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New law will make families safer, says dad of hit-and-run victim
THE father of a 12-year-old girl killed by a failed asylum seeker in a hit-and-run accident has welcomed new moves to require the deportation of foreigners guilty of serious crimes.
Paul Houston, 43, said the pledge to introduce fresh legislation would clarify the law for judges and victims’ families.
After his daughter Amy was killed in a hit-and-run in Blackburn in November 2003 he campaigned endlessly to have the driver, Iraqi Kurd Aso Mohammed Ibrahim, deported. But his efforts were unsuccessful and the law as it stands enabled Ibrahim to remain in Britain.
Home secretary Theresa May has accused judges of making the UK more dangerous by ignoring rules aimed at deporting more foreign criminals.
Last year, MPs approved guidance for judges making clear a convicted offender's right to family life had limits.
Mrs May now wants to introduce a law requiring most foreigners guilty of serious crimes to be deported, arguing some judges were choosing to ‘ignore Parliament's wishes’.
The guidance aimed to end to the right to a family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights being used to allow foreign criminals to remain in the UK, rather than being deported.
Ibrahim was imprisoned for four months for the killing but was never deported despite committing further offences. In April 2011, High Court judges allowed him to stay because he had fathered two children in the UK on the grounds of his right to family life.
In another similar case Wei Lin was jailed for two years at Burnley Crown Court in June 2008 for cultivating a cannabis garden worth £200,000 in a disused Nelson pub. He was later deported to China despite attempts to prevent it.
Mr Houston, who has lived in Darwen and Oswaldtwistle, said: “I welcome this move. It is a step in the right direction and will end grey areas in the law making it easier for judges.
“It should also end the way the human rights act has been abused by criminals.
“It is long overdue.
“It too late for Amy’s killer to be deported but it should help prevent this happening to other families in the future.”
“I could not believe the judges ruled in Ibrahim’s favour. I hope changing the law will prevent a repeat of this.” | <urn:uuid:23dc21d2-d6be-42d2-8f39-6bfe83ee957a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blackburncitizen.co.uk/news/10237343.New_law_will_make_families_safer__says_dad_of_hit_and_run_victim/?ref=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973162 | 518 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Here's a promotional video marketing Bellingham, Washington, a small city on Puget Sound up near the Canadian border, as a "Local Living Economy." From Wikipedia:
0.98% Black or African American, 1.48% Native American, 4.25% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 2.16% from other races, and 3.08% from two or more races. 4.63% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.
For a long time I was baffled by the hipster trendiness of economic localism since the rationalizations put forward for buying only products grown or made within X number of miles are clearly specious.
For example, modern merchandise transport doesn't emit a whole lot of carbon because it has become so incredibly efficient. The latest generation of freighters bringing new cars from Japan to America carry 8,000 automobiles in each ship.
On the other hand, the idea of creating an inward-focused high cost / high price local economy might make sense from a demographic standpoint. If you like your community the way it is or want to attract more of your kind of people, resistance to Wal-Martish globalization makes sense as a way to put up price barriers to discourage being flooded demographically.
Of course, rain helps too. | <urn:uuid:30aa7d6d-0584-4ad9-bfe4-3d7c81ab7c8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://isteve.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/sustainability-and-local-living-economy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935702 | 266 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Social aspects are of great importance in Information Technology since the science mainly uses information gathered by users, usually without their consent. It is very important for users to understand that they are part of the systems that they use. Especially in the context of Web 2.0 where they tend to disclose their private information quite easily .
Two of the most important social aspects that arise on social networking applications are privacy and trust.
Privacy is the right of every individual person to keep enclosed their personal data. Users believe that when they surf on the Web, their interaction is made with machines. As a result, they do not hesitate to provide those “machines” with every kind of personal and even confidential data, without thinking that the machine acts on behalf of a person and/or a business. Users must understand that through social networking applications they do not interact with machines but with other people who may even try to take advantage of posted private user data.
Another important social factor that arises on social networking applications is trust. The anonymity that Web gives to users allows them to pretend a different identity. Moreover, Web 2.0 is an open platform that allows everyone to post content on applications like social networks, blogs and wikis . This content may be malicious, fake or it may serve implicit aims of the publisher. Trust bears in mind several thoughts about whether we should trust data and information found on the Web, posted by people who have not proved their identity .
Privacy and Trust into our System
For the design and development of the Real-Time Aggregator, we are going to pay special attention on the arisen social aspects.
Regarding privacy, there are not many issues related our system because it will mainly use and exploit data that exist on social networking applications. Users will not be obliged to post, create, or add data into our system. The system’s tag clouds and other mechanisms, used to help our users perform their searches, will be created by anonymous contributions made by our users when performing searches. However, those searches will not be personalised. The only user data that the system will store is their username and password. In order to ensure confidentiality, usernames and passwords will be encrypted before storing them into our database.
Dealing with Trust issues is not that straightforward. Social networking related applications have low levels of trust and even “great players”, like Facebook and Twitter, cannot guarantee trust into their systems. If the comments made by users on platforms like Facebook and Twitter are fake and aim to misguide customers, then there are very few things that our aggregator can do to avoid it. However, we have made some thoughts about how to ensure that the comments we return to our results will be as true as possible. We are actually planning to create a black list into our data model, as an “Advanced functionality” feature. The list will store the social networking application ids of users (e.g. Twitter user id, Facebook user id) that show great preference to products of specific vendors and who use to accuse competitive products. The module will also take into account the reputation of such users before putting them in our black list, meaning that users who have good network reputation will not be considered as malicious. Comments of ”black listed” users, will not be returned by our system. Once again, we recognise that it is a confident idea that might be considered for the “advanced functionality” implementation. Moreover, we may re-examine the feasibility of this feature before its implementation.
S. Murugesan, “Understanding Web 2.0″, IT Professional, vol. 9, no. 4, July-August 2007
V. Cerf, “Trust and the Internet”, IEEE Internet Computing, vol. 14, no. 5, September-October 2010, pp 96-97 | <urn:uuid:99b8db57-42c5-439d-b804-512b016ede1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.soton.ac.uk/sums/tag/trust/ | 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 | 0.94371 | 785 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Fresh air could save millions in data center cooling costs, Intel has claimed, after a successful experiment in the New Mexico desert.
Replacing air conditioning by piping in outside air saved power costs, with no appreciable increase in server failure rates, Intel concluded in a research paper (PDF). Despite a lot of dust and major temperature changes--both long considered undesirable in data centers--the equipment wasn't affected, Intel said.
"Servers...were subjected to considerable variation in temperature and humidity, as well as poor air quality; however, there was no significant increase in server failures," the paper said. "… Read more | <urn:uuid:7875832c-46cd-4348-95a8-0e7d3d195b37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://download.cnet.com/8300-5_4-0-7.html?keyword=cooling | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958305 | 125 | 2.21875 | 2 |
A couple of quick developments on the IETF front.
First is http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-yan-ipv6-ra-dns-00.txt - a recent draft specifying how autoconfigured nodes should do dynamic DNS updates. The most interesting thing here is that hosts can explicitly ask the router to do it for them, which should be interesting to get right; the router’ll have to keep a lot of state on large networks. But it’s another piece of the puzzle getting slotted into place.
Second is ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc3974.txt, an informational RFC on operating dual-stack SMTP servers. The core of the document is a description of the algorithm that should be used when dual-stack SMTP servers send mail. Since adding quad A records to MX records essentially adds an extra “dimension” to the MTA resolution process, I would recommend reading it so you get a better idea of how things work in the new world. In particular, quad A destinations are preferred over A destinations, but only within a set of MX records that have the same preferences. This means that it’s not possible to set up an experimental high-preference quad A MTA which then acts as a hoover for all of your mail, which is good, but also means it’s difficult for non-dual-stack mail servers with a low MX preference to be worked around. (One option is to put an IPv6-only server at an even-lower preference.)
Anyway, is it just me, or should we rework and reword the algorithm and the terms high- and low- preference MX, so we don’t have this running ambiguity in our heads about what we mean every time we talk about MX values? | <urn:uuid:6255d865-4eef-4a2d-9f9a-9a12d3647bf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deployingipv6.net/index.php/archives/2005/01/21/recent-ietf-updates/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905178 | 391 | 2.015625 | 2 |
10 All-Natural Ways to Stay Young
4. Feel the love
Anyone who's ever fallen head over heels or discovered an activity that makes them eager to jump out of bed in the morning knows that passion is a powerful drug. "It's the central motivation of all human activity," says Gail Sheehy in her new book, Sex and the Seasoned Woman. The ability to embrace life boosts self-esteem, fuels the immune system, and improves cardiovascular health. Passion in bed can be particularly beneficial: "Loving touches release hormones, including oxytocin, that reduce stress and anxiety," says Mehmet Oz, MD, professor of surgery and vice chairman of cardiovascular services at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University, as well as the coauthor of You on a Diet. "If sex is a purely hedonistic process, it won't have the same results."
Try it! Banish boredom and isolation at all costs. Rekindle the flames with your partner. Or discover a new love in the form of a mental or physical pursuit: Take up painting, join a book club, start a running program (you'll find motivation and tips and connect with other women like you through Team FITNESS, our personalized online exercise community, at fitnessmagazine.com/teamfitness). Do whatever it is that makes you feel energized and alive.
What do you think of this story? Leave a Comment.
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Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson on Monday proposed raising taxes on groceries, clothing, cigarettes and other consumer goods to eliminate a projected budget shortfall.
In his State of the State address, Parkinson asked legislators to increase the state's sales tax to 6.3 percent from 5.3 percent, but only for three years, starting in July. Kansas imposes the tax when consumers buy food, clothing, household items and most products, but not on gasoline or services.
The Democratic governor also asked the Republican-controlled Legislature to boost tobacco taxes to national averages and impose a statewide ban on smoking in public places. Kansas' cigarette tax would increase by 55 cents a pack, from 79 cents to $1.34, while the tax on other tobacco products would quadruple to 40 percent.
Those changes would raise $378 million during the fiscal year beginning July 1, almost enough to cover a projected budget shortfall approaching $400 million.
Other changes and shifting of funds around state government would allow Kansas to restore some previous cuts in aid to public schools, higher education and social services. The state also could reverse a 10 percent cut Parkinson imposed in November in payments to health care providers for services under the Medicaid program.
"Everything that has been built is at risk," Parkinson said during a joint session of the Legislature. "Now is the time to stop cutting aid to education, to stop cutting aid to public safety and to stop cutting aid to our elderly and disabled."
Parkinson's proposals are likely to face strong opposition. Many Republican legislators, particularly in the House, argue any tax increases will hurt struggling families and businesses - and slow the state's economic recovery.
"Taxpayers can't pay more until they start making more, and we've got to help them make more money so the state revenues will grow," House Speaker Mike O'Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, said.
House Majority Leader Ray Merrick, a Stilwell Republican, called Parkinson's tax proposals "shameful."
Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican who's been more receptive to raising new revenues, took heart in Parkinson's saying that he is "open to all options." Morris said raising the sales tax rate is a difficult sell.
Democrats and advocates for education and the needy have focused on reversing business tax breaks granted in recent years and eliminating exemptions to the sales tax. No specific proposals have emerged, but items exempted include bingo games, Kansas Lottery tickets, farm machinery and supplies purchased by religious groups.
"I'd like to see us have a discussion about exemptions and tax credits - I mean, things that have benefited businesses and folks who are more higher-income," said House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat.
Under Parkinson's sales tax proposal, the levy would drop from 6.3 percent to 5.5 percent in 2013. Money raised from the 0.2 percentage points of extra tax that remains would go to highway projects.
Parkinson and other Democrats have said for weeks that the state did enough budget-cutting in 2009.
The state expects to spend $651 million less in general tax revenues in its current budget than in it did two years ago, a drop of nearly 11 percent. | <urn:uuid:eac43c7e-2fd2-4e03-aa2d-99bef3abf649> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/11/kan-governor-proposes-sales-tobacco-tax-hikes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967671 | 646 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The rescue of 33 miners in Chile is an extraordinary drama filled with pathos and heroism. It is also a media windfall for the Chilean government, whose every beneficence is recorded by a forest of cameras. One cannot fail to be impressed. However, like all great media events, it is a façade.
The accident that trapped the miners is not unusual in Chile and the inevitable consequence of a ruthless economic system that has barely changed since the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Copper is Chile’s gold, and the frequency of mining disasters keeps pace with prices and profits. There are, on average, 39 fatal accidents every year in Chile’s privatised mines. The San Jose mine, where the men work, became so unsafe in 2007 it had to be closed – but not for long. On 30 July last, a labour department report warned again of “serious safety deficiencies ”, but the minister took no action. Six days later, the men were entombed.
For all the media circus at the rescue site, contemporary Chile is a country of the unspoken. At the Villa Grimaldi, in the suburbs of the capital Santiago, a sign says: “The forgotten past is full of memory.” This was the torture centre where hundreds of people were murdered and disappeared for opposing the fascism that General Augusto Pinochet and his business allies brought to Chile. Its ghostly presence is overseen by the beauty of the Andes, and the man who unlocks the gate used to live nearby and remembers the screams.
I was taken there one wintry morning in 2006 by Sara De Witt, who was imprisoned as a student activist and now lives in London. She was electrocuted and beaten, yet survived. Later, we drove to the home of Salvador Allende, the great democrat and reformer who perished when Pinochet seized power on 11 September 1973 – Latin America’s own 9/11. His house is a silent white building without a sign or a plaque.
Everywhere, it seems, Allende’s name has been eliminated. Only in the lone memorial in the cemetery are the words engraved “Presidente de la Republica” as part of a remembrance of the “ejecutados Politicos”: those “executed for political reasons”. Allende died by his own hand as Pinochet bombed the presidential palace with British planes as the American ambassador watched.
Today, Chile is a democracy, though many would dispute that, notably those in the barrios forced to scavenge for food and steal electricity. In 1990, Pinochet bequeathed a constitutionally compromised system as a condition of his retirement and the military’s withdrawal to the political shadows. This ensures that the broadly reformist parties, known as Concertacion, are permanently divided or drawn into legitimising the economic designs of the heirs of the dictator. At the last election, the right-wing Coalition for Change, the creation of Pinochet’s ideologue Jaime Guzman, took power under president Sebastian Piñera. The bloody extinction of true democracy that began with the death of Allende was, by stealth, complete.
Piñera is a billionaire who controls a slice of the mining, energy and retail industries. He made his fortune in the aftermath of Pinochet’s coup and during the free-market “experiments” of the zealots from the University of Chicago, known as the Chicago Boys. His brother and former business partner, Jose Piñera, a labour minister under Pinochet, privatised mining and state pensions and all but destroyed the trade unions. This was applauded in Washington as an “economic miracle”, a model of the new cult of neo-liberalism that would sweep the continent and ensure control from the north.
Today Chile is critical to President Barack Obama’s rollback of the independent democracies in Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela. Piñera’s closest ally is Washington’s main man, Juan Manuel Santos, the new president of Colombia, home to seven US bases and an infamous human rights record familiar to Chileans who suffered under Pinochet’s terror.
Post-Pinochet Chile has kept its own enduring abuses in shadow. The families still attempting to recover from the torture or disappearance of a loved bear the prejudice of the state and employers. Those not silent are the Mapuche people, the only indigenous nation the Spanish conquistadors could not defeat. In the late 19th century, the European settlers of an independent Chile waged their racist War of Extermination against the Mapuche who were left as impoverished outsiders. During Allende’s thousand days in power this began to change. Some Mapuche lands were returned and a debt of justice was recognised.
Since then, a vicious, largely unreported war has been waged against the Mapuche. Forestry corporations have been allowed to take their land, and their resistance has been met with murders, disappearances and arbitrary prosecutions under “anti terrorism” laws enacted by the dictatorship. In their campaigns of civil disobedience, none of the Mapuche has harmed anyone. The mere accusation of a landowner or businessman that the Mapuche “might” trespass on their own ancestral lands is often enough for the police to charge them with offences that lead to Kafkaesque trials with faceless witnesses and prison sentences of up to 20 years. They are, in effect, political prisoners.
While the world rejoices at the spectacle of the miners’ rescue, 38 Mapuche hunger strikers have not been news. They are demanding an end to the Pinochet laws used against them, such as “terrorist arson”, and the justice of a real democracy. On 9 October, all but one of the hunger strikers ended their protest after 90 days without food. A young Mapuche, Luis Marileo, says he will go on. On 18 October, President Piñera is due to give a lecture on “current events” at the London School of Economics. He should be reminded of their ordeal and why. | <urn:uuid:77888fb6-9a29-4831-a4e2-e97f1a372c06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/10/chiles-ghosts-are-not-being-rescued/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964293 | 1,259 | 2.28125 | 2 |
In any structural project that involves the laying of concrete, you will need to use formwork while the concrete is setting. Formwork can be permanent or temporary. Whichever type is used, a carpenter is able to assist you with all aspects of formwork. Read on for more.
A carpenter is ideal for designing, building, and dismantling formwork. They are able to design formwork for all kinds of things – walls, slabs, floors, foundations, suspended slabs, columns, and so forth – and source, supply and build the formwork so that it is strong and well able to support the material inside (usually concrete). They are able to work with all kinds of formwork systems (steel, insulated forms, timber) so you can choose the one that you are most comfortable with, or they can recommend a system that is best suited for your type of building project.
A carpenter is useful for formwork on any scale but you need to make sure that they are licensed, qualified, and insured. They should also be experienced with formwork in order to avoid any hassles (in fact, you can actually find formwork carpenters). Ask them to quote on the formwork project and also ask for a completed timeframe for the job (as the formwork will need to be built and then removed once the concrete inside has set).
We need your email address so that we can send you the details of businesses who express interest in your job.
We need your phone number so that businesses who express interest in your job may call you for more details.
or enter your location to search | <urn:uuid:2f7a443b-f4db-47fa-9bc6-3b408fc77fa3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homeimprovementpages.com.au/find/carpenters_formwork | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962432 | 331 | 1.789063 | 2 |
In a Sept. 4 meeting of the Gordon County Board of Commissioners, representatives from all municipalities in Gordon were invited to attend to discuss keeping or eliminating the tax.
Currently, in Gordon County and the state, an energy sales tax, charges manufacturers a seven percent sales tax, unlike many surrounding states in the nation.
Of the seven percent, the state is eliminating all but one percent of the tax, which funds public education. The remaining six percent was divided, four percent to the state and two percent to individual counties.
Gordon County is now in a position to either keep the two percent or eliminate the tax altogether and so far, the county and municipalities in Gordon are leaning towards keeping the tax.
Additionally, if the county keeps the two percent tax, it will act as the collective body and ultimately be responsible for distribution among the cities, according to Gordon County Administrator Randy Dowling.
“We have become a collection agency for our two percent local energy tax. Now the state is out of the picture and we have to go and tell the energy providers to charge their customers two percent every month, and we have to get checks every month from electric providers, then we have to go and collect it, but we have to turn around every month and give the cities their portion,” said Dowling.
If municipalities choose to keep the tax, it can be eliminated at any time, according to Calhoun City Mayor Jimmy Palmer.
“From a personal standpoint I would like to see some numbers before we move forward with the tax,” said Palmer. “If we do the excise tax it can be terminated at any time. Until we know the numbers it makes it hard to do so at this time.”
The two percent belonging to each municipality will be split, one percent according to the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) distribution formula, and one percent according to the Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) distribution formula, which in Gordon County is distributed on population.
Many counties, including Gordon, are skeptical to eliminate the tax due to the uncertainty of possible losses or gains.
“Nobody knows how much this two percent is worth, nobody has that information. It is private information,” said Dowling. “We don’t know how much we are going to reap, and if we don’t do this we don’t know how much we stand to lose either.”
Dowling assures citizens that taxes are not in fact being increased and that the county is keeping something it has always collected.
The next step will be to attain intergovernmental agreements between the county and municipalities before Dec. 2012. | <urn:uuid:1a02e75f-6fa8-42bf-a0d4-90642c82ffc6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calhountimes.com/view/full_story/20126601/article-State-sales-tax-eliminated--Gordon-may-keep-2-percent?instance=home_Most_popular | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963431 | 548 | 2.015625 | 2 |
A few years back, Sudoko became a craze with seemingly everyone spending their time solving these puzzles. The puzzle is quite simple: take a nine by nine grid, partially filled in with numbers from one to nine, and complete it so that every row, column, and non-overlapping 3×3 square contains the numbers one through nine exactly once each. While the grid contains numbers, there is no mathematics involved: using the letters a-i would work as well. But you can use mathematics (in the form of logic) to solve the puzzle. To solve these by hand, puzzlers quickly learn logical rules, from the simple (“If only one square is open in a row, then you know what number goes there”) to advanced (say, alternate pair exclusion). One can even use the methods of operations research (say, constraint programming or integer programming) to solve Sudoko puzzles. It does not seem to discourage human solvers to know that these techniques can solve any Sudoko problem in milliseconds.
There is often a close relationship between puzzles and the methods of operations research, particularly networks or discrete mathematics. Finding a path in a maze is nothing more than a shortest path problem; “logic” puzzles (“Smith, Jones, and Robinson are (not respectively) a trucker, a fireman, and an engineer, who live in …”, followed by facts, leading to “What is the name of the engineer?”) can be handled through integer programming, and so on. People, for some reason, like to do combinatorial search in their spare time.
Hamish Waterer, with whom I shared an office in New Zealand and who is now at Newcastle in Australia, pointed out to me a puzzle that has even closer ties to operations research: Rogo. In Rogo, the goal is to find a loop through a grid of fixed length that contains as many reward points as possible. So, for this example (taken from the Rogo site)
the goal in this example is to find a loop of no more than 12 steps that includes as many points as possible. The loop must be a real loop: it must return where it started and can’t cross itself or double back. Steps can be either horizontal or vertical: they cannot be diagonal. The loop cannot include any of the black squares. Here is the solution:
Rogo was created by two faculty members (Nicola Petty and Shane Dye) at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Not surprisingly, Nicola and Shane teach management science there: the problem has a very strong operations research flavor. This is a form of the Prize Collecting Traveling Salesman problem, originally studied by my colleague Egon Balas (in the regular PCTSP, there is a penalty for distance traveled: in Rogo, there is an upper bound).
If you want to play around with this, you can get the iPhone (touch, pad, etc.) app. Creating a solver would make a nice undergraduate project (and I suspect there are at least a few master’s theses and perhaps a doctoral dissertation on algorithmic aspects of creating and solving these). | <urn:uuid:a69dcda8-22c9-4af3-aa4d-ea93c42a78c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1302 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963092 | 661 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Latest update: October 19th, 2012
Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard once commented that, sometimes, the only proper reaction to a particular event is despair. The following represents such an example.
According to a recent report, rumors of a U.N. decision to introduce Holocaust studies in schools in Palestinian refugee camps run by UNRWA have outraged Jordanian teachers, who say they will refuse to teach history that “harms the Palestinian cause.”
Roughly two million Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA’s Jordan offices, and they operate 172 schools in 10 refugee camps across the kingdom.
The Executive Committee of UNRWA teachers in Jordan responded to news that Holocaust studies would be added to the curriculum on ‘conflict resolution’ by issuing a statement stating that, ”We condemn this decision, which equates the butcher and the victim,” (emphasis added).
The teachers’ statement demanded instead classes on the Palestinian “right of return” to Israel.
The statement continued, objecting to the fact that “Teaching UNRWA students about the so-called “Holocaust” as part of human rights harms the Palestinian cause … and changes the students’ views regarding their main enemy, namely the Israeli occupation.
“We shall monitor the curriculum being taught under the title ‘concepts of human rights’ [which is] aimed at reducing [Palestinian] students’ awareness of the right of return…”
The reaction by Jordanian teachers follows a decision last year, by the association of UNRWA employees, to ban the introduction of Holocaust studies in UNRWA schools.
Remember that these are not Islamist extremists we’re talking about, but middle-class Jordanian educators, ordinary men and women who evidently are outraged by “rumors” of a U.N. decision to teach children about the Nazi slaughter of one out of every three Jews on earth.
Identifying with six-million victims of Nazi genocide is evidently seen as harming the Palestinian cause.
Moreover, it’s important to understand that though the Holocaust did not come close to putting an end to anti-Semitism across the world, news of the unspeakable horrors in extermination camps such as Auschwitz, Sobibor, Treblinka and Majdanek did attach to expressions of Judeophobia, in most of the enlightened world, a significant moral stigma.
Holocaust memory in our times creates a bulwark of sorts against the most virulent expressions of antisemitism, as it demonstrates the potential deadly consequences of unchallenged racism against Jews – and, indeed, against other minorities.
If the citizens of the Middle East were to internalize the lessons of the Holocaust they would be forced to confront their own society’s often homicidal anti-Semitism – a self-reflective habit of mind which the honor-shame culture of the Arab world does not promote.
The reaction by Jordanian teachers to the suggestion that they educate Palestinian children about the unspeakable crimes committed against Jews is, therefore, not surprising, as such a curriculum would necessarily turn a mirror on their own extensive moral and cultural shortcomings.
Finally, how can anyone seriously contemplate Palestinian peace with living Jews if they are often unable to reconcile themselves with even the humanity of murdered Jews?
The only healthy response to such stories is simply despair.
Originally published at the CifWatch blog.
About the Author: Adam Levick serves as Managing Editor of CiF Watch, an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), and is a member of the Online Antisemitism Working Group for the Global Forum to Combat Antisemitism. Adam made Aliyah from Philadelphia in 2009 and lives with his wife in Modi'in.
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You must log in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:aa91b8f1-f6ff-4144-8da9-fe21fd8ac5e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/arab-teachers-rejection-of-holocaust-education-highlights-arab-anti-semitism/2012/10/17/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942946 | 799 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Narendra Modi's Gujarat growth model might not work across India
Replicating that experience across a diverse country of 1.2 billion would be a tougher prospect for Narendra Modi, whose leadership of booming Gujarat state has led to his being touted as a potential candidate to become India's next prime minister.
While Modi wins praise even from critics for cutting red tape and making government more responsive and predictable, many ingredients for Gujarat's run of growth were in place well before he took office in 2001.
"It is like an icing on cake sort of thing. You have a nice cake and Modi has done a lot of good icing," said Rakesh Chaudhary, director of Pratibha Group, a textile manufacturer in Palsana on the outskirts of the Gujarat city of Surat. Industry in Gujarat is helped by a long coastline and plenty of barren land that is easy to turn over to factory use.
The power that comes from a long-standing and heavy majority for his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state also gives Modi an advantage that he would not enjoy on a national stage marked by fractious coalition politics.
Despite a controversial past - Modi is accused by critics of not doing enough to stop or of even quietly encouraging religious riots in 2002 that saw as many as 2,000 killed, most of them Muslims - he has established a reputation as an economic | <urn:uuid:d71338d6-ea7a-4efc-8399-d1a46b53c009> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.financialexpress.com/news/narendra-modis-gujarat-growth-model-might-not-work-across-india/1057308 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981883 | 284 | 1.710938 | 2 |
"It's time for the [Department of Parks & Recreation] to realize that one of the reasons San Onofre has so many visitors is that there's a very popular clothing-optional beach there," The Naturist Action Committee's attorney Allen Baylis told the Orange County Register.
The issue of topless equality is front and center this weekend at Venice Beach.
As part of National Topless Day, protesters will march topless to make a statement against laws that allow men to parade around shirtless, but require women to cover up.
Under this chest-case scenario, women will go topless and men will march clad in bikini tops. Latex nipple covers (they look like actual nipples) will be handed out to women at the beach.
From the event website:
Did you know that in the 1970's Venice Beach was a nude beach? And now... even a woman's nipple has become indecent. That's because our society has become more civilized over time, more family friendly, they tell us. It is difficult to understand how the millions of European children cope on the beach in Europe every summer.
In this demonstration, we invite the men to show what EQUAL RIGHTS truly means. At this moment on Venice Beach women cannot go topless, so in complete constitutional equality, the men will cover their chest as well. Will men with bikini tops look ridiculous? Maybe, but constitutionally, so do women in this double standard legal topless battle.
A Yo Venice piece on the 2008 event noted there was a large group of women and supportive men, and "about 3,000 men with cameras."
The Go Topless protests started three years ago. It was founded by members of the Raelian Movement, which believes life on Earth originated from alien scientists who created men and women in their images.
According to the Go Topless website, we're left with two options: either women are allowed to go topless, or men should be forced to cover their chests in public, too.
It's a matter of bareness.
The Venice protest march will start at 2 p.m. It shouldn't be difficult to spot the group somewhere near Ocean Front Walk at Navy Street. | <urn:uuid:e4d886c5-85c8-4f58-a47a-d9e9ebcc088c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Protesters-Demand-Topless-Equality-for-All-101170959.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963108 | 450 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Flu is 'widespread' in Minnesotaby Lorna Benson, Minnesota Public Radio
Minneapolis — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says pandemic flu activity in Minnesota is now considered "widespread." That's the highest classification in the agency's flu reporting system.
The Minnesota Health Department says suspected cases of H1N1 influenza have increased significantly across the state. Dozens of schools are reporting absentee rates greater than 5 percent due to the flu.
Health officials have been expecting a big jump in H1N1 cases to coincide with the start of the new school year. They've been asking people to do what they can to prevent the spread of the virus, while the nation waits for pandemic vaccine to be delivered sometime in the next month.
They're also recommending that people get their seasonal flu vaccination as soon as possible, to free up health care workers who will give out the pandemic shots in a few weeks.
Close to 2,000 students and staff members at the University of Minnesota heeded that advice today. Some waited up to an hour to get their seasonal influenza vaccine. The demand for flu shots surprised university health officials, who scrambled to add four extra nurses to reduce waiting times.
The signs leading to the university flu clinic advertised 10-minute waits. But the line of students and staff told a different story. Many of them waited 40 minutes or longer.
"We like lines. But not half-hour lines," said Dr. Ed Ehlinger, who directs Boynton Health Services, the campus clinic.
The line snaked down a hallway and around a corner into a cafeteria. Freshman Kate Leuty was in that room near the end of the line.
"It was so surprising to come down all the way down the hall and then through the room," said Leuty. "It just seems like the line never stopped."
Leuty wasn't sure she would stick it out. She had a class that was going to start in less than an hour. But she wasn't annoyed with the situation. Rather, she was impressed that so many of her peers were heeding the advice to get vaccinated against seasonal flu.
"Being in such a big university, there's big chances that everyone can exchange illnesses. So they're just being careful, I would think," she said.
Leuty said even if the timing didn't work out for her on this day, she would be back to get her seasonal flu shot.
On the other end of the line, nurses worked quickly to dispense with a few health questions, before injecting students with the vaccine.
Freshman Kevin Oetliker received his injection, but admitted it wasn't his idea to get a flu shot.
"My mom told me I had to. So I had to come to make her happy," said Oetliker.
University health workers say they have made an extra push this year to encourage people to get their seasonal flu shot, which does not protect against H1N1 pandemic flu. But the H1N1 situation has likely contributed to interest in seasonal flu vaccine.
Dr. Ehlinger says he thinks many students have a new respect for influenza, based on what they're seeing on campus.
"Students probably know somebody who's gotten H1N1 already. We've had cases on campus and we're seeing them in our clinics," said Ehlinger. "So they know somebody in the residence hall, or in the fraternity or sorority, that had to go home because they had the flu. So they're saying, 'If they can get it, I can probably get it too.' So they're planning ahead."
So far the university has treated close to 200 suspected cases of H1N1. And Ehlinger suspects there may be another 100 cases, based on calls to the clinic from sick students.
- All Things Considered, 09/16/2009, 4:54 p.m. | <urn:uuid:a9c60061-f887-41c7-b3c2-d58dd986aa5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/09/16/uofm-flu-vaccinations?refid=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985082 | 808 | 2.484375 | 2 |
(TW: Mention of rape, human trafficking, organ harvesting, images of deceased corpses)
Death in the desert: Tribesmen exploit battle to reach Israel
El Arish, Egypt (CNN) — “I wanted to build a good future for my family, but I failed,” a weak Issam Abdallah Mohammed said in a videotaped statement.
The refugee from the Darfur region of Sudan was trying to illegally cross the border from Egypt to Israel when he was discovered and shot by Egyptian border guards.
Less than an hour after taping the statement, Issam was dead, succumbing to the wounds inflicted by the gunshots.
Every year, thousands of refugees, mostly from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, attempt the dangerous journey from their war-torn countries to Israel in search of economic prosperity and stability.
Very few make it, and the results of the failed migration can be seen in the morgue of the central hospital in the Egyptian port town of El Arish.
When a CNN crew visited there recently, all the refrigeration units were broken, leaving a biting stench of decaying corpses in the air, which staff members attempted in vain to cover up with chlorine-based cleaner and incense.
On any given day, the morgue will be packed with the bodies of African refugees who died trying to make it to Israel.
Hamdy Al-Azazy spends a lot of time here as head of the New Generation Foundation for Human Rights, which tries to help African refugees in Egypt.
Every week, Al-Azazy combs the desert, searching for corpses, ensuring that they get a dignified burial.
He has spent the past seven years helping the refugees. Many are enslaved and tortured and the women raped by the Bedouin tribes of the Sinai if they are unable to come up with large sums of money the Bedouin try to extort from them and their families, to smuggle the refugees across the border into Israel. As a result, many remain imprisoned in camps on the Sinai Peninsula.
(continue reading//related video) | <urn:uuid:a1defb75-48d5-4ae8-892d-23b29d720225> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://karnythia.tumblr.com/tagged/Sinai-Peninsula | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957365 | 427 | 1.671875 | 2 |
The Importance of Relating to Others
Attending to caregivers, peers, siblings, and educators is important because so many opportunities to learn new skills and obtain information about the world in which the child with autism spectrum disorder operates are lost if fundamental attention and observational skills are lacking. If children with autism do not attend to others and imitate the behavior of others (Rogers & Williams, 2006), they do not learn the subtle social cues, or how to do the culturally relevant “social dance” with others (Hart & Risley, 1999).
Social skills are important for functioning within a society. Lack of knowledge of how to interact with others or which behaviors are tolerated in a specific context can lead to individuals being asked to leave classrooms or resign from jobs. Lack of social skills may result in placement in schools that are restricted from classmates and peers.
Most cultures value social skills and many people believe that relationships, including friendships, enrich the quality of life. This belief may not be held by some individuals with autism spectrum disorders who find social interaction uncomfortable or unpleasant. However, prior to assuming that learners with autism spectrum disorders do not want to have friends, it is important to assure that they have the skills to develop friendships so that they can truly make a choice regarding the extent of their social relationships. By targeting foundational social skills, educators can assist learners with ASD to obtain the skills necessary for functioning in a social world and give them the skills to choose social relationships with others.
Some individuals with autism spectrum disorders are interested in social interaction and participation in activities with peers and community members (Mesibov et al., 2004). Some choose to get married. In the area of social skills, similar to other domains, it is important to individualize any goals and programs.
© ______ 2009, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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- Steps in the IEP Process | <urn:uuid:30650d60-8926-4f01-a4e8-1ffaaba5e41b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.education.com/reference/article/importance-relating-others-autism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916095 | 585 | 3.96875 | 4 |
Communities across the country are hearing from their youth by taking part in Photovoice!
Get community service hours by getting involved in this fun photography project! You don’t have to be a good photographer to join! PhotoVoice explores young people’s perceptions of underage drinking and youth drug use. Your photos will raise awareness about your concerns and create talking points for Putnam County! This project will take place during the 2012-2013 school year! Registration required and ethical guidelines apply!
This project is intended for student’s grade 8-12 or ages 13-18.
WHAT EXACTLY IS PHOTOVOICE?
1. Take a picture in your community (the “photo” part). ( A drawing is also acceptable)
2. Write a record or DESCRIPTION (less than 200 words) about your photo that answers one or more questions regarding challenges facing youth today! Your photos will be shared with parent groups, community organizations, and sent to our political leaders. (This is the “voice” part!)
Please register with Coalition Coordinator Elaine Santos at email@example.com. Parental consent will also be required. Please visit and join us on Facebook by searching “Putnam County Communities That Care – NY” or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/PutnamCTCNY or call 845-225-4646 | <urn:uuid:ecbbab0b-c00e-4969-ab6a-3707278d796f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://southeast.patch.com/groups/putnam-county-ctc-coalitions-blog/p/bp--attention-teens-get-community-service-hours-for-ya0410db40d | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904651 | 292 | 2.234375 | 2 |
USGS Digitized Topographic Maps
We offer USGS digitized topographic maps to our users. The characteristic that distinguishes topographic maps from other maps is the use of contour lines to portray the shape and elevation of the land. Topographic maps render the three-dimensional ups and downs of the terrain on a two-dimensional surface.
Topographic maps usually portray both natural and constructed features. They show and name natural features, including mountains, valleys, plains, lakes, rivers, and vegetation. They also identify the constructed features, such as roads, boundaries, transmission lines, and major buildings.
The wide range of information provided by topographic maps makes them extremely useful to professional and recreational map users alike. Topographic maps are used for engineering, energy exploration, natural resource conservation, environmental management, public works design, commercial and residential planning, and outdoor activities like hiking, camping, and fishing. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) produces topographic maps at several different scales to meet these various needs.
Digitized topographic maps are available over any area of your choice within the continental United States at 1-meter resolution and lower (at 1m (meter) resolution 1meter=1pixel on the image of the topographic map). You are welcome to specify the area of your interest by entering (1) street address (or geographical coordinates) and optionally (2) the size of the image (width/height of the image or geographical boundaries):
The digitized topographic map has several characteristics allowing you to make a choice:
Resolution - resolution of the imagery, measured in meters/pixel. At 1m (meter) resolution 1pixel of the image represents 1 square meter of the area.
Base Data Type - the data source for the imagery. Currently USGS Topo Map is the source for topographic maps.
Size - image size measured in pixels. For example, notation 2000x1000 describes rectangular image of width 2000 pixels and height 1000 pixels. Note, that if the resolution of this image is 1m, the image covers 2x1 kilometers of the actual geographic area.
File format - the format of the image file to be delivered to you. Two popular image formats JPEG and TIFF are available. These formats are supported by many software products and Internet browsers.
Below is a sample of the digitized topographic map, the area is Miami Beach, Florida. (Click on a sample to get a larger image). | <urn:uuid:2ab1526c-d49e-438e-b183-0ff545fdf6b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://terrafly.com/TP/topo_maps.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902446 | 502 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, at a press conference earlier this month. The ECB is set to offer a second round of low-cost 3-year loans to European banks Wednesday.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- After unleashing a wave of liquidity earlier this year, the European Central Bank is set to offer European banks another chance to soak up billions of euros in cheap loans.
On Wednesday, the ECB will announce the results of its second Long-Term Refinancing Operation, in which banks will be able to borrow money for 3-years at interest rates as low as 1%.
In December, the ECB allotted nearly €500 billion under the first round of the operation, which went to 523 banks in the eurozone.
Officially, the loans are part of the ECB's effort to prevent a credit crunch in Europe, where banks have been struggling to fund themselves since late last year amid concerns about exposure to bad sovereign debt.
But the program, along with other aggressive moves under ECB president Mario Draghi, has been widely credited with bringing down borrowing costs for Italy and Spain.
Since the first LTRO, yields on 10-year Italian bonds have dropped to about 5%, down from highs above 7% late last year. Spain's borrowing costs have also backed off last year's highs, holding near 5%.
Both nations have drawn strong demand at auctions of short-term bonds this year, easing fears of a full-blown debt contagion in the eurozone.
"It is likely that there will be further support for these bonds over the next month or so," said Garry Jenkins, a credit analyst at Swordfish Research.
The improvement has allowed the ECB to scale back its purchases of government debt under its controversial securities market program.
Investors say the ECB has helped restore confidence in global financial markets by mitigating the risk of a banking crisis and creating some breathing room for euro area governments. But there are questions about how the market will respond to the second round of LTRO financing.
"The ECB's decisive action has helped to stabilize demand for Spanish and Italian bonds, and the 3-year tender will free further cash," said Kim Rupert, a fixed-income analyst at Action Economics. "But it remains to be seen whether the cash will find its way to the bond market."
Banks are under no obligation to use ECB loans to buy government bonds. Given the heavy refinancing needs and more stringent capital requirements European banks are facing this year, many may be tempted to stockpile the cash.
"It will be interesting to see how markets develop and auctions fare after the 3-year tender is out of the way," said Rupert.
In the meantime, the big question is how much money will banks borrow Wednesday?
Estimates have ranged from €300 billion to €500 billion, though some analysts have said banks could take up to €1 trillion.
The estimates reflect expectations that more non-euro area banks will participate, along with automakers and other corporations that can access ECB funds as "monetary financial institutions."
"No one can have a good idea of the demand for cash at this operation, although optimism seems to reign supreme," said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.
Yet some analysts say banks might be reluctant to borrow too much in order to avoid the "stigma" of appearing strapped for cash.
"There is a question whether strong participation will be viewed as signaling increased willingness to buy risky assets, or as a sign of funding weakness," said Steven Englander, currency strategist at CitiFX, in a note to clients.
Englander estimates that €600 billion would be "an unambiguous positive surprise," but he warned that if banks borrow less than €300 billion "there could be a bit of a scramble in markets until it becomes clear what drove the lack of participation."
Beyond the immediate market reaction, there are questions about how effective the program will be in resolving the underlying causes of the debt crisis in the eurozone.
Draghi has said the ECB's goal is to support the banking sector and boost lending to the "real economy." He has stressed that the ECB is legally prohibited from supporting government finances and that the onus is on policy makers to reign in spending.
Guy Mandy, fixed income analyst at Nomura Securities, said in a research report that the LTRO has reduced the possibility of a bank failure due to a liquidity crisis.
But he suggested that a more lasting solution to the debt crisis would involve the ECB committing to buy government bonds directly from banks, a monetary strategy known as quantitative easing.
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|Overnight Avg Rate||Latest||Change||Last Week|
|30 yr fixed||3.66%||3.58%|
|15 yr fixed||2.79%||2.72%|
|30 yr refi||3.64%||3.57%|
|15 yr refi||2.79%||2.72%|
Today's featured rates: | <urn:uuid:d541637f-2588-4d28-99ee-806dbf8da204> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/markets/ecb_ltro/index.htm?section=money_news_economy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950427 | 1,086 | 1.625 | 2 |
So let me step back. The Earth, our beautiful blue and green living planet, will continue to be when we are gone, just as she was before we came. In fact, she probably is shutting down or simplifying her life-giving forests, savannahs, estuaries and oceans to get us to launch and shrug us off a little faster; a pesky, self-important and self-righteous species that literally eats her alive. Boy, is she getting tired of us and our prayers for a rain here while we are obliterating trees and clouds over there. In my lonely chronic hurt, am I yet another well-meaning but self-deluded, affluent American, who thinks that he may stem the inevitable with a teaspoon?
Save the planet?! What a stupid and arrogant thing to say! How about this: "Please, please, God, let the planet save us, and we promise to get out of her way." Of course, as a species, we are organically incapable of saying this simple prayer and following up on it.
|The New Yorker Cartoon Collection|
Where I write these words, everyone - even the poorest - has benefited from the global capitalism and everyone uses the multitudinous fruits of its technology. So why should we change? Only because we may be committing suicide in slow-motion? Or because millions of others are suffering and dying for our comfort?
Sorry, no time to answer these questions. I'm off in my Prius to a farmer's market 12 miles away. I positively need to pick up some locally grown produce and a fair-trade cappuccino. It's my time to relax. So why do I need to see that guy in a beat-up truck who's smoking a cigarette and drinking coke? What an environmentally insensitive slob! And he also looks so tired and unhealthy. Maybe he lost his job? Oh, who cares anyway? What a nice cappuccino...time to relax...
|A 6-mile wide lake of absolutely deadly toxic waste left near Baotou, China, after refining and smelting the rare earth metals we use in our Priuses and in wind turbines. But I love my Prius and the renewable electricity I get. Did I mention that plenty of soil there is also poisoned, as well as groundwater and one of the major waterways in China? In short, people die far away so that I can boast my environmental credentials and drive a Prius.|
P.S. I hope that Milan Kundera would agree with my assessment. Please read his masterpiece, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being."
P.S.P.S. For the record, I actually do not own a Prius but drive a small, diesel engine-powered Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen TDI. And I do not drive 24 miles to get a stupid cappuccino. Every day, I do see, however, the poor and the dispossessed, even in the affluent booming Austin, TX. | <urn:uuid:271c6a50-524d-43f9-ae70-e33dd0175142> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://patzek-lifeitself.blogspot.com/2011_09_04_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95191 | 617 | 1.5625 | 2 |
MyGovCost.org Director and Independent Research Fellow Emily Skarbek was a guest on the Heartland Institutes Budget & Tax News podcast. Click to listen to her commentary on the roots of our current spending crisis, whats at stake in the Congressional budget war, and how to use the Institutes very timely and user-friendly Government Cost Calculator.
Dr. Emily Skarbek, Director of the Government Cost Calculator was interviewed on the nationally syndicated radio program, The Jason Lewis Show (Premiere Radio Networks). In the program, Dr. Skarbek uses MyGovCost.org to explain the specific effects of rampant government spending on the personal situation for any individual in America.
Dr. Emily Skarbek, Director of the Independent Institutes MyGovCost.org was interviewed on the nationally syndicated, web, radio blog, Taking Back America. During the interview, Dr. Skarbek uses MyGovCost.org to explain the specific effects of rampant government spending for any individual in America. Dr. Skarbek illustrates how an individual can find out what their own personal costs imposed by government are, and what they could have earned instead. | <urn:uuid:e8d86b97-a129-4703-bfad-9171ab3533e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.independent.org/multimedia/?person=1434&y=2010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918187 | 231 | 1.609375 | 2 |
I wouldn’t have thought there would exist such a large natural eco-system in a part of the coast that has effectively been turned into a beach resort, albeit in Colan’s case a very traditional one. It turns out that the most fascinating thing in Colán is the nature. The beach was swarming with sand crabs, the skies with various types of gulls, the sand by the water with muymuyes and various tiny shellfish, the rocks with yet another species of crab, and there were some vultures too.
The sand crabs would run in and out of their holes as people came past, they were extremely fast and some quite large. The tiny ones were not yet big enough to be red in colour but were even faster.
We found one of the large rock crabs laying on the beach, right where it shouldn’t be. I can only guess it’s in their nature to go out there to die as they are so vicious that I doubt a bird could get at them and continue the food chain any other way. There were a few dead ones nearby that the gulls had already got at. Our one wasn’t quite dead yet and still had some fight in it. It wouldn’t run away but instead thrust its claws outwards and upwards at us. It lived for another 30 minutes or so before dieing, leaving some other creature the chance to live.
The next day we found a group of vultures feeding on a dead bird and also found a rocky part of the beach with hundreds of crabs.
Photos of the beach and crabs here. | <urn:uuid:9f466510-6ccb-4f57-ae37-bbd9569411b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://enperublog.com/2007/06/12/colans-wildlife/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987121 | 334 | 1.929688 | 2 |
“Tony, Tony look around! Something’s lost and must be found!” In the beginning there was only a slender ribbon of water snaking its way down the hill and into the desert. At the end of the last ice age, prehistoric … Continue reading
I’m not the first one to make a movie about the matachines dances in San Antonio, New Mexico. The event has been well documented on local television and by museums in the area. “But,” as San Antonio’s mayordomo Chris Jinzo would say, “it goes back even further.”
San Antonio was featured in John Ford’s Grape’s of Wrath and there is even a rumor that Thomas Edison came up this side of the mountain to shoot some footage after filming Indian Day school. Today a rich movie making tradition continues along the Turquoise Trail.
Before there were cameras, there were drawings. During the Civil War, the South planned to secure the vast mining network of America’s frontier territories. The campaign culminated in one of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles at Glorieta Pass, dubbed “The Gettysburg of the West.” Along the way, Confederates stayed a night in San Antonio and one soldier sketched the Sandia’s gentle, slopping peaks.
Before American illustrators, the Spanish mapped out the outposts along the Camino Real, including the ojo grande water source at San Antonio. The pueblo and plains Indians have marked the land with pottery shards scattered in the earth, matates carved into the ridge, tipi rings in the meadows, and arrowheads in the shadow boxes of local collectors. Further up the hill, the leftovers of the prehistoric Sandia Man‘s dinner once littered a cave.
All of these artifacts are here because the water is here. The purity and flow of the little stream behind San Antonio church runs because of hundreds if not a thousand years of stewardship. Even as encroaching development endangers this precious natural resource, ancient forces have been successful in preserving the acequia.
“No man steps in the same river twice,” Heraclitus wisely remarked. The ojito may look the same as when our ancestors first encountered it, but it is still evolving, continuing to be shaped by human impact over time. What will its future hold?
This movie Acequia captures a nostalgic moment in time for me. In the background of some of these scenes I can see and hear my parents and neighbors participating in the day’s festivities. These are the mountains of my youth and where I return to whenever I run out of green chile. I’ve since grown up and moved away from the area. Like so many who have rested at this spot, it turns out that I was just passing through. I’m may not be of this place, but after drinking from the stream, part of me will forever remain under the shady cottonwoods of the ojito. I hope that this movie will continue advocate for the preservation of the acequia at San Antonio. My wish is that it remains the way I remember it for several generations to come.
Later in the afternoon the tourists get bored and move on up the road to the next Tinkertown novelty. The priest is long gone, probably already back in Santa Fe. Only the original families remain to say good-bye to the old mayordomos and to greet the new custodians of the church. The exchange of stewardship is marked by La Entrega, a series of songs about community members and verses that sum up the fiesta.
Ramon Martinez, the guitarist who writes the music says that kids today, “think our music is so passé, that nobody listens to it, but this is part of our tradition and once they realize what it is I’m sure they’ll come around.” Maybe. Panning my video camera from the choir loft, I was surprised that the number of teenagers in the congregation equaled the number of octogenarians. It seems like the matachines dances will be around for at least another generation. Continue reading
Chris Jinzo is a kind of folk hero in our community. My dad remembers coming home from work one day and seeing the bulldozers and police cars along the side of the highway. Jinzo, the acequia mayordomo, was wedged in between them with a shotgun. His family was one of the first to settle in the area in the 1800s. When Mike Knight, a local developer, tried to buy up the village of San Antonio, New Mexico without the proper permits, Jinzo stood his ground. In doing so he protected the water rights of the spring that his family had drank from for centuries. Knight backed down and the residents of San Antonio partnered with the Bernalillo County Open Space to preserve the area. Jinzo’s actions that day have inspired newcomers, including my father, to protect the unique landscape and culture of the Sandia mountains.
When Walmart enters a new town it is often met with a local resistance. The retail store strong-arms its way in anyway and muffles dissent. Yet, when construction on a new super-center was proposed a mile down the road from San Antonio it was met with such a fiercely coordinated opposition that ground was never broken. Attempts by other big box stores to move into the East Mountains have met similar demises. Years ago, Blockbuster managed to open up a store here, but no one patronized it and it withered away. Strangely, even after streaming video providers like Netflix pushed that business to bankruptcy, East Mountain Video, a mom n’ pop joint run out of the back of a house, continues to rent VHS and DVDs down the road from us. For some reason small businesses flourish along the roadside, as big retail chains struggle to establish themselves. Continue reading
New Mexico’s dry environment does a good job at preserving artifacts. It’s often hard to tell if something is new or old. Everything just blends together in the bone-bleaching sun. One summer afternoon I was taking a walk from my house to the post office. I went a little further on my route than I should have and came across a section of burnt trees on the side of the trail. Deciding to investigate, I walked a few yards down the ridge and stopped. Rectangular patterns of rocks were carefully arranged on the ground. They almost looked like a foundation of a house, except that they were just single stones resting on top of the dirt.
What I found was obviously man-made, but I was baffled by what exactly I came across. A couple of weeks later I attended a lecture by Chuck Van Gelder, the East Mountain’s resident historian, who is featured in the video above. He spoke of the huge populations of Apaches and Plains Indians that setup camp in the area. Being nomadic, they didn’t leave a lot of physical evidence behind. However, some of their tipi rings remain. These rings are patterns of stones that were used to stake down the animal skin hides of the cone-shaped tipis. Continue reading
There is time a during every fiesta when the sun grows larger in the sky, stomachs grumble, and everyone takes a break. No feast day would be complete without a bowl of green chile stew and a tortilla to chew on when the heat becomes too much. As the afternoon drones on, the community settles into their lawn chairs and lethargically squints out at the play that has resumed on the plaza.
Kicking up dust in the center of the courtyard a cowboy lassos a guy in a bull costume and then frolics with a cross-dresser. The crowd cheers and chuckles. It’s fun to watch the same neighbors that you run into at the grocery store clown around, but what does it all mean? Everything is open to interpretation.
According to the church bulletin, the Ensaye is a play that comes from the village of Santa Fe, near Granada, Spain and was written in 1503. It tells the story of how the Spanish converted the Muslims to Christianity after they tried to steal the Holy Cross. The conquistadors performed the dance in an effort to evangelize New Mexico’s Native Americans, but instead, the Pueblos infused the spectacle with their own culture and beliefs. Throughout the years the role of each character has flip-flopped between good and evil to reflect the preferences of the performers. Continue reading
Growing up out West, I’ve become adverse to sticking solely to the trail and one day I got lost. I was descending the steep face of Sandia Peak and midway down I found myself chasing mule deer tracks into the desert.
I could clearly see Albuquerque, my destination, but without shade, water, or a clear path to guide me, I soon succumbed to a dizzy wandering. In the glaring midday sun my vision became impaired by stars and a mirage of halos. I like to believe that my guardian angel led me to that 7-Eleven at the edge of town where I quenched my thirst on a slurpie and brain-freezed myself back to life.
Eventually anyone who spends some time in New Mexico gets heat stroke. You forget to drink water, your lips get painfully chapped, and you end up looking like a sunburned Zozobra. The only remedy to a fever dream is to wake up in an ice cold bath.
Sandia is Spanish for Watermelon and at dusk the mountain turns pink on the arid west side. The green forested rolling hills of the east side becomes the rind. It’s cooler in the higher eastern elevations and the stream at San Antonio is an oasis. Native Americans, Spaniards, and Gringo’s alike competed with the rest of the animals in the woods for a drink at the spring. One party after another gained control over its access, but the others have not gone away. The acequia at San Antonio fuels diversity. Continue reading
“Tony, Tony, look around. Something’s lost and can’t be found.”
The Lash of the Penitentes is a 1937 oddity that is both a documentary and a B-movie. The circumstances surrounding the production of the film are shrouded in mystery and only a few scenes have survived, but it illustrates a murder mystery that took place in the Sandia mountains where I grew up.
The film depicts the penitente brotherhood as a secret, self-flagellating sect and, to this day, the order lives up to its reputation. The pilgrims who walk north to Chimayo every Good Friday still whip and crucify themselves along the way. Through self-imposed suffering, they atone for their sins.
Back in the old days, San Antonio was a remote village and the priest only came down from Santa Fe once a year to hold a service. It was up to Los Hermanos Penitentes to care for the church and uphold Christianity at the edge of the frontier. Continue reading
The ojito is not haunted to my knowledge. I’ve never heard any La Llarona stories, about this place, but that’s not to say she’s never been spotted here. Don’t get me wrong, you feel a presence in the mountains where the acequia tumbles down, but it is more like a whiff of prehistoric history.
The summer I videotaped these scenes, I bushwacked alone up sugarloaf, the first big hill behind the stream. I took a break in the arroyo carved out over the years from the water flowing into the ojito. As I sat on a giant boulder I could easily imagine my resting place to be a prehistoric campsite. The hills felt eerily familiar to me. It was as if I had encountered them in a past life.
Before I was here the Spanish had come and given San Antonio its name. Before they arrived there was an Indian pueblo. Prior to that settlement, hunters and gathers came to the stream to drink. And they have been doing that for a long time. Ever since human beings found a way to migrate into North America they have been coming to San Antonio. Continue reading
The first time this movie was screened it was on the back wall of Tijeras church for the East Mountains of New Mexico’s Centennial Celebration. It was ten minutes before the start of the show and the entire building was packed. Just under a hundred people crammed inside the church; others peered through the doorway like it was Las Posadas.
Five minutes before my screening, the local historical society, who had organized the Centennial Celebration, made a hasty announcement. Continue reading | <urn:uuid:3490f599-f1a3-4886-ae02-e750ff19feca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mediaforsocialchange.org/blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960131 | 2,672 | 2.484375 | 2 |
|Caravaggio, St. Jerome Writing|
I think typing everything on the computer leads to a more transitory relationship to the words themselves, they are so easily deleted, they haven’t ‘bled’ on the page the way written words do, but that impermanence gives the writer more freedom while editing to completely transform the piece.
This week, the blogalectic has taken up an endlessly-debated question: should writers prefer pen and paper as native to the literary art, or is it all right to upgrade to the typewriter or—heaven forbid—the computer?
The difficulty with this question is that it's impossible to answer with general finality, though Lewis may be right about the typewriter. Alongside the clacking keys, all typewriters I've ever known interrupted the typist at the ends of lines with the bell and mechanical racket of the carriage return. If my choice were between writing by hand or by typewriter, I'd certainly stick with the former.
Thanks to basically holistic ideals, I'd like to believe in a firm, earthy connection between working materials and quality of the art produced thereby. To a certain extent, I do; it's just that the computer works better for my writing than anything else.
C.S. Lewis never used a non-clacking laptop keyboard. Nor did he have access to a backspace key, which turns out to be useful for those of us who rarely finish sentences the way we intended to when we began them. Writers who favor pen complain of losing digitized thoughts to deletion, but I've almost never had to; if a cut phrase or scene becomes necessary, it's usually preserved in a spare file. My deleted-text document for the last few drafts of my NaNoWriMo novel is over 70,000 words, nearly as long as the novel itself.
For better or for worse—possibly for both—the modern computer interferes little with thought, rhythm, or idea. There's no shift or clanging at the end of a line. The writer can absorb himself directly into the text, provided he doesn't have to concentrate on typing. Worlds and characters take form in the mind; digital technology simply removes some of the barriers between creation and the record thereof. Pen-defenders argue that handwriting forces the writer to slow down and think through things, but the pen is not an editor, and the important matter is that the thinking through happens.
Best of all, the computer-written draft stays neat and orderly; there's no scratching out half a page and having to pore over the lines to figure out which words are still part of the work and which aren't. Additions can be inserted without tight scribbles in the margins or attached sheets of paper. Spelling and grammatical errors are easily fixed, and if the writer—like Oscar Wilde—spends all morning taking out a comma and all afternoon putting it back in, he can accomplish the operation without eraser crumbs or Liquid Paper.
All this fails to answer the question generally; it only shows what works for me, though perhaps it may also help explain why so many of us go on using the computer when so many authors argue forcibly for the old-fashioned pen. But Masha offers one further question:
I do wonder, in my more judgmental moments, whether writing solely on the computer has contributed to the huge number of badly written, barely edited books coming out on the market. I know I edit less when I see my writing on a screen instead of a page, and I know that the ability to put so much down, so quickly, with no fear of running out of space has encouraged me to over-write at times. But I don’t know how much of this is due to my own personal weaknesses as a writer and how much is due to the influence of technology.Through work in a department that revived and digitized old texts, I've seen amusingly dreadful stuff that made it into print ages before the coming of Smashwords, Amazon, or high turnover at publishing houses. Badly written books are too funny to trouble me, or history, very much. Barely edited ones are more irksome; ideally, editors would have the time, numbers, and longevity to stop more authors from using "may" where they mean "might", and to order more rewrites on books that start out strong and fade in the middle. I doubt those troubles are directly due to working on computers, though the many indirect effects of technology upon the pace of life may be involved.
I suggested this topic, but now that I sit down to write about it, the debate over pen versus computer just seems unimportant. The prima materia is in the artist's mind. The influence of mind and body upon each other may naturally work out to a preference for certain tools, but preference comes secondary to proper care and training of the main instrument.
If the artist knows his craft, puts in rigorous hours and years of practice, and becomes so intimate with the work of creation that the practical aspects come as easily as walking or driving a car, it won't matter how he works. And when he has his choice, he'll work the way that works for him. | <urn:uuid:0729e205-20b6-41e7-ac71-f972d30f4c05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jennasthilaire.com/2012/10/mind-over-matter-artist-and-choice-of.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967988 | 1,079 | 1.984375 | 2 |
The Meeting House, Tappan Square, and Oberlin Institute Buildings - 1846
"From a drawing made by Henry Howe in 1846, published in his Historical Collections of Ohio (Cincinatti - 1848), page 315 and in later editions. The text states, 'The engraving shows, on the right, the Presbyterian church, a substantial brick building, neatly finished externally and internally, and capable of holding a congregation of 3000 persons [?]; beyond it, on a green of about 12 acres, stands Tappan Hall; facing the green, commencing on the left, are seen Oberlin Hall, Ladies' Hall and Colonial Hall, all of which buildings belong to the Institute.' The chemistry laboratory may be seen between Ladies' Hall and Colonial Hall. The small building between Oberlin Hall and Ladies' Hall is probably the 'shop'."
Click here to return to the homepage of "Oberlin College Architecture: A Short History". (Use the BACK command to return to the same place in the text). | <urn:uuid:bc38b281-ce36-4556-a659-1f4f2fb05a61> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/gbslides/EarlyOberlin.html | 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 | 0.93445 | 210 | 2.625 | 3 |
Antique pumper house dedicated to fallen firefighter
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SACKETS HARBOR, N.Y. -- The Village of Sackets Harbor same together to honor the memory of a fallen firefighter.
Garrett Loomis was killed in a silo explosion in the Town of Hounsfield in 2010. They dedicated an antique pumper house in Garrett's memory.
The building is located across the street from the Sackets Harbor Fire Station Number 1 and the village municipal building.
Mayor Eric Constance says it's important to have this lasting tribute.
“This is an extremely important event because it gives our Village and the Town of Hounsfield a chance to actually memorialize our fallen firefighter and it’s been done at Fort Drum last year. We worked with the Loomis family to try and have something here in the village and we arrived that this would be the best time to do that,” Constance said.
Garrett Loomis’ parents unveiled a brass plaque memorial on the front wall of the pumper house. | <urn:uuid:18167af7-693e-462a-abc2-9d07486fc985> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ithaca-cortland.ynn.com/content/top_stories/580503/antique-pumper-house-dedicated-to-fallen-firefighter/?ap=1&MP4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941357 | 248 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Politico Live's Blog
March 14, 2013
Former General Manuel Antonio Noriega was the dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989. A bitter five-year confrontation between the U.S. government and Mr. Noriega began as a diplomatic quarrel, escalated into open military conflict and finally moved into the legal realm.
The United States military invaded Panama on Dec. 20, 1989, to overthrow Mr. Noriega and bring him to the United States for trial. The Panamanian Defense Forces, which have since been disbanded, put up little resistance, and Mr. Noriega took refuge in the Vatican Embassy.
American troops surrounded the building and blasted heavy metal music to wear him down. He surrendered on Jan. 2, 1990, 10 days after he had entered the embassy, walking out to waiting soldiers who handcuffed him and put him on a plane to Miami.
Convicted in federal court in Miami of turning Panama into a transshipment point for Colombian traffickers smuggling cocaine to the United States, Mr. Noriega was sentenced to 30 years in 1992.
On April 26, 2010, Mr. Noriega was put on an Air France flight for Paris after the State Department authorized his extradition. Mr. Noriega lost a court battle seeking to be returned to Panama after completing a federal prison term.
He was sentenced on July 7, 2010, by a French judge to seven years in prison on a money laundering conviction. Mr. Noriega was found guilty by the 11th chamber of the Tribunal Correctionnel de Paris. The tribunal also ordered Mr. Noriega to forfeit about $2.9 million that had been blocked in his French bank accounts.
In 1999, Mr. Noriega was convicted in absentia of laundering $3 million in illicit funds for the Medellin drug cartel through international banks and into French accounts. The July 7 result came as he was retried on the same charge after his extradition from Miami.
Mr. Noriega was also convicted in Panama of ordering the murder of political opponents, as well as embezzlement and corruption.
The former Panamanian dictator was convicted Wednesday of money laundering and also ordered to forfeit about $2.9 million that had been blocked in his French bank accounts.July 8, 2010worldNews
Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, the former leader of Panama, was found guilty of eight counts of cocaine trafficking, racketeering and money laundering today, marking the first time in American history that a jury has convicted a foreign head of state of criminal charges.April 10, 1992usBiography; Chronology
Always acting in the name of a larger strategic interest, five American Administrations, starting with Lyndon B. Johnson's, carried on normal relations with a military government that trafficked in drugs and arms and abused and exploited its own people.May 29, 1988News
Manuel Noriega, the former Panamanian dictator who is serving a 20-year jail sentence, has a brain tumor, according to his attorney.March 21, 2012, Wednesday
The Central American nation has attracted development and financial investment, but a shady reputation for corruption and being a haven for money-laundering lingers.December 14, 2011, Wednesday
Manuel Antonio Noriega arrived from Paris to complete a 20-year sentence for three murders and possibly face further court action.December 12, 2011, Monday
A Paris court on Wednesday approved the extradition of Panama’s onetime dictator, Manuel Antonio Noriega, to his homeland.November 24, 2011, Thursday
France approved the extradition of the former dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega to his native Panama, an official at the prime minister’s office said Wednesday.August 04, 2011, Thursday
France is ready to extradite the former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to his home country after the United States gave its consent, the French government said Monday.June 21, 2011, Tuesday
A court in Paris on Wednesday rejected a request for the release of the imprisoned former Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega, who is serving a prison term in France after his conviction on money-laundering charges.December 16, 2010, Thursday
The former Panamanian dictator was convicted Wednesday of money laundering and also ordered to forfeit about $2.9 million that had been blocked in his French bank accounts.July 08, 2010, Thursday
Prosecutors requested the maximum 10-year prison sentence on Wednesday for Manuel Noriega, the former Panamanian dictator convicted of laundering drug money. Mr. Noriega had been sentenced to 10 years on the same charges after being tried in absentia in 1999, but demanded a new trial after he was extradited from the United States in April. Mr. Noriega, who had worked for the C.I.A., argued Tuesday that the charges were based on an ''imaginary financial set-up orchestrated by the United States.'...July 01, 2010, Thursday
The French government granted Manuel Noriega, the former Panamanian dictator, a retrial over a 1999 money-laundering conviction.June 29, 2010, Tuesday
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Sitting May Kill, But It Can Also Heal
Dr. Isaac Eliaz
We love to sit. We buy recliners for our homes, ergonomic chairs for the office and camp chairs for our kids' soccer games. Sitting feels good. The trouble arises when we sit too much. Humans evolved on the go. We aren't designed to sit eight, 10, 12 hours during the day. In fact, we evolved to be active during the day and rest at night, and many of our biological mechanisms are designed to support that lifestyle. So when we live contrary to our body's normal modes, there can be consequences.
A number of recent studies have outlined these consequences in a big way. A study in England showed that office workers who sat more than five hours a day had higher body mass indexes (BMIs) and felt a loss of mental well-being. Even more alarming, a massive study of 220,000 people in Australia found that people who sat more than 11 hours a day had a 40 percent greater chance of dying in the following three years, compared to those who sat for under four hours a day.
What's especially troubling about the last study is that regular exercise did not reduce the risk of premature death. It's very difficult to counter six million years of primate evolution. The body wants exercise at certain times and rest at others, and does not seem to respond well when we switch the order. In other words, we can no longer justify hours of inactivity with the excuse: "I'll just work out later."
There are other contributing factors to the high risks of sitting. It seems that sitting too long may be a "gateway drug" for other bad choices. For example, the people who sat for such prolonged periods were also eating high-fat foods and not drinking enough water. The office environment itself can be negative factor. Not having enough natural light affects our serotonin and melatonin levels, which in turn affect our immune and circulatory systems. Poor circulation can lead to deep vein thrombosis, or blood clots in the legs. This is especially dangerous when flying for long periods of time, as pressurized airplanes tend to exacerbate the problem.
So how do we process this information? You may respond by saying, "Great, now I can't even sit anymore." But that's not really the case. We know, for example, that meditation practitioners can sit for many hours a day, moving intermittently, but maintain significant health advantages. So it's not just a matter of sitting, but rather how we sit.
Offices, by their very nature, are stressful places. High stress increases the excretion of adrenal hormones, which over time degrade the immune system. Sitting just makes matters worse. Also, because the heart is working slower, the blood is not moving as fast, and the circulatory system can be compromised. Excess hormones are not being circulated and metabolized, a potentially dangerous cocktail.
On the other hand, let's move the sitting posture away from the office, with its stale air and minimal natural light, to a mountain with fresh air, abundant sunlight and plenty of fresh water. Under those circumstances, you could easily sit for 11 hours, taking frequent exercise breaks, and the experience would benefit both mind and body.
From my own experience, I know that meditative practice is profoundly beneficial -- lowering my blood pressure, improving a variety of other health markers and enhancing my sense of well-being. It's a healing practice. Though I am sitting, I am dedicating this posture to my own growth.
By simply making this change of context, sitting becomes a vehicle to heal ourselves. So we're finding that sitting is deeply interrelated with other lifestyle choices.
Overcoming the Negative Effects
Even if you have a desk job, there are still a number of measures you can take to control sitting's negative effects and ensure good health. The most important thing is to simply get up and walk around: every hour, every 45 minutes, every half an hour -- whatever is practical in your situation. Move around; get your blood flowing again, clear your head. If you have access to a couch, take advantage of it. It's great to lie down for a few minutes and lift your feet above your heart. Even one minute will make a difference.
During your lunch break, take a short walk, 15 minutes will do the trick. Walk before eating and then rest after eating, so you can dedicate enough circulation to digestion.
You should also be looking for supplements that aid circulation. I recommend a Tibetan formula, which incorporates botanical ingredients, such as costus root, neem fruit, cardamom fruit and others to aid circulation and immunity.
Medicinal mushrooms like Cordyceps, Reishi, shitake and oyster also boost circulation and immunity, as do specific enzymes, like nattokinase and lumbrokinase. These ingredients are not dissimilar to taking a baby aspirin to enhance cardiovascular health.
Attitude Is Everything
Good hydration, deep breathing and frequent movement can all help us overcome the effects of too much sitting. But embracing a good attitude is just as vital. There are a number of meditation practices that can help you make a significant difference.
Put a nice stone, or an inspiring message, on your desk. Every so often, stop and look at it for a few seconds or a minute. Let your eyes gaze at it softly and breathe, exhaling into it and inhaling from it. Simply concentrate on the object and your breathing.
By initiating this practice you can start to feel that sense of "ahhh," where everything starts to relax. It can take just 30 seconds of your time. When your meditation practice becomes more developed, then the heart opens up and prevents emotional stagnation. This kind of meditation can really benefit your heart and circulation. Indeed, it's important to remember, meditation has been proven to aid circulation, and is often done while sitting.
So remember, yes, sitting can be dangerous. But it's more than the act of sitting that's problematic; it's the environment and attitudes that go along with it. Mindful sitting can bring great benefits for our minds and bodies and can, in fact, heal.
For more by Dr. Isaac Eliaz, click here.
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Lower Manhattan is a living symbol of civic resilience; it is evidence of how free people can triumph over fear. The neighborhood surrounding Ground Zero has become the fastest-growing in New York City.
Daniel Libeskind is part of the influx. The Bronx-raised designer of the Freedom Tower was living in Berlin on 9/11: “I was determined to live in lower Manhattan. And I’m so happy because it’s really coming back to life ... It’s a kind of renaissance.”
The 16-acre wound where the World Trade Center once stood is just north of where the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam formed in the 1600s. On these streets, George Washington took the oath of office, and Congress proposed the Bill of Rights. Between 1890 and 1930, the tallest buildings in the world were downtown. In the second half of the 20th century, businesses moved to midtown, but by the 1990s, Lower Manhattan once again was a bustling commercial and residential hub. Then came 9/11.
The collapse of the towers was equivalent to a 2.4 on the Richter scale. The fires at Ground Zero burned for three months.
“A blanket of dust that looked like snow covered this whole area,” recalls Peter Poulakakos, whose family runs a half-dozen lower Manhattan restaurants. “There were Hummer military vehicles, the National Guard, nobody walking around. It was a war zone.”
“It was a time when people said lower Manhattan would never survive,” says Community Board 1 chair Julie Menin. “They said no one will live downtown, they won’t work downtown, and they’re certainly not going to visit downtown. If you look at those three areas, we have absolutely proved them wrong.”
A combination of civic pride, government incentives, and entrepreneurial investment led to the resurgence. Menin formed Wall Street Rising, a local nonprofit encouraging support for downtown businesses. The Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation directed cash incentives to pioneering residents.
Lower Manhattan’s residential population has almost tripled since 9/11, and among the new apartment buildings is a Frank Gehry–designed skyscraper. Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank have built new headquarters in the neighborhood. Condé Nast will take 1 million square feet of office space in One World Trade Center, which will stand 400 feet taller than the Twin Towers when it is opened—lawsuits, protests, and design disputes finally behind it— in 2014. Thanks to the increased police presence, lower Manhattan is now the safest neighborhood in New York City.
And then there is tourism. When the stunning new 9/11 memorial opens on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, it is expected to help draw a total of 9 million visitors to the neighborhood each year. The number of local hotels has increased from six to 18. There are now nine museums, 447 restaurants, and 626 shops. Where else can you eat dinner while watching the sunset over the Statue of Liberty?
“I’m always inspired by how many people are looking at the site,” Libeskind says. “There’s always people looking, longing to see something positive emerging out of this tragedy. And I think that is the right response to the terrorists. They did not win that day. New Yorkers won. New York did not lose its heart. New York rebuilt its heart. We’re laying foundations for a better future.” | <urn:uuid:d9cc4ae2-2b23-4fc8-8742-bd8535644dc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/09/04/lower-manhattan-comes-back-to-life.print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959857 | 721 | 2.46875 | 2 |
This piece is the fourth in a six-part series on taxation, and a joint project by The American Prospect and its publishing partner, Demos.
The “Buffett Rule” proposed by President Obama and now being considered by the Senate would be an important symbolic step toward a fairer tax system. By instituting a minimum tax on very high earners, it would advance the principle of progressive taxation and reform the tax code in an overdue way.
The other day, on a Manhattan sidewalk, I ran into a former colleague and asked her what she was doing these days. She shrugged: “I’m in limbo.”
When I looked her up later to connect online, her LinkedIn profile listed her as CEO of her own consulting firm. That didn’t sound like limbo to me, until I saw the fine print: “self-employed, myself only.” Scrolling through the rest of my contacts, I noticed that quite a few people in my professional orbit had titles like “president” or “founder” or “principal.” Some of these people, I know, are doing quite well; others are barely making it.
For more than a century, big business has counted on the Republican Party to do its bidding in Washington. Given recent debates over taxes and regulation -- in which GOP lawmakers have catered to corporate interests -- it might seem that not much has changed.
The past few weeks, though, show that everything has changed. Today's Republican Party is turning out to be the worst friend business could imagine, led by politicians who don't understand the modern economy, and, worse, are ready to blow it up on principle.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Oil-company executives testify before the Senate Finance Committee in May.
Lobbyists, don your loafers: The biggest tax-reform debate in decades is about to begin.
While the debt-ceiling deal didn't include any tax increases, the next phase of negotiations is sure to explore raising new revenues through tax reform. That's because, by law, the Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2012, putting the issue of revenues squarely on the table -- but with the White House holding more cards this time around. | <urn:uuid:cd344691-7f84-4782-a2b4-97843093fe34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mailto:editors@prospect.org/authors/david-callahan?page=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980753 | 470 | 1.679688 | 2 |
This book derives from information exchanged on Twitter immediately after the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. At the time, social networking via mobile phone was an incredibly important—the only—tool for learning about the needs of those who were affected by disaster. Those who lived far from the devasted area exchanged information and relayed offers of help, but there was no effective platform to facilitate and archive them.
Nosigner then came up with a Wiki project called OLIVE (Open Ideas and Designs for Earthquake Survivors) to enable mass collaboration for aiding the striken area and victims. He invited designers to submit ideas for designs that would be useful for disaster relief, archiving these design entries, which could be assembled at an evacuation center. Nosigner later edited the uploaded entries and created this book. It is full of tips and tools for survival in extreme conditions, and I would like everyone to read it as a reminder of disasters of any kind around the globe. | <urn:uuid:514231e4-d440-48ba-b707-b7b6829aa776> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.designersandbooks.com/book/olive-handbook-protect-your-life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973621 | 199 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
1301 Guadalupe Street,
2 people favorited this theater
The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center presents a seaon of events and develops the arts and culture of the Chicano and Latino people. A single story building but a good job was done on the color scheme when it was restored.
When it opened in 1940 as the Guadalupe Theatre, it ran a regular double bill, short subjects and cartoons. It succumbed to the economics of the 1960’s like many other stand alone theatres. It later became a flea market.
With the assistance of the mayor of San Antonio and council members loans were obtained for over a million dollars for renovation. The renovation started in 1983. It had its grand reopening in 1984 and is going strong today serving the community.
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater | <urn:uuid:4ad59c52-b4df-4fdc-b509-6ce243026d1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/8072 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963253 | 178 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Port of Call Spotlight: Fort-de-France, Martinique
Images from the Caribbean island of Martinique. (MARTINIQUE.ORG)
In colonial times, France and Britain vied for Martinique, but in the 20th century, the island became a department of France -- thus Martinique is as French as the Riviera --visitors will find gendarmes on the streets, baguettes in the bakeries, and Lancome and Louis Vuitton merchandise in the stores in the capital of Fort-de-France. African influences, most of present-day inhabitants are descendants of slaves, and New World roots have created a vibrant Creole ambiance, evident in the cuisine, music and traditions of the island.
Most ships dock at the Pointe Simon Cruise Dock in the heart of Fort-de-France. Highlights within walking distance include La Savane Park, with formal gardens and a marketplace of handicrafts, at the eastern edge of the city; the Bibliotheque Schoelcher, named for a revered abolitionist, an elaborate structure by French architect Henri Pick, across from the park on 21 rue de la Liberte, and Cathedrale St-Louis, also by Pick and dating from the 19th century, on rue Victor Schoelcher at rue Blenac. Fort St.-Louis, on a promontory east of La Savane, is another must-see, dating from the 17th century and protecting Fort-de-France from Dutch and British attacks.
Beyond Fort-de-France are two landmarks for which Martinique is best known: La Pagerie, the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte's Josephine, and St. Pierre, "the Pompeii of the Caribbean." Visitors can tour La Pagerie at the village of Trois Islets, where Josephine, Napoleon's "Petite Creole," see her family's estate and plantation, and view in the museum her personal effects including a passionate love letter from Napoleon. What remains of the town of St. Pierre, is another must. Once known as the "Paris of the West," the town was destroyed by the eruption of the volvano Mt. Pelee in 1902.
The eruption killed all but one of St. Pierre's 30,000 inhabitants (the sole survivor was saved because he was incarcerated in a dungeon). The ruins of St. Pierre and a small museum with exhibits chronicling the disaster are stops on many island tours of Martinique sold onboard ships. Stops on island tours also include the church Sacre Coeur de Balata, inspired in the Sacre Coeur church of Montmartre, and offering views of Fort-de-France. Nearby, the Jardin de Balata is a botanical garden with 200 species of plants and blooms. Independents who are art lovers may wish to check out the Musee Paul Gauguin, on Anse Turin, near the hut the French painter occupied during a five-month stay on the island in 1887.
Other popular shore excursions on Martinique include tours to rainforests and plantations, visits to a rum distillery, hikes, horseback riding, and beach sojourns (one of the best beaches is Grand Anse des Salines, south of Fort-de-France).
Island flavors include the luscious fruits including mangoes and papayas, French cuisine in such restaurants as La Belle Epoque on route Didier in Fort-de-France and Creole dishes at such restaurants as La Ville Creole on Anse Mitan.
Cruise lines that visit Martinique include Carnival, Celebrity, Holland America, Norwegian, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Silversea and Star Clippers.
IF YOU GO -- For additional information on Martinique, visit www.martinique.org. | <urn:uuid:cd8e3b06-7c5c-454f-af16-3226d3f38315> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.courant.com/travel/vacation-starter/cruise-destinations/orl-travel-fort-de-france-martinique-profile,0,2026104.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92267 | 801 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Charles Robbins, Executive Director & CEO, The Trevor Project and
Eliza Byard, PhD, Executive Director, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
The impacts of language and behavior can be deadly, especially in a school environment where young people are already highly impressionable and vulnerable. Unfortunately, this difficult lesson has been conveyed many times when young people resort to drastic and permanent measures to escape the despair of enduring constant bullying and harassment at school.
It is deeply disturbing that on April 6, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old sixth-grader from Springfield, Mass., hanged himself with an extension cord in his family’s home after being subjected to continuous anti-gay bullying and harassment at his middle school. It is equally as disheartening that on April 16, less than two weeks later, Jaheem Herrera, an 11-year-old fifth-grader from DeKalb County, Ga., also hanged himself at home after being the subject of anti-gay taunts from his classmates. These were two completely separate and isolated instances, but the tragic and preventable nature of each unfortunate loss of life remains the same.
Neither Carl nor Jaheem identified as gay, yet their peers’ defamatory language and hurtful behaviors broke the barriers of sexual orientation and gender identity. Being taunted as “faggot,” “queer” or “homo” by classmates is offensive and demeaning to any student – straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning alike.
Carl is the fourth middle school student this year to complete suicide due to bullying, and Jaheem was still in elementary school. Older students are also at a high risk, as suicide is one of the top three causes of death among 15 to 24-year-olds and the second leading cause of death on college campuses. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers, and those who come from a rejecting family are up to nine times more likely to do so.
Two of the top three reasons secondary school students said their peers were most often bullied at school were actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender expression, according to a 2005 report by GLSEN and Harris Interactive. In addition, The Trevor Project fields tens of thousands of calls from young people each year, both straight and LGBT-identified, with rejection and harassment by peers being one of the top five issues reported by callers.
In the same GLSEN and Harris report, more than a third of middle and high school students said that bullying, name-calling and harassment is a somewhat or very serious problem at their school. Furthermore, two-thirds of middle school students reported being assaulted or harassed in the previous year and only 41% said they felt safe at school.
Enough is enough. It is time for school administrators, educators, parents, students and the government to work together to stop bullying and harassment in schools. Furthermore, we must teach young people to understand the profound impact of words and actions, and to recognize depression and suicidal ideations amongst their peers. By helping young people take responsibility for their actions and respect their peers, and simultaneously empowering them with the knowledge and skills they need to understand when their classmates are in crisis, we can work toward ending the dual epidemics of school bullying and youth suicide once and for all.
We as parents, teachers and concerned citizens can do our part to protect students by speaking out and demanding that anti-bullying and harassment programs and suicide prevention education are mandated in all schools. We can seek commitment from the government to end bullying by training educators on how to effectively intervene, teaching students to respect and help one another, and ensuring that all students know how to reach out to a peer who may be in crisis. We must lead by example and remember that the language we choose is easily repeated by young people. We must listen to children when they reach out for help, and demonstrate to them that we will be understanding and non-judgmental if they need to talk.
Days like the GLSEN-sponsored National Day of Silence bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. On this day, thousands of students call for practical, appropriate interventions that work, hoping to move us closer to a future where every child can go to school free from fear. Weeks including the National Suicide Prevention Week encourage programs to increase suicide prevention efforts, including initiatives supported by The Trevor Project to protect LGBT youth.
It is our hope that in memory of Carl and Jaheem, and in honor of all young people who have completed suicide after enduring constant torment at school, we will be able to work together to promote school environments that celebrate diversity and encourage acceptance of all people. Only then will we be confident that our children are receiving the respect and education they deserve today in order to become the successful and equality-minded leaders of tomorrow.
The Trevor Project is the non-profit organization that operates the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. The Trevor Project was established in 1998 to promote acceptance of LGBTQ youth, and to aid in crisis and suicide prevention among that group.
GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established nationally in 1995, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. | <urn:uuid:8634b8f5-6442-4440-90a4-1c7a01950037> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/23/bullied-to-death-addressing-harassment-and-suicide-prevention-in-schools/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970103 | 1,146 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Recent studies have shown that the world’s 100 largest companies get nearly six million combined mentions on Twitter every month. But are companies listening; and if they are, how are they responding?
According to a 2012 Satmetrix study, 55% of businesses currently ignore customer feedback provided over social media. Yet 59% of consumers responding to an Arnold Worldwide survey say they expect brands to respond to social media comments; and 46% say they respect brands that respond and contribute to discussions about the service their customers have received.
So why do many brands tune out customers on social media or offer automated, robotic posts and replies when consumers try to strike up a conversation? Social media is supposed to be social after all. The most recent high-profile example of automated disappointment comes from Progressive, best known for its lovable, empathetic and chatty spokesperson, FLO.
For every individual who reached out to Progressive through Twitter about the company’s actions surrounding a recent driving death court case, the company auto-replied with a TweetLonger-generated statement that read:
“This is a tragic case, and our sympathies go out to Mr. Fisher and his family for the pain they’ve had to endure. We fully investigated this claim and relevant background, and feel we properly handled the claim within our contractual obligations. Again, this is a tragic situation, and we’re sorry for everything Mr. Fisher and his family have gone through.”
If this had been the reply to a single tweet, it certainly would have been respected, but as it appeared over and over and over again, the message lost all human sincerity.
So what are some takeaway lessons for brands and organizations that want to communicate more effectively with their customers, and consumers in general, on social media?
1. Get real. The following are some great ad hoc acronyms to follow when responding on behalf of any brand or organization.
- Be S.O.C.I.A.L.: Sincere, Open, Collaborative, Interested, Authentic and Likeable
- Success on T.W.I.T.T.E.R.: Thoughtful, Warm, Interested, Timely, Trustworthy, Engaged, Real
Even the robotic Mars Rover shines on Twitter, powered by the personality of its very human tweeter:
@MarsCuriosity Recalculating… I was so giddy about my 1st drive yestersol, I tweeted the wrong specs. Correction: 4.5 m fwd, 120º turn, then back
@MarsCuriosity Yes, I’ve got a laser beam attached to my head. I’m not ill tempered; I zapped a rock for science: http://1.usa.gov/P7IXF1 #MSL #PewPew
2. Evaluate your automation. Automated content sharing is typical and tolerated, but responding to customers, initiating conversations and any posts related to an event should be handled with care, and if possible, in real-time. Read the example of the Worst Scheduled Tweet Timing Ever as a case in point.
3. Think before you tweet or delete. Before you hit the enter or submit button on behalf of your brand, re-read your tweet or social media post. Does it read well? Does it have a human touch? Is the tone polite? Could anything in the wording be misinterpreted or taken the wrong way? Taking a minute to rethink and revise your posts could save you hours of walking back your words.
In addition, resist the urge to reply hastily or delete consumer comments. Big brands like ChapStick have learned this the hard way. “Once you start removing content, people try to find it,” noted lawyer and author Brad Shear on ReadWriteWeb.com.
In a nutshell, communicating with customers and consumers on social media comes down to those traits we value in our personal relationships: trust, honesty, transparency and respect.
In 2008, consumer responses to the Edelman Trust Barometer gave the highest amount of trust to companies that had the highest quality product and service. Today, 83% say they trust companies who are transparent and honest, while quality of product is now third. People appreciate brands that are big enough to admit they’re human and show this on social media.
More Customer Care Content You May Be Interested In:
- 7 Take-Note Online Customer Service Predictions
- SoMoLo: A Profile of Today’s Connected Customer
- Parature for Social Engagement | <urn:uuid:d49bfb32-f459-4a66-8724-cd3d0b267ced> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parature.com/customers-real-people-robots-social-media/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929252 | 945 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Many Key Dates Created in 1921 Recession|
March 04, 2008
Go to a coin show and price the following 1921 U.S. coins: the S-mint nickel, the P- and D-mint dimes, the quarter, all three halves, and the Peace dollar. What do they all have in common? Low mintages and high prices. Why is that? Because the state of the economy plays a very important role in the production of our currency.
The post-World War I years saw a slowdown in the economy of the United States. The decade before World War I, however, had seen booming economic growth unmatched in history. This amazing economic growth continued during the war, when many nations mobilized their national resources into command economy structures.
Recession reared its ugly head in 1921. The economy of North America took a nosedive and shrank by a much larger percentage than it did during the Great Depression. What caused the recession? The sudden halt of wartime production was a major reason. U.S. manufacturers had large inventories of goods that the consuming public simply could not absorb. American exports fell sharply at the end of the war. Add to that a massive influx of labor due to the returning troops.
The Federal Reserve (hereafter 'Fed') played a major role in bringing about the recession. The rapid inflation that developed during the war accelerated after the Armistice of Nov. 11, 1918. The Fed wanted to rein in the inflation and protect the nation's gold reserves. In order to accomplish that, near the end of 1919 the Fed began raising its discount rate on borrowing money. The last increase – from 4.75 percent to 6 percent – took place during the first two months of 1920.
What was the result of the recession of 1921? Twelve percent of working Americans were unemployed. The rate of the growth of prices (Consumer Price Index or CPI) took a tumble from 1920 to 1921. In 1920, it was +14.7, while 1921 saw it dip down to -11.5 percent - in real money the CPI dropped 26.2 percent in two years. Those who kept their jobs saw their income shrink. The result in the drop of prices was bank failures, foreclosures and bankruptcies.
The sector of the economy that was hit the hardest by the recession of 1921 was agriculture. During the war, farmers borrowed heavily to expand their production to satisfy demand for foodstuffs. When the European farm industry returned to full production after the war, however, U.S. agriculture prices plummeted; this resulted in widespread financial ruin that included foreclosures and bankruptcies. How far did farm prices drop? Between 1920 and 1921, the price of wheat fell 62 percent; the price of cotton dropped 81 percent; and the price of hogs dipped 53 percent. When the 1920s began to roar, the farmers barely made a whisper.
It is important for numismatists to understand how history and economics affect the production of coins - not just the history of the coins themselves. During a recession the economy slows down and millions of people are out of work. One effect of this: fewer coins are needed for everyday commerce. There is also less money available. Thus the government did not see either rising demand for coins from the banking system or tax collections to pay the expenses in 1921.
Our neighbors to the north were also hit hard by the recession of 1921. The unemployment rate of Canadians was 10 percent that year.
The Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa produced some great numismatic rarities in 1921. The Canadian five-cent piece, a .925 fine silver coin, had an original mintage of 2,582,495. In May of 1921, the government of Canada passed an act authorizing the change of this silver coin to a larger coin made of nickel. Most of these coins - given the nickname "fish scales" due to their thinness - were melted and only about 460 are known to exist. It appears that the silver five-cent piece was a victim of the recession of 1921. The surviving coins were generally found in sets purchased from the RCM. From 1922 until 1942, the RCM used pure nickel to mint their five-cent coins.
The 1921 25-cent piece - with a mintage of 597,337 - is considered a rarity in grades VF-20 and above. No 1921 25-cent pieces were melted by the RCM.
During the early to mid-1920s, there was very little demand for 50-cent pieces. Unlike the U.S., this denomination was not a popular coin of commerce. Only 28,000 pieces were released to the public between 1921 and 1929. When greater demand for the coin arose in 1929, the master of the RCM decided to melt its supply of 1920 and 1921 coins. This amounted to a total of 480,392 50-cent pieces. The decision was due to the belief that the public would suspect counterfeits if a large number of coins dated 1920 and 1921 were placed into circulation. About 75 or so of the 1921 50-cent coins have survived from mint sets that were sold at the time.
The economy began to pick up in 1922 and then the Roaring Twenties saw amazing economic growth. Within a few years, U.S. coin production returned to pre-1921 levels. But we will always have the recession rarities of 1921 to ponder and collect.
Landon-Lane, John and Rockoff, Hugh. "Regional Interest Rates within a Monetary Union: Lessons from the United States," Oct. 11, 2006, ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/events/2006/arc2006/arc2006_landonlane_en.pdf.
Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, Doubleday, 1988.
Krause, Chester L. and Mishler, Clifford, 2005 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-Present, 32nd Edition, Krause Publications, 2005.
"The Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922," E.H. Net Encyclopedia eh.net/encylopedia/article/Kaplan.Fordney.
"Post-WWI recession," Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-WWI-recession.
"Nickel (Canadian coin)," Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_(Canadian_coin).
"50 cent piece (Canadian coin)," Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_cent_piece_(Canadian_coin).
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Something to add? Notice an error? Comment on this article. | <urn:uuid:c03a88d3-b3e8-4834-bd13-30f47cd873e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=3896 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963159 | 1,377 | 3.484375 | 3 |
The life of an entrepreneur is one heck of a life, wouldn’t you agree? From the incessant quest to make a significant contribution through the creation of innovative products/services, to the ever present fear of failing. The entrepreneurial life is very overwhelming, more like joggling too many balls in the air.
In a rather funny way, the odds always seem to stack up against we entrepreneurs. What then shall we do; give up our entrepreneurial quest and settle for less? Or march on courageously despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles?
I’m sure you would most likely agree with me that the second option is our surest bet as entrepreneurs and the very essence of the entrepreneurial spirit.
You did not choose to become an entrepreneur because the journey is easy, NO. You chose to become an entrepreneur because the journey is worth it. Entrepreneurship is not something you can fake your way through; you are either doing it right or not doing it right simple. There are no ways around it.
So are you still on the right path as an entrepreneur?
It’s because of this singular reason that I offer the following 5 ways to simplify your life as an entrepreneur and help you get more from your business by doing less.
1. Follow purpose
Dr. Myles Munroe was 100% on point when he made this statement; “when purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable.” Most entrepreneurs complicate their lives and seldom find fulfillment in business because of the singular fact that they are ignorant of the purpose of entrepreneurship.
You see, there’s no way you can enjoy a journey that you began with a wrong step. Entrepreneurship is never about ‘getting’ (accumulation of wealth) but about ‘giving’ (creation of value).
Business is not a money making venture but a value adding venture.
I will never cease to re-iterate this fact no matter how unpopular it might sound, most especially in a country like mine –Nigeria.
In all the success stories ever told about most iconic entrepreneurs in the world such as Google founders; Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Wal-Mart founder; Sam Walton, Sony founder; Morita Akio, General Electric founder; Thomas Edison and so on, one thing has remained universally true about them.
They all set out to build SIGNFICANT businesses – companies that will stand for something special (uniqueness) and will make their profit only by adding value to those they serve (usefulness). Little wonder their businesses are world acclaimed companies.
Take it or leave it, your entrepreneurial life will never be less complicated (simplified) if you keep focusing on the financial rewards of entrepreneurship. To put money first as the sole purpose of your entrepreneurial journey is to choose to fail out rightly from the very beginning!
There is no use battling with nature’s law. Mankind has continuously broken new grounds in science and arts not because it argued with nature, but because it chose to explore and understand nature by conforming to its laws. You stand a more better chance of succeeding as an entrepreneur if you live a life of purpose and align your business to the purpose of entrepreneurship.
In case you still haven’t figured out what your purpose in life is as an entrepreneur, click here to discover your purpose in life.
2. Pursue Vision
Life will always be complicated for the entrepreneur who has no idea of where he/she is going and what he/she really wants to achieve. In following purpose as was mentioned above, entrepreneurship is about creating something really special (unique/different). What is that thing you want your company to always be remembered for?
This is what having a vision means. A vision is a picture or imagination in the mind of the entrepreneur about an idea. It’s about using your life to bring into reality an idea you are so passionate about. This idea can be in the form of a product or service you want to offer the market.
However, because people don’t pay for products/services, rather they pay for solutions to their problems. This implies that, unless your product/service is solving a particular problem in the lives of your customers, you’ve failed already as an entrepreneur in your quest to create something truly special. As I’ve written in a previous article on How to build the greatest company in the world, your being special (uniqueness) must make a positive impact (usefulness).
So here’s the big question you’ve got to answer in order to simplify your life as an entrepreneur and get more from your business by doing less; what problem is your products/services solving for people? In other words, what do you and your company want to create in the lives of your customers? The answer to this question should be your major focus as an entrepreneur.
This is what it means to pursue vision. Stop going about chasing several things. Focus on one thing. Stephen R. Covey was right when he said;
“Your job is to keep the main thing as the main thing”.
A business that doesn’t stand for something will eventually fall for anything. This is one of the core philosophies we are trying to instill into the minds of entrepreneurs on naijapreneur. In order to get more from your business, you must learn to do less by standing for something (being different) and adding value to those your business serves based on what you stand for (making a difference).
In case you still haven’t found a compelling vision to pursue as an entrepreneur, click here to discover how to create a compelling vision for your organization.
3. Embrace Passion
For entrepreneurs who focus on their core gifted areas, doing less will always yield more. Nothing can be more enriching to the life of an entrepreneur and beneficial to the success of a business than focusing on what you naturally love doing – passion. Your passion is the same as your strength.
These are those activities you naturally enjoy doing effortlessly. I’m sure by now, you should be tired of hearing this statement; “You can never be successful doing what you endure rather than enjoy.”
This is just the simple truth about life and business success. Success is a natural outcome of unleashing your passion. It is the result of an unwavering dedication to the pursuit of our true calling as human beings. Many entrepreneurs underestimate the effect of passion in building a successful business. To show you how powerful embracing passion can be, here’s a revealing study of a group of businesspeople who took two very different paths after graduating from college.
A study of business school graduates tracked the careers of 1,500 people from 1960 to 1980. From the beginning, the graduates were grouped into two categories. Category A consisted of people who said they wanted to make money first so that they could do what they really wanted to do later – after they had taken care of their financial concerns. Those in category B pursued their true interests first (passion), sure that the money would eventually follow.
What percentage fell into each category?
Of the 1,500 graduates in the survey, the money-now category A’s comprised of 83%, or 1,245 people. Category B risk takers made up 17%, or 255 graduates.
After 20 years there were 101 millionaires in the group. 1 came from Category A (the money-now graduates), and 100 from category B (the risk taking graduates).
The study’s author, Srully Blotnick, concluded that “the overwhelming majority of people who have become wealthy have become so thanks to work they found profoundly absorbing …. Their ‘luck’ arose from the accidental dedication they had to an area they enjoyed.”
The story above clearly says it all. Lucked up within each of us is a gift, talent or strength that was deposited in us at the point of creation which was given to us to be used for the benefit of humanity.
This is why whenever you find yourself doing any activity that you endure rather than enjoy, you keep feeling empty and frustrated regardless of the material rewards such activity might provide. So learn to embrace your passion for therein lies the answer to getting more from your business by doing less.
4. Empower People
There’s a limit to what only one person can do. If you are running your business as a one man show without enlisting the help of other gifted people, you would end up complicating your life and can never stand a chance of getting the best from your business. You see what you must realize is this; one is too small a number to achieve greatness.
The fact that you own the business doesn’t mean you possess all the talents, skills or knowledge required to successfully run the business. A very simple way to grab this fact is taking a look at the way your body works, the body is a composition of different parts all working synergistically with every part playing its own role in making you a total human being. Imagine the heart trying to play the role of the hand all in the name of wanting to be the main boss of the body. The end result is quite obvious, calamity. Likewise, the same is true in business.
Your job as the an entrepreneur and the owner of your business is to critically evaluate all the key areas of your business and then look for the right set of people to occupy and function in each of these key areas you’ve identified. You must therefore begin to groom a team of highly gifted, skilled and knowledgeable people who would complement you and your business as it is quite obvious that you can’t do it all by yourself.
One of the reasons why most entrepreneurs hesitate in empowering their people is due to insecurity. Most entrepreneurs especially in my country Nigeria believe in controlling all aspects of their business because they do not trust those whom they have employed to work in their business. So they end up prying their nose into every area of their business and trying to be Alpha and Omega of their enterprise.
Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not in any way suggesting that you don’t be in the know as regards the operations of your business, No. My point is quite simple; get those who are better than you in certain areas of your business and empower them to use their uniqueness to enrich your business.
There is what I can do better than you and there’s what you can do better than me, together we can both pull our individual talents, skills and abilities towards a greater purpose which we would never have been able to achieve alone.
Meaning, you cover up for my weaknesses by focusing completely on your strength and I cover up for yours by equally focusing on my strength as we collectively pursue a common goal, vision or purpose. So, to get more from your business, learn to do less by finding and empowering talented people whom you can delegate those things that bore you to nuts.
5. Leverage Technology
In the whole of human history, I personally think this is the best time to be alive. Never before have we humans been so interconnected globally because of Information Technology.
Imagine a world where all humans could be reached just by sitting at a place and working on a computer? Imagine the possibility of reaching several millions of people all at the same time with the same message being passed from one main source? Imagine having to compete with the giants of your industry on the same platform – the internet, without any fear of being eaten up alive?
The list is endless. The point I’m trying to make is this; technology is an amplifier. It basically takes a small thing and blows it up. How do I mean?
One of the key features of Information Technology (IT) is its ability to enable people and businesses meet one particular need through diverse means. Take for instance a local shoemaker in Nigeria whose business is making and selling locally handmade shoes.
With a website, this small business can automatically become a big player online making and selling shoes not just locally anymore but now globally. By leveraging the power of the internet, the business can reach out to more people who may need locally handmade shoes but not physically situated in the same locality as the business.
That is, the company can now afford to sell to walk-in customers as well as unknown customers online thereby meeting one need (selling handmade shoes) through diverse means (offline and online sales outlets). In other words, it makes you get more by doing less.
Has your business IQ increased as a result of reading this article?
Share your views in the comment section below. | <urn:uuid:4d557475-6970-42a3-aa6f-0da6e5661238> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naijapreneur.com/get-more-by-doing-less/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965086 | 2,607 | 1.742188 | 2 |
A justice of the peace levied $500 fines on four young men Thursday for their part in causing a grassfire in Noble Creek last September.
The fire cost the City of Kamloops $65,000 to fight.
The City issued $1,000 tickets for illegal dumping to seven people in the aftermath of the blaze. Three of them paid the tickets without challenging them, while four went to went to bylaws court to challenge the amount.
They acknowledged hauling pallets to an area in Noble Creek as bonfire fuel in advance of a grad bush party. An RCMP investigation cleared them of playing any party in lighting the fire or being there when it occurred.
Ed Lingel, father of one of the four, Jordan Lingel, who was ticketed, called the $1,000 fine “outrageous.” He compared it with a similar provincial fine for littering of $115.
The four who pleaded guilty Thursday are Taylor Ronnquist, Dustin Bakke, Jaydon Bakke and Lingel, who plays junior hockey for the Kelowna Chiefs.
But justice of the peace Brian Burgess said a significant fine is needed to send a message about the dangers of grad parties in general.
“I have three boys. I strictly discourage them from going. One went, and a kid fell into the fire,” Burgess said.
Lingel said bush parties have happened at Noble Creek and other areas around Kamloops for at least four decades. He argued the best message for kids about the dangers of grad parties would be targeted education sessions put on by the district, rather than stiff penalties for littering.
But Burgess said the education is up to parents.
“Ultimately this falls on parents’ shoulders. . . . I think parents are tolerating it. I think if parents took a more active role these bush parties would not continue,” he said. | <urn:uuid:d04e8710-3a8f-4cb5-a193-f86e92b29dcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20130131/KAMLOOPS0101/130139948/-1/kamloops/four-given-fines-for-part-in-grassfire-at-noble-creek | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962389 | 393 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
United States, 1977
U.S. Release Date:
PG (Mature Themes)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio:
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey
In late 1977, everyone seemed to believe this. Although UFOs have been a popular subject for speculation, rumination, and investigation for more than 50 years, at no time was the phenomenon more popular than during the 1970s. Along with the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and the Abominable Snowman, UFOs were no longer the province of "fringe" elements, but had moved into the mainstream. There were plenty of skeptics, but many people, including those who had never purported to see anything out-of-the-ordinary, wanted to believe. Maybe it had something to do with the world order being so bleak (racial tension, Vietnam, the Cold War), but more and more men and women looked to the stars to find hope.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is unquestionably a great movie, but it also benefited from peerless timing. Released on the heels of Star Wars, it was able to absorb the pro-Science Fiction atmosphere that had arisen as a result of George Lucas' unexpected blockbuster. Suddenly, everyone was into stories about space and aliens. And, while Close Encounters is a much different film than Star Wars, it played to the same audience. First, we were given the opportunity to see what it was like a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Then, we were allowed to see what it was like here on Earth when visitors come calling.
Close Encounters represented an opportunity for director Steven Spielberg to tell a story he had been wanting to tell for years - what might happen if benevolent aliens made contact with human beings. Spielberg had been working on the story since before he began filming Jaws and, even after Close Encounters was "in the can" in late 1977, the director wasn't done with it. Consequently, the version that was rushed into theaters in November 1977 did not represent Spielberg's final vision. Armed with $2 million, the director went back behind the camera to shoot additional scenes, then returned to the editing room. Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Special Edition was released in 1980. It represented a re-working of the 1977 edition (which Spielberg referred to as a "work-in-progress"), with about 15 minutes of original footage deleted, and another 12 minutes of new scenes (including six minutes inside the ship at the end) added. Since then, there have been at least four other versions, all incorporating various combinations of the deleted scenes, and ranging in length from 132 minutes to nearly 2 1/2 hours. From a thematic and content perspective, they are all similar. The differences are minor, with no particular version standing out as obviously better than any of the others. For the record, this review is based on the latest "Collector's Edition" of the film, which is available on DVD. That motion picture cut is heavily based on the 1977 version, with a few of the 1980 scenes included. The selling gimmick of the Special Edition - the six minute epilogue with Richard Dreyfuss in the alien craft - is included as a deleted scene, but is not a part of the actual movie. (Spielberg is on record as calling that sequence a mistake - he now argues that the inside of the ship should never have been shown.)
Alien visitations to Earth are a staple of science fiction. Some of the best (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and worst (Plan Nine from Outer Space) genre entries have used that subject matter as a launching pad. One of the things that differentiates Close Encounters from its seemingly countless predecessors is that the aliens are friendly, curious, and even playful. Mr. Spock aside, this is not a common characterization of space-faring races. More often than not, aliens in motion pictures are shown attacking Earth, not observing and trying to make peaceful contact. Films like Close Encounters, E.T., and Contact are exceptions to the rule.
What would first contact really be like? That's the scenario Spielberg imagined with the aid of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, one of the world's foremost "serious" UFO experts. The military is involved, but they aren't running the show; instead, scientists are in charge. The encounter is a wonderful, magical meeting of cultures - humans putting their efforts not into weapons and fighting, but into the simplest and most important of life's basics: communication. Through colors, music, and hand gestures, we forge an understanding with an alien species. Given a choice between this and Independence Day, not only is Close Encounters more plausible, but infinitely preferable.
The plot is simple and straightforward, unburdened by pointless twists and turns. Close Encounters focuses on three characters and the different paths that bring them together at Devil's Tower, Wyoming, for the climax. First, there's Roy Neary (Dreyfuss), an everyday kind-of-guy with three kids and a materialistic wife (Teri Garr) who's hyper-concerned about what the neighbors will think. For his part, Roy's still a kid at heart, loving goofy golf and going to the movies to see Pinocchio. Roy works for the power company, and, one night, during an area-wide blackout, he has a close encounter with an alien spaceship that leaves half of his face sunburned and his psyche shaken. Suddenly, Roy's family becomes secondary to his obsession about aliens. He has unexplained visions of a mountain, and is compelled to make models of it out of whatever materials are available.
The second character is Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon), a mother who has lost her young son, Barry (Cary Guffey), to the aliens. One night, they arrive at Jillian's house and take Barry away. Now, like Roy, she is obsessed by the image of the mountain, except, instead of making sculptures, she draws, aware that there is some connection between her artwork and the opportunity to be re-united with her son. She meets Roy at the time of the first alien appearance and ends up joining with him for a road trip after his wife and family have left him.
Finally, there's U.N. scientist Claude Lacombe (François Truffaut), the man in charge of a mostly-American team investigating unexplained phenomena around the globe and preparing a huge staging area for Earth's first contact with visitors from the stars. Lacombe is focused and humorless, but not unkind. When he recognizes that Jillian and Roy have been "invited" by the aliens to be at Devil's Tower, he does what little he can (without being overt) to assist them. In the end, however, Lacombe is more concerned with the aliens than he is with the humans.
Part of the genius of Close Encounters is that we don't know until the end that the aliens are not hostile. Some of their early appearances in the film (when they shake Roy's power truck and visit Jillian's home to abduct Barry) are unsettling. Think of the furnace-like red light that envelopes Jillian's house as the alien craft approaches. Red is traditionally not a comforting color, and, in this case, it's downright frightening. (This is perhaps the only scene in the film that may scare younger children.) Unlike E.T., Close Encounters does not have a light, playful tone. There is an almost ominous undercurrent to the proceedings. Only in the end, when Spielberg pulls back the curtain on an awe-inspiring, majestic climax, do we finally understand that not being alone does not mean being in danger. We have to unlearn all that nearly every other motion picture has taught us about alien visitations.
Close Encounters is one of those rare films that works equally as well for children and for adults. Kids see this film as a promise of what might be out there and an unthreatening look at the possibilities that the universe holds. How many UFO believers today began their fascination with alien life after seeing this movie as a child? Adults, even skeptics, see Close Encounters as an accomplished fairy tale. Whether UFOs are real or not, this movie beautifully postulates the best of all alternatives - that the government cares about first contact and about the welfare of its citizens, that the aliens are benevolent, and that we can take comfort from the fact that "we are not alone". Remarkably, a film like Close Encounters speaks to the adult in the child and the child in the adult.
Close Encounters does not feature any "big name" stars, but the effectiveness of the casting is crucial to its success. Richard Dreyfuss, who worked with Spielberg on Jaws and, between takes on that movie learned of the filmmaker's plans to direct Close Encounters, won the role only after a hard-fought campaign. Spielberg's first choice was Steve McQueen, who loved the script, but turned down the part of Roy because he had never mastered the art of crying on screen. Dreyfuss was not Spielberg's second or even third option, but his tireless persistence got him the part in the wake of several bigger name refusals. It's a case of serendipity, because Dreyfuss fits perfectly into the "everyman" persona necessary for Roy to connect with the audience. We see ourselves on screen.
Melinda Dillon, who earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her work, was not cast until the weekend before she was due to begin filming. Like Dreyfuss, she develops her character into someone it's easy for the average man or woman to sympathize with. There's nothing special or extraordinary about Jillian - she's a single mother who will brave any odds to be reunited with her son. In another movie, she might end up being Roy's "love interest", but Spielberg keeps the attraction between the two strictly platonic.
The casting of François Truffaut was Spielberg's coup. Truffaut was the dream choice for the part, and Spielberg didn't expect the great French filmmaker to say yes. Truffaut is, of course, far better known for his work behind the camera (which includes such classics as The 400 Blows and Jules et Jim) than in front of it. As an actor, he has a handful of roles to his credit, the only significant international one of which is Lacombe. (It's interesting to consider how many American children during the late '70s got their first exposure to Truffaut through this film.) Truffaut made it clear from the beginning that he was in Close Encounters to work as an actor and not to function as a second director looking over Spielberg's shoulder. He acquits himself admirably, bringing a dignity and seriousness to the part that is appropriate for his stature.
At the beginning of 1977, composer John Williams was very well known in Hollywood (primarily for his work in television and several Oscar-nominated scores dating back to 1967). However, this was the year that would catapult him to the A-list, joining such luminaries as Ennio Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith, and John Barry. At the 1978 Academy Award celebration, Williams faced off against himself. While he won for Star Wars, with its bolder, brasher music, one could make an argument that his work for Close Encounters (for which he was also nominated) was more accomplished. Indeed, the signature five notes linger in the memory today, and, at the time, everyone with a musical instrument knew how to play them. (Ironically, there was nothing special about that combination. Williams and Spielberg eventually picked it out of hundreds of possibilities because they needed something, not because it stood out.) Aside from the principle notes, the Close Encounters score is low-key, doing what good movie music should do: setting the mood, but not overpowering the screen action.
The film's special effects are remarkable for their era, dwarfing everything that had come before (including Star Wars and 2001). The mother ship in particular is an amazing creation, and, as it hovers over Devil's Tower late in the film (and in one of the posters for the movie), it's impossible to tell that this is the result of post-production wizardry rather than something genuinely in the sky. Much of Close Encounters passes without major effects; yet, when Spielberg calls upon the genius of Douglas Trumbull (who previously worked on 2001 and Silent Running, and would go on to supervise the visual effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Blade Runner) to provide a jaw-dropping climax, the master delivers exactly what's needed.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is unquestionably a great movie - its eight Oscar nominations and one win (Best Cinematography) are a testimony to that. Its universal appeal gave movie-goers something to be excited about during the winter of 1977-78 as the first in a wave of post-Star Wars science fiction films broke (although, of course, Close Encounters went into production long before Star Wars reached screens). Today, the movie stands up remarkably well. The story is fresh and compelling, the special effects are as remarkable as anything that CGI can do, and the music represents some of John Williams' best work. Close Encounters is the complete package, and it shines as brightly in its sixth re-editing as it did in its first. | <urn:uuid:019e1baf-d20a-4cb5-a1fe-768a22d4d648> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=166 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971273 | 2,804 | 1.992188 | 2 |
A new underwater drone concept could seek and destroy one of the ocean’s most insidious enemies, while earning a profit for plastics recyclers. This marine drone can siphon plastic garbage, swallowing bits of trash in a gaping maw rivaling that of a whale shark.
Industrial design student Elie Ahovi, who previously brought us the Orbit clothes washer concept, now presents the Marine Drone, an autonomous electric vehicle that tows a plastic-trapping net. The net is surrounded by a circular buoy to balance the weight of the garbage it collects. It discourages fish and other creatures from entering its jaws via an annoying sonic transmitter, and it communicates with other drones and with its base station using sonar.The system could stay underwater for two weeks, sipping tiny plastic shards and entire plastic bottles. As its batteries drain, it can return to an ocean base, where human crews will haul it up and empty the plastic for recycling. The project is a response to a challenge from France-based environmental services firm Veolia, which asked students to come up with ways to tackle the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Ahovi, Adrien Lefebvre and fellow students developed several schematics, including a concept that looks much like a whale shark. The main iteration is more cylindrical.
Along with cleaning the oceans, the trash drone could yield profits for companies seeking to reduce petroleum use and recycle plastics, Ahovi says. Unless someone builds an island out of the Pacific patch, this cleanup concept could be a real solution.
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more. | <urn:uuid:5ed050f2-03cb-4bf8-b411-35d72bf7c550> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-07/plastic-eating-underwater-drone-could-swallow-great-pacific-garbage-patch | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93329 | 369 | 2.4375 | 2 |
A recent exercise on scalable organizational models led me to develop an interesting way of visualizing individual and group strengths within product development organizations.
On the horizontal axis, I included the skills required to build successful products as defined by Donald Norman in The Invisible Computer.
Marketing: “For a product to sell, marketing experts must ensure that the product provides the features that customers require and that the product attributes are highlighted in advertisements, product literature, and product appearance.”
Engineering: “There must be an appropriate technology, one capable of delivering the required functions and performance at reasonable cost.”
User Experience: “An enjoyable and effective user experience does not come about accidentally; it requires considerable focus on the needs, abilities, and thought processes of the users.”
Business: “The product must be built upon a solid economic foundation, providing the required attributes for a price that is acceptable to the consumers but that still yields a profit to the company.”
The vertical axis represents capabilities. Engagement Management: Managing client relationships and projects (sometimes even budgets). Education: Includes skills in knowledge management, best practice sharing, and external activities (conferences, books, articles, etc.). Planning: Developing product strategies, long-term visions, and roadmaps. Production: Consistently effective execution against product requirements.
Individuals and group competencies can be mapped to this matrix with varying levels. For instance, in the example shown above (my personal profile) two levels of competency are shown: primary and secondary. User experience design and engagement management are my primary strengths and Web development skills (engineering) are secondary. | <urn:uuid:c4424410-b92a-4d54-b436-dd298ada466a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?75 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919257 | 336 | 1.640625 | 2 |
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We Are Alone. . . . .
Mon Dec 08 19:00:53 GMT 2008 by Bill Watters
I'd say the probability of other civilisations is far closer to 1 than 0....however the gap between each civilisation may be so high that given constraints, such as the speed of light, we will never encounter any of these alien civilisations | <urn:uuid:510d1155-6230-4db5-91e0-e15c5e3943a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newscientist.com/commenting/report?id=dn16210-70 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901932 | 78 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Wed January 2, 2013
N.H. House Bans Guns From Floor And Gallery
The New Hampshire House has voted to 196-153 to ban deadly weapons from Representatives Hall.
The debate over prohibiting guns in the House chamber split along party lines. Democrat Steve Shurtleff, the House’s new Majority Leader, and a former U.S. Marshall, said making the House a gun free zone amounted to common sense.
“This is the seat of our state government, but it’s also a classroom for all of our citizens, and that’s why I support the ban on weapons in this house.”
But Republicans argued that barring lawmakers from carrying guns on the floor and citizens from carrying them in the gallery violates the constitution. For Representative Bill O’Brien of Mont Vernon, who fought to lift a decades old gun ban as House Speaker two years ago, this debate was also an early chance to criticize his Democratic successor Terie Norelli.
"If you know, madame speaker, this feel good measure, not only makes us less safe, it begs the question after your promises to concentrate on the budget, jobs and the economy, the first bit of significant legislation you bring forward is this radical gun control legislation."
The G.O.P.-controlled state Senate has no similar rule banning guns. And the rest of the State House complex, including the Legislative Office Building is controlled by a joint House-Senate committee. | <urn:uuid:d16eee68-17f4-44b2-a38f-c94e6d39b596> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nhpr.org/post/nh-house-bans-guns-floor-and-gallery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950567 | 300 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The ER meetings replace the long-held program information sessions, and will give prospective HCC Coleman College students
- Comprehensive information on the unique and one-of-a-kind opportunities an education in the Texas Medical Center offers;
- Details on the 22 degrees and certificates HCC Coleman College offers along with the Health Care Career Academy;
- Holistic financial aid information, from completing a federal financial aid application (FAFSA) to health science scholarship opportunities from the HCC Foundation;
- Insight into the robust campus student life programs, including student professional associations and student activities;
- Personal, one-on-one advising and/or counseling sessions for first-time college students or those with previous college credit.
Attending an ER meeting is required for entry into any HCC Coleman College program, including the Health Care Career Academy. All students are encouraged to register for classes at the end of each ER meeting to get their health care career started.
Have you registered for an ER Meeting in the past? Log in. | <urn:uuid:1fd6be26-b273-40af-b0e5-568e92776090> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coleman.hccs.edu/portal/site/coleman/menuitem.ec0cc4f6f8759ea9759b8e10507401ca/?vgnextoid=41a21f8538789110VgnVCM100000054710acRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&caldate=1339477200000&caltype=day&vtype=detail&cId=bdca58c7fb344310VgnVCM100000864710acRCRD | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913546 | 209 | 1.625 | 2 |
ECOLOGIA designs and hosts a variety of environmental and human services exchange programs. Visitors to the United States build connections to like-minded Americans working in their field, and enrich the communities they visit by sharing their knowledge and perspectives. More than 375 participants have taken part since our first exchange in 1990.
Open World Hosting Programs in Vermont
ECOLOGIA organizes Open World exchange programs in Vermont, for international groups working on a variety of environmental issues. Visiting delegates stay with host families and attend a variety of professional and cultural activities. Open World exchanges are funded by the US House of Representatives, through the US Library of Congress.
September 2006: Russian Environmental Education and Sustainable Development
Galina Parshina, a state emissions inspector from Orenberg, Svetlana Skorodumova, an educator with the "Cranes Homeland" nature preserve near Moscow, Olga Belonogova, a veterinary border inspector in the Amursk District of the Russian Far East, and Kseniya Korneva, a student at the University of Humanities (Moscow) and a resident of Mineralnya Vody (Caucasus), spent a week living in the Middlebury area. Oxana Nosova from Rostov-on-Don traveled with the group as their bilingual facilitator.
Left to right: Galina, Kseniya, Oxana, Alec Webb, President of Shelburne Farms Board of Directors, Olga and Svetlana. Paul Grenier, professional interpreter, is in front. At Shelburne Farms, delegates learned about "Sustainable Schools" programs that link school classes to actual working farms.
Don Maglienti (red shirt), Addison County Solid Waste Reduction Program Coordinator, meets with the visiting delegation to discuss source separation and recycling.
In the Otter Creek Brewery in Middlebury, Morgan Wolaver explains how Wolavers Organic Ales are produced and promoted.
Ross Conrad (center), Operations Manager at Vermont Soap Company, explained how organic ingredients make Vermont Soap products very gentle and effective, even for people with extreme sensitivities.
At NRG Systems in Hinesburg, delegates saw how a LEED-certified factory building is both environmentally sound and healthy for its human inhabitants. NRG Systems, producers of wind measuring systems for wind turbines, is dedicated to 'walking the talk' about sustainable development, and educating the public about the economic as well as environmental benefits of wind and solar power. Marguerite Griffiths, International Sales Manager for NRG, is at the right.
Vermont host Judy Holler and her guest Oxana both learned about wind power at NRG Systems.
November 2005: Russian Environmental Educators and Ecotourism
Five delegates from across Russia visited Vermont for a professional exchange program on the topics of environmental education, public ecological awareness, and ecotourism:
- Lada Kozlova, Teacher of Chemistry, Biology and Ecology at Taganrog Secondary School in Rostov Oblast,
- Svetlana Starodubets from Bryansk State university,
- Marina Funtikova from the Volodya Dubinin children's Art House in Novisibirsk, and
- Svetlana Shchigreva, Ecology and Biology Teacher and Vice-President of the Ecological Club of Altai State University.
Photo: Visit to American Flatbread, which manufactures and markets frozen pizzas using local organic ingredients. Among other innovations, Flatbread uses original art on its boxes, to inspire as well as to educate.
Organizational Development for Lithuanian NGO Leaders, October 2004
The Lithuanian delegates were Arunas Balsevicius of Mariampole, Dalia Barkauskiene of Silute, Virgilijus Skulskis of Vilnius, and Linas Vainius of Kaunas. All are leaders in non-governmental organizations involved with environmental protection and/or agricultural issues. Ekaterina Samoilovic of Kaunas provided English-language assistance.
Below: Delegates visited the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, in Burlington, to learn about the ecosystem of the region.
Below: At VBSR (Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility) in South Burlington, delegates discussed examples with Executive Director Spence Putnam.
September 2004: Environmental Issues for Russian Delegates
The Russian delegates were Valeriy Knizhnik from Orenberg in the Southern Urals, Vitaliy Lyadov from Perm in the Ural Mountains, Vladimir Kruk from Okha, on Sakhalin Island, and Galina Stretskaya from Vladivostok. Each is involved in regional environmental issues and works to build coalitions between NGOs and governmental bodies. Artem Shestapalov of Lipetsk assisted the group with his English language knowledge.
Below: Russian delegates saw alternative energy in action when they visited a household running on solar power, thanks to John Blittersdorf of Vermont Solar and Wind in Rutland.
Below: During a visit to Otter Creek Brewing and Wolaver's Organic Ales, delegates learned about brewing and marketing organic beers from Morgan Wolaver.
Below: David Brynn, Addison County Forester and Executive Director of Vermont Family Farms in Bristol, explains techniques and concepts of forest stewardship.
Larger Group Exchanges through US AID and the Academy for Educational Development
September/October 2003: Streamlining the Industrial Air Discharge Permitting Process
Regional (Oblast) and National Heads of the Kazakh Ministry of Environmental Protection, and members of the Kazakstan Business Association for Sustainable Development, spent two weeks traveling throughout Pennsylvania. They studied how regulators and businesses in the United States design and implement air pollution controls through the use of permits. They visited several different regions of Pennsylvania, including the oil refining area in the Northwest, the industrial area of Pittsburgh, and the coal-mining areas of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. They participated in a panel discussion by professionals from the Allegheny County Air and Waste Management Association, questioned US EPA officials about the development of the Clear Air Act, and saw the air emissions monitoring inside a cement plant which burns hazardous wastes. This exchange was funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
Below: At Keystone Cement Company in Bath, participants discuss air emissions monitoring.
Below: Tess Roberts, of Palmerton Citizens for a Clean Environment, explains the history of this area's ecological damage from zinc smelting, including its inclusion on the Superfund list.
Below: Bek-Bulat Yeleushov, Head of the Department of State Control, Ministry of Environmental Protection of Kazakhstan, makes a point about the location of hazardous waste storage areas in a flood plain in Palmerton.
Below: Rafael Akkmetov (on left), Director of Ecocom Ltd environmental consulting company in Almaty, shares a humorous moment with ECOLOGIA's Heather McGray and Randy Kritkausky after their presentation on Environmental Management Systems.
Below: Director Chuck Duritsa and Air Quality experts Ron Schwartz and Dave Janko of the Southwest Pennsylvania Regional Department of Environmental Protection, in Pittsburgh, explain how they use the permitting process to manage industrial air emissions.
June 2003: Innovative Anti-Smoking and Anti-Alcohol/Substance Abuse Programs
Participants from all five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) spent two weeks in Vermont and Kentucky, as they examined American efforts to reduce tobacco and substance abuse through public education, legislation, prevention and treatment. This exchange was funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
Below: Jakki Flannigan, of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Vermont in Burlington, explains lobbying and public outreach techniques.
Below: Participants hear about partnerships
involving police and community members in Rutland, Vermont
Brian Templeton, Editor of the Rutland Tribune, interviews Viktor Tilman, a doctor at Tilman Family Practice in Kazakhstan, and Gulmira Aitmurzaeva, Director of the Center of Healthy Lifestyle of Kyrgyzstan, about tobacco and alcohol issues in their countries.
Below: Janet Askew, a former smoker and one of the co-owners of the Maple Valley Country Store and Cafe in Plainfield, Vermont, discuses her decision to stop selling cigarettes three years ago, and the community reaction.
Below: Dilshod Pulatov, of the Youth Prevention and Rehabilitation Center "Dina" in Khujand, Tajikistan, speaks with the founder of The Healing Place in Louisville, Kentucky | <urn:uuid:5215e33f-2f00-4dda-846f-8456547e9ec1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecologia.org/ExchangesAED/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910267 | 1,789 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The tax system is “rigged” against the average American, David Axelrod said Tuesday as President Barack Obama was set to push for passage of the so-called Buffett rule to raise taxes on the wealthy.
“We should not have a tax system where billionaires pay less than their secretaries. We have a tax system that’s rigged against the average person, rigged in favor of very wealthy and we need to fix that. And this Buffett rule will address that,” the White House strategist said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“People argue what they will. The question isn’t whether they’re right, the question is whether this is right and whether the principle is right,” Axelrod said when asked whether Democrats were taking up the tax issue only because of the fall election.
The rule, named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett, calls for taxing millionaires at a higher 30 percent federal rate and is based on the idea espoused by Buffett that he shouldn’t pay a lower tax rate than his secretary. Democrats have scheduled a procedural vote on the rule for April 16, the eve of tax day.
Obama was traveling to southern Florida on Tuesday for a speech advocating hiking taxes on the wealthy.
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It was hard not to stare: The woman’s breasts were so large she made Barbie look downright small-busted.
The men on the ice hockey team who painted her on the side of a cube in the Pit knew she’d draw attention.
That was sort of the point, they say. Few know about their team, and fewer still know of the tournament that honors their late coach.
In retrospect, they realize the painted woman, and the invitation below her (“Come watch us score”) was bound to attract all the wrong kinds of attention.
“We figured we’d get an interesting reaction,” said senior John Thompson, one of the team’s vice presidents. “But we definitely weren’t trying to offend anyone.”
“Disgusted” was how senior Robyn Levine described feeling after walking home and seeing the cube Wednesday night.
For Levine, the ice hockey team’s cube represented “part of a larger problem” on college campuses where women’s bodies are objectified and such behavior is tolerated.
“It wasn’t particularly surprising,” she said. “It was just a really obvious manifestation.”
Later that night, Levine and members of Feminist Students United talked about how to respond. Their goal was to point out why the cube had offended them, and why they saw it as part of a larger problem.
“Just saying ‘that’s sexist’ with no other context wouldn’t have been the most constructive,” Levine said.
Thursday, the group took to the cubes, painting the adjoining side. With giant orange arrows, they directed attention to “sexism around the corner” and declared that “this is what rape culture looks like.”
Kyle Salvadore learned from a friend what the feminist group was painting. Salvadore, a junior and an ice hockey team vice president, rushed to the Pit to see it for himself.
Within minutes, he painted over the busty woman and sent an e-mail apologizing to leaders of Feminist Students United.
“We just want to make sure that we apologized and corrected the wrong,” Salvadore said. “We also wanted to make clear that our intentions were not to support rape culture. In no way do we support or condone that at all.”
Since Thursday, the two groups’ leaders have been in talks with one another. Ice hockey team members plan to attend a Feminist Students United meeting and are looking into One Act, a one-hour class on preventing interpersonal violence.
The ice hockey team realizes now how offensive the cube was, Salvadore said.
“We really did not know what rape culture exactly was before,” he said.
Incidents like this happen all the time, but talking about it publicly helps prevent it in the future, Levine said.
“It did start a larger conversation.” | <urn:uuid:ffc07448-753d-4a1f-a510-9ddc8e08a8d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://studentlife.unc.edu/organization/feminist-students-united/news/details/2183?fromCampus=False | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971565 | 642 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Over the past few years, we have made considerable progress in understanding the genetics of flowering time in maize. As a part of our studies, we have determined the knob composition of a number of inbred lines. These include some of the currently used inbreds, or those which have been used extensively in the present day maize germplasm in the U.S.A. The cytological analyses regarding the number, size and position of knobs were performed with acetocarmine squashes of microsporocytes mostly at pachytene stage during meiosis. With regard to size, the knobs were divided into six arbitrary classes. This classification was subjective since no attempt was made to measure the size of the knob.
The data presented in Table 1 provide information on 35 inbred lines regarding the number, size and position of knobs together with some background information. The knob number ranged from 1 to 6 with most lines having 3 to 4 knobs. Of 23 possible locations, the knobs were found at 13 in the lines analyzed. The knob on the long arm of chromosome 7 (7L knob) was the most frequent, being present in all the lines (or races) except C103, F2, Apachito and Early Early Synthetic. Two other knobs were also found with high frequency; one on the long arm of chromosome 4 (4L) and the other on the short arm of chromosome 9 (9S). The knobs on chromosome 1 were the least frequent while no knob was observed on chromosome 10. Two Mexican flints (Apachito and Azu1) and the Argentine flint (Colorado Halidaisi majorado) have supernumerary B chromosomes in their genomes. Three flints, Wilbur's, Parker's and Tama (not shown in the table), were also analyzed, and as expected none had a cytologically observable knob.
The Lancaster Sure Crop and its derivatives such as C103 and Mo17, the cold tolerant French inbred F2, and Early Early Synthetic (probably the earliest maturing line of maize) had only one knob. The inbreds related to Oh43 family have the highest average knob number while those related to Iowa Stiff Stalk Synthetic have an average knob number intermediate between those of the Lancaster derivatives and the Oh43 family.
Table 1 (continued). Number, size and position of heterochromatic knobs in maize (Zea mays W inbreds and varieties.
Sajjad R. Chughtai and Dale M. Steffensen
Return to the MNL 61 On-Line Index
Return to the Maize Newsletter Index
Return to the Maize Genome Database Page | <urn:uuid:3f0b43ee-bff1-4344-a179-f01cbc59a635> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agron.missouri.edu/mnl/61/167chughtai.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949404 | 553 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Disclaimer: These resources are regularly reviewed to ensure that links still work correctly and the resources listed continue to be helpful to our visitors. If you find that a link isn't working or information is incorrect or if you'd like to have your own organization listed here, please email email@example.com.
Because we want to be sure that our visitors find the most relevant resources, we've listed these organizations in order of relevancy from most specifically relevant to most generally relevant to the topic of this page.
CLL Global Research Foundation (CLLGRF)
Population served: Patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals with an interest in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
CLLGRF aims to accelerate research in CLL with the goal of finding a cure for CLL as quickly as possible. The Foundation is built on a partnership between patients, their families, the research community and other investors who want to see a cure for CLL.
- Offers education information about the disease and its treatment
- Provides information about CLLGRF's funded research
Medical Library Association (MLA)
Contact: (312) 419-9094
Population served: Members of the health sciences information field worldwide
MLA is an educational organization of more than 1,100 institutions and 3,600 individual members in the health sciences information field, committed to educating health professionals, supporting health research and promoting access to health sciences information.
- Helps to increase visibility as an information management professional
- Provides discounts on books, meeting registration and courses
- Provides information to develop leadership skills
- Offers networking with colleagues
- Provides access to the latest medical information and research
Union For International Cancer Control (UICC)
Contact: 41 22 809 1811 (Headquarters in Switzerland)
Population served: Healthcare professionals worldwide
UICC is a nongovernmental association with member organizations working in cooperation as expert groups and task forces.
- Offers grant money for fellowships and training opportunities
- 280 member organizations in over 90 countries
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
Contact: (571) 483-1300
Population served: Physicians and healthcare professionals who represent all oncology disciplines worldwide
ASCO is committed to advancing the education of oncologists and other oncology professionals, advocating for policies that provide access to high-quality cancer care and supporting the clinical trials system and the need for increased clinical and translational research. ASCO is a membership organization.
For U.S. members, ASCO offers:
- A subscription to two oncology journal publications
- An annual meeting
- Sponsorship of abstracts for its annual meeting
- Discounts on all ASCO professional, educational and scholarly publications
- An increase in professional knowledge and enhancement of quality of care
- Access to professional development tools
For international members, ASCO offers:
- Oncology courses
- Grants and awards
- Licensing opportunities
Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW)
Contact: (215) 564-2175
Population served: Oncology social workers worldwide
AOSW is dedicated to the enhancement of psychosocial services to people with cancer and their families.
- Provides education, advocacy, networking and resource development
- Provides CME, online courses and annual conference
- Provides worldwide educational resource to locate a professional
- Provides searchable membership directory
National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
Contact: (800) 742-4089
Population served: A membership organization of professional social workers worldwide
NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members to create and maintain professional standards and to advance sound social policies.
- Provides conferences, continuing education and a monthly newsletter
- Offers legal consultation and representation
- Offers liability and group life insurance
- Offers professional credentials and certifications
- Provides student scholarships and national awards
- Offers volunteer leadership opportunities
- Undertakes legislative advocacy and political action
Oncology Nursing Society (ONS)
Contact: (866) 257-4667
Population served: Nurses worldwide
ONS is a membership organization of over 35,000 registered nurses and other healthcare providers dedicated to patient care, education, research and administration in oncology nursing.
Membership with ONS provides:
- Full subscriptions to the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, Oncology Nursing Forum, and ONS Connect
- Networking opportunities through local chapters, special interest groups and national conferences in the United States
- Access to continuing education
- The member-only section of ONS's website provides searchable, full-text articles from Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing and Oncology Nursing Forum, current oncology-related news, peer-reviewed clinical content and extensive continuing nursing education opportunities
- The ONS Student Mentoring Program, a formal mentoring program for oncology nurse professionals
- The ONS membership directory, which allows members to locate other ONS members by name, geographical area or special interest group
American Society of Hematology (ASH)
Contact: (202) 776-0544
Population served: All hematology professionals
ASH works to further the understanding, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders affecting the blood, bone marrow and the immunologic, hemostatic and vascular systems, by promoting research, clinical care, education, training and advocacy in hematology.
Provides information about membership and annual meetings
- Provides links to publications and has searchable ASH publications in its Hematology Library
- Offers searches in its job bank, training and CME options
- Provides advocacy options and policy
American Society for Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO)
Contact: (800) 962-7876
Population served: Radiation oncology healthcare professionals worldwide
ASTRO is dedicated to advancing the practice of radiation oncology by promoting excellence in patient care, providing opportunities for educational and professional development and promoting research in the field.
- Offers educational courses through online learning opportunities for continuing medical education and maintenance of certification
- Offers professional development opportunities in the way of several meetings throughout the year
- Offers the publication International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics
- Offers membership to physicians including radiation oncologists, physicists and biologists, and to nonphysicians with an interest in radiation oncology
José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation
Contact: 34 902 240 480
Population Served: Healthcare professionals worldwide
The mission of the Foundation is to contribute to finding a cure for leukemia and to improve the quality of patient's lives. It does this in three main areas:
- Promotes the search for bone marrow and umbilical cord blood donors through its REDMO (Bone Marrow Donor Registry) Program that carries out awareness-raising, donor recruitment and search campaigns to provide greater opportunities for cure to people with leukemia. Bone marrow searches are carried out on behalf of patients in Spain and others of any nationality within the framework of the International Bone Marrow Donors World-Wide Program
- Supports scientific research through its grants program, mainly awarded to young researchers and open to scientists from any country in the world
- Contributes to funding for transplant units and umbilical cord blood banks so that patients can benefit from the latest advances in technology
Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium (MCLC)
Contact: (212) 349-2910
Population served: Healthcare professionals and scientists worldwide
MCLC fosters collaboration, sharing of information and laboratory resources, as well as multi-institutional recruitment of clinical trials among groups working in MCL research.
- Provides a search tool for clinical trials
- Provides a list of members (medical professionals) and the cancer center with which they are affiliated
- Offers research updates
- Provides members-only section for professionals on recent news, grant opportunities and clinical trials announcements
Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation
Contact: (248) 644-9014
Population served: People diagnosed with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and healthcare professionals worldwide
The Foundation supports patients by promoting awareness and education, advancing patient care and facilitating research.
- Offers an email list serve for medical professionals to provide research updates
- Provides news on upcoming medical meetings relevant to research and study of CTCL
- Funds research
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF)
Contact: (203) 229-0464
Population served: Healthcare professionals worldwide
MMRF funds research for the development of new treatments for multiple myeloma and to provide services to patients.
- Funds more than 130 research grants at more than 70 research institutions worldwide
- Selects grantees following a peer-review process
- Offers an education symposia series for medical professionals in the United States
The Myelodysplastic Syndrome Foundation (MDS Foundation)
Contact: (800) 637-0839 or (609) 298-6746 (outside the United States)
Population served: Healthcare professionals worldwide
MDS Foundation is devoted to the prevention, treatment and study of the myelodysplastic syndromes.
- Provides treatment updates
- Offers informational materials in many languages
- Provides clinician resources, books and CDs, free of charge
- Conducts symposia
American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT)
Contact: (804) 752-0026
Population served: Sexuality educators, counselors and therapists as well as physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, allied health professionals, clergy, lawyers, students and researchers in the United States and Canada; limited international services
AASECT is available to individuals who share an interest in promoting understanding of human sexuality and healthy sexual behavior.
- Offers certification as a sexuality educator, counselor or therapist
- Offers a listing of certified educators, counselors and therapists
- Offers an annual conference for professionals
American Fertility Association (AFA)
Contact: (888) 917-3777
Population served: Adult patients and healthcare providers worldwide
AFA provides information about fertility treatments, reproductive and sexual health and family-building options, including adoption and third-party solutions.
- Provides a call center
- Offers online information about options, medical treatments, coping techniques and legal/insurance issues
- Provides online education materials and eNewsletters for patients and professionals
- Provides a listing of reproductive specialists and therapists in the United States
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Contact: (888) 644-6226 or (301) 519-3153 (outside the United States)
Population served: Healthcare professionals and anyone interested in complementary and alternative medicine worldwide
NCCAM is the federal government's lead agency for scientific research on CAM.
- Explores complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science
- Disseminates information to professionals and the public
- Provides educational materials about CAM therapies including herbs and supplements
- Offers education grant opportunities for professionals to further their knowledge of CAM
International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC)
Contact: (866) 374-2472
Population served: Healthcare professionals worldwide, with a focus on developing countries
The mission is to collaborate and improve the quality of life of patients with advanced life-threatening conditions and their families, by advancing hospice and palliative care programs, education, research and favorable policies around the world.
- Provides educational programs
- Provides faculty development program to support RN/MD palliative care positions in developing countries, which includes traveling fellowships and scholarships
- Provides information on professional membership
- Provides a listing of hospice and palliative care journal publications
- Provides a listing of tools/resources for professionals
- Provides the Twinning Program where hospice/palliative care units can exchange information, reports, teaching materials and modules which may lead to exchange visits by staff members
CML Advocates Network
Population served: CML patients, their relatives and healthcare professionals worldwide
CML Advocates Network is a virtual network of nonprofit organizations supporting patients and their relatives by sharing knowledge and best practice, supporting campaigns, and educating advocates how to build and grow patient groups.
The main objectives of the CML Advocates Network website are:
- To provide a worldwide Web directory of CML patient groups, to allow patient groups to find national support groups in other countries
- To provide a platform of communication for CML patient advocates, e.g., to share best practice on cancer patient advocacy
- To provide updated conference information | <urn:uuid:aad53748-7ef5-433a-ab06-619e00cc885a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lls.org/resourcecenter/helpfulorganizations/healthcareproviders/international/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903993 | 2,633 | 1.796875 | 2 |
“Africa your silence is loud! Speak out against patriarchy, homophobia and transphobia.”
So reads one of the many sloganed T-shirts worn by LGBTI rights protestors at the “Say No to Hate Crimes” picket at the Library Gardens yesterday. Other’s read: “My Sexuality, My Choice”, “Phansi Holomisa!” and “Zuma – your silence is killing our brothers.”
The gardens are decorated with bright pink hard hats and gay rainbow flags. The turnout is large and vocal and though there is an air of joy in the atmosphere – it is that defiant joy that manifests from a sense of solidarity, empowerment, anger, will and, of course, hope. Hope that maybe, just maybe, things will change for the LGBTI community in South Africa if these protests happen frequently and loudly and other organisations join them in solidarity.
This is a human rights issue. It is a social issue. It is a feminist issue. Yet, with the exception of the Democratic Left Front and Keep Left, the lack of presence from almost all other civil society organisations that are not linked to the LGBTI sector, was transparent.
The protest was called on Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday as part of the 67 minutes Mandela Day global campaign. It provides the ideal platform to demonstrate against the ongoing scourge of hate crimes towards the LGBTI community in South Africa. In addition, it was the ideal platform to demand government action against the hate crimes endured by the LGBTI community.
This is also a cry for help, recognition and a safe world for non-straight people.
Just recently two lesbians were kissing each other goodbye at the Carlton Centre in downtown Johannesburg. The guards told them they would never enter heaven because of the way they are. They were jeering at the couple. One of the women went over and asked them to explain themselves. She was brutally assaulted as the guards threw her out of the building. She has a heart condition and landed up in hospital.
Just this week a press statement released by Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW) and Gay Flag of South Africa, confirmed the murders of Thapelo Makhutle, a 24-year-old gay/trans individual who was mutilated and murdered in the Northern Cape; Neil Daniels, who was stabbed and set alight in Cape Town; 22-year-old Phumeza Nkolonzi from Nyanga, Cape Town, who was shot three times by a man who burst into her home; the killing of 28-year-old Sanna Supa in Braamficherville, Soweto; and the stabbing to death of 29-year-old Hendrietta Thapelo Morifi (Andritha) in Mokopane, Limpopo.
The silence from the mainstream is deafening. The silence from trade unions is deafening. The silence from the media is deafening. The silence from general civil society is deafening. But mostly the silence from the ANC is deafening.
In fact, it would seem that they are completely ignoring the issue of homophobic violence. The constitutional right to safety for all marginalised groups is not being enforced at all. And when the only response from government is to “distance itself” from to the homophobic utterances of tribal patriarch Patekile Holomisa, who recently actively campaigned for an end to sexual orientation protection in the Constitution, then the work done to end this violence is thwarted.
“Holomisa was not publicly reprimanded by the ANC and in fact continues to perform his duties as an ANC MP. This is completely unacceptable while he has uttered statements that are supposedly contrary to what the ANC claims to be standing for," says Phindi Malaza of FEW, one of the cluster of organisations that came together to organise the march.
I ask her what she thinks prompted the recent spate of violent crimes. “These happened right after Patekile Holomisa’s homophobic utterances. There seems to be a link. Especially since the two women who were killed were assassinated. They did not have anything stolen. They were gunned down in their own homes,” she responds.
“This picket is about addressing the silence from our government. We hear them raising so many other issues, but they are not addressing the violence targeted at les bian women. In this environment, those statements made by Contralesa are highly problematic and the ruling party not calling them to order could in fact, be interpreted as inciting these crimes. This is a human rights issue. It must be seen as that.”
To make matters worse, there seems to be a deliberate move to further sideline LGBTI issues in the public sphere.
The press release issued by FEW and Gay Flag of South Africa poses an important question: "The ANC emerged from its policy conference silent on LGBTI issues, and their gender policy excludes sexual orientation. Is this deliberate?” It also slams President Jacob Zuma and National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega for being "silent on these matters", while commending former president, Nelson Mandela for being a leader that recognised the rights of LGBTI people.
Back at the picket, FEW volunteer, Virginia Setshedi, is whipping up the crowds passion as she draws the parallels between human rights and hate crimes. The crowd roars in response. She tells them that they were asked to stay in the park – but they will not. “Whoever wants to join us on the streets may do so. We are going where they told us we cannot go.” The marshals lead the way and surprisingly the entire demonstration joins the forbidden procession onto the main road. The crowd is defiant. They have a point to make and they intend it to be heard.
I am running alongside with my camera. The energy is high, the intent powerful. The police are not quite sure what to do. They were not expecting this. The fervour is escalating. My heart is pounding with the pleasure of this show of strength. I am jostling for space with the many independent journalists at the march. I see no SABC signs. I hear a woman say, “eTV is here,” but most of us at the protest are media activists.
Finally, half way round the block, Mandla Dlamini, ANC elections manager, agrees to meet the organisers and is handed the memorandum of demands. A crescendo of voices rings in protest songs that speak their truth. It is a truth that must be heard. It must be. We cannot sit back passively while innocents are slaughtered because they do not fit into the narrow framework of a heteronormative patriarchal system. We cannot accept this lack of action from the government.
And if we do, their blood is on our hands too. | <urn:uuid:8164a469-c102-4d37-8051-3688c393781f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1369 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972113 | 1,427 | 1.898438 | 2 |
OBJECTIVE: Although experts in the treatment of depression have suggested that achieving remission is the primary goal of treatment, questions remain about how remission should be defined. In antidepressant efficacy trials, remission is defined according to scores on symptom severity scales. Normalization of functioning is often mentioned as an important component of remission, although it is not used to identify patients with remission in treatment studies. The authors’ goal was to determine what depressed patients consider important in defining remission from depression. METHOD: A brief questionnaire was distributed to 535 psychiatric outpatients who were being treated for DSM-IV major depressive episode. They were asked to rate the importance of 16 statements in determining whether depression is in remission. RESULTS: The three items most frequently judged to be very important in determining remission were the presence of features of positive mental health such as optimism and self-confidence; a return to one’s usual, normal self; and a return to usual level of functioning. The patients endorsed a statement about absence of symptoms with nearly similar frequency. CONCLUSIONS: Patients aspire to a range of outcomes from the treatment of their depression. | <urn:uuid:0fd3fd14-b527-422a-93df-c944d5caf1e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=178006 | 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 | 0.966565 | 226 | 2.484375 | 2 |
What They're Saying
Here are some of the things that people are saying about their experience. Thank you everyone who participated!
We were getting excited. Eleven o’clock sharp the Lakota school bus arrived at the Rushmore Plaza Hotel in Rapid City. Hello, I’m Isabel – hello, I’m Tabor White Buffalo your guide - and hi, I’m Robin your driver. We felt welcome right from the start. As time went on more members of our group turned up. And after a last shopping trip we already drove off towards Lakota Land. There it was – the wide prairie – exactly how I had always imagined it to be. When entering the reservation Tabor was fumigating sweet grass. The magic fragrance of it engulfed us and would be with us for nearly every day of the next two weeks. In the Waldorf kindergarten we were welcomed by the cooking team, by Jeff the second bus driver and by Didier. Didier shared all sorts of knowledge about herbs, plants and roots with us. “Form a circle” – for the next two weeks we were invited to do so again and again. All Indian guest speakers instructing us about a certain topic always first stepped into the circle and introduced themselves. Some shook hands with everyone. When preparing for the journey I suddenly hadn’t been so sure anymore whether white visitors would really be welcome in the reservation. But as a fact all my experiences have been entirely und exclusively positive. This certainly had a lot to do with Isabel’s contacts and her friendly surroundings that created a lot of goodwill towards us. For example by Travis whose children have been students at the Lakota Waldorf Kindergarten. Travis Brave Bird used to say: “You are very welcome – thank you for coming.” This sentence in the melodic English of Travis still rings in my ear.
In the prairie the stars shine brighter than elsewhere. And I loved the warm wind of the prairie. Although once in a while it would turn into a heavy gale rattling at our tipis and occasionally even overturning them. Nature here is experienced more directly than at home. Our guide and kindergarten teacher Tabor contributed a lot to the good atmosphere of our group. He cared round the clock for our needs, spread good humor and tried to introduce us to the Lakota culture. Same as many Lakota's Tabor is a passionate player and “handgamer”. There were many beautiful moments when we were striking up the handgame song in the school bus: “Ho ho, ho ho ho.” On our trips Kili radio accompanied us with music and discussion broadcasts. We also were allowed to visit the Kili radio studio and DJ Derek visited us in the tipi camp. He spoke to us about his work and how every morning before entering the studio he had to make sure that there were no rattle snakes or spiders around. We visited an Indian rodeo and also a large Powwow dance festival. In the big circle of the Powwow there was the meadow with the traditional dancers surrounded by the visitors on their folding chairs and the drummers. Midnight was approaching – I could have stayed much longer. But he wagon is rolling on… There would be so much more to tell. I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Isabel for organizing our stay and for her caring company, to the entire team for the great hospitality, to all members of our group for an impressive and happy time. To say goodbye was hard. Toksa.
If you attended this tipi camp, we'd like to hear from you! Fill out the form below to submit your story!
For more information and questions contact us online here Or call: + 605 455 2487 | <urn:uuid:fba4e45f-46f9-47da-9741-bcee6bf208f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lakotatipicamp.org/en/testimonials.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970887 | 773 | 1.804688 | 2 |
This is a video download product. Once you purchase it, you will have access to download the video and watch it on your computer or mobile device.
Watch a preview of this lesson before you buy!
In this lesson, Michael Pluznick will cover basic accompaniment parts for playing in the 6/8 time signature in West African drumming. Most of the rhythms and rhythm arrangements played in West African djembe drumming from Guinea, Mali, Senegal and the surrounding areas are in 4/4, 6/8 and occasionally in 9/8 time signature. Sometimes the rhythms in 4/4 have 6/8 parts and sometimes a rhythm in 6/8 can be pulled into 4/4.
In this lesson you will learn basic accompaniment parts in the 6/8 time. We call these basic accompaniment parts "Passport parts" and that's because you can play them in a variety of rhythms.
Hours of Operation (ET)
Monday - Friday: 9am - 8pm
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MEXICO CITY, (Tierramérica).- The North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation is irrelevant, said a Mexican non-governmental organization as a public process began last week to evaluate the 10 years the treaty signed by Canada, Mexico and the United States has been in force.
The agreement "only represents a series of good intentions," because its mandate is subordinate to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in effect since 1994, Héctor de la Cueva, spokesman for the Action Network on Free Trade, told Tierramérica.
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the executive arm of the treaty, convened the public evaluation, and announced that another, by a committee of experts, would be ready by the second quarter of 2004.
The agreement, the only one of its type in the world, aims to monitor compliance with environmental norms, but lacks binding authority.
Autonomy Sought for Amazon Institute
LIMA, (Tierramérica).- Indigenous and environmental groups, universities and officials in the eastern Peruvian region of Selva are asking Congress to restore the autonomy of the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP), which in July was made into an agency of the Ministry of Production.
The IIAP was created in 1981 to promote research geared towards self-sustained development, conservation of natural resources and improvement of living standards of the people in the Amazon region, and is an international reference point for scientific knowledge of the area rain forests.
According to IIAP president Dennis del Castillo, the problem is "the central government's interest in managing the resources that are provided by international aid" to the institute's five regional centers in Selva.
"In becoming part of the state bureaucracy, the IIAP will lose technical-scientific credibility and will turn into an agency of political jobs," he says.
Vast Marine Biodiversity Discovered
SAN JOSE, (Tierramérica).- An inventory of mollusk species in the reef of the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, on the Costa Rican Caribbean coast, has allowed the site to be declared unique in the world for its great biological diversity.
In the five square km covered by the reef, off the eastern province of Limón, 600 mollusk species have been catalogued in the past five years. Ten percent of them were previously unknown. The number of different species is expected to reach 800 to 1,000.
"This year alone we found five new species for science," said José Espinoza, researcher with the Oceanography Institute of Havana, which is conducting the inventory with Spain's University of Oviedo and the Costa Rican National Biodiversity Institute and the Ministry of Environment and Energy.
Among the new species found are the Pronum holandae, an orange-shelled snail, named in honor of the Netherlands for its support for the project, and the Polycera manzanilloensis, a sea slug, named for the community of Mazanillo.
100,000 Students in Clean-up Project
GUATEMALA CITY, (Tierramérica).- The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has launched a pilot program, "Cleaning up my village, my town, my city", involving 100,000 students in 10 of Guatemala's 22 departments.
The three-week project, lasting through the end of the month and with the participation of 500 primary and secondary schools, "aims to reduce air, water and ground pollution arising from poor management of solid waste," ministry spokesman Sergio del Aguila told Tierramérica.
"In Guatemala there is practically no garbage treatment, and just four percent of waste water is treated," said Del Aguila.
There will be prizes for the three villages, three towns and three cities that show most improvement.
Indians to Fight Deforestation
TEGUCIGALPA, (Tierramérica).- Indigenous communities in western Honduras will take part in an initiative to conserve natural resources, halt deforestation and reduce poverty.
Cabañas, Copán Ruinas, El Paraíso, Nueva Arcadia, San Antonio and Santa Rita, are some of the communities in the department of Copán, in the next two months will have the technical and financial resources needed to do so -- donated by Finland, worth 5.4 million dollars.
The funds will be administered by the municipalities and will go towards management and protection of the valleys throughout the department that are being deforested for commercial, industrial and household purposes, Santa Rita Mayor Nery Castillo said.
The project, overseen by the United Nations Development Program, is to benefit directly some 163,000 people in Copán, cradle of the Maya civilization.
MANAGUA, (Tierramérica).- The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) is supporting a campaign in Nicaragua's cities and rural areas to eliminate the use of industrial pesticides in the production of maize, vegetables and other crops.
With the help of PAHO, universities from Managua and León this year trained 50 young people in clinical and environmental toxicology to help seek alternatives to harmful pesticides.
In the countryside, the program is distributing pamphlets "that are a sort of primer for small farmers, so that we are all speaking the same language," Anselmo Aburto, an official with PAHO's Plagsalud initiative, told Tierramérica.
Nicaragua is leading the way in reassessing pesticides in Central America, and has determined the six most toxic in a list of 12. Nevertheless, none have been banned. *Source: Inter Press Service.
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(Reporting Information Paper)
Serpent Mound, a mysterious and ancient relic of a long-lost civilization, has fascinated modern humans for over a hundred years. Who built it? For what reason? What secrets does it hide? Was this quarter-mile sculpture of a snake the site of ancient ceremonies? Does it have special meaning for us today? As F. W. Putman, savior and excavator of the mound wrote of his visit in 1883, “Reclining on one of the huge folds of this gigantic serpent, as the last rays of the sun, glancing from the distant hilltops, cast their long shadows over the valley, I mused on the probabilities of the past; and there seemed to come to me a picture as of a distant time, of people with strange customs, and with it came the demand for an interpretation of this mystery. The unknown must become known!” (871)
The Serpent, a giant snake built of clay, earth, and sod, basks on a high, crescent-shaped prominence and looks over the Brush Creek river valley. As George R. Milner, author of The Moundbuilders describes it, “This long, low embankment snakes its way down a narrow ridge. The tail forms a tight spiral, and the other end widens to join an oval embankment, commonly interpreted as the head, although some have thought the snake is swallowing an egg.” (79) It was only one of the many earthwork wonders that white settlers found when they moved into the Ohio and Missisippi river valleys, but among the many mounds, hill forts, and geometric enclosures built by earlier unknown cultures, it holds the distinction of being one of few that was preserved in its original state. At 30 feet wide at the head, 6 feet at its tallest point, and 1,348 feet long, it is the largest snake effigy found in the United States. (Glotzhopper and Lepper 3)
In the mid-nineteenth century an interest in ancient earthworks blossomed, and the scientific community discovered the Serpent. E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis included Serpent Mound in their 1848 collection of surveys of ancient earthworks for the Smithsonian Institution. (96) Inspired by their work, Frederick Ward Putman visited Serpent Mound in 1883. He was awed by the earthwork, but also dismayed to find that it was being slowly destroyed. After a tornado raked along the precipice and cleared away the trees growing there, the farmer who owned the land had plowed the covering soil to grow corn, then let animals graze on the mound. The farmer planned to sell his farm the next year, and the new owner would likely turn the mound into a cornfield, as was happening to so many of the of the ancient earthworks. Rushing back to Boston, Putman enlisted the help of Miss Alice B. Fletcher, and together they raised the $6000 needed to buy Serpent Mound and the surrounding 54 acres. As Warren Moorhead, a prominent archeologist of the late nineteenth century, tells us “After investigating the mound, Putman told Bostonians that if it were obliterated by development that event would be more disgraceful than tearing down Bunker Hill Monument.” ( 241) The land was given to Harvard’s Peabody Museum to hold in trust, and Serpent Mound Park was created. (Putman 872) Before it opened to the public, Putman examined the mound by partially excavating the oval and a portion of the tail. He also studied the three nearby burial mounds and a village site. In 1886 William Henry Holmes published a map for the Smithsonian Institute, and in 1919 Charles Willoughby, from the Peabody Museum at Harvard Univerity published a paper with measurements and surveys.
After the Ohio Historical Society took over administration of the park in 1900, it became a popular place for people to picnic. In 1908 the thirty foot tall observation tower was built, which is still in use today — as are the picnic shelters and latrine houses constructed in the 1930’s. (Glotzhober and Lepper 12-14) Even today, Serpent Mound draws over 23,000 visitors each year. (Toncray, par 1)
So who built Serpent Mound? When Putman excavated portions of the effigy, he found no bones or artifacts to link it to its builders. However, the two nearest burial mounds contained Adena Culture graves and artifacts, and thus Putman linked the building of Serpent Mound with the Adena.(Glotzhober and Lepper 5) The Adena Culture populated Ohio from about 700 BC to 1AD. They were the first people in Ohio to build burial mounds. Grave goods, such as stone platform pipes, copper braclets and breastplates, pieces of cut mica, and marine shell beads were buried with the dead. Then dirt and rocks were hand-carried to the site, mounded up, and tramped down, forming large, hard mounds over the graves. The larger mounds contained multiple burials. (Milner 57- 61) Because the mounds were apparently maintained and even enlarged from generation to generation, many people believe that they were used for more than burials. The mound sites may have hosted clan-gatherings or larger gatherings on the Solstice and Equinoxes, and there may have been feasting, marriages, and storytelling. (Byrd, Dawn of the Adena, 12)
However, the Adena were not known for building elaborate earthworks. This did not start until the Hopewell Exchange Culture, approximately 100BC to 400AD. The Hopewell built geometrical enclosures: circles, octagons, and squares which surrounded acres of land. These enclosures which contained both burial mounds and building sites, (Milner 76) but little evidence of daily occupation or agriculture. It is assumed by most scholars that these were ceremonial centers which people came to for special occasions and trade. (O’Donnell 21-23) There were openings in the walls, apparently aligned with the solstices, the equinoxes, and the nodal points of moonrise. They may have been, therefore, giant observatories which marked the seasons as well as sites for gatherings and feasts. (Byrd, Heights of the Hopewell, 13) Fort Ancient, west of Dayton, is a good example of a Hopewell earthwork.
Serpent Mound is not a geometric shape, and it has no openings, but it does contain astronomical alignments in the loops of the snake. In 1988 Robert Fletcher and Terry Cameron demonstrated that a line drawn from a stone structure on the body of the serpent to a stone structure in the oval aligns with the setting sun on the summer solstice. By 1993 the pair had mapped out alignments with the summer solstice sunrise, the equinox sunrise, and the winter solstice sunrise. Further, a line from the tip of tail to one of the stone altars marks true north. (Glotzhober and Lepper 10)
To answer the question of who built the mound, and when, samples of charcoal were taken from the mound and dated by radiocarbon testing in 1991. The result indicated that the mound was built about 1070 AD. (Sarcaceni) This was well after the time of the Hopewell Exchange and into the time of the Fort Ancient Culture, which lasted from 900AD to 1500AD. (Glotzhober and Lepper 9) A Fort Ancient burial mound and the remains of a Fort Ancient village within a hundred yards of the mound (Putman 874) supports this.
The Fort Ancient people built burial mounds, but they were smaller and less elaborate than those built by the Hopewell or even the Adena, and their burial goods were fewer and more utilitarian. (Milner 105-106) At the same time, villages, as exemplified by Sunwatch Village in East Dayton, became more complex and inhabited for longer times.(Milner 114) Open areas in the center of the village appear to have been used for ceremonial purposes, with alignments of the houses and posts used to track the solstices and equinoxes. (O’Donnell 25) The remains of such a village, determined to be from the Fort Ancient culture, has been found 100 yards south of the mound.(Saraceni)
Effigy mounds were common at that time in Wisconsin and parts of the neighboring states, but seem to have been built by a hunter-gatherer culture which was not part of the Fort Ancient Culture. (Milner 106-108) There are, however, two snake effigy mounds which were constructed just outside of Fort Ancient, and which work with Fort Ancient features to mark the Winter and Summer Solstices. Although Fort Ancient is a Hopewell structure, the snake effigies have been dated with Radiocarbon dating to the twelth century AD, only a hundred years after the Serpent Mound date. (White 55)
However, Dr. William F Romain, a research associate with the Ohio State University Newark Earthworks Center, questions the validity of the radiocarbon dating. He believes that when Putman restored the mound in the late 1880’s, he could have contaminated the site by using soil taken from the village site. He is currently leading a new archaeological excavation to find an undisturbed area of the mound, and to take samples from that area for radiocarbon dating. (Weyrich)
The more researchers try to answer the question of who built Serpent Mound, the more confusing the answer becomes. It has been dated to the Fort Ancient time period, but that dating may be faulty. It is characteristic of the large scale Hopewell earthworks in size, in complexity and in marking various celestial events, but the burial mounds close to it are filled with Adena artifacts. The Serpent remains mysterious and ancient.
Today, in the 21st century, people still travel to Serpent Mound for spiritual reasons. Some believe that Serpent Mound is a “ New Age power center; the locus of an astrological harmonic convergence.” (Glotzhober and Lepper 7) Others, such as Pagans and Wiccans, come to celebrate the equinoxes and solstices, just as Native Americans may have done a thousand years ago. Friends of Serpent Mound sponsors events on these days, as well as the Archeology and Ohio Geology Day in September to celebrate the unique geology of the area, and a Perseid Meteor Shower viewing in August. (Friends) Even the Mayans are coming for a Full Moon Ceremony in October 2011. (“New Changes”)
Serpent Mound is unique, a relic of the past saved for the future, for our children and our children’s children — and yet it barely escaped destruction in the 1880’s. Many other Indian mounds and earthworks, such as the Dayton earthworks located just west of what is now just west of I-75 in West Carrollton, (Squier and Davis 82) have been destroyed. More continue to be destroyed in the name of development and growth. In 1890 Moorhead wrote, “…it is only by careful and patient investigation into the remains of these dead and almost forgotten races that we may ever hope to arrive at any definite knowledge of their lives. All the light we can hope to shed upon them must come to us through the examination of their works and their skeletons. It is in the interest of science that we plead for the preservation of the native Americans.” (108) A hundred years later the battle was still being fought. Roger Kennedy, writing about the efforts to build a dam and flood the land about the mound for “recreational use,” said, “The rescue of Serpent Mound and the issuances of Cyrus Thomas’s report on the Mound Builders marked the highwater mark of intelligent and responsible preservation of the architecture of ancient America. As these words are being written in the winter of 1994, a developer is threatening to desecrate the lowlands which supported the life of the people who created the serpent effigy on a promontory above them.” (241)
2011 FOSM Events. Friends of Serpent Mound. Arc of Appalachia, 2011. Web (www.serpentmound.org) 4 April 2011.
Byrd, Alfred D. “Kentuckiana X: Moundbuilders of Kentucky I: Dawn of the Adena.” The Reluctant Famulus 77 (2010): pp. 9-14. Print.
- - -. “Kentuckiana XI. Moundbuilders of Kentucky II. The Heights of the Hopewell.” The Reluctant Famulus 78 (2010): pp. 13-17. Print.
Glozhober, Robert C., Bradley T. Lepper. Serpent Mound: Ohio’s Enigmatic Effigy Mound. Columbus:Ohio Historical Society, 1994. Print.
Kennedy, Roger G. Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North America Civilization. New York: The Free Press, 1994. Print.
Milner, George R. The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004. Print.
Moorhead, Warren K. Fort Ancient: The Great Prehistoric Earthwork of Warren County, OH Compiled From a Careful Study With An Account of its Mounds and Graves. Cincinnati: Robert Clark and Co, 1890. Print.
New Changes Coming To An Ancient Site. The People’s Defender, 24 January 2011. Web. 24 April 2011.
O’Donnell, James H. Ohio’s First Peoples. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2004. Print.
Putman, F.W. “The Serpent Mound of Ohio: Site Excavations and Park Contruction.” Century Magazine XXXIX (new series Vol. XVII) (1889/1890): pp 871-888. Print.
Sarceni, Jessica E. "Redating Serpent Mound." Archaeology 49.6 (1996): 16. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.
Squier, A.M. And E.H. Davis. Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Washington: Smithsonian Institute,1848. Print.
Toncray, Marla. Drawn to the Serpent — Serpent Mound State Memorial Continues to Fascinate. Ledger Independent, 1 April 2011. Web. 24 April 2011.
Weyrich, Carleta. Scientists Aim To ID Age of Serpent Mound. The People’s Defender, 18 April 2011. Web. 25 April 2011.
White, John R. "The Sun Serpents." Archaeology 40.6 (1987): 52-57. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. | <urn:uuid:4a5847a0-ed3f-4255-8732-8a922c800bd9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://weekendwizards.blogspot.com/2011/05/serpent-mound.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953278 | 3,148 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Back when flying was extremely expensive, California lawmakers would drive to Sacramento from wherever they were in the 770 mile-long state. In order to mitigate this large expense, a law was passed that gave legislators in California a $350 per month stipend to go towards a car purchase or lease for the office, free repairs, free gas, and free maintenance.
With the advent of affordable airfare, this has become unnecessary, but hte law has remained on the books until now. Lawmakers have been using it to, at the taxpayers' expense, inspect, repair, and upgrade their offices' cars just before leaving office and purchasing them.
One state senator, Bob Dutton of Rancho Cucamonga, has his Chevy Tahoe's dents repaired, his power steering and brake systems replaced, and the whole thing detailed to the tune of $5,984 on the people's dime before leaving office. He then bought it using donated campaign funds for $12,681 and then turned around and sold it for $11,000 to a dealer. That's shady as hell. He's currently being investigated by the Fair Political Practices Commission due to the fact that even though the campaign paid for the SUV, it was registered to Dutton himself.
Related: California Gas Prices Hit an All Time High
Related: First American High-Speed Rail Officially Approved in California
[via Mercury News] | <urn:uuid:974cb632-c725-4335-bff2-d451635071fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.complex.com/rides/2012/12/california-legislators-got-some-last-minute-car-upgrades-before-taxpayers-stop-subsidizing-them | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979091 | 286 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Social networking sites should not hinder writing
Journalists and English professors are divided over the effects of social networking websites on the way people use written English.
A popular misconception about social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter is that they are detrimental to how people use written English.
“Social networking and texting has had a huge impact on the way people write, and it has all been negative,” said David Taffet, a journalist with the Dallas Voice.
The debate regarding social networking websites typically centers on the perception that they negatively affect people’s communication skills.
“The majority opinion is not always correct. Social networking sites have not been detrimental to English grammar,” Charlotte Hogg, associate professor of English at TCU, said. “People are writing for genres, so it seems that people are aware of certain conventions being acceptable on Facebook that aren’t as appropriate for a paper for a college course. Studies haven’t indicated that grammar skills have declined over the last decade.”
“For many, proper or conventional grammar is a sign that the person is taking care with their message for their audience, and so it’s important to know when to write more casually for social networking and when to follow the traditional conventions of Standard English,” Hogg said.
“Students should be able to write traditional academic essays,” Hogg said. “I would much rather a student write an essay in my class that isn’t perfectly correct but is brimming with ideas.”
I believe students applying to universities should already be able to write according to the expected standard.
This is where the Electronic Grammar Usage Mechanics Proficiency Program (EGUMPP) steps in. Have you experienced EGUMPP yet? You will if you are one of the more recent students to join the TCU College of Communication.
I believe high school juniors and seniors should use EGUMPP to prepare themselves for the standards of higher education. Students should ideally already know how to write grammatically correct academic papers.
As it is, all students majoring or minoring in journalism are required to take Media Writing & Editing. The only significant difference this semester is that students enrolled in this course now have to pass EGUMPP in order to take the course final.
EGUMPP is divided into four highly-intensive modules. Students have to complete all four modules before they are able to take the Media Writing & Editing final. Not doing so will prevent students from taking the final and could potentially cause a student to fail the course completely.
“The standard of grammar used in newspapers by professional writers has been consistent for decades,” Taffet said. “More than anything, readers expect very short articles. If I e-mail questions to someone for use in a story, the responses I get are unusable half of the time.”
Students will not like having EGMUPP as a mandatory component of Media Editing & Writing. It isn’t an easy A. Students are going to have to work at all four levels to pass EGMUPP and the class itself; however, the rewards gained from using EGUMPP outweigh any discomfort endured.
Shain E. Thomas is a FTDM major from Scotland.
Today on 360
Chick-fil-A to come to campus in fall
This story has been updated to include a new statement from TCU about 1873's fall menu. Students looking for a quick Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich to eat or some sweet tea to drink will no longer have to go off campus to get their food.
Reports: Josh Boyce, Stansly Maponga sign NFL contracts
Former TCU wide receiver Josh Boyce has signed a deal with the New England Patriots, according to the Boston Herald, Baltimore Sun and
TCU baseball finds six runs in the top of the ninth to win 8-4
It could be called a reverse Cinderella story.
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What Rembrandt Saw
by Stephanie Dickey
Stephanie Dickey is assistant professor of art history at the Herron School of Art, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. This article appeared in The Christian Century, June 21-28, 2000, pp. 685-688. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. Current articles and subscription information can be found at www.christiancentury.org. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock.
The title of the book, printed on the dust jacket over a close-up of one of Rembrandt’s many penetrating self-portraits, alludes to the power of sight itself, a recurring metaphor (along with its opposite, blindness) both in Rembrandt’s work and in Schama’s elucidation of it.
Bisected by religious and political conflict in the 16th century, the Low Countries were divided into the Southern Netherlands, an appendage of Catholic Spain with Flanders at its heart, and the United Provinces or Dutch Republic, a newly minted, Protestant, entrepreneurial oligarchy whose growing pains sometimes seem uncannily predictive of our own. Determined to enjoy (but not too much) the fruits of their labors, the growing middle class of Dutch burghers, merchants, traders and manufacturers filled their tidy town-houses with art that celebrated their personal dignity and accomplishments, the humid sweep of their lowland countryside, and the miraculous bounty of Indonesian spices, Chinese porcelains, tropical fruits, Persian carpets, Venetian glass and other luxuries made available through the expertise of their merchant fleets.
Patronage of the arts, converted by Protestants from a privilege of the church to a thriving private enterprise, became a means for displaying personal success and civic virtue. Rembrandt participated in this consumer paradise as artist, art dealer and collector of exotic artifacts that often lend picturesque credibility to his biblical subjects. As Schama notes, the dagger used to puncture the hero’s eye in the Blinding of Samson, one of Rembrandt’s most dramatic history paintings, is a Javanese kris. The golden goblets, sparkling jewels and authentic, right-to-left Hebraic script in Belshazzar’s Feast bespeak a far-ranging curiosity about the world beyond.
Schama takes a celebratory and sensory excursion through Rembrandt’s milieu, lavishly describing the sights, sounds and smells of the studio and the street, as well as the political and religious climate that surrounded Rembrandt as he climbed the ladder of artistic success. Born in the conservative university town of Leiden, Rembrandt spent his mature years in the bustling capital city of Amsterdam. Dutch artists often gained financial success by specializing in subjects that suited the tastes of their bourgeois clientele. (Vermeer, for instance, painted primarily scenes of everyday life.) Rembrandt developed two specialties: portraits that made their sitters look both distinguished and vividly alive, and dramatic history paintings that probed the emotional heart of familiar biblical themes.
More than a third of Schama’s book is devoted to another artistic giant, Pieter Paul Rubens, who far surpassed Rembrandt in fame and wealth, and whom Rembrandt must have considered both an archrival and a potent role model. Rubens, wealthy citizen of Antwerp in the Southern Netherlands, painter to kings and queens across Europe, was revered by Rembrandt’s generation as the epitome of success among artists north of the Alps.
Art historians have long been intrigued by Rembrandt’s appropriation of certain Rubensian themes and pictorial types, but Schama makes this the centerpiece of his argument, as if the primary motivating force of Rembrandt’s career was to imitate, emulate and eventually get the better of Rubens. This picture of the Dutch artist’s dependence on his Flemish forbear (Rubens was almost 30 years Rembrandt’s senior) exaggerates the evidence and contradicts Schama’s other insistent claim: that Rembrandt should be recognized as an unparalleled genius. That assessment was widely held in the 19th century, but has been somewhat abandoned by recent scholars.
Schama also argues for Rembrandt’s intellectual accomplishments, again presenting the learned Rubens as a role model. For the reader, the value in this fixation on Rembrandt’s relationship to Rubens is that it leads to a historical digression on the conditions surrounding the Dutch revolt from Spain, in which Rubens’s father played a minor diplomatic role. By this means, Rembrandt’s Eyes becomes not just a picture of Rembrandt’s environment but a capsule history of its origins.
Schama frequently pauses to describe and analyze specific works by Rubens and Rembrandt. He comments on telling nuances of subject and style, spinning rich interpretations from minutely observed details. Rembrandt’s portrait of the Mennonite preacher Cornelis Claesz Anslo and his wife, Aeltje Gerritsdr Schouten, seated at home as Anslo practices an oration, becomes for Schama an example of Rembrandt’s "astounding capacity for transforming the ordinary into the sublime." The still life of Bible and candle is "a high altar" on which "books . . . are not mere heaps of parchment and paper. The pages stir, rise and flutter with light and life. The books, like Ezekiel’s dry bones, respire. The Word lives."
This poetic description incorporates an essential principle of both Mennonite and mainstream Protestant thought: the supremacy of word over image, a prejudice that Dutch painters in general and Rembrandt in particular countered by imbuing their portraits and historical subjects with the visual equivalent of sound. Anslo’s parted lips and emphatic gesture almost make it possible, as the Dutch poet Vondel wrote, for the viewer to hear the preacher’s voice.
As he often does, however, Schama overextends and trivializes his argument, interpreting the composition, with Anslo at its elevated center, as a portrait of a marriage in which the domineering husband "leans heavily toward his wife, benevolently overbearing, just short of bullying," while Aeltje, "her head slightly cocked like an obedient pet or a contrite child," patiently accedes to his diatribe. The handkerchief crumpled in her hand attests to what "hard work" it is to be "perpetually on the receiving end of the Word."
For this viewer, however, and I think for anyone aware that Mennonite belief valued both the outer and the inner word, it seems entirely possible that Rembrandt intended Aeltje (whose status in the composition was diminished when the canvas was cut down by a later owner) to appear genuinely moved by her husband’s speech, and by the deep faith that binds them together. Decorum and good business sense make it unlikely that Rembrandt would have painted paying customers in a way that was less than flattering. Certainly, for Rubens and his aristocratic patrons, portraiture was essentially a celebration of its subject, seldom a critique.
While Schama emphasizes Rembrandt’s struggle to surpass Rubens, it is the differences between their lives and careers that illuminates the complexities of life in the Netherlands. Rubens, born into a privileged diplomatic family and graced with a humanist education, was fluent in several languages, conversant with Greek and Latin literature, and on friendly terms with an international network of intellectuals and connoisseurs. (Schama delights in the juicy gossip surrounding Rubens’s youth, when his father was accused of having an affair with the wife of his noble employer, William of Orange.) An early sojourn in Italy imbued Rubens’s style with the grandeur and vivacity of Titian and Michelangelo, and exposed him to the wonders of the classical past.
Rembrandt was the son of prosperous, middle-class mill owners in Leiden, where he attended college for a short time before dropping out to apprentice as a painter. He never left Holland, and scoured the markets for paintings and prints by the old masters.
As Rubens’s growing reputation brought him commissions from the courts of Spain, England and elsewhere, his distinguished demeanor enabled him to engage in diplomacy, often using painting assignments for royalty as a cover for conducting delicate negotiations between courts. The surfeit of commissions awarded to Rubens was managed by a businesslike outfit in Antwerp, where specialist assistants in landscape, costume, flora and fauna collaborated to produce large-scale panels and canvases that were ultimately certified as Rubenses by the final enlivening touch of the master’s hand.
Rembrandt’s interactions with his patrician patrons are characterized, as far as documents show, by squabbles over late payment and complaints about likeness and lack of finish. He, too, managed a busy workshop, but seems to have run it less as an assembly line than as an association of colleagues.
By the time Rembrandt began to attract notice in Amsterdam, Rubens was spending a golden maturity in his palatial house in Antwerp, designed by his own hand to rival the palazzi of Genoa and Venice. He strolled in the garden with his lovely second wife, Helena Fourment (whom he married when she was 16 and he 53), and benignly surveyed the progress of their four children (the fifth was born soon after his death, in 1640, at 63).
All this is vividly reimagined, yet the contextual differences between the two men are blurred by Schama’s presumption that Rembrandt’s goal was, essentially, to become another Rubens. Ultimately, the two artists and their output reflect divergent environments: one the international milieu of Roman Catholic cathedral and aristocratic palace, the other the Protestant, middle-class marketplace of Amsterdam.
In film and fiction, Rembrandt has long embodied the archetype of the profligate, rags-to-riches genius who willfully defies expectation in both art and life. He is depicted as making and losing a fortune, shocking his straitlaced patrons by having an affair with his housekeeper, and painting in a style too unconventional for his contemporaries to appreciate. While recognizing that the legend of Rembrandt’s plebian origins and self-destructive lifestyle is largely a romantic exaggeration, Schama preserves the picture of an artist who, although never deliberately flouting convention, delighted in pushing the envelope.
The greatest crisis of Rembrandt’s life after the death of his wife in 1642 came in the mid-1650s, when financial mismanagement pushed him into bankruptcy. Schama immerses us in the atmosphere of gathering doom, taking us through the rooms of Rembrandt’s house as 30 years’ accumulation of precious possessions are carted off to the auction block. Ultimately, this was as much a moral disaster as a financial one, since Rembrandt’s Calvinist patrons regarded material wealth as a sign of God’s favor, good stewardship of one’s assets as an ethical necessity, and bankruptcy as a sin.
By the time Rembrandt reached maturity, the Inquisition’s persecution of Anabaptist and Protestant heretics had long ceased in northern Europe, as had any real hope of Spain’s reconquering the rebellious provinces of the Netherlands. The religious controversies that occupied Rembrandt’s Dutch contemporaries were internal debates among Calvinist factions -- the conservative Reformed establishment against the more liberal Arminian or Remonstrant sect that favored free will over predestination, and peace -- a policy also good for business -- over continued war against Catholic Spain.
As Schama notes, Rembrandt’s move from Leiden to Amsterdam took him from a bastion of Reformed conservatism to a polyglot capital in which the Remonstrants dominated politics and mercantile pragmatism made it sensible to tolerate anyone who offered a good deal, whether Mennonite, Jew, millenarian or Calvinist -- anyone, that is, except Roman Catholics, who were required to practice their faith in clandestine sanctuaries disguised within private homes.
Rembrandt, like many other artists, treated subjects that suited each of these faiths, often by crafting versions that cut across confessional boundaries. While his patrons included Calvinists, Remonstrants, Catholics and Jews, Rembrandt was not, as far as we know, an active churchgoer himself. His spirituality reveals itself best in his art, arguably the greatest body of work ever produced by a Protestant painter. Like many of his contemporaries, he read the Bible frequently and internalized its lessons. Especially popular among Protestant art buyers were Old Testament themes, such as Samson and Delilah or the prodigal son.
Schama’s analyses of Rembrandt’s paintings of biblical subjects (as well as of Rubens’s commissions from Oratorians, Jesuits and other Catholic factions) reflect a sound knowledge of the visual and doctrinal traditions that shaped them. He illuminates Rembrandt’s acute sensitivity to the essential pathos and drama that make these stories both entertaining and profound moral lessons, Rembrandt’s wonderfully earthy depiction of the fall in an etching of 1638 is revealed as innovative in its rejection of the classical ideal yet firmly grounded in the medieval tradition, "which had imagined Adam and Eve not as smoothly sculpted by the hand of Divinity but rather as roughly fashioned, grotesque vessels of shame."
When discussing themes or circumstances that invite a leer or chortle, like Rubens’s penchant for modeling his female saints on buxom blondes or the baroque taste for sexually charged subjects like Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (a "tug of war" between Joseph’s virtue and the "gross sensual appetite" of his mistress), Schama’s tone can be vexingly flip. He closes the book, however, with a commentary on the profundity of Rembrandt’s last works, including the Return of the Prodigal Son, left on the artist’s easel at his death in 1669 and completed by a pupil. In this painting, which has inspired the meditations of Henri Nouwen and so many others, Schama finds "the dying, phosphorescent flare of Rembrandt’s deathbed vision." The painting returns to the leitmotif of vision, blindness and spiritual insight, as the forgiving father delivers "the balm of grace with . . . lids closed and . . . arms outstretched."
Schema’s book is an entertaining read, though its multitude of details may strike readers as self-indulgent. The careful reader will come away knowing the leaders of the seven angelic choirs, the variety of dialects spoken on the streets of 17th-century Amsterdam, the specific pigments that compose a Rembrandt portrait, the type of acid used to destroy Rembrandt’s Danaë in the Hermitage (one of the most egregious acts of cultural vandalism in recent memory) and the methods used by early modern surgeons to excise gallbladders and cataracts.
Whether one finds Schama’s verbal pyrotechnics amusing, annoying, brilliant or poetic, his work offers much to stimulate both intellect and imagination. | <urn:uuid:783c3cd1-1ea0-400f-8463-710b1d9700bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1968 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960417 | 3,265 | 2.984375 | 3 |
On the day of The Tower opening, the local press reported as follows: “Mr R. J. Whalley, who as everyone can see, has carried out the construction in a satisfactory manner and has particularly pleased the committee and their architect by the loyal and careful manner in which the details and specifications have been followed. We might also congratulate Mr Edward Baron who has acted as manager for Mr. Whalley, and who has taken a deep personal interest in The Towerâ€.
It is this deep personal interest that even today still reflects the skill and dedication of the craftsmen whose handiwork stands witness in their absence. But history’s page is soon to record a change of direction for Edmund Baron.
The final ceremony on the day, was the Jubilee Committee’s procuring for Mr Duckworth a handsome key to open The Tower with, reported as follows. “It is silver gilt, and bears the following inscriptions:
Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Darwen Celebrations, 1897.†And on the other side the entwining ribbons are inscribed, “The Tower erected in commemoration on Darwen Moor, opened by the Rev. W.A. Duckworth, M.A., Lord of the Manor Sept. 24th 1898.â€
Following the excitement of the Jubilee Celebrations, and the new found freedom by townsfolk to wander the moors at will, life soon settled back to normal.
On the far horizon were rumblings of a different kind.
The fortunes of many Darwen townsfolk were changing as world economics began to affect the pockets of those who could employ labour. The demand for skilled stonemasons was in decline as money dried up and lifelong commitment to a trade suddenly had little value. Because people had to eat, there was little choice but to take what was available, and so we find Edmund Baron, formerly stonemason manager on Victoria Tower, now Edmund Baron, Tramway Inspector.
The Darwen Tramway Corporation was a very popular method of transport and a fairly recent innovation at the time, so it was to provide a steady income for the greater part of his later life during the 1900’s right into the 1920’s.
While a Tramway Inspector, he was to experience two periods of grief. The first was while living at 507 Bolton Road, in 1916, where he received an intimation that his eldest child and only son, Samuel, had been killed in action.
The second was during 1918 with the death of his wife of 24 years, Mary Baron (nee Haslam), of prolonged influenza and acute bronchitis during an epidemic of that year.
It was in April of 1920 while still a Tramway Inspector that Edmund married Hetty Bury. Altering course again, he became Clerk of works. Such was the untiring endeavour of this man, he and his new wife purchased and ran a business with the assistance of his three girls, at 349 Preston Old Road, Cherry Tree until he retired, when the business was passed on to his daughter and son -in- law, Ellen and Arnold Nuttall. In recent times that same business finally closed its doors in year 2000.
Hetty Bury is great aunt to the author: Norman J. Bury, Melbourne, Australia.
Thanks also go to:
Many thanks to Norman from the Cotton Town project for letting us use his text. | <urn:uuid:1f37ee84-c515-4280-8014-b2a6ff07028b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cottontown.org/page.cfm?LANGUAGE=eng&pageID=1336 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980368 | 729 | 1.765625 | 2 |
U-M Student Peer Advisors
Peer advisors are U-M students who have studied or worked abroad and have extensive overseas travel experience. The Peer Advisors are trained to help you learn about the education abroad opportunities and help you decide which option will be best for you. They are available to assist only students, faculty, staff and alumni affiliated with the University of Michigan.
Our peer advisors are located within the U-M International Center, and are available through email, by appointment, or by advising hours throughout the academic year. The Education Abroad Office has walk-in advising Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm, however we recommend setting up an appointment by email if you'd like to speak with a specific peer advisor.
Winter 2013 Education Abroad Peer Advisors
Alison McDonald is a senior majoring in Spanish and International Studies, with a focus on International Security & Norms. She spent the previous summer studying Spanish culture, history, and literature at the Universidad de Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain through the University of Michigan’s Center for Global and Intercultural Studies (CGIS). During her time studying abroad she also did some independent traveling. She has traveled to England, France and Italy, as well as exploring many cities throughout Spain.
Craig Laurie is a graduate student in the School of Social Work where he is studying Community Organization as a Community Based Initiatives Scholar. While an undergrad, he spent a semester studying the history, culture, and politics of Central and Eastern Europe at Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Most recently he spent 30 months as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Gagauzia, the semi-autonomous region of the Republic of Moldova. While there, he provided technical assistance and training in organizational development, strategic planning, and project design and management to small initiative groups in the region and to other PCVs. Over the years, he has studied Russian, Romanian, French, and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian. He is a firm believer in community-driven approaches to development, research, and mental health.
Maura Niemisto is a Senior in Program in the Environment with a concentration on Environmental Justice Issues and a minor in International Studies. She spent Fall of 2011 studying abroad in Costa Rica and Nicaragua learning about social justice, sustainable community development and Latin American culture. She also organized and carried out her own research project on vertebrate pests in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. She has also traveled and explored Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Canada. She speaks Spanish and basic Portuguese. Most recently she completed an internship at Wolf Haven International in the Spring of 2012, where she participated in non-profit and conservation work, as well as became familiar with international and domestic wildlife management initiatives.
Celine Smith is currently a Senior majoring in International Studies and Anthropology with a minor in the Program in the Environment. Never having traveled before college, Celine knew she wanted to begin her international experiences right away. Summer following freshman year she went with the University of Michigan's GIEU program to Zambia for a month to do research and help with workshops on HIV/AIDS in the religious community. After this experience she decided the next step would be to study abroad for a semester, so she chose Buenos Aires, Argentina for Winter semester of her sophomore year. Here she worked on her Spanish while taking classes with other American students and locals. During this time she also traveled independently throughout the country. More recently, she spent the summer of 2012 as a Student Fellow for the GIEU program in Kumase, Ghana, where she co-lead a group of UofM students with a university professor in their project of digitizing VHS tapes in the Palace. Now she is looking forward to the opportunity of helping to guide others to great international experiences!
In addition to these advisors, the Education Abroad office has an extensive listing of volunteer peer advisors who have had a variety of study and work abroad experiences. For more information send an email to firstname.lastname@example.org or call 734.647.2299.
Become a Peer Advisor
If you've had an international experience and would like to share your expertise and familiarity with studying, working, or travelling abroad, we need you! Our peer advisors not only advise students, but also design and present workshops and seminars on education abroad.
For more information about peer advisors, contact email@example.com or call 734.647.2299.
Last reviewed: 02/13 | <urn:uuid:6e17fdf3-a638-48b3-8f65-be2f25d1969f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://internationalcenter.umich.edu/swt/services/peer-advisors.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967584 | 938 | 1.507813 | 2 |
(Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of articles that will take a more in-depth look at the three major issues raised in the FDIC’s options paper on deposit insurance reform. The FDIC would welcome banker comments on these issues, as would we.)
The second major issue addressed by the FDIC options paper on deposit insurance is how to fund insurance losses or, stated another way, how to maintain the funds over time. Because of current statutory restraints on assessing deposit insurance premiums when the fund balances in the BIF and SAIF exceed the “designated reserve ratio” (currently 1.25 percent of insured deposits), the FDIC does not collect premiums from most institutions when times are good. In contrast, when the reserve ratios fall below 1.25 percent, the FDIC is required by statute to charge high premiums (23 basis points). Thus, during adverse times when banks can least afford it premiums are highest, and the surviving banks pay the costs of the failures. The result, according to the options paper, is that “we have clearly departed from any concept of spreading insurance losses over time.”
From 1934 to 1950, banks were assessed a steady fixed premium of 8 1/3 basis points. From 1950 to 1989, due to concerns that the fund had grown too large, the FDIC was required to return a portion of excess premium revenue to banks each year, depending on the FDIC’s expenses. As a result of the refund system, premiums ranged from approximately three basis points to 8.33 basis points. After 1989, Congress set the designated reserve ratio for the funds, and premiums depended on whether the reserve ratio was above or below the target. As a result of these changes, the original system with a focus on a steady, long-term premium rate has been replaced by a system that focuses on a hard target reserve ratio and leads to volatile premium rates.
The options discussed by the FDIC for remedying this perceived flaw in the system fall into two categories: the user fee model and the mutual model.
User Fee Model
The user fee approach views the government (not the banking industry) as the provider of deposit insurance and the party responsible for bearing the risk of guaranteeing deposits. The industry would pay on a regular basis for access to the system. Premiums would be viewed as paid in exchange for value; the industry would have no claim on previous payments (just like private insurance where the driver of a car who does not have an accident does not get his money back).
The options paper outlines two general approaches to the user fee model. The first relies on steady average premium rates designed to match premium revenue to insurance losses over the long term. The second alternative allows for more variation in the average premium rate depending on the level of current insurance losses or the reserve ratio of the deposit insurance funds.
Under the simplest user fee model, banks would pay a stable average premium rate based on historical experience, either set in statute or subject to infrequent change by the FDIC. The key issue in this approach is setting the right premium rate. What historical period is most relevant? An inflexible rate will not account for changes in industry structure, regulation and the competitive environment. To match premium revenue with fund expenses and bank failure losses based on the 1980 to 1999 time period, the premium rate would be 11.2 basis points. Using 1934 to 1979, the premium rate would be 1.0 basis point; using 1934 to 1999, the rate would be 8.5 basis points. Using a “moving average” is also a possibility. For example, using 10-year, 15-year and 20-year moving averages during the 1934 to 1999 period yields an annual average premium of about 4 basis points (3.6 to 4.4 bp).
To avoid significant buildups of the insurance funds or prolonged periods of losses to the funds resulting from a fixed premium rate, the FDIC could also tie pricing more closely to current performance. It could make up or down adjustments in the long-term premium rates within a defined range (say, 5 basis points in either direction) to account for excess revenues or a revenue shortfall. Or it could tie adjustments in the long-term rate to the funds’ reserve ratio using a “soft target.” Under this approach, premiums could vary up or down within a defined range, but no adjustment would be made unless the reserve ratio moved above or below a certain range.
The FDIC’s analysis of different premium scenarios suggests that a system can be established with a finite premium range, no negative or zero fund balance over time, and no frequent or large premium changes.
The options described under the mutual model include rebates tied to a reserve ratio or a system where banks hold claims on the insurance fund. The basic notion is that banks are treated more like owners of the funds—sharing the excess buildup through rebates, but subject to a capital “call” to make up shortfalls.
The reserve targeting approach to rebates would put a cap on the insurance fund and rebate funds above that amount. Rebates raise the issue of how best to allocate them, the FDIC notes. To be fair, rebates would have to be based on past payments into the fund, not on deposits or some other assessment base.
The credit union insurance system is another example of a mutual model where institutions have a claim on the fund. Credit unions are required to maintain an amount equal to one percent of their deposits in the insurance fund. When the fund exceeds a certain range, rebates are provided. Under this model, when an institution’s deposits grow, it must make a proportional contribution to the insurance fund to account for the growth. When deposits shrink, the institution gets a rebate or credit.
Such a system would address the problem of new deposits coming into the system without any premium payment at new or fast growing banks. But it would also represent a significant increase in the costs of chartering a bank or gathering new deposits. These concerns could be mitigated somewhat if the payment could be made over time. Another challenge is how to transition to this system from the current one and allocate the amounts currently in the BIF and SAIF to individual institutions.
Funding Systemic Risk (Too Big to Fail)
The FDIC also raises the issue of how to recoup the costs of assisting or resolving very large banks that pose systemic risk to the financial system. Currently, the FDIC may not pay uninsured depositors or creditors unless the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the recommendation of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, determines that the bank’s failure poses a systemic risk. Once systemic risk is invoked, the FDIC’s costs are recovered through a special assessment levied on all institutions based on assets.
The options paper notes that this arrangement contributes to premium volatility and imposes costs on smaller banks that would never enjoy systemic risk protection. Also, some large complex financial institutions also pose systemic risk but may not be part—or not wholly part—of the deposit insurance system.
The FDIC asks whether systemic risk funding for banks should be removed from the deposit insurance system and funded as it is for other financial firms or for commercial companies. It also asks how the costs of systemic risk should be distributed. While more of the cost of systemic risk relative to regular assessments is borne by large banks because assets are assessed instead of deposits, small banks still pay. Does a small bank benefit more from the special treatment of large banks than do other small businesses or other large nonbank financial companies? the paper asks.
The options paper is posted on the FDIC Web site (www.fdic.gov), along with a series of questions designed to elicit public comment. Viewers can respond to the questions directly on line. Among the questions posed on funding losses are: whether the user fee notion or the mutual model notion is preferable; how to strike the balance between maintaining stable premiums versus maintaining a stable fund; how to set the average premium rate under the user fee model; whether premium rates under a user fee model should be adjusted for current insurance expenses, linked to the insurance fund, or tied to a hard or soft target; how rebates should be determined and allocated under a mutual system; and whether the current mechanism for funding systemic risk exceptions is appropriate.
Note: The Sept. 8 edition of Washington Weekly Report covered the pricing issue. The final issue we will cover is deposit insurance coverage levels. | <urn:uuid:2486ba1b-2d29-4e11-a121-cd5eef4b17f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icba.org/publications/index.cfm?sn.itemnumber=13783&itemnumber=1047&pf=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943765 | 1,734 | 1.539063 | 2 |
“The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States
Just looking at the wording here “The requirement to detain” does not mean they can’t do it. Seems the wording here is something to be concerned about.
This section is all about extending the powers of the federal government to unilaterally declare someone or some group of someones outside the judicial system. They are doing it in the name of intelligence gathering and preventing terrorism. They are calling it a ‘war power’ which seems understandable, a prisoner of war really does lose out. The problem is we are in an indefinite war now. Which means there is no end or conclusion and the power will creep. No knock warrants won’t even be needed, they can just round you up under the war powers act and call you the enemy because you are associated in some arcane way to Al-Queda goals or beliefs.
The wording is actually worse -- it gives the government the power to pick and choose who will be detained, for any reason (e.g. he p!$$@d off some politician) or no reason. | <urn:uuid:57ce5a2c-d1f2-4da3-b20f-ae50c8e1c0a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2814596/replies?c=22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952787 | 240 | 1.546875 | 2 |
H.R.2985 - Appropriations bill FY2006, Legislative Branch
Making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes. view all titles (14)
All Bill Titles
- Popular: Appropriations bill FY2006, Legislative Branch.
- Popular: Legislative Branch Appropriations FY2006 bill.
- Popular: Special Elections/Appointments Provisions bill.
- Short: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006 as introduced.
- Short: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006 as reported to house.
- Short: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006 as passed house.
- Short: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006 as reported to senate.
- Short: Library of Congress Digital Collections and School Curricula Act of 2005 as reported to senate.
- Short: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006 as passed senate.
- Short: Library of Congress Digital Collections and School Curricula Act of 2005 as passed senate.
- Short: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006 as enacted.
- Short: Library of Congress Digital Collections and Educational Curricula Act of 2005 as enacted.
- Short: Library of Congress Inspector General Act of 2005 as enacted.
- Official: Making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes. as introduced.
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Official Summary8/2/2005--Public Law. (There are 5 other summaries)(This measure has not been amended since the Conference Report was filed in the House on July 26, 2005. The summary of that version is repeated here.)Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006 - Title I: Legislative Branch Appropriations
8/2/2005--Public Law. (There are 5 other summaries)
(This measure has not been amended since the Conference Report was filed in the House on July 26, 2005. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006 - Title I: Legislative Branch Appropriations - Makes FY2006 appropriations for the Senate for:
(1) expense allowances;
(2) representation allowances for the Majority and Minority Leaders;
(3) salaries of specified officers, employees, and committees (including the Committee on Appropriations);
(4) agency contributions for employee benefits;
(5) inquiries and investigations;
(6) the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control;
(7) the Offices of the Secretary and of the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper (Sergeant at Arms) of the Senate;
(8) miscellaneous items;
(9) the Senators' Official Personnel and Office Expense Account; and
(10) official mail costs.
(Sec. 2)Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1977 to increase from eight to nine the number of individual consultants the Majority and Minority Leaders may each appoint.
(Sec. 3)Amends Public Law 101-302 to extend through FY2006 and each fiscal year thereafter the authorization of funds within the Senate contingent fund for expenses of the U.S. Senate Collection.
(Sec. 4)Amends Public Law 108-83 to permit the use of Senate contingent funds for expenditures, up to $10,000 in any fiscal year, for meals and refreshments in Capitol facilities in connection with official activities of the Senate Commission on Art or other authorized programs or activities.
(Sec. 5)Amends the Revised Statutes to repeal the requirement that the Secretary of the Senate, under certain conditions, deduct from a Senator's monthly or periodic payments the amount of his or her salary for each day such Senator is absent from the Senate.
(Sec. 6)Amends the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1999 to provide that the authority of the Senate Committee on Appropriations to procure the services of individual consultants or organizations does not need the approval of, nor does it have to report to, the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Makes appropriations for the House of Representatives for FY2006 for:
(1) salaries and/or expenses of the House leadership offices, committees (including the Committee on Appropriations), officers and employees, and the Child Care Center; and
(2) Members' representational allowances.
(Sec. 101)Requires that any amounts appropriated for a representational allowance for a Member of the House for FY2006 which remain after all payments are made under it be deposited in the Treasury and used for deficit reduction or, if there is no federal budget deficit after all such payments have been made, to reduce the federal debt. Makes FY2006 appropriations for salaries and/or expenses of:
(1) the Joint Economic and Taxation Committees;
(2) the Office of the Attending Physician;
(3) the Capitol Guide Service and Special Services Office;
(4) the preparation of statements of appropriations for both the House and the Senate; and
(5) the Capitol Police.
(Sec. 1002)Prohibits the Capitol Police from operating a mounted horse unit during FY2006 or any succeeding fiscal year.
Requires the Chief of the Capitol Police to transfer to the Chief of the U.S. Park Police the horses, equipment, and supplies of the Capitol Police mounted horse unit.
(Sec. 1003)Amends the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require an officer or employee of the Capitol Police, beginning in calendar 2005, to file annual financial disclosure reports with the Clerk of the House.
(Sec. 1004)Establishes in the U.S. Capitol Police the Office of the Inspector General.
Prohibits the reduction, except in certain circumstances, of the pay or benefits of any employee of offices or entities whose duties and responsibilities are transferred to the Office of Inspector General.
Requires financial statements prepared by the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the Capitol Police to be audited by the Inspector General or by an independent public accountant, as determined by the Inspector General. (Currently, the CAO provides for such audit by an independent public accountant.)
(Sec. 1005)Requires the Chief of the Capitol Police to submit to Congress a detailed, itemized semiannual report of disbursements for U.S. Capitol Police operations.
Prescribes the semiannual periods as October 1 through March 31 and April 1 through September 30.
(Sec. 1006)Amends the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2004 to establish FY2006 limits on the number of Capitol Police officers to be hired for Library of Congress duty.
Makes the Memorandum of Understanding between the Library of Congress and the Capitol Police entered into on December 12, 2004, effective through FY2006, subject to such modifications that may be made in accordance with the modification and dispute resolution provisions of such Memorandum.
(Sec. 1007)Prohibits individuals to whom overtime compensation was paid under the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2003 in violation of the restrictions applicable to the payment of such compensation under such Act from being required to repay the compensation if the compensation was paid for services provided before June 15, 2005.
Excepts from this prohibition against required repayment any officers or employees of the U.S. Capitol Police whose annual salary is specified in statute and is not established under the schedule of rates of basic pay established and maintained by the Capitol Police Board.
Makes FY2006 appropriations for salaries and/or expenses of:
(1) the Office of Compliance;
(2) the Congressional Budget Office (CBO);
(3) the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), including for the care and operation of Capitol buildings and grounds, Senate and House office buildings, the Capitol power plant, Library of Congress buildings and grounds, Capitol Police buildings and grounds, the Botanic Garden (including for the care and operation of the National Garden but not for its construction);
(4) the Capitol Visitor Center; and
(5) the Library of Congress for salaries and expenses (including rescission of funds), the Copyright Office, Congressional Research Service (CRS), and Books for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
Earmarks funds for Books for the Blind and Physically Handicapped to reimburse the National Federation of the Blind for costs incurred in the operation of its NEWSLINE program.
(Sec. 1100)Permits the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in certain circumstances, to waive claims against its employees for overpayment of pay allowances, and of travel, transportation, and relocation expenses and allowances.
(Sec. 1201)Amends the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1991 to increase from eight to nine the number of positions under the AOC's jurisdiction whose rate of basic pay may be fixed by the AOC up to 135% of the minimum rate for GS-15.
(Sec. 1202)Amends the 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery From and Response To Terrorist Attacks on the United States relating to the AOC's authority to acquire facilities for computer backup for offices in the legislative branch. Allows the AOC, in the case of a building or facility acquired through purchase for such purposes, to enter into or assume a lease with another person for the use of any portion of the building or facility that is not required for such purposes, subject to the approval of the entity which approved the acquisition.
(Sec. 1301)Authorizes the expenditure of up to $5,000 for the incentive awards program of the Library of Congress.
(Sec. 1302)Establishes an upper limit $109.943 million for the FY2006 obligational authority of the Library of Congress with regard to certain reimbursable and revolving fund activities. Authorizes the Librarian of Congress, subject to specified conditions, to transfer temporarily up to $1.9 million of funds appropriated in this Act for Library of Congress salaries and expenses to the revolving fund for the FEDLINK Program and the Federal Research Program established under the Library of Congress Fiscal Operations Improvement Act of 2000.
(Sec. 1303)Amends the Miscellaneous Appropriations Act, 2001 to provide that up to a specified amount out of additional funds made available for the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program shall remain available until expended, and may be used for competitive grants to state governmental entities, without regard to any matching contribution requirement, to work cooperatively to collect and preserve at-risk digital state and local government information.
(Sec. 1304)Makes funds available for the Library of Congress under this Act available for transfer to the Department of State as remittance for a fee charged by the Department for FY2006 for the maintenance, upgrade, or construction of U.S. diplomatic facilities, but only to the extent that the amount of the fee so charged is equal to or less than the unreimbursed value of the services provided during FY2006 to the Library of Congress on State Department diplomatic facilities.
(Sec. 1305)Amends the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1996 to repeal the prohibition against obligational authority under the heading "Library of Congress" for activities in support of parliamentary development, except for Russia, Ukraine, Albania, Slovakia, and Romania.
(Sec. 1306)Library of Congress Digital Collections and Educational Curricula Act of 2005 - Requires the Librarian of Congress to administer a program to teach educators and librarians how to incorporate the digital collections of the Library of Congress into educational curricula.
Authorizes the Librarian to:
(1) establish an educational consortium to support the program; and
(2) make funds appropriated for the program available to consortium members, educational institutions, and libraries.
(Sec. 1307)Library of Congress Inspector General Act of 2005 - Establishes in the Library of Congress an Office of Inspector General to:
(1) conduct and supervise audits and investigations (excluding incidents involving violence and personal property) relating to the Library of Congress;
(2) provide leadership and coordination and recommend policies to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness; and
(3) provide a means of keeping the Librarian of Congress and Congress fully and currently informed about problems and deficiencies relating to Library administration and operations.
Appropriates funds for:
(1) the Government Printing Office (GPO) for congressional printing and binding (including transfer of funds);
(2) GPO for the Office of Superintendent of Documents for salaries and expenses (including transfer of funds);
(3) a payment to the Government Printing Office Revolving Fund;
(4) the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for salaries and expenses;
(5) a payment to the Open World Leadership Center Trust Fund; and
(6) a payment to the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Development Trust Fund.
Title II: General Provisions -
(Sec. 201)Sets forth authorized or prohibited uses of funds appropriated by this Act identical or similar to corresponding provisions of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2005.
Title III: Continuity in Representation -
(Sec. 301)Amends federal election law concerning the election of Senators and Representatives to require states to hold special elections for the House within 49 days after a vacancy is announced by the Speaker in the extraordinary circumstance that vacancies in representation from the states exceed 100. Waives the 49-day requirement if, during the 75-day period beginning on the date of the vacancy announcement, a regularly scheduled general election or another special election for the office involved is to be held.
Requires determination of the candidates who will run in the special election:
(1) within 10 days after the vacancy announcement by the political parties authorized by state law to nominate candidates; or
(2) by any other method the state considers appropriate. Sets forth requirements for judicial review of any action brought for declaratory or injunctive relief to challenge such a vacancy announcement. Requires a final decision within three days of the filing of such an action. Makes a final decision non-reviewable.
Requires a state, in conducting such special election, to ensure to the greatest extent practicable (including through the use of electronic means) that absentee ballots are transmitted to absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters within 15 days after the Speaker announces that the vacancy exists. Requires a state to accept and process any otherwise valid ballot or other election material from an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter, as long as the ballot or other material is received by the appropriate state election official within 45 days after the state transmits it to the voter.
Applies this subsection to the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
...Read the Rest | <urn:uuid:fb12e4aa-9266-487d-9291-e86dedb0a263> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.opencongress.org/bill/109-h2985/show | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924489 | 3,044 | 1.726563 | 2 |
North Uist Uibhist a Tuath
To the south of the Sound of Harris lies North Uist (pop. 2,200) which is linked to Benbecula and South Uist by causeways. The rugged landscape is dotted with countless lakes, some saltwater and some fresh. With so many bays and inlets, the coastline extends for just under 360mi/580km. Bird watchers make up a large proportion of the island's visitors as diving birds, teal and shovelers are among the species that breed by the lochs. North Uist can also boast red deer, otters and seals and anglers will find the rivers and lakes well stocked. The inhabitants of North Uist live off the land and produce woolen goods to supplement their earnings. Seaweed is plentiful on the sandy beaches and some residents collect it to use as a fertilizer.
The main town on North Uist is Lochmaddy (pop. 1,800). Ferries from Uig (Skye) arrive here and it is an important center for the southern isles. A road runs from Lochmaddy to Carinish in the southwest of the island and then crosses a causeway (1960) through the North Ford to Benbecula. | <urn:uuid:8f935be1-8036-459a-861b-6294be4aa444> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.planetware.com/hebrides/north-uist-sco-wsti-nuist.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946855 | 257 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Getting the flu while you have a mental illness can present problems if you aren’t proactive and informed. Here are five essential guidelines for coping with mental illness and the flu.
1. Mixing Meds & The Flu
If you are taking medication for mental illness, and you are prescribed any other medication, such as an antibiotic (sometimes the flu can lead to bacterial infections), let the prescribing doctor know what medications you are taking. Also, remind the pharmacist and double-check with your psychiatrist if you have any doubts about mixing medications. If you are taking MAO inhibitors, there can be problems taking if antibiotics. If you are taking different types of psychiatric medications, there may be problems, too.
2. Meds & Food & The Flu
If you have the flu, you might have a loss of appetite from fever. Or, you might have diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting and may not, obviously, feel much like eating or drinking. However, it is essential to eat if you are on most psychiatric medications. If you don’t eat, and take meds, the meds might not work well or might have an increased chance of side-effects. You might even experience a relapse in your mental health recovery. If you are simply too sick to eat, let your psychiatrist know right away (or call your pharmacist.) Either way, make sure you still drink plenty of fluids so you don’t dehydrate.
3. Therapy & The Flu
Call your therapist and let him or her know you are sick. Reschedule your appointment, or, if possible, ask your therapist if you can have a brief phone appointment instead. You might be too tired for more than 15 minutes or so, but keeping in touch can feel like a life-line when you are sick. No matter how tempted you may be, do not keep your regular therapy schedule if you are sick. It is dangerous to exert yourself by going out if you have the flu. Plus, you could easily get your therapist sick!
Anyone who has the flu feels rotten. If you have a mental illness, you may feel even worse. You should use your network of support and make sure that concerned advocates, friends, and family are checking in with your twice daily at the very least, especially if you live alone. Unsure about who to call for support? Here’s a short list: family members, friends, neighbors, roommates, case manager, therapist, psychiatrist, online chats and forums, and so on.
You might be apprehensive about admitting yourself to the hospital, but if you feel that you are heading towards psychiatric decompensation, it’s better to be proactive and get treatment before serious symptoms arise.
Call 911 for help or call anyone in your support network and ask them to get you help.
Hope you don’t have the flu, but if you do, GET WELL SOON.
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Last reviewed: 15 Jan 2013 | <urn:uuid:afeddf9d-cf07-480d-bffe-cb7eb16a5487> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.psychcentral.com/therapy-soup/2013/01/5-vital-guidelines-if-you-have-mental-illness-the-flu/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945221 | 622 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Carbohydrate is the fuel that the body uses during high intensity exercise, so taking the right carbohydrate at the right time can significantly improve performance and recovery. Muscle can only store a limited amount of carbohydrates (muscle glycogen) so this needs to be at a maximum before training and more importantly: replaced during and after training. Depleted levels of glycogen and lack of carbohydrates causes fatigue and impairs exercise. It can also cause the body to break down it’s own tissues for energy! Taking a complex carbohaydrate drink will prevent this. Carbo-Charge is a natural unflavoured complex carbohydrate drink that provides energy for high intensity exercise. Ideal for mixing with water, fruit juice or protein drinks. | <urn:uuid:5e1a831d-7d7d-44b0-8400-3d4d34953663> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kinsarvik.no/products/32835-nutrisport-atlas-carbo-charge-14-kg.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927765 | 147 | 2.109375 | 2 |
ConsumerInfo on Auto Insurance
ConsumerInfo on Auto Insurance
Ontario Automobile Insurance Legislation: Facts and FAQs
Adapted from a brochure titled "What you should know about car insurance in Ontario: Auto Insurance Rate Stability Act, 1996," produced by the Insurance Bureau of Canada and sponsored by the automobile insurers of Ontario.
As of November 1, 1996, the Auto Insurance Rate Stability Act, the legislation for automobile insurance in Ontario, allows accident victims to be compensated for their losses through the courts in a "tort" action and/or from their own insurer through "no-fault" coverage.
Here are some of the changes that the legislation, also known as Bill 59, will bring to consumers:
Frequently asked questions about the Auto Insurance Rate Stability
Act (Bill 59).
Q. Why should I wait until my "natural" policy renewal date before making any changes to Accident benefit coverages?
A. You will be provided with the mandated optional benefits, which excludes indexation, and maintain your deductibles until renewal. The new accident benefits are provided to you automatically, at no cost.
If you choose to cancel and purchase each of the new options, to the maximum, it could result in an increase to your premium. As part of the new Act, indexation is available only upon request.
Q. How do I qualify for the Retiree discount?
A. The new premium discount, which applies to the Accident Benefits portion of your premium, is available to retirees aged 65 or older. If you are younger than 65, but receive a Canada or Quebec pension or a pension registered under the Income Tax Act, you are also eligible to receive this new premium discount.
Ask your insurer or broker for the new Declaration form for the Retiree Discount. It must be signed and returned before the discount can be implemented.
Q. Why is there an optional deductible for Direct Compensation - Property Damage, when there never used to be one?
A. A deductible is part of a claim for damages to your vehicle you must pay for. Higher deductibles usually result in lower premiums, but higher financial risk to you.
As part of the new legislation, under the Direct Compensation-Property Damage section of your policy, if you are not at fault in an accident in Ontario involving another Ontario insured vehicle, there will be no deductible -- UNLESS YOU HAVE SELECTED ONE TO LOWER YOUR PREMIUM.
If you have selected a deductible, you will be required to pay to the extent to which you are not at fault for the accident. For example, if you are in an accident and the police report states that you were 50% at fault, you will be required to pay 50% of your selected deductible amount, which will go toward the repairs to the vehicle.
Q. What is the minimum deductible for collision and comprehensive?
A. If you have purchased optional coverage for collision or upset, or all perils -- and if you are fully or partially at fault for the damage to your vehicle, a new standard minimum deductible of $300 will apply -- UNLESS YOU HAVE SELECTED ANOTHER AMOUNT. As part of the new Act, at renewal, your deductible for these coverages will automatically be changed to the new minimum of $300. If your current deductible is higher than $300, it will remain at the higher amount at renewal.
Q. Why are my deductibles being increased to $300 at renewal?
A. As part of the new legislation, your renewal will include the new minimum allowable deductible of $300 for All Perils, Collision, Comprehensive, and Specified Perils. This will occur only on the current renewal; any subsequent renewals will have the deductible that you have chosen or that you qualify for.
At renewal, you can choose to reduce or increase your deductible to its previous amount or to a new amount, and this will result in a corresponding change to your premium.
Q. What optional coverages are you giving me until renewal?
A. New optional Accident Benefits that will be automatically added to your policy until renewal include:
Q. Why were the Accident Benefits part of my policy before, and now they are options that I have to pay for separately?
A. This new Act -- Bill 59 -- tries to reflect the basic needs of the average driver in Ontario and offers the option to top up to a level that is a reflection of the financial position of the individual. As a result, only those who need the higher coverage limits will buy it. This leads to a plan that is fair to everyone, but also one that is ultimately more expensive for those that require and purchase the top-up.
Q. I heard that, under this new Act, I have the right to sue. Why would I sue -- won't my insurance cover me for all my losses?
A. Your auto insurance will cover you only for losses to a maximum limit which is listed on your Certificate of Insurance and in your policy booklet. Under the previous plan, Bill 164, you were allowed to sue for non-economic losses, such as pain and suffering, if your damages fell within the "verbal threshold" AND if you were an innocent victim (not at fault) in an automobile accident.
Economic or financial loss is not covered under your standard auto policy, so if you were injured and were not ever able to return to work, your contribution to the household income would be eliminated. Under the previous auto plan, there was an additional endorsement, Excess Economic Loss Endorsement, OPCF 45, that you could purchase for this type of situation that also gave you the right to sue for future potential financial losses. With the new Act, Bill 59, this endorsement is no longer available.
Q. What kinds of losses can I sue for?
A. There are two types of situations when a policyholder might seek to recover certain types of damages under a right to sue. These are:
With the introduction of this new Act, Bill 59, the right to sue is being expanded to once again include the opportunity to recover economic losses. Along with this opportunity to seek recovery of economic losses, the "verbal threshold" is being reconsidered. Consult the chart below to see how the Accident Benefits under the new legislation compare to those under Bill 164.
Comparison chart - what I can sue for:
Note: The above information is intended to provide a brief overview of the new automobile insurance legislation, and is not meant to be exhaustive. For more information on the Auto Insurance Rate Stability Act, 1996, contact your insurer or your broker, or:
Insurance Bureau of Canada, telephone 1-800-387-2880; in Toronto area, 416-362-9528. Internet: www.ibc.ca
Ontario Insurance Commission, telephone 1-800-668-0128; in Toronto area, 416-250-7250 | <urn:uuid:99435fb2-16d9-4474-8e06-0b3301e168e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insurance-canada.ca/consinfoauto/l12.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944915 | 1,416 | 1.648438 | 2 |
SKMT offering swimming lessons
Sunday, 08 July 2012 by Terryn Kelly
With scorching summer temperatures already here, many parents are taking children to pools and lakes to cool off.
Unfortunately, good times in the water can often turn tragic with drowning incidents. Safe Kids Mid-Texas Coalition is funding 20 free-and-reduced lunch kids to attend swimming lessons.
"The purpose of our water safety program is to make everyone more aware of the dangers associated with swimming and playing around water. It is our hope to educate our families on safety around pools and open water," said Scott & White Trauma Injury Prevention Coordinator Susan Burchfield. "We want our kids to have a healthy respect for water and have the skills that will enable them to have fun in the water."
Although SKMT has been involved with water safety for four years, Burchfeild said this is the first year they are able to provide swimming lessons for free.
"We had to raise the funds to make it happen. The monies were provided to our coalition from Safe Kids USA and the Temple City Federation Foundation. This safety education gives the kids the opportunity to build life skills that will increase their safety for a lifetime," she said. "Swimming lessons will not make your child immune to drowning but it is an important skill for both adults and children to know."
Swimming pools are the most common site for a drowning to occur among children between the ages of 1-4. Children can become endangered in only seconds around water. Safe Kids recommends that parents actively supervise and keep their eyes on the kids at all times. Small wading pools can be a hazard to young children; all it takes is 1 inch of water for them to drown.
In 2011, the Scott & White Trauma Center treated nine children for submersion injuries. They ranged in age from 22 months to 13 years. Five were injured in pools. The other four were injured at lakes and rivers.
"We encourage all adults to learn CPR and know how to use rescue equipment," Burchfeild said. "If a child is missing, always check the pool." | <urn:uuid:e9206fce-14d9-4d8d-a413-7369512493c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.beltonjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1688:skmt-offering-swimming-lessons&catid=35:news&Itemid=429 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977639 | 434 | 2.390625 | 2 |
SPI Dynamics has an interesting proof-of-concept page that can snoop your browser's cache of visited URLs and figure out whether you've searched for specific terms on Google. Or rather, I assume it can on some people's computers... for some reason it always returns "yup, you searched for that" on both Firefox and Safari on my Mac.
According to this graph of spam volume by spam blacklister TQMcube, spam volume has increased more than tenfold in the past six months. I'm not sure if this is some kind of attempt to overwhelm spam-filters and blacklisting services or just another ratcheting up, but I do find it disheartening that doing a news search for "major increase in spam" results in posts and news reports that span several years. (Thanks to Jeff for the link to the graph.)
Radio Lab had a great hour production called Where Am I?, all about how mind and body collaborate to determine where you and all your assorted parts are in space and how that can sometimes get out of whack. Audio is available for streaming and download, and well worth the listen.
It reminds me of the "That's my hand!" illusion, where you can give someone the uncanny feeling that an obviously-plastic severed rubber hand is actually their own by simply hiding their real hand from view and then simultaneously touching each hand in the same spot at the same time. After about 20 seconds of such touching the illusion kicks in, and is a wonderfully eerie feeling. They have a station for trying this out at the SF Exploratorium, but my first introduction to it was from reading a recent study where scientists induced the illusion while the subject was being scanned by an MRI. What they found was that the illusion corresponds with activity in the premotor cortex, a part of the brain that receives input both visual and touch information, implying that we build our idea of where different parts of our body is in space by correlating our own sense of touch with what we can detect with our other senses. (They also have a more recent study showing that it's not just vision combined with touch — you can get the same effect bindfolded by making the subject think she's touching her left hand with her right when actually she's touching the rubber hand.)
patently obvious, adj. An idea so blazingly obvious, only the patent office would think it novel enough to patent.
Economics professors at Cornell and Indiana U. have found a possible correlation between watching TV before the age of three and autism. The evidence looks even more circumstantial than the study linking early TV viewing to ADHD, but still interesting: really what they've found is a correlation between diagnosis of autism and the number of rainy days in a particular county for a given period, which is known to correlate with hours kids spend watching TV. I wonder if they also looked at birth month and whether that has an effect — if it did that might imply a critical period of only a few months. (Thanks to Andrea for the link.)
Anders Sandberg has posted some fabulous Warning Signs For Tomorrow over at his blog. And in a similar vein, check out how Dow Chemical designed the biohazard symbol. (By way of Schneier on Security.)
Today's the last day for Californians to register to vote in time for the November 7th election. If you've not yet registered, download the registration form and mail it directly to your county elections official. Forms must be postmarked by today's date.
A few days ago Reuters opened a bureau in Second Life, the online virtual world that's more second home than game to some 400,000 (presumably part-time) residents. Adam Pasick is bureau chief and sole reporter, and is dedicated fulltime to Second Life. As science fiction writer Charlie Strauss put it a month ago, "Truth stranger than fiction? Must write faster, the clowns are gaining ..." (Via NPR's Marketplace.)
A Fox News cameraman was about 20 blocks away when the New York small-plane crash occurred last week, so he broadcast live via his Palm Treo smart-phone. (Thanks to Jamey for the link.)
Google just added support for the Treo 600, Treo 650 and Treo 700p to their Google Maps Mobile software (a client application that runs on your phone). Looks pretty good, and includes the ability to see the current traffic conditions along your route, which ironically the main Google Maps software can't do. (Thanks to GirlPurple for the link, via Jill!)
Bruce Schneier answers the question "why do we bother making people with security clearances go through airport security?" with the obvious answer "how would an airport screener know if you have a security clearance?"
Heck, as long as we're living in fantasy land, why don't they let non-terrorists bypass security and just focus on The Terrorists? After all, it must not be too hard to tell who's a Terrorist and who isn't, since we're already single them out for torture, rendition to Syria and indefinite detention without review. What's forcing them to spend extra time in line at the airport compared to that?
Google just launched a page for searching through publicly-posted source code (including the ability to search by regexp, language and licence), and Kottke.org has compiled a list of some interesting searches people have uncovered, including password files, backdoors, inside jokes and kludge alerts.
(Thanks to Rawhide for the link!)
You've probably already heard about the cell phone that screams after it's reported as stolen. My friend GirlPurple has suggested the perfect add-on market: Custom Scream Tones.
Kevin Drum has posted an email exchange between convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Karl Rove's assistant, Susan Ralston, part of a larger set released in a bipartisan report by The House Government Reform Committee. Apparently Abramoff sent an email asking for favors to Ralston's personal(?) pager, and that email was forwarded to the Deputy Assistant to the President and then on to a White House aide. That aide in turn warned a colleague of Abramoff's that "it is better not to put this stuff in writing in their email system because it might actually limit what they can do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits, etc." Abramoff's response to his colleague's warning: "Dammit. It was sent to Susan on her mc pager and was not supposed to go into the WH system."
Political scandal aside, this teaches a fundamental security issue with email. I have no idea whether Ralston's pager was set to automatically forward email while she was on vacation or (more likely) that she forwarded it on to the Deputy Assistant herself as a way to keep him in the loop. Regardless, it's clear that Abramoff recognized that having such emails in the official White House system would be a liability, but he had no control over whether its recipients (either Ralston or possibly her automatic forwarder) would be as prudent.
People who want to speak "off the record" usually think about whether a communication channel is likely to be archived, is subject to subpoena, is secure and so forth. But as it becomes easier to transfer between channels that becomes harder to predict. You might not expect me to archive my voicemail, but if I automatically forward my messages to my email as audio attachments then it probably will be. Similarly, you might expect email sent within a company to stay protected inside the firewall, but if just one recipient forwards his email to his GMail account then that security is blown wide open. The folks involved in the Abramoff scandal deserve to be outed, but the next person to be tripped up by this kind of error might not be so deserving.
The overall winner of this weekend's Open Hack Day at Yahoo! was Blogging in Motion, which mounts a camera and pedometer in a handbag and then uses the Flickr API (and I presume a cellphone) to automatically blog one picture every minute. Sounds like a purse version of Steve Mann's Wearable Wireless Webcam, and more recently Microsoft Research Cambridge's SenseCam system, all hacked together in just one 24-hour marathon.
In an interview with NPR's On The Media, New York Times Deputy Foreign Editor Ethan Bronner had this to say about what it would take for the Times to decide that Iraq has finally turned into a civil war (question is 3:10 into the interview):
I don't think I could answer that you know, sort of, we need to see X, Y and Z. I think that broadly speaking if it seemed that the sides of conflict in Iraq had separated themselves into full-blown millitias / armies and war was the full-time occupation in Iraq, that would be a civil war and I imagine that's when we would start calling it that.
At a certain point it will, if in fact it grows to the point where the sides have divided into clearly defined groups fighting one another, I mean the government for example is a mix of Sunni, Shia and Kurd. Is it a player in this "civil war" that other people see? It's not clear to me.
I wonder how the Times reconciles this whole Blue vs. Grey definition of civil war with the fact that wars are increasingly being fought by networks of loosely-affiliated like-minded allies rather than clearly defined armies. If they can accept that the US is at war with a "transnational movement of extremist organizations, networks, and individuals" (to quote a recent Defense Department publication) why insist on clearly-defined armies in the case of a civil war? If anything, civil wars have historically been messier and more complicated than other wars, not simpler.
If the Times is waiting for the situation in Iraq to congeal into a simple pie chart before they decide it's in a state of civil war, I expect they'll be waiting quite a while. | <urn:uuid:5c340771-be44-42aa-8c1b-63c66bd6e3c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://docbug.com/blog/archives/2006_10.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964252 | 2,047 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Thursday, September 30, 2010
This Report dated September 29, 2010, provides an in-depth look at this building type as reported in the 2003 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey. Office buildings are the most common type of commercial building and they consumed more than 17 percent of all energy in the commercial buildings sector in 2003. This special report provides characteristics and energy consumption data by type of office building (e.g. administrative office, government office, medical office) and information on some of the types of equipment found in office buildings: heating and cooling equipment, computers, servers, printers, and photocopiers." | <urn:uuid:ebc7eeb5-a903-484f-bf95-decdb01ef241> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paceeenvironmentalnotes.blogspot.com/2010/09/commercial-buildings-energy-consumption.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948958 | 122 | 2.375 | 2 |
Airborne and satellite radars record Frascati grape harvest
The slopes of Frascati overlooking Rome boast rich, volcanic soils: wine has been produced there since time immemorial. However the latest vine crop should go down in history as the single best documented harvest ever.
Part of Frascati's Controlled Origin Denomination – 'Denominazione d'Origine Controllata' or DOC in Italian, a wine's legally demarcated home region - was surveyed in ultra-sharp detail using an airborne radar sensor both before then after last October's harvest. This two-stage ESA campaign was called BACCHUS-DOC, and was intended to complement a number of radar and optical satellite acquisitions by ERS-2, SPOT, Landsat, IKONOS and QuickBird.
Following processing of raw data, the results are now under study by a team from ESRIN, ESA's European Centre for Earth Observation located within the area of study, and the nearby Tor Vergata University. In particular they are investigating to what extent the BACCHUS-DOC airborne and satellite radar imagery is sensitive to vineyard surfaces and the change in biomass following the grape harvest.
"We have been demonstrating the potential use of satellite radar imagery from ERS and Envisat for correlating the radar signal with the vineyard biomass, and in particular the 'grape biomass'," said Luigi Fusco of ESRIN. "The early results – applying detailed geographical information gathered on the area during previous projects – have shown that this correlation exists, and this detailed analysis is proving worthwhile."
BACCHUS-DOC was overseen by ESA's dedicated Campaigns Unit, with the participation of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Rome's Tor Vergata University, whose personnel carried out accompanying ground measurements. The Campaigns Unit and Bacchus team selected a 24.5 square kilometre area of interest – with orientation fitting the orbit and radar look direction of ERS-2 at that time.
For their part in the campaign, DLR operated their Experimental Synthetic Aperture Radar (E-SAR), flown on their customised Dornier-228 flown out of nearby Ciampino Airport. The E-SAR has a maximum spatial resolution of four metres and operates at five different radar signal wavelengths with selectable polarisations, a means of increasing signal sensitivity to different environmental variables. Such a performance is superior to the current generation of radar satellite sensors but presents a way to simulate the results available from future space-based instruments.
The initial E-SAR flight took place on October 5, followed up on 25 October. In the meantime the harvest took place. Highly radar-visible corner reflectors were placed at places within the area of interest to act as reference points. The precise aircraft route was tracked using GPS backed up by an onboard inertial navigation system (INS).
"The SAR image acquisitions were accompanied by contemporary ground measurements on the vineyards," explained Prof. Domenico Solimini of the Tor Vergata University. "An extensive survey identified the general conditions of vegetation and of the terrain in a wide area of the Frascati wine production zone."
"Intensive measurements were carried out on parcels imaged at two different incidence angles. The collected ground truth included several parameters of rows, terrain and plants, and, in particular, dimensions of leaves and grapes and their spatial distribution," continued Prof. Solimini.
"For the second overflight when the grapes had been harvested, the parameters of stable structures were the same, so only the variable elements were monitored, such as leaves, weeds, roughness and moisture of the terrain."
The main scientific objective of BACCHUS-DOC was to investigate the sensitivity of polarimetic radar in measuring grape biomass, as well as additional useful parameters for inventorying and characterising vineyards such as vine rows, spacing and orientation, and vineyard borders. The potential to estimate local soil roughness and moisture is also being assessed.
Frascati was selected for the BACCHUS-DOC campaign because a dedicated geographic information system (GIS) has been constructed for this DOC area as part of a European Commission-funded project called Bacchus, aimed at applying Earth Observation and GIS technology to improve European wine quality. Bacchus is now complete, but a follow-on project called DiVino is extending the capabilities of the Frascati GIS.
For centuries Europe has been one of the world's great wine producing regions, although cultivation practices are often inconsistent and expensive. With global competition growing, the hope is to develop information tools that combine aerial and satellite imagery with GIS technology in support of vineyard management and improving wine quality.
The part-EC-funded DiVino research consortium is made up of public and private bodies from four wine producing countries – Italy, France, Spain and Portugal – with participants covering different aspects of vine cultivation and marketing. Within Italy the participants include the Frascati DOC consortium, which represents some 700 local grape producers and wine makers.
A trial GIS has been released to the consortium for testing, with a formal presentation of results to the Frascati Community Council taking place soon, and a public workshop taking place in early March. | <urn:uuid:0a42b020-6f4c-49ab-b54a-96e78e5df91a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/The_Living_Planet_Programme/Airborne_and_satellite_radars_record_Frascati_grape_harvest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949155 | 1,082 | 2.71875 | 3 |
On April 10 biologists from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s (PFBC) southeast region office, assisted by Waterways Conservation Officers, conducted a night electrofishing survey of Tuscarora Lake. The purposes of the survey were two-fold: 1) to evaluate the fingerling walleye stocking program and 2) to evaluate the effects of annual lake drawdowns designed to reduce the yellow perch spawning success, reduce the total number of yellow perch in the lake, and increase their average size.
17” Brook Trout
During 1 hour and 53 minutes of electrofishing PFBC biologists collected 3 walleye (14”, 28”, and 30” long), 28 yellow perch (3 - 12 inches long), 14 chain pickerel up to 23 inches long, and 47 trout up to 17 inches long. The catch of all fish species was less than expected and was most likely the result of lower than average spring water temperatures. The water temperature at the time of the survey was 46F. The yellow perch population size structure appeared to have improved with larger fish being present. The improvement was probably the result of the lake drawdowns aimed at reducing perch spawning success and the establishment of a substantial reproducing shiner population initiated through PFBC stockings. The abundance of trout indicates that as in the past a number of fish remained in the spring following fall stocking despite fall and winter fishing pressure. The lake provides “opening day” fishing without the need for a spring stocking and without crowded angling conditions.
Yellow Perch are beginning to attain larger sizes at Tuscarora Lake
Tuscarora Lake is a 96-acre impoundment located within Tuscarora State Park (DCNR), Schuylkill County. The Lake is located approximately 3 miles northwest of Tamaqua.
18” Smallmouth Bass
Waterways Conservation Officer Chad Woslagle with 30 inch Walleye
Carp of this size are available at Tuscarora Lake and can provide a great fight
-- Area 6
Biologist Reports -- PFBC Home
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Web Privacy and Security Policies | <urn:uuid:f45219f5-e812-4600-85de-5ea93f4269d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fish.state.pa.us/images/fisheries/afm/2003/6_06-11tuscarora.htm | 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 | 0.943877 | 440 | 2.03125 | 2 |
At Meadow Hall College we run an integrated scheme based on the British National Curriculum and the Nigerian Curriculum.
The College has a team of specialist teachers. All of them are graduates with vast experience in both the British and Nigerian curricula. They undergo regular training in their dedicated subject, so that the students are expertly taught with current methodology.
Some of the current methodologies embraced at MHC are intervention strategies to raise attainment, using the accelerated learning cycle and the application of multiple intelligences.
The British National Curriculum applies to pupils of compulsory school age. It is organised on the basis of four key stages: Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 fall within the Primary school, while Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 and 9) and Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11) fall within the secondary school.
The ‘Core’ subjects are:
At MHC we achieve a delicate blend of the Nigerian and British curricula. However, in subjects such as Geography and History greater emphasis is placed on the Nigerian Curriculum at KS 3. In addition, we offer subjects unique to the Nigerian curriculum such as Social Studies, Agric. Science and a Nigerian language. | <urn:uuid:d74df9ce-8728-4fd8-9061-3cc80b6b87e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://meadowhallschool.org/college/academics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937505 | 245 | 2.125 | 2 |
Today, the AliveCor IPhone ECG passed muster with the FDA. It gained clearance to be sold to medical providers.
I first reported this story here on DrJohnM in January 2011.
In a paragraph, the AliveCor device enables an IPhone to record one’s actual cardiac rhythm. It is a one-lead rhythm strip done in real-time. The easiest way to record the rhythm is to lightly hold the electrodes on the case. A magic app on your phone displays the rhythm over a programmable length of time. It then stores the rhythm and allows it to be sent to a cloud, where it can be analyzed by a qualified person.
I’ll keep this post brief. Others have weighed in with more details.
Reed Miller covered the story on theHeart.org.
MobiHealthNews has this excellent recap.
Influential cardiologist Eric Topol discuss it in this video on theHeart.org.
Here are just two of my ‘beta’ stories:
I’m at a gathering of cyclists. A middle-aged guy comes up to me and says he hasn’t felt well in about a week. He has no power on the bike; his breathing is labored. Something is amiss, he says.
I think, hey, let’s check him with the IPhone.
Here it is:
Amazing, I just made a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation with a dang phone! That, my friends, made me look really smart.
Another story: a staff member at the hospital has palpitations. The IPhone ECG comes through again. “Here,” I said, “hold my phone for a second.” The dx: benign-appearing PVCs. Based on my IPhone diagnosis, he went to his highly enlightened primary care doctor who recommended more rest, less ‘bad’ food and regular exercise. Voila…the pesky PVCs improved.
This is amazing technology. The AliveCor device allows an accurate diagnosis of a cardiac arrhythmia, or thinking optimistically, it might show a normal rhythm. It does so without a fuss. It empowers patients to have a beat on their heart rhythm, literally at their fingertips. The simplicity is shocking.
In my practice of AFib-ology, the situation of correlating what rhythm is going on at the time of symptoms comes up frequently. Right now, for monitoring of the cardiac rhythm, a patient has to drive to the doctor’s office, park, walk in, check in, fill out forms, sign forms, get a wristband, wait, wear wires for a day or a month, bring back the monitor, wait for it to be analyzed and then…what if during that time of monitoring the symptoms did not occur? (Is that a metaphor for US healthcare or what?)
With the nifty AliveCor device, a patient can easily use a smartphone to record their rhythm. Then, they could save it to review later, text it, or email it. And they can do so when they are feeling unwell or well.
Sure there are headwinds. Who’s going to pay for it—patients or insurance companies? How many patients will invest ‘their’ money for a medical device? That’s not the normal pattern. Medical stuff is supposed to be free. Plus, who will interpret the strips? We should not expect doctors to read these images and discuss with their patients for free.
New and disruptive technology always raises lots of questions.
Right now the AliveCor monitor won’t be available to patients. Only doctors will be able to buy it. The next step will probably be for patients to get access to the device with a prescription. And then, ultimately, it may become available at your local electronics store as a nifty IPhone case. (For the record, it’s a great case.)
This is progress.
Congrats to innovator Dr Dave Albert. (@DrDave01) | <urn:uuid:baee54a2-6d91-48a3-b98e-c50dd0051044> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drjohnm.org/2012/12/alivecor-iphone-ecg-transforms-heart-rhythm-monitoring/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935109 | 842 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Land Surveyor Education Requirements
Land survey education often begins with a bachelor's degree program in surveying or a related major. Becoming fully licensed requires passing two exams and completing the prerequisite work experience. At minimum, surveyor training lasts eight years from the time a student enters an undergraduate program to passing the final licensing exam.
Job Description for Surveyors
Surveyors are professionals who observe land, recording dimensions and physical identifiers such as shape and color. They may outline land, airspace or water boundaries and check soil or rock samples for mineral concentrations. Surveyors can find work in many industries, including engineering, architecture, construction and government. During projects, they may be part of a team that consists of other professionals from these fields. Surveyors must be skilled in math and earth sciences and must be knowledgeable about local government regulations for the area in which they wish to practice.
Most surveying jobs require a bachelor's degree in surveying or a related major. The non-surveying requirements include sequences in physics and calculus. The surveying curriculum includes coursework in geography, geology, and surveying techniques. A surveying program may be offered with a related major such as mapping science or cartography. Some programs offer concentration areas, which might include design or photo surveying.
Many surveying programs incorporate practical experience into the curriculum. Laboratory courses allow students to practice surveying techniques by working with instruments such as levels, lasers, electronic distance meters and optical alignment devices. Programs also include extensive time working with computers in programming and computer-aided design. Students often take cooperative internships in the summer to gain work experience with licensed surveyors.
Many state licensing boards require that applicants have graduated from a program accredited by ABET, formerly the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (www.abet.org). While individuals with degrees from programs without ABET accreditation can still become licensed, it may require additional years of work experience.
Becoming licensed requires passing two exams administered by the National Council for Examiners of Engineering and Surveying. The first is the Fundamentals of Surveying (FS) exam, which may be taken near the completion of a bachelor's program. The FS exam covers mathematical, scientific and basic surveying concepts. Following four years of work experience, individuals may sit for the Principles and Practice of Surveying (PS) exam. The PS exam covers specific topics in surveying such as standards, legal principles, professional practices, business practices and types of surveys.
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- Top Ranked Graphic Design and Multimedia School - Arlington, VA | <urn:uuid:f2224335-280a-4c96-8751-720d712d0232> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://education-portal.com/land_surveyor_education.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929867 | 693 | 3.265625 | 3 |
President Barack Obama referenced his Christian faith and the biblical nativity story in an address to the public during the ceremonial lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., which is an 89-year-old American tradition.
The speech came after the president came under scrutiny from the Christian community for not having referenced God or religion in his Thanksgiving speech this year.
"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" Obama said Thursday as he began his address. "Tonight, once again, we gather here not simply to light some decorations, but to honor a story that lights the world."
"Christ's birth made the angels rejoice and attracted shepherds and kings from afar," Obama said. "It was a manifestation of God's love for us."
Obama followed by saying that Christ came to Earth to deliver a message "that we should love God, and love our neighbor as ourselves."
"That teaching has come to encircle the globe. It has endured for generations and today it lies at the heart of my Christian faith and that of millions of Americans," he said. "No matter who we are, where we come from, or how we worship, it's a message that can unite all of us on this holiday season."
The president added that it is crucial during this holiday season to keep Christ's words "not only in our hearts but also in our deeds," and emphasized the importance of helping the needy, like the homeless and the hungry.
Obama was accompanied by his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, first lady Michelle Obama and her mother, Marian Robinson.
The president mentioned that the 26-foot-tall Colorado blue spruce is a new tree, after a snowstorm knocked down the previous one earlier this year, after it was there for more than 30 years.
The tradition of the tree-lighting ceremony was started by Calvin Coolidge in 1923.
The ceremony was hosted by radio personality Carson Daly. Artists Big Time Rush, Ellie Goulding, One Republic and country singer Rodney Atkin provided entertainment for a large crowd filling up the Ellipse, south of the White House. Kermit the Frog and Santa Claus also briefly appeared on stage.
In November this year, the president ruffled a few feathers for not mentioning God during his Thanksgiving speech. Obama said his family would spend the day "eating great food, watching a little football, and reflecting on how truly lucky we are."
Fox News Radio host Todd Starnes was one observer critical of the president's speech, saying that Thanksgiving is "a holiday traditionally steeped in giving thanks and praise to God."
"The president said his family was 'reflecting on how truly lucky we are,' " he added. "For many Americans, though, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on how blessed and thankful they are."
Notably, Obama thanked God in his written proclamation before Thanksgiving. "As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives," he wrote. "Let us pause to recount the simple gifts that sustain us, and resolve to pay them forward in the year to come." | <urn:uuid:0a9e591a-c467-49b8-b666-d7d0ef2ab508> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/obama-refers-to-his-christian-faith-during-national-tree-lighting-ceremony-video-63765/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976881 | 657 | 1.78125 | 2 |
|Member Profile: Ali Khademhosseini Sets a Pace for Tissue Engineering|
Physician Joseph P. Vacanti and engineer Robert Langer first introduced the concept of tissue engineering in the early 1980s. Today, they are among a Boston/Cambridge stronghold of scientific researchers making advances in that seminal work. Also propelling progress is biomedical researcher and SLAS member Ali Khademhosseini, associate professor at Harvard-MIT's Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School as well as an associate faculty member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D., like many productive researchers, grew into his current career and research passion because he nurtured his initial curiosity during undergraduate study.
“Because I was good at chemistry and math, people thought that chemical engineering would be a good academic path for me and I went to the University of Toronto,” Khademhosseini says. “To be honest, at first I didn’t really know what this entailed but learned that chemical engineering is a great discipline and it can offer good ways to solve problems using critical and analytical skills, reasoning and basically teach you how to come to the gist of the problem by simplifying it to the important parameters.”
In Toronto, Khademhosseini had the opportunity to begin the work that now defines his career – engineering cells to make artificial tissues outside the body. After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering at Toronto, Khademhosseini pursued his doctorate degree in the laboratory of tissue engineering pioneer Langer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“MIT is a very good place with lots of opportunities and was the best place to go at the time,” Khademhosseini adds. “I learned a lot during my Ph.D. studies about approaches using microfabrication technology to pattern surfaces and explore regions where cells attach and other regions where they potentially don’t attach. Basically I used chemistry and combined it with microfabrication approaches to influence cells, particularly cell attachment, spreading and migration on a two-dimensional substrate. All the work during my Ph.D. focused on making things on a surface and controlling cells interacting with these surfaces. I developed lots of different approaches to interface cells inside microfluidic channels, to be able to micropattern surfaces and cell interaction.”
But, perhaps more importantly, he says he learned the fundamental and foundational basics of effective laboratory science and technology that are earned by sweating through the hard work and facing head on the occasional tough moments.
“I began to understand perseverance and how to stick in there and not give up, and I discovered how to design experiments so that even if they fail you can learn from them,” Khademhosseini explains. “I would have my vision, my story, and then think of all the questions I wanted to answer. That way every experiment I did – whether or not it had positive results – moved me toward answering those questions.”
Perseverance Pays Off
Khademhosseini says he wasn’t a “quick starter” as it wasn’t until the end of 2003 in the middle of his Ph.D. work that he published his first paper as lead author, “Direct patterning of cell and protein resistant polymeric monolayer and microstructures,” in Advanced Materials 15 (23).
That paper concludes: “we present a novel method of patterning cells and proteins with a copolymer comprised of poly-anchoring groups. The technique allows for control over surface topography and surface molecules. The potential use of the technique for the development of improved biosensors and analytical tools is an area of active research.”
And active research there has been! Following his Ph.D. work on 2D surfaces, Khademhosseini wanted to elevate his work to the next level.
“When beginning my faculty career, I wanted to do similar work in a controlled environment but wanted to explore what cells are seeing in a 3D aspect,” he shares.
They developed gelatin-like materials that allow researchers to control the architecture and encapsulate cells. This engineering marvel solved a persistent problem that previously had been holding work back – that of mimicking human function where cells and blood are separate but yet nearby to allow for the necessary exchange of molecules.
“This work allowed us to start making tissues that have much better behavior, to make 3D tissues that actually function like the tissues of our body,” he says. “For example, this technique was used to make pieces of heart muscle. We engineered a piece of tissue in the laboratory that reflected the same type of beating or contractual activity as the human heart.”
They first aligned cardiac muscle cells to form small, beating strings. Next, they embedded these strings in their gelatin material to resemble the sheets of muscle that comprise the human heart. With this method, they also were able to add other types of cells to provide support for the muscle, replicating how natural tissues involve cells to form interactions in the body.
“Down the road, this technique can this be used in regenerative medicine for therapy. Or, because we have a functioning piece of heart tissue, we can interface these tissues inside fluidic reactors and engineer these devices for testing drugs,” he explains.
His landmark work in this area was acknowledged when he was named one of the TR35, Technology Review’s annual list of 35 innovators under 35 in 2007. Khademhosseini dubbed this technique Living Legos, due to its step-by-step, building blocks process.
Building on Living Legos
The Living Legos technique improved upon early tissue engineering efforts for repairing organs, where the process involved creating a temporary, biodegradable scaffold that was implanted into a person’s body. The cells within the scaffold formed tissue and then the scaffold dissolved. It was effective for repairing small pieces of tissue. But, the Living Legos approach still wasn’t enough for Khademhosseini and his colleagues. Researchers today have better knowledge of the detailed signaling exchanges between cells and their surroundings that necessitate better techniques to achieve higher success, Khademhosseini says.
In work released just last year in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Khademhosseini Laboratory told of their efforts to make microparticles of nearly any shape, using a micromold that changes shape in response to temperature. According to an MIT news release, “the mold is first filled with a liquid gel that contains one kind of cell or drug. After the gel has solidified, the mold is heated so the walls surrounding the solid gel shrink, pulling away from the gel and creating extra space for a second layer to be added. The system could also be modified to incorporate additional layers. They can also precisely place drugs into different compartments of the particles, making it easier to control the timing of drug release, or arrange different cells into layers to create tissue that closely mimics the structure of natural tissues.”
“We’ve really utilized the best work from researchers in different disciplines and combined them to address problems,” Khademhosseini says. “The best electrical engineers, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers and biologists are integrating their efforts. Our collaborators are here in Boston but also in other areas of the United States, Europe and Asia. Distances are meaningless today, as advances in communications allow us to work together as if our laboratories are in the same building.”
Burning Questions Remain
Khademhosseini adds that it is critical to keep moving forward, and he has plenty of questions brewing as he continues to design experiments. How does the architecture of the materials that we’re making and their chemistry affect the cells that we are attaching? What impact do these have on the control of the cell environment and cell behavior? How can we use these engineered blood vessels or heart muscles or whatever to test drugs? If we create engineered tissue outside the body using a person’s own cells, how does this affect toxicity of chemicals on the cells? Will it be more predictive?
“We really are still learning a lot about biology; it’s very complex,” he states. “We don’t have the minimum number of essential elements that is required surrounding the cells to control them in a very predictable way, but more and more knowledge is being discovered each day.”
Keeping the Plates Spinning
As Khademhosseini has grown in his career, he finds that most lessons learned today are similar to those of his early days – one must work hard with passion and dedication and never give up. He continues to develop new skills to face any new challenges that arise.
“I have had to learn how to work and interact with many different people due to our collaborative efforts,” he says. “One skill I’m still working on is learning how to motivate others.”
His travel schedule is intense, involving up to 200 days a year out of his laboratory to attend or speak at conferences. He also directs efforts at a satellite laboratory at Japan’s World Premier International Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR) at Tohoku University where post-docs are working on applying his tissue techniques in artificial architectures.
A typical day for Khademhosseini when his feet are on the ground in Cambridge involves handling the day-to-day tasks of a very busy laboratory. This includes meetings with students who are preparing scholarly manuscripts for publication and working with colleagues to write proposals. His laboratory has published upwards of 225 papers in scientific journals.
“It’s a tough climate for research in the United States right now with the uncertainty regarding ongoing government support of research,” he says.
But he refuses to dwell on that when there is so much left to do. To help with frustration that is sure to arise, he tries to exercise as much as possible. He often doubles up an elliptical workout with reading the latest research or editing a paper in progress. Khademhosseini says even the short walks he takes from one meeting to the next can serve as an opportunity to relax a moment.
“Although I wish I had better techniques for handling when I get frustrated, I often find that if I’m able to put it aside overnight and sleep on it, it seems better in the morning when I wake up,” he notes.
His Work Has Not Gone Unnoticed
Khademhosseini was named the 2010 SLAS Innovation Award winner for his paper, “Microengineered Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering and Stem Cell Bioengineering.”
“That was a very humbling experience for me,” he shares. “The SLAS Innovation Award is very high profile and it contributed significantly to my being introduced to many colleagues that I interact with today on a daily basis. It definitely got me noticed early on as it recognized my work in microengineering our gelatin-like material.”
It also fueled his future and his continued involvement as a member of the JALA Editorial Board and as an annual conference participant. He has published two articles in JALA, including one based on his SLAS Innovation Award-winning presentation that made The 2010 JALA 10 list.
Khademhosseini’s list of awards, however, extends far beyond the SLAS umbrella as can be seen on his laboratory website. While honored by each award, he is especially happy about receiving a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor given by the U.S. government for early career investigators and the awards he has won from different engineering disciplines.
“To receive an award from a discipline outside my field of chemical engineering means that these organizations realize how important and promising our work is,” he states. “To receive an award outside your traditional field is to be treated as one of them and this allows us to integrate our efforts.” | <urn:uuid:3e204950-0061-43ea-8673-9b29d36d868b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eln.slas.org/story/1/71-member-profile-ali-khademhosseini-sets-a-pace-for-tissue-engineering | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965512 | 2,559 | 2.125 | 2 |
(Photo: AP Images / Eric Risberg)
Months after having her censure affirmed by the highest court in the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Rev. Jane Spahr, known by some as the "lesbian evangelist," was given a vote of support from a California presbytery.
The Presbytery of the Redwoods on Tuesday voted 74 to 18 in favor of a motion opposing the censure affirmed by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly back in February.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Conover, stated clerk for the Redwoods Presbytery, said in a statement, "The motion was very thoughtfully crafted and carefully worded to express the presbytery's opposition. In other words, the vote of the presbytery was effectively a collective dissent by an overwhelming majority of members present."
"Same gender marriage is at the forefront of society, national politics, and the church. The Presbytery of the Redwoods has displayed repeatedly, and did so again yesterday, a way of being and behaving in the midst of challenging issues that is an example for both the church and the world: openness, grace and respect, even in the midst of profound disagreement and pain."
In 2008, Spahr performed 16 same-sex weddings in California during the time in that year when same-sex marriage was legal in the state. That was in violation of the PC(USA)'s Constitution, which states that "Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship."
In August 2010, the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Redwoods Presbytery voted to censure Spahr over her actions.
Spahr appealed the censure to the General Assembly PJC, the highest court in the denomination. In February after a hearing a majority of GAPJC members affirmed the censure. While many who supported affirming the censure by the Redwoods Presbytery PJC were sympathetic to Spahr's views on same-sex marriage, they also believed that such a change should be pursued through formal channels within the denomination.
"The appropriate way to redefine marriage and permissible practice within the PC(USA) is not through individual reinterpretation of the advice of the larger church, but by means of an amendment to the Constitution approved by the General Assembly and ratified by the presbyteries of the church," read one of the opinions issued by members of the GAPJC.
C. Laurie Griffith, manager of Judicial Process and Social Witness for the Office of the General Assembly, told The Christian Post that with the vote the Redwoods Presbytery rejected its own PJC's decision.
"The presbytery will have to report to the General Assembly in a Compliance Report its actions complying with the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission Decision," said Griffith.
"Any member of the presbytery may be able to challenge the action of the presbytery through a remedial complaint. However, ordinarily remedial complaints may not challenge the process of disciplinary procedure." | <urn:uuid:56a15cc2-45bd-429b-a321-63c7452aea87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/calif-pcusa-presbytery-votes-to-support-lesbian-evangelist-75073/print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968377 | 642 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Red light, green light, what light? That's the question a growing number of colorblind people are asking when confronted by new LED traffic signal lights. Since up to 10 percent of the population suffers from red-green colorblindness, an answer is needed pronto... and Professor Taro Ochiai of Japan's Kyushu Sangyo University thinks he's got one: a redesigned LED traffic light easily visible by everyone.
Red-green colorblindness is the most common type of colorblindness, affecting 7 to 10 percent of the world's population. Though those afflicted generally find difficulty in distinguishing red and green colors, other visual clues such as brightness make it possible to lead relatively normal lives and lifestyles, including walking city streets, riding bicycles and driving motor vehicles.
Not any more, it seems. A rising number of complaints by red-green colorblindness sufferers revealed a problem with the new LED traffic signals that have slowly been phased in at Japanese road intersections. Reports indicate the new lamps are much harder to distinguish using only brightness as a visual cue.
Kyushu Sangyo University professor Taro Ochiai has been working on a practical solution since 2003, the year that LED signals began to be installed. Unlike other modifications to traffic signals, some of which involve framing the individual lights in differently shaped cowlings, Ochiai suggests certain changes to the LEDs inside the lamps. This is a simple fix, as LED traffic signals are made up of many single LEDs.
To someone with red-green colorblindness, a traffic signal's lights will appear “yellow-yellow-gray” instead of “red-yellow-green”. Ochiai asked lighting manufacturer Koito Electric Industries, Ltd., to incorporate quadruple-strength blue LEDs positioned in an X pattern within the red lamp.
Ordinary observers will see a non-distracting pink X when close to the traffic signal and usually won't see the X at all from afar. Red-green colorblind observers, however, can easily distinguish the contrasting blue X against the “yellow” background, even from large distances.
Professor Ochiai's so-called “Traffic Signal for Road [Universal-Design LED Traffic Signal Light for Color Deficient Drivers]” won the 2011 Good Design Award in the Public Facilities and Equipment category.
Japan's municipalities are taking notice as well: one of Ochiai's modified traffic signals is already in operation as a test in the southern city of Fukuoka with a second signal due to be installed shortly in Tokyo's downtown Minato ward. (via Mainichi Daily News) | <urn:uuid:766d9172-889b-45eb-8480-4baf751e4e76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://inventorspot.com/articles/driving_colorblind_see_new_led_traffic_signal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944492 | 545 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Apr. 6, 2009 Little is known about the long-term effects of the death of a child in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on survivor siblings. These siblings may encounter unforeseen emotional difficulties and developmental consequences that can occur whether the siblings are born before or after the infant's death.
A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics explores the psychological and emotional issues related to siblings of children who died in the NICU.
Dr. Joanna Fanos and colleagues from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center surveyed the siblings of children who died in the NICU between 1980 and 1990. The researchers interviewed 13 adults and 1 adolescent about their childhood experiences related to the death of their sibling. Participants were asked to share their memories associated with the death, including parental reactions, experiences at home, and thoughts about the NICU itself.
The researchers found similarities between the surviving siblings, including a sense of confusion surrounding the event. Siblings born after the child's death reported a lack of family communication about the death itself. Perhaps most striking is that half of the participants believed that their parents never mourned the loss of the child. Dr. Fanos suggests that medical providers should encourage family members to consider psychological counseling as a way to gain insight into the emotional responses to death in the NICU. She and her colleagues believe that the results of this survey demonstrate the need for further research.
The study also revealed that rituals, photographs, and shared memories were important parts of the healing process. One family, for example, celebrates the December birthdays of the two children who died in the NICU by lighting candles in the snow. Photographs were particularly important because they represented a symbolic link to the infant. As Dr. Fanos explains, "The sharing of rituals and photos fosters communication between the parents and siblings and allows a continuing bond with the deceased child."
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Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
- Fanos et al. Candles in the Snow: Ritual and Memory for Siblings of Infants Who Died in the Intensive Care Nursery. The Journal of Pediatrics, 2009; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2008.11.053
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:0990c9cc-88ef-408c-8ef3-ac918097c2b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090402092709.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954562 | 484 | 2.265625 | 2 |
In the future, here's how you handle this situation. You've tried words and they don't work. You will need to use actions.
Next time your mother tells you "I talked to brother and we've decided..." you use a PP's suggestion of replying "I'll have to check my calendar to see if that works for me. I'll get back to you." Also, don't trust that what your mother says your brother might do is what he really wants to do. She said this time "He might contact you about doing something with you while the others are at the show." Yeah, he might. But he might not have said that to her. She might have just been giving you a situation that might happen. He never contacted you about it. Whether he does or not, you think about what you and DH want to do. What works best for you? Meeting on your driveway? Meeting in your house? Dropping DS off downtown and meeting up with your mom? You come up with the plan that is ideal for you. And then reply "What works best for us is..." and as long as you're not asking them to drive miles out of their way, they should agree to it, or maybe DS just doesn't go to that show (depending on how upset he'd be if you backed out).
Then, you communicate with mom *and with brother* so that they both get the same info. Because if you just tell your mom something, she's going to tell your brother something else. It's like the game of "Telephone." By the time he hears it, he might get frustrated with you because he thinks, for example, that she told you that they're all arriving at 6pm. Your mother doesn't need to be the information gatekeeper. She feels important being the hub of all knowledge. Shut that down and communicate directly with your brother.
Finally, if you're expecting them at 6:30, you don't open the door if you hear a knock before 6:29pm. You have other things going on and you weren't sure you'd be home. Maybe you're in the shower. Maybe you're napping. Maybe you're still at the grocery store. You were expecting them at 6:30. Maybe a knock at 6:05 is a salesman and you don't like solicitors. No need to open the door or even check the peephole. If they are on your doorstep for a half hour, they can wait in their cars with the heater on. Natural consequences for not communicating with you. | <urn:uuid:ff0c2fa6-a95d-4809-84d9-88fafe988e1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=124786.msg2883851 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987051 | 525 | 1.515625 | 2 |
South Asia floods kill 33, displaces thousands
BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Rescue workers evacuated some 200,000 people after flooding by one of India's largest rivers killed 16 people at the weekend, while overflowing rivers inundated parts of Nepal and killed 17 people, officials said on Sunday.
Large parts of India's coastal Orissa state were inundated after authorities were forced to open dozens of sluice gates of a dam on the Mahanadi river following heavy rain in the catchment area.
Monsoon rains and flooded rivers have brought huge devastation across South Asia this year, killing more than 1200 people, mostly in India and Nepal.
"At least 200,000 people were evacuated from their homes and moved to safer places," G.V. Venugopala Sarma, a revenue official in Orissa, told Reuters. He said more people were being moved.
TV stations showed people fleeing the floods with whatever they could carry. Some took shelter on roads and inside school buildings.
Most of the deaths were caused by drowning.
The Mahanadi river had breached its banks in several places and floodwaters had swept away highways in some areas.
In Nepal, overflowing rivers originating from the Himalayas washed away homes and inundated dozens of villages in the west, killing at least 17 people and displacing thousands.
Local media reports put the overnight death toll in Kailali, Kanchanpur and Doti districts in southwest Nepal at more than 24 and at least 40 others were missing.
"We have reports still coming in from remote areas and the toll could rise later," Thir Bahadur G.C., a home ministry official said.
Most of those killed were either drowned or crushed under mudslides. Many people had taken shelter on rooftops and in trees waiting for rescuers.
The Kosi river, which burst a dam in Nepal, has heaped massive suffering on millions of people in downstream Bihar state in India. Water levels were now receding there.
But millions were now living on embankments, roads and in overcrowded camps in filthy conditions, exposing them to infections and water-borne diseases, aid agencies say.
In Orissa, the government was using helicopters to drop food and water packets.
Authorities warned of more floods in the state's coastal belt once more water is released from the Hirakud dam on the Mahanadi.
The floods in Bihar, the worst there in 50 years, destroyed 100,000 ha (250,000 acres) of farmlands. Rice crop in Orissa had also been damaged.
The monsoon usually hits India on June 1 and retreats in September, and is key to irrigating some 60 percent of farmland. But it leaves in its wake massive destruction, killing hundreds of people, destroying homes, crops, roads and bridges every year.
(Additional reporting by Gopal Sharma in Nepal; Writing by Krittivas Mukherjee; Editing by David Fox) | <urn:uuid:dcb3eabe-e36a-4822-b9be-165156dadfb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/38253 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97796 | 611 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Summary: Instructor: Dr. Asiabanpour Spring 2007
Course: MFGE 4365 Tool Design
This document includes ALL comments from students, not just the selected ones.
(Original surveys can be requested from the department of Technology and Engineering)
1- The objectives, activities, content, and/or requirements of this course and
Good, project is good application of content and hands-on experience.
This course is set up very well. I like the way it is lab intensive.
I believe that the projects were very similar to concurrent engineering. I wish that
we could have jigs and fixtures for our project.
Fair though the project is a bit stressful.
Objectives were clear and requirements were always studied. Education methods
I like the idea of designing and building a project for a company. Just make sure
that the project involves actually designing a new project.
All pretty good, I like the hands-on projects.
Some test problems are not as straight forward as the homework and quiz problem
that we had prior to the test.
This course was used as an extension of concurrent. We should have spent more
time designing individual tools and less time doing free work for (deleted: project | <urn:uuid:6ce5c3ec-c6ed-4534-9987-29623a237e5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.osti.gov/eprints/topicpages/documents/record/244/0151454.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968717 | 252 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Not long after the “Mission Accomplished” phase of the Iraq War, I attended a dinner in Ramallah, the capital of the rump state of Palestine, hosted by a sophisticated and aggressively secular leader of Fatah, the main faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The guests were like-mindedly secular, and the conversation was amiable and reality-based, until someone raised the subject of what George W. Bush’s actual goals in the Middle East might be. The host, growing angry, accused Bush of harboring entrenched and violently pro-Shia sympathies. I said that this was implausible, for any number of reasons. Another guest, an official of the Palestinian Authority, agreed with our host. He argued that the Bush administration was secretly motivated by a desire to establish a Shia state in the Arab heartland in order to create a new Washington-Baghdad-Tehran axis. Such an axis would replace the existing Washington-Riyadh-Amman-Cairo axis, and would serve both America’s oil interests and its desire for vengeance against the radical Sunnis who attacked America on September 11, 2001.
Very Kissingerian in its amoral convolution, and undoubtedly beyond the capacities of the planning branches of the Bush administration.
Then the real issue erupted into view.
“The Shia are apostates,” the host said. “Bush is giving power to apostates. They want to use Iraq as a base to convert Sunnis.”
This man, in a previous, Beirut-based life, had been a Marxist, so I couldn’t understand why the particular brand of opiate mattered to him. To these secular men, I thought, the assorted confessional categories—Shia, Sunni, Sufi, and for that matter Presbyterian and Lubavitcher—were interchangeable and identically passé. I asked if his problem might be ethnic, rather than religious: Iran is Persian, not Arab, and the two civilizations are historically competitive. “Of course,” came the answer, but I was missing the subtlety: a Palestinian cannot become Persian, but he can become Shia. And this, to a Sunni Muslim—even to a wine-drinking, pork-eating Marxist Sunni Muslim—is a reprehensible idea.
This dinner occurred shortly after 2 million Shia had visited Karbala, a Shia holy city in Iraq, to commemorate the martyrdom of a crucial Shia saint. It was the first time so many Shia had gathered in Karbala in recent memory; Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, had prevented such gatherings. President Bush saw this as a triumph: “Many Iraqis are now reviving religious rituals which were forbidden by the old regime,” he said. “See, a free society honors religion.” But the sight of such Shia power, however moving to George Bush, was intensely upsetting to America’s Sunni allies in places like the West Bank, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. At dinner that night, the message, in its purest distillation, was simple: Who do these uppity Shia think they are?
Shiism, whose followers constitute a mere 15 percent of the world’s 1.4 billion or so Muslims, long ago acquiesced to second-class status in the Arab world. But then came 1979, when Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran and sought to export the ideology of his country’s Islamic revolution to Muslims everywhere, even to Sunni Muslims. It was an unlikely goal. Centuries of blood-spattered encounters, prompted by deeply felt doctrinal differences, made Khomeini’s vision seem fantastical.
Most Westerners are insensitive to these doctrinal differences, viewing them as dry technicalities rather than matters of cosmological importance. The Sunni-Shia split dates back to the seventh-century dispute over who was meant to be the Prophet Muhammad’s rightful successor. Today’s Shia are descended from those who believed that Muhammad had chosen his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, as his heir. This was a minority view in the days following the prophet’s death, and one of his lieutenants, Abu-Bakr, was made caliph and successor to Muhammad instead. The schism became permanent after the Battle of Karbala in 680, when Ali’s son Hussein was killed by the caliph’s soldiers.
The conflict between Sunni and Shia is the most consequential in the Middle East because it is so profound and elemental. But precisely because it is so intractable, it might hold the key to solving another seemingly eternal Middle East conflict, the one between Muslim and Jew. The definitive Middle East cliché is, of course, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Well, it turns out that today, more than at any other time in the ruinous 100-year encounter between Arabs and Jews on the strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the two parties in the dispute have a common enemy: the Shia Persian Islamic Republic of Iran. President Obama’s skills and charisma just might bring Sunni Arabs and Israeli Jews together, but he will be helped inestimably if he considers that the road to peace runs not through Jerusalem but through Karbala. Consider the possibility of a grand, if necessarily implicit, Jewish-Sunni alliance as a gift to Obama from his predecessor.
My dinner companions were wrong; George Bush did not mean, by invading Iraq, to empower Iran. But they were right about the war’s effect: Bush is the inadvertent father of the first Arab Shia state. And the foothold he provided Iran in Arab Iraq has made Tehran a surging power in the Persian Gulf. | <urn:uuid:7b9673f5-48ce-4612-9c1f-3b8ebee19b57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/07/how-iran-could-save-the-middle-east/307502/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963545 | 1,193 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Sponsored Link •
Eric Gunnerson, the C# Compiler Program Manager at Microsoft, talks with Bruce Eckel and Bill Venners about several architectural design decisions in .NET, including multiple inheritance of interface, the emphasis on messaging over mobile code, internal access in assemblies, and the side-by-side execution answer to DLL Hell.
Eric Gunnerson, after having previously worked at a large Seattle aerospace company, a medium-sized PC database company, and a small VMS utility software company, joined Microsoft in the fall of 1994. After several years working on Microsoft's C++ compiler quality assurance team, including three years as the test lead on the Visual C++ compiler, Gunnerson took on a new assignment: testing the compiler of Microsoft's new language, C#. To more effectively perform his quality assurance role, Gunnerson joined the C# design team, where he spent several years working with Anders Hejslberg, Peter Golde, Scott Wiltamuth, Peter Solich, and Todd Proebsting on the design of C#. In 2002, after the initial release of Visual Studio.NET, Gunnerson switched from quality assurance to program management. He is currently the C# Compiler Program Manager. He is author of A Programmer's Introduction to C# (APress, 2001), and writes a column for MSDN, Working with C#.
On July 30, 2003, Bruce Eckel, author of Thinking in C++ and Thinking in Java, and Bill Venners, editor-in-chief of Artima.com, met with Eric Gunnerson at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. In this interview, Gunnerson discusses several architectural design decisions in .NET, including multiple inheritance of interface, the emphasis on messaging over mobile code, internal access in assemblies, and the side-by-side execution answer to DLL Hell. Comments are also contributed by Dan Fernandez, Microsoft's Product Manager for C#.
Bill Venners: The CLS, the Common Language Specification, has single inheritance of implementation, multiple inheritance of interface. Could you explain what the CLS is, and how the inheritance model was was decided upon?
Eric Gunnerson: The CLS describes how languages should behave so they can play nicely together. For example, C# has unsigned types, but unsigned types are not in the CLS because languages like VB [Visual Basic] can't handle them. I think of the CLS as an interoperability spec. If you adhere to the CLS, then you can interoperate with the other languages.
Multiple inheritance has two or three big issues. First, trying to get people to agree what multiple inheritance actually means is difficult. If we try to do multiple inheritance in the CLS, we would probably choose something along the lines of multiple inheritance in C++, and that would put languages that have other kinds of multiple inheritance in an ugly state. People would say, "Microsoft supports multiple inheritance, but they support it wrong. I can't make my language work using what they have." People would make that argument.
A second issue for me is just the cognitive complexity involved—what it takes to understand what is really going on in your code when you start using multiple inheritance. I think multiple inheritance is kind of like the advanced operator overloading in that respect. To really understand what's going on you have to think deeply. It may not hit you in a lot of cases, but there may be cases where something works strangely and you have to dig deeply to understand it. You should tend away from that kind of complexity when you are doing object design.
Now obviously one other question is, given that we're multi-language, what would you do with languages that don't support multiple inheritance? I don't see how we could ever put multiple inheritance in the CLS.
Bruce Eckel: What do you do with managed C++? Does it have multiple inheritance?
Eric Gunnerson: They don't allow multiple inheritance in managed C++ classes.
Bruce Eckel: I see, if I want a VB program to use this C++ class, I don't use multiple inheritance.
Eric Gunnerson: Another problem with supporting multiple inheritance is that if you were designing with multiple inheritance, you would do class libraries differently than you would with our current system. But then you can't do that, because some languages don't support multiple inheritance. So you might bifurcate the libraries—have one way for the multiple inheritance languages and one way for the other languages. But that would make the libraries very hard to understand.
Bruce Eckel: Does the CLS allow multiple interface inheritance?
Eric Gunnerson: Yes.
Bruce Eckel: But that's a reasonable constraint.
Eric Gunnerson: It's a reasonable constraint if nobody causes you to do anything that makes you burn your base class.
Bill Venners: Burn my base class?
Eric Gunnerson: I'll give you the canonical example. When you want to make a
component a remote object, you must derive its class from a base class called
MarshalByRef subclasses get marshaled,
they get marshaled by reference. You get an object over here and a proxy over there, and the
runtime handles all the mechanics. That works great, unless you actually want to use
inheritance in your design. Because the designers of remoting decided to do this with the base
class, they took the option of using inheritance in any other way away from you. They
burned the base class.
Bill Venners: They burned the base class because if I want to remote something, I have to extend their class, not some other class I may want to extend.
Eric Gunnerson: Maybe you can get away with extending a class of yours that extends their class.
Bill Venners: But if it doesn't already extend their class and I can't change it, then I'm out of luck.
Eric Gunnerson: Yes, exactly. The constraint in supporting single inheritance of implementation, multiple inheritance of interface is that you have to pay a lot of attention about what you do. In fact if you go talk to customers that use remoting they say that exact same thing, why are you burning a base class here? You don't need to. You could use attributes or some other mechanism.
Bill Venners: So in design you should be careful not to burn your base class.
Eric Gunnerson: Yes. In design you have to be very careful.
Now, just because the CLS only directly supports multiple inheritance of interface doesn't mean that individual languages can't support more. Eiffel on .NET has multiple inheritance, for example. When compiled, it uses multiple interface inheritance and creates classes under the covers as necessary. So they do support full multiple inheritance, because Eiffel without multiple inheritance is way worse than C++ without multiple inheritance. A lot of common Eiffel idioms require multiple inheritance. It's just the way you write Eiffel code.
Bill Venners: A year ago, Microsoft invited me to a .NET seminar for Java authors, and I was shown something called Windows Forms. For me, Windows Forms were somewhat reminiscent of Java applets in that they were user interface components you could download across the network and run in Internet Explorer. When Java first appeared, it generated excitement because of what applets represented: untrusted code flying across the network and running in a sandbox on the client. One of my goals in attending the .NET seminar was to try and ascertain whether the CLR could support that mobile-code model. And my conclusion was that it could, but nevertheless, all the buzz I hear about building distributed systems with .NET is centered on SOAP and the exchange of XML. In other words, all the talk is about mobile data, not mobile code. What is the place of mobile code in the CLR vision? Why does the CLR support mobile code if what you're planning to send across the network most of the time is XML?
Eric Gunnerson: I'll give you my opinion, which may not be the opinion of the CLR guys. First of all, the idea of exchanging code across the network scares the hell out of me from a security standpoint. One of our big focuses is trying to allow people to write stuff that is more secure than what they're writing now. But I guess my big question is, what is the architectural advantage of using mobile code? Maybe I haven't played around with it enough, but I just don't see a lot of need for doing that on the fly. If I want to do that in .NET I can. I can go across the network and fetch some code. I can load the code out of memory, I don't have to write it out to disk first. In other words, the package of a component is an assembly. I could read a byte stream and from that create and load an assembly. So I can do that sort of thing, but why would I want to architecturally?
Dan Fernandez: You see a lot more people wanting to exchange information, rather than code, across the network. And because of firewalls, you often in practice just can't exchange code. We had a heck of a time with DCOM because of firewall requirements, and these were internal firewalls within an organization. It's very difficult to challenge the firewall policies. Security experts will open only port 80, and on port 80 they will allow only HTTP requests through. They won't allow any other protocol through.
Because SOAP uses the HTTP protocol, you can exchange and act on messages. I can call a web service from anywhere and get the message across, whether it is within an organization or across organizations. That's the grand vision. We have this great thing called the internet. Everybody's using it. It's very popular. We want to leverage that capability, that network, but that means we have to play with certain constraints. We have to use HTTP as the messaging protocol, over port 80. Basically, we must define a programming model within these confines.
Bruce Eckel: The way I see web services, it's almost like you're saying the machine is the object. I can call methods on the machine, which can be anything. And the machine can be implemented in anything.
Eric Gunnerson: Yeah, exactly. That's really the web services model.
And I think there's one other issue. It's going to sound strange when I say this, but I think we actually care more about not constraining whom you are talking to than Java does. When you send mobile code in Java, you're assuming the other side has a JVM that supports what you want to do. That brings up the same sort of issues you had with DCOM and CORBA. Anytime you're doing something that presumes what's on the other end...
Dan Fernandez: It is more tightly coupled.
Bruce Eckel: It's over-constrained.
Eric Gunnerson: It may be over-constrained. I think it really depends on the scenarios you are looking at. If you know what's on the other end, in Java you might pass classes across, in .NET you might use .NET remoting. You might pass assemblies across. I just think in a lot of cases you don't want to make that decision, because of the constraint it will put on you later.
Bill Venners: Could give a bit of an overview of how assemblies work, in particular
with respect to the internal access level? The first release of Java included several
com.sun packages that you weren't supposed to use directly. Sun didn't promise
that in future releases of Java, the
com.sun packages would be backwards
compatible, but you could use them at your own risk if you just called into them. Java has
several access levels, but there's no notion of a package that's private, accessible only inside
its own JAR file. Anybody can see any package. I believe a .NET assembly kind of
corresponds to a Java JAR file, and a .NET namespace corresponds to a Java package. Does
the internal scope mean only accessible inside the assembly? Can an internal access level be
applied to an entire namespace?
Eric Gunnerson: Well, namespaces don't control availability. I would explain it this
way: a namespace is a convenient way of giving a class a long name. So if I have a namespace
Utility and I have in it my class
Multiplier, it really means that
the class is named,
Utility.Multiplier at the runtime level. So namespaces
really aren't their own separate abstraction. Namespaces are ways of organizing the classes in
a way that makes sense to programmers. Assemblies are related, but they're about organizing
classes in a way that makes sense for deployment purposes. The organization you do for
deployment is often analogous to what you do on the programming side, but often somewhat
I'll give you an example. We have a namespace
System.Text for classes that
do text handling. Because the functionality in there is used all the time
System.Text lives in our main system assembly. But there's also
System.Text.RegularExpressions, which has the regex engine. That lives in its
own assembly. You don't want to require everyone to load the regex engine in all the time,
because a lot of programs don't use it. So that's the kind of organizational decision that you
might make differently while programming versus at deployment time.
As far as accessibility goes, we have public, private, and protected, which do what you expect, and we have internal. From the C# compiler perspective, internal really means scoped to everything that compiles together. Everything that compiles together really means everything that's in an assembly, because you take a bunch of files and compile them to produce an assembly. With internal scope, I can have classes within the assembly that kind of cooperate with each other, but people from the outside can't get access at that level. We don't have friends the way C++ has friends, and there are actually times when having friends would be very nice.
Bill Venners: .NET Framework supports side-by-side execution, in which multiple versions of the .NET runtime can be used by different applications running at the same time. Isn't there a trade-off in side-by-side execution? What if I have twenty applications running, all using a different version of the same conceptual DLL, and maybe half of them would work with the most recent version. I guess memory is cheap these days, but...
Eric Gunnerson: It's a tradeoff between robustness and disk and memory use. What side-by-side execution says is that it's more important they get the version that the developer knew about and tested against than trying to save memory space and disk space.
Bruce Eckel: Is there also a way to migrate upwards? Say I'm writing for version 1.0 of the .NET Framework. Is there a way for me to say I expect my app will also work with version 2.0 of the Framework?
Eric Gunnerson: What we expect people to do is this: Say I write something and release it on version 1.0 of the Framework. Later, the version 2.0 of the Framework comes along. I can take my application and test it against version 2.0. If it works fine, I can change the configuration information that goes out with my application. I don't have to change the executable.
Dan Fernandez: Conversely, if your application is written to a particular version, you can say that particular version is required. In a config file, you can say, "This app can't work with anything less than 1.1."
Bill Venners: In theory, I like the idea of contracts. If new versions of a DLL adhere to the contract of the old version, my application should in theory still work with the new version. In practice, however, if I'm writing and delivering an application, I expect I'm just going to allow versions I've tested against. Why bother taking the risk that my application will break with new versions of the DLL?
Eric Gunnerson: The whole point here is to get away from having DLL Hell. DLL Hell was exactly that case where things worked a lot of times, but when they didn't work, you were just screwed. You just could not get out of it.
Bill Venners: So is this DLL Bliss now? What would you call it? DLL Heaven?
Eric Gunnerson: No, I wouldn't say it even comes close to that. One of the problems you have now is exactly what Bruce alluded to, how do you give people reasonable migration paths, so they can actually get new functionality without having to go back and recompile everything and change their config files? We have had a lot of discussions about that.
Bill Venners: Let's say I'm using your DLL. You come out with version 2.0. It has twice as much functionality. I wouldn't be calling that new functionality anyway, because it didn't exist when I wrote my application. So I have to write version 2.0 of my application, at which point I could compile and deploy against your 2.0 DLL. Why would I want to migrate my 1.0 application to your 2.0 DLL?
Eric Gunnerson: If you've written to DLL version 1.0, and in DLL version 2.0, the component you're using DLL was actually no different except for bug fixes, wouldn't you like to have those?
Bruce Eckel: Yes I would, unless I had adapted my code to the buggy previous version.
Come back Monday, February 16 for part III of a conversation with C++ creator Bjarne Stroustrup. If you'd like to receive a brief weekly email announcing new articles at Artima.com, please subscribe to the Artima Newsletter.
Eric Gunnerson is the author of A Programmer's Introduction to C# (Second Edition), which is available on Amazon.com at:
Eric Gunnerson's C# Compendium Weblog:
Dan Fernandez's Weblog:
You can find Eric Gunnerson's MSDN column, Working with C#, on this page:
Versioning, Compatibility, and Side-by-Side Execution in the .NET Framework:
Using the Microsoft .NET Framework to Create Windows-based Applications:
Private Communication Between Components in Assemblies:
What is a Microsoft Program Manager?:
ActiveWin.com's Interview with Eric Gunnerson:
.NET Books' Interview with Eric Gunnerson, Part I:
.NET Books' Interview with Eric Gunnerson, Part II: | <urn:uuid:49a6d794-8d7d-4129-a2ea-e51c1694f972> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artima.com/intv/dotnetP.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950017 | 3,899 | 1.648438 | 2 |
A Kind Mamodo, Kolulu
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Front Page Titles (by Subject) CHAPTER III: the right of the strongest - The Social Contract and Discourses
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CHAPTER III: the right of the strongest - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourses
The Social Contract and Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated with an Introduction by G.D. H. Cole (London and Toronto: J.M. Dent and Sons, 1923).
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the right of the strongest
The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty. Hence the right of the strongest, which, though to all seeming meant ironically, is really laid down as a fundamental principle. But are we never to have an explanation of this phrase? Force is a physical power, and I fail to see what moral effect it can have. To yield to force is an act of necessity, not of will—at the most, an act of prudence. In what sense can it be a duty?
Suppose for a moment that this so-called “right” exists. I maintain that the sole result is a mass of inexplicable nonsense. For, if force creates right, the effect changes with the cause: every force that is greater than the first succeeds to its right. As soon as it is possible to disobey with impunity, disobedience is legitimate; and, the strongest being always in the right, the only thing that matters is to act so as to become the strongest. But what kind of right is that which perishes when force fails? If we must obey perforce, there is no need to obey because we ought; and if we are not forced to obey, we are under no obligation to do so. Clearly, the word “right” adds nothing to force: in this connection, it means absolutely nothing.
Obey the powers that be. If this means yield to force, it is a good precept, but superfluous: I can answer for its never being violated. All power comes from God, I admit; but so does all sickness: does that mean that we are forbidden to call in the doctor? A brigand surprises me at the edge of a wood: must I not merely surrender my purse on compulsion; but, even if I could withhold it, am I in conscience bound to give it up? For certainly the pistol he holds is also a power.
Let us then admit that force does not create right, and that we are obliged to obey only legitimate powers. In that case, my original question recurs. | <urn:uuid:f139f223-5eb7-41f2-9917-473487688713> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=638&chapter=70984&layout=html&Itemid=27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92832 | 646 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Arizona University opened its doors in 1899 with 23 students, one professor,
and two copies of Webster's International Dictionary bound in sheepskin. The
first president scoured the countryside in horse and buggy seeking students to
fill the classrooms of the single school building (now known as Old Main).
those humble beginnings, the university has continued to grow, undergoing
several name changes in accordance with expansions, added degree programs, and achieving
The depression and WWII
The university was not immune to the effects of the Great
Depression. The only bank in town closed its doors in June 1932. However, the
President at the time, Grady Gammage,
recognized that higher education was a "depression industry," one
that fared well in hard times—and he was right.
Enrollment at the university rose during the Depression from 321 students during the 1929-1930 academic
year to 535 by 1940.
Many significant historical events also occurred during these hard
times: In 1937, graduate work at the university became possible with the
addition of the master of arts in education degree, and in 1939, Ida Mae Fredericks
became the first Hopi to receive a college degree.
The entry of
the United States into World War II precipitated a large drop in enrollment as
college-age men entered the armed services. By the 1944-1945 academic year,
just 161 students attended class on the Flagstaff campus, yet the university survived by making valuable contributions toward the war effort.
The university served as a site for the Navy's V-12 training
program, one of 150 schools selected from among 1600 contenders. The Campus
Civilian Defense Program maintained an aircraft spotting post, one of only 84
such posts in the United States. The university even banned all gas-powered vehicles and those with rubber
tires from the Homecoming Parade in 1942, to demonstrate its dedication to rationing programs.
In the 1950s, the university entered a period of exceptional
growth. Students could now earn an education specialist degree as well as master's
in the arts and sciences. Much of the expansion can be attributed to Dr. J.
Lawrence Walkup, who has the distinction of serving the longest term as President
(December 21, 1957 to June 30, 1979).
Building on this growth, the road to becoming a university began with the creation of
the forestry program in 1958 and increased research activities. Pleased with
the array of quality academic programs and ever-growing student body, the
Arizona Board of Regents recommended that the then Arizona State College become
Northern Arizona University (NAU), effective May 1, 1966.
Northern Arizona University today
More than 40 years later, NAU has a lot to be proud of, including its nationally
ranked programs, its high-research status, and its emergence as a leader in
sustainability, science, business, green building, and cultural arts
Noted Flagstaff historian Dr. Platt Cline has characterized
NAU as an institution that has thrived throughout the years due to our strong
leadership, the devotion of former students and faculty, and community support
for the school's success.
Empowered by the Arizona Board of Regents to provide
educational opportunities statewide, the university now serves approximately 25,000
students at the Flagstaff campus, more than 30 statewide locations, and online—offering nearly 150 combined undergraduate and graduate degree programs, all distinguished by an ongoing commitment to close student-faculty relationships. | <urn:uuid:f7a6c192-d7b7-480b-be6b-bd03b3db8dbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nau.edu/About/Who-We-Are/History/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963679 | 730 | 3.015625 | 3 |
What motivates aggressive behavior like bullying is complicated, but Coyne says studies have shown consistently that viewers may start to imitate what they watch.
While she knows of no research examining the long-term impact of reality TV, a several decades-long study shows people who watched aggressive and violent behavior on TV as kids were more likely to be aggressive, hit their spouses and engage in other inappropriate behavior later in life. Other studies of the impact of media violence on youth show that behavior that appears realistic is more likely to be imitated than fictionalized behavior.
"I think certainly people who watch Gordon Ramsay know that behavior is an extreme, but it can creep slowly into the ways the viewers react in real life," she said.
CNN has reached out to Ramsay's production company but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
A popularly cited 2011 Girl Scout Research Institute study of more than 1,000 11- to 17-year-old girls found that those who said they regularly watched reality TV did "accept and expect a higher level of drama, aggression, and bullying in their own lives as well," compared to non-viewers.
About 78 percent of girls who watched reality TV thought gossip was a normal part of a relationship between girls, while only 54 percent of girls who didn't watch it did. Another 68 percent of reality TV viewers thought it was natural for girls to be "catty and competitive" with each other, while only 50 percent of non-viewers did.
Some 63 percent of the girls that watched reality TV said, "It's hard for me to trust other girls." Only 50 percent of those who did not watch reality TV shared the same view.
What may be even more troubling about the popularity of this programming, says Coyne, is that many of the people who exhibit bullying-type behavior on reality TV programs are "very rich and very successful." Viewers may unintentionally model their behavior after them if they start to think it's the way to get ahead.
Playgrounds certainly aren't the only place where bullies lurk -- they may also be in your office.
About 35 percent of employee in a 2010 study reported being bullied in the workplace; an additional 15 percent witness it. | <urn:uuid:c1c59de5-b062-4818-899f-6f889a1783db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcvb.com/health/Our-unhealthy-love-of-reality-TV-bullying/-/9848730/19121360/-/item/1/-/juj4tdz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980707 | 452 | 2.59375 | 3 |
We have established in Australia two Slovenian educational associations, both in Victoria – Slovenian Teachers Association of Victoria (1976) and The Institute for Slovenian Studies of Victoria (1998). Both functioned within the context of Victorian and Australian professional educational language associations and the state language school – Saturdays School of Modern Languages (later named Victorian School of Languages) while addressing the needs of the descendants of Slovenian migrants growing up in Australia.
The main aim and purpose of STAV was to maintain the teaching of Slovenian language and culture in the secondary school system of Victoria.
Activities undertaken by STAV during the following years included regular meetings of teachers, seminars and workshops, development of syllabi and test papers, the acquisition and introduction of teaching resources. There were enrolment drives at the beginning of each school year, meetings with parents at various centres around Melbourne, publication of articles in Misli, radio talks and interviews.
In 1998, the Slovenian Teachers Association of Victoria (STAV) underwent a change of direction and broadening of scope. Slovenian classes were diminishing and we were now teaching the third generation of students, who no longer spoke or heard Slovenian at home. Slovenian was taught as a Second Language to fewer students and lacked suitable teaching resources. The Institute of Slovenian Studies of Victoria (ISSV), established in 1998, represented a creative response to new challenges, using modern technology to resist cultural fragmentation of Slovenian community in Australia.
It was based on a broad concept and vision for the maintenance of Slovenian identity - a sense of who we are and where we are going in the modern world. The website is an expression of our sense of pride in our origins, our language, our continued existence as a separate independent people, despite the pressures brought to bear on us to change. Thezaurus is also a vehicle for further projects on the Web, structured in such a way that projects can be included and expanded according to need. The structure is flexible and dynamic, so that new projects can be added. | <urn:uuid:c250801e-8f86-4512-aaf6-2e9d86ef86e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thezaurus.com/archives/category/Slovenian%20Education%20Associations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960508 | 409 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Diana castrum was built in 100-101 AD in Kladovo, Serbia. Diana Fortress is located on cliffs above the Danube in the Karatas archaeological site near Kladovo. The main buildings were built on a strategic location overlooking the Danube.
Further modifications were made at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th century when additional towers were added towards the river for extra defence towards the Danube shores.
At the mid 4th century the fort was damaged and in 530 AD rebuilt by Roman Emperor Justinian.
Besides the military buildings, a sacrificial necropolis and civilian settlement is located within the walls.
In 1983, Diana Fortress was added to the Serbian Archaeological Sites of Exceptional Importance list. | <urn:uuid:8e8dac2e-97a9-412a-a830-85f8b30fa7aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marvaoguide.com/index.php/Serbia/Diana-Castrum.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981624 | 153 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The Evolution Deceit
The love among Muslims is a naturally occurring love resulting from a faith-based sincerity. Is not based on any self-interest; believers love one another solely for Allah’s approval. This sincere love also brings with it a lofty conception of humility. And when love and humility are combined together, the result is a powerful bond among Muslims.
The people to whom believers most direct their love as manifestations of Allah are their brothers in faith. As our Lord says in one verse, "The faithful are brothers..." (Surat al-Hujurat, 10), Muslims are one anothers brothers. Therefore, as with blood brothers, the relationship between Muslims is based on a profound love, and they watch over and protect one another.
Allah gives love to the heart of every Muslim who loves Him, fears Him and genuinely strives to seek His approval. Our Lord states that it is His Presence that creates love among believers:
“As for those who have faith and do right actions, the All-Merciful will bestow His love on them.” (Surah Maryam, 96)
Since these people love Allah, they will also love His creations and feel affection and compassion for them. They will wish to protect them and seek the best for them. As Allah tells believers, whom He has made his best and most virtuous servants:
“Say: ‘I do not ask you for any wage for this –except for you to love your near of kin. If anyone does a good action,We will increase the good of it for him. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Ever-Thankful’.” (Surat ash-Shura, 23)
Muslims Loving One Another in This World Is a Moral Virtue of Paradise
It is incompatible with Qur’anic moral values for the bond of love that Muslims feel for one another to be limited to a small community. That bond of love must include all sects and communities and even the entire Islamic world. Allah disapproves of coldness, and even conflict, between sects and communities. All Muslims must hope to enter paradise and strive for that by doing good works. But in order to enter paradise they must love one another. In paradise, all Muslims are a single community, and verses reveal that Muslims will recognize one another there, talk with one another, be friends and love one another:
“in Gardens of Delight. A large group of the earlier people but few of the later ones.
On sumptuous woven couches, reclining on them face to face.” (Surat al-Waki’ah, 12-16)
Another verse reveals that brotherhood, profound love and devotion among Muslims is one of the features of paradise as follows.
"We will strip away any rancor in their hearts – brothers, resting on couches face-to-face.” (Surat al-Hijr, 47)
Muslims are a single community in paradise, and there are no communities or groups that do not love another, and everyone is equal. There is also an obligation for his model in paradise as described in the verses to be adopted and implemented in this world, too. Allah warns Muslims in another verse that they must be very considerate of one another and that there must be a bond of love between them, and He reveals that this will be pleasing to Him:
“Allah loves those who fight in His Way in ranks like well-built walls.” (Surat as-Saff, 4)2012-12-29 18:45:35 | <urn:uuid:606c6a97-b6f8-4a25-8885-02732f3c22a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://evolutiondeceit.com/en/Articles/155747/Allah-Has-Created-a-Powerful-Love-among-Muslims | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953028 | 740 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Shopping is still an unfamiliar pastime for the Chinese. Centuries of Confucianism emphasize the cultivation of virtue and ethics, not the creation of a snazzier wardrobe. Just a generation ago, Mao Zedong's Communist government outlawed personal property and purged the land of private possessions.
These days, however, Beijing would like nothing more than for 1.4 billion Chinese to shop until they drop -- or at least until its economy perks up. Having tripled China's gross domestic product over the past decade, the government now has pronounced that the country's heavy reliance on exports and investment for growth is "unstable, unbalanced, and unsustainable." Friday's disappointing Chinese trade numbers were just the latest evidence. Private consumption made up just 35% of GDP last year, down from 46% in 2000, and goosing domestic spending has taken on new urgency now that Europeans and Americans are no longer gobbling up goods churned out by China's factories. It's an unusual message from a communist regime: Materialism is the new patriotism.
As China tries to make consumption more conspicuous, Barron's decided to window-shop for 10 publicly traded domestic brands that stand to prosper. Make no mistake, many popular brands in China right now are foreign. General Motors (ticker: GM) sells more cars there than in the U.S., Apple's (AAPL) mobbed stores require security rivaling a U2 concert at Madison Square Garden, and Coca-Cola (KO) is as at home in China as anywhere. But as China's consumer class grows, the biggest beneficiaries will be its home-grown labels; by extension their stock prices should also do well over time. Consider Coke's 7,000% rise over roughly four decades or Apple's 5,000% gain in two.
By shorter-term valuation measures, the stocks of some of our Chinese picks aren't cheap (see table above) and, in a few cases, their immediate prospects are challenging. Some companies on our list are typical of an emerging economic power: Lenovo (992.Hong Kong), for example, is China's biggest computer maker, and Baidu (BIDU) is essentially China's Google (GOOG). Others are unique to Earth's most populous nation: Moutai (600519.China) makes a lethally strong liquor first mass-produced during the Qing dynasty in the 17th century, and today is the toast of choice for special occasions. Yunnan Baiyao (000538.China) produces traditional Chinese medicines that are finding their way into everything from toothpaste to tea.
There couldn't be a better time for consumers to plunk down more yuan. China's economic growth has slowed to a three-year low near 7.6%, but it's strongly supported by 13% year-over-year growth in retail sales. Although the country's economy is the world's second-largest, per-capita income ranks just 92nd. Beijing desperately needs income and spending to increase, not just to rebalance its economy, but also to appease its citizens and stave off social unrest. To encourage people to spend more and save less for a rainy day, Beijing is expanding retirement pension coverage from 250 million of its people today to 350 million by 2015. Expect further tax reforms and consumer subsidies. "As part of the long-term agenda, we anticipate accelerated enhancement of social welfare, pension schemes, education, health care, and personal lending," says Joseph Tang, Invesco's Hong Kong-based investment director, who sees discretionary spending outpacing GDP for years to come.
China's relentless urbanization will induce more of its citizens to open their wallets. By 2020, about 850 million Chinese will live in urban areas, up from 650 million in 2010, says a McKinsey study. One in every five city-dwellers will be a first-generation migrant, and the range of goods catering to this urban sprawl makes brand choices a bigger individual statement. From Shanghai to Shenzhen, you are what you wear, where you shop, and what you drive.
In some cases, there's still time for a local champion to emerge. For instance, our list lacks domestic luxury fashion brands, since most Chinese labels don't yet have the rich history to lure fashionistas away from Chanel, Hermes, and Gucci. Women's fashion is similarly commoditized, with little consumer loyalty.Domestic food brands are growing fast but susceptible to food-safety flubs, from melamine in milk powder to exploding watermelons over-sprayed with growth chemicals. And while the Chinese are becoming zealous travelers, China's big three airlines haven't built much of a reputation–except for surly service and rubbery cuisine.
In most areas, however, we found our favorite. Here's our selection of China's 10 top brands (in alphabetical order):
China's dominant Internet search engine controls 79% of its US$4 billion search market. Baidu -- whose name means "hundreds of times," and comes from a Song Dynasty poem about a man's search for an elusive beauty -- has benefited from Google's 2010 withdrawal from the mainland over a censorship spat with Beijing. But the brand also "owes its popularity to deep familiarity with the subtleties of Chinese language and culture," notes Millward Brown, a global brand research agency. The keystrokes to type requests in Mandarin are different from those for English. Baidu's grasp of the nuances of Asian-language search requests explains why it has also launched a Japanese search engine, its first outside China.
Baidu's next challenge: Cornering the newer, faster-growing market for mobile-device searches, where its share is just less than half. As a result, the stock currently trades at a much more attractive 27.7 times projected profit, well off the median of 54 times since its 2005 debut on Nasdaq.
The company has more than 683 million customers and the world's largest telecom network -- it even provided coverage from 21,325 feet when the Olympic torch traversed Mount Everest on its way to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Games. Its US$233 billion market cap is the second largest in Asia. But it's a behemoth at a crossroads. Its third-generation network is based on a standard used only in China, so it can't match the range of rival smartphones, including Apple's coveted iPhones. Subscriber growth is slowing, and new software on mobile devices is rapidly changing how people communicate.
Still, China Mobile (941.Hong Kong) has a massive war chest, including $48 billion in net cash, and is developing a quicker fourth-generation network. Americans tend to see their telecom providers as an annoyance to be endured, but in China, where news is state-controlled and information scarcer, the locals have a stronger attachment to their phones. For now, callers also can't switch providers easily without changing their phone numbers, which helps China Mobile hold on to customers.
The shares late in 2011 drew in respected value investors like AQR Capital Management's Cliff Asness and Dreman Value Management's David Dreman. The P/E ratio, at about 12, hasn't changed much since.
Great Wall Motor
Many Chinese would rather drive Audis, BMWs, or Mercedes-Benzes, but just 2% of the urban population has disposable annual household income of more than $34,000. The 82% who have between $6,000 and $16,000 care more about value.
Among local auto makers, Geely (175.Hong Kong) may have the more recognizable brand, since it makes passenger cars, including its charming hatchback, the "Panda." But Great Wall is China's leading SUV and truck maker and has a reputation for delivering good value. "I actually think Great Wall has a better quality perception in SUVs and trucks than Geely does in cars," says Earl Yen, portfolio manager of Shanghai-based CSV Capital Partners.
First-half results trumped estimates, with sales rising 29% and profit jumping 30%. Higher-margin SUVs drove 41% of sales, up from 33% a year ago. Car ownership in China is still low by global standards -- one for every 17 people -- and Great Wall is exporting more to Southeast Asia and the Middle East. No wonder shares (2333.Hong Kong) are up 49% this year, leaving other Hong Kong-listed stocks in its rear-view mirror.
For a household name, Haier is a bit of a mystery. It's the world's biggest appliance brand and owns 8% of the global market for white goods. Its Hong Kong-listed unit, Haier Electronics (1169.Hong Kong), is China's biggest maker of washing machines and heaters, while Shanghai-listed Qingdao Haier (600690.China) makes air conditioners and refrigerators. Yet analysts can't pinpoint the value of the state-owned parent, a collective belonging to employees (who do not receive dividends or know exactly what they own).
Even so, the brand -- Haier comes from the Chinese pronunciation of Liebherr Group, an early German partner -- is based on its range of products -- everything from robots to walk-in wine coolers -- and attentive after-sales service. Factory locations stretch from Southeast Asia to South Carolina. A network of more than 7,000 mainland stores helps sell Haier and third-party appliances in small cities and rural areas. Management's boast: it can deliver anything within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of its stores in 24 hours.
Such a reputation comes at a premium. Haier Electronics, for instance, fetches 10.6 times 2012 profit, above 7.7 times for its peers. Yet a government "Home Appliances to the Countryside" program that subsidizes purchases will expire in January 2013 and may have pulled sales into 2012. The soft housing market also is a flashing yellow light.
Some time in 2012 Lenovo should overtake Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) as the world's biggest personal-computer producer. The Beijing outfit, which bought IBM's (IBM) ThinkPad business in 2005, already sells one in three PCs in China, and its share of global PC sales jumped to 14% from 10% in 2011. An amazing 93% of its $30 billion annual revenue comes from computers, but it's starting to make other gadgets, too.
Shares of the future No. 1 trade at 14 times fiscal 2013 profit, versus peers' 9-10 times. But the stock has skidded 20% since early May as year-over-year growth in Chinese PC demand slowed from double digits to 5%.
Count on a 2013 recovery, however, as Chinese broadband service becomes more widespread and affordable, and as PC makers unveil new products. Internet penetration -- a proxy for computer use -- also remains low in China at about 36%, compared with nearly 80% in the U.S., and Lenovo's familiar name will give it an edge in winning over newer rural customers.
When China went to her maiden Olympics in 1984, millions watched on TV as the gymnast Li Ning won six medals, including three golds, to become the country's most decorated athlete. The "prince of gymnastics" put his fame to shrewd use, and today Li Ning is China's second most recognized sporting-goods brand, after Nike (NKE).
Now, however, the respected brand is in danger of getting left off the medals podium. It over-expanded after the 2008 Beijing Olympics (when its founder was airlifted into the opening ceremony to light the Olympic cauldron). Net income surged 52% in 2008, but by 2011, inventories had piled up just as Chinese shoppers were turning to cheaper Western brands. Profit plunged 65% last year, and shares (2331.Hong Kong) today are 4.68 Hong Kong dollars (US$0.60), down from HK$31 in mid-2010.
Management's task: To bring its apparel and equipment to market more quickly and cheaply, shift from the crowded casual wear segment toward higher-margin "performance gear" made of more sophisticated material, and appeal to younger people. Li Ning now sponsors the Chinese Basketball Association and is revamping with capital from private-equity firm TPG. Profit forecasts still look high, says Morgan Stanley analyst Robert Lin, but "the company has strong brand equity, boding well for top-line gains and margin growth in the long term."
Declared a national drink in 1951, centuries-old moutai is a clear, yellowish liquor fermented from sorghum. It's drunk in vast quantities as shots -- "gan bei," or bottoms up! -- and the knockout alcoholic level (as high as 53% of volume, versus about 12% for red wine) makes you forget it smells like soy sauce. No wonder Henry Kissinger once told Deng Xiaoping: "If we drink enough Moutai, we can solve anything."
Kweichow Moutai, the state-owned giant that makes its namesake liquors, saw profit jump 74% in 2011 to $1.4 billion. Revenue expanded 58%. There is some worry that Beijing's push to stamp out bribes and tighten its entertainment budget could cut into Moutai's exuberant sales.
The company is opening more self-operated stores to better control its distribution and fight counterfeiting. Its Shanghai-listed shares trade near an all-time high and fetch 19 times 2012 profit, above 18.6 times for Diageo and about 16 times for global-liquor companies. Still, Credit Suisse says Moutai deserves the top-shelf premium and makes it the No. 1 pick among Chinese white spirits.
When reigning badminton world champion Yu Yang was disqualified from the London Olympics for tanking a match, she quit her sport in modern Chinese fashion: She announced her retirement -- "Bye bye, my beloved badminton" -- on her Tencent microblog.
In a country where news is scrubbed by Beijing and large gatherings frowned upon, Tencent—China's biggest and most diversified Internet company -- has become the people's public square. Tencent has the world's largest customer base: 721 million registered users for its instant messaging service, 552 million social-networking users, and 373 million micro-bloggers like Yu Yang. Nearly 72% of revenue comes from an Internet services unit dominated by a maturing online games platform, so Tencent has expanded into other areas, like faster-growing e-commerce, online advertising, and mobile services by providing ringtones and text messages.
"Tencent has so far been the most successful company at monetizing its user base," says Invesco's Tang. Revenue grew 45% last year to $4.5 billion, while operating profit rose 25%. Shares (700.Hong Kong) are up 54% this year and aren't cheap at 27 times 2012 profit, versus 16 times for global Internet stocks and 15 times for Google. But that's a vote of confidence that Tencent will stay ahead of China's maturing Internet boom.
The average Chinese drinks less than half the beer consumed by an American, and just a third of that guzzled by a German. Yet China's vast population makes it by far the world's biggest beer market. China Resources Enterprise (291.Hong Kong) may have a 22% market share from peddling cheap beers. But it's the No. 2 volume leader, Tsingtao (market share: 14%), that has the older, more famous brand -- and the coveted toehold in the faster-growing premium aisle.
Tsingtao is a Chinese beer with German grandparents. Founded in 1903 by Anglo-German settlers, it was reportedly brewed to strict German standards and with mineral water from China's Laoshan Spring. Even today, that hoppy Pilsner taste helps it wash down quickly and easily.
Chinese beer consumption climbed 5% last year, but Tsingtao's volume grew 13% while profit increased 14%. Grain costs are a concern, but brewers can raise prices, and at about $0.80 a liter, average selling prices of beer in China are still low compared with the global average of $2.20. No wonder Japanese breweries are circling, with Asahi taking a 20% stake and Suntory forming a joint venture with Tsingtao. The stock (168.Hong Kong) trades at a full-bodied 25 times profit.
Legend has it that Yunnan Baiyao, which means "white medicine from Yunnan province," was concocted in 1902 by a man who scoured the countryside, testing bushels of herbs. From ginseng and other astringent roots he made a white powder widely used to stem bleeding when China fought Japan during World War II. After he died, his widow handed the secret formula to the government.
But just how do you sell traditional Chinese medicine in the 21st century? The state-owned company began putting it in capsules, bandages, skin creams and beverages. After a five-year push, the brand has snagged 10% of China's toothpaste market, and is now targeting the bigger shampoo and pharma-cosmetics segment.
From 2006 to 2011, sales more than tripled to $1.8 billion, while profit quadrupled. Raw-material inflation bears watching, and margins could fall as Yunnan competes in the crowded hair-care sector. But Morgan Stanley sees revenue growing 14% in 2012 and profit rising 24%. The stock reflects its recent success, trading at 28 times earnings.
These are high expectations, but pressure is a privilege all big brands must embrace. | <urn:uuid:e6fa4196-f0c8-4a96-9f1b-b54e1dd7cc19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111904239304577574970933460292.html?mod=TWM_pastedition_4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951183 | 3,644 | 1.8125 | 2 |
In a move being closely watched by utilities across the country, state regulators are expected to vote Wednesday to give PG&E customers the right to "opt out" of having a smart meter and keep their old meters -- for a fee.
The opt-out proposal, crafted by California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey after months of discussion and debate, comes after a year of highly organized protests by consumers opposed to smart meters because of concerns about their accuracy, privacy implications and impact on health.
Customers who want to opt out of smart meters would be required to pay a $75 fee and a monthly charge of $10. Low-income customers would pay an initial fee of $10 and a monthly charge of $5. The fees are to cover the costs of installing analog meters on homes that have smart meters but want to switch back, as well as the labor costs of paying workers to read the analog meters each month.
Pacific Gas & Electric plans to install about 9.7 million smart meters on homes and businesses throughout its vast Northern California territory. So far, about 90 percent of all smart meters are installed, with deployment on track to be completed by the end of this year.
It's unclear how many of PG&E's more than 6 million customers will pay to keep their old meter. Many smart meter opponents fiercely oppose having to pay to keep analog meters, and others say they
"Yes, we want the analog meters," said Sandi Maurer of Sebastopol, who opposes smart meters because of health concerns and does not have one. "But we are beyond mad about the fees. This is extortion. I'm being asked to pay for a meter that I already have."
PG&E says about 90,000 residential customers signed up on its "delayed installation" list to avoid getting a smart meter, according to data PG&E compiled through mid-January. The delay list was put in place after millions of meters had already been installed and does not include customers who have smart meters and want them removed.
In Santa Clara County, just 1.9 percent of PG&E customers are on the delayed installation list. The percentages are far higher in other parts of Northern California: 11.8 percent of PG&E customers in Santa Cruz County and 12.7 percent in Mendocino County.
While some customers are concerned that smart meters have led to erroneous bills or that their personal energy consumption data is vulnerable to hacking by outside parties, many of the critics have focused on health concerns. A small but well-organized group of PG&E customers worry that electromagnetic radiation from the meters' wireless mesh network is causing migraines, nausea and other health issues. They have protested on the Carmel lawn of PG&E Chairman Lee Cox, blocked trucks belonging to PG&E contractors in Sonoma County and flooded state regulators with their concerns.
Plans expected to pass
PG&E, staffers with the PUC, local communities and numerous consumer advocacy groups have spent months wrangling over a variety of opt-out plans, how much it will cost and who should pay for it. The proposal being discussed Wednesday has been revised three times and is expected to pass. More than three dozen cities, including Santa Cruz and Sausalito, have passed local ordinances opposing smart meters, and
"Is 'community opt-out' a condo complex, a city or an entire county?" said Jim Tobin, an attorney who represents Marin and Santa Cruz counties. "And how does an opt-out apply to someone who lives in an apartment building?"
While some questions remain unanswered, state regulators say consumers have the right to opt out of smart meters for any reason.
"Eligibility to opt out of receiving a wireless smart meter is not predicated on whether the meter has affected the customer's health," reads the 41-page proposed decision.
PG&E's smart meters use embedded software that records electric use by the hour and transmits the data to a nearby data collector, which then relays the information directly to PG&E through a secure wireless network known as RF (radio frequency) mesh, giving the utility and consumers up-to-the-hour data on their electricity consumption.
"We believe in individual choice for our customers when it comes to the meters at their homes," said PG&E spokesman Greg Snapper. "We will support the CPUC's decision and work quickly to put in place any alternative."
Once smart meters are installed, utilities will be able to offer "time of use" pricing, which will charge consumers higher rates for energy used during peak hours -- typically late afternoon and early evening -- and lower rates during off-peak hours.
Smart meters have been widely heralded as a way to bring greater efficiency to the nation's electrical grid.
But as utilities across the country have installed them, the consumer backlash has taken the industry by surprise.
Last year, the Maine Public Utilities Commission passed a landmark decision that allows the 612,000 customers of Central Maine Power to opt out of smart meters, also for a fee. In Maine, customers can keep their current analog meters for a one-time charge of $40 and a monthly charge of $12.
"About 8,000 customers have opted out so far," said John Carroll, a spokesman for Central Maine Power. "That's about 1.3 percent."
Though smart meter opposition has cropped up around the country, protests have been most vehement among PG&E customers. Wednesday's vote at the California PUC only covers PG&E customers, but opt-out scenarios are also being considered for San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison. State regulators in Nevada could vote on an opt-out proposal for customers of NV Energy as early as February.
Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/danahull.
To read the proposed decision regarding PG&E's smart meter opt-out proposal, go to: | <urn:uuid:0fab1491-4953-495c-a2d8-dd739f9025ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_19862389 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962969 | 1,217 | 1.742188 | 2 |
The Department of Communication and Media Studies has awarded the 11th annual Ann M. Sperber Biography Award to historian Alan Brinkley, Ph.D., for his book on Time magazine founder Henry Robinson Luce.
Brinkley, former provost and current Allan Nevins Professor of American History at Columbia, is the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century (Knopf, 2010). It chronicles the professional endeavors and personal struggles of the media tycoon who also published Life, Fortune and Sports Illustrated magazines.
“It drew me into Luce’s own complicated life, in which he thought and wrote about China, Vietnam, Korea, communism, the Republican party—and perhaps most of all, World War II and the events leading up to it. Not to mention, of course, his renowned wife—Clare Boothe Luce—and their turbulent marriage,” Brinkley said.
He describes Luce as an entrepreneur who did not chiefly strive for personal and financial success, but who rather sought “to use his power to shape the character of the nation.” With his magazines as a vehicle for this mission, Luce worked to promote internationalism and Republican ideals during the mid-20th century.
“It was a great challenge to learn about so many areas of American and international life in writing this book,” Brinkley said. “Writing about Henry Luce drew me not just into Luce himself, but also into the character of his famous magazines.”
Though a historian by trade, Brinkley is no stranger to the field of journalism. Son of broadcast journalism pioneer David Brinkley, the Columbia professor said that his personal connection to journalism was instrumental in his work on Luce.
“It is not purely coincidence that I chose a journalist for this biography, since my father, my mother and both my brothers have been journalists,” Brinkley said.
The Sperber Prize is awarded annually to the biographer of a distinguished journalist or media figure. The award recognizes a work that meets the high standards set by the prize’s namesake, Ann Sperber, who wrote the Pulitzer-nominated biography Murrow: His Life and Times (Fordham University Press, 1998).
The award was established in 1999 with a gift from Liselotte Sperber in memory of her daughter. | <urn:uuid:17813b20-3698-4328-92b5-840327999800> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/enewsroom/inside_fordham/january_17_2012/news/biography_of_time_fo_81361.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970596 | 501 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Charities & Arts
Virtual Worlds offer artists, arts managers and promoters both new ways of creating artistic experiences, and new means of reaching audiences across the globe. There is also significant potential for so-called mixed-reality events, where the real and the virtual collide in a multitude of ways.
The Virtual Gallery
One of the simplest ways for artists to get involved in virtual worlds is through a virtual gallery. Many artists are already setting up their own galleries in virtual worlds such as Second Life to create not only a place where they can sell their work (both in real and virtual forms), but also as a place where they can build relationships with their audience through virtual cheese & wine parties (we’re not joking), and other networking events. Such virtual galleries are not limited to individuals, real-world organisations such as the Louvre have used virtual worlds to showcase their collections – or visualise historic spaces lost to the real world.
Many large (including the BBC, Liverpool Philharmonic and Channel 4) and small organisations, and individuals have made use of the ability to stream real-world performances into a virtual world (and to a virtual audience), either as audio or audio and video. The technology to do this can be delivered over the web, and paid for on a monthly or per event basis, putting it within reach of any artist. The benefit over simple streaming to the web is that the artist gets to see their audience, and the audience gets to see and talk to each other. It becomes an event.
Virtual World Art
One of the advantages of virtual worlds is that they let you create art which would not be possible of practical in the real world. For instance in Second Life you will find gigantic sculptures, complete ethereal environments and performances which mix sound, light and objects in ways that only CGI can achieve in the “real world”. Such art is ideally enjoyed as an avatar in the virtual world, and preferably as part of a social event, but it can also be streamed out into the real world through video and audio.
To us one of the most interesting uses of virtual worlds is when they are blended with reality. Arts events like Ars Electronica have already showed how the real and virtual can be brought together in new and interesting ways. For instance virtual world imagery can replace views through windows and mirrors, real world movements can change virtual world objects, and virtual world actions can be used to create immersive soundscapes in the real world. Once you add in the location-specific and public-access potential of WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth you have the makings of a whole new set of art forms.
At Daden we have a number of solutions that artists and arts organisations can use to take advantage of virtual worlds. At its simplest this is just the expertise to help you stream your event into Second Life, or visualise your collection in a virtual space. More interestingly though we have tools sets which let you control virtual world activity from real-world switches and sensors, others which put real world lights and devices under virtual world control, virtual puppets which can be controlled from the real world, and interfaces for standards such as MIDI (for music) and DMX (for lighting) which let you join the real and virtual in either direction.
If you think that virtual worlds could help you deliver a new and imaginative artistic experience then we’d be more than happy to come and present to you to give you a better understanding of what this technology can offer now, and where it might be going in the future. Please give us a call. | <urn:uuid:e1b49cc4-45ce-4828-8813-aaeadca8fcfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.daden.co.uk/about-daden/business-sectors/charities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943244 | 726 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Open Source Zenoss Muscles Into Net Monitoring
Another perfect example of open source software gone commercial is Zenoss. As a full-featured network and service monitoring solution, Zenoss is one of the best monitoring tools available.
Most importantly, Zenoss combines two functions. First and foremost an enterprise environment requires host and service monitoring, with notifications. Network monitoring really means checking services, checking that hosts are up (they ping), and possibly writing your own plugins to check various other aspects of a server or network device. Until now, Nagios has filled that role.
Second, once a decent monitoring solution is in place, getting time-based information becomes desirable. Memory and CPU usage is the most prevalent example: if you're checking available swap space every so often with Nagios, you may know when you start running low. But it may be just as important to see a graph of the last week's usage. Tools like Cacti or Munin, which collect data frequently and use RRD graphs to display it, are very useful.
Zenoss fills both roles, without the annoying shortcomings prevalent in the alternative solutions. Zenoss uses the terms Availability Monitoring and Performance Monitoring to describe these two fundamental roles.
Performance of monitoring tools is important, and often times overlooked until it becomes a debilitating problem. For example, if you want to chart pretty RRD graphs of systems statistics like available RAM or disk space, Munin is an option. Unfortunately it's all Perl, and designed in such a way that prevents it from scaling to even moderate amounts of hosts. Cacti is a bit better, but monitoring close to 100 hosts is painful with either option. Along comes Zenoss.
Zenoss is written in Python, and uses a MySQL backend for storage, and by all accounts it appears to perform very well. The really great thing about corporate-backed open source is quality control. The community simply isn't responsible enough to say, "No, this won't work, re-implement it." A company with QA is.
Speaking of features, Zenoss isn't missing many. Flexibility seems to be top priority–it can monitor hosts with SNMP, Nagios agents, SSH, Windows WMI, and various other mechanisms. Many features they claim are a bit over-inflated, such as ZenPing (marketed as Network Topology Monitoring) but the feature set is rich nonetheless.
Zenoss's primary functions involve four features:
- Inventory Tracking
- Availability Monitoring
- Performance Monitoring
- Event Monitoring and Management
Inventory tracking involves some sort of "configuration" reporting as well, but it seems very limited. Zenoss will discover your inventory and auto-populate a database. This is great for knowing which IP addresses are in use, for example, but means that "configuration" reporting is limited to an outside observer's perspective. It can tell you which servers have a Web server running, but it certainly doesn't deal with the configuration of the Web server. Of course, inventory tracking isn't limited to automatically discovered information; there are manual input capabilities too.
Availability monitoring is basically Nagios, plus. It can ping, it can monitor Windows machines, and it can pretty much do whatever you need. Even your old Nagios plugins will work with Zenoss. It does generate reports, but much better ones than Nagios is capable of.
Host monitoring, performance monitoring, or whatever you'd like to call it, is quite robust in Zenoss. Some would think it's light on features, but there's a good reason that Zenoss requires you use SNMP: it's much more scalable than SSH'ing to each server every minute. A bit of up-front configuration is required, in that all your hosts will need SNMP configured and working, but it's completely worth it. Zenoss too uses RRD graphs, and it can generate events and alerts based on pre-defined thresholds.
Finally we come to event monitoring. Zenoss is also encroaching on Splunk's territory a bit. It can combine syslog, availability monitoring alerts, SNMP traps, and even Windows event log data. Much like Splunk, Zenoss correlates similar events for easier viewing and troubleshooting. This is the portion that processes all events and generates alerts to pagers or e-mail, taking into account the escalation procedure you've defined.
To top it all off, the Zenoss Web interface is top-notch. It includes a customizable dashboard for monitoring, and everything is AJAX-driven, providing user experience similar to Splunk and Google's Gmail.
Marketing fluff aside, Zenoss really does provide a wonderful product. It is, of course, open source and available for free.
At last year's LISA conference, Zenoss gave a demonstration that sadly coincided with free beer time. Arriving toward the end, I demanded one of their free baseball caps, and sat to listen to the last few audience questions. One thing was very obvious: everyone in the room was excited about this product. If hardcore sysadmins are excited, you know this is something worthwhile.
Zenosss is very functional and full of features. It may even be possible to replace three separate pieces of software with this one product: host inventory database, Nagios, and your performance monitoring tool of choice. Maybe even Splunk some day. We can't wait to see what features they will be adding next. | <urn:uuid:f6dd46fb-e737-4bd6-bb79-f4eb27a2e015> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/print/netos/article.php/3677336/Open-Source-Zenoss-Muscles-Into-Net-Monitoring.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947715 | 1,113 | 1.914063 | 2 |
|RRTTC Job App|
As an undergraduate or graduate student, the RRTTC can provide you with opportunities to enhance your classroom experiences through research projects, outreach programs and internships working with members of the Iowa business and industry community. We are looking for motivated students who are interested in being actively involved with our outreach programs. All majors are encouraged to get involved. There are many ways that you can show you care about the environment. Below are just a few of the ways on campus you can get involved with the movement to go green!
Department of Residence Recycles!
One of the easiest ways to get involved starts in your room. This year the department of residence has started providing free recycling bins to all rooms for anyone living on campus or in the ROTH housing complex. There are also rooms in each building with different bins for plastics, papers, and glass. Using your recycling bin is one of the easiest ways to make a change for the better!
Donate Your Books!
University Book and Supply offers students another way to be good to the environment with their book donation program. This program is for students to donate gently used textbooks that no longer have any value. Books are accepted throughout the year and go toward the cause of global literacy. For more information about donations contact University Book and Supply at 319-266-7581.
Community and Educational Garden
You can get involved with our community and educational garden. Click on the link to see the garden's latest progress and how the development process is coming along. To volunteer or learn how you can help with this exciting new opportunity, contact:
Jenny Bruss: Outreach and Programing
Cedar Falls Community Garden
Anyone interested in gardening can contact the Cedar Falls Community Garden at www.cfcommunitygarden.org and sign up for their newsletter for information on how to be involved. The garden can also be contacted on Facebook by looking up their page.
Hartman Reserve Nature Center
The Hartman Reserve Nature Center is always looking for volunteers to help with various tasks around the reserve such as lying woodchips on the paths and sapping maple syrup later in the year. There are many ways you can help at the reserve and more information is available on the website .
Tallgrass Prairie Center
Anyone interested in restoration and preservation of prairie vegetation can contact the Tallgrass Prairie Center for opportunities to volunteer. To contact the Tallgrass Prairie Center call 319-273-2238.
For more information about student opportunities with the RRTTC contact:
Program & Community Outreach Coordinator
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, Iowa 50614-0184 | <urn:uuid:14821018-436f-4b9d-afbe-0a8d205d5fd7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rrttc.com/student-opportunities | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942954 | 538 | 1.75 | 2 |
Yes, it’s time for another edition of PAXsims’s regular simulations miscellany, offering a selection of recent simulation-related items from around the net. If you have suggestions for future blogposts, please send them on!
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At the gaming website Kotaku, Michael Peck discusses “Why It’s So Hard to Make a Game Out of the 21st Century.” His answer? Because we’re just guessing:
These are not trick questions. They are merely unanswerable, or at least the answers don’t appear until after the fact. Lots of people in the Pentagon, think-tanks and universities get oodles of taxpayer money to devise forecasts, mathematical models and even make games to predict what will happen. Their answers may be better informed than yours and mine—perhaps they have access to classified intelligence data—but this doesn’t necessarily mean that their answers are more accurate than yours or mine. The pros often blow it in spectacular fashion (practically none of the experts on the Soviet Union predicted its abrupt collapse). This is not to say that Civ is a better predictor of the future than a mammoth $300 million Pentagon simulation likeWarsim. What it means is that predicting the future, whether you’re a game designer or a talking head on TV, is to guess. The problem is that often these guesses are cloaked as expert opinion, or game marketing copy that boasts of impressive research. They’re still guesses.
I partly agree. Political experts have a pretty poor record at prediction, although there is evidence that intelligence analysts tend to be right somewhat more often—not so much because of access to classified material (which helps much less than you might think when it comes to long-range political-military prediction), but rather because of the analytical methodologies that they tend to use. It is particularly hard to predict something that is twenty years out. When you do, moreover, this is best framed as a thought exercise intended to promote discussion and original thinking (as with the US National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends 2025 and Global Governance 2025 projects), rather than a hard-and-fast prediction of the future to be.
That being said, these are much more than guesses. Moreover—and I think, more importantly—game methodologies allow you to actually explore the effects of a broad range of future outcomes by changing only a few variables at a time. Think that cyberwarfare will become increasingly common, as capabilities outgrow and proliferate faster than countermeasures? Then try a simulation with that assumption. Thing that cyberwarfare will favour technologically advanced states? Then try that. Want to know the impact of global warming or energy shortages? Try keeping most other variables constant, but alter those particular sets of variables. Done well (with a “sage” rather than “seer” approach to the process), the exercise can be quite useful.
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A Facebook discussion of Michel’s piece launched by Adam Elkus led me to come across an interesting discussion by Kelsey Atherton on how games model covert action.
When covert action shows up in strategy games, on the other hand, controlling agents is all about picking objectives and using the people available to best execute that. For example, in the Total War series, agents are either spies or assassins, whose presence only becomes known to opponents if they have failed their mission, or if they have been observed by enemy spies. If they fail a mission against a high-enough value target, they are likely to be executed, but all the calculations behind that are beyond player control. Agents are useful for much the same way we imagine them now: information on enemy developments & deployments to better plan ones own military moves, targeted killings on individuals otherwise beyond the reach or purview of conventional forces. That said, there are limitations on how useful this is as a form of modeling. Agents here operate within strictly coded boundaries, and so they cannot, say, spread false information amongst the enemy leadership (so no Dudley Bradstreet’s here), or engage in any other behavior that breaks the established rules.
It is well worth a read for those interested both the in the political-military content of contemporary digital games, and for those interested in simulation modelling more generally. Adam’s comments on the same issue are also worth reading.
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Among other things, the Training & Simulation Journal has recent short reports on how hard it is to replicate human behaviour and lessons from the recent Unified Quest wargame.
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Training and simulation needs often get seen through the prism of the US military (by far the largest single consumer in the world of digital simulation, training, and education material) or NATO allies. In a presentation to the recent Simulation & Training Africa 2012 conference, Major General Luvuyo Nobanda (Chief Director: Force Preparation, South African Army) offers the perspective of a developing country of more limited means.
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Meanwhile back in the US, the Department of Navy has added the computer game Starcraft to its military officer training curriculum in an effort to provide realistic leadership simulation. Enemies will no doubt soon discover the fearsome power of the Zerg rush…
(OK, no it hasn’t really, but it’s another funny piece of satirical military reporting by the folks at Duffel Blog.)
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My own annual Brynania classroom civil war simulation was recently profiled in the Spring-Summer 2012 issue of the McGill News alumni magazine. There are also a couple of earlier videos on Brynania that give a real flavour of what 120 bright students can get up to that week, one by the folks at TV McGill and the other by McGill’s Headway TV series. Oh, and there’s also this year’s UNHCR team asking a couple of improv coffee shop musicians to sing about their fictional jobs… | <urn:uuid:0fa1758f-fcd1-4cdf-9f08-7d52e2f0006f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/simulations-miscellany-3-july-2012/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947449 | 1,220 | 2.015625 | 2 |