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Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
For Julia Kay's Portrait Party found here:
you can find his art and photos here:
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
John Henry Hammond II (December 15, 1910 – July 10, 1987) was an American record producer, Civil Rights activist and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s. In his service as a talent scout, Hammond became one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music.
Hammond was instrumental in sparking or furthering numerous musical careers, including those of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Benny Goodman, Charlie Christian, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Big Joe Turner, Pete Seeger, Babatunde Olatunji, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Freddie Green, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Russell, Asha Puthli and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He is also largely responsible for the revival of delta blues artist Robert Johnson's music.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
The apocalyptic visions of a very young Bob Dylan | <urn:uuid:88c25dfb-13e0-4096-a8cb-624862e72084> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cobolarts.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948432 | 318 | 1.726563 | 2 |
We become mothers because of desire.
It starts internally – a nudge, a feeling, a question.
Do I want to have a baby? Mmm, my sister’s baby is so cute. Am I ready?
It continues as a wish: I want to have a baby.
How we get this want fulfilled can happen in many ways – either with a partner or alone, through birth or adoption or surrogacy, or stepmothering or other mothering.
And then it happens. Wish granted. Desire satisfied. Goal achieved.
But, no. It doesn’t always happen this way. We can become pregnant through force, or accident, or unconsciousness, as well.
In my last two columns, we discussed the intricacies – personal, cultural, and historical – of desiring natural motherhood. This month, I’d like to shift our discussion from the subject of desire to being.
What does it mean to be a natural mother?
To answer that question, I’d like to share three of my poems about motherhood and then reflect on the ways they show us the different meanings of “being a natural mother.”
This first one was written at the very beginning of my mothering journey in the early 1990s when I was not yet even married but had begun to care for the girl who would become my stepdaughter.
America, my mother
America, my mother, why is it so hard to be
read Allen Ginsberg in the seminary,
then he broke out,
pierced my mother twice, to make us.
It occurs to me that I am America, he said,
once in fumbling,
once in rage.
lost somewhere, riding Carolina,
a redneck in a sportscar,
drinking like his father,
who married my mother, who says,
It's nobody's fault
but your own.
I would have called you Corey,
from the core of me,
they cut you out of me.
After the priest, first laughing, then said,
he could not absolve me
all this wishing will never make you a boy.
It is fun to be a girl, I say,
trying to make you see
how pretty I am. See how pretty, I say,
making you look
in the mirror.
America, my mother, why is it so hard to be
I see now in this poem how the difficulty of “being natural” is written into the form of the poem itself. “America, the mother” is both a literal mother and the symbolic mother for a nation. The poem asks how a mother can (is able, should be able, fails to) create a family out of pain and difference.
The truth is I don’t have a brother. I don’t have a son. And I didn’t, then, have a daughter. Not literally. Not “naturally.”
I had a stepbrother. The son of my stepfather. In this poem, he becomes “my brother.”
And I had had an ectopic pregnancy. In the poem, he becomes “my son.”
And my partner had a daughter who would become my stepdaughter. In the poem, she becomes “my daughter,” but even this is problematic, as she prefers to dress like a boy, identifies with her father, and wants nothing to do with my femininity.
Here’s what I see now, twenty years later: motherhood is never completely natural, and for so many of us it does not come with pink or blue balloons and happily ever after. Motherhood, like a nation, is a construction born not out of what is “natural” but what is real. Motherhood, like a nation, is made from the diversity of what we find within ourselves and in each other and what we make out of this union – in a spirit of love and inclusion and acceptance of difference.
The next poem was written twelve years ago in December, right around this time of year, as I was preparing to celebrate my daughter’s first birthday.
While the world prepares for Christmas,
the birth of another woman’s son,
I notice the snow globe under our tree
is broken, the morning you turn one.
I wonder, worry — how I have worried
this year! — at the omen, then take out
the photo of our family at noon, and turn
it away from the crack, so now it is hidden,
invisible except from the back.
I have learned to do this as a mother,
find buttons that almost match,
buy shoes to replace those you’ve lost,
turn snow globes and do mountains of wash.
Nothing is as clean as you were that morning,
covered in white and glossy and wet.
I touched your temple, so light, with my finger,
rubbed the cream of your skin into my thumb,
felt such wonder at what I had done.
Today you will laugh and wave to balloons,
and tonight you will say, for the first time, “moon.”
But for now you are sleeping, an afternoon nap
to prepare for the party, and the house is quiet,
and I can pretend, breathing hard and filling my belly,
that you are still in me, a silent fish in my inner stream,
and all is still possible, and you have not left me,
and today I have nothing to do but dream.
Here is another instance of the way “natural mothering” demands that we come to terms with loss. Just as the first poem forces us to face the shattering of the image of the “ideal” family and nation, this poem, quite literally, shatters the ideal image, as the snow globe holding the family photo is cracked.
For the truth of “natural mothering” is that life and death are a package deal. The ancient story of Pandora (meaning “all gifts”) teaches us this. Pandora did not open a box to let out evil upon the world; this was a mistranslation.
When the sixteenth century Dutch scholar, Erasmus, was translating the story of Pandora from the Greek version he found in Hesiod's eighth century B.E. text, he mistranslated pithos as pyxis. What we know as Pandora's box was originally a vase.
Think of the shape of a vase. Its female curves. The beautiful flowers it can embrace. The cool water. It is this vase that, when tipped over, symbolizes the womb from which all life comes.
And when it tips, it also brings death. And loss. Every moment of every day as a mother is one less day you have a baby, or a toddler, or a teenager, or a son or daughter who lives with you.
This is what a “natural mother” is meant to do – allow the child to grow, to let go, to let what was a baby become an adult, separate and strong, because of the maturity of the mother who knows all along that time passes and (as Raffi sings) everything grows and grows and grows.
The last poem I want to share is the final poem in my book, The Pomegranate Papers.*
Woman Births Century at Midlife
Alphabet hangs in the sky, on the wall, in my room
in the dark before dawn, giving me words in languages
that rise and fall like civilizations or notes from a song:
Styx is the river of memory, Res are the things I forgot,
Age is what is waiting for me, Faith is becoming what
I am not. Os are my bones, not yet brittle, Dia is the day
still ahead. Mort is the death I belittle. Nue is my naked
belly, daily needing to be fed. No longer baby, and not
yet old woman, I stand poised on the brink of midlife.
I am learning from nature how to be human, to survive
and give birth, and at the same time, be the midwife.
I end with this poem because it is about the process of being a “natural mother” to oneself. This process is, from the beginning, one of combining cultures and languages and histories – as all these divergent rivers flow through one body – the mother’s body.
Regardless of our situations, we all mother naturally by being fully present in our bodies and responding in a spirit of love and inclusion and acceptance of difference.
This loving response includes ourselves, as we learn to “be the midwife.” For no matter our differences as mothers, we all share one thing, and this, in the end, is all that it means to “be a natural mother.” To be the mothers we are, right now, in this body, fully human and alive and yet also moving towards death, accepting of all of it, embracing all that we are and can be, and nurturing ourselves and each other, in this life.
*Special offer for LM Readers:
Use code GP7DNYJM to get 25% off from Unbound Content, the independent, mother-owned publisher of Cassie Premo Steele’s poetry book and musical album released in 2012!
New Year, New Poems: I invite you to submit your poems on the theme of Being a Natural Mother. I especially encourage submissions from those whose poems reflect on the themes of this column — mothering in diversity, mothering as stepmothering and other mothering, and mothering outside of typical gendered constructs. I hope to publish three poems, so send in one or two and encourage your mother writer friends to do the same. Please email your submission to birthingmotherwriter[AT]gmail[dot]com by January 6th. Be sure to put "Birthing the Mother Writer: 7" in the subject line, include a brief bio and place both the bio and the text of your poem in the body of the email. By sending in your submission, you agree that your writing, if chosen for publication, may receive suggestions for revision, and you also agree to revise and submit a new version for publication within two weeks. | <urn:uuid:43b160af-1372-47ad-942a-162cd4cf3fc5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.literarymama.com/columns/archives/2012/12/being-a-natural-mother.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961271 | 2,168 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Not only is it beautiful to look at, this Chrysler New Yorker is also a genuine piece of automotive history.
As Chrysler’s flagship model, the New Yorker was significant. Still is. It remains the longest-running nameplate in US automotive history, having been in production for 57 years, from 1939 to 1996.
It spanned 11 model generations, though in keeping with much of what has emerged from the US car industry in the past three decades, the last five generations ” produced between 1979 and 1996 ” were pretty forgettable.
But it was during the New Yorker’s attractive second generation of models, produced between 1950 and 1954, that the marque made one of the most significant contributions to the automotive world ever, when it was offered in 1951 with Chrysler’s magnificent new FirePower Hemi V8 engine. The ’51 New Yorker was an unassuming car. It had subtle styling, with an outer layer that gave no clues to the fact that nestled snugly between its bulky flanks sat an engine which would become one of the most famous in automotive history.
The Hemi engine gets its name from the shape of its combustion chambers, which are shaped like half a sphere, or hemisphere, to best enclose its canted inlet and exhaust valves. The Hemi combustion chamber shape and valve locations, and centrally located spark plug, allow for short intake and exhaust ports and large valves. The result is smooth-running, effective valve stem and seat cooling, extended valve life, good prevention from carbon build-up, and excellent breathing, volumetric efficiency and performance. (more…) | <urn:uuid:b96b8abe-1522-4f7f-8fef-91555d66f03e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.v8.co.nz/tag/new-yorker | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967922 | 333 | 2.078125 | 2 |
- Psychological Counseling
- Behavior Modification
- Personality Evaluations
- Marital Counseling
- Intellectual Evaluations
- Vocational Evaluations
What is the Psychological Clinic?
The Psychological Clinic is the training facility operated by the Psychology
Department of the University of South Alabama. In the clinic, graduate
students receive supervised experience while providing psychological
services to the citizens of the Mobile area.
Who provides the services in the Clinic?
Graduate students in psychology provide most of the direct client
services. In all cases, student clinicians are supervised by faculty
members who are Clinical or Counseling Psychologists and are licensed
in the State of Alabama.
Some psychological services are provided directly by licensed Clinical
and Counseling Psychologists.
What kinds of services are offered?
Services offered include psychological testing for both adults and children as well as psychological counseling, marital counseling, behavior modification, and stress management.
What kinds of testing services are offered?
Children are frequently evaluated for possible enrollment in Bright and Gifted programs for determination of specific learning disorders, achievement problems, or emotional difficulties. College students and adults frequently benefit from our Resource Assessment battery of tests which is designed to help individuals in making academic, vocational and personal decisions.
How are appointments made?
In order to schedule an appointment, an individual should call the Clinic at 460-7149. A staff member will then schedule an initial interview. Fees for services are moderate and are established on a sliding scale basis. The Clinic is generally open 8am - 5pm Monday - Friday, and one evening per week.
Are records confidential?
All psychological information is handled in a professional manner in accordance with guidelines of the American Psychological Association. Your records will not be sent to others without a signed release from you. | <urn:uuid:77204125-14d1-4113-b0e3-2e48fdabbf8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://southalabama.edu/psychology/clinic.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931868 | 364 | 1.664063 | 2 |
When most people read or talk about social media, they are usually thinking of Facebook, the most popular social media platform. Because of Facebook's popularity, there are constant stories of accounts being hacked, or people forgetting passwords and being locked out of their profiles. Facebook has numerous account recovery tools, and has recently introduced Trusted Contacts, a feature that calls on your friends to help you regain access.
Trusted Contacts was officially introduced by Facebook in early May 2013, after nearly two years in testing. It is a potentially really useful feature that could help you out one day.
What exactly is Trusted Contacts?
According to Facebook, "Trusted Contacts lets your friends help you if you’re having trouble logging into your account." If you have been previously using the Trusted Friends feature, this has now been renamed and merged with Trusted Contacts.
Trusted Contacts allows users to set up to five Facebook friends who can help you regain access to your account. For example, if you forget your password your nominated friends can send you a phrase to enter so that you can get back into your account.
It is a good idea to set this up, but beware that at least three friends who you set as a Trusted Contact will need to send you a private code before you can regain access. The friends will only have access to the code if they log into Facebook, so make sure you pick someone who is able to log into Facebook regularly.
How to set up Trusted Contacts
You can set up Trusted Contacts by:
- Logging into your Facebook profile and clicking on the cog at the top right-hand side of the window.
- Selecting Account Settings followed by Security in the window that opens.
- Clicking on Edit beside the Trusted Contacts field followed by Choose Trusted Contacts.
- Typing the names of three to five reliable friends. You should see the name of each friend in a blue box below the search bar.
- Clicking Confirm.
Facebook will notify the contacts you've selected with more information about how the process works.
If you are having trouble accessing your Facebook account you can tell your trusted friends to visit facebook.com/recover to get the code and then pass it to you. Once you have entered three codes, provided by your friends, you should be able to get into your profile.
Trusted Contacts could be a useful tool, especially if you don't use or access your personal Facebook profile on a regular basis. It's important to stress that you pick someone you trust, and who is reliable.
If you would like to learn more ways you can keep your Facebook account secure, please contact us today. | <urn:uuid:daebf3f7-1d53-4c51-867d-cbb281125658> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portlandmanagedservices.com/2012/05/assistants-go-virtual-bonus-for-you/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957254 | 559 | 1.84375 | 2 |
What stories have dominated election day in America (besides who is going to win)? Here, in no particular order, are some of the funny, head-shaking and down-right troubling stories that have come out of Tuesday. And if you have suggestions, pass them along.
We’ll start with the Tweet of the Night – the most retweeted entry in Twitter’s short history.
Yes, the big yellow bird that sings with children and teaches them everything from the alphabet, to math to even being happy in their own bodies flapped into election day. How? Well, the bird was dragged into the campaign during the first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. How? Romney was asked what how we would tackle the federal deficit in the U.S., and he went after the American government subsidy to PBS.
“I’m sorry, Jim,” Romney told moderator Jim Lehrer, “I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS.
“I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too, but I’m not going to keep on spending money on things (we have to) borrow money from China to pay for.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, TiVo users rewound and watched that moment more than any other in that debate. Thinking they had something to work with, Obama’s camp launched an attack ad on Romney using, yes, you guessed it, Big Bird himself. Here’s what the Obama campaign did with the line in an attack ad that also drew criticism from Big Bird’s backers:
It seems that Big Bird didn’t fade from the campaign after that. He was a hit for Halloween costumes and on election day, a humour columnist in Texas decided to keep the Bird in the election, heading to a polling station dressed as, yep, you guessed it, Big Bird.
Wait, Nixon isn’t running, is he?
The Associated Press couldn’t resist a snappy lead on this little story from Seattle: Apparently, sometime overnight, someone broke into the headquarters of the state’s Democratic Party. According to the Associated Press, one of the workers at the office found a broken window and open door around 5:30 a.m. The story doesn’t say what might have been taken, but maybe Bob Woodward is already en route.
Voting irregularities and problems
Long lineups greeted voters (sound familiar, Canada?) and frustrations grew as electronic voting machines malfunctioned at voting stations. In Colorado, voting machines were reportedly switching votes from Mitt Romney to Barack Obama. This video shows one of the machines malfunctioning:
Similar complaints also came out of Pennsylvania where voters said they too had their votes switched by the machine.
Florida? Not again.
The Sunshine State was a big swing state on Tuesday. The race was so close there that it was impossible for prognosticators to properly predict who would win the state’s 29 electoral college votes. At one point on election night, CNN pundit James Carville was asked what he would be watching. His answer? “Florida, Florida, Florida, Florida.”
He must still be watching.
Voting problems in the state left thousands lined up for hours at voting stations, some being in line long after the polls closed. The Miami Herald reported that in the voting district of Miami-Dade, voters didn’t leave one polling station until 1 a.m. Wednesday. Compare that to voters in other parts of the state who walked in, voted and walked out in less than 30 minutes. Both the Herald and Politico reported that the problem wasn’t the fault of a lack of organization, but that polling stations were simply overwhelmed with the number of voters who decided to make their voice heard and fill out the 10-page long ballot. There are also 20,000 absentee ballots to tally and the final results in the state won’t be known until Wednesday afternoon. Even if the state swings to Mitt Romney, it won’t change the final election results, but it seems the state still has electoral wrinkles to work out, especially 12 years after similar voting problems plagued Florida. | <urn:uuid:bd7e8645-5379-4b71-8310-1fcf10bbb077> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/world/best+worst+from+election+america+2012/7508273/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970806 | 872 | 1.5 | 2 |
BPSA British Columbia
Essence of scouting
|Return to Home Page||
by John Kennaugh
Mr Twine says. "There also seems to be a greater desire among the Scouts themselves to get on with activities, rather than spending time collecting wood, building up and starting a fire, when they could just turn a tap on a propane cylinder." The Scout Association has moved away from BP's legacy for what it believes are good reasons however I would like to look at what BP's version of Scouting was and why it worked.
As a species we evolved and for most of history lived in small groups. There was no social gulf between adults and children as there is today. No separate culture. Children helped out as soon as they were able. They were included in adult social gatherings. They learned the skills of the tribe and gained status and respect as useful members of the tribe as they honed their skills. Scouting is based on that same model of a community and at its best adults and children play the game of Scouting together based on mutual respect.
The skills BP instinctively identified as Scouting skills were based on the skills of our ancestors, making camp, putting up a shelter, cooking over a fire, exploring our surroundings without getting lost, learning about the natural world and how to use what it provides, constructing things with pieces of tree and rope, tracking, and finally gathering socially around a fire. Things which are part of our natural heritage which our brief period being 'civilised' has not had time to erase and which, without our knowing it we miss. Old fashioned pursuits? Yes about 4 million years 'old fashioned'. Touching the spirits of our ancestors perhaps. Being part of a more natural social group than our modern complex society. Indulging in the natural play patterns of the man cub.
Rubbish you might say. I don't think so. Why do perfectly sane people abandon a modern fully equipped kitchen and light a BBQ at the bottom of their gardens? It is not a logical thing to do but it is a natural thing to do.
Scouting skills represented a different and separate set of skills/values to those of everyday life. When I was at school my playground status was rock bottom. The pecking order in the playground depended on how good you were at football (among other things some less savoury). Scouting had an entirely different set of values. The skills required to be a good Scout required practice and dedication rather than natural aptitude. In the BP scheme a 'Scouting skill' was a special skill you needed, and frequently used, when Scouting, when doing Scouting activities. You took pride in that skill, you tried to hone that skill and your status as a Scout depended on it. A badge showed what skills you had mastered and could, when asked, reproduce, and teach others.
As far as I am concerned the traditional Scouting skills are underrated and devalued by those who never mastered them and can't be bothered to try. I personally have always found them exceedingly useful. We have had a bumper crop of beans this year and my square lashings are holding up very well although at one point the whole thing was getting top heavy due to a bumper crop so despite the cross bracing I had to add some guy lines. I had to fetch a motorbike from Bodmin on a trailer and there was nothing but my roping skills between me an a very expensive disaster. I had a pleasant week camping in a wood. I could get a kettle of water boiling quicker starting from scratch and lighting a fire than using the gas cooker I took. If I only wanted enough water for one cup of coffee the cooker won but then there was no fire to sit by while I drank it. By importing into Scouting every aspect of modern life, the values inside Scouting become identical to those outside of Scouting. It ceases therefore to be a natural alternative to the artificiality of everyday life and it ceases to be somewhere young people who don't fit in can take refuge and be equal to the rest. Some of the best Scouts I have known have, in one sense or another, been misfits outside of Scouting. It was Scouting which gave them self respect. Now there is very little which can be identified as a 'Scouting skill' and those few which remain are being sidelined. If fires are out there is no point in using axes and saws. Scouting is 'keeping up with the times'.
Why cook on a fire when all you need is to turn a tap on a propane cylinder? Why stop at fires? Why use tents? If camp sites had decently equipped chalets or bunk houses your Scout troop wouldn't need to cart its own equipment around the countryside. It wouldn't actually need it in the first place, think of the time that would save. Arrive, dump your personal kit in the bunk house and you are instantly ready for the first activity of the day. What shall we say - building a raft perhaps - maybe not that requires skill and effort. Modern young people need something more instant than that besides there are grants available if you take the trouble to apply for them. Who wants to muck about with rafts? Why not get some decent modern canoes for example. If we are going to keep young people interested we need to be as well equipped and meet the same standards as professional activity providers don't we? On the other hand why bother. Why not leave it to the professional activity providers, they get paid for it? Why should we do it for nothing there seems to be plenty of money about and grants for those who can't afford it?
I though the reason we do it for nothing is because we are not simply unpaid activity providers, we are something different - Scouts.
Scout activities are different to those activity providers provide in that they are, or should be, aimed at building up and encouraging the above. Building a raft scores highly. It involves team work and planning. It requires skill and leadership. It allows older Scouts to demonstrate their skills and help the younger ones who are not as good. Cooking on a fire scores quite highly. There is a lot of skill involved and teamwork. It can result in considerable pride and satisfaction when done right. Abseiling scores zero but I wouldn't mind betting that it is one of the 'activities' Derek Twine has in mind that Scouts these days 'want to get on with'. The adventure in Scouting is not in being dangled from a rope over a cliff nor being taken to some spectacular mountain top with expert guides. The true adventure is finding oneself in the middle of open moorland with no adult to help and having to rely on ones own skills. Being trusted to take responsibility. Unfortunately the population as a whole, and a lot of adults in Scouting believe that trusting young people is being irresponsible. I agree with the District Commissioner who says "Train them! Trust them ...and keep taking the pills". Trusting young people is scary but it is (or was) what we do in Scouting.
You sit around your damn computers if you like. I prefer sitting on a log, in a wood, by a fire, watching the sun go down and trying to tune in to what nature is up to around me. I have spent too much of my life sitting in front of a computer already and young people are condemned to spend much more of their lives so doing than I have. As for the idea of a computer base at camp :o( Me? I have never even liked taking tables and chairs. Scouting is going the way it is going. I wish it success but it is not my type of Scouting any more. I suspect that in 20 years time some bright spark will come up with this terrific new idea. "Let's junk all this high tech stuff, build a shelter in the woods and cook on a real fire".
For the record a wood fire is more environmentally friendly that a propane cooker.
(Editor's note: Derek Twine is the Chief Executive of the Scout Association in the UK, Mr. John Kennaugh is a former long time Scouter in the United Kingdom. BP refers to Sir Robert Baden-Powell, later Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell)
© 2003 John Kennaugh. Used with permission.
Contact the Webmaster | <urn:uuid:be1ffb76-cf7b-4b5c-8da7-9b300d79d84e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bpsa-bc.org/i-essence.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978263 | 1,687 | 2.75 | 3 |
(And cross now here today,)
One was fraught with rock and foam,
rapids, whorls and fray.
Carrying naught but twigs and planks
Men died of thirst along its banks.
The second stream ran slow and wide,
And a turtle's toe in depth.
Though commerce came in at high tide
The merchants never left.
Fishing from the delta flourished,
Though only worms were ever nourished.
The third course, though, was navigated,
Cargo carried from peak to plain.
The captains who sailed her proudly stated
"The stars we follow blind remain."
The river ran deep underground
And fed the others without sound.
The streams that ferry mighty forces
And feed the cascades of invention
Wash borders back out from their sources
And carry forth intention.
But once the water's flow reverses,
New rivers carry different curses.
DISCURSIVE, adj. Following a circular flow. | <urn:uuid:b99df663-3c5f-4d81-86b7-3234bd07f2f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bitterbierce.blogspot.com/2010/04/trivia.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938589 | 208 | 2.25 | 2 |
Rise like Lions after slumber/In unvanquishable number/Shake your chains to earth like dew/Which sleep had fallen on you/Ye are the many—they the few.
– Percy Shelley
The Occupy Movement, now in myriad cities across the country and, indeed, the globe, is too big to ignore. Many thousands of people, frustrated with the current status quo but hopeful for another, have made their disgruntlement palpable by turning parks, streets, and capitols into a choir of complaint—complaint complimented, however, by a contrapuntal harmony of hope and aspiration. Although the catchy slogan “we are the 99 percent” is not literally correct—it would be more accurate to use the unfortunately cumbersome slogan “we are the 99.9 percent”—it does make clear a simple fact: inequality has exploded in this country and people no longer believe that the coterie of elites who possess much of the wealth earned it fairly or have used it to benefit the rest of the population.1 Not surprisingly, the growth of the Occupy Movement has caused a concomitant critical reaction, mostly among media members who favor the status quo, plus or minus a few adjustments. This is a predictable pattern. A movement, either political or intellectual, begins and is ignored; it grows and is criticized; finally, it becomes appropriated by the mainstream, and many contend that they were a part of the movement from its inception. (A pattern followed by the civil rights movement, for example.) Although it is not clear if the Occupy Movement will progress to the third stage (and many within the movement would prefer, to one degree or another, that it does not2 ), it is clear that it has progressed to the second.
In this article, I would like to briefly respond to a few of the most popular criticisms, criticisms that have almost become platitudes. The criticisms that I will respond to are not drawn from the extreme right (mostly dismissing the movement as a swath of unemployed parasites); but rather, from the mainstream center or left of center. This is useful, I think, because some of the criticisms are probably held or at least sympathetically considered by the populace, a populace that has consistently received a distorted portrait of the world and of the Occupy Movement. I should also note, as a caveat, that I do not—and do not presume to—speak for the Occupy movement. Opinions about the desires of the Occupy Movement are a result of discussions with members of Occupy Tallahassee and of reading and watching interviews. I do not feign to have any special insight into the heart of a diffuse movement.
The most common criticism of the Occupy Movement that I hear and encounter in the media is that it is composed of radical and ignorant people who fancifully believe that the government can be used as kind of magical wish fulfilling machine. Or as Fred Siegel, from the New Republic, put it “… these epigones seem to think of government as a black box: You put your wishes in at one end and a smoothly running government bureaucracy fulfills those wishes at the other end.”3 His evidence is that many in the Occupy Movement desire to live in a country with single-payer universal healthcare, free college education, and are meanwhile ignorant of the minutia of the “298 pages of explication” of the Volcker rule. The protestors, therefore, are oblivious to the labyrinthine complexity of bureaucracies, and to the dangers of the debt, substituting socialist fantasy for hard-headed, fiscally sound, realism. According to Siegel, protests should focus more on the machinations of the government than on the treacheries of Wall Street. An editorial at the Economist,4 generally agrees, noting that the protests are aiming for the wrong target because the economic woes of the world have “less to do with the rise of the emerging world than with state interference.” (The idea that protestors want some kind of parochial nationalism and fear globalization is utterly without merit, a point to which I return.)
Siegel’s “government as a black box” argument is fairly common and utterly without merit. Let’s start with the second half of his argument and work backward. He argues that many in the Occupy movement are ignorant of the voluminous details of the Volcker rule and its exceptions. True enough. And many mainstream authors on foreign policy have never read all of the declassified NSC documents that are available. In the case of foreign policy writers, the NSC documents are actually very important. For the Occupy Movement, the exceptions and exceptions to exceptions of the Volcker rule are relatively trivial. Most understand that the provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act were repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and that the subsequent breakdown of the separation between investment and commercial banking has had deleterious effects on the economy. That is important. If Siegel’s argument is that the 298 page explication of exceptions et cetera indicates how cumbersome government bureaucracies can be, that is also well-known among the Occupy Tallahassee members that I have spoken to, some of whom are intimately involved in the legislative process.
Siegel’s other adduced evidence is that the Occupy movement wants “free education” and “free healthcare,” as if the government can just hand such things out without going broke. This is made clear, later, when he argues that the Occupiers are “oblivious” to our national debt. But precisely the opposite is true. As Siegel should know, two of the chief contributors to our deficits are our horribly inefficient and expensive health care system and our bloated military budget. Most in the Occupy movement would like to carve a significant amount of fat from the military budget; and, as Siegel himself asserted, most also desire single-payer universal health coverage. What Siegel apparently doesn’t know is that according to sound economic analysis by Dean Baker and others, if our health care costs were in line with the rest of the world’s, our deficits would be significantly mitigated.5 ,6 ,7 Finally, it is hardly utopian to believe that a country should have a decent, publically funded education system that runs through college. Nor is it a colossal strain on the budget, especially if properly funded through a reasonable tax system. Many intelligent commentators, including Noam Chomsky, believe that the exorbitant cost of college in the United States has less to do with economic issues than with issues of population control.8 ,9
Siegel and the Economist both argue that the Occupy Movement is confused about its target. It should be targeting the government, not Wall Street. First, in Tallahassee, we have been “occupying” the Capitol building, so we are “aimed” at the right institution. And second, the argument, although not entirely erroneous (the government’s subservience to financial interests is lamentable), and consistent with standard propaganda, misses a very important point: the government can, and is the only institution that can, provide a check on the power of corporations, a check that is absolutely necessary. Most in the Occupy movement aren’t thrilled about this pragmatic compromise. But, the question for any serious political thinker has to be, “what are the practical consequences of an action?” Reducing the size and power of the government may or may not be a future desideratum; but, as our system currently exists, reducing the size of government means increasing the power of corporations, corporations that are almost entirely impervious to public input (save for public purchasing) and therefore “tyrannical” in the classical liberal sense of the word. Given this state of affairs, it seems wise to protest the corporations, especially the financial corporations that were directly responsible for the economic collapse.
Finally, the Economist paints the Occupy movement as an insular group, a group that, although not as “mindless” and parochial as the Seattle protestors, is still confused and frightened by “the emerging world.” In other words, the Occupy movement is filled with people who fear “global integration.” This is standard propaganda that was perfected during the NAFTA debates. So, if one were against NAFTA, a radically unfree trade agreement,10 one was against globalization, regardless of whether or not one was in favor of increasing connections across the globe. Many are against unfair, investor rights’ agreements that force laborers to compete against each other while sedulously blocking competition amongst professionals. But the Occupy Movement is probably the most globally interconnected protest movement ever. Last week, Asmaa Mahfouz and Ahmed Maher, both famous for their courageous stands against the Mubarak regime, came to New York and spoke to the OWS protestors. Signs across the globe declare unity with protest movements in countries far away. The Occupy Movement is not afraid of “global integration,” it is afraid of corrupt, corporate integration. And it is only parochial if one considers humans, as opposed to corporations, irrelevant.
I do not know what the Occupy Movement will accomplish or where its future lies. I do know that it is exciting to witness the aspirations and frustrations of thousands of people finally rise in a conflagration of protest against a corrupt system that is consistently becoming more unjust and more detached from the average citizen. If nothing else, the movement has vivified the souls of thousands, perhaps millions, of people and has contributed to a growing sense of unity among disparate peoples from around the globe.
- Glenn Greenwald (October 25, 2011). Immunity and Impunity in Elite America: How the Legal System was Deep-Sixed and Occupy Wall Street Swept the Land. TomDispatch.com. [↩]
- That is, if being “appropriated” means sacrificing the substance of the movement to the interests the current system. [↩]
- Fred Siegel (October 19, 2011). Occupy Wall Street and the Return of the McGovernites. New Republic. [↩]
- Capitalism and its Critics: Rage Against the Machine. Economist. [↩]
- Dean Baker (October 31, 2008). The Deficit and Health Care Costs. San Diego Union-Tribune. [↩]
- Health Care Budget Calculator. Center for Economic and Policy Research. [↩]
- Congressional Budget Office (June, 2009). The Long-Term Budget Outlook. [↩]
- Noam Chomsky (August 9, 2011). Public Education Under Massive Corporate Assault—What’s Next? Guernica Magazine. [↩]
- This video contains a condensed synopsis. [↩]
- Dean Baker (2006). The conservative Nanny State. [↩] | <urn:uuid:f1aa52e3-0f86-4c26-a1cd-5acda5c199b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/11/the-occupation-and-its-critics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954145 | 2,238 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Virtual Communications: Part III
by Rick Brenner
Participating in or managing a virtual team presents special communications challenges. Here's Part III of some guidelines for communicating with members of virtual teams.
Here's Part III of my guidelines for communications in virtual teams. See "Virtual Communications: Part II," Point Lookout for February 2, 2005, for more.
Peanut butter is one of those foods that's especially likely to interfere with telephone conversation. Photo by Ralph Poupore.
- Don't give the time or date in voicemail
- Most systems already provide the day, date, and time for messages. Why duplicate it? And if you're in a different day and time yourself, you could just confuse the recipient.
- Give your phone number twice
- For voicemail messages, supply your phone number not only near the beginning, but also at the end.
- If using a desk or wall phone, press the button to hang up
- Replacing the handset to hang up creates a clattering sound that can be irritating in voicemail.
- Eating, drinking, and chewing gum are no-nos on the phone
- Whether live or in voicemail, avoid these activities. Even when you're muted, you never know when you'll need to speak.
- Sit up straight or stand when you're on the phone
Sit up straight
when you're on the phone.
You need the full power
and nuance of your voice.
- Slouching or lying down interferes with full use of your lungs and diaphragm. You need the full power and nuance of your voice.
- Learn how to use your voicemail system
- Learn how to skip, skip-with-erase, move to mailbox, reply-immediate, pause, repeat, transfer to email, forward, forward with preface, forward to list, sort by priority, and whatever else your system offers.
- Learn the remote commands too
- If you call into your office system to pick up messages, learn the most useful commands. And carry them on a wallet card.
- Customize your outgoing message
- If you know you'll be returning at a specific time, record an outgoing message that tells callers when to call back. This can really cut down on your voicemail.
- Consider calling someone's voicemail directly
- Often, you don't really need to speak to the recipient live. If a voicemail will do, call voicemail directly.
- Suspend interpretation of silences
- If someone doesn't respond to a message — email or voice — check whether the message was received. Going ballistic is usually a bad idea, especially when based on a misinterpretation of silence.
- Always confirm — don't rely on silence
- Never leave a message of the form "I'll let you know if X condition is satisfied, otherwise execute Y." Always confirm either way, because messages don't always arrive.
- Slow down your "offense" response
- In face-to-face communications, we use body language, facial expression, and tone of voice to adjust our communications and our interpretations, and this keeps us out of trouble. By email and phone, where these adjustments are problematic or impossible, we're more likely to offend and to feel offended. Slow down and ask for elaboration. Breathe more.
Most important, express appreciations verbally, publicly, and often. In person, we smile, we nod, we backslap, and any number of other things that express approval non-verbally. Remotely, these gestures are unavailable to us, so when we want to encourage each other, or express approval, we have to say things verbally that seem unnatural, artificial, or forced. It takes practice. Get started today. Top Next Issue
Is your organization a participant in one or more global teams? Are you the owner/sponsor of a global team? Are you managing a global team? Is everything going well, or at least as well as any project goes? Probably not. Many of the troubles people encounter are traceable to the obstacles global teams face when building working professional relationships from afar. Read 303 Tips for Virtual and Global Teams to learn how to make your global and distributed teams sing. Order Now!
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More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness
- Mastering Meeting Madness
- If you lead an organization, and people are mired in meeting madness, you can end it. Here are a few tips that can free everyone to finally get some work done.
- At the Sound of the Tone, Hang Up
- When the phone rings, do you drop whatever you're doing to answer it? Do you interrupt face-to-face conversations with live people to respond to the jerk of your cellular leash? Listen to seemingly endless queues of voicemail messages? Here are some reminders of the choices we sometimes forget we have.
- Towards More Gracious Disagreement
- We spend a sizable chunk of time correcting each other. Some believe that we win points by being right, or lose points by being wrong, but nobody seems to know who keeps the official score. Here are some thoughts to help you kick the habit.
- Some Hidden Costs of Business Fads
- Adopting business fads is an expensive organizational pattern, with costs that extend beyond what can be measured by the chart of accounts most organizations use. Here are some examples of the hidden costs of business fads.
- How to Foresee the Foreseeable: Focus on the Question
- When group decisions go awry, we sometimes feel that the failure could have been foreseen. Often, the cause of the failure was foreseen, but because the seer was a dissenter within the group, the issue was set aside. Improving how groups deal with dissent can enhance decision quality.
See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness, Effective Communication at Work and Virtual and Global Teams for more related articles.
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- The Race to the South Pole: Ten Lessons for Project Managers
- On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough, but to project managers, the story is fascinating. Lessons abound. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:
- The Race to the South Pole: The Power of Agile Development
- On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough. Lessons abound. Among the more important lessons are those that demonstrate the power of the agile approach to project management and product development. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program: | <urn:uuid:25908ace-69e4-4e25-b3f6-27b63ff05e78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chacocanyon.com/pointlookout/050209.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933891 | 1,757 | 2.046875 | 2 |
A new study of termites has revealed that older workers are equipped with suicide packs of chemicals on their backs to fight off intruders.
An international team of researchers, led by Robert Hanus and Jan Šobotník of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague, looked at Neocapritermes taracua termites, native to French Guiana, and discovered that many of the workers had varying sizes of blue spots on their backs. The blue spots are external pouches containing copper-containing proteins secreted by specialized glands located on top of the salivary glands. When the researchers picked up the termites using forceps, they were surprised to find they burst, releasing a toxic sticky droplet along with fragments of intestines and internal organs.
The team reported that the blue crystalline material is probably a hemocyanin protein (which has a similar function to hemoglobin in mammals, carrying oxygen around the bloodstream). The protein is rich in copper, which makes the crystal blue. Team member, PhD student Thomas Bourguignon of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, said that the blue crystals mix with the products of the salivary gland and make them toxic. The researchers found that when a worker with blue spots was attacked by invading termites, it ruptured its body wall, releasing the contents of the blue pouches, which mixed with salivary fluid to form a drop of chemical so toxic that it paralyzed or killed most of the invading termites that touched it. The blue-spotted worker termites died in the process. Workers with no spots also burst when threatened, but less readily and less effectively since the toxins released were much less potent than that from the blue spots.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-07-aging-work ... s.html#jCp
The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand. - Frank Herbert
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. - Albert Einstein
Knowledge is a powerful weapon, but only when its user can wield it. | <urn:uuid:a1cb5053-6ee4-4119-92bb-004a98644f24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.trulyscience.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&p=91979 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950186 | 438 | 3.140625 | 3 |
In Bolivia, Helping Children to See and Be Heard
Visiting TC students navigate cultural differences to provide speech/language pathology services
In Bolivia, little kids spend a lot of time experiencing the world from the vantage point of an awayo-a sling worn over their parents' backs. Depending on a parent's particular style, a kid might get bundled in near the top of the awayo, meaning the view will be good and conversation frequent-or near the bottom, where things tend to be quieter and darker.
For a child who's blind, the two scenarios can have radically different consequences. And because blind children are more likely to get carried by their parents until an older age, those consequences can be profound.
"I told a mother of one blind girl, You are her eyes,'" says Cate Crowley, a lecturer in TC's Speech and Language Pathology program and head of its Bilingual Extension Institute, which seeks to improve quality of care for culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents. "That's intervening on a cultural level, which normally we wouldn't do. But a blind child who spends a lot of time being carried deep in the awayo doesn't get the chance to learn from siblings and peers the way typically-developing kids do. In Bolivia there's a cultural belief that children should be seen and not heard. Kids without disabilities develop perfectly well in Bolivia but that belief can have serious implications for a child with a disability. So it's really important to educate parents about the consequences."
The awayo problem is typical of the challenges faced by the small groups of TC students Crowley has taken on month-long trips to Bolivia during each of the last two summers. This past July, 18 students worked at three different sites, earning course credits in the process. At the Hospital Del Ninos, Bolivia's national pediatric hospital in La Paz, students worked with children in the acute care wards and with parents of babies and toddlers who were failing to thrive, showing them feeding therapy and early intervention stimulation techniques such as cooing, eye-contact and touching. At Camino de Sordos, a signing-based school for deaf children, they worked on reading skills often using a multi-sensory approach to improve phonemic awareness. And at Foundacion CEREFE (translated as the Center for Physical Rehabilitation and Special Education) in El Alto, they worked with children and teenagers with a range of disabilities, from Down's syndrome to swallowing disorders.
Prior to making the trip, the students were required to extensively research the causes, prevention, identification and treatment of a particular speech/language-related disability and prepare a PowerPoint presentation that they later delivered-in Spanish-to audiences of Bolivian doctors, teachers, parents, nutritionists and public health officials. They also received free Spanish lessons twice a week. Once in Bolivia, the students used their field placements both to deliver care and health education, and to assess the current state of knowledge and practice on the disability they have chosen.
The ultimate goals-borrowed from the Peace Corps philosophy-are to "be respectful of our hosts' culture and make the program self-sustaining for them," says Crowley, also a former attorney who still advises New York State on disability issues.
"It's an incredibly valuable, life-changing experience for our students, particularly given the growing Hispanic population in the U.S.," she says, adding that she first visited Bolivia when her daughter's best friend moved there a few summers ago. "The biggest challenge we've faced so far is creating good placements for the monolingual English-speaking students who come on the trip. We've got to balance their needs with our obligation to provide Bolivian kids with quality care."
Crowley says that an arrangement with TC's Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation (CEO&I) has enabled her to hold down costs for students. She also credits John Saxman, Chairman of TC's Biobehavioral Sciences Department and a visitor in Bolivia this summer, with supporting her vision for the program.
The students were well-received by the Bolivian medical community, Crowley says, but the most rewarding feedback was from parents:
"One of the mothers said to one of our students, you taught my son how to speak.' She had tears in her eyes."
An article by Crowley on the Bolivia program will appear in mid-October in The Leader (www.asha.org/about/publications/leader-online/), the publication of the American Speech Language Hearing Association. Crowley also is the recipient of the Association's 2007 award for Special Contributions to Multicultural Affairs. | <urn:uuid:9ecf9d80-64ea-4550-bada-c8a1474f7909> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tc.edu/news.htm?articleID=6409 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962563 | 949 | 3.171875 | 3 |
The long-term downward trend in the number injuries to young children is no longer. Sadly, urgent care and emergency room doctors are now seeing more children aged 0-14 years with unintentional injuries. While the exact causes are yet to be determined, there is a growing body of anecdotal evidence that points to distraction among patents and supervisors — it’s the texting stupid!
The great irony is that should your child suffer an injury while you were using your smartphone, you’ll be able to contact the emergency room much more quickly now — courtesy of the very same smartphone.
One sunny July afternoon in a San Francisco park, tech recruiter Phil Tirapelle was tapping away on his cellphone while walking with his 18-month-old son. As he was texting his wife, his son wandered off in front of a policeman who was breaking up a domestic dispute.
Yet a few minutes after the incident, he still had his phone out. “I’m a hypocrite. I admit it,” he says. “We all are.”
Is high-tech gadgetry diminishing the ability of adults to give proper supervision to very young children? Faced with an unending litany of newly proclaimed threats to their kids, harried parents might well roll their eyes at this suggestion. But many emergency-room doctors are worried: They see the growing use of hand-held electronic devices as a plausible explanation for the surprising reversal of a long slide in injury rates for young children. There have even been a few extreme cases of death and near drowning.
Nonfatal injuries to children under age five rose 12% between 2007 and 2010, after falling for much of the prior decade, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on emergency-room records. The number of Americans 13 and older who own a smartphone such as an iPhone or BlackBerry has grown from almost 9 million in mid-2007, when Apple introduced its device, to 63 million at the end of 2010 and 114 million in July 2012, according to research firm comScore.
Child-safety experts say injury rates had been declining since at least the 1970s, thanks to everything from safer playgrounds to baby gates on staircases to fences around backyard swimming pools. “It was something we were always fairly proud of,” says Dr. Jeffrey Weiss, a pediatrician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital who serves on an American Academy of Pediatrics working group for injury, violence and poison prevention. “The injuries were going down and down and down.” The recent uptick, he says, is “pretty striking.”
Childhood-injury specialists say there appear to be no formal studies or statistics to establish a connection between so-called device distraction and childhood injury. “What you have is an association,” says Dr. Gary Smith, founder and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “Being able to prove causality is the issue…. It certainly is a question that begs to be asked.”
It is well established that using a smartphone while driving or even crossing a street increases the risk of accident. More than a dozen pediatricians, emergency-room physicians, academic researchers and police interviewed by The Wall Street Journal say that a similar factor could be at play in injuries to young children.
“It’s very well understood within the emergency-medicine community that utilizing devices—hand-held devices—while you are assigned to watch your kids—that resulting injuries could very well be because you are utilizing those tools,” says Dr. Wally Ghurabi, medical director of the emergency center at the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital. | <urn:uuid:0a49eac1-8b8a-4867-ac5f-0aeed39d0c7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thediagonal.com/2012/10/08/childhood-injuries-on-the-rise-blame-parental-texting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973411 | 777 | 2.28125 | 2 |
But first, I will assert that boxing decisions are often the low point of professional sports. Some decisions, or stoppages, don’t look controversial so much as, well, arranged.
Let’s start with the power curve, the fight promoters.
How powerful are promoters? In 1987, I remember the-then undisputed king of boxing, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, right after losing a razor-thin decision to rival Sugar Ray Leonard.
Hagler had been the man. Now he was an ex-champion, who would never fight again.
Hagler sat down with the event promoter, Bob Arum, to grant post-fight interviews. He then turned his head toward Arum, and called him something. He called him “boss.” It was an apt title. Promoters rule the game.
How can this be? It’s best understood by explaining the function of the promoter. Boxing promoters function much like music promoters, so I’ll use them for comparison.
Music promoters are investors looking for potential attractions. Attractions draw in money from the public so the organization can pay its’ bills and make a profit. These attractions have to be developed.
Here is how things get done. Some artist or band appears on some local stage and gets noticed. More gigs allow the act to season. With talent and preparation comes luck. The luck is the connection to a major promoter. This promoter has the connections to allow the act to progress in bigger and bigger venues.
After nurturing the act along, often funding it in a myriad of different ways, the act begins to pay back the investment. For the promoter, the gamble/investment is beginning to pay off. It is time to nurture and protect the cash cow, squeeze the profits while the act is at the top. When the act is no longer at the top, the promoter looks to dump the act as soon and cheaply as possible.
Any perception of morality or fairness is just that, a perception. It is a business only. The human element doesn’t exist any more than it would in the buying or selling of grain.
Now that you understand the music promoter you almost understand the boxing promoter. Here are the rest of the pieces.
Boxing lives off the perception of invincibility to a large degree. This is why 5,000 people don’t show up to watch a bar fight. A loss for a star or developing phenom is bad for business. It reduces return on investment for the promoter and his backers. It is for this reason that things generally work out for the fighter who has a contract with the boss.
I know these words may seem harsh, but a boxing bet predictor makes picks based upon informational awareness, not hype. | <urn:uuid:ebd9b80d-cac0-4879-99fa-6cec844e03f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bestboxingbets.com/giant-corporate-government-of-international-boxing-explained/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965029 | 572 | 1.71875 | 2 |
BBC: Human species ‘may split in two’ (Note: Sped Up by Genetic Modification) *
Human species ‘may split in two’
Humanity may split into two sub-species as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said.
Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.
a decline due to dependence on technology.
People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added.
The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the “underclass” humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.
Race ‘ironed out’
he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims.
Physical appearance, driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility, will improve, he says, while men will exhibit symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises.
Women, on the other hand, will develop lighter, smooth, hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair, and even features, he adds. Racial differences will be ironed out by interbreeding, producing a uniform race of coffee-coloured people.
humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology.
Spoiled by gadgets designed to meet their every need, they could come to resemble domesticated animals.
Social skills, such as communicating and interacting with others, could be lost, along with emotions such as love, sympathy, trust and respect. People would become less able to care for others, or perform in teams.
Physically, they would start to appear more juvenile. Chins would recede, as a result of having to chew less on processed food.
There could also be health problems caused by reliance on medicine, resulting in weak immune systems. Preventing deaths would also help to preserve the genetic defects that cause cancer.
The logical outcome would be two sub-species, “gracile” and “robust” humans similar to the Eloi and Morlocks foretold by HG Wells in his 1895 novel The Time Machine.
“While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity [….], there is a possibility of a monumental genetic hangover over the subsequent millennia due to an over-reliance on technology reducing our natural capacity to resist disease, or our evolved ability to get along with each other, said Dr Curry. | <urn:uuid:55fb10ba-7ba8-4ba0-a1de-72ee3b42f74e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=611 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95765 | 558 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Answer: A doula is a professional support person for birth and/or postpartum. Doulas receive special training through certification programs or have comparable or exceeding experience in the field of childbirth and/or newborn care. A doula’s responsibility is to provide emotional, physical and informational support to the mother and her family. Studies have proven that mothers and couples who incorporated doulas into their births experienced shorter labors and reduced interventions and that women who received the support of a postpartum doula have greater breastfeeding success, greater self-confidence, less postpartum depression and a lower incidence of abuse than those who do not.
Answer: Birth doulas attend home births and hospital births; medicated births and unmedicated births, with women whose care is being overseen by doctors or midwives. Doulas may be the only support person for the mother, or may be part of a labor support team including mom’s partner, friend(s), and/or family members.
Answer: Birth doulas provide a variety of services throughout labor; the primary focus being on comforting and supporting the laboring mother. Each birth experience is unique and every mother and partner has individual needs; therefore, the duties of the doula vary depending on the client. The doula’s role typically entails advising on positioning and techniques to support and encourage the labor process, assistance with physical needs, massage, and informational “back-up”, as well as providing diplomatic advocacy for the laboring mother and partner with medical personnel. Coming into the home during the fourth trimester following birth, the postpartum doula’s role is to provide education, non-judgmental support and companionship, and to assist with newborn care and family adjustment, meal preparation and light household tasks. Postpartum doulas offer evidence-based information on infant feeding, emotional and physical recovery from birth, infant soothing and coping skills for new parents and can make appropriate referrals when necessary.
Answer: How much a doula charges for her services depends on these four factors: how much training/education she has (as a doula, or related training, such as nursing, massage, or social work), how much experience she has, what other doulas are charging in her area, and what her income needs are.
The amount can vary substantially, according to the person, experience and range of “extra services” offered. In the Miami-Dade area, the range can be anywhere from $400 to $1,500 or more for the services of a birth/labor doula and $20-$50 per hour or more for the services of a postpartum doula.
Answer: Birth Doulas specialize in non-medical skills, and do not perform clinical tasks, or diagnose medical conditions. A birth doula is not hired as a doctor or a midwife and therefore cannot offer medical advice, nor deliver a baby. Our birth doulas believe that the mother benefits from a smooth and professional relationship between the doula and the care providers. We make every attempt to fulfill the wishes of a client’s birth plan, however we recognize and respect the authority of the care provider, and will not enter into an adversarial situation with medical staff. (A doula can ask medical staff for clarification or specific reasons on the client’s behalf if requested to do so.) Doulas do not make decisions for their clients. Their goal is to provide the support and information needed to help the birthing mother have a safe and satisfying birth as the mother defines it. For new parents common challenges are numerous including recovering from their birth experience; adjusting to total responsibility for a tiny dependent newborn; sleeplessness and mastery of infant feeding and care. Postpartum doulas provide families with ongoing support in their home and aid parents in making the best possible choices for their newborn infants.
Answer: We offer free "All About Doulas" classes to enable interested families to meet our staff of doulas. It is advisable to interview several candidates to find a doula with a personality and philosophy that meets your needs. It is a good idea to begin the process of selecting a doula early in the second trimester, as popular doulas tend to get reserved far in advance even in a service as large as ours. The sooner you begin the process, the more likely you are to find a good match! Good interview questions consist of asking the candidate for background on their training and experience, inquiring about their personal philosophy of the role of a doula, and requiring several references from former clients and providers. Once you hire one of our doulas, you will typically be required to pay a 50% non-refundable deposit, to hold the time surrounding your estimated due date. Payment is full is required by the 36th week of pregnancy. | <urn:uuid:68fd8480-46fd-462e-b72c-d0fd9d29d129> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theplacewegather.com/doulas/doula-faqs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954197 | 993 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Frost Protecting with GroWeb
Well I think most weather forecasters could predict that we've had a freeze just by looking at these tomato plants. They've gone down big time and as you see this farmer's lost a pretty big field of them.
If you look though you will see there is obviously a difference between cold susceptible vegetables, those which will freeze, and cold tolerant vegetables such as the cabbage and cauliflower that we see over there behind us. I put out this little demonstration for both our viewing audience and the farmers to show you what a little bit of protection will give you on even a cold night into the twenties.
This is a product called Grow-Web that we've talked about in the spring and the summer and it's nice to throw over a plant that you want to give a little protection to, a little cold tender plant. As you can see we covered these plants before the freeze and we had a little burn back of course, but the tomato foliage is still in good shape. More importantly the fruit itself is still firm and hard even though the green ones are firm and hard.
If you look at some that haven't been covered they're soft and discolored and will go ahead and rot, whereas these you take them in the house put them under the bed in a box and they will ripen over a period of time.
The key to this thing is this material will only give you about five degrees of protection so into the twenties the mid twenties you would think would freeze something but actually it won't because it slow thaws it. That's the most important thing, not whether it freezes or not, but if it slow thaws. So keep this material in mind for next spring and I hope you covered and will have some wonderful Christmas tomatoes for this year.
This has been Jerry Parsons, Vegetable Specialist for the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, the Weekend Gardener.
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You can also download this video directly. | <urn:uuid:e3e0a503-dcda-454b-b3dd-f763f1f6e209> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/video/detail.php?vidid=124&size=largevid | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961487 | 455 | 2 | 2 |
Here is a report of what our Labor Chief Lim Swee Say said at a forum on Saturday:
"A big concern is a mismatch between workers' skills and what's demanded by
employers. Mr Lim said low-wage workers are vulnerable to structural
Another group is the Professionals, Managers and Executives
He said the last 15 years have seen a concerted effort to train
And the current focus on achieving sustainable and
inclusive growth is an extension of this goal." - Report in Today[Link]
Lim Swee say blames the structural unemployment problem on a "mismatch" of skills between job seekers and what employers are looking for. He then proceeds to conclude that the answer to our structural unemployment problems is retraining.
Structural unemployment has been a serious problem for the last decade and the severity of the problem is rising. Yet the PAP leaders refuse to see what is so plain and clear to everyone else and continues to prescribe a solution that had achieved so little results as the prblem grows.
Singapore underwemt great economic transformation in the 60s , 70s and 80s right up to the 90s. We moved from low cost manufacturing to electronics manufacturing to IT services and so on. We did not experience severe structural unemployment right up to the early 90s. While older workers were vulnerable during economic downturns as they are today, they are re-hired during economic recoveries when the labor market tightened up and employers had no choice but to tap the older workers to expand their businesses. Older workers got their chance in the good times and employers were willing to retrain them for job and kept them if they were able to perform. That was why structural employment never grew to become such a big problem in the past.
Since the late 90s, the PAP opened the floodgates to foreign workers. Employers have access to an unlimited pool of young workers from India, China and the Phillipines. When the economy picks up, employers don't have to hire older workers but young foreign workers that can be hired and retrenched easily.
Lim Swee Say's point that structural unemployment is due to a mismatched of skills if that isso, then why are the low wage workers most badly affected? These low wage workers have less skilled jobs and are the easiest to retrained to another low skilled jobs so why are they hit the hardest? The real reason is not skills but the availability of younger foreign workers.
For 15 years the PAP has perscribe retraining for people hurt by structural unemployment. After so much retraining, we find our structural unemployment problems has gotten more severe as time passes. The PAP refusal to face up to the truth and do what is right for ordinary Singaporeans and the continued denial means that the problem can only get worse. With a labor chief like Lim Swee Say, things can only get worse for older Singaporean workers. | <urn:uuid:117deb56-009c-4749-9f34-1c32db7534dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2011/11/minster-lim-swee-say-on-structural.html?showComment=1322479771450 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97165 | 595 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Colorized TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) micrograph of a cell of Geobacter sulfurreducens (orange) with its pili (yellow) stretching out like arms and immobilizing the uranium (black precipitate). | Image courtesy of Dena Cologgi and Gemma Reguera, Michigan State University
Bacteria may get a bad wrap, but there are certainly benefits to researching the remarkable capabilities of these often misunderstood microorganisms. A team of researchers at Michigan State University, assisted by scientists at the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory, has demonstrated exactly how a family of bacteria known as Geobacter use their arms to clean up nuclear waste and other toxic materials.
Geobacter are the junk food connoisseurs of the bacterial kingdom. They have a healthy appetite for all sorts of unhealthy "foods," including uranium and petroleum compounds like oil. And they also have the ability to turn a form of uranium that dissolves easily in water to a form that does not, which makes it much easier to clean up. (In the same way that it’s far easier to pluck a sugar cube out of water than dissolved sugar from a packet.)
Scientists have already been using Geobacter to pull waste out of water. The bacteria cleans up contaminated spaces through a process called bioremediation; however, scientists didn’t know how the bacteria were conducting their cleanups, at least until recently. In a paper published in the Sept. 6 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team at Michigan State University, led by Dr. Gemma Reguera, demonstrated that it is the long arms (known as pili) of Geobacter that give them their unique ability to connect to uranium particles and "pull" them out of water. These arms – which can be even longer than the bacteria themselves (imagine having an arm the length of your body… or longer!) – might be better compared to wires, since they can even conduct electricity.
What’s more remarkable – as Dr. Reguera’s team also showed – is that these electrically-conducting pili actually give Geobacter their ability to clean up uranium. They reach across space, creating an extensive network that allows the bacteria to increase their energy by connecting to multiple uranium particles. The pili also keep the particles of uranium at, well, arm’s length, which better protects the bacteria. Equipment at Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, provided additional insights into how Geobacter works, especially through the use of the lab’s bright x-ray facility, the Advanced Photon Source.
Understanding how Geobacter’s arms work suggests new possibilities for using the bacteria to clean up larger and perhaps even more contaminated sites in the future.
This work was supported by the Office of Science and in part by the Energy Department’s Environmental Remediation Sciences Office, within the Biological and Environmental Research Program. For more information on Energy Department’s Office of Science, please go to: http://science.energy.gov/. | <urn:uuid:87aa2c99-6b93-4d40-88e9-7581409e5e60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://energy.gov/articles/geobacter-junk-food-connoisseurs-bacterial-kingdom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947232 | 638 | 3.796875 | 4 |
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Officially at least, America still calls this Southeast Asian nation Burma, the favored appellation of dissidents and pro-democracy activists who opposed the former military junta's move to summarily change its name 23 years ago.
President Barack Obama used that name during his historic visit Monday, but he also called Burma what the government and many other people have been calling it for years: Myanmar.
That single word was noted and warmly welcomed by top government officials here, who immediately imbued it with significance.
Myanmar presidential adviser Ko Ko Hlaing called the wording "very positive" and said it was an "acknowledgement of Myanmar's government," which has taken major steps toward easing repression and transitioning to democratic rule since the military stepped aside last year.
U.S. officials could not immediately be reached for comment on whether Washington's policy would change. But that seemed unlikely to happen any time soon.
The issue is so sensitive that Obama's aides had said earlier Monday he would likely avoid mentioning either politically charged name. But he used both during his six-hour trip — "Myanmar" during morning talks with President Thein Sein, "Burma" afterward while visiting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi herself was criticized by the government for calling the nation Burma during a trip to Europe over the summer. The government said she should use the proper name, "Republic of the Union of Myanmar," as stated in the constitution. But Suu Kyi has said "it's for each individual to make his or her own choice as to which he or she uses."
The debate is almost exclusively confined to the English language.
Myanmar, comprising a vast array of ethnic groups, did not exist as a single entity until it was colonized by the British in the 19th century. The country achieved independence in 1948 and took the English-language name used by its former rulers, Burma.
But it was formally known in Burmese, the national language, as "myanma naing ngan" or more colloquially as "bama pyi" or "country of Burma." Both those usages persist, and the national anthem still refers to "bama pyi." Continued...
When the now-defunct army junta altered the name in 1989, the change applied only to the English-language title.
But exiles and critics, just like the U.S., kept on using "Burma." And many, including the U.S., still call its main city "Rangoon" instead of Yangon.
But like Myanmar itself, that has all begun to change.
Visiting U.S. senators have used both names. Even at congressional hearings in Washington, there's an occasional mention of "Myanmar."
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Recent Activity on Facebook
Stephen Frye has covered the police beat and courts for The Oakland Press and now serves as online editor for www.theoaklandpress.com.
Informs on and discusses current matters of legal interest to readers of The Oakland Press and to consumers of legal services in the community.
Caren Gittleman likes talking cats. She'll discuss everything about them. Share your stories and ask her questions about your favorite feline.
Roger Beukema shares news from Lansing that impacts sportsmen (this means ladies as well) and talks about things he finds when he goes overseas to visit his children, and adding your comments into the mix.
Join Jonathan Schechter as he shares thoughts on our natural world in Oakland County and beyond. | <urn:uuid:b1b77fe3-43f6-4999-b42b-5a16edbc3ea3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2012/11/19/news/nation_and_world/doc50aa0e198a263742174064.txt?viewmode=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957367 | 1,034 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Teachers need to use advanced technology to implement modern curriculum. While they don’t need to become computer programmers or software writers, they do need to know how to use modern technology to plan and deliver instruction. The technology specialization of the graduate education program gives teachers the knowledge and skills, as well as the certification, they need to implement technology and to improve educational systems. Graduates can function as leaders of local school district instructional improvement teams, technology planning committees, site-based management teams, building-level management teams, and will also be able to otherwise work to improve instruction in their schools by helping their colleagues implement technology.
Participants who specialize in instructional technology complete the core, six required technology courses, and a culminating experience.
Total 36 credits | <urn:uuid:5cc46b84-3202-472f-af7b-45c81f0526c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://misericordia.edu/catalog/5739.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941709 | 152 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Voices From Jenin
A young boy arrives at the bombed out school building. The boy's face is covered with a mask against the dust. He carries a brown plastic grocery bag in one hand, and with his free hand he removes his surgical gloves. He has come to hand over what he carries in the bag: the remains of a human being. He believes it is what remains of the hand of Mohammed Toul, a Jihad activist. The photographers take pictures of the bag and then go away to new places. The bag is left under the table. I ask one of our guides if the remains will be sent to some laboratory where they can be analysed. Some place where they identify the bodies and issue death certificates. He shakes his head and says: "Here we know each other well. We know what kind of clothes our friends had, what kind of caps or bandannas they wore, which T-shirt they wore that day. This is how we, the Palestinians, make our DNA analysis. It's not very sophisticated, but that's the only way we can afford."
This school building is in the Jenin refugee camp (since l948, when the state of Israel was proclaimed, this camp has served as temporary housing for about 15,000 Palestinians). Now the school functions as a temporary gathering place for persons who want to report their relatives or friends as missing. The camp's patient Palestinian clerks, who list the long rows of names, used to work in a building that until some days ago was Jenin's City Hall. But it has been destroyed - as almost all of Jenin's official buildings - by Apache helicopters.
The centre of Jenin has been demolished. It is just a hole, full of debris, the size of three football fields. Once there were houses, schools, and other buildings here. From the hole comes a sweetish smell of corpses. Nobody knows for certain how many people lie buried under the remains of the houses, since all the bulldozers in the City Hall' s garage have been destroyed, all except one, which the driver brought home with him.
Jenin is Palestine's Ground Zero. Around this hole hundreds of people gather. They are paralysed onlookers. Peace movement monks from Tibet. Swedish politicians. American peace activists. French medical doctors. Italian teachers. Japanese filmmakers. Some have climbed up the mountain the day before, while the Israelis still held the siege around the camp. Others have arrived today, driving old cars and walking several kilometres over the fields. When I climbed the nearby hills, I thought that this must be quite similar to 1936 when Ernest Hemingway and many others walked the length of the Pyrenees to fight against the Fascists during the Spanish Civil War.
We sleep in a flat that functions both as an office and sleeping quarters. My travel companion, the visual artist Cecilia Parsberg, and I have been given two narrow beds with new sheets that still reek of detergent. When we wake in the morning and go to the living room, we meet the others staying there: an Indian pathologist on a couch, an anthropologist on a mattress on the floor, and an Irish pathologist in the bathroom. They belong to the Physicians for Peace and have been previously to Kosovo and Sebrenica digging out bodies, taking samples to confirm the sex and age of the dead. Now they are afraid they have arrived in Jenin too late.
We talk with Doctor Walid who was confined in Jenin's hospital for twenty days, almost without water and with very little food. When the hospital's electricity was cut after a few days, the Israelis allowed the Red Cross to go in with two generators. Without them, there would have been no way to preserve the dead bodies (the majority being civilians--women and children). The Israelis, as one of the hospital nurses explained, feared an epidemic. The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent was murdered on the second day of the invasion, while another doctor died as the result of an explosion. The latter was driving in his car, transporting an oxygen tank to the hospital. A sniper shot at the tank and the car exploded. The doctor died slowly and screamed for an hour before he died. Doctor Walid recalls that no one dared to go and help him, since the snipers were aiming at everyone. Now the hospital is dealing with new victims. Yesterday, two small children were wounded by a land mine while playing at the back of the hospital. We hear that one of them has just died.
Of the fifteen thousand people who once lived in this camp, five thousand escaped (mostly women, children, and the elderly). Now they are slowly coming back, going home to their demolished houses, sitting among the debris of what once was their living rooms.
We climb a staircase that opens towards nothing. Only two walls are intact. An older woman wearing a white scarf on her head and dressed in typical Palestinian dress, with a beautiful ochre colour, talks to us in Arabic. She wants to tell her story. Her house has been destroyed; her pots and pans smashed. The soldiers destroyed cabinets, which she was still paying off. At first, she does not want to be photographed. She says she has not been able to wash herself for twenty days. We compare our dusty clothes, and find that hers are cleaner than ours are. At last, she agrees to have her photo taken. Then she invites us to share her food - the little she has - with her family. When we try to pay something towards the meal they look at us as if we have insulted them.
We leave things behind. Mementos. A watch, pens, and pictures. We will leave, but in these mementos we are still there, in Jenin, which in Arabic means, 'the place with the beautiful gardens.'
Ana L. Valdés, Writer
Cecilia Parsberg, Visual Artist | <urn:uuid:46b8f597-0c5b-4165-9371-62dbbe70f298> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://this.is/jenin/text1_en.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979688 | 1,206 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Your Focus to Improve Your Play
Machamer, Lomas Santa Fe Country Club
Much has been written and said in sports about focus and the role it plays in peak performance. Athletes from all walks talk about “being in the zone” when they are at their best. This ability to focus is not limited to professional athletes however, and I would like to give you some exercises that can help you develop a more relaxed attitude and clarity of mind, which should help you improve on the golf links.
I believe that to improve your focus you have to be very alert and relaxed. Not the kind of relaxation you feel when you are about to go to sleep, but rather a more alert attentive state, without the anxiousness that sometimes comes with heightened states of awareness.
The important thing here is not how we describe focus, or even what my definition of it is. The important thing is to be willing to spend some time considering and putting into practice three steps I am going to give you that if applied, will help you play your golf shots in a more joyous and free state of mind.
Self Observation. What I call self observation is different than being self centered or self conscious. The kind of self observation that I am speaking of is more objective. The next time you play a round of golf, pay attention to your state of mind as you play shots. Also notice your emotional state. Pay attention to your level of nervousness as you play certain shots. Pay attention to the dialog in you head and see if you can catch yourself when you start having negative thoughts or emotions. Don’t turn a negative thought or emotion more negative by telling yourself, “I shouldn’t think or feel this way”, that isn’t productive. Instead, just see if you can observe your thoughts and feelings objectively. That is to say, just pay attention to what is going on in your thoughts and feelings without judgment. I am convinced that many of us don’t even realize how our thinking and feelings determine our success and failure on the golf course. When you notice yourself getting uptight, angry, frustrated, or the like, just observe, don’t judge or criticize. You will soon get a clear picture of where improvement or change may be needed.
Re-Program your computer. Once you have completed the first step in this process, you will probably be aware of some things about yourself on the golf course that you may not have noticed before. It may be evident that you are not having as much fun playing as you would like. In fact, you may be aware that you rarely play a shot with any sense of ease or relaxation. Rhythm and tempo, both vital aspects of a good golf swing, have their root in and are tied to a person’s internal clock. If the internal clock is wound to tight, guess what?
When I talk about re-programming your computer, I am really talking about changing your thinking. If you continue to think on the course the same way, you will get the same results; even if you take lessons, you will probably see only short-term improvement. Even modern equipment won’t solve the thinking problem. So how then do we change our thinking?
Start small. You have to build brick by brick. There are many great books to help you with this process, but for now let me give you a really fun exercise to try. You must do this for at least four full rounds to notice anything, but you can start the next time you play. Make a positive statement to yourself after EVERY shot the next time you play, and try to do it for four rounds. Make it into a game. See if you can find something good about every shot. Try not to leave any shot out. If you forget, just start up again as soon as you remember, but stay with it. Your statement must be honest, so the challenge will be to find something good in a shot that you just hit out of bounds, or finding something positive you did if you missed a three foot putt. If you are sincere about changing, you can always find something positive. For example: let’s say I just shanked a wedge way to the right of my target. Pretty bad shot I would say. My first impulse will be to feel bad about the shot and maybe use some not so nice words. However, if I am doing this exercise, I am going to have to find something positive about a shank. What could that possibly be? Well... perhaps my grip was perfect for the shot. I could also note how my posture was good, as well as giving myself a gentle reminder of just how fortunate I am to be on a golf course. That’s just an example and if you are sincere, it can be done. The idea with this exercise is to get you started on a new path. Once you do this and experience how transformative it can be, you will be well on your way.
Practice Relaxation. With so much emphasis on equipment and physical fitness in golf today, I feel anyone striving to improve must not only pay attention to these, but also must look for ways to think better. One of the keys to better focus and concentration is relaxation. The third step is to find time each day to do relaxation exercises. There are many helpful books for this area as well. You can also Google relaxation on your computer and find different suggestions with which you can experiment. Find out what works best for you, but do find out. It is often only when people start to learn to relax that they become aware of just how tense they have been. Once you get into the healthy habit of practicing relaxation, you will see how it carries into your golf experience. It is impossible, I think, to walk around up-tight and rushed all week, and then somehow magically relax for you Saturday tee time. It will take some practice, and I suggest you start as soon as you can.
These three steps should help you transform the way you see the game of golf, and help you toward peak performance. There is a saying I recently heard that I would like to share here, “When you change the way you look at things, things you look at change.” So give these three steps an honest attempt and see what happens. I would love to hear about your experience should you undertake this approach to improving your game. | <urn:uuid:c333eaf6-c09f-41f0-8755-d2a83f640cca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theturngolf.com/Phil_Machamer_PGA.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969341 | 1,315 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Apr. 1, 2010 In this week's British Medical Journal, senior eye doctors are warning people to keep liquid capsules for fabric detergents out of the reach of children after a wave of eye injuries in young children at their hospital.
Rashmi Mathew and Melanie Corbett from The Western Eye Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London report that last year chemical injuries associated with these capsules accounted for 40% of ocular chemical injuries in children under the age of five at their hospital.
They also report that Guy's and St Thomas' Poisons Unit received 192 enquires related to the capsules during 2007-8 and 225 calls during 2006-7, a fifth of which related to ocular exposure.
Of the 13 children they have seen recently, corneal burns resolved with no complications in 12 cases. However, one child received ocular irrigation (copious flushing of the eye with sterile water) only on arrival in accident and emergency and therefore sustained extensive corneal burns.
The capsule in most liquid detergent capsules is a water soluble polyvinyl alcohol membrane, explains co-author Katherine Kennedy, senior chemist at Guy's Toxicology Unit in London. The liquid detergent is a mixture of three active agents -- an anionic detergent, a non-ionic detergent, and a cationic surfactant -- dissolved in water to give an alkaline solution, making the capsule more dangerous than initially perceived.
The authors warn that alkali injuries are the most severe form of chemical eye injury which can cause irreversible damage and have lifelong ramifications, such as constant discomfort, scarring and even amblyopia (lazy eye).
They conclude: "After recent discussions with Guy's Poisons Unit, some manufacturers have made hazard labels more prominent. But greater consumer awareness is required to reduce injury. Such concentrated cleaning products must be kept out of the reach of children, and immediate irrigation is crucial to reduce the risk of clinically significant injury."
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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:2daac0e9-1f1a-4f3e-877c-8d8ccdf117b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100302195928.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931929 | 445 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Bike helmets are so important that the U.S. government has created safety standards for them. Your helmet should have a sticker that says it meets standards set by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). If your helmet doesn't have a CPSC sticker, ask your mom or dad to get you one that does. Always wear a bike helmet, even if you are going for a short ride.
Your bike helmet should fit you properly. You don't want it too small or too big. Never wear a hat under your bike helmet. If you're unsure if your helmet fits you well, ask someone at a bike store.
Once you have the right helmet, you need to wear it the right way so it will protect you. It should be worn level and cover your forehead. Don't tip it back so your forehead is showing. The straps should always be fastened. If the straps are flying, it's likely to fall off your head when you need it most. Make sure the straps are adjusted so they're snug enough that you can't pull or twist the helmet around on your head.
Take care of your bike helmet and don't throw it around. That could damage the helmet and it won't protect you as well when you really need it. If you do fall down and put your helmet to the test, be sure to get a new one. They don't work as well after a major crash.
Many bike helmets today are lightweight and come in cool colors. If you don't love yours as it is, personalize it with some of your favorite stickers. Reflective stickers are a great choice because they look cool and make you more visible to people driving cars.
For More about Bike Safety click here | <urn:uuid:933f7632-f186-4146-baa2-fe14575661f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tucsonradkids.blogspot.jp/2008/05/helmet-how-to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970084 | 352 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Geeks take on RFID
October 24, 2005
One time-honored, low-tech way to prevent tags from being eavesdropped is the 'Faraday Cage.' A Faraday Cage (described here, here and here) is a metal enclosure that prohibits radio frequency signals from passing through it.
[Mikey's] version of a Faraday Cage involves the use of shielding fabric with wire mesh embedded in it, available from Less EMF.
You can find a movie, photographs and more information on his website, Electric Clothing.
[*] Dorkbot is a artist/geek/hacker forum for 'people doing strange things with electricity'. I attended a session in London and it was most intriguing ;-)
Posted by andersja | <urn:uuid:e1bf6304-2d29-4844-a1d7-8531770b20c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rfidbuzz.com/news/2005/geeks_take_on_rfid.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903701 | 157 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Apparently not, judging by the following report from the CBI via the FT.
Worst of recession over, says CBI
By Daniel Pimlott, Economics Reporter
That sounds good.
The bulk of the recession has already past, according to CBI forecasts, but a recovery is not expected to begin until the spring of 2010. Estimates by the employers’ group suggest the first quarter of this year was the worst period of the recession so far, with a 1.8 per cent decline in output compared with a 1.6 per cent fall in gross domestic product in the final quarter of last year and a 0.7 per cent drop in the third quarter.
But that brings the fall in output to 4 per cent so far, which is about four-fifths of the total 5.1 per cent fall in GDP that the CBI expects. “It is fair to say we are past the worst but it is too early to call this a recovery,” said Ian McCafferty, chief CBI economist.
Mr McCafferty said the “rate of contraction will moderate quite noticeably from the second quarter of this year” but forecast 2010 would see at best a fragile recovery that would not produce growth strong enough to reduce unemployment.
To summarise, the economy has still further to fall, there will be further unemployment and even if there is a pickup in economic output, there will be no pickup in employment in 2010, which means that there are some people who have still to lose their jobs who will still be unemployed at the start of 2011.
So how does that mean we are over the "worst"? Past the point of steepest decline in productivity, but not yet at the bottom. With that standard of analysis, can this report be taken seriously? | <urn:uuid:3ec9aef0-d975-48a3-9518-28a28b2bd91a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alexmasterley.blogspot.com/2009/04/do-they-teach-calculus-in-schools-any.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964018 | 361 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Anger Management in Sport provides strategies and interventions for overcoming excessive anger and aggression in athletes. The text challenges long-held assumptions and points the way to further research and discussion on this important topic.
Anger management is becoming an increasingly significant area of study in sport. This issue affects all people involved in the sporting environment, yet few sport professionals, coaches, or administrators fully understand anger in sport and how to work with athletes to overcome the problem. Anger Management in Sport: Understanding and Controlling Violence in Athletes addresses this important topic and provides strategies and interventions for overcoming excessive anger and aggression in athletes. The provocative book challenges long-held assumptions and points the way to further research and discussion.
With its accessible format and proactive approach, Anger Management in Sport is an ideal resource for practitioners at all levels of sport who work with athletes and anger, both on and off the field. The author draws on his unique background and clinical experiences creating and implementing anger management skills for a variety of populations—from high school athletes to prison inmates. His unique insight will stimulate discussion on a range of issues associated with anger in sport, including mental illness, drugs, and differences and similarities in amateur and professional athletes. Readers will understand not only how to approach an anger problem but also how to help an athlete work to manage emotions.
Rather than eliminate old explanations, the book paves the way to a new understanding of issues vital to the health of sport. Chapters 1 and 2 help readers better understand anger and violence and how to assess anger in sport. Anger, aggression, violence, and hostility are defined so that readers will understand the conceptual differences between each. Chapter 3 discusses the athletic culture and how anger is uniquely considered in sports. Readers will recognize some instances of anger in sport through the discussion of such high-profile events as the Baylor University basketball scandal, the O.J. Simpson trial, and the infamous 2004 Pacers-Pistons NBA melee in Detroit involving crowd aggression. Chapters 5 and 6 examine mental illness and drugs in sport. Chapters 7 through 9 tackle anger management programs, systematic interventions for athletes, and prevention of sexual violence.
Real-world situations presented in the text will engage readers and help them picture how to use anger management skills in their own lives and careers. By considering the various stakeholders involved and the preventive measures that can be taken, researchers and professionals will step closer to discovering best practices and strategies for anger management in today’s sport society.
Although helping athletes deal with anger is an important part of sport, there is little research to address the key issues regarding this difficult subject. Anger Management in Sport will help readers understand the causes for anger in sport and how to help athletes who demonstrate aggressive behavior. It will shed light on an uncharted issue and provide direction for future research in the area.
Chapter 1. A New Understanding of Anger and Violence in Sport Chapter 2. The Scope of Violence and Aggression in Sport Chapter 3. Assessing Anger in Sport Chapter 4. Understanding the Athlete Culture Chapter 5. Mental Illness and Violence in Sport Chapter 6. Drugs, Violence, and Sport Chapter 7. Developing and Utilizing Anger Management Programs for Athletes Chapter 8. Systemic Interventions for Athletes Chapter 9. Prevention of Sexual Violence
A reference for practitioners dealing with athletes and anger; sport psychology consultants working with individual athletes; sport officials and administrators working to decrease violence among athletes in their sport organizations and leagues; and researchers interested in further study of the subject.
Mitch Abrams, PsyD, is a clinician administrator for University Correctional HealthCare/UMDNJ, where he is responsible for the delivery of mental health services for 6 of the state’s 13 state prisons. Dr. Abrams co-coordinates the forensic track of UMDNJ’s predoctoral psychology internship and has been involved with several aspects of advancing the quality of mental health services in prison systems. He is a clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and has held adjunct faculty positions at Brooklyn College, C.W. Post, and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Since 2000, he has been in private practice providing sport, clinical, and forensic psychology services.
Dr. Abrams began consulting with athletes in 1997 while developing the only comprehensive anger management program for athletes. He has created a niche in using anger management training to assist athletes in reaching peak performance on the field and in life. He has consulted with thousands of athletes and has developed programs for athletic organizations at the youth sport, high school, and college levels. He is the founder and president of Learned Excellence for Athletes, a sport psychology consulting company located in Fords, New Jersey.
Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Abrams received a bachelor of science degree from Brooklyn College and earned a master of science degree in applied psychology and a doctorate of psychology (PsyD) in clinical psychology from C.W. Post/Long Island University. He also received specialized training in family violence and anger management. He is a full member of the American Psychological Association as well as its Division 47 (Exercise and Sport Psychology) and Division 41 (American Psychology-Law Society). Further, he holds membership in the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), where he is also the chair of the Anger and Violence in Sport Special Interest Group (SIG), and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT). | <urn:uuid:dc7f116a-a7e4-453e-a7f2-4635f444ad7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/Anger-Management-in-Sport:UndrstndngControlling-Violence-Athlte?ActionType=2_SetCurrency&CurrencyCode=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935657 | 1,100 | 2.6875 | 3 |
LAWRENCE B. LINDSEY | The Wall Street Journal
Washington is struggling to make a deal that will couple an increase in the debt ceiling with a long-term reduction in spending. There is no reason for the players to make their task seem even more Herculean than it already is. But we should be prepared for upward revisions in official deficit projections in the years ahead—even if a deal is struck. There are at least three major reasons for concern.
First, a normalization of interest rates would upend any budgetary deal if and when one should occur. At present, the average cost of Treasury borrowing is 2.5%. The average over the last two decades was 5.7%. Should we ramp up to the higher number, annual interest expenses would be roughly $420 billion higher in 2014 and $700 billion higher in 2020.
The 10-year rise in interest expense would be $4.9 trillion higher under “normalized” rates than under the current cost of borrowing. Compare that to the $2 trillion estimate of what the current talks about long-term deficit reduction may produce, and it becomes obvious that the gains from the current deficit-reduction efforts could be wiped out by normalization in the bond market.
To some extent this is a controllable risk. | <urn:uuid:c34e7108-f438-4b48-9380-40c5cfeda0b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.decideamerica.com/the-deficit-is-worse-than-we-think | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956415 | 268 | 1.726563 | 2 |
,204 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [High Street. CHAPTER XXIIL THE HIGH STREET (continuedJ. The Black Turnpike-Bitter Receytion of Queen Mary-hmbie’s Bannrr-Mary in the Black Turnpike-The House of Fentonbarns-Its Picturesque Appearance-The House of Bassandyne the Printer, 1574-“ tllshop’s Land,” Town House of Archbishop Spottiswood-Its various Tenants-Sir Stuart Thriepland -The Town-house of the Hendersons of Fordel-The Lodging of the Earls of Crawford-The First Shop of Allan Ramsay-The Religious Feeling of the People-Anmm House-The First Shop of Constable and Co.-Manners and Millar, Booksellers. ON the south side of this great thoroughfare and immediately opposite to the City Guard House, stood the famous Black Turnpike. It occupied the ground westward of the Tron church, and now left vacant as the entrance to Hunter’s Square, It is described as a magnificent edifice by Maitland, and one that, if not disfigured by one of those timber fronts (of the days of James IV.), would be the most sumptuous building perhaps in Edinburgh. But, like many others, it had rather a painful history. [See view, p. 136.1 “ A principal proprietor of this building,” says Maitland, “has been pleased to show me a deed wherein George Robertson of Lochart, burgess of F,dinburgh, built the said tenement, which refutes the idle story of its being built by Kenneth 111.” The above-mentioned deed is dated Dec. 6, 1461, and, in the year 1508, the same author relates that James IV. empowered the Edinburghers to farm or let the Burghmuir, which they immediately cleared of wood; and in order to encourage people to buy this wood, the Town Council enacted that all persons might extend the fronts of their houses seven feet into the street, whereby the High Street was reduced fourteen feet in breadth, and the appearance of the houses much injured. There is evidence that in the 16th century the Black Turnpike had belonged to George Crichton, Bishop of Dunkeld, in 1527, and Lord Privy Seal. In 1567 it was the town mansion of the provost of the city, Sir Simon Preston of Craigmillar, Balgay, and that ilk, ancestor of the Earls of Desmond in Ireland. It was to this edifice that Mary Queen of Scots was brought a prisoner, about nine in the evening of Sunday the 15th of June, by the confederate lords and their troops, after they violated the treaty by which she surrendered to them at Carberry Hill. On the march towards the city the soldiers treated Mary with the utmost insolence and indignity, pouring upon her an unceasing torrent of epithets the most opprobrious and revolting to a female. Whichever way she turned an emblematic banner of white taffety, representing the dead body of the murdered Darnley, with the little king kneeling beside it, was held up before her eyes, stretched out between two spears. She wept; her young heart was wrung with terrible anguish ; she uttered the most mournful complaints, and could scarcely be kept in her saddle. This celebrated but obnoxious standard belonged to the band or company of Captain Lambie, a hired soldier of the Government, slain afterwards, in 1585, in a clan battle on Johnston Moor. Instead of conveying Mary to Holyrood, as Sir William Kirkaldy had promised, in the name of the Lords, they led her through the dark and narrow wynds of the crowded city, surrounded by a fierce, bigoted, and petulant mob, who loaded the air with hootings and insulting cries. The innumerable windows of the lofty houses, and the outside stair-heads -then the distinguishing features of a Scottish street-were crowded with spectators, who railed at her in unison with the crowd below. Mary cried aloud to all gentlemen, who in those days were easily distinguished by the richness of their attire, and superiority of their air-“ I am your queen, your own native princess; oh, suffer me not to be abused thus !” “ But alas for Scottish gallantry, the age of chivalry had passed away!” says the author of “ Kirkaldy’s Memoirs,” whose authorities are Calderwood, Melville, and Balfour. ‘‘ Mary’s face was pale from fear and grief; her eyes were swollen with tears ; her auburn hair hung in disorder about her shoulders ; her fair form was poorly attired in a riding tunic; she was exhausted with fatigue, and covered with the summer dust of the roadway, agitated by the march of so many men; in short, she was scarcely recognis able; yet thus, like some vile criminal led to execution, she was conducted to the house of Sir Simon Preston of Craigmillar. The soldiers of the Confederates were long of passing through the gates; the crowd was so dense, and the streets were so narrow, that they filed through, man by man.” At the Black Turnpike she was barbarously thrust into a small stone chamber, only thirteen feet square by eight high, and locked up like a felon-she, the Queen of Scotland, the heiress of England, and the dowager of France! It was then ten o’clock ; the city was almost -dark, but fierce tumult and noise reigned without And this was the queen of whom the scholarly
High Street. THE BLACK TURNPIKE. | <urn:uuid:ca101589-6a28-4b3f-82a3-7280b3ef96e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldandnewedinburgh.co.uk/volume2/page025.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970133 | 1,222 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Candidate protoplanet spotted inside its stellar womb
If the discovery is indeed a forming planet, then for the first time scientists will be able to study the planet formation process and the interaction of a forming planet and its natal environment empirically at a very early stage.
February 28, 2013
Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) have obtained what is likely the first direct observation of a forming planet still embedded in a thick disk of gas and dust. If confirmed, this discovery will greatly improve astronomers' understanding of how planets form and allow them to test the current theories against an observable target.
This composite image shows a view from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (left) and from the NACO system on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT, right) of the gas and dust around the young star HD 100546. The Hubble visible-light image shows the outer disk of gas and dust around the star. The new infrared VLT picture of a small part of the disk shows a candidate protoplanet. Both pictures were taken with a special coronagraph that suppresses the light from the brilliant star. The position of the star is marked with a red cross in both panels. //ESO/NASA/ESA/Ardila, et al.
An international team led by Sascha Quanz of ETH Zurich, Switzerland, has studied the disk of gas and dust that surrounds the young star HD 100546, a relatively nearby neighbor located 335 light-years from Earth. The group was surprised to find what seems to be a planet in the process of forming, still embedded in the disk of material around the young star. The candidate planet would be a gas giant similar to Jupiter.
“So far, planet formation has mostly been a topic tackled by computer simulations,” says Sascha Quanz. “If our discovery is indeed a forming planet, then for the first time scientists will be able to study the planet formation process and the interaction of a forming planet and its natal environment empirically at a very early stage.”
HD 100546 is a well-studied object, and it has already been suggested that a giant planet orbits about six times further from the star than the Earth is from the Sun. The newly found planet candidate is located in the outer regions of the system, about 10 times farther out.
The planet candidate around HD 100546 was detected as a faint blob located in the circumstellar disk revealed thanks to the NACO adaptive optics instrument on ESO’s VLT, combined with pioneering data analysis techniques. The observations were made using a special coronagraph in NACO, which operates at near-infrared wavelengths and suppresses the brilliant light coming from the star at the location of the protoplanet candidate.
This artist’s impression shows the formation of a gas giant planet in the ring of dust around the young star HD 100546. This system is also suspected to contain another large planet orbiting closer to the star. The newly discovered object lies about 70 times farther from its star than Earth does from the Sun. This protoplanet is surrounded by a thick cloud of material so that, seen from this position, its star almost invisible and red in color because of the scattering of light from the dust. // ESO/L. Calçada
According to current theory, giant planets grow by capturing some of the gas and dust that remains after the formation of a star. The astronomers have spotted several features in the new image of the disk around HD 100546 that support this protoplanet hypothesis. Structures in the dusty circumstellar disk, which could be caused by interactions between the planet and the disk, were revealed close to the detected protoplanet. Also, there are indications that the surroundings of the protoplanet are potentially heated up by the formation process.
Adam Amara, another member of the team, is enthusiastic about the finding. “Exoplanet research is one of the most exciting new frontiers in astronomy, and direct imaging of planets is still a new field, greatly benefiting from recent improvements in instruments and data analysis methods," he said. "In this research, we used data analysis techniques developed for cosmological research, showing that cross-fertilization of ideas between fields can lead to extraordinary progress.”
Although the protoplanet is the most likely explanation for the observations, the results of this study require follow-up observations to confirm the existence of the planet and discard other plausible scenarios. Among other explanations, it is possible, although unlikely, that the detected signal could have come from a background source. It is also possible that the newly detected object might not be a protoplanet, but a fully formed planet that was ejected from its original orbit closer to the star. When the new object around HD 100546 is confirmed to be a forming planet embedded in its parent disk of gas and dust, it will become an unique laboratory in which to study the formation process of a new planetary system. | <urn:uuid:0e712aec-45e6-4618-bb29-3fd6cbda8491> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.astronomy.com/~/link.aspx?_id=58dc13f5-fb0e-4b50-912f-6e542aa8e7cf | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942665 | 1,033 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Published on June 10, 2011 by Amy
Cree is the most widespread native language in Canada. The Alberta Elders’ Cree Dictionary is a highly usable and effective dictionary that serves students, business, governments, and media. Designed for speakers, students, and teachers of Cree; includes Cree-English and English-Cree sections.
native art, native american jewelry, native american rings, turquoise crafts, student loans, debt financing, native american astrology, native horoscopes, student debt, Indian Genealogy Records, family tree, native heritage, native jobs, native study, native students, native american university, grant, native ancestry, dna test
This remarkable dictionary includes extensive Cree-English and English-Cree sections:
The Cree people constitute the largest Aboriginal group in Alberta, and many other Cree speakers live across Canada. This dictionary is based upon both Northern Cree (the “TH” dialect) and Plains Cree (the “Y” dialect).
Work on the dictionary began in the mid 1970s through the initiative of Nancy LeClair, a Cree nun from Hobbema. The dictionary has since had many other generous and dedicated contributors from among Alberta’s Cree speakers.
Despite its many years in the making, this dictionary will continue to grow and change along with a living language, helping Cree youth become more fluent in their language, and providing a bridge for others to appreciate its beauty.
Nancy LeClaire and George Cardinal; Edited by Earle Waugh | <urn:uuid:1e66543a-35e1-4f51-9165-7839423fa0dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nativeamericanencyclopedia.com/alberta-elders-cree-dictionary/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932939 | 314 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Category - Wholesale Schott OuterwearArmy Navy Store » Military Outerwear, Jackets, Parkas, Coats » Schott Outerwear
Available OptionsSize: 34-Regular, 36-Regular, 38-Regular, 40-Regular, 42-Regular, 44-Regular, 46-Regular, 48-Regular, 50-Regular, 52-Regular, 54-Regular,
Item Details• GalaxyArmyNavy.com Item # sb-740-charcoal
• Product Description: Our 32" classic 32 ounce melton wool naval pea coat features military anchor buttons, hand warmer pockets, vented back and nylon quilted lining. Our wool is 75 percent reprocessed wool, 25 percent nylon and other fibers. The contents are interlocked and pressed together before the wool is cut to ensure maximum protection against the elements. Charcoal grey color. Made in USA. Schott: charcoal- classic 32 Oz. melton wool naval pea coat. The US Navy peacoat was adopted during the early 20th Century, from Britains Royal Navy Reefer Jacket. The Royal Navies first regulations for uniforms for other ranks were issued in 1857, a century after the regulations for officers and this garment was originally used by Midshipmen ( Reefers ). These crewmen had to climb the rigging and furl and unfurl, or reef, the sails of the sailing ships of the era. The jacket was short, to allow ease of movement through the rigging. It had a double-breasted front, which displaced the buttons to each side. This helped reduce the chance of them getting caught on ropes, as the wearer maneuvered the sails. The pockets were often close to vertical, and over the flanks, rather than horizontal and at wrist level. It was made of a very heavy wool, in dark Navy blue, with a nap on the face side. The success of the style is proved by its singularly universal appearance throughout the Navies of Europe. This may account for the US Navies nomenclature as an Anglicization of the Dutch Pijekkat, being a jacket made of Pij (a coarse wool) cloth. Conversely, it may be from the shortening of the Belgium Navies term Pilots Jacket to P. Jacket, then being miss pelt / adapted to Pea Coat. The term Pea Jacket is reputed to first appear in the Oxford English Dictionary between 1717 and 1723. Pea Coat does not appear for another century. Manufactured by Schott Brothers NYC.
• Sale Price: 238.99 +
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We offer special low pricing for bulk orders and cheaper prices on large quantities for wholesale Schott: Charcoal Grey - Classic Melton Wool Naval Pea Coat, USA Made. Our online army navy shop is always open to take your order to purchase and buy the Schott: Charcoal Grey - Classic Melton Wool Naval Pea Coat, USA Made on sale at the cheapest and lowest price at our army navy store. We carry unique army navy clothing, military clothing, army gear, military surplus, camo clothing, vintage fatigues, emt ems uniforms and army supplies. GalaxyArmyNavy.com is the online military store and army navy shopping catalog. | <urn:uuid:680859d3-6e80-46c9-90be-bfb7105aa453> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.galaxyarmynavy.com/item-sb-740-charcoal.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92324 | 688 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Sent to me from Triggur...
A backhoe weighing 8 tons is on top of a flatbed trailer and heading east on Interstate 70 near Hays, Kansas. The extended shovel arm is made of hardened refined steel and the approaching overpass is made of commercial-grade concrete, reinforced with 1 1/2 inch steel rebar spaced at 6 inch intervals in a crisscross pattern layered at 1 foot vertical spacing.
Solve: When the shovel arm hits the overpass, how fast do you have to be going to slice the bridge in half? (Assume no effect for headwind and no braking by the driver...)
Extra Credit: Solve for the time and distance required for the entire rig to come to a complete stop after hitting the overpass at the speed calculated above.
Answer - Who cares?! The trucking company just bought themselves a bridge.
[Edit: More details are available on Snopes.com.] | <urn:uuid:5ae2218d-3718-439c-bb99-f16cb8ddc69b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmuth.org/node/1085/engineering-quiz | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914432 | 192 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
A victim of the confused thinking around performance-enhancing drugs? High jumper Dimitrios Chondrokoukis of Greece skipped the 2012 Olympics in London after failing an anti-doping test in the run-up to the games.
A victim of the confused thinking around performance-enhancing drugs? High jumper Dimitrios Chondrokoukis of Greece skipped the 2012 Olympics in London after failing an anti-doping test in the run-up to the games. Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
Rocky's coach forbade him to have sex with his girlfriend while he was in training. Was this because he would be so tired out by sex? Or was it that the coach believed it would alter Rocky's drive, or mindset, somehow making him happy and relaxed, depriving him of the disturbed drive, the hunger, to win? I was just a kid when I saw the movie. I didn't really understand.
I don't remember our freshman-year track coach telling us anything about honor, spiritual cultivation or the joys of competition. I do remember him explaining the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise, ways to control painful lactic acid build up and, of course, advice about what and when to eat before a meet.
Both these examples remind us that sports has never been concerned alone with what goes on in the ring, or on the field, but always also with the cultivation of oneself.
All sports are like Formula One. The goal is to win, but the project is to make the optimal vehicle, and then to learn how to use it and tune it and transform it (yourself!) into something capable of going just beyond the limits of what is possible. And so athletes — or rather their coaches and teams and cultures — study and experiment.
Biochemistry, nutrition, training regimens, all with an eye to self-transformation. Look at carbo-loading, for example. Swedish scientists back in the 1960s devised an elaborate system for maximizing glycogen levels in the muscles of marathon runners. The idea, roughly, was to run a long race about a week before the marathon, depleting the muscles of their glycogen stores. This was followed by a rest period with a very low carbohydrate diet. By now the muscles are starving for glycogen and are ready to take even larger amounts on board and store it up. Now the runner is ready to binge, eating as much high-carb foods as he or she can in the run-up to the race. This is an ingenious way to combine eating, resting, and running to jigger the body's default biochemistry and so to achieve a biochemical state of readiness for the start of the big race.
(For a great discussion of carbo-loading and the science behind and history of doping, see Run, Swim, Throw, Cheat: The Science Behind Drugs in Sport by Chris Cooper.)
From this standpoint, it is natural, appropriate and entirely in accord with the spirit of the project of athletic achievement to explore and then exploit the benefits afforded by new knowledge and new technologies. So-called blood doping — maximizing one's ability effectively to transport oxygen to the muscle fibers by blood transfusions (one's own, or someone else's) — is a brilliant and creative solution, an entirely natural next step once you've tapped out other techniques (such as sleeping at high altitudes, or in oxygen tents).
Why ban blood doping?
Because it isn't natural!
Nonsense! What is more natural than blood?
Transfusion isn't natural though. It's medical. Scientific. It's icky. Syringes, hoses, blood. Yuck!
Is it natural to sleep in a tent with low oxygen levels? Or to take a cable car up to sleep and then back down to train?
What does natural mean today? What has it ever meant? Transfusion is used widely in our society as a therapy for a wide range of illnesses and complaints. It isn't strange, unheard of, foreign. It's a clever means to an end.
The thing is, you will say, the transfusions allows you achieve higher levels of red blood cells than you could through other training means, or that it allows you to reach higher levels in a shorter period of time.
And that's right. That's the point!
Athletes are clever and they don't give up. They find new ways, new solutions. That is the sport.
I honestly can't see any principled difference between blood doping, and carbo-loading or high-low altitude training. There is no principled difference.
And this is why athletes dope. Not because they are vain, or weak-willed, or set on taking what is rightfully someone else's. The project is to figure out a way to transform themselves so that they can do it better than anyone else. This is what they do.
Doping isn't cheating.
Of course, in a strictly legalistic sense, it may very well be cheating. If the rules say "no blood doping" then you break the rules if you transfuse.
But there are two points to be made about this.
First, you can't ban every new molecule, synthetic or otherwise, whose ingenious consumption can be shown, in combination with hard work, to improve performance. You can't ban ingenuity. And so you should not blame athletes for coming up with new cocktails that evade the letter of the law. This is what they do. This is how they think.
Second, why should blood doping, or EPO, or anabolic steroids, be banned in the first place? I don't believe there is a satisfactory justification for prohibition.
And this has two consequences.
The first is straight forward. Sporting authorities will never win the arms race. They'll always be one step behind the athletes. What they will do is destroy the careers of some athletes. They will humiliate them and dishonor them. But for every athlete they injure through disqualification there are others who will escape detection. (Bravo!)
The second consequence is more subtle. The anti-doping authorities will never convince the athletes that they shouldn't try to dope, just as they'll never convince them that it's wrong to think about food, sex and sleep in connection with training.
We treat athletes like tax cheats. But really they are just working the loop holes. As they must. This is what they do.
There are a good reasons not to take drugs to enhance athletic performance. It can be very dangerous, for one. But here's a news flash. Sports are not good for you. Athletes transform themselves into performance vehicles. Just look at the bodies of the athletes at this Olympics! Natural? No way. Examples of sound mind in a sound body? No way!
One last point: our prohibitionist attitudes are new — intimately connected to our society's fifty-year old demonization of drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and such like — and the athletes permissive interest in recipes, cocktails and regimens for maximizing success is as old as the hills. In the future, I believe, and I hope, we'll look back on this anti-PED hysteria as a strange aberration, a sign of our moral immaturity.
Back to sex: banning drugs in sports is a bit like banning foreplay.
You can keep up with more of what Alva Noë is thinking on Facebook and on Twitter @alvanoe | <urn:uuid:2a9bb762-ea47-4d97-b5cb-eaad467a3ab2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2012/08/06/158156923/legalize-it-an-argument-for-doping-in-sports?ft=1&f=125937106 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958803 | 1,549 | 1.929688 | 2 |
by Lior Tzror for Ba'Machane
Tel Aviv, Israel (SPX) Jan 07, 2013
The Artillery Corps "Sky Rider" Unit is preparing to deploy a new UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) which will introduce a significant improvement in its takeoff, flight and visual capabilities, transferring aerial footage of the situation directly to the battalion.
The system comprises a new version of "Skylark", the UAS operated by the Unit, and a new operating system called "Version 10", which will be integrated within the Unit in the coming days.
The Israeli Ground Forces have specified an objective by which Sky Rider soldiers recruited in November 2012, whose dedicated training will commence this March, will be trained to operate the new version of the system.
"The new version will be substantially better than the currently existing systems", said Sky Rider Commander, Lt. Col. Uri Gonen.
"Among other capabilities, it will provide a link between the new "Tamnoon" command and control (C2) system intended for the Unit and between the DAP (Digital Army Program) system, thus enabling the "Sky Rider" system to continuously operate in the "Massuah" environment", he added.
Once attached to the DAP, battalion commanders will be able to pinpoint UAS location on their screens and determine the area it is observing.
In addition to the presently operated regimental UAS, the Unit is currently involved in the development of an additional UAS for the Brigade level, along with the Department of Military Equipment and the Israeli Ground Forces' Technology Division, as well as the defense industries.
The approval of the development of this new UAS follows a "Sky Rider" flight trial that was held between the months of November 2011 to March 2012, examining the operational need for such a UAS.
"The aim is to create a force within the unit, platoon or company, which will operate in the brigade level", explained Lt. Col. Gonen. This UAS will address more comprehensive visual needs suiting the activity of a brigade, as compared to a battalion, which examines a smaller area.
"I believe that this UAS' operational capabilities will be evident in the field within 18 months", he added.
A verbatim translation of an article published on 13 December 2012, in "Ba'Machane", the official IDF news magazine.
UAV News - Suppliers and Technology
|The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement| | <urn:uuid:99806199-6772-4b61-a095-020882e87b14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Sky_Rider_to_be_integrated_within_the_Digital_Army_Program_999.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927483 | 620 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Birder Jargon Project: Jeepers, Peepers
Shorebirds have a reputation for being intimidating identification challenges. In some ways it’s an unfair characterization, and one that may prevent some beginning birders from getting their hands dirty in the nitty-gritty of their ID. After all, many of the common species, those your most likely to come across on your local mudflat, offer few major challenges. One shouldn’t be intimidated, this reputation for difficulty is more or less based on a handful of species pairs for which there’s no shame in leaving them as “slashes” (Short/Long-billed Dowitcher, Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs), and birds that for many are synonymous with shorebirds themselves, the “Peeps“.
The term Peep is so ingrained in birder culture that it’s difficult to imagine that it’s not an immediately evident phrase, but many a new birder could easily get tripped up by it. In fact, there’s probably no other term that is so insular to the birding community. For all the hand-wringing about how the US Fish & Wildlife Service counts “birders” in their annual determination, the most accurate number could probably be figured by polling knowledge of the word “Peep”. If you look at birds, you know what it means. If you don’t, you have absolutely no idea and no context by which you can even guess.
It refers, of course, to the small North American sandpipers of the genus Calidris, a large, but not necessarily diverse, genus of streaky brownish/grayish birds that make up the bulk of shorebird migration across much of the continent. I’ve heard that the term “peeps” refer to the call notes of the group, nearly universally short and pipery, like a toy whistle, but I’m not convinced this is accurate. It could just as easily be a reduction of the word “sandpiper” itself, though that may be retroactively applied. In any case this little bit of birder jargon is pervasive in the birding community. It transcends geography. It’s used on beginner bird walks and family specific guides alike.
Peeps is most generally used to refer to the the five smallest Calidris sandpipers; Least, Semipalmated, Western, White-rumped, and Baird’s. Occasionally, Pectoral Sandpiper, commonly referred to as “Peck“, is considered a peep as well, though that has more to do with the fact that it usually accompanies the other five than any sort of structural resemblance.
The smallest, the appropriately named Least Sandpiper, is often called simply “Leastie” in the field. At first glance this seems to be another example of the commonly applied -ie suffix, but there’s a practical application too. The plural form “Leasts”, has an uncomfortable consonant cluster at the end. The extra vowel stop in “Leasties” does make it easier to get your mouth around. While probably unintentional, it’s a result of one of the many idiosyncrasies of the English language.
The only other Peep with a regularly used nickname is the Semipalmated Sandpiper, often called simply “Semi“. Semipalmated, referring to the distinctive partially webbed feet of this shorebird, is a mouthful in any situation. Semipalmated Plover can also occur on the same mudflats, so a distinction has to be made, commonly (at least in my experience) as “Semi Sand” versus “Semi P“, but more often the less exciting “Semi Plover”.
Of course, you could always just call them slashes and be done with it. | <urn:uuid:ca208e8f-4c53-439d-b348-d487ea585e5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thedrinkingbirdblog.com/2011/08/17/the-birder-jargon-project-jeepers-peepers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958298 | 838 | 3 | 3 |
CEMES-CNRS, BP 4347, 31055 Toulouse Cedex, France
The misfit stress induced by a lattice mismatch is determined by a curvature analysis performed by Transmission Electron Microscopy on plan view samples. The different samples examined consist of Ga In x As layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a (100) GaAs substrate, with a nominal mismatch of 0.7 and 1.4%. The layer thicknesses are lower than the critical thickness for plastic relaxation. The curvature radius as well as the substrate thickness are determined directly by bend contour analysis. For each sample, the measurement was performed on different areas corresponding to different substrate thicknesses. The experimental value of the in-plane component of the stress is deduced by applying the Stoney's formula over the whole range of substrate thickness. The accuracy of the method is better than 15%. Experimental values of the misfit stress are ten to fifty per cent lower than the theoretical value calculated for pseudomorphic layers. This discrepancy is discussed in terms of partial relaxation.
(Received August 1 2003)
(Revised December 15 2003)
(Accepted January 20 2004)
(Online publication March 29 2004) | <urn:uuid:4c88bb9d-3759-4535-9da3-03f4ed0b2f3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.epjap.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8078016 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925865 | 247 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Buckets of rain, but few problems found on Plateau
April 30, 2009 · Updated 1:03 PM
By Shawn Skager
Although the recent spat of consecutive days of rain in Western Washington fell short of the biblical 40 days and 40 nights or the state record of 34 days, the amount of water that has fallen from the sky has been prodigious.
Since the rains began Dec. 19 more than 13 inches were recorded at SeaTac International Airport and two single day records - 1.33 inches on Jan. 5 and .94 inches on Jan. 10 - have been set, according to the National Weather Service.
The result of all the rain has been predictable with sodden hillsides sliding and rivers surging over their banks and across roadways.
Also predictable has been the performance of two of the area's dams, Mud Mountain on the White River and Howard Hanson on the Green River, both operated by the Seattle district office of the Army Corps of Engineers.
Although on first glance the uninformed may be alarmed by the amount of water flowing out and being held back by the dams, Ken Brettmann, hydrological engineer for the Corps of Engineers, says the dams are operating as they are supposed to.
“I think we're in good shape right now,” Brettmann said. “There actually not that full. We've had an incredibly wet run. We've been holding back water, since Tuesday.
“As much outflow as you see, there is more inflow coming in,” he continued. “Both projects are performing as they were designed. We're actually storing water to help mitigate downstream flooding.”
According to Brettman, both the Howard Hanson and Mud Mountain dams were constructed to control flooding further downstream, rather than on the Plateau.
“The Mud Mountain Dam was built (in 1948) for protection for the lower Puyallup Valley, between Puyallup and Tacoma where the population density is,” he said. “The primary concern is the lower Puyallup. That's why the project was built. Secondly, is the White River.”
The White River, which originates on the shoulders of Mount Rainier, joins the Puyallup River in Sumner.
The Howard Hanson Dam, which was completed in 1962, controls flooding along the course of the Green River, which winds through the Kent Valley before becoming the Duwamish River and emptying into Elliot Bay.
According to Brettmann, one of the questions he frequently fields is why the outflow isn't restricted or cut off to control flooding on the upper White and Green rivers.
“Flood control is a balancing act, looking downstream and mitigating flooding,” Brettmann said. “The last thing you want to do is fill your project and not have any room for more inflow. If we're storing too much, we run the danger of not having any flood control.”
So far Brettmann said the efforts have been successful. The Puyallup River recently crested at 20,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water, well below the 50,000 cfs considered flood stage.
The Hanson has also fulfilled it's purpose, Brettmann said, despite flooding along the Green River in Kent.
“The only thing one can control is the inflow into the project,” he said. “There is also a sizable drainage area downstream that we can't control. We've had very high runoff in local creeks in the lowlands, which we normally don't have.”
“It's a tough thing to forecast,” he said. “The amount of rains can really matter.”
Brettmann said although forecasters may predict a front moving through Thurston county, a slight variation to the north can make a huge difference.
“They might be off by a 100 miles which will put more rain in your basin,” he said. “Or the forecasters might predict two inches and instead four inches fall, that can make a big difference.”
Shawn Skager can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:6d14c7b8-02cb-413a-96ed-1607f4e53207> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blscourierherald.com/news/35982269.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971714 | 878 | 2.140625 | 2 |
** Originally published in the print edition of the Los Angeles Times:
MERIDA, Mexico -- Contrary to any Hollywood doomsday scenarios or a variety of less-than-optimistic New Age theories, the world will not end Friday, Mexican tourism authorities and Merida residents assure anyone who asks.
Yes, the end of the 13th baktun cycle in the so-called Long Count of the Maya calendar corresponds more or less with Dec. 21, this year's winter solstice.
But the event merely signals the "end of an era" and the start of a new one, locals and scientists say. Or, as some academic Mayanists have explained, the end of the 13th baktun — a date deciphered from totem glyphs and written numerically as 22.214.171.124.0. — is a sort of "resetting of the odometer" of time.
It has become reason enough for people of this flat, tropical region of Mexico to celebrate their Maya culture and history and make mystically minded calls for renewal and rebirth. Officials and residents have also expressed high hopes that foreign tourists will be inspired to visit the Yucatan Peninsula through Friday and beyond. (Assuming the world is still here.)
A handful of residents and officials from Merida, the capital of Mexico's Yucatan state, gathered Saturday at a small cenote, or freshwater sinkhole, for a "Blessing of the Water" ceremony. A man dressed in white and described as a shaman stood before an offering marking the four points of the compass, saying prayers in the Mayan language for Madre Tierra, or Mother Earth.
"We must reflect on how humanity has conducted itself, what we've done to the Madre Tierra during this cycle," said Valerio Canche, president of a local association of Maya spiritual healers.
Canche walked among the people, singing in Mayan in a low voice. He took a handful of herbs and dipped them in water drawn from the cenote, then splashed droplets on the heads of those gathered — a cleansing ceremony.
"Let us conduct ourselves, as brothers all, for the common good," Canche said. "Not only for the Maya people, but for the entire universe."
This cenote, in a community called Noc Ac about 14 miles outside the historic center of Merida, sits inside a dilapidated, unguarded government lot, little more than an opening in the ground shaded by a large tree.
A variety of New Age theories — espoused in hundreds of books, documentaries and Websites — warn that, among other potential scenarios Friday, the planets will align and spark a catastrophic recalibration of the Earth's magnetic field, ending the world as we know it.
The U.S. government has taken pains to debunk the theories as impossible, yet they persist in the popular imagination, thanks in part to such cultural offerings as the big-budget movie "2012" (released in 2009).
Geoffrey Braswell, a professor of Maya archaeology at UC San Diego, said the ancient Maya had even larger cycles of time than the baktun, which consists of 144,000 days. Some inscriptions that survive, he said, point to years as far ahead in our Gregorian calendar as 4772.
"There are two monuments that mention this date, the end of this cycle of the 13th baktun. But there is a very long inscription at [the archaeological site] Palenque that talks about events further in the future, and that would seem to suggest that the Maya did not think the world would end," Braswell said.
In Merida on Friday, Gov. Rolando Zapata presided over the official opening of an ambitious series of exhibits, seminars, performances and fiestas to mark the end of the 13th baktun. The entire festival is dubbed "Time."
"This is the time that unites all times," Zapata said. "It falls upon us to live in an era of change, and it falls upon us to accept the responsibility of a new beginning."
After the water-blessing ceremony at the cenote, Petitte Lizarraga, the city's deputy director of tourism, said she hoped that interest in the region's Maya culture would result in more visitors and tourism income. But she also warned against the potential harm that accompanies unchecked tourism in Yucatan, a touchy subject in a region with a string of environmental issues related to the industry, particularly in the neighboring state of Quintana Roo.
"The tourist who comes to this state is a cultural tourist, one who searches for these traditions, and respects all of this," Lizarraga said. "This shouldn't be considered only as promotion. We want people to know us, but respecting all the parameters, so that this will survive for many more centuries to come." | <urn:uuid:9f9e2fd0-742c-4c06-b1a3-7a8e013a30ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2012/12/merida-mexico-says-hope-to-see-you-after-world-doesnt-end.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953856 | 1,015 | 2.109375 | 2 |
“Get out of my room!” “Mo – ommm! She’s bothering me!”
I’m reminded of Bill Cosby’s routine, “…down came the informer.” Do you have one of those? We do and I have to admit the information has saved us from disaster a few times. But I also find myself, like Cosby’s wife, sometimes talking to the ceiling. “Do I have to come up there?”
Oh well. Shrug. Sheesh. Siblings! The world would have us believe it is normal for brothers and sisters not to get along. Sibling rivalry is a prerequisite for family life. No way can brothers and sisters be best friends. Are you kidding?
Does that mean parents should just give up? Sigh a heavy sigh and ignore the ugliness because it is normal?
Don’t buy into the lie. Do not lower your standards to match the world’s.
Why not? Because God made families. He designed them. God wants brothers and sisters to be best friends. Remember that we are to be in the world but not of the world. So how in the world is that possible?
Some habits from the archives and from around the web:
“Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm133:1
Parents must set the standards. Fight the good fight for your family. Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends helps us hit the problem at the source. Allows siblings to see each other in Christ’s love. To become best friends.
Kim linked to this a while ago on littlesanctuary: Help! There’s a bully in my house by Spunky Homeschool. I adore practical and the bathroom is also our work-it-out room. Otherwise, I’d lose my mind playing referee.
2. ATTACH meetings for siblings – “ATTACH stands for Advancing Together Toward Accountability, Christ-likeness, and Harmony. We recommend that older siblings invite their younger siblings to join them for a special snack and one-one-one time.”
3. Sibling Sleepovers – “The curly-haired, stuffed dog is tucked under her arm. She opens the linen closet door a crack. Out roll two sleeping bags. With her favorite quilt making a train behind her, she has all she needs for the weekly sleepover. A sibling sleepover.”
4. The Habit of Running Well “The saints that have gone before us are rising from their stadium seats, waving their fists in the air and cheering you on. Lay those thoughts that entangle you aside and finish the race.”
5. Habit of Kindness – the standard for speech – “is it kind? is it necessary?”
6. Divide and Conquer – “My oldest boys are 17 months apart. Most of the time it is an enormous blessing to have them so close. But there are some times when their closeness begins to wear on us all. Whether they are plotting mischief, scuffling over a toy, or just not getting along… there are occasions when it becomes clear that they need some time apart.”
7. The Child Training Bible – The Bible is, of course, the best resource. The Child Training Bible helps with topics by tab. Verses at the ready.
8. Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie O’Martian. Prayers for parents to pray for brothers and sisters.
“…Help them to love, value, appreciate, and respect one another so that the God-ordained tie between them cannot be broken…I pray that there be no strain, breach, misunderstanding, arguing, fighting, or separating of ties…”
9. The Doorposts blog – specific encouragement and activity ideas for sibling harmony. We also use these products: The Brother Offended, If-Then, Blessing and Go to the Ant charts, The “Put On” Chart (with paper dolls!)
10. Passionate Purposeful Parenting – so many resources here!
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8
**Bonus Top Ten! I invite you over to Hodgepodge where I share A Hodgepodge of FAQ Homeschool Questions
~By Tricia, Hodgepodge | <urn:uuid:538fd054-e183-437e-ab52-8d8282917802> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.habitsforahappyhome.com/tag/siblings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933869 | 938 | 1.8125 | 2 |
NASA missions on Mars have been used to conduct a wide variety of scientific experiments. Much of the scientific scrutiny from NASA and other space agencies centers on Mars.
NASA launched Mars Phoenix lander in August of 2007 and sent it speeding towards Mars. In May of 2008, the Phoenix touched down and began its mission on the red planet. One of the tasks that Phoenix was sent to Mars to accomplish was to find out if water ice was present in the Martian soil.
Phoenix did find evidence that ice was in the Martian soil and after its three-month mission ended, NASA decided to keep Phoenix working. In November of 2008, NASA officially closed the mission Phoenix was conducting when it lost communications with the lander after it lost power and could no longer sustain itself.
NASA had expected Phoenix to lose power during the harsh Martian winter, though it continued to try to get the rover to respond to commands sent from satellites orbiting Mars to no avail. This week NASA reported that controllers have stopped trying to use the pair of probes orbiting Mars to communicate with Phoenix.
NASA says that Phoenix last communicated with the Mars Odyssey orbiter on November 2. Controllers tried on November 29 to raise Phoenix one final time. The advancing Martian winter is depriving the lander of the solar energy it needs to maintain working power levels.
NASA says that there is a remote chance that Phoenix could survive the -150 degree Martian winter and will try in the Martian springtime to re-establish contact with the lander. | <urn:uuid:4387915f-2882-4dad-b4c4-5aa8933f96aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=13607&commentid=375571&threshhold=1&red=360 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966963 | 300 | 3.921875 | 4 |
Schine was president of Darnell Theaters and executive vice president of Schine Enterprise of Theaters, hotels and radio stations according to the March 6 obituary.
Unknown to many locally, one of the moguls of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had his start in the city’s glove-making business.
Samuel Goldwyn was his name.
Fulton County Historian Peter Betz found Goldwyn’s birth name was Schmuel Gelbfish (aka Gelbfisz) and that left his home in the ghetto of Warsaw, Poland, in the early 1890s. This was after his father, Aaron, died, according to A. Scott Berg’s “Goldwyn: A Biography.”
Berg wrote Gelbfisz walked the 500 miles to Hamburg, Germany, where he hoped to get passage to the United States, but he was broke. His mother had given him the name of a Warsaw family they knew in Hamburg, and searching through the city, Gelbfisz found Jacob Liebglid.
Liebglid was a glovemaker and put Gelbfisz to work learning the trade. He also passed the hat among the Jewish community and raised the 18 shillings needed to put Gelbfisz on a boat train to London when Gelbfisz wanted to move on.
After staying with his mother Hannah’s sister and her family a short time in the ghetto of Birmingham, England, Gelbfisz worked a number of jobs, including selling sponges for Isaac and Dora Saalberg. Dora claimed later that she suggested anglicizing Schmuel Gelbfisz to Samuel Goldfish because of the disadvantages of emphasizing his Jewish heritage. She also claimed Sam took money invested in sponges to sell and instead took passage to the United States.
Berg writes that Gelbfisz now Goldfish not only stole the money to get passage (an assertion corroborated by Goldwyn’s second wife Frances, who said, “Sam always told me that he stole the money to get to America,”) but he also entered the country as an illegal alien.
Berg wrote that Sam was most likely incorrectly named Sam Goldberg, a steerage passenger on the ship Labrador bound for New York in December 1898.
When Sam made it to New York in early 1899, he heard of a Polish community upstate where he could use his knowledge of glovemaking and that they were so in need of laborers they would even pay his passage there.
Gloversville had a population of 15,000 and about 12,000 of those people were in the glovemaking industry.
Goldfish’s first job was sweeping the four stories of the Louis Meyers and Son. glove factory on the corner of West Pine and South Main streets next to the railroad tracks for $3 a week.
According to Berg, Fulton County produced half the work gloves and 95 percent of dress gloves in the U.S. at the turn of the century. Goldfishbecame a glove cutter at Joseph Bachner and Joseph Moses Bacmo Gloves where he could make as much in a day as he had at Meyers in a week.
When Goldfish’s courting of a leather worker’s daughter, Mary Cohen, was rebuffed because of his crude manners and speech, he enrolled in the Gloversville Business College to improve himself.
After a failure in trying to start his own glove shop with a friend, Charles Sesonske, Goldfish talked his way into being foreman of 100 glove cutters for the Elite Glove Co.
He soon saw the real money was being made by glove salesmen, according to Berg, and five years later, talked his way into selling gloves for Elite by asking for the toughest territory. He was persistent and soon was making $15,000 per year. He was able to send enough money for his two younger brothers to sail to the U.S. and got them started selling gloves as well on smaller accounts he no longer had time for.
When Goldfish became sales manager for Elite, he moved to offices in New York City, where he first saw “flickers” — the beginning of movies — and was introduced to and married his first, wife Blanche Lasky, a former vaudevillian.
He saw a future in cinema and pursued it as doggedly as he had glove sales. He talked his brother-in-law, Jesse Lasky, and another mutual friend, Cecil Blount DeMille, into pursuing an idea Goldfish had to make the short flicker features longer by putting several reels of film together. From there, Goldfish was “off to the movies.”
According to http://www.usefultrivia.com'>www.usefultrivia.com, when, along with the famous theatrical Selwyn family, he formed Goldwyn Pictures in 1917, he liked the name so much that he legally changed his name to Samuel Goldwyn. He was instrumental in forming not one, but two of the largest Hollywood studios: Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He also was a founding member of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers.
Herbert Engel, author of “Shtetl in the Adirondacks,” speculated the two Jewish businessmen who would later found theatrical empires — Myer Schine and Goldwyn — knew each other.
“It is reasonable to assume that in the course of business matters of common interest Myer [Schine] met … Goldwyn,” Engel wrote.
On Halloween night in 1945, Goldwyn returned to Gloversville for a dinner at the Kingsboro Hotel, where, Betz wrote, Goldwyn met his old benefactor, Joseph Liebglid, from Hamburg, now a resident at the hotel. In his remarks that night, Goldwyn said he got his citizenship papers in Fulton County and also remarked, “People are probably happier here than in the big cities … I have a great affection for this town. This is the place that gave me my first start in life.”
Samuel Goldwyn was 20 in this photo taken in Gloversville in about 1899. He then was called Samuel Goldffish. | <urn:uuid:4b4d0228-4637-4e82-b28e-f3b136b2dc30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.leaderherald.com/page/content.detail/id/501098/Gloversville-Mogul.html?nav=5009 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982831 | 1,311 | 2.296875 | 2 |
EpirusArticle Free Pass
Epirus, Modern Greek Ípeiros, also spelled Ípiros, coastal region of northwestern Greece and southern Albania. It extends from Valona Bay (Albanian: Gjiri i Vlorës) in Albania (northwest) to the Gulf of Árta (southeast); its hinterland extends eastward to the watershed of the Pindus (Modern Greek: Píndos) Mountains. The nomói (departments) of Árta, Ioánnina, Préveza, and Thesprotía make up the Greek part of Epirus. The Pindus Mountains separate Epirus from the Greek regions of Macedonia (Makedonía) and Thessaly (Thessalía) to the east. The principal town in Greek Epirus is Ioánnina, and the largest settlement in Albanian Epirus is Gjirokastër.
Epirus is largely made up of great limestone ridges oriented northwest-southeast and north-south; they reach up to 8,600 feet (2,600 m) in height and fall off more steeply to the west. These ridges generally parallel the coast and are so steep that the valley land between them is mostly suitable only for pasture, though northern Epirus has more plains and cereal production. Much of Epirus lies on the windward side of the Pindus Mountains and hence receives the prevailing winds off the Ionian Sea (Ióvio Pélagos), with the result that it receives more rainfall than does any other region of mainland Greece.
Poor-quality soils, faulty farming practices, and fragmented landholdings have kept the region’s agricultural productivity low. Sheep and goats are raised, and corn (maize) is the chief crop. Olives and oranges are also cultivated, and tobacco is grown around Ioánnina. There is also some dairying and fishing. Wheat and vegetables must be imported.
Epirus has few resources and industries, and its population has been depleted by emigration. The population is concentrated in the area around Ioánnina, which has the largest number of manufacturing establishments.
In the Neolithic period Epirus was populated by seafarers along the coast and by shepherds and hunters from the southwestern Balkans who brought with them the Greek language. These people buried their leaders in large mounds containing shaft graves. Similar burial chambers were subsequently used by the Mycenaean civilization, suggesting that the founders of Mycenae may have come from Epirus and central Albania. Epirus itself remained culturally backward during this time, but Mycenaean remains have been found at two religious shrines of great antiquity in the region: the Oracle of the Dead on the Acheron River, familiar to the heroes of Homer’s Odyssey, and the Oracle of Zeus at Dodona, to whom Achilles prayed in the Iliad.
After the Mycenaean civilization declined, Epirus was the launching area of the Dorian invasions (1100–1000 bce) of Greece. The region’s original inhabitants were driven southward by the Dorians, and out of the ensuing migrations three main clusters of Greek-speaking tribes emerged in Epirus: the Thesproti of southwestern Epirus, the Molossi of central Epirus, and the Chaones of northwestern Epirus. They lived in clusters of small villages, in contrast to most other Greeks, who lived in or around city-states.
In the 5th century Epirus was still on the periphery of the Greek world. To the 5th-century historian Thucydides, the Epirotes were “barbarians.” The only Epirotes regarded as Greek were the Aeacidae, who were members of the Molossian royal house and claimed descent from Achilles. From about 370 bce on, the Aeacidae were able to expand the Molossian state by incorporating tribes from the rival groups in Epirus. The Aeacidae’s efforts gained impetus from the marriage of Philip II of Macedon to their princess, Olympias. In 334, while Alexander the Great, son of Philip and Olympias, crossed into Asia, his uncle, the Molossian ruler Alexander, attacked southern Italy, where he was eventually checked by Rome and killed in battle in about 331. Upon Alexander the Molossian’s death, the Epirote tribes formed a coalition on an equal basis but with the Molossian king in command of their military forces. The greatest Molossian king of this coalition was Pyrrhus (319–272); he and his son Alexander II ruled as far south as Acarnania and to central Albania in the north. Pyrrhus’s military adventures overstrained his state’s military resources, but they also brought great prosperity to Epirus. He built a magnificent stone theatre at Dodona and a new suburb at Ambracia (now Árta), which he made his capital.
After the Aeacid monarchy ended in 232, the Epirote alliance was transformed from a coalition of tribes into a federal state, the Epirote League, with a parliament (synedrion). The league steered an uneasy course during the conflicts between Rome and Macedonia, and in 170 bce, during the Third Macedonian War (171–168), the league split apart, the Molossians supporting Macedonia, the Chaones and Thesproti siding with Rome. Molossia was taken in 167 by victorious Rome, and 150,000 of its inhabitants were enslaved.
Central Epirus did not recover until the Byzantine period, but the coastal areas continued to prosper as part of a Roman province. When the Roman Empire split in 395 ce, Epirus was the westernmost province of the Eastern Empire. When the Byzantine Empire became fragmented, an independent kingdom was maintained in Epirus (see Epirus, despotate of) after 1204 ce, but in 1318 Serbs and Albanians overran the area, and in 1430 the Ottoman Turks annexed it. Under Turkish rule, the region suffered from overcultivation and deforestation that caused soil erosion and depopulation. In the 18th century Turkish sovereignty over Epirus was threatened by the Albanian warlord Ali Paşa Tepelenë, who was recognized in 1788 by Turkey as pasha of Ioánnina. His rule was extended by 1810 to most of the Peloponnese (Pelopónnisos), central Greece, and parts of western Macedonia and was one cause of the War of Greek Independence (1821–29).
Much of northern Epirus was united with Greece in 1913, leaving minorities on both sides of the Greek-Albanian frontier. In 1939 Italy annexed all of Albania but in 1940, after attempting to invade Greece, was pushed out of Greek Epirus by the Greek army and lost much of northern Epirus until the German attack on Greece. The German occupation followed (1940–44) until the Allies restored the Greek-Albanian frontier.
What made you want to look up "Epirus"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:5b13fde2-3bbd-459d-bd39-c0832667f517> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/190156/Epirus | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962521 | 1,521 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act Scheduled for Introduction
With over 43 original sponsors to the Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act at the time of this writing, the effort to pass the PRRA appears to be picking up a lot of steam. The PRRA is scheduled to be introduced in the Senate by Charles Grassley, and in the House by Steve Largent on June 28. That day Capitol Coordinators of the Congressional Action Program will be organized into approximately 20 teams for the purpose of meeting with key Congressional leaders and gaining more support for the bill.
Just How Effective are CAP Lobbyists?
On May 3rd, 1995, twenty teams of trained home school family lobbyists visited approximately 100 Congressional offices to request that the Representatives and Senators they visited sign on as original sponsors to the Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act. Approximately 35% of the visits yielded original sponsors. Remember, we are talking about original sponsorship, not votes. Over 100 offices were visited, and most indicated that they would vote for the PRRA. Congratulations and thanks are due to all the Capitol Coordinators who sacrificed their time and energy to promote the PRRA.
Abolishing the Federal Role in Education
The 10th Amendment to the Constitution makes it clear that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Because education is not "delegated to the United States," it is specifically reserved to the individual states and to the people. For this reason, the National Center opposes any federal involvement in education.
Michael Farris, Christopher Klicka, and Doug Phillips of the National Center have been working with a broad coalition of pro-family groups, including Concerned Women for America and Eagle Forum, to ensure that the freshmen of the 104th Congress will fulfill their promise to completely eliminate the federal role in education. A majority of state home school leaders from around the country have indicated their unequivocal support for this effort. These home school leaders recognize that the abolition of the federal role in education would mean an end to Goals 2000, federal Outcome-Based Education initiatives, and all federal meddling with home schooling.
The Christian Coalition has agreed to support our efforts to abolish the federal role in education. However, in its "Contract with the American Family," The Christian Coalition urges members of Congress to use federal taxpayer money to promote voucher initiatives. "You can't have it both ways," remarked CAP Director Doug Phillips. "Either you want the federal government to be in the education business, or you don't. I hope there will be a change in this policy so that the pro-family movement can send a united message to Congress: 'Shut it all down.'"
The Congressional Action Program will be poised to respond should an opportunity arise to promote a bill which actually restores the Constitutional limitations on Congress by eliminating the federal role in education.
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Retina Scans
Over the last three years certain members of Congress have pushed efforts to introduce a computer-driven universal registry and tracking system for all Americans. In 1993, CAP alerted home educators to a dangerous vaccine tracking and registry system. Thanks in large part to the work of home educators, a sufficient number of concerns about privacy and parental rights were raised to scuttle the most dangerous parts of the measure. In 1994, President Clinton's Health Security Act promised to impose upon every American citizen a "passport" card, complete with a universal identifier number, the capability of storing up to 35,000 pages worth of information on the individual, and the ominous assurance that the information collected and stored on the cards could be easily accessed and shared between government agencies, social workers, and police officers. Recognizing that the American people are not yet willing to embrace national socialized medicine, Congress rejected the Clinton plan, and with it the passport card.
But not content to let sleeping dogs lie, members of both parties have joined together once more to impose on the American people the most comprehensive attempt at Big Brother surveillance in American history. This time the registry/tracking system comes in the form of several highly popular immigration bills. Both Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Allen Simpson (R-WY) are asking Congress to ratify a proposal which would require every American to carry a special identification card which, in the words of Senator Feinstein would include "a magnetic strip on which the bearer's unique voice, retina pattern or fingerprint is digitally encoded." Every public or private employer in America would be required get approval from the federal government prior to hiring an employee. The theory is that requiring the feds to monitor every American will limit the influx of illegal immigration into the country. Senator Feinstein's bill is numbered S. 580, and Senator Simpson's bill is numbered S. 269.
According to Stuart Anderson of the Alexis de Toqueville Institution: "The federal government has never before held detailed information on all Americans in one place accessible to government officials and outside entities. The IRS, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, computer hackers, and even private organizations such as banks could potentially access a national computer database. Already proposals have been floated to use such a database to verify eligibility for federal benefits, track immunization, collect child support and assist law enforcement, while new farther reaching ideas will likely emerge once a computer system is in place."
HSLDA President Mike Farris has signed a letter to Congress opposing these bills, and has joined a coalition of diverse groups in standing against these dangerous invasions to family privacy.
Are You Part of a CAP Telephone Tree?
If not, it's time to call the National Center. We need every HSLDA member family to be part of the national defense of home school freedoms. Here's how it works: If you contact us at (540) 338-7600*, and mention that you want to be part of a CAP telephone tree, we will give your name and number to a District Coordinator in the area in which you live. If possible, please tell us the number of your congressional district when you call. Once your name is plugged into a telephone tree, you will be given instant action information should a federal threat arise to your home school freedoms. The phone trees are only activated for issues of specific concern to home educators. Over the course of a year you may receive 4 to 8 alerts, depending on the activity of Congress. | <urn:uuid:ee39a630-f508-4604-9051-bd8fa265e81b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hslda.org/courtreport/V11N3/V11N302.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950987 | 1,301 | 1.679688 | 2 |
ATDynamics Receives California’s Highest Environmental Honor
December 14, 2011
CleanTech transportation technology company, ATDynamics, Inc., is the recipient of the 2011 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA) for re-defining the shape of the modern tractor-trailer. Presented by California’s Governor, Edmund G. Brown, the GEELA Award is California’s highest environmental honor recognizing innovative businesses which reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing significant economic benefits.
Founded by CleanTech entrepreneur Andrew Smith T'07, ATDynamics [with Jeff Grossmann Th'06 serving as VP of Engineering] has successfully commercialized the TrailerTail, a four-foot aerodynamic fairing which streamlines airflow at the back of a tractor-trailer to reduce fuel consumption by 6%. ATDynamics has deployed thousands of TrailerTails to trucking fleets in 2011 and is expanding to equip over 50,000 semi-trailers with TrailerTails by 2014. TrailerTail technology has the potential to save the freight industry over $20 billion in diesel fuel costs over the next decade...
...Equipping the US long-haul trailer fleet with TrailerTails will reduce over 50 million metric tons of CO2 emissions over the next decade at a net profit to the industry. Over 2 million semi-trailers circulate on US highways on a daily basis. Each installed TrailerTail delivers the equivalent annual fuel and emission savings of replacing one standard combustion engine vehicle with an electric vehicle at 1/15th the capital cost. An industry-wide retrofit program would reduce foreign oil imports and create 10,000 new domestic engineering, manufacturing, and installation jobs. | <urn:uuid:7f4dcf7b-0659-4ebe-be05-230912341db2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/news/atdynamics-receives-californias-highest-environmental-honor/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902767 | 352 | 1.984375 | 2 |
I know that in one sense, the York, PA ASA billboards that I wrote about in my last post pale in comparison to the ad campaign wrought by the NYU CSC in 2007. But that still doesn't mean that I can't attempt to change what I consider to be an insult to my son, as well as other autistic people.
So here is the text of the letter that I sent today:
As the father of a child on the autism spectrum, I am writing to express concern about the York, PA ASA chapter’s billboard campaign that associates autism with being kidnapped. I happened to notice one of your billboards while taking a vacation in Pennsylvania. This campaign is reminiscent of the 2007 Ransom Notes campaign that was undertaken (and subsequently removed) by the NYU Child Study Center in New York City.
Comparing people with autism to those who are kidnapped is not only factually wrong (my son hasn’t been kidnapped, he’s right here in front of me), but is demeaning and offensive to those who are autistic. Rather than “creating awareness”, I can only see the logical end result of such an ad campaign be one of creating fear, misunderstanding, and disrespect towards those who are autistic.
In Medieval folklore the image of a changeling was used to describe children with then misunderstood medical disorders or developmental disabilities. Fairies or trolls were thought to have kidnapped the “normal child” and left the changeling in its place. One would think that in the 21st century we could get past such folklore, and deal with reality.
Putting up ads that show such disrespect towards autistics will certainly not result in greater acceptance and integration in either the school environment or the community. As an organization that ostensibly has been set up to serve the needs of the autistic community, I urge you to immediately remove the ads. Furthermore, I strongly encourage you to consult with autistic self advocates before formulating future ad campaigns.
Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Me- Joe, husband of a great wife, and dad to two great kids, who were both adopted at birth.
Liz- My ever understanding wife, who manages to wear many hats (mom, advocate, therapist, teacher) for our kids.
Buddy Boy- Born in 2000. Funny, intelligent, inventive, and autistic. Loves machines.
Sweet Pea- Born in 2002. Typical little sister. Competitive, outgoing, and smart. Loves anything pink. | <urn:uuid:c665989e-9297-48a1-8674-45d6b64c4f9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://club166.blogspot.com/2009/08/letter-ive-written.html?showComment=1250406835270 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970537 | 515 | 1.625 | 2 |
(Depletion of groundwater…)
NEW DELHI: Depletion of groundwater and its increasing pollution could be leading to a silent, nationwide public health crisis as aquifers in many stretches across India are becoming unfit for drinking, according to the government's own figures.
Data submitted in Parliament by the water resources ministry on Monday shows groundwater in pockets of 158 out of the 639 districts has gone saline. It says in pockets across 267 districts, groundwater contains excess fluoride; in 385 districts, it has nitrates beyond permissible levels; in 53 there's arsenic and there's high level of iron in 270 districts.
Besides this, aquifers in 63 districts contain heavy metals like lead, chromium and cadmium, the presence of which in any concentration poses a danger.
The record submitted in answer to a question by Congress MP Shruti Chowdhry presents a countrywide map of where groundwater has become unfit for drinking and where contamination levels have breached government standards of safety.
In Delhi, a number of areas are not safe to draw groundwater from. Aquifers in north, west and southwest districts along the Najafgarh drain contain lead. The southwest district has cadmium and northwest, south and east Delhi have chromium, rendering the water not just bad but dangerous to drink.
Adding to the danger is the fact that only about 65% of the city's population (predominantly in the better-off localities) is serviced by the water supply system of Delhi Jal Board. Besides heavy metal contamination, fluoride has been found in aquifers in New Delhi and those in east, central, north, northwest, south, southwest and west Delhi.
Apart from these, areas in east, central, New Delhi, northwest, south, southwest and west contain nitrates.
The stealthily growing health crisis could be worse in rural India where facilities to even detect chronic health problems arising out of water contamination do not exist. Nearly 80% of India's rural drinking water comes from underground sources.
Drinking fluoride-laden water beyond safe levels can lead to fluorosis which hits teeth and bones. Arsenic causes problems in the nervous system, reduces IQ level in children and in extreme cases can also cause cancer. Chromium is a known carcinogen. Presence of nitrates in drinking water leads to what is commonly called as blue baby disease which hits infants and can lead to respiratory and digestive system problems.
These chemicals have appeared in the water sources either due to too much water being drawn from deeper and deeper in the ground, or due to industrial and human waste contamination.
Arsenic and fluoride are typically found in groundwater where chemicals have leeched from the bedrock due to over-exploitation of the source. Heavy metals are likely to flow in from industrial waste dumped untreated into water-systems. Nitrates are likely to appear in groundwater because of excess or repetitive use of fertilizers over time.
Government reports have shown that water withdrawal from underground aquifers is higher than the annual recharge levels in almost 15% of the country's geographical area. The number of wells are increasing rapidly and so are the depths to which people are plumbing to bring water out as the sources dry up. | <urn:uuid:2679f605-e176-4935-8637-d1027f7e7f21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-02/pollution/31537647_1_groundwater-nitrates-aquifers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959275 | 655 | 2.75 | 3 |
These words were spoken by Rabbi Herschel Schacter shortly after he rode through the gates of the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945, together with the liberating American forces. Rabbi Schacter died in the Bronx on March 21, after a long career as one of the most prominent Modern Orthodox rabbis in the United States. And, as further reported by the NY Times on March 26, he cried “Shalom Aleichem, Yidden, as he ran from barracks to barracks, repeating those words: Peace be upon you, Jews, you are free! He was joined by those Jews who could walk, until a stream of people swelled behind him.”
His words still resonate in my head, and apparently won’t leave me in peace until I write this post and get it out of my system. Because, fellow Jews, it took me awhile to understand that they hold true today – though probably from a somewhat different angle – as they did 68 years ago. Not because Jews are not free. They are, in Israel and America (and most everywhere else), allowed to follow their dreams and live their lives as they please. And yet, and this is what bothers me the most, in Israel – and surly in some segments of American Jewry as well – some people, or better still some leaders, behave as if we are not yet free.
This is an oxymoron of sorts, which demands a careful examination. Let me have a crack at it then, here and now. What I keep hearing from Israeli leaders, and from some American Jews as well, is in what a dangerous neighborhood Israel exists. True enough. They keep stressing, also, that today, 65 years to the establishment of the Jewish state, Israel is still in a state of siege; still fighting for its survival, and still facing an “existential” threat to its existence. Oh, how much Mr. Netanyahu likes to use that old metaphor of comparing Israel’s struggle for survival with what we had suffered in the Holocaust. It is high time to put a stop to the constant, denigrating use of the Holocaust to justify false, cowardly policies.
Israel, after all, is the only unquestionable, unchallengeable superpower in the Middle East today. Furthermore, militarily and economically – with the support of America and American Jews squarely pushing and covering our back – one of the strongest nations on earth, possessing an amazingly strong army, with a large arsenal of nuclear weapons. (Which now we learn, thanks to WikiLeaks, Israel had vehemently refused to admit existed even to the American president and other leaders in 1975, refusing all attempts of inspection – remind you of something?…) So stop pretending as if Israel is not free. Stop pretending as if it faces a constant existential threat. Stop being such a militaristic, confrontational oriented society and realize – leaders and people alike – that only by making peace with your neighbors, far and foremost among them the Palestinians, the gaining of total freedom will be completed.
If there is an existential, external threat to Israel’s existence, it stems not from its neighboring countries, but from its refusal to compromise and make peace. The other existential threat is internally, and threatens the fabric of its society; i.e. the “The wars of the Jews.” It seems as if the gap between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem keeps widening, as is the gap between the liberal, largely secular Israel and the more fervent religious segments of its society. A gap like that, if not kept in check, can grow into an abyss. Tackling these issues at the core, and head on – like, for instance, allowing women to pray as they wish at the Western Wall, and not be pushed to sit at the back of the bus – is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, the rise of Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party signal, at least on that front, a promising move forward.
It is therefore important – especially on this unique April 2013, in which Passover ended and Lag B’Omer begins, in which we honored the memory of all the victims of the Holocaust, and then stood silence in memory of our fallen soldiers, who fought and died for our freedom, to be followed by a celebration of their (and our) achievement of being a free, independent sate – to remember the words Rabbi Schacter cried upon the liberation of Buchenwald: “Peace be upon you, Jews, you are free!” This is a reminder that we are indeed free. And that we better behave like free people – free to choose war or peace – if we don’t want to lose that precious freedom.
* Appeared first on “The Times of Israel.” | <urn:uuid:86b2053a-2acd-4c14-a3d7-e04bde62b829> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://good4jews.wordpress.com/category/politics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969766 | 979 | 1.875 | 2 |
The heart of any adventure is its encounters. An encounter is any event that puts a specific problem before the PCs that they must solve. Most encounters present combat with monsters or hostile NPCs, but there are many other types—a trapped corridor, a political interaction with a suspicious king, a dangerous passage over a rickety rope bridge, an awkward argument with a friendly NPC who suspects a PC has betrayed him, or anything that adds drama to the game. Brain-teasing puzzles, roleplaying challenges, and skill checks are all classic methods for resolving encounters, but the most complex encounters to build are the most common ones—combat encounters.
When designing a combat encounter, you first decide what level of challenge you want your PCs to face, then follow the steps outlined below.
Determine the average level of your player characters—this is their Average Party Level (APL for short). You should round this value to the nearest whole number (this is one of the few exceptions to the round down rule). Note that these encounter creation guidelines assume a group of four or five PCs. If your group contains six or more players, add one to their average level. If your group contains three or fewer players, subtract one from their average level. For example, if your group consists of six players, two of which are 4th level and four of which are 5th level, their APL is 6th (28 total levels, divided by six players, rounding up, and adding one to the final result).
Challenge Rating (or CR) is a convenient number used to indicate the relative danger presented by a monster, trap, hazard, or other encounter—the higher the CR, the more dangerous the encounter. Refer to Table: Encounter Design to determine the Challenge Rating your group should face, depending on the difficulty of the challenge you want and the group's APL.
Determine the total XP award for the encounter by looking it up by its CR on Table: Experience Point Awards. This gives you an “XP budget” for the encounter. Every creature, trap, and hazard is worth an amount of XP determined by its CR, as noted on Table: Experience Point Awards. To build your encounter, simply add creatures, traps, and hazards whose combined XP does not exceed the total XP budget for your encounter. It's easiest to add the highest CR challenges to the encounter first, filling out the remaining total with lesser challenges.
For example, let's say you want your group of six 8th-level PCs to face a challenging encounter against a group of gargoyles (each CR 4) and their stone giant boss (CR 8). The PCs have an APL of 9, and Table: Encounter Design tells you that a challenging encounter for your APL 9 group is a CR 10 encounter—worth 9,600 XP according to Table: Experience Point Awards. At CR 8, the stone giant is worth 4,800 XP, leaving you with another 4,800 points in your XP budget for the gargoyles. Gargoyles are CR 4 each, and thus worth 1,200 XP apiece, meaning that the encounter can support four gargoyles in its XP budget. You could further refine the encounter by including only three gargoyles, leaving you with 1,200 XP to spend on a trio of Small earth elemental servants (at CR 1, each is worth 400 XP) to further aid the stone giant.
Adding NPCs: Creatures whose Hit Dice are solely a factor of their class levels and not a feature of their race, such as all of the PC races detailed in Races, are factored into combats a little differently than normal monsters or monsters with class levels. A creature that possesses class levels, but does not have any racial Hit Dice, is factored in as a creature with a CR equal to its class levels –1. A creature that only possesses non-player class levels (such as a warrior or adept) is factored in as a creature with a CR equal to its class levels –2. If this reduction would reduce a creature's CR to below 1, its CR drops one step on the following progression for each step below 1 this reduction would make: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 1/8.
High CR Encounters: The XP values for high-CR encounters can seem quite daunting. Table: CR Equivalencies provides some simple formulas to help you manage these large numbers. When using a large number of identical creatures, this chart can help simplify the math by combining them into one CR, making it easier to find their total XP value. For example, using this chart, four CR 8 creatures (worth 4,800 XP each) are equivalent to a CR 12 creature (worth 19,200 XP).
Ad Hoc CR Adjustments: While you can adjust a specific monster's CR by advancing it, applying templates, or giving it class levels, you can also adjust an encounter's difficulty by applying ad hoc adjustments to the encounter or creature itself. Listed here are three additional ways you can alter an encounter's difficulty.
Characters advance in level by defeating monsters, overcoming challenges, and completing adventures—in so doing, they earn experience points (XP for short). Although you can award experience points as soon as a challenge is overcome, this can quickly disrupt the flow of game play. It's easier to simply award experience points at the end of a game session—that way, if a character earns enough XP to gain a level, he won't disrupt the game while he levels up his character. He can instead take the time between game sessions to do that.
Keep a list of the CRs of all the monsters, traps, obstacles, and roleplaying encounters the PCs overcome. At the end of each session, award XP to each PC that participated. Each monster, trap, and obstacle awards a set amount of XP, as determined by its CR, regardless of the level of the party in relation to the challenge, although you should never bother awarding XP for challenges that have a CR of 10 or more lower than the APL. Pure roleplaying encounters generally have a CR equal to the average level of the party (although particularly easy or difficult roleplaying encounters might be one higher or lower). There are two methods for awarding XP. While one is more exact, it requires a calculator for ease of use. The other is slightly more abstract.
Exact XP: Once the game session is over, take your list of defeated CR numbers and look up the value of each CR on Table: Experience Point Awards under the “Total XP” column. Add up the XP values for each CR and then divide this total by the number of characters—each character earns an amount of XP equal to this number.
Abstract XP: Simply add up the individual XP awards listed for a group of the appropriate size. In this case, the division is done for you—you need only total up all the awards to determine how many XP to award to each PC.
Story Awards: Feel free to award Story Awards when players conclude a major storyline or make an important accomplishment. These awards should be worth double the amount of experience points for a CR equal to the APL. Particularly long or difficult story arcs might award even more, at your discretion as GM.
As PCs gain levels, the amount of treasure they carry and use increases as well. The game assumes that all PCs of equivalent level have roughly equal amounts of treasure and magic items. Since the primary income for a PC derives from treasure and loot gained from adventuring, it's important to moderate the wealth and hoards you place in your adventures. To aid in placing treasure, the amount of treasure and magic items the PCs receive for their adventures is tied to the Challenge Rating of the encounters they face—the higher an encounter's CR, the more treasure it can award.
Table: Character Wealth by Level lists the amount of treasure each PC is expected to have at a specific level. Note that this table assumes a standard fantasy game. Low-fantasy games might award only half this value, while high-fantasy games might double the value. It is assumed that some of this treasure is consumed in the course of an adventure (such as potions and scrolls), and that some of the less useful items are sold for half value so more useful gear can be purchased.
Table: Character Wealth by Level can also be used to budget gear for characters starting above 1st level, such as a new character created to replace a dead one. Characters should spend no more than half their total wealth on any single item. For a balanced approach, PCs that are built after 1st level should spend no more than 25% of their wealth on weapons, 25% on armor and protective devices, 25% on other magic items, 15% on disposable items like potions, scrolls, and wands, and 10% on ordinary gear and coins. Different character types might spend their wealth differently than these percentages suggest; for example, arcane casters might spend very little on weapons but a great deal more on other magic items and disposable items.
Table: Treasure Values per Encounter lists the amount of treasure each encounter should award based on the average level of the PCs and the speed of the campaign's XP progression (slow, medium, or fast). Easy encounters should award treasure one level lower than the PCs' average level. Challenging, hard, and epic encounters should award treasure one, two, or three levels higher than the PCs' average level, respectively. If you are running a low-fantasy game, cut these values in half. If you are running a high-fantasy game, double these values.
Encounters against NPCs typically award three times the treasure a monster-based encounter awards, due to NPC gear. To compensate, make sure the PCs face off against a pair of additional encounters that award little in the way of treasure. Animals, plants, constructs, mindless undead, oozes, and traps are great “low treasure” encounters. Alternatively, if the PCs face a number of creatures with little or no treasure, they should have the opportunity to acquire a number of significantly more valuable objects sometime in the near future to make up for the imbalance. As a general rule, PCs should not own any magic item worth more than half their total character wealth, so make sure to check before awarding expensive magic items.
While it's often enough to simply tell your players they've found 5,000 gp in gems and 10,000 gp in jewelry, it's generally more interesting to give details. Giving treasure a personality can not only help the verisimilitude of your game, but can sometimes trigger new adventures. The information on the below can help you randomly determine types of additional treasure—suggested values are given for many of the objects, but feel free to assign values to the objects as you see fit. It's easiest to place the expensive items first—if you wish, you can even randomly roll magic items, using the tables in Magic Items, to determine what sort of items are present in the hoard. Once you've consumed a sizable portion of the hoard's value, the remainder can simply be loose coins or non-magical treasure with values arbitrarily assigned as you see fit.
Coins: Coins in a treasure hoard can consist of copper, silver, gold, and platinum pieces—silver and gold are the most common, but you can divide the coinage as you wish. Coins and their value relative to each other are described at the start of Equipment.
Gems: Although you can assign any value to a gemstone, some are inherently more valuable than others. Use the value categories below (and their associated gemstones) as guidelines when assigning values to gemstones.
Low-Quality Gems (10 gp): agates; azurite; blue quartz; hematite; lapis lazuli; malachite; obsidian; rhodochrosite; tigereye; turquoise; freshwater (irregular) pearl
Semi-Precious Gems (50 gp): bloodstone; carnelian; chalcedony; chrysoprase; citrine; jasper; moonstone; onyx; peridot; rock crystal (clear quartz); sard; sardonyx; rose, smoky, or star rose quartz; zircon
Medium Quality Gemstones (100 gp): amber; amethyst; chrysoberyl; coral; red or brown-green garnet; jade; jet; white, golden, pink, or silver pearl; red, red-brown, or deep green spinel; tourmaline
High Quality Gemstones (500 gp): alexandrite; aquamarine; violet garnet; black pearl; deep blue spinel; golden yellow topaz
Jewels (1,000 gp): emerald; white, black, or fire opal; blue sapphire; fiery yellow or rich purple corundum; blue or black star sapphire
Grand Jewels (5,000 gp or more): clearest bright green emerald; diamond; jacinth; ruby
Non-magical Treasures: This expansive category includes jewelry, fine clothing, trade goods, alchemical items, masterwork objects, and more. Unlike gemstones, many of these objects have set values, but you can always increase an object's value by having it be bejeweled or of particularly fine craftsmanship. This increase in cost doesn't grant additional abilities—a gem-encrusted masterwork cold iron scimitar worth 40,000 gp functions the same as a typical masterwork cold iron scimitar worth the base price of 330 gp. Listed below are numerous examples of several types of nonmagical treasures, along with typical values.
Fine Artwork (100 gp or more): Although some artwork is composed of precious materials, the value of most paintings, sculptures, works of literature, fine clothing, and the like come from their skill and craftsmanship. Artwork is often bulky or cumbersome to move and fragile to boot, making salvage an adventure in and of itself.
Jewelry, Minor (50 gp): This category includes relatively small pieces of jewelry crafted from materials like brass, bronze, copper, ivory, or even exotic woods, sometimes set with tiny or flawed low-quality gems. Minor jewelry includes rings, bracelets, and earrings.
Jewelry, Normal (100–500 gp): Most jewelry is made of silver, gold, jade, or coral, often ornamented with semi-precious or even medium-quality gemstones. Normal jewelry includes all types of minor jewelry plus armbands, necklaces, and brooches.
Jewelry, Precious (500 gp or more): Truly precious jewelry is crafted from gold, mithral, platinum, or similar rare metals. Such objects include normal jewelry types plus crowns, scepters, pendants, and other large items.
Masterwork Tools (100–300 gp): This category includes masterwork weapons, armor, and skill kits—see Equipment for more details and costs for these items.
Mundane Gear (up to 1,000 gp): There are many valuable items of mundane or alchemical nature detailed in Equipment that can be utilized as treasure. Most of the alchemical items are portable and valuable, but other objects like locks, holy symbols, spyglasses, fine wine, or fine clothing work well as interesting bits of treasure. Trade goods can even serve as treasure—10 pounds of saffron, for example, is worth 150 gp.
Treasure Maps and Other Intelligence (variable): Items like treasure maps, deeds to ships and homes, lists of informants or guard rosters, passwords, and the like can also make fun items of treasure—you can set the value of such items at any amount you wish, and often they can serve double-duty as adventure seeds.
Magic Items: Of course, the discovery of a magic item is the true prize for any adventurer. You should take care with the placement of magic items in a hoard—it's generally more satisfying for many players to find a magic item rather than purchase it, so there's no crime in placing items that happen to be those your players can use! An extensive list of magic items (and their costs) is given in Magic Items.
Although you should generally place items with careful consideration of their likely effects on your campaign, it can be fun and save time to generate magic items in a treasure hoard randomly. You can “purchase” random die rolls of magic items for a treasure hoard at the following prices, subtracting the indicated amount from your treasure budget and then rolling on the appropriate column on Table: Random Magic Item Generation in Magic Items to determine what item is in the treasure hoard. Take care with this approach, though! It's easy, through the luck (or unluck) of the dice to bloat your game with too much treasure or deprive it of the same. Random magic item placement should always be tempered with good common sense by the GM. | <urn:uuid:41f254de-99a3-427d-80dc-79b96116ba53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pathfindersrd.com/gamemastering | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928082 | 3,499 | 1.976563 | 2 |
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but the basic function is the same.
The word "loom" is derived from the Old English "geloma" formed from ge-(perfective prefix) and loma, a root of unknown origin; this meant utensil or tool of any kind. In 1404 it was used to mean a machine to enable weaving thread into cloth. By 1838 it had gained the meaning of a machine for interlacing thread as in weaving, knitting or lacemaking. In Greek mythology, the loom was the symbol of Athena, and in Roman, Minerva.
The major components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses or shafts (as few as two, four is common, sixteen not unheard of), shuttle, reed and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking-up operations. These are the principal motions.
- Shedding. Shedding is the raising of part of the warp yarn to form a shed (the vertical space between the raised and unraised warp yarns), through which the filling yarn, carried by the shuttle, can be inserted. On the modern loom, simple and intricate shedding operations are performed automatically by the heddle or heald frame, also known as a harness. This is a rectangular frame to which a series of wires, called heddles or healds, are attached. The yarns are passed through the eye holes of the heddles, which hang vertically from the harnesses. The weave pattern determines which harness controls which warp yarns, and the number of harnesses used depends on the complexity of the weave. Two common methods of controlling the heddles are dobbies and a Jacquard Head.
- Picking. As the harnesses raise the heddles or healds, which raise the warp yarns, the shed is created. The filling yarn in inserted through the shed by a small carrier device called a shuttle. The shuttle is normally pointed at each end to allow passage through the shed. In a traditional shuttle loom, the filling yarn is wound onto a quill, which in turn is mounted in the shuttle. The filling yarn emerges through a hole in the shuttle as it moves across the loom. A single crossing of the shuttle from one side of the loom to the other is known as a pick. As the shuttle moves back and forth across the shed, it weaves an edge, or selvage, on each side of the fabric to prevent the fabric from raveling.
- Battening. Between the heddles and the takeup roll, the warp threads pass through another frame called the reed (which resembles a comb). The portion of the fabric that has already been formed but not yet rolled up on the takeup roll is called the fell. After the shuttle moves across the loom laying down the fill yarn, the weaver uses the reed to press (or batten) each filling yarn against the fell. Conventional shuttle looms can operate at speeds of about 150 to 160 picks per minute.
There are two secondary motions, because with each weaving operation the newly constructed fabric must be wound on a cloth beam. This process is called taking up. At the same time, the warp yarns must be let off or released from the warp beams. To become fully automatic, a loom needs a tertiary motion, the filling stop motion. This will brake the loom, if the weft thread breaks. An automatic loom requires 0.125 hp to 0.5 hp to operate.
Types of looms
Back strap loom
A simple loom which has its roots in ancient civilizations comprising two sticks or bars between which the warps are stretched. One bar is attached to a fixed object and the other to the weaver usually by means of a strap around the back. On traditional looms, the two main sheds are operated by means of a shed roll over which one set of warps pass, and continuous string heddles which encase each of the warps in the other set. The weaver leans back and uses their body weight to tension the loom. To open the shed controlled by the string heddles, the weaver relaxes tension on the warps and raises the heddles. The other shed is usually opened by simply drawing the shed roll toward the weaver. Both simple and complex textiles can be woven on this loom. Width is limited to how far the weaver can reach from side to side to pass the shuttle. Warp faced textiles, often decorated with intricate pick-up patterns woven in complementary and supplementary warp techniques are woven by indigenous peoples today around the world. They produce such things as belts, ponchos, bags, hatbands and carrying cloths. Supplementary weft patterning and brocading is practiced in many regions. Balanced weaves are also possible on the backstrap loom. Today, commercially produced backstrap loom kits often include a rigid heddle.
Warp weighted loom
The warp-weighted loom is a vertical loom that may have originated in the Neolithic period. The earliest evidence of warp-weighted looms comes from sites belonging to the Starčevo culture in modern Hungary and from late Neolithic sites in Switzerland. This loom was used in Ancient Greece, and spread north and west throughout Europe thereafter. Its defining characteristic is hanging weights (loom weights) which keep bundles of the warp threads taut. Frequently, extra warp thread is wound around the weights. When a weaver has reached the bottom of the available warp, the completed section can be rolled around the top beam, and additional lengths of warp threads can be unwound from the weights to continue. This frees the weaver from vertical size constraints.
A drawloom is a hand-loom for weaving figured cloth. In a drawloom, a "figure harness" is used to control each warp thread separately. A drawloom requires two operators, the weaver and an assistant called a "drawboy" to manage the figure harness.
|Elements of a foot-treadle floor loom|
A handloom is a simple machine used for weaving.In a wooden vertical-shaft looms, the heddles are fixed in place in the shaft. The warp threads pass alternately through a heddle, and through a space between the heddles (the shed), so that raising the shaft raises half the threads (those passing through the heddles), and lowering the shaft lowers the same threads—the threads passing through the spaces between the heddles remain in place.
Flying shuttle
Hand weavers could only weave a cloth as wide as their armspan. If cloth needed to be wider, two people would do the task (often this would be an adult with a child). John Kay (1704–1779) patented the Flying Shuttle in 1733. The weaver held a picking stick that was attached by cords to a device at both ends of the shed. With a flick of the wrist, one cord was pulled and the shuttle was propelled through the shed to the other end with considerable force, speed and efficiency. A flick in the opposite direction and the shuttle was propelled back. A single weaver had control of this motion but the flying shuttle could weave much wider fabric than an arm’s length at much greater speeds than had been achieved with the hand thrown shuttle. The flying shuttle was one of the key developments in weaving that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution, the whole picking motion no longer relied on manual skill, and it was a matter of time before it could be powered.
Haute-lisse and basse-lisse looms
Looms used for weaving traditional tapestry are classified as haute-lisse looms, where the warp is suspended vertically between two rolls, and the basse-lisse looms, where the warp extends horizontally between the rolls.
Ribbon weaving
Traditional looms
Several other types of hand looms exist, including the simple frame loom, pit loom, free-standing loom and the pegged loom. Each of these can be constructed, and provide work and income in developing societies.
Power looms
Edmund Cartwright built and patented a power loom in 1785, and it was this that was adopted by the nascent cotton industry in England. The silk loom made by Jacques Vaucanson in 1745 operated on the same principles but wasn't developed further. The invention of the flying shuttle by John Kay was critical to the development of a commercially successful power loom. Cartwright's loom was impractical but the ideas behind it were developed by numerous inventors in the Manchester area of England; where by 1818 there were 32 factories containing 5732 looms.
Horrocks loom was viable but it was the Roberts Loom in 1830 that marked the turning point. Incremental changes to the three motions continued to be made. The problems of sizing, stop-motions, consistent take-up and a temple to maintain the width remained. In 1841, Kenworthy and Bullough produced the Lancashire Loom which was self-acting or semi-automatic. This enables a youngster to run six looms at the same time. Thus, for simple calicos, the power loom became more economical to run than the hand loom- with complex patterning that used a dobby or Jacquard head, jobs were still put out to handloom weavers until the 1870s. Incremental changes were made such as the Dickinson Loom, culminating in the Keighley born inventor Northrop, who was working for the Draper Corporation in Hopedale producing the fully automatic Northrop Loom. This loom recharged the shuttle when the pirn was empty. The Draper E and X model became the leading products from 1909. They were challenged by synthetic fibres such as rayon.
Jacquard looms
The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom, invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801, that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with complex patterns such as brocade, damask and matelasse. The loom is controlled by punched cards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order. It is based on earlier inventions by the Frenchmen Basile Bouchon (1725), Jean Baptiste Falcon (1728) and Jacques Vaucanson (1740) To call it a loom is a misnomer, a Jacquard head could be attached to a power loom or a hand loom, the head controlled which warp thread was raised during shedding. Multiple shuttles could be used to control the colour of the weft during picking.
Circular looms
A circular loom is used to create a seamless tube of fabric for products such as hosiery, sacks, clothing, fabric hose (such as fire hose) and the like. Circular looms can be small jigs used for hand knitting or large high speed machines for modern garments. A good example of the circular loom's work is the new seamless women's stockings, which no longer require a seam running up the back of the leg.
Dobby looms
A Dobby Loom is a type of floor loom that controls the whole warp threads using a dobby head. Dobby is a corruption of "draw boy" which refers to the weaver's helpers who used to control the warp thread by pulling on draw threads. A dobby loom is an alternative to a treadle loom, where multiple heddles (shafts) were controlled by foot treadles- one for each heddle. The Jacquard loom, which was invented earlier applies the same idea in a different way.
Rapier looms
In each pick, the weft is pulled half way across the fabric by a metal rapier, it is caught by a second rapier and pulled the rest of the throw. No shuttle is involved, removing the need for dropboxes and the pirning process. Sulzer is a major manufacturer.
Air-jet looms
Water-jet looms
An early nineteenth century Japanese loom with several heddles, which the weaver controls with her foot
A Jakaltek Maya brocades a hair sash on a back strap loom.
Hand loom at Hjerl Hede, Denmark, showing grayish warp threads (back) and cloth woven with red filling yarn (front)
See also
- Fashion and Textile Museum
- Shuttle (weaving)
- Textile manufacturing
- Timeline of clothing and textiles technology
- Weaving (mythology)
- Etymology Online
- Websters 1913 p=868
- Collier 1970, p. 104
- Barber & 1991 pp.93–96
- Crowfoot 1936, p. 36
- Burnham 1980, p. 48
- Handlooms: Practical guide to constructing viable handlooms, Joan Koster,1978
- Marsden 1892, p. 57
- Guest, Richard (1823). "XII". The Compendious History of Cotton-Manufacture. p. 46. Retrieved Feb 2009.
- Marsden 1892, p. 76
- Marsden 1892, p. 94
- Mass 1990
- Collier 1970, p. 111
- S. Rajagopalan, S.S.M. College of Engineering, Komarapalayam, Pdexcil.org
- Eric Hobsbawm, "The Age of Revolution", (London 1962; repr. 2008), p.45.
- "Fabric Glossary". Retrieved 2008-11-21.
- C. Razy p.120 (1913)
- [annals.fih.upt.ro/pdf-full/2012/ANNALS-2012-2-34.pdf Szobo,WEFT INSERTION THROUGH OPEN PROFILE REED IN AIR JET LOOMS, Budapest]
- Barber, E. J. W. (1991). Prehistoric Textiles. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00224-X.
- Burnham, Dorothy K. (1980). Warp and Weft: A Textile Terminology. Royal Ontario Museum. ISBN 0-88854-256-9.
- Collier, Ann M (1970). A Handbook of Textiles. Pergamon Press. p. 258. ISBN 0-08-018057-4, 0 08 018056 6 Check
- Crowfoot, Grace (1936/1937). "Of the Warp-Weighted Loom". The Annual of the British School at Athens 37: 36–47.
- Marsden, Richard (1895). Cotton Weaving: Its Development, Principles, and Practice. George Bell & Sons. p. 584. Retrieved Feb 2009.
- Mass, William (1990). "The Decline of a Technology Leader:Capability, strategy and shuttleless Weaving". Business and Economic History. ISSN 089-6825.
- Ventura, Carol (2003). Maya Hair Sashes Backstrap Woven in Jacaltenango, Guatemala, Cintas Mayas tejidas con el telar de cintura en Jacaltenango, Guatemala. Carol Ventura. ISBN 0-9721253-1-0.
|Look up loom in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Looms|
- Handloom construction: Practical guide to constructing viable handlooms, Joan Koster,1978
- Loom demonstration video
- "Caring for your loom" article
- "The Art and History of Weaving"
- The Medieval Technology Pages: "The Horizontal Loom" | <urn:uuid:b331b741-4add-482c-b365-73b20c78d9cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handloom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934361 | 3,382 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Die Veneris, 28 Julii, 1643.
Carriers in Staffordshire.
ORDERED, That the Carriers, and such other as carry Goods and Provisions unto Staffordshire, shall have free Liberty to carry their Goods and Wares into that County, without any Let or Interruption of any Court of Guard, Officer of the Army, Committee, or others: And that Sir Edw. Littleton write a Letter to the Committee at Coventry to this Purpose; and the Goods to be restored accordingly.
Muskets for Nottingham.
A Letter from Nottingham, of the Five-and-twentieth of July, desiring Four or Five hundred Muskets, and some other Relief;
Ordered, That the Town and County of Nottingham shall have presently sent down unto them, for their Relief, Five hundred Muskets: And that the Committee for the Safety do take care, that these Five hundred Muskets be forthwith sent down unto them.
King's. Warrant not to be regarded.
A Warrant from the King, dated at Oxon the One-and-twentieth of July 1643, to the Keeper of the Prison of Newgate, or his Under-keeper, for the Delivery of Tho. Waters and Tho. Tison, Prisoners in Newgate. . .: And it is Ordered, That the Keeper shall not release or discharge the said Tison and Waters, until this House take further . ., notwithstanding the said Warrant: And that he shall therefore be indemnifled, and saved harmless.
Sir K. Digby.
Ordered, That Sir Kenelme Digby be not discharged till the House take further Order: And that Directions be given to the Keeper of Winchester House, where he is Prisoner, to this Purpose.
Earl of Kingston's Funeral.
Ordered, That Mr. Pierrepont shall have Liberty to send to Oxon for a Convoy for himself, and his Servants, to go to Holme, into the King's Quarters, to the Burial of the Earl of Kingston his Father: And that he shall have Mr. Speaker's Warrant for himself, and his Servants, to go down to the Burial of his Father.
Insurrection in Kent.
A Letter was read, from Sir Anth. Welden, and other Deputy Lieutenants of the County of Kent:
Upon which, the House being informed that Sir Anth. Welden was at the Door, he was called in: and, being demanded, what was meant by the rebellious Knight, answered, they meant one Captain Knight, Captain to Young Hales: And being demanded by what Means the Letter from both Houses was concealed from them, answered, that Mr. James shewed Sir Mich. Livesay the Letter; but took an Oath from him, that he should not discover it to any Man.
He farther informed, that when Sir Mich. Livesay was ready to fall upon the Rebels at Sevenock, that he was commanded to the contrary: And further informed, That Sir F. Barnham never appeared, nor assisted, neither in his Purse, nor his Person.
Mr. Farnaby was called in; and being demanded what Language he gave to Sir Tho. Walsingham; and whether he were not an Actor in this Insurrection in Kent; trifled and shuffled with the House in his Answer:
And was commanded to withdraw.
Resolved, &c. That Mr. Farnaby of Sevenock, the Schoolmaster, shall be forthwith committed close Prisoner to Newgate, for being one of the chief Actors in the late Commotion and Insurrection in Kent.
Resolved, &c. That Mr. Chase, the Minister of Chissleherst, shall be forthwith sent for, as a Delinquent; and his Estate sequestred.
Resolved, &c. That Jo. Rowland, Minister of Footescray, shall be forthwith sent for, as a Delinquent; and his Estate sequestred.
Resolved, &c. That Wm. Walleys, Minister of Fewdley in Kent, be forthwith sent for, as a Delinquent; and his Estate sequestred.
The House interpose in a Quarrel.
Ordered, That Sir Edw. Baynton, Sir Edw. Hungerford, and Mr. Baynton, be enjoined and required not to give or receive any Challenge, or do any Thing that concerns any of their own private Affairs, that may tend to the Disturbance of the Peace of this House, or of the Kingdom.
They were, by Mr. Speaker, by the Command of the House, enjoined hereunto, accordingly.
Insurrection in Kent.
Resolved, &c. That * Hobbs, of Erith, be forthwith sent for, as a Delinquent, for being a chief Actor in the late Commotion and Insurrection in Kent; and that his Estate be seized, and sequestred; and he, nor any for him, permitted to make any Sale of them, or any Part of them.
Resolved, &c. That Sir Edw. Hales be forthwith committed Prisoner to the Tower; there to remain, during the Pleasure of the House; upon Suspicion of being an Actor in the late Commotion and Insurrection in Kent.
Upon a Report from the Committee for the Safety of the Kingdom; it is Resolved, &c. That the Horse and Arms of all those that have lately risen in Kent; or that have assisted, relieved, or countenanced them; or that have refused to assist the Well-affected, being thereunto required; be forthwith seized.
Resolved, &c. That the Horses so seized, be sent to the Commissary of Horses here in London.
Resolved, &c. That the Arms, so seized, shall be laid up, in some Place of Safety; and, upon Occasion, distributed to the well-affected Party.
Resolved, &c. That the Persons of those of Estate, and of the Ministers that have lately risen in Kent; or that have assisted, relieved, or countenanced them; or that have refused to assist the Well-affected, being thereunto required; and that have not lain down their Arms upon the publishing of the Declaration; shall be forthwith seized.
Resolved, &c. That an Ordinance be framed, to enable Commissioners to set good Fines on those that have appeared in this Action.
Mr. Recorder is appointed to prepare an Ordinance for this Purpose.
London Common Hall.
Ordered, That Mr. Vassall desire my Lord Mayor to call a Common Hall, to meet To-morrow at Two of Clock; and that the Business upon the late Petition of the Londoners, be communicated unto them; and likewise the Proclamation that interdicts all Trade and Commerce with the City of London.
Supplies for Dorchester.
A Letter from Dorchester, of the Four-and-twentieth of July; and a Letter from Sir Walth. Erle, of the same Date; desiring some Supplies, of Monies, Arms, and Ammunition; were this Day read: And it is Ordered, That they be referred to the Committee for the Safety of the Kingdom; and that they do give Order to comply with their Desires, in furnishing the Arms and Ammunition desired.
Conference with Lords.
A Message from the Lords, by Sir Edw. Leech and Mr. Page;
The Lords desire a Conference, by Committees of both Houses, presently, in the Painted Chamber, if it may stand with the Conveniency of this House, concerning a Request made unto them by the Agent of the Queen Regent of France.
Answer returned by the same Messengers; that this House has considered their Lordships Message; and will give a present Meeting, as is desired.
E. of Portland, &c.
A Message from the Lords, by Serjeant Whitfield and Dr. Heath:
The Lords have this Day received Two Petitions from the Earl of Portland and the Lord Viscount Conway; expressing their long Imprisonment, and the great Charge they are at; which their Estates are not able to endure; and desire Enlargement: And that the Lords are resolved to enlarge them, unless they shall see Cause to the contrary, within these two or three Days; but so that they shall be always forthcoming, to answer what shall be objected against them.
Ordered, That a Conference shall be desired, upon this Message with the Lords, To-morrow Morning; and that the Committee of Five do prepare Heads for this Conference.
Sir Christ. Yelverton, Mr. Whittlock, Mr. Corbett, are appointed Reporters of this Conference.
Mr. Whittlock reports the Conference:
That the Lords had received a Request, by Sieur de Cressy, Servant to the Queen Regent of France: It is made unto them, by Directions of that Queen to both Houses of Parliament, that Sir Kenelme Digby, a Prisoner to the Parliament, might be released, and carried over, with Sieur de Cressy, into France; the Queen Regent passing her Word, that he shall not return into England, till these Troubles are ended. The Lords observed, that the Queen Regent had granted great Liberties to the Protestants of France; that this would lay an Obligation upon her to continue and increase her Favour to the Protestants; and will oblige her Favour to this Parliament; and that, by reason of the Queen's Engagement, no Prejudice can happen to this State: These Motives induce the Lords, that they are of Opinion to gratify the Queen Regent in this Request; and to grant, that, upon these Terms, he should be enlarged.
Ordered, That this Report, concerning Sir Kenelmne Digby, shall be taken into Consideration To-morrow, the Morning.
Ordered, That Mr. Goodwyn do report, To-morrow, the first Business.
Explanation of the Covenant.
The Explanation of the new Oath and Covenant was read; and, upon the Question, assented unto: And that the Lords Concurrence be desired herein.
Ordered, That the Deputy Lieutenants and Committees in the several Counties, or any of them, or the chief Magistrates or Officers of any Cities or Boroughs, or any One of them, be authorized and required to tender the new Oath and Covenant; or any Two of them, to appoint such Persons as they shall think fit, to tender the said Oath and Covenant, in case the Ministers, Churchwardens, or Constables, do refuse to tender the same, according to the Instructions, to all Sorts of Persons within the several Counties or Parishes of this Kingdom.
Ordered, That Mr. Hoyle do report, To-morrow, the Business concerning the Navy.
Resolved, &c. That the Countess of Dorsett shall be appointed Governess over the King's Children, now at St. James'.
Isle of Ely.
Resolved, &c. upon Mr. Cage his Report, That there shall be a Governor over the Isle of Ely.
Resolved, &c. That Colonel Cromwell shall be appointed Governor of the Isle of Ely; and that my Lord General be desired to grant him a Commission to be Governor of that Place.
Ordered, That the Deputy Lieutenants of the said Isle do take care, that the Trained Bands be forthwith filled, and completely armed, according to the usual Number; and that they do take care, that the new Oath and Covenant be tendered to the Soldiers; and that such Soldiers as are disaffected to the Parliament, be removed; their Names returned to the Parliament; and others put in their stead.
The Ordinance for Huntingtonshire, to have the Assessments there, for Payment of their Forces, was read; and, upon the Question, assented unto.
Sale of old Stores.
The Ordinance for disposing to Sale divers old Anchors, Cables, &c. according to the List therein mentioned, was read; and, upon the Question, assented unto.
Ordered, That the humble Petition of several Commanders, now void of Employments, be referred to the Committee at Merchant Taylors Hall; to consider of the Desires of the Petitioners. | <urn:uuid:ac5dddf7-1dfc-4de0-a36e-789189c7332a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=936 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951838 | 2,631 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Hundreds of shoes shed light on drunk driving
Published Saturday, November 24, 2012 4:49PM PST
Last Updated Saturday, November 24, 2012 6:34PM PST
The fight against impaired driving was brought to the steps of a Surrey courthouse on Saturday, as rows upon rows of shoes were laid out to symbolize those in Canada who were killed by drunk drivers.
The demonstration was led by Markita Kaulius and the group Families for Justice. Kaulius’ 22-year-old daughter Kassandra was killed by an impaired driver last year, and Kaulius says it’s time the laws change to get tougher on drunk driving.
Kaulius says she’s hoping the federal government will implement a mandatory minimum sentence for those who are convicted of impaired driving causing death, as she believes too many impaired drivers simply get away with what she considers to be a slap on the wrist.
“There’s no accountability, there’s no consequences, and they’ll just continue to do it,” she said outside Surrey Provincial Court.
The driver who pleaded guilty to Kassandra’s case will begin a sentencing hearing next month. Crown counsel is asking for three and a half years in prison, but Kaulius says she does not believe justice will be served no matter what the sentence is.
“They get on with their life and continue on,” she said. “We were handed a lifetime sentence without our daughter, and my daughter was given a death sentence.”
Varinder Badh lost her parents in 2008. The man who hit their vehicle pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death, and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Badh says all of the shoes laid out on Saturday show that deaths caused by impaired driving can be avoided.
“We hope to God that this doesn’t happen to another family,” she said. “All we can do is stress that this is preventable.”
With files from CTV British Columbia’s Maria Weisgarber | <urn:uuid:85c1ad34-6952-45dd-adba-0873b9903908> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bc.ctvnews.ca/hundreds-of-shoes-shed-light-on-drunk-driving-1.1052658?playVideo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970405 | 431 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Israeli soldiers discovered a tunnel dug from a garbage dump in the Gaza Strip to nearby Israeli communities, intended for smuggling terrorists and weapons. “The determination in uncovering the tunnel prevented a terror attack in Israeli territory,” said Yoav Galant, an army official. Colonel Moni Katz said that information on the tunnel had been conveyed to the Palestinians, but the Palestinian Authority did not deal with the matter. “Once again we see an exploitation of facilities intended for the Palestinians’ welfare by the terror organizations,” he said. This was the first time since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in August that Palestinians have tried to burrow underneath the border fence surrounding the Strip. | <urn:uuid:a0703ecf-94a5-4d6e-90bb-7b0baf4a33ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/5589/Default.aspx?archive=article_title | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956302 | 140 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The Bigger Picture: Visual Archives and the Smithsonian
Augmented Reality? Something Wrong With That?
The cover shot of Popular Science’s July issue, which focuses on the future of energy, uses some interesting new photographic technology—called augmented reality—to make a point. Buy a copy of the magazine, bring it home or to work, hold it up in front of your Webcam and the fun begins.
As reported in a recent New York Times article—about the slow creep of advertising onto the covers of magazines—what you’ll see on your computer screen is a Flash-based, 3-D version of the cover photo. And then, if you blow air at your computer’s microphone, the fan blades turn. Woo-hoo! Fun, right? So what’s the problem?
Well, the buzz in media is about if or how the cover further blurs distinctions between editorial and advertising space, given that GE (which makes energy products and has been promoting its augmented realty images for months) sponsored the magazine’s cover but didn’t pay for it. (General Electric did, however, buy three pages of ads in the issue.) It turns out that placing ads on the cover of magazines violates rules set up by the American Society of Magazine Editors. But tough times in the media business, with production cost rising as readership declines and the number of ad pages drop, demand new approaches. In this case, let’s leave it to others to duke this issue out.
But from our photographic perspective, questions raised by this media dust-up are interesting to consider. How far are we willing to go when we use photographs to attract attention? How much do we expect, or want, to interact with images? And what’s the next advance in photographic technology that’s going to get us there? | <urn:uuid:b956be33-58e9-48bf-a8d8-a7f458fa7fac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://siarchives.si.edu/blog/augmented-reality-something-wrong | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932041 | 386 | 1.75 | 2 |
Many of you will be traveling this holiday and these few tips from the WSJ could help prevent you from getting sick…
I have a hard time thinking about any place that I am in more close proximity with strangers than on a full flight…
Cleanliness on a plane??? I have been more aware of this since I travel with my toddler granddaughter.
Prevention is key and since we have a nut allergy as well…it is doubly important that we clean the seats and tray tables.
Hydration is also important…not just drinking fluids but also keeping your nose moist with saline nose drops can help.
The seat pockets are a definite “no…no”…they are used as a garbage bag by most passengers…including myself (I do carry plastic bags where I deposit my trash before stuffing it into the seat back pocket)…where else is there to put trash while you wait for the flight attendants to arrive with the garbage bag???
Well…I hope these tips help and that all of you have safe, happy and healthy holidays.
Hydrate. Drinking water and keeping nasal passages moist with a saline spray can reduce your risk of infection.
Clean your hands frequently with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. We often infect ourselves, touching mouth, nose or eyes with our own hands that have picked up something.
Use a disinfecting wipe to clean off tray tables before using.
Avoid seat-back pockets.Open your air vent, and aim it so it passes just in front of your face. Filtered airplane air can help direct airborne contagions away from you.
Change seats if you end up near a cougher, sneezer or someone who looks feverish. That may not be possible on very full flights, but worth a try. One sneeze can produce up to 30,000 droplets that can be propelled as far as six feet.Raise concerns with the crew if air circulation is shut off for an extended period.
Avoid airline pillows and blankets if you find them.
via Where Germs Lurk on Planes – WSJ.com.
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Flying with small children sparks anxiety in the most unflappable parent. Aside from having to prepare food and activities to fill the endless hours of travel, we need to worry about the spate of superbugs lurking on every interior surface. Take a page from high wattage germ-o-phobe playbook and learn develop a cootie arsenal a la Jennifer Lopez, Gwyneth, Katie Holmes, Jessica Alba and Matt Lauer. Best bets to keep you healthy at 32,000 feet? Antiseptic spritzers, airline seat covers , portable air purifiers and a good old nasal spray.
via Katie Holmes part of THE NEW MILE HIGH CLUB | Hollywood Hot Moms.
If you are germ phobic you are not alone. Airplanes are loaded with bacteria and viruses but there are ways to thwart them.
We just traveled roundtrip to the East coast last week and two out of three of us got sick with viral infections that made our “vacation” miserable and carried over to our homecoming.
I, for one, am wondering if any of these suggestions would have helped stave off these ferocious viruses.
Just the thought of carrying any more “stuff” on board makes me crazy …never mind what those around me will be thinking when I begin wiping down my seat and covering it top to bottom with a barrier seat cover.
What do you think…would you be willing to do some “work” to clean the environs of your space on your next flight???
Do you think these suggestions would help prevent infection or do you think that you own immune system will take care of you?
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Up In The Air
This is a funny post from another mommy blogger although it probably was not amusing when this situation was taking place.
It is a dilemma that I have never encountered or witnessed on any of my many flights.
I people watch all the time and observe children and the various behaviors that they exhibit, from which I may add, I learn a lot. I also like to see what activities parents bring on board to amuse their kids during a flight so that I might try these when I am flying with my grandchild.
But this issue is one that can really be a problem when traveling with a potty trained toddler who is afraid of the bathroom on the plane.
I guess my response would be to try to prepare a child ahead of time for the noise in the bathroom and the look of bathroom before even getting on the plane. I would also make sure that a child tries to use the bathroom in the airport before boarding.
Remember the roar of the engine noise seems even louder in the bathroom and any bumps could be scary, also the flushing sounds are somewhat disturbing to me so I sympathize if they are afraid…it sounds like the suction could actually take you with it. That suction is also heard when you drain the sink as well so prepare the child and make it a game if you can. Perhaps even the fact that the toilet is metal may seem scary…it certainly is not as friendly looking as the little potty with “Dora “on it that they are using at home. “Dora” seat covers may help but it did no good for the poor child in this scenario.
One thing I do know is that I would not pursue it if my child had a bad reaction to the airplane bathroom and perhaps I would always carry a pull-up or two and a change of clothes until such time as his/her fear was resolved.
Have any of you had this experience with your child and if so what do you advise?
Read Full Post » | <urn:uuid:6c2b5ae3-1596-498b-bfac-7ec6b7d11526> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://parentingintheloop.wordpress.com/tag/travel/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964039 | 1,193 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Lee Tien of EFF comments on the recent Ninth Circuit revised opinion in United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing (the BALCO decision). The general public will remember the case as the one in which the government swooped in and grabbed everything that wasn’t nailed done in searching for evidence that 10 major league baseball players had used steroids. Many other players, who were not named as targets of the investigation, found their drug testing records in the hands of the government who then viewed everything as being in “plain view” and usable. In response, the courts had criticized the government for misrepresenting risks to judges and over-reaching, and had established procedures for searching and seizing digital evidence that might be aggregated with other data. In doing so, the court had established new Ninth Circuit guidelines going forward that updated and replaced its current standards established in the pre-digital age in the Tamara decision.
Lee writes, in part:
The Ninth Circuit had in its earlier en banc decision [579 F.3d 989 (9th Cir. 2009)] set forth guidelines meant to ensure that even otherwise lawful warrants authorizing the search and seizure of computers do not give officers too much access to private data that might be intermingled with evidence of a crime: (1) the government must waive the “plain view” rule, meaning it must agree to only use evidence of the crime or crimes that led to obtaining the warrant, and not to use evidence of other crimes; (2) the government must wall off the forensic experts who search the hard drive from the agents investigating the case; (3) the government must explain the “actual risks of destruction of information” they would face if they weren’t allowed to seize entire computers; (4) the government must use a search protocol to designate what information they can give to the investigating agents; and (5) the government must destroy or return non-responsive data.
The government, however, challenged these guidelines by seeking “super” en banc rehearing by the full Ninth Circuit (in the Ninth Circuit, ordinary en banc review is done by a panel of 11 judges).
Sadly, while yesterday’s decision reached the same, correct result in this case and denied super en banc rehearing, the revised majority opinion now omits the privacy-protective guidelines. Instead, those guidelines are now part of a 5-judge concurrence and are not binding on magistrate judges issuing warrants.
We’re disappointed. True, the Ninth Circuit recognized that government agents have “a powerful incentive . . . to seize more rather than less” (the opinion archly characterizes the government’s view as “Let’s take everything back to the lab, have a good look around and see what we might stumble upon.”). And eliminating the guidelines might avoid Supreme Court review.
Still, if the Ninth Circuit wanted “to avoid turning a limited search for particular information into a general search of office file systems and computer databases,” it would have been far better off with its original, binding rules.
Many civil libertarians are understandably upset by the revised opinion for walking back the guidelines. Slapping the government on the wrist or ripping into them in an opinion isn’t the same as establishing binding guidelines or rules for how we demand the government conduct itself. When the court had the opportunity to re-assert Fourth Amendment principles and apply them to a digital world, they ceded to government pressure. What will stop the government the next time, then? | <urn:uuid:8b7094d6-a05b-4f34-9825-24b0f4b66321> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=14038 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948692 | 730 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Graphic anti-meth ads catching on
By John Gramlich, Staff Writer
MTV fans in Illinois can turn on the network in search of music videos but may instead see a clip in which a hooded young man rushes into a neighborhood Laundromat, brutally assaults a middle-aged customer and robs him while a family - baby in tow - watches in horror.
In Idaho , plans are in the works for a number of TV channels to show, during primetime hours, images of a teenage girl stepping into the shower only to discover her own hollow-faced, scab-covered likeness cowering on the floor of the bathtub.
All three states are replicating a highly touted advertising campaign that began in Montana and centers on a series of shocking and graphic TV commercials intended to grab the attention of viewers - especially young people - and warn them about the dangers of methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug that has been identified by law enforcement officials as a leading cause of crime nationwide.
The states have jumped at the chance to debut the ads at home, largely because of what many consider a success story in Montana . The state last month announced a nearly 50-percent drop in reported meth usage among high school students since the Montana Meth Project , a private advocacy organization founded by billionaire businessman and philanthropist Tom Siebel, introduced the ads two years ago.
According to a report by the Montana Office of Public Instruction , 4.6 percent of the state's high schoolers now say they have tried meth, compared with 8.3 percent in 2005. State leaders have directly connected that decline with the ad campaign, despite the already decreasing use of meth in state high schools between 1999 and 2005, as documented by the Office of Public Instruction in the same report.
"If it'll work in Montana , it'll work anywhere," U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said at a news conference Sept. 18 in Washington , where the state's congressional delegation joined Siebel and Julie Gerberding, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , to announce the state's meth decline and tout the ads.
At least seven other states - Alaska, California, Iowa, Indiana, Oregon, Kentucky and Washington - also could start airing the ads as part of an anti-meth initiative announced last month by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy . Utah, meanwhile, decided against the shock campaign in favor of its own public awareness drive against meth, unveiled by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. (R) on Sept. 24 and aimed specifically at women ages 12 to 45, whose use of meth has increased in that state.
Funding for the anti-meth ads varies from state to state, but comes from private backers as well as state and federal grants.
The ads now being aired in Arizona and Illinois and soon to air in Idaho are the same as those created in 2005 by Siebel's Montana Meth Project. The organization, which has since grown into a national group simply called The Meth Project , covered the cost of developing and producing the ads and provides them to states for free, though states must pay for air time, said Executive Director Nitsa Zuppas.
Image courtesy of The Meth ProjectThe Meth Project created print ads to accompany TV commercials warning viewers about the dangers of meth. Click here to see all 11 print ads.
The TV commercials take various approaches to warn viewers about meth's dangers. In "Jumped," one of four commercials now airing in Arizona , for example, a narrator explains that he would rather be the victim of a brutal parking-lot assault - shown during the commercial - than be involved with meth.
Other ads portray the sickly faces of supposed meth addicts, who assault and steal from others to support their habits during the 30-second TV clips. The commercials, which are only being shown at night to prevent children from seeing the graphic images, all feature a simple slogan meant to prevent young people from ever wanting to try meth - "Meth: Not Even Once."
"You've got to hit these kids between the eyes because they think they're invincible," said Greg Sullivan, executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs' Association , which helped bring the ads to the state. "You've got to show them what this drug will do to them."
Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter (R) has made the anti-meth campaign a top priority of his administration, contacting Siebel about bringing the ads to Idaho just days after taking office in January.
Otter wants the campaign to be funded entirely by private donors and has lobbied businesses around the state to contribute, according to the governor's spokesman, Jon Hanian, who was optimistic about Otter's chances of raising the estimated $2.7 million needed to run the TV, radio, print and billboard ad campaign for one year in the state.
"It's hard to say no to Butch," Hanian said.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard (D) also approached Siebel and helped create the state's own Meth Project - a sister organization to the state-level group founded by Siebel. Arizona 's multimedia ad campaign is expected to cost $5.3 million and has been partially funded by the Legislature, according to Andrea Esquer, Goddard's spokeswoman.
Illinois has funded its campaign primarily through federal dollars delivered by U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Sullivan, of the Illinois Sheriffs' Association, said.
The ads are not without controversy. Sullivan said he has received some complaints about the graphic nature of the ads. Utah , meanwhile, decided against using the commercials because officials there wanted to target women up to 45 years old instead of teenagers, and wanted to convey a different message.
Utah 's $2 million, state-funded campaign, called End Meth Now , is intended to dispel stereotypes about meth users by focusing on women in their child-bearing years, who increasingly are turning to the drug in the state, according to Mary Lou Emerson, director of the Utah Substance Abuse and Anti-Violence Coordinating Council .
"There's a lot of pressure in Utah for women to be the perfect wife or the perfect mother, and there's something attractive about meth (to them)," Emerson said. "It may appear attractive at the beginning, but it's a very addictive substance. Part of the campaign is trying to get the accurate facts and information about meth out." | <urn:uuid:1cdd11d8-c611-40ad-bac7-ca4606e73ee1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/graphic-anti-meth-ads-catching-on-85899386714 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963811 | 1,326 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Bachelor of Arts
B.A. in English Overview
Students in the English program fulfill general education requirements and take a group of courses with a major emphasis in literature and writing. Working with an academic advisor, students choose elective courses to help them achieve their educational and vocational goals. The English B.A. major serves as preparation for graduate studies in English and other fields such as church ministry, theology, journalism, linguistics, technical writing, library science, business, and education. Students may choose a concentration in one of several areas, or they may earn a semester of course work in study-abroad programs that apply to the English major.
The broad liberal arts dimension of the majors offered by the department serves as a foundation for a variety of vocations and for further study at the graduate level. The department believes that a background of the humanities and social sciences provides students with a framework to integrate studies from other disciplines that will encourage intellectual and spiritual development.
A particular goal of the department is to provide undergraduate preparation for students who will seek graduate training for various phases of Christian service, including pastoral, intercultural, and counseling ministries. The department offers the broad biblical and general educational foundations that are prerequisite for seminary and ministry-oriented graduate schools.
Each of the majors in the department can accommodate students in the Honors Program. Crown students, furthermore, have access to study-abroad programs with a full semester of course work that may be transferred into the English, History, Liberal Arts, and Psychology majors. | <urn:uuid:bd5c8f05-2e88-4bdd-a958-47643cba9db8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crown.edu/campus/majors/humanities-social-science/majors/english-ba/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951505 | 308 | 1.804688 | 2 |
The “Signs for Safety” residency program has been making a visual impact on communities throughout New York City for the last three year. Run by DOT and the Groundswell Community Mural project, the ten session program teaches students the importance of traffic safety and helps them survey the streets near their schools to analyze conditions and identify potential risks.
Throughout the weeks students work with Groundswell artists, studying the use of colors and symbols and ultimately design one-of-a-kind traffic safety signs that address their safety concerns.
A key component of this educational program is a trip to the DOT sign shop to see firsthand how traffic signs are made and to learn about the importance of signs, signals and street markings for the safety pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers. Each spring DOT installs these signs for safety at each participating school, building awareness among all who see them.
Traffic signs are most notable for their clear, symbolic imagery that provide direction, information or identify hazards. Our community signs, while providing universal visual messages, are also uniquely reflective of the communities they inhabit. This year we are please to present a number of multicultural signs with combinations of English, Spanish, Chinese and Korean languages.
Special congratulations to our ten residency schools: PS 105, Brooklyn; PS 345, Brooklyn; Archimedes Academy, Bronx; PS 310, Bronx; PS 128, Manhattan; IS 143, Manhattan; PS 33, Queens; PS 20, Queens; IS 238, Queens and PS 55, Staten Island.
Here are some simple, yet important tips from student participants. Take a look at some of this year's signs and see what other tips they communicate!
Wear your helmet! When bicycling, a helmet is the best protection your brain has.
When you cross, walk the crosswalk. Drivers may not be able to stop quickly enough if you step out, unexpectedly, in the middle of the block.
Pay Attention! Avoid distractions like music players and phones when you're crossing the street. | <urn:uuid:787a1fc6-180b-4564-9f98-d6884f2a5af2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/email/newsletter-safety-2011-03.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92982 | 406 | 2.640625 | 3 |
The Presidential Qualification Issue
September 19, 2011
By Bruce Walker
Marco Rubio is on most short lists for the Republican vice presidential nomination, with the principal objection the question as to whether he is constitutionally eligible. How should we view this issue? At the outset, we need to dispose of the idea that the Constitution contemplates political parties nominating candidates to run for president or vice president. Both parties and candidates have no constitutional reality at all.
The method for electing both these executive branch officers is through a special constitutional body, the Electoral College. The method of choosing those presidential electors has evolved over time and has varied from state to state. Until 1824, those electors were not chosen by the people at all, so if you want a good trivia question, ask someone for the popular vote in the 1820 presidential election (there is none.) Some, like South Carolina and Colorado, retained the right of the state legislature to choose those electors past the 1824 election.
Regardless of how these officers are chosen - and each state legislature has exclusive constitutional power to choose that method - the role of those electors has not changed. Each presidential elector exercises independent judgment and votes for whom he wishes for president and vice president, and implicitly in that prerogative and duty is to cast a ballot only for someone qualified to be president or vice president. What this means is that if a Perry-Rubio ticket swept all fifty states that means nothing. The Electoral College could instead elect Tim Pawlenty and Joe Biden to be president and vice president.
Even when presidential electors began to be chosen by the people, the ballots were either provided by political parties or by the voter. In effect, every ballot was a “write-in” and nothing could prevent voters from casting ballots for electors who promised to vote for a person who was not qualified to be president.
That may be the way our political system has worked, but the Constitution, still very much in force in this area, provides for something radically different. The Electoral College meets. Its members may cast ballots for whomever they wish. That means regardless of the outcome of the presidential election in November 2012, these electors could choose Bob Newhart or Mike Ditka to be president. “Presidential candidate” means something to us, but it is a phantom in the Constitution. If there is no such critter as a “presidential candidate” in the Constitution, then the notion of a “political party” with its “nominee” is even more ephemeral; in fact the idea was not only absent from the Constitution but it was repellant to the men who wrote that document.
The Electoral College is a deliberative body, although it does not meet collectively but rather in states. In determining who its members feel are the proper persons to be elected president and vice president, the Electoral College exercises constitutional authority and as part of that must also determine the constitutional qualifications of such persons.
The Constitution provides in Article I, Section V the parallel to judging the qualifications of the persons elected president and vice president. That section explicitly says that the “Each House shall be the judge of its own Returns, Elections and Qualifications of its Members.” What does that mean? If a 23-year-old is elected to the House of Representatives, and the House votes to seat him as qualified, then constitutionally the issue is resolved. If a 28-year-old is elected to the Senate and the Senate determines that he is qualified, then constitutionally the issue is resolved.
We may believe that those chambers have acted contrary to the Constitution – as indeed they may have - but it does not mean bad faith. In the early days of the republic, the year of birth and even the place of birth were not always known with absolute certainty. Was a person born in a part of Oregon Territory disputed by our nation and Britain born “in the United States” or not? Was a young man raised in the wilds required to know his age?
In some cases these questions were matters of fact, or as much fact as could be discernable, and in other cases these were matters of interpretation. Consider, for example, the requirement that any member of the House of Representatives must be when elected “an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.” Who determines what “Inhabitant” means? The Constitution places that power solely in the House of Representatives itself. That includes the power to be mistaken or to be wrong.
We must also consider that if the Electoral College is not the proper body to determine the qualifications of a person to be president, then where is that supposed to be decided? It cannot be the federal bench. When Washington was elected president, there was no federal bench at all – no Supreme Court, no inferior federal courts, and no jurists at all. These, necessarily, came after the election and installation of both the president and Congress.
Moreover, federal courts have only such power as Congress gives them – with a few areas of constitutional original jurisdiction provided in Article III. Congress could remove by statute any authority that any federal court had to determine the qualifications of a person to be president. There can hardly be a “constitutional” power in federal courts to judge this as Congress can remove it by statute.
Is there any other constitutional body that could disqualify a person from the presidency? The House of Representatives elects the president if no one has a majority in the Electoral College and it can impeach a sitting president, but only for misconduct in office. The 25th Amendment gives the cabinet some authority to relieve a president in time of incapacity to serve, but the amendment relates pretty clearly to physical or mental incapacity and it presumes, by its restoration of the president to his office, that the person in the Oval Office is constitutionally qualified.
What does that leave? Well, it leaves self-regulation. The oath of office requires an incoming president to swear or aver that he will uphold the Constitution, which would include the Article I limitations. And it leaves the Electoral College.
Does this mean that dubious presidential qualification is irrelevant? No, of course not: but it does mean that this is a political, not a legal issue. The continued furor unfortunately, is a reflection of how much we have come to define all issues of government as, ultimately, legal issues. Although it is quite clear that no serious reading of the Constitution could give any federal jurists the right to determine the eligibility of a president chosen by the Electoral College, we have grown up seeing judicial opinions as being superior to other constitutional agencies.
Presidential electors ought not to choose as president anyone who is not eligible for that office, and state legislatures (whose powers we ought to trust much more than federal judges) have absolute power to determine how those electors are chosen. If we want to clean up the system for electing presidents, start with state legislatures, who were intended to be the eight hundred pound gorilla in a constitutional system in which those bodies, alone, elected the Senate, chose presidential electors, and could amend the Constitution. | <urn:uuid:86717474-e49f-4868-aa93-b5738484efeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conservativetruth.org/article.php?id=2636 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971606 | 1,453 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Voice of the White House December 11, 2005
TBR News – December 11, 2005
“Two days ago, a fanatical Bush supporter from amongst the staff at the Monkey Palace, cornered me in the cafeteria with the fiercely joyful news that she was leaving the White House. I assumed that, like a growing number of disillusioned staff persons, she was getting better employment elsewhere, such as the Humane Society’s Kitten-Gassing commando or our very own District Sanitation Department, Minority Free Lunch Division, but no, she advised me that Rapture was coming soon and she and her entire family were “going to see Jesus” in person! There used to be quite a bit of that sort of blather around here but of late it is getting very muted. Since I had no historical background in the subject, I looked it up and have come to some very specific and clear cut views on the subject. I will share these with you now although there is always the possibility that I might be wrong and truly Be Left Behind.
‘The Rapture’ is a term most commonly used to describe an event in certain systems of Christian eschatology whereby “all true Christians are taken from Earth by God into Heaven.” Although almost all forms of Christianity believe that those who are "saved" will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the term "rapture" is usually applied specifically to those theories saying that “Christians alive before the end of the world will be taken into heaven,” and there will be an intermediate time frame where non-Christians will be still left on earth before “Christ arrives to set up his earthly kingdom.”
The word "Rapture" is not found in the Bible. There is also no single word used by the biblical authors to describe the prophetic factors which comprise the doctrine. Roman Catholics and nearly all of the main-line Protestants do not accept the concept of a rapture in which some are "taken up into Heaven" before the end of the world; this idea did not exist in the teachings of any Christians whatsoever until the late18th, and early 19th centuries, so it cannot be said to belong to Apostolic tradition.
The legend of the Rapture is not mentioned in any Christian writings, until after the year 1830. Whether the early writers were Greek or Latin, Armenian or Coptic, Syrian or Ethiopian, English or German, orthodox or heretic, no one mentioned a syllable about it. Of course, those who feel the origin of the teaching is in the Bible would say that it only ceased being taught (for some unknown reason) at the close of the apostolic age only to reappear in 1830 But if the doctrine were so clearly stated in Scripture, it seems incredible that no one should have referred to it before the 19th and early 20th century. This does not, in and of itself prove conclusively that the story is wrong, but it does mean that thousands of eminent scholars and theologians who lived over a span of seventeen centuries (including some of the most astute of the religious scholars of the early Christian and, later of the Reformation and post-Reformation periods) must be considered as grossly incompetent for not having either knowledge or understanding of a teaching viewed by fringe religious groups as so central to their beliefs. This lapse of seventeen centuries, when no one mentioned anything about it, is certainly a serious obstacle to its reliability or its acceptance by the less credulous.
One of the strongest, and less appetizing, proponents of this theory was one Charles Fox Parham. Charles Parham was born in 1873, became a preacher by age 14/15, Charles Parham was a racist, becoming a full-fledged member of the KKK by 1910. Parham was also arrested for “repeated and carnal sexual indiscretions” with young boys. Parham was the first Pentecostal preacher to pray over handkerchiefs and mail them to those who desired his ministrations . Naturally, Parham charged money for these energized handkerchiefs.
In 1908 Parham raised funds from among his deluded parishioners to travel to the Holy Land on an “archaeological expedition to search for the lost ark of the covenant.” He claimed to the press that he had information about its location and that his finding the ark would fit into the end times biblical scheme. By December he announced that he had sufficient funds and he traveled to New York allegedly to begin his journey to Jerusalem. He never purchased a ticket to the Middle East and returned home dejectedly in January, claiming he was robbed after arriving in New York. His parishioners had been robbed somewhat earlier.
Naturally, I have no intention of communicating my findings on this hilarious subject to my fellow worker. Seeing the on-going ruination of the God-intoxicated George W. (‘Fuck-the-Constitution”) Bush before her very eyes is more than enough for such a dim-wit to have to deal with. We ought not to dishonor the dead.”
See our Inside the White House archive:
Last updated 16/12/2005 | <urn:uuid:510bcf63-a237-49d8-aa97-0e8e5fdfac86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/oldsite/print.asp?ID=3919 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97567 | 1,071 | 1.585938 | 2 |
When social media became mainstream, it was because it was based around a simple tenet — that it was about establishing trusted relationships between people. People’s personal networks were based around friends, people you knew and their friends. Trust between peers was the bridge that powered sharing. For years, Facebook grew on the basis that influence was based on the strength of one’s closest relationships.
Fast forward to the present day where there are a billion users on Facebook and growing. Facebook is a public company with quarterly pressure to drive revenues.
Facebook recently made news for testing a new feature that lets anyone direct message another user for $1. While they’re only testing this feature, pay for access goes against the whole point of social media. Under that plan, people willing (or desperate enough) to pay to contact someone else not in their network are able to. While it defeats the purpose of social networks it also creates a whole slew of negative scenarios such as creepy old men contacting underage girls, verbal abusers, brands spamming consumers, etc. This can’t be a good thing.
For quite some time, Facebook has made controversial decisions that seem to go against the grain of what it stands for. At some point, the drive for additional revenue will clash with the fundamental premise of the social network. | <urn:uuid:1574a7d3-3ffc-416c-b9bf-492ca7cad832> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jasonchan.com/strategy/category/social-media/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976854 | 267 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Trafalgar, IN Real Estate
According to census data in the year 2000 there were 285 housing units in Trafalgar.
This represents a 39% growth from 205 in 1990.
Of those housing units, none were located in either urbanized areas or urban clusters, and 285 were located in what is classified as a rural area.
Homeownership rate in Trafalgar is about 75%.
Trafalgar's vacancy rate, including seasonal lodging, is about 7.4%.
Average household size is 3.08 people.
The majority of houses, apartments or condos in Trafalgar were built after 1983.
|Housing Units by Size|
|Five Bedrooms or more||2.10%|
Owned Homes, Apartments and Condos
|Average Household Size||3.05|
|Median year structure was built||1988|
|Median Value of occupied units||$101,500|
|Median Price asked for vacant units||$162,500|
Rented Homes, Apartments and Condos
|Average Household Size||3.18|
|Median year structure was built||1955|
|Median Monthly Rent asked for vacant units||$265|
Owners Finance Status
|Second Mortgage & Equity Loan||0%|
|Home Equity Loan||9.70%|
|Median part of Monthly Household Income dedicated to covering home ownership costs||19.6%| | <urn:uuid:e6bb9f04-bc3e-4faa-9b40-13c8f9a1ac1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.idcide.com/realestate/in/trafalgar.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938203 | 303 | 1.945313 | 2 |
When you become pregnant, whether with your first child or a subsequent one, life changes.
You are called upon to meet the emotional, spiritual, and physical needs of a new life. Both of you, mother and father-to-be, want to feel prepared for this challenge.
Don’t wait until after the birth to care for this child. Parenting really begins as soon as you conceive. Luckily, childbirth doesn’t take place 24 hours or even a week after conception. Who’d be ready?
As fortune has it, we get nine months to make adjustments, preparations, and decisions and create visions for our larger family. These nine months are the grace period before we become parents. You get time to prepare for this new life.
Birth preparation doesn’t usually happen throughout pregnancy because the inspiration to do so doesn’t naturally exist. In early pregnancy, the birth seems quite far away. But, sometime around 24 weeks, as the belly gets bigger, the mind and body turn toward this one huge event. The birth begins to look like the day of reckoning. Boy, is that accurate.
After 24 weeks, the speed of pregnancy suddenly picks up and goes by very quickly. There is a direct correlation between the bigger belly and greater motivation to plan for the birth. This is Nature’s way of getting you ready to both give birth and become a parent. This means that, from about the 24th week, you have a window of opportunity to prepare specifically for birth.
Choose from the tabs above to work through this resource. | <urn:uuid:065ab1e9-6ced-4519-a5b7-6541f0d9c8bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://birthingbetter.com/pregnancy-introduction-onlinec-098354.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964876 | 324 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The epidemiology of low back pain in primary care
1 School of Physiotherapy, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2 Physiotherapy, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2005, 13:13 doi:10.1186/1746-1340-13-13Published: 26 July 2005
This descriptive review provides a summary of the prevalence, activity limitation (disability), care-seeking, natural history and clinical course, treatment outcome, and costs of low back pain (LBP) in primary care.
LBP is a common problem affecting both genders and most ages, for which about one in four adults seeks care in a six-month period. It results in considerable direct and indirect costs, and these costs are financial, workforce and social. Care-seeking behaviour varies depending on cultural factors, the intensity of the pain, the extent of activity limitation and the presence of co-morbidity. Care-seeking for LBP is a significant proportion of caseload for some primary-contact disciplines. Most recent-onset LBP episodes settle but only about one in three resolves completely over a 12-month period. About three in five will recur in an on-going relapsing pattern and about one in 10 do not resolve at all. The cases that do not resolve at all form a persistent LBP group that consume the bulk of LBP compensable care resources and for whom positive outcomes are possible but not frequent or substantial. | <urn:uuid:8d7d2935-3a43-4db4-b725-6fcaff5bab78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chiromt.com/content/13/1/13/abstract | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905034 | 313 | 1.953125 | 2 |
From The Atlantic:
The National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) released its 2011 Report on Terrorism. The report offers the U.S. government’s best statistical analysis of terrorism trends through its Worldwide Incidents Tracking System (WITS), which compiles and vets open-source information about terrorism–defined by U.S. law as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.”
There are a few points worth highlighting that notably contrast with the conventional narrative of the terrorist threat:
“The total number of worldwide attacks in 2011, however, dropped by almost 12 percent from 2010 and nearly 29 percent from 2007.”
“Attacks by AQ and its affiliates increased by 8 percent from 2010 to 2011. A significant increase in attacks by al-Shabaab, from 401 in 2010 to 544 in 2011, offset a sharp decline in attacks by al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI) and a smaller decline in attacks by al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).”
“In cases where the religious affiliation of terrorism casualties could be determined, Muslims suffered between 82 and 97 percent of terrorism-related fatalities over the past five years.”
Of 978 terrorism-related kidnapping last year, only three hostages were private U.S. citizens, or .003 percent. A private citizen is defined as ‘any U.S. citizen not acting in an official capacity on behalf of the U.S. government.’
Of the 13,288 people killed by terrorist attacks last year, seventeen were private U.S. citizens, or .001 percent.
According to the report, the number of U.S. citizens who died in terrorist attacks increased by two between 2010 and 2011; overall, a comparable number of Americans are crushed to death by their televisions or furniture each year.
Continue reading the rest of the story on The Atlantic | <urn:uuid:f0ada7c4-b595-4c29-b08d-6d8219889039> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thatericalper.com/2012/07/04/americans-are-as-likely-to-be-killed-by-their-own-furniture-as-by-terrorism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960378 | 432 | 2.140625 | 2 |
- The Big Picture - http://www.ritholtz.com/blog -
Posted By David Kotok On February 12, 2013 @ 8:30 am In Currency,Think Tank | Comments Disabled
February 11, 2013
“Currency War” is the latest hot title. It’s now on the front pages, triggered by the policy change in Japan. In only two months the Japanese yen has weakened about 15% against the US dollar.
Let’s reflect on this important development.
First, a simple case study. Suppose there were just two countries and just two currencies. Suppose country A decided to try to weaken its currency so it could sell more stuff at cheaper prices to country B, thus undercutting B’s domestic producers. B could resist by raising a tariff on the incoming stuff that A was trying to sell. Or it could retaliate by cheapening its own currency to counter the price differential. The first form of retaliation is a trade war; the second is a classic currency war. The economic history of the 1930s is replete with examples of each and combinations of both. History shows us that the results were disastrous for the global economy and led to a world war.
But is there a third alternative? What about the role of interest rates?
Suppose A announced that it wanted to weaken its currency by 5% against the currency of B. Furthermore, suppose A said it would do so over the course of one year. Then A proceeded to print more currency and use it to buy B’s currency, changing the exchange rate between A and B. Now let’s assume that B knew from earlier experience that retaliation would only lead to war, so B decided to do nothing. B also knew that in the longer term its citizens would benefit from a stronger currency, and B was confident enough and self-sufficient enough to allow A to cheapen itself for short-run gain. By doing nothing, B allowed the markets to make an adjustment. Suppose, also, that interest rates were not influenced by central banks’ actions. The markets would quickly price a 5% spread in the interest rate. At the one-year target maturity, the interest rate on debt denominated in currency A would be 5% higher than the rate on equivalent debt denominated in currency B. In a normal, clearing market, that is the way the adjustment occurs.
Japan is the leading candidate for the role of country A, given the policy changes announced and those still to come. The rest of the world is trying to figure out how to be a country B while being savvy enough to avoid deterioration into a trade war or currency war.
In our modern world there are more than two currencies. Four of them make up the bulk of the world’s reserves. The US does not hold much reserve in foreign currency; instead, the US dollar is the dominant reserve choice of the others. US dollars amount to about 60% of the world’s reserves and the euro about 25%. The yen and the pound are each about 4%. Add in a little gold, and you have tallied most of the world’s reserves. The rest of the countries are nice places to visit, but their currencies are bit players in terms of global impact.
Since November, one of the major (G4) currencies, Japan, has dramatically changed policy. Furthermore, Japan has directed its change in a way that causes another G4 currency, the euro, to strengthen. This action and ensuing reaction has triggered energetic discussion of a possible currency war.
Will we see one? Maybe. Are the currency moves we are seeing volatile and abrupt enough to ignite one? Yes.
The reason we’re on the brink of a currency war is that the central banks of the G4 have taken their policy interest rates to near zero. By doing so, they have collectively reduced the ability of market forces to adjust interest rates in response to the policy changes.
Let’s go back to our two-country example to see how this works. In our simplified model, interest rates were the adjusting mechanism. They were permitted to work when B decided not to engage in a policy change in response to A.
But what would have happened if the central banks of both A and B had taken their interest rates down to the near-zero boundary? And if, furthermore, A and B had committed to this policy because their respective economies were now attempting to recover from serious recessionary or deflationary damage? In this situation, interest-rate changes could no longer offset the exchange-rate mechanism. That is the outcome when the interest rates are managed by central banks. The normal market clearing forces cease to work. Instead, we get currency exchange-rate moves that deliver jolts to economies – bumps in a road that must be driven without shock absorbers. That is what happens when the mitigating effects of interest-rate changes are removed from the equation.
The world now finds itself in this position in response to the Japanese policy change. Here is a quick inventory of the G4.
Japan is committed to a weaker currency and to further central bank balance-sheet expansion. It is trying to get its economy to grow, and it is targeting an increase in inflation to 2%. Some forecasts expect the yen to reach 110 to 115 against the dollar within a year.
Meanwhile, the UK is trying to avoid a triple-dip recession. Expectations are that it, too, will engage in another round of monetary easing. We shall learn more as its new central bank governor gets established. With certainty, the UK will not tighten any time soon. Its short-term interest rate will hover at the near-zero boundary. And no one knows where the pound will trade as this next round of policy moves unfolds.
The US is likewise following its announced central bank balance-sheet expansion. The Federal Reserve affirmed that policy only a few days ago. Fed Vice-chair Janet Yellen reaffirmed it today. The Fed’s target for unemployment is 6.5%. (Currently the unemployment rate is 7.9%.) We have several more years before the Fed’s target rate will be reached. The Fed’s inflation target is 2.5%, and the US is operating at a lower inflation rate. Thus US policy is predictable for a while. US policymakers ignore the exchange value of the US dollar in making their decisions. They may talk about it, but FX is not the driver of decisions. As long as the US dollar maintains its current status as the dominant reserve choice, our nation will continue a practice of benign neglect with regard to our currency exchange rate.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the euro is strengthening in spite of all the difficulties in Europe. It is the G4 default choice because of the Japanese initiative and because the US and UK are in easing mode, while the European Central Bank has just reduced its excess reserves with a policy-changing transaction. Now ECB President Mario Draghi is worrying about his action being too much, too soon. We may see the euro trade up in strength against the others in the G4. That will compound Europe’s economic slowdown.
Note that in all cases interest rates remain very low, and the tendency of the central banks is to continue and to enlarge quantitative easing. We track that trend weekly at www.cumber.com . Also note that the economies we have discussed are not growing with any robustness, subjected as they are, in most cases, to higher taxes and anti-growth policies.
We believe that fears of a huge sovereign debt collapse are in error and misplaced. While they may eventually be realized, they do not loom in the near future. Meanwhile, currency volatility is likely to rise.
Our bond portfolios are slowly adjusting duration. We are using some strategic hedging of interest rates where that fits within the account objectives.
The central banks have the power to keep interest rates low for a prolonged period. They also have the power to influence the currency exchange rate. They do not have the power to do both at the same time unless it is a coincidental policy. It is going to be an interesting decade.
David R. Kotok, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, Cumberland Investments
Article printed from The Big Picture: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog
URL to article: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/02/currency-war/
URLs in this post:
www.cumber.com: https://owa.smarshexchange.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=47d739c034d44977ae993f34b82ad0b6&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cumber.com
Copyright © 2008 The Big Picture. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:bb699da1-5608-440c-9c45-5485eb30de1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/02/currency-war/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960193 | 1,819 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Give your school a focus for Safer Internet Day by encouraging them to enter YHGFL’s competition. By creating a resource on the theme of cyberbullying your students could not only be in line for walking away with a top prize, but they could see their work showcased at a forthcoming Cyberbullying Conference and on our the YHGFL website.For further information click here.
Archive for the ‘KS3’ category
This site provides the tools for you to to build up an argument or description of a person, event or issue by placing items into a virtual box. What items, for example, would you put in a box to describe your life or the life of a Victorian Servant? What evidence would you collect if you had to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? And what would you include if you had to make the case for or against climate change? You can display anything from a text file to a movie. You can also view and comment on the museum boxes submitted by others. | <urn:uuid:b6b7b7fe-6cca-4db6-8cfa-d0e2274ca05b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shareit.yhgfl.net/nlincs/edcblog/category/ks3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965214 | 210 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Commemoration of the Miraculous Appearance of the Mother of God at Pochaev
Commemoration of the Miraculous Appearance of the Mother of God at Pochaev, which saved the Monastery from the assault of the Tatars and Turks
Commemorated on July 23
The celebration in honor of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God on July 23 was established in memory of the deliverance of the Dormition Lavra Monastery from a siege by the Turks on July 20-23, 1675.
In the summer of 1675 during the Zbarazhsk War against the Turks, in the reign of Polish King Jan Sobesski, regiments composed of Tatars under the command of Khan Nurredin fell upon the Pochaev Monastery and surrounded it on three sides. The weak monastery walls and its stone buildings did not offer a defense against the siege. The abbot, Joseph Dobromirsky, urged the monks and lay people to pray to the Most Holy Theotokos and St. Job of Pochaev.
The monks and the lay people prayed fervently, prostrating themselves before the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God and the reliquary with the relics of St. Job. At sunrise on the morning of July 23, as the Tatars were planning an assault on the monastery, the abbot directed that an Akathist to the Theotokos be sung. At the opening words, “O Queen of the Heavenly Hosts,” the Most Holy Theotokos suddenly appeared over the church, in “an unfurled gleaming-white omophorion,” with angels holding unsheathed swords. St. Job stood beside the Mother of God, bowing to Her and beseeching Her to defend the monastery.
The Tatars began to shoot arrows at the Most Holy Theotokos and St. Job, but the arrows fell backwards and wounded those who shot them. In panic and without looking, the enemy trampled and killed each other. The defenders of the monastery pursued them and took many prisoners. Afterwards, some of the prisoners accepted the Christian Faith and remained at the monastery.
By permission of the Orthodox Church in America (www.oca.org) | <urn:uuid:de5a3d3b-5083-4dc3-bdac-1ac31895db27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.antiochian.org/node/19101 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9587 | 476 | 3.0625 | 3 |
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Saturday, May 14, 2005
Japan's wildlife: domesticated and lazy
By AMY CHAVEZ
When I first came to Japan, I thought, "Where are all the animals?" Japan doesn't seem to have the small urban-adapted wildlife like we have in the United States, such as squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks or even very many birds. Other than the City Mouse, animals just don't seem to move to the cities here. Less opportunity, I guess.
Even in the countryside, there is a distinct lack of road kill. At home, common road fare is rabbits, possums and prairie dogs. Even on the small island where I live in the countryside, the wildlife is limited to stray cats and aquarium fish. After 12 years of living in Japan, the only animals I've seen in the wild are weasels and crows. A few years ago some deer swam out to our island from the mainland, but apparently the accommodations weren't good enough, as they didn't stay long.
I've also heard that wild boars used to swim from island to island off Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture. The wild boars swam out to steal "mikan" oranges from the orchards on the islands. They'd leave a path of rinds where they had peeled the oranges before eating them. But now the wild boars no longer swim out to the islands. Instead, they walk across the new bridge. What wildlife Japan does have is getting lazy.
The truth is that you won't find many wild animals in urban areas of Japan unless they've escaped from the zoo. This lack of animalia is perhaps what has caused the Japanese to create new kinds of "captive wildlife."
Crickets : It's no wonder people keep crickets as pets in Japan. They are the most convenient form of wildlife and can be ordered straight from the post office. In the post office on my island, a flyer shows a giant cricket standing in front of Mount Fuji: "Listen to the refreshing sound of crickets from your home! Easy instructions. Food included. One set of five crickets 800 yen."
Deer : Most people are familiar with the deer in Nara. I'm not sure where these deer came from, but I imagine they rounded them up from the forest with promises of a lifetime of free food and beer. No longer shy, flighty creatures, these deer are a little too domesticated, if you ask me. They are the most raucous bunch of misbehaving wildlife I've ever seen. No longer happy with a handful of tourist peanuts, these deer are now hitting tourists up for a night of karaoke. I worry that by domesticating these deer, we have ruined their morals.
Monkeys : Wild Japanese monkeys are plentiful in forested areas, which are, no surprise, also tourist areas. You can bathe next to the monkeys in hot springs in Nagano, and on Shodoshima Island in the Inland Sea, they'll come and greet you in front of the ropeway station. In these cases, however, I'm not sure who is coming to see who. Be careful if you see monkeys in sunglasses or jewelry on Shodoshima -- they're known to steal shiny metal things off unsuspecting tourists. More evidence of man ruining the morals of wildlife.
Edible wildlife : If you still can't spot any wildlife, you can usually find it in the restaurants. Skewered sparrows and wild boar can be found in the countryside. The only wild boar I have ever seen was in Shikoku at a restaurant specializing in boar cuisine. I couldn't miss the sign on the road a few kilometers before the restaurant, because it was made from the real animal. They had cut the boar in half, straight down the middle, and put the entire right side of the body, fur and all, on the sign. I couldn't help but wonder where the left side of the boar had gone.
I did not stop at the restaurant, but upon passing it a few kilometers down the road, I saw where the left side of the boar had gone: to make another sign, of course!
Maybe those mail order crickets aren't such a bad idea after all.
Get Amy's "Guidebook to Japan: what the other guidebooks won't tell you" for 10 percent off at www.mooooshop.com/MooooBooks/order/index.htm | <urn:uuid:e05dd60c-e7a4-4b21-8fed-2d674462a464> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://info.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20050514cz.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963649 | 995 | 2.1875 | 2 |
I am always trying to find activities that can be part of a holiday we celebrate but aren’t so targeted that readers who do not celebrate it can’t use it either today or another time in the year. So this Letter C craft was born, carrots can be part of a unit on gardening, healthy eating or for us something we make in preparation for the Easter bunny.
- Gather your materials. You will need some cardboard ( paper will do but cardboard just makes it more substantial), a marker, a small dish, scissors, 3 or more green pipe cleaners, a sponge, hole punch, orange paint, a sheet of construction paper and glue if you are going to display it. Ours is resting on the blue paper in the picture but we didn’t glue it on, it’s part of our Easter craft mish mash on our table!
- Start by writing a C on the cardboard, I tried to make mine thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom to make it resemble a carrot.
- Pour some orange paint into a dish.
- Paint! My son loves this glass sponge and how it paints. I love that the sponges make the paint go thinner which makes it dry faster.
- Let it dry, cut out.
- Punch 3 holes in the top. My son was able to do this with help, the cardboard was too thick for his hand strength to do it alone.
- Chase your son around the kitchen when he runs off with the pipe cleaners pretending to conduct an orchestra. Try to decide if it’s brilliant or if you are just too tired and frustrated ( and pregnant) to indulge him when he says” No mama you need to play the Bassoon, I’ll be the trombone!” give in for a bit then consider bribing him with Easter candy just as he decides to come back on his own. Thread the pipe cleaners through the holes.
- Twist together.
- If you are gluing to the paper add glue to the back of the carrot , press onto the paper and let dry.
Want even more letter of the week crafts?
Check out my eBook Alphabet Crafts , it’s filled with letter of the week crafts from A-Z including 5 exclusive never before seen crafts !
Coco The Carrot by Steven Salerno is an absurd tale of adventure, and I loved it. Coco is a carrot who dreams of a life larger than the vegetable drawer . She dreams big and goes for it. Unlike most carrots that end up in stew she becomes a famous hat designer and is the toast of Paris with her Monkey companion Anton. If you are scratching your head but oddly intrigued you will like this book. It was long but my son sat with me giggling and telling me ” Carrots can’t do that?!” more than once. I loved it because it is so absurd that she is a carrot, but the story itself is about going for your dreams, hitting bumps in the road and realizing that your dreams shift and change and that’s ok. There is great bits of humor for the adults as well, something I always appreciate!
A Very Big Bunny by Marisabina Russo is a nice book about 2 bunnies that don’t fit in at school. This book opened a good dialogue between my son and I as we were reading about how both the tallest and the shortest bunny in the class got picked on. The students in their class were mean but not purposefully bullying, they excluded these bunnies because they simply didn’t fit. The part that hit me the most was when the teacher lined the kids up by height, and Amelia the tall bunny was always last. It just made me think of how adults so often single kids out without trying to be terrible, but really hurting them. All that aside, the book itself comes to a nice conclusion and I think it’s worth grabbing for any child tall or short!
Carrot Soup by John Segal is a cute book about planting a garden, in this case carrots, tending it and then reaping the rewards…. or maybe not. Rabbit carefully planned out his garden, took care of it but when it was time to gather all the carrots they were all gone! Throughout the pages there are hints to where the carrots might be, your child will likely figure it out before Rabbit does. My son liked this book and I loved reading it with him as he was rather exasperated that the Rabbit couldn’t figure out the mystery!
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I had to do it! I believe in jumping on experiences to solidify learning, making the learning memorable and giving your child something concrete to attach to it. This letter of the week activity is timely, and my son was excited to open the candy packages , test a few pieces but glue most on. I liked it because it also gets rid of some of the hard candies I am still uncomfortable giving him. Don’t miss the link to another great learning with candy activity from my FamilyEducation.com blog.
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of sturdy construction paper, white glue, candy , scissors and a marker.
- Start by writing a lowercase c ( although this could easily be used for an uppercase craft as well). For letters like c where the letter is similar in both upper and lowercase I try to make the letter small to convey the proper shape to my son. These pictures are close ups but the c actually only took up 1/2 of the page.
- Add your glue. I was told rather forcefully that this was NOT my job, it was his and my job was to take pictures. He’s going to be fun at 14.
- Unwrap your candy.
- Start adding your candy to the glue. Add more glue if necessary.
- Let dry. We did this in the morning and went out and let it dry for a few hours. Between the glue and the sugar dissolving into it it’s strong once it’s dry. Except for Runts- which all resisted gluing ( makes you wonder what’s in them… a lot of wax perhaps?).
- Cut out and glue onto the other page of construction paper.
Harriet’s Halloween Candy by Nancy Carlson is the perfect after Halloween read. Harriet is a puppy who after tick or treating is excited about all her candy. She is also very protective of it and doesn’t want to share it with anyone, especially her little brother Walter who was too little to go out trick or treating. She hoards her candy, sorts it and of course eats it. She also hides it, until she runs out of places for it to go , and decides to try to eat it all. A cautionary tale for young children for sure! My son liked it and he said to me ” Mama I will share my candy with you so I don’t get a tummy ache!” .
Tip about reading holiday books. Kids love to review their experiences with special events like Halloween, going to the pumpkin patch etc… so don’t rush to put away the Halloween books just yet. Now is a perfect time to read them and talk about your child’s experiences. Often times preschoolers will enjoy reading these books even more now , after having the experience to back it up.
Pop over to Craftitivity Corner on FamilyEducation.com to see how we used our Halloween candy to play with the alphabet!
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of different color construction paper, paint, a marker,glue,pom poms, a pipe cleaner, googley eyes, and scissors.
- Draw a big C with your marker on one piece of construction paper.
- Have your child paint the C, we are using paint rollers, I try to give my son options when possible and he chose the paint rollers. You could use crayons or markers too!
- Add as many glue dots as you have pom poms, make sure there is a lot of glue, pom poms need a good amount to stay put. Also add two smaller globs of glue for the eyes.
- Add your pom poms! I held them and asked my son which color he wanted, then he put it on.
- Add the googley eyes. Let dry.
- Cut the C out ,add the pipe cleaner by poking two small holes and threading it through, glue the C onto the 2nd piece of construction paper.
” The Crunching Munching Caterpillar” by Sheridan Cain is another story about a caterpillar who is not happy about his lot in life. There is a fair bit of language that some parents would object to. This caterpillar is often reminded that he is too fat to fly- so that poses a few challenges to parents like myself who are trying to instill healthy body images as well as using respectful words with others in our children. I have dealt with this book in two ways, first by saying that the caterpillar is getting fat but it’s a good thing because he will be sleeping for a long time in his chrysalis and needs that fat to live. Also I have simply replaced fat with big, a word that is much less ugly to many people’s ears. | <urn:uuid:be216a2d-3341-47e5-8430-41c489ff7471> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/category/letter-c | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963376 | 1,948 | 2.859375 | 3 |
At a very critical time during the process of getting a new farm bill passed, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee came and spoke to peanut producers attending the Southern Peanut Growers Conference in Panama City Beach.
Congressman Frank Lucas (R-OK) went through the process of how his committee worked to mark up a farm bill, technically called the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act, following the legislation that was passed by the Senate. “The Senate language works really well in the Midwest, but it doesn’t work very well, according to my experience as a farmer, for everybody else,” he said. “It violates that fundamental rule of everybody needs to be able to participate.”
Lucas is pleased with the bill his committee developed and he is hoping it will get to the floor. “I’m telling my leadership in a very respectful fashion, I have 35 billion real dollars in savings,” he said, noting that there are extremists on both sides who are not pleased with it. However, he says, “A farm bill has always been process of consensus of the functioning middle.”
Listen to Chairman Lucas’ remarks via audio or video below:
Chairman Frank Lucas (MP3) | <urn:uuid:3c499bf2-ffc8-49d2-85c5-98e3c095d482> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://spgc.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/chairman-lucas-speaks-to-peanut-growers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979049 | 263 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Contact: LaNeece Jardon Targeted Case Manager 841-0333 ext. 103 email@example.com Home and Community Based Services Physically Disabled Waiver (HCBS/PD) The HCBS/PD program covers persons who are 16 - 64 years of age, are determined to be physically disabled according to Social Security disability standards, are financially eligible for Medicaid, and who are in need of long term care services to accomplish the normal rhythms of the day. This program provides in home care services to individuals who meet the following criteria:
To be eligible to receive HCBS/PD waiver services a consumer must meet all of the following requirements:
The consumer must be at least 16 years of age but less than 65 years of age. (*Consumers turning age 65 on July 1, 2002 or after this date may remain on the HCBS/PD waiver if they so choose as long as they continue to meet the eligibility criteria.)
The consumer must be financially eligible for Medicaid as determined by SRS Economic Employment Support Specialists.
The consumer must be determined physically disabled by Social Security Administration standards.
The consumer must meet the Medicaid long term care threshold based on an assessment completed with the Uniform Assessment Instrument (UAI) by a certified Independent Living Counselor AND have a determined need for personal assistance to accomplish the "normal rhythms of the day."
As of November 1, 1999, the Long Term Care Services Threshold Guide score used to determine eligibility for the HCBS/PD waiver is 26 or greater.
If 20 years of age or younger, the consumer must receive a KAN Be Healthy screening on a yearly basis.
Community Developmental Disability Organizations (CDDOs) are required to assess all persons with developmental disabilities for the MR/DD waiver. If the individual does not meet the level of care necessary for services on the MR/DD waiver and the consumer also has a physical disability, the CDDO may provide a "denial of services" letter so the HCBS Physically Disabled Waiver Policies & Procedures Eligibility Effective Date: 04.01.02 2 Eligibility PD wavier provider agency can then assess the individual for the appropriateness of PD waiver services.
For any consumer to be eligible for HCBS, they must be eligible for Medicaid. If a consumer fails to provide the necessary information to determine and verify Medicaid eligibility, and subsequently their Medicaid case is denied or closed, they are not eligible for HCBS services. In this instance, 10 days notice is not required for the closure of an HCBS case, as Medicaid will no longer pay for services. Services will not be reimbursed if the consumer does not have Medicaid eligibility.
If an individual with ongoing services fails to submit their annual financial eligibility paperwork to SRS by the due date, the EES Specialist will notify the individual and the ILC of the potential termination of Medicaid. Services will be suspended until eligibility is reinstated. The EES Specialist has the authority to reinstate services if all necessary paperwork is received within the month of closure or the following month. Should eligibility be reinstated during this time, the individual will have continued eligibility and will not be placed on the PD waiver waiting list. If the required paperwork is not returned in the time allotted, they will no longer be eligible to receive services. | <urn:uuid:9fc5da3e-c589-4ef5-bd66-68e6623cd3f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://independenceinc.org/SiteResources/Data/Templates/t1.asp?docid=607&DocName=Targeted%20Case%20Management | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92775 | 672 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The return of serve can be as big of a weapon as your first serve. Players such as Andre Agassi, who do not have a powerful serve, make up for it with a great return of serve. With a good return of serve you can stun your opponent and control the point.
This technique, like the serve, is not practiced enough by many club players. The only time they practice it is during a match and this is the wrong time to practice any shot.
More: What You Can Learn From Watching the Pros
Practice as much as possible, including, or especially, hitting the return of serve deep for when you play baseliners and short for when you play serve and volley players.
Agassi's return is based 100 percent on a simple hip turn.
As Agassi has described it, the player should imagine the butt of the handle of your racquet is taped to your stomach so the racquet points at your opponent as you face him. If you just turn your hips, your racquet is prepared to hit the return.
More: Securing Wins With Return of Serve
Agassi also recommends a drill to teach a quick hip turn is for you to stand as if you're about to return serve. Then, have somebody shout "forehand" or "backhand," while you react instantly with a hip turn (and without a ball).
Another good habit to get into is to step into the return of serve, just like your ground strokes.
People often back up when trying to return a serve, but the best return will come when you are stepping into the court to return the serve. This technique will get you more pace and control on your return and you will also be cutting off the angle of the serve, making it less affective.
The Agassi Approach
Agassi suggests players ask themselves, How do I win matches? For example, do you play high-percentage tennis and break down your opponent with consistency, then Agassi suggests you just try to get the return back in the court.
- playing a baseliner, thing about hitting the return deep, but not necessairly hard;
- more consistent, don't take chance on your return. Instead, Agassi suggests stepping back behind the baseline a couple of feet to give yourself more time.
- a powerful player, be aggressive on the return;
- a solid server and opponents have a hard time breaking you, take chances on your return;
- playing a serve-volleyer, be aggressive. Agassi says, in this case, think about the height of your return over the net: You want to keep it low, so the serve-and-volleyer has to volley the ball up.
- a player who has one return that's better than another, don't be scrared to change where you stand in order to play to your strengths and weaknesses.
More: How to Volley Like the Pros | <urn:uuid:db1e7810-0c2c-46f0-aeb7-e7a697db45b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.active.com/tennis/Articles/How-to-Return-a-Serve-Like-Agassi | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950222 | 603 | 1.835938 | 2 |
On Bad Religion’s seminal 1988 album Suffer, thesaurus-wielding frontman Greg Graffin offered this decidedly straightforward declaration of empiricist independence: “Hey, I don’t know if the billions will survive, but I’ll believe in God when one and one is five.” A fairly pedestrian gob of punk ambivalence, really, but as we learn in Anarchy Evolution (It Books, 304 pages, $22.99), Graffin’s autobiography-cum-evolution primer, such sentiments were (and still are) only the whipping tail end of Graffin’s academic pursuits, which now find him balancing his legendary band’s touring and recording schedule with a part-time gig teaching life sciences and paleontology at UCLA. That Graffin’s book tour coincides with a Bad Religion jaunt confirms it: This man is going to vacuum as much meaningful experience out of life as he possibly can.
And Graffin wants the same earthly happiness for us. He might as well have appended this subtitle to Anarchy Evolution: “We’re here, it’s weird, get used to it.” He still doesn’t know if the billions will survive; he doesn’t expect one and one to ever equal five; he views evolution as a chaos of Darwinian competition, random tragedy and accidental glory; but he is certain that humans have evolved into stewards of this tiny speck of the cosmos, and that the fate of this teeming happenstance is best left in the hands of those who’ve adopted a naturalist position, which is, according to the author, “the only perspective that can secure both our happiness as individuals and our survival as a species.”
Anarchy Evolution’s first half is a wall-eyed mess of everything-for-everyone: a history of Bad Religion, an introduction to evolution, a sentimental bildungsroman, and a self-congratulatory celebration of Greg Graffin’s capacity for writing songs and books. Punks who ditched high school halfway through sophomore year (me!) will get a lot out of the first few chapters, which find Graffin dishing on 1980 A.D. punk and 540,000,000 B.C. archaeocyathids, but anyone who stuck it out through biology class instead of dropping out to listen to Minor Threat will either know too much about science or not enough about the Germs (band, not thing that makes you sick) to care. However, the book evolves (ahem) into a rather touching and even rousing manifesto: We might not know everything, but we know enough to know that we should be treating this world and its inhabitants with a bit more foresight and compassion. Some of us (me!) just need a little punk rock to help the inspirational message go down.
READ: Greg Graffin reads at Powell’s on Hawthorne, 3747 SE Hawthorne, 228-4651. 6 pm Tuesday, Nov. 16. Free. | <urn:uuid:6dbbb286-1e6b-455b-a730-fcac97a14ef9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-16644-greg_graffin_anarchy_evolution.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93288 | 642 | 1.585938 | 2 |
NO FOR USE ON CATS
Dilution rate: Dilute 2 to 3 fluid ounces per gallon of water. For Use as a Dip: Wet the dog with water before treatment. Sponge, dip or pour diluted product on dog until its fur and skin are thoroughly wet, making sure that the animal's entire body is treated, including the legs and underbody. Do not treat the dogs face. Let the dog drip dry. Do not rinse off. Do not repeat more often than once every 14 days.
Dilution rate: Dilute 2 to 3 fluid ounces per gallon of water.
For Use as a Spray: Spray dogs outside. Start spraying diluted product at the tail, moving the dispenser rapidly and making sure the animal's entire body is covered, including the legs and underbody. While spraying fluff the hair so that the spray wets thoroughly. Do not spray in eyes or face. Avoid contact with genitalia.
Keep out of reach of children. Harmful if swallowed or absorbed through skin. Avoid contact with skin or clothing. Wash thoroughly with soap and water after handling. Remove contaminated clothing and wash before reuse. Do not use on puppies under 12 weeks of age. Consult with a veterinarian before using this product on debilitated, aged, medicated, pregnant or nursing animals. Sensitivities may occur after using any pesticide product for pets. If signs of sensitivity occur, bathe your pet with mild soap and rinse with large amounts of water. If signs continue, consult a veterinarian. Certain medications interact with pesticides. Consult a veterinarian before using on medicated animals. Call poison control center or doctor immediately for treatment advice. If swallowed call a poison control center immediately for treatment advice. Have person sip a glass of water if able to swallow. Do not induce vomiting unless told to do so by a poison control center or doctor. Do not give anything by mouth to an unconscious person. Take off contaminated clothing. Rinse skin immediately with plenty of water for 15-20 minutes. Call a poison control center or doctor for treatment advice. Note to physician: Do not administer or instill milk, cream or other substances containing vegetable or other animal fats which enhance absorption of lipophilic substances. Have the product container with you when calling a poison control center. You may also contact 1-800-781-4738. This pesticide is highly toxic to fish. Do not apply directly to water. Do not contaminate water with disposing of equipment washwaters. Do not store or use near heat or open flame. | <urn:uuid:2961f509-04c1-4225-b013-543e6b202296> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenaturaldogandcat.com/review/product/list/id/309/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918154 | 513 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Claws out over Animal Rights in West Hollywood
LOS ANGELES The claws are out in Southern California over the rights of cats to keep their nails and dogs to keep their tails and ears intact.
Two years after the liberal city of West Hollywood became the first in the United States to ban the removal of claws on cats, a California veterinary group has filed a lawsuit challenging the ordinance.
The California Veterinary Medical Association also wants the Los Angeles Superior Court to declare illegal a proposed ban on tail-docking and ear-cropping in West Hollywood.
"The practice of veterinary medicine should be left to veterinarians with the best interests of the patient and animal owners in mind," CVMA president Jon Klingborg said Tuesday, adding that the only legitimate way to ban the procedure was to go through the California state assembly.
Animal rights activists lobbied for years in favor of the cat declawing ban -- which involves amputation of a cat's toes and tendons -- saying there are kinder ways of stopping cats scratching people and furniture. Declawing, tail-docking and ear-cropping are prohibited in several European countries.
"I think the CVMA should be spending their time on something more constructive when there are so many animal problems, like overpopulation," said Jennifer Conrad, a practicing vet who spearheaded the declawing ban in 2003.
"Fighting for the right to amputate the fingers off cats is really a waste of their money," she said.
West Hollywood Mayor John Duran said the city was leading the way in outlawing animal cruelty and defended the right of the elected city council to enact local laws. In 2002, the city decreed that pet owners should be known as "guardians" and their pets as "companion animals."
Klingborg said the CVMA's lawsuit had nothing to do with its views on so-called cosmetic surgery for pets, adding that the group opposed ear-cropping.
"This is not an issue that has anything to do with whether a procedure is unkind or cruel. The city of West Hollywood is overstepping its bounds. It is taking away a pet owner's freedom to choose how they want their pets cared for," Klingborg said. | <urn:uuid:07e132cb-95fa-473c-9621-03e823c15461> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/1117 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962136 | 450 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Gardening is a messy process that requires storage for gloves, tools, seed, left-over compost – the list goes on and on. Frequently, these are grubby items that are better stored outdoors than in. Since space and storage are almost always problems for apartment gardeners, if you can get double duty from furnishings, that's a good thing.
I have a small collection of Chinese pots accumulated over many years and they have been put to work in different ways. I wrote in an earlier blog about my water fountain made from a medium-size pot.
For another larger pot, I built a slatted top to create a storage table which holds gardening paraphernalia inside and supports beer and sandwich on top. Here's how.
The top is made of 1 x 4 cedar. Cedar is durable for outdoor use, easy to cut with hand tools and not too heavy to manage. Choose lumber with a smooth surface for painting. The top was designed to create a small overhang, but not too much - space is tight.
Using a handsaw and a mitre box, I cut a 45° angle into the corner pieces to prevent bruises from sharp corners. I attached these corner pieces to the supports underneath to prevent the top from shifting or being accidentally knocked off by a clumsy thigh (guess whose?)
Before assembling the pieces, I painted all sides, using the dining-room table, covered with a painter's drop cloth, as a workbench. I chose a favourite eco-friendly milk paint - colour basil - which is available at Faveri’s.
The top was assembled with screws from the underside, using a 1.5 inch, number 8 wood screws or, to generalize, screws long enough to penetrate two thicknesses of wood securely, but not long enough to penetrate the top surface.
To level the finished tabletop and keep it from rocking, I attached small adhesive bumper pads to the rim of the pot wherever it dipped. These are the same ones that might be attached to the corner of a cupboard door to keep the door from smacking the frame of the cupboard each time it is closed. They come on a sheet and are available at building centres.
This type of top could be constructed for any large attractive pot. You might find that other dimensions of lumber, such as 1 x 3 or 1 x 5, will produce better results for the pot you are working with. In my experience, cedar stock at building centres varies. The Cedar Shop offers a good selection.
Monday: DIY books on outdoor furniture from the collection. | <urn:uuid:762a031c-4c33-4fd3-b8da-8b32aa45f645> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calgarypubliclibrary.com/blogs/design-district?m=201108&p=1333 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953656 | 528 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Seeing that number, I immediately wondered if maybe 283 might have some
significance in the alphabetics word-number approach. (If you've not heard
of this method before, click here for a brief
Next, I looked up word 283 in Zodhiates' New Testament lexicon.
That certainly fits the idea of a newborn child.
This meaning struck me as being more significant, and suggested to me that
maybe there is something to this number that bears further investigation.
It turns out that looking up the various occurrences of 283 provides a rich
commentary not just about gestation and birth but also in the metaphor this
presents of the birthing of the kingdom of God in these latter-days, the coming
forth of the manchild.
On page 283 of my Webster's
'71 Dictionary, virtually every one of the 24 words has direct application
to the idea of full gestation and childbirth, including the word "embody:
To invest with a body."
Page 283 of
Gesenius' Old Testament lexicon is also filled with gestation-relevant
words such as 2504, "to go out of the loins" and 2502, "to
deliver;" as well as kingdom of God birthing concepts. Most notable
is word 2505 whose definition and explanation includes the phrases,
"divide by lot an inheritance," and "the house of God."
On the facing page prior is a definition with direct relevance to the LDS
church and its role as the woman/church, including both wise and foolish
On page 283 of
Zodhiates' NT lexicon are words symbolic of the sure foundation of the
coming kingdom of God, the kingdom spoken of by Daniel. It also mentions word
2000 as an antonym of unshakability, which ironically is the current year.
Also facing this page is word 801, "foolish," which number is the
telephone area code for the main Utah corridor, and calls to mind the idea of
the foolish virgin element of church of God that is in need of setting in
The main word of relevance to gestation on page 283 of
Webster's III '61 dictionary is "brood." The
metaphorically rich word is "broom," calling to mind the pending
chastening destructions that will sweep this land.
283 of Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary has the
gestation-relevant word "fruit: to produce fruit," and the
kingdom-relevant words, "fulcrum" and "fulfill."
Page 283 of
Thayer's New Testament Lexicon presents the quintessential antonym of the
idea of birth: "death - that separation of the soul from the body
by which the life on earth is ended." It also has antonyms of
opposite relevance to the kingdom: "the loss of a life consecrated to God
and blessed in him on earth; to be followed by wretchedness in the lower
world;" as well as the fitting definition, "a wonderful thing, a
283 in the Old Testament lexicon, and the words around it mean
"brotherly," which match the idea of the "manchild."
283 in the New Testament lexicon means "unpolluted," which is
fitting the idea of a newborn child as well as the new manchild kingdom.
The words around this contrast the sure foundation of Christ with the sandy
foundation of Babylon.
The highlight word on page 283 of the
LDS Topical Guide is "least," which is the prerequisite
attribute of those who are servants of God.
Page 283 of the
Old Testament (LDS) begins with Deuteronomy 18:18 which is the pivotal
Messianic prophecy: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their
brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall
speak unto them all that I shall command him." (Deuteronomy 18:18.)
As a second witness to this, on page 283 of
the LDS Triple combination Index is the topic heading,
"PROPHET." The page prior has the kingdom-relevant words,
"PROMISED LAND" and "PROPERTY."
283 of the Doctrine and Covenants is the beginning of section 136, which
is the first post-Joseph Smith revelation, signifying the new mantle, as well
as the new exodus to the new Zion.
Page 283 of the
Book of Mormon begins with the kingdom-relevant phrase, "the
commencement of the reign of the judges." There is also a coded
reference to the wonders that God manifests in such things as these
chapter in the Old Testament is II Samuel 16, which has three separate
references to the "overturning" idea of one king being replaced by
another, symbolic of the kingdom of God that will replace Babylon.
chapter in the New Testament is 23 chapters beyond, hence corresponds to
II Nephi 1, which speaks of "this land" [America] being a promised
"land of liberty" -- certainly relevant to the pending kingdom of
God that will be established.
chapter in the 238-chapter Book of Mormon corresponds to D&C 45, which
is one of the most kingdom-relevant sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.
-- End of overview --
It didn't take me long to see that page 283 of my Webster's '71 Dictionary is
extremely relevant to the idea of a full-term pregnancy and delivery.
For example, take the word embody. It means, "To
invest with a body." That certainly fits!
Here is a listing of other words on the page in their alphabetical
embay, To enclose in a bay or inlet.
I think of a womb.
embed, To lay in or as in a bed; to lay in surrounding matter.
The image of a laboring woman comes to mind as well as of the fetus embeded
in the womb.
embellish, To make beautiful; to adorn; to beautify.
Of course the attribute of beatifying is a hallmark of women in general,
and especially of gravid women as they prepare the nest for the new arrival.
An irony in this is that during the act of childbirth itself, at the height of
labor, a woman looses all sense of modesty and surroundings and is focused on
but one thing, and that is getting the baby out that she is birthing.
Another application of this word is the process of embellishment by which
we find application for these words in a context other than what they were
originally intended. The next word, for example is:
ember, A small live coal
In our context we could think of this as a sort of metaphor for the little
one tucked away inside the mother's womb.
The next word also contains connotations that can be applied to the
connotation of 283 days, or the cycle of gestation.
Ember days, (A.Sax. ymbrine, ymbren embren the circle or
course of the year, from ymb or emb, round, and rinnan,
to run.) Days returning at certain seasons . . .
The next word, though seemingly irrelevant to childbirth, does contain a
word that is a hallmark word in the birthing vernacular -- breach.
embezzle, ...to apply to one's private use by a breach of trust...
This next word needs little if any elaboration in finding an application to
the process of childbirth, as it describes well the rigors of labor.
embitter, ...To make unhappy or grievous; render distressing; to
make more sever, poignant, or painful.
In our context, this next word conveys the image of a child emerging
triumphant from the mother with bold acclaim.
emblaze, ...To make glitter or shine; to display or set forth
conspicuously or ostentatiously; to blazon.
emblazon, ...To celebrate in laudatory terms; to sing the praises
emblem, ...A picture, figure, or other work of art representing
one thing to the eye and another to the understanding.
In our case, we will be drawing comparisons between childbirth and the
coming forth of the kingdom of God, which is the imagery used by John and
several other prophets.
emblement (From O.Fr. embleer, to sow with corn....) Law,
the produce or fruits of land sown or
In addition to the obvious correlation word, "fruit," a
metaphorically rich word here is "corn," which is symbolic of
Messiah (established in a 56-page unpublished document), which fits into the
theme of the coming kingdom of God on earth.
Next comes the word mentioned at first.
embody, To lodge in a material body; to invest with a body; to
incarnate; to clothe with a material form.
It is followed by
embolden, To give boldness or courage to; to encourage.
In the context of childbirth, the idea comes to mind of the joy of the new
child come into the world.
Another application of this word is to this whole process of drawing these
comparisons and the purpose it serves of increasing our confidence that God
truly is doing something here which encourages us as we anticipate
participating in the birthing of Zion which these things symbolize.
While the words on this particular page 283 point almost exclusively to the
literal birth of a child, the other occurrences of 283 that we will look at
are far more explicit in describing the coming forth of the manchild, the
literal kingdom of God on earth.
embolism, The insertion of days, months, or years in an account of
time, to produce regularity, intercalation.
The idea of 283 days comes to mind, as well as the notion that no two
pregnancies are alike but vary in length from one to the next.
embolus, Med. An abnormal particle circulating in the
In our context, I think of the placenta which protects the mother's blood
from the baby and vise versa, so that "abnormal particles" don't
"circulate in the bloodstream."
The etymology of this word comes from the Greek embolos, which
means, "wedge or plug," which in our context calls to mind the mucus
plug which comes out from the cervix opening early in labor.
embosom, To take into or hold in the bosom; to admit to the heart
or affection; to cherish.
Here we envision a mother caressing her newborn child.
embouchure, A mouth of a river; the mouth hole of a wind
instrument of music; the shaping of the lips to the mouth-piece.
Birth canal comes to mind.
embowel, ...To take out the internal parts of...
Though rather graphic, this one also certainly applies.
embower, To lodge or rest in a bower. -- v.t. To cover with
A bower is "A woman's private apartment; any room in a house except
the hall; a shelter made with boughs or twining plants; a shady recess."
embrace, To take, clasp, or enclose in the arms; to press to the
bosom in token of affection.
embrasure, An opening in a wall or parapet through which cannon
are pointed and fired.
embrocate, Med. To moisten and rub, as a diseased part,
with a liquid substance, as with spirit, oil, etc.
A perineal massage helps loosen the opening so the baby can emerge.
Embrocate is the last word on page 283, and spills onto the next
page, where the words "embryo" and "emerge" are listed.
The very first word on page 283 is
embattle, To arrange in order of battle; to array
for battle; to furnish with battlements.
While the application of this to gestation or childbirth is not immediate,
this definition renders a near verbatim cross link to word definition 2502
found on page 283 of
Gesenius that includes the meaning, "to deliver."
2502 6-( chalats
Active, ready prepared for battle; equipped, or arrayed for
Definition 2504 is even more explicit in showing the duel meaning of this
2504 6-( chalats
Loins, so called from the idea of activity. Hence to gird up one's loins,
i.g. to prepare for battle (or other active exertion); to go out
of the loins of any one, to be begotten by him.
That certainly fits the idea of complete gestation and childbirth!
Hence 23 of the 24 words on page 283 of Webster's '71 dictionary apply to
the idea of gestation and childbirth. The one word not yet mentioned, is
emboss, ...To represent in worked figures...
which certainly fits the idea of drawing applications as we have. | <urn:uuid:48a09989-a2bb-49b8-8f07-65b83a65bd5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greaterthings.com/Word-Number/Doctrine/Gestation/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919764 | 2,785 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Talking Book Topics is published bimonthly in large-print, cassette, flexible audio disc, and computer diskette formats and distributed free to blind and physically handicapped individuals who participate in the Library of Congress free reading program. It lists recorded books and magazines available through a network of cooperating libraries and covers news of developments and activities in library services.
The annotated list in this issue is limited to titles recently added to the national collection, which contains thousands of fiction and nonfiction titles, including classics, biographies, gothics, mysteries, and how-to and self-help guides. To learn more about the wide range of books in the national collection, readers may order catalogs and subject bibliographies from cooperating libraries. Librarians can check other resources for titles and answer requests for special materials.
To order books, contact your local cooperating library. Correspondence regarding editorial matters should be sent to: Publications and Media Section, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20542
Talking Book Topics Page
NLS Home Page | <urn:uuid:bfba6f4f-037d-4bdb-a0c8-a9eabeab694f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.loc.gov/nls/tbt/1998/1998-6-tbt.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902225 | 223 | 1.960938 | 2 |
The Station Fire in Southern California continues to expand but at a much slower rate. Wednesday acreage was 140,000 and by Thursday it was up to 147,000 acres. But, the area considered contained increased from 22% to 38%. On Wednesday I opined about the potential for the windflow to come down from the mountains, cause compressional warming and drying and hamper the efforts. I had thought about that potential from the circulation from Jimena, though I knew that Jimena was probably a shade too far south for any real effects. Well, they did get some down slope winds on Wednesday night that cause flair ups and headaches for the fire fighting efforts, though I cannot say that Jimena had anything to do with it nor is it safe to suggest that any such occurence would be a result of Jimena as the storm continues to wind down. Nevertheless, there is still over 60% of the Station Fire not under control of containment.
The California Emergency Management Interactive Fire Map has details and locations of several brushfires around the state. Wildfire Incident Reports continue to come in on an almost hourly basis. There is another crisis developing indirectly due to the wildfires…that is that unscrupulous folks are creating malware to infect the computers of people looking for California Wildfire information. So, beware…only go to known sites. Here is a known site for you…the Los Angeles Times Photo Gallery shows recent photos from the fires. I’m noting that there is a change in the subject matter as we are now seeing more and more of the aftermath and devastation following the fires and less of the fires themselves. At right is an image from the LA Times of Arnold visiting what is left of a home. Typically, its merely a foundation and a fireplace.
Hurricane Jimena came ashore as a dying hurricane. It was not a major hurricane at landfall as the cold waters off the west coast of Baja California took its toll. Right now the heavy rain and thunderstorms is displaced well to the east of the center over the Mexican mainland. It’s not surprising that its kinda meandering about as the models were going for a northeastward track into New Mexico and then a due west course into the Pacific where it would get killed by the cold water. That sort of flip-flop often is indicative of a pattern that reflects weak steering current. And that appears to be the case. As mentioned previously, it is a downward cycle of its life, is expected to drift southwest and is just so far south, its doubtful that there will be much significant effect for the firefighting in California, though maybe some adverse easterly breezes may be produced, especially at night.
TROPICAL STORM JIMENA DISCUSSION NUMBER 24
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL EP132009
800 AM PDT THU SEP 03 2009
MICROWAVE PASSES FROM TRMM AND AMSR-E HAVE HELPED LOCATE THE CENTER
OF JIMENA THIS MORNING…WHICH APPEARS TO BE VERY CLOSE TO THE EAST
COAST OF THE CENTRAL BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA. VERTICAL WIND
SHEAR HAS CAUSED ALMOST ALL OF THE DEEP CONVECTION TO BE DISPLACED
EAST OF THE CENTER OVER THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA AND NORTHWESTERN
MAINLAND MEXICO. THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS SET TO 40 KT AFTER
CONSIDERING THE DEGRADED SATELLITE APPEARANCE AND ASSUMING A
GRADUAL REDUCTION OF THE WINDS.
STRONG SHEAR IN COMBINATION WITH LAND INTERACTION SHOULD CAUSE
CONTINUED WEAKENING OF JIMENA…AND THE TROPICAL CYCLONE IS
EXPECTED TO WEAKEN TO A TROPICAL DEPRESSION LATER TODAY…AND
BECOME A REMNANT LOW TOMORROW. STEERING CURRENTS HAVE BECOME
WEAK…WITH AN INITIAL MOTION ESTIMATE OF 330/4. A TURN TOWARD THE
WEST AND THEN THE SOUTHWEST IS EXPECTED AS JIMENA BECOMES A SHALLOW
SYSTEM. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST IS A BLEND OF THE PREVIOUS FORECAST
AND BAM SHALLOW.
THE BIGGEST THREAT WITH JIMENA IS HEAVY RAINFALL CAUSING FLASH
FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES. IF CURRENT TRENDS CONTINUE…TROPICAL STORM
WARNINGS COULD BE DISCONTINUED LATER TODAY OR TONIGHT FOR MEXICO.
FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INITIAL 03/1500Z 27.9N 112.6W 40 KT
12HR VT 04/0000Z 28.1N 112.9W 30 KT…INLAND
24HR VT 04/1200Z 28.0N 113.5W 25 KT…REMNANT LOW
36HR VT 05/0000Z 27.6N 114.1W 20 KT…REMNANT LOW
48HR VT 05/1200Z 27.2N 114.6W 20 KT…REMNANT LOW
72HR VT 06/1200Z…DISSIPATED | <urn:uuid:3c752d75-b7c5-4e81-a96b-738baecc27e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://symonsez.wordpress.com/tag/hurricane-jimena-satellite/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907334 | 1,134 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Sometimes all the right elements just come together, and all you can do is watch the results.
A visual chronicle of suburban NJ
This is Convent Station (the train station), located in Convent Station (the community)!
Back in 1860, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson was like, “hey, there’s this newfangled Morris and Essex Railroad, and probably the entire area between Madison and Morristown will develop and be known as ‘Millionaire’s Row’ someday. We should totally build a school for girls there.”
So the Sisters of Charity acquired some land and founded the Academy of Saint Elizabeth.
In 1870, they’d convinced the passing train to pause in between Madison and Morristown, right at the Academy’s doorstep (the railroad ran right through the Academy’s property). By the end of the decade, that train stop was appeared on maps as “Convent Station,” because what else would you call a railroad station for a Catholic girl’s school?
The borders between Madison and Morristown and Morris Township shifted over the years, but everyone who settled around the train station and the Academy of Saint Elizabeth (and, as of 1899, the College of Saint Elizabeth, the oldest women’s college in NJ) came to know the area itself as Convent Station.
The Traction Line Recreation Trail in Morris County is a two-to-five-mile bike path (the distance depends on your source) that parallels part of the NJTransit Morris and Essex Line, from Madison to Morristown.
You may wonder: Why does this bike path have so much traction? Where does the line come in? “Traction Line” is a silly name.
Well. This bit of land used to be a trolley line belonging to the Morris County Traction Company! It’s officially a rail trail.
Just in case you had any other questions, here’s the rest of what my handy-dandy brochure has to say (with links mostly to Wikipedia dispersed throughout):
In 1981, Jersey City Power and Light Co., now GPU Energy Corp. [now FirstEnergy, as of 2001], donated portions of this property to the Morris County Park Commission. Originally comprising the Morris County Traction Company (a trolley line), this land was designated to be used as a recreational trail. The facility parallels a 5-mile portion of the Morris and Essex Rail Line operated by New Jersey Transit, between Morristown and Madison centers.
Subsequent to additional land donations from GPU Energy and Fairleigh Dickinson University, the New Jersey Department of Transportation has funded construction enhancing the durability, safety, and multiple-use aspects of the trail. The State of New Jersey, the County of Morris, the Park Commission, and surrounding municipalities have promoted the trail usage as a safe off-road linear passage for local residents and commuters.
The original 2-mile segment from Washington’s Headquarters to Convent Station was dedicated in 1986. The paved trail is suitable for biking, jogging, and cross-country skiing. An added benefit to the Traction Line Recreation Trail is a nine-station parcourse fitness circuit. The enhancement of this popular facility was made possible by matching grants from Allied-Signal Foundation, Crum and Forster, and GPU Energy. The cooperation of both public and private agencies has been critical to the project’s success, and it is utilized and appreciated by the people of Morris County.
…Dearest Morris County Parks Commission, please don’t sue me for copyright infringement. I’m just tryin’ to spread the knowledge. You totally get credit for writing this. Are we cool?
Morris County Park Commission. (n.d.). “Traction Line Recreation Trail.” (Brochure). Morrisparks.net/. | <urn:uuid:ebcd4ba3-ea1f-4dc3-ab57-55676a3c2b73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newprovidencedailyphoto.wordpress.com/category/morris-county/morris-township/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952543 | 808 | 2.28125 | 2 |
A new tree of life
Submitted by sis on 31 July 2006
Early in Earth’s history, there existed an organism that would give rise to all the species known today. In 1994, Christos Ouzounis and Nikos Kyrpides gave this shadowy creature a name: LUCA, for the last universal common ancestor. Studies of DNA sequences taken from plants, fungi, animals, bacteria, and another form of one-celled organism called Archaea proved that it must have existed. But until recently, scientists could say very little else about it.
“Two things have changed,” Peer says. “First is the immense amount of information we have from DNA sequencing – over 350 organisms have been completely sequenced, spread across the entire spectrum of life. This gives us a huge amount of data that can be compared to make a good tree and also to answer some questions about LUCA. Certain key genes can be found in all of them, and the chemical ‘spelling’ of these genes permits us to group them into families and historical relationships.”
It also allows researchers to reconstruct hypothetical ancestors. A fundamental principle of evolution, called the principle of common descent, states that if two organisms share features, it is almost always because they inherited the characteristics from a common ancestor. So by comparing existing species, scientists can obtain a picture of more ancient forms of life.
"Over the past few decades, scientists have realised there is an important exception to this rule,” Peer says. “Bacteria can swap genes with each other, and sometimes they can even steal a gene from a plant or an animal. Once that has happened, they pass the gene on to their descendents. Such genes have a completely different profile to genes inherited the normal way. It’s like finding a branch from a tree that grows crosswise and fuses into another branch.”
Peer says that attempts have been made to find such genes and eliminate them when building trees from DNA sequence data. But no one knew how often such events, called horizontal gene transfer (HGT), happened, or had developed a convincing method for finding them. “For a while, it was almost as if the amount of data was increasing the problem rather than solving it,” Peer says. “There were big debates, and the numbers of classifications were growing rather than reaching a consensus.” Part of the problem lay in the fact that the work could only be done by computer in a highly automated way, due to the incredible amount of genomic data that had to be sifted through.
Francesca Ciccarelli, a postdoc in Peer’s group, decided to tackle the problem of the tree anew and find a solution to the problem of the HGTs. She started by combing the complete genomes of 191 species for unique orthologues – genes in different species that had evolved from a common ancestral gene. The task was difficult because it couldn’t be completely automated. Francesca found 36 cases, five of which seemed to have been shuffled around through HGTs and were thus discarded.
Eliminating these from the analysis, the scientists could now build a complete tree by combining information from 31 genes. Peer was worried that some HGTs might have still have slipped in – a single mistake could spoil the quality of the tree. So the scientists put the computer to work doing some heavy lifting. The 31 genes were randomly divided into four groups. Trees were systematically drawn over and over again, for all of the genes in each group, with the exception of a single gene that was eliminated in each round. Then the results were compared. If the branches of the trees changed from pass to pass, an HGT was likely to be involved, and the gene was submitted to two more tests. In the end, the scientists found seven more candidates for HGTs, which they eliminated from their analysis.
The higher resolution of the tree is also important, Peer says, because of metagenomic studies which are underway to sequence all the genes found in environments such as farm soil or ocean water. His group has participated in several such projects. ”Most sequencing approaches start with a given organism and work through its whole genome systematically,” he says. “Metagenomics is sequencing a place – like a global positioning system coordinate. In many cases we recover fragmentary traces of thousands of genes, and have no idea what organism they come from. Often these molecules represent creatures that have never been seen before.” The breadth and detail of the new tree will allow scientists to make much better guesses about where such fragments fit in and what types of living beings they belong to.
Has the living world been fairly split up into major branches, limbs, and twigs, or have we overemphasized the prominence of our own lineage? A close look at the new tree shows that the latter seems to be the case. The eukaryotes, which include yeast, plants and animals such as ourselves, are so visibly different from one another that scientists have pushed them apart from each other on the tree. Genetically speaking, however, the species are often much more closely related than many single-celled forms of life.
“Smaller genomes evolve faster,” Peer says. “There isn’t a single organism that has been sequenced that is both evolving fast and has a large genome. It suggests that some of the simplest species around have ended up that way because they have pruned things down. Evolution isn’t always about acquiring complexity.”
The study also gives the scientists a closer look at LUCA. “One very big question has been what the earliest bacteria were like when they split off from the Archaea. Bacteria are grouped into two classes, called Gram-positive and Gram-negative, based on features of their membranes. The new tree reveals that Gram-positive bacteria evolved first. And if you look at their repertoire of genes, they seem to be suited to a very hot environment. The first Archaea were discovered in hot ocean vents, and most of the species alive today are thermophilic. It strongly suggests that LUCA was, too.”
This article appears in the annual report of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, a collection of articles on topics from the most current science. The rest of the report can be seen at: www.embl.de/aboutus/communication_outreach/publications. | <urn:uuid:b66cc54c-316b-45c2-92ac-1ed99a0056fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scienceinschool.org/2006/issue2/tree | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975788 | 1,335 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Aug 09, 2010
Dreizler, AM, and E Roduner. 2010. A fuel cell that runs on water and air. Energy and Environmental Science 3:761-764.
Chemists in Germany have figured out a way to extract energy from just water and oxygen. The discovery uses existing fuel cell technology and minimal additional chemicals, providing a safer way to generate electricity for low-power applications.
Concern about the impacts of petroleum as the world’s major energy source has driven research into alternative energy sources, such as solar radiation, wind and biomass.
One of the tools for converting these sustainable energy sources into usable forms of electricity is the fuel cell. Fuel cells are devices that use chemical reactions to change energy from one form to another.
Because of their efficiency and their ability to harvest energy from diverse sources, fuel cells show promise as one of the keys to sustainable power generation. Fuel cell technology has already matured to the point where it can be used in power plants to supply electricity to buildings, and portable fuel cells have been demonstrated in prototype cars as well as military vehicles. Smaller fuel cells can be used in place of batteries for electronic devices like radios or laptop computers.
A fuel cell has an anode and a cathode, just like the positive and negative terminals of a battery. Chemical reactions occur at the two electrodes.
Generally, conventional fuel cells get power from a carrier molecule – usually hydrogen – that is added to the device. The fuel cell harvests electrons from the carrier molecule, producing electrical current. When hydrogen is used in fuel cells, it combines with oxygen in air to make water as a byproduct, also releasing heat. Fuel cells generally do not require wind or sun and operate quietly.
Tens of thousands of scientific studies have focused on fuel cell technology in attempts to find the chemical fuels and components that produce the greatest energy efficiency. While many varieties of fuel cells have been demonstrated, one thing they have in common is that they depend on energy that was previously generated – in effect they are just tools for converting one form of energy into another. A fuel cell that consumes hydrogen generated from natural gas, for example, still depletes fossil resources. In other types of fuel cells, the carrier molecules are toxic, or the byproducts produced are harmful. Ideally a fuel cell would derive its energy from a renewable source and avoid unsafe chemicals in the process.
To move toward this goal, there is another way to drive the reactions inside a fuel cell. This not-so-common approach is to use entropy. Entropy is a measure of disorder, and nature favors increasing disorder: it is one of the fundamental laws of thermodynamics.
The authors purchased a commercially available fuel cell, the kind that would ordinarily be used to harvest power from methanol, an energy carrier chemical commonly used in fuel cells. They poured water into the anode side of the cell. The cathode side was exposed to a temperature-controlled stream of air.
In the study, the pH of the water was changed by adding sulfuric acid or sodium hydroxide, and the electrical current and voltage were measured with a multimeter. The pH was adjusted because it affects the rate at which electrons can be harvested by the cell.
The fuel cell was driven by evaporation of water from one end of the cell, “pulling” the chemical reactions forward. This form of entropy powered the cell.
Considering the chemical reactions involved, at one end of the cell, water breaks down to make oxygen, hydrogen ions, and electrons. At the other end of the cell, the oxygen, hydrogen ions and electrons recombine to make water. In other words, the chemical input (water) is the same as the output. The net enthalpy, or heat balance, is zero, because any heat released at one side of the cell would be balanced by an equal absorption of heat at the other side, so release of heat cannot be the driving force for the fuel cell.
However, this fuel cell used two different forms of water: liquid and vapor. Liquid water is fed into the cell and vapor escapes. Vapor is more disordered than liquid, so the entropy increases and the chemical reaction moves forward. The electrons are forced through a circuit in the process, to make electricity.
The researchers found that temperature and pH affected performance. The optimum temperature was 70 degrees celsius (about 160 degree farenheit) and the voltage was highest at pH 11 (about the same pH as household ammonia).
This paper reports a unique approach in developing fuel cells. It takes advantage of the fact that a chemical reaction can be “downhill” or spontaneous even if no heat is released, as long as there is an increase in entropy.
The fuel cell design reported in this study uses this technique to drive the overall chemical reaction.
Remarkably, the fuel cell setup can be used to generate electricity from water and air, producing just water and oxygen as byproducts. This is extremely attractive compared to hydrogen, methanol or other common fuel cell chemicals that only carry energy that was generated elsewhere. For example, it is possible to derive hydrogen from solar or wind power, but in practice most hydrogen comes from natural gas or oil, and a fuel cell would only be capturing the energy from those non-renewable sources.
In addition, the use of water as the energy source avoids problems of flammability and toxicity. Many existing fuel cell technologies based on liquids have the drawbacks that the fuels, byproducts or sometimes both are very hazardous. For example, methanol fuel cells can produce formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical. The authors noted that high pH gave better results; in other words the use of a pH-raising additive like sodium hydroxide would be necessary to give optimum performance. This could be considered a drawback but it might be possible through further research to improve the reaction rate by other means.
Because evaporation of water is critical to the process, the researchers suggested that the technology would be most effective in dry, windy areas.
The main limitation of the water fuel cell is that it needs more space, and materials, to generate the same amount of power as a denser fuel cell. The researchers suggest that the water fuel cell is perhaps 100 times less dense than would be practical for most applications. The performance, though, is similar to fuel cells that produce electricity from microbial activity. The researchers suggest the cell would be adequate to power sensors or wireless transmitters.
Further research on these fuel cells might compare the amount of energy used to construct the fuel cell and its component parts, including membranes and metal catalysts, to the amount of energy that could be generated in the fuel cell’s expected lifetime.
Demirci, UB. 2010. How green are the chemicals used as liquid fuels in direct liquid-feed fuel cells? Environment International 35:626-631.
Fuel cell basics. Smithsonian Institute.
Fuel Cell Technology Program. U.S. Department of Energy.
Tollefson, J. 2010. Hydrogen vehicles: Fuel of the Future? Nature 464:1262-1264.
Hydrogen fuel cells
2 August High hopes in the search for clean-burning hydrogen. As General Motors gets ready to sell its new Chevrolet Volt plug-in car this year, and with Nissan right behind with its all-electric Leaf hatchback, there’s not a lot of talk about hydrogen fuel-cell cars. Toronto Star, Ontario.
28 July US seeks solar flair for fuels. The US Department of Energy has launched an ‘artificial photosynthesis’ initiative with the ambitious goal of developing, scaling up and ultimately commercializing technologies that directly convert sunlight into hydrogen and other fuels. Nature.
18 July The case of the poisoned fuel cell. Hydrogen fuel cells have their own Achilles’ heel: They are easily poisoned by carbon monoxide. Now, researchers report that they’ve created novel catalysts for fuel cell cars that strongly resist carbon monoxide contamination, potentially solving a problem that has vexed the industry for years. Science.
15 July UK firm B9 eyes hydrogen as gas plant alternative. Britain’s B9 Gas is exploring hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative cheap, low-carbon way to generate electricity instead of burning gas, the clean fossil-fuel company said on Wednesday. Reuters.
10 July UK hydrogen cars are coming – if you can fill up. Britain’s hydrogen fuel cell car fleet may hit top gear within five years, but only if there is enough investment in filling stations, the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Association told Reuters on Friday. Reuters.
More news about
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INTERNAL AUCTIONS PROVE A PROFITABLE WAY TO ALLOCATE RESOURCES
New techniques apply market forces to managerial decisions
Imagine that a firm has a single, plush conference room and several divisions continually fighting to use it. This is essentially an information problem according to UCLA Anderson associate professor Richard Saouma. The firm is unable to allocate the conference room efficiently because it does not know how much value the resource represents to its competing divisions.
Saouma says that one way for the firm to make optimal use of this resource is to create an internal auction. "There has been some recent excitement in both the academic and business communities about bringing markets into firms," says Saouma.
There are also real world examples at firms such as British Petroleum where managers trade pollution credits, Intel where auctions allocate production time for certain products and the Ford Motor Company where dealers can bid to acquire preferred vehicles1.
Saouma and colleagues at three business schools began a formal study of internal auctions. "We started looking at the literature on how to solve resource allocation problems," he recalls. They found a variety of mathematical approaches to the problem but relatively little about auctions.
"There's a lot of math, and people have come up with so-called optimal revelation mechanisms to allocate resources," Saouma explains. "These are rather complicated procedures that require multiple rounds of communication between employees and their supervisors. The issue with such schemes is that you frequently find one employee being compensated on the basis of what a different employee said. Such policies tend to breed discontent, as managers prefer to be compensated on the basis of outcomes they can control. Auctions allow for minimal interaction 'from above,' allowing all the managers to participate in the resource allocation via a simple, transparent and familiar medium."
So Saouma's team performed mathematical comparisons of auctions and more complicated, so called, 'optimal' allocation mechanisms. "We were surprised to find that, in some circumstances, our simple internal auction replicates the profits that you could obtain with the more complicated, optimal resource allocation," he says. "When we missed the mark, we were within five or ten percent of the optimal profits."
"Let me give you an example," says Saouma. "Perhaps a CEO hires a consultant who can be allocated to a project in one division or another - and the question becomes who can make the best use of the consultant's services? We'll say, 'Look, your division can bid for this consultant using real money and whoever bids the most gets allocated the consultant.'" So the cost of the consultant is charged to the winning division and, ultimately, those whose compensation is based on divisional profits.
Placing a price on the resource solves the CEO's information problem by indicating how the divisions value the resource. Essentially, the problem is de-centralized and moved from the CEO level, to the divisional level, allowing the internal market to value the resource.
The fact that an internal auction can be a reliable allocation tool will be valuable to firms with a variety of allocation problems according to Saouma. "Whenever you have to allocate something that cannot be split, this auction mechanism seems to perform quite well. The problem of allocating consulting resources, for example, is actually quite common," he says.
Although auctions are simpler than other allocation mechanisms, they still require some parameterization. "It's not as simple as just holding an auction," Saouma explains. "You need to have some ground rules such as how you are going to expense the bids to each division and so forth."
This could provide opportunities for software developers and consulting firms. "On the software side, auctions are relatively easy to implement, and a number of companies are looking into it," says Saouma. "Moreover, we believe that internal auctions could become a profitable product for business consulting firms. Consultants could propose and implement internal auctions to any client with indivisible resources," he says.
Click here to read Resource Allocation Auctions within Firms by Stanley Baiman, Paul Fischer, Madhav V. Rajan and Richard Saouma.
1. IBM On Demand Business e-newsletter | <urn:uuid:f7dbd02c-314a-49e1-aabc-369226b49004> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/knowledge-assets/richard-saouma | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958888 | 853 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Dear Friends and Colleagues of the GHG Protocol,
The first issue of 2008 is full of noteworthy updates. In a nutshell, the GHG Protocol is planning to develop new greenhouse gas accounting standards for supply chain/life-cycle emissions. WRI and WBCSD also led efforts to organize China’s first workshop for Chinese cement companies to measure CO2 emissions using the GHG Protocol. The long-awaited update of the calculation tools are nearing completion, and GHG programs in both India and Brazil are expected to be launched this spring. As always, we welcome any feedback you may have.
The WRI and WBCSD GHG Protocol Team
Last month, Chinese cement companies took the first steps towards measuring and managing CO2 emissions across the entire cement sector
Cement production is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions: five percent of the global total.
In late February, WRI is publishing a policy brief called “Designing a U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Registry.” Unlike previous publications such as Measuring to Manage: A Guide to Designing Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Reporting Programs, this policy brief focuses on the design of mandatory greenhouse gas registries for use in regulatory, rather than voluntary, contexts.
Since its creation in 2002, the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Program has assisted more than 150 companies to develop and implement long-term climate change strategies. This includes developing a GHG inventory, an inventory management plan, and a GHG reduction target. To replicate this successful model in India, WRI, U.S. EPA and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Green Business Center (GBC) are partnering together to replicate the Climate Leaders program there. Following the Annual Meeting of the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Program in Boulder, Colorado on Dec.
The GHG Protocol announced three new developments to promote the scale-up of GHG accounting and reporting at a COP-13 side event on December 7 in Bali, Indonesia.
The side event launched the GHG Protocol’s newest publication, Measuring to Manage: A Guide to Designing GHG Accounting and Reporting Programs.
WRI is pleased to welcome Neelam Singh, who joins the GHG Protocol team as an Associate. Prior to joining WRI, Neelam worked as an environmental scientist with Potomac-Hudson Engineering (PHE), a private environmental and information technology consulting firm. At PHE, she initiated efforts to develop a company-wide greenhouse gas inventory, helped in the production of environmental impact statements for energy projects such as the FutureGen initiative, and supported environmental compliance projects. Before that, Neelam spent over four years as a research associate with the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) climate change campaign. During this time, she wrote analytical articles and briefing papers on climate change policy, international negotiations, flexibility mechanisms and impacts of climate change to initiate dialogue and inform policy debates. Neelam has also served as a short-term consultant with the World Bank, conducting research for various capacity building programs.
Neelam has an undergraduate degree in Physics from Delhi University and a Masters in International Development Studies with a specialization in Environment Studies from Ohio University. | <urn:uuid:2a429980-6709-4ade-8b22-d1ab4bfda53b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ghgprotocol.org/newsletter-archives/issue-24 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929156 | 670 | 1.742188 | 2 |
No matter how you garden — on the cheap or with wallet wide open — it's wise to garden the smart way
In the edible garden, smart means finding ways to maximize your harvest and minimize your workload and planting space.
These three new gardening books outline ways to do just that. Each provides helpful how-to details — not just pretty photos.
Grow up, not out
Raised beds and containers get lots of attention, but vertical gardening is one of the easiest and most practical ways to grow edibles.
Vertical gardening means people living in condos, apartments and other places with limited yard space can reap the benefits of fresh food, according to Chris McLaughlin, author of "Vertical Vegetable Gardening."
Besides the traditional trellises and arbors, the book shows how to grow on common household items you can recycle or reuse for free: broken baby gates that can be folded side up and spread to create an A-frame, crib springs turned on their ends, ladders with boards put across the rungs to holds pots, shoe bags filled with soil, tin tub gardens you can hang and 5-gallon buckets that are suspended from trees or poles.
Chris also shows how to turn wire, twine and other materials into arbors, teepees, fences and A-frames to support vining, twining, twisting plants. Even a kiddie pool filled with soil becomes a small garden. There are lists of materials and directions on how to make each, and profiles identify 30 veggies, fruits and herbs best suited for vertical gardening.
Make every foot count
Square-foot gardening took root 30 years ago when Mel Bartholomew penned his first book on how to garden less to get more — for example, 48 crops from two 4-by-6-foot boxes.
Two million copies later, he now operates the Square Foot Gardening Foundation — http://www.squarefootgardening.org — and recently released two new books on the topic -- the "Square Foot Gardening Answer Book" and the "All New Square Foot Gardening 2nd Edition."
The answer book draws on hundreds of questions he's heard over the years, including how to garden in a shady yard, how to calculate the potential yield from a square-foot garden, how to deter pests and how to rotate crops for maximum results.
He also addresses common problems all gardeners can relate to: The gnats in my square-foot garden are a real bother. How can I deal with them? Make a spray by mixing 1 part vodka with three parts water. No, don't drink it. Spray the area infested by the gnats. You can check whether you've gotten rid of the gnats by cutting a potato in half and leaving it in the area. If, after a week, the potato is still clean, your gnat problem is gone.
Pot up a garden
In "Grow Your Own in Pots," Kay Maguire features 30 step-by-step projects using vegetables, fruits and herbs.
She shows how to sprout seed potatoes in egg cartons and then grow them in recycled, porous bags or large tubs; spinach in a window box; rhubarb in old garbage cans; and beans and sweet corn as companion plants in a tub.
Her chapter on Garden Soil 101 is particularly helpful because healthy soil makes a healthy plant. You'll like her "compost sandwich," which uses layers of newspaper, cardboard, yard debris and topsoil to create the best beds for growing anything.
"Growing your own makes you happy, healthy, and it's fun, too," writes Maquire.
Contact Kathy at firstname.lastname@example.org
Gardening on the cheap
Turn to Page 13 for the Savvy Shopper's tips on gardening on the cheap.
Kathy Hogan Van Mullekom@Facebook | <urn:uuid:2a622590-dbae-4075-8d4b-4025577fb61e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailypress.com/features/family/home-garden/dp-fea-diggin-0310-20130309,0,4549454.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928158 | 801 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Xcel-erating Natural Gas in Colorado
Colorado’s Largest Utility Switching to Natural Gas
SOURCE: AP/Jerry McBride
Natural gas has gotten a lot of attention in recent months as a potential game changer in the battle against climate change. And Colorado has some welcome news on this front. The state’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, has come to an agreement with the state government where it would retire coal plants powering about 900 megawatts by 2017 and replace them with natural gas-fired power. This move will mean a 30 percent reduction in Xcel’s Colorado coal fleet and a cut of as much as 5 million tons a year in carbon pollution. And this is all without federal legislation requiring cuts in emissions.
Advances like Colorado’s are being made possible by technological advances in developing shale gas fields, which mean that the domestic supplies of the natural gas that can power electric plants with half the CO2 emissions of coal are 39 percent larger than previously thought. Gas-powered electricity can make it far easier to meet global warming pollution reduction limits established in the American Clean Energy and Security Act passed by the House last year. And a shrinking limit on carbon pollution that establishes a price on these emissions should propel the electric power industry to retire aging coal plants and utilize spare capacity in building natural gas plants. Gas electricity will mesh well with rising levels of clean electricity from wind and solar power since gas plants are easier to power up when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine.
Gov. Bill Ritter unveiled Colorado’s innovative agreement with Xcel Energy in a March 5 announcement of the Colorado Clean Air – Clean Jobs Act. And the state is now moving swiftly to enact the bill, backed by an unusual coalition of lawmakers from both parties, the gas industry, environmentalists, and Xcel, Colorado’s largest utility. The State House passed the measure 53-12 on March 22, and the State Senate will take it up early next week.
Some of the urgency comea from anticipated new clean air directives from the Environmental Protection Agency that will require Colorado to ease pollution on the state’s populous Front Range region that includes Denver. The plan to retire some of Xcel Energy’s coal-fired plants, said Ritter, “will keep Colorado at the forefront of America’s energy revolution. It will protect consumers, clean our air and protect public health, and create new jobs by increasing demand for Colorado-produced natural gas.”
Yet the bill could face a challenging environment in the State Senate despite the broad coalition supporting the coal-to-gas bill. Organized labor is worried about a potential loss of coal-mining jobs in western Colorado, though most of the state’s coal production is exported. And some conservation groups from the same region are wary about ramping up natural gas development after a big run-up in drilling during the last decade brought a range of problems ranging from reduced air and water quality to increased costs for providing county services.
When the EPA relaxed oversight of the industry during the Bush administration, drilling permits soared in Colorado, more than quintupling from 1,529 in 2000 to 8,027 in 2008. Colorado responded to that surge in oil and gas development in 2008 by enacting a comprehensive overhaul of its rules governing oil and gas drilling with a much greater emphasis on protecting public health and safety and the state’s water and wildlife. Jim Martin, executive director of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources, says the new rules are already doing a better job of better protecting the values that state residents cherish. And he expects the Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act will only marginally increase drilling activity in western Colorado, which is well below its peak in large part because of the prolonged national economic downturn.
As Colorado increases its clean energy investments, its largest utility “got religion,” too. Xcel Energy opposed a state ballot initiative just six years ago to impose Colorado’s first Renewable Electricity Standard—a modest 10 percent by 2015. Yet Xcel has since then determined that clean energy is the future of Colorado and supports many efforts to invest in the clean energy technologies of the future. It supported legislation that ratcheted up the RES to 20 percent and did not oppose the most recent increase to 30 percent, which Ritter signed into law just last week. Xcel is the state’s largest utility with 1.1 million residential customers and is backing Ritter’s Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act, which will require Xcel to submit by Aug. 15 a plan for cutting nitrogen oxide emissions at its coal plants by up to 80 percent to meet current and upcoming federal requirements under the Clean Air Act.
And Colorado isn’t the only western state pursuing a clean energy future. The week, the developers of a planned 750-megawatt coal plant in Nevada announced they will shift to a 700-megawatt gas-fired plant combined with a 50- to 100-megawatt solar PV plant. Company officials said environmental concerns were the main driver behind the change. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that, “Clean natural gas projects like this will help us use this clean energy source to strengthen our economy while protecting Nevada’s great outdoors.”
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Fifteen men and two women have been found beheaded in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province. Officials said the victims were killed by Taliban insurgents as punishment for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing.
The bodies were found in a house near the Musa Qala district, 46 miles north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, on Monday, said the district governor Nimatullah, who goes by only one name.
“The victims threw a late-night dance and music party when the Taliban attacked,” on Sunday night, Nimatullah told Reuters.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility.
Men and women do not usually mingle in Afghanistan unless they are related, and parties involving both genders are rare and highly secretive affairs.
For the Taliban, flirting, open displays of affection and the mixing of men and women are vehemently condemned.
In June, Taliban gunmen stormed a luxury hotel near Kabul demanding to know where the “LovePeddlers and pimps” were, according to witnesses. Twenty people were killed.
The Taliban said it launched that attack on Qarga Lake because the hotel was used for “wild parties”.
During their five-year reign, which was ended by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, the Taliban banned women from voting, most work and leaving their homes unaccompanied by their husband or a male relative.
Those rights have been painstakingly regained but Afghanistan remains one of the worst places on earth to be a woman.
A spokesman for the Helmand governor, Daud Ahmadi, said a team had been sent to the site of the beheadings to investigate. | <urn:uuid:2f734112-5183-44a7-b92e-f0a9eecc8b19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://info-zonez.blogspot.com/2012/08/17-people-beheaded-in-afghanistan-for.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97676 | 343 | 1.617188 | 2 |
GRAIN | 23 February 2012 | Other publications
Today GRAIN is making available a new data set documenting 416 recent, large-scale land grabs by foreign investors for the production of food crops. The cases cover nearly 35 million hectares of land in 66 countries.
The data set is available in HTML below, in XLS and PDF formats and in this interactive global map of land grabs created by Varun Mangla / Circle of Blue.
This is not an exhaustive list of all land deals. It focuses only on those deals that:
- were initiated after 2006,
- have not been cancelled,
- are led by foreign investors,
- are for the production of food crops, and
- involve large areas of land.
Deals for sugar cane and palm oil production were included but not those for crops like jatropha or cotton.
The collection of deals provides a stark snapshot of how agribusiness has been rapidly expanding across the globe since the food and financial crises of 2008 and how this is taking food production out of the hands of farmers and local communities.
It confirms that Africa is the primary target of the land grabs, but it also underlines the importance of Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe, demonstrating that this is a global phenomenon.
Other recently released data sets from GRAIN on land grabbing
Extent of farmland grabbing for food production by foreign interests: How much agricultural land has been sold or leased off? (December 2011). A table showing the percentage of the area grabbed by foreigners -- for the production of crops and livestock -- in terms of arable land, agricultural land and total land area per country.
Pension funds investing in global farmland for food production (updated December 2011). A table that shows which pensions funds are buying up farmland, where they are buying it and how much they are spending.
Land grabbing and the global food crisis - presentation (December 2011). A powerpoint presentation providing a general overview of the land grab trend, which includes maps and summaries of land grab cases.
The data set also paints a clear picture of who the land grabbers are. While most of the 298 land grabbers documented are from the agribusiness sector, financial companies and sovereign wealth funds are responsible for about a third of the deals. And on many occasions there is overlap. For instance, the data set shows how Cargill, one of the world's largest agribusiness companies, has been acquiring hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland through its hedge fund Black River Asset Management.
European and Asian based investors account for about two thirds of the land grabs within the data set. China and India are major sources of land grabbers, as are the UK and Germany. But the UK, much like Singapore and Mauritius, serves as a tax haven for land grabbers, and often the true operating bases of the companies reside elsewhere. Other major centres of land grabbers are the US, which tops the list at 41 cases, and the UAE and Saudi Arabia with 39 combined.
This table is based on data available to us, most of it collected from the website farmlandgrab.org. It has not been verified against realities on the ground. It is also a summary, and as such doesn't capture all nuances and details. Sources are available on request.
The data set is available in HTML below and in XLS and PDF formats. This interactive global map of land grabs created by Varun Mangla / Circle of Blue is one example of how the data is being used. Please contact us if you know of others or would like to suggest one.
French and Spanish versions are also available.
For further information, please contact:
Devlin Kuyek in Montreal, Canada
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+549 11 63088809 | <urn:uuid:5355288d-904b-4e36-8658-bdc46dcef9f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4479-grain-releases-data-set-with-over-400-global-land-grabs?locale=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9384 | 808 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Firefox tries again for URI fix
- — 20 October, 2007 08:06
Mozilla has released a critical security update to Firefox, taking a third shot at patching bugs in the way the browser can be used to launch programs from Web links.
The bug, rated 'moderate' by Mozilla, lies in the URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) protocol handling technology that is used to launch programs -- an e-mail client for example -- from within the browser. Over the past few months, security researchers have been discovering an increasing number of ways that this technology can be misused, often as a way to install unauthorized software on a victim's computer.
The URI patch is one of eight security bug-fixes that Mozilla has pushed out with the 188.8.131.52 update, released late Thursday.
Mozilla developers originally thought that the issue lay within Microsoft's Internet Explorer software, which could be invoked in a malicious fashion via Firefox. Several days after issuing their first patch, however, they realized that there was a problem with Firefox as well, and rushed out the 184.108.40.206 update.
Now, three months after that fix, they've patched another URI bug in Firefox that will cut down on the likelihood of programs being launched maliciously through the browser. The 220.127.116.11 release "did not prevent the incorrect file-handling programs from launching which left some risk," Mozilla said in its advisory. "An additional fix has been applied to Firefox 18.104.22.168 that detects when Windows would mishandle these URIs so that the wrong program does not get launched."
Mozilla developers weren't certain that this latest twist on the URI problem could really be exploited in Firefox, but they decided to issue this latest URI patch rather than wait to find out for certain, said Window Snyder, Mozilla's security chief. "We could just say this particular vector is not an issue because we do not have proof," she wrote in an e-mail. "We could leave it alone. Rather than spend our time analyzing whether this is a vector that could be vulnerable we would rather put the block in place and eliminate the possibility. This is a defense-in-depth measure."
Microsoft has said that it plans to patch underlying components in the Windows operating system, in an effort to prevent URI protocol handler attacks, and that will probably go a long way in preventing new attacks from cropping up, said Andrew Storms, director of security operations, with nCircle Network Security. "We have to applaud the Mozilla team for attempting to protect their users, but in the end it's going to be a Microsoft responsibility," he said.
Of the eight vulnerabilities patched Thursday, two are rated critical by Mozilla.
The 22.214.171.124 release also adds support for Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 operating system, code-named Leopard, although Mozilla warns "there are some known issues affecting some media plugins," on this platform. | <urn:uuid:e1ef1ad0-1004-4c3b-9d74-9cdf80e28be3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/196125/firefox_tries_again_uri_fix/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958014 | 612 | 1.929688 | 2 |
The periodic table is a chart which arranges all of the known elements according to their atomic numbers. The columns in the periodic table are called families or groups. The rows are called periods. The elements to left of the periodic table are metals while the elements in the top right are non metals. All metals are solid at normal temperatures while non-metals are liquid or gaseous. Metalloids have properties of both metals and non-metals.
This segment letâs go ahead and talk about the periodic table and letâs do kind of a broad overview Iâm not so much the specifics but just so that we can start becoming familiar with the information thatâs contained on the periodic table, so as Iâm sure most of us are already familiar, the periodic table has all of the elements that we know of displayed on it are 116 of them. And so basically itâs a range in periods if you will. Okay so the periods basically are the rows across and then even more important for the way that we use this information I think are the way the vertical families or the columns which we call families or groups. Okay so group I, group II, group III, group IV okay and all the way across, so thatâs going to come up for you numerous numerous times. Okay thatâs those are the groups or the families.
Alright so basically most of the elements are metals and those are shown in blue and so metals are efficiently sorry efficiently conduct heat and electricity, theyâre malleable which means that they're soft and you can kind of play with them and they have a shiny appearance.
Then weâve also got the non-metals in the top right hand side of the periodic table displayed in pink so those are your guys like oxygen and nitrogen and chlorine and the noble gases. And so these guys are all the metals are solid at normal temperature but many of the nonmetals are liquid at normal temperatures and so thatâs one of the differences between the two groups, so then we also have this small portion of elements which kind of ride the line between metals and nonmetals, they're displayed in orange and so those guys are called metalloids or semimetals. Okay, so they have properties of both metals and of nonmetals, so let's get a little bit more specific here with the periodic table so again in the blue are all the metals which you can see there are many of them. The orange are metalloids or the semimetals and the pink are the nonmetals.
Okay, so the one thing thatâs probably stands out is that hydrogen is over here in group I but in fact it is a nonmetal. Thatâs because hydrogen just has a bunch of special properties that weâll talk about at a different point, so it's kind of neither a metal or nonmetal. Hydrogen is just kind of its own entity but it is placed here because it does lose an electron to become H+, so let's what is contained here is basically if you kind of zeroed in on one of these boxes here, let's pick carbon because carbon is the stuff of life, you would see a few numbers contained there in so, above carbon is the number 6 and so that indicates for you that what the atomic number is and so the atomic number tells you how many protons and how many electrons are contained in an element so thatâs why you have the atomic number at the top. Then you also have the information of the molar mass at the bottom. For carbon its 12.011 and that tells you how many protons and neutrons there are. Molar mass is usually given in the units of grams per mol.
Okay so remember that if you have a different number of neutrons then that will give you the various different isotopes, so carbon has, thereâs carbon 12 and carbon 14 different isotopes of carbon because their different number of neutrons.
Okay so letâs kind of go through pretty quickly what the different groups are so here we have group 1 and group 1 those are your alkali metals, group 2 are your alkaline earth metals and then we kind of go over here a little bit and these guys on the very end those are your noble gases super stable these are your halogens and then these guys in the middle collectively from about here to here just grouped here are your transition metals and those guys just as weâll discuss later on have really strange properties and interact with different elements in different ways, so thatâs basically the overall just of the periodic table. | <urn:uuid:6d1c3165-95cd-4b31-8dc8-56d7fe1fc8fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brightstorm.com/science/chemistry/the-periodic-table/periodic-table-overview/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943714 | 937 | 4 | 4 |
§ 17. Sir J. D. REES
asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the Commissioners sent to report on the state of indentured Indian immigrants in Trinidad, Guiana, and Jamaica have submitted their Report; and, if so, whether the conditions under which these immigrants live was found to be other than satisfactory?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Mr. Charles Roberts)
The Report is being presented. The general conclusion expressed is that the advantages of the system have far outweighed the disadvantages, while some proposals are made for remedying its defects. | <urn:uuid:d0af95a9-4444-4a09-a25c-37f9fce79af4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1915/feb/17/indian-immigrants-west-indies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954154 | 124 | 1.914063 | 2 |
The Rise and Fall of A Modern-Day Icarus by A Wilson
Price: Free! 136300 words.
Published on October 31, 2012. .
Are you lifting weights because you want to develop more muscle mass? Why do most think that more muscle mass leads to an increase of resting fat metabolism? When you hypertrophy your muscles, you are enlarging Type IIb muscle fibres, which are glycolytic. There is an increase of carbohydrate metabolism, not fat metabolism. I have had problems with stress. Read my life-struggle to understand why. | <urn:uuid:6a5ff638-a49c-46e0-9116-a43c069b1b81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/midoxidizer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95747 | 119 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The wind tunnel in all its forms has carried the burden of technical advance in aeronautics as well as in space. While the contributions of some facilities have the hallmark of greatness, the technical impact of others has been only transitory. The elements of wind tunnel greatness, distilled from 60 years of NACA/NASA tunnel operation, are fundamental- timeliness in meeting a technical need, excellence of design, research versatility, and direction by an innovative and technically competent staff.
Of these four elements, the most important is the staff. Ronald Smelt, in a recent Florence Guggenheim Memorial Lecture (Lisbon, Portugal, September 1978) pointed out that "...in every aeronautical center, it is noteworthy that once the resource was available, there grew up around the facilities a group of people who knew how to use them, and use them wisely.... Past history of aeronautical laboratories has clearly shown that the building of the superb team is of greater importance than the building of the superb facility."
The wind tunnels of NASA and their staffs constitute a national resource of great value. From the frail wood and fabric aircraft of World War I and the sputtering rockets of early pioneers, aerospace technology has progressed to supersonic transports spanning the oceans, space probes to the planets, and manned landings on the Moon. Soon, winged space vehicles will routinely return from orbit to a precision landing on spaceship Earth. The wind tunnels of NASA (and those of its predecessor NACA) have been in the forefront of this pioneering technology. Dedicated to the service of all mankind, these facilities and their staffs promise a future generation of flight that challenges the imagination. | <urn:uuid:1c4dafd1-1038-4b85-ae03-e35bbdf2722f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://history.nasa.gov/SP-440/afterword.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939889 | 340 | 3.390625 | 3 |
As college career fair season nears, it’s important to focus on developing a dialogue and employer brand with those prospective employees and interns. Last week, we discussed recruitment strategies as part of planning your campus recruiting efforts. But more importantly, how does one build an intern program? Like building a gingerbread house, you start at the beginning. Here are six ways to get you started in building a formal and organized internship program that turns your interns into life long employees.
How to Build Your College Internship Programs
- · Ask Your Audience. If you have an existing internship program or have hired recent college graduates, start by asking them for feedback and insights immediately. You can do this using an informal meeting or focus group or an online survey to gather insights, information, and recommendations. Starting any program requires research, asking questions, and developing a best practice from those that know.
- · Get to Know Career Services. Your college or university career services is a great way to start building and creating your internship program. Ask them about best practices on campus, and what tools and strategies are most effective to reach the student population. Don’t forget to get to know the specific college program career services representatives. These individuals work for the college directly and although they are affiliated with career services, they are the specific college degree program’s first point of contact for their students.
- · Talk to Your Peers. Learning from others is a great way to establish and build an internship program at your work. Companies like Disney and Google have some of the best intern programs in the world. Most students need structure and a more formal curriculum to learn best. Interns are not just warm bodies at low wages used to work menial jobs. They are our future leaders and employees so it’s important to focus on their experience, learnings, and what works. Ask around. I guarantee, you’ll learn a thing or two.
- · Gather Intel on Social Media. Social media is a great resource for informally polling and building relationships with your audience. Reach out to students at your college campus who are on Twitter. Research popular college hash tags, specific degree program chats, and different intern program blogs and resources online. Listen and engage, but most importantly listen. It’s the best way to research and learn about the audience you are trying to reach.
- · Share Knowledge and Resources. Sharing resources and information online through social networks and email newsletters is a great way to establish creditability and build your employer brand. You can either take the time to build an internship or young professional blog for prospective internship applicants driving them to your careers website and information or share with them great resources from other websites. Writing content and articles takes time. Depending on your company’s budget, time constraints, and commitment level, you can make the best decision.
- · Establish a Work Team. Whether it’s hiring an outside expert to help you navigate and create an internship program that keeps students talking or using internal employees and resources, it’s important to establish a work team with formal and specific deadlines. These team members need to be passionate and committed to developing an internship program that out does your competition.
Developing an Internship Program
Successful internship programs do not have to be complex to be effective, but they must be organized and provide the students within that program valuable learning experiences and information. Take the time to gather feedback from your interns throughout the process allowing you to improve your program on the fly.
Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media. She’s an author who writes at Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @blogging4jobs. | <urn:uuid:500b887b-2568-47cc-a89d-9976010ade97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.talentcircles.com/2012/09/6-ways-to-build-your-fall-spring-intern.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930816 | 766 | 1.523438 | 2 |
A coalition of livestock, dairy, meat and poultry groups have filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking for a waiver “in whole or in substantial part” of the amount of renewable fuel that must be produced from corn ethanol that is required under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) for the remainder of 2012 and for a portion of 2013. The RFS has “directly affected the supply and cost of feed in major agricultural sectors of this country, causing the type of economic harm that justifies issuance of an RFS waiver,” the petition states. The coalition is asking for prompt action to provide relief because of the effects of the drought, stating in the petition, “[i]t is abundantly clear that sufficient harm is occurring now and that economic conditions affecting grain supplies and feed prices will worsen in the months ahead. Both conditions provide an independent basis for a waiver of the RFS.” The RFS requires 13.2 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol to be produced in 2012 and 13.8 billion gallons in 2013. Members of the coalition include the American Feed Industry Association, American Meat Institute, American Sheep Industries Association, Milk Producers Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Chicken Council, National Pork Producers Council, National Turkey Federation and North American Meat Association. | <urn:uuid:35a85153-a3ce-43d7-8b2f-173a06faea0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nationalhogfarmer.com/print/environment/meat-and-poultry-groups-call-rfs-waiver | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935008 | 273 | 1.921875 | 2 |
The answer here is D and I am not sure why.
I chose C here since I think it's irrelevant? Or C is correct b/c more accountants means higher chance to commit the embezzlement?
C is a pretty weak answer, but that's all that's needed to weaken. It does show that we've got a larger pool of suspects among accountants, which is better than D does.
Then for D. I thought it attacks the first sentence in the stimulus. B/C the embezzler must have had specialized knowledge and access to internal financial records. what's wrong here?
Not sure what your analysis has to do with what D says--that a report concluded the corporation was vulnerable to embezzlement. Anyway, D is the EXCEPT answer because the fact that the corporation was vulnerable doesn't affect the conclusion, which is only about about whodunit. | <urn:uuid:f582a110-3f65-4514-a775-c7fe9faa0496> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/index.php?topic=4023499.0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985514 | 186 | 2.265625 | 2 |
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Tofu is made from soybeans, water and a coagulant, or curdling agent. Loved in Asia for centuries, it is high in protein and calcium and has the ability to absorb new flavors, whether through spices or marinades.
For those of you who have never used it or even know what it is, tofu is considered to be a good meat substitute, as it is rich in protein. Since it has no flavor of its own, tofu can easily pick up almost any flavor that you add to it.
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