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Fear of Fireworks
These days firework night seems to last for weeks and fireworks are increasingly used at other times of year as well. Fun for the people watching the fireworks but no fun for dogs with a phobia. Looking after a stressed out dog can be very upsetting and prevention is the best cure here. Follow Dr Mugford’s top tips for a peaceful and happy dog and a relaxed owner. Take the time to prepare your dog well in advance of the night resolving your dog’s fear of fireworks will take time and preparation.
- Talk to your vet, they may wish to prescribe a DAP diffuser or medication that works better if started well in advance of firework night.
- Try using a CD of firework noises to accustom your dog to the sound of fireworks, play regularly to your dog, start at a very low volume initially and gradually increase.
On the Night
- Try to stay calm yourself, if you are anxious your dog is likely to pick up on your mood and become even more fearful.
- Keep your dog in his usual routine, this should help to make him feel relaxed and confident.
- Keep your dog busy during the day so that he is ready to relax in the evening.
- Make sure your dog has somewhere he can go that feels safe eg. A dog bed, a favourite hiding place.
- Provide toys such as a stuffed Kong (link to company of animals) to keep him distracted.
- Well in advance of the fireworks starting put on the TV or some music, close the curtains and put on the lights.
When the Fireworks Start
Stay calm and try to ignore any fearful behaviour. Too much reassurance can have the opposite effect, reinforcing the behaviour and making your dog think that he is right to be scared.
If you are concerned that your dog is behaving strangely or having a funny turn please use the Dog symptom guide to find out if you need to call the vets. | <urn:uuid:98692f81-89a4-4f8d-b60a-f50828320b2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/fear-of-fireworks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953314 | 402 | 2.1875 | 2 |
On January 4, 2010, the HIV ban on travel and immigration, which had been in place for two decades finally came to an end. With the end of the HIV ban, being positive is no longer an automatic ground of “inadmissibility.” For foreign nationals seeking to enter as tourists or short-term visitors, being positive should not be an issue at all. For lawful permanent resident applicants, being HIV-positive still could affect USCIS’s determination about whether you are “likely to become a public charge.” While doctors will no longer perform an HIV antibody test as part of the medical examination, the doctor could ask questions about your overall health which could lead the doctor to conclude that you are HIV-positive. Immigration and consular officials are permitted to take your health into account when determining whether you are likely to need government assistance, which can be a ground for denying a green card application.
Some Historical Information and Links to Important Documents
After a 60 day waiting period, the final regulations which were published by the Department of Health and Human Services on November 2, 2009, became law. The regulations remove HIV from the list of “communicable diseases of public health significance,” meaning that anyone seeking to enter the U.S. as a visitor can now do so without having to disclose his or her HIV status. The regulations also remove the HIV testing requirement for lawful permanent resident applicants.
As the lengthy bureaucratic process of publishing the regulations and issuing guidance on their implementation unfolded, there were several significant memoranda be issued by various U.S. government agencies about the end of the ban. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services issued two memos about implementation of the end of the ban. On September 15, 2009 (USCIS) issued a memo which provided guidance on adjudicating cases before the January 4, 2010 change in the law. Specifically the memo instructed officers not to deny cases based solely on a person’s HIV-positive status, but rather to hold them in abeyance until the change in the law.
On November 24, 2009, USCIS issued further guidance to its officers on adjudicating cases after January 4, 2010. Namely, the memo re-iterates that HIV will no longer be a ground of inadmissibility, that waivers for individuals with HIV will no longer be required, that HIV anti-body testing will no longer be a part of the medical exam for lawful permanent resident applicants, and that, upon a motion with the proper fee, applications that were denied solely because the applicant was HIV-positive after July 2, 2009 (the date that the final regulations were published) may be reopened.
At long last, on December 17, 2009, the Department of State issued a Q and A explaining the end of the HIV ban. This is very important because individuals seeking visas abroad (either short-term or for permanent residence) must do so with U.S. consulates which are part of DOS, not USCIS. The guidance makes it clear that after January 4, 2010, HIV is no longer a reason to deny visas.
Nevertheless, we are continuing to see problems with implementation of the end of the ban, especially in consular processing. We have heard reports from some individuals about consulates continuing to require that the applicant have insurance in the U.S. as well as hearing about public charge problems with consulates. There is some DOS guidance on adjudicating cases since the ban has ended. Some of this guidance is problematic, especially since it spells out that “it may be difficult” for HIV-positive applicants to overcome a public charge finding. If you are having any problems with your consulate, please let us know.
Also, the Centers for Disease Control recently sent a letter to all doctors who conduct Immigration medical exams. USCIS has updated the I-693 form to eliminate the box for HIV testing. Some doctors, however, may continue to use the old form. If they do, physicians are instructed NOT to test for HIV and to simply fill in “no longer required” in the box.
The end of the HIV ban was the culmination of incredibly hard work by a broad coalition of immigration, HIV, LGBT and human rights organizations. Together, we mobilized over 23,000 comments in favor of lifting the ban and fewer than 550 comments against lifting the ban. Significantly, over 400 organizations submitted or signed onto comments calling for an end to the ban and there were no organizational comments that asked HHS to keep the ban in place. Immigration Equality was among the organizations thatsubmitted comments in full support of the proposed regulations.
None of this would have been possible without the leadership of Senator John Kerry, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and former Senator Gordon Smith, who led the fight in Congress in 2008 to remove the statutory HIV ban. Immigration Equality has also convened a broad-based coalition that has continued to push for full equality under U.S. immigration law for people living with HIV. | <urn:uuid:8a296598-5acc-4076-84f3-f30a3c991015> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://immigrationequality.org/issues/hiv/the-hiv-ban/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971595 | 1,013 | 1.90625 | 2 |
WVXU (91.7 FM) today added to the recent flurry of attention in Cincinnati to the issue of high school dropouts. I joined Cincinnati Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Anthony Smith and Civic Enterprises President and CEO John Bridgeland on Impact Cincinnati this morning as part of the public radio’s station series on high school dropout issues.
We examined the progress and the problems of having 20,000 or so Ohio students dropping out each year from high school. If those dropouts were enrolled in their own school district, they would be Ohio’s sixth-largest district.
Dropping out of high school remains a big issue for the state and nation, as well as for the student. High school dropouts earn $260,000 less over their lifetime compared to high school graduates, and most of the fast-growing jobs require not only a high school diploma but college-level training and degrees. That loss in earning power hurts the state economy, due to loss in tax dollars and an increase in social supports for those who have dropped out.
That’s why the state’s lack of success in curbing its dropout rate is so distressing. The Cincinnati Enquirer earlier this month reported that Ohio experienced the second-biggest increase in its dropout rate compared to other states between 2002 and 2009. Only Illinois’ rate increased more.
We ourselves looked at dropout rates in 2009 in a report entitled “The Pursuit of High-Quality High Schools” and found that Ohio’s high school dropout rate increased from 13.8% in 2005 to 15.2% in 2008 – a period of time following the states’ declaration that reducing the dropout rate would be a priority.
The lack of statewide progress is contrasted to the success in some districts. My colleague, Harold Brown, President of EDWorks, and I noted last weekend in a commentary published in the Enquirer that 11 Ohio school districts that participated in the Ohio High School Transformation Initiative increased their graduation rates 32 percent from 2002 to 2008 at a time when the state graduation rate barely budged by 2 percent.
We noted that this high school redesign, led by KnowledgeWorks, focused on creating learning conditions that allowed for personalized education – teachers and other adults who could get to know their students and have time in the school day to engage in deep learning. Educators had high expectations for their students, and they had the professional development and on-site coaching to keep focused on relevant instruction.
Sadly, due to a lack of follow-through by successive administrations, the focus on high school dropouts waned and this work – as well as the success in Cincinnati – was never spread around the state. Under a federal Race to the Top grant, the state is attempting to focus again on the worst “dropout factory” high schools, and progress is promising thus far.
The issue will get more attention in Cincinnati. On June 7, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber hosts an event, “Dropout Nation: The Silent Epidemic” at the Cintas Center, featuring national and local experts discussing the problem and potential solutions. John Bridgeland, who joined me on WVXU this morning, will be the keynote speaker.
I am hoping that all of this attention will lead to some additional action that will curb the problem. | <urn:uuid:e2254650-7dff-4ca6-b85e-3dc45c980d45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://knowledgeworks.org/worldoflearning/lack-of-statewide-progress-in-curbing-high-school-dropouts-in-ohio/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969247 | 689 | 2 | 2 |
Each folder in the Plugins SDK contains scripts for creating new plugins for that type. New plugins are placed in their own subdirectory of the appropriate plugin directory. For instance, a new portlet called "greeting-portlet" would reside in liferay-plugins-sdk-6/portlets/greeting-portlet.
The Plugins SDK can house all of your plugin projects enterprise-wide, or you can have separate Plugins SDK projects for each plugin. For example, if you have an internal Intranet using Liferay with some custom portlets, you could keep those portlets and themes in their own Plugins SDK project in your source code repository. If you also have an external instance of Liferay for your public Internet web site, you could have a separate Plugins SDK with those projects as well. Or you could further separate your projects by having a different Plugins SDK project for each portlet or theme project.
It is also possible to use use the Plugins SDK as a simple cross-platform project generator. You can create a plugin project using the Plugins SDK and then copy the resulting project folder to your IDE of choice. This method requires some manual modification of the ant scripts, but it makes it possible to conform to the strict standards some organizations have for their Java projects. | <urn:uuid:cc8b42b4-7b27-4e0d-bfe4-997d7141f3f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.liferay.com/pt/documentation/liferay-portal/6.0/development/-/ai/structure-of-the-sdk | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919344 | 273 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Al-Manar: Beacon of Hate
by Asaf Romirowsky
Tech Central Station
August 18, 2006
[N.B.: The following reflects what the author submitted, and not exactly what was published. To obtain the precise text of what was published, please check the original place of publication.]
Hezbollah has long used the satellite broadcaster Al-Manar as a medium for winning the hearts and minds of their supporters inside Lebanon and throughout the Muslim world. Avi Jorisch in his groundbreaking study Beacon of Hatred: Inside Hizballah's Al-Manar Television unearths how al-Manar has become the official mouthpiece for Hezbollah. This beacon is best known for airing propaganda against Israel, not least of which include reports of "heroic" and "successful" operations by Hezbollah fighters against the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
More significantly, Al-Manar programming consists of children's shows that glorify homicide bombers. Anti-American and anti-Semitic material -- including the infamous "blood libel" which fallaciously accuses Jews of slaughtering Christian children to make Matza for the Passover holiday -- is the normal fare. Post 9/11, the station worked tirelessly to promote the perception that the Israeli Mossad was the one responsible for the attacks. And indeed, many Arabic speakers in London, Paris, Madrid, Brussels, Berlin absorb Hezbollah's messages of hate and incitement via al Manar.
Clearly Al-Manar has become an integral part of the Party of God's psychological warfare toolkit. It was the first channel to announce the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese border. Currently, the station currently enjoys top ratings around the Arab world. These ratings result in no small part from Hassan Nasrallah's skills as an orator, whereby he manages to woo crowds using superb Arabic woven together with colloquial Lebanese expressions. Nasrallah also plays on the fears of the Israeli public to drive messages of fear, and rebroadcasts Israeli news reports about public uncertainty in Israel regarding the war. All of this is possible due to the relatively sophisticated technology al-Manar uses, which does not fall far behind the standards of other high-tech TV stations.
Recently, in a brilliant cyber-attack, the IDF intelligence unit managed to hack an al-Manar broadcast and plant a caricature of Nasrallah captioned ‘your days are numbered.' Additionally, they managed to place an image of a dead guerrilla fighter flash on their screens saying that this is the corpse of one of the members of Hezbollah's Special Forces and that "Hassan Nasrallah lies." Consequently, al-Manar's PR director Ibrahim Farhat reported that "the Israelis had succeeded in creating static and other signal interruptions at least 10 times on TV broadcasts since the start of the war." He added that despite the circumstances the station is in "terrific" shape. But this admission from the station that sees itself as the "station of resistance" was a huge success for the IDF. Still, the broadcasts continue.
The situation is now intensifying on the northern border of Israel. Al-Manar was the first to report the preparations for a possible attack like Nasrallah promised, "if our capital Beirut -- is attacked, we will attack their capital -- Tel Aviv, " If nothing else, such proves the aggressive nature of the psychological warfare he is waging on Israel. After all, Nasrallah often means what he says. Moreover, with the so called "cease-fire" it was al Manar that featured Nasrallah saying, "we are at the brink of a great victory; a strategic and historic one.., that Hezbollah fighters brought about this great triumph." And now is not that time to lay down our arms this illustrates how nothing has really changed despite the supposed "cease-fire" and as long as al Manar aka Nasrallah says so you can be sure that it is indeed so.
The IDF's psychological unit follows Nasrallah's speeches very carefully and analyzes the way he expresses himself. They believe his inaccuracies stem from both his instability and uncertainty; hence he never discloses the true number of loses Hezbollah suffers from IDF attacks -- demonstrated to have been quite large. There is no doubt, given the criticism he is receiving of late from disparate Lebanese sources, that he is trying to boost his public image through such spectacles.
We have also witnessed over the past three years how the governments of France, Spain, and Holland have determined that al-Manar violated European law due to its anti-Semitic/Western and racist programming. This has led to a domino effect among other countries such as Hong Kong, Australia, Barbados, and Brazil who have also decided to remove al-Manar from local airwaves.
This is a good start but it is not enough. The basic problem is that al-Manar is not a news network serving freedom of speech, but the propaganda and incitement arm of a terrorist organization. We should therefore applaud the IDF attacks on military targets and as well as Hezbollah's media organs. Islamism is not just an epidemic that spreads in the ranks of jihadists but also through the airwaves. America and Europe should thank Israel if they managed to find a cure for the disease.
Asaf Romirowsky is a Campus Watch Associate Fellow for the Middle East Forum and the Manager of Israel & Middle East Affairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
Related Topics: Lebanon, Media, Radical Islam | Asaf Romirowsky
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This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete and accurate information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL. | <urn:uuid:09353735-41f5-4816-bf56-5172b5c3b7f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.meforum.org/990/al-manar-beacon-of-hate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956355 | 1,189 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Most parties support a collaborative process to reach final decisions on the marine spatial plan.
Those following the NZ Herald coverage of the Hauraki Gulf Forum in the past few months will have noticed an evolving muscular tone from some writers over a perceived lack of recognition of this relatively unknown statutory entity.
The latest contribution comes from Brian Rudman in last Monday's edition. Helpfully, Mr Rudman alluded to the proposed Hauraki Gulf marine spatial plan. This is an important project which has seen preparatory work undertaken by the Waikato Regional and Auckland councils, government ministries and mana whenua.
Unfortunately Mr Rudman became distracted by his speculation over my role with this project, and personal misgivings with the level of mana whenua participation. The care of Tikapa Moana/Hauraki Gulf is paramount to mana whenua as the centuries-old kaitiaki of this taonga, as it is to many others.
One of the failings of local government arrangements for the Gulf is that it is split between the Waikato and Auckland regions. This has resulted in piecemeal and inconsistent regional planning, which has failed to prevent the steady decline in water and habitat quality.
The importance of the marine spatial plan project is that it will lead to the first joint integrated planning instrument for the Gulf.
While mana whenua have long advocated for such a plan, it was previously resisted by the former Auckland Regional Council and Waikato Regional Council.
That is the story, and not Mr Rudman's personal issues with me. But, as he made me the story, a few facts. Mr Rudman implied a conflict of interest because, he says, I hold pastoral and marine farming directorships. Wrong, on the first count. A quick Google search would have confirmed I have not been an Agresearch director for over 12 years.
And, a search of recent NZ Herald editions (August 25, 2012) would have uncovered a reference to a conference speech of mine critical of local government performance in failing to reverse degraded water quality from rivers flowing into the Hauraki Gulf. The primary cause being uncontrolled non-point source pastoral farming discharges.
On the second count, I am a director of a marine farming charitable company wholly owned by rural marae, whose distributions are made for marae maintenance and education grants. Not much of a smoking gun, so back to the real story.
The issue delaying commencement of substantive work on the joint marine spatial plan is agreement on the governance architecture. Through his selective references to internal Hauraki Gulf Forum email traffic, Mr Rudman attempted to paint the participation by mana whenua as a power grab.
Unfortunately, he omitted reference to the fact that Waikato Regional Council, government ministries and mana whenua all support a bespoke leadership entity having equal representation between government (central and local) and mana whenua. And, that the Hauraki Gulf Forum would also be represented on that entity.
But for Auckland Council agreement with this approach, the project would have been underway many months ago. So, what's the problem?
Several Auckland Councillors object to this level of mana whenua participation and have attempted to turn this into a debate over whether the Hauraki Gulf Forum should be in control rather than a partnership model.
The reality is that those in control are the Waikato Regional and Auckland councils as they have the statutory decision-making powers - not the Forum and not mana whenua.
Interestingly, those same Auckland councillors are not seeking to have the Hauraki Gulf Forum have a veto over Auckland Council decision-making on the Gulf.
The point of the partnership model supported by all key parties, other than several Auckland councillors, is that it will provide collaborative leadership for the process leading to final council decisions on the joint marine spatial plan.
The nettle is there to be grasped by Auckland Council to enable commencement of substantive work on a long awaited Hauraki Gulf marine spatial plan. The Fourth Estate can play its part too with focused and intelligent analysis.
Paul Majurey has been a Hauraki Gulf Forum member since its establishment in 2000.
Dialogue Contributions are welcome and should be 600-800 words. Send your submission to email@example.com. Text may be edited and used in digital formats as well as on paper.By Paul Majurey | <urn:uuid:1a54aab0-0893-41de-af9f-df82bc721565> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nzherald.co.nz/maori/news/article.cfm?c_id=252&objectid=10842880 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949456 | 889 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Top 10 Reasons to Attend
|Beauty & Art
Why does something strike us as beautiful? Explore the principles of symmetry, proportion, order, and the spiritual significance of beauty through Thomas More College’s Way of Beauty Program taught by baroque artist and icon painter, David Clayton. Walk amidst some of the greatest artwork in Italy while studying in Rome. Tour Rome’s baroque churches, palaces, galleries and historic sites, viewing masterpieces by Bernini, Borromini, Michelangelo, and Raphael, among others.
|Intimate Community Life
Friendships at Thomas More are lifelong. The small environment of our campus makes for a close-knit community of students and faculty. Classes, casual conversations, and contemplative afternoons reading together set the tone of a Thomas More lifestyle. Of course the students have fun too! Open-mic nights, football in the park, field trips to various concerts and operas, and school dances are a few of the extracurricular events.
|Great Books Program
The education that Thomas More College provides can be compared to the kind of intellectual life that flourished among scholars of the Middle Ages. Our Great Books Program includes studies in philosophy, politics, literature, theology, art, music, classical languages, and writing.
|Catholic Spiritual Life
The heart of Thomas More Life is the spiritual life that strengthens, guides, and inspires the academic and student life within the college. Daily mass, confession, rosary, the Liturgy of the Hours, and weekly adoration are all available to the TMC community. Students also have the opportunity to attend: various retreats at the Benedictine Monastery in Still River, MA, the March for Life in both Washington, D.C. and Boston, and pray in front of the abortion clinic in Manchester, NH.
Live in the Eternal City for three months! While studying in Rome, students visit ancient ruins, shop in open air markets, harvest olives, ride the city bus with the every-day Roman, sip cappuccino at a café and take weekend trips to Sienna, Florence, Assisi, Subiaco, and other towns in Italy. You will gaze at the Sistine Chapel, attend mass at St. Peter’s, and quietly walk in wonder amidst dozens of magnificent churches and chapels throughout Rome.
Walk in the footsteps of John Henry Newman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien during the College’s Oxford summer program, conducted by Catholic theologian Stratford Caldecott. In addition to reading the works of these renowned authors, students have the privilege to visit G. K. Chesterton’s private library, the Globe Theatre, the city of Oxford, and the English countryside.
|Low Tuition and Scholarships
Gain what observers have called one of the most solid educations available in America for the price some other schools charge just for room and board. Thanks to the generosity of donors and the sacrifices of its faculty and staff, Thomas More College is one of the most affordable private colleges in New England.
Prepare yourself for a vocation in journalism, publishing, or service to the Church by joining other Thomas More College students in the exclusive internships the College arranges with international news agencies, Vatican offices, Catholic publishers, and pro-life organizations.
The White Mountains and the seacoast are both within a few hours of the Thomas More campus. With four distinct seasons here in New England, TMC students make the best of the great and ever-changing outdoors by hiking, biking, canoeing, swimming, walking, running, skiing, and snowboarding. Boston, Concord, Lexington, and other historic cities are only one hour from the college, and offer places to eat, drink, and shop, in addition to exploring the history and culture of Revolutionary Massachusetts.
Expand your knowledge of different trades! Woodworking, farming and gardening, music, and icon-painting are all taught here to give students the opportunity to produce something that can be immediately used in the community. The intellectual life finds its fulfillment in human action, and so Thomas More students are taught to not only strive to excel in academics, but also to develop an appreciation for the simple beauty that comes from an artistic eye, a hardworking hand, and a good ear. | <urn:uuid:36292975-0ef8-4f43-97f1-23359db61152> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thomasmorecollege.edu/admissions/the-top-20-reasons-to-attend-thomas-more-college/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921452 | 904 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Running 1000km in 14 days. Ultrarunning or ultramadness? Andy Kenworthy looks at the punishing world of extreme long-distance running and talks to Kiwi devotees about why they do it.
Right now Mal Law is taking a break from everyday life as a business development manager living in Auckland and is heading for the west coast of England.
This conjures up relaxing images of cream teas and cider, until you hear that, at 52, he is planning to run just over 1000km in two weeks, over the rolling hills of the South West Coast Path. This means that on every day of his "holiday" he must complete nearly two off-road marathons while ascending the equivalent of Mt Taranaki.
It's not the first time he has done something like this. You may have enjoyed some of New Zealand's seven great mainland walks, such as the Abel Tasman, the Heaphy or the Routeburn. In 2009 Law enjoyed all of them, too, by running them one after another over seven days.
His shortest day involved running for seven and half hours, his longest lasted nearly 13.
And he's not the only one. Andrew Hedgman, a 25-year-old New Zealand-born ultrarunner, is currently running from Brisbane to Sydney: 1000km in 14 days. Three years ago he ran the length of New Zealand. Meanwhile, the Vibram Tarawera Ultramarathon, probably New Zealand's premier off-road ultrarunning event, now attracts nearly 300 happy customers each year: men and women who pay good money to line up in the dark and run up to 100km without a break.
The question is: why?
Running long distances goes way back. In his ultrarunning best-seller, Born To Run, Christopher McDougall theorised that humanity's ability to run long distances and refuel on the hoof developed into a vital "persistence hunting" strategy for running prehistoric prey animals to exhaustion.
The word marathon itself comes from the fabled Pheidippides, who died after running the message of victory to Athens from the battle of Marathon in 490BC. The Tendai School of "Marathon Monks" in Japan have reportedly been doing their daily rounds of up to 84km since 1585 and a Norwegian sailor named Mensen Ernst made a name for himself by claiming to have run from Paris to Moscow in just 14 days in 1832, averaging 200km a day.
This demonstrates two things: firstly, there are always a few mad people out there willing to try anything; secondly, the easiest answer to why some folks run a long way is simply because they can. But that doesn't explain what motivates people to push through the enormous pain involved, or, given that pain, the sport's growing popularity.
Alongside enduring the pounding ache of seemingly endless kilometres, Mal Law also managed to severely sprain his ankle last year on a solo training run in the Waitakeres and had to hobble his way out.
"There's a degree of mental toughness and bloody mindedness," he says. "I've always got niggles and there's no such thing as a pain-free run these days. I just think ultrarunners are good at using the top two inches of our bodies to battle through. I guess the main strategy I use is to break it down into small goals. You don't think about how far it is to the end, you think about the next aid station, next time you see the support crew, just getting to the next place to get water out of the stream. That way you have lots of little goals rather than one incomprehensibly big goal, that seems to make things easier to get through."
Some of these events are, of course, for charity. Law raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation doing the 7-in-7 in remembrance of his brother Alan, who died as a teenager from the disease. His latest odyssey is raising cash, some might say ironically, for the Mental Health Foundation. But speaking to him, it becomes clear why he chose this type of challenge and why he would probably be doing something similar with or without a cause to run for.
"I think it comes down to the fact that I get a huge amount of reward from it," he says. "I get reward from the physical gratification: taking on a big physical challenge and succeeding. It's also just a love of adventure that goes back to boyhood. My dad dragged me up mountains in Scotland and my reading was Swallows And Amazons. To me it's not so much about being competitive, it's about the adventure. And I love the camaraderie that comes from running these long distances, it creates some very special friends and special bonds."
Athlete and coach James Kuegler, on the other hand, is more of a competitive animal. He represented New Zealand in last year's Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra-Distance Championships, coming home in 14th place after running 54km in just under four hours. His marathon personal best is 2:37:53. But he shares a passion for ultrarunning with Law that borders on the spiritual.
"It's about getting out into the wilderness in New Zealand and fabulous places around the world that I would never see otherwise," he says. "And putting my body into that present-time consciousness state of just being at one and going through the process of running. There's a lot to be learned about the body and the mind from running for such a long period of time."
For New Zealand's international ultrarunning teams to do well on the sport's increasingly large world stage, they will need increasing support from the Athletics New Zealand's national organisation. But like any sport ultrarunning will also need a good number of grassroots events and plenty of participants to select from. Which is where events like The Vibram Tarawera Ultramarathon come in.
Created in 2009 by race director Paul Charteris, and organised in his spare time, the 100km event takes place on the established trail network between Rotorua and the timber town of Kawerau, where Charteris grew up.
From fairly humble beginnings, it now attracts a hoard of ultrarunners from New Zealand and overseas, and last year gained sponsorship from Vibram, the US footwear giant that makes the specialist "barefoot" FiveFingers running shoes beloved by many in the sport. It also attracted a guest star appearance from US super-runner Anton Krupicka, who has been setting course records and winning races all over the well-established US ultrarunning circuit since 2006.
The event's formidable growth is another testament to the sport's increasing popularity, which Charteris puts down to its "incredible simplicity".
"All you need to do is put your shoes on and head out of the door," he says. "Sixty kilometres is achievable by anyone who can run a road half-marathon. But you have got to work for it, which means you are excited and scared at the same time. There is a real palpable sense of achievement."
Obviously the right to skite over lesser mortals who have "only" done a marathon must come into it but it doesn't come easy. This year Law has averaged just over 100km of running a week, generally on tough, hilly trails around the Waitakeres, putting in anything from 15 to 20 hours a week. Even the least experienced ultrarunner I spoke to considers dragging himself out of bed at 4.30am every other Saturday to be the acceptable price he pays to pursue his chosen hobby.
Jason Rudkin-Binks is a partner in an Auckland law firm. Originally from Britain, his running addiction took hold when completing the iconic London Marathon turned out not to be enough.
"I always had the urge to do something a little bit more," he says.
"You meet a lot of people who have done a marathon. It was testing myself. Believing mentally I could do it. We so under-use our bodies at the moment that if you train hard there's very little that can't be achieved, it's just that most of us don't do that most of the time."
Upgrading from London parks to New Zealand's wide open trails inspired him to keep stretching himself, to the point where he has now completed the 85km version of the Tarawera course and has signed up for the full 100km next year.
"I am not superhuman and I don't train a massive amount. I think these events are very accessible to anybody if they are willing to put a reasonable amount of effort in and have the belief that they can do it if they try," he says.
"When I completed my first ultrarun I was so elated that I had managed to achieve this goal, it was an unbelievable buzz. It made me hunger to do more and go further. When you take that single step further it's really exciting to see how far you can go."
But perhaps most telling of all is not what happens at the big events but what happens to these people when they are on their own on those murky mornings out in the woods. Because if all these ultrarunners have one thing in common, it is that, ultimately, they run just for the love of running, as an end in itself.
"I remember going through a very dark spot on my first Tarawera," says Rudkin-Binks. "It was awful, I felt depressed, having spent all year pushing myself to do this one thing. The only thing that pushed me on was how gutted I would feel if I gave up. But running for me is like having my own personal shrink. In my busy life to disappear for four or five hours with just me and my music and to let go of all the demands on me is just absolutely wonderful. It's a mental holiday one day a week. You feel like a million dollars for the rest of the day."
The next ultrarunning event is the Great Naseby Water Race, near Naseby - the highest town (at 610m) in New Zealand, near Ranfurly - in August.
Ultrarunning (aka ultramarathon running) is defined as running any distance significantly longer than the 42.195km acknowledged as the "standard" marathon distance.
The latest wave of interest in ultramarathon running has been fuelled by two books that have become best-sellers worldwide.
* Ultramarathon Man: Confessions Of An All-Night Runner, by Dean Karnazes (Penguin, $19)
The thoroughbred show pony of the ultramarathon world, 49-year-old Karnazes has run 350 continuous miles through three sleepless nights, won the Badwater Ultramarathon by running 135 miles non-stop across Death Valley in summer, a marathon in Antarctica and a 322km relay race solo 10 times. His compelling book covers what he does, how he does it, and why.
* Born to Run: The Hidden Tribe, The Ultra-Runners And The Greatest Race The World Has Never Seen, by Christopher McDougall (Profile Books, $27).
An intoxicating combination of ripping adventure travel yarn and extreme sport biography, McDougall mixes the latest research and jaw-dropping insights into some of history's most amazing runners as he tries to track down a cure for his own recurring running injuries. Meanwhile, he gets caught up in a 80km wilderness race in one of the most dangerous places in the world, between some of the world's top ultrarunners and a tribe of Mexican super athletes.By Andy Kenworthy | <urn:uuid:0e1f854b-3e1b-441e-aabc-59e2b7a68056> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10815376 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970112 | 2,421 | 1.828125 | 2 |
CIB Media's selection
of documentary American military UNIT and CAMPAIGN history
books and videos is one of the largest available anywhere:
Army and Marine Corps division histories; Bomb Group
and Fighter Group histories; Naval Warfare and Warship
histories; Histories of America's major campaigns in
World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In addition, we are
adding new titles weekly.
TRENCH FORTIFICATIONS, 1914-1918: A REFERENCE MANUAL
This is a compilation of three manuals issued during the Great War on the subject of Field Fortifications; The French, German & American. All are in English. Part 1 : NOTES ON FIELD FORTIFICATIONS - The French Manual, shows that the French concentrated primarily on large earthern redoubts which accompanied their highly aggresive tactical doctrine.( this has 274 pages with hundreds of line drawings & plans ). Part 2 : THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIELD POSITIONS ( STELLINGSBAU ). Issued by the German Army in 1916. This manual shows the German penchant for fixed, permanent defenses, using concrete rather than earthen works. ( this has 68 pages and numerous line drawings & plans). Part 3 : NOTES ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF TRENCHES, April 1917, as issued by the U.S. War Dept. This shows that the Americans favored relatively light, hasty defences, which fitted their aggresive philsophy of attack. (this has 104 pp with many line drgs). | <urn:uuid:d7b51419-d0c2-4506-bcd4-545804b368e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cibmedia.com/main-group-detail-exact.asp?idgroup=military+reference&offset=0&id=BP-918 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909413 | 320 | 2.703125 | 3 |
It's a big, important problem, since anyone can edit an article on Wikipedia, and the site's millions of users, rightly or wrongly, view its articles as authoritative. So how does the volunteer-written online encyclopedia distinguish trust from anti-trust?
The site's backers at the San Francisco-based Wikimedia Foundation say it will use a fancy algorthm called "WikiTrust" that assumes that content from experienced writers is more likely to be accurate. Wikipedia itself defines "trust" as "a relationship of reliance," and that's what WikiTrust accomplishes, without going much further: It delineates "trustworthiness" without making any warranty of "factuality."
Wikipedia has long struggled to cast off its reputation as a "wild west" of facts. Sometimes there's too much information, sometimes it's misunderstood, and sometimes sources are eliminated altogether.
Recently, site leadership proposed a lockdown on biographical entries -- an arragement that might've spared the site some post-Ted-Kennedy vandalism.
WikiTrust also raises questions of transparency, after Wikipedia editors took the unprecedented step of repeatedly deleting factual information from an entry of a kidnapped reporter so as not to endanger him. With that Pandora's Box now opened, can we trust WikiTrust? | <urn:uuid:06e03280-adfb-4d31-8b20-84a2dce55bbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/tech/WIkipedia-Attempting-to-Quantify-Truthiness-56361807.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952333 | 254 | 2.859375 | 3 |
or proof of interbreeding in bones. He used a checklist of diagnostic features to rate a group of modern and ancient skulls from Europe and Australia as well as archaic H. sapiens from Africa and nearby. He then ranked them all in order of decreasing similarity. In an out-of-Africa scenario, the modern specimens should most closely resemble the archaic sapiens. Instead, Wolpoff found regional similarities-particularly between a 14,000-year-old Australian H. sapiens known as WLH50 and Indonesian "Ngandong" H. erectus specimens. That is as it should be, according to his regional continuity theory. The alternative, he says, means you have to believe "that people came from Africa, replaced the natives around the world, but then came to look just like the natives. And that, to me, is not a probable explanation."
Many researchers remain unconvinced that skull shapes can never resolve this debate. Todd Disotell, a palaeoanthropologist turned molecular evolutionist at New York University, points to the stout frames of cold-adapted Inuit and Andean natives as evidence of how malleable the human skeleton can be, over relatively short periods of time, in response to environmental pressures. "You can tell a lot from fossils about how a population behaved, what kinds of food they ate, and so on," he says, but regional similarities between fossils may simply come from similar adaptations to local conditions. Disotell's genetic analysis reveals that looks can be very deceptive. "I've found monkeys that looked nearly identical that were completely unrelated. Then I found other monkeys that looked completely different, who were the most closely related pairs," he says. "You cannot use these morphological cranial features to infer relationship. The only proof is in the genes."
Here, at least, the out-of-Africa camp feels it is on solid ground. Since the landmark Mitochondrial Eve study was published in 1987, most researchers have been convinced that our remarkably homogPage: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Related biology news :1
Contact: Claire Bowles
. Climate change plus human pressure caused large mammal extinctions in late Pleistocene2
. Lycopene slows human prostate tumour growth in mice and combined with vitamin E is even better3
. Most recent common ancestor of all living humans surprisingly recent4
. Wildlife Conservation Society hosts public symposium on human-wildlife diseases5
. Bronfenbrenner book sums up human development6
. No role for simian virus 40 in human pleural mesotheliomas7
. Sugar-coated sea urchin eggs could have sweet implications for human fertility8
. Serotonin metabolites in mollusks suggest pathways for human therapies9
. Wrapping a memory with an experience, capacity for recollection detected in non-human species10
. Viral suspect for amphibian decline traced to human spread through bait11
. Recent evolution at a single gene may have brought down heart disease risk in some human groups | <urn:uuid:678c4ce9-0702-45ca-a3a5-a141509d169f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-2/Halfway-human-10038-6/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941276 | 627 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Superman, also known as the Man of Steel, is one of the most powerful superheroes in the DC Universe. His abilities include incredible super-strength, super-speed, invulnerability, freezing breath, flight, and heat-vision. Born as Kal-El on the dying planet Krypton, his parents Jor-El and Lara sent him in a rocket to the planet Earth where he would be the last surviving member of his race. His rocket was discovered by the kindly Jonathan and Martha Kent, who raised him as their son Clark Kent in the town of Smallville, Kansas. His upbringing provided him with strong moral values, and life-long friends Lana Lang and Pete Ross. In his secret identity he works as a reporter at the Daily Planet in the city of Metropolis. This is where he interacts with his love interest Lois Lane, and his co-workers Perry White and Jimmy Olsen. His greatest nemesis is the brilliant super-villain Lex Luthor. To preserve the memory of his home planet and provide him rest from his double-life and adventures, he maintains a Fortress of Solitude at the North Pole. Superman remains proud of his dual heritage, taking seriously the lessons of his birth-parents and his adopted parents. Although he is an alien to this world, he heavily values his humanity, and fights with conviction for truth, justice, and the American way. There are several other heroes inspired by or directly related to his legacy, including Superboy and Supergirl. He is also a member of the Justice League of America and the Legion of Super-Heroes. | <urn:uuid:56018a83-8fcb-4145-964a-2c85de2b30a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Superman | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982361 | 319 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Asgar Ali is the second of the three sons born to Ali Zan in Uttar Pradesh. Asgar was sent to a madrassa like any other Muslim children for education. Asgar completed his tenth standard and began to work in a factory. At this time Asgar had peace-less and sleepless nights. Asgar became weary of the restlessness. There he began a journey to the source of true peace with many thorny and bumpy roads. Asgar, now a Christian apologist on Islam, shares his life transforming story with Jerry Thomas of Sakshi Times.
Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man instantly composed a song which became famous down the years. He sang: I have decided to follow Jesus. (3 times) No turning back, no turning back. Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children. As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife too.” But the man sang these words in reply: Though None Go With Me, Still I Will Follow (3Times) No Turning Back, No Turning Back . . . . . The World Behind Me, The Cross Before Me (3 times) No Turning Back, No Turning Back. He was shot dead like the rest of his family. But with their deaths, a miracle took place.
Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God ~ And His Righteousness ~ And All These Things Shall Be Added Unto You ~ Allelu, Alleluia ~ Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone ~ But By Every Word ~ That Proceeds From The Mouth Of God ~ Allelu, Alleluia ~ Ask And It Shall Be Given Unto You ~ Seek And Ye Shall Find ~ Knock And The Door Shall Be Opened Unto You ~ Allelu, Alleluia
When My Heart Is Overwhelmed - Hear My Cry, Give Heed To My Prayer - And My Eyes Are Dim With Tears - O Father, Make Them Clear - Lead Me To The Rock - The Rock That's Higher - Lead Me To The Rock That's Higher Than I - Lead Me To The Rock - The Rock That's Higher - Higher Than I
Everyday They Pass Me By, I Can See It In Their Eyes. Empty People Filled With Care, Headed Who Knows Where? On They Go Through Private Pain, Living Fear To Fear. Laughter Hides Their Silent Cries, Only Jesus Hears. People Need The Lord, People Need The Lord. At The End Of Broken Dreams, He's The Open Door. People Need The Lord, People Need The Lord.
Faithful One So Unchanging, Ageless One You’re My Rock Of Peace, Lord Of All I Depend On You, I Call Out To You, Again And Again, I Call Out To You, Again And Again - You Are My Rock In Times Of Trouble, You Lift Me Up When I Fall Down, All Through The Storm, Your Love Is The Anchor, My Hope Is In You Alone
- By Asgar Ali
- Published 04/10/2009
Isaiah 52:13 See, my servant will act wisely [b] ; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him [c]— his appearance was... | <urn:uuid:485ab25e-96e6-4897-80a7-405dfa6e54da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.southasianconnection.com/authors/175/Asgar-Ali | 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 | 0.919447 | 707 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Tuesday, April 20 2010 11:21 PM EDT2010-04-21 03:21:00 GMT
31 people are in trouble with the law after a three day prostitution sting in Richmond. Police told NBC12 they targeted specific areas where residents and business owners complained about the illegal activity.More >>
Thursday, May 23 2013 6:04 PM EDT2013-05-23 22:04:19 GMT
You'd never get her to admit it, but Nurse Nancy has done something big; something huge. It started as a simple idea after two major national tragedies hit back to back, the Boston Marathon bombing andMore >>
You'd never get her to admit it, but Nurse Nancy has done something big; something huge.More >>
CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Landscape designer Bill Cox, of Pots, Plans & Hands, has seen people make some pretty desperate moves to save their flowers from the heat.
"I wouldn't recommend getting an AC unit, putting it on your plant," he jokes. "That usually doesn't work. What you want to do is put some fingers in the soil."
It's like checking your plant for a pulse, and if it's dry, Cox says you should water right away…for longer than you'd think.
"People tell me all the time, oh, I watered it for like a minute," Cox says, "well, how much of that water actually entered the microspore space?"
That's the professional way of saying your plant's still thirsty.
"Make sure you fill up the pot and it starts trickle out the bottom. if you're not getting water coming out of the bottom of your pot you're not watering enough," Cox says.
Watering properly, he says, will save your flowers, even in triple digit temps. But what about your trees? Many are losing so many leaves right now it's like fall without the autumn colors. But Cox says don't stress.
"It actually may not be a big deal either," Cox says. "In these stress conditions what's going to happen is the outer canopy may start to desiccate and drop off. Inside that canopy, it's going to be a little cooler, more optimized for photosynthesis, and as long as that is operating normally, your tree is going to be fine." | <urn:uuid:36f07a07-0791-4ecb-83fb-222eda6ba7d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbtv.com/story/18959729/how-to-protect-your-plants-in-extreme-heat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968626 | 480 | 1.679688 | 2 |
*****+ The Pianist - deservedly received Oscars for Best Director, Roman Polanski, Best Actor, Adrien Brody, and Best Adapted Screenplay, Ronald Harwood. This extraordinary film reminds us once again of the despicable extermination of the Jews, this time in Poland, by the occupying German troops under the rule of Adolph Hitler. (The effect of total deafness achieved by the sound crew in one of the scenes in which a shell explodes is the most incredible audio effect I have ever experienced. That scene alone should have won an Oscar for best sound).
But while we were all feeling so smug at seeing Germany’s collective faces rubbed, once again, in this historical outrage, I could not help finding parallels in this country. I do not recall seeing a movie in which the systematic genocide of the Native American peoples was ever portrayed so vividly as the barbaric inhumane treatment of the Jews by the so-called civilized Germans. (The American victories over the Indians were always referred to in the history books as great, and just victories. But when the Indians triumphed in battle American history calls it a massacre!) And yet, 90% of the Native American population was wiped out by either American-introduced disease, or unprovoked murder. And our treatment of blacks, Chinese, Latin Americans has not been anything to brag about.
Sadly, what it all boils down to is man does not seem very well-equipped to deal with his fellow human beings. Tolerance of other people’s beliefs and race does not appear to be within our ability to achieve. Bad news for the human race, but good news for the movie makers.
A Jew in Placitas
***** Frida --- for art lovers and friends (rated R). The colors were mesmerizing, cast of top actors. You'll want to see it again.
*** ABOUT SCHMIDT Saw "About Schmidt" over the weekend. Good movie - not great, but enjoyable. I give it three and a half biscochitos.
***** ABOUT SCHMIDT Mr. Libman and I must have seen two different versions of this movie! The movie we saw had an outstanding group of actors (Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, et. al), a powerful script, dynamic acting, evocative set design, and all the things that make a movie rise to the top of the pack. My only question is: was this an advertisement for Winnebago?
***** The Hours Great movie. Outstanding acting - particularly from Ed Harris, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, and Nicole Kidman. Stephen Daldry's direction was incredible mainly because he took Michael Cunningham's novel (adapted by David Hare) and put together a very complicated film involving three different but somehow related plots. The thread for the stories of course was the Virginia Woolf 1923 novel "Mrs Dalloway".
Kudos for the genius who decided to utilize Phillip Glass' music for the background. His minimilistic themes were beautifully woven into the stories. Phil Glass - ya either love 'im or hate 'im. I love his music but am probably in the minority.
As to the acting, what can I say? The only question is to whom to give the awards - maybe they should all share them as an ensemble group. (The antithesis of these actors if I may digress is when Pia Zadorra played the part of Anne Frank in an off-Broadway production of "The Diary of Anne Frank". She was so bad that when the Nazis pounded on the front door all the audience yelled "she's in the attic".) Not so with these actors. All were outstanding. Best movie I've seen this year - and I've seen some good ones.
Thelma L. Mingus
***** Chicago I really enjoyed the movie "Chicago". This is my first attempt to write to a website so I hope you'll be kind and correct any mistakes. The movie "Chicago" is a period piece showing Chicago in the early 1920's. The three main stars were Richard Gere (who allegedly does his own dancing although I am not so sure), Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. They were marvelous. It was so nice to see a musical which is well-made. The music was awesome (but why is everything so loud these days? I was unable to hear clearly for days), and the director Rob Marshall did a superb job of cutting up and back during the musical scenes. The music which was written by Kander and Ebb was a big hit when it played on Broadway. I saw the musical on Broadway and I liked the movie as much as the play. | <urn:uuid:ef21a15b-33dc-4b12-8ac8-f4f7ba7b35bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sandovalsignpost.com/may03/html/movie_reviews.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970983 | 961 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Nøgne ø, I believe is the first craft beer brewery in Norway and would make any US microbrewery proud. They, led by Kjetil, have been making outstanding brews. They have been very open with the Homebrew community so much so that Kjetil described how to clone his beers in an interview with the Brewing Network to be made available as part of the “Can you brew it” podcast series. One such episode is on Nøgne ø Porter.
Kjetil and True Sake, in an effort to raise more funds for the Japan relief, put a full flight of Hadaka Jima up to the highest bidder. I was excited to hear about this because Kjetil’s sake is not yet available in the US for purchase and I have been watching his progress from the time he first signed the contract to buy rice from Hokaido. I quickly sent in my bid and sat back for what I expected to be around a month before the bid would be complete. As it turned out, I got lucky and won the bid. Now, with 6 Hadaka Jima in my refrigerator I am ready to see what Kjetil and his team have created. I am really excited.
The rice used for these brews is Yamada-nishiki, Ginpu or both, all with a 70% seimeibuai.
First up: House Yeast, a Yamahai Genshu Muroka Shiboritate Nama Junmaishu. That is quite a mouth full as is the sake itself. Many here will know what this is but not all so let’s go over what this means. Yamahai is the moto style used for this sake and entails cultivating bugs early in the process to produce lactic acid that will later protect the sake from other bugs as it ferments. Genshu means that it is full strength, so no water has been added to lower the alcohol level below the level from the ferment itself. Most sake has water added to bring the alcohol level down to around 16%. Muroka means that the sake has not been charcoal filtered. Shiboritate means that it is a fresh pressed run. Basically, in this case the sake was pressed and quickly bottled without spending time conditioning. Nama, means that no pasteurization was done on this sake. Finally, Junmaishu means that this sake was made only with rice, koji, water. Yeast and lactic acid can also be added and still be a Junmai (pure rice) sake. However, in this case neither have been added. The rice in this brew is 15% Yamada Nishiki and 85% Ginpu.
I love that all the stats are on the bottle as well as on the Nøgne ø web site. Given that they are available I won’t repeat them here.
Side rant: It seems like more and more sake for sell in the US are putting fewer stats on the bottle. Experts agree that these stats can be misleading and hence should not be encouraged. I don’t disagree about how misleading some of the stats can be but no stats leave nothing except the prettiness of the label to use for deciding what to buy. I WANT THE STATS ON EVERY BOTTLE! OK, rant over.
This sake is a mouth full, not only based on that long description above but a literal mouth full, full bodied, sweet but not cloying. There is a hint of pine, no, spruce tips. Warming from the high alcohol content (19%). Strong aroma but I cannot pick out the specifics, very much like my own brews though. While it is a bit on the sweet side, I like it and none will go to waste.
Second up: YK70, Junmai Nama Genshu Muroka. This brew is all yamadanishiki at 70% seimaibuai. Its aroma is a little lighter than the House Yeast but very similar. It is sweet at the front, then out of nowhere, bamb it attacks you all through the middle and then finishes nicely with none to much sweets in the back. I like this one a bit more than the first mostly because it’s dryer with a nihonshudo of -1.
I don’t see the stats for this one on the Nøgne ø web site, so I will give them here: yeast #9, sando 3.0, amino sando 1.7 and 17% alcohol.
Third up: Nama Genshu. Yamahai Genshu Muroka Shiboritate Nama Junmai shu. In this case all the descriptive words match those of House Yeast. And here as well it is listed as using naturally occurring yeast just as House Yeast does. However, this one is considerably more in your face. There is some hint of spruce tips but it is not quite as strong as it is in House Yeast. Maybe more of a candy coated spruce tip. Its very sweet but the sweetness does not seem cloying. In fact, as Yuli, my wife pointed out it has a pretty strong bitterness. The bitterness helps to balance the sweetness and keeps it from being cloying. As with House Yeast, the rice in this brew is 15% Yamada Nishiki and 85% Ginpu.
Forth up: Yamahai Motoshibori, Yamahai Genshu Muroka Shiboritate Nama Junmai-shu. Again, all the descriptive words match. However, this one is 100% Ginpu rice. Noticeably sour on the front, some in the middle and hangs around in the back sides of the mouth. A bit like white wine but not as dry (I guess there are sweet white wines but I don’t drink them). My initial thought was that this is too sour and not very nice. After a few more drinks though, the sourness seems to dissipate a bit and a little of the sweetness comes through making it kind of nice. I like it.
Fifth up: Junmai, Yamahi Muroka Junmai-shu. The first non-genshu. The aroma is similar but lighter with less acid on the nose. More conventional, and a little on the sweeter side. Nihonshu-do is -1 but having a lower acidity than the previous ones it seems a bit sweeter than it is. A fine sake much more conventional than the rest.
Interestingly, when I unscrewed the cap, the plastic from the top of the cap was lodged in the neck of the bottle. It seems that maybe the cap had been screwed on with too much force, literally cutting the plastic circle out of the lid and forcing it down the neck.
Last up: the Nigori, Yamahai Nigori Nama Junmai-shu. This is probably my first nigori that was either yamahai or nama so this is really something different for me. It is not smooth but very chunky and separates out quickly. I don’t tend to appreciate nigori like some do but this is not like most of the nigori I have had. It is not sweet! It is extremely lively, tingly on the tongue. The characteristic that is most prevalent is its nama-ness. The dark color, off white, and the chunks on the side of the glass are a bit off-putting. Nothing wrong here though.
Well, this is quite a showing by Nøgne ø. The team there in Norway has put together a wonderful flight of unusual sakes. | <urn:uuid:ab4daac4-76c1-426f-947e-ec3332bfa209> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://homebrewsake.com/home/2011/09/03/the-sake-hadaka-jima-%E8%A3%B8%E5%B3%B6-naked-island-%E2%80%93-n%C3%B8gne-%C3%B8-does-sake/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968634 | 1,605 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Gardening Answers Knowledgebase
Search Results for ' Phalaenopsis'
PAL Questions: 1 - Garden Tools:
I have a question about a Phalaenopsis orchid. The orchid is a year old and at the top of last year's flower stalk has grown a new set of leaves as well as roots. Can this be cut off and re-rooted? Also, after the blooms fade, do you cut the stalk off and if so, how far?
Here is some information on propagation Phalaenopsis, from a commercial orchid grower:
"Phalaenopsis can be vegetatively propagated by cutting the flowering stem above a stem internode, the dormant growth 'eye' is covered with a triangular sheath. Cut, with a hot knife or shears, through the flower stem after the last flower has fallen. Then move the plant to a dimmer area. In most cases, new plants will start from the dormant 'eyes.' After the new plants initiate, the mother and 'keikis' (babies) can be move gradually back to higher light. When the keikis have 2-3 roots, the keikis can be removed, by slicing between the stem and the keiki, or cutting the stem above and below keiki's attachment point. The new plant can now be potted up and grown on. If more flowers are desired, cut the stem as above, but do not move the plant. In the second method, the mother plant is topped. As a monopodial plant, Phals continue to grow vertically. In time, they discard their lower leaves. The leaves have served as a storage vessel of water and nutrients. The leaves have outlived their usefulness and are discarded. New roots are produced above the leafless stem, as the Phal continues growing vertically. The stem can be cut below the new roots. The top part, with leaves and roots, can be repotted after proper care of the cut. The remaining stub can be left as is, for a few days/weeks. Soon, new little plants will be found growing out of the old stub. These keikis can be repotted in the same manner as the first method. They will grow on and eventually bloom. If left on the stub, they will often bloom sooner, than if individually potted."
The web site for Easy Orchids illustrates this propagation technique.
You may find the following links to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden useful for general directions on orchid care. Here is an excerpt: "Some species will also produce plantlets on the flowering spikes, complete with leaves and roots. These small offshoots can be pruned and planted, but keep in mind that transition from plantlet to flowering specimen is a long process requiring several years and lots of patience." Here is another helpful link from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden website.
As for what to do with a spent flower stalk, here is what the Royal Horticultural Society recommends: "A flower spike can continue to bloom for up to three months. Once faded, cut the spike just above the second node (joint) beneath the spent flowers, and a flowering sideshoot may develop."
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April 19 2012 16:02:30 | <urn:uuid:8cf8123d-1627-4d3d-bfcf-354247f066b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/resources/resource_search.php?term=2641 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928195 | 709 | 2.625 | 3 |
By Bill Hackwell. Correo del Orinoco.
This week Venezuelans commemorated the 10th anniversary of the attempted coup d’état against democratically- elected President Hugo Chavez in April 2002 with a series of events ranging from street demonstrations to media workshops and public debates.
The activities, sponsored by an array of public institutions and social organizations, drew attention to the destabilization efforts of the Venezuelan opposition while at the same time reflecting on the only time in Latin American history when an overthrown leader was brought back to power through spontaneous grassroots mobilizations.
“We must not forget the danger that fascism represents for any society”, Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua said of the coup during an interview with Telesur on Tuesday.
The Vice President went on to remind viewers of the “determining role” that the private media played in the opposition’s efforts to establish a right-wing dictatorship in the country and haled the heroic actions of the Venezuelan people in overcoming the coup.
“We as a people...overcame a coup d’état supported by the government of the United States and Spain as well as other governments on our continent.
They were defeated peacefully by the strength of the people and our patriotic soldiers”, Jaua affirmed.
THE EVENTS OF APRIL 11-13, 2002 Although the genesis of what occurred in April 2002 cannot be attributed to any one factor, analysts generally point to two major laws passed by presidential decree in late 2001 as the catalysts for the events that followed.
The first was Venezuela’s Land Law, which saw the initiation of a radical new agrarian reform process based on the government’s redistribution of fallow state lands illegally held by private owners.
The second was the enactment of the Hydrocarbon Law, which prompted greater executive control over the oil industry and broke the grip maintained over Venezuela’s most important and most profitable natural resource by a small group of wealthy plutocrats.
While the left-leaning Chavez had always maintained an antineoliberal discourse in his campaigns and his push to re-write the nation’s constitution and provide greater services to the poor marked a break with the status quo, it wasn’t until the former military leader directly threatened the interests of the Venezuelan upper class through these two laws that the political divisions in the country began to assume violent overtones. Enter Coordinadora Democratica (CD), the opposition’s umbrella organization backed by Washington, that took up the task of organizing the anti- Chavez population into a consolidated political front determined to oust the incumbent president from power by any means necessary.
Through a network of funding sources that included the US State Department, National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) and a variety of foreign and domestic supporters, CD pooled together Venezuela’s oil aristocracy, employer-controlled unions, and the private media to incite an uprising against the then 47- year old Chavez.
A series of general strikes spearheaded by the corrupt Venezuelan Confederation of Workers (CTV) in collaboration with the national chamber of commerce, Fedecámaras, took place from December 2001 to April 2002, accentuated by numerous street protests and a steady diet of anti-Chavez propaganda emanating from the overwhelmingly privately-controlled media landscape.
The stage was thus set for April 11, 2002 when a protest called by the CD to take place at the state oil company, PDVSA’s, headquarters in Caracas was quickly diverted towards the presidential palace of Miraflores where opposition leaders had arranged to post snipers in nearby high-rises.
With a clash eminent between pro and anti-Chavez groups gathered in front of the palace, the snipers opened fire, killing over a dozen Venezuelans on both sides.
Through a series of audiovisual manipulations and outright lies, private television stations used the violence to distort the events, accusing the Chavez government of firing upon unarmed demonstrators when in fact the gunshots had been carefully orchestrated by the coup’s plotters.
Upon surrounding Miraflores, opposition activists and military defectors threatened to bomb the palace if Hugo Chavez refused to resign. Although the head of state never signed a resignation, he surrendered to the subversives to avoid further bloodshed while Pedro Carmona, the head of Fedecámaras, was installed as the de facto president.
The nascent dictatorship would be short lived, however, as thousands of residents descended the next day from the shantytowns surrounding the capital demanding the return of the democratically elected Chavez to office.
With the palace surrounded by government supporters, members of the presidential guard retook Miraflores and Hugo Chavez was re-installed as Venezuela’s rightful president less than 48 hours after being taken hostage by the opposition. FROM COUP TO PRESENT While a handful of those responsible for the massacre that occurred on April 11 2002 have been prosecuted and are currently behind bars, other members of the Venezuelan opposition involved in the planning and execution of the coup including Pedro Carmona have successfully fled the country.
In December 2007, amnesty was granted to a number of those behind the plot to overthrow the Chavez administration, but last Tuesday, the country’s highest legislative body, the National Assembly, revealed the names of some of the conspirators who continue to openly exercise political functions.
One of those members of the Venezuelan right-wing is the current opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, who according to socialist congressman Dario Vivas, “was one of the principle actors” of the coup, assisting in the “harassment of journalists, political leaders and generating chaos in embassies and in [the state television channel] Venezolana de Television”, he imputed. Specifically, government supporters have been quick to point out the role that Capriles Radonski played in violent siege of the Cuban embassy in Caracas during the coup attempt.
“Can someone who assaulted an international embassy be president of Venezuela?” Vice President Jaua asked rhetorically during his interview with Telesur on Tuesday.
Other opposition political figures who played an active role in the installment of the briefly lived right-wing dictatorship in Venezuela include congressional representatives Maria Corina Machado, Enrique Mendoza, Julio Borges, and Miguel Angel Rodriguez as well as Vice Presidential candidate Leopoldo Lopez.
Source: Correo del Orinoco | <urn:uuid:5328e49d-5383-4837-84f1-be7ee7d705cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_64439.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956559 | 1,330 | 2.328125 | 2 |
These thoughts will be slightly shaped by the Tikanga Pakeha presentation which suggests our theological college offers a school, formation and bicultural site in three Tikanga context.
So here are my random thoughts for this morning.
I see the theological college as a place that offers training for key people who will help our church engage with our missional task, and discern god’s ongoing mission in our society. So this is two groups, those who will work within the structure primarily to help it focus more outward, and those who will be the point persons for our developing missional work beyond the traditional edges of church, who will be much less interested in keeping the church going, and more interested in living out God’s infinite love for all people in a way that brings them into that love, and allows them to develop worshipping communities that honour their cultural context as well as the gospel. (Ok, this is very wishy washy and pie in the sky, but hey, it is morning)
Primarily for me that means the formation for young leaders:
- Formed in the biblical story and text;
- Formed in the Anglican tradition, including the three Tikanga nature of that tradition in this place
- Formed as people of mission (as opposed to people of pastoral care)
- Formed as people with a robust and disciplined rhythm of life (which allows for people to be shaped by god’s love, and to be live according to the rhythms and cadences of God, and to live out of that base rather than our own dreams and strengths)
I see the theological college s being a place that offers good academic and practical courses on bible and biblical theology, theology, church history, and practical papers on mission and pastoral practice.
I would hope that people who leave the theological college have spent time in missional practice, reflecting on that and the place of their academic study in that missional practice. (Phil’s idea of a mentor would be good here) I would also hope that those leaving the theological college are able to provide leadership and resourcing for missional ministry among all ages, but specifically children young people and their families, and that if they can’t then this is seen as a failure of what is offered. | <urn:uuid:3e92e792-7a6b-443f-95ae-05686ec0d497> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://colourfuldreamer.blogspot.com/2011/06/place-of-our-theological-college-in.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973474 | 467 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The Mission of Residence Life at Westminster College
The mission of the Residence Life program at Westminster College is to contribute to the development and education of students by creating inclusive communities in which students can:
- feel safe to explore new ideas
- be challenged to relate to others with respect and compassion
- be supported in self discovery
- be supported to solve problems autonomously
Rooted in the Westminster College mission, the mission of the Residence Life program supports the academic endeavor of students. Further, the Residence Life program supports the quest for excellence that Westminster College espouses for all students. To this end, the following are learning outcomes for students involved in the Residence Life program:
Knowledge acquisition, integration, and application
Students will learn life skills and will be able to connect classroom learning to real life experiences.
Civic Awareness and Engagement
Students will learn to contribute to and affect positive change within individual communities and the world at large.
Students will learn about self through reflection, learn about others through collaboration, and develop communication skills to connect the two.
Diversity Awareness/Cultural Competence
Students will discover that their unique experiences, beliefs, values and culture affect the way they see the world and others in it.
Students will participate in programs, processes, and leadership opportunities that assist in the development of their sense of spirituality, purpose, worldview, and authentic identity.
EXPERIENCE PEOPLE - CHALLENGE PERSPECTIVES - DISCOVER PURPOSE | <urn:uuid:92a21c67-5766-4da9-8800-3a89448b370e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.westminster.edu/student/reslife/reslife_mission.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907138 | 305 | 2.28125 | 2 |
I could buy one. You can find a cheap one for around 200 US dollars. But what would be the fun in that?
Additionally, Percussionists are notoriously protective of our instruments (As all musicians should be). The problem is drums and mallet percussion instruments like the Marimba and Timpani are very large, very expensive, and about waist high. So other non-percussionists frequently mistake them for tables.
This Djembe is going to fix that problem by doubling as a table. This is an easy fix, all you have to do is place a glass top on it.
First you have to decide what "build" means to you. To me it means carve up a tree myself.
However, if you prefer you can buy ready made djembe shells from suppliers such as African Rhythm Traders. If this is the best option for you, you can skip the next few steps of the instructable. However this instructable will focus on making the shell, and I'll refer you to some other sources for tying the ring knots and verticals.
Step 1: Identifying a Tree
In my search, I looked for a tree which had already fallen.
The advantage is, half the work is already done for you and the lumber has already started drying (more on that later). The disadvantage is worms. If the tree has been down for some time, worms will have already started decomposing the material by burrowing holes in the material. This can be fixed later, so don't let that scare you.
Regardless of the tree's condition, try to get material from as close to the base as possible. For one, the diameter is larger, which will allow for a larger drum. Two, the "heart" of the tree is bigger (see pictures). I suggest you section off 2 or 3, 40 inch lengths to make your drum out of. 40 inches leaves plenty of work room and the additional logs can be used to make more drums, or as backup material. | <urn:uuid:abf69725-da3c-4aae-a8df-2cf23b89b02c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-Djembe-and-End-Table/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976842 | 412 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Stream Video From Your Mobile Phone
Mobile video streaming technology is changing the world. Well, at least the world of video and how it can be shared online – and instantly! Streaming tools run on a few different platforms that enable users with strong networks and a data plan to share their video in the moment and keep a copy in their user account – which you will need to set up in advance. With an account comes a user profile page, similar to a YouTube profile page, where you can select your settings, describe who you are and enable people to find and download your content.
There are quite a few noteworthy features that some of the providers offer. In particular you are able to:
- Indicate if your video is public or private
- Geo-tag your content to document your location
- Time-stamp your content in an indisputable fashion
- Make your media embeddable and downloadable by others on the internet
As more ‘smart’ phones and robust networks are introduced and become accessible to more people, streaming video will be a more viable option for mass participation. However, it has been and is being used in creative and effective ways to support social change campaigns. The following are two brief examples and ideas to spark your imagination.
Streaming video from an action or an event
Activists and groups have used streaming video from phones and even their computers’ web cams to show supporters their actions in real-time. Smart tactics include inviting supporters to visit their website at a certain time to see what they and their supporters were doing to pressure their targets – often with an air of mystery by using email alerts and messaging that alluded to what was going to happen but just enough to ensure their supporters would come. In addition to reengaging their supporters and keeping them updated and inspired with the campaign, streaming video can help drive actions to build email lists and garner more attention.
Case Study: Streaming video to get news out from censored areas
Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) continues to be one of the most innovative grassroots organizations, successfully integrating online tools and video to raise awareness and pressure key decision makers.
During the 2008 Olympics in China, SFT worked to bypass the censorship and barriers to getting news coverage and focus on their actions within China to spotlight the campaigns to Free Tibet. Their innovative and multi-tool approach showed the potential of integrating new and old online and mobile tools – including a 24-hour live streaming video from six different cities around the world to cover their actions in Beijing – while keeping the focus on their campaign and supporters engaged. Additionally, they would stream video from their phones while actions took place to ensure the visuals got out and the story was heard.
What’s Next? Safety and Security
Every situation is unique and comprised of a plethora of considerations that you will asses to determine your personal safety, which is clearly what is important. Another consideration is the safety and security of those that are in your footage – how may they be negatively impacted if they are identified. WITNESS, an international human rights organization that trains activists how to use video for advocacy, has a host of comprehensive guides that cover these topics in-depth.
RESOURCES for streaming video from your phones:
- QIK enables you to share live video from your mobile phone. For general information about qik, check out the FAQ – section. Here you can find a list of supported phones and this section might help you if you’re encountering problems when using qik!
- With Flixwagon you can also broadcast live video from your phone to the web, plus keep videos for later and stream to your blog. This site will help you to find an answer your questions!
- Finally, you could watch short introductory videos to both companies here – this will help you determine the best possible option for your needs! | <urn:uuid:f0f0cbb1-3c81-4483-af10-39ccc447cc77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://videoforchange.wordpress.com/3-film/filming-with-your-mobile-phone/stream-video-from-your-mobile-phone/ | 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 | 0.954594 | 782 | 2.15625 | 2 |
(The following information is also available at the official Project Lead The Way website.)
Project Lead The Way (PLTW) prepares students to be the most innovative and productive leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and to make meaningful, pioneering contributions to our world.
PLTW partners with middle schools and high schools to provide a rigorous, relevant STEM education. Through an engaging, hands-on curriculum, PLTW encourages the development of problem-solving skills, critical thinking, creative and innovative reasoning, and a love of learning.
The PLTW middle and high school STEM education programs give students a brighter future by providing them with a foundation and proven path to college and career success in STEM-related fields.
STEM education is at the heart of today’s high-tech, high-skill global economy. For America to remain economically competitive, our next generation of leaders must develop the critical-reasoning and problem-solving skills that will help make them the most productive in the world. PLTW sparks the ingenuity, creativity, and innovation within all of our students.
The Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Biomedical Sciences and Engineering programs offer students an array of advantages, from career readiness and hands-on experience to college preparatory-level classes, labs, and creative exercises. PLTW students succeed in the classroom and in life.
Our programs are designed to appeal to all students, from those already interested in STEM-related fields, to those who experience in the sciences and math has been less comprehensive or who find themselves uninterested in traditional STEM curricula. PLTW classes are hands-on, based in real-world experience, and fun for students and teachers. We set the highest standards for rigorous, focused, and engaging study, developing students’ innovative, collaborative, cooperative, and problem-solving skills.
Our relationship with teachers, parents, local and national business leaders, and university partners allow us to offer a complete experience both for students wishing to pursue a secondary degree in a STEM-related field and for those planning to join the workforce after high school.
STEM literacy reduces dropout rates, increases attendance, and helps students find better-paying jobs after school.
PLTW helps create better students, better teachers, better learning environments, and a better world.
- PLTW is a comprehensive, turn-key program with a quick turnaround time and support for smooth and efficient implementation, whether you’re starting up for the first time or introducing new courses.
- All course materials and equipment are selected by PLTW experts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and are provided for in each program. Teachers and students use the latest state-of-the-art equipment found in robotics, biotechnology, electronics, civil engineering and architecture, engineering design, and aerospace.
- PLTW.org gives educators 24-hour access to information, sourcing, and purchasing.
PLTW is a true curriculum based on a tried-and-true pedagogy.
- Offered full year and multi-year for middle and high schools, both the Biomedical Sciences and Engineering tracks dovetail with current class offerings.
- Curricula include standards, learning outcomes, sequence and schedule, problems, projects, integrated activities, assessments, and support.
PLTW provides professional development and support.
- Teachers receive comprehensive training from a PLTW partner university.
- Training gives teachers full proficiency regardless of previous experience.
- PLTW’s Virtual Academy for Professional Development updates teachers through an online repository of information and references.
- PLTW also offers counselor conferences to provide high school guidance counselors with a clear understanding of the program and how it fits within a student’s scholastic/academic career path.
PLTW Biomedical Sciences Curriculum
The sequence of high school courses in the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Biomedical Sciences program parallels the proven PLTW Engineering program. The initial program includes four courses, all aligned with appropriate national learning standards.
- Principles of Biomedical Sciences: Students explore the concepts of human medicine and are introduced to research processes and bioinformatics. The course is designed to provide an overview of all the courses in the Biomedical Sciences program and to lay the scientific foundation necessary for student success in the subsequent courses.
- Human Body Systems: Students examine the processes, structures, and interactions of the human body systems to lean how they work together to maintain homeostasis (internal balance) and good health. Students work through interesting real world cases and often play the role of biomedical professionals to solve medical mysteries.
- Medical Interventions: Students investigate the variety of interventions involved in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease as they follow the lives of a fictitious family. These interventions and showcased across the generations of the family and provide a look at the past, present and future of biomedical sciences.
- Biomedical Innovations: In this capstone course students apply their knowledge and skills to answer questions or to solve problems related to the biomedical sciences. Students will design innovative solutions for the health challenges of the 21st century.
Sylvia Oliver, PhD
Shep Siegel, PhD Director of School Engagement, WA and AK E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Phone: 206-619-8806
Joan Kingrey, PhD
K-12, Business & Community Outreach
PO Box 1495
Spokane, WA 99210 | <urn:uuid:76f976ea-6a29-457d-8a6a-d6fda10ac0d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://spokane.wsu.edu/researchoutreach/pltw/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909266 | 1,118 | 3 | 3 |
Industry Management Major
The TECH major is available to students who matriculated at Kellogg in Fall 2011 or earlier.
Technology is transforming both consumer products and the day-to-day operations of the companies that produce. Leading firms often stay ahead of the competition with innovative products and procedures, yet there is a well-documented digital divide between managers who can harness the power of technology and those who cannot. The Technology Industry Management (TECH) major equips students to manage technology and innovation and provides them with an in-depth understanding of how enterprise technologies can make businesses more successful.
"Horizontal" courses expose students to the fundamentals of enterprise technologies, management of technology projects and portfolios, innovation management, and technology strategy, while "vertical" courses focus on the managerial challenges in creating and marketing technology products and services. The major is useful for students who wish to work as product managers in technology companies, consultants in strategy consulting firms or as entrepreneurs. It is also useful for future general managers who will sponsor initiatives involving enterprise technology or new technology products and services. | <urn:uuid:fa758ec9-9db5-450a-abc0-294530a799b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academic/tech/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934038 | 216 | 1.710938 | 2 |
“The technologies that we are working with are truly revolutionary,”
AVISO Energy has yet to release exact details regarding the date and location of the visit or any demonstrations. They are working with the State Department to secure the necessary visas and the scientific community to set up credible demonstrations. But, they pledge to publish the dates as soon as they are nailed down and maintaining that transparency is central to the goals of this visit.
“Our purpose is to introduce Ismael and our technologies to the world,” says Sherman. “That won't be achieved with a secret meeting in a closed laboratory with a hand-picked audience.” The company plans to have the product demonstrations well attended by the scientific community and the public, and intends to stream video on its website, http://www.AVISOenergy.com.
Attracting investment is another stated goal of the visit. AVISO Energy has been privately funded up to this point, but has acknowledged the need for increased financing to take their products from prototype to distribution. Individual investors and firms are both likely to be in attendance.
“This visit will be the beginning of an energy revolution for America and the world,” says Sherman. “We truly believe that when people see our technology at work, they will realize that they are witnessing a shift in our understanding of what is possible.”
# # #
AVISO Energy is an alternative energy research, development, and marketing company that discovers potential solutions to tomorrow's energy needs and makes them a reality today. Keep up with us at http://www.avisoenergy.com and http://facebook.com/ | <urn:uuid:fcd01418-87a2-4006-adec-459dc1f7f662> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prlog.org/11700072-aviso-energy-bringing-ismael-aviso-and-his-technology-to-the-usa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962138 | 338 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Don LeLillo in the Wall Street Journal, 2010:
It's tougher to be a young writer today than when I was a young writer. I don't think my first novel would have been published today as I submitted it. I don't think an editor would have read 50 pages of it. It was very overdone and shaggy, but two young editors saw something that seemed worth pursuing and eventually we all did some work on the book and it was published. I don't think publishers have that kind of tolerance these days, and I guess possibly as a result, more writers go to writing class now than then. I think first, fiction, and second, novels, are much more refined in terms of language, but they may tend to be too well behaved, almost in response to the narrower market.
Kurt Vonnegut in the 1977 Paris Review interview:
INTERVIEWER: Should young writers be subsidized?VONNEGUT: Something's got to be done, now that free enterprise has made it impossible for them to support themselves through free enterprise. | <urn:uuid:5f1012ff-d88c-41f2-97a7-496ad1c5dd9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chadtaylormarginalia.blogspot.com/2010/02/cookie-full-of-arsenic.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989198 | 219 | 1.609375 | 2 |
On this edition of OPEN FORUM we look at how cars can potentially become dangerous machines when they are operated by someone who shows faulty judgment. Driving while angry and irrational can result in a loss of life.
As Cpt. Albert Della Fave of the New Jersey State Police explained to OPEN FORUM, the occurrence of road rage on our highways is common and for most of us it has become an acceptable part of driving.
OPEN FORUM spoke to a young woman, Jessica Rogers, who experienced the wrath of ROAD RAGE on our highways. Jessica's father, Scott and her mother, Terry dealt with and overcame great adversity, we hear their firsthand account of this tragic story.
Unfortunately, Jessica's experience is a common occurrence for most of us. | <urn:uuid:cb958230-eca4-4151-901c-f7a2bbdd0a48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ebrutv.de/en/genres/NewsSports/Open-Forum/episodes/2/201-road-rage-on-our-highways | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965297 | 156 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2003 August 7
Explanation: What's wrong with this picture? The summer night sky is clear, and moonlight illuminates the dome of the Hale 200-inch Telescope at Palomar Observatory, northeast of San Diego, California, USA. The familiar stars of the Teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius shine above the dome and to the right. In fact, the only thing wrong with the picture is that the observatory dome's two massive shutters are closed tight ... on a clear night. This extremely unusual situation is a precaution prompted by the presence of airborne ash and smoke from wildfires in the area on July 17 which could have damaged the historic mirror's aluminum coating. Amateur astronomer Greg Redfern notes that this year has been a particularly bad one for observatories and wildfires, with the Mt. Stromlo Australian Observatory disaster and fires also threatening telescopes on Mount Lemmon near Tucson, Arizona.
Authors & editors:
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U. | <urn:uuid:b65c7ca3-ff5b-4142-878c-753ff7fda64c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030807.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910749 | 268 | 3.09375 | 3 |
It's A Dog's Life
What do we mean when we say ?Oh, It?s a Dog?s Life??
Maybe it?s because the ideal dog?s life is to have nothing more than a warm bed, to be fed regularly, and know that there is at least one human who cares and loves them. Or, is it that some dog?s are left out in the cold... literally!
Knowing that you care for them, your dog is always delighted to welcome you home. A happy face, a wagging tail, in fact his whole body movement cry out ?Hi, I?m so pleased to see you!?
When it comes to the sleeping arrangements, some dog owners may allow them to sleep in the same room. This suits a dog just fine, since dogs are pack animals and sleeping in the same area keeps the pack together.
In today?s society, dog?s have become completely dependent on the human family. When treated properly, they will give total loyalty and so much more in return.
They need to know who is the leader or ?Alpha Dog?. This is important to a pack animal, since he will naturally try to be number-one, which can become an ongoing battle if not confronted as a puppy.
Owning a pet is a lifetime commitment and not a decision to be taken lightly. This could be compared to raising children, which is always for better or worse? and definitely does not involve a local shelter after a few months. Always think about your decision thoroughly beforehand. It is not good enough to claim that you don?t want them any more or just plain changed your mind. Make very sure you know what you are letting yourself in for and how much your life WILL change!
A pet dog can improve your life in many ways, both mentally and physically. Having a dog around is a great way to relax when you?re feeling tense or stressed. They seem to know when you are feeling low and try their best to help.
Take them for a long walk or go and play ball in the park. The fresh air will do you both the world of good, it will clear your thoughts and take way the stress of the day. Watch your dog play with vigor and vitality, with not a care in the world, except to please their master.
Feeling lonely or depressed? Your dog is more tuned into you than you think and will be a faithful devoted friend. They will sense how you are feeling and try to let you know that you?re not alone... in their own dog-like way!
With a dog around, there will always be those magical moments to remember, Maybe it?s their mannerisms or antics that bring a smile to your face and ultimately a warm glow in your heart.
They find it easy to break the ice when meeting strangers?without speaking a word! Treating them with love and respect means they will communicate with us easily, forging a bond of unconditional trust.
Observing and learning about that special bond, allows you to understand the precious gift of friendship they have to offer.
Respectful training needs to start from day one and they will grow to be a happy, contented and loyal companion for years to come. You will become all that matters to them and they will be a pleasure to have around, mixing well within the community and loved by all.
Then there is the other end of the scale. This is where a dog?s life can be very unhappy and very miserable... not loved or cared for properly. Be honest, we?ve all seen dog?s that are poorly kept. They are the ones living out their life on the end of a chain in a cold lonely backyard with the occasional scraps thrown out for them!
Their life is a sad continuous ?yearning? to have companionship, kindness, love and care. Their lack of training and control leaves them totally confused, not sure who is boss or even what is expected of them. Just think, next time you hear a dog barking endlessly, it?s their cry of sadness, loneliness and a plea for help... all they want is to be part of that home?s ?human pack?.
A dog asks for nothing more than being our best friend and to make our life a better one. They don?t know or ask why... they just do!
So, when considering buying that dog, remember to take him into your family in the true sense and be his best friend... because he will certainly be yours!!
Now, back to that statement??Oh, it?s a dog?s life?? Maybe it?s as simple as this... knowing your place in life, leads to contentment? given the opportunity, your dog will show you how with ease!
About the Author: Shirley Purdy is the creator of a popular dog birthday party website. Find a wealth of dog party themes, recipes, games, treats and our party planner at http://www.dog-birthday-parties.com | <urn:uuid:c1d1065d-62b4-4d01-97ad-a63af22ff9c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.roseindia.net/articles/dog-life-dog.page | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966826 | 1,029 | 2.171875 | 2 |
That as controversial as Obamacare may be to some, on balance it is actually positive. Richard Gephardt, a Democrat and a former House majority leader, acknowledged that the issue is a lightning rod for some, but said that it’s always better when you grow access.
And on Monday, one speaker described Obamacare and its reimbursement policies, saying that “there is a baby in that bathwater: payment reform.” (Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has repeatedly vowed to repeal Obamacare, even though recently Romney did acknowledge that he would keep some parts of the law.)
Laura Adams, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Quality Institute recalled her experience as a nurse early in her career when she accidentally gave a medication overdose to a 7-year-old who almost died. Adams, who is a breast cancer survivor, talked about transforming healthcare by moving away from a system that pays for the wrong things.
“Healthcare is the only industry that bills people for defects and pays people to fix them,” she said Monday, in probably one of the most lucid, simple analyses that called for payment reform.
She added that the type of error that she made was just waiting to happen. In her case, by the time she gave the medication to the child after reading the prescription, it had been hand transcribed six times.
Meanwhile, providers are now being forced to take responsibility for errors given that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has decided not to reimburse hospitals for their own errors related to hospital-acquired infections. Starting Oct. 1, the agency will penalize hospitals for excessive readmission rates.
[Photo Credit: freedigitalphotos.net] | <urn:uuid:2609597b-fde9-46e0-983e-2c69168aaae9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medcitynews.com/2012/09/dont-throw-out-payment-reform-baby-with-obamacare-bathwater-says-speaker-at-mayo-clinic-conference/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976068 | 340 | 1.53125 | 2 |
The race for the United States presidency is on. As of Tuesday, January 4, 2012, the results of the Republican Presidential Primary are in. The Iowa Caucus has concluded, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney edged out U.S. Senator Rick Santorum by eight votes.
According to Iowa poll data, Romney got 30,015 votes (24.6 percent), Santorum received 30,007 votes (24.5 percent), Ron Paul received 26,219 votes (21.4 percent), Newt Gingrich received 16,251 votes (13.3 percent), and Rick Perry received 12,604 votes (10.3 percent).
When considering the probable winner, one should note that in the history of America’s 44 presidents only 12 have been elected who were not U.S. Senators, governors or vice presidents.
The late political scientist Dr. Ronald Walters would ask, “What does this mean for Black people?” Iowa’s population is 2.1 percent African American. Notwithstanding groups like the Black Republican Association and the Black American Political Action Committee (BAMPAC), less than 12 percent of Black people traditionally vote Republican.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, African Americans make up roughly 13 percent of the total 308 million people in America. With the implosion of Herman Cain’s campaign, which lacked a connection to the community, an important question is raised: Who will articulate the interest of the African American community from within and external to the Republican campaigns?
With immediate January primaries underway, African Americans’ percentage of the total state population tells a story of numerical influence. On January 10, New Hampshire’s .7 percent African American population will vote; South Saturday, January 21, 28.9 percent African Americans; on January 31, Florida has 14 percent African Americans. In 2012 the time is here to place pressure on the political environment in America for what is in the best interest of African Americans.
Let’s take a closer look at the origins and nature of the views of the senator from Pennsylvania and presidential candidate Rick Santorum. He claims to be concerned for working families after he was influenced by the death of his grandfather with big hands who worked until the age of 72 in Pennsylvania coal mines.
According to his campaign website, Santorum was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990 at the age of 32, and from 1995 to 2007 served in the U.S. Senate. In 2000, he was elected by his peers to the position of Senate Republican conference chairman. He and his wife of 21 years are the parents of seven children, and his only book to date, It Takes a Family, advocates “traditional family values.”
Santorum also touts that he “helped author and was floor manager of the landmark Welfare Reform Act which passed in 1996 that has empowered millions of Americans to leave the welfare rolls and enter the workforce.”
His now infamous statement is controversial: “I don’t want to make Black people’s lives better by giving them someone else’s money. I want to give them an opportunity to go out and earn their own money, and to provide for themselves and their family. And the best way to do that is to get the manufacturing sector of the economy rolling again.”
This statement provides a glimpse into the heart and mind of this candidate. He shares the view of former House Speaker (during the time of the Welfare Reform Act) and now-presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich the candidate recently stated that “he would go to the NAACP and urge Blacks to demand paychecks, not food stamps.” I wonder if these candidates are unaware of the fact that African Americans have been seeking an equitable paycheck for their labor, jobs with livable wages, and justice since arriving on America’s shores, before the Emancipation Proclamation, and every day since.
As the manufacturing base shrinks in America, are we not in the Information Age? Are these candidates unaware of the fact that current economic growth engines include technology, medicine, medical care, equitable financing for small businesses, and education for the 21st century?
Do they have any African Americans on their advisory councils? If so, who are they, and how connected are they to the African American community?
When Gingrich met with Donald Trump, he did not pre broadcast the meeting. He simply had it. Most people know how to reach NAACP President Ben Jealous in Baltimore, MD at the International Headquarters. The NAACP is listed in the phone book and online at www.NAACP.org. Mr. Gingrich should simply call and request a meeting, like he did with Trump.
Is Mitt Romney more attuned to the voice and message of the African American community? To what degree did he engage African Americans as governor of Massachusetts?
African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop John Hurst Adams, an African American, outspokenly called Mormonism “a cult.” Don Harwell, a Mormon spokesperson and president of the Genesis Group of Black Mormons, believes that the Mormon Church is outreaching to African Americans. It is a well-documented fact among religious leaders that there is a schism between African Americans and the Mormon Church, which, by the way, openly discriminated against them until 1975. Where religion and politics divide, Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney’s politics are the true question for the political arena.
In short, regardless of the front-runner status of the particular Republican presidential nominees, one thing is clear: Our “permanent interests” are to be articulated by us, for us, and with the complexity of us in mind. To that end, the public discourse should be influenced by us as well.
Dennis B. Rogers, Ph.D. is a graduate of the Howard University Department of Political Science where he majored in political theory and Black politics. He was a friend, colleague and student of Dr. Ronald Walters. He resides in Washington, D.C. and can be reached at www.DennisBRogers.info or via email at Dennis.Rogers.PhD@gmail. | <urn:uuid:2478c445-ca9e-4629-85b6-740b42af419c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/2012/01/11/leading-gop-candidates-lack-connections-to-blacks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961495 | 1,259 | 2.875 | 3 |
US 4222745 A
A composition of matter comprising a mixture of (1) finely divided silica containing adsorbed potassium dichromate and (2) a polymeric adhesive material. The composition is particularly useful as an indicator for detecting the leakage of sulfur dioxide from cells and batteries.
1. A composition of matter having a paste-like consistency comprising a mixture of (1) potassium dichromate adsorbed on finely divided silica and (2) a silicone rubber.
2. The composition according to claim 1 in which the amount of potassium dichromate adsorbed on the silica ranges from about 3 to 5 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of silica and the amount of silica containing adsorbed potassium dichromate ranges from about 20 to 60 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of silicone rubber.
3. The composition according to claim 2 in which the silicone rubber is a polydimethylsiloxane.
4. The composition according to claim 2 in which the silicone rubber has the following formula: ##STR2## wherein n is an integer having a value such that the molecular weight of the silicone rubber ranges from about 1000 to 4000.
5. A method of detecting the leakage from lithium-sulfur dioxide, lithium thionyl chloride or lithium sulfuryl chloride cells of sulfur dioxide or sulfur dioxide generated by leakage of precursor materials, said method comprising the steps of applying to surfaces of the cells a composition yellow in color and having a paste-like consistency, said composition comprising a mixture of (1) potassium dichromate adsorbed on finely divided silica and (2) silicone rubber; and observing the composition so as to detect any color change therein, a change in color from yellow to bluish-green indicating leakage of sulfur dioxide or precursor materials.
6. The method of according to claim 5 in which the composition comprises about 3 to 5 parts by weight of potassium dichromate per 100 parts by weight of silica and about 20 to 60 parts by weight of silica containing adsorbed potassium dichromate per 100 parts by weight of silicone rubber.
Potassium dichromate (0.50 g) was dissolved in 250 ml of distilled water. To this solution there was added 15.0 g of finely divided silica, a product of Cabot Corp. sold under the trademark Cab-O-Sil. The resulting slurry was stirred overnight during which time potassium dichromate was adsorbed by the silica. The thick yellow slurry obtained was poured into sheets and allowed to dry overnight. Thereafter, the material was collected and ground into a powder. A sample of this yellow powder changed to a dull blue-green color upon exposure to sulfur dioxide.
A run was conducted in which 0.30 g finely divided silica containing adsorbed potassium dichromate, prepared as described in Example I, was dispersed by mixing in 1 g of a silicone rubber. The silicone rubber used, which was white in color, was a product of General Electric Company identified as RTV 102. The resulting mixture was yellow in color and had a paste-like consistency. The mixture was spreadable and when spread as a thin layer the silicone rubber cured through its acetoxy end groups. Upon exposure to sulfur dioxide, the yellow layer was transformed throughout to a blue-green color, indicating that the composition was sufficiently porous to allow the sulfur dioxide to permeate it and contact the adsorbed potassium dichromate. After storage for several weeks under ambient conditions, the composition remained blue-green in color, indicating that an irreversible color change had occurred.
From the foregoing, it is seen that the composition of this invention is an effective indicator for sulfur dioxide. Because of the nature of the composition, it can be readily applied to the casings of cells and batteries which may be subject to sulfur dioxide leakage or to leakage of precursors that generate sulfur dioxide. The composition thus makes it possible to provide an early warning of hazardous conditions that exist because of the presence of sulfur dioxide so that appropriate remedial action may be taken.
As will be evident to those skilled in the art, modifications of the present invention may be made in view of the foregoing disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This invention relates to an indicator for detecting leakage of sulfur dioxide from cells and batteries. In one aspect, it relates to a method for detecting sulfur dioxide leakage from cells and batteries.
Loss of sulfur dioxide from lithium-sulfur dioxide cells and batteries has been found to produce hazardous conditions. Thus, it has been proven that use of a defective Li-SO.sub.2 cell or battery creates an explosive and possibly a shock-sensitive condition. Leakage from cells and batteries containing thionyl chloride (SOCl.sub.2) and sulfuryl chloride (SO.sub.2 Cl.sub.2) may also cause a dangerous situation as a result of chemical reaction with moisture to produce hydrochloric acid and sulfur dioxide.
Indicators have been previously used with certain systems to warn of exposure to adverse conditions such as electrolyte leakage and high temperature and humidity. For example, litmus paper has been utilized as a warning device for potassium hydroxide electrolyte leakage from nickel-cadmium batteries. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,785,959, there is disclosed a colorimetric method of determining the concentration of sulfur dioxide in a fluid medium in which siliceous gel granules impregnated with an ammonium or alkali metal vanadate is contacted with a sample of the medium.
It is an object of this invention to provide a composition of matter that is particularly adapted for detecting the leakage of sulfur dioxide from cells and batteries.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for detecting the leakage of sulfur dioxide from cells and batteries.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the accompanying disclosure.
The present invention resides in a composition comprising a mixture of (1) potassium dichromate adsorbed on finely divided silica and (2) a polymeric adhesive material. The amount of potassium dichromate (K.sub.2 Cr.sub.2 O.sub.7) adsorbed on the silica generally ranges from about 3 to 5 parts by weight of K.sub.2 Cr.sub.2 O.sub.7 per 100 parts by weight of silica. The amount of silica containing adsorbed K.sub.2 Cr.sub.2 O.sub.7 usually ranges from about 20 to 60 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of polymeric adhesive material. The composition has a paste-like consistency so that it can be readily applied to vertical as well as to horizontal surfaces.
In preparing the composition of this invention, the K.sub.2 Cr.sub.2 O.sub.7 is added to distilled water while stirring to produce a yellow solution. The finely divided silica is then added to the yellow solution while continuing to stir for a sufficient length of time for the K.sub.2 Cr.sub.2 O.sub.7 to be adsorbed on the silica. The stirring period can vary within rather broad limits, but a period of about 2 to 12 hours is usually sufficient to accomplish the desired adsorption. The amount of water used is only that which is sufficient to obtain a stirrable slurry. At the end of the stirring period, water is removed from the slurry so as to obtain silica containing adsorbed K.sub.2 Cr.sub.2 O.sub.7. In a preferred procedure for removing the water, the slurry is poured into pans and the resulting sheets of material are allowed to dry at room temperature. It is also within the scope of the invention to heat the material, e.g., at a temperature ranging from 100 C., to expedite removal of the water or to separate the water by vacuum filtration. The dried silica containing adsorbed K.sub.2 Cr.sub.2 O.sub.7 is collected and ground into a fine yellow powder. The K.sub.2 Cr.sub.2 O.sub.7 adsorbed on silica is next thoroughly mixed with a polymeric adhesive material to form the composition of this invention.
To ensure the effectiveness of the composition as a sulfur dioxide indicator or warning system, it is usually preferred to employ an adhesive which is white or transluscent. Also, the adhesive is one that cures at room temperature upon exposure to atmospheric moisture. Examples of suitable adhesives include silicone rubbers which are well known polymers that can be obtained from commerical sources as white or transluscent, paste-consistency materials. It is often preferred to utilize polydimethylsiloxanes as the polymeric adhesive material. A silicone rubber that is particularly preferred is one having the following formula: ##STR1## The subscript n is an integer having a value such that the molecular weight of the silicone rubber ranges from about 1000 to 4000. The silicone rubber has a paste-like consistency which cures to a tough, durable resilient rubber on exposure to atmospheric moisture at room temperature. The material cures through the acetoxy end groups, releasing small amounts of acetic acid vapors during the cure. To impart a white color to the silicone rubber, titanium dioxide filler in an amount ranging from about 25 to 75 weight percent can be mixed with the material. Silicone rubbers available from General Electric Company under product designations RTV 102 and RTV 112 can be used with advantage in the practice of the present invention.
In carrying out the method of this invention, the composition, prepared as described above, is spread, e.g., by means of a spatula, onto the battery or cell casing. The composition is usually spread on the casing at locations where leakage from the lithium-sulfur dioxide, lithium-thionyl chloride or lithium-sulfuryl chloride cells are most likely to occur, e.g., around or near the seals, weld points and vent mechanisms. Sulfur dioxide leaking from a cell or sulfur dioxide generated by leakage of precursor materials on contacting the composition changes its color from yellow to a bluish-green. By observing the composition and determining if a color change in the composition has occurred, it thus is possible to ascertain rapidly and conclusively whether hazardous battery conditions exist.
A more comprehensive understanding of the invention can be obtained by referring to the following illustrative examples which are not intended, however, to be unduly limitative of the invention.
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States for all governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty. | <urn:uuid:322f737e-ea05-4b2a-a4b3-d184a592208c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.google.de/patents/US4222745?hl=de | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928708 | 2,215 | 2.046875 | 2 |
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Tag Archives: Local Food
FUSION Food Live! Halifax, June 11th, 12-4pm
[ June 11, 2011; 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. ] FUSION Food Live!, is an exciting event celebrating and promoting the benefits of local, sustainable food options, will be held Saturday June 11 from 12-4pm at the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market.
The event will feature Chef Richard Julien of ChefLive! (http://cheflive.ca) who will show participants how to prepare a delicious dish [...]
Local Food Blog
Check out the local food blog of the Ecology Action Centre for recipes, news and views about eating local in Nova Scotia http://adventuresinlocalfood.wordpress.com/
Eating Locally in the Winter
Although many farmers’ markets in Nova Scotia are seasonal, there are a number of farmers’ markets that are open year round, offering storage vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, kale and squash as well as sprouts, eggs, meats, fish and prepared foods.
Check out the following farmers’ markets for a local menu! :-
Wolfville Farmers’ Market
Lunenburg Farmers’ Market
Spirit of Nova Scotia, Local Food Award
Congratulations to the Lunenburg Farmers’ Market for winning the Spirit of Nova Scotia, Local Food Award, 2010! | <urn:uuid:5bf77f68-3f7e-4411-844f-00403e1b5852> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://farmersmarketsnovascotia.ca/tag/local-food/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90479 | 288 | 1.65625 | 2 |
The Value of Education
Investing in education is the single most effective means of reducing poverty.
Girls and boys who learn to read, write and count will provide a better future for their families and countries. With improved education, so many other areas are positively affected. In short, education has the power to make the world a better place.
Click on a circle to learn more
Education is more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. It is one of the most important investments a country can make in its people and its future and is critical to reducing poverty and inequality:
The impact of investment in education is profound: education results in raising income, improving health, promoting gender equality, mitigating climate change, and reducing poverty.
Here is a breakdown of the impact of education on people's lives:
Education is the key to unlocking a country's potential for economic growth:
The most effective investment for achieving long-term health benefits is educating girls and women. Girls' education is often the single most powerful factor affecting health outcomes such as infant mortality, maternal mortality, the propensity of mothers to seek modern birth options, the availability of those options because more and better trained birth attendants are available, the rate of risky teenage births, and the number of children she will have.
Education is key to women's rights, self-expression and civic engagement:
Education has an impact on many other areas such as: | <urn:uuid:67e1abed-9614-4070-9f36-5453f5fcd148> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalpartnership.org/who-we-are/the-value-of-education/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955327 | 285 | 3.59375 | 4 |
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Ministry of Agriculture says it will be providing $200 million in addition to fertiliser and other inputs in order to assist farmers who were severely affected during the passage of Hurricane Sandy last week.
Minister of State in the Ministry, Ian Hayles, made the commitment yesterday, during a tour of several farms in the parish of Portland, to get a firsthand look at the damage sustained during the recent hurricane.
Estimates indicate that close to 31,000 farmers across the island have been affected by the hurricane, with some 3,000 hectares of crops affected. The damage to the country’s agricultural sector is estimated at close to $2 billion.
“In terms of the budget within the Ministry of Agriculture, we are doing some reallocation, anywhere between $150 million to $200 million, in terms of starting the process of assisting the farmers across this country,” Hayles said.
In addition, he informed that his ministry will be procuring fertiliser and planting material for farmers especially in the eastern parishes, noting that these are some of the most important things needed at this time.
The state minister said that Government will also be looking to cut interest rates in order to allow farmers to get back into production as soon as possible.
Hayles said that measures are also being devised to assist banana farmers, who have not been contributing to the Catastrophe Fund. The fund was set up in 2007 to help with the speedy recovery of the island's banana industry in the wake of natural disasters.
“We know that some of the banana farmers and farmers in general are not under the Catastrophe Fund. One of the things is that we are also meeting with the European Union (EU) in terms of getting some funds, over $10 million, in terms of subsidising those farmers, who are not under the Catastrophe Fund,” he said.
He assured that those farmers, who have been contributing to the Catastrophe Fund will be dealt with “early and efficiently.”
In the meantime, Hayles is encouraging farmers to contact their local Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) office to report any damage sustained.
“The role of the Government, in terms of the Ministry of Agriculture, is to be proactive going forward. I am appealing to all the farmers, come to the RADA office, find your extension officer, let us have correct, proper documentation (of the damage sustained). It is critical... that we have a report that is fulsome that we can start executing in terms of distribution,” he said. | <urn:uuid:e62e166a-9ccb-48cf-bd65-2e61dbba88df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Agri-ministry-to-give-farmers--200m-assistance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966823 | 534 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Configuring SSL under Apache
With a secure web server, clients can connect to your server secure in the knowledge both that it is who it claims to be and that the transaction is well-encrypted so their data is safe. The best way of doing this is with Apache 2, the leading Linux web server software, and Secure Sockets Layer, a secure communication protocol. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the successor to SSL, but they work in basically the same way. I'll refer from here on just to SSL.
[ Read more ]
By subscribing to our early morning news update, you will receive a daily digest of the latest security news published on Help Net Security.
With over 500 issues so far, reading our newsletter every Monday morning will keep you up-to-date with security risks out there. | <urn:uuid:b4700506-fb4d-4fb2-a1c2-cf0597cf4a69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.net-security.org/news.php?id=15793 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923322 | 166 | 2.21875 | 2 |
A Boulder-based startup developed out of the University of Colorado received a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CU officials announced Thursday.
Mobile Assay Inc. -- a company developing technology that integrates mobile devices, test strips, geo-tagging and cloud computing to assess effects from seed-borne pathogens -- was the winner of the Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges Exploration Round 9 grants. More than 80 of the $100,000 grants were awarded Thursday.
Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative funded by the Gates Foundation, invests in early stage "bold ideas" that have the potential to solve problems in developing countries.
As a result of the grant, a team at Mobile Assay will pursue a research project titled "A Lab on Mobile Device Platform for Seed Testing."
Led by Don Cooper, Mobile Assay's co-founder and an associate professor in CU's psychology and neurosciences department, the team initially plans to target Botrytis, a fungus that destroys crops, and also aflotoxins, which can contaminate seeds during storage.
The team places to use Mobile Image Ratiometry to analyze images, quantify the infection levels, compile "push pin" maps and share the results via cloud computing, officials said.
Mobile Assay's technology "will ultimately allow farmers in developing countries to identify and track pathogens infecting seeds and share their data, which could improve crop yields and prevent crop losses," Cooper said in a statement.
CU is the exclusive licensee to Mobile Assay's technology and also has an equity stake in the firm.
Cooper could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Contact Camera Business Writer Alicia Wallace at 303-473-1332 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:0d133c6c-77d9-4878-8123-7ea295b54992> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailycamera.com/business/ci_21904602/mobile-assay-boulder-startup-and-cu-spinoff-receives | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930737 | 357 | 2 | 2 |
Sixty-two suits. Toni Thomas and I came up with that number after several days counting spacesuits and flight suits on stepladders in the Environmental Storage Room, Building 24 (ESRB24) at the Paul E. Garber Facility. These were the pressure suits in the National Air and Space Museum spacesuit collection that still needed soft, conservation-correct storage mannequins. That was June 2009. Amanda Young had just retired after the successful publication of her and Mark Avino’s book Spacesuits: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Collection. The book culminated fifteen years of hard labor on her part to document, reorganize and standardize the preservation, storage and exhibit conditions for the Museum’s spacesuit collection. It had grown out of Amanda’s work along with Lisa Young to study and preserve first the Apollo suits, and then the Gemini spacesuits through grants received from Save America’s Treasures, Hamilton Sundstrand and the Smithsonian Women’s Committee. What Amanda had left behind were the suits that either were not part of those collections, or had not come back from loan in time for formal treatment and preservation. My task as new curator of the collection was to inspect these suits, verify information that could be found on them from the accession records and insert soft, conservation correct supports inside them to prevent further damage.
When I took over the spacesuit collection, I found that my predecessor’s work was a dual edged sword. She had managed a remarkable percentage of the collection to a very high standard. Dates of acquisition at the National Air and Space Museum, delivery to NASA and construction at the contractor were entered into the collections database system. Mark Avino had taken studio photographs of each of these objects. Ron Cunningham of the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute and Mark had put together x-ray images of some of the suits in the collection. It was left to me to bring these remaining suits to this level of documentation. Given the amount of time that I had to devote to the collection, the prospect of completing this job seemed to be one instance of guaranteed lifetime employment. However, there was also looming talk of the move to a new storage facility at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. My original goal was to make sure that every suit had an internal support and a clear identity and accession number before it moved into storage at the Udvar-Hazy Center.
In principle, this was a good way to get to learn the collection. I planned to devote one day per week on the collection. There were several suits that were returning to the Paul E. Garber Restoration Facility from loan and more objects in the collection that were slated to head out to other museums on loan. Taking into account that activity and holidays, leave and travel, I anticipated that I would average completing fewer than one suit mannequin per week under the best possible scenario. My assumptions were based on the full cooperation of the Collections Processing Division, who would not only have to move suits from the ESRB24 to secure storage in another building, but would also have to supervise my work in a secure artifact storage area. To my delight, I received the full support of Liz Garcia, chief of the Collections Division, and her staff to work on my project. Lars McLamore authorized Carl Bobrow to oversee my work and arrange for all object movement. Samantha Snell was awarded a Collections Care and Preservation Grant to do condition assessment surveys on a large portion of our small objects. Subsequently, Carl was able to hire a contract photographer who could take pictures as Samantha’s contractors completed their work. To make matters even better, chief conservator Malcolm Collum hired Lisa Young last fall. Now I had access to all her knowledge that she had gained working on the Apollo and Gemini suits with Mandy Young. And Carl even found a wonderful volunteer for me, Dr. Robert Chambers, a retired pathologist, who was interested in sharing the work on making the mannequins.
We are now down to four suits. The next steps will be to match all those extraneous suit components that are not attached, determine precisely where they belong, and plot out a storage arrangement for the suits.
Cathleen Lewis is a curator in the Space History Division of the National Air and Space Museum. | <urn:uuid:9109fd31-5652-4a5d-a81f-73e2795a8957> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.nasm.si.edu/behind-the-scenes/a-curator%E2%80%99s-preamble-to-a-move/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973984 | 880 | 1.664063 | 2 |
SAGE Applauds Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) for Introducing a Bill that Would Expand Supports to LGBT Older People through the Older Americans Act
Bill includes proposals for specifying LGBT elders as a population in "greatest social need" and permanently establishing the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, among other amendments.
[New York, NY]
Among the bill’s proposals for the OAA is an amendment that would specify LGBT older adults as a population in “greatest social need,” as well as an amendment that would permanently establish the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, which provides LGBT cultural competence training to aging providers around the country. Other amendments include a proposal to increase funding for research and programs aimed at LGBT elders; a proposal to require long-term care ombudsmen to collect data relating to discrimination against LGBT older adults; and a proposal to enhance reporting requirements from area and state agencies on aging on their services to LGBT older adults.
"SAGE applauds Sen. Michael Bennet for his visionary leadership and for introducing these important amendments to the Older Americans Act. LGBT older adults face profound challenges that require unique services and supports, and this bill is a major step forward for elders in every part of the country," said Michael Adams, executive director of Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE).
If enacted, the bill’s amendments would do the following:
- Include LGBT older adults as a vulnerable population with greatest economic and social need as a result of a lifetime of discrimination;
- Permanently establish the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, the country's first and only technical assistance resource center aimed at improving the quality of services and supports offered to LGBT older adults;
- Improve data collection and analysis on the effectiveness of the state units on aging and the AAAs in targeting services to LGBT older adults;
- Require long-term care ombudsmen to collect and analyze data relating to discrimination against LGBT older adults in long-term care settings; and
- Prioritize research and development grants for organizations working to improve LGBT health, long-term care needs, and access to culturally responsive services.
While the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act is expected to take place in 2013, aging leaders have been steadily voicing their support over the last two years for making the OAA more responsive to LGBT older adults.
In July, the Administration on Aging issued guidance that empowers AoA-funded aging providers to consider LGBT older adults as a population of “greatest social need”—paving the way for increased services that can significantly improve their health and well-being.
And in April 2010, the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, a 65+-member association comprising the country's leading aging organizations, released its official "Consensus Recommendations for the 2011 Older Americans Act Reauthorization," and included eight recommendations specific to LGBT older adults.
SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) is the country's largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in New York City, SAGE is a national organization that offers supportive services and consumer resources to LGBT older adults and their caregivers, advocates for public policy changes that address the needs of LGBT older people, and provides training for aging providers and LGBT organizations through its National Resource Center on LGBT Aging. With offices in New York City, Washington, DC and Chicago, SAGE coordinates a growing network of 22 local SAGE affiliates in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Learn more at sageusa.org and lgbtagingcenter.org. | <urn:uuid:a4bef40f-797e-4a96-a26f-b1d5b4d6b4a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sageusa.org/newsevents/release.cfm?ID=58 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952974 | 752 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Mrs. Fixit: Reusing T-shirts
June 10, 2012 (WPVI) -- T-shirts and tank tops are one of those things that just seems to multiply left and right. I have a few clever ways to clear out the closet and reuse those shirts!
How about wall art? Stretch t-shirts over frames and secure in the back with staples or tacks. Instant art that your kids can really appreciate!
You could also make a pillow cover. Turn the shirt inside out and fold the sleeves and collar in, securing with pins. Leave the bottom open.
Sew a few quick seams to box out the collar and sleeves and then flip the shirt right side out, slip the pillow inside and fold the bottom in place. Then sew a seam across the bottom.
To make this a no sew project, simply place a pillow form inside the shirt and fold away the sleeves and collar and knot off the four corners hiding the "holes."
Make a tote bag from your tank tops by turning them inside out and pinning the bottom seam together to hold it in place. Then, run a new seam along the bottom edge.
Turn the tank inside out and the sleeves make instant handles for your tote!
To embellish any of these projects, take strips of an old t-shirt and twist them into simple flowers and sew or glue them in place!
For a full tutorial on the flowers - check me out on the web! I'm Mrs. Fixit and it's just that simple!
mrs. fixit, mrs. fixit
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Art in social context
There is a lot more to the murals that make the temples of Tamil Nadu so special.
ROYAL PATRONAGE: Sri Pundarikaksha Perumal temple at Tiruvellarai had several paintings obliterated later. Photo: M. Moorthy.
Where has the expertise of the Chola and Pallava artists gone? The Nayak paintings have moved away from the realism of the previous era and get a `folkish' appearance reminiscent of the Jain manuscript paintings style. They are in turn replaced by the calendar art of our times. Why was there this movement towards an emphasis on the apparel and accessories of the subject rather than on the human form and a "realistic" style? An interesting perspective to this question was given by Dr. Job Thomas, Director, South Asian Studies Program, Davidson College, in a recent lecture organised by the Prakrithi Foundation in Chennai.
The talk was an opportunity to see a selection of Dr. Thomas's collection of slides of paintings, many of which today have been painted over completely. Jain paintings of the Pallava dynasty in Sithanavasal - the detail of a lotus bud with one of its petals folded has a photographic quality. The artist has spent time detailing the delicate tints and hues of the petals.
The list was in a way a scroll of shame beautiful works obliterated forever by well meaning devotees. In this context should be mentioned the temples of Patteeswaram and Thiruvellarai whose painting have vanished. The professor, however, gave a social context to art.
The primary, if not sole, sponsors for art in the Pallava and Chola times was the King who saw no threat to his reign nor had the time to go into details. This meant artists had more time to display their expertise.
A painting of Pundarikaksha Perumal. PHOTO: R. M. RAJARATHINAM.
The Nayak times saw patrons becoming less royal and composed more of local chieftains who presumably wanted the artist to `get on with it quickly.'
This caused the style to serve the purpose of narration (most paintings have explanatory scripts) rather than reflect the artist's expertise of technique. Today's artist probably doubles up as a painter of politician cut-outs and his style, and that demanded by today's devotee is reflected in the garish calendar art temples have today.
Yes, we need to see art in the light of its social context but the slides of what we have lost will hopefully inspire future temple renovators to steer clear from `defacing' gopurams with enamel paint and painting over the few frescos we still have. The School of Art in Chennai has done some work in this area but much more needs to be done.
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Empty the CD/DVD drives..Even if you donít intend to use it, donít leave any CD/DVDs as leftovers in the drives. A spinning drive sucks battery power like a sponge..
RUN DOWN does mean let it go until laptop goes to sleep and beyond, but not totally dead.
If in doubt test you mobile phone, if you let it discharge until it switches off then charge it you will get longer use than previously where you partially discharged and recharged.When the battery reaches "empty", the computer is forced into sleep mode. The battery actually holds a reserve beyond "empty", to maintain the computer in sleep for a period of time. Once the battery is truly exhausted, the computer is forced to shut down. At this point, any open files could be lost. Therefore, it is important that you find an electrical outlet and connect the adapter before the forced shutdown occurs.
Unfortunately battery technology does come at a price for good quality.
However, whatever quality you get buy, the average life span of any laptop battery is 12 - 24 months depending on use, most laptop batteries life will start to diminish after 12 months.
Since the technology is dictated by the chemistry, which dictates the constituents, which dictates the input prices, there is no correlation between price and good or bad technology.Unfortunately battery technology does come at a price for good quality.
A "low" tech battery well constructed from high grade components might easily be the equal of or better than a "high" tech one shoddily crafted from inferior grade inputs.
Price simply is not a reliable indicator of quality, reliability, or usefulness.
Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesnít save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does..Hibernating a PC will actually save your PCís state as it is, and completely shut itself down.. | <urn:uuid:2df5613e-1f4b-43d9-a154-2c0775725440> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webproworld.com/webmaster-forum/threads/113733-Battery-problem/page2?p=602256&viewfull=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939428 | 396 | 2.203125 | 2 |
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Have questions about how the ordering process works or how we safely ship the birds? Check out our FAQs. | <urn:uuid:8d5d807f-8dcc-45f1-8a1c-bbb086cfcd4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.efowl.com/Small_and_Medium_Duck_Breeds_s/55.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958675 | 253 | 1.976563 | 2 |
On the edge
If the UK is to turn its economy around, the two key factors will be exports and productivity.
Is the UK back in recession? The OECD, a think-tank that governments love to have on their side, believes that the economic recovery has gone into reverse over the last six months. For once, most other economic forecasters disagree, and think the OECD is being far too gloomy; the consensus seems to lie with Mervyn King's "zig-zag" rather than the OECD's "double dip".
Does any of this matter? Hardly. There will be a media storm on 25 April if the GDP figures show that the economy has slipped back into recession, but the question is largely academic. For the 2.7 million Britons looking for a job, and the further 1.4 million unable to find full-time work, it will make very little difference whether the UK is technically back in recession or not.
The fact is that the UK economy is in a far more serious state than the odd double dip can do justice to. The economy has not grown for 18 months, while unemployment has increased by over 200,000 - that is far more serious than a temporary, technical recession. Flatlining is not what is supposed to happen after a recession; we were expecting faster-than-normal growth to make up some of what was lost after the financial crisis. At the Budget in 2010, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the economy would grow by 2.3 per cent in 2011. It has been downgrading its forecasts ever since.
And there is little chance that the economy will ever regain the ground lost during the recession. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the recession will eventually leave an 11 per cent scar on the UK economy, almost five years' worth of growth that we will never get back. What we are dealing with is not just an economic slump - there is a serious problem with the way the UK economy works.
The most alarming symptom has been a dramatic slump in productivity. The value of what we produce per hour of work has fallen by 3.3 per cent since the end of 2007 - it should have increased by about 9 per cent. I don't expect many people feel they have become less productive or hard-working since the recession hit, but the value of what we collectively produce has fallen nonetheless. Of course, that productivity shock translates into a wage shock, which is why real incomes have fallen. (There is a silver lining, in that this drop in wages has stopped unemployment climbing even higher).
Now falling incomes mean that we have less money to spend, which means there is less opportunity for firms to make money in the UK, which is likely to mean further falls in incomes and fewer jobs. And that's not all we have to contend with - there is also the household debt burden left over from the financial crisis that we need to deal with, which further reduces spending. (There has been some debate in recent weeks over whether it is household debt or bank debt that causes the problems, but again this debate is academic - either way, consumer spending is squeezed).
As a result of this squeeze, the UK's domestic demand fell by 0.8 per cent during 2011. Had it not been for exports, the economy would have shrunk last year, and we'd have already had first-hand experience of a double dip recession. There are plenty of reasons why the UK economy remains in such a precarious position.
But there is some good news amidst the gloom: we are finally beginning to see exports grow significantly, several years after the devaluation of sterling in 2007. This export boom saved the economy from recession in 2011, and remains our best hope for a speedy recovery. It might also help to solve one of the core problems with the British economy; since 1997, we have consistently imported more than we export, and haven't been able to pay our way in the world.
If the UK is to turn its economy around, the two key factors will be exports and productivity. These two issues go to the heart of the underlying changes the economy needs; we need to increase the value of what we do, and sell more of it to the world. Overseas markets are the only place Britain can look to for growing demand at present, and exports are already helping to drag the economy out of the mire. But if any recovery is to be sustained, it must be accompanied by solid growth in productivity, on which the signs are much less encouraging. Reversing the UK's productivity shock will be a longer and more laborious project.
If they are to have any realistic plan for recovery, politicians of all stripes need to worry less about short-term fluctuations, and more about the key underlying factors that will make or break the economy over the next decade. There is little we can do to treat the after-symptoms of the financial crisis, but there is plenty of scope for re-making the UK economy.
Andrew Sissons is a researcher at the Big Innovation Centre at the Work Foundation
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In a 1977 message to Congress, Jimmy Carter suggests the following: “Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed” (Message to Congress 1977). With many of our most prominent leaders opposing marijuana prohibition and some even admitting marijuana use, it is asinine that we still waste millions of tax dollars punishing scores of American citizens each year for mere possession of the outlawed plant. Due to the negative economical impact of prohibition and the potential for substantial tax revenue, marijuana should be legalized for recreational use for all US citizens over the age of 21.
Sullum of Reason Magazine reports that the number of individuals arrested on marijuana charges is increasing. In 2006, the arrests were counted at 830,000, up from 787,000 in 2005. He also states that this number has risen almost 150% since 1990 (10). The cost of these arrests, investigations and incarcerations is astronomical. Nadelmann in the 2004 edition of National Review points out that U.S. law enforcement against the sale and possession of marijuana has been estimated to cost between $10-15 billion dollars per year in direct costs alone (28). It is my contention that these resources could be better utilized in our communities and the nation as a whole. The simple reallocation of cash currently spent on prohibition would be a huge boon for our stressed economy.
In several states such as Colorado and Maine, lawmakers have sought to reduce the penalty for marijuana possession to be on par with violations such as a parking ticket or littering. For example, Katherine Gregg reports in a recent news blog that a bill introduced in Rhode Island would set the initial fine for possession of an ounce or less of the substance at $150 (Projo 7 to 7 News Blog). From the east coast to the west coast, an increasing number of lawmakers are beginning to view marijuana possession as an infraction that is not worth the expenditure of expensive law enforcement resources. In addition, they are coming to the realization that there are substantial fiscal benefits to be gleaned from such a shift in laws concerning a plant that has been enjoyed recreationally for centuries.
Eliminating the law enforcement costs of prohibition is just part of the potential economic benefits of legalization. Liberal legislators are starting to see the advantage of not only legalizing the plant, but instituting a tax on sales for recreational purposes. Mark Binelli of Rolling Stone Magazine asserts that the estimated tax revenue for the state of California alone is 1.4 billion dollars per year (67)! The funds from redistribution of money currently invested in marijuana prohibition, combined with the possible tax revenue would be a significant aid for dozens of states which struggle to fund important public programs.
It is time for the prohibition of marijuana for recreational use to be reevaluated by our government across the board. I encourage every individual citizen of this country to research the current drug laws, and decide if marijuana prohibition is a fair and wise use of our tax dollars. I can no longer be complacent about the fact that a portion of my hard earned money is being used by our law enforcement officials to investigate, incarcerate and in some cases, even assault my fellow humans for possession and recreational use of a plant. The time has come for us to tell our government officials that we want the funds uselessly squandered on prohibition to be redistributed amongst worthier causes in this dismal economic state. If you want to see this much needed step toward a financially independent, thriving nation, please join me in the fight against marijuana prohibition.
Today only you can join NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws) for the low price of $4.20:
Binelli, Mark. “Marijuana America.” Rolling Stone 1 Apr. 2010: 67. Print.
Carter, Jimmy. “Jimmy Carter: Drug Abuse Message to the Congress.” The American Presidency Project, 2 Aug. 1977. Web. 20 Mar 2010.
Gregg, Katherine. “Bill to decriminalize marijuana unveiled in R.I. Senate.” Projo 7 to 7 News Blog. The Providence Journal Co., 7 Apr. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2010.
Nadelmann, Ethan A. “An end to marijuana prohibition: the drive to legalize picks up.” National Review 12 July 2004: 28. General OneFile. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.
Sullum, Jacob. “High risk.(Data)(statistics between marijuana use and arrests)(Brief article).” Reason Jan. 2008: 10. General OneFile. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.
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A musician who demonstrates passion for his art cannot help but make a positive impression on me. Mr. Rachlin handled the lovely violin with both grace and enthusiasm. He was expressive in movement, coaching the orchestra of violin, viola, cello and bass through each classical piece. He played Beethoven with poise, and attacked Piazolla with glad abandon. While my eyes strayed to the other members of the orchestra as the concert progressed, it was hard to not fixate on the talented director. As he tenderly coaxed the breathtaking sounds from the ancient violin, the joy he felt in his work could not have been more apparent.
I am not traditionally a lover of classical music, but I can certainly appreciate any art that evokes emotion. Tonight, from the moment bow first touched string, I was transported a happy realm where nothing exists but beautiful sound. When it comes to the world of music, I cannot ask for anything more than that.]]>
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Silk Road and Dunhuang:
Journey to the Western Regions with Hyecho
National Museum of Korea, Seoul
The Silk Road was an extensive network of routes that linked Asia with Europe, facilitating exchange between vastly different civilizations. Satin and chinaware produced in China were carried to Europe via the Silk Road, and Buddhism, which originated in India, also spread eastward via this road.
The museum borrowed a total of 214 relics from 12 foreign institutions for the exhibition. These are comprised of the following: Wang ocheonchukguk jeon kept by the National Library of France (Bibliotheque nationale de France) and those kept by ten institutions in China, which include the National Museum of China, the Uygur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, Kansu Province, and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China.
This exhibition is arranged in a way that follows the path of Hyecho’s travel in the early 8th century. Hyecho, a Silla Buddhist priest, was the first Korean to travel and keep a record of the Silk Road. He arrived in an eastern region of India in a boat and made a pilgrimage to Buddhist eight holy sites. Then, he traveled to the west, Central Asia and returned to Changan 장안 (now Xian) in China through the Pamir Mountains 파미르 고원, Saiwik 서역, and Dunhuang 둔황. Saiwik, which corresponds to the present day Uygur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang 신장위구르자치구, used to be a crucial part of the Silk Road that linked Rome with Changan.
The exhibition serves as an occasion to finally introduce the valuable ancient record, Wang ocheonchukguk jeon (Record of Travels in Five Indian Regions) to the general public for the first time since its publication 1,283 years ago. It is a travel journal written by Hyecho in 727. The book was discovered by the French archaeologist Paul Pelliot in Dunhuang in 1908, and currently kept by the National Library of France.
Other valuable relics brought back from the places Hyecho visited are also presented, such as Kashgar, an oasis town east of the Taklamakan Desert, the Chinese garrison town of Lulan, and the section of the Silk Road in China that connects Dunhuang with Changan. Furthermore, the Mogao Caves 막고굴 in Dunhuang has been perfectly replicated in the exhibition hall to help visitors experience the grandiose and beautiful works of art. The Mogao Caves have captured people’s attention with their gorgeous statues and murals of Buddha, and Grotto No.17 is the place where the book Wang ocheonchukguk jeon was found.
Section 1 Regions of the Silk Road
Gold roundel Decorated with a Tiger, 5th-3rd century BCE, Gold, D 5.2cm
Comb Bag, 1st-4th century, Wool, L 9.6cm
Section 2 Life and Culture of the Silk Road
Figurine of a Female Dancer, ca. 633-688, Wood, H 35.8cm, Astana, Turpan
Glass Earring painted with a Human Face, 2nd-5th century, Glass, L 1.05cm
Pottery Figurine of a Western Figure, 7th-10th century, H 29cm, Changan
Long Sleeved Silk Garment, 2nd-5th century, Silk, 54x153cm
Section 3 Dunhuang and Wang Ocheonchukguk jeon
Dunhuang Caves (Mogao Caves)
Grotto No.16 and Dunhuang Documents
Entrance of Grotto No.17 (* It was found in the Grotto No.16.)
Wang ocheonchukguk jeon (Record of Travels in Five Indian Regions),
Grotto No.17, 8th century, 42x358 cm
Section 4 Connected Road to the East
Bronze Belt-buckle Depicting a Tiger Biting Sheep, 5th-3rd century BCE,
Copper, 8x4.5 cm
Clay Burial Guard, 7th century, Color on Clay, H 85cm
Corner Pillar, 8th-9th century, Silla, Stone, H 73.6cm | <urn:uuid:d8da2630-07b1-45cc-99b1-a0fb99cef025> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mongolschinaandthesilkroad.blogspot.com/2010/12/journey-to-western-regions-with-hyecho.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932536 | 957 | 3.203125 | 3 |
The exterior of the new Telus Centre for Professional Development at the University of Alberta features two curved glass walls that converge to give the impression of the bow of a ship. The allusion isn't accidental: it is a metaphor that speaks of both travel and distance, hearkening to a time when the fastest way to cover great distances was aboard a lively sailing ship or in the context of the northern prairies-by voyageur canoe.
The metaphor is in keeping with the mandate of the Centre, which was officially opened on 23 June 2000. Made possible by a $12.9 million donation by Telus the state-of-the-art facility represents the University of Alberta's expanded mandate and continuing commitment to lifelong learning.
The Telus Centre will offer customized professional learning programs and showcase enhanced learning through the application of innovative technologies. Speaking at the opening, University of Alberta president Rod Fraser described the new facility as "the most sophisticated communications and learning hub in Canada." Acknowledging the contribution of "our partners at Telus," he said the Centre "brings to light the best practices employing state-of-the-art communication technology, offering participants the maximum flexibility in learning."
Fraser also pointed out another metaphor. In addition to a number of speakers — including Edmonton mayor Bill Smith and federal justice minister Anne McLellan — the opening ceremonies featured a performance by the Kita No Taiko Japanese drummers. "What a powerful metaphor the drummers are as we open this fine building," observed Fraser. "These drums are meant to send a message, just as we want to send a message around the world."
Speaking at the opening on behalf of Telus the company's president and CEO, Brian Canfield, said the Centre had come together as a result of the common vision and strategic partnership between Telus and the University of Alberta. "We are proud to underwrite this important project which will showcase Alberta technology" he said, adding that "Telus's involvement in the project underscores its commitment to education, to the University of Alberta, to the people and businesses in Edmonton, and in the province of Alberta."
The 4,500-square-metre Telus Centre features "smart" multi-media classrooms, video-conferencing facilities, a 30 computer learning laboratory with a teacher-controlled master computer to facilitate interactive learning, and a 300-seat auditorium equipped with big screen video and Internet functions. The total cost of the entire project was $17.5 million. Telus's gift — the largest single private donation in the University's history — was supplemented by $1.1 million jointly contributed by the U of A and the Alberta government's access fund. The remaining $3.5 million, which was used to construct the Centre's 200-car underground parkade, was provided by the U of A's Parking Services on a cost-recovery basis.
While the exterior of the building may bring to mind the golden age of sail, the Centre's control room is more like something from the Starship Enterprise. From the control room, technicians can provide interactive support not only to the Telus Centre's high-tech classrooms and auditorium, but to every "smart" classroom on campus.
The control room also will link the Centre to Alberta's high-speed, fibre-optic telecommunications network (called NETERA), providing the Centre with an enhanced connection to the rest of the world. Judi Ross, who is the head of the University's technical resource group and the chair of the Telus Centre's technical committee, says the Centre's design gives it "point-to-point communication capabilities, so people can do distance learning from their own homes or in groups in other classrooms around the world with multi-media hookups."
She adds that the Centre was designed not only to be as up-to-date as possible, but to accommodate the future. "We set this up to be as flexible, reliable, and robust as possible, and to be able to deal with the best of current technology and adapt to future technology," she says.
Now that the construction of the facility is complete, responsibility for the day-to-day activities of the Centre passes into the hands of Sally Omar, its executive director and chief operating officer. She explains that the Centre will operate as an independent academic unit on a full cost-recovery basis, reporting directly to the University's vice-president (academic) and provost, Doug Owram, and to a board of directors, which Owram chairs.
Omar welcomes her new challenge. A professional engineer who developed an interest in the importance of knowledge acquisition to the achievement of corporate goals, she has an extensive background in designing learning programs. She is a former professor and school director at Ontario's Sheridan College, where she founded that institution's well-known CAD/CAM Institute. Most recently, she was the director of education and learning with Hatch, a large and diverse company with roots in the mining and metallurgical industry.
In her new position Omar will be talking to many people in positions similar to the one she just left. "We will be actively pursuing organizations and professional associations to become strategic partners in learning," she says. And that, she points out, will involve much more than just providing courses. To begin with, she says, it will mean understanding the organization's strategic development goals. "Once we understand their needs, we will design and customize programs and tools to help them develop new capabilities. In other words, we will be their partners from the time we help design their learning programs to the time they achieve results and we will help measure them by providing the necessary tools," she says.
Omar sees the Telus Centre as a vehicle for extending the capabilities of the University to learners of all ages. She hopes to work closely with each and every faculty on campus, designing and marketing professional development courses. Employing yet another metaphor, Omar says the Centre is intended to link the University with those who could benefit from professional development activities, serving as "a bridge between the wealth of knowledge the University of Alberta is sitting on and individuals."
At the same time, in serving its client partners the Centre will be venturing far beyond its immediate environment. "We will be driven by client needs, searching best practices, and bringing the latest knowledge to our clients," says Omar. "And that will mean not only working with our colleagues at the University of Alberta, but partnering with the best around the world."
Published Autumn 2000. | <urn:uuid:fb328f6c-542d-43b7-b98b-2eebffe5c102> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ualberta.ca/ALUMNI/history/buildings/00autfuture.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962797 | 1,327 | 1.890625 | 2 |
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OCR for page 20
20 CHAPTER FOUR CONCLUSIONS Airport operators, on a whole, have taken the subject of run- both the non-movement and the movement areas of the air- way incursion prevention and safety very seriously. Airfield port. These training sessions for recurrent training, usually driver training programs are indicative of the willingness of not as long as initial training, last about 1 to 1.5 hours. More the airport community to keep the aviation system safe and use of computer-based learning most likely will help reduce efficient. Based on the survey results, there is no lack of the overall cost of maintaining a recurrent training program driver training for those authorized to drive on an airport's and will make it easier for employees working at the airport movement area. For those driving on the non-movement area to receive the training. only, most airport operators have also initiated driver train- ing programs, although such programs may be limited in Contractors working on an airport are a challenge to the air- scope. Virtually all commercial service airports have an air- port operator. In many cases there are subcontractors who work field driver training program for at least the employees that alongside of the contractors. Large equipment is used exten- access the movement area of the airfield. Even many of the sively and the work may take the contractors/subcontractors general aviation airports, especially those with the greater close to active runways and taxiways. It is relatively easy to number of operations, have initiated some type of driver get disoriented and to move outside of the approved work training program. Many commercial service airports also area. It is also difficult to keep track of the many workers and have driver training programs for people restricted to the ensure that they have the appropriate knowledge to work on non-movement area of the airport. It is estimated that at the an airfield. Although many airport operators use escort ser- larger air carrier airports there may be as many as 20,000 vices for contractors, this does not guarantee that an errant individuals licensed to drive on the non-movement areas. contractor may not cause a runway incusion. Training this number of people can be a daunting task. Some airports have allowed the air carriers and the fixed-base oper- From the results of the survey, one can conclude that the ators to train their own employees. Good practice would be airport operators have done a good job in developing driver for the airport authority to retain oversight of the program training courses. The same subjects and methods appear to be and audit it periodically. The survey showed that this is done used across airport categories. Regardless of whether the air- at many but not all airports. port is a large hub primary airport or a non-hub commercial service airport, the training follows the same general trends. The curriculum taught in airfield driver training pro- grams is relatively standard. For non-movement area driver Further research could include follow-up studies to be training, it normally consists of topics that one would expect, done comparing costs of training personnel using computer- given the circumstances of operating on ramps and aprons. based programs with classroom-type training. Training pro- These topics include speed limits, the meaning of the non- grams of this magnitude do not come without a cost to the movement area boundary lines and their locations, yielding airport operators and to the tenants. This research could also or giving right-of-way to aircraft, and the dangers of aircraft focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the different types jet blast. For movement area driving programs, the topics of training and determine if one is more beneficial than normally include runway and taxiway signing and marking, another. as well as airfield lighting, critical areas for instrument navi- gation equipment, and proper radio communications. At air- Also, with the recent emphasis on ramp and apron safety, ports that also have low visibility operations, the curricu- further research may be needed to study the viability of insti- lum includes the principles of surface movement guidance tuting a voluntary reporting system for accidents and inci- and controls systems and the lighting and marking that are dents that occur on ramps and aprons. In this way, it would required for such low visibility operation. If an airport also be possible to get a better understanding of the magnitude of has land and hold short operations, the markings and light- the dangers of operating on these areas of an airport as well ing for this type of operation are included in the training as a better understanding of the causes of such problems. The program. Flight Safety Foundation estimates that 27,000 ramp acci- dents and incidents occur worldwide every year at a cost of Many of the airports that responded to the survey already $10 billion annually. Driver training is only one way to help have implemented recurrent driver training programs for reduce that number and cost. | <urn:uuid:91385e58-c716-4c35-b66f-882664ca9a1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=14261&page=20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960326 | 1,109 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Coast to Coast: Delta IV Launch
United Launch Alliance sent a Delta IV into space tonight carrying a SATCOM communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force. Click Here to read the news report on the Florida Today web site.
I went out in front of our house in north Merritt Island to videotape the launch at 8:47 PM EST. Click Here to watch the home video. You need Windows Media Player and a broadband (cable modem, DSL) Internet connection to watch.
It was about 50 degrees and windy outside. There’s some early lens flare in the video from dust on the lens. At about two minutes, you’ll see four red spots separate from the rocket. Those are expendable solid rocket motors being jettisoned. I’m also told many launch watchers saw a shooting star, but I’m not sure if I caught that in the video.
I’ve filmed quite a few Shuttle and rocket launches since we moved here in early June. Click Here to see all my Florida blog entries. Not all have launch videos but you’ll find those easily enough.
Night launches are far and away the most impressive, because they look like a sunrise from darkest night. In this video, the rocket becomes one star against other stars, which you can see a little at the end of the clip.
I also want to put in a plug for Florida Today‘s live chat coverage of launches. Click Here to read tonight’s live chat with veteran space correspondent Todd Halverson, who is the Kennedy Space Center Bureau Chief for Florida Today and USA Today.
If you didn’t know, USA Today was founded by the publisher of Florida Today. Both are headquartered in the same building on U.S. 1 in Melbourne.
Anyway, Florida Today has a great space blog called The Flame Trench which is mandatory reading if you’re a space geek. Click Here to go to The Flame Trench. Be sure to bookmark the page in your browser. | <urn:uuid:c1536114-1b08-427e-abe6-539626bb810e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://futureangels.mlblogs.com/2009/12/05/coast-to-coast-delta-iv-launch/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=c8d80d4293 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941525 | 423 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Eurozone retail sales increased unexpectedly in January after easing for four consecutive months, data from Eurostat showed Monday.
Retail sales grew 0.3 percent month-on-month in January, following a revised 0.5 percent drop in December. Economists had expected sales to dip 0.1 percent.
Sales figures do not hugely dilute concerns that weak consumer spending remains a serious threat to hopes that Eurozone economic activity can return to growth in the first quarter of 2012, IHS Global Insight's European economist Howard Archer said.
Sales of food product increased 0.6 percent, partially offsetting the 0.8 percent drop in December. Likewise, non-food sales grew 0.5 percent, after easing 0.4 percent a month ago.
On a yearly basis, retail sales remained flat compared to December's 1.3 percent decline. Economists were looking for an annual decrease of 1.5 percent.
In the EU27, retail sales increased by 0.4 percent compared to a monthly fall of 0.2 percent in December.
Total retail trade grew in nine member nations and decreased in another nine. Latvia marked the biggest increase of 6.4 percent, followed by 5.5 percent rise in Slovenia, and 3 percent growth in Romania. The largest decreases were seen in Portugal, Denmark and Germany.
High inflation and tight fiscal conditions are likely to dampen consumer spending going forward. Inflation in the 17-nation bloc rose to 2.7 percent from 2.6 percent in February. The unemployment rate reached a record-high 10.7 percent in January.
The European Commission sees a mild recession in the Eurozone. The economy is expected to contract 0.3 percent this year.
At the February G20 meeting, the International Monetary Fund urged euro area to build on recent measures and act decisively on multiple fronts to achieve a successful resolution to the crisis.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:20d522e4-6ef4-4e17-bda6-2472593d0721> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rttnews.com/1833553/eurozone-retail-sales-unexpectedly-grow-in-january.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947908 | 403 | 1.546875 | 2 |
May 31, 2009
Researchers at Tulane University, in collaboration with Corgenix Medical Corporation, a worldwide developer and marketer of diagnostic test kits, have received a five-year $7,073,538 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for continued development of detection kits for Lassa viral hemorrhagic fever, a serious disease spread by contact with infected rodents. Viral hemorrhagic fevers are characterized by fever and bleeding disorders and can progress to high fever and shock. Lassa fever is estimated to infect 300,000 to 500,000 people per year across West Africa, resulting in approximately 5,000 deaths.
This is the second grant awarded to Tulane for Lassa virus products. Also collaborating with Corgenix and Tulane in this grant are Autoimmune Technologies, LLC ( New Orleans), Vybion, Inc. (Ithaca, NY), and various partners in West Africa.
Under the original grant awarded in 2005, the group developed and patented new recombinant proteins for Lassa virus and developed several viral detection products which were deployed in Africa for clinical testing. Until the development of these detection kits, infection with this disease could be determined only by culturing live Lassa virus in a high-containment laboratory. Such testing is expensive, laborious and not commercially available, leaving no adequate options for laboratory diagnosis of viral hemorrhagic fevers in sub-Saharan Africa, where most of these diseases are endemic.
New outbreaks of the Lassa fever have been reported recently, including in Nigeria. "We are now seeing much broader presence of this disease in Africa," says Dr. Daniel Bausch, Director of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Research and Training Program in West Africa. "Within the past year alone we have seen a significant increase in the number of cases in Nigeria, with increased fatalities. It is critical that the assays we have already developed and are using in Africa, as well as others still in our development pipeline, become fully deployed to aid in this vital effort."
Joseph Fair, Ph.D., MPH, Director, Global Field Operations for Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, a recent graduate of the Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences at Tulane and a consultant to the Lassa group, noted that "these recombinant-based serological assays designed for field deployment offer the public health and scientific communities a powerful tool to accurately assess the true disease burden and risks posed by Lassa and other especially dangerous pathogens, while collaterally improving upon their treatment and ultimately prevention."
Under the NIH grant, Tulane will conduct a five-year study designed to complete the tests for viral hemorrhagic fevers, some of which are potential bioterrorism agents due to their high fatality rate and ease of transmission from person-to-person.
"We have been very pleased with the results of our development effort," says Dr. Robert Garry, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Tulane University School of Medicine and principle investigator of the program. "The products have shown to be remarkably effective in clinical settings in Africa and will have a meaningful impact on the health care in that part of the world, but will also fill a critical gap in bioterrorism defense. Now under the new NIH award, we will complete the development and move to commercialization of the Lassa fever detection products and expand our efforts across Africa."
The group intends to expand this program to address other important infectious agents—such as Ebola, Marburg and other hemorrhagic fever viruses—that are of concern to the public health and bioterrorism preparedness communities, according to Garry.
# # #
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118 504-865-5000 firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:1a286c36-1b3e-460d-85ef-af895c205be8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tulane.edu/news/releases/pr_053109.cfm?RenderForPrint=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947436 | 782 | 2.40625 | 2 |
posted 1 Nov 1999 in Volume 3 Issue 3
A notable improvement in R&D
Culture shifts are often difficult to carry out, especially in such a difficult area as laboratory experimentation and research. Kodak's approach to the need for better data storage led not just to a different process, but also to a significant culture change. Here, Jonathon Trigg explains the uses and lasting influences of an electronic notebook for recording data and research.
Research has always been fundamentally part of the 'knowledge business'. Irrespective of the nature of an organisation's business, or indeed the nature of its research, the key element of the R&D department's mission is to increase the knowledge about the organisation's current and future products and processes. For manufacturing industry, this is typically accomplished through the evaluation of product and process developments and innovations by means of experimentation. In order to comply with the organisation's information policies, and in certain cases to comply with regulatory and/or legal requirements, all experimentation must be properly recorded. The process for recording this information is exactly the same as that taught to children in their earliest science lessons; record the objective of the experiment, the details (what was done), the results and observations, and finally what conclusions were drawn. For most organisations, this is still a paper-based process. The 'laboratory notebook' is accepted as the basic tool for recording experimentation, and as such is subject to a number of familiar constraints associated with all paper-based processes. For example:
- Storage: paper notebooks take up a lot of room;
- Accessibility: notebooks are often locked away in filing cabinets or desks; archives may be difficult to access;
- Difficult to search: it requires a significant effort to provide a comprehensive index and cross-index of all experiments and projects in all notebooks;
- Legibility: the quality of the handwriting can be variable;
- Disaster recovery: It's difficult to 'back-up', and may be subject to damage.
It seems a reasonable assumption, therefore, that a paper-bound process will have severe limitations in helping an organisation satisfy its knowledge management requirements. The difficulty in sharing information recorded in paper notebooks is magnified for an organisation that operates multi-site, multi-discipline R&D. In such cases, site-to-site communication can be less efficient than a single site operation and can lead to additional problems such as repeating the same or similar work carried out elsewhere, and/or poorer understanding of the expertise available in different R&D units.
The prospect of using an electronic laboratory notebook to address these issues has been under consideration for a number of years, but typically has floundered on the difficulty of defining a generic process for experimentation, and also on overcoming some of the potential obstacles for regulatory and legal acceptance and long term storage (it is typical to expect information in laboratory notebooks to be accessible for 50 years or more). An additional factor is the willingness of R&D communities to adapt to structured and formal systems. Since the human qualities normally associated with a career in research tend to lean more towards innovation, free-thinking, non-conformity, etc., the implementation and user acceptance of formal systems in an R&D environment often provides a significant challenge.
Kodak European R&D, in conjunction with New Information Paradigms (Crowthorne, Berks; a Lotus Premium Partner), has developed an Electronic Laboratory Notebook based on Kodak's company-wide implementation of Lotus Notes. The Kodak Electronic Lab Notebook is now being extensively used at their UK site in Harrow, Middlesex, and is being introduced in their other R&D sites in Rochester, NY, USA and Chalon-sur-Saone, France.
The basis of the Kodak Electronic Lab Notebook is to provide a simple facility for recording experimental objectives, details, results and conclusions, and to make this information readily shareable across the R&D organisation in a way that facilitates collaboration amongst R&D scientists. The system shares a lot of features with the traditional paper notebook approach. Every scientist is issued with an Electronic Lab Notebook ( a Lotus Notes database). Each instance of the Electronic Lab Notebook can be used by an individual scientist, it may be shared with a technician, or it may be shared within a project team. Each experiment recorded in the Electronic Lab Notebook contains four basic pieces of information (objective, details, results, conclusions) and up to ten configurable information fields. Each field is 'rich text', i.e. it can contain formatted text, numbers, objects such as graphs, images, etc. All of the Electronic Lab Notebooks are linked in two ways; firstly they are all linked to a single 'Projects' database which holds some basic information about the R&D projects, and secondly they are all linked to a 'Summary' database. The Summary database is automatically updated with summary information taken from all Electronic Lab Notebooks and therefore acts as a major knowledge repository for the entire R&D organisation. The Electronic Lab Notebook therefore provides not only a repository for experimental information, but also provides linkages between experiments, projects and programmes, and ultimately, people. The complete system can therefore be considered as a single, 'virtual' electronic notebook for all of Kodak R&D.
The Electronic Lab Notebook is implemented as a 'core' application, which means that it contains generic functionality which can be applied to all types of experimentation. But, of course, there are many other applications and systems used in the R&D laboratories for data acquisition, data processing and data storage which are strongly related to, or integrated within the experimental work. In order to prevent the scope of the Electronic Lab Notebook project constantly expanding to embrace more and more of these laboratory data systems, a strategy has been evolved for building interfaces to other R&D systems, which protects the core system by placing the interfaces in other Lotus Notes databases. These can be simply linked to the core system.
As pointed out earlier, Electronic Lab Notebooks have long been considered as a potential solution for R&D to deliver productivity benefits, but issues such as (a) defining a generic approach to experimentation, (b) regulatory and legal acceptance and (c) solving the problem of long term storage, have restrained progress. How does Kodak's Electronic Lab Notebook address these issues? Firstly, the experimentation process which is supported by the Kodak Electronic Lab Notebook is the very basic, traditional approach which is common to all experimentation. All information is held in 'rich text' fields, so data models and data dictionaries associated with relational databases are not required. Secondly, Kodak R&D is not subject to stringent regulatory compliance and audit. This therefore creates a few more degrees of freedom in terms of its data and information management than would be experienced, for instance, by a pharmaceutical company. Nevertheless, Kodak has an absolutely fundamental commitment to protecting its own information for proprietary and legal purposes, and as such, the Electronic Lab Notebook allows for notarisation to support patent application, and a high degree of security for data protection. Security of information in the Electronic Lab Notebook is paramount from two perspectives; firstly, in terms of the proprietary information contained within the system and the provision of adequate safeguards against unauthorised access, and secondly in terms of protection of that information against physical damage or corruption by any other means. Access is controlled at four levels: network, application, database and document. Access control requires a fine balance between the more traditional approach of 'need to know' and the principles of collaboration required in order to drive a knowledge management culture. This presents an interesting challenge to any R&D organisation!
The Electronic Lab Notebook represents a streamlined approach to the mainstream purpose of R&D, in Kodak's case, technology delivery. But technology delivery is only a part of the overall R&D business, since it also requires a number of support functions both from a business and from a technology perspective. The design of the Electronic Lab Notebook offers opportunities to integrate a significant number of R&D data acquisition and data processing systems (see earlier). It also offers the possibility of linking to business systems for resource management, financial management, project management, etc., to develop a fully integrated R&D systems environment which will offer a comprehensive approach to managing all aspects of R&D through a consistent user interface. This vision is progressively evolving, and shows a lot of parallels with the way that ERP (enterprise resource planning) is having a significant impact on manufacturing environments.
1. User acceptance
Since R&D scientists do not always enthusiastically adopt formal systems, the level of acceptance has been extremely good. The pilot project specified that there would be no pressure to use the Electronic Lab Notebook - it would be used by choice. The take-up exceeded expectations. One possible reason for this is that there is only a minimal structure in the system, allowing each individual scientist to work with it in their own way, but without detriment to the overall objective of linking and sharing information.
2. Accessibility of information
In identifying the Electronic Lab Notebook as the fundamental repository for experimentation, the need to transpose information from one system to another has largely disappeared, unless there is a fundamental reason for doing so. As a consequence, some complex interfaces between different data and information systems have become redundant. Common information can be recorded once, stored once, and shared by many.
The elimination of paper as a medium for passing test requests and reports between organisational units has in some cases represented a significant saving in time; collation, photocopying, filing and posting are no longer part of the communication process.
Accessibility of information is facilitating 'people-networking'. Examples already exist where searching the summary database has identified scientists on different sites working on related materials, and establishing contact with each other to share and optimise their knowledge.
For Kodak the Electronic Lab Notebook represents a tool for managing the core of its R&D business. Without adding an extra burden on its R&D scientists (data/information/knowledge is recorded electronically rather than in handwriting, and is captured at source), a number of tangible benefits have accrued. In particular, it provides a significant enhancement of the management of explicit knowledge. This in turn is having an impact upon the R&D culture and is starting to drive new behaviours which are associated with exploiting this environment. It is also encouraging a different type of interaction, thus breaking down some of the more traditional barriers associated with organisational structures. There is evidence that (a) scientists in different areas of the laboratories are working more closely than before; (b) there is greater sympathy towards, and greater understanding of the need for sharing, rather than hiding information; and (c) people are coming into contact across organisational boundaries through finding information in the Electronic Lab Notebook on related projects, experiments and materials. The initial success of the Electronic Lab Notebook has been extremely encouraging, and gives Kodak R&D a well-defined systems approach to managing its technology, and for ensuring that this process is integrated with other aspects of managing the R&D business.
John Trigg is Technical Leader within Kodak European R&D, Harrow. He can be contacted at: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:8aa691f0-dab5-4473-8b0b-f72df2aa64b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ikmagazine.com/xq/asp/sid.07933528-4041-4272-828C-7336878F226E/articleid.F06B5FAC-E32D-4A36-BC09-532428832366/eTitle.A_notable_improvement_in_RD/qx/display.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940031 | 2,306 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Q: My little poodle-bichon mix began trembling quite intensely recently. The trembling is so intense that it feels like her little heart is going to explode. Is she afraid of something or sick? Why is my dog trembling?
A: Your dog could be trembling for a variety of reasons. While it is possible that she is scared of something, it seems unlikely since you describe the dog trembling as intense.
Your dog's trembling could be something neurologically related.
I think it is very important that your dog be examined by a veterinarian. They can perform routine blood tests to check your pets' electrolytes, blood sugar levels, etc. It is a possibility that your vet may wish to refer you to a veterinary neurologist if they feel that it is necessary. | <urn:uuid:899357ad-c9a3-439f-96d0-984c6ef0da69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.petside.com/article/why-my-dog-trembling | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972529 | 158 | 2.03125 | 2 |
The certified nurse assistant test consists of two parts: written and clinical skills. For the clinical portion, you will have to successfully complete three separate skills for a test administrator appointed from your state. Most students find this to be the most stressful part of the test. During the actual test it will be you, the examiner, and possibly a volunteer in the room. Even the thought of this scenario can lead to extreme anxiety in many students. By following the tips provided in this article, you will increase your chances of passing this part of your exam.
- Practice your skills as taught by your instructor and as demonstrated in your text book. The more you practice, the more confident you will feel. Enlist the help of family, friends, co-workers, or even use a doll. Ask your teacher for extra help if you are struggling with certain skills. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification if you feel confused as to how to do a certain skill. Being afraid to ask for help can be a barrier to learning and can ultimately lower your chances of passing. The old saying “Practice makes perfect.” Is true!
- With each skill you perform during your test, remember to introduce yourself. It is important to display professionalism with each skill performance. Even if you a performing a skill on the manikin, such as doing a rectal temperature, make sure you introduce yourself and explain what you are about to do. Some students have lost points for failing to do so.
- Get a good night’s sleep before your test. Lack of sleep can add to your nerves. Fatigue can also lead to poor recall, clumsiness, and irritability. All these are things that could change the outcome of your test and they are all preventable with enough rest.
- Eat a good meal before your test. Being hungry can lead to the same symptoms as little sleep. It also can be a distraction that takes your focus off the task at hand. Make sure the meal is filling but not too heavy. Skip foods that have caused you problems in the past; diarrhea, gas, indigestion. Healthy choices are always best. Also, avoid too much caffeine as this can increase jitters. Stick with water to keep yourself hydrated.
- During the test: wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands. You cannot wash your hands enough. Wash before and after each skill and as instructed by your teacher. Forgetting to wash your hands is an infection control issue and can lead to a failure.
- If you make a mistake during your test, “fess up”. By telling the examiner what your mistake is and how you would have done it the right way, you are showing knowledge, honesty, and possibly winning back valuable points.
- Breathe. Before going in for your exam, take 5-10 deep cleansing breaths. This will release carbon monoxide and lactic acid and increase oxygen and blood flow, in turn, lowering pulse and respirations thereby, calming you. Never underestimate the power of a few deep breaths!
With these tips and a good knowledge of the skills you learned in the classroom, you are sure to be a success!
Expert Contribution by: Nicolle Wagner, RN, BSN, RAC-CT | <urn:uuid:d44c773b-906e-42f1-a08f-8c24ca6bdb87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cnatraininghelp.com/tips-for-mastering-the-skills-portion-of-your-cna-test/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964477 | 676 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Ellen Calls for Improved Internet Services
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has called for effective and improved internet services in Liberia to enable students and Liberian youths to get abreast about happenings around the world. The President noted that if Liberia has fast and swift internet connectivity, it would help bridge the gap to create jobs for young people.
“We need an effective internet service in Liberia; it will help our youths to be on top of what is happening in the world; it will help our students do their assignments too, but the only effect it has is that more information will go out there to the world from Liberia,” she said with laughter.
Speaking at program marking the dedication of the local ACE Terminal Station in Liberia, the Liberian leader described the internet as another source of information globally.
The ACE Terminal Station is the nerve center of the fiber optic cable and the submarine fiber optic cables system of Liberia. President Sirleaf said she looks forward to Liberians benefiting from the service. The President said with the presence of the fiber cable in Liberia, she looks forward to enhancement in the medical and educational areas, adding, “Liberia is advancing in the ICT area.”
Also speaking at the program, Liberia’s Post and Telecommunications Minister Dr. Fredrick Norkeh said the construction of the Ace Terminal was done with the joint efforts of several partners, including ministries and agencies as well as LIBTELCO, amongst others.
“Over the past few months the cable Consortium of Liberia (CCL), LIBTELCO, Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and Liberia Telecommunications Authority have worked jointly together to erect this beautiful building known as ACE Terminal. This terminal is the nerve center of the fiber optic submarine cables for Liberia”, said the Minister.
Dr. Norkeh noted it is within the terminal where all of the internet connectivity will take place rapidly, adding, “It is the point of transmission to Monrovia and its environs as well as the backbone which covers rural Liberia.”
The Posts and Telecommunications Minister has however announced that in coming months, the ministry will officially launch the turning on of the ACE Cable in Liberia. He said all countries that are currently installing the fiber cables will go live on October 30th 2012 at which time President Sirleaf will again be requested to launch Liberia’s ACE Cable goes live.
For his part, the Chairman of the Liberian Senate Standing Committee on Posts and Telecommunications John Ballout said, the Senate has approved and pledged its support to the arrival of the fiber cable in Liberia.
The Maryland County lawmaker said cables will address the issue of connectivity gaps in the ECOWAS region, leading to integrated network with high speed connectivity among member countries. The Senator added that the services will also improve government networks and revenue generation as well as education and health programs, among many others. | <urn:uuid:e0de97c2-3614-4998-8701-5c4478800c0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenewdawnliberia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5880:ellen-calls-for-improved-internet-services&catid=41:sciencetechnology&Itemid=69 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963659 | 587 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Civilian Drug Testing Information
The purpose of civilian substance abuse testing is to promote a work force free of the effects of drug abuse and the misuse of alcohol.
Ensure that: Army has in place a comprehensive Drug-Free Workplace (DFW) program and a Department of Transportation (DOT) Workplace alcohol and drug testing program that includes policies and procedures for:
- The identification of illegal drug use and the misuse of alcohol through substance abuse testing on a carefully controlled and monitored basis;
- Professional Substance Evaluation and Employee Assistance;
- Supervisory Training; and
- Employee Education.
Executive Order 12564
Army Drug_Free Federal Workplace (DFW) Drug Testing Program Executive Order 12564, dated September 15, 1986 established the goal of a Drug Free Federal workplace. The Order made it a condition of employment for all Federal employees to refrain from using illegal drugs on or off?-duty. On 11 July 1987, Congress passed legislation affecting implementation of the Executive Order under Section 503 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act 1987, P. L. 100-71, 101 Stat. 391, 468-471, codified at 5 USC 7301 note (1987), (hereafter, the "Act"), is an attempt to establish uniformity among Federal agency drug testing plans, reliable and accurate drug testing, employee access to drug testing records, confidentiality of drug test results, and centralized oversight of the Federal government´´s drug testing program.
Statement of Policy
It is Army policy that its workplace be free from illegal use, possession, or distribution of controlled substances by its civilian workforce (to include appropriated and non-appropriated personnel) and that it?s workplace be safe, healthful, productive and secure.
To achieve its policy/goal each Army installation is mandated to implement a Drug-Free Federal Workplace (DFW) program. AR 600-85 specifically Chapters 1 and 14 provides guidance related to manpower staffing, position requirements and their duties. Army Pamphlet 600-85 Army Substance Abuse Program Civilian Services, provides detailed instructions and administrative procedures for implementing the ASAP program for DA civilian employees contained in Chapter 14, AR 600-85.
Drug Testing is essential to the goal of eliminating drug abuse. The Army DFW program includes the following types of drug testing:
- Applicant testing which screens out individuals who use illegal drugs and is limited to persons tentatively Selected for appointment to a testing designated position (TDP).
- Testing designated position ( TDPs) are those positions that are important enough to the Army?s mission or to the protection of public safety that testing to detect the presence of drug is warranted a condition of employment.
- All Army civilian samples are tested for Marijuana, Cocaine, Amphetamines, Opiates and Phencyclidine (PCP).
- All Army collection, testing. and MRO procedures adhere to Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs promulgated by DHHS.
- Random drug testing can be a powerful deterrent to drug abuse, considering the possible range of consequences that a positive drug test may have on an employee´´s career. Employees in TDPs are subject to random testing which occurs without suspicion that a particular individual is using illegal drugs.
- Accident or unsafe practice testing can provide invaluable information in determining the cause of serious accidents. Accordingly, all DAC employees may be subject to testing when there is an examination authorized by an appropriate installation or activity commander regarding an accident or unsafe practice.
- Voluntary testing enables employees to demonstrate their commitment to the Army´´s goal of a DFW and to set an example for other DA civilian employees. Employees not in TDPs may volunteer for unannounced random testing.
- Follow-up testing can be a deterrent as well as an appraisal tool. All DA civilian employees who have successfully completed rehabilitation and/or are enrolled in rehabilitation for illegal drug use may be subject to unannounced follow-up testing for up to 12 months. | <urn:uuid:90b9f128-4b38-44d6-a944-a37cce03d77c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wsmr.army.mil/gar/dir/hr/asap/Pages/CivilianDrugTesting.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912653 | 808 | 1.570313 | 2 |
A literal interpretation of the bible is a mistake and can lead to many contradictions.
So you are saying that God is congenitally incapable of making himself understood?
If so, you have this "Manual for Life" (the Bible) that may as well be written in Chinglish and yet, and yet we are supposed to follow it?
When Protestants broke away from the Church at or after the reformation they rejected the Church's authority to interpret scripture and in most cases they claimed that the bible was the only authority ('sola scriptura').
This position of the Protestants was a ridiculous one because a book can never have authority over a church which produced that book.
Your description of the history is correct, but your conclusion is flawed: No - it was not stupid at all. Look at the crimes of the "Catholic Church". Look at the way they interpreted the Bible and still do - how is their
interpretation any better or worse than a Protestant one, where the Protestant believes we can speak to God directly and have Him answer our questions? How were the College of Cardinals getting their messages?
And look how many times the Catholic Church changed its mind on what God thought.
The Bible is a book which sets out some of the history of Judaism
and the formation of the Christian Church.
It ends well before that time.
It is a very useful and enlightening book but any attempts to interpret it literally will in many cases lead to very serious misunderstanding.
Is there a version of the Bible that is clearer? E.g. one where these "non-literal passages" are marked out? No, there isn't... and why not? Because the whole thing is the work of some deluded and poorly informed men telling a story that had been Chinese Whispered down through the ages and trying to make sense of it in a way that would earn them the most money from the poor and ignorant.
The Bible was written by men and thus is influenced by all the limitations of those men. Each of them wrote to the best of his ability with his knowledge and understanding at the time but that understanding was limited. The Church on the other hand continues to improve its understanding as it evolves and will explain the meaning and relevance of bible passages as and when it sees fit for the guidance of its followers.
This paragraph contradicts itself - first you say the Bible is the work of limited intellects, then you say the interpretation is also the work of man - i.e. limited intellects and, more to the point, limited intellects with an axe to grind.
Now, the wording 'jealous God' used by the OT writer is a human metaphor as an attempt to describe God's attitude.
Either you are lying or sadly extremely mistaken. The Bible alleges that many of the following, in which God is "jealous" are said by God Himself and are certainly allegedly carved in tablets of stone by Moses who got it straight from God.Ex:20:5: Ex:34:14: Ex:20:5: Ex:34:14: De:4:24: De:5:9: De:6:15: Jos:24:19: De:5:9: De:6:15: Jos:24:19:
Whenever God's attitude is described by man, metaphor is involved because the writer is trying to describe a complex concept in a way that humans can understand and even in a way that the writer himself can understand.
This is a failure of logic - God speaks to a man... that man then tries to tell what God said to other men... but fails because it is so complex... then how did the first man understand?
The teaching of the Church (on the other hand) is that there is only one God and that creating other gods is not only foolish but will lead to harm for the followers and their descendants.
Firstly, it is abundantly apparent that there are many other gods, and Yahweh recognised that fact - the other gods are named and shamed in the Bible - on one occasion another god defeats Yahweh... but then you are a Catholic and will never have read a bible in your life, and so will not know this.
It is AS IF a jealous God was punishing those who worship other gods but this is a metaphor for the mess that you will get yourself (and your families) into if you make up an alternative (and therefore fake) god and alternative (fake) teachings and alternative (fake) religious practices.
There is no suggestion that other gods are fake gods - please provide some evidence of this wild statement.
You have wasted a lot of time trotting out the dogma of the Church of Rome - a dogma that, it must be said, is no better or worse than the general run of the mill apologists - basically, all you are saying is believe what I believe and TBH, there is not the slightest shred of evidence that you are not deluded in your belief system and much to suggest you are.2 Chronicles 15:13 Whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
John 15:6 "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."
2 Thessalonians 1:8 "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:" | <urn:uuid:92c6979b-a782-458b-a658-f8d70be73d72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/forums/index.php?action=karmamessage;u=1775;topic=23957;m=533862;start=140 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973818 | 1,140 | 1.507813 | 2 |
What are my chances of having a baby with birth defects since I smoked cigarettes during the beginning stages of my pregnancy? My due date is December 24. I read that April 23 through May 28 would be the time my baby is most vulnerable for birth defects.
Actually the chances are pretty slim. The dates you give are at near mid-pregnancy. In later pregnancy, smoking can cause problems related to growth retardation because it causes a constriction of the blood vessels that supply nourishment and oxygen to your baby. If you've quit, you'll probably do just fine. | <urn:uuid:d154a7b9-fb89-49bc-a7d9-b10ff7cbce1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/is-it-safe/pregnancy-smoking-birth-defects_79223 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978606 | 116 | 1.546875 | 2 |
How to Read the Time zone Image
Here you can find some information about
how to read the time zone image on which you have clicked.
The clock shows Universal Time
(UT) for the time and date setting which was entered for the chosen city.
If UT does not fall on the same day, the date is shown as well. Morning hours
(AM) are shown in red and afternoon hours (PM) in blue.
The image on which you clicked shows
a world map of all the atlas places contained in our atlas database. The red
crosshairs meet at the exact location of the place you have selected.
The red lines are labelled with latitude and longitude respectively.
Places which are in the same time zone as your selected place are highlighted
in the green area which is labelled at the top of the map.
and The Bubble
Near the selected location a yellow
bubble is shown which holds two lines of additional information: the
offset from Universal Time and the time type.
This is an example for locations which are one hour east of Greenwich,
i.e. one hour later than Universal Time. The abbreviation '
denotes that we have Standard Time as opposed to Daylight Savings
Time which is abbreviated as '
A bubble similar to the one shown on the right is used for dates prior to the
introduction of time zones. It shows the Local Mean Time offset (
of a meridian which is 21 degrees and 15 minutes of arc to the east of the meridian
through Greenwich, i.e. we have (dividing by 15) one hour and 25 minutes later
than Universal Time here.
To enter a date in the years 0001 to 0099
AD, you must prefix the year with two zeroes. Any year number between 1 and 99
will otherwise be transposed into the current epoch.
Years before 1 AD must be entered in astronomical year style as negative numbers.
The astronomical year -1 corresponds to the historical year 2 BC. The difference
arises from the fact that the astronomical year numbering has a year zero, while
in the historical year numbering 1 BC is followed by 1 AD. | <urn:uuid:5477efc1-42e7-4e79-b790-bc909ba02079> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.astro.com/cgi/h.cgi?f=hade&h=tzhelp&lang=e&cid=y2tfilelGTrFU-u1363432506 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915139 | 455 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Mysterious Stars Surround Andromeda's Black Hole
The Andromeda Galaxy photographed with a 12.5-inch telescope by amateur astronomer Robert Gendler.
CREDIT: © 2002 R. Gendler, Photo by R. Gendler
Stars race around a black hole at the center of the Andromeda galaxy so fast that they could go the distance from Earth to the Moon in six minutes.
The finding, announced today, solves a mystery over the source of strange blue light coming from Andromeda's center. But it generates a new puzzle: The stars' phenomenal orbital velocity suggests they should never have formed in the first place.
Astronomers first spotted the blue light near Andromeda's core in 1995. Three years later, another group determined that the light emanated from a cluster of hot, young stars. Nobody knew how many were involved.
New data from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal more than 400 blue stars that formed in a burst of activity roughly 200 million years ago, astronomers said.
The stars are packed into a disk that is just 1 light-year across.
That's amazingly compact by cosmic standards. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). The nearest star to our Sun is about 4.3 light-years away.
"The blue stars in the disk are so short-lived that it is unlikely in the long 12-billion-year history of Andromeda that such a short-lived disk would appear now," said Tod Lauer of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. "We think that the mechanism that formed this disk of stars probably formed other stellar disks in the past and will trigger them again in the future. We still don't know, however, how such a disk could form in the first place. It still remains an enigma."
To determine the velocity of the stars, Hubble was used to calculate the compression and stretching of the light waves coming from the stars. This Doppler technique is based on the same phenomenon that changes the sound of an ambulance siren that's moving first toward you and then away.
The stars are traveling at 2.2 million mph (1,000 kilometers per second). They could circle the Earth in 40 seconds. The fastest among them orbit the center of Andromeda in 100 years.
The stellar speed is controlled by the galaxy's central black hole. Such frenetic activity was thought to prevent star formation. Stars form when a knot of gas and dust collapses under its own gravity.
"Gas that might form stars must spin around the black hole so quickly -- and so much more quickly near the black hole than farther out -- that star formation looks almost impossible. But the stars are there," said team member Ralf Bender of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany.
The observations may provide clues to the activities in the cores of more distant galaxies that cannot be observed so well. At about 2.5 million light-years away, Andromeda is the nearest large galaxy to our own Milky Way.
Lauer led an international team of researchers. The results are published today in the Astrophysical Journal.
The new observations also provide clinching evidence that Andromeda's central dark object is a black hole and not something else. It packs a mass of 140 million suns, the new study finds.
Ultimately, the strange goings-on in Andromeda may turn out to be commonplace.
"The dynamics within the core of this neighboring galaxy may be more common than we think," Lauer said. "Our own Milky Way apparently has even younger stars close to its own black hole. It seems unlikely that only the closest two big galaxies should have this odd activity. So this behavior may not be the exception but the rule. And we have found other galaxies that have a double nucleus."
Hubble is a cooperative effort between NASA and the European Space Agency.
- Survival Tips for Black Hole Travelers
- When Andromeda Collides with Our Milky Way
- Stars Orbiting Close to Milky Way's Black Hole
- New Twists on the Milky Way's Big Black Hole
- Health Checkup: Engineers Work to Stall Hubble's Death
MORE FROM SPACE.com | <urn:uuid:e500c220-7b89-493b-91bb-688371832b6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.space.com/1573-mysterious-stars-surround-andromeda-black-hole.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935213 | 864 | 4 | 4 |
A CONCERNED friend wants to intervene after discovering her teenage pal has started drinking heavily and smoking.
I’m 14 years old and my friend, who is a few months younger than me, has started drinking and smoking.
A few months ago I asked her if she was smoking, and she lied and said she wasn’t.
Recently her drinking has become worse and I’m so worried about the damage she is doing to herself.
The other day I saw her drink about three-quarters of a bottle of vodka.
I don’t get on with most of her other friends because they are encouraging her to continue these habits.
We do have some mutual friends and they want to stop her smoking and drinking, but we don’t know how to stop her because we can’t keep an eye on her all the time.
She doesn’t want help but I know she can’t carry on like this because it’s doing so much damage to her health – and she is starting to smell of cigarettes. How can we help her?
You’ve already shown what great friends you are and I’m glad to hear you’re not falling into the same trap.
Maybe shock tactics could make an impression – get the group that’s worried about her together and tell her that you care about her and think she’s a brilliant friend, so you want her to stop her bad habits.
Explain that it doesn’t make her look cool, and get some info together about drinking
and young people so she can read about how it’s affecting her health.
Then you might have to be cruel to be kind and say that, unless she stops, you don’t want to hang around with her. Sadly, her behaviour might be acceptable at home – she could be in an unhappy situation there, or it might simply be that no one is monitoring her.
However, if that’s not the case, and she’s simply pulling the wool over her parents’ eyes, then you could have a quiet word with her mum or an older sibling she gets on with, but I understand you don’t want to snitch on your friend.
I’d like to think that my kids’ friends could confide in me and I would appreciate that they were trying to help, but only you can gauge what her parents are like.
If you know she’s buying booze and cigarettes from a certain shop – or getting older mates to buy them for her – you could always warn the manager she’s underage. | <urn:uuid:e33172b1-c2a2-4b7a-8364-3b9e9331186b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/family-relationships/can-i-stop-my-teen-pals-drinking-1412072 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976444 | 550 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Of course, Duomo remains the most vivid architectural landmark of Florence. No monument of the past can match with the beauty of this great place. In addition to the magnificent cathedral, visitors of the city must see Baptistery, which facade is lined with delicate marble tiles. The baptistery’s facing was made yet in the 12th century and two centuries later the dome of the building was decorated with beautiful Byzantine mosaics. The gate in front of the building is also decorated with panels with bas-reliefs, which depict John the Baptist.
Florence is the capital of the beautiful and very popular Italian province of Tuscany. This place is situated on the banks of the River Arno. This city has given birth to the Renaissance style....
The center of the city is the location of another prominent religious attraction - the Basilica of Santa Croce. This church was built in Gothic style, and its rooms are decorated with beautiful frescoes by Giotto. The basilica is the location of several tombs of great figures of the country. The beautiful church of Santa Maria Novella is located next to Grand Central Station. This place also attracts travelers with its unusual architecture and luxurious interior decoration. Dominican monks began to build the church in the 13th century, but the building ended with the erection of the shrine only 200 years later. Perhaps, Uffizi Gallery is the most famous and attractive cultural institution of the city. This place is certainly worth visiting regardless of the fact whether you are a connoisseur of art or just a tourist.
House of Dante is surely a vibrant cultural attraction of the city. A beautiful old mansion - the birthplace of the world-renowned poet – has been turned into a museum. Modern Art Gallery, which exhibits a collection of works by Italian artists of the Renaissance, can simply not be ignored. The gallery often hosts exhibitions by young artists. In the famous Palatine Gallery you can see priceless works of Botticelli, Van Dyck, Caravaggio and Rubens. The gallery is opened in the beautiful Pitti Palace, which is also a prominent landmark of the city. The project of the palace was developed by architect Filippo Brunelleschi - one of the best masters of the 19th century. Bargello Castle, built in 1255, is a no less impressive architectural landmark of the city. In 1859 it was decided to open the National Museum in the palace. Therefore, now its spacious halls exhibit the collections of ancient sculptures and paintings. | <urn:uuid:482d88ed-4162-423c-a44b-5747b0535cb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.orangesmile.com/travelguide/florence/culture--117543.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971133 | 518 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Leominster Community Portal
Past Discoveries is a Genealogical and Family History Research Company offering a friendly and efficient service to those who wish to find out more about their family history. We offer a professional and quality Genealogical Research Service to our Clients throughout the UK with localised research in Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and London.
Find out where relatives died and were buried during the two World Wars - search their Register of Commonwealth forces and civilians who died.
A categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet with a list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online. A free jumping-off point for you to use in your online research.
The Federation of Family History Societies co-ordinates and assists the work of societies or other bodies interested in family history, genealogy and heraldry. The site provides a county by county alphabetical list of family history societies in England and Wales (Scotland has its own Association).
Findmypast, in partnership with the Federation of Family History Societies, publishes local parish records online, helping genealogists to delve further back in time.
The official Scottish genealogy resource - one of the largest online sources of original genealogical information. If you are researching UK genealogy, your Scottish ancestry or building your Scottish family tree, there are almost 80 million records to look through. From Scottish census records, Scottish wills, birth certificates and death certificates, a comprehensive choice of Scottish records to bring your Scotland ancestry to life.
A community site (registration is free) aiming to help family history researchers share family tree information online. It enables users to build a family tree online and share tips and techniques through messageboard area.
You can search for census, birth, marriages, death and military records.
Volunteer-run site, index to all archived paper records still available today. Info is clear and concise. Lots of other research sites link back to Genuki.
The India Office Records are the repository of the archives of the East India Company (1600-1858), the Board of Control or Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India (1784-1858), the India Office (1858-1947), the Burma Office (1937-1948), and a number of related British agencies overseas. The India Office Records are administered by The British Library as part of the Public Records of the United Kingdom, and are open for public consultation.
Quick Links to Births, Marriages & Deaths, Census Records, Divorce, Passenger Lists and Wills. Alphabetical list of Research Guides such as Admiralty Records to Titanic Passenger lists.
Parishmouse contains historical information about towns, parishes and hamlets within the UK. Parishes have easy reference facts for genealogical research giving the dates of parish registers deposited at the relevant records office together with a listing of the IGI coverage and the coverage of Boyd's and Pallot's marriage indexes. The site also includes historical illustrations and modern day photographs.
The Scottish Association of Family History Societies promotes and encourages the study of Scottish family history, and provides a forum for the exchange of information among members.
The National Archives is the official archive of the UK Government - holding 11 million records - from Domesday Book to the most recent government papers. Whatever your interests, whether professional, academic or personal, they should have documents that can help your research.
There are some 136 Army Museums and they are as varied and individual as the regiments they represent. The Army Museums' collections provide valuable insights into the great events of our military history and also illustrate the close links that have existed and continue to flourish between regiments and their local communities. As well as listing the museums, the Trust's website has a Research Section.
Extensive military collection will help you to locate your ancestors who served in World War One and World War Two. You can also search a range of historical lists and roll calls, including records for the Battle of Waterloo, as well as army BMDs (not found in the civil indexes).
IWM is a family of five museums: IWM London; IWM North in Trafford, Greater Manchester; IWM Duxford near Cambridge; the Churchill War Rooms in Whitehall, London; and the historic ship HMS Belfast, moored in the Pool of London on the River Thames.
The Museum Archive manages IWM’s own administrative records, which date back to its foundation in 1917. Researchers may consult these records in the IWM London Research Room. IWM's records are public records and are generally available for research. However, some records containing personal information may have access restrictions in line with the Data Protection Act. Other, more recent, material may be subject to exemptions outlined in the Freedom of Information Act.
Holds list of all known Second World War prisoners of war and internees of all nationalities.
The Army Museums Ogilvy Trust offers advice on how to search for Army ancestors and to research into your family history and military genealogy.
The MOD Medal Office is the sole authority for the issue of medals authorised by Her Majesty to British service personnel and veterans. Th tri-service MOD Medal Office is based at Imjin Barracks, Innsworth.
MOD Reunited is independent of the Ministry of Defence and enables people to search for past friends and colleagues in all three services with whom they may have lost contact.
The National Army Museum’s study collection reflects the rich history and traditions of the British Army. Researchers can access this collection and advice on carrying out genealogical research and curatorial assistance in identifying and interpreting military artefacts is also available.
Original documents from ther archive and books from ther extensive library can be consulted in the reading room at RAF Museum London. They can provide help and advice to enquirers by post, email and telephone, but are unable to undertake detailed research on your behalf.
The Museum's research collections comprise all of the Library and manuscript collections, including that part of the Admiralty Library that was moved to Portsmouth in 1997. Images from these collections can be supplied for use in publication or private research. The Library also operates the Museum's Information Service and will reply to enquiries using these collections. A wide range of ready-prepared information sources are available and can be accessed on-line.
The Museum does not hold any service records on individuals as these are still maintained by the Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) of each regiment. Regimental photographs are also held by the RHQs. All five RHQs are based in Wellington Barracks, London - click the link for further information.
UKMFH aims to help you find out the history of your military family by linking to web sites that have online information which will help you discover what your families did and how they lived in their military life. Muster rolls, discharge papers, pension records are all valuable sources of information which can help you complete your family tree – many are now listed under UKMFH's menus along with a whole range of other types of records.
People seek Service records for a variety of reasons, some to acquire their own Service/medical records and some in connection with the growing interest in family history. Whatever the reason, obtaining copies can be a surprisingly straightforward process. The process differs, depending on whether you are requesting your own records, if you are the next of kin of a deceased Service person or if you simply have a general interest in an individual.
Contains a wealth of news stories as reported in British newspapers which might help family history research. Also books and journals and sound recordings. | <urn:uuid:2e8cc337-b8fc-4e34-8faa-b25eafd306cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://leominster.2day.ws/leominster/section/FamilyHistory/ | 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 | 0.936792 | 1,565 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Here are the details about the item. If you wish to request this item, just click on "request this item", below. Otherwise, you can go back
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Title: Implementing Student-Led Conferences
Author: Bailey, Jane M.; Guskey, Thomas R.
Jane Bailey and Thomas Guskey, leaders in the field of student assessment, address a nagging issue for both beginning and veteran teachers—how to effectively communicate to parents the learning progress of their children. Every teacher knows the sinking feeling of facing a sea of anxious parents with limited time for in-depth discussion.
Now there is a way for students to take responsibility in communicating their progress and for parents to get the satisfaction they deserve. In this new approach, the teacher serves as facilitator as students lead their parents through
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STUDENTS JOIN NATIONAL ANTHEM EDUCATION EFFORT
Did you know that two out of three American adults don't know the words to our national anthem, according to a Harris Poll?
Members of the Western Carolina University Collegiate Music Educators chapter gathered on the lawn of A.K. Hinds University Center to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Thursday, Sept. 14, to celebrate the 194th anniversary of our national anthem.
Michael Schallock, assistant professor of music education and the adviser for WCU’s CMENC organization, said the event was part of a national effort to help people learn more about patriotic music.
“Being a band director and involved in music, I had a sense that though we recognize the national anthem, many of us may not all know the words,” said Schallock, guessing some get confused as early as the opening line. “I’m not sure why. Maybe we are focusing on other things during the singing, or Americans who have never seen the words printed might have tried to learn from listening at a football game.”
For more information, visit www.nationalanthemproject.org.
| Maintained by the WCU Office of Public Relations
Last modified: Friday, September 15, 2006
Copyright 2006 by Western Carolina University | <urn:uuid:679398b6-e551-4fa3-bf0b-c19c9d5dbf0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcu.edu/pubinfo/news/2006/NationalAnthem.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950684 | 279 | 2.34375 | 2 |
12VPN is one of my all time favorite VPN services, and I still use it, even though I've tried over ten different VPN services over the years. Below, I've written a bit about how VPNs work, and specifics about the 12VPN service. If you want to skip to the good stuff and get the discount, here's the link for a 10% discount on all products. It will take you right to the shopping cart. That means if you want to explore the site, you can go to http://12vpn.com to check things out, and then get the 10% DISCOUNT by clicking the discount link and going to the checkout area.
Remember that you must click the 10% DISCOUNT link to get credit from the discount code.
US Only VPN service $79 USD – 10% =
- $71 USD / Year
- SAVE $8 USD
- $6 / month
World VPN service $119 USD – 10% =
- $107 USD / Year
- SAVE $12 USD
- $ 9 / month
***The Windows, Mac and Linux packages all include support for iPhone, iPad, Android and Symbian.
Virtual Private Networks
VPNs do two things. 1. They hide your IP address and allow you to access websites with an IP address different from your own. 2. They protect this connection from outsiders. When you surf the Internet, an IP address unique to your computer is attached to all your traffic. This means that if they want to, any site you surf can see where you are in the world. Along with cookies and other data associated with your computer, they can learn a lot about what sites you surf, and how you spend your time on the Internet. Some people consider this an invasion of privacy. Changing your IP address can prevent this by making you anonymous on the Internet.
When you type a URL into your browser, your IP is making a request to visit their IP. When firewalls get involved, a couple things can happen. 1. The best case scenario is that the request is accepted and you go to the website. 2. Your firewall doesn't allow you to surf the site. This may happen when you try to get on Facebook at work, or Youtube from your school computer. It happens all the time in China because of The Great Firewall. 3. The site you request blocks you because of your IP. Maybe you're coming from a region where a lot of spam originates. Or maybe you're trying to access Hulu / Netflix from outside The USA. Either way, sites can block you based on your IP address. Of course, changing your IP with a VPN can get around this.
When you connect to a VPN, your data is first encrypted and tunneled to the VPN server. The VPN server then acts as a middle man, erasing any traces of your IP address from the request, assigning you a new IP address (from the region of the VPN server), and then connecting you to the site. It's like sending an anonymous package to someone. Instead of your address on the box, its the address of the delivery company. No one knows who you really are. You are essentially "going around" the firewall.
So what's encryption and tunneling? Ok, I'll be the first to admit that details of just how my Internet traffic and IP address are "encrypted" and "tunneled" is a bit cryptic to me. But someone once explained it to me like this, and I think it makes sense.
If you imagine the sending a package scenario for a moment. Now lets say you're worried about who might see you sending this anonymous package. Maybe they see you putting the package in your mailbox or the catch the delivery truck en route. There's potential that they might see the original package, learn where you live, and be able to find you and steal your stuff. So a VPN wraps the pack securely, and puts it is an armored car to make the delivery. This way, if anyone does see the armored car, they can't get inside. If the were some how able to see inside the car, they still wouldn't know what's in the package.
Like I said above, 12VPN is a pretty cool service. It's already very cheap, and with the discount, it's even cheaper. You simply can't find a quality VPN service for a better price out there. Remember that I've tried many over the years – I know what I'm talking about. For SSL/OpenVPN needed in China, some companies are charging upwards of 10 USD a month for limited server locations and bandwidth caps. For PPTP or L2TP (if you're not in China, the price is pretty standard)
In a nutshell, these are the standard things that 12VPN has to offer
- Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android Supported
- Email Support Team
- 7 day money back guarantee
- PPTP, L2TP, SSL/OpenVPN protocols
- Multiple Server Locations in The US and The UK, and around the world
- Free Updates
More importantly through, these things make 12VPN BETTER
- Super easy installation (no previous experience needed)
- Free Viscosity License for Mac and Windows users ($9 USD value)
- Free Server Switching
- Friendly Support Team
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- US Only Plan is only $6 / month (with discount)
***Stuff for the nerds
- Allows P2P
- Support for lesser known platforms including Symbian S60, DD-WRT, pfSense, Tomato and others
- Military grade encryption (see site for details)
- L2TP with IPSec, Cisco, IKEv2 VPN protocols available
Easy installation (under two minutes) and a friendly support team make 12VPN a great choice for newbies. High-tech badass encryption and fast connection speeds make it suitable for an anonymous surfer on a mission. It might not seem like much, but I think the thing that seals the deal for me with 12VPN is the attitude of the support team. No matter what service you choose, you're likely to run into some sort of issue, and will need to contact the support team. A friendly and "ready to help" attitude makes a world of difference when you're frustrated and ready to throw your computer out the window. Everyone likes to write "quick and friendly support team" on their site, and hope people just believe it. 12VPN actually puts it into practice.
Here's the links for the 10% DISCOUNT again. For details about pricing, scroll back to the top of the page. If you're purchasing a VPN for something other than Mac, Linux, or Windows, choose any of the above and contact the support team with your details. All of the above packages come with support for all available platforms.
Check out their site to for more details
12VPN official site http://12vpn.com | <urn:uuid:2f88b677-2dc9-4547-8ba9-52b4a96d4a7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unblockfacebookinchina.info/category/discounts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944519 | 1,435 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Related BLS programs | Related articles
March 2010, Vol. 133, No. 3
Payroll employment in 2009: job losses continue
Megan M. Barker and Adam A. Hadi
Megan M. Barker and Adam A. Hadi are economists in the National Estimates Branch, Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics. E-mail: email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.org
Employment declined by 4.7 million in 2009, the largest calendar-year job loss in the history of the series (since 1939); although payrolls declined sharply at the beginning of the year, job losses moderated thereafter.
Download full article in PDF
Ten months into the recession that began in December 2007, job losses accelerated, breaking from the trends of the previous two recessions, in early 1990 and early 2000.1 With the worsening crisis in the financial sector in late 2008, employees in most industries felt the impact. Payroll employment losses accelerated, and the largest 1-month job loss (779,000) of the recession occurred in January 2009. Employment declines moderated throughout the rest of the year. (See chart 1.) In 2009, nonfarm payroll employment, as measured by the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey,2 declined by 4.7 million, to 130 million. Construction and manufacturing shed the most jobs during the year, while health services continued to add employees to payrolls.
As total nonfarm employment losses moderated in the second half of the year, other economic indicators also suggested an improvement in the general health of the U.S. economy. (See tables 1–3.) The gross domestic product (GDP) posted growth in the third and fourth quarters, after the previous four quarters saw losses. Corporate profits also grew in the third and fourth quarters, and the composite index of economic indicators gradually improved throughout the year. In the labor market, temporary help services not only saw job losses moderate, but also began to add jobs in the last few months of the year. Firms often purchase such services before hiring permanent labor. Some firms also may increase the worktime of their employees before adding new hires. Thus, in manufacturing, average weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory employees improved by 1.1 hours per week between March and December of 2009.
This excerpt is from an article published in the March 2010 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
Download full article in PDF
1 Recessions are identified by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which has not yet identified an end point for the recession that began in December 2007. (See details on the Internet at www.nber.org/cycles/cyclesmain.html (visited Mar. 12, 2010).) According to the NBER, the previous two recessions were from March 2001 to November 2001 and from July 1990 to March 1991.
2 The Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey is a monthly survey of about 150,000 nonfarm business and government agencies representing approximately 390,000 individual worksites. For more information on the program’s concepts and methodology, see "Technical Notes to Establishment Survey Data Published in Employment and Earnings," in Current Employment Statistics—CES (National) (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Feb. 17, 2010), on the Internet at www.bls.gov/web/cestn2.htm (visited Mar. 23, 2010). CES data are presented in Current Employment Statistics—CES (National) (Bureau of Labor Statistics, no date), on the Internet at www.bls.gov/ces (visited Feb. 5, 2010). The CES data used in this article are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise noted.
Current Employment Statistics
Substantial job losses in 2008: weakness broadens and deepens across industries.—Mar. 2009.
Payroll employment in 2007: job growth slows.—Mar. 2008.
Payroll employment and job openings rate continued to grow in 2006.—Mar. 2007.
Payroll employment in 2005: recovery and expansion.—Mar. 2006.
Payroll employment grows in 2004.—Mar. 2005.
The U.S. labor market in 2003: signs of improvement by year’s end.—Mar. 2004.
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BLS Home | Publications & Research Papers | <urn:uuid:0965aee6-9215-45b5-a995-8e152f48591b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2010/03/art2exc.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932517 | 944 | 2.140625 | 2 |
The number of Americans who no longer have a 401(k) match is growing exponentially. Some 22 percent of companies report they have recently reduced their contributions to employee 401(k) or 403(b) accounts, up from 12 percent in February and just 2 percent in October 2008, according to a Watson Wyatt survey of 141 employers conducted this month. Another 8 percent of employers expect to slim their match in the next 12 months. And 4 percent of the companies surveyed that already trimmed their match plan to further cut employer contributions this year.
If workers don’t make up for losing the match with their own savings, their nest egg will be thousands of dollars smaller in retirement. When a 50 percent 401(k) match is suspended for just one year, a 30-year-old worker earning $50,000 annually who saves 6 percent of his salary will have $16,000 less in retirement, according to a Hewitt Associates analysis.
And if 401(k) match cuts weren’t hurting your retirement prospects enough, an increasing number of workers are also robbing their own retirement stash by taking hardship withdrawals or borrowing cash from their 401(k)s. The number of companies that noted an increase in employee early withdrawals and loans from retirement accounts has more than doubled since October 2008, Watson Wyatt found. | <urn:uuid:e394f437-90b7-41b5-96e3-00ba612e2068> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/planning-to-retire/2009/04/23/survey-almost-a-quarter-of-companies-have-now-reduced-401k-matches_print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975556 | 266 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Leon Pantenburg of SurvivalCommonSense.com walks us through how to start a campfire with gasoline and matches. Normally this is considered a huge safety no-no but I also recognize that plenty of people do it and will attempt to do so if times get tough. As such, it’s best to understand how to start a campfire with gasoline safely even if it’s not recommended. Again, there are far safer ways to start a campfire so be sure you know how to do so, and only choose to use gasoline as a last resort.
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Blog Owners: This content may be freely republished so long as the following credit is included at the top of the article: "This article was first published at reThinkSurvival.com." | <urn:uuid:04a11f62-0fb0-4573-8447-37379a6087c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rethinksurvival.com/posts/quick-reference-starting-a-campfire-with-gasoline-and-matches/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921506 | 257 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Lifehacker readers are often interested in learning how to code, and if you're a Chrome user, development blog Tutorialzine has a great tutorial to start you off making simple Chrome extensions.
Tutorialzine's instructions will walk you through creating your first extension, that will act as a popup with a very pretty display of an RSS feed on it (pictured above, using theirs). It's simple, but the tutorial is pretty great—it walks you through each step of the process and makes it easy to understand which parts of the code are linked to certain attributes, as well as providing helpful links to certain sections of Google's documentation on extensions. If you've ever wanted to make a Chrome extension, it's a pretty good place to start. Hit the link to read more, and let us know what you think of the process in the comments. | <urn:uuid:78400efb-f4da-414b-aeab-2aa1f2b7d14d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lifehacker.com/5559317/learn-to-make-your-own-chrome-extensions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953151 | 173 | 1.71875 | 2 |
The shadow of Watergate falls only lightly across the U.S. political landscape. Instead, the epic scandal is discernible mainly in the absence of the evils that engendered it. Even during the panicky post-9/11 era, when the temptation to ignore the law at times overwhelmed good judgment, never were even the most zealous of Bush-Cheney toadies accused of using the machinery of state to punish partisan adversaries.
No, that was a uniquely Nixonian response to political challenge: Shadowy operatives with national security credentials tapped phones of columnists; dissidents were burgled and bullied; critics had their taxes audited; black bag operations were authorized at cabinet level and above.
That was Watergate, and since it cost Richard Nixon his presidency it seems now to have been banished from the political sphere, an absence that is rarely noticed. So Watergate touches the political culture only faintly.
But for journalists it’s quite a different matter: For them, Watergate remains the defining event of the past half-century. It was a towering moment of heroism, an episode of legendary stature in which journalism’s foundational purposes were triumphantly validated and a drift toward despotism was stopped, all thanks to a single-minded dedication to the craft of determined reporting.
And it has been a powerful inspiration for the two generations of journalists that came since. “We’re all the sons and daughters of Watergate,” as Jeff Leen, investigations editor of The Washington Post, told a gathering at the American Society of News Editors annual conference in Washington last week.
Leen’s comment came during a remarkable panel marking the 40th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, when burglars hired by the Nixon re-election campaign were busted while trying to plant listening devices at Democratic Party headquarters. (The anniversary isn’t until June, but nobody seemed to care.)
The ASNE panel included both reporting stars of The Post’s historic investigation, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. No less important, in the front row of the audience were their then-editor, Ben Bradlee, now 90, and Donald Graham, CEO of the Post organization, whose late mother Katherine, then publisher, stood firm before the fierce counterattack of the Nixon cabal.
The panel’s ostensible topic was how the media would handle that affair today, in a radically different informational world. Now, with cascading opportunities for news to come to light and for informants to go public at dizzying speed, and with a burgeoning corps of amateur and semi-pro sleuths and commentators, wouldn’t the secrets of the vast conspiracy have surfaced months sooner, with no need for two reporters to place calls, ring doorbells and trudge along with notebooks and questions?
Surely nowadays an election-season break-in at opposition headquarters would trigger an informational avalanche, and the mystery would unravel in days, rather than the nearly two years of courthouse and congressional hearings that it took to eviscerate Nixon’s administration and force him out.
But the panel was skeptical, and it was hard not to wonder whether, paradoxically, exposing a conspiracy of that scope might actually be harder now. For one thing, Bernstein suggested, he and Woodward were writing for an audience that was interested in facts. Today’s readers are looking more single-mindedly to confirm what they believe. “I’m not sure the story could withstand that cultural reception,” he said. “It’d get ground up.”
For another, he and Woodward both spoke reverently about the steadfastness of the institution that sheltered them. Watergate, Bernstein said, “was about a newspaper.” Faced with the possibility they might be compelled to turn over their records, Woodward recalled, Katherine Graham responded, “They’re not their notes, they’re my notes.”
That kind of resoluteness is in short supply in an era when newsroom staffs have shrunk and public mission is a line item on a quarterly marketing plan.
And there’s yet another reason to wonder how readily Watergate would be exposed today. That’s the capacity of authorities to identify and move against sources. The warm reception President Obama received from the editors conference a few hours before the Watergate panel was ironic in view of the unprecedented six Espionage Act prosecutions his Justice Department has mounted against people who leaked information to the press—information that while institutionally embarrassing, was miles from constituting any detectable security threat.
Nowadays, those sources are being ferreted out and shut down with 21st century techniques of surveillance and digital information retrieval. It’s good that Nixon’s henchmen didn’t have those tools to roll up the network of sources so patiently cultivated by Woodward and Bernstein. | <urn:uuid:889a244a-caf2-4e70-b996-eb7141189c2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ewasserman.com/2012/04/09/lessons-of-watergate-for-the-new-media-age/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966605 | 996 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Food is essentially intimate. It literally enters us and becomes part of our bodies. Our lives depend on its presence. No wonder, then, that the act of eating or preparing food with someone can be transformative. It’s the deeply communal nature of cooking that makes Cooking with Italian Grandmothers so wonderful. On some level, it is the commonest of trivialities to say that food brings us together. But in this book the truth of that tossed-off phrase emerges radiantly. In words and gorgeous photos, Jessica Theroux shows us that the food she discovers on her journey is inseparable from the people who make it, the places where they lead their lives, and the history of both. This is food that links people to the land and to one another. You’ll emerge from the book feeling that you too have traveled those roads, stepped into those kitchens, and chatted with twelve distinct personalities. It’s a journey well worth taking.
This book is as much a travelogue as it is a cookbook, and like the best travelogues it doesn’t stop at observing a place, but enters the homes and hearts of the people who live there. The food here isn’t just something that sits, glowing, on a white tablecloth, and the origin of these recipes is much more than a pleasant, vaguely exotic backdrop. On the contrary: whether it’s a rich rabbit pasta sauce in Tuscany or creamy ricotta in Ustica, each dish is rooted in its own patch of soil and piece of human life.
As you read Theroux writing about learning to cook from the old women she meets on her travels through Italy, it’s clear that the act of cooking together has fostered a great intimacy between her and them. Theroux comes to know these women through their cooking, and in these pages, so do we. From Usha, the yoga practitioner with a hidden talent for creating decadent pastries, to Carluccia, who knows the soil on her Calabrian farm so well that she prepares beans from separate patches in ways designed to bring out the unique flavors of each, the way these women cook is imbued with their personalities, places, and life histories. Their food keeps memories, and creates them. It carries the echoes of past hardships and rejoicing, of bad times and good. Cooking it leads to revelations, as Theroux and her teachers open up to one another.
And I can’t wait to try out their recipes—I’ve got my eye on the plum-almond tart, tomato-bread soup, and pesto lasagna, for starters.
—Genevieve Aoki, Welcome intern | <urn:uuid:eae5d41f-8a87-47ba-ac42-7b7fb81bdcde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://welcomebooksnyc.wordpress.com/tag/local/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961112 | 558 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Indian Navy validates new maritime warfare doctrine
Utilising some of its newly inducted assets like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), airborne early warning helicopters and cutting edge missiles, the Indian Navy has validated its new warfare doctrine during an exercise conducted off the country's west coast.
The just-concluded TROPEX (Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercises) 2007, the navy's largest annual exercise, commenced on Jan 30 and saw the participation of all the force's major combatants, as also significant elements from the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Coast
'The thrust of this year's edition was to validate the concept of 'Maritime Manoeuvre from the Sea' that is designed to ensure that in a short, swift and intense conflict, the navy is able to directly address and favourably influence the progress and outcome of the air-land battle,' a navy spokesman said Monday.
Toward this end, the recently acquired Israeli UAVs, Kamov-31 AEW helicopters, and state-of-the-art surface-to-air missile-systems like the Barak, Shtil, and Kashmir, as also land-attack missiles, 'all of which represent major accretions in the navy's capabilities', were also deployed, he added.
Several new operational concepts that had earlier been 'war gamed' as part of a series of tabletop exercises were played out at sea and valuable lessons learnt.
'These lessons will now be fed back into the navy's analysis organisations and will, thereafter, be utilised to refine operational doctrines,' the spokesman said.
Principal among these concepts were those relating to 'jointmanship' that seeks to enhance the efficacy of operations planned and executed jointly by operational commanders of the four services.
'Significantly higher levels of coordination were achieved during TROPEX-2007', which was also witnessed by senior representatives from the defence and shipping ministries, the spokesman said.
'Overall, the exercise provided tremendous training value through the testing of human and material endurance, the execution of organisational and logistics plans, and, finally, delivering the punch in a mock battle.
'Activities such as the activation of the country's coastal defence organisation, naval control of merchant shipping, and the chartering of merchant ships to augment the logistics train at sea were also comprehensively exercised to assess the effectiveness of the navy's plans,' the spokesman said. | <urn:uuid:aa0ee0ad-3fe7-445f-929e-f82f247433cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defence.pk/forums/indian-defence/4009-indian-navy-validates-new-maritime-warfare-doctrine.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964805 | 498 | 1.679688 | 2 |
“The segments grow smaller in such a regular way that the seventeenth-century Scottish mathematician John Napier, it is said, was inspired by them to invent logarithms.”
From an essay by Oliver Sacks on horsetails — in general and those growing on New York City’s High Line — in the August 1, 2011 issue of The New Yorker.
“Stieg was like a sponge, absorbing everything, and without ever taking notes! For example, to come up with the clothes his characters wore, which were always described in great detail, he never consulted any catalogues or peered into any shopwindows. All he did was study fashion in the street. And he loved that.”
From “Stieg Larsson’s Long Good-bye,” an excerpt of Eva Gabrielson’s memoir “‘There Are Things I Want You To Know’ about Stieg Larsson and Me,” appearing in the July 2011 issue of Vanity Fair.
“As he passed us, he shot me a look. The look was what did it. Imagine my finger tapping the first in a line of dominos.”
From page 4 of the novel “Long Drive Home” by Will Allison (describing a basic idea, the seemingly innocuous origin of a long series of snowballing events and decisions that culminate in … well, you have to read the book yourself).
As part of our fantasy that we can, if not control time, at least keep track of it, we humans have moved from sundials that throw shadows, to clocks with hands that go around and around, to machines with flipping or glowing numbers.
Now comes a clock that literally tells time in words — and you can even select the language from among the seven on offer.
Yes, according to the “Gadgetwise” section of The New York Times on June 23, 2011, a German company has introduced a clock that will display the words “It is a quarter past one” (or whatever) and update them every five minutes. The clock has many other features and, in addition to its many languages, comes in many colors (all of them food-related, for some reason — like “dark chocolate” and “vanilla sugar”). And yes, if you have to ask how much it costs … well, you know the rest.
I usually like to applaud new ideas, not criticize them. But this clock makes me wonder. Writers are constantly being admonished to show, not tell. And most children learn to “tell” time and “read” a (traditional) clock at about when they learn to read words. But what about the 85% of US juvenile inmates who are functionally illiterate, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics?
OK, so I’m over-thinking this one.
“While the idea gives the work its soul, the medium gives the work its personality. Paintings and sculpture have a different vocabulary from printmaking, as does each of the distinct print mediums. The sensory experience of each medium — derived from the tools and materials particular to it — are entirely different, and each is suited to the ‘soul’ of the image.”
From “Pressing Ideas,” an profile of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop by Jordana Pomeroy in the Summer 2011 issue of Women in the Arts, the journal of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (quoting Tamarind director Marjorie Devon).
“The actual vaccine – the world’s first — was invented by Edward Jenner, a British country doctor, at the end of the eighteenth century. After noting that mikmaids rarely got the disease, he theorized, correctly, that exposure to cowpox — a virus similar to smallpox but much less virulent — conferred resistance.”
From an essay/review by Michael Specter in the May 30, 2011 issue of The New Yorker about the new book “Pox: An American History” by Michael Willrich. | <urn:uuid:dd5aac7e-83ac-4ba0-970d-c9b321c7c33b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://susanblackonline.com/ideablog/2011/08/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960773 | 863 | 1.765625 | 2 |
By Jeanne Nichols, Ph.D., FACSM
Once thought of as a disease of “little old ladies,” osteoporosis is now considered by many researchers as a pediatric disorder that manifests itself in old age. Peak bone mass and strength, which girls achieve in their 20s, predicts future fracture risk. In other words, the greater the bone mass and strength at the time girls reach their peak, the lower their chance of sustaining an osteoporotic fracture as they grow older. Research has also shown that the rate at which we accrue bone mineral is highest during late childhood and early adolescence. This is why it is critical to promote bone-healthy behaviors in children and teens.
Studies comparing athletes from different sports have shown the highest bone mineral density values in athletes participating in sports associated with high impact forces, such as in gymnastics, volleyball, and basketball, and in sports that require variable loads, or “odd-impact” loads to the skeleton, such as in soccer, tennis, and European handball. In addition to impact loading from jumping and sprinting activities, bone also adapts favorably to high joint reaction forces from vigorous muscular contractions, such as in weightlifting or resistance training. These types of activities should be considered when planning exercise programs for children and teens.
In addition to the type of exercise to optimize bone mass and strength, several randomized, controlled exercise interventions have also provided insight into the frequency and duration of exercise needed to build bone in young girls. Although an exact exercise prescription for bone health is not known, knowledge gained from these intervention studies can help practitioners plan community exercise programs to promote bone health in children and teens.
Several elementary school-based programs in which jumping and running games were added to physical education classes for approximately 10-30 minutes three days per week during the school year have shown significantly greater gains in bone mineral at the hip and lumbar spine in pre- and early pubescent girls compared to girls who participated in regular P.E. activities 1-3. From these studies we can conclude that brief sessions of vigorous impact exercise three days per week can promote bone health throughout the developmental years. Young girls need to learn and practice these bone-healthy behaviors to optimize their bone mass and strength in adulthood and decrease their risk of osteoporosis in old age.
Additional information on bone health:
ACSM’s Position Stand on Physical Activity and Bone Health
National Osteoporosis Foundation
1. Fuchs, R. K., J. J. Bauer, and C. M. Snow. Jumping improves hip and lumbar spine bone mass in prepubescent children: a randomized controlled trial. J Bone Miner Res. 16:148-156, 2001.
2. MacKelvie, K. J., K. M. Khan, M. A. Petit, P. A. Janssen, and H. A. McKay. A school-based exercise intervention elicits substantial bone health benefits: a 2-year randomized controlled trial in girls. Pediatrics. 112:e447, 2003.
3. McKay, H. A., M. A. Petit, R. W. Schutz, J. C. Prior, S. I. Barr, and K. M. Khan. Augmented trochanteric bone mineral density after modified physical education classes: a randomized school-based exercise intervention study in prepubescent and early pubescent children. J Pediatr. 136:156-162, 2000. | <urn:uuid:25233eaf-fa7b-4961-aa8e-4549b325233e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acsm.org/access-public-information/articles/2011/10/04/-exercise-is-medicine-for-building-strong-bones-in-adolescent-girls | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933414 | 720 | 3.578125 | 4 |
“They learned facts from their rabbeim, but without spending the time that comes from watching them live, they didn’t learn attitude.”
That statement alone is worth its own post, or many, for that matter…
So, a little more elaboration. Here’s the section we’re discussing:
Qabbalistically, Beis Shammai is described as embodying the sephirah of Din, strict Justice and uncompromising Truth, whereas Beis Hillel draws from the sephirah of Chessed, Generosity and Lovingkindness. This fits the observation that Beis Hillel is far more often the more lenient of the two. Also, we are told that Beis Hillel’s position was codified as law over Beis Shammai’s because Beis Shammai would only teach their own position, whereas when a member of Beis Hillel taught, he started with Beis Shammai’s position, and then his own. Procedurally, we follow Beis Hillel because they were the larger school, and halakhah follows the majority. Beis Shammai was a smaller school that had stricter entrance requirements. Also, Chessed vs. Din. But their attitude might also explain how Beis Hillel grew more rapidly.
Furthermore, the reason given for the radical increase in the number of disputes between the generation of Hillel and Shammai and those of their schools is “shelo shimshu es rabosam — they did not properly serve their mentors.” They learned facts from their rabbeim, but without spending the time that comes from watching them live, they didn’t learn attitude. The Maharal explains that since Hillel was the nasi, his job was to distribute funds and build an infrastructure for society. His job was Chessed. Shammai, as the head of the court, had Din as a profession. The students, because of their distance from the rebbes, could not separate the differences due to their roles from the rebbeim’s approach to Torah.
The first element is a Tosefta (Chagiga 2:4), which also appears in a slightly different form in the Yerushalmi (Chagiga 1:4, Vilna ed. 8b), and the same basic idea in the Bavli (Sanhedrin 88b). It begins by telling us how machloqes was avoided in the days of the zugos, by having questioned referred up a hierarchy of courts for resolution, and once resolved, the answer was promulgated in the streets. However, “משרבו תלמידי שמאי והלל שלא שמשו כל צרכן [הרבו] מחלוקת בישראל [ונעשו כשתי תורות...] – when the number multiplied of students of Hillel and Shammai who did not serve [their mentors] as much as they needed, machloqes multiplied in Israel and it became as though there were two Torahs.” From then on they would check and inspect anyone who was wise, modest, of positive character, fearful of sin, who has a distinguished appearance and in whom people’s spirits find pleasant, and appoint him a local judge. And from there, the judge would rise up the ranks.
There is a second Tosefta (Sotah 14:1): “משרבו זהיהי\זהוהי הלב רבו מחלוקת בישראל והן שופכי דמים משרבו תלמידי שמאי והלל שלא שמשו כל צרכן הרבו מחלוקת בישראל ונעשית התורה כשתי תורות — When the number of deep-hearted multiplied, machloqes multiplied in Israel — and they spill blood. When the number multiplied of students of Hillel and Shammai who did not serve [their mentors] as much as they needed, machloqes multiplied in Israel and it became as though there were two Torahs.”
(Notice that both tie the lack of shimush, of serving one’s rebbe, to attitude and middos, not a loss of facts. The first Tosefta says that the loss forced us to select judges who are not only wise, but also of proper middos (and who people would obey). The second cites the problem with the students of Hillel and Shammai as a follow up to those whose love of sophistry led to divisions and death.)
In contrast, we have this explanation for why Yehoshuah was selected as Moshe’s successor, from Bamidbar Rabba (21:14). After dealing with the daughters of Tzelafchad’s question about inheriting their father’s land, Moshe turned to Hashem and asked about his own successor. Hashem first ruled out Moshe’s own children, since they did not sufficiently toil in Torah. But “יהושע הרבה שרתך והרבה חלק לך כבוד והוא היה משכים ומעריב בבית הועד שלך הוא היה מסדר את הספסלים והוא פורס את המחצלאות הואיל והוא שרתך בכל כחו כדאי הוא שישמש את ישראל שאינו מאבד שכרו קח לך את יהושע בן נון לקיים מה שנאמר נוצר תאנה יאכל פריה. — Yehoshua served you a lot and accorded you much honor. And he would awaken early and stay late in the evenings in your house of study. He would set up the benches and he would spread the mats. Since he served you with all his strength, is is appropriate that he serve Israel fir he does not lose his reward. Take for yourself Yehoshua bin Nun to fulfill what is days ‘The one who plants the fig shall eat its fruit.’ (Mishlei 27:18)”
The key attribute that distinguished Yehoshua from Moshe’s sons’ lack of toil in Torah was in how he served his teacher.
In Derekh haChaim (on Avos 1:15), the Maharal analyzes the structure of Avos 1:4-15. We are given the maxims of the zugos, the pairs of nasi (prince/president) and av beis din (ABD; head of the Sanhedrin) of each generation. The Mahral notes a pattern.
Nasi: Yosi ben Y’oezer – Have your home open to sages, you should attach yourself to their dust, and drink their words with thirst.
ABD: Yosi ben Yochanan – Your home should be open to guest, you should be generous, minimize flirtatiousness…
In short, the Maharal notes that the nasi‘s advice has us developing our ahavah, our love of G-d, through His Torah. The ABD, however, is promoting yir’ah, warning us against an excessively material focus and greed. And the Maharal sees this pattern in each of the subsequent generations as well. The nasi is known for preaching a message of ahavah, and the head of the court, one of yir’ah.
Nasi: Yehoshua ben Perachiah – Get yourself a rabbi and a friend, and judge everyone favorably — ahavah
ABD: Nitai haArbeili – Avoid a bad neighbor, don’t befriend evil people, and don’t give up in times of trouble — yir’ah
Nasi: Yehudah ben Tabai – A judge should act like an advocate; when the litigants come before you, assume they’re both guilty, but when they leave, since they follow your ruling, assume they’re both righteous — ahavah
ABD: Shin’on ben Shetach – Meticulously cross-examine the witnesses, and be careful not to ask leading questions — yir’ah
Nasi: Shemaya – Love work, hate leadership, and avoid government ties — ahavah
ABD: Avtalyon – Sages, be careful with your words! The wrong words could get you exile, mislead your students and lead to chillul Hashem! – yir’ah
Nasi: Hillel- Be like the students of Aharon: love and pursue peace, love all people and bring them to the Torah — ahavah
ABD: Shamai – Sages, be careful with your words! The wrong words could get you exile, mislead your students and lead to chillul Hashem! – yir’ah
A pattern. Until we get to the students who didn’t sufficiently serve their mentors, and we needed a new sort of transmission and a new sort of leadership. No longer did we have zugos, a pair of leaders attached to the Sanhedrin. As we saw from the Tosefta, no longer was the Sanhedrin sufficient to resolve all the differences of opinion between them.
As I put it in that earlier post:
They learned facts from their rabbeim, but without spending the time that comes from watching them live, they didn’t learn attitude. The Maharal explains that since Hillel was the nasi, his job was to distribute funds and build an infrastructure for society. His job was Chessed. Shammai, as the head of the court, had Din as a profession. The students, because of their distance from the rebbes, could not separate the differences due to their roles from the rebbeim’s approach to Torah.
And so, rather than each having a job of preaching one side of a balance, each school lost that balance. One can view the halachic process as a search to reintegrate, to become whole. And so, with balance lost, the process became far more complex, and the search for integration that much more difficult. | <urn:uuid:a18f4134-1d62-4822-870b-78a8746fafe2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2010/04/they-did-not-serve.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942269 | 2,445 | 2.75 | 3 |
The European: You have said that the 21st century was a lousy time for control freaks. That must be a tough stance in an argument, especially after “cable gate” in late 2010.
Ross: No, I think people would agree with that. I think that Wikileaks would not have been physically possible 10 years ago. It is an organization that is made up of members and followers instead of paid staff, with a web address instead of a street address. And so the very existence of an organization like Wikileaks which is built on transnational virtual networks actually proofs the point that control is much more difficult in a networked world.
The European: But isn’t that an unsatisfying answer? Would you not want to prevent such a “cable gate” from happening again?
Ross: Honesty is important. All of our rights come with a corresponding set of responsibilities. You will never hear me do anything but condemn the actions of Wikileaks. When I explain that the 21st century was a lousy time to be a control freak I don’t say that by way of advocacy. I say it by way of explanation. I would love to be able to dunk a basketball but there is this thing called gravity. Similarly, in a world that is more and more networked, a corresponding loss of control comes with that. I am not saying that this is good or that it is bad, it is just explaining the geopolitics of it.
The European: Can you make use of it in foreign policy?
Ross: There are a variety of different ways. Just think about development and about efforts to fight poverty. If information can now flow, sub-Saharan Africa, South and Central Asia and other places that were historically more isolated, are now significantly less isolated in part because of connectivity and so people are now able to connect to markets and ideas in ways they were not able in the past. The United States is the largest organization in the world focusing on development. We spend more of our tax payer dollars on fighting poverty than any other country in the world. We want to make sure that these millions of dollars mean that we are actually reducing poverty. So with this connectivity, there is now more infrastructure to help lift people out of poverty or to help people help themselves out of poverty. A second way is with communication. Government communication is typically done by somebody in a white shirt, black tie and a pinstripe suit talking to another diplomat in a white shirt, black tie and a pinstripe suit. This is traditional diplomatic engagement. What social media allows for, is for us to connect and engage with people whom you would never sit across a mahogany table drinking tea with. Let me give you one real world example. After the revolution in Egypt, we were listening to what people were saying on social media. One of the things we heard was that Egyptian youth were not happy with the United States. We issued this with Hillary Clinton. And she said that she wanted to talk to these young people who do not like America.
The European: She would have to talk to quite a few people…
Ross: Historically, this is what would have happened: The Embassy would have gone out and found very polite young Egyptians to come in and sit around a government conference table, fold their hands and ask very polite questions. Pictures would have been taken and we would have issued a press release that says: “Secretary of State engages with Egyptian youth”. But because of social media, we created a partnership with the Egyptian social media platform “Masrawy” which has lots of credibility on the street and allowed young people to ask direct questions to Hillary Clinton for 30 minutes. We did not make any requirements except that the questions come from Egyptian youth. We got questions from really tough bloggers and people who don’t like the United States and Hillary Clinton looked into that camera and answered the questions directly and honestly. She did not necessarily say what they wanted to hear but people who would never before would have got to sit across the table from her, were able to ask questions.
The European: What did they want to know?
Ross: A lot of it was about America’s support for the Mubarak regime.
The European: Let’s say you were about to do the same thing in Saudi Arabia in a few months. Wouldn’t you be afraid of getting asked why the US is selling fight jets to Saudi Arabia?
Ross: We are not going to apologize for selling arms to Saudi Arabia. If a Saudi youth asks us this question, the responsible thing to do and the honest thing to do is to explain your point of view. Saudi-Arabia is an ally. But there is another important thing in a relationship like the one we have with Saudi Arabia: if they do things that we don’t like, even though they are our ally, it is important to be able to raise that topic. So for example, a topic that I care a lot about is online censorship. And something that Secretary Clinton puts a lot into is the rights of women. We do sell arms to Saudi Arabia but when there was a campaign pushing for women to be able to drive, whose voice was the loudest on planet earth? Hillary Clinton’s. So it is important for relationships to be open, honest and in balance.
The European: Hillary Clinton has been outspokenly critical of all sorts of resolutions restricting the freedom of the Internet. How credible is this while the US Congress debates SOPA?
Ross: Congress can debate whatever they want. Until it’s law, it is not US policy. So our credibility is completely undiminished.
The European: In some countries, technology is used to restrict internet access. What can the State Department do to curtail the spread of such technologies, especially in the light of the fact that they go very much against what the Secretary of State is saying?
Ross: Since I have been on the job, we have spent 70 million dollars on technologies to work around these government efforts. It’s a constant back and forth. We support the development of technologies and training to help people access an open Internet. And other governments are going to spend a lot of money developing technologies the purpose of which is to curtail their citizens’ access to the Internet.
The European: So, your hands are tied?
Ross: No, our hands are not tied. If they were tied, we would not do anything about it. What we have done is that we have spent 75 million dollars to develop these technologies. We also raised that diplomatically. Three or four years ago Internet freedom was not considered something on a grand stage that foreign ministers talk about. Today it is and it is because of Hillary Clinton. She launched our internet freedom agenda with a speech on January 21st 2010. That took the internet as a human rights issue and made of something very obscure that geeks may have cared about and something that foreign ministers care about.
The European: Isn’t that something that people have started to care about a couple of years ago?
Ross: But mostly among elites and certainly in the community that I travel in but there are seven billion people on planet earth. I don’t think that the internet as a human right was something of a mass movement five years ago. I have spent eight years of my life hoping to bring technology to poor people. Obviously this is something that is close to my heart. But my point is: among foreign ministers it was not big until she made it big. And that’s the environment that we work in. | <urn:uuid:93e938b4-cdcf-480f-bf02-ee696511d52e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theeuropean-magazine.com/520-ross-alec/521-digital-diplomacy | 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 | 0.977747 | 1,560 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Finally, you want more of something instead of less! HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol is also known as the “good” cholesterol. HDL removes cholesterol from your bloodstream and carries it back to the liver. I like to think of HDL as a vacuum cleaner, picking up cholesterol LDL leaves behind in your arteries. HDL should be greater than 40 mg/dL, ideally greater than 60 mg/dL.
One of the best ways to increase your HDL is through physical activity, specifically aerobic activity (jogging, swimming, biking). For results, you need at least 120 minutes of moderate physical activity each week. In this case, vigorous activity does not have more of an impact, but duration does. The longer you work out the greater them impact on HDL. Work your way up to a minimum of 30 minutes 4 days/week. If you’re not currently physically active, consult your MD before starting an exercise program.
Saturated and Trans Fats
Limiting unhealthy fats will also impact HDL, so look at your saturated fat and trans fat intake and see where you can make cuts. Your total fat intake for the day should be limited to 30% of your daily calories. Of this 30%, only 10% should be from saturated fat and ideally zero from trans fats. To attain these levels you’ll need to select healthy choices when dining out, read food labels, select healthy fats when cooking, select lean cuts of meat, etc.
Selecting healthy fats, such as omega 3’s, will raise HDL while lowering LDL. Incorporating healthy omega 3 fatty acids will also improve your total cholesterol to HDL ratio. Also, look for sources rich in omega 3 fatty acids you can add to your diet, such as fish and ground flaxseed..
A high fiber diet does not directly boost HDL levels. However, a high fiber diet plays a role in lowering LDL cholesterol. As LDL is lowered, your Total Cholesterol to HDL ratio improves. For the greatest impact, eat a diet especially rich in soluble fiber and select whole grain products, fruits, and vegetables daily.
Alcohol plays a role in raising HDL levels also. I’m not a big advocate of using alcohol to raise HDL, so if you already consume alcohol 1-2 drinks per day can raise levels. More than 1-2 drinks per day will increase your health problems. If you do not drink, do not start.
Receive a step by step plan to promote heart health and weight loss with a Mini Diet Makeover. As a special New Year’s bonus you’ll receive a complimentary copy of the Calorie Counter for Dummies. Learn more here – http://www.lisanelsonrd.com/minidietmakeover.html
Share what’s worked for you below! | <urn:uuid:7bdbf004-df3f-46fd-acaf-0c1585e8d723> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lisanelsonrd.com/blog/lower-cholesterol-how-do-i-increase-hdl-cholesterol | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915838 | 578 | 2.34375 | 2 |
U.S. plans for a public-private fund to buy up toxic assets are likely to amount to a fig leaf with which to hide subsidies to failing banks.
It is also, inevitably, an entirely new subsidy to outside investors, who by definition will only participate if they get better terms than now available in what we formerly thought of as the free market.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner last week announced the plan, which will provide between $500 billion and $1 trillion of financing to private sector funds which will use the money to lever up their own capital and make offers for complex and doubtful securities now clogging balance sheets. Further details are to follow.
But it's likely the plan won't work, if by work we mean come up with a believable price for these assets.
Banks won't sell at market prices because to do so would make many fall over bankrupt. The U.S. can surely manipulate prices by providing cheap and plentiful leverage - sound familiar? - but that will be seen for what it is; a subsidy for the funds and the banks rather than a firm base to allow confidence to return. | <urn:uuid:3af1a615-3e51-4024-8a97-b4475949b78b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/james-saft/tag/henry-paulson/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965777 | 230 | 1.882813 | 2 |
The spread of English as a global language has made international travel increasingly easy for Americans, but walk into any car dealership in the U.S. and you might swear the salespeople are speaking a foreign tongue. The volume of unfamiliar terminology is one of the things that makes buying a car so stressful for many people, so we’ve compiled the following glossary to prepare shoppers for some of the terminology they will face at the dealership.
Annual Percentage Rate (APR): Also called a finance rate, this is the interest rate on a loan; a percentage of the amount borrowed that a lender charges annually for the use of its money.
Acquisition Fee: A fee charged by the dealer for initiating a lease; ostensibly covers the costs of processing the lease—credit reports and insurance verification, for example—but is in actuality pure profit. Although many fees associated with a lease are negotiable, this one is generally unavoidable.
Balloon Payment/Balloon Loan: A loan that pays off only a portion of a vehicle during its term and demands a large sum—the “balloon”—to be paid at the end of the loan.
Bump: The difference between the rate a dealer pays for financing on a loan or a lease (called the Buy Rate) and the rate at which they sell the financing to you (the Sell Rate)—typically around one percent. Dealers generally don't disclose this bump, so do your homework on the actual rate being offered by the manufacturer or finance company and negotiate to reduce or eliminate the bump. Also known as a Spread.
Buy Rate: The rate at which a car dealer acquires financing. The dealer can profit by offering the financing to a consumer at a higher cost (Sell Rate) and keeping the difference (Spread).
Buyout Price: The price of buying a car at the end of the lease term. If you think you might buy your vehicle at the end of the lease, carefully compare the costs of buying outright to those of purchasing after a lease. A high residual/high money factor lease may yield an attractive payment, but it makes for a bad deal if you buy the car at the end. A low residual/low money factor lease can yield a similar monthly payment during the lease and allow a better deal for buyers at lease-end. Sadly, the former is still the more typical offering.
(Net) Capitalized Cost: A leasing term that means the sum total being financed through the lease—vehicle price plus any extras and minus the capitalized cost reduction. Also known as "Adjusted Cap Cost."
Capitalized Cost Reduction: Anything—down payment, a trade-in—that reduces the amount financed through a lease.
Closed-End Lease: A lease that gives the lessee the option of either buying the car at the end of the term at a set price or walking away without liability for any unexpected reductions in the vehicle's value (other than those resulting from damage or modifications). Closed-end leases are what nearly all car companies and banks offer, but it is smart to verify that your lease is closed-end. Also known as a “walk-away lease.”
Cost of Funds: An APR, a money factor, or a rent charge, this is the charge for using the bank’s—or another lender’s—money to acquire the car. Also known as financing costs.
Dealer Holdback: A small percentage of a vehicle’s cost that a manufacturer pays back to a dealership after the vehicle has been sold. This is what allows dealerships to sell vehicles at invoice price or below and still make a profit.
Dealer Incentives: Special offers from car manufacturers to their dealers—which are usually passed on to the customer—to encourage sales in a slow market or when excess inventory builds up.
Dealer Invoice: The amount a manufacturer charges its dealers for a car.
Dealer Prep Fees: Charges—usually negotiable—added to the purchase price of a new car to cover the cost of preparing the car for sale after its transport to the dealership.
Default: Failure to make payments or otherwise abide by the terms of a financing contract.
Destination Charge: The amount charged for transporting new cars from the factory to the dealership. The destination charge on the dealer invoice is not negotiable, but you should never pay any added destination charge tacked on by a dealer, unless you've requested and agreed to such a charge for a vehicle that must be transported a long distance from another dealer.
Disposition Fee: Also known as a termination fee, this is a fee charged by finance companies at the close of a lease to cover the cost of bringing the car back into its fleet and prepping it for sale again. This is often waived if you buy another car from the same brand at lease end.
Documentation Fee: Charges intended to cover the cost of processing the paperwork involved in the sale of a car. Many fees charged by dealers are negotiable, and this one should be challenged as extraneous if it's more than $100.
Down Payment: Cash paid up-front by a borrower to reduce the amount financed in a lease or loan. While a large down payment can reduce your monthly payments, it also likely will be forfeited in the event of a totaled or stolen vehicle.
Early Termination Fees: Penalties paid for withdrawing from a lease or loan ahead of the scheduled end date. Typically these penalties are very large—akin to simply paying off all remaining payments without the use of the car. These may apply if a vehicle is stolen or totaled and you don't have gap insurance.
Equity Lease: A rare kind of lease in which the lessee must buy the vehicle at the end of the lease. See Open-End Lease for more detail.
Excess-Mileage Charges: Penalties paid at the close of a lease if the lessee drives the vehicle a greater distance than the limit stipulated in the contract. It's always cheaper to buy the excess miles at the beginning of the lease, so it's best to be realistic about your likely mileage needs.
Excess-Wear Charge: Penalties paid at the close of a lease if the car is returned in poor condition. Be aware that these charges can be levied for modifications such as tinted windows, different wheels, or anything else that could be construed as lowering the value of the car.
Extended Warranty: Also known as a “service contract,” it is an agreement to cover certain specific service and repairs beyond the life of the factory warranty. Except for those offered by manufacturers directly, most either cover so little as to be useless or are outright scams.
Fair Market Value: Used only in rare open-ended leases, this is the worth of a leased vehicle at the end of the lease period.
Financing Costs: An APR, a money factor, or a rent charge, this is the charge for using the bank’s—or another lender’s—money to lease the car. Also known as cost of funds.
Finance Rate: Also called an “annual percentage rate”; the interest rate on a loan. A percentage of the amount borrowed that a lender charges annually for the use of its money.
Fixed (Guaranteed) Residual: A price—decided upon at the initiation of the lease—at which a lessor promises to sell a leased vehicle to the lessee at the close of the lease. Can work in the buyer’s favor if the value of the vehicle is greater than the predetermined price, but the opposite is more likely to be true.
Gap Insurance: Insurance that covers the difference between a vehicle’s depreciated value in a loan or a lease and the amount owed on it in case it is stolen or totaled, a difference the owner or lessee would otherwise have to pay the lessor.
Lease: Essentially a long-term rental in which the dealer (or a third-party buyer working with the dealer) buys a car and allows the lessee to use it for a specific period of time or agreed mileage while making monthly payments. At the end of the lease period, the lessee can either buy the car or return it to the dealer, depending on the type of lease.
Lease Extension: An agreement between the lessee and the lessor to continue the lease beyond the initial term, generally without altering the monthly payment.
Lease Payment: The amount you must pay every month during the term of a lease. This is the sum of the Rent Charge and the depreciation charge plus applicable taxes. Your monthly depreciation charge is calculated by taking the difference between the Net Capitalized Cost and Residual Value and dividing by the Term in months.
Your monthly Rent Charge is calculated by taking the sum (yes, really the sum) of the Net Capitalized Cost and the Residual Value and multiplying it by the Money Factor. This sounds counter-intuitive until you think of it this way: You're actually taking the average of the Net Cap Cost and the Residual Value (about what you owe halfway through the lease) and multiplying that number by the effective annual percentage rate, then dividing by 12 to get a monthly amount.
Lessee: The person leasing a car.
Lessor: The finance company or party (sometimes a "captive," which is a finance company wholly owned by a car company) to which a lessee makes payments. The true owner of a leased vehicle.
Mileage Limit/Allowance: The maximum distance a vehicle may be driven during a lease. Any additional mileage will garner an additional fee, usually a per-mile charge. It's always cheaper to buy the excess miles at the beginning of the lease, so it's best to be realistic about your likely mileage needs.
Money Factor: Basically an annual percentage rate for a lease. Expressed as a small decimal figure—say, 0.0025—rather than a percentage rate, but is the same thing as an interest rate: a charge from the lender for using its money. To convert to an equivalent interest rate, just multiply by 24. Money factors will occasionally be expressed as a larger decimal figure, such as 2.5 used to describe 0.0025, which is actually 6%, to disguise them as a low interest rate.
Monroney Sticker: The “window sticker” or price tag on a new vehicle. The sticker placed on a car’s window that lists base price, standard features, optional features and their retail prices, among other information. Invoice price is never listed on the Monroney.
MSRP: Acronym for Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price. This is what's listed for the base price and all options on the Monroney sticker.
Open-End Lease: This is a lease typically only offered to fleets and companies in which the lessee (you) is responsible for the difference between the residual and the fair market value of the vehicle at the close of the lease.
Pre-Computed Interest: A loan in which the total interest is calculated in advance and an equivalent percentage is baked into each monthly payment. If you pay off your principal early, the remainder of these charges should be refunded.
Prepayment Penalties: Charges for paying off a loan early. Because early payment minimizes your total cost of interest, paying off your principal early is usually a good idea. People with good credit and who qualify for good loans shouldn’t have to accept prepayment penalties.
Pre-Qualify: To have a lender confirm you are eligible for a loan without you committing to accepting it.
Principal: The amount borrowed.
Rebate: A partial refund on a new-car purchase offered by the manufacturer or dealership in order to increase sales. Rebates can either be deducted from the purchase price or refunded by mail after the sale has been completed.
Rent Charge: The portion of your lease payment that goes toward financing instead of principal reduction.
Residual Value: The estimated value of a car when it is returned from a lease. In most consumer leases, which are closed-end, this is the value used in the monthly payment calculation and the price at which you can buy the car at the end of a lease.
Sell Rate: The rate at which a dealer offers financing to a consumer. If the dealer has acquired financing at a lower rate (buy rate), it keeps the difference as profit (spread).
Spread: The difference between a dealer's Buy Rate and Sell Rate for financing a loan or lease, typically around one percent. Dealers generally don't disclose this spread, so do your homework on the actual rate being offered by the manufacturer or finance company and negotiate to reduce or eliminate the spread. Also known as a Bump.
Sticker/Asking Price: The price on the Monroney (or window) sticker. Do not pay sticker price. With the exception of brand-new models or those in particularly high demand, cars can typically be bought for a price well below that quoted on the sticker.
Subprime Loans: Loans given to borrowers who represent a particularly high risk to the lender either because of spotty credit or because the vehicle being leased or bought is more expensive than the borrower can reasonably afford. Subprime loans typically include higher interest rates and down payments and end up costing the borrower a lot more.
Term: The length of a lease or loan.
Termination Fee: Can refer to either prepayment penalties or a disposition fee.
Trade-In Value: The price a dealer will pay for your current car when selling you a new one. Dealer trade-in is typically thousands of dollars lower than the price possible with a person-to-person sale, so decide what the convenience of getting rid of your old car at the same time as you get your new one is worth to you.
Up-Front Costs: The total of all costs that must be paid at the signing of the contract: down payment plus any fees.
Upside Down: When you owe more on a loan than your vehicle is worth. This happens because vehicles depreciate rapidly during the first years after they leave the showroom, and is a dangerous situation for several reasons. If you want to trade the vehicle in before your loan balance catches up to the car’s depreciation, you will still owe money to your previous lender in addition to whomever you buy a new car from. Also, if the car is totaled in an accident, the insurance company will only pay you the worth of the vehicle, leaving an outstanding balance with the lender—unless you have gap coverage, which is nearly always worth buying with a new car lease or loan. To minimize the risk of becoming upside down, keep your loan term as short as possible.
Walk-Away Lease: A lease that gives the lessee the option of either buying the car at the end of the term at a set price or walking away without liability for any unexpected reductions in the vehicle's value (other than those resulting from damage or modifications). Walk-away leases are what nearly all car companies and banks offer, but it is smart to verify that your lease is walk-away. Also known as a “closed-end lease.” | <urn:uuid:5b57e135-316f-45d6-beda-08f1a2020bf4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car-buying-terms-glossary-buyers-info | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962285 | 3,163 | 2.078125 | 2 |
- 1 Leveraging Instincts
- 2 Leaders
- 3 Labeling
- 4 Meme Theory
- 5 My Work in Social and Personal Change
However, that path would lead us to an incomplete picture of social change. There are emergent properties of groups of humans that play an important role in change among groups of humans. This work is a look at some of these emergent properties and how they are used for social change.
Social psychology has taught us many interesting things about how susceptible humans are to social pressures. Many social pressures have been manufactured deliberately by ideologies and institutions for quite some time. Both political campaigning and advertising provide excellent examples.
Humans act differently when they are involved in groups. ‘Groupthink‘ is a less-conscious state of humans, where they are devoted more to their group than to their own experience and thoughts. This is a type of thinking that people might term the mob mentality.
Tendencies such these have been linked strongly with the functions of the human brain stem, part of the ancient ‘reptilian’ brain of our ancestors. The reptilian brain has been linked strongly with experiences of anger, fight-or-flight, and blind devotion to leaders1.
It has been found that humans respond more strongly to negative stimuli and emotions more strongly than to positive.2 This is in part due to the immediacy of dangers associated with the negative stimuli, and the corresponding wiring of the brain to compensate for that. Association of the immediacy of danger with our reptilian brain leads us to lose our thinking ability in dangerous situations.
Our inability to think when scared or in danger makes us more likely to accept things that we are told. Exploitation of these effects for the purposes of advertising and politics is rampant in our society. Advertisements often try to scare people into buying their products. Politicians often present situations using terminology deliberately chosen to scare the public so as to push their own agenda. A good example of this is the health care debate in the USA, where rational correct voices are not noticed as much as those shouting ideas like “death panels”.
Resisting attempts to control us
There is, however, a limit to how much this works on humans. We tend to get used to stimuli, reducing their effect. This is one reason why efforts to exploit the reptilian brain have become more and more blatant in recent years. The fear must be more powerful to overcome our natural stress defense mechanisms. The rise of disaster capitalism is an excellent example of this phenomenon.
Humans are empowered by knowledge. When a human is made aware of the technique of control being used on them, its effect is drastically reduced. This is in fact the founding principle of a blind study on humans. If people know they are being manipulated, they act differently.
The answer to the fear-mongering on this level is simple: teach people how politicians and advertisements are leveraging their instincts to control them. Part of this effort must include an attempt to curb our media hypnosis. When we free ourselves from such controlling influences, we regain our ability to think. With thinking, we can move on to societal change.
Some people have facets of their work or their personality that make them more influential than other people. For instance, a politician can have the advantage of a lot of media coverage, as well as a position of importance in a society. Things they say carry more weight than those of the average person. Same goes for professionals in elite fields such as engineers, doctors and executives of companies. Also included in this category would be the leaders and spokespeople for organizations that are not companies. This category would include everything from sports teams to veterans clubs. Finally there are also people who simply have more personal charisma than average. Malcolm Gladwell referred to these people as “Connectors” in his book The Tipping Point.
The opinions and positions of these people matter more than the average opinion, because of their power to affect other people. Most social change movements have figureheads at many levels. Leaders among the community are the people who often become these figureheads. In terms of returns for effort expended on change, it seems wisest to spend time on those who both have a large amount of contact with people and also command a lot of respect. This is merely in recognition of the fact that they themselves are capable of propagating the influence of change most powerfully.
The way different ideas are labeled by society is somewhat indicative of the general consensus on these subjects. We believe that a good example of this in the past would be the eventual replacement of the term ‘communist’ with ‘socialist’. While in many people’s eyes these terms are interchangeable, the truth is that most of society does not identify as many negative connotations with the idea of socialism compared with communism.
This slight change came along with the change in the perception of the world of these ideas. The change in culture came along with the change in vocabulary, so it may be difficult to assign any causality. It is known however, that terminology has a powerful effect on how something is perceived. In this way, one method of societal change would be to attempt to change the basic terminology used when referring to the issue in question.
This is related to the concept of framing in psychology. In this context, the words used to label an idea or a group of people will set the standard for the resulting discussion. This is one reason why in the most heated debates in our society, the two extreme sides won’t even agree on starting points like terminology. On some level we are all aware of the power of labelling.
What is a meme? A meme is essentially a unit of meaning. It can also be likened to a human thought. Memes can be passed from one person to another. As we communicate, we exchange memes. The concept was created by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene.
Wikipedia gives the definition as: “A meme is a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, and is transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena.”3
Analogy to genes
Memes are intended to be analogous in concept to genes. Memes can be passed down. They can be self-replicating, or they can combine with other memes to form new generations. By applying the same principles to memes as those that apply to organisms (or genes) in a competitive environment, one arrives at an interesting perspective on the design of intellectual entities.
Memes with characteristics that aid their survival as well as their transferability are those that are more likely to become numerous and prominent. Meme transfer can be through communication with a human carrier of a meme, or with other information sources. That is, you can learn from people or from inanimate things such as books.
Memes that can change the world
Using this perspective, when one is trying to change society, one should design a strong meme to carry the idea. The intent should be to design the meme so that it is
- resistant to mutation due to being transferred and interpreted by many consciousnesses
- easily communicable to other minds
- able to overcome other memes trying to change the same set of ideas
Making an idea resistant to mutation could be accomplished through several different methods. One historical method was the telling of stories, which became myths, whose wisdom would be minimally influenced by the telling and re-telling through the generations.
In modern times we might create a set of examples to illustrate the meaning of our meme. Each of the examples should have a clear core to it, so that subsequent re-tellings will likely have the same meaning. Communication could be aided by efforts to make the meme easily understandable in terms of experience, using terms accessible to most of the population.
Making a meme strong enough to overcome other memes is an interesting and difficult problem. For instance, some memes might depend on logic, and some others on emotion. When these memes meet, it will be a contest not just between their logical validity or their emotional impact, but both.
There are many battlefields upon which memes fight for supremacy. The implications of these meme wars for societal change are interesting. For example a meme need not be the best meme in any one specific category to gain an advantage, as long as it wins overall.
Now we will look in more detail at a specific example of an argument where memes continue to be heavily utilized, primarily by one side, to push an agenda. This example is climate change.
In the discussion of climate change, memes are encountered often. For instance, some memes were deliberately constructed and advertised by a group funded by the National Coal Association in the United States.4 Here are some of the advertisements created:
“Who Told You the Earth Was Warming . . . Chicken Little?”
“Some say the earth is warming. Some also said the earth was flat.”
“If global warming is real, then why is it getting colder in Minneapolis?”
The first is simply an ad hominem attack. The second statement purports to be common sense, when in fact it makes no actual argument, and contributes nothing to the discussion. It can also be considered an ad hominem or an appeal to ridicule. The third statement actually presents a testable hypothesis. The actual data on Minneapolis is that it has warmed by approximately 1 to 1.5ºC in the last century.5
One might expect that statements that are so obviously flawed would not have any effect on people. Most people could easily see through the first two, and could look up the temperatures for Minneapolis right? It turns out that people generally do not look up the facts, or are willing to accept a statement like that at face value. This is an example of a general tendency with memes: the truth or untruth of the statement has little bearing on its continued existence as a meme. These statements are not designed for accuracy, they are designed for effect.
The average person doesn’t know that much about climate change, so they might think that statement three would be an argument against the existence of climate change. They might not know that global warming and climate change bring with them localized variations in temperature. An informed person knows that the third statement is not an actual argument against global warming, even if it were true.
The average person is not necessarily empowered with detailed knowledge of these subjects. They are also generally not happy being connected with things that are being socially stigmatized. All of the above statements were an attempt to stigmatize the belief that global warming is real, regardless of the actual truth of the matter.
It so happens that the heavy carbon industries such as coal and oil have a very good reason to be creating disinformation of this kind. Namely, if climate change legislation is brought about full force, it will seriously disrupt their business. So they have used some money to deliberately create uncertainty amongst the general public about global warming and climate change.6
There are only a handful of people who are climate scientists who disagree to some extent with the scientific climate change consensus.78 Many of these scientists even agree that it is a real effect, but disagree about the magnitude or dangers. A few scientists and former scientists hold to the opinion that global warming does not exist. Some others dispute whether humans are the primary cause.
In the scientific community there is a clear consensus that global warming and climate change are real and that humans are causing them to happen. However, the deliberate creation of memes (such as those mentioned above) by the carbon industries has had a huge effect on the public discourse around global warming and climate change.
Misinforming from media
The general population, and the mainstream media, have not extensively studied climatology, and they are thus lacking a strong ‘immune system’ when these attacking memes come along. Misinformation is rampant on this topic, with the press falling approximately 50-50 on the debate. People in the press and the general public are being attacked by memes that they lack the ability (or inclination) to fight off.
Why does the media present something that is a scientific consensus as if it is still a hotly debated topic with two relatively even sides? We believe that the FCC “Fairness Doctrine” is somewhat responsible, even though it was discontinued in 1987. It charged holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance in an equitable and balanced manner. We believe that the Fairness Doctrine was sometimes used to justify the mis-representation of clear-cut issues as things still open to debate and interpretation. This allowed the creation of a false balance in media reporting on issues. False balance refers to journalistic presentation of an issue in a way that is more balanced than the evidence actually supports.
Journalists generally do not claim to be experts on controversial issues. Issues such as this can be a difficult call for non-experts to make in the best interest of the public. The press tend to err on the side of openness in terms of debate. We claim that this has some major consequences. By presenting and propagating opinions and perspectives that are contrary to a clear scientific consensus, the media oganizations are misinforming the public.
If a viewer is only exposed to an issue through falsely balanced discussions, they may remain unaware of what the true balance may be within the scientific community. This can happen in a similar fashion if the issue is a political one; falsely balanced discussions in the media can also lead to a mis-representation of the political partisanship.
Due partially to this issue, the media ends up being a mouthpiece for industry and powerful lobby groups. This is very closely related to the problem of media collusion with news makers. Additionally, the rampant speed of today’s media contributes to a reduced depth of consideration of issues by journalists.
The war rages on
On one side, there are the scientists. Fighting with their facts and a lifetime of study of the subject. On the other side there are a few scientists along with a raging crowd of layperson deniers who are armed with what they think are facts, and usually a very shallow conception of what is going on.
We at Vision of Earth side with the structured investigation and fact-checking that forms the foundation of science. The scientific consensus is extremely strong, and we would all be wise to heed their message.
My Work in Social and Personal Change
I am one of the founders of Vision of Earth. We are trying to collect and analyze the information available on a large number of issues mainly relating to the quality of life of humans. Our main efforts currently are regarding large-scale societal problems such as energy, poverty, pollution, climate change, and social freedoms.
Our goal with regards to change is twofold:
- To better ourselves through the pursuit of knowledge and experience.
- To better our society by disseminating these things to the public in a way that is accessible to the general public.
To this end we created this website for the products of our research and to provide a medium for critics to voice their opinions of our work. We intend to use criticism to better ourselves, our knowledge, and our work.
Our hopes are to change society through a combination of several methods. We hope to create genuine, factual content in the form of literature reviews written with the intent of being understood by people unfamiliar with technical or domain-specific jargon.
We have also been working on discussing these issues with people who are “Leaders” such as those we mentioned in an earlier section of the paper. We also continually investigate the evolution and power of memes as well as the possible dangers they embody for our civilization.
We do not believe in sneakily leveraging people’s instincts to make a point. We make open and declared appeals to humanity’s wish to be happy and free of harm. We believe the key to effective communication of this sort is being honest about exactly what we believe and why we believe it. Our reasoning and grounding are exactly the foundation upon which we build our arguments. We do not believe in pushing hidden agendas.
This group has existed for about three years at this point. The responses we have received so far have been very positive. It has been my experience that this work has consistently made me feel like I am actualizing in a profound way. This experience has been shared by some of the other contributors as well.
- Cosmos by Carl Sagan. Available as a Book or TV Series. [↩]
- Negative Information Weighs More Heavily on the Brain:The Negativity Bias in Evaluative Categorizations. Tiffany A. Ito, Jeff T. Larsen, N. Kyle Smith, and John T. Cacioppo. Ohio State University. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,1998, Vol. 75, No- 4, 887-900. Accessed October 30th, 2010. [↩]
- Wikipedia: Meme. Accessed October 27th, 2010. [↩]
- Wikipedia: Information Council on the Environment. Accessed October 27th, 2010. [↩]
- The Coal Industry’s “ICE” Campaign (1999). Heatisonline.org. Accessed October 27th, 2010. [↩]
- Slamming the Climate Skeptic Scam. DeSmogBlog. Accessed October 27th, 2010. [↩]
- Wikipedia: List of Scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming. Accessed October 27th, 2010. [↩]
- How many climate scientists are climate skeptics? Skeptical Science. Accessed October 30th, 2010. [↩] | <urn:uuid:1d554362-44d9-4ff8-8558-525aad034f57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visionofearth.org/social-change/how-can-you-deliberately-change-your-society/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962598 | 3,632 | 2.8125 | 3 |
January 17, 2006
Diplomatic protest issued against Japanese whaling
Australia, Britain, Brazil, France and Germany were
among 17 countries which this week called on Japan to
halt to its Antarctic whaling program.
"The fact that 17 countries supported this
representation, shows how important this issue is, and
the depth of feeling around the world," British
fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw said in a statement.
A written statement calling on Japan to "cease all its
lethal scientific research on whales" was delivered to
Japan's foreign ministry on Monday and farm ministry
Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986, in line
with an international moratorium, but began catching
whales again the following year for what it calls
Critics say the whale meat goes to up-market Japanese
"We urge Japan to reconsider its positions and end
this unjustified and unnecessary slaughter which is
regarded by many countries as a means to by-pass the
IWC (International Whaling Commission) moratorium,"
Japan's whaling program includes fin and humpback
whales, both of which are on the World Conservation
Union's list of threatened species. Most of the whales
killed are minke.
Other signatories of the statement were Argentina,
Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Australia on Monday had called on Japanese whalers and
environmental group Greenpeace to calm down following
life-threatening confrontations between then. In the
latest incident, on Saturday, a harpoon fired at a
minke whale narrowly missed a protest boat. | <urn:uuid:94be00cd-7c96-4925-8609-52ca0c9b3c19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.animalliberationfront.com/News/2006_01/HaltJapanWhaling.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927637 | 343 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Members in the Media
"If one were hunting for gold, this would be the map of where not to dig."
-Maria Spiropulu, on results of a search for supersymmetric particles at Fermilab, New York Times, February 5, 2002.
"We literally spray the liquid lithium on the walls and then it flows through a bottom drain."
-Robert Kaita, Princeton University, on building a fusion reactor with liquid metal walls, ABCnews.com, February 5, 2002.
"The change in friction you get is equivalent to going from being on ice to dry pavement."
-Victor Petrenko, Dartmouth College, on electronic brakes built into skis and snowboards, New Scientist, February 6, 2002.
"Water is one of the strangest substances on earth. It has a myriad of properties that make it unique for life and unique for how a ski slides on snow. It's often impossible to predict."
-David Lind, University of Colorado, on the physics of skiing, ABCnews.com, February 8, 2002.
"The mission proposal is completely new. The idea extends an existing mission concept - the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna or LISA - to much higher sensitivity and into a different frequency range."
-Neil Cornish, Montana State University, on plans to measure gravitational shock waves from the big bang, UPI, February 12, 2002.
"You should aim to flip the pancake into the air at a speed of 10 miles an hour, which will mean it will take less than .5 of a second to reach the top of its trajectory. If you are lucky, the pancake should now have rotated 90 degrees, at a rate of .55 revs per second. If not, you could be in trouble and have a sticky mass of flying batter spinning through the air."
-Garry Tungate, Birmingham University, Belfast News Letter, February 12, 2002.
"At the end, you realize most of what you've got in your hand is 75 percent air. This tiny sheet of paper, which has not much strength at all, is able to resist your squeezing very, very well. Why is it as strong as it is?"
-Sidney R. Nagel, University of Chicago, on the physics of crumpling, New York Times, February 19, 2002.
"A number of very clever people have been chipping away at the problem and I think now we can answer: yes, it would be very difficult but it should be possible without breaking the laws of physics to send probes to the nearest stars."
-Geoffrey Landis, NASA, The Independent (London), February 16, 2002.
"It is based on the idea that for a short period of time, energy and value of money is conserved. The value of money is conserved when there are transitions between currencies."
-Amador Muriel, Data Transport Systems, on predicting the short term behavior of currencies, Business World (Philippines), February 14, 2002.
" If the people in the treasurer's office, and their consultants, had been doing the kind of thorough investigating that they claimed to do before investing in anything, then they should have uncovered that there was something wrong in Enron's books, which we now all know."
-Charles Schwartz, University of California, Berkeley, News Hour with Jim Lehrer, February 19, 2002.
"We know how to make metals that have strength. But we have never been able before to predict whether an alloy, for example, would get stronger and better. This technique will allow us to tailor the strength of materials and take years off the development process because we won't have to rely on trial-and-error."
-Bennett Larson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, on a new technique for making 3-D images of small samples, UPI, February 20, 2002.
"I believe we have made cold anti-matter atoms... but I can't really prove it."
-Gerald Gabrielse, Harvard University, on experiments at CERN to create anti- hydrogen, Sydney Morning Herald, February 22, 2002.
"I still cannot recover, right now even. Sometimes I think it's a kind of nightmare."
-Yoji Totsuka, University of Tokyo, on the disastrous implosion of phototubes at the Superkamiokande facility, Daily Yomiuri, February 26, 2002.
"Recognizing the limitations in the budget the department faces, I'll work with the scientific community and Congress to establish priorities and them champion them within the department."
-Ray Orbach, new Director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science, UPI, February 26, 2002.
"There's going to be a great deal of skepticism about this, and there should be. We don't know whether it will work or not."
-John B. Rundle, University of Colorado, on a new way of predicting earthquakes, Los Angeles Times, February 28, 2002.
©1995 - 2013, AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY
APS encourages the redistribution of the materials included in this newspaper provided that attribution to the source is noted and the materials are not truncated or changed.
Associate Editor: Jennifer Ouellette | <urn:uuid:ef66355f-65a7-4425-a612-2dfe29acede1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200204/media.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946365 | 1,094 | 1.773438 | 2 |
In June, a prominent Australian Muslim cleric dismissed any discussion on same-sex marriage, stating that for Muslims the issue was scripturally clear. Likewise, in a recent live fatwa session, Toronto's Sheikh Kutty told a 16-year-old gay youth, who identified himself as a former Muslim, that the scriptural position was not based on "changing fads or whims of society."
In 2007, Sheikh Kutty had equated gay people to those conditioned to theft, murder or pornography and prescribed prayer based therapy. However, given a changed socio-political climate, conservative Muslim authorities are finding it increasingly difficult to uphold such dismissive and curative approaches.
Muslims for Progressive Values, like affirming Christian and Jewish denominations, have broken the consensus espoused by conservative Muslims that Abrahamic faiths prohibit same-sex unions. LGBT Muslims have helped forge faith based communities like the El-Tawhid Jummah Circle mosques, which are both gender equal and queer friendly.
Such changes have prompted conservative Muslims to modify their positions. Many discuss the issue in online Islamic forums and are increasingly framing the issue as one of desire, if not sexual orientation, instead of 'male anal intercourse'. However, their discourse is channeled by fear, rather than by love.
Fear of change in their traditional lifestyle has pushed conservative Muslims to make arguments that are ultimately based on a simplistic "God says so" refrain. Running out of reasonable arguments, many conservative Muslim authorities now prescribe permanent celibacy to gay and lesbian Muslims based on a modified view that same-sex orientation should be viewed as a test of patience.
Many conservative Muslims erroneously equate same-sex orientation with the desire to commit fornication, a genetic predisposition to alcoholism or with a superfluous desire for pederasty. To make their point on a test of patience, some even analogize the situation of gays and lesbians with that of disabled persons.
Conservative Muslims deem fornication as a transgression by referring to the lawful alternative of a marriage contract. However, since gays and lesbians are denied any avenue to fulfill their legitimate human sexual need, the analogy of same-sex orientation with the desire to fornicate does not hold. Likewise, in contrast to orientation, alcoholism is an addiction with well documented harms.
Past Muslim authorities assumed that men in essence desired women and prescribed that any superfluous desire for beardless boys had to be curbed. Contemporary conservative Muslim authorities apply this prescription for pederastic desire to gays and lesbians, who are denied their basic human need for sexual expression. It makes sense that other Muslim scholars have critiqued such analogy based arguments.
The analogy of the situation of gays and lesbians with disabled persons does not fit either. In contrast to disability, many past Muslim scholars have celebrated homosexual love in their writings. Second, patience for Muslims with disabilities is not about resignation to fate. Conservative Muslim authorities not only encourage disabled Muslims to use crutches, hearing aids, wheel chairs etc. but also allow religious ritual concessions. However, they fail to account for extenuating circumstances for Muslim gays and lesbians and insist on inflicting permanent celibacy.
Like their Christian and Jewish counterparts, conservative Muslims commit scriptural violence by denying the humanity of a vulnerable minority. However, according to St. Augustine, since scripture teaches nothing but charity, it needs to be interpreted until a compassionate interpretation is found. In Judaism, Rabbi Harold Schulweis has stated that the Jewish law was not instituted to make life miserable but rather to introduce love and compassion. Likewise, in Islam, the 8th-century-female Sufi Rabia Basri rejected fear based obedience.
Theoretically at least, several Jewish and Muslim authorities have stated the law changes with new sensibilities and differing situations. A whole array of classical and contemporary juristic tools exists to reasonably address the plight of Muslim gays and lesbians. Muslim scholars, provided they surmount their fear of being labeled as innovators, can tap the Islamic juristic literature on intersex persons, human dignity, necessity and public interest for insights.
In The Road to Mecca, the late Muslim scholar Muhammad Asad emphasized the need for constant reflection, stating that by standing motionless in a pool, water became stale and muddy and only by flowing does it become clear. However, such reflection is only possible in the absence of fear.
When conservative Muslims are able to overcome their fears, instead of getting defensive with 16 year old teenagers, they would address the deeper issue of how their fear to revisit the traditional viewpoint is driving gay Muslim youth outside the folds of their faith. | <urn:uuid:ec39d349-6da5-48ff-bbf4-6b7bfbf3c18e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/junaid-jahangir/muslim-conservatives-must_b_1693499.html?just_reloaded=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956122 | 927 | 1.820313 | 2 |
In a replay of last year's budget cycle, disagreements over spending are blocking the enactment of "must pass" appropriations bills. Federal agencies are approaching the second month of this new fiscal year operating under budgets that in many cases date to FY 2005, with no end in sight to a $22 billion impasse between what the President and Congress want to spend in this year.
As was true last year, Congress and the President largely agree on the amount of funding that the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's core research program should receive. These budgets are, however, intertwined in much larger budget battles that raise the specter of each agency receiving significantly less than the President, and Democratic and Republican Members of Congress, have agreed to. Under Secretary for Science Ray Orbach discussed the damage that such a reduction would have on the programs of the Office of Science. Orbach warned of the damage of such a reduction earlier this year; see http://www.aip.org/fyi/2007/097.html
The American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and thirty-four associations, universities, and corporations have written to President Bush, and the senior leadership of the House and Senate, urging that they work together "to fund the science agencies at the necessary levels." The letter states:
"We recognize that there are disagreements between Congress and the President over other
budget issues. But there is a consensus on federal investment in the physical sciences and engineering. Congress and the White House should not hold America's innovation and competitiveness agenda captive to disputes over other issues."
The text of the letters, written on the letterhead of the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation follows. The letters, including a complete list of their signatories, can be viewed at http://futureofinnovation.org/media/ under "Task Force Correspondence."
"On behalf of industry, colleges and universities, and the science and engineering communities, we urge Congress and the Administration to resolve their budgetary differences and quickly enact the proposed Fiscal Year 2008 increases for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Energy Office of Science. The increases have strong White House support and strong bipartisan, bicameral backing in Congress.
"The America COMPETES Act, passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate and recently signed into law by the President, demonstrates the extraordinary depth and breadth of support for increased federal commitments to basic research and science education. We welcome this progress. This authorizing legislation represents a landmark for science. As a nation we can ill afford the damage that would be caused by delaying funding of the programs that it highlights.
"Funding for these agencies is an essential element of the nation’s efforts to sustain its economic competitiveness, national security and quality of life in the 21st century. Past investments in basic research have spurred economic growth and created entirely new technologies, such as the Internet, lasers, high-speed computers, MRI’s, and the World Wide Web, that have become vital to our daily lives. We expect no less from future investments.
"We recognize that there are disagreements between Congress and the President over other budget issues. But there is a consensus on federal investment in the physical sciences and engineering. Congress and the White House should not hold America's innovation and competitiveness agenda captive to disputes over other issues.
"Therefore, we urge Congress and the Administration to work together now to fund the science agencies at the necessary levels."
UPDATE TO FYI #112
A reader alerted us to the following FY 2008 conference report language (H.R. 3043) pertaining to the Department of Education:
"The conference agreement includes $3,000,000 for programs for baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or critical foreign languages with concurrent teacher certification, and $2,000,000 for programs for master's degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or critical foreign language education authorized in Public Law 110-69, the America COMPETES Act. The Senate bill proposed $6,000,000 and $4,000,000 for these programs, respectively, and the House bill did not include these provisions."
Richard M. Jones
Media and Government Relations Division
American Institute of Physics | <urn:uuid:8789c6ec-b9e7-46ee-b2aa-6e1517cd5580> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aip.org/fyi/2007/114.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938097 | 884 | 2.125 | 2 |
- Special Pages
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith heads the Catholic church in a predominantly Buddhist nation, but a stint at the Vatican has made him a long-shot candidate to be the next Pope.
A stern traditionalist, Ranjith was appointed by the outgoing Benedict XVI to oversee the church’s liturgical practices in 2005, having previously served as papal nuncio, or ambassador, to Indonesia and East Timor.
With Forbes magazine last month including him among possible papal contenders, the international spotlight has fallen on Sri Lanka’s second-ever cardinal.
The charismatic Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines is the name most often mentioned by Vatican observers as a possible first Asian Pope. But at 65, Ranjith is a decade older than the Filipino, a factor which, together with his ideological leanings, could work in his favour.
Ranjith received his early education at boys’ schools in Colombo, before undertaking biblical studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has also studied in Rome and speaks fluent Italian, a must for a Pope.
In 2005, he took up the Vatican post as the Secretary General of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, gaining access to the inner workings of the Holy See.
Soon after becoming the Archbishop of Colombo in 2009, Ranjith banned lay preachers and banished cultural practices borrowed from other religions from Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic church — moves which critics called backward-looking.
“You have to look at his actions in the right context,” Benedict Joseph, his spokesman told AFP.
“Things were getting out of hand and sometimes even the Good Friday service clashed with sermons of laymen. That is why he issued the guidelines in 2009 to ensure that Catholic religious traditions were maintained without any dilution.”
He was named as a cardinal in 2010, only the second in a country with a large Buddhist majority and where Christians account for fewer than 1.5 million out of a population of 20 million.
But he soon emerged as a strong personality among Sri Lanka’s religious leaders.
He led an inter-faith group to campaign for the restoration of European Union trade concessions which had been withdrawn because of Sri Lanka’s failure to improve its human rights record.
However, the clerics failed to convince the EU which insisted on Colombo delivering on promises to clean up its act after decades of ethnic bloodshed which claimed up to 100,000 lives, according to UN estimates.
Despite his closeness to Sri Lanka’s political establishment, he announced a surprise boycott of all state functions in 2011 to protest a police raid of an orphanage run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity nuns. The state dropped the case and the authorities issued an apology. | <urn:uuid:cf779b05-bea9-410e-8451-d7944504776d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/asia/228647-sri-lankan-cardinal-prominent-in-papal-election-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970614 | 587 | 1.835938 | 2 |
'The Wells Cathedral Choir again shows its stuff - and it's glorious … because of this choir's sturdy, full-bodied singing, both exuberant and reverent, and its natural, sensible, unaffected phrasing and enunciation. Hymn lovers need no encouragement or further discussion; these inspiring texts and timeless tunes speak for themselves' (classicstoday.com)
The mixed voices of Wells Cathedral Choir, under their director Malcolm Archer, continue their survey of the rich heritage of music sung in the Anglican church in volume 5 of The English Hymn series. The 23 hymns on this CD focus on the themes of faith and assurance; their role is to inspire us, comfort us, teach us and enrich our lives.
Other recommended albums
Hymns can do many things for us. They can be the marching song in our pilgrimage through life; they can inspire us, comfort us, teach us, challenge us. In all this they must be sufficiently near where we are to make contact with us, and just that much beyond us to take us forward. Some hymns do go wrong: they may ask us to pray for a constant sense of the presence of God, which in reality few of us are going to have, since ‘we live by faith and not by sight’; they may promise a happiness in this life that many of the greatest saints have lacked. But the greatest hymns do none of these. With huge variety, giving us constant surprises, they enrich our lives.
Alan Luff © 2004
Other albums in this series | <urn:uuid:a75033d2-21e8-464b-bf31-0cf9aed75c1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDP12105 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959137 | 325 | 1.679688 | 2 |
- "Nasty critters."
- ―Kyle Katarn
Sand burrowers were large carnivorous worms that lived under the sands of Blenjeel. Jaden Korr witnessed a sand burrower swallow a survivor that was stuck on the planet when his ship crashed there, and was forced to avoid them as he searched for spare parts to repair his ship.
It used ground vibrations to detect prey; moving under the sand at astonishing speed, emerging, and snatching the victim in its capacious, funnel-like mouth. It would then sink back into the sand, dragging its prey along with it. However, they were not very intelligent; they easily mistook the explosion of a Thermal detonator on the sand as a person standing on that spot, and this tactic could be used to distract them while the thrower ran the opposite direction.
Sand burrowers were short, stubby, worm-like creatures with a tanned brown carapace and short, leg-like appendages running the length of its body. Despite their appearance, they were surprisingly fast underground, capable of overtaking a normal running humanoid and devouring it. Its eyeless head was punctuated with a large, circular, jaw-less mouth nearly as wide as the thickness of the body. The funnel-like mouth was lined with hundreds of small, barb-like teeth pointing inwards to prevent prey from escaping its maw. The burrowers apparently moved very close to the surface when traveling underground, as sand was thrashed about as they moved toward prey.
- Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (First appearance) | <urn:uuid:a9d4bfa1-080e-4a95-bcce-b0c6088ae998> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sand_burrower | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977362 | 330 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Last year, New Orleans bartender Chris McMillian asked Darcy O'Neil, a Canadian scientist turned mixologist, a question about the chemistry of a soda fountain ingredient.
That query, though, led him to unearth long forgotten recipes for malts, colas and phosphates buried in antique pharmacy manuals. The electronic book "Fix the Pumps," a lively history of soda fountain culture, is the result of that research. (The title has nothing to do with flood prevention. It's soda jerk code to check out the chest of a female customer.)
Before Prohibition, bartenders weren't the only ones who used fancy tricks and complex recipes to mix drinks. Soda fountains turned out fizzy, flavored thirst quenchers that, with the occasional kick from cocaine or buzz from brandy, weren't always so wholesome.
O'Neil is now arguing for the revival of these drinks and working to recreate lost ingredients.
"The old sodas were far more complex in flavors," he said. "They're almost mildly sweet with a flavor punch."
On Monday, April 5, O'Neil will speak at the Museum of the American Cocktail on the rise and demise of the other great American drinking institution. He will also serve soda fountain drinks created in New Orleans.
The talk "Soda's Influence on Cocktails of the Big Easy" begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. The Museum of the American Cocktail (1 Poydras St.) is located inside the Julia Street entrance of the Riverwalk mall. To purchase tickets, visit www.museumoftheamericancocktail.org. "Fix the Pumps" can be downloaded from O'Neil's website Art of Drink (www.artofdrink.com).
Todd A. Price is a contributor to The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. To keep up with the latest in cocktail news, visit NOLA.com/drink. Check out The Times-Picayune bar guide at NOLA.com/bar-guide. | <urn:uuid:c30e03c5-b2ff-4819-85e1-a8136c42f89c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nola.com/drink/index.ssf/2010/03/darcy_oneil_reveals_the_soda_f.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938166 | 453 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Trevor Paglen will develop and present a prototype for a Useless Satellite to be located in the public realm.
The satellite is designed following and according to current aero-spatial technological standards. This mysterious and useless object silently comments on the military purposes and private-intelligence use for a satellite.
As the piece becomes purely sculptural, since it intentionally serves nobody, its lack of purpose questions people’s understanding of the political dynamics and power forces at play in the outer space. Constructed from materials to maximise brightness and minimize weight, the spacecraft/sculpture is intended to be able to orbit the Earth only for few weeks, before burning up harmlessly and disappearing from sight.
Social scientist, artist, writer and provocateur, Paglen has been exploring the secret activities of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies – the black world – for the last eight years, publishing, speaking and making astonishing photographs.
Trevor Paglen is an artist, researcher, and writer based in New York and San Francisco. His art practice centers around making what is typically invisible visible – specifically, covert military and intelligence operations in the United States.
Paglen travels to remote desert sites to capture reconnoissance satellites in the night sky or hidden military installations. As a result, Paglen’s photographs are aesthetic explorations of his interest in ‘black sites’ – attempts to grasp the abstract questions that these sites pose about the socio-political moment. | <urn:uuid:bc07200b-7f50-45ea-bdf6-cb4b8d40b2a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artslant.com/ew/events/show/234351-prototype-for-a-nonfuctional-satellite-design-1-build-1-the-kite-2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936507 | 304 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Big chains are an easy target, and rightly so in many instances. But food’s journey from supplier to consumer is more complex – and evolving – says Andrew Fearne.
Picture this: you are the supplier of a highly perishable and seasonable food commodity to a major supermarket. You are a significant player in your sector, say summer fruits, but the supplier of only one of 30,000 product lines for the supermarket.
Your supply programmes are generally agreed annually with your customer, the supermarket, with prices and promotions contingent upon availability and demand.
Continue reading Supermarket buyers – a breed apart or an endangered species?
Even in the UK, where we have shown little anxiety about our access to food supplies since the days of rationing in World War 2, food security is back on the agenda.
Climate change could, it seems, be the trigger that makes us overcome our squeamishness about genetically modified crops, according to debates in the popular press. The recent Royal Society report “Reaping the benefits: science and the sustainable intensification of global agriculture”, urges universities to work with funding bodies to reverse the decline in subjects relevant to the sustainable intensification of food crop production.
But is technology really going to provide everything that we need or are we simply hoping once again for a quick fix to an extremely complex problem? | <urn:uuid:e52198af-694c-4243-96c5-2a12b189f629> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/blog/index.php/tag/supply/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92075 | 275 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Expressing Milk for your premature baby
Written by Paula P. Meier, R.N., DNSc, FAAN, Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center.
With thanks to Medela for allowing us to re-produce this article.
Babies classed as premature are unable to suck, and therefore the mothers do need to use a breastpump to exctract breastmilk. Many people think that giving birth prematurely limits a mother’s ability to make enough milk, but this is not true. The extra stress, discomfort, and fatigue that go along with the birth of a premature baby can cause a slow start with milk production. In the first few days after giving birth, mothers may make just drops of milk each time they use the breast pump, so it is easy to get discouraged. Remember, these drops are like a medicine for your baby, because they provide protection from infection. And– this slow start usually gives way to an adequate milk supply by the fifth or sixth day after birth.
Which Breast pump should I use?
Studies have evaluated the different kinds of breast pumps available to new mothers. The findings show that mothers who are expressing milk for premature babies should use a hospital-grade electric breast pump-ideally with a double collection kit, so that both breasts can be emptied at the same time. This type of pump is the most effective in stimulating release of the milk-making hormone, prolactin, which results in the greatest amount of milk. Mothers sometimes report that they have received a battery-operated or a less-powerful electric pump as a “baby shower” gift, and want to use it to express milk for their premature baby. While this type of pump is suitable for a mother who uses it only once or twice a day and breastfeeds a full-term baby the rest of the time, it does not provide enough stimulation to establish and maintain a good milk supply for a mother who is pumping for a premature baby. If you have received one of these pumps as a gift, you will be able to use it later-after your baby comes home and is feeding.well from the breast. But, in the first few weeks after premature delivery, you should plan to rent a hospital-grade electric pump.
How often should I use the breastpump?
During your first few weeks of expressing breastmilk, your should use the pump as frequently as 8-10 times per 24 hour period -about as often as a healthy, full-term baby would feed at the breast in the early days after birth. The purpose of this frequent pumping is to stimulate prolactin during the time that your body is beginning to make milk in plentiful amounts. While you may get only drops of milk at first, frequent pumping is important in building an abundant, long-lasting milk supply. You may not see the results of your pumping immediately, but your efforts should pay off toward the end of the first week of milk expression. Night time pumping helps boost your supply, so speak with the health care professionals about whether you sould be setting your alarm to wake up to pump.
How long should each pumping session last?
In the first few days after birth, most mothers express very small amounts of milk-from a few drops to a few teaspoons-at each pumping. During this time, a pumping session should last from 10-15 minutes, which is enough time to stimulate the release of prolactin. However, after the milk has “come in” several days later, and you produce more than half an ounce at each expression, you should use the pump until your milk has stopped flowing for at least 1-2 minutes. The last droplets of milk released during pumping contain very high levels of fat, which provides most of the calories in your milk. If you stop pumping after 10 or 15 minutes while your milk is still flowing, your baby may not receive these valuable fat calories. Also, your breasts need to be emptied as much as possible–meaning that milk flow has stopped-otherwise your body thinks that the milk left in the breasts isn’t needed, and less will be produced. A few mothers say that the milk never “stops” flowing while they pump. As a general rule, you should not pump for more than 30 minutes, even if milk continues to flow. Also, if you pump for this long at each milk expression, you do not need to pump as frequently as a mother who can express her breasts in less time.
What is a “normal” amount of milk?
Nearly all mothers of premature babies worry about whether they are producing a “normal” amount of milk. Many things affect the amount of milk a mother produces-especially in the first few days after giving birth. A mother of a full-term breastfeeding baby produces only about an ounce of milk during the first 24 hours after birth, but by the 3rd or 4th day is making several times that amount. Mothers of prematures frequently take a longer time to go from a few drops to an ounce or more at a pumping. This condition is referred to as a delayed onset of lactation, and is related more to pregnancy complications-such as bedrest, medications for high blood pressure and premature labor, and Cesarean deliveries-rather than to premature birth itself. No one knows exactly why this is the case, but researchers think that the milk-making hormones or tissues in the breast may be affected temporarily by these complications and medications. A slower onset of milk production does not necessarily mean that a mother will not make enough milk for her baby-only that it may take her a few extra days in the beginning to catch up with mothers who have had uncomplicated deliveries. Ideally, by the end of the second week of pumping, you’ll be producing at least 500 ml (about two cups) of milk each day. This is the amount of milk that your baby will need at the time of hospital discharge. Thereafter, you will want to maintain or even increase this amount so that you have enough milk to feed your baby after discharge hospital discharge. | <urn:uuid:c54af8ed-b098-42d1-9009-239e5ce42d38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk/blog/expressing-breastmilk-2/expressing-milk-for-your-premature-baby/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964128 | 1,255 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Fish Identification - Dredge Oyster
“Oyster” includes the kinds of molluscs known as Saccostrea glomerata (formerly known as Crassostrea glomerata or Saxostrea glomerata) and Crassostrea gigas, commonly known as the rock oyster and Pacific oyster respectively; and Tiostrea chilensis (formerly known as Ostrea lutaria), commonly known as the dredge oyster:
Size Limits (Length)
A person must not take or possess any dredge oyster that can be passed through a rigid circular metal ring having a clear inside diameter of 58 mm.
|Daily Species limit|
Within the Southland FMA the open season for oysters is from the 1st March to 31st August inclusive.Note
Dredge Oysters taken in the South East FMA have no restriction on either size or season. | <urn:uuid:da14ee0f-adf7-47f6-b28c-7973412057b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Recreational/Most+Popular+Species/Fish+Identification/L+-+R/Oyster+-+Dredge.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished%25252525252525252525252525252525252525252b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933699 | 191 | 2.734375 | 3 |
(Photo: Reuters/Denis Balibouse)
Many Jewish-American groups have expressed concern and disappointment over the United Nation's vote to overwhelmingly approve a statehood bid for the Palestinian Territories.
In response to the United Nations General Assembly's vote on Thursday to grant Palestine an elevated status in the global body, various organizations believed this would hinder peace for the Holy Land. The Washington DC-based Jewish Council for Public Affairs released a statement, calling it the "wrong way to Palestinian statehood."
"We would like to be congratulating and warmly welcoming UN recognition of a Palestinian state; not just as a non-member observer state, but as a full member of the world body," said JCPA President Rabbi Steve Gutow.
"But as Israel, the United States, and the Quartet have asserted time and again, a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only come about through direct negotiations between the parties, not unilateral and symbolic steps at the UN."
Gutow also said that Palestinian statehood "must be achieved in a way that ensures the security of Israel if there is to be lasting peace and shared prosperity."
"…[W]e hope Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's promising efforts to create a security apparatus and successful economy in the West Bank, which can sustain a future state negotiated with Israel, will continue to receive support," said Gutow.
The New York-based Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) released a statement Friday morning where URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs said he was "deeply disappointed" by the vote.
"We believe this decision will undercut incentives for a final agreement that must be negotiated by the two impacted parties directly," said Jacobs.
"We are also concerned about the potential for this decision to enable the Palestinians to challenge Israel…in the international arena in U.N. sponsored venues such as the International Criminal Court, a move that will do serious damage to rebuilding the trust between Israel and the Palestinians."
Jacobs also urged President Barack Obama to "take the lead in mobilizing robust negotiations as soon as possible."
"As we have seen repeatedly over the decades, and most recently during the confrontation between Israel and Hamas, U.S., leadership is crucial if diplomatic progress is to be made," said Jacobs.
On Thursday, the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to grant a statehood bid made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
In total, 138 member states voted in favor of the resolution, 9 opposed it, and 41 abstained. The nine nations who voted against the measure were the United States of America, Israel, Canada, Panama, the Czech Republic, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau.
The U.N.'s vote grants Palestine the status of "nonmember observer state;" this means the Palestinian Territories can now participate in U.N. debates and possibly join U.N. bodies such as the International Criminal Court.
While concern was raised in nations like the United States and Israel, in places like the Gaza Strip and West Bank throngs of Palestinians, even from rival factions such as Hamas and Fatah, cheered the measure. | <urn:uuid:15dc9724-1407-49d2-b61a-02433f2bcee5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/jewish-american-groups-react-to-un-palestine-statehood-vote-85862/print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956748 | 645 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Tyson started the '80s with the acquisition of Honeybear Foods in Neosho, Missouri. Further-processed products were taking off. The company's Chick 'n Quick line was becoming more prominent in grocery stores and, by 1982, it was the only brand of chicken patty sold in all 50 states. Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) products were becoming popular with military installations and institutional food companies across the country.
In 1983, Tyson continued to diversify its array of products with the purchase of Mexican Original® in Fayetteville, Arkansas. One year later, the company topped one-billion dollars in sales. By now, Tyson's strategy of growth through acquisition was firmly entrenched. That same year, Tyson bought Valmac, an Arkansas-based poultry company, which brought approximately $400 million in sales to the table and several major restaurant accounts.
The 80s were truly years of growth. The purchases of Valmac Industries and Lane Processing increased Tyson sales dramatically. In 1986, Tyson claimed the number-one poultry-producing slot, surpassing ConAgra. Toward the end of the decade, ConAgra had become Tyson's nemesis. The two companies were locked in a battle to take over Holly Farms.
Finally, in 1989, after a two-year struggle, Tyson won the fight, and Holly Farms came under the Tyson umbrella. The Holly acquisition again doubled the size of Tyson Foods, bringing the total number of people employed to approximately 48,000 and sales to more than $2.5 billion. The Holly acquisition also expanded Tyson's protein offerings. For the first time in company history, Tyson was processing beef and pork.
That same year, Tyson entered into partnership with Trasgo, a Mexico-based poultry company, to create an international partnership with Mexico and Japan called CITRA. | <urn:uuid:71e5fb01-1354-4936-a26b-4983f6190f60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tysonfoods.com/About%20Tyson/Tyson%20Timeline/1980s.aspx | 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 | 0.970262 | 373 | 1.898438 | 2 |
WILL THE UNITED STATES SINK LIKE THE TITANIC?
What if you were a passenger on the Titanic? What different choices would you have made if you knew what was going to happen to you? To your children? Would you have approached the captain insisting he change course? What if he ignored you? Would you have enlisted a hundred fellow passengers to support your demand to change course, slow down or steam into warmer waters? If he still refused, would you have given up and suffered your destiny? Would you have been relentless and gathered 1000 passengers behind you to insist that the captain change course? Remember this, "Conviction without action is worthless."
Much like the Titanic that sank on April 15, 1912, the Unites States stands at a critical juncture in the history of our nation. Few realize it, but, like the Titanic, this nation smashed into a piece of legislation in 1965 that was never asked for or approved by the American public. Our 'Captain' Lyndon B. Johnson along with helmsman Senator Teddy Kennedy drove America into an 'iceberg' of massive, unrestricted immigration that opened up the flood gates with the "IMMIGRATION REFORM ACT." At first, the flow of one million immigrants annually wasn't noticed. We showed benevolence. We enjoyed a big country. We featured plenty of room and resources.
However, the massive flow of humanity from that ‘hit’ still pours into our country 39 years later and few seem to notice--much like the party-goers and dancing on the Titanic that kept up for hours after hitting the iceberg in the North Atlantic. However, even the invincible Titanic could not survive the onslaught from the constant flow of incoming water--slowly, methodically stealing its ability to stay afloat.
Today in the United States, 60 million immigrants later and pouring in at 4.1 million annually--both legal and illegal--our nation shudders from San Francisco to New York and from Chicago to Miami. We rose from 200 million to nearly 300 million in three decades. What was once a benefit to our country is now a full-scale overpopulation and societal crisis.
From stem to stern, our English language is under assault and our schools are drowning in ethnic violence, rapes, drugs and gang warfare. In California, Texas, Florida and Arizona, our hospitals suffer bankruptcies from non-paid services for 350,000 annual 'anchor babies'. Ten million illegal immigrants displace jobs from America's working poor and depress wages for many others at a cost of $133 billion annually in lost jobs.
Leprosy, tuberculosis, Chagas Disease, hepatitis and other diseases 'pour' into our country within the bodies of illegal immigrants who avoid health screening before coming on board the United States. Even worse, clashing cultures with religions that celebrate 'female genital mutilation' and subjugation of women are growing in enclaves around our country. As Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself can not stand."
On the environmental front, our nation explodes toward an added 200 million people that will reach one half billion by mid century. We are creating an 'irreversible crisis' with 'unsolvable problems.’ California is slated to add 20 million in 30 years. Colorado will add five million by mid century. Arizona will add four million. They already don't have enough water. Florida cannot survive another five million people. New York shudders with its population problems. Air pollution poisons what we breathe and massive sprawl devours our once lauded spaciousness. Species extinction accelerates as we add numbers. Much like the Titanic, our standard of living drops and our quality of life sinks with the influx of unrestricted immigration. Soon, we too, will become like the countries of Bangladesh, India and China. It’s called the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ which I will address in a later commentary.
On the employment front, our leaders insource, outsource and offshore our jobs to Third World countries while they import the Third World into our country. Our Congress created H-1B and L-1 visas that have displaced one million high tech American workers in the past decade. America's middle class is being driven into the unemployment lines. Our schools are becoming dysfunctional towers of Babel with over 100 languages. We can not stay afloat with this kind of linguistic chaos.
Yes, we have compassion for immigrants, but it's our country and our children. Their leaders need to take care of them in their countries.
Unfortunately, Congress and the leadership of this nation refuse to step below the water line to see how fast we are sinking. We're $7.384 trillion in debt. We suffer $200 trillion consumer debt and the average credit card shows an $8,000.00 balance! There were 20 different languages on the California recall ballot. Whose country is this anyway? Our leaders are standing in the wheelhouse totally insulated and isolated from those of us who shovel the coal, build houses, repair cars, teach our kids, drive school busses and plow roads.
We cannot save the world, but we can destroy our country if we fail to act.
Like the Titanic that cracked in half before plunging to the depths because no one stopped the incoming water, the United States like all great nations before us, could sink. You can see the signs all around our country. If you look about you, we're shuddering from bow to aft—from the stacks to the rudder. Who is steering our nation and why are they heading toward more icebergs instead of changing course? What can you do? You are just as much an American patriot as Paul Revere, Betsy Ross, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, Lincoln and the soldiers from Valley Forge to the Jungles of Vietnam and deserts of Iraq. It's time to start riding, stitching, writing, charging, demonstrating and fighting for our country within our country. We must seal our borders against this invasion from a line that never ends.
Since our leaders won't stop this invasion of an 'unarmed army' of legal and illegal immigrants, it's up to you. Our children face a dangerous future if we fail to take action. It wasn't George Washington who beat the British army. It was every militiaman who shot from fence lines and trees. It wasn't Ike who won WWII. It was every GI who slung a rifle over his soldier. Susan B. Anthony marched and Dr. Martin Luther King demonstrated. They, in their time, paid the price for defending America so we could enjoy our freedom. This is your time.
The worst decision you can make
is to think you can do so little that you do nothing at all. Be the
snowflake that joins with millions of other Americans that creates
an avalanche of public protest against this invasion. Write me for
a 20-point action letter that will empower you into becoming the most
powerful snowflake in America. We must change course and you must
relentlessly demand it from our leaders. Remember: WE WIN!
Frosty Wooldridge possesses a unique view of the world, cultures and families in that he has bicycled around the globe 100,000 miles, on six continents in the past 26 years.
He has written hundreds of articles (regularly) for 17 national and 2 international magazines. He has had hundreds of editorials published in top national newspapers including the Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post, Albany Herald and Christian Science Monitor.
His first book, "HANDBOOK FOR TOURING BICYCLISTS" by Falcon Press is available nationwide. His second book "STRIKE THREE! TAKE YOUR BASE" by the Brookfield Reader published in January 2002. His bicycle books include "BICYCLING AROUND THE WORLD."
His latest book. ‘IMMIGRATION’S UNARMED INVASION—DEADLY CONSEQUENCES.’
Frosty Wooldridge has guest lectured at Cornell University, teaching creative writing workshops, magazine writing at Michigan State University, and has presented environmental science lectures at the University of Colorado, University of Denver and Regis University. He also lectures on "Religion and Ethics" at Front Range College in Colorado.
Much like the Titanic that sank on April 15, 1912, the Unites States stands at a critical juncture in the history of our nation. Few realize it, but, like the Titanic, this nation smashed into a piece of legislation in 1965 that was never asked for or approved by the American public. | <urn:uuid:6c03f621-369c-45f6-bb97-93cf0df7e0cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty10.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951227 | 1,763 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Theft comes in many forms. The Minority World’s efforts to frustrate the Majority World’s control of its natural resources are well known. But cultural resources have been plundered as well.
Take the case of Solomon Linda, a Zulu herder who died in 1962 with $25 in his bank account. He recorded a melody called ‘Mbube’ in 1939. His tune became ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ which, according to journalist Rian Malan, has generated at least $15 million dollars in royalties. Incorporated into the Disney film ‘The Lion King’, the song has been recorded many times by various artists. Now Owen Dean – South Africa’s foremost copyright attorney – is seeking to restore to Africa what is Africa’s, suing the Disney Corporation on behalf of Mr Linda’s estate. Linda had three daughters: a nurse in an HIV clinic, a domestic servant in Soweto, and an unemployed mother of two. They live in shacks. Disney, always wholesome on the surface, has responded with a series of highly technical and bloodless legal parries, but the family has succeeded in securing a small trickle of money from Abilene Music, which administers the copyright. The suit continues, and has generated support from Afrophiles worldwide.
The lion, it would seem, is waking up.
This first appeared in our award-winning magazine - to read more, subscribe from just £7 | <urn:uuid:facb7c7f-f923-42de-bce3-2887905cf866> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newint.org/columns/currents/2005/09/01/sleeping_lion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975052 | 308 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Ecotourism is top of the list as to why millions of travelers from around the world come to Costa Rica’s tropical paradise each year to see its wondrous landscapes and exuberant biodiversity. Tourism is the number one industry in the country, and with good reason. Though a tiny Central American nation, Costa Rica is a “wonderland” of volcanoes, beaches, rainforest jungles, picturesque rivers and lakes, and rolling savannas.
Luckily, Costa Rica’s international reputation as “one of the most biologically diverse countries” has not only spurred ecotourism, but also has motivated the country’s government, local communities and private sectors to expand and better control the country’s protected areas, where logging, poaching and some agricultural activities were wreaking havoc on the environment.
Ecotourism has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the tourism industry, growing annually by 10–15% worldwide. Generally, ecotourism involves travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions, and it aims to foster a greater appreciation of our natural habitats. An integral part of ecotourism is the promotion of recycling, energy efficiency, water conservation, and creation of economic opportunities for local communities.
At Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat, on Costa Rica’s stunning Santa Teresa Beach on the Nicoya Peninsula, sustainable tourism is a way of life. From the very beginning of creating Pranamar, owners Susan Money and Greg Mullins have been committed to “creating a special place that focuses on community, consciousness and honoring nature’s gifts.” They believe it is “important to consider the imprint we leave and the effects we have on our environment and planet.”
The luxury hotel uses a completely independent Pranamar's lush gardens irrigated with treated waste watert septic system that recycles treated water into the irrigation of its gardens. All waste water passes through a three-tank aerobic system using natural bacteria to clean the water, and then enters a drip irrigation system in the gardens which maximizes water usage. The local municipality is showing off Pranamar’s unique water system as an example for other tourism businesses and private property owners to implement.
On a greater scale, Pranamar staff work with the community on monthly beach clean-ups. Along with other hotels and businesses in the area, the beach communities of Santa Teresa, Mal Pais, Carmen and Hermosa all obtained for 2012 the highly-desired ecological Blue Flag award, which ensures the quality and sanitation of the water, beach clean-up projects, community informational signs, and environmental education.
By Shannon Farley from Enchanting Costa Rica | <urn:uuid:28184cf5-3f13-42b9-ae18-204a37e4e0a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pranamarvillas.com/en/blog/40-news/78-sustainable-tourism-changing-the-face-of-world-travel.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922232 | 570 | 2.25 | 2 |
Matthew O’Brien claims that competitive debasement is good for the global economy:
Currency wars get a bad rap. The trouble starts with that second word. Wars, as we all know, are very bad. And a currency war — where countries compete to lower their exchange rate to boost their exports — reminds people of the kind of trade protectionism that killed some economies in the 1930s. But currency wars are the best kind of war. Nobody dies. Everybody can profit. In fact, currency wars didn’t contribute to the Great Depression. They ended it.
The downside of devaluation is that no country gains a real trade advantage, and weaker currencies means the prices of commodities like oil shoot. But — and here’s the really important part — devaluing means printing money. There isn’t enough money in the world. That’s the simple and true reason why the global economy fell into crisis and has been so slow to recover. It’s also the simple and true reason why the Great Depression was so devastating. We know from the 1930s that such competitive devaluation can turn things around.
The world needs more money. Currency wars create money. It’s time for policymakers to forget the wrong lessons from history, get competitive, and start pushing down their currencies.
Since the last recession every major central bank in the world has fluffed up its balance sheet with purchases, pushing out new money into the system, and driving down exchange rates. So we already have a currency war.
The most obvious point is that the last thing the global geopolitical system — already knotted and twisted — needs is more strain, or more abrasions, and to some degree a currency war could strain relations. The biggest players in the developing world — China, Brazil, Argentina, India — are already experiencing elevated inflation. China and Russia and Brazil have all recently expressed deep unease at America’s policy.
Under such conditions, is it not reasonable to foresee that greater competitive debasement might lead to a full-blown trade war? An easy means for developing nations to stanch the decline in dollar-denominated holdings (FOREX, Treasuries, etc) would be to constrain the flow of dollars coming into their nations. How might that be done? Export quotas, and capital controls. I have long been of the view that the hyper-productive Eurasian nations do not “need” American consumption when they already have a big enough dollar hoard to recycle in domestic and regional consumption. America’s real economy is not being sustained by The Fed (that is sustaining the financial system), but rather by the ongoing free flow of goods and resources and energy from the developing nations to America. That’s the main reason why America spends so much money policing the world, to keep global trade flowing, and goods flowing into America. America consumes far more than she produces in terms of energy, in terms of finished goods, and in terms of components.
Simply, America has enjoyed a humungous free lunch on the back of the dollar’s reserve currency status. Nations throughout the world were willing to trade out their productivity, their resources and their energy for dollars, the international medium of exchange. America could sit back and diversify out of domestic productivity and into unproductive but nominally-higher-yielding financial services, consultancy, communications and entertainment. But dollars are no longer in such short supply; America has traded trillions and billions of them away. So some nations appear to be asking: Why do we need dollars? Why should we subsidise the Americans, when our own people go without? And of course, the Eurasian ASEAN bloc — and all the various new bilateral currency agreements, where Eurasian nations have agreed to ditch the dollar, and instead trade in their respective national currencies — is growing precisely to further this end, to diminish the American economic hegemony, and end the American free lunch. A series of currency wars could very easily be the thing that pushes the system into chaos. | <urn:uuid:73549929-584b-4a45-9566-2973b78d5e19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://azizonomics.com/2012/03/04/no-currency-wars-are-not-good/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944252 | 826 | 1.90625 | 2 |
KURSK is a historical simulation, at the division/corps level, of the decisive battles between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army that occurred in southern Russia in the spring and summer of 1943. The encirclement and destruction of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad had shown incontrovertibly that the Red Army of 1942-43 was a very different and much improved force from that which the Germans had smashed in 1941. At Kursk, the Germans would find out just how different. This battle would destroy the cream of the Wehrmacht’s mechanized formations; it would also force the Germans to begin their long inexorable retreat westward.
ERIC GOLDBERG’S KURSK uses the familiar KURSK player turn format with some interesting innovations. The typical game turn begins with an optional Joint Air Warfare Phase after which the phasing player executes his move. The player turn sequence proceeds as follows: the Administrative Phase; the Movement Phase; the Combat segment (which is composed of a Gun Segment, a First Combat segment, and a Second Combat Segment); the Mechanized Movement Phase; the Disruption Removal Phase; and the Organization Phase. This version of KURSK also adds to the player’s sense of increased realism with the use of a greatly improved game map, unit step losses, an enhanced role for artillery and anti-tank guns, partisans, and most importantly: headquarters-based organizational and administrative command and control.
KURSK offers three scenarios: Von Manstein’s Plan: The German General Staff Plan, 1 May 1943; Hitler’s Plan: The Battle of Kursk, 4 July 1943; and The Beginning of the End: The Soviet Summer Counteroffensive, 1 August 1943. In addition to the three scenarios, the game also includes several optional rules to enhance realism or improve play-balance. These optional rules cover factors such as Limited Intelligence, Disengagement from Entrenchments, SS Corps Integrity, and the previously mentioned Air Warfare sub-routine.
A PERSONAL OBSERVATIONWhen I initially published this piece some years ago, I had only begun to blog and, hence, wasn't really sure as to what my readers either wanted or expected from "Map and Counters". Not surprisingly given my own inexperience, I decided to be conservative; that is: to keep the individual posts short and my personal opinions to a minimum. Needless-to-say, a lot has happened since those early days, and now that I have a clearer understanding of the gaming interests of my readership, I have decided to go back and add a bit of additionl material to this altogether too short profile of ERIC GOLDBERG'S KURSK.
Graphically speaking, ERIC GOLDBERG'S KURSK is, I suppose, reasonably attractive to the eye. The Orders of Battle of the two armies, given what the designer had to work with at the time, are actually very good. More recent work by researchers like Glantz, et. al., have shown that some of the game's Soviet units and their deployments are wrong, but this is hardly something for which the designer, doing his work over thirty years ago, can really be faulted. I personally found the game counters well done although some players have criticized the unit "color-coding" which is actually required by the game's operating system; however, neither I nor any of my friends found this element of the design either awkward or troubling. The appearance of the game map is also interesting, if for no other reason than because of the colorful approach that Redmond Simonsen took in depicting the various belts of the Soviet defensive positions.
Where, at least in my opinion, the game tends to disappoint is not in the area of physical components, but in the area of replay value. Stated simply: refighting the various scenarios over and over again tends to produce repetitive, relatively uninteresting outcomes; of course, these results may just indicate that I and my opponents were unimaginative in our several approaches to the game; my peronal view, however, is that the designer seems to have adopted a fairly rigid narrative arc for his simulation, and it is mainly for this reason that very little in the way of genuine variability seems to be possible. Part of my discomfort with this game, of course, may well come from the fact that I and the designer appear to disagree on one or more of the key factors that influenced the actual battle and thus determined its outcome. The inability of Model's northern pincer to achieve any kind of real progress, for instance, seems largely to be baked into the game. In the historical battle, the deep penetration of Manstein's southern spearhead demonstrated that the Soviet defensive works could be overcome; thus, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the fact that the Germans in the north stalled after only one day's fighting was more a product of Model's lack of commitment to the overall goals of the "Zittadelle" offensive and his poorly thought out battlefield tactics than to any defensive features peculiar to the northern shoulder of the Kursk saliant. Model was, without a doubt, a brilliant defensive commander; but, for this battle, his lackluster peformance would seem to suggest that Guderian, Hube, or even Kliest would any of them have been a better choice when it came to planning and executing the attack in the north.
In the end, I am left (as a reviewer) in the peculiar position of suggesting that, while there are a number of elements about ERIC GOLDBERG'S KURSK that I at least find interesting, the game, when considered as a whole, somehow just doesn't really deliver what I personally would like to see in an operational treatment of The Battle of Kursk. The design has its good points, certainly, and it really isn't a truly terrible game. However, much like SPI's TYPHOON, Goldberg's design seems both to be somehow too small and surprisingly limited in its scope. This is unfortunate because, at the time that it was published, I was really looking forward to a "state of the art" conflict simulation of "Zittadelle". Alas, after sitting down and playing through ERIC GOLDBERG'S KURSK, it was soon abundantly clear to me that this game wasn't it.
- Time Scale: 2 days per game turn
- Map Scale: 10 kilometers per hex
- Unit Size: division/corps (with some brigades, regimental battle groups, and battalions as well)
- Unit Types: Headquarters (army/corps); panzer/tank; panzer grenadier/mechanized; infantry/rifle/air landing rifle/motorized rifle/untried rifle; heavy tank destroyer; propaganda/security; kampfgrüppen; artillery; anti-tank; partisan; air points; and information markers
- Number of Players: two
- Complexity: medium/high
- Solitaire Suitability: average
- Average Playing Time: 3½ - 4 hours
- One 22” x 34” hexagonal grid Map Sheet (with Game Turn Track, Victory Points Tracks, and Terrain Key incorporated)
- 600 ½” cardboard Counters
- One 8½” x 11” Set of Rules (with Game Charts and Scenario Instructions incorporated)
- One 22” x 28” Combined German and Soviet Deployment Display
- One small six-sided Die
- One flat 20 compartment plastic tray (with clear compartment tray cover)
- One SPI 9” x 11¾” x 2” bookcase-style cardboard Game Box
See my blog post Book Reviews of these titles; both of which are strongly recommended for those readers interested in further historical background.
THE WEST POINT ATLAS OF AMERICAN WARS (Complete 2-Volume Set); edited by Brigadier General Vincent J. Esposito; Frederick A. Praeger, Inc. (1959); ASIN: B000MTBTEU | <urn:uuid:d8b6d079-3989-4a4b-ac01-b2d53a227c69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mapandcounters.blogspot.com/2009/05/spi-eric-goldbergs-kursk-1980.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959508 | 1,673 | 1.875 | 2 |