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A riddle: what do Miles Davis, Santana, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Totally Dublin have in common? Answer: we’ve all had the privilege of having our work wrapped in the wild, hallucinatory, incomparable artwork of Mati Klarwein. These connected dots are a fitting reflection of an artist whose collection of sometimes vastly unconnected imagery into one coherent tapestry is evidence of a most singular mind at work.
We are now ensconced in a post-physical age of music consumption. Striking album covers still exist, but their vitality as forebears of a musical odyssey yet to be embarked on has eroded, not just since the advent of digital distribution of albums, but since the compression of format size right back to cassette tapes. The canvas of a gatefold 12” record that, like Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, might reach hundreds of thousands of collections, might exist as a past format, but the content of Klarwein’s work exists in a nether space not effected by the denigration of time – an imagination that is accessible, at least visually, by all viewers.
Klarwein’s work is born of fusion which perhaps only his own polyglottal upbringing could allow. Born in Hamburg in 1930 to Jewish parents, he was raised in Palestine until Israel’s establishment in 1948. The religiosity of that most contested of spiritual grounds translates into his works as what he defines as “the undefined religion of everything”. Klarwein moved to Paris where he was exposed to Dali and Fuchs, his greatest temporal influences. It was in New York City he adopted the Muslim name Abdul, an act of blurring his own ethnic boundaries, the same boundaries which merge in his artwork.
Psychedelia in art, like a friend who insists on regaling you with the minute details of their dreams, can so often present an impenetrable subjectivity and self-indulgence that is unrelatable. Klarwein’s semiotics are no more transmutable – it’s just that his dreams, and his articulacy in expressing them, is so much more magical.
As we move towards an age of transnationalism, where ethnicity becomes less how we define ourselves, but more a touchstone for self-expression, and interconnectivity is creating mutant culture that transcends its individual source, Mati Klarwein’s work appears all the more visionary.
The aesthetic cornucopia of his work will be on display as part of the Beck’s Vier Rhythm Weekender, courtesy of ChoiceCuts, in Filmbase from the 15th – 21st October.
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Even if you are outright bearish, don't short the market. Stocks could touch crazy levels, but they may be in currencies which are worthless. Indeed, a sovereign default and currency turmoil could rattle world markets in a year or two. In a chat with ET, global investor Jim Rogers says cotton, silver and sugar can be hot picks. Read on.
At one stage we were inundated with gloomy forecasts, which were further reinforced by the IMF and World Bank. And then suddenly stocks surged — something most were not prepared for. How risky is the market today?
Central banks all over the world have printed huge amounts of money, and the real economy is not strong enough for all this money to be absorbed... so, it's going into stocks and real assets such as commodities. It's a mistake what they are doing. It's giving short-term pleasure, but there's long-term pain as we are going to have much higher inflation, much higher interest rates and a worse economy down the road.
The American bond market is already beginning to go down dramatically as people realise that the American government has to sell huge amount of bonds, and secondly, there is going to be inflation, serious inflation, as it was always in the past when you had governments printing huge amounts of money.
Stocks are rising even as fiscal deficit is widening. Somewhere it has to snap...
It's going to snap. Later this year, next year, we are going to have currency problems, maybe even a currency crisis. I don't know with which currency — maybe with the pound sterling, maybe with the US dollar, who knows. It maybe with something none of us have at the moment. When you have a currency crisis, stocks will be affected, many things will be affected. It is not sound, what's happening out there in the world.
In the 1930s, we had a huge stock market bubble which popped. And then politicians started making many mistakes. They became protectionist. They made solvent banks take over insolvent banks and then both banks failed in the end.
They are doing many of the same mistakes now. What's different this time is that we are printing huge amounts of money which they did not print at that time. So, we are going to have inflation this time.
What do you do? No politically-elected government can afford so much pain, unemployment and hardships...
America could have. America just had an election. The guy was elected in November and he could have come in the beginning of a four-year term and said the guys before me were hopeless idiots. They ruined things. We have to solve this problem. We have to take some pains now. But don't worry, we will get through this pain, and in two to three years or four years, things would be fine. And he could have been re-elected.
If the pain comes in 2010, 2011 or 2012, there will be nobody he can blame. Especially, if things go bad later, the opposition will say, wait a minute, 2009 looked good. The next guy is going to say you did it... But you are right. It's very difficult for an elected government. You have a newly-elected government in India. Whenever you have a new government they can take some of the pain.
You recently said that you would invest in China and Sri Lanka but not in India. Aren't you betting on the new government in India?
I was trying to make a point that if anyone wants to invest in this particular part of the world, the best place would be Sri Lanka. Because it looks like the 30-year war is coming to an end.
Throughout history, if you go to a place after the war ends you usually find everything as very cheap, everyone is demoralised, people are just depressed and there are enormous opportunities if you have energy.
In my view, investing in Sri Lanka in May 2009 is probably a better bet than Pakistan, Bangladesh, India or some of the other countries nearby. Let's hope the new Indian government does something. I have heard wonderful things from Indian politicians for 40 years.
And rarely do they produce. It's not the first time that the Congress party has been in the power. If they mean it, India's going to be one of the greatest development stories in the next 20 years. But I don't know if they mean it.
What kind of reforms?
Why isn't the currency convertible, why isn't foreign capital encouraged, why isn't foreign expertise encouraged, why is it so protectionist? Why are farmers only allowed to own five hectares? India should be the greatest farming nation in the world. You have the soil, the weather, you have everything and yet an Indian farmer can own only five hectares.
How can an Indian farmer compete with a guy in Ireland who can own 1,000 hectares or a guy in Brazil who can own 5,000 hectares? Smart people don't become farmers. Because what's the future? Whenever prices start going up, Indian politicians ban futures trading, as if futures trading makes prices go up. It's the craziest and the most absurd thing in the whole world. Prices go up because there is a reason for prices to go up.
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Among the rights we Americans proudly claim — the right to free expression, to bear arms, to avoid self-incrimination, and so on — should there also be a right to be forgotten? That is, to erase one’s past in the pursuit of privacy?
It’s an idea gaining traction in a world increasingly inventoried by digital databases accessible to anyone with a computer and a modem, but there’s a long history to it.
Decades ago, when I was a young reporter in a small town, my beat included a daily visit to the local jail, where I would open a big log book and copy down the names of those incarcerated during the previous 24 hours. The sheriff was an old-fashioned guy, demonstrated, I thought, by the fact that his log entries weren’t even written in ink. He used a No. 2 pencil.
One morning a prominent citizen’s name appeared in the book, a result of failing to drive home successfully the night before from a local tavern. This would surely be a story that afternoon in my little local newspaper. Even when the unhappy gentleman showed up in the newsroom to argue that his long friendship with my publisher should earn him escape from public humiliation, I was unswayed. This was newsworthy.
But then the old sheriff called. He suggested that I come back and check the jail log right away. The jail was a three-block walk from the newspaper’s back door. When I arrived, I found that the important fellow’s name was no longer in the book. The eraser, it seems, was mightier than the press.
That leading citizen had been locked up; I was sure of it. But with no document to affirm what my eyes had seen in the sheriff’s log, publishing what I knew to be true would have put my newspaper at risk of a libel suit. So I had to leave the tale to the local gossips, who doubtless also noted how unreliable the local newspaper had become.
Now the notion of official “truth” failing to reflect actual experience is a rising threat. During an event last week at the College of Saint Rose, Eve Burton, general counsel of Hearst Corporation (which owns the Times Union), thoughtfully laid out the issue: There’s an increasingly pitched battle, Burton noted, between our First Amendment right to shine a light wherever truth may lie and the growing demand for privacy in the face of digital tracking of all we do. As citizens understandably push for privacy, some politicians are weighing laws that would sacrifice truth for a sanitized view of reality.
Burton, one of the nation’s leading First Amendment experts, conceded that the digital revolution has presented questions that challenge our usual strict adherence to the principle of openness.
Consider, for example, the downstate school principal who called our newsroom not long ago to ask that we remove from our digital archives a long-ago story that listed his name. As a youth, he had attended a Grateful Dead concert in Albany and was charged with pot possession. Now that’s hurting his credibility, he said, as he tries to convince students to stay away from drugs.
But the account in our files was a true picture of what happened that day in Albany. Does his embarrassment justify altering that snapshot of reality?
“We now live in a world where everything written is out there forever,” Burton said. “But it’s impossible to protect privacy in the digital age in a way that does not damage the democratic lifestyle we’ve come to cherish.”
A number of states are weighing “erasure” statutes, which would remove from public databases any mention of certain crimes when defendants are cleared by the courts or charges are dismissed. Those dispositions don’t mean the person wasn’t arrested, of course. But if there’s no record of any arrest, an account of it could be considered untrue.
Similarly, European nations are weighing “right to be forgotten” laws, which would require tracking down and removing from digital files millions of pieces of factual information previously made public. Beyond being impractical, it suggests that truth is malleable.
You can’t be callous about the Internet’s intrusion into privacy. When a teenager does something dumb, should that follow him around forever? What about a businessman who in a period of stress commits a financial crime, and after appropriate punishment leads an upright life? Must they be forever tarred by Google search results?
People deserve second chances. But real redemption arises from clear-eyed recognition that mistakes are human, rather than from vision shielded from the truth. Better to be rooted in reality, that is, than artificial turf. In the end, there’s no right to erasure.
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Land Use Policy Update: ZONING ORDINANCE FOUNDATION ELEMENTS OF GENERAL PLAN
ZONING ORDINANCE FOUNDATION ELEMENTS OF GENERAL PLAN (See links at end of article for preceding stories)
We now finish reporting on the five key foundational checkpoints the Board of Supervisors (BOS) endorsed when the Land Use Policy Programmatic Update (LUPPU) and, more specifically, the 2004 General Plan Update began. We started this review in the last issue of this newsletter, when we addressed three out of five fundamental issues that were directed by the Board of Supervisors (BOS) to be considered when updating the 2004 General Plan and bringing the Zoning Ordinance into consistency with it.
The first three questions addressed were: 1) How is the county doing in meeting the General Plan housing goals and mandates? 2) How is the county doing meeting the General Plans’ jobs creation goals? And 3) How is the county doing stemming sales tax leakage of over $800 million annually? (Ref: Business Alliance…Update of July- 15, 2012).
The fourth foundational point is the desire to “Keep the County Rural”. So, how are we doing as far as land use planning goes under the current General Plan? The first thing to understand is that individual perceptions govern exactly what rural is. To those coming from dense population areas such as LA or the Bay Area, rural living may be El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park or Diamond Springs. For others, rural living is close to services but surrounded by 1-to-5 or 10-acre parcels of land, such as those living on the outskirts of Diamond Springs, Placerville or Cameron Park. To still others “rural” is living in the middle of hundreds of acres or within the ranching and agricultural areas of the community.
According to Webster’s “rural” is: “…of or like, living in the country” and “country” is “…lands with farms or small towns”. El Dorado County has addressed this issue within its General Plan (GP) land uses, notably in the designation of Rural Regions (RR) lands which are defined as “All lands not contained within the boundaries of Community Regions (CRs) or Rural Centers (RCs)”. Generally the GP defines CRs and RCs as areas planned for higher-density growth including residential, commercial and industrial uses and primarily with infrastructure services available. The GP also identifies CR and RC boundaries (ref: General Plan maps).
Rural Region lands can accommodate (thus be zoned) between 10 and 160 acre parcel sizes, and are appropriate for residential, agricultural, recreational and even natural resource uses. As part of the LUPPU process commercial and industrial land uses will also be analyzed as appropriate in some areas within this vast acreage of the county.
To appreciate how the General Plan has created a means of keeping the county rural, it’s important to recognize that only about 70,000 acres are designated as Community Regions (CRs,) and another 7,000 acres are designated as Rural Centers (RCs), while defined Rural Region lands total over 1 million acres!
Changes recommended for analyses in the LUPPU process include a new Rural Land (RL) zone that would work within the definitions of the General Plan’s Rural Region land definitions.
It is not uncommon to hear those opposing a residential development project in their neighborhood, to claim the area is “…supposed to remain rural” but this is often not the case. During the past 10 years of development under the current General Plan, the land feasibility research showed that 75% of the housing growth had taken place in the CRs and RCs, while only 25% of the growth took place in the Rural Regions. Additionally, that 25% growth was predominantly large parcel creation and not higher density projects that are directed to the CRs and RCs.
When the BOS addressed these facts in the General Plan Update review, they determined it was important to direct growth to the CRs/RCs, to preserve the Rural Region areas for agriculture, recreation and rural living. To this end the BOS adopted an approach to streamline regulations that encourage good project design and better use of lands within the limited CR and RC areas.
The fifth and final foundational LUPPU point was: How are we doing promoting and protecting our agricultural industry, including its support services?
As with all 5 foundational points, only the General Plan analysis and environmental review (CEQA) process will answer this question in full. However, the LUPPU process has had consistent and thorough review, analysis, input and recommendations by the agricultural industry, including several public hearings held by the Agricultural Commission. Representatives of the local Farm Bureau and Agricultural Department staff have also been engaged collecting and presenting data to the BOS for consideration.
Basically the agricultural industry has recommended significant changes be analyzed as the GP Update and new Zoning Ordinance processes move forward. For example: The ag industry requested the county consider how to simplify much needed support services in agricultural areas to encourage local commercial investment within these areas.
Fundamentally agricultural folks recognized early in the LUPPU process, that the best way to protect ag lands from incompatible adjacent land uses, was to utilize CR and RC lands to their full potential, so that agricultural lands would not be needed to meet population and housing growth pressures. Recently a few projects have been controversial as opponents believed that a site was intended for agriculture because the site retained archaic “ag” zoning. Ag interests did not support the claim because they understood that GP land use designation is the higher authority and the current zoning was not (yet) consistent with the GP. A primary reason for the LUPPU process is, in part, to bring inconsistent, archaic zoning into consistency with the General Plan, and this may require some zone changes to clarify the actual land use intent.
The Board of Supervisors (BOS) recently held public hearings on the Public Review Draft (PRD) Zoning Ordinance (ZO). The Board spent days hearing public comments on the approximately 450-page draft ZO. Considering the comments received, we consider the hearings a success. Comments were, for the most part, informative and on point, bringing up issues that were relevant and appropriate to the overall goal to produce a document that is clear, works for property owners, and that accomplish the goals and policies set forth in the 2004 General Plan. The LUPPU website can be accessed at: http://www.edcgov.us/landuseupdate/
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They called it a "mancession" in 2009, when layoffs in male-dominated industries like construction and finance razed male employment and brought the gender mix in the American workforce almost even (if you consider 50.01% men and 49.99% women almost even).
But it seems a woman’s work is never done.
With the economy just starting to turn around, the trend is swinging the other way. We're seeing some female-dominated sectors facing layoffs, adding more women to the unemployment list. At the same time, those unemployed men are snapping up jobs. It's happening even in typically “girly” sectors like service and retail. For example, USA Today reports that, between November 2010 and November 2011, retailers added nearly 217,000 men to their work forces, and only 9,000 women.
An expert on working families tells USA Today it's a pendulum swing: Men were hit early in the recession, now women are feeling the pain. "Education and health care jobs are now getting cut, and those are the jobs that have traditionally employed females," says Stephanie Coontz, co-chairwoman of the Council on Contemporary Families, in USA Today.
The trend implies that when faced with the prospect of losing a job or losing unemployment benefits, men seem to be more willing to take non-traditional job titles. No surprise there: When jobs are scarce, any job is a good job, whether it fits your gender or not.
Are you seeing men, or women, taking up non-traditional work? Did you notice more dudes behind your department store counters this holiday?
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LONDON - Ecuador said Thursday that it was granting asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a decision that thrilled supporters but will do little to defuse the standoff at the Latin American nation's London embassy, where the Australian ex-hacker has been holed up for almost two months.
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said Ecuador believed Assange faced a real threat of political persecution - including the prospect of extradition to the United States, where Patino said the head of the secret-spilling website would not get a fair trial.
"It is not impossible that he would be treated in a cruel manner, condemned to life in prison, or even the death penalty," Patino told journalists in Quito, the Ecuadorean capital. "Ecuador is convinced that his procedural rights have been violated."
Britain's Foreign Office said it was disappointed by the decision, but that it still plans to fulfill its legal obligation to extradite Assange to Sweden, where he faces sexual assault allegations.
Assange shot to prominence after WikiLeaks repeatedly released huge troves of U.S. secret documents, moves which have outraged Americans and led to calls from American politicians to have him hunted down like a terrorist.
He is wanted in Sweden for questioning on allegations of sexual misconduct, but supporters fear the Scandinavian extradition effort is the opening gambit in a Washington-orchestrated bid to make him stand trial in the United States.
Swedish officials, and the two women who have accused Assange, have denied that the extradition bid is politically motivated. Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny declined to comment on the asylum decision, saying the issue was a matter for Britain.
Ecuador's decision heartened supporters - there was a cheer outside the Ecuadorean Embassy when it was it announced - but is likely to have little practical effect on Assange's current status.
He remains in the modest embassy building, where he has been staying since June 19, and British authorities have pledged to arrest him if he leaves. Swedish authorities say their investigation remains ongoing.
Ecuador allowed the 41-year-old to take refuge in its embassy after Assange interviewed its president for his television show on Russia's English-language broadcaster, RT.
Britain caused a diplomatic storm with what Ecuador calls a threat to raid the embassy and arrest him.
Britain's Foreign Office denied making any threat, but a U.K. letter released Thursday made clear that a 1987 act would allow the government to revoke the Ecuadorean mission's diplomatic status.
"You should be aware that there is a legal basis in the U.K. - the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act - which would allow us to take action to arrest Mr. Assange in the current premises of the Embassy," the letter said.
"We very much hope not to get this point, but if you cannot resolve the issue of Mr. Assange's presence on your premises, this route is open to us."
The warning outraged supporters, a small group of whom flocked to the embassy in defense of Assange.
"I'm here to support freedom of speech, justice, and to support Julian Assange because he is a champion of all of these values," said Portuguese activist Pedro Lima, 35, who was among some 20 people protesting outside the red Edwardian apartment block down the street from London's famous Harrods department store.
The atmosphere was mostly peaceful, but at one point several people were dragged away from the embassy after refusing police orders to move across the street.
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January 2013 Visiting Teaching Message: Missionary Work
January 03, 2013
"We must develop the capacity to see [people] not as they are at present but as they may become." -Thomas S. Monson
January Visiting Teaching Message:
Latter-day Saints are sent forth “to labor in [the Lord’s] vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men” (D&C 138:56), which includes missionary work. We don’t need a formal mission call to share the gospel. Others whose lives will be blessed by the gospel surround us, and as we prepare ourselves, the Lord will use us. Visiting teachers can embrace their spiritual responsibilities and help “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
When the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society in 1842, he said that the women were not only to look after the poor but also to save souls.1 This is still our purpose.
Supplement: read the following story from President Thomas S. Monson's October 2012 address, "See Others as They May Become":
During the 1940s and 1950s, an American prison warden, Clinton Duffy, was well known for his efforts to rehabilitate the men in his prison. Said one critic, “You should know that leopards don’t change their spots!”
Replied Warden Duffy, “You should know I don’t work with leopards. I work with men, and men change every day.” . . .
Back in the year 1961, a worldwide conference was held for mission presidents, and every mission president in the Church was brought to Salt Lake City for those meetings. I came to Salt Lake City from my mission in Toronto, Canada.
In one particular meeting, N. Eldon Tanner, who was then an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve, had just returned from his initial experience of presiding over the missions in Great Britain and western Europe. He told of a missionary who had been the most successful missionary whom he had met in all of the interviews he had conducted. He said that as he interviewed that missionary, he said to him, “I suppose that all of the people whom you baptized came into the Church by way of referrals.”
The young man answered, “No, we found them all by tracting.”
Brother Tanner asked him what was different about his approach—why he had such phenomenal success when others didn’t. The young man said that he attempted to baptize every person whom he met. He said that if he knocked on the door and saw a man smoking a cigar and dressed in old clothes and seemingly uninterested in anything—particularly religion—the missionary would picture in his own mind what that man would look like under a different set of circumstances. In his mind he would look at him as clean-shaven and wearing a white shirt and white trousers. And the missionary could see himself leading that man into the waters of baptism. He said, “When I look at someone that way, I have the capacity to bear my testimony to him in a way that can touch his heart.”
We have the responsibility to look at our friends, our associates, our neighbors this way. Again, we have the responsibility to see individuals not as they are but rather as they can become. I would plead with you to think of them in this way.
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4.59. Why is the Mailman mail-to-USENET-news gateway munging the Message-Id: header?
There are two parts to this answer.
First, the RFCs require that the Message-ID: header be globally unique throughout the world, and the only way that Mailman can be reasonably sure of this is to generate its own header that it should be able to guarantee will meet this requirement.
Secondly, Mailman uses the value in the Message-ID: header to determine whether or not it has seen this newsgroup posting before, and whether it should copy that message back to the mailing list. This is to try to avoid duplicate postings to the list and loops between multiple bi-directional mail/news gateway systems.
If your mail program or newsreader implements message threading correctly (see http://www.jwz.org/doc/threading.html), then it should be able to deal with these differences. If not, then you should complain to the people responsible for implementing and supporting your mail program or newsreader.
As far as Mailman is concerned, this is an old issue. The algorithm that Mailman uses today was developed years ago, to deal with the problems that were being created at the time by the mail programs, newsreaders, and other mail/news gateways. However, many broken programs remain in use today, and these problems haven't gone away.
This is not an ideal solution to the problem, but it does appear to cause the least overall confusion and disruption to the affected communities.
If you have a better solution, one that takes into account the problems that have been experienced in the past, please feel free to post your patch on the Mailman tracker at https://bugs.launchpad.net/mailman.
For more information, see the threads at http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2005-January/041884.html, and http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2001-November/015730.html, among others.
Last changed on Thu May 1 19:47:47 2008 by Brad Knowles
Converted from the Mailman FAQ Wizard
This is one of many Frequently Asked Questions.
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The enormous black hole was found at the center of NGC 1277, a flat, compact… (David W. Hogg-Michael Blanton,…)
Astronomers on the hunt for supermassive black holes have discovered one so monstrous that its mass dominates the central hub of its galaxy in a way that defies scientists' expectations about how typical black holes behave.
Described in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature, the black hole may push theorists to revamp their ideas of how these mysterious structures grow and evolve.
Astrophysicists said they were scratching their heads at how thoroughly this gargantuan black hole — seated in the galaxy NGC 1277, about 220 million light-years away — hogs its galactic bed.
Supermassive black holes typically account for just 0.1% of the mass in a galaxy's stellar bulge, the cluster of older stars huddled around the center. This particular black hole, by contrast, takes up 59% of that central mass, shattering the previous record of 11%.
"This is an oddball," said Chung-Pei Ma, an astrophysicist at UC Berkeley who was not involved in the research. "It's a very big black hole for a small galaxy — that's the most surprising part. It's a very interesting discovery."
An international team of scientists documented the giant black hole while peering at the centers of about 800 of the biggest galaxies in the local universe, using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory. The assumption was that the biggest galaxies would hold the biggest black holes, which is what the researchers were really looking for.
The team measured the speed of the stars close to the galactic heart as they orbited around the black hole — the faster they traveled, the more massive the black hole. Their calculations revealed that the black hole at the center of NGC 1277 held the mass of 17 billion suns. (The Milky Way's black hole, by comparison, is a mere 4 million solar masses.) And yet this black hole, one of the largest known, dominates a galaxy that is only one-tenth the size and mass of the Milky Way.
At first, the researchers thought they had a mistake.
"We were looking at it and we said, 'That's got to be wrong,'" said study coauthor Karl Gebhardt, an astrophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin. "So we kind of analyzed it to death."
The size of a galaxy and the size of its central black hole are thought to be linked, but scientists aren't exactly sure how. Assessing the mass of a black hole is a time-consuming process, and as a result, fewer than 100 of them have been examined properly. (Gebhardt's team had logged hundreds of hours of telescope time peering at galaxies for its survey; a typical experiment will get only a few dozen hours at the controls.)
Part of the reason for believing that black holes typically weigh in around the 0.1% mark is that there's a limit to the amount of matter a black hole can take in at one time, like a crowd trying to push through a doorway. When there's too much material, the black hole ejects some of it in jets, effectively limiting its growth rate, Gebhardt said.
If that's true, something strange has been happening in this galaxy to allow the black hole to keep feeding — and the researchers aren't sure what it could be.
It's possible, Gebhardt said, that given the team's large sample of black holes, "of course we're going to find the weirdest weirdos out there."
But if they find more, he said, it could mean there's a whole new class of galaxies that requires fresh explanation. There are already signs that NGC 1277 may have siblings — the researchers have identified other galaxies with similar properties, and they're currently analyzing the mass of their black holes.
Even if it's a new class of galaxies, it's a pretty small one.
"In the observable universe, there's about 100 billion" galaxies, Gebhardt said. "So this isn't even the tip of the iceberg. This is a snowflake on top of the tip of the iceberg."
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You with the cell phone — Quiet!
BY ALYSSA McMILLAN
OU News Bureau
About 90 percent of all adults in the U.S. own a cell phone. That means a lot of phone calls in public where everyone can hear — and get annoyed.
International etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore went so far as to establish July as National Cell Phone Courtesy Month. On her blog, she posted a video of “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert halting a song and asking someone in the audience to get off her phone.
“I think what has happen is people have forgotten basic politeness,” said Dr. Howard Belkin, a psychiatrist at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.
Ileene LaBell of Huntington Woods knows from experience. A Thai restaurant denied her service when she was talking on the phone. She agreed she was in the wrong.
“There is a time and place for everything,” she said. “If the conversation can wait and it is not urgent, then I don’t see the need to do it in a public place.”
Belkin said that society has changed dramatically — for better and worse.
“Communication has improved significantly, but privacy is down and so is accountability,” Belkin said. “With the use of cell phones in public, people forget that they are out in public, and they think they are in the privacy of their own home.”
Movie theatres that once just had a “shh” sign before the movie, now ask patrons to please turn off their cell phones.
Micky Blumenfeld of Oak Park said that while she was trying to enjoy a movie, a man’s cell phone went off in the theatre. His ringer announced who was calling, and he answered the call. When Blumenfeld asked the man to be quiet, the man continued the phone call.
“It wasn’t until I got the usher, that he stopped,” Blumenfeld said. “Silence is golden. He needs to know that.”
Barb Zanetti, senior director of Uptown Entertainment, which runs theaters in Birmingham and downtown Detroit, said cell phones in movie theaters have become a common problem and challenge.
“I think it does impact the movie experience for the people,” she said. “It comes down to public etiquette, and it’s a society problem.”
Zanetti said although patrons may get disruptive, staff can’t go in and talk to everyone because that would be even more disruptive, but they do make routine movie checks. She said she’s observed patrons asking others to quit talking on cell phones.
Even when it’s not a phone call, the bright light from texting or just checking a phone is a distraction.
“It’s an industrywide problem,” Zanetti said.
The movie theater industry looked into jamming signals so that cell phones could not work, but it did not go through with the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC said jamming cell phones signals is in violation of federal law because it can block emergency communication.
Zanetti said it doesn’t take many people to ruin it for the whole crowd.
CTIA, the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, reports there are 322 million cell phones in America. With the proliferation of such phones, Cellphones.org put together a list of tips to remind cell phone users of public etiquette.
Brad Betkett, employee of the Hunter House in Birmingham said it slows down service when customers talk on the phone while ordering.
“It’s always during the rush, too,” he said. “It’s probably ignorance, they don’t care, or they probably just don’t see the sign.”
Short URL: http://www.ounewsbureau.com/?p=2164
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[Hopefully’s] detractors were operatic in their vilifications. ... The historian T. Harry Williams went so far as to pronounce it "the most horrible usage of our times" -- a singular distinction in the age that gave us expressions like "final solution" and "ethnic cleansing," not to mention "I'm Ken and I'll be your waitperson for tonight."The critics also complained that hopefully "doesn't specifically indicate who's doing the hoping."
But neither does "It is to be hoped that," which is the phrase that critics like Wilson Follett offer as a "natural" substitute. That's what usage fetishism can drive you to -- you cross out an adverb and replace it with a six-word impersonal passive construction, and you tell yourself you've improved your writing.The oddest thing about hopefully may be the persistence of its opponents. During Nunberg’s time as chair of the American Heritage Usage Panel, he reports,
panelists generally become less sticklerish about traditional bugaboos like using "aggravated" for "irritated" or "nauseous" for "nauseated." The only exception is that floating "hopefully." In 1969, only about half the panelists agreed with it; by 1999 it was unacceptable to 80 percent of them.But there's a surprisingly hopeful conclusion:
People will always have their crotchets, those scraps of grammatical lore they learned at the end of Sister Petra's ruler. But there's no one around now who could anoint a brand-new litmus test for grammatical purity.I suspect this is true, and what good news it is. Because -- as I realized a few years ago, while researching peeves of the past – if we all accept one another’s peeves as valid, the list of don’ts can only keep growing, and it already taxes the abilities of the dwindling band of copy editors. Maybe we've already begun to do what John McIntyre wisely suggests: Ignore the usage fetishes that don’t really matter.
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Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is now acknowledged as the science fiction film of the 1960s, the experimental epic that changed the genre. Another Sci-Fi thriller opening almost at the same time was a much bigger popular success. Fox's Planet of the Apes came out wide in April of 1968 and was still playing as a second feature when we went back to school in September. Unlike the intellectual movie with the puzzling "giant space baby", Planet of the Apes connected with audiences on an intellectual and an emotional level.
Not since Forbidden Planet had Hollywood made a major movie about exploring an alien planet. Rod Serling and Michael Wilson's screenplay overturns expectations from the very beginning, when the female astronaut set up to be Charlton Heston's love interest fails to make it through the first scene. The three earthmen never get a chance to point ray guns at alien monsters -- before they've barely caught their breath, they're prisoners of a topsy-turvy society that switches the roles of man and monkey in the evolutionary pecking order.
What follows is a brilliant mix of realism and farce, as Planet of the Apes sidesteps audience derision by providing its own jokes. Heston's George Taylor comes upon the local humans, mute and ragged, foraging like sheep, and figures that he'll be running things in less than a year. Just ten minutes later, they're practically wiped out by the actual dominant species on this new world. Wounded and silenced, Taylor watches dumbfounded as screenwriters Rod Serling and Michael Wilson show us a barbaric inversion of our own society, reworked to place monkeys in control. Their society has class divisions based on species, with lighter Orangutans on a higher level than Chimpanzees, and the darker gorillas relegated to menial work. The government is a theocracy that will not tolerate science that challenges official dogma. The existence of Taylor, a talking man, is a threat to the authoritarian Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans), who has been suppressing the archeological work of Chimpanzee Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) because his findings contradict religious texts. Taylor not only challenges Zaius's status quo, he fulfills a dread holy prophecy that a New Man will come and destroy ape civilization.
Audiences were fascinated by John Chambers' clever ape make-ups, which transform noted actors Evans, McDowall, Kim Hunter and James Whitmore completely yet permit a wide range of facial expression. The apes become angry, laugh out loud and kiss one another. We accept them as characters interacting with Charlton Heston. As for the man who played Moses, this "lowly" science fiction film is actually one of his best. An expert at humanizing one-dimensional epics, Heston recites mouthfuls of exposition in a way that makes us listen to every word. He communicates vulnerability, desperation and humiliation even in long shot. He holds our attention even when surrounded by fascinating monkey-men.
It's tempting to assign Apes' mischievous humor to Rod Serling and its political agenda to the once-blacklisted Michael Wilson. Groucho Marx made fun of allegories but the film's satiric camouflage allows the liberal writers to lead a general audience to consider controversial subject matter. Planet of the Apes champions evolution over creationism and dismisses Church doctrine as superstitious nonsense. The keeper of the faith is a full-blown hypocrite whose primary motivation is retaining power. Or so it seems.
Taylor befriends the Chimpanzees McDowall and Hunter; both actors are extremely effective under their simian muzzles. The lone earthman finds a possible mate in Nova (Linda Harrison) and with the help of his new friends avoids the vivisectionist's scalpel, not to mention an appointment to be gelded. Taylor's a very interesting survivor. Unlike his fellow astronauts, he's a loner cynic who doesn't like civilization. He seems not the least upset to be cut off from Earth, never to return. Taylor believes in self-reliance. He's a fighter, and more than a little arrogant.
Planet of the Apes is a movie of the 60s, when film companies had no reason to fear liberal messages. Serling and Wilson seize the opportunity to put the naked Taylor on trial before a society determined to prove that he doesn't exist. In a combination McCarthy witch hunt and Scopes Monkey Trial, Taylor is officially "disposed of." It's all very much like Joseph Losey, Bertolt Brecht and Charles Laughton's notorious production of Galileo, a late 1940s theater piece aimed squarely at the evil of blacklisting. The satirical "funny monkey" context allows Apes to pursue political issues far more "dangerous" than Dr. Strangelove's atom war theme. Everybody's against nuclear war, but few other mainstream movies (besides Inherit the Wind) so openly challenged the existence of God.
Allegory was the perfect format for TV's The Twilight Zone, where each episode would end with Rod Serling's God-like voice delivering his liberal "Author's Message". Moviegoers expect more, and Planet of the Apes scores as Sci-Fi, adventure and light comedy, punctuated by two or three jolting scares. The saving grace of Serling and Wilson's didacticism is that they don't claim the final victory for the liberalim. Zaius is a functional hypocrite, yes, but it turns out that he's acting in good faith to forestall a terrible fate. In the key scene, Zaius has a private conversation with Taylor in which he makes his fears brutally plain. He wants Taylor eradicated because Man by his very nature is naturally evil: arrogant, violent, destructive. And he's right. Zaius plays dirty and hides behind a show trial because he fears what Taylor represents -- humans destroyed their own world and are perfectly capable of doing the same to the Ape planet.
Planet of the Apes may be more accessible than 2001 but just because its messages are obvious doesn't mean that they've been "dumbed down". Reviewers picked up on the Rod Serling / Twilight Zone connection, with the result that people normally discussing John Wayne or Julie Andrews were suddenly talking about Planet of the Apes in connection with evolution, the space race, and civil rights. This was 1968, when it seemed the whole country was aflame with race riots, and national leaders were being assassinated left and right. Discussing Planet of the Apes at the dinner table was an acceptable way of addressing real issues. No other "lowly science fiction movie" had quite the same impact.
Fox's Blu-ray of Planet of the Apes will thrill fans of the popular Sci-Fi franchise. Producer Arthur P. Jacobs dragged the concept on for four sequels, advancing the story to Armageddon and then backtracking into time travel stories and budget-challenged battle epics.
This first chapter holds up as great filmmaking, demonstrating director Franklin Schaffner's flair for efficient visual storytelling and cameraman Leon Shamroy's excellent lighting. The desert landscape around Lake Powell never looked so alien, and marvelous sets on the Malibu Ranch (we keep expecting helicopters from M*A*S*H to fly by) create a convincing simian culture. Schaffner's action direction is nothing less than brilliant, perhaps because of his and Charlton Heston's previous experience together on the impressive medieval epic The War Lord.
The Blu-ray looks very much like the latest DVD special edition, with colors brought back almost all the way to normal from slightly faded original elements. Faces can seem too light sometimes; otherwise the presentation is a visual beauty. Grain in opticals is still apparent but the optical schmutz in the opening spacecraft scenes (with the traveling-matte 'space lights' seen through the cockpit canopy) is completely gone. Likewise the famous ending shot, an extreme optical zoom, looks better than ever before. The audio is exceptional, providing a fine showcase for Jerry Goldsmith's eccentric score, with its strange sound effects incorporated into the composition.
The extras replicate the long list of early special edition items. One commentary combines comments by Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Natalie Trundy, and makeup artist John Chambers. Jerry Goldsmith has a second commentary all to himself. Author Eric Greene is on a special text commentary. The entire list of extras is below.
The first new extra is an annoying but brief speech by a CGI-generated "The Lawgiver", which precedes the feature presentation. He doesn't sound like John Huston. Two new docus have been produced in HD. The Impact of the Apes interviews fans of the movie, most of whom were too young to have seen it new in theaters (where I can report every line and moment that elicited audience approval and applause). For many kids of the early 1970s, the Apes movies were their first exposure to key sci-fi themes like time travel, post-apocalyptic worlds, mutants, alternate futures, etc.
The Evolution of the Apes gets off to a promising start by investigating the backgrounds of the writers and producer. It doesn't try to sort Rod Serling's input from Michael Wilson's, but it looks as though Serling's script called for the apes to live in a world as developed as ours, and was completely rewritten by Wilson to take place in a more primitive setting. The movie identifies The King Brothers as holders of an early option on the Pierre Boulle novel. It slams them as makers of "cheap crime and monster movies" -- like the expensive, well-regarded Gorgo, and imagines an unmade cheap King Bros. Apes by showing a still from Fox's silly Gorilla at Large! Turning back to the finished film, the featurette then "praises" producer Arthur Jacobs by comparing him to the fictional Hollywood sleaze Sammy Glick, the despicable main character from Budd Schulberg's exposé novel What Makes Sammy Run?
The featurette also indulges a lengthy tangent to tell a detailed history of the Fox studio, something that seems to happen too often on Fox docus. The best disc content remains the fascinating older featurette material on John Chambers' makeup, and the extensive galleries of ad materials.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
Reviews on the Savant main site have additional credits information and are often updated and annotated with reader input and graphics.
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From August 7 to August 14, 1746.
RAN away from the Subscribers on the 31st of July last, Three Servants, viz. Daniel M'Craw, a Scots-Highlander, of a short Stature, speaks broken English, about 5 Feet 2 Inches high, of a swarthy Complexion, with short curl'd Hair: Had on when he went away, a coarse Bear-skin Coat, with Brass Buttons, a Pair of brown Linen Trowsers and Shirt. He belonged to Mr. Charles Dick, in Fredericksburg. John Ross, a Scots-Highland Boy, about 16 Years of age, of a ruddy Complexion, full-fac'd, speaks broken English, and has his Hair cut: He carried with him an Oznabrig Shirt, a Pair of Oznabrig Trowsers and Breeches, a Tartan Waistcoat without Sleeves, lin'd with green Shalloon, a brown Holland and a white Linen ditto, a Silk Handkerchief, a Felt Hat, and a Leather hunting Cap. He belonged to Mr. John Mitchell, in Fredericksburg. Thomas Haily, an Irishman, about 36 Years of Age, of a fair Complexion, about 5 Feet 8 Inches high; had on when he went away, a dark colour'd Broad-Coath Coat, double-breasted with Metal Buttons, a Pair of Trowsers, an Oznabrig Shirt, a white Linen ditto, and a fine Beaver Hat. He belonged to Doctor William Lynn, in Fredericksburg. Whoever apprehends the said Servants and brings them to their Masters aforesaid, shall receive a Pistole Reward for each, besides what the Law allows. Witness our Hands this 21st Day of July, 1746. Charles Dick. William Lynn. John Mitchell.
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Tour to the Cementery of Chauchilla
Important: To confirm the trip in a group, we need a minimum of 2 participants for this program
The Cementery of Chauchilla
For many years Chauchilla cemetery was looted by treasure hunters, who destroyed the place completely, taking away all the treasures the mummies kept in their tombs for centuries. Grave robbers just left behind the corpses, which can be seen today all over the ground. In addition to skulls and bones, visitors also can see several tombs centuries’ old, as well as long human hairs, ceramic fragments and others remains scattered on the dessert surface. It is the only archaeological site in Peru, in which ancient mummies are seen in their original graves, along with ancient artifacts, dating back to 1000 AD. Our excursion also includes the visits to the Nazca ceramic workshop and the gold extraction process center.
Description of tour.-
Our customers are picked up at the designated time from their hotel by our local guide, and afterwards we will drive to the south of Nazca, following the Pan American Highway for about 21 kilometers and then we took a detour over a dirty road of 7 kilometers that leads to the archaeological site of Chauchilla. In the graveyard of Chauchilla we will visit many tombs containing ancient pottery and humans remains. Our guide will be in charge of leading you throughout the place and explain about this old culture that flourished in the zone some 1000 years ago. In addition to the tombs, our customers will also enjoy a beautiful desert landscape surrounded by colourful hills. After touring around Chauchilla, we will go back to Nasca to visit a ceramic studio, where a craftsman will give us a good explanation about the Nazca ceramics. Here we will be able to learn step by step all the process involve in the elaboration of Nazca vessels, as well as purchase some Nazca ceramics and others souvenirs. ..To finish off our tour, we will also visit a local place where miners are working hard in order to extract gold. Here there will be a miner who kindly will explain the old method they use to get the gold out of the rocks. End of the tour.
Our tour Includes:
- Pick up from your Hotel in Nazca (Our company recommend one of the beautiful hotel which is Hotel Maisson Suisse, let us please )
- Private transportation.
- Professional English speaking tour guide.
- Entrance fees.
- Drop off at your Hotel at the end.
- Tour price includes government sales tax (18% as known IGV)
Our tour NOT Included:
- Transport Lima – Nazca or from Cusco.
- Extra drinks or any food.
- Accommodation in Nazca (Our company recommend one of the beautiful hotel which is Hotel Maisson Suisse, let us know please )
- Tips for guide and Camp Staff.
What you need to bring / Carry:
- Small Back pack (30Lt)
- Trekking boots will be better also you can take tennis shoes
- Wind jacket for the beginning
- Water bottle 3Lt minimum
- Hat or cap to protect you from the sun
- Sun block (sun protection cream)
- Sun block to protect you from the sun (factor 30 minimum)
- Selection of small snacks, chocolate, dried fruit, biscuits, etc
- Camera, plenty of film and spare batteries
Tour duration: 3 Hours Aprox.
Departures:09:00 Hrs / 14:30 Hrs.
Recommendations: On this tour you must bring light clothing, as the weather in Nazca used to be very hot, especially in summer time (from December to March) when temperatures can reach 40º C / 104 ºF sometimes.
Additional Information: All your personal information is required at the moment of your booking…Confirmation of the excursion will be received at time of booking; all tours are operated in English unless otherwise stated.
Travel voucher.- You will receive an electronic voucher via e-mail once your booking if confirmed. For every confirmed booking you will be required to print your electronic voucher for presentation at the moment we start the excursion. The electronic voucher acts as a confirmation for all the services you have requested.
Local Operator Information.- We will send you complete operator information, including phone numbers at your destination. Our Managers select only the most experienced and reliable operator in each destination, removing the guesswork for you, and ensuring your peace of mind.
Contact for Booking
If you are interested in any of the tours we have on offer then simply e-mail us at firstname.lastname@example.org or email@example.com Indicate which tour you are interested in, when and we will send you relevant trip dossier outlining the itinerary with availability, tour price, terms and conditions. For contacting us regarding any of the tours or general issues fill in the form mentioned below. Fields mark with are required for processing the form correctly. We will response you as soon as possible.
Travelling in a group?- We offer you great discounts. We offer you the best service to plan the perfect group trip. We can organize bus tours, city tours, family trips and student travel. Let us know your needs, we can also arrange your air and ground transportation in Peru. We offer exciting travel opportunities to over 20 destinations in the land of the Incas. We are sensitive to your needs, taking into consideration budget, special features, places of interest and all factors which can make your trip memorable.
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The American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD) recently published a compelling series of papers that established curriculum guidelines for the training of a new workforce model, dental therapists.
AAPHD is the nation’s largest membership organization of dentists, dental hygienists and others committing to improving the oral health of the public. It believes that adding dental therapists as members of the dental team may help meet growing U.S. oral health needs, particularly among underserved populations. The papers are the work of an academic panel whose 11 members were selected for their expertise, experience and in-depth knowledge of dental education.
For New Mexico, one of the states that is pursuing the dental therapist model, this means we have a template on which to build an education program that would produce quality dental providers who can meet the needs of our remote and underserved population.
This compelling series of papers also includes the following:
- Principles on which a dental therapy program should be based;
- Recommended length of training programs;
- Competencies required for graduates; and
- General curriculum content of such programs.
The proposed model curriculum is based on a two-year, post-secondary training program. The panel reviewed the course of study for dental therapists in programs already in the United States (Minnesota and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium/University of Washington program) and throughout the world. The dental therapist designation is a professional, accredited position in 55 countries.
The entire collection of papers is available online and will be published in a special issue, June 2011 issue of peer-reviewed Journal of Public Health Dentistry.
In a guest editorial introduction to the special issue, panel convener Caswell Evans Jr., DDS, MPH, Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, noted that the absence of a nationally recognized program of study for dental therapists could result in a “patchwork of responsibilities and varying scopes of practice for dental therapists that could lead to confusion by the public.”
The panel’s proposed curriculum should help to answer questions about the training and education for dental therapists and will likely become a model for other states, including New Mexico.
In addition, AAPHD President Diane Brunson, RDH, MPH, said that the recommendations will help establish “a career path for entering the profession to best serve the oral health needs of all populations.”
“We believe that the expert panel recommendations, used as a model to build on, will assure that curricula from school to school and state to state are consistent, of high quality and will pave the way for national accrediting,” she added.
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Warm Start, Cool Middle, Mild Finish
After 60s for many of us on Monday, we cool off to more typical December weather for the balance of the week.
December has definitely started on a different note than November. Temperatures so far are running several degrees above average and Arctic-type cold is in short supply, confined to Europe and Alaska. It will generally stay there and not impact us over the next week, perhaps longer.
This week's weather features a very mild Monday, a mild end of the week, and a typical December pattern in between. Monday's weather features temperatures in the 60s, a mild breeze and some showers or a period of rain in the afternoon through the evening hours as a cold front moves through. There could even be a rare rumble of December thunder with that cold front as it comes through the region.
After that front, 40s for highs and lows around freezing will be the dominant weather for the middle of the work week. It will not be terribly cold, but compared to 60s, it will feel more "normal" for this time of the year. This pattern holds through Thursday before we see temperatures inch higher for Friday and the weekend.
The next storm system of note looks to impact us on Sunday or Monday of next week with a round of showers. There could be a couple of storms of note between next Sunday and Wednesday, with the second of these a stronger storm and potentially bringing more rain and wind. However, those who want colder weather may have to wait until Christmas time to get their wish.
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An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt: "India successfully tested Sunday a 'maneuverable' version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile which it has jointly developed with Russia, news reports said. The vertical-launch version of the 290-kilometer range BrahMos was tested from a warship in the Bay of Bengal off India's eastern coast, the PTI news agency reported. 'The vertical-launch version of missile was launched at 11:30 (0600 GMT) hours today from Indian Navy ship INS Ranvir and it manoeuvred successfully hitting the target ship. It was a perfect hit and a perfect mission,' BrahMos aerospace chief A Sivathanu Pillai was quoted as saying. 'After today's test, India has become the first and only country in the world to have a manoeuvrable supersonic cruise missile in its inventory,' Pillai said."
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With Uncertain Financial Future, Cloudy Skies Ahead for American Cleantech
Clean energy innovation in the United States is moving to financially friendlier shores—like China
Looking at 2011 VC investment figures, it seems like the cleantech industry in the United States is doing just fine. According to the Cleantech Group, a market intelligence advisory group based in San Francisco that has been tracking cleantech investments for the past decade, 2011 is the first year that saw more than $2 billion in cleantech venture investment in all four quarters. 4Q11 saw an impressive $2.21 billion in cleantech VC investments.
But if you take a closer—and wider—view, the bigger story isn’t all that great. For one thing, the numbers for seed-stage deals were flat as investor focus turned to re-investing in firms already in their portfolios, firms that needed later-stage growth capital. In dollar terms, the news for early-stage startups across all industries is even worse. In 2011, VCs invested just $919 million in seed capital in 396 companies, a decrease of almost 50 percent from the previous year. In fact, seed-stage deals were the only stage of VC funding in 2011 to experience a decrease in average size. On the other side, late-stage VC investments in 2011 experienced a 37 percent increase.
Troubled Times for Cleantech VC
That change in focus is part of a worrisome trend: According to Third Way, a Washington DC-based think tank, there were twice as many late-stage deals than early-stage deals in the cleantech sector in 2010—the first time that late-stage financing overtook early-stage development since 1999.
The trend has sounded alarm bells about the state of cleantech innovation in the United States: If VCs are targeting re-investments in portfolio companies, where does that leave innovative start-ups in dire need of financing? One concern is that without VC interest in committing seed money to new ideas, America’s start-ups will look overseas for funding, leaving the nation in a cleantech innovation drag.
For investors, the move away from start-up financing towards companies that are closer to turning a profit is understandable, particularly considering the nation’s uncertain economic state. Untested ideas, though they may have merit, are left to the wayside. “Cleantech hasn’t been a failure,” noted Daniel Yates, CEO of Opower, a customer engagement platform for the utility industry. “It’s VC investment in cleantech that has been troubled.”
The Valley of Death: Only Uncle Sam Can Help Build the Bridge to Clean Energy
The answer, according to some analysts, isn’t to stimulate the VC industry, but to look to Uncle Sam. Indeed, over the past few years, the federal government’s investment in cleantech has dwarfed that of venture capitalists. Between 2009 and 2014, Washington will have spent more than $150 billion in cleantech—more than three times the amount spent during the previous five-year period.
But, according to researchers from the Brookings Institution, the World Resources Institute and the Breakthrough Institute, in the excellent 2012 report Beyond Boom and Bust: Putting Clean Tech on a Path to Subsidy Independence, “To ensure a fully competitive energy market, the federal government must also do more to speed the demonstration and commercialization of new advanced energy technologies.”
The authors—Jesse Jenkins, Director of Energy and Climate Policy, Breakthrough Institute; Mark Muro, Senior Fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program, Brookings Institution; Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, Cofounders, Breakthrough Institute; Letha Tawney, Senior Associate, World Resources Institute; and Alex Trembath, Policy Associate, Breakthrough Institute—note that “private sector financing is typically insufficient to move new energy innovations from early-stage laboratory research on to proof-of-concept prototype and then to full commercial scale.”
They cite two financing gaps that they say “kill off too many promising new technologies before they have a chance to develop.” One is known as the “technological valley of death,” in which investors are hesitant to invest in early-stage R&D, hampering a start-up’s ability to develop breakthrough concepts into marketable products. The other is the “commercialization valley of death,” when young firms cannot find financing to take them from the pilot or demonstration phase of their product’s tech development cycle to full commercial readiness.
“To avoid locking America’s entrepreneurs and innovators out of energy markets, Congress should implement new policies to navigate the clean energy valleys of death,” the authors recommend. “Without such policies, conventional fossil energy technologies are effectively insulated from new challengers, preventing a fully competitive US energy market.”
The Well is Running Dry: Federal Clean Energy Investment to Enter Steep Decline
The problem, however, is that federal cleantech funding, as described by The New York Times editorial board, “is about to drop off a cliff.” The reason for this is simple: The clean energy incentives and subsidies provided by President Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus bill—amounting to $65 billion, including loan guarantees for wind and solar power—will largely be dismantled by 2014. To make matters worse, other longer-standing subsidies, like the mission-critical Production Tax Credit (PTC), are expiring.
For the cleantech industry, the numbers are hard to swallow. By 2014, annual federal cleantech spending is set to decline 75 percent to $11 billion (the high, in 2009, was $44.3 billion). In addition, 70 percent of all federal clean energy policies that were active in 2009 are set to expire at the end of 2014.
There’s also the effect that the expiries will have on jobs. According to a Brookings Institute report, Obama’s stimulus package was the cause of an 8.3-percent increase in jobs in the renewable energy sector, an impressive figure especially considering it happened at the height (or rather, depth) of the recession.
The thought of renewing such incentives is a bit pie-in-the-sky. Obama’s stimulus bill was passed when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. While the clean energy-friendly side of the aisle still controls the Senate, “the Republican wrecking crew in the House,” as The New York Times notes, “remains generally hostile to programs that threaten the hegemony of the oil and gas interests.”
Drill, Baby, Drill: The GOP Will Kill Clean Energy
The House, for example, recently defeated an amendment proposed by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to extend the wind energy PTC, mostly along party lines. Many analysts say the loss of the PTC is a significant blow to America’s wind sector.
“There’s such uncertainty in the market right now,” said Laura Arnold, who sits on the board of directors of the Indiana Renewable Energy Association. “Uncertainty is not a positive stimulus for the growth of the industry…It’s not completely over, but it’s going to be on life support until we have another policy in its place to give the right inducement to the industry.”
And if Mitt Romney wins the presidency, more dark days for the nation’s cleantech sector are certain. The GOP hopeful’s recently unveiled energy plan calls for opening up oil and gas development along the Atlantic Coast and—much to the chagrin of environmentalists and conservationists—the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), while ending much-needed subsidies for wind and solar.
For American Cleantech CEOs, A One Way Ticket to China
With venture capitalists largely abandoning early-stage projects and the federal government’s investments set for a massive decline, America’s cleantech industry is bracing for tough times in the coming years. “America’s innovators will likely be forced to commercialize their technologies in other countries,” warn the Beyond Boom and Bust authors, “where foreign governments offer greater policy support, putting the United States at a competitive disadvantage.”
You can count on America’s cleantech entrepreneurs to be booking tickets to Beijing, Shanghai or one of China’s growing tech hubs, like Chengdu, Dalian, Hangzhou and Xian. And considering what’s happening in the United States, who can blame them? China has been roundly beating America in the cleantech race. With clean energy investments hitting a remarkable $9 billion a month, the Middle Kingdom is set to be the world’s leading solar and wind market by 2016.
In fact, the American cleantech brain drain is already underway. In November, Cleantech Group will be taking 10-15 cleantech companies—along with “a select few investors, corporate executives, and other key stakeholders”—on a whirlwind tour of cleantech hotspots in China, which includes “introductions with key leaders” in an effort to “provide the cleantech CEOs with an excellent taste of cleantech in China as it is today, as well as the opportunity to expose their companies to multiple China-based investors and partners interested in acquiring, investing in, and helping them ‘go to China.’”
The late 20th-century Chinese philosopher and diplomat Hu Shih once observed, “India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.” In terms of cleantech, it looks like China will be doing something similar to the United States. But this time, there will be border crossings: American cleantech CEOs leaving U.S. shores. And unless America’s lawmakers make it more lucrative—and predictable—for cleantech investors at home, those shores will be home to more dirty drilling platforms, not clean wind farms.
Whitney Michael. 2011 Investment Monitor Report Released. Cleantech Group LLC. February 17, 2012. Accessed September 18, 2012.
Chad Goldberg. 2011 Venture Capital Statistics. FindTheBest.com. January 30, 2012. Accessed September 17, 2012.
Josh Freed and Mae Stevens. Nothing Ventured: The Crisis in Clean Tech Investment. The Clean Energy Program & The Capital Markets Initiative. Thirdway.org. November 2011. Accessed September 17, 2012.
Ted Nordhaus, Michael Shellenberger, Alex Trembath and Jesse Jenkins. Beyond Boom and Bust: Report Overview. Breakthrough Institute. April 17, 2012. Accessed September 17, 2012.
The New York Times Editorial Board. The End of Clean Energy Subsidies? The New York Times. May 5, 2012. Accessed September 18, 2012.
Ibid., 5.
Brookings Institute. Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment. July 13, 2012. Accessed September 18, 2012.
Ibid., 9.
North American Windpower. House Kills Amendment Supporting Wind Energy PTC Extension. September 17, 2012. Accessed September 18, 2012.
Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representative. House Floor Activities: Legislative Day of September 14, 2012. September 14, 2012. Accessed September 18, 2012.
Hayleigh Colombo. Gone with the wind? Messages mixed on nearby renewable energy projects. September 17, 2012. JConline.com. Gannett. Accessed September 18, 2012.
Richard Harris. Romney’s Energy Plan Doubles Down On Fossil Fuels. NPR.org. August 23, 2012. Accessed September 18, 2012.
Ibid., 3.
One Block Off the Grid. Infographic: Why China is Kicking Our **** in Clean Tech. 1bog.org. July 20, 2011. Accessed September 18, 2012.
Cleantech Group. Apply to Participate in the 2012 ‘Cleantech Goes to China’ Tour. Cleantech.com. May 21, 2012. Accessed September 18, 2012.
|Tags: cleantech innovation production tax credit startups Venture Capital||[ Permalink ]|
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OECD Home › Environment Directorate › Latest Documents
Publication of the Report of the Workshop on Risk Assessment of Manufactured Nanomaterials in a Regulatory Context
This joint project builds on work undertaken by two separate OECD WPMN activities, former Project one (Development of an OECD database on Human Health and Environmental Safety Research) and former Project two (EHS Research strategies on Manufactured Nanomaterials).
The current document presents the information obtained from the WPMN Questionnaire on regulatory Regimes for Manufactured Nanomaterials issued July 28, 2008.
This document is the report of the workshop held on 16-18 September 2009 in Washington D.C., United States, co-hosted by Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) and Society for Risk Analysis (SRA).
English, , 73kb
This side event addressed several recent developments in policies for sustainable transport.
This study attempts to clarify what sort of impact was exerted by policy instruments on the development and spread of SOx reduction technology from the 1960s up to the present.
English, , 47kb
In 2008, the OECD carried out a survey of people's behaviour towards the environment in ten OECD countries and five areas including energy. This article from the OECD Observer provides information on the findings that emerge from this survey in the water area.
English, , 81kb
In 2008, the OECD carried out a survey of people's behaviour towards the environment in ten OECD countries and five areas including energy. This article from the OECD Observer provides information on the findings that emerge from this survey in the energy area.
This document compiles the operational plans 2009-2012 for the eight projects of the WPMN and it is published on the responsibility of the Joint Meeting of the Chemicals Committee and the Working Party on Chemicals, Pesticides and Biotechnology of the OECD.
Our production and consumption patterns are causing irreversible damage to the earth and its atmosphere and we need to urgently reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, according to Angel Gurría. He added that cutting GHG emissions will inevitably involve a restructuring of the economy. Government policies must play a key role not only to enhance the competitive edge of “green” industries, but also to smooth the transition for those that
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Search our database of Supreme Court Order Lists
Database coverage, search tips, and other informationThis database contains actions of the Supreme Court as described in their regular Monday order lists. The database begins with the first order list issued in October of 1998 and continues through the most recent order list issued by the Court.
Most importantly, order lists contain information on which cases the Court agrees to hear (cases for which the Court "grants certiorari") or decides to let stand as they were decided in a lower court (cases in which the Court "denies certiorari"). Other information contained in order lists includes a variety of decisions about procedural matters, about how cases are to be heard and argued, about the filing of briefs, and about other administrative matters.
The form above permits you to search using as much information as you know about a particular case. Putting more information into the form further restricts the search. For example:
- Filling in one of the party name fields with Smith would retrieve all cases in which either of the parties was named Smith.
- Filling in one party name field with Smith and the second with Teachers would get all cases in which one party was named Smith and the other contained the word Teachers
- Filling in the party name Smith and the date fields with 01/01/99 and 01/31/99 would fetch all Smith cases from January of 1999, but
- Filling in only the date fields with 01/01/99 and 01/31/99 would get all January 1999 cases regardless of party name.
- Filling in only the "from" field gets all cases after that date.
- Filling in only the "to" field gets all cases before that date.
- Since a docket number uniquely identifies a case, no further information is needed if you make use of a docket number in searching.
- Note that all dates should be entered in the format MM/DD/YY, eg. 12/31/99 for the 31st of December, 1999.
- Checking the "substring search" box causes your search terms to be matched if they occur as part of a word, eg. Smith would retrieve Smith, Smithsonian, Naismith, etc.
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Researchers Believe Genes May Hold the Key to Longevity
September 7th, 2010
Recent research carried out by the Boston Medical Centre, University of Boston, shed new light on the role genetics play in the aging process. The study, entitled the “New England Centenarian Study,” is the largest study of people who have reached the age of 100, and includes data from as far back as 1995.
It was found that 77% of the 1000 participants possessed 150 genetic variants in common, so-called ‘longevity genes’. From this research it may be concluded that the presence of these genes in individuals could possibly indicate an increased potential to live to the age of 100.
Environmental Influences also Play a Significant Part in Lifespan
Simply possessing these genes does not insure you are going to live a long, fruitful life. Environmental factors play a huge role in determining ones life expectancy. Factors such as smoking, becoming overweight, and diet will all play a part in determining how long a person will live – which are the same factors life insurance companies have to take into account when assessing a person’s insurance premiums. It is also worth noting that although it seems 77% of people made it to the age of 100 with genetic factors helping them, 23% did it without.
‘Longevity’ Genes may Suppress Harmful ‘Aging’ Genes
Exactly what part these genes play in increasing lifespan is not entirely known. Previously it was thought some people lived longer because they lacked some of the harmful genes which hasten the onset of aging diseases; this new research tells us that in fact longer-lived people possess all the harmful genes, along with the 150 newly identified ones.
This would seem to indicate that ‘longevity genes’ have an ability to suppress harmful genes, somehow limiting their power to trigger aging illnesses in individuals. It was also discovered that in 90% of the centenarians studied none suffered from any typical age-related illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s or dementia, until after the age of 93.
Implications for Medicine and Life Insurance
This study has big implications for preventative medicine in the area of aging related disease. It is hoped that further research will be extended in order to focus on different nationalities including the Japanese, believed to have the longest life expectancies of people on the planet. This type of research will also be of great interest to life insurance companies – access to this type of new genetic information might give life insurers a more informed way of assessing risk; knowing that potential life insurance customers have genes which make them likely to live to 100 might reduce life insurance premiums for them since a payout on their life insurance might be a long way off.
Better rates on life insurance would be great – but being told you possess ‘longevity genes’ can’t really be topped.
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Brigadier General S. Pete Worden
Cambridge Conference Network
Mon, 07 Feb 2000 09:52 CST
I can show people evidence of real strikes inflicting local and regional damage less than a century ago. Even more compelling are the frequent kiloton-level detonations our early warning satellites see in the earth's atmosphere.
Within the United States space community there is a growing concern over "space situational awareness." We are beginning to understand that it is essential to identify and track virtually everything in earth orbit. Some of these objects, down to a few centimeters in size, present a potential threat to commercial and civil space operations such as the International Space Station.
What then should we do? What role should the US Government, and specifically the US DoD play in what everyone agrees is an international concern?
I'll begin my short CCNet-essay with a disclaimer. The US Department of Defense (DoD) has no official view on the Near-Earth Object (NEO) hazard. We have agreed to assist the overall United States effort led by NASA with technology and observational support. Official disclaimers out of the way, I'll provide my personal views in the remainder of the essay.
For those readers who don't know me, I'm a US Air Force officer with a background as a research astronomer. Although I began as a solar physicist my current research interests--in the few moments I have time to do research--are focused on NEOs and meteors. Most of my recent work for the Air Force has been in developing options to perform selected national security missions from and through space. In the past decade I was responsible for much of the US DoD work to develop small satellites, microsatellites and reusable satellite launchers. The 1994 Clementine mission to the moon (originally intended to include an asteroid flyby) was one of the my programs.
I will assume that most readers share in the view that NEOs have and will continue to play a central role in the evolution of life on this planet. I'll also assume that we more or less agree that we face a continuing threat from these objects. Most analyses focus on the big threats--objects which can threaten life globally and have the potential to destroy or seriously damage our species. I for one believe we should pay more attention to the "Tunguska-class" objects--100 meter or so objects which can strike up to several times per century with the destructiveness of a nuclear weapon.
NEO discussions in the United States have, as I believe they have everywhere, suffered from the fact that catastrophic NEO impacts are so rare and hence so unlikely to occur in our lifetimes. Whereas people may pay good money to see a movie thriller about asteroid strikes or read with great interest of the demise of the dinosaurs, a once- every-few- tens-of-millions-of- years possibility is not real to most people. Decision makers simply are unwilling to spend scarce resources on such an unlikely catastrophe -- however terrible it may be or even if it is inevitable.
Conversely, I can show people evidence of real strikes inflicting local and regional damage less than a century ago. Even more compelling are the frequent kiloton-level detonations our early warning satellites see in the earth's atmosphere. These are threats the public and its leaders will take seriously. These are threats we can understand. And these are even threats we could mitigate, if required, without recourse to nuclear technology.
Many of my colleagues in the US national security community have advocated a proactive role for our community. They would have us build and demonstrate a NEO defense system--perhaps based on nuclear weapons. This is premature. What we need now is a full characterization of first the phenomenon and then the threat which it might entail. We need to know how many objects there are, where they are and when any closely approach the Earth. And we need to know the composition and structure of all classes of NEOs. This is where the US national security establishment can play an important role.
Within the United States space community there is a growing concern over "space situational awareness." We are beginning to understand that it is essential to identify and track virtually everything in earth orbit. Some of these objects, down to a few centimeters in size, present a potential threat to commercial and civil space operations such as the International Space Station. Commercial space operations exceeded government space operations for the first time in the last few years. We have begun the era of "global utilities" such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) in which our ways of life are becoming critically dependent on space systems. All of these demand the ability to search essentially all of space near the earth about once every few hours and track up to 300,000 objects.
The US Department of Defense has a network of sensors that perform this function but in a limited capacity compared to what is desired. We plan on upgrading the system over the next decade or so--including space-based sensors--to provide comprehensive search, detection and tracking of space objects. The LINEAR system which has been so successful over the past year in detecting NEOs is a prototype of our next generation ground-based optical system. With relatively simple modifications to operations, our future space surveillance system could produce a comprehensive catalog of NEOs at little or no expense to the scientific community.
If the international community had to duplicate this network of sensors, it would cost 100s of millions of dollars, if not more. Simple economics argue that this is a portion of the NEO problem that should be urged upon and given to the US Military. For this reason I believe the growing community of experts on the NEO threat should not direct their efforts to building and funding more ground-based telescopes. Although I must caveat that not everyone in the DoD is as eager as am I to take on the NEO task!
Enthusiasm grows for the next generation satellite, the so-called "microsatellite." These are 100 kilogram-class satellites costing about $5-10M US to build and an equivalent amount to launch. Leading the world in the development of these microsatellites are a number of European groups. Their rapid progress has been enabled by the capacity of the Ariane IV and V launchers to carry as auxiliary payloads up to eight microsatellites into a GEO transfer orbit at a cost of about $1 million per satellite. NASA, US academic institutions and US aerospace companies have begun efforts to develop microsatellites for space science and planetary exploration missions.
Similarly, the DoD is beginning the development of similar small size microsatellites for servicing and re-fueling larger mission satellites. These microsatellites should allow for low-cost missions to a wide range of NEOs--including missions to fully characterize their structure and possibly bring back samples to earth. Microsatellite missions can also assist in the surveillance and cataloguing of NEOs as there is some doubt that sensors based on the earth or in earth orbit can detect all of the potentially threatening objects. Microsatellites internal to the earths orbit--perhaps in a Venus-type orbit--could provide a low-cost solution. This is potentially another task for low-cost microsatellites. The NEO research community community will have access to both low-cost spacecraft and low-cost launch. In addition to Ariane, the United States Air Force is putting a similar auxiliary microsatellite adapter on our new EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) launch systems.
What then should we do? What role should the US Government, and specifically the US DoD play in what everyone agrees is an international concern? I believe we in the US DoD can and should agree to modify our space surveillance systems to identify and track all potentially threatening NEOs--probably down to about the 100 meter class. In parallel, in situ studies of NEOs using low-cost microsatellite missions should begin immediately. These missions can and should involve NASA, ESA, other European space agencies as well as the US DoD. These missions can use new technology to rendezvous, inspect, sample, and even impact NEOs to study their composition and structure. With an estimated cost of about $10-20M per mission, including data reduction and launch, this is an affordable program. Here is where I would focus the growth of official interest in NEOs as evidenced by the recent UK decision to stand up a formal program.
And finally, I would propose focusing on the very small end of NEOs--100 meters diameter or less. At any given time there are probably tens of objects 10 meters or larger in cislunar space. These are easily accessible to the low-cost microsatellite mission.
Should we worry now about mitigating the NEO hazard? I would say no, until a bona fide threat emerges. This will avoid much of the political consternation that has arisen in the past from nuclear weapon experts advocating weapons retention and even testing in space. After all, we can't reliably divert an NEO until we know much more about its structure. This we'll get from a decade of dedicated microsatellite missions. Some of these missions may even have as a side experiment moving very small (10-50 meter class) NEOs by impacting them. This could give us much of the necessary experience should a true threat emerge in the near future.
Another benefit of a focused international NEO space mission suite is public awareness and enthusiasm. From a scientific standpoint, these are primordial objects--the stuff of which we were made. People throughout the world, as well as the entire scientific community, will truly embrace such an exciting endeavor. Moreover, space visionaries often look to the NEOs as the raw material of eventual space industrialization. We originally chose the title "Clementine" for the 1994 lunar and NEO probe launched by the DoD for this purpose. An old American song about a frontier miner's daughter, Clementine, was the origin of the mission's name. We hoped to evoke not only the spirit of the frontier but also to leverage the appeal that valuable lunar and asteroid mineral resources might have.
In summary, I believe we have an opportunity to harness public interest, government attention and existing expertise on the NEO problem. An objective program should have two complementary parts. First, to detect and to catalog virtually all threatening objects. This can be considerably easier and cheaper if the US DoD can be persuaded to adopt it as part of its current space surveillance mission. Second, we should mount a modest, low-cost program to fully characterize the composition and structure of all classes of NEOs. The latter can and should be an international effort involving space agencies around the world. When, and not until, we find a likely threat is the time to work hard on mitigation.
S. Pete Worden, Brigadier General (sel),
USAF Deputy Director for Command and Control Headquarters,
United States Air Force
The Pentagon, Washington, DC USA
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AIDS, like cancer, is a disease that is seen as having no cure, with standard treatments that are viewed as having many side effects. In response to these uncertainties in cancer, a thriving underground has evolved offering "cures" and treatments based on unproven (often disproven) and conflicting theories. They all promise miraculous improvements beyond the power of standard treatments and usually promise few or no side effects.
In AIDS, at least two types of underground have evolved. One is the familiar buyer's club -- community-based groups which strive to improve access to legitimate treatments. But a second underground has emerged. It's quite similar to the one found in cancer, offering the same sort of things -- and sometimes the exact same things from the exact same practitioners.
Project Inform's National HIV/AIDS Treatment Infoline receives a steady stream of calls about mysterious treatments that don't have Food and Drug (FDA) Administration evaluation or approval. Nonetheless, they're being sold to the public with claims of being effective. Our generic name for these treatments is "cures-of-the-week." Over the years, Project Inform has looked at hundreds of these claims and products, ranging from interesting medicines to formulas purportedly delivered from the flight decks of flying saucers.
Assessing such magical cures -- separating the truly crazy from the plausible -- is more difficult than it may sound. Most offer some evidence of satisfied users, typically AIDS patients who feel they have benefited. We hear claims from sincere people who saw their CD4+ cell counts rise, who "felt much better," or who "recovered miraculously" from some infection or condition.
These people are hard to argue with, as they truly believe that their treatment discovery is responsible for their newfound well-being. The last thing they want to hear is someone questioning their experiences. Project Inform respectfully sees these individuals as "true believers." Sincere "true believers" help support almost every kind of treatment, reporting similar kinds of improvements. However, our long-term experience with hundreds of products is that few if any of these experiences ever predict the real value of the treatments.
Using Resources as a Guide
Ideally, some authoritative and unbiased agency would investigate all these treatments and the practitioners who make unfounded claims. Several states have established AIDS Fraud Task Force groups to help address this issue in a way that's sensitive to the community. Of course, the FDA has authority to control the sale of products and the claims made about them. Various state and local agencies have some responsibility in this area as well.
Information sources, like Project Inform, try to offer some consumer guidance since we're often the first to hear of new therapies. Rarely, some charlatan is arrested or sued, but in recent years this problem has grown out of control. This is perhaps because standard treatments are rife with problems, which include side effects and difficulty of use.
No one has the resources to respond to every new claim and product. Many patients assume that if these practitioners aren't shut down by law, they must be legitimate. It's a bit like believing that the things we read in newspapers and hear on TV must be true. In fact, it just means that the issues are complex and regulatory resources are spread very thin.
Evaluating treatments is not easy. Very rarely can anyone predict which experimental HIV treatment may someday be used as standard therapy. Even among treatments in FDA-approved studies, researchers differ greatly about what's promising and what isn't.
But, in dealing with cures-of-the-week, judgments are sometimes easier to make since precise evaluations aren't necessary. Often, all that's needed is a general sense of whether something is rational or not. What follows is a short guide to what sort of evidence matters and what doesn't in evaluating these treatments, as well as a guide to the warning signs of possible AIDS fraud.
Using Common Sense as a Guide
Probably the most important thing to keep in mind, in looking at cures-of-the-week, is not to lose your common sense. Of course there are people in genuinely desperate circumstances who feel they have nothing to lose. Unfortunately, desperate situations don't tend to bring out common sense.
But a moment's clear thought will tell you that a nurse practitioner who wants to infuse you with an expensive mystery substance in Tijuana has probably not solved the great medical puzzle of our time. People go from one questionable treatment to another like playing the lottery -- but with less chance of winning.
The saddest and most dangerous thing about cures-of-the-week, however, is not the money they take from dying people. It's the harm they do to people who could benefit from more mainstream treatments but who let their health run out by pursuing fly-by-night cures.
There is at least one cure-of-the-week that is given away to patients and has no particular side effects; so it is said that people have nothing to lose. In fact, if they go off their regular medications to try a treatment that has virtually no chance of producing any benefit, they're risking a decline in their health. There are people who've exhausted everything that can be done with current anti-HIV therapy, but there are far more people who, in a futile search for home-run drugs with no possible side effects, neglect the available options with some evidence of benefit.
Obviously, there is no "cure" for AIDS now -- only treatments and combinations of them that buy time until a cure can be found. In the meantime, the cures-of-the-week come over the hills in waves, beyond anyone's capacity to keep track of them. People will go on running to Mexico, Kenya, Bavaria and shady practitioners all over America, lured by the promise of miracles. Money is the least important thing they will lose.
The following forms of evidence are considered questionable, if not misleading. If these are the kinds of evidence offered about a treatment, you can be pretty sure that something is wrong.
The most common, of course, are case reports or anecdotal evidence. These are observations backed by personal testimony. It's always impressive to hear from a live person that a treatment works, and most people find this compelling. If it worked for him or her, then why not me?
But reports of success, which are often fleeting, unfortunately don't help much. In fact hardly ever has there been a treatment in the history of the epidemic that some people didn't claim to do well on. No matter how unlikely, unscientific or transparently mercenary the marketing for the treatment may be, there is always a group of true believers who are evangelical in their enthusiasm for it.
How is this possible, if the treatments are phony? There are some obvious, and some subtle, reasons why everything seems to work for somebody. One is the power of the mind. People in studies who think they're getting a toxic drug often experience its side effects, even though they took a placebo (a dummy sugar pill). Likewise, people who think they're getting a beneficial drug often get better, at least for awhile, even though the drug may later be proven to have no effect or it was a placebo.
These are not imaginary events -- people often have measurable changes. But they are not always due to the treatment. The so-called placebo effect is very real. Because it is such a powerful force, complex procedures are used in studies to separate it from the actual effects of treatment. Sometimes, perceived benefits are proportional to cost. People who have made a big investment in a questionable treatment, emotionally and financially, may at a minimum feel increased energy and well-being -- for awhile.
Another reason is chance. No one fully understands or can predict the "natural course" of HIV disease. In treated and untreated people, CD4+ cell counts rise and fall, symptoms come and go, and there are long periods of stabilization and steep declines. All this happens without any definitive explanation or cause. Simply put, HIV disease varies greatly in people.
Inexperienced practitioners often think a miracle has occurred the first time they give a patient their elixir and some lab values improve or the patient goes on to live a fairly normal life for awhile. To them it appears to be the direct result of their treatment. To someone new to AIDS treatment (patient or practitioner) simple stabilization looks like a breakthrough. Like much of the public, they expect HIV infection to be a state of constant, obvious decline leading to death. As any long-term patient will confirm, it is not.
Controlled studies are the only known means for accurately separating the results of treatment from the general ups and downs of HIV infection and the placebo effect. We have yet to hear of any "miraculous" improvements that haven't been duplicated on standard anti-HIV therapy or no treatment at all.
Other Good Things Are Inside
Another source of confusion is that even if a treatment doesn't do what is claimed, it might do something. Therapies containing vitamins, herbs or food supplements may -- while having no special anti-HIV effect -- improve deficiencies in some people. It's a process that's sure to miss a lot more often than it hits. It achieves nothing that couldn't be achieved through standard care; but it may happen.
Personal testimony by itself and however sincere isn't a good basis, on its own, for making decisions. Similarly, the sincerity of the practitioner tells us little. While there are a few outright con artists, most practitioners believe fervently in their own products. They focus on the results that can be interpreted as positive, and they dismiss failures as unimportant. Their sincerity isn't in question -- their competence is.
Studies in Developing Countries
A final common source of misinformation is reports of studies or proposed studies in developing countries. It is no fault of doctors in Africa, Latin America or the Caribbean that they may not have the medical resources available to researchers in developed nations. Certainly, serious research has been done in these places.
But all too often, these "studies" are just treatment observations done under totally uncontrolled conditions with inferior facilities. They're often sponsored by white middle-class entrepreneurs more concerned about making money and promoting products rather than evaluating them. Such people prey upon medical practitioners and patients in the developing world after they have been booted out of the developed nations.
The track record of research in developing countries is not good, and it has not led to promising HIV treatments now under study in developed countries. These treatments are promoted in both developed and developing countries. But in most developed countries, research must meet rigid standards, making it harder for promoters to make false claims.
Profile of a Fraudulent Practitioner
- Usually male, middle-aged, in second or third career, sometimes charismatic.
- History of failure or rejection in previous careers, including other scientific careers not related to HIV.
- Claims to solve what everyone else missed.
- Claims he's "too busy" saving lives to keep records.
- Superficial knowledge of the disease he treats.
- Attacks the integrity of all who question him.
- May or may not be "True Believer."
Here are some warning signs of questionable treatments or practitioners.
Anyone charging excessive and unexplained prices for a treatment that's not undergoing serious scientific study is suspect. Careful thinking is needed here to separate the genuinely promising yet expensive therapies from those that are expensive but unwarranted.
In general, the more a treatment costs, the more evidence you should demand that it works. If no actual studies have been done or are underway, find out why. The explanation had better be good. Any variation on "it's too much trouble," "we don't have the resources," "we can't wait," "we're too busy saving lives," or "the system is biased against us" should set off an alarm. Similar statements, word for word, have been the war cry of medical con artists for nearly a century.
Valid processes exist for determining what works and what doesn't. Sometimes you'll see products that are based only on test tube, animal or pre-clinical studies. Treatments that never enter or even try to enter normal drug development (with all its flaws and delays) will never be proven, widely accepted or available. So why would any ethical doctor leave a genuinely hopeful treatment in this limbo?
Anyone keeping secrets or holding back information about the offered treatment is highly suspect. Also suspect are products promoted solely on personal testimonials and second-hand reports, while studies that will happen "any day now" never come around. We know of no real reason why patients can't be told exactly what's in the product and how it's supposed to work. A researcher can quickly and easily obtain patent protection for a legitimate treatment. Failure to do so smacks of snake oil at its most blatant.
Works for Many Diseases
Any treatment is suspect that claims to work equally well for many major diseases, especially both AIDS and cancer or auto-immune diseases. A few may turn out to affect some cancers by improving immune function; but claims of multi-disease benefits are almost certainly bogus. Others to beware of include those that claim to be a "cure" or render patients HIV-negative or ones that are promoted as miraculous, foolproof or boosting the immune system.
AIDS and cancer are entirely different diseases -- there's no reason to expect that a single product works for both. Simplistic, unusual theories of AIDS, medicine or biology are often given to explain why the same treatments work for radically different diseases. These are seldom more than fantasies or simply the product of marketing -- not miracles of science.
Specialty Not in HIV
Anyone claiming an HIV cure but whose area of specialization is far removed from AIDS is suspect. The average heart specialist or general practitioner didn't learn about AIDS in medical school, let alone people without medical degrees. People without achievements in the field of medicine are very unlikely to unravel the complexities of HIV disease. Project Inform often receives miracle "cures" sent by electricians, physicists, spiritualists and flying saucer contactees.
Travel to Other Countries
Anyone offering a treatment that requires travel to foreign countries is suspect. Normally, the reason is to do something that isn't allowed here. Legitimate studies in other countries are usually filled by local people, and are free as studies must be. Promising treatments approved overseas can often be imported for personal use. There's no reason to believe that high-priced treatments from Switzerland or Peru are any more promising than the magical "cures" offered here. Often, these products come from little known doctors or "researchers" whose credibility can't be verified.
Anyone who cites articles in obscure publications or research done in obscure institutions is suspect. Vitamin Magazine, whatever its virtues, has no competency in HIV research questions. References to foundations or centers with impressive titles that nobody has ever heard of should set off alarm bells.
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This Lego nativity scene with a kataluma by Jacob Hosanna pictures the space in which Jesus was born rather than the traditional manger in a stable story.
Pádraig Ó Tuama notes in “Plenty of Room at the Inn: The Nativity Scene Resurrected” that the misinterpretation of the Christmas story, as is commonly told, may miss the point of Luke’s gospel and that Christians might miss the more important message within.
“We must always be attentive to the edges of our own storytelling. Attractive as it may be to children, and lodged as it may be upon the portrayed scenes of religious Christmas cards, it is simply incorrect to think that Mary and Joseph were forced into a stable.”
The Three Christmases of the Holy Land
by Taline Voskeritchian, guest contributor
In the lands between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, the first of three Christmas celebrations was on December 24, the Christmas of the English, or so we thought of it then in the years of my adolescence. My family — ethnic Armenians, Christians by subscription more than piety — had settled in Jordan, a largely Muslim country, where I grew into adulthood, pulled this way and that by the three Christmases of the Holy Land. Of course it was a misnomer to call it the Christmas of the English because December 24 was celebrated by Catholic and Protestant Arabs as well.
In those days, in the 1950s and 1960s, the Middle East was a very different place from what it has become of late. Unlike the Christians of Iraq today, we had little fear, did not hide our religious affiliation but did not brag about it either. In the Holy Land of those times, celebrations of Christmas were for us and Muslims, at least at our post-colonial school which had been run for many years by English missionaries; it had a mixed student body of Christians and Muslims.
For me, the home of the English Christmas was the Ahliyyah School for Girls, which I attended after third grade and all the way to the end. The Ahliyyah, which is still a thriving school, was the successor to the Christian Missionary School, whose British headmistress was whisked away in the wake of the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis. The school’s name was changed, as well as the board. The Christmas celebrations persisted.
Making Room for Both Traditions of Christmas and Hanukkah
by Meg Smith, guest contributor
Although I was born on Christmas, I feel like I’m slightly part Hanukkah now. Each year since I remarried — an event which brought two Jewish stepchildren into my life — I have anticipated the Festival of Lights with almost as much excitement as my hybrid celebration of the Winter Solstice/Yule and Christmas.
My stepchildren are actually half-Hanukkah and half-Christmas; their mother is Jewish, their father is not. Their parents long ago agreed the children would be raised Jewish, so they are attending the several years of Hebrew school that prepare them to become a bar and bat mitzvah. Having grown up with Christian and Jewish extended families, however, they have honored their heritage from both sides by celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas from the time they were born. As each year draws to a close, they look forward to lighting Hanukkah candles as well as decorating the Christmas tree with their doting, out-of-town Presbyterian grandparents.
“Magnum Mysterium” by Chanticleer
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Fred Child and the producers of Performance Today have created a substantial repository of free music from the live concerts and in-studio performances they broadcast on public radio. This year, three ensembles — Calmus, New York Polyphony, and Chanticleer — are offering free downloads of some of these performances.
I’ll post one track from each group during the course of the day, but I recommend you head over to PT’s website and download them for yourself.
A Polish Grandmother’s Christmas Story
by Paul Clement Czaja, guest contributor
A Christmas scene from Syria. (Charles Roffey/Flickr, cc by-nc-sa 2.0)
As a Polish family, the real celebration of Christ’s birth for us took place on Christmas Eve with the singing of carols before sharing together a festive dinner. And then, finally, when the night outside was deep and decorated with a billion stars, all the family would sit around the Christmas tree, and our dad would give out the presents to each and every one of us. But my story takes place on that Christmas Eve afternoon so many years ago when I was still a kid growing up in the Bronx.
After my mother had prepared the big dining room table with a large, lovely white linen tablecloth, Grandma would come down from her apartment upstairs and place a white plate piled high with brown dates in the middle of the still empty table. My brother Peter and I would get up and begin eating some of these unusually sweet and sticky exotic fruits. We did so every Christmas, but on this particular time I was puzzled enough to ask Grandma how come we only got dates on that one day of the year. We never had dates on any other day — only on Christmas Eve. Why? She smiled at Peter and me and invited us to come and sit down and told us this story:
Hallelujah from Quinhagak, Alaska
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Rachel Naomi Remen, a former guest at On Being, passed on this delightful video made by the residents of Quinhagak, Alaska, a small village of less than 600 people near the Bering Sea. Enjoy!
Walter Brueggemann, a Disruptive and Hopeful Voice for All Ages
by Krista Tippett, host
Walter Brueggemann is a very special voice. He is one of those figures — another being Jaroslav Pelikan — who is not a household name but is revered in his universe of knowledge and accomplishment. He’s a kind of theological rock star. His name has been synonymous with the phrase “prophetic imagination” for three decades of preachers and Christian teachers. Students in all kinds of seminaries read him, and they are captivated by the man as much as his ideas. That’s my explanation for why the live video stream of our conversation is one of On Being’s most-watched online interviews.
I too was thrilled to meet this man whose writings I have admired up close; he more than fulfills the promise of those writings. Walter Brueggemann is not merely an expert. He somehow embodies this tradition of the prophets that he knows as well as anyone living. He is wise and forceful, quick to laugh, passionately challenging, and fiercely hopeful. He demonstrates as much as teaches the way the prophets of the ages are disruptive of politics and culture as usual.
He helps me understand that part of a prophet’s power is in wielding language poetically rather than stridently. Beginning with the words they choose, they transcend ideological splits that actually inhibit us from seizing the great challenges and problems of our time.
“I have a dream” is the line we all remember from Martin Luther King Jr., whom Walter Brueggemann identifies as a prophet of living memory. King wasn’t talking about “enacting a civil rights bill,” Brueggemann says, “except that he was.” He points out that the prophetic voice is not issues-based. It accomplishes the harder, more necessary work of reframing the big picture of what is at stake, so that we can take in the reality of our moment in a new way, with a new sense of what might be possible.
Prophets help us connect the dots between the world as it is and the world as it might be. Prophets tend to emerge in moments of chaos and change, and this is surely a description of our age as of the 1960s or of the era of the biblical fall of Jerusalem. Walter Brueggemann helps us reclaim some important language for being people of change and chaos: the healing necessity of “lamentations,” the difference between being bold and being strident, the hard and life-giving work of letting go of comfort for the sake of what is important. That work, he says to Christian preachers and teachers, has to happen in the pulpit as in life.
Yet, even as he challenges, Walter Brueggemann calls upon mercy, another word he recovers in all its usefulness and beauty. Indeed, he shows how the two are meaningfully fused. He reminds us that the Hebrew word (like the Arabic word) for “mercy” is derived from the word for “womb.” It is the ultimate image of knowing one’s own well-being to be bound up with the well-being of another. And it comes with an extreme amount of discomfort.
How refreshing to experience a voice that is at once deeply disruptive and beautiful and critical and hopeful without any of these qualities clashing. In Walter Brueggemann’s prophetic imagination, we experience a new way of being, of living, and of faithfulness. He reminds us too — and I find this point essential — that, alongside our pantheon of prophets across time and cultures, there are countless prophets of the everyday in communities everywhere who are not and will never be famous. So many of us long to transcend what he calls “the managed prose” around us; Walter Brueggemann shows us that while this is difficult and terrifying it is can also be exhilarating and life-giving. I’m very happy to bring Walter Brueggemann’s voice to the air in this season, at this moment in time.
Image of Walter Brueggemann courtesy of Westminster John Knox Press.
“The Christmas Waltz” by She & Him to Dance Us Into the Weekend
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Tis the season and, yes, I’m a fanboy of She & Him. How can you not love the stripped-down, melodic version of this classic Christmas song? You can’t. Enjoy!
Editor’s note: The title was changed due to a last-minute scheduling change. Unfortunately, Tuesday turned into Wednesday!
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Dave writing for the Marriage Matters blog:
Moviemakers may like us to believe that “The Kids Are All Right,” but global evidence to the contrary is mounting.
Mitch Pearlstein, a former officer in the department of Education and now the president of the Center for the American Experiment in Minneapolis, has been gathering the results of family research from all over the world for a long time and has compiled the data in his latest book, From Family Collapse to America’s Decline (Rowman and Littlefield, 2011). What he has found is that “family fragmentation”—today’s preferred term for “out-of-wedlock births, churning relationships, separation, and divorce—is the source of a lot of the deep problems facing America. Children in these situations are at a much higher risk of a whole host of maladies: medical, economic, social and educational. Pearlstein’s thesis is that the economic weakness shown by the United States, as well as the growing failure of people at the bottom of the economic rungs to move up, are largely (though not completely) attributable to the breakdown of the family.
... Pearlstein does lightly touch on the movement for same-sex marriage and how it relates to his own thesis in his book. What his studies have shown is not that children are not simply better off with any two adults:
. . . I would also argue that one of the unfortunate byproducts of the campaign for same-sex marriage is that commentators of all sorts often work overtime at avoiding words like “mother” or “father” when they can get by with the safer and all-encompassing “parents” instead. It’s as if they fear supporters of same-sex marriage—be they gay or straight—are apt to be offended by the more gender-based terms, so they neutralize the two by generically combining them. Glossing over and sometimes denying the distinctive and vital contributions of men-as-fathers and women-as-mothers is an unfortunate idea whose time should not have arrived but has.
I often hear the claim that we don’t have much data showing that kids raised by same-sex parents are worse off or “harmed.” This may be true given the small number of such children and the newness of the phenomenon. Yet, this was the same argument given when no-fault-divorce and other legal “innovations” were being put forth. Given the massive amount of information we do have on the critical importance of “women-as-mothers” and “men-as-fathers,” what we get from studies like Pearlstein’s is a warning about gambling with family structures that have already been shown to be something more than simply culturally conditioned curiosities. In fact, since Pearlstein’s book has come out, yet another peer-reviewed study has been released showing that, across cultures, the differences in personality traits between the sexes is larger than previously thought. What we need are not generic parents, but married moms and dads.
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.- The bishops of Chile emphasized the recent signs of hope and encouragement God has given to the country in a message they released following their 100th plenary assembly.
In their Nov. 22 statement, the bishops expressed gratitude to God for the numerous “signs of hope, big and small, that encourage us in our daily walk.”
In addition to the courageous faith of the 33 Chilean miners rescued after 69 days underground, the bishops also pointed to the “spiritual strength” Chileans have displayed in dealing with the pain and suffering, and the loss of human life and property, resulting from the earthquake that struck the country last Feb. 27.
All of this proves that “not only do we have a glorious past we must remember, but also a great story yet to be built,” they said, referring to the celebration of the country’s bicentennial of independence. The present and the future of the country will be different if Chileans “put Jesus first,” the bishops said.
They also underscored the importance of devotion to Mary, “without whom, history teaches us, nothing can begin or begin anew.” She is the “Queen and Mother of Mercy” and brings us “Jesus, the blessed fruit of her womb, our Redeemer and Lord.”
Mass at Shrine of Maipu
On the Solemnity of Christ the King on Nov. 21, Catholics from across Chile gathered at the Marian Shrine of Maipu for Mass to thank God for the perseverance of faith in the Chilean people during their 200 year history as a nation.
Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz of Santiago urged the faithful to put the truths of Jesus Christ into practice “with the eagerness of the first apostles and the saints.”
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- Q What causes uterine fibroids?
Dr. Kevin Windom, Obstetrics & GynecologyThe cause of uterine fibroids is not known. Most fibroids occur in women of reproductive age, and it is thought that hormones play a role in the growth of these benign tumors of the uterus. Genetics definitely plays a role in the cause of... Full Answer
- Q What increases my risk for uterine fibroids?
Although the exact cause of uterine fibroids is unknown, there are several factors that may affect your risk. Most uterine fibroids develop in women of reproductive age - that is, women who have undergone puberty but have not yet gone through menopause -... Full Answer
- Q How do uterine fibroids affect the body?
Uterine fibroids begin in cells in the smooth muscle tissue of the uterus. When these cells reproduce, they form growths that may develop in almost any area of the uterus. Many times, these growths don't cause noticeable symptoms. However, sometimes they... Full Answer
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Inattentiveness, trouble sitting still and hyperactivity are all tell-tale signs and symptoms of ADHD in children. These symptoms can disrupt almost every aspect of a child’s life, particularly academic performance. Medications can be and are used to treat symptoms of ADHD, but there is little known about how treatment affects academic performance. Researchers set out to determine if there are any concrete benefits to using medication to treat ADHD in a recent study that involved more than 13,000 children diagnosed with ADHD.
“Their short-term efficacy in treating the core symptoms of ADHD – the symptoms of hyperactivity and attention and impulsivity – that has been established,” said Helga Zoega, the lead author on the new study from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “With regard to more functional outcomes, for example academic performance or progress, there’s not as much evidence there as to whether these drugs really help the kids academically in the long term.”
For their study, Zoega and her colleagues from both the U.S. and Iceland compared prescription drug records and test scores from Icelandic elementary and middle school students for the years 2003 to 2008. Of the more than 13,000 children registered in the national school system, just a little over 1,000 were actually treated with medications sometime between grades 4 and grades 7.
Overall, researchers found that children who took medication for ADHD during that time period were more likely to show a drop in standardized test scores over the years. This was especially true for children who did not start medications until later on in their primary grade school years.
For example, in math exams, children who started stimulant drugs within one year of their fourth grade standardized tests had a decline of their test scores of less than one percent between their fourth and seventh grade years. However, children that did not start medications until the sixth or seventh grade exhibited a nine percent drop in their test scores over the same period of time.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that parent reports suggest that somewhere around one out of 10 children and teens have undiagnosed ADHD and one-third of those diagnosed are not taking medications for their symptoms. Those that aren’t receiving treatment may struggle academically and that could hurt long-term school performance.
But ADHD medications do have side effects, including trouble sleeping, loss of appetite, weight loss and stomach aches. Some children may be able to get by without medication, Zoega said. So the goal shouldn’t be to put every child on medication; just those that need it.
“Not all kids need medication,” Zoega said. “It’s important to think about whether alternative treatment options, whether earlier intervention with those could have a beneficial effect.”
“There are obvious benefits of getting started sooner rather than later,” said J. Russell Ramsay, who studies ADHD at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. “Especially if students are struggling later on, this study would suggest it may be at least very useful to explore and consider certain treatment options.”
Ramsay says that trouble at school is one of the most common reasons that parents seek help for their ADHD child. He added that families can talk to their family physician or a mental health professional about the pros and cons of starting medication treatments. But he also says that medication may not be needed for every child.
“Medications are probably still the reflex response, with a good evidence base,” he said. “But there are other things that can be added in later or concurrently that can also provide support to the child, to the family and to the educators.”
- Cereal Marketing to Kids Still Focusing on the Sweeter Side
- Single Mom Stress Reduced by Spending Time with Children
- Sharing Makes Toddlers Happy
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Post editorial praises accessory dwellings, transit zones
A Washington Post editorial this weekend on Mayor Gray's sustainability plan all but explicitly endorses the zoning update:
Perhaps the most promising short-term proposal is to revamp the web of municipal regulations that discourage more people from living closer together and near public transportation. ... Property owners, for example, would be able to convert basements or over-garage space into livable quarters with less hassle, and those on transit corridors would be able to build up.Proposals to allow accessory dwellings and relax parking minimums indeed will "revamp" regulations that inhibit living in many neighborhoods and near transit. Unfortunately, OP is not really making it any easier to "build up" near transit corridors, except to the extent that parking minimums make building more expensive.
The zoning update is an excellent start and worthy of the Post's endorsement. Still, it is just one incremental step of many that will be necessary to reach Mayor Gray's ambitious yet excellent goal of adding and retaining 250,000 more residents by 2032.
- Community stories show the shift to a walkable lifestyle
- Young kids try to assault me while biking
- Focus transportation on downtown or neighborhoods?
- Metro bag searches aren't always optional
- Endless zoning update delay hurts homeowners
- DDOT agrees to repave 15th Street cycle track
- Where is downtown Prince George's County?
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This summer, NATO reached its goal of expanding the size of Afghanistan's army and police to 240,000, achieving a key measure of progress in its nine-year campaign. Politicians, security experts, and pundits applauded the news. Some even argue for further increases to an end strength of 400,000, but if the current abysmal state of the Afghan national security forces is a harbinger of things to come, they shouldn't.
Last month, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, the head of NATO-led training efforts, told reporters that his command is making “measured progress” toward meeting the goal of 306,000 Afghan soldiers and police by October 2011. Currently, the Afghan National Army (ANA) numbers 134,000, while the Afghan National Police (ANP) stands 115,000-strong. Even if we believe these numbers (corrupt local commanders have in the past exaggerated the number of recruits in order to pocket the salaries of non-existent ‘ghost’ soldiers), it's clear that numbers only tell part of the story. Indeed, figures tell us little about the quality of recruits.
From illiteracy and corruption to poor vetting and low pay, the current training effort has yielded a force of compromised caliber. Lt. Gen. Caldwell acknowledged that he had previously underestimated how important remedial education would be toward making the ANA an enduring, professional force. With nine out of 10 soldiers unable to read, many have trouble accounting for their equipment, ordering supplies, and even getting paid.
Yet another challenge to instilling an “ethos of service and loyalty” into officers, says Caldwell, is heavy drug use, occasionally before setting out on patrol. “I wouldn’t say I feel threatened. But they act silly, just like anybody who smokes weed,” says U.S. Sergeant Ryan Gloyer to al Jazeera’s Clayton Swisher. “It's hard to get them to focus…They've just got the giggles.” A more widely-cited problem is poor professionalism, which according to Caldwell is a “key ingredient to an enduring force that can serve and protect its people.” Current attrition rates, which include deaths, desertions, and dismissals, often due to positive drug tests, are about 23 percent in the ANA and around 16 percent in the ANP. But figures vary widely, with some police units reporting rates as high as 47 percent. In terms of performance, American trainers with experience working with Afghan recruits complain of Afghan counterparts shirking their duties to exhibiting remarkably bad marksmanship skills.
Perhaps even worse is the lack of ethnic balance in the army. For example, Tajiks, the second largest minority group representing 27 percent of the population, are over-represented at 34 percent. According to one estimate, 70 percent of battalion commanders are Tajik. An AP reporter on patrol with Americans at Combat Outpost Ware in the Arghandab Valley found that when the Afghans go on patrol they are treated as outsiders. "When they see us, the old men say, 'They are the sons of the British,' " Lt. Haskar said, explaining that the villagers equate both the Americans and the Afghan soldiers with the British attempt to colonize Afghanistan in the 1800s.
A report released last spring by the International Crisis Group (ICG) warned that the ANA, despite being one of the war's very few success stories, is rife with ethnic and political tension:
“Kabul powerbrokers are distributing the spoils of increased NATO spending on army development among their constituents in the officer corps, fuelling ethnic and political factionalism within the army ranks,” the report said.
One retired military officer told the ICG: "From the lower officers upward, it is not a national army. It is a political army. You have people working for different factions within the ministry of defense, so today what you have is an army that serves individuals not the nation."
Current policy focuses on the south and east of the country, where insurgent activity is strongest. Of nearly 400 districts nationwide, U.S. military and civilian resources are focused primarily on 81, with another 41 of secondary emphasis. This is the wrong strategy.
Rather than build a large, expensive, and conventional military ill-suited for fighting a classic guerilla war, the army and police could concentrate on the calmer provincial capitals, large towns, and main transportation routes in the west and north, which has recently experienced increased Talibanization. As a contiguous portion of territory, indigenous institutions have already taken root, and residents are unlikely to present a determined opposition compared to the south.
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Comprehensive databases for nanomaterials, events, products,
companies, research labs, degree programs and publications
University of Waterloo - Master of Science Nanotechnology
The interdisciplinary research programs, jointly offered by three departments in the Faculty of Science and four in the Faculty of Engineering, provide students with a stimulating educational environment that spans from basic research through to application. The goal of the collaborative programs is to allow students to gain perspectives on nanotechnology from a wide community of scholars within and outside their disciplines in both course and thesis work. The MASc and MSc degree collaborative programs provide a strong foundation in the emerging areas of nano-science or nano-engineering in preparation for the workforce or for further graduate study and research leading to a doctoral degree.
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North Korea has said it will put on trial a US citizen detained for illegally entering the country in January.
The announcement carried by the North's official news agency said Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, would be sent for trial after his crime had been "confirmed".
North Korea had previously said it was holding a US citizen accused of illegally crossing the border from China, but Tuesday's announcement is the first time it has confirmed his name.
No date for the trial was given, although previous trials of foreigners have have usually taken place relatively quickly with the hearing and sentencing lasting less than a day.
The statement on the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) triggered immediate concerns in the United States, which said there were concerns over his "health and welfare".
The news comes as the US pushes North Korea to end its year-long boycott of six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.
Call for access
The US state department did not confirm the man's identity, but said there was "great concern about the lack of transparency" in the handling of the case.
"Our primary concern is, obviously, we want our US citizen back"
US state department spokesman
"We continue to press for appropriate consular access, full rights under North Korean law," PJ Crowley, a department spokesman, told AFP.
He said the US will continue to monitor the situation through the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang "to make sure that he has appropriate representation should North Korea follow through with any legal proceeding".
"Our primary concern is, obviously, we want our US citizen back," added Crowley.
Last week US officials said a Swedish diplomat in Pyongyang had been allowed to see Gomes for the first time.
The US and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations and the Swedish embassy represents Washington's interests in Pyongyang.
Despite the announcement of the trial, the news has raised speculation that North may be preparing to expel Gomes as a goodwill gesture.
"I believe North Korea intends to expel him after completing legal procedures," said Kim Yong-Hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.
"I guess North Korea has no intention to cause any serious trouble over this case amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to resume six-party talks."
North Korea is pressing the US to agree to talks on a permanent peace pact to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
It is also seeking US commitment to discuss a peace pact and a lifting of UN sanctions before it returns to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.
In the past North Korea has used detained US citizens as bargaining chips, typically releasing them a few months after their capture.
In February North Korea freed a US religious activist it had held since December.
Robert Park, a US citizen of Korean descent, admitted to illegally entering the country to raise awareness about human rights abuses.
In March last year, the North convicted two female US television reporters for illegal entry and sentenced them to 12 years of hard labour.
They were later pardoned and released after a few months in captivity when Bill Clinton, the former US president, flew to Pyongyang and met Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, to secure their freedom.
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The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk is a progressive lending library of electronic components. An internet meme in physical form halfway between P2P zip-archive sharing and a flea market. It arrives full of wonderful (and possibly useless) components, but you will surely find some treasures to keep. You will be inspired look through your own piles, such as they are, and find more mysterious components that clearly need to be donated to the box before it is passed on again.
Recipient Conditions for The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk:
- Take out and add as much electronics junk as you like (but keep it small enough to fit in a USPS flat-rate Priority Mail box).
- Write up, photograph, document or otherwise publish in some way online at least one thing you took out (suggested flickr tag: TGIMBOEJ).
- There is a little book in the box. Add a checkmark by your name to show that the box has been to you. Also propose a future recipient by adding their name and e-mail address to the book.
- Within two weeks pass the box along to one of the people whose name is in the book. Before mailing it to them, send them this list and make sure that they want to participate.
If you get the box, who you should send it to?
A proposed recipient should be someone you suspect of having a critical mass of (or at least sufficiently interesting) electronics junk, should have a non-zero online presence, and should be reliable enough that you think they actually will send it off again within two weeks. (Naturally, bonus points for open source oriented hardware hackers.)
Why would you want to get a box of junk in the mail?
As Mark Frauenfelder observed in Make: vol. 12, there is a certain importance to keeping a junk box for future projects. We heartily agree. Perhaps a component in the box– or the box itself– will inspire your next project. Or just maybe it will have that frobnicated interoceter you’ve been looking for forever. Or maybe you just want to join our fledgling junk-sharing movement because it’s fun.
Don’t sweat the details.
Can you say “no” if someone offers you the box? Yes. Can you send it to the person whose name you wrote down? Yes. Can you send it to someone who already has a checkmark by their name? Yes. If the box gets too full, can you split the contents in two and send them in two different directions? Yes (but don’t forget to add a new book to the new box).
So, what did we take from the box before readying it for its next trip? Here are a few of our favorites:
A piece of plastic fiber-optic cable.Some beautiful capacitors which will round out our wine charm set nicely.
A couple of nifty old-school right-angle DIP sockets.Three nicely made phillips flat-head machine screws with great heft.
(And what did we put into the box? Not to name names, but we did add a small pile of cool and most mysterious components to help the box along on its journey.)
A commenter asked “So this sounds cool, how does one participate?”
- When someone e-mails you and asks if you want to participate, say YES and send them your mailing address!
- Work towards meeting the guidelines for proposed recipients: save interesting electronics junk and make sure that you have some online presence.
- If necessary, suggest to people participating in the project that you might be a good candidate.
- Take that one step further: Set up a wiki and start a network of people interested in participating in the project. (List people’s web sites, not e-mail addresses!)
- Alone, or with some friends, start your own box and send it off. What goes around comes around!
PS: On the topic of setting up a wiki: We’ll offer to host it if we get five serious volunteer administrators who will set up and run the site. Want to be one?
This is not chain mail. You do not send it to “the next person on the list.” You send it to a worthyrecipient, as determined by your own judgement. The purpose of the lists is to help identify proposed recipients who might meet the recipient conditions and exchange interesting junk with the box.
(By the way– we still need a couple more volunteers for a potential wiki site.)
There are many boxes. And they have a plan.
We have a wiki now! http://tgimboej.org/
(7/2009) A year later, we’ve learned a lot and updated procedures. Please see updated guidelines here.
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Most of the articles on building information modeling (BIM) published in recent years focus on the generation of buildings and the design of the systems within. The creation of the components that make up those systems is all but ignored. As a result, finding, judging, and improving the quality of existing BIM content quickly is becoming a valuable skill. This article is intended to help you gain that skill.
Many BIM content features and tips are software-specific. Although this article discusses Autodesk Revit content, some of the takeaway points can be applied to other software, including Bentley BIM applications, ArchiCAD, and CADmech, as well as models of HVAC components created for in-house use.
Where to Find BIM Mechanical Content
Finding high-quality BIM content for mechanical components can be challenging, as many manufacturers do not provide building information models of their products, and generic content may be difficult or impossible to modify geometrically. Further, the creators of BIM content may not be intimately familiar with how building information models work or know the needs of BIM-software users.
In Revit, a model of a component is called a family. For Revit families, there are several sources of content. Free content is available from:
- Manufacturers' Websites.
- Autodesk Seek (http://seek.autodesk.com).
- RevitCity (www.revitcity.com).
- McGraw-Hill Construction Sweets Network (http://construction.com/BIM/).
Content is available for purchase from:
With Bentley BIM, product models are embedded in a database. Based on generic representations, the majority of the models are manufacturer-specific. To create custom equipment, a user must apply a set of geometric and non-geometric attributes to a parametric model provided by Bentley. Although, often, the data required to define the attributes are available in catalogs, contacting the manufacturer or manufacturer’s sales representative is the best way to ensure an accurate model.
Minimal Geometric Detail Is Essential
With the incredible amount of information required to model a building, BIM software generally is not known for speed. Thus, even with an extremely fast computer, users must be cognizant of creating content with enough detail to represent a product, but not so much as to slow down the software unnecessarily.
Low geometric detail is necessary to keep response time fast. Fewer surfaces makes the removal of hidden lines much simpler, allowing faster panning and zooming and the like.
Generally, building equipment should be modeled as solids. Components inside of equipment, such as cooling coils, fans, and internal dampers, should not be modeled. If modeling is required, the components should be modeled in plan view with two-dimensional lines. Semi-internal components, such as condenser fans and compressors, should be modeled with minimal detail, if they are modeled at all. For example, condenser fans should be modeled as simple cylinders or even just circular lines, without details such as fan blades.
Content creators commonly include manufacturers’ logos on models. This superfluous geometry can impact performance. Generally, logos should be deleted from downloaded content.
As a general rule, a single Revit-family file should be no more than 1.5 MB in size. Simpler, boxier families, such as those representing water-source heat pumps, should be no more than 0.5 MB in size.
With some content, the user can change the level of detail (Figure 1). The coarsest detail shows the bare minimum of geometry, while the finest may contain additional geometric features, such as compressors, electrical boxes, external dampers, and access doors. Some objects, such as water-cooled chillers, which naturally have more complex geometry, require greater detail.
High-Quality Content Includes Clearance Information
Most high-quality BIM content includes data related to required service and operating clearances (Figure 2). Clearance spaces may be represented two-dimensionally and viewable only in plan and elevation views. Higher-quality depictions also include three-dimensional geometry.
Page 2 of 3
Non-Geometric Detail Is Key
Perhaps the greatest benefit of BIM is the ability to store and interpret component and system data, in addition to geometry and spatial relationships. System flows and passing information from one component to the next are important to master.
In Revit MEP, any component that requires power or physically attaches to a duct or pipe requires one or more special connector objects. If a connector does not exist, but should, it needs to be added by the user. Check for the existence of connectors by selecting a component and looking for a small blue plus sign inside of a square (Figure 3). Next to this symbol will be the dimension of the duct or pipe connector or the voltage and apparent load of the electrical connector.
It is important that the properties—pressure drops, air/water-flow rates, voltages, etc.—of a connector be linked to shared parameters in a family. This allows values provided by other components in the system to be updated in the family and automatically appear in the schedule for the family. Also, it allows the family to tell other components in the system about itself. This is critical to maintaining information flow throughout a building model.
The simplest way to see if the properties of connectors in a family are linked to parameters is to open the family in the Family Editor and look at the element properties (Figure 4). Some properties have buttons that appear after their values. If those buttons have an equals sign (=) on them, they are linked to parameters in the family. Clicking on a button allows a user to view or change which parameter is linked to a connector’s property.
In addition to system data, many components store essential supplementary data. Chillers may have data pertaining to cooling capacity, efficiency, water temperature, operating weight, and refrigerant type, as well as links to product documentation and the like (Figure 5). Quality content provides a place to put relevant electrical, mechanical, performance, and other identifying data.
Since the advent of BIM, significant efforts to integrate all portions of a building’s life cycle into a single database have been under way. For data to be transferred from, say, energy-analysis software to a central BIM database, a common information format is required. Two of the most common exchange-format types are:
Green Building XML (gbXML), which is focused on engineering-analysis details. (To learn more about gbXML, go to www.gbxml.org.)
Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), which tends to be more all-encompassing, with details from all disciplines and all aspects of a building's life cycle. For the IFC schema, the buildingSMART alliance (www.buildingsmartalliance.org) is developing discipline-specific information exchanges, including Specifiers' Properties information exchange (SPie) for specifying engineers, Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) for facilities managers, and Energy Information Exchange (ENERGie) for energy analysts. (To learn more, view the United States National Building Information Modeling Standard at http://bit.ly/i91iif.)
Geometric and non-geometric data associated with equipment need to be mapped to common information formats. For parameters to and from components to be mapped and for communication with external programs, such as load-calculation software, to take place, there must be standard definitions for all parameters. Common definitions are especially important when content is created by multiple sources.
With Revit, common definitions for data values are found in shared parameters. Parameter definitions and corresponding globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) are located in text files. The most official list of shared parameters can be found in the Revit Model Content Style Guide (http://seek.autodesk.com/revit.htm). The shared-parameters file should be downloaded directly from Autodesk. A parameter simply created with the same name as a parameter provided by Autodesk will not generate the same GUID and, therefore, not be the same definition.
There is no simple way to determine if a Revit family contains particular shared parameters from the Revit Model Content Style Guide. One method is to include in a project a schedule created using particular parameters. Creating separate schedule templates for different equipment types may be helpful.
Once a schedule is created, add an instance of a family to the project. If values appear in the cells of the schedule, the Revit family was created using the same parameter definitions. If values do not appear in the schedule, either the parameter does not exist in the family or it does not have the same GUID as the Revit Model Content Style Guide shared parameter.
Page 3 of 3
In Bentley BIM applications, the built-in geometric and non-geometric attributes are predefined, and the underlying schema is compatible with various exchange formats and interoperability standards, including gbXML and IFC. User-defined, custom attributes can be passed on, but have proprietary definitions that need to be modified for data to be transferred to other software properly.
More Revit Mechanical-Content Guidelines
For Revit, factors important to determining the quality of mechanical BIM content include:
Templates. With mechanical content, base templates must not be wall- or ceiling-hosted; all mechanical equipment should be free-standing. Instances can be constrained to other building geometry as needed. For an instance to be added to a building model, a host must be modifiable. If an architectural model is linked to a separate mechanical project, users of the mechanical project will not have permission to modify walls and ceilings. Without rights to an architectural model, Revit will not allow hosted families to be used.
Representing types. Revit files are geometrically parametric; multiple sizes, or types, can be represented by one family. In Revit, there are two ways to define types: embedded and type catalog.
"Embedded" means definitions are made directly within a family. When the family is loaded into a project, all defined types are loaded automatically.
Type catalogs use a separate text file listing defining features. When a family is loaded into a project (via the "Load Family" command, not the drag-and-drop method), the user can select the types he or she needs, and only those types will be loaded into the project. This reduces the amount of information Revit must track and, thus, reduces the amount of memory required.
Type catalogs give users more flexibility and minimize impact on system performance. Embedded types should be used only when very few types are defined. For a fan coil or water-source heat pump, for which dozens of types can be defined for a single family, embedded types weigh down a system. Also, with so many types defined in the project browser, finding a particular type can be difficult.
Native geometry. With BIM software, a key to flexibility is parametric data, particularly for geometry. With Revit, native geometry refers to any geometry originally drawn within the Revit Family Editor.
Native geometry allows dimensions to be changed and geometry "stretched." For example, in an air-cooled-condenser model, one family can represent units ranging from 10 to 50 tons using either embedded types or a type catalog because the basic appearance is the same; all that changes are the dimensions.
Using non-native geometry exported from computer-aided-design programs often results in non-editable geometry. Fixed geometry limits the flexibility of a model and requires more families to be loaded into a project, increasing component-library size and decreasing system performance.
Appropriate use of instance parameters. Excessive use of instance parameters can increase the load on Revit and adversely affect system performance. An instance parameter can have a different value for each copy of a type placed in a building model; Revit must track those values separately. A good example is a serial-number parameter. Each instance of a unit in a building—even of the same type—needs its own serial-number value. Common parameters that should be instance parameters include those for cooling capacity and air- and water-flow rates.
Instance parameters can be located by looking at the element properties of a piece of equipment. The first screen shows the instance properties. Selecting "Edit Type…" will reveal all of the type parameters, which must have the same value for every instance of a given type. Examples of type parameters are those used for storing values that control geometric size, such as length, or some electrical properties, such as voltage.
Minimal file size. Nested families are a convenient means of reusing certain subcomponents. Although families can be easier to create and maintain using nested families, they are much larger in size than they otherwise would be. The use of nested families should be avoided when possible to decrease the amount of memory needed to load a family into a project.
Although file size can be an indicator, the only way to be certain if nested families were used is to look at a family in the Family Editor (not the Project Editor). In the project browser within the Family Editor, nested families will be listed when the “Family” heading is expanded (Figure 6).
Maintaining BIM Content
Creating a digital building model requires a large number of components. BIM-content libraries can be extremely expansive and, thus, difficult to maintain.
Within a firm, a single library of content files should be maintained, with only a few people from each discipline able to modify it.
Consider storing installation, operation, and maintenance manuals in the project file structure. In Revit, direct links to supporting documents can be created by setting uniform-resource-locator parameter values to relative file location in project folders. This is especially important if project files are being handed over to the building owner and facility-management team.
Although generic content rarely changes, manufacturer-specific families need to be kept up to date. Manufacturer product lines change frequently, and new products always are coming to market. Some manufacturers alert users of BIM-content changes via e-mail. Others require frequent checks for updates. BIM-content libraries should be reviewed at least every six months.
There is no single way to determine the quality of BIM content. With knowledge of general best practices for creating content, however, the quality of building information models can be improved significantly.
Maintaining an up-to-date library of BIM content helps to ensure the accuracy of building models. Understanding interoperability and using standardized parameters can facilitate a streamlined process between various software products throughout a building's life cycle. While it is important to recognize the benefits of the BIM process, they are not automatic; a building information model is only as good as the information in it.
Did you find this article useful? Send comments and suggestions to Executive Editor Scott Arnold at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Elyse Malherek is an applications engineer and building-information-modeling project manager in McQuay International's Software Systems Group. An active member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and an engineer in training, she has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota. The manager of McQuay International's Software Systems Group, Gregg Laing has more than 23 years of experience in software development and management. He has a bachelor's degree in engineering technology from St. Cloud State University.
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Major Toy Fair's Products Make Fantasies Come True
The latest gadgets at the annual International Toy Fair at the Javits Center make many childhood wishes come true. NY1's Technology reporter Adam Balkin filed the following report.
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The neat thing about the annual International Toy Fair at the Javits Center, aside from the experience of being surrounded by every toy imaginable, is that all these produce seem to fulfill every possible wish.
Tone-deaf and rhythm-impaired people who still dream of being a musician can still perform on the Beamz Interactive laser instrument, which costs about $200. Users produce sound by placing their hands in front of a laser beam.
"There are six lasers. Within that, you can play multiple instruments," says Cody Myer of Beamz Interactive. "You can have guitar on one, bass on the other, vocals on one and create your own band. It's PC-based, powered by USB."
Those who have dreamed of solving the Rubik's Cube without utilizing the sticker-swapping cheat can fall for the Rubik's Slide, which will be out this fall for about $20.
"You start with a scrambled puzzle of lights, you press a button to see the solution and then once you let go of that button, you know the solution," says Eric Levin of TechnoSource. "You then twist, turn and slide the item in order to move the lights around until you solve the puzzle. Unlike the regular Rubik's Cube, which is pass/fail, hard to solve and not many people do it, everybody's going to be able to solve this. Everybody's going to be able to get to a certain level and then you're just trying to get beyond that and see how good you can get."
Parents who wish to get their children a pet that does not need to be taken out for a walk every few hours can select the Xachi Pet. These brightly-colored electronic critters, which are due out by the winter holidays for between $30 to $40, can be controlled via an iPhone or iPod Touch.
"You actually play games, you interact with the pet, you feed the pet, you keep it alive," says Marc Devidts of Taptic Toys. "We have a 'Space Invaders'-type game where you shoot a target on the [facial] screen [of the toy]. We have a dancing game where you play music on your actual device and then [it makes] the toy dance. He's got moving legs."
Finally, a new robotic monkey can allow the child who begs his or her parents for a pet monkey to not be disappointed.
"This cheeky monkey [is] a 21st century puppet. I've got a little remote control I've got in my pocket and I've got 16 different actions I can get him to do," says Jim Wyatt of MechRC.
Everyone who wants an electronic monkey on the shoulder can get one this summer for $20.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://queens.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/113766/major-toy-fair-s-products-make-fantasies-come-true
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Spring Chrysanthemum Care
Now is the time to trim back old stems of chrysanthemums to give room for new growth around the perimeter of the crown. Divide and replant mums in rich, evenly moist, but well drained soil in full sun. Begin pinching (nip off the growing tips) when they're a few inches tall, and continue pinching every other week until mid-July to encourage branching and increased fall flowering.
Protect Seedlings and Transplants
Protect emerging seedlings and transplants from damage by deer, woodchucks, rabbits, crows, and other assorted critters. Cover plants with cages made of wire mesh or screening, or floating row covers secured around the edges. A tall fence, with the bottom edge buried, may be the best long term solution to pesky four-legged pests.
Plant A Bee Garden
Many vegetables are pollinated by insects such as bees. For better yields, encourage bees to visit your garden by planting some of their favorite herbs, such as basil, borage, calendula, catnip, hyssop, lemon balm, mint, summer savory, and thyme. Butterflies enjoy these plants as well.
Mulching around shrubs reduces weed growth, helps preserve soil moisture, and protects the stems from mower and trimmer damage. However, too much mulch prevents both water and air from reaching the roots, so don't apply it too thickly. Rake or fluff the mulch periodically and top it as needed to maintain only about a 3-inch-thick layer.
New flower and vegetable transplants may need daily watering, but to encourage deeper rooting and healthier root systems in the long run, water deeply and increase the intervals between waterings. The goal is to eventually avoid the daily sprinkling routine and opt instead for a slow, penetrating deep soaking every five to seven days.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.garden.org/regional/report/arch/reminders/907
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A delightful tale about a boy who is different and his discovery of a kindred spirit, gracefully written to celebrate dreamers and readers—and those who need not change to find friends.
Oliver lives happily in his imagination; puppets and toys are his constant companions. Together, they brave deserts by cardboard box, cross treacherous couch bridges and dig to distant lands. Then, one day Oliver begins to feel different. A lost ball takes him through a new gate, where, against a pink sky, he meets Olivia. “It was the beginning of the best adventure he’d ever had.” It doesn’t matter that Oliver is different, because “Olivia [is] a bit different too.” Like artists such as Lane Smith or Tim Burton, Sif has a distinctive style, a particular way of expressing the world that feels like a natural expression of herself. Her pencil drawings are done in a muted, cool-color palette. With Oliver’s journey, she takes readers from an urban environment filled with pencil marks and gray images to a sparser, outdoor environment in which her marks are looser and the colors quietly bloom.
A lovely gift—aglow with warmth and welcome—for those who feel, or have ever felt, different. (Picture book. 4-8)
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/birgitta-sif/oliver/print/
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By nine on a bright autumn morning, the Kaercher Futuretech field kitchen—essentially a giant, camouflaged, propane-fueled braising pan with wheels and a trailer hitch—was running at full steam outside a convention center in Erfurt, Germany. Six men and women moved around it with well-drilled precision. Dressed in chef’s whites with U.S. Army Culinary Arts Team patches on their right shoulders, they had been wielding whisks and knives since 5 a.m.
Their mission? Cook 150 three-course meals in six hours. Their menu? Seared tuna, smoked trout, and poached salmon over a seaweed salad; herb-infused turkey breast with sweet potatoes, cranberry johnnycake, and bacon-wrapped green beans; and a chocolate-mousse crunch cake with apricot-and-cherry sauce. Their opponents? Military chefs from Switzerland, Germany, the U.K., Sweden, and five other countries, all gunning for the title of top military cook in the world.
The competition was part of the IKA/Culinary Olympics, which every four years pits chefs from 53 countries against each other. While the civilians get to use gleaming restaurant kitchens, the military entrants must duel it out in tents, using the balky, German-made Kaerchers to prepare their gourmet meals. The U.S. team had been through its menu at least five times in its months of training; the chefs were on schedule and calm. Nearby, a team of glowering, mustachioed Hungarians in camo pants and combat boots was having a disastrous morning, shattering a stack of plates before the meal service even began and struggling to get a complicated vegetable-and-cod appetizer cooked all the way through.
But as the clock ticked down to zero, the U.S. team was scrambling to deal with a slight glitch: the field kitchen was throwing off so much steam that water had begun to condense on the inside of the tent and rain back down on the food. “Can we get something plastic?” shouted Army Sergeant Matthew Flemister. “It’s dripping right on our plates!” Toward the back of the tent, Army Specialist Valine Vukich, a petite, tattooed former sous-chef from Chicago, was busy wiping spoiled chocolate motifs off pristine Villeroy & Boch china and reapplying them with a pastry bag, all the while darting watchful glances at a chocolate mousse in danger of congealing.
This year’s team was selected through an Army-sponsored competition that any active-duty military chef can enter. Held annually in Fort Lee, Virginia, it’s the largest military culinary competition in America. The Army sees it, and the team it produces, as a morale boost for soldiers, whose meals benefit from the skills the Army’s chefs pick up in training. The Culinary Arts Team is also a draw for potential recruits: enlisted chefs can use their Army training to find jobs as everything from gourmet chefs and caterers to ice sculptors when they muster out. Sending the team to civilian competitions in the U.S. and abroad is also a PR effort, targeted with a sniper’s accuracy: the Culinary Olympics attracts some of the restaurant world’s top civilian talent. “It’s important to show all these other chefs that military chefs can really shake and bake,” said Army Chief Warrant Officer4 Robert Sparks, the team’s manager and a veteran of four previous Culinary Olympics.
This year at Erfurt, the Americans came in second to the Swiss, outscoring eight other countries. (The Hungarians came in sixth.) For some team members, the outcome represented a vindication of sorts. “I’m trying to beat the stereotype of can-to-pan cooking,” said Petty Officer Second Class Edward Fuchs, who usually cooks for 50 sailors on a Coast Guard cutter based in Cheboygan, Michigan, as he watched his teammates garnish their appetizers with whale-tail-shaped crackers. “We’re all issued more than a can opener and a box cutter.”
This article available online at:
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http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2009/01/food-fight/307206/
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Posts Tagged ‘brokerage’
Depending on the type of investment you are considering, you may need to hire a broker to make your investments for you. Brokers work for brokerage houses and have the ability to buy and sell shares on the exchange. You may wonder if you really need a broker. The answer is yes. If you want to buy or sell shares on the stock market, you need a broker. Stockbrokers are required, there are two different tests to obtain their license. These tests are very difficult, and most brokers have a background in business or finance, with a bachelor’s or master’s programs. It is very important to understand the difference between a broker and analyst at market value. An analyst literally analyzes the stock market, and said she likes it or not, or how stocks entails. A securities broker is only there to follow your instructions to buy or sell is not to analyze stocks. Agents make their money from commissions on sales in most cases. If your broker to buy or sell an instrument, they earn a certain percentage of the transaction. Many brokers charge a flat rate per transaction is levied. There are two types of brokers: the full service brokers and discount brokers. Full-service brokers can offer several types of investments, you can pay with investment advice and general committees. Discount brokers generally do not offer advice and does not do the research they do, how you do, ask, without all the bells and whistles. Thus, the biggest decision you make, if it must come from brokers, if you want a full service broker or a dealer. If you invest, you can go with a full-service broker to ensure that you are so wise investment. They offer you the opportunity you are missing at this point. However, if you know the stock market is already all you really need a broker for you on your job.
The invention of the Internet has many changes in how we put our lives and personal affairs. We can pay our bills online shop online, bank online, and time online! We can even buy and sell shares online. Traders love having the ability of their accounts when they want, and brokers like having the option of ordering online rather than taking the phone. Most brokers and brokerage houses now offer online trading to their clients. Another great thing about trading online is that fees and commissions are often lower. While trading online is great, there are some drawbacks. If you invest with the ability to actually speak to a broker can be very useful. If you do not know about stock markets, online trading can be a dangerous thing for you. If this is the case, make sure that everything you can about trading stocks before the experience of online business. You should also be aware that you are not connected to a computer with Internet access for you. You will not always be able to go online to make a deal. You must be sure you call and speak to a broker if this is the case with the online broker. This is true whether you’re an experienced trader or a beginner. There is also a good idea to use an online brokerage company that has been around for some time to go. You can not find one that has been in business for 50 years, of course, but you can a company that has been in business a long search and now offers online trading. Again, the online trading is a beautiful thing, but it’s not for everyone. Think carefully before you make your online business, and make sure you really know what you want!
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.cuizinier.com/tag/brokerage
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en
| 0.970623
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WXPython is a very powerful and easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) toolkit. Because it is as cross-platform as Python, you can develop an application with it and not have to worry about porting issues.
Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) rely heavily on object-oriented programming. wxPython is no different. You first instantiate an object and then work with that object's attributes and methods. In this guide, we will look at the rudiments of a very simple program that prints "Hello, World!" to a window on your desktop.
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<urn:uuid:e9631f12-4979-4cae-a952-2233d3aaeaf1>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://python.about.com/od/advancedpython/ss/wx-intro.htm
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Meet "network man." He has basic desires of his own, but has many arbitrary preferences, such as in music or clothes, that have been influenced by the people he knows. Network man's likes and dislikes, in turn, affect the behavior of his friends, and their friends, and their friends.
People have profound influences on each other's behavior within three degrees of separation, the authors find. That means that your friends, your friends' friends, and your friends' friends' friends may all affect your eating habits, voting preferences, happiness, and more. At the fourth degree, however, the influence substantially weakens.
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<urn:uuid:3f2bd0d6-2ab4-4eb7-ae03-b9af846e9d8a>
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http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/newslog/Obesity+Politics+STDs+Flow+In+Social+Networks.aspx
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HonestReporting members contribute bias examples from Reuters, AP, CBC and more.
A double-suicide bombing sends the PA into damage control, with plenty of media support.
BBC runs a string of misleading headlines, presenting spurious anti-Israel accusations as if they were undisputed facts:
Searching for clues in two attacks against Israeli targets in Kenya, and a Palestinian shooting spree in Beit Shan.
Trying to sort out the maze of Palestinian military forces and Yasser Arafat's role in terror.
The media shifts to a more sympathetic portrayal of Israeli society, particularly humanizing Israeli victims of terror.
A Jerusalem Post expose shows deep links between Arafat and Saddam.
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||A composite photo shows the new Way of the Cross being built on the site of St. Raphael Cathedral in Madison. (Catholic Herald photo by Kat Wagner)
MADISON -- A Way of the Cross is being built on the St. Raphael Cathedral site in downtown Madison.
“This Way of the Cross will help us to recover the sacred character of the cathedral site,” said Msgr. Kevin Holmes, rector/pastor of St. Raphael Cathedral Parish.
“The new Way of the Cross will offer Catholics an opportunity to reconnect with the St. Raphael property as a place of devotion,” he explained.
“Spending time at the Way of the Cross will help us look forward to the day when the site will be made even more beautiful by the erection of a new cathedral.”
Plans for Way of the Cross
The Way of the Cross begins on the site of the old school building on West Washington Ave. and winds through the property to the corner of Main and Henry St. This high spot affords a beautiful view to the west, noted Monsignor Holmes.
The path then will go uphill, recalling the Lord’s ascent to Calvary, but with a gentle enough grade to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The path will be composed of crushed red granite (recalling the red of the Precious Blood). This path will include 14 crosses, which will be flush with the ground and paved with slate.
The stations will be numbered with polished granite disks at the center of each, bearing a Roman numeral surrounded by a crown of thorns.
“There will be no standing statuary or crosses to prevent graffiti and other vandalism,” said Monsignor Holmes.
All materials used in the Way of the Cross will be from Wisconsin.
Stone from cathedral
Stone from the old St. Raphael Cathedral will be used in benches at the beginning and the end of the Way of the Cross.
St. Raphael Cathedral was severely damaged by a fire on March 14, 2005. The cathedral was 150 years old at the time of the fire, which was determined to be caused by an arsonist, William Connell, who is currently serving a prison sentence.
The Way of the Cross as installed will occupy the site only until a new cathedral is built, said Monsignor Holmes.
However, the intention is to use the benches on the grounds of the new cathedral and to use he stations either as a whole (repositioned) or in part (the number markers) for a new interior or exterior Way of the Cross that will be part of the new cathedral, said Monsignor Holmes.
Plantings with the Way of the Cross will recall the Passion of Christ, too.
A “garden” recalling the Garden of Gethsemane will introduce the First Station.
Another “garden,” with many flowering white plantings, will surround the Fourteenth Station (the Burial of Christ), recalling the garden in which the Lord was buried and his Resurrection.
Along the Way of the Cross, some plantings evocative of the Holy Land and others that flower in red will decorate the path.
Use of the Way of Cross
Besides being available for private devotion, the Way of the Cross will also be available for organized, public praying of the Stations of the Cross.
“When the weather cooperates, it will be the ideal setting for the Living Way of the Cross that the Hispanic members of the Cathedral Parish hold on Good Friday,” said Monsignor Holmes.
“It will also be a really beautiful green space in the heart of our city, which should be attractive (and an invitation!) to all people of good will,” he said.
Purchase of property
Erecting the Way of the Cross was made possible by the purchase of the former St. Raphael School building at the corner of Henry St. and W. Washington Ave. last year.
Until the fire in 2005, St. Raphael Cathedral had stood on W. Main St. in the second block west of the Capitol Square. The land where the cathedral had stood and its former parking lot were then planted with grass.
In 2007, Bishop Robert C. Morlino announced that the St. Raphael Cathedral church would be rebuilt on the site of the present church in downtown Madison. Plans to rebuild the cathedral have been put on hold.
Two other buildings associated with the old cathedral were still standing on that block. They appeared to be a single building running along Henry St. from W. Main St. to W. Washington Ave. In fact, Monsignor Holmes pointed out, they were two buildings constructed at different times, but they shared a common wall.
The building closer to Main St. was the cathedral rectory; the building closer to W. Washington Ave. was the parish school. The Cathedral School was closed in the early 1970s, and that building subsequently was sold.
Efforts to purchase the former school were underway for several years, said Monsignor Holmes. The original asking price was several times the market value. Developments last year made it possible for the parish to negotiate a reasonable price for the building and property.
Funds designated for the building of a new cathedral (principally the insurance settlement from the cathedral fire) were used to make the purchase.
The buildings were torn down this summer to make room for the new Way of the Cross, which is being funded with the help of donations.
Blessing of Way of the Cross
Bishop Morlino will bless the new Way of the Cross on Friday, Sept. 14, at 11 a.m. on the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross.
People who come to the blessing will be welcome to attend the 12:10 p.m. Mass at St. Patrick Church in downtown Madison.
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A computer is not an acronym and is sometimes abbreviated as comp or 'puter. The term "computer" was originally given to humans who performed numerical calculations using mechanical calculators such as the abacus and slide rule. The term was later given to a mechanical device as they began replacing the human computers. Today's computers are electronic devices that accept data (input), process that data, produces output, and then store (storage) the results.
The first computer was called the ENIAC, which was built during World War II (1943-1946). These early computers used vacuum tubes and were very large (sometimes room size) and only found in businesses, Universities, or governments. Later, computers began utilizing transistors as well as smaller and cheaper parts that allowed the common person to own their own computer. This history of computers and related topics can be found on our history page.
Today, computers help make jobs that used to be complicated much simpler. For example, a user can write letters in a word processor and edit any portion of the letter anytime, spell check the letter, and move text from another document into the letter, etc. This is just one of the millions of different things a computer is capable of doing.
What components make a computer?
Today's computers are often comprised with some or all of the below components (hardware). As technology advances, older technologies such as the floppy disk drive and Zip drive (both shown below) are no longer required or included with computers.
Inside of the computer
A diagram of the back of a personal computer and a brief description of the computer connections can also be found on our connection definition.
A peripheral is any accessory or add-on that can be attached to your computer, but is not required. For example, a computer printer is a perfect example of a peripheral. See the peripheral definition for a full list of peripherals that can be attached to your computer.
Variations of computers
When talking about a computer or a "PC" you are usually referring to a traditional computer that you would find in a home or office. However, today the lines of what makes a computer are blurring. Below, are all the different examples of what is considered a computer today.
- Embedded computers - The most commonly found and used computer. An embedded computer is a computer with a specific function found in such things as cars, microwaves, TVs, the VCR, and other home electronics.
- Personal computer (aka Desktop)
- Laptop, portable, notebook computer
- Smart phone
- Diskless workstation and Thin client
- Mainframe or Supercomputer
- How does a computer work?
- Basic computer troubleshooting.
- Additional information with installing computer hardware.
- When was the first computer invented?
- What makes a computer fast and powerful?
- All computer questions and answers.
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<urn:uuid:49c8adf4-a8a4-4aad-863c-01d9883b977f>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/computer.htm
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| 3.453125
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Poems & Short Stories: 4,271
Forum Members: 70,634
Forum Posts: 1,033,546
And over 2 million unique readers monthly!
How long they lay entombed in the German tunnel the moving picture boys did not know. They must have been unconscious for some time.
Joe was the first to regain his senses. Telling about it later, he said he dreamed that he had been taking views in Earthquake Land and that, somehow or other, a volcano had fallen on his chest. He had difficulty in breathing, and no wonder, for as he came to his senses he found that a great rock and a pile of earth were across him.
Slowly at first, fearing to move much because he might bring down more débris on himself, Joe felt about. He found that his arms and hands were comparatively free, though partly buried in earth.
"I say!" he called, and his voice sounded strange in that dark and broken tunnel, "is any one here but me? Blake! Charlie! Are you alive?"
No one answered, and then, feeling his strength coming back, Joe ventured to move. He found that he could manage to emerge from the pile of earth and stones that had fallen on him, fortunately none over his head. When he ventured to stand upright he tried to pierce the darkness and find out what had become of his chums.
But he could see nothing until he thought of his pocket lamp and, taking it in his hand, flashed it about him. The light revealed to him the figures of Blake and Charlie, lying not far away and covered with débris as he had been.
He set the little light on a rock, leaving the switch on, and by the intense but limited glow, he set to work to free his companions. Blake's head was bleeding from the cut of a sharp rock, but he, like Joe and Charlie, had fallen in such a way, or rather, the cave-in had taken place in such a manner, that their heads and faces were comparatively free from dirt, else they would have been smothered.
Joe worked feverishly to free his chums and at length succeeded in freeing his assistant, who, of the two, was less covered by the débris. Charlie opened his eyes and looked about him, asking:
"What happened? Where am I?"
"Don't stop to ask questions now," directed Joe. "Help me with Blake. I'm afraid he's hurt!"
The two together got their chum cleared of the débris finally, and then Joe, taking a flask of cold coffee from his pocket, gave his now half-unconscious chum some to drink. This served further to rouse Blake, and it was soon found, aside from a painful cut on the head, that he was uninjured except for bruises, such as they all had.
"But what happened?" asked Charlie, as they sat down to rest on some rocks and took turns finishing Joe's limited supply of coffee.
"The tunnel caved in on us after a big explosion of some kind," Joe said. "I guess we're going to have trouble getting out, too."
"Let's have a look," suggested Blake. "We can't stay in here much longer or more of the roof and sides may cave in. Can we get out?"
"I haven't looked," answered Joe. "I wanted to get the dirt off you fellows. I'm afraid we're caught, though."
And they were. An examination, made with the pocket lights, showed them that the way back was blocked by a mass of rock and earth and that no progress ahead could be made for the same reason.
"I guess we'll have to dig our way out," said Joe.
"What with?" asked Charlie.
"Some of the broken boards that held up the tunnel," was the answer, and Joe pointed to pieces of timber that had been splintered and shattered by the cave-in.
"Yes, it's the only way out," agreed Blake, who, now that his cut had been bound up with bandages from the first-aid kits the boys carried, felt better. "We'll have to dig out." And after a short rest they began this work.
A terrible fear was upon them, a fear greater than that caused by their capture by the Germans with the possibility of being shot as spies. It was the fear of a horrible death—buried alive.
They dug as best they could for some time with the broken boards, their hands becoming cut and bruised by the rough edges. And yet, with all their efforts, they could not see that they had gained much.
They were digging back along the way they had come in, for, as Blake said, they knew how long the tunnel was in that direction, but they did not know how far it extended the other way.
"Is it of any use to continue?" asked Joe wearily, when they had been digging for what seemed several hours, though really it was not as long as that.
"Of course we've got to continue!" declared Blake, half savagely. "We can't give up now—and die!"
"We may die anyhow," said Joe.
They were resting in the darkness after strenuous digging. In the dark because, to save the battery, they had switched off the electric light by which they had been working.
Charlie turned to look back. They had been piling the earth behind them as they worked, but there was not much of it as yet. They had made but small impression on the débris that hemmed them in. And as Charlie looked he uttered a cry.
"What is it?" asked Blake.
"A light! Don't you see a light there?" Charlie demanded. "See! Back there through the chinks in the rock. See, a flickering light!"
There was no doubt of it! There was a gleam of light, and it appeared to come from a point where some fallen rocks were loosely piled.
Dropping their boards, which they had been using for shovels, the boys climbed as near as they could to the hole. In the dark as they were, the light showed plainly.
"Can you see anything?" asked Charlie of Joe, who was nearest.
"No, only some figures moving about. It seems like some sort of dugout beyond there, and it hasn't caved in. Maybe it's the end of the tunnel."
"Did you say you can see somebody in there?" asked Blake.
"Yes; figures moving about."
"Call to them."
"Maybe they're Germans!" exclaimed Charlie.
"They probably are," Blake answered. "But we've got to be rescued from here and take our chance with them. It's better than being buried alive. Hello, there!" he shouted. "Help us get out!" and he began tearing at the stones with his hands.
Seeing his object, his chums helped him. And then some one on the other side of the rocky barrier also began pulling down the stones, so that in a little while, the light becoming momentarily greater, the boys saw a way of escape open to them.
But it was a strange way. For when the rocks had been pulled down sufficiently to enable them to crawl through, they emerged into a space—a small room, as it were—walled with solid logs. Logs also formed the roof. It was a room lighted by a lantern, and on a pile of bags in one corner lay a huddled figure of a man. Standing near him was another man—a man in a ragged blue uniform—and at the sight of his face Blake murmured:
"At your service!" said the Frenchman, bowing slightly.
"No!" bitterly cried Blake. "Not at our service—you traitor!"
The Frenchman seemed to wince, but at that moment a call from the huddled man in the corner attracted his attention. He bent over him, drew back the covering and revealed in the lantern's glow the face of Labenstein.
The German raised himself on one elbow, and a wild look came over his face. His eyes gleamed brightly for a moment.
"They—they here!" he murmured. "Well, perhaps it is better so."
"How better? What does he mean?" asked Blake. "Does he think——"
"Hush!" and the Frenchman spoke softly. "This is the end—of Labenstein!" And even as he spoke the man fell back dead.
Lieutenant Secor seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, as though the death of the other had brought a great release to him.
"Now I can speak," said the officer. "Now I can explain, and perhaps you will again regard me as a friend," he said softly.
"Well," returned Blake, "you probably saved our lives by helping us get out of the tunnel. But as for being friends with——"
"Please do not say it," begged the lieutenant. "I have had to play a part. It is over now. I can again take my place with my comrades and fight openly for France. For I have learned all his secrets and whence the spy-leaks came. Now my unpleasant mission is over!"
"What—what do you mean?" asked Joe, beginning, as did his chums, to have an inkling of the truth. "Aren't you two working together against us and for Germany?"
"Never I!" cried the Frenchman. "I am a member of the French Secret Service, and for months I have consorted with that dog!" and he pointed at the dead man. "I but played a part to gain his confidence and to learn from what sources Germany was getting her secret information about our soldiers and yours. Now I know. I will explain. But come, we must get out of here."
"Can we get out?" asked Blake.
"Surely, yes. The tunnel goes from here into the German trenches, and the other end was not damaged by the explosion."
"But," exclaimed Joe, "the German trenches! We don't want to go there to be captured again."
"Have no fear," said the Frenchman, with a smile. "I should, perhaps, have said what were the German trenches. They are now held by some of your own troops—the brave Americans!"
"They are?" cried Charlie.
"That is true! You shall see!"
"Hurrah!" cried the moving picture boys, and their fears and weariness seemed to depart from them in a moment.
"The great airship raid was a success," went on the Frenchman. "Our troops and yours have made a big advance, and have captured many prisoners. They would have had Labenstein, but he is beyond prisons now. Let us go hence! Even dead I can not endure his company. I suffered much on his account."
"Well, things are happening so fast I don't know which to begin to think of first," remarked Joe. "But, on general principles, I presume it's a good thing to get out of this tunnel. Come on, boys."
"One moment," interposed the lieutenant. "Perhaps you will like to take these with you."
He stooped and lifted a pile of trench bags, and the boys saw the boxes of moving picture films.
"Ours?" cried Joe.
"None else," answered the Frenchman. "I trust you will find them all right."
"Not a seal broken!" reported Charlie, who had quickly examined the cases. "This is great!"
Together, hardly able to believe their good luck, they made their way out of the log-protected room—once a German bomb-proof dugout. As they emerged into the trenches, carrying the films, the boys saw American soldiers.
"The Stars and Stripes!" cried Charlie, as he noted the United States flag. "Now we're all right!"
"Whew! We did make some advance!" added Blake, as they saw how the battle lines of the French and Americans had been extended since they had crawled into No Man's Land the night before.
The boys learned later that the airship raid was the forerunner of a big offensive that had been carried out when they were held prisoners and in the tunnel. The Germans had been driven back with heavy loss, and one of their ammunition dumps, or storage places, had been blown up, which had caused the collapse of the tunnel.
That the moving picture boys were welcomed by the soldiers, among whom they had many friends, goes without saying. And the recovery of the films was a matter for congratulation, for they were considered very valuable to the army.
"Though it was Lieutenant Secor who really saved them for us," explained Blake, when the story of their adventure was being told.
"And I am glad the time has come when Lieutenant Secor can appear in his true light," said Captain Black. "Even I suspected him, and he lost many friends who will come back to him, now that he risked all to serve his country in a rôle seldom honored—that of getting secret intelligence from the enemy."
For that is what the French lieutenant had been doing. Even while he was in the United States, where the boys first met him, he had been playing that part.
"But I assure you," he said to Blake and the others, "that the destruction of your films by my auto was an accident. When I found you believed it done purposely I let it go that way, as it helped me play my part the better. Also, I had to act in a manner to make you believe I was a friend of Labenstein. But that was all a part."
And it had not been an easy part for the French officer to play. He had, in ways of his own, come to suspect Labenstein, who went under various names, sometimes that of Karl Kooder. This man, who held forged citizenship papers of the United States, was a German spy and had done much to aid the Kaiser. But he accepted Lieutenant Secor as a co-worker, on the latter's representation that he, too, was a friend of Germany, or rather, as the Frenchman made Labenstein think, was willing to become so for a sum of money. So the two seemingly worked together.
"And it was thus you knew us," said the lieutenant to the boys. "Labenstein, to use one of his names, had orders to make all the trouble he could for you when you reached France, and to prevent your getting any pictures, if possible. Of course he could not do that, but he tried, even to the extent of writing a false note in London that caused your arrest. I had, seemingly, to help him, but all the while I was endeavoring to find out where the leak was on our side that enabled him to profit. And I found out. The leak will be stopped.
"I even seemed to join Labenstein in signaling the submarine, though that night, had he really succeeded in calling her with your light, I would have killed him where he stood. However, the depth charge solved that question.
"I had to escape from the ship with him to lull his suspicions against me. Then I went into the German ranks with him, being thought a deserter! That was hard for me, but I had my duty to perform.
"The rest you know. It was by a mere chance that Labenstein, when I was with him, came upon your films after the gas attack. He thought to profit personally from selling them, which is why he did not turn them over at once to his superiors. Ever since then he has been trying to dispose of them to enrich himself. And I have been trying to find a way to get them back to you without betraying myself and my mission.
"At last chance favored me. The big air attack came just after I had secured all the information I wanted. I was about to go back to my comrades and arrange for the capture of Labenstein if I could. He still had the films and was about to sell them to another German—a traitor like himself.
"Then came the big explosion, and he was fatally hurt. We both took refuge in the tunnel, Labenstein carrying with him the films, and you came just as Labenstein died. Well, perhaps it is better so."
"Yes," agreed Blake, "I think it is."
"And we have the films back!" exulted Charlie.
"But, best of all, we know Lieutenant Secor is straight!" cried Joe. "I'd hate to think anything else of him, after he saved our lives."
"Yes," agreed Blake softly.
"And now to get back on the job!" cried Joe, after a moment of silence.
And so the moving picture boys again took up their perilous calling. They soon recovered from their slight injuries caused by the cave-in of the tunnel, and, finding their cameras where they had left them in the French house, resumed the turning of the cranks.
They filmed many stirring scenes, and the records they made now form an important part of the archives of the War Office in Washington, the films so strangely lost and recovered being considered most valuable.
Lieutenant Secor became one of the boys' firmest friends, and through his help they were enabled to obtain many rare views. And now, having seen them safely through some of their perils, we will take leave of them.
|Art of Worldly Wisdom Daily|
In the 1600s, Balthasar Gracian, a jesuit priest wrote 300 aphorisms on living life called "The Art of Worldly Wisdom." Join our newsletter below and read them all, one at a time.
Shakespeare wrote over 150 sonnets! Join our Sonnet-A-Day Newsletter and read them all, one at a time.
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IBA KNOWLEDGE GAPS
As the presence of IBAs increases, so too do issues surrounding them. The following items have been compiled since 2006, and represent Knowledge Gaps, Issues and Concerns expressed by Aboriginal communities, the mining industry, academics, consultants and (northern) government agencies.
IBA Utility & Monitoring
- How are positive outcomes of IBAs being identified in communities?
- Are IBAs being effectively implemented?
- Are IBA targets being met?
- Are IBAs benefiting communities?
- What methods/methodologies are gauging progress?
- How are models of community sustainability being integrated into IBAs?
- Can a baseline be created to measure success?
- Is there a correlation between broader community involvement and ‘strengths’ of IBAs?
Role of Government
- What is the role of the government?
- Should IBAs be legislated?
- Is there existing legislation that can be modified to support IBAs?
- Should the government provide money for Aboriginal Groups training in IBA negotiations and other administrative capacity?
- Agreements or case studies to reference.
- Cross sectoral applications (e.g. Forestry Access and Resource Benefit Sharing).
- What other models exist?
- Is there a best practice model that Aboriginal Groups can draw from?
Incentives, Leverage and Circumstances
- How does corporate culture affect IBA implementation and negotiations?
- What are the political and legal conditions to favour a ‘strong’ IBA?
- Determine IBA effectiveness from the corporate perspective, are there financial incentives?
ISSUES AND CONCERNS
- Lack of cohesion and collaboration between federal, provincial and territorial governments in socio-economic mitigation, planning and implementation.
- Transparency and communication within communities.
- Community awareness and the foundation to foster community ‘forward thinking’ beyond mine closure.
- Socio-economic benefits and costs of reactive versus forward community planning.
- Internal tensions regarding employment and contracting opportunities
- Should IBAs be linked to the ‘Crown’s Duty to Consult’?
- Real sustained benefit versus appearance of benefit.
- IBA process is not meant to supplement government or permitting.
Of course, other IBA knowledge gaps exist; indeed we welcome further suggestions from IBA signatories and observers. We also welcome offers of assistance to address some of these knowledge gaps whether in the form of research funds, research assistance, and/or community cooperation.
- Top of Page -
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head of Preservation Services, uses a special tool to preserve a book in the
Preservation Services in Olin Library. Biddle and her student technicians
make page mends, reback books and remove mold from pages.
Head of Preservation Services Puts Wesleyan's Books in a Bind
|Q: When were
you hired at Wesleyan and what was your job title then?
A: I was hired in 1983 as the assistant to the librarian. Initially,
I was the clerk of the works for the $10 million library addition that was
added in the mid-1980s. In 1988 I was asked to develop a preservation
program for the library’s circulating collections. Now my job title is head
of Preservation Services.
Q: What do you do?
A: I am responsible for developing and managing the library’s
Preservation Services, with includes the book conservation lab. We are
currently exploring ways in which the Material Processing Marking unit might
cost effectively extend the life of new materials before being put on the
Q: What types of publications need preservation treatment?
A: In 1990 I surveyed the circulating collection. This revealed that
50 percent was in need of some type of repair and that 20 percent was on
brittle paper. Because so many items need repair we only review items that
have circulated or been used in one of the libraries.
Q: Are books that need treatment always old?
A: No. In the last 10 years publishers’ bindings have precipitously
declined in quality. We have to repair more and more “new” books though the
19th century collection is in the poorest condition. We did not have air
conditioning in Olin until 1985. Before that time the stacks would reach 120
degrees in the summer – essentially cooking the books.
Q: Tell me about the process of preserving a book.
A: We have a small book conservation lab in the connector between the
Public Affairs Center and Olin. It is furnished with a hood where we take
care of books with mold, various presses, a job backer, a board shear and
many, many specialized binding and conservation tools, cloths and papers. We
rarely rebind a book but do a wide range of repairs – page mends, rebacking,
guarding and cleaning. Book conservation is a specialized field but any 12th
century monk or Gutenberg would be quite familiar with what we do.
Q: What are some recent examples of materials that you have
A: Most of the student book repair technicians are preparing more
than 30 folio sized volumes of The Graphic, a popular 19th century English
periodical, for rebinding. It was originally half bound in leather which has
rotted. The covers have come off the text block. The pages are getting torn
and the sewing is coming undone as a result. The students are mending the
tears, and the sewing of the text block, removing the old spine lining and
relining the spines before the volumes will be sent to the library
commercial bindery. When we work on large format books the lab is very
One student is working on an 1854 edition of Types of Mankind by Nott and
Glidden for Special Collections. We had a lovely plate that had been found
on the floor of the Olin but no book. It took some sleuthing to find the
correct book, and when we did find the book it needed to be partially resewn
I am currently working on sewing and rebinding a 1925 book of German
etchings for the Print Reference Collection, as well.
Q: What happens to these materials? Can people check them out, or are
they kept in special collections?
A: The majority of the materials we work on are for the circulating
collections so they can be checked out but some materials are in Special
Collections in Olin and must be used there.
Q: What is your personal interest in these historical materials? Are
you a history buff?
A: I read a couple of books a week – primarily on history, book or
art history though I do love a good mystery.
Q: I understand you recently returned from a voluntary six-week
archeological dig in Petra, Jordan? Why did you decide to do this?
A: Volunteering on an archaeological dig is a way of gaining a
thorough understanding of what has gone on in the past at a specific place.
Petra is an amazingly complex, very large archaeological site and it takes a
long time to explore. I volunteered for the 21st season of the American
Expedition to Petra because it is led by Dr. Philip C. Hammond, an authority
on the Nabateans, the people who built and lived in Petra.
Q: Did you make any big discoveries?
A: This season we were working to establish the northern perimeter of
a plaza that had been found in 2002. It is behind the Temple of the Winged
Lions, the most important Nabatean temple in Petra. The Temple was built in
27 A.D. and destroyed in the massive 363 A.D. earthquake. I discovered some
beads, coins, a lamp and many, many pieces of pottery. Everywhere you walk
there is evidence of human habitation. And the country is spectacularly
Q: What are your degrees in?
A: My bachelor’s degree is in Middle Eastern anthropology and history
from the University of Texas. I apprenticed with Roger deCoverly,
chief binder of the London School of Printing, and over the years have
studied with other book conservators, primarily in Italy. I also have a master’s of library science from
the University of Rhode Island and a certificate in archival management from
The National Archives.
Q: What do you do in your spare time?
A: Refinishing woodwork is my current hobby. My husband, David, and I
bought a house built in 1867 for $1. So far we’ve spent five years taking it
apart, moving it nine miles from Easthampton to Hatfield, Massachusetts,
rebuilding and restoring it. There are acres of woodwork that need to be
refinished. I also create books. I am currently working on one about shoes
found in the desert.
Q: What is your involvement with Middletown Alpha Delta Phi Society?
A: The Alpha Delta Phi Society is located at 185 High Street. We
sponsor free events for the community including literary, film and poetry
series, and a coffee-house series. We also have the oldest,
continuously-operating eating club on campus, the Star & Crescent. I am the
society’s volunteer archivist and last year I published a booklet on the
first century and a half of their history titled Halls, Houses and Eating
Clubs of the Middletown Chapter Alpha Delta Phi Society. In May 2006 we will
be celebrating Alpha Delt’s sesquicentennial.
Q: Tell me about your family.
A: My husband, David, who attended Wesleyan, is Chairman of the Board
of a bio-diesel coop in western Massachusetts. They turn used vegetable oil
into fuel for diesel trucks and cars. After the dig in Petra, David joined
me for a tour of Jordan. His fluency in Arabic facilitates touring in the
Middle East. My son, Christopher, is in his final year of a computer
engineering degree at Kettering University in Michigan.
Olivia Bartlett, The Wesleyan Connection
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Bihar tourism offers an unique amalgamation of ancient civilization, religion, history and culture that is identifiable with India. The state bears testimony of rise and fall of some of India's major dynasties - the Mauryas, the Guptas and the Palas. Between 5th to 11th century, the world's earliest university flourished here. Its remains are one of the attractions of Bihar tourism. Some of the holy places of the Buddhist religion are situated here. Some significant sites of Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism are also located here.
How to Reach
Reaching Bihar is not difficult. The airport at Patna, the capital city of Bihar, is connected by regular flights with Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Delhi and Kathmandu. Indian Airlines and Sahara Airlines flights are operated regularly to and from this city.
Climate of Bihar
Maximum Temperature: 40-45 degrees Celsius
Minimum Temperature: 5-10 degrees Celcius
Average Annual Rainfall: 1,205 millimeter
Bihar offers a variety of hotels. Most of the hotels in Bihar are close to the important tourist destinations. Hence the travelers can easily move from one place to another within Bihar. Jamshedpur has a major steel plant, which draws many business travelers from across the world. Some good hotels are named below:
South Gandhi Maidan, Patna
Lotus Nikko Hotel Bodhgaya
Station Road, Gaya, Bodhgaya
Find more >>
Major destinations of Bihar tourism:
- Bodh Gaya
Some Famous tourist Destinations in Bihar
Gaya is a place known to the Hindus as one of the 'Dhamas' or the most sacred places for pilgrimage and is guarded on one side by the Prestshila Hills, Gaya. On the side opposite to the Prestshila Hills, Gaya lies the Ramshila hills.
The Prestshila Hills, Gaya in Bihar is a legendary place in Bihar. It is said that there used to be a demon called Gaya who was very much shocked at the distress caused by death. He expressed his sorrow to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu was very happy to see that a demon had such a kind heart and gave him a boon by virtue of which he could forgive the sinners.
Prestshila Hills, Gaya of Bihar is situated at a distance of 100 kilometers to the south of Patna. The age old town of Gaya is of tremendous importance to the Hindus as well as the Buddhists.
Prestshila Hills, Gaya in Bihar lies in the close vicinity of the Phalgu river. The peculiarity of this river is that the water cannot be seen from outside. It always remains under a thick layer of silt and sand. People who go to Gaya dig holes in the river to take out its water.
The Prestshila Hills, Gaya encloses a region in Bihar which has got the famous places like that located at around 3 kilometers from the center of the town of Gaya and which has got the Bodhi tree. This is the place where Lord Buddha was blessed with enlightenment. Gaya is noted for many holy shrines of which special mention should be made of the Vishnupad Temple. On the south of it you will find the Bodh Gaya.
Ahirauli, Buxar is a small village in the state of Bihar which is located at a distance of around 5 kilometers from the center of the proper town of Buxar. Here there is a temple of Devi Ahalya.
As the legend goes Devi Ahalya was the wife of Rishi Gautam. According to the stories of the great epic Ramayana, Devi Ahalya by mistake once identified a person in disguise as her husband. This annoyed Rishi Gautam so much that he turned Devi Ahalya into stones. The temple of Ahirauli, Buxar in Bihar reminds people of the innocence of the Devi. The petrified Devi was after many years rescued by the graceful Lord Ramachandra who saw her while he was passing by. The stone turned to real Devi Ahalya as soon as the Lord touched it.
Ahirauli, Buxar of Bihar is a place of pilgrimage. People come here from far and wide to get rid of all their sins committed whether knowingly or unknowingly. The people living in and around Ahirauli, Buxar firmly believe that the Lord is always with them to keep them far apart from all the curses and to protect them from all the adversities of life.
If you go to Ahirauli in Bihar you can feel the intense devotion and faith of the people towards the epic Ramayana and the love for their great hero Ramachandra. It is really amazing and can never be believed until and unless you go to Ahirauli, Buxar in Bihar that after the passage of so many hundreds of years a person can still have such a high level of popularity as Lord Rama.
Hasanpura in Bihar is the name of a village which is located at a distance of around 21 kilometers to the south of Siwan lying on the bank of Dhanai river. The place is noted for its religious and historical importance but it is nevertheless a place of natural beauty and scenic abundance.
From the distant land of Arabia here came to India a saint named Makhdum Saiyed Hasan Chisti. He was so impressed with the people and culture of India that he made up his mind to stay back in this country. It was him who founded the village of Hasanpura at Bihar.
Makhdum Saiyed Hasan Chisti stayed here for long. He was very much inclined towards the purity of religion and soul. He was also the founder of the Khankah (religious institution) in the area of Hasanpura in Bihar.
Hasanpura in Bihar houses thousands of the remnants of the large mosque as well as the tomb of the great Saint. If you go there they will remind you of the glorious past. They often reflect the lifestyle and the rich cultural heritage of the people in Hasanpura of Bihar. It is a notable feature of the site that it is equally visited by the Muslims and the Hindus. This clearly indicates that there is absolute communal harmony in Hasanpura of Bihar.
There is a grave in Hasanpura of Bihar which is actually a vast open court lying on the west of the village. There is a basalt image of Lord Vishnu in front.
Champaran is a notable place in Bihar that has got an immense importance in the history of the freedom movement of India. This was the place where Mahatma Gandhi took his first attempt towards the structuring of the nationalist movement in India.
The place is renowned for the great Champaran movement which was started as a protest against the tortures and the exploitations of the indigo planters in Bihar as well as other parts of the country. This movement had quite a long lasting effect.
Mahatma Gandhi was firm in his efforts to bring good days in Champaran of Bihar. The British Government was at last compelled to establish a Committee of Inquiry. The committee was entrusted with the responsibility of examination and submission of report on the conditions of the farmers in Champaran.
Ramchura is a famous place located in the Vaishali block in Bihar. The place is one of the major sites in the Ramayana circuit of the state of Bihar in India. Ramchura in Bihar is particularly popular to the people in and around Bihar as not only the place for pilgrimage but also for festivals.
It is said that Lord Ramachandra was once going to the place called Janakpur. While he was on his way to Janakpur, he felt very tired and decided to take a break in this place. It is also said that the Lord took a bath in this place. Ramchura of Bihar has thus become a place of immense importance to the devotees of Lord Rama.
In Ramchura at Bihar you can see the footprints of the Lord on stone. These are worshiped by the people with great faith and religious belief. They think that this will bring them happiness and prosperity in life.
Ramchura in Bihar is noted for its fairs and festivals especially those held on the occasion of the Ram Navami. This auspicious occasion is celebrated here with great joy and devotion. It is the day when Lord Rama took his birth. This day marks the arrival of Lord Vishnu to the earth and hence the end of all miseries under the sun.
The festival at Ramchura is a great delight to the tourists. In these days the village of Ramchura becomes full with colors and festive decorations. People offer their prayers to the Lord. They perform the 'pujas' and only then they break their fast by taking fruits or sweets. It is really worth visiting Ramchura of Bihar.
Maner Sharif lying in the state of Bihar is a vast village full of the remnants of the historical past. It is located in the north west of Danapur. The village lies at about 32 kilometers to the west of Patna.
In the ancient times Maner Sharif in Bihar used to be the principal site of learning and knowledge in the region. The well known grammarian Panini as well as Bararuchi were the residents of Maner Sharif of Bihar where they have completed their studies as well.
Maner Sharif at Bihar houses two very popular Muslim tombs:
one of Shah Daulat or Makhdum Daulat, popularly called Chhoti Dargah. another of Sheikh Yahia Maneri or Makhdum Yahia known as the Bari Dargah.
Maner Sharif in Bihar is the place where Makhdum Daulat in 1608 breathed his last. It was then in 1616 that Ibrahim Khan, Governor of Bihar who was also his disciple finished the construction of his mausoleum. The building at Maner Sharif of Bihar is a marvelous one. The walls of the building are adorned with intricate designs. There is a big dome on the top and the ceiling is full of inscriptions depicted from the holy Quran.
In Maner Sharif at Bihar you will find the architectural peculiarities which happened to be the characteristics of that of the Jehangir's era. Till now Maner Sharif in Bihar is the best monument of the Mughals in Eastern India. In the compound of the Maner Sharif of Bihar you will find a mosque which was also constructed by Ibrahim Khan in 1619.
Rajgir is a place full of temples and monasteries and it lies about 15 kilometers away from Nalanda. It is nestled in a valley and thereby has a very beautiful surrounding. To add to the beauty of Rajgir, there are green forests all around.
Before the formation of the Patliputra, Rajgir was the capital of the Magadh Mahajanpad (State). This region has long been related to Lord Buddha and Buddhism. Buddha passed several years of his life at Rajgir.
Rajgir of Bihar is famous for the Jain temples. Lord Mahavira spent many years in Rajgir. It is one of the most popular Jain pilgrimage sites in India.
The lessons of Buddha were documented at Rajgir. The town also served as the place for the first Buddhist Council. At present, Rajgir in Bihar happens to be the most significant center of pilgrimage for the Buddhists.
Apart from being a center of religion, Rajgir is also popular as a health resort. The warm water ponds in Rajgir have some medicinal values which can cure the dermal problems.
Valmiki Nagar in Bihar is a small village in the West Champaran. It lies on the Indo Nepal border. The village lies at a distance of 42 kilometers from Bagaha.
Valmiki Nagar of Bihar houses a Valmiki Ashram after the name of Maharishi Valmiki who was the composer of the great Indian epic, the Ramayana. It is known that he was at first a person who sustained his living on the things snatched away from others when he was used to be called Ratnakara. But later he was repentant and decided to take penance. He was then blessed and instructed to compile the life of the Lord.
A festival is held every year in Valmiki Nagar in Bihar during the time of Makar Sankranti.
The river called Gandak adds to the beauty of the Valmiki Nagar at Bihar. To make the irrigation system more improved, the government has built a barrage on the Gandak river.
Pawapuri in Bihar is a holy place especially for the Jains. It lies at a distance of 38 kilometers from Rajgir and 101 kilometers from Patna. It is the place where Lord Mahavira, the last Tirthankara and the founder of Jainism breathed his last breath. Pawapuri of Bihar is the place where the great Lord was cremated in about 500 BC.
The people took away so much of ashes from the places around the funeral pyre of Lord Mahavira that it created a water tank over there. A marble temple called the "Jalmandir" was then constructed in the center of the tank. It is at present a great center of pilgrimage for the Jains in and around Pawapuri. Here you will find also the Jain temple called Samosharan.
The best time to make a trip to Pawapuri is in the months of October to March. While in Pawapuri make it a point to visit the following places:
- Rajgir Dance Festival
- Chath Puja
- Arts and crafts
- Air: Patna is 101 kilometers away and is the nearest airport. Indian Airlines fly from Patna to Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi as well as Lucknow.
- Rail: The nearest railway station is Rajgir but the major railhead is at Patna.
- Road: You can reach there by taking a bus or taxi from Patna, Rajgir, Gaya, etc.
Lord Rama, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and the great hero of the Hindu epic, Ramayana, is a very popular figure in the place called Tar, Bhojpur in Bihar. The place is situated at a region which is about 10 kilometers to the north west of Piro.
The village of Tar, Bhojpur has been named after the demoness Tarka. The demoness has been depicted in the epic as an extremely unkind character who used to do harm to the sages as well as to the innocent common people.
It is said that the region to which the Tar, Bhojpur of Bihar belongs used to be the ground for the wrestling of the demoness Tarka. She was very strong and no one could ever think of defeating her. Demoness Tarka used to interrupt the religious rituals performed by the sages of those days.
All the people were afraid of Tarka. They prayed to Lord Vishnu to rescue them from the torture of the demoness. It was then that Lord Rama had an encounter with the demoness Tarka and she could not cope up with the massive strength of the Lord. The demoness had to breathe her last at the hands of the Lord.
The village of Tar, Bhojpur at Bihar reminds people of the great hero Shri Rama and how he had saved the lives of thousands. The common people in this area firmly believes that the Lord is always present here and he will rescue them in their difficult days. Perhaps this faith and the popularity of the Ramayana as well as Lord Rama has made Tar of Bhojpur a renowned place in India.
Last Updated on 30 March 2012
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There's nothing like the holidays to make you feel bloated -- you know, that swollen, gassy, acidy feeling that makes skinny jeans
Generally, the best way to avoid bloat is to stay away from soda, alcohol and greasy, salty, fatty meals, which slow the stomach and the intestines from emptying, according to Timothy S. Harlan (a.k.a. Dr. Gourmet
), M.D., medical director of Tulane University's School of Medicine.
However, if you know you're going to be over-indulging -- say, um, Thursday of next week -- you can be proactive by eating certain flat-belly
foods in the days leading up to the feast
. Here are some of Dr. Harlan's top picks, based on the latest scientific research:
There's some research that says the enzyme in papaya may aid digestion. Mix diced papaya into plain organic yogurt for breakfast, and if you're making a holiday dessert, consider panna cotta with a fresh papaya puree over top.
Oatmeal: According to Harlan, in a recent meta-analysis of a number of studies related to digestion, researchers found that oat bran can be particularly beneficial. Harlan recommends having oatmeal for breakfast and, over the holidays, using oatmeal in your pie crust.
Yogurt: The key is to make sure you're choosing a yogurt that has "active cultures," which will increase the number of "good" bacteria in your gut, helping you digest more efficiently and preventing that belly from blowing up. Harlan says to look for organic plain yogurt (which is very likely to contain the active cultures), and to steer clear of anything with "fruit on the bottom." If you need a touch of sweet, stir in some strawberry jam.
Asparagus: "There's some really interesting new data about asparagus that indicates that it has some probiotic benefits," says Harlan. So it may ease the build-up of gas and, because of its diuretic properties, also flush waste and excess water from your body.
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The 7 most common part(s) or condition(s) which contribute to the symptom Refrigerator leaking water are listed below. Check or test each item and watch any available videos. If you are still unable to solve the problem you may need to do additional research and troubleshooting. Remember, with our 365 Days. Period.® return policy you can return any part for any reason. So, go ahead and buy it to try it. No other parts retailer offers this unconditional return policy.
For the symptom you selected, these are the most common parts or causes, ordered by the likelihood of fixing the symptom.
If the refrigerator is leaking water it's possible that the refrigerator has a clogged or freezing defrost drain. If the defrost drain freezes the defrost water will overflow the drain and drip down to the bottom of the compartment, If enough water accumulates in the bottom it can run out onto the floor. Thaw any ice that is clogging the drain. Make sure the drain is clear by flushing it with a turkey baster and HOT water.
If the refrigerator is leaking water the water tank assembly may have sprung a leak. Check the water tank assembly while it's still in the refrigerator to see if the leak can be found. Keep in mind that the tank is not under pressure, it only holds water at a very low pressure and so the leak might be very small and hard to find. The tank can sometimes be made up of coiled tubing and is usually located behind the crisper drawers, behind a panel in the refrigerator section. If a leak is discovered, replace it. The plastic they use for the tank doesn't accept glue very well.
If the refrigerator is leaking water the water valve may be cracked or have a loose fitting. The water inlet valve requires a minimum of 20 psi to shut off properly. If the water inlet valve does not shut off properly and the water pressure is good, replace the water inlet valve.
If the refrigerator is leaking water the water filter housing might be cracked or broken. Inspect the housing thoroughly and replace it if any cracks are found.
If the refrigerator is leaking water the water filter head might be cracked or the seal might be torn or missing. Check the water filter housing carefully for any damage or defects.
If the refrigerator is leaking water the drain pan might be cracked. All self-defrosting refrigerators have a drain pan. The drain pan is underneath the refrigerator or near the compressor. When the refrigerator goes into the defrost cycle the frost and ice that is melted off of the evaporator coils flows down a small tube and into the drain pan below. The condenser fan blows warm air from the condenser coils across the top of the drain pan to evaporate the water quickly and so the drain pan never has to be emptied. However, if it cracks, the water from the defrost cycle will spill out of the pan onto the floor.
If the refrigerator is leaking water the water filter might not be installed correctly. Remove and reinstall the filter to be sure it's seated properly.
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When content management and security firm Irdeto's Ottawa office moved from a standard cubicle farm to a space with no desks, only long tables where employees can set up laptops, 33 private focus rooms, and 15 meeting rooms, employees tended to have the same question: "Where do I put my stuff?"
What the employees have come to discover over the past few months, says senior marketing communications manager Lisa Spencer, is that they never needed it. What they did need, however, was a more open setting to share information.
"Our global culture is so small, and it's about the immediate exchange of ideas," says Spencer. "That's—kind of on a micro level—what we're doing here. We're mimicking what's going on in the world."
As Senior Vice President Martin Sendyk put it to the Ottawa Citizen: "If you're a coal miner, you work in a coal mine. If you're a pilot, you work in a plane. If you're a knowledge worker, you share knowledge."
Irdeto's office is just one out of 20 the company has worldwide. A few years ago, senior leaders in the company's West headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, and its East headquarters in Beijing started thinking of ways to make internal communication just as innovative as what the company does externally.
So, Spencer says, Irdeto looked to other innovators, such as Google and Microsoft, and found that "what they did is they broke down a lot of the physical barriers." And so the deskless office was born.
That setup has been in place in Irdeto's two headquarters for some time, but the Ottawa office didn't move until recently, in part because of a commitment to its old space, but also because the new space needed a lot of work.
"They had to completely retrofit it to our needs," she says.
Managers at the Ottawa office also took their time, in order to ease employees into the change. "For a lot of people it's a foreign concept," says Spencer.
Managers brought employees to the new office site for visits fairly frequently to give them a chance to see construction as it was happening, she says. Cleaning up the old office took place in shifts so that people could let go of their stuff. Irdeto even gave employees the chance to vote on what kinds of chairs they'd have in the new office.
"By the time the move actually came around, I think we had maybe nine boxes of stuff that we labeled. Most people had their backpack and their laptop, and that was it," Spencer says.
A welcoming setting
More often than not, the main way people communicate within the new office is simply by walking up to a co-worker and starting a conversation.
"It's much more immediate," Spencer says. "Instead of sending an email, you can just walk over and ask them."
Employees looking for peace and quiet always have the focus rooms for solace, but the new office is actually a much calmer place to work, she says. Cubicles give employees a "false sense of security" when it comes to loudness, Spencer says. In the new arrangement, folks are more aware of the noise they make.
Often, employees, especially engineers, need to collaborate on projects. The table setup and having so many meeting rooms makes that easy, she says.
The atmosphere itself is simply more welcoming. "An intern could be sitting next to our SVP," Spencer says. "We're less siloed. We're talking more about what people are doing."
Employees get even closer at an employee gathering every two months with wine, beer, and snacks.
"It's just a really nice office setting," Spencer says. "When we were in our old office space, I worked from home a lot of the time, and now I don't want to work from home. It's nicer here than my home office. I actually want to come in to the office."
Spencer says the setup is too new for employee surveys to show just how people feel about it, but anecdotally, she says it's done wonders. "A lot of people were initially apprehensive about coming here," she says. "They thought that they would hate it, but those same naysayers are now the biggest advocates of it."
For communicating with folks in the 19 other Irdeto offices, each employee has a softphone—that's a software program that works like a phone—on his or her laptop and a headset. To reach a fellow employee in Dubai or South Africa, all it takes it punching in that person's six-digit extension, says Spencer.
Employees also use a Microsoft instant-messaging system to share their desktops, brainstorm, and conduct video chats. "It really helps kind of shrink the global barriers of working at such a big organization," says Spencer.
She says the company also has a SharePoint platform employees use for document collaboration and other projects.
Communicators, how would such a setup work in your office? Please respond in the comments section.
Matt Wilson is a staff writer for Ragan.com.
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The following article is from Free
Inquiry magazine, Volume 24, Number 4.
Soon after the 9/11 attacks, when the Bush administration
was summarily imprisoning immigrants who had no apparent connection to terrorism
and asserting virtually unaccountable power to spy on citizens and noncitizens
alike, Attorney General Ashcroft famously sneered at the fears of civil
libertarians. We were scaring people with “phantoms of lost liberty,” he
His metaphor was inadvertently appropriate. When the
Federal Bureau of Investigation subpoenaed records of an antiwar protest at
Drake University in February of this year, the ghost of Richard Nixon seemed to
hover over us, taking names and serial numbers of Americans who had the temerity
to protest what they regarded as an unjust and unnecessary war.
Federal subpoenas were served on Drake University, the
National Lawyers Guild, which had organized the event, and four individual
activists, including the leader of the Catholic Peace Ministry and a member of
the Catholic Worker House. The subpoenas apparently sought information on the
people who attended the antiwar forum, called “Stop the Occupation! Bring the
Iowa Guard Home!” Why were they issued? Federal officials claimed they were
investigating an effort by one person to scale a security fence the day after
the event. Given this very flimsy excuse
for seeking information about people engaged in legal
political advocacy, it was not entirely surprising that the U.S. attorney
general retreated and withdrew the subpoenas when the National Lawyer’s Guild
prepared to challenge them in court. But the message to anti-war protesters and
other dissidents was clear: exercise your First Amendment rights and you won’t
simply be haunted by phantoms of prosecutors past; you’ll be targeted by their
Meanwhile, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri may have
been visited recently by the ghost of Woodrow Wilson, who enthusiastically
signed the infamous Sedition Act of 1919; it prohibited “disloyal, profane,
scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United
States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval
forces of the United States.” In February 2004, Carcieri proposed a homeland
security act for Rhode Island that would have expanded upon state laws enacted
in 1919 that criminalized mere advocacy of anarchy. As the Rhode Island American
Civil Liberties Union observed, these laws are “incredibly archaic”: the
criminalization of mere advocacy was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court decades ago.
But the governor of Rhode Island was undeterred. His
proposal would have resurrected provisions making it a crime to “teach or
advocate anarchy” or the violent overthrow of the government or to affiliate
“with any organization teaching and advocating disbelief in or opposition to
the government.” To these clearly unconstitutional provisions, Carcieri would
have added language making it a crime to teach or advocate “acts of
How would Carcieri define terrorism? The governor borrowed
the very vague, expansive definition of terrorism included in the U.S.A. Patriot
Act: domestic terrorism is there defined as acts dangerous to human life that
violate state or federal penal law and appear intended to intimidate or coerce a
civilian population or to influence government policy by intimidation or
coercion. As many civil libertarians have observed, this definition of terrorism
could easily be applied to any political demonstration at which a single act of
violence or even disorderly conduct occurs: in other words, someone who upends
or throws a garbage can during a protest march could be guilty of terrorism and
sentenced to life in prison. Many protest movements or marches could be viewed
as efforts to influence government policy by intimidation or coercion.
(Civil-rights activists in the 1950s and ’60s could have been considered
terrorists under a law like the Patriot
Act.) Many protests, marches, and
movements involve acts of civil disobedience that could be construed by
political opponents as dangerous to human life.
We don’t know what the Supreme Court might or will say
about the Patriot Act’s controversial definition of terrorism, but we do know
that the Court would have to rewrite First Amendment law in order to uphold
prohibitions on the mere teaching and advocacy of unpopular, subversive, or
arguably dangerous political ideas. The Court would have to take us back to the World War I years, when Emma Goldman was deported for
opposing the draft and criticizing the government during wartime, and Eugene
Debs was sentenced to a ten-year prison term for making an antiwar speech in
which he told people they were “fit for something better than slavery and
The governor of Rhode Island was dragged back to the future
by immediate and vociferous criticism of his bill, which he hastily withdrew.
It’s too soon to tell if he and other elected officials will stay there.
Wendy Kaminer is a lawyer and social critic. Her latest
book is Free for ALL: Defending Liberty in America Today.
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced in any medium
without the written permission of the publisher.
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From Aloha to ZimZala, the entries in this category relate to the cultural aspects of surfing. Step through time as you browse entries that once defined surf culture in its beginning and redefine it today into a popular mainstream sport with a unique lifestyle.
Boost, Barrel, Cutback, Drop, and Tube are some of the popular entries in our Tricks & Technique category. Surfing, like many sports, is evolving and advances in equipment is enabling surfers to accomplish maneuvers never before seen or thought possible in surfing.
The ocean is a dynamic place. Whether energy fades into nothing or becomes a rideable wave depends on numerous factors. Wind, tides, bathymetry, and more play crucial roles in this delicate dance we call surfing. Peruse this section to learn about the myriad of influences.
From Bitchin' to Woody; if you want to reach back to your old school youth or relive what a particular generation used to define the surf lifestyle and culture, our Old School category will offer you a rare glimpse of the classics from the days gone by.
Longboard, Shortboard, Gun, Rail, Tail, and much, much more. Here's where you'll learn what all the common terms and definitions related to surf equipment are and just what they all mean. If you have any questions related to surfing equipment and it's not in here, we'd be surprised.
"Dude, just relax. You're going to blow out your squeaker." Many of our lexicon entries include examples to help further define the term. Most of them include additional information that simply adds clarity, but some offer humorous insight into the terms actual use.
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CBO provides budgetary and economic information in a variety of ways and at various points in the legislative process. All of CBO’s products apart from informal cost estimates for legislation being developed privately by Members of Congress or their staffs are available to the Congress and the public on CBO’s website.
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CBO’s report on the economic and budget outlook cover the 10-year period used in the Congressional budget process. Those reports present and explain CBO’s baseline budget projections and economic forecast, which are generally based on current law regarding federal spending and revenues. The reports also describe the differences between the current projections and previous ones; compare the economic forecast with those of other forecasters; and show the budgetary impact of some alternative policy assumptions.
- Produced: Several times annually. The budget projections and economic forecast are generally issued each January and updated in August. In addition, the budget projections are updated in March.
- Vist our budget and economic outlook page, or our pages on budget projections and economic projections.
analysis of the president’s budget
CBO estimates the budgetary impact of the proposals in the President’s budget using the agency’s own economic forecast and estimating assumptions. CBO’s independent “reestimate” of the President’s budget allows the Congress to compare the Administration’s spending and revenue proposals with CBO’s baseline spending and revenue projections and with other proposals using a consistent set of economic and technical assumptions.
- Produced: Annually. The budgetary analysis is generally issued in March, followed in April by an analysis of the impact of the President’s budgetary proposals on the economy and, in turn, indirectly on the federal budget.
- Visit our analysis of the president’s budget page.
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- Visit our budget options page.
long-term budget projections
CBO provides the Congress with budget projections that go beyond the standard 10-year budget window. Those projections typically span 25 years but can extend as far as 75 years into the future. The projections show the impact of long-term demographic trends and rising health care costs on federal spending, revenues, and deficits. CBO also projects the economic impact of alternative long-term budget policies.
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- Visit our long-term budget projections page.
CBO provides formal, written estimates of the cost of virtually every bill “reported” (approved) by Congressional committees to show how the bill would affect spending or revenues over the next 5 or 10 years, depending on the type of spending involved. Each cost estimate includes a section describing the basis for the estimate. For most tax legislation, CBO uses estimates provided by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, a separate group that works closely with the Congressional tax-writing committees. In addition to formal, written estimates, CBO provides a far greater number of preliminary, informal estimates as committees are considering what legislation to advance, as amendments to legislation are being debated, and at other stages in the legislative process.
- Produced: Throughout the year, with formal estimates typically numbering between 500 and 700 annually.
- View our most recent cost estimates.
- View our frequently asked questions about cost estimates.
analysis of federal mandates
CBO analyzes the costs that proposed legislation would impose on state, local, and tribal governments and on the private sector. If the estimated five-year cost of such a mandate exceeds specified thresholds, the agency reports the cost and provides the basis of the estimate. CBO produces mandate statements with its cost estimates for each committee-approved bill.
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- Visit our state and local governments page, or our cost estimates page.
monthly budget review
CBO issues a monthly analysis of federal spending and revenue totals for the previous month, the current month, and the fiscal year to date. Those analyses help to inform the Congress and the public about the monthly status of the budget.
- Produced: The fifth working day of each month.
- Visit our monthly budget review page.
scorekeeping for enacted legislation
CBO provides the budget and appropriations committees with frequent tabulations of Congressional action affecting spending and revenues. Those scorekeeping reports provide information about whether legislative actions are consistent with the spending and revenue levels set by the budget resolution.
- Produced: Periodically during the year.
- Visit our appropriations page.
compilations of unauthorized appropriations and expiring authorizations
CBO prepares a report listing all programs and activities funded for the current fiscal year for which authorizations of appropriations have expired or will expire during the current fiscal year.
- Produced: Annually, in January.
- Visit our unauthorized appropriations and expiring authorizations page.
reports on the troubled asset relief program
The Congress established the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in 2008 to stabilize financial markets. Twice each year, the Administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reports on the costs of the program, and as required by law, CBO then assesses each OMB report.
- Produced: Within 45 days of the TARP report produced by OMB; annually starting in 2013 and twice per year in previous years.
- Visit our finance page.
reports on the american recovery and reinvestment act
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) requires CBO to comment on reports filed by recipients of ARRA funding that detail the number of jobs funded through their activities. CBO’s estimates, which the agency considers to be more comprehensive than the recipients’ reports, are based on evidence from similar policies enacted in the past and on the results of various economic models.
- Produced: Annually starting in 2013 and quarterly in previous years.
- Visit our finance page.
Under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended by the Budget Control Act of 2011, CBO is required to issue reports that provide estimates of certain limits on discretionary budget authority (that is, the authority provided by appropriation acts for the government to incur financial obligations). Separately, on the basis of its own estimates, OMB will determine whether a sequestration (cancellation of budgetary resources) is required under those laws and, if so, the allocation of the cancellation of resources.
- Produced: Twice a year.
- Visit our sequestration reports page.
In addition to the reports discussed above, CBO prepares analytic reports that examine specific federal programs, aspects of the tax code, and budgetary and economic challenges. The reports cover many areas of federal policy, including health care, economic growth, income security, education, taxes, energy, the environment, national security, financial issues, infrastructure, and more. Most CBO reports present a set of options for changes in the federal programs or tax rules being examined. Such reports generally include estimates of each option’s budgetary effects, economic effects, or both, as well as a discussion of each option’s pros and cons. As with the agency’s other products, these reports make no recommendations. Some CBO reports provide background information about CBO’s other analyses to enhance the transparency of the agency’s work.
Most CBO reports are written at the request of the Chairman or Ranking Minority Member of a committee or subcommittee or of the leadership of either party in the House or Senate. The agency may also present its analyses as testimony before Congressional committees rather than in report format. In addition, CBO managers and analysts sometimes make presentations to professional groups, and slides from those presentations are generally posted on CBO’s website. The agency also sometimes summarizes its analyses in less traditional formats (such as infographics), and those summaries are also available on CBO’s website.
- Produced: Throughout the year.
- View our most recent reports.
CBO’s working papers include papers that provide technical descriptions of official CBO analyses and papers that represent independent research by CBO analysts. Through those papers, CBO aims to enhance the transparency of its work and to encourage external review of that work. Working papers are not subject to CBO’s regular review and editing process.
- Produced: Throughout the year.
- View our working papers.
data and technical information
To provide more detail about CBO’s budgetary and economic projections and to add to the transparency of CBO’s other analyses, the agency posts a considerable amount of data and other technical information on its website.
- Produced: Throughout the year.
- View our data and technical information.
- general information
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The bill was special ordered onto the Senate's session agenda Monday, bypassing the committee process. It has been before the Senate in several forms over the past few years, and its sponsor, Sen. Sammuel Sanes, tried to have it placed on the last session agenda a month ago, but the Senate instead sent it to committee.
Earlier this month, opponents of the bill prevented a committee vote by walking out on the hearing and preventing a quorum.
Senators approved the measure Monday, after heavily amending it to address concerns about permanently ceding control to the federal government and granting unfettered immunity to federal agents without recourse. The Senate first adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute – a replacement bill with new text – from Sanes, qualifying the nature and duration of the status to be given to federal agents.
Sanes' amendment made peace officer status for any federal agent expire automatically after one year, unless renewed by the police commissioner. It also mandates an orientation or class for federal peace officers on V.I. law and culture. And there must be semi-annual meetings to discuss the status of the program and whether it should be continued.
Supporters and opponents alike agreed that federal agencies and officers have at times run roughshod over local institutions and officials. Supporters argued that was not a reason to reject the prospect of more federal help at a time of out-of-control violent crime, while opponents warned granting the authority would be difficult to undo.
Sanes, Sens. Celestino White and Carlton "Ital" Dowe, who have supported the measure from its inception, argued it would ease relations with federal law enforcement and bring more resources to bear on the problems of crime in the community.
Opponents raised three principal objections: the aforementioned perceived disrespect from federal circles; that the federal government had failed in its obligation to enforce the borders and keep guns out, so in retaliation the territory should not grant peace-officer status; and that someone from the federal government should have testified in support of the bill if it is something they support.
"If you take a bit of a sandwich and you don't like it, do you take another bite while you are still chewing on that first bite?" Richards asked, presenting the sandwich as a metaphor for the federal government.
"Perhaps our greatest problem here in the Virgin Islands remains the weapons and drugs that pour through our borders – this is what the federal government is supposed to focus on and these are all violations of federal laws, yet we don't even have a postal inspector," Malone said in a statement explaining his opposition to the measure. “The federal emphasis needs to be on border control and it's currently sorely lacking,” he said.
Sen. Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O'Reilly said she opposed the bill previously, but felt the amendments addressed concerns enough and that the severity of violent crime in the territory's streets was such that drastic measures were needed. "We can always rescind it later," she said.
The Senate added two other amendments proposed by James. One added the word "reasonable" a second time, placing it before the word "force" so the bill now reads: "a federal law enforcement officer acting pursuant to this section may use any reasonable force which the officer reasonably believes to be necessary to defend himself."
James' other amendment removed a section that made federal agents the legal equivalent of V.I. government employees for insurance purposes.
Voting to send the bill, as amended, on to Gov. John deJongh Jr. for signing were: Sanes, Dowe, James, White, Rivera-O'Reilly, Sens. Craig Barshinger, Louis Patrick Hill, Ronald Russell and Patrick Simeon Sprauve. Voting nay were: Richards, Malone, Millin-Young, Sens. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen and Terrence "Positive" Nelson. Sen. Alvin Williams was absent.
Sanes was conciliatory after the vote, saying only that he was "glad a majority of his colleagues decided to support this," and had been and "remain willing to amend this to address any legitimate concern."
Sanes said he would check with legal counsel to see if removing the passage giving federal agents equivalent status to V.I. government employees created any difficulties, but if so, he said those concerns could be addressed later.
"The core concept of the bill remains: peace officer status and the protections that provides," he said.
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Australian Bureau of Statistics
3303.0 - Causes of Death, Australia, 2002
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 02/12/2003
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SECTION 1 UNDERLYING CAUSE OF DEATH
All deaths registered in 2002 have been coded using the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). Data from 1997 onwards are available coded to ICD-10 and data from years 1979 to 1996 are coded to the ninth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) which is generally comparable at the broad Chapter level to deaths coded to ICD-10. Further explanation on the comparability between ICD-9 and ICD-10 as detailed in this publication is provided in Appendix 5.
TRENDS IN LEADING CAUSES
While the 133,707 deaths registered in 2002 were 4% greater than the 128,544 deaths registered in 2001, the standardised death rate of 667 deaths per 100,000 population recorded in 2002 was 0.8% higher than the standardised death rate in 2001 and 20% lower than the 1992 rate. The standardised death rate for males in 2002 was 824 per 100,000, the same as in 2001 and 22% lower than in 1992; for females the standardised death rate in 2002 was 545 per 100,000, 1.7% higher than in 2001 and 18% lower than in 1992. These trends are consistent with continuing improvements in life expectancy in Australia.
Malignant neoplasms were the leading underlying cause of 37,622 deaths in 2002 which shows an increase of 2.4% on the 2001 total of 36,750. Malignant neoplasms were the underlying cause in 28% of all deaths in Australia in 2002, a slight decrease on the 29% of all causes in 2001. Ischaemic heart diseases were the underlying cause of 26,063 deaths in 2002, a slight decrease on the 26,234 deaths in 2001. These numbers represented 19% and 20% of all deaths in 2002 and 2001 respectively. Notwithstanding that the proportion of deaths due to Malignant neoplasms decreased between 2001 and 2002, the disparity between the proportions of deaths due to Malignant neoplasms and Ischaemic heart disease continues to widen when compared with 1992, when both of these underlying causes each represented 26% of all deaths.
The standardised death rate from Malignant neoplasms was 188 deaths per 100,000 population in 2002 compared to 209 in 1992 representing a decrease of 10%. This decrease was not evenly distributed between males and females. The standardised death rate for males from Malignant neoplasms decreased 13% from 278 to 241 per 100,000 between 1992 and 2002. The corresponding decrease for females was 7.4%, with rates of 162 in 1992 and 150 in 2002. During this period, for males, there were decreases in all types of Malignant neoplasms whereas for females there were decreases in all types except for lung cancer where there was an increase in the standardised death rate of 16%.
External causes relate to deaths from accidents, poisonings and violence. In 2002 External causes were responsible for 7,820 deaths or 5.8% of all deaths registered, with a standardised death rate of 40 per 100,000 of population. The 11% decrease in the standardised death rate from all external causes since 1992 is only about half the 20% decrease in the standardised death rate for all causes, and is largely due to a decrease in the rate for Transport accidents which decreased 28% from 14 per 100,000 in 1992 to 10 per 100,000 in 2002. The standardised death rate in 2002 from Intentional self-harm (suicide) for all ages was 19 per 100,000 males and 5 per 100,000 females, which were both decreases from the respective rates recorded in 2001. There were 2,320 deaths attributed to suicide registered in 2002, 134 (5.5%) fewer than the 2001 figure. There were fewer suicides in the 15-24 and 25-34 age groups, 22 and 48 respectively, compared to the numbers reported in 2001.
DEATHS OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PERSONS
While data on deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are considered to be affected to some degree from underenumeration (see Explanatory Notes, paragraph 23, for further information), a comparison of causes of Indigenous deaths with non-Indigenous deaths highlights some major differences. Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons have the same two leading causes of death, although they are proportionally different. Ischaemic heart diseases caused 16% of all Indigenous deaths compared to 20% of the non-Indigenous deaths while Malignant neoplasms were the cause of 15% and 29% of Indigenous and non-Indigenous deaths respectively. Diabetes mellitus accounted for 8% of Indigenous deaths compared to 2% of non-Indigenous deaths. External causes accounted for 16% of Indigenous deaths compared to 6% of non-Indigenous deaths with Intentional self-harm contributing 5% of all Indigenous deaths compared to 2% for the non-Indigenous.
YEARS OF POTENTIAL LIFE LOST (YPLL)
A measure of premature mortality is years of potential life lost for deaths occurring between the ages of 1 year and 78 years inclusive. (Refer to the Technical Note on page 74 for further detail). In 2002, the estimates of YPLL were 645,493 years for males and 357,271 years for females for all causes of death.
The contribution of Malignant neoplasms to the total estimated YPLL varies between males and females. For males aged 1-78 years, the proportion of years of potential life lost from Malignant neoplasms was 29% but for similarly aged females it was 44%, however Malignant neoplasms were reported as the underlying cause in 37% of all male deaths and 43% for all female deaths in this age group.
This difference in YPLL's between the sexes is further illustrated in a comparison of prostate cancer for males and breast cancer in females. In males aged 1-78 years, prostate cancer was reported as the underlying cause in 3.4% of all deaths but contributed only 1.7% to the total YPLL, whereas for females in the same age group, breast cancer was reported as the underlying cause in 8% of all deaths representing 10% of YPLL for females.
In 2002 deaths due to External causes contributed an estimated 178,398 years of potential life lost for males and 57,530 years of potential life lost for females. Although deaths as a result of External causes were 11% and 6.5% of all deaths of those aged 1-78 years for males and females, they represented 28% and 16% for males and females respectively of the total number of years of potential life lost.
Multiple causes of death include all causes and conditions reported on the death certificate (i.e. both underlying and associated causes; see Glossary for further details). Deaths due to External causes are those which occur as a result of accidents, poisonings and/or violence. They are classified according to the event, such as an Accidental fall, leading to the fatal injury. Multiple cause data for External causes include the nature of injury or poisoning, as well as any other causes reported on the death certificate.
NUMBER OF MULTIPLE CAUSES
For the 133,707 deaths registered in 2002, there were 384,362 causes reported (including 16,196 injuries) giving a mean of 2.9 causes per death. In 2002, 21% of all deaths were reported with a single underlying cause only, whereas 53% of deaths were reported with three or more causes. The mean number of causes reported per death varies with age, sex and underlying cause of death.
LEADING MULTIPLE CAUSES
In 2002, Malignant neoplasms, Ischaemic heart diseases and Cerebrovascular diseases, the leading underlying causes of death responsible for 57% of all deaths, were also the leading multiple causes of death reported either as the underlying or associated cause in 76% of all deaths. The fourth ranked multiple cause was Influenza and pneumonia, which was reported in 14% of all deaths and ranked as the seventh leading underlying cause responsible for 2.3% of deaths. The following table lists the ten leading multiple causes of death (underlying and associated causes) appearing on death certificates for deaths registered in 2002, and their corresponding ranking in terms of underlying causes.
LEADING MULTIPLE CAUSES OF DEATH
(b) Not coded as an underlying cause in accordance with ICD conventions.
RELATIONSHIP OF CAUSES
The following matrix illustrates relationships between the various causes of death in 2002. For example, Malignant neoplasms, the leading underlying cause of 37,622 deaths, was reported alone in 39% of cases and has a relatively low incidence of being reported with other leading causes. In contrast, of the 1,925 deaths assigned to Renal failure as the underlying cause, it was reported alone in only 7.0% of cases but is often reported with Ischaemic heart diseases and Heart failure.
LEADING MULTIPLE CAUSES WITH ASSOCIATED CAUSES
The multiple cause data for External causes includes the External cause (ICD codes V01-Y98), the nature of injury (ICD codes S00-T98) and natural causes (ICD codes A00-R99). In 2002 there were 7,820 deaths due to External causes. For these deaths there were a total of 27,006 multiple causes coded yielding an average of 3.5 causes coded per External cause of death. Deaths as a result of Accidental falls averaged 4.3 multiple causes, reflecting the number of injuries sustained.
In 2002, Transport accidents and Intentional self-harm accounted for 57% of all injuries reported for deaths due to External causes. Transport accidents were the largest source accounting for 31% of the total number of injuries, with 51% of those injuries being to either the head or thorax. Intentional self-harm accounted for 25% of total injuries recorded in 2002 due to external causes, and of these injuries, Asphyxiation was the most common (34%).
SECTION 3 PERINATAL DEATHS
Perinatal deaths comprise stillbirths (fetal deaths) and deaths of infants within the first 28 days of life (neonatal deaths). In Causes of Death Australia publications from 1997, these deaths have included infants and fetuses weighing at least 400 grams or having a gestational age of 20 weeks. To assist the reader and enable comparisons, table 3.1 is based on the World Health Organisation recommended definition which includes infants and fetuses weighing at least 500 grams or having a gestational age of 22 weeks (refer to Explanatory Notes, paragraphs 4-8 for further information on perinatal death statistics). Further tables based on this definition are available from the ABS. All other tables and this summary are based on the 400 g/20 weeks definition.
TRENDS IN PERINATAL DEATHS
In 2002, there were 2,019 perinatal deaths registered in Australia, representing a decrease from the 2,092 deaths registered in 2001. The perinatal death rate also slightly decreased from 8.4 in 2001 to 8.0 deaths per 1,000 total relevant births in 2002 (see Glossary, death rates for further information). In 2002, there were 1,240 fetal deaths and 779 neonatal deaths. Fetal deaths decreased by 3.9% on the number registered in 2001 while neonatal deaths decreased by 2.9%.
In 2002, the sex ratio of male perinatal deaths for every 100 female perinatal deaths was 122, representing a slight decrease on the ratio of 127 recorded in 2001.
AGE OF MOTHER
The majority of births in 2002 were among women aged 20 to 39 years, with 4.6% of births registered to mothers aged less than 20 years and 3.1% to those aged 40 years and over. While actual numbers are relatively small, perinatal deaths registered to mothers aged less than 20 years (7.1% of total perinatal deaths) and aged 40 years and over (4.9%) are proportionally higher than the percentage contributions of these two age groups to births.
In the last ten years, the overall perinatal death rate has decreased by 25%. The extent of this decrease, however, has not been uniform across all age groups. In particular, the perinatal death rate of 12.7 per 1,000 births for the 40 years and over age group is 29% lower than the 1992 rate of 18 per 1,000 births.
CONDITION IN FETUS/INFANT
In 2002, 29% of perinatal deaths were not assigned a specific cause of death in the fetus/infant. Medical certifiers are often unwilling or unable to provide an accurate cause of death without the assistance of an autopsy. The absence of a specific cause of death largely affects fetal deaths. While 45% of all fetal deaths registered in 2002 reported no specific cause, the corresponding figure for neonatal deaths was only 2.3%.
The major specific grouping of causes under which perinatal deaths were reported in 2002 included Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (18% of the total). Respiratory and cardiovascular disorders, specific to the perinatal period, accounted for 17% of perinatal deaths, while Disorders related to length of gestation and fetal growth contributed a further 14%. The relative importance of particular causes varies between fetal and neonatal deaths.
The major specified conditions reported in fetal deaths registered in 2002 were Intrauterine hypoxia (15%), Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (14%) and Disorders related to length of gestation and fetal growth (10%).
Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities accounted for 23% of neonatal deaths registered in 2002, while Respiratory and cardiovascular disorders, specific to the perinatal period (20%), and Disorders related to length of gestation and fetal growth (20%), were the other major contributors.
CONDITION IN MOTHER
Perinatal deaths differ from general deaths because a condition may be reported in the fetus/infant, the mother, or in both. A maternal condition was reported in 1,351 (67%) of the 2,019 perinatal deaths recorded in 2002. Complications of placenta, cord and membranes was the most frequently reported maternal cause, accounting for 553 or 27% of all perinatal deaths.
In 2002, Maternal complications of pregnancy occurred in 410 perinatal deaths, a decrease of 9.3% on last year. Multiple pregnancy is the most common maternal complication of pregnancy and was reported in 133 perinatal deaths, and representing a decrease of 13% on the number recorded in 2001 and 31% lower than the peak that occurred in 1995.
Multiple births (twins or more) account for 3.3% of babies born annually. The perinatal death rate for multiple births in 2002 was 30.3 per 1,000 live births, just over four times the corresponding rate of 7.2 recorded for single births.
The fetal death rate for multiple births in 2002 was 12.2 per 1,000 live births, almost equalling the rate for 2000 (12.0) which was a ten year low.
For 2002 the neonatal death rate for multiple births was 18.3 per 1,000 live births. While this represents a 34% decrease on the rate of 24.5 recorded in 1992, it is still considerably higher than the 2002 rate for single births of 2.6.
SECTION 4 YEAR OF OCCURRENCE
Information contained in the preceding sections of this publication refer to deaths registered by the state and territory Registrars-General during the calendar year 2002. In this section, deaths statistics are based on a year of occurrence, i.e. the year in which the death actually occurred, irrespective of the year in which it was registered.
Some countries publish deaths statistics on a year of registration basis, some on a year of occurrence basis, and some on both bases. Although in practice some deaths are registered many years after their date of occurrence, it is common international practice when publishing on a year of occurrence basis to include deaths registered within the particular occurrence year and the year immediately following. Analysis of deaths in Australia has shown that the number of deaths registered after the second year are not statistically significant (less than 0.1%). Accordingly, this practice has been adopted for the presentation of year of occurrence data in this publication, to facilitate international comparisons.
Since the 2001 edition of Causes of Death, Australia, the ABS has released the current year's data on a year of registration basis, and summary data on a year of occurrence basis for the preceding year. Data on a year of occurrence basis are considered to be more accurate than data on a year of registration basis as it allows for seasonal analysis, and data are not distorted by the effects of late registrations or changes in time taken to process registrations. However, in those countries where registration systems are complete and timely, there is not an appreciable difference between year of registration tabulations and those on a year of occurrence basis, and the two can be used interchangeably. This is certainly the case in Australia where about 95% of deaths occurring in a particular year are registered in that year.
However, variations in this proportion can occur in certain sub-sets of the population and for particular causes of death. For instance, although 95% of the total 128,862 deaths that occurred in 2001 were registered in 2001, only 88% of the 2,030 Indigenous deaths and 93% of deaths due to External causes that occurred in 2001 were registered in that year.
COMPARISON OF LEADING UNDERLYING CAUSES IN 2001
The following table shows there are negligible percentage differences between leading underlying causes of death presented on year of occurrence basis and year of registration basis in 2001. The cause with the biggest difference is Accidents, which are subject to coronial enquiry which can cause delays in the registration process.
LEADING UNDERLYING CAUSES OF DEATH
(b) A positive percentage difference indicates that more deaths were reported on a year of occurrence basis.
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This page last updated 20 June 2006
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If you are just starting out and have not used credit, there are a few different types of “starter” credit cards that you may want to check into. Most people with no credit established will have a difficult time getting approved for the that first credit card, so you will want to choose one that works out for you and will also help to establish a credit history.
Secured Credit Cards
Secured credit cards work well not only for people with no credit but those with bad credit that are looking to repair or re-establish credit as well. Secured credit cards usually require a security deposit that the credit card company matches and as your line of credit. The security deposit is then held in the event that you should default. Some card companies even offer credit limits that are slightly more than the security deposit. When researching secured credit cards, you will want to pay attention to fees that are involved.
Prepaid Credit Cards
Prepaid cards are cards that are similar to prepaid phones and prepaid insurance. You load the card with payments or a certain amount of money, and then when you use the card, the amount used is deducted from the balance. Prepaid cards are not always issued through well known banks and often do not report to credit bureaus, which would mean they do nothing for a person starting out who is trying to build their credit history. Prepaid cards also have numerous fees and expenses for carrying the cards which make them a not-so-great solution when trying to build credit.
Student Credit Cards
Sometimes students are just starting out in building their credit histories and there are a number of great student cards that offer cash back and bonuses on things like electronics, eating out, and other things that are generally student-friendly. These cards are also pretty understanding if you don’t have a credit history and you may be able to land a good first time card with a low APR and minimal fees.
Bank Issued Credit Cards
Another alternative for first time card users, would be to check the cards that the bank or financial institution that you work with offers. Often times, if you have a relationship with the bank or credit union, they are more than happy to help you acquire your first credit card. You may also receive offers from your bank that are better than other first time user credit cards simply because they know who you are and have already established some kind of history with you.
Credit Cards Specifically for First Time Users
Both Capital One and HSBC have card programs that are specifically for first time cardholders or cardholders interested in repairing their credit. Both card issuers also allow a pre-approval application process where you are notified of which cards you may qualify for, along with the details of the card, before you actually formally apply and accept the credit card. This is extremely helpful if you want to check out which types of cards and deals you qualify for before making a decision. Sometimes through these programs, you may also qualify for a secured card that can be upgraded to a regular unsecured card after you have established a positive payment history with the card issuer.
There are a number of solutions for first time cardholders. Shop around and make sure you take your time and choose the best one that is available for you.
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Microsoft is the victim of a double standard.
A federal court recently ordered the company to be split into two smaller companies.
But there is a real monopoly that no one seems to want to do anything about.
There's been no attempt to break up this company, despite the fact that it enjoys a 100% market share.
There's been no attempt to promote competition, despite the fact that the company offers poor service at inflated prices.
I'm talking, of course, about the U.S. Postal Service.
Believe it or not, there is something worse than a private company gaining market share by besting competitors: A public company that need not best anyone.
The American people have paid dearly for the U.S. Postal Service's monopoly over the years.
Since 1962, the price of a first class stamp has risen from
four cents to 33 cents, a 725% increase.
By contrast, a gallon of milk has risen by just 194%. Even with the recent steep rise in prices, gasoline has risen by just 445% over the same period.
We've grown accustomed to postal rate hikes, but they haven't always been the norm. Maybe that's because the Postal Service hasn't always had its monopoly.
In the 19th Century, stage lines like Wells Fargo gave the Post Office stiff competition in mail delivery. That competition forced first class letter rates down from an average of 14.5 cents to three cents. Consumer choice was short-lived, however, as the Private Express Statutes of 1845 ended private mail service between cities and the Postal Code of 1872 barred private mail delivery within cities.
Free from the pressures of competition, the Postal Service
has been free to raise rates ever since.
Now they want to add another penny to the price of a first class postage stamp early next year.
Perhaps such an increase could be justified if it meant better service. It won't.
The U.S. Postal Service is notorious for both surly employees and late deliveries. Nevertheless, it boasts a 93% on-time rate for first class mail and 85% for third class mail (of course, this begs the question, "on time according to whom?").
Excuse me if I'm just a little skeptical of the Post Office's statistics.
Scarcely a day goes by without my organization receiving mail belonging to others. The volume of such mail has been so heavy that we even had a special stamp made up to chide Postal employees for their poor performance. It reads, simply: "POST OFFICE: Despite our frequent requests, you continue to give us mail belonging to others. DELIVER TO ADDRESSEE."
I'd like to say the stamp has helped, but it hasn't.
Postal employees' repeated efforts to make three-day weekends into four-day vacations also make me a bit skeptical of the Post Office's on-time performance statistics. The day after the recent Memorial Day holiday, for example, we were informed that we would receive no mail delivery at all. We eventually did receive our mail, but only after repeated protests to a Postal supervisor.
Other times we haven't been so lucky. Over the past decade, postal carriers have skipped delivery of our mail at least a half-dozen times.
I've really come to believe the Post Office motto: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Many Postal Service employees don't need that kind of adversity to abandon their duty.
Even if the Postal Service's on-time performance statistics are correct, they are hardly something to crow about: They fail to deliver seven out of 100 first class and 15 out of 100 third class pieces of mail on time. Can you imagine the reaction if Microsoft applications failed to work up to 15% of the time?
One of our more amusing experiences with the Post Office occurred when we tried not once, but three times to send a parcel to Guatemala City. Each time we tried to mail the package, the parcel was returned to us by the Post Office with a stamp indicating there is no such address in Texas.
Of course, we knew that. That's why we paid the international rate and stamped "AIR MAIL" on the envelope to send it to Guatemala. The third time we mailed the package, we even drew a map on the package showing the Postal Service where Guatemala is located - to no avail. Eventually, we asked a friend who was flying to Guatemala to deliver the package by hand.
More recently, several Christmas cards we mailed came back to us due to bad addresses. But they weren't last year's Christmas cards. They were our 1998 Christmas cards.
I can only assume that others have had similar experiences.
I had always assumed that Postal employees who "go postal" do so because they snap under the pressure of the job. But you know, they're not only postal employees, they're also customers. Something to think about.
But irregular delivery hasn't been the only problem. The Post Office's Washington D.C. Capitol Station recently tried to reject 3,000 pieces of our outgoing mail, claiming they weren't set up for bulk mail. The mail in question was first class.
If you can't mail your first class mail at a the U.S. Postal Service's showcase post office, the place where tourists from all over the country come to visit the U.S. Postal Museum, where can you mail it?
The experience prompted me to ask one postal supervisor, "If you don't accept outgoing first class mail, and you're not too keen on delivering, precisely what service are you providing for 33 cents?"
The only response was dead silence.
Despite all these problems, the federal government has seen fit to give the Post Service regulatory power over companies competing with the Post Service in those limited areas where competition is allowed - packages, overnight mail and the like.
Let's review: The Post Office has a 100% monopoly over first class mail delivery, provides poor service at inflated prices and has the power to regulate competitors. Microsoft should be so lucky.
Let's not break up Microsoft, let's break up the Postal Service.
David A. Ridenour is Vice President of The National Center
for Public Policy Research, a non-partisan think-tank in Washington,
D.C., where he oversees its environmental and regulatory programs.
Comments may be sent to [email protected].
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Leonard Pitts never fails to disappoint (“Reason hard to find in talk of gun rights” Feb. 1). He states, “We need to ban fully automatic weapons from private use” and “the hunter that needs a gun that fires hundreds of rounds of minute isn’t much of a hunter.”
These statements reflect his total ignorance on the subject. Since 1934 the federal National Firearms Act strictly controls and restricts the possession and operation of fully automatic weapons, also called “machine guns.” In the 78 years since its inception, no registered, legally owned, fully automatic weapon has ever been used in a crime, and they are also banned for use in hunting.
Pitts should either do his homework before writing on a subject, or at least have his columns reviewed by someone who has knowledge.
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Global Public Square recently published a thoughtful piece on how global poverty rates are falling fast. It argued that one country in particular is almost solely responsible for this dramatic trend: China. Meanwhile, it said progress in the rest of the world “has been much, much slower – if there’s been progress at all.”
Here’s the problem. There are 62 other countries across the globe that are also slashing extreme poverty rates at a remarkable pace. And many of them are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. So, the more important question is – how do we accelerate the progress being made in places like Ethiopia and Uganda while simultaneously jumpstarting it in places that are lagging behind, like Nigeria and the Congo?
It’s true that China’s case is remarkable – both in terms of its sheer scale and speed. It has lifted 680 million people out of poverty in a single generation. That’s amazing. It’s every poverty fighter’s dream. But the global story isn’t just about China. It is also about countries like Ethiopia, Uganda, Cameroon, Ghana, and Senegal that are also witnessing dramatic declines in extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.25 a day.
According to a forthcoming ONE Campaign report, 63 nations are on track to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 (compared to 1990 levels) – including 16 in Sub-Saharan Africa. And their progress has further sped up over the last decade – particularly as African countries have turned the corner on HIV/AIDS, cleared unsustainable debt loads and made strategic investments in their social and physical infrastructure. The difficult and traumatic decade of the 1990s is receding in the rear-view mirror.
Bono mentioned 10 of these African trailblazers during his recent TED talk. Let’s look at two of them:
– In absolute terms, Ethiopia lifted an estimated 10 million people out of extreme poverty in just over a decade (from 2000 to 2011). During that time, the Ethiopian government focused nearly half of its total budget on poverty fighting sectors like health, agriculture, and education. And donors like the U.S. and Europe provided significant support alongside it. If the current trend holds, extreme poverty can be virtually eliminated by 2030.
– Uganda lifted nearly 3 million people out of poverty in four short years (between 2006 and 2009). Overall, the percentage of Ugandans living on less than $1.25 a day has fallen by nearly half since the early 1990s. It, too, could virtually eliminate it by 2030.
These dramatic results have inspired many world leaders – like President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, and Malawian President Joyce Banda – to declare that the world can virtually eliminate extreme poverty by 2030. Not to mention the World Bank president and a certain Irish rock star to boot.
To get there, several things will have to happen. There is risk in this story, just as there is promise. First, developing economies will not only need to keep growing at a healthy clip, but that growth will need to reach and benefit their poorest citizens. On that, I couldn’t agree more with the Global Public Square article. Conversely, a global growth shock that deals a direct blow to poor nations would be catastrophic in the fight against extreme poverty. Second, governments need to implement targeted policies that address growing rates of inequality. Fortunately, countries like Brazil have shown that this is possible. It’s not easy, but it’s possible.
Third, and perhaps most challenging, is the tough nut of states that have been governed poorly must be cracked. In Africa, this means places like Nigeria, Sudan, and the Congo. These are the populous nations that are holding down regional progress. They largely explain why Africa’s overall growth rates aren’t even more compelling than they are. One country like Nigeria can overshadow five like Uganda or two like Ethiopia simply because of its size.
Truth be told, nobody has a magic elixir that will transform these places into the next China or Ethiopia. Long running domestic instability, or even conflict, takes time to address. Then again, people said the same thing about China in the 1970s and Ethiopia in the 1980s. Or even Uganda in the 1990s. They were hopeless cases then. But look at them today.
So, going forward, let’s expand the global poverty discussion beyond a singular focus on China. While this tendency may be natural given China’s absolute numbers, it does an injustice to smaller nations that are surging alongside it. These success stories demonstrate that the elimination of extreme poverty is possible well within our lifetime, perhaps only a decade and a half away.
Look out for our 2013 DATA Report, released on 29 May, which looks at how donor and African government spending is linked to progress.
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
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Volume 13, Issue 4 (July 1985)
A Provisional Multispecies Toxicity Test Using Indigenous Organisms
A multispecies toxicity test is described that uses indigenous microorganisms. The test is suitable for both laboratory and field, is inexpensive, replicates easily, and uses extremely inexpensive materials. An additional advantage is the use of an important ecological rate process as an end point; therefore the test is superior to test using lethality as an end point. The test can be carried out using organisms collected from a site of interest or from a specific ecological resource area. Site-specific or synthetic dilution water may be used. The major drawback is a requirement for significant taxonomic ability. However, more general chemical measures such as ATP biomass, chlorophyll biomass, or heterotrophic index may substitute for species identification. Although this test has been used in a variety of freshwater ecosystems in the United States and has been validated to a limited degree in the People's Republic of China, a wider data base is required before it can be generally used.
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Uma Thurman and Jake T. Austin Join NEA to Celebrate 2013 Read Across America Day
By Cindy Long and Staci Maiers
Hundreds of New York City school children filed into the New York Public Library on Friday morning to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday and to kick off Read Across America Day, the nation’s largest reading celebration with more than 45 million participating around the country to highlight the importance of developing a love for reading at an early age.
First grader Shamar was especially excited to meet the Cat in the Hat and to listen to the celebrity readings. “It’s important to read and to be read to because it makes you smarter,” he said.
And on a sunny day in Manhattan more than 250 public school children like Shamar grew a little bit smarter after Academy Award-nominated actress Uma Thurman and Jake T. Austin, star of the Emmy-winning “Wizards of Waverly Place” and ABC Family’s “The Fosters” read two Seuss classics – That Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham.
“As a mother of three, with one now a teenager, I’ve seen the benefits of reading to and with my children throughout the span of childhood,” said Thurman, who read The Cat in the Hat. “Reading has helped develop my children and my family. Spending that time together means so much.”
Jake T. Austin explained how reading helps spark imaginations, which he said is one of the best parts about being an actor.
“Reading enables us to explore our imaginations,” he said. “As an actor, I get to be different characters and experience different worlds. I want children to be able to do the same through a good book.”
The children gathered in the New York Public Library and sat together in a sea of tall red and white striped hats as NEA President Dennis Van Roekel announced a new the partnership between NEA and Renaissance Dental.
“This Read Across America Day we want students to sink their teeth into a good book,” Van Roekel said. “When students are absent from class due to oral health problems, they’re missing out on critical instruction time. Everyone from Horton to Grinch can benefit from developing good oral health and reading habits.”
Every time Van Roekel said the word “read,” the kids cheered loudly.
“I really like the reaction I get when I say the word “read”!” he said. To which the kids immediately responded with a roar of whoops and cheers and applause.
The kids also learned a new equation that’s easy to remember and will make a big impact on their lives: 2 x 2 + 20. That means, brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes, plus read for 20 minutes a day. To reinforce the message, the kids each got a goodie bag with a toothbrush, a counter to measure the minutes for brushing, a book – The Cat in The Hat, of course – as well as healthy snacks and a bottle of water.
One of the students who got a goodie bag was Rokhaya, a first grader at PS 154. She was happy about the bag, but said the most exciting part was when Thing 1 and Thing 2 came over to say hello as they made the rounds through the crowd of children.
“That was really cool to meet them,” she said. “They told me to read because it would make me smarter, and that’s what I’m going to do!”
Thing 1 was played by Victoria Formica, a junior at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT, and President of the Quinnipiac Future Teachers Organization (QFTO), CEA Student Program.
“This day was fabulous because it makes children excited about reading and learning,” she said.
Thing 2, played by Marie Schussler, a senior at Quinnipiac University, couldn’t agree more. “Read Across America Day encourages children to enjoy reading and learning through entertainment,” said Schussler, who is the Vice President of the QFTO CEA Student Program. “It helps them grow as individuals and as a community.”
Read Across America is an award-winning literacy program founded by NEA in 1997 through a partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P., and Random House. NEA’s Read Across America Day is celebrated every year on or around the birthday of Dr. Suess, the beloved children’s author.
Video: Lights, Camera, Read! NEA’s Read Across America Day in NYC
- NEA Kicks Off Read Across America Day
- NEA’s Read Across America Cat-a-Van Tour Hits the Road
- ‘The Lorax’ Stars Zac Efron and Danny DeVito Kick off Read Across America Day
- NEA Kicks Off Read Across America Tour with Mazda and ‘The Lorax’
- NEA’s Read Across America Tour Delivers Donations to Schools in Need
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Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens
It’s the only national park dedicated to rare cultivated varieties of waterlilies and lotus. These exotics, originally tended by a man homesick for his native Maine, tend to bloom in the coolest part of the day. To see the flowers at their best, arrive early.
Daily, 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
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a monthly round-up of the world's best interiors and design stories
Tokyo Innovation Center
Thursday 18 Oct 2012
The objective of this project was to integrate research departments which have been dispersed now in each factory of the company. Then, the client ant our team expected the operation of research development to be more immediate and creative via this project.
Against the greenwood background of Musashino Forest, the site is located at the boundary of new residential urban fabric and the foot of mountain. The planning area is at the corner of industrial site on this boundary.
While saving more areas for the future development, main buildings had been set along the West to East direction to control the minimum impact to the existing residential area. As for the view direction, we provided the clear connection from the station and the block against West direction by the gate-framed entrance.
Basing on the concept of "linking / opening / understanding", volumes of two-story hall set with slightly shift like stair structure. We achieved to design the research workplace with dynamic clear view inside. At the dining hall with green roof garden, workers here can use such space not only for dining but working discussion. We might incorporate the creative workplace for the research development by synthetic design of longitudinally-set reference rooms and visible rooms for various fields' research activities.Furthermore, at laboratories and research rooms, we tried to enhance flexibility for corresponding environmental change in the future by building mechanical balconies at South side.
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Mar. 23, 2001 There's a bargain in the basement of Stanford's Packard Electrical Engineering building: a low-cost magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. MRI scanners take sharp inner pictures of the body including the brain, spine and joints. MRI images provide better contrast in soft tissue like the brain compared with other imaging techniques such as X-ray, CT or ultrasound. But MRI scanners don't come cheap. One whole-body scanner costs $1 million to $3 million, and scan charges can exceed $1,000.
"Personally, I never liked the cost of MRI. I'm very frugal," says Steven Conolly, a senior research associate on the engineering team creating the new MRI scanner. Professor emeritus of engineering and radiology Albert Macovski inspired the project, which is led by Conolly and engineering research associate Greig Scott. One of the team's goals is to create a high-quality scanner that would sell for about $150,000.
The scanner might become useful in the developing world, says Conolly, or as a tool for basic science research.
The team's low-cost approach to building MRI scanners is practical and challenging. And after five years of work, the researchers now have their first human images in hand.
The trick, Conolly says, is to use two inexpensive resistive magnets instead of an expensive superconducting magnet.
MRI works in two steps. First, it exposes the human body to a strong magnetic field. Some elements, including hydrogen atoms inside water and body fat, respond to a strong magnetic field by lining up with it much as iron filings align with the field of a desktop magnet. Here the magnetic field needs to be very strong because hydrogen atoms don't respond as easily to a magnetic field as iron filings do. Today's MRI scanners use magnets as strong as those used to pick up cars in a junkyard.
Once the hydrogen atoms have lined up, they create their own magnetic signal. Because hydrogen atoms in different tissues have slightly different signals, the MRI scanner measures those differences, detecting contrast in an image. For this second step -- measuring the difference between, for example, a hydrogen atom inside a tumor and one inside muscle -- the magnetic field has to be extremely precise, Conolly says. The field cannot vary by more than one ten-thousandth of a percent, which means if the Earth was as flat as an MRI magnetic field, the world's highest hill would be only 20 feet high.
The only magnets available today that are both very strong and homogeneous are superconducting magnets. They are the biggest single cost in an MRI scanner. But it turns out, says Conolly, that the magnet inside an MRI scanner doesn't need to be simultaneously strong and consistent. So the team built an entire MRI scanner from scratch, using two magnets to replace the conventional superconducting magnet. The first magnet is very strong and capable of lining up the hydrogen atoms. It needn't be very precise, though, and has about 40 percent variation. "It's like using a lamp to illuminate a book," says Conolly. "The light intensity may vary over the surface of the page by 40 percent, but as long as it's bright enough, you can still read the page." The second magnet creates a homogeneous magnetic field, but it needn't be strong. In fact, it's weak, requiring the power of about two hairdryers. The MRI team turns on one magnet to line up the hydrogen atoms and turns on the other to record the body's signal.
Both magnets are simple copper resistive magnets -- made of stuff anyone might find at a hardware store. As soon as the Stanford MRI team created a working scanner, they started to take pictures. One of the team scientists, Blaine Chronik, went to the grocery store when they first started getting data "and just looked for interesting things to image," says Conolly. "We tried tomatoes," said Sharon Ungersma, a graduate student on the project, "and grapes and other foods." Bacon showed the most interesting contrast. The fat and the muscle stripes on the bacon showed up in stark contrast to each other. Soon the team, including graduate students Hao Xu and Nate Matter, started imaging human hands and wrists. Image slices show the carpal bones, the tendons and the soft tissue. "The hand images are definitely not yet at the same quality as conventional MRI scanners," says Conolly, "but we can actually talk about anatomy now. And we can measure improvements."
By this summer, Conolly anticipates the images will be far better. A new-and-improved homogeneous magnet is almost completed. This one is bigger and can work at higher field strength. It'll fit a knee, not just a wrist. It's more energy-efficient and, fittingly, even cheaper. The team is still working to attain the homogeneity that they need in the low-strength magnet. Because they create the magnet by coiling copper tape, each turn needs to be placed precisely with respect to the other coils. "There are more than a hundred turns of copper tape in the coils, so every little kink and bind accumulates," says Conolly. "The outside diameter can be off by about 50-thousandths of an inch from ideal -- which is pretty good, but it's still a problem." Ungersma is now creating a new set of coils to fix this problem.
The entire team is busy trying to improve image quality. The team is also excited about the prospect of basic scientific research, which opens the door for exploring many new contrast mechanisms.
The team has received grants to create scanners for imaging the knee, brain and breast. One of the benefits of the low-cost MRI scanner is that hospitals could use smaller scanners specific to certain parts of the body, instead of buying a second whole-body scanner. With the Stanford technology, MRI breast imaging might become cost effective for breast cancer screening. In an age of rising medical costs, the technology may make MRI available to a larger clientele.
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Posted on 18 March 2012.
The most important of all option tips is that before even considering trading options, take the time to learn about options trading and options trading strategies. A preliminary options trading education and introduction to option tips can be found in the following articles: Option Trading Basics, Trading Call Options, and Managing Options Trading Risk.
Investopedia.com provides a good introduction to options trading and option tips in an entry called Options Basics: Introduction. More detailed options trading information and option tips are available at Optiontradingpedia.com. These are just two of many sites on the Internet that provide options trading information and option tips. It is highly recommended that an investor that is new to options trading gain a firm understanding of the risks and rewards associated with options trading prior to commencing with options trading.
One of the most important option tips is to understand that options have a number of different uses in the stock and commodities markets, and therefore, options trading strategies vary depending upon why options are purchased. Certain options trading strategies do not apply to every options trade.
Call options are purchased when one anticipates that a stock or commodity will make a move higher before the option expires. Put options are purchased when one anticipates that a stock or commodity will make a move lower before the option expires. Buying put and call options can be used as a pure trading strategy to try to make money from an anticipated price move or as a hedging trading strategy to protect an existing position held in a stock or commodity.
The most common of all option tips is to buy Call options for a stock or commodity you expect to move higher rather than the stock or commodity itself. Call options allow traders to reduce the amount of capital needed for a trade and to protect against an unanticipated drop in price of a stock or commodity. The advantage of playing a stock or commodity on the long side via Call options is that the downside risk can be quantified as the price paid for the option. Also, not as much money has to be committed to the trade since Call options cost just a fraction of the price of a given stock or commodity.
Another one of the common option tips is to buy Put options to protect the downside risk of a stock or commodity one is holding long, but does not want to sell. A Put option gives one the right to sell the amount of shares or commodity covered by the option (typically a block of 100 shares for each option) at the specified option strike price prior to the option expiration date. If one has a gain in a stock or commodity and want to ensure that no matter what happens to the price of the stock or commodity due to unforeseen events, one can get out with a profit, Put options are a good way to protect that gain.
One of the commonly overlooked option tips is to use limit orders to buy and sell options. Use of limit orders when buying and selling Call and Put options can save money, especially if one is an active options trader.
A summary of option tips would not be complete without the standard warning that all options traders must understand about the difference between stocks and options. Unlike stocks, options suffer from price decay as they approach their expiration date, which means they methodically lose value over time. Once the expiration date is reach, an option will expire worthless, unless the strike price of the option has been exceeded to either the upside or downside, depending upon if it is a Call or Put option.
© 2013 StockRockandRoll, LLC | All rights reserved
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Even at a time when spending cutbacks seem the most potent symbol of change, hype about tech innovation continues unchecked. But for IT services, at least, talk of innovation genuinely goes beyond hype. Here's why:
Changing global demographics
Many factors drive globalisation - cost often being dominant for IT services. But demographics may yet matter more. The UK's shrinking IT workforce will be a constant challenge to CIOs for years to come.
The UK today has a median age between 40 and 45. But in India, with its half-billion working population, half the people are under the age of 27. The Philippines has a median age of 22.3 years. No wonder these countries have won leading roles in the global delivery of IT services.
Demographic pressures will drive a continued need for globalisation of the labour pool - despite political rhetoric to the contrary. All large companies will need to adapt to this reality - and the changing IT structures it implies.
New delivery models
New models -- like software-as-a-service (SaaS), solution accelerators (pre-built code that systems integrators use to kick start client projects), and cloud services - blur the differentiation between products and services. Buyers appreciate the resulting financial and time-to-value benefits, along with other advantages like improved scalability for varying usage. One utilities firm bought into SaaS partly for its lower costs, but also to harness its quicker service deployment to business users.
Services using new models like cloud computing may bring enterprise benefit, but they compete with traditional outsourcing or managed services. For example, a bundle of pre-packaged cloud services may increasingly serve to replace the custom-built outsourcing provision of today. That means more complexity of choice in the sourcing process.
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Diabetes prevention now closer: Aussie research
Australian scientists have developed a therapy that could help prevent type one diabetes in susceptible people.
The scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), in Melbourne said today they had successfully used genetic engineering to prevent 'type one' diabetes from developing in mice that were highly susceptible to the disease.
The institute said further animal experiments were necessary but that the goal was to develop a practical therapy for preventing type one diabetes in humans.
In type one diabetes, the body does not produce the insulin needed to take sugar from the blood and turn it into energy for cells, requiring sufferers to take insulin injections for life. The disease is usually diagnosed in children and young adults and was previously known as juvenile diabetes.
The more common 'type two diabetes' occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin or its cells ignore the insulin.
Type one diabetes is caused by a malfunction in the body's immune system, which attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells.
Scientists Dr Raymond Steptoe and Professor Leonard Harrison set out to prevent the disease by "re-educating the immune system" so it would not attack the insulin cells. Their strategy consisted of genetically altering some of the body's own blood stem cells so they inactivate those immune system cells that are attacking the insulin-production system.
"In a clinical setting we would harvest these blood stem cells from individuals who have a demonstrated risk for type one diabetes, insert a small amount of genetic material and transfer these cells back to the patient," Steptoe said.
"The advantage of this approach over non-specific therapies, such as general immunosuppressants, is that it specifically targets the detrimental immune cells, but leaves those that we need to fight infections such as colds and 'flu," he said.
While the new technique proved successful in mice, human trials could still be years away, he said. The scientists also cautioned that while the new technique might eventually be used to prevent type one diabetes, it would not cure those who already require insulin injections.
"It may, however, be useful in conjunction with other approaches, such as insulin-producing cell replacement therapy," said a statement from WEHI.
The research was published in the May 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
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Lincoln and the Problem of Civil Rights During Wartime
Today’s concerns about the Patriot Act and the status of our combatants in the War on Terrorism raise perennial issues of democratic governance in a liberal society. No president faced these issues more clearly and stridently than Abraham Lincoln. Responding to arguments from Erastus Corning and other New York Democrats, Lincoln defended his decisions with respect to civil rights as being humane and respectful of the goals of union. In this talk, Dr. Yenor discusses Lincoln’s arguments and then transfers the principles of his arguments to contemporary issues. Today’s issues may be as complicated as, or even more complicated than, those faced by Lincoln, but our resolution of those issues favors civil rights much more than the Great Emancipator’s view.
Scott Yenor. "Lincoln and the Problem of Civil Rights During Wartime" AAUW. Boise, ID. Feb. 2011.
This document is currently not available here.
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The Department of Human Resources Management should be consulted prior to suspending an employee. An employee will receive a suspension as the third step in the progressive disciplinary process or for a serious offense requiring a suspension for the first infraction. Suspensions are without pay. When an exempt (salaried) employee is suspended, it must be for a minimum of five working days (Monday through Friday) to protect his or her exempt status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is important that the employee:
1. Knows that the suspension is without pay
2. Understands the policies or rules violated, or other actions necessitating the suspension
3. Receives the specific dates of the suspension
4. Is made aware of the corrective actions necessary
5. Understands the possible consequences of a recurrence
6. Is made aware that a suspension is a grievable action*
The incident must be documented on the Disciplinary Report and signed by the employee and supervisor/manager and copies distributed as indicated on the form. Should the employee refuse to sign the report, it will be noted that "employee refused to sign" and another supervisor/manager, in addition to the employee's immediate supervisor/manager, will sign as a witness.
*Suspensions are grievable through the University Grievance Procedure. Covered employees who have successfully completed a twelve (12) month probationary period and occupy part or all of an established full-time equivalent position may grieve. The employee must be informed in writing that he/she has 14 calendar days from the effective date of the suspension to file a grievance. Refer to Human Resources Management Policy No. 44, Grievance Procedure. Suspensions remain in effect, for progressive discipline purposes, for two years from the date signed by the employee or witness. However, suspensions become part of the employee’s permanent/official personnel record within the Department of Human Resources Management.
A suspension may exceed the normal recommended days when an employee has been arrested or is the focus of an administrative or criminal investigation and his/her continued presence at work is not in the best interest of the employee or the Medical University. Under these circumstances the employee will be placed on an indefinite suspension pending the outcome of the situation. If the employee is exonerated or charges are dismissed through the judicial process or the court, he/she may be entitled to reinstatement with back pay. The Medical University, however, may conduct its own investigation and take appropriate disciplinary action based upon the findings. Suspensions (Leave Without Pay) should be noted on the punch detail reports (STAR), biweekly time cards or monthly time summaries.
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What are normal puberty, precocious puberty, and delayed puberty?
The time in one's life when sexual maturity takes place is known as puberty. The physical changes that mark puberty typically begin in girls between ages 8 and 13 and in boys between ages 9 and 14.
Precocious puberty is a condition that occurs when sexual maturity begins earlier than normal. Precocious (meaning prematurely developed) puberty begins before age 8 for girls and before age 9 for boys.
Children affected by precocious puberty may experience problems such as1:
- Failure to reach their full height because their growth halts too soon
- Psychological and social problems, such as anxiety over being "different" from their peers. However, many children do not experience major psychological or social problems, particularly when the onset of puberty is only slightly early.
Delayed puberty is the term for a condition in which the body's timing for sexual maturity is later than the normal range of ages.
Many children with delayed puberty will eventually go through an otherwise normal puberty, just at a late age. Other children have a long-lasting condition known as hypogonadism (pronounced HI-poe-GO-nad-iz-uhm) in which the sex glands (the testes in men and the ovaries in women) produce few or no hormones. For example, hypogonadism can occur in girls with Turner syndrome or in individuals with hypogonadotropic (pronounced HI-po-GO-nah-doe-TROH-pik) hypogonadism, which occurs when the hypothalamus (pronounced HI-po-THAL-uh-muss) produces little to no gonadotropin-releasing hormone (pronounced goh-nad-uh-TROH-pin) (GnRH).
- National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2011). Precocious puberty. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002152 [top]
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Family Tree Search
Free Family Tree
History Books Online
Native American Records
Free Genealogy Forms
Free Genealogy Charts
Family Tree Chart
Free Census Forms
Family Group Chart
Ancestry remains the premier genealogy program online. With over 2 BILLION records, no other online website has near the amount of data...
Florida Civil War Search
Florida became a state in 1845; at that time, the population of the state was estimated at 140,000 of which 63,000 were African Americans. Even though Florida was considered a slave state, and slavery was practiced, not all African Americans residing in Florida at that time were slaves. Some were Creoles, descendants of Spanish citizens of African ancestry... some were part Native Americans, intermarried into the various Creek and Seminole tribes.
Florida joined the southern secession in 1861 when it voted to secede from the United States. While the majority of the battles were fought elsewhere, a couple battles and several skirmishes took place inside Florida's limits, or off its coast. Over 35,000 Floridians fought in the war. Most were in the Confederacy, but approximately 2,000 joined the Union army. Some Floridians didn't want to fight for either side, so they hid out in the woods and swamps to avoid being drafted. The Floridian soldiers were organized into eleven regiments of infantry, two cavalry, and numerous small units.
By the summer of 1862 Florida had raised, equipped, and sent out of state the 1st through 8th regiments of infantry, the 1st Florida Calvary Regiment, and various smaller commands. The only forces remaining in the state were a variety of independent companies, several infantry battalions, and the newly-organized 2nd Florida Cavalry Regiment. Over the next year and a half, these units fended off a series of minor raids along the coast, as well as the temporary Union reoccupations of Jacksonville in the fall of 1862 and the spring of 1863.
Anti-war sentiment grew in Florida during the latter stages of the war. The state became a haven for Confederate deserters and draft evaders and by late 1864 Confederate control over the state was effectively reduced to portions of northern and central Florida.
The following search for soldiers who enlisted in either the Union or Confederate Armies during the Civil War from the state of Florida only. Our appreciation is given to C. W. Barnum who compiled and donated the database to AccessGenealogy.
Source: Florida Civil War Soldiers Database, data compiled and donated by C. W. Barnum, 2009.
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WHEELING - Those working in West Virginia's oil and natural gas fields have seen their annual salaries grow by an average of $8,100 since 2008, thanks to the Marcellus Shale rush.
A new report from WorkForce West Virginia also shows that since the Marcellus activity began ramping up in 2008, another 916 state workers were directly employed by the oil and natural gas extraction business. The report shows these workers are now earning average salaries of $70,082.
However, these numbers do not count the hundreds of employees working to install pipelines and related gas transportation equipment. Since 2008, the number of workers engaged in these fields in West Virginia has jumped from 1,276 to 1,920 - while average annual salaries increased to from $60,329 in 2008 to $71,723.
Pipeliners continue building the infrastructure to move natural gas and oil out of West Virginia’s massive Marcellus Shale field.
"The overall effect on specific industries in West Virginia due to activity within the Marcellus Shale is becoming more evident," the report states.
WorkForce also uses a separate category to count those employed as excavators, surveyors and those who cut well casings. In these areas, West Virginia saw the number of workers jump from 2,782 in 2008 to 3,793, as the average salary also accelerated from $46,615 in 2008 to $59,969.
Industry leaders have said the Wheeling area - with its location right along the Ohio River between the Marcellus Shale of West Virginia and Pennsylvania and the Utica Shale in Ohio - could be the epicenter of drilling-related economic development. Evidence of this comes as companies like Chesapeake Energy move the focus of their operations from eastern Pennsylvania's "dry" methane-dominated gas fields to the "wet" gas areas of Ohio and West Virginia's Northern Panhandle. This gas also contains the profitable ethane, propane, butane and pentane.
"Over the next five years, most of the action is going to center around Wheeling. It is going to be all about the liquids," said R. Dennis Xander, vice president of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia.
In the Northern Panhandle, WorkForce shows that between 2008 and 2011, the number of people employed in all sectors of the oil and gas business increased from 78 to 232. Though the agency does not have more current statistics, this number may be higher now because of all the activity in the area.
The area of the state that now has the highest number of oil and gas workers in the north/central portion of West Virginia. In counties such as Monongalia (home to Morgantown), Marion (home to Fairmont), Doddridge, Braxton and Randolph, there are 4,275 people working in the oil and gas industry.
In the southwestern portion of West Virginia, a region long-dominated by the coal industry, natural gas and oil drilling is on the upswing. In 2008, the drilling of gas wells employed only 14 people in counties such as Mingo, Logan, Wayne and Boone. There are now 178 direct oil and gas workers in this area.
In addition to these jobs counted by WorkForce, the presence of the drilling industry does lead to increased employment in certain areas, as restaurant and hotel owners report being very busy these days because of drillers working in the area. There are also companies that supply materials to the drilling industry that may hire more employees to meet these needs, while retailers may also see an upswing in some business because of mineral owners receiving spending money from lease and royalty checks.
New businesses to service the oil and gas industry also continue popping up, including the new Arrowsmith Fabrication shop in South Wheeling. Owners Michael Siebieda and Brett Francis work in the areas of welding and machining, as they anticipate hiring additional employees once gaining more work in the gas fields.
More gas industry jobs paying nearly $30 per hour are on the way to Marshall County soon, as Dominion Resources is hiring 40-45 full-time, permanent workers for the natural gas processing plant that the company plans to open this month. There will be positions for electricians, plant operators and loaders.
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Those dangerous deer-crossing signs
A woman named Donna recently called Fargo, N.D., radio station Y94 to air a problem so bizarre, the station's hosts were almost speechless. Her complaint? Deer-crossing signs placed along busy highways were "irresponsible" because they simply encouraged the animals to cross there, and that was why she'd smacked her car into deer not once, not twice, but three times. "You'd think they'd put deer-crossing signs at school crossings where it would be safer," she said indignantly. "Why place the signs on busy interstates?" When told the signs were warnings to motorists to drive carefully, Donna just couldn't accept it. The government could move signs wherever it wanted, she insisted, and it should stop erecting signs at dangerous places on roads where they "attracted" deer. It took several minutes before Donna - reluctantly - saw the light, though she never admitted that she believed deer could read.
Forget denouncing wind turbines as bird Cuisinarts; lovable pussycats rank as the true killing machines. Housecats wipe out some 4 billion animals every year, including at least 500 million birds, reports Wyoming Wildlife. The magazine cites a novel new study by two groups, the National Geographic Society and the University of Georgia, that determined just how fierce cats' hunting instincts are by employing the animals themselves as reporters. The cats were outfitted with "crittercams" - special video cameras around their necks. When the animals went outdoors to prowl, the camera recorded each gory encounter. The cats averaged about 2.1 kills per week, but they brought home less than one of every four of their victims for their owners to see and/or throw out. Cats preyed on just about anything close to the ground that moved, including lizards, voles, chipmunks, birds, frogs and small snakes.
The crittercam study did not include feral cats, which have their own support systems these days - advocates who persuade their communities that trapping, sterilizing and then releasing the cats is a good idea. In theory, writes Kiera Butler in Mother Jones, it sounds like a terrific way to reduce the population of starving stray cats. In practice, it costs roughly $100 per kitty and "to put a dent in the total number of cats, at least 71 percent of them must be fixed, and they are notoriously hard to catch." Butler thinks a better strategy is for owners to keep their pets indoors and that soft-hearted animal-lovers need to just "quit feeding the ferals." Yet at least 10 major cities, including San Francisco, have adopted the approach, even though the effort is not only arduous but might also turn out to be never-ending - unless owners start neutering their own cats, or somebody invents a cat food laced with a failsafe contraceptive.
How embarrassing for rural Delta County in western Colorado: A file containing the names of a couple of dozen "sovereign citizens" - residents declaring themselves free of pesky taxes, laws or regulations by governmental authorities - was labeled "Wingnuts" by one staffer. That title became public when a reporter for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel wrote a front-page story about the annoying anti-government folks, headlined "Watchdogs or Wingnuts?" A week later, red-faced county commissioners apologized.
The Rev. Rick Page, pastor of the First Christian Church in Lewistown, Mont., is convinced he's found a sure-fire way to lure men to Thursday night services during hunting season: Offer churchgoers the chance to enter a raffle to win a rifle or a crossbow. "I don't think there's too many places around the country where you could do something like this," he told the Missoulian. But it works, he says, pointing to Libby, Mont., which attracted 800 people last year with a similar emphasis on hunting. To help hunters feel at home in his church, Page says the auditorium and fellowship hall will be festooned with mounts, including deer heads, a full-sized bear, two mountain lions, bull elk, moose and some pheasants. Page also intends to hit a hunting theme hard in his sermons. He started with the Apostle Paul, he says, because "before his conversion, he hunted down Christians until God hunted him down."
Betsy Marston is the editor of Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). Tips of Western oddities are always appreciated at email@example.com.
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With the world’s offshore and onshore arctic regions containing significant oil and gas reserves, exploration and production activity continues to grow in locations such as Russia, the Caspian Sea, the North Sea, Canada and the US-Alaska, where more than 400 undiscovered oil and gas fields are estimated to be found.
While important to secure the world’s future energy supply, there are many operational and environmental concerns to extreme cold weather. Special oilfield products are required in sub-zero temperature conditions as metals without adequate impact toughness exhibit tendencies to fail due to brittleness when exposed.
As oil and gas operations expand into these new challenging arctic frontiers, preservation of pristine environments becomes a concern. Exploration and production companies operating in arctic regions are subject to a host of regulatory issues to prevent oil spills and damage to local communities.
For arctic operations Tenaris offers technology to make operations more efficient while minimizing the environmental footprint. Our products for arctic environments are field-proven, preventing failures due to inadequate impact toughness.
Our comprehensive package includes products with proven track records in horizontal and extended-reach drilling operations. Multiple wells can be drilled from a single location, significantly reducing the environmental impact on the tundra.
To facilitate operations in subzero temperatures, we provide our field-proven dry coating. With Dopeless®, pipe can be transported, stored, handled and run normally without the need for a constant heat source to warm the running compound and reduces the need for transportation
Our Wedge ™ Series provides superior compression and bending resistance. Our durable connections are able to resist various make and break sequences without the use of specialized equipment, reducing transportation of heavy machinery to the well.
Our proprietary grades with improved fracture toughness designed for use in extremely cold weather operations, where better ductility and fracture toughness are required.
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Mr. Fit with Mark A. Cinelli
Today's post is brought to you by my good friend and colleague, Nick Santa Barbara. Look for some of his more recent posts at www.CATZneedham.com
The perfect diet has no name, yet. The perfect diet has yet to be researched, yet to be involved in a double blind study, and yet to be touted as the next best thing. The reason is because the perfect, most bestest diet out there is a combination of all the mainstream diets...
I have always said that by getting into the best shape you can, will help you in all facets of life. This means that you must participate in a variety of activities that result in a wide range of bodily adaptations. Activities such as running, jumping, swimming, resistance training, pushing stuff, pulling stuff, and acting like an animal. Wait, an animal? Yes, I said animal.
What is animal training? This type of training is becoming popular for events like...
"Motivation is what gets you started, HABIT is what keeps you going."
Exercise is a lifestyle, not just a 90 day challenge. Stay committed & dedicated to yourself, in the end you are the one that controls your outcome.
You've warmed up, so now what? It's time to do a dynamic flexibility routine. Flexibility provides a safeguard against injury in every sport, which is why it is an integral part of a training program (I use this will all my athletes at CATZneedham). Stretching gradually increases the laxity of tendons and ligaments. Try to combine static and dynamic stretching in order to maximize muscle elasticity, joint mobility, and to proprioceptively prepare the athlete for the training...
Warm-up is one of the most important elements of an exercise program. It is particularly important to help prevent injury. Warm-up is low-level activity, which should be completed prior to stretching and more strenuous exercise. The objective of the warm-up is to raise total body temperature and muscle temperature to prepare the entire body for vigorous activity. The warm-up period prepares the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, nervous system and the musculoskeletal system by...
There are several good reasons to stretch. First, stretching will maintain joint range of motion and flexibility. Flexibility is the total range of motion in a joint or joints.
Second, stretching provides reflex feedback to the muscles causing them to lengthen. It helps relax the muscle(s), and it may also prevent injury of muscles and soft tissues.
Naturally, if one maintains good flexibility through stretching, there is balance between the body's opposing...
Warm Up 5-10 minutes – ride, run, row or use multi directional movement patterns
Dynamic Stretch – 5-10 minutes
Prep: 2 Rounds
dB Lunge Walk @ 15 yards
dB OH Walk @ 15 yards
dB X Chop x 15ea
Bucket #1: 3 Rounds
Dolly Walk @ 15 yards
Dolly tucks, pikes and circles x 10ea
Bucket #2: 3 Rounds
Blast Offs x 12
Bear Crawl @...
Having trained a variety of athletes from the elite level to the weekend warrior, the same question is often asked, "What should I eat to be the best I can be?"
This question was answered back in 2000 and then updated in 2009 with a position statement by the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine. There statement was as follows, "...physical activity, athletic performance, and recovery from exercise are enhanced...
I'll start by asking the question, who doesn't like ice cream? I do. So, let me tell you how to make a healthy ice cream treat that you do not have to feel guilty eating.
The difference maker in this recipe is a FROZEN banana. Now the ingredients can be tailored to your liking, but for me, this is how I make it.
In a blender:
1 Frozen Banana
1 Cup of All-Natural Chunky Peanut Butter
1 Scoop of Chocolate Whey Protein
8 Ounces of Unsweetened Almond...
As many of you know I am the Sports Performance Coach for the Boston Cannons, and have had the pleasure of working with Croart Lacrosse. Well, today at 4pm at Harvard Stadium our Boston Cannons will be playing against the Croasrt Lacrosse All Stars and both teams want to help give back to the victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon. Come out to the game and help support a good cause.
Check out this article in today's Boston Herald.
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Last year the Transportation Security Administration collected 888,000 items -- from knives and scissors to snow globes and sunglasses -- that were confiscated or left behind by airline passengers as they boarded their flights.
But airport contraband has an afterlife.
It ends up in state-run stores, where thrifty customers can rummage through bins of objects from the TSA's no-fly list. In warehouses around the country, bargain-seekers browse through crates of knives, tools and even box cutters, the weapon used in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Everything is sold at a steep discount, sometimes for $1 apiece, and sometimes by the pound.
"These places actually collect what's discarded at our checkpoints," said TSA spokesman David Castelveter. "We are required to give that leftover stuff to the state governments, and then they decide what to do with it."
The "leftover stuff" includes not just items that can be used as weapons, like meat cleavers, ice picks, sabers, bows and arrows, nunchucks, hammers, power saws and cattle prods, but also forgotten items like books and jewelry. Some of the items are sold at state-run stores and some are auctioned off in bulk on the website Govdeals.com.
Pennsylvania press secretary Troy Thompson said that his state has made $800,000 in revenue from the online auctions since they began in 2004. The state's Harrisburg store, which sells things surrendered at airports in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Maryland and Washington, D.C., has logged $15,000 in sales since it opened last year.
Thompson's office receives crates from the TSA filled with potentially dangerous items, including cricket bats, Medieval-looking daggers, key chain clubs called kubatons, fake but realistic-looking Nazi submachine guns and even those trendy dumbbells known as Shake Weights.
"We can't sell anything that would be classified as a weapon," said Thompson.
But the state's definition of "weapon" is not nearly as broad as the TSA's. Instead, it applies to anything designed specifically to harm human beings, like guns, martial arts knives, samurai swords and Zulu-style spears, which are discarded rather than sold.
The Harrisburg store does sell an abundance of miniature souvenir baseball bats and even lightweight hollow plastic Wiffle bats. The TSA's Castelveter said the TSA prohibits "any blunt object that could present a threat, and Wiffle bats fall into that category."
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Whether each of us can sense it or not, we all share a strong connection to the land. Perhaps some better wired for tuning in to the processes from which we came and will return, one probably more then most is land artist Andy Goldsworthy.
I just watched a documentary following his work entitled Rivers and Tides, which portrays his intimate relationship with the processes of nature, and his ability to interpret them through his art as if a hidden language has been written by the landscape.
He states in the film that his art is about trying to understand the elements of nature, and through understanding can you only then feel the heart of it, and that we often misread the landscape when we think of it as being pastoral or pretty, when there is a darker side to it.
The blinder so many of us put up to this darker side he speaks, death, specifically the death of landscape, we find taboo as we desperately search for ways to keep it shiny and green against all odds. It speaks to our broad disconnection and misunderstanding of the natural processes which Goldsworthy works amongst.
His work deals directly with time, the flow of nature, water, growth. In the rock cone sculpture he builds, just before it succumbs to the incoming sea tide he explains that his work is not created to be destroyed by the sea, but to be given to the sea. It's as if by doing so, you accept creation and death as part of the processes of nature.
While fascinated by his symbiosis with the landscape, it also frustrated me that too few landscape architects share this same connection, and find it necessary to perpetually create projects aimed to outlast time, and fight against the motions of nature. Yes, many would find it hard to secure funding for a project that withers away after the perils of four extreme seasons. But I'd love to see a project designed to embrace these occurrences. To age gracefully if you will, intentionally allowed to show it's signs of aging, which ultimately link to the story of place.
Anyone know of any?
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Solar Flares Fire Double Sun Storm at Earth
An active sunspot is amping up the sun's activity, and has already unleashed two strong solar flares that triggered weekend geomagnetic storms on Earth, NASA officials say.
The M-class solar flares set off two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that erupted from the sun on last Wednesday and Thursday (June 13 and June 14).
The first flare peaked Wednesday at 9:17 a.m. EDT (1317 GMT), and lasted for three hours, NASA scientists said. The resulting CME was hurled into space directly toward Earth, but was not expected to carry serious effects for the planet because it was traveling at a relatively slow speed.
The second solar flare peaked on June 14 at 10:08 a.m. EDT (1408 GMT), and was also considered a long-duration event, agency officials said.
NASA also released a video of the M-class solar flare on June 14 as it was observed by the sun-watching Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Both CMEs from last week crashed into Earth's protective magnetic bubble, called the magnetosphere, on Saturday (June 16), sparking geomagnetic storms and intensifying aurora displays on the planet. [Solar Flares: A User's Guide (Infographic)]
Stunning northern lights were seen at lower latitudes than normal over the weekend, in some cases as low as Iowa, Nebraska and Maryland, NASA officials said.
CMEs are clouds of plasma released by solar flares into space that are sometimes aimed directly at Earth. These ejections are made up of charged particles that, in severe cases, can damage satellites, endanger astronauts in orbit and interfere with power and communications infrastructure on Earth.
The two solar flares originated from an active region on the sun that has been dubbed AR 1504. This hotspot of solar activity rotated to face Earth on the left side of the sun on June 10.
No major interferences were reported from this weekend's geomagnetic storms, but AR 1504 still poses a threat, according to an update from the Space Weather Prediction Center, which is jointly managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service.
"The latest geomagnetic storm appears to be winding down, with the last period of G1 (Minor) activity coming late last night EDT," officials at the Space Weather Prediction Center said. "Solar Radiation Storm levels have returned to background levels after the small S1 (Minor) storm observed on June 16. No further activity is currently expected, but Region 1504 is still present and harbors a slight chance for subsequent activity."
X-class solar flares are the strongest type of solar eruptions, with M-class flares ranking as medium-strength, and C-class flares representing the weakest type.
The sun's activity waxes and wanes on a roughly 11-year space weather cycle. The sun's current cycle, called Solar Cycle 24, began in 2008 and the star's activity is expected to ramp up toward a solar maximum in 2013.
The Slooh Space Camera will be broadcasting a special live solar show on Wednesday (June 20) at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) to examine recent solar activity and to celebrate the summer solstice, the official start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
Editor's note: If you snap any amazing aurora or sunspot photos that you'd like to be considered for use in a story or gallery, please send them to SPACE.com managing editor Tariq Malik at email@example.com.
MORE FROM LiveScience.com
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Wouldn't it be nice if dark streets were illuminated by these beautiful, photosynthetic leaves? That’s the concept behind Jongoh Lee’s "invisible streetlight." The flexible body of the solar-powered light is designed to directly wrap around a tree branch with no support required, seamlessly blending into the surrounding environment. The leaves store the sun’s energy throughout the day and then bursts with light when darkness arrives. Perfect for parks and other tree-lined spaces, the invisible streetlight provides an energy-saving solution without breaking up the experience of the outdoors.
Currently living in Seoul, Lee graduated from Kookmin University with a specialty in Industrial Design. "I enjoy designing," he says. "Certainly, design is interwoven with our daily life, and my inspiration for design often comes from observing people. In their life where joy and despair coexist, design is my way of conversing with them. When I walk down the road, I immerse myself in the world around me, and the life in it inspires me for design."
Jongoh Lee’s portfolio
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Michel Delgado. Visionary Painter.
Michele Lesko: Michel, what would you say were your artistic influences growing up?
Michel Delgado: It was my curiosity with the world surrounding me in Africa - craft, dance, farmers, musicians. All of this revealed questions to me about our purpose here. I didn't start painting right away. At fourteen, I sewed, made bags and painted them. I painted fabric, burlap, cardboard. Unfortunately, things around me were very primitive.
ML: Well, that's fortunate, really, because you stayed out of the art world's influence long enough to create your vision.
MD: It's about finding your own essence located inside you, trying to leak out of the cultural identification. It was hard to break away from that. I wanted to be outside my world, to watch the way people live and how they believe their identity from the influences around them.
I moved to Europe, where there was so much, color, speed, theater, sexes, challenging those two cultures and how people relate to this world, this growing madness. I was trying to figure out my own reality of the experience of everything around me.
ML: Your work is described as Brut or Naif art. Do you believe your work exists outside the influence of tradition and culture?
MD: My energy...I believe that how you're going about your existence, your emotion, questions and personal experiences create an image from your own revelations. I was working, in the early period, to build a sense of confidence beyond the “idea” of art. The schools and formal training are expressing something aesthetically beautiful instead of expressing what you feel. I find the most romantic and beautiful things in the world that isn't usually painted. In the school, you paint an ugly flower and you give up. There is beauty inside the ugly flower, inside the wrinkled old woman there is the very beautiful. Illusion of aesthetic beauty is permanent. I want to go past that illusion.
My work has an aggressive feature or energy that doesn't come from a place of anger but from recognition of the reality of the world. I want to bring angst forward - what we feel in the moment interacting with all these people and experiences.
ML: Animals appear regularly in your work. Is there a narrative arc they represent in your mind?
MD: There were animals in my world, growing up. The essence, closeness of who we are, where we come from; we have intelligence, but this is also a part of us, this animal nature. If I paint a plain, white man talking to a tree, I don't express what's real in that. I angst it with the animal image with horns and a man's face, talking with that tree. This comes from another world. Horns in my work are like antennae, receptive to otherworldly insights. People question it and come to the painting with expectations of their own - the devil or something like that. It's not a devil element but receptor for all the invisible that we experience. I paint to bring out what happens every day that we don't see, what happens inside me as I go through different worlds.
It's interesting when they come up with their own sense of it. When they bring their own feeling. This empowers the viewer.
I grew up with domestic animals, grew up watching them, how they interact. We used their horns, their skin, their blood spilled across the yard. There was ceremony and spirituality in it, in killing them. It was biblical, spiritual, Koran-oriented, and that finds its way into the psyche. I would sit on the ground. This man would come in sandals with a piece of wood and no shirt. He was an independent shepherd. He comes and gets the animals, a few from our yard, a few from every yard in our area.The animals feel the guy coming. They follow him. He orchestrates them to move to a field every day, where they eat. Then they come back at the end of the day. It is the most powerful spiritual experience I ever have to sit on the ground as a child and watch the animals begin to run, when they get near their homes, their owners. They come to meet the shepard in the morning and they run to their owners in the evening.
Each day it happens again. All these different feet running past me. All the colors and the power the animals have and their desire to return home. I'd think, who's making these things? I wondered, who is orchestrating who here? Huge questions began as a child there, and I wanted to express that connection I had when they found their way into my psyche.
ML: Your experience with your work is very intimate, so how does others' experience of it affect you?
MD: Different comments come from a variety of intellects and their previous exposure to art. It's often all about their own experience, but it hits them. It's good. The work should be where you go on vacation. You just sit with it. Stay quiet long enough to reveal something. Some people connect to some work and some to other work.
ML: Describe the “loud place” you mention as something that propels your work into being.
MD:The world is constantly coming through me. It is the reality every day that I watch and experience. The most experience comes with unfiltered darkness, love, emotion; a mixture like that I like the most, to have all that come out in the exploration of the world and people. All this drives my higher curiosity. There is a complexity when I merge together with and experience people, the compassion, wonder and mystery of the reality as I experience it.
ML: When were you first able to support yourself through your art?
MD: Let's put it this way: I never thought I'd make art to earn money. I began to show paintings, and they sold. It's been sixteen years now that I've been able to live without other jobs. I had a lot of different part-time jobs. Every day I would give four hours to my work, and, eventually, I could cut the jobs. I did silk-screening, printing, pottery. Making art is not for sissies. You have to remain consistent but also push yourself to create more interesting work, interesting to yourself and then to viewers. Things go good, they go bad. I have money. I have no money. I keep painting, trying to go beyond what I did last. We live for instant gratification, the paycheck, but this, the daily work in my studio, the exploration when I'm traveling, says this is what I really do. The consistency of working. I'm fortunate. It just hit on me that money came from it. It's a mix.
ML: How do you keep track of your ideas, impressions when you're on the road, away from your studio?
MD: It's been awesome, going to different places; a lot of time on my own. My thoughts. I use a sketchbook. I mark things that come out of my head. It's a reference, not a drawing or a formed painting idea. I come back to my environment, my studio, where I've lived for twenty years, and the references in the sketchbook trigger the painting from the world I've been in, away from my home environment.
ML: Your art, in its essence, is described formally as Brut Art, which is about not fitting into traditional art world structures & strictures.
MD: Yes. It's a huge world of creativity every day. Ideas coming from a very certain place but, no, it's endless, constant. It's the reality of where we are, and it's very personal. This moment is not the same to me as someone right next to me.
ML: Is there an influence of acceptance now that your work is collected? Do you feel constrained by collectors?
MD: I love the eclectic collections of the people who own my work.They are not fixed to have “same” things. They're excited about the work as it changes. These people understand visionary art. Where I'm at is never about what I can make for them. It's a happy exchange. They promote my growth these patrons. It's a very respectful exchange of trust.
ML: In what direction do you see your work going?
MD: Yea, for me, this part of my life is about losing boundaries even more. Lose what's accepted and create what comes here once and stays in my mind. I'm growing as a person through the complexity of relationships, raising my daughter, and getting to the point that I want to be involved with people who understand contemporary art. I want to get completely lost, go further inside and reveal that in authentic ways.
My vision is to move to a more central place, a big space, where art is appreciated, so that creative energy is there. I've been isolated in one environment for a long time. I want to bring my work to the people who understand contemporary art, to those who are more receptive to art as an expression that is always changing based on what comes from the experience of this reality and not that sense of aesthetic beauty.
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Below, we’ve listed some of the more common types of fairies that people are likely to encounter but this is by no means an all inclusive list. Most of the residents of the fairy realm will fall into one of three categories, neutral fairies, the Seelie, and the Unseelie. The neutral fairies are just that, neither aligned with the good or bad. This may be an oversimplification but the Seelie are generally considered to be the light (mainly positive) fairies while the Unseelie are quite the opposite.
1) The well known Pixie – This small, winged fairy has a human-type form and at its tallest is only 6” tall. Pixies are quite attracted to small children, laughter, and happiness. They love gardens (especially Heather) and other flowering plants. Like hummingbirds, they are known to sip nectar from flowers like Honeysuckle. Fun loving, carefree and prankish, they often take household items from humans only to return them later when they’ve had their fun. They are more spontaneous and active than their larger fairy counterparts and generally have a shorter attention span. They are very social beings and live in a monarchy under a king or queen.
2) Trooping Fairies – These fairies are generally the same size as pixies (6” tall) but have no wings. They are known as trooping fairies because they travel together in long processions. The males often wear green jackets and they tend live near the woods where there is a lot of underbrush. They are also known to inhabit trees often referred to by humans as a “fairy tree.” Trooping fairies can be larger or smaller than 6” and can be friendly or sinister.
3) Brownies – At 4.5” tall , they are a bit smaller than pixies and trooping fairies. Brownies wear brown clothing, are very meticulous and tend to have a darker brown skin color. They have no wings but are quite capable of getting to high places by each one climbing on to the other to boost each other up. These intelligent and good natured fairies originated in Scotland and are known as household fairies, meaning they reside within the home and often do chores to help out a deserving human family in exchange for food and other offerings. They are nocturnal.
4) Fauns - A creature of the woodland forests, the faun has horns on his head and a body that resembles a goat below the waist and a human above. Fauns tend to be alluring, seductive and compelling, often preying upon the unsuspecting by using mind control and magic conjured from their pipes or flute to get what they desire from their victim. According to the elves, if one sees a faun, avert your eyes because as soon as they have your attention, you are under their control. That’s why humans have depicted satan to be a faun. They are neutral but can be very dangerous.
5) Merpeople - includes the well known mermaid, mermen, and the smaller, fresh water dweller known as a Gherring. Merpeople are neutral but cooperate well with the elves and barter with them. They tend to be superficial and self centered and are often depicted with a mirror and a comb. They are generally unhappy about the pollution and destruction of their waters and they tend to hold humans responsible for this. Still, Mermaids in particular tend to be very fond of human males and often fall in love with them which unfortunately often ends with the human drowning. They live in social communities.
6) The Leprechaun - Leprechauns tend to be solitary fairies rather than social fairies and are usually seen wearing green clothing (sometimes with red) and a green hat. Said to be shoemakers by trade, they have the legendary pot of gold and enjoy matching wits with humans (and are often victorious in this area). Most have red hair and a well groomed beard and have a rounded build which averages around 2-3” tall. They are family oriented but are not overly social to other fae unless they have earned their trust. However, when money is involved, they will do business with everyone.
7) The Gnome - These kind hearted forest dwellers generally make their homes underground near oak trees. They are known for their protection and healing of wildlife and in general are very beneficial to have around. In appearance, they are around 10-12” tall and wear a red pointed hat with blue or green jackets. They mature early and both sexes have white hair by the time they are 100 or so with a life-span of over 1000 years. On rare occasion they can be found in human dwellings but usually prefer to live in the woods, closer to nature.
8 ) The Hobgoblin - A dark brown creature who inhabits the forests areas and lives in trees, the Hobgoblin is a solitary fae which enjoys keeping to himself (or herself). This neutral fairy is generally a peaceful fellow and is not aggressive unless provoked. His temper can flare easily so it is wise to try and stay on his good side. They can get especially nasty if their tree is threatened.
9) The Grundolyns - Most often found in the homes of larger Elves, Grundolyns have a symbiotic relationship where they work for the elves in exchange for a protected home. They are dedicated to their host family of elves and generally stay with the same family for generations, moving with them as necessity dictates. Grundolyns are about 2 1/2 feet tall, and always wear red and white horizontally striped clothing. (Sorry, no picture available)
10) Elves – Found in many places throughout the world, elves are very plentiful in Scandinavia, many parts of Europe, and more recently, the United States. They are a very long lived race and are gifted with sharper senses, grace, agility and perceptions than humans. They excel in the arts and crafts, including the art of magic which they define as the gathering, focusing and directing of natural energy. In general, they dislike technology and live close to nature in an idyllic setting, respecting and working with all aspects of nature.
Physically, elves are generally the same height as humans or taller but slighter in build. (There are some exceptions to this rule however and a much shorter variety of elves does exist.) In appearance, their faces might seem to be more angular than humans and they do have the more pointed ears so often depicted in books and movies. They prefer to wear medieval-type clothing but have also been known to enjoy wearing a more modern style of clothing such as jeans, on occasion.
They are divided into two basic groups now: the Seelie–those that want to work with humans to heal the planet we both share and the Unseelie–those who would rather solve the problem by eliminating humans all together. The Elves of Fyn, the source of the information on this site, belong to the first group (Seelie) and you can find a bit more information about them here. It is recommended that you avoid contact with the Unseelie altogether.
Update: Hi Everyone! Because of the number of comments on this post, I am moving all further comments to the forum. It would be very helpful if you could try to stay on topic or create a new topic if you would like–it makes it so much less confusing that way. Thanks so much!
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Updated: July 4, 2012 at 4:00 a.m. EST
One of the two independent teams said Wednesday that it's found strong evidence of a new subatomic particle which resembles the one said to give all matter in the universe size and shape.
Sometime Wednesday, depending on word that comes out of a press conference in Geneva, the universe will cease to exist. All forms of matter planets, stars, dogs, cars, you will effectively dissolve. Mass will be no more; only energy will remain.
That's the bad possibility. The good possibility is that researchers working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) the mammoth, $10 billion particle accelerator located 380 ft. (116 m) underground at the French-Swiss border will announce that they've at last confirmed the existence of the long-sought Higgs boson, the particle that explains why all other subatomic particles have any mass at all.
OK, the absence of the Higgs or at least the absence of proof that it exists will probably leave the universe unmolested. But if Wednesday's news is that the Higgs remains out of reach, physicists will either have to redouble their efforts to chase the particle down or find something else to explain why anything solid exists. The betting nearly everywhere is that the boson is in the bag or so close that few serious physicists doubt it anymore particularly since CERN, the European physics lab that is running the LHC experiments, began touting the upcoming announcement with an uncharacteristic press push on Monday.
"In practice, you would have to be monstrously skeptical not to be convinced by what we have now," one physicist working at CERN told the journal Nature. "But the final decisions on what to say on Wednesday are still being made."
It's wise for the CERN scientists to choose their words carefully, because so much rides on the detection of the Higgs. First postulated in 1964 by Scottish physicist Peter Higgs (who will be on-hand on Wednesday), the eponymous boson has been considered the last bit of proof needed to wrap up the so-called Standard Model of Physics and, by implication, help conform a century's worth of work that came before.
As Higgs theorized things, the universe is filled with an energy field through which all particles must move much the way an airplane has to push its way through a stiff headwind. The greater the potential mass of the particle, the greater the resistance it encounters. It's theoretically possible for a particle to have no actual mass at all, and indeed, the photon is massless. But that's the exception. All other particles protons, electrons, neutrons, neutrinos are eventually pinged by the Higgs bosons that suffuse the field. That tiny collision converts the particle from a packet of energy to a packet of matter. (The Higgs acquires its own mass through its own interactions with the field.)
Improbable, sure, but nearly five decades of calculations and collider experiments have backed the theory. What's always been missing has been the detection of the Higgs itself. That can be accomplished only in a supercollider, where swarms of particles are fired in opposite directions around a huge racetrack-like tunnel and accelerated to 99.9999991% the speed of light. When they collide, they produce tiny explosions that mimic the Big Bang and like the Big Bang too generate elementary particles. From that, the thinking goes, the Higgs should emerge.
Last year, two different detectors at the LHC one known by the acronym ATLAS (for A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) and one known as the CMS (for Compact Muon Solenoid) detected glimpses of what appeared to be the boson in the debris from one collision. The particles, which flash into existence for only the smallest fraction of a second before vanishing again, weighed in at 124 to 126 billion electron volts, perfectly bracketing the 125 billion that has been predicted for the Higgs.
That hardly settled the case, however. Physicists don't like to declare victory prematurely remember last year's faster-than-light neutrino that wasn't? and require a level of certainty that meets one chance of error in 1.7 million. "It's too early to draw a definite conclusion," admitted LHC physicist Fabio Gianotti at the time the Higgs results were announced. "We need four times as much data."
Even as they set about gathering it, more encouraging news came in from the just-shuttered Tevatron collider west of Chicago. In some of that facility's final runs, there were similar, if less precise, findings: Higgs-like particles appeared in the 115-125 billion electron volt range. The Tevatron's older, less powerful hardware made it impossible to narrow the window further, but added to the LHC findings, it was clearly a cause for optimism.
"Based on current Tevatron data and results compiled...by other experiments," said the paper that reported those results, "this is the strongest hint of the existence of the Higgs boson."
Word coming out of Geneva this week is that the latest LHC runs may finally have turned the hints to facts, and the physicists there are not concealing their excitement even if they're taking care to conceal their identities. "Without a doubt, we have a discovery," one unnamed ATLAS member told Nature. "It's pure elation." That kind of exuberance is unheard of among physicists unless they really, truly have something monumental in hand. (Indeed, Tuesday afternoon, a leaked CERN video reportedly announced "quite strong evidence" of an unnamed particle. The video was quickly taken down.)
The big caveat is that scientists with their preternatural patience and willingness to move glacially toward a eureka moment over a period of years or even decades have a different definition of monumental from the rest of us. The new findings are reportedly derived from the ATLAS and CMS detectors too, and both of those instruments have a certainty level of 1 in 16,000. It's easy enough for a lay statistician to calculate the likelihood of a false positive for a discovery that clears both of those hurdles: just multiply 16,000 by 16,000 and you get an error probability of 1 in 256 million well beyond the necessary threshold of 1 in 1.7 million. But particle physicists aren't lay statisticians, and everything will ride on how they choose to crunch their numbers. The best guessing now is that either way, it will be very, very close.
Ultimately, crossing that final threshold may not matter. Theoretical physics is a little like the logical mind-bender known as Zinno's paradox the idea that a traveler can never actually reach a destination because first it's necessary to go half the way, then half of the half that remains, then half of that half and on into infinity. In reality, of course, we do arrive where we're going no matter what Zinno says. Over time, enough converging lines of evidence could similarly make the Higgs boson an undeniable reality, even if all the statistical boxes aren't perfectly checked. Tomorrow, however, could provide an even quicker and more certain conclusion, firmly establishing the existence of the Higgs. if so, the LHC will have more than paid for itself and the universe, not incidentally, can go on as before.
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Racing took the production...
Racing took the production sales numbers of The Fabulous Hudson Hornet from 27,000 cars per year in 1951 to a high of 55,000 in 1954. It was the quintessential example of Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday. Smokey yunick
Editor's Note: The latest Circle Track race car project is a significant departure from any project we have taken on in the past. It will incorporate everything from traditional race car building techniques to emerging OEM technologies to alternative fuels and more over the course of its life. Given that fact, we thought it would be interesting, and hopefully thought provoking, to talk to a group of motorsports industry leaders and professionals who have embraced this idea of marrying current vehicle technology with oval track racing. To that end, we turned Jim McFarland loose with his recorder as he talked with eight racing insiders. Jim asked each one the same five questions, their responses were as varied as their backgrounds. The first four subjects appear in this story, look for the remaining four in the February issue.
Herb Fishel Recently retired as the Director of Racing at General Motors, Herb has an automotive background rich in contributions to the motorsports landscape. Aside from information shared in the sidebar for "One More Lap 'Til Green" (page 24), his experiences recently culminated in a quest to organize representatives from a broad range of racing interests to assist in forming the "Green Racing Protocols" as a functional template of recommendations intended to guide global motorsports activities in an environmentally conscious and responsible fashion.
Why do you think the motorsports community should be concerned about a green approach to racing?
From an overall perspective, it's clear that energy costs and climate change are unavoidably global, long-term issues. No one is immune from the economic impact of these problems. In my view, sooner than later, race fans will be asking why racing hasn't done more to reduce our nation's dependency on petroleum, regardless of its source, and the production of greenhouse gases. This curiosity will be fueled by a rise in what consumers pay for their monthly energy needs.
Short-term, what changes do you think are worth considering?
The most immediate option for sanctioning organizations is to specify the use of bio-fuels. They should also consider compressing race schedules and shortening the length of races. Any means of mass transportation should be seriously considered, moving people to and from racing events. Educational elements pertaining to environmental issues and potential solutions should be integrated into race programs and other promotional materials. For example, why not invite educators and high school science students as VIP guests to talk about environmentally-relevant issues? And most importantly, in the short-term, create a viable and convincing presence that acknowledges related motorsports problems and communicates the evidence that racing is doing its part to solve them."
Long-term, what changes do you think are worth considering?
On a long-term basis, a strategic plan will be needed to revise race car technical specifications that allow the adaptation of mainstream technology to include electric powertrains that improve vehicle efficiency while reducing greenhouses gases. Racing regulations will all be required that reward participants for achieving more with less by recognizing the lower the levels (of emissions) the higher the rewards. Overall, it's a given that racers are always looking for more horsepower and faster speeds. As this applies to energy and environmental issues, the most important word to consider is 'reduction.'
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Have you ever hesitated to open a bottle of wine, knowing you will not finish it and concerned the wine will not taste good the next day? Well, good news--that problem has been solved and we can thank Mr. Bernd Schneider and his brother John.
Bernd Schneider, founder of Vacu Vin, disliked the taste of spoiled wine. Together with his brother John, they developed a device to preserve opened bottles of wine. Introduced in 1986, the Vacu Vin Wine Saver is a reusable vacuum pump and stopper set.
The re-usable stopper is inserted into the bottle and the Wine Saver pump both re-seals and eliminates the excess air from the bottle. This sealing action drastically slows down the oxidation process and preserves the taste of the wine. The process of re-sealing the wine bottle is very easy; just pump until a "click" is heard.
This unique wine sealer is used in 30 million households throughout the world. We would consider that a "best seller." KosherEye is one of the 30 million using the Vacu Vin Wine Saver. It really does what the manufacture states...preserves the flavor of an opened bottle of wine. A wonderful item to both use and gift.
The Dutch based company also manufactures and distributes other innovative house ware products and has won 20 international Design and Trade award.
For product information, visit VacuVin.com. The Vacu Vin Wine Saver is available on Amazon.com.
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Why must we go through this again? The death penalty deters no one, is morally dubious and costs a bundle
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Here we go again, arguing over a death penalty case when life without parole would punish the offender just as surely and afford society just as much protection.
Equally important, it would eliminate the time and expense of a death row appeal, not to mention the moral quagmire of executing someone whose childhood was shaped by beatings and sexual abuse.
The subject this time is Terrance Williams, 46, of Philadelphia. In 1984, at age 18, he beat 54-year-old Amos Norwood to death. The jury convicted him of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death.
The jurors were never told that Williams had been sexually abused for years by the victim, and by a teacher, as well as by an older boy who first raped him when he was 6.
Five of the jurors later signed statements that they would have voted for life in prison without parole if they had known all the facts.
In a separate trial, Williams also was convicted of killing Herbert Hamilton earlier that same year. Court testimony indicated that the victim, 50, had made sexual advances toward him.
Clearly, Williams is dangerous. His history of abuse is tragic and explains a lot about his violent behavior, but it doesn't make him any less a threat to society. Yet that threat can be dealt with just as effectively -- and at less expense -- with a life sentence as it can with the death penalty.
Because of his history of abuse, Williams has become something of a cause celebre. His lawyers say 286,000 people signed a petition asking Gov. Tom Corbett and the state Board of Pardons to commute his sentence to life without parole. Signatories include religious leaders, mental health professionals and child advocates who contend that his crimes were the result of a hellish childhood.
"Terry's acts of violence have, alas, an explanation of the worst sort," advocates for children said in a letter asking for clemency. "Terry lashed out and killed two of the men who sexually abused him and caused him so much pain."
Nevertheless, the governor signed Williams' death warrant on Aug. 9 and the Board of Pardons rejected his a plea for clemency last week. Three of the five board members voted in the inmate's favor -- including Attorney General Linda Kelly -- but a recommendation to commute a death sentence has to be unanimous. In any case, the governor is not required to follow the board's recommendation.
Williams' execution by lethal injection is scheduled for Oct. 3. He would be the first person put to death in Pennsylvania since 1999.
One of those opposing execution is Charles J. Chaput, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia, where the church has been struggling with cases of child sexual abuse by some of its priests. On the archdiocese website, the archbishop wrote that execution would teach the "wrongheaded lesson of violence 'fixing' the violent among us."
Even Mamie Norwood, the widow of one of his victims, asked for clemency in a signed declaration filed with the court. She wrote that after years of anger and resentment toward Williams, she decided to forgive him in order to have a "peaceful and happy" life.
"I do not wish to see Terry Williams executed," she wrote, because it would "go against my Christian faith and my belief system."
Religious principles aside, Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina granted an emergency hearing for a stay of execution on claims that the prosecutor wrongly withheld evidence of the inmate's history of sexual abuse by the victim.
Among the defense witnesses is Marc Draper, Williams' accomplice, who is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and testifying against Williams. Draper, 46, signed a sworn statement that he was ordered by the prosecutor to say that Williams killed Norwood in a robbery, not in a rage over years of being sexually abused by him.
Prosecutors have rejected the claim, pointing to various courts that dismissed it. The hearing continues on Monday.
Maybe Draper is telling the truth, maybe not. But it wouldn't matter if capital punishment was not on the table. Williams would be doing life, end of story. No death-sentence appeals, no petitions for clemency, no emergency hearings seeking stays of execution, no revisiting testimony.
It bears repeating that there's also the added expense of death row, where inmates are housed in single cells that cost the state more than double cells. Security costs are higher, too -- inmates must be accompanied by two guards every time they leave their cells, handcuffed and shackled. Spending money this way while schools and other public services are starved for funding is pointless and counter-productive.
Capital punishment is not a deterrent. States that execute people have higher homicide rates than those that don't. So why pursue it, other than revenge?
All the evidence shows that the death penalty is more trouble than it's worth, and that includes the impending lethal injection of Terrance Williams. It's past time for the law to catch up to reality.
First Published September 23, 2012 12:00 am
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The Psychology of Color
Reprinted from Vol 5-1 of the BT Journal
In wildlife photography, I think the psychology of color plays an overwhelming role in the success of an image to communicate. I’ve waited a long time to present this piece and I can’t think of a better time than with the Journal’s first color issue to bring you what I think are critical concepts for success.
Advertising-grabbing the attention of the buyer to buy one’s product. In a sense that’s exactly what we’re attempting to do with our photographs. To be successful we should be doing it with color in mind just like Madison Avenue! We might not be selling a “product” with our images, but we are most definitely aspiring to grab our viewer’s attention. And if our ultimate goal is to communicate, then we really are trying to sell something, even if it’s no more than our vision.
When I was in college, I took a class that was just about color in advertising. One of our assignments was to go to the supermarket, glance up and down all the aisles, without walking them, and take note of the most overwhelming colors we saw. Twenty years ago when I did that assignment, the overwhelming dominant color was red. If you were to do the same assignment today, you’d find that red is nowhere near the most dominant color anymore.
There’s an age-old adage that when photographing birds, if you don’t have a good background, find something green to put behind them. Why is the color green important or so pliable that it’s a universal cure-all for the backgrounds for birds? What is it about color that grabs our attention in a scene to photograph it in the first place? What are we doing technically right or wrong in our photography to exploit people’s natural draw to color? Unlock these answers for yourself and your photography will span the rainbow!
The Basic Psychology of Color
With the human brain able to distinguish over two hundred shades of white, able to see the same color no matter the light source, saying color is essential to our perception is no slight exaggeration. Viewing a black and white scenic full of all the shades of gray that a good paper and photographer can bring to light, the emotions just those shades of gray can evoke is tremendous! But that’s just a small sampling of the potential a full palette of colors can bring to a photograph. I’m not going to pass myself off as a scholarly master of psychology or try to convince you that one must have one color over the other for a photograph to be successful. A sunset is going to be in a red band of light no matter what psychological message we might want to communicate. What I want to bring to the forefront of your photographic consciousness and understanding is what color can communicate and how you can make use of that in your photography.
When photographing wildlife, you’d be surprised by the emotional response color can evoke, and how color, especially the color of the background, can emphasize and enhance that emotional response. We can’t change the color of a subject to any great degree, but we can definitely alter the colors of the world around the subject to some degree, using various technical tools at our disposal. (If nothing else, this will help you understand what images to send and not to send to editors.) But which colors communicate what? Let me give you some very basic descriptions of colors and how we subconsciously perceive them. (It’s very important to realize that we are talking about psychology of colors here; folks don’t see certain colors, then rationally think about their emotional response to them.)
Yellow – is the most visible color and is the first color the human eye notices! Yellow, the color nearest to “light” leaves a warm and satisfying impression, lively and stimulating and in many cultures symbolizes deity. Dark yellow can be oppressive while light yellow is breezy. Yellow’s stimulating nature and high visibility to the eye is the reason why many road signs are bold yellow (contrasted by black text). Yellow birds, flowers and skies are sure to be eye-catchers just because of the way the mind and eye works!
Orange – is a good balance between the passionate red and the “yellow of wisdom.” Orange is symbolic of endurance, strength and ambition. It can represent the fire and flame of the sun. Orange is said to also have the cheerful effect of yellow, but is intensified in its closeness to the color red.
Red – is a bold color that commands attention! Red gives the impression of seriousness and dignity, represents heat, fire and rage, it is known to escalate the body’s metabolism. Red can also signify passion and love. Red promotes excitement and action. It is a bold color that signifies danger, which is why it’s used on stop signs. Using too much red should be done with caution because of its domineering qualities. Red is the most powerful of colors.
Pink – is the most gender specific. Pink represents femininity and has a gentle nature (which is not a bad thing). Pink is associated with sweets like candy and bubble gum. It also symbolizes softness. Because it’s so “feminine,” use of pinks should be well planned. Pink and blue color combos are most associated with babies, soaps and detergents.
Purple – is a mixture of somber blue and active red. It can represent coolness, mist and shadows. It symbolizes royalty and dignity and can be mournful, yet soft and lonely. Purple is described as an “unquiet color” being mysterious and mystic in a cultural sort of way. A study revealed that purple, the color of mourning among many peoples, meets with disapproval in six Asian countries.
Blue – represents temperature, sky, water and ice. It is the second most powerful color. It obviously represents coolness, mist and shadows. In some applications it can represent peacefulness and calmness. And as pink represents femininity, blue represents masculinity. Blue is often associated with somber emotions like sadness, gloom and fear. Blue is a contemplative color, meaning intelligence and strength. It is one of the most politically correct colors there is with no negative connotations of it anywhere on the globe.
Green – is the most restful color for the human eye. It’s the universal color of nature as well as represents fertility, rebirth and freedom. (That answers the question why it’s the best background for birds.) Bright green can be uplifting while dark green evokes a mental picture of a pine forest. Street signs are painted a metallic green background contrasted with white letters because the combination is believed to be the easiest to read and recognize for the human brain. However, as with most colors, green also brings forth some negative connotations. The phrase “green with envy” also gives way to guilt, ghastliness, sickness and disease.
Brown – is associated with nature, trees and wood. It represents conservancy and humility. Next to gray, brown, in one of its many shades, is one of the most neutral of the colors. It is useful in balancing out stronger colors, and because it is one of the most predominant hues in nature, it gives a sense of familiarity. Light brown confers genuineness while dark brown is reminiscent of fine wood and leather.
Gray – gives the stamp of exclusivity. It’s the color “around which creative people are most creative.” Gray is a neutral color that can enhance and intensify any other color it surrounds. It can enhance the psychological response of the other colors it supports.
Black – is associated with elegance and class (black-tie affair). It is the traditional color of fear, death and mourning. Look at the many terms using the word black to understand how it is perceived: “black sheep,” “black heart,” “black and blue” and “black mark.” Despite the negative imagery that black brings, it is a preferred color in many designs since it contrasts with most colors quite well. If used correctly, it promotes distinction and clarity in your images.
White – symbolizes purity, innocence and birth. It’s closely associated with winter and can also represent surrender or truth. In the color spectrum, white is the union of all the colors. Its neutrality and conservative nature is widely accepted. Its simplicity and subtle quality makes it an ideal color for establishing clarity and contrast in your images.
If you’re like most folks, you’ve probably never thought about color in this way. That’s partly why it’s called the psychology of color. It is truly a powerful part of communicating, which is used on a daily basis in selling products. You’re probably saying this is all well and good, but what does it really have to do with your photography? Well why not use the same principles to help sell your message, your photograph or photography? I bet that if you look at your favorite photographs, whether your own or someone else’s, and you look at the colors and then read the above definitions, you’ll soon discover just how important color really is. Let me further demonstrate with some examples.
The photo on the cover of this issue of the Journal of the male San Joaquin Kit Fox is a prime example. One of my signature images that has a huge publication history and has been used to help protect and preserve this endangered species for nearly fifteen years, grabs the viewers’ attention instantly. The dark background in concert with the fox’s posture brings out elegance and class. The brown coat is a color of familiarity and nature and with the slight orange tinge to the coat, brings warmth to the image. While these things are obvious in the photograph, the effects on the mental and emotional senses are not. It simply just grabs your heartstrings and doesn’t let go! Color is a big reason why!
Another good example of this is the photo of the Pacific Loon. This is as regal a pose as you can find, and as regal a bird as you can imagine! The early morning 5 am light of the tundra, the black body, white stripes and gray head are all dynamic colors. White and its purity, black with its elegance and gray with its depth make the loon stand out in the mind. But it’s the warmth of the yellowish gold background and foreground that give the image that “deity” feeling befitting the loon’s pose. Any other colors, and it would have been just a bird on the nest. But it’s the colors that make the image a standout and eye-grabber!
The critters in these two images and their poses are the heart of these images, but it’s the colors that make them stand out! Could I have put a different color background behind these two photos? Was there an option? Nope, it is what it is. My point is not that we can radically change background colors or even that of the subject to any degree, just that those really memorable images have color combinations like those in these two images that play on the psychology of the mind. We need to recognize this and exploit it, for lack of better terms, whenever it’s possible! It’s part of that eight second clock I’ve talked about before, that clock that starts when someone first looks at an image and the time we have to grab their attention before it goes elsewhere. Color psychology is a big part of beating that clock!
Tools for Color Psychology
Being aware, really aware of these colors and how they affect our perception and the responses they evoke inside of us is important. Understanding how you can affect these colors with the tools we use every day is even more important. I’m not talking about Photoshop or some bizarre filter, but basic tools you should have in your camera bag or vest at all times.
The lens and its angle of view as described in the last Journal is a very important tool. The ability to manipulate the background with large or small adjustments of lens positioning, depending on the focal length, can make a world of difference to an image. At the same time, your ability to get close physically to a subject and then use optics to isolate it can also make a difference. The Arctic Hare is a good example of what I’m talking about. By getting in close, I could eliminate the gray of the surrounding boulders and snow on the right and focus in on just the colors of the hare, emphasizing the warmth of the pelt and the effect of the setting sun on that pelt. Let’s be honest, who really wants to see a portrait of a bunny? But when there is drama and dignity in the color and light, it makes you stop and look, and hopefully wonder.
The film you use most definitely makes an overwhelming difference in your photography when it comes to the psychology of color! The bias of your film has the most obvious affect on the psychology of color. Everything from the qualities of its white to the richness of its greens and every shade in between, film is the platform from which you build your vision! The contrast of your film all by itself can make or break your communication efforts. Black is an amazingly important part of color, a separator, definer, and enhancer unparalleled! This critical fact that was driven home to me when I learned to do color seps for this Journal and saw how important it is just for editorial publication! All of this starts, and ends with your film so don’t take it lightly!
The very exposure you select for your photograph greatly influences its color and its mental effect. A mere plus or minus of just 1/3 stop can radically change everything! This effect on the subject, the background and surrounding colors, making them darker or lighter in tonality, all play such an important role in your ability to communicate. The image of the Roseate Spoonbill is an excellent example of this. The pink of the spoonbill is such a subtle yet dynamic color that can be radically changed by a mere 1/3 stop, be it from exposure or, and probably more importantly, the quality of the light. Look at the spoonbill; you can see detail in the shadow areas, which tells you the quality of the light that was present. You thought quality of light had to do with just exposure, but it greatly influences colors and their mental reach to communicate!
The psychology of color is the main reason why I always use an 81a filter. I’ve written about this before in the Journal, but this very simple tool that you can always have with you can make a world of difference in your success as a communicator and photographer!
Flash is another critical tool in the psychology of color. As you’ll read in other articles in this Journal, flash brings the film’s 5500k to light so the true color of the subject can be captured. There are times when, depending on the light source, this can be a critical part of making an image happen!
Even simple tools like the Polarizer can greatly affect the colors of your image. The importance of removing the blue, cold tint of the sky from a scene or subject can’t be overstated! That blue reflection, emanating from the sky can be an image killer! By combining the 81a and polarizer, you can radically change the mental perception of your photograph. Instead of repelling the viewer, you can suck them right in. It’s all in the psychology of color!
I more than understand that many will read this and say, phooey! There are definitely two camps in photography, the technocrats and the impressionists. While I personally feel both are important in the creation of an image, it’s the impressionist’s slant whose images I truly enjoy and in the business world, are the ones that sell.
Photography seems so much easier when all you worry about are f/stops and shutter speeds, but it’s one heck of a lot more fun when you consider thoughts way beyond those basics. Photography is a whole lot more rewarding when you take it to a higher plane, leaving behind the day-to-day drudgery and make it into a quest. And when you go beyond that and start taking into consideration such subtleties as the psychology of color when communicating, well the joy it brings to you and the viewer of your images cannot be expressed in words. When all the elements that make a great image come together, which must include the psychology of color, you’ll know it because the viewer of your image will simply smile, a smile that comes from deep within and radiates out, reflected in your photography!
The sun is rising on another great day, time to go out and capture some more images. Make it a colorful one!
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Fort Nisqually's Crafts of the Past
Thanks to grants from the Tacoma Arts Commission and Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Fort Nisqually's summer programming includes a visiting artisan program on weekends from Memorial Day – Labor Day. Crafts of the Past features artists who demonstrate specific 19th century art/craft such as Native American beadwork, banjo making, silver in-lay, powder horn making, textile arts, Native American basketry, woodworking and more. Hands-on activities. Admission charged.
Created by pegbarchi
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Our Environmental Commitment
Our business operations rely on our planet’s natural resources. We believe that our success should not come at the expense of the environment, so we strive to operate in a way that is mindful of long-term environmental sustainability.
Whether we're saving costs by reducing energy consumption or creating covetable products through innovative, sustainable design, we believe that reducing our impact on the environment can also result in positive business benefits.
Through a careful analysis conducted with environmental consultants and our materiality analysis, we examined the environmental challenges that our company faces and analyzed the potential impact to our business.
We considered the areas over which we have the most control and influence, and assessed the level of societal concern for each. Our environmental strategy is focused on three key areas where we believe our work can have the greatest positive impact: energy conservation, cotton/sustainable design, and output/waste reduction (ECO).
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Simply put, a Net Zero Energy building must have a significantly reduced need for energy, and have the capacity to make up for the balance of it by using renewable technology, such as PV (solar) panels, wind, hydroelectricity or bio fuels. Yet, when defining a building that requires zero energy – or “net zero” the Department of Energy explains a “net zero energy” building is determined by the project’s goals, and can fall into any or all of the four categories below:
- Net Zero Site Energy – The building produces as much energy on site as it uses within a year.
- Net Zero Source Energy – The building produces as much energy from a source as it uses within a year. A source refers to primary energy used to generate and deliver energy to the site.
- Net Zero Energy Costs – The utility company pays the building owner for the energy the building exports to the grid, which is equal to the amount the owner pays the utility company for the energy services during the year.
- Net Zero Emissions – The building produces as much emissions-free renewable energy as it uses from an emissions-producing energy source.
The design process is usually where reduction of the building’s energy consumption begins. Designers take advantage of sunlight, solar heat and the cool temperatures of the earth, and combine them to calculate a method of indoor lighting and stabilizing indoor temperatures. Computer software can help determine how a building will perform using those natural energy resources in relation to the building’s orientation, window and door placement, local climate and more, which can help with cost benefit analysis, financial implications on the building and life cycle assessment.
Solar-powered ranger home at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument - the first net-zero home in the National Park Service. (Photo courtesy of DJC Oregon)
Once the building has been designed, construction specifications include energy-saving features to enhance the building’s efficiency. Things like added insulation, high-efficiency windows, natural ventilation, skylights and/or solar tubes and solar water heating all depend on climate zones, but can be very effective at reducing a building’s energy intake.
After the building is complete, energy must be harvested. If a building is connected to the grid, extra energy produced by the building may be returned to the grid when it’s not needed, and drawn from the grid when there’s not enough being produced. The building’s primary function – whether it’s a home or business - also impacts how energy is used.
Electricity consumption in the commercial building sector is expected to increase 50% by 2025, and will continue to increase until buildings are designed to offset their energy demand. The U.S. Department of Energy recognizes this, and has established a goal to “create the technology and knowledge base for cost-effective zero-energy commercial buildings by 2025.”
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In the morning I went early to give Mr. Hawly notice of my being forced to go into London, but he having also business we left our office business to Mr. Spicer and he and I walked as far as the Temple, where I halted a little and then went to Paul’s School, but it being too soon, went and drank my morning draft with my cozen Tom Pepys the turner, and saw his house and shop, thence to school, where he that made the speech for the seventh form in praise of the founder, did show a book which Mr. Crumlum had lately got, which is believed to be of the Founder’s own writing. After all the speeches, in which my brother John came off as well as any of the rest, I went straight home and dined, then to the Hall, where in the Palace I saw Monk’s soldiers abuse Billing and all the Quakers, that were at a meeting-place there, and indeed the soldiers did use them very roughly and were to blame.1 So after drinking with Mr. Spicer, who had received 600l. for me this morning, I went to Capt. Stone and with him by coach to the Temple Gardens (all the way talking of the disease of the stone), where we met Mr. Squib, but would do nothing till to-morrow morning. Thence back on foot home, where I found a letter from my Lord in character, which I construed, and after my wife had shewn me some ribbon and shoes that she had taken out of a box of Mr. Montagu’s which formerly Mr. Kipps had left here when his master was at sea, I went to Mr. Crew and advised with him about it, it being concerning my Lord’s coming up to Town, which he desires upon my advice the last week in my letter. Thence calling upon Mrs. Ann I went home, and wrote in character to my Lord in answer to his letter. This day Mr. Crew told me that my Lord St. John is for a free Parliament, and that he is very great with Monk, who hath now the absolute command and power to do any thing that he hath a mind to do.
Boys do now cry “Kiss my Parliament, instead of “Kiss my [rump],” so great and general a contempt is the Rump come to among all the good and bad.
Fox, or some other ‘weighty’ friend, on hearing of this, complained to Monk, who issued the following order, dated March 9th: ‘I do require all officers and soldiers to forbear to disturb peaceable meetings of the Quakers, they doing nothing prejudicial to the Parliament or the Commonwealth of England. George Monk.’ This order, we are told, had an excellent effect on the soldiers.
— A. C. Bickley’s ‘George Fox and the Early Quakers, London, 1884, p. 179. The Quakers were at this time just coming into notice. The first preaching of George Fox, the founder, was in 1648, and in 1655 the preachers of the sect numbered seventy-three. Fox computed that there were seldom less than a thousand quakers in prison. The statute 13 and 14 Car. II. cap. i. (1662) was “An act for preventing the mischiefs and dangers that may arise by certain persons called quakers and others, refusing to take lawful oaths.” Billing is mentioned again on July 22nd, 1667, when he addressed Pepys in Westminster Hall. ↩
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Tumwater High School has, through TOGETHER!, implemented a Social Norms campaign, which uses posters to teach students the real numbers behind alcohol and drug use. It shows them the majority of kids do NOT use these substances, reversing negative peer pressure. The statistics in the posters are of THS students, based on a survey the students took the previous year. A new poster is put up around the school each month.
Here is TOGETHER! Operations Director Meghan Sullivan talking about Social Norms and showing some of the posters:
Voices of Youth
Voices of Youth is a primarily youth-driven collaboration of youth and adults, working on issues deemed important to youth, mostly within the categories of safety and health. Students at each participating school choose the projects they wish to focus on.
Some past successes including Rochester High School getting a Fuel Up to Play 60 grant and installing a juice and smoothie bar; other schools submitting proposals to the food services department and getting healthier food choices implemented in school; and running stop-smoking campaigns and events for fellow students.
Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU), is a peer-education program in which middle and high school students are trained to teach elementary students about the hazards of tobacco use.
A program that challenges teens to answer:
Why has the tobacco industry spent over $100 million in Washington State alone advertising their product? And why are youth their main target?
Why is tobacco, the only product on the market that used as intended will hurt or kill you, still legal?
Why are cigarette ingredients not listed on the pack?
How is tobacco the number one cause of preventable death?
For more information please contact us.
418 Carpenter Rd. SE Ste 203
Lacey, WA 98503
(360) 493-2230 ext 20
Send an email
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Transfer pricing, used by multinational companies to shift profits between subsidiaries in different countries, can be a controversial tactic, especially when technology and pharmaceuticals companies use it to move earnings from intellectual property and drug patents to low tax jurisdictions. Two U.S. Senators on Monday introduced new legislation aimed in part at preventing companies from taking unfair advantage of tax codes to deprive U.S. coffers of taxes they feel ought to be paid here.
But in its simplest form, transfer pricing has been around for decades and is used in time-tested tax agreements between many countries.
CFOJ’s Maxwell Murphy shows in the video below a hypothetical example, as described to CFOJ by Ingredion Inc. CFO Cheryl Beebe, of how the corn-products company can use a simple transfer-pricing structure with a Mexican subsidiary to shift operating profits to Mexico’s lower-tax jurisdiction. That means a lower blended tax rate, which in turn leads to higher net income for the parent.
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Believe it or not, but we may have our first gardens on the surface of the moon as soon as 2012. As part of Google's Lunar X Prize, Paragon Space Development Corporation and Odyssey Moon have developed pressurized greenhouses designed to grow a plant from a seed on the surface of the moon.
Obviously, figuring out how to grow plant life on the moon is the first step towards sending people to live on it and other planets. Once they figure this step out, they'll be able to produce food and oxygen, two things sorely lacking on the moon's surface. Then I'll finally be able to live there, at long last.
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Recommendation: Not Recommended.
Description: Exercises related to hashing, including linear probing, quadratic probing, and double hashing.
Evaluation: This is a great idea. Users would click on where they expect the entry to go in the hash table. Unfortunately, it has the fatal flaw that users have to hand-calculate non-intuitive hash functions like taking the modulus 19, which makes it impractical to use. Another problem is that users just show the final outcome for the entry, not the probing steps involved. This means that when the user goes through the 'model answer' for the exercise, they don't see the probing steps, just the final result. These exercises are not stand alone, users will have to have background in the relevant collision resolution methods to be able to do the exercises. If the mod 19 issue were fixed, these exercises might be 'recommended'.
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Reducing In-Hospital Patient Falls
Qualify for a free subscription to HealthLeaders magazine.
Fall-related injuries can be some of the most common, disabling, and expensive health conditions encountered by adults, especially older adults. But it's an issue where identifying the best ways to prevent them—especially within the confines of a healthcare organization—can be quite challenging.
In a hospital, a typical fall rate in general and med-surgical units would be considered about four to five falls per 1,000 patient days, or about a fall per day in a 250-bed hospital, says Ronald I. Shorr, MD, director of the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center at the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center and professor at the University of Florida Department of Aging and Geriatric Research, both in Gainesville, FL. About a third of those falls will result in injury, although only 2% of those injuries will be severe.
Generally, two types of "fallers" can be found in the hospital: frail patients and those patients who don't want to bother the nurse, according to Shorr. Injury, though, may be equal in both groups because frail individuals often know "how to fall" compared with their younger counterparts.
Providers are finding some success through efforts such as installing alarms, designing rooms with bathrooms closer to the bed, targeting the timing of certain medication administration, regularly updating fall-risk assessments that are communicated to the care team, and talking about falls with patients, whether they are hospitalized or not. It also means evaluating patients as they proceed through a continuum of care after they leave a hospital.
But the overarching problem appears to be that "we can't find a magic prediction rule that appears to discriminate between people falling and people who fall and injure themselves," Shorr says. "The problem is that most hospital patients are moderate fall risks. If you walk around a hospital, you will find stickers indicating risks of falling on probably 70% of all doors."
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Those who open their gardens to the public have a right to expect visitors to be on their best behavior, and most guests are very well mannered. Sometimes, though, situations arise that cause concern. Knowing about these unexpected situations and being prepared with a solution can save the day. Conversely, if you are a guest to someone else’s garden, follow the rules of garden tour etiquette very closely .
Situation: Someone brings their dog to the tour. They explain that the pet is well behaved and is a threat to nobody.
Solution: Have a greeter at the entrance of your garden. The greeter should be prepared to explain that pets are not allowed. While most folks would not consider bringing a pet to such an event, it has been known to happen. If the visitor gets a little upset, it helps to remember that they, not you, are the one with poor manners.
Rule: Leave your pets at home.
Situation: An enthusiastic gardener leaves the path to walk through the bed where some of your prize plants are just emerging.
Solution: Have friends stationed at strategic places along the route who serve as monitors. Most people will not be bold if they know that someone is watching. However, the monitor should be prepared to ask people to return to and stay on the path.
Rule: Stay on paths or other designated areas at all times.
Situation: An avid photographer stops to set up the camera and interferes with the flow of traffic-or worse, leaves the path to obtain a more advantageous view.
Solution: Have a monitor to ask them to make an appointment to return at a later time to take pictures.
Rule: Do not interfere with the flow of traffic when taking photographs. A few candid shots with a point and shoot usually cause no problems. A large camera and tripod, however, present a different problem. Perhaps it would be best for the photographer to ask for a special appointment for extensive photography.
Situation: A visitor asks the owner of the garden questions that require long explanations or brings examples of their garden pests or diseases for you to identify.
Solution: While the owner will be happy to answer questions that can be answered quickly, the tour is not the time for lengthy explanations. Have an information table on the premises. Direct the person to that table. Have them write the question down so that you can give it the time it deserves. Alternatively, invite your master gardener friends to man the table and handle questions and answers.
Rule: Do not ask questions that require lots of time to answer during a tour. Leave your insect pests and diseases in your own garden and prepare to ask an extension agent or other professional for advice.
Situation: A visitor asks to use the bathroom.
Solution: This is a difficult situation, but it always happens. Of course, you don't know the person, so this puts the contents of your home at risk. Be sure that you have a friend ready to accompany the visitor into your home and stay nearby until they exit the house.
Rule: Be sure to use the bathroom before you begin the tour, and stop at public restrooms in between stops, if necessary.
Situation: A person on the tour feels free to take a few discrete cuttings or to remove a few seedheads.
Solution: Have the monitor stationed nearby to ask the person to please refrain from cutting or gathering in your garden.
Rule: Never, ever, remove a cutting, a seedling, a seedhead, or any plant part without the owner's permission. Tour time is not the time to ask permission.
Situation: A visitor removes plant markers in order to see them more closely.
Solution: Ask your monitor to be prepared in the event that they see someone removing the markers. They should ask the visitor to kindly refrain from removing the markers.
Rule: Never remove a marker from a plant in the garden or in a container. Just as sure as you do, the marker will break when you attempt to push it back into the ground, or worse; someone else will want to see it or it will be passed around so that others can read it; then another marker is removed, and soon nobody knows where the markers belong.
Situation: Mosquitoes decide to come a-calling, and visitors get out the bug spray and start spraying their legs and arms. From past experience, you know that the mosquito repellant will damage your lawn and many of the plants in your garden.
Solution: Ask the visitor to step over to a solid surface patio or mulched area with no plants to apply the repellant.
Rule: Apply sunscreen, bug repellant and other substances before you enter a person's garden. If it becomes necessary to reapply, be sure to do so out of the range of any plant.
Situation: A garden "expert" seizes a teachable moment to tell you what is wrong with your garden.
Solution: Smile and say something like, "Isn't it great that we all have different ideas? Think how boring our world would be if we all liked the same things."
Rule: Never tell the hosts what they should or should not have done in the garden, or how beautiful petunias would have been in the container instead of marigolds. Remember that a garden is a very personal place.
Situation: A visitor explains that they grow a certain plant that they see in your garden, but theirs is bigger, better, more prolific, etc.
Solution: Ask them what their secret is. Or smile and say that yours is an environmentally sensitive garden where fertilizer and insecticide use are kept to a minimum.
Rule: Never brag about your garden or expound upon its perfection. The host will wonder why your garden is not the one on tour.
Situation: A visitor asks you for a drink of water.
Solution: Have a refreshment table with water available. Alternatively, have a monitor on duty whose job it is to fulfill such requests.
Rule: If your host has not offered something to drink, wait until later to quench your thirst unless you are about to faint or become ill.
Situation: Strangers enter your garden and do not bother to speak or express their appreciation of your efforts.
Solution: There may be no solution to this dilemma, but be sure that you, as host, do not get caught in a situation in which your time is monopolized by one person. Be sure that you are available to speak to your visitors.
Rule: Always, always, thank the hosts for opening their garden for public enjoyment. Compliment the garden, and explain briefly any elements that you particularly enjoyed.
Situation: A person who wishes to see your garden but who has another commitment the day of the tour asks to come a day early.
Solution: Explain that you will be busy getting ready for the tour and that, although you would love for the person to see your garden, you simply do not have time on the day before the tour to comply.
Rule: Never ask to come at any time other than the scheduled time to see a garden. Doing so is an imposition and an unrealistic expectation.
This garden is polished up and ready for a garden tour.
About Marie Harrison
Serving as a board member for Valparaiso Garden Club, the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs and the Deep South Region, and National Garden Clubs takes a chunk of my time and attention. Being a Master Flower Show Judge, a Floral Design Instructor, instructor of horticulture for National Garden Clubs, and a University of Florida Master Gardener crowds a bit more into my busy days. In addition to these activities, I contribute regularly to Florida Gardening magazine and other publications. I am author of four gardening books, all published by Pineapple Press, Sarasota, Florida. Read about them and visit me at www.mariesgardenanddesign.com.
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Culture and Cultural Analysis as Experimental Systems
Link to relevant CA essay lists: Science and Technology Studies (STS), Culture/Theory
MIT Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies Michael Fischer has published an essay in the current issue of Cultural Anthropology that provides new perspective on the history of the concept of "culture," emphasizing how cultural analysis has been linked to social reform in different periods.
Titled "Culture and Cultural Analysis as Experimental Systems," the essay traces the growth of cultural analysis from the nineteenth century through the present, showing how the concept of culture has evolved and enabled cultural analysis to operate as an "experimental system" that both codifies knowledge, and creates fundamentally new insight. In casting cultural analysis as an "experimental system," Fischer suggests similarities between cultural analysis and the natural sciences, highlighting how both create new knowledge though structured engagements between established theory and empirical data that cannot be sufficiently explained in terms of such theory.
Fischer also highlights the importance of recognizing "culture" as an analytic tool rather than as a variable that can be blamed for social problems, or used to explain "the clash of civilizations." "Culture," Fischer argues, is "where meaning is woven and renewed," by professional cultural analysts as well as by the people they study. The continuing challenge of cultural analysis, Fischer argues, "is to develop translation and mediation tools for helping make visible differences of interests, access, power, needs, desires, and philosophical perspective. In particular, as we begin to face new kinds of ethical dilemmas stemming from developments in biotechnologies, expansive information and image databases, and ecological interactions, we are challenged to develop differentiated cultural analyses that can help articulate new social institutions for an evolving civil society."
Over the last twenty years, Cultural Anthropology has published a number of essays that historicize and critically engage the culture concept. See, for example, Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson's "Beyond "Culture": Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference" (1992), Anna Tsing's "From the Margins" (1994), Robert Brightman's "Forget Culture: Replacement, Transcendence, Relexification" (1995), and Richard Handler's "Raymond Williams, George Stocking, and Fin-de-Siècle U.S. Anthropology" (1998). For a list of essays in Cultural Anthropology on the theory and practice of cultural analysis, see http://culanth.org/?q=node/24.
Cultural Anthropology essays can be accessed electronically through AnthroSource, http://www.anthrosource.net/, which is available through most research libraries and to all members of the American Anthropological Association. Journalists may request PDFs from Cultural Anthropology's editorial office: email@example.com.
AUTHOR'S WEBPAGE: Michael Fischer
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Cooking Stoves in Developing Nations Linked to Pneumonia
In many developing nations around the world, cooking is primarily done over a wood-burning fire pit. It is estimated that this is the primary cooking and heating source for 43% of the global population, about 3 billion people. A team of international researchers have found that pneumonia is linked with young children who are continuously exposed to the smoke from cooking fires. They found that if smoke-reducing chimneys are used on the cooking stoves, cases of severe pneumonia can be reduced by one-third.
Cooking fires are perhaps the type of air pollution that directly impacts human health, because its emissions take place right next to people’s breathing zones. The fires used in developing countries are almost always open flames with no real chimney. The researchers found that children who are exposed every day to the smoke, inhaled the equivalent of smoking three to five cigarettes a day.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Liverpool, University of California, Berkeley, and from del Valle, Guatemala. The team spent time in the rural communities in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, working with households which had pregnant women or young infants.
Some households were given a woodstove with a chimney and others continued using open fires. They found that cases of severe pneumonia were reduced one third for the households with the chimneys. A smaller decrease was reported for all cases of pneumonia, severe and non-severe. This is likely due to the reduction of smoke not being completely sufficient.
According to Dr. Nigel Bruce from the University of Liverpool, "Pneumonia is the chief cause of death for children aged five years or under worldwide, responsible for about 20% of total deaths in these age groups. It is caused by viral and bacterial infections. Smoke from burning solid fuels, such as wood and animal dung, reduces the lung's defences against infections, particularly bacterial.
"Increasing awareness of the effects of woodsmoke on health will help us to significantly reduce the numbers of cases of severe pneumonia, as well as respiratory disease in adults. The use of open fires and inefficient traditional stoves for cooking is also a cause of burns and can have a negative impact on the environment and increase pressures on natural resources."
The study was published in the journal, Lancet.
Link to published article: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2961051-9/fulltext
Image credit: William Rudolph
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STATUS UPDATE AS OF 20 NOVEMBER 2006:
GP-B DATA ANALYSIS & RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT STATUS
During the 50-week science phase of the GP-B mission and the 7-week instrument calibration phase, which lasted from August 2004-September 2005, we collected over a terabyte of experimental data. Analysis has been progressing through a 3-phase plan, each subsequent phase building on those preceding it.
In Phase I, which lasted from the end of September 2005 through February 2006, the analysis focused on a short-term, day-by-day or even orbit-by-orbit, examination of the data. The overall goals of this phase were to optimize the data analysis routines, calibrate out instrumentation effects, and produce initial "gyro spin axis orientation of the day" estimates for each gyro individually. At this stage, the focus was on individual gyro performance; there was no attempt to combine or compare the results of all four gyros, nor was there even an attempt to estimate the gyro drift rates.
Phase II, which lasted from March-August, 2006, focused on understanding and compensating for certain long-term systematic effects in the data that spanned weeks or months. The results of the Phase II analysis enabled the team to improve the accuracy of the analysis, yielding increased precision for gyro precession rates over short intervals. Phase II culminated with the 15th meeting of our GP-B Science Advisory Committee (SAC) here at Stanford on 8-9 September 2006. During this important meeting, our data analysis team presented a complete progress report to the SAC.
As of November 20, we are well into Phase III of the data analysis, which we expect to be concluded by late February, 2007. Whereas in Phases I and II, the focus was on individual gyro performance, during Phase III, the data from all four gyros is being integrated over the entire experiment. The results of this phase will be both individual and correlated changes in gyro spin axis orientation covering the entire 50-week experimental period for all four gyros. During this final analysis phase, we are continuing to pursue both geometric and algebraic interpretations of the data, which is enabling us to improve the accuracy of the results.
The Phase III results will be relative to the position of our guide star, IM Pegasi, which changed continually throughout the experiment. Thus, the final step in the analysis, currently scheduled to occur early in the spring of 2007, will be to combine our gyro spin axis orientation results with data mapping the proper motion of IM Pegasi relative to the unchanging position of a distant quasar. The proper motion of IM Pegasi has been mapped with unprecedented precision using a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) by Irwin Shapiro and his team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), in collaboration with Norbert Bartel at York University in Toronto and French astronomer Jean-Francois Lestrade.
At the conclusion of phase III, playing the role of our own harshest critic, our science team will perform a careful and thorough final review of the analysis and results, checking and cross-checking each aspect to ensure the soundness of our procedures and the validity of our outcomes. We will then turn the analysis and results over to the SAC, which has been closely monitoring our experimental methods, data analysis procedures, and progress for the past eight years, to obtain its independent review. Moreover, we will seek independent reviews from a number of international experts.
In addition to analyzing the data, members of our team are now in the process of preparing scientific and engineering papers for publication in late 2006-2007. We have also begun discussions with NASA to plan a formal public announcement of the results of this unprecedented test of General Relativity. We expect to make this announcement of the results in April 2007.
GRAVITY PROBE SPACECRAFT & PAYLOAD STATUS AT A GLANCE
|Mission Elapsed Time||943 days (134.7 weeks/30.9 months)|
|129 days (4.2 months)|
|352 days (11.6 months)|
Final Calibration Phase
|43 days (1.3 months)|
Extended Science Phase
Post Mission Phase
|415 days (59.3 weeks/13.6 months)|
|Current Orbit #||13,911 as of 12:00 PM PDT|
|Spacecraft General Health||Good|
|Roll Rate||0.1 rpm (10 minutes per revolution)|
|Gyro Suspension System (GSS)||Gyro #1 is in analog backup suspension mode; gyros #2, #3, and #4 are digitally suspended|
|Gyro Spin Rates||N/A; gyro rotors "tumbling" slowly rather than spinning|
|Dewar Inside Temperature||~256 kelvin (-17 C) and falling slightly|
|Dewar Outer Shell Temperature||~264 kelvin (-9 C) and falling|
|Global Positioning System (GPS) lock||Nominal|
|Attitude Control System (ATC)||
Nominal for post-mission operation
|Telescope Readout (TRE)||Pointing performance too low to lock onto guide star|
|Command & Data Handling (CDH)|| B-side (backup) computer in control
Multi-bit errors (MBE):
1 in CCCA Backup computer
3 in GSS computers
0 in SRE computer (turned off)
MISSION DIRECTOR'S SUMMARY
On Mission Day 943, both the GP-B space vehicle and payload remain in good health. All active subsystems, including solar arrays/electrical power, Experiment Control Unit (ECU), flight computer, star trackers, magnetic sensing system (MSS) and magnetic torque rods, gyro suspension system (GSS), and telescope detectors, are performing nominally. The spacecraft is now essentially in a hibernation state.
Throughout October and early November, our small mission operations team continued performing tests to ensure that the software and configuration updates that were uploaded to the spacecraft in September for hibernating the spacecraft were functioning properly. During these tests, the team rebooted the on-board computer, which in turn reset the spacecraft roll rate to 0.1 rpm (10 minutes per revolution).
Tests of the most important hibernation change—the reconfiguration of the spacecraft's communications equipment to prevent it from automatically turning itself on and transmitting data in response to a safe mode condition or on-board computer reboot—suggested further fine tuning of a few key software routines. These modifications are in process and should be completed shortly. Once these final modifications have been uploaded and tested, the hibernation work will be finished.
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is continuing its preparations to begin using the spacecraft part time—shared with our use here at Stanford—as a space operations training vehicle. Last month, a member of the USAFA spacecraft operations team came to Stanford, loaded a ground station communications POD (a set of computer consoles) into a van, and drove it back to the academy in Colorado Springs, where it is being set up. Another communications POD is also being readied for shipment to the USAFA, and our Mission Operations Center (MOC) Computer Systems Manager will be traveling to Colorado Springs shortly to help the USAFA team get these communications PODs configured and running. It is now anticipated that the USAFA will begin controlling the spacecraft sometime early next year.
GP-B MISSION NEWS—POLHODE MOTION IN THE GP-B GYROSCOPES
This month's mission news story is a bit long for our Home page, so we have placed it on its own Web page.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE STORY.
FINAL SCHEDULED 2006 GP-B STATUS UPDATE & MISSION NEWS IN LATE DECEMBER
Our final regularly scheduled update for this year be towards the end of December. Of course, we will send out a timely update if there are any important changes in the spacecraft's status, or if noteworthy events occur here at GP-B in the meantime.
DOWNLOAD PDF COPIES OF "GP-B IN A NUTSHELL" & "NASA/GP-B FACT SHEET"
For a two-page, up-to-date overview of GP-B in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, click here to view/download "Gravity Probe B in a Nutshell." In addition, you'll now find our 6-page NASA/GP-B Fact Sheet (PDF format) listed as the last navigation link under "What is GP-B" in the upper left corner of this Web page. You can also click here to download a copy.
VIEW OR DOWNLOAD VIDEO/AUDIO/PRESENTATION SLIDES OF MAY 18, 2006 EVERITT PUBLIC LECTURE ON GP-B
On Thursday evening, May 18, 2006, GP-B Principal Investigator, Francis Everitt, gave a 90-minute free public lecture entitled: “Testing Einstein in Space: The Gravity Probe B Mission.” The lecture was sponsored by the Stanford Continuing Studies program, as part its Brainstorms: New Frontiers in Science & Engineering lecture series.
Both audio only and video versions of this lecture are also available on the Stanford on iTUNES U Web site. This Web page automatically launches the Apple iTunes program on both Macintosh and Windows computers, with a special Stanford on iTunes U "music store," containing free downloads of Stanford lectures, performances, and events. Francis Everitt's "Testing Einstein in Space" lecture is located in the Faculty Lectures section. People with audio-only iPods can download the version under the Audio tab; people with 5th generation (video) iPodfs can download the version under the Video tab.
Photos, Drawings, and Video: The composite photo of the GP-B spacecraft orbiting above the Earth, the photos of our new Mission Operations Center, and Francis Everitt's lecture were created/taken by GP-B Public Affairs Coordinator, Bob Kahn. Bob also created the animated wooden blocks that accompany the polhode story. The historical portraits of Euler, Poinsot, and Newcomb in the polhode story are from various Web sources, and the two video clips in that story are courtesy of NASA.The group photo of the team from the U.S. Air Force Academy was taken by former GP-B Program Manager, Gaylord Green. All other photos and graphics, both on this page and in the polhode story, are part of the GP-B Image Archive here at Stanford. The MPEG-4 video of Francis Everitt's lecture was created by Stanford Video. Click on the thumbnails of any photo or graphic to view these images at full size.
MORE LINKS ON RECENT TOPICS
- Track the satellite in the sky
- Photo, video & and news links
- Build a paper model of the GP-B Spacecraft
- Following the mission online
- Our mailing list—receive the weekly highlights via email
- The GP-B Launch Companion in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Please note: this file is 1.6 MB, so it may take awhile to download if you have a slow Internet connection.
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