the definition of success?
Related Post: Other ways that elementary-schoolers of both genders get short changed.
Alfie Kohn’s Ed Week article, “Poor Teaching for Poor Children…in the Name of Reform” sums up in one concise, articulate, passionate package the underlying problems of “school reform” and explains how our attempts at fixing the leaks are, in the long run, only deepening the pools of inequality.
Poor kids live in poor districts with poor schools. We know this because they test (you guessed it) poorly. Efforts for reform are centered around raising those scores, ostensibly to prove that learning has been accomplished (though one might ask, what kind?). Rote memorization, “drill-and-skill” exercises, and teaching to the test raise scores, indicating “improvement.” But as Kohn points out, better scores are “often at the expense of real learning, the sort that more privileged students enjoy, because the tests measure what matters least. Thus, it’s possible for the accountability movement to simultaneously narrow the test-score gap and widen the learning gap.”
Deborah Stipek, dean of Stanford’s School of Education added that this teach-to-the-test methodology isn’t how middle-class children succeed, so “why use a strategy to help poor kids catch up that didn’t help middle class kids in the first place?” Great question, Deborah. Probably because good teaching, the kind that inspires intellectual curiosity, problem solving, question-asking, and creativity, is really fucking hard.
Two of the most respected teachers from my high school are entering early retirement under semi-shady conditions. Our local newspaper is awash with pleas for them to stay, gratitude for their decades of leadership, and scolding aimed at an administration that has failed to adequately recognize them. The letters reflect the sheer joy of learning from a great teacher, the exposure to new cultures, the forging of unlikely connections, the exciting click when a new piece of the puzzle falls into place. Nobody writes letters about teachers who raise test scores.
I believe in accountability. I believe in recognizing teachers who leave their students more inquisitive, creative, and confident than they were before. But if a standardized test score is the light at the end of the tunnel, we’ve got a problem. Asking too many questions will derail the test prep; something is seriously wrong with a classroom when there is such a thing as too many questions.
Related Post: Problems with the back-end of test-based “learning,” too. How many essays can you read and fairly judge in a day?
Related Post: An attempt at creative education that went badly awry…
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Clivia x Kewensis 'Vico Gold'
Clivia x Kewensis was raised at Kew by Charles Raffill. Kew had had a plant of Clivia citrina and had lost it, but it had set seed in the greenhouse where other Clivias grew. Raffill selected back from them until he arrived at a yellow plant with yellow seed capsules which he named C. x Kewensis 'Cream' . I obtained a plant of this in 1971 along with C. Kewensis seedlings A and B both of which were orange. From seed of my 'Cream' pollinated by A and B I had a large number of seedlings only two of which were yellow without any trace of red, and which carried yellow seed capsules. The numerous other seedlings were all orange to apricot in colour. Most of them had broad petals and good form. The two yellows have been named as C. x Kewensis 'Vico Yellow' and C. x Kewensis 'Vico Gold'. They are identical for gardening purposes and indistinguishable to me, though genetically they are different clones. Both are now grown at Clivia Breeding Plantation in Japan and are being used for breeding there. 'Vico Yellow' has been micropropagated by Miyoshi in Japan and is available commercially."
Sir Peter Smithers
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Bechtler family patriarch, Hans Bechtler (1904 – 1998) was a beloved patron and friend to many of the artists whose work he collected. Bestowed upon him for his 60th birthday in 1964 was a one-of-a-kind portfolio filled with artwork created specifically for Hans by several of these artists.
This extraordinary gift was conceived and compiled by Hans’s sister and niece. Months before Hans’s birthday the two reached out to a remarkable roster of modern artists with a request for them to create an artwork on a 9 x 12-inch sheet of paper, which the women supplied. Almost all who were asked submitted a gift. A total of 27 artworks were collected for what would be known as the “Birthday Book.” The book was placed in a presentation box where it remained for 40 years.
Fourteen of the 27 artworks are now part of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art collection. The other Birthday Book works are in the private collection of Hans’s daughter (and sister of museum patron Andreas Bechtler) Dany Bechtler Bucher in Switzerland.
The works in this exhibition represent some of the most important figures in 20th century modernism such as Alberto Giacometti, Mark Tobey, Barbara Hepworth and Marino Marini. While all works are on paper, a variety of media was used: watercolor, pencil, crayon, pastel, ink, gouache and collage. Each work is entirely in sync with the artist’s oeuvre at the time it was created. Some works are whimsical and personal (Hepworth), some subtle and complex (Kemeny), others gestural and immediate (Hartung and Tobey) and still others elegantly telegraphic (Giacometti).
The Birthday Book artworks that are not part of the Bechtler collection are shown in a series of images on a panel in the exhibition. As a group, these works provide a rare glimpse into the approaches that such a distinguished field of artists would take for the same commission, executed on the same paper, in honor of the same patron and all at the same moment.
In addition, the exhibition presents two other birthday gifts within the Bechtler family. One is a work by Sam Francis that was given by the artist to Hans in the mid 1960s. The other is a powerful sculpture by Raffael Benazzi which was given by Bessie to her husband, Hans, in the late 1970s.
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Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Signs stand in front of the General Motors world headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. The U.S. Treasury will sell its remaining stake in the company over the next year or so.
The day has finally arrived. The U.S. Treasury will sell off its stake in General Motors, the automaker that, along with Chrysler, was bailed out in 2009 before it declared bankruptcy and returned to the public markets via a massive $20 billion IPO in 2010.
The government put $50 million into GM and has gotten back about $30 billion. That figure includes a pre-loaded GM buyback of 200 million of its own shares from the Treasury at $27.50 a pop, a modest premium on Tuesday's closing price that amounts to $5.5 billion.
The remaining $2o billion (more or less) and the government's 300 remaining shares will be dealt with in slow motion fashion over the next 15 months, to avert a big dump of shares on the market. To make back the $20 billion, GM's stock price would have to rise to $72, a highly unlikely event. So the Treasury is admitting that it will "lose" money on the deal.
GM, for its part, has agitated for a share buyback for some time. It wants to shed the "Government Motors" tag and go after higher-priced executives (the Treasury's capped compensation as a condition of the bailout). GM execs also want their private jets back.
The decision to allow GM to do the buyback and the Treasury's engagement in an orderly equity liqudation isn't a surprise. The Treasury wasn't going to hold on to its stake forever, and now that the election's over, nobody can use the taxpayer loss on the bailout as a campaign issue.
Now the debate can move on to a critical question:
Q: Was the bailout worth it?
A: It was, for various reasons, but one critical reasons that rarely gets highlighted (Except by certain auto journalists...). Here's Matt Yglesias at Slate, in the context of arguing that the GM bailout was worthwhile for policy purposes, totally unrelated to making money:
The total collapse of the Michigan-centered auto industry would, for better or for worse, have opened up new market opportunities for other automaker with production facilities located elsewhere.
Maybe. But it would have taken a long time, and remember that in 2010 the U.S. auto market cratered. Then, in 2011, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami decimated Toyota's and Honda's saw their supply chains. If GM hadn't been bailed out, it wouldn't have been able to enter a restructuring bankruptcy, despite allegations to the contrary by Mitt Romney, because the credit markets were locked up and there wasn't enough private financing available for a massive corporate Chapter 11.
Liquidation would have followed. Chrysler was also headed for bankruptcy and in position to fill the massive hole in production that GM's demise would have left. Ford avoided the bailout but saw its business nearly collapse in 2009 (its stock price fell below $2 a share a one point). At the time, GM held about a fifth of the U.S. market. The Japanese and the Germans couldn't have filled that void. Neither would they have wanted to in the upper Midwest — they build their plants in southern right to work states, where the United Auto Workers holds no sway.
The upshot of all this is that when the auto industry did begin to bounce back strongly last year — a highlight in an otherwise weak recovery — there would have been a car shortage. A shortage! At a time when the average age of a vehicle on the U.S. road was 11 years, an all-time record, and when pent-up demand was pushing annual new vehicle sales toward what will likely be more than 15 million this year.
Q: What about Midwestern auto workers?
A: The Center for Automotive Research [via CNN] estimated earlier this year than no bailout would have ultimately cost the government upwards of $100 billion or more in social welfare payouts to GM's army of unemployed workers and in lost tax revenues. So, no bailout would have meant double the cost. Spend $50 billion to avoid spending $100 billion. If you think that through, you can turn the Treasury's "loss" into a double-its-money gain.
Q: Did the United Auto Workers pull off an incredible deal with the bailout?
A: You hear this all time from bailout critics: That the UAW and its benefits fund were moved to the front of the bankruptcy line, a political move designed by the Obama Administration to secure labor support. GM's debtholders got elbowed aside and the UAW wound up owning the company. Mitt Romney called this "crony capitalism," but PolitFact dismantled that argument. What really happened was that the UAW's benefits trust received GM equity in exchange for abandoning claims against the company, said Steve Rattner, the former investment banker and New York Times journalist who served as the "Car Czar." There was pain to be shared all around in the bailout and bankruptcy. And it didn't spare the UAW.
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Love of Health Tech Doesn't Have to be (Double) Blind
Shah noted that although the airline industry lets customers make their own travel arrangements by booking their flights online and checking in at airport kiosks, it hasn't made air travel safer or less expensive.
But there's a flaw in that argument. The airlines didn't make those changes to help consumers save time and money—they did it to save themselves time and money. And they certainly didn't do it to improve flyer safety.
But what if you gave every airline passenger a breathalyzer kit they could use to ensure the pilot is not drunk? Or sent them a text reminding them to buckle their seatbelt before takeoff? Or gave them an app to remind them how to put on a life vest in an emergency? Would those things improve the quality and safety of passengers?
To be fair, Shah was asked to argue that self-management doesn't improve patient safety and quality or reduce costs—the whole premise of the session was to engage in debate. In any other situation, he said, he'd probably concur with Kvedar.
Good. But I wonder about the bulk of the medical profession and whether they're ready to cede even a little bit of control to patients—and the technology that can help them manage their care outside the doctor's office.
- Patient Harm Data to Remain on Medicare's Hospital Compare Site
- Quiet ORs Better for Patient Safety
- Tavenner Confirmed as CMS Administrator
- Leapfrog Hospital Safety Scores 'Depressing'
- Building a Better Healthcare Board
- CMS Seeks to 'Rapidly Reduce' Medicare Spending with $1B in Grants
- Hard-Nosed About Physician Teamwork
- Healthcare Leaders Sound Off on Organized Labor
- Case Study: Advance Care Conversations
- Esther Dyson's Population Health Dream
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This page is a live feed from some of our favorite local style blogs. To visit their sites, please follow the link at the bottom of each post.
|The future of denim|
Posted in Fashion » Fashion Blog » Fashion Trends » Women's Fashion Trends
Denim is so integral to today's fashion industry that it's difficult to imagine it getting any bigger. But, it is. In fact, denim looks set to become an increasingly significant aspect of fashion over the next few years, and, possibly, even over the next few decades. In a recent press release, Premiere Vision announced it had "broken a new attendance record" for its Paris "Denim" show, held twice a year. The most recent Denim event took place on 25 and 26 May at the Halle Freyssinet convention center. There were 83 exhibitors, and attendance was up 18% over June 2010 and 13% over the December 2010 Denim event. According to PV, "Countries specializing in jeanswear such as Sweden and Denmark are well represented [at Denim], the United States is reinforcing its presence, and Brazil's attendance is increasing." In fact, international visitors accounted for nearly 70%, with people coming from 50 countries, including Italy, the UK, Germany, and Turkey.
Entire Article: Read it by clicking The future of denim.
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I-70 Missouri River Bridge (Blanchette Bridge)
Connecting St. Charles and St. Louis Counties
Westbound Blanchette Bridge Project
The $64 million rehabilitation of the westbound Interstate 70 Missouri River Bridge (Blanchette Bridge) will keep the westbound bridge closed from November 2012 until late summer 2013 (almost three months ahead of the original November 2013 deadline).
During the westbound closure, the eastbound bridge is carrying three lanes in each direction with 10 foot lanes and no shoulders. Normally, the bridges carry five lanes in each direction. With the reduction of two lanes, traffic is expected to have lengthy backups eastbound during the morning rush and westbound during the evening rush. Motorists should consider Route 370 as an alternate. Route 370 connects from I-270 in St. Louis County to I-70 in St Peters in St Charles County. See Schedule for more details.
Starting November 5, 2012 - I-70 reduced to three lanes open for each direction. This lane reduction is around the clock.
August 2013 – Westbound Blanchette Bridge reopens. The exact date is not available but we anticipate mid August.
Photos show the installation of the new steel truss replacement on the westbound I-70 bridge. Left photo was taken April 3, 2013, and the right photo shows the last piece of steel being installed May 15, 2013..
Click Here for map showing alternate Missouri River bridge crossings and options to get in and out of the businesses of St. Charles.
What’s the Problem?
Westbound I-70 bridge over the Missouri River was built in the late 1950s. It is in serious need of major repairs. Major river crossings are designed to last 100 years with a major overall needed at 50 years. Without major repairs, the bridge will continue to fall into disrepair and emergency repairs will be required at more frequent internals with longer traffic closures. These repairs will become increasingly more expensive.
The westbound I-70 Blanchette Bridge includes a total of 23 spans. Of those, the main three spans over the Missouri River have the overhead steel truss.
The rehabilitation of the Westbound I-70 Bridge will include:
Removal and replacement of the existing truss spans with new trusses.
Replacement of the complete driving surface, edge barrier walls and all expansion joints
Elimination of the three spans nearest to the St. Louis County end and their conversion to roadway on embankment
Repair all remaining concrete substructure units including replacement of some parts
Complete replacement of the structural steel in the first nine spans of the bridge on the St. Charles County side
Repair of the structural steel components of the long girder spans and the truss spans
Repainting of all existing structural steel
General Traffic Impacts
Construction work will begin early summer 2012 with off peak lane closures. The contractor plans to close the westbound bridge the weekend of Nov 2-4. It will remain closed until Fall 2013. During the closure, the eastbound I-70 bridge will have three lanes of traffic for each direction. Route 370 and Route 364 will serve as the major alternate routes to cross the Missouri River.
This image also shows all ramps at Fifth Street will be open except for the ramp from northbound Fifth Street to eastbound I-70. This ramp does not have enough room to merge traffic into the condensed lanes of three in each direction on the bridge. Northbound Fifth Street traffic will have a signed detour on Veterans Memorial to Route 94 to access eastbound I-70.
Click Here for information on the City of St. Charles Transit System including limited service to Hanley MetroLink.
Click Here for information on how to form carpools through RideFinders.
Route 370 Temporary Bike Lane Closure
MoDOT closed the bike lane on the Route 370 Missouri River bridge in November 2011. The Route 370 bridge is restriped to add a fourth lane on 370 between Earth City Expressway and Route 94. The extra lane will help traffic during the closure of the westbound I-70 bridge. The fourth lane on Route 370 will be removed in 2014 and the bike lane will be restriped. During the closure, cyclists should use Route 364 Page Avenue to cross the Missouri River. A detour map showing how to get from Route 370 to Route 94 is attached.
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One — The Diagnosis
The crowd gathered around the dying man's bed, waiting for his last words.
He was a genius. The most prolific writer and philosopher to ever live. He wiped his ass with the words of Shakespeare. The thoughts of Plato, Socrates, Descartes, and Nietzsche were used to clean up his dog's shit. Jesus wouldn't have been fit to loosen the straps of his sandals.
They waited. Throngs of them, visiting his bed in shifts. They weren't disgusted by his festering sores, nor were they overwhelmed by the foul stench of his stagnant bowel movements. They waited for years, someone always watching over his bed, usually dozens of people, sometimes hundreds. They recorded every word he spoke.
Get outta my damn face. Go to hell. I need water. My head hurts.
They didn't get out of his face. They didn't go to hell. They didn't get him water. They didn't soothe his aching head.
Whatever he said, they wrote and tried to interpret. They studied it in classes at the universities. What did The Genius mean by Get outta my damn face? Essays were written. One man received his PhD based on his research concerning I need water.
Two — The Waiting
They continued to watch and wait. They were eager to learn what brilliance he would bestow on them before his breath had finally been sucked away.
Where are my shoes? It's too bright. Please clean the shit off of me.
They didn't look for his shoes. They didn't dim the lights. They left the shit on him.
More classes, more dissertations. Countless biographies were penned. Millions of books featuring the Deathbed Words were sold. The Dali Lama gave a lecture on Where are my shoes.
Three — The Transformation
The crowds grew exponentially. The longer they waited the more of them there were. They began to place bets on what the final words would be. Millions of dollars were wagered. Everyone was listening. Tickets were sold for a thousand dollars per minute for admission into the room just for a slim chance to hear the brilliant words.
There's an elephant in the corner. Licking toes causes fungus. I'd eat cake if my teeth weren't green.
They began to look for elephants. They licked toes to try to create fungus. They dyed their teeth green and tried to eat cake.
More lectures. More books. They were translated into thirty-five languages and sold all over the globe.
Still they waited. Still he spoke.
The bed branded boorish bricklings. My hair ran away. Pens are exploding in my eyes.
They tried to make their own bricklings. They searched for his hair. They made pens explode in their own eyes. None of them lost faith.
Missionaries shared his words with starving people in third-world countries. Religious texts were rewritten to incorporate his ideas. People who had never heard the words Jesus or Buddha or Mohammed were shouting The Genius's name in the streets.
Four — Immortality
After five years, he finally spoke his last words. Eighty-three men and women were lucky enough to witness the words firsthand. Hundreds of millions watched on television. There were dozens of tape recorders and video cameras to ensure accuracy. They all heard the same words, but they would all interpret them differently for centuries to come.
It was all drivel, he croaked.
Some wept. Some applauded. Some burned all of The Genius's words. Some killed themselves.
Left alone, the genius said nothing.
All rights reserved.
This story was published in Shoots and Vines back in 2009.
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Bibione is located in a vast pinewood and has a beach of unparalleled proportions. Bibione developed as holiday resort in the sixities, although archaeological discoveries show that there was already a settlement here in Roman times.
Bibione beach has won a name for itself thanks to the lienght and wdth of tis dandy shores on which the sun shines from dawn the dusk. The beaches are full of orderly, colourful rows of sun shades. It offers safe cycle routes, a splendid sea front and a variety of sporting facilities that make it the ideal place for different activities.
Its new Bibione Thermae Spa (recognized by the Italian National Health Service) exploits the alkaline bicarbonate-sodiumfluorate waters that gush out at 52° C and offers mud treatment, bathing therapy, inhalation therapy, and physiokinesis therapy; there is also a well equipped gymnasiums as well as a spa park overlooking the sea with covered thermal and open air swimming pools.
The area around Bibione boasts nice historical towns as Portogruaro and Concordia Sagittaria, as well as natural itineraries around the typical farming flatland crossed by river canals and lagoons. Also do not miss the interesting routes across the renowned wine growing area of Lison-Pramaggiore.
Portogruaro is a Medieval and Renaissance town. It has the river Lemene weaving through, which at every turn offers incredibly beautiful views.
The heart of the city is Piazza della Repubblica with its Town Hall, that is considered to be the finest Medieval building in Portogruaro. Some of the buildings overlooking the two main streets have porticoes and are magnificient examples of Italian and Venetian Gothic style from the 14th and 15th centuries.
Portogruaro has an interesting archeological museum (Museo Nazionale Concordiense). The Renaissance Villa Marzotto is also worth a visit: amid a beautiful park, it houses the M. Gortani Paleontological Museum.
It contains many exhibits, coming from the neighbouring Concordia Saggittaria. About 3 km south of Portogruaro, Concordia was a Roman settlement and boasts a nice Archeological museum and an ancient cathedral with its Byzantine baptistery and old Roman remains.
Contents and images are courtesy of APT Bibione e Caorle
Destinations in Bibione
Choose your destination
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I recall a general who was sent to invigorate the American forces in South Korea in the 1970s.
Invigorate them he did. Training and combat exercises were increased, including ones with live fire. Everyone, including the cooks and mechanics, had to run two miles a day. All officers had to teach a class. Everyone in the command had to take Korean language courses. The word went out that any type of racial discrimination would not be tolerated. He even reported on the quality of condoms and the reduction of venereal disease. Few, if any, aspects of the soldiers' lives were unaffected by the general's program.
In addition to whipping troops into shape, the general freely admitted that he had another goal: he wanted the people under his command to experience the fullness of life. He was onto "Be all that you can be" before it became a recruiting slogan.
Most of us in the civilian sector have less power than a general, but his example is worthy of consideration as he turned his command into a life-affirming experience. If only more of our civilian jobs contained such meaning.
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Two meetings to discuss community concerns about St. Helena Elementary School have been scheduled within a week of each other.
The first, called by Beaufort County Board of Education member Michael Rivers, who represents the area, will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the school.
The second, a meeting of the full school board called by board Chairman Fred Washington Jr., is set for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the school.
Both meetings are in response to community concerns about the school's recent "F" grade on federal accountability standards. Parents and community members have called for changes at the school, and in response, the school district has outlined a number of programs and new efforts to boost student achievement.
But Rivers said he's concerned the meetings are duplicating efforts. The meeting he organized has been planned for about a week, he said. Rivers also organized a community meeting in late August for parents to voice their concerns and said he had always planned to host a follow-up meeting.
Washington said he began to organize the full board meeting about two days ago, after he had already learned about the Wednesday meeting.
Rivers said he has advertised the Wednesday meeting with a local radio station and handed out flyers, so word's already out, and he doesn't plan to cancel.
"My concern is that ... the community is not going to have a good feeling about (the Sept. 25) meeting," Rivers said. "That they'll feel like someone from the outside is trying to dictate to the community when and should it even have a meeting."
Washington said the concerns about the elementary school's struggles merit the attention of all board members, not just one. That's why he called the full board meeting.
"I thought it would be important, given the gravity of concerns and issues there," he said. "My opinion is the full board needs to listen and hear. Any decisions will be made by the full board, and we're talking about possibly significant changes."
Washington declined to specify what changes could occur at the school. District officials have said they have already capped class sizes at 20 students and begun on-site executive coaching for principal Kay Keeler.
Washington brushed aside the notion that calling the meeting was a political move. Washington and Rivers have been drawn into the same district under redistricting prompted by the 2010 census. They will face each other and another candidate, Bernie Schein, in the November election.
"This started off with community meetings and had to be elevated because of the level of concern," Washington said.
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Given recent speculation, Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan's mention of the company in his acceptance speech last evening and the news that General Motors (NYSE: GM) will shut down production for its troubled Chevy Volt vehicle for the second time this year, that question has become immediately relevant today.
To answer the question, we'll be turning once again to our preferred tool for predicting a company's bankruptcy, the Altman Z-Score.
Here, using data published by the company in its financial reports, we'll measure how distressed GM's situation has become.
This is an exercise we've done with GM's data before. Here, when we first introduced our tool for predicting bankruptcy back in March 2006, we found that GM's Altman Z-score was 0.01.
That value indicates a very financially distressed company, where an Altman Z-score for a manufacturing company like GM would have to be above 2.67 to be considered healthy, and between 1.81 and 2.67 to be considered to be at neutral risk for declaring bankruptcy in the future. Any score below 1.81 indicates that a company is in the danger zone for going through bankruptcy proceedings in the future.
While that Altman Z-score of 0.01 indicated a highly distressed company, it was nothing compared to what we found when we revisited GM's deteriorating financial situation in June 2008, when GM's Altman Z-score fell through the floor and reached -1.35, as its future bankruptcy became inevitable.
From here, we'll pick up the story following what happened after President Obama intervened in what would otherwise have been normal bankruptcy proceedings on the behalf of his political interests and orchestrated the bailout and reorganization of GM using U.S. taxpayer dollars to support them.
Tapping Yahoo! Finance's records of GM's Income and Balance Sheet statements from 2009 through 2011, we calculated GM's Altman-Z score for the bailout year of 2009 and the post-bailout years of 2010 and 2011. Here's what we found:
- In the bailout year of 2009, GM's Altman Z-score jumped to 2.69, with the U.S. government's infusion of more than 100 billion dollars of taxpayer money putting the company immediately into the "healthy" range for manufacturing companies.
- In the following year, without the ongoing infusion of taxpayer cash to keep the company in the healthy zone, GM's Altman Z-score plummeted to 0.54, back into the danger zone, as the reorganized GM failed to generate the sales to needed to support even its greatly reduced size and liabilities.
- In 2011, GM's financial situation improved somewhat as its Altman Z-score rose to 0.66, which still places it deep within the danger zone for risk of future bankruptcy.
We next decided to go the extra mile and update GM's Z-Score through its four most recent quarters, which will indicate the company's relative financial health as of 30 June 2012. We've entered the data in our tool below (click here to visit our site if you're reading this post through sites that access our RSS feed):
|Income Statement Data|
|Net Sales (Gross Profit)|
|Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT)|
|Balance Sheet Data|
|Total Current Assets|
|Total Current Liabilities|
|Market Value of Equity (Total Stockholder Equity)|
|Manufacturing or Non-Manufacturing Company||Manufacturing Non-Manufacturing|
|Calculated Financial Ratios|
|Return on Total Assets Ratio|
|Net Sales to Total Assets (Asset Turnover) Ratio|
|Equity to Debt Ratio|
|Working Capital to Total Assets Ratio|
|Retained Earnings to Total Assets Ratio|
Running the numbers through 30 June 2012, we find that GM's Altman-Z score is 0.66. The company's financial situation has not improved since the end of 2011 and it remains well in the danger zone for facing future bankruptcy, as the company's post-bailout reorganization appears to have been inadequate to really restore the company to good health.
While that doesn't suggest that the company will be filing for bankruptcy in the immediate days ahead, it does confirm that more reorganization and cost reduction efforts lie ahead for the company in the short term.
Read more posts on Political Calculations »
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No recent wiki edits to this page.
Daughter of the Empress, and rumored to be Corvo Attano's daughter, Emily Kaldwin is the descendant and the legitimate heiress of the throne of Gristol. After her mother, Jessamine Kaldwin, was assassinated, she's kidnapped by a faction of assassins commonly called "Whalers", hired by the own Empress's Spymaster, and thereby starting a conspiracy against the Kaldwin's family.
Following the story's timeline, Emily still missing for 6 months. During this period, Corvo escapes from Cold Ridge Prision and travels to the Hound Pits to seek out Emily's whereabouts, and Lord Regent Hiram Burrows assumes the throne and take total control of Dunwall. Finally, she is founded in one of Golden Cat's rooms, trapped by the brothers Morgan and Custis Pendleton. After her rescue, she is taken to The Hound Pits, where remains safe and being prepared to return to Dunwall Tower and retake the throne. During your stay, Callista Curnow becomes her caretaker and teacher.
Afterwards, betrayed by the residents of Hound Pits, Emily is taken to the Kingsparrow Island's Lighthouse, to serve the interests of Admiral Havelock, which manipulating her, intend to reach the supreme power and have control of the empire. Corvo is send to rescue her and eliminate, once for all, the menaces that threaten Emily's future and Dunwall's fate.
- She is voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz.
- It is speculated amongst some of the citizens of Dunwall that Corvo Attano is her father.
- It appears that Emily was being taught how to knock out enemies in a choke hold by Corvo, before his subsequent arrest.
- Emily's personality and behaviours are greatly influenced by Corvo's actions throughout Dishonored.
- Emily seems to enjoy playing hide and seek.
- Emily talks in her sleep, and is hinted to have seen the Outsider in one of her nightmares.
- If Corvo's chaos is high, Emily draws a picture of him standing on a pile of bodies, with a bloody sword in hand.
- In her room in The Hound Pits , she has several items, which she claim to have found by "digging".
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Glorifying Israel Shames Harvard
Stephen Lendman | 04.28.2012
Glorifying Israel Shames Harvard
by Stephen Lendman
Harvard's motto is "VERITAS (truth)." Its shield displays it. So do rings students buy.
It wasn't present at Harvard's April 19 - 20 Israel Conference (IC). Perhaps an invitation wasn't extended.
IC was billed as a "first of its kind on Harvard's campus." Initiated by Israeli students, they "wanted to bring the Israeli spirit to campus the way they see it - as that of a vibrant, innovative and eternally optimistic state."
"VERITAS" was nowhere in sight. Neither was occupation harshness. Exclusion was more than oversight. Expect little change next year at another session. Topics this year were poor ones. Featuring them concealed reality. Guests were worse. More on them below.
In March, Harvard held a One State Conference. Its purpose was to "to educate ourselves and others about the possible contours of a one-state solution and the challenges that stand in the way of its realization."
Speakers worth hearing were featured. They included Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah, and Law Professor Susan Akram. Critics denounced their comments.
Harvard Kennedy School Dean David Ellwood issued an advance statement. He expressed deep "disappoint(ment) to see that the initial list of speakers (was) so one-sided."
He feared Harvard would "give the false impression" about endorsing their agenda. He stopped short of presenting his own based on "VERITAS" and full disclosure.
He wasn't alone. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) condemned the conference. He called it "dangerous thinking that gives comfort to Israel's enemies." He requested Harvard cancel. To its credit, it was held as scheduled.
It also featured pro-Israeli Alan Dershowitz. Honest critics know he's a notorious bigot, a longstanding Islamophobe, a misinterpreter of fundamental law principles, a believer in unique Jewish suffering, an advocate for torture and targeted assassinations, a committed Zionist, and apologist for Israel's worst crimes.
He wasn't alone. Yet Abunimah called the conference "one of the most informed, nuanced, creative, and responsible discussions on Israel-Palestine I've recently participated in."
The Harvard Crimson said:
Participants "advocated for the consideration of alternative solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
"Despite the protests, the event proceeded smoothly and remained unaffected by the opinions of some of its opponents, said Kennedy School student Ahmed Moor, an organizer of the conference."
"Panels included discussion about issues of nationhood and cultural identity, the building a global movement, and the history of violence between Palestinians and Israelis. During some of the events, panelists responded directly to critics accusing them of promoting a one-sided dialogue."
When it ended, Moor said it was "about what to do about reconciling between two peoples who deserve better." It begins with honest, open discussions without which no solution is possible.
April's conference was mirror opposite. Harvard apparently yielded to critics and went rogue. Instead of open give and take, pro-Israeli sentiment was featured.
Imagine a speaker lineup shameful enough to embarrass responsible alums, faculty, and student body members alike. Following Harvard Provost Alan Garber's opening remarks, featured ones promoted agendas defiling "VERITAS," justice, fairness, and rule of law principles.
Former Iraq war Pentagon spokesman Dan Senor began things.
He's now an Israeli lobbyist, investment banker, Fox News contributor, and co-author of "Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle." It excludes how Palestinians are occupied, oppressed, exploited, impoverished, imprisoned, tortured, and killed.
He's also a former AIPAC intern, a past and perhaps present Carlyle Group senior associate, a former White House deputy press secretary, a USIBEX director (US-Israel Business Exchange), and Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) member.
Sourcewatch quoted him in 2004 saying he avoided political partisanship in his work. His career's based on it. Nonetheless, he claimed he's "guided by ethical 'red lines.' "
They didn't stop him from promoting and misreporting on Bush's Iraq war. Nor did it deter his one-sided Israel support.
UK historian/Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson followed him. He's a frequent scoundrel TV/print contributor, a Hoover Institution senior fellow, a GLG Partners investment management consultant, a social agenda critic, and an advocate of replacing Medicare and Medicaid with Medical Security System vouchers to let corporate providers rip off customers more than already. His other views are just as hardline.
Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer spoke last. He's also an economist, a former Citigroup vice chairman and IMF first deputy managing director, a Council on Foreign Relations and Trilateral Commission member, a Guggeneheim fellow, and National Bureau of Economic Research associate, among other anti-populist credentials.
He's to Israel what Bernanke is to America, Goldman Sachs alum Mario Draghi to the EU, and Mervyn King to Britain. Their policies lavished stolen wealth on banks. In the process, they wrecked economies, communities, households, and futures of millions of exploited people.
Their agenda perhaps includes transferring all wealth to elitist hands. If successful, neoserfdom will entirely replace enlightenment in America, Europe, Israel, and perhaps elsewhere. It's well along toward doing it already.
Following morning and afternoon panel discussions, former Obama Middle East official Dennis Ross keynoted day two.
A previous article described him as follows:
Anti-Defamation League head Abe Foxman calls him Israel's "advocate." Middle East analyst Aaron David Miller says he's "Israel's lawyer." Others call him a Zionist hardliner up to no good for Palestine or Israel's regional rivals, including Iran.
He also co-founded the AIPAC-linked Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). An extremist Israeli front group, it's board of advisors includes rogue figures like Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Woolsey, and Richard Perle.
James Petras once called him "a virulent Zionist advocate of Israel's ultra-militaristic policies, including an armed preemptive attack on Iranian nuclear and military installations."
"Ross is an unconditional supporter of the Israeli starvation siege of (Gaza), and fully backed Israel's savage (2006) air attacks against civilian targets in Lebanon."
Closely linked to Israeli policies, he's no friend of Palestine, peace, or justice. He one-sidedly back its lawlessness. He's criminally complicit in its crimes. Nonetheless, Harvard featured him on day two.
Panelists included Asaf Bar Ilan and Michael Eisenberg. Both violate international law. They're connected to illegal Israeli settlements. Ilan owns a Golan farm. Occupied since June 1967, it's Syrian territory, not his. He's also a former IDF officer and Nemesysco Israel Ltd business development vice president.
Eisenberg is a Gush Etzion settlement bloc religious/military school board member. Also a Benchmark Capital general partner, he served in that capacity with Israel Seed Partners.
At the expense of excluded fair-minded scholar/analysts, investment and other business related guests were featured. Among them were Sadara Ventures general partner Yadin Kaufmann, al-Bawader fund general partner/co-founder Habib Hazzan, and Economic Policy Research Foundation's managing director Guven Sak.
Harvard's Center for International Development's Ricardo Hausmann moderated an "Innovating a Region" session.
Harvard Business School's James Sebenius moderated a "Start-Up Nation" one. Besides Eisenberg, speakers included Israeli engineer/inventor/businessman Dov Moran, venture capitalist Jonathan Medved, and Israeli Efi Arazi School of Computer Science's Shimon Schocken.
Israeli journalist/TV host Becky Griffin moderated a Teddy Herzl Talks session. Besides Ilan, participants included Technion Israel Institute of Technology's Yoav Medan, IsraAID's Aid & Development/Japan director Yotam Polizer, Israeli physician/educator Karen Djemal, and SpaceIL CEO/co-founder Yariv Bash.
For doing the right thing, Harvard's One State Conference drew heavy criticism. Nary a disparaging word followed its April one.
Excluding what most needs discussing, Israel was misrepresented as a "vibrant, innovative and eternally optimistic state." Palestinians have other views. So do millions of their supporters worldwide.
"VERITAS" depends on featuring them at future programs. Otherwise, it's just a motto, nothing else.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
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Things you can do
Stuff you may read
They say there's a book inside everybody. Let the book out with Admanya blogs. Vent your feelings about anything that pops into your head. It might be rocket science or your neighbour's cat.
Start now! Its easy and fun!
Chotanokkara Bhagwati Temple
Posted by Ramaswamy on 10 May 2011
Chottanikkara Bhagavathy Temple. It is the most important Temple among the 393 shrines spread over 3 Districts of Kerala and coming under the administration of Cochin Devaswom Board. The Divine Mother known as Rajarajeswari (Adiparasakthi) is worshipped here in three forms Saraswathy in the morning, Lakshmi at noon and Durga in the evening. There is an Idol of Mahavishnu on the same pedestal and so the Deity is called Ammenarayana, Devinarayana, Lakshminarayana and Bhadrenarayana also. Along with Lakshmi & Narayana there are idols of Brahma, Siva, Ganapathi (Ganesh), Subramanya and Sastha on the same pedestal.
Apart from the main deity, the temple complex consists of Kizhukkavu Bhagavathy temple, temples for Sastha, Siva, Ganapathi, Nagas and other Upa-Devas. The pleasant atmosphere in the temple give mental peace and harmony to devotees.
"MAKOM Thozhal" (worship on the Makom day) is the most important festival of the temple which is celebrated in the month of Kumbham. (Feb / March) It is believed that Bhagavathy in her full attire gave darsan to Vilwamangalam Swamiyar on the Makom day and appears on the same day every year for giving darsan to the devotees in her special appearance. The Bhadrakaali at Kizhukkavu is believed to exorcise evil spirit from devotees, after conducting bhajanam.
cosmicbomber wrote on 18 January, 2012
This is very interesting!
derebail2009 wrote on 08 May, 2012
I believe black magic is also being practised here, is it true ?
cosmicbomber wrote on 08 May, 2012
Come to Tarapith or Kamakshya if you really want to witness the power of Tantra - 100 X more powerful than black magic.
About this Blogger
Ramaswamy K is a practicing Company Secretary and Business Consultant with 35 years of experience in the matter of taxation finance and corporate laws. He has given nume... Read more
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Reading Ha’aretz this morning, my eyes were diverted to an article about the indignation of the Israeli Tourism Ministry about – guess what? Anti-Israel bias, of course. Apparently, in the wake of the rocket attacks earlier this week, the US government issued a travel warning to Israel (particularly Eilat and the rest of Southern Israel), the West Bank, and Gaza without mentioning the Jordanian city of Aqaba, the only place with an actual fatality in the rocket attacks.
OK, fair point. But, does anyone really think that rocket was aimed at Jordan?
Israel loves to divert criticism by claiming that the world is unfairly biased against it. It’s a painful truism that shockingly atrocious human rights violations take place all over the world every day, with barely even a sideways glance from the international media. It’s also true that when Israel demolishes someone’s house, injures a peaceful protestor, or restricts aid to Gaza, the world pays more attention. The UN gets involved, as do European governments, international media, and certainly, the Arab world (and you know, occasionally the USA). This, to some more right-wing pro-Israel people, constitutes clear evidence of anti-Semitism, and nests perfectly into a well-established part of the Jewish psyche, which says the whole world is always out to harm the Jews.
I certainly do not mean to in any way downplay the suffering of the Jewish people at the hands of others, throughout history. However, in the case of Israel, isn’t the attention a good thing? Since its birth as a nation, Israel has had the attention and support of most of the western world – none of this is new. International attention on Israel could help to solve issues in the nation – and to create a more stable, peaceful region. It has worked before! And what’s the other option? For the world to get distracted by another global conflict and for Israel, out of sight, to let human rights violations spin out of control, and to promote policies and actions that make peace in the Middle East even less achievable?
Obviously, the current situation in Israel/Palestine is not tenable – for anyone. Do pro-Israel folks want the world to give up on peace in Israel? Obviously not, but they need to recognize that international attention is going to include (very deserved) scrutiny, and that general world opinion is usually pretty valuable. The world has a good, you know, worldview.
Oh, and by the way, if you are planning a trip to Southern Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, OR AQABA this week, travel safely!
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Runners World: Run Less, Run Faster
By: Bill Pierce, Scott Murr & Ray Moss
Finally, runners at all levels can improve their race times while training less-with the revolutionary Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) program
Hailed by the Wall Street Journal and featured twice in six months in cover stories in Runner's World magazine, FIRST's unique training philosophy makes running easier and more accessible, limits overtraining and burnout, and substantially cuts the risk of injury-while producing faster race times. The key feature is the "3 plus 2" program, which each week consists of:
* 3 quality runs, including track repeats, the tempo run, and the long run, which are designed to work together to improve endurance, lactate-threshold running pace, and leg speed
* 2 aerobic cross-training workouts, such as swimming, rowing, or pedaling a stationary bike, which are designed to improve endurance while helping to avoid burnout
With detailed training plans for 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon, plus tips for goal-setting, rest, recovery, injury rehab and prevention, strength training, and nutrition, this program will change the way runners think about and train for competitive races.
Amby Burfoot, Runner's World executive editor and Boston Marathon winner, calls the FIRST training program "the most detailed, well-organized, and scientific training program for runners that I have ever seen."
BILL PIERCE, a collegiate half-miler and experienced marathoner, is professor and chair of Furman's Health and Exercise Science Department.
SCOTT MURR, an experienced marathoner and 10-time Ironman Triathlon finisher, is director of Furman's Fitness Center and a lecturer in the Health and Exercise Science Department at Furman.
RAY MOSS, who designed the FIRST laboratory physiological testing protocol, is professor of health and exercise science and director of the Molnar Human Performance Laboratory at Furman.
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In the three-plus years since Gloucester switched from trash stickers to “pay as you throw,” and introduced purple bags for throwing, the city has seen at least a 28 percent decrease in collected waste — 6,000 tons in the aggregate — and nearly $1 million in savings, according to Mayor Carolyn Kirk.
The mayor made her case study presentation in conjunction with WasteZero — the North Carolina-based company that manufactures the bags, known colloquially around town as “Barney bags,” a reference to the television dinosaur of the same color — at the National League of Cities convention in Boston on Thursday.
The convention attracted representatives of 3,000 cities. About 50 were in attendance for Kirk’s presentation in one of the 10 “solution theaters” at the Boston Convention and Exposition Center. The four-day convention ends today.
Kirk revisited the presentation in an interview Friday. The “pay as you throw” program in 2009 during her first term. Until then, trash was financed by the sale of stickers, which encouraged gaming the system in various ways, as well as eyesores and organic trash exposed by seagulls and careless residents.
Kirk said the decision to require residents to acquire trash bags themselves, at a cost of $2 each and sold in packages of five, meant that residents no longer could cut stickers in two or pile bags with a stickered bag on top. At the same time, the city began collecting recyclables weekly rather than bi-weekly and switched contractors from Waste Management to Hiltz, a city-based collector.
The switch from stickers to Barney bags, a nickname Kirk attributed to then recycling coordinator Kathy Middleton, engendered residents to make a greater effort at economizing through the separation of recyclables from trash.
“You’re not going to get customers excited about the change with environmental arguments,” said Kirk. “The magic happens when you show them savings in line items allowing you to protect other city services. It’s the financial argument that makes it happen.”
The recycling coordinator now is Rose Lopiccolo, who is called on to advise residents of the rules which often involves detective work — as when the recycling bins are left out days after the trucks have moved through or when bags appear before 7 a.m. on pickup day in front of houses where the offending party is not self-evident based on location.
Kirk said the city has an ordinance that bars putting the bags out before 7 a.m. on trash collection day, which rotates through from Ward One through Ward Five through the week, with holidays pushing two days into one.
The economic benefit of the “pay as you throw” approach was immediate and dramatic for Gloucester, Kirk said. Her PowerPoint presentation showed that tonnage of trash for which the city paid a tipping fee to Waste Management was over 9,000 tons each year before the switch. In 2009, the transition year, tonnage dropped to about 7,500 tons and then declined to less than 7,000 tons in 2010 through the present.
In fiscal 2009, the last year of the Waste Management contract, the collection and disposal expense to the city was $1,585,884, according to a memo from Lopiccolo to Kirk, which the mayor made available to the Times.
In fiscal 2010, the first year of the Hiltz contract, the cost dropped $341,842 to $1,244,042 — a decrease of 27.4 percent. In the second year of the Barney bag system, the cost was $1,260.175, a slight increase over the previous year but still a dramatic drop from the old system. And then in fiscal 2012 (which ended June 30), the charge edged up slightly again, but again was well below the cost of trash in the sticker system.
Over the three full years of “pay as you throw” trash collection, the city has saved $933,221 compared to the $1,585,844 paid for trash collection when stickers were the currency.
Kirk said one big improvement and a factor in the reduced cost is the fairness of the new system and the ease in decision-making allowed the collectors. “The stickers required judgment calls, and people were aware of the unfairness as some residents piled bags into a pyramid with a stickered bag on top, forcing the collectors to decide how many to take. Each bag required a sticker but linking bags became something of an artform. “The haulers couldn’t tell very easily,” the mayor said.
“Pay as you throw” is simple, Kirk said. “Either the trash is in a purple bag (with the city seal) or it isn’t.”
There was also an increase of about 5 percent in revenue from the purchases of the bags versus stickers. The other benefit was a doubling in the volume of recycled material after the city went from bi-weekly to weekly recycling pickup.
Kirk credited the late former Mayor William Rafter, whose work was in waste and trash collecting, for putting the city at the regional forefront in the burgeoning field.
Joe Landolfi, a spokesman for WasteZero, credited Kirk with courage for going so quickly and full force into “pay as you throw.”
WasteZero is a relatively small privately-owned company which manufactures in South Carolina and has offices in Raleigh, N.C. It makes bags for 50 cities and towns in Massachusetts and about 800 nationally, Landolfi said.
Revenues are “north of $10 million a year,” he said.
“WasteZero has been a tremendous partner for the city,” Kirk said.
Richard Gaines may be contacted at 978-283-7000 x3464 or email@example.com.
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Force ready to release Tybee Bomb findings|
Air Force ready to release Tybee Bomb findings
Nuke hunter: 'If the Air Force came in with all of their equipment and came up with a blank, that concerns us.'
U.S. Air Force officials will return to Savannah next week, almost nine months after departing with cylinders of sand scooped from an area that at least one man believes is the final resting place of the lost Tybee Bomb.
It's not clear what those officials will say during the planned June 17 meeting with Savannah and Tybee Island leaders. The Air Force has remained stubbornly quiet about the findings of the September search of Wassaw Sound.
The only indication came from an April letter penned by Air Force Col. James DeFrank, who wrote that the search team "did not find significant radiation levels" during the operation.
What it did find remains a mystery that has only deepened with the report's long delay.
"It shouldn't take this long to come up with a conclusion," Tybee Mayor Walter Parker said. "I know there is a lot of federal red tape, but this length of time has upset me more than anything else."
The Mark 15 hydrogen bomb has been missing since February 1958, when an Air Force bomber on a training mission dumped it in the water following a mid-air collision.
A 10-week search that followed in the shallows just off Tybee Island came up empty, and the Air Force declared it "irretrievably lost."
Last fall's multi-agency search, in which scientists took radiation readings and underwater soil samples, was the first official hunt in 46 years.
It came after retired Air Force Lt. Col. Derek Duke, a Statesboro resident, measured unusually high radiation readings during his own private search of Wassaw Sound last July.
A Canadian production company, making a documentary for National Geographic International, tagged along during that outing.
The segment, which has been airing in recent months, recorded Duke as he watched his Geiger counter spike over an area off Little Tybee Island.
"We've got it," Duke said from the small boat.
Duke said Monday that he feels a powerful storm that blew in the month before the federal search shifted sands in the football field-sized area that was scoured, perhaps further covering the 7,600-pound weapon.
He noticed sand bars in areas where none existed just weeks before.
"I've been out there enough to know that things had changed," he said. "If the Air Force came in with all of their equipment and came up with a blank, that concerns us.
"But we have to be careful that we don't pre-suppose what they are going to say."
Duke said he has not been privy to the report's contents. He plans to attend the press conference with Arthur Arseneault, a retired Navy lieutenant commander who led the original Tybee Bomb search in 1958.
"Frankly, I'm relieved this day has come," Duke said. "It's almost been a year now, and we finally have a report, no matter what it says."
ABOUT THE BOMB
The 12-foot-long Mark 15 hydrogen bomb weighs 7,600 pounds and bears the serial number "47782." It has an aluminum skin and contains 400 pounds of conventional high explosives and an undisclosed amount of highly enriched uranium. Its explosive yield is about 100 times greater than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Officials say the bomb lacked a detonation device when dropped, rendering it incapable of nuclear explosion.
Any resemblance in this material to any
person is purely
coincidental and is unintentional.
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We are so happy to participate in your Around-the-World Lunch Tour. We are in kindergarten and our classroom is called JAM (how perfect is that, better yet on toast ). Which JAM is your favorite? (Strawberry!-Veg)
We thought would be nice to start by sharing a video that our school principal, Jackie, made: Greeting the World in Peace. In the video, Jackie takes a few moments to consider the common theme behind so many of the diverse greetings people use around the world:
Our school is located in New York City. It is an International School, and JAM has seventeen students from many different nationalities. Although we all speak in the same language (English) at school, we are from many parts of the world, and at home we may speak a completely different language. In our classroom we have two teachers: one is Brazilian/Italian and the other is American/Irish. I am Paula, one of the two teachers – the one from Brazil (I am also Italian). My American/Irish colleague is Keri.
At JAM we eat lunch in our classroom and we bring our lunches from home. When I came from Brazil to teach at JAM, my students’ lunches caught my attention right away – there was such variety among them! I have learned a lot over the last several years, from watching what my students bring to eat. I have seen Iranian, Bosnian, Indian, Japanese, and other cuisines. I have had a student whose lunch varied with the seasons, and others who prefer to eat the same thing every day. I have had a student who would build savory crepes during lunchtime: he would take all these plastic containers out of his lunchbox and explain what he was doing as he assembled his crepes – while Keri and I would look on, amazed!
Of course, our students also notice each other’s lunches, and there is a lot of learning at the lunch table, as we talk about what each of us has brought. We particularly notice the differences and smells!
I introduced the children, and the parents in this year’s JAM class to NeverSeconds and Mary’s Meals. Everybody was eager to be part of what you started Martha. The parents wrote descriptions of the lunches and the children exhibited their lunches for the photographs. So everything that is written in our blog posts this week is the result of teamwork! We are also delighted that on our last day on NeverSeconds will be the International Day of Peace and we will be celebrating it at our school. We will talk about it on Friday.
Today’s lunches are from Eduardo, Leah and Mica
Eduardo’s lunch is Tortilla Espanola or Spanish Omelet is the most commonly served dish in Spain. It is made of eggs, potato and onion. Can you guess from where Eduardo is from? Eduardo also likes yogurt, and that’s what is in the pot at top right in the photo.
Leah’s lunch is a salami and cheese sandwich on toasted white bread. Leah comes from two cultures, half-Japanese and half-Canadian (Jewish origin). The lunch is obviously none of them, says her father: it’s an original creation from New York. Another of her favorite lunches is seaweed (Japanese) with cream cheese on it (Jewish)! She loves fruits (strawberries, today, in the small container), which make up roughly half of her lunch. She has some candy in a plastic bag, as a treat, she also has shortbread cookie chips in the bag on the left and juice to drink.
And we will finish Monday with:
Mica’s lunch (Micaela) – Estas son empanadas argentinas. Las empanadas se originaron el Galicia (Espana) y Portugal. Es ahora un plato tipico argentino.
Las empanadas se suelen servir em fiestas, como entradas, o plato principal, o en festivales. Se pueden preparar con differentes rellenos y sabores. Cuando se sirven diferentes tipos de empanadas, estas son cerradas con differentes “repulgues” que sirven para diferenciarlas.
These are Argentinean Empanadas. Empanadas trace their origins to Galicia (Spain) and Portugal. It is now a traditional Argentinean dish.
Argentinean empanadas are often served at parties as a starter or main course, or in festivals. They come in many flavors and fillings. When several types are served, a “repulgue”, or pattern, is added to the pastry fold to differentiate them, so guests can tell them apart.
We changed the rating system a bit, because we’re in kindergarten:
Eating with the mouth closed: we did great!
Speaking with the mouth full: work in progress – we must stop doing that
Food dropped or spilled on the floor: none (yay!)
Tomorrow we will see the lunches from four other classmates! See you tomorrow!
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Posted: Oct 9, 2012 8:40 AM by CBS News
As many as 13,000 people received steroid shots suspected in a U.S. meningitis outbreak, health officials said Monday. But it's not clear how many are in danger.
Officials don't how many of the shots may have been contaminated with meningitis-causing fungus tied to the outbreak. And the figure includes not only those who got them in the back for pain - who are most at risk - but also those who got the shots in other places, like knees and shoulders.
Those injected in joints are not believed to be at risk for fungal meningitis, said Curtis Allen, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said there was no breakdown available of how many had the shots in the back or in joints.
The CDC count of cases reached 105 on Monday, including eight deaths. A ninth death was reported late Monday by a Nashville, Tennessee, hospital.
All had received shots for back pain, and investigators suspect a steroid medication made by a specialty pharmacy. About 17,700 single-dose vials of the steroid sent to 23 U.S. states have been recalled. Inspectors found at least one sealed vial contaminated with fungus, and tests were being done on other vials.
The first known case of the rarely seen fungal meningitis was diagnosed last month in Tennessee. The steroid maker, New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Massachusetts, recalled the drug, and over the weekend recalled everything else it makes.
"While there is no indication at this time of any contamination in other NECC products, this recall is being taken as a precautionary measure," the company said in a statement.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord, and a back injection would put any contaminant in more direct contact with that lining.
Symptoms on meningitis include severe headache, nausea, dizziness and fever. The CDC said many of the cases have been mild and some people had strokes. Symptoms have been appearing between one and four weeks after patients got the shots.
A Michigan man whose wife's death was linked to the outbreak said Monday that he, too, was treated with steroids from one of the recalled batches.
"Not only have I lost my wife, but I'm watching the clock to see if anything develops," George Cary said, as friends and family gathered for his wife's wake in Howell, 60 miles northwest of Detroit.
His wife, Lilian, 67, had been ill since late August, but meningitis wasn't detected until Sept. 22, her husband said. She suffered a stroke and died Sept. 30, he said.
Fungal meningitis is not contagious like the more common forms. The two types of fungus linked so far to the outbreak are all around, but very rarely causes illness. Fungal meningitis is treated with high-dose antifungal medications, usually given intravenously in a hospital.
The steroid is known as preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate, which the compounding pharmacy creates by combining a powder with a liquid.
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OHD: Facilities Department
Twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week.
The Facilities Management Department (FMD) was renamed from it previous Maintenance Department due to its widened scope. Bio-medical technicians have been transferred to the Department as one of its unit; Waste Management, Fixed Asset Management and Renovations/ Constructionsí Project Coordination were likewise added to its mandate. The Department has been in existence since the hospital started operations in 1956, where before the responsibility is just to perform basic equipment and utility maintenance. With the management support in terms of resources the Department needs, then FMD can fully achieve providing a safe and functional Hospital infrastructure and environment in support of the health care delivery services being provided by Manila Doctors Hospital.
Philosophy and Directions
Committed to deliver the services to all hospital units in view of building facilities/ installations and equipment preventive, corrective and repairs and calibration, FMD shall continuously make innovations in terms of new methodologies, better materials and adoption of new technology for improved delivery of services. Equipments and installations in continuous service and achieved prolonged life expectancy as a result of Preventive Maintenance Program, functional building structure and environment, and improved capability of staff through training, seminar and demonstration of proper work techniques shall be the main focus of the department for the year 2007.
To establish a system of providing efficient and effective maintenance program on mechanical, electrical, electronics and medical equipments in order to maintain the good condition and achieve continuity of service and prolonged life expectancy.
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Probably not the best idea to talk about it before doing it!
…thinking the same thing.
God Bless them for helping do something that should have been done a long time ago. Now at Easter a time of rebirth it is fitting that they get President Obama to make it so that all LGBT people are treated equally in the work place. President Obama Free the gays like President Lincoln Freed the slaves.
Look forward to hearing what happens on Monday …
Would it really be a victory? Just like state rights or protections for government employees it only protects a small fraction of the LGBT comm. Victories in small battles does nothing to win the war if the other side swoops in & comes up with national laws against LGBT. I know what many would say and that it takes baby steps but these baby steps that we are making also give time to the religious groups to strike a larger victory. In the US you need to look at what it took for national passage of women rights or that of minorities. There were not a lot of small battles over many decades. It all boiled up as those that were discriminated against finally said that they had enough and took a stand. Maybe that time is now. Maybe every person in the LGBT comm. along with their friends and family should march on DC and/or the state capital or nearest large city. Maybe we should use June 28th as that date? Stonewall and the proximity to the celebration of US Independence.
It would be a step forward, but they would need to pursue wider benefits too.
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While I'm not much of a fan of Level I evaluation, I do think it can shed insight into the effectiveness of our programs if we ask the right questions and pay attention to the answers. I'm dealing with metrics-fans right now who want to ask smile-sheet questions like, "On a scale of 1 to 6, did you find the training useful? ..." What am I supposed to do with knowing that people ranked the training as an average of 5.9 in 'usefulness'? Or worse, a 2.6?
Here's an evaluation Kassy LaBorie and I did yesterday in the wrap up to our online "Games Synchronous Trainers Play" session. (See citation at the bottom of this post). It tells us much more than the typical "smile sheet"
What can I tell from this? That we emphasized the right things; that our points were clear; that we met our objectives; that we have provided people with tools (games) they feel they can integrate into their own synchronous programs. Next go round we may emphasize even more the need to incorporate games as they relate to content, not just as filler, I also see that we may have given the wrong impression about something: there's a comment in the lower right quadrant about self-paced learning, which we didn't discuss at all and certainly weren't casting aspersions toward. (Heck, I'd rather access the worst self-paced program than most lecture-based 'webinars' any day!)
And what else does it tell us? Well, for those who believe that the online experience suffers due to lack of eye contact and body language, look at this screen again: are people interested and engaged? Do I really need traditional "eye contact" to tell me that?
If you must undertake Level I evaluation, try to find something that will give you more meaningful information than "4.5" ratings with no explanation. And pay attention to the feedback!
What other ideas do you have for evaluating at this level?
Evaluation activity submtted by Michele St. Pierre; adapted from an activity in Pike & Solem's 50 Creative Training Closers (Pfeiffer, 1998).
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One of the biggest products on the market today is weight loss pills. It can be a very confusing area if one is not equipped with the facts. Proactol review can illuminate this topic and prove to be a great natural solution for weight loss. The major ingredient in this product is Opuntia Ficus-Indica, which comes from cactus found in Mexico and is also known as Barbary Fig or Prickly Pear.
Love handles, the soft blobs some people just can't move on the side of your body. I find it hardlooking in the bathroom mirror and seeing the excess fat through my top. While you can dress to hideyour body perhaps it's better to lose ones figure?
The healthy diet regime of each adult were learned as a child, and that is why parents have to ensure they educate their children well. What is acquired in childhood seems to stay with us as adults, and a sound diet will do magic for health throughout daily life. You know how much your kids are subjected to harmful food and eating influences. Obviously, you are unable to protect your child 24/7 from that. That is why healthy diet habits are a must, so they can make the best choices for themselves. What you can also do is give them the best choices for healthy food. Then, help teach them about healthy eating habits and proper nutrition.
Help your children appreciate healthy foods by making a solid connection between good and unhealthy foods and the facets of their lives that matter to them. As you know, your sons or daughters hold certain things with high value, so be proactive and explain to them why what they choose to eat impacts the very things they value. Just one example concerns appearance, and with that you can help them recognize how certain foods will have an impact on their appearance such as skin, etc. When it comes to awful things like fruits/veggies – describe to them how all the antioxidants will help their bodies. Then let them know how much that will help their appearance look better – hair, face and complexion, etc.
It is essential to never withhold food from your child with the intent to punish him or her. The days of old in which a child was sent to their room without dinner is actually not the greatest idea. It mainly has to do with repeated instances of refusing to let your child eat, and the danger is that could lead to unhealthy beliefs and behaviors later. In addition, this method will create an imbalance of nourishment and energy, and there are negative consequences. One feasible reaction is your child may develop a habit of overeating which will usually result in obesity.
Whenever possible, try to arrange everybody’s schedule so you can all take dinner at the same time. There are correlations involving this simple act of family members eating together and more positive behaviors later during teen years. Another positive from this is your children will have a tendency to learn better eating habits. Every effort should be made to do this even if you cannot do it all the time. A few times a week, and on weekends, is better than nothing.
The ideal approach to instilling nutritious eating behaviors in your kids is by first becoming aware yourself. There is a wealth of information offered, and it is really not hard to find on the net. Once you do this, you will feel more confident about teaching your children. The consequences of either doing it or not will be far-reaching.
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Why buy Christmas ornaments that look handmade when you can actually make them so easily? Sharon from The Key Bunch requested me for instructions on making Christmas ornaments so I've tried to document all the steps you need to take when making your personalised ornaments. So, this is not really a tutorial, but rather a bunch of suggestions written in an orderly manner. Shall we get to it?
1- First of all, you may want to look at some books, magazines, blogs and flickr photos for inspiration. Decide on shapes and look for patterns online. That's right, I'm not going to provide you with any template, sorry! Just google 'candy cane', 'Christmas stocking', 'gingerbread man', 'mitten', 'heart' or -- even better -- draw your own shapes. Then assemble all your materials: various pairs of scissors, a pencil/pen, your glasses (optional), as many types and colours of thread as you wish, baker's twine (if you own it), loads of buttons, fabric scraps, rick-rack, ribbon, pins and needles. You may notice that I've chosen a very limited colour palette because I believe that's the key to success. But of course you can go wild and pick all the colours of the rainbow.
2- Gather all your felt scraps and turn your radio on!
3- I decided I'd make my templates the old-fashioned way: first I printed them out and then traced over them using some tracing paper I found at the bottom of a drawer (I think I have these sheets since primary school). I then traced the shapes onto a cereal box for durability.
4- Trace all your shapes onto felt and cut them neatly. Always trace and cut in pairs because you'll be stuffing the ornaments later.
5- Here they are all cut and ready to be embelished.
6- Now comes the fun part: play around with rick-rack, ribbon, buttons and scraps until you are happy with how it looks. Then sew everything onto your ornament piece. There are so many possibilities here that I had to choose and show you how to make only one type of ornament. That means that from now on you'll watch how to finish this star; then at the end of this set you'll see other examples of ornaments you can make.
7- Let us get back to the star: make a loop (you'll want to hang it on a tree branch, right?) and begin sewing the front and the back pannels together.
8- You can do it either by hand or machine and use different kinds of stiches. Here I sewed it by hand using the simplest stitch ever.
9- When you're nearly finished, grab a bit of polyfill and stuff it through that little opening. You may want to use a chopstick or other pointy tool to get the stuffing in all the tiny and tricky places.
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Recently, it decided to cease being a newspaper…and become a tool of propaganda instead.
On Friday, February 24, after a lengthy court battle, the New York City Department of Education was forced to comply with a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request filed by the New York Post, the aforementioned tabloid founded over 210 years ago. The DOE released the infamous Teacher Data Reports (TDRs)—the rankings of supposed teacher effectiveness based on standardized test scores in English Language Arts and mathematics.
In the days that followed, each of the city’s major media outlets released the teacher scores (with names attached) in varying formats. Some ranked teachers from highest to lowest percentile. Others released searchable databases by district, borough and school. Still others, such as the New York Times, published the data with lengthy addenda explaining that the scores shouldn’t be used to rate or rank teachers, since it was a single indicator based on outdated, faulty data with a ridiculously wide margin of error.
(These explanations, by the way, were provided by the DOE itself, along with a recommendation that the media treat the data fairly as it was intended.)
However, the New York Post, the paper that initiated the FOIL request, didn’t stop at a mere spreadsheet of names and numbers.
After releasing its own version of the teacher data—with language so editorialized it hardly passed as hard news—the Post released a story about the alleged parent uproar over a Queens teacher who received the lowest scores in the city.
In that one sentence, the Post lost the last vestige of journalistic integrity.
The controversy over the TDRs embroils teachers, administrators, parents and political leaders. The arguments range from the valid to the ludicrous.
The data was flawed.
It’s impossible to rate teachers based on only one indicator in each subject.
The data doesn’t take into account the myriad of extenuating circumstances.
The DOE secretly wanted the scores released.
The DOE supposedly encouraged media outlets in their FOIL requests and even expedited the process.
The DOE got into a devil’s compact with the UFT leadership, the mayor, Fox News, the Republican Party, the Tea Party, the Freemasons, Jesuits, the Vatican, the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderburg Group to publicly tear out the entrails of “ineffective” teachers…
(Okay, that last one was far-fetched—but you get the point.)
The actual release of the data is a moot point. Until a new law or federal court ruling decides otherwise, the scores are out, and will probably be released again in the future (even if the DOE itself stopped collecting such scores).
The real issue, one that has an even farther-reaching implication than the classroom, is how media outlets use that data. While it is true that the First Amendment gives newspapers quite a bit of leeway, there are definite boundaries that journalists cannot cross.
When a newspaper publishes a story based on a flawed, incorrect and unsubstantiated source, it crosses that boundary.
When a newspaper uses false data to publicly shame an individual, it is not only unethical. It is slanderous.
The inaccuracy of the TDRs was acknowledged by teachers, administrators, and even the DOE itself. All parties agreed that the data was imperfect. What’s more, the data has such a wide margin of error that any percentile derived from it is akin to throwing a dart at a dartboard blindfolded.
Thus, the TDRs are a flawed, inaccurate, and therefore non-credible source—by open admission from the powers that be.
The papers can print the data, as long as their stories about them have multiple sources discussing the data. So far, all the newspapers covered this base (in the Post’s case, just barely.)
Yet the labeling of teachers in superlatives, as “best” or “worst”, based on TDR data does not pass the journalistic smell test. Along the same vein as the Queens teacher’s article, the Post also published a piece about teachers with the highest percentiles. The following was the lead to the story:
“The city’s top-performing teachers have one thing in common: They’re almost all women.”
Not only does this statement say absolutely nothing (considering the vast majority of teachers in the city are women anyway), but it makes a dangerous classification—the same kind of classifying that drove that Queens teacher to a virtual lynch mob by ill-informed parents.
When news stories throw around a value judgment based on one singular measure—a measure that is so ridiculously flawed even its authors disavow it—the journalists behind these stories used what amounts to false, unsubstantiated information.
It is, in effect, mocking (or exalting) people based on a probable lie. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the textbook example of slander and libel.
The New York Post’s editorial pages have attacked teachers’ union and teachers for years now. Yet this frenzied hatred never hit the news headlines as hard as it did this weekend.
They have used unsubstantiated, inaccurate data to shame teachers, using the unfortunate quotes of ill-informed parents in the process as they whip up support for their negativity.
Worst of all, they have the gall to couch this journalistic lynching as hard news.
The New York Post should stop calling itself a newspaper. It is now no better than a common propaganda pamphlet that panders to the lowest common denominator. At times I even agreed with the Post politically—but their tactics disgust me.
Finally, for those whose reputations have been ruined by this pseudo-journalism, there is a weapon far more powerful than any ordnance. It usually has a suit, a briefcase, and an avalanche of legal motions.
See you in court, Rupert.
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We are a small social care organisation run as a social enterprise based in Castlemilk in Glasgow. The focus of our work is finding creative solutions to support people with learning disabilities to overcome the barriers which prevent them from being part of their local communities. Fair Deal believes that everyone is a citizen but that some people are prevented from enjoying all that this brings by the attitudes, prejudice and behaviour of others.
We see it as our social responsibility to support people with learning disabilities who are often excluded in this way to have a full and unique life, enjoying all that comes with being an active citizen. You will find more information about the various ways in which we do this by using the coloured buttons across the top of the page.
We offer a range of activities and support options for people who may wish to use their individual budget to buy what they need from Fair Deal. Self directed support options means people now have more choice and control over the services and support they receive, how they are supported and when that support takes place.
At Fair Deal we are committed to personalised and individually tailored support arrangements. Above all though we are keen to support people to have the kind of life they want and to do the things that everyone else does, giving the support needed to do it.
Why not give us a call to see if we can help? Whether you are a young person leaving school and planning your life ahead or someone who just wants to change their support arrangements and try something new we can help you.
We hope you find our web site interesting and informative. You can find out about what we do and book our support and services online from this site. If you wish to contact us about job vacancies or volunteering possibilities or indeed any aspect of our work please feel free to do so. We would also welcome comments and feedback about our website.
Laura is supported by fair deal and has been for a number of years. She now has a very full life and is involved in a range of things from voluntary work going on holiday with some of her friends. She can tell you all about the difference Fair deal has made in her life and how she is directing her own life by the way she uses her support.
Watch this video and find out more about Help Yourself Grow.
"I am satisfied with the support my son gets from Fair Deal. I have seen a big improvement over the last year.He has a great social life and is rarely at home. His flat is also kept to a good standard. Overall you at Fair Deal are doing a good job and I know I can talk to you if I want to discuss anything." JD Parent
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APNewsBreak: Mellencamp unhappy with Gov. WalkerLiberal rocker John Mellencamp wants Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to know he supports collective bargaining and union rights and says Walker should be aware of that before using his song "Small Town" on the campaign trail.
By: The Associated Press, Superior Telegram
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Liberal rocker John Mellencamp wants Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to know he supports collective bargaining and union rights and says Walker should be aware of that before using his song "Small Town" on the campaign trail.
Mellencamp's publicist Bob Merlis told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he sent Walker's campaign an email not asking him to stop using the song, but to inform him of Mellencamp's beliefs.
"He's a very liberal person," Merlis said of the singer. "He appeared at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. His wife at the time was a delegate at large. He's very pro-collective bargaining and the fight for a living wage."
Merlis said he sent an email to Walker's campaign spokeswoman Ciara Matthews. She did not immediately return a message to AP seeking comment.
Walker faces a June 5 recall election that was motivated over anger related to his proposal passed last year that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers. Walker embarked Tuesday on a six-city campaign swing across Wisconsin, and Merlis said he read a news story that mentioned he played "Small Town" while in Milwaukee.
The song, a fond look back at Mellencamp's own upbringing in Indiana, was a top ten hit in 1985. Walker was born in Colorado Springs, Colo., but was raised in the small Wisconsin city of Delavan, where about 8,500 people currently live.
Politicians for years have been using rock songs on the campaign trail, and Mellencamp has found himself crossways with candidates before.
Mellencamp contacted Republican presidential hopeful John McCain in 2008 when he was using "Our Country" on the campaign trail. Just as he did with Walker's campaign, Merlis wrote McCain's camp a letter explaining Mellencamp's liberal leanings and that he supported Democrat John Edwards at the time.
McCain stopped using Mellencamp's songs after the letter was sent.
"Small Town" and "Pink Houses" are two of the most frequently used Mellencamp songs by politicians, Merlis said.
"More often than not it's right wing candidates who use his songs, which is somewhat paradoxical," Merlis said.
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It was over ten years ago that I heard the startling comment: “I don’t think of myself as a Christian anymore, but I do think of myself as a follower of Jesus.”
It was not the comment in itself that was so startling but rather the source. The individual who said those words was a well known professor of early Christianity and a biblical scholar. He was also a teacher in a seminary that was training students for the ministry. He had just finished a keynote on early Christianity at a conference that I was attending and had opened the microphone to questions from the audience. His talk had covered an overview of the first 350 years of Christianity with an emphasis on the political and economic powers that had influenced the development and nature of the Christian church. It was a fascinating and revealing lecture.
At one point someone from the audience had asked: “With all that you have covered here, do you still call yourself a Christian?”
It was interesting to listen to the comments on the professor’s response later that evening when several of my colleagues and I gathered for a dinner conversation. With a couple of exceptions we were all clergy. It was a gathering of self proclaimed progressive Christians, so there was a degree of selective process in those who were there. However, a couple of people were put off by the remarks, begging the question about the propriety of someone who did not consider himself a Christian preparing seminarians for work in the church. But for the most part, the vast majority of us found ourselves sympathetic with the professor and found ourselves struggling with some of same issues.
After a couple of glasses of wine we even began to question if we would call ourselves Christian when push came to shove. We admitted that we seldom did so in most of our secular settings and almost every one of us discovered that we at least hesitated telling a stranger that we were clergy when on vacations away from home or traveling on airplanes. We all seem to have funny stories about that.
We spent more than a few minutes wondering what we would call ourselves if we were free to change. We agreed that a “follower of Jesus” was a bit wordy and would probably give the wrong impression without a lot of explanation. We pondered calling ourselves Jesuits for a moment but realized that would not work. It seemed that “Christist” might work following the Buddhist tradition, but someone mentioned that there was already Christist sect that was very fundamental and conservative, so we let that go as well.
Although there was a lot of bantering and even levity throughout the evening, when we left that night we all agreed that it had been an interesting conversation. I would guess that over half of us turned our conversation into a sermon or two over the next few weeks. I believe it was a good exercise for most of us that led to deeper thinking about the faith we claimed to represent.
I also believe the world will be well served in the same way as the result of the very public statement by well known author, Anne Rice that she was “quitting ‘Christianity’ and renouncing any claim to the title ‘Christian.’” She added however, “I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”
Over the last fifteen years I listened to a growing number of troubled clergy who are in conflicted and or dying churches. (I believe there is a connection.) Sometimes the battles are over “LBGT” issues and other times it may be about politics. But far more often, the conflict is rooted in theology, Christology and ideology. Frankly, with rare exceptions, clergy cannot freely teach what they learned in seminary or more importantly, what they have come to believe about their own understanding of the Christian religion, the Bible or their faith. The resultant message is often mixed or muddled and almost always without passion.
Maybe that is why, according to several recent polls, mainline churches continue to decline at an increasing rate and maybe that is why the number of people who consider themselves spiritual but not religious appears to be growing exponentially. Sadly, more and more of these individuals are leaving organized religion and are finding other ways to satisfy their spiritual needs.
Many of us who consider ourselves progressive have been frustrated over the years because it seemed as if the religious right had co-opted our perspective on Christianity. I often hear the comment that somehow our liberal, progressive Christianity was “stolen” from us. One colleague suggested that media attention of the religious right made him feel like a dog with a can on his tail. He is not alone.
In his recent article published on the Huffington Post, Michael Rowe writes: “Like Rice, our belief in the purity of Christ’s teachings has chained us to a body of believers who no longer represent anything of what we believe, and indeed represent the very opposite of what Christ’s teachings are. There seems precious little Christ in Christianity as it’s understood in America today.”
It would be nice to blame it on “them,” whoever the “them” might be. But at some point we must take some responsibility in this uncomfortable situation, and I suspect that it has a lot to do with courage of our convictions. I am afraid that too many pastors have tried to somehow stay in the middle of the road over the years in order to maintain peace in their respective congregations, and although they seem to know what they are against, pastors have had a hard time articulating what they believe. It appears that we are all being forced to confront that confusing weakness from many different directions.
A few months ago Richard Dawkins, a leader in the New Atheist movement wrote an article about some of the pain and confusion that Christianity continues to cause in our world. And he did not let us “mainline” folks off the hook. He writes:
“You nice, middle-of-the-road theologians and clergymen, be-frocked and bleating in your pulpits, you disclaim Pat Robertson’s suggestion that the Haitians are paying for a pact with the Devil. But you worship a god-man who — as you tell your congregations, even if you don’t believe it yourself –”cast out devils.” You even believe (or you don’t disabuse your flock when they believe) that Jesus cured a madman by causing the “devils” in him to fly into a herd of pigs and stampede them over a cliff. Charming story, well calculated to uplift
It has been interesting to read some of the responses to the Anne Rice statements, both in articles and letters to the editors. Some people discount her comments because she is coming out of a Roman Catholic tradition. But the most frequent type of comment I have seen has been that “Anne Rice should have come to our church. We do not have those issues in our church.”
This may be a nice start and I am certain that someone felt better about their church by writing it. But real tough question remains: what do we really mean when we say I am a “Christian?” What about our worship of a “god-man” and our reliance on the Bible for the truth? What about substitutionary atonement? How do we respond to those types of questions today… honestly?
The good news is that like my experience with the seminary professor and the critiques of the New Atheist movement, the Anne Rice event is stirring things up and people are reading, writing and hopefully having serious conversations in their homes and in their churches. Maybe this will be an opportunity for more church leaders and people in the pews to have honest dialogue about the meaning of Christianity in the 21st Century. It is about time.
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Fri November 30, 2012
Israelis, Palestinians React To U.N. Vote
Originally published on Thu December 13, 2012 5:41 am
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And a very different emotion on the West Bank, where Palestinians are reveling today in their new status as a non-member observer state in the United Nations. What that change means depends on who's talking. NPR's Philip Reeves was in the West Bank city of Ramallah, as the vote was announced.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, CROWD CHATTER)
PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: A small crowd of Palestinians gathered in the city center to watch the vote. It was beamed live from New York onto a big screen. They flourished flags, cheered as yes votes came in, one by on, and celebrated the outcome.
REEVES: The crowd watched Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas make a speech.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS: (Foreign language spoken)
REEVES: But when Israel's U.N. ambassador began his address, the audio was switched to music.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Is it just cut off here, or is it cut off on Palestinian TV?
REEVES: Some analysts say this vote's mostly symbolic. One of the crowd, Suha Awadallah, disagrees.
SUHA AWADALLAH: It has a real meaning. That means we are people, that we have a land and we are going to have a state.
REEVES: Palestinian leaders say the vote's a game-changer. Israel must now deal with a state with rights, said one. Israel says the decision is meaningless, and changes nothing on the ground. It accuses the Palestinians of violating agreements by going to the U.N., and says it will respond. Relations between the Israeli and the Palestinian leaderships have hit another low.
Haitem Ahmed el-Fahh, one of the crowd, still believes, though, there will be a peace accord one day. Of the U.N. vote, he says...
HAITEM AHMED EL-FAHH: I don't think it will be any different. It just says that there will be a name of Palestine everywhere in U.N. organization.
REEVES: One organization the Palestinians now have a better chance of joining is the International Criminal Court. Many Palestinians hope that'll lead to charges against Israel for alleged war crimes. Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's prime minister, says that's a two-way street.
MARK REGEV: Palestinians have been shooting rockets at Israeli civilians indiscriminately, at our cities - not at military targets, but at population centers. That's a war crime.
REEVES: Philip Reeves, NPR News, Jerusalem. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
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Wisconsin Recall Breaks Record Thanks to Outside Cash
Tuesday’s recall election of Republican Gov. Scott Walker is the most expensive in Wisconsin history. More than $63.5 million has been spent by candidates and independent groups, the overwhelming majority underwritten by out-of-state sources
The record spending total was made possible thanks to the Citizens UnitedU.S. Supreme Court decision — which had the effect of invalidating Wisconsin’s century-old ban on independent expenditures by corporations and unions — and a state law that allows unlimited contributions to the incumbent in recall elections.
The amount spent since November 2011 trounces the state’s previous record of $37.4 million, set during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign.\
The election has become a national referendum on the future of public sector unions, which have been a major force within the Democratic Party for decades.
In the first of two debates, Walker vowed to “stand up and take on the powerful special interests,” suggesting that national unions have propped up his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
While Barrett has received about 26 percent of his $4 million in campaign donations from outside the Badger State, Walker has drawn nearly two-thirds of his $30.5 million contributions from out of state, according to campaign filings released May 29. Walker has outraised Barrett 7 ½ to 1 since late 2011, though Barrett didn’t enter the race until late March.
“It’s big time,” said Mike McCabe, director of the campaign finance watchdog Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which compiled the numbers. “We have a level of outside interference in this election that the state has never been seen before.”
Union money pours in
Campaign contributions tell only part of the story. National unions have kept Barrett’s campaign alive by funding outside groups dedicated to defeating Walker.
More than a year since Walker limited collective bargaining rights for most public employees, the nation’s three largest public unions — the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — have channeled at least $2 million from their treasuries and super PACs to two Wisconsin-based independent expenditure groups.
The American Federation of Teachers, United Food and Commercial Workers, Teamsters and the United Autoworkers have also dipped into their D.C. treasuries for the Wisconsin recall.
The unions, however, have struggled to keep up with Walker’s deep-pocketed, anti-union friends. They include the Republican Governors Association, which received a $1 million contribution from conservative billionaire David Koch in February, and billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson.
On March 7, the NEA, the nation’s largest union, transferred $3 million to its super PAC, the NEA Advocacy Fund. A week later, that super PAC sent $500,000 to the We Are Wisconsin Political Fund, a state-based independent expenditure group headed by the state AFL-CIO’s president. The fund has spent the money on direct mail, phone banking, canvassing and support for other pro-recall groups in the state.
With access to unlimited corporate and union dollars, independent expenditure groups in Wisconsin may advocate for or against an opponent, but must disclose their donors and spending to the state’s Government Accountability Board.
In early April, the SEIU sent two contributions totaling $500,000 to the We are Wisconsin PAC, which makes direct donations to candidates and parties.
The NEA and SEIU declined to comment for this story.
Union funds ground game
A third public sector union based in Washington, D.C., AFSCME, has set up a special account for the Wisconsin battles, which also include recall votes for four GOP state senators. Much of that money has gone to staff a vast, union-funded network of dozens of field offices in the state.
Two weeks before the primary, the national union wrote a $500,000 check to bolster We are Wisconsin, which has paid for union staff from Alaska to Massachusetts to boost the ground game.
“This election is going to boil down to a turnout game,” said AFSCME national spokesman Chris Fleming.
Labor unions had heavily favored former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk to challenge Walker.
“Let’s face it, I wasn’t their first choice,” said Barrett in May. AFSCME, a major Falk funder, criticized Barrett during the Democratic primary for trying to wring concessions from Milwaukee public employees.
But when Falk lost to Barrett in the May 8 Democratic primary, national unions quickly shifted their support to Barrett — who lost to Walker by 5 points in 2010.
We are Wisconsin and a second group, the Greater Wisconsin Committee, saw an infusion of union cash for Barrett’s second attempt in May. We are Wisconsin got another $500,000 from the NEA’ Advocacy Fund on May 7 — making for a cool million from the teachers union super PAC in under two months.
The American Federation of Teachers also chipped in $350,000 in May.
We are Wisconsin has spread its wealth too, sending $1.3 million in May to Greater Wisconsin, a one-stop political shop comprised of a 527, a (c)4, a PAC, and an independent expenditure fund.
In late May, Greater Wisconsin took a $500,000 donation from AFSCME and $900,000 more from the Democratic Governors Association to fuel a final online, radio, and TV ad push in the week ahead of the vote.
Walker’s campaign did not return calls for comment, but the governor called Greater Wisconsin “a front group for all the union money coming in.”
Union leaders say the opposition to Walker is home grown.
“I would tell Walker to look in his backyard,” says Fleming of AFSCME. “There were people from Eau Claire and Waukesha and Green Bay, putting together the largest demonstrations at the Capitol since the Vietnam War.”
‘Outrageous, wrong and legal’
Walker, meanwhile, has benefitted from the state’s election finance rules that allowed his campaign to raise unlimited contributions from individuals after recall petitions were filed in November 2011. His challengers could take no more than $10,000 from individuals.
Through April, Walker’s top three donors combined gave more than challenger Barrett’s campaign had raised overall. Four of Walker’s top seven donors are out-of-state billionaires, including AmWay founder and former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, and casino magnate Adelson, who each gave $250,000.
Adelson has given $26.5 million to super PACs in the 2012 election — most of it to Winning Our Future, a pro-Newt Gingrich group — making him the most prolific super PAC contributor so far, according to a Center for Public Integrity report. Though he is known primarily for his support of Israel, Adelson also has an extensive history of bitter disputes with unions who want to organize at his exclusively non-union casinos.
When Citizens United came down, it didn’t just nullify Wisconsin’s 1905 ban on corporate campaign cash, it also plunged much of the state’s campaign finance reporting into darkness.
“Because corporate and labor expenditures were previously illegal, there were no disclosure laws to regulate their spending,” said McCabe. “There’s been a precipitous drop off in transparency.”
Since Citizens United, Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board requires independent expenditure groups to register as so-called “1.91 groups,” named for the state rule that created them. Of the more than $63 million spent in the race, $22 million has come from these groups — $16.3 million of it from Walker supporters — according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
Similar to federal super PACs, 1.91 groups can raise and spend unlimited corporate or union dollars and urge voters to support or oppose a candidate. Also, like federal super PACs, they must report their donors — except when they can avoid it.
The Republican Governors Association has spent roughly $4 million on campaign ads through its Right Direction Wisconsin PAC since April 23. But because the RGA’s PAC is based out-of-state, it only has to disclose to state regulators its donations coming from inside Wisconsin, a glaring loophole.
Of its most recent $4 million outlay, the RGA raised only a little over $7,000 from inside the state.
The RGA does have to report donors to the IRS, and its 2012 first quarter filing reveals a $500,000 donation from the Chamber of Commerce and a $1 million February contribution from Koch.
McCabe says the 1.91 groups that are based in-state, like We Are Wisconsin and Greater Wisconsin, also have ways around disclosure rules. The nonprofit arms of these organizations don’t have to disclose donors, and can funnel unlimited money from undisclosed sources into independent expenditure funds — making the source of a lot of campaign cash “nearly impossible to track.”
For example, Greater Wisconsin transferred $191,000 from its political fund to its independent expenditure fund in early May. The money would be spent on ads supporting Barrett or opposing Walker. Because its political fund does not have to report donors to the state, no one knows who paid for the ads — an end-around the state’s disclosure rules that parallels campaign financing tricks at the federal level.
Then there are issue ad groups which raise and spend unlimited funds, and do not register or disclose their spending. However, they are barred from urging voters to support or oppose a candidate.
The Campaign for Wisconsin Democracy gathers purchasing data from media outlets, and estimates about $8.5 million in issue ads have been bought during the recall.
The right-wing groups Americans for Prosperity and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, known as “Wisconsin’s Business Voice,” and the anti-union Center for Union Facts have made roughly 75 percent of those purchases. Greater Wisconsin has spent about $2 million, according to McCabe.
Despite the record fundraising numbers and the unprecedented degree of outside influence, neither Walker’s haul from out-of-state billionaires, nor the national union cash infusion breaks campaign finance law.
In total, outside spending made by independent expenditure groups and Issue ad organizations, totals $30.5 million in the recall election — well over half of which has been contributed by undisclosed sources, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
“All the spending is outrageous and wrong, but it’s also legal,” says McCabe.
Capital versus people
Wisconsin is ground zero in a national fight for unions, which have supported state-based legal and ballot campaigns to overturn laws restricting collective bargaining and automatic dues check offs — as they have in Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona and Michigan.
McCabe says the unions better bank on a ground game, because they can’t compete long-term with corporations.
“I always thought it was foolhardy to play a capital-intensive game when the unions have people, and their adversaries have capital,” he says. “They just can’t keep up.”
The intense spending by outside groups has made a lot of Wisconsinites feel powerless.
Elena Barham is a West Madison High School senior who helped form the Students for Wisconsin PAC. So far, the group has raised about $30 from T-shirt sales.
“Our goal is not money-based,” said Barham, whose group has focused on voter registration among young voters. “It’s about showing that a grassroots effort could have an impact.”
Barham’s PAC produced a Web ad critical of Walker’s cuts to education and is canvassing in pivotal Dane County — where Barrett needs to win big to have a chance.
At school, Barham has the difficult task of rallying enthusiasm.
“High school kids see all this big money and say, ‘I don’t have a million dollars,’” she said. “It’s hard to convince people of their political efficacy — it’s discouraging.”
Reprinted by permission from iWatch News
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A singular idiom
Along with visual comedy, NewsRadio also featured sparkling verbal comedy. At its very best, such as the office chair gag from "Stocks" [3-9], the two were completely integrated. A shows verbal comedy can be regarded as successfully singular when we begin to encounter idioms and idiosyncratic words. The classic example is the infamous "yada yada yada" of Seinfeld a perfectly meaningless phrase for a show about nothing.
The following is a list of some of the idioms of NewsRadio. The list is not designed to be complete.
1. "Bitchcakes." This is perhaps the most memorable and indestructible neologism of the show, even though it was used only twice (once by Beth and reprised by Jimmy James in "Physical Graffiti" [2-17]). Correct usage of the word would be, "Everyone is going totally bitchcakes today."
"Super Karate Monkey Death Car". You know you are a true
NewsRadio fan when you find delight in the ruinous poetry of those
five words. First used by Lisa in "Negotiation" [2-8], it was
to find definitive use in "Super Karate Monkey Death Car" [4-4]
in Jimmy James autobiography, which, after translation from English
to Japanese and back to English, went from Jimmy James: Capitalist
Lion Tamer to Jimmy James: Macho Business Donkey Wrestler.
3. Any aphorism mentioned by Mr. James. Nothing was more quintessentially Jimmy James than his bizarre aphorisms. In the course of his work Dave became the most accustomed to dealing with them, and Mr. James noted his talent for "R.L.P." (Resolving Logical Paradoxes).13
4. Bills articulateness. One of the charms of the show, as well as one of the defining characteristics of Bill McNeal, was his commanding vocabulary and mellifluous delivery. I particularly enjoyed the aplomb with which he handled lines like "Dont let this nattering nabob of negativity break your spirit"14 and "You barfed in the punch bowl, we all share, and now you expect us to believe its alphabet soup!"15 Our ears have not had it this good since the days of Preston Sturges. In "Halloween" [3-5] a psychic predicts that Bill will die just after his 82nd birthday. Bills sense of mortality results in him picking up an elderly woman at the party. The hilarity of the situation is compounded by the internal dissonance of his dance floor declaration, "Maestro, if you please: Rumpshaker, or some reasonable facsimile!"
5. "Stinkbutt." In the eponymous episode, Beth and Joe paint a mural, and the best they can come up with is "Stinkbutt." Anarchy never had such comically eloquent advertisement.
6. "Gazizza." Catherine and Bills greeting from "Space" [3-24]; also used by Bill in "Office Feud" [3-19].
7. "Evil." The word was used to describe people who were deviously cunning and up to no good see "Pure Evil" [4-6], "Whos the Boss (Part 1)" [4-12], "The Lam" [5-7] and "Clash of the Titans" [5-8] for examples. It was highly significant that "evil" was a comical euphemism, and no true evil existed in the NewsRadio universe. Even the shows darkest villain, Johnny Johnson, was in his own way a warmly charming and sympathetic character.
8. "Bigass." We can justifiably regard this as Jimmy James favorite word.
9. "Inappropriate" is an apt word in the spirit of many of the anarchic goings on at WNYX. In "Inappropriate" [1-2] the word describes Dave and Lisas concerns about embarking on an office romance as well as Matthews mispronunciation of "Buttafuoco."
10. "Taboo" was used in the same vein as "inappropriate." The relationships between the characters were strong enough to overcome several taboos.
11. "Spaz." See Matthew
12. "Bababooey." Catherine scribbles it on Bills bus stop poster in one of the opening credit sequences, Dave says it in "The Public Domain" [3-3], and Lisa exasperatedly uses "Bababooey Jr." in "Pure Evil" [3-6]. (Submitted by Jennifer .)
13. Science fiction references. It seems that there were a lot of science fiction fans on the show (it may have something to do with many of the writers and actors being male and of a certain generation). The best allusions to things Star Wars, Star Trek, Logans Run or generally space-related include: (a) Dave telling Lisa that his deepest, darkest fantasy involves making love to a "space prostitute" ("No, This is Not Based Entirely on Julies Life" [2-1]); (b) Lisa reciting to Joe the biography of Boba Fett, ending the litany with "Ah, just one of the many fascinating tidbits you pick up when you date Dave" ("Presence" [2-19]); (c) Daves imitation of Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Stocks" [3-9]; and (d) Catherines news story on the destruction of the Death Star and Darth Vaders escape in "Space" [3-24].
14. McNealisms: "Kudos," "Anywho," "Delicious," "Good times."
15. Street-smart Catherine. When Bill tries to console Dave after the staff find out that he is really Canadian16, Matthew cluelessly jumps on a statement that Catherine is from Africa. A few years ago a gag like this would have never been aired on network television.
Matthew: "Hey, what part of Africa are you from?"
Catherine: "Shut up."
Matthew: "No, seriously, say something in African."
Catherine: "Shut the ." [Quick edit to outside scene]
13 "Airport" [3-17]
14 "Houses of the Holy" [2-14]
15 "Rose Bowl" [3-15]
16 "The Trainer" [3-11]
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Put yourself in Joseph Kony’s shoes: imagine you are a fugitive leader of a rebel band in the forests of central Africa, travelling on foot and avoiding encounter with any organized military force. You have spurned peace talks and bribes because the only existence you know is surviving off the land and its fearful people. Every high profile offensive by the armies of three neighboring countries, or international special forces, that fails to capture or kill you, adds to your mystique. Your army is run as a cult, using charisma and fear. For a quarter century your reputation has grown, even while your political agenda has dwindled. In fact, since the killing of Osama bin Laden, you are arguably the most wanted man on the planet.
Today, eight years after abandoning northern Uganda, the LRA’s depleted band of a couple of hundred barefoot fighters is somewhere in the borderlands between the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic. According to the “LRA Crisis Tracker” they have killed 98 civilians in the last 12 months and abducted 477. That’s an impressively high infamy-to-atrocity ratio, testament to the effectiveness of terrorist advertising. In earlier days, the LRA achieved spread terror throughout northern Uganda by its gruesome mutilations. Severed lips and noses spread the message better than a radio station.
Today, Kony’s supernatural powers are newly validated by his newest enemy, the earthly superpower, which is staking its power and prestige on catching or killing him. The LRA’s new echo chamber is an advocacy group, Invisible Children.
The armies of Uganda, South Sudan and Congo, backed by American advisers, may yet succeed in putting handcuffs on Kony and delivering him to The Hague. But are plenty of dismal precedents for failure. In 2002, following the U.S. declaration that the LRA was a terrorist organization, the Ugandan People’s Defence Force won the reluctant cooperation of Sudan and launched “Operation Iron Fist” on both sides of the Uganda-Sudan border. It didn’t succeed. In 2008, after the LRA had relocated to north-eastern Congo and the adjoining areas of southern Sudan, a joint offensive by the armies of Uganda, Congo and South Sudan also failed. Another episode was a 2006 operation by special forces attached to the UN mission in Congo. Experts in jungle warfare, Guatemalan commandos were dispatched to the Garamba national park with the objective of executing the recently-unveiled ICC arrest warrant against Joseph Kony and senior commanders. The operation ended in disaster with the UN soldiers fatally shooting each other.
The problem hasn’t been that Kony isn’t well-known. Compared to the host of other rebel groups and militia that have inflicted comparable or greater destruction on the region over the last quarter century, he enjoys by far the highest profile. The problem is that he is hard to catch, and that his adversaries have too often colluded in keeping the war going.
The Ugandan army had an incentive for keeping the LRA alive and kicking – it justified a high defence budget and gave the generals plenty of opportunities for getting rich. Principle and profit have also driven Ugandan military adventurism across its borders. Invisible Children’s solution to the LRA is for the Ugandan army to pursue them through the jungles of Congo. It doesn’t mention that fifteen years ago, Uganda and Rwanda invaded Congo (then called Zaire) to pursue Rwandese genocidaires and Ugandan rebels through those same forests. The world hadn’t cared enough to stop the Rwandese killers regrouping and rearming in Zairean refugee camps, so the leaders of the Uganda and Rwanda, with a nod from Washington DC, took unilateral action themselves. It didn’t work out so well for the Congolese people. Let’s hope that this time Ugandan soldiers and their proxies kill fewer than 98 Congolese civilians.
Since peace and stability began returning to northern Uganda six years ago, the agenda has been reconstruction and reconciliation. There are programs of social healing to address the roots of the LRA rebellion, which lie in a complicated history of marginalization and the traumas of the war and massacres of the 1980s. Demystifying Kony – reducing him to a common criminal and a failed provincial politician – should be part of this effort to normalize life.
During these years, the LRA has survived in the frontierlands of central Africa because the reach of government doesn’t extend there, and because the inhabitants of these places have as much reason to distrust the depredations of officialdom as they have to fear the cruelties of the LRA. If Kony dies or is captured, the few hundred LRA fighters may disband, but the lawlessness that made possible his reign of fear, will not be so easily resolved.
In elevating Kony to a global celebrity, the embodiment of evil, and advocating a military solution, the campaign isn’t just simplifying, it is irresponsibly naive. “Big man” style rulers – of which President Yoweri Museveni is one – prefer to dismiss their opponents as disturbed individuals, and like to short-cut civil politics by military action. The “let’s get the bad guy” script is a problem, not a solution.
Millions of young Americans are being told about a bizarre and murderous African cult. They are also being told that for 25 years Africa has been waiting for America to solve this problem, which can be done by capturing Africa’s crazed evildoer and handing him over to international justice. And they are led to believe that what has stopped this from happening is that American leaders don’t care enough. The apologists for Invisible Children call this “raising awareness.” I call it peddling dangerous and patronizing falsehoods.
Tagsadvocacy Afghanistan Africa African Union arms trade atrocities AU book review Burma conflict data Darfur Democratic Republic of Congo Drugs Ethiopia gender genocide Getting Somalia Wrong? Guantanamo Guatemala human rights memorial Human Security Report illicit trade Indonesia justice Kony Libya Mali mediation Mexico new wars Olympics peace Re-Framing the Debate responsibility to protect Rwanda Somalia South Sudan sports Sudan Syria trafficking Uganda UN urban conflict Zenawi
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While I agree with the above on the beef heart needing to be a rare treat, I do think that with the wide variety of other frozen foods, if you simply added a vitamin mix such as Vita-Chem your fish would be fine and get whole nutrition. Also, adding a live food such was flightless fruit flies would also help towards whole nutrition. I am a strong believe of feeding whole, natural foods over processed ones, and as long as you are able to make sure they have all the needed vitamins you should be fine. Though I should also add that Vita-Chem can be hard to find and frequently needs to be ordered online.
Additionally, OldFishLady has a good home-made pellet recipe. I don't remember it atm, but I am sure someone else could post it.
If you do decide to buy pellets, NLS small fish formula seems to be the highest in protein and easiest to digest. It also is great that it is so small in case you end up with a particularly small or young betta.
One more very important thing: with the frozen foods, do not thaw and refreeze any portion of the food. This causes it to lose any nutrition it has. Once it has been thawed it can be kept in the refrigerator for about a day, then discard any uneaten portion.
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Joined: 16 Mar 2004
|Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:40 pm Post subject: European Commissioner outlines approach to developing nano
|EU Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik has provided further details of what is being done to keep Europe at the forefront of the fast-moving field of nanotechnology in a safe and responsible way.
Speaking at a conference in Brussels on April 17, Mr Potocnik noted that one of the greatest challenges facing the rapidly changing field is how best to join together the three sides of the triangle of knowledge.
This has been one of the goals of the Commission's 2005 action plan on nanotechnologies. 'We wanted to improve the field from start to finish by fostering innovation; increasing investment; boosting inter-disciplinarity; creating the necessary infrastructures and expanding human resources,' said the Commissioner.
At the same time, the plan addresses some of the health and environmental concerns that have been raised in relation to new nanotechnology applications, which the Commissioner said were taken very seriously at EU level. 'The EU is committed to ensuring a balanced approach to developing nanotechnology. It is fundamental to have a high level of public health, safety, and environmental and consumer protection.'
To ensure greater protection, the Commissioner pointed to the need to further identify safety concerns; collect more data for health and environmental impact assessments of products, and act at the earliest possible stage through adjustments, where necessary, of risk assessment procedures for nanotechnology.
A sign perhaps of the EU's commitment to safeguarding the public is the work undertaken currently by the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to provide ethical guidelines on nanomedicine. The Commission has also expanded funding for projects assessing the risk of nanotechnology for humans and the environment within the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which has become the world's largest public funding source for nanotechnology.
In addition, the Commission is looking at the European legislation applicable to nanotechnology. 'We are assessing how adequate and appropriate it is to deal with the increasing use of nanotechnologies. We also need to consider potential regulatory issues,' said Mr Potocnik.
However, legislation and regulation cannot cover everything in such a broad and fast moving area, argued the Commissioner. 'We need to rely on a responsible approach, which allows nanotechnology the freedom it requires to develop. But we also need the safeguards to ensure it works for our benefit as a whole,' he added.
One of the best ways of achieving this balance between freedom and safety is to have a clear code of good conduct, in which everyone can participate, which can act as a flexible blueprint for the nanotechnology field. 'This not only provides clarity and an inclusive approach, it also avoids the need for a top-down attitude to nanotechnology from law makers,' said Mr Potocnik. The Commission, he said, was very active in many international fora where it is seeking to develop this code.
Sources: Cordis and Nanowerk
Story posted: 23rd April 2007
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Photo Gallery 21
In Your Community: Photos
In May 2012, the FBI’s Norfolk office and its partners launched a five month campaign called Aware.Prepare.Prevent (A.P.P.) featuring a series of seminars designed to educate the community on cyber security, national security, fraud, and parental awareness. The cyber security topic covers identity theft, travel, financially motivated crimes, and elicitation, while national security focuses on counterterrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and civil liberties. The topic of fraud includes health care fraud, mortgage fraud, Internet scams, and computer and software safety, while the parental awareness session informs parents about the Bureau’s Innocent Images initiative, sexting, cyber bullying, and gangs. All seminars are free and open to the public. Community members are encouraged to attend and learn ways to protect themselves, their children, families, and businesses from criminal threats. For information about the A.P.P. campaign please visit www.fbi.gov/norfolk, call 757-455-3161, or e-mail A.P.P.email@example.com.
Earlier this year, the FBI’s San Diego office participated in the 32nd annual Martin Luther King, Jr., parade, which followed scenic Harbor Drive along the San Diego Bay. Bureau employees distributed activity books, FBI badge stickers, and other items to children standing along the parade route.
The FBI office in Knoxville recently completed its 2012 Young Adult Leadership Academy, which brought together rising junior and seniors selected from high schools across East Tennessee. Students enjoyed learning about the FBI and building their leadership skills through competitive teamwork exercises (right photo). The Academy was made possible through a partnership with the Knoxville Metropolitan Drug Commission Coalition, the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association, the Knoxville Police Department, the University of Tennessee Police Department, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (left photo—students visiting Oak Ridge).
On June 14, 2012, in observance of National Asian American and Pacific Islander Awareness Month, the Little Rock FBI office welcomed FBI National Citizens Academy Alumni Association (FBINCAAA) board member Nancy Chu and other Addison and Peyton Lee, daughters of FBICAAA board member Bill Yee. The special guests demonstrated their culture of gift giving, offering samples of dim sum dessert custard and giving employees a brief Mandarin language lesson. Shown, above left, is Peyton Lee holding a Hong Bow gift bag. Above, right, is Nancy Chu and Peyton Yee sharing a Hong Bow red pouch with an FBI employee. The Hong Bow is normally given as a gift, and the color red is considered lucky.
On May 31, 2012, the FBI’s Denver office took part in the Special Olympics 2012 Law Enforcement Torch Run Media Day. Throughout the month of May, law enforcement officers from around the state carried Flames of Hope across Colorado, and at the end of the month, the three flames were unified into a single torch on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol. After a public ceremony, members of local, state, and federal law enforcement, along with Special Olympics athletes, completed a run along the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. Participants included Denver Special Agent in Charge Jim Yacone (far right), Special Olympics athlete Kimberley (front), and several other Denver FBI employees.
On May 31, employees of the FBI’s Norfolk office celebrated Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month to pay tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America’s history. Ron Villanueva (above, left), Virginia House of Delegates, spoke during the ceremony about the history of Asian-Pacific Heritage Month and his personal experiences growing up in the U.S. as a Filipino-American. Villanueva was the first Filipino-American elected to Virginia state government. Other guests included Nony Abrajano, Regional Chair of the National Federation of Filipino Associations of America, and Leo Bierneza (above, right), who performed special music. Said Norfolk Special Agent in Charge John Boles (above, middle), “Our lives are enhanced when we understand and appreciate many cultures.”
Recently, FBI New Haven Citizens Academy Alumni Association board member Jack Caldwell (shown above) delivered 200 FBI Child ID Kits to the Mercy Learning Center in Bridgeport, CT. Since 1987, the Mercy Learning Center has been providing basic literacy and life skills training to low-income women in the greater Bridgeport area. The center’s programs focus on empowering, and providing dignity, economic self-sufficiency and hope to those who are less fortunate. Also shown here are a center volunteer helping a family fingerprint their children with the ID kit.
On April 24, 2012, Norfolk FBI Community Outreach Specialist Vanessa Torres (shown above, right) participated in a National Crime Victims’ Rights Week observance held at the 2nd Precinct of the Norfolk Police Department. During the event, held to promote victims’ rights and honor crime victims and those who advocate on their behalf, Torres handed out materials on the Bureau’s Innocent Images Initiative and the Victim Assistance Program. In attendance were approximately 100 citizens and victims’ family members, along with Virginia State Senator Yvonne B. Miller and Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Gregory D. Underwood (also show above), who also took part in the event.
On May 15, 2012, employees from the FBI’s Little Rock office helped young patients celebrate the Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s 100th year anniversary by playing games, finding and making fingerprints, and learning about the FBI’s SWAT and Bomb Squad (and even, in the case of the young man shown above, getting to try on some of the equipment).
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Was there every a time in your life when you wanted to become an astronaut? Maybe you still do. For me, it was the first time I watched the film, The Right Stuff, reinforced by Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. But as I grew up, other dreams pushed to the forefront. My fascination with space, however, and particularly our planet’s and our own role within it, has continued.
This morning I wanted to share with you a thought provoking short film. Have you every heard the term “Spaceship Earth?” This illustrates the very real concept that our planet is a single system enabling our small lives within the vastness of space. Planetary Collective made the film “Overview” to document “astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect.”
The realization of oneness brought on by the Overview Effect has … Continue reading
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- What Can Lyric Do For You?
- Is Lyric Right For You?
- Real Lyric Stories
- My Lyric
- Lyric News & Events
New hearing aids and new hearing aid technology – sifting through “the noise”
There is a lot of noise in the market about hearing aids – and this is the time of year that many hearing aid companies are advertising new hearing aid technology and new hearing aids in the market. In fact there are hundreds of new product launches every year. So how can you, as a consumer, decipher what new hearing aid technology is out there and what advancements will truly improve your hearing experience? And how can you tell if the new hearing aids will be better than what you currently have? One way to know you are getting a truly breakthrough hearing technology is to try Lyric Hearing.
Lyric Hearing is the ONLY hearing aid technology that can be worn up to 4 months at a time,* even while sleeping, showering+, and exercising, and the ONLY one that is truly 100% invisible. Lyric has incorporated novel hearing aid technology advancements to create a breakthrough hearing device many people have been waiting for. Lyric has soft, flexible, biocompatible seals that surround the receiver, speaker, and tiny, long-life battery (the battery is designed to last up to 4 months at a time!). The tiny size of the device and soft seals make it possible to place Lyric close to the ear drum where it amplifies sound using your own ear anatomy. This creates a natural sound quality. And because of the deep canal placement, the device is totally invisible once it is placed.
Lyric Hearing is truly a breakthrough solution, and is like no other new hearing aids or new hearing aid technologies launching this year. So clear through the noise and try something truly game changing! See a Lyric Hearing Professional and find out if Lyric is right for you.
+ Lyric should not be submerged in water.
*Individual replacement needs may vary.
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"Depends on the zombie. If rabies evolved it wouldn't be possible however you never know there arent any existing zombies at this time so talking about Ideologies won't get very far there are so many different kind of theories on types of…"
If a person is paralyzed, it means their brain cant communicate with the body. How will this affect zombification? Can the same attack to the spinal cord that will paralyze a human also paralyze a zombie. Zombies cant feel pain i know, but with a severed line of communication from the brain to the body, can they still walk?
"Has anyone ever considerd attacking the spine? Lets just say u had an ax or machette and were quiet enough 2 creep up behind one of the undead r even a horde. U have only one swing for each zombie (so u wont get noticed by other zeds, or the one ur…"
"This bitch needs to die the se way she killed her son. This is fuckin crazy that these bitches can jus kill their own children then claim post partum bullshit. Post partum jus means while these women were pregnant they got use to everything being…"
"Living in houston its gonna b hard to escape with constant road blocks and never-ending construction and freeways that r always jamming. Even when its time to bug out its gonna b hard 2 get out of the city. Its gonna b an epic battle 4 Houston cuz…"
"Some viruses must b kept permanatly cuz of the threat they pose. U cant freeze a virus to death u have to burn it. And after death the brain with no oxygen is already damaged. Yet does not stop zombies from hopping up."
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SEOUL — South Korea is issuing its sternest warning yet to North Korea not to conduct another nuclear test, which some officials in Seoul and Washington say may be imminent.
After South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened a meeting of his top national security officials Thursday, his government warned North Korea it faces harsh punishment should it go ahead with a nuclear test.
In a statement, presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha warned Pyongyang of “very grave consequences” unless it immediately halts “all provocative words and actions” and complies with international obligations.
That sentiment was echoed hours later by foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young.
Cho confirms the government issued a “grave warning” at the meeting of foreign affairs and security ministers. The spokesman says Seoul insists Pyongyang “move towards de-nuclearization on the Korean peninsula, as they have promised” and Pyongyang “must bear in mind that only isolation is waiting” if it continues such provocations.
North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. It has also carried out long-range rocket launches that the international community has condemned as thinly disguised inter-continental ballistic missile tests.
For those actions, the United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on the reclusive and impoverished state.
Pyongyang recently warned it would continue with rocket launches and carry out a third nuclear test of a “higher level” that it contends will be aimed at its declared "arch enemy," the United States.
In Thursday's security meeting in Seoul, officials say President Lee instructed his defense minister to maintain strong military readiness in response to escalating tensions on the peninsula.
South Korean officials are not saying what sort of grave consequences the North could face or whether that could include military action.
Next month, South Korea takes the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council. That will allow it to convene meetings of the council at any time, something now considered a certainty should there be a North Korean nuclear test.
The two Koreas do not have a diplomatic relationship. They have technically remained in a state of war since a 1953 armistice brought to a pause three years of devastating civil conflict. The war also involved the Chinese on the North Korean side and the United States, backed by U.N. forces, on the South Korean side.
Military and intelligence officials in Seoul and Washington differ on assessments of North Korea's nuclear weapons development. The country is believed to have a few plutonium-fueled bombs and has revealed a facility it says is enriching uranium.
However, the general consensus is North Korea is still some years away from being able to make a warhead small and light enough to place atop an intercontinental ballistic missile.
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US 4117287 A
A combined electrical-hydraulic connector means including separable, elongated body members for making and breaking electrical contacts carried by said body members in spaced relation with respect to the longitudinal axis thereof, said body members providing a separable joint means transverse to said longitudinal axis. Said body members conduct pressure fluid which passes across said joint means. Seal means are provided at said joint means and are adapted to be energized to a selected compressive state. The means for actuating seal means and the electrical contact includes fluid actuating means for simultaneously energizing or de-energizing the seal means and the electrical contact means. A rapid connection or disconnection of electrical power and hydraulic power is thereby afforded.
1. A combined electrical-hydraulic connector having a longitudinal axis, comprising:
means including separable, elongated body members for making and breaking electrical contacts by movement of at least one contact on one body member in a direction away from and toward said longitudinal axis;
means for conducting fluid parallel to said longitudinal axis and through said separable body members,
said body members providing a separable joint means transverse to said longitudinal axis;
seal means at said separable joint means for said fluid conducting means;
said seal means being adapted to be energized into a selected compressive state to seal said joint means for passage therethrough of fluid;
and fluid actuating means for making and breaking said electrical contacts and for energizing and de-energizing said seal means for said joint means.
2. A connector as stated in claim 1 wherein
said fluid actuating means simultaneously actuates said electrical contacts and said seal means.
3. A connector as stated in claim 1 wherein
said seal means includes a biased piston located in said fluid conducting means adjacent said joint means,
and a compressible seal element carried by said biased piston for sealing contact with the body member on the opposite side of said joint means.
4. A connector as stated in claim 3 wherein
said seal means includes a biased piston carried by one of said body members in said fluid conducting means,
said piston having a seal element for sealing engagement with the other body member;
and means in said one body member providing fluid communication for said fluid actuating means for actuating said electrical contacts and said seal means.
5. A connector as stated in claim 1 including
means for locking said separable body members in both axial and angular orientation.
6. In a connector as stated in claim 5 wherein
said seal means includes a normally retracted piston and a seal element carried thereby,
said seal element being normally uncompressed in contact with said other body member when said body members are in normal locked and axial and angular oriented position.
7. In a connector as stated in claim 1 wherein said other body member includes an end wall having a passageway for conductors associated with said electrical contacts and a passageway for fluid conducted through said one body member,
said end wall including piston and cylinder means in communication with the environment external to said connector for equalizing pressure externally of the electrical contacts carried by said other body member.
8. In a combined electrical-hydraulic connector means, the combination of:
elongated, separable body members arranged in telescopic relation, defining a joint means transverse to the axis of the body members, and having passageways to conduct fluid;
seal means for the joint means to transfer between said elongated body members hydraulic pressure fluid conducted by said passageways;
electrical contact means arranged along the said body members;
fluid pressure means for simultaneously actuating said seal means and said electrical contact means;
and lock means for holding said separable body members in assembled telescopic relation.
9. In a combined electrical-fluid connector means, the combination of:
separable body members having a joint means therebetween;
electrical contact means carried by said body members for electrical engagement and disengagement;
passageway means provided in said body members for conducting fluid through said body members;
seal means at said joint means for transferring said fluid from one body member to the other body member;
and actuating means carried by one of said body members for making and breaking said electrical contact means and for energizing and de-energizing said seal means at said joint means.
10. A connector means as claimed in claim 9 wherein said actuating means includes piston means for said electrical contact means and piston means for said seal means;
said actuating means being in communication with piston means for said electrical contact means and for said seal means.
11. A connector means as claimed in claim 10 including
means for normally biasing said piston means for said seal means into seal retracted position.
Control systems for offshore drilling and production well operations often require the use of both electrical and hydraulic control means. In prior proposed control systems, separate control lines carried electrical and hydraulic power to the sea floor for remote control well equipment located at the sea floor. Such separate control systems included separate, independently operable connect and disconnect means usually located at the sea floor installation.
In the event of severe ocean surface conditions such as caused by high winds and waves, it may be desirable to quickly disconnect control lines from the seabed installation to avoid and limit damage to equipment both at the sea floor and at the sea surface and to permit retrieval of control lines and riser portions. Where water depth is not great, the time for retrieval of control lines and riser portions is relatively short. In deep water, the retrieval time for control lines and riser portions may require a relatively long time, for example one or more days depending upon the depth of the water. In proposed deep water production riser systems, the riser may comprise an upper, relatively short riser portion and a lower, relatively long riser portion. The upper and lower riser portions may be connected by a buoyant structure located at a suitable depth as shown in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 771,799 filed Feb. 24, 1977 and owned by a common assignee. In such a proposed riser system, it is desirable to disconnect the upper riser portion at and slightly above such a buoyant structure to permit rapid retrieval of relatively short control lines and associated upper riser portion while the lower control lines and lower riser portion are supported by the buoyant structure in upright, free-standing position. Rapid disengagement of control lines from the vicinity of the buoyant structure is desirable so that the upper control line portions and associated riser may be retrieved and recovered before damage thereto may occur because of surface storm conditions. In such a proposed production riser, it will be understood that when a rapid, quick disconnect is made of control lines and riser portions that fail-safe valves operable below the point of disconnect will prevent pollution of the surrounding sea water.
The present invention relates to a combined electrical-hydraulic connector means which is embodied in a compact unit or system and which is adapted to be remotely operable.
The invention particularly relates to a novel construction of an electrical-hydraulic connector means wherein electrical and hydraulic control lines may be simultaneously actuated and de-actuated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide hydraulic actuating fluid under pressure for not only actuating the electrical means, but also for actuating and sealing control fluids being conducted along the control line.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an electrical-hydraulic connector means including an hydraulically actuated seal means for transfer of pressure fluid across a joint means between two separable body members of the connector means, said seal means including a fluid pressure actuated piston member carrying a sealing element for sealing engagement with an opposed surface on the other body member.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a combined electrical-hydraulic connector means having separable body members and hydraulically actuated lock means for holding said body members in assembled relation.
The invention contemplates a combined electrical-hydraulic connector means particularly adapted for use in a control line carrying electrical power and hydraulic power to a subsea station, said connector means being adapted to be remotely operable and constructed and arranged to provide rapid, quick connection and disconnection of the electrical and hydraulic power systems embodied therein.
Various advantages and objects of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description of the drawings in which an exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown.
FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b are contiguous sectional views of an electrical-hydraulic connector embodying this invention, the section being taken in a longitudinal plane bisecting the connector.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view at the bottom joint between separable body members and illustrating seal means for passage of hydraulic pressure control fluid from the connector means to an umbilical line extending below the connector means.
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken in the transverse plane indicated by line III -- III of FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a transverse, sectional view taken in the plane indicated by line IV -- IV of FIG. 2.
A self-purging, electrical-hydraulic connector is generally indicated at 10 and embodies the present invention. Connector 10 may be used at a selected location in an umbilical line to provide a quick connect and disconnect of both electrical and hydraulic control functions provided by such an umbilical line. An example of such use is shown in the marine riser system described and claimed in copending application Ser. No. 771,799 filed Feb. 24, 1977 and in which an umbilical line extends from a base manifold means at the sea floor to and through a buoyant structure located below the sea surface, and then from the buoyant structure to a floating platform or other surface structure. The connector 10 may be used at the top of such buoyant structure so that the upper portion of the umbilical line may be quickly disconnected from the portion of the umbilical line which extends from the buoyant structure to the seabed. Under some severe weather conditions, it may be desirable to disconnect from the lower umbilical line and buoyant structure.
Generally speaking, connector 10 interconnects an upper main control umbilical line 11 and a lower main control umbilical line 12. All of the control functions carried by umbilical line 11 are transferred to umbilical line 12 through the connector 10. Such control line functions include electrical control lines and hydraulic control lines.
Generally speaking, connector 10 comprises separable, elongated body members 14 and 15 held in assembled relation by locking means 16 at the upper end of said body members. At the lower portion of the connector, the separable body members are provided with electrical contact means 17 having construction and operation similar to the electrical connector described and claimed in our copending patent application Ser. No. 786,210 filed Apr. 11, 1977. Also adjacent the bottom portion of the connector, means 18 for transferring control fluid from the upper umbilical line 11 to the lower umbilical line 12 is provided. Actuating means comprising fluid under pressure is used to actuate the electrical contact means 17 and to actuate the hydraulic transfer means 18.
In detail, upper umbilical line 11 is suitably secured in termination block 20. Umbilical line 11 carries pressure fluid control line 21 and electrical control line 22 which are carried by and connected to receptacle body member 14 and tapered body member 15, respectively. Block 20 has a conical socket connection with umbilical line 11 as at 24.
Between block 20 and the upper ends of body members 14 and 15 may be provided an adaptor member 25 comprising a cylindrical wall 26 having a top annular flange 27 spaced from the end of wall 26 to provide a cylindrical shouldered seat as at 28 for the end of block 20. Block 20 may be secured to adaptor 25 by a shear pin 29 which extends through a cylindrical wall 30 of block 20 and into cylindrical wall 26 of the adaptor. The lower end of cylindrical wall 26 of adaptor 25 is provided with a flange 31 seated on and secured as by screw bolts 32 to the upper end of lock housing member 33. Shear pin 29 permits emergency rapid removal of the upper umbilical line 11 from the connector 10 if necessary.
Lock means 16 for the electrical connector 10 comprises lock housing 33 of cylindrical form which extends longitudinally within an upper cylindrical wall 34 of receptacle member 14 for seating and securing, as by screw bolts 36, on an enlarged annular shoulder 37 on body member 15. Lock housing 33 is provided with a plurality of angularly spaced windows 38 through which may project a plurality of angularly spaced locking dogs 39 for engagement with openings 40 provided in wall 34 for each locking dog 39.
Locking dogs 39 are radially inwardly and outwardly actuated by an axially movable locking sleeve 42 slidable within locking housing 33 and having axially spaced cam portions 43 and 44 with cam faces 45 and 46 for engagement with complementary cam faces 47 and 48 on each locking dog 39. Locking sleeve 42 is biased into dog locking relationship by a compression spring 49 seated on an annular shoulder 50 carried by a lock member 51 threaded as at 52 to the lower end of the lock housing 33. At the upper end of the locking sleeve 42 a chamber 53 is provided for pressure fluid which is contained between seals 54 and 55 carried respectively by the lock housing 33 and the locking sleeve 42. Pressure fluid is introduced into chamber 53 through passageway 57 which is connected to a pressure fluid source through one of the control lines such as 21.
It will be readily apparent that spring 49 normally biases the locking sleeve 42 into upper position wherein the locking dogs 39 are urged radially outwardly into locked relationship with the openings 40 provided in the body member 14. When the connector is to be unlocked, pressure fluid introduced into chamber 53 drives the sleeve 42 downwardly against the spring to permit the locking dogs 39 to be retracted inwardly for release of the lock housing 33 and the separable body member 15 from the body member 14 and from the lower umbilical line 12.
Connector 10 provides means for making and breaking electrical contacts at the electrical portion of the connector. The electrical contact means 17 are similar to the electrical contact means shown in copending application Ser. No. 786,210 filed Apr. 11, 1977. Briefly, such electrical contact means comprises a plurality of radially arranged and axially or longitudinally spaced groups of fixed contact discs 60 covered by elastomeric material 61 and held in a tapered conical wall 62 of body member 14 which serves as a receptacle. Electrical leads 63 are connected to the electrical contact disc 60 and are passed through a receptacle chamber 64 and through a passageway 65 in end wall 66 of the receptacle member 14 for inclusion in a cable 67 which is fed into the umbilical line 12.
Body member 15 provides an elongated, tapered configuration which corresponds to the taper of wall 62 of the receptacle member 14 and is longitudinally receivable within the chamber 68 provided in the receptacle member 14. Body member 15 includes piston-type electrical penetrating elements 70 which are juxtaposed opposite respective anvil discs 60 when the body member 15 is longitudinally, axially, and angularly positioned in chamber 68. Member 15 includes an axial, elongated chamber 71 for hydraulic pressure actuating fluid which acts against the piston-type penetrating element 70 for driving said penetrating elements through the elastomeric covering 72 and through the covering 61 for electrical contact with disc 60. The elastomeric covers 61 and 72 are so designed as to purge sea water from between the interface of said covers when the member 15 is received with the chamber 68 and when the penetrating piston elements are actuated by pressure fluid.
The means 18 for interconnecting hydraulic fluid lines from umbilical line 11 and umbilical line 12 comprise the provision of one or more longitudinally extending passageways or bores 80 in body member 15, the upper end of each bore 80 being suitably connected at 81 to suitable fluid conducting lines which extend into the umbilical line 11. The lower end of bore 80 opens into a cylinder chamber means 83 for passage of fluid through the chamber means 83 to a bore 84 in end wall 66 to a fluid conducting line 85 which forms part of the lower umbilical line 12. To pass control fluid from bore 80 through the chamber means 83 to bore 84, it will be apparent that the joint means 86 between end face 87 of body member 15 and end wall 66 must be sealed. In this example, two fluid conducting bores 80 are shown, FIG. 2. The sealing means for each bore 80 at joint means 86 is the same, only one being described for brevity.
Means for sealing joint means 86 includes a piston body 90 of cylindrical form and having an annular lower edge portion 91 provided with an annular downwardly facing recess therein for reception of an annular elastomeric seal element 92 which projects beyond end face 87 of the piston body 90 for contact with upwardly facing surface 93 of end wall 66.
Piston body 90 includes an upper reduced cylindrical portion 95 which carried internal radially inwardly directed longitudinal ribs or flutes 96 providing an axial passageway for reception of shank 97 of a bolt 98 having an enlarged head 99 to seat a biasing spring 100 having its other end seated as at 101 against end edges of flutes 96 to bias piston body 90 upwardly into the chamber 83. In normal position the edge face of the lower end of piston body 90 may be slightly recessed within end face 87 of body member 15 to protect seal element 92 as the lower end of body member 15 is lowered into receptacle body member 14.
Seal means 103 and 104 are provided on piston body 90 and chamber means 83 to permit sliding sealed movement of the piston body 90.
Hydraulic actuating fluid for driving piston body 90 downwardly so that seal member 92 sealingly engages surface 93 on wall 66 is provided by the hydraulic actuating pressure fluid in chamber 71 used to actuate electrical contact penetrating elements 70. As shown in FIG. 1b, chamber 71 is extended by a passageway 106 which is divided adjacent the upper end of chambers 83 into two passageways 107, each of which leads to the chamber 83 at the space provided between the piston body 90 and the reduced portion 95. It will be apparent that when the hydraulic actuating fluid in chamer 71 is placed under pressure that such pressure will be communicated to the piston chambers 83. When the fluid pressure actuates the electrical contacts 70 and 60, such fluid pressure will simultaneously drive the piston body 90 downwardly and cause the annular seals 92 to be pressed against the surface 93 of wall 66.
Under such sealing engagement of seal members 92 with the surface 93 and the encirclement of the passageways 84 in wall 66 thereby, control fluid being conducted in bores 80 will pass through the fluted passageways in the reduced portion of the piston body and into the chamber defined by the annular piston body 90 for flow through the bores 84 in wall 66.
When the hydraulic actuating fluid is reduced in pressure to disconnect the electrical mating contacts, at the same time the fluid pressure acting upon the piston body 90 will be reduced and the biasing springs 100 will urge the piston body 90 upwardly and unseal the seal members 92. When this occurs, pressure in the control fluids conducted in bores 80 and 84 will be reduced and fail-safe mechanically actuated valves located below the connector means will automatically close such control lines.
Upon such de-energizing of the actuating pressure fluid the tapered body member 15 may be withdrawn from the receptacle body member 14.
As described in the electrical connector of the aforementioned copending application Ser. No. 786,210 filed Apr. 11, 1977, the receptacle body member may be provided with chamber 64 filled with a dielectric oil, such chamber 64 being in communication through a port 110 with a pressure compensating piston and cylinder chamber means 111 having communication with sea water outside of said connector means.
Combined electrical-hydraulic connector 10 thus provides for simultaneous energization and de-energization of electrical control lines and fluid pressure control lines carried by control umbilical lines 11 and 12. Such simultaneous de-energization and disengagement of body member 15 with body member 14 with respect to electrical and fluid pressure control functions permits the umbilical line 11 to be made rapidly ready for retrieval. It will be understood that the lock means 16 may be connected with a line carrying pressure actuating fluid to chamber 71 so that locking of the body members 14 and 15 together may be accomplished simultaneously with energization of the control functions provided thereby and also said body members may be unlocked by change or decrease in the pressure of the actuating fluid carried in chamber 71.
In the event there should be failure in the separation of the body members for some reason, umbilical line 11 may be retrieved by applying sufficient tension thereto to shear shear pin 29. Under such emergency conditions, it will be apparent that the connector means will not be in condition for reentry of the tapered body member 15 at a later time.
Various changes and modifications may be made in the connector means 10 described above and which fall within the spirit of this invention and all such changes and modifications coming within the scope of the appended claims are embraced thereby.
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.944641
| 4,465
| 1.671875
| 2
|
The high water may be gone, but the scars left behind after the massive flooding are proving to be costly. The first step in getting federal assistance to rebuild is now underway.
Starting Monday afternoon, four damage assessment teams started touring the damage in seven Wisconsin counties.
Leaders with the federal government disaster relief, the state emergency management, the department of transportation and local governments make up each team.
The review will focus only on the public sector like washed out roads and bridges.
"It can really wipe out local budgets so that's why we are very hopeful to have FEMA out here to look at damage and hopefully have federal assistance to aid these communities," said Lori Getter with the Wisconsin Emergency Management.
The teams will continue their assessments until the work is complete. A final report will then be submitted to the governor.
|
<urn:uuid:71197fd5-75d6-46c1-9b9d-2feaca6fbe1c>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.wsaw.com/news/headlines/43556.html?site=mobile
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.955575
| 167
| 1.570313
| 2
|
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