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Posted on 29 June 2011.
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon
A new health insurance program for Coloradans with pre-existing conditions has enrolled just 800 people in its first year, but is costing much more than expected: more than $12 million so far.
Under the Affordable Care Act, Colorado is due to receive $90 million for its new high-risk health pool called GettingUSCovered. Actuaries predicted that 4,000 people would participate in the program between July of last year and January 2014, when the Affordable Care Act goes into full effect and insurance companies can no longer turn down people who have suffered previous illnesses.
Nationwide, high-risk health pools have also drawn far fewer people than anticipated. So far, about 30,000 people have signed up for the program across the country, well below the 200,000 to 400,000 who were expected to sign up between last year and 2014.
“Our enrollment is not as high as originally projected, but the expenditures are much higher,” said Steve ErkenBrack, president and CEO of Rocky Mountain Health Plans, the nonprofit health insurance company that has a contract to run Colorado’s high-risk pool.
“The people who are accessing this program are very sick, and it’s fulfilling a very crucial need,” ErkenBrack said.
Officials at Rocky Mountain Health Plans declined to give Solutions figures on the average cost per patient. They said the program is too new to provide accurate data and cited lag times in paying claims. In June, the average patient paid a premium of $355. Individuals pay monthly premiums ranging from $116 to $729 depending their age, where they live and whether they smoke.
It’s unclear yet whether pent-up demand brought sicker people to the program in its first year. Those who sign up in the second year could have less costly health problems or costs could continue to exceed projections.
Because such sick people are joining GettingUSCovered, ErkenBrack said program managers may have to consider limiting enrollment, trimming benefits or hiking premiums to keep the program viable.
Steve ErkenBrack, president and CEO of Rocky Mountain Health Plans, the nonprofit Colorado health plan which has a contract to run GettingUSCovered. Limits and waiting lists may be necessary to slow spending. ErkenBrack: "Running out of money is not an option."
“We may need to adjust premiums and adjust who can come into the program,” ErkenBrack said. “We may need to freeze enrollment for a bit. That’s very premature, but the bottom line is that we have a set amount of dollars.”
In order to qualify for GettingUSCovered, patients must suffer from a pre-existing condition that would disqualify them from obtaining private health insurance. So, by definition they have medical challenges. And, they have to have lived without health insurance for at least six months.
It’s not a program for low-income people. The patients also must be able to pay 100 percent of their premiums, which mirror those that healthy people would pay if they were buying individual health insurance policies in Colorado.
ErkenBrack said some of those who have signed up have been severely ill patients suffering from cancer or in need of expensive transplants.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius came to Denver last week to highlight successful prevention programs at Denver Health. While in Colorado, she also met with ErkenBrack to discuss a variety of health issues, including GettingUSCovered. ErkenBrack said he did not ask for additional funds for Colorado’s program.
“At the end of the day, we have to maximize the $90 million and make sure it lasts for this amount of time. Running out of money is not an option,” ErkenBrack said. “We are looking at this very, very carefully and working with the feds to make sure the program works.”
Sebelius told Solutions that high-risk pools were always intended as bridge programs to provide immediate help for people who have been shut out of private health insurance. She said the requirement that people be uninsured for six months has been a barrier along with the costs and the lack of knowledge about the program.
Colorado runs its own program with federal dollars. But in many states, the federal government is running the high-risk pools and has lowered prices to try to attract more patients. Sebelius has urged other states like Colorado to consider lowering premiums. But lowering premiums would only compound Colorado’s problems with soaring expenses and could also bring costs below market rates for private insurance.
Some critics of the Affordable Care Act have argued that stagnant numbers in the high-risk pools are an early sign that health reform won’t work. Sebelius countered that even with relatively low enrollment numbers, high-risk pools are critical to the people they are serving.
“There are thousands of people, thanks to the high-risk pools, who are getting care now, that in many cases they wouldn’t have gotten. In many cases, it’s life and death care. It’s frankly saving money in hospital systems. Absent the high-risk pools, these folks would still be coming to the hospitals in critical condition. They (hospitals) would just be uncompensated.”
She said the pools are giving fragile patients stability until 2014 “when we can have some really comprehensive care for these individuals.”
Nursing student’s quandary
Among Coloradans who need health insurance, but can’t qualify for GettingUSCovered is Ashley Whitney, 28, a student at the University of Colorado College of Nursing. In order to be enrolled in school, she must prove that she has health insurance or buy it with her tuition.
Whitney pays $3,300 per year for the school’s insurance, but said it’s essentially worthless because it has strict caps on medications and procedures.
Nursing student Ashley Whitney needs better health insurance, but can't go without it for six months to qualify for GettingUSCovered.
At 22, Whitney was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, which causes abdominal pain, digestive ailments and lung problems.
She is supposed to be taking a medication called Cimzia that costs $5,000 per month, but has stopped because she can’t afford it and can’t find health insurance that will cover such expensive medication.
The medication cap on her current insurance is $5,000 annually. She can reach that in one month. There’s also cap of $4,000 per procedure. A single MRI can cost her up to $8,000.
Whitney had never heard of GettingUSCovered and can’t afford to go six months without insurance so she can qualify. First, she might get kicked out of school. Second, an illness could bankrupt her.
“If I got sick, I don’t know what I would do. It seems like every six months, something comes up,” she said. “When I get sick, I get really sick. It usually involves CT scans and hospitalizations. I’m typically in for three to seven days.”
In 2009, Whitney had to have surgery for her illness and in 2010 she went on a program called CoverColorado. It’s Colorado’s older high-risk health pool that dates back to 1990. It does not receive federal funds.
For eight months, Whitney faithfully paid $385 per month to make sure she’d have health coverage.
“It’s like paying for a second car payment. I was working overtime and I wasn’t even sick. I thought, ‘Why am I throwing all of this away?’”
When she did need medical help, she found the coverage lacking.
“Every time I went to the doctor, I had to pay out of pocket to reach my $4,000 deductible and they didn’t cover any of my medications.”
So, after eight months, she withdrew from CoverColorado and decided to purchase the school’s health insurance. While the coverage was poor, at least she could wrap it in to her tuition payments and use student loans to pay the premiums.
“It’s very upsetting. It’s one of the worst things with health care today. People are willing to pay (for insurance) but you have to jump through millions of hoops to have decent health care,” Whitney said.
She expects to graduate in December and hopes to get a job with good health benefits.
Safety-net health pools should expire in 2014
Prior to passage of the Affordable Care Act, people who couldn’t get health insurance in Colorado could turn to CoverColorado. The nonprofit program still exists, but both CoverColorado and GettingUSCovered are slated to end once Colorado’s health exchange starts operating on Jan. 1, 2014.
Half of the funding for CoverColorado comes from premiums individuals pay. The other half is split between fees that insurance companies pay and funds from Colorado’s unclaimed property trust.
By Colorado statute, individuals pay 100 to 150 percent of what healthy people in the individual market pay. As of July 1, enrollees in CoverColorado will pay about 113 percent of the market rate, said executive director, Suzanne Bragg-Gamble.
As the economy has worsened, enrollment in CoverColorado has increased by 22 percent and now hovers at nearly 14,000 people. Money from the unclaimed property fund is running out and could pose challenges to CoverColorado’s managers.
Bragg-Gamble also works with Rocky Mountain Health Plans to administer GettingUSCovered.
She says there are two big differences in the programs. One is the funding source. CoverColorado gets no federal money. And, second, people cannot join GettingUSCovered unless they have been uninsured for the previous six months.
The rates for CoverColorado are also slightly higher since they are set at 113 percent of market rate while GettingUSCovered must provide premiums at 100 percent of the market rate.
Bragg-Gamble said it’s been difficult to get the word out about GettingUSCovered and some people who have answered a survey on the website have said they did not sign up because of cost. Nonetheless, she’s pleased with the program.
“I don’t care what people projected. We’ve got 800 Coloradans who have health insurance and they’re able to get care. I’m not ashamed of that at all,” she said.
ErkenBrack of Rocky Mountain Health Plans conceded that one challenge of the GettingUSCovered is that people are allowed to sign up for the insurance, have a medical procedure and then withdraw. If GettingUSCovered ultimately has to create waiting lists, people who leave may have a long wait to get insurance again.
“You’d need to think twice before you drop out,” ErkenBrack said.
He believes the costs for this program don’t forecast how overall health reform will work. Part of the problem is that the patients may have costlier problems precisely because they were not getting regular care.
“Illnesses don’t get cheaper if you ignore them. They get more expensive,” ErkenBrack said.
“I view this program as very successful because it has found a way to cover people who really were not able to access the system,” ErkenBrack said. “This is a very narrow subset of the population of the uninsured. It would be unreliable to project out onto the entire Affordable Care Act.” | <urn:uuid:fb756b7c-40ec-423f-ac9b-24625e2d121f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthpolicysolutions.org/2011/06/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972721 | 2,468 | 1.796875 | 2 |
It seems that lately, not a day goes by without someone compiling a list of what motivates employees (See list at end). Without going into the merits of these lists, it’s made me think about why I like volunteering for Habitat for Humanity so much. I don’t just like it, I love it! I can’t wait to go back.
While it has its moments, I don’t typically feel this way about my day job. The difference? Here are just a few.
What every employer can learn from Habitat
Purpose: Habitat’s purpose is simple enough—to promote and provide affordable housing for all—but one of the many things they excel at is the clear articulation of their mission in everything they do, every step of the way.
Before beginning work each day, the foreman or site manager reminds the group about not just Habitat’s overarching purpose, but its immediate and local one too—“We’re building this house for the Cushman family…” Before you start each day, you understand exactly how your efforts will contribute to not just a global mission, but a real flesh and blood one, too.
At work, do you know how your energy and efforts contribute to the organization’s mission each day?
Clear, attainable goals: Before the start of each Habitat day, the site manager lists the goals for the day—frame a wall, waterproof the crawlspace, frame windows, sheathe walls, tile a bathroom, plumb the kitchen, whatever. This prepares you for the tasks ahead. Then both at midday and at the end of the day, you gather together, and one by one, review what you’ve learned and accomplished.
“ I framed two walls.”
“ I tiled a vanity.”
“ I learned how to operate a miter saw and look, I still have all my fingers and limbs!”
“ I hung six doors.”
“ I learned how to shingle a roof!”
Without fail, it seems like people always get more done, learn more things, and get more out of their day than what they set out to do.
At work, do you have a clear plan for what you intend to do and learn each day? Do you then review your goals at the end of the day to see how you did?
Autonomy: At Habitat, whatever it is you’ve signed up to do, you’re valued and trusted to do a good job at it. While folks like Dan Pink have built an industry around trying to convince middle-management that their employees aren’t a bunch of shirkers, Habitat gets this intrinsically.
At Habitat, if you need guidance, you get it from an expert, so that you can learn and understand not just how to do something, but why it needs to be done that way. Otherwise, no one is watching over your shoulder. You’re given autonomy over what it is you’ve come to do, and trusted to do it right.
At work, are you valued and trusted as a professional to do your job without micromanagement or mistrust?
Learning: Habitat understands that the more you learn, more skillful and valuable you become, not just to Habitat’s mission, but to the community. And the more you learn, more you can do, and it just makes you come back for more. It’s a win-win-win.
At work, do you have the opportunity for constant, relevant and meaningful learning that lets you increase not just your skills but your contributions?
People: Whatever the task, the people you work with greatly influence what you get out of your work. A menial job can be pleasant and rewarding when done with great people, and similarly, a great job can be miserable with the wrong people. Habitat blends meaningful work with great people from all walks of life such that I enjoy working with the people as much as doing the work.
Do you enjoy working with the people you work with?
Communication: The way Habitat approaches communication blows me away. It’s phenomenal. From their web site signup forms to welcoming and reminder emails with directions and expectations, from the first morning briefing to the mid-day and end-of day huddles and debriefings, they communicate clearly, purposefully, meaningfully and at appropriate level of detail at each iteration. They understand that, in order to be effective, people need information, and they work hard to blend exceptional communication into their core processes such that it seems natural, seamless, easy, which is a sure sign that they work really hard at it.
At work, how clearly does your organization communicate its vision, mission, goals and expectations such that you understand exactly what’s expected and how you fit in?
Is it Saturday yet?
In this post:
- Chatham Habitat for Humanity
- Eight Things Employees Need Most
- Eight Things Employees Want
- Ten Things Employees Want
- What Women Want in Their Leaders
- Dan Pink | <urn:uuid:53fa36cd-3b4b-4100-81ad-1490c6534a52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://carrboroman.com/2012/02/07/what-every-employer-can-learn-from-habitat/ | 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 | 0.950549 | 1,076 | 1.507813 | 2 |
By Paulo Coelho
A novice once went to Abbot Macario to ask his advice on how best to please the Lord.
‘Go to the cemetery and insult the dead,’ said Macario.
The brother did as he was told. The following day, he went back to Macario.
‘Did they respond?’ asked the Abbot.
‘No,’ said the novice.
‘Then go and praise them instead.’
The novice obeyed. That same afternoon, he went back to the Abbot, who again asked if the dead had responded.
‘No, they didn’t,’ said the novice.
‘In order to please the Lord, do exactly as they did,’ Macario told him. ‘Take no notice of men’s scorn or of their praise; in that way, you will be able to build your own path.’
Welcome to Share with Friends – Free Texts for a Free Internet | <urn:uuid:2553baf4-aed8-4180-8de9-6ce4eac70831> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2007/08/02/daily-message-65/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976268 | 215 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Master of the Impossible! Joseph Commings (1914-1992) created one of the greatest investigators of locked rooms, impossible disappearances and other "miracle crimes" - the gargantuan, harrumphing Senator Brooks U. Banner. During his long career (Banner first appeared in the pulps in 1947), he investigated such crimes as murder at a s�ance where everyone is holding hands, a strange spectre causing death in the middle of a lake, a killing in a sealed glass case, and a murder by a sword which must have been wielded by a giant. The most extraordinary story of all is "The X Street Murders," in which the victim is shot in a guarded room and the smoking-gun is delivered, a few seconds later, in a sealed envelope next door.
This first collection of Senator Banner stories contains 14 cases solved by the buffalo-sized sleuth, including one co-written with Edward D. Hoch and another published for the first time. Banner Deadlines is the 12th in the Crippen & Landru "Lost Classics" series, which is dedicated to preserving stories in the classic detective tradition. The collection is edited by locked-room expert Robert Adey and includes an Afterword by Ed Hoch. | <urn:uuid:9027bbf7-3c17-41cb-845e-2648dc99841b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.murderone.co.uk/banner-deadlines-the-impossible-files-of-senator-brooks-u-banner-3675-p.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962276 | 257 | 1.53125 | 2 |
FLOATEC project develops new floating house technology for low-lying countries
By Darren Quick
September 1, 2011
Venice may soon be sharing its "Floating City" moniker thanks to a research project developing "amphibian houses" that are designed to float in the event of a flood. The FLOATEC project sees the primary market for the houses as the Netherlands, whose low-lying land makes it particularly susceptible to the effects of rising sea levels. Such housing technology could also allow small island-states in the Indian and Pacific Oceans that are at the risk of disappearing in the next 100 years to maintain their claim to statehood through the use of artificial, floating structures.
The lead research partner in the FLOATEC project is Dura Vermeer, a Dutch company that over the past 12 years has become a market leader in the floating building market. Although it might seem difficult, Dura Vermeer's Edwin Blom says building a floating house is actually a relatively easy construction process. As you might expect, the secret lies in the foundations, which are made up of multiple layers of light plastic foam supporting the concrete, allowing it to float.
However, the technology used up until now has had limitations as there is a maximum size and weight beyond which a structure loses its buoyancy and simply sinks. To solve this problem Dura Vermeer teamed up with Spanish company, Acciona Infrastructures, and a Spanish engineering consultancy, Solintel, to develop a new way to build floating structures that were simpler, more solid and used lighter materials.
The new building method they developed uses expanded polystyrene (EPS), which Blon says is, "the same kind as is used for packaging and which people are familiar with: little white balls glued together." This modified polystyrene is inserted in multiple layers in between stratums of composite and concrete and divided into beam-like modules that can easily be assembled into a bigger supporting structure a bit like building blocks. The modules are arranged in a floating grid into which the concrete is cast.
Blom says that although the new technology is more advanced than traditional methods, it is still much cheaper as there is a reduction in the amount of material used. "Smaller blocks can now support bigger structures and, in the end, the cost of the whole building is reduced," he said.
FLOATEC is a European R&D project underwritten by EUREKA, an intergovernmental network established to support market-oriented R&D and innovation projects by industry, research centers and universities across all technological sectors.
Just enter your friends and your email address into the form below
For multiple addresses, separate each with a comma | <urn:uuid:ad59e781-2e35-4bc6-baac-5a60c8ec1f3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gizmag.com/floatec-floating-house-project/19670/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960089 | 553 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Ultra Lightweight Wheelchairs
Whether you're propelling yourself or being pushed by a companion, weight is an important factor when choosing a wheelchair. Lighter weight means more efficient use. You should consider that you may need to put your wheelchair in your car's trunk.
Types of lightweight wheelchairs: There are two major types of wheelchairs which are classified by the size of the rear wheel. There are standard manual wheelchairs which have large rear wheels and allow users to propel themselves. We also have transport wheelchairs which can be identified by small wheels and require a companion to push.
Prices of lightweight wheelchairs:
As a general rule, the lighter the wheelchair... the more expensive the cost. Another rule of thumb, transport wheelchairs cost less than standard wheelchairs.
Looking for cheap wheelchair prices, check out the companion chair page. | <urn:uuid:b2a488d7-1716-4eaf-b1f0-15c5af5e989c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.1800wheelchair.com/asp/view-category-products.asp?category_id=373&page=2&layout=h&filter_103=598&filter_92=508&filter_25=19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956282 | 172 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The Washington Free Beacon is reporting that if anyone is conducting a war on women, it is the Obama White House. Women employees at the White House make 18 percent less of the median salary as do male employees.
This has not stopped President Obama from criticizing instances of gender based pay gaps where it occurs in the private sector.
This revelation tracks with the story Amy Sullivan wrote in Time Magazine in September 2011 that described that Obama White House as a “boy’s club” and suggested that the president has a woman problem. There has been a work atmosphere at the White House that marginalizes and ignores women, Even senior women staffers are seen and not heard during policy meetings.
This new revelation, along with the overly close relationship that the Obama administration has developed with the nascent Muslim brotherhood government in Egypt, suggests that where women are concerned, they are more valued as weapons to be used against Republicans than as contributors to policy at the Obama White House.
Obama’s trumped up war on women campaign, uses women as wmd. | <urn:uuid:0f08809d-7646-4ffb-b81d-78cc278dc535> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moodyeyeview.com/2012/04/12/obama-uses-women-as-wmd/ | 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 | 0.976247 | 213 | 1.59375 | 2 |
There was time, in the 1960s and ‘70s, when the United States was "more of a mind to tackle poverty," Georgetown University law school professor Peter Edelman tells Greg Kaufmann in an interview for The Nation.
In "US Poverty: Past, Present and Future," Edelman, an ACS Board member and husband of Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, reflected on his storied career of fighting poverty. That career included working closely with Robert F. Kennedy and serving, for a time, in the Clinton administration. (Kaufmann notes that Edelman left his post in the administration in protest over its involvement in the creation of so-called welfare reform.)
Today a sense of outrage is sorely lacking over the ever-growing number of people in poverty, Edelman (pictured at the 2010 ACS National Convention) says:
We now have over 19 million people who live in extreme poverty - that's 6.3 percent of the population - unbelievable! These are people below half the poverty line - below about $8,500 for a family of three, $11,500 for a family of four. Up from 12.6 million in 2000! You have 6 million people in this country whose only income is food stamps - which provide income at just one-third of the poverty line. We've effectively destroyed welfare as a form of assistance - that's TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), the cash assistance that ought to go along with food stamps - because in so many states it's become virtually nonexistent. The states decide who gets it, and so in state after state - with a few exceptions - it's really hard to get on welfare.
Regarding child poverty, Edelman says:
Over 20 percent of children live in poverty, and over 36 percent of the extremely poor are children. Also, over half of the children in this country under age 6 who live in a household where there's a single mom are poor. That's another stunning number.
Poverty in the country continues to hit certain races and ethnicities the hardest, Edelman adds:
We still have poverty rates for African-Americans that are close to three times the white rate. Same for Latinos. But the African-American poverty rate tends to be more intergenerational, more persistent. Same for Native Americans. And what are the causes of that?
A lot of it is something that does not start in childhood in terms of the inadequate schooling that too many children of color receive. Some are issues in the community and the home that we don't talk about enough. And then there are these societal frames - and the criminal justice system is the largest one - that are just kind of traps that are out there. So, if a kid gets into the juvenile justice system he or she is much more disproportionately likely to get into the adult criminal justice system, this is the pipeline. And there isn't a national consciousness of how racialized the whole thing is.
As far as the criminal justice system itself is concerned, you look at it every stage of the way: more African-Americans arrested for the same crime; more processed through the system as opposed to the charge being dropped; more incarcerated as opposed to receiving probation, etc. It's very related to the drug policy. That all makes a major contribution to the level of poverty. My basic view is that essentially you need to treat people who are low-level dealers or users as a public health question.
See Edelman's entire comments on the nation's poverty, which includes observations about the "tidal wave of low wage jobs," and the need to reverse course and start making serious investments in reversing poverty, which, as Edelman notes, would require "making the rich people pay their fair share."
In his last column for The New York Times, Bob Herbert also hit upon the nation's glut of jobs that pay "a pittance," and rising inequality. (Herbert noted, "Income and wealth inequality in the U.S. have reached stages that would make the third world blush. As the Economic Policy Institute has reported, the richest 10 percent of Americans received an unconscionable 100 percent of the average income growth in the years 2000 to 2007, the most recent extended period of economic expansion.")
It is the growing economic inequality, Herbert wrote, that may someday spark outrage, of which Edelman spoke.
"This inequality," Herbert wrote, "in which an enormous segment of the population struggles while the fortunate few ride the gravy train, is a world-class recipe for social unrest. Downward mobility is an ever-shortening fuse leading to profound consequences." | <urn:uuid:e85841c0-32e7-4c9f-acf6-66abfefed64f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://americanconstitutionsociety.org/acsblog/lacking-a-sense-of-outrage-over-poverty-peter-edelman%E2%80%99s-interview-with-the-nation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96726 | 952 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Thank you Governor Perdue for your last minute VETO against fracking in North Carolina. The beautiful land and welfare of the people mean more than the fracking bill pushed through by the efforts of lobbyists and representatives who receive trips and moneys from energy companies.
“This bill does not do enough to ensure that adequate protections for our drinking water, landowners, county and municipal governments, and the health and safety of our families will be in place before fracking begins,” Perdue said.
There is no doubt that jobs are much needed in our county and state. Yet, at what price? Having worked in Washington, DC with telecommunications experts, lobbyists and corporations, let me say that money talks. With our current representative Mike Hager being sued for over a million dollars in his failed real estate development of Highlands of Lake Lure and his partner already having declared bankruptcy in the now defunct corporation, could he be influenced by the efforts to sway his recommendations on the energy committee and his votes?
The welfare of the people come first – at least that is what my idealistic teachers taught me. The government was created by the people and for the people.
Who are our representatives representing? | <urn:uuid:b075b27c-40ad-449a-8fe3-7348ae564e9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rccatalyst.com/?p=5884 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97806 | 241 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Pfizer has halted clinical trials of its new cholesterol medication, which was designed to increase HDL ("good") cholesterol levels in human blood. The hope: to get everyone on the planet to take a statin/torcetrapib combination and get everyone's cholesterol numbers into a "happy" testing range. Turns out the torcetrapib actually increases one's chances of dying. So Pfizer pulled the plug (at least they had the decency to do that, unlike Merck's Vioxx fiasco).
I have two main problems with the line of research pharmaceutical companies are pursuing regarding cholesterol. First off, why not consider a combination of herbal therapies, perhaps featuring Fenugreek (Trigonella faenum-graecum) along with other botanicals, which have not only been proven to lower LDL cholesterol, raise HDL, but also manage blood sugar, improve and soothe digestive function, and actually enhance life? Lack of patentability would be my first guess.
Secondly, the whole approach of attempting to alter serum levels of cholesterol and their lipoprotein packages seems like "teaching to the test" rather than trying to improve final outcomes. Sure, high cholesterol levels seem to be present when there is dangerous heart disease. But I haven't yet found conclusive evidence that there is a causal relationship between the two, and I am beginning to suspect that underlying cardiovascular inflammation is at the root of both conditions. It would seem that devising new drugs that are specific only for improving your cholesterol numbers on a blood test misses the point and can, apperently, be quite dangerous. My humble suggestion: if you and/or your doctor are concerned about high cholesterol levels, consider herbal therapy alongside nutritional intervention. There's a great track record out there, with no increased mortality risk. | <urn:uuid:9a7b34d0-181c-4bde-9e10-e9d4c7351028> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aradicle.blogspot.com/2006/12/cholesterol-conundrum.html?showComment=1165633920000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951632 | 365 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Overwhelming feelings of bullying fear, distrust, paranoia, hypervigilance, hyperalertness? read this
"There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
Franklin D Roosevelt
Bullying results in fear, for fear is the means by which all abusers, including bullies, disempower and control their victims.
It's natural to feel fearful when a bully is undermining and disempowering you daily by whittling away at your self-confidence and self-esteem. Constant trivial nitpicking criticism sows the seeds of self-doubt which eventually take root and sprout into full-blown fear. Bullies co-opt others into isolating you, bad-mouthing you, ignoring you and distancing themselves from you.
Bullying, in the form of constant verbal abuse, creates uncertainty and attacks objectivity resulting in destabilisation (which is often misinterpreted as "unstable"). In the initial stages fear manifests as distrust, and if the source of the fear is not addressed, the distrust builds into what most people call paranoia. When this is a symptom of cumulative psychiatric injury, the correct term is hypervigilance or hyperalertness. In a bullying situation the level of fear is so high that one is on constant alert for danger. The differences between paranoia and hypervigilance are listed on the Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder page.
Undue fear is a common symptom of Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Browse Bully OnLine and overcome fear to re-empower yourself with knowledge and insight. Start with Am I being bullied? and then find out Why am I being bullied? - the answer may surprise you. See the myths about bullying deconstructed and find out answers to frequently-asked questions about bullying.
Definition of fear
Rhonda Britten's Fearless Living Institute
Susan Jeffer's Feel the fear and do it anyway
Stress, injury to health, trauma and PTSD
How bullying, harassment and abuse damage health and cause trauma
Stress, trauma and PTSD Home Page
The cause of stress revealed
Stress at work, injury to health, fatigue, depression, suicide
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and Complex PTSD
Bullying, stress and self-harm | Stress and debility
Bullying and suicide | Cases of suicide caused by bullying
Bullying shame | Bullying fear | Bullying embarrassment | Bullying guilt
Bullying and denial | Trauma | Shell shock: PTSD in WW1
David Kinchin's book Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: the invisible injury
validates and relieves the silent unseen suffering of trauma
Profile of David Kinchin | PTSD workshops by David Kinchin
Neil Marr and Tim Field's book Bullycide: death at playtime reveals the
secret toll of children who attempt or commit suicide because of bullying
The Field Foundation | Bully OnLine
Workplace bullying | School bullying | Family bullying
Bullying news | Press and media centre
Bullying case histories | Bullying resources
Stress, PTSD and psychiatric injury
Action to tackle bullying | Related issues
Books on bullying and related issues
Trauma and spiritual growth | <urn:uuid:a66f67db-9f6e-4d71-afa4-3ce285626dff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bullyonline.org/stress/fear.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905592 | 657 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Miswiring can lead to callbacks on zoning system
installations. This has made contractors reluctant to install them. However,
changes in products (like Honeywell’s TrueZone) have made wiring much more
Zoning controls are pretty standard in commercial HVAC
systems; why hasn’t it caught on more in residential work?
According to several manufacturers, there has been a certain
amount of contractor trepidation about the technology, related to callbacks and
such, that really goes back to the design and installation of the systems
These manufacturers have started taking notice of the
Dan Joyce, channel marketing director, Homes North America,
Environmental and Combustion Control, Honeywell, agreed that there is a big
opportunity for residential zoning. “We zone the electricity and the plumbing,”
he said. “Zoning is light switches and faucets for HVAC.”
“As manufacturers, zoning has been too complex for too
long,” said Joyce. Three years of contractor research eventually resulted in “a
product by our customers, for our customers.
“Complexity leads to lack of confidence,” he said.
“Miswiring is the No.1 reason for callbacks. Setting DIP switches is No.2. It
hasn’t been intuitive. We have very talented people, but it shouldn’t have to
be rocket science. They also need a standard checkout process.” Screw terminal
stripping can lead to warranty issues, or they can break off at the panel, he
said. “It’s no wonder zoning isn’t being used.”
ZONES VS. MULTIPLES
During operation, data shows that “one system operates more
efficiently than two,” said David Arneson, Honeywell’s product marketing
manager for Residential Forced Air Zoning.
“There are two ways to zone, by equipment or by damper,”
said Joyce. “It tends to be less expensive to install a bigger system and zone
it, rather than two smaller systems.”
“When we talk to homeowners,” said Joyce, “three zones are
what people really want at a minimum.” According to the 2006 American Home
Comfort Study from Decision Analysts, 67 percent of people are uncomfortable
due to hot and cold spots.
Honeywell’s TrueZone panel controls up to four zones. “We
tried to make it as intuitive as possible,” said Arneson. “It’s a simple design
with no exposed electronics. All electronics are concealed.”
With its 8-inch-wide footprint, “it’ll mount anywhere,” he
said. Robust push terminals and wire channels have been modified to address the
contractors’ needs. “A complaint we heard is that it’s too cramped to run
“It makes a big difference to solve the pain points,” said
This Mr. Slim indoor unit applied in a classroom allows
specific rooms to be zoned according to their times of use.
An installer challenge held in 2007 showed that the
contestants could run panel wires up in one-half the time with an intuitive
installation checkout, Dan said. A configurable time limit offers switching to
an optional fuel for up to three hours. The panel is rated up to 165°F for
attic installations. Its network zoning system satisfies demands with fewer
numbers of equipment cycles.
Some ductless manufacturers offer their products as zoning
solutions. “It’s tying into the homeowner’s dissatisfaction with the
homeowner’s ducted system,” said Mike Smith, senior marketing manager,
Mitsubishi Electric HVAC. On the high-end ducted system front, we’re seeing
sophisticated damper control systems and additional condensing units
controlling specific zones; or window units added for on-demand conditioning
for space, with the added benefit of on-off operation on the low end.
“From our standpoint, we’re offering a better alternative as
this applied ductless system for control of zones,” said Smith. “It’s a better
investment in your home compared to window units, with better zone control
delivering true comfort to each zone.” Home office and bonus rooms, he said,
are ideal applications for ductless systems - “also bonus rooms, home theaters,
in-law suites, special rooms, and zones created within homes. Homes are very
diversified in the zone usage. There is specific climate control relative to
the zone conditions or desires.”
The company’s products specialize in matching specific zone
requirements and maintaining a desired set point. “Because we’re delivering the
air from the indoor unit directly to the space, there is no need for ductwork,”
said Smith. “It is applying a direct solution to an immediate customer need. In
a few hours, a contractor on a routine service call for a central system can
ask a homeowner if there is a room in their home that is never comfortable,
like a Southwest-facing room. It’s pretty easy to offer this solution.
“When you zone a home and take each individual zone
separately, it becomes more manageable to accurately size the HVAC equipment
and deliver much more efficiently for each zone,” Smith said. “A ductless
system can react quickly to the increased load applied to the space.
Temperature is measured at the unit in the zone. There are not only Manual J
considerations, but also diversity of usage.”
The company’s City Multi® system’s indoor fan on wall-mount
systems runs continuously “with the power of a 40-W light bulb,” he added,
“circulating air across the thermistor and coil, constantly monitoring and
maintaining temperature. There’s also quite a plethora of options with filters,
For contractors, this zoning solution offers “stability and
growth in business, maximizing labor. The solution is minus the ductwork
issues, accessories, and parts necessary for a forced-air ducted system,” Smith
said. “A contractor looking for growth in his business is considering ductless
because of the ability to differentiate his business, becoming part of an
industry that is growing, on average, 17 percent.
“Contractors like the option of using this to direct
business back their way. It puts room unit business back to the installed
Dan Joyce of Honeywell demonstrates the more robust
construction of the company’s TrueZone system. Three year contractor research
eventually resulted in “a product by our customers, for our customers.”
MARKET AND TECHNOLOGY CHANGES
Residential zoning is being driven in new construction,
Joyce said. “When homeowners are educated in the building options, people are willing
to spend and invest more. In retrofit, analysts say people want zoning
solutions. In retrofit, labor can make it not quite as advantageous.” He said
there has been four times the growth in the company’s zoning business.
“We have seen many changes within the zoning market in
recent years,” said Kurt Wessling, director of sales, Jackson Systems, LLC.
“The first trend is that most of the major manufacturers of equipment are now
offering their own brand of zoning that can be paired with their equipment.
Most of these systems are proprietary in nature and have become more
sophisticated as well.”
Integrated microprocessors have allowed the creation of zone
control panels that are more flexible, he continued. “The panels are capable of
handling all types of equipment, from single-stage units, multistage units,
heat pumps, and even heat pumps with dual-fuel backup. Many zoning systems are
also incorporating communications as well, so that the end user or contractor
can communicate with the systems from remote locations,” he said.
“The complexity of the systems have grown; however, the
controls to use the systems have become increasingly more user friendly.”
Changes in the technology “have made it possible for the
manufacturers and contractors to meet the rising wants and needs of today’s
educated consumers,” said Wessling. “Consumers want more features for less,
while still demanding the highest of quality. The new zoning systems are able
to deliver superior comfort for less cost than traditional methods, such as
installing an additional unit.”
“Also, many consumers are asking for individual temperature
control in many different areas of the home. Zoning tends to solve most of
those issues and wants.”
Carrier’ Corp.’s Infinity System uses a single control to
integrate and manage temperature, humidity, airflow, ventilation, IAQ, and
Rick Roetken, director of marketing, Carrier Residential and
Light Commercial Systems, said hot and cold spots in a home can be eliminated
through zoning. Up to eight different zone settings can be managed by the
Infinity system (see the feature article "Technology Gives Homeowners Control" in this issue). “The Infinity System gives homeowners
peace-of-mind with regard to system operation, energy savings and maintenance,
and comfort like you never thought possible,” he said.
Zoning can also be achieved through individual systems
linked together, like the City Multi ductless system applied to this exercise
“Education of the contractors from the zoning manufacturers,
equipment manufacturers, and wholesalers is allowing contractors to become more
comfortable with zoning systems,” said Wessling. “The manufacturers and
wholesalers are doing an incredible job of taking the mystery out of the zoning
systems by holding detailed training sessions.
“Also, many of the functions of the zoning systems are now
able to be handled by the control panels that were not possible before. The
more the contractor has learned about the system’s setup, sequence of
operation, wiring, and components, the more the contractor realizes that zoning
is not that difficult to deal with. Education promotes confidence and
confidence opens many doors for selling opportunities.”
Consumers are also becoming more comfortable with zoning, he
said. “Automobile manufacturers have been zoning their newer model cars for
years now. Consumers are used to having controls available to deliver different
temperatures of conditioned air to the driver and passengers. The concept is no
different for residences or commercial buildings.
“Our products have changed over the recent years to
incorporate microprocessors in our control panels,” he continued. “This has
allowed for more flexibility to change from one type of equipment to another.
Also, we have been able to use a single discharge-air sensor for our limits to
protect the equipment. We always had to use separate accessories to protect
against exceeding high- and low-limit temperatures prior. This means less
wiring for the contractor, and less cost.
“We have also been able to keep the boards from becoming too
complicated,” Wessling added.
“Resistors and jumpers have been replaced with dipswitches
that the contractors can merely throw into position. The boards have also
shrunk in physical size to allow contractors to install them in smaller areas.
We have also incorporated the use of ‘air brakes’ to quiet the operation of the
zone dampers. This eliminates callbacks for noise issues from consumers.
“Overall, advances in technology, education of contractors
and end users, and demand have propelled the growth of the zoning market in
recent years,” Wessling said. “The key is to provide simple, reliable, quality
products with outstanding technical support for the contractors. I feel it is
the duty of the zoning manufacturers to provide cost-effective channels for the
contractors to promote our products.
“A great partnership between contractors, their technicians
and sales staff, and the manufacturer can provide an almost endless stream of
mutually beneficial opportunities. We are excited about the future of the
market and look forward to helping contractors with their future control
“When you start offering systems that can safely address
more than three zones, say up to an eight-zone application, you’re really
talking about a whole-house application at that point,” said Smith. “That’s
getting us into the arena of providing whole-house solutions.” | <urn:uuid:458676ae-1e79-40b9-b3aa-68a382e7fab0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.achrnews.com/articles/print/manufacturers-recognize-need-for-ease | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942917 | 2,733 | 2 | 2 |
Each week we post a new picture and a choice comment from each of our nine channels here at ScienceBlogs on our channel homepages. Now, we’re bringing you the best of the week in daily postings that will highlight individual channels. We kicked it off this week with Life Science; now, please enjoy the photo, comment, and a few particularly outstanding posts from the Physical Science channel below:
A naturally framed view of Arches National Park, Utah. From Flickr, by James Gordon
Reader comment of the week:
In Alien or puppet? You be the judge!, Orac of Respectful Insolence shares a photo from an alleged alien sighting in Nebraska. The image, taken from a grainy, 3-minute video, shows a bulbous white face peering into an window 8 feet high. Orac was not convinced, nor were more most of his readers.
Barn Owl wondered:
“Why, after traveling great distances, would an alien be interested in the contents and inhabitants of a lame house in some lame American suburb?”
Some other Physical Science posts we thought were cool this week were:
Look for highlights from other channels coming up! | <urn:uuid:50dd30d0-21b9-450c-8ba3-4d079d59afcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceblogs.com/seed/2008/06/06/physical-science-weekly-channe/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943116 | 242 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Do you know that about half of all American adults say they are somewhat likely to make a New Year’s resolution? It goes without saying that most New Year’s resolutions are easier said than done, but we amazingly commit every year to sit and write these resolutions with the hope to change ourselves to be better individuals.
It is amazing to see that every year my gym gets over packed with people whose New Year’s resolutions are to get in shape and lose weight. Unfortunately, most of these people will disappear by the end of January and we might see them back in the year after.
To avoid such quick and unhappy ending for our Web Analytics next New Year’s resolutions, I would like to share with you few tips to help you reach most of your planned goals. Yes, some of these tips are very obvious, but we can all use a reminder from time to time.
1. Set meaningful goals for what you love to do the most.
This is the first ingredient to success; you must love what you do and what you want to be. It is true that no one was born as a Web Analytics ninja, but also not everyone was born with the ability to work with data. So if you are one of those people who don’t enjoy data, then maybe it is time to use this New Year’s resolution to reevaluate your career path and consider discovering other options that you like.
Same logic should be applied to which branch of Web Analytics you want to invest in more. Choose the concentration that you really enjoy and desire to continue advancing in, not something that your employer or the industry says is good for you. If you don’t have strong internal motivation within yourself about what you are doing, you won’t be successful.
2. Take baby steps.
Last year, my wife decided to run a 10K race. She was totally out of shape and could barely run for 5 minutes straight. She divided her ultimate goal into smaller challenges, but achievable goals guided by a running program called “Couch to 5k in 9 Weeks.” In a few months she successfully participated in a number of 10K run fundraisers!
Mastering Web Analytics is no less challenging than the 10K race. Whether you are an Analytics guru or a beginner, in order to advance your knowledge and experience in Analytics, you should set realistic goals and then take small steps that are likely to be met with success.
3. Don’t keep your resolutions to yourself.
I learned this technique from the SEO guru, Matt Cutts, of Google who always shares his 30-days challenges with his social friends and blog readers.
While I didn’t talk to Matt about his motive in sharing his monthly challenges and whether the sharing is helping him in achieving these challenges. For me though, I find myself more responsible in fulfilling my personal commitments when they are made public, especially when one or two friends show interest and decide to commit to the same resolution.
I strongly believe that resolutions are best made with groups. Friends and colleagues can gently push you in the right direction when you lose direction and motivate you when you slow down. So for next year’s Analytics resolutions, if you can find a friend or a group of friends who commit to the same New Year’s resolution together, then I guarantee you a better chance of achieving your goals [as known in analytics as “higher conversion rate” and “lower bounce rate”]. You will be more accountable to each other and give a hand to each other when things gets tough.
4. Get good mentors.
It is part of the human nature to imitate those around us. So as we are working on our next year’s resolutions, we need to make sure that we surround ourselves more often with people who carry common interests and similar career objectives and who offer us sincere advice, listen to our ideas and fears, and tell us when we have gone off track.
Analytics conferences offer good opportunity to hunt for good mentors and to connect with new Analytics friends. Although these conferences are a bit expensive, many of them offer a Social Networking pass or Exhibit Hall only pass at a good discounted price, so don’t miss these opportunities. Another good social event that no Web Analyst should miss is the Web Analytics Wednesday, which take place in many cities all over the world.
5. Fine-tune your spirituality.
It is important to add a spiritual dimension to your goals. For example, if one of your goals is to get certified in Google Analytics, you may also resolve to use that knowledge to serve your community through offering free internet marketing consulting to your favorite charity organization or government/education institutions.
There it is, folks…
I think I’m ready for a good start! Good luck in your resolutions and feel free to share them with us if you think that will help in implementing them | <urn:uuid:b1e0825c-b2a0-4d7b-a452-728e836e1202> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.e-nor.com/blog/web-analytics/5-tips-for-web-analytics-new-years-resolutions | 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 | 0.966685 | 1,013 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Updated for Thanksgiving 2012
Thanksgiving math worksheets are a fun way to get kids interested in math. They can't seem to resist a math worksheet when it's decorated with some silly turkeys!
All these Thanksgiving math worksheets are free and can be printed from your own printer. They're great for the classroom or to use at home around Thanksgiving time.
If you like these Thanksgiving math worksheets, you can find other free Thanksgiving worksheets to keep the kids learning right over Thanksgiving break.
Find even more Thanksgiving freebies to make this the best Thanksgiving ever.
At Math-Drills.com you'll find Thanksgiving math worksheets all decked out with turkeys, cornucopias, and the Mayflower.
These Thanksgiving math worksheets will help students practice comparing numbers, ordering numbers, multiplying, and adding.
The Thanksgiving math worksheets at Kidzone are conveniently organized by grade level and you'll find worksheets from children in Grades 1-5.
The skills included in these Thanksgiving math worksheets are magic squares, math tables, word problems, adding, number sentences, decimals, multiplication, and division.
The Thanksgiving math worksheets at Super Teacher Worksheets will help kids with their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
You'll also find a Thanksgiving color by number here which is a great way to introduce math to the younger kids.
There are lots of Thanksgiving math worksheets here but you'll need to scroll down first to see them all.
There are Thanksgiving math worksheets for multiplying, adding, subtracting, and working with fractions. | <urn:uuid:ea5f6efd-5249-4bfd-8524-bbfa7c8522ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freebies.about.com/od/ThanksgivingFreebies/tp/thanksgiving-math-worksheets.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925708 | 341 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Yesterday I told you about my neighborhood. Let me tell you more about Philadelphia which is known as the city of neighborhoods. A major Industrial Town in the 19th Century, most neighborhoods were settled by the large number of Irish, Polish, Italian and Jewish immigrants who arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were joined by large numbers of African Americans who migrated from the Southern States at the same time. Today many ethnic enclaves still survive, now interspersed with the large numbers of of new immigrant populations that arrived from Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Russian and Mexico over the last 25 years. There is a wide variety of ethnic restaurants, grocery stores and large supermarkets in most areas of the city. Numerous organizations exist that help various groups acclimate to the American Culture while preserving their own unique customs and traditions. At times there have been conflict between groups, but people get along surprisingly well for the amount of diversity that exists here.
Downtown has experienced a Renaissance over the past 10 years. It is home to a large residential population (real estate has skyrocketed) as well as Businesses, Retail and Boutique Shopping. Restaurants and outdoor Cafes abound. There are 4 major Theaters, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pennsylvania Ballet. There is a vibrant Art Community with First Friday exhibits in Old City. There are many outdoor activities along the waterfront which forms the eastern border of Downtown. China Town is a fun place to stroll and a great place for Dinner. Public Transportation around Downtown is quick and easy, but the area is quite walkable.
The Historic area includes Independence Hall, the Constitution Center with the Liberty Bell, and Betsy Ross House. A Carriage Ride around Society Hill to view the Colonial Architecture is great fun, but so is a walking tour on your own. There are parks on both the east and west sides of Downtown for resting and people watching. A stroll down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Art Museum is scenic and a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. Family Fun includes The Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute Science Museum, Academy of Natural Sciences and the fabulous Please Touch Museum. Hotel Rooms are plentiful and moderately priced compared to other large cities.
Philadelphia is a great weekend get away - especially in the Spring & Fall.Downtown is both safe and easy to navigate. Yes, I know that we have been on the News as having a high crime rate. We are a big city and we have big city problems. Certainly there are high crime neighborhoods, but Center City is not one of them. Nothing more than normal safety precautions are needed. Come and see for yourself! | <urn:uuid:6fbbe624-f4cd-48d1-bc17-175e34034c67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/scg/2009/02/philadelphia_part_ii.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973359 | 528 | 1.5625 | 2 |
The 'Law for Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel through Boycott – 2011' was approved on Monday 11 July by a majority of 47 to 38 Members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
The law prohibits the public promotion of boycott by Israeli citizens and organisations, and, in some cases, agreement to participate in a boycott. It forbids not only a boycott of Israeli institutions but also of the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and of the Golan Heights.
The wording of the law is designed specifically to prohibit and penalise political boycott of Israel or of the settlements in the West Bank, rather than other types of boycotts, such as consumer boycotts related to pricing of products.
In private law, the law defines boycott as a new type of 'civil wrong' or tort. It will enable settlers or other parties targeted by boycotts to sue anyone who calls for boycott, and the court may award compensation including punitive damages, even if no actual damage is caused to the boycotted parties. For example, if an Israeli actor publicly calls on others not to perform in a theatre in the Israeli settlement of Ariel, the theatre can sue that actor for a large sums of money in damages, which can be awarded as punitive damages even if no damage was caused.
In public law, the law will revoke tax exemptions and other legal rights and benefits from Israeli organisations and charities, as well as academic, cultural and scientific institutions which receive any state support, if they engage in boycott. For example, if a theatre calls for boycott of settlement theatres, its right to state funding or grants can be revoked. As a result of this threat, theatres may now limit the ability of their employees to speak out, for fear of losing funding and benefits. In addition, if a human rights organisation publishes information regarding the settlements, and that information is used by others as a basis for boycott, that organisation or charity may have its tax exemptions revoked, as well as being exposed to private compensation suits.
Israeli businesses and industries will also be penalised, if they work with the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian companies and accept their conditions that exclude trade with businesses that also trade with settlements. A recent example of this is the plan to build the new Palestinian city of Rawabi. Israeli contractors wishing to participate have been asked by Palestinians to refrain from also doing business with settlements. The law seeks to penalise such contractors by excluding them from state tenders, and may in effect deter Israeli businesses from trading with Palestinian businesses more generally.
Israeli human rights organisations see the law as a double attack:
1. On democratic values and the rule of law - because it restricts freedom of expression and association and threatens Human Rights Defenders. Boycotts, even if unpopular as a tactic, are a non-violent and legitimate form of public protest.
2. On respect for international law and the chances for peace - because for the first time it provides official legal protection for the illegal settlement project in the West Bank, and conflates the status of the state of Israel with that of the settlements.
Prior to the vote, Israel's Advocate General declared the bill to be 'borderline unconstitutional'. The legal advisor to the Knesset also issued a harsh critique of the bill, defining it as illegal.
Following the passing of the law, an intense public debate broke out in Israeli media and in the Knesset. A poll held on behalf of Israel's Knesset TV Channel immediately after the vote showed that 52% of Israelis supported the law, while 31% opposed it, but there have also been numerous calls of opposition from civil society. Israeli human rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel called for civil disobedience in the face of the law, while a facebook page opened by activist group Peace Now, initiating a consumer boycott of settlement products in defiance of the law gathered 6000 supporters within two days.
Most Israeli newspapers have come down clearly against the law, and a Member of Knesset from the Israeli opposition party Kadima (which initially participated in the drafting of the bill, but later withdrew its support) has tabled a proposal to revoke the law.
Immediately after the vote a petition was submitted to Israel's High Court of Justice by Israeli peace group 'Gush Shalom', challenging the compatibility of the bill with constitutional principles. A second petition is currently being prepared by two leading Israeli human rights organisations, on behalf of other human rights groups as well as organisations most liable to be affected directly by the law.
Two days after the law was passed, the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton responded to it, telling press that she was 'concerned about the effect that this legislation may have on the freedom of Israeli citizens and organizations to express non-violent political opinions'. However, her statement was not published on the EU's public website, but relayed directly to the media.
Despite this belated storm of opposition, however, Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu has stood firm in his support for the law. In a debate in the Knesset last week, he said the bill reflects Israeli democracy. "What stains (Israel's) image are those savage and irresponsible attacks on a democracy's attempt to draw a line between what is acceptable and what is not," he said.
The anti-boycott law is the latest in a string of aggressive legislation by Israel's Knesset, whose essence is the attempt to restrict political dissent and human rights-based criticism of Israeli policies toward Palestinians. On Wednesday 18 July, the Knesset is set to discuss a different initiative, put forward by MK Faina Kirshenbaum of the Israel Beitenu (Israel Our Home) party, to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry that will investigate the activities and funding of left-wing groups and human rights organisations.
Full English translation of the law and other documents available at: http://www.acri.org.il/en/?p=276
This article may be reproduced on condition that JNews is cited as its source.
The image is of a cartoon published on 14 July 2011 by Amos Biderman in Israeli newspaper Haaretz. It depicts the initiator of the antiboycott law, MK Ze’ev Elkin (Likud), in a brown shirt, shining a pair of black boots.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. | <urn:uuid:355cca5e-eeb4-4227-b1c7-65d26d8b8c97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jnews.org.uk/news/israels-anti-boycott-law-%E2%80%93-basic-information | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957457 | 1,311 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Does Government Own Your Remotely Backed Up Computer Files, Your Emails, or Your Cell Phone GPS Info?
April 6, 2011 | Filed Under 4th Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Civil Rights, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Freedom, Government, Government, Corruption, Judges, Law, Liberals, Liberty, Police, Regulation, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Did you know that there are no laws to prevent government agencies from raiding your computer’s remotely hosted back up files, your third party emails, your cloud computing files, or your cell phone GPS location records? Well, there aren’t. As the law stands today government can go into your private computer files or trace your cell phone location without a warrant.
As a result of this lapse in protection form unlawful search and seizure a new group of concerned parties intends to change the law with the Digital Fourth Amendment campaign. (http://www.digitalfourthamendment.org/)
The problem is not necessarily that government is out to steal all our computing information, but that the laws have simply not caught up to today’s technology. The laws that cover how policing agencies and governments can access your emails, computer files, and cell phone GPS records are currently governed by rules that are decades out of date. These rules were written in the 1980s, long before the Internet came along, before cloud computing was invented, before email, and well before cell phones that could track your whereabouts became pervasive.
You see, today all your personal information that is stored in third party storage space is not considered to be the kind of personal property that would require a court-issued warrant for government to access. If you have email stored at Google, if you use a cloud computing service, or if you have a third party data back up service it is all open for government to view without a warrant because it is in the actual possession of a third party. Currently none of these computer records are considered your private records.
This also holds true for cell phone GPS location records. As the law stands today government can access your cell phone location records and find out where you’ve been and all without a by your leave from the courts.
The Digital Fourth Amendment campaign aims to change that and bring the laws against unlawful search and seizure into the digital world of the 21st century.
Our coalition–led by the free market, pro-liberty groups TechFreedom, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Americans for Tax Reform’s Digital Liberty Project — is dedicated to bringing obsolete laws including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 into the digital age. These reforms would unleash innovation and competition among cloud computing and mobile service providers by extending to their users the same Fourth Amendment protections that currently apply to digital data stored on local hard drives.
By giving the users of cloud computing and mobile services the same Fourth Amendment protections that currently apply to digital data stored on local hard drives, these reforms would allow these services to flourish, unleashing innovation and enhancing American global competitiveness.
Make yourself familiar with this effort. It is important that we extend our Fourth Amendment rights to our modern, computer driven world.
**NOTE**: this campaign does not address FISA and war on terror issues as those are wholly separate legal discussions.
Read the full letter here.
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.
Help the Soldiers!
American GeniusOur Founding Ideas
- The Declaration of Independence
- The Federalist Papers
- The U.S. Constitution
- Debates of 1787
- The Anti-Federalist Papers
- The Writing of John Locke
"Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776
What THEY Say:
Foreign News In English
Contact UsEmail Publius' Forum
Separation of School | <urn:uuid:32d6a476-b90e-40c5-8726-7e080a214c62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.publiusforum.com/2011/04/06/does-government-own-your-remotely-backed-up-computer-files-your-emails-or-your-cell-phone-gps-info/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934324 | 976 | 2.1875 | 2 |
The JVCC ATG-7502 ATG Tape can be used for scrapbooking, picture framing, designing, packaging prototypes, and product assembly. It has great adhesion to paper, metal foils, and most plastic films. It is not water soluble and it is acid neutral. The ATG double sided transfer tape is set on a gold paper release liner. It has a thickness of 2 mils and its adhesion to steel is 55 ounces per inch. You could use the tape in the temperature range of -22°F to 356°F.
The Scapa T002 ATG Tape is acid neutral (pH 7). Some of the most common uses for the double sided transfer tape are for picture framing, graphic arts applications, photo mounting, scrapbooking, product assembly, and exhibit and POP displays. The tape has high grab characteristics, which is important in that they enhance splicing. The tape is available in 60-yard long rolls which means less reloading of your ATG dispenser. The ATG double sided tape is set on a kraft release liner. It has a thickness of 1.6 mils, its stainless steel adhesion is 25 ounces per inch, its minimum application temperature is 65°F, and its operating/service temperature is from 32°F to 360°F.
3M Scotch 924 ATG Tape is an all-purpose permanent double sided ATG tape that provides great adhesion to paper stocks. It also creates great bonds with metals, wood, glass, most plastics, and paint. Some of its primary applications are mounting posters and promotional items and core starting. The double sided ATG tape is known for its great UV and solvent resistance. It is set on a tan paper densified kraft release liner. Its stainless steel adhesion is 25 ounces per inch and its thickness is 4 mils (liner).
Another option if you are in the market for an regularly wound double sided transfer tape is the MACtac UGlu Professional Adhesive Tape, which is weatherproof and which can hold up to two pounds. Scapa 4450 and JVCC TR-2X Adhesive Transfer Tapes are also regularly wound and are good choices if you need an acid neutral tape on a 3" diameter core. Other reverse-wound ATG options include JVCC ATG-7502X and 3M Scotch 969 ATG Tape which both offer high tack, Scapa TD-200, and 3M Scotch 928 which is a repositionable ATG Tape.
Scroll down to purchase double sided transfer tapes including ATG refill rolls. Hover over a product picture and click on the "Quick View" button to learn more about the product. | <urn:uuid:d2bd9409-e702-4e5f-8d72-79c4b197d1d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.findtape.com/category39/atg-transfer-double-sided-tapes.aspx?bid=2&brd=JVCC&sort=a | 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 | 0.948333 | 555 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Once upon a time, a male kindergarten teacher or a male nurse was an oddity, even a novelty. But changing gender roles — and a turned-on-its-head economy — mean that more men than ever are working in what were previously considered to be “pink collar” jobs.
In an article about the trend today, The New York Times explains that “pink collar” jobs in fields like health care and home care/child care haven’t been bombed out by the economy because they cannot be outsourced and they are available to anyone without a college degree, regardless of gender. Hence, while jobs in all those fields are growing in general, the numbers of men working in them are increasing apace.
I’m interested in finding out if “pink collar” jobs will be affected in terms of prestige as more and more men join in. One of the problems of living in a sexist society is that men’s work is often considered more serious or more important than “women’s work.” Think, for example, about how stay-at-home mothers have done the unpaid labor of childcare for years, but as soon as more men start being stay-at-home-dads, everyone is falling over themselves to talk about what important work it is.
How will jobs like being a daycare worker or being a dental assistant change when the jobs are being performed by men? Will men be able to demand more money, coasting on the sexist stereotype that they need to out-earn women so they can support their family? (It seems likely. The Times reports, “Men earn more than women even in female-dominated jobs.” Good ol’ sexism.) Will men be promoted more to supervisory roles? (Yes, again. It is called “the glass escalator,” whereas women get trapped at “the glass ceiling.”) Or will we see the reverse with discriminatory practices in hiring because because women are considered “more experienced” in these fields?
Frisky readers, are you a male in a “pink collar” job? Or a woman with male colleagues in a “pink collar” job? Tell us about your experiences in the comments.
Contact the author of this post at Jessica@TheFrisky.com. Follow me on Twitter at @JessicaWakeman.
Image via ThinkStock | <urn:uuid:1745458c-b239-4ff6-8acb-92056f225997> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefrisky.com/2012-05-22/more-men-are-moving-into-pink-collar-professions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96693 | 507 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Traditional knowledge and area-based management measures in marine and coastal ecosystems
International Collective in Support of Fishworkers; United Nations University and ICCA Consotium
Date and Time
15 October 2012 18:15 - 19:45
This event will focus on area-based forms of conservation and management measures in marine and coastal ecosystems, highlighting the successes of community-based management. This event will have speakers from different parts of the world. | <urn:uuid:fbbecaa0-be45-45f5-97d8-f19506f52bb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbd.int/kb/record/sideEvent/2539?RecordType=sideEvent&Event=COP-11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924286 | 88 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The Core 2: Intel Goes for the Jugular
Over the past year, the hype machine has been beating the drum for Intel's new processor architecture. Dubbed "Core", the new architecture is a radical shift for a company that was once the chief proponent of ramping up CPU frequency. Core 2, the first desktop product, promises to be faster than the Pentium D series and even faster than the Athlon 64 FX-62. However, those last tests weren't completely kosher, as this FX-62 was really an overclocked FX-60 running on DDR400, rather than the DDR2-based FX-62.
It's clear from all the leaks, sanctioned testing and industry scuttlebutt that Core 2 is fast. But how fast is it, really, in a wider array of applications than has been previously leaked or revealed? We'll answer that question shortly.
We've summarized the high points of the Core microarchitecture back in March. Core 2 owes much of its heritage to the Intel's mobile Pentium M processor line. The first iteration of that architecture, known as Banias, was the creation of Intel's Israeli design team. But Core 2 isn't just another iteration of the Pentium M. Instead, it steals a little from the old Netburst (Intel's name for the architecture of the Pentium 4/Pentium D processors) architecture and adds additional enhancements of its own.
The result is a processor with a substantially shorter instruction pipeline than Netburst. The overall instructions executed per clock cycle is substantially higher, so even though Core 2 processors run at a lower clock frequency than previous Intel desktop lines, it runs applications faster. Core 2 is also more power efficient; Intel's goal for the mainstream CPU is to maintain 65 W, versus the 90 to -95 W of the mainstream Pentium D's, or the 130 W of the high-end Pentium D 940 or Extreme Edition CPUs.
What you get is a CPU that uses less power while running applications substantially faster. So how much faster is this processor? Before we answer that, let's take a closer look at the Core 2's architecture.
blog comments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:ace0d775-913b-462b-b962-c2efe8070e0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1988734,00.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949461 | 448 | 2.25 | 2 |
Video published by Save the Children.
Last year, more than 7 million children died before they could see their fifth birthday. 40% of those deaths were newborn deaths, babies that died in their first month of life. Most of them are dying from preventable and treatable causes such as malnutrition, diarrhea and pneumonia. This is unacceptable. Basic nutrition and hygiene, vaccines, medicine, and access to frontline health workers who are trained to diagnose and treat these threats are essential to child survival. We know what works - now we need to make it a reality. Please call on world leaders to make a commitment to end preventable child deaths. Sign the petition. | <urn:uuid:e8a67aa4-8ea6-41c7-86ea-92344dc51036> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthynewbornnetwork.org/multimedia/video/mothers-loss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978956 | 132 | 2.578125 | 3 |
It is becoming increasingly possible that 2011 will be the year that Mexico truly began opening its closed economy. Though political reform seems to have failed and efforts to centralize Mexico’s many police forces stalled, the political system has taken important steps in the last several months that could establish a more open and level economic playing field. What is most interesting, and perhaps hopeful, about these developments is that all three branches of government are throwing their weight behind freer markets.
First, in mid-April, the executive branch through the regulatory Federal Competition Commission, or CFC issued the largest fine for monopolistic behavior in Mexico’s history. As I discussed in an earlier post, Telcel was slapped with a $1 billion penalty for inordinately high interconnection fees. What’s more, the fine marked the second sanction against the telecommunication giant – one more strike, and the government is legally allowed to break up Telcel for good.
The legislature was the next to flex its muscles against domestic conglomerates. Following on the heels of the Telcel ruling, both houses of the senate unanimously approved a number of changes to anti-trust laws designed to foster competition. The reform put in place harsher punishments for those found guilty of monopolistic practices, who can now be fined up to 10 percent of their profits and in the most serious cases (price fixing falls under this umbrella) face 10 years in jail. They also awarded more power to the CFC, including the right to conduct unannounced raids of companies under investigation.
Now the judiciary is jumping into the fray. Pushed by business groups, the public prosecutor’s office launched last month a criminal investigation into Héctor Osuna, former vice-president of the telecom regulator COFETEL, and his colleagues. Investigators suspect that COFETEL executives engaged in back door legal maneuvering to grant Telmex (owned by Carlos Slim) access to the television market on unfair grounds. Specifically, they believe that Osuna intentionally delayed ruling on Telmex’s request for a television concession past the specified deadline – despite his own admission that “for us there was never evidence that [Telmex] had complied with its requirements” — which technically counted as a tacit approval of the request. The result of the investigation is not just vital for Telmex, which would gain substantially by entering the television market, but also for the judicial branch, whose scorecard against national giants hangs in the balance (though the courts have defended more open markets before, notably in 2007 when the Supreme Court struck down a media law that stifled competition).
To be sure, these recent actions are mostly directed at the business interests of just one individual — Carlos Slim. On the other hand, if used more broadly, the new legislation and legal precedents could be real game changers for the Mexican economy. Either way, this is the first time we have seen such a serious full court press for more open markets and sectors in Mexico — and all three branches of government deserve credit for that.
One Response to “2011: The Year that Mexico Opens its Economy?”
Profile Link Power http://ow.ly/69GLq?e=219l79 | <urn:uuid:370d51e8-dbd4-407c-9334-17b676b29679> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economonitor.com/blog/2011/08/2011-the-year-that-mexico-opens-its-economy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968135 | 657 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Uncomfortable Ear Popping
The uncomfortable ear popping is a problem that can arise due to a variety of reasons in the body. The problem of ear popping is related to the sudden popping sound that comes from the ears, and it usually leads to discomfort and, in the worst cases, damage to the ear. While most people choose to ignore the problem of ear popping, it is essential that the problem is heeded to. In order to understand the problem of ear popping, let’s take a look at the common causes of ear popping. Here is a list of a few ear popping causes that can help in understanding this problem.
What Causes Ear Popping?
Ear popping is a problem that is caused due to the difference in pressure between the middle ear and outside the ear. In the usual cases, the pressure in the middle ear is equal to the pressure that is outside the body. The Eustachian tube is an important connection between the middle ear and the throat that helps in the adjustment of this pressure inside the middle ear. Whenever you yawn or swallow, the Eustachian tube opens, allowing air to come in and adjust the pressure in the middle ear. This is why you might notice that ears pop when swallowing. However, whenever there is a blockage in the Eustachian tube, the pressure cannot be maintained. Over time, this condition can lead to major problems with the ear drum. If you are experiencing ear popping too often, it is essential that you visit a doctor regarding it. Perforated ear drum, damaged ear drum, infection in the ears and loss of hearing are some problems that can arise due to the problem of ear popping.
Ear Popping Remedies
In order to treat the recurring problem of ear popping, you would have to perform some simple activities. Most of them are related to freeing up the Eustachian tube so that it can carry out its task effortlessly. Chewing gum, sucking on candy and yawning are some common exercises that can work out the Eustachian tube. In case you are experiencing chronic ear popping, you would have to visit a doctor for analyzing the situation. There are some medical methods, medications and surgical options available for taking care of a severe case of ear popping. | <urn:uuid:b6e84c91-a887-4048-b586-aec54cf594f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://earpopping.net/ear-popping-2/ear-popping/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965166 | 461 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Put your body text and images here.
Valarie Pelletier, BS/MS, 2010
Materials Science and Engineering
Valarie graduated with a BS/MS degree in Materials Science and Engineering, but realized her true passion was helping those less fortunate than her. While helping victims of Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas on an Alternative Spring Break trip and working closely with AmeriCorps volunteers, it became apparent that her true passion was to help people, in whatever way that was possible; whether that was doing physical work rebuilding homes and cleaning up debris, tutoring math to students in West Philly schools, or applying her engineering knowledge to help develop solutions to problems faced by developing countries. There are many ways to help.
Upon returning to Drexel from the service trip she sought out ways to get involved in and give back to the community. After becoming a Drexel Community Scholar, a volunteer leadership program through the Center for Civic Engagement, and working in conjunction with AmeriCorps as a part-time Corps member in youth and community development her senior year, she decided to pursue the Peace Corps. It wasn’t until returning home after an Engineers Without Borders trip to a small community in Jamaica to assess the conditions of two pedestrian bridges that were destroyed during Hurricane Gustav and needed to be rebuilt that the notion of the Peace Corps become solidified and real.
The Peace Corps embodied everything that Valarie was passionate about; helping people in a myriad of ways, learning about other cultures, and teaching others about herself and Americans, all in an effort to eradicate prejudices and stereotypes. Valarie will serve as a Youth Development Volunteer in the Eastern Caribbean-St. Kitts and Nevis with the Peace Corps from January 2011 until March 2013. Upon returning to the States after her service with the Peace Corps she plans to go back to school to obtain a graduate degree in Environmental Policy. | <urn:uuid:253b46a2-5043-4f53-a6f7-4fe2cfe55ab8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://drexel.edu/fellowships/studentprofiles/profiles/ValariePelletier/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97144 | 383 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Folks, you're as likely to watch video content on your computer as your TV, if stats collated by asking tens of thousands of web-surfing consumers around the world is anything to go by. Nielsen, a US market research firm, asked 28,000 or so people in 56 countries how often they watch video content on a computer, on a TV or on a …
Watching a streaming clip of a cat playing piano on yutube should not count as "watching a video" at all.
Watching a DVD on PC can only be equal to "watching a video on a *small* TV".
.....this survey could just be telling us that people who watch video online are more likely to fill out those annoying "help us improve..." surveys, rather than telling the pain in the a**e things to f**k off.
they actually found so many people to actually respond to those popups??
Does anyone still have a TV?
I hear that they are like PC's but less functional.
But viewing figures down
I'll tell you why.
Because the content is crap, that's why
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- Geek's Guide to Britain The bunker at the end of the world - in Essex
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- If you've bought DRM'd film files from Acetrax, here's the bad news
- VIDEO Herschel Space Observatory spots galaxies merging | <urn:uuid:caa33ec7-1526-43e3-9521-ecf16658a5cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2012/05/15/consumers_as_likely_to_watch_video_on_a_pc_as_a_tv/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934998 | 328 | 1.695313 | 2 |
British scientists have developed a vaccination that is designed to remove all addictive properties of nicotine. Specifically, the pleasure your body associates with smoking would no longer be generated when you smoke a cigarette.
While human trials for the vaccine have yet to begin, tests on mice have proven to be successful. After a single dose, mice were found to be immune to nicotine addiction for their entire lifespan.
The vaccine contains a harmless virus, which is engineered to generate anti-nicotine antibodies upon administration. The virus works by selectively affecting cells in the liver.
Because the vaccine works by turning liver cells into antibody generators, it is expected to cost far less than prior vaccines, which required antibodies to be administered directly. Because older vaccines have required numerous administrations of these antibodies, they were believed to be less effective and more costly.
If human trials are successful, scientists believe that the vaccine could be administered to children, who have never tried a cigarette. This should prevent any recipients of the vaccine from ever deriving pleasure from smoking.
To read more about the vaccine, please visit Sky News. | <urn:uuid:c5ba164f-a720-41f8-82fa-c78286ed827e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://toxictortresourcecenter.com/2012/06/29/new-vaccination-designed-to-help-smokers-quit-and-prevent-non-smokers-from-starting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952818 | 217 | 3.265625 | 3 |
EmPy is a system for embedding Python expressions and statements in template text. It takes an EmPy source file, processes it, and produces output. This is accomplished via expansions, which are special signals to the EmPy system and are set off by a special prefix (by default the at sign, '@'). It can expand arbitrary Python expressions and statements in this way, as well as a variety of special forms. Textual data not explicitly delimited in this way is sent unaffected to the output, allowing Python to be used in effect as a markup language. Also supported are callbacks via hooks, recording and playback via diversions, and dynamic, chainable filters. The system is highly configurable via command line options and embedded commands.
libSieve is an implementation of the Sieve mail sorting language originally developed for the Cyrus mail system. libSieve helps to bring mail sorting functionality into your mail server application without the need to reinvent the wheel. As a library, it is not intended for end users expecting a ready-to-run program.
PyBison is a sophisticated yet easy-to-use parser creation toolkit for Python that interfaces directly to Bison (yacc)-based parsers. It provides full LALR(1) grammar support, allowing for simple parsing tasks through to writing compilers for high-level languages. Parser code is automatically generated from rules within user-created Parser classes (written in Python), and then, compiled, yacc'ed and linked into a shared library, which is loaded into the running process. All this happens automatically. When the parser runs, it connects directly with the yyparse() routine, and takes event callbacks upon parse targets being reached. | <urn:uuid:729fd656-4d26-43f3-8f82-733df38a5808> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freecode.com/tags/interpreters?page=1&with=2868&without= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902775 | 351 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Which Supreme Court Judges Voted For Obamacare? Vote Count
The US Supreme Court Announced a Ruling in Favor of Obamacare on June 28, 2012. Who Voted For Obamacare?
The United States Supreme Court announced a landmark decision on June 28, 2012, voting in favor of U.S. Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.
“The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts.
“Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness,” said Roberts.
Which Judges Voted For Obamacare?
The Obamacare vote was 5-4. Who voted for Obamacare? Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan. Those in dissent were Justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas.
The Twitterverse has responded with #CNNheadlines, but no such response for Fox. The reason for this is clear for most news consumers, but, to spell it out, Mother Jones tweets, "On #SCOTUS, CNN has its "Dewey defeats Truman" moment. Fox News just has a moment." | <urn:uuid:fd14d500-3438-4894-82dd-40ca0ae9e806> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nowpublic.com/world/which-supreme-court-judges-voted-obamacare-vote-count-2950746.html?comment_sort=recommended | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952021 | 271 | 1.71875 | 2 |
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There are three basic types of graffiti:
You should, however, report incidents of graffiti on your property to 9-1-1. This will generate a police report and help the Police Department track activity patterns. That, in turn, influences our decisions on how to deploy our resources. Finally, experience shows that when graffiti is swiftly removed, within 48 hours of its occurrence, it is less likely to show up again in the same location. If the goal of the perpetrator is to gain attention, let’s deny them that and encourage them to move elsewhere. | <urn:uuid:fe308a22-3a4a-4cac-afdd-f459ea55f6a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rowlett.com/faq.aspx?TID=21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944917 | 118 | 1.867188 | 2 |
The Foundation for Scientific Cooperation (FSC) Paris-Saclay Campus
The FSC was created in 2007 as the administrative and legal structure for two thematic advanced research networks: Digiteo and Triangle de la Physique. The FCS is the legal entity responsible for the "Paris-Saclay Campus" operation, contributing towards the "Grand Paris" project of national interest. Aside from the two thematic advanced research networks, the FCS has also been home to the Fondation mathématique Jacques Hadamard since 2010.
The FSC brings together research institutes, higher education and research centres, competitiveness clusters and research and higher education clusters that have joined forces to form one of the first campuses with an international dimension. It is chaired by Dominique Vernay.
The Foundation aims to define and implement a strategy of joint scientific cooperation to develop research, education and innovation and contribute to increasing knowledge, expanding solutions to social questions and developing a knowledge-based economy. It has the following objectives:
● to supervise and coordinate all activities within its domain and contribute to the establishment of the Paris-Saclay Campus;
● to implement strategies for joint science, research, education and innovation;
● to attract additional resources to enhance the scientific interaction and international influence of the campus, which will help to attract excellent scientists and international students;
● to manage responses to collective projects, particularly those related to future investments. | <urn:uuid:553bb8e7-9947-4916-8f00-4aff850ec9d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.campus-paris-saclay.fr/en/The-FCS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925621 | 290 | 1.734375 | 2 |
SANTIAGO - In early November, a group of delegates from Latin America and Britain, all part of the British American Tobacco multinational, gathered in Rio de Janeiro.
The company said it was a routine meeting, and offered few details. The one thing we can know for sure is that if any of them smoked, they would have had to go to a special smoking area to light up.
Brazil does not allow smoking in closed areas, nor does it allow cigarette advertising at cultural or sports events. In Uruguay, cigarette sellers are not allowed to display cigarette packets.
“This is about more than just cigarettes,” says Lezak Shallat, coordinator of the organization Tobacco Free Chile. “It’s about protecting people from the advertising onslaught of junk food and other products that are not healthy.” Shallat says that the equation is simple: more regulations means less consumption and less cancer and heart attacks. But is that really the case in Latin America?
There was a golden era for smoking in Latin America, when lighting up was accepted (and even expected) at funerals, baptisms, in movie theaters and even maternity wards. The alarm was raised in 1964, when the U.S. Surgeon General presented a report about the effects of tobacco on health. At that time, 52% of Americans were smokers. Twenty years later, only 25% of the population smoked.
It’s still early to judge the effects of the new restrictions in Latin America. According to the Ministry of Health in Brazil, in 2011 the prevalence of smoking fell to under 15% of the population older than 15. No effect has been measured yet in Chile, the heaviest smoking country in the region.
The tobacco industry is one of the most centralized in the world. There are really only four brands that dominate the entire world market: BAT, Philip Morris International (PMI), Japan Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco.
Both BAT and PMI have focused their attention on places with high rates of smoking: Russia, Asia and Latin America. They have expanded into these markets mainly through acquiring smaller tobacco companies.
Today, most Latin American countries have extremely concentrated tobacco markets, when the market is not a complete monopoly. BAT dominates Brazil, Chile, Peru and Venezuela completely, while PMI rules over Argentina and Mexico. The two only really compete in Colombia.
Getting around restrictions
The tobacco companies have put into practice several techniques to get the most profit out of their products. PMI has sued the Uruguayan government at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, for their anti-tobacco regulations. BAT has done the same in Australia, which has the strictest anti-tobacco rules in the world. It’s a two-pronged game – trying to prevent restrictions while adapting marketing techniques to get around the ones that exist.
The companies have started marketing more at the point of sale, and have also used changes in packaging and the length of cigarettes to make them more attractive to consumers.
And it’s having results. The industry continues to post profits and have plenty of support from the stock market. The secret is to get more and more profit from each cigarette that is sold in this declining market. In other words, to carefully cultivate the industry’s most precious asset – the diehard smoker.
For Souza Cruz, the Brazilian BAT affiliate, the number of cigarettes sold annually dropped by 10% between 2007 and 2011, but profits soared. The company’s annual report says that this was due to a better mix of products and better prices. BAT’s stock prices have also risen, in spite of the general down market for stock prices. This has created a dilemma for some institutional investors – in 2010, the Norwegian government pension fund disinvested from all tobacco stocks, and the Australian government is studying the same possibility.
None of the BAT executives contacted by America Economia agreed to talk, and Souza Cruz said it did not have a spokesperson to comment on the recent government measures.
The main defenders of the tobacco industry are actually the people who sell the products directly. Convenience store owners in Peru are unhappy about regulations that prohibit them from displaying cigarettes in their stores. And tobacco farmers in Brazil were incensed when the government decided that they would have to diversify their crops in order to receive national agricultural subsidies.
Tobacco has allies in the parliament, too. “I don’t smoke, but what are we going to do with the 190,000 families in the south and the other 30,000 in the north that depend on tobacco?” asks Luis Carlos Heinze, a Brazilian federal deputy. He adds that it is a total of 600,000 families if you include indirect employment.
In Colombia, the opposite is happening – the government is encouraging tobacco crops in areas reclaimed from armed conflict. “Even if it’s true that it can harm health, that isn’t exclusive to tobacco. There are lots of other products that can be much more harmful,” says Heliodoro Campos, head of Fedetabaco. “Fortunately, the Ministry of Agriculture backs tobacco cultivation,” he adds.
While the Colombian peasants fight against drought and flood to grow their tobacco crops, somewhere in Chile a teenager lights his or her first cigarette. And in Brazil a 66-year-old man lights up his last. Cigarettes cost the Brazilian health system around $11 billion. Everywhere except Uruguay, cigarettes continue to share sales space with sweets and chocolates for kids. | <urn:uuid:fe20b7ea-f3fb-44be-82c0-908ac6b7614e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldcrunch.com/business-finance/latin-america-039-s-war-on-tobacco-and-the-toll-on-local-growers/cigarettes-tobacco-bat-pmi-agriculture/c2s10625/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961844 | 1,142 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Veteran flew bombing missions over EuropeLUVERNE — After flying 35 missions bombing Axis strongholds across Europe, shooting at German fighter planes and surviving a saboteur’s attempt to destroy his B-24 Liberator, Ray Anderson still hates heights.
LUVERNE — After flying 35 missions bombing Axis strongholds across Europe, shooting at German fighter planes and surviving a saboteur’s attempt to destroy his B-24 Liberator, Ray Anderson still hates heights.
“We got down to mechanics school, and they interviewed us all. I said ‘Well, I want to be on a ground crew. I don’t think I can fly because I hate heights,’” Anderson recalled. “’We’ll see about that,’ he says.”
They sent him to gunnery school, where he practiced firing a 50-caliber machine gun, and Anderson realized he would have to fly. On his first flight, his doubtful “I don’t know about this” on the way to the plane turned into “This is fun, I’m not washing out of this!” as the plane lifted off.
To this day, Anderson dislikes heights, but flying has never bothered him.
An education in war
Anderson was drafted in 1943, just after he turned 18 and while he was still a senior at Tech High in Oakland, Calif. Later he finished his high school equivalency in Sioux Falls, S.D, but on Jan. 13, 1943, he was drafted, joining the army Feb. 1.
Unlike some boys his age, Anderson expected to be drafted. When Pearl Harbor was bombed Dec. 7, 1941, Anderson turned to his aunt and told her he’d be in the army before long.
He went before the draft board, took the required physical and got his clothing allotment before being put on a troop train to Mississippi, where he went through basic training. When he got his orders to ship out, though, Anderson found he wasn’t actually shipping anywhere — instead, the Army sent him across the base to mechanics school.
After finishing the mechanics course, he went to gunnery school in Texas and spent time “tearing a 50-caliber machine gun apart and putting it together blindfolded.” Anderson and the other recruits spent time trap shooting and skeet shooting, and after gunnery training was done, he moved to Wyoming, where he met the crew with whom he would spend so much time in the air.
At Kansas City, Anderson and the rest of the 10-person crew picked up a brand-new plane straight from the assembly line, which was at that time turning out a new B-24 every 59 minutes. The planes could fly at altitudes of 35,000 feet at 300 miles per hour, cruise more than 3,000 miles at a time, and carry 10 500-pound bombs or five 1,000-pound bombs.
The crew’s destination was Spinazzola, a small town in southern Italy, from which they could fly to France, Romania and Germany in order to bomb Axis targets there.
The Liberator had a crew of 10, including the pilot, who flew the plane and the copilot, who could land the plane if necessary and kept an eye on the instruments in flight. The bombardier dropped the bombs, and the navigator monitored the precise position of the plane, while the radio man kept in contact with the other planes in the formation.
The nose gunner operated two guns in a turret in front of the bombardier, and the top turret gunner fired two guns just behind the pilot’s area. The tail gunner was located in the back of the plane and the ball gunner’s guns were underneath the plane.
Throughout all 35 of Anderson’s bombing runs in Europe, his tail gunner was the only casualty. He was struck on the head with a piece of flak, which went through two pieces of metal before it hit him and struck the ceiling. If the bullet hadn’t ricocheted twice, Anderson said, the tail gunner would have been killed.
“That saved his life. He was bleeding, but he was okay — he went back to work a couple days later,” Anderson said. “I had to go back and get him out of the tail gun turret and bandage him up without oxygen.”
Liberators were not pressurized, and all crewmen had to wear electrically-heated suits and use oxygen to breathe. Anderson had to share oxygen with the wounded man and crawl into the claustrophobic turret to get him out.
Anderson was an aerial engineer, and spent takeoffs standing behind the plane watching instruments. While taxiing on the runway, he stuck his head out the trapdoor above the pilot’s head to make sure they weren’t about to hit any of the other planes lining up and preparing for takeoff.
Both the aerial engineer and the radio man doubled as waist gunners, because the plane was under radio silence whenever it was in enemy territory.
Milk runs and double missions
After each bomber took off, it circled, waiting for the rest of the planes in order to create a formation before heading for a target. Anderson’s group was known for its particularly close formation flying, which made them difficult to attack successfully.
Anderson’s closest target was only about 5 and a half hours away, and the target farthest away took 9 hours of flying to reach. But he and his crew never had trouble staying awake throughout the 18-plus hours in the air.
“If we didn’t see any flak or fighter planes, we were pretty lucky,” Anderson said. “They called that a ‘milk run.’ If there was flak or fighters, we were given a double mission.”
That’s why Anderson is credited with 50 missions, though he actually flew 35.
Only once did he ever fire on an enemy plane.
“We flew to France that day, and we were just leaving to go back to Italy,” Anderson recalled. “A German fighter was firing at us in front of our plane. I spotted that fighter, and he was low, coming right at us.”
Anderson sent two bursts of the machine gun after him and hit the fighter, who bailed out of the plane using his parachute and landed in the water below.
“His orange dye spread out over the water so they could find him… I hope they found him,” Anderson said. “I always wonder if he came out alive.”
The guns were meant to defend the plane while it was delivering bombs, either the 500 to 1,000-pound versions or the clusters of fragmenting bombs that resembled bundles of sticks. Those phosphorus-based bombs worried Anderson and the other flyers, because when they struck the ground they burned through everything.
“If they got hit in our plane, that would be the end of us,” Anderson said.
He and his crew bombed Vienna, Austria, and Turin, Italy, but their worst target was Ploesti, Romania, which was where Nazi Germany kept its fuel. They went to Ploesti four times.
“When we were on our way up there, we could see the planes that just left the bomb run… there would be a flash of fire, the plane would go down and chances were, none of the men would get out,” Anderson remembered of the worst Ploesti run. “The smoke was at 30,000 feet and we started passing it by. We turned our heated suits off, because we were sweating so.”
In a clearing above the smoke, the flak was almost as thick as the smoke, and Anderson’s plane flew right through it. Miraculously, no one in the plane was hit, despite the fact that sometimes the flak went all the way through the plane, making holes on each side.
Another time, while flying over water, all four of the plane’s engines started malfunctioning and they had to drop their bombs in the ocean and land in Corsica.
“Saboteurs had somehow put iron filings in the engines,” Anderson said. “We had to put in four new engines.”
The ground crew investigated the sabotage, but Anderson never found out whether they caught the culprit.
Machines and mechanics
Some threats didn’t come from people, but from simple mechanics. When Anderson’s crew was sent to Cairo, Egypt, for a rest, their borrowed plane — another Liberator — blew a tire, just as the pilot touched his brake.
“If that would have blown on landing, I wouldn’t be here,” Anderson said.
Though neither he nor the others had ever been shown how to do it, they managed to change the plane’s tire.
In Egypt, Anderson’s crew saw the Sphinx and the pyramids and even rode camels, before returning to Italy to find their own beloved, newer B-24 missing.
It had been shot down with a full crew in it.
“I think the good Lord was with us all the time,” Anderson said. “We had some pretty rough times, but only one guy got hurt.”
Despite how bad it sometimes got, the crew was always grateful to be in the air rather than on the ground, where the Army’s foot soldiers were.
Anderson was sent home after his tour ended in August 1944, when he and the others were sent to a convalescent hospital for shell shock for a time.
Eventually, Anderson went to Sioux Falls, S.D., and joined the military police, eventually becoming the sergeant of the guard and running the base’s jail.
He was discharged in 1945.
After the war, Anderson tried farming, but found it was too much of a gamble. He got a job at a lumber yard and did that for a while, before spending 38 years as a plumber in Luverne and then Sioux Falls.
Anderson and his wife of 58 years, Jennie, have two sons, one daughter, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Anderson looks forward to his Honor Flight trip to Washington D.C.
“We hope it’s going to be a couple of great days,” he said. | <urn:uuid:fc47d305-c0b4-4b84-a6b9-fa2534929181> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dglobe.com/event/article/id/34032/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982209 | 2,201 | 1.570313 | 2 |
What is market design, and how is it applied to daily life? In part 2 of the Goldstein on Gelt show this week, we meet Professor Alvin Roth, a professor of economics at Stanford University, who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2012 for his work on market design. Professor Roth tells us how his matching programs are applied to kidney donation, getting married, and students choosing residency programs. Listen to this great interview to learn more.
About the Author: Douglas Goldstein, CFP®, is the director of Profile Investment Services, Ltd, a financial planning firm located in Jerusalem. He specializes in working with clients in New York, Florida, and Israel and is a licensed financial professional both in the U.S. and Israel. Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc., Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, SIFMA. Accounts carried by Pershing LLC., Member NYSE/SIPC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. Neither Profile nor PRG gives tax or legal advice. Before immigrating to Israel, it is advisable to consult with a tax attorney who is knowledgeable about Israeli law. Doug’s newest book The Expatriates’ Guide to Handling Money and Taxes is available at www.expatguidetomoney.com. He hosts a weekly finance show, Goldstein on Gelt, on internet radio. Listen live or download podcasts. Toll-free from U.S. 1-888-327-6179, Jerusalem: (02) 624-2788. Follow on Twitter: @DougGoldstein or contact at email@example.com.
You might also be interested in:
If you don't see your comment after publishing it, refresh the page. | <urn:uuid:6d06a6b4-043a-4f1b-a96f-1a1a771b048e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/goldstein-on-gelt/market-design-matching-and-me-podcast/2012/11/29/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932817 | 362 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Studying Sports Management in the UK, by Simon Chadwick
In boxing there is an old saying that a fighter can punch "well above their weight." In other words despite being small, that fighter can contend with a much bigger opponent and hold their own.
Great Britain can be considered as having punched well above its weight in sport for years. Despite being only a small island we have a soccer league that is the envy of the world, and an Olympic squad that brought home no fewer than 19 gold medals, 13 silver and 15 bronze at the 2008 Olympics - and we are eagerly anticipating hosting the next games in London in 2012.
Beyond the field however, there is a juggernaut of talent without which the structure of global sport would grind to a juddering halt. Sport needs to be organised, from the smallest amateur club to the teams in the Champion's League. Undergraduate students who recognise the potential of sport management are increasingly looking at degrees that provide a solid grounding in all management skills and practices, which includes marketing, strategy, human resource management, finance and information technology.
However, growth in the sports industry is no longer restricted to developed nations such as USA, Canada and the UK. Significant opportunities in sport event management, sports broadcasting/media, sport sponsorship and other commercial developments are evident in emerging economies such as China, India and South Africa. With the UK's impressive sporting reputation - both on and off the field - we are in a position to offer the very best opportunities to students keen to enter these exciting careers.
Sports management and science courses provide students with specific knowledge and skills such as the developments and current trends in the sports and exercise industry that will inform your career choice.
Students receive relevant sports coaching certificates and work experience that will improve employability, and learn other skills - such as research and data analysis, communication and problem solving - that are easily transferable to other industries.
According to the UK graduate careers website Prospects, in 2008 50% of all sports science graduates went directly into full-time paid work six months after graduating, and around 10% into part-time paid work, with a further 10% combining study with work. Many graduates go directly into the sport and leisure industry with typical first jobs including fitness instructor, personal trainer, assistant sports development officer, and junior sports administrator.
The opportunities for sport management students are growing even in the recession, and in the UK we already have a culture of sport that acts as the foundation for turning out the best in sport management students.
A sport marketing or management degree could lead to manage an international arena, or strategic management for a sport organisation with a global reputation, possibly even organising an event that will be seen on the world stage.
Simon Chadwick is Director of Coventry University's Centre for the International Business of Sport | <urn:uuid:27bac746-49f2-41ce-aae9-b10400950adc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalstudymagazine.com/site/articles/514/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957121 | 568 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Historic Town of Winston
Winston was founded in the early 1880s by miners who found Chloride "too rowdy." They moved 2 miles north, settling in Fairview. The town grew to about 600 people. In 1929, the town changed its name to Winston in honor of Frank H. Winston, a local miner, businessman and legislator. Winston flourished until the silver panic of 1893. Frank winston's old house still stands on Main Street, as do several other buildings he owned and built. Many other buildings were destroyed in a flood in the 1950s. The old schoolhouse, built in 1890, is visible to the east from Main Street. It is located on private land. | <urn:uuid:1ea21520-b0ff-4f8b-8fba-f92dc5c27fed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elephantbutteinn.com/blog/historic-town-winston?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9875 | 141 | 2.875 | 3 |
An e-mail in my inbox Monday morning from my editor had a scary subject line: “Help!”
When I opened the message, I read this: “My daughter is 13-years-old today and so, as promised, I let her sign up for Facebook. YIKES. Now I am freaking out over her privacy settings!”
Even for an adult, Facebook’s privacy settings are as daunting as trying to do your taxes with an abacus. For teenagers, unaware of the consequences of their online actions, using Facebook incorrectly could potentially leave a digital trail that might follow them all the way through high school, college and into the real world. What’s more, there are also creepy people out there on social networks.
Here’s what I told my editor.
First, you should sit down with children and explain that anything — stress the word anything –they post can and will be used against them on the Internet. This includes private messages and photos they believe are visible only to friends and comments they leave on people’s pictures or status updates. Although all of these things can be set to private, a friend-turned-enemy could take a screenshot of something your teenager has shared, then send it around school for all to jeer at.
Teenagers should assume that there is no such thing as private on Facebook. The company has repeatedly changed settings that were once private, to public, and there is nothing to say Facebook will not do this again. Even so, you will want to go through your child’s Facebook settings to make them as private as possible.
To begin, click on the arrow in the top right and then scroll down to Privacy Settings. Once inside, the first thing you will want to do is ensure that anything your child posts on Facebook is only visible to Friends, not the Public.
Once you have done this, methodically go through every setting — be aware, there are dozens of them — and change your child’s account to only be visible to Friends.
I would recommend leaving the “Who can send you friend requests?” tab open to Everyone for the first week or so. Like a child’s first few days in school, let him corral friends on the social network, then you can go back into this option and change it to only allow Friends of Friends later.
To prevent an excerpt from your child’s Facebook page from showing up in public search engines, including Google and Bing, be sure to go to the Apps tab in the privacy settings and click on “Public search.” Then make sure you disable “Enable public search.”
One of the most important privacy settings is how personal information is used in ads. This is where Facebook uses you, or your likes, in advertisements on the Web site. For example, if you like Coca-Cola, Facebook will show your friends ads for Coke using your name as part of the advertisement. (A bit creepy, I know.)
To change this, click on the Facebook Ads tab. Then click on the two links that say “Edit third party ad settings” and “Edit social ads setting” and change these options to “No one.”
When I talked to my editor later in the day, she mentioned that her child had logged into the new Facebook account on a friend’s iPhone that day. This, you should stress, is a very bad idea. If your child forgets to log out, the person can now see everything on their Facebook page, including private chats and messages.
Just like teaching a teenager how to park a car until they get it right, I would recommend sitting over a child’s shoulder and watching them log in and then log out of his or her Facebook account in a way that doesn’t save the password.
You can see other tips from Facebook on the site’s Teen Safety Area.
Oh, and one last thing: Friend your teenager on Facebook. | <urn:uuid:3bad5bcd-17c2-43ce-91ff-e3ec300c20c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/putting-a-13-year-old-child-safely-on-facebook/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950066 | 832 | 2.046875 | 2 |
You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. Nor, apparently, can you produce energy of any kind from any source without killing birds:
Energy production of all types — wind, ethanol and mountaintop coal mining — is contributing to steep drops in bird populations, a new government report says.
The first-of-its-kind report chronicles a four-decade decline in many of the country's bird populations and provides many reasons for it, from suburban sprawl to the spread of exotic species to global warming.
It shows that birds in Hawaii are more in danger of becoming extinct than anywhere else in the United States. In the last 40 years, populations of birds living on prairies, deserts and at sea have declined between 30 percent and 40 percent.
But in almost every case, energy production has also played a role.
Environmentalists and scientists say the report should signal the Obama administration to act cautiously as it seeks to expand renewable energy productionpublic lands and tries to harness wind energy along the nation's coastlines. and the electricity grid on
"We need to go into these energies with our environmental eyes open," said John Fitzpatrick, the director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which helped draft the report along with nonprofit advocacy groups. "We need to attend to any form of energy development, not just oil and gas."
I predict another ten years of liberal dominance of government will see us go back to burning cow dung and switchgrass to power our society.
It would be smelly but at least we wouldn't be killing the birds.
Seriously now, unless we want to halt industrial society in its tracks, there's just no way to account for bird killing because of energy. There are a lot of people out there who dream of a day when we would, in fact, destory industrialized civilization in the name of "sustainable growth." And I have no doubt that saving the bird populations will soon make its way into their talking points. | <urn:uuid:aa48d923-0448-4347-8843-75965476168a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/03/please_dont_kill_the_birds.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958977 | 405 | 2.453125 | 2 |
We often use the word “Deep Anime” to describe an anime of a certain quality, yet the word deep in itself is perhaps a very abstract piece of art. To illustrate this occurrence, the confusion arises when various people consider one of the anime as a deep anime, and you generally go like “What? This is no deep anime!”. Here is an example of this confusion that happened in the IRC channel for #animeblogger.
[impz] dennou coil is pretty cool
[Sasa] (dennou coil isn’t really “deep”, it has no meaning, but it is quite artsy)
[tj_han] dennou coil is just interesting scifi
[saturnine] (Dennou Coil has no meaning like you are a 16 year old girl Sasa)
[tj_han] like wise i dont think gits is deep
[tj_han] its interesting scifi
[Sasa] (me neither)
[Sasa] (but i’ve considered planetes as quite deep)
[psgels] So, what is a deep series?
However, is anime truly as stated to be a deep symbolism, or simply a form of entertainment? We first have to state how we actually consider this preposition by stating this is the view of the majority of anime. It is not an analysis of a few series that have implied symbolism and psychological theories but a means to observe the general trend of anime as a whole. With that taken care of, it is apparent that anime is a form of entertainment, and not anything deep. I will not deny that I will be generalizing for some of the reasons that I have mentioned, but I believe that most of the generalizations used do have enough merit to hold on its own.
To state anything more is merely the joke of spin doctors.
Owen S, the crazy loony owner of Rule 41, gathered a group of strange anime bloggers to deal with this topic. I guess since I am equally strange as well, I am also roped into the picture. The list of bloggers include Batezi, theBigN, Sasa, Higevs, Hidoshi and Martin.
So why did I call it entertainment?
The main purpose for anime on the whole is mostly entertainment. Like most of entertainment, it is not exactly the form of artwork that delves into deep ideas. It is meant to give pleasure, relaxation or delight and do not require any active participation beyond leisure purposes by the audience. You do not have to think so deeply for any of the series in order to understand the art form that is presented. As it is, it is not meant to complicate things and divide the knowledgeable and the ones that have no clue what is going on.
Anime, as a form, is currently not deep like literature. We generally derive ideas and plots from it as a critic, but the artwork in itself is a very simple display that is open to complications if you want to. Using a personal analogy, I might be analyzing Saiunkoku Monogatari for every episode, but it is mostly a thought of what has happened in terms of plot. It is not an artwork that forces you to think about philosophy. You are invited to think as much as it is.
For my personal theme about it, it is somewhat described in Lupus’s earlier entry on the blog. Hence, I decided that I should not repeat myself that much. To add on, I am not discounting the fact that there are in fact anime series that are thought provoking that has this “deep” value inside. However, these series are more of the exception rather than the rule. Here, my proposition is clearly anime being “deep” on the majority, and not some anime are deep.
The essence of entertainment: Fanservice
Fanservice is generally omnipresent in most of the anime that you and I have watched. It is a visual method in which to excite the fan, generally through sexual means or to amuse the fan who is viewing the visual spectacle. The explosion of genres such as romance and harem (always present) or even action having fanservice should not be breaking news to you as well. Fanservice, by its very notion, is never a deep thing. It is meant to please the fan.
The detail in which to make a true decent show without fanservice is something that has been lost, and it is sadly a part of anime that we anime fans generally appreciate. Without any bit of irony, the use of fanservice these days have been more clumsy (read: obvious) rather than being more subtle in nature. This does not really help in the definition of anime being a deep medium for art. If you do not believe me, count the number of onsen/shower/sports scenes and the definitive beach scene with no fanservice.
There are definitely many inferences that we can try to associate our beloved anime with the word “deep”. However, the brutal truth is that anime is an artwork that seeks merely to entertain. As a “critic” or more accurately an anime blogger who enjoys his share of interesting and plot-heavy anime series, I have to say that there are definitely a few shows that can represent the “deep” nature that we are looking for, but they are few and little in the forest. Until the point of time that we can say that most of the anime we watch have a nature that seeks less to entertain, but to indivulge ourselves into an intellectual and informative world, anime remains merely entertainment and nothing else. | <urn:uuid:e65863c2-2b08-4d22-8eb0-c833e04ed8fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2007/08/anime-deep-symbolism-or-merely-entertainment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969136 | 1,180 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Photo by Leslie Berestein Rojas/KPCC
Car sticker seen on an L.A. freeway, February 2011
A recent post highlighted a Migration Policy Institute article that explored the origin of the “Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin” category on census forms, and in the 40 years that Latinos have been asked to identify in terms of Spanish origin, the varying ways in which they have also come to identify in terms of race.
The "Hispanic or Latino" category is an ethnic category, not a racial one. In the 2000 census, slightly under half of the 35.2 million Latinos counted reported their race as white. The rest of the racial categories they can choose from may or may not apply. Not surprisingly perhaps, 43 percent of Latinos in 2000 identified themselves as “other race.”
But a fascinating piece in the New York Times this weekend reported a rise in the number of Latinos identifying themselves as "American Indian" in the 2010 census. From the story:
Seventy percent of the 57,000 American Indians living in New York City are of Hispanic origin, according to census figures. That is 40,000 American Indians from Latin America — up 70 percent from a decade ago.
The trend is part of a demographic growth taking place nationwide of Hispanics using “American Indian” to identify their race. The number of Amerindians — a blanket term for indigenous people of the Americas, North and South — who also identify themselves as Hispanic has tripled since 2000, to 1.2 million from 400,000.
A professor of Latin American history interviewed attributed this in part to shifting migration trends, with more recent immigrants having come from regions of Latin America with large indigenous populations, such as southern Mexico and Central America.
But the census shift, if slight, is significant not only in terms of who has settled here, but how Latinos who are already here perceive and identify themselves. A second-generation Mexican American woman, Nancy Perez, explained that her family decided to go with "American Indian" because "if you go back far enough, we are indigenous:”
“We felt that there were very limited options to identify with,” Ms. Perez, 32, said. “So out of the options available, that was the best one.” | <urn:uuid:ed6833c4-b4b1-45df-b806-afccdd443fd2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scpr.org/blogs/multiamerican/2011/07/06/7458/more-on-latinos-and-race-the-rise-of-the-latino-am/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956433 | 472 | 3.484375 | 3 |
||Vol. 3 No. 1 January 10, 2008
CCNY Seniors Shine at NIH Research Conference
Roland Ebegbe and Jamie-Lee Foote, seniors in The City College Academy for Professional Preparation (CCAPP) program, won outstanding poster presentation awards at the 2007 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. The NIH-sponsored event was held November 7 – 10 in Austin, Tex. Mr. Ebegbe, a bio-chemistry major, was one of 14 winners in the microbiological sciences category. The Nigerian-born Queens resident displayed his research project, “Defining the Epitopes on EBNA-1 that Elicit Antibodies that Cross-react with dsDNA.” The presentation was based on his work in the lab of his mentor, Dr Linda Spatz, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. Ms. Foote, an international student from Jamaica who aspires to be a surgical oncologist, was one of eight honorees in the cell biology category. Her presentation was entitled “The Role of STAT3 in Breast Tumorigenesis.” The project is part of her honors research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where her mentor is Dr. Jacqueline Bromberg in the Department of Medicine. She also collaborated with Dr. Paul S. Gao, a post-doctoral fellow at CCNY.
Professors C.R.E.A.T.E. New Approach to Teaching Science
Teaching approaches that rely on textbooks rather than science’s primary literature, i.e. academic papers, typically presents science as “a bunch of facts to be memorized,” says Dr. Sally Hoskins, CCNY Professor of Biology. Hoskins and co-Principal Investigator Leslie Stevens of The University of Texas, Austin, have devised a new method called C.R.E.A.T.E. that teaches upperclassmen how to read academic papers and also humanizes the scientific process. In Professor Hoskins’ Biology 355 class, “Analysis of Scientific Literature,” students read through a sequence of papers produced by one lab over several years, with the summaries, titles and authors’ identities withheld. This puts students in the position of researchers, who have to interpret data from each experiment in sequence and figure out what to do next. C.R.E.A.T.E. tools help students break down the papers into their component parts. Students independently develop hypotheses about the work, relying on concept maps to relate new knowledge to old. Class sessions focus on data analysis and interpretation. Afterwards, students propose experiments to be done as next steps, which are critiqued by in-class “grant panels.” Students also posed questions via email to the actual authors to gain understanding of the scientists’ motivations and goals. Students who took the class demonstrated improved critical thinking skills and ability to read and analyze scientific literature as well as attitudes more favorable attitudes toward science and scientists. Professors Hoskins and Stevens, with ongoing support from the National Science Foundation, are now conducting workshops on using the C.R.E.A.T.E. approach for instructors at other institutions. More on this story.
PR Society New York Chapter Honors PR Major Maria Martinez
Advertising and Public Relations major Maria Martinez ended the fall semester with two top awards from the New York Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA-NY). Ms. Martinez, a senior who is president of the Public Relations Student Societyof America (PRSSA) chapter at City College, received the 2007 Philip Dorf Memorial Scholarship and a PRSA-NY Recognition Award. The former, which comes with a $1,000 stipend, is for mentoring. It has been given out since 1995 in honor of the late Philip Dorf, a New York PR executive who was a committed mentor to public relations students and professionals alike. Ms. Martinez’ Recognition Award was for her leadership at the helm of the PRSSA chapter at CCNY. It came with a $500 scholarship. The Manhattan resident credits Advertising & Public Relations Program Director Professor Lynn Appelbaum for her success. “She’s amazing, she’s such a good role model,” Ms. Martinez said. “She’s not only given me great guidance but she’s also encouraged me.” And PRSA-NY has created a tax-exempt scholarship fund to benefit more metropolitan area students like Ms. Martinez. “This is a momentous step that will enable the Chapter to build a significant scholarship fund that will benefit deserving students in the New York Metro area,” said Barbara M. Burns, PRSA-NY President.
Student Athletes Collect 800 Pounds of Food in Holiday Drive
The CCNY Student Athlete Advisory Committee (S.A.A.C) recently sponsored a college-wide community service project; a first annual holiday food drive that ran from November 12 through November 22. The project raised more than 800 pounds of food to benefit New York City’s City Harvest Food Rescue Program. SAAC organized the canned food drive as a community service competition among CCNY’s 16 athletic teams. Each team collected cans and other non-perishable items to benefit the local food bank. The committee kept a tally to determine which team had the most items. Women’s Volleyball team took the honor for most items collected with a total of 231. Men’s Basketball finished second with 209 items donated, followed by Women’s Fencing with 188 items collected. “The drive was a success,” said SAAC President Taisiya Zuyeva. “We all came together to contribute to a great cause. Our goal for next year is to increase campus-wide participation.” More on this story.
Professor Patitucci’s New Album Gets Grammy Nomination
John Patitucci, CCNY Professor of Music, who is widely regarded as one of the world’s best contemporary jazz bassists, received a Grammy nomination for his latest album, Line By Line. If he wins, the award would be Professor Patitucci’s fourth Grammy. He won in 2005 as a member of Wayne Shorter’s quartet, in 1989 as a member of Chick Corea’s group and in 1987 for a song written with Chick Corea. “I am honored to be nominated and placed in the company of my friends and heroes,” Professor Patitucci said. Line By Line, which was released last year by Concord Records, is competing in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category. The album features 10 original compositions, several of which meld classical influences with jazz. Growing up in an Italian household, opera was an important influence on his music, he explains. On the album he performs on both acoustic and electric bass, backed by his trio: drummer Brian Blade, guitarist Adam Rogers and saxophonist Chris Potter. In addition to teaching at CCNY and performing and recording with his trio, Professor Patitucci tours with the Wayne Shorter Quartet and previously toured with Chick Corea.
CCNY Researchers Focus on Tea’s Concentration Benefits
Both coffee and tea will keep you awake, but if you need to focus on demanding tasks, the latter should probably be your cup of choice. A CCNY research team led by Dr. John Foxe, a Professor of Neuroscience, has found that drinking three to four cups of tea daily can improve one’s concentration. Tea contains theanine, an amino acid that affects alpha brain rhythms and causes changes when people are performing demanding tasks that require attention, he explained. “It seemed to make a mild improvement in (subjects) ability to pay attention.” In a preliminary study, the team observed improvements in concentration in subjects who had ingested 250 milligrams of theanine, equal to the amount found in 10 cups of tea. However, subsequent studies showed that a similar effect could be achieved from a combination of 100 milligrams of theanine and 60 milligrams of caffeine, comparable to what four cups of green tea contain. Working with Professor Foxe, who directs CCNY’s Cognitive Neurophysiology Lab, were graduate student Manuel Gomez-Ramirez and post-doctorial fellow Dr. Simon Kelly. They have submitted a paper based on their research, which was funded by Unilever Corp., a British manufacturer of food, home care and personal care products, to the Journal of Nutrition.
Korean Firm Picks CCNY Professor to Streamline Processes
STX Co. Ltd., a South Korean energy conglomerate, has awarded $1.2 million over five years to Dr. Jae W. Lee, CCNY Associate Processor of Chemical Engineering, to investigate “Process Intensification by Integrating Reaction and Separation.” Process intensification is a sustainable engineering method for simplifying complex processes. It can generate dramatic economic savings and yield environmental benefits such as reductions in emissions and use of volatile organic compounds. The process that Professor Lee will investigate involves multiple mixing, separation and reaction tasks. “If we are able to combine the tasks into one unit, we can get a synergistic effect,” he explains. “But, to achieve synergies we first need to understand the thermodynamic and kinetic principles behind the tasks.” Professor Lee will conduct computer simulations to develop hypotheses about how multiple separation and reaction tasks behave in combination. He will also conduct experiments with different equipment configurations to confirm the simulation results. “The goal is to develop a fundamental algorithm that can identify synergies,” he said, adding, however, that combining multiple reactions and separations is “mathematically very difficult.” More on this story.
New Remote Sensing Antennas Installed Atop N.A.C. Building
A construction crew completed the installation December 7 of satellite antennas atop the North Academic Center that will help make CCNY “the Northeast center of excellence in remote sensing.” The gear is part of a satellite acquisition system that consists of a 2.4 meter dual X/L band antenna, a MODIS receiver, a NOAA polar orbiter receiver, an ingest module, a LINUX data processing server, TeraScan control and processing software and archiving systems. The system will be able to receive, analyze and archive data from two polar orbiting satellites – the high resolution X-band system and the middle resolution L-band system, which pass over the eastern United States every 12 hours, plus the GOES geostationary system, which covers the entire United States every 20 minutes, according to Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi, NOAA Chair Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the NOAA-CREST center. CCNY’s system is expected to go on line in March 2008. When it does, CCNY students and professors will be able to analyze and archive land use, land coverage, coastal zone and weather data for the entire eastern United States.
Professors Arend, Crouse Awarded CUNY CAT Grants
Mark F. Arend and David Crouse, Assistant Professors of Electrical Engineering, have received grants totaling $75,315 from the CUNY CAT, a.k.a. New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Photonics Applications. The grants were the first awarded under CUNY CAT’s Equipment Purchase Program, inaugurated in May to improve the scientific research infrastructure throughout CUNY. Professor Arend was given $34,500 for the purchase of a polarization maintaining fiber fusion splicer. His research thrusts are quantum information processing, sponsored by Corning, Inc. and remote sensing enhancements to the NYC MetNet. Professors Roger Dorsinville, Chair of Electrical Engineering, and Fred Moshary are his collaborators. Professor Crouse received $40,815 for construction of a modular FTIR characterization system and purchase of an HeCd laser. His research focuses on quantum wires and plasmonics, and is sponsored by Phoebus Optoelectronics LLC. The CUNY CAT develops and disseminates knowledge in photonics technology in order to promote New York economic development for the medical, biological, industrial and military sectors. It is one of 15 university-based centers in New York State created to support university-industry collaborative research and technology transfer in commercial relevant technologies. It is funded by the New York State Foundation for Science Technology and Research (NYSTAR).
CCNY Task Force on Sustainability Seeks Committee Members
CCNY faculty, students, staff and alumni are invited to apply to join any of the 11 working groups being organized by the CCNY Task Force on Sustainability. The Task Force is working to meet two mandates: it will conduct a complete inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 and develop a comprehensive long-term action plan by 2009 for achieving “climate neutrality” to comply with the President’s Climate Commitment. In addition, as a participant in the CUNY Sustainability Initiative, it will develop a 10-year plan to help CUNY reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2017. The ultimate goal is to transform CCNY into a sustainable campus; one that is engaged in research and coursework on environmental issues across the curriculum and deploys operating practices that reduce its negative impacts on the environment. The 11 working groups will focus on: curriculum; research; student affairs; procurement; facilities; planning, construction and renovation; transportation; waste management, auxiliary services and residence hall, communications and public education, and community affairs. Persons interested in serving on a committee(s) can contact Michael Rogovin, Deputy to the President, firstname.lastname@example.org.
Ethnomusicologist, Professor Emerita Henrietta Yurchenko Dies
Henrietta Yurchenko, a world-renowned ethnomusicologist and former CCNY music professor died in Manhattan December 9. She was 91. Professor Yurchenko, who helped popularize folk music for American radio audiences, taught at CCNY from 1963 to 1987. “She was small of stature but was a giant in the world of music,” Department of Music Chair Professor Stephen Jablonsky recalled. “She was a brilliant revolutionary thinker to her very last day. We celebrate the 91 years that the world was privileged to have her among the enlightened ones and the wonderful years she spent with us at City.” Professor Yurchenko is credited with the first broadcasts of folk and world music on New York radio. Her program on WNYC introduced listeners to such artists as Woody Guthrie, H.W. “Leadbelly” Ledbetter and Pete Seeger, as well as musicians from India, China, the Middle East and Africa. Her greatest legacy, though, are her numerous recordings of the indigenous music and stories of remote Guatemalan and Mexican Indian groups made in the 1940s. A gifted pianist who was born in Connecticut, Professor Yurchenko was hailed for helping preserve these sounds, stored in the Library of Congress, which otherwise would have been lost.
Chi Alpha Epsilon Chapter Remembers Sekou Sundiata ‘72
The CCNY Chapter of Chi Alpha Epsilon Honor Society held an Omega Service December 6 to remember Sekou Sundiata, the noted poet and alumnus who died last July. Chi Alpha Epsilon recognizes the academic achievements of students admitted to colleges and universities through non-traditional criteria. Its Omega service honors members who have died; Mr. Sundiata, one of the early SEEK students at CCNY, was an honorary member of the chapter. The service also included a ceremony to induct 26 new students from the SEEK and Student Support Services programs. “Sekou was an exceptionally talented individual who, as a student activist, was committed to broadening access to CUNY for students of color. He truly will be missed,” said SEEK Director Dr. Maudette Brownlee. After graduating from CCNY in 1972, went on to become a Grammy Award-nominated poet and performer. He was the first writer-in-residence at The New School and also taught at Columbia University and the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
From the President
I hope that those of you who had a holiday break had a wonderful one. For some of us this has been a special time for family – a great in-gathering of the tribe – or perhaps a time of travel. For some of us it has been a time to do some of the work that we just couldn’t get to during the semester, whether it’s research or writing or painting, or Middle States, or just sleeping in. And of course many in the CCNY community have been right here on campus, teaching in the intersession, registering new and returning students, staffing the offices, and overseeing construction.
In any event, we all have an exciting and exacting semester to look forward to. And on this unseasonably warm day, it seems particularly natural to say welcome to Spring 2008 at The City College of New York.
Gregory H. Williams
138@Convent is produced by the Office of Communications of The City College of New York. We welcome your comments and suggestions for stories; please email email@example.com | <urn:uuid:5d56e883-4d76-451e-b495-bcb8564469f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/advancement/pr/newsletter_12272007.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952878 | 3,613 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Fall is here, and the month of October will bring cooler and dryer weather to our gardens. The month begins with high temperatures in the 90s, but ends with highs in the mid-80s. Lows will be in the mid 60s and could go as low as the 50s. Fall also signals the end of the rainy season. Early October can still see heavy rains, but we can become very dry by month’s end.
Remember to get your fertilizing done this month, so your lawn and plants will be healthy going into winter and the dry months. The last fertilization of citrus should be applied this month to help the fruit mature and ripen.
This is a good month to apply mulch. The heavy downpours of summer, which can wash mulch away, are just about over and mulch will dress the garden beds for the return of the winter season. It will also help to conserve water and retard weed growth.
This is the last month to do any severe pruning. After mid-month, the cold weather will begin to arrive and our more tropical plants will need their foliage to protect them. Plants cut too severely will have tender new growth which could be damaged by temperatures in the 50s.
This is a good month to start planning for vegetable and flower gardens. Prepare your beds by tilling the soil and adding amendments like peat and manure. Then, let the beds rest until the cooler weather arrives to begin planting. This is also a good month to plant bulbs. If there are some plants from the north you would love to plant in your garden, you can do so after you feel the cooler winds. They will last until our hot weather returns in late spring.
Insect pests like scale, chinch bugs, grubs, white fly and mites will still be active when it becomes dry. Watch for them and treat if necessary. You will find fewer pest problems with the onset of cooler weather.
After the temperatures are in the low 80s, it will be safe to treat your lawn for weeds. Early October can still be too hot to apply Atrizine or other herbicides, so be sure to wait for the cooler weather to avoid damage. With the cooler weather also comes less growth, and that means less hard labor to keep the yard in order. Come on, winter!
Eileen Ward and her husband Peter own and operate Greensward of Marco Inc., a lawn maintenance and landscaping company. Besides completing horticultural courses from the University of Florida, she has a commercial maintenance spray license and is a registered dealer in agricultural products in Florida. | <urn:uuid:b4faa99d-b92e-43a0-ae43-c4efb09594c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marconews.com/news/2009/oct/02/cooler-weather-means-less-maintenance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960496 | 535 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Deities » Navagrahas
After the Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), the Navagrahas (including Surya) have the maximum importance in Hindu rituals. They are considered to play a major role in deciding the destiny of man.
As per the navagrahas, i.e., nine planets, are Sury a (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Guru (Jupiter) , Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), Rahu (North Lunar Node) and Kethu (South Lunar Node).
It is believed that the constant movement and subsequent positioning of these grahas over the course of one's life determine the present and future events of that individual. The study of grahas or planetary positions is one of the most important prerequisite for the Hindus.
Some people believe that by chanting the Navagraha Stotra, man is relieved from all his sins and bad effects that may occur to him by these grahas.
Namah Sooryaya Chandraya Mangalaya Budhaya cha
Guru Shukra Shanibhyas cha Rahave Kethave Namaha | <urn:uuid:6335e0ee-6189-4035-9873-569ba0d111d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jssmission.org/navagrahas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908257 | 246 | 3.140625 | 3 |
American Trucking Associations is urging Texas to reverse its decision to allow cars and trucks to travel up to 85 mph on a soon-to-open toll road between Austin and San Antonio.
The speed limit would be the highest on any highway in America.
“At the end of the day, excessive speed is the greatest threat to highway safety,” ATA President Bill Graves said in a statement.
“By giving motorists carte blanche to put the pedal to the metal, Texas is raising the risk of more crashes, as well as more severe crashes,” he said.
The new toll road, only partially open now, is set to completely open by Nov. 11. The 91-mile road is owned by Texas, but is being built by a private development consortium that will also operate it.
Graves said the Texas Transportation Commission should reverse its Aug. 30 decision to allow 85 mph for a 35-mile section of the toll road that runs from south of Austin to the town of Sequin. | <urn:uuid:56337da7-6ace-4a7d-86d6-6bdbc09a5626> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=30144 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968151 | 211 | 1.53125 | 2 |
This blog is still on summer vacation, but when I resume next week, it will be with a new focus on the intersection between the social behavior and the performing arts. To kick off this new emphasis, here is a piece from my personal blog on the portrayal of people with disabilities in "Breaking Bad," the fifth season of which premieres tonight:
When most television shows decide to do a very special episode, the guy in the wheelchair gets to impart life lessons.
When "Breaking Bad" does a very special episode, the guy in the wheelchair imparts death. Grand-Guignol-style death, climaxing in one of the most shocking scenes ever to jolt this horror fan to the edge of her seat.
Throughout season four, drug kingpin, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Gustavo Fring has been portrayed as near-superhuman, a man of awesome psychological and physical resilience, a man whose discipline, resolve, and reserve make Captain Picard look like a Chevy Chase character. With cameras everywhere and plans within plans, Gus Fring is in control.
Until his ancient enemy Hector Salamanca, trapped in a wheelchair in the dismal "Casa Tranquila," takes a last draw on his oxygen tank, stares into Fring's eyes as his own fill with tears, and taps his finger -- the only part of his body he can move voluntarily -- on his call bell. Over and over, until the bomb beneath his chair is triggered, and Hector and Gus make their final bad break together.
Hector's suicide bombing is his most shocking use of power, but not his only one. To lure Gus to Casa Tranquila, Hector sets up a meeting with the DEA. Gus is to think Hector is turning state's evidence, but once the DEA meeting is set up, Hector's nurse brings out his letterboard so that he can spell out his message to the agents clustered around the table. She reads each letter aloud, clearly and slowly, and Hector rings his bell when she hits the correct one. Her voice begins to shake with anger and humiliation as he forces her to spell out "S - U - C - K - M - Y - " before the agents stop her. When he begins again with "F - U -" she is nearly in tears.
People who want power will find a way to get it.
That's one special lesson "Breaking Bad" has to teach us: Everyone wants power. Control of the story. A seat on the hospital board. Money. Information. A bitchin' car. Influence. An orderly, well-labeled mineral collection. Clues. A shoplifted tiara.
People with disabilities aren't immune to the drive for power. They just might have to break a different way in order to get it.
Hector's power lies in the capacity of the neglected and disabled elderly to shame, to embarrass the decent. It also lies in his capacity to bring out the sadism of the indecent. Gus, the most disciplined of men, cannot resist the chance to torment the man he believes is helpless. Gus gets about three seconds to absorb the life lesson that this was a mistake before the right side of his face is blown off.
Hector's is not the only broken body on "Breaking Bad." The series begins when chemistry teacher Walter White is diagnosed with lung cancer. TV-land tends to be populated by strong, beautiful bodies, bodies that eagerly bend themselves to seduce, to run, to work. On "Breaking Bad," bodies often don't help. Bodies get pregnant accidentally. Bodies get injured. Bodies become addicted. Every major character on "Breaking Bad" has been betrayed by their body or brain at this point. Walt's cancer. Skyler's unplanned pregnancy. Marie's mental illness. Jesse's addiction. Hank's PTSD and spinal injury. Walt Jr.'s cerebral palsy.
Unlike the others, Walt Jr. was born with his disability. It doesn't represent waning power, the way Hank's paralysis or Skyler's fading sex appeal does. Perhaps because of this, Walt Jr. comes across as one of the least neurotic characters on the show, the one most comfortable in his skin. Disability is relative; Walt Jr. has never known a life without his wrist canes. They don't diminish his mojo -- having to drive a PT Cruiser, Skyler's idea of a hip hoopty for a 16-year-old male, takes care of that job. Even so, Walt Jr. reacts to the less-than-ideal birthday present with resigned grace. Walt Jr. can absorb an insult to his dignity better than any other man in the show, certainly better than his father can.
With his halting speech and matinee-idol features, Walt Jr. is kind of a Woobie. Is there anything a fan of "Breaking Bad" dreads more than the look in Walt's anime-huge brown eyes should he ever realize the truth about his father? And yet, after four grueling seasons, it's hard to believe that the child of two people as smart as Walter and Skyler White hasn't begun to smell something rotten. We all seek power, we all seek control. Walt Jr. accepts his imperfect body. But he is unwilling to accept the hints that his family might be disrupted and corrupted. For the world to make sense to Walt Jr., his father must be a decent man. For his father to be a decent man, Walt Jr. must learn to rely more heavily on his powers of rationalization than on his powers of observation.
This is what gets people killed in the world of "Breaking Bad." This may be the only true disability there is: willfully chosen blindness.
Which brings us to Hank Schrader. Originally portrayed as a blowhard and something of a bully, Hank's abilities as a detective reach their peak when he is shot through the spine and forced into a bad-tempered convalescence. Walt Jr. was born with cerebral palsy, and Hector Salamanca's near-paralysis was acquired over a long lifetime. Hank was brought down suddenly, in midlife, and wastes much energy on such pointless exercises in power as verbally abusing his wife and obsessing over a mineral collection. The Heisenberg case gives him reason to focus. When he goes to the DEA to present his findings, he takes care to use his cane rather than a walker -- he'll give away as little of his injury as he can. And yet, when he is ready to make his most theatrical pitch, to sell his former colleagues on the notion that Gustavo Fring, apparent friend of law enforcement, is in fact the man they are looking for -- he uses that cane to point to the picture of Fring on the wall. Four prongs, nailing his story down. Without that cane, and the injury that necessitated it, Hank never would have seen the truth.
I don't ever recall seeing an hour of television with three prominently featured characters with disabilities, in which the story itself was not about disability. "Breaking Bad" violates realism in many ways, but it is profoundly realistic in this: that disability is not a metaphor or a trope. It's something that happens to people. Many people. Most. There are a lot of injured, sick, disabled characters on "Breaking Bad" because there are a lot of injured, sick, disabled people in the world. You can analyze the different ways disability plays out in the show's themes of power and self-delusion, as I have. You can parse the semiotics of the cane versus the wheelchair, of the deep themes of mobility (physical, geographic, social) that gird the show.
Or, you can simply enjoy the novelty of seeing people with disabilities portrayed. As people. With disabilities. And rivalries, and egos, and loved ones, and memories, and secrets.
The author is solely responsible for the content.
Welcome to Miss Conduct’s blog, a place where the popular Boston Globe Magazine columnist Robin Abrahams and her readers share etiquette tips, unravel social conundrums, and gossip about social behavior in pop culture and the news. Have a question of your own? Ask Robin using this form or by emailing her at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:10dba00e-9faf-46a9-9bdd-08af8b977657> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/missconduct/2012/07/disabilities_in.html?camp=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976225 | 1,700 | 1.914063 | 2 |
How can we create a personality we desire?
Personal heroism by means of individualism is a task requiring courage and self-confidence. Courage and self-confidence are characteristics of few sapiens, young or old. It is a path less traveled because it imposes terrifying burdens; these burdens display themselves by isolation from the common herd. “This move exposes the person to the sense of being completely crushed and annihilated because he sticks out so much, has to carry so much in himself.”
Personal heroism demands that one exposes her self, i.e. s/he sticks out dramatically from the herd. Those creative types who expose themselves so must create their own justification. Herein we find something that may seem illogical “the more you develop as a distinctive free and critical human being, the more guilt you have. Your very work accuses you; it makes you feel inferior. What right do you have to play God?” By what authority do you presume to introduce new meaning into the world?
Otto Rank was a colleague of Freud and, like Jung, carried theories far beyond those which Freud created. “Freud’s reality psychology emphasized essentially the influence of outer factor, of the outer milieu, upon the development of the individual and the formation of character,…I [was] opposed to this biological principle, the spiritual principle which alone is meaningful in the development of the essentially human.”
For Freud the id is the nucleus of being and it, the id, is subject to the natural laws. In such a frame the personality consists of layers of identification that “form the basis of the parental super-ego.” This might be properly considered to be the spiritual structure of the average individual, i.e. the average personality results from the natural influences developed against the naturally evolved super-ego.
Such a theory accounts for the average but does not account for the two creative extremes: the creative type and the so-called “neurotic” type. I would label the average personality to be a reactive individual; an individual who goes with the flow.
There are two personality types that make up the proactive personality: one creative type squeezes him or her self into a tight ball in reaction to the inner and outer milieu, i.e. the so-called “neurotic” and the second creative type who creates a personality wherein the ego “is strong just in the degree to which it [i]is[i] the representative of this primal force and the strength of this force represented in the individual we call will.”
This second creative type, which Rank identifies as the creative type while he identifies the other creative type as the “neurotic”, creates “voluntarily from the impulsive elements and moreover to develop his standards beyond the identifications of the super-ego morality to an ideal formation which consciously guides and rules this creative will in terms of the personality.”
“The essential point in this process is the fact that he evolves his ego ideal from himself, not merely on the ground of the given but also of self-chosen factors which he strives after consciously.”
Quotes from Will Therapy and Truth and Reality by Otto Rank | <urn:uuid:338f1062-71a5-4a6c-90c8-457b5f627846> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?48045-How-can-we-create-a-personality-we-desire | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946339 | 670 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Last modified: 2005-11-26 by zach harden
Keywords: belarus |
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by Victor Lomantsov, 7 July 2002
by Victor Lomantsov, 7 July 2002
I located a flag (obverse
and reverse) at <www.mod.mil.by>.Is
it Belarus military colours?
Dov Gutterman, 6 July 2002
Yes, it is military colours of Belarus Army.
Obverse: state CoA, inscriptions: "Armed Forces" (above), "Republic of Belarus" (below)
Reverse: army emblem (red star inside oak and laurel wreath), motto "For our motherland" (above), full name of military unit below.
Victor Lomantsov, 7 July 2002
On the front and back, is the national ornament that can be
seen in the Belarus flag. This one has no border on
it. The background is red. On the front, the Belarus
coat of arms on it. Above it, in Russian, says something I cannot
make out. On the bottom, it says "Republic of
Belarus" in the same language. On the back, centered
is possibly the army symbol of Belarus. The quote above it
could have been on Soviet army flags, but I cannot confirm that
at this time. Below it, it could state where the army is
located at. The entire flag is at a 2:3 ratio, unlike the
national flag being at a 1:2 ratio.
On the finial, it is in a oval shaped and colored in gold. The oval design is from the Soviet Union, but not the color of it. The object shaped in the oval is a star. For sometime before finding this, either a hammer and sickle or the Belarus coat of arms were known finials used in Belarus.
On the staff, the ribbons are placed right where the top of the flag is. The ribbon mainly illustrated is for the medal "Victory over Germany", awarded to Soviet military and civilians for helping to defeat Germany in World War II. Apparently, many units from old Soviet countries still have this ribbon on their flags. A ship like the "Kursk" was commissioned last year by Putin, and this ribbon was on the flag staff that had the Russian Naval Ensign. The medal can be seen here <www.acadiacom.net>.
Zachary Harden, 7 July 2002
Attention! Not Russian language but Byelorussian (they are
similar but not the same). The inscription is "Armed Forces
(of) Republic of Belarus", and it is official emblem of
Armed Forces of Belarus.
Soviet army flags motto was: "For our SOVIET motherland" in russian ("Za nashu sovetskuyu rodinu"). Modern Byelorussian motto: "For our motherland" in byelorussian language ("Za nashu radzimu").
Officially, the finial of Belarus state flag and president flag is rhombus with a star in the centre.
The N-Or-N-Or-N ribbon was very popular in army of Russia and Soviet Union. It is a ribbon of monarchical order of St.George. In USSR the same ribbon was used by Order of Glory and medal for Victory over Germany. This ribbon is a sign of Gvardia (elite part of the Army) too.
Victor Lomantsov, 8 July 2002
Concering the black-orange-black-orange-black ribbons used on
(with) army flags in USSR and exUSSR countries, those are the
colours of order ribbon of militar award (St.) George Cross.
Existing in Tsarist Russia (pre-1917 October Revolution), both
order and the concept of Guards itself was banned from
use until 1941-1945 era. During World War II many "ancient
regime" symbols were gradually returned into use (Guards
units - 1941, shoulder insignia - 1943). The same approach
introduced "Order of Glory", with approx. same awarding
policies and ribbon colors as old George Cross.
Yury Tarasievich, 29 December 2004 | <urn:uuid:ab42a858-c2d0-45d3-a42e-8c23b2bfa335> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fahnenversand.de/fotw/flags/by%5E.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938006 | 911 | 2.09375 | 2 |
As youth pastors we don’t like to talk about numbers, or if we do, it’s with wailing and gnashing of teeth as we imagine the elders shaking their heads in frustration at the job we’re doing to reach the students in the community. Or we laugh at the image of the same elders shaking their heads with concern because the numbers are up, but the students you’re reaching are causing problems…serious problems like an occasional swear word, and wearing ear-buds on church property.
Here’s the truth: Numbers matter.
Try as we might to help leadership see the student ministry discipleship process as more than a head count, it remains one of the universally accepted currencies of “health” in youth ministry. Here are a few numbers to keep an eye on.
Youth group attendance
We use a simple head count to track this metric. It matters, especially to see trends in the year, trends by series/topics, and shifts in big picture participation. This measurement is often weighted too much in many church cultures (ours included), but it can still be a helpful number to watch because people do vote with their feet. A growing number reflects a strong ideal entry-point for our student ministry; students are entering the ministry through the top of the funnel. To some degree, this reflects the health of friendship evangelism in our ministry.
Small group signups
There is an additional level of commitment to join a small group, which causes participation to decrease, so we expect this number to be less than the youth group number. Knowing how many students are signed up and/or actually attending can be helpful to make sure students are entering and flourishing at the next step in the discipleship process. This number should grow in proportion to the weekend number; if we had 60%+ active in a small group we would be thrilled.
We try to share about the life-changing message of Christ every week, and once a month we have baptisms. It is continually important and recharging to see how God is changing lives. We celebrate any student who accepts Christ and gets baptized, because it is such an important step across the line of faith. This number is usually compiled from response cards collected at youth group.
Text database / Instagram followers
Texting is our primary method of communication with students, and seeing this number grow is a reflection of the lives we are touching. Students can sign up online and be added/removed with a checkbox on the response card.
Blog/social media traffic/friends
This one is still new and emerging, but it would be nice to see what kind of “buzz” is out there in the wild about your youth ministry. Does your student ministry Instagram have more followers this month than last? That’s a winning number. You can get all into this as well using Google Analytics, YouTube Insight, Twitter Search, and other analytical tools you can see who is viewing your videos, visiting your blog, how many people are checking you out, and see what people are saying about your services and their church experience.
There are other numbers that certainly matter (kids doing ministry, offering, distribution of spiritual growth tools, etc.)—what matters most to you? What’s missing here?
What other numbers matter? How do you deal with the reality of attendance-based performance grading? Speak up in the comments!
This post was written by Josh Griffin and Kurt Johnston and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here. | <urn:uuid:87957de6-eedf-4005-bb55-449f335439d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.morethangossip.com/page/3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95395 | 734 | 1.625 | 2 |
In a low-key image, dark tones dominate the photograph. Small, bright highlights punctuate the shadow areas, creating the characteristic mood of a low-key image. The position of the light source for a typical low-key image is behind the subject or behind and off to one side, creating deep shadows.
In pre-digital days, the appropriate exposure usually centered around how far the photographer could reduce the exposure before the highlights appeared dull. Today, this approach should be avoided at all costs, especially when black velvet-like tones are your benchmark for quality.
The Camera RAW dialog box reveals this low-key image was exposed as if it were a mid-key image and exposed for the dark side in Photoshop.
Exposure for Low-Key Images
For digital photographers interested in low-key images, an SLR loaded with a fine-grain black-and-white film is a hard act to follow. The liquid smooth transitions and black velvet-like quality of dark low-key prints of yesteryear is something that digital capture is hard pressed to match.
With digital capture, the reality is that underexposure in low light produces noise and banding—steps rather than smooth transitions of tone—in abundance. The solution is surprisingly simple, however, if you shoot in the RAW format. Be generous with your exposure to the point of clipping or overexposing your highlights, and only attempt to lower the exposure of the shadows in Adobe Camera RAW.
Although the final outcome may require deep-shadow tones, first get the shadow tones away from the left-hand wall of the histogram by increasing, not
Adobe Camera RAW rescues the highlights —sometimes automatically.
decreasing, the exposure. It is vitally important, however, not to increase the exposure so far that you lose or clip highlight detail. The original exposure of the image used in this project reveals that the shadow tones, visible as the highest peaks in the histogram, have been generously exposed in-camera, so that noise and banding have been avoided. The tones have moved well to the right in the histogram.
The highlights, however, look as though they have become clipped or overexposed. The feedback from the histogram on the camera’s LCD would have confirmed clipping at the time of exposure—the tall peak on the extreme right-hand side of the histogram—and if you had your camera set to warn you of overexposure, the highlights would have flashed to advise you of your faulty exposure settings. Adobe Camera RAW can recover at least one stop of extra highlight information when the Exposure slider is dragged to the left.
With some attention to the histogram during the capture stage, you can master the art of pushing your highlights to the edge. So, if your model is not in a hurry (mine is watching a half-hour TV show), take an initial exposure on Auto, then check your camera for overexposure. Increase the exposure using the exposure compensation dial on the camera until you see the flashing highlights. When the flashing highlights start to appear, you can still add about one extra stop to the exposure before the highlights can no longer be recovered in Adobe Camera RAW.
If the highlights are flashing and the shadows are still banked up against the left-hand wall of the histogram, increase the amount of fill light, i.e., reduce the difference in brightness between the main light source and the fill light. If flash is the source of your fill light, drop the power of the flash by at least two stops and choose the ‘Slow-Sync’ setting—a camera flash setting that balances the ambient light exposure and flash exposure—so the flash light doesn’t overpower the main light source positioned behind your subject.
Before massaging the tones to create a low-key image, check that the tones are smooth and free from color and luminance noise. Zoom in to 100 percent magnification for an accurate preview and look for any problems in the smooth, dark-toned areas. Set the Luminance Smoothing and Color Noise Reduction sliders to 25 to remove the noise. I also recommend that the Sharpness slider be set to 0 at this point. Selective sharpening in the main editing space helps keep the tones as smooth as possible, rather than committing to global sharpening in the Adobe Camera RAW dialog box.
Create the low-key look by dropping the Exposure and/or the Brightness sliders in the Adjust tab. You can continue to drop these sliders until the highlights start to move away from the right-hand wall of the histogram. Select the ‘White Balance tool’ and move your cursor over the deeper shadows. This will give you an idea of the RGB values you are likely to get when this image is opened into the editing space. Once you approach an average of 15 to 20 in all three channels, you should have the low-key look you’re after.
To enhance this image further, I added a vignette using the Adobe Camera RAW dialog box in Photoshop CS2. To drop the RGB to B&W, I used a technique that extracts the luminance values from the RGB file and usually gives a superior result to lowering the saturation or choosing the Remove color command.
All your work will be for naught if the printer or surface quality of the paper cannot handle these smooth, dark tones. If printed well, the print will stand up to really close scrutiny at close range. | <urn:uuid:191d9d9b-4e11-4779-8fb1-8f05ef7007e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imaginginfo.com/print/Studio-Photography/The-Secret-to-Low-Key-Images/3$2143 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91073 | 1,121 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Of course I’ve just finished a week of asking users lots of interesting questions and getting a vast amount of even more interesting information in response. On this particular project we asked quite a few people (15) lots of questions over quite a broad spread of topics. So, now I’m trying to work out what I’ve learned.Over the years, I’ve used a range of different methods for analysing data. The ‘simplest’ yet least able to be reproduced/backed up is a combination of memory and gut feel (not recommended), then there are a range of more or less physical tools from Excel Spreadsheets, to Post It Notes (which seem to be in vogue at the moment), to Mind Mapping (my current pet approach).
I like Mind Mapping because I think it’s a fairly efficient way to push the data around into sensible groups and to also keep the ‘authentic’ user voice in the mix for as long as possible. I tend to type quite a bit (especially the really interesting parts) verbatim, and I like that even though the users have started to meld together in my analysis, their voices are still there – it is quite powerful in taking me back to the conversation we were having and the context in which their statement was made… something that I think can get lost in other methods.
Mind Mapping is also a lot more space efficient! Where I’m working now (more about that soon), Affinity Diagrams using vast quantities of all different coloured PostIt Notes are very popular… to the extent that wall space is at an absolute premium :)
This is a method that I’ve really enjoyed using in the past. In particular, I think it’s a strong method to use when you are working as part of a team doing the data analysis (whether that ‘team’ is you + colleagues or you + client… both useful). Mind Maps do tend to fall down in a screaming heap where you’ve got more than one person doing the analysis.
Interestingly, the IA Wiki (where I liked to for a definition of Affinity Diagrams above), includes both Post It notes and a Team as pre-requisites for doing an Affinity Diagram… I’m not expert in terminology, but that’s not my interpretation. Anyways, that’s a tangent. (I think!)
I wouldn’t call myself a MindManagerPro power user, but I can see that there are opportunities to further streamline my process (perhaps) through integration with Excel (where I capture my raw user data) and Visio (where the design solutions are ultimately outputted). I need to explore this integration with MS Office some more (unless someone out there has and can tell me what’s worth exploring and what’s not!)
Another thing that I really like about MindMaps is that they allow you to spend quite a bit of time ‘working on’ the data and starting to make some meaningful and interesting conclusions, which you can then bring to your client, and you’re then able to really focus their minds on what problems need to be worked through, workshopped and resolved – but with all the data to hand, and organised, and illustrating/illuminating the points that you’re discussing in your workshop.
Of course, my choice of tools is also heavily influenced by the fact that I tend to do a lot more qualitative style research then quantitative (I’ve never been one for maths) – so statistical applications and graphs I approach with caution and generally a fair amount of resistance… :)
I’d be really interested to hear about what techniques you like to use for data analysis and why you use them. Or others that you’d like to try that you haven’t yet… | <urn:uuid:a2118d6a-fc40-46b5-a286-86c718456242> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.disambiguity.com/page/98/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957584 | 805 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a red light running violation?
A red light running violation occurs when a motorist enters an intersection after the traffic signal has turned red. Motorists already in the intersection when the signal changes to red, when waiting to turn for example, are not considered red light violators.
How a Red Light Camera Works
The system is activated when motion is detected just prior to the stop bar AFTER the traffic signal has turned red. The camera system takes a series of two images.
The first image shows the vehicle before crossing the white stop line after the red light was illuminated.
The second image shows the violator in the middle of the intersection with the red light illuminated.
The license plate image is a close-up from one of the images captured. Data including the time, date and duration of the yellow and red lights is also recorded.
Where are the red light cameras located?
On August 20, 2012, the city council approved the installation of Red Light Cameras at 3 additional intersections. The planning process has started and installation will begin soon. After the new cameras are installed, Mesquite will have 4 intersections monitored by red light cameras. The 4 intersections are:
- East service road of IH635 (service road for north bound IH635) at Military Parkway (currently in operation)
- East service road of IH635 (service road for north bound IH635) at Town East Blvd. (approved 8-20-2012)
- East service road of IH635 (service road for north bound IH635) at Oates Dr. (approved 8-20-2012)
- South bound exit ramp of IH635 at Oates Dr. (approved 8-20-2012)
Why did I receive this Notice of Violation?
Based upon images captured by the automated system, your vehicle was determined to have committed a red light violation. As the owner of the vehicle, the Notice of Violation is mailed to you.
What if the light was yellow?
The camera only captures vehicle that have violated the red signal. If a vehicle has crossed the STOP line prior to the light turning red and the vehicle has entered the intersection on the yellow/amber; the camera should not activate. Should an error be detected the police officer of Redflex personnel will exclude this violation an no Notice will be sent.
What if I am not the driver/owner of the vehicle at the time of the violation?
You may submit a re-nomination, if you are in the business of renting or leasing vehicles or if the vehicle was sold or reported stolen at the time of the violation. Should another family member or friend actually be the driver, you may also re-nominate that person. See options page (in this document), OPTION B. This option will allow a re-nomination, and you must have it notarized then send the Option B coupon in the envelope furnished to the address shown.
What happens if I ignore the Notice of Violation?
Failure to pay the civil penalty or to contest liability Not later than the 30th day after the notice was issued is an admission of liability, and failure to appear at an administrative adjudication hearing after having requested a hearing is an admission of liability and constitutes a waiver of the right to appeal. Failure to pay the civil penalty within 31 days after receipt of the Notice of Violation shall result in the imposition of a late-payment fee of $25 and may result in the County Tax Assessor Collector refusing to renew the registration of the vehicle alleged to have been in violation of the city’s ordinance.. If the second notice remains unpaid, collections proceedings and entry of a judgment against you may proceed.
Will I receive any points on my driving record for this violation?
The civil penalty may not be recorded on the owner’s driving record and an arrest warrant may not be issued.
Will my insurance rates be affected?
No, this is a civil infraction and is not reported to any insurance agencies.
Is this only a program to generate revenue?
This is a safety program. Automated safety systems have been shown to reduce red light violations and intersection crashes. Numerous studies throughout the United States and worldwide, as well as the experience of many other cities, indicate significant decreases in red light running violations and collisions after cameras were installed. Often times, a spill-over effect results from automated enforcement. For example, other intersections not monitored by automated enforcement also see a decrease in violations and accidents because of the presence of enforcement in other areas of the community.
What if I was issued a citation from an officer for the same offense?
The citation issued by a police officer takes precedence over the Automated Intersection Safety System Notice of Violation. You must appear in court with both notices and the Adjudicative Hearing Officer will take the appropriate actions.
A crash caused by a driver who runs a red light is more likely to result in serious injury or death.
- Deaths caused by red light running are increasing at more than three times the rate of increase for all other fatal crashes
- More people are injured in crashes involving red light running than in any other crash type.
- Reduction in red light running through a comprehensive red light camera program will promote and protect the public health, safety and welfare of Mesquite Citizens.
What to Do if You Receive a Notice of Violation
I have received multiple Notices of Violation; do I have to send in a payment for each?
No, you may send one check in one envelope – but you must include coupons for each violation you received. For example, if you received three violation notices, you may send in one check and the three coupons but write each notice number on your check.
Can I make payments in installments or set up a payment plan?
Payment plans are not avaliable. You must pay your civil penalty by the due date on your Notice of Violation or a late fee will be assessed. You have a additional 30 days after the late fee is assessed to pay the civil penalty before collections proceedings begin.
Do I have to pay my fine the day of the hearing?
You must pay the full fine amount not later than the 30th day after a liable judgment.
What happens if I do not pay the Notice of Violation?
Failure to pay the civil penalty or to contest the liability with the time allowed will result in a 25$ late fee and may result in the County Tax Assessor-Collector refusing to register the vehicle alleged to have been in violation of this ordinance.
I do not believe I ran a red light. Where can I go to view my images and video?
The images and video are available on the Internet at www.photonotice.com.
You may also obtain informaiton by scheduling an appointment with Customer Service by calling (972) 422-7900.
What is an administrative adjudication hearing?
An administrative adjudication hearing is an opportunity in which you may appear in front of an administrative hearing officer and discuss the circumstances surrounding your Notice of Violation
How can I schedule a hearing?
You must schedule a hearing in writing. Sign the coupon located on the back at the bottom of your Notice of Violation and mail it to the address shown. The signed coupon must be mailed on or before the due date of your Notice of Violation. You will be notified by mail of the scheduled date and time for your hearing.
Can I make a hearing request over the phone?
No, all requests must be in writing.
Can someone other than me attend the hearing?
Is there more than one place that I can attend my hearing?
What is an appeal?
A person who is found liable after an administrative adjudication hearing may appeal that finding of civil liability to the municipal court by filing a notice of appeal with the clerk of the municipal court. The notice of appeal must be filed not later than the thirtieth (30) day after the date on which the administrative adjudication hearing officer entered the finding of civil liability, and must be accompanied by payment of the costs required by the law for the court.
How do I know that these violations are valid?
Images of your vehicle were captured and recorded by an Automated Intersection Safety System. You can review your images and video of the actual occurrence online. The images and video were reviewed by several qualified technicians and finally by the Mesquite Police Department before the alleged civil infraction was affirmed and mailed to you as the registered owner or identified driver. You have the option of contesting the Notice of Violation by requesting in writing an administrative hearing, at which time you may discuss the validity of the images and video captured on the date and time detailed on the Notice of Violation.
What if the camera was not working or it was defective?
If the camera was not working no image would have been captured. The camera is scanned daily by technicians to verify the accuracy of the cameras.
What company provides the red light camera program in Mesquite?
The City of Mesquite has contracted with Redflex Corp.to provide the red light camera enforcement program. Reflex will install and maintain all equipment related to this program and process and review all violations captured by the equipment. More information about ATS is available at www.redflex.com. | <urn:uuid:d582df24-5fe9-4b05-a666-ae7abda037f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cityofmesquite.com/police_web/red_light_cameras.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954043 | 1,916 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Wood, fine patina, original pigment, classical striated face mask with overall white pigment and black highlights.
This type of mask, known as kifwebe, was used by the secret society of the same name. The members of the Kifwebe society are regarded as possessing the powers of sorcery, which they use in the service of the political leaders to maintain their position of control. The mask's shape and design symbolizes the supernatural, mystical and ancestral forces from which the Kifwebe members obtain their powers.
Kifwebe masks are used to mark important periods of social transition and transformation, appearing at the death of a chief or any other eminent person, or when a person assumes an important political title. Worn on the night of the new moon, they are also performed in honour of ancestors. They also are perceived as having healing abilities. These masks can be female or male type. The present mask embodies the rarer female type kifwebe (known as kikashi), which, in contrast to the male type lacks the sagital crest. Also characteristic of female masks is the fine pattern on the face into which white paint has been rubbed. The use of white symbolizes positive concepts such as purity and peace, the moon and light. Female masks essentially reflect positive forces and appear principally during lunar ceremonies and at the investure or death of a ruler.
H: 40,5 cm (16 inch).
Literature: Bourgeois, Arthur and Rodolitz, S. (2003) Remnants of Ritual: Selections from The Gelbard Collection of African Art. Bacquart, Jean-Baptiste (2010) The Tribal Arts of Africa.
Hahner, Iris e Kecskési (2007) African Masks The Barbier-Mueller Collection.
For additional information please contact S.A. Gallery.
Regional & Ethnic Antiques | <urn:uuid:8143f4b8-c715-4a10-82ef-a98fb7a2ae45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.antiques.com/classified/Antiques/Regional---Ethnic-Antiques/Antique-A-Female-Kifwebe-Mask--D-R--Congo-- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928069 | 389 | 2.453125 | 2 |
MSU Denver Faculty and Staff
We teach Colorado.
MSU Denver faculty and staff are some of the hardest working in the state. That’s because they see their role as shaping the futures of the people who will recharge our state.
That means you!
Teaching is numero uno!
MSU Denver is a “teaching” university. That means professors are evaluated based on how well they teach. It also means that you won’t be taking classes from graduate teaching assistants. You’ll be studying with professors—many who have professional experience in their fields—in classes small enough so you can get extra help and develop professional relationships with your teachers and other students.
Just because we’re a teaching university doesn’t mean we don’t have an active undergraduate research program. We do! If you’re hoping your education will include a research project you can sink your teeth into, you’ll find any number of opportunities, from forensic DNA recovery to inequality in Chinese society to the affect ski lifts have on the vegetation that moose eat. In other words, your professors will extend their classrooms into the city and throughout Colorado.
Here are some ways MSU Denver faculty go above and beyond their office hours:
- Shawn Worthy’s dedication to his students means he considers early mornings and late nights part of his office hours.
- Christy Carello brings students into the Colorado wilderness to study the effect of skiing on wildlife.
- Carmen Sanjurjo helps future urban teachers acquire the savvy and credentials necessary to teach urban youth.
- Jose Lopez teaches students about space by helping them launch high-altitude balloons into the stratosphere.
- Carlos Fresquez shows Latino and non-Latino students what it’s like to be a successful, working artist.
Did you know…
Average class size: 22
Student/faculty ratio: 21 to 1
540 full-time faculty
913 affiliate faculty
22 percent of full-time faculty are people of color
73 percent of full-time faculty hold doctorate or terminal degrees
Staff teach too!
At MSU Denver, you’ll discover that you’ll learn a lot from the more than 500 employees who support the University’s academic mission. Whether you have a job on campus or need help in the computer lab, you’ll find that MSU Denver staff members are as willing to help you succeed as your professors.
Good teaching matters
“[MSU Denver] is an institution where the faculty actually teach. This is our primary job. Many [MSU Denver] professors put in a lot of time outside of the classroom working with students. Most professors also have real-world experience that informs the lessons they are teaching. This is a big advantage for our students.”—Shawn Worthy, Ph.D., associate professor of human services | <urn:uuid:916f389e-2780-4d02-9d60-03fb8d91dbc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mscd.edu/futurestudent/facultyandstaff/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952794 | 605 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The mid-1970s were an interesting time for computers. I don’t know much about what was happening in the industry, but I can tell you what was available to a kid from central New Jersey.
Keywords: keypunch, card reader, card sorter, magnetic core memory, NCR, Fortran, NEAT/3
This is the start of a new category: Computer History. Subtitle: As seen by Me.
I figured it was time to write about something I actually knew, or rather, something I’ve experienced. Some of you may be too young (sigh) to know about your computer roots.
You’ve heard the saying by now, “experience matters.” Well, it is true on many levels. I’ll try to enlighten you with my experience with computers through the (read: my) ages.
Keywords: teletype, baud rate, acoustic coupler, typewriter, Pulsar, LEDs.
Just a reminder… a new version of the public beta for Flash Player 8 is available. If you haven’t checked it out, it kicks serious byte.
Find the public beta at: http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/public_beta
I am not a CF expert. So when I was asked to provide a sample program showing how to use ColdFusion Components (CFCs) from Flex, I decided it was time to learn more about Flex’s big brother.
I’m sure a lot of you will roll your eyes at the simplicity of this, but if are just getting started combining the technologies, this should be a big help.
I recently helped a customer who had a Flash movie loaded into his Flex application that was not working as expected. The Flash movie had a MovieClip symbol which could be dragged with the mouse. This is pretty common in Flash movies: you detect that the mouse has been pressed over the MovieClip instance and then startDrag() to let the user move the MovieClip.
This was working sporadically in Flex. I determined that the problem happened when mouse event handlers were present in the Flex application: mouseOut, mouseOver, even ToolTips prevents the MovieClip from being dragged.
I showed this to a Flex engineer and he told me what was happening. When mouse event handling code was present, the DragManager was enabled and superseded the standard mouse handling. In other words, Flex took over mouse control.
There is a work-around however. You must remove startDrag (and stopDrag) and handle the mouse tracking yourself. Here’s how to do that. | <urn:uuid:05fb7ef8-cfdc-4af9-abb6-20e5ae33f02c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.adobe.com/peterent/2005/07/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956954 | 560 | 2.296875 | 2 |
MB economy receives boost from farm season 0
The Manitoba economy is expected to get a good boost from the 2012 farming season.
Doug Chorney, president for Keystone Agriculture Producers, said the good yields produced from this summers farming season would help the Manitoban economy.
“Anytime a farmer grows a crop, its generating value for the whole economy,” he said. “It’s very good to see farmers be successful. In Manitoba alone this year, around $10-billion from agriculture will be put into the economy.”
One of the crops having a very good season is wheat – more specifically spring and winter wheat.
“We are seeing record high prices for spring and winter wheat,” said Chorney. “The yields produced this year have been very good.”
Harvests have been ahead of schedule this year, which is mainly due to the early planting season.
“An early planting season is usually indicative of a good year,” said Chorney. “There was a little too much heat in July, but for the most part, the weather has been good for wheat.”
See more in this weeks edition of The Central Plains Herald-Leader. | <urn:uuid:f054d054-f38b-4410-b66f-1d7534253a71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/2012/08/21/mb-economy-receives-boost-from-farm-season | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974366 | 256 | 1.601563 | 2 |
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 14, 2013 |
Whenever the topic of gun control comes up, some activists say they need high-powered weapons to protect themselves from the people who run the country. In the words of one reader, the 2nd Amendment exists "so we can defend ourselves against the tyranny of government. The Constitution didn't provide for gun ownership so we could shoot turkeys at Thanksgiving. " In his Thursday column , George Skelton says the notion of allowing citizens enough firepower to fight the government is ridiculous.
March 21, 2010 |
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Russia on Saturday demanding the resignation of local and national leaders, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, over lingering economic woes. A coalition of opposition groups, hoping to channel rising anxiety over unemployment and financial policy into anti-government activism, had called for nationwide protests under the slogan "Day of Wrath." In Moscow, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's government had banned the demonstration, and rows of riot police lined the perimeter of a bustling square in the city's historic heart to prevent protesters from gathering.
December 31, 2009 |
Tens of thousands of Iranians backing the country's rulers rallied in central Tehran on Wednesday, calling for the death of antigovernment protesters and opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Clad in black and holding portraits of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the government supporters chanted slogans for the Islamic Republic and against its opponents. "Death to Mousavi!" they chanted. "Death to opponents of velayet faqih ," a reference to Iran's theocratic political system.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
November 29, 2001
Katrina Vanden Heuvel and Joel Rogers see the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks as a validation of their leftist agenda for a bigger, more powerful and more expensive government ("What's Left? A New Life for Progressivism," Opinion, Nov. 25). I would suggest that on Sept. 11 the federal government, with its $2-trillion budget, millions of employees and countless thousands of laws and regulations, failed to perform its primary responsibility of protecting our borders from an enemy attack.
January 18, 2013 |
Apparently, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. In response to a wave of civic activism or, in some cases, cynicism, the White House announced this week that it's upping the threshold required for petitioners to receive a response from the government. As Andrew Khouri reported Wednesday, no longer will petitions that reach 25,000 online signatures trigger a response from the government. It's now 100,000 in 30 days. Thanks a lot, all 50 states. Though White House Director of Digital Strategy Macon Phillips didn't say it in his blog outlining the new policy, the more-difficult-to-reach threshold looks to be a response to a number of petitions the White House has received since President Obama was elected.
April 19, 2010 |
Only 22% of all Americans surveyed said they trusted the government in Washington almost always or most of the time -- among the lowest measures in half a century -- according to a Pew Research Center survey released Sunday night. The results point to "a perfect storm" of public unrest, Pew reports, "a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter, partisan-based backlash and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials." Growing numbers of people want government's power curtailed, Pew reports of a March and April survey that found "less of an appetite for government solutions to the nation's problems -- including more government control over the economy -- than there was when Barack Obama first took office."
April 25, 2010 |
I'd never dreamed anything could be more shocking than looking at my credit card balance, but that was before I opened this month's statement. There, staring me in the face, was a message informing me that if I paid the minimum balance each month, it would take 31 years to pay off the credit card. OK, the message wasn't staring; after all, it's just a message. But I swear I could hear it laughing. Think about it. Thirty-one years. That's longer than it takes to pay off a mortgage, longer than most marriages last, and almost as long as Geraldo Rivera has been annoying us on TV, though it feels much longer.
December 21, 2010
When the state budget is $28 billion in the red with all the easy cuts already made, it's hard to argue with Gov.-elect Jerry Brown for eliminating the Office of the Inspector General, which is run by former L.A. Controller Laura Chick. Chick was tasked with ensuring that California's $50 billion in federal stimulus funding was properly spent, but Brown said her office was "redundant" because the job could easily be assigned to the already established Bureau of State Audits, state Controller's Office or governor's Department of Finance.
March 11, 2009 |
Why are all those women carrying buckets of water on their heads? That was the first riddle that David Coltart, Zimbabwe's new education minister, faced last month as he walked into his high-rise headquarters. "The reason is that the whole of the Ministry of Education, 18 floors, has no water in it. So my first, immediate task was to get the pump repaired. If you walk down the stairwells you will gag, the stench is so bad on some floors," Coltart said in an interview in his new office.
May 25, 2010 |
Governments in Europe are scrambling to introduce austerity measures that would slash their budget deficits, as investor fears about high public-debt levels continued to hammer the continent's stock markets and currencies. Britain's new coalition government used Tuesday's official state opening of Parliament, a ceremony filled with pomp and pageantry, to reiterate its commitment to getting the country's books in order. "The first priority is to reduce the deficit and restore economic growth," Queen Elizabeth II said in the House of Lords, in accordance with tradition that the monarch outlines the agenda of the ruling government. | <urn:uuid:ef71deac-1a6f-4dfb-ae45-17e1830985b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/government/featured/5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964375 | 1,243 | 1.578125 | 2 |
are a safe and cost effective way of enhancing the lighting in your outdoor areas. They are easy to install, free to operate and extremely low maintenance.
work by collecting and storing the sun’s energy during the day by using a solar panel or photo voltaic array. The energy is stored in rechargeable batteries and is then used to power the LED (Light Emitting Diodes) light at night. At sunrise the light will automatically switch off. The LED bulbs are low consumption, ultra bright lights that can last anywhere from 8 to 10 years. The rechargeable batteries will only need replacing every 2 or 3 years. LED lights generate very little heat compared to conventional lights making them safe to touch. Light output can vary depending on how much sun the solar panel receives during the day.
Solar lights do not need to be plugged into electricity so there are no wires or cables involved. This means there is no need for an electrician to install the lights. When you have planned where you are going to put your solar lights, it’s as easy as pushing a stake into the ground. Some lights, such as sensor security lights, will require further installation, particularly if they are being attached to a roof or wall. Spotlights and shed lights may also have a wire attached, which means the light can be installed further away from the solar panel.
The solar panels should be positioned where they will to receive maximum sunlight. The more sun they are exposed to during the day, the longer they will perform during the night. The great advantage of using solar generated lights is that if you change your mind about the positioning of your lights you can easily move them. Once set up, solar lights may need to be charged for a full day before emitting light at night.
Installation of your solar lights
will depend on the selection of lights you have chosen. Generally though, it will be easy to get your lights up and operating with minimum effort and financial outlay. | <urn:uuid:9b23cde2-4c2b-431a-a626-2b78875720ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://solarlightsadvice.com/solar-lights-installation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955746 | 399 | 2.625 | 3 |
Timeline of key events in U.S.-Libya relations
A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load (mass), or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle, overcomes friction by facilitating motion by rolling. In order for wheels to rotate, a moment needs to be applied to the wheel about its axis, either by way of gravity, or by application of another external force. More generally the term is also used for other circular objects that rotate or turn, such as a ship's wheel, steering wheel and flywheel.
Member since: Jun 2011 | <urn:uuid:458e5ba6-b6ae-4f02-b94c-7dbd605189ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dipity.com/cmaisano/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957227 | 146 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Selling My Soul
Before Bart Simpson did it, though long after Faust, I sold my soul. This prank permanently cemented my status as a vaguely remembered factoid: “The guy who sold his soul on eBay.” My friend Kennan helped me orchestrate the prank at the height of the late-1990s era of irrational exuberance. We knew that reporters wouldn’t be able to resist the story if I sold my soul on the hot auction website of the moment, and the fact that Kennan worked at the time for a New York City PR firm also helped. Below is a commercial for the second version of my soul, which I sold in 1991 at James Madison University:
Let's start from the beginning.
I was a snotty 17 year-old who was worried about compromising my principles once I went out into the "real world," so I made a piece of art called Kembrew's Soul. It was a 13" x 7" x 3" cardboard box that resembled a cereal box, and the silk-screened design featured my screaming face on the front. (Two of the boxes were displayed in my old high school auditorium, as shown below.)
The back sported a "find your way out of the bureaucracy" maze game and a mail-away offer for "Reality Shades."
I wrote at the time, "Reality Shades offer an alternative for those of us who can't deal with modern life. Enjoy a variety of mind-numbing visuals that are created by the makers of American sitcoms." The box also had coupons for friends' souls, a recipe ("Soul Crunch: Cut up one's soul into squares and bake until the flakes turn a golden brown. Wait one half hour to cool then coat with a dull glaze"), and some PR information: "In a groundbreaking marketing venture, Kembrew literally and metaphorically sold his soul, packaging and mass producing it in a cardboard box." I sold 50 boxes at $4.95 a piece, which helped by for my senior prom.
About four years later I decided to update the packaging. This time it came in a 4 oz. glass jar filled with little plastic toy prizes, stickers and a certificate of ownership.
I made 300 bottles and sold them all, primarily to friends and others who I accosted on the streets. At this point in my life, about 350 people owned a piece of my soul.
People ask me if I'm worried about selling my soul, and I'm not in the slightest, because I see my soul as a renewable resource, just like water. And just like Poland Springs bottled water, I can sell as many bottles as I want and still not worry about running out.
In 1993 I introduced to the world the third, new and improved edition of my soul, and to date over 300 satisfied customers have purchased it (bringing the total of Kembrew's Soul consumers to nearly 700). To quote from my note to distributors: "Kembrew is offering a new, improved (and as the current marketing slogan reads, ‘funky fresh’) soul for the pleasure and conspicuous consumption of the general public. Kembrew’s Soul is packaged in a 4 oz. glass jar and is filled with gimmicky contents sure to entertain even the most cynical member of the demographic group he is targeting."
This edition of my soul contains 10 screwy slogan stickers, a certificate of ownership signed by me, a note to distributors, an advertising page, and wacky plastic toys like the ones found in 25 cent machines.
With a great amount of help from Kennan, we orchestrated a media prank that revolved around me selling my soul on eBay.
After the story broke, for about a week I spent my afternoons on talk radio shows getting into theological arguments with people over whether or not my soul was a renewable resource that could be bottled. When talking to reporters I played it straight, though I also tossed out plenty of clues that allowed them to form their own opinions about how serious I was. During interviews, I played a greedy capitalist who was out to make money and who was prone to say things like, “The great thing about America is that you are rewarded for selling your soul. That’s what makes this country great. I’m sure Jesus was a free market capitalist.” Or “I may not have a soul, but I have a new car, and I’m doing great.”
Afterwards, someone I don't know made a t-shirt that says, "I sold my soul on eBay." | <urn:uuid:8e6f37f5-4f55-47b4-8287-6c625500d22c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kembrew.com/prank/selling-my-soul/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96507 | 945 | 1.859375 | 2 |
How unscrupulous political leaders turn people into sheep and make them bleat on cue.
Stout has mined for pop-psychology gold in earlier works (The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us, 2005, etc.), and her prose has softened in proportion as her apparent resolve to become Dr. Phil has hardened. Her thesis here is simple: As creatures, we are naturally subject to fear, individually and collectively, but if we know who the Bad Guys are (here: the Bush administration) and what they are doing to us, we can defeat them by following her prescriptions—e.g., “Make fun of the [frightening] image. If you enjoy irony, yell, The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!” Stout’s approach at times seems lifted from a self-help magazine in a supermarket checkout line. Are you stressed? Find out with her 21-question “Walking-Around Anxiety Test” (“7. Right now, are your palms sweaty?”). Later, she identifies “Six Stages of a Limbic War” and lists “Ten Behavioral Characteristics of Fear Brokers.” She equates political leaders who frighten us with domestic abusers and offers a sugary case study of an abused woman who found the Courage to Be Free after spending some quality time with Martha Stout, Ph.D. The author is most effective when she explains the physiological and psychological mechanisms of individual and cultural fear. Her discussion of the limbic system is clear, as are her descriptions of our coping mechanisms. She shows how irrational fears led to events as diverse as the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II, the Red-baiting of the McCarthy era, the Patriot Act and the arrest of Cat Stevens. She cites some research that indicates our Blue State/Red State political preferences may be hard-wired, and she elicits a chuckle with her concept of a “cowbird politician”: a public official who has no core beliefs but employs the “nests” of others.
Too much pop and not enough psychology. | <urn:uuid:e1f9340a-4345-4862-94b3-17af9aa49aee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/martha-stout/the-paranoia-switch/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952599 | 449 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Tens of millions of Americans, and millions more overseas, had their normal Internet routine disrupted Wednesday as some of the Web's most popular sites, including Google, Wikipedia, and Craigslist, staged protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its companion PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). The organizations that staged these protests are beginning to release hard numbers on the response, and they are staggering.
The Wikimedia Foundation says it reached 162 million people with Wikipedia's 24-hour English-language protest of the antipiracy bills. Of those, more than 8 million readers in the United States took the opportunity to look up contact information for their members of Congress through the site. Presumably, that generated tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of calls to congressional offices.
"The Wikipedia blackout is over and the public has spoken," said Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director. "You shut down the Congressional switchboards, and you melted their servers. Your voice was loud and strong."
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal advocacy group, logged 200,000 signatures on its petition. The organization also says more than 30,000 Craigslist users called Congress through the the PCCC's website.
Opponents of SOPA and PIPA also staged in-person protests around the country; two of the largest were in New York City and San Francisco. Ironically, these metropolitan areas house the nation's largest high-tech communities, yet all four of their senators are PIPA co-sponsors. Close to a thousand protestors descended on the Manhattan offices of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to protest the senators' support for PIPA.
In the San Francisco protests, speakers ranged from Internet librarian Brewster Kahle to rapper MC Hammer. "When they say that it is to protect rights to content, that may be the surface, but as you drill down, you see all these other clauses that would put a tremendous burden upon service providers and a whole lot of other people," Hammer said. He described SOPA as a "barbaric" bill that would "give the government the ability to shut down sites without due process."
Evidence of the protest's political impact has continued to pour in. Staffers on Capitol Hill said that the volume of SOPA calls was heavy on Wednesday.
"This was one of the biggest outpourings of grassroots sentiment that I've ever experienced on Capitol Hill and it's begun to tip the scales against SOPA and in favor of an open Internet," Chris Fitzgerald, communications director for Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), told Ars. "The phones rang off the hook once people became more aware of how SOPA will endanger jobs, free speech, and the Internet itself." Polis is a longtime SOPA opponent. | <urn:uuid:c23ae64f-0e95-44a9-86a8-a2af2c1ff28f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/01/sopa-protest-by-the-numbers-162m-pageviews-7-million-signatures/?comments=1&post=22475081 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959927 | 578 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Dwindling exports and increased competition from Brazil have combined to reduce the price outlook for corn and raise expected ending stocks both in the United States and globally.
USDA lowered its projection for corn exports by 50 million bushels to 900 million bushels, the lowest level since the 1971-72 crop year, based on the sluggish pace of current sales and anticipated new-crop supplies from Brazil that will compete with U.S. exports, according to the February World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) released Feb. 8.
"The corn market has been trying to rollover for the past couple of days," says Jack Scoville, Vice President of The Price Futures Group, Chicago, the commentator on an MGEX press call following the release of the report. "But it’s looking pretty bad on the charts, and now we know why."
The department left corn use for ethanol production and feed demand unchanged but increased use in the seed, sweetener and industrial category. To offset the expected decline in exports, USDA raised the 2012-13 U.S. corn ending stocks by 30 million bushels to 632 million bushels, which is not only still smaller than the previous marketing year but also the lowest carryout since 1996. Trade estimates prior to the report were calling for a carryout of 618 million bushels.
USDA also lowered the season-average midpoint farm price by 20 cents to $7.20 with a range of $6.75 to $7.65 per bushel. "Reported monthly prices received by farmers to date continue to reflect forward sales made at prices below prevailing cash market bids," USDA says in the report.
Elsewhere in the World
Even more bearish than the U.S. numbers are the world numbers. USDA raised 2012-13 world corn production by 2.1 million tons to 854.38 million metric tons, with increases in Brazil, Mexico, India, and Ukraine more than offsetting a reduction for Argentina. As a result the world carryout increased slightly more than 2 million metric tons to 118 million metric tons.
USDA raised projected production in Brazil by 1.5 million metric tons to 72.5 million metric tons based on higher yields and planted acres for the country’s first-season crop and good prospects for second-season.
"The Brazil crop will have to be watched," says Scoville. "If the first-crop (grown in the winter) can’t be harvested, they won’t get the rains needed to plant second crop. There’s an excellent chance that Brazil’s corn production number will have to go down. The crop is far from being in the bag."
Mexico’s expected corn production was increased 0.8 million tons due to higher acreage for the summer crop. USDA raised corn production in India by 0.6 million tons due to higher acreage. Ukraine’s projected production increased 0.4 million tons on higher yields.
Meanwhile, USDA cut Argentina’s expected production by 1 million metric tons to 27 million due to persistent dryness that is threatening yield prospects, particularly for late-planted corn.
Scoville notes that some analysts anticipate a much smaller crop in Argentina. However, he says, if world production numbers are realized and the U.S. crop is large, U.S. corn prices could drop to $5 per bushel this fall.
For the next two to three months, corn prices will remain volatile and highly dependent on South American weather, he adds.
See all of the data, coverage and analysis of today's WASDE and Crop Production reports. | <urn:uuid:e3836e41-3474-4543-97a1-9b3169ea359a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweb.com/legacyproject/article/soft_exports_cut_corn_price_outlook_raise_stock_levels/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94788 | 758 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Every generation has created its own interpretation of Stonehenge, but rarely do these relate to the physical realities of the monument. Rodney Castleden begins with those elements which made possible the building of this vast stone circle: the site, the materials and the society that undertook the...
Published September 29th 2012 by Routledge
A New View of the `Palace of Minos' at Knossos
Knossos, like the Acropolis or Stonehenge, is a symbol for an entire culture. The Knossos Labyrinth was first built in the reign of a Middle Kingdom Egyptian pharaoh, and was from the start the focus of a glittering and exotic culture. Homer left elusive clues about the Knossian court and when the...
Published November 10th 2011 by Routledge
Series: Peoples of the Ancient World
Following on from Rodney Castleden's best-selling study Minoans, this major contribution to our understanding of the crucial Mycenaean period clearly and effectively brings together research and knowledge we have accumulated since the discovery of the remains of the civilization of Mycenae in the...
Published April 21st 2005 by Routledge
The Truth Behind the Legend
King Arthur is often written off as a medieval fantasy, the dream of those yearning for an age of strong, just rulers and a contented kingdom. Those who accept his existence at all generally discard the stories that surround him. This exciting new investigation argues not only that Arthur did exist...
Published March 12th 2003 by Routledge
Plato's legend of Atlantis has become notorious among scholars as the absurdest lie in literature. Atlantis Destroyed explores the possibility that the account given by Plato is historically true. Rodney Castleden first considers the location of Atlantis re-examining two suggestions put forward in...
Published January 24th 2001 by Routledge
Thoroughly researched, Rodney Castleden's Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete here sues the results of recent research to produce a comprehensive new vision of the peoples of Minoan Crete. Since Sir Arthur Evans rediscovered the Minoans in the early 1900s, we have defined a series of cultural traits...
Published December 16th 1992 by Routledge | <urn:uuid:d5f04372-18a5-4c8c-85a5-1de38ab2e26c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psypress.com/books/search/author/rodney_castleden/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944619 | 456 | 2.65625 | 3 |
New Chrome browser fastest Google beta yet
The new beta of Chrome for Windows is nearly a fifth faster than its more stable sibling, but still lags behind speed leader Opera, benchmark tests show.
On Tuesday, Google said the newest Chrome beta was 35% faster on the SunSpider tests than the beta of its earlier version 4.0 for Windows. Computerworld wasn't able to verify that claim -- Google updates its browser automatically, without user intervention, making it difficult to keep Chrome on a specific version -- but also tested the newest beta against the previous beta, marked as Chrome 5.0.342.8.
The update boosted Chrome's speed by 6% over that beta, which Google released in late March.
Other additions include support for several HTML5 features, such as geo-location and drag-and-drop; synchronization of browser settings to effectively "clone" Chrome on multiple machines; and the ability to use extensions when working in Chrome's "Incognito" private browsing mode.
This beta also introduces the integration of Adobe's Flash Player to Chrome's beta channel.
Google debuted built-in Flash in developer builds at the end of March, when it announced a partnership with Adobe, and said it was packaging Flash with Chrome downloads and would silently update the often-patched media player using the browser's background mechanism.
The move, Adobe said at the time, would keep Chrome users safer since they wouldn't have to remember to update or deal with update notifications.
The new Chrome beta is 17% faster than Google's current "stable" edition. (SunSpider results: Small values are better.)
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld . Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is email@example.com .
Read more about browsers in Computerworld's Browsers Knowledge Center. | <urn:uuid:35359301-cec9-49b3-bca6-2e244b12e4c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itworld.com/print/106746 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926617 | 402 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The Progressives Anti-Scientific Approach to Economics
We are lectured ad nauseum about how conservatives are anti-science, moralizing crusaders who are unable to use pragmatism to solve social problems. Then, when a socio-economic problem is addressed applying solid, accepted scientific principles, progressives lose their heads. Jon Tevlin, an accomplice of the progressive/socialist wing of the Minnesota Democratic Party, is a shining example of this soft-headed, anti-scientific approach. He posits human beings are not animals. He completely rejects sound, scientific principles that when applied argue the dangers of government intrusion in socio-economic affairs. Then, he transfers his prejudices about people into the motives and intentions of another person. It is astounding to watch his backward attempt to smear yet another woman who has conservative ideas.
In March 10, 2012 Star Tribune, Jon Tevlin’s article, ‘Tevlin: In Rep. Franson’s district, ‘animals’ are also known as constituents,’ the writer opens with this, “When Rep. Mary Franson compared people who get food stamps to animals in the wild, beholden to humans who feed them, she was being blissfully ignorant of a growing number of people who live in a certain region in Minnesota. Namely, her neighbors.” The last time I checked, our biological scientific community accepted the premise that humans are in fact animals. That is why they use mice, rats, and monkeys for clinical trials of drugs. If humans were actually vegetable or mineral beings, this would be of no use. We’d be testing drugs on begonias or slabs of granite. So, Tevlin’s first premise that human beings are not animals, but something else entirely, is just plain anti-science.
Let’s pretend he distinguishes ‘wild’ from ‘domesticated’ animals. Human beings are born without knowing the social constructs around them. We use scientific principles espoused by such luminaries as B.F. Skinner and Ted Thorndike to in effect ‘train’ children in language, behavior, and social interaction. They used animal models to experiment and explain their ideas. However, it was the things people did with children and other human beings that first informed their efforts.
When we promise a child a treat to get through the grocery store without throwing a tantrum, we are using a ‘taming’ principle to teach children to delay gratification and behave in public. Our very use of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ are little treats that cause the brain to stimulate neurotransmitters of satisfaction during our social interactions. People in relationships gratify one another to bond using positive and sometimes negative reinforcement on one another. These are simple, widely accepted and universally applied conventions that humans use to ‘tame’ each other. So when Franson compares human to animal behavior, wild or otherwise, it wasn’t quite the stretch Tevlin suggests.
So, Tevlin’s little rant about Franson’s comparison is absurd, unless Theologian or Shaman Tevlin has another theory about human existence and behavior. That wouldn’t be helpful anyway.
Instead, let’s look at the comparison Franson used that has progressive/socialists so up in arms.
“I’ll read you this little funny clip that we got from a friend. It says, ‘Isn’t it ironic that the food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps, ever.
Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to please not feed the animals, because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.”
Given our little exercise in scientific inquiry into the origins and behaviorism of human beings, the quote isn’t as stinging as Tevlin would have you believe. However, Tevlin and his ilk aren’t done with their anti-scientific smearing of a woman who happens to be conservative. No. Not by a long shot.
Tevlin continues, “The assumption behind Franson’s logic is that people who get assistance do so because, like animals used to being fed, they get lazy.” Lazy? Really? Perhaps Tevlin is new to the American English language but using a thesaurus I had to go through quite a few words to get from ‘dependence’ to ‘lazy.’ ‘Lazy’ is sloth, goldbricking, or lack of initiative to do work. ‘Dependence’ is the reliance on other people or things. They aren’t synonyms. So how did Tevlin manage to equate ‘dependence’ with ‘lazy?’
Well, we can assume that he relies on his own world view of human beings. As a collectivist, he presumes there are herds of people who are simply incapable of taking care of themselves and so government must warehouse them. These people are too stupid and, his word, ‘lazy,’ to better their own lives and the society around them. Therefore, since he has such sad, warped view of humanity, so must Franson.
Franson’s illustration via that little comparison is quite different. Animals, including humans, shouldn’t be warehoused and caged using behavioral principles. Human beings shouldn’t be dependent on government programs because it causes them to change their behaviors in ways detrimental to themselves and society. She was profoundly correct by pointing out the absurdity of the Department of Agriculture’s policies that fail to apply sound scientific principles to different programs.
I’ll use an example that can be found in the real world of cages that progressive/socialist experiments have created.
Let’s take a single woman with three children. She is a nurse who works in a doctor’s office. She was hired for a set number of hours, I’ll say 30 hours per week, at a certain rate of pay. Because of her situation, she gets state-aided health care coverage, childcare assistance, and a childcare tax credit of a couple thousand dollars a year. She struggles, but this job allows her time to care for her children.
The growing practice causes the office administrator to offer this woman more hours and a hike in pay. Being a responsible person, she goes home and does a basic cost-benefit analysis of her financial situation. Even though the increase in hours and rate of pay would lead her to produce more and advance in her job, she finds state and federal assistance would end. In addition to this, she would have less time to spend with her children. She decides to forgo the promotion.
She is in the progressive/socialist cage of government dependence.
If she took the promotion, her production and standard of living could increase over time. Her skills set would become more advanced. Her job satisfaction would grow. Her contribution to the rest of society would add to the sum total of our economy. But, very reasonably, she forgoes this potential gain because the government has dictated she gets “benefits” as a government dependent.
If she takes the job with more hours and better pay and advances her financial position, the government will now tax her for that personal growth. Instead of a hand up for improving her situation, progressive/socialist experiments punish her.
This is the reverse of any scientific principle known to man. According to wingnuts like Tevlin, human beings are supposed to embrace ravaging government taxes and run screaming from financial incentives like subsidies to not work. Progressive/socialists are actually using ANTI-scientific principles in their social engineering schemes.
And they wonder why it isn’t working.
The nutty Nancy Pelosi stands before the camera and pronounces that unemployment insurance is the best thing for the economy. Paying people to not work will increase productivity through ersatz demand. President Obama demands higher taxes on oil companies because in his pseudo-scientific world, that will lower the costs of gasoline. The daffy Sen. Amy Klobuchar wants higher taxes on people producing more so she can bail out losers on the economic playing field.
So, it is no wonder anti-scientific partisan hacks like Tevlin assail conservatives about insights into human nature. People like Jeff Blodgett and Jon Grebner of Alliance for a Better Minnesota weren’t drawn to Franson’s comments like hyenas toward blood. They are a pack of feral dogs that set upon her because she pointed out an important socio-economic principle which is anathema to their false economic narrative. Their principle is founded on the idea they know what’s best for you and so they should manipulate us at will. Economics is a social science however, and one principle, based on scientific discovery holds.
We get more of what we reward and less of what we punish.
They cannot let people start thinking in those basic, scientifically sound terms. It will strip them of their power over us and return to a market that grows and improves the human condition. They cannot abide that abdication of their power. Collectivists, like Tevlin, must then attack people who point out the truth. Even if they must abandon basic science and common sense, they must silence people like Franson.
But that won’t change the scientifically discovered principles of human behavior. Not one bit.
Crossposted at Looktruenorth.com as “Tevlin’s Anti-Scientific Approach to Economics” | <urn:uuid:10abc6ac-83f9-40ea-8374-ff4e986267f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redstate.com/lukematthews/2012/03/11/the-progressives-anti-scientific-approach-to-economics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957249 | 2,029 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Traveling to the ends of the earth on assignment for such
magazines as Islands and National Geographic
Traveler, photojournalist Bob Krist thought he knew something
about climbing mountains. That is, until he was assigned to
photograph the elusive puffin hunters of the craggy cliffs of
"We had just made a really vicious crossing on a rubber raft over rough seas when my guide tells me it's just a little climb up a hill to find these guys," Krist recalls. "'Even a cow could climb it,' he told me."
With the North Atlantic Sea churning angrily behind them, Krist's guide pulled the raft to the side of an island and told him to get off. Weighed down with camera gear and struggling to keep his balance as the tiny boat bobbed against the shoreline, Krist bid his guide farewell and prepared himself for the light climb ahead. What he saw before him, however, was not what he expected.
"I look up and there's this 300-foot sheer cliff staring back at me. If even a cow could do this, maybe the cows in Iceland have wings."
To add insult to injury, after finally clawing his way to the top of the cliff, Krist watched as a helicopter swooped in overhead and landed on a plateau within a few feet of the puffin hunters. An incredulous Krist could only gaze with disbelief as the writer assigned to cover the story casually exited the helicopter.
"She just kind of popped over, did the interview, got back in the helicopter and flew off. I'm thinking 'What did I do wrong?'" Krist says with a laugh. "Writers are convinced that they're so much smarter than photographers, and this is one case where they were right."
San Blas Island
A NOSE FOR THE NEWS
Having a good sense of humor about life is not only a plus for a travel photographer, it's practically a prerequisite. And after talking to Krist, an ebullient former actor who breaks into laughter often during the course of an hour-long conversation, he clearly fits the bill. While Krist enjoys telling stories about his adventures, and occasional misadventures, as a photojournalist jetting off to distant lands, he notes that much of the work he's most proud of was shot far closer to home.
One of Krist's first big assignments came in 1980, when he pitched National Geographic the decidedly unsexy idea of doing a story on his home state of New Jersey. While many people envision the Garden State as merely a colorless network of highways, rest stops, and heavy industry abutting New York, the Jersey-born Krist knew better. He also suspected early on that travel magazines might be looking for more offbeat subjects than the typical panoply of India street scenes and European castles that had already been photographed to death.
Krist's instincts were right on the money and the magazine bought his pitch. Shortly thereafter he was chasing muskrat hunters through the swamps of the Jersey meadowlands and clicking off frames beneath the George Washington Bridge, where shad fisherman hauled in their catch of the day with the same fishing techniques used hundreds
of years ago.
Krist's nose for the news, as well as his flair for spotting the eye-grabbing shot, can be traced to his early days as a newspaper photographer for the Hudson Dispatch, a daily based in Union, New Jersey; circulation 60,000. Prior to working for the Dispatch, Krist had only a modicum of photography experience, most of which consisted of doing head shots of fellow actors in his repertory theater company as it toured Europe. He recalled that the Dispatch decided to give him a try-out simply because he was "well-dressed."
"My first month there I had the most incredible luck. I was shooting burning buildings, major accidents, everything under the sun and earning $140 a week—double what I was making as an actor. So I kissed acting goodbye," he says.
But after three and half years of photographing the bad news of New Jersey, Krist was getting burned out. "I originally picked up a camera because I wanted to photograph the beauty of things, not the blood and guts of things," he explains.
His big break with National Geographic eventually led to a steady stream of other travel features, and today he works regularly as a freelancer for such magazines as Smithsonian, Islands, and Caribbean Travel & Life. Some of Krist's recent assignments have taken him to Papau, New Guinea, where he photographed the painted faces of tribesman participating in the famous Highland shows; to Madurai, India, where he was nearly run down by bulls while shooting the ceremony of Jellikatu, and to western Samoa, where he documented the colorful and intricate tattoos of village leaders. | <urn:uuid:b92b8e42-8b46-4165-beb4-efca48495852> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imaginginfo.com/print/Studio-Photography/Globe-Trotter/3$1045 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981159 | 979 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Queen Victoria Facts:
Known for: Longest-ruling monarch of Great Britain, ruled during a time of economic and imperial expansion. Gave her name to the Victorian Era.
Occupation: Queen of Great Britain
Dates: May 24, 1819 - January 22, 1901
Also known as: Alexandrina Victoria, Victoria Alexandrina
Queen Victoria Biography:
Victoria became heiress-apparent of the British crown on the death of her uncle George IV, and when her uncle William IV died childless in 1837, she became Queen of Great Britain. She was crowned the next year.
Queen Victoria tested the limits of her royal powers when the government of Lord Melbourne, the Whig who had been her mentor, fell the next year. She refused to follow precedent and dismiss her ladies of the bedchamber so that the Tory government could replace them. Her refusal brought back the Whigs until 1841.
She'd met her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, when they were both seventeen. When they were twenty, he returned to England, and Victoria, in love with him, proposed marriage. They were married on February 10, 1840.
Their first child, a daughter, was born in November 1840, and the Prince of Wales, Edward, in 1841. Three more sons and four more daughters followed.
- More about: Queen Victoria's Children and Grandchildren
Victoria had traditional views on the role of the wife and mother, and though she was Queen and Albert was Prince Consort, he shared government responsibilities at least equally. His death in 1861 devastated her; her prolonged mourning lost her much popularity.
Eventually coming out of seclusion, she maintained an active role in government until her death in 1901. Her reign, the longest of any British monarch, was marked by waxing and waning popularity -- and suspicions that she preferred the Germans a bit too much always diminished her popularity somewhat. By the time she had assumed the throne, the British monarchy was more figurehead and influence than it was a direct power in the government, and her long reign did little to change that.
During her lifetime she published her Letters, Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands and More Leaves.
The marriage of her daughters into other royal families, and the likelihood that her children bore a mutant gene for hemophilia, both affected the following generations of European history. | <urn:uuid:261acf9f-234f-4d07-8b85-31c1deedabc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://womenshistory.about.com/od/victoriaqueen/p/queen_victoria.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979487 | 496 | 3.21875 | 3 |
When I was a little girl, I read a stack of Berenstein Bears books every morning before I would do anything else — and this was before I could officially “read.” This love of reading has persisted throughout my life. I almost always have a book with me nowadays, as my TerraPass colleagues can attest.
Unfortunately, the business of publishing books, newspapers, and magazines has a large environmental impact. In addition to the tens of millions of trees harvested every year, paper manufacturing is responsible for 11 percent of all freshwater consumed by industrial nations, and is associated with an annual discharge of 153 billion gallons of wastewater.
Which brings me to ebook readers like Amazon’s Kindle—could they be better for the environment than physical books? There’s no question that the production of ebook readers have their own environmental costs, ranging from mining for the natural resources and minerals that go into their production, to the energy used in the manufacturing process, to the emissions associated with disposing of and/or recycling the readers at the end of their useful life.
According to a 2009 brief by the Cleantech Group, an average book has a carbon footprint of about 7.46 kg of CO2. By comparison, the average Kindle has a carbon footprint of approximately 168 kg of CO2 over its lifetime. This means that if you were to purchase a Kindle, you would “break even” on the greenhouse gas impacts once your use of the Kindle led you to avoid the purchase of 22.5 physical books; any ebook purchased beyond the first 22.5 books would be akin to preventing 7.46 kg of CO2 emissions, in addition to reducing the use of natural resources (e.g. water and wood fiber) that would have gone into a physical book.
By my estimation, I read about 20 books last year. I was given or purchased 7 new books, and the rest I checked out from the library, bought from a used bookstore, or were leant to me by friends. At this rate, it would take about three years of Kindle use for me to realize any net greenhouse gas benefit. Since I read a lot more than most people I know, I expect it would take the average person even longer to overcome the climate costs of the new device, if they realize any environmental benefit at all. For example, upgrading to a newer ebook reader model before reaching the “break even” emissions point of 22.5 ebooks would appear as a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions when compared with the carbon footprint of physical books. Further, the potential environmental benefits of ebook readers will only come to fruition if the publishing industry actually decreases production of physical books—from this perspective, ebook readers are only a means to an end.
If the overall goal is to reduce demand for (and therefore production of) physical books, I’m left feeling confused on how to proceed. In the short term at least, I’ll stick with my library card, since it prevents me from purchasing new books and allows me to share the environmental impact of my reading habit with other library patrons. Still, access to lending libraries has definitely not slowed the growth of the publishing industry, and the growing demand for ebooks (while still a very small share of the market) is a transparent message for publishing houses that the production of physical books may not be necessary. If we want to actually change the way the publishing industry does business, perhaps encouraging use of ebook readers is an important tool to make use of. Could an ebook reader be the way to go in the end?
Dear TerraPass Footprint reader, please help! | <urn:uuid:8a4f6fab-59e1-4e16-a042-0b532580dfb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://terrapass.com/science-technology/the-guilty-pleasure-of-reading/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957618 | 739 | 2.53125 | 3 |
A group of Halifax marketing professionals are out to raise the value and international profile of the Canadian lobster.
Led by Harm Guers, founder and owner of
The payoff, Guers said, will be increased revenues through the supply chain as consumers all over the world vie for the best lobsters and those caught in a socially responsible way.
“Right now, there is no value attached to the Canadian lobster, so the lowest price goes, and that, in turns, translates to lower prices at the dock,” Guers said Wednesday.
“You can start to command a higher price if you create a value proposition for any product. It takes time, but it’s possible.”
Record lobster hauls in Atlantic Canada this season have pushed the price per pound down to historical lows of about $3, compared with $4.50 per pound in 2009.
Watching the industry struggle to make ends meet through the unstable highs and lows inspired Guers to put his marketing and business background to work by elevating the appeal of Atlantic Canadian lobster and ensuring it has the quality to back it up.
Using fair trade coffee and Kobe beef as benchmarks, Guers and his three counterparts are working to establish a co-operative to market Atlantic lobster worldwide.
The group plans to work with the Canadian Lobster Council as its develops industry standards and defines what a socially responsible lobster industry looks like.
The industry standards would limit the number and type of lobster being sold and a create more efficient dock-to-market system; B-grade or soft-shell lobster would be canned or tossed back in the water, and so would the elder, heavier lobsters and those with crushed claws and other imperfections.
Only the best, most high-quality lobster would make it to market.
The co-operative’s marketing strategy will also discuss the plight of local fishermen and show consumers that although a high-end restaurant can charge $40 per pound, the actual amount going into the fishermen’s pocket pales in comparison.
“What we want to do is put a spotlight on the issues and, in turn, make people become socially aware of these issues and make them feel responsible for paying a little more,” Guers said.
“It’s a different tactic to bring that money back into the hands of the industry. This is not about the science of a better lobster to market, it’s about marketing and building systems in place to market Canadian lobster as the best lobster on the market.”
Consumer buy-in for fair trade lobster will start at home and grow from there, much like the trend of fair trade coffee and natural and organic food products.
The co-operative, which is in the process of securing its name with the province, will launch its marketing strategy as a pilot project, working closely with a handful of Nova Scotia fishermen who have already expressed interest, Guers said.
Once fully operational, co-op members would pay a membership fee that would then be reinvested into the industry in the form of training, education, incentive programs and funding the marketing strategy.
“Our philosophy is that if you define demand and a category in the market, you can command a higher price because you create value behind proper marketing. We’re here to put proper marketing to use and, in turn, put control back in the hands of our lobster fishermen.” | <urn:uuid:d8b221ff-99d5-46b7-b724-5a536f14820f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/274064-marketers-aim-to-lift-up-the-image-of-the-lowly-lobster | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956591 | 705 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Sea environment worsening: data
Updated: 2012-06-26 08:02
By Wang Qian (China Daily)
Increasing discharge of pollutants and booming offshore human activity, such as oil exploration, are worsening China's fragile marine environment, according to an annual report released by the country's ocean watchdog.
The severely polluted sea area surged to 44,000 square kilometers in China in 2011 from 25,000 sq km in 2003, according to China's 2011 marine environment report released on Monday by the State Oceanic Administration.
Li Xiaoming, director of the department of marine environment protection at the administration, blamed overdevelopment in the coastal area for the country's worsening water quality.
"Just one number can tell you how serious this is. More than 80 percent of the coastline in Bohai Bay has been crowded by factories and buildings," Li said.
The construction of offshore projects across the country represented about 110 billion yuan ($17.46 billion) in 2011, approximate 15 percent year-on-year increase, according to the data.
As coastal development has become a new growth area in China's economy, offshore development and coastal construction are threatening the country's marine environment.
A Bohai Bay oil spill in June 2011 polluted a 6,200-sq-km water area, about nine times the size of Singapore. The report said that a year after the oil spill, the environmental impact of the incident still exists. Some marine experts warned that it will take about 30 years for the bay to recover.
Many scholars and experts have also expressed concern over the worsening marine environment and the new round of marine exploration and development during the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).
Ma Chaode, project manager of the United National Development Program, said that local governments must find an effective way of balancing economic development and environment protection.
Feng Jinan, chief engineer of the Guangdong Administration of Ocean and Fisheries, said that methods for protecting marine ecosystems are still under study. He believes that a way to both protect the environment and guarantee economic development will be worked out. But before that, slowing down development is needed, he added.
The statistics from the State Oceanic Administration show that nearly 83 percent of the country's coastline has a fragile ecosystem, while coastal areas contribute to 70 percent of the country's GDP.
"It's a hard choice for the authorities to make, between environment and economy," Ma said.
In 2011, China's oceanic sector saw an annual growth of more than 10 percent, reaching about 4.6 trillion yuan.
(China Daily 06/26/2012 page2) | <urn:uuid:2a3ce729-9e5d-42d9-a029-239466052a33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-06/26/content_15522397.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942139 | 535 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Certain Catholic colleges and universities treat it as though it were. Here in Washington, D. C., at Georgetown University, the dean will apologize to offended professors if Catholic doctrine manages to get repeated at a Hoya lectern.
Boston College takes a different tack. It honors those who the secular might view as renegades and the faithful might call heretical.
On March 7, 2011, BC honored the late Robert Drinan, a Jesuit priest who served in Congress in the 1970s. One of the featured speakers at the event was U. S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., never known to be a friend of the church.
What the two had in common was a consistently pro-choice voting record on abortion.
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail email@example.com | <urn:uuid:07950bb0-4f22-4e20-bf5c-14ba4b9c6e59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.academia.org/is-diversity-a-sacrament/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960137 | 191 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Witness the man who raves at the wall
Making the shape of his questions to Heaven
Pink Floyd - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
Solar Probe PlusEvidently, NASA have been raving at walls and devising questions to Heaven for long enough, because we are, in fact, sending a probe into the Sun.
The Solar Probe Plus is to be equipped with an array of instruments known as the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) Investigation. Led by Dr. Justin C. Kasper of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, SWEAP will frantically record and relay as many measurements as it possibly can as it fries its way to within four million miles of the Sun's surface (the photosphere).
Four million miles may seem like a long way, but when you consider that Mercury can be as far as 40 million miles from the Sun, and that the Sun itself has a diameter of nearly a million miles, you're getting pretty close. And then, when you realize that temperatures in the Sun's corona - which is around 2,000 miles outside the photosphere - are roughly one million Kelvin, you may start being impressed.
Then, of course, there's the small issue of the crushing gravity that is 28 times what you find here on Earth. Oh, and the solar wind pushing against it at over 1.5 million miles per hour.
So, if it's such a difficult task, why bother? Well, it gets back to these questions to Heaven. Questions like, why are coronal temperatures so much greater than those on the photosphere? (where temperatures are closer to 4,000 K); and why does the solar wind accelerate four times faster than we expect it to? And then there's one more question that's a little closer to home: how do we best understand the radiation environment to be experienced by future space travelers?
If all goes according to plan, the Solar Probe Plus will be launched in 2015, do seven Venus flybys, and plummet into the Sun in 2023. When your ultimate goal is to crash into the Sun, how can you possibly fail?
This is how they hope it all pans out: | <urn:uuid:3a7fe562-d225-4d2e-b0ec-b5f805c4f534> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://inventorspot.com/articles/set_controls_heart_sun_probe_flies_sun | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952356 | 449 | 2.8125 | 3 |
The punkish hoatzin is a misfit that ripped up the evolutionary rule book.
Hoatzins digest their food very, very slowly. A meal takes up to 45 hours to pass from bill to cloaca. This is why these birds loaf around for up to 80 per cent of the time – they are effectively chewing the cud.
There is a downside to having a supersized crop, however. Hoatzins only have enough space left inside their bodies for a simple, reduced sternum (breast bone) and puny flight muscles.
Small wonder then that they are such weak flyers. I have seen birds so engorged that they can’t take off and simply sit for hours, beaks gaping and wings drooping, until they have at last processed their meal.
Besides their reputed perfume, hoatzins are endowed with another typically bovine characteristic: they are highly social. The birds form family groups (or should that be herds?) of up to a dozen or so individuals. Flocks of 40 or more birds have even been recorded.
An entire family may engage in the hoatzin equivalent of cattle lowing – a cacophony of grunts, squawks and hisses, often delivered in unison. Usually the birds are set off by one particularly enthusiastic individual, who leads the rest of the ensemble in a bizarre chorus.
Very much creatures of habit, hoatzins are almost always to be found feeding in trees or shrubs, but they can still spring surprises. One of the entries in last year’s BBC Wildlife camera-trap photo competition revealed a group feeding on the ground in a dry riverbed – unusual behaviour possibly explained by the presence of fallen fruit.
The flesh of stink birds is reputed to be disgusting, so they are rarely hunted – the chief threats to the species are deforestation and disturbance, including from uncontrolled tourism.
Researchers who placed microphones in hoatzin nests at Cuyabeno in Ecuador discovered that, while the owners did not flee straight away, their heart rates and stress levels soared. Repeated visits from tourists may therefore adversely affect hoatzin populations near lodges and camps.
In contrast to jaguars and macaws, hoatzins are somewhat unconventional icons of the Amazon. But what about their smell? For the record: I couldn’t detect any (maybe I wasn’t quite close enough).
Rest assured, though, that this avian enigma will continue to defy the normal rules of the natural world.
HOOK, LINE AND SINKER: The hoatzin escape act
Hoatzin chicks have a pair of small claws on the bend of each wing, which are lost after three months. The adaptation is thought to have evolved as a predator-avoidance strategy.
A young hoatzin has a trick up its sleeve – it fools its foes by performing a wacky version of the triathlon. First, it leaps out of its nest into the water below.
Next, it flaps underwater to a safe, secluded spot further along the bank. Though scrawny-looking, hoatzin chicks are quite capable swimmers.
Finally, when the coast is clear, the nestling emerges triumphantly from the water and hauls itself up a branch using its wing claws as grappling irons.
Did you know?
Hoatzins don’t do well in zoos. The first birds to be taken abroad were brought to London Zoo in 1931, but died soon after.
More recently, Bronx Zoo housed a small group in the 1990s, hatching the first ever chicks in captivity. Sadly, all of them eventually died.
To watch a film showing how a hoatzin chick uses its wing claws to escape danger, click here
To read more from BBC Wildlife about the archaeopteryx and other discoveries, click here. | <urn:uuid:2deb9627-4779-4869-9386-ec228c3acb22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.discoverwildlife.com/animals/hoatzin-meet-stink-bird?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956045 | 799 | 2.875 | 3 |
As you can see by the pictures below, there was a ton of lint build up in, on and around my clothes dryer. These pictures show why it is very important you take time to clean both inside and outside the clothes dryer.
A couple of pictures show what happens to the inside of your pipe that runs in and just outside your dryer (Fig 1) that carries the hot air, and lint, out. The next photo (Fig 2) shows the inside of the flexible duct that connects to your dryer pipe and then connects to another pipe that usually runs to the outside of your house.
In the next photo (Fig 3) you can see the cleaning device I used to run up into the pipe and dryer and the large amount of lint I pulled out of the dryer. These photos clearly show the large amount of lint that builds up and can, when heated up by the hot air of the dryer, actually ignite and catch fire! The more the build up, the better chance for ignition and then – a fire in your home!
A couple of the photos (Fig 4 & 5) clearly show just how dusty and dirty the back of your dryer and the floor behind and underneath it can become. This also can create problems and hazards and you need to make sure you clean these spots as well!
For more tips please go here: Clothes Dryer Fire Safety Tips | <urn:uuid:2addda11-75b8-422b-904b-a333040cac83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mcfrs.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950478 | 291 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Casey B. Mulligan is an economics professor at the University of Chicago. He is the author of “The Redistribution Recession: How Labor Market Distortions Contracted the Economy.”
Government safety net programs were put on steroids by the 2009 stimulus law, erasing incentives for a significant fraction of the unemployed.
Perspectives from expert contributors.
Last week I noted that poverty, when measured to include taxes and government benefits, did not rise from 2007 to 2011. That result, I contended, indicated that people in the neighborhood of the poverty line faced marginal tax rates of about 100 percent. I also noted that 100 percent marginal tax rates were excessive.
These three statements generated many angry comments, so it’s worth examining them in more detail.
One possibility is that the poverty rate did rise significantly, even when adjusted to reflect taxes and government benefits. That possibility would contradict Jared Bernstein’s work in this area, because he concluded that America had “the deepest recession since the Great Depression and poverty didn’t go up.” It would also contradict Arloc Sherman’s findings that the poverty rate was essentially unchanged (thanks to generous new subsidies).
The measurement of poverty and its trends is an important and continuing research area, and future research could suggest that the poverty rate had increased. However, future research could also point in the other direction.
In 1995, a panel established by the National Research Council to evaluate poverty measurement concluded that it might make sense to recognize not only the monetary resources available to families, but also the amount of free time they had. After 2007, many people found themselves with less pretax income and more free time because they had lost their jobs. Because the official poverty measures consider only the pretax income, adjusting poverty measures to reflect free time would cause the poverty rate to fall more, or increase less, after 2007.
Assuming for the moment that Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Sherman are right about the poverty changes, a second possibility is that poverty failed to rise even while marginal tax rates were significantly less than 100 percent. As one blogger put it, “Just because poverty rates didn’t rise doesn’t mean that the government imposed a 100 percent implicit tax rate.”
One might wonder exactly how, in theory, poverty rates remained fixed when millions of people lost their jobs, and when the government did not essentially replace all the disposable income lost because of layoffs. The magnitude of marginal tax rates imposed by the government is ultimately an empirical question, though. As far as I know, none of my detractors have offered any estimates.
I have been examining marginal tax rates under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, especially as experienced by families near the poverty line. The chart below shows some of my results pertinent to Mr. Bernstein’s poverty measures.
The chart examines households that in 2007 had household income of less than 175 percent of the poverty line and were therefore at risk of falling into poverty if they were later laid off from their job. The chart organizes unemployed heads and spouses in terms of their marginal tax or “job acceptance penalty” rate. With that rate, I mean the fraction of a person’s employee compensation that goes to federal, state and local government treasuries or to expenses associated with commuting to work (I assume that is $5 for each one-way trip) as a consequence of working full time at the same wage as before layoff rather than remaining unemployed. (The remainder of the worker’s compensation, if any, is left to enhance the disposable income of the worker and the worker’s family.)
The chart also organizes unemployed people in terms of what they earned weekly before layoff, with special attention to the group in the $250 to $349 range, which is near the weekly earnings of a full-time minimum-wage job.
Among the unemployed who had earned near minimum wage (shown in red in the chart), a majority had a job-acceptance penalty rate of at least 100 percent, meaning that accepting a job with the same pretax pay as they had before layoff would not increase their disposable income. If they were to accept such a job, all the compensation would go to the Treasury in additional personal income taxes, additional payroll taxes and reduced unemployment insurance benefits (under the stimulus, unemployment insurance benefits alone were more than half of the pretax pay from the previous job), and in some cases reduced benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, and Medicaid.
Only 18 percent of those earning near minimum wage had a job-acceptance penalty rate of less than 80 percent.
My results consider the unemployment insurance program and its federal additional compensation and subsidies for Cobra, which gives workers who have lost their jobs the right to purchase group health insurance for a limited period of time; SNAP; Medicaid; the regular personal income tax (both federal and state); the earned-income tax credit, the child tax credit, the additional child tax credit and the “making work pay” tax credit.
Job-acceptance penalty rates of 100 percent or more are probably more prevalent than shown in the chart because I did not include child care costs among employment expenses and did not include programs like disability insurance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Security Income, means-tested housing subsidies, means-tested tuition assistance, means-tested energy-assistance programs and other programs that impose positive implicit marginal tax rates.
I agree with Mr. Bernstein that government policy, especially the 2009 stimulus law, is responsible for preventing a rise in the poverty rate. But it achieved that end by erasing incentives for a significant fraction of the unemployed. | <urn:uuid:11aad2b2-7d58-4ec8-a537-f3fd6b05833f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/the-microeconomics-of-poverty-since-2007/?ref=economy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970431 | 1,167 | 2.5 | 2 |
*Update* The Digital Economy Bill is now expected to become law within the next 6 weeks. It introduces orphan works usage rights, which – unless amended, which HMG says it will not – will allow the commercial use of any photograph whose author cannot be identified through a suitably negligent search. That is potentially about 90% of the photos on the internet. Via Copyright Action.
With the explosion of social media and User generated Content, bloggers, reporters and businesses have access to a vast inventory of content for their production efforts. Take my site for example, most of the images are sourced free from Flickr – and I am not the only one using these. A large portion of the blogging community uses images from photo sharing websites such as Flickr and Picassa to spice up their posts. But professional news media also make use of this content – last year during the #uksnow hash tag trending period, a bunch of us uploaded Snow pics to flickr. In fact, if you google UK Snow Photos, most News sites have a collection of user submitted UK Snow photos. Pretty cool I think.
Problem? One of Copyright and Attribution
On the 5 – 6 January 2010 they (Independent) used the Flickr API to search for and display images of snow scenes in the UK – amongst those images displayed was one of mine which is clearly marked on Flickr as “all rights reserved”. They did not seek my permission for the use of my image. I am assuming they used the API without applying a filter on the licence type, this also means that other UK photographers may have had their copyrighted work used without permission; might be worth checking if you had any refers from the Independent on those days.
This was from a photographer who was annoyed at the use. The comments thread is over 250 long, and worth checking out. In the end, the Independednt ended paying out, for something that was a simple misunderstanding of the correct use of Socially Created content. Not only did they possibly alienate some of the UK Photographic Community, but created some negative press.
What Else Can Go Wrong?
Photo Credit: Ian Wilson
In 2007, Virgin created a really good campaign, “Are you With Us or What?“. The campaign used Creative Commons photos from flickr to create a number of offline adverts as well as a full blown website (no longer operational). However, using flickr photos in a negative context can upset people, no matter what the license. There are also other considerations such as model releases and age of the models to be considered, regardless of the copyright notices issued, as Virgin in Australia found out.
The above is a reaction by one of the models (underage) who realised that she was on one of the campaign boards. A massive Flickr conversation arose out of that one comment. Model release is not the responsibility of the photographer, but the user according to Dan Heller.
You photographed firemen from a street saving a baby’s life from a blazing fire, and sell it to the local newspaper for front-page coverage. Later, someone at the paper decides to use it in an ad to promote itself, and someone in the photograph objects to this, then you cannot be held responsible.
If you licensed an unreleased photograph of a person in a public place to a client that said they were going to use it in a school text book, but they use the image as part of their ad campaign for the company, then you are not responsible.
Dan keeps a very detailed section of his website on Model Release, usage and the Law.
Other Social Media Outlets
Social Voting sites such as reddit are full of breaking stories and interesting ideas / opinions coming to light daily. These only add to the plethora of fresh information available to the news researcher on a deadline or for a blogger with a writer’s block.
Similarly, Twitter is another great place for journalists and bloggers to troll to find interesting quotes on the latest trending topics. In fact, the BBC have taken a hardline, and told journalists that not using social media is not just an option for research. Interestingly, the 2009 BBC editorial guidelines do make a note of copyright:
Material from Social Media
7.4.8 Although material, especially pictures and videos, on third party social media and other websites where the public have ready access may be considered to have been placed in the public domain, re-use by the BBC will usually bring it to a much wider audience. We should consider the impact of our re-use, particularly when in connection with tragic or distressing events. There are also copyright considerations.
What these considerations are, arent mentioned. (side note, Econsultancy has a pretty good opinion piece on the whole BBC / social media / reporting approach). I would like to really know what policies news media has in place for attribution for socially created content. Is it right to just rip it off just for reporting purposes? Maybe. I dont know. Am I happy for a tweet that was meant for just my followers to find its way into the press and then seen by millions? As a marketer probably. As an individual, I dont know. My tweets have been quoted by bloggers in the past, but I have always receive some sort of attribution, so I have never had a cause for concern.
The whole “are tweets copy protected” debate is maybe a pointelss one, but it’s content I work hard to create. (well sort of ) Is anyone allowed to come and rip it off? Some interesting questions and thoughts at canyoucopyrightatweet.com. There is actually a way to issue a tweet license, as you can see from the image above – how legally binding that is, I dont know. See my Tweet Licence.
Of course the whole thing works the other way as well, with plenty of bloggers being sued left and right by big corporations for copyright violations. With respect to that, you may want to check out the EFF’s Blogger Rights page.
The Licences: Learn Them, Share Them
…each of the six main licenses offered when you choose to publish your work with a Creative Commons license. We have listed them starting with the most accommodating license type you can choose and ending with the most restrictive license type you can choose. Source: Creative Commons Licenses
If you are aware of the whole Autogenerated content and Black Hat industry, you will probably have come across blogs littered with youtube videos and flickr images.
Ideally, a CC license is supposed to be symbiotic. The licensor gives up certain rights to their work and the licensee, in exchange for use of the work, makes certain the original author gets due credit and is rewarded for his or her effort. Spam bloggers, however, approach the CC license in bad faith, taking as much as they can while giving as little as possible back. Source: Plagiarism Today
However, what most scrapers dont realise, is that there are / may be creative commons licenses embedded in RSS feeds, and not adhering to those could land you up in court.
Rishi Lakhani is an independent Online Marketing Consultant specialising in SEO, PPC, Affiliate Marketing and Social Media. Explicitly.Me is his Blog. Google Profile | <urn:uuid:7324c20f-ef54-47a0-aaac-66177c1b2db4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://explicitly.me/social-media-content-copyrights | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957151 | 1,498 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Area forecast discussion...updated National Weather Service Huntsville Alabama 627 am CDT Sat may 25 2013 Update... for 12z tafs && Discussion... /issued 310 am CDT Sat may 25 2013/ the latest 08z surface analysis and infrared satellite imagery indicated that a large ridge of high pressure at surface and aloft was across the lower Ohio and Tennessee Valley region. Temperatures were in the middle 40s at some locations to around 50 degrees. Some high clouds were spilling over top of the middle level ridge into the region at 08z. The back edge of the surface ridge was extending south from southeast Missouri...to central Arkansas. Expect mostly sunny conditions today with a decent warming trend...as temperatures should warm to around 80 degrees this afternoon. The models hold the upper ridge firmly in control of our weather here in the Tennessee Valley region through middle week with an increasing low level southerly flow with time. The lack of a focusing mechanism in the weak northwest flow has led ME to stick with a dry forecast into the extended time periods. The GFS hints at a weak short wave making it far enough southward by Monday evening to give at least southern middle Tennessee a slight chance of showers. Have left this scenario in the going forecast. A dry forecast is further expected through the end of the upcoming week...with the upper ridge holding firm across the region. The GFS and European model (ecmwf) models attempt to move an upper level low through the central Rocky Mountain states by Thursday and into the northern plains by Friday. A surface cold front will attempt to drop southeast through the Central Plains into the lower Ohio Valley by Saturday... with increasing clouds noted. Will not introduce precipitation chances at this time on Saturday...as the European model (ecmwf) model weakens this storm system quite a bit...compared to the GFS model. Have followed a general compromise between the GFS and European model (ecmwf) models involving forecast temperatures through the extended forecast time periods. Tt && Aviation... for 12z tafs...VFR conditions will persist through the period. Winds shift through the afternoon to become generally out of the southeast...remaining near or below 5kts. Ccc && Hun watches/warnings/advisories... Alabama...none. Tennessee...none. && $$ For more information please visit our website at weather.Gov/Huntsville. | <urn:uuid:9e5fbe1a-95a1-4579-b3ac-57ddd0ca0a2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wunderground.com/DisplayDisc.asp?DiscussionCode=HUN&StateCode=AL&SafeCityName=Stevenson | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928504 | 485 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Meanwhile, Newtown United, a newly formed group in the stricken town, held a meeting Wednesday evening to discuss what it calls "sensible gun legislation."
"We are not looking to ban guns," said Lillian Bittman, former chairwoman of the Newtown Board of Education. "We are looking for a civil discussion of gun control, mental health, school safety and school facilities, so that we as a nation can work together to come up with a solution."
Last week's school shooting is a tipping point, she said.
"We have 20 children that are trying to point us the way," she said. "And if we don't follow their lead, then their deaths are in vain."
Newtown buries the dead
Residents of the close-knit community have been braving cold, rainy weather and waiting for up to five hours to pay their respects to the victims of last week's shooting, Bittman said.
"It's an assembly line of wakes and funerals," she said. "We can't even figure out which ones to go to, there are so many."
On Wednesday, a police honor guard saluted Soto, a first-grade teacher who died trying to shield her students from bullets, as bagpipers played outside the Lordship Community Church in Stratford, Connecticut. The church set up more than 100 chairs outside the building to accommodate the overflow of people paying their respects.
"You were an angel to those 19 children you protected, to the 19 families and the community," Soto's sister Jillian said at the service.
Soto, 27, wanted to be a teacher since she was 3 years old. | <urn:uuid:d4bdea39-7e4d-49d5-9548-e268fb331874> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wyff4.com/news/national/Obama-Proposals-due-by-January/-/9324256/17827950/-/item/2/-/f2rqwoz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984461 | 341 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Earlier this week, fellow Hack a Day-er [Mike Nathan] reviewed Adafruit’s new iPhone/iPad app Circuit Playground. The comments on [Mike]‘s review turned to suggesting ElectroDroid as an alternative to Circuit Playground. Surprisingly, Hack a Day authors actually pay attention to the comments, so I’ve decided to throw my hat into the ring and offer up my review of ElectroDroid. For purposes of full disclosure, I have to add that I paid the $2.59 donation for a copy of ElectroDroid without ads, and have had no contact with the developers.
From the opening screen, I was presented with three tabs labeled “Calculators,” “Pin-out,” and “Resources” with a nearly innumerable amount of options beneath each tab. Compared with Circuit Playground, there are far too many options available to fully review in the short format of a blog post. I’ll try to hit the highlights as I go through each tab.
Of course ElectroDroid allows you to calculate the value of resistors from the color code and back again, and will give you a resistor value from an SMD resistor code. Interestingly, I couldn’t find a calculator to go from a resistor value to an SMD resistor code. While there is a table in the app to allow a value to SMD code conversion, I’d like to see that implemented as something a little more interactive.
Other calculators include inductor color codes, Ohm’s law, filters, voltage dividers, and everything else listed on the ElectroDroid website. As for the series/parallel resistor calculator, ElectroDroid differs somewhat from what [Mike] saw with Circuit Playground. Like every resistor calculator ever, you’re able to enter a desired value and have ElectroDroid pick out two resistors in the E6 through E192 series that when soldered together will match the desired value. Also, you can enter the value of two resistors and get the resulting parallel or serial value.
Unlike Circuit Playground which allows 9 resistors to be placed in either a serial or parallel setup, ElectroDroid limits the user to two. I’m thinking ElectroDroid is a little more representative of reality (why, exactly, would you ever have nine resistors wired in parallel beyond Physics 102 homework?), but the option to calculate the value of more than two resistors would be nice.
The second tab on ElectroDroid goes to a list of pinouts for all the common connectors one would expect to see on a daily basis. All the regulars are there – USB, serial (both DE9 and DB25 – a nice touch), parallel port, Ethernet, and every video connector I’ve ever seen. There are also some uncommon but vitally important diagrams for 25-pair phone cable and OBD-II automotive diagnostic system.
This is a tough category to review. It’s easy to complain that there are no pin-outs for Super Nintendo controllers, or the ADB or 25-pin SCSI ports found on my old Macs. For me to deduct points for not including extremely esoteric connectors would be wrong; ElectroDroid does a very good job of including pin-outs 99% of makers or builders would need. Here, ElectroDroid serves its purpose.
Under the resources tab, I was greeted with a 19-item list of stuff I should have already memorized. The connections for PIC and AVR programmers are featured in the first position, followed by tables of standard resistors, capacitors, schematic symbols, switch diagrams (SPST, DPDT, etc), Boolean logic symbols, and a very nice reference image for 78xx voltage regulator pin-outs.
The Resources tab includes a link to ChipDB, a website I have admittedly never heard about. This is a welcome feature for anyone who is looking for the pin-outs for the entire 40xx and 74xx logic family, but ChipDB only includes 311 entries in its database as of this writing. I can’t fault the ElectroDroid developer for the incompleteness of this database (it’s not even his), but I’d like to see more entries under this link.
When reviewing an app, or any reference work for that matter, there needs to be a distinction between what it is and what it can be. ElectroDroid is a fabulous tool and reference app that would be very much appreciated by 99% of the people sending projects into Hack a Day. If I judge ElectroDroid on what it can be, I’m left a little bit empty.
Like Adafruit’s Circuit Playground, I’d love to see the ability to take a picture of a resistor and have the app display the value. A ‘killer app’ for electronic reference tools would be a front end for alldatasheet.com that includes the ability to search, save, and display the datasheet for any imaginable component.
These are all nit-picking, pie-in-the-sky ideas, though, that don’t affect my impression of the app at all. ElectroDroid is more than worth the $2.59 price tag; while it may not be extremely useful for the analog gurus or those who can build computers out of bailing wire, it’s far more than sufficient for a tinkerer or maker who needs the occasional reference tool.
Addendum: Because getting screen shots off of an Android device is insane, I’d also like to add a recommendation for MyPhoneExplorer. It works. | <urn:uuid:672f4101-50da-4e6a-bd7c-d6cb5920d26b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hackaday.com/2012/02/10/electrodroid-your-android-electronic-reference-app/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=836876f408 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915543 | 1,177 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Great news – the Wonderful pomegranate is back. “Wonderful” is actually the name of the variety most commonly found in
These fantastical fruits can pop up in early fall, but the choice ones–red, ripe, and heavy with juice–grace shelves October through January.
Each pomegranate is made up of an outer membrane surrounding hundreds of jewel-like juice-filled sacks called arils. Each aril contains a tiny, edible seed. In recipes, the aril and seed are collectively referred to as seeds.
Pomegranates have gotten a bad rap over the years as being messy and difficult to work with. It is true that the brilliant magenta juice stains easily, but this simple trick of the trade will minimize any fuss:
Fill a large bowl with water and place it in the sink. Hold a washed pomegranate under the surface of the water and cut it in half with a paring knife. Using your fingers, gently pull away a piece of the outer membrane to expose the arils underneath.
Gently rub the arils with the tip of your thumb – they will easily release from the membrane and sink to the bottom of the bowl. Continue this process, and after about 5 minutes you will have a bowl full of ready-to-eat pomegranate seeds and not one juice stain. Discard the pieces of outer membrane and drain the water through a strainer to collect the seeds.
If you have never treated yourself to a fresh pomegranate, now is the time! | <urn:uuid:809dab5f-e09f-45a9-b8ec-d86a09ce0d0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://simmerandboil.cookinglight.com/2008/10/02/wonderful-pomeg/ | 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 | 0.933192 | 320 | 2.390625 | 2 |
When Sleep Suffers, So Does Decisivenesshttp://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/whensleepsu ... cisiveness
Sat Nov 21, 2:43 pm ET
SATURDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Sleep-deprived people may put themselves and others at risk when they need to make split-second decisions, U.S. researchers have found.
The study, which included 49 U.S. military cadets, looked at how sleep deprivation affected information-integration, a process that relies heavily on instantaneous, gut-feeling decisions.
"It's important to understand this domain of procedural learning because information-integration -- the fast and accurate strategy -- is critical in situations when soldiers need to make split-second decisions based about whether a potential target is an enemy soldier, a civilian or one of their own," Todd Maddox, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a university news release.The ability to make split-second decisions is crucial in a number of other high-pressure professions, including firefighters and police officers, the study authors noted.
The cadets performed information-integration tasks twice -- once when they were well-rested and once while they were sleep-deprived. The results showed that moderate sleep deprivation can cause an overall immediate loss of information-integration thought processes.Accuracy on the information-integration tasks declined by 2.4 percent (73.1 percent to 70.7 percent) when cadets were sleep-deprived, and improved by 4.3 percent (74 percent to 78.3 percent) when they were well-rested, the researchers found.
The study was published in the November issue of Sleep.
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about sleep. | <urn:uuid:add6e368-d4d5-473a-94e4-814a285861c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.puretick.com/BB2/viewtopic.php?p=518 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949084 | 380 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Tech Beat: Toys really lighting up this holiday season
Wood and plastic may be out this holiday toy season, only to be replaced by light. YNN's Adam Balkin filed the following report.
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Apparently, at some point between when I was a kid and now, hot toys went from being primarily made of wood to being primarily made of...light. At least that's what seems to be the case, according to the recent Time to Play Magazine showcase. Even old school toys are adding light. While it doesn't get much more traditional than a bike, for about $20 there's the Fuze Wheel Writer which turns a bike wheel into rolling artwork.
"Works on any bike 20-inches and larger. You pop it in your bike spokes and then as you ride pictures magically appear in your bike wheel, it has 12 different pictures that scroll through," explains John Ardell of Skyrocket Toys.
Traditional building blocks are also starting to illuminate. LiteBrix come in sets you snap together to make super-bright vehicles or buildings. But those lit up elements are designed to also fit in with other sets you already own, to breathe some new life -- or in this case light -- into say, an old Lego creation you have lying around.
"Each set comes with a power pack so you have a power pack you can actually build on your power pack. You can also snap on our bricks which are basic bricks which are compatible with any other system," says Larry Rosen of Cra-Z-Art.
LiteBrix sets range from $20 to around $100.
And finally, you know Crayola from its crayons and markers but now the company is allowing kids to draw and color with light.
Called the Crayola Digital Light Designer it allows kids -- through a pen -- to manipulate, and "draw with" 96 colored LEDs inside a cone.
"Kids are able to draw digitally and get a pixelated effect and then put all their drawings to motion through special effects like color change, rotation, three panel animation," points out Karen Waters of Crayola.
The cost, for any bright young artists out there who may be interested, is around $50. | <urn:uuid:9bcb66ba-e4b7-4997-bc59-a31191bd9472> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://capitalregion.ynn.com/content/living/tech_beat/603106/tech-beat--toys-really-lighting-up-this-holiday-season/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962239 | 479 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Review of: Moscati R, Ho JD, Dawes DM, et al. Physiologic effects of prolonged conducted electrical weapon discharge in ethanol-intoxicated adults. Am J of Emerg Med. 5; 582–587, 2010.
This is a prospective, interventional, controlled trial of resting, healthy adults exposed to a continuous electrical weapon (CEW) after consuming alcohol. All adults were either clinically intoxicated or had a minimum blood alcohol level of 0.08 mg/dL at the time of the exposure to a CEW. The investigators obtained venous pH, PCO2, bicarbonate, and lactate to look for clinically significant metabolic acidosis after exposure to a CEW and while intoxicated. A series of samples were taken: baseline, at intoxication, immediately after CEW exposure and a 24-hour follow-up after exposure. Though the investigators found clinically significant changes in all lab values, all were consistent with previous studies examining relationships between alcohol consumption and/or strenuous exercise. The investigators conclude the use of CEWs in intoxicated adults isn’t likely to cause significant physiological changes that may result in death.
Medic Marshall: "Don't tase me bro! Don't tase me." I'm sure we're all familiar with the YouTube video of the college student being tased at a political speech by Senator John Kerry. We may chuckle at this. We may even think, "Man… that dude had it coming." But what about the person who's high on drugs, has some sort of metabolic imbalance, is psychologically impaired (or any combination of those, fights with officers and is then "tased"? Taking it a step further, the patient dies (although rare) as a result of being subjected to an exhaustive fight with law enforcement. Now, it’s become a real problem.
EMS is called to try and resuscitate the patient — generally without success. Did the patient die as a result of getting tased? Probably not. Did the patient die because of a failure to recognize a medical condition? Perhaps. Maybe the patient was in a state of excited delirium or had some other combination of co-morbidities.
Are law enforcement officers trained to recognize these potential patients, or do they just see another bad guy who's out of control? I don't know because I'm not in law enforcement, but I think it's a valid point. These are sick people who not only present law enforcement with trouble, but they can also present EMS with a world of difficulty in treating them. Even if tasers are "proven" to be safe (on healthy, barely intoxicated individuals who volunteered), failure to recognize life-threatening conditions can lead to disastrous outcomes.
Doc Wesley: Although I highly respect the authors of this study, I'm not sure they've added to our knowledge of the physiologic effects of conductive CEWs. We are well aware of excited delirium and the correlation of that condition and death in custody. CEWs have been implicated by some, and these authors have in the past provided significant insight into the pathophysiology of excited delirium and low probability that CEWs are the cause of death.
However, in this study, the subjects were medical and law enforcement personnel attending a TASER International conference. The level of alcohol intoxication (0.11 mg/dL) was relatively low compared to the agitated drunk we usually encounter. Additionally, although the authors didn't provide the physical characteristics of the subjects, my experience with such conferences would be that they were generally healthy and fit. The average excited delirium or intoxicated alcoholic is usually obese and has significant underlying medical conditions such as hypertension, cardiomegaly, and concurrent use of mental illness medications.
I appreciate the attempt the authors have made, but I’m afraid this study doesn't support the argument that CEWs do not have significant physiologic effects. | <urn:uuid:b1320605-f6e0-4cfe-aee4-4a3017ecb5ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jems.com/article/new-study-analyzes-effects-tas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963823 | 804 | 1.625 | 2 |
Helps for Successful Storying
Teaching every story in the Bible, a list of all the
major truths, a theological system, or to completing a series of stories
is not the goal of storying! If learning, understanding, and clear
communication are kept at the center of what you are doing, you will
have success. Some of the things required or suggested for successful
Patience and diligence
Donít get in a hurry. Donít plan other events after
storying time. Oral listeners are not usually in a hurry. Allow plenty
of time for the people to gather and get settled in.
Plan on repeating yourself. Some people will come late. Others
will want to hear the story again. Some may want to tell a story for
you. The goal is learning and storying is interactive learning.
Review, Review, Review. Most people will not know a story until
they have heard it three times.
Get the people to give the review. Pick previous hearers and get
them to repeat what they can remember, with hints from you or other
hearers. Don't forget to compliment those who remember the stories and
Evaluate. Do not assume that hearers have learned a story just
because they can answer questions immediately after the story. How much
they can remember from week to week is much more important!
Accept interruptions. Babies will cry. People will come or leave.
Hearers will discuss the story among themselves. The listeners do not
bother about interruptions, so we should not allow them to bother us!
Donít get upset when your language is corrected. Be a learner
too! If someone interprets what you say into better language, so be it.
Learn from what they say! There is nothing more important than clear
presentation of the Gospel. Anything we can do to improve our
presentation is good.
Mastery of the story
Prepare! No matter how familiar the story is to you, you'll
give a better presentation if you study the story before telling it.
You MUST know the story. If you cannot remember the story,
with your background and studies of the Bible, it is unlikely that the
hearers will remember it.
Try NOT to use notes. Using notes adds an air of artificiality.
Notes can inhibit innovation. Presentations that are complicated enough
to require notes are probably too complicated for oralists to follow and
Do everything you can to make the story interesting. Can you imagine listening to a preacher who preaches
without changing his voice, follows an outline rigidly, or reads
his sermon in a monotone? People donít listen long to presentations
that are not interesting. They will remember much better that which
has been presented captivatingly.
Use Drama, acting, different voices, movement, and
props to improve your presentation. Often I
will get a listener to help me as I direct them to act out a small part
of the story. Don't be shy!
Emphasize what is important.
For example, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the sins of the city
are less important than Godís rescue of Lot and his daughters and
the results of his wifeís disobedience. If you do much more than
mention the more-colorful aspects of some stories, thatís what your
hearers will remember. Focus on the truths in every story.
Pictures and non-abstract items can add to the story and serve as
visual reminders of truths. God used many visual aids in the Bible such
as the Lordís Supper and the Tephilim, the little
scripture-boxes the Israelites wore on their heads and wrists. Here are
a few ideas for your use of visual aids:
The pictures on the scarf were designed to communicate the
subject of the stories without being distracting. They are simple, so
the hearers can grasp the picture quickly. The pictures are
consistent, so main characters can be followed from frame to frame.
And, they are designed to help people in less-developed areas identify
with biblical characters by incorporating common items they should
Printed pictures can be a great help or a great distraction.
Think color and large. Pictures illustrating the first
few stories often have fascinating animals, nudity, and violence
associated with them. Show the pictures briefly and then place them
face down in your lap, especially the pictures involving nudity. Or,
pass the pictures around and let them be looked at and discussed
thoroughly before starting that part of the story. There is no need to
tell the story while hearers are engrossed in a picture.
Objects from the listener's everyday lives are also
useful. How strong an impression the crucifixion makes if they can
hold a large nail and feel how sharp it is! They may remember the
story of the feeding of the 5,000 when they see bread and fish! A mud
brick may help them identify with the Israelites in Egypt. Keep the
objects simple and allow people time to hold and discuss them.
Scripture should be treated with utmost respect. If you read
the scripture associated with each story, do not lay the Bible on the
ground. Your well-used personal highlighted Bible with your
hand-written notes is not the best thing for Muslims to see. You may
want to wash your hands, take off your shoes, or pray before reading
the scripture. Carrying your Bible in a special pouch may help Muslims
see that you honor scripture.
Muslims appreciate prayer. You should begin and end
each story time with prayer, using whatever forms are appropriate to
your hearers. I end prayer time with a time of greeting, smiling, and
shaking hands as is the custom of Muslims -- a custom we could use in
Copyright 2001-2011 Storyingscarf
The storying scarf , images, and accompanying
text are protected under
copyright law and may be modified or reproduced only with permission. | <urn:uuid:7237f444-0a46-474a-b80e-3d987594e90a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.storyingscarf.com/helps.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928888 | 1,269 | 2.953125 | 3 |
|Schedule a visit from Splash today!
Splash McClean is SD1's fish mascot. Splash helps children understand how human behavior can negatively or positively impact fish and wildlife habitats. He especially enjoys visiting groups and schools that go above and beyond to protect our environment.
To schedule a mascot appearance for your group or special event, please email us at email@example.com and include the following information:
- Your name
- Contact phone number
- The name of your school or group
- The event you would like Splash to visit
- An estimated number of participants
- The date and time of the event
You may also call the Storm Water Hotline at 859-578-6745 to speak to SD1's Environmental Education Program Manager.
*Please note: You may not borrow/rent the costume.
SD1 is committed to reaching students and residents of the Northern Kentucky community with a message of stewarding and protecting our water resources. SD1's presentations offer real-world knowledge and equip participants with action steps to apply what they have learned.
We offer presentations about wastewater and storm water topics to groups of all ages. Some of our specific presentations are detailed below. If you would like a presentation on a related topic that is not listed, please contact us to see if we can accommodate your request.
To schedule a presentation for your group, please email us at firstname.lastname@example.org and include the following:
- Requested date(s)
- Requested time(s)
- School or group
- Number of students
- Age or grade level of students
- Would you like a wastewater, storm water or other presentation?
- Will this presentation enrich a unit or lesson that you will be teaching during the presentation request date? If so, what is the subject or title of the unit/lesson?
You may also call the Storm Water Hotline at 859-578-6745 to speak with SD1's Environmental Education Program Manager.
Storm Water/Enviroscape Presentation
Allow a SD1 representative to give your students the opportunity to the play the roles of farmers, industrial workers, golf course owners, developers, construction workers, and homeowners faced with the challenge of minimizing and eliminating sources of point source and nonpoint source pollution in their watershed. Don't miss this one-hour, hands-on, eye-opening demonstration! Using an interactive Enviroscape (model of a town), we will show students how human behavior can impact waterways.
*Note to fourth and fifth grade Environmental Unit teachers: This presentation coincides with Lesson 1 of the Environmental Unit. You can schedule a representative from SD1 to teach this lesson for you or you may borrow the model and teach the lesson yourself.
Allow a SD1 representative to give your students the opportunity to learn about the components of a wastewater collection and treatment system using an interactive Enviroscape model. Find out what happens to water between the time it leaves your home, school or place of business and the time it is returned to the natural environment. SD1 can also bring a short 10-minute video and pictures outlining the treatment process at our largest wastewater treatment plant. | <urn:uuid:d03108cd-b0f3-47c1-837b-f5de639663df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sd1.org/Education/Mascot_Visits.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911742 | 653 | 1.65625 | 2 |
How long does it take bread to rise? Is it my turn yet? Will my sister get home soon? This large-scale timepiece will satisfy the young child’s need to understand the passage of time. Oversized buttons and simple operation allow children to use it without help. Stopwatch, timer with alarm, and clock and calendar options help children track time visually in units from 1/100 second to months. Sturdy, water-resistant plastic housing (2¼" x 2¾") on an adjustable nylon cord. Battery included. Ages 5 and up. | <urn:uuid:ebb05f31-6610-41b1-947f-fd0c5c98bfff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.montessoriservices.com/big-digit-stopwatch | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925936 | 117 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Brazil’s government has spoken on its smart grid future -- and it isn’t the bonanza that the industry had been hoping for.
Instead of a 65-million smart meter rollout across the country by 2020, the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL) announced earlier this month that it will make smart meters mandatory only for new customers starting in early 2014, and optional for any other customer who requests one.
Brazil’s utilities will still spend about $670 million per year between 2014 and 2017 to install some 4.5 million meters, Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst Maria Gabriela da Rocha Oliveira predicted in a recent report. But that’s still going to be a lot less investment than some of the recent projections of as much as $36.6 billion in spending by 2022, as Northeast Group predicted earlier this year.
For smart meter vendors like Itron, Elster, Sensus, General Electric and Toshiba’s Landis+Gyr, the news from earlier this month must be disappointing. They’ve been partnering with Brazilian companies for years now in hopes of landing market share in a market that’s just shrunk dramatically with the stroke of a pen.
Even so, amidst dashed expectations, there remains opportunity for smart grid vendors that can serve the pressing needs of Brazil’s power sector, which faces high levels of energy theft and reliability problems, as well as pressure to bring host cities up to world-class standards for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics.
In particular, Brazil’s stated preference for an “opt-in” style of deployment could require a different approach than the mass deployment of smart meters we’ve seen in the United States so far.
At least that’s how Trilliant sees it. On Tuesday morning, the Redwood City, Calif.-based smart grid networking provider announced a deal with ELO Sistemas Electronicos that will see the big Brazilian meter maker incorporate Trilliant’s communications platform into new products, both in Brazil and across Latin America.
ELO already has a similar deal with Echelon, which will see the San Jose, Calif.-based company’s powerline-carrier-based technology incorporated into its deployments. Walter Lowes, managing director of The Americas for Trilliant, said that ELO will continue to work with Echelon as part of its overall smart grid plans.
But for places where wireless communications are called for, Trilliant’s mesh networking, as well as the long-range, point-to-multipoint communications it has incorporated from its 2009 acquisition of SkyPilot, could help utilities reach all those hard-to-reach places that an opt-in style of smart meter deployment implies, Lowes noted.
In contrast, typical U.S. deployments use mesh networking to connect neighborhoods that are saturated with meters that can collect and pass along each others’ data, he noted. In other words, “If I was a mesh-only, meter-centric company, I might look for another part of the world,” he said.
That’s a not-so-subtle jab at Trilliant’s competitors, most notably fellow Redwood City, Calif.-based startup Silver Spring Networks, which recently announced a partnership with CPFL Energia, the country's biggest non-government utility, to build a "foundational smart grid networking project" across four of Brazil’s southern states.
That project is still very much underway. On Tuesday, Itron announced a 20,000-meter contract with CPFL, connected with the Silver Spring project. Brazil's big cities can still find a use for mesh technologies, though Lowes noted that in Brazil, Europe and other parts of the globe, the 900-megahertz unlicensed bands used by Silver Spring, Itron, Elster and other U.S. mesh players are often reserved for cellular or restricted use, while Trillian't s 2.4-gigahertz system runs in a more or less worldwide open frequency.
Of course, Silver Spring has also been incorporating cellular communications into its platform, which Trilliant is also looking at using in partnership with ELO. Cellular networks have been used to connect commercial and industrial smart meters for years now, with big players including Cellnet+Hunt (now part of Toshiba’s Landis+Gyr), and SmartSynch, the cellular smart meter company bought by smart meter giant Itron for $100 million earlier this year.
Likewise, Sensus, which recently bought a minority stake in Brazilian data management software provider CAS Technologia, provides a hub-and-spoke network over licensed frequencies which could fill a role similar to the role Trilliant sees for its SkyPilot technology. In the meantime, partnerships that extend to the software side of smart meter management, such as eMeter’s deal to help CPFL Energia manage its commercial and industrial customers’ smart meters, can proceed apace.
In the long run, Brazilian utilities may want the same technology that supports smart meters to also connect distribution automation deployments, or network on-site power from solar panels or backup generators, or other such smart grid tasks. Trilliant says its combination of local mesh and far-ranging SkyPilot technology can do just that -- but so do competitors like Silver Spring, Sensus and others in the smart meter space. | <urn:uuid:d1492ec7-1500-4c3b-b1ab-acc3b36b4916> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/brazils-opt-in-smart-meter-future | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945143 | 1,134 | 1.742188 | 2 |
The Department of Energy is looking for a new federal project director for Hanford's vitrification plant.
It does not plan to renew a loaned executive agreement that has Dale Knutson of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory serving as federal project director for the Hanford vitrification plant.
Knutson, while remaining a PNNL employee, has served as DOE project director since May 2010. The agreement expires next month.
"The department is going through a deliberative process to identify the potential candidates for this position," Scott Samuelson, manager of the DOE Hanford Office of River Protection, said in a memo to employees Tuesday.
Samuelson praised Knutson, saying he established a strong project team and successfully transitioned the project focus from design and construction to construction and commissioning.
Knutson also worked with a DOE and contractor team to start extensive testing and analytical programs to resolve key technical issues, Samuelson said.
"We appreciate Dale's service in this role and wish him the best in his future endeavors," Samuelson said in the memo.
Shortly before Knutson was named project director, DOE changed the reporting structure for the position, giving the project director a direct line to officials at DOE headquarters, apparently catching Congress by surprise.
Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., inserted language into the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 saying DOE must notify Congress of any changes to the Office of River Protection responsibility or reporting structure.
In February DOE clarified that Samuelson is accountable for all aspects of Office of River Protection work, which includes the vit plant.
Knutson oversaw difficult years at the vitrification plant, with the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board advising more work to resolve technical issues that could affect the future safe operation of the plant and an improved nuclear safety culture to encourage employees to raise technical concerns that could affect safe operations.
Knutson also was pulled into the periphery of whistleblower lawsuits. Plaintiff Walter Tamosaitis, the former research and technology manager for the plant, maintained that a deal had been created to return Tamosaitis to work at the plant but that Knutson participated in overturning that decision after hearing that Tamosaitis was a whistleblower.
Knutson indicated in a legal proceeding that he did not tell Bechtel or its subcontractor to take any specific action with Tamosaitis. | <urn:uuid:579d2c7e-606a-452c-bcd5-76d303de6485> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/04/11/1934553/doe-seeks-vit-plant-project-director.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961521 | 486 | 1.625 | 2 |
Interesting topic! Mr_Light your making this into a tutorial or what
Might actually do that at some point but considering other work I also need to finish work for well euh work
awesome thanks for the help. ill see what i can find on google but why is it called array split? aren't i using strings? or is it that you split the strings different parts into an array?
The result is probably an array of strings
edit: nevermind i answered my own question. However, would it not be easier to do it something like this:
1*W A C K O
and split it at the "*" instead of spaces
As you can probably tell there are a couple of approaches to arrange the data in the protocol:
You can use a predefined fixed length fixed format.
You can encode the lengths in the message.
EndOfXXX / separator 'bit'(can be a character or a certain series of bytes).
Depending on the data your sending any of the above might work well. (There are a couple of other variants but those don't really make sense considering games)
It's probably wise to use an EndOfXXX / separator 'bit' that doesn't occur often (never presume that you never send it, in a different context) When you do send the 'bit' make sure you escape it. (Google for escape characters) | <urn:uuid:e763bff6-febd-459c-ad3e-9d23bb283329> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php?topic=19345.msg155125 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925401 | 290 | 2.484375 | 2 |
We've talked about Sealand before. It's the tiny nation that was created as an independent micro-nation on top of a former British WWII sea fort. The country uses the fact that it's an independent nation to its fullest extent. For example, one of their biggest businesses is online gambling. It's highly regulated almost everywhere, except on Sealand.
The most curious business they have, however, is the fact that they sell Nobility Titles! You can go on their website and for £29.99, you can become a Lord, Lady, Baron or Baroness of Sealand! If you have higher aspirations, you can pay £199.99 to become a Count or Countess of Sealand.
What are you waiting for? The night is dark and full of terrors, so arm yourself with your sword and your title and you'll be all set for when winter comes. If any of you do end up buying this let us know in the comments! | <urn:uuid:695da00f-1c14-4bb8-b05a-d18152cc874e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.omg-facts.com/Business/Want-To-Become-A-Lord-Or-Lady-Itll-Be-Le/50929?sponsored | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972491 | 199 | 1.585938 | 2 |
What makes a baby go to sleep when she or he is tired and cranky?
I find that my baby sleeps better when she goes for a car ride, or has a long bath with a nice baby massage using lotions or oils. I then wrap her in a warm blanket after drying her off.
Babies are happier when they are breast fed but bottle feeding is okay to if the bottle is warm. I find this works for a colicky baby as well to calm them down. Newborns especially love to be held close when they are unhappy lots of cuddling is important for them to feel secure. Walking them and rocking also is important for their well being.
If your baby is unhappy the worst thing you can do is be cranky and tired as well. Having a good disposition with your child is important because they will pick up on your anxiety and not cooperate with you. They will get more frustrated and upset.
You can also take your baby for a long stroller ride or if she isnt heavy, a long walk with her cuddled in your arms would be sufficient. Babies get cold when they are new and need heat just as old people do. Thats why its important to swaddle them when they are little. To keep their hands and feet warm. Love your baby! | <urn:uuid:b1b1b089-ca88-4b84-bb93-d38a668288f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.askipedia.com/what-makes-a-baby-go-to-sleep-when-she-or-he-is-tired-and-cranky/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976597 | 267 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Signing up for the summer reading program at our local library and Barnes and Noble. Both of these programs reward kids with a free book at the end of the summer.
Our local library has a lot of events over the summer for kids that are also free, from animal and environmental programs, to magic shows and Harry Potter "parties". Today we're registering for "Wild Tales" which is a program that uses live animals to teach children about wildlife and the environment.
Tomorrow we're off to see a free movie. Regal Theatres does this every summer. On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10am they show a G and a PG movie for free! But get there EARLY! They fill up fast. Although we aren't close to AMC Theatres, they run a similar summer program that charges $1 for charity.
Local parks also have many free or inexpensive programs, like Otter Creek Park, which is near us. Lots of fun, outdoor activities where kids can also learn about wildlife and the environment.
And later this summer we're headed to the Walters Art Museum (my personal favorite) which is ALWAYS free! Plus, they have Drop-in Art Activities for kids, which are also free. Museums are great summer day trips, especially when it's hot outside, and many are free, so you may want to check out museums in your area.
We're off to the library! | <urn:uuid:3961336a-9f86-4916-9c9a-66148b1ce6f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://livingcheapandgreen.blogspot.com/2009/06/summer-fun.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962471 | 289 | 1.992188 | 2 |
'There may come a day when Hobbits promote slot machines ...'
But it is not THIS day, insist spawn of Tolkien
Just weeks before The Hobbit hits the big screen, the family of author JRR Tolkien is once again suing the film's producers.
The Tolkien estate and the book's publisher Harper Collins claim Warner Bros, its subsidiary New Line and Hobbit rights-holder Saul Zaentz Company are overstepping their bounds by slapping The Hobbit on gambling merchandise and online slot machines, hotels, restaurants, housing developments and all manner of other stuff.
In particular, the estate objects to using Tolkienian names in the world of gambling, which it says "has outraged Tolkien's devoted fan base, causing irreparable harm to Tolkien's legacy and reputation and the valuable goodwill generated by his works", in a court filing obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
The estate said that when it gave the rights to Zaentz and Warner, it gave them the right to "tangible" merchandise - key-rings, pencil cases and such tat - rather than services.
"The defendants have asserted and continue to assert that they have rights relating to a wide variety of goods and services beyond 'articles of tangible personal property' and have registered trademarks and/or filed 'intent to use' applications in those same categories, including without limitation hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, ringtones, online/downloadable games and housing developments — categories of rights which plainly have not been granted to them," the filing stated.
The estate wants more than $80m in damages, and injunctions against Warner and the rest to stop them using The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit on the services.
Tolkien's heirs had settled a lawsuit regarding the The Lord of the Rings movies for an undisclosed amount in 2009.
The Hobbit production is also in trouble for alleged animal abuse after wranglers claimed 27 animals died at a farm filled with bluffs, sinkholes and other "death traps".
Director Peter Jackson and producers deny the allegations, and issued a statement insisting that more than half of the animal shots in the epic movie were computer generated and "extraordinary measures" were taken to ensure animals weren't used in any action or stressful scenes.
"We regret that some of these accusations by wranglers who were dismissed from the film over a year ago are only now being brought to our attention," they said.
Warner Bros said it stood by Jackson and the producers, and questioned why the accusations only came to light just as The Hobbit was about to be released. ® | <urn:uuid:04cfd4e1-30b6-4ee0-bdb6-43d221e2506c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/21/tolkien_estate_sue_over_slot_machines/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959742 | 519 | 1.59375 | 2 |
"Opting in" enables a Member State that has decided not to participate in measures provided for in the Treaties to change its mind at any time. For instance, a special regime for Denmark was included in the Treaty establishing the European Community with regard to Title IV thereof, concerning visas, asylum, immigration and other policies related to the free movement of persons. Denmark may at any time give up that regime should the Danish people call for this.
Opting out is an exemption granted to a country that does not wish to join the other Member States in a particular area of Community cooperation as a way of avoiding a general stalemate. The United Kingdom, for instance, asked to be allowed not to take part in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) leading to adoption of the euro, and similar clauses were agreed with Denmark as regards EMU, defence and European citizenship. | <urn:uuid:f6b83484-2518-4110-8e4c-28fee1b75238> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://european-convention.eu.int/EN/glossary/glossary5eee.html?lang=EN&Content=O | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965526 | 179 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Got five minutes? Here are five quick but helpful portrait photography tips that will help you take your portrait photography skills up a notch.
Good portrait photography doesn't take much gear, but it does take planning, patience and practice. Whether you're a snapshooter shooting outdoors or an experienced pro shooting in a studio, have a plan, and keep the following five tips in mind and you'll see an immediate improvement in your portraits. Got your camera? A good medium telephoto portrait lens? Nice, open, flattering lighting (or flash modifiers that you bought from Adorama that will turn bad light into flattering light)? OK then, read this exclusive Adorama Learning Center article, and Let's go!
Photo © deimagine/iStockphoto
1. DO focus on the eyes. The eyes are the windows into the soul, and are will lock in your viewers interest. Keep them (or at least the closest eye, if shooting a subject at an angle) in focus, otherwise it will look like a mistake. Tip: Use fill flash with a diffuser to make the eyes bright!
Photo © Neustockimages/iStockphoto
2. DO use props to tell us something about your subject. If you're shooting in a studio against a plain background, ask your subject to bring something that's important to them, and include that in the image. An accountant, for instance, could bring a calculator...or a tax form!
Photo © fotandy/iStockphoto
3. DO shoot a variety of poses. Include shots that are head and shoulders, waist-level and full-length shots. Have your subject pose looking over the shoulder, head on, torso at a 45 degree angle to the camera while looking at the camera, etc. Take more pictures than you think are necessary. One advantage of this approach is that subjects that may feel ill at ease in front of the camera will eventually loosen up as you keep shooting. Eventually, their poses will become more natural. (Be sure to let them know you'll be taking a lot of pictures so they don't get antsy.)
Photo © halbergman/iStockphoto
4. DON'T take a close-up photo with a wide-angle lens. The closer you get to a subject with a wide-angle lens, the greater the linear distortion. In other words, foreheads and/or noses will appear to be exaggerated in size compared to the rest of the face, and the head will be overly large compared to the rest of the model's body. This is fine if you're shooting for a laugh or a certain effect, such as in the photo above, but it won't flatter the person you're photographing. If you've got a wide-angle lens on your camera, shoot a full-length portrait.
Photo © drbimages/iStockphoto
5. DON'T touch your model. It could creep 'em out, or worse, even if your intention is simply to show them how to pose. Instead, demonstrate the pose yourself, give directions verbally or pointing with your hands.
Bonus do: DO Stay away from harsh light. Harsh light will cause deep shadows and either blow out details or emphasize unflattering features. Find open shade, and keep it simple! | <urn:uuid:95549617-c195-44f0-bb8d-1a127d9b328f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.adorama.com/alc/0013720/article/5-Portrait-Photography-Dos-and-Donts-For-Better-People-Pix | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942394 | 672 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Well, it’s been decided that my middle child will need to be fitted with 2 hearing aids. Gah! It’s not enough that the kids has an autism spectrum disorder — now we get to throw this in on top of it. Not that this is the end of the world – there are things that are, of course, much worse to have happen to your child.
But, like most of us have experienced, kids are mean. He’s already been the victim of bullying and been physically assaulted on the school bus. Now we get to throw something else for kids to pick on him for into the mix. It’s very frustrating.
And now, I have a whole new area to learn. When my #2 son was diagnosed with an ASD, I learned everything I could on the subject, and keep a constant eye on new studies, therapies, medications, etc. I know more about what’s going on in the autism community than my pediatrician does — like most parents of a child with a disability! We all become experts in “our field”. Now I have a new field to cover, and I’m at a small loss of where to start. I’ve done a ton of searches online, but none of the sites have quite what I’m looking for. My son isn’t deaf, he doesn’t sign, but he will be using 2 hearing aids and will be registering at the state level as “hearing impaired”.
What I need to find is how this affects the child study team and his IEP. What services/accomodations/modifications are out there for him? Does the CST have to bring in a specialist for his IEP meetings, or does the speech/language pathologist cover this?
If anyone out there has any experience on this, I would love to hear from you! Or if you know of a really great website that can help me learn about these things.
I have to say, if nothing else, life in the B. house is never boring! Time to kick the sense of humor up and keep a straight head on.
And maybe look into a perscription for Xanax….. | <urn:uuid:a977b7fe-fbba-4d12-8ab9-edf0895cd658> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.patheos.com/blogs/confessionsofapagansoccermom/2009/02/865.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969578 | 462 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Despite a surge in interest, electric cars may remain niche products in the world's two largest auto markets. Advocates disagree.
Beijing and New york
Interest in electric cars is surging:
•Nearly 52,000 people were wait-listed as of mid-April for General Motors' electric model, the Volt, due in November. As of March, almost 56,000 people had signed up to reserve Nissan's all-electric Leaf, due in dealerships by December.
•Investors, too, are excited. Electric-car ventures made up nearly 40 percent of $1.9 billion invested in 180 green-technology companies worldwide in the first quarter of 2010, according to a study by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte.
Yet in the United States and China, automakers' caution, weak price incentives, and concerns over the electrical grid are slowing the electric car's introduction. If electric cars can't break out of niche status in the world's two largest passenger car markets, then a transition away from gasoline-powered vehicles could be delayed. And many would-be buyers are likely to be frustrated by the lack of available cars. "There is undoubtedly going to be a backlog, where demand exceeds production for the next few years, due to the trepidation of the automakers that the electric car is not something consumers want," says Marc Geller, cofounder of the advocacy group Plug In America.
Take the 56,000 people who have signed up for a Leaf. Nissan is planning to start deploying it in only five states. Total cars initially available: 4,700.
Page 1 of 4 | <urn:uuid:f5e0e26c-5028-49b7-83c5-5ab8ed2120fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.csmonitor.com/Business/2010/0510/Can-electric-cars-break-out-of-niche-status-in-US-China-market | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968339 | 330 | 2.09375 | 2 |
The Bloc Québécois will use its opposition day on Thursday to call for a vote on the post-2011 phase of Canada's mission in Afghanistan, which is to focus on training of Afghan soldiers, rather than combat, and continue until 2014.
Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe announced his party's intent in Ottawa on Monday, hours after Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said he was willing to go along with a vote in the House.
The actual vote could happen Thursday or early next week.
Ignatieff had supported Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement that 950 soldiers will remain in Afghanistan to help train the Afghan military, a position that caused unease among some within the Liberal Party.
“We're happy to have a vote,” he told reporters in Montreal after a public forum with students at Dawson College.
“I think the other parties have an opposition day that's available to them, [and] if they want to use that, that's fine. We've never ducked a democratic debate on Afghanistan.”
Harper has said all along that a vote is not needed because troops will not be in a combat situation after 2011, an argument echoed in question period Monday by House leader John Baird.
“What we're talking about here is a technical and a training special mission,” Baird said in response to a question about a vote from NDP Leader Jack Layton.
“Afghanistan is a war situation,” Layton said. “That's why there should be a vote. There certainly are no logical reasons to explain why the government won't allow a vote on this key issue.”
A tough spot
But given Monday's announcement by the Bloc, there will likely be a vote now, putting Ignatieff and Harper in a position of defending the training mission in the House of Commons.
On Friday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen praised Canada's decision to maintain a non-combat presence in Afghanistan until 2014.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon on Nov. 16 confirmed reports that 950 military personnel will remain in Afghanistan after 2011 at a cost of an estimated $500 million per year.
“In the middle of the NATO summit, the prime minister had the nerve to promise not to extend the mission in Afghanistan beyond 2014, but on Jan. 6, 2010, [he] stated publicly that there would be no military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2011 except for protection of the Canadian Embassy,” Duceppe said in question period.
“He broke his promise not to extend the military mission in Afghanistan. Will the prime minister not realize that he has lost all credibility and that he is no longer believed at all?” | <urn:uuid:c4cc0baa-2d75-4c9f-88f8-9883a692600b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kelowna.com/2010/11/22/bloc-to-spur-afghanistan-vote/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953721 | 561 | 1.523438 | 2 |
It is becoming ever busier in our cities and the space is increasingly limited. So it makes sense to use the space we do have as well and as attractively as we can. One way to realise that is stacked use of space. Examples of this are multi-storey car parks with planted and walk-on roofs, or apartment complexes with mezzanine roof areas and gardens on them. That delivers space, but also a better quality of life and a more attractive environment.
Nophadrain podium roofs provide for optimum utilization of roofs. One prerequisite, however, is that the architect and structural engineer take account in the design of the extra demands placed by an installation of this type of roof.
A podium roof deck does not have a natural substrate. For installation of pedestrian paving, therefore, the Nophadrain system for podium roof decks takes account of the following:
• The difference in structural behaviour of the support construction: natural substrate versus roof construction
• The waterproofing membrane: suitable for static and dynamic loading
• The roof construction: traditional warm roof, inverted roof, non-insulated roof
• The pressure-resistance of the thermal insulation
• The type and layer thickness of the ballast materials: foundation layer, filler layer, paving layer
• The type of paving
• The use, and the intensity of it, by people and the loads that creates. | <urn:uuid:77bd26da-9000-4a78-9c3d-64e5effa3b04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nophadrain.nl/EN/design-portaal/terrasdak/terrasdak.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927259 | 284 | 2.09375 | 2 |