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In 2009 Konstantin Grcic designed the Table B, launching BD Barcelona's Extrusion line of furniture. Sporting an extruded aluminum tabletop, the Table B came with three distinct leg options: Chunky concrete, cleanly-crafted oak or a web of stainless steel rods.
In 2010 Grcic followed up with the B Chair, made from ash with a dash of aluminum. The folding chair was designed to neatly nest into a horiztonal stack.
This year's update to the B line is the Bench B, unveiled at this month's IMM Cologne furniture show. Sporting legs and angles that directly reference Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona chair, the base unit of the Bench B is a single chair; however, as the legs are essentially modular and bolts to extruded cross-members, lengths of up to six meters can be ordered, with additional legs added and spaced accordingly. It comes in aluminum for outdoor applications and upholstered leather or fabric for indoors.
Here's Grcic breaking the piece down:
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|home :: blog :: archives :: book reviews :: links :: store|
photos and text by Martin Buday
I enjoy straight photography using film. The colors are not altered, although I use Portra VC, which tends to make certain colors pop. I grew up painting and drawing so I love color and geometry, and that sensibility translates through to my photograhy.
I believe a photograph needs structure. I also believe when photography is practiced properly it is done as meditation. I most enjoy shooting urban landscapes because it forces me to view the environment I live in more closely. Photography is a tool in helping me, and others, understand our world better.
I've been inspired by these words from Louis Sullivan, which Stephen Shore quoted in the first edition of his book "Uncommon Places":
"Attention is of the essence of our powers; it is that which draws other things towards us, it is that which, if we have lived with it, brings the experiences of our lives ready to our hand. If things but make impression enough on you, you will not forget them; and thus, as you go through life, your store of experiences becomes greater, richer, more and more available. But to this end you must cultivate attention -- the art of seeing, the art of listening. You needn't trouble about memory, that will take care of itself; but you must learn to live in the true sense. To pay attention is to live, and to live is to pay attention. . ."
© Copyright Martin Buday
|© 2005 Lens Culture and individual contributors. All rights reserved.|
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JAENSCHWALDE, Germany — Green-friendly Europe has a dirty secret: It is burning a lot more coal.
Europe’s use of the fossil fuel spiked last year after a long decline, powered by a surge of cheap U.S. coal on global markets and by the unintended consequences of ambitious climate policies that capped emissions and reduced reliance on nuclear energy.
The new dependence on one of the dirtiest fuels shows just how challenging it is to maintain the momentum needed to go green, analysts and officials say, and demonstrates the far-reaching effects of America’s natural gas boom.
In the United States, natural gas is now frequently less expensive than coal for power, so demand for the hard, black fuel has plummeted. Ships are steaming the coal around the world instead. U.S. coal exports to Europe were up 26 percent in the first nine months of 2012 over the same period in 2011. Exports to China have increased, too.
“It’s been very welcome that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have been going down because of the switch to gas," said David Baldock, executive director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy in London. “But if we’re simply diverting the coal somewhere else, particularly to Europe, a lot of those benefits are draining away."
In Germany, which by some measures is pursuing the most wide-ranging green goals of any major industrialized country, a 2011 decision to shutter nuclear power plants means that domestically produced lignite, also known as brown coal, is filling the gap. Power plants that burn the sticky, sulfurous, high-emissions fuel are running at full throttle, with many tallying 2012 as their highest-demand year since the early 1990s. Several new coal power plants have been unveiled in recent months — even though solar panel installations more than doubled last year.
Here in Jaenschwalde, a stone’s throw from the Polish border, the forested countryside quickly drops away into a 300-foot-deep pit stretching for miles. Enormous machines slowly eat away at the earth and shower soft lignite onto a conveyor belt that feeds directly into a nearby power plant. From the precipice of the mine, the 20-foot-tall trucks at the bottom look like Tonka toys.
Last year, the power plant consumed 88,000 tons of lignite a day and generated more electricity than it had since 1981, according to Vattenfall, the Swedish company that runs it. That record is even more impressive given that in 1981, Communist East German officials didn’t have to contend with labor laws or environmental regulations and could run the mines almost every day of the year.
The expansion of lignite mining has stunned some people who live in its path. One community under threat is the tiny hamlet of Atterwasch, a cluster of 250 people on the edge of a proposed expansion of the Jaenschwalde mine. They might have to leave their homes, as well as their church, whose chapel was built in 1294.
“This church survived the Thirty Years’ War (in the 1600s), two world wars and socialism," said Mathias Berndt, the senior pastor at the church, which is festooned with anti-coal-mining protest banners. “Now a free country is coming and saying, ‘Good for you, but now you have to move.’"
Demand for coal in Germany has been rising since a May 2011 move to phase out nuclear power by 2022. The shutdown was spurred by the nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan as well as long-standing German concerns about safety. But nuclear energy, which is low in greenhouse gas emissions, has been partially replaced by brown coal. Lignite supplied 25.6 percent of Germany’s electricity in 2012, up from 22.7 percent in 2010. Hard black coal supplied an additional 19.1 percent last year, and it was also on the rise.
“The faster phaseout (of nuclear energy) has led to an increased fallback on lignite," said Thomas Bareiss, a member of Germany’s parliament and the energy policy coordinator for the ruling Christian Democratic Union party. “Lignite will surely play an important role for our energy mix over the next two or three decades."
But the rise of coal has posed a challenge to Germany’s tough environmental goals. By 2050, the country aims to generate 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, allowing steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Green advocates worry that if Germany’s extensive — and pricey — support for renewable energy such as wind and solar power diminishes, coal might further fill in the gap.
Energy companies say that the two forms of power generation can live together for now. Lignite plants, they say, are an economical way to meet demand at times when the wind isn’t turning windmills and the sun isn’t warming solar panels. But officials acknowledge that with the ambitious energy goals, coal’s future might be limited.
Germany “has to change completely," said Hartmut Zeiss, head of mining for Vattenfall Europe. “The question now is how long it will take and what we can afford."
In other European countries, the quick rise of coal has surprised people who thought it was a waning industry. In Britain, domestic coal production nearly died in 1984 during a bitter, year-long miners’ strike that pitted Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher against the once-powerful unions. Domestic production is still moribund, but in the first nine months of 2012, imports of U.S. coal were up 73 percent from the same period in 2011.
The few remaining domestic coal mines say they can’t compete, and newspaper headlines have harped on the irony.
“The future looks a bit gloomy," said David Brewer, director general of the Confederation of U.K. Coal Producers.
Consumption of coal also has leapt in Spain and Italy, with much of it supplied by the United States. That comes despite extensive efforts to harness Spain’s sun and Italy’s wind in the name of power production.
Pushed by natural gas
The abundance of American coal on international markets has been an unintentional side effect of the rapid rise of new drilling techniques for natural gas in the United States. Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking," has opened up new reserves so vast that the United States will soon become a net natural gas exporter, slashing the country’s reliance on costly oil imports. U.S. manufacturers are looking with glee at cheaper natural gas prices. And because natural gas is cleaner than coal, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation have dropped to their lowest levels since 1992.
Now, U.S. coal is spreading around the world instead, pushing down global prices. In Europe, that has raised fears among environmentalists that the cheap natural gas in the United States has simply led to higher overall fossil fuel consumption.
One big part of the problem, experts and officials say, is Europe’s cap-and-trade system, which aims to reduce European Union-wide industrial greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020. The system is the centerpiece of Europe’s green policies. But the program, which charges industries for permits to emit greenhouse gases, no longer serves as a major disincentive to pollute. Industrial production fell dramatically during the economic crisis, so overall greenhouse gas emissions remain well underneath the cap, and they are still falling. The price per ton of carbon emissions is barely more than a tenth of its 2008 peak. Energy companies, who must plan decades in advance, have shied away from investing in gas-fired power plants because they are not profitable in comparison to coal.
Europe’s coal use might soon taper off, some experts say. And European lawmakers are trying to prop up the cap-and-trade system by setting more ambitious targets for 2025 and 2030. That would quickly send the price of permits up and make coal less competitive with greener forms of energy.
“The higher the price is for carbon, the worse the business case is for coal, and the better it is for gas," said Hubertus Bardt, an energy expert at the Cologne Institute for Economic Research.
In addition, American mines might cut back on their production because of the lower prices, thus tightening the global supply.
For now, confronted with a glut of newly available fossil fuel, environmentalists are trying to decide whether it’s best to try to keep it underground.
“What we want to achieve is a reduction in the total quantities of the emissions of greenhouse gases," said John Broderick, a research fellow at the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research in Manchester, England. “If we’re serious about this, we would be looking to disincentivize the extraction of fossil fuels."
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Originally Posted by LuckyRescue
I really don't think we are talking about working and herding dogs living on ranches who have jobs to do - at least they are not the dogs I'm talking about. These dogs are doing what they were bred and born to do and have full and satisfying lives.
I'm talking about people who keep their dogs confined in pens and garages (in cities and suburbs) for most of their lives. These dogs sit in solitary confinement all day while their owners work, and if they are lucky they might get 20 minutes of exercise when the owner has time. Then back into the pen for the night. They are treated like garden tools that are stored when not in use (which is most of the time)
This is no life for any dog and IS inhumane, as dogs are highly social animals. Actually, it's inhumane for any creature, which is why solitary confinement is considered harsh punishment for human prisoners. The main difference is that the dogs didn't commit any crime to deserve this.
If that "is" your point - why were you attacking RK? She does live on a farm... her dog is not confined...
But on that, is it any better or worse for those dogs to be left in the house alone? I have a dog and a cat so they are not alone when I have to work but that is not a luxery everyone has. So should a person that can't have a pet in the house and not be with them for company all the time not have a pet at all... even if they can provide good care and love? Have you been to a shelter? any of those dogs would rather a life with any "responsible" pet owner and be outdoor pet.
Do you stay home with your pets all the time, to make sure they are not lonely? Must be nice to have that luxury!
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In last year’s class of incoming Republican governors, John Kasich was among the best bets to become a star. A former nine-term congressman, Kasich ousted a formidable Democratic incumbent by persuading Ohioans that the state’s bloated budget needed trimming, and that he, a former House Budget Committee chairman, was the right person for the job. A decade after flirting with a presidential bid, there were whispers that running Ohio might be a way-station to a future Oval Office run.
But so far, Kasich’s tenure hasn’t gone as planned. The former TV personality and investment banker is currently the nation’s second-least popular sitting governor behind Hawaii Democrat Neil Abercrombie, according to the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, with ratings that have mostly hovered in the 30s. And on Tuesday, he’s likely to see his signature legislation, a bill that curbs collective-bargaining rights for public employees, repealed in a hotly contested referendum. It would be a telling rebuke to the governor who made it a centerpiece of his platform. “If voters could do the governor’s race over again, they would,” says PPP’s Tom Jensen.
It’s tempting to chalk up this buyer’s remorse to the fact that voters who like the theoretical concept of austerity often balk when the cuts hit home. But Kasich’s problems run deeper. He’s come under criticism for cuts to education, health-care facilities and local government funding, while pushing privatization and implementing new tax credits for businesses and cuts for individuals. Over the summer, a Quinnipiac poll found that 50% of voters believed Kasich’s budget was unfair, with just 32% calling it just.
Kasich also made the misstep of targeting powerful pillars of Ohio’s middle class. While Wisconsin’s bill the rolled back collective bargaining-rights exempted police and firefighters, Ohio’s did not. Labor-allied groups ran ads warning that SB5 would leave communities more vulnerable to crime and with slower emergency-response times. Public-sector unions have been a frequent target of Republicans’ ire, but they’re not a good pinata in this pivotal swing state. And Kasich had earlier earned the ire of this constituency when, shortly after his election, video surfaced of him berating a state trooper after being pulled over for a minor traffic violation. “Thirty percent of Republicans oppose [SB5], and I think that’s because there’s a lot of Republicans who live in union households,” Jensen says.
While the failure of Issue 2 would be a blow to Kasich, it’s only one chapter in an unfolding story. Over the past decade, as the Midwest’s manufacturing engines rusted and the nation plunged into a recession, Ohio bled 600,000 jobs. Whether the governor’s economic reforms help reverse the exodus will be far more important when he comes up for reelection than the referendum on the ballot today.
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What happens in those weeks between shows at the Williamston Theatre? After a show closes, the next show’s set is “loaded in” to the theatre space and rehearsals begin. The powerful lighting instruments aren’t in use, so we say that the theatre has “gone dark”. During those “dark nights,” the Williamston Theatre Four (Tony, Chris, Emily, and John) miss the ebb and flow of the community in and out of the theatre’s doors…And they started to ask themselves…What if we transformed other spaces in the building into temporary performance spaces?…What if we did staged readings of plays, which require much less rehearsal than a full production and no design process? And in a presidential election year, what if we staged readings of plays that provoked thought and discussion about political and social issues?
Join us for Dark Nights in Billtown…
Friday November 2 at 8pm
November by David Mamet
What wouldn’t you do to get re-elected? President Charles Smith will do whatever it takes, including taking down the National Association of Turkey and Turkey By-Products Manufacturers…and that’s only the beginning! Mamet’s acerbic wit is in full force as he satirizes a politician’s scurrilous attempts to secure his re-election. This one’ll have you slapping your knee and doubling over in the best kind of pain: full-on belly laughs!
Saturday November 3 at 8pm
The Election by Don Zolidis
High school elections are a great way for kids to learn about the democratic process. If by “democratic process” you mean pandering, mud slinging, and manipulative political ads! A chorus of actors play the confused and fickle electorate who swirl around the candidates, leaving laughs in their wake.
As the teenaged political enemies face-off, what will they learn about themselves, democracy, and the election process? Join us for a night of fast-paced delight!
Sunday November 4 at 2pm
We the People: short plays from diverse voices
Seeing the Light by Robert McKay
Middle Kingdom by Howard Korder
Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes
Lawyers, Guns and Money by Thad Davis
Bad Santa by Melinda Lopez & Maxine Lopez-Keough
We’ve curated a collection of political and economically themed short plays (and a poem) as an opportunity to consider how politics and government impact our daily lives. Each gem of a play offers a slightly different experience, ranging from humor to poignancy, but all five pieces raise big questions about who we are and who we want to be.
Dark Nights in Billtown will be an intimate theatrical experience in “found spaces” (rooms that are not traditional theatre spaces, but have been adapted for theatrical purposes) which means that there will be limited seating! We’ve only got 25 seats for each show, so call now to reserve your seat. The Four Founders (Chris, Tony, John, and Emily) invite you to join them in this uniquely distinct theatre experience.
Call 517-655-SHOW after October 2 to have your name put on “The Billtown List.” Seating is limited. Suggested donation of $5 at the door.
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Intel has formalized its interest in the new crop of computing devices that have the caught the attention of consumers and even office workers.
The chip giant has created a new business unit that it calls the netbook and tablet group. The unit will be run by Douglas L. Davis, the current head of Intel’s embedded and communications group, who will be charged with making sure Intel can fend off all kinds of competition in the burgeoning market for PC offshoots.
Intel often formally announces the formation of such groups, but kept this one quiet. Bill Kircos, a company spokesman, confirmed the move.
“Netbook shipments will be heading north of 100 million, and we’ll all soon will find out what kind of market potential there is for tablets and these increasingly popular hybrid designs,” Mr. Kircos said. “It makes sense for us to sharpen our focus on these friends of the PC, and Doug’s experience running a similar and very successful embedded division makes him the right guy to lead the group.”
A certain amount of symbolism accompanies the formation of this group because Intel is one of the companies most associated with the rise of the classic PC. It would seem that Intel wants its share of the weird and wacky computer pie.
When netbooks first hit the scene, analysts were quick to predict possible doom-and-gloom for Intel.
The cheap, little netbooks run on cheap, little chips. And the thinking was that Intel’s profits would sink as people bought netbooks instead of proper laptops with fancier chips.
As it turns, most netbooks were bought as complements to existing computers. As a result, Intel simply sold more chips and piggybacked on computers that played well in some regions that had been cool to the PC.
The netbooks have also boosted Intel’s long-standing push in the education market. The San Diego public school system, for example, has bought 35,000 netbooks for third and fourth graders and is expected to buy 100,000 more as it expands a program aimed at giving all students access to computers.
Tablets are more challenging for Intel.
The iPad from Apple has proved the dominant device in this category, and it runs on Apple’s own ARM chip, the A4. A number of companies designing tablets have eyed ARM chips as lower-power, lower-cost alternatives to Intel’s Atom chip that can still provide enough computing oomph to keep people happy.
But at next month’s consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, a number of Atom-based tablets should appear from the usual suspects and some unusual ones. Intel expects more than 100 netbook and tablet designs based on Atom to hit the market over the next six months.
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Discover the latest research findings and thinking on the topics of happiness, flow, optimism, motivation, character strengths, love and more! Find out how happiness levels can be increased, what stops us from flourishing and how positive psychology can be applied to many professional disciplines. This new textbook combines a breadth of information about positive psychology with reflective questions, critical commentary and up to date research. It is written in a witty, engaging and contemporary manner and includes: Personal development exercises to help you meld together research and application Mock essay questions to get essay writing going Think about it boxes to get you thinking about the concepts and theories discussed Experiments boxes giving you most influential positive psychology experiments to date Suggested resources guiding you where to go next Measurement tools presenting popular positive psychology tools Time out boxes on key issues, concepts and thinkers Chapter summaries to help you check their understanding Review questions to enhance your learning Positive Psychology is key reading for students taking modules in positive psychology and well-being, and will also be of interest to students of applied, coaching and sports psychology, as well as psychologists, coaches, counsellors and researchers interested in this burgeoning field.
"Kate Hefferon and Ilona Boniwell have done an excellent job on this introduction to Positive Psychology! I encourage educators, students and everyone else interested in an updated, well-written and culturally balanced approach to the scientific study of human flourishing, to read this highly accessible, yet rigorously crafted text; and to get it under your skin by ways of carefully chosen tests and exercises." Hans Henrik Knoop, Aarhus University, Denmark and President, European Network for Positive Psychology
"This accessible, yet comprehensive, book provides an excellent new resource in the area of positive psychology. Students, researchers and practitioners alike will benefit from the skilful and lively integration of theory, research and application. The authors are prominent members of the international positive psychology movement and as such are able to deliver a confident, practical and overarching assessment of the area, integrated into psychology more widely." Angela Clow, University of Westminster, UK
"This is an exceptional book that synthesizes more than a decade of positive psychology research into chapters that are engaging, accessible, and educational. Hefferon and Boniwell demonstrate a mastery of the literature through the ways in which they have marshaled the evidence from research and practice into this invaluable resource. This book will become an essential reference guide for researchers, educators and practitioners of positive psychology around the world." Professor Alex Linley, Founding Director, Capp
"This book is a valuable resource for students looking for an introduction to Positive Psychology, but also wanting to get a comprehensive and updated overview of this innovative approach to the study of human behaviour and experience. It provides a broad coverage of the most relevant theories and constructs developed within Positive Psychology, and of their relevance for intervention and application in the most diverse life domains. Hefferon and Boniwell use a rigorous though accessible and friendly style of presentation. By means of effective learning supports, they stimulate readers' active engagement in critical reflections on each topic. The authors address the several issues and open questions which still characterize Positive Psychology as a relatively recent domain through a balanced and objective approach." Antonella Delle Fave, University of Milano, Italy
"Kate Hefferon and Ilona Boniwell have produced the first textbook which has set out purposefully to support students and teachers in higher education in the exciting new area of positive psychology. The authors have experience of teaching the lectures described in each chapter and the book is written in a way that students will find engaging and fun. Each chapter has clear learning objectives, mock essay questions, measurement tools, summaries and a guide to further resources. The content has been well researched and the early chapters cover the main concepts of positive psychology such as emotions, happiness, wellbeing, optimism, and resilience. The later chapters are more novel and cover interventions and applications all with a critical eye. Of particular note is the chapter on the body in positive psychology - a topic which is frequently omitted from the 'thoughts and feelings' approach of other texts in this area. I would strongly recommend this book to all students and teachers of psychology." Nanette Mutrie, Professor of Exercise and Sport Psychology, Strathclyde University, UK
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Europe bailout of Spain could cost $125 billion
MADRID (AP) -- Europe is to offer Spain a bailout package of up to (euro) 100 billion ($125 billion) to help rescue the country's banks and keep the 17-country eurozone from breaking apart.
After months of fierce denials, Spain admitted it would tap the fund as it moved faster than expected to stem the economic crisis that has ravaged Europe for two years.
Spain becomes the fourth - and largest - European economy to ask for help and its admission of help comes after months of market concern about its ability to pay its way. In recent weeks investors have demanded higher and higher costs to lend to Spain, and it became clear it would be just too expensive for the country to borrow the money necessary for a bank rescue from the markets.
The three countries that have received rescues thus far -- Greece, Ireland and Portugal -- are fairly small, and many have worried that bailing out much-larger Spain could call the entire euro project into question. Cyprus, also a small economy, could also be forced to seek a bailout soon.
Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Saturday the aid will go to the banking sector only and so would not come with new austerity conditions attached for the economy in general -- conditions that have been an integral part of previous bailouts to Portugal, Ireland and Greece.
A statement from the finance ministers of the 17 countries that use the euro explained that the money would be fed directly into a fund Spain set up to recapitalize its banks, but underscored that the Spanish government is ultimately responsible for the loan.
Still, that plan allows Spain to avoid making the onerous commitments that Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to when they sought their rescues. Instead, the eurogroup statement said that it expected Spain's banking sector to implement reforms and that Spain would be held to its previous commitments to reform its labor market and manage its deficit.
The exact figure of the bailout, however, has not yet been decided. De Guindos said the country is waiting until independent audits of the country's banking sector have been carried out before asking for a specific amount. The audits are expected June 21 at the latest.
De Guindos did say, however, that Spain would request enough money for recapitalization, plus a safety margin that will be "significant." The eurogroup statement said that meant the cost could reach (euro) 100 billion. The aid package was announced after a video conference of euro zone finance ministers.
With markets in turmoil, de Guindos said the government's efforts to shore up the financial sector "must be completed with the necessary resources to finance the needs of recapitalization."
"Therefore, the Spanish government states its intention to request European financing for the recapitalization of banks that need it," the minister told a press conference after a videoconference with colleagues from the eurozone.
The Spanish acceptance of aid for its banks is a big embarrassment for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who insisted just 10 days ago that the banking sector would not need a bailout. For him and officials of his government, that had become something of a mantra. He was elected in November and walked right into a hurricane.
International pressure on Spain to solve its financial problems has been growing in recent weeks. On Thursday ratings agency Fitch hit Spain with a three-notch downgrade of its credit rating. That left it two levels above junk status. Then on Friday, Moody's Investor Services warned it could downgrade Spain and other countries in the eurozone.
In the early hours of Saturday, the International Monetary Fund released a report estimating that Spanish banks need a recapitalization injection of at least (euro) 40 billion ($50 billion) following a stress test it performed on the country's financial sector. That report came out three days ahead of schedule, underscoring the urgency of the situation.
U.S. President Barack Obama, facing re-election, enduring a weak economy and in need of strong trading partners, expressed concern late Friday over the European economic crisis.
U.S Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner welcomed Spain's decision and the offer of European support, describing them as "important for the health of Spain's economy and as concrete steps on the path to financial union, which is vital to the resilience of the euro area."
French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said the deal would "contribute to restoring confidence in the eurozone."
"The accord announced tonight speaks to a reinforced solidary among the countries of the eurozone and to their resolute desire to ensure its stability," he said in a statement.
Some of Spain's banks are struggling with by toxic real estate loans and assets. The Bank of Spain says they total around (euro) 180 billion. Nationalized lender Bankia, SA, which has requested (euro) 19 billion in aid, has (euro) 32 billion in toxic assets. Around four other banks are considered prime candidates for bailouts. De Guindos said Saturday the sector is largely solid and the euro zone package will be funnel toward only about 30 percent of it.
Analyst Rafael Pampillon if IE Business School in Madrid said the bailout addressed the uncertainty the markets had felt about how Spain's debt-laden banking sector would recapitalize.
"This uncertainty, and hence the panic, will slowly dissipate from the markets," he said. Pampillon added that with polls forecasting a pro-Euro victory in Greek elections, markets would be further relieved because the austerity conditions imposed on Greece would most likely be fulfilled.
Moody's said Spain's banking problem is largely confined to that country and not likely to spill over to other eurozone nations, with the exception of Italy -- where the European Central Bank has already stepped in to buy government bonds as a way to help lower the country's borrowing costs.
Spain has been criticized for being too slow to set out a roadmap to resolve its problem. European business leaders and analysts have stressed that Spain must find a solution quickly so that it is not caught up in any market turmoil sparked by the Greek elections on June 17. There are concerns that anti-bailout left-wing party Syriza could become the largest party in the Greek parliament, putting the country's membership in the eurozone at risk.
But others said it's more important for Spain to correctly assess how to shore up its banking system than it is to hurry into a bailout ahead of the Greek elections.
If Spain doesn't get a request for outside help right the first time, "then you are in second bailout territory," said Mark Miller, an analyst with Capital Economics in London.
Working in Spain's favor is the fact that its public debt is actually quite low, at 68.5 percent of its gross domestic product at the end of 2011.
Its debt is predicted to hit 78 percent by the end of the year, but even that figure would be below the debt-to-GDP ratios of Europe's strongest economy, Germany, which is at 82 percent.
But Spain's in its second recession in three years, with unemployment at nearly 25 percent and little hope for improvement this year. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government has imposed a wave of austerity measures since he took office in December that have raised taxes, made it cheaper to hire and fire workers and cut government funding for education and health care.
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With broad public health and communication expertise, the work of the Public Health Capacity and Communication Unit aims at strengthening European capacities, knowledge and cooperation in communicable diseases prevention and control, in a way that is complementary to the disease-specific activities of the Centre.
The work to achieve these aims is carried out in three sections:
Public Health Development: Providing expertise and support to Member States, stakeholders and other ECDC programmes in the areas of communication knowledge, behaviour change, programme evaluation, social determinants, health economy and preparedness in order to prevent and control communicable diseases. The work is based on a solid understanding of the public health structures in Europe.
Public Health Training: Strengthening public health capacities in Europe through coordinating the EPIET and EUPHEM programmes, providing short courses and programmes for training the trainers and continuing education of experts. Strengthening training networks and progressively implementing innovative methods and tools for teaching.
External Communication: Efficiently communicating ECDC scientific and technical knowledge to promote public health. Raising awareness of the impact of communicable diseases and the importance of their prevention and control.
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Juvenile Justice Reform
Juvenile justice in New York State is a complex network of services and processes focused on providing targeted interventions that help justice involved youth become successful and that keep our communities safe. DCJS plays a role in juvenile justice through the administration of federal funding, data compilation and analysis, support of local probation departments in their diversion and supervision of youth, and technical assistance to promote effective juvenile justice policy from arrest through reentry.
New York State Juvenile Re-entry Strategic Plan (12/2012)
As New York State continues to reform its juvenile justice systems, transitioning young people from out-of-home placement to positive safe home environments and successful adulthood remains a challenge. This Statewide Re-entry Plan describes the population served, current policies and barriers to effective re-entry, the reintegration continuum and principles of best practice, and provides recommendations for improving juvenile re-entry practices in New York.
The plan is the result of extensive work by a 32-member Juvenile Re-Entry Task Force, composed of representatives from state agencies including the Division of Criminal Justice Services, Office of Children and Family Services, Education Department, Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Department of Health and the Office of Court Administration, as well as local social services departments and probation departments, voluntary agency providers, community-based service providers and advocates for children and families. This plan illustrates New York State’s commitment to the stability and success of youth and families in the juvenile justice system.
New York State Juvenile Justice Advisory Group 2011 Annual Report (7/2012)
The Juvenile Justice Advisory Group (JJAG) is a federally required board of juvenile justice experts, appointed by the Governor, who oversee the use of federal funding for juvenile justice and convene the many people and institutions engaged in the work of juvenile justice across New York State. This report provides an overview of juvenile justice data trends through 2011, explains major juvenile justice reforms implemented in 2011, highlights major juvenile justice investments under JJAG oversight, and details the state’s compliance with federal juvenile justice mandates.
"Tough on Crime – Promoting public safety by doing what works"
The New York State Juvenile Justice Advisory Group (JAG) Annual Report to the Governor and Legislature is now available. The report explores the state’s juvenile justice policies and details recommendations for reform. The JAG is an independent, 22-person panel appointed by the Governor and created under federal law to advance the goals of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974.
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Considering a pet?
If you are looking for a dog or cat to add to your family group, where are you going to source your animal – the local animal shelter or an ethical breeder?
The Pet Education Trust would always ask that you consider animal shelters as the first option as these are currently overrun with dogs produced by irresponsible breeders and abandoned by irresponsible owners. Most of these dogs can make wonderful companions with consistent training, time and effort.
However, if you are adamant on having a puppy or kitten or want a greater degree of certainty when it comes to the animals’ temperament, health, size etc., then obtaining your pet from a responsible breeder will increase the likelihood of obtaining this.
To help you identify an ethical breeder, the Pet Education Trust has linked to the Ethical Breeding site run by expert Animal Behaviourist, Debbie Connolly.
Debbie says ‘We believe that buying from ethical breeders is the right way to buy a pet. A happy, healthy, well socialised animal is far less likely to grow up a problem. This doesn’t mean you have no responsibilities, but recognise that a pet that will be living with your children and other animals should have the best start possible’.
‘There are too many irresponsible breeders out there who are selling litters too early, or breeding from parents with temperament issues or health issues and are not providing social learning to the young puppies or kittens. These breeders don’t care whether your pet dies early, lives a pain filled life or hurts you. Don’t give them your money.’
To find an ethical breeder in your area and to understand more about what a responsible, ethical breeder should be doing, click onto the link below.
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The Financial Literacy Trust Fund Board is a public and private effort to support organizations that have displayed success advancing financial education skills and empowerment. Financial education skills are vital as residents navigate increasingly complex financial decisions and products. A 2012 study found that in Massachusetts, one in four of households are have little or no financial cushion to rely on if unemployment, medical crisis, another emergency leads to a loss of income. The enduring character and determination of Massachusetts residents will drive them through this difficult economy; however our continued support and strategic focus is needed among of those adversely impacted. The Board has identified its top priorities as preparing Massachusetts youth, veterans, and seniors with financial skills in order make informed financial decisions about saving, investing, borrowing, and financial protection.
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BP transfers lessons from jackups to deepwater operation using semisubmersible
By Tom Scoular, BP Global Wells Organization; Kevin Hathaway, Wael Essam, Karlin Costa, Scott Johnson, Andy Rawcliff and Andrew Phillips, BP; David Burton, consultant
Following successful implementation of managed pressure drilling (MPD) in high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) wells drilled from jackups in the Eastern Mediterranean, BP Egypt in 2009 embarked on a plan to incorporate MPD into the drilling of a deepwater exploration HPHT well in the West Nile Delta using a semisubmersible rig. The MPD techniques and experience developed on jackup HPHT drilling operations were successfully transferred across to the floating rig operation.
This article will discuss the rig modifications required to install the MPD equipment on the semi, including installation of the rotating head in the marine riser. It will also review the operations carried out utilizing MPD techniques and give examples of how the equipment was used in the drilling of the last three hole sections. Some key areas considered essential to the success of this technology on a floating rig in a demanding HPHT environment and the benefits associated with the MPD operation will be highlighted.
BP Egypt drilled its first HPHT well in the Nile Delta in 2003. Following this success, it has continued HPHT exploration and appraisal drilling in the area, covering both the shallower water of the East Nile Delta, where a jackup with 15,000-psi well control equipment was used, and the deeper water of the West Nile Delta, where semisubmersibles are required.
The deeper formations of the Nile Delta exhibit all the classic characteristics of HPHT drilling environment. Pore pressure-fracture gradient (PP-FG) window is typically less than 0.3 ppg equivalent mud weight (EMW) in the deep reservoir sections, and dealing with losses and gains has historically been a significant source of nonproductive time (NPT). In several cases, such NPT has led to a cessation of exploration wells drilled in the Delta prior to reaching target depth.
Further, the Nile Delta exhibits significant pore-pressure ramps and regressions. This, combined with a complex geological basin for pore pressure prediction, can result in a challenging downhole environment.
In 2007, BP used a rotating head and a simple manual choke on a jackup with 15,000-psi BOP to drill a deep HPHT exploration well. This enabled constant bottomhole pressure (BHP) control to be achieved and was considered successful. This well is believed to have been the deepest well drilled in the Mediterranean at the time, encountering pressures and temperatures in the upper range of the conventional HPHT envelope.
The use of MPD on this well and three subsequent HPHT wells drilled from the same jackup was successful. The drilling team steadily increased its understanding of the various techniques available and built up experience with the system.
In 2009, planning started on a deepwater exploration HPHT well called WMDW-7, located in the West Nile Delta, approximately 110 km offshore from Alexandria (Figure 2). The well was planned to penetrate the deeper Oligocene formations in the West Nile Delta for the first time, going approximately 1,200 meters deeper than any other wells previously drilled by BP (Figure 3). Based on the success achieved in the shallower-water exploration program, it was decided that MPD would be a key enabler in order to meet the objectives of WMDW-7. The team started to investigate the most suitable way of installing a rotating head on the semi with 15,000-psi BOP that would drill the well.
WMDW-7 was spud in 2010 in 1,107-meter water depth. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this was among the deepest-water applications of MPD from a semisubmersible at the time. BHP and temperature were predicted to be 17,000 psi and 170°C, respectively. The well reached its target objectives in March 2011. MPD was employed once the 13 5/8-in. casing was run and used continuously to drill 2,500 meters beyond this point to final well TD at 6,350 meters.
MPD in Nile Delta
The successful implementation of MPD in the HPHT jackup wells in the eastern side of the Mediterranean had established a track record for the technology that was to be transferred to the deepwater region to drill the first Oligocene penetration there, the WMDW-7 well.
This implementation of MPD is based on the concept of applying a surface pressure to the well using a pressurized closed-loop circulation system. The system consists of a rotating control device (RCD) mounted on the riser above the BOP, and in which a bearing assembly is housed during the critical hole sections, sealing the well around the drill pipe and directing the return flow from the well sideways across the RCD to a dedicated flow line. The flow then goes through a dedicated MPD choke manifold, where chokes are manipulated to apply the desired amount of surface backpressure (SBP) to the well, precisely controlling the BHP.
In periods of no flow or low flow, with the downhole pumps off, the loss of the effect of annular friction losses (AFL) on BHP is compensated for by either shutting the well in on the chokes or by using an auxiliary pump and a secondary surface flow system to generate flow across the chokes and create the desired backpressure.
Four HPHT wells were drilled with MPD using a 15,000-psi jackup rig in the Eastern Mediterranean. The constant BHP technique was specifically adapted to the drilling of exploration wells to:
• Enable use of connections and pump-off events to get a gas signature – a very useful pore-pressure detection method;
• Enhance well control awareness and flow-checking procedures; and
• Optimize tripping procedures.
Implementation on semi
Implementation of MPD on the semi created several challenges that needed to be addressed; these resulted from the floating drilling configuration, with the BOP on the seabed and a heave-compensated riser connecting the rig to the BOP through the water column.
Incorporating the RCD into the riser string
The RCD had to be installed in the riser string above the water line and needed to be in the fixed part of the riser; hence, the riser telescoping joint (TJ) would have to be above it. The spaceout was carefully considered in light of the rig’s operating air gap, rig motion characteristics and required heave compensation, required crossovers to connect the RCD to the riser components, and running considerations. The available space meant that the rig’s original TJ was not usable. Therefore, another smaller “mini” telescoping joint needed to be built, in addition to the RCD crossovers. All new components had to have the necessary tensile rating to run the riser and BOP and sufficient inner diameters to run all downhole tools, such as wellhead wear sleeves, BOP test plugs and the RCD bearing itself.
Maintaining suitable heave compensation for the rig
The rig motion characteristics and heave history in the region were reviewed to identify the required heave compensation above the RCD. This was then translated into the specification for the mini-TJ required stroke length.
Using the marine riser as a pressure containment vessel
The location of the pressurized closed-loop circulation system at the top of the riser meant that the marine riser would become part of the pressure containment system. The pressure ratings for every component of the marine riser string were studied and operating limits were identified in terms of maximum allowable mud weight versus maximum allowable surface pressure, and tensioner system capability. The operating limits were then used to define the operation of a pressure relief line in the MPD surface system that would protect the riser in case of overpressure.
Surface System layout
The placement of the MPD system components and the routing of the flow lines between the various system components was designed around the layout of the rig to optimize the working environment of the MPD operators, to apply minimum hydrostatic backpressure on the well due to vertical drilling fluid flow, and to minimize the impact that the MPD system would have on the operation of other aspects of the rig. A HAZOP of the system was carried out with a multidisciplinary team as part of the planning process before finalizing the layout of surface lines and equipment.
The interface points between the MPD system and the rig circulation system were chosen to minimize any additional hydrostatic head on the well. Control panels of the various system components were strategically placed in proximity to the worker stations, particularly for frequently accessed or critical controls. The system layout was reviewed and modified where necessary to avoid introducing new hazardous conditions, such as low overheads, trip hazards, impeding access to life-saving equipment or escape routes.
Walkways were built above certain parts of the system, and stairs and handrails were added to increase worker safety.
Marine Riser, Mini-TJ
Riser Configuration with RCD and mini-TJ
The riser string needed minor modifications to incorporate the RCD and mini-TJ. The diverter adaptor, going from the 21 ¼-in. API flange on the bottom of the diverter to the rig’s riser connector, was removed from the stackup to maximize space available to the mini-TJ and hence its stroke length.
One challenge encountered was that the tensioner ring, where the marine riser tensioner connects to the fixed part of the riser string in normal operating conditions, was part of the rig’s TJ. The rig’s TJ was no longer required for heave compensation due to the spaceout considerations, but nonetheless it was required for the connection to the tensioner system. The solution proposed was to keep the rig’s TJ in the riser string but remove the locking system, packer housing and inner barrel.
The remaining joint would have the tensioner ring on it, and the RCD would be installed at its top. To connect the RCD to the outer barrel, a special crossover was built, and a 2,000-psi flat washer-type elastomer seal was designed to be installed in this particular connection to maintain pressure integrity below the RCD. The mini-TJ was to be installed directly above the RCD, with the top of the inner barrel mating with the bottom of the rig’s diverter (Figure 1).
Design and Fabrication
A mini-TJ was designed and built for the well. A statement of requirements (SOR) was prepared for the mini-TJ identifying its specifications in line with the operating requirements. A minimum stroke length was identified based on available space and historical heave data. Top and bottom connections were specified to match the upper flex joint and the top flange of the RCD, taking into consideration the tensile ratings required.
The tensile rating for the mini-TJ and all ancillary components was established based on the expected weight of the BOP and riser in this water depth with a suitable safety factor, for both the extended and collapsed positions of the TJ. The tensile rating drove the specification of the TJ body material, the specification of the welds and fasteners, and the design of the locking system. A manual (pin) locking system was chosen to maximize the mini-TJ’s available stroke. The inner diameter was chosen to allow the running of all anticipated large-diameter downhole tools up to the 19.6-in. RCD bearing. A compact dual packer housing to seal the space between the inner and outer barrels was designed to maintain the required seal while minimizing impact on the available stroke length.
Compliance with the relevant API Specification 16F (Marine Drilling Riser Equipment) and Recommended Practice 16Q (Design, Selection, Operation and Maintenance of Marine Drilling Riser Systems) was required for all aspects of the design and manufacturing process, including an extensive factory acceptance testing program that was undertaken at the manufacturer’s facility with a specially built test unit.
Rig deployment, Training
Several onshore and offshore training sessions were held with key project personnel, including offshore drilling contractor personnel and service company crews, to familiarize them with the MPD system and application. After the system was rigged up offshore, walk-throughs of the system were carried out with all of the rig’s drilling and subsea crews, mud engineers, mudloggers and deck crews. The walk-throughs were intended to familiarize all personnel with this additional system installed on the rig and make them aware of its use and the associated changes it introduces to the rig layout.
The crew were also introduced to the various flow paths and system controls so they understood how drilling fluids would be handled and where the return flow from the well will be directed in each MPD operating mode. Additional data streams from MPD system sensors were transmitted to the mudlogger screens around the rig, including to the driller. The crew was also trained on the meaning of these additional parameters, their relevance to the operation and what changes in their values would indicate to the operators.
Extensive time was spent in cased hole from the 13 5/8-in. casing forward, conducting “fingerprinting” tests to familiarize the team with the specifics of the MPD operation. These tests included training the choke operator and driller on how to make controlled bottomhole pressure connections, how to trip the drill pipe in and out of the well with the application of surface pressure to reduce swab and surge effects, and how to handle suspected gas returns through the MPD system. Flow rates were measured using a high-accuracy Coriolis flow meter that allowed precise comparison of flow-in and flow-out to identify losses or gains.
Ballooning effects were significantly reduced as the near constant bottomhole pressure profile prevented formation stress cycling and the resulting initiation of loss/gain cycles with the fluctuation of bottomhole pressure. This translated into more efficient drilling where the frequency of required flowchecks to monitor flowback from the well was minimized.
When the RCD bearing was installed, the drillers were instructed to monitor for any pressure buildup (PBU) with the choke closed, instead of the conventional technique of conducting a visual flowcheck. This technique minimized the volume of any influx into the well and reduced the potential impact of any associated well control circulations required. These “PBU flowchecks” were implemented with greater confidence about the results compared with conventional flowchecks.
When necessary, weighted pills were circulated into the well to provide additional hydrostatic head prior to removing the RCD bearing. These pills were either placed deep in the well via the drill string prior to pulling out of hole or placed into the marine riser via the riser boost line. The effect of temperature on the mud density over time was modeled prior to each trip off bottom to maintain the required hydrostatic head when pipe was tripped or casing was run. Any unplanned increase in mud density could lead to losses due to the very small margin between fracture gradient and pore pressure in the well.
Well control awareness and the impact that MPD may have on established procedures was extensively discussed in training sessions and on a daily basis onboard. The rig BOP remained the primary means of securing the well in the event that any potential influx was suspected. Responsibility for closing in the well remained with the driller and was separate from all aspects of the MPD operation. The presence of the Coriolis flow meter enhanced the kick detection equipment onboard the rig and was an additional benefit obtained from the MPD operation.
MPD equipment was installed and operated on the semisubmersible rig. Techniques and procedures were transferred over to the operation from an earlier jackup campaign and adapted to meet the special needs of deepwater. Implementation of constant BHP enabled the deeper sections of the well to be drilled with minimal problems otherwise experienced when drilling in the narrow PP-FG environment of the Nile Delta. The well was drilled successfully to the Oligocene targets, and all data acquisition objectives were achieved.
This article is based on SPE/IADC 156912, “Utilizing MPD to Drill HPHT Deepwater Exploration Well,” presented at the SPE/IADC Managed Pressure Drilling and Underbalanced Operations Conference, 20-21 March 2012, Milan, Italy.
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Australian Bureau of Statistics
6227.0 - Education and Work, Australia, May 1999
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 10/12/1999
|Page tools: Print Page Print All RSS Search this Product|
Qualified people less likely to be unemployed
According to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today, the unemployment rate for people with post-school qualifications is less than half the rate for those without (4.6% and 9.6% respectively). Labour force participation rates also remained significantly higher for people with such qualifications, 84.3% compared to 68.4% for those with no qualifications.
Some 18% (2,257,200) of Australians aged between 15-64 were undertaking some form of educational study in May 1999, an increase of 114,000 students compared to May 1998. Over 90% of these students were studying for a recognised educational qualification.
On the whole there were approximately equal numbers of male and female school students, 338,800 and 340,600 respectively. However females outnumbered males when it came to tertiary courses (824,500 compared to 753,300)
Among the 1.6 million tertiary students in May 1999, 42% (655,000) already had some form of post-school qualification. Almost half of all tertiary students were aged 25 to 64.
There were 5.45 million persons with post-school qualifications in May 1999, 280,000 more than in May 1998. More than 2.5 million had vocational qualifications, such as a trade, and a further 1.9 million had a Bachelor degree or higher qualification. The remaining 1 million had Undergraduate or Associate diplomas.
It is estimated that of the 192,800 people who completed Year 12 schooling in 1998, 72% were attending tertiary education in May 1999.
There were 132,200 persons in apprenticeships in May 1999, an increase of 7,700 since 1998. Of these apprentices 56% were between 15 and 19 years of age.
Further details can be found in Transition from Education to Work, Australia, May 1999 (cat. no. 6227.0) available from ABS Bookshops in all capital cities. A summary of findings can be found on this site. The ABS encourages media organisations with online news services to link to the summaries. Please phone us if you need help to do this.
If you wish to purchase a copy of this publication telephone 02 6252 5249.
These documents will be presented in a new window.
This page last updated 8 December 2006
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I have noticed two usages which, in England, seem familiar only to journalists. One was in a headline in the Mail today: "This port ain't big enough for the both of us". I have never heard "the both" uttered in BrE. The other is "You and me both".Starting with the both: I think of the AmE expression as 'this town ain't big enough for the two of us', and indeed two outnumbers both by about 17:4 in the context [adjective] enough for the ___ of [pronoun] in the Corpus of Contemporary AmE (COCA) (and there's exactly one of these things in British National Corpus [BNC], and it has two too).
The this town... line is usually associated with western films (a variation on it was said by a character named Duke in Bandits of the Badlands (1945)). But there are earlier occurrences (the oldest ones with two), and the earliest one I've found is in Anthony Trollope's The Vicar of Bullhampton (1870)--not a western, unless you count Wiltshire as 'the West' (and apparently some people do consider it to be part of the West Country). There, the eponymous character says: "Heytesbury isn't big enough for the two of us". There's also a 1903 "Ostrokov is not big enough to hold the two of us, and that consequently, while I am vicar here, you shall never be rabbi." in the American magazine The Living Age (though the quoted text clearly not set in America, and I don't know who the author is). So, today's stereotype-busting lesson: it's men of the cloth who deserve the reputation for saying such things, not cowboys or sheriffs.
Comparing just the both of [pronoun] (the both of us, the both of you, the both of them, plus some alternative forms of those pronouns) in the BNC and COCA is kind of interesting. That is, it had better be interesting because I just spent too much of my Friday night looking at it. (In parentheses are the hits when the is excluded. They're less reliable, since they include contexts with possessive pronouns.)
|AmE (COCA)||10.8 (97)||5.6 (141)|
|BrE (BNC)||12 (21)||1.1(123)|
Since the both of occurs more in speech than in writing, it looks as though it's considered to be somewhat informal in both dialects, but more so in BrE. In BrE spoken, the the version is 57% of the total both of [pronoun] hits, versus AmE's 11%. The other way to use both with a pronoun would be [pronoun] both. There, we find 311 per 10m in BNC and 296 per 10m in COCA. This looks pretty similar. (I did find some strange codings in COCA--though not enough to make the figures very different. But since when is coffee a personal pronoun?)
Meanwhile, the two of [pronoun] is about twice as frequent in COCA than in the BNC. I haven't done further analysis of this because I can't seem to weed out the possessive pronouns (none occurred in the both data), but I can look more specifically at particular instantiations of this construction: the two of us and the two of you, and compare it to the equivalent [pronoun] two constructions. (Though, it must be said, this method can't sort out things like I want to give you two puppies. But we'll just have to assume that this kind of "noise" is constant across the dialects. It might not be.)
Instances per 10 million words
|dialect||the two |
| we two +|
That COCA has 20% spoken data and BNC only 10% may go some way toward(s) explaining the differences, since you might need to specify the number of referents of a pronoun more often in a speech context. But I don't think that's the whole story--after all, the numbers have the two of you occurring about three times more often in AmE and just under half of the AmE instances are spoken. So, the two of [pronoun], like the both of [pronoun], seems more common in AmE than BrE, and BrE doesn't seem to be making up for it by using many more [pronoun] two or [pronoun] both. So, do Americans just specify numbers of pronoun referents more often than BrE speakers/writers do? Or have I left out another means of sticking a number "on" a pronoun? Probably we need a much more thorough analysis with more comparable corpora (the BNC is 20 years old) before we can tell.
Moving on to Jeremy's second item, [pronoun] and [pronoun] both is much more common in AmE (40 per million words) than BrE (0.26 pmw)--although AmE didn't invent it. The OED says:
Both may follow, instead of preceding (as in A. 1), the two words or phrases connected by and; now only in the case of two ns. (two pronouns, or n. and pronoun) subjects of the same plural verb, but formerly (and still dialectally) in all other cases. In this use both may often be replaced by too or also.They include the example:
1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer (1577) P vij, It shalbe good for him and me both.I wrote this whole entry before remembering to look at John Algeo's British or American English? I approached it with contradictory wishes: (1) If he discusses all this, I'll have wasted hours of my Friday night. I hope he hasn't discussed it. (2) My corpus evidence is pretty shaky. I hope he discusses it. I got wish (1). Algeo does mention, however, that AmE prefers both of these [plural noun] whereas BrE prefers both those [plural noun]. Oddly, though, this preference does not extend to both (of) those, where both varieties prefer the of version.
And before I go:
Today (wait! it's not today anymore! help!) was my third Twitterversary. If you're not on Twitter, you probably have a rich and interesting life. But you're not on Twitter. And oh how much I've gained from Twitter! Forget LinkedIn--this is the way to network. While I have to be very careful about not following too many accounts or trying to read everything that's posted (I could easily make it my full-time job), I learn so so much through it every day. I was interviewed for a film about Twitter this week, and I kept coming back to a similar theme: Twitter helps me appreciate how complex the world is--from the macro level of international affairs to the micro level of people's daily triumphs and struggles. So, hurray for Twitter! And hurray for my followers there, who enrich my understanding of national varieties of English every day. If you'd like to meet me there, you can find me here.
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Ordering a taco or a hamburger from a truck parked at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus or on Hertel Avenue might seem like a simple transaction.
But before that truck can sell anything, there are rules to follow and fees to be paid.
Owners of nine food trucks are seeking relief from the city’s $1,000 annual permit fee, but the fee will likely stay the same for first-time truck owners, said North Council Member Joseph Golombek, who has taken up the issue in the Common Council.
The Council is considering reducing the permit fee to approximately $750 for trucks that have already paid the $1,000 fee once under terms of an extension to the ordinance governing food trucks, which ends April 1. But truck owners are asking that the initial fee be lowered to $300 to $400 and that renewal fees not exceed $250. In exchange, they are not asking for changes to their operating rules.
“Buffalo should not be accruing profits to city coffers by assessing onerous fees upon the backs of small independent start-up businesses,” wrote Mitchell M. Stenger, a lawyer representing the Western New York Food Truck Association, in a letter to Golombek.
Truck owners are seeking changes for several reasons, one being that suburban communities are establishing their own fees and rules and will likely look at what Buffalo has done, Stenger said.
Debate about the trucks was heated leading up to passage of the original ordinance by the Council in January 2012. Golombek is hesitant to make many changes because of the competing interests surrounding the issue, including those of established restaurants, he said.
“Both sides will not be thrilled with this, but neither side will be unhappy with this either,” he said.
The debate could reach Council chambers Tuesday, depending on how far negotiations progress. Stenger’s letter to Golombek is part of the agenda for the Legislation Committee, which meets at 2 p.m. It’s possible the Council could approve new terms before the ordinance ends on April 1, Golombek said.
The trucks are also asking that if a mobile food vending business owns more than one truck, that the business is not charged more than $500 per year.
It is the city’s intention, however, to assess each truck a permit fee, meaning a business that wants a permit for two new trucks would have to pay $2,000, Golombek said.
The coalition is not asking for changes to the rule that prohibits them from being within 100 feet of an open kitchen, though Stenger noted that some cities have no such restrictions.
The Council is also considering a change to allow trucks into Canalside, though they would not be permitted there during special events, and the 100-foot rule would still apply.
Canalside is now under the oversight of Buffalo Place, which has different vending rules, and charges the trucks typically more than $1,000 in additional fees to operate at assigned locations.
Truck owners are also seeking to negotiate with Buffalo Place for better terms, as current fees and rules prohibit many trucks from operating downtown, Stenger said.
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PARIS.- Artists fascinated by optical illusions and keen to explore the limits of painting have long indulged in visual puzzles and changing perspectives. Playing on the ambiguity of double images, which change with the observers point of view, many painters have covered their tracks and introduced several meanings, often hidden, in images that can be read in multiple ways. They did so for fun, but also to give their works moral or symbolic meaning, or even religious, political or sexual connotations. Apart from Arcimboldos famous composite images or reversible portraits, and the inventions of Dali, the unchallenged grand master of ambiguous imagery, double images have often been dismissed as fortuitous creations, attributed to chance rather than conscious acts and deliberate decisions on the artists part. That is why the curators of this exhibition have focused exclusively on double images that have been consciously inserted and claimed by their creators. As the artists are not there to testify, their choice is based on circumstantial historical proof or presumptions. They aim to assemble 250 works, after a rigorous selection process. Surprising echoes and similarities between them will be accentuated by a circuit divided into major themes such as composite images, hidden and reversible images, anthropomorphic landscapes, anamorphoses and perspective illusions, erotic ambiguities and even Rorschachs ink blot tests.
A special place is given to Dalí, past master in the art of formulating different scenarios, both enigmatic and unpredictable, within the same image. Incidentally, it was under the name of one of Dalis famous canvases, The Endless Enigma (1938) that a first version of the exhibition was presented in 2003 at the Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf.
For Paris, the concept is the same, but the content of the exhibition has been entirely redesigned and enriched; works from different cultural spheres and periods are now grouped around the canvases of the Catalan master. Their subjects are as much human figuration, illustrated by Arcimboldos Seasons, as landscapes, which go as far as Max Ernst, or architecture, introduced by Eschers impossible perspectives.
Ambiguous images or visual jokes are often found in contemporary art. They are seldom identified because they are not an end in themselves. They do not arise from an ideology but on the contrary are stratagems used in divergent and dissimilar works. The Swiss Markus Raetzs remarkably inventive volumes lead us into really disturbing double readings of sculpture whereas Arcimboldo and Dalí stayed within the bounds of painting.
Ranging from Michelangelo to Markus Raetz, via Persian miniatures or the popular erotic postcards of the 1900s, the exhibition traces the rich, strange panorama of a practice that is as weird as it is widespread. It focuses our attention on the diversity of the paths taken by artists who played with visual perception, and emphasises the complexity and permanence of this principle of multiple creation.
Double images have long been relegated to a secondary role or brushed off as anecdotal. This exhibition takes the opposing view and concentrates precisely on the fringe images, hidden pictures and multiple meanings which lurk in the greatest works of art. It is a real event, a unique opportunity to take a second look at the works of many artists and discover their unexpected underside.
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University of Minnesota Scientists Develop New Drug to Target and Destroy Tumor Cells
A new drug created at the University of Minnesota may hold the answer to ... pancreatic cancer, according to results published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The study is based on successful outcomes in a mouse model -- results researchers (may) carry over to human patients when the drug potentially begins human trials in 2013.
The drug, Minnelide, is a type of injectable chemotherapy designed to target tumor cells. The drug works by inhibiting a heat shock protein, HSP 70, which has been proven to aid the growth of tumor cells. By stopping HSP 70 from working, Minnelide disperses the cells integral to the tumor's growth and the cancer disintegrates.
Among the research institutions NCI funds across the United States, it currently designates 67 as Cancer Centers. Largely based in research universities, these facilities are home to many of the NCI-supported scientists who conduct a wide range of intense, laboratory research into cancer’s origins and development. The Cancer Centers Program also focuses on trans-disciplinary research, including population science and clinical research. The centers’ research results are often at the forefront of studies in the cancer field.
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Faster response time to hospital calls
Patients can anticipate a faster response time from the Cornwall Regional and Savanna-la-mar hospitals, thanks to the deployment of a Multi-Patient Transfer Unit to both facilities. Funded through the National Health Fund (NHF), the two units were presented on Thursday, May 10, by George Duncan, who has been returned as Board Chairman of the Western Regional Health Authority.
The Savanna-la-mar unit was accepted by Pansy Brown (5th left), Parish Manager for Westmoreland Public Health Services, while Senior Administrator Dawn Harvey accepted the unit for CRH.
The units are not equipped as regular ambulances and are more geared towards responding to less serious emergencies, thereby releasing the other ambulances to respond to more critical cases.
“The use of these vehicles would be more to transfer patients for diagnostic tests as they will serve to increase our capacity to respond to patients in need in a timely manner,” said Duncan. “The ambulance is equipped to take people who are really sick to the hospital while this transport vehicle is really to take people who may be sick but not that sick,” he added.
He explained that Savanna-la-mar would benefit greatly from this donation as the area lacks adequate service. “We learnt that some of the ambulances were in the garage for well over three months while the needs on the ground were there. The Ministry of Health decided to help us out. We had already taken some decisions to alleviate the situation, chief among which was to relocate an ambulance from Falmouth to Savanna-La-Mar,” Duncan revealed.
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Puromycin - shRNA - stable cell line for knock down
Posted 05 October 2012 - 05:50 AM
I have this sh RNA construct against p21 which has puro resistance. After transfection and pressure.. very few cells.. less than 100 only would have survived.. and they started dividing rapidly and now with the same amount of puro.. there is no cell death. But when I isolated mRNA and made cDNA and did a real time for p21.. the transcript is still there. Should I design different sets of real time primers and check ?
If the stable selection did not work then why the cells are not dying now ? Can cell lines develop puro resistance by any chance ?
Posted 05 October 2012 - 01:36 PM
Did you check whether you can find the shRNA sequence or some other sequence on the plasmid in the colonies?
Is the construct inducible?
Did you check for p21 protein?
Posted 05 October 2012 - 07:32 PM
I did not check at protein level coz at RNA level itself i got p21 PCR product..
If not transfected / construct is bad.. how are these cells surviving with puromycin pressure?
shRNA is in pLKO.1 vector !
Posted 05 October 2012 - 11:56 PM
Occasionally inserted plasmids get methylated as the inserts are different in seqence structure to normal DNA patterns, with just the resistance gene being unmethylated. I don't know how this will work for shRNA constructs thouh.
Posted 06 October 2012 - 04:57 AM
Thats why i was wondering how then these cells survived if they dont have the plasmid inside !
Thanks anyways.. will check up more about the shRNA transfection/functionality !
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Dragon Readies for Operational Delivery Flight
SpaceX is set to launch the first of a dozen operational missions for NASA to deliver more than 1,000 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station on Oct. 7. Launch time is 8:35 p.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, just a few miles south of the space shuttle launch pads. The spacecraft will be joined to the station three days later.
The flight, known as CRS-1, will launch and perform the same rendezvous with the station as a previous SpaceX craft.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule will ride into space on the strength of the company's Falcon 9 rocket and the booster's nine first stage kerosene- and oxygen-powered Merlin engines. The Falcon 9's second stage uses a single Merlin engine to boost the Dragon into its final orbit.
Eleven minutes after launch, when the Dragon capsule is safely in orbit, a pair of solar arrays will deploy from the sides of the Dragon and controllers on Earth will begin testing rendezvous sensors.
The mission is similar to the demonstration flight in May when a Dragon was grappled by the station's robotic arm to complete the first rendezvous and berthing by a private spacecraft at the space station.
The SpaceX craft will spend about three weeks connected to the station then it will be released to return to Earth.
A major difference for this mission is that the Dragon will be filled with an amount of cargo suitable for an operational mission. The prior flight carried just enough items to prove the capsule would do its job as a cargo hauler. This time, the manifest will include a freezer for the station's scientific samples, a powered middeck locker with an experiment inside along with a variety of materials for the astronauts living and working on the space station.
The supply flight is part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract, which is paying SpaceX for 12 cargo runs to the orbiting laboratory. The station also is serviced by Russian Progress cargo capsules, European-made and launched Automated Transfer Vehicles, or ATVs, and Japanese-produced H-II Transfer Vehicles, or HTVs. All the cargo ships operate without astronauts or crew members aboard.
Once the spacecraft arrive at the station, the astronauts and cosmonauts onboard unload them and fill them with used materials or unneeded equipment before releasing them.
Here, SpaceX again does something unique. The Dragons are built with heat shields to survive a plunge through the atmosphere and splashdown safely in the ocean under billowing parachutes. The other cargo craft do not carry heat shields, so they just burn up in the atmosphere.
On its return trip, the Dragon capsule will carry more than a ton of scientific samples collected during space station research, along with the freezer the samples have been stored in. Astronauts also will load used station hardware into the capsule for return to Earth where engineers can get a firsthand look at it.
A second kind of American cargo craft is also being developed. The Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket are due to make a demonstration flight later this year.
NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center
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Since 1984, the McGovern Lecture Series has been made possible through the generosity of internationally-regarded pediatric allergist, Dr. John P. McGovern. Dr. McGovern’s friendship with our department’s founder, Dr. Warren Schaller, led to a continuing legacy of financial support to us over the years. Past recipients of this honor have included:
Without question, this year’s award recipient is in extraordinary company…and he belongs there. Physiology and Health Science is honored to present the 2011 McGovern Award to Kevin Jennings.
Kevin Jennings is the chief executive officer of Be the Change, a nonprofit that creates national issue-based campaigns on pressing problems in American society such as economic opportunity and public service. From 2009–2011, Jennings served as assistant deputy secretary of education, heading the office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. Jennings led the Obama administration’s anti-bullying initiative, which culminated in March 2011 with the White House conference on Bullying Prevention keynoted by President Obama. Jennings began his career as a high school history teacher. He served as the faculty advisor to the nation’s first Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at Concord (Mass.) Academy. In 1990, he founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a national education organization working to make schools safe for all students regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. He holds a BA from Harvard, an MA from Columbia, and an MBA from New York University. He has authored six books, with his latest being Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son: A Memoir.
The lecture entitled Bullying: an Education and Health Crisis was attended by over 300 people.
If you missed it, it is available to be viewed as a video online, or you may download the PowerPoint presentation.
It will be available on DVD for use in Ball State University classrooms. If you need a copy, please contact Michelle Jones.
Copyright © 2013 Ball State University 2000 W. University Ave. Muncie, IN 47306
800-382-8540 and 765-289-1241
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At Christmas a few years ago I received an e-mail from a priest who assumed, by virtue of my surname, that I was Maltese and, hence, Roman Catholic.
Almost all Maltese are.
Father Julian Cassar of St. Stanislaus Church in Pleasant Valley, N.Y., was conducting a study for the Maltese government on the religious experiences of immigrants and/or their descendants. “What difficulties do you find in practicing the Catholic faith here in the U.S.?” he asked.
His question revived painful memories. I had long since left the Roman Catholic Church, which I had embraced, studying at St. Peter’s College, a Jesuit institution in Jersey City, N.J., in the hope one day of joining the order.
Like Martin Luther, ordained an Augustinian monk, I had been passionate about my faith. Also like Luther, I would harbor doubts over a theological question that preceded the 95 Theses and would define our Reformation heritage.
Did God sit in judgment over sinners lacking adequate faith, as the first chapter of Romans might indicate?
“As it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:17-18).
Like Luther, I had struggled with the writings of Paul, author of Romans and a patron saint of Malta, shipwrecked there (Acts 28:1-10).
Did one have to “fight for faith” to earn salvation? If so, can one lose the fight? Can faith founder like a ship?
I lost my “fight” upon witnessing an incident involving my mother outside our Roman Catholic parish. The memory is still vivid. My mother and I approached the monsignor outside the rectory, where we were headed, his black-and-purple raiment reflecting in the evening sun. My mother, in tears, called to him and asked for absolution—the remission of sin or punishment due to sin. The word “remission” was symbolic. We were looking for a priest that day because my mother had just learned my father had cancer and would die soon.
Monsignor told her to return Friday, when he regularly heard confession, whereupon she fell to her knees and begged for absolution.
I described the effect on me in my e-mail to Father Julian, informing him that “I am now a Lutheran, a faith that … better understands the concept of grace.”
However, I didn’t immediately join the ELCA. For a decade, I had no official church affiliation—which suited me well enough in my work as a journalist and later as a journalism professor at a state university.
Inwardly, however, I was empty.
One day I was preparing a lecture on the importance of the printing press and remembered Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. Had he been born a century earlier, Luther, I theorized, would not have had access to books to challenge the authority of the church. Moreover, because of movable type, his theses could be posted on a thousand doors. The authorities could still silence the messenger, by excommunication or worse, but not the message.
In my research I came across this 1545 autobiographical fragment:
© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
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Upper Fox River/Flint Creek Watershed 7-1 March 2010
7.0 TMDL Approach and Next Stages
This chapter discusses the methodology that may be used for the development of TMDLs for the Upper Fox
River/Flint Creek watershed. In addition to calculating pollutant loads, a site specific implementation plan will
be developed for each TMDL. The implementation plan will provide geographically specific recommendations
that will reduce pollutant loads to impaired waters. While a detailed watershed modeling approach can be
advantageous, a simpler approach is often able to efficiently meet the requirements of a TMDL and yet still
support a TMDL-guided and site-specific implementation plan. The final selection of a methodology will be
determined with consultation with the Illinois EPA based on following factors:
• Fundamental requirements of a defensible and approvable TMDL
• Data availability
• Fund availability
• Public acceptance
• Complexity of water body
A simpler approach shall be used as long as it adequately supports the development of a defensible TMDL. If
it is deemed that this approach will not suffice, a more sophisticated modeling approach will be recommended
for analysis to help better establish a scientific link between the pollutant sources and the water quality
indicators for the attainment of designated uses. Methodology for estimating daily loads will depend on
available data as well as the selected analysis.
7.1 Recommended Modeling Approach for Dissolved Oxygen and pH
Three segments within the Upper Fox River/Flint Creek watershed are targeted for DO TMDL development.
These segments include two Fox River segments and Woodland Lake. Excessive nutrients often result in
algal blooms and extensive rooted plant growths which can deplete oxygen and increase pH. The two main
ways oxygen depletion occurs related to plant growth, both planktonic and rooted, include decomposition and
respiration. Decomposition is the process of breaking down matter. During this process, aerobic bacteria
utilize oxygen to convert organic matter into energy and release carbon dioxide. If the rate of decomposition is
great enough, this process can result in deleterious oxygen depletion. Oxygen is also used during plant
respiration for the conversion of stored sugars into energy. Excessive plant respiration can result in oxygen
depletion. DO concentrations in lakes and ponds are typically at their lowest levels just before dawn after an
evening of respiration without oxygen generation by photosynthesis.
Woodland Lake experienced excessive rooted plant densities historically, but recently the lake experiences
severe algal blooms, either of these conditions can result in oxygen depletion. Given that Woodland Lake
contains excessive TP concentrations which are likely related to low DO, a phosphorus TMDL should be
prepared using available data (see discussion on TP approach). Additional sampling is not required in order to
proceed with this TMDL.
Sources of the lack of DO and elevated pH in the Fox River segments DT-22 and DT-23 have been attributed
to urban runoff, storm sewers, other recreational pollutant source and unknown causes. In addition, flow and
water level manipulation at the Pistakee Lake dam located upstream of DT-23 and the McHenry dam located
upstream of segment DT-22 may be a source for low DO and elevated pH in these segments. Other sources
may include eutrophication, as mentioned above, and delete deleterious inputs.
For the Fox River segments, QUAL2K, a spreadsheet model that is based on the fundamental Streeter-Phelps
DO sag equation, is recommended for DO TMDL development. QUAL2K is a one-dimensional, steady-state
model that can accommodate point and non-point source loading and is capable of modeling DO and pH in
Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.
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Quality audits are often very focused in their performance and in the distribution of the findings. Quality assurance, operations,
and procurement departments review the results. Realistically, that information never leaves the protection of operations
and rarely reaches the executive level — the very people who are on the liability firing line.
Printout and electronic record differences. As we find more processes that can be linked to electronically generated records and documentation, auditors will encounter
new challenges. Electronic data are intangible, a series of magnetic or optical–magnetic impressions on durable media that
require machine transposition to become readable by humans. And auditors are human, not cyborgs. Fingers, although tactile
and soft-wired to a central neural ganglion, cannot plug into a machine and upload data to the brain. The logical alternative
is to print hard copies and verify data points between the database and the source document. But that is not truly auditing
the electronic record. A printout of an electronic record is not the actual electronic record. An electronic record has search and sort capabilities, can have algorithms, and contains metadata
about the users' changes and the time and date those changes were made. These metadata are not present in the printout.
That difference is particularly problematic in audits of development processes in which many participants generate quantities
of data. The complexities associated with product development and design control with the increasing reliance on computer-generated
drawings, spreadsheets, reports, and test data exacerbate the difficulties facing auditors when they wade through an organization's
knowledge architecture, attempting to verify data integrity.
An Audit SolutionSo how can you audit electronic data? It cannot be seen; it cannot be touched; and special devices are needed to interpret
it. Very simply, you do not: You do not audit electronic data. You must audit the process and ensure that all the supporting systems are properly validated so that they generate verifiable,
FDA's acceptance of data from electronic records for decision-making depends on the agency's ability to verify the quality
and integrity of that data during on-site inspections and audits. To be acceptable, the data should meet certain fundamental
elements of quality whether collected and recorded electronically or on paper. Data should be attributable, original, accurate,
contemporaneous, and legible. Electronic data are generated using computers and computer systems. FDA has long required that
all computer systems be properly validated, and the agency intends to apply the same validation concepts and standards to
electronic records and signature systems as it does to computer systems.
FDA defines computer validation as providing documented evidence and assurance that computer systems that "touch" the process
perform in a reliable and repeatable manner. That requires written proof that the computer system is suitable for use, is
reliable and will continue to be so, functions as it purports to do in the system’s documentation, is secured and protected
from unauthorized access, is maintained in a controlled manner, and is protected against uncontrolled change. In manufacturing,
"Failure to comply . . . shall render the drug adulterated . . . and such drug, as well as the person who is responsible for
the failure to comply, will be subject to regulatory action" (4).
The audit process, therefore, is a systems audit like any other system audit. The exception is that this audit requires specialized
information technology (IT) and technical skills to evaluate the quality and the fiduciary and security requirements of the
information system. Those skills are in addition to the audit skills mentioned and required for other system audits. The "ERES
Checklist" box lists typical questions and tasks involved in the data system audit.
Dynamic Knowledge ArchitectureOrganizations must establish a knowledge architecture that acknowledges changing needs, meets compliance requirements, and
engenders a new paradigm using and managing the complex information highway. The task before management is to effectively
bridge the gap between the objectives and values expressed by upper management and the processes and behavior exercised at
lower levels into a coherent compliance risk management strategy.
A successful effort must ensure protection of the organization and its personnel from regulatory sanctions. You cannot inspect quality into a product, and you cannot audit integrity into data. You need to build in quality and integrity at the design stage — and that design process can be audited
and evaluated to ensure that risk exposure is appropriate and cost-effective.
Organizations and people do not like surprises. Just as there are financial audits to reduce business risks, there need to
be audits to reduce electronic and computer risks. FDA has the authority and the power to maintain the public welfare through
its inspection program. Recently, the agency exercised its power and authority by assessing multimillion dollar fines and
withholding new product approvals until manufacturing and validation problems with products already on the market were resolved.
Regulatory issues, therefore, have been escalated to business financial issues.
Although the 21 CFR Part 11 regulation does not appear on the surface to be that challenging, and many organizations have
adopted a "wait and see" philosophy, it is a major event worthy of action to avoid unnecessary risk exposure. This is because
any violation of 21 CFR Part 11 equates to a violation of FDA predicate GMP, GLP, or GCP regulations. Therefore organizations
must think about new ways of acting, or unanticipated exposure could materialize.
References(1) Code of Federal Regulations: Food and Drugs, Title 21, Part 11, "Electronic Records; Electronic Signatures" (U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC, July 1999). Also Federal Register 62(54), 13429–13466.
(2) Office of Regulatory Affairs, "ORA Field Management Directive 146: Electronic Records: Electronic Signature Certification,"
Inspection References: Field Management Directives (FDA, Rockville, MD, 20 August 1997).
(3) Code of Federal Regulations: Food and Drugs, Title 21, Section 210.1, "Current Good Manufacturing Practice for the Manufacture,
Processing, Packing, or Holding of Drugs," (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, June 1997).
(4)Code of Federal Regulations: Food and Drugs, Title 21, Section 820, "Quality System Regulation" (U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, DC, revised April 2001).
For Further ReadingJ.F. Noferi and D.E. Worden, "Auditing Electronic Data in Clinical Research," Applied Clinical Trials 10(5), 58–64 (2001).
J.F. Noferi and D E. Worden, "Where Has Quality Gone?" Risk Management 48(5), 35–38 (2001). BPI
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Nanotechnology Center Makes Flexible Solar Cell Breakthrough
At a time when oil prices are reaching record highs and people are bracing for winter heating bills, researchers at Wake Forest University's Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials have made significant strides in improving the efficiency of organic or flexible solar cells.
Traditional silicon solar panels are heavy and bulky and convert about 20 percent of the light that hits them to useful electrical power. For years, researchers have worked to create flexible, or "conformal," organic solar cells that can be wrapped around surfaces, rolled up or even painted onto structures, but the best scientists have been able to do is about 3 percent efficiency, until now.
Researchers at Wake Forest, with the help of researchers at New Mexico State University, have achieved an efficiency rate for organic solar cells of almost 6 percent. In order to be considered a viable technology, the solar cells must be able to convert about 10 percent of the energy in sunlight to electricity. Wake Forest researchers hope to reach 10 percent by October 2006, said David Carroll, director of the nanotechnology center at Wake Forest.
"The consumer market would be really open to having these conformal systems if you could, for instance, roll them up and put them away," said Carroll, who is also an associate professor in Wake Forest's physics department. "Imagine a group of hikers with a tent that when you unrolled the tent and put it up, it could generate its own power. Imagine if the paint on your car that is getting hot in the sun was instead converting part of that heat to recharge your battery."
Carroll said flexible, organic solar cells also offer several possibilities for military use.
"The military would obviously want something like that because you could only put maybe tens of those big solar panels on a transport, but you could put hundreds of ultra-thin flexible ones on a transport and supply half the army," he said.
Most experts have estimated that flexible, solar cell technology for consumers was about a decade away, but Carroll said the new breakthrough at Wake Forest and NMSU means that consumers could be using this technology in the next five years.
Using a set of polymer coatings, researchers at Wake Forest constructed a nanophase within the polymer called a "mesostructure." The "mesostructure" changes the properties of the plastic and makes it better for collecting light. The researchers also removed the current from the polymer coating, Carroll said.
A test system at Wake Forest's nanotechnology center was used to simulate the sun, Carroll said, and the simulated spectrum was precisely measured and shot onto the organic solar cell, which appeared as a thin coat of paint. Devices at the center have registered almost 6 percent efficiency.
This breakthrough was announced in October at the Santa Fe Workshop on Nanoengineered Materials and Macro-Molecular Technologies, which was sponsored by Wake Forest's nanotechnology center.
Wake Forest University
Subscribe To TerraDaily Express
Delaware To Lead Program To Develop Very High Efficiency Solar Cell
Newark DL (SPX) Nov 07, 2005
A broad consortium led by the University of Delaware could receive nearly $53 million in funding - with the bulk of the money coming from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) - to more than double the efficiency of terrestrial solar cells within the next 50 months.
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If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what can be said about the Bloomberg Businessweek cover, The Great American Housing Rebound? It’s insensitive and ignorant. It stereotypes. Discriminates. Demonizes. Scapegoats. And it’s misleading.
Faces of color are cast as caricatures and the greedy benefactors of the housing crisis — when the truth is that Latinos were disproportionately the victims. With the United States’ economic crisis far from over, the magazine’s cover feeds ignorant fears that Latinos are to blame for the nation’s problems. This leads to feelings of resentment that can act to incite violence and hatred against Latinos, which is what has been happening when it comes to issues of immigration in this country. All this for a story in which race and ethnicity are not factors and are not even mentioned.
The truth is that Latino and African American homeowners and borrowers were more likely to be the victims of unscrupulous banks and mortgage companies. Wells Fargo had to pay $175 million for participating in predatory lending practices against people of color. Bank of America/Countrywide paid $335 million for similar tactics.
Bloomberg Businessweek’s cover also raises questions: Why didn’t anyone see that this cover was a problem? Where were the safeguards to make sure this kind of thing did not happen?
Josh Tyrangiel, Bloomberg Businessweek’s editor, has apologized, saying, “Our intention was not to incite or offend. If we had to do it over again we’d do it differently.”
That’s a start.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) offers its assistance to Mr. Tyrangiel. NAHJ extends its hand to Bloomberg Businessweek to help in meeting their commitment to excellence in journalism, championing diversity and the fair portrayal of Latinos.
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Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so he is. (2)
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. (3)
This political season, we have seen the impact of words, especially in our “politically correct” culture. The core of truth behind that facade of “correctness” is that our words, written or spoken, have power. More power than we often realize.
I am moving through a personal journey where the parsing of words has created unanticipated consequences. It is not a pleasant experience. My take-away is that beyond the obvious meaning of choosing words that feed and nurture a person, as opposed to words that destroy a person, there is a subtly to communication that is sometimes missed.
Applied to leadership, I’m reminded that the leader who is full of jest, quick wit, “in-your-face” retorts must develop the discipline to know when that kind of confident, carefree speech is appropriate. Especially in this day of 140 character “speech” on social networking sites, something written with jest — not because one has something to say, but because one can say something — can easily be misunderstood because of the law of unintended consequences.
Developing the proficiency to speak in such a way that one limits the unintended consequences is a skill leaders must continually develop. I know how easy it is to quickly say what I’m thinking, instead of thinking before I say.
For the Christian leader, your words have eternal consequences: “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” – Jesus Christ
Remember, the words we say will teach – if we practice what we preach.
What do you “preach” with your words?
(1) Proverbs 18:21 (MSG); (2) Publius Syrus; (3) Plato; (4) Matthew 12:36-38
Copyright ©2012 by P. Griffith Lindell
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PressEurop, October 11, 2010
The EU is beginning to chip away at Irish sovereignty, but European nation states have been running away from their sovereign responsibilities for years.
Eurosceptics have been harping on for decades about how the EU is an assault on national sovereignty, but this month Ireland has found itself facing a direct demand to hand over power to the EU.
Both the conservative and green groups within the EU parliament have been demanding Ireland’s low rate of corporation tax rises, suggesting that its doubling should be a condition of EU bailouts. Many have complained that this would destroy Ireland’s international competitiveness, sending foreign-based companies fleeing to cheaper climes. Semiconductor manufacturer, Intel, which has its largest non-US plant in Ireland, has already come out saying that any changes to corporation tax would see the company re-evaluate its position in Ireland.
Needless to say, the Euro MPs’ plans are not popular in Ireland but the issue of just who is in charge has not yet peaked – which is surprising, because this is hardly the first time that the issue has been raised. Level-headed opposition to the treaty of Lisbon was centred on the issue of national sovereignty. Sadly the barking-mad opposition to the treaty was also centred on the issue.
In fact, the EU itself represents an abdication of sovereignty. Pro-EU voices tacitly acknowledge this when they describe the EU as an institution that “pools sovereignty“. Britain’s most pro-European prime minister ever, Tony Blair, said in 1999 that Britain would eventually “pool its national sovereignty” with other EU states.
We can already see this at work in Europe: institutions such as the European Court of Justice (ECJ), generally seen as benign except by swivel-eyed conspiracy theorists, regularly trump national supreme court decisions. Sometimes the results are for the better, of course, but the question is one of democracy.
In the case of Ireland, the idea that MEPs elected in Germany should decide what happens to the Irish population is a bizarre one. Unlike ECJ decisions, plans to beggar Ireland have a massive and immediate effect on the public.
There are plenty of voices, both within and without Ireland, saying that the country’s finances will have to be “administered” (note the technical and depoliticised terminology) by Brussels or the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Such moves may (or may not) stabilise the national finances but what they won’t do is ensure that ordinary people in Ireland aren’t ruined. After all, we all know that the monied classes will, by and large, survive any recession.
In fact, there is nothing inherently wrong with the idea of EU integration but it must only proceed on a democratic basis and democratic legitimacy is lacking precisely because, increasingly, the EU’s raison d’être is to allow national elites to avoid taking responsibility for their decisions. Irish and other European states have been handing power over to surpa-national bodies for decades, lacking the will to get their own hands dirty. Moves to hand the economy over to Big Mother in Europe would be dramatic but they fit within a general pattern of expecting other, often unelected, bodies to do the job of government.
As a grim little coda, the Irish public seem to be in agreement with their delinquent leaders: a poll conducted by Red-C Market Research for the Irish Sun newspaper found that, of the 1,000 polled, most preferred a European Central Bank or IMF takeover to the government – or opposition – continuing to run the economy.
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It may be known as the Nation's River, but here where the Potomac carves its way between Maryland and Virginia, ownership is up for grabs.
A court battle that pits a group of property owners against two small paddling and tubing companies seeks to establish who controls the river, the banks and the mud below. A Washington County circuit judge has pushed the dispute across the water to Loudoun County, Va., saying he lacks jurisdiction.
But it's not clear that Virginia's justice system has standing either. As a result, some water-rights experts say, the case could make its way to the Supreme Court.
Blame King Charles I. Or Lord Baltimore. Or even George Washington. That's how long people have been trying to draw a line in the water.
"To local residents, the Potomac River is shorthand for the boundary between Maryland and Virginia," Circuit Judge M. Kenneth Long Jr. wrote recently. "That simplicity and ease belies the centuries of legal, sometimes actual, fighting between the two states over rights and privileges each have on the Potomac."
The river, the judge concluded, "is a prize worth fighting over."
Potomac Shores Inc., a Frederick entity incorporated in Maryland in 1948, claims it owns 550 acres along and under the river. It alleges that paddlers and tubers are trespassing when they leave the water on the Virginia side near the Route 340 bridge in an area known as Potomac Wayside to wait for shuttle buses to pick them up.
The corporation sent cease-and-desist letters to River and Trail Outfitters and River Riders in 2011 and filed suit a year later when it decided its demands were being ignored. In its legal filings, Potomac Shores hinted at the possibility of licensing agreements to resolve the matter.
But the defendants believe courts have decided that the Potomac belongs to Maryland right up to the low-water mark on the Virginia side. The riverbank on that side is controlled by the National Park Service, with which they have permits to operate.
"When it comes to river navigation, the people's right cannot be infringed upon," said Charles Bailey, the lawyer for River and Trail Outfitters of Knoxville in Frederick County. "Tens of thousands of people come out here and use the river every year. No one can claim to own it."
David Skeen, the lawyer for River Riders of Harpers Ferry, scoffed: "They want my client to pay for a privilege they don't have the right to give."
Late last month, Long declined to reconsider his decision, clearing the way for Potomac Shores to pursue its claim with Maryland's Court of Special Appeals or take up the matter in Virginia.
Requests for an interview with the lawyer representing Potomac Shores were unsuccessful, but Bailey said he expects the case will be appealed.
"I have no indication they will, but if they don't, they have 550 acres that are totally worthless unless they get a ruling in their favor," Bailey said.
Matt Logan, president of Potomac Riverkeeper, an advocacy group that filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the paddlers' position, calls the disputes "an age-old story." And indeed, it is.
Nearly four centuries ago, King Charles I set the boundaries for Lord Baltimore's colony of Maryland, using the Potomac River's high-water mark as the southern edge. But King James II gave the river to Virginia. In 1776, Virginia's Constitution relinquished claim to the river but retained the right to use it. Maryland rejected that claim.
It took George Washington to work out a compromise, the 1785 Mount Vernon Compact, to settle navigational rights not only on the Potomac but on the Chesapeake Bay.
In 1877, federal arbitrators selected by the two states set the boundary at the low-water mark on the Virginia side, which was approved by Congress. A 1928 boundary survey confirmed the line, as did a 1959 survey.
The boundary settled, Maryland and Virginia got into a legal spat over the right to withdraw water from the Potomac that in 2003 ended up before the Supreme Court. Then-Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's decision allowed Virginia to build a pipeline into the river to supply growing residential areas.
"You would think in 2003 and 2013 there wouldn't be any issues left to decide, but every couple of years, there's a unique border dispute because they didn't think of something," said Adam Van Grack, a Montgomery County lawyer who specializes in outdoor recreation legal issues.
In this case, Potomac Shores is arguing that the permanent boundary should be the low-water mark set by the arbitrators in 1877, not the low-water mark of today. It based its claim on a 1980 Supreme Court ruling in a border spat involving Ohio and Kentucky and the Ohio River.
Given how the Potomac meanders, that could mean a difference of a mile in some spots along the river, Van Grack said.
"We're not just talking about paddlers and fishermen. We're talking about people who have built waterfront homes. We're talking about Donald Trump's golf course," he said. "The ramifications of what Potomac Shores is asking for is huge. It could involve billions of dollars' worth of property."
Because the legal argument involves conflicting Supreme Court decisions over decades, it might eventually find its way back there.
"We like to think of the Potomac as something that draws us together," Logan said. "We recreate on it. We draw water from it, but it is very much a political border and people are going to be poking at it. You have these issues you wish would go away. But they won't."
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At The New Republic, Michael Crowley writes that President Obama resembles RN more than any recent President because of his active agenda and passionate interest in foreign affairs:
Whether he is shaping the White House’s message on Iran, or personally cajoling Asian leaders to crack down on North Korea, or brokering power deals among NATO allies, Obama has, in effect, been his own national security advisor and secretary of state. Unlike Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, who had world events thrust upon them, Obama seems to be more in the mold of Richard Nixon or George H.W. Bush–a president involved in foreign policy because of, not in spite of, his priorities and personal interest. "He’s very engaged, very hands-on," says his longtime foreign policy adviser, Mark Lippert, now chief of staff at the National Security Council (NSC)….
To this administration, process is not simply the poor cousin of strategy. Process is what allows harmony and progress amid multiple challenges and viewpoints. Senior Obama aides call it "regular order"–a system that gives the president a diversity of views with minimal infighting and back-channel maneuvering, little leaking to the press, and no public airing of dirty laundry. "Regular order is your friend," says Denis McDonough, director of strategic communications for the NSC. "The system only works if you have adult behavior."
Thus far, the system has confounded skeptics who predicted melees among big-name advisers and conservatives who warned that Obama lacked the experience to govern in such dangerous times. "The level of harmony is just striking," says James Goldgeier, a national security aide in the Clinton White House and a political scientist at George Washington University. There are signs, however, that the administration’s approach to foreign policy, however well-intentioned and well-executed, is vulnerable to unexpected challenges–the very kind that are likely to multiply the longer the president is in office.
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Gulf smugglers slow runs amid Iran tensions
KHASAB, Oman (AP) – By dawn, the unmarked speedboats from Iran pull into port. By dusk, they are racing back across the Strait of Hormuz loaded with smuggled consumer goods ranging from Chinese-made shoes to cut flowers from Holland.
Even as sanctions squeeze Iran ever tighter, there's one clandestine route that remains open for business: A short sea corridor across the Persian Gulf connecting a rocky nub of Oman and the Iranian coast about 35 miles (60 kilometers) away.
Yet even this established smugglers' path is now feeling the bite from the pressures on Iran over its nuclear program.
Business is sharply down, the middlemen and boat crews say, as the slumping Iranian currency leaves fewer customers for the smuggled wares. At the same time, the risks of interception are higher as Iranian authorities step up patrols near the strategic oil tanker lanes at the mouth of the Gulf.
The strait, which is the only access in and out of the Gulf, has been the scene of Cold War-style brinksmanship between Iran and the West after Tehran last month threatened to block the passageway for about one-sixth of the world's oil in retaliation for new U.S. sanctions.
"We used to make two or three trips across every day. Now, it's maybe one," said an Iranian middleman, who gave only his first name Agheel to protect his identity from authorities in his homeland.
He watched crews load up a pickup truck with bolts of fabric from Pakistan and table-size boxes of cut flowers from the Netherlands, before the trucks headed off through the treeless mountains to Khasab port.
The operation smuggles in merchandise to avoid Iranian tariffs and to bring in American and European products that have disappeared from Iranian markets because of international sanctions. Experts note that the consumer items post no real challenge to efforts to block material with military or nuclear uses.
"Still, it shows you can't close off all channels into Iran no matter how hard you try," said Paul Rogers, who follows security affairs at Bradford University in Britain. "People will find a way."
On this side of the Gulf, the smugglers operate under a tacit tolerance from authorities, even though Oman and the United Arab Emirates are close U.S. allies and have pledged to enforce sanctions. The port lies in a sparsely populated peninsula enclave belonging to Oman but encircled on land by the UAE, a legacy of how the area was carved up in the final days of British rule here in the last century that resulted in Oman holding joint control with Iran over the strait.
The goods are legally imported into the UAE and truck drivers take them across the border, paying the customary 50 dirham ($13.50) entry fee, according to the smugglers interviewed by The Associated Press. In Khasab, the merchandise is taken to warehouses and then piled on the docks less than 100 yards (100 meters) from the port police headquarters.
Omani authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the traffic.
The Khasab speedboats are far from the only back channel into Iran. Drug traffickers easily cross the hinterland borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and black market networks stretch across the frontiers with Iraq and Turkey. Authorities in Iraq's Kurdish region have been under pressure for years to crack down on fuel trucks heading into Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
But Khasab stands out for its openness and for lying on the highly sensitive Strait.
A shipment arranged by the Iranian smuggler Agheel this week was done with practiced efficiency.
A pickup truck backed into a wood-floored warehouse with hundreds of cases of cigarettes bundled three together and wrapped tightly in gray plastic weave — in total 3,000 cigarettes under south Asian brands such as Ruby Menthol. The truck was soon sagging under the weight of boxes piled five high.
Agheel did some quick calculations: Each three-case load cost him about $1,200 and he could sell them to merchants in Iran for the equivalent of about $1,350 under current exchange rates. The truck pulling out of the warehouse represented a potential return of about $4,500.
"If we don't get caught," he added.
The smugglers have their ways of avoiding Iranian authorities.
Spotters off the coast — on the island of Qeshm and near the port of Bandar Abbas — call in coast guard movements to Khasab. The speedboat drivers keep close attention to the water conditions on the Strait and try to approach the Iranian coast just after sunset. The trip can take as little as 90 minutes in calm seas and up to four hours in rough water in the stripped down stripped-down 16-foot (five-meter) fiberglass boats.
Agheel's truck passed through the Khasab customs station at midday and then down a strip of hardscrabble road.
At the port — almost in the shadow of a Costa cruise ship making a day stop — dozens of boats were being packed and secured for the trip. There were no names or markings on the speedboats. But the items loaded on carried familiar logos: LG 42-inch flatscreen TVs, Discovery Channel DVDs, Panasonic microwaves, Yamaha motorcycle parts. Also in the stacks were textiles, satellite dishes and Chinese-made clothes and shoes.
One boat driver, who gave his name only as Aziz, had a breakfast of eggs, beans and Mountain Dew as he waited for the day's shipment to be loaded for the return run to Qeshm, a long arrow-shaped island near the Iranian coast and a main waystation for the smugglers.
Months ago, he could make as many trips as possible because the merchants in Iran were demanding goods.
But now the struggling Iranian rial — dragged down partly by U.S.-led sanctions that could target Iran's Central Bank — has put many things out of reach for Iranians, he said.
"No one wants to buy because the (rial) rate is not stable," he said.
He also said the Iranian coastal patrols have been boosted amid the escalating tensions over the Strait.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the American military is "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the waterway. Next month, Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard plans naval exercises in the area.
If spotted by patrols, Aziz said the two-man boat crews try to heave the goods overboard. They then must pay back the smuggling network, which can amount to thousands of dollars.
But it's worth the risk, he said.
"The situation is getting worse now," he said. "All the prices are up and Qeshm has nothing else" except smuggling.
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- theory: the perception that the primary purpose of government is to provide, rather than to enable, and
- practice: the self-serving, sanctimonious idiots who appear to hold sway and influence within the corridors of power.
Of course the most natural answer is education and most consider more education to be essential to achieving change. But not if that education is purposely designed by the state to both oppress and minimize individual liberty in subservience to the state.
See this post on the role of the state in education (none) and this video on why.
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Mark Twain Readers Award
Each year, Missouri schoolchildren in grades 4-8 vote for their favorite book from a list of nominated titles. The Mark Twain Award is awarded to the author of this book by the Missouri Association of School Librarians.
Find these books and more online at http://catalog.coolcat.org
Mark Twain Award Nominees 2010-2011
In New York City in 1872, fourteen-year-old Horace, a photographer's apprentice, becomes entangled in a plot to create fraudulent spirit photographs, but when Horace accidentally frees the real ghost of a dead girl bent on revenge, his life takes a frightening turn. Lexile Level: 720
by Margaret Haddix
When thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, learn they were discovered on a plane that appeared out of nowhere, full of babies with no adults on board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time travel and two opposing forces, each trying to repair the fabric of time.
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Like her mother, a professional medium, Kat has been able to see dead people since turning thirteen, and although they would prefer to be normal, Kat and her best friend come to terms with their own talents while helping free the spirit of a girl trapped at their middle school.
by Claudia Mills
While dealing with her parents' separation and her best friend's distance, Amanda is able to work out some of her anxiety through her fifth-grade project--writing a diary from the point of view of a ten-year-old girl whose brothers fight on opposite sides in the Civil War.
by N.A. Nelson
As two Takunami youths approach their thirteenth birthdays, Luka reaches the culmination of his mother's training for the tribe's manhood test while Tirio, raised in Miami, Florida, by his adoptive mother, feels called to begin preparations to prove himself during his upcoming visit to the Amazon rain forest where he was born.
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In Granada, Spain, a pavilion made of 45,000 milk cartons was built in recognition of World Recycling Day. The cartons were recycled from over 100 colleges around the city, and the pavilion as set the Guinness World Record as the largest built structure created from recycled materials.
In other news, an exhibit of club kid wear is coming to the V&A, and China's copycat architecture is angering Zaha Hadid. See the headlines after the jump.
• Pavilion Constructed Out Of Milk Cartons Sets Guinness World Record | Architizer
• Coming Soon: An Exhibition On '80s Club-Kid Wear | Co.Design
• Seeing double: what China's copycat culture means for architecture | The Guardian
(Image: CUACS Arquitectura)
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Forward Pike Roll on Wedge
- 1 Forward Pike Roll on Wedge
- 1.1 Objective
- 1.2 Prerequisite
- 1.3 Equipment
- 1.4 Execution
- 1.5 Common Mistakes
- 1.6 Warning
This is one of the more difficult forward rolls to execute. The gymnast rolls in a sandwich position, keeping compressed as they execute the roll. The use of the wedge helps the gymnast with momentum of rotation and making it easier to complete the skill.
- Learn to stay tight in a compressed position (aka.sandwich position).
- Learn to push off the wedge at the correct position to stand tall after rolling.
- Forward Straddle Roll
Start in the stand tall position with your arms straight above your head. Bend forward and bend your legs while placing your hands on the wedge in front of you, you should now be in tuck position ready to execute the roll. Push hard down on the wedge with both your feet and extend your legs until they are straight and push off to initiate your roll. As you roll, tuck your head in and roll on your shoulders. Your legs should be straight at all times from this point on. As your roll around and come into a sitting sandwich position you should push down as hard as you can with your hands while lifting your butt upwards (make sure to compress more at this point). Open up as you roll up into the stand tall position (same body position as you started).
Stage 1 – Setup
Stage 2 – Bend Forward
Stage 3 – Initiate Roll
Stage 4 – Roll on Your Shoulders
Stage 5 – Roll
Stage 6 – Sitting Sandwich Position
Stage 7 – Lift and Compress
Stage 8 – Opening
Stage 9 – Finishing
Common MistakesCoaches teach gymnasts how to do skills correctly, but most gymnasts learns how to perform the skill correctly when coaches corrects their mistakes. This is not wrong, this is actually how gymnasts learn. This being said, it is very important that coaches corrects mistakes all the time. If a gymnast continues doing the same mistake over and over then they will be good at doing that drill with that mistake and have a difficult time later correcting it.
- Always correct mistakes
- Correct the first mistake you see the gymnast do (even if it is before the actually drill, i.e. the gymnast forgets to stand tall with arms over their head)
- Correct only one thing (sometimes two if they are related)
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Favre: The spirit beings of the Hopi people
Published 8/8/2012 at 4:03 p.m.
Katsina spirits arrive in Hopi villages each December and remain until July, and what their presence means is vital to the traditions and livelihood of a people not known to most of the world.
- Newer Stories
- Older Stories
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A New Kind of Urban Christian
His speaking style is disarmingly low-key, almost professorial, but only the rarest professors make every word count the way Tim Keller does. For 16 years, he has been preaching at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, distilling biblical teaching into arrestingly simple phrases that convey the radical surprise and gracious truth of Christian faith. One such typically piquant phrase is the source of the Christian Vision Project's big question for 2006: How can followers of Christ be a counterculture for the common good? Keller's vision of a church keenly committed to the welfare of its city attracts 4,000 worshipers each week to Redeemer's four rented locations, sends them out into many forms of charitable service through the church's ministry Hope for New York, and fuels a church-planting effort that embraces Baptists and Pentecostals as well as Presbyterians, immigrant neighborhoods as well as Manhattan. Fifty years from now, if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.
In the winter of 2006, two movies mirrored the fractured and confusing relationship between Christians and culture. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe struck fear in many secular hearts. Some journalists saw it as an ominous sign of growing right-wing power that a company like Disney would make a movie that had such profound evangelical appeal (and, arguably, content). And why did Disney pull the plug on the gay-friendly TV reality series Welcome to the Neighborhood? Isn't this, the pundits asked, what happens when you let Christians influence culture?
At the same time, The End of the Spear, the account of five evangelical missionaries martyred in Ecuador, upset some Christians when it was discovered that an active gay man was playing Nate Saint, the lead role in the movie. Conservative cultural commentators were divided. Some, like Eugene Veith of World magazine, urged Christians to see the movie and judge it on its artistic merits, not on the morals of its actors off screen. Others urged a boycott. Major questions about Christianity and culture were raised on hundreds of websites. What makes a movie "Christian"? Do all the actors have to be Christians? If not, which kinds of sinners are allowed, and which are not? Is spiritual compromise inevitable when Christians try to enter mainstream cultural production?
The relationship of Christians to culture is the singular current crisis point for the church. Evangelicals are deeply divided over how to interact with a social order that is growing increasingly post-Christian. Some advise a reemphasis on tradition and on "letting the church be the church," rejecting any direct attempt to influence society as a whole. Others are hostile to culture, but hopeful that they can change it through aggressive action, often of a political sort. Still others believe that "you change culture one heart at a time." Finally, many are attracted to the new culture and want to reengineer the church to modify its adversarial relationship with culture. Many in the "one heart at a time" party play down doctrine and stress experience, while some in the reengineering group are changing distinctives of evangelical doctrine in the name of cultural engagement. That is fueling much theological controversy, but even people who agree on the need for change disagree over what to do to our doctrine to reach the culture.
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An exercise stress test is a screening tool to test the effect of exercise on your heart.
Exercise ECG; ECG - exercise treadmill; EKG - exercise treadmill; Stress ECG; Exercise electrocardiography; Stress test - exercise treadmill
You will walk on a treadmill or pedal on an exercise bicycle while the electrical activity of your heart is measured with an electrocardiogram (
One of the first things a person does when diagnosed with breast cancer is to wonder what caused it. Women start thinking about... Read more »
So here’s an interesting factoid for today: only one in seven women were employed in jobs outside the home 100 years ago. Fast forward to... Read more »
In my last post, I began to discuss how the medical expert David Katz, MD, sees smoking as part of a bigger picture of problems, including... Read more »
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Savings heat up at housing authority
November 30, 1999
RICHLAND, Wash. –
The New York City Housing Authority will save time, energy and money with the help of energy efficiency programs developed by the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Under a recently signed contract with the housing authority, Pacific Northwest will provide an integrated software, diagnostic monitoring and maintenance program to a central boiler plant. The plant serves about 4,500 residents of Smith Houses, a housing authority complex of 12 buildings in Manhattan. The program, called Decision Support for Operations and Maintenance, or DSOM, was developed at Pacific Northwest for the United States Marine Corps. DSOM will provide the housing authority with the technology needed to meet its energy efficiency goals.
"This system should provide tenants with more reliable heat and hot water while cutting costs for the housing authority," said Don Jarrell, Pacific Northwest principal investigator.
The contract stipulates the housing authority will recover the cost of installation within 10 years, which is estimated at $1.4 million. If not, Battelle, which operates Pacific Northwest for DOE and signed the contract, will reimburse the housing authority the difference between installation costs and actual measured savings.
"The potential savings in fuel, life of equipment and decreased need for maintenance-in all aspects of energy management-are of great interest to NYCHA," said John G. Martinez, chairman of the housing authority. DSOM could be operational by summer 2000.
DSOM has proved successful at lowering costs while increasing reliability at a heating plant at the Marine Corps' Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif. Installed five years ago, the system has saved more than $500,000 annually through short-term realized savings and long-term life cycle savings. Pacific Northwest also has begun installing DSOM at the Marine Corps' central heating plant at Parris Island, a boot camp in South Carolina.
Jarrell compares the housing authority's current boiler plant operations to a car running without warning gauges.
"There's no way of knowing what is malfunctioning, what needs fixed and what is causing problems," Jarrell said. "DSOM provides those gauges and immediate warnings of trouble, like a high-tech car that announces engine problems every time you turn the ignition key."
Pacific Northwest engineers will provide software and infrastructure to the boiler plant. Engineers also will train plant operators to use the system. The computer software will be connected to a network of sensors that monitor components in the plant and the computer will notify operators when a system is failing, running below expectations or near failure.
Business inquiries on this and other Pacific Northwest technologies can be directed to email@example.com or 1-888-375-PNNL.
Tags: Energy, Operations, Energy Efficiency
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1807 THE sum of £88.0.6 was raised by subscription in DANBY, and placed in the hands of ELEVEN TRUSTEES for educating the poor CHILDREN. The scholars are chosen on the Thursday before May Day and the Thursday before Martinmas Day.
1721 THOMAS THOMPSON left for the poor of DANBY the sum of EIGHT SHILLINGS yearly for EVER, payable on the first day of MAY, out of land in DANBY, called LEVERACK INTACKS.
Mrs. SIDDALL gave to two hospital houses in DANBY the sum of TWENTY SHILLINGS yearly for ever, payable out of a field at AINTHORPE called CROFTS, now (1832) in the occupation of Rev'd JOSEPH DUCK, FIVE SHILLINGS yearly for ever payable on the 20th of DECEMBER to the MINISTER of DANBY, for Reading prayers on that day, out of a farm called FIELD HOUSE now, (1832) in the occupation of WILLIAM UNTHANK.
Data transcribed by
from photography by Colin Hinson
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2006 Seed Grant Program
The third annual DLRC seed grant competition generated 20 proposal submissions totaling $670,650. The DLRC selected the following projects for Spring 2006 totaling more than $110,000:
Game-based Learning in Chemistry, Gabriela Weaver, Department of Chemistry and Carlos Morales, Department of Computer Graphics Technology. This project examines the elements of game design that promote content learning and motivation for continued play. These elements are used to develop instructional technologies targeted specifically at teaching chemistry concepts. The project team has developed a game prototype and begun testing it with undergraduate students. The team has carried out two phases of testing associated with this project, and is currently carrying out the third phase of testing. In phase 1, students evaluated various aspects of popular commercial games. In phase 2, students evaluated the same aspects of the projects prototype room. In phase 3, students are evaluating the entire prototype game and comparing it to popular commercial games. In addition, researchers will not only test the game play elements but also chemistry content learning on the part of players. This research serves to bridge the work that has occurred in chemistry education with that of game development, and will help to provide a data-driven theoretical model for the effective use of game elements to teach scientific concepts, specifically in chemistry.
Instructional Technology in First-Year Physics Education, Erina MacGeorge, Department of Communication, and Stephen Durbin, Department of Physics. Beginning in Fall 2006, the Department of Physics replaced the traditional first-year physics curriculum with two new courses. Substantial revisions to course content are supported by extensive and integrated use of two types of technology: an audience response system (ARS) in the lectures, and a simulation package in the labs. This project supports a systematic, longitudinal assessment of student response to these technologies, with the specific aims of describing how students respond to the technologies, examining how the variability in student characteristics, instructional use, and course content are associated with response to the technology, and generating ideas to improve the technologies.
The Impact of Performing Arts on Science Learning, Julie Conlon, David H. Miller, Barbara Cooper, and Roger Boyce, Department of Physics, Laura Clavio, Department of Convocations and Lectures, Mike Mullis, Graduate School, Tom Turpin, Department of Entomology, Lynn Bryan, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and Deborah Bennett, Department of Educational Studies. This project evaluates the impact of using performing arts in various forms to present science to elementary school children and teachers. Program goals include using surveys and focus groups and other feedback to evaluate the impact of employing performing arts to present science; enhancing teacher skills in the performing arts to teach science; and developing units that could be included in the 5E learning Model. These goals were met by a presentation of the Super Scientific Circus, a theatrical show that teaches basic physics and other science skills, which was presented by Purdue Convocations. In addition, the performers and outreach personnel held a workshop for teachers in advance of the performance to instruct them on the science skills demonstrated in the show and to give them activities to follow up with in the classroom after the show. Results of this project demonstrate that seeing science shows can have positive impact on students enjoyment in learning science. The project also had a positive impact on the teachers who participated and they came away with new skills to use in the classroom.
Genomics Revolution Uncloaked: A Virtual Expedition through the Genomics Landscape, David Salt, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Genomics Research & Technology, Bindley Bioscience Center, and and Jon Bricker, Department of Agricultural Communications. Living systems are supported and sustained by their genomes through the action of the transcriptome, proteome, metabolome and ionome, the four basic biochemical pillars of functional genomics. These pillars represent the sum of all the expressed genes, proteins, metabolites and elements within an organism. The dynamic response and interaction of these biochemical omes defines how a living system functions, and its study, genomics, is presently one of the biggest challenges in the life sciences. This project will dramatically illustrate these complex interactions in a virtual web-based rendition of a large 3D interactive cellular environment. Participants will be guided through a visually stimulating and interactive environment designed to illuminate the core principles underlying the integration of the various disciplines that make up genomics. As these principles are revealed to the participant, strong and lasting connections will be forged between genomics and key areas of human society, including human health, agriculture and the environment. The virtual environment will be built around an accurate rendition of a living plant cell, showing various cellular organelles and how they function and interact. The DLRC is supporting this project through staff and in-kind support.
Discovery Learning Research Center
207 South Martin Jischke Drive, Suite 203
West Lafayette , IN 47907-1791
- NSF GK-12
- Research Goes to School
- Robert Noyce Scholars Program
- Interns for Indiana
- Wilke Internship
- Sally Mason Undergraduate Scholarship
- Midwest Crossroads AGEP
- LSAMP Indiana
- ADVANCE PCFS
- Center for Leadership Excellence
- Center for Literacy Education and Research
- HHMI, Deviating from the Standard
- I-STEM Network
- Purdue Center for Serious Games
- 23OctDetailsUpcoming 2014 Conference: Transforming Institutions: 21st Century Undergraduate STEM Education
October 23 @ 6:00 PM - October 24 @ 9:00 PM Indianapolis, Indiana
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Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
A career is a course of successive situations that make up some activity. One can have a sporting career or a musical career, but most frequently "career" in the 21st century references a working existence: the series of jobs or positions by which one earns one's bread.
In the relatively static societies before modernism, many workers would often inherit or take up a single lifelong position (a place or role) in the workforce, and the concept of an unfolding career had little or no meaning. With the spread during the Enlightenment of the idea of progress and of the habits of individualist self-betterment, careers became possible, if not expected.
Career counseling advisors assess your interests, personality, values and skills, help you to explore career options and research graduate and professional schools.
Career counseling is the One-on-one or group professional assistance in exploration and decision making tasks related to choosing a major/occupation, transitions into the world of work or further professional training. The field is vast and includes Career Placement, Career Planning, Learning Strategies, Student Development.
By the late 20th century a plethora of choices (especially in the range of potential professions) and more widespread education had allowed it to become fashionable to plan (or design) a career: in this respect the careers of the career counsellor and of the career advisor have grown up.
For a pre-modernist "career" structure, compare cursus honorum.
- Richard Nelson Bolles . What Color Is Your Parachute?
- http://www.bls.gov/oco/ (Occupational Outlook Handbook)
- http://www.kids.net.au/ (Kids Vocational Site)
- http://www.doleta.gov/programs/onet/ (O*Net, more career stuff)
- United Nations (2002), Handbook on career counselling
- Directory of information on more than 900 careers
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Is there any evidence that Food Chaining works with older children? My son is a young teen. He is an extremely picky eater, typical of Asperger`s, plus he has some other stuff, we call him Alphabet soup, for all the acronyms.
The food pickiness has gotten worse since middle school started and I am guessing puberty is starting, although he is behind most of the rest of the boys. We used to joke he ate 15 things (including ketchup as one item.) Now we joke he is down to 10. We saw a dietician who was kind enough to honestly say a dietician could not help him. She recommended food chaining. This would bring us back to going to a speech therapist (funny, that`s where it all started, for Apraxia of Speech.) I am at a stage in life where I feel overwhelmed with a lot of stuff, and the thought of going back to speech therapy, which of course makes logical sense, because it probably stems from Apraxia, which really is a lifelong issue despite great speech now, plus the Aspergers, plus all the sensory stuff, yadda yadda, that before dragging ourselves to more stuff: Does this food chaining work in an early teen? From what I have been reading it seems to mainly been used with younger children. My son is in fact a pretty pleasant, well behaved child, thankfully, despite all his acronyms, thank you to all the special ed services!
Dear Parent: You've already tried and completed many excellent interventions for your son. Food chaining is a behavioral intervention to address food selectivity and has been used successfully with many children.
My concern in your case is that your son's food selectivity has recently worsened and he has multiple medical concerns. Before embarking on a new treatment, I would first visit his pediatrician to rule out a medical or medication basis for this change in his selectivity.
After this I would consult with a feeding team familiar with adolescents with Asperger's. The feeding team should provide you with an intervention program (that may include food chaining). Best of luck.
Paula C Rabidoux, PhD/CCC-SLP
Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Clinical Associate Professor of Speech & Hearing
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Ohio State University
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A GREEN-manure crop will enrich winter growth once it's ploughed in.
The best way to enrich the soil during the cooler months is by sowing a green-manure crop in autumn.
First, let's explode a myth.
This stuff may be green, but it's not manure.
It isn't even a fertiliser, but is probably even more efficient for increasing soil fertility because it creates ideal conditions for the life within the soil.
So what is green manure?
It is a combination of leafy annual plants with special characteristics.
They are able to keep growing vigorously right through the coldest winter, despite chilly soil.
As the plants begin to mature in late winter and while still leafy and lush they are smashed down, chopped up and green sappy debris worked deeply into the topsoil.
Decomposition is rapid because the materials are so soft.
During this rotting process, it improves, lightens and aerates the soil, while providing food for earthworms, which breed and multiply at an extraordinary rate.
The intense tunnelling and feeding activity of earthworms, working with countless microorganisms, converts the decayed organic debris into a perfect, long-lasting fertiliser.
Consequently, even the most exhausted soils can become superbly fertile during winter when many beds are vacant.
What are these remarkable plants that make up a green manure crop?
They are quite common and the seed is easily obtained and cheap.
Best of all are mixtures of plain leafy plants, such as feed oats, wheat, barley, rye-corn and mustard.
In warm and sub-tropical districts, cheap parrot food such as black or grey sunflower seed can also be included.
Green-manure crops work even better if they are a selection of hardy, annual legumes such as grey peas, tic-beans (they look like broad-beans) and annual lupins. I also add half-used packets of last season's peas and broadbeans to the mix.
Legumes as green manure have a double benefit to the soil and to all nitrogen-hungry leaf vegetables grown the following spring and summer. These are the great creators of extra nitrogen, extracted from the soil atmosphere and fixed to legume roots as clusters of small, pale, grey nodules.
A combination of all green manure plants growing vigorously produce highly-active, deeply-probing roots that prevent winter soil from becoming cold and lifeless.
An extra-dense crop also smothers and suppresses winter weeds, so they too become a form of green manure. We can buy bags of specially mixed green-manure seeds from garden centres.
I'm a thrifty gardener, so I buy mine by weight from agricultural suppliers.
It costs far less and I can make up my own mixture.
Last year I transformed a piece of impoverished ground measuring 10m x 10m with a magnificent green-manure crop.
After roughly cultivating the surface - even using a heavy steel rake dragged over the surface does the trick - I sprinkled a good fistful of pelletised poultry manure over each square metre and raked it in.
My green manure mix consisted of one kilogram each of rye-corn, tic-beans, barley, wheat and annual lupins.
To this was added one cup of black mustard seed, plus the contents of some old seed packets.
After mixing in a bucket the seeds were broadcast evenly over the big bed. Finally, the loose surface was raked and cross-raked, so the seeds were either buried or at least dirtied.
Within two weeks - and after a good rain - the new plants were up and moving.
A few weeks later, I shovelled a barrow-load of sheep manure among the growing plants.
By late July, the tic-beans were chest-high and it was impossible to see the ground, so dense was the crop.
I got stuck into the lot with a rotary hoe and churned them in.
This summer, I grew silverbeet, tomatoes, capsicums, potatoes, pumpkins and summer brassicas with unbelievable yields from this previously barren ground.
And I've never seen so many earthworms, living proof of soil fertility and that green manuring is the way to achieve it.
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“The process of the award itself should be regulated by both law and good sense. In Nigeria, both seem to have collapsed”
“We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.” John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962).
Nigeria’s National Honours list and process is beset with a credibility crisis that could be terminal. Disregarding Machiavelli, those who administer it appear to think that titles honour people when in reality it is the people that honour titles.
Increasingly, therefore, Nigerians of true distinction and dignity wish not to be associated with it. Some have even taken the extraordinary step of publicly renouncing or denouncing it in recent times. Such public disavowal of faith in the possibility of virtue in our country and its public life must give the custodians of our constitutional values cause for worry. They are also compelling reasons for radical reform of the National Honours process.
There are good reasons why a country may wish to formally recognize and honour its citizens who make signal contributions to promotion of the public good. Such recognition could help forge common memories of nation building, inspire others to seek to transcendence in public service and establish traditions of virtuous public service for others to follow.
The process of the award itself should be regulated by both law and good sense. In Nigeria, both seem to have collapsed and the National Honours Roll is now widely viewed as advertising this collapse.
Enacted in 1963, the National Honours Act itself requires that Nigeria’s National Honours should be awarded by the President “for distinguished public service.” It empowers the President to provide “for the deprivation of an honour in a case where a recipient conducts himself in a manner which the President considers to be inconsistent with the honour.”
Some recipients of the National Honours have been convicted of serious offences of character and others have brought it into disrepute through questionable conduct. Yet, the National Honours roll has become somewhat like Hotel California – programmed to receive but you can never leave! This must change.
The publication of the latest installment of Nigeria’s National Honours list has hardened the perception that the National Honours process has become a political bazaar of sorts. Far from promoting it, the manner and content of the National Honours list undermines the pursuit of distinction in public service. This does incalculable injustice to those Nigerians that have indeed earned the recognition conferred by the National Honours, damages our national brand and diminishes the currency of honour as a virtue in our public life.
There are many things wrong with the National Honours list. Take the 2012 list: it is mostly reserved for serving public officers and their friends or nominees; it recognizes only 15 women out of 149 (a mere 10%) and no young, ordinary or disabled Nigerian. As a national register of honour and with no disrespect meant or intended to any of those contained in it, this is a squalid advertisement for distinction in public service.
The steps that can be taken to return credibility to the National Honours process hide in plain sight. First, the eligibility criteria should be widely publicized and periodically reviewed. The criteria, as well as nominees, should be electronically accessible. Second, the public should have a major role in nominations and government should diminish its control over who gets honoured.
Third, serving public officers of any rank should not be eligible for the awards. Those who deserve it will be considered after they have left public office. Indeed, the Code of Conduct provisions in the 5th Schedule of the Constitution prohibit serving public officers from accepting “benefits of any kind ….for anything done or omitted to be done by him in the discharge of his duties.” Surely, this applies to National Honours.
Fourth, there must be room for public objections to nominations. This means that a shortlist of nominations should be published with sufficient time to enable members of the public file objections or complaints and the process for adjudicating such objections should be clear, transparent and expeditious.
Fifth, there must be an expeditious process for depriving un-deserving recipients – such as Tafa Balogun, Erastus Akingbola, and Cecilia Ibru – of their awards.
One decade ago, the National Honours nominations committee headed by the late Alhaji Liman Ciroma tabled for consideration proposals for reform of the National Honours process. Among other things, it recommended a cap on the maximum number of recipients of the National Honour in any year to not more than one hundred persons; a gender diversity ratio reviewable every three years to ensure equal recognition of both men and women; a limitation on the number of nominations proposed by the Presidency to not more than 25% of the maximum; a prohibition on honours for serving public officers; and a requirement for the publication of nominations for objections or comments at least 90 days before decision. These were eminently sensible and honorable proposal.
Nothing came of them.
Instead, the National Honours process seems to have been captured by the same agents of allocation that have done such damage to our national life. This is not a fate. Changing it, however, requires leadership at the highest levels of Nigeria’s national life to recognize that the recognition of true distinction in public service cannot be shish-kebabed among a narrow political tribe nor offered up merely as a reward for time served in public office.
Odinkalu Chairs the Board of the National Human Rights Commission
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Ruth Richardson, who wrote the book "Mistress Blanche: Queen Elizabeth I’s Confidante" has been involved in the production of a limited edition, souvenir calendar, the proceeds of which are all to go to Bacton Church, in Herefordshire. She writes,
These lovely pictures+detailed descriptions (making a short book) are in a calendar-format to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, 2012. Through the generosity of the Queen (who waived charges) it includes the gorgeous portrait of Princess Elizabeth, c.1546, in her red and gold dress. The Marquess of Salisbury has generously allowed the Rainbow portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, the portrait of Lord Burghley (Blanche's cousin) and a photograph of Hatfield Old Palace to be used without charges. The other pictures show: Blanche Parry's St. Margaret's Church (Westminster) tomb, Blanche's Bacton monument, Queen Elizabeth I's Presence Chamber, the frontispiece of the 1588 Welsh Bible, Llangorse Lake + 1584 map, the site of Newcourt + drawing of the house, Bacton Church and Dore Abbey. We are most grateful to all the picture owners. Details can be seen on www.blancheparry.com
All proceeds from this calendar will benefit Bacton Church where Blanche worshipped as a girl and where her family are buried. Apart from printing, all work on this project has been voluntary. It is a strictly limited edition, with superb pictures, and cannot be repeated. This calendar really is recommended to keep as a collectable. Recently described as 'magnificent', 'gorgeous' and 'unique', it has already sold throughout the UK and Europe, and from Alaska to Australia....
Further copies can be obtained from amazon.uk or directly from Ruth E. Richardson. Thank you.So, if you're still in need of a calendar for 2012, or just want to gain a collectable, please see Ruth’s website, at http://www.blancheparry.com/calendar_release.shtml , for more information.
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Engaging Science in the Life of Your Congregation
With so many issues to discuss, Christians can easily get the feeling that science is always attacking the faith. It is essential to balance such conversations with positive responses to God’s creation. After all, the primary response to the natural world in the Bible is to praise the God who made it.
Series: Understanding Randomness
In this series, Kathryn Applegate addresses the concern that randomness implies the absence of God's activity and involvement in the natural world. She begins by clearing up some common misconceptions about the concept of "randomness", and later focuses on the mechanisms of the immune system to demonstrate that God works through random processes to preserve life. Far from being an indication of a "godless" universe, one might conclude that randomness is one of God’s favorite mechanisms for creating and sustaining life!
Hydrology of the Bow River
There’s a word beneath the water, and the Bow River belongs to God. Have you been listening?
Psalm for the January Thaw
God shows himself not just in the orderliness of nature, but powerfully, joyously and always surprisingly in its beautiful "non-order" as well.
Off with Their Heads
The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. “Off with his head!” she said, without even looking round
Scientists Tell Their Stories: George Murphy
During his seminary education, Dr. Murphy also gained a deeper understanding of Luther’s theology of the cross, and he realized that it’s really the best way to approach the science and theology dialogue.
We tend to think of creativity in terms of flashes of insight and brilliance, of novelty, and especially of unexpected things bursting upon the scene. But creativity is no less creative and no less remarkable when it proceeds step by step, according to discipline, according to rule.
The song is built around the image of a river flowing through a canyon it has sculpted—an image that can easily be played out as a picture of the way that the Lord has been at work preparing a path for us in the material world, complete with signposts to his former and present activity.
The Randomness Project
It is not uncommon to hear voices proclaiming that biology and physics have shown us that—at fundamental levels—nature is random, hence meaningless, purposeless, and without a creator. But how might God work providentially through indeterminate processes? The John Templeton Foundation has provided a generous grant of $1.69 million to support a new research initiative on the theme of Randomness and Divine providence.
A Pastor's Approach to Science
Since the sermon is the main component used to build the congregation’s collective approach to understanding how the church relates to the world, I want to take a few moments to lay out what has worked in my preaching and what has not when it comes to science, and more specifically, the subject of evolution.
David Lack: Evolutionary Biologist and Devout Christian
Charles Darwin’s personal struggles and ultimate rejection of Christianity are well documented, and people are eager to link his loss of faith to his evolutionary theory. David Lack, on the other hand, began his scientific career as an agnostic, but shortly after publishing his famous book on the evolution of "Darwin's finches", he converted to Christianity.
Series: Beauty, Science and Theology
It doesn't take a scientist to appreciate the beauty with which God has arrayed his creation. But scientists do have the opportunity (and training) to appreciate different kinds of beauty than do most non-scientists, whether they are ordinarily "hidden" in the extremes of scale, the elegant processes of an experiment, or in the abstraction of mathematics. Indeed the appreciation of various kinds of beauty has always played a critical role in motivating scientists to investigate the world, and in helping them decipher its workings. In the three-part essay, Ruth Bancewicz explores some of the ways beauty, science and theology intertwine.
Randomness and Evolution: Is There Room for God? (Videocast)
This BioLogos videocast addresses the idea of randomness as a part of natural selection, and whether it challenges the possibility of God using the evolutionary process as a means of creation.
Series: Randomness and God’s Governance
In this three-part series from Pruim’s chapter in the book Delight in Creation: Scientists Share Their Work with the Church, mathematician Randall Pruim explains what scientists and mathematicians mean when they speak of something being “random”. He also addresses God's use of apparent randomness in creation as a part of his sovereign rule.
It should not be surprising that John Cage asked the stuff he used to make paintings to take part in the process—to contribute its own identity to the intentional, purposeful, and determined work of creating “based on chance.”
The Heavenly Declaration
The universe that inspired the psalmist three thousand years ago grows grander as each new generation of astronomers adds yet another layer of understanding.
Wheat that Springeth Green
As we remember the narrative that takes us from Good Friday through Easter morning, the image of a buried grain of wheat invites us into the story rather than just describing what happens in it.
Jefferson’s Bible and the Tears of Christ
Predictably, "Jesus Wept" did not make into the Jefferson Bible. John 11 was cut out entirely, falling onto the floor of his Monticello home and discarded, along with Martha's confession.
Series: Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople
The six-part series by Dr. Keller considers three main clusters of questions lay people raise with their pastors when introduced to the teaching that biological evolution and biblical orthodoxy can be compatible. As a pastor and evangelist, Keller takes these concerns seriously and offers suggestions for addressing them without requiring believers to adopt a particular view or accept a definitive answer.
Series: Science as an Instrument of Worship
In this brief series (taken from a 2009 paper), Jennifer Wiseman uses an excerpt from the famous hymn “How Great Thou Art,” to explain why the study of God’s creation can lead Christ’s followers into meaningful worship and overcome the obstacles which impede true praise. Creation as encountered through our senses is pondered by our minds, which flows into wonder-filled songs from the soul. She further explains how knowledge of creation will help Christians to address the moral dilemmas of science, and she encourages all to see the process of scientific inquiry as a means to discover God’s truth.
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Barbra Streisand biography
Barbra Streisand was born on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. She didn't attend college; instead she moved to Manhattan and worked as a cabaret singer. Her Broadway debut led to a recording contract and a long series of gold records. Over her career she has mastered nearly every entertainment medium available and won numerous awards. Streisand is an ardent supporter of the Democratic Party.
Born Barbra Joan Streisand on April 24, 1942 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to Diana Rosen and Emanuel Streisand. Streisand's father was a high school English teacher who died from complications of an epileptic seizure when Barbra was only 15 months old. Her mother raised Barbra and her older brother, Sheldon, by working as a secretary in the New York City public school system. Her mother remarried in the late 1940s to Louis Kind, a used-car salesman, while Streisand was away at camp. Streisand was unaware of the second marriage, or that her mother was pregnant. Streisand's half-sister, Rosalind, was born in 1952.
Streisand has described her childhood as painful. She was shy as a child, and often felt rejected by other children because her looks were unusual. Additionally, she saw her stepfather as emotionally abusive. She also found no support from her mother, who thought her too unattractive to pursue her dreams of show business.
As a child, Streisand attended Bais Yakov School, where she sang in the school choir. Following elementary school, Streisand was a student at Erasmus Hall High School where she met future collaborator, Neil Diamond. Even before Barbra graduated from high school, she was traveling to New York City to study acting. At the age of 15, she met Anita and Alan Miller at the Cherry Lane Theater in Greenwich Village. Streisand negotiated a deal with the couple; she would babysit for their children in exchange for a scholarship to Alan's acting school. It was one of two she simultaneously attended. She graduated from Erasmus High in 1959 at the age of 16. She was fourth in her class.
Streisand never attended college. She moved to New York City in 1960 instead, months after graduating from high school. There, she shared several apartments with friends, including one with actor Elliot Gould, who she wed in 1963. They were married for eight years. Together the couple had one child, Jason.
While working office jobs and attending acting lessons, Streisand was encouraged to enter a talent night at a local club. She had never taken a singing lesson before. The evening was a resounding success, and she soon embarked on a career as a cabaret singer, dropping the middle "a" from her name so that it would stand out. Her vibrant soprano soon won Streisand a loyal audience at local clubs, such as the Bon Soir and the Blue Angel.
She claims that she learned how to cover her insecurity on stage by studying the flamboyance of the drag queens she met during this time. Still, Streisand is infamous for having avoided live performances for nearly three decades due to a debilitating bout of stage fright.
She attributes the phobia to a concert in New York's Central Park in 1967, during which she forgot the lyrics to one of her songs.
Streisand made her major debut in the Broadway show, I Can Get it For You Wholesale in 1962. She won the New York Drama Critics Award and received a Tony nomination for her performance; the cast album for that show was her first studio recording. Streisand signed with Columbia Records that same year and released her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album in 1963. It became a Top 10 gold record and received two Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. At the time, she was the youngest artist to receive the honor.
Despite three successful albums by early 1964, Streisand chose Broadway performances over live concerts. She appeared in the show Funny Girl for more than two years, which earned her a Tony Award nomination. The song "People" from that show became Streisand's first Top 10 single.
Television and Movie Star
In 1965, Streisand turned to television with My Name is Barbra. The show received five Emmy Awards, and CBS Television awarded Streisand a 10-year contract to produce and star in more TV specials. Streisand was given complete artistic control of the next four network productions.
Streisand reprised her role in Funny Girl in 1966 in London at the Prince of Wales Theater. Two years later she made her big-screen debut in the film version of the play. In addition to winning the 1968 Academy Award for her performance, she won a Golden Globe and was named "Star of the Year " by the National Association of Theater Owners.
After appearing in the films Hello, Dolly! (1969) and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), Streisand starred in the non-musical comedy, The Owl and the Pussycat (1970). The year 1972 brought another comedy, What's Up Doc? The same year Streisand founded her own production company, Barwood Films, and starred in the company's first project, Up the Sandbox. The film became one of the first American movies to deal with the growing women's movement.
In the 1970s, Barbra Streisand successfully married her film and musical interests; first with the hit film The Way We Were, which featured her first No. 1 single and earned her a 1973 Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In 1976 came A Star is Born, a film that Streisand produced. The project won six Golden Globes and offered Streisand her second No. 1 single, "Evergreen."
Decades of Success
In the late 1970s, Streisand collaborated with former high school choir mate Neil Diamond on the song, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." The single went to No. 1, as did "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)," a dance record sung with Donna Summer. But Streisand had her biggest-selling album in 1980 with Guilty, which was written and produced by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and contained the No. 1 hit, "Woman in Love."
Though she read Isaac Bashevis Singer's short story, "Yentl, The Yeshiva Boy" shortly after her first film in 1968, it was only after 15 years of perseverance that Streisand was able to bring the story to screen.
In her 1983 directorial debut, the film received five Academy Award nominations, and Streisand received Golden Globe Awards as both Best Director and producer of the Best Picture (musical comedy). The film also produced a Top 10 soundtrack.
In 1985, The Broadway Album returned Barbra Streisand to the top of the charts. Continuing to integrate all of her talents, in 1987, Streisand followed up Yentl with Nuts. She not only starred in the film, but also produced and wrote the music. For her second directorial outing in 1991, Streisand made the movie Prince of Tides, a story based on the Pat Conroy novel. The film garnered seven Academy Award nominations and a nomination from the Directors Guild of America for her direction, making her only the third woman ever so honored. In 1996, Streisand tried her hand at direction again, with the film The Mirror Has Two Faces.
After a 27-year absence, Barbra Streisand returned to the concert stage in 1994. Her performance resulted in the Top 10, million-selling album, The Concert. The tour itself generated over $10 million for charities, including AIDS organizations, women and children in jeopardy, Jewish/Arab relations, and agencies working to improve relations between African-Americans and Jews. Streisand's philanthropy and activism also extends to her Barwood Film's productions, such as The Long Island Incident, which inspired a national debate on gun control.
Streisand is an outspoken Democrat, and has used her talents and fame to support multiple candidates and causes, including Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Prior to her 27-year stage absence, Streisand devoted her unpaid live concert performances exclusively to the benefit of the causes she supports. Her Barbra Streisand: One Voice concert has, to date, channeled $7 million in profits to charities through The Streisand Foundation, which continues to occupy much of the artist's energy and resources.
Most recently, Barbra Streisand recorded the 2000 album, Timeless: Live in Concert at her Las Vegas show on New Years Eve, and released both on CD and DVD. A year later, a new holiday album, Christmas Memories arrived. It was the artist's first full-length studio album since 1999's A Love Like Ours. In a sequel to 1985's The Broadway Album, The Movie Album appeared in 2003. In 2005, a deluxe CD/DVD reissue of the original Guilty was followed a month later by Guilty Pleasures, a new album that reunited Streisand with Barry Gibb. In 2006, she returned to the concert stage, documented in the 2007 Live in Concert. And in a long awaited return to film, Streisand appeared in 2006's Meet the Fockers.
In Recent Years
Streisand released the albums Love Is the Answer (which reached gold-selling status in the U.S.) and What Matters Most in 2009 and 2011, respectively.
In the fall of 2012, Streisand announced that she would be releasing a new album: Release Me, an album of unreleased material from several sessions over Streisand's career, is slated to be released on October 9, 2012.
Personal Life and Legacy
Streisand married for a second time on July 1, 1998, to actor James Brolin. Following their marriage, Streisand recorded an album of love songs entitled A Love Like Ours (1999). The collection featured the hit duet, "If You Ever Leave Me," with Vince Gill.
The statistics of Barbra Streisand's achievements are staggering. She is credited for creating dozens of gold- and platinum-selling albums, and is regarded as the top-selling female artist of all time. Streisand has had No. 1 albums in each of the last four decades—the greatest longevity for any solo recording artist. She is second in the all-time charts, ahead of the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and exceeded by only Elvis Presley.
Streisand has sold more than 70 million records worldwide, and is the only artist to have earned honors from all the major award institutions, including two Oscar Awards, one Tony Award, five Emmys, 10 Grammys, 10 Golden Globes, a CableAce Award, the University of Georgia's George Foster Peabody Award and the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award.
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(NaturalNews) One of the best ways I have found to address distress is by undressing it and redressing it , when possible that is, with laughter. Excuse me? Yes, with laughter.
Stress is part of daily life and in excess, becomes harmful, toxic and life-threatening. It then deserves to really be called "distress".
All too often, we allow the smallest things to appear to us as monumental, and when we just change our view of it by even just a degree or two in one direction or the other, the new perspective sheds fresh light and can even show the original perception as somewhat comical.
Laughter shifts the harmonics of a situation, the dissonant chord seeking resolution in the tonic. So to open to what's tonifying is to invite relaxation into something harmonious into what was its opposite, that is, going from distress to resolution, dissonant to resolved, feeling bad to feeling good. If we take a larger perspective on the smaller details of our lives, sometimes, it can be that simple.
It's that satisfying exhale after a tense moment.
We know through experience that laughter "breaks the ice" among people socially, it eases tensions and gives difficult exchanges "a fresh start". As a therapist, coach and stress management consultant, I recommend to my clients a routine practice of loving themselves for sure, but also to routinely engage in laughing at themselves, more specifically, at their actions and thoughts, even feelings. These are all largely programmed in by early family life
and later society and are quite mutable as psychology and neuroscience have corroborated over the past few years through the principle of "neuroplasticity". An interview I conducted for A Better World Radio with Dr. Joseph Dispenza based on his book, Evolve Your Brain, discusses the subject and implications of neuroplasticity at some length (http://abetterworld.tv/?s=Joe+Dispenza&cat=13)
A few benefits of the 'therapy' behind laughing in general and at oneself in particular are:
1. Tensions are released. The muscles de-contract and the nervous system goes into a more para-sympathetic state.
2. On the physiological level, with the release of tension is of course, the release of pressure. Cells experience greater oxygenation, and with this oxygen increase, metabolism is slightly improved and increased which then also contributes to the cell's overall respiration, allowing for more efficient elimination, another way of saying de-toxification of the cells, that is, of trillions of cells throughout the body. We also know that when the cells are receiving better nourishment and respiration, immune function improves. We also know then that there is an increased balancing of hormones, with cortisol and adrenal reduction into the blood. This also promotes better blood circulation. So from a physiological point of view, laughter
, even smiling, confers notable benefit.
3. On the psychological level, laughing at oneself is an exercise in "self-humbling". Often we're humbled by other people, but do we often humble ourselves? What better an exercise, or a more fun way to put an ego into check? A person's ability to laugh at oneself also indicates a sense of ease and comfort with oneself and a certain sense of resilience and flexibility. This also indicates a certain psychological stability and emotional maturity. One becomes more familiar with humility.
4. Laughing at oneself also harmonizes the two hemispheres of the brain, allowing them to work more in synchrony, and the same is true of the heart, promoting greater heart coherence. This is an idea that has been developed by The Heartmath Institute. The more coherent our heart, the higher-level functioning of our entire system, including the possibility for greater intuition, calmness and sense of ease with self and sense of connectedness with others, Nature, one's environment and with life itself.
Another point to be made is that stress
is not distress. Stress is a normal, actually necessary part of daily life. When we stress a muscle for instance, we put pressure on it which, by breaking it down a bit, strengthens it. All movement is a form of creating deliberate stress, from which we largely benefit.
But on the other hand, distress is excess stress, stress taken to another level. Laughter therapy will often work but certainly not always and another level of addressing and undressing is called for.
In undressing it, we want to look at the different layers of stress, like layers of an onion, yet in this case, one layer perhaps complicating the other layers, which I don't believe occurs with an onion.
But in human beings, yes. A problem at the job complicates one's relationship at home, perhaps with one's spouse, lover, kids, siblings or parents. With those more complicated, it then can cause somatic disturbances as the distress is increased by emotional conflict, external or internal or usually both.
This would have to be undressed, then re-dressed, so to speak, with understanding the layers as well as the perceptions which led to the belief systems on which the varying layers of distress were predicated.
Oftentimes, slow, deliberate breathing, combined with contemplating the conflicts one feels one is experiencing, and as a creative consultant with my clients, facilitating their seeing the sources, as best possible, of these conflicts, which most always trace back to a belief system predicated on early-in-life perceptions and doubts about self is the means to resolution.
Then, when we see how we have often built a mountain out of a molehill, even in what appear to be serious, debilitating, distressing situations, we can re-introduce laughter therapy again to release the distress and let it just go. There are techniques for letting go of stress and distress such as The Sedona Method and The Release Technique. There of course is T'ai-Chi, Chi-Kung, meditation and acupuncture. There is the use of NLP or Neuro-linguistic Programming. But understanding the cause of the stress and the distress satisfies our intellectual interest to know why. Seeking out and identifying the cause, or a few of them, helps to release stress and allow that big sigh of relief itself.
Granted, there are numerous conflicts which are seen, reasonably so, as devastating in nature, and require much more thorough exploration. At the end of even the most horrific human enterprise, of which there are altogether too many populating our precious, beautiful planet, humor or laughter, sometimes no question, dark humor, can show itself.
We've heard numerous stories of laughter, comic theater and humor even in the middle of the concentration camps. It can often be a life-line even in the most devastating of situations, ironic as it may sound.
The layers are numerous and have much to do with family life mixed with our inner lives. But they extend outward much further to the effect of media, the economy, both personal and national/global, the socio-political climate in which we live, and issues these days regarding climate change and the pain we all experience on some level of what how we are collectively harming our environment based on our lifestyles. Our states are further influenced by the foods we eat, our exercise habits or lack thereof as well as our sleeping and social habits and ways.
Further articles will go into more detail about these other layers of the bigger onion, and what we can do about managing our own distress by undressing, re-dressing and laughing as well as understanding it. Through each of these, health and wellness, through laughing, smiling, lifestyle and understanding, and feeling more in control of these, really can change lives.About the author:
Mitchell Jay Rabin, M.A., L.AC. is an international speaker, teacher, coach, entrepreneur and therapist with a background in Holistic Psychology, Acupuncture, bio-feedback and Stress Management Consultant in NYC. With an orientation toward eco-psychology, NLP, Mind-Body Therapy, Therapeutic Theater/Family Constellations, sex counseling and Energy Medicine, his work with clients is designed to empower and vitalize through insight and making wise lifestyle choices across the board. From thinking to nutrition, from the intimacy of relationship to Right Livelihood and Spiritual Activism, Mitchell has helped to facilitate change, inspiration and empowerment in his clients around the world.
Mitchell has been hosting A Better World TV show in NYC since 1993 and A Better World Radio since 2006. For more, go to: www.abetterworld.net
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What should we do about the problems in our economy, and how important is it that we reform entitlements? Ask the typical majority voter about these topics and they’ll be ignorant and/or apathetic. “I don’t know” and “I don’t care.”
Conservatives need to wage war on ignorance and apathy. We need to educate enough people to create a grass roots drive to improve the economy and make things better for everyone. More people should understand the problems and possible solutions and care enough to want to do something about them. We need a Tea Party on steroids.
Let’s begin with politics 101. It’s simple enough, but not enough Republicans and perhaps no Democrats at all understand this: we are divided over Big Government or a great economy. We can’t have both.
Big Government leads to a situation like Spain or Greece. A great economy gives full employment and prosperity for nearly everyone, and it’s even good for the government. People pay taxes, and the federal government makes out like a bandit. (Oops, I forgot. The federal government is a bandit.)
Why can’t we have both Big Government and a great economy? The answer is that Big Government is based on spending and redistribution of wealth. In order to spend, it has to rely on heavy taxation, which takes money away from the economy. Profits are taken from businesses, so they can’t invest or hire. People don’t have as much money to spend, so they don’t -- and the economy slows down even more.
Big Government also relies on heavy regulation. After all, the politicians think if there’s a problem, they can fix it with a federal program. The program needs lots of rules and regulations. Businesses have to follow those regulations, no matter the cost, or pay heavy penalties. Regulations slow the economy.
The last nail in Big Government’s coffin? Unintended consequences. Every new federal law is like an experiment, and we are the guinea pigs. Many times, it doesn’t turn out as politicians (not noted for brains) think it will. Example: under Bill Clinton, Democrats passed a new luxury tax on yachts (we’ll get those slimy millionaires!) But alas, the wealthy folks immediately stopped buying them. Almost no tax was collected, and the yacht-building industry was stopped in its tracks. The Democrats had to rescind the tax. Note -- The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is the biggest experiment in American history.
Why would anyone want a good economy? Apparently, slightly over half of American voters don’t, as proved by the fact that they re-elected Obama. But I do. There have been a few periods in America when the economy was in great shape. One such run was during the Clinton and Bush years, up to the housing collapse. Jobs were plentiful. Unemployment was low. People saved money and built wealth. The federal government ran a much smaller deficit. People had confidence in the future. Confidence is less plentiful now.
The economy is like an aircraft engine. When it runs well, the plane will fly. When it doesn’t, we’re in danger of a crash. I believe the airplane is a really good analogy for our situation. Leftist politicians keep adding weight (by spending) and reducing the engine’s power (taxing and regulation.) We’ll come back to Earth soon. It won’t be pretty.
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Sour young men
Why protests, once rare, are persisting
UNABLE to find a job after university, Muhammad Bouazizi moved to a big city and tried to get by, selling vegetables from a barrow. But police confiscated his unlicensed cart, slapping and insulting him. The 26-year-old returned to his home town in despair. Last month he stood in its main square, doused himself in petrol and struck a match. On January 4th he died of his injuries.
A tragedy like Mr Bouazizi's might pass unnoticed in many countries. But his struck a rare chord of dissonance with Tunisia's carefully nurtured image as a tranquil, orderly, mildly prosperous playground for tourists and foreign investors. The dramatic act sparked not just sympathy but a wave of protest that has carried on for three weeks, with no sign of stopping. Trade unionists have joined students, lawyers, political campaigners and unemployed youths to demonstrate repeatedly in more than a dozen cities.
Police have struck back with clubs, tear gas and even bullets, killing two protesters in the southern town of Bouziane. President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali has also sounded a conciliatory note, firing a handful of ministers and promising to inject as much as $4.5 billion into job-creation schemes.
The ostensible focus of protest is unemployment; 13% of Tunisians are officially out of work. The figure is double for young people, and even higher for recent college graduates. But the scale and persistence of the unrest point to deeper causes. Young Tunisians often find that the available jobs are menial, in keeping with a model of development that offers cheap labour to European investors. Another complaint is that Tunisia's prosperity is unevenly shared between richer coastal cities and the poor interior.
Some causes of the unrest are political. Since Mr Ben Ali overthrew Tunisia's last president, Habib Bourguiba, then 84, in a peaceful coup 23 years ago, his people have submitted to an unspoken bargain. In exchange for slowly rising prosperity, steady gains in health and education, and a degree of social peace that contrasts starkly with next-door Libya and Algeria, Tunisians have put up with diminished political rights, intrusive and unaccountable security services, and rising corruption at the top.
With formal politics and the press allowing little outlet for grievances, discontent has festered. At the same time, better education has turned nearly 4m of Tunisia's 10.5m people into internet users, with some 1.8m running accounts on Facebook alone. Despite efforts at censorship that put Tunisia's government among the worst offenders in global listings of enemies of free expression (measured for instance by a French-based lobby, Reporters Sans Frontières), most Tunisians have heard about the WikiLeaks cables alleging greed and nepotism in Mr Ben Ali's circle.
Tunisia's troubles are unlikely to unseat the 74-year-old president or even to jolt his model of autocracy. Yet they may serve warning to governments across the Maghreb that a growing number of young people in the region feel increasingly frustrated and marginalised, as ageing and undemocratic leaders seem ever more out of touch with them.
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As an example of the kind of insight that this data makes possible, take a look at this diagram, which is one of my favorites in the whole book:
Noam calls this the Rich vs King tradeoff, and it's a remarkable finding. On average, the founders who keep the most control over their company make the least amount of money. As with any data-based result, this raises more questions than it answers. For example, most entrepreneurs know that the most successful entrepreneurs - from Bill Gates to Jeff Bezos - kept tight control over their companies. We therefore seek to emulate their approach, to our own detriment, because we're often emulating the wrong things. Having the real facts helps us ask better questions. We should be asking not "how much control did Bill Gates seek?" but rather "what else is exceptional about his decisions that allowed him to escape the more common fate?" If you're interested in answering questions like this, read on.
I was lucky enough to get to read a version of the book when it was still in draft form. Now that the final version has come out, I'm excited to share a bit of it with you. At the time, I was asked to give an official endorsement of the book. Here's what I said:
"If you're starting a new company, you probably already know that a crazy variety of landmines await you. What if you had a map that showed exactly where they are and how to avoid them? Having seen these dilemmas derail countless startups, I wish every entrepreneur and prospective founder would read this book." - Eric
The following is an exclusive excerpt which sets up a common pitfall regarding equity splits. In Noam’s dataset, 73% of founding teams split equity within a month of founding, a striking number given the big uncertainties early in the life of any startup. The majority of those teams set the equity in stone by failing to allow for future adjustments to equity stakes if there are major changes within the team or the startup.
After this excerpt, the book outlines specific solutions that help founders avoid this pitfall.
Setting the early equity split in stone is one of the biggest mistakes founders can make. With their confidence in their startup and themselves, their passion for their work and their mission, and their desire not to harm the fragile dynamic within the nascent founding team, cofounders tend to plan for the best that can happen. They assume that their early, high levels of commitment will last long into the future, rather than waning as the challenges of founding begin to sap their passion for the idea and for each other. They assume that no adverse events will change the composition of the team.They also tend to take a very short-term view of the factors that should affect equity splits. They assume that the tasks that they are performing during the early stage of startup development are the same tasks that will be performed during the next and very different stages. They assume that their skills will remain as valuable to the startup as they are right now. They overestimate the amount of value that they will build in the first months compared to the value they hope to build over the subsequent years, and thus overweight their past contributions compared to the future contributions that will be required of them. Each founder places more value on his or her own contributions than on the contributions of the other cofounders,knowing the cost and extent of his or own efforts in a way that he or she cannot know the cost and extent of others’ efforts.
But such a best-case approach is hazardous. Uncertainties abound. At the company level, founders learn about the flaws in their initial plans and adjust the startup’s strategy, business plan,and business model. Professor Scott Shane reports that “almost half(49.6 percent) of new firm founders indicated that their business ideas [had] changed between the time they first identified them and the time when they were surveyed about them.” Such adjustments can cause major changes in the obstacles that the startup faces, the skills needed to address those obstacles, and thus the roles that each founder (or perhaps a new founder or a nonfounder) will have to play in building the startup.
At the individual level, as the strategy and business model shift,the skills of some founders become more important than the skills of others and roles often shift. As each founder learns about the demands of building a startup, reflects on his or her motivations,and sees how well his or her abilities address the startup’s needs, his or her commitment to the startup may change. The founders also come to understand each other’s abilities and commitment at a far deeper level than was possible at the beginning. Yet founders tend to overestimate how much value they will build during those early days, which can cause even bigger problems when a cofounder’scontributions wane later on.
A founder’s personal life may also affect his or her commitment and contributions. At Ockham Technologies, all of the founders were aware of the imminent arrival of idea-person Ken’s first child. However, even Ken was unsure how this would affect his willingness to quit his full-time job and focus on building Ockham.Extreme and unexpected health problems can catch all parties by surprise. For instance, while Microsoft was still a private company, cofounder Paul Allen was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma,which caused him to quit the company, leaving Bill Gates as the sole active founder during the crucial three years before it became a public company.
In such ways, even the most comfortable equity split can be thrown into disarray. For instance, when Robin Chase and her partner, Antje, founded the car-sharing startup Zipcar, they agreed with a quick handshake to split the equity 50–50. The team believed it had avoided destructive tension over the equity split and could now focus on building the startup. “We shook across the table,50–50,” Robin recalls, “and I thought ‘great.’” Robin had heard about other teams that had faltered because of tough equity-split negotiations, and she breathed a sigh of relief that she and Antjehad avoided such problems. Robin poured her heart and soul into the startup, making major contributions to its growth, and was fully expecting Antje to do the same. Antje, however, remained at her full-time job and, by the summer, was expecting her second child. Robin wondered when her partner would be able to become more involved, but, in the end, Antje never joined full-time. Knowing that Antje still owned the same percentage as she did ate away at Robin, who later reflected, “That was a really stupid handshake, because who knows what skill sets and what milestones and what achievements are going to be valuable as you move ahead. That first handshake caused a huge amount of angst over the next year and a half.” Eventually Antje left the company altogether while continuing as a shareholder.
The cost to fix such problems can be very high, ranging from Robin Chase’s “angst” to more tangible financial costs. At govWorks.com, founders Kaleil and Tom had a cofounder, Chieh,who put up $19,000, worked “after hours” for five months (he had kept his day job instead of joining govWorks full-time), and then dropped out. When the remaining cofounders were about to close their first round of financing, their potential funder, Mayfield, was not willing to close until Kaleil and Tom bought Chieh out and reclaimed his equity. The VCs were willing to do a $410,000 “sweetheart deal” to facilitate the buyout. However, Chieh wanted $800,000. Amid the pressure to close the round, Kaleiland Tom ended up settling with Chieh for $700,000, making up the $290,000 out of their own pockets. Kaleil felt he was “beingextorted.” Although the risks of this kind of outcome are real,teams often fail to address them proactively. In my dataset, half of the teams had neglected to include any dynamic elements (vesting, buyout terms, and the like) in their equity agreements, sentencing themselves to the same risks faced by the Zipcar and govWorks.com teams.
How should founders deal with such developments? In short, by assuming when they do the initial split that things will change, even if the specific changes cannot be foreseen, and therefore structuring a dynamic equity split rather than the static splits used at Zipcar, govWorks, and many other startups. As important as it is to get the initial equity split right—by matching it as closely as possible thefounders’ past contributions, opportunity costs, future contributions, and motivations—it is equally important to keep it right; that is, to be able to adjust the split as circumstances change.
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As part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (the “2004 Tax Act”), Congress gave most companies engaged in production activities a real tax break. Beginning this year, eligible taxpayers will be able to deduct up to 3% of their taxable income for both regular tax and alternative minimum tax purposes. This deduction will grow to 9% in 2010, resulting in about a 3% reduction in the tax rate on income. All domestic production activities qualify for the deduction; eligible businesses include those involved in manufacturing, construction, architectural design or engineering, software development, music recording and making movies or TV shows, as well as producing and processing food. Of course, there are somewhat complicated definitions, limitations and restrictions. As always, it will be important to bring your accountant and other tax professionals into the loop early in order to maximize the benefits that will be available to you.
Several years ago, the so called extraterritorial income (ETI) tax incentives, given by the United States to taxpayers for exporting U.S. made products, were found to illegally subsidize U.S. taxpayers and violate international law. A major part of the 2004 Tax Act, which President Bush signed into law on October 22, 2004, was the repeal of the ETI regime. However, Congress noted that many European and other developed countries have lower effective corporate tax rates than the U.S. Accordingly, in the 2004 Tax Act, Congress included a provision that is intended to lower the effective federal income tax rate on domestic manufacturing and other domestic productive activities by providing for a deduction for any eligible activity, effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2005. When fully phased in, the deduction is intended to reduce the effective tax rate on the lucky activities included within its scope by about 3%. The deduction is available to individuals, C corporations, S corporation shareholders, partners and trusts and estates with “qualified production activities income,” and products need not be slated for export to qualify.
The Deduction for Qualified Production Activities
For 2005, the deduction (which is in new Section 199 of the Internal Revenue Code) equals 3% of the lesser of: (a) taxable income derived from a qualified production activity or (b) taxable income, for the taxable year. However, the deduction is limited to 50% of the W 2 wages paid by the taxpayer during the year. The 3% deduction increases to 6% in 2007. In 2010, when the deduction is fully phased in, the rate increases to 9%.
Qualified production activities are:
- The manufacture, production, growth or extraction in whole or significant part in the United States of tangible personal property (e.g., clothing, goods and food), software development or music recordings;
- TV, movie or video production, provided at least 50% of the total compensation relating to the production is for services performed in the United States;
- Production of electricity, natural gas or water in the United States;
- Construction or substantial renovation of real property in the United States, including residential and commercial buildings and infrastructure such as roads, power lines, water systems and communications facilities;
- Engineering and architectural services performed in the United States and relating to construction of real property.
Note that the only services that qualify are construction, architectural or engineering services. Income from other services, including transportation services, as well as medicine, law, accounting and most consulting, does not qualify for the deduction.
The deduction applies only to income from property manufactured, produced, grown or extracted in whole or in significant part within the United States. Property is produced “in significant part” in the United States if the U.S. activities are substantial in nature or if the labor and overhead costs incurred by the taxpayer in the United States for the property are at least 20% of the taxpayer’s total cost for the property.
If a taxpayer has satisfied the “significant part” test and other requirements, the deduction is a portion of the taxpayer’s profits from domestic production. For example, assume that a taxpayer purchases a motor and various parts and materials for $750 and incurs $250 in labor costs at its factory in the United States to make a lawn mower. The taxpayer also incurs packaging, selling and other costs of $20 and sells the lawn mower in 2005 for $1,120, to bring him a profit of $100. The lawn mower will be treated as manufactured by the taxpayer in the United States “in significant part” because the labor is more than 20% of total costs. The taxpayer’s domestic production activities deduction will be 3% of the taxpayer’s $100 profit on the lawn mower: that is, $1120-$750-$250-$20=$100 times 3%=$3. If the sale occurred in 2010 when the deduction is fully phased in, the deduction would be 9% of the taxpayer’s $100 profit on the lawn mower, or $9.
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Passover - the heart of our Jewish identity
By Leon A Smith
April 21, 2011
One of the most creative inventors of recent times has to be James Dyson. He has created a number of imaginative, functional yet well designed electrical products. The most famous of these of course is the Dyson vacuum cleaner. Not only do these machines enjoy a sophisticated and sleek design, they are also highly practical both in terms of their basic functionality and the wide variety of accessories/tools that accompany them – my favourite has to be the “crevice” tool which is useful is numerous domestic situations.
It is surprising, however, to note that Mr Dyson for all of his entrepreneurial skills and design talent has never created a matzo crumb tool! Matzo crumbs have the ability to reach areas of the home that no other crumb can reach. Indeed, if such a thing as a “matzo crumb tool” were to be invented, this would save the inevitability of finding matzo crumbs throughout the year in unlikely and hard-to-find places.
Such is the sophistication of technology today that it may even be possible that different appliances could be used for regular matzo, egg matzo or I would be so bold as to say, even Shemura matzo!
The above thoughts may lead my readers to believe that at this holiday time of year I have run out of subject matter and that these ramblings are merely intended to fill a few web column inches. But of course nothing can be further from the truth!
For me, Passover, is at the very heart of my Jewish identity and I believe the same to be so for many people. Passover like no other Festival appears to resonate with all members of the community including those who are not actively associated with the community – simply because it is something we have all grown up with. How wonderful it is in this day and age to see that the art of storytelling is still alive and well.
In amongst assimilated and agnostic people there remains a link with Jewish identity through the Passover meal – the Seder. How remarkable it is that this story continues to be told with vigour and enthusiasm at Seder tables across the world thousands of years after the events on which the subject matter of the story is based.
Nightingale, the largest and the best care home in the country, as I have indicated previously accommodates adherents of the faith at many varying levels. These range from the traditional orthodox through the spectrum to the completely agnostic. And even for those who have no belief, our residents appear to find comfort in the familiar environment of a Jewish home simply being with other Jewish people. This important time of year does seem to have a memory for so many.
At Nightingale this year we have welcomed a number of visitors from across the community for Seder. You may have read in the columns of the JC last week of the enormous quantities of food which had to be prepared for our 200 residents during this time. Indeed it may well be that Pesach at Nightingale would warrant its own section in the Guinness Book of Records!
Whilst not wishing to repeat all of the impressive statistics here, I must say that I would be surprised if there were more coconut pyramids at any one time in any other building in the UK.
This ambience of this wonderful spring Festival is both uplifting and encouraging and the enormous amount of work and efforts by all of our staff, virtually all of whom are non-Jewish, at Nightingale has had an inspiring and positive effect on all of our residents at this time of year
MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR
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Thatcher and Reagan, 26 February 1981
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher share one quality more important than differences of style and temperament. They are both politicians who paint in primary colours. There has been nothing neutral about them or the reactions they provoke. They are memorable personalities, who arouse feelings of enthusiastic admiration or of biting disapproval. Such leaders usually leave a strong imprint on the countries that they govern. How far is that true in their case? How much have they changed? What is the legacy of their association?
The lasting impact of political leaders can be judged by the effect on their opponents. Are the opposition parties forced to come to terms with the changes they have made? How far have Reagan and Thatcher had that effect?
Both of them cut income tax severely and made it hard for anyone to restore tax rates to their previous levels in either country without a very good excuse. Reagan managed to make low taxes one of the sacred cows of American politics. Even his successor, his own Vice-President, was forced into exaggerated protests of innocence of any impure thought of raising taxes. 'Read my lips,' he demanded. After a year and a half in office his lips began to send a different message, but Reagan had still made it more embarrassing politically for any administration to raise taxes significantly.
Thatcher's programme of privatisation may well be modified by another government, but it is still an historic change of ownership of British industry. Her programme of trade-union reform would be amended by a Labour government, but it is unlikely simply to be swept away as though it had never been.
Both Reagan and Thatcher came to office committed to reducing the power of government, and up to a point both did so. But here there was a strange contrast between them. Thatcher's privatisation and Reagan's deregulation were in line with this strategy. These policies in their different ways transferred economic power from the state into private hands. Yet within government, Reagan handed power from the federal administration to the states, while Thatcher took power away from local authorities to concentrate it at the centre.
'I don't think Reagan is inherently or automatically anti-government nearly as much as he's anti-Washington,' said Congressman Newt Gingrich, the right-wing Republican from Georgia, in a BBC Radio Analysis programme in October 1988, just as the Reagan era was drawing to an end. 'There's a real ferment in the states,' said former Governor Tom Kean, the more liberal Republican from New Jersey, . . . with 'problems that people thought for a long time were insoluble being solved in states and localities."
The trend had begun before Reagan took office, but gathered pace under him. One reason for this, according to Governor Bill Clinton, the Democrat from Arkansas, is that 'by cutting back on the federal role in so many areas,' Reagan 'almost mandated the emergence of the governors as primary policy makers.'
By contrast, Thatcher has taken powers away from local government. That has been evident in education with the establishment of a core curriculum in state schools; in the abolition of the Greater London Council in 1986, when some of its powers passed to central government; and in the introduction of the hated poll tax, which was devised as a means of making local authorities more accountable to their electorates. Nearly every voter has to pay the flat sum, in contrast to the rates which it replaces.
Neither Reagan nor Thatcher managed to curb total public spending, central and local, as much as their rhetoric would suggest. Yet they changed political attitudes towards public expenditure. No longer is it politically realistic for either the Democrats in the United States or the Labour Party in Britain to put their faith in massive public-spending programmes, trusting that economic growth will pay for everything. Labour's return to moderation is a severe political embarrassment to Thatcher. It deprives her of the greatest boon that any government can have: an unelectable alternative. But it is also a tribute to her.
Reagan and Thatcher represented and encouraged the international movement toward free markets. That both of them were such prominent champions of this policy, and were delivering rising prosperity to most of their peoples for most of the time, may have served as an example to others. They were certainly the most ardent advocates of free markets. They gave practical credibility to increasingly fashionable economic theories. Yet there were deeper forces at work than the example of Reagan and Thatcher. In international terms they symbolized an idea whose time had come.
Above all they brought a greater sense of confidence to their countries. Reagan did it by projecting a radiant optimism and insouciance. Away with the malaise that his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, had diagnosed as the American condition. If Reagan felt comfortable governing, then the country should feel comfortable being governed by him. Irangate undermined this achievement, but did not destroy it. The ghosts of Vietnam, Watergate and Tehran were exorcised.
Thatcher did it by an implacable determination. The impossible was not to be acknowledged. It was the Falklands spirit as a way of life. She may have exaggerated the extent of the conversion. Economic Thatcherism may have been accepted by large sections of the British people, though that varied sharply from one part of the country to another. It was when she tried to extend her doctrines to the social field that she ran into political trouble.
One limitation on the lasting influence of both Reagan and Thatcher is that, while both have had an impact on their opponents, neither has provided for a direct political inheritance. Reagan was not succeeded by a Reaganite. Thatcher is unlikely to be succeeded by a Thatcherite.
None the less, they have both made a difference to their countries. How much of a difference has it made that they ruled together?
The relationship between them was warmer personally and closer ideologically than between any previous president and prime minister. Their partnership did not have the same historical impact as the Roosevelt-Churchill connection: they did not have a world war to fight. But the range of their agreement was broader, embracing domestic as well as international affairs. It stood the test of time better. It was stronger at the end than at the beginning, which certainly could not be said of Churchill and Roosevelt.
It is impossible to speak for long to many of Reagan's associates without realising just how important the Thatcher friendship was to him, and how it had developed over their years in power. It mattered to Thatcher, too, but in a different way. Quite apart from liking him personally, she recognized in him political qualities that she does not possess herself. He has the capacity to project his charm across a nation; she has had difficulties in making many of her own ministers like her. He has mastered television, where she often still appears either ill at ease or hectoring. As a public speaker he can captivate an audience in a way that she will never do. He has an acute political instinct and was comfortable in the exercise of power. He also possesses the kind of constancy and courage that she both shares and appreciates in others.
These are not small political virtues, but the unusually sharp contrast between his strengths and his weaknesses explains why he is so easily underestimated. He does not have the intellectual comprehension generally expected of a president, but neither was he simply manipulated by his advisers. He knew the broad direction in which he wished to go; he would indicate the route but leave it to others to work out how to get there. But when his mind was settled on a policy, or when he felt a proposed policy conflicted with his broad objective, he was not easily budged. So when he reached a specific agreement with Thatcher it stuck.
This approach to leadership fitted well with hers, given their respective offices. 'From the minute their eyes met,' according to [Michael] Deaver, 'there was an instant enjoyment on both their parts. They were delighted to see each other. They could hardly wait to sit down and get at it.' But this comradeship did not just happen. Thatcher worked at it. Reagan was more influenced by personal considerations. With Thatcher there was always the element of calculation, sometimes even of manipulation. For her the pleasures of friendship would never have been enough. She wanted to use the friendship to get specific results. That is hardly surprising. For almost every prime minister from Churchill on, it has been a major objective to influence the thinking of the president of the United States. For Britain the special relationship has meant a special opportunity to have an impact on American policy.
Because of the disparity in power between the two countries it is the attitude of the American president that ultimately counts. In the telling expression of McGeorge Bundy, the British prime minister 'always wants the meeting to last longer than announced.' When it runs over time that shows how close they are. It implies that the prime minister carries weight. As a general rule it is the prime minister who is eager to exercise influence over the president rather than the other way round, because American policy matters so much more to Britain than British policy matters to the United States.
In the case of Reagan and Thatcher, she therefore stood to gain more and was the more assertive. That is why the story of their relationship is so much one of her exercising her powers of persuasion upon him. First, when it was an issue of much greater importance to Britain than the United States. The Falklands, Northern Ireland and the Laker case are obvious examples. In these instances Reagan decided that it was more important to help her than to avoid minor embarrassments for his administration.
Second, when the administration was itself divided -- SDI and the ABM Treaty, Mozambique and disarmament policy after Reykjavik are cases in point. A Thatcher intervention with the President was always a powerful instrument in the ceaseless battle over policy in Washington, but it was all the more effective when she could be guided as to the appropriate time for its delivery and when it could be backed by supporting evidence. Washington departments and agencies were well aware of this and would try to bring her into play whenever they thought she was likely to take their side of the debate.
Third, when Reagan could be convinced that a particular course was necessary here and now, even though it conflicted with his long-term aspirations. This occurred most frequently when he was induced to continue the policy of nuclear deterrence because it was not possible to have a nuclear-free world just yet.
Thatcher was never able to talk him out of that dream, try as she might. She was able to get his agreement simply to preserving Western strength in the meantime. Nor did she make any impression when she tried to get him to cut the budget deficit: that required decisions which he was not prepared to make. Where his mind was fixed on a fundamental point she was no more successful than anybody else in getting him to budge. Her sway was not unlimited. She could manouevre him on a number of questions, but he was not to be programmed.
Reagan affected her in return, but her actions rather than her thinking. It is doubtful if she agreed with him either over Libya or over flouting the International Court on the mining of Nicaraguan ports. She repressed her misgivings on the INF agreement. She recognized that friendship has its obligations. She knew that if she were to be his most reliable friend, she would not only have to back him on some tough issues. She would also have to keep quiet on others. She said little in public on Central America. She maintained a tight-lipped silence on Irangate for nearly a years before the news broke.
'It was a valuable coincidence of history,' she claims, 'that Ron Reagan and I were in power at the same time.' But what would have happened differently if they had not been? Thatcher's premiership might have lasted no longer than three years instead of breaking all records this century. If a different president had been less supportive over the Falklands -- and Reagan himself was not short of contrary advice -- that war might have been lost and she would have been out.
Without Reagan, Thatcher would never have been able to cut the same figure on the world stage. At meetings of EC leaders she was time and again in the minority, frequently of one. At Commonwealth Prime Ministers' conferences she was battling against the rest, most often over South African sanctions. Her lone stand won a fair amount of admiration among the British electorate: 'Battling Maggie Fights for Britain Again.' Yet if it had not been for Reagan, people might well have begun to ask: 'Does anybody outside the United Kingdom have a good word for our Prime Minister?' Certainly, she would not have been seen as a person of international influence, somebody whose word carried weight in the major centres of power on the most momentous issues of our time.
Reagan without Thatcher would have lost something less tangible. It is true that another prime minister would have been most unlikely to allow the bases in Britain to be used in the Libyan raid, but the air strike would still have been made. It would have been rather more difficult, but its success would not have been jeopardised. Reagan's position would not have been undermined.
What he would have missed was the sense of partnership. He would have been a beleaguered figure at economic summits during at least his first term. He would not have enjoyed that role, and he would not have been impressive in it. Although renowned as the great communicator, he was not good in tough debate on substantive issues with his peers. He had a different quality. Reagan has the gift of projecting sincerity from a script he has barely mastered. It is the emotion and humanity of the man that come across. That made him superbly effective on great occasions. It did not help him to deal with the specific criticisms of other heads of government who did not share his doctrinal beliefs. Without Thatcher he would have been much more inclined to think of the allies as unfriendly and the world outside the United States as hostile territory. He would still have received the advice from within his own administration to open the dialogue with the Soviet Union. He would still have hoped for a new relationship with Moscow, because he would still have dreamt of banishing nuclear weapons from the world; but he might have been less responsive to the changes there. That could have meant more than a mere difference in timing and tone.
The 1980s will be seen as the decade of three people: Reagan, Gorbachev and Thatcher. Between them they represented the spirit of the times. The policies they pursued and interaction among them set international affairs on a new and more hopeful course. In their very different ways they combined to extend democracy and to make a market economy the mark of a successful state. Reagan and Thatcher did that by promoting market forces: Gorbachev did it by accepting the bankruptcy of the socialist system.
There were material factors that helped dictate this course, especially the internal failures of the Soviet empire. The personal factors mattered as well. Events would not have developed in quite the way they did had it not been for the burgeoning confidence between Reagan and Gorbachev; Thatcher's role in encouraging the two men to believe that they could do business with each other; and, not least, Thatcher's understanding of Reagan.
Thatcher could not have played her role without that understanding. Her international clout was increased immeasurably by the knowledge that on most issues she and the President of the United States moved along the same lines. That knowledge helped him, as well, politically and psychologically. No matter how powerful, resolute and relaxed a national leader may be, it is reassuring to find others proceeding in the same direction, especially if he particularly respects their judgment. His magnetism was matched by her determination.
So the partnership played no small role in the wider history of the decade. That may be too easily forgotten in the immediate reaction to the Reagan-Thatcher period. It provided the climax to the Anglo-American special relationship: a president who gave precedence to Britain's leader more unreservedly than at any time since the early years of the Second World War matched with a prime minister who gave absolute priority to the American connection. But was it the last hurrah of the special relationship?
It is hard to believe that there will ever again be an American president and a British prime minister who will form quite so close a personal association.
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Computer Glossary: The Complete Illustrated Dictionary (With CD-ROM)
||Author: Alan Freedman|
List Price: $29.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
Publisher: AMACOM (15 June, 2000)
Sales Rank: 123,910
Average Customer Rating: 3.83 out of 5
Customer ReviewsRating: 3 out of 5
Not Excellent, Not Worse
Buying this 458 pages, 9th Edition book is a better decision. The book is made with not superior paper, but its not bad at all. This is a great book but sometimes you will see that you can't find a word listed. For example, I can't find "software monitor", though they have listed hardware monitor. Then there are many words which are used in conjunction with databases like you cant find what is "pessimistic locking" and what is "optimistic". If anyone say that this book does not cover those topics to which I can't find the meanings and words, then I would say that why is the name of this book "The Computer Glossary. THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY". I think when it's written that it's a COMPLETE DICTIONARY, then it should be complete. On the other hand the book features thousands of the terms and words used and the thing is like about this book is that there are diagrams which are in good quality printing, not at every page but worth enough. The excellent part is that there is a Multimedia CD-ROM version attached in the end of the book, which works great. You can just type the word and you will instantly get the meaning in real time. And all the contents in the CD are exactly those as are in the book. So if you just install the CD you will not even need to open the book. The CD comes with great printing and copy features, which I was not expecting. You can capture full screen or particular text and print it from the inside of the software. Just click on a picture (also listed in CD) and it will automatically prompt for printing. There are many other cool features also which should that it was developed by keen interest. Overall this is a good book and especially the CD but if more terms can be added to it, it can become "the excellent book". Now I have listed the cons and pros, its up to you people there to buy it or not. Enjoy reading!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Could Be Better
As with any other computer terminology book I've browsed through, it seems that this book has terms that some others don't, and other books have some terms that this one doesn't. Also, another book will give a better definition of a certain term than this one may. Or vice versa. The solution...? If you really want to have as much of a database of comuter terms as possible, have two or more books. A book with the most definitions may not be the best, because the definitions may not be descriptive enough. so be careful! Keep in mind, new terms are coming out every day rendering the book obsolete. Finding a good website of computer terminology may be an additional method of finding what you need if it isn't in a book. The layman's language and general thouroughness of this book does make it a good choice.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Great to have around!
This is one of the most comprehensive glossaries around, I have seen nothing else for the price that even comes close. Every MIS shop should have one for quick reference.
· Encyclopedia of Technology Terms
· Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms
· Microsoft Computer Dictionary, Fifth Edition
· Desktop Encyclopedia of Telecommunications (Telecommunications)
· Computer Desktop Encylopedia, 9th Ed.
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Mayor Procop: The Old School Should Be Demolished
Mayor Katherine Procop said it would cost up to $8 million to properly rehabilitate the Old School.
Twinsburg Mayor Katherine Procop said Tuesday she believes the Old School should be demolished.
"It’s a really difficult thing to retrofit a building like that," Procop said after a group of residents came to support saving the Old School from demolition. "We have spent a lot of time, a lot of hours analyzing it. I am of the mindset that it needs to be demolished. It’s past its use."
No final decision on tearing it down has been made as city officials continue to gather information. City officials don't know yet how much it will cost to demolish the building.
Resident Michael Turle said the city should restore the building to save its past.
"This is important to me as a lifelong Twinsburg resident," he said. "I see this issue as being about more than just an old building. Its about Twinsburg’s past, present and future.
"It comes down to desire," Turle added. "Do we want to do something with this place or do we want to just knock it down? That’s a part of our history."
The Old School was built in 1920 and was Twinsburg's only school until the late 1950s. It was closed as a school in 1992.
More recently, it was used by Kent State University, but the university moved out of the building last year when the new campus opened. The Twinsburg Community Theatre has used the building, but the city hopes to move the theatre over to the old township hall on the other side of public square if the sale of that building goes through.
Twinsburg-based Pervanje Architects conducted a general condition and code compliance assessment of the building a few years ago. The assesment helps officials understand what fixes are needed to make the building leasable.
Planning and Development Director Larry Finch said the building has numerous problems that make it practically unfixable.
And even once millions of dollars are sunk into it, it would cost about $700,000 in annual maintenance costs, Finch said.
It also would be difficult to market for businesses and other commercial uses.
Only about 46 percent of the building was considered leasable, Finch said. Most buildings have about 75 percent leasable space.
Procop said the Old School has been a liability for the city for some time and it's time to move on.
"I know this is an emotional decision for a lot of people but we have to look at the future of the community, how we are going to spend our money and preserve our assets," Procop said.
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Company Engaged in Unlawful Age Discrimination, Including Refusing to Hire Older Workers, Federal Agency Charged
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Cavalier Telephone Company Inc. will pay $1 million and furnish other significant relief to settle an age discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
According to the EEOC’s suit, from around May 2003 and continuing, Cavalier Telephone’s mid-Atlantic region had a practice of not hiring applicants age 40 or older for sales account executive positions. The EEOC charged that Cavalier indicated both verbally and in writing that the company was looking for candidates for its sales positions who were “recent college graduates,” and in their “early 20s or 30s.” Cavalier offered its employees a $500 bonus for referral of a “friend’s younger brother and sister.” The EEOC alleged that as a result of the discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices, Cavalier maintained a work force that underrepresented people age 40 or older in its sales positions within its mid-Atlantic region. The company’s mid-Atlantic region includes five states – Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey – as well as Washington, D.C.
The EEOC’s complaint also included individual claims of retaliation against two former Cavalier Telephone employees. The complaint alleged that two former employees were demoted for complaining about the company’s discriminatory hiring practices. One of the demoted employees resigned from Cavalier while the other continued to complain about age discrimination and was ultimately fired, the EEOC charged.
Age discrimination violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). Persons age 40 or older are protected from employment discrimination by the act. It is also unlawful under the ADEA to retaliate against an employee who complains about age discrimination because of his or her complaint. The EEOC filed suit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Cavalier Telephone Company, Inc.; Civil Action No. 3:10-cv-664 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
Pursuant to the consent decree resolving the litigation, Cavalier agreed to pay $1 million in monetary relief. The money will be distributed to the two individuals who were allegedly retaliated against for complaining about the discriminatory practices and to a class of individuals age 40 or older who, the EEOC determined, were not hired because of their age.
“Cavalier Telephone’s hiring practices penalized older applicants simply because of their age and that is illegal,” said EEOC General Counsel P. David Lopez. “I am pleased that we were able to work out a resolution of this suit that provides relief for the victims of discrimination and brings the company’s practices into compliance with the law.”
“We brought this lawsuit to advance everyone’s legal right to a workplace free of age bias,” said Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District Office, which oversees litigation filed by the agency in Virginia. “Stereotypes concerning the abilities of older workers often lead companies to make discriminatory hiring decisions. This lawsuit and settlement will serve as a reminder to all employers that companies must make employment decisions based on an applicant’s ability to perform the job, not his or her age.”
In addition to the monetary relief, the three-year consent decree resolving this case provides significant injunctive relief covering Cavalier Telephone’s locations in its mid-Atlantic region. For example, the decree:
The decree also requires Cavalier to provide jobs to qualified applicants age 40 or older who were denied hire because of the alleged discriminatory hiring practices.
According to its website, Richmond, Va.-based Cavalier Telephone is a full-service provider of telecommunication services for residential and business customers. In December 2010, after this lawsuit was filed, Cavalier was acquired by PAETEC and now the combined companies deliver telecommunication services in 86 of the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the United States.
The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget offers more detail on how school districts will compete for the $75 million in competitive education reform grants.
In his State of the State address Jan. 9, Cuomo announced that he planned to implement some of the initiatives recommended by his Education Reform Commission. School leaders and advocacy groups have largely lauded the governor’s commitment to expanding pre-kindergarten programs, extending the school day or year and establishing community schools, among other programs.
He pledged $75 million to these initiatives in his budget proposal—$25 million to establishing full-day pre-K for high-need districts; $20 million for extended the school day or year in qualifying districts; $15 million for community schools, where students will get health care and other services additional to schooling; $11 million to rewarding high-performing teachers; and $4 million for early college high schools.
According to Cuomo’s budget legislation, any districts applying for these competitive grants must have a teacher evaluation system in place. New York City Department of Education, the state’s largest district, failed to reach an agreement with its union, the United Federation of Teachers, by a Jan. 17 deadline, resulting in the loss of state aid.
For the pre-K funds, districts will submit proposals to state Education Commissioner John King that either establish new full-day programs or expand existing half-day programs. The school days must be at least five hours long.
The legislation does not specify who will evaluate the applications. No district can get more than 40 percent of the grant funds.
Planning and implementation grants to extend instructional time will be doled out by a three-person panel comprised of King, as well as an agency head and an expert in extended learning time, both appointed by the governor.
Qualifying districts would extend instructional time by 25 percent, either district-wide or in selected school buildings. The grant award will equal the average daily attendance in extended time multiplied by the expected cost per pupil.
Again, no single district may be awarded more than 40 percent of the funding.
Under Cuomo’s plan, the state Council on Children and Families would be tasked with creating a plan for building community schools. The council will solicit applications from school districts—either single districts or a consortium of nearby school districts—and decide how much should be provided to each.
No one school districts may receive more than 40 percent of the total award, and the maximum amount one site may receive is $500,000. The award will be paid out in set percentages over a period of time based on achievement of performance benchmarks.
The timeline is to be determined by the council, but the money will be to launch these programs during the 2013-14 school year.
The master-teacher initiative, which would provide $15,000 grants to strong teachers for four years, excludes New York City teachers. Under the proposed law, only math and science teachers or those “in related fields” would be eligible, and teachers must get a “highly effective” rating under the new teacher evaluations.
The teachers receiving stipends would be required to participate in professional development for less-experienced teachers.
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On April 12, 2005, PETA and PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc., announced an agreement that advanced animal welfare across the country. PETA agreed to end its campaign against the national pet food and supply retailer and PETCO agreed to end the sale of large birds in its stores.
The terms of the agreement were as follows:
PETCO will end the sale of large birds in the company's stores. Upon completion of the sale of the limited number currently in stock and those previously purchased from suppliers, PETCO will no longer offer large birds. The company will continue to work with its shelter partners to help those groups adopt not only dogs and cats, but to adopt homeless birds of all sizes as part of PETCO's established "Think Adoption First" program. Think Adoption First encourages anyone who is considering adding a companion animal to his or her family to consider adoption first before making a purchase. PETA intends to assist PETCO in enlisting accredited bird rescue groups to work with the company in its in-store adoption program. PETCO will also recommend and promote flight cages for all birds. The company recognizes that birds—like all animals—need exercise and mental and psychological stimulation in order to be healthy and happy.
PETA will end its boycott of PETCO and its protests at the company's stores. In agreeing to end its campaign against PETCO, PETA will take down its PETCOCruelty.com Web site, remove all references to "PETNO" on all sites affiliated with the organization, and withdraw its support of the use of the "PETNO" logo by other groups.
"We believe that all birds should have the freedom to fly and be with others of their own kind, but large birds are exceptionally hard hit by captivity, and we commend PETCO for deciding to help discourage their lifetime confinement," said PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "We hope other responsible retailers follow PETCO's lead in this regard."
"We welcome the opportunity to work with PETA as we announce ending the sale of large birds as one of several progressive steps we are taking in our industry-leading efforts," said Bruce C. Hall, PETCO president and chief operating officer and president of the nonprofit PETCO Foundation. "We recognize that most of our bird customers are what we would call 'beginning hobbyists.' Large birds are not necessarily appropriate for these individuals due to their long lifespan, size and care requirements."
PETCO also agreed to make some changes to benefit rats and mice, including separating the animals by gender to prevent breeding.
If you have concerns about a PETCO store, please—in addition to letting us know by e-mailing EmilyA@peta.org—call PETCO's customer hotline at 1-888-824-PALS or e-mail PETCO at AnimalsFirst@petco.com. For after-hours complaints, please call PETCO at 858-453-7845, extension 5858. When calling PETCO's hotline, please be sure to obtain an incident number and ask for the name of the person you speak withAn important note for current PETCO employees: An associate hotline number is available to you. The number should be posted in your store's break room or easily obtainable from training materials, paycheck stubs, etc. PETCO's corporate office assures PETA that calls to this hotline are handled by an independent party and that you are not required to provide your name when calling with concerns. It is vital that you obtain an incident number when you call. Please do not let anyone dissuade you from using this important resource—it is your direct line to PETCO's corporate headquarters.
Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights? Read more.
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This educator stands among the first in his state and in his race. He came into Louisiana from Mississippi twenty-seven years ago, after graduating from the following schools: High School, Livingston, Miss., and Alcorn College, Alcorn, Miss. In addition to completed work at these two schools he has spent six or more sessions doing post work in Northern schools, frequently being the only Negro in his classes, but always "holding his own," reflecting credit on his race.
The Home Mission Society of New York and the Women's Home Mission Society of Boston, Mass., conferred a signal honor upon Professor Coleman when they jointly elected him to represent the Negro educationally of four Southern States, viz., Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas, in Northern Conventions held in the states of Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, respectively.
Brother Coleman's paramount contribution to the Baptist cause in the state is an interesting Christian family and Coleman College, one of the leading Negro Baptist institutions in the South. This school is his life work. It is a big demonstration of what a man can do when he finds HIS job, gets on it, and Coleman-like stays on it with a dogged determination until he wins out.
His wife, Mrs. Mattie A. Coleman, stood by him with Spartan courage as he labored on through frost and snow, through encouragements and discouragements, through well days and sick days in the accomplishment of his great work. The oldest son of this noted educator is at this writing a student of Medicine at Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C., and his eldest daughter is pursuing higher studies at Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn. As a testimonial of the work and worth of this great man Leland University has honored him with the M. A. degree.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Reformed Reader Home Page
Copyright 1999, The Reformed Reader, All Rights Reserved
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Quay junk to be sucked away
An artist's impression of how the Pneumatic Waste Conveyance System would work.
A pneumatic waste disposal system could suck garbage down large chutes from buildings on Elizabeth Quay and carry it to a central collection point.
The City of Perth and the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority are considering the system as a way to deal with waste and minimise the number of trucks travelling into the area.
Buildings would be provided with rubbish deposit inlets at appropriate places on each floor and litter bins within the public open space areas would also be connected to the system.
At defined points of time, the underground storage areas would be emptied by vacuum and the waste would be transferred along an underground pipeline at a speed of more than 80 kilometres an hour, up to a distance of 1.6 kilometres from the inlet to receiving station.
From there the material would be separated and transferred into a compactor bin where it would be collected by trucks.
Locations for a potential waste receiving station are yet to be identified.
While the system aims to reduce the number of trucks in the area, the truck collection of waste would not be entirely redundant as bulky items would still need to be collected in the conventional way.
Similar systems have been used in Europe, Asia and America with some systems having been in used since the early 1970s.
It is understood that if such a system was adopted the City of Perth would seek a joint funding arrangement with the state government to cover the cost of it.
The system is expected to cost between $15 million and $18 million to create with an annual operating cost of up to $500,000.
City of Perth councillors voted to support ongoing discussion on the proposal at a meeting earlier this month.
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Destination: Austria: Vienna
SEE ALSO: Day trips: Schönbrunn.
The performances at the Burgtheater—known to serious theatergoers simply as “Die Burg,” and considered one of the most acclaimed stages in Europe—are in German. But Klimt fans should take the forty-five-minute backstage tour to see the two ceiling murals the twenty-six-year-old artist created with his brother, Ernst, and fellow painter Franz Matsch from 1886-1888. Klimt’s opinion of the finished work was rather harsh (he famously called it Schweinsdreck, which translates to pig dirt), surely in part because Emperor Franz Joseph insisted upon a self-portrait of the artist. If you’re standing under the panel that depicts Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre—the murals portray well-known playhouses and scenes from plays—look for an audience member wearing a white ruffled collar. It was the first, and last, time Klimt depicted himself in one of his works. Tours in English are available Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 3 P.M., and cost $8.
Austria’s oldest and largest auction house, the Dorotheum was founded by Emperor Joseph I in 1707; today, there are several branches. Its headquarters in a large palais in the Dorotheergasse is a wonderful place to visit if you’re interested in antiques. Weekly auctions focus on a variety of goods, from Biedermeier furniture and fur coats to Baroque paintings and antique jewelry, which are exhibited in advance. Items that are not sold at auction automatically go into the Dorotheum’s permanent sales exhibits, and these floors are of particular interest for bargain hunters, as items are sold at a fraction of their estimated value.
Since being privatized in 2001, the Dorotheum has been openly addressing its ugly role during the Third Reich (Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938), when possessions belonging to thousands of deported Jews were auctioned off. The new management has realized that a key component of moving into the future is recognizing this terrible chapter (in 2006, a payment of $32 million, as a “General Restitution Fund for the Victims of National Socialism,” was issued), and today, a department researches the provenance of every object sold here.
TIP: If you’re interested in jewelry, skip the displays of new, well-known brands sold on the upper floors and head to the bargain basement. Here, pieces that have been on display for a long time are discounted even more, and you can discover real treasures; on a recent visit I found an Art Nouveau enamel brooch and a beautifully crafted amber ring. Touring the Dorotheum is free of charge. Closed Sunday.
Imperial Palace (Hofburg)
This huge, sprawling complex—home to the Hapsburg royal family until 1918—includes an embarrassment of riches, like the Treasury and Museum of Ethnology, the Spanish Riding School, Imperial Court Chapel and National Library. There are also the Imperial Apartments and Sissi Museum. Depending on whom you ask, the Hofburg also encompasses the Kunsthistorische and Naturhistorische museums, though they are located across the Ring boulevard (near the MuseumsQuartier).
Guide Diane Naar-Elphee, who has been based in Vienna for some thirty years, says an insider tip is visiting the Hofburg on Sunday morning: “You start the day at the Imperial Court Chapel, where the Vienna Boys’ Choir perform every Sunday at 9:15 a.m. Mass lets out right before the performance of the Spanish Riding School at 11 a.m., so you can watch the horses and costumed riders crossing the road between the stables and the riding school. Then, if you’re in the mood for more classical music, there are free concerts at 11 a.m., mostly of classical liturgical works of Mozart, Schubert, Haydn et al, in the Augustinerkirche, one of the most beautiful churches in Vienna.”
Occupying the former Imperial Stables, the MuseumsQuartier was much applauded when it opened in 2001, as it added a healthy dose of contemporary chic to Vienna’s somewhat traditional museum scene. Today it houses a vibrant collection of museums, including the Leopold, Museum of Modern Art and Zoom Children’s Museum. It’s a huge complex with good restaurants and cafés, including Milo and Café Halle. There are also several gift shops, particularly MQ Point and Kunsthalle, that carry the work of local designers.
State Hall (National Library)
This State Hall was commissioned by Emperor Charles VI to house[rep] the court library, but it’s the 15,000-volume collection of Prince Eugene of Savoy, whose summer palais now contains the Belvedere, that makes it one of the world’s most extensive historical libraries. The space is pure Baroque splendor, with colorful ceiling frescoes, marble statues and nutwood bookcases lining the walls of this 18th-century gem. Don’t miss it when visiting the Hofburg. Closed Monday.
This museum is located in the oldest part of the Hofburg, which dates to the 13th century. One of the world’s most important imperial treasuries, the Schatzkammer holds such invaluable pieces as the gemstone-studded emperor’s crown, from the latter part of the tenth century, and the enameled Austrian emperor’s crown—embellished with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and pearls—from 1602. There are also artfully sculpted gold and silver tableware sets, used by the royal family at state functions (they even took them on trips when hosting dinners abroad). Note how the oversized centerpieces were strategically arranged so that dinner guests could not see across the table and were forced to speak to those sitting beside them.
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|Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute||Home|
This unit takes the form of a five-week intensive survey of those individuals who, over the course of the United States’ history as a free country, have advocated social and political reform by exercising the right to free speech. Due to the timeless quality of the readings chosen to illustrate these lessons, I believe this unit will work well not only with my own ninth-grade English classes, but with almost any high school American literature or history class. This course is not comprehensive, that is to say some significant American reformers and activists are left out. Therefore, it is my hope that teachers intending to integrate this unit into their own curriculum do not follow it to the letter, but take from it what they believe will pique the curiosities of their respective learners, and add their own choices for readings and viewings based on their own personal interests and areas of knowledge. The challenge in teaching this unit is making students who would be otherwise reluctant or apathetic become interested and invested in our nation’s political process. By combating the twin evils of apathy and ignorance, teachers can help defeat those who wish to subvert the spirit of popular sovereignty. As Jimmy Carter once said, “[We] ought to remember the oath that Thomas Jefferson and others took when they practically signed their own death warrant, writing the Declaration of Independence -- to preserve justice and equity and freedom and fairness, they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.” It is just this sort of sentiment that this unit hopes to instill in students.
(Recommended for American Literature and History, grades 9-12)
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A guardianship is a court case in which a person who is not the parent of a child asks for custody of the child, the power to manage the child’s property, or both. There are two types of guardianships. Most cases go to the Probate Court. But if the child is a dependent or ward of the juvenile court, guardianship must be decided in Juvenile Court.
Click here to watch videos containing general information about guardianships.
What do I need to begin a guardianship?
- General Guardianship Packet
- General Guardianship Chart
- Temporary Guardianship Packet
- Temporary Guardianship Chart
- Serving Your Guardianship
Where can I get help filling out the guardianship petition?
You may be eligible for legal assistance through the Public Service Law Corporation (PSLC) or the Guardianship Assistance Program (GAP). You may contact them at 951.682.7968 (Riverside), 951.244.2920 (Mid-County), or 760.347.9456 (Indio).
What if the child may have Native American Ancestry?
- National List of Federally-Recognized Tribes
- List of Southern California Tribal Leaders
- Information Sheet
What are Probate Notes and why they are important to your case?
How to contact a Probate Examiner regarding Probate Notes
After reviewing the probate notes on the website, you may contact the probate examiner by calling the clerk's office at 951.777.3147 and request to speak with an examiner. You can also email a probate examiner. (Email is checked daily and you should receive a response within 24 hours)
However, keep in mind the examiner may only speak with you regarding procedure. Examiners may not give legal advice or advise you how to handle your matter.
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Terrorists: they’re just like us! They use message boards to communicate and organize. Before, these message board were largely free of “first!!!1″ and painstakingly detailed ASCII art, but perhaps no more. Now, according to Wired, participants in the U.S. government’s “Viral Peace” program are prepared to fight for freedom the American way: with trolling, naturally.
Perhaps not since To Catch a Predator has Internet vigilantism seemed so entertaining. Shahed Amanullah, senior technology advisor to the State Department, developed the program to address the world of online terrorism and fill what he recognizes as a void in US counterterrorism strategies. Read More
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The Columbarium: a San Francisco Treat |
At the end of a cul-de-sac in San Franciscos Richmond District is an almost hidden columbarium (a vault with niches for urns containing ashes of the dead). Built in 1897 for the Odd Fellows, it originally was surrounded by a 167 acre cemetery and crematorium. Changes in San Francisco law forced the removal of the cemetery and crematorium and in 1934, the Columbarium was abandoned and fell into disrepair but allowed to remain.
In 1979 it was obtained by the Neptune Society of Northern California and thankfully has been considerably restored. The original Columbarium has 8,500 niches. The ground floor contains approximately 2,400 niches, the first floor 2,500, and the second and third floors approximately 1,800 each, with a total of more than 8,500. Note, the original Columbarium has a few vacancies, perhaps twenty, but reservations are required.
| ||An available niche in the original Columbarium. This is one of the few high-end niches available there. Notice the scallop shell symbol on the ceiling of the niche.
In 2011, construction began on three new niche facilities with the Hall of Olympians opening in 2012, and two other niche facilities, Hall of Titans, and the Hall of Heroes to follow. The three new three Halls will contain 5,300 niches, adding to the existing 8,500 niches within the Columbarium.
Click Image for Larger Version
Photographs by Patty Sokolecki-Smoot & Frederick Smoot. This website is not affiliated with the Neptune Society.
Neptune Society Columbarium
One Loraine Court • San Francisco, CA 94118
Columbarium Grounds Map
Open to the Public.
Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day
Californios Home Page
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The Grundy County Sheriff's Office will participate in a project with the Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) which is promoting traffic safety in Grundy County.
Sheriff's deputies conducted a seat belt survey this past week and a seatbelt usage rate of 93% was recorded for front seat occupants.
The weekend of March 14 thru March 17 will be the Iowa 'Special Traffic Enforcement Program' (sTEP). Grundy County officers will be looking specifically for seat belt and child restraint violations, along with excessive speed, stop sign violations and alcohol/drug usage.
The Sheriff noted the above period includes the St Patrick's Day weekend.
The sTEP (special Traffic Enforcement Programs) are funded by a grant from the Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau.
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Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, KCIE (August 4, 1845 - November 5, 1915) was a Parsi Indian political leader, activist, and a leading lawyer of Bombay (now Mumbai), India, who was knighted by the British Government in India for his service to the law. His political ideology was, as was the case with most of the Indian leaders of his time, moderate. Hence, he was not directly opposed to the British Crown's sovereignty, but only demanded more autonomy for Indians to self-rule.
He became the Municipal commissioner of Bombay Municipality in 1873 and its President four times - 1884, 1885, 1905 and 1911.
He was chosen the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890.
Early life
Graduating from the Elphinstone College in 1864 he passed the M.A. examination, with honours, six months later, being the first Parsi to have obtained a Master's degree from the University of Mumbai. He later went to England to study law at Lincoln's Inn in London.
In 1868 he returned to India and was admitted to the bar, and soon established a practice for himself in a profession which was till then dominated by British lawyers.
It was during a legal defence of Arthur Crawford that he pointed out the need for reforms in the Bombay municipal government. Later, he drafted the Bombay Municipal Act of 1872, and is thus considered the father of Bombay Municipality.
Eventually, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta left his law practice to join politics.
When the Bombay Presidency Association was established in 1885, Pherozeshah Mehta became its president, and remained so for the rest of his years. He encouraged Indians to obtain western education and embrace its culture to uplift India. He contributed to many social causes for education, sanitation and health care in the city and around India.
Pherozeshah Mehta was nominated to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1887 and in 1893 a member of the Imperial Legislative Council. In 1894, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) and was appointed a Knight Commander (KCIE) in 1904.
In 1910, he started Bombay Chronicle, an English-language weekly newspaper, which became an important nationalist voice of its time, and an important chronicler of the political upheavals of a volatile pre-independent India.
He saw through the British tactics of binding Parsi loyalty to the crown, by repeatedly making Parsis feel superior by showering them with decorations and praise, as by 1946 as many as 63 Parsis had been knighted. In his presidential address to Indian National Congress, he once said: "In speaking of myself as a native of this country, I am not unaware that, incredible as it may seem, Parsis have been both called and invited and allured to call themselves, foreigners."
Pherozeshah Mehta died on November 5, 1915, in Bombay.
A portrait of Pherozeshah Mehta at the Indian Parliament House, shows his importance in the making of the nation. He was known as the Lion of Bombay. In Mumbai, even today Sir Pherozeshah Mehta is a much revered man, there are roads, halls and law colleges named after him. He is respected as an important inspiration for young Indians of the era, his leadership of India's bar and legal profession, and for laying the foundations of Indian involvement in political activities and inspiring Indians to fight for more self-government.
In Mehta's lifetime, few Indians had discussed or embraced the idea of full political independence from Britain. As one of the few people who espoused involvement of the activity of Indians in politics, he was nicknamed Ferocious Mehta."
Books and references to Pherozeshah Mehta
- Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, a Political Biography - Homi Mody. New York, Asia Pub. House, 1963.
- Sir Pherozeshah Mehta - Hormasji Peroshaw Mody. New Delhi, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (1967, ©1963)
- Life and times of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta - V S Srinivasa Sastri, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1975.
- Pherozeshah Mehta : Socio-political ideology - S R Bakshi. New Delhi, Anmol Publications, 1991.
- Sir Pherozeshah Mehta memorial volume - Godrej N Dotivala. Bombay : Mayor's Fund Committee, 1990.
- Pherozeshah Mehta : maker of modern India -Nawaz B Mody. Allied Publishers, 1997.
- Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, a sketch of his life and career. (Spanish) Madras, G.A. Natesan 1916.
- Some unpublished & later speeches & writings of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta - POO. Jeejeebhoy. Commercial Press, 1918.
- Ten Indian Biographies, in Hindi - Surendra Sharma; Avadha Upadhyaya; Lakshminidhi Chaturvedi; P S Verma; P N Ojha; Janakosharan Verma; Ganesha Datta Gaur. Prayaga, Hindi Press, 1930.
See also
- Mehta Biography
- History The Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC)
- Political figures
- Great Minds - The Tribune, Sunday, January 30, 2000
- Rajya Sabha
- Presidents of Indian National Congress
- Sir Pherozeshah Mehta - A biography
- Role of Press in India's struggle for Freedom
- Parsi Pioneers of modern India
- Portraits-Rajya Sabha
|Wikisource has the text of a 1922 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Pherozeshah Mehta.|
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I found The Wolf: How One German Raider Terrorized the Allies in the Most Epic Voyage of WWI (by Richard Guilliatt & Peter Hohnen) pretty worthy of the attention it received last year on various book lists.
If you couldn’t figure out from the subheading, The Wolf tells the story of a German Raider during WWI that stayed at sea for over a year consecutively, mining enemy territories, surviving entirely off of ships it took and serving as a prison for those it captured. I found the book to be fascinating and plowed through it in just a couple sittings. This history text could easily be a thrilling novel, but the factual basis just makes it that much better.
The book is a very human respective of the events through the eyes of those on board. We are told the individual stories of quite a few of the passengers, mostly the various prisoners. The authors allow us to live aboard the ship with them; we know their helplessness as they are captured, their dire living situation, their relationships, conflicts & petty dramas with other passengers, their hunger as the ship is low on resources, their hope for returning home, but the bleakness they feel when it seems unlikely. We also have an intimate look at the ship’s Captain and several other crew members. As easy as it would be to paint the captors as evil, brutal men to fit the “bad guys” role for contrast to the prisoners, but the authors take great pains to keep the story intellectually honest and give us insight into their lives as well. We hear the logistical issues they faced carrying so many prisoners, their longing for home, and the relationships they forged with some of the captured. This book is mainly the story of all these people together.
This great insight was achieved through diligent research by the authors. The voyage of the raider is fairly well known historically because many of the passengers — both those taken prisoner and those of the crew — went on to write about their experiences aboard the ship. However, those stories are unsurprisingly heavy with bias depending on the writer (some was used as German propaganda, while the tales from prisoners are understandably less flattering) which made them dubious sources when taken by themselves. For The Wolf, authors Guilliatt and Hohnen have pieced together the story based on not only from these previously published books, but also personal letters, diaries and other evidence, and interviews with the surviving families of passengers. They have made great efforts to make sure that the journey we take into the lives of these people is an accurate one.
However, the book is not just all about the people on board, and it doesn’t just read like a bunch of diaries. It is also about naval warfare and the role of raiders, about wartime propaganda, and the political climate for countries during the first World War.
For those interested in military or navel history, The Wolf describes the technical aspects of the ship in detail. We know how the ship looked, how it was disguised, what guns it carried, and how it functioned. The book has maps and diagrams that show us the path the ship traveled, where it overtook other ships, and the places it mined. On the political front, The Wolf also talks quite a bit about the political scenarios going on simultaneously to the raider’s path of destruction. It focuses in detail on the propaganda and censure-ship that allowed this voyage to continue unnoticed for so long, as countries blamed the disappearing ships and known sinkings to natural causes and internal sabotage. It also addressed the witch hunts for these supposed saboteurs that resulted in the internment of men and women of German origin or descent, particular in Australia.
Someone already familiar with military history might not find any of this information to be new, but for someone who has only heard of it in passing (or not at all), these things paint a very vivid image of the raider and the events along its voyage and the impact it had on the world at war. However, even if you have heard this story before — and especially if you haven’t — I highly recommend this book as a valuable and exciting piece of history.
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War of 1812 license plates for D.C., too?
The state of Maryland, to some consternation, has chosen to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 in license-plate form -- an issue I explore in some depth in my not-a-column this week. A similar token may soon be available to District residents.
Like Maryland, the District also has a War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission. But while Maryland's commission is well funded and operates with the imprimatur of Gov. Martin O'Malley, the D.C. commission is a grassroots effort.
And like its Maryland counterpart, D.C.'s bicentennial commission is looking to use license plates to commemorate the "forgotten war." Unlike Marylanders, the people of the District can have some input on the process. The D.C. commission is sponsoring an art contest to come up with a suitable design. The winner gets $200.
What historical material do aspiring plate designers have to work with? Less than a month before the unsuccessful siege of Baltimore in September 1812, you'll recall, redcoats torched the White House, Capitol and other buildings. It was pretty much a rout. Good luck, folks.
Acqunetta Anderson, the commission's chair, says the final design will have to be approved by the District Department of Motor Vehicles. While the Maryland plate is now standard-issue, the D.C. plate would an optional plate available at extra charge, Anderson says.
Illustration: Engraving of "The taking of the city of Washington in America," Library of Congress
June 17, 2010; 5:15 PM ET
Categories: The District
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The comments to this entry are closed.
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A Better Big Mac Index and a McDonald’s a Day
McDonald’s hopes to double its location growth in China to a restaurant a day, while fattening up its currently meagre franchise business there.
“We should be opening a restaurant every day in the next three to four years” in China, Peter Rodwell, company president for Asia excluding Japan, Australia and New Zealand, said in an interview in Singapore today. “We’re now opening a restaurant every other day.”
McDonald’s franchised outlets in China may account for as much as 20 percent of the total within six years, Rodwell said, as the hamburger chain aims to increase its stores from 1,300 to 2,000 by 2013. While its website says more than 75 percent of restaurants worldwide are operated by franchisees, only six McDonald’s shops in the world’s most-populous nation are franchised, said Vivian Zhang, a Shanghai-based spokeswoman ….
McDonald’s “needs to get everything right at the very beginning before going ahead on a large scale” with regard to franchising in China, Michelle Chen, a Shanghai-based analyst with KGI Asia Ltd., said in a phone interview today. “A common issue with franchising in China is that franchisees want quick money and don’t have the same capability as the corporate for running a business.”
Meanwhile, changes to The Economist’s famed Big Mac Index should discourage its abuse by US politicians attacking China’s currency policy. The index previously suggested that the yuan was seriously undervalued against the dollar. But, as China Real Time reports:
“It was never intended as a precise gauge of currency misalignment,” the Economist said in an article on Friday. Yet to the magazine’s dismay, “American politicians have even cited the index in their demands for a big appreciation of the Chinese yuan.”
… [The] new Big Mac index, which adjusts for GDP per capita, … takes into account the lower costs in poorer countries. As the magazine notes, China’s average income is one-tenth what it is in the U.S., meaning China’s burgers really ought to be substantially cheaper.
New York Senator and prominent yuan critic Chuck Schumer might want to make sure he’s sitting down before he checks out the Economist’s results, which show that on this basis the yuan is actually overvalued against the dollar by 3%. Against a group of various currencies, the yuan is still figured to be undervalued by 7%. which the Economist says is “hardly grounds for a trade war.”
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The American Health Quality Association
represents Quality Improvement
Organizations (QIOs) and professionals working to improve the quality of health
care in communities across America. QIOs share information about best practices
with physicians, hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and others. Working together with health care
providers, QIOs identify opportunities and provide assistance for improvement.
More about AHQA
NEW! JAMA paper ties QIO work to reduced hospital readmissions
A study in the January 23 issue of the Journal
of the American Medical Association (JAMA) associates the efforts of QIOs with a marked decrease in hospital readmissions. The study shows that QIO-coordinated efforts to organize diverse stakeholders in communities is a promising strategy to address care transitions and reduce readmissions.
1776 I Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
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The name “orangutan” literally translates into English as “man of the forest”. It comes from Malay and Bahasa Indonesian orang (man) and hutan (forest).
Orangutans are extremely intelligent creatures who clearly have the ability to reason and think. Their similarity to us is uncanny. Baby orangutans cry when they’re hungry, whimper when they’re hurt and smile at their mothers. They express emotions just like we do: joy, fear, anger, surprise… it’s all there. If you take a few minutes and watch an orangutan, you’ll swear they’re just like us. And they kind of are…
Orangutans are large, but in general are quite gentle. Large males can be aggressive, but for the most part they keep to themselves. They are uniquely arboreal – living their lives quietly up in the trees away from predators… and only descending to the forest floor when they must. Were it not for the occasional squealing of a baby or calling out of a big male, you would hardly even know they were there. They don’t bother anyone. They don’t want anything to do with us. They’re too busy getting on with their lives.
Local Indonesian mythology has it that orangutans actually have the ability to speak, but choose not to, fearing they would be forced to work if were they ever caught. Legends aside, even if this were the case, who could blame them?
Where are the orangutans?
In prehistoric times, orangutans lived throughout Asia– roaming as far north as China. Today deforestation and the spread of humans have limited the untouched rainforest to a few remaining areas in Borneo and Sumatra. It is only on these two islands that there are large enough forest areas to sustain a viable breeding population of orangutans. But even here the forest is rapidly disappearing. During the last 50 years their habitat has been eaten away by urban growth, plantations and farmland. The spreading of oil palm plantations – unless it is stopped – could spell the end of all wild orangutans…
Orangutans are divided into two different subspecies. In general, Borneans are slightly smaller in size and have darker hair than their Sumatran cousins. The Bornean subspecies is further divided into several distinct geographic types. The orangutan is the only non-human great ape left in Asia, but due to all the threats against them their chances of survival is quickly diminishing.
While exact numbers are unknown, one thing is for sure: the number of orangutans in the wild is decreasing drastically. In Sumatra the latest calculations show that orangutan numbers have been reduced from 12,000 in 1993 to only about 6,500 today. In Borneo fewer than 35,000 orangutans are believed to remain.
Below you can find some facts about orangutans and forests. Remember that the numbers are estimates. Exact figures are hard to come by.
Average height standing up:
Male 4 1/2 feet; Female 3 1/2 feet.
Their arms are much longer than their legs.
The arm span for large males can be up to 8 feet.
Adult male 200 to 250+ lbs., Adult female 100 – 150 lbs.
On average, females are 1/3 to 1/2 the size of males
Estimated 35-40 years in the wild, into their 50s in captivity– depending on diet and exercise.
Number of babies:
One at a time, every 6 or 7 years, perhaps as many as 4 or 5 total.
Infants never leave their mothers.
Babies nurse until they are about 6 or 7 years old. They have the longest dependence of any animal on earth.
Young males begin to break away from their mothers after they, themselves, reach puberty. Females stay with their mothers longer, often learning child-rearing skills from her.
Grown males live alone while females live with their young.
Even though they reach puberty at about 8 years old, a female isn’t physiologically ready to have her own baby until she’s in her teens.
Their diet consists of bark, leaves, flowers, a variety of insects, and most importantly, several hundred types of fruit. They can eat fruit which we would consider unripe, giving them an advantage over other fruits eaters.
Babies need to learn to recognize hundreds of species of plants and trees – which ones are edible, and how to consume them, which ones to avoid. Some orangutan favorites are very difficult to eat because they are protected by sharp spines, husks and shells. Young orangutans need to be taught how to extract the fruit.
Orangutans can be said to have 4 hands, as they are equally capable with both their hands and feet.
They are physically built for life in the trees. Walking on the ground can be somewhat slow and awkward for them. It may appear humorous to us, but imagine how we would look trying to get around in the trees. They are at a great disadvantage on the ground, so they rarely come down from the treetops. Predators – including humans – are on the ground. In essence, everything they need to live is up there, so why come down?
Sexually mature males have a large throat sac, which is used to make a very distinct sound: known as the ‘long call’. Sort of like a lion’s roar, this bellowing groan echoes through the forest and is used by males to let females know they are there or warn other males to keep away. Mature males also have a distinct set of large cheekpads, which are believed to help their long call resonate throughout the forest canopy.
Orangutans make their home high up in the trees and build new nests each night out of leaves and branches.
Males live solitary lives until they find females who are ready to mate. The couples stay together for several days in order to ensure a successful mating. Afterwards, the males disappear back into their solitude.
Due to their large size, males are often too heavy to travel in the higher (thinner) branches. They are also more likely than females to travel on the ground.
Food is often scarce during the dry season – which is why orangutans are semi-solitary creatures. When food is abundant, though, they use the opportunity to socialize and gather in small groups. When food is scarce, they travel alone.
Orangutans have been known to make and use tools. When water is difficult to locate, they chew leaves to make a sponge to soak up water in tree cavities. They use branches to poke into termite holes. They use large branches to test water depth before crossing streams. When it rains very hard the orangutan makes an umbrella for himself out of big leaves.
Please help the orangutans today.
Fact Sheet: Threats
The main threats: destruction of the rainforest due mainly to encroaching palm oil plantations, illegal logging, fires and poaching
Borneo: the worlds third largest island Surface: 462,000 sq miles
Reduction of the forest: Since 1980 25% of Borneo’s forests have disappeared.
Human population: more than 15 million
Nations: Borneo is divided between three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei
The orangutans used to live spread out over South East Asia all the way to what is now southern China. Most of the land was then covered with huge continuous rainforest areas and the orangutans could roam freely over large distances. Today the logging and the human expansion have limited the untouched rainforest to very little intact areas. The numbers of orangutans are diminishing because of human impact. The threat comes mainly from three human activities: destruction of the forest, fires and poaching. Large parts of the original forests of Asia have disappeared. They have been replaced by farm land, palm oil plantations, cities and villages. Huge areas are also disappearing as the forest companies are illegally cutting down the trees, without permits from either the government or the local populations, who depend on the forest for their survival. When creating plantations it is common to first burn the land. Over the years these planned fires have often spread uncontrollably, leaving an enormous destruction in their wake. Many orangutans are killed by the fires as they have no chance of escape. The poaching of the orangutan is another obstacle for the survival of the species. The infants are sold as exotic pets while the flesh from the adults is eaten. Despite the fact that it is illegal to kill, capture or sell orangutans there is a lot of money to be made– which makes it very difficult to come to terms with the problem.
Fact Sheet: Rainforests
Surface of Indonesia: 1,192,684 sq miles Forest: 550.000 sq miles
Rate of logging: Ca 12,500 sq miles per year.
Threat: Forest destruction and fires. Illegal logging: Estimated to constitute 50 – 88% of all logging.
Only in Borneo you can find 10 – 15,000 different species of flowers and around 3000 different kinds of trees. The same diversity applies to the animals and a large number are endemic to this area and can be found no where else. Every year new animal and plant species are discovered and scientists barely have time to investigate before they disappear forever. The Indonesian rainforest is the second largest in the world with an area of nearly 546.806 square miles. This is about 10% of the world’s rainforest and is twice the size of Texas or nearly the size of Alaska. Logging and fires are making the forest disappear at an unsustainable rate. Hundreds of animals and plants are disappearing because of this and entire ecosystems are transformed into desert. One of the biggest problems in Indonesia is the illegal logging that is being fueled by the international demand for cheap timber. There are different opinions as to the extent of the illegal logging, but is it clear that more than half of all logging in the country is illegal.
Saving orangutans is built on the premise of protecting and preserving the rainforest. This is not only decisive for the orangutans but also for thousands of other threatened animal and plants species.
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TULSA - Ready for Halloween?
Many people enjoy visiting Haunted Houses during this time of year but where are the real haunted locations in the area?
2NEWS has compiled a list of places rumored to be haunted in and around Green Country.
1. Gilcrease Museum - The Gilcrease Museum houses one of the world's most extensive and renowned collections of Native American and Western art and artifacts. Thomas Gilcrease passed away in 1962. It is said that the philanthropist's ghost has been seen and heard haunting the museum.
2. Brady Theater - According to local legend, famed opera singer Enrico Caruso died of pleurisy just one year after an open-air carriage ride on a cold and wet Oklahoma day while on tour in the area. It is said that his ghost still haunts the Brady Theater for causing his death.
3. Haunted Train Tracks - Though the exact location is unknown, legend has it that four children died playing chicken on a particular set of train tracks in Tulsa. Some believe that if you park your car in this location the ghosts of the children will push your car off the tracks and leave dirty handprints on it.
4. Spotlight Theater - Local legend says footsteps can be heard coming from the costume room and strange scratch marks can be seen on the wall in the basement.
5. Murdoc's Mansion - It is believed this mansion was once located near 111th and Sheridan. One day the mansion burned down and people began to visit the site of the old mansion for fun. It is said that these adventurous individuals reported sensing an "eerie" feeling when they stepped foot on the property.
6. Constantine Theater - The theatre is located in Pawhuska, in Osage County. The building is said to be haunted by the ghost of Sappho Constantine Brown, the daughter of George Constantine. While the building was undergoing restoration, workmen claimed to hear phantom footsteps and saw an apparition of a young girl.
7. Philbrook Museum - The statues at this museum may have some "personalities" of their own. It is said that the eyes of many of the statues will follow you and some of the heads will actually turn.
8. Will Rogers High School - It is rumored that at night you can see a man in a white penguin tuxedo walking around on stage. People say it is the ghost of an old band director who died of a heart attack on stage in the 50s.
For more on the Halloween season, go to our Halloween Headquarters.
Copyright 2010 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Four central Pennsylvania residents say they rescued a young bear whose head had been stuck in a plastic jar for at least 11 days.
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The other theory, a more prevalent one since the debut of genetic testing, is that modern humans evolved in Africa and migrated into Europe and Asia.
Just after the announcement, however, Radien Soejono, the senior archaeologist at the Jakarta-based Indonesian Centre for Archeology, signed agreements to hand the specimens over to Jacob's lab, some 275 miles (440 kilometers) away.
Because of the growing controversy, the team's co-leader, Mike Morwood of the University of New England, Australia, was apprehensive. He told Nature magazine, "We thought we would never see them again." He added that his colleague, Peter Brown, the lead author on the paper announcing the discovery, took careful measurements and photos of the specimens before they were transported.
The situation heated up earlier this year as Jacob kept possession of the remains for about two months longer than he had agreed, and after it was discovered that some of the bone material was removed for further genetic analysis by a German lab.
On February 23 Jacob's lab returned all but three leg bones and a portion of the cut jaw.
In the meantime, the hobbit continued to dominate archaeology news. Paleoneurologist Dean Falk announced research findings in early March at a press conference hosted by National Geographic.
Her team created an endocasta virtual, 3-D view of the interior of the skull showing detailed features, including the size, shape, and vascular structure of the brain. Falk, a professor at Florida State University, said that the research concluded that the hobbit, despite her grapefruit-size brain, could have been capable of higher forms of intelligence and reasoning.
Now the hobbit is again at the epicenter of news, this time over the damages that were documented after their return from Jacob.
The Indonesian Center for Archeology, which now has the remains, believe that most damage resulted from improper techniques in making molds, said the center's director, Tony Djubiantono.
The molding procedures stripped anatomical detail from the base of the cranium and broke a portion of the skull. Two teeth in the jaw were removed and glued back in. Those damages could deprive researchers of critical information.
Researchers also reported that a mandible showed long, deep cut marks along the lower edge on both sides where material to make the molds was trimmed.
Jacob has denied that his lab caused the damage while the specimens were in his possession. Attempts to contact him by phone, fax, or e-mail have been unsuccessful.
Djubiantono, though distressed by the condition of the bones, is reluctant to point the finger of blame directly at Jacob, and he declined to sign a draft letter from Morwood and others. However, in a phone interview, he said he had had a serious discussion with Jacob.
Falk said the incidents surrounding the hobbit are regrettable.
"It sounds awful. If these were damagedand I have no reason to think otherwise, because Morwood is a credible sourcethen the loss could be substantial," Falk said, adding that casting, a common procedure, can be extremely destructive to the specimen.
While some have called for a formal investigation, it doesn't appear that such an action will occur. Falk, like several other researchers, said that she hoped the paleoarchaeological community will take a stand and express their collective concern.
Djubiantono said the remains in repository at the center will never again be shared off-site. "We have hope that the information that may have been lost to the damage can be filled in with what we continue to learn. We have found other skeletons at the general area of the excavations. We believe it will tell us much more."
Among the things they hope to discover are clues that would reveal how the small creatures lived their lives and interacted with others of their species.
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Sign up for our Inside National Geographic newsletter. Every two weeks we'll send you our top stories and pictures (see sample).
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES
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Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Grounding Of Costa Concordia Brings New Rules For Cruise Travel
After the grounding of Costa Concordia in January, the governing organizations of the cruise industry ordered an Operational Safety Review both in response to the troubling Concordia grounding and as part of the industry's continuous efforts to review and improve safety measures. Now, the review is complete and has resulted in three new policies that promise to address safety concerns.
These three new policies, which go beyond international regulatory requirements, address safety issues related to passage planning, personnel access to the bridge and lifejackets. Each of these three policies will be reported to the United Nations' International Maritime Organization (IMO) for consideration at their next session in May.
"As highlighted by these wide-ranging policies, we continue to take proactive measures to improve the safety of passengers and crew across the globe," said Christine Duffy, president and CEO of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) in a Wall Street Journal statement.
The three policies answer questions asked about specific topics concerning the Costa Concordia grounding:
Under the new policy each passage plan is to be thoroughly briefed to all bridge team members well in advance of its implementation and it is to be drafted by a designated officer and approved by the master.
Personnel Access To The Bridge - At one point in the investigation of the Costa Concordia grounding, it was believed that unauthorized personnel were on the navigational bridge at the time of the incident.
To minimize unnecessary disruptions and distractions on the bridge, the new policy states that bridge access is to be limited to those with operational functions during any period of restricted maneuvering or when increased vigilance is required.
Lifejackets - Although there were plenty of lifejackets on board Costa Concordia, the nature of the accident caused some passengers and crew members to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and not have one.
Under the new rule, in addition to the statutory requirement of carriage of lifejackets for each person onboard, cruise lines have adopted a policy of carrying additional adult lifejackets.
The number of additional adult lifejackets to be provided must not be less than the total number of persons berthed within the ship's most populated main vertical fire zone. This ensures that the number of lifejackets carried is far in excess of the number of persons actually onboard the ship.
These three rules are in addition to a new emergency drill policy requiring mandatory muster for embarking passengers prior to departure from port. That new policy was released previously and also consistent with the industry's announcement January 27 of a complete safety review in response to the Concordia grounding and as part of the industry's continuous efforts to review and improve safety measures.
The Cruise Lines International Association, European Cruise Council, and the Passenger Shipping Association put forward the new policy with the support of their member cruise lines.
Under the new muster policy:
- A mandatory muster of all embarking passengers will happen prior to departure from port.
- Late arriving passengers will be promptly provided with individual or group safety briefings that meet the requirements for musters applicable under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).
- The policy is designed to help ensure that any mandatory musters or briefings are conducted for the benefit of all newly embarked passengers at the earliest practical opportunity.
The Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review also included a comprehensive assessment of the critical human factors and operational aspects of maritime safety. The industry's efforts also are consistent with the framework and spirit of the International Safety Management Code.
[Flickr photo by darkroom productions]
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Let's talk about bees
|Buttersafe, January 4, 2011|
Our bee problem is quite the topic of conversation these days--at social gatherings, in meetings, over coffee. Everyone agrees we should save the bees, though many of us think of them in the abstract as little buzzing yellow flying things, maybe as cartoon characters, or as creatures that exist to help us.
I could say, and have—for example at Christmas dinner when apologizing for my not-quite-stellar pumpkin bread—that last summer the CSA grower from whom I get my produce planted five hundred pumpkin plants and only got three pumpkins (so I had to buy canned, rather than processing my own). No pollination, he thought. And just the other day an acquaintance mentioned that friends who live in a tony suburb north of Chicago had, also last summer, had their own pollination troubles in their vegetable garden. Why? she wondered.
Documentaries have been made, articles written, research monies spent. After several years of speculation and intense research, experts think colony collapse disorder in honeybees is caused by a mite and a fungus that attack weakened bees. And, this just out, the recent decline of bumble bees has been in part caused by a fungus, and possible inbreeding among weakened populations trying to survive in fragmented habitat.
OK. Now that’s solved we can all go back to watching nature programs on TV and fooling around with social media and cease worrying about if we’ll get our Washington apples, California almonds and Florida oranges this year. Because someone will fix it. Right?
Surely “they,” the ones who work at keeping our food system going, will come up with technological fixes. Perhaps they’ll develop special medicines, or genetically engineer mite and fungus resistant bees, or put nutrients in the high fructose corn syrup honeybees get fed when being trucked across the country. Or perhaps we imagine engineering will somehow come to the rescue? Perhaps we’ll develop minuscule robot pollinators, based on military drone technology? Pollination could be like a video game! We are Homo sapiens sapiens! Our indisputable cultural pattern is to implement clever add-on, Rube Goldberg fixes, further complicating an already complicated system.
One sunny morning last spring, as I was messing about in the yard, I observed a bumblebee, a queen, emerge from some woody, leafy debris and stumble a bit before setting off for perhaps a first flight of the season. It’s an annual rite. Plenty of bees live in my backyard. Last spring little mason bees pollinated the raspberries. In late June, I often strolled over to the messy wildish area by the garage to watch the bumble bees sticking their little heads all the way inside the tubular beebalm flowers and the honeybees getting after the nepeta, while plenty of other pollinators flitted about, as well. Beekeeping is illegal in my town. What I am is a bee facilitator.
We could, instead, pay attention to what bees require to stay healthy, which, unremarkably, is what all other species, wild and domesticated, need to stay healthy: unfragmented, un-chemically-poisoned habitat with plenty of food sources and a chance to live according to their nature.
Beekeepers know this. So do conservationists. We all know this, we really do.
And at least parts of the USDA know too. The 2008 Farm Bill provides help to rural landowners who wish to create pesticide-free pollinator habitat. You can go to the USDA website here, and get a PDF of the guidelines. I just sent an attachment to my CSA grower. The USDA Colony Collapse Disorder Progress Report (June 2010) says, “The emerging evidence of pesticide exposure to pollinators and potential interactive effects indicates the need to further study pesticides for their potential interactions with CCD. Studies have also confirmed suspected links between CCD and poor colony health, inadequate diet, and long-distance transportation.”
Whatever. We’ll continue to use honeybees as tiny cogs in the industrial farming machine. We’ll ignore their physiology, and life cycle. We’ll truck them across the country to different climates, feed them high fructose corn syrup, and expect them to pollinate pesticide-sprayed crops during seasons when their life cycle may be inclining them to rest. We’ll keep using commercially-raised bumblebees to pollinate greenhouse vegetables and then get surprised when the viruses that sicken them escape to wild populations, causing precipitous declines of certain species, such as the rusty-patched bumblebee, once common in the Midwest.
Bees, after all, are collateral damage in the process of creative destruction. When people think of bees, few think of wild bees, such as the mason bees, who lay their eggs in holes in wood, or the shy solitary bees who burrow underground to lay their eggs. Their habitat gets destroyed by clearing fencerows and other “unproductive” areas, or by development where the first thing to do is bring in the bulldozers and scrape the topsoil.
Then there is our national lawn (discussed here, and here) blanketing millions of acres of what was once prime bee habitat, now a functional food desert for bees. Often, owing to monoculture and over watering, there’s a grub problem. It’s easiest to use an anti-grub product that includes imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid pesticide, though maybe we don’t read the ingredients, and we put it down, and the grubs go away—and the fact that the chemical is toxic to bees? Hadn’t thought about that. Don’t blame us. No one mentioned it. We just want green grass.
Somehow we end up back at industrial corn farming. Again. Always and forever, amen. Much seed corn is coated with clothianidin, another neonicotinoid pesticide (also used on other crops). “And?” you might ask. You must have heard. This too, is all over the Internet. You can Google it. When the corn grows and produces pollen full of clothianidin, bees flit from tassel to tassel, gathering pollen to take back to the hive. What happens? An Environmental Protection Agency fact sheet from 2003 states that—besides the coated seed being toxic to songbirds and mammals, "Clothianidin has the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honey bees, as well as other nontarget pollinators, through the translocation of clothianidin residues in nectar and pollen. In honey bees, the effects of this toxic chronic exposure may include lethal and/or sub-lethal effects in the larvae and reproductive effects in the queen." These sub-lethal effects include weakened immune systems and neurological damage: worker bees lose their ability to communicate, to navigate, to forage--to do the work that supports the hive.
The Chicago region where I live has more varied plants and more species of native bee-nurturing plants than surrounding rural areas in which the plants of note are corn and soy, and most fencerows, wild patches, prairie remnants, weed zones have been decimated. Urban areas have gardens, weedy vacant lots and neglected alleys, all more hospitable than so many of our simplified rural landscapes full of toxic plants.
Many urban areas are becoming known for their urban beekeepers and honey. It’s a trend. Beekeeping classes are packed, with waiting lists. A beekeeper at Garfield Park Conservatory once told me that Chicago honey has a specific taste owing to the amount of nepeta planted in local gardens.
You’d think the EPA would be concerned about the potential ramifications. Yet, last spring the EPA approved clothianidin for permanent use despite statements from its own scientists, despite the fact that things got so bad in France that the government banned it and its manufacturer, Bayer, is paying reparations to beekeepers.
We do understand, don’t we, what a lack of bees would entail? It’s been repeated often enough. You know the saying, that “for one bite of every three we should thank a bee.” Or perhaps we non-beekeeping Americans don’t really understand, yet. After all we don’t live in places like Sichuan province in China where, owing to a dearth of bees since the 1980s, workers laboriously hand-pollinate their pear trees (women being the preferred workers, according to a Chinese report ).
You don’t have to learn beekeeping. Honeybees, the only type of bee that requires “keeping,” are only one type of bee, and they’re non-native at that. There are 4,000 other species of bees native to the U.S., including bumblebees and solitary bees. What they need are facilitators. You don’t need the USDA to tell you how to create bee habitat. Leave a piece of land alone for a while, and it will just happen. Like magic. It’s so easy that back when I started gardening with native plants, I wasn’t thinking about pollinators. They just started showing up, and of course not just bees—butterflies, solitary wasps, flower flies, birds…
Every single person who controls a bit of land, has an opportunity—I’d say a responsibility—to become a bee facilitator. All you have to do is plant flowers that provide nectar and pollen, provide some habitat and refuse to use any insecticides. If you have a lawn, make it a clover lawn. You could create a pollinator preserve. You could plant appropriate flowers among your vegetables. You could have areas where the land is not turned or cultivated, but is left a little “messy” for the solitary bees.
This spring, despite what we all know about pesticides and habitat, companies quite aware of clothianidin’s toxicity will be supplying the coated seed, while farmers, will be planting it. Internet activists will sign petitions against it. The EPA, unless somehow convinced otherwise, will approve it for use on more crops. “Consumers,” that derogatory term of art for the rest of us, worrying about jobs, debt, keeping afloat in this economy, will keep buying fractionated corn products in the guise of processed food and a surprising array of other products. Lawncare companies will be recommending products containing imidacloprid, and people will use them. We are all implicated. We all know that life on earth depends on these humble creatures, and their pollinating compatriots. We don’t have to like them—they are insects, and humans do have an aversion to the little creepy, crawly, flying creatures, especially now that we’re so good at chemical warfare against them. But it’s not really a question of “like.” This is not a Facebook moment.
Note: The Xerces Society has useful information about bees and habitat. Readers can spend whole days, as I just have, lost in cyberspace, reading about bee decline and neonicotinoid pesticides: Grist, The New York Times, Fortune, SafeLawns.org, PANNA, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, beekeepers’ forums and sites such as Bee Culture magazine (see beekeeper Tom Theobold's article here), USDA publications, the EPA website—then you could go international, to the UN International Pollinators Initiative, to FAO reports about pollinators in the Himalayas, China, the UK and other parts of Europe…
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E2020 Inc. Launches Virtual School Services
Service Based Offering Empowers Districts and Schools to Expand Virtual Offerings
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- E2020 Inc., one of the fastest growing providers of online learning solutions, today announced the launch of its latest program offering, Virtual School Services. This cost-effective service provides districts and schools with the ability to create their own virtual learning programs and the flexibility to choose the level of service they need to extend their existing capabilities.
"Schools are budget challenged, and our Virtual School Services help administrators do more with fewer resources. By partnering with us, schools can reduce the cost of delivering instruction while keeping students on a path to academic achievement in their home district," said Sari Factor , CEO of e2020. "The flexibility inherent in the offering means schools can easily implement online learning models for a wide variety of programs, from offering electives or Advanced Placement courses, which are often unsupportable because they serve smaller student populations, or for meeting the needs of homebound students."
As a leading provider of online curriculum, e2020 offers district partners an array of advantages:
- A broad catalog of rigorous standards-aligned courses, including core, career electives, world languages, Advanced Placement, and test preparation content
- Student access to content-area expert coaches and teachers through a unique student-centered learning model
- Technology-enabled tools such as live chat, an interactive white board, and webinars for collaboration and communication
- A fully accredited program with certified teachers to support existing district staff
"Our goal is to complement the strengths of our partner districts," said Factor. "Partners can scale the level of services to provide anything from a Physics tutor who is available after school hours, to a certified Mandarin teacher, to complete program management." Districts interested in a Virtual School Services partnership are encouraged to visit http://www.education2020.com/Partnership-Programs for more information.
About E2020 Inc.
E2020 Inc., (education2020, e2020) is a leading provider of core and elective instruction for students in grades 6–12, creating innovative, rigorous, standards-aligned courseware and virtual instruction programs to prepare students for college and careers. e2020's web-based model, teacher-led video delivery, and innovative instructional approach offer engaging and individualized online instruction to schools for traditional classrooms, blended learning, and virtual programs. For more information, visit www.education2020.com.
Sloane & Company
SOURCE E2020 Inc.
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E2020 Launches Online Career Pathways Curriculum to Prepare Students for Bright Futures
Nov 29, 2012, 10:40 ET
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Ignorance is a major barrier that holds people back from making good financial decisions. The U.S. is a tremendously prosperous and well educated country, but most Americans don’t know about basic financial concepts like compound interest and inflation. This is a shame as scientific work on financial literacy suggests people who are money savvy have higher retirements savings and are more likely to practice sound money management (1).
So, if you’re interested in getting financially literate and want a curriculum that has been vetted you might consider checking out the FDIC’s Money Smart Program. The Money Smart Program is designed specifically for the average Joe or Jane and focuses on introducing you to the basics of money management. Its got a number of good primers on borrowing, paying yourself first and consumer rights awareness. There are also modules for small businesses, children and adults. The best part is: its free!
If you want to learn more, order the CD or check out their online info.
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Cleantech Market Intelligence
In Energy Storage, The Numbers Don’t Add Up – Yet
If you take a close look at Duke Energy’s Rankin Avenue Retail substation in Mount Holly, North Carolina, you’ll notice a few pieces of equipment that you usually don’t see. Two 20 ft containers sit on cement pads in a corner of the fenced-in area. Inside are a bank of batteries and the power electronics and inverter required to control them. Even stranger is the large, H-shaped structure that looms over the trailers. It’s an old-fashioned version of line disconnects that are rarely utilized in distribution networks anymore. It’s been resuscitated for this project – and the reasons point to why most energy storage projects are not quite ready for prime-time.
The overhead switches installed in Rankin are there because the line crew that worked that sector was uncomfortable with a simple hand-operated lever-switch. To move the overhead device from on to off, a linesman must hold a reach pole and physically disengage a blade from its enclosure. It’s a 19th-century tool for a 21st-century battery system. The switch itself costs approximately $15,000, but Duke Energy designers felt that it was important to include it to make the linesmen comfortable with the addition of the battery at the substation.
Making the Case
I heard about the Rankin overhead line disconnects during a presentation by Dan Sowder, a project manager at Duke who deals with energy storage, at the Marcus Evans Energy Storage Conference held in Phoenix last week. The point I kept hearing in multiple sessions is that we’re in the very early days of understanding the economics of energy storage – both the cost of the systems and the value of the services they provide. The overhead switches at Rankin are just one example: an extra $15,000 was spent on the system to ensure linesman safety (utilities never skimp on safety). Here are two more examples I heard of energy storage systems that lack clearly visible costs and benefits:
- San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) will soon hear from the California Public Utilities Commission about whether the request SDG&E made for rate-basing $50 million for energy storage systems is approved. The ruling should come down by the end of February. If approved, the program will be the realization of every battery vendor’s dream: a large, rate-based energy storage request for proposal (RFP). However, Bob Lane, a consultant with SDG&E, stressed that even if the program is approved, that doesn’t mean that SDG&E will issue an RFP. It might decide that there are better ways of spending the money than for energy storage units. The financial case has still not been made for the utility to jump into a major energy storage project.
- Nathan Adams of Puget Sound Energy also gave a talk on the financial models for energy storage – and why they just don’t work today. He pointed out that any battery project will be at least twice as expensive than building a combined-cycle natural gas plant. Distributing the energy storage units throughout the distribution network might make more sense, but Adams emphasized that he has no solid method for providing a viable dollar figure for the value of the services such a network could provide.
In other words, energy storage might make sense at the edge of the network – or it might not. And until an electric utility can positively answer that question, no major orders will be placed.
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Towns and Villages on the Isle of Wight Information
Why choose the Isle of Wight?
Many people are attracted to the Isle of Wight to get away from the hustle and bustle of mainland life. With a population of only 138,500 people, even our larger towns keep the charm and friendly nature which can be found across the island.
Newport is the county town, centrally located and the hub for many businesses and shops. However, Ryde is the largest town, with a population of 30,000. Cowes is well known for it's world wide 'Cowes Week' sailing regatta, Ventnor for being the 'sunniest spot in the UK', Shanklin for Shanklin Chine and the Old Village, not forgetting Sandown for it's sea-side attractions and the Isle of Wight Zoo.
Most people who remember coming here as a child think of family attractions Blackgang Chine theme park, and almost everyone has visited Alum Bay to create their own jar of multi-coloured sand. What a lot of people don't realise is... there is so much more to our island!
Here are most of the villages and towns on the Isle of Wight. Click on each one to find out more...
Still don't know where you'd like to stay?
Use our accommodation search engine to see what tempts you and find the best deal.
Have a look at our multimedia page to see more photos and virtual tours of Isle of Wight towns and villages.
Want ideas about what you could do in each town?
Isle of Wight - Autumn
Cowes Esplanade, Isle of Wight
Freshwater Bay © Island Vision...
Wroxall Down © Island Visions
Cowes Week band
"If God had really intended men to fly, he'd make it easier to get to the airport" - George Winters
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(For background on Hobbits and their habits, check out our learning guide of The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings prequel.) Bilbo Baggins, hero of The Hobbit, is feeling restless and irritable. At his own birthday party, he arranges an elaborate practical joke with the magic ring he picked up on his travels, which can make him invisible. In the middle of his scheme, Bilbo slips away, preparing to leave the Shire for good. He leaves his home and his Ring to his heir, Frodo Baggins, before taking off into the night.
After many years, Gandalf arrives in the Shire with urgent news for Frodo. This pretty golden Ring? It's actually the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron, which contains a portion of Sauron's power. The Ring will corrupt anyone who wears it. Look at Gollum, the owner of the Ring before Bilbo found it: he is now a twisted, desperate little creature. The Ring is inherently evil: all it wants is to make its way back to its Master, and so it will betray anyone who carries it. Gandalf tells Frodo he has to get out of the Shire ASAP because forces from Sauron will be coming to look for it.
Gandalf leaves the Shire, and Frodo waits and waits to hear from him. Finally, when Gandalf does not appear, Frodo sets out as planned with his trusty gardener Sam and his cousins, Merry and Pippin. Frodo & Co. plan to head to Rivendell, the dwelling place of the Elves in the North; but as they set out in the direction of the town of Bree, they hear rumors of some rather terrifying Black Riders who are asking with great interest after Mr. Frodo Baggins. Frodo wants to stay out of sight, so he leads his three companions into the Old Forest, as a shortcut to Bree. But Frodo's shortcut is a disaster: only with the help of a man named Tom Bombadil do they survive their run-ins with an evil willow tree and some scary Barrow-downs.
At Bree, the four Hobbits hang out at the inn, The Prancing Pony. After an accidental (and frankly, quite stupid) disappearing act by Frodo, they meet Strider (also known as Aragorn). He is a friend of Gandalf and says he'll help the Hobbits. Strider and the four Hobbits head to Rivendell, but the Black Riders track them down. Turns out that these Riders are Ringwraiths, nine great kings of men who have been corrupted by the power of Sauron. Frodo puts on the Ring in a moment of weakness and is stabbed by the leader of the Black Riders; his wound has the power to make Frodo into a wraith himself, so his companions must get him help (and quickly!). After a speedy trip to Rivendell, dodging Black Riders and relying on an Elf-lord, Glorfindel, for assistance, an unconscious Frodo and company make it to Rivendell.
When Frodo wakes up in Rivendell (thanks to Elrond, the lord of Rivendell, who has saved Frodo's life with his healing power) he is overjoyed to see that Gandalf and Bilbo are both there. Now that Frodo (and the Ring) have arrived in Rivendell, it is time for all of the wise people gathered there to have a Council to decide what to do with the thing. The people at the Council speak of many things: the history of the One Ring, its danger to all mortals, and the necessity of its destruction. To destroy the Ring, some unlucky person has to go to Mount Doom, in the land of Mordor, to throw it back into the lava that Sauron used to make the Ring in the first place. If the Ring is destroyed, Sauron's power in Middle-earth will be broken forever. Frodo finally volunteers. Sam, of course, insists on going with him.
Elrond sets up a Fellowship of nine to accompany the Ring in secrecy: Frodo (of course), Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir (at least as far as the road to Minas Tirith, when he will go back to his home country), Legolas (an Elf), Gimli (a Dwarf), and Frodo's cousins, Merry and Pippin.
The Fellowship sets out from Rivendell, traveling across the treacherous passes of the mountain Caradhras and almost freezing to death. New plan: they will go through the ancient Dwarf diggings in the Mines of Moria. Things don't go so well there: they encounter the Balrog of Morgoth, an ancient evil from the Elder Days of Middle-earth. Gandalf sends the Balrog falling into a pit, but the Balrog catches Gandalf as it goes down. So the Fellowship has now lost its leader and adviser. Aragorn takes a leadership role, but he's not too confident about it.
After a stopover in Lothlórien, where Frodo sees the Eye of Sauron in a magic mirror, they head down the River Anduin. But now what? Boromir really, really wants to go to Gondor. (And actually, he's been acting weird lately, Frodo notices.) Frodo must go to Mordor. But where will the rest of the Fellowship go? As Frodo considers this alone, Boromir is suddenly overwhelmed by the temptation to take the Ring for himself, so that he can protect Gondor and defeat Sauron. Frodo runs away from him, and Boromir repents of his actions and tries to call Frodo back. But it's too late, now: Frodo knows that the Ring will possess and destroy each of his companions as they travel. He must go into Mordor alone with his burden if he is going to have any chance of success.
Frodo starts stealthily preparing to leave his friends behind. Meanwhile, the only one who figures out where Frodo is going is Sam; he plunges into the river after Frodo and insists that Frodo needs at least one companion to go to Mordor with him: Sam himself. Frodo agrees gladly. So Frodo and Sam cross the River Anduin and start looking for a path through the rocky lands of Emyn Muil to get to Mordor.
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- Prayer and Worship
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- Issues and Action
- Catholic Giving
- About USCCB
Canaanites in Palestine. 1* After the death of Joshua the Israelites consulted the LORD, asking, “Who shall be first among us to attack the Canaanites and to do battle with them?” 2The LORD answered: Judah shall attack: I have delivered the land into his power.a 3Judah then said to his brother Simeon, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, and let us do battle with the Canaanites. I will likewise go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him.b
4When Judah attacked, the LORD delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their power, and they struck down ten thousand of them in Bezek. 5c They came upon Adonibezek in Bezek and fought against him. When they struck down the Canaanites and Perizzites, 6Adonibezek fled. They pursued him, and when they caught him, they cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7“Seventy kings,” said Adonibezek, “used to pick up scraps under my table with their thumbs and big toes cut off. As I have done, so has God repaid me.” He was brought to Jerusalem, and he died there. 8* The Judahites fought against Jerusalem, captured it, and put it to the sword, setting the city itself on fire.d
9Afterward the Judahites went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the mountain region, in the Negeb, and in the foothills.e 10Judah also marched against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron, which was formerly called Kiriath-arba, and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.f 11They marched from there against the inhabitants of Debir, which was formerly called Kiriath-sepher. 12Caleb said, “To the man who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Achsah in marriage.” 13g Othniel captured it, the son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz; so Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah in marriage. 14When she came to him, she induced him to ask her father for some land. Then, as she alighted from the donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?” 15She answered, “Give me a present. Since you have put me in the land of the Negeb, give me pools of water.” So Caleb gave her what she wanted, both the upper and the lower pool.
16h The descendants of Hobab the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law,* came up with the Judahites from the City of Palms to the wilderness of Arad, which is in the Negeb, and they settled among the Amalekites. 17i Then Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites who lived in Zephath. They put the city under the ban and renamed it Hormah.* j 18Judah captured Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, Ekron with its territory, and Ashdod* with its territory.k 19The LORD was with Judah, so they gained possession of the mountain region. But they could not dispossess those who lived on the plain, because they had iron chariots. 20l As Moses had commanded, they gave Hebron to Caleb, who then drove the three sons of Anak away from there.
22The house of Joseph, too, went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them. 23The house of Joseph reconnoitered Bethel, which formerly was called Luz.n 24The scouts saw a man coming out of the city and said to him, “Tell us the way into the city, and we will show you mercy.” 25He showed them the way into the city, and they put the city to the sword; but they let the man and his whole clan go free. 26The man then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.
27o Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean with its towns or of Taanach with its towns. Nor did they dispossess the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, those of Ibleam and its towns, or those of Megiddo and its towns. The Canaanites continued to live in this district. 28When Israel grew stronger, they conscripted the Canaanites as laborers, but did not actually drive them out. 29p Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, and so the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.
30q Nor did Zebulun dispossess the inhabitants of Kitron or those of Nahalol; the Canaanites lived among them and became forced laborers.
31r Nor did Asher dispossess the inhabitants of Acco or those of Sidon, or take possession of Mahaleb, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. 32So the Asherites settled among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, for they had not dispossessed them.
33s Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh or those of Beth-anath. They settled among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced laborers for them.
34The Amorites hemmed in the Danites in the mountain region, not permitting them to come down onto the plain. 35So the Amorites continued to live in Harheres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim, but as the power of the house of Joseph grew, they were conscripted as laborers.
* [1:1–36] The chapter depicts the Israelite settlement of Canaan as a gradual and incomplete process (cf. Ex 23:29–30; Dt 7:22). This picture contrasts sharply with that found in Joshua, where the conquest is rapid and total. Accordingly, some scholars believe that Jgs 1 derives from an early account, which is less idealized and more realistic than that on which Joshua is based. Others, noting that Judah is presented as the only tribe that was completely successful in driving foreigners from its territory, think that the account was written at a late date and reflects suspicion in Judah about foreign elements in the Israelite populations of outlying areas (cf. 2 Kgs 17:24–33).
* [1:16] Hobab the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law: as in 4:11. However, in Nm 10:29 Hobab is identified as Moses’ brother-in-law, while Reuel is identified as Moses’ father-in-law (see also Ex 2:18). The more common name of Moses’ father-in-law is Jethro, also a Midianite (e.g., Ex 3:1). It is impossible to sort out the relationships among these three men in the ancient traditions. City of Palms: Jericho (cf. Dt 34:3) or a town in the Negeb.
* [1:17] The ban…Hormah: the narrator relates the city-name “Hormah” to “the ban” (Hebrew herem), which commanded the Israelites to devote to the Lord—and thus to destroy—whatever was captured within the land (cf. Dt 20:10–18).
* [1:18] Gaza…Ashkelon…Ekron…Ashdod: four of the five major cities of the Philistines (see note on 3:3). Since these cities were on the coastal plain, the statement that Judah captured them is contrary to v. 19, which notes Judah’s failure to drive out the inhabitants of the lowlands. In the Septuagint the problem is removed by changing the beginning of this verse to read “Judah did not dispossess….”
* [1:21] According to Jos 18:16, Jerusalem was assigned to the tribe of Benjamin. According to the notice in 1:8 above, the city was burned by the Judahites, but elsewhere (2 Sm 5:6–9) we learn that it was not actually taken from the Jebusites until David captured it and made it his capital.
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Every once in a while, an image comes along that gives meaning to all the things you learned in your high school astronomy class. Like, remember when your teacher told you black holes produce more energy than thousands of stars?
Here’s what she meant.
That image on the right, courtesy NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, shows data evidence from a nearby galaxy of a new kind of X-ray energy called ULX. Scientist think it could be even stronger than the energy of binary systems, where a companion star travels around the remains of a collapsed star.
In fact, it could be the most powerful kind of black hole found nearby.
Take a look at how researchers at the Chandra X-ray Observatory captured that image — along with some other impressive images released over the last several months.
Visit seattlepi.com’s home page for more Seattle news. Contact Amy Rolph at email@example.com. Find more of her stories on Twitter via @amyrolph and @bigblog or subscribe to her updates on Facebook.
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An Intelligent Linux-Powered Rifle That Never Misses TargetEver thought of a rifle powered by an O.S.(operating system)??
Yeah!!..now we have An Intelligent Linux-Powered Rifle That Never Misses Target
Think i m kidding??...believe me it's the truth...
Gone are the days when Linux was restricted to PCs, tablets and smartphones. Our favourite open source operating system is now powering rifles and ensuring perfection in shots.
Wow! A Linux guided rifle that shoots only when the bullet would meet the target. Until now, we were talking about bringing Linux to smartphones and tablet PCs, but Austin-based startup Tracking-Point has taken Linux to a new level altogether.
Tracking-Point manufactures Precision Guided Firearms (PGFs). Their product lineup consists of customised hunting rifles like 0.300 Winchester Magnum or 0.338 Lapua Magnum among many other. TrackingPoint has added a Linux-based computer scope to these rifles. Apart from ensuring accuracy, the Linux-powered scope allows shooters to record their experience and post it on YouTube.
The futuristic hunting weapon starts at a price of $17,000. Coming to the functioning of the rifle, the scope of the rifle displays a video of the scenario instead of a direct visual. The experience is similar to that of a sniper in a first person shooter game. You can lock your target and then see where the bullet might hit. Ars Technica has detailed about the shooting procedure.
First, you will have to 'mark' the target. Once the target is identified on the scope, a built-in laser (in the scope) illuminates it. On the display, a 'pip' appears on the target. The scope then measures the range of the target, the ambient temperature and humidity, the age of the barrel, and several other parameters. Once the measurement in done, the display shows where the bullet will go and whether it will hit the target or not.
|Tracking the target|
The scope features image recognition that tracks the target keeps the 'pip' on the target. If you pull the trigger, the weapon will not fire. The reticle would turn from blue to red, 'while keeping the trigger held down, you position the reticle over the marked target's pip.' Once both the pip and reticle coincide the rifle fires. The rifle doesn't fire on its own. But it simply increases the pull force of the trigger until the reticle and pip matches. Once the bullet is sure to hit the target, the pull force of the trigger is set to default. This mechanism gives the shooter a control on his shot and at any point prior to firing you can release the trigger.
Also, the best part is you can record the video that is displayed on the scope and even can post it on YouTube.
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In one corner sit a typewriter, a funky iPad-iPhone stand, and a giant Lego that doubles as a storage box. Nearby is a brightly colored couch with a pillow on it in the shape of a cat, and another in the shape of a boom box. On the coffee table there's a set of wine glasses.
In the other corner a lamp and toy gun sit on a shelf -- aim the gun at the lightbulb and it will turn the lamp on. On the wall hangs a calendar made out of bubble wrap and a poster of Dolly Parton.
It's not the set of a sitcom -- it's a room at the headquarters of Fab.com in New York City, and every one of the things in the room can be bought on the popular shopping site.
If you hadn't heard of Fab before you saw this story, chances are you would have soon. The site has gone from one million users to 10 million in just 18 months.
So why are millions shopping at Fab this holiday instead of Amazon.com or another online shopping site?
Social Leads to Sales
Other sites claim to push "social shopping," but you could say Fab has been a pioneer in that space. "People get excited about the stuff on Fab and they tell their friends. We're the first kind of social commerce website where we put the social engagement first and the sales second," Jason Goldberg, the CEO and founder of Fab.com, told ABC News in an interview. "The way we measure how well we're doing is how often people share the products on the site."
Goldberg said he built the site with social at its core; it wasn't just an afterthought with a Facebook or Tweet button at the end of the page. You can sign into Fab with your Facebook account and see what items are trending with your friends and what items they are picking as favorites.
Fab has also made it really for users to share things on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. And social linkage leads to sales, at least on Fab, says Goldberg. If people use the social features on Fab, they buy twice as often as people who don't. Conversely, social networking played a smaller role than many thought in Cyber Monday shopping; according to IBM, social media only accounted for 0.53 percent of all online sales.
A Store Built for the iPad and iPhone
But just as droves of people are using Facebook and Twitter's mobile apps, many are using Fab's apps. The company released new iPhone and iPad apps earlier this year -- they're clean, easy to navigate and they constantly remind you what's new in the store. You can set it to alert you when new items have been added.
That leads shoppers to check for new additions to the site several times a day and ultimately buy, especially during the holiday season, according to Goldberg. He said 40 percent of Fab's holiday sales are coming from mobile users. That's more than most e-commerce sites, though more and more people are starting to shop on their phones.
"We think mobile first. Just how people check the news in the morning, we want them to check Fab in morning," Goldberg said. "That's the kind of thing we're seeing is the tablets in the evening. And we're, like, intensely studying that data and really catering that experience towards the part of the day and the device of the day the user is using."
Currently, 97 percent of Fab's mobile sales come from the iPhone and iPad. Goldberg says he has high hopes for Android, but the audience hasn't picked up as quickly as those who use Apple devices.
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A logo is a visual representation of the brand or organisation, and designing a logo is primarily a process of working towards communicating the essence of the brand graphically, effectively.
Importance of Logo Design - Nothing is more impressive than an intelligent logo, its the first impression of your brand or your company on the internet, makes sure its long lasting with a good recall value.
Are you starting a new business, launching a new service or want to chanqe your corporate image? Then you need a unigue loqo that wiII a complete visuaI identity, like help you raise profits and win competition.
To create an impressive loqo you need a skiIled team of graphic designers and artists that wiIl put aIl its experience, knowledge ,and talent into your project. Visit our online studio to make sure that we can develop for you that exceptional visual identity at a reasonable price and to your deadlines.
Here are a few samples of logo designs:
Business Logos for Companies
Your business logo design is the first thing potential customers and clients will see when they are considering doing business with you. Whether it's your letterhead, business cards or even your envelope, your free logo design will communicate that your company is credible, trustworthy, and professional.
The image your business portrays is a compilation of all your marketing materials, starting with your company's logo. It should reflect who your company is and what it strives to become.
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History: Male Sheargrub/louie Edit History Back to page | View logs for this page Browse history From year (and earlier): From month (and earlier): all January February March April May June July August September October November December Deleted only For any version listed below, click on its date to view it. For more help, see Help:Page history. (cur) = difference from current version, (prev) = difference from preceding version, m = minor edit, → = section edit, ← = automatic edit summary (cur | prev) 12:49, August 15, 2012 HorrificBrit (Talk | contribs) m . . (331 bytes) (+131) . . (undo) (cur | prev) 18:35, January 23, 2008 Prezintenden (Talk | contribs) . . (200 bytes) (-111) . . (undo) (cur | prev) 18:30, January 23, 2008 Prezintenden (Talk | contribs) . . (311 bytes) (+311) . . (New page: For an unforgettable quiche, slice this creature up and mix with four eggs, two vine-ripened tomatoes, dried zucchini, and generous handfuls of feta and swiss. Bake until crusty and golden...) Retrieved from "http://pikmin.wikia.com/wiki/Male_Sheargrub/louie"
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Teen Tech Month Celebrated at Metropolitan Libraries
Most teens are tech savvy, and the Metropolitan Library System is taking the month of March to congratulate them and introduce them to things with which they may not be familiar.
“March is Teen Tech Month at MLS” said Emily Williams, the library system’s Young Adult Services Coordinator. “We’ve lined up a series of programs and events for teens at several of our libraries. Our topics cover everything from movie making to video gaming to building your own computer. And as they say in commercials, “Wait! That’s not all!”
MLS encourages interested teens to call the library at which they wish to attend a program to check on pre-registration or with any other questions.
All programs are free.
The Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma County includes 12 libraries and five extension libraries. Libraries include Belle Isle, Capitol Hill, Ralph Ellison, Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library and Southern Oaks in Oklahoma City, as well as Bethany, Choctaw, Del City, Edmond, Midwest City, Village and Warr Acres. Extensions are located in the communities of Harrah, Jones, Luther and Nicoma Park and include Wright Library in Oklahoma City. You can also reach us at www.metrolibrary.org.
- Book Trailer Contest at Ralph Ellison Library, 2000 NE 23rd (424-1437)
- March 1 – May 1
Video Games at:
- Edmond Library, 10 S. Boulevard (341-9282)
- March 8, 3:00 to 4:30p.m.
- Ralph Ellison Library, 2000 NE 23rd (424-1437)
- March 8, 5:00 to 7:00p.m.
- Choctaw Library, 25235 Muzzy Street (390-8418)
- March 11, 5:00 to 7:00p.m.
- Capitol Hill Library, 334 SW 26th (634-6308)
- March 13, 2:00 to 4:00p.m.
- Warr Acres Library, 5901 NW 63rd ( 721-2616)
- March 18, 6:30 to 8:00p.m.
- Build Your Own Computer at Midwest City Library, 8143 E. Reno (732-4828)
- March 11, 5:30 to 7:00p.m.
- Guitar Hero Tournament at Ralph Ellison Library, 2000 NE 23rd (424-1437)
- March 13, 3:30 to 5:00p.m.
- Resume Tips and Tricks at the Southern Oaks Library, 6900 S. Walker (631-4468)
- March 16, 3:30 to 5:00p.m.
- Digital Storytelling with Flip Video at the Del City Library, 4509 SE 15th (672-1377)
- March 18, 6:30 to 7:30p.m.
- Digital Storytelling Finale at the Del City Library
- March 25, 6:00 to 8:00p.m.
- GPS Treasure Hunt at the Southern Oaks Library, 6900 S. Walker (631-4468)
- March 25, 4:30 to 6:30p.m.
- Take My Picture! at the Warr Acres Library, 5901 NW 63rd ( 721-2616)
- March 27, 2:00 to 3:00p.m.
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Fruit crop diseases are starting to appear! With all of the wet weather lately, I am actually surprised that it hasn’t gotten worse than it already is. Apples are showing signs of frogeye and apple scab. These area early diseases of apples and relatives such as crabapple. If you have frogeye the leaves will have a small brown spot with a lighter tan colored interior. Apple scab will have darker less symmetrical lesions without a lighter tan interior.
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What on earth is going on with the dolphins?
Just this week I read about some 900 dead dolphins washing ashore in Northern Peru, saw the viral video once again of that pod of dolphins stranding in Brazil in front of beachgoers, and to top it all off, heard that the mystery surrounding the death of two captive dolphins in Switzerland last November was finally resolved when a toxicology report found traces of a heroin substitute that led to a possible overdose.
In our neck of the woods, we also dealt with our own dolphin crisis this year when an unprecedented 214 Common dolphins stranded in Cape Cod beaches. International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Katie Moore is a dolphin expert and leads the team that rescued 74% of the dolphins that stranded alive and I sat down with her to learn more:
MB: When did you first hear about the dolphin strandings in Peru? How bad is it?
KM: We learned about the strandings in Peru a few months ago. We have been in direct contact with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service who’s been looking into the unfolding event and have been in direct contact with their counterparts in Peru. The confirmed death of close to 900 dolphins is logically concerning and something that needs our very close attention.
MB: This dolphin die-off in Peru was happening roughly at the same time as all the strandings your team was responding to in Cape Cod, and in both cases Common dolphins were the species. Are these events linked?
KM: From what we've heard and read on Peru, and it's important to note that we have not been directly involved in the research and investigation efforts underway in South America, the strandings there have had some similarities but some clear differences from what we've experienced in Cape Cod. Like you pointed out, one of the similarities is that strandings on both locations have involved species of Common dolphins.
On the other hand in Peru, most, if not all of the estimated close to 900 animals have been found dead whereas here on the Cape, we found a fair proportion of the animals still alive. Our team and volunteers arrived on scene to find 98 of them alive and of those we were able to successfully release 73 back to the ocean. We fit all of our released dolphins with ID tags to make sure they’re doing well in the wild and during this event we deployed 19 satellite tags which have provided some great data to analyze.
Unlike the coast of Peru, Cape Cod is historically a world hot-spot for mass strandings. We see this every year, although never in such numbers like this last winter. We’re currently working hard to enter and edit all of the data we generated during this event, continue to await the results of many sample analyses from different labs that are doing these specialized screenings and we ultimately hope to be able to piece together a better understanding of what may have been driving this event.
Like us, the Peruvian authorities have been collecting a lot of data from the animals and at this point from what they’ve been able to see, we are less inclined to think that this has anything to do with human interference or acoustic trauma and more inclined to think that this may be disease related. Authorities in Peru are leaning towards morbillivirus as the possible culprit. This virus can spread quickly between dolphins and porpoises and closely resembles distemper in dogs, but we haven’t seen any of the results yet so can’t confirm that this would be the case.
MB: More than 1,500 brown pelicans and boobies have been reported dead along roughly the same coastline in Peru. Do you think there is a connection between the dolphin deaths and the sea birds?
KM: Specialists in Peru seem to think that these events are not related. With regards to the seabird die-off a lack of prey, in this case anchovies, is singled out as the likely trigger. Peru has one of the world’s largest fisheries and reportedly lands a remarkable percentage of the world’s anchovy catch.
From a scientific standpoint we can’t dismiss or confirm that there is a connection between these mortality events until we have conclusive data. It’s important to point out that collecting viable samples is incredibly challenging in such a remote and tropical location where the heat can increase the rate of decomposition and render samples useless in just a few hours.
We know that changes in the ocean environment like rising sea temperatures can cause a domino effect and lead to harmful impacts in the entire food-chain. Environmental contamination by humans and biotoxins are also important to keep in mind in an event like this.
MB: How worried should we be? Is this a sign that the ocean environment is somehow collapsing before our eyes?
KM: I think in today’s world there are a lot of insults to the environment that we need to look at. We see the news of these larger events like the dolphin die-off in Peru or the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf two years ago, but there are oil spills, unsustainable fishing practices, uninhibited pollution, increasing ocean noise, you name it, occurring up and down the coast every single day and that have a very serious and real cumulative impact. It’s easy to put these smaller but chronic incidents out of sight and out of mind but they are crucially important and need to be addressed.
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Georgia Southern University’s Herty Advanced Materials Development Center has opened the first fully-integrated pilot pellet mill in the United States. The new production line, located in Savannah, GA, includes a nearly $2 million investment in process equipment. The facility will provide a much-needed platform for innovation in process technology and pellet design in the U.S. and will help rising global demand for biomass pellets in Europe and North America.
With the introduction of the new mill, Herty will work with technology providers and developers to help validate a number of product development projects. The team will also support researchers working to enhance pellet design and will develop methods for lowering operating costs.
Pellets, formed from wood and bioenergy feedstocks such as miscanthus and switch grass, are highly regarded as an effective, alternative energy solution because of their relatively high energy density and ease of handling. Pellets can also be easily integrated into existing electric power generating plants as a fuel. As a result, the pellet industry has witnessed tremendous growth as major European countries, which have adopted mandates for greenhouse gas emissions, are using biomass pellets at unprecedented rates. Most of the growth in Europe has come from imports.
According to a recent report from the U.S. International Trade Commission, annual global imports of wood pellets have grown from virtually zero to more than $1.5 billion during the last decade. However, research into improving the production of pellets, as well as optimizing pellet operation and composition has lagged behind industry growth. Developers, manufacturers and researchers will now be able to benefit by having a flexible, integrated production facility that can produce pellets with properties that are consistent with those achieved in large-scale commercial facilities.
“For more than 75 years, Herty has been helping companies in a variety of industries develop and validate new processes and products,” says Alex Koukoulas, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Georgia Southern’s Herty Advanced Materials Development Center. “This new pilot mill is a first and will help address a global need. The new mill will serve as a valuable testbed by helping our clients confirm product performance and operating efficiencies and before they commit to an investment in full-scale manufacturing. Ultimately, the Savannah-based facility will help companies lower technical risk and accelerate delivery.”
“To be a part of a larger mandate, assisting in clean energy solutions, promoting a cleaner environment and impacting Georgia’s economic growth makes our efforts here at Herty all the more meaningful,” says Jill Stuckey, director, biomass development. Herty’s pellet mill and production facility provides access to both advanced technology and to new product development capabilities and support. Capabilities and services include:
- Biomass preparation and pretreatment
- Biomass testing
- Pellet analysis
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There is something almost all of us learnt and hopefully keep learning in the course of life. All the more if your training or vocation has anything to do with a uniform, or government service, or many other vocations. And that is - respect as well as dignity of the flag of our country was and will always remain paramount.
As seafarers, it is driven into our DNA, and tradition as well as pride in flag and all it stands for ensures we never forget this. Foreign or Indian ship visiting Indian port - the Indian flag needs to fly at the highest point. Passing or crossing an Indian Navy ship - dip your own country's flag or ensign in salute, and wait for a response, before hoisting it again. Ensure that the Indian flag never touches the ground, come what may. All this, and more.
Come what may, if the Indian flag was in danger of being dis-respected, by anybody, you secured the flag first. At all costs.
And that's where one wonders - what were the young policemen thinking about, what was their training, hitting the Indian flag and people carrying the flag, knowing that this would cause the flag to fall down into the dirty street water? I wish I had been there, only for this. Actually, I almost was, but couldn't.
Earlier today, I had decided to go and observe Arvind Kejriwal's protest as well as take some photographs, and planned to drive over to Lodhi Gardens, park my car there, and then go the rest of the distance by foot, since the Government in its wisdom had shut down all public transport. This was not to be, because even walking was not allowed, and so from a point near the Claridges Hotel roundabout, I was asked to return. Very politely, ofcourse, but firmly.
So for what it was worth, I returned home, and with many others in the country, saw what was a peaceful demonstration, with water cannons, tear gas and the regular push pull. It all seemed quite civilised - to give you an idea, as seafarers we know the power of a fire hose, and at around 4-5 bar pressure, it is impossible to stand in front of water being aimed at you. Here, it appeared as though the water cannons were on "spray" mode and the tear gas shells were not really causing any grief.
So to suddenly see policemen lash out at people waving the Indian flag, repeatedly, was like this major jolt to all we held sacred and loyal. What was that about, did those policemen have something against the Indian flag, where was all this coming from?
One reason being trotted out is that this is a highly sensitive area, whatever that means, and people had no business to be there. Interesting. We can have a race-course where thousands assemble, the area is littered with bars and restaurants where hundreds get ossified on a regular basis, every second bungalow in the area is used for weddings and parties when traffic gets disturbed and all these cause more of a risk to the security of people who live there and apparently make this a sensitive area.
But if a couple of hundred peaceful protestors manage to slip through the dragnet and wave the Indian National flag, then somehow, the Delhi Police is entitled to lash out with their lathis - and not do anything to prevent the flags from falling down on to the ground?
Who is responsible for this dis-respect, and what shall be done about it?
Related Blog Posts
Networkingitimes | Dating & Chat | Email
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DUNBOYNE, Ireland (Alltech) — With high feed costs, increased government regulations and intensifying consumer demands, the future of the poultry industry is difficult to predict. Yet, at Alltech’s 10th Poultry Solutions Seminar held in Hannover, Germany Nov. 12, a number of distinguished poultry industry experts lent their experience to the discussion, giving presentations on their cutting edge research and the issues that they believe will be of most importance in 2013.
Antibiotic resistance is a trending news topic globally and governments are starting to take notice. Dr. Marcel Boereboom, Royal Dutch Society for Veterinary Medicine, discussed the impact this is having on the Dutch industry, following a study by the Dutch Health Council. He described how the government of the Netherlands have, to date, banned certain antibiotics and implemented a targeted reduction of 50 percent (of 2009 levels) of the total amount of antibiotics used in food producing animals by 2013.
In the next presentation, Professor Stephen Collett, University of Georgia, recommended a shift in gut health management, from working against pathogens to working with the intestinal microbial community. This involves improving performance by accelerating the evolution and maintaining the stability of favorable intestinal microbiota. According to Dr. Collett, the three most important areas of an effective intestinal health management program include: “seeding” the gut with favorable organisms, "feeding" the favorable organisms and "weeding" out the unfavorable organisms.
Professor Roselina Angel, University of Maryland, detailed research on how neonatal conditioning, resulting in epigenetic changes, shows great promise in terms of improving phosphorus utilization.
“By applying a moderate phosphorus deficiency in young chicks, the bird is conditioned to utilize phosphorus more efficiently throughout its life. The timing of the conditioning is critical and requires a clear understanding of skeletal growth, the main driver of calcium and phosphorus requirements,” Dr. Angel explained.
Controlling Campylobacter, a bacteria that poses no danger to poultry, but is the leading cause of human bacterial gastroenteritis, was the topic of Professor Frank Pasmans’ presentation, researched at Ghent University. When a single bird is infected, the infection spreads quickly through the flock, resulting in the majority of birds being colonized within only a few days after Campylobacter entry.
Dr. Pasman explained how, overall, the outlook is bleak if the flock has been infected but results of recent studies, using oral administration of bovine or chicken immunoglobulins of hyper-immunized animals and the use of bacteriocins to limit caecal colonization, look promising. “We are still quite a ways away from commercialized products, but the future does seem to be positive,” he explained.
To deal with unpredictable feed costs and an inconsistent supply, Professor David Roland, Auburn University, recommended his econometric approach to the feeding of layers. “Feeding correctly is challenging because nutrient requirements and dietary levels needed for optimal returns are continually changing,” Dr. Roland said.
He presented his econometrics calculation tool to attendees, demonstrating how optimal econometric feeding can improve performance, returns and help regulate feed and egg prices at the same time.
For a more detailed account of the talks at the Solutions Seminar, visit www.alltech.com.
Founded by Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech is a global animal health and nutrition company with 32 years’ experience in developing natural products that are scientifically proven to enhance animal health and performance. With 2800 employees in 128 countries, the company has developed a strong regional presence in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle-East, Africa and Asia. For further information, visit www.alltech.com. For media assets, visit www.alltech.com/press.
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Imaginative Play in Child Psychotherapy: the Relevance of Merleau-Ponty's Thought
In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the use of imaginative play in child psychotherapy, yet the theoretical conceptualization of the meaning of play is lacking behind its application in practice. In search of a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of imaginative play, the author turns to Merleau-Ponty's ontology and to his phenomenology of structure, of the lived body, of perception, and of expression. In light of his work, play is an embodied mode of being in the world and a body-world phenomenon. Imaginative play in particular exemplifies the human order in that it enables the child to create and re-create his own meanings within his play world. In a therapeutic context, the evocation of play imagery and the expressive shaping and reshaping of play meanings lead to surprising insights and new discoveries relevant to the child's life-world. A central therapeutic value of imaginative play lies in its promise for facilitating change and healing. A clinical case illustration of a young boy is provided, and the meaning of his imaginative play is exemplified in light of Merleau-Ponty's thought. Some implications are drawn for the theory of play in child psychotherapy.
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Steve Ray has a list of 35 loaded Questions for "Bible Christians" (quotation marks his)(link to the whole list). This is number 2/35. I'm trying to provide the answers in a common format, for easy reference.
2) Other than the specific command to John to pen the Revelation, where did Jesus tell His apostles to write anything down and compile it into an authoritative book?
Nowhere that we know of.
1) But all of Jesus' instructions that we know of, we know of from an authoritative book.
2) And Scripture does tell us that these Scriptures are given to us by the will of God not the will of man:
2 Peter 1:19-21
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
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A bipartisan group of senators has agreed to an immigration reform framework that includes a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented, a significant step toward a sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration system.
The group of eight senators -- four Democrats and four Republicans -- identified broad ways to address the core issues facing the country's immigration laws in a four-plus page document, which Senate aides provided to ABC/Univision on condition of anonymity.
The principles agreed upon by this "Gang of Eight" include enhancing border security and cracking down on businesses that employ undocumented immigrants. The outline also proposes making it easier for foreigners to come to the United States legally to work or join their families.
The senators behind the framework include John McCain (R-Ariz.), who helped lead a failed reform effort in 2007, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
"Our legislation acknowledges these realities by finally committing the resources needed to secure the border, modernize and streamline our current legal immigration system, while creating a tough but fair legalization program for individuals who are currently here," the outline states. "We will ensure that this is a successful permanent reform to our immigration system that will not need to be revisited."
The "Gang of Eight" plan provides the most concrete outline yet for immigration reform, but it also leaves many questions unanswered, such as the amount of time the pathway to citizenship would take and how exactly the border would be deemed secure. Those details and others not included in the plan "would all be subject to negotiation," a Senate aide said.
Since last November's election, the senators have met five times in order to flesh out the plan, according to a Senate aide. That election, in which more than seven in 10 Latino voters supported President Barack Obama over his Republican opponent Mitt Romney, served as a tipping point on the issue of immigration, which has stalled on Capitol Hill for some time.
Republicans have generally dismissed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants as "amnesty," and President Obama failed to present a comprehensive immigration reform bill during his first term, despite pledging to bring up a proposal during his 2008 campaign. But his re-election might have shaken the political dynamics underlying the immigration issue enough to allow lawmakers to reach an agreement this year.
"First, Americans support it in poll after poll. Secondly, Latino voters expect it. Thirdly, Democrats want it. And fourth, Republicans need it," Menendez said on ABC's "This Week."
Senate staff from both parties characterized the document as a broad statement of principles rather than concrete legislative language, and one aide said that the group aims to have an actual piece of legislation ready as early as the end of March.
The senators' announcement comes one day before President Obama will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, to unveil his own immigration reform plan, which also includes an earned pathway to citizenship and many other elements of the Senate plan. The president met with a group of Hispanic Democratic lawmakers to discuss his plan on Friday, and afterward the White House reiterated that the issue remains "a top legislative priority."
Arguably the most significant detail is the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship for many of the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants, but the process of obtaining citizenship is neither easy nor short.
Under the "Gang of Eight" plan, undocumented immigrants would be required to register with the federal government. Those without a criminal record would be eligible for "probationary legal status" if they pass a background check and pay fines and back taxes. The status would allow them to live and work legally in the U.S., but they would remain ineligible for federal benefits such as welfare of Medicaid.
At the same time, the government would spend more to prevent illegal border crossings in part by increasing the use of unmanned drones and hiring more border agents. It would also implement a new system to prevent people from overstaying their visas, a main source of illegal immigration. Those undocumented immigrants with criminal records would be subject to deportation.
The U.S. government already spends a hefty amount on border security. The nearly $18 billion in federal funds that went toward border and immigration enforcement agencies in fiscal year 2012 topped the total amount spent on all other federal law enforcement agencies combined, according to a recent Migration Policy Institute report.
Still, many Republican lawmakers have said they would not support an immigration reform proposal without bolstered border security efforts.
The plan would also establish a committee of governors and other public figures from states along the Southwest border to present a "recommendation regarding when the bill's security measures outlined in the legislation are completed." Once the border is deemed secure, undocumented immigrants on probationary status would be permitted to seek green cards, which provide permanent legal residence and the eventual opportunity to apply for full citizenship.
In order to earn a green card, those with probationary legal status would have to go through a second background check, learn English and American civics, continue to pay taxes, and provide proof of employment. These immigrants would then be sent to the "back of the line," meaning that they would only be eligible for a green card once all others waiting for a green card at the time of the law's passage have obtained one.
This system would not apply to all undocumented immigrants. For example, those brought to the country as minors, also known as DREAMers, "will not face the same requirements as other individuals in order to earn a path to citizenship." Undocumented workers in the agricultural sector would also be eligible for their own path to citizenship "because of the role they play in ensuring that Americans have safe and secure agricultural products to sell and consume," the framework says.
The proposal would also make the legal immigration system more attractive by reducing visa backlogs and simplifying the visa process for those seeking to work in the U.S. or reunite with their families.
Foreigners who earn Ph.Ds or master's degrees from American universities in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields would get green cards upon graduation under the new law.
All that said, employers would be mandated to use an employment verification system to determine the legal status of job applicants. Businesses that knowingly hire undocumented immigrants would also face stiffer criminal penalties under the new law. It remains unclear whether the Senate framework would keep the existing E-Verify system, which has been criticized by business groups for being inefficient, or scrap it and create a new one.
The plan would establish programs for agricultural businesses and others in that industry to hire legal, low-skilled immigrant laborers based on need. It would also provide "labor protections" as well as a path to citizenship for some. Both of these are key given that as many as 80 percent of field workers in the U.S. are undocumented, according to a 2011 Associated Press report.
Lawmakers involved in the group indicated on Sunday that they would prefer to accomplish immigration reform in one, comprehensive bill rather than a series of individual pieces of legislation.
Still, some members of the group have voiced support for a piecemeal approach, including Rubio. But a Republican aide said that a comprehensive approach would not be a "line in the sand" for the Cuban-American senator, whom many believe could run for president in 2016.
Rubio was asked to join the group in December and recently, he released his own set of immigration reform principles. The freshman senator has pitched his plan to conservative media figures like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly and several of his agenda items made it into the "Gang of Eight" outline, including a program to track exit visas and conditioning green cards for undocumented immigrants on border security.
Lawmakers spent Sunday preparing for the announcement. Schumer informed White House officials on the group's progress and plans for a Monday announcement, a Senate aide said.
In a statement, White House spokesman Clark Stevens said President Obama is "pleased that progress is being made with bipartisan support. At the same time, he will not be satisfied until there is meaningful reform and he will continue to urge Congress to act until that is achieved."
Schumer also spoke with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), whose panel has jurisdiction over immigration laws. The Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, have also been apprised of the talks for some time, aides said.
"We have the bones of this thing, now we have to put on the meat and the muscles," a Senate aide said.
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