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Tetsunari Iida has a radical but straightforward idea — that Japan can go 100% renewable. He has been anti-nuclear and pro-renewable energy for decades. In order to take this idea forward he was instrumental in founding, in 2000, the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP), an independent think-tank that promotes participatory based energy policies at the local, national and international levels.
The interesting point is that Iida began his career working as a researcher/engineer in the nuclear industry. He has since become one of the most ardent critics of both the nuclear industry in Japan and the way that the energy sector works as a whole. This does not always make him a popular figure with bureaucrats and business leaders.
But following the nuclear accident at Fukushima, he is increasingly sought by the media as a source of valuable insights on the current situation and on the next steps that Japan can take to solve its energy crisis.
On Our World 2.0 we have written about Iida’s work in the past with regards to how the power elite operates in Japan and more recently on the potential for Japan to go 100% renewable by 2050. We were lucky enough to catch up with Iida last month for an interview, amidst his hectic schedule, at the ISEP offices in Tokyo.
In the video interview that accompanies this article, Iida provides details on how Japan can move towards a renewable future and he also outlines some of the challenges that will need to be overcome.
It is clear that moving towards renewables is about more than simply adding more wind turbines and solar panels, but rather it is about a significant system re-think. For instance, one important measure would be to make the national power grid independent from the ten major electricity supply companies. That way anyone can set up their own electricity supply company and the current monopolistic structures would give way to a more diverse system.
Other voices added to the renewable chorus
For a long time, Iida’s institute and other members of the Japan Renewable Energy Platform (a group of renewable energy associations covering wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, small hydro, etc.) have been lobbying to try to influence Japan’s energy policy.
They have tended to gain most traction at the local government level, and indeed Tokyo Metropolitan Government has observer status in the platform, and there is close collaboration with the Green Local Government Portal — a group of local authorities that support green energy and climate policies.
For instance, Tokyo Metropolitan Government has adopted a renewable energy strategy and a target to increase renewable energy to 20% by 2020, and the City of Yokohama Government has proposed increasing its renewable energy output tenfold.
However, there has been a lack of support from the national government for anything other than solar power. This could be changing. A new study has just been published, commissioned by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, on the potential for growth in the renewable energy sector. (A summary of the report is available in English.)
According to the study — undertaken by a group of consulting companies and guided by a committee of academics from various universities — there exists enough potential wind power generation capacity to produce electricity equivalent to 40 nuclear power stations.
These findings support Iida’s own proposition that all 52 existing nuclear power stations could be phased out by 2050 and replaced with renewable energy sources. The Ministry of the Environment’s report also argues that in the Tohoku region, the areas mostly significantly affected by the earthquake and tsunami, it would be possible to generate enough electricity from wind power to replace between 4 and 11 nuclear power stations.
The big difference between Iida’s proposal and that of the Ministry relates to the other renewable energy sources like solar, geothermal, small hydro and biomass. Iida believes they all should be fully developed, while the Ministry is concerned that the estimated amount of electricity generated from these sources would be too small.
Round one goes to renewable energy
In the post-Fukushima energy debate that is just kicking-off, it is clear that round one has been won by the renewable energy advocates, such as Tetsunari Iida. However, it is clear that a counter reaction can be expected. Initially, after the nuclear accident, the response in some quarters was “now is not the time to discuss the energy future”. The approach by nuclear advocates would be to wait until the nuclear accident is under control, perhaps nine months from now, when the public are less concerned about the levels of radiation. Then the debate can begin in a more “objective” manner.
We can expect that a whole list of reasons for keeping nuclear power will be rolled out, including that:
These arguments are far less convincing now, after the accident, than they may have been before. Nevertheless, if messages are repeated often enough, then people may begin to believe them, again.
But really now is the time for radical thinking along the lines of innovators like Iida. That is why the 20 April announcement by the president of mobile phone provider Softbank, Masayoshi Son, is so inspiring. He promised that he would spend one billion yen (US$12 million) of his own money to establish a foundation to advise the Japanese government on the rapid adoption of solar, wind and geothermal energy.
Perhaps others will follow his lead, to help renewable energy advocates win the subsequent rounds in the debate and to help push Japan further along the renewable energy path. | <urn:uuid:37e1f43d-df96-4d40-ba87-8051171949b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.energybulletin.net/print/57353 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962427 | 1,122 | 2.171875 | 2 |
The World on a Plate: A Global Photographic Feast
Tuesday, September 4, 2012 – 12:00 p.m.
USC University Park Campus
Tutor Campus Center, The Forum (TCC 450)
Tuesday, September 4, 2012 – 4:00 p.m.
Kerkhoff Hall (KER) Living Room
Join photographer Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio in examining the implications of the modern diet for our personal health and for our planet. This fast-paced lunch presentation will include hundreds of images and stories from scores of countries covered in the duo’s award-winning books, What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets ; Hungry Planet: What the World Eats; and Man Eating Bugs: The Art & Science of Eating Insects. Lunch will be provided.
Menzel and D’Aluisio are the co-creators of several other award-winning books beside What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets and Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. These include Material World: A Global Family Portrait; Women in the Material World; Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species; and a children’s version of Hungry Planet called What the World Eats. Their most recent book, What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets, was awarded the Jane Grigson Award by the International Association of Culinary Professionals in 2011. In addition to beautiful photography, their books contain in-depth stories, captions and interviews; copious statistics and relevant essays, and are therefore described as “‘thinking peoples’ photography books.” The couple is currently working on a book about death and death rituals around the world. Besides photographing and writing, Menzel and D’Aluisio lecture, exhibit and lead workshops. They live in Napa, California, and are the parents of four sons.
The lecture portion of this event is part of the 2012-2013 USC Global Health Lecture Series. To learn more about future lectures, visit the USC Global Health website. | <urn:uuid:8c499aff-c2cd-4cd2-bfba-f103cf39a4e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iml.usc.edu/the-world-on-a-plate-a-global-photographic-feast/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903728 | 433 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Today’s Wisconsin recall election is extraordinarily close, but polls show Gov. Scott Walker leading Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett by about 6 percentage points on average, according to Real Clear Politics.
With 50 percent of respndents saying the state is on the right track (up significantly from last year, when 62 percent thought the state was on the wrong track), the pre-vote polling indicates a substantial shift in public opinion. Overall, public opinion tracking demonstrates Walker has bounced back since the height of last year’s public union dispute.
Last year public opinion polls showed majority opposition to Walker’s plan to reduce the budget deficit and curb public sector union collective bargaining, with positive attitudes toward public employees (67 percent favorable) and public unions (59 percent favorable). About half of Wisconsin voters perceived Walkers’ proposed changes to public unions as an attempt to get rid of unions, 43 percent thought they were necessary reforms.
Handling of the legislation also angered Wisconsinites in 2011. Despite the legislature’s Republican majority, Democrats fled the state, preventing a quorum and thus a vote on the bill. Both parties rejected each other’s attempted compromises. Republicans later discovered they could get around the quorum requirement by removing fiscal elements of the bill. Straightaway the legislature passed the bill and it went into effect June 2011.
Nearly two-thirds of Wisconsinites wanted Walker to compromise, but also a majority (51 percent) opposed Senate Democrats' leaving the state to avoid a vote. Ultimately, the law went into effect June 2011 and public unions, United Wisconsin, and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin began a petition to recall Governor Walker.
Over the past year, however, attitudes toward Walker and his reforms have warmed considerably. By January 2012 anxiety had settled; Marquette found 54 percent of Wisconsin voters thought the state was “better off in the long run” because of “changes the state government made over the past year.” Despite concerns the law would compromise educational quality in the state, 68 percent were “satisfied” with the “job public schools are doing.” Public sentiment shifted from 62 percent who said the state was on the wrong track to 50 percent who said the state was on the right track.
Favorability has shifted toward the governor, from 57 percent disapproval rating last spring to a majority favorable this month. In turn, Wisconsinites have also cooled toward public sector unions: whereas 34 percent had unfavorable attitudes toward public unions in 2011, this number has risen to almost half. Today, nearly the same percentage of Wisconsin residents have unfavorable views of the governor as they do of public unions.
Current opinion polls now find considerable support for Walker’s reforms. According to the latest Reason/Rupe poll, 72 percent of Wisconsin residents favor increasing pension contributions from less than 1 percent to 6 percent. 71 percent favor increasing contributions from 6 to 12 percent of the cost of health care. Half favor ending automatic union dues deductions for government employees, and a slim plurality favor limiting collective bargaining to wages, 47 percent to 46 percent. (Although, 57 percent oppose exempting police officers and firefighters from rules changes)
Despite mixed job reports, Wisconsin residents perceive an improving job market. A plurality (38 percent) of Wisconsinites say there are more jobs in the state compared to a year ago. This percentage is up significantly from February 2012 when only 18 percent thought there were more jobs.
In sum, Wisconsin public opinion has shifted from opposition to general support of public union reform. Last year’s polls suggested a Walker defeat in today's recall. However, subsequent polling data indicate the public is not yet willing to oust their governor.
Emily Ekins is the director of polling for Reason Foundation where she leads the Reason-Rupe public opinion research project, launched in 2011. Follow her on Twitter @emilyekins. | <urn:uuid:8e0404e0-3eeb-4958-aed8-aa4538d7acb6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.com/archives/2012/06/05/despite-earlier-predictions-walker-will/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959265 | 787 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Success! This recipe has been added to your Saved Recipes.
Lemon juice and spices bring out the best flavour of the peaches in this easy conserve.
Ready in 45 minutes
Peaches and nectarines are not only sweeter, softer and more fragrant when they're fully ripe, they also contain more vitamin C. These closely related tree fruits are good sources of beta-carotene, vitamin C, niacin and potassium. They also supply some fibre and, gram for gram, contain more potassium than a navel orange. | <urn:uuid:dd6bdd36-b8fc-4378-bc8e-8b1a235e06bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/6680/fresh-peach-conserve.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930717 | 113 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The term that should most-thoroughly suit your need is
The term is very common in common usage, and means precisely what you're asking for (instead of, no offense to @SF, 'moot' which means an irrelevant, due to the past-tense implication of the word. A catch 22 has no implicit or explicit temporal locus.
This fits the question, because when "all of possible outcomes are ultimately equivalent despite being presented as different" the reason for the equivalency stems from "contradictory constraints or rules" (Catch 22) which, generally, were not initially seen because of the poor deductive powers of someone involved.
The situation in Heller's novel, Catch 22, is identical to the question:
any pilot requesting a psych evaluation, hoping to be found not sane enough to fly (and thereby escape dangerous missions) would thereby demonstrate his sanity
There are two choices (on the part of the doctor):
- the pilot is insane
- the pilot is sane
but actually #1 is the same as #2 in this context. The choice of sanity really isn't a choice. It's a Catch-22 | <urn:uuid:5f2c7c62-e942-49de-bbd0-e6679a75dc4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/80876/expression-for-a-choice-which-isnt-really-one | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968086 | 239 | 1.890625 | 2 |
French 235. Introduction to Modern French Literature
Postcolonial encounters: What does it mean for the colonized to write in the language of the colonizer? We will try to answer that question through film screenings and the reading and discussion of novels, plays, poems and essays by 20th-century French writers such as Marguerite Duras as well as Vietnamese, African and West Indian Francophone writers. This course is part of connection 20041 (Colonial Encounters). | <urn:uuid:696d1496-9dc7-4722-ab59-a7cb6ba616f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wheatoncollege.edu/catalog/fr_235/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963787 | 95 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Recently, I have had numerous General Contractors, subtrades and even home owners ask me this question: Why do we need first aid coverage? This is unheard of in residential construction!
If you picked up the phone and asked Worksafe BC this question, they would give you a legal requirement for first aid coverage. They would talk to you about all employer’s legal mandate to complete a first aid assessment. They would point you to the Occupational Health and Safety Guidelines to First Aid and your industries assigned hazard rating. You would look up tables to determine your requirements based on your proximity to a hospital and the number of workers on site.
SURPRISE!!! Residential construction is rated a high risk industry and a certified Occupational First Aid Level One attendant and supplies are required on site if there is more than one worker on site. More than 15 workers on site requires a level 2 attendant.
The prime Contractor is always responsible for first aid provision. The buck always stops with the prime contractor. This responsiblity can not be avoided or ignored. The consequences for failing to provide first aid and an emergency plan are serious. Under Bill C-45, an employer can be held criminally negligent for failing to take all necessary precautions to prevent an accident on site or to create a safe work place. If first aid provisions were not made, there would be very serious legal repercussions in the event of an accident.
General Contractors are obviously struggling with this legal burden. Worksafe allows a General Contractor to delegate first aid duties to the subcontractors. If a General Contractor does not have his/her own crew, delegating to the subtrades is the only solution, unless the G.C. wants to hire a first aid attendant to be responsible for the site (yes, they are allowed to sweep too! They just need to be able to respond to an accident, so plan for a means to contact them in case of an emergency.)
Delegating first aid means that a General Contractor needs to follow up and ensure that the subtrades are actually providing a certified first aid attendant. It is all about the follow up!! There is no evidence of due diligence if no one has verified that the system is being followed.
Subtrades can be reluctant to provide first aid because everyone wants to avoid the cost and hassles of scheduling a certified attendant. This is understandable but short sighted.
Why wouldn’t you want first aid coverage on a construction site? Let us look at this from more than a legal argument.
- First aid is a critical part of emergency planning. The OFA 1 course is only a day course. An attendant will not become a paramedic in a day. That is not the purpose. The purpose of first aid training to be able to respond to an emergency in a level headed methodical manner. A first aid attendant is trained in the priority action approach. When there is a serious accident, people panic. There needs to be someone who is designated to take leadership.
- A first aid attendant is a natural leader in safety awareness. This person can be the team lead in organizing personal protective equipment and supplies. The first aid attendant can be trained to do other safety related duties and to be aware of hazards.
- Beyond the job related emergencies, a first aid attendant can be of service for unexpected events. Stuff happens in and around the job site. People can have sudden health crisis. There will be people on site (workers, engineers, clients etc) who have diabetes, heart disease, epilepsy. Emergencies happen with people choking, tripping or a car accident. First aid is a gift of empowerment in a moment of crisis.
- Be a pro show. Having appropriate first aid coverage is the sign of professionalism. Impress people.
- Let us address the cost factor. The OFA 1 course is one day long. It costs 90$ and your certification is good for 3 years. The benefits of first aid coverage far outweigh the cost factor. | <urn:uuid:b0f1d388-d07c-4367-8969-0e3b8e952198> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://safetysolutionsatwork.com/blog/the-case-for-first-aid/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947567 | 818 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Our OEM Integration Team can incorporate radiation detection capability into your application. We use a variety of detectors, hardware and software to tailor the solution to your needs. By customizing the detector modules, we can address unusual target areas or requirements for clandestine monitoring. The building blocks we use to customize each installed solution are deployed in large quantity throughout the world.
RD-100 Series Radiation Detection Backpack
The RD-100 Series Radiation Detection Backpacks are used for a wide range of radiological monitoring activities. The RD-100, which runs for 24 hours on a single charge, is used in a roaming fashion for clandestine monitoring of radiation levels. When logged in a command center, these units are displayed as moving icons on a map screen in the Command-and-Control software. When an RD-100 Radiation Detection Backpack detects a radiation events of interest (as defined by the userís ConOps), the wearer is notified via a Smart Phone or Alarm and additional actions are taken as appropriate.
Automated portal monitors are the first defense against illicit trafficking of radioactive and nuclear materials, including across international borders or ports of entry, as well as into individual government and private buildings. They are designed to monitor the traffic flow of people and vehicles including cars, trucks, trains, etc.
OEM Radiation Detection Solutions
Our Discrete Nuclear Detection Sensor (DNDS) offers a small footprint which allows for easy integration into existing enclosures. The self-contained module has a number of options which will be tailored to the application. For example, it can be powered by a small battery for many days while it monitors radiation and stores spectroscopic information. In addition to monitoring a range of radiological parameters, it can export data through RF, BlueTooth, IRDA, Ethernet, or other communication protocols.
QCC Developer Kit
QCC (Quadratic Compression Conversion) is an exciting new breakthrough in NaI spectroscopy that allows rapid identification of nuclear materials using room temperature detectors. Most notably, the QCC technique can provide near real-time spectroscopic data for screening applications when the user needs to make immediate decisions on proper procedures to follow. If QCC is used in a RIID, the user can obtain fast and easy identification of isotopes or groups (SNM, MED, NORM, etc). If QCC is used in a personnel portal or baggage scanning conveyor belt, the user system can send the data in real time to an expert for reachback support. There are a variety of networks on the market able to tie radiation detection products and personnel together. Why not use the fastest identification technology available to advance yours? Give us a call to discuss a QCC license and developer kit. | <urn:uuid:2053eeac-f44c-4869-8957-898ab68f7267> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.berkeleynucleonics.com/OEM_RAD_Solutions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907602 | 549 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, one of Europe’s most eminent and influential composers, will talk about his Dante-inspired multimedia opera La Commedia this coming Thursday, March 31, at 3 p.m. in the Margaret Comstock Concert Hall at the University of Louisville School of Music. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Andriessen, who teaches music composition at the Royal Conservatory at The Hague, Netherlands, is known for blending traditional operatic themes with less traditional elements such as electric guitars and American jazz to evoke a cinematic, instantly recognizable sound. La Commedia, Andriessen’s fourth opera and most ambitious creation, received the 2011 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, and has been performed in excerpt by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in full at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall.
Contact the author at firstname.lastname@example.org or www.leecopywriting.com .
Photo: Courtesy University of Louisville | <urn:uuid:6c667019-1839-41a4-be1f-b01185e992c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.louisville.com/print/16730 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932514 | 219 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Herbicides are designed to selectively kill weeds in crops. At the same time, it is difficult for most herbicides to selectively control weeds that are closely related to certain major crops, such as grass weeds in corn and wheat and broadleaf weeds in soybeans and cotton.
To overcome this problem, chemical compounds known as herbicide safeners are commonly used with herbicides to protect corn and other grass crops from injury. Although these chemicals are included in most major soil-applied herbicides for corn, the details of how and why they work are still not well understood.
As part of a project underway in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, a research team headed by Dean Riechers, assistant professor of weed physiology, is studying the mechanisms of how safeners protect plants from herbicide injury.
"Chemicals known as safeners are like plant vaccines that can immunize a crop against herbicide injury," Riechers says. "They are used in most herbicides for corn, such as Dual II Magnum, Bicep, and Harness Xtra. By understanding what is going on at a molecular level, we hope to someday develop plants that can effectively treated by herbicides without the added safener."
Funding for the project is provided by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the National Research Initiative. Major parts of the research are being conducted by doctoral graduate student Qin Zhang and postdoctoral research associate Fangxiu Xu.
Current work is focused on studying the proteins and genes that are induced by herbicide safener treatments in different tissues of wheat seedlings. The seedlings can also serve as a model for understanding how and why safeners work inside corn and other grass-related crops.
"Our research indicates that safeners trigger the expression of proteins in a plant defense pathway that is normally regulated by a plant hormone called jasmonic acid," Riechers says. "This pathway is usually stimulated in response to insect feeding or by other types of stress. It appears that herbicide safeners can also induce the proteins and genes involved in this stress response within a plant's defense pathway."
Riechers' research team is also studying the perplexing question of why safeners do not protect broadleaf crops, such as soybeans and cotton, from herbicide injury.
"Our research shows that this may be due to differences in the tissues of emerging grass and broadleaf seedlings," Riechers says. "This could well be the key to figuring out why they respond differently to safeners."
He notes that much of the information gained from studying the response to safeners in cereal crops could also be applied to understanding the problem in broadleaf crops. Such information could eventually be used to introduce the safener response into a crop such as soybeans.
"That would allow the use of herbicides that are not registered for use in soybeans due to unacceptable crop injury," Riechers says. "We could then expand the number of weed management options for controlling resistant or difficult-to-control weeds, such as waterhemp and lambsquarters." | <urn:uuid:d922eae8-fdeb-4bc4-95fd-85b41f650404> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/u-i-research-aims-improve-herbicide-selectivity-crops | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96876 | 636 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Assessing States' Child Care Quality Rating Systems (QRS)
||Statewide or local child care Quality Rating Systems (QRS) are in place in 26 states and are under consideration in many others as tools to measure, monitor, and promote quality in early child care and education programs. The QRS Assessment produced a series of products as a resource to inform decision-making about and evaluation of QRS. Key products include: (1) a compendium of QRS, (2) two in-depth study reports (one focused on quality measurement and one on the role of QRIS in integration of the early care and education system); (3) a secondary data analysis on quality measurement, and (4) a toolkit for evaluating QRIS. Research questions include: (1) What is the variation in how select QRIS define and measure quality?;
(2) What processes are used to measure components and determine an overall rating?; (2) What is the availability (and use) of consistent and reliable data on quality measurement?; (4) What role does QRIS have and to what extent does it contribute to integration of early care and education programs?; (5) How could states and localities monitor and assess the extent to which QRIS contribute to ECE system development?; (6) What is the prevalence of quality rating components across QRIS and at different levels?; (7) How does the prevalence of quality rating components differ between rating levels across QRIS and between types of providers (such as Head Start and accredited centers)?; (8) What is the unique effect of each quality component on observed quality?; and (9) What patterns of quality profiles emerge based on unique effects of components and how do these profiles map to actual rating levels in QRIS?
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© 2013 The Regents of the University of Michigan | <urn:uuid:185f38b0-8894-451a-848f-a33dc99483fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.researchconnections.org/childcare/resources/17005?topic=quality-rating-systems&author=Boller%2C+Kimberley&paging.startRow=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924275 | 565 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Week 11: Using Satellite Data to Investigate Deforestation
Share and DiscussUse the left navigation menu bar to go to the Share and Discuss page for your discussion section. Read the instructions and post to the discussion thread.
Share What You Are Learning and Reflect on the Process
What insights have you had from this week's activities? We'll pose a question each week so we can get a sense of what you are learning from the course. In addition, we'd like you to reflect on the process of learning. Don't be shy. At any time, we want you to feel comfortable letting your group and instructors know how things are going. Are things moving too fast? too slow? Were there things that didn't work, or worked differently than the directions said they should? Your feedback is important to us. Take a few minutes to type in responses to the questions below. Your feedback is anonymous, so please share honestly. | <urn:uuid:87ce6146-0a4f-4366-b7f6-1cea0c1529ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://serc.carleton.edu/eyesinthesky2/week11/share_discuss.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958946 | 187 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Official BFUT –Development Program Curriculum
The Complete educational program to anyone interested in educating the Brazilian philosophy through the BFUT Methodology to children from ages 6 to 11 years old. – Boys and Girls.
This program is divided in three categories – U7 –U9 and U11.
Each category is sub divided in 2 years planning. Each year will have four cycles of 3 months. The three months planning has a weekly planning. The contents of each week are offered through specific lesson plans. Each lesson plan is implemented in two sessions with age related duration described below
U7 – 2 x 60 min. session.
U9 – 2 x 75 min. session
U11 – 2 x 90 min. session
The complete three months cycle has a total of 8 lesson plans.
Lesson plan 1 – Week 1 – Player Assessment – Three analyzes:
a. Coordination without the ball and elasticity
b. Coordination with the ball – Technical
c. Mental speed and positioning
An meeting with the educator (coach) /parent /player will be done during the first weekend after the player assessment. The meeting will help the child /parent and the educator to establish the individual goals. The team goals will be executed during the next 11 weeks with the exchange of information through internet to the parents and players. The educator (head coach) responsible for the team will be emailing to the parents a summary of the contents to be taught during the following week.
The team will receive new information during weeks 2 and 3 (lesson plan 2 and 3). Week 4 the concepts of week 2 and 3 will be reviewed. Week 5 and 6 new concepts will be introduced (lesson plan 4 and 5). Week 7 will be used to review concepts of the lesson plan 4 and 5. Week 8 and 9 new concepts will be introduced (lesson plan 6 and 7).Week 10 will be used to review the concepts of lesson plan 6 and 7. Week 11 will be used for a new player assessment as week 1, observing the development of each child in each one of the principles of the BFUT philosophy and its methodology. The necessary educational recommendations to the following cycle will be defined to each child. The week plan 8 – The BFUT X-theme Competition
Major goals to accomplish in this program:
BFut – Instituto Brasileiro de Futebol
Sector : BFut Soccer School
Dept. - Development Program U7 to U12 – Boys and Girls
I. Mission: Promote and educate Peace through the worldwide language of Football, Futebol, Futbol, Soccer ,etc.
II. Vision : To be the world class leader in youth education implementing the Brazilian Philosophy through the BFUT methodology , guiding the human being and the athlete to be a leader in and out of the field respecting the social and cultural factors of each country
III. Strategic Direction of the BFUT Soccer School: Analyze, develop and apply to any children from 6 to 11 years old , their parents and their educators about the Brazilian philosophy, providing continuing education with fun e consequently success
1. Introduce to the children from the ages 6 to 11 years old- boys and girls the
Educational curriculum with a vertical integration step by step from
the simple to the most complex concepts.
2. Focus in developing healthy children, decreasing obesity through inactivity.
3. Development of the self – esteem and confidence to the children through a
friendly and highly positive environment with an educational assistance.
4. Promote the creativity and the global body coordination, including swimming
establishing a perfect balance of postural- psycho- motor development. | <urn:uuid:ad2d0ba2-87f6-4c34-999c-a1679c2f8c65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bfut.net/lessonplans.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920847 | 748 | 2.609375 | 3 |
All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress ...
Article I, Section 1
WASHINGTON — Having cleared its throat with the Preamble, the Constitution buckles down to business with those words, which Republican Rep. Geoff Davis of Kentucky takes seriously. He is retiring from Congress, leaving behind excellent legislation that could claw back from the executive branch responsibilities the Founders intended for the government's first branch.
His Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act (REINS) would redress constitutional imbalance and buttress the rule of law by compelling Congress to take responsibility for the substance that executive rulemaking pours into the sometimes almost empty vessels that Congress calls "laws."
The 165,000 pages of the Code of Federal Regulations contain tens of thousands of rules promulgated by largely unaccountable agencies that churn out more than a thousand new mandates a year. According to the Small Business Administration, regulations cost the economy about $1.75 trillion, almost twice the sum of income tax receipts. Davis says small businesses are spending $10,500 per employee on regulatory compliance. REINS would require Congress to vote on a resolution of approval concerning every "major" ($100 million economic impact) regulation. There are 212 such among the 4,128 regulations currently in the pipeline from unelected executive agencies. If the vote REINS requires did not occur within 70 days, the regulation would die.
John Marini of the University of Nevada-Reno writes in the Claremont Review of Books that the 2,500-page Obamacare legislation exemplifies current lawmaking, which serves principally to expand the administrative state's unfettered discretion. Congress merely established the legal requirements necessary to create a vast executive branch administrative apparatus to formulate rules governing health care's 18 percent of the economy.
The Hudson Institute's Chris DeMuth, in an essay for National Affairs quarterly, notes that Congress often contents itself with enacting "velleities" such as the wish in the 900-page Dodd-Frank financial reform act that "all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services ... (that are) fair, transparent, and competitive." How many legislators voting for the bill even read this language? And how many who did understood that they were authorizing federal rulemakers to micromanage overdraft fees? In Dodd-Frank, Obamacare and much else, the essential lawmaking is done off Capitol Hill by unaccountable bureaucratic rulemaking.
Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly and regulators, too, have a metabolic urge to do what they were created to do. Hence, DeMuth says, they often pursue their missions beyond the point of diminishing marginal returns with health, safety, environmental and other standards "with costs exceeding any plausible measure of their benefits."
Regulatory power is executive power, which can be checked and balanced only by the other two branches. But, DeMuth notes, although courts can, under the Administrative Procedure Act, block regulations that are "arbitrary, capricious," or "an abuse of discretion," courts are usually deferential to regulators, partly because courts are usually without requisite scientific or other expertise.
What, then, about Congress, which, as DeMuth says, "has been deeply complicit in fostering regulatory power"? One proposal is to defer all new "major" regulations until unemployment falls to 7.7 percent, just below what it was when Barack Obama was inaugurated. But this would leave the regulatory state in place and poised for action on a backlog of major rules.
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From Auburn, Washington, USA:
My 11-year-old daughter went in for a routine sports physical last week. They took a urine sample and found sugar in it so they did a finger prick test and it measured 236 mg/dl [13.1 mmol/L]. She had thrown up or had the flu the night prior. The doctor suggested we take her to an endocrinologist, which we did the following Thursday. We were sent with no information about what to expect. When we got there, my daughter was again finger pricked and tested at 160 mg/dl [8.9 mmol/L]. The doctor came in and said she had type 1 diabetes. We then were sent to the laboratory for a blood draw and urine sample. After that, we had to wait some time for the educator to come give us information. We went across the street and my daughter ate some scrambled eggs, one piece of bacon, one-half of a piece toast and some milk. When we finally did get to see the educator, she was showing us how the meter worked and my daughter's blood sugar tested at 87 mg/dl [4.8 mmol/L]. The educator then looked confused at how low the reading was. She asked the doctor about it, but he said to go forward with the information on the meter and the insulin pen. After going through all the information with the educator, we left, but a mother's gut feeling can be very strong and I left the appointment not feeling so good about the diagnosis.
My husband and I decided that evening we wanted to get a second opinion and really find out on what the doctor had based his decision. My daughter has no other signs of having diabetes (no constant urination, thirst or blurred vision). Below are some results from the last five days of meter reading and ketone testing. Because of the holiday weekend, we have not gotten laboratory results, but are curious as to what protocol is for making such a diagnosis. And, if we start our daughter on insulin, are there instances when they are taken off of insulin?Home glucose tests:
Date Time Blood Glucose August 30 fasting 162 mg/dl [9.0 mmol/L] August 30 after breakfast 87 mg/dl [4.8 mmol/L] August 30 evening 133 mg/dl [7.4 mmol/L] August 31 8:30 a.m.(fasting) 92 mg/dl [5.1 mmol/L] August 31 8 p.m. (after dinner) 130 mg/dl [7.2 mmol/L] September 1 9:20 a.m.(fasting) 87 mg/dl [4.8 mmol/L] September 1 3:10 p.m. (after lunch) 71 mg/dl [3.9 mmol/L] September 1 7:15 p.m. (after dinner) 130 mg/dl 7.2 mmol/L] September 2 9:15 a.m. (fasting) 96 mg/dl [5.3 mmol/L] September 2 9 p.m. (after dinner) 122 mg/dl [6.8 mmol/L] September 3 10 a.m. (fasting) 111 mg/dl [6.2 mmol/L] September 3 7:10 (before dinner) 103 mg/dl [5.7 mmol/L]
It sounds like early diabetes diagnosis. It is almost impossible to have such high blood sugar levels without insulin deficiency of one kind or another. Obesity can be a factor. Type 1 diabetes in kids is thought to be an autoimmune disorder, so probably your doctor ordered special antibody tests (islet cell, GAD-65 and insulin antibodies). This will help make the diagnosis, if positive; but they can be negative about 20 to 40% of the time and so, unhelpful, if negative. Family history of autoimmune endocrine disorders also may be helpful in a nonspecific fashion. If she has no symptoms, it is okay to get a second opinion, of course. Or, you could ask for and arrange a more prolonged consultation with the first endocrinologist to ask such questions directly and set out a proper monitoring and treatment program.
Original posting 15 Sep 2007
Posted to Diagnosis and Symptoms
Last Updated: Tuesday April 06, 2010 15:10:11
This Internet site provides information of a general nature and is designed for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your own health or the health of your child, you should always consult with a physician or other health care professional.
This site is published by Children With Diabetes, Inc, which is responsible for its contents.
© Children with Diabetes, Inc. 1995-2013. Comments and Feedback. | <urn:uuid:0767e070-c02a-47e3-95e2-ac94e74cb9a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/dteam/2007-09/d_0d_euh.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956426 | 971 | 1.757813 | 2 |
WASHINGTON, November 28, 2007 (ACLU)
– Rejecting the federal government’s attempt to throw out a transgender
veteran’s sex discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress, a
federal judge ruled today that the case can go forward.
The American Civil Liberties Union
brought the lawsuit in June 2005 on behalf of 25-year U.S. Army veteran
Diane Schroer who was offered a job as a senior terrorism researcher but was
later told she was not a “good fit” after her future boss learned she was in
the process of transitioning from male to female.
“After putting my life on the line
for my country for 25 years, I couldn’t believe that I could be refused a
job that I was told I was the most qualified for solely because I happened
to be transgender,” said Diane Schroer, a former U.S. Army Special Forces
Officer who specialized in fighting terrorism.
“But today’s decision makes me
proud that I served a country that values equality and fairness.”
After retiring from the military,
Ms. Schroer, who had been hand-picked to head up a classified national
security operation while serving as an Airborne Ranger qualified Special
Forces officer, applied for a position with the Library of Congress as the
senior terrorism research analyst.
Soon after she was offered the job,
which she accepted immediately.
Prior to starting work, Ms. Schroer
took her future boss to lunch to explain that she was in the process of
transitioning and thought it would be easier for everyone if she simply
started work as female.
The following day, Ms. Schroer received
a call from her future boss rescinding the offer, telling her that she
wasn’t a “good fit” for the Library of Congress.
In its motion to dismiss, the
government argued that Title VII, which protects against sex discrimination,
does not protect transgender workers.
The court rejected this argument,
ruling that the fact that Ms. Schroer is transgender does not bar her from
bringing a sex stereotyping claim.
The court said: “Title VII is
violated when an employer discriminates against any employee, transsexual or
not, because he or she has failed to act or appear sufficiently masculine or
feminine enough for an employe.” the court ruled
“Today the court sent a very clear
message that employers can be held liable when they make decisions about
whom to hire based on stereotypical views about gender as opposed to merit,”
said Sharon McGowan, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual
“Employers, including the
government, are now on notice that discriminating against transgender
workers may land them in court.”
The court put off for a later day
the question of whether Title VII’s ban against sex discrimination also bans
discrimination based on gender identity.
However, the court did reject the
government’s contention that laws barring sex discrimination are limited to
a person’s chromosomal configuration.
The court explained: “It is
well-established that, as a legal concept, ‘sex’ as used in Title VII refers
to much more than which chromosomes a person has.”
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Licence.
Posted: 29 November 2007 at
00:00 (UK time) | <urn:uuid:71a660c3-21be-4319-9036-7ace85536d54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/07/Nov/2901.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963135 | 743 | 1.523438 | 2 |
I have a special place in my heart for Jesus Christ’s parable of the day laborers.
It’s a parable we’re all familiar with: The Lord of the vineyard goes out in the early morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He tells them he will pay them a penny wage for their work. He goes out at the third hour, and again at the sixth and ninth hours to recruit more laborers from the marketplace. Finally, at the 11th hour, he finds others idle in the market and calls them to come work.
When evening comes the Lord of the vineyard pays his workers, starting with the last and ending with the first. They each get a penny for their labor, which rankles the workers who have been there since the early morning. They say, “These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day” (Matthew 20:12).
To which the Lord replies, in essence: Look, I didn’t skimp you. You knew before you began the work that your wage would be a penny.
I love this parable because I come from a long line of 11th-hour laborers. As a child, I had no idea that my grandparents weren’t active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They attended LDS Church meetings when they came to visit us, and they certainly knew the scriptures. It was only at the age of 8, when visiting my cousins, that we learned the truth: Grandma and Grandpa smoked. This was shocking news to a kid who knew all about the Word of Wisdom and Just Say No.
So the cousins and I took it upon ourselves to educate our grandparents. We collected paper plates from the kitchen and plastered them with No Smoking signs. We marched out in single file and surrounded my grandparents' trailer home. With signs held high we chanted, “People that smoke, are people that’ll choke!”
You can imagine how well that went over. It was certainly one of the more controversial moments in our family history. Thankfully our grandparents forgave us. Decades later, quite literally in the 11th hour of their lives, they came back to full activity in time to see my husband and I sealed in the temple.
It’s strange how history repeats itself. My grandparents' only son, my Uncle Terry, took a similar path. I didn’t know Terry much growing up. He was a mountain man, hippy and ofttime-hermit who flashed in and out of our lives for many years. He watched his five sisters marry in Mormon temples and stay married against incredible odds, but he took no part in it.
And then like a miracle, he reappeared at family gatherings, snapping pictures and telling stories. He saw his health decline just as he began taking steps to return to church after more than 50 years away.
Almost a year to the date of going to the temple, my Uncle Terry passed away. He labored in the vineyard for a small fraction of his 66 years. Yet when I spoke with him two weeks before he died all he wanted to do was tell stories. He wanted to talk about that 11th-hour labor, of teaching high priests and doing temple work for his biological father. He talked about the example of his sisters and their husbands all these years. It was their toiling in the heat of the day that brought him back.
I think we often give up on people, or place them in a certain category when it comes to their hopes for faithful living. But the Lord never does. He goes out often, searching for those standing idle in the marketplace. He doesn’t spite them for the hour at which their labor commences. To him, the important part isn’t when they arrive, but that they are willing to follow him into the vineyard and do his work.
My Uncle Terry knew this. In watching his life wind down, I was reminded that the reason we labor at all is to help others receive life’s full wage.
I will miss my uncle dearly, but I am grateful for the example of his life’s journey, where it began, and most especially where it ended.
Elder Holland: It is never too late
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve shares about the parable of the day labors and invites all to come back in the April 2012 general conference.
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Department of Ecology News Release - September 21, 2012
OLYMPIA – The weekend weather forecast offers little relief for many smoke-blanketed communities in Eastern Washington, especially those along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, according to the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology).
“Air quality in the Wenatchee area has remained in the ‘hazardous’ category for over a week now, with each day being a little worse than the previous. Cashmere and Entiat are in a similar situation. Leavenworth, Ellensburg, the upper and lower Yakima Valley and Chelan have been recording ‘very unhealthy’ conditions. This scenario is not expected to change much over the next few days,” said Ecology forecaster Ranil Dhammapala.
A low-pressure system tonight through Saturday evening carries the threat of dry lightning in the Washington Cascades mostly south of Lake Chelan, which could spark new fires, said Dhammapala.
Air quality in the Columbia Basin and the Palouse/Spokane region has been deteriorating very gradually over the last few days and is mostly in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category this morning. Air in these areas may improve slightly, but not much, Saturday evening through Sunday evening.
Some cooler temperatures are on tap for Eastern Washington next week, which could help reduce fire activity. But the forecast does not call for the kind of soaking rain needed to make a significant impact.
The National Weather Service has issued an Air Quality Alert for much of eastern Washington.
Gov. Gregoire has issued a burn ban in Eastern Washington, which is in effect until midnight Monday.
All residents in the Wenatchee area should stay indoors and curtail their physical activities both indoors and outside. Doors and windows should remain closed. In the remainder of the Yakima and Columbia Basin common sense precautions should be taken by everyone, but sensitive groups, such as children, the elderly and heart patients, are particularly vulnerable.
The biggest health threat comes from the fine particles in smoke. These can cause burning eyes, runny nose, bronchitis and other illnesses. Smoky air also can aggravate heart and lung diseases, and even lead to death.
You can find news and information about smoke and wildfires from a variety of state, local and federal agencies on this blog.
Media Contact: Seth Preston, Ecology communications manager, 360-407-6848; 360-584-5744 cell; email@example.com
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html. | <urn:uuid:802d8ed3-492f-458d-bbd0-1072dbecae5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecy.wa.gov/news/2012/315.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937905 | 548 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Christine Pelosi Attorney, author and Democratic activist :
Our commander in chief should commemorate freedom today on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall then go directly to the families who fight for our freedom - the soldiers at Fort Hood. With troubling details emerging about the killer counselor, we need to honor the fallen, investigate how this happened, and call Americans to national unity.
The fall of the Berlin wall was part of our shared history - who can forget the thousands of people who lined up for days to swing a pickaxe and bring home a brick of history.
The times were joyous for the Eastern Europeans and tragic for the Chinese - some of whom spoke out in the West after fleeing Tienanmen Square across Eastern Europe as the Iron Curtain was falling and thought in those early heady days that they too would see freedom. But it was not to be. Since President Obama is going to Asia not Germany this week, perhaps a teaching moment would be about the future of human rights and democracy in China. | <urn:uuid:b96a25c5-e10b-4d21-a197-cf75899d057b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Christine_Pelosi_08CA1250-200B-46D9-B70D-DD986E8FC631.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963051 | 206 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Believe it or not, the European Union actually increased imports from China in May.
The U.S. also remains on a “Made in China” tear these days, increasing imports and increasing the trade deficit between the world’s top two economies.
All told, China exports rose by more than 15 percent in May versus the same period last year, the General Administration of Customs said Sunday from Beijing. Exports beat market expectations, reportedly up by 15.3 percent to $181.1 billion last month compared with the 4.9 percent growth in April. Meanwhile, imports rose 12.7 percent year-over-year to $162.4 billion in May, better than the 0.3 percent increase in April’s import numbers.
China’s strategy of developing more value added goods and selling higher end products to the world has helped May beat a record in terms of values. Both exports and imports hit record high values per item, sending the trade surplus to $18.7 billion from the $18.4 billion registered in April.
As of May 31, China exports are up 8.7 percent to $774.4 billion and imports are up by 6.7 percent to $736.5 billion, according to government figures. The numbers attest to the size and strength of the Chinese economy, along with its continued importance as the world’s manufacturing hub. Despite the fact that China trade growth isn’t booming at teen-level growth rates, the economy is still maintaining robust performances even in a historically weak global economic environment like this one.
The U.S. is also helping China out.
Trade with the U.S. is up 12 percent to $190 billion as of May 31 while trade with the European Union is stable, rising 1.3 percent even in dire times. China’s exports to the U.S. rose by 23 percent alone in May, the biggest increase this year. China exports rose 14 percent in April compared to a decline of similar proportions to the E.U.
The eurozone remains a cause for concern even after its finance ministers agreed on Saturday to lend Spain a reported 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to keep its banking sector solvent.
The E.U. is China’s largest trade partner.
China’s Trade Data Stronger Than Expected — Shanghai Daily
See: Market Lift From Spain Could Be Brief — Associated Press | <urn:uuid:71b52199-9f44-43df-80fb-c6a0a1ac2f8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/06/10/china-export-surprise-european-demand-up-on-year/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937245 | 499 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Blessed Pope Urban V
by americancatholic.org | Source: americancatholic.org
In 1362, the man elected pope declined the office. When the cardinals could not find another
person among them for that important office, they turned to a relative stranger: the holy person we
The new Pope Urban V proved a wise choice. A Benedictine monk and canon lawyer, he was deeply
spiritual and brilliant. He lived simply and modestly, which did not always earn him friends among
clergymen who had become used to comfort and privilege. Still, he pressed for reform and saw to the
restoration of churches and monasteries. Except for a brief period he spent most of his eight years
as pope living away from Rome at Avignon, seat of the papacy from 1309 until shortly after his
He came close but was not able to achieve one of his biggest goals—reuniting the Eastern and
As pope, Urban continued to follow the Benedictine Rule. Shortly before his death in 1370 he
asked to be moved from the papal palace to the nearby home of his brother so he could say goodbye to
the ordinary people he had so often helped.
Join the new media evangelization. Your tax-deductible gift allows Catholic.net to build a culture of life in our nation and throughout the world. Please help us promote the Church's new evangelization by donating to Catholic.net right now. God bless you for your generosity. | <urn:uuid:4c19a4a9-7f41-4d06-b0c0-a6aa8197ebec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=dedestaca&id=8530 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971179 | 312 | 2.59375 | 3 |
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|Master of Science in Computer Science - Games and Media Integration Option
The Masters of Science degree in Computer Science - Games and Media Integration option is an interdisciplinary degree that gives all students a firm foundation in pursuing research and development in the area of games, animation and movie making, VR/HCI, complex systems, and wearable computing.
Both animation and games industry, and the wearable computing community demand highest quality portfolio in place before students graduate. Up to six credit hours of Portfolio Development is an important feature of this degree program. In addition to a complete Game program, a short animated movie, or a wearable computing product, portfolio development may include auditing classes in Letters, Arts and Sciences (LAS) and the College of Business.
One of the most exciting aspects of the degree program is the combination of a set of required courses to ensure all students develop a firm foundation in the basics of design and development of games and media integration products, and the opportunity for students to pursue their special interests through several elective courses and portfolio development. | <urn:uuid:77e2b68b-e524-410d-8144-a3c4604fd437> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eas.uccs.edu/cs/megmi.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921334 | 216 | 1.835938 | 2 |
GARY L. SMITH COLLECTION
No. 9079. Albatros L-37 D.IX German Army Air Service
Aeroplane Photo Supply (APS) Photo No. 1573
06/30/2009. The D.IX featured a slab-sided, flat-bottomed fuselage, a far cry from the previous good-looking streamlined Albatros designs. Powered by an 180 hp Daimler D IIIa engine, the D.IX had wings and tail surfaces similar to those of the D.VII, while it was fitted with twin synchronized 0.312 in (7.92 mm) LMG 08/15 machine guns. The sole prototype appeared in early January 1918, proving disappointing performance, development was discontinued after a wing failure on January 18, 1918.
Created June 30, 2009 | <urn:uuid:8932fae0-91f0-4dd1-9dc1-3094f52de191> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/SmithGaryL/9079.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952116 | 171 | 2.03125 | 2 |
There are some differences between the two kinds of salts; while their chemical makeups are the same, both of them consist of two main minerals: sodium and chloride.
But ocean salt has different taste and texture from table salt. It is processed differently and very lightly, and normally is produced through evaporating seawater. This is the very reason why it has different flavor, texture and color. It usually has a small amount of minerals from the water source depending on its location. Iodine is one of its natural ingredients.
All ocean salts are not created equal too! Most coastal countries produce ocean salt which flavors and colors vary from one another. They are all known as gourmet salts, preferred over table salts by many.
In comparison, table salt is more heavily processed, eliminating other mineral traces. It’s also added food additive to prevent it from becoming clump, which is damaging to our health.
Healthy sodium consumption should be 1,500- 2,300 mg a day.
If you have high blood pressure, or have reached middle-age, aim for the lower end of this sodium consumption range. Though ocean salt is more natural, less sodium and has other minerals, too much of it is not good either.
And don’t confuse salt from sea with salt from Dead Sea.
More on Sea Salt
Sea salt contains less sodium than standard table salt so this is helpful to individuals suffering from hypertension. Sea salt is a broad term that generally refers to unrefined salt derived directly from a living ocean or sea. It is harvested through channeling ocean water into large clay trays and allowing the sun and wind to evaporate it naturally. Manufacturers of sea salt typically do not refine sea salt as much as other kinds of processed salt, so it still contains natural traces of other minerals, including iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc and iodine. Proponents of sea salt rave about its bright, pure, clean flavor, and about the subtleties lent to it by these other trace minerals. Some of the most common sources for sea salt include the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean (particularly in France, on the coast of Brittany). Sea salt is healthier and more flavorful than traditional table salt. It’s available in coarse, fine & extra fine grain size, and many sizes in between! | <urn:uuid:1b054358-a69c-4ae8-a048-93bc92c717ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://docakilah.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/sea-salt-vs-table-salt-which-is-better/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950246 | 485 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Reykjavík is the capital of Iceland. In this city, you can visit some of the most important structures in Iceland. The Alþingishúsið houses the parliament of Iceland. Part of the structure is also a museum dedicated to the history, not just of the city, but of the whole country. If you want to know more about the ancient culture of the town, there’s a museum called the Reykjavík 871±2. You’ll see the latest excavation that tells of the past of the city. On display are artifacts that were believed made in 930 AD. The city is also home of the largest and one of the tallest churches in Iceland, the Hallgrímskirkja. The tallest point of the church is 74.5 meters high. There are also activities in Iceland that you’ve never thought you can do because of the temperature. Nauthólsvík offers every visitor a rare chance to swim in the sea of Iceland. The only one in the country, the water is heated naturally by the thermal springs in the sea. For a formal thermal spa, you can visit the Blue Lagoon.
As a major tourist destination, there are many hotels in Reykjavík to choose from. You can have the priciest Reykjavík hotels or you can just go for Reykjavík cheap hotels. Whether or not you get discount hotels, Reykjavík is sure to give you a great experience for the weekend. Reykjavík travel packages and hotels can be booked online in EasyToBook.com.
Please provide this reference number to our customer service center representative on request, so we can help you better | <urn:uuid:ee75aeb7-0c5b-44c3-979e-2b75e1eb6400> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.easytobook.com/en/iceland/capital-district/reykjavik-hotels/?amu=280822597¤cy=RUB | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942068 | 358 | 1.789063 | 2 |
John Gannon collided helmet-to-helmet with a fellow lineman on a routine play in a mid-August practice. The Lincoln-Way East junior lost consciousness for a few seconds and later went to the hospital for a brain scan, which showed no bleeding in the brain.
But 12 days after the collision, Gannon began seeing black dots and had difficulty breathing. During an ensuing nine-day stay in the hospital, he blacked out periodically and experienced vertigo and nausea.
Gannon only began walking again Sunday. He is still recovering from postconcussion syndrome and won't attend school until the end of this month. Football is out of the question, until at least next season.
"I've just regained my sense of balance, but my short-term memory is still not that great," said Gannon, a 5-foot-7-inch, 189-pound defensive tackle. "My fine motor skills like writing and typing are still sketchy."
Football is the least of the concerns for the family of Naperville North defensive lineman Mark Rochwick, who spent more than four days in a coma after surgery to relieve swelling of the brain after a head injury sustained during a Sept. 13 game at Wheaton North.
He was still in serious condition Saturday but was able to speak and was breathing without a ventilator, according to a Central DuPage Hospital spokeswoman.
As the speed of the game continues to increase--even on the high school level--experts have seen a rise in the number of head injuries, with Steve Young and Troy Aikman's battles with multiple concussions the cause for retirement.
In order to combat this trend, Riddell has introduced a new helmet called "Revolution," which the helmet manufacturer hopes will not only reduce the number of concussions but also their severity.
High schools around the nation have begun phasing in the new helmets, which cost about $160 (about $50 more than the older-style helmets), as they replace equipment. Of the more than 50 schools surveyed in this area, nearly all have begun using the new helmet.
Even in the often money-strapped Public League schools have started phasing in the newer helmets too.
"The principals at quite a few schools have allocated funds to purchase them," said Public League football coordinator Mickey Pruitt. "Robeson has 30 of them, Hubbard 25 and Carver 12."
Neither Gannon nor Rochwick were wearing the new helmets. Naperville North has 24 of the new helmets for a roster of 93. Lincoln-Way East is in just its second year of existence and bought its supplies before the new helmet was introduced.
Programs with only a handful of helmets tend to give them to athletes most at risk--which makes sense, according to experts. Dr. Robert Heilbronner, a neuropsychologist who is a consultant to the Blackhawks and who has worked with high school football players, said that special-teams players, wide receivers and quarterbacks are more susceptible to head injuries.
Even if a program has a new helmet and it's the right size for a player, that athlete can opt not to wear it if he feels it's uncomfortable.
The helmet features improved padding and an extended shell down the side to protect the jaw. A 1997 study by Biokinetics and Associates of Ottawa determined that nearly 70 percent of concussive hits to the head took place in the face, jaw or side of the head--where there was the least amount of protection.
Riddell, which has sold 40,000 of the helmets in this introductory year, is hoping the Revolution will reduce concussions by 30 percent.
"It's too early to tell if the Revolution helmet is doing that, and it will take a couple of years to gather the data," said Bill Sherman, CEO of the Chicago-based company. "We have anecdotal evidence that this new design is working, but it would be irresponsible of me to make that claim right now."
Local high school programs aren't replacing all of the helmets at once in part because of the cost, but also because athletic directors want to see more evidence of their effectiveness. Sherman estimates his company will sell 100,000 Revolution helmets next year but did not foresee the cost of the product coming down.
Offensive tackle Ryan Glassman of Oswego and linebacker-fullback Derrick McGhee of Bremen claim they have received more protection since they began wearing the Revolution this season.
Glassman sustained a concussion during practice last year, sat out the next day and then returned. Three weeks later a second concussion left him unconscious for several seconds. When he regained consciousness, he couldn't remember where he was. Again he sat out the next day and then returned to practice.
Both concussions, Glassman said, resulted from a blow to the side of the helmet.
"Since I've been wearing the new helmet, I haven't had any problems with my head," he said.
McGhee said he told the school trainer about headaches he sustained twice last year after games when he was wearing the standard helmet. | <urn:uuid:d081a47c-e698-4b6f-a494-a1a7202e1408> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-09-22/sports/0209220305_1_new-helmet-schools-public-league | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973883 | 1,042 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Survey says Sandy, Election should have little effect on holiday donations
November 26, 2012 · 4:22 PM
A new poll conducted survey for the American Red Cross shows that most Americans say that their giving to political causes in 2012 and Hurricane Sandy relief efforts will not reduce their year-end gifts to charity.
A telephone survey of 1,010 adults conducted earlier this month found that 78 percent of those who have already given to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts say it will not impact their year-end charitable giving, while 90 percent of those who gave to political causes say it will not reduce their giving to non-profits this holiday season.
“We are grateful for the generous donations by the American public for the Red Cross response to Superstorm Sandy as well as their support for the work of the Red Cross here in Western Washington,” said Rachel Ramey, Communications and Outreach Coordinator serving King & Kitsap Counties. “The Red Cross, like other nonprofits, relies on funding throughout the year to support its mission to help those who need our help. Beyond large-scale disasters, the Red Cross responds to the needs of the community every day through attending to home fire victims, members of the Armed Forces and those seeking preparedness information.”
“The Red Cross helps people in need everywhere and every day, and financial donations are critical to allowing us to serve our community,” Ramey said. “Even as the Red Cross is responding to Sandy, we are helping people here in our community as well, just as we do all year round.”
Survey Shows Popular Ways to Give
Other key findings include:
- The most popular ways people give are by putting money aside in a canister or giving to someone who is asking for a donation in a public place (both 56 percent) and mailing a check (52 percent). One in five (21 percent) say they have used a charity’s website to donate over the past 12 months.
- Friends are influential in American’s charitable gift decisions, as half of all donors (51 percent) say they would donate if a friend talked to them personally about a charity.
- Of social media users polled, 68 percent say they would take time to learn more about a charity if they see a friend posting about it; about half (51 percent) say they would have more respect for a friend that posts about a charitable donation and nearly four in ten (39 percent) said they would donate themselves.
While a majority of those polled said prior giving to political causes and Hurricane Sandy relief efforts will not impact their year-end financial donations, fewer Americans plan to give to charity this year than last year. The survey found that 52 percent of Americans are planning to donate to charity this season, down from 57 percent the last two years from previous Red Cross surveys. Giving by those who do plan to donate to a nonprofit may be less: while 49 percent of those planning to give will give more than $50; nearly half (46 percent) say they will give less than $50. Last year, 39 percent of Americans who planned to give said they would give less than $50.
Survey details: Telephone survey of 1,010 U.S. Adults 18 years and older on November 8-11, 2012 conducted in ORC International’s CARAVAN® survey using a landline-cell dual-frame sampling design. Margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. | <urn:uuid:ce23a3ca-7544-4755-aa39-201962787748> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portorchardindependent.com/news/180916711.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961134 | 718 | 2.125 | 2 |
Research published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry
has found that bacteria present in the gut during the early stages of our development influence levels of serotonin in the brain in adult life.
Serotonin is the hormone associated with regulation of mood and emotion. Levels of serotonin are affected by stress, anxiety and depression, and for this reason it is often the target of antidepressant treatments.
Scientists from the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre at University College Cork (UCC) have shown, using a germ-free mouse model, that concentrations of serotonin in adult brains were affected considerably by the absence of gut bacteria in young individuals.
"As a neuroscientist these findings are fascinating as they highlight the important role that gut bacteria play in the bidirectional communication between the gut and the brain, and open up the intriguing opportunity of developing unique microbial-based strategies for treatment for brain disorders", remarked Professor John F Cryan, a senior author on the paper and Head of the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at UCC.
Previous work by the UCC team and others has suggested that a microbiome-gut-brain axis is responsible for maintaining all sorts of chemical and neurochemical balances in the body. When bacteria were introduced to the guts of animals before they reached adulthood, the nervous system changes wreaked could not be reversed, especially those associated with serotonin.
It was also noted that the phenomena was sex-dependent, with males being more heavily influenced than females by the presence (or absence) of the bacteria. Many implications for areas such as antibiotics, diet and the handling of infection could stem from the research.
"We’re really excited by these findings," stated lead author Dr Gerard Clarke. "Although we always believed that the microbiota was essential for our general health, our results also highlight how important our tiny friends are for our mental wellbeing." | <urn:uuid:a52a2e8c-5016-49c5-b3b1-1304605da470> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scienceomega.com/article/413/happiness-is-a-gut-feeling | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96051 | 371 | 3.359375 | 3 |
|G8 leaders are meeting for two days in the French seaside resort of Deauville. [Reuters]
Leaders of the Group of Eight are meeting in France to endorse aid to new Arab democracies, but a slew of issues - from agreeing on a new IMF chief to mediating war in Libya and Yemen - may dominate the agenda.
Officials from the G8 - the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia - held preparatory talks on Wednesday in the seaside resort of Deauville to hammer out common positions on issues ranging from the world economy to Libya's civil war, Iran's nuclear goals and unrest in Syria.
The two-day summit beginning on Thursday is expected to approve a multi-billion-dollar aid package for Tunisia and Egypt, after "Arab Spring" uprisings deposed their autocratic leaders, and to seal an agreement to back others in the region who want democracy.
"We share a compelling interest in seeing the transitions in Egypt and Tunisia succeed and become models for the region," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrote in a letter to the G8 on Wednesday.
"Otherwise, we risk losing this moment of opportunity."
Street demonstrations in Cairo and Tunis that thrilled and inspired the Arab world also drove away the tourists and investors on which these economies are heavily dependent.
"The first thing they will be looking for is direct financial aid," said Said Hirsh, a Middle East economist with Capital Economics consultancy in London. "Both countries need quite a lot of money considering the hit to their economies and their revenues."
While US officials say G8 countries will discuss their role in the process, they say it is too soon to reach a deal on dollar amounts for assistance.
The heads of the World Bank and the United Nations will also be present and add their signatures to the partnership declaration.
Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, under house arrest in New York following his indictment for sexual assault, will be replaced for the event by the institution's acting managing director John Lipsky.
Finding a permanent replacement for Strauss-Kahn is likely to take up a good part of the summit's talk. It has set a June 30 deadline to pick a successor to the post, which has been held by a European since 1945.
Atomic, internet issues
Nuclear safety will be another topic, with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan scheduled to provide leaders with an update on the continuing crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
The future of the internet will also figure in the G8 leaders' talks. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Eric Schmidt of Google and other internet executives took part in two days of debates in Paris ahead of the G8 summit, focusing broadly on the internet's impact on the global economy.
Several of the internet conference's speakers will then take policy recommendations to Deauville in talks with the G8 leaders.
Police have established one security cordon around the conference centre where the leaders are meeting, and another perimeter encompassing all of Deauville. Local ports, train stations and the airport will be shut from Wednesday to Friday, and a no-fly zone enforced over the town.
The show of force may have discouraged radicals and other protesters from attempting to organise demonstrations close to the summit.
Anti-G8 protesters plan symbolic demonstrations in the neighbouring towns of Caen and Le Havre, but they do not plan to try to disrupt the event in Deauville itself, according to a statement circulated by radical groups online. | <urn:uuid:cccb327a-64b8-4f65-9afe-a50511d0e269> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2011/05/20115261438623908.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938557 | 730 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Communication is a vital part of creating and maintaining a safe and efficient workplace environment.
How we interact with clients and staff will affect how well the organisation functions and how satisfying you find your job to be.
In this day and age ‘information explosion’ is a well known expression. In the health care setting it is no different. While the amount of information that is circulating can be daunting, the process is improved when:
To achieve this, an organisation needs to ensure that all staff are properly trained in the appropriate skills for their job. This training needs to be updated when necessary.
At Sunset Bay Health Campus (SBHC) we provide inductions, and ongoing training and development for staff in all areas of communication.
All methods of communication transfer are subject to Federal and State legislation. The Sunset Bay Health Campus Confidentiality Policy supports this Act.
For a list of training currently available go to this training list.
Interpersonal communication is the way we communicate with others. It may be with another person, to a group of people or to the public. It includes written, verbal and non-verbal communication.
At SBHC, when communicating with others, take into consideration:
At all times staff need to be respectful and polite to one another and to clients. At no time should they raise their voice, swear, or speak in a manner that makes another person feel belittled.
SBHC aims to create a safe and culturally aware work environment.
SBHC aims to create a work environment that is safe and supportive of people with disabilities.
See Grievance Policy in the Policies and Procedures Manual.
All organisations have rules for the transfer of information. Knowing how to use the different types of communication and following the correct procedures at SBHC helps to ensure that information goes to the correct place and person.
Communication can be internal or external or both. Internal communication is between staff at SBHC. External communication is between staff at SBHC and clients or other community members including the media.
At Sunset Bay Health Campus routine workplace protocols exist for:
Types of written communication used at SBHC include:
Written communication is a vital part of communication at SBHC. SBHC recommends that written communication:
Types of verbal communication at SBHC include:
The way we speak to other people can make a difference to the way information is received. At SBHC verbal communication can be improved when:
The type of written and verbal communication you use at SBHC will depend on the area you work in and on your job description.
In all organisations there is a correct line of communication. At SBHC the first line of communication is your immediate superior or line supervisor. The SBHC organisational chart will show you who your line supervisor is.
You can discuss any issues or concerns you may have with your line supervisor. Your supervisor may then either take your concern to the next level or you may be advised to do so.
If you go straight to the director or head of the company you will be advised to discuss the matter first with your supervisor.
Within an organisation there will be information that is sensitive and confidential in nature stored on the computer network. Most organisations have a confidentiality agreement that employees sign when they first join the company.
These agreements protect the privacy of their clients by ensuring that all staff will not pass on information of a personal or sensitive nature to any outside source.
One method of reducing any invasion of privacy is to issue staff with an ID number that gives them access to a particular level of computer access.
When using computers at SBHC:
When writing emails:
Remember that the person reading your email can’t see you so they can’t read your body language to see if you are joking, angry or serious.
Whiteboards may be used to allocate daily duties, rooms, or jobs to staff members.
If a whiteboard is used in your area check that you know:
Pin up boards may be used as a means of posting any notices about courses, organisational events or social events.
When using a pin up board, write the date that the notice is posted on the top of the notice and remove after two weeks
Handovers are the verbal passing of information from one or more persons to the following shift of worker or workers.
Handovers made be also spoken into a tape which is then played to the next group of workers outlining events of the previous shift or of any information that it is considered important for them to know.
When doing handovers:
Phones should be answered within four (4) rings.
Good morning/afternoon, Sunset Bay Health Campus, general stores. This is Jane Smith.This helps people know they have dialled the correct organisation, who they are speaking to and what your role in the organisation is.
When you take a message for someone make sure you understand the message correctly.
In a health care setting you may be required to complete forms. Each department may use a different set of forms. You must make sure that you know which forms to fill in, when you need to use forms and where to find the necessary forms.
When filling in a form:
If you have difficulties filling in forms, ask a colleague or your supervisor for some help.
It can be useful to obtain copies of forms that have been filled in which you can keep and use to help you. | <urn:uuid:9c0219cd-db5a-43b4-a607-d5ea799df960> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/demosites/series7/704/toolbox_704/shared/resources/manual/workplace_comm.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932012 | 1,101 | 2.671875 | 3 |
LIFE LETTER MATURE
Passing it on to our heirs.
Ralph and Mary have accumulated a nice estate, a good portion of it in cash. They want to leave it all to their children when they die, but they also want to do something for them today. Being part of the Savings Generation, they are reluctant to give large sums to their kids today, as they are part of the Spending Generation. Ralph and Mary also want to treat their children as fairly as possible.
When someone dies, their estate falls into three basic categories:
Part 1 - Proceeds that can be passed on by way of a named beneficiary designation.
Part 2 - Proceeds that can be passed on by way of joint ownership.
Part 3 - Proceeds that can be passed on by way of a will or a Provincial Intestacy Act.
Ralph and Mary want to make sure that as little as possible falls into Part 3. They are wondering how they can get more of their estate into Parts 1 and 2.
As already mentioned, they want to help their children financially now, but are reluctant to give them large sums of money. Being savers, they also like the comfort of access to their money if they need it in the future. How can they do both?
Ralph and Mary can set up investment fund accounts jointly with each of their children. They can choose tax efficient funds that generate regular monthly payments, known as systematic withdrawals. These monthly payments can be deposited directly into their children's bank accounts. Any tax liability generated by distributions during the year should be shared equally between the parents and their kids.
This effectively moves funds out of Part 3 and into Part 2 of their estate. On death, the funds will pass directly to their children because of joint ownership. They still have access to the funds if by some chance they need them in the future.
Ralph and Mary feel that they can use this planning method to teach their children a valuable lesson, too. By setting up what is, in effect, a cash cow that generates a regular monthly "milk" payment, their children would be more likely to keep the funds invested. If they slaughter the cow, they will lose the milk forever.
They like the idea of using this plan with their grandchildren, too.
Depending on which news report you may
have heard, it is estimated that as much as a trillion dollars of
personal wealth (that's a one followed by twelve zeros) is expected
to change hands in Canada over the next twenty-five or thirty years.
Some advance planning can make sure that as much of this wealth as
possible stays in our heirs' hands..
Want help with your estate wishes?
Hans Mathisen today at (306)242-7042.
Copyright © 2005 Life Letter. All rights reserved
Mutual confidence is the power that binds together all harmonious human relationships. | <urn:uuid:88f58549-e33d-4d1b-9679-a6e833bd2c46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mathisen.ca/llmature/feb2006.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979139 | 596 | 2.703125 | 3 |
The Chamber’s Burdens Barometer measures the regulatory burden placed on business since 1998 throughout the UK. It calculates the cost to business of complying with everything from health and safety to employment regulation.
It has estimated that the cost to business of complying with new regulation since 1998 is now standing at more than £65 billion. This has increased from £10 billion in 2001; £15 billion in 2002; £20.6 billion in 2003; £30 billion in 2004; £38.9 billion in 2005; £50.27 billion in 2007 and £65.99 billion in 2008.
For most businesses this figure does not just represent a direct financial cost, but lost man hours and resources. For smaller companies, without in house legal teams or HR departments, complying with regulation diverts time away from running a successful and profitable business.
This disproportionate cost to smaller businesses is not yet fully recognised by government departments. Research carried out by the British Chambers of Commerce as part of our annual impact assessment audit indicates that as many as eight out of ten impact assessments assign the same cost to small businesses as too large.
All government departments are required to complete RIAs that evaluate the risks, costs and benefits of any new regulatory proposal that has an impact on business. | <urn:uuid:ae31421f-955c-4298-be3f-64e3cda384b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thamesvalleychamber.co.uk/307/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964887 | 256 | 2.015625 | 2 |
The Mahakam River
is in Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. It flows 980 km from the district of Long Apari in the highlands of Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
, to its mouth at the Makassar Strait
Makassar Strait is a strait between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi in Indonesia. To the north it joins the Celebes Sea, while to the south it meets the Java Sea.The Mahakam River of Borneo empties into the strait....
The city of Samarinda
Samarinda is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The city lies on the banks of the Mahakam River. It is the most populous city in East Kalimantan with a population of 726,223...
, the provincial capital of East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan is the second largest Indonesian province, located on the Kalimantan region on the east of Borneo island. The resource-rich province has two major cities, Samarinda and Balikpapan...
, lies along the river 48 km (30 mi) from the river mouth.
The Mahakam River is the largest river in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, with a catchment area of approximately 77,100 km2
. The catchment lies between 2˚N to 1˚S latitude and 113˚E to 118˚E longitude. The river originates in Cemaru from where it flows south-eastwards, meeting the River Kedang Pahu at the city of Muara Pahu. From there, the river flows eastward through the Mahakam lakes region, which is a flat tropical lowland area surrounded by peat land. Thirty shallow lakes are situated in this area, which are connected to the Mahakam through small channels http://www.water.wur.nl/NR/rdonlyres/23DA3991-9116-4399-BAE8-03FDDEA07D6C/79521/FactsheetMahakamLR.pdf
. Downstream of the connection with the Semayang and Melintang lakes, the Mahakam meets three other main tributaries - the rivers Belayan, Kedang Kepala, and Kedang Rantau - and flows south-eastwards through the Mahakam delta distributaries, to the Makassar Strait.
Kalimantan, where the Mahakam lies, is part of the Sunda Continental Plate
The Sunda Plate is the tectonic plate on which the majority of Southeast Asia is located. It was formerly considered a part of the Eurasian Plate, but GPS measurements have confirmed its independent movement at 10 mm/yr eastward relative to Eurasia...
. The large island has mountain ranges between Indonesia and Malaysia, however, volcanism is absent in this island. As described by van Bemmelen (1949), River Mahakam rises in Cemaru (1,681 m) in the centre of Kalimantan, from there it cuts through the pre-tertiary axis of the island east of the Batuayan (1,652 m) and then reaches the tertiary basin of Kutai. Its middle course traverses a lowland plain with many marshy lakes. This intermontane depression is separated from the neighboring basin, the Barito depression, by a broad hilly tract of less than 500m altitude. After this region, the Mahakam cuts through the Samarinda anticlinorium and reaches its alluvial delta, which spreads like a broad fan over the shelf-sea, with a base of 65 km and a radius of about 30 km.
Upstream of Long Iram (upstream part of Mahakam river basin) the river is flowing in tertiary rocks (Voss, 1983). Between Long Iram and Muara Kaman (middle Mahakam area) the river is flowing in quaternary alluvium, while in the downstream area between Muara Kaman and the coast including the Mahakam delta, tertiary rocks are again present. The presence of the large delta is explained by the formation and rejuvenation of the hilly region near Samarinda.
The Mahakam catchment is around the equator. According to Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
, this area belongs to type Af (tropical rainforest) that has a minimum temperature ≥18o
C and precipitation of the driest month in normal year ≥60 mm Transfer of mass and energy in the tropical zone occurred through general air circulation known as the Hadley cell
The Hadley cell, named after George Hadley, is a circulation pattern that dominates the tropical atmosphere, with rising motion near the equator, poleward flow 10–15 kilometers above the surface, descending motion in the subtropics, and equatorward flow near the surface...
. According to Seidel et al. (2008) the precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
pattern in this area is largely determined by this large-scale atmospheric wind patterns, which is observable in several ways throughout the atmosphere. This circulation carries moisture into the air, generating rainfall in equatorial regions, whereas at the edges of the tropical belt are drier. Within this circulation, evaporation is intensively occurred around the equator on the centre of low pressure called the Intertropical Convergence Zone
The Intertropical Convergence Zone , known by sailors as The Doldrums, is the area encircling the earth near the equator where winds originating in the northern and southern hemispheres come together....
(ITCZ), characterized by accumulation of cloud in the area. The ITCZ moves following the pseudo-motion of the sun within 23.5o
N and 23.5o
S zone, therefore its position always changes according to this motion.
The ITCZ drives the Indo-Australian monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
phenomena which influence the regional climate including the Mahakam catchment. In December, January, February (winter in northern hemisphere) the concentration of high pressure in Asia and low pressure in Australia make the west wind blows in Indonesia (west monsoon). In June, July, August concentration of low pressure in Asia (summer in northern hemisphere) and concentration of high pressure in Australia make the east wind blows in Indonesia (east monsoon). Due to the global air circulation and the regional climate mentioned above, the Mahakam catchment which is located around the equator has a bimodal rainfall pattern with two peaks of rainfall, which are generally occurred in December and May. This is because the ITCZ passed through the equator twice a year, from the northern hemisphere in September and from the southern hemisphere in March.
There are about 76 lakes spread in the Mahakam river basin and about 30 lakes are located in the middle Mahakam area including the three main lakes (Lake Jempang 15,000 Ha; Lake Semayang 13,000 Ha; Lake Melintang 11,000 Ha). The lakes levels are seasonally fluctuated from 0.5m – 1m during dry period to seven meters during rainy season. The Mahakam lakes and surrounding wetlands act as a trap of sediment contained in the water flowing into the lakes which are now known to become shallower, presumably as a result of an imbalance between sediment input and slow subsidence.http://www.eastkalimantan.org/projects/wp4.html
Fishing is the primary source of livelihood in the Mahakam lakes area, most of the people around the lakes are fishermen. The middle Mahakam lake area is an area of intensive fishing activity with a productivity of 25,000 to 35,000 metric tons per year since 1970.http://globalnature.org/docs/02_vorlage.asp?id=12726&domid=1011&sp=E&m1=11089&m2=28219&m3=11178&m4=12726&addhilite=mahakam
The Mahakam delta is a mixed fluvial
Fluvial is used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them...
-tidal dominated delta. The delta covers about 1800 km2, consisting of mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
areas near the shore, Nypa
Nypa fruticans, known as the attap palm , nipa palm , and mangrove palm or buah atap , buah nipah , dừa nước , Ging Pol in Sinhala in Sri Lanka and gol pata , dani . It is the only palm considered a mangrove in the Mangroves Biome...
swamps in the central areas, and lowland forest near the apex, corresponding to the first bifurcation,http://www.eastkalimantan.org/projects/wp5.html
however, recent fishery development in this area has converted a vast area of mangrove into shrimp ponds (tambak). The delta has three main distributaries
A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. They are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary is a tributary...
system directed Northeast, Southeast and South. The area between distributaries consists of a series of tidal channels generally unconnected to the main distributaries. The distributary channels are narrow and rectilinear with the depth ranging from 8 to 15 m and distributary channel bifurcations appear every 10 to 15 km.
This lower Mahakam area is the second most productive hydrocarbon basin of Indonesia which contains around 3 billion barrels of oil and 30 Tcf of gas reserves. Field geological investigations in this area was started in 1888 and in 1897 exploration drilling discovered oil at shallow depth of 46 m on the Louise structure. Production started in 1898 followed by expansion of exploration to the entire Mahakam.
Mahakam and its floodplain is an ecologically important region. A total of 147 indigenous freshwater fish species had been identified from the Mahakam. The Mahakam hosts the freswater dolphin Irrawaddy Dolphin
The Irrawaddy dolphin is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in discontinuous subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia.-Etymology and taxonomic history:...
; called Pesut by local people) a critically Endangered fish species, which is included on CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Appendix I.http://www.globalnature.org/bausteine.net/file/showfile.aspx?downdaid=6866&sp=E&domid=1011&fd=2
The Mahakam river basin is also an important breeding and resting place for 298 bird species, among them 70 protected and five endemic species: Borneo Dusky Mannikin (Lonchura fuscans
), Borneo Whistler (Pachycephala hypoxantha
), Bornean Peacock-pheasant (Polyplectron schleiermacheri
), Bornean Blue-flycatcher (Cyornis superbus
) and Bornean Bristlehead (Pityriasis gymnocephala
A Research Cluster (http://www.eastkalimantan.org
): "Upsetting the balance in the Mahakam Delta: past, present and future impacts of sea-level rise, climate change, upstream controls and human intervention on sediment and mangrove dynamics" extensively carry out research on the Mahakam. The cluster's objective is to study the impact of external forcing factors such as sea-level rise, climate change, upstream sediment, as well as human interference on past, present and future development of the Mahakam delta in different time scales.
The River Mahakam is an economic resource for fishermen and farmers, and as freshwater source, as a waterway since ancient time until today. It is in this river basin where the Kutai
Kutai is the traditional name of a historic region in East Kalimantan in Indonesia on Borneo, a Dayak people of the region with a language of the same name and their historic states. Today the name is preserved in the names of three regencies in East Kalimantan, the Kutai Kartanegara Regency, the...
kingdom evolved. The Kutai history is divided into two periods, Kutai Martadipura (around 350-400) and Kutai Kartanegara period (around 1300). Kutai Martadipura, a Hindu kingdom founded by Mulawarman at Muara Kaman, is regarded as the oldest kingdom in Indonesia. Kutai Kartanegara was founded by settlers from Java at Kutai Lama near the mouth of Mahakam. In around 1565, Islam was extensively spread in Kartanegara by two Moslem preachers from Java, Tunggang Parangan and Ri Bandang.
The Dayak or Dyak are the native people of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups, located principally in the interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily...
are the indigenous people inhabiting Kalimantan beside the Kutais and the Banjars. Since 1970s transmigration
The transmigration program was an initiative of the Dutch colonial government, and later continued by Indonesian government to move landless people from densely populated areas of Indonesia to less populous areas of the country...
of people to East Kalimantan was organised by the Indonesian government especially in areas near River Mahakam. Transmigration aims to migrate people from overpopulated Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
, and Madura
Madura is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately 4,250 km². Madura is administered as part of the East Java province. It is separated from Java by the narrow Strait of Madura.-History:...
islands to stimulate greater agricultural productivity in outer islands. By 1973, almost 26% of the land under cultivation in East Kalimantan was being worked by transmigrants. | <urn:uuid:5d6e69a1-1148-4875-88a6-5395cf5923b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Mahakam_River | 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 | 0.929129 | 3,431 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Koalas running. Koalas eating. Koalas clinging to legs. Koalas nose to nose. Koalas being ridiculously cute.
In an ongoing series, Koala Hospital, National Geographic travels to Port Macquarie, Australia, a few hours from Sydney, to visit the 40-year-old refuge for wild koalas. Volunteers there are clearly delighted at the chance to frolic with the fluffy marsupials, who cling adorably to tree branches and human legs alike. If you can’t make the trek but you want to contribute, you can adopt a wild koala via the hospital’s website, or help them plant a food tree, to counteract the koalas’ loss of habitat.
via The Atlantic.
Greg the Gardener in Queensland, Australia, shows how he harvests a large bunch of almost-ripe Lady Finger bananas.
Want to grow your own? SFGate has a quick starter guide for growing the dwarf variety indoors, with lots of related links…
From the BBC’s Life series, two weedy seadragons dance into the night:
Living off the coast of south Australia, weedy seadragons (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) are the only known species along with sea horses and pipefish - where the male carries the eggs. Although the eggs start out in the female, she lays about 120 of them onto the tail of the male where they are then fertilized and develop until they hatch.
Feeding on plankton, larval fishes and small shrimp-like crustaceans, seadragons resemble swaying seaweed making them difficult to find in their natural habitats, even though they can grow to about 46 cm in length. | <urn:uuid:a6876d40-3527-452b-8e6a-83cea8c6bfeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thekidshouldseethis.com/tagged/Australia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925556 | 365 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Using Git for Rockbox Version Control
Why Git ?
Currently, the Rockbox source code repository is held in subversion, which the project started to use around January 2007, so the question "Why Git?" is probably quite a good one. The debate surrounding this subject came up on the 4th of June 2007, after a number of the Rockbox IRC dwellers watched a presentation given by Linus Torvalds around usage of git. There were a number of good points made around the topic, and I actually ended up emailing the git-users mailing list with some questions that we came up with. To my complete surprise, some of those points were answered by Linus himself, and he didn't call me an idiot for asking them - so I was doubly pleased
IRC log of git debate
Mailing list question and answer session
I intend to sum up most (if not all) of what was said above later on in this article, but I thought I'd post the links to the originals for those that are keen to see if I'm para-phrasing or just plain lying about what was said
No, really - Why Git ?
Okay, so I sort of skipped answering that in the first paragraph! Perhaps a better way of asking it is "What does Git offer that Subversion doesn't?" - at least that doesn't allow me the cheesy answer of "Because!".
There is one very large difference between Subversion and Git, and that is the overall implementation philosophy. Subversion is a centralised repository - in that we have one server (svn.rockbox.org) which is the "Master" copy of everything that comprises the Rockbox source code. Developers "check out" a copy of that repository to their local machines, make changes to it, and then - when they're happy, the submit those changes (commit) them back to the central server. Git's approach is known as a "distributed" approach. Technically, there is no central repository (although this is possible to set up), everyone's copy of the repository COULD be the master. All changes made to your git repository are made locally, and other people will not get a copy of those changes until they decide to "pull" them from you.
That's the broad philosophy difference. There are also some technical differences which make git an attractive choice for the determined and enthusiastic developer. First and foremost amongst these is something called "Branching and merging". This is something which nearly all version control systems claim to offer, but which a lot fail to do very well. CVS, for example (which Rockbox used to use) is bad at both of them. Subversion makes the claim that "Branching is way faster than in CVS" - which may or may not be true, but they fail to tell you that the merging part is still pretty much as bad as CVS's implementation. (Note to the reader: Those are quotes para-phrased from Linus's speech, not my personal opinion - I've never tried doing this under either CVS or Subversion personally, so don't shoot me if I'm wrong). In Git, branching and merging are extremely quick and easy (and I have
tried this personally, so I can confirm it's true!).
So why the fuss over this "Branching and Merging"? What does it mean?
Branching is something that helps developers when they want to start work on a new feature for their code tree. The idea is that you leave the "Trunk" (the main repository) part of the code alone, take a copy of it ("branch" it), make some changes, and only commit your new feature changes back to this branch. This means that while your new code is in flux, and liable to not work very well - the main repository is unaffected by it, and people can continue to work on bug fixes there safe in the knowledge that whatever they're looking as is not as a result of new untested code. At some point in the future, when your new feature is completed and ready to roll, you "merge" this branch back into the trunk, and the main code repository now has the new feature, fully working (hopefully) all in one hit.
Currently this sort of work is a bit of a pain with subversion. A developer working on a new feature must keep his own copy of the subversion repository out of step with the main one until he's happy it's all working. He may have multiple copies of the repository for multiple features, and there's no easy way to bring all these seperate changes back into step in a clean way.
Git's implementation of this feature is very good - branching is "cheap", you can have lots and lots of them all off the one repository, and merging them back in again is also a relatively painless task (completely painless if there are no conflicts between a new feature and something that's changed in the main trunk).
If Rockbox were to move to git, with repositories all over the place - it then becomes possible for git repository owners to "Cherry Pick" a certain feature from a given repository elsewhere. This means you can take things you like, and ignore things you don't. This might end proving to be a popular choice for users of "Unsupported builds", who could then maintain their own tree full of all the patches they like, and leaving out the ones they don't.
So would Rockbox really benefit from a change to git ?
Possibly. There were some favourable noises made by some of the developers, and some who were less keen on the idea. At the moment Subversion does
work for the way Rockbox is developed and most people who use it are happy enough. Anyone who is used to their own way of managing multiple changes to their local subversion tree have already worked out their own system for doing it, and most of those are happy to continue with this method.
Me personally, I start to see git as a very useful change - particularly
for our Google Summer of Code people. We have students, and we have mentors that are supposed to be helping them. Most of the mentors are also current developers. This means the mentor has got a copy of Rockbox's subversion repository as it stands, and possibly one which includes the changes their student has made, and possibly yet another with their own changes. If we were using git, this rather messy (IMHO) approach would be a whole lot neater, since the students could maintain their own repository while they were implementing their project, the mentor could sync this with a branch in their own repository, keep the main trunk clean, and also have their own branches for things that they themselves are working on.
Ultimately it will depend on if enough people see these as real advantages over "just nice to haves".
Using git with the SVN repository
First, to understand the basic principles of git in comparison to those of SVN, the SVN Crash Course
is a good reference.
What follows was written for git-svn version 188.8.131.52. It might not be accurate for other versions.
To get the official SVN repo, N being the revision you want to start your history with, run
$ mkdir rockbox ; cd rockbox
$ git svn clone -rN svn://svn.rockbox.org/rockbox/trunk .
$ git svn rebase
Or if you want the whole history :
$ git svn clone svn://svn.rockbox.org/rockbox/trunk .
Once this is done, compress your local git repo :
$ git repack -d
If there are new commits in the SVN repo, you'll want to get them in your master branch :
$ git svn rebase
To commit work you've done on your git repo to the SVN repo, run
$ git svn dcommit
Since git does not have the concept of properties, you should add the following to your $HOME/.subversion/config to have some properties automatically set on svn dcommit (otherwise you need to set them separately on new files with a separate SVN checkout).
enable-auto-props = yes
*.c = svn:eol-style=LF
*.s = svn:eol-style=LF
*.S = svn:eol-style=LF
*.cpp = svn:eol-style=LF
*.h = svn:eol-style=LF
*.ui = svn:eol-style=LF
*.sh = svn:eol-style=LF
*.pl = svn:eol-style=LF
*.pm = svn:eol-style=LF
*.py = svn:eol-style=LF
*.txt = svn:eol-style=LF
*.cfg = svn:eol-style=LF
*.wps = svn:eol-style=LF
*.sbs = svn:eol-style=LF
*.vbs = svn:eol-style=LF # should this be CRLF?)
*.png = svn:mime-type=image/png
*.jpg = svn:mime-type=image/jpeg
*.bmp = svn:mime-type=image/bmp
*.svg = svn:mime-type=image/svg
Makefile = svn:eol-style=LF
The public Rockbox git repository
There is a mirror of Rockbox's SVN repository available at git://svn.rockbox.org/rockbox-old. You can easily clone it and then turn it into a git-svn repository. Here's how to do it :
$ git clone git://git.rockbox.org/rockbox-old
or if you are behind a restrictive firewall:
$ git clone http://git.rockbox.org/rockbox-old
$ cd rockbox
$ git update-ref refs/remotes/git-svn origin/master
$ git svn init svn://svn.rockbox.org/rockbox/trunk
$ git svn fetch
Now you have a local copy of the full Rockbox history and you can use
git svn rebase
to keep track of the latest SVN updates and
git svn dcommit
to commit your changes.
Copyright © by the contributing authors. | <urn:uuid:a1fa255f-126e-4f0c-bcda-d9fdde252f97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/GitVersionControl | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940234 | 2,226 | 1.984375 | 2 |
By Candace Stoughton
Have you considered building a rain garden in your yard? Many of us in Portland have seen the swales being built all around the city to manage stormwater runoff and protect our rivers. Did you know you can do the same thing in your yard to capture the runoff from your roof, driveway, etc? When we build swales in our yards, we call them rain gardens.
What is a rain garden?
A rain garden is a “sunken garden bed” in your yard where you can direct runoff from your roof, driveway and other impervious surfaces on your property. The rain can then soak into the ground naturally rather than running off into storm drains.
Why build one?
When a landscape is covered in natural vegetation, most rainfall soaks into the ground. As we start creating impervious surfaces: roofs, driveways, sidewalks, and streets, much of the rainfall can’t soak into the ground anymore. This can create problems, not just for people, but also for streams. Rain gardens are a beautiful way to manage stormwater runoff because they allow rain to soak into the ground naturally. This prevents pollution from entering our local streams and wetlands, recharges groundwater and keeps water in our streams during Oregon’s dry summer months.
Urban stormwater runoff causes unnaturally high flooding downstream. In-stream erosion degrades water quality, and compromises habitat for wildlife. Erosion in streams imperils the “built environment” as well by undercutting bridge supports, exposing sewer lines and washing out roads. Non-point source pollution (carrying metals, oils, bacteria, fertilizers, etc straight to streams) is associated with excess runoff as well.
Rain gardens are becoming very popular because they are planted with beautiful, hardy, low-maintenance and drought tolerant plants. These gardens also provide food and shelter for birds, butterflies and beneficial insects. This approach to gardening is an easy way for all of us to do our part to protect our streams and rivers.
Frequently asked questions
Do rain gardens breed mosquitoes?
No. Because rain gardens are shallow and are only built on soils with sufficient drainage, they are designed to dry out before mosquitoes can reproduce.
Will my rain garden have standing water for more than a day?
Rain gardens are designed to infiltrate water in about a day. If it rains several days in a row, it is possible that your rain garden may have standing water until the rain stops and the water has time to soak in.
Don’t rain gardens require sandy soil?
If your soil can percolate two inches of water per hour, you have adequate drainage.
Can I install a rain garden if I have a septic system?
Yes, but it is very important not to place a rain garden over a septic system.
Find a spot in your yard where you can easily direct the runoff from your downspout or other impervious surface. Do a percolation test to ensure that the soils in that spot can soak up rain water.
How to do a percolation test
• Dig a hole at least twelve inches deep.
• Fill it with water and let it drain.
• Fill it with water a second time. If the water drains at least two inches in an hour the second time you fill it, your soil has adequate drainage for a rain garden.
• To avoid drainage problems, place your rain garden at least six feet from your house if you have a basement (two feet if you don’t) and five feet from your property line. Call your local jurisdiction to find out if you need a permit to disconnect your downspout or if there are special requirements.
• Dig a shallow depression to create a rain garden area about six inches deep. You can make it as long and wide as you like - the bigger it is, the more rain water it can soak up. Don’t forget to call before you dig so you don’t hit any buried utility lines. In Oregon call (800) 332-2344.
• Use the soil you dig up to create a berm on the down slope side and direct the overflow safely away from nearby buildings. Make the bottom of your rain garden level. If you like, you can amend the soil in your rain garden with compost.
• Plant your plants and then mulch. Water the plants until they are established. (For sample rain garden planting designs, go to our web site:
For more information, or to get updates on our upcoming rain garden classes in 2008, please email Candace Stoughton at email@example.com or call
Candace Stoughton is the Low Impact Development Specialist with East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District. | <urn:uuid:2c5e935e-fbdf-4c65-8ef9-2d6d25e46f4f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tilth.org/education-research/in-good-tilth-magazine/articles/2008/19i/rain-gardens | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924687 | 984 | 3 | 3 |
Neuromuscular, TrPt, PNF Therapies
Neuromuscular Therapy (similar yet different to deep tissue massage) addresses Trigger Points, TrPt, which are predictable and repeatable pain patterns caused by tiny knots that develop in a muscle when it is injured, overworked and/or unhealthy. TrPt usually send their pain to some other part of the body. This is the reason conventional treatment can fail. It's a mistake to assume that the problem is at the place that hurts! Travell and Simons' research has shown that TrPt are the primary cause of pain seventy-five percent of the time and are at least a part of nearly every pain problem. TrPt can cause headaches, neck and jaw pain, low back pain, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.
There are times when muscles cause the same type pain and symptoms associated with clinical conditions, for example; Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Carpel Tunnel, Sciatica, Tennis Elbow, Headaches etc. There are also times when the muscle in pain is not the source of the pain. Knowing these muscle pain patterns is a central theme to NMT. NMT takes into account, Trigger Points as well as the origin, insertion, action & function of a muscle
How is NMT different from Deep Tissue? The term Deep Tissue is very popular and self-explanatory (you work deep into the tissue and muscle). NMT is a more specific touch than Deep Tissue. NMT can feel deep or light, the therapist can adjust the position of the muscle and the entry into the muscle to manipulate the feeling.
When dealing with clients not only do I consider NMT but overall muscle health, such as, hydration, nutrition, heat, ice, nervous system/stress, stretching and self-massage are all explored in an effort to elevate pains and achieve optimal sport and life goals.
I work with clients to elevate and manage pain. This includes attention by the client while not in the massage session. Most often, there is a perpetuating factor involved in serious discomfort. Causes can range from nutrition to sleep positions to shoes to daily activities to stress to previous injuries and to body dimensions. If you are willing to explore these issues, I am willing to help. It takes client and therapist to achieve!
Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation, is a manual resistance technique that works by simulating fundamental patterns of movement, such as swimming, throwing, running, or climbing. Methods used in PNF oppose motion in multiple planes concurrently. It is commonly used to treat a broad range of orthopedic conditions. | <urn:uuid:2be192bc-1b17-4429-a87e-47899b656b4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rinconsportsmassage.com/rincon-sports-massage/neuromuscular-trigger-point-pnf/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941675 | 550 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Step inside the kitchen of Sunflower Bakery and you’ll notice the typical sights, sounds and smells of a professional kitchen in action. But there is one thing that sets this bakery apart from others in the area: its special training program.
Five days a week, two professional pastry chefs work one-on-one with young adults from the community who have developmental or other cognitive disabilities. Their goal is to teach them basic skills so they can become proficient enough to get jobs in the baking industry.
During the 12-month training program, students spend about six months receiving professional instruction at Sunflower followed by a six-month internship, either in-house or at a local bakery.
Sara Portman Milner and Laurie Wexler founded the non-profit enterprise in 2009.
Before launching Sunflower Bakery, Milner worked at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington developing their special needs program.
Wexler had almost two decades of experience in program delivery and fundraising for non-profit organizations.
"As a social worker, I met Laurie and she said to me one day, ‘What do you think about this idea of starting a bakery that would train people with disabilities to work in a bakery?’" Milner recalls, "and I said, ‘I’m all about that. I love baking, I love working with people with special needs to give them opportunities that they wouldn’t have otherwise, let’s try it.’”
They started the bakery as a pilot program, and it grew from there.
Perfect career choice
Most of their trainees, who range in age from 18 to 27, are transitioning from school to the workplace. Sunflower is there to help ease that journey.
After going through its training program, Verred Joharie (center in yellow) is now employed at Sunflower Bakery and hopes to have a career in the baking industry.
They have a variety of disabilities, from language processing difficulties to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bi-polar disorder to mild intellectual deficits.
Because of their challenges, it usually takes them longer to learn and process information. Milner says that’s why baking can be a perfect career choice, since it involves a lot of structure and repetition.
“This provides a socially acceptable way to get a job that you learn skills that are valued and needed, and you get paid with the structure built in,” says Milner.
Rachel Easterling, 23, has been working at the bakery on a part-time basis since April of this year and says working with the bakery staff has helped her gain confidence.
“The way I am, they’re so patient with me. I feel like I will learn more here than anywhere else because they take their time with you, they’re not too busy, it’s like one-on-one with you. But if I go somewhere else everybody’s just too busy.”
Treats baked by trainees at Sunflower Bakery
Trainee Verred Joharie, 21, has a mild form of Asperger’s Syndrome, a disorder on the autistic spectrum. People with the disorder often have difficulty interacting with other people and adapting to new environments.
But Joharie says her training at Sunflower has taught her to be more self-assured.
“At the beginning I was unsure. I was confused, I was anxious. Now, since they’ve helped me, it’s like I can open my eyes to the world and see what I want to do, how the world works, including working environments. I want to put myself out there, but I know it’s going to take a little bit more time for me.”
Into the workforce
Joharie was one of five students to graduate from Sunflower’s training program this past September - the first group to complete the program since it began.
Sunflower Bakery's desserts are boxed and ready to be delivered.
The aspiring young baker did so well that Sunflower hired her - for pay - right after she completed her internship at a local caterer.
The other graduates also have promising futures in the baking industry.
Milner says the training program has been life changing for many of her students.
“When we started Sunflower bakery, we knew we wanted to try to give people opportunities," she says. "We had no idea how phenomenal the impact would be on trainees. And we’ve had people who’ve turned their lives around.”
Milner says she hopes to be able to expand her bakery from the industrial setting where it’s currently located and add another site, with a full storefront and café, where trainees can further develop their culinary skills. | <urn:uuid:24eecfb0-84b8-4b8d-8043-df66a8ab63f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voanews.com/content/cooking-up-a-sweet-future-134240013/163292.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972277 | 1,004 | 2.0625 | 2 |
The Origins of Intel's New Transistor, and Its Future
A Q&A with Chenming Hu, coinventor of both the FinFET and its likely competitor
Photo: Peg Skorpinski
9 May 2011—Last Wednesday, Intel announced a big change to the electronic switches at the heart of its CPUs. Going forward, the firm will be using three-dimensional transistors to take the place of long-used planar devices.
The new transistors—dubbed "tri-gates"—are a variation on the FinFET, a transistor design that substitutes the flat channel through which electrons flow with a 3-D ridge, or fin. Popping the channel out of plane and draping the gate—which switches the transistor on and off—over it will allow Intel to shrink the smallest features in its transistors from 32 nanometers to 22 nm while cutting power consumption in half. This feat would be impossible to do with the transistor design the company had been using.
How did this 3-D design win its way into production? We asked the coinventor of the FinFET, IEEE Fellow Chenming Hu, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, how the new transistors got their start, why we need them now, and where they will go from here.
IEEE Spectrum: We’ve been shrinking two-dimensional, or planar, transistors just fine for 50 years. Why are we seeing a switch to three-dimensional FinFETs?
Chenming Hu: I’ll distill the problem with planar transistors to a single point. It all stems from the fact that it is very difficult to turn off a transistor when it’s very small. In other words, you can’t stop the current flowing through the transistor when you don’t want the current to flow.
I’ll use an analogy to explain this. There is a garden hose lying on a soggy lawn, and you want to stop the water from flowing into this lawn. If there’s a long hose, you can call your friends to come in and put 10 pairs of hands down, and you can stop the water. Now imagine you shorten the hose so you cannot even put one palm on it to stop it. Now you shorten it even more, so you can only put one finger on it. It’s impossible to stop.
In the past 10 years, people have dealt with this garden hose problem in various ways, and one way has been to sacrifice power. For 250-nm transistors, the power-supply voltage was 2.5 volts; for 180 nm, it was 1.8 V; for 130 nm, it was 1.3 V. The pattern was very regular until 90 nm, but it reached a limit. Instead of 0.9 V, you know what the industry used? 1.2 V. Even at 45 nm, the industry still used 0.9 V instead of 0.45 V.
IEEE Spectrum: So current is leaking even when the transistors are off. To get around that problem, you have to use a higher voltage to make the difference between on and off more obvious?
Chenming Hu: Exactly. What’s the consequence of that? Power is proportional to the square of the voltage. So if you use twice as high a voltage as the historical trend, your cellphone will consume four times the power. The pain is just too big to keep going that way. We thought planar technology would run out of steam sometime after 25 nm, and it did.
IEEE Spectrum: How do FinFETs help fix the leaky garden hose problem?
Chenming Hu: Remember, the hose is on a soggy, soft lawn. So what if instead of pressing your finger on this garden hose, you pinch your fingers on the two sides of the garden hose? That’s the analogy. The weak point, the soggy lawn, is the silicon substrate. So you really have to do something on both sides so you’re pinching against something firm, and that’s what the FinFET is doing. We should pinch the channel [where electrons flow] on two sides and on top. The more pinching sides, the better.
Pinching the hose will allow us to use a much, much shorter hose. That’s extremely important. Making things small is really the key of making the electronics cheaper, faster, and lower power.
IEEE Spectrum: The idea for FinFETs has been around for a while. How did it all get started?
Chenming Hu: DARPA [the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] sent out a request for proposals in 1996 for ideas to develop electronic switches beyond 25 nm. At the time, the industry was using 250-nm transistors, and the general view was that transistors could not be scaled below 100 nm. But my students and I had already been thinking about how to get transistors to scale to 25 nm and beyond.
There was a quick meeting probably lasting only five minutes between myself and two colleagues—Professor Tsu-Jae King Liu and Professor Jeff Bokor. The meeting was short because we already knew what to do.
I was on a flight to a conference in Japan, and I had about 10 hours, so I just wrote down the technical proposal in longhand. I proposed two structures that we’d been thinking about for a while. One was FinFETs, and the other is what we call an ultrathin-body silicon-on-insulator (UTB SOI).
We got the contract in 1997, and that gave us the resources to demonstrate FinFETs experimentally. A young graduate student named Xuejue "Cathy" Huang made the working device, and the team of three professors and 11 students and visiting researchers published it in 1999.
IEEE Spectrum: How did the industry react to the FinFET paper?
Chenming Hu: It was an instant hit. I remember Cathy and I were invited to Intel Santa Clara just a couple of months after the publication, and in that same year, 2000, I was invited to Intel Oregon twice. At the time, people were asking me how long it would take for the idea to get into production. I said about 10 years, so I guess I was off by one.
IEEE Spectrum: Was the attention that you got unusual for a new transistor design?
Chenming Hu: Extremely unusual. We contributed two things: We figured out a way to make the transistor manufacturable, and we showed how this thing could bring us to 25 nm and to 10 nm. We even figured out how to use the FinFET to solve the two top problems plaguing MOSFETs today—random variations of impurity atoms and variations in gate length (roughly the distance from the source to the drain). So we anticipated a lot of emerging problems and showed that FinFETs can solve them. That was really the first time that the industry believed there was life [after 25 nm].
IEEE Spectrum: What have been the challenges in getting FinFETs to market?
Chenming Hu: In production, there are two areas: One is getting the manufacturing variation controlled well. When you add a fin, then you have to make sure the fin’s height and width are uniform. Probably a bigger limitation is the interaction between the transistor and the circuit design. Intel has the benefit of being a vertically integrated company where the designers and technologists work under the same roof.
IEEE Spectrum: What about the other design you proposed to DARPA, the UTB SOI? How does that design work, and how has it been progressing?
Chenming Hu: SOI has a layer of insulator with a thin layer of silicon on top. Instead of a thick regular round hose, UTB is like a thin, flat hose—one of those compact garden hoses that’s easy to roll because it’s almost like tape. You can pinch with one finger from the top, because the hose is very thin, so you don’t have to push down much.
IBM has been making SOI processors for years, and even today it uses about 40-nm-thick silicon. To get to 20-nm transistor size, you have to use very thin, say, 5-nm silicon. When we proposed this, nobody in the world could provide SOI substrates with such thin and uniform silicon film. Five nanometers is very thin; it’s only about 15 silicon atoms or so in thickness. But the amazing thing is, two years ago, an SOI substrate company called Soitec announced that they can make such a thin film, and they have given samples to many companies, including IBM.
IEEE Spectrum: FinFET transistors are the first to market, but could UTB SOI transistors ultimately win out?
Chenming Hu: Starting in 2002, both FinFET and UTB SOI were listed in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). That’s an industry consensus of what’s needed to keep the industry going. They are the only two that are listed as the likely successors of the planar MOSFET.
I think there’s room for both, at least in the short term. UTBs need less manufacturing and design development work than FinFETs, because UTBs rely on something that the semiconductor manufacturers do not have to make. But the UTB wafers cost extra money—several hundred dollars more—so it’s going to add to the cost. There may be savings in device fabrication cost, which is difficult to estimate.
I think some companies, clearly Intel and some larger companies, will go with FinFETs, and some smaller companies will go with UTBs. Once both are in production, then people will be able to compare the benefits side by side very easily—the economics as well as the performance.
IEEE Spectrum: Does one offer a clear advantage over the other?
Chenming Hu: Staying with the hose analogy, when you have a big thick hose, you can carry more current, so it’s good for high speed. So that’s why I think the large companies that can make the investment in FinFETs will probably do it, because FinFETs are versatile. For the companies that need to have a quick way to get beyond 22 nm, I think UTB is a viable technology, especially for those companies that already have experience with the SOI. The shortcoming, of course, is the flat hose—with such thin silicon, less current goes through, which translates to lower speed.
IEEE Spectrum: Some industry leaders have been quoted as saying FinFETs won’t be as good for low-power applications as UTBs.
Chenming Hu: I think FinFETs are good for low power as well, but it does take more investment to bring them to production. I think a healthy competition will ensue. The fact is, the two technologies could coexist for a while, which is a good thing for the industry and certainly a very good thing for consumers. | <urn:uuid:335c8ceb-c907-428b-b8c4-da22363d77a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/design/the-origins-of-intels-new-transistor-and-its-future/1 | 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 | 0.958447 | 2,361 | 2.640625 | 3 |
After weeks of immersion in the story of Joseph and his brothers, we arrive at the penultimate portion in this cycle. We have followed Joseph's rising fortune as his father's favorite, and his descent after being thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers. Rescued, he is elevated to a position of trust by Potiphar, only to be cast down into prison when he refuses the advances of his employer's wife. He ascends again when Pharoah summons him to interpret the ruler's troubling dreams.
Joseph rises to become the second most powerful leader in Egypt. When his brothers come to Egypt in search of food, he is moved by their pleas, but demands they return with Benjamin, Jacob and Rachel's only other son. When Joseph meets Benjamin, he's overcome with emotion, rushing out of the court to compose himself.
In Vayigash, Joseph's tears flow publicly, as he reveals himself to his brothers, and subsequently when he welcomes his father to Egypt. The first word of this portion, Vayigash, "he approached," is the portion's name but also offers insight into how the narrative fits into our ancestral story. We are coming to the end of Genesis, and those who composed the Torah now invite us to consider a more nuanced portrait of our ancestors.
In spite of the powerful events we've read about, from Adam and Eve, to the unfolding of our ancestors' family stories, we rarely glimpse the emotions of the players. The text does not explore or even mention Adam and Eve's grief and horror at their son's fratricide. What were the experiences of Noah and his family as they witnessed the drowning of all other humans on earth?
The rabbis created a rich midrashic tradition of conjecture about Abraham's thoughts as he banished his son Ishmael, and they write with deep insight about what might have been in Abraham's mind and heart as he lifted the knife above Isaac's body. When Sarah dies, Abraham cries; when Jacob meets Rachel, he cries. Yet these exceptions prove the rule: Students of Torah do not often witness the emotions of the ancestors.
Vayigash is the Torah's invitation into their hearts. The portion begins with Judah's approach to Joseph. Judah had urged his brothers to sell Joseph to the passing caravan, and was later exposed by his daughter-in-law, Tamar, as one who considered himself above contemporary law and custom. Judah is a man who has begun to take responsibility for his decisions. As he pleads for Joseph's mercy, Judah's transformation moves Joseph to tears. Instead of removing himself from the court, Joseph asks his courtiers to leave so that he can be alone with his 11 brothers.
In a scene unparalleled in literature, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers: "Come, draw near to me! ... I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold to Egypt ... don't be troubled ... for it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you." Joseph's tears mingle with the tears of his brothers.
Joseph approaches his brothers and discloses his identity to them with compassion and forgiveness. He reveals himself as a man who knows that God is his partner. He opens his heart to his brothers, showing that reaching beyond one's own pain can bring healing to even the most wounded soul.
As we approach the conclusion of this powerful narrative, we also approach the conclusion of the secular year. May we, too, open our hearts to both God and to those who have, perhaps, hurt or disappointed us. Then we, like Joseph and his brothers, will find a way to speak and weep together.
Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, Ph.D., serves as rabbi for the East District of the Union for Reform Judaism. Email her at: slelwell.@urj.org . | <urn:uuid:7bb71e03-d51c-4bc5-98ce-953897bcdc8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishexponent.com/print/7044 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98551 | 783 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Increasingly, online and offline businesses must have a website. It’s a simple fact of life in today’s world. People look to the web before the check any other places for information and services. Your site should be the hub of your entire marketing plan and for the best results, you need to have the site updated frequently. Studies show the best results are when a site has an article or blog post about 2-3 times per week. Now, you don’t have to start with that, but that is generally the goal.
The nature of many independent business owners and freelancers is that they can do it themselves. This makes sense as they are starting their own business. This “do it yourself” nature is a huge strength. They get things done and power through things that stop many others.
Greatest Strength becomes a weakness
As with most things in life, when we rely on a strength too much, we can get trapped into not doing the best thing. This is what I find most concerning about this group of entrepreneurs when they try to build their own website, figure out SEO, and “doing” social media (whatever that means). Here’s the deal, they go buy some books, maybe some software, and “Google it” and sometimes get good at building their site and understanding SEO, Social Media, and build a following.
These are great learning activities and there is a fantastic sense of accomplishment in being in charge of your own site/social media campaigns. There are even studies that show that learning these skills (any new to you skills in fact) can help reduce the like hood of getting the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease.
However, do these this newfound skills help them grow their business?
Not very often. Sure, there are the cases that someone does launch a site and hit the mother lode. Or, she takes the skills that she learned from building her social media following and builds a booming business from what she has learned. But those are the exceptions.
Many equate being busy learning new skills with building their business. And this can be true. It all depends on what you are learning and how that helps your business. What is the single most important thing you can do in your business? Make a sale. That’s it.
Everything else you do supports (or detracts from) your business’ single most important function. If coaching people is what you do, then you make money when you are paid by the client. You are paid by the client when you are with them “coaching.” If you are an insurance agent you are paid when the policy is sold (or renews) and a real estate agent is paid when the property sale closes escrow.
When you are building your website is this investment the highest and best use of your talents with respect to growing your business? Are these skills part of your core business model? If not I would caution you to not get so sidetracked in being “busy” with your site that you forget to make the sales that you need to stay in business.
Social media may be a bit different in that by its nature intimate and personal and you are the best person to interact with your followers. Just be sure to tailor your social media campaigns to match your ideal client’s usage patterns.
Making money is not everything there is to being in business. An unhealthy focus on anything in business or otherwise is not a good thing. However, being in business does mean generating revenue. Maybe another way to look at it is to ask, if your business does not generate revenue are you really in business?
Who created your business website? Who is planning your Social Media campaigns (are your you just “doing Social Media” without a plan)? Share your thoughts below. | <urn:uuid:73ea3d0a-7ebb-446b-9f0a-d0ca76984f9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kickituniversity.com/why-do-i-need-that-a-website/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971332 | 795 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines--Nearing the end of the first month of the new year, are
you still putting off that rigorous exercise regimen you resolved to embrace
as part of your resolution to finally shape up?
A 'Balik Scientist'
of the Department of Science and Technology is offering a lineup of
affordable 'street food' that will not only help people
lose weight but also make them healthier--and help rewire their brains
for compassion and empathy.
Replacing his lab gown with an apron in
November 2010, Filipino molecular biologist Custer Deocaris, who specialized
in neuroscience, sports science and antiaging at Tsukuba University and
Tokyo University in Japan for five years, is taking his culinary creations
straight to the mainstream.
He has set up his own food cart business
right where the masses converge--at a public market, a church, the Quezon
Memorial Circle and the Centris Sunday Market on Edsa.
foods--all without meat--include a
fat-burning siomai that not only decreases one's craving for food but
also enhances the body's metabolic pathways; coco-sap gulaman that
counteracts diabetes; 'hamburger' that actually prevents
heart attacks; puto bumbong that helps lower blood pressure and
cholesterol, improve brain functions and delay the onset of Alzheimer's
disease; and rice porridge (lugaw) that also lowers blood pressure and
reduces the risk of heart disease.
Among the ingredients he uses are
carageenin, a seaweed known for its anticancer properties; okara, a highly
nutritious byproduct of soy (taho); and rice bran, a
Deocaris is also concocting healthy
Filipino desserts that are nutrient-rich and done vegan style. These include
biko and puto made with memory-boosting Gaba brown rice, karioka, yakon
low-calorie ube halaya.
Training the brain
While serving samples of his veggie burger, Deocaris disclosed another
side effect of partaking of his meatless fare.
Citing a May 2010
neuroscience article in PlosOne (a peer-reviewed journal) describing the
tangible differences between the brains of vegans and omnivores, he said the
brain would tend to rewire itself for compassion or empathy to fellow beings
when subjected to a vegetarian diet.
In other words, repeated
decisions not to eat meat 'trains' the brain to be more compassionate, he
Whether a vegetarian diet will actually rewire the brains of
meat-loving Filipinos remains to be seen. What is immediately evident is
that most first-time customers at Deocaris' stalls like what they see, smell
Deocaris launched his first food cart at the Mu'oz market
in November 2010; he launched another at the ritzy Banchetto weekend night
bazaar on Emerald Street in Ortigas Center (which ended on Jan. 21).
He maintains a stall (open daily) at St. Joseph's Church on Aurora Boulevard
in Quezon City and another at the Quezon City Memorial Circle (open every
Saturday and Sunday).
He opens yet another at the Centris Sunday
market (6 a.m. to 2 p.m.) on January 30.
Made entirely of vegetables, soy bean, wheat and selected spices,
Deocaris' dishes never fail to surprise first-time customers.
Banchetto food cart, gym buff Ryan Velasco, 23, ordered Deocaris' malunggay-basil
After the first bite, Velasco remarked: 'This tastes
like real burger, and the pesto sauce makes it better. There's less salt, so
The malunggay-basil pesto burger--with 300 milligrams of
fat-burning L-carnitine, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, grilled onion, mustard
and eggless mayonnaise--is recommended for weight-watchers.
fat-burning siomai, which also has yakon and L-carnitine, costs from P25 to
P28, and is the personal choice of medical student Chiqui Biglaen.
siomai 'melts in your mouth,' said Biglaen, 21.
siomai connoisseur Rona Arches, 19: 'This tastes like the real thing!'
Low veggie consumption
According to Deocaris,
who prepares the food and serves customers himself, the Philippines is
blessed with abundant natural foods that promote wellness.
especially children, are weaned from Western-style diets dominated by meats
and processed foods, there will not be so many of our countrymen starving,
undernourished, obese or beset by debilitating 'lifestyle diseases' such as
hypertension, he said.
Deocaris said that each Filipino needed to
consume 69 kilos of vegetables per year to stay healthy but that
'three-fourths of the population' were consuming insufficient amounts of
vegetables and fruits.
'We are the lowest consumers of vegetables in
Asia. In China, an average person eats 250 kg of vegetables per year. An
average Filipino eats only 40. We have to change this meat-first culture,'
Deocaris said Filipinos' low vegetable consumption rate had
been directly linked to obesity, metabolic diseases, cancer and
The seventh national survey of the
Food and Nutrition Research Institute showed that the Philippines had a
double-disease burden: 26 percent of children were malnourished, and 27 in
every 100 adults aged 20 and above were either obese or overweight.
Curbing crime rate
Deocaris also made a case of
eating vegetables as a way to curb criminality and violence.
national crime rate is up by 63 percent according to 2009 statistics. People
are getting more violent. Empathy is at a new low. We don't seem to care
about other Filipinos anymore. But if you get into the habit of eating more
fruits and vegetables, your brain will rewire itself toward compassion,
which, I think, will make us more Christian,' he said.
together with breast-feeding advocate Nona Andaya Castillo of the
nongovernment organization Nurturers of the Earth, is planning a project
with the Department of Education--a nationwide campaign to boost the
consumption of vegetables and brown rice in schools nationwide.
we all eat brown rice, the country will no longer have a rice shortage. Even
half a cup of brown rice will make you full,' Deocaris said.
eating two or more servings of brown rice per week would lower the risk for
type 2 diabetes by as much as 16 percent.
'Hopefully, we can convince
the next generation to be healthier, more active and less prone to
obesity/overweight and cardiovascular diseases,' he said. | <urn:uuid:ff22582e-03d1-4a22-8ea4-69bd3fa5e8b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/Actions-Philippines/PhilippineVeggieChef.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90799 | 1,478 | 1.984375 | 2 |
The Gates Foundation has long been in an aggressive effort to vaccinate the world and often targets poor Africans. The Gates’ web site showcases Melinda Gates applauding Malawi for enforcing vaccine programs with its helpful “health surveillance assistants.” She calls Malawi one of the few countries “on track to reach the UN Millennium Development Goal.” And who are those assistants meeting the goal? Hyper-vigilant medics with help from police.
Bill Gates calls the vaccine-autism link “an absolute lie” and in a February CNN interview said, “the people who go and engage in those anti-vaccine efforts – you know, they, they kill children.” But as we can see from the recent actions from governments who partner with his foundation to forcefully implement vaccine programs, it could very well be the other way around.
Malawi Voice recently reported that about 131 children from Nsanje were vaccinated with anti-measles at gunpoint last week. They had fled from previous vaccine mandates into nearby towns, but after officials learned they had returned, medics along with police escorts tracked the children and forced them to vaccinate.
The children belonged to Zion and Atumwi Churches and parents took them into Mozambique to hide from officials with vaccines. It is unclear if those churches prohibit the use of vaccines, but a Malawi man with a Seventh Day Apostolic faith found himself sentenced to two year’s imprisonment for refusing to let his three children receive the measles vaccine. He did not believe in going to doctors or receiving vaccinations. Police said that they believed one of his children died from measles and he was charged for “endangering life by failing to supply necessities of life to a person under one’s care without lawful excuse.” According to a penal code. He pleaded for a light sentence because he cares for orphans, but the charges stand.
Source and full article: Activist Post, 20 July 2011 | <urn:uuid:c89d47c6-c756-4b3b-ba29-ee8828a009e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wakeupfromyourslumber.com/news/gates-foundation-partner-malawi-vaccinates-131-children-gunpoint | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97753 | 406 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Little Art Adventures is a 30-minute program designed for children ages 3 to 5 years old and their adult companions. The experience includes a storybook circle; creative shape and color play; the creation of a simple art project; and an "In Search of ..." activity sheet that families can use in the galleries together. This program is held on the last Friday of selected months throughout the year. To maintain a quality experience, the museum limits the number of participants and requires preregistration.
At the October program, inspiration comes from a French family portrait. Guests listen to storybooks, including Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman, and use interactive, hands-on circle activities to discover how artists tell stories about people in portraits. For the art project, families create their own life-size portraits, and visitors can also explore art in the museum with an "In Search of ..." activity.
Program is free with admission. Please remember to confirm your registration in the Beck Building lobby before heading to the Museum Visitors Center for the program. | <urn:uuid:7fa1d4cd-db46-4099-9809-da81bdd25602> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mfah.org/calendar/little-art-adventures/6500/ | 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 | 0.93725 | 212 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Discrimination warning over airport body scanners
Equality watchdog growls at profiling plan
The equality watchdog has called on the government to explain its plans for the use of body scanners at airports, citing concerns about racial profiling and privacy.
This weekend the Equality and Human Rights Commission said it had written to the Home Secretary Alan Johnson to urge the "utmost caution" over such technology.
Backscatter X-ray body scanners, which produce a ghostly naked image of their subjects, are currently in trials at Manchester Airport. The UK's largest airport operator, BAA, has said it will install machines "as soon as is practical" at Heathrow.
"The Commission is concerned that that the proposals to introduce body scanners are likely to have a negative impact on individuals' rights to privacy, especially members of particular groups including disabled people, older people, children, transgendered people, women and religious groups," it said.
"Under the Human Rights Act, any infringement of the right to privacy must be justified, necessary and proportionate."
The Commission was set up to independently monitor Human Rights Act compliance.
In the wake of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed Christmas Day bombing of a transatlantic airliner above Detroit, Gordon Brown said the government would "examine a range of new techniques to enhance airport security systems... these could include advancing our use of explosive trace technology, full body scanners and advanced x-ray technology."
Johnson has also suggested that air travellers could be selected for scanning by "additional targeted passenger profiling".
"We will be considering all the issues involved, mindful of civil liberties concerns, aware that identity based profiling has its limitations, but conscious of our overriding obligations to protect peoples' life and liberty," he told the Commons earlier this month.
The Commission yesterday warned Johnson that discrimination on racial or religious grounds is illegal.
"In the absence of any evidence provided by the government, the Commission remains to be convinced that the proposals on profiling set out by the Home Secretary are an effective response to the current threat, and are therefore justifiable," it said.
"The Commission is therefore not convinced that the proposals amount to a lawful, or proportionate response to the current threat."
Body scanners have also drawn fire from child protection groups. The Manchester trial also had to be revised last year after suggestions that scanning children could violate child pornography laws. ®
"... our overriding obligations to protect peoples' life and *liberty*,"
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
The only thing I need protection from is Government profiling and intrusion into my personal life. That's none of your business.
I'm thinking of patenting clothing where the letters hide messages only backscatter X-Ray machines can pick up: "Pervert" being one of my favourite messages so far, with a sub-millimetre weave mesh in the front of underwear.
A bloody good start would to not be overestimating the risk by several orders of magnitude, don't you think?
I recommend you personally should be cavity-searched every time you get in your car because people have more chance of being killed by you driving it than being blown up by some vague and shadowy nutter.
How can you cite discrimination and then leave out a HUGE demographic because they don't fit a 'preferred' group? Surely this in itself is discriminitive.
Personally I'd like to exercise my right to fly and NOT be photographed naked against my will, along with the earlier-referred individuals. | <urn:uuid:347f137c-0cf5-43dd-a574-96d70b801df8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/18/ehrc_body_scanners/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959374 | 723 | 1.679688 | 2 |
It’s All About Kids Sparks Enthusiasm for Learning with Technology
The ActivExpression, a remote that is used with the
Consider the wildfire-like spread of tablet technology and it’s no surprise that teachers, students and parents are excited about the latest educational tools and software. One of the most popular is the Promethean ActivBoard, an interactive whiteboard.
“Imagine an 87-inch iPad,” says Brett Seitman, CEO of It’s All About Kids, a technology-in-education company that is Promethean’s sole business partner in Hawaii.
Independent researchers have found the addition of interactive systems like Promethean yield an average improvement in student achievement of greater than 20 percent, Seitman says.
It’s All About Kids was founded in 2003 to provide after-school tutoring using education technology. Demand was so high that in IAAK’s first year, the company went from being “new kid on the block to serving 80 to 90 schools across the state,” explains Seitman.
Today, IAAK provides sales, installation, training, support and repairs for the Promethean and more than a dozen other classroom technology products.
Ann Tanaka, an advanced-placement English literature teacher at Campbell High School, uses a mobile Promethean board and the complementary learner-response system called ActivExpression, which she says resembles a mini-remote-control device.
“It’s a way for me to interact with every student and have a record of what we talk about,” Tanaka says. “Students can interact with the board using a special pen to carry out specific actions like dragging new vocabulary words to the definition and, if correct, the pair sticks and makes a noise.”
Craig Crisler, a representative from It’s All About Kids,
demonstrateshow to use the Promethean ActivBoard.
Tanaka says her studentslove the board because it’s
interesting and, she adds, it encourages participation
by students who might otherwise stay silent.
Photo: Courtesy Hawaii Catholic Schools
Speaking after a recent IAAK training session at Moanalua High School, where she teaches Japanese, Cindy Wong says she uses her board to tie images, audio and video together in language lessons in a way her students find engaging. The board allows Wong to collaborate with teachers from other schools, exchanging ideas and sharing presentations that best suit their own classrooms and students.
“I use the board to go over homework and have immediate feedback on whether or not the kids get it. If they don’t, I can reteach it right then. I don’t have to do a quiz and wait to correct it,” Wong says.
One student who uses a Promethean board, Blake, an 11-year-old at Variety School of Hawaii in Kahala, says he likes it because it’s fun and “a good way for kids to learn by themselves and help their classmates.” Beyond that, Blake says, lesson time goes by quickly and, before he knows it, he can go to recess.
Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Hawaii Business Magazine » | <urn:uuid:ec7c3aca-a14c-4ede-aa15-1192841801ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/Hawaii-Business/May-2012/its-all-about-kids-sparks-enthusiasm-for-leaning-with-promethean-activboard/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930246 | 679 | 2.265625 | 2 |
[Lvlug] Waysmall Linux computer
mstanley at technologist.com
Thu Apr 29 00:25:29 EDT 2004
On Wednesday 28 April 2004 23:49, Faber Fedor wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 28, 2004 at 10:50:16PM -0400, Mark wrote:
> > At first I wasn't going to say anything about this mini Linux computer
> > but then I decided it was just way too cool. I just received one today
> Does it come with a built-in web server? If so, which one? I want to
> see XML-RPC work with it.
I think it will work with it. I don't have the compact flash for it yet so it
is currently using about 4 meg of the system ram (64 meg total) for ramdisks.
It has an httpd installed already and I ran it from the ttyS0 but haven't got
usbnet to work on my laptop yet. Once I do I will find out just what it can
do as a web server. You want to see the httpd.conf file? Doing command line
stuff through a 115200 com port seems fairly snappy but I want to try the
usbnet to see if it is faster. I know you may be thinking this unit is for
our current project but I'm looking into using another controller for AB. It
will be faster and has two 10/100 ethernet connections.
More information about the Lvlug | <urn:uuid:52edb0c6-bceb-4f3c-8aaf-d80986ff6cfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelinuxlink.net/pipermail/lvlug/2004-April/010372.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946781 | 320 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Burroway introduces her edited transcripts of Butler's thought-provoking lectures to tell writers how to achieve the dream space necessary for composing honest, inspired fiction.
Robert Olen Butler
, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, has been praised as“the best living American writer” ("Fort Worth Morning Star-Telegram). During his prestigious career, he has taught graduate fiction at Florida State University— his version of literary boot camp. Now janet Burroway, author of the classic text on creative writingWriting Fiction,“the best such book on the market” according to James L. Marra of Temple University, introduces her edited transcripts of Butler's though-provoking lectures.“From Where You Dream reimageines the process of writing as emotional rather than intellectual, and tells writers how to achieve the dreamspace necessary for composing honest, inspired fiction. Proposing fiction as the exploration of the human condition with yearning as its compass. Butler reinterprets the traditional tools of the craft using the dynamics of desire. He offers invaluable insights into the nature of voice and shows how to experience fiction as a sensual, cinematic series of takes and scenes. Offering a direct view into the mind and craft of aliterary maste, ”From Where You Dream is an invaluable tool for the novice and experienced writer alike.
Robert Olen Butler
is the author of eleven novels, five story collections, and a book on the creative process, From Where You Dream. In addition to a Pulitzer Prize in 1993 and National Magazine Awards in 2001 and 2005, he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction and an NEA grant, as well as the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He teaches creative writing at Florida State University. | <urn:uuid:b6ef22ae-b0fb-47a1-8cf9-559123dc2252> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenile.com.au/books/Robert-Olen-Butler/From-Where-You-Dream-The-Process-of-Writing-Fiction/9780802142573/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932134 | 368 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Posted by Marjorie Ainsborough Decker text© 2011 on Mar 10th, 2012
Greetings on this beautiful Spring Day,
Do you know what a farthing is? It’s a fourth of a penny. Yet this humble little coin had purchasing power in its own time. With a farthing, I could buy two choice sweets from old Mr. Wolstenholm’s small sweet shop at the top of the “Nineteen Steps.” Climbing those steep steps was like climbing into a Charles Dickens‘ novel.
A farthing, when Jesus grew up in Nazareth, could buy two sparrows. Later, in Matthew 10:29, The Lord chose to use the farthing sparrow as a picture of God’s tender care and value of even the smallest of His creatures.
Looking at my own keepsake farthing reminded me of a story, now tucked away with other stories in my Christian Mother Goose Story Chest. I thought it would fit nicely with today’s blog theme for both the young and the young at heart.
So, dressed up in storybook form for you, from my feathered pen, is a Christian Mother Goose parable for the families of our BlogNog friends.
FARTHING SPARROW’S DISCOVERY
One fine morning, Humpty Dumpty was on his way to see the Peacock Parade at Turton Towers. What a wonderful sight it was to see the Peacock family in their finest feathers; glistening with all the colors of the rainbow. They lived in a handsome Summer house in the gardens of Turton Towers.
“Not any cozier than my own little house by the wall, though,” thought Humpty, as he strolled along, thinking of the Peacock’s lovely Summer house.
Right in the middle of his thoughts, he met Farthing Sparrow coming down the pathway.
“You’re going the wrong way, Farthing Sparrow,” he said. “This is the day of the Peacock Parade, and it’s a parade well worth your time in their beautiful gardens.”
“I’m sure it is, Humpty,” replied Farthing Sparrow. “But I have always felt out of place in such fine-feathered company. After all, a little brown sparrow is not to be compared with the beautiful, stately, rich and confident peacock. Going there would only serve to make me more sorry about the Sparrow family tree.”
“Come, come now; you are beautiful in your own way, Farthing Sparrow,” said Humpty in a gentle voice. “It is written that God has made everything beautiful in its time.”
“But look at my name – Farthing Sparrow! That means only half of a half of a penny! Sometimes I wonder if that is all I’m really worth – half of a half of a penny. It’s enough to make a sparrow feel quite undone…falling apart…and thoroughly discouraged – if I think about it too long.”
“Undone! Falling apart! Discouraged! Farthing Sparrow, don’t even say those words! Let’s sit on this rock while I remind you of some very special things today.” Humpty’s voice was very kind as he spoke to his little friend. Then, with his head hung down, the little brown sparrow hopped upon Humpty’s soft knee to listen.
“Farthing Sparrow, you have wings! You can fly – fly through the air; over the rooftops; watch the children play from the best seat in the heavens. How much is that worth? And what’s more, you are a homebuilder. You plan, build and finish the job in time for your family. How much is that worth? You can sing! And you’ve never charged anyone to listen. I’ve even heard you say that you can afford to give away your songs. So, in a way, that makes you a small phil-an-throp-ist.” (That was such a long word, Humpty had to say it in little pieces…) “And to be a phil-an-throp-ist, you have to be worth quite a lot!”
“You have personally carried thousands of seeds to fields that once were empty. Look at them now…rich in clover and heather! That makes you…pardon me, Farthing Sparrow, while I put this other long word together…that makes you an agri-cul-tur-ist of the finest degree; important and highly valued.”
“Furthermore (and I say this with great respect), it is actually written in God’s great Book that the Sparrow family lived in the courts of the House of The Lord! Even the Peacock family marvels at this blessing. And on top of all this, The Lord has also said He watches over you and cares for you. That is worth more than all the world.”
“Half of a half of a penny? That is all you are worth? Never! Farthing Sparrow, you are a bird with rich abilities and blessings from the Heavenly Father – worth more than we can count!”
By now, Farthing Sparrow’s chin was up, and his head was beginning to nod in agreement as Humpty Dumpty went on: “Behold! A gentleman Sparrow… self-employed… home-owner… flight expert… philanthropist… agriculturist… and above all – with a written guarantee that he is blessed by The Lord!”
“Ah, it is my great pleasure to accompany you today to the Peacock Parade. Will you kindly lead the way, Farthing Sparrow Esquire.” Humpty saluted in grand style as the tiny sparrow hopped off his knee.
With his little head held high, and a big smile on his face, Farthing Sparrow led his own parade. He felt perfectly altogether, and blessed as a sparrow of great worth. And what’s more…his little brown sparrow heart was warm and happy – which was exactly as it should be.
Take heart, dear Blog-Nogs, “…it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit….” (I Corinthians 2: 9-10)
The Bible is God’s Book of Discovery, written by The Holy Spirit; ever revealing so great a salvation in The Lord Jesus Christ and the unfolding marvel of God’s mercy and love to us all.
Let not your heart be troubled…the sparrows still sing!
Cheerio for now ~~~
Christian Mother Goose®
For Christian Mother Goose® products and Gift Sets, please visit this link: | <urn:uuid:1c8e97c7-11a9-4ff5-a112-e8bfe086114c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marjorieainsboroughdecker.com/?p=4181 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956043 | 1,485 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Photo: Emma O'Brien
When the financial crisis first struck in 2007, a number of commentators pointed out that it would take its toll not only on employment and pensions, but would also increase health-care costs, in particular by increasing the incidence of mental illness ( 1, 2). It was reasoned that the crisis would create a more stressful environment and this would have an impact on the mental health of workers. At the same time, any cuts in social security benefit provision would exacerbate the problem. Current evidence presented in this feature seems to confirm this prediction.
What can we learn from previous crises?
Evidence from previous financial and economic shocks illustrates the adverse impact crises can have on the mental health of workers and the newly-unemployed. A recent “study of studies” concludes that economic recessions and crises have a negative impact on mental health ( 3).
Past evidence also serves to justify the current concern that social security managers ought to have regarding the mental health fallout from the recent financial crisis that has resulted in a protracted economic recession compounded by a debt crisis in many countries. This concern should also be heightened by the fact that according to analysis carried out by the International Labour Office (ILO) ( 4) (covering the period 1990-2003) there has been an increase in the frequency and severity of systemic shocks (i.e. financial and economic crises) which it suggests is connected with greater economic liberalisation.
The ILO report also argues that the rise in systemic shocks implies a systemic insecurity of a type that is hard to cover through standard forms of social insurance. Greater economic insecurity is likely to produce more mental illness and thus more need for related benefit payments. These benefits will have to be paid by social security administrations. In short, the increasing proliferation of crises will add to the burden of social security.
Recession and mental health
The analysis of crises shows that increased unemployment invariably results in adverse impacts on mental health. It is widely accepted that unemployed people are more often in psychological distress than employed people, thus one can reason that crises serve to exacerbate the level and extent of mental distress. For example, according to a long-term study by Paul and Moser ( 5), the average number of persons with psychological problems among the unemployed was found to be 34 per cent compared with 16 per cent among employed individuals. Thus the unemployment generated by crises significantly increases the incidence of mental health difficulties. In addition, the longer the duration of unemployment, the more serious are its consequences on mental health. Moreover, the deterioration in the mental health of one family member (especially if an income-earner) can have negative knock-on effects, such as increased intra-familial stress and a potentially onerous care burden.According to other studies, the negative effect of unemployment on mental health was also stronger in countries with a weak level of economic development, unequal income distributions, or weak unemployment protection systems when compared with other countries with more robust systems.
The increased incidence of mental health difficulties, unsurprisingly, accounts for increased levels of suicide. While the motivations for suicide are very personal, crises nevertheless seem to escalate the incidence of suicide. This should come as no great revelation given the highly permeable relationship between deteriorating social conditions and inner well-being. For example, a study of 26 European countries between 1970 and 2007 found that for every 1 per cent increase in unemployment, there was a 0.79 per cent rise in suicides at ages younger than 65 years.
It may be assumed that shocks which induce increased unemployment and the associated mental health effects will induce increased suicide. This assumption is borne out by evidence from the Asian economic crisis which had a significant impact on the incidence of suicide in this region ( 6). Compared with 1997, male suicide rates in 1998 rose by 39 per cent in Japan, 44 per cent in Hong Kong and 45 per cent in the Republic of Korea, although the rise in female suicide rates was less marked. In these countries, the Asian economic crisis is associated with 10,400 more suicides in 1998 than 1997 ( 7).
With regard to other health impacts and mortality in general, crises can have extremely marked impacts. Eleven studies focusing on data from the Russian Federation, the Republic of Korea, as well as South and Central American, African and European countries found that economic crises were associated with an increase in all-cause mortality (i.e. cardio-vascular illness, respiratory infections, chronic liver disease, suicides, homicides and mortality in infants) ( 3). By way of another striking example, Stuckler et al in another study point out that with the collapse of the Soviet system in 1991 and the associated economic decline, there was a rapid increase in death rates, by up to 20 per cent. This equated to approximately three million excess deaths, which is a devastating figure in a peacetime era ( 8). The economic decline and the dismantling of state social protection that ensued in the countries of the former Soviet Union contributed to the dropping of male life expectancy in Russia from sixty-four to fifty-eight ( 9), and one can reasonably assume a significant impact on mental health. The crisis underlines how profound the implications of economic adversity are on mental health.
The impact of the recent financial and economic crisis
While there is always a certain level of mental illness in every society, with an estimated 8-26 per cent of the population in industrialized countries (Italy assessed as having the lowest rate and USA the highest) suffering some kind of mental health difficulties at any one time ( 10, 11), it seems that the recent crisis has accentuated the extent of this situation.
According to a 2010 survey conducted in the United Kingdom by the mental health charity MIND, the crisis worsened the mental well-being of workers ( 12). MIND’s Populus poll of 2050 workers found that as a direct result of the crisis 10 per cent of workers had sought support from their doctors, 7 per cent started taking a course of medical treatment for depression, and 5 per cent reported that they had to see a counsellor for stress and mental health problems directly caused by the pressures of the recession in their workplace. The survey also revealed a significant increase in “presenteeism”, whereby workers felt compelled to put in additional hours in order to deal with extra workloads and keep their jobs. Thus, 28 per cent said they worked longer hours. A third of workers also reported that the working environment had become more competitive and that workplace morale had dipped significantly.
MIND suggests that the results of its survey also correspond to UK government statistics showing an unprecedented rise in the use of antidepressants, with a record 39.1 million issued in 2009, up from 35.9 million in 2008 ( 12). MIND’s survey displays evidence of the relationship between the crisis, medical problems and disabilities, and suggests a potential cost for the health-care system.
A survey documented in the 2010 World of Work Report published by the International Institute for Labour Studies suggests that the crisis has induced an unprecedented global decline in life satisfaction ( 13). In concrete terms this has translated into greater pessimism about the quality of life, diminished confidence in the ability of governments to shape brighter and fairer futures, and greater social unrest among other things.
According to the report, the worsening social climate is explained by higher unemployment and income inequalities brought about by the crisis. The report made a clear link between the crisis, labour market conditions and mental health, arguing that the longer the labour market recession, the greater the difficulties for jobseekers to obtain new employment. In the 35 countries for which data exist, nearly 40 per cent of jobseekers have been without work for more than one year and therefore run significant risks of demoralization, loss of self-esteem and mental health problems ( 13).
Evidence shows that the crisis adversely impacted on mental health. In one study by the Latvian government, suicide levels were shown to have increased by 16 per cent in 2008 compared to 2007. Latvia was hit hard by the crisis and its economy retracted by 19 per cent in 2009, therefore the link with the crisis is obvious ( 14).
Today, the crisis continues to generate adverse mental health impacts in many industrialised countries (see box 1). These countries remain hindered by anaemic growth and troublesstemming from the need tocut national debt and deficits.
Greece has been the country most acutely affected by the fallout from the financial crisis. It has suffered substantial political and social instability as a result. Its rampant debt problems have left it teetering on the verge of defaulting. Its debt grew between 2007 and 2010 from 105•4 per cent to 142•8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP; €239•4 billion to €328•6 billion), significantly more than any other EU country ( 15). In order to curb and reduce its growing debt, it has embarked on substantial fiscal tightening that has involved deep cuts in social spending (e.g. through a reduction in allowances and wages for public servants and pensions). In 2009, this fiscal tightening amounted to Eur30 billion (equivalent to 13 per cent of GDP) (13) and the 2012 budget is expected to contain spending cuts and tax increases worth about €6.5bn ( 16). Consequently, Greece has experienced significant negative mental health and social effects:
Further reductions to access and the level of benefits are to be expected once tougher austerity measures take hold. This is likely to add to the difficulties faced by Greeks in maintaining good mental and physical health. The unfolding Greek experience serves to underscore the need of governments to consider very carefully the speed, depth and nature of cuts they may seek to undertake.
Mitigating the mental health effect of systemic shocks through social protection
Studies on the impact of crises clearly show that where social protection is in place, the mental health impact of crises can be diminished considerably ( 4). For example, in a study of EU countries it was found that every US$10 invested per person in active labour market programmes reduced the effect of unemployment on suicides by 0.038 per cent ( 5). Another study of 27 OECD countries from 1980 to 2003 found that social welfare protection can be a pivotal factor in suicide prevention through protecting mental health, especially for countries experiencing a social crisis or significant and often painful transition ( 19). Importantly, the aforementioned macro study of studies makes an important conclusion- active labour market programmes that keep and reintegrate workers in jobs were seen to mitigate some adverse health effects of economic downturns ( 4).
For those low and middle-income countries where social security and health coverage is limited, the World Health Organization has warned that the impact of the crisis could be especially important ( 20). In these countries, social security can play an important preventative social intervention role. According to another WHO source ( 21), currently, nearly 70 per cent of mental health spending goes to institutions. If countries spent more at the primary care level, they would be able to reach more people, and start to address problems early enough to reduce the need for expensive hospital care (see below). This once again underlines the relevance of ISSA’s emphasis on a preventive approach.
All of the above indicates the important role that social security can play as a response mechanism to soften the psychologically damaging impact of economic and financial shocks, once again underlining its invaluable social function. It also shows that pro-active measures taken in anticipation of the adverse effects of crises (including preventive measures) can be very effective.
The significance for social security systems
Given forecasts that labour market problems and high unemployment look set to stay for five years (
13) longer than originally predicted (
22), one can expect anxiety over income and job security to persist. As the evidence above indicates, this most likely means that mental health problems will pose an increasingly serious public health issue for governments and employers.
It is probable that there has been a mental health impact throughout all those countries affected by the crisis. This is a concern, not only from the perspective of diminished human well-being, but also because it will have had an impact on overall economic performance and the functioning of social security. It will mean reduced productivity and for social security it spells some degree of reduced contribution income and more expenditure. For example, the financial costs of mental illness are significant as it contributes to lost productivity as people who are mentally ill are less likely to be employed and to stay employed. Moreover, there are costs for society when it becomes necessary to grant incapacity and unemployment benefits. According to a psychologist from Kings College, London, these costs are estimated to amount to about US$19bn per year or around 1 per cent of the gross national product of the UK ( 23).
Over the last 10 to 15 years mental illness has now come to account for a high number of new cases of disability beneficiaries in many industrialized countries. For example, in Switzerland figures from 2009 show that benefits related to mental illness accounted for 42 per cent of all new disability benefits paid that year ( 24). Moreover, beneficiaries of disability benefits often prove the most difficult to reintegrate back into full employment. In addition to this, it is likely that more sickness benefits (as an initial effect) and medical expenses (drugs and psychiatric treatment) will be incurred. This need for increased resources conflicts with the financing constraints that now confrontmany governments who are facing pressure to prioritise the reduction of theirdeficits and debts. Cutting social expenditure provides an obvious option to achieve this butsuch an approach threatens to undermine commitments to maintaining social well-being. Reducing benefits at the same time as demands for social services increases,risk exacerbating the extent of mental health problems in the population.
The studies and experience presented in this article should give a renewed impetus to social security administrations, employers and other stakeholderson how best to limit the mental health impact of the recent crisis. A holistic approach with all stakeholders is required. For employers, this means better practice in the workplace to protect their staff and to ensure both workers and the company can cope with the crisis, and future crises, in working conditions that are as stable as possible.
There is a growing need to promote preventive approaches in all branches of social security. This involves preventing risks from emerging in the first place and helping individuals and families to make the best possible adjustments when faced with contingencies. Those working in occupational safety and health should also feature preventive measures as a cornerstone of their approach.
Social security can play an important role in diminishing inequality and poverty, providing insurance in times of crisis, and therefore help limit mental illness.
This is an updated version of an article that first appeared in December 2010.
(1) Reuters. 2008. Financial crisis to increase mental health woes - World Health Organization. www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L9419369.htm
(2) Smith. R. 2008. ‘Financial crisis will hit mental health of the nation, warn Government advisors’, in The Daily Telegraph . www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3235790/Financial-crisis-will-hit-mental-health-of-the-nation-warn-Government-advisors.html
(3) Uutela, A. 2010. ‘Economic crisis and mental health’, in Current Opinion in Psychiatry ,Vol 23, No. 2.
(4) ILO. 2004. Economic security for a better world . ILO: Geneva.
(5) Paul, K. & K. Moser 2009. 'Unemployment impairs mental health: meta-analysis' in Journal of Vocational Behaviour 2009, No. 74.
(6) Stuckler D. et al. 2009. 'The public health effect of economic crisis and alternative policy responses in Europe: An empirical analysis’, in The Lancet , No. 374.
(7) Chang, S-S., Gunnell, D., Sterne JAC, et al. ‘Was the economic crisis 1997-1998 responsible for rising suicide rates in east/south east Asia? A time-trend analysis for Japan, Hong-Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand', in Social Science &Medicine , Vol. 68, No 7.
(8) Stuckler, D. et al. 2009. ‘The health implications of the financial crisis: A review of the evidence’, in Ulster Medical Journal , Vol 78, No. 3.
(9) Standing, G. 2008. ‘The ILO: An agency for globalization?‘ in Development and Change, Vol 39, No. 3.
(10) Picket, K. & Wilkinson, R. 2010. The spirit level: Why equality is better for everyone . London: Penguin.
(11) Layard, R. 2005. Happiness: Lessons from a new science . London: Allen Lane.
(12) MIND. 2010. Workers turn to antidepressants as recession takes its toll.
(13) International Institute for Labour studies. 2010. World of work report: From one crisis to the next? International Labour Organization. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_145112.pdf
(14) Rettmann, A. 2010. 'Mental health experts fear crisis will cause spike in suicides'. in EU Observer , 15 February. http://euobserver.com/867/29456
(15) Kentikelenis, A. et al. 2011. ‘Health effects of financial crisis: Omens of a Greek tragedy’, in The Lancet . www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2961556-0/fulltext#bib1
(16) The Financial Times. 2011. Greek cabinet approves budget cuts. www.ft.com/cms/s/0/17955778-ed13-11e0-be97-00144feab49a.html#axzz1bF47FfM8
(17) BBC. 2011. Confronting suicide as Greek social problems mount . www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15334586
(18) Salles, A. 2011. <<Grèce la grande dépression>>, Le Monde.
(19) Park, Y. et al. 2009. ‘The association between public social expenditure and suicides: evidence from OECD countries’, in Journal of Preventive Medicine & Public Health ,Vol 42, No. 2.
(20) World Health Organization. 2009. The financial crisis and global health: Report of a high-level consultation . World Health Organization: Geneva. www.who.int/mediacentre/events/meetings/2009_financial_crisis_report_en_.pdf
(21) UN. On world Mental Health Day, Ban urges greater resources for mental disorders. www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39981&Cr=health&Cr1=
(22) International Institute for Labour Studies, ILO. 2009. World of work report 2009
(23) BBC. 2009. Depression looms as a global crisis . http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8230549.stm
(24) Office fédéral de la statistique. 2010. Statistiques de la sécurité sociale: Statistique de l’Al décembre 2009 . www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/news/publikationen.html?publicationID=3943 | <urn:uuid:2747691a-68da-469d-9b64-031da0b3e595> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.issa.int/ara/News-Events/News2/Coping-with-crisis-Recession-mental-health-and-social-security | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930267 | 4,064 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Coral Reefs May Be Gone By 2050: Study
A recent study has found that all of the world's coral reefs could be gone by 2050. If lost, 500 million people's livelihoods worldwide would be threatened.
The World Resources Institute report, "Reefs at Risk Revisited," suggests that by 2030, over 90 percent of coral reefs will be threatened. If action isn't taken soon, nearly all reefs will be threatened by 2050. Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states, "Threats on land, along the coast and in the water are converging in a perfect storm of threats to reefs."
The AFP suggests that these threats include overfishing, coastal development, pollution, and climate change. Warming sea temperatures lead to coral bleaching, a stress response where corals expose their white skeletons. In 2005, the Caribbean saw the most extensive coral bleaching event ever recorded, often attributed to rising ocean temperatures. CO2 emissions are also making the oceans more acidic. Because of the rising acidity levels, some scientists claim we will see conditions not witnessed since the period of dinosaurs.
Lauretta Burke, one of the report's lead authors, feels that quick action could help save the reefs. She encourages policymakers to reduce overfishing and cut greenhouse gas emissions. If action is not taken though, millions of people will suffer. Shorelines will lose protection from storms -- a Time Magazine post suggests that up to 90 percent of the energy from wind generated waves is absorbed by reef ecosystems. If reefs are lost, coastal communities will lose a source of food security and tourism. | <urn:uuid:5f0aa0f3-7724-4c9f-b1a9-62dee396aa22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/25/coral-reefs-may-be-gone-b_n_827709.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930583 | 332 | 3.78125 | 4 |
The family of Eutolmii originated in Syria; Tatian was born in Sidyma, son of Antonius Tatianus, praeses (governor) of Caria from 360 to 364 circa. He had a son, Proculus, who followed his footsteps choosing a political career.
Tatianus began his career during the governorship of his father. Around 357 he was a lawyer, then he was assessor (legal counsel) of a governor, a vicarius, a proconsul and two prefects. In the 360s he was praeses Thebaidos (governor of the Thebaid); between 367 and 370 he was praefectus augustalis in Egypt; from 370 to 374 he administered of Diocese of the East as comes Orientis and from 374-380 he held the office of comes sacrarum largitionum in the imperial financial administration. After working for a year under Theodosius I, Tatianus left his place to retire for the next eight years in Lycia; it is not clear whether it was due to the pressure of imperial favourites, brought by the new Emperor from the West.
Praetorian prefect of the East
On 16 June 388, shortly before his departure for the campaign against the usurper Magnus Maximus, Theodosius I appointed Tatianus Praetorian prefect of the East, making him succeed Maternus Cynegius, a Spaniard as Theodosius was, who had died recently; after having sent the insignia of power to Tatianus in Lycia, the Emperor appointed Proculus praefectus urbi of Constantinople.
Some laws of this period have been preserved, which Tatianus would abide in the absence of Theodosius (the Emperor returned to the East only in the autumn of 391) to pursue his own policy, somewhat anti-clerical; nonetheless, it is not possible to speak of a change of policy in favour of the Pagans. It should however be considered that in 391 Tatianus was consul together with Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, another member of the Pagan aristocracy.
Tatian's fall was caused by his conflict with the powerful general and politician Rufinus. Rufinus, consul in 352, feared the power of Tatianus and his son Proculus, as the two of them held both the Praetorian prefecture of the East and the urban prefecture: such concentration of power in the hands of father and son caused the envy of powerful men. Rufinus took advantage of some mistakes of Tatianus in the administration of finances, to do depose and arrest him, and succeed him as prefect (September 392). Tatianus was later sent into exile, probably in Lycia, and he was hit by damnatio memoriae; the fall of Tatian also involved his son Proculus, who was sent to death.
The last years of the reign of Theodosius were characterized by a growing intolerance against Paganism; perhaps the fall of Tatian is to be interpreted in this context.
- Codex Theodosianus, xvi.2.27.
- Rufinus issued some lows that barred the Lycians form public offices; these laws were repelled only after his death in 395.
- For an example of damnatio memoriae in action, see the inscription put on the basis of a statue, erected by Tatianus in honour of Honorius at Aphrodisias ; later, however, in some inscriptions the name of Tatianus was re-carved, and his omonymous nephew, Governor of Caria, erected a statue in his honour in Aphrodisias .
- Zosimus, Historia nea, iv.45.1, iv.52.1—4.
- Martindale, John Robert, "Tatianus 5", The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. I, Cambridge 1971, pp. 876-878.
- Roueché, Charlotte, Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity: The Late Roman and Byzantine Inscriptions, King's College London , iii.25—30.
- Scharf, Ralf, "Die Familie des Fl. Eutolmius Tatianus", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, num. 85, 1991, pp. 223–231 (PDF).
Flavius Valentinianus Iunior Augustus IV,
|Consul of the Roman Empire
with Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
Flavius Arcadius Augustus II,
|Praetorian prefect of the East | <urn:uuid:7373f123-45ad-4fb8-a6e6-efd73aa2721a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pediaview.com/openpedia/Eutolmius_Tatianus | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957991 | 986 | 2.515625 | 3 |
United States Customhouse Broker
Shared by: trinidadc
United States Customhouse Broker Questions & Answers What is a Customhouse Broker? Answer: A Customhouse Broker, otherwise known as a Customs Broker acts as an agent for Importers and Exporters of merchandise. Oftentimes a Customs broker will issue bonds on behalf of a surety for the client's payment of duties, file Customs paperwork associated with the importation of merchandise, arrange freight service, and represent clients in disputes with the Customs Service. Can anyone act as a Customhouse Broker? Answer: No, a Customs brokerage is regulated by the United States Customs Service. Customs brokers are required to be licensed. 19 CFR § 111.0 et. seq. A Customs broker is also required maintain a permit issued by the District Director of the District where he or she performs transacts customs business. 19 CFR § 111.19. How do Customs Brokers make their living? Answer: Customs brokers charge fees for the preparation of entry documentation. The broker may sell his customer a bond to secure the compliance with the Customs laws. A broker who arranges for freight services may also charge a markup on the value of the freight services. Customs brokers typically charge for their consulting services. How does my company retain Scott McMillan as its Customs broker? Answer: The client executes a power of attorney. If the client is a corporation, a corporate resolution is required. The power of attorney appoints Scott McMillan as a lawful agent with the power to bind the client and sign documents on behalf of the client. The client is also required to sign Scott McMillan's Service and Security Agreement, which establishes the business relationship and limits the broker's liability. | <urn:uuid:9f21b7be-a4d9-4204-8c2c-c248613c8a87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.docstoc.com/docs/3032994/United-States-Customhouse-Broker | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944364 | 354 | 1.546875 | 2 |
President Obama toured the General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck facility where the automaker will build (can we say "is building" yet?) the Chevrolet Volt today, and as any good PR person will surely agree, you can't let an opportunity like that go by without making an announcement of some sort. So, GM has something to say and it's big news, too: GM will increase Volt production capacity by 50 percent in 2012.
Details are as follows: Instead of making 30,000 Volts in the U.S. in 2012, GM will now make 45,000. These numbers are lower than production numbers we heard rumors of in years past, but they're good news for fans of plug-in vehicles. Is the increase a response to positive reaction to the Volt's $33,500 after-tax-rebate price tag? Maybe. GM said in a statement that, "In the past few weeks, more than 25,000 people have joined the Chevrolet Volt enthusiast list."
The news is good for the President, too, since the White House is pushing The American Auto Industry: A Comeback Story message this week. Part of that is an interactive version of the White House map showing places where the government has supported automakers, which you can find here.
Related Gallery2011 Chevrolet Volt
[Sources: General Motors, WhiteHouse.gov]
Chevrolet to Increase Volt Production Capacity by 50 Percent
President Tours Detroit-Hamtramck Plant, Home of the Chevrolet Volt
DETROIT, Mich. – General Motors today said that thanks to strong public interest in the Chevrolet Volt, the 340-mile extended range electric vehicle, it will increase U.S. production capacity of the groundbreaking new car by 50 percent, from 30,000 units to 45,000 units, in 2012.
The announcement came as U.S. President Barack Obama toured the Detroit-Hamtramck facility, where the Volt is being produced now for sale later this year.
"The Chevrolet Volt provides drivers with the latest technology, outstanding innovation, and something no other electric vehicle can provide – peace of mind," said Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., GM Chairman and CEO. "We are very proud to host the President of the United States at this plant, where the future of the American automobile industry is being built today by the men and women of General Motors."
The expanded U.S. production capacity is the latest in a series of positive developments for the Chevrolet Volt. This week, participating Chevrolet dealers in launch markets began taking customer orders for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, following the release of retail and lease pricing. The brand also recently announced unprecedented battery and vehicle limited warranties to bring value and peace of mind to Volt customers. And the number of U.S. launch markets for the vehicle recently was raised from three to seven. In the past few weeks, more than 25,000 people have joined the Chevrolet Volt enthusiast list.
The Volt offers a total driving range of about 340 miles and is powered by electricity at all times. For up to the first 40 miles, the vehicle drives gas- and tailpipe-emissions-free using electricity stored in its 16-kWh lithium-ion battery. When the Volt's battery runs low, a gas-powered, engine/generator seamlessly operates to extend the driving range another 300 miles on a full tank.
The Detroit-Hamtramck plant received $336 million in new investment to prepare for production of the Volt, part of more than $700 million GM has invested in eight Michigan facilities to support Volt production since 2008. This includes a 33,000 square-foot battery systems lab in Warren; a battery assembly facility in Brownstown Township; and supporting engine and stamping operations in Grand Blanc, Bay City, and three plants in Flint.
Besides direct GM jobs, the Volt has helped spur additional supplier employment and investment. Earlier this month, battery cell supplier LG Chem/Compact Power Inc. broke ground on a $300 million, 650,000 square-foot plant in Holland, Mich., to support Volt production, creating 400 jobs. In addition, the Volt helped start an electrification trend. Since its debut in January 2007, other automakers have announced 30 plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles.
About General Motors: General Motors, one of the world's largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 205,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 157 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 31 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM's largest national market is China, followed by the United States, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors can be found at www.gm.com. | <urn:uuid:d743424e-ebd5-406f-acee-fa16def3418b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://green.autoblog.com/2010/07/30/gm-will-increase-volt-production-by-50-to-45-000-units-in-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942415 | 1,073 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Conservation concerns motivate Tri-Valley sophomores into action
Published: January 24, 2013
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HEGINS - By the second week of school, Tri-Valley High School's Jordon Glosek was already thinking of a productive way to use his study hall time.
The Pitman sophomore, along with classmates Josh Morgan and Brandon Fosmire, took a lead role in conservation efforts at their school. Their hands-on approach during their study period has resulted in visible improvements at the district's environmental site and on-going opportunities inside the high school for students concerned about their environment.
"I like working in the outdoors and making good use of my time," said Glosek, 15, a vo-tech student who is studying collision repair.
Most of the sophomores had a study hall during fifth period, the same time period Science Teacher Pamela S. Ulicny had her prep and planning time. She agreed to use her planning time to take the student volunteers to the environmental site, located behind the high school in Hegins.
"They are uniquely self-motivated, they have a genuine concern for conservation issues, work constructively as a team, and they are clever and creative problem-solvers," said Ulicny, who teaches Life Science, Biology and Environmental Science.
Morgan, a welding student, said he started assisting with animal aquarium maintenance in Ulicny's classroom and saw the need to do more.
"I wanted to help out more and wanted to remove trash from the local stream and clean up the (hiking) paths," said Morgan, 15, of Valley View. "I'm big on the outdoors and like to go hunting and fishing. I take my little brothers fishing in Pine Creek," he said.
The sophomore vo-tech students were at Tri-Valley High School on January 17 for their last full day, before starting their vo-tech classes on January 18 for their second semester. Most of the students who assisted were in a vo-tech curriculum, while a few other sophomores who helped were enrolled in a general education curriculum and will remain at the high school in Hegins for the rest of the 2012-13 school year.
Sophomores joining Morgan, Glosek and Fosmire were Jordan Masser, Brett Hoke, Dominick Carado, Cole Smeltz, Kevin Bixler and Allen Adams. A few students who didn't have a study hall during fifth period received permission from their teachers to aid in the conservation effort, as long as they had their classroom work completed.
"I like being active and it's a good group of guys doing this," said Smeltz, 15, of Hegins. "I like getting dirty," he said, noting he enjoyed when the group removed old tires from the environmental site.
Meanwhile, Carado also jumped at the opportunity to be outdoors, while giving up his study hall. "I thought it's for a good cause and I'm with a lot of my friends," said Carado, 15, of Spring Glen.
The sophomores' efforts haven't gone unnoticed.
"They are the kind of group where you can explain the problem or task, show them the materials and explain the limitations, and then just step aside and watch the magic happen," Ulicny said.
Work the sophomores accomplished included:
- picking up litter at the environmental site.
- clearing tires and other debris from the environmental site stream.
- organizing a tire removal day on Saturday, Dec. 15 to remove the tires which were too large to move without machinery.
- marking and clearing overgrown hiking trails (the Harold and Esther Jones trails).
- recycling materials throughout the school.
- managing a new "Trout in the Classroom" tank.
Students removed decades old tires dumped on the environmental site property which were used as former playground equipment at the Hegins-Hubley and Mahantango elementary schools 20 years ago. The tires will be picked up by Mahantango Recyclers, where they will be recycled and shredded into mulch. For more information, visit http://www.mahantango.com.
As secretary of a local watershed group, Sally Bair, of Hegins, became aware of the work the students were completing with Ulicny's guidance. She aided in the tire removal process.
Because some of the tires were so huge, Bair's farm equipment would not have been powerful enough to handle the job, so her brother, Dave Bair, contacted a fellow farmer, Alvin Wetzel, who brought heavier equipment and proceeded to do the heavy lifting, she said.
Wetzel had also indicated he would be willing to help get the tires on the truck that comes to pick them up.
"I'm hoping that the boys will continue their interest in caring for the environmental center now and as they grow up if they stay in the valley. Their work has been stellar and 'Mrs. U' has been over the top on her generosity of time to make it all happen," said Bair.
Glosek is looking into making the environmental site trails handicapped accessible. The volunteers are looking for funding and to work on this project for the spring of 2014, according to Ulicny.
Within the school, the sophomores also took charge of recycling paper, cardboard, cans and bottles for the entire school. Ulicny used to have a Recycling Club, but she took on another club and had no room for recycling in her schedule.
"So they took it upon themselves to keep it going, and wound up recycling more than what the Recycling Club was formerly set up to do," said Ulicny.
Within Ulicny's classroom, Morgan was essential at designing, setting up, monitoring, and doing care and maintenance for the "Trout in the Classroom" tank. This is the first year that Tri-Valley was sponsored by Schuylkill Trout Unlimited and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to raise brook trout eggs to fingerlings, which will be released into the environmental site's section of Pine Creek. The school may also be receiving some hatchlings from Pine Grove.
Morgan recently assisted with the transfer of the hatchlings from their 55-gallon tank to a larger 100-gallon tank, while making sure the water in the new enclosure was an ideal 58-degrees.
Ulicny is currently seeking funds for the purchase of new hip boots for use in releasing the trout in the spring. Donations of $5 or more can be made through the www.donorschoose.org web site (keyword "trout") or visit http://www.donorschoose.org/project/help-support-our-current-trout-in-the-cl/889769/ for more information. She expects two trout releases, one with seventh-graders, and one with juniors and seniors who work with first-grade partners at the environmental site. | <urn:uuid:b20372f3-60d5-4de2-aa23-97f79a9270d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://citizenstandard.com/news/conservation-concerns-motivate-tri-valley-sophomores-into-action-1.1433233 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977131 | 1,459 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Psychotropic treatment can often prevent the relapse of psychotic and mood symptoms. However, many patients take medication intermittently or not at all; or the symptoms may be only partially responsive to medication. Therefore, there is a need for interventions that can supplement the effect of medication and improve treatment outcomes.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been found to be effective for those with severe mental illness.1 Recent meta-analyses have concluded that CBT has a definite effect on positive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia and there is evidence that it can have a sustained effect on attitudes about medication.2,3 The American Psychiatric Association practice guideline on schizophrenia refers to CBT as an evidence-based treatment, especially for persistent symptoms.4 Many other guidelines recommend CBT as well.5 Evidence of the effectiveness of CBT for bipolar and severe depression is more limited, but there are promising results for family work and social rhythm therapy.
Assessment and engagement
CBT involves working with specific symptoms: techniques to help manage delusions, hallucinations, and negative symptoms are based on the development of a good therapeutic relationship between patient and therapist and formulation of the experiences, competencies, thoughts, feelings, and actions of the patient.6
Engaging people who experience psychotic symptoms can be difficult: paranoia diminishes trust, and cognitive impairment and catatonia affect communication. Developing a relationship is a process that requires skill, attention to detail, and adaptation to the patient’s particular concerns.
A good clinical assessment is essential because it provides a wealth of valuable information to inform conceptualization and subsequent intervention and, in itself, can be therapeutic. Details gathered about the first episode of psychosis can be particularly informative. Analysis of the period preceding a psychotic episode can enable the patient to reconsider the conclusions he or she formed at the time, especially if the conclusions evolve into delusional beliefs.
Making sense of the experiences that led to psychosis involves assembling relevant information about predisposing, precipitating, perpetuating, and protective factors with key thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Connections can be made between precipitating causes and symptoms (eg, stimulant/hallucinogenic drugs and initial psychotic experiences, often viewed as “bad trips”) that further evolved into persistent psychotic symptoms.
Formulation and process Once the precipitating causes are understood, work on delusional beliefs follows. Initially, the process of listening to the patient’s story of how his beliefs developed can improve the therapeutic relationship, allowing discussion and gentle probing about symptoms to begin. It is important for the therapist to begin by “suspending judgment” regarding beliefs. Beliefs may appear to be persecutory (“white vans are following me with intent to destroy me”) or grandiose in nature (“I can influence the weather”). They may include thought broadcast (“the world can hear me thinking”), thought insertion (“you put these ugly thoughts in my head”), or delusions of reference (“the TV show is referring to me”). All beliefs have meaning and function and must be broached with respect and compassion.
It is challenging for any of us to begin considering alternative explanations and ways of being when beliefs are deeply entrenched. A collaborative examination of the evidence offered in support of beliefs can be followed by inquisitive planning of simple experiments. A sample dialogue between the therapist and patient follows.
Therapist: It sounds like you feel very distressed by the belief that your family is monitoring your phone calls. This is an understandable reaction to this belief.
Patient: It’s horrible; I can’t trust anyone. My own family is doing this to me!
Therapist: I’m wondering how much of you believes that your family is doing this, from 0% to 100%?
Patient: I am 95% convinced that they are. All the evidence is there!
Therapist: Okay, so you are pretty convinced. However, there is 5% of you that isn’t convinced. Because of the high cost (distress) of your belief, it may be a good idea for us to check out the evidence for this belief. How does this sound to you?
Patient: The most significant piece of evidence I have is that there is a recording device inside the phone. So perhaps we can plan some simple checks with it? I also saw my mom studying the phone bill last month, but at the time I was too scared to ask her why.
Therapist: So the recording device and your mother studying the phone bill are 2 things we could potentially explore further…? | <urn:uuid:c91fade6-706d-4eba-b488-98ca4cb8941d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/paranoid-personality-disorder/content/article/10168/1406055?pageNumber=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946176 | 946 | 3.171875 | 3 |
The Seventh Generation was a Wyrm cult involved in the ritual abuse of children. They encouraged child abuse in order to damage children so much that when they grew up, they would not only perpetuate the cycle, they would also be ripe for corruption by the Wyrm.
The Seventh Generation was divided into several castes. The Warriors defended the cult. The Snatchers abducted children for use in rituals. The Medical caste conducted experiments. The Military, Government, and Business castes meddled in each of those spheres, using them to keep their enemies away.
The Seventh Generation was headquartered in New York, but had other branches elsewhere. King Albrecht led a crusade against the Seventh Generation shortly after receiving the Silver Crown. The cult was crushed, but he could not reach all the branches, so it has the potential of reorganizing itself and returning.
The primary information on the Seventh Generation can be found in Rage Across New York. There is some additional information on the crusade against the Seventh generation in . | <urn:uuid:b6643433-ee32-48df-92f1-1742445edf80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Seventh_Generation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971664 | 203 | 1.828125 | 2 |
At CJE SeniorLife's annual meeting, the Chairman of the Board ended his remarks by thanking his life partner for his love and support throughout the year. The audience smiled, and the meeting came to a close.
It was as if no one had noticed the earthquake that had taken place right before their eyes.
The CJE Annual Meeting took place on an auspicious date: Oct. 11. That week marked the 14-year-anniversary of one of the most horrific anti-gay hate crimes on record: the murder of Mathew Shepherd, a gay Wyoming college student who was abducted by two men, beaten unconscious, tied to a fence and left for dead.
Fourteen years ago, I daresay even the most optimistic among us would never have imagined that one of the largest Jewish communal agencies in Chicago would have an openly gay man at its helm. Or that marching in the annual Gay Pride Parade would be de rigeur for every major politician in the state. Or that half the American public would support the right to marriage for gay citizens. Or that the President of the United States' favorite television show would feature a gay couple named Mitch and Cameron.
During the 1980s, I worked for the Illinois Department of Public Health, where I helped to establish the AIDS Unit (back in the days before the term HIV). In those dark days, the nascent progress of the gay rights movement was inextricably intertwined with the fight against AIDS. In the early years of the epidemic, parents often learned that their sons were gay, and that they were dying, at the same time. Many considered both realities to be equally upsetting.
What I saw during those years shaped my world view. I bore witness as teenagers who came out were brutalized, shunned by their families, and even kicked out of their homes. There were no gay/straight alliances in high schools and precious few on college campuses. PFLAG Chicago was only six years old. In the City of Chicago, it was still legal to fire someone for being gay or lesbian.
It was during this bleak time that I fell in love with the organized Jewish community.
I was smitten when the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (the precursor to the Union for Reform Judaism) printed a brochure titled AIDS: A Glossary of Jewish Values, which gently and firmly outlined how the mitzvot applied to the AIDS epidemic. There was nothing like it published by any other faith-based group.
At a time where the majority of the Illinois public believed that anyone at risk for AIDs should be permanently quarantined, this brochure taught the mitzvah of Pikuach Nefesh (the tenet that saving a life overrides virtually every other commandment), extolled Bikkur Cholim (the obligation to visit the sick) and encouraged Gemilut Chasadim (the duty to perform acts of lovingkindness).
At a time when many pastors taught that AIDS was God's punishment for homosexuality, local rabbis invited me into their synagogues to teach their congregations about how to practice safer sex.
At a time when too many parents turned away from their children, Jewish parents organized chapters of PFLAG.
And at a time when most faith-based communities stood idly by while their neighbors bled, I had the privilege of participating in the Jewish Community Coalition on AIDS, an interdenominational, interagency initiative to address the needs born of the AIDS epidemic.
The inaugural meeting of the Jewish Community Coalition on AIDS was my first experience with the organized Jewish community. We met at the old Federation building (where, it should go without saying, we were served tuna fish for lunch). I don't remember everything that was said or done, but I do remember how my Judaism caught fire that day.
Until then, I had thought of myself more as a Jew than as a member of the Jewish community. Jewish was the main lens through which I viewed the world, but not the main world in which I lived. However, that day at One South Franklin I realized that these were the people I wanted in my foxhole; who were already in my foxhole.
I did not know, then, that in the years to come both the City of the Chicago and the State of Illinois would pass Human Rights ordinances that protect LGBTQ citizens, or that someday gays and lesbians would be able to serve openly in the U.S. military. I never imagined that one day my parents would regularly pair up with a gay couple to attend the opera, or that my daughter would live in the Queer & Ally House on her college campus without giving it a thought. I never envisioned how the Jewish Federation would launch a Jewish Lesbian & Gay Endowment Fund, or that an openly gay man would rise to the top of one of the most important Jewish institutions in the city. And I never dreamed that my passion for Tikkun Olam eventually would lead me to become a Jewish communal professional.
For all these things, I say: Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melach HaOlam, Shehechiyanu, V'Kiymanu v'higiyanu lazman hazeh. Amen. | <urn:uuid:3fb0d9f5-6858-4fa8-a046-8f7198af91c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.juf.org/news/blog.aspx?blogmonth=10&blogday=15&blogyear=2012&blogid=13556 | 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 | 0.983191 | 1,070 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Foot-and-mouth Disease Outbreak Forces Thiruvananthapuram Zoo to Shut Down
Zoo has barred the entry of visitors for a week following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease .
The zoo has reportedly lost its entire stock of Indian gaur (Bos Gaurus) -- a lookalike of the Indian bison - and 12 blackbucks in the week gone by.
It was confi...
New Ayurvedic Remedy for Radiation Pain
... Scientists at the Rajiv Gandhi Center’s Biotechnology and Regional Cancer Centre in thiruvananthapuram
formulate an ayurvedic cost effective mouthwash for treating radiation related mucositis. //
The mouthwash is made up of three commonly used herb...
Kerala to Venture into Medical Tourism
... doctors who are from India. Ayurveda and herbal treatments are the future of Kerala.”
In 2003, the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in thiruvananthapuram
had about 450 international patients. In 2005 this figure rose to around 4,700.
However effects of the poor public health infrastructure was witne...
'Experts Confusing us on Chikungunya': Kerala CM
...ppuzha district since chikungunya was first detected on July 27. The most affected are the costal districts of Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Kollam, thiruvananthapuram
and of late, the virus has started taking other districts in its grip.
"This was first raised by us in the assembly last month and it is sad tha...
Chikungunya Scare In Kerala
... Doctors in thiruvananthapuram
said that there was no need to panic after several sporadic cases that could be diagnosed as viral fever were reported in the city.//
Ayurvastra Initiative Launched
...f Ayurvastra, which are "textiles that have been dyed in medicinal herb// concoctions." The project was launched at the Government Ayurveda College in thiruvananthapuram
Ayurvastra project was started by the Directorate of Handloom, Department of Industries and Commerce and the Department of Dravyagun...
Kerala To Have More Medical Seats
... The Health Minister P. K. Sreemathy has announced in thiruvananthapuram
that the Medical Council of India will be shortly sanctioning 50 MBBS seats //each for medical collages in Alappuzha, Kottayam and Thrissur.
JIPMER Entrance Test Tomorrw
These candidates will sit for the two-and-a-half-hour examination conducted simultaneously in Pondicherry, New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and thiruvananthapuram
to fill 46 out of the total 75 seats, the Dean the institute Dr K S Reddy said here yesterday.
Eighteen seats would be filed by the Central gov...
Vayalar Ravi Wants Health Education In Schools
...imary school classes to help the coming generations to lead a healthy life.//
Inaugurating a two-day 'inter-faith interface' on AIDS awareness in thiruvananthapuram
he said: "My personal view is that at least one hour a week should be devoted for health education by making it part of the curriculum. This would not...
Government To Consider Ragging Victim's Plea
...iors at the School of Medical Education in Kottayam be granted admission in thiruvananthapuram
The next state cabinet meeting on November 30 will...inister on Thursday and requested him to grant admission to his daughter in thiruvananthapuram
Medical College. He told the Minister that his daughter was not in a mental... | <urn:uuid:9784c625-ee76-4da9-b1b7-5c44ff532624> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/tag/Thiruvananthapuram/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950747 | 815 | 2.09375 | 2 |
We have a 10x10x10 large cube that we are going to cut into 1000 small
Only the small cubes cut from the edges of the large cube will have
at least two faces painted red. All the rest will have either 1 or
0 faces painted red.
There are 8 small cubes which have exactly three sides painted.
These are the 8 small cubes located at the 8 vertices (corners) of
the big cube.
So let's say we have counted these 8 with three faces painted red.
There are 12 edges of the big cube. Each of these 12 edges of
the big cube consists of the edges of 10 small cubes. But 2 of
these are at a corner of the big cube, and we have already
conted these. So we only need to count the other 8 cubes along
each of the 12 edges, which have exactly 2 faces painted red.
So that's an additional 12x8 or 96.
So the total is 8 small cubes with exactly three faces painted red
plus 96 cubes with exactly two faces painted red. That's 8+96 = 104.
Another way to count them is to start with the 1000 cubes and
There are the inner 8x8x8 or 512 small cubes cut from the inside
of the big cube which have no faces painted.
On each of the 6 faces of the big cube there are 8x8 or 64 faces
of small cubes which only have 1 face painted. So that's
64x6 or 384 small cubes which have 1 face painted. So subtracting
1000 small cubes
- 512 small cubes which have no faces painted red
488 small cubes which have at least one face painted red.
- 384 small cubes which have exactly one face painted red.
104 small cubes with at least two faces painted red. | <urn:uuid:32af204c-e8ef-41c0-806d-08bf960e65f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.algebra.com/algebra/homework/word/geometry/Geometry_Word_Problems.faq.question.236108.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953101 | 377 | 3.703125 | 4 |
New book: The Lives of Margaret Fuller, by John Matteson ’83 (W.W. Norton)
The author: An English professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York, John Matteson won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in biography for Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father. He also is the deputy director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography in New York City.
The book: In this biography of the controversial Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), Matteson traces her short but complex life and explores her legacy. The leading female of the transcendental movement, Fuller was editor of the United State’s first avant-garde literary magazine, a literary and social critic, the first regular foreign correspondent for an American newspaper, and the author of a major feminist book, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, which became a bestseller. Eventually she met an uneducated Italian nobleman when she was in Rome. At age 40, Fuller, her husband, and their son died in a shipwreck on their return to America.
From the book: “A person of such ambition almost always encounters great resistance, and to achieve her self-creation, Fuller paid a tremendous price in pain, in poverty, and in ridicule. She also met with resistance in the form of self-doubt; in the limitations of a body that could not always support the incessant activity of her mind; and in the stubbornness of a world that reacted to contain and counterbalance any force that violated its rule of mediocrity. Such a person is always a work in progress, always restless, never final.”
Review: Library Journal called the biography a “great read.” It “draws a fairly complete picture of her environment and time” and makes “the subject come to life. Through Matteson’s easy narrative style and presentation of Fuller ‘as a series of identities,’ readers can begin to understand her drive and her flaws.” A critic for The Boston Globe, wrote, “Matteson’s portrait of Fuller, given depth and sheen by a treasure trove of letters, is unfailingly intelligent, nuanced, and intriguing, a story of tragic might-have-beens.”
Read more: PAW’s story on Matteson in the June 11, 2008 issue of PAW. | <urn:uuid:f1d45931-bd14-4c4b-b6e1-cd3c5e4833f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.princeton.edu/paw/2012/02/matteson_83_chr.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949349 | 506 | 2.375 | 2 |
Designer's Toolbox - February 2009
Typographic insights from Steve Matteson
Sans Pointy Things – Part 2
- Download PDF | Return to Designer's Toolbox
Welcome back to the Toolbox. Last month I talked about a way to organize your sans serif tool inventory. Since fonts carry a subtle graphic voice it’s useful to understand what each of these tools is best for conveying. Just as a doctor won’t use a bone saw to remove a splinter, a designer needs to pick the right tool for the job.
This month I’ll cover one group of sans serif tools called the Geometrics. These deceptively simple designs consist of rational, constructed forms giving the reader a sense of simplicity yet very regimented form. Logo designers love this genre for the circular, square, and triangular shapes that lend themselves to manipulation and simple arrangements. Futura has been identified with Volkswagen since the original Beetle advertisements in the 1960’s. Avenir is now Quark’s corporate typeface. Both typefaces echo the circles within their logos.
While Avenir and Futura are both from the same genre they do tend to offer a slightly different message. The high degree of refinement in Avenir’s shapes and the regularity of its proportions lends a cool, mechanical, no nonsense tone. Futura’s quirks (very tall ascenders, irregular bars on t and f, and ‘high waisted’ s) give it a slightly more approachable feel.
But are the O’s in Geometric typefaces really circles? A close look at Geometric typefaces reveals that they are not nearly as simple as an assortment of overlapping geometric shapes. Optical compensations were made by the type designers to give the effect of geometry by actually reducing the geometry!
The slight adjustments on these magenta letter O’s (Twentieth Century Medium left; Avenir right) indicate the optical adjustments required to make a letter look like an actual circle. In order to appear mono linear, the shape actually needs to have a slight variance in line weight. The left and right sides of the arc are thickened in order to look the same thickness as the top and bottom.
Another common attribute of this genre is the single story letter a. The danger, of course, is the possibility of mistaking a for o in text. Discretion should be used in choosing this stye of letter since extensive text can become difficult to read.
Finally, as with all sans serif typefaces, care must be taken to provide ample leading (interline spacing). The absence of serifs which help guide the reader along a line of text means the added white space will need to do the job. Sans serifs also tend to have taller lowercase letters, further increasing the need for white space. The sample columns at left illustrate the effect. The default leading (10pt) is too compact for extended reading.
So use the not-so-geometric sans serif fonts for projects which require a contemporary, simple effect and use extra white space to aid your readers. See you next month as we look at the Industrial Age and the rise of the next genre: the Grotesque Sans.
Type Design Director, Ascender Corp.
Return to Designer's Toolbox | <urn:uuid:fe10626c-3113-4ba4-8cf1-1f0a25cc0ffe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ascenderfonts.com/info/designers-toolbox/february2009.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908298 | 684 | 2.125 | 2 |
In the Garden:
Ajuga looks innocently pretty in bloom, but it really has plans to take over the world!
According to Charles Dickens, "Regrets are the natural property of gray hairs." Well, I have lots of those telltale strands, so I guess it's no surprise that I have some garden regrets as well. What I've lived to regret is planting those deceptive beauties with lovely flowers or foliage that seem at first like good garden citizens, but whose goal in life actually turns out to be world domination. These spreaders and seeders turned my head with their good looks. Then I turned my back and they set out to take over the globe. Herewith is my cautionary tale:
Get Thee Behind Me, Ajuga!
Tops on my list of regrets is bugleweed (Ajuga reptans). This little plant seemed like such a good choice at first. I was looking for an easy-care groundcover that would do well in shade and less than ideal soil. I chose the cultivar 'Purpurea', with attractive purplish-bronze leaves, whose spires of flowers create a breathtaking haze of blue in spring. It looked lovely with the other spring bloomers in my shade garden and all seemed well. But then it began to show its true, invasive nature. Ajuga is not content just to spread by short, creeping underground rhizomes. It also sends out long, above-ground stolons, as well as seeds. Soon I noticed that bugleweed was engulfing some of its garden neighbors; then it appeared in the lawn and in far away garden beds. Now I even see it in my neighbors' lawns! I try to pull it up where it has gone astray, but its tentacled reach is great and it is almost impossible to eradicate once it's taken hold. Even if you plant it where its bounded by impenetrable surfaces, my experience has been that it will still spread widely by seed. There are some other species of ajuga (A. genevensis and A. pyramidalis) that are reputed to have a more clump-forming growth habit and spread less aggressively. I haven't grown them, but if you decide you simply must plant ajuga, one of these species is probably a safer choice.
Picture a traditional cottage garden and you'll have the perfect setting for this lovely flower. The 2-inch pink, hollyhock-like blossoms of rose mallow (Malva alcea 'Fastigeata'), borne on 2 to 3 foot tall plants, have an old-fashioned, informal charm. But beware! If you don't deadhead the faded flowers religiously, you'll find seedlings popping up everywhere. And when you go to snatch these unwanted offspring out of the ground, you discover that even the inch-tall babies have sent a tap root straight down to Middle Earth. They aren't going anywhere without the aid of a dandelion digger to pry them out of the ground. Much as I like their looks, I have reluctantly (and only partially successfully) banished them from my garden.
A Non-Shrinking Violet
What could be sweeter than the little Labrador violet (Viola labradorica var. purpurea), with its leaves suffused with purple and its small purple flowers in early spring? Well, it's not as sweet as it looks when it begins popping up all over the place! Spreading both by creeping rhizomes and seed, these plants are now a major headache in my garden as I constantly uproot unwanted seedlings. And like many of their too-invasive garden mates, these volunteers often leave behind just enough of a bit of rhizome when I pull them to sprout, Hydra-like, into a new plant once my back is turned. They are now officially on my "root out on sight" list, but I'm sure I'll have them forever, in spite of my efforts.
The Devil Made Me Do It!
Why else did I choose plants I knew I should avoid, but planted any way? Did I think that just because I appreciated their flowers and foliage, they'd rein in their thuggish tendencies? Wrong!
It was its large, upright clusters of fleecy white flowers in early summer that caused me to cast aside good judgment when I planted Ural false spirea (Sorbaria sorbifolia). Never mind that it spreads rapidly and widely by suckers; I put it in a semi-wild part of my garden where I thought a little spreading would be fine. For the first two years it was well-behaved, but I knew in my heart this wasn't its true nature. Then this spring, it put on its traveling boots and tunneled underground for six feet before springing up in the middle of a prized rhododendron. I then discovered lots of other shoots arising at distant points from the original plant; my light, sandy soil makes it easy for these underground invaders to roam at will. No polite spreading here! So it came as no real surprise that I'll have to get rid of it before it conquers all.
Then there is the lure of a bargain to cloud one's judgment. Why else would I have brought home that little pot of Lamiastrum galeobdolon 'Variegatum'? I've grown the well-behaved, clump-forming cultivar 'Herman's Pride' for many years. It's silver-splashed foliage looks wonderful all season long in a shady spot and its hooded yellow flowers add additional interest in late spring. But 'Variegatum' is a well-known garden outlaw that runs through a garden by leaps and bounds. However, sitting on the sale bench with its pretty leaves and $1.00 price tag, it looked so innocent and tempting. I brought it home, stuck it in the ground -- and now I dig it up on a regular basis!
So learn from my mistakes and think long and hard about planting anything that is described as a fast spreader or a robust self-seeder. In some situations, these traits may be just what you need. But more often than not, you'll add them to your own list of garden regrets.
Care to share your gardening thoughts, insights, triumphs, or disappointments with your fellow gardening enthusiasts? Join the lively discussions on our FaceBook page and receive free daily tips! | <urn:uuid:65b1a6c0-8ebb-4077-a308-c49a21bb16f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.garden.org/regional/report/arch/inmygarden/4140 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966551 | 1,334 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Helpful Tips From Ari Brown, MD
Dr Ari Brown, co-author of Baby 411: Clear Answers and Smart Advice for your Baby's First Year shares these valuable tips for parents of babies.
2. Avoid pacifiers after three months of age. There is scientific data to suggest this is a risk factor.
3. Don't smoke. Smoke is a respiratory irritant that makes the eustachian tubes swell and not function appropriately in both the smoker and household members exposed to them.
4. Infection control during the cold and flu season. Good handwashing and flu shots for the whole family are helpful. Getting the PREVNAR vaccine (pneumococcal) may help limit the number of ear infections as well.
5. Reconsider your child care options. Kids in daycare settings get more viral upper respiratory infections (colds) which lead to the ear infections. They also get more ear infections caused by drug-resistant bugs. | <urn:uuid:9f925038-717c-49ce-a770-be4df73b5713> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pregnancyandbaby.com/baby/articles/941605/top-five-tips-for-preventing-ear-infections | 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 | 0.935751 | 197 | 2.734375 | 3 |
A person who has multiple family members with pancreatic cancer ("familial pancreatic cancer") is six times as likely to develop that cancer. This risk is even higher, nine times that of the general population, if one of their relatives developed their cancer under the age of 50, according to a new study published online January 12 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Young-onset cancer is a hallmark of many familial cancer syndromes, but it was not clear whether family members of young-onset familial pancreatic cancer patients were at greater risk than family members of older-onset patients.
Alison P. Klein, Ph.D., at Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues compared the observed incidence of pancreatic cancer in over 9,000 individuals from 1,718 families. Standardized incidence ratios for familial pancreatic cancer and for sporadic pancreatic cancer were calculated with data from the National Familial Pancreas Tumor Registry (http://pathology.jhu.edu/pancreas/nfptr/) and compared with those from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database.
Relatives of familial pancreatic cancer patients had a more than six-fold higher incidence of pancreatic cancer than the general population. Those with relatives diagnosed before the age of 50 years had a more than ninefold higher incidence. In contrast, individuals with just a single relative with pancreatic cancer were at twice the risk of pancreatic cancer whether or not the relative with pancreatic cancer was diagnosed before or after the age of 50.
"These data should help to further inform risk assessment and subsequent early detection screening of individuals at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer," the authors write.
Study limitations: Some FPC family members underwent pancreatic cancer screening, which could have increased or hastened disease detection. Also, often data were obtained from a next of kin proxy, and only 66% of prospective cancers could be confirmed by medical records.
Explore further: Racial disparities in the surgical management of non-small cell lung cancer | <urn:uuid:cdf50838-a107-4b6a-85ce-9fd8d4c1dd3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://phys.org/news182582259.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961042 | 428 | 2.625 | 3 |
This article was published originally on 11/14/2012
In Iowa, the predominate colors of the home landscape in late fall and winter are white and various shades of gray and brown. An excellent way to brighten the drab winter landscape is to plant evergreens (pine, spruce, fir, etc.) and trees and shrubs that possess colorful fruit or bark.
While crabapples (Malus spp.) are usually planted for their flowers, many varieties also possess attractive, persistent fruit. Crabapple varieties with red fruit include 'David,' 'Donald Wyman,' 'Mary Potter,' Red Jewel™, and Sugar Tyme®. 'Indian Magic,' 'Professor Sprenger,' and 'Snowdrift' have reddish orange fruit, while Harvest Gold® and Golden Raindrops® are yellow-fruited crabapple varieties.
Hawthorns (Crataegus spp.) are another group of small, flowering trees that possess attractive fruit. Hawthorns produce white flowers in spring. In fall, its small (1/4 to ½ inch in diameter) fruit turn red and persist into winter. Two hawthorns noted for their excellent fruit displays are the Washington hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) and 'Winter King' hawthorn (Crataegus viridis 'Winter King').
The American cranberrybush viburnum (Viburnum trilobum) is an excellent shrub for screens, hedges, and mixed shrub borders. The shrub grows 8 to 12 feet tall and produces flat-topped clusters of white flowers in spring. Its fruit turn bright red in fall and persist into winter. 'Hahs' is a compact variety (grows approximately 6 to 8 feet tall) that produces large, attractive fruit. Redwing™ grows 8 to 10 feet tall and produces large clusters of glossy, red fruit. 'Wentworth' grows 10 to 12 feet tall. Its fruit change from yellow-red to bright red in fall.
Red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) is an upright, spreading shrub. It produces small, white flowers in spring, followed by red berries in fall. The common name chokeberry is derived from the astringent taste of the fruit. Red chokeberry grows 6 to 8 feet tall. 'Brilliantissima' is an excellent fruiting variety.
Several hybrid evergreen hollies, collectively known as Meserve hybrid hollies (Ilex x meserveae), can also be grown in Iowa. 'Blue Prince,' 'Blue Princess,' 'Blue Boy,' and 'Blue Girl' have dark, bluish green foliage and are often referred to as blue hollies. The female varieties produce attractive red fruit. Other Meserve hybrids include China Boy®, China Girl®, Castle Spire™ (female), and Castle Wall™ (male). Meserve hollies are variable in height. Most varieties grow 5 to 10 feet tall. They are hardy to -20 degrees Fahrenheit (USDA Hardiness Zone 5).
Hollies are dioecious. Dioecious plant species produce male and female flowers on separate plants. Only female holly plants produce fruit. However, a male holly plant is required for pollination and fruit set. Maximum fruit production can be obtained by planting several female plants and one or two males.
The brightly colored fruit of many of the aforementioned trees and shrubs do not remain throughout the winter. Very cold temperatures in winter eventually cause many of the fruit to turn reddish brown or black. Hungry birds and squirrels may also devour the fruit. However, the fruit display in late fall and early winter can be spectacular.
Selecting trees and shrubs with colorful bark is another way to add interest to the winter landscape.
A widely planted tree that possesses attractive, exfoliating bark is the river birch (Betula nigra). The exfoliating bark varies from salmon white to reddish brown. Often planted as a multi-stemmed specimen or "clump," the river birch may eventually reach a height of 40 to 50 feet.
Two small ornamental trees with exfoliating bark are the paperbark maple (Acer griseum) and Amur chokecherry (Prunus maackii). The paperbark maple grows 20 to 25 feet tall, possesses cinnamon to reddish brown exfoliating bark, and is hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 5 to 8. The bark characteristics of the Amur chokecherry are highly variable. Bark color varies from golden brown to cinnamon brown. Some exhibit little or no bark exfoliation, while others exfoliate heavily. The Amur chokecherry grows 30 to 35 feet tall.
One of the most beautiful sights in winter is the bright red twigs of the redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea) set against a backdrop of newly fallen snow. Native to Iowa, the redosier dogwood grows 6 to 10 feet tall. Several colorful varieties are available. 'Cardinal' has bright, cherry red stems. 'Alleman's Compact' is a red-stemmed, compact variety that grows 4 to 5 feet tall. Arctic Fire™ is a red-stemmed, 3- to 4-foot-tall shrub. 'Flaviramea' is a 5- to 6-foot-tall shrub with yellow stems.
There are also several varieties of willow that possess colorful bark. The 'Flame' willow (Salix 'Flame') has reddish orange stems. The stems of the coral bark willow (Salix alba 'Britzensis') vary from yellow-orange to orange-red.
The redosier dogwood and willows should be pruned on a frequent basis as the young shoots possess the brightest colors. The 'Flame' and coral bark willows should be pruned annually. Cut plants back to near ground level in late winter. The redosier dogwood requires less pruning. In late winter, remove approximately one-third of the oldest stems near ground level.
When selecting trees and shrubs for the home landscape, we often choose plants that have attractive spring flowers or colorful fall foliage. However, don't forget to include some trees and shrubs that possess colorful fruit or bark in winter. | <urn:uuid:015bc445-9570-4426-ba8b-13ff37862a19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2012/11-14/winterinterest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919345 | 1,313 | 2.984375 | 3 |
|Hospital Discharge Planning|
Hospital discharge planning is a service to assist patients arrange care
needed following a hospital stay. Discharge planners help arrange services
including home care, nursing home care, rehabilitative care, outpatient
treatment and others. Hospital discharge planning is usually handled by the
hospital's Social Services Department.
Why is discharge planning important?
Hospital patients frequently require a variety of care and services following their hospital stay. It is often difficult to identify how to obtain needed services. Furthermore, many care programs and services have complicated eligibility rules and some also have waiting lists. Discharge planners help patients and their representatives identify and arrange needed services before discharge from the hospital.
In order to contain costs, most hospitals discharge patients as quickly as possible. Hospital recuperation periods are usually very short so some patients are discharged with greater care needs than in the past.
How do I obtain discharge planning services?
If you think you may need help following your hospital stay, ask your doctor to contact the hospital social services department on your behalf. You can do this when you are admitted to the hospital or even shortly before admission. If a hospital discharge planner does not contact you within a short time, contact the social services department directly for assistance.
What requirements exist for discharge planning services?
Medicare-certified hospitals (most hospitals) are required to provide discharge planning services which meet the following criteria:
What if I cannot get needed help or am being discharged too soon?
If you experience difficulties in obtaining needed help from the hospital discharge planning unit, talk with your doctor or the hospital administrator. Explain your concerns.
If you think you are being discharged from the hospital too soon or without needed help, you may want to file a complaint. There is another ombudsman Fact Sheet that gives information about your right to receive needed care and tells you how to file a complaint.
The information contained in this web site applies only to GEORGIA, USA. It is intended only as INFORMATION and does not constitute legal ADVICE, nor does reading, downloading or otherwise using this site create an attorney-client relationship. Anyone seeking specific legal advice should contact an attorney licensed in the appropriate state, and should never rely upon the information provided herein, or any other web site, for that matter. | <urn:uuid:2a5972d4-bfbf-4313-88ba-355c7dae8007> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.atlantalegalaid.org/fact4.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93582 | 468 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster remembered 10 years on
What really happened to the mission that grounded NASA's orbiter fleet?
Feature On February 1st, 2003 at 08:00 CST residents of Texas witnessed the once mighty Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrate into a 12,000mph fireball. Almost 17 years to the day since the Challenger disaster, President G. W. Bush delivered the news to the world, “The Columbia is lost. There are no survivors.”
STS-107 payload bay configuration
Following its 255-orbit mission, Columbia was now strewn across two thousand square miles of the southern United States – bringing the end to a 28-flight career spanning 22 years.
Although it will predominantly be remembered for its tragic end, STS-107 was an extensive and successful scientific mission. Space Shuttle Columbia carried a module called SPACEHAB in its cargo bay – which expanded the habitable area for performing experiments – rather than the satellites and supplies for the ISS carried by its sister ships.
Originally STS-107 had been slated to carry an Earth observation satellite known as Triana, but delays in its development saw it replaced with FREESTAR (Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science, Technology, Applications and Research). Also on-board was the joint US/Israeli experimental module MEIDEX (Mediterranean-Israeli Dust Experiment).
Mission accomplished: Kalpana Chawla working in the SPACEHAB module
These experiments completed the majority of the desired objectives, with only MEIDEX falling short due to climate conditions. Unfortunately, some aspects of FREESTAR and MEIDEX were lost with Columbia, but large amounts of data were successfully sent back to Earth, as well as being recovered from the debris.
STS-107 was commanded by Rick Husband, a US Air Force Colonel embarking on his second spaceflight, having previously piloted STS-96 in 1999. Filling the role of pilot was Commander William C. McCool whose credentials included serving as a US Navy test pilot on the EA-6B Prowler program.
The three mission specialists included; Kalpana Chawla - an aerospace engineer who had flown on STS-87, David M. Brown – US Navy Captain and flight surgeon and Laurel B. Clark – also a US Navy flight surgeon on her first spaceflight.
Payload management responsibility fell to Michael P. Anderson, an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who flew to the Mir Space Station as a mission specialist on STS-89. In charge of the MEIDEX experiment was payload specialist Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space and a fighter pilot for his home nation.
Shuttle crew, left to right: David Borwn, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool, Ilan Ramon
It was a cool 65°F morning following heavy rain when at 10:39 EST STS-107 was cleared for launch and the solid rocket boosters were ignited. Weather in the upper atmosphere had been deemed nominally calm by balloons and Doppler sounding. All in all, a good day for spaceflight.
Two minutes and four seconds after lift-off, the solid rocket boosters separated as the Shuttle accelerated past 7,300mph. After a further 8mins 16secs, the main engine cut off command was issued at an orbital velocity of 17,600mph. As far as was apparent to the NASA controllers, the launch was nothing short of ordinary.
January 16th, 2003: STS-107 launch
Foam, not far removed from the expanding stuff used to fill wall cavities, is sprayed over the entirety of the external fuel tank to insulate the cryogenic fuel tanks. Unfortunately, this foam has a tendency to flake off in chunks and cause damage to the heat shield tiles on the underside of the orbiter.
Studies of flights and tile damage assessment have shown that Shuttles have been struck by foam thousands of times. In the past this has required the replacement of tiles before subsequent re-launch, but there had never been a breach of the thermal protection system. A bit of background on this essential aspect of the Shuttle's make-up highlights vulnerabilities the accident investigation would uncover.
Next page: Taking the heat | <urn:uuid:c2d1a614-7b79-4496-bab5-c4901db57a75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/01/space_shuttle_columbia_disaster_10_years_on/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955962 | 873 | 2.84375 | 3 |
§ Mr. Meacher
asked the Attorney General how many persons, during the last year for which information is available, received means-tested assistance in regard to the costs of, respectively, civil legal aid, criminal legal aid, legal aid in respect of civil claims not involving proceedings, and legal advice; and what proportion was each of these totals estimated to be of those eligible.
§ The Attorney-General
In the year ended March, 1970, 143,582 persons were granted legal aid in civil proceedings; 469W 924 persons were granted legal aid for civil claims and 82,936 were given legal advice. In the calendar year 1970, 172,171 persons were granted legal aid in criminal proceedings.
About 26.0 million people are financially eligible for civil and criminal legal aid and about 18 million for legal advice and legal aid for claims. | <urn:uuid:9ebfeedc-498d-414d-9665-b9b5c451e5db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1971/aug/05/legal-aid-means-tested-assistance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965864 | 174 | 1.929688 | 2 |
“I believe in intuition and inspiration. … At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason. When the eclipse of 1919 confirmed my intuition, I was not in the least surprised. In fact I would have been astonished had it turned out otherwise. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” ~ Albert Einstein
From Albert Einstein, Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97; also in Transformation : Arts, Communication, Environment (1950) by Harry Holtzman, p. 138. This may be an edited version of some nearly identical quotes from the 1929 Viereck interview below. | <urn:uuid:835204fe-4c51-4ba0-92a2-4b6e0e67ddf5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://possibleuniverse.tumblr.com/tagged/mindful | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901686 | 156 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Hilal Ahmed Lashuel
Associate Professor of Life Sciences, Brain Mind Institute
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Hilal Ahmed Lashuel was born in Taiz, Republic of Yemen. He received his BSc degree in chemistry from the City University of New York in 1994 and completed his doctoral studies in biological chemistry at Texas A&M University and the Scripps Research Institute in 2000. In 2001, he moved to Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women's Hospital as a research fellow and was later promoted to Instructor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. In 2005, Lashuel moved Switzerland to join the Brain Mind Institute at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, where he is now Associate Professor of Life Sciences and Director of the Laboratory of Molecular and Chemical Biology of Neurodegeneration. His research has resulted in the identification of potential therapeutic targets and new hypotheses concerning the mechanisms of pathogenesis in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and related disorders. Lashuel is a co-founder and Secretary-General of the Society for the Advancement of Science and Technology in the Arab World (SASTA). | <urn:uuid:6f5c4dae-92ac-43ba-a336-eb9a61755bb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weforum.org/young-global-leaders/hilal-ahmed-lashuel/index.html?link=no | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939603 | 241 | 1.6875 | 2 |
AS WIDELY expected, on June 22nd, Moody's cut the ratings of 15 global banks, including five of America's largest financial institutions. The downgrades were the result of an in-depth review, which the ratings agency had announced in February.
The magnitude of the cuts was less than had been feared, particularly in the case of Morgan Stanley, which was downgraded just two notches, from A2 to Baa1. A three-notch cut had been publicly discussed and the possibility of an even larger cut was on the table. This prompted the firm to take steps to reduce risk, and to strengthen its ties with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest lender and Morgan Stanley's biggest shareholder with a stake of 22.5%. In fact, the bank seems to have avoided the additional notch only because there is a “moderate probability” that Mitsubishi UFJ would support the American bank in a crisis, in the words of Bob Young, Moody's managing director in charge of North-American banks. Morgan Stanley is of the view that, because of the stake, Japan Inc is on its side.
Reactions to the cuts were in direct proportion to a bank's sensitivity. JPMorgan was cut from AA3 to A2 and said nothing. It had probably been in line for a smaller cut before its recent multi-billion dollar losses in the unit that is supposed to minimise the firm's risks (the loss prompted Moody's to delay the entire review process). Still, JP Morgan, along with HSBC (downgraded one notch), remains the highest rated of the big banks and is widely believed to be the most stable (and, in the wake of the recent loss, it is emphatic about improving risk controls). Credit Suisse suffered the steepest cut—three-notches—but remains more highly rated than all but JPMorgan and HSBC. Not surprisingly, it took pains to point out its relative standing.
Goldman Sachs, downgraded from A1 to A3, was a bit sniffy: “We believe our strong credit profile and unique mix of attractive, high-return businesses with an institutional client focus will continue to serve our shareholders, creditors and clients well.” Citigroup, whose rating was downgraded to Goldman's level and, like Goldman, had its short-term rating lowered, was irate. “We strongly disagree,” it said, accusing Moody's of being “arbitrary”, “backward-looking” and “completely unwarranted”. It went on to “applaud” those who looked beyond Moody's rating.
To some extent, Citigroup's criticism is correct. Moody's re-evaluation was indeed backward looking: it took into account 40 years of highly-rated financial institutions blowing up, not least Citigroup itself. But it was also forward looking: it considered the risk banks take on when they are active in capital markets and the potential for what experts refer to as “volatility” and “tail risk”—meaning, in common language, some event that creates huge losses.
Given that the cuts were widely anticipated, banks' share prices didn't move much in the wake of their announcement. The largest drop was a 4% decline for the Royal Bank of Canada, which was downgraded from Aa3 to Aa1 (possibly because markets had perceived it to be so sound that they had not even considered it to contain any risk at all). A message in the re-ratings is: no one is immune. And if there is any cause for optimism, it is that the current focus on risk seems far more likely to produce sounder banks than past periods of confidence.
Read our previous coverage of Moody's downgrade here. | <urn:uuid:1f8338e3-26e4-41ef-94e3-81abff09342c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/06/bank-ratings | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982518 | 779 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Monday, 20 May 2013 | 0 Comments
Downloadable Essentials is a new section on MathsKit.
In meeting the purpose of MathsKit, quick links to resources for Maths teachers, there are free downloads of graph paper and lots of grid images. There are lots of sites offering free graph/grid paper, but not so many providing high quality grid images with the specific purpose of using them in a worksheet or exam create in Word (or other program). Please suggest other files that should be available, I will gradually make and add.
Sunday, 12 May 2013 | 0 Comments
Sunday, 05 May 2013 | 0 Comments
‘Tis the season to be programming.
Teachers in NSW are currently programming for the New NSW K–10 syllabuses for the Australian curriculum in Mathematics. (Of course, teachers in other states have already implemented the Australian Curriculum) As all these teachers are programming and collecting resources, I’ve updated MathsLinks and MathsFaculty with the outcomes from this new syllabus.
I hope as you find a resource for the new syllabus that you can submit the link on MathsLinks and reference it with the new outcomes.
If you create a new resource, MathsFaculty would be a great place to share it, again uploaded resources can be linked to the new outcomes.
For those outside of NSW, you can also browse by Australian Curriculum outcomes.
And, if a link on MathsLinks is not correctly categorised please help align this link – see the screenshot.
Monday, 29 April 2013 | 1 Comment
Just thinking during the staff development day.
Would numeracy levels improve if other faculties devoted same amount of time to numerical problem solving as they do to persuasive writing?— Simon Job (@simonjob) April 29, 2013
Saturday, 20 April 2013 | 0 Comments
Content: Activity, GeoGebra · File type: PDF · 18 Apr 2013 · by Nordin Zuber
See the Archives for more…
Simon Job — eighth year of teaching maths in a public high school in Western Sydney, Australia.
MathsClass is about teaching and learning in a maths classroom. more→
maths bookmarks on Pinboard | <urn:uuid:07991e84-2cbb-4b0a-890d-ecc7111a2ec6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathsclass.net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911566 | 459 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Toxoplasmosis is azoonotic infection in humans caused by the protozoal intracellularparasiteToxoplasmagondii,sporozoan protozoa in the genus of Toxoplasma. Cats are the primaryhosts, while humans and other mammals serve as intermediate hosts.Infection withTgondii iscommon among humans, and it is estimated that one third of theworld's population has been exposed. The seroprevalence varies widelyin different regions and depends on socio-economic status,environmental factors and meat-cooking habits.1 Indian studies of prevalence of toxoplasmosis reveal a wide variationand one study reported prevalence, as high as 77% in women ofreproductive age group. The average prevalence among Indian pregnantwomen is 7.7%. There is no published data on the disease prevalencein Kerala. A pilot study done in Kozhikode district revealed asero-prevalence of 27.16%.
There is a closerelationship between the incidence of toxoplasmosis and theseroprevalence of toxoplasma antibodies within a population.Infection with the parasite occurs among all age groups and as aconsequence, serological evidence of the infection increases withincreasing age. Most infections are however sub clinical and diseasetypically becomes apparent only as a congenitally acquired infectionand in patients with significant immunodeficiency such as in acquiredimmunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
The protozoan wasfirst discovered by Nicolle and Manceaux in 1908. He first isolatedit from African rodents Ctenodactylusgundii. It was identified as anagent of infectious disease in 1932. In 1983 toxoplasmosis was morewidely recorded as a cause of morbidity in immune deficient patientsincluding AIDS and idiopathic CD4 cytopenia syndrome.
Toxoplasma gondii occurs in 3 stages.
Humans acquireinfectionvia eating undercooked or raw meat infected with tissue cysts,via ingestionof food or water contaminated with infected cat feces carryingsporulated oocysts. Maternal to fetus transmission can also occur.Rare cases of individuals becoming infected through bloodtransfusions or organ transplantation have also been reported.
Sporozoits fromoocysts and bradyzoites from tissue cysts invade intestinal mucosaand in epithelial cells multiply as tachyzoites .Tachyzoites spreadto mesenteric lymph nodes and thenvia blood stream and lymphatics reach organs such as brain, eye, liver,spleen, heart, skeletal muscle, lymph nodes and placenta of pregnantmother. Focal areas of necrosis develop in these organs.2
With the developmentof immunity tachyzoites are destroyed and acute infection resolves.Some of the tachyzoites may still persist and develop into tissuecysts containing bradyzoites, which remain viable for years. Whenthere is suppression of immune system, infection is reactivated.
Development of bothhumoral and cellular immunity alter the course of toxoplasmainfection and its clinical manifestations. Humoral immunity ischaracterized by the production of specific circulating antibodies,both IgM and IgG. Toxoplasma specific Ig M antibodies appear first,hence its detection is suggestive of an acute infection. IgGantibodies appear late and persist, and is suggestive of a chronicinfection. Cell mediated immunity through activated macrophages andmonocytes is suggested to play an important role in conferringresistance to re-infection as well as in the development of initialresistance in toxoplasmosis in co-operation with humoral antibodies.This stage is associated with the disappearance of tachyzoites fromvarious tissues, especially from extra neural tissues and formationof tissue cysts. The tachyzoites may persist in the central nervoussystem and in the eye due to the absence of circulating antibodies inthe tissues.
In humans,asymptomatic or benign toxoplasmosis is the rule in immunocompetentpatients. Eighty to ninety percent ofTgondii infections in immunocompetent hosts are asymptomatic. Generally, whenacute infection is symptomatic, manifestations include symmetricfever, nonspecific rash and lymphadenopathy. The most common presentation of symptomatic postnatally acquiredtoxoplasmosis in immunocompetent patients is painless cervicaladenopathy. When fever and lymphnode enlargement persist, moreoften it ends in biopsy studies and the common histologic picture isnecrosis with granulomas. In majority of cases the clinical courseis benign and symptoms and signs resolve within a few weeks. However,severe manifestations of infection, including chorioretinitis, canoccur in some immunocompetent hosts.3
Chorioretinitis or oculartoxoplasmosis is a relatively common manifestation ofTgondii infection. Ocular toxoplasmosis occurs when cysts deposited in ornear the retina become active, producing tachyzoites. Focalnecrotizing retinitis is the characteristic lesion, but retinal scarsfrom prior reactivation are typically present. Clinical presentationusually is with eye pain and decreased visual acuity. Adults who hadacquired disease in infancy usually present with bilateral eyeinvolvement. Adults with acute infection generally present withunilateral ocular involvement.4
Figure 1. Whitefocal lesions with inflammation of vitreous humor (the classic‘headlight in the fog’ appearance) seen onophthalmoscopic examination in a patient with ocular toxoplasmosis.
Depending on thelocation and severity of toxoplasmic chorioretinitis, infection canresult in permanent retinal scarring and loss of visual acuity.Recurrent episodes are common, resulting in multiple areas of retinalscarring and functional loss.
Studies have shownthat in high endemic areas there is an association between a typicalgenotype and severe toxoplasmosis acquired by immune competentadults. It has also been recently reported that an unusual abundanceof atypical strains in the environment is associated with humanocular toxoplasmosis and with severe forms of congenitaltoxoplasmosis.
Approximately 10-20%of pregnant women infected withTgondii have clinical symptoms of the disease. The most common signs ofinfection are lymphadenopathy and fever. If the mother was infectedprior to pregnancy, there is virtually no risk of fetal infection, aslong as she remains immunocompetent. If the infection is acquiredduring the pregnancy, there is risk of infection to the fetus. Therate of trans-placental infection has been estimated to be 50% foruntreated mothers and 25% for treated mothers.
The rate of fetalinfection varies with trimester with 10-25% of infections occurringin the first trimester, 30% in the second trimester, and 50% in thethird trimester. Infection during the first or second trimestersappears to be most severe. The clinical features of congenitallyacquiredTgondii infection include chorioretinitis, blindness, seizures, microcephaly,anemia, and encephalitis. Infections acquired during the thirdtrimester are usually subclinical; however, clinical disease maystill occur later in life. 75% of infants congenitally infected withTgondii manifest no symptoms, 14% had evidence of chorioretinitis and 9%demonstrate signs of CNS involvement. | <urn:uuid:beff6b6d-e41e-439e-b5ff-1f38780f0fcb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://healthsciences.ac.in/toxoplasmosis.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919985 | 1,563 | 3.25 | 3 |
It hasn't even happened yet, but the Associated Press style gurus are killing the word "sequestration."
AP Style tip: use the term automatic budget cuts instead of sequestration, a jargon term.— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) March 1, 2013
"Killjoys," responded one follower. "Now they tell us," another tweeted.
Actually, the sequester won't happen until Friday night midnight when it will be the law of the land, no matter what AP calls it.
Sorry AP, but NPR tells us that the word has deep roots. Said NPR:
Washington's current favorite word -- sequester -- came from a 1985 budget act named, as many laws are, after its chief sponsors, Gramm-Rudman-Hollings. The term referred to a mechanism set up to cut spending automatically if deficit targets weren't reached.
The legal term "sequestration" was chosen at the time specifically because it sounded neutral, mainly because it hadn't been used before, says budget expert and consultant Stan Collender.
It didn't sound as bad as other contenders, such as "quarantine."
"They came up with 'sequester' because it had not taken on any particular baggage," Collender says. | <urn:uuid:89426fb8-ebb8-4284-b921-b9837bc39f93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://washingtonexaminer.com/now-they-tell-us-ap-kills-word-sequestration/article/2522987 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960172 | 259 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Mysteries of the Qabalah, by Elias Gewurz, , at sacred-texts.com
There is no death, there is no destruction, all is but change and transformation, first the caterpillar, then the chrysalis, then the beautiful butterfly. Likewise, first physical man, then the mighty mind, and at last a noble soul.
In the days of old, when physical force was the chief arbiter between man and man, those that loved knowledge were compelled to abandon the affairs of this world and to retire to the forests and hills in order to pursue their studies. They could never maintain their position among fighting and cruel tyrants, and were obliged to live solitary lives, contenting themselves with a few morsels of bread to satisfy their hunger and plain water to quench their thirst. They slept on the bare earth and from early morning till late at night they meditated and studied and prayed. These were the Gnanis and Bhaktas of the past. Nowadays there are schools and colleges and societies and institutions where the ancient wisdom can be studied quite comfortably in easy chairs, with the use of electric light and central heating systems to keep us oblivious to the hardships of the outside world.
In themselves these blessings of modern
civilization are quite harmless, but in an indirect manner they do injure us. The pure consciousness of man is not enriched by study per se, and the increase of knowledge is not the highest aim of man, it is only if knowledge is made subservient to love that it fulfills its mission. Therefore when the acquisition of learning is made possible in the midst of comforts, and even luxury, the danger always exists of hardening the mind and making it miss the beautiful lessons of charity, forgiveness and forbearance, while those who are trained by hardships and have to learn their lessons on empty or half-filled stomachs are more accessible to the appeals of suffering and want. Consequently the deprivations which the poor students had to undergo in olden times taught them as much (if not more) as their books, whereas the well-off students of today are ever in peril of losing their souls while enlarging their minds.
* * * *
The Brotherhood of the White Lodge is a body of great men whose souls have been made perfect through suffering, they watch over humanity from their exalted planes on
which their spiritual status enables them to live and pour down upon it knowledge and wisdom, and skill in the arts and crafts according as the world's Karma permits them to do so.
They are always affiliated to those organizations on earth whose members are single-minded, and true hearted and genuinely desirous of the welfare of the race. Especially are they interested in the advancement of science, philosophy and religion, and all public bodies promoting these subjects are helped (without knowing whence the help cometh) by the Brotherhood of the White Lodge. For the last three decades there has been a steady and growing increase of knowledge in all departments of human activity. Inventions have multiplied, and discoveries of unsuspected laws of nature are being made on every hand. Philosophic and scientific thought has never been so abundant and so brilliant as it is today, but the receivers of the gifts know not the givers, and often frustrate the gracious purposes which were to be served by the bestowal of the gifts.
* * * *
The reason is not far to seek, it is to be found in the heart of man where is the spring of all actions. To serve faithfully the Masters of Wisdom, the givers of all good gifts, the heart must be pure and the whole nature must have been regenerated, but this is a process of slow growth and requires the subdual of the personality and the crushing of the lower nature. It is only those in whom personality has been suppressed who can be made perfect channels for the eternal truths; as long as the snake is alive, man can only be an inferior instrument of nature. When the old Adam dies and the snake has given up its ghost then can man become a servant of the great Lords and co-operate with them here on earth. Therefore it often happens that those that are to be honored by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords must first be slaves and servants and learn to obey before they are allowed to command. Thus in modern times disciples are thrown into all sorts of trials and sorrows.
Poverty, disease, and friendlessness, they must know them all, until the last vestige of pride and aloofness has disappeared from
their mental make up. . . . So it comes to it that like the poverty stricken Gnanis and the Bhaktas of old, the refined students of today have likewise to undergo the same training if they are to be fitted as Messengers of the White Lodge. They must taste the bitterness of the cup unto the very dregs, and through their own sufferings learn to sympathize with those of others.
This is the straight and narrow way which leadeth unto life eternal.
This is the working of the white law, the operations of which are often so puzzling to the eyes of flesh.
It is only our own blindness and the narrowness of our own life that makes us find fault with the law, which is both wise and good.
What we see in the outer life of an individual is but an infinitesimal particle of what is going on within him. The interior life of the soul is the reality that matters, and it is here that the work of redemption of every soul is going on.
Whenever the outer life is clouded, the inner is touched, and this method is resorted to by the Brotherhood of the White Lodge
to train their disciples on the earth plane.
The ancient sages came from the poorest families, and the prophets of the future will have to be saved from the gutter before they can deliver their message.
It behooves, therefore, those who are anxious to do the Master's will to be mindful of these facts. The White Lodge has its representatives on earth, its messengers and teachers, and pupils; what we see of all these is only as much as we deserve to see. Let us beware of putting a stumbling block in the path of even the least of these, lest in so doing we be found among those who work against the good law and against the will of its blessed custodiansThe Brotherhood of the White Lodge. | <urn:uuid:b319f0ce-645a-4ebe-ac72-c6844837fb04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/moq/moq06.htm | 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 | 0.970871 | 1,321 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Morrell exhibit at Peppers
The work of famed photographer Linda Morrell will be featured in the Peppers Art Gallery March 15—April 17.
According to her website, Morrell has excelled and been active in the photography world for more than 25 years.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in photography and art education from the Rhode Island School of Design and her master’s degree in photography from George Washington University.
She has traveled the world to capture the various dimension of scenery photography using a wide range of techniques. From photographing various locations in Italy to displaying the different types of expressions evoked by individuals, she uses color and light to expose the difference types of surfaces of each subject.
Her most recent work focuses on photographs taken while she toured Italy as a visiting professor. Much of her work from Italy has religious images to emphasize the blend of traditional and modern landscape in the country. Her photography is equally displayed in light tone colors and black and white exposure.
Morrell currently teaches in The Sage College as a program coordinator for photography. She has permanent exhibits in Chicago, Washington DC, Rhode Island and New York. | <urn:uuid:d3bbd227-bfcd-4389-8fbc-7c17305c1b39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redlands.edu/news/8786.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960399 | 232 | 1.609375 | 2 |
In the UTHealth Newsroom
The graduating bachelor’s degree students of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Nursing have elected area resident Renae R. Schumann, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor in the Department of Acute and Continuing Care, as this year’s winner of the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award in the undergraduate program.
The graduating students of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Nursing have selected area resident Robert G. Hanks, Ph.D., R.N., assistant professor of clinical nursing in the Department of Family Health, as recipient of the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award in the graduate program.
On a daily basis, more than 90 different languages are spoken in the City of Houston, which recently eclipsed New York and Los Angeles as the most ethnically diverse large metropolitan area in the United States. Given its cultural and linguistic diversity, Houston is the perfect location for the 2013 Inaugural Bilingual Research Conference, hosted by the Children’s Learning Institute at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
Four successful Houstonians will share their personal stories of living with an autism spectrum disorder at a panel discussion hosted by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Giuseppe Colasurdo, M.D., dean of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, has announced the appointment of two new department chairs for the UTHealth Medical School.
In the MediaAmerican Medical News, 05/13/2013
More than two decades after President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law, many physician practices are not truly accessible for disabled patients. UTHealth's Lex Frieden is quoted in this American Medical News article about ADA accessible medical practices.
Univision Channel 45, 05/13/2013
Asperger syndrome shows slightly among children, making it difficult to diagnose but those who suffer from it have a high level of intelligence. Dr. Timothy Foster was interviewed for this Channel 45 news story about the syndrome.
Reuters Health , 05/13/2013
Men who were exposed to Agent Orange chemicals used during the Vietnam War are at higher risk for life-threatening prostate cancer than unexposed veterans, researchers have found. UTHealth's Dr. Arnold Schecter was interviewed for this Reuters Health article about Agent Orange and dioxins associated with prostate cancer.
Houston Chronicle, 05/11/2013
UTHealth's Dr. Amy Ridall offers tips on choosing a qualified dentist in this Houston Chronicle story about dental implants and other cosmetic surgery.
KTRK-TV Channel 13, 05/10/2013
Health care changes are beginning and the federal government is giving Texas $10 million to help people apply for health insurance under the new Affordable Care Act. Some three-dozen Houston-area clinics will receive part of those funds. | <urn:uuid:ee8c2512-8210-4b85-a59f-91e0768f77e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uthouston.edu/media/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943138 | 623 | 1.507813 | 2 |
After a year of ongoing work, Spain’s premier anti-foreclosure organization, the Platform of People Affected by Mortgage (PAH), has been compelling both the government and the banks in the country to react, pushing them to make some small but positive steps toward securing the right to housing.
The PAH started in February of 2009 from a small group of citizens in Barcelona in order to demand that the Mortgage Law include dación en pago, a measure that would make possible to hand back the keys and the property to the bank, discharging all mortgage debt if the holder fails to pay the mortgage. But as more and more families were evicted from their homes, PAH took to the streets in November, 2010 with the Stop Evictions campaign, which gained even more momentum during this year’s May 15 movement mobilizations. PAH became a meeting point for people in danger of losing their homes, organized locally by citizens and activists to provide legal advice and promote civil resistance actions.
Today, PAH has chapters in more than 40 cities, and it has stopped at least 110 evictions through nonviolent resistance. Since October, hundreds of 15-M activists had been occupying empty buildings to provide living space for evicted families in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Terrassa and Granada; dozens of families have decided to occupy empty houses themselves.
Activists associated with PAH in Elche, a city near Alicante, has advised as many as 50 families and, in many cases, they’ve discovered irregularities bordering on illegality. “There are families that have been paying a default insurance,” explains Gloria Marin, from PAH Elche, for instance. “They didn’t know that and the bank didn’t tell them a thing about it while trying to evict them.” In Elche, as in many other cities, the courts and the police have not moved to intervene against anti-eviction actions.
Barcelona, one of the cities where PAH’s work began, the response of the regional government has been even more positive. In October, thanks in part to PAH, the City Council moved to declare Barcelona “active on the prevention of evictions,” creating a commission to study each case, to ensure the right to housing and to support the inclusion of dación en pago in the Mortgage Law. A hundred other cities have taken similar action as well.
In other places, however, the situation has become a bit more difficult. In Madrid, where PAH has succeeded in stopping 17 of the 20 evictions it fought, police response has been escalating. PAH started its work in Madrid last June, but, after a month of several eviction preventions, the courts decided to increase the police presence. In July, more than 50 riot police prevented over 100 citizens from stopping an eviction.
The police presence since then has increased even more. “In recent weeks, the courts have sent in the police forcefully,” says Chema Ruiz of PAH Madrid. “In the beginning there were just a few police officers, and the evictions were easily stopped, but the situation has changed.” Last week, some people were arrested in an anti-foreclosure action, among them a photographer from the alternative newspaper Diagonal. Facing the increased police presence, PAH Madrid activists have changed their tactics, focusing more on the visit of the judicial commission to an endangered house and attempting to prevent it from approving the foreclosure.
Despite the repression of these actions in the Spanish capital, the message of PAH has been heard and echoed in mainstream Spanish politics. After the two-year campaign for the dación en pago was ignored by the two major parties, some months ago most of the country’s political parties included it in their platforms going into the November 20 election. Even PSOE, which rejected the dación en pago last June in Congress, reversed course and incorporated the proposal in its platform. But the victory of the right-wing Partido Popular in the Congress makes it impossible to know whether the PSOE’s promise would have become a reality.
Political promises aside, PAH’s work has forced the government to relieve some of the sting of eviction felt by those who suffer it. “We have forced the government to make a move,” says a statement on the PAH website. “It’s a ridiculous and insufficient change, but it marks the path.”
Now, the regional government of Catalonia is going further and has announced to enact the dación en pago and to purchase option agreements to let families keep their homes. PAH is also working on a “popular initiative” to petition Congress to reexamine the inclusion of dación en pago in the Mortgage Law. Soon they will begin collecting the 500,000 signatures needed to do so.
Even the banks are starting to react to people’s calls on behalf of the right to housing. In Murcia, PAH has negotiated the dación en pago for 100 families, as it has for thousands throughout Spain. In many cases, after accepting the dación en pago, canceling the debt in exchange of the house, the banks consented to allow a family to stay in their home by paying subsidized rent. “It’s not because they are better now, but because we have forced them to take care of their image,” says a statement from PAH.
Some banks have launched such programs as “Supportive Leasing” in La Caixa, which offers 3,000 houses with a monthly rent between €75 and €150, or the inclusion of dación en pago in their mortgage products—though generally with very high interest rates.
Today in Spain, banks are becoming major real estate holders. Bankia alone—a bank that was recently privatized—began the year with more than €11 billion in property, making it the country’s largest landowner. Other banks, such as CAM (also recently privatized), Santander or BBVA, offer more than 20,000 foreclosed houses with significant discounts. Most of these banks has received thousands of millions euros from the government last year in bailouts. PAH calls on the government to purchase these houses from the banks in order to increase the number of public housing units, but, for now at least, the government has yet to listen.
This story was made possible by our members. Become one today. | <urn:uuid:2dc6a293-1193-45a2-b769-8ba55da6bed6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/a-year-of-small-victories-for-the-spanish-anti-foreclosure-movement/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972172 | 1,353 | 2.1875 | 2 |
How a Chaotic Hostage Rescue Foreshadows Afghanistan’s Post-American Future
- 6:30 AM
On the morning of Jan. 10, 2012, five Taliban insurgents wearing stolen army and police uniforms stormed a government complex in Sharana, the capital of restive Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan. Their goal: to strike a meeting of the province’s top civilian, police, military and intelligence officials – essentially decapitating the provincial government of one of Afghanistan’s most important regions.
They failed — barely. Defeating just five insurgents barricaded in a stairwell required a chaotic seven-hour gun battle up and down three stories of a telecommunications building. Two civilian hostages and three policemen died in the tumult of the assault’s first few hours, as impatient Afghan leaders — whom the U.S.-led coalition deliberately allowed to take the lead — sent lightly armed cops on an almost suicidal frontal attack aimed at retaking the captured facility. Even that required the firepower of supporting U.S. Army troops and the intervention of a Polish commando unit, along with their Afghan trainees.
The obscure Sharana battle, reconstructed by Danger Room over the past year, offers a preview of what Afghanistan will look like after 2014, when all but a handful of U.S. and NATO troops leave. To temper expectations of how Afghan forces will perform when they’re in charge of the war, U.S. officials often use the term “Afghan good enough.” Tom Donilon, President Obama’s national security adviser, told The New York Times that the goal of “Afghan good enough” is an Afghanistan that “has a degree of stability.”
Sharana shows what “Afghan good enough” is likely to mean. But that meaning varies by interpretation. It was messy, with an unclear chain of command, impulsive leaders, inadequately prepared forces and equipment, and needless death. It required foreign help. But it worked. All the attackers were killed and most of the hostages freed. It was far from perfect. It was Afghan good enough. | <urn:uuid:d1f8c1ec-46b5-4edd-831a-a7f01825eb63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/afghan-good-enough/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950077 | 437 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Spring of Freedom
*Time to inform world of progress
towards restoring democracy and freedom in North
*Our economic indicators display a
*Sufferings of the Tamil people in
the North are those imposed by the LTTE
The dawn of a new spring of freedom and development awaits the North
of Sri Lanka, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing Sri Lanka’s
Honorary Consuls abroad at a meeting and a working session organised by
the Foreign Ministry at the Presidential Secretariat, Colombo yesterday.
“It is time for you to inform the world of the progress we are making
towards restoring democracy and freedom in the North, and counter the
ill informed charges being made about the plight of the innocent Tamil
people there,” he further added. Continuing further the President said:
“Despite being a developing country, Sri Lanka has many notable and
multi-faceted achievements to its credit already. “The economic
indicators depict a robust and a vibrant economy which has been able to
withstand and be resilient even in the face of the current global
economic downturn.” “Despite all these noteworthy achievements, Sri
Lanka, a vibrant democracy, has yet to reach its full potential in its
quest and realization of peace in the land.
Successive Governments have failed in this arduous task of talking
peace during the last three decades, with the LTTE, most ruthless and
armed terrorist outfit which has been banned in several countries,
inclusive of the US, UK, India and the EU.”
“He went on to say that having failed in all his efforts to achieve
peace with the LTTE through negotiations he had no other alternative,
but to take resolute action to defend his people from the atrocities and
heinous crimes committed by the LTTE terrorists.”
“My sincere efforts were rejected by the LTTE, which responded with
an intensified campaign of violence and terror, violating every
provision of the Ceasefire Agreement that was in place at the time,” he
President Rajapaksa opined that the Security Forces are now reaping
the results in their relentless efforts to liberate the civilians held
hostage and used as human shields by the terrorists, in the uncleared
“Our Security Forces are not only engaged in freeing the territory
held by the terrorists, but also are engaged in a humanitarian mission.
Their mission is to free the people in the areas under LTTE
domination, and restore peace, freedom and democracy to the Tamil people
of the North, having succeeded in the East. No other Security Force in
the world has ever successfully combatted terrorism with ‘zero
casualties’,” he claimed.
He categorically stated that the people in their respective countries
should be told that the sufferings of the Tamil people in the North,
should be totally attributed to the LTTE, who mislead, misrepresent and
falsely claim to be their liberators, when they are none other than
their greatest oppressors.
“The world must know, through you, that the Dawn of a New Spring of
freedom and development, awaits the North of Sri Lanka very soon,” he
President Rajapaksa also urged the Consuls to transcend their usual
and traditional roles and endeavour to bring-in more foreign investors
to the country. He requested them to travel out of Colombo, to the rural
areas and assess the true potential therein.
“My goal is to enhance the gross productivity of the village and link
it with the rest of the world,” he added.
Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama also addressed the august
gathering. He presented the first copy of the ‘Flashback 2007’ magazine
to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the ceremony. | <urn:uuid:8436bd37-5e31-42af-b6e4-18b0be166a6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/01/20/news01.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951109 | 815 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Borek, forgive me of my ignorance. I have to admit that my chemistry is poor. Thanks for explaining the essential basics. I understand now why strong acids can't be determined by titration.
Two separate things, which you are mixing now - perhaps your thnking is OK, but wording is wrong. You can use acid/base titration to determine AMOUNT of strong acid, you just can't use titration to determine its pKa.
For the latter question, sorry diluting strong acid should raise the pH. By the same principle, is it still not possible to use titration because the strong acid is still fully dissciated?
See above - you can determine amount (although if the concentration is too low titration is of no use). You can't determine pKa, reason (full dissociation) remains the same regardless of the concentration.
Note: reality is a little bit more complicated, but it doesn't change the outcome - you can't use titration for pKa determination for strong acids. | <urn:uuid:8d6dbe3b-487c-4453-8fa8-bbe8681fba40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=21456.msg83676 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940437 | 212 | 2.515625 | 3 |
“Not all those who wander are lost.” -J.R.R. Tolkien
Beloved by Peace Corps Volunteers and Lord of the Rings devotees alike, these words serve as a mantra for many of us who have not followed the straight and narrow. Interpreted abstractly (I’m not off course, there never was a course to begin with), they help us justify some of the questionable choices made along the way. Examining the quote more literally gets straight to the heart of why so many of us travel.
Anyone who has spent any amount of time on Pinterest has at least heard the suggestion that the adventure lies in the journey, not necessarily the destination. Although the world is full of incredible, miraculous places, often the road there gives us our favorite moments--the tales that stay with us long after we unpack our bags. The opportunity to disorient ourselves and our senses can change us. It can also scare us half to death. Perhaps the greatest trick to travel is staying on the right side of that fine line where the best stories live.
Certain travel guides contain a small section in the front asserting that true travelers should forget about the book they just dropped $20 on and figure a region out for themselves. While I have always found these blurbs a little pretentious, they hold some truth. I love reading a few bits about a location to develop a framework and then letting the place reveal itself once we arrive.
However, in Paraguay--a land full of secret handshakes where indirect communication rules--the journey can wear us out pretty quickly. Sometimes, while wandering through Paraguay--albeit searching for an actual physical destination or navigating social mores--we just get lost.
In an effort to help keep those of you looking to pass a little time in the heart of South America in the fun “What just happened?” phase of the adventure (and out of the “Oh dear god, am I going to die here?” zone) I have assembled a haphazard collection of hints for your stay. Go forth, enjoy, and live out your Pinterest “inspiration” board like a boss.
|This face should do the trick negotiating bus |
fare and when store clerks who should be able to make change,
won't break your bill.
- When you say hello to someone as you pass them on the street, you actually say goodbye. ("Adios!")
- Unless you are serving the mate/terere, never touch the bombilla.
- The a-okay sign is vulgar here. So is miming revving up a motorcycle.
- Mango sap and poison ivy are close cousins. Watch out.
- If someone offers you something and you don't want it, you say "Gracias." (Thank you) If you do want it, saying "Yes, thank you" will lead to a lot of confusion.
- Never leave your cell phone unsupervised with people you don’t know/trust. It’s very easy and requires no password to move all your phone credit onto another person’s account.
- Careful when crossing traffic in the big city. Even if both lanes are stopped, motos will still weave through.
- Petty crime is on the rise in Paraguay. Money belts and ankle wallets can give you piece of mind when traveling.
- Ask locals and other PCVs how much the long distance bus fare should cost before you get on. Use exact change if possible. If the driver tells you a higher price, a long hard stare and a suggestion of the correct price should do the trick.
- Buses are competing for your business. Unless you have experience with the line, when at the terminal wait to buy your ticket until you see the bus arrive. (For example, just because someone tells you their bus is the next bus leaving, that doesn’t make it true.)
- Always save your receipts until you get off the bus.
- If a dog (or group of dogs) is hassling you, lean down a pretend to pick up a pretend rock. This will make you king of all the dogs and they will run away.
- Unplug your computer the second the power goes out. It often surges when it comes back on.
- Carry toilet paper/wet wipes.
- No paper of any sort goes in the toilet. (If you forget once or twice it’s not the end of the world.)
- If you turn on the electricity in your shower before the water, you may get shocked when you turn the water on.
- Don’t touch the shower head when the electricity is on. Turn the electricity off if you want to change the setting.
- Always wear flip flops in the shower. Squeegee the floor when you are done.
- Make friends with your local dispensia. Coke and beer bottles usually require a deposit or a trade. If your dispensia knows you, they may let you take one on credit.
- If you are drinking beer in group, don’t expect your own glass. Do NOT wipe the lip off when if gets you.
- Men and women rarely sit together during parties.
- If you arrive “on-time” for the party, you’ll be early.
- You may be called fat and then yelled at for not taking seconds within the same conversation. Try not to read too much into this.
- Paraguay is considered an “indirect” culture. For example, you don’t dislike a food, you don’t know how to eat it. (No se como comer.)
- Paraguay is home to a handful of food/drink combination myths that many people take very seriously. Beverages are consumed after the meal, snacks before terere, and never concurrently.
- Red and blue are highly politicized colors. However, unless you wear them to a parade or a government office, most people won’t make the association.
- Even if you are struggling with Spanish, learn a couple Guarani words/phrases. Nothing will endear you to your neighbors faster.
- You will stick out. That’s okay. Your language skills might not be great. That’s also okay. Just do your best, expect to get teased, and join in the fun. You’ve got this. | <urn:uuid:4583c166-ee00-4b6c-80e7-7d74d998518f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://joannajohnsonmadden.blogspot.com/ | 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 | 0.927381 | 1,344 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Artists & Projects Directory
The America Project
The America Project is a national program that stimulates critical citizenship, imagination, and civic dialogue through creative process and public engagement, placing artists in leadership roles to enlist diverse community members in exchanges that promote common purpose and visionary thinking for social change.
As envisioned by the project's founder, artist Sekou Sundiata, The America Project questions what it means to be both a citizen and an individual in the complex, hyper-kinetic society that is the United States of America today. The program places artists at the center of that investigation, and supports creative projects that bring people into a shared civic process; that are grounded in, and meaningful to, a particular community; and that effectively speak to broad audiences across the U.S. about the critical issues of our time.
In Sundiata's words, The America Project creates "a We/Ours out of I/Me/Mine in moving towards gatherings of good conscience, honest critique, and common purpose... with the hope that it will be carried forward into other gatherings, in other settings. It is both an example and a promotion of a useful democratic practice." | <urn:uuid:24dd41bc-c399-45e3-81b4-5a51394190a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mappinternational.org/america-project | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933165 | 235 | 2.0625 | 2 |
After years of setbacks and with little fanfare, bulldozers began uprooting dozens of trees in a scruffy Brooklyn park last weekend to make way for a major development that will give Brooklyn its first large hotel since the 1930's and is widely considered a key to downtown renewal.
The razing of the park signals the end of 13 years of struggles to secure financing and prospective tenants for the $230 million hotel and office complex known as Renaissance Plaza, a 32-story tower that is to include a 384-room Marriott Hotel.
In a borough that has struggled somewhat self-consciously under the long shadows from across the East River, the development has been envisioned as the final validation of downtown Brooklyn's emergence as a business and commercial center.
The development, one of several major construction projects in Brooklyn that are reshaping the aging skyline, will add more than 2,100 new jobs. Developers and city officials hope the complex will give a renewed sense of vibrancy to the downtown district.
"It's a key element of the total revitalization of downtown Brooklyn," said Joshua L. Muss, the Queens developer of the project. "It's going to further prime the pump to start another wave of development."
Planned for a city-owned site bounded by Jay and Adams Streets, the 810,000-square-foot Renaissance Plaza is seen as the centerpiece that will link the area around Court Street, the courthouses and municipal buildings to newer developments nearby, like Metrotech, a $1 billion commercial and academic complex, and Atlantic Center, a $530 million retail and housing complex.
After years of delays, the project moved forward in the last two weeks after the final financial piece fell into place with the signing of an agreement between the developer and the Leucadia National Corporation, which is based in Manhattan. One of Leucadia's subsidiaries, the Empire Insurance Group, will be a principal tenant, renting nine floors.
The other principal tenant will be the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, which will lease 14 floors and consolidate its scattered operations under one roof. Marriott has signed to occupy the first seven floors as a hotel. The hotel is to include a business center, a health club, an indoor swimming pool, a major ballroom and more than 30,000 square feet of convention and meeting space.
Mr. Muss, the developer, and Geary Campbell, a spokeswoman for Marriott Lodging in Bethesda, Md., said extensive market surveys show that the hotel will attract business travelers and out-of-towners visiting friends and relatives in Brooklyn.
Greg Brooks, executive assistant to Borough President Howard Golden, said, "If you ask the Brooklyn business community what is the one thing they are really lacking, most would tell you it's a new hotel."
Small hotels and motels have been built along major thoroughfares in Brooklyn, but no large hotel has been constructed since the era of the great hotels in the 1920's, when the Granada and Towers hotels were built, and the St. George Hotel underwent an extensive renovation in 1930.
Since the latest project was conceived, it has been mired in discussions over financing, possible tenants and companies to manage a hotel. And with back rent due on the land and no firm plan to finance a hotel last year, the city had threatened to take back the property.
Partners in the development are Mr. Muss; Leucadia, a holding company, and the Carlyle Group, a merchant bank in Washington that specializes in mergers and acquisitions. | <urn:uuid:bf483280-b5b7-4654-8ea5-2d29ca44fcaf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/24/nyregion/land-clearing-starts-for-brooklyn-hotel.html?src=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956323 | 717 | 1.5 | 2 |
Tougher NCAA rules force USU athletes to hit the books hard
Julie Ann Grosshans
The 4-foot-11 Aggie from Las Vegas came to USU five years ago as a Proposition 48 athlete.
Utah State gymnastics Head Coach Ray Corn said Abrego did not fulfill graduation and SAT score requirements in order to compete immediately. Because of this, she sat out her first year and paid for her own education.
"Gymnastics motivates me and school really doesn't," Abrego said. "It's been really hard for me here at Utah State. There have been tons of times when I just wanted to give up because school was so hard for me."
She said she stuck with school because her teammates and coaches always encouraged her.
Although Abrego's story may sound unique, she is not alone.
In 1983 the NCAA passed Proposition 48. This mandated student-athletes to reach certain academic eligibility requirements in order to compete for Division I colleges.
Under Proposition 48, student athletes are required to have a minimum SAT score of 700, or an ACT score of 17, and a minimum GPA of 2.0 in at least 11 courses in core classes, according to the NCAA Web site.
Things became a little tougher when delegates to the 86th NCAA Annual Convention passed Proposition 16.
According to the website, the proposition came in two stages, the first going into effect Aug. 1, 1995.
Under the first stage, the number of required courses was increased from 11 to 13 and two academic electives were added. According to the Web site, SAT/ACT and GPA requirements did not change.
In the second stage, which went into effect Aug. 1, 1996, one of the academic electives was moved to English. This meant four years of English were required instead of three. The SAT/ACT and GPA requirements also changed in 1996, according to the website. A sliding scale combining SAT/ACT scores and GPA in at least 13 core classes was instituted.
The website used the example of a student athlete with a SAT score of 700 (ACT of 17) needing a GPA of at least 2.5 to meet eligibility requirements.
Because Abrego did not meet the NCAA eligibility requirements, she earned her GED through Utah State University. She will be the first member of her family to graduate from college.
"It's a lot of pressure," Abrego said. "I really want to [graduate] for my family and for myself. I know my parents will be so proud once I do graduate from college."
Along with Abrego's parents, Gregorio and Ana, the NCAA has seen an increase of student-athlete graduates since the creation of Proposition 48. A study conducted by the NCAA in 1997 said student athletes entering school between 1983 and 1989 graduated at a higher rate than non-athlete students at Division I schools offering athletic scholarships. The study also showed the enrollment of minority students as having increased, although it had previously fallen after the imposition of Proposition 48.
The study by the NCAA only included schools offering scholarships, excluding programs such as in the Ivy League, according to a release on the NCAA website.
"For this study we wanted the data on student athletes and the general student body to be from an identical group of institutions," said NCAA Assistant Director of Research Todd A. Petr.
Petr said the school that did not offer scholarships only contributed information on its general student body. According to the release, a prime focus of the study was to address the concerns over the potential effects of Proposition 48 on minority students. It was predicted that an increase in graduation rates would occur among minority groups but lower enrollment rates right after the legislation went into effect.
To demonstrate the point, the website release recorded that African-Americans held 27.3 percent of entering student athletes in 1985, the year before Proposition 48 started. The level dropped down to 23.6 percent the following year but by 1989 the entering class was back up to 25 percent.
Abrego is a member of the Hispanic community. Other minority groups showed no effect on enrollment rates, according to the website.
It is clear gymnastics comes easy to Abrego.
Aside from the obvious academic struggles Abrego faced, Corn said she had her high and low marks as an Aggie gymnast.
When she first came to Utah State, Abrego came in with an injured knee. She was rehabilitating from a torn ACL, Corn said.
During her second season of competition another bombshell came. Abrego injured her other knee and tore the ACL.
Her senior campaign was one to remember, though.
"This last year was just an absolute brilliant year for her," Corn said.
The season marks of 9.850 on vault and 9.925 on floor tie her for fourth all-time in Utah State history, as well as holding the 10th best all-around score (39.250). At the same time she was struggling with history in the classroom, as she studied topics like colonial America and 19th century presidents.
Abrego said she would miss gymnastics. She will not miss sitting in a classroom. | <urn:uuid:42e41c19-b88e-4c43-87a0-78b819437523> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu/archive/june2002/0606_ncaa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97952 | 1,063 | 1.898438 | 2 |
August 2 saw Matthew Beller’s Daily Article “The Coming Second Life Business Cycle,” which sounded at first blush like yet another announcement of the coming Rapture. But it described the fiat money (Linden Dollars) of the fiat world of the Internet, known as Second Life. And sure enough, just like the First Life (this one?), the creation of money out of thin electrons would produce a business cycle.
In the August 16 issue of The Economist appears the article (subscription required, I believe) “Trouble in Paradise” describing the first bank run in Second Life and the bank of that world, Ginko Financial, freezing deposits and refusing redemption of deposits in the “real” dollars that were paid for them.
So, whether in real life or the virtual one, the creation of money by fiat produces booms and busts, and this even in a world in which the “government” can and does create (all) value (the virtual money is spent on virtual land created by the site, and on more-attractive attributes for participants’ “avatars,” which are the pictorial representations of themselves on the site).
The article seems largely to overlook how this totally controlled laboratory experiment proves the Austrians’ main contentions regarding fiat money. | <urn:uuid:7db4f553-7e12-4424-9005-942d8b8c6f04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.mises.org/7006/and-thus-it-came-to-pass/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943009 | 275 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Did you know that cleaning your lint trap with a dryer sheet can ruin it? Dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that’s what burns out the heating unit.
You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. It’s what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free, and smell good. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box? Apparently that stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it!
You can test it by running the lint trap under water. If the water goes through you are good. If not then you need to clean it.
The best way to keep your dryer working for a long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. via | <urn:uuid:1bd26445-5111-4646-ae2c-b5dce23a74fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://doitandhow.com/2012/01/30/wash-your-dryer-lint-filter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952561 | 213 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Moment of silence for Newtown shooting victims
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NEWTOWN, Conn. -- A moment of silence is held in honor of the victims of last Friday's shooting in Connecticut.
It's been one week since a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 26 people at the school, including 20 children.
Today's memorial was observed at 9:30 a.m., marking the exact time when the shooting took place.
Local houses of worship rang bells 26 times for the Sandy Hook victims.
People nationwide also observed the moment of silence at the same time.
Funeral services and memorials for the victims have taken place throughout the week.
President Obama attended a large memorial service for all the victims in Newtown last Sunday night.
Connecticut State Police say 20-year-old Adam Lanza forced his way into the school last Friday morning. Police say he also shot and killed his mother Nancy at their home near the school. They are still looking for a motive as the investigation continues. After the killing spree, police said Lanza took his own life. | <urn:uuid:5b1b058a-0574-4ab3-bd6c-20a4dfc91521> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://binghamton.ynn.com/content/top_stories/623765/moment-of-silence-for-newtown-shooting-victims/?ap=1&MP4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964115 | 252 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Some of our favorite art installations are ones that play with their environment. There’s something transformative and magical about altering a space most people are already familiar with. Maybe it’s the Cinderella-like nature of it all that makes it special. Art installations are, after all, fleeting things. For a few days or weeks the ordinary becomes the extraordinary and then suddenly, as if the clock has struck 12, the magic is gone. The magic Lee Eunyeol has created flips the very Earth and sky itself.
“Starry night expresses private spaces given by night and various emotions that are not able to be defined and described in the space. I’ve chosen analogue type for the expression which attempts to install electric bulbs in an objet to be expressed using back space of night by taking advantage of huge studio. There are two spaces in photographs. One is a space before electric bulbs of familiar landscape are installed and the other is a space after electric bulbs expressed by dispersing personal emotion are installed. Unified light from these two spaces generates a mysterious landscape.”
His landscape is mysterious and wondrous indeed. He pulls together different environments and despite using the same tooks, creates a different feel for each.
To see more of this great installation, check out the piece on This is Colossal! | <urn:uuid:8868560c-8813-4693-8e65-2f39e4c336dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://joonbug.com/national/cool-shit/Stars-on-Earth/piMXboXWPac | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934027 | 268 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Ask an assembled group of property owners when is the best time of year to buy or sell property. You are likely to get the answer that summer is the best time. However for whilst toy manufacturers and retailers know that over 50% of their business occurs in the last 2 months of the year, real estate agents are actually pretty busy selling property year round.
The fact is that property sales are actually less susceptible to seasonality than some may think. In the chart below the calendar year is laid out showing the peaks and troughs of sales – this data is showing seasonality; based on over 15 years of data from the Real Estate Institute.
The analysis has shown that month-on-month variation in property sales tends to fluctuate by far less than people perceive. March is the most active month of the year, with January being the least active. Taking a typical year and a total sales of say 8,000 in March. This would equate to 258 sales per day; based on the same market the figure for January would be less, but still a respectable 190 sales per day. As for the winter months – they would average around 216 sales per day.
Having said that sales are not that seasonal it may come as some surprise to learn that there are some hidden “windows” of opportunity during the year to list a home for sale! In fact when selling a property, the best time could be in the middle of winter, a time traditionally thought of as the worst time of the year for the property market!
The chart below tracks the seasonality of listing volumes (new property coming onto the market) and also number of people viewing property online. These important new sets of data have only recently been available as a function of the dominance of the web in real estate researching.
The activity of researching and viewing property online (in red above) hardly varies by much through out the year (with the single exceptions of the ever-present distractions of Christmas and the fast approaching summer holidays). For reference website traffic is measured across a basket of leading real estate websites including Realestate.co.nz.
The one surprising fact though highlighted from the analysis is the seasonality of new listings coming onto the market (shown in blue above). In this regard the behaviour of sellers is completely out of line with buyer activity.
The majority of new property listings tend to flood onto the market in February & March and again in October & November. Such is the surge that close to 40% of all new listings in a year, pour onto the market in just these 4 months in the expectation that this is when buyers are most active. Equally in contrast, those winter months of June, July and August show the lowest level of new listings coming onto the market falling to barely 20% of the annual total of all new listings hitting the market during the 3 months of winter.
So what does this analysis tell us as property owners and buyers, and what should you do to take advantage of this analysis?
Well thinking about it, there is an opportunity here for astute property sellers. For whilst the temptation is to list either in the spring or summer, grabbing the winter season could give your property greater exposure at a time when fewer listings are out in the market to compete with, and yet at the same time buyer interest does not decline to the same extent.
So maybe the best advice is be brave and be different, and just maybe that sale may come sooner than you think giving you the opportunity to be buying just as all the new spring season listings hit the market. | <urn:uuid:9cd04379-d3d3-4704-a555-e99173dd8cd0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unconditional.co.nz/blog/is-summer-really-the-best-time-to-sell-a-property/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968548 | 719 | 1.609375 | 2 |
The tower would be Levete’s first London skyscraper.
Residents groups claim to have collected 1,000 letters against ’alien’ proposal
Proposals drawn up by Amanda Levete Architects for a 25-storey tower in Shoreditch, east London, have sparked mass opposition from local residents including Turner Prize-winning artist Rachel Whiteread.
Plans for the Huntingdon Estate site, which sits opposite Shoreditch High Street station and alongside fashionable members club Shoreditch House, would see an existing two-storey building replaced by the high-rise residential-led scheme.
The proposal would be Levete’s first skyscraper in London and her second major development in Tower Hamlets alongside the planned new headquarters for News International.
She said: “This area has turned from fringe to central and our scheme reflects this – it’s all about enhancing the diversity that characterises the district. By building high, rather than across we have been able to respect and extend Shoreditch’s small-scale urban grain and open up the site to promote public interaction.”
But residents groups, including Open Shoreditch and the Jago Action Group, claim the scheme would have a “disjunctive effect on the streetscape”.
A heritage impact assessment carried out for the groups by Richard Griffiths Architects examined the proposal against the local conservation area guidelines and concluded that it “does not preserve or enhance the character and setting of the Redchurch Street Conservation Area” and that the development would be “alien”.
Local architect Chris Dyson, who also opposes the plans, said: “The choice of architect is glamorous and she [Levete] is very good, but the building is inappropriate for the context.”
Meanwhile, the action groups say that more than 1,000 letters of objection including Whiteread’s have been sent to Tower Hamlets Council.
Chair of the Jago Action Group and Redchurch Street resident Rebecca Collings said: “When we show
the images to people they usually laugh, they can’t take it seriously.”
Its letter said the development was “significantly too high” and that there was “no further need for landmark architecture in this locality”.
Collings, who has personally delivered 800 letters to the council, said the group was aiming for 10,000 letters of objection.
As well as 116 housing units, developer Londonewcastle is proposing retail, leisure and office space, together with parking in the basement and roof gardens on the single storey podium. A separate development, by Peter Barber Architects at Fleet Street Hill would contain 43 affordable housing units associated with the development.
it’s all about enhancing the diversity
The council confirmed it had received a “significant” number of representations. A spokeswoman for Tower Hamlets added: “So far we have acknowledged receipt of 440. The final verified level of representation will be detailed within the eventual report to the strategic development committee.”
Meanwhile, the Greater London Authority has also carried out a study into the plans, concluding that the scheme, in its current form, does not comply with the London Plan.
However, it acknowledged that the design was “innovative” and “highly sculptural” and that it would comply with London Plan guidelines following a modest reduction in height.
Londonewcastle chief operating officer Robert Soning said: “We are confident that these magnificent buildings will quickly become part of the urban fabric.”
The proposals will be heard by Tower Hamlets’ strategic development committee this summer.
The development of Shoreditch with its narrow Victorian streetscapes and Dickensian feel has long been a touchy subject.
In 2008, local artists including Tracey Emin and the Chapman Brothers campaigned vigorously against plans to develop a number of towers designed by Foster & Partners at Bishops Place.
Now, there are fears of a similar threat from Levete’s tower, which is proposed at the Huntingdon Estate site, alongside one of the area’s prettiest roads, Redchurch Street and neighbouring landmark the Tea Building.
One critic said the 25-storey proposal would “drown out” the seven-storey Tea Building and “cast an unfair sun-dial” on the nearby grade II listed Boundary Estate, home to the UK’s first council housing.
18 February 2013
15 November 2012
25 November 2011
6 September 2011
9 June 2011
17 May 2011
08 April 2011
01 April 2011
28 March 2011 | <urn:uuid:f4c596e5-33b4-4d06-a1ed-3321c37c60d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.bdonline.co.uk/news/local-fury-over-amanda-levete%E2%80%99s-shoreditch-tower-plan/5018037.article | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960418 | 966 | 1.515625 | 2 |
One of the numerous essential things associated with the usage of any kind of antivirus software
package is the actual appearance involving antivirus software alert. It is really a very helpful form of notice that lets you know that you have either come across virtually any harmful program and also just about any personal computer infection is going to invade their PC if they visit a particular internet site as well as open a specific application. The significance of antivirus software alert is just undeniable particularly in the actual current day cases exactly where we are literally surrounded by PC infections from all around. Without the anti-virus software alert, we would have no clue that whether a specific web site of program is actually malicious or not. Nearly all good anti-virus computer software have got the particular antivirus software alert as part of their particular typical package that is perfect for you actually. This anti-virus software alert will alert you via audio in addition to video notifications that you're going to open up any malicious application and you will immediately be aware. You can then act in line with the situation by simply closing a particular website or perhaps a program. It is crucial for you to take serious action once you get any notice regarding a protection risk. This anti-virus software alert will ensure that you simply remain safe from just about any destructive application or perhaps personal computer infection which if contaminates your personal computer, is going to ruin the data in there or maybe grab your own private information. Keep in mind that a fresh tactic initiated by hackers is they have simply distributed a computer infection in the form of virtually any anti-virus software alert. This really is to confuse you actually and also once you respect this considering this to be an alert, this infects your PC with the computer virus. This sort of concealed computer virus alarms you actually to install a specific application to be able to keep protected against all of the malicious programs. As soon as you let the installing of such a program, your computer will get the actual computer virus. Thus you have to be careful plus it's just you that can distinguish in between a real anti-virus software alert plus a false one particular depending on your current practical knowledge as well as the existing situations. In case you are informed over and over again with regards to a computer virus threat by any antivirus software alert, you must scan your personal computer making use of your antivirus in order to make sure that whether or not you really have got a real warning or even there's any virus in the form of anti-virus software alert. It is going to then be useful in determining that exactly what you must do after that and you will take the needed steps consequently. | <urn:uuid:4af7f6cf-f727-4ea5-a0e6-6c47ae4f4011> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedahloneganugget.com/pages/ad_details/?id=47467205&instance=events | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954679 | 537 | 2.15625 | 2 |
By Jim Wiegand, wildlife biologist, University of California, Berkeley.
The controversy surrounding wind farms in America has been brewing for over 25 years. The debate centers around the use of the deadly propeller style wind turbines and the large death toll to what are supposedly protected species. One of these species, the federally protected golden eagle, has been at the forefront of this debate from the beginning.
For the wind industry, environmental analysis basically comes down to disclosing as few impacts as possible to an ignorant audience. The biological assessments are either paid by the industry for or created from wind industry influence in political arena. These grossly incompetent documents are produced solely to manipulate and expedite the permitting process for wind farm approval.
As I will point out, there are some very good reasons to discard these surveys. It does not matter how skilled the observer, the fact is that identification of the golden eagle and determining age class is not easy. It is a well documented fact that the golden eagle is very often confused with immature bald eagles. With the West Inc observers flying around in an airplane I can imagine there being a lot of confusion between the two
because it appears that results of these yearly surveys have to be contaminated with immature bald eagle sightings counted as golden eagles.
Mistakenly identifying golden eagles is common. I even witnessed this with UC Berkeley staff on college on field trips.These surveys have been broken up into four geographic regions. One is called the Northern mountain region of the Western U.S. This is the area of the survey overlaps that overlaps primary bald eagle Western habitat(see image). Over the last two years the West inc. survey reports the most golden eagles in this area even though this region represents only secondary golden eagle habitat. Much of the habitat in this region of the survey cannot even support a population of golden eagles because of the abundance of cover and lack of prey species.
This area has also been under drought conditions for years(see image). This further affects the available food supply for the golden eagle.
Yet if we are to believe the estimates put out by West Inc for entire 193,000 square mile region of what they classify as Northern Mountain habitat, there is a golden eagle every 25 square miles. In actuality there is not even one golden eagle every 200 square miles for this region.
In the past I conducted my own golden eagle research. This intermountain habitat had an elevation ranging between 3000-5000 feet. The habitat included juniper woodland, forest, semi desert, and grasslands. I found that this habitat will support a nesting pair of nesting golden eagles in about a 100 square mile territory under the best of conditions. I observed one pair that actually hunted over a 200 square mile territory during the spring and summer months exploiting pockets in the habitat where their preferred prey lived.
Eagles aren’t the only birds falilng prey to razor-sharp turbine blades. In Italy, red kites brought back from the brink of extinction have been decimated by wind turbines, experts report.
Over the last 40 years there have been intense ground and air surveys of some of the very best golden eagle habitat that exists in the Western US. These are habitats in Northern Nevada, Northwestern Utah, the Snake River drainage of Idaho, and the Thunder Basin area of Wyoming. These are areas that support large populations of either rabbits, ground squirrels or prairie dogs. These are the pockets of habitat that can actually support an eagle every 25 square miles.
When considering just these prime pockets of golden eagle habitat and include all the surrounding lesser habitat in their respective counties, the golden eagle populations still only come out to about one pair of nesting golden eagles every 80-100 square miles in less than 10% of the counties of the 13 western states surveyed. None of these counties exist in the Northern Mountain Habitat region of the survey.
The Thunder Basin National Grassland was surveyed in 2006 by the USDA and they only reported 18 golden eagle nests for the entire 893 square mile National Park. This works out to one eagle nest for every 49.6 sq. miles in this prime habitat. In 2003 the West Inc survey of the 757,883 sq miles region of the Western U.S. reported a total golden eagle population of an astounding 27392 eagles. This figure represents one eagle existing for every 27 square miles of every bit of the western habitat. These reported figures are ridiculous.
In Southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, the Rocky Mountains there are vast areas of poor habitat included in the survey where there is not even one pair of eagles every 400-500 square miles. There are also1000′s of square miles of cities, towns, farms and industrial areas no eagle habitat exists. This too must be factored in to any population estimates. I have provided a map to show where the highest year round populations and densities golden eagles actually exist in the Western U.S.
The proportion and number of juvenile golden eagles in the reported in surveys are also erroneous. I say this because when identifying young juvenile golden eagles one must keep in mind that they look nearly identical to those birds that have not completed their first molt. This would make the juvenile eagles counted in the survey are actually a mix of two different years of golden eagle offspring. Thus the actual fledged or juvenile golden eagles reported by the West Inc are actually lower than those stated in the surveys. Photographs are the best way to tell them apart and to document what is really an eagle recently fledged from the nest vs. an eagle from the previous year.
When considering the amount of juvenile eagles accounted for in this series of surveys, I will now point out the most damming or contradictory fact of the West Inc golden eagle surveys. The age classes of the given eagle population in the surveys contradict their own total population conclusions. This further invalidates the survey results. The West Inc surveys state a population that is made up of approximately 12,000 adult golden eagles. These adults are reported to be producing fewer than 2000 young each of the last 4 years.
In reality a population of 12,000 adult eagles would easily produce 5000-6000 offspring for each of these years. It is well documented from decades of research that nesting Golden Eagles on average produce between .75 and 1.25 fledged young per year. Even if we were to accept the inflated 2000 number of juveniles given in the survey, it would indicate a population of half the size given.
As I have pointed out in this report, there are not nearly as many golden eagles as reported in the West Inc surveys. The population of golden eagles in the 13 western states has been exaggerated 3-4 times.
I find it ironic that these extensive surveys were contracted out to private industry even though under the employment of the USFWS there are many qualified people that could conduct a much more accurate analysis of the golden eagle. Many biologists who are currently under the employment of the USFWS, USDA, and State wildlife departments that will agree with this report. Unfortunately they must answer to the policies dictated by industry and remain silent.
It is also my understanding that these surveys are planned for 20 years. That’s just about long enough to get to get the planned 150,000- 200,000 turbines and the needed transmission lines installed into this region of the Western U.S. So if this gauntlet of turbines is installed and the golden eagle population is found to be in a nose dive…. Then what? Who will be responsible? Not the wind industry because they will be protected by the “no surprises clause” conveniently written into the Federal law pertaining to incidental take permits.
This report represents the true state of the golden eagle population and it should be circulated to every in planning department in the Western U.S. I have been paid nothing to write this and have been influenced by no one. | <urn:uuid:c7d70f56-1c00-48f2-8439-800c83cf2828> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2011/08/03/golden-eagles-fall-prey-to-the-wind-industry-2300-killed-in-the-past-25-years-in-usa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94733 | 1,609 | 3.03125 | 3 |
NEW YORK Deloitte's 25th annual holiday survey of consumer spending intentions and trends found that 66% of consumers surveyed indicate their financial situation is the same or better compared with this time a year ago, and 62% plan to spend the same or more on the holidays compared with 2009. However, 50% of consumers feel the economy is either in a recession or heading back into one.
Despite the mixed view, one group of consumers -- the $100,000 and higher income bracket -- is leading the upswing in sentiment with nearly half (45%) of households feeling the economy will improve next year, compared with 39% of all other survey respondents, Deloitte reported. Additionally, more than half (52%) say their job is extremely or very secure, 10 percentage points higher than the survey average. This group is also planning to splurge the most on the holiday season, spending a total of $826 on gifts this year, 77% higher than all survey respondents.
"Consumers who are feeling secure in their financial situation appear more willing to engage in some retail therapy, satisfying some pent up demand," said Alison Paul, vice chairman and retail sector leader for Deloitte LLP. "At the same time, there are households that remain focused on necessities due to a job loss or other issues impacting their incomes. Other consumers report an improvement in their personal finances, yet remain cautious about the economy."
Deloitte found that consumers aged 45 to 60 years were more concerned about the economy. Four out of 10 (40%) respondents indicate their household financial situation is worse compared with last year at this time, compared with 35% of overall respondents. The highest number of respondents who said they will spend less this holiday season (46%) and that they have permanently cut back on the amount of money they spend (41%) came from the 45 to 60 years old age group.
Conversely, the 18 to 29 years old age group is ready to revisit retailers this holiday season after closely managing their finances, with nearly 37% citing careful spending throughout the year as a reason they're hoping to spend more on the holidays, Deloitte found. While their expected gift spending is lower than other age groups, they may make it up in non-gift spending plans as they expect to spend 50% more than the average on entertaining at home, non-gift clothing, socializing and home/holiday furnishings combined, bringing their total holiday spend on gift and non-gift items to $1,394, compared with an average of $1,160 among all survey respondents.
In addition to gauging holiday spending intentions in the 25th Annual Holiday Survey, Deloitte said it asked consumers to share their views on the most significant shopping changes in their lifetimes. In response, consumers frequently cited the Web's influence on their shopping. Almost half of consumers (46%) said that today they are smarter about prices as a result of comparison shopping online. Nearly four out of 10 (37%) indicate shopping is simpler because of the ability to shop in stores and online to find items they want. Also, 25% of consumers said the ability to check online recommendations from others has given them more confidence in buying a product.
"Among all the innovations over the years, respondents appear to value consumer technologies that provide convenience, simplicity, and access to information to empower them as shoppers," continued Paul. "Today's connected consumer is a precise and demanding consumer. Retailers that understand shoppers' priorities and can provide consistent product, assortment and service across multiple channels will likely better engage consumers this holiday season and beyond." | <urn:uuid:82568bfc-1b34-41c0-90d6-d1e556daeb98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.retailingtoday.com/print/263731 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954294 | 730 | 1.59375 | 2 |
A Messianic Jewish congregation in Bowling Green, Kentucky recently hosted a most unusual guest speaker - a co-founder of Lebanon's Hizballah terrorist militia, a group dedicated to the destruction of Israel.
Dr. Daniel Shayesteh was a political and military figure in the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran in the 1980s. He is said to have helped with the formation of Hizballah, and with the training and indoctrination of the terrorists who make up its ranks.
While visiting Hope in Messiah, a Messianic congregation headed by Jonathan Sacks, Shayesteh said that faith in Yeshua had transformed him from a man of hate into a man of love.
"It is amazing to me that I was a man preparing young boys and girls with hatred toward Christianity," Shayesteh told local ABC affiliate WBKO.
That statement also revealed an often forgotten aspect of the situation in Lebanon, that Hizballah and the Islamists at work there hate not only Israel, but Lebanon's large Christian population, as well.
Shayesteh is currently touring the US speaking at churches and promoting his books "Christ Above All" and "The House I Left - A journey from Islam to Christ".
[hat tip: Rosh Pina Project] | <urn:uuid:eb5e09fb-3ce2-4a1b-bcad-b1379e170b87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23429/Default.aspx?topic=article_title | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970673 | 264 | 1.734375 | 2 |
RSBS Digest: The World of Medicine
There’s no denying that modern medicine has had an overall positive effect on sports, allowing players to come back from injuries that would have ended careers even a few decades ago. Cortisone shots get players back on the field after seemingly devastating ankle sprains and allow pitchers to continue throwing the baseball when they’re as old as Jamie Moyer. Tommy John surgery not only brings pitchers back, sometimes they even come back stronger than they were before.
Doctors can now attach toes to hands when thumbs go missing and unless you look closely or know what you’re looking for, you’d never even notice. Organ transplants happen everyday and surgeons even performed a face transplant on a woman who was mauled by a chimp. I can personally attest to the transformative medicinal power of lasers after undergoing Lasik and waking to find that I could see without glasses for the first time in my life.
No, medicine is truly amazing. Except for one thing:
It’s 2012 and still, here we are. | <urn:uuid:456711d2-2cea-4d1c-b2ce-0b8b64f75bb1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/2012/02/05/rsbs-digest-the-world-of-medicine/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=8149a33672 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96927 | 220 | 1.5625 | 2 |
- Cook-Off fundraiser to inspire youth that ‘Men Can Cook’ - 2013-06-15
- Gospel Icons Blind Boys of Alabama make triumphant return to Pittsburgh - 2013-06-15
- Bridgette Perdue: ‘Wake Up And Dream’ showcases rising artists - 2013-06-13
- Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert series helps keep music in Wilkinsburg schools - 2013-06-06
- Health, Wellness Symposium empowers Black women - 2013-06-06
Jade Harris loves what she sees in the mirror everyday and she wants to make sure that other teens feel the same way.
That’s one of the reasons the 16-year-old Swissvale resident decided to enter the Plus Teen USA beauty pageant.
|SIZE IS JUST A NUMBER—From left: Marshay’la Brown, Jade’s sister; Jade Harris; and Jade’s best friend, Imani Motley. (Photos by J.L. Martello)
Harris and her mother, Tiffany Jenkins, learned of the pageant while watching the Style Network this summer.
“I liked the spirit of the pageant because it offers self-esteem and I thought it would help me with my public speaking skills,” Harris said.
According to the site www.plusteenusa.com, Plus Teen USA, a non-profit organization, was founded by plus size model, modeling instructor and former pageant titleholder, Dr. Jacqueline Lawrence.
“With so much emphasis in today’s society on outward appearance and on being thin, oftentimes heavier individuals—especially young ladies—find it difficult to accept themselves because they are not considered “acceptable,” and thus are oftentimes challenged with issues related to low self-esteem,” said Lawrence in a statement on the website.
“More and more plus size teens, having poor self-images, are turning to negative influences such as eating disorders, drugs, alcohol, gangs, promiscuity and various compromised life styles to “fit in, which oftentimes result in depression and hopelessness, causing them to get heavier, more depressed and more hopeless.
The mission of Plus Teen USA is to give them a sense of pride so they will not compare themselves to others, but will become the best they can be,” added Lawrence, who serves as the pageant’s national director.
Plus Teen USA created its first National Pageant and Conference in 2009. That pageant was first shown on Style Network‘s “Ruby” show on March 14. It became a nonprofit organization a month before its television debut and started touting healthy living by implementing a fitness component, which all contestants are mandated to participate in. Due to the current economic crisis in America, Plus Teen USA moved its pageant to the Internet for the 2011 pageant season.
Although a winner won’t be crowned until October 2011, Harris is constantly getting out and educating people about the pageant and her platform of mentoring at-risk youth.
“This is my first pageant. I’m not a person who wants to be in the spotlight. I am trying to have fun and learn from this experience and I want to promote my platform. Mentoring is something that is close to my heart,” said Harris, who mentors at the Goodwill on the South Side every Monday when she doesn’t have volleyball practice, miming or choir practice at First Baptist Church in West Mifflin or spending time with friends and family. Harris has been mentoring girls ages 9-12 since September.
“There’s a lot of pressure with doing all of this, but everything I do I give my all to. I don’t focus on what I look like. You have to love yourself and work towards becoming the person you want to be,” Harris said.
Jenkins is proud of her daughter.
“Jade is diligent with all that she does and she excels in everything she puts her hands to. I am just a proud mom. She carries herself well and she’s very humble,” Jenkins said.
Both mom and daughter believe that Harris’ winning personality and dedication will make her a sure-fire winner of the Plus Teen USA pageant. “I hope that I win this pageant, because I want to make my cause of mentoring at-risk youth more known. If I don’t win this pageant, I hope that my being in it can build up and encourage youth to become the best they can be,” Harris said.
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- Pitt hosts national summit tackling poverty research cuts (2)
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- Black politicians need to learn to steal from the right people (1)
- Homeowners Bill of Rights emerge as remedy to foreclosure (1) | <urn:uuid:7aad5b9e-526d-4ea1-85b0-5a27a95ec85d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newpittsburghcourieronline.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=3208:pageant-contestant-proves-size-is-just-a-number&catid=45:youth&Itemid=55&fontstyle=f-smaller | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937168 | 1,048 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Ah, finally some hope for this cynic.
An article in our Independent Weekly’s “2011 Green Guide” shows that recycling efforts in the triangle have increased over the years.
While this news may actually be a bit outdated, I would like to hope that the trend has continued.
I was particularly proud to see how much the city and county of Durham increased from 59/55% to 91/98% respectively from 2007/08 to 2009/10. That is a 43% increase in Durham County in just 3 years! Nearly at 100%. Also of note, the total pounds recycled only increased by 23% for Durham. Are we getting better at reducing excess packaging, or are more people participating without recycling everything? And then over in Cary, their household participation grew by 14%, while their pounds recycled grew by 24%. That trend is what I expect, more people joining as they become aware while also more material being recycled and not trashed. Yet in Durham, I’m left confused by the numbers.
Now, this table only shows the number of serviced households that regularly participate. I’d be interested to know the percentage of households that are actually serviced. How are the people who live in serviced apartment complexes counted? And when will they have a complete set of data for drop-off centers?
This data is before our statewide ban on plastic bottles in the landfill waste stream took effect, so I would be extremely interested to see data about that. Funny though how most citizens still don’t know that throwing their water bottle in the trash isillegal.
So despite all the litter I see everywhere, and all the recyclable items I see filling up our trash bins, my area is apparently moving in the right direction. | <urn:uuid:c849dafa-d7a0-45b5-85d5-257b5c473eec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://demintedmint.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/recyling-improvements-in-the-triangle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969199 | 362 | 2.125 | 2 |
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To work properly, you must be outdoor in order to receive GPS signal. | <urn:uuid:4ac24873-b660-4c2e-89ef-bb4fc841cdfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.androidpit.com.br/pt/android/market/apps/app/com.pygdroid.altitude/Altitude | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944423 | 175 | 1.570313 | 2 |