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I just read this article over at TinkerLab.com and I had to share it. It talks about the five easy steps to exploring art even when you have no idea what it’s about, how it works or why it’s an important piece. Here are the five steps they listed:
- Find real art. Looking at a real piece of art can be a far richer experience than looking at a reproduction (like a poster). You don’t have to go to the “best” museum to make this happen, just find something that captures your child’s imagination. Talk about art in your home or look for a public sculpture in a town square.
- Be open-minded. Expect that the child will have his or her own ideas about the art, and try not to interject your own ideas of wrong + right into the conversation.
- Encourage careful looking. Get up close or take a look from a different perspective (up high, the side, far away, walk around it)
- Ask open-ended questions such as “What do you see?”, What’s going on in this picture/sculpture/installation/etc.”and exploratory questions such as “Do you have any ideas about how the artist made this?”, “If you could add something to this artwork, what would you like to add?”, “If this artwork could talk, what might it say?”, “What would you title this piece?”
- Look for an opportunity for related art-making. Making art can help strengthen a child’s understanding and critical thinking skills as they interpret what they saw in two or three-dimensions.
Go on over to the website to read how this mother put these five steps in action with her kid at a museum and how it inspired her daughter to create an installation at their home! | <urn:uuid:2a9a292b-664c-4c7a-8fc0-7b7bf74d8819> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://parentsofcolorseeknewborntoadopt.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/helping-your-kid-understand-art-even-when-you-have-no-idea-about-it/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964102 | 402 | 3.46875 | 3 |
What's a good word for describing the last section of a document, similar to "introduction" (which, of course, refers to the beginning)?
An alternative to conclusion could be a summary, if it comes to wrap up the piece.
If it contains ancillary information, It could also be a postscript or an appendix.
For a piece of fiction, I would call it an epilogue.
Could you be more specific about what is in this section? It's entirely possible that there isn't an all-encompassing word for it, but once we know what you have in your hands, we could find the right term.
Conclusion fits perfectly to your question. From comments I understand that that is not what you are looking for, so, the word blurb may be considered if it may fit, which is a snippet from the actual work generally on the back cover of a novel to introduce you to the plot and characters (for promotional purposes).
Other reference: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blurb?s=t
Why do you need to attach a snippet from your actual text at the end of the document anyway? Is it a novel?
Frankly I think "conclusion" is usually the best word, even if it really isn't a conclusion in the sense of being the logical result of a long argument or series of events. If you said, "And in the conclusion of the book, we learn that everything that came before was irrelevant," I doubt anyone would protest, "But then it's not really a 'conclusion', is it?" unless they really wanted to be argumentative.
Other possible words are:
denoument: A "wrapping up" section of a story, following the real climax and conclusion. Like, if you have a crime story, you might think of the chapter where the detective solves the crime and the villain is caught as the "conclusion". If there's then a final chapter about how the victim tries to put his life back together, or where the detective and the heroine have a romantic encounter, or whatever, that is often called a "denoument".
postlude: Indicates something at the end with no particular "role". It's ofen used for a denoument, but not necessarily.
appendix: Material that follows the main narrative. "Appendix" is often used for reference material, like a list of the main people in history book, or detailed calculations or statistics in a technical book.
end, or ending: Simple and general.
I guess you could make a technical case that an "introduction" is usually considered to be something separate from the main text. Often an introduction is written by someone other than the primary author. So in that sense the analogue would be something at the end that is also not part of the main text, which brings us back to "appendix" and "addendum". | <urn:uuid:e048f9f7-e195-47af-a3cc-a62ac0ca0724> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/69472/a-text-has-an-introduction-a-body-and-a | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948794 | 606 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Self-executing vs. Non-self-executing Treaties
Mark.Scarberry at pepperdine.edu
Wed Aug 31 12:20:33 PDT 2005
Here is an excerpt from a short piece by Rick Kirgis (Washington & Lee Univ.
School of Law) on the ASIL (American Society of International Law) web site:
Provisions in treaties and other international agreements are given effect
as law in domestic courts of the United States only if they are
"self-executing" or if they have been implemented by an act (such as an act
of Congress) having the effect of federal law. Courts in this country have
been reluctant to find such provisions self-executing, but on several
occasions they have found them so--sometimes simply by giving direct effect
to the provisions without expressly saying that they are self-executing.
There are varying formulations as to what tends to make a treaty provision
self-executing or non-self-executing, but within constitutional constraints
(such as the requirement that appropriations of money originate in the House
of Representatives) the primary consideration is the intent--or lack
thereof--that the provision become effective as judicially-enforceable
domestic law without implementing legislation. For the most part, the more
specific the provision is and the more it reads like an act of Congress, the
more likely it is to be treated as self-executing. A provision in an
international agreement may be self-executing in U. S. law even though it
would not be so in the law of the other party or parties to the agreement.
Moreover, some provisions in an agreement might be self-executing while
others in the same agreement are not.
All treaties are the law of the land, but only a self-executing treaty
would prevail in a domestic court over a prior, inconsistent act of
Congress. A non-self-executing treaty could not supersede a prior
inconsistent act of Congress in a U. S. court. A non-self-executing treaty
nevertheless would be the supreme law of the land in the sense that--as long
as the treaty is consistent with the Bill of Rights--the President could not
constitutionally ignore or contravene it.
Even if a treaty or other international agreement is non-self-executing, it
may have an indirect effect in U. S. courts. The courts' practice, mentioned
above, of interpreting acts of Congress as consistent with earlier
international agreements applies to earlier non-self-executing agreements as
well as to self-executing ones, since in either case the agreement is
binding internationally and courts are slow to place the United States in
breach of its international obligations. In addition, if state or local law
is inconsistent with an international agreement of the United States, the
courts will not allow the law to stand. The reason, if the international
agreement is a self-executing treaty, is that such a treaty has the same
effect in domestic courts as an act of Congress and therefore directly
supersedes any inconsistent state or local law. If the international
agreement is a non-self-executing treaty, it would not supersede
inconsistent state or local law in the same way a federal statute would, but
the courts nevertheless would not permit a state of the union to force the
United States to breach its international obligation to other countries
under the agreement. The state or local law would be struck down as an
interference with the federal government's power over foreign affairs.
>From International Agreements and U.S. Law,
http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh10.htm , May 1997
Mark S. Scarberry
Pepperdine University School of Law
From: Volokh, Eugene [mailto:VOLOKH at law.ucla.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 11:41 AM
To: CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu
Subject: RE: Declaration of war
Maybe I'm missing, but isn't the point of a non-self-executing treaty
that violation of the treaty is not itself illegal? Congress could make
such a violation illegal, even if the question would be hard to litigate.
But my sense of the law related to non-self-executing treaties is that
federal officials do not have a domestic legal obligation to comply with
them or enforce them (which is why courts don't enforce them in cases that
come before them, even though courts are bound by the Supremacy Clause). Am
From: Jonathan Miller [mailto:jmiller at swlaw.edu]
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2005 4:35 PM
To: Volokh, Eugene
Cc: CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu
Subject: Re: Declaration of war
I have missed portions of this chain, but I think you are missing the fact
that a treaty may change the range of conduct that the President is free to
engage in just as a law can. You might wish to keep the following in mind
from an international/constitutional law perspective:
1) The United States is bound by various treaties, including the UN Charter
and the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, not to wage a war of aggression.
(Which I will leave undefined.) And there is little doubt that
assassination of a foreign head of state is an act of war.
2) While it is possible that the President has the constitutional authority
to denounce a treaty, I think a strong argument could be made that
deliberate violation of a treaty by the President without denouncing it
would be a violation of U.S. law.
If you accept these arguments, then there are circumstances where
assassination of a foreign leader violates U.S. law. Sovereign immunity may
bar a lawsuit and the issue may be barred by political question doctrine,
but the obligation under the supremacy clause remains. I don't think a
self-executing v. non-self-executing distinction is useful here, because
while portions of the UN Charter are self-executing, the issue of the
legality of a war of aggression is almost impossible to litigate anyway. In
the assassination/war of aggression context, self-executing v.
non-self-executing does not tell you anything about the President's
authority vis a vis Congress.
Presumably when the Senate consents to a treaty barring the President from
engaging in particular conduct, the President is no longer free to engage in
that conduct so long as the treaty is in force. Whether the issue is
justiciable does not change the illegality of the conduct, and since the
self-executing/non-self-executing distinction is directed at the courts, and
not at the legal authority of the President vis a vis Congress, I don't
think that calling a treaty non-self-executing makes any difference to the
issue of the President's authority.
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Somalia: Shelter and NFIs Cluster Beneficiaries (as of 23 July 2012) - Info graphic
The cluster objectives in 2011 were aimed at protecting newly-displaced and other vulnerable groups from life-threatening elements; improving the living conditions of the displaced population in stabilised settlements and supporting the IDPs and responsible authorities in voluntary relocation, or return where possible.
In 2011, approximately 695,000 IDPs or 54% of the 1.3 million target populated received NFI while 50% (75,600) of the 150,899 targeted received transitional shelters. The average monthly total benefi ciaries reached through the distribution of Non Food Items (NFIs) and Transitional Shelter, since the declaration of famine was 96,422 and 6,504 respectively. A total of 146,680 benefi ciaries were reached through the eight projects covered through this report. In general, the CHF accounted for 29% ($9.5 million) of the total funding received by the cluster in 2011.
Link to video
To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit http://unocha.org/. | <urn:uuid:2dce694c-99b6-4cd5-8c10-ed9d2db4e833> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reliefweb.int/map/somalia/somalia-shelter-and-nfis-cluster-beneficiaries-23-july-2012-info-graphic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952217 | 230 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Johnny Clegg - dancer, anthropologist, singer, songwriter, academic, activist and French knight. Whilst all of these tags are fitting, none of them can accurately describe the energetic, passionate human being who has become one of South Africa's greatest musical exports. He has campaigned against the injustice of apartheid South Africa and been instrumental in putting the new South Africa on the map as a cultural ambassador. More info on Johnny's life and achievements is available here.
Recently awarded three honorary doctorates from Dartmouth College, CUNY and University of the Witwatersrand, Johnny, a former Grammy nominee and Billboard music award winner, still tours regularly, both at home and abroad, with dates pegged for 2012 in Europe and north America. Be sure not to miss his dynamic live act should it come your way. A list of current tour dates is available on this page.
This site contains biographies, videos, audio clips, tour schedules and links to merchandising. Work is underway to make individual songs available for DRM-free download from this site in the near future.
Kirstenbosch April show
Fresh from his Royal Albert Hall performance of A SOUTH AFRICAN STORY,
Johnny, brings the Summer Sunset concerts at Kirstenbosch to a spectacular
close on Sunday April 7...
April 10 sees Johnny and band playing the Katara amphitheatre in Doha. Details to follow...
As Johnny was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at Dartmouth College this month, President Jim Yong Kim of Dartmouth College (about to become President of the World Bank), had the following to say:
June 10, 2012
"JOHNNY CLEGG, if music is the food of love, yours is a veritable banquet. You infuse it with the rhythms of Africa and the melodies of the West to create a unique blend that at once sustains and empowers. Like all great art, it transcends difference to express the boundless spirit of our rainbow world.
Born in England, you grew up in southern Africa, a "white Zulu" with a heart as big as the continent and a belief in justice fired by your awareness from a young age of senseless inequality. In the dark days of apartheid, when those who would separate us sought to silence you, your vibrant music fed the soul of the movement to end such separation.
Bans, raids, and arrests never stopped you from giving voice to the people, decrying the hardships inflicted on them, and celebrating their proud cultures. Today, in a better time, your songs unite the crowds who throng the rugby stadiums and pack the public arenas of your beloved South Africa and echo around the world.
With your bands Juluka and then Savuka, and as a solo artist, you have earned wide international acclaim. You are South Africa's "living treasure," Swaziland's "royal minstrel" and a French Knight of Arts and Letters. And, as an accomplished anthropologist, you have written seminal papers on Zulu music and dance and lectured at home and abroad. On your visits to Dartmouth, you showed us that your teaching is as inspiring as your music.
You once said the hardest lesson you ever learned was recognizing opportunities. You learned that lesson well. With the company African Sky, you saw the opportunity both to protect our planet and put people to work by recycling e-waste. You use music and song to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and highlight the need for prevention.
Johnny, for the decades you spent bringing unity where there was division and preserving your country's heritage, Dartmouth is proud to award you the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters."
President Jim Yong Kim
On Freedom day , the 27th of April 2012, Johnny Clegg received the presidential IKHAMANGA award as part of the National Orders ceremony. The National Orders are the highest honour a citizen can receive for his/her contribution to South Africa.
"Awarded for his excellent contribution to and achievement in the field of bridging African traditional music with other music forms, promoting racial understanding among racially divided groups in South Africa under difficult apartheid conditions, working for a non-racial society and being an outstanding spokesperson for the release of political prisoners."
Current Album: HUMAN
"...He is a compelling singer and he has a strong rock pop feel to his songs that have never distanced themselves from the Zulu music he grew up with" - FAME reviewer
"With Human, Clegg once again shows off an ability to combine pure pop with international beats that is truly remarkable" - Crawdaddy
"...the songs on 'Human' center on finding identity, understanding or love in a rapidly shifting landscape." - LA Times
"...Even when Clegg is addressing very specific African dilemmas, there is a
universality that accompanies the message and, of course, the music that propels the message transcends any attempt to fit it into a particular
pigeonhole. On Human, like so many albums before, Clegg is a human making human music. Over the past three decades, few have done that as well as him." - Cincinatti Beat | <urn:uuid:f473878d-e06a-45e3-bc0e-8ba6c031e4a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.johnnyclegg.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952477 | 1,054 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Māori in the Depression
Hinaki (eel trap)
07.2000, Puketapu, John (1924– ), Wellington. Purchased 2000 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa
During the Great Depression, New Zealanders living in rural communities, like most Maori, were at least able to live off the land. Food-gathering equipment like hinaki (eel traps) helped Maori survive the economic crisis.
Maori and unemployment relief
To be eligible for unemployment relief, which took the form of work schemes, people had to pay an unemployment tax. Officially, Maori were considered too poor to pay this tax. However, thousands did manage to come up with the money. These people could register for, and receive, the government help available. | <urn:uuid:c287edfd-d3df-4966-8ad7-735ad04a4024> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/WhatsOn/exhibitions/SliceofHeaven/Exhibition/SocialWelfare/Pages/depressionobject.aspx?irn=2575 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969037 | 169 | 3.140625 | 3 |
|OK In Health - Nutrition Column|
The Truth About Diet Soda Pop - May 2013
Lisa Kilgour, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, tells us the truth about dietary facts regarding sugar-free, artificially sweetened soda (pop), energy drinks, vitamin waters, etc. She explains how studies have shown these “no calorie” beverages tend to be much worse for your health than advertised.
Watch Lisa's Video on 'The Truth About Diet Soda or Pop'
Credits: Directed by James Blonde. Camera work by James Blonde and Trance Blackman. Edited by Trance Blackman.
Lisa's Bio: Lisa Kilgour, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, lives and works in Peachland and proudly practices from her office at the Peachland Fitness Centre. To take control of your health and find the balanced diet that helps you feel your best, visit EatMoreRealFood.com or call 250.869.9434. - Lisa Kilgour Website - Email
Copyright © 2004- 2011 OKinHealth.com. This article is of the copyright of OK in Health and the author; any reproduction, duplication and transmission of the article are to have prior written approval by OK in Health or the author.
This information and research is intended to be reliable, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. All material in this article is provided for information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action or inaction should be taken based solely on the contents of this newsletter / e-magazine / website. Readers should consult their doctor and other qualified health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being. The information and opinions provided in this newsletter / e-magazine/website are believed to be accurate and sound, based on the best judgment available to the authors. Readers who fail to consult with appropriate health authorities assume the risk of any injuries. The publisher is not responsible for any errors or omissions. OK in Health is not responsible for the information in these articles or for any content included in this article which is intended as a guide only and should not be used as a substitute to seeking professional advice from either your doctor or a registered specialist for yourself or anyone else.
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|Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed with Healthy Guacamole|
|Category: Vegetarian Entrees|
Description: It's perfect for a potluck party because you make the components ahead of time or then bring your pastry bag to the event to stuff the tomatoes.
Tomatoes are the best when they are in season from July through September.
The carotenoid found in tomatoes (and everything made from them) has been extensively studied for its antioxidant and cancer-preventing properties. The antioxidant function of lycopene-its ability to help protect cells and other structures in the body from oxygen damage-has been linked in human research to the protection of DNA (our genetic material) inside of white blood cells. Prevention of heart disease has been shown to be another antioxidant role played by lycopene.
Lycopene has been shown to help protect not only against prostate, but breast, pancreatic and intestinal cancers, especially when consumed with fat-rich foods, such as avocado, olive oil or nuts. (This is because carotenoids are fat-soluble, meaning they are absorbed into the body along with fats).
So this recipes makes a great team. | <urn:uuid:ffc0338d-0197-453a-990e-1f6cc03bdb7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://okinhealth.com/articles/the-truth-about-soda-pop | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916627 | 929 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Column: Totally Synthetic
Pseudolaric acid B
Regular readers of this column's online incarnation will have noticed that this is the second appearance for this particular synthesis. Its first showing was in a particularly short JACS communication last year, which simply didn't do justice to the amazing breadth of chemistry Stanford University's Barry Trost had employed. However, good things come to those that wait - especially in the lab - and we now have an engrossing full paper, and a lot of chemistry.1
There's a load of biology too, with a hugely impressive activity profile accompanying that intriguing structure. This tricyclic beasty inhibits angiogenesis, causes apoptosis in human melanoma cells, and inhibits the polymerisation of tubulin, among other roles. But how to build the tricycle?
Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, we'll start at the beginning, with an impressive asymmetric hydrogenation to install two key stereocentres (figure 1). This reaction, developed by Hidemasa Takaya, results in a fantastic yield, enantiomeric excess and distereomeric ratio - everything you could ask for.2
With the stereochemistry set, Trost's team quickly extended the structure, readying it for a rhodium-catalysed [5+2] cycloaddition which give the natural product's 7, 5-fused ring system in good yield (figure 2). The team used a catalysis developed just down the hall, in Paul Wender's Stanford lab.3 Initially, they'd hoped to use their own chemistry, using a not-entirely dissimilar ruthenium catalyst, but this gave a mixture of isomeric products.4
The next piece of chemistry - rather more low-tech - saw the group trying to isomerise a double bond in the resulting cycloheptadiene, to bring the diene moiety into conjugation. Normally, this is the kind of reaction that would be all too easy to trigger accidentally, so the group must have been surprised that it was so hard to find reaction conditions that worked. However, as luck would have it, the isomerisation was started simply by using dry TBAF - which the team had actually added to take off the silicon protecting group (figure 2). It seems that removing the protecting groups gave a 'naked' alkoxide that sits in just the right conformation to nab the proton (shown in red) that triggers isomerisation.
The team were struck by a second happy accident just a couple of steps later. Epoxidising the now-conjugated diene using m CPBA resulted in clean epoxidation of the desired olefin, but as a mixture of diastereoisomers (figure 3). Although the ratio was distinctly in favour of the isomer the team were after, they found - as is often the case - that separating the two was difficult. Like many chemists before them, the team opted to 'take the material through', hoping that the mixture would be separable a few steps further on - a strategy that sometimes works, and sometimes does not. So in the next step - a base-triggered rearrangement to pop open the epoxide - the group must have been astonished to see that only one of the isomers reacted, leaving the unwanted epoxide behind. They would then have found the separation relatively easy, but the mechanism a bit more complex.
Trost suggests that the base - LDA - can deprotonate the allylic proton (shown in blue) only when coordinated by the epoxide. In the desired case, both are relatively close together on the same face of the molecule, so the reaction works well. In the case of the impurity, the opposite is true, and the epoxide resists. That must've been a good day in the lab.
Several steps later, the group were ready to introduce the unsaturated sidechain, by attaching an acetylene onto a ketone. Although these reactions probably hark back a century, I was again back in class, learning that cerium acetylides are alternatives to other more frequently employed lithium or Grignard reagents. But why bother - other than for the kudos of using a lanthanide-organometallic? In this case, because the usual suspects wouldn't play ball. It's not a 'new' reaction, but learning new and alternative reagents is an essential process for the intrepid synthesiser.
And that's one of the best aspects of this paper - novel reagents and interesting mechanisms. New stuff's fun, isn't it?
Paul Docherty is a medicinal chemist based in London, UK
1 K C Nicolaou et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., DOI: 10.1002/anie.200804228
2 K C Nicolaou et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2005, 44, 1012
3 K C Nicolaou et al, Chem. Commun., 2002, 2480
4 K C Nicolaou et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2005, 44, 3874
5 G Guella et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 1999, 38, 1134
To read more from Totally Synthetic go to the website
Totally Synthetic blog
External links will open in a new browser window | <urn:uuid:0df9719e-28fd-41f7-8630-0c4aea8f7d67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2008/December/ColumnTotallySynthetic.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943198 | 1,117 | 1.5625 | 2 |
The hallway at my school just got a lot more fun, thanks to some amazing students and moms that finished our new “Hall of Pencils” today.
1. Some very civic-minded graduates decided they wanted to help make our school more colorful, so they began this pencil project that had been on the PTA’s “to do” list for way too long. Students (from middle school) washed the poles, and primed them for painting.
2. A mom masked off the length to be painted yellow and students rolled on the color. Our hall is very long, so we have sections of yellow, red and blue pencils to add some variety.
3. The masking tape was removed and the top of the pole was hand painted eraser pink.
4. My super clever friend Kelly had the idea that something more than paint could be used to finish the pencils off. She found air duct tubing at the hardware store, cut it and stretched it out, and bolted the piece in place with a metal ring. Ta dah! Giant pencils for our students to enjoy as they walk to and from class. | <urn:uuid:0fef5bfc-7e4f-4443-8e0d-1f34aaf3b862> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/2012/06/hallway-pencil-poles.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97797 | 237 | 1.890625 | 2 |
|Saint Mildburh of Wenlock|
St. Milburga's Church, Beckbury
|Honored in||Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church|
Mildburh was a daughter of Merewalh, King of the Mercian sub-kingdom of Magonsaete, and Saint Ermenburga. She was the older sister of Saint Mildrith and Saint Mildgytha. the three sisters have been likened to the three theological virtues: Milburh to faith, Mildgytha to hope, and Mildrith to faith.
Mildburh was sought in marriage by a neighboring prince, who resolved to have her for his wife, even at the cost of violence. Mildburh's escape took her across a river. The prince, in hot pursuit, was forced to desist when the river miraculously became so swollen that he was unable to ford.
Mildburh entered the Benedictine monastery of Wenlock, Shropshire (now known as Much Wenlock) on the borders of Wales. the nunnery was founded with endowments by her father and her uncle, Wulfhere of Mercia, under the direction of a French Abbess, Liobinde of Chelles. Milburga eventually succeeded her in this office, and was installed as abbess by St Theodore.
Educated in France, Mildburh was noted for her humility, and according to popular stories, was endowed with the gift of healing and restored sight to the blind. She organised the evangelisation and pastoral care of south Shropshire.
She is said to have had a mysterious power over birds; they would avoid damaging the local crops when she asked them to. She was also associated with miracles, such as the creation of a spring and the miraculous growth of barley. One story relates that one morning she overslept and woke to find the sun shining on her. Her veil slipped but instead of falling to the ground was suspended on a sunbeam until she collected it.
She died February 23 727.
There is evidence that Saint Mildburh was syncretized with a pagan goddess. According to medievalist Pamela Berger, "this saint was chosen to fill the role of grain protectress in Shropshire when the ancient pagan protectress could no longer be venerated."
Her tomb was long venerated until her abbey was destroyed by invading Danes. After the Norman conquest Cluniac monks built a monastery on the site – the ruins at Much Wenlock are those of the later house.
- O.S.B., "Saint Mildred and her Kinsfolk", Virgin Saints of the Benedictine Order, Catholic Truth Society, London, 1903
- "St. Milburga", Diocese of Shrewsbury
- "St. Milburga", Beckbury Village
- Burne, Charlotte Sophia (1973). Shropshire folk-lore, a sheaf of gleanings. Wakefield. ISBN 9780854098507.
- "St. Milburga", St. Milburga's Roman Catholic Church, Church Stretton
- Berger, Pamela (1985). The Goddess Obscured: Transformation of the Grain Protectress from Goddess to Saint. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 9780807067239.
|This article about a saint from England is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.| | <urn:uuid:a86bbf75-3230-4179-9e43-888a7a03cf6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milburga_of_Wenlock | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958342 | 714 | 2.5 | 2 |
<<Up ContentsFlag of the United Kingdom
Redirected from Union Jack
The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. "Union Flag" has been the name preferred in official documents since the late 19th century. "Union Jack" is the traditional name, and remains more popular, though it's strictly speaking incorrect, since a jack is for use only at the prow of a ship.
|Original Union Flag|
The current Union Flag dates from January 1, 1801 with the Act of Union with Ireland. The new design added the red saltire cross attributed to St. Patrick for Ireland. The saltire is counterchanged to combine it with the saltire of St. Andrew. The red cross actually comes from the heraldic device of the Fitzgerald family who were sent by Henry II of England to subjugate Ireland and has never been used as an emblem of Ireland by the Irish.
The Union Flag was originally a royal flag, rather than a national flag. In fact, no law has ever been passed making it a national flag, but it has become one through usage. Its first parliamentary recognition as a national flag came in 1908, when it was declared that "the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag". A more categorical statement was made by the Home Secretary in 1933, when he stated that "the Union Flag is the National Flag".
The Union Flag is found in the canton (top left-hand corner) of the flags of many former colonies of the UK, notably Australia and New Zealand. In both countries, the Union Flag was used semi-interchangeably with their national flags for significant parts of their early history. It was also flown in Canada until the Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson introduced a new flag in 1965. It is also shown in the canton of the state flag of Hawaii.
Regarding to flying it the correct way up, the broad white band on St. Andrew should be above the red band of St. Patrick in the upper hoist canton (the corner at the top nearest to the flag-pole).
England - Northern Ireland - Scotland - Wales[?]
Flags of the Channel Islands:
Alderney[?] - Guernsey - Herm[?] - Jersey[?] - Sark[?]
Blue Ensign[?] - Red Ensign[?] - White Ensign[?] | <urn:uuid:97fb88e1-2b5f-4a5c-9307-23a1d6ae0241> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/lookup/encyclopedia/un/Union_Jack.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95219 | 486 | 3.359375 | 3 |
The administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Michele Leonhart, stated the agency is reviewing the cooperation with Mexico in the fight against drug cartels and crime.
Michele Leonhart and Mexico Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna assessed the exchange of information between their two agencies, in accordance with bilateral agreements on security issues.
This joint work of Mexico and US forces “has proved successful in fighting criminal gangs, drug cartels, transfer or smuggling of weapons, drugs, foreign currency and all kind of threats against the two countries,” the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) note states.
Mexico Drug War : Us Dea and Mexico police against drug cartels and gangs
The meeting of the DEA administrator with Mexican security authorities ocurred when opposition parties and civil organizations are questioning the transparency of the U.S. aid in fight against mexican drug cartels.Those groups criticize the mechanisms of cooperation the United States has provided to fight drugs, an action described by them as a sole duty of the sovereign Mexican government.
Last week, high officials reported to the Us Congress about this collaboration, stating that it does not violate Mexican laws, because U.S. agents participate here in the exchange of information on Mexico drug war. | <urn:uuid:d8c57658-d7f7-4855-ac97-3f58ed898ae7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationalturk.com/en/us-dea-reviews-mexico-anti-drug-cooperation-13631 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934484 | 255 | 1.617188 | 2 |
For the first time in decades, a handful of American cities -- including New York and Los Angeles -- are reporting declines in childhood obesity rates.
Several American cities are reporting declines in childhood obesity rates. ©bikeriderlondon/Shutterstock.com
The trend also includes smaller metropolitan areas such as Anchorage, Alaska, and Kearney, Nebraska. However, the drops aren't huge -- just five percent in Philadelphia and three percent in Los Angeles, reports the New York Times on Monday.
This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here. | <urn:uuid:2ecad169-fff6-45ee-96a7-b0c63911bc04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bangkokpost.com/news/health/325776/childhood-obesity-rates-drop-in-some-us-cities | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950117 | 128 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Unparalleled warming over the last few decades has triggered widespread ecosystem changes in many temperate North American and Western European lakes, say researchers at Queen’s University and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
The team reports that striking changes are now occurring in many temperate lakes similar to those previously observed in the rapidly warming Arctic, although typically many decades later. The Arctic has long been considered a “bellwether” of what will eventually happen with warmer conditions farther south.
“Our findings suggest that ecologically important changes are already under way in temperate lakes,” says Queen’s Biology research scientist, Dr. Kathleen Ruhland, from the university’s Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL) and lead author of the study.
The research was recently published in the international journal Global Change Biology. Also on the team are Biology professor John Smol, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change, and Andrew Paterson, a research scientist at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and an adjunct professor at Queen’s.
One of the biggest challenges with environmental studies is the lack of long-term monitoring data, Dr. Ruhland notes. “We have almost no data on how lakes have responded to climate change over the last few decades, and certainly no data on longer term time scales,” she says. “However, lake sediments archive an important record of past ecosystem changes by the fossils preserved in mud profiles.”
The scientists studied changes over the last few decades in the species composition of small, microscopic algae preserved in sediments from more than 200 lake systems in the northern hemisphere. These algae dominate the plankton that float at or near the surface of lakes, and serve as food for other larger organisms.
Striking ecosystem changes were recorded from a large suite of lakes from Arctic, alpine and temperate ecozones in North America and western Europe. Aquatic ecosystem changes across the circumpolar Arctic were found to occur in the late-19th and early 20th centuries. These were similar to shifts in algal communities, indicating decreased ice cover and related changes, over the last few decades in the temperate lakes.
“As expected, these changes occurred earlier – by about 100 years – in highly sensitive Arctic lakes, compared with temperate regions,” says Dr. Smol, recipient of the 2004 Herzberg Gold Medal as Canada’s top scientist.
In a detailed study from Whitefish Bay, Lake of the Woods, located in northwestern Ontario, strong relationships were found between changes in the lake algae and long-term changes in air temperature and ice-out records. The authors believe that, although the study was focused on algae preserved in lake sediments, changes to other parts of the aquatic ecosystem are also likely (for example algal blooms and deep-water oxygen levels).
“The widespread occurrence of these trends is particularly troubling as they suggest that climatically-induced ecological thresholds have already been crossed, even with temperature increases that are below projected future warming scenarios for these regions,” adds Dr. Paterson. The authors warn that if the rate and magnitude of temperature increases continue, it is likely that new ecological thresholds will be surpassed, many of which may be unexpected.
“We are entering unchartered territory, the effects of which can cascade throughout the entire ecosystem,” concludes Dr. Smol.
The research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
From Queen's University Press Release | <urn:uuid:77f17bfd-eadb-4efe-9191-fabd82e82a85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vtecostudies.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95313 | 733 | 3.421875 | 3 |
On a whim today I tried to figure out what the oldest pages are on the internet that mention the names of Google’s founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. In particular, I wanted to find out what information Google’s founders left on the internet before they had the notion to index it all.
This pursuit was of course assisted by Google itself. It has a nifty advanced search feature where you can specify a date range for the results. Unfortunately the algorithm for assigning dates to pages seems really buggy, and you end up with a lot of false positives for the date range you specify. For example, Google was being talked about in 1973?
I was able to find some interesting newsgroup postings from Sergey in 1994. On August 18, 1994, he sought advice about booking air travel from San Francisco to Baltimore. In 2010, this conversation would almost certainly not happen, as any number of powerful airfare search engines crunch the numbers and compare rates across carriers, dates, and airports.
But even more interesting to me is a math question posed in 1994 about the Karhunen-Loeve theorem:
I ran across a reference to a Karhunen-Loeve transform in a paper I was reading and from the brief mention it seems that it is relevant to my research. However, there is no pointer to where I could find more information.
Could someone let me know what a good reference for the Karhunen-Loeve transform would be?
Today you just type “Karhunen-Loeve” into Google to get the answer. | <urn:uuid:35e4d9b2-c04c-4504-a899-c4d405b4f34c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/1366/before-google | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957685 | 324 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Tuesday night was the first meeting of the new year for a new City Council and it sure started off with a bang. Instead of the usual jaw-yawning meeting, it was anything but that.
After the usually quiet sounds of condemning houses that have been on the books for six months or more, and changing who is on what committee, things were just about wrapped up until is was Walmart’s turn to give a presentation on their new “Neighborhood Market” at the large parcel of land that is at W. Main St. and South Vancouver Street.
Well, the bell rang and round one started. It was supposed to be just a presentation of the Walmart store.
One would think that a first-time member of the City Council would set back and listen and learn, that was not the case. If there was any doubt that Mr. Seth Irwin is a lawyer, it was forever dashed last night.
I thought I was watching Jimmy Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder! The trial, I mean the discussion heated up quickly, mainly from all the lawyers that was there.
The issue was the definition of what a “PUD” was. PUD stands for “Planned Unit Development”. There are 17 different zoning descriptions in the code book, and they are not set in concrete as Mr. Irwin implies. Example: A C-4 in the middle of a R-1 district, like a daycare center.
Now just what is the definition of a “PUD”? Look at section 2.16.1 of the zoning code which says, “The purpose of this zone are to promote flexibility and innovation in the design of large-scale developments and to encourage the use of vacant, in-full parcels in the build up portion of the city.
The planning commission agreed and passed the proposal. Walmart went way beyond what the code says, so let’s pass this and go forward. | <urn:uuid:3111e139-999b-462f-a35d-0d01cdc439b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://couriernews.com/view/full_story/21414463/article-Letters-to-the-editor--Jan--15--2013- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978944 | 405 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Although observe is the only data-collection word you need to learn, there are a few others that you may find useful.
We saw above that we can use htmlref moressec:mores n to do n more observations just like the last one. But what if you know exactly what you want to do in the first place and would just like to start a series of 20 bias frames running? There are specialized tasks that will do a series of observations of each image type, namely:
Each of these commands will query for the number of exposures, exposure time, and title. Note that mores will repeat more exposures of sequences begun using any of the above commands.
Also note that if you change the exposure time during a series of integrations, this change will propagate to subsequent exposures of the series; this is not true of changing the title, at present, however. Stopping or Aborting an exposure will terminate the series.
In addition, it is possible to do a test exposure that will always overwrite an image named test by typing test. | <urn:uuid:07d80997-11f6-482f-9f1a-d7a1e9116231> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.noao.edu/kpno/manuals/ice/node9.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942821 | 215 | 1.835938 | 2 |
If you want to track spots, skin tone, and pore size on your face over time, to either obsess over aging and imperfections or see if that new skin care regimen is working, a forthcoming smartphone app hailing from Japan will help you do just that.
Japanese Fujitsu Laboratories' Color Frame requires you to take four photos of your face with a smartphone while framing sections of your face with a small color wheel placed on the skin, which allows the app to adjust to ambient lighting conditions.
You can then have your images "analyzed," with a set of scores assessing factors such as dullness, spots, and pore size. Save your results for later comparisons to see how products might be improving your skin, or to measure changes in any skin condition you may have.
Reportedly slated to launch later this year, Fujitsu's service is initially targeting Japanese women but aims to expand its skin database to include a wider range of skin tones and ethnic features. Watch a DigInfo video on the new app: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7XSy8KyucY
Other techie ways to keep tabs on your skin include an app called Skin of Mine that tracks suspicious moles, as well as acne, wrinkles, and even the whiteness of your teeth. For instance, take a picture of your mole with your iPhone and analyze, share, and get consultation from a dermatologist via the app. You can also compare your mole to those in the app's database, as well as do comparisons to photos you've taken prior. | <urn:uuid:0aca8141-799e-490d-9531-f85c9a86b8b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ph.omg.yahoo.com/news/app-let-track-acne-skin-tone-pore-size-160045250.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947663 | 322 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Jokes For 10 Year Old Boys and Girls
Here are some more jokes for 10 year old boys and girls:
Q. Does an apple a day keep the doctor away?A. Yes, if you aim it well enough.
Q. What did the doctor say to the patient when he finished operating?A. That's enough out of you.
Q. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what does garlic do?A. Keeps everyone away
Q. Why do dogs scratch themselves?A. Because they are the ones who know where it itches
Q. What do you call a dog with no legs?A. It doesn't matter because he is sin't going to come anyway
Q. What should you know before you teach a dog tricks?A. More than the dog
Q. What do you get if you cross a cocker spaniel, a poodle, and a rooster?A. A cockapoodledoo
Q. What invention enables people to walk through walls?A. A door
Q. What's worse than being bitten by Dracula?A. Shaking hands with Captain Hook
Q. What's a crazy duck?A. A wacky quacky
Q. What's a fast duck?A. A quick quack
More jokes for 10 year old boys and girls
Q. What did the duck say when he finished shopping?A. Just put it on my bill please
Q. Do engines have ears?A. Yes , engineers
Q. What did one mountain say to the other mountain after the earthquake?A. It's not my fault!
Q. What happens when two snails have a fight?A. They slug it out
Q. What keys are too big to carry in your pocket?A. A donkey, a turkey. a monkey
Q. What noise do porcupines make when they kiss?A. Ouch
Q. How do fireflies start a race?A. Ready, set, glow!
I hope you enjoyed these jokes. More coming soon.
More fun and jokes for 10 year old boys and girls | <urn:uuid:d1d6c5b4-571f-47de-91ea-4007ca0d3456> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.birthday-party-magician.com/jokes-for-10-year-old.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931518 | 439 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Friends Peace Garden
Working in partnership with the students of Central High School in Los Angeles, the American Friends Service Committee is creating an edible and sustainable school community garden.
The goal of the Friends Peace Garden is help Central High School become a community leader in green innovation and a pioneer in urban farming by 2012. By using current science, technology and conservation methods, the students will implement ideas to green their campus by creating organic solutions that are environmentally friendly and efficient.
The project is being coordinated by AFSC program director, Anthony Marsh, and led by AFSC committee member Sheila Fennoy, who also holds a Ph.D. in plant physiology and teaches biology at Santa Monica College. The students are planning to plant and grow a wide variety of herbs and vegetables including tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, onions, kale, chives, cilantro and more. To view the progress of the garden, click here.
You can also view the second Friends Peace Garden at Central High School at All Peoples Christian Center in South Los Angeles here.
Central High School in Mar Visa is a one-room school, serving 20 students within a Section 8 housing project in Los Angeles. As a Title I school, the school serves only lowest income communities in Los Angeles. Central High School at All Peoples Christian School in South Los Angeles is also administered by the Los Angeles Unified School District and was created primarily because the students are unable to attend nearby high schools for academic or safety reasons. | <urn:uuid:cb23cd62-0f9d-4238-8828-c6ce565f76e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.afsc.org/resource/friends-peace-garden | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958691 | 296 | 2.203125 | 2 |
The February 28, issue # 526, of the Ohio BEEF Cattle letter is now posted to the web at: http://fairfield.osu.edu/ag/beef/beefFeby28.html
Weather over the past month has created some extraordinary nutritional challenges for cattlemen . . . especially those with cows that are calving right now. This week, Rory Lewandowski offers some thoughts on nutritional considerations for early lactation.
Articles this week include:
* Early Lactation Considerations
* $4 Corn…What about Barley?
* Cattle Lice Thrive Through Winter; Plan Treatment
* Good Bull Buying Rests on Knowing Your Cattle
* Forage Focus: Beginners Managed Grazing School is Set
* Weekly Roberts Agricultural Commodity Market Report
Program Assistant, Agriculture
OSU Extension, Fairfield County
831 College Ave., Suite D
Lancaster, OH 43130
voice: 740.653.5419 ext. 24
Fairfield Co. OSU Extension – http://fairfield.osu.edu
OSU Beef Team – http://beef.osu.edu
Buchanan Named NDSU Animal Science Head
A North Dakota State University graduate will be following in his father’s footsteps when he returns home to serve as animal science head at NDSU.
David Buchanan will begin in July. He is a 1975 NDSU animal science graduate with honors. His father, M.L. “Buck” Buchanan, served on the department’s faculty 1945-1976. The younger Buchanan took animal genetics classes from his dad.
Black Ink—A Mind of Its Own
by: Steve Suther
The market gets what it wants. That is demand in action. As it wants more and better, it pays more, efficiently sorting and sending premium and discount messages.
But it’s not quite that simple. Sometimes an amazingly perfect item, or animal, sells for less than average price, a diamond in the rough. A delighted buyer comes back, willing to pay much more, but cannot find another at any price.
Many more, barely acceptable products—including cattle—enter the market every day. There are enough buyers to pay the clearing price up front, though they pay another price in later dissatisfaction. Those buyers won’t be back, but there will be other buyers, at least for a while.
Minnesota producer overwinters S.D. cows by feeding byproducts
By Wendy Sweeter, Editor
Tri State Neighbor
When the drought hit South Dakota pretty hard the summer of 2002, a Minnesota producer thought he could help some of his fellow South Dakota producers.
Jim Billmeier, a Morgan, Minn., sweet corn, peas and cow/calf producer, had the idea in 2002 to feed some cows for South Dakota cattle producers.
“I had a lot of feed left over,” he said. “We put an ad in the paper. Well, it hit the paper and the phone started ringing at 6 a.m., and the phone rang steady for almost a week.”
The cow whisperer
By Silvia Sanides
Peter-Christian Schön is an engineer with a heart – and an ear – for animals. While a postdoc at the Research Institute for the Biology of Farm Animals in Dummerstorf, Germany, his job was to automate animal care by making it possible to clean stables and feed their occupants with the push of a button.
After spending lots of time in the stable, however, Schön was distracted by the sounds animals make, and soon shifted his focus towards the conversations they have with one another. “They communicate much more than I expected with their grunts, oinks, moos, and bellows,” he says. He translated his interest in the grunts and oinks of pigs into research about reducing the stress of porkers, and found that they are quite sensitive to overcrowding at the feeding trough. Now, his receptive ear is tuned to cow moos and bellows, the basis of a novel research project about the estrous cycle of dairy cattle.
S.D. Stockgrowers renew affiliation with R-CALF USA
Tri State Neighbor
RAPID CITY, S.D. – The South Dakota Stockgrowers Association (SDSGA) board of directors unanimously agreed Feb. 14 to renew their affiliation with R-CALF USA, the only national organization dedicated to representing strictly the United States live cattle industry.
According to SDSGA president Rick Fox, there was enthusiastic support among the directors, for the move to renew their affiliation.
“We’ve experienced great successes in the cattle industry since R-CALF was first created. We look forward to continued success as we work together to achieve fair trade policies and to prevent the United States from becoming a ‘dumping ground’ for the world’s poorest beef,” he said.
Cattle Identification: A Brief History
Livestock identification in the United States has been documented in large animal production industries dating back to the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. Cattle ranchers, to indicate ownership and deter theft, first used hot iron branding. Swine producers for registration and record keeping purposes used ear notches for individual animal identification. These two methods are rapidly losing popularity due to concerns about humane treatment of animals and a decrease in product value.
APHIS and its predecessor agencies began using ear tags, back tags, tattoos and face brands in the early 1960′s. These identification methods were required by statutory regulations and successfully used to trace the movements of diseased animals during disease outbreaks and eradication programs. With this long history of contact with the field, APHIS has led the way in the development of national identification systems. The agency continues to place a high priority on livestock identification and database development.
Like other farming, beef cattle future is waning in mountains
by John Boyle
The boom in beef cattle prices is over.
The market has cooled like frozen hamburger meat over the past few months, leaving hundreds of small-time Western North Carolina cattle producers tightening their belts.
“We’ve seen a real crunch over the last 100 days in Western North Carolina — they’re taking off somewhere between $100 to $125 a head for every 500-pound feeder calf,” said John Queen, a Haywood County cattleman who was recently elected as the president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
Farmers haul water, gas up generators to keep livestock alive
By Deirdre Cox Baker
QCtimes.com (Quad Cities)
BLUE GRASS, Iowa — Cattle owned by Brian Ehlers normally drink water from heated troughs on the farm in western Scott County. But for the last four days, Ehlers has hauled 1,000 gallons of water three miles to the farm and poured it in big buckets for the cross-bred Angus stock.
The earth-bermed house on the property, owned by Robert Geurink, is a little frosty inside but Geurink copes by staying in a room with a fireplace. While his wife moved into town to wait out the chill, he keeps an eye on his nephew’s cattle, which are normally held in bounds by an electrified fence.
Cattle Preconditioning Forum: Coccidiosis – A Common & Costly Disease
Nearly all beef and dairy cattle are exposed to coccidia — but many do not show signs of a clinical coccidiosis outbreak. This is partly why bovine coccidiosis is one of the most economically important intestinal diseases in cattle.
“It is estimated that coccidiosis costs U.S. beef and dairy producers more than $100 million annually,”(6) says Dr. Joe Dedrickson, Director of Merial Veterinary Professional Services.
“Even this estimate is conservative, because it doesn’t factor in all the losses caused by 95% of coccidiosis infections that are subclinical and never diagnosed as coccidiosis.”
Nebraska gaining in cattle-feeding comparison
By ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star
Nebraska, already a $6.5 billion force in annual cattle sales, is asserting itself in early 2007 in its battle for market share with Texas and Kansas.
As high corn prices take their toll, Texas and Kansas producers cut their January feedlot placements by more than 35 percent from a year ago. Nebraska, the other member of the big three of beef production, held virtually steady.
Analysts Darrell Mark, John Harrington and Jeff Stolle agree that Nebraska’s relative stability connects to its booming ethanol sector and to the ready availability of ethanol byproducts as a cheaper feed source.
Cow Calf: Early Lactation Considerations
The early lactation period is the time of highest nutrient requirements for the beef cow. Providing the nutrients needed is crucial to enable the cow to nurse the calf as well as stay in the body condition needed to be able to rebreed within 80 to 85 days after calving. According to the National Research Council (NRC) 1996 edition recommendations, a 1200 lb cow producing about 15 pounds of milk per day at peak lactation will require a diet containing about 9.5% crude protein (CP) and about 58% total digestible nutrients (TDN). First calf heifers have an even higher nutritional plane, they need a diet with about 10.5% CP and 62% TDN.
Remember that there is a biological priority for nutrients, or a hierarchy of nutrient use. Body maintenance requirements will always be met first. If there are sufficient nutrients beyond that then growth is the next priority. This explains the higher nutrient requirements for those first calf heifers because they are still growing. After growth needs have been met, nutrients in the diet are allocated for milk production. Last, after all other nutrient needs have been met, is the requirement for reproduction. Since rebreeding is a management consideration within the early lactation period, the cow-calf producer can’t afford to be short on nutrients during this period.
Marbling and Muscling in Beef Cattle
Southwest Nebraska News
Marbling and muscling in beef cattle are important to producers’ bottom lines. Marbling, or intramuscular fat, determines USDA quality grades, while muscling determines yield grades. Having an acceptable balance between both traits can increase the value of the beef carcass.
Creating a balance between marbling and muscling can be challenging. Ultrasound technology has become a popular way to measure intramuscular fat and muscling in live animals. This is important in helping producers identify ways to improve the traits. Prior to the technology, this information was only available after harvesting cattle. USDA quality graders measured carcass marbling with a visual score, while yield graders used a grid to measure ribeye size, an indication of muscling.
Stocker Cattle Forum: Dale Blasi – What Effect Will Ethanol Have On The Cattle Industry?
Many respected thought leaders in our industry have already weighed in on the short and long term economic implications of distillers grains to the cattle feeding complex. I believe that the Stocker segment can contribute to lower cost systems under these new marketing conditions by capitalizing on the availability of distillers grains, a byproduct of the ethanol fuel industry for use as a supplemental protein and/or energy source on grass.
Veterinarian Helps Ranchers With Livestock Tracking Program
University of California at Davis
A UC Davis veterinarian is helping California cattle producers learn the ropes of a new nationwide livestock tracking system that would help them avoid catastrophic losses in the event of a major animal disease outbreak.
John Maas, a Cooperative Extension veterinarian specializing in beef health and food safety at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, has been part of three groups that have presented more than 100 meetings on the new tracking system in California and throughout the United States.
The system was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state agricultural agencies and livestock producers after the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic in the United Kingdom. It is designed to help producers and animal-health officials respond quickly to an animal disease outbreak. | <urn:uuid:78cc74ff-ce04-46e6-908b-39169e94e821> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://purduephil.wordpress.com/2007/03/01/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935268 | 2,571 | 1.75 | 2 |
Introducing iWatch311 Putting 311 into the mobile environment
Enabling Citizens to submit calls for service using smartphones and the internet in a geo-enabled application that maps the report and resources available in real time.
iWatch311 is a form of technology that provides open channels of communication for issues that concern public space and public services. Like iWatch, iWatch311 provides a standardized protocol for location-based collaborative issue-tracking. By enabling Citizens to submit reports via Smartphones, iWatch311 is an evolution of the phone-based 311 systems that many cities in North America offer.
Unlike the synchronous one-to-one communication of a 311 call center, iWatch311 technologies use the internet to enable these interactions to be asynchronous and many-to-many. This means that departments can receive can exchange information centered around a single public issue. The mobile platform allows citizens to provide more actionable information for those who need it most and it encourages the public to be engaged with civic issues because they know their voices are being heard. Yet iWatch311 isn’t just about this more open internet-enabled model for 311 services, it’s also about making sure the technology itself is open so that 311 services and applications are interoperable and can be used everywhere.
Integrates to CAD with our API
iWatch311 saves money by integrating with Citywide initiatives of Open Source community engagement
Currently, the most developed function of iWatch311 technologies is to report and track non-emergency issues in public spaces. Common issues include potholes, broken streetlights, garbage, vandalism, and other problems that compromise public spaces and infrastructure. Using a mobile device or a computer, someone can enter information (ideally with a photo) about a problem at a given location. This report is then routed to the relevant authority to address the problem. What’s different from a traditional 311 report is that this information is available for anyone to see and it allows anyone to contribute more information. By enabling collaboration on these issues, the open model makes it easier to collect and organize more information about important problems. By making the information public, it provides transparency and accountability for those responsible for the problem. Transparency also ensures that everyone’s voice is heard and in-turn encourages more participation.
Yet even despite these significant precedents, we’re only scratching the surface of the level of civic engagement that iWatch311 technologies could facilitate.
Imagine using these tools to not just report what is broken, but to also start a conversation about the overall health and livability of a community: reporting intersections that feel unsafe, marking where a new bike rack is needed, or even suggesting how a vacant lot could become a park. When appropriate, iWatch311 can even be used to manage volunteer efforts to help supplement government workers. iWatch311 also has the potential to be tied into the local knowledge-bases that many existing 311 call-centers use. Furthermore this technology could be connected to idea sourcing platforms like IdeaScale for uses such as community input in urban planning processes. | <urn:uuid:f5831805-f77a-451f-9cce-2bd0fb383ed0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ithinqware.net/publiqeyes.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933753 | 623 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Some people use extreme diets like fasting and juice cleanses. But these aren’t necessary for most people and may be dangerous without medical supervision. Here are five foods that support the body while cleansing.
Tag: All Things Considered
A government sugar subsidy program is often criticized for keeping sugar prices too high. But now prices are falling and the government may buy 400,000 tons of sugar to help struggling sugar processors. Critics say the government’s involvement in the sugar business should end.
About 13 percent of U.S. women go on drinking binges each month, say officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The damage from binge drinking runs the gamut from death to unintended pregnancy. Public health officials say binge drinking can be curbed with greater awareness and thoughtful interventions.
Two years after a food safety bill became law, the FDA issues a rule to prevent foodborne illness in produce and one to require food manufacturers to have plans in place to prevent contamination. Foodborne illness sickens about 48 million Americans each year. | <urn:uuid:1c556ebc-8885-4d9b-af43-137ce2cefd56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/tag/all-things-considered/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932879 | 212 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Jeremy Rifkin talks about this important observation in his new book “The Third Industrial Revolution” and in this New Statesmen piece excerpted below. The meme of ’lateral power’ is a key topic in my new, upcoming book (“From Ego to Eco” - still very much in-progress) and is an important piece of t he puzzle, going forward. How can we truly change and address the issues that are crucial to our future success… or rather, survival:) ?
One answer will certainly include the switch to more lateral and side-by-side power as has been exemplified with the Internet: peer to peer, decentral, networked, real-time. More on this very soon. Comments would be very much appreciated.
“We take internet technology and transform the power grid of the world into an
energy internet. So when millions of us are producing our own green energy on site, storing it in hydrogen, our energy internet will allow us to sell and share any extra. We become our own energy producers. We then collaborate and share that energy in the same way as we share information on social media spaces on the internet.
Do you see this vision becoming a reality?
Young people now favour lateral and side-by-side power. That’s the new politics, and it’s favourable to a third industrial revolution. [They] grew up empowered on the internet to create its own information and share it freely. They now need to create their own green energy that they share in vast continental spaces…”
- “To appreciate how economically disruptive the TIR is, consider the changes over the past 20 years….” (greenfuturist.com)
- Jeremy Rifkin videos: the empathic civilization, and the third industrial revolution. Must watch! (mediafuturist.com) | <urn:uuid:f1308f5d-7812-4b7f-8430-ce5cc8a9a87c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whereisitgoing.com/tagged/Charlie-Rose | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927479 | 390 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Humor, parody and satire have been around since classic Greek literature. It permeates music, politics, movies and popular culture. And as of late, it's now made it's way into one of the last bastions of non-satirical holdouts--the mainstream news media.
Saturday Night Live has 30+ years of background in this. The've poked fun at everything from presidents to popular culture and their Weekend Update has been the satirical news of record. The Onion took a further step at creating new humorous antidotes, stories and otherwise and placing them out as a news media outlet (print, video, online, blog) like any other.
Then came the popularity of shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report . The Daily Show taking what was started with Weekend Update and expanding to new audiences and The Colbert Report taking on the political blow-hard pundits who are gaining in popularity as of late.
But the traditional news media continued to stand firm. They did not even acknowledge the other avenues existed. The news was paramount. And important. Important enough that humor, parody and satire had no place. And those that delivered the news? Just as important. There were no humorous angles to Dan Rather or Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow.
And thus, public relations as an industry followed suit.
But things are changing now. I'm sure there is no one instance that was the tipping point, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was the Daily Show. An IU study found the Daily Show with Jon Stewart to be as substantive as network news. A Rasmussen Report showed 32% of adults ages 30-39 believe that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are capable of replacing traditional new outlets. And nearly one-third of younger Americans see Colbert and Stewart as true alternatives to traditional news outlets.
That's a big impact. So how did traditional news outlets respond? They started slowly. They played clips on their shows (well, the cable news guys did--they have a lot of time to fill) to get a laugh, to prove a point that fit their political agenda, or attacked the satirical shows in retribution.
But then Brian Williams from 'NBC Nightly News' started showing up as a repeat guest on The Daily Show. It was humorous, genuine, and a reach to cross into the audiences that watch the program.
But last night was a new milestone in my opinion. If you haven't seen the piece on Chatroulette, you must go now and watch it. (I'll wait). Did you count the media personalities in that piece? At least 5. All 3 major new network anchorpersons (ABC,CBS, NBC) as well as some cable news for good measure-- MSNBC and Fox Business. And they weren't just mocking the video roulette site. They were poking fun of themselves. They were poking fun of their industry. And they were doing it on The Daily Show's terms.
They showed that the news doesn't have to always take itself so seriously.
Why? Well, for one, to get viewers. But it's more than that. It's an attempt to show that they are human. They are endearing themselves to their audience, or better yet, a new potential one.
And they did it through humor and self-deprecation.
So, if you made it with me this far into a long blog post, my question is this: why hasn't the Public Relations Industry followed suit? Why have they continued to act as if they are above the fray? Why have they insisted that the news is more important than any humor based program you can think up. (And by news, I mean EVERY press release every written for any client need--big or small) Why would they not follow the actual media they are working with?
This is not an indemnification of the industry as a whole, only to say this: lighten up, you may just actually be more effective as an agency/industry if you do.
We have found at Elasticity that humor, parody, and the lighter side of human nature have phenomenal appeal. Stories are placed more frequently. Programs take off and go "viral" with greater frequency, and we're able to break through the clutter. We're able to endear our clients to their audiences.
Another example we talked about this week. Ole' Miss is replacing their beloved Col. Reb with a new mascot. The story is that Admiral Ackbar is a leading contender. We all heard this story and it took off like wildfire. Do you think you would have heard about this story had they been thinking about replacing their mascot with a bear, or an eagle? (though it may have been picked up by Colbert since he hates bears)
This is a highly controversial topic right now, and those who practice this type of communications are not taken serious. But it is catching on. There are more and more every day that see this. And in time, the larger agencies may just play ball on our terms, much like the major news networks participated in Chatroulette.
Now, this is not to say that the news is all humorous, nor to say that no news is actually legitimate. Only to say that humor often times breaks through clutter and the news media is starting to catch on. You don't' have to be 100% serious 100% of the time. Having a "human" face often times endears you to your audience.
And isn't that what "public relations" is all about? Endearing yourself to your audience? | <urn:uuid:fa2d0b39-b225-4be9-b787-0a504f1f9428> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://elasticthought.com/2010/03/does-humor-belong-in-pr.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978711 | 1,140 | 1.625 | 2 |
Lanny Simpkins: Creates a model barn
By DAVID GREEN
Lanny Simpkins remembers the day he sat in his basement workshop, a knife in one hand and a miniature cedar shingle in the other.
He was tapering one edge, tiny shavings hitting the floor, while Chad Miller stood watching. Chad was there to go fishing, but Lanny turned him down. He said he was going to work on his barn instead.
That wasn’t the only time someone told Lanny that his barn project was crazy. He heard it more than once during the two winters he spent with his own private barn raising.
Although the barn measures only 22 by 30 inches, the roofing job required about 2,300 shingles—each one tapered slightly by hand so it would lay just right in order to appear authentic.
Lanny built a model barn for the Van Brandt boys years ago, but it wasn’t as detailed as his recent project. The idea for this one had been in the back of his mind when he thought about his brother’s old barn on Bryant Road near Sand Creek.
Lanny spent a lot of time in that barn during baling season and he figures he had plenty of time to look it over.
He learned it well. The details in his little barn are many and they’re impressive.
A miniature pulley to operate a hay car that moves along the main roof beam. A welding machine in the tool shed that includes a painted dial. Tiny milk pails placed in a cooler with a refrigeration unit on top. Surge milk containers fashioned out of wood and hanging on the milk house wall.
“Everything is hand made,” he said. “It was fun building it, but it took a lot of hours.”
Actually, the shingles are the only part of the project that came ready made, but then Lanny ended up shaving each one of them.
The bulk of the barn, milk house, tool shop and silo is fashioned from strips of pine wood. To cover the barn, for ex
ample, he cut thin strips three-fourths of an inch wide and added a groove in the middle. Each represents two boards of siding—130 in all.
He built the silo by wrapped a fiber tube in wax paper and gluing strips of wood around the tube. Each board of the tool shop was run through a router to give it the right look of a metal-sided building.
Lanny got some help with a few of the details. Farm toy collector Jim Lakatos bought the herd of 10 cows that stand inside the barn. Lanny’s wife, Carol, found small bales of hay and feed bags at a craft show.
Some items posed special challenges. Lanny thought hard about what to use for door tracks for the barn doors to slide along. A friend suggested using a piece of aluminum hunting arrow with a slot cut along the length.
“It was just what I was looking for,” Lanny said.
But to cut the slot, he ended up spending a long time with a hacksaw blade.
The overhead door in the tool shop was created with strips of wood held together with narrow piece of window screening. The door looked good, but it didn’t move right. Lanny finally discovered that he needed to add a spring to provide tension, just like the real thing.
The barn is on display at Stair Public Library and will remain there through the fall, until the conclusion of the Smithsonian Institute’s Barn Again! An American Icon exhibit that arrives in October.
It’s delighted visitors of all ages since it arrived at the library last year.
“Some people have to look it over every time they come in,” said librarian Sheri Frost.
That’s what makes those two winters in the basement worth the time for Lanny. This year he’s been out fishing.- Feb. 18, 2004
|< Prev||Next >| | <urn:uuid:050a5389-d886-4ce7-9ac5-19694854db57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://statelineobserver.com/morenci/local-stories/273-lanny-simpkins-creates-a-model-barn | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971376 | 846 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Healthy Pets Need A Healthy Diet
Pet owners have a challenging dilemma as they select from a wide range of pet foods. Some owners come into our practice touting the virtues of the food they buy for their pets, while others look for guidance.
This is the story about Ruby, who needed advice for her favorite pooch.
“Doc, I want to talk to you about what dog food I should buy for my little pal Ralph,” announced Ruby.
I glanced down and smiled at the feisty Jack Russell terrier. “OK, Ruby, ask away.”
Ruby held up her little notebook and said, “What do you think about organic dog food?”
“It’s OK,” I replied. “Hmm,” Ruby licked the tip of her pen and scribbled something. Oddly enough, I hadn’t seen someone lick the tip of a pen in a long while. It must have been more habit than function. “What about all-natural?”
“I guess it’s better than unnatural,” I joked.
Lick … scribble. Ruby jotted notes again while muttering, “Better than unnatural … OK, and any thoughts about grain-free diets?”
“Truthfully, I don’t know if dogs need to be on a grain-free diet …” I began, only to be interrupted by the ceremonious lick … scribble.
“OK, and finally, is gluten-free dog food good for Ralph?”
Looking skyward, I paused for a moment then replied, “I didn’t know there was such a thing as gluten-free dog food.”
Ruby calmly put her notebook away and told me, “Thank you, Doc. You have been very helpful.”
“I have?” I truly didn’t think I said much. Feeling bad, I was about to go into recommending a brand of dog food that I found to be safe and nutritious, but Ruby continued on.
“Basically you’re telling me that there is a lot of marketing that goes into selling dog food. It’s exactly what I thought. I’ve been cooking for Ralph since he was a puppy and he likes my cooking. I was just looking for a healthy store-bought alternative to give me a break once in a while, but oh well.”
I nodded in agreement. “Home-cooked meals are great for Ralph. The problem is that he may get spoiled and not eat commercial dog food. Also, the onus is on you to provide a balanced diet with all the nutrients needed to keep Ralph healthy.”
“Oh, don’t worry about my recipes for Ralph,” said Ruby. “I only use the freshest ingredients and everything is organic. I go to specialty grocery stores and buy only the best. For example, last night Ralph had fresh Copper River salmon, organic vegetables and quinoa.”
“Wow, that sounds awesome. You and Ralph must be very healthy.”
“Actually, that was Ralph’s dinner. I ate leftovers from my beef stew plate lunch. Doc, he eats better than I do,” beamed Ruby.
Like Ruby, many pet owners are putting their pet first. Gone are the days when dogs got scraps from the dinner table and faced the risk of malnutrition.
I learned something very interesting that day. No matter how far we have progressed since the days of yore, some people still lick their pens. | <urn:uuid:b2458aa6-bcce-48d6-b80b-1dc97e41bdb8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.midweek.com/healthy-pets-need-a-healthy-diet/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972754 | 767 | 2.03125 | 2 |
What happens when you add 64,000 tiny components to a base of oil and water? Depending on the nature of the components, you might end up with a delectable vinaigrette. University of Minnesota researchers found something even more tantalizing: a self-assembly method that is particularly effective at joining extremely small components in electronic devices.
The U of M crew was attempting to leverage gravity into an active ingredient in self-assembly, dunking pre-etched substrates into liquids and hoping gravity would guide component materials to their proper places. But limited success in coaxing the components into place led to low success rates. So the team hatched a scheme to create a two-dimensional plane of component materials and put them together assembly-line style, and they did it with a little salad dressing science.
The team coated the components -- in this case silicon and gold particles just a few tens of millionths of a meter thick -- with hydrophilic molecules on one side and hydrophobic molecules on the other. They then created their blank device, etching out depressions in the desired arrangement, lining them with a thin coat of low-temp solder.They then engineered a precise mix of oil and water, wherein the oil layer sat atop the water (as oil is wont to do). Because one side of each component particle was hydrophilic and one side hydrophobic, the particles oriented themselves like a sheet along the oil-water boundary. The team then simply plunged the blank device through the barrier and slowly withdrew it; the sheet of component materials slowly followed the device up from the boundary; the attraction between the solder lining and the gold was enough to snap each particle neatly into place. Using this method, it took just three minutes to assemble a 64,000-component device.
The team thinks they can adopt this method to even smaller component parts and even larger finished devices, but for now it appears they've discovered a self-assembly process that can quickly and cheaply turn out just about any material from flexible plastics to hard semiconductors to metals. That translates into a superior and cheaper means of producing everything from solar cells to slim video displays to ultra-small semiconductors.
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more. | <urn:uuid:6676e13f-b255-47ff-9ac5-57d6686f225a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/salad-science-novel-self-assembly-method-relies-oil-water-repulsion?page= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942133 | 497 | 3.4375 | 3 |
For more than 40 years, California has led the nation in environmental regulation, from passing the toughest coastal protection laws to America's first rules banning leaded gasoline.
Now, this week -- after Hurricane Sandy pushed the issue of climate change back into the national spotlight -- California will become the first state to begin requiring a broad range of businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas pollution.
At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the California Air Resources Board is scheduled to hold its first auction to sell pollution allowances under the state's landmark cap-and-trade law.
The idea is simple: The state sets an overall "cap" for California's greenhouse gas emissions, and companies must buy
"For the first time, business will begin to understand what it means to put a price on carbon," said Stanley Young, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board. "The program rewards efficiency. It will help move California away from its dependence on fossil fuels and toward a clean-energy economy."
The event comes six years after former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB32, the law that required California to lower its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to 1990 levels -- the equivalent of a 17 percent reduction.
"It's the largest carbon market in the United States, and the second largest in the world, behind the
Environmentalists are hailing the auction as the moment America finally got serious about addressing global warming. The country's most populous state has locked down binding regulations and financial incentives to pressure industry to use less coal, oil, natural gas and other fossil fuels that the overwhelming majority of the world's climate scientists say are already warming the earth and disrupting weather patterns.
"People from around the country are watching it closely," said Alex Jackson, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group in San Francisco.
"The stakes are high. Climate progress in the U.S. has languished at times, and California has an opportunity to develop a model, show that it works and encourage others to take note."
Some business groups, however, particularly those representing oil companies, power plants and large factories that burn vast amounts of fossil fuels, call the process a hidden tax that will result in higher utility bills and gasoline prices.
"It's going to really hurt consumers. It is going to hurt small business," said Dorothy Rothrock, vice president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, in Sacramento. "These costs are going to be passed down. Energy is what makes the economy run. And we are increasing energy costs."
The air board estimates the regulation will add 10 cents per gallon to the price of gas for every $10 per ton that industry pays for allowances. On Friday, the futures market pegged the price at $12 a ton, which could result in a 12-cent per gallon increase
The association has asked Gov. Jerry Brown to delay the auction, but his office has declined. There are rumors the association or other business groups may file a last-minute lawsuit, seeking to stop the auction.
If it goes forward, as many expect, there will be no auction house, no auctioneer barking out rapid-fire prices, no room full of buyers raising paddles. Instead, the event will be a 21st century auction: Hundreds of people will sit at computers around the United States, placing bids in secret, electronically, in a secure online market.
AB32, Schwarzenegger's main legislative legacy, included a broad range of programs to reduce greenhouse emissions in California. To meet its targets, it relies, for example, on California's law requiring that 33 percent of electricity come from solar, wind and other renewable sources by 2020. It also relies on another law that requires new cars sold in California by 2016 to reduce greenhouse emissions by 30 percent.
But the cap-and-trade rules on industry have been the most contentious.
Under the program, any business that emits more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases is affected. It covers 360 businesses, representing 600 facilities. Oil refineries, power plants, cement companies, large food processors and major factories are affected. After 2015, the law also will include transportation fuels, meaning that oil refineries will need permits to account for the emissions from all the vehicles in the state.
Under the law, companies must have one permit, or allowance, for each metric ton of greenhouse gases they emit. Initially, the state provides 90 percent of the permits free, and over time reduces that. To comply with the law, a company has three choices. It can reduce its pollution by installing more efficient equipment. Or it can purchase allowances for the other 10 percent of emissions at one of four auctions the state will hold every year. Or it can buy allowances from other companies, which gives each company an incentive to reduce pollution by a large amount so it can sell its excess allowances.
Money from the state auctions, which is expected to total more than $1 billion a year, must fund climate-related programs, such as making public buildings more energy efficient, providing rebates for efficient appliances or vehicles, or funding public transit projects such as high-speed rail.
The pollution market was originally a Republican idea, put in place by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 to reduce sulfur dioxide pollution that causes acid rain. Since then, sulfur dioxide emissions have fallen 65 percent from industry.
Under California's system, each company needs to have its greenhouse gas allowances in place starting in November 2014, so not every company is expected to participate in the first auction on Wednesday.
The public's attitudes on global warming are changing, with 68 percent of Americans in a Rasmussen poll last week saying global warming is a serious problem, up from 46 percent in 2009.
After record-breaking drought in the Midwest and forest fires in the West last year, Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast late last month. Scientists say that while the hurricane was not caused by warming, warmer ocean temperatures -- 5 degrees Fahrenheit in the Atlantic Ocean warmer than the 30-year average -- made the hurricane stronger. And the ocean has risen 8 inches in the past 100 years, which made flooding worse during storm surges.
Although Congress has refused to pass mandatory climate-change laws, President Barack Obama put in place several policies to address global warming, including doubling the national gas-mileage standards to 54 mpg by 2025 and requiring the EPA to draw up greenhouse gas limits on power plants by next year. Now, the federal government will be watching California to see if it can learn from the experiment.
"Wednesday is important," Jackson said. "It is the moment when something that has been gathering momentum since 2006 takes flight."
Paul Rogers covers resources and environmental issues. Contact him at 408-920-5045. Follow him at Twitter.com/PaulRogersSJMN
HOW CAp-AND-TRADE Will WORK
Tallying pollutants: A large factory or oil refinery emits 1 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. At the start of the program, the company would only be responsible for 10 percent of those emissions, or 100,000 tons, and more in future years.
Totaling the costs: If the company purchased pollution "allowances" for the 100,000 tons, at $12 a ton, that would cost $1.2 million.
Where the money goes: To a state fund that would pay for climate-related programs, such as making public buildings more energy efficient, providing rebates for efficient appliances or vehicles, or funding public transit, including high-speed rail. | <urn:uuid:fc74a8e5-7de0-41ad-bc7a-ec0933f30d91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_21972739/californias-landmark-global-warming-law-becomes-real-this?source=most_viewed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949487 | 1,532 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Geometric abstraction, artists and art
Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective (non-representational) compositions.
In Geometric Abstraction, many different attitudes are joined together, from the Dutch neoplasticism of Piet Modrian to the utilitarian concept of Art expounded by the Bauhaus movement in Germany. In Russia, the figure of Malévitch stands out. In 1915 he published the Suprematist Manifest. In Holland, the De Stijl group achieved extraordinarily harmonious results accentuating the absence of nuances with reference to color and form. In France, Léger and Picabia tended towards cubist forms treated with intense coloring. | <urn:uuid:7cbcc3f4-9492-40db-81d7-c02c41313d59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.the-artists.org/artistsbymovement/geometric-abstraction | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929239 | 166 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Definition of term:: Age-toned
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A natural tanning or darkening of certain types of paper which occurs over long periods of exposure to air or ambient light. Some books, by nature of their construction, are always seen with some amount of age-toning. Some booksellers prefer the term "mellowed," a term best perhaps reserved for the feeling one gets after a few cocktails.
French: Papier jauni
Source: What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources | <urn:uuid:03f6b4b0-f729-450d-99b6-a3b2b39791e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ilab.org/eng/glossary/19-age-toned.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931909 | 142 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Traveling in Iceland
Traveling in Iceland
Travelling around Iceland and its amazing landscapes can be an unforgettable experience, but a good trip can end terribly if you're not careful when driving in new and unknown conditions. It's essential to familiarize yourself with Iceland's road conditions, especially rural roads, as they're very different from other countries.
Gravel roads, one-lane bridges, blind rises, wandering sheep and volatile weather are some of the things to be aware of before you depart on your road trip. When travelling in the countryside there are a lot of gravel roads, and many accidents occur where the road changes from a paved surface to a gravel because of failure to reduce the vehicle's speed. Make sure to slow down for gravel roads, especially when meeting other cars, passing blind corners or approaching blind rises since gravel roads are often narrow.All passengers in a vehicle are required to wear safety belts and drivers must follow speed limits, which are marked on traffic signs. Please note that Iceland's weather can change rapidly therefore you should always adjust your speed to the conditions. You can check the weather forecast at www.vedur.is or telephone 902-0600. Remember these things before starting your journey and you'll finish your trip with good memories.
Recreational Activities in Iceland
Iceland's natural contrasts has a lot to offer adventurous travelers. Want to experience the magical world of a glacier by snowmobile or 4-wheel drive jeep? How about river rafting down glacial rapids or kayaking in a fjord? Icelandguest.com offers a variety of excursions and activity tours for individuals and groups.
Swimming is also popular in Iceland, both for Icelanders and visitors. There are a great number of high-quality swimming pools in Iceland, mostly due to the wealth of geothermal heat. The capital area has a number of indoor pools though outdoor thermal pools are more common, and can be found around the country. Pools are open year-round, regardless of weather. Swimming outdoor in Iceland's pure air is a refreshing experience, particularly when snow falls in the wintertime.
If you enjoy skiing, there are a number of good ski hills around Iceland, including Blafjöll near Reykjavik and Hliðarfjall near Akureyri in North Iceland. | <urn:uuid:1f7a4aea-eac4-4bdb-a2ca-282a16e2c902> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icelandguest.com/travel-guide/traveling-in-iceland/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957199 | 478 | 1.875 | 2 |
It is always great news when a New Canaan business institutes a new policy that helps animals. That's the case with Bruegger's Bagels at 11 South Ave. The company's management has recently agreed to eliminate controversial gestation crates -- cages used to confine breeding pigs -- from its pork supply chain. Bruegger's Bagels joins a growing list of major food companies including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Oscar Mayer, among others to address this issue.
"Bruegger's Bagels cares deeply about creating a more humane and sustainable world," said David Austin, Bruegger's president. "To that end, we're proud to announce that we're working with our pork suppliers to eliminate gestation crates within our supply chain, and we recognize it could take up until 2022 to achieve this goal."
Mr. Austin is to be commended for this move, which will have an impact on all his stores throughout the country.
The inhumane practice of confining pigs day and night in gestation crates during their four-month pregnancy has come under fire from veterinarians, farmers, animal scientists and consumers. The poor animals are placed in cages roughly the size of their bodies and can't even turn around. The pigs are then transferred to another crate to give birth, re-impregnated, and put back into a gestation crate. This cruel process is repeated over and over again for the entire life of the animal, resulting in years of virtual immobilization.
Nine states have passed laws to ban the gestation crate confinement of mother pigs. Leading pork producers Smithfield and Hormel have also pledged to end the use of gestation crates at their company-owned facilities by 2017. More and more businesses are coming to the realization that gestation crates have no place in the pork industry's future.
So head down to Bruegger's Bagels for a cup of coffee and a bagel and say thank you for this wonderful action on its part in taking the first step to end animal cruelty by giving pigs a better life. It may seem like a small thing, but it indicates that this is a business that cares about how animals are treated and we should do everything to support its efforts.
Cathy Kangas is the founder and CEO of PRAI Beauty, a global luxury skincare line sold throughout the world on home shopping networks. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of the United States and through Beauty With a Cause, supports animal welfare groups across the globe. Cathy lives in New Canaan with her husband and three rescued dogs, and can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:72b6593c-9c90-4c5b-9413-5e1fb17cd390> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newcanaannewsonline.com/opinion/article/Animal-News-Desk-Cathy-Kangas-3968892.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961691 | 538 | 2 | 2 |
As they made their intros and said hello, first she exclaimed to the class:
"Hey, guys -- they go to school on Sunday through Thursday."
Another one of my students didn't "get" what she was saying and said, "Let them just TRY to make ME go to school on Sunday."
"No, you don't understand, she said, their weekend is Friday and Saturday."
Now this is interesting because I had told my students this... in fact, I have told them multiple times, however, it was this exchange that got their attention. It was this exchange that TAUGHT them!
Then, as I peeked over her shoulder (as I always do when my students are instant messaging), I saw this conversation. (I got permission to take a shot of the screen over her shoulder.)
...and on they went about misconceptions about the culture of South Georgia and the Middle East. It was a conversation that impressed me with its depth, breadth, and humor.
It was an honest, real exchange between two students who were very professional but very authentic at the same time.
We've only entered the "handshake" phase of this project and yet the conversations move me almost to tears when I see the almost visible shifting of my student's world views.
It is something that needs to happen more!
tag: hz08, horizon project, education, teaching, flat classroom, Julie Lindsay, innovation | <urn:uuid:240431f9-15d3-44f8-86f3-deac755c83da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/03/overheard-today-we-dont-live-in-tents.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988895 | 296 | 1.859375 | 2 |
August 10, 2006
Mission To Israel
Los Angeles groups raise and distribute funds to assist in caring for residents displaced by fighting
Teenagers sit in a circle on the sparkling white sand of Hof Nitzanim, a beachfront south of Tel Aviv, where the dark blue waves lap at the shore. Behind them, younger kids play on pool and Ping-Pong tables and families sit around a bar, eating and watching a lithe belly dancer shimmy to Middle Eastern music.
There are huge white tents stretching down the length of the beach. It could be a circus or one of those weeklong music hippie festivals popular in Israel during the summer and long holidays like Pesach or Sukkot. It could be, but it's not.
"Bruchim Habaim L'Machtom Darom," reads the blue-and-white banner in Hebrew hanging over the entire encampment. "Welcome to the Southern Site." This is one of the two camps for Israel's refugees.
Although it's not exactly what you'd picture when you hear refugee camp; though it's not the type of images you see these days plastered on television showing Sudanese families on the road or displaced Lebanese families, Israel's northern citizens are refugees of war just the same.
They say that Israel is a place where a man might push you over on the bus to get to his seat and break your leg, but he will drive you to the emergency room and stay up with you all night to make sure you are all right -- better than all right, actually.
In other words, Israel watches out for her own.
"Israelis, no matter how profound the problem, they deal with it," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who visited Israel last week with Rabbi Marvin Hier and Rabbi Meir May, to donate money and visit the north. "So you don't see what you see on TV in Beirut, because Israeli people took care of their own."
In the current war, which began July 12, more than 1,400 rockets have fallen on the northern cities, dozens of Israelis have died and thousands of people have been displaced.
All over the country, the government, entire communities and private individuals are trying to accommodate the refugees, or for those who haven't left their homes, to offer some relief for a day or two.
But this is not an effort that comes cheaply. That's why much of the money Los Angeles groups have raised and brought to Israel in the last 10 days has gone to helping refugees in the north, as well as the soldiers fighting to defend them, the hospitals taking care of them and all the astounding peripheral costs of war.
Take this beach campground at Nitzanim, a community that is also home to Gaza's resettled Jewish communities from last year's disengagement. For the last three weeks, the camp, funded by Russian Israeli billionaire Arkady Gaidamak housed more than 5,000 people. Although it might look like a party, in reality the 100-degree weather, the thick humidity, the lack of privacy -- the reality of being dislocated -- all starts to wear.
"I've had enough already," said Yulia Zitmomirson, a 10th-grader from Karmiel. She'd been here for two weeks, and it was fun hanging out with her friends, meeting new people -- there are about 600 kids under 18 here -- but the bathrooms, the showers, the food, the overcrowding, it's time to go. Not home, not yet, but to relatives in the center of the country.
When StandWithUs, a national pro-Israel advocacy and education group originating out of Los Angeles, planned its mission to Israel four months ago, it had no idea that mission members would be visiting this Israeli refugee camp on the beach to donate books and toys and money and other sundries here. They had no idea they'd be serving lunch to a group of Bedouin children from the north who were at Superland amusement park in Rishon Leztiyon for the day. As a matter of fact, the group brought in 250 kids from the north to the park for the day at a cost of $5,000-$6,000. They didn't know they'd be spontaneously sponsoring and attending the birthday party of a soldier wounded in Lebanon.
"We were going to do Jeep rides and visit wineries up north, and now it's become a solidarity mission," said Roz Rothstein, co-founder of StandWithUs (which sponsored this reporter's trip). The 10-day mission also met with politicians, media, Middle East experts and army spokespeople, as originally scheduled, in order "to create good solid ambassadors who will educate their communities," Rothstein said.
But as the war broke out a week before the scheduled departure, the intended group of more than two dozen people became a dozen, and their trip went up north to Haifa to witness Katyusha damage, to the south to Sderot to witness the many Qassams fired from Gaza and around the country to donate money, toys and goods to refugees, soldiers and their families.
Not all Los Angeles missions were refashioned to fit the war. Some were emergency missions created within mere days after the war broke out. Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple raised about $1 million dollars after an appeal in synagogue and took 43 people on a three-day mission to Israel to distribute it.
Days before the mission, they contacted an army major to find out what was needed. Then they went to Target in Los Angeles and purchased $5,000 worth of supplies, which were packed in about 30 boxes and six duffel bags the night before the trip. The supplies included socks, army briefs, lip balm, Ace bandages, antibiotics, cold compresses, green T-shirts, soaps -- all things the combat units were desperate for and couldn't receive immediately.
But that's the type of war it is -- unplanned and costly.
"It's a reminder of how much Israel needs," Wolpe told The Journal. "People were not only grateful for our money, they were grateful for our presence. The tears and thank yous of soldiers who are on the border of Gaza, who are up in the north -- they don't know that there are people in Los Angeles who care."
Wolpe's group, which included Los Angeles Councilman Jack Weiss (see story on page 12), visited Elyakim army base in the north, Haifa and its mayor, northern refugees in summer camp in Ashkelon sponsored by Friends of the IDF (a charity to which Sinai Temple donated the bulk of its money) and bases in the south, where the sound of Qassam rockets and shooting peppered the air. Wolpe is considering leading another mission here, and he hopes synagogue trips like his and that of Stephen S. Wise Temple this week will inspire other Los Angeles synagogues to go to Israel.
The Wiesenthal Center also raised a considerable amount of money in a short time -- $640,000, a third of which came from a 72-hour Internet campaign.
They went to Nahariya City Hall to meet Mayor Jackie Sabag but were shuttled underground when the siren sounded -- incoming Katyushas. Watching the operation from underground -- the maps, the tracking of the Katyushas and the families -- was incredible, Cooper told The Journal. But what was more incredible, Weiss said, was watching the rabbis in action, taking care of others' needs.
"I went with them to a store-front help center in Tsfat, and there's a guy who is giving out food and mattresses and diapers to the elderly, who can't move or help themselves," Weiss said. "Spread out in layers over the conference table were papers and lists of which person is getting which mattress and which blanket is going where. Rabbi May asked, 'Do you have a computer?' And then wrote them a check to buy one."
That's how the rabbis disbursed money -- to the community of Beit Shemesh, which was hosting some 500 families from the north, to a volunteer who takes care of wounded soldiers, to Rambam Hospital.
"I don't think it's fully sunk in yet to the people of the Diaspora just how profoundly the economic and social dislocation is and how many people have been impacted in northern Israel yet," Cooper said.
Los Angeles Jewish Federation President John Fishel, who accompanied the Sinai group for part of the time, also wants to bring a broad coalition of people back to Israel as soon as possible. Fishel went to discuss some Federation funded projects, such as the renovation of bomb shelters around the country, which will cost about $9 million dollars.
He also spent the day at Rambam Hospital up north, which is on the front line for the war wounded. But missiles were flying, and he spent the day underground in the hospital, watching wounded come in from Lebanon, injured civilians being brought in, worried children in day care there and hospital staff dealing with battle fatigue and stress.
"It was one experience after another," he said. "Someone asked me, 'Were you afraid?' But then you begin to understand how abnormal this situation is. How do people live like this on an ongoing basis, and how do you convey this to people in Los Angeles who are miles away and don't understand what it means to be at risk on an ongoing basis?"
For Fishel, for Wolpe, for Rothstein, all leaders of the Los Angeles Jewish community, the answer is to spread the word, to hold parlor meetings, to talk in synagogue (Wolpe will be speaking about his trip Aug. 11 and 12), to donate and collect money -- The Federation is starting a major campaign -- and to come back to Israel.
"This trip makes me want to go home and tell people that they don't understand if they don't come here, and it is their obligation to be here," Wolpe said. "This is the tax we have to pay for living here [in America]. Jews have to come here because you can't understand the state if you're not here." | <urn:uuid:134c4105-65f0-4778-87dd-8bfa4b5de333> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/item/mission_to_israel_20060811/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976404 | 2,116 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Grist.org Introduces Special Series on the Mississippi River
Weeklong series to focus on how the Army Corps of Engineers’ presence has altered the literal and figurative course of the nation’s longest waterway
SEATTLE, WA—This week, as flooding wreaks havoc throughout the Midwest, Grist.org, the world’s leading source of environmental news and opinion, takes an in-depth look at the federal agency responsible for managing U.S. waterways: the Army Corps of Engineers. In a five-day series, Grist explores the role of the nation’s legendarily industrious, controversial, and misunderstood agency along the Mississippi River in a special series, The Corps of the Matter. This special series, which began March 17 and runs through March 21, seeks to uncover what the Corps’ presence there has meant for both residents and natural resources over the last 200 years.
Step aboard as Grist navigates the history and the hubris of the Army Corps on the Mighty Mississip’ in a flood of top-notch reporting and multimedia features. Coverage will include:
- A brief history of the creation and growth of the Army Corps from Boston Globe correspondent Jennifer Cutraro
- An interactive map of current Army Corps projects in the Mississippi Basin, by Wired contributing editor Patrick DiJusto and illustrator Keri Rosebraugh
- A detailed and alarming account of famous Corps boondoggles and cover-ups, with Time Magazine correspondent Michael Grunwald describing his own muddy muckraking of the agency
- A roundup of lessons from the floodplain: the rush and remorse of riverside development in the Midwest since the Great Flood of 1993
- An audio slideshow documenting St. Louis-area development along the Mississippi River
- A profile of a post-hurricane rebuilding effort in Biloxi, Miss., exploring a question that’s key throughout the Gulf Coast: If residents don’t want to leave high-risk areas, are there ways to keep them safe?
- An examination of how the Corps is preparing for climate change, and how the coastal wetlands of Louisiana will be affected
With commentary from FEMA, the Army Corps, and conservation organizations, The Corps of the Matter provides in-depth analysis of how a single agency has helped engineer the Mississippi into the river it is today, and looks ahead to how it will continue to do so in the future.
For those who want to jump even deeper into Mississippi issues, Grist has already sailed those waters in Mississippi Keen, a special series on communities striving to re-imagine their waterfronts, and themselves. Travel with Grist to Dubuque, IA, St. Louis, MO, and Memphis, TN, as their citizens struggle to return their damaged river to its former glory.
The nonprofit, independent, online magazine Grist was founded in April 1999, and over the past eight years has developed the most recognizable voice in environmental journalism: funny, opinionated, and intelligent. Grist offers in-depth reporting, opinions, book reviews, advice, and a popular blog—all tailored to inform, entertain, provoke, and encourage its readers to think creatively about environmental problems and solutions.
Each month, Grist reaches over 700,000 unique individuals through its website and emails, and it has enjoyed particular success among readers in their 20s and 30s. Through syndication arrangements with other media outlets like MSNBC.com and Salon.com, Grist is reaching an even broader audience that extends into the millions. Grist has been featured on the Today Show and in Time, Vanity Fair, the New York Times, Newsweek, and dozens of other national publications. Grist earned Webby™ People’s Voice awards in both 2005 and 2006 as the internet’s best magazine. | <urn:uuid:271091a5-c4de-4ebf-a173-7ae83c1d4b2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grist.org/pressroom/gristorg-introduces-special-series-on-the-mississippi-river/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939107 | 779 | 2.296875 | 2 |
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Protests are taking place a day after Republicans converted Michigan from a seemingly impregnable fortress of organized labor into a right-to-work state.
Protesters covered their mouths with tape Wednesday in Lansing with the words "$1,500 less" written on it in reference to wage cuts they expect. Silent protests also took place in Saginaw and were planned elsewhere.
In Detroit, dozens of noisy protesters entered a state of Michigan office building to voice their opposition to right-to-work.
The state House swiftly approved two bills reducing unions' strength Tuesday, one dealing with private-sector workers and the other with public employees, as thousands of furious protesters at the state Capitol roared in vain.
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed the measures into law within hours, calling them "pro-worker and pro-Michigan." | <urn:uuid:efd084ec-9781-48ea-9550-cf6f9df88d32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/politics/more-right-to-work-protests-at-capitol-121212 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965763 | 177 | 1.640625 | 2 |
|Unit History Project|
Essex County, New York
The following is taken from Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Military Statistics of the State of New York, Albany: [The Bureau], (C. Wendell), 1866.
An energetic, and it is believed the earliest, response in Essex county to the first appeal of the President for volunteers, was made at a large and animated meeting held at Keeseville, in the town of Chesterfield. This meeting, like all others during, the war, in the valley of the Ausable river, which for some distance is the boundary of the counties of Essex and Clinton, embraced residents of both counties. It is wholly impracticable to estimate with accuracy the number of recruits or volunteers which might be claimed by these counties respectively, particularly those enlisted in the early stages of the war, who to a great extent were derived from their floating population. The lamented Lieutenant-Colonel Gorton T. Thomas, who fell at the second Bull Run, presided at the meeting referred to, and it is believed placed the name the first in that section of the State upon the roll of volunteers. The company he organized was formed about equally from Clinton and Essex, with a few hunters from Franklin county. In this company Gorton T. Thomas was elected captain and Oliver D. Peabody first lieutenant, both of Ausable, Clinton county, and Carlisle D. Beaumont, of Chesterfield, Essex county, second lieutenant. Another company (K) was raised in Moriah and other eastern towns, of, which Miles P. S. Cad well was captain, Edward F. Edgerly first lieutenant, and Clark W. Huntly second lieutenant. Another company (I) was organized in Schroon and other southern towns of Essex, and a part from Warren and possibly Hamilton counties. The officers of this company were Lyman Ormsby captain, J. H. Seaman first lieutenant, and Daniel Burgy second lieutenant. These companies were all at its organization embraced in the Twenty-second regiment New York Volunteers; of which Captain Thomas was elected Lieutenant-Colonel.
A company was raised in the town of Crown Point of two years' volunteers, numbering 108 men. They were uniformed before leaving for Albany, by private subscription, amounting to nearly $2,000. The latter company was mustered into service on the 14th of June, 1861, as company H, Thirty-fourth regiment N. Y. S. V. Its officers were: captain—Leland L. Doolittle; first lieutenant— Hiram Buck, jr.; second lieutenant—John B. Wright. This company was in camp near Washington during the first battle of Bull Run.
Another company was recruited in Elizabethtown and other towns in that vicinity, of which Samuel C. Dwyer was captain, William H. Smith first lieutenant, and A. C. H. Livingstone second lieutenant, This company was attached as company K to the Thirty-eighth regiment, and was one of the last companies accepted under the first call. It fought at Bull Run and suffered severely.
Individuals from the northern towns of Essex enlisted in the Fifteenth regiment, and others, forming a considerable aggregate, entered other regiments, while several residents of the county enlisted in the regular service.
Large numbers of the youth of Essex (and the remark applies to every county lying on the border of Vermont), were allured by the extra pay of seven dollars per month into the regiments of that State. It was estimated at the time that residents of Essex, whose names thus swelled the ranks of a sister State, were equal in numbers to those which enlisted in our own regiments. I am confident that such was the fact in my own locality.
From these statistics it is evident that Essex was second, in pro-portion to her population, to no part of the State in the energy and promptitude with which her people responded to the behests of patriotism. Subsequently, when counties began to claim credits on their quotas, it was felt that Essex had been prejudiced by this early zeal and alacrity, which had supplied troops far beyond her just proportion. Neither was this county surpassed in the fervor and enthusiasm with which the popular sentiment sustained the Government Public meetings, with no party distinctions, were held in every section of the county, to promote enlistment by both influence and contributions. Females of every class united their labors to provide clothing and every requisite for the comfort and efficiency of the volunteers. Few families declined to impart from their household goods, when called on by the committees who traversed every district, materials to relieve the wants of the soldiers, which the Government at that time could not adequately supply. The national flag floated from almost every dwelling, and the sentiment was nearly universal among the people of Essex comity that the military measures of the Government must be maintained and the Union preserved.
New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs: Military | <urn:uuid:3793274c-0218-4854-9235-fe7cc3ef86e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/counties/essex/essex.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978949 | 1,018 | 1.992188 | 2 |
West Virginia University’s Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources students will now be able to use the same product lifecycle management software in their classrooms that is utilized by leading companies around the world thanks to Siemens PLM Software’s in-kind software grant with a commercial value of more than $425 million, the largest in-kind grant in the history of the institution.
The in-kind grant was provided by Siemens PLM Software’s Global Opportunities in PLM (GO PLM™ initiative), a program that delivers PLM technology to more than one million students yearly at more than 11,000 global institutions, where it is used at every academic level – from grade schools to graduate engineering research programs.
The software will be integrated in two Statler College departments: the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. It is estimated that the grant will immediately benefit more than 700 students throughout WVU.
"We extend a huge thank you to Siemens PLM Software for this generous gift of advanced engineering software used by some of the most successful companies in the world," said WVU President Jim Clements. "Our students in the Statler College will now have additional opportunities to learn and train on applications used by industry experts, adding even more real-world experiences to their academic pursuits."
The range of software provided includes applications that are widely used by many multi-national companies in industries around the globe. Among Industry Week’s list of 1,000 manufacturing companies, more than half use Siemens PLM Software technology; in the key markets of automotive, aerospace, machinery and high tech, the total approaches 80 percent.
“As product complexity continues to grow, students who are able to use PLM technology are expected to be highly recruited,” said Bill Boswell, senior director, partner strategy, Siemens PLM Software. “We are honored to have WVU listed among our prestigious partners to assist in building the next generation of engineers and support manufacturing revitalization efforts across the country.”
WVU now joins the list of leading institutions which have partnered with Siemens PLM Software including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California at Berkeley, Carnegie Melon, Virginia Tech and Auburn University.
“This type of advanced technology is very important to helping us prepare our students for their careers,” said Gene Cilento, Glen H. Hiner Dean of the Statler College, WVU. “We are very pleased to partner with Siemens PLM Software to provide our students with access to these state-of-the-art tools and prepare them to be our country’s engineers of tomorrow.”
The range of software includes Siemens PLM Software’s NX™ software for integrated computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE), and Solid Edge® software, a complete hybrid 2D/3D CAD system for the mainstream market.
Wayne King, president and CEO of the WVU Foundation said, “In-kind gifts are crucial to the advancement of WVU’s academic programs and the students. The importance of in-kind giving, especially software, is ever increasing. Students must be able to gain hands-on experience with the resources used in their future careers. Software of this magnitude is cost prohibitive for WVU to purchase, yet it is essential to expose students to this critical component in their education.”
Established in 1954, the WVU Foundation is a private non-profit corporation that generates, receives and administers private gifts for the benefit of West Virginia University. | <urn:uuid:a1718bf3-63f5-4097-ba1d-d60c31b16f70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wvuf.org/content/wvu-receives-kind-software-gift-commercial-value-more-425-million?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944207 | 764 | 1.625 | 2 |
It is time once again to prepare for inclement weather conditions. In the months to come we may be forced to delay or close school, or even send students home early because of threatening weather conditions.
Please help us keep students safe by being aware of changing weather conditions throughout the winter. We will send a message via SchoolReach regarding any school closures, school delays, and early closures. We will also post a message as soon as possible on our website, www.susd.k12.or.us and www.flashalert.net as well as local radio and television stations:
SCHOOL CLOSURE: Decisions about early morning delays and school closures will be made by 6:00 A.M. each day. The information will be forwarded to the radio and TV stations and will be on our website and phone messages. Please be aware we have no control over when the stations begin posting or announcing our information.
LIMITED BUS SCHEDULE: There may be times that weather conditions allow us to run a limited bus schedule. When possible, we will run a limited schedule rather than close school (inclement weather bus route posted on website).
EARLY CLOSURE: In the case we are forced to close school early because of the road conditions, we will inform you through the media as listed above. The same limited bus schedule (posted on website) will be followed if necessary when taking students home during an early closure situation. Please make advance arrangements for the care and supervision of your child. Early closures require us to contact many people in a very short amount of time. It is necessary that you keep the school updated on any changes in your emergency contact information. Thank you for helping us keep our students safe. | <urn:uuid:b2a94d06-cc78-444b-9576-d7738e0ce687> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.susd.k12.or.us/Pages/INCLEMENTWEATHERLETTER.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943943 | 355 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Proposition 36: Revisions in the three strikes law — Modifying law corrects horrible injusticeby joel abramovitz
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I was 9 when Polly Klaas was abducted from her hometown of Petaluma and murdered. As I was growing up in Northern California, the Klaas case seeped into my consciousness. I had friends from Petaluma. I was around her age.
I understood that when Richard Allen Davis was tried for her murder, there was a mountain of outrage that he could have been kept off the streets — and Polly would still be alive — if his prior felony convictions had put him away for life.
As a fourth-grader, I remember the fear and rage my parents felt in the aftermath of this tragedy; I remember them supporting California’s three strikes law because they felt they had to do what they could to protect their own children.
Twenty years later, I find myself in the position of working to convince my parents that their vote in the mid-1990s, while well intentioned, is no longer — and perhaps never was — just.
Under the three strikes law, men and women convicted of three felonies in California are automatically sentenced to life in prison. Because the law does not distinguish between violent felonies (like rape and murder) and nonviolent felonies (like shoplifting or drug possession), there are more than 4,000 men and women currently serving life sentences for crimes as simple as stealing a few pairs of children’s socks. California currently is the only state with a law that allows a nonviolent, nonserious crime to activate a mandatory life sentence. In California, first-time rapists are sentenced to eight years on average. Under the three strikes law, forging a check three times will get you life.
The three strikes law deprives Californians of a fair chance at restitution and rehabilitation. It ensures that prisoners will not be treated with dignity and decency or offered conditions and support needed to become contributing members of society.
What does it say about our own culture and our own sense of justice when we lock men and women away for life, in decrepit and overcrowded prisons, without any opportunity for redemption? The moral costs to society are serious.
Proposition 36 gives us a chance to change the three strikes law. It would amend the existing law to exclude felons whose three crimes all were nonviolent. Men and women whose nonviolent crimes, such as possessing tiny amounts of methamphetamine, necessitate punishment and rehabilitation would no longer be locked away for the rest of their lives, denied a chance at making amends.
Jewish tradition holds that prisoners must be given a chance to right their wrong by entering back into society. The early concept of prisons was to create separation from the society and a place for meaningful rehabilitation so the accused could reflect on their actions and make necessary restitution — and then go back to being productive members of society. After necessary societal separation they could find, according to theologian Samson Raphael Hirsch, “forgiveness and rebirth.”
In the medieval era, Jewish legal codes stated that prisons themselves were meant to be occupied only temporarily; no one was meant to serve time longer than considered necessary. The collection of legal opinions Minhat Yitzhak records a debate about whether a prison is obligated to put up a mezuzah. Neither side argued yes, but two sets of reasons were presented.
One side, Beit Hillel, argued that prisons themselves are not dignified homes. The other text, the Birkei Yosef, agreed, for “the reason is that these places [prisons] are made to be temporary dwellings, not permanent dwellings.”
Prisons are not meant for long-term residence; they are supposed to be a liminal space used to create change for the individual and the society. Today, we have a chance to tap into deep Jewish ideals to give over 4,000 people the gift of forgiveness and a chance at societal rebirth.
Under the proposed changes, Richard Allen Davis will not find his sentence reduced. His fate is sealed. But as I work to convince my parents — and now my friends, peers and community — that the three strikes law is unfair and unjust, I see that their horror 20 years ago at a horrible injustice has led to another injustice perpetuated across the state today.
As Californians, and as Jews, we must vote yes on Proposition 36 and offer refuge to those who need the chance to find forgiveness and rebirth.
Joel Abramovitz teaches Jewish studies at Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City and is a volunteer leader with Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice.
Be the first to comment! | <urn:uuid:78b42681-943b-4eff-8689-a7eecd264b15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/66894/proposition-36-revisions-in-the-three-strikes-law-modifying-law-corrects-ho/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967151 | 971 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Moscow is on the march. Vladimir Putin’s Russia is the most destabilizing - and reckless - great power on the world stage. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia could have become a stable democracy at peace with its neighbors.
Instead, Mr. Putin is erecting a Great Russian empire. He has imposed a brutal police state at home. Journalists routinely are killed. Critics and dissidents are jailed. Media freedoms and opposition parties are under assault. A gangster elite runs the Kremlin, plundering the country’s vast wealth.
Russia has become a rogue state. Mr. Putin’s aim is to make Moscow the center of an anti-American, anti-Western axis. Russia has waged a genocidal war in Chechnya. It has de facto annexed the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It has reduced Belarus to an economic vassal. It menaces the Baltic States. Moscow asserts a sphere of influence in Central Asia and the Caucasus. It has sold vital missile and nuclear technology to Iran’s mullahs. It has close ties with Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela.
Yet the Russian bear seeks an even bigger prize: Ukraine. This nation of 46 million, whose size is that of Germany and Britain combined, is of vital geopolitical importance - to both Russia and the West. Ukraine literally means borderland. Throughout the centuries, hostile neighbors - Russia, Poland, Lithuania - have sought to control Ukraine’s rich resources and minerals. Because of its geographic location, Ukraine’s fate has been to serve as a bridge between Asia and Europe; it straddles the civilizational fault line separating West and East. This is Ukraine’s curse and blessing.
Mr. Putin understands that his imperial ambitions ultimately can be achieved only if Ukraine is subjugated. Russia with Ukraine resembles America - a vast continental superpower. Without it, Russia is more like Canada - a large country mostly covered in snow.
Moreover, a democratic and prosperous Ukraine is a dagger aimed at the heart of the Putin regime. It will serve as a model for its northern Slavic cousins to imitate - a viable, attractive alternative to Mr. Putin’s barbarism. Hence, for Moscow, Ukraine must be smashed; its experiment in independence must be subverted.
Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, is a political battleground pitting pro-Russian forces against pro-Western nationalists. President Viktor Yanukovych is trying to roll back the clock to pre-Orange Revolution days. In 2004, backed by the Kremlin, he tried to steal the election, sparking street protests that culminated in the Orange Revolution. Earlier this year, he won elections - this time, fairly - on a platform of economic renewal and national reconciliation.
Mr. Yanukovych, however, has again proved the adage that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. He is a Russophile thug who is slowly forging an authoritarian state. His government has centralized power, repealing amendments to the constitution - without public debate or any kind of vote - that substantially weaken parliament. Media censorship is on the rise. Journalists critical of the regime have disappeared mysteriously. In recent regional elections, opposition parties were harassed. Ballot tampering and voter fraud were rampant.
Mr. Yanukovych’s base is in the Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine - the Sovietized industrial east. His Party of Regions seeks to make Russian an official language; in fact, its website refuses to use Ukrainian. He has put joining NATO and the European Union on the back burner - bowing to Moscow’s demands. Slowly, but surely, he is splitting Kiev from the West. In short, he is Mr. Putin’s poodle.
The result is that Ukraine is a sovereign country in name only. Moscow funds Mr. Yanukovych’s Party of Regions and numerous Ukrainian think tanks and media outlets. The Kremlin has issued thousands of Russian passports in the Crimea, thereby creating Russian “citizens” who in the future may need “protection” from imaginary threats in Kiev - repeating the pattern established in Georgia. Also, the lease for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, based in Sevastopol - set to expire in 2017 - was extended until 2042. Ukraine is being transformed into a Russian protectorate.
Mr. Putin despises Ukrainian nationalism. At a 2008 NATO meeting, the Russian strongman told then-President George W. Bush, “Ukraine is not a real country.” Rather, Mr. Putin said, it was a “gift” from Moscow, whose major territories formed part of czarist Russia. He publicly refers to Ukraine as “Little Russia.” His comments are not only insulting and disrespectful, but belligerent.
It is high time Washington takes notice. President Obama’s efforts to press the “reset button” in relations with the Kremlin have failed, emboldening Mr. Putin’s fascist regime. Ukraine’s descent into Putinism would be a tragedy of historical proportions. Contrary to Moscow’s propaganda, Ukraine is not a regional outpost of Russian civilization; rather, it is part of the European main - a long-suffering nation with a distinct cultural identity rooted in Western values, a separate language and unique Slavic heritage.
Ukraine is the eastern ramparts of the West. It is a strategic bulwark against Russian expansionism. It is not “Little Russia” but a nation in its own right. America cannot turn a blind eye. We must slap the bear down and tell Mr. Putin unequivocally to keep his greedy paws off Ukraine.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner is president of the Edmund Burke Institute. He recently spoke in Ottawa at the annual conference of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program, which promotes democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine.
© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
By Susan Crabtree - The Washington Times
President Obama forgot to return the salute of a U.S. Marine while boarding Marine One Friday morning, then came back out to shake the Marine’s hand, according to a tweet by CBS News’ Mark Knoller.
By Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times
House Republicans who are critical of the federal health care law have written to more than a dozen companies, including top insurers Aetna and BlueCross BlueShield, to ask if President Obama’s top health official tried to solicit funds from them to support the overhaul. | <urn:uuid:97c311ca-7396-45af-9fac-91544bcc7596> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/18/will-ukraine-survive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938291 | 1,344 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Heads Up/Rebuilding Aluminum Cylinder Heads
By Dick Schaffner
Do you sometimes wonder what processes and procedures other rebuilders use when remanufacturing aluminum heads? We sure do! It’s because of our quest to improve the quality of a remanufactured aluminum cylinder head that we are writing a series of articles on how our shop, Aluminum Head Service (AHS), Belton, MO, performs aluminum head remanufacturing. In this four-part series we’ll examine the process, in detail, that our shop uses to get the job done the best way we know how.
Over the past 10 to 15 years engine designs have changed quite a bit, mostly due to increasingly strict clean air and emissions regulations. The most obvious way to meet these requirements has been to reduce weight, add fuel injector systems, and monitor fuel delivery and engine performance through on-board electronics. Unfortunately, most consumers don’t want to give up horsepower, so even larger production engines have had to be lightened in order to save weight.
OEM vehicle and powertrain engineers have had their work cut out for them. But it’s also obvious that some of their design ideas didn’t quite live up to performance expectations – the 2.9L Ford, GM Quad 4, 2.6L Mitsubishi and 2.6L Isuzu being good examples. On the other hand, these engines have provided challenging repairs, as well as good business for rebuilders.
To meet these challenges a lot of new tooling and techniques have been developed by equipment and shop suppliers, as well as the everyday genius we call the shop machinist. Machine shops have increasingly had to buy or build new equipment to perform the machining operations required to make a successful repair. Tolerances have become tighter and more moving parts in the valvetrain have driven up the time and investment required to repair today’s OHC aluminum cylinder heads.
For the past 25 years our company has been involved with mostly European and Japanese engine work. The thinner castings, camshafts and valvetrains on these engines have presented us with ongoing challenges. Let’s take a closer look at the primary areas which need to be addressed in order to successfully get the job done. These include:
•Selecting a cleaning process;
•Component part inspection;
•Pressure testing castings;
•Checking all tolerances;
•Making a repair estimate; and
•Actual repair of the cylinder head.
In many ways, teardown is the most important aspect of rebuilding an aluminum cylinder head. In most cases, when tearing down the head you can see where problems lie. It is at this point that you need to make a decision as to which direction you should take when it comes to broken parts such as cams, washers, springs, rocker arms and cam lobes.
You can also usually check cam alignment, providing the journals are not scored from lack of oil or debris from the engine bearings, broken studs, or missing parts such as cam caps and alignment dowels. Be sure to check for large and unrepairable cracks which are mostly under cam journals, and also check for water etching. It is usually at this stage that you can determine if the head is going to be repairable, or whether it will be necessary to purchase a replacement casting.
Choosing a cleaning process is very important when it comes to rebuilding aluminum cylinder heads. We have tried quite a few methods to clean heads, everything from solvents and carb cleaners to ovens and vapor degreasers. Through experience we have settled on a few different methods – aqueous jet washers with special cleaning powders, glass beading and an oven system.
The cleaning process used depends on the severity of build-up and the particular head being repaired. We find that some heads tend to lose temper in the oven at temperatures above 500° F. So where a head exhibits just varnish and light carbon we will jet wash, dry and glass bead.
A head with heavy deposits and gunk, on the other hand, would be baked in the oven at 475° F for six hours and then be glass beaded. We have not perfected our shot blaster for aluminum, but have found that it does a great job on cast iron.
However, there are some shot blasters that can be set up to specifically clean aluminum and do the job well. So far our research indicates it requires a larger investment and you have to train your employees to use them properly. The upside to the baking and blasting system is that your hazardous waste is at a minimum.
Once the head has been degreased, we bead blast the ports, combustion chambers and outside for a clean appearance. It is to your benefit to thread bolts two or three threads by hand into exposed bolt holes before glass beading. This will allow you to keep out any small glass bead particles, especially if there are any "gummy" deposits in the bolt hole.
Glass bead which becomes stuck in bolt holes and is not removed can cause stripped, broken, or stuck bolts in the holes. If a head has oil passages we pull all of the plugs; if plugs are not present we drill holes into the passages so we can run brushes through them to be sure they are clean and free from debris. The drilled holes will be welded or plugged later.
We wash the head before it goes to the machining area; cleaning the parts for the head can take some time. Many late model heads have hollow cams that act as the oil distribution system. They have plugs or steel balls in each end of the cam that must be removed to properly clean the oil passage that runs the length of the cam.
We have found that if you don’t clean the camshaft passage there is a good chance the debris inside will come out after it has been disturbed by washing, immediately destroying the cam and journals in the head. The best way we have found to deal with the plugs (core plugs) is to knock them out with a small punch. Some cams have a threaded pipe plug and are easy to remove.
Steel balls are the hardest to remove. Heating the ball with a TIG welder to a bright red and then shrinking it with cold water or letting it cool will usually allow the ball to come out with a wrap or two on the end of the cam. Steel balls are available from most industrial tool supply houses and are not very expensive.
Cleaning hydraulic lifters is possible on some models, but not all. The lifters we do clean are the ones with clips that are easy to remove. The crimped ones are replaced or sent to a rebuilder.
The lifters we clean are taken apart and all of the parts are kept with each lifter and then dipped in carb cleaner to remove varnish. Following varnish removal they are rinsed in clear mineral sprits and finally put back together and checked for pump action.
Springs, retainers, spring seats, rocker arms, shims and miscellaneous parts are jet washed, dried, then tumbled in a tumbler with clear mineral spirits. Use caution with bolts; they should only be tumbled for five minutes or less so the threads do not become damaged.
Valves are not recommended for the tumbler because of the potential for valve stem damage. Valves are jet washed and dried. We then glass bead the heads, deburr and polish the stems. NOTE: Care must be taken not to polish off any coatings on the valve stem or the wear resistance will be greatly reduced.
Rocker shafts and cams are first jet washed, followed by a brush run through the oil passage, and then finally dried. Pad buckets and pads are jet washed, dried, and polished. Now that the head and parts are cleaned it’s time to inspect them a little closer.
Any major defects might render the head unrebuildable from the start. It’s a good idea, as we mentioned earlier, to thoroughly check the head for obvious defects before spending a lot of time on complete teardown and cleaning only to find that the core is non-rebuildable.
It’s always important to look for broken items such as broken bolts, studs, drill bits or taps, broken or bent valves, and damaged cam caps or ears of the casting. Major cracks in the casting, both in the combustion chamber, under the cam journals, or around the outside of the casting may also be good cause for scraping the head.
After removing the OHC assembly, inspect the cam journals and lobes for wear such as grooves, scratches, gauling, or flat spots. Next inspect the head for excessive warpage or camshaft bore distortion. Lay the camshaft in the cam bores and spin it to ensure it is free wheeling. Then lightly put pressure on both ends of the cam with your thumbs as shown in the photo at the top left corener of page 34, checking for "rock" (a high spot in the center of the cam bores). If excessive warpage or camshaft bore distortion is found, straightening and/or align boring will be needed. Clean the camshaft and make a determination if the cam can be polished, reground, or will need to be replaced.
Removing springs and valves
Valves may be bent to such a degree that they are holding the spring in a fully compressed state. This could make it difficult or impossible to remove the keepers. Since the valve is bent, it is going to be replaced anyway, so carefully use a small hammer to tap valves back into a flattened position. This should allow the valve spring to be removed.
Their are two primary methods of valve spring removal. Some heads can be torn down by either a hand spring compressor or a disassembly machine; usually air or electrically operated. Other heads, which utilize a deep "bucket type" bore, e.g., Toyota 3VZ-E or VW 1.6L, may conceal all but the valve spring retainer. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to remove with a conventional type manual valve spring compressor.
In these cases, a disassembly bench is often the only way to go. Note: If working on a head which is unfamiliar to you or somewhat strange by design, it is a good idea to keep one of each of the intake and exhaust valve seals wired to the rest of the parts for identification so they can be matched to the new replacement valve seals.
Valves should slide out the bottom of the guide. If they don’t, use a rubber mallet to tap on them lightly. If they still do not move, the stem might be bent. If a valve will move partially out of the guide but not all the way, then the tip could be "mushroomed," i.e., the rocker has flattened the tip of the valve. To solve this problem, use a file on the corner edge of the tip of the valve while spinning the valve by its head. This will help remove any burrs or mushrooming, allowing the valve to slide freely out of the guide.
Next, remove lower spring washers or shims. This is often one area many inexperienced people forget to attend to. Sometimes the shims are covered in oil or look like they are part of the head. Make sure they are removed and wired together. This is also a good time to check for cylinder head bolt washers which might have been forgotten or stuck.
Now you are ready for inspection of the casting itself. Most visible cracks will need to be marked for repair later. There are two basic types of crack detection processes – pressure testing or dye testing. We will go into further detail on this subject in next month’s article. If the cylinder head is or isn’t cracked, send it on to the next appropriate process.
Examine all threaded holes for obvious defects, such as stripped threads and broken bolts or taps. If holes are stripped, an insert will be required. Most bolt hole inserts should be installed on a mill or with a fixture to ensure straightness, e.g., an intake or exhaust manifold surface. Broken bolts will need to be drilled out and possibly inserted as well.
In our next article we’ll examine how we properly pressure test and begin to rebuild the cylinder head casting. Questions concerning our rebuilding process and procedures may be directed to this magazine by writing to: Heads Up, Automotive Rebuilder, 11 South Forge Street, Akron, OH 44333. | <urn:uuid:74053311-1345-4033-b4eb-408913b99db5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article/2354/heads_uprebuilding_aluminum_cylinder_heads.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948228 | 2,612 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Why do we know so much about the supply chain and so little about the ‘removal chain?’
Posts Tagged ‘waste’
What can Henry Ford teach the solar industry?
Tweet Also, please see our 60″ plasma TV surrounded by flashing halogen lights for more information on “How to Save Energy.” -The Management
Scott Paper is dealing with the OTHER waste in toilet paper. No, not that one. The other one.
Phone books are SO 1875. Live in the now by canceling your subscriptions the easy way.
Nobody likes junk mail, but how do you get your name off the lists?
In the case of Plastic vs. Reusable Bags, the prosecution is trying to play dirty. But do reusable bags really carry more nasty bacteria that can make you sick?
TweetThe Onion takes a shot at all of us who think our own insignificant actions don’t make a difference. ‘How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?’ 30 Million People Wonder WASHINGTON—Wishing to dispose of the empty plastic container, and failing to spot a recycling bin nearby, an estimated 30 million [...]
TweetLots of good infographics to be found across the web, intending to explain complex issues bite-sized visual chunks. We start with “Global Warming Skeptics vs The Scientific Consensus” from the Information is Beautiful blog. Despite the clear agenda by the designer, it does a nice job of introducing the various debates surrounding man’s impact on [...]
TweetWhat do you do when you see the tide turning in favor of your opponent? Publicly question their personal hygiene, of course! The plastics industry has clearly taken notice of the backlash against disposable plastic bags, and they’re in a desperate push to defend the status quo. Cities like San Francisco have banned plastic bags [...] | <urn:uuid:d3edfa54-3ae5-4893-996f-bf4a55e9dcb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fireflyeco.com/tag/waste/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90343 | 390 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Recharge in Recovery
Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles is participating in Recovery Month 2009, in part, with articles about recovery during the month of September. Most individuals suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction begin their recovery with alcohol and drug treatment. So it is our pleasure to help bring awareness to the general public about the benefits of recovery to individuals, their families, and everyone with whom they interact.
Highly motivated individuals in recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction tend to be very active. This is healthy because it means they are “participating in their own recovery”. But being active should not wear individuals down to the point of exhaustion. It is important to find balance and maintain good health in recovery by recharging physically and mentally.
Alcoholics and drug addicts in recovery need to attend several 12 Step meetings each week so they can get connected with the fellowship. Along with meetings, they may be required to attend groups in aftercare as a commitment to an alcohol and drug treatment program. They may even go to recovery picnics, conventions, step studies, and church. All of this occurs while they try to spend more time than usual with family members and friends to rebuild relationships.
It all sounds exhausting, especially for individuals who work 40 hours or more per week. While all of the activities are probably enjoyable for motivated recovering individuals, the body and mind can only take so much. So finding brief moments for meditation and relaxation is very important.
If the body and mind are not recharged with meditation and relaxation, a type of “burn out” can occur in recovery. It usually happens abruptly rather than gradually. Individuals just stop attending their regular meetings, and don’t show at events. It isn’t difficult to prevent this from happening.
There are several things that will work. Daily meditation is important, but it must be real meditation that includes physical relaxation. Meeting friends in recovery for a coffee or meal is relaxing as well, and discussions will likely surround recovery but it isn’t required. Going on a weekend spiritual retreat with fellows in recovery is a great way to recharge.
Overall, it is important to not isolate. Relaxing with friends is more effective and fulfilling than being closed off from the world for a day. That is not relaxation, it is hiding. Quiet relaxation can be effective in just 15 minutes.
A good 15 minute technique for relaxing has been posted on www.lessons4living.com. It does not need to be used daily, but can be effective as a precursor for daily reflections and meditation. An excerpt from the page is below, and the link follows. It is likely that some relaxation may even result from just reading the excerpt, but we recommend learning the whole process.
-- Begin external content --
Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for about 15 minutes. Dim the lights. Locate a comfortable chair in which you can sit straight up with your feet on the floor. Sit comfortably in the chair. Pay close attention to how you feel as you begin. Notice any stiffness or tightness. Are there any aches or pains? Do you feel tense, frustrated, or keyed up? Pay attention to how you feel now because you are going to become more relaxed, and you need a point of comparison.
-- Source: http://www.lessons4living.com/how.htm --
Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles provides alcohol and drug treatment to adults and adolescents, and includes education groups as part of our commitment to integrated behavioral healthcare. For more information, please call 800-996-1051 or contact us here.
Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, and in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley. | <urn:uuid:9043d9e9-a2db-4b3a-819c-5b9b3537965f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tarzanatc.org/blog.aspx?PostID=4ff115d4-862d-4947-a479-92547805f958 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95164 | 805 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Derived from the acclaimed American Periodicals Series microform collection, APS features over 1,500 periodicals spanning nearly 200 years — from colonial times to the advent of American involvement in World War II. Titles range from America's first scientific journal, Medical Repository, to popular magazines like Vanity Fair and Ladies' Home Journal. American Periodicals Series Online (APS) chronicles the development of America across 200 years. The journals in this collection cover three broad periods:
- 89 journals published between 1740 and 1800 offer insights into America's transition from a British colony to an independent nation. The journals support research for a range of academic fields. Titles include Massachusetts Magazine, which published America's first short stories, and Thomas Paine's Pennsylvania Magazine, which reported on inventions. One of the first mass printings of the Declaration of Independence, a letter by George Washington on the crucial Battle of Trenton, and the thoughts of Benjamin Franklin are among the highlights of content from this period.
- More than 900 titles from the first 60 years of the nineteenth century showcase "the golden age of American periodicals." General interest magazines, children's publications, and more than 20 journals for women are among the historically-significant content that also includes the serialization of Harriet Beecher Stowe's “Uncle Tom's Cabin” in National Era. Like most great literary works of the nineteenth century, this piece first appeared in a magazine. Also available are hard-to-find materials, such as Edgar Allan Poe's contributions to the Southern Literary Messenger, as well as the first appearances of Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories in New England Magazine, and Margaret Fuller's contributions to the Dial.
- 118 periodicals published during the Civil War (1861-1865) and Reconstruction (1865-1877) eras reflect the nation in turmoil and growth, and titles from the 1880s through 1900 capture the settling of the West and the emergence of modern America. Early professional journals, including Publications of the American Economic Association and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Proceedings, popular titles such as Scribner's Monthly and Lippincott's issued by publishing houses, celebrations of Americana in Ladies' Home Journal, thoroughly-researched investigative journalism in McClure's, and the incisive political and social commentary of Puck illustrate the variety of the American experience. Titles like Forum (1886-1930) and Forum and Century (1930-1940), and Littell's Living Age (1844-1896) and Living Age (1897-1941), expand the range of primary source material in APS across 200 years.
Because the database contains digitized images of periodical pages, researchers can see all of the original typography, drawings, graphic elements, and article layouts exactly as they were originally published.
In addition, a Search for Periodicals function in APS leads to bibliographic information and a summary of the historical significance of all the periodicals represented in the database. Extensive primary source content in its original context and a history of American magazine publishing are made available in APS. | <urn:uuid:17c836bd-4557-4b5b-bb42-8f6ddd672e12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lib.vt.edu/find/databases/A/american-periodical-series-online-from-proquest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917567 | 636 | 3.171875 | 3 |
On Labor Day weekend, Ocean City sunbathers may notice an unusual come-on among the aerial banners touting happy-hour drink specials and marriage proposals: an invitation to join Maryland Natural Resources Police.
Facing what it believed to be the largest manpower shortage in its 143-year history, the state law enforcement agency is using every platform possible — including the salty air above sandy beaches — to fill its next academy class and those beyond.
"It's scary," says Capt. Robert Davis, NRP adjutant and a 30-year veteran. "We're seeing a lot more people going out the door than coming in. Our mission is a good one, and we're trying to keep it a viable organization."
But the NRP is competing with federal, state and local police forces that find themselves in the same squeeze. Baltimore, for example, hopes to attract up to 450 officers to fill its depleted department, Howard County is testing for entry-level positions this month and next with an eye toward next year, and Maryland State Police is advertising for troopers, paramedics and cadets to find 90 candidates for a training academy in January.
Municipalities and state agencies struggle to match the salaries, benefits and job security offered by the federal government and some private contractors. And then there's this: Most young people entering the workforce just aren't interested in law enforcement careers, say recruiters. The problem has become the focus of Department of Justice studies and tutorials sponsored by groups such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
A recruitment poster in the sky is something a little retro — a little different — to boost the NRP's visibility, Davis says.
Tracy Phillips, senior project specialist for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, says she's never heard of the aerial-banner approach, but she likes it.
"You've got to be creative. You've got to be competitive. You've got to put your message where the people are," she says.
That would be Ocean City, where Bob Bunting of Ocean Aerial Ads says a banner has a daily potential audience of 250,000 to 300,000 people. In his 29 years of flying the beaches, he has spotlighted job searches for nurses and teachers, but he cannot recall doing the same for a police force. The NRP has paid $1,250 for five passes over the beach during the weekend.
According to a recent survey by the IACP, the No. 1 police recruiting tool remains word of mouth, used by 95 percent of respondents. Newspaper ads follow at 83 percent, with job fairs and community colleges providing most of the remaining applicants.
But social media is catching on, Phillips says. Last year, 23 percent of departments nationwide said they are seeking recruits online. This summer, the Kentucky State Police launched a social media blitz that includes recruitment videos on YouTube, a Facebook page and a Twitter account.
That's a far cry from in 1998, when Prince George's County recruiters tried to woo seasoned staff by placing fliers on the windshields of marked patrol cars in Towson and handing out literature to city officers in station-house parking lots.
In Maryland, 25 departments have Facebook pages, eight use Twitter and five post videos on YouTube, according to the IACP. (Baltimore Police is No. 2 behind Boston for most Twitter followers for a large municipal department.) While most agencies use social media to inform the public as part of community policing or as a way to collect crime tips, Maryland State Police, like the NRP, uses its page as a recruiting tool.
State Police recruiter 1st Sgt. James Russell says the agency began using Facebook earlier this year and the electronic effort now includes scan bars on pamphlets to allow access via smartphone.
"We need to attract a younger generation, and they want to see information instantly," he says. "That's how we reach them."
The NRP's situation is at a critical point, Davis says. In 2006, the General Assembly authorized the agency to have a total force of 280. But with budget problems and other state priorities, that number has slipped to 249. That leaves fewer than 180 field officers to patrol a half-million acres of public land and 17,000 miles of waterways and guard potential terrorism targets such as the Bay Bridge and the Cove Point LNG docks in Calvert County.
The department estimates that over the next six years, almost 50 percent of its officers will retire.
The NRP would like to start an academy class of about 20 recruits sometime after the first of the year. But that doesn't mean stopping after getting 20 applicants.
With physical, mental and medical tests and extensive background checks, it can take as many as 20 applicants to translate into one graduate. And at a cost of $30,000 to train and equip a NRP officer and another $140,000 a year for salary and benefits, the agency has to choose carefully, Davis says.
That is putting pressure on the NRP's new recruitment officer, Mance McCall III, who is going to churches, ethnic fairs and outdoors businesses, such as Bass Pro Shop at Arundel Mills.
"It's sad that it's gotten this bad," says McCall. "So I have to hit every place you can think of and some you haven't. That includes going airborne." | <urn:uuid:c9bc552d-0fb2-444d-a153-f5b8d06b407a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kspr.com/bs-md-police-recruiting-20110815,0,1723251.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959414 | 1,094 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Celebrating Our Big Church
Father Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M.
When I think Catholic, I think big. The Catholic Church is a big Church: big numbers (over one billion members) spread all over the globe and big buildings—cathedrals and basilicas—with big parking lots.
But before we get carried away with too much of this external “bigness” it might be good to remember that the Church was Catholic already at the first Pentecost, before there were any big cathedrals or parking lots, before there were a billion members. The Church was Catholic even when the disciples could all gather together in one house!
Catholic implies big or universal—not just big on the outside but big on the inside. Catholic is a mark of the inner nature of the Church. The Church is Catholic because it is all-embracing. The Catholic Church is the sacrament, the outward sign of a God who is Catholic, a God who is all-embracing, a God who wants to share the one eternal banquet with people of every race, language and way of life.
The Church is Catholic because, like God, it is not limited to one country or culture. In ancient times it was able to move from its Aramaic/Palestinian origins and adopt the language and culture of the Greek world in order to preach God’s message. It was able to express itself in Syriac and spread throughout the East to India and beyond. It was able to express itself in Coptic and spread to Egypt and throughout Africa. It was able to adopt Roman customs and the Latin language into its ritual prayer. It was able to employ Greek philosophy to explain its beliefs. It was able to use the Roman legal system to organize its hierarchical structure. The Church is Catholic because it can take whatever is good in the cultures of the world and embrace it as its own.
A World of Disciples
The Church is Catholic because it is not limited to one interpretation of what it means to be a disciple. When men and women, moved by the Holy Spirit, decide to live the gospel in a unique way, they don't have to start a "new Church." The Catholic Church has room for them—room for a Benedict of Nursia, a Francis of Assisi, an Ignatius of Loyola; room for an Angela Merici, a Catherine McAuley, an Elizabeth Ann Seton and a Katharine Drexel. There are many ways to live the gospel within the Catholic Church. That's what makes it Catholic.
Just think of the diverse groups or members of groups that might exist within your own parish: The Blue Army, Call to Action, Daughters of Isabella, Knights of Columbus, Legion of Mary, Legionnaires of Christ, Oblates of St. Benedict, Opus Dei, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Secular Franciscans, Voice of the Faithful. It's a big church! It's a Catholic Church.
But what happens when our Catholic Church embraces people we don't like or don't agree with? (For example, I don't know any Catholic who would not have difficulty with at least one of the organizations in the above list.) When this big, all-embracing, Catholic Church welcomes people who don't think like I do and when I have to worship with people who are different from me, I sometimes wonder if maybe it wouldn't be better to belong to a little Church where everybody was alike: looked alike, thought alike, prayed alike.
Being Catholic isn't always comfortable. It stretches me to think new thoughts—bigger thoughts. The Catholic Church is not the place for narrow minds or one-issue religion. And this has been a problem from day one.
Jesus himself was too "Catholic" for some of his contemporaries. He dined with the wrong people, cured the wrong people and made friends with the wrong people. His Catholicity was a scandal because his embrace was so wide, so inclusive that he shed his blood (as we pray at each Eucharist) for you and for all.
Being Catholic is not only a mark of pride; it is a challenge. Catholic is not only something that the Church is. It is something the Church continually strives to become.
Father Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M., S.T.D., has a doctorate
in liturgy and sacramental theology from the Institut Catholique
of Paris. A popular writer and lecturer, Father Richstatter
teaches courses on the sacraments at Saint Meinrad (Indiana)
School of Theology. His latest book is The
Sacraments: How Catholics Pray (St. Anthony Messenger
Next: Our Church Is Human
Differentbut the Same
By Judith Dunlap
of us is different. We look different. We have our own unique family background
and heritage. Sometimes the things that make us different are talents;
sometimes they are limitations. And yet, people are also very much the same.
We all need love and respect, and we are all children of God.
For years at Vacation Bible School we teachers spent time focusing on the theme
of "different but the same." But I learned the importance of empathy in that
equation from one of my own children.
In our parish programs we "mainstreamed" children with special
needs. In other words, we put them in a regular class but provided an aide to
help the child. When my son Peter was about 13, he volunteered to help with the
third-graders. He was assigned to assist a young boy named Sean. I remember
sitting in on that class and observing my son one afternoon.
Peter worked with Sean but he spent twice as much time walking
around and helping the other kids. When we were driving home I reminded Peter
why he was in that class and asked why he spent so much time helping others as
well as Sean. Peter's answer taught me the importance of empathy.
He told me that if he were Sean he'd hate having someone
hanging over his shoulder every minute. Furthermore, he reasoned, if he were
with him all the time it would just remind everybody that Sean needed special
help. Peter assured me he kept an eye on his special charge and was there when
he needed him. "But," he reminded me, "Sean's not the only one who needs help
in that class. Everybody needs help sometimes."
When we acknowledge differences but focus on our sameness we
can develop empathy. Empathy leads to compassion, and compassion is at the
heart of what Jesus taught.
Clip out four or five pictures of diverse people from a newspaper or magazine. Ask family members to share ideas about how they are different from and the same as the individuals pictured.
Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) is an entertaining and incorrigible storyteller—to the
degree that it becomes a problem for his son, Will (Ewan McGregor). A critical
moment in the story of Big Fish comes
around the halfway mark when Will complains to his dying father, "Dad, I have
no idea who you are, because you've never told me a single fact."
But, his father disagrees, "I told you a thousand facts, Will.
That's what I do. I tell stories."
And there's the rub: When is a story just a story, and when is
it a vehicle for truth?
The answer is not as simple as we may first think, as Will says
in his voiceover. Called home to his father's deathbed from his job in France
as a journalist—a profession that prizes factual accuracy—Will is confronted
with a host of memories in the form of stories his father has told over and
over again. They constitute a whole fantasy life, told in flashbacks.
Ed Bloom, the story goes, was unusual from the moment he
spurted from his mother's womb and slid down the hospital corridor. As a boy he
accepted the dare to steal the glass eye of a witch in a haunted house, and
from it gained the courage to tackle anything, because the eye foretold how he
He becomes the hero of his town, unstoppable in every sport he
attempts. And when the town is threatened by a terrible giant, it is Ed who
volunteers to get rid of the intruder everyone else fears. Befriending the
giant, he sets out with him to see the world.
After getting lost in a threatening forest at night he happens
on a little paradise of a town called Spectre. It is a place no one ever
leaves, because no one wants to. But Ed Bloom does, perhaps remembering the
advice of the witch that "a fish gets big by not being caught."
Big Fish serves up a
lot of fantasy before the pivotal deathbed confrontation of father and son
where Will, driven by the imminent birth of his own child, pleads, "Just show
me who you really are for once." His father responds, "I've been nothing but
myself from the day I was born and if you can't see that it's your failing, not
As more fantastic stories unfold we begin to wonder about the
truths behind them. Each one seems to derive from a kernel of reality. Setting
out to separate fact from fiction, Will finds his eyes opening to new
dimensions of truth. Apparently the failing has been his.
The emergence of the DVD as a viewing option in the last few
years is ideal for a movie worth watching more than once and thinking about, as
this one is.
Among the special features on the DVD of Big Fish, the option of listening to director Tim Burton tell what
went on behind the scenes and in his head during the making of the film is a
What values do you find in this film?
AND HEROES AMONG US
By Judy Ball
St. Mary Magdalene
Magdalene has long been an important woman in the Church. The question is,
which woman: Is she the one healed of seven demons by Jesus (Luke 8:2) or the
unnamed sinful woman/prostitute who anointed the feet of Jesus and whose sins
he forgave (Luke 7:36-50)?
(Watch out for trick questions. The two women have long been
seen as one and the same person.)
According to modern Scripture scholars the real Mary Magdalene
is the woman Jesus healed of demons—understood today as baffling health
problems, a nervous disorder or perhaps major depression. She is the woman who
became one of Jesus' most devoted and loyal followers; who embraced his
teachings, supported his work and traveled with him and the 12 disciples; who
stood at the foot of the cross with the mother of Jesus as his life ebbed away.
Most of all, she is the woman who was the primary witness of
the Resurrection, the most important event in the history of Christianity. In
all four Gospels, Mary Magdalene is at the tomb three days after Jesus' death,
hoping to anoint his body.
In John's Gospel, the risen Jesus encounters Mary and asks her
why she is weeping. Initially uncertain who he is, she finally recognizes him
and runs to tell the disciples, "I have seen the Lord." For bringing this Good
News to them Mary Magdalene is often called the apostle to the apostles,
particularly in the Eastern Orthodox Church, which has long honored her.
After being the victim of mistaken identity for centuries,
today Mary Magdalene is being given her rightful place of honor as one of
Jesus' most faithful followers. Her feast day is July 22.
it true that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married? Was she really Jesus'
primary apostle, and did Christ intend that she—and not Peter—head the Church
following his death?
Amy Welborn wasn't surprised when readers of The Da Vinci Code began peppering her
about what they had read in the intriguing best-seller by Dan Brown. Many
readers of Our Sunday Visitor (OSV)
were familiar with her column and her books on Catholic topics. They turned to
her for answers.
Ms. Welborn has provided them, both in her column and in her
new book, De-Coding Da Vinci: The Facts
Behind the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code, recently published by OSV.
Countering a popular book—even one billed as a novel—is daunting. "But I'm an
educator at heart," Ms. Welborn told Every
Day Catholic. Drawing on her master's in Church history and her experience
as a religious educator on the high school and parish levels, she seeks to set
the record straight by "refocusing on what Scripture tells us.
"I'm interested in honoring Mary Magdalene for what the
evidence tells me," said Ms. Welborn. "And that evidence is astounding. It is
to Mary Magdalene, a woman Jesus had healed of demons, that he first reveals
himself after the Resurrection. That is a gift to sinners and to women."
Why has Mary Magdalene been misidentified for so long? Some
people today sense a conspiracy of sorts, a desire by male Church leaders to
understate her crucial role in Jesus' life. Ms. Welborn is not among them. She
sees in Mary Magdalene a person "who points us to the empty tomb and brings us
closer to Christ" and who reminds us "that in Christ there is neither male nor | <urn:uuid:0771bb72-e069-401e-b529-912998dd8936> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/EDC/ag0704.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970152 | 2,856 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Photo #: S-584-204
Light Cruiser ... Design # 8 ... Undated (about January 1925)
Preliminary design plan for a cruiser to be built under treaty limitations covering ships of up to 10,000 tons treaty displacement. This design was initiated by the Bureau of Construction and Repair as an illustration for the General Board of the kind of measures needed to limit size and cost. This plan provided a reduced main gun armament compared to the baseline design (see Photo # S-584-190) and grouped one turret forward and two aft. This design was one of many variations considered in the process of settling on the design adopted for the Pensacola (CL-24) class of Fiscal Year 1926.
This plan provided nine 8-inch guns, turbine machinery, and a speed of 32.8 knots in a ship 600 feet long on the waterline, 60.75 feet in beam, and with a normal displacement of 11,410 tons.
Note: The original document was pencil and ink on paper (black on white).
The original plan is in the 1911-1925 "Spring Styles Book".
U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
Online Image: 415KB; 2450 x 1090 pixels
Image posted 15 March 2008 | <urn:uuid:8a0e90f0-0593-47ef-bb1a-eefaf9f40279> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/s-file/s584204c.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922074 | 260 | 2.75 | 3 |
We celebrate the alliance of the Internet with the awareness that for too many years people elected to publicly-funded positions have promoted policies that do not serve the public interest. We challenge those who believe they can continue to violate the public trust to stop and listen to the buzz of millions of people visiting websites, emailing each other, blogging and chatting online about what is going on behind closed doors. We promise to hold you responsible for your actions.
We call this process "e-accountability".
Current Events | Posted 6/19/2013 at 12:50 AM
After contradictory stories emerged about an F.B.I. agent’s killing last month of a Chechen man in Orlando, Fla., who was being questioned over ties to the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, the bureau reassured the public that it would clear up the murky episode. “The F.B.I. takes very seriously any shooting incidents involving our agents, and as such we have an effective, time-tested process for addressing them internally,” a bureau spokesman said.
Current Events | Posted 6/17/2013 at 11:54 PM
Pink slips were recently sent to 19 percent of the school-based work force, including all 127 assistant principals, 646 teachers and more than 1,200 aides. Principals are contemplating opening in September with larger classes but no one to answer phones, keep order on the playground, coach sports, check out library books or send transcripts for seniors applying to college. “You’re not even looking at a school that any of us went to,” said Lori Shorr, the mayor’s chief education officer. “It’s an atrocity, and we should all be ashamed of ourselves if the schools open with these budgets.”
Current Events | Posted 6/17/2013 at 12:20 AM
More than 50,000 New Yorkers slept in city homeless shelters and on the streets last night. About 21,000 were children. These numbers are huge and appalling, higher than they were in 2002, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office, higher than in the dismal days of the fiscal crisis, the Reagan ’80s and the surly administration of Rudolph Giuliani.
Government Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 6/16/2013 at 1:57 AM
Too bad. No one who works at Tweed (or City Hall, we hear) has a contract and no one is evaluated. That's how Bloomberg works, and how public money is spent. From the desk of Betsy Combier, Editor.
Current Events | Posted 6/11/2013 at 1:43 AM
The source had instructed his media contacts to come to Hong Kong, visit a particular out-of-the-way corner of a certain hotel, and ask — loudly — for directions to another part of the hotel. If all seemed well, the source would walk past holding a Rubik’s Cube. So three people — Glenn Greenwald, a civil-liberties writer who recently moved his blog to The Guardian; Laura Poitras, a documentary filmmaker who specializes in surveillance; and Ewen MacAskill, a Guardian reporter — flew from New York to Hong Kong about 12 days ago. They followed the directions. A man with a Rubik’s Cube appeared. It was Edward J. Snowden, who looked even younger than his 29 years — an appearance, Mr. Greenwald recalled in an interview from Hong Kong on Monday, that shocked him because he had been expecting, given the classified surveillance programs the man had access to, someone far more senior. Mr. Snowden has now turned over archives of “thousands” of documents, according to Mr. Greenwald, and “dozens” are newsworthy.
Government Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 6/8/2013 at 11:37 PM
IN April, some 1.2 million New York students took their first Common Core State Standards tests, which are supposed to assess their knowledge and thinking on topics such as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and a single matrix equation in a vector variable. Students were charged with analyzing both fiction and nonfiction, not only through multiple-choice answers but also short essays. The mathematics portion of the test included complex equations and word problems not always included in students’ classroom curriculums. Indeed, the first wave of exams was so overwhelming for these young New Yorkers that some parents refused to let their children take the test.
Government Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 6/7/2013 at 12:15 PM
In a statement issued late Thursday, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said “information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats. The unauthorized disclosure of information about this important and entirely legal program is reprehensible and risks important protections for the security of Americans.” Clapper added that there were numerous inaccuracies in reports about PRISM by The Post and the Guardian newspaper, but he did not specify any. From Editor Betsy Combier: Then, why prosecute Bradley Manning in the extreme?
Government Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 6/3/2013 at 11:56 PM
In early April, as the Rutgers president, Robert L. Barchi, was working to defuse a coaching abuse scandal, he named Gregory S. Jackson, a university administrator, to be his chief of staff. Jackson, though, was already facing his own legal problems. About three months earlier, Jackson was sued by four longtime employees in the university’s career services office, all in their late 50s and early 60s. They said that he had engaged in a “campaign of discriminatory actions” against them because of their age, ostracizing them and ultimately forcing their retirement. Barchi was aware of the lawsuit when he promoted Jackson, according to Rutgers officials.
Government Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 6/1/2013 at 11:30 AM
After nine years of legal wrangling, former U.N. investigator Caroline Hunt-Matthes has won a judgment that she was unfairly punished for documenting a woman’s rape case in Sri Lanka a decade ago. Hunt-Matthes told The Associated Press on Wednesday the long-running case is “a consummate story of abuse of power” by U.N.’s oversight unit.
Government Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 5/27/2013 at 3:04 PM
MacLean, fired after revealing plans to remove armed officers from some flights, is confident of reinstatement after an appeals court win. ...after a seven-year legal battle, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., has cleared the way for the former air marshal to seek reinstatement with back pay and benefits. Late last month, the court unanimously ruled that MacLean's disclosures were covered under the Whistleblower Protection Act and requested new hearings to reconsider his firing. | <urn:uuid:6d2f2f26-53b0-435e-901b-4a14b0a95d28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parentadvocates.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965188 | 1,452 | 1.5 | 2 |
CLEVELAND - Media are invited to an interview opportunity with Julie Robinson, program scientist for the International Space Station at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 12, at NASA's Glenn Research Center.
Robinson will speak to reporters about Glenn's vital role in space station's research and the benefits already realized from experiments performed on station. Since its first element launch in 2000, station has achieved amazing discoveries in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical science, human research, Earth and space science. The orbiting station also serves as an educational platform that continues to inspire students and motivate them in the studies of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The media opportunity will take place in Glenn's Exercise Countermeasures Laboratory that houses the Enhanced Zero Locomotion Simulator. This simulator was designed and built to mimic conditions astronauts experience in space when exercising on space station. This system is a ground-based testbed that provides high-fidelity, zero-gravity and 1/6 gravity (lunar environment) exercise simulations for developing exercise countermeasures devices, equipment and exercise protocols for space.
Researchers and managers at Glenn are responsible for numerous experiments performed on station. These experiments largely relate to a better understanding of the physics of fluids and combustion in space as well as life science studies. Many of these experiments have direct application to problems we encounter here on Earth. Glenn also plays a key role in the operation of station's electrical power system.
As the chief scientist for the International Space Station Program, Robinson has overseen the transition of the laboratory from the assembly period, with just a few dozen active investigations, to full utilization, with hundreds of active investigations. She represents all space station users, including NASA-funded investigators, the new community of investigators using station as a U.S. National Laboratory and the international research community.
The space station, including its large solar arrays, spans the area of a U.S. football field, including the end zones, and weighs 861,804 pounds, not including visiting vehicles. The complex now has more livable room than a conventional five-bedroom house and has two bathrooms, a gymnasium and a 360-degree bay window. Flying more than 200 miles above Earth, it is considered an engineering marvel.
Media interested in attending this special event should contact Glenn's Media Relations Office at 216-433-2901 before 9 a.m. on September 12 in order to be cleared through security.
For more information about Glenn's role in the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/shuttlestation/station/station_science.html | <urn:uuid:678b61e0-e9fd-4b6a-9d57-b35e4d74ee27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=38433 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936767 | 538 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Hector Emanuel October 29, 2008Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Peru.
Peruvian earthquake aftermath
Hector Emanuel is a Peruvian-born photojournalist with a Master’s degree in physics, his photos focus mainly on social and political issues in Latin America and the US. In 2003, he was awarded by the World Press Photo Foundation (and the NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism) for his documentation of the civil conflict in Colombia. His photographs have been widely exhibited and he regularly contributes to books, newspapers, magazines (Time, Newsweek, Men’s Journal, Washington Post Sunday Magazine, Washingtonian, etc) and NGO’s (American Red Cross, Greenpeace and Amnesty International). Recently he has been applying his understated documentary style of photography to a variety of magazine portrait assignments.
About the Photograph:
“This photo was taken while covering the aftermath of an 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Peru for the Red Cross. The earthquake left over 500 dead and over 100,000 homeless. The people in the photo were standing by the side of the road with signs asking for food, water or any other help. Like many of the people in the area they were not only homeless and worried about their future, but also psychologically scarred. I always feel pretty useless – I don’t mean photographically – when covering this kind of story, but it’s even more obvious when shooting for the Red Cross because when one arrives in a car with the Red Cross symbol people have the expectation that you will know how to help them.” | <urn:uuid:89fbbab8-b866-434c-a256-a900da7daef4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vervephoto.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/hector-emanual-metro-collective/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967044 | 323 | 1.789063 | 2 |
DO you hate your job and feel that you get paid much less than you
deserve? Is there a subject you totally despise and hate studying? Is
there someone who’s being rude and nasty to you all the time? And have
you been wondering why it’s all that way? Maybe you should hear the
story of the evil monster and the little boy.
The story goes that long, long ago there lived a monster in a tiny
village. The villagers were all terrified of him, and felt their village
was cursed to have such a creature living in their midst. Several men
tried to fight the monster. One man attacked the monster with a sharp
The monster grabbed the sword and almost magically pulled out another
sword, twice as large, twice as sharp and cut the man into half. Another
time, a villager set off with a large wooden club to hit the monster.
The monster responded by slamming the man with a wooden club, twice as
large as the one that the villager had. On another occasion, a villager
tried to set the monster on fire. But the monster opened his mouth and
spewed huge flames – that roasted the poor man.
Scared by these events the village folks gave up trying to fight the
monster. They felt this was their lot, and they had to learn to live
with it. And then one day a little boy said he would go and vanquish the
monster. People were surprised, and despite their disbelief, went along
to see the little boy take on the monster.
As the boy looked up at the giant, the monster just flared his nostrils
and glared back. The little boy then took out an apple and offered it to
the monster. The monster grabbed it, held it to his mouth, and then
thrust his clenched fist in front of the boy. Bang! As the fist slowly
opened, the people were astonished to see two delicious apples there.
Twice as red and twice as large as the apple that the boy had offered.
The boy then took out a little earthen pot with some water and gave it
to the monster. And the monster took that and responded by placing in
front of the boy two urns made of gold, filled with delicious juice. The
people were ecstatic. They suddenly realised that the monster was not a
curse – but a boon to the village. The little boy smiled. And the giant
just smiled back. While the story is centuries old, the monster is
still around. In colleges, in the office, and in our lives. And it’s a
good idea to remember the lessons from that story. Most of our problems
appear that way because of the way we look at them. You get back what
you give. Twice as much!
Is someone being rude to you? Maybe you need to change the way you
behave with them. And no, don’t wait for them to change; you need to
change first! At work too, if you go in to work, hating every moment,
it’s unlikely that you’ll do a great job. If you don’t contribute, don’t
expect to get paid a fat salary. You get what you give. Resolve today
then to change. Love your job and give it everything you have. Be nice
to the “Ms Nasty” in college. Look at Maths as a cool, fun subject. And
you’ll discover that the evil monster is in fact a benevolent giant.
It’s significant that it took a little child to discover the true
colours of the monster. Children don’t have preconceived notions. They
believe the world is a wonderful place. It’s only as they grow up that
the optimism vanishes, and negative conditioning sets in. Go on. Let the
child in you take over. Look at everything you dread with fresh eyes –
be it rude friends, tough subjects or lousy jobs. Maybe the monster is
really a nice guy. Change the way you look at him. And see the | <urn:uuid:f974906e-0dbd-4954-aa8d-209ad955f8b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rmkalumni.org/viewarticle.php?id=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971912 | 877 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxides (NOx) as well as pollutants such as sulfur oxides (SOx) and particulate matter (PM) into the earth’s atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels to drive ships is of increasing concern internationally.
While other aspects of ships and shipping play their own part in this environmental concern, a key factor is the underwater ship hull. This is subject to biofouling, as micro-organisms and vegetable and animal matter naturally attach to a ship’s hull. A fouled hull carries with it a fuel penalty. The worse the fouling, the slower the ship will sail at a given RPM. Or, put another way, the more power will be required to keep the ship sailing at a given speed. This means higher fuel consumption. Depending on the degree of fouling, this can be as much as 85% more. Higher fuel consumption results in a greater volume of greenhouse gases and other emissions which pollute the earth’s atmosphere.
The way to keep the fuel penalty as low as possible from the point of view of the ship hull is also clear:
1. Design the hull so that it is hydrodynamically efficient.
2. Apply a coating which is smooth, remains smooth and does not add to the hull’s resistance.
3. Keep the hull free of fouling. Don’t sail with even a medium slime. Routine monitoring and in-water cleaning on the right type of hull coating will accomplish this.
4. Inspect the ship before sailing and, if the hull is fouled, clean it before leaving port.
Even if the ship is delayed for half a day before sailing, this time will be made up in the crossing as the clean hull will permit faster sailing with lower fuel consumption. IMO BLG 15/9 Annex 1 pages 9-12 provide detailed recommendations for in-water inspection, cleaning and maintenance which, if followed using trained and experienced personnel to carry out the work, will lead to greatly reduced fuel consumption.
This is where Hydrex and Ecospeed come in. The Ecospeed hull protection and performance system is today’s Best Available Technology for reduction of fuel consumption and GHG and other emissions through hull hydrodynamics and fouling control.Contact us directly about GHG reduction | <urn:uuid:6166f9f7-841d-4ea4-98bb-3b6c3f9bfc88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hydrex.be/service/oil__gas/fleet_performance/ghg_reduction | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943331 | 492 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Motorists will have an extra incentive to buckle up beginning Monday (Nov. 14), when a statewide safety campaign, including stepped-up enforcement and education, gets under way.
The Idaho State Police, Idaho Transportation Department and about 30 local law enforcement agencies are participating in the "Click It, Don't Risk It!" seat belt campaign.
The increased patrols and an advertising campaign, which continue through Dec. 5, are aimed at saving lives and reducing costs associated with traffic crashes. Idaho law requires everyone in a vehicle to wear safety restraints regardless of where they are seated.
"Our goal is to reduce the tragic, unnecessary deaths and serious injuries that happen every day in Idaho," says Mary Hunter of the transportation department. "We hope these efforts will keep more families intact, so they can enjoy the upcoming holidays."
Buckling up remains the single-best defense against serious injury or death for drivers and who are involved in a crash, Hunter adds.
Last year in Idaho, 552 people who were killed or seriously injured in motor vehicle crashes were not wearing seat belts. Even those who survive crashes can suffer the consequences of their injuries for the rest of their lives.
"It is especially important for adults to set a good example for younger family members," Hunter says. "Last year, Idaho lost 25 teens in traffic crashes, and two-out-of-three were not buckled up."
Safety belts reduce fatalities among passenger car occupants by 45 percent, and by 60 percent in light trucks, according to the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. In Idaho, 80 percent of people buckle up in cars, vans and sport utility vehicles, while just 63 percent of pickup occupants buckle up.
"Click It, Don't Risk It!" messages will emphasize the importance of buckling up every time for every trip. Radio ads will feature local law enforcement officers encouraging people to use seat belts.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 85 percent of all crash victims' medical costs fall on society – not the individuals involved. Medicare, Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded sources pay one quarter of those medical costs. Crash victims who are buckled up average 60-80 percent lower hospital costs than those who were not wearing seat belts.
"The seat belt is a free piece of safety equipment. Of all the safety features added to vehicles since 1960, one – the safety belt – accounts for more than half of all lives saved, according to NHTSA," Hunter adds. | <urn:uuid:a2d5911d-b854-4360-bd3d-ba9405b25da7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itd.idaho.gov/transporter/2005/111105_Trans/111105_ClickItcampaign.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959595 | 515 | 2.328125 | 2 |
The Process Safety Management (PSM) regulation 29 CFR 1910.119 was developed in response to a series of major accidents. These same events led to the creation of the safety instrumented system (SIS) standard, ANSI/ISA-84.00.01-2004 Part 1 (IEC 61511-1 Mod). Both provide a wholistic, lifecycle approach to the design, operation and maintenance of SIS and facilities. Plant safety improves when these programs are implemented, although accidents can still occur.
From studies of major accidents, most result from the simultaneous occurrence of multiple and seemingly minor errors and incidents that interact in complex and unforeseen ways.1 PSM and ANSI/ISA 84.00.01 are similar in that both have interdependent elements that work together to reduce the likelihood of errors and hazards that can contribute to an accident. A failure or error in any element becomes the weak link. This article explores some of the hidden errors and conditions that can occur during the SIS or facility life cycle, and refers to them as blind spots. Examples of their varied modes and risks are highlighted. Red flags are a common prelude to a major accident. As an aid to revealing blind spots, an awareness of common red flags may be helpful. Examples from major accidents are listed.
Blind spots are often recognized as a significant contributor to a major accident. Those discussed here have hidden or unforeseen mechanisms that can degrade an SIS or a safety management program. Independent protection layers (IPLs) applied to reduce risk are methodically selected and implemented to reduce the probability of hazard occurrence to a tolerable risk. Typical IPLs include relief valves, alarms and SIS. Accidents can result if an IPL is inadequate, degraded or fails. Undefined hazards also exist and the associated hazard consequence and likelihood are unknown.
Todays typical large-scale engineering projects have major teams that interact with many organizations and companies. In a relatively short time, they generate thousands of documents and a thousand-fold increase in project data that resides in many forms, formats and systems. This information is communicated through many different media. Being a human endeavor, quality checkpoints are added at key points. Schedule compression tends to increase error rates and challenge the quality-check process. Compression is common to fast-track projects, and can occur with late design changes, delayed decisions and extended approval cycles. Quality checks become less effective if performed at the wrong time or under stress; thus, errors can be missed. A purchase order with a single digit error in a lengthy model number procures the wrong material. A person with essential technical knowledge misses a key meeting. An inspector misses an important detail at a factory check. Undetected errors can occur in the engineering data exchange between companies if the data exchange protocols are not well defined or managed.
Construction projects have a higher number of personnel who work within a physically more hazardous environment. Onsite decisions are constant. Items dont fit, material cannot be located or a key person in the communication channel is taken ill. A missed or inaccurate positive material check on a case of bulk alloy fittings is not detected. If detected, the installed locations may be unknown. The transition from construction to pre-commissioning and startup involves handoffs of many documents and status reportsall opportunities for missed information.
Safety assessments such as hazard and operability studies (HAZOPS) identify hazards and quantify their respective risks. A hidden deficiency in this process can result in risks that are underestimated so that the applied IPLs are inadequate. A hazard can be missed or incorrectly assessed if the team is missing key technical, operating or maintenance expertise.2 Combustion and process experts are needed to assess the complex impact of a major fuel gas drum swing on multiple fired vessels across the facility. Perhaps the burner data sheets no longer exist so it is not possible to verify if the burners can operate safely with the current fuel-gas composition range. Expertise needed to identify and accurately assess hazards that are unique to rotating equipment, exothermal reactors and high-pressure equipment may also be missing. The assessment may fail to consider all modes of operation, common mode failures, process response time or the complex scenarios that can result when a major upset occurs in a shared utility system, e.g., steam, instrument air or cooling water.
A safety related alarm applied as an IPL may be invalid. This can occur if an operator cannot reliably respond to the alarm within the process response time (preferable half the time). Further, the alarm IPL is invalid if a common event generates multiple alarms that exceed the generally recognized operator alarm response limit of 10 alarms in a 10 minute period.3 The assessment may fail to explore this possibility. Finally, if the alarm is invalid, then the SIL assigned to an associated safety instrumented function may be insufficient.
New technology and new designs often create unforeseen challenges. When the industry embraced open systems, the Microsoft Operating System became a standard component in many control systems. The unforeseen risk was an ongoing urgency to install frequent software patches to correct security holes and software stability problems. Another is the increased exposure to destructive viruses of the type recently revealed as the Stuxnet virus.4 Computer servers require frequent replacement due to early obsolescence. Control-system vendors press users to upgrade application software and hardware to ensure future product support. These upgrades often have subtle and undocumented technical and performance differences. Implementing a change before it is fully tested introduces an unknown risk.
If a facilitys software backup and recovery procedures are inadequate or not followed, then the wrong program or an outdated version may be loaded in response to an unplanned emergency repair. Inadequate physical and administrative control of an engineering work station connected to a safety system can compromise system integrity. Sensitive process control networks, thought to be isolated, may, in fact, connect to a business network or unprotected Internet connection and become a tempting target for computer hackers worldwide. Cross-connection of a process-control system network to a business enterprise network opens the opportunity for a control system interruption or upset that may be caused by a routine business network administrative change or update.
High-integrity pressure protective systems (HIPPS) are increasingly being used to reduce project cost or increase production. A well-designed and managed HIPPS offers safety benefits, but is also a high-tech solution that replaces a low-tech solution that is well understood. Management of HIPPS and other SIL 3, high-integrity safety systems require a mature, disciplined and technically talented organization for the duration of the systems life cycle. Most of the blind-spot failures discussed here can degrade this system. Because a SIL 3 system is typically implemented to mitigate a high-consequence safety hazard, its failure or degradation can result in a major accident.
Humans will always make mistakes regardless of age, training and level of experience. A well-designed system, organization or procedure integrates humans into activities and processes where they are known to perform well, and it avoids or minimizes activities that humans are known to perform less reliably. If this is not the case, the expected error rate will be higher, and the resulting errors may be overt, hidden or unforeseen. Human error in any type of process or activity increases when humans are under tasked, over tasked or placed under stress.5
Human error is not random, but it is now understood to be systematic. The error is biased by the systems, culture and environments in which humans operate.5 Under high stress, the perception of time can become distorted. During a plant emergency, the actual elapsed time as experienced by a stressed individual may be significantly longer than perceived. When presented with a problem, humans tend to develop a mental model of what is happening and select data that supports that model. Data that does not support the model is often ignoreda condition that has contributed to major accidents. On the positive side, humans are essential because they provide the only means available to mitigate or manage a hazard that was previously unknown and has no other safeguards.
High-performance organizations of the type needed to manage high-integrity safety systems and successfully merge PSM and ANSI/ISA S84.00.01 are not at a natural state; the laws of entropy apply. Organizations undergo continuous change, whether desired or not. The organization affects the other listed modes in positive and negative ways, which means it contributes to blind spots. A seemingly subtle change in priorities, staffing, training, work processes, safety culture, age, technical expertise or tools can significantly affect process safety as it interacts with other listed modes.
When SIS progresses through its life cycle, the safety requirements specification (SRS) provides the essential foundation document needed to define and maintain system integrity. Fig. 1 summarizes the information included in this document. An inadvertent change in any item can degrade or disable one or more safety instrumented functions residing in that safety system. Mapping each datum element to the department, technical discipline or organization charged with its creation or management provides an indication of the potential challenge. The opportunity for hidden errors and changes increases when elements are distributed across organizational boundaries.
Fig. 1. Safety requirements specification (SRS).
If the group charged with managing a PSM program operates like a regulatory organization, then the expected safety management culture and practices are probably not being fully realized, although full compliance may be whats listed in company reports. Current organizational structures may be an impediment when attempting to merge the requirements of ANSI/ISA S84.00.01 into the existing organization. How organizations integrate this standard with their PSM program appears to be an early work in progress for many. Until this process is complete and the bugs are worked out, mistakes will happen.
Operating modes may exist that are below the radar and, therefore, not assessed from a safety and risk perspective. A facility may regularly have a manual bypass valve open around a control valve to increase throughput. Others may operate a fired process heater when a forced draft fan has failed. A damper is opened and the heater is operated in a natural draft mode that was not considered in its original design. An operator tweaks a mechanical stop on a fuel-gas valve, changing a process heaters minimum firing rate. Use of safety system bypasses may become a common and casual act. The duration that a safety function is bypassed may be increasing, but it is not tracked and goes unnoticed.
On the maintenance side, off-the-books repairs and undocumented software changes may be implemented in response to a problem that occurs during an unscheduled event, holiday weekend maintenance callout. Spare parts used may not actually meet the replacement in kind requirement of PSM or the more rigorous requirements in ANSI/ISA S84.00.01. Changes may be made without applying the Management of Change process (from PSM), or perhaps the process is not sufficiently controlled or transparent.
Risk acceptance creep.
Individual risk tolerances can shift when the person is faced with an immediate decision on whether to proceed (e.g., maintain production) or revert to a known safe state (e.g., shutdown). Risk acceptance appears to increase or perhaps, risk denial occurs. For example, a difficult new unit startup is nearing completion. A safety event occurs, forcing the person in charge to decide on whether to proceed or shut down. The risk associated with proceeding is not immediately clear or understood. The time-sensitive decision increases stress and may offer little time to consult others who may understand the risk. (Perhaps the person who understands the risk is not in a position to affect critical decisions.) The decision to proceed or shut down reflects the attributes of the decision-makers and how they have internalized their understanding of the companys management expectations, safety culture, priorities and training. The decision to proceed is made, and the situation improves, worsens or remains unclear. This may be followed by another decision to proceed and it follows the well-worn adage, in for a penny, in for a pound. This phenomenon, in a slightly different form, can occur during the engineering phase of a project when a tight schedule conflicts with the time needed to finish a safety-critical assessment or quality check.
Analyzing and identifying the root cause of a near miss or an accident is an essential element in a safety management program. Past theory and practices for accident investigations took an approach that often cited operator error as the root cause. The new theory, which takes a much wider view, will often trace the root cause to a management failure or a failure of the organization or system in which humans function.5 Those applying the old approach (still commonplace) are not aware of where the true weakness in their systems exists, so similar accidents may reoccur.
Management and leadership.
All organizations, whether they are project teams or operating facilities, face the dichotomy of balancing process safety with production, cost and schedule demands. By words, actions and examples, management and safety leaders demonstrate their expectations. Subordinates interpret this message and bias their actions and attitudes accordingly. Given the challenges of communications in large and complex organizations, a few misunderstood words or an ambiguous or conflicting message may degrade the process safety attitude of employees.
For example, the appearance of an overriding priority on production may bias an operators belief that a unit-shutdown button should only be used if the hazard is certain and imminent. The systematic bias may be to delay a safety response when it conflicts with production. A downsizing that lays off a key technical expert who provides maintenance support for a highly technical safety system, places that system at risk. Management and safety leaders may not be aware of the possible limitations in their safety management program. Many companies are implementing behavior-based safety programs that have been very effective at reducing injuries and accidents. These same programs may be less effective at revealing or mitigating errors caused by technology or project execution blind spots. An assumption that a given safety program sufficiently encompasses the full breadth of the safety management challenge may be a serious blind spot.
Several blind spot modes have been discussed. Many others exist, including training, standards and procedures, physical environment and regulatory environment, to name a few. A complete listing of possible blind spots within each mode can fill volumes. To limit their accident contributions, an awareness and acceptance that blind spots exist are essential. Another important element in a safety management program should include an awareness of the red flags that often precede a catastrophic accident. Management and safety leaders should give pause when they hear several important listed words; they may have just arrived at that point, that last chance when a critical failure can be prevented:
Experience says that will never happen (most catastrophic accidents)6, 7
We need to reduce maintenance, staffing and training to cut costs (Bhopal MIC release)7
So we are all in agreement, RIGHT (Shuttle Challenger and Columbia Disasters)6
We dont have time for that (most catastrophic accidents)6, 7
Prove to me that it is not safe (Shuttle Challenger and Columbia Disaster).6 HP
1 Perrow, C., Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies, New York, Basic Books Inc., 1999.
2 Shephard, T. and D. Hansen, IEC 61511 ImplementationThe Execution Challenge, Control, May 2010.
3 Bullemer, P. and D. Metzger, CCPS Process Safety Metric Review: Considerations from an ASM Perspective, ASM Consortium Metrics Work Group, May 23, 2008.
4 Bartels, N., Worst Fears Realized, Control Engineering, September 24, 2010.
5 Decker, S., The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error, Surrey UK, Ashgate Publishing Ltd., Reprint 2010.
6 Brigadier Gen. Duane W. Deal, USAF, Beyond the Widget: Columbia Accidents Lesson Learned Affirmed, Air & Space Power Journal, Summer 2004.
7 Joseph, G., M. Kaszniak and L. Long, Lessons After Bhopal: CSB a Catalyst for Change, Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, Vol. 18, Issues 46, JulyNovember 2005.
Tom Shephard is an automation project manager at Mustang Engineering. He has 28 years of control and safety system experience in the oil and gas, refining, marketing and chemical industries. Mr. Shepherd is a Certified Automation Professional (ISA) and a certified Project Management Professional (PMI). He holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from Notre Dame University. | <urn:uuid:77b8fa17-fdfc-4276-8b41-0de49bcdcf6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/IssueArticle/2779816/Archive/Process-safety-Blind-spots-and-red-flags.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926571 | 3,357 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Free Markets, Free People
"There has not been a single soldier or Marine who lost his life in combat due to a threat from the air in over 56 years."
Let that statement sink in for a minute. The reason we’ve not lost a single soldier or Marine to enemy air is we’ve maintained such a dominant edge in both technology, ability and numbers that no enemy has been able to challenge our dominance of the air over any battlefield on which we’ve fought since Korea.
The military defines air superiority as "that degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another which permits the conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea, and air forces at a given time and place without prohibitive interference by the opposing force.”
But that dominance and superiority in the air are in serious jeopardy. In our drive to cut budgets, we are about to cut capability instead of costs. And that could result in a serious threat to the war fighting ability of our military and eventually threaten our national security. There is a developing fighter gap and if it continues as it is presently proceeding, it may be unrecoverable.
A short digression to make a point. There are two basic types of fighter aircraft in our inventory today. One is the air superiority fighter. Its job is to establish and maintain air superiority so that opposing aircraft don’t pose a threat to other air operations and our ground forces. Imagine how difficult the use of attack helicopters would be in support of ground operations if the enemy was the superior force in the air. So that air superiority fighter works to keep the skies clear of enemy fighters to allow the second type of fighter to work under that umbrella. That’s something we’ve successfully done for 56 years.
That second type of fighters is the strike fighter which is usually a multirole fighter with a mission of support for ground operations. They can deliver close air support or go deep and hit key targets that will help cripple the enemy’s ability to fight.
At the moment, we have a fleet of 4th generation air superiority fighters (F15′s, etc.) that numbers about 800. Those fighters have reached the end of their service life and technology has advanced such that their effectiveness has been badly degraded. The F-22 Raptor, a 5th generation air superiority fighter, was developed to replace the aging 4th generation fleet, and the original plan was to buy 700 of them.
The aircraft is expensive at over $300 million a copy, but it is the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world and maintains our edge over would be competitors/enemies. But with cuts in the budget becoming a priority, the Defense Department made the decision to limit the number of F-22′s it would buy to 187 and then shut down production. 187 5th generation air superiority fighters doesn’t even begin to replace the 800 4th generation fighters we have. In fact, the Air Force has conducted over 30 studies which all agree the bare minimum that the Air Force needs to maintain a minimal air superiority capability is 260 F-22s. But the last F-22 has been made, the production line is shutting down and the high paying jobs it created going away.
We’re seeing much the same scenario played out with the other critical player in our fighter future – the F-35. Designed as a multi-role joint strike fighter, the F-35 brings advanced stealth and other technology to the strike fighter role. As with any developmental aircraft it has had its share of problems, but now seems to be on course to fulfill the promise it holds to deliver an aircraft superior to all the other strike aircraft in the world.
But again, we see talk about cutting capability in the name of cutting cost. The promised number to be purchased both by the US and it’s 7 partners continues to shrink. We’re being told we can’t "afford" the F-35. The real question, given the possible ramifications of having too few survivable air superiority or strike fighters is can we afford not to buy them?
Certainly we can "upgrade" the non-stealthy and aged 4th generation fighters. But the emergence of competitive 5th generation fighters in Russia (T-50) and China (J-20) mean that as soon as the competitive aircraft are fielded, our pilots flying those old fighters are essentially cannon fodder and our ground troops become vulnerable.
While it is certain cutbacks in defense spending are necessary, they must not jeopardize our military’s survival or our national security. 5th generation air superiority and strike fighters are critical to both.
Those making the hard budget decisions to come must remember the opening line above. Air superiority and the ability to deliver ordnance and survive are critical tasks that cannot be "cut" for austerity’s sake. And we must ensure our military not only has the best fighters we can produce, but enough of them to do their mission of keeping our nation secure.
[First published in the Washington Examiner] | <urn:uuid:af42fb32-1c70-4b2b-bab9-d528ac9081d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.qando.net/?tag=air-superiority | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960644 | 1,041 | 1.515625 | 2 |
- Joined: 11/10/2011
- Location: dallas, TX
Yoga to alleviate pain
Thu, 11/10/11 5:01 AM
Yoga and pranayama, the method used by the ancient Indian sages to attain enlightenment, is now popular as a fitness regimen. Many fitness buffs have resorted to yoga as it is an effective system which can help you beat the stress and improve your stamina. A proper warm up of the body can be attained through various asanas and pranayama (breathing exercises involved in yoga). They will also help in curing many a disease and alleviating body pains. The healing capabilities of yoga have been well understood and made use of by ancient Ayurvedic scholars and later yoga became an integral part of Ayurvedic treatment.
Yoga is employed in joint pain Ayurvedic treatment etc and various postures in yoga like Suryanamaskar, Fish pose, Corpse, Cat stretch etc help mitigate the back pain. But a patient should undertake yoga postures only after consulting a physician or trainer because the wrong postures may increase the pain in the body. Various asanas in yoga help distribute blood and oxygen to every part of the body and thus it ensures equal distribution of energy all through the body. Yoga also helps in improving concentration and it is very useful for all patients as it calms down their mind. The anxiety and depression in chronic patients can be wiped away through yoga. | <urn:uuid:e1fab57d-1373-4020-9616-995447fdede0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=674605&mpage=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945264 | 301 | 2.359375 | 2 |
The White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships decamped Washington, DC for Portland, Ore. this week where staff members from the office met with local faith and non-profit leaders to talk about ways the Obama Administration stands ready to partner with local leaders:
The White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships works to build bridges between the federal government and nonprofit organizations, both secular and faith-based, to better serve Americans in need. The Office advances this work through 11 Agency Centers across government and a Strategic Advisor at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
So what exactly does the office do?
In addition to its daily work, President Obama has asked the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships to focus on four special priorities. These priorities are:
Unlike the office as operated under the previous administration, the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships does not hand out grants. President Obama has also insisted that all people of faith - and secular neighborhood bodies -be welcomed at the table. So you'll see progressive Christians working alongside conservative evangelicals, Muslims, Jews, atheists, and a wide-cross section of Americans committed to the common good.
The White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, along with the White House Office Of Public Engagement, works to make sure that diverse voices are heard as policy decisions are debated at the highest levels of government.
President Obama has done a commendable job of creating a faith-based program that removes politics from funding decisions and is inclusive of all faith traditions - along with secular neighborhood groups. We can also be proud that this president has worked to protect religious liberty (despite what political partisans might argue) while tackling difficult issues.
Having the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships in Portland this week was of special importance to me, as it gave me to chance to see friends Joshua DuBois and Michael Wear. Josh is special assistant to the president and executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and Mike is one of his top aides. I deeply admire their work and committment to our nation.
You can follow the work of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships here. | <urn:uuid:3b4ca709-6416-49ea-8727-746c320a964b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/chuck_currie/2012/02/the-white-house-on-the-road.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964713 | 457 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Caught for centuries between the possessive affections of Germany, Austria, Hungary and Russia, Romania spent 50 long post-war years in an abusive relationship under repressive and autocratic communist rule. From 1965 – 1989, dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu’s policies almost bankrupted the country and kept its people dependent and impoverished until it emerged blinking into the blaze of modern Europe a mere 20 years ago.
Think about that. Virtually every Romanian over the age of 30 has a vivid memory of empty shelves, food rationing, security police “visiting” their homes at night, the collectivization of their land, and 22 hours a day of state television dedicated to poems about their fearless leader. As William Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” And nowhere is that more apparent than in Romania, where the majority of urbanites live in the loathed, butt-ugly Soviet bloc apartments that ring the outside of every city, even the lovely historic towns of Transylvania.
Meanwhile, the majority of rural people struggle to farm productively without a state Big Brother monitoring their every move. “We’ll pretend to work and they’ll pretend to pay us” was the ironic farming catch phrase under communism, yet under democratic rule, agricultural productivity dropped 90% in a decade. Unlearning communist stagnation seems to be harder than you might think.
Indeed, there are really two Romanias. A member of the EU community since 2007, Romania is a country of 19 million people: 50% living in sophisticated, developed urban areas and 50% living as subsistence farmers on land they just recently reclaimed from the state, clawing out a meager living on long, narrow plots of fertile land, driving horse-drawn carts, and herding their animals on communal pastures.
Rural life in Romania is so challenging that millions of young people have moved to other EU countries, leaving older people behind to do the hard work of farming. It is in these rural areas that Heifer is working to improve nutrition and increase income through livestock projects and community development … and where I happily spent most of my time.
Now for the question that’s been on everyone’s mind: Yes, I did spend all my time in Transylvania. No, I did not see any vampires. And obviously, I will now be living for thousands of years in my own personal coffin. | <urn:uuid:e2229507-b752-4719-9768-04af79b6450c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://heifer12x12.com/2012/06/20/buna-ziua-romania/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948936 | 511 | 2.0625 | 2 |
“So many of us daven by rote and have lost our perspective as to why we go to shul,” says Frank Buchweitz, the Orthodox Union’s (OU) national director of community services and special projects. “Something has to be done to make prayer and shul-going a more meaningful experience.”
Enter the OU’s Tefillah Education Initiative. Launched in 2008 by the OU’s Department of Community Services, the program brings scholars-in-residence to communities throughout the country to underscore the power of Jewish prayer. Since its inception, the Tefillah Education Initiative has brought its prayer re-energizing programs to community members throughout the New York metropolitan area, including The Five Towns, Manhattan, Poughkeepsie, Queens, and Teaneck, New Jersey. The program has also been in Deerfield Beach, Florida—and it is poised to continue spreading the inspiration.
This multi-faceted Initiative mines the depths of our liturgy and generates a heightened appreciation of tefillah through a variety of programs, including a comprehensive curriculum—ideal for schools, shuls or individual use. Conducted in conjunction with the Shema Yisrael Torah Network, the course consists of weekly e-mails and is available by subscription. The study guide boasts subscribers from around the world—from beginners to seasoned daveners—some from as far as Hawaii and the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Subscriptions can be purchased through the OU web site at community.ou.org/prayerguide for the nominal fee of twenty-five dollars.
“If you go to a typical shul and ask people what percentage of the tefillot they [actually] understand, I think it would be impressive if they said they understood more than half,” says Rabbi Ephraim Epstein of Congregation Sons of Israel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, who is collaborating with the OU on the Tefillah Education Initiative. “We learn how to daven as children, but we do not learn how to daven as adults.”
To address the obstacles to meaningful davening, the OU is encouraging shul rabbis to spend a few minutes every Shabbat Mevarchim emphasizing an aspect of tefillah of their choice. To bolster this effort, the OU is offering resource materials on tefillah to participating rabbis. Additionally, numerous in-depth presentations on tefillah by Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, the OU’s executive vice president, emeritus can be accessed at www.ouradio.org.
Upcoming Tefillah Ventures
In September, the Tefillah Education Initiative plans to introduce an array of innovative projects such as “Weekly Tefillah Tips.” The tips, which will be sent via e-mail to individual subscribers and synagogues, will focus on specific sections of Shabbat tefillot, beginning with Mussaf. Supplementing the tips, “Take Five for Tefillah,” available on the OU web site, will enable individuals to listen to or download five-minute audio shiurim on the meaning of the tefillot. Rabbi Epstein will provide material for both of these programs.
Finally, the Tefillah Initiative will sponsor community-wide conferences on tefillah throughout North America, featuring panel discussions and workshops with world-renowned rabbis and speakers. The first such conference will be held in New York’s Five Towns on December 6, 2009.
“Our goal is to inspire more people to focus their attention on successfully communicating with their Creator,” says Buchweitz, who will be coordinating the communal conferences.
As more individuals and communities seek ways to enliven their davening through the OU program’s invaluable resources, it’s becoming clear that the Tefillah Education Initiative is the perfect answer to their prayers.
To find out more about any of the Tefillah Education Initiative programs, or to host a community-wide conference, go to www.ou.org/community_services or contact the Department of Community Services at 212.613.8188 or email@example.com.
Bayla Sheva Brenner is senior writer in the OU Communications and Marketing Department. | <urn:uuid:09f45222-fb11-4271-a2d6-094a40cee629> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ou.org/jewish_action/08/2009/the_ous_tefillah_education_initiative_the_answer_to_your_prayers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934619 | 909 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Sukhi Kanwar, 18, is a Team Balika volunteer in a village in Rajasthan, one of India’s largest states and also a region with very great gender disparity. Educate Girls trains village volunteers as teaching resources to boost learning in rural schools. They help teachers and provide a link between children, parents and schools.
Sukhi is a highly active and motivated Team Balika volunteer, and works with Educate Girls to enhance girls’ enrollment, education outcomes and encourages adolescent girls to become the leaders of tomorrow.
In order to improve learning, she uses the Creative Learning and Teaching (CLT) kit. The kit emphasizes activity-based and playful learning and includes activities and games that teach English, Hindi and Math for primary level grades 3, 4 and 5.
Sukhi lives with her father Mr Bhanwar Singh, a marginal farmer, in the village of Pratapgarh, in the Pali District of Rajasthan. When Sukhi first became a Team Balika volunteer, people in her village laughed at her because of her newfound interest in girls’ education issues, and mocked her for trying to change things in her village. But her father was always very supportive of her work and helped motivate her to achieve her goals. A few days after joining Educate Girls she had already motivated five families to support girls’ education and enrolled five girls in nearby schools. The same people who mocked her now respect her and now readily accept what she says.
There was an interesting incident recently that made Sukhi a role model for all the other members of the Team Balika. Sukhi had identified two girls in the village of Mohra who had never attended school. She convinced their parents to send them to school, but there was an unexpected obstacle in the way. The school headmaster refused admission to them on the grounds that the school was already in session and that the girls could come back in the next academic year.
But Sukhi is not a girl to take things lying down. She immediately contacted Educate Girls' regional office in Pali and spoke to staff member Miss Harshwardhane. She advised Sukhi to ask the headmaster to state his reasons for refusing the girls admission in writing. Sukhi marched up to the headmaster's office the next day and demanded a written statement. Shocked by her confidence and taken aback by her complete lack of fear, he admitted the girls in the school. We hope all the members of Team Balika are inspired by Sukhi's story and can help many more young girls achieve their dreams through education!
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating or by subscribing to this project's RSS feed.
Combined with other sources of funding, this project raised enough money to fund the outlined activities and is no longer accepting donations.
Still want to help?
Support another project run by Educate Girls that needs your help, such as: | <urn:uuid:72545c2c-58da-43b9-bcd6-b5aa752f2949> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/gift-learning-kits-to-rural-girls/updates/?subid=19540 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978362 | 683 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Below is the latest news about Linux updated in real-time by rss feeds.
Linux – Google News
Can gaming be the turning point for Linux on the desktop?
Dear old Linux, what are we to do with you? Developed for just over two decades and it's still barely made a mark on the consumer consciousness. There was a vague peak during the netbook fad – as it enabled companies to eliminate the extra cost of a …
and more »
Posted on 18 May 2013 | 1:01 pm
Lilbits (5-17-2013): Linux Mint 15, Ubuntu on Glass, end of the Kindle Keyboard?
Linux Mint is an easy-to-use operating system that's based on Ubuntu Linux. It comes pre-loaded with support for Flash, Java, and a range of media codecs that you'd have to install yourself with Ubuntu. While Linux Mint supports a range of desktop …
Linux Mint 15 "Olivia" gets release candidateThe H
all 2 news articles »
Posted on 17 May 2013 | 9:07 pm
Linux Mint 15 brings prettier desktop, new software and driver managers
Code-named "Olivia," Linux Mint 15 is based on the most recent version of Ubuntu and will be supported until January 2014. Linux Mint 15 is in the Release Candidate stage, with a final release coming later. Linux Mint also has a version based on Debian …
Posted on 17 May 2013 | 2:48 pm
New tablet boots Ubuntu Linux, Android, and Windows 8
Enter the Python S3, a tablet released on Monday by Italian Ekoore that can boot three operating systems: Ubuntu Linux, Android, and Windows 8. “The Python series was born with the purpose of uniting in a single tablet multiple operating systems …
Python S3 launched, brings Windows, Android and Linux togetherDaily Bhaskar
New Tablet Boots Windows 8, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean And Ubuntu LinuxiTech Post
all 8 news articles »
Posted on 16 May 2013 | 7:40 pm
On the Job with a Linux Foundation Systems Administrator
If you've ever dreamed of working directly with Linux creator Linus Torvalds, Greg Kroah-Hartman, Ted T'so or any of the other Linux luminaries, you could work your way up through the ranks of kernel developers submitting patches and fixing bugs. Or …
Posted on 16 May 2013 | 4:11 pm
Linux: The Gold Standard of Code – LinuxInsider
"Is Linux code the 'benchmark of quality'? Well, it is very good, no doubt about that," said Google+ blogger Brett Legree. "The main take-away point from the study should be that open source software, including Linux, is on par with proprietary …
Posted on 16 May 2013 | 12:11 pm
30 Linux Kernel Developer Workspaces in 30 Weeks: Greg Kroah-Hartman
Welcome to 30 Linux Kernel Developer Workspaces in 30 Weeks! This is the first in a 30-week series that takes a new approach to the original series, 30 Linux Kernel Developers in 30 Weeks. This time we take a look inside developers' workspaces to learn …
Posted on 15 May 2013 | 6:35 pm
How to install Linux on a vintage 68K Mac
If you're like me and happen to have a bunch of vintage Macs powered by Motorola 680×0 CPUs lying around, then you probably like to tinker with them. And what better way to tinker with obsolete hardware than by installing an obsolete version of Linux …
Posted on 15 May 2013 | 6:20 pm
Critical Linux vulnerability imperils users, even after “silent” fix
For more than two years, the Linux operating system has contained a high-severity vulnerability that gives untrusted users with restricted accounts nearly unfettered "root" access over machines, including servers running in shared Web hosting …
Exploit for local Linux kernel bug in circulation – UpdateThe H
Linux and Firefox fall out of loveTG Daily
Ubuntu Linux Community: Canonical to Close 'Brainstorm' Web Portal?The VAR Guy
all 15 news articles »
Posted on 15 May 2013 | 4:46 pm
IBM to push Linux apps on Power iron in China, then elsewhere
IBM is opening a Power Systems Linux Center in Beijing, China, in the hopes of getting more local ISVs interested in its Power Systems iron and luring them away from x86-based systems. With the Power Systems business taking it on the chin in IBM's …
Posted on 14 May 2013 | 11:05 pm
Linux – Yahoo! News Search Results
Dear old Linux, what are we to do with you? Developed for just over two decades and it's still barely made a mark on the consumer consciousness. There was a vague peak during the netbook fad – as it enabled companies to eliminate the extra cost of a Windows installation – but that quickly faltered after people started taking them back because Microsoft Office wouldn't run on them. Have people …
Posted on 18 May 2013 | 2:11 pm
One of the best Linux desktops gets better.
Posted on 17 May 2013 | 3:05 pm
We've seen several Linux tablets emerge over the past year or so, but examples with triple-boot capabilities are much less common. Enter the Python S3, a tablet released on Monday by Italian Ekoore that can boot three operating systems: Ubuntu Linux , Android, and Windows 8 . “The Python series was born with the purpose of uniting in a single tablet multiple operating systems,” explains the …
Posted on 16 May 2013 | 7:49 pm
Linus Torvalds, Jon 'maddog' Hall, and many other names closely associated with Linux are also closely associated with beer. (Ed. note: I have personally watched them associate with beer, and may have even joined them.) It comes as no surprise, therefore, when Linux advocate and LinuxAutomation.org founder Kurt Forsberg talks about using Linux to control his beer brewing. Kurt is a strong …
Posted on 16 May 2013 | 6:53 pm
There are few things more gratifying to those of us here in the Linux blogosphere than seeing the many and varied virtues of our favorite operating system get officially recognized. It happens with increasing regularity these days, of course — after all, there are so very many virtues to consider — but recently an example emerged that has been warming FOSS fans' hearts ever since.
Posted on 16 May 2013 | 12:36 pm
IBM is serious about expanding the footprint of the Linux operating system running on Power servers.
Posted on 15 May 2013 | 10:44 pm
BEIJING, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — At a press conference in Beijing today, IBM (NYSE: IBM ) further extended its reach into China with the opening of the first Linux innovation center for Power Systems …
Posted on 14 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that Bromium, Chelsio, Fusion-io, nexB and ownCloud are joining the organization.
Posted on 14 May 2013 | 11:01 am
Does Linux really need another application packaging and installment system? Ubuntu will be adding another one for its Ubuntu Touch smartphones and tablets.
Posted on 10 May 2013 | 12:06 pm
Well it's spring storm season in many parts of the world, so it should come as no great surprise that we've had some storms here in the Linux blogosphere as well. The latest example? None other than an intriguing poll about paying for Linux. Could you, would you, do you pay for Linux? the poll asked. The question had barely hit the airwaves when the stampede began.
Posted on 9 May 2013 | 12:38 pm | <urn:uuid:172e4d71-549a-45e7-9383-d7b59a696f58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsblogged.com/linux-latest-news-real-time-updates | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9244 | 1,625 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Modern Japan and its Problems
By G Allen
Published September 9th 2010 by Routledge – 224 pages
The author, who was for several years a lecturer in a Japanese Government College, has tried to interpret the civilization and national character of Japan in the light of his experience and of his studies in that country. He describes the novel problems and phenomena which have been created by the attempt of the Japanese to graft the political, economic and educational institutions of the West on to their Oriental social organization. He deals with the influence of the West on the different phases of the national life, and with the attitude of the Japanese to Europe and America. Particular attention is given to industrial and financial development and to contemporary economic problems. There are chapters on the political system, on the social organization, and on the educational system; and there is a special study of the population problem.
1. The National Character 2. The Social Organization 3. The Political System 4. The Educational System and the Student Class 5. The Rise of Industry 6. The Present Economic Structure 7. Banking and Finance 8. The Population Problem 9. Japan and the West Index. | <urn:uuid:a7ff283e-9875-46d2-89d3-0e64b250bba0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psypress.com/books/details/9780415585286/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957005 | 229 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Person search 1891 census
About the 1891 census for England, Wales and Scotland
The 1891 census was taken on 5 April and gave the total population as 33,015,701.
Read our comprehensive guide to the census including known issues with the 1891 census
Searching the 1891 UK census
The golden rule of family history is to check the original historical record, or 'primary source', wherever possible. We have provided clear images of the original census enumeration books for you to view once you've found the right family in the indexes.
When using census returns you should first search the transcriptions to help locate your ancestor in the census, and then view the original images to validate your findings. It will also help you see the household in the context of surrounding households.
This is particularly important as transcribing an entire census is a huge and difficult task, and whilst we have used the expertise of our transcribers and the experience of key representatives from the genealogy community to help us translate the records, it is inevitable that there will be some errors.
Read further tips on searching the 1891 census by clicking on the search tips panel, above.
Note: the census includes details of people resident in docked vessels and institutions such as prisons, workhouses, hospitals, and barracks, as well as individual households.
What can you find in the 1891 census?
Census returns can not only help us determine who our ancestors were, but they can also tell us
- Where your ancestors were living
- Who they were living with
- What their occupations were
- Whether they were an employer or employee
- If they had any servants
- Who their neighbours were
- If they had any brothers and sisters
- What their ages were at the time of the census
- If they had any disabilities
As well as giving us the above information, the fact that census returns are taken every ten years also allows us to track the movements of our ancestors through time as they perhaps move house, get married, have children or even change occupations.
The fields which have been transcribed for the 1891 census on findmypast are:
- First name
- Middle name
- Last name
- Birth place
- Place of residence
- Relationship to head of household
As well as searching for a person, you can also search the 1891 census by address - ideal for tracing your house history or exploring the local history of an area.
By noting how many households there were in a building, and whether the household included servants or boarders or visitors, you can gain insight into the social circumstances of the family.Search the other Victorian censuses on findmypast
Start building your family tree
Find your ancestors
Less is more
Start your search with the basic information only. If you fill in too many search fields, the search results may actually exclude the person or place you are looking for, as one or more of the fields may not match your criteria exactly. If you get too many results, you can always complete more fields to condense them.
Even if you are sure you know the correct spelling of a name, it may not be recorded exactly as you’d expect. The spelling of a surname can change as it is passed down through the generations and your ancestor may have used a different first name in everyday life to the one used for official documents.
If you tick the ‘include variants’ tickbox, alternative spellings of the name you’ve entered will be included in the results. For example, if you enter Elizabeth you will also get matches for ‘Elisabeth’; ‘Smyth’ will appear alongside ‘Smythe’ and ‘Smith’; and ‘Sally’ alongside ‘Sarah’.
Broaden your search
If you are unsure of how a name was spelt or if you can’t find it with the usual spelling, the wildcard feature lets you broaden your search.
You can create a wildcard search by including a * in the search. It can be used within all alphabetical search fields, except those with drop-down menus.
For example, if you search for William Lancaster but enter ‘*caster’ in the last name field, your results will include names such as Doncaster and Hilcaster as well as Lancaster. So if the initial part of William Lancaster’s last name has been wrongly transcribed, the results may still lead you to the right entry.
The initial and/or last letters of names are sometimes mis-transcribed. You can use two wildcards in a search field to allow for these types of transcription error. For example, you could enter *ollin* if you were having difficulty finding a Rollind or a Collins.
Reverse the last name and first name
Most people were recorded on the census by first name and then last name. However, there are instances where the last name was recorded before the first name. This is particularly common for people in institutions.
You could try searching for an elusive ancestor by entering their last name in the first name field and their first name in the last name field.
Narrow down your results
Sort your results
If your search returns a large number of results, you may wish to sort them to help you read the list. You can sort via the name, birth year or registration district columns in the search results by clicking on the relevant column heading.
Other people living in the same household
You can enter the name of someone living in the same household to refine the results. Click the ‘advanced search’ tab to display the ‘Other persons living in the same household’ search fields.
Redefine your search
If your search produces over 1,000 results you will be asked to redefine it. Simply click ‘redefine current search’, enter more criteria into the search fields, and click "search" again. Don’t feel that you have to complete all the fields – it is best to gradually add information until you get the right results. | <urn:uuid:29bce0c1-c601-4d6d-a73e-b6006f9a426d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.findmypast.co.uk/CensusPersonStartSearchServlet?censusYear=1891 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948144 | 1,263 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Moroccans demonstrate over king's proposed reforms
About 10,000 protesters have rallied in Casablanca against King Mohammed's proposed constitutional changes, which they say do not go far enough.
The February 20 reform movement also rallied in other Moroccan cities. In the capital Rabat, several hundred marched in support of the reforms.
On Friday, the king proposed slightly loosening his current absolute power.
But he said he would keep total control of Morocco's security and foreign policy, as well as matters of religion.
King Mohammed VI's proposals will be put to a referendum on 1 July, but critics say this leaves little time for a real debate.
They want constitutional changes drawn up by a democratically elected committee instead.
Activists say Morocco's 400-year-old dynasty has a long history of enacting superficial reforms.
Like many countries across the Middle East and North Africa, Morocco has seen a growing call for major reforms to its political system in the past year.
The country has also been facing severe economic challenges with high unemployment and rising levels of poverty. | <urn:uuid:7ce9243b-c553-48dc-ace8-6c81a73e288c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13827502 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964419 | 218 | 2.125 | 2 |
Exploring forgotten seascapes
Whether due to their remoteness, regional instability or political challenges, the marine environments of some of the world’s developing areas are often forgotten – or even ignored – by global policies and conservation efforts.
For Dr Ameer Abdulla, Senior Advisor on Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Science with IUCN’s Global Marine and Polar Programme, attracting the attention of the global community to these developing countries’ marine ecosystems is one of his biggest challenges.
“Countries that are most difficult to work in are often most in need of marine conservation science,” says Abdulla. “Time is quickly running out for them.”
Born and raised in Egypt, he understands the issues of developing countries. That’s part of the reason why he sees the IUCN Congress as an opportunity to let the world know about the marine challenges facing some of the most remote corners of the world.
“The Congress brings together a multinational audience that is understanding and sympathetic to the specific problems facing many developing nations,” says Abdulla.
Abdulla’s work in marine conservation science takes him to the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Arabian Gulf, and Indian Ocean where he witnesses firsthand the challenges – and the beauty – of marine life in these regions.
He is currently studying the resistance of coral reefs to climate change and developing marine protected areas in some challenging environments. These are the topics he will discuss with IUCN Members and other Congress participants in the coming days.
“There is an impetus to address these challenges,” says Abdulla.
Bringing the world’s attention to forgotten #seascapes and the challenges to saving their beauty #Congress2012 | <urn:uuid:a0111363-2965-49c2-8d44-a9e62c013692> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cms.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/marine/marine_news/?10943/1/Exploring-forgotten-seascapes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927498 | 362 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Despite down economy, pet industry forges on
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NUMBER OF PETS OWNED IN U.S. Birds: 15 million
Cats: 93.6 million
Dogs: 77.5 million
Equine: 13.3 million
Freshwater fish: 171.7 million
Saltwater fish: 11.2 million
Reptile: 13.6 million
Other small animal: 15.9 million
Source: American Pet Products Association website
A shopping trip every once in a while can be good. Just ask Cricket, a curious Boston terrier who belongs to Betty Rokyta.
"Any time I come home with a bag, the dog is there, looking to see if there's a treat inside," Rokyta, a Victoria resident, said.
And, more often than not, there is, she said, explaining she enjoys pampering her pooch.
She isn't alone.
Even in a recovering economy, people continue spending money on their animals.
Pet industry spending is expected to hit $47.7 billion in 2010, up from the previous year's $45.5 billion, according to the American Pet Products Association.
A majority of that spending comes from food expenses but veterinary care, medications, grooming services and more also join the mix.
The "essentials" are the products that go over best at Northside Ranch Pet and Garden Center, said Jackie Parsons, who manages the Victoria store. Foods, collars and beds are all among the best sellers.
People love their pets and are willing to spend money on them, Parsons said.
"They're still spending money, they're just not going overboard any more on their pets," she explained.
Customer traffic at Victoria's Animal Palace never really slowed with the down economy, owner Eny Faultersack said. In fact, the business is looking to expand.
"People are getting their animals groomed just as much," she said. "I haven't seen that much of a cutback."
The only real slowdowns come from families with multiple dogs who are looking for cheaper foods, she said.
When it comes to industry trends, Faultersack said many pet owners opt for more holistic, organic items. Animal Palace boasts four organic food varieties and frozen items that draw shoppers from a 100-mile radius.
"People are taking better care of their pets than they used to," she said.
Main Street Animal Hospital saw a slight decline in business throughout 2009 and 2010, but nothing substantial, said Dr. Travis Schaar, the site's veterinarian.
Customer inquiries into what products and services cost went up, he said, but people still want to care for their pets.
"People are just trying to do a little bit less here and there," Schaar explained.
That decline might be over, however.
Schaar said that within the past month-and-a-half or so, business has begun to pick up again, but he can't explain why.
"Things have just started swinging the other way," he said. "Business has been very, very busy again."
Other changes have also come to the Victoria pet industry.
A Dog's Haven Day Spa, a facility that will offer grooming and bathing services, is slated to open its doors Nov. 1 at 1303 N. Navarro St., while Leo's Canine Cafe, a site that sold pet items and homemade dog meals, recently closed.
As for what the future holds, no one holds the crystal ball.
But Rokyta said she plans to continue caring for her animals, which include Cricket, as well as two donkeys, Millie and Annie.
With her children grown and out of the house, the retired Victoria school district employee said the animals are fun to have around.
"They're family," she said. | <urn:uuid:db81dce2-441a-47b3-be87-b3c862d80316> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2010/oct/16/ym_am_pet_biz_101710_113603/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965351 | 807 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The Autumn 2012 edition of Food Ethics magazine investigates power and responsibility in the food system. Five years ago we published a magazine on ‘big retail’, which looked at whether supermarkets and food businesses could go green, healthy and fair. Since then the Groceries Code Adjudicator bill has been introduced in Parliament, progressive businesses have begun mainstreaming sustainable practices and consumers offered more buying choices.
And yet a change in government has seen the nearest thing to a food strategy – Food 2020 – effectively shelved, the Sustainable Development Commission and the Agricultural Wages Board ending up on the bonfire of the quangos, and the Public Health Responsibility Deal asking business to help set the public health agenda.
We asked experts what’s changed in the food system since 2007, and where the power to create sustainable changes in the food system now lies. Dan Crossley (Forum for the Future), Michael Hutchings (a solicitor who has advised the Groceries Market Action Group), Ian Price (Triodos Bank), Catherine Howarth (Fair Pensions), Tom Hind (NFU), Andrew Opie (British Retail Consortium), Andrew George MP, Harriet Lamb (Fairtrade Foundation) and many more offer their insights into power and responsibility in the food system.
|autumn2012_web FINAL.pdf||897.87 KB| | <urn:uuid:9c4b431c-8c2f-407f-99ce-7174cebfad4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foodethicscouncil.org/node/685 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909573 | 273 | 1.976563 | 2 |
- Author: Gareth J Mayhead
SFGate today ran an article discussing the impacts of tighter regulations regarding the burning of wood in stoves and fireplaces in Bay area homes. Eight Spare the Air days have already been declared by the Bay Area Air Quaility Managment District (BAAQMD) this winter which means that the burning of wood in fireplaces or stoves is illegal in order to recude the amount of particulate matter in the air.
Particulate matter (PM) are very small partciles suspended in the air. PM is classified by diameter into two classes: PM 10 (10 micron diameter) and PM 2.5 (2.5 micron diameter). The particles come from a number of sources including wood burning, diesel engines, tillage of fields, construction and industry. PM is known to have many negative impacts to human health, air clarity, building materials and climate change.
California Senate Bill 656 is driving the push towards greater regulation of particulate matter to reduce the negative impacts. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) developed a list of apropriate control measures to meet SB 656. Each Air Quality Managment District (AQMD) is responsible for implementing control measures based on local conditions.
BAAQMD has a useful webpage that explains the rules and the issues associated with particulate matter.
The burn bans on Spare the Air days include all wood combustion devices including modern EPA certified pellet stoves. PM from the combustion of wood will continue to be a big issue for CARB and AQMDs across the state and is something that may restrict the growth of the domestic pellet stove market in certain areas with poor air quality. | <urn:uuid:b2374cba-ac31-4a44-8850-4aad936b50d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ucanr.org/blogs/WoodyBiomass/index.cfm?tagname=PM%2010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929978 | 353 | 2.71875 | 3 |
While the whole world watches in wonder at the latest crises in Washington, the real market keeps chugging along, trying to overcome the distortions coming out of the nation’s capitol.
EBRI’s Latest Report. The Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) has always been skeptical (at best) about consumer driven health care, but even EBRI is starting to see the value in this approach to financing. In May, it released the results of a survey looking at the “Characteristics of the CDHP Population, 2005 – 2010.”
It is curious that this EBRI report garnered so little attention. That alone suggests that the report is pretty favorable to consumer driven health.
And so it is. EBRI finds exactly what we have been arguing for years — that to the extent there is favorable selection into CDH plans, it is based on education more than anything else.
This should not be surprising. Better educated people are the most likely to be early adopters of any new idea, and that is especially true in dealing with a complex system like health care. Better-educated people are more confident of their ability to understand and navigate through the complexity.
In this case the education gap is astonishing. People in CDH plans are twice as likely to be a college graduate or have a graduate degree than people in “traditional” plans. People in traditional plans are four times more likely to have a high school education or less than are people in CDH plans. (See page 19 of the report.)
Since better-educated people are more likely to have higher incomes and to be healthier, CDH enrollees also have somewhat higher incomes and are somewhat healthier than people in traditional plans, but the difference is small — much smaller than the difference in education. For instance, in 2010, 59% of people in traditional plans reported that their health is “excellent or very good,” while 67% of people in CDHPs said the same. Income differences were similarly small. Incomes between $100k and $150k were reported by 14% of CDHP enrollees and 15% of traditional enrollees, incomes of $150K and over were reported by 11% of CDHP enrollees and 10% of traditional enrollees.
This suggests that if the researchers controlled for education — that is, looked at the enrollment choices of people with similar educational levels — the CDHP people would actually be sicker and less wealthy than those in traditional plans.
So much for the ol’ “healthy and wealthy” argument. Thank you, EBRI.
Teachers Union Demands HSAs. In another odd twist on conventional wisdom, the teachers’ union in South Kingstown, Rhode Island has proposed switching their benefits to HSAs, but is getting resistance from the school board.
An article in the South County Independent reports that the union has proposed the switch “in order to save the $755,000 the School Committee is seeking to balance next year’s budget.” But, the article says, “the School Committee is cool to the idea, saying the savings are not guaranteed.”
A representative of the union says that other districts in the area have saved as much as 21% by adopting HSAs, and that Blue Cross quoted a 32% reduction if everyone was in the plan. She accuses the school board of “using hearsay, not facts,” in opposing the proposal.
In another odd twist, the union finds itself in alliance with the local Republican Party, which “has been promoting the idea for years.”
Devenir Reports $11.7 Billion in HSA Deposits. The investment firm Devenir reports on the results of its latest survey of the top 50 HSA administrators, and finds they now hold 6.3 million accounts and $11.7 billion in assets, an increase of 28% in accounts and 31% in assets over last year.
It also finds that the average account balance has grown 12.5% since the start of the year to $1,845, and that investment assets now total $860 million, and increase of 60% in the past year. | <urn:uuid:89d1a511-2fc4-4a3e-b87c-a855aee5e57f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://healthblog.ncpa.org/consumer-driven-round-up/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97305 | 864 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Dear Supporter,Forty seven percent of the voters believe the Federal budget deficit is primarily due to the wars while joblessness continues to climb. The number one concern for a majority of people is the economy. It is the perfect storm for new organizing efforts to end the wars, cut military spending and rebuild our communities.
Peace Action is helping to organize a national march on Washington, October 2, One Nation Working Together. We are calling on the Obama administration and Congress to create jobs and "move the money" from wars and weapons to our communities.
Peace Action met with peace leaders from around the world to create International Days of Action to End the War in Afghanistan, October 7-10. This will be an opportunity for local activities to mobilize growing opposition to the costs, human and economic, of the war. Using local newspaper ads, teach-ins, vigils, Congressional visits or phone- ins to call for a ceasefire, negotiations and a withdrawal of all troops will help focus the growing opposition on both the administration as well as candidates in the midterm elections. Check with your local peace groups or stay tuned for information on organizing your own action.
Paul Kawika Martin
Organizing and Policy Director
P.S. Please join us here in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 2, for an historic march and plan to participate in an event in your local area during the International Days of Action to End the War in Afghanistan, October 7-10.
Click here to subscribe to the Action Alert Network
Click here to unsubscribe | <urn:uuid:eca9927b-cd74-4079-a257-c6a2ac85f19e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hq-salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/161/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1189002 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935239 | 310 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Treatments for Candidiasis
Treatments for Candidiasis:
The most effective treatment plan for candidiasis uses a multifaceted approach. The first step in treatment is prevention. Prevention measures include maintaining good oral and peri-anal hygiene and using antibiotics only when truly needed. This can help minimize candidiasis that is due to an overgrowth of yeast resulting from antibiotic use.
To prevent transmission of candidiasis to a newborn infant, pregnant women should consult with their licensed health care provider if they have symptoms of a vaginal yeast infection, such as vaginal itching, burning with urination, and a cheesy white discharge. Nursing women who have nipple discharge or pain should also notify their provider so they can be examined for candidiasis of the nipples, which could be transmitted to the mouth of a nursing infant.
In many cases oral candidiasis (oral thrush) in infants can disappear within two weeks and may need no treatment other than watching the progress of the mouth lesions. Because oral thrush maybe painful in the mouth and affect feedings, the paediatrician should still be notified if symptoms appear in an infant.
A treatment plan may also include medications, including prescription topical or oral antifungal medications, such as fluconazole.
Treatment of candidiasis also includes diagnosing any underlying diseases that may increase the risk for the infection. These include HIV/AIDS and diabetes. Treating the high blood sugar levels of diabetes may resolve a current infection and is key to minimizing the risk of developing recurrent infections of candidiasis.
Therapy may also include eating yogurt or taking acidophilus supplements, which can help to correct the abnormal balance of microorganisms in the mouth and digestive tract, which leads to candidiasis. Using antiseptic mouth washes may also be recommended for oral thrush.
Treatment List for Candidiasis
The list of treatments mentioned in various sources
includes the following list.
Always seek professional medical advice about any treatment
or change in treatment plans.
Alternative Treatments for Candidiasis
Alternative treatments or home remedies that have been listed as possibly helpful for Candidiasis may include:
Candidiasis: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers
Products, offers and promotion categories available for Candidiasis:
Candidiasis: Research Doctors & Specialists
- Pregnancy & Fertility Health Specialists:
- Womens Health Specialists:
- Ear, Nose & Throat Specialists:
- Child Health Specialists (Pediatrics):
- more specialists...»
Research all specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.
Drugs and Medications used to treat Candidiasis:
Note:You must always seek professional medical advice about any prescription drug, OTC drug, medication, treatment
or change in treatment plans.
Some of the different medications used in the treatment of Candidiasis include:
Unlabeled Drugs and Medications to treat Candidiasis:
Unlabelled alternative drug treatments for Candidiasis include:
- Amphotericin B Cholesteryl Sulfate complex
Latest treatments for Candidiasis:
The following are some of the latest treatments for Candidiasis:
Hospital statistics for Candidiasis:
These medical statistics relate to hospitals, hospitalization and Candidiasis:
- 0.021% (2,699) of hospital consultant episodes were for candidiasis in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 81% of hospital consultant episodes for candidiasis required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 45% of hospital consultant episodes for candidiasis were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 55% of hospital consultant episodes for candidiasis were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- more hospital information...»
Hospitals & Medical Clinics: Candidiasis
Research quality ratings and patient incidents/safety measures
for hospitals and medical facilities in specialties related to Candidiasis:
Hospital & Clinic quality ratings »
Choosing the Best Treatment Hospital:
More general information, not necessarily in relation to Candidiasis,
on hospital and medical facility performance and surgical care quality:
Discussion of treatments for Candidiasis:
Scientists and clinicians are concerned that the
increasing use of antifungal drugs will lead to drug-resistant
fungi. In fact, recent studies have documented resistance of
species to fluconazole, a drug used widely to treat
patients with systemic fungal diseases. (Source: excerpt from Antimicrobial Resistance, NIAID Fact Sheet: NIAID
Buy Products Related to Treatments for Candidiasis | <urn:uuid:cb36acc0-e10b-4c63-81ef-637c96f7b217> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/c/candidiasis/treatments.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904708 | 1,007 | 2.390625 | 2 |
It’s a boy! It’s a girl! It’s…Not Exactly Rocket Science! Yes, the latest addition to our happy ScienceBlogs family is here, and we couldn’t be more excited (well, unless someone sent balloons…)
(More below the fold…)
Not Exactly Rocket Science is the blog of Ed Yong, a freelance science writer living across the pond. He writes solely from primary research papers in a pointedly jargon-free fashion. In its pre-ScienceBlogs incarnation, Not Exactly Rocket Science featured stories covering news in animal behavior, evolution, psychology, the environment and other topics; since joining us, Ed seems to be favoring the critters, like the cute but invasive brown rat below:
He promises a similarly diverse smattering of topics for the future. We look forward to seeing what he brings us! | <urn:uuid:7245c0cb-9f6b-48e5-9c3f-ead66259be1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceblogs.com/seed/2008/02/29/welcome-not-exactly-rocket-sci/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905284 | 177 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Medical facilities for veterans and military personnel stand to suffer if a new national health-care system becomes law, House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, told The American Legion Magazine on Wednesday.
“The cost of this government takeover of health care is going to end up crowding out the rest of the budget,” Boehner said shortly after delivering a Veterans Day speech at American Legion Post 218 in Middletown, Ohio. “As a result, funding for veterans health care and DoD health care are likely to get squeezed. The money crunch that is going to come as a result of this is going to affect everything.”
By a 220-215 vote, the House passed national health-care reform legislation Nov. 8. If signed into law, it would require most Americans to carry medical insurance and provide federal subsidies for those who cannot afford it. Penalties could be imposed on those who do not have health insurance, private or government-subsidized, and insurance companies could not deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions or raise premiums due to medical history. The Senate is now considering the measure.
The American Legion National Executive Committee passed a resolution in October urging Congress to “ensure any legislation addressing national health-care reform contain specific language excluding health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs and military retiree health care.”
During the interview, Boehner also addressed a range of issues related to veterans and national security heading into the second session of the 111th Congress. The interview is scheduled to appear in the February issue of The American Legion Magazine. | <urn:uuid:9ba7d628-d6bd-4948-be3c-16f16cf0f4d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.legion.org/legislative/3529/boehner-national-system-could-hurt-va | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958734 | 325 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Healthcare solutions provider e-Kshema has set up 18 affordable health kiosks in Bangalore. These kiosks are all set to provide medical check-ups including tests for just Rs.120. ”At any of our 18 health kiosks, a person can have a general check-up of body temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, blood test for differential count (DC) and urine test for Rs.80. Tests for malaria or tuberculosis disease will cost another Rs.40,” K2 Technology Solutions chief executive Anant Koppar said. The clinics have been set up in civic hospitals of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) across eight assembly segments of the Bangalore South parliamentary constituency, represented by Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ananth Kumar.
“The kiosks are open to public, especially the urban poor for early check-up of their health, including disease identification at affordable cost and to improve the healthcare delivery system in the city,” Ananth Kumar said at one of the clinics, which was opened for service earlier in the day. The kiosks are also equipped to provide diagnosis, patient care and monitor patients remotely using innovative applications and cost-effective technologies.
“The state government should open such a kiosk in each of the 2,840 primary healthcare centres (PHCs) across the state to extend the benefit to about 40 percent of the state’s population, which come under the below poverty line (BPL) category,” Ananth Kumar said on the occasion. The clinics unify diagnostic hardware like microscope and vital signs monitor with diagnostic software, comprising modules for electronic health records, pathology and radiology. The software identifies and transmits the vital parameters to a remote doctor through broadband or wireless connectivity. Lauding Koppar’s initiative, state Health Minister Aravind Limbavali said the state government would evaluate the benefits of e-Kshema kiosks to equip all state-run hospitals and PHCs with them.
“Such affordable kiosks are beneficial to the urban poor and BPL families as the healthcare delivery system has been crippled due to non-availability of enough doctors in government hospitals,” Limbavali said. About 3,800 government doctors have Saturday submitted their resignations to district health officers concerned across the state to pressurise the state government meet their demands, including merger of incentives with basic pay. According to the Karnataka Government Medical Officers’ Association president H.N. Ravindra, there is a shortage of about 1,000 doctors, including 770 specialists in the state-run hospitals across the state. | <urn:uuid:5b784bd8-62ea-4367-8511-82526f949d87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://health.india.com/news/18-affordable-health-kiosks-set-up-in-bangalore/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933455 | 546 | 1.796875 | 2 |
I am sometimes a pompous ass. You might be, too.
In my journey across the Internet to find content for this august blog, I ran across as website called The Pompous Ass Words Web Site. It’s exactly what it says–a list of words that make you sound like a pompous ass when you use them. Unfortunately, utilize didn’t make the cut. It’s a pompous word, but not a pompous ass word. Go figure.
As I read down the list of pompous ass words (PAWs), I was happy with my lack of pompousness…for a brief period of time. In short, here’s a list of pompous ass words I have used in writing or speaking in recent memory (please don’t think less of me):
- fecund (which means fertile)
- obstreperous (unruly)
- quiescent (inactive–I used it as a synonym for docile, which isn’t exactly right.)
- matriculate (enroll. Used incorrectly with humorous effect by former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Hank Stram below.)
- trope (figure of speech)
- cogitate (think)
- fait accompli (foregone conclusion)
- sepuku (suicide by disembowelment)
- tendentious (biased)
- vapid (dull, tedious)
Aside from the obvious, the problem with these words is that, like Coach Stram, you might not get them exactly right. For instance, I always figured vapid meant Paris Hilton-like. It does, but not in the way I thought. I thought it meant functionally brain dead–you know, completely devoid of intelligent thought. It doesn’t.
A more difficult list is the non pompous-ass pompous word list. I use these words even more often. Right now, there are six of them (epithet, unduly, exacerbate, utilize, impact, and confluence). I am embarrassed to say I have used five of them. In my defense, though, I used confluence correctly in saying that Three Rivers Stadium was located at the confluence of the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers. And for all my hatred of the word utilize, the most useless word in the English language, I periodically slip.
What about you? What pompous ass words to you use? | <urn:uuid:f399d423-8089-4bd4-9a92-b93a3ab9e1d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://floridawriters.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/i-am-sometimes-a-pompous-ass-you-might-be-too/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92609 | 514 | 1.679688 | 2 |
About a year ago, I learned how to correct errors on Wikipedia. There is a protocol and etiquette so that a collaborative editing process goes smoothly. Fortunately, most of the other editors on that page were patient with my learning curve. Once I had been guided into the correct etiquette, the change was made peacefully.
Wikipedia also has policies or protocols about the sources of information for statements made in the articles. Those sources have to be published and available. The sources that led me to realize there was an error were not readily available. Some were on microfilm, some were in manuscripts, and the analysis was in my head. I had to search for a new way of explaining the error using online sources before I could get it corrected.
The other factor that made it hard to correct the error was that the error itself was already cited to an online "published" source. This ahnentafel had achieved credibility with the editors of the page. During the process, one editor told me that the online tree had source citations itself and was created by reputable genealogists. All of this is true, but we can learn a lot by looking more closely at this tree and its sources. When I analyzed it, I found at least five errors in the colonial generations without really trying to find errors. I shudder to think how many I could find if I actually researched it. I did try emailing the web site authors but no one responded. I later learned that one of them was terminally ill at that time and would have been unable to respond.
I'm going to take a few days and discuss the ahnentafel, the sources, and the recognizable errors in more detail as a learning exercise. The Wikipedia entry was for Gov. Thomas Welles of Connecticut. The error was in listing Sarah Palin as a descendant of the governor. The ahnentafel that was used by Wikipedia to support this attribution was by Robert Battle who acknowledged contributions from Tom Brown, William Reitwiesner, Gary Boyd Roberts, and Michael Hurdle. The ahnentafel can now (2011) be found at:
Feel free to analyze this one yourself. My next step will be to look at the sources and then to discuss just how much of that ahnentafel really is source-cited. Is every statement of fact cited to a source? Hah!@! | <urn:uuid:f1a23b8d-e3b6-45f3-9db6-59d2a4c8c919> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://demandinggenealogist.blogspot.com/2011/09/wikipedia-misled-by-online-ahnentafel.html?showComment=1315597425303 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978638 | 485 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Question: Going by the well known predicaments of the private sector in Nigeria, in line with your propagation thus far [about Bottom of the pyramid (BoP), markets for poor or inclusive market], is it not time for this sector to adopt what’s happening elsewhere – Evolving business models that suit this concept, as respite? Please assist with education on what an interested entrepreneur should expect – M. Ibrahim
In continuation with hints on what intending private sector operators must uphold in the last piece, such must realise that to make marketing system work for both the rural and urban poor in Nigeria, the government and non-profit organisations, should be involved to whatever extent, to facilitate this.
Any private sector concern around contemplating getting into Bottom of the pyramid (BoP), markets for poor or inclusive market must not fail to recognize, and uphold, the following as phases of business development, in order to operate successfully in this terrain: Identify opportunities; analyze the market; find solutions; develop the product; secure funding; engage partners; leverage local capabilities; test the model; understand the impact; adapt the model; expand locally; and transfer to other environments.
Opportunities in the BoP market are vast, and so are the obstacles. It is evident that rural villages and urban slums are challenging environments for doing business. Systems rarely exist for collecting and delivering goods and providing services. Vital market infrastructure is limited or nonexistent. Without working financial systems, the poor inhabit a cash economy. Lack of reliable police and legal systems makes all market actors find it an uphill task or even impossible to enforce contracts. Always bear in mind that business with the poor will not be business as usual. A major obstacle is the lack of information about the poor, such as on goods and services they require; how much is affordable to them, the type of goods they could produce and also services the poor could provide.
For areas of constraints that may come the ways of new business ventures in BoP, have these in mind as likely stumbling blocks: Limited market information [businesses not knowing much about the poor—low consumers’ preferences, level of their affordability, capabilities (for products and offerings as employees, producers and business owners)]; Ineffective regulatory environments (BoP markets often lack regulatory frameworks which allow business to work; non-enforcement of rules and contracts; then lack of access to opportunities and protections afforded by a functioning legal system);Inadequate physical infrastructure (lack of good roads and supporting infrastructure hamper effective transportation; water, electricity, sanitation and telecommunications networks are lacking most of the time);Lack of adequate knowledge and skills (poor consumers may be ignorant of the use and benefits of certain products, or may lack knowledge on how to use such effectively; poor suppliers, distributors and retailers are likely to also lack same and skills to deliver quality products and services always, promptly and at appropriate pricing); Limited access to financial products and services (due to expected lack of credit, poor producers and consumers are not likely to afford financing investments or make large purchases; insurance, often being out of reach, the poor can not protect their meager assets and income against contingencies. In the absence of transactional banking services, financing is insecure and expensive).
Unlike what such ventures must have been used to in typical ‘every-day mode’ of operating business concerns, BoP business models thrives on collaboration efforts (with the government and non-profits) for effective proliferation and growth. With this, markets will incorporate more poor people, create value for all (e.g. profits, increased incomes, and then empowerment of the poor through engagements in vital productive system). This must be without exploiting the poor, but rather bringing such out of poverty to impact on the country’s economy generally.
It is essential for you to always realise that for success in inclusive markets, private sector ventures need to completely re-think and re-design the business model, and not just for product offering. Moreover, there must be elements of a disruptive approach (like, ‘thinking-out-of-the-box’) for BoP friendly business models to be successful. What is required here is a complete shift from traditional ways of thinking about customers, product features and pricing.
If it means Nigerian entrepreneurs becoming “Copy Cats” to adopt BoP (a well known general tendency here), so be it. Businesses here tend to lookout for how lucrative a new business model becomes, to prompt a rush into the same business model immediately after its success – To even ‘out-perform’ the original inventors of the new concept. Now that BoP is fast gaining ground in other parts of the globe, and Nigeria obviously out of the picture, if it requires private sector concerns in Nigeria replicating business models as successfully applicable elsewhere (I am aware that most being applied elsewhere seem quite suitable to the Nigerian environment), I give a ‘thumbs up’ for such a move.
From more than 100 case studies I have access to, interested parties should consider these as insight to areas the “Copy Cat” tendencies could even be directed at, provided it favours the Nigerian poor:
- - A multinational company (MNC), growing businesses for impoverished rural women through retailing of health and hygiene products in India.
- - Treadle pump in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, to aid small farmers’ participation in agricultural value chain for increased incomes.
- - Affordable eye-glasses production in India, by a renowned eye care system.
- - A Dutch based MNC’s yoghurt production and sales scheme, for child development, using well-organized network of women in Bangladesh.
- - A leading provider of cement in Sri Lanka, addressing housing needs of the poor.
- - Technology for the production of energy bar from Spirulina (a blue-green algae) in India.
- - An international bank’s infusion into “Susu” microfinance and traditional collection services (quite familiar to Nigerians, and serve as banks for the poor) in nearby Ghana.
- - A super-market chain (with presence even in Nigeria) supporting small-scale farmers for fresh fruit and vegetable needs. (To be continued)
Enjoyed the post? Kindly use the sharing buttons on the left hand side to share the post on your favorite social networks. To make sure you stay up to date with our articles, enter your email to subscribe. | <urn:uuid:03a23fda-94f1-49d1-aa0d-8588e513ee6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iroy.in/time-for-nigerias-private-sector-to-get-into-bop/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947956 | 1,326 | 2.03125 | 2 |
A study, mostly chronological, of the life of Nick Drake (1948-1974). Gabrielle, his older sister, tells us of her brother's birth in Burma, childhood in Warwickshire, life at Cambridge and... See full summary »
A study, mostly chronological, of the life of Nick Drake (1948-1974). Gabrielle, his older sister, tells us of her brother's birth in Burma, childhood in Warwickshire, life at Cambridge and in London, then back to his parents' home in Tanworth. His parents describe his habits and personality. Two friends and the producer, arranger, sound engineer, and photographer for his three albums comment. His mother, a musician and poet, is an early influence. His quiet folk style made his one tour a disaster. His lack of success and gradual withdrawal end with his death at 26. Eleven of his recordings play on the soundtrack, usually as we see his room, a city, or the Warwickshire countryside. Written by
Sight and sound integrally woven the precious times of Nick Drake's life on earth of 26 years
"A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake" (2000) The documentary may be 48 minutes, but it's a full, rich tapestry intricately weaving together the story of Nick Drake. Visually painterly and fulfilling in sound delivery with Nick's singing and music flowing into the natural nature sounds of birds and leaves rustling, pausing quiet moments looking out of the window from Nick's Room, appreciating the sunlight coming through the round window, lingering over the yonder meadows, the oak tree and shadows, the train tracks and the train eventually moving. All poetically put together by Dutch filmmaker Jeroen Berkvens who directed the film, with photography by Vladas Naudzius, sound by Eddy De Cloe, and editing by Stefan Kamp. Truly a beautiful tribute to British musician, singer-songwriter Nicholas Rodney 'Nick' Drake, his precious short time on earth of 26 years.
The storytelling is authentically enhanced by the family movie footage of Nick's childhood in Burma 1948 to 1952, his school years in England 1952 to 1967, his Cambridge years 1967 to 1969, with sharing of audio taped singing of Molly Drake, Nick's Mom, during the animated interviews of Gabrielle Drake, Nick's sister, who warmly recounted her memories and special moments-anecdotes of her younger brother, including excerpt reading of Nick's letters. Recalling Nick's London City years 1969 to 1971: interview segments with Joe Boyd, record producer of Nick's first two albums, "Five Leaves Left" 1969 and "Bryter Layter" 1970; Robert Kirby who did Nick's album arrangements, and John Wood the sound engineer for Nick's album recordings; Paul Weller, a fellow musician; Brian Wells, the college friend who remembered their Cambridge days and pot smoking tales with Nick; and Keith Morris, a photographer friend. We also get to hear voices of Nick's Dad and Mom speaking about their son, commenting on life with Nick at school and at home, and coping with his depression periods: Nick's Home Again years 1971 to 1974.
The four lines of verse at the start of the film are the first four lines of lyrics in "Hazey Jane 1" from "Bryter Layter" album: "Do you curse where you come from, Do you swear in the night, Will it mean much to you, If I treat you right." Followed by ten of Nick's songs-lyric sections aptly featured, flowing into the strands of various phases of Nick's life along with the image and scenes on screen: Way to Blue; Introduction; Hazey Jane 1; River Man; At the Chime of a City Clock; Day Is Done; Know; Hanging On a Star; From the Morning; Northern Sky, plus the rare audio recording of a song written and sung by his Mom, Molly Drake: How Wild the Wind Blows.
This is a well-made, worthwhile documentary - whether you've heard of Nick Drake and his songs, guitar music or not, appreciation will develop and grow. There are many resource info online, from 'wikipedia' Nick Drake page - External Links section: "The Nick Drake Files" is a very good site ("algonet.se/~iguana/DRAKE/DRAKE.html") to learn more about Nick Drake from A to Z, lyrics and interviews. The official site at "nickdrakefilm.com" provides more on this film and DVD* availability
there are Nick's room layout, family photos, production-crew details
and soundtrack list, and the Wall imagery. (* Noticed "Fruit Tree" box set now includes 4 discs, fourth being the DVD of this film, besides Nick Drake's first three albums re-released.) I was fortunate to catch this film on SF cable Sundance Channel February 27th, repeated on 28th, 2009.
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Re: Swiming spinosaurus
A little late on some replies, but I don't like to leave questions
Demetrios M. Vital wrote-
> Doesn't Dicraeosaurus have lengthened neural spines, as well?
Yes, spines on the cervical, dorsal, sacral and proximal caudal vertebrae.
The third cervical through seventh dorsals' are bifurcated. Amargasaurus is
similar, but its cervical neural spines are very slender and pointed, much
like Dimetrodon's dorsal neural spines. This is why Amargasaurus is thought
to have double cervical sails.
> Are there any theropods known that aren't obligatory bipeds?
No non-avian theropods, though it's hypothesized that Baryonyx could stand
quadrupedally. Xuanhanosaurus was once thought to be possibly quadrupedal,
but has too short of forelimbs (Rauhut, 2000). Then there's Xenicibis, the
supposedly facultatively quadrupedal ibis.
> You mean, if the vertebrae are from an allosaur, as recently speculated?
> Isn't it definite that Baryonyx lived in a different environment?
Well, yes. The holotype of Baryonyx was found in a fluvial or mudplain
environment, with areas of shallow water, lagoons and marsh (Charig and
Milner, 1997). The holotype of Spinosaurus was found in the Baharija
Formation, which was consisted of vegetated tidal flats and tidal channels.
However, we would also have to consider the referred remains of both genera
and the possibility they inhabited a greater diversity of habitats than they
are preserved in.
> Are the centra of Stromer's spinosaur vertebrae more like those of
> allosaurs or Suchomimus, if that question can even be answered by his
Interesting question. If only I had my copies of Stromer's (1915) figures,
I could answer this well. | <urn:uuid:7e061e6c-4b7b-45b3-92e9-a8e00e75baa6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Jul/msg00575.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945089 | 477 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Mid April 2010 in Minsk, Belarus, is the time for the local elections and annual Chernobyl March (see video of Chernobyl March here) dedicated to the anniversary of Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. None of these is the synonym of democracy in this Eastern European country. The march was fully accompanied by policemen - militiamen - while special agents were filming every step of the two-thousand-activist crowd. There were more than 21,000 seats for the local government to select a candidate for, but only 9 independent candidates were chosen. Opposition accuses government of having committed a massive vote fraud.
While I went to Minsk it was still quite cold comparing to my home town. The huge clean city was waiting for me so I could find out more about "the last dictatorship in Europe" as it is called in „Lonely Planet”. I had the chance to meet many of active people and learn a lot from them. So this is the first lesson about democracy I took from Belarus. Here we come – Ales Piletski.
Polish readers can read the full interview here (Ales says more about what it means to be a journalist in Belarus)
Ales Piletski is a journalist for the independent magazine „Nasha Niva”,
one of the oldest Belarusian weekly newspapers. Nowadays the newspaper
„in Belarus is a symbol of independence on the one hand and an island of freedom on the other”
- as Vaclav Havel said while giving the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award in 2003.
Ales was born in 1984, in 2007-2009 he was studying Eastern Studies at the University of Warsaw.
What does your newspaper write about?
„Nasha Niva” covers everything that is connected with Belarusian language, culture, literature etc. Apart from „Nasha Niva”, there is no other purely Belarusian newspaper or internet portal. But for me, language is not so important. I would like to work on different levels...
What is more important for you?
For me more important than language is to tell people that they are able to do something. They don't need to do everything in Belarusian. In my opinion, democracy is more important than national culture. Freedom is more important than language, especially now, in the time of globalisation. When democracy comes, there will be space for promotion of national culture. Isn't it strange that the only TV in Belarusian language is broadcasting from Poland, that the TV is Polish? But it is so, because now I can't go to register an independent newspaper or TV. Nobody will register it. However, in free Belarus it will be possible, no one will be able to stop me from doing that.
How can foreign NGOs help to promote democracy in Belarus?
Education. If I hadn't received the good education in Warsaw, I wouldn't have started to work for an independent newspaper or translate banned literature. I learnt a lot about democracy during my studies, my stay in Poland or visits to Czech. Now I understand more. Many people from the opposition still do not understand what democracy is, even though they fight for it. Now I'm doing a project with the Arche magazine. I make a research about activists' attitude to the civil society term. In the end it will be a book containing interviews with famous people. And I'm shocked, because I have discovered that in Belarus people do not understand what civil society means, even if they work for it.
What does civil society mean for you?
For me it is the people's ability to do something without the state, the ability to defend their rights without court or authorities. Let me tell you one example: If I want to plant trees in front of my house, I just go to my neighbours and ask them if it's OK that I will do that. So we go and plant the trees together. However, in Belarus, people first go to the local authorities. They don't even go to their neighbours to ask if they agree with it.
And what does civil society mean for activists you spoke to?
For most of them, democracy means elections. From their point of view, civil society and elections means the same, there is no difference. But it is not the same. Democracy without civil society is not possible. Democracy doesn't only mean free elections. It is also the capacity of a majority to understand and respect minorities. If majority in Belarus decides without minorities' opinions, we will always have a president like Lukashenko here. He is the president of a majority, without any doubt. But it doesn't mean that we have democracy in Belarus. Another thing is that people from the opposition sometimes say that they don't want that homosexuals come to the demonstrations or meetings of opposition. They say: we don't like them and we would like that police take them away. It's frightening. When I think that this kind of people will lead my country in free Belarus, I'm scared. It means that nothing will change. Therefore, in my opinion, the most important thing is to change people's way of thinking.
How would you describe Belarusian Society?
As I said before, Lukashenka and all that we have comes from the people. The nation is like this – sovieticus people do not believe in themselves. They only wait that the state will do something for them, will give something to them. All the time they complain. For example, instead of learning English to get a better job, they prefer to wait in the queue for cheap credits or a free flat from government. Journalists also choose to work in the national newspaper rather than an independent one. They can earn more money there, more people read them (national edition is 50 000 and independent – 7 000). Sometimes I have the feeling that nobody reads our newspaper, nobody needs it, that we are active only for ourselves. Only once in my life I could feel that somebody needs us. It was in the tent city in 2006, after the elections. We were staying in the tents for a few days. There was 5 hundred of us. At that time people were coming and saying thank you. They brought us chocolate. But it was only once. We are mostly young people. Among activists, most people are under 30. For us, it is something exciting, a revolution. However, a man fights for a moment and then he goes to work in the bank, has a wife and kids, gets a credit, buys a car. He will never vote for Lukashenko, but nor will he go to demonstrate to stop this government we have. Therefore we need a generation to change people´s ways of thinking.
Chernobyl Way 2010, Minsk | <urn:uuid:90cad2f4-691f-4d83-b81c-d94c6bdbac2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://development.thinkaboutit.eu/think3/post/c | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976394 | 1,391 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Adolescent Inpatient Unit
The Adolescent Inpatient Unit is a 16-bed acute care unit located within Trinity Springs Pavilion providing treatment to those between 13 and 17 years of age. This co-ed unit contains eight double patient rooms and two common areas, comfortable furnishings and indoor areas used for recreational therapy activities.
The goal of the treatment program is to help the adolescent better understand their illness, the possible need for medication, and how to better cope with life-issues that may threaten their mental health. Group and activity therapy are designed to teach the patients how to resolve interpersonal and family conflicts, stabilize psychiatric conditions and identify specialized educational and living needs. The supportive environment can help children develop a more positive self-image, learn insight into feelings and conflict and develop more adaptive styles of behavior. Patients are encouraged to express feelings, accept responsibility and accept the consequences of personal behavior as part of the treatment plan.
Services often include:
- Comprehensive and multidisciplinary biopsychosocial evaluation.
- Psychological and brief neuropsychological assessment.
- Psychopharmacologic evaluation and management.
- Crisis-oriented intensive family therapy.
- Individual and group therapy.
- Academic services provided in collaboration with Ft. Worth ISD.
- Case management and collaboration with each adolescent's school, outpatient clinicians, family and other community agencies to facilitate.
- An integrated approach, to establish comprehensive transition plans and to promote the adolescent's optimal functioning.
Many children participating in the JPS Health Network program also have complicating issues such as substance abuse, behavioral adjustment, sexual abuse, physical abuse, family relationship issues, and academic difficulties. | <urn:uuid:948372bd-7705-4174-8b2b-15da283fc09f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jpshealthnet.org/Behavioral-Health-Services/Adolescent-Inpatient-Unit.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929238 | 333 | 1.867188 | 2 |
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has now activated a program in all the counties of Washington State, a program, that will enable the fingerprints of everyone booked into local jails to be checked against the national immigration database. According to ICE, this program has been proposed in order to identify, detain and eventually deport those who do not have immigrant visas and to remove them from the country. This will be done with special focus on those who have committed serious crimes.
Secure Communities as this federal program is known, is now available in all 39 counties of Washington State as well as in 45 other states and jurisdictions. Started in 2008, the program is not very popular with immigrant advocates who say that it even targets those who have committed minor offenses. Even States from California to New York have fought against its implementation.
This program uses fingerprints instead of names. After the fingerprints are collected they are fed through a state database to the FBI, where the ICE would access them and check them against their own database. Using the FBI database, this kind of analysis is quicker and eliminates the need to have an ICE official check booking lists, a process that may not occur often.
Officials have said that this program has already helped them remove about 129,000 convicted immigrant criminals from the U.S. since 2008. Even those who want strict immigration ins laws support this program. However, some of them doubt its credibility and have said that with this program, the communities may become less secure.
ICE has been persuading the other States to join this program, but many ridicule the program or delay in responding to the request. The ICE signed an agreement with local jurisdictions. In Washington, about six of the 39 counties have opted for the program last July. ICE has said that it would implement this program with or without state approval soon by 2013. Now Washington has become the 34 th state state with activation throughout the state.
For more immigration news visit immigration direct news | <urn:uuid:ef1d4137-dc23-4a9c-b667-7b573edfd06f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://times-georgian.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Fingerprint+Program+for+Criminal+Immigrants+in+all+Washington+Counties%20&id=18103294 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976602 | 394 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Spacecraft and mission profile from the National Space Science Data Center.
Skylab. Objective: Manned. Type: Space station. First and only US space station to date. Project began life as Apollo Orbital Workshop - outfitting of an S-IVB stage with docking adapter with equipment launched by several subsequent S-1B launches. Curtailment of the Apollo moon landings meant that surplus Saturn V's were available, so the pre-equipped, five times heavier, and much more capable Skylab resulted.
External solar/meteoroid shield ripped off during ascent, tearing away one solar panel wing and debris jamming the remaining panel. Without shield temperatures soared to 52 deg C (126 deg F). Launch of the crew was delayed for... | <urn:uuid:6f6e35b8-c8b3-47fa-8006-d21fe622ac7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.engineerdir.com/webs/catalog/9157/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905937 | 152 | 3.328125 | 3 |
expert advice MORE
Q: My 7-year-old daughter is disappointed that she has a brother, three and a half years old, instead of a sister. My son is a very active, bright, and loving child. I see a conflict in her for she loves him but hates him at the same time. My husband and I have done as much as we could to show her how we love her by action and words. We spend a great deal of time with her every day. But nothing is enough. Both my husband and I have OCD. My daughter is very much like us in her behavior (incessant). She whines a lot, which makes all of us feel very irritable. Any suggestions on how to convince her that she is important and loved?
A: I would suggest not continuing the same "dance" with your daughter. She is learning that she can and does get a lot of attention by being demanding, whining and never getting enough. Since she will naturally not change her role in the "dance" (why should she when she has so much power?), you have to change yours.
OCD notwithstanding, you must be satisfied that an appropriate (not excessive) amount of daily pleasant interaction with your daughter is fine. Interaction with her peers, friends and other adults should round out her social development.
I would respond to her whining by saying something like," When you want to talk about this and not whine, I'll be in the other room." Then leave her presence. Hold your ground and don't let her get you frazzled; that's one of the goals of this negative behavior. That and perhaps drawing your attention away from her less demanding brother.
Take a look at Faber and Mazlish's book, Siblings Without Rivalry. They give many examples of how to empathize with your daughter's conflicted feelings towards her brother while letting her know how special she is.
More on: Expert Advice
Carleton Kendrick has been in private practice as a family therapist and has worked as a consultant for more than 20 years. He has conducted parenting seminars on topics ranging from how to discipline toddlers to how to stay connected with teenagers. Kendrick has appeared as an expert on national broadcast media such as CBS, Fox Television Network, Cable News Network, CNBC, PBS, and National Public Radio. In addition, he's been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, USA Today, Reader's Digest, BusinessWeek, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day, and many other publications. | <urn:uuid:c4fe2734-d0f6-4961-b0ee-82b53d891a98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://life.familyeducation.com/siblings/emotional-development/41306.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98546 | 522 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Equitable access to diagnostics: promises and challenges of translating research on use of rapid syphilis tests into policy and practice
Date: Thursday 1 November 10.45–12.15
The objective of this session is to explore the promises and challenges in health research that will lead to equitable access and improvement in maternal and child health.
Although many high-quality diagnostic tests for infectious diseases are available in the developed world, they are neither affordable nor accessible to patients in developing countries due to the lack of appropriate facilities and resources. Most of these infectious diseases are treatable, but without the tools to diagnose infections, many of those infected cannot benefit from therapy. An estimated 500 000 babies die in sub-Saharan Africa every year from congenital syphilis simply because many women lack access to a screening test for syphilis in pregnancy. Research to evaluate the performance and utility of rapid syphilis tests has shown that tests with acceptable performance can be used in primary health care settings to guide treatment and avert stillbirths and congenital syphilis. The translation of this research evidence into policy and practice to ensure equitable access offers many promises and challenges.
During the session, presentations will address the following: 1) Introducing syphilis screening into control programmes for ethnic minority populations and high-risk individuals present many challenges but may help avert a major HIV epidemic. 2) Currently 30% of pregnant women in Haiti have access to syphilis screening. Rapid tests can reach rural populations through the use of mobile clinics and village health workers, the challenge is to monitor access and evaluate the quality of testing performed in remote settings. 3) Lessons have been learnt in implementation research to make syphilis screening available for villages along the Amazon river and in the municipalities in the Upper Solimões region. 4) The challenge is how to introduce new tools into district and village levels, where there are already multiple vertical donor programmes and a scarcity of trained personnel.
The translation of research evidence on new tools into policy and practice to ensure equitable access must involve community engagement and integrated approaches. | <urn:uuid:ccdd2303-7361-4654-ac1b-7551f4b2911a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tropika.net/specials/forum11/schedule/a48.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923261 | 411 | 2.140625 | 2 |
How To Dress
Muhammad Speaks Newspaper
P.O Box 44261
Detroit, MI 48244
How To Dress
MESSENGER ELIJAH MUHAMMAD WARNS THE M.G.T. & G.C.C…
Against Wearing Foreign Styles and Marrying Foreigners
Reprinted from June 28, 1968 edition of Muhammad Speaks
This is a warning to the M.G.T & G.C.C. against adopting the
African dress and hair styles (this applies to the Brothers of the F.O.I.
also) and seeking to intermarry with foreign people whether they are
Muslims or not; and against accepting traditional African tribal styles
and garments with gay colors.
Such Sisters will be dismissed, from now on, from the circle of
Islam, wherein I am the shepherd.
No style of dress is to be warn but the style of real Muslim people
and the one that I am offering to you. The head piece of traditional and
tribal African people who are other than Believers of Islam is also
forbidden for you to accept.
If you are not satisfied with the styles I give you then I am
not satisfied with you being my follower.
Do not love to marry foreign people other than your people of
America (your own Black brothers and sisters who have been lost and now
found by God, Himself). If you do, I will no longer respect you as my
Remember what intermarriage did for the people of Moses in
Median and elsewhere wherever they mixed with foreign people? They took
them away from their God and they were forbidden by Allah to intermarry
with people whose faith was not their own and later, a death penalty was
effected on the for such things, because the love of such foreign
disbelievers takes away your faith and your religion that God, in the
PErson of Master Fard Muhammad, to Whom praises are due forever, has
given to you for your success.
As intermarrying with foreigners did to the people in the time
of Moses, it will do the same here in this day and time, if you marry
foreign disbelievers and traditionalists. They were not believers in
Islam and brothers and sisters who are going “drunk” in love with just
anyone whom they think is of their kind, will not stay in the circle here
I will not permit it. God has not sent me to mix any such thing
as intermarrying or associating in such a way as “sweethearting: with
foreign people. A closer knowledge of this will be given to anyone of you
who would like to come and ask me personally, but you are not to do these
God is only after you to make you an example for the world to be
guided by. You are being given the tops of the Divine Wisdom and He wants
to make you the greatest of all people of the earth.
Study Jesus’ parables of the “Prodigal Son”,” The Lost Sheep” and
“The Lost Tenth Piece of Silver” and other parables of the Old Testament
and you will find many parables there made of you and me here in America,
as being found and returned and put on top.
EDITOR’S NOTE: PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE VERSE FROM THE HOLY QU’RAN
SHOWN IN THE PICTURE IS CITED INCORRECTLY. THE PLACE WHERE THIS VERSE IS
FOUND IS 7 (SEVEN): 27. PLEASE FORGIVE OUR ERROR!
* “The robe of the righteous is white”.
* We never wear big clog shoes. We never wear out our shoes.
* We should not wear more than three colors at a time.
* We never go out of our homes without the proper head covering. We may
wear our headpiece or hat (M.G.T.). We do not have any hair
what-so-ever sticking out of our headpiece. We strive to always be with
the garment the Messenger designed for us when leaving our houses.
* We wear a camisole top and ankle length petti pants under all our
garments. (We wear a long slip under a lost-found long skirt.)
* We wear conservative clothes. We wear soft pastel shades
* We always have our clothes neatly pressed and immaculately clean.
Shoes shined and properly soled. Pocket books clean and shined.
* We are not dressed if we do not have gloves. A well-dressed M.G.T.
does not leave her home without her gloves, as she knows that gloves
complete her garment.
* Our nails should be trimmed and clean.
* We do not wear hanging earrings as this is out of place with the
refined and tailored M.G.T. look (they may be worn at home).
* Our hair should be clean, combed and well-groomed.
* Our teeth should be given daily care in the form of teeth brushing
and Bi-annual visits to the Dentist.
* We make sure the day before we wear a garment, that it is properly
mended where mending is needed.
* We must have our garments well tailored. As it is undignified to wear
a garment that does not fit properly or that is made improperly.
* We must strive to look clean, neat, well-pressed and well-tailored
each and every day. Not just for special occasions. For when we appear
in public, they (the public) do not look at us merely as individuals
but rather, they see us as representatives of The Most Honorable
Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. You will hear them say daily,
“there’s one of them Muslim sisters, you know the Muhammad followers.”
As Muslim sisters, we must give a good impression of Islam and our
leader and teacher, whenever we leave our home.
* We must remove spots and soil from our garments, check our hemlines
and necklines to make sure they are in good order. | <urn:uuid:ae863ec9-29cd-41e7-a399-4b3d7ca60a5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://muhammadspeaks.com/home/?page_id=455 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936956 | 1,314 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Get in touch: send your photos, videos, news & views by texting YORK to 80360 or send an email»
BEN YOUNG distorts the truth (Letters, February 26).
After the San Remo Conference of 1922, article 22 of the convention setting up the League of Nations, Palestine was entrusted to Britain “as a sacred trust of civilisation” for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.
This was a binding resolution with the force of international law. Britain partitioned the land into the Palestine Kingdom of Jordan and the rest, now known as Palestine.
The Jews were given the right to set up a homeland throughout all Palestine and these rights have never been rescinded. The Jews proposed one country for all, but the Arabs rejected this proposal.
Palestine has never been an Arab nation or designated to be one. The 1967 borders are not legally defined, but are simply the ceasefire line.
UN Security Council resolution 242 does not set any borders and says they should be set when Israel and her Arab neighbours make peace. As the Arabs have no intention of ever making peace, Israel is morally entitled to hold the ground she has.
The territory Israel recovered in 1967 was never legally the territory of any Arab state. It was legally designated for a Jewish national homeland.
Ken Barnes, North View, Catterton. | <urn:uuid:faade13f-776c-40d9-8322-5f81491df656> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/features/readersletters/10258179.Border_control/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946599 | 284 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Brack Obama Photo:
Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States of America. Obama began his career as a community organiser in some of Chicago’s poorest communities, then attended Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review.
From 1997 to 2004, he served as state senator from Chicago’s South Side. After a landslide victory in Illinois in 2004, he became the fifth African-American senator in US history. His stirring keynote speech urged the nation to unite, whilst acknowledging that, ‘Let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was ... born and raised in a small village in Kenya.’ His presence, his principles and his oratory prompted political commentators to predict that he might be the first African American to be elected to the White House.
From Dreams from my Father
Original full-length version © Text Publishing, Melbourne
Condensed version © Reader’s Digest Australia
Over lunch, I explained to a group of boys that my father was a prince. ‘My grandfather, see, he’s a chief. It’s sort of like the king of the tribe, you know . . . like the Indians. So that makes my father a prince. He’ll take over when my grandfather dies.’
‘What about after that?’ one of my friends asked as we emptied our trays into the trash bin. ‘I mean, will you go back and be a prince?’
‘Well . . . if I want to, I could. It’s sort of complicated, see, ’cause the tribe is full of warriors. They all want to be chief, so my father has to settle these feuds before I can come.’
As the words tumbled out of my mouth, and I felt the boys readjust to me, more curious and familiar as we bumped into each other in the line back to class, a part of me really began to believe the story. But another part of me knew that what I was telling them was a lie, something I’d constructed from the scraps of information I’d picked up from my mother.
My mother had sensed my apprehension in the days building up to his arrival. She explained that she had maintained a correspondence with him throughout the time we had been in Indonesia, and that he knew all about me. Like her, my father had remarried, and I now had five brothers and one sister living in Kenya. He had been in a bad car accident, and this trip was part of his recuperation after a long stay in the hospital.
‘You two will become great friends,’ she decided.
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Comments are published and responded to (if required) weekly. For queries or comments relating to our Sweepstakes or product purchases from our online store, please call Customer Service on 1300 300 030 or email firstname.lastname@example.org. Comments containing personal or inappropriate material may be modified or removed at our discretion. | <urn:uuid:5df44c5e-02e8-436b-8337-1db4622f876e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.readersdigest.com.au/barack-obama-facts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974611 | 649 | 2.328125 | 2 |
The Water Conservation Unit works to reduce the current unacceptably high level of water loss on the 1200 km of distribution mains throughout the county.
The council recognises that too much of the water it pumps, treats and distributes each year is lost by leakage from distribution mains.
Small holes in a half-inch pipe can waste over 10,000 gallons per day! Find out what you can do to safe water.
Water services can help a business to plan their water needs and requirements so that a business can operate to their full potential using a high quality product.
Tips for saving water in the household.
Whatever the nature of your business, often simple changes in behaviour or processes can save water and reduce your water bill.
Saving water on a farm requires only small behavioural changes that can have a large impact on overall water use.
Information on how to do a Water Audit at your School
Find answers to all the frequently asked water conservation questions. | <urn:uuid:ded6414d-8e1d-4134-b395-c8ae1df96512> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/ourservices/waterservices/waterconservation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940005 | 197 | 2.8125 | 3 |
A miscarriage is the loss of a pregnancy during the first 20 weeks. It's usually the body's way of ending a problem pregnancy. A miscarriage can be hard to accept, but it's no one's fault and it can't be prevented.
You may need treatment if any tissue remains in the uterus after the miscarriage.
Sarah Marshall, MD - Family Medicine & Femi Olatunbosun, MB, FRCSC - Obstetrics and Gynecology
How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions. | <urn:uuid:00ca4fdd-1e83-46f6-9802-57cfb278b4ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mmc.org/mmc_cibody.cfm?xyzpdqabc=0&id=2872&action=detail&AEProductID=HW_Knowledgebase&AEArticleID=stm159510 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927206 | 109 | 2.71875 | 3 |
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Responsibilities of a Seven-Year-Old
by Hannah Weatherd
Speech delivered at the Parents of Blind Children Seminar at the 2000 National Federation of the Blind Convention.
My name is Hannah Weatherd. I am seven-years-old. I'm from Lima, Montana. I'm in first grade at school. Lima School is kind of small. First and second grade have to be in a room. Third and fourth are in a room. Fifth and sixth are in a room.
My jobs at school are line leader, pledge leader, and helper. The helperís job is to pass out papers and take the milk slip to the office, if we have afternoon milk. Our teacher, Mrs. Schroder, needs someone to water the plants. I was supposed to do that one day but I forgot.
There has to be somebody to put the trash in the big trash can and put a new liner in it. They need a first-grader and second-grader to put the forks, spoons, knives, and milk on the table for lunch. We need a librarian to straighten out the books so they won't be crooked when Mrs. Kluepner is being the helper. I really like four of the jobs the best. I like line leader, emptying the garbage, and I like to be the librarian.
At home I empty the kitchen trash. Sometimes I set the table and in the morning I make my bed. I feed our chickens, too. I clean my room. I find money in the washer, and Mom says whoever finds money in the washer gets to keep it. I pick my clothes out every day except Sunday.
I paid for my little brotherís airplane ticket to the NFB convention. I had enough money because I was on a McDonald's commercial, and I wanted him to come this year. I wanted him to come because he has never been on an airplane before except when he was a baby and he canít remember it.
I havenít decided what I want to be when I grow up. I think I really want to be a postmaster the most.
The End. Thank you.
Hannah wrote her own speech and delivered it from her Braille notes. Her father, Brad, is on the board of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. Her mother, Jill, has written several articles for Future Reflections. | <urn:uuid:c61f5bda-0f5b-405a-a3f0-5a43d98641d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.actionfund.org/Images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr14/fr04se29.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972822 | 509 | 2.03125 | 2 |
US distillate inventories below year-ago levels
Sep 24, 2007 1:30 PM
United States distillate inventories began September at their highest level since January, but they remain more than eight percent below year-ago levels, according to information from the American Petroleum Institute (API).
”Refiners, who have already produced record amounts of distillate fuel oil so far this year have been ramping up production further in the past several months,” said Ron Planting, API’s manager of statistical information and analysis.
In its Monthly Statistical Report for August 2007, API noted that total stocks of distillate, including home heating oil, ended the month up nearly five-million barrels above end-July levels, but stood at their lowest August level since 2004.
High-sulfur distillate inventories rose in August by 11 percent, but stand more than 32 percent lower than year-ago levels due to new regulations that have boosted the use of lower-sulfur distillate. Low-sulfur distillate ended August at a record of nearly 92.1 million barrels.
Overall US oil demand, as expressed by total domestic petroleum deliveries, was down 2.2 percent compared with a year ago as a 1.0 percent gain in gasoline demand and a nearly three-percent rise in jet fuel use were offset by a more than two percent fall in distillate deliveries and a more than nine percent drop in residual fuel oil demand. Year-to-date oil demand is averaging less than one percent higher than for the same period last year.
United States refiners operated above 90 percent capacity in August and refined production continued at, or near, record levels. Gasoline production rose above 9.4 million barrels per day for the first time even while distillate output rose above 4.2 million barrels per day, the highest since the record 4.3 million barrels per day set in September 2006.
Total US crude production slipped to its lowest level since September 2006, averaging just over five-million barrels per day. Lower production in Alaska amid planned summer maintenance offset a modest increase in output from the lower 48 states.
Total petroleum imports in August averaged 13.8 million barrels per day, even with month-earlier levels, but down from year-ago record levels of 14.6 million barrels per day. While crude imports averaged above 10.5 million barrels per day, product imports fell 9.0 percent from July and averaged just 3.2 million barrels per day, the lowest August level since 2003 and 21 percent below year-ago levels.
© 2013 Penton Media Inc.
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:3f2e6c68-bfda-4f66-978f-19da16eb7789> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bulktransporter.com/management/tank-truck/us_distillate_inventories/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9507 | 553 | 1.570313 | 2 |
What is Pharmacognosy?
"Pharmacognosy" derives from two Greek words, "pharmakon
"or drug, and "gnosis
" or knowledge. Thus, Pharmacognosy (chemistry and biology of natural products) is the study of bioactive natural substances found in terrestrial and marine organisms (plants, animals, or microbes). Research in pharmacognosy is important because it leads to new forms of biotechnology; new types of therapeutic agents; new molecular probes that can be used to study molecular/cell biology; new pest controls to help protect crops; increased understanding of the pharmacological, ecological and biochemical roles of molecules produced by nature; information on herbal medicines; and new methods for the analysis of drugs, toxins and herbal preparations. Pharmacognosy has undergone significant change in recent years and today represents a highly interdisciplinary science, which is one of five major areas of pharmaceutical education. | <urn:uuid:8c5a1e6a-5a5a-44d3-bc3e-b3e37eb7b94a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pharmacy.olemiss.edu/pharmacognosy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908028 | 191 | 3.265625 | 3 |
The mission of the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences is to provide our graduates with a solid
The Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences is committed to the preparation of students, and all citizens of Alabama and beyond, for life in the global community through research, teaching, and outreach activities that foster viable communities, a diversified economy, and a healthy environment.
academic foundation in the biological and environmental sciences with skills for further educational opportunities for careers in research, teaching and public services. We expect that our students will become productive and informed citizens, who are well prepared for positions in public and private institutions, and for graduate and professional studies in the biomedical, biological, natural resources and environmental fields.
Teach fundamental principles and unifying concepts in the biological and environmental sciences, through a curriculum designed to exposure students in a multi-tier framework; beginning with general classes that introduce biological and environmental concepts and end with upper division courses and electives in specific areas of interest.
Train students to function as scientists, by integrating research and pedagogy; exposing the students to the scientific process (hypothesis, experimentation, observation and analysis). This is done by including coursework and teaching laboratories and field courses that incorporate discovery-based approaches, as well as reading and analysis of scientific research literature.
Teach scientific literacy, which is the ability to communicate scientific concepts effectively in both written and oral formats, as well as to think critically and logically. This is achieved through requiring students to present their work through seminars, posters and in-course presentations to their peers and faculty for critique. | <urn:uuid:4b5f6122-1444-4eae-9db2-09594542693b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aamu.edu/Academics/alns/bes/Pages/Mission-and-Objectives.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952164 | 317 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Dieppe Raid Remebered
Got this from Mike Colton, the secretary of the ASFA at Hereford and am passing it on.
On the 18/19th August 1942 Canadian Forces and those of the United kingdom, France and America launched an audacious raid across the English Channel into occupied France.
The raid on Dieppe was a failure, but the sacrifice of Allied lives and the trauma of those wounded and captured should not be forgotten. Lessons learnt helped pave the way for a successful D-Day landing on the 6th June 1944.
On the 19th August 2012 at noon we will be dedicating the Dieppe Raid Memorial (as seen in the attached pdf) in the Allied Special Forces Grove, National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.
This information might be of interest to veterans and their families and all Canadians in the UK.
Further information about the Grove can be obtained from our website below and the NMA via http://www.thenma.org.uk
Please call me if you might need any clarification on 07929-118598.
The memorial was entirely funded by our association over the past 5 years, however donations are well appreciated.
Allied Special Forces Association
P.O. Box 32, Hereford HR1 9DF | <urn:uuid:4af7a5b1-0016-4529-bb36-af6f96a86b8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://laststandonzombieisland.com/2012/06/12/dieppe-raid-remebered/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909631 | 266 | 1.898438 | 2 |
The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) is an open global network of more than 6,000 practitioners, students, teachers, staff from UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, donors, governments and universities who work together within a humanitarian and development framework to ensure all persons the right to quality education and a safe learning environment in emergencies and post-crisis recovery. The INEE Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies: Preparedness, Response, Recovery are the network’s foundation tool. They provide concrete guidance based on education rights and good practices to improve access to safe, relevant and quality education.
INEE was defined not as a formal organization with bureaucratic functions, but rather as a flexible and responsive mechanism, which brings organizations and individuals together to facilitate collaboration, share experiences and resources, establish standards for the field, and engage in advocacy regarding the right to education. INEE does not implement projects or co-ordinate agencies, but works to enable members to be more effective. INEE’s Steering Group is comprised of CARE, ChildFund International, the International Rescue Committee, the Open Society Institute (OSI), Save the Children, Refugee Education Trust (RET), UNICEF, UNHCR, UNESCO, and the World Bank.
The INEE Secretariat consists of a Director, who is based at the IRC (NY), a Coordinator for Minimum Standards, who is based at UNICEF (NY), a Coordinator for Network Services, who is based at UNHCR (Geneva), and a Coordinator for Education and Fragility, who is based at UNESCO (Paris).
Priorities for the INEE Minimum Standards in 2012 include:
• The launch, dissemination and promotion of the INEE Minimum Standards Handbook;
• Support to utilization and institutionalization of the INEE Minimum Standards through capacity-building, application visits, tool development and experience documentation
• Support to INEE members conducting training workshops on the INEE Minimum Standards;
• Operationalization of the INEE/Sphere Companionship through formalized training and advocacy linkages;
• Collaboration with the IASC Education Cluster, including harmonization of the INEE Minimum Standards and First Line Responders’ training packages
• Continued promotion and advocacy on education in emergencies, INEE and the INEE Minimum Standards.
This internship presents a unique learning opportunity to work closely with the INEE Secretariat, liaise directly with INEE members around the world, and be part of projects that contribute to education quality in crisis settings.
The INEE Minimum Standards intern will assist the INEE Coordinator for Minimum Standards with various projects that will further the promotion, utilization and institutionalization of the INEE Minimum Standards, including:
• Resource management and development: Develop advocacy briefs, tools and summaries on the INEE Minimum Standards training, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation processes. Review and edit documents as needed.
• Website development and content management: Develop and update content on the INEE Minimum Standards webpages on the INEE website and INEE toolkit.
• Fundraising and proposal writing: Assist with research and preparation for future INEE grants and projects. Assist with quarterly and annual reports updates on current grants.
• Events and workshops: Assist with preparation of the regional trainings and application visits on the INEE Minimum Standards Handbook; Assist with preparation of INEE materials, including drafting inputs into tools, editing framing papers, coordinating logistical requests, and disseminating materials to INEE members worldwide; Assist with selecting and preparing materials for various presentations, orientations and training workshops on the INEE Minimum Standards.
• Outreach and Communications: Assist with outreach and coordination efforts with members of the INEE Working Group on Minimum Standards and INEE members in Africa, Asia, the Middle-East, Latin America, Europe and North America. Draft updates on the INEE Minimum Standards for the wider INEE membership, highlighting new tools, initiatives and opportunities for engagement. Analyse feedback and findings and develop materials to share this information. Track the production, translation, dissemination and use of the INEE Minimum Standards and related materials, liaising with INEE members to identify and fill gaps as needed.
• Administrative activities: Provide general support to the INEE Coordinator for Minimum Standards and other members of the INEE Secretariat, as determined.
• Mailings: mail copies of the INEE Minimum Standards and INEE tools, as requested.
• Ongoing graduate studies in a relevant field (e.g. education, social work, international relations, refugee issues)
• Demonstrated knowledge of the INEE Minimum Standards for Education: Preparedness, Response, Recovery
• Excellent organizational skills: the ability to track and follow-up on various efforts
• Excellent analytical and writing skills: the ability to draft correspondence, briefs, reports, and syntheses
• Strong communication skills: excellent command of English-language, both spoken and written. Spanish, French, or Arabic language reading and writing skills preferred
• Good interpersonal skills: the ability to successfully interact with a variety of people
• Flexible work attitude: the ability to follow direction and effectively learn and work in an inter-agency environment as well as self-motivate
• Excellent Computer skills: MS Word and Excel. Website content management experience preferred.
Timeframe and location
The intern must be available to work part time (4 days/week) in Summer 2012 for three months. Intern may be asked to work from home on assigned days. The internship may be taken for course credit. Interns must be able to commit until end-August 2012.
Tag This Document | <urn:uuid:8be7e1c6-244e-4478-89e0-e65b43efc5d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/jobs/v.php?id=26701&tid=41 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911951 | 1,144 | 2.15625 | 2 |
the Church on the Hill
by D. Eric Williams
Pastor, Cottonwood Community Church
When Job was confronted by God near the conclusion of his tribulation, he did not receive gentle words of encouragement. Instead, God forcefully proclaimed His own power and might. Now, the typical interpretation of the story is that Job was never given an explanation for the difficulties he faced. May I strongly suggest that this is not so. Job did in fact receive a reason for his trials and tribulations: like everything else in creation, Jobís experiences proclaimed the glory of God. Thus Godís recitation to Job of some of the things in His realm which proclaim His own glory.
We tend to forget the fact that one way Godís majesty is made evident is in His confounding the lives of men (Ex. 9:16, Deut. 32:39-43, 1 Sam. 2:4-10, Rev. 5:8- 14, 6:1-ff) Ė all the more so when it is His own people who face tribulation (Ps. 66:8-12, Is. 48:9-11, John 11:4, 2 Cor. 12:7-10, 1 Thess. 1:6-7). This is true whether we can see any purpose in it or not. We need to understand the point of Godís words to Job; Job in the midst of his tribulation, along with the other things God proclaimed as signs of His magnificence, was an expression of Godís power and glory. That was the purpose behind Jobís trials. God didnít say that he allowed calamity in Jobís life in order to produce patience and character. God didnít say that the purpose in the trial was to magnify Jobís weakness and proclaim Godís strength. No, the purpose was simply to manifest Godís omnipotence. And for the believer that is reason enough for joy. Indeed, it is the best reason for joy.
Of course, on this side of the cross we have the benefit of Paulís letter to the church in Rome. That being the case, we know that even when the purpose behind calamity is to manifest Godís might, we still benefit personally. Romans 8:28-29:And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Thus Christís elect can rest assured that every trial and tribulation is being used by God to form us and shape us according to His sonís image. At times, this is difficult to accept, in reality impossible to accept except by faith. Nevertheless, it is true and therefore a reason for joy in trials.
No one ever said that it was easy to ďcount it all joy when you fall into various trials.Ē Yet as we come to understand the reasons for joy in trials our willingness to submit to this truth should increase. At the very least it will assure us that we serve a God who loves us enough to show us how reasonable it really is to have joy in the midst of trials | <urn:uuid:0ed1d6e9-4e62-40e9-839e-07bfcd3616b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cottonwoodchronicle.com/2012/072612/pastorscolumn.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964122 | 669 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Integrating Green Purchasing Into Your Environmental Management System (EMS)
The guidance document, "Integrating Green Purchasing into your Environmental Management System (EMS)," (also available in PDF, "Integrating Green Purchasing into your Environmental Management System (EMS) (PDF)," (70 pages, 779KB)) was developed by the EPA's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Team in response to requests from, and in partnership with the White House's Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE), EPA's Federal Facilities Enforcement Office, Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, Design for the Environment (DfE) Program, and several Federal facilities.
The goal of this report is to help Federal facilities integrate green purchasing into their Environmental Management System (EMS). The intended audience includes those tasked with implementing an EMS, reducing environmental impacts, meeting green purchasing requirements and/or buying products and services in a Federal facility.
To reduce the Federal government's environmental footprint and improve the implementation of green purchasing and other greening the government initiatives, former President Clinton mandated in Executive Order (EO) 13148: Greening the Government Through Leadership in Environmental Management that all appropriate Federal facilities implement Environmental Management Systems (EMS) by December, 2005. This mandate was maintained in E.O. 13514 - Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance (PDF) (15 pp, 88KB, About PDF), signed by President Obama in October 2009.
Why target enhanced green purchasing within an EMS?
- Comply with Federal green purchasing legal and other requirements;
- Raise awareness of procurement as a pollution prevention tool;
- Facilitate continual improvement in environmental performance through proactive green purchasing and contracting activities.
The core of the guidance document provides:
- Practical guidance, potential language for, and Federal facility examples of integrating green purchasing into procedures for each ISO 14001 element;
- Federal green purchasing program requirements;
- Green product resources;
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