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The autotroph pictured here is algae.
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of Corel Photography
Organisms that are able to "make their own food" are called autotrophs
, meaning "self-feeders". Some examples of autotrophs are plants and algae (shown in the picture). Both plants and algae use photosynthesis
to convert carbon dioxide
and the Sun's energy into food for themselves.
Autotrophs are the producers of the food chain.
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"Science, Evolution, and Creationism
", by the National Academies, provides fascinating background on these topics for all, and is particularly useful for the Earth and space science classroom. Check our other books
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The air of Titan is a lot like the Earth's, except that it is very cold, from -330 degrees to -290 degrees! Like the Earth, there is a lot of Nitrogen and other complex molecules. There also may be an...more | <urn:uuid:5b196282-e607-443b-86e0-0984e24b5385> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Life/autotrophs.html&edu=elem | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943766 | 494 | 3.3125 | 3 |
The National Science Foundation (NSF) joined Marinette Marine Corporation and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Saturday to launch the research vessel Sikuliaq.
The ship, hailed by the NSF as a "next-generation" global class research vessel, was built by Wisconsin workers at Marinette Marine.
Alaska-Fairbanks' School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences will operate the ship as part of the U.S. academic research fleet.
"It's is one of the most advanced research vessels in the world," said NSF Director Subra Suresh. "Its capabilities to operate in extreme ecosystems will serve the science and engineering research communities for decades to come, while providing opportunities for educators and students to learn first-hand about the Arctic environment."
The NSF says it invested nearly $200 million in stimulus money into the contract with Marinette to build the ship.
The name, Sikuliaq, is from a native Alaskan language and means "young sea ice."
The vessel is uniquely equipped for operating in ice-covered waters, with a reinforced double hull, two rotating thrusters, and scalloped propeller blades enabling it to break through first-year ice up to 2.5 feet thick.
Sikuliaq will depart on its first
science mission in early 2014.
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According to the census, in 2008, same-sex couples were raising close to 250,000 children. Today's NY Times takes a look at the growing numbers of kids helping to redefine the term "family values."
In a well-reported piece (placed in the, uh, Fashion & Style section of the paper), Sarah Wildman explains how more and more children are stepping to the forefront of the debate over same sex marriage. Some, like ten year old Kasey Nicholson-McFadden, make their stances clear:
"It doesn't bother me to tell kids my parents are gay," he said in a clear voice. "It does bother me to say they aren't married. It makes me feel that our family is less than their family."
Marriage rights activists are starting to involve the children of same sex partnerships more and more, to counter the rhetoric from organizations that believe marriage as an institution should be about heterosexual procreation and nothing more.
Supporters for initiatives like Proposition 8 argue that "society is not forcing same-sex couples to raise children" - in essence, that these children should not be extended the same courtesy and societal protections of children who are the progeny of heterosexual unions.
"The real question is whether same-sex relationships benefit children to the same extent that living with a married mother and father does, and we believe they do not," said Peter S. Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, the conservative Christian organization. "Children do best when raised by their own biological mother and father who are committed to one another in a lifelong marriage."
Psychologists disagree. Michael Lamb, a Cambridge University developmental psychologist, recently testified in the California court case. He explained that children are not generally impacted by the sex of their parents, but rather the parents' relationship to their children, and the parents' relationship as a couple.
In a stunning the-emperor-has-no-clothes moment, the defense tried to discredit Lamb by "proving"
he has a liberal bias. How did they do it?
"And you have even given money to PBS, isn't that correct?" asked David H. Thompson, who is defending Proposition 8. Thompson suggested Lamb was "a committed liberal."
This would be hilarious if it wasn't so serious.
Interestingly, there are a number children of same-sex unions (and, of course, other queer activists) who don't agree with all the activism around marriage equality. However, Thompson and other supporters of "traditional" marriage will not find a sympathetic ear.
As explained in the Times article:
"We grew up recognizing our families as families whether or not the government did, and we're frustrated by the suggestion that we should have to make our families look like straight ones in order to be considered a valid family by the government," Martha Jane Kaufman, a playwright and teacher in New York, and Katie Miles, a graduate student at Columbia University, wrote in an e-mail response to questions about their blog, Queer Kids of Queer Parents Against Gay Marriage! "From our point of view, marriage is an institution that contributes to the privatization of social services like health-care and immigration rights that actually should be guaranteed basic rights for all human beings," they wrote.
Other activists have discussed why marriage rights in general are flawed, and instead of fighting for inclusion in a broken system, activists would be better served by fighting against the attachment of legal rights and protections to marital status. Still, for those working to change the current system, the reason for the fight is easy to understand:
Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, a New York-based organization that advocates for legalized same-sex marriage, said: "There is no good reason to punish children raised by gay parents by denying parents marriage and its protections. It harms kids rather than helping them."
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“There is only one boss – the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
Sam Walton’s career in retail began in 1940 when he become a sales trainee in Des Moines, Iowa at a J.C. Penney store. Despite his enthusiasm to serve the customers, Walton was not a model employee. His desire to make his customers happy was so great that he often let other responsibilities like paperwork and keeping the books fall by the wayside. He was almost fired by his boss who told him that he was not cut out for a career in retail. Walton kept his job, however, because of his ability as a great salesman. In 1942, Walton was drafted into the United States army. He worked in the communications division of the Army Intelligence Corps and remained on home soil throughout the Second World War. When he left the army three years later, Walton was married, had a child, and decided to start his own business to support his new family. With the $5,000 that he had saved along with a $20,000 loan from his wife’s father, he purchased a Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas. Walton was 27 years old.
Starting The Business
By putting in many hours at the store and implementing a pricing strategy far below what his competitors were charging, Walton’s new business took off. By 1950 he had the top performing Ben Franklin store in the area. Walton’s landlord, seeing his success, decided that he wanted Walton to sell the store to his son. When Walton refused, the landlord decided not to renew Walton’s lease and he was forced to shut down.Walton’s 10 commandments for business success were:
- Commit to your business.
- Share your profits with your associates and treat them like your partners.
- Energize your colleagues.
- Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
- Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
- Celebrate your success.
- Listen to everyone in your company.
- Exceed your customers’ expectations.
- Control your expenses better than your competition.
- Blaze your own path.
Determined as ever to succeed in his venture, Walton looked for other rural Arkansas towns for a new place to set up shop. He came across a small village called Bentonville and opened the Walton’s Five and Dime in 1950. He made sure to get a 99-year lease this time on the property.
The two local competitors in Bentonville did not want to discount their prices and Walton’s business began to flourish. Realizing he had a recipe for success, Walton began looking for other areas of expansion. He borrowed money and used the profits from his first stores to acquire more. By 1960, he owned 15 stores but he was not getting the kind of return on investment that he thought he would be making. He then made the decision to follow a heavy price cutting strategy and hope to get much higher volume to turn a larger profit.
This was not a new idea. The problem at the time was that most discount stores were small, located in urban areas, and focused on specialty items. Walton’s plan was to change the way retailing was done across the country.
Building An Empire
Walton’s revolutionary plan was to have large superstores in rural towns that discounted a wide variety of products. His initial approach was to Ben Franklin. They turned him down as they did not like the idea of operating with lower margins. Without a large company behind him, Walton opted to go it alone. In 1962, he mortgaged his home and borrowed against everything he owned to open his first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas, a neighboring town of Bentonville.
Excited about the prospects of getting discounts and selection that were previously only obtainable in the cities, rural customers came out in droves to his store. The success of his first store allowed him to expand and by 1969 he had 18 Wal-Marts in Arkansas and Missouri.Funded solely through debt and reinvested profits, Walton decided that in 1970 he would take the company public. The IPO raised $5 million and Walton retained 61 percent of the company. The money was used to settle the company’s debts and fuel further expansion. By 1980, 276 Wal-Marts were operating. An integral component of Wal-Mart’s success was its leveraging of new technologies to improve efficiencies and save costs. Walton knew that the key to success in a low margin business was to rigidly control his costs. Wal-Mart was, for example, one of the first major retailers to use electronic scanners at the registers which tied to an inventory control system so they could know immediately which items were selling well and needed to be re-ordered.The success of his Wal-Mart stores led Sam to another idea – Sam’s Wholesale Clubs. These would be discount stores that sold to small business owners in bulk. The idea was another big hit for Walton and by 1985 he was considered by Forbes magazine to be the richest man in America with an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion. Similar to Ray Kroc, Sam Walton did not invent retailing, he simply changed the business model and way of doing business to make it a much more profitable venture.
Evan Carmichael   | <urn:uuid:25d4cbfa-9830-40a4-9213-1f7aac302ed7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog/entrepreneurship/modeling-masters-sam-walton-wal-mart/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987998 | 1,122 | 2.375 | 2 |
Quote of the Day
When I was eight years old, I wrote a paragraph-long short story about a goat on my mother's hundred-pound, black-and-white-screen laptop. The story came about largely because I liked the way the word 'goat' looked on the page, but I decided then and there that I wanted to be a writer. That desire never changed.
Mandatory auditor rotation is designed to address a potential conflict of interest between a public company and its auditor. Because an auditor is hired and paid by the public company it audits, the auditor's desire to maintain a good relationship with its client could conflict with its duty to rigorously question the client's financial statements.
For you see this scripture fulfilled this day and therefore I desire you as you tender the Lord and the church and commonwealth to consider and look what you do.
I think a lot of developments start with the desire of the developer to get what he really wants so that he can use it. It's not just the technical fascination or the business opportunity.
Like everybody, I've had a lot of pain in my life and I'm a work in progress. You must have a true desire to see the world from a different point of view, and that comes with growing up.
I have heard of novels started in the middle, at the end, written in patches to be joined together later, but I have never felt the slightest desire to do this.
C. S. Forester
I have no desire to go in for tyranny or to play the part of King Charles. I hate tyranny in any field of human activity.
Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.
There is no doubt that Iraqis, like Australians and Americans, love and desire freedom. However, if freedom doesn't mean the right to complete self-determination, unfettered by interests other than one's own, then that freedom is less than worthless - it's oppression.
I've always had a desire to play a cop or FBI agent.
The fear of failure is so great, it is no wonder that the desire to do right by one's children has led to a whole library of books offering advice on how to raise them.
Kiss me out of desire, but not consolation.
Our best teachers do more than impart facts and figures - they inspire and encourage students and instill a true desire to learn. That's a fine art in itself.
I still have the desire to succeed, and I've always felt success is measured by what you've done in the win column, not top 10s.
Luckily, I'm in the position now of being able to play purely because I have the desire to do so.
Not that painting would have been a release. The reason for doing it is the desire to create. I've got to do it! I've seen that, I can still remember it, I've got to paint it.
I want the municipality to be a helping hand to the man with a desire of sympathy, to help the fallen when it is not in their power to help themselves.
I have this desire to have this immaculate form of love that really doesn't exist, so my obsession goes on through life and I never find it and I end up miserable. But it makes me a better writer.
One thing the futurists never get right, though, is that the extreme desire for polyester only lasted a brief period in the '70s!
The very desire for guarantees that our values are eternal and secure in some objective heaven is perhaps only a craving for the certainties of childhood or the absolute values of our primitive past.
We were now back at Smith Landing, and fired with a desire to make another Buffalo expedition on which we should have ampler time and cover more than a mere corner of the range.
Ernest Thompson Seton
Desire creates its own object.
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
From 1918 on, trade unionists were to express from the platforms of their congresses the workers' desire for peace through a rational organization of the world.
The idea that a war can be won by standing on the defensive and waiting for the enemy to attack is a dangerous fallacy, which owes its inception to the desire to evade the price of victory.
I don't design cars. I'm not a designer. I know what I desire to be built, I know what the end result is, the horsepower, the competition we'll be working against - but I leave it to the people who work with me to put it all together. I don't do anything.
And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.
Through these offices it was my privilege to get to know almost every Jewish person, and those whom I did not come to know through these offices I came to know through love and a desire to know my brethren, the members of my people.
Shmuel Y. Agnon
I claim that rape exists any time sexual intercourse occurs when it has not been initiated by the woman, out of her own genuine affection and desire.
We're pursuing a strategic partnership with Afghanistan on the case of the United States and Afghanistan where we're going to push toward a future. It is the future that the Afghans desire with the United States. It is a future that the Afghans desire with the international community and we desire that as well.
John R. Allen
As of right now, I have no desire. I've watched several games and played pickup ball thinking I'd have the feeling I'd like to get back, but I didn't have that feeling. I don't really miss the game.
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John F. Kennedy
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Do you believe that America is a seething cesspool of filth and corruption? If not, you might change your mind after reading this article. Sadly, the truth is that the United States is absolutely corrupt to the core. This is true from the very top of our society all the way to the very bottom. The current occupant of the White House will likely go down in history as the most corrupt president in history, and that is really saying something. Almost every single day he adds something new to his list of corrupt deeds. He is a con man that deserves to be impeached for a whole host of reasons, but that will never happen because we have a Congress that is also deeply corrupt. But it is not just our politicians that are corrupt. Even the men that are supposed to be in charge of protecting the president are corrupt. A whole bunch of them were recently discovered sleeping with prostitutes in Colombia. We also find very deep and very pervasive corruption in our financial institutions, in our judicial system, in our police departments and in our religious institutions. It is almost as if nearly the entire nation is saturated with filth and depravity. It is becoming harder and harder to find men and women of integrity, and our young people have very few positive role models to look up to. How long is our society going to be able to continue to function normally if all of this corruption gets even worse?
The following are 25 signs that America is a seething cesspool of filth and corruption….
#1 The men and women of the Secret Service are supposed to be the best of the best. Instead, they have become a national embarrassment. 11 members of the U.S. Secret Service are under investigation for consorting with prostitutes in Colombia. Reportedly, several of the Secret Service agents that hired prostitutes were married.
#2 Our financial institutions are filled with cheats and liars. 2011 and 2012 have been absolutely horrible years for natural disasters in the United States. At a time when homeowners need their insurance companies more than ever, many insurance companies are systematically trying to weasel out of payouts and are trying to shift as much liability over to homeowners as possible. The following is from a recent Reuters article….
Insurance companies are raising rates, cutting coverage, balking at some payouts and generally shifting more expense and liability to homeowners, according to reports from the industry and its critics.
“Insurance companies have significantly and methodically decreased their financial responsibility for weather catastrophes like hurricanes, tornados and floods in recent years,” the Consumer Federation of America said in a statement after studying industry data.
The industry concedes that it is trying to avoid getting trounced by those same punishing weather patterns.
#3 Identity theft for the purpose of stealing tax refunds has reached epidemic proportions in America. The following is one shocking example that made the news recently up in New York….
Authorities say a former manager at a nonprofit Long Island health agency stole the IDs of more than 50 brain injury patients to get their tax refunds.
#4 The filth on television continues to get worse and worse. As WorldNetDaily recently reported, one new HBO series is going way over the line….
HBO’s irreverent mockumentary “Angry Boys” is under fire for combining child actors and phallic humor, including one scene in the series’ 12th episode, where a little girl drinks from a water bottle shaped like a giant, pink penis.
#5 All over the country, violent crime is getting worse. For example, there were 60 percent more homicides in Chicago during the first three months of 2012 than there were during the first three months of 2011.
#6 Some of the violent crimes committed recently in cities such as Chicago appear to be absolutely senseless. The following is one recent example from the Chicago Tribune….
A woman was shot in the face while driving in the Gresham neighborhood on the Far South Side late Wednesday.
The woman, 38, was driving west in the 2000 block of West 84th Street about 11:30 p.m. when a light colored car pulled alongside her and someone inside fired shots, according to police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.
#7 It isn’t just in the big cities where these kinds of senseless crimes are being committed either. One crime that happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma recently is almost too horrifying to describe. The following is from a recent Daily Mail report….
An 85-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and battered to death by a home invader who also shot her 90-year-old husband in the face with a BB gun.
Nancy and Bob Strait, who had celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in December, were discovered by their daughter at their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Both the pensioners were rushed to hospital where Mrs Strait, who was nearly blind, died from her injuries.
#8 The flash mob epidemic that made headlines all over the nation last year is continuing in 2012. For example, several dozen young people recently stormed into a gas station in the Portland, Oregon area and took off with whatever they could carry.
#9 Thieves all over the nation are becoming incredibly bold. Up in New York, thieves recently stole brass plaques and bronze vases from a cemetery.
How desperate and corrupt do you have to be to desecrate the graves of the dead?
#10 These days thieves will steal anything that they can sell easily on the streets. For example, Tide detergent has become extremely popular to steal because it is being used as an alternative form of currency on the streets of many American cities. The following is from a recent article in The Daily….
Theft of Tide detergent has become so rampant that authorities from New York to Oregon are keeping tabs on the soap spree, and some cities are setting up special task forces to stop it. And retailers like CVS are taking special security precautions to lock down the liquid.
One Tide taker in West St. Paul, Minn., made off with $25,000 in the product over 15 months before he was busted last year.
“That was unique that he stole so much soap,” said West St. Paul Police Chief Bud Shaver. “The name brand is [all] Tide. Amazing, huh?”
Tide has become a form of currency on the streets. The retail price is steadily high — roughly $10 to $20 a bottle — and it’s a staple in households across socioeconomic classes.
#11 In Baltimore, a man was recently knocked to the ground, stripped naked and had his car keys, watch, money and cell phone taken. In itself, that is not much of a story. But what made it a story was that instead of helping the man, the crowd of onlookers watching all of this happen laughed hysterically while recording the incident with their cell phone cameras for YouTube.
#12 The number of Americans that are willing to become permanently dependent on the government is absolutely astounding. At this point, there are approximately 67 million Americans that get some form of financial assistance from the federal government.
#13 Government dependence is increasingly being glamorized in popular culture. For example, one nightclub down in Alabama recently held a “Food Stamp Friday” party.
#14 As I have written about previously, employees of the federal government are living the high life at the expense of hard working American taxpayers. In fact, one federal employee recently made an outrageous rap video about it.
#15 Recently, I reported on the “Obama flag” that was flying above a Democratic Party headquarters down in Florida. Well, now another one has been spotted flying above a home in New Jersey. During the 2012 election season will we see American flags that have had the stars replaced with the face of Barack Obama flying over homes and businesses from coast to coast?
#16 In the United States today, the use of sexual humiliation by security officials has become normalized. If you are not convinced of this yet, you should check out this video of a woman sobbing as the TSA touches her private areas as they pat her down.
#17 Sadly, TSA officials have shown over and over that they are deeply corrupt and cannot be trusted. For example, one TSA manager at Dulles International Airport was recently discovered to be running a prostitution ring out of a local hotel room.
#18 According to the U.S. Supreme Court, police in the United States can now strip search you any time that they want. All they need to do is to make up some reason to arrest you. Needless to say, police all over the country are now going to be looking for any reason that they can think of to arrest very attractive women.
#19 In the United States, it has become regular practice for young couples to “live together” before marriage. In fact, in America today more than half of all couples now move in together before they get married. Sadly, the divorce rate for couples that live together first is also significantly higher than for those that do not. At this point, America has the highest divorce rate on the globe by a wide margin.
#20 The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world by far. In fact, the United States has a teen pregnancy rate that is more than twice as high as Canada, more than three times as high as France and more than seven times as high as Japan.
#21 Unfortunately, there are dramatic consequences for all of the loose sexuality going on in America. The CDC says that there are approximately 19 million new cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia in America every single year.
#22 Most Americans have no idea this is happening, but the truth is that abortion clinics all over the country are selling aborted baby parts to scientists for medical research. If we keep cheapening human life like this, eventually it will mean next to nothing to us.
#23 According to the results of one recent investigation, an astounding 30 percent of all Internet traffic goes to pornography websites. A different survey found that 25 percent of all employees that have Internet access in the United States visit pornography websites while they are at work.
#24 There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. This is especially true when it comes to notifying military wives that their husbands are dead. Sadly, some women are now being notified about the deaths of their husbands in the military through Facebook.
#25 Our politicians are stealing 150 million dollars an hour from future generations so that we can live more comfortably right now. The American people participate in this theft by voting these politicians back into office over and over again. The crime that we are committing against future generations is almost too horrible for words.
So what is causing all of this filth and corruption?
Why has America become such a cesspool?
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Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Skinny Puppy is an industrial band, formed in 1982 by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton) Nivek Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie) and engineer/producer Dave 'Rave' Ogilvie, adding keyboardist Wilhelm Schroeder (aka Bill Leeb) for their debut LP, Bites before replacing him with Dwayne Goettel (see 1982 in music). They are considered to be one of the most influential industrial bands ever.
Bites earned the band a fanbase, which they increased with Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986 in music), Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate (1987 in music) and VIVIsectVI (1988 in music). During the late 1980s, the band members began working on various side projects. On their 1989 album Rabies, Ogre had brought in Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen as a producer, resulting in a album with poor critical and fan reception. However, the follow-up to Rabies, Too Dark Park, is widely regarded as a landmark of the industrial genre. Tension began to run high among the band members during and after the completion of 1992 album Last Rights (copyright problems with a Timothy Leary sample in the song "Left Handshake" led to its exclusion from the album), and it became increasingly difficult for them to continue working together. This, combined with creative differences and drug problems, resulted in Goettel's disappearance with the master tapes for the forthcoming album, The Process. He was found dead of a heroin overdose in his parents' home in 1995 (1995 in music). The remaining band members completed the album for release in 1996, and then disbanded (see 1996 in music).
Skinny Puppy has always dealt with political, philosophical, and personal issues (most notably animal rights) through a constantly evolving medium of contemporary music and creative compositional practices, drawn from avant-garde and industrial music styles.
Skinny Puppy is noted for their live shows, which feature many performance art elements, and indeed might be considered the focus of the band. Nivek Ogre was quoted as saying "the best part of skinny puppy is the shows and the videos".
In 2000, Ogre and Key performed as Skinny Puppy at the Doomsday Festival in Dresden, and then toured together in 2001 to support Ogre's solo project, Ohgr. In 2003 they started working with collaborators such as Danny Carey of Tool to produce the new full-length Skinny Puppy album, entitled The Greater Wrong of the Right, which was released on May 25, 2004.
Skinny Puppy toured in support of "The Greater Wrong of the Right" twice in 2004, during which several shows were filmed for a possible forthcoming DVD release. Recent news reveals that a new album is in the works as well as another European tour for the Summer of 2005.
- Back and Forth (independently released cassette, 1983)
- Remission (1984)
- Bites (1985)
- Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986)
- Cleanse Fold and Manipulate (1987)
- VIVIsectVI (1988)
- Ain't It Dead Yet? (live, 1989)
- Rabies (1989)
- Twelve Inch Anthology (1990)
- Too Dark Park (1990)
- Last Rights (1992)
- Back and Forth Series 2 (CD re-release with new material, 1992)
- (one disc of live material and another disc of archive material, 1996)
- The Process (1996)
- The Singles Collect (1999)
- B-Sides Collect (1999)
- (live recording of Doomsday Festival reunion show, 2001)
- Puppy Gristle (From the Vault limited release) (2002)
- Back and Forth Series 6 (From the Vault limited release) (2003)
- The Greater Wrong of the Right (2004)
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details | <urn:uuid:d8615de4-02a5-4fcd-b05b-13e3e3400ba7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Skinny_Puppy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949342 | 843 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Outcomes and Effectiveness Research
The Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research studies areas of vital importance to current public health concerns. Recent divisional research has focused on such topics as the quality and outcome of care, the use of information technology in healthcare, economic modeling and cost-effectiveness, and bioterrorism preparedness planning. Many projects involve a combination of these themes; for example, exploring the effect of information technology advances on quality of care, or analyzing the combined concerns of quality of care and cost-effectiveness. Faculty and staff in the Division collaborate with each other as well as with other faculty members of the Department of Public Health, with other departments at Weill Cornell Medical College, and with medical colleges, governmental organizations, and health service organizations in the United States and abroad. This cross-collaboration enriches the complexity and reach of the research findings and their implications for local and global public health issues.
- Chairman's Office
- (646) 962-8009 | <urn:uuid:3f49f9f9-1893-400b-9430-b120356b56d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://weill.cornell.edu/publichealth/research/outcomes_and_effectiveness_research.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938889 | 204 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Who We Are
The National Center for Learning and Citizenship (NCLC) assists education leaders to promote, support, and reward civic education and service-learning as essential components of America’s education system.
The NCLC's mission is to: 1). Identify and analyze policies and practices that support effective service-learning and civic education; 2). Disseminate analyses of best practices and policy trends; 3). Convene national, state, and local meetings; and 4). Network to share information about service-learning and civic education.
The NCLC also works closely with other national, state, and local advocacy groups in order to contribute to a collective public voice in support of the civic mission of schools. The NCLC complements the mission of the Education Commission of the States with a unique level of expertise and collaboration within the fields of civic education and service-learning.
The NCLC’s mission is to help state and district leaders promote,support, and reward quality civic education and service-learning as essential components of America's education system. Working closely with other national, state, and local organizations, the NCLC contributes to a collective public voice in support of service-learning and civic education to improve student learning.
The NCLC is led by its Director and an Executive Board composed of chief state school officers, state policymakers, district superintendents, representatives from higher education, and national civic leaders. The NCLC board members assume leadership roles in their states and in national organizations to ensure that PreK-12 students have quality service-learning opportunities and to encourage schools to fulfill the civic mission of education.
The NCLC provides hands-on, tailored assistance to school districts and states. This assistance may include: developing, sharing and showcasing examples of high-quality policies, models, and ideas about service-learning and civic education; and providing assistance in working successfully with a wide-range of people involved in providing students with the highest-caliber of service-learning and civic education, notably teachers, policymakers, schoolboard members, parents, community-based organizations, and students.
The NCLC organizes national, statewide, and local meetings to share information about effective service-learning and civic education. These forums provide participants an opportunity to exchange ideas and concerns, and to learn from their peers and discuss challenges they face in providing high-quality education for all PreK-12 students.
The NCLC provides information about service-learning and civic education through publications and on the website. The Publications page has a comprehensive list of our printed resources, including issue and policy briefs that address critical service-learning and civic education issues (most of our publications can be downloaded at no cost). Resources include case studies highlighting successful PreK-12 programs linking service with learning; research findings about the impact of service-learning on students, schools, and communities and the related importance of developing and nurturing civic competencies throughout the PreK-12 experience
The NCLC identifies policies that support service-learning and civic education, and provides strategies for concerned constituents to learn how to work with state and local policymakers to develop strong policies at all levels.
The NCLC creates and sustains strategic partnerships with national, state, and local organizations and agencies committed to student achievement through service-learning and civic education. These collaborations build on existing NCLC efforts and help education leaders make the connections they need with their peers, teachers, policymakers, schoolboard members, parents, community-based organizations, and students. | <urn:uuid:35887676-3499-4667-8a75-a8f36922e3e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ecs.org/html/projectsPartners/nclc/nclc_main.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936353 | 721 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Our resources page offers you a complete list of
links that can be shared or book marked throughout the web. Education is
critical in preventing strokes. Click on any of the links below to
learn more about how to prevent a stroke.
Did you know?
Every 45 seconds in this country, someone has a stroke. And most strokes can be prevented through lifestyle changes, diet and exercise. | <urn:uuid:5ba35640-f7ea-4b3d-9625-8f0e5dfcf568> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.highpointregional.com/our_services/the_stroke_center/resources.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918653 | 80 | 2.28125 | 2 |
NorthWest Arkansas Community College is a comprehensive, public two-year college that serves and strengthens the community through learning for living. NWACC's service area is defined by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education as Benton and Washington counties in extreme northwest Arkansas.
The commitment of NWACC to life-long learning can be seen in the quality of instruction it offers, and the variety of programs it has designed to move students into the job market in a minimum amount of time, enrich people's lives, and prepare them to further their education.
View our 2007-2008 Ends, Goals and Action Projects in the PDF here.
Quality Instruction & Programs
The hallmark of NWACC is its quality of instruction. Its classes are taught by experts in class sizes that are small, providing for more personalized instruction. Transfer courses are taught by instructors with a master's degree or higher.
Background on NWACC
NWACC was founded by voters in the Bentonville and Rogers Public School Districts on August 15, 1989, when they passed by a 65-percent margin a 3-mill property tax to support the new institution.
Learn more about our students, our learning programs and other detailed information by visiting our Institutional Research page HERE.
NWACC is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.
Our current Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) projects are detailed on our website at http://www.nwacc.edu/AQIP/index.php
For questions/comments on this content, please contact Jim Hall (479-619-4182). | <urn:uuid:1078f5ad-e311-4335-9e1d-c1e0dd57bb26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nwacc.edu/web/presidentsoffice/history.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947818 | 320 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Source: Origins, A NOVA Presentation: "Where Are the Aliens?"
Carbon is the basis of all organic molecules. It is also one of the most abundant elements in the universe. This video segment adapted from NOVA illustrates the special characteristics of carbon that make it an essential ingredient for life.
The structure of the carbon atom allows for chemical bonding with up to four other atoms, which makes possible the vast array of chemical arrangements in organic molecules. All life on Earth depends on organic molecules, the primary components of which are also some of the most abundant elements in the universe: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus.
Naturally occurring elements are produced in the cores of stars by a process known as nucleosynthesis. Just after the Big Bang, when the universe was very young, the only elements present were hydrogen, helium, and a trace amount of lithium. As stars formed and nuclear fusion ignited within their cores, other elements were created. These elements are all lighter than iron, and include carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. As low-mass stars neared the ends of their lives, they lost their outer layers into space where the material became the interstellar medium -- the gas and dust between stars. Before the outer layers were expelled, convection enriched them by "dredging up" chemical elements from stellar interiors. It is thought that the majority of the carbon in the universe comes from this phase of stellar evolution. Elements heavier than iron were created in the much more dramatic endings of high-mass stars. The cataclysmic explosions of these supernovae created the intense conditions needed to form the heaviest elements, which were then also dispersed into the interstellar medium.
The interstellar medium is recycled to form new stars and planets. And because the relative abundances of the elements are the same throughout the universe, all planets, moons, asteroids, and comets should have the same basic ingredients available to them. In fact, observations of other stars and galaxies have shown similar chemical abundances: 98% of the mass is hydrogen and helium, and all other elements compose the remaining 2%. That 2% may not seem like much, but it is enough to create all living things on Earth. One of the most common of the remaining elements is carbon -- and organic molecules have even been observed in interstellar clouds and found in comets and meteorites.
While it is still not clear how life on Earth originated from basic organic molecules, the fact is that life exists. If basic organic molecules were able to create life on Earth, and they are available elsewhere in the universe, it is not unreasonable to wonder if life has also developed elsewhere.
Academic standards correlations on Teachers' Domain use the Achievement Standards Network (ASN) database of state and national standards, provided to NSDL projects courtesy of JES & Co.
We assign reference terms to each statement within a standards document and to each media resource, and correlations are based upon matches of these terms for a given grade band. If a particular standards document of interest to you is not displayed yet, it most likely has not yet been processed by ASN or by Teachers' Domain. We will be adding social studies and arts correlations over the coming year, and also will be increasing the specificity of alignment. | <urn:uuid:61f8cd79-2213-4d5f-84b8-68fe55220d5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.eiu.carbon/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94695 | 663 | 4.15625 | 4 |
Visual Art A Word About A Word
posted by December 26 at 11:17 AMon
Roberta Smith has called for the banishment from art writing of the word “practice,” as in, “it’s a part of the artist’s practice.” Jeff Jahn of PORT has piled on: “one has to have a receptionist and a lobby to have a practice.”
Smith writes: “The impetus behind practice may be to demystify the stereotype of the visionary or emotion-driven artist, and indeed it does. It turns the artist into an utterly conventional authority figure. First off, there’s the implication that artists, like lawyers, doctors and dentists, need a license to practice.”
OK, OK, fair enough. “Practice” is, undeniably, used in excess in the art world, and we should decree that it be doled out only to those who can use it without being haughty. (A search of our archives shows I’ve used it 3.5 times per year; I vow to be more sparing.)
Except I’d like to put in a little plug for the word before it is totally discredited.
The noun “practice” refers not only to the proprietary concern of a businessperson, but also to rehearsal, to a field of open play, to an event during which self-betterment is more important than who wins or loses. There is no reason to think that, when applied to art, the labor-oriented definition trumps the rehearsal definition. In fact, they overlap nicely.
Furthermore, what’s a better noun to describe the play/labor that artists do over time? | <urn:uuid:b7879647-295d-4a7a-b8fd-e986d9dc9a2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/a_word_about_a_word | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962263 | 364 | 1.632813 | 2 |
David kept on running from Saul that day until he came to Gath, where he met with King Achish. 11
The officers of King Achish were also there, and they asked Achish, “Isn't David a king back in his own country? Don't the Israelites dance and sing, ‘Saul has killed a thousand enemies; David has killed ten thousand’?” 12
David thought about what they were saying, and it made him afraid of Achish. 13
So right there in front of everyone, he pretended to be insane. He acted confused and started making scratches on the doors of the town gate, while drooling in his beard. 14
“Look at him!” Achish said to his officers. “You can see he's crazy. Why did you bring him to me? 15
I have enough crazy people without your bringing another one here. Keep him away from my palace!”
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version ®. Copyright © 1995 American Bible Society. Used by permission. | <urn:uuid:1e428323-6bc0-4ee3-b3f6-80d5ead65286> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bibleandkoran.net/vers.php?lIntEntityId=609 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988013 | 219 | 2.375 | 2 |
"The world is a much more hopeful place because of the work and life of Lester Brown. World on the Edge should be read by everyone who wants to see a better life for their children, which is just about everybody." —Ted Glick, Policy Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Chapter 12. Turning to Renewable Energy: Plant-Based Sources of Energy
As oil and natural gas reserves are being depleted, the world’s attention is turning to plant-based energy sources. These include forest industry byproducts, sugar industry byproducts, urban waste, livestock waste, energy crops, crop residues, and urban tree and yard wastes—all of which can be used for electrical generation, heating, or the production of automotive fuels.
In the forest products industry, including both sawmills and paper mills, waste has long been used to generate electricity. U.S. companies burn forest wastes both to produce process heat for their own use and to generate electricity for sale to local utilities. The bulk of the nearly 10,000 megawatts in U.S. plant-based electrical generation comes from burning forest waste. 76
Wood waste is also widely used in urban areas for combined heat and power production, with the heat typically used in district heating systems. In Sweden, nearly half of all residential and commercial buildings are served with district heating systems. As recently as 1980, imported oil supplied over 90 percent of the heat for these systems, but by 2005 it had been largely replaced by wood chips, urban waste, and lignite. 77
In the United States, St. Paul, Minnesota—a city of nearly 300,000 people—began to develop district heating more than 20 years ago. It built a combined heat and power plant using tree waste from the city’s parks, industrial wood waste, and wood from other sources. The combined heat and power plant, using 250,000 tons or more of waste wood per year, now supplies district heating to some 80 percent of the downtown area, or more than 1 square mile of residential and commercial floor space. This shift to wood waste largely replaced coal, thus simultaneously cutting carbon emissions by 76,000 tons per year, disposing of waste wood, and providing a sustainable source of heat and electricity. 78
The sugar industry recently has begun to burn cane waste to cogenerate heat and power. This received a big boost in Brazil, when companies with cane-based ethanol distilleries realized that burning bagasse, the fibrous material left after the sugar syrup is extracted, could simultaneously produce heat for fermentation and generate electricity that they could sell to the local utility. This system, now well established in the Brazilian ethanol industry, is spreading to sugar mills in other countries that produce the remaining 80 percent of the world sugar harvest. 79
Within cities, once recyclable materials are removed, garbage can also be burned to produce heat and power. In Europe, waste-to-energy plants supply 20 million consumers with heat. Germany, with 65 plants, and France are the European leaders. In the United States, some 89 waste-to-energy plants convert 20 million tons of waste into power for 6 million consumers. 80
With U.S. livestock and poultry production now concentrated in large facilities, the use of animal waste in anaerobic digesters to produce methane (natural gas) is catching on fast. AES Corporation, one of the world’s largest electrical power companies, is creating a business of capturing methane from animal waste. Using biodigesters, AES contracts with farmers to process their animal waste, producing methane and a nutrient-rich solid waste that farmers return to the fields as fertilizer. The methane collected in these generators can be burned to supply heat and generate power. 81
Corporations and utilities are also tapping the methane produced in landfills as organic materials in buried garbage decompose, to produce industrial process heat or to generate electricity in combined heat and power plants. Interface—the world’s largest manufacturer of industrial carpet—near Atlanta, Georgia, convinced the city to invest $3 million in capturing methane from the municipal landfill and build a nine-mile pipeline to an Interface factory. The natural gas in this pipeline, priced 30 percent below the world market price, meets 20 percent of the factory’s needs. The landfill is projected to supply methane for 40 years, earning the city $35 million on its original $3 million investment. For Interface, operating costs are reduced and it gains an offset of its greenhouse gas emissions, thus enabling the factory to become climate-neutral. 82
Crops can also be used to produce automotive fuels, including both ethanol and biodiesel. In 2007 the world produced 13.1 billion gallons of fuel ethanol and 2.3 billion gallons of biodiesel. Half of the ethanol came from the United States, a third came from Brazil, and the remainder came from a dozen other countries, led by China and Canada. Almost one fourth of the biodiesel was produced in Germany; the other major producers were the United States, France, and Italy. 83
The United States, which surged ahead of Brazil in ethanol production in 2005, relies heavily on corn as a feedstock. With U.S. ethanol production projected to nearly double between 2007 and the end of 2008, U.S. output will jump to 13 billion gallons. This may already be exceeding the amount of U.S. grain that can be diverted to fuel without driving world food prices to an unacceptably high level. And expanding cane-based ethanol in Brazil means putting more pressure on the remaining Amazonian rainforest. Shifting to plug-in hybrids powered with wind or solar generated electricity would avoid that. 84
As of mid-2007, growth in investment in ethanol and biodiesel was losing momentum as feedstock prices rose for both ethanol distilleries and biodiesel refineries and as soaring grain prices sounded alarm bells for food consumers everywhere. In Europe, with high goals for biodiesel use and low potential for expanding oilseed production, biodiesel refiners are turning to palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, where the clearing of rainforests for palm plantations is raising worldwide concern. 85
Work is now under way to develop efficient technologies to convert cellulosic materials such as switchgrass, woodchips, wheat straw, and corn stalks into ethanol. Switchgrass and hybrid poplars would produce relatively high ethanol yields on marginal lands, but it likely will be another decade before cellulosic ethanol can compete with corn-based ethanol. 86
An analysis by the American Solar Energy Society indicates that burning cellulosic crops to directly generate electricity is much more efficient than converting them to ethanol. The question is how much could plant materials contribute to the world’s energy supply. ASES estimates that the United States could generate 110 gigawatts of electricity from burning crops such as switchgrass and fast growing trees, roughly 10 times the current level. This projected growth assumes that the anticipated expansion in cellulosic crop production would be used primarily for electricity generation rather than ethanol production. We anticipate that the worldwide use of plant materials to generate electricity could contribute 200 gigawatts to generating capacity by 2020. 87
76. Kutscher, op. cit. note 61, p. 118; EIA, “Net Generation by Other Renewables,” at www.eia.gov/cneaf, updated 10 October 2007.
77. Swedish Energy Agency, Energy in Sweden 2005 (Eskilstuna, Sweden: November 2005), p. 37.
78. Population data from U.S. Bureau of the Census, State & County Quickfacts, electronic database, at quickfacts.census.gov, updated 31 August 2007; Anders Rydaker, “Biomass for Electricity & Heat Production,” presentation at Bioenergy North America 2007, Chicago, IL, 16 April 2007.
79. World Alliance for Decentralized Energy, Bagasse Cogeneration—Global Review and Potential (Washington, DC: June 2004), p. 32; sugar production from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Commodities and Products, electronic database, at www.fas .usda.gov/commodities, updated May 2007.
80. Waste to Energy Conference, “Power and Heat for Millions of Europeans,” press release, (Bremen, Germany: 20 April 2007).
81. Robin Pence, “AES AgriVerde: An AES-AgCert Joint Venture,” fact sheet (Arlington, VA: AES Corporation, May 2006).
82. Ray C. Anderson, presentation at Chicago Climate Exchange, Chicago, IL, 14 June 2006.
83. F.O. Licht, “World Fuel Ethanol Production,” World Ethanol and Biofuels Report, vol. 5, no. 17 (8 May 2007), p. 354; F.O. Licht, “World-Biodiesel Production (tonnes),” World Ethanol and Biofuels Report, vol. 5, no. 14 (23 March 2007), p. 291.
84. F.O. Licht, “World Fuel Ethanol Production,” op. cit. note 83; RFA, Ethanol Biorefinery Locations, at www.ethanolrfa.org, updated 28 September 2007.
85. Fiona Harvey et al., “Biofuels Growth Hit by Soaring Price of Grain,” Financial Times, 22 February 2007; Nigel Hunt, “Biofuel Bandwagon Slows as Feedstock Prices Surge,” Reuters, 5 October 2007; Bill Guerin, “European Blowback for Asian Biofuels,” Asia Times, 8 February 2007.
86. USDA, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (Washington, DC: April 2005).
87. Kutscher, op. cit. note 61, p. 127.
Copyright © 2008 Earth Policy Institute | <urn:uuid:d2bb0817-3ae4-4c40-9400-c2bf090c74ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.earthpolicy.org/books/pb3/PB3ch12_ss6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916239 | 2,067 | 3.3125 | 3 |
That's why Southeast Job Link, in cooperation with numerous local and area organizations, is sponsoring "Matter of Fact Mondays," a series of eight information sessions designed to help educate parents and their children about many of the issues that they might be encountering.
The eight sessions will be presented at 7 p.m. on Monday evenings at the Technical Education Center, located one block north of the YHS/Summit Activities Center at 1200 W. 21st St. in Yankton.
Speakers will be sharing facts and insights as well as startling statistics that every parent will want to know in order to realize the dangers that children today are up against, to recognize the signs of trouble and to learn where they can go to find help.
Topics for the "Matter of Fact Monday" sessions include: Jan. 15 – Media's Many Influences; Jan. 22 – Bullies in School; Jan. 29 – Date Rape and Abuse; Feb. 5 – Drugs and Alcohol; Feb. 12 – Meth Awareness; Feb. 19 – Mental Health; Feb. 26 – Disordered Eating; and Mar. 5 – Communicating with Your Children.
All sessions in the "Matter of Fact Monday" series are open to the public are free of charge and are expected to last between 60 and 90 minutes. Children, who are at least 10 years of age, are welcome to attend if they are accompanied by a parent or guardian.
If you have children, care for children or work to keep children safe, you are encouraged to attend any or all of the eight sessions. You'll find out what today's children are really up against and discover how you can help them stand strong and resist the harmful influences. The final session will even show you how you can keep the lines of communication open with the youth in your life.
For more information on the "Matter of Fact Monday" series, please contact Southeast Job Link at (605) 668-3480. | <urn:uuid:e398e812-6368-4ecf-b615-04d21482f81c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://plaintalk.net/2007/01/do-you-know-what-your-kids-are-up-against/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951233 | 399 | 1.554688 | 2 |
This Mango Parfait column appeared in TUX Magazine issue 12.
I couldn't figure out how to classify it. It is a How-To but it is an Opinion but ... I picked Opinion to warn people that if they think Gnome is great and KDE sucks they will probably not be able to handle her humor. On the other hand, if a Gnome user wants to know how to set up working directories in applications links, set up a multi-boot system, or think front page is something from a proprietary software company rather than a adjective and noun, you will probably find this article useful.
In this article which originally appeared in TUX Magazine issue 9, I talk about my experience with a web site that seemed to not be Linux-friendly. It turned out that the vendor was Linux-friendly and wanted to address the problem rather than pretend that "if it works with IE, it is correct".
This article by John Knight first appeared in TUX Magazine Issue 4.
We all know someone who has stolen software. Ok, I guess we like to say "borrowed a copy" or "are using a copy that belongs to a friend". We commonly hear this justified by saying "Bill Gates has plenty of money" or "I don't really like the software anyway".
All that is one side of the piracy issue. In the attached article, John looks at this from a different direction.
The future of computer software is programs and applications that think for themselves--but don't write us off the screen.
by Phil Hughes
In the GOD (Good Old Days), we learned that computers do exactly what we ask them to do. Thus, Phil Hughes is not Phill Hughes, 012345 is not O12345 and so forth. For programmers, this meant they must write exactly what they want or things didn't happen right.
This situation is in contrast with natural languages, where meaning can be expressed without perfect words. For example, both "My car is blue" and "Me car is blue" will be understood by most people. I must say that living in a Spanish-speaking country has taught me the difference between saying something correctly and just being understood. If the people here applied computer-like rules to verbal communication, I would have starved long ago.
The author of a new book for Linux users explains how and why he chose to use the Linspire distribution.
by Peter van der Linden
Do you have any pets? A few years ago, I decided there was a void in my life that could be filled only by a dog. I had whole rooms full of wooden furniture that was not yet chewed and, being single, I hardly ever woke up at 5am because a furry creature stuck its cold wet nose in my ear. A dog definitely would fill both these aching voids.
But what kind of dog? Dogs come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. How do you choose among them? There's only one way for software enthusiasts to tackle a question such as these: create a weighted multi-variate spreadsheet of conditions and values!
I recently updated my Linux Counter entry and got email from Harald Tveit Alvestrand, the person who started the Linux Counter oh so many years ago. I realized most TUX subscribers have probably never heard of it.
I am member number 5645. I registered with the counter in March, 1992. Harald sent me email because he said he likes to contact the oldtimers. I didn't want to feel that old but, in Linux years, I guess I am. Today, with almost 145,000 users registered, that does look like a little number.
So, what does all this mean? Well, first, it doesn't mean there are only 145,000 Linux users in the world. In fact, Harald has a guess of the number of the users. He is guessing 29,000,000.
This third article in the Linux advantages and disadvantages series addresses differences again--but in a very different way. This isn't about software differences but what you should do to take advantage of what the Linux community has to offer.
If you are a newcomer to Linux you are unlikely to see how this all works or feel you are both invited and expected to participate. But, the truth is that input from newcomers is exactly what is needed. After using UNIX-like systems for 25 years and Linux for half of that, I am not the person to decide what software is needed to satisfy the needs of the newcomer.
A common anti-Linux argument is that Linux is different. That is, it just doesn't look or work the same as what you are used to. Well, what are you used to? Assuming the answer is some Microsoft platform, I assert that the differences between a KDE-based Linux desktop and your favorite Microsoft destop can be less than two different versions of Microsoft Windows.
Add to that the fact that you can customize the Linux desktop to act more (or less) like other systems and you have a pretty powerful argument to pick Linux, pick a Linux desktop environment (we tend to focus on KDE but Gnome is an alternative) and move forward.
This is the first article in a series on the advantages (and disadvantages) of Linux desktops over alternatives. While our magazine is all about how to accomplish things with Linux on your desktop, it is important that the why side is also addressed.
There are lots of studies of such issues as stability, security, performance, and reliability of Linux vs. Microsoft Windows. They can roughly be divided into two lists:
- Studies paid for by Microsoft
- Studies that conclude Linux wins
Now, before you get excited that I am about to trash the other guys, this is stuff I won't bother you with. Read what you want. Then, if you feel Linux will favorably address your issues, you are ready to start reading here.
1. It Doesn't Crash
Linux has been time-proven to be a reliable operating system. Although the desktop is not a new place for Linux, most Linux-based systems have been used as servers and embedded systems. High-visibility Web sites such as Google use Linux-based systems, but you also can find Linux inside the TiVo set-top box in many livingrooms.
Linux has proved to be so reliable and secure that it is commonly found in dedicated firewall and router systems used by high-profile companies to secure their networks. For more than ten years, it has not been uncommon for Linux systems to run for months or years without needing a single reboot. | <urn:uuid:cb641df5-dfea-42cf-b9e5-4ad90604785d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tuxmagazine.com/taxonomy/term/9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968451 | 1,353 | 1.65625 | 2 |
c/o Broad Street
The Orkney Museum tells the story of Orkney, from the Stone Age, to the Picts and Vikings, right through to the present day. There is a large collection of old photos and activities to amuse younger visitors. The Museum’s collection is of international importance and it has a changing temporary exhibition programme.
The Orkney Museum used to be a house – Tankerness House. For three centuries this house was the home of the Baikie family of Tankerness, whose estate gave the house its name. It opened as a museum in 1968 and is an A-listed building. The Baikie Library and Drawing Room gives the visitor an idea of how the house looked when it was a family home.
The North and South wings of the house were originally manses for the Cathedral clergy. After the reformation they were bought by Gilbert Foulzie, the first Protestant minister, who in 1574 built the arched gateway that bears his coat of arms.
Summer Opening (1st May to 30th September)
Monday – Saturday, from 10.30 – 17.00
Winter Opening (1st October – 30th April)
Monday – Saturday, from 10.30 – 12.30 and 13.30 – 17.00.
Archaeology, Archives, Costume and Textiles, Fine Art, Social History, Weapons and War | <urn:uuid:b6207b0e-612a-455b-9be0-e9843fff470f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.culture24.org.uk/sc000080 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949928 | 286 | 2.234375 | 2 |
FTC: Made In The USA Comments Concerning Sarkis Khan--P894219
May 22, 1997
Made in USA, Policy Comment
I am responding to an article regarding the manufacture of items made elsewhere, to he entitled to claim as made in the USA.
This is very wrong. Perhaps there should he a disclosure as to what percentage of a product is made in the USA, and what percent is made elsewhere. I believe the country (ies) of origin should be disclosed. We must preserve our right to he correctly informed.
We must not defeat the purity in meaning of the term Made in the USA. Although the notion of global competition is a nobel one, it should go without saying that the ideal must include fair competition. Also, the flood gates need not be opened wide with haste. It should be a managed and deliberate process predicated on balance of trade.
Fair and equal competition opportunity; on a global scale, should mean that where any country enjoys the proliferation of its products, to a market arena of a certain country, so too should that country allow equal access to its market arena, in turn.
If this is not the case, then it is not fair, it is not competitive, and it is by design detrimental to the well being of this nation, and its future industry. It took a lot of hard work and capital, to make the United States the powerhouse industry nation it once was.
Is it right, to bring the rest of the world up to speed, at our expense? Is that what other countries would do for us, if we needed a market to sell to? I believe, we as a nation, are being milked. We are opening our markets to foreign made products, while not negotiating equal ingress rights for Ourselves.
Our role in this play is ultimately just, as a consumer. We have to he producers, not just consumers. We can't have much chance left, if we introduce cheaper, and cheaper goods; produced by worker Individuals (societies) that consider a bowl of rice as payment for a days work. This Scenario undermines and takes away the standard of living our American legacy established.
I believe the marketplace itself, is paramount in the hierarchy of values. No fair trade, no access to the marketplace. This would be the prudent course. Otherwise, other nations; and certain private companies, will have their way with us, and reduce us further from our previous standards of living.
We cannot allow our precious marketplace, to be run by corporate or foreign interests. Competitiveness be damned, if just for the sake of maximum profit. There is the ancient proverb, "when drinking from the well, remember the one who dug it".
The system at present is a mechanism draining revenues out of this country, and one that serves' to further dismantle the productive segment of our industries; a negative spiral, if you will.
The Japanese demonstrated what closing a market with impunity, means. Now, we are allowing the Chinese to come in the same way, while we are shut out. Rather one sided, isn't it ?????????
I protest in the strongest terms, and urge not to dilute further the last bastion of our American Industry, and to not desecrate the sacred ground established by; Made in the USA. Remember, this nation didn't become the industrial giant it once was, by the production and consumption of foreign made products. | <urn:uuid:12a24053-95ff-4df9-93ba-f4a830e1a10b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ftc.gov/opp/madeusa2/c086.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955146 | 700 | 1.585938 | 2 |
IT HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA,
GREAT JOB MR. PARMAR
it is good to eat as many as vegetables and fruits (totally vegetarian), but my aurvedic doctor asked me to stop eating every...
Bangalore-based non-governmental organisation acts ( Agriculture, Crafts, Trades and Studies), with help from the Swiss agency deza ( Direktion Fr Entwicklung Und Zusammenarbeit; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation), is experimenting with dry toilets that use less water and aerobically compost faeces. The idea is to do away with conventional water-consumptive sewerage systems. acts has set up these toilets in the Rajendranagar slums, which had next to no sanitation facilities worth talking about. The unit, set up in the slum area, has eight toilet rooms and cost Rs 8 lakh to set up.
The toilets are fashioned after the 'Indian toilet', which requires one to squat during use. The toilet bowl has three apertures; each designed to carry faeces, urine and water used for washing through separate pipes into separate containers. The urine needs no processing, other than a 1:8 parts dilution, which allows it to be used directly thereafter as a nitrogen-rich biofertiliser. acts uses the water for their gardening.
The faeces is churned manually, and then shovelled into square troughs. It is mixed with shredded paper wastes, provided by the information technology firm Infosys, in these troughs. Paper, by virtue of its composition, raises the temperature of the mixture, and hastens the process of fermentation. The mixture is left to ferment for 18 days. The waste is then put out in open-air beds, where it lies for another two weeks to allow aerobic decomposition. The soil treated with this compost was tested, and the results showed very high levels of potash (174 kilograms (kgs)/acre), moderate levels of phosphorous (13 kgs per acre), and sufficient levels of zinc, copper, iron and manganese. The soil was also highly alkaline, with a p h level of 7.1.
There are, however, some unresolved questions in this endeavour. Prime among these is that operation and handling of these wastes is currently done manually. In India, especially, this involves sensitive issues of social equations and human dignity. There are also health risks inherent in manual carrying of human wastes. To add to these problems, the composting site is an impractical 15 kilometres (kms) from the toilets. This requires wastes to be transported through the city, raising operation costs considerably, standing currently at about Rs 35,000 per month. "We are not even thinking about cost returns at this juncture," says S S Wilson, assistant director of environmental projects in acts . Ken Gnanakan, director of acts , agrees that costs need to come down. He has a counter-argument though: Is our 'modern' practice of sending wastes into sewers cheap?
acts volunteer and mechanical engineer Steven Ringeisen from the us is now in the process of working out a system of mechanical rollers wherein faecal wastes can be tipped into the mixing trough and churned without involving manual labour. Another option, to make the matter less 'raw', is having the deposit bins pre-filled with paper wastes to absorb liquids. acts is also studying the feasibility of on-site composting.
Gnanakan stresses that there isa need to change the mindset thatclassifies anything connected withfaeces as degrading, as also the mistaken belief that the present system of flush toilets is a safe and hygienic method. Faeces and urine are an essential partof the whole nutrient cycle, he says, and adds, "Unfortunately, this cycle has been obstructed by humans, especially in the developed world. It is deplorable that costly processed and purified drinking water is used to flush sewage down a toilet."
For centuries Asians have used human refuse as manure for growing food. The Chinese usage of human refuse as manure is at least 4,000 years old. While Japan continues to propagate techniques for effective faecal management, some countries in Scandinavia and Europe have already established environmentally judicious dry toilets. Vietnam, way back in the 1950s, initiated a rural anaerobic faecal composting system of toilets known as the 'Vietnamese double vault'. The system sends urine to a separate receptacle through a groove in the floor of the toilet, while faecal matter is collected in a tank and covered with soil to decompose. Kitchen ash is added to reduce odour. Not very different from the acts initiative today. | <urn:uuid:9e57f944-450b-4d79-a6b1-ad07747dde4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/15052 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953928 | 966 | 3.09375 | 3 |
View Full Version : How to make contact lenses?
21st Aug 2009, 4:41 AM
I don't know how the community makes contact lenses, but I have figured out my own way. I just use Maxoidmonkey's Jenn facial mask or Kurt facial mask, because they cover the eyes. All I have to do is to recolor them. Then, on the alpha, I make sure that the mask only covers the eyes and teeth but not the rest of the face. I would like to know how does the community make facial masks, so I can compare. My contact lenses is a pair of alien eyes, because I do not like custom eyes. Custom eyes are not removable with a mirror.
21st Aug 2009, 9:18 AM
Why not look at some existing contact lenses? Download a set, and see how they're done? You can make a project from an existing one in Body Shop to examine the texture and alpha. From what it sounds like (alpha white over the eye and nowhere else), texture in that place, that's the normal way of doing it.
21st Aug 2009, 2:06 PM
What do you mean, where do you get them? You make them. In Body Shop.
1st Sep 2009, 5:55 PM
AFAIK - and it's been a while since I've done this - as a general rule the part of the texture that is mapped onto the eyes is at the side and top of the texture, not in the actual eye location in the centre of the face IYSWIM. This is one of my old ones:
It was made with a facial hair mask, I think - which, at the time I made it, allowed it to layer with other facial masks. You can do that in other ways now. A lot of the textures that map on the face have the eye stuff located in that part of the texture. All the actual real eye textures do (you know, for the eyes used in game). When I made this contact (this sets of contacts), they would layer over the eyes. Is this the sort of thing you are asking about?
It might be that the textures you are using do this differently.
26th Sep 2009, 12:37 PM
Yes, that's exactly what I was talking about! :lol: I originally used the costume facial masks to make fake eyes, but somehow, that didn't work. Then, I downloaded Kurt from Maxoidmonkey and noticed that kurt used a facial mask that covered the eyes, so I thought it would be cool to edit that facial mask to make fake eyes or contact lenses. Does the facial-mask-that-covers-the-eye belong in an expansion pack?
If you're still reading this thread, I had a thought. I think Bruno - the guy who makes all the make up - must have used a face mask where the eyes are in place in the centre of the face rather than in the standard way at the corner as we were discussing. I say this because he made a set of eye makeup that was uneven (different) for each eye - something that is a natural human feature of course. With the standard way of doing things, you can't make each eye different because it uses the same graphic for both eyes so in order to have got the make up different for each eye he must have done it in some other way. Maybe you could PM him about it or look at his postings in the modding forums if there are any. If there is a mask where you can paint both eyes directly, that would allow you to have sims with different coloured eyes (using contacts, of course, though it might be a possibility to mod them into proper eye files) which would be a nice little feature.
vBulletin v3.0.14, Copyright ©2000-2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. | <urn:uuid:d792bb1e-844f-40a1-8933-026c5b7b0d66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://modthesims.info/t/archive/index.php?t-365506.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962569 | 798 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Metro Detroit mother wants others to benefit from her heart ache
Ferndale mother lost her son to bacterial meningitis, now helps raise awareness about diseaase, vaccine
A metro Detroit mother cannot forget the day her son, Christopher Todd, got sick.
Michele Goecke said her two-year-old suddenly became very sick. They rushed him to the hospital, but a short while later he died. Doctors said he had bacterial meningitis.
That was 14 years ago.
The pain of losing Christopher Todd, is still very real for Goecke. An email from her husband's work earlier this year, Michigan State University, about a student who was sick, possibly from bacterial meningitis, brought that pain back.
"At that time my other son was two and a half and that was the exact same age little Todd was when he passed," said Goecke.
Goecke has two young sons, JT who is almost three and Matthew who is one. She also has an older son, Gregory, who is Christopher Todd's big brother.
The news about others suffering from bacterial meningitis spurred Goecke to action. After seeing the email from MSU, she contacted the National Meningitis Association and offered to help educate families about the disease and how to prevent it. She has already spoke at one school.
"Fourteen years later, I was still shocked to hear some parents had no idea there was a vaccination," said Goecke.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends meningococcal immunization for all children who are 11 to 12 years old, with a booster dose at age 16. The vaccine is also recommended for others at increased risk for meningococcal meningitis; including college freshmen living in dorms.
The CDC said the meningococcal vaccine is recommended for certain high risk children from ages nine months to 10 years.
Goecke's sons JT and Gregory have been vaccinated. She said Matthew will be soon.
"Even if you don't believe in vaccinations, know the signs," said Goecke. "If you're child's fine and then all of a sudden spikes a fever for no reason at all and rapidly starts declining, don't hesitate, go to the hospital now."
Important symptoms include headache, high fever, a very stiff neck, confusion, problems with alertness and sometimes a rash.
No one knows how Goecke's son contracted it but generally meningitis is spread by close contact with saliva for example, sharing a glass or water bottle, kissing, or sharing a cigarette are routes of spread.
There are many different bacteria that can cause meningitis, and some of them are covered in other vaccines we give to young children. For meningococcal meningitis, the vaccine protects against the most common strains but not all of them so there will be occasional cases that pop up.
For more information on the National Meningitis Association and its outreach programs, click here. | <urn:uuid:4bda7797-8ae3-4682-ba8c-7843c0365037> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clickondetroit.com/lifestyle/health/Metro-Detroit-mother-wants-others-to-benefit-from-her-heart-ache/-/2300442/13466626/-/view/print/-/12k2617z/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975204 | 622 | 2.046875 | 2 |
One is how Americans like Henry E. Huntington fell in love with Japanese art and landscape design at the turn of the 20th century and created their own interpretations by mixing Japanese features with American ones. The Huntington’s Japanese House, substantially comprised of architectural elements imported from Japan in 1903, originally served as a shop to display Asian antiques in Pasadena before Henry Huntington bought it from art dealer George Marsh and moved it to his estate in 1911 to form the centerpiece of his Japanese Garden.
The other is how the new teahouse, Seifu-An (Arbor of Pure Breeze), was originally constructed in Kyoto, Japan, and assembled at the Pasadena Buddhist Temple in 1964 to promote the philosophy of the Way of Tea. Seifu-An was donated to The Huntington in 2010 and now forms part of a new tea garden built above the Japanese House, in a previously undeveloped area of The Huntington’s grounds.
After a painstaking rehabilitation of the Japanese House and a complete overhaul of the teahouse at its original Kyoto workshop, both structures will be ready to greet visitors when the Japanese Garden reopens on April 11.
For architect Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, AIA, who led the rehabilitation of the Japanese House, the addition of the teahouse creates an exceptional learning opportunity.
“Now The Huntington has a traditional Japanese teahouse and traditional garden next to an American interpretation of a traditional Japanese house and garden,” she explains. It’s important to understand the significance of both structures, she says.
While Seifu-An carries significance owing to is construction in Kyoto, thus guaranteeing its authenticity, the Japanese House is one of the few remaining structures of its kind from this period and has been largely unaltered over its 100-year history. For preservationists like McLeod, the historic context is key.
Indeed, before McLeod began the process of restoration she first needed to zero in on a time in its history that would serve as her “period of significance.” She determined that period would be the era between 1911 and 1927—that is, the time between the house’s arrival here and Huntington’s death.
That allowed McLeod to remove elements that were not original to Huntington’s intent, for instance a coat of drab brown paint that had obscured its beautiful wood grain and caused it to recede into the background instead of taking center stage, as Huntington wished. To McLeod’s delight, most of the materials making up the house were found to be original to Huntington’s day and earlier, which is “thrilling to the project team,” she says.
Now, McLeod and her team have brought the Japanese House back to life, and it proudly shares space with its newer, Japanese cousin, the teahouse Seifu-an.
Captions, Top: The Japanese House, photo by Lisa Blackburn. Bottom: The interior of the teahouse, or Seifu-An (Arbor of Pure Breeze), photo by Martha Benedict.
Diana W. Thompson is a freelance writer based in South Pasadena, Calif., and a regular contributor to “Huntington Frontiers” magazine. | <urn:uuid:7f80e509-899c-4d51-80ad-b11c054335b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://huntingtonblogs.org/2012/04/two-houses-in-japanese-garden/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964573 | 667 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Hand out a deck of cards for thorough shuffling. Take it back and fan it face-up, commenting on how randomly mixed it now is. Casually drop several clumps of cards on the table, and set the rest of the deck to one side. Straighten up the clumps of cards into three stacks of five cards, which will look something like this:
Address one of your audience. "When I turn away in a moment, I want you to remove any one of the cards in these three piles, noting its position carefully, and replace it with a card of your choice from the remainder of the deck, switching red for black or vice versa. Make sure you remember the new card, and insert it in the same position as the removed card in one of these piles. Finally, hide the jettisoned card in the rest of the deck, and set it aside."
Once you are convinced that these instructions have been understood, turn away, and have the switch done. Turn back, gather up and combine the three stacks in any order, and turn the resulting packet of fifteen cards face down. Deal face up from left to right into three overlapping columns or piles. For instance, in the gathering and combining stage, if the pile above with the 6♣ is placed on top of the pile with the 8♤, and these are placed on top of the pile with the Q♥, the result of the dealing would be three columns or piles like this:
Say, "You may be familiar with a trick in which the magician deals three piles of cards like this, and then asks you to mentally pick one card, but not reveal which one it is. This isn't that trick."
Let that sink in, then continue, "Of course, you've already got a special card in mind, please note its position here, but don't tell me anything."
Point at the three piles and say, "It's customary now for the magician to ask you to indicate which pile your card is in, and then gather the piles so that the one you indicate is in the middle." Pause, and then say, "This isn't that trick. You may think about which pile your card is in, but don't point or say a word. If you like, try to communicate the information to me with brainwaves."
Gather the three piles, face up, from right to left. In the situation above, the pile with the 6♣ on top goes on top of the pile with the J♦, on top, and the pile with the 9♦ on top goes underneath those. Turn this packet face down, then deal the cards face up into three new piles from left to right. For the piles above, the second display looks like this:
Say, "At this point it's not unusual for the magician to ask you a second time to indicate which pile your card is in, and then gather the piles once more so that that pile is in the middle." Pause again, and say, "This isn't that trick. Again, feel free to note to yourself which pile your card is in, but this time don't try any of that brainwaves stuff. I must remain completely in the dark."
Gather up the three piles a second time, face up, from right to left. Turn this packet of fifteen cards face down, then deal the cards one more time, face up, into three new piles from left to right. For the last piles shown above, this third display will look like this:
"Would you be impressed if I could now identify your card?" you ask nonchalantly. Regardless of the answer—and brushing aside as necessary any suggestions that you might have a photographic memory, and can actually recall all of the original fifteen cards used—continue. "Alas, I can't do that. Remember, this isn't that trick." Act as if the trick is over, picking up and pocketing the set-aside deck.
Given that the three pre-switch stacks of cards are correctly coded, it's not difficult for Jeff to quickly check the final display, and figure out which card is decidedly "off-colour".
To see why, one must understand the relationship between (1) The arrangement of the cards in the three initial stacks (before or after one switch), and (2) The resulting display after all of the pickups and dealing.
We purposely hid most of the cards in the initial stacks earlier to obscure this connection. It's time to put all of our cards on the table. This is what the original three stacks at the very start above would have looked like, after the card switch, and before any gathering and dealing, had they been spread out for all to see:
Can you now guess what Jeff looks for when he sees the third and final display? It would be more fair to ask this question after showing the following display, in view of the order in which we earlier suggested picking them up.
(Such a display would be picked up in the oft-suggested "right, center, left order" so as to lead to the first display of three piles above after one round of dealing.) Compare that with the third display of three piles above and you should notice something significant! Jeff can now locate the three runs, and check each one as to whether it's correctly coded, knowing full well that exactly one of the three will fail. He then figures out how to correct that run, hence honing in on the switched card.
To make the before/after display relationship easier to follow, forget all about coding, and simply focus on the obvious patterns in these (error-free) piles:
These represent the original three stacks, regardless of card switching, displayed as columns. It doesn't matter in which order the piles are picked up the first time; just to keep it simple assume that it's right, center and left as in all of the subsequent pick-ups. After this first pick-up and new deal we have:
After the second pick-up and new deal we have:
After the third pick-up and new deal we have:
While this isn't perfect—the original three piles are only half way to being reconstructed—upon reflection, or more correctly upon rotation, the starting piles can be read off from here. The middle one is intact, but reversed, and the other two are close to being intact (and also reversed). Curiously, we seem to have a rotation with three fixed points!
Jeff first scans the middle pile bottom to top seeing if it's correctly coded (in which case the switched card is not there), or not (in which case he can tell which of these is the switched card). If this middle pile is okay, he moves on to consider the bottom four cards in the first pile together with the first card in the last pile. If those are okay---in the sense that there's no error detected---he looks at the top left card followed by (in reverse order) the top four cards of the last pile. In all cases he will be able to identify the one card that is out of place.
For the cards shown earlier on, in the third display of three piles, he'd find that the 5♤ is the odd man out: indeed looking at the zeroth display of three piles above, we can see that the first column (read from top to bottom) is not consistent (i.e., correctly coded) because of the black card in the second position.
The famous (though admittedly tedious) trick which we've modelled the above presentation on is generally done with three piles of seven (or nine) cards. We opted for five cards in each pile as the dealing is quicker, and it ties in with the "baby" linear binary code used, whose associated mental gymnastics can---with practice---can be done speedily. It turns out that such five by three arrays cycle back to their original configurations after six rounds of picking up and dealing, and even better, their initial arrangements can be deduced half way through this process, i.e., after only three rounds of picking up and dealing.
More ambitious readers may wish to try the effect using three piles of seven cards, together with the standard entry-level Hamming binary code which encodes four bits with three check bits. It's more work to find three appropriate runs of seven cards in a shuffled deck, however many more types are now available. It's also more work for an accomplice to decode and stop the one error known to be there after a single red/black (or parity) switch.
The good news is that such seven by three arrays cycle back to their original configurations after just four rounds of picking up and dealing, and even better, their initial arrangements can also be deduced half way through this process, i.e., after only two rounds of picking up and dealing.
Oddly enough, the situation for six by three arrays is not nearly as nice.
Colm Mulcahy (email@example.com) completed his PhD at Cornell in 1985, under Alex F.T.W. Rosenberg. He has been in the department of mathematics at Spelman College since 1988, and writing Card Colms---the only MAA columns to actively encourage lying on a regular basis---bi-monthly since October 2004. For more on mathematical card tricks, including a guide to topics explored in previous Card Colms, see http://www.spelman.edu/~colm/cards.html.
"Await help" is an anagram of "what a pile." "Theatrical sweep" and "telepathic wares" are anagrams of "await secret help."
Follow Colm on Twitter at @CardColm | <urn:uuid:55eb0079-4fc3-4775-b3e2-40b6536ae895> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maa.org/columns/colm/cardcolm201011.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956526 | 2,009 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Lahore, Saturday 29th December 2012. At least 16 people, mostly drug addicts seeking a fix, have died after drinking toxic cough syrup in Gujranwala, officials said Saturday.
The deaths started occurring Wednesday in the industrial city, some 70 kilometres north of Lahore, with most of the victims drug addicts who took the syrup for intoxication, police and doctors said.
“We have received 54 patients at hospital who said their condition deteriorated after taking cough syrups and 16 of them have died,” local hospital chief doctor Anwar Aman told AFP.
The victims were between 20 to 40 years old and a majority had a history of drug addiction, Aman said, adding that so far the culprit syrup has not been identified.
Senior police official Azam Mehr confirmed the toll and said samples of cough syrups available at local pharmacies have been collected and sent to laboratories.
“Police and health department have started inquiries and investigations into the deaths,” he added.
A report sent to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif by Health Secretary Arif Nadeem on Friday said the ‘killer drug’ had been identified as Dextromethorphan cough syrup manufactured and distributed by Lahore-based Ethical Laboratories (Pvt).
It said the deaths resembled those taking place last month.
At least 19 people, also said to be drug addicts, were killed in November in Lahore after consuming a cough syrup.
In the initial inquiry, Tyno cough syrup, manufactured and distributed by Reko Pharma of Lahore, was held responsible for the deaths that took place in Shahdara area of Lahore.
In the latest report, the health secretary said an excessive dose of active ingredient Dextromethorphan in the cough syrups had caused the death in the incidents this week and in November. | <urn:uuid:5a158660-a880-44de-8cb4-ab24b8fb7d2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maninblue1947.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/dawn-toxic-cough-syrup-kills-16-in-gujranwala-officials/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980741 | 382 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Like many Western countries, the UK has become substantially more ethnically and culturally diverse. The 2011 Census makes this crystal clear. Since 2001, the foreign-born population in England and Wales has jumped from 4.6 to 7.5m. At the same time, the ‘white British’ ethnic group shrank from 87.5-80% of the population.
What are the economic impacts of these deep demographic shifts, and what do they mean for cities? Certainly, population change has been most striking in urban areas: notably, London is now a ‘majority minority’ city for the first time in its history.
Urban factors may also affect how ‘diversity effects’ play out at firm level. Although the public debate is still focused on migrants, jobs and public services, a number of academic researchers are turning their attention to the wider impacts of immigration, minority communities and population diversity. Globally, there are now studies exploring effects on firms’ productivity, innovation, entrepreneurship, or trade patterns; and channels that may influence house prices, or the mix of local goods and services.
There’s been little parallel UK research to date – but in a new SERC Discussion Paper (supported by LLAKES) I explore the links between the composition of 6,000 English firms’ ‘top teams’ and company performance. Unusually, my data allows me to look at both ethnicity and gender mix.
What might we expect to see? Owners, partners and directors set firms strategic direction. So the make-up of a ‘top team’ might generate production externalities through diversity (a wider range of ideas/ experiences, helping problem solving) and/or ‘sameness’ (via specialist knowledge or better access to international markets). These channels may be balanced by internal downsides (lower trust) and external barriers (discrimination), so that overall effects on business performance are unclear.
Big cities might then amplify or dampen these channels. Agglomeration economies might help productivity, and firms may benefit from large, cosmopolitan customer markets. Alternatively, firms in cities might face more competition, or minority-headed businesses might face discrimination.
My results suggest a non-linear link between top team diversity and business performance, which is net positive for process innovation and net negative for turnover. Further tests on diverse and minority/female-headed firms find positive links for diverse top teams, negative for minority and female-only top teams.
Looking at the influence of urban areas, I find some evidence of complex amplifying and dampening effects. In London, for example, diverse firms are less likely to engage in process innovation; but overall, firms in bigger cities are more likely to.
My data make it hard to identify causal effects, so I interpret these results as pure correlations. The implication is that while diversity has internal and external benefits, penalties from being ‘too diverse’ probably result from external constraints. In turn, that suggests policymakers need to encourage corporate diversity, while taking discrimination more seriously.
In a companion paper on London firms, Neil Lee and I found strong links between firm-level diversity and innovation. This paper suggests diversity-innovation links for firms outside the capital too. Core city leaders should pay attention. | <urn:uuid:dd5bc28a-c73d-48df-b60b-46b3e44e8beb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://squareglasses.wordpress.com/tag/innovation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936455 | 668 | 2.265625 | 2 |
What could be more important than the success of our children? For some students, success seems just out of reach. We specialize in helping those students reach their goals.
Our aim is to provide brain-engaging educational tools to make learning and the school experience fun, exciting and successful for children. It is our company’s passion to make learning a valuable and memorable experience no matter what challenges a student may face. We pride ourselves on improving the learning process for children and providing teachers and parents with sound instructional strategies to do so.OUR GOALS
- Motivated, Enthusiastic Students
- Higher Student Achievement
- Competent Teachers
- Better, Faster Progress for Students
- Increased Parent Confidence | <urn:uuid:e05e1d5f-03ab-4e5d-a732-fa3c05017432> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.educlime.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93125 | 145 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Centennial High School (CHS) in Cool Springs TN will host an Automobile and Energy Fair this Saturday, Oct. 31 from 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the school as part of the school’s participation in an energy education program sponsored by the Energy Policy Office of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
The fair, hosted by the CHS ecology classes, is an educational outreach program intended to raise awareness of the importance of proper vehicle maintenance and the resulting reduction of resource usage and emissions.
Like most schools, Cool Springs Centennial High School students and parents drive a variety of types and ages of vehicles that have varying impacts on the environment. The fair will have on display new, high-mileage vehicles and alternatives to conventional vehicles such as hybrids and all-electric vehicles, and the appropriate personnel will be on hand to discuss these options with interested parties. Education on other viable transportation alternatives and energy-saving techniques for the home will also be offered.
The event is open to the general public in addition to CHS parents and students. It is intended as a community outreach effort to educate and increase awareness of the necessity of automobile efficiency; reducing emissions and fuel usage; alternative transportation options; and energy tips that reduce power usage.
School representatives attended an Energy Camp for teachers offered by ECD earlier this year and received a grant to fund the Automobile and Energy Fair activities. To learn more about Tennessee’s Energy Policy Office, visit their Web site at http://www.state.tn.us/ecd/CD_office_energy_policy.html. | <urn:uuid:0c6de31a-874e-4d96-b4a0-942a5b8036bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coolsprings.com/events/auto-energy-fair-saturday/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94671 | 329 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Volunteer disaster team heads to Indonesia
31 May 2006
Oregon, USA: US-based Northwest Medical Teams is sending highly trained medical volunteers to the island of Java on Tuesday to help care for thousands of survivors of Saturday's massive earthquake centered near the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta.
A registered nurse from Gig Harbor, WA, a Florida physician, a nurse from Illinois and a physician's assistant from Montana will depart on Tuesday for Jakarta. The team will spend three weeks in the earthquake zone. Each will bring medical supplies of critically needed antibiotics, surgical kits and bandages to care for up to 10,000 people.
Northwest Medical Teams currently has staff on the ground in Yogyakarta who are providing direct emergency medical funding to help the injured and the homeless. More than 5,100 people on the island of Java are now reported dead from the 6.3 magnitude quake. An additional 20,000 remain in desperate need of medical attention. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports there are more than 130,000 homeless--and 40 percent of those are children, who now face the added burden of heavy rains as they scavenge for food and shelter.
"Medical workers and medicines are urgently needed at this time," says Bas Vanderzalm, president of Northwest Medical Teams. "Every hour counts in this disaster. Staff reports indicate that hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of injured seeking medical attention. At one Yogyakarta hospital alone, 15,000 patients are waiting to be treated. We can't afford to wait. We need to respond now."
Northwest Medical Teams is working in the earthquake region with other aid groups and local churches to ensure that families' most urgent medical needs are met quickly and effectively. The organization is also requesting donations in any amount to fund the immediate medical and physical needs of the survivors of this disaster. | <urn:uuid:5c4cbdab-c1d7-4a16-bde2-ab11958df509> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/news-views/news/doc/volunteer-disaster-team-heads/print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961466 | 381 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Starting a business is tough enough, and when you're young and inexperienced, the challenge of building credibility is an added pressure. But you shouldn’t let your age get in the way.
"Being young and not having entrenched experience can actually be an advantage,” says Susan Gregg Koger, 26, who founded ModCloth, an online fashion retail company when she was 17. The company now has 240 employees and offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh. “Learning quickly and understanding what a Facebook user wants, what a Twitter user wants – there's something very valuable in being part of that demographic and user base," she says.
Still, it’s important to take a strategic approach to growing your business when you don’t have the power of experience on your side. Here are five tips to help young entrepreneurs build the kind of credibility needed to make their business a success.
1. Focus. Focus. Focus.
You've got a lot of ideas you're eager to try out. That's natural for many entrepreneurs in the early stages of business, but to build credibility, you need a very specific focus. "You never want to be good at 20 things," says Jared O'Toole, 25, founder of Under30CEO, a New York-based organization for young entrepreneurs. "There's always going to be someone who is better than you at each one of those things." Rather than strategizing about how to build the next billion-dollar company, focus on carving out a niche for yourself. "That focus builds your credibility," O'Toole says.
2. Build your business online.
The online world is an obvious place to begin building a track record as a business owner, says Neil Patel, 26, co-founder of KISSmetrics a San Francisco-based web-analytics company. “A web presence is cheap and it's a great way to show people what you are made of," he says. "As a young entrepreneur that's really important because age is not on your side."
Not only is blogging and using social media important in gaining exposure, reaching out to other businesses online is also key, adds Koger. "I did a ton of outreach in the beginning," she says, noting that she exchanged website links with other vintage retail entrepreneurs when blogging during her company's early years. "You never know who can help you."
3. Make time for face-time.
But Facebook, Twitter, and email will get you only so far. As part of a tech-obsessed generation, young entrepreneurs shouldn’t forget the value of face-to-face networking, says O'Toole. "You might have a good relationship with someone through email but they aren't going to offer that handshake that gets you to the next level with one of their buddies," he says. "You really have to make an effort to set up meetings, go to events and shake hands."
O'Toole suggests reaching out to people you admire in the industry and asking them to meet in person. When someone well-respected introduces you at an event, many people will assume you are doing something right, O'Toole says. "You don't need a hundred people, you just need to associate with a couple of people that everyone knows in the industry," he says. "That's your fast track to the next level."
Related: Top Five Social Media Mistakes
4. Deliver on your promises.
Building strong relationships with clients in the early stages of your business is also important in establishing credibility. Those are the people who will vouch for your company, so go the extra mile for them. For Aaron Batalion, chief technology officer and co-founder of LivingSocial, a Washington, D.C.-based daily deal company, those early relationships with merchants and customers were important in building the company's name. Batalion was 27 when he and his three co-founders started LivingSocial in 2007. Today they have 2,500 employees and 40 million members around the world. "Once you… go above and beyond what you said you would do, people see that and share it with their colleagues,” he says.
But while it's critical to make your customers happy, don't try to rope them in with lofty promises. "If you can't provide something don't promise it," says Patel. "Always under-promise and over-deliver."
5. Be yourself.
You may be tempted to make yourself seem older or conceal your age, but it’s an unnecessary and possibly detrimental precaution to take, says Patel. Instead, be confident and transparent. "If you can show that you're mature and smart for your age, why not show it?" he says.
Apologizing for your lack of experience and youth is also not a smart move, says Koger. "If you are working with someone you have to apologize for your age with, it's probably not a relationship you should be pursuing," she says.
Bottom line? Focus on what you're good at and age won't matter. "You build up credibility by being an expert in your field," Batalion says. "It's important to make sure the thing you're best at is what you're passionate about." | <urn:uuid:007d151f-fd5e-4f95-9c56-0aa443bc9b45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220119 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978526 | 1,090 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The last six months have been a one of a kind. Here's why. We started with the warmest spring on record, then we proceeded to have the 6th warmest summer on record. But, the spring-summer of 2010 (March-August) was the warmest on record! The average temperature was 59.7, beating the previous record of 58.8 set in 1991. We also had 5 days at 90 or better measured at the regional airport. The average is 2 days.
Top Stories in The "Front" Page
To submit a comment on this article, your email address is required. We respect your privacy and your email will not be visible to others nor will it be added to any email lists. | <urn:uuid:6d1a10ac-a147-4bf8-9071-dc31fb15791e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbng.com/weather/blog/Startling-Stats-102314434.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952177 | 149 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Stalin’s terror and purges of the 1930s discouraged high Soviet officials from putting a pen to paper let alone keeping personal records and above all diaries. The following excerpts are taken from the rare and unique diary assiduously kept by Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to London between 1932 and 1943. The diary, which contains close to 1,600 pages of dense handwritten and typed entries, minutely and candidly records his observations, conversations, and activities while in London.
A former Menshevik with Jewish ancestors, Maisky survived the terror until two weeks before Stalin’s death on March 5, 1953. At the height of the anticosmopolitan campaign he was arrested and charged with espionage, treason, and involvement in Zionist conspiracy and sentenced to six years in prison. Following his arrest, his private papers and diary were confiscated and deposited at the archives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, where I found them. Released in 1955 and cleared of all charges, he died in 1975.
Maisky was born in 1884. His early revolutionary activities led in 1902 to his expulsion from St. Petersburg University and exile first to Siberia and then to London, where he spent the years between 1912 and 1917. There he established close relations with the future commissars for foreign affairs, Georgii Chicherin and Maxim Litvinov. It was during his years in exile that Maisky mastered the English language, as well as British history and culture, and established a wide circle of friends from political, intellectual, and literary circles, among them George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and Beatrice Webb. His command of foreign languages, and his familiarity with the international scene, bolstered by his friendship with Litvinov, accounted for his swift rise in the Soviet diplomatic service after the revolution. Following short stretches in junior positions in London, Tokyo, and Helsinki, he returned to London as an ambassador in late 1932.
Maisky wrote his highly personal diary with an eye for posterity. He recorded conversations with five British prime ministers, including Ramsay MacDonald, Lloyd George, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, and Winston Churchill, as well as with other prominent British political figures such as Lord Halifax, Anthony Eden, Lord Beaverbrook, and John Maynard Keynes. The diary bears witness to the drift toward war throughout the 1930s, including the appeasement at Munich, the negotiations culminating in the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Churchill’s rise to power, the Battle of Britain, and the events leading to the wartime alliance following Hitler’s invasion of Russia in June 1941.
On 4 March all heads of diplomatic missions submitted their credentials to the new king, George VI. The procedure was simplified and carried out en masse. All the ambassadors and envoys were lined up in order of seniority in the …
Copyright © 2011 by Gabriel Gorodetsky | <urn:uuid:3b94253e-eb7c-43d8-a2ac-04c3f6de3887> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/apr/28/communist-and-king/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969034 | 585 | 2.59375 | 3 |
I am delighted to have secured this debate and to have the opportunity to exchange views with my honourable friend the Minister. I look forward to hearing my Rt Hon. Friend’s comments on the wider issues that I shall raise in this debate.
I would like to discuss the future of the Education Maintenance Allowance scheme and the effects cuts would cause to those young people who rely on it;
I will mention the fears of Charities and other NGOs who represent Further Education students and then tell you my experience of what happens to cuts made to EMA north of the border as an example to keep in mind of what could happen.
This Government has a record second to none in regards to funding of Further Education.
But firstly for those unaware let me give a brief explanation to those listening today who maybe unaware of what EMAs are and why they are such an essential part of further educational support.
EMAs are means-tested allowances of £10, £20 and £30 paid to 16-to-19 year olds who stay in education and come from families where annual household income is below £30,000.
This payment is conditional on attendance.
The policy intent of the EMA is to broaden participation and to improve the retention and attainment of young people of 16 to19 in post compulsory education.
EMAs were introduced nationally in September 2004 in order to reduce this country’s post-16 drop-out rate which was one of the worst in the developed world at the time.
Why we should support EMA and not cut it:
So what has been the success of the EMA scheme since 2004?
Well, research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that attainment at GCSE and A-level by recipients of EMA has risen by 40 % since its introduction, and by even more for those living in the most deprived neighbourhoods.
In addition, RCU Market Research Services carried out research on the national scheme and published a report called Evaluation of the EMA National Roll-out 2007, which concluded:
“that EMA has had a positive impact on the retention, achievement and success of certain groups of learners traditionally associated with lower levels of achievement such as: male learners; learners from minority ethnic groups; those with backgrounds of high deprivation and learners on lower level and vocational courses.”
Ipsos MORI published a report in 2008 called Evaluation of Extension of Education Maintenance Allowance to Entry-to-Employment and Programme Led Apprenticeships. This report reached similar conclusions to the RCU research, stating that:
“EMA is reducing NEET (those Not in Employment Education or Training) and also motivating learners to work harder.”
So as you can see the scheme has been widely recognised by independent authorities as being a success and the arguments by those opposite who oppose this scheme are easily silenced.
So it was with mixed emotions that I commend last week’s statement by the Secretary Of State announcing plans to spend £580 million on EMA in order to fund a further 80,000 places. However, he also mentioned that from 2011, poorer pupils who qualify for the EMA – a payment of between £10-£30 each week – will no longer receive an extra £100 for every six months they stay in education.
Charities and organization which represent young people recieving EMA are extremely concerned about recent announcements to scrap the EMA bonuses of £100. Especially when the evaluation evidence for the EMA bonus scheme found that around two-thirds of EMA recipients questioned agreed that the EMA bonus system made them work harder and the same proportion said they attended more lessons because of the EMA attendance bonus rule.
Furthermore, those who work closely with students on EMA inform me that EMA payments and bonuses are an important part of what allows them to continue in further education.
I would be interested to hear the Ministers views on this matter?
Unfortunately this is not the only fear regarding EMAs. There is a growing fear amongst all those interested in EMAs that when the school leaving age is raised to 18 in 2015 then the need for an incentive will become redundant. Could the Minister comment on this?
Could it be it is to do with the problem that they have been classed as an incentive rather than a welfare payment?
As receipt of an EMA does not affect other family benefits.
I believe that we the Government should consider the reclassification of EMAs as payments which are intended as ‘supportive’ rather than soley an ‘incentive’ in the same way JSA is viewed. Otherwise come 2015 when the school leaving age is raised to 18 they will become defunct as an incentive.
My Right Honourable Friend should take for example, those who are living independently at an early age who may need particular support. Access to financial support may be one of the main barriers to participation in education. In general, some of the key barriers include:
- Course fees
- Travel expenses
- The cost of food and other essential items
- Costs associated with their course or placement, such as equipment
- A lack of comprehensive advice and guidance for young people on their entitlement to benefits
For those living with families on low income the overall impact on family finances should be considered. In some instances young people have been discouraged from taking part in education.
This is why I believe that the EMA should be gauranteed beyond 2011.
I am aware that we live in a time when finances are very tight and budgets must be pruned. But I believe there is good example for why this should not be done in regards to EMAs.
As my Right Honourable Friend will be aware the EMA system is devolved and each administration has its own policy responsibility for EMA. But not all Administrations have been as considerate as this one in protecting students from low income families during the recession.
For example, this academic year has seen EMA from my own constituency in Glasgow North West, cut by 20%. My MSP colleague Bill Butler has informed me of the upsurge in constituents who are worse off due to the SNP led Administration’s 20% cut to the EMA budget and changes to the scheme’s eligibility criteria. These changes in criteria to the EMA in Scotland lowered the threshold for the £30 payment and axed the £10 and £20 payments.
These £20 and £10 payments may seem insignificant to some in this House but as a survey carried out by the NUS in 2008 found: 65% of participants on the highest EMA rate of £30 stated that they could not continue to study without EMA. As already stated this maintenance allowance removes some of the barriers to participation in education, and the £10 and £20 brackets are useful in this case, particularly in covering costs towards transport, food, etc.
Furthermore, there is unfortunately fears that progress made will be undone by the SNP administration enforced changes to the eligibility criteria cutting support for those receiving £10 and £20 and cutting the allowance to families with an income of between £20, 351 and £22, 403 with a child, who currently receive the maximum £30.
Figures released by the Scottish Government only last Wednesday on Education Maintenance Allowances show that the old system developed under Labour was successful. The figures showed 39,110 college students and school pupils from low-income families were taking up the allowance in 2007-8, meaning they were up from 38,760 in 2006-07.
The figures also showed that the allowance proved to help school pupils from low-income families stay on in education with 77% of school pupils on the EMA scheme for the full year completing the attendance rates and learning expectations set out for them compared to 70% in 2006-7. The percentage of those on the EMA for a full year, receiving £10 and £20 payments, completing the scheme increased to 82% (the figures for 2006-7 were 74% for those on £10 payments and £73% for those on £20 payments).
I know the Minister has no responsibility for the administration of EMA in Scotland, but I use this as an example of what could happen if support is removed from students on EMA. This view is supported by the National Union of Students for Scotland who believe that these cuts by the SNP administration to the EMA scheme will lead to almost 8,000 students dropping out this year.
Other party’s views:
As for the views of other parties in this House regarding EMA, we know where the SNP stand on EMAs, and their Westminster friends, the Conservatives, have views which are not too dissimilar.
The Leader of the Opposition has previously refused to give a “straight answer” on EMAs in an interview with Sky in 2007.
However, things looked briefly hopeful when two weeks ago he was pushed to answer whether he was committed to EMAs he responded “Yes”.
Yet it didn’t last long, only last week I am informed that when asked by the NUS’s Shane Chowen at an event on Further Education, the Rt. Hon Member for Havant, the Shadow Minister on this issue, responded its: “difficult to commit to it in the current climate”.
I guess this is not a surprise as previously the Conservative party and those on the right have held a highly negative opinion of EMAs.
Only last year the Shadow Minister for Schools, the Rt Hon Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, described EMAs in this House as a “fiasco”.
Shadow Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Member for Epsom and Ewell, has described them as doing “absolutely nothing to help solve this country’s chronic skills shortage.”
Furthermore, the Rt. Hon Member for Surrey Heath, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, has even called the EMA a “flop.”
They clearly haven’t done their homework or they would know the success that EMAs have been.
I feel it is also important to add the views of those who influence the policy of parties of the opposition.
Rightwing think-tanks have been even more disparaging about the EMA in the last year. Policy Exchange, a favorite think tank of the Leader of the Opposition, called for it to be axed in their publication ‘School Funding and Social Justice‘.
Not much justice for poor students here!
Reform, another favorite of the Tory front bench, advocate scrapping the scheme telling the Guardian last October that “this is not an effective way of spending over half a billion pounds of the education budget.”
Perhaps if they asked the students who receive EMAs, and their parents, then a different answer would be got?
But if we wanted a better barometer of the feelings of the parties of the opposition then it can be seen from the lack of support on that side of the House for my EDM on the issue.
Out of the over 80 signatories currently signed up, I have only 1 Conservative and 3 Liberal Democrats who have signed EDM 422.
I wonder which party really cares about the education of our young people?
In conclusion, I have to ask the following questions of all connected with the EMA – I know my Right Honourable Friend cannot answer for the opposition parties but when they read this they can write to me:
- Why would opposition parties want to stop people from low income families staying on in Education?
- What are their real motives and plans for EMA?
- Why can they not commit to the EMA scheme, no ifs no buts?
- What is the minister going to do to take in consideration the concerns of those student leaders concerned about the financial loss incurred by the removal of the bonuses in 2011?
- Does he agree with me that because of the importance of EMA to students from low income families, it should be supported beyond 2011?
I look forward to hearing from my Honourable Friend the Minister and correspondence from all opposition leaders. | <urn:uuid:2646b32f-2126-4169-b130-8fdf9bb9056c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.john-robertson.co.uk/2010/03/020110-adjournment-debate-the-future-of-the-ema/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971976 | 2,492 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Kelli Watkins has a gift for cake design and offered to share her techniques with us. The following is a step by step walk through by Kelli on how she made her “Furious Fowl” cake for the Threadcakes cake competition. Threadcakes is a competition put on by Threadless T-shirts to turn their shirt desings into delicious baked goods. In Kelli’s case, it was the Angry Birds inspired Furious Fowl.
Click through the photos in the gallery to see each step and learn how to create your own Angry Birds cake then take the techniques and make a cake for your favourite game.
Don’t forget to check out Kelli’s TWO entries in the Threadcakes contest and vote on your favourite.
Making pig’s head out of cake isn’t impossible. Here’s what you will need to get started. If you don’t have all of the items, be creative and improvise!
Cake Crafting Checklist:
Cake — 3-4 10-inch round cakes (or square, doesn’t matter since you will be carving them)
Fondant — around 5 pounds
Cake boards — 14 inches for the base and smaller ones for support
Rice cereal treats — 1 batch (or box if you buy pre-made)
Silicone jewel mould
Food colouring — the gel kind (or airbrush colour if you have an airbrush)
Piping gel – clear
Leaf cutter and veiner
Various cake crafting tools, brushes
A few days before you want to make the cake, you will need to make the crown and the pig ears so the fondant will have time to dry and harden. If you don’t have an airbrush you might want to dye the fondant as you make it before you assemble certain pieces of the cake for the best results.
Roll out a piece of fondant about 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick and trim into a rectangle, keeping in mind the size you would like for your crown. Using an Xacto knife or other similar tool, make several U-shaped cuts on one of the long edges of the rectangle to create the points of the crown. Use cake crafting tools or whatever you can find to make the decorative indentation. The end of a small paint brush works well for this.
When you are happy with your design, carefully lay the fondant onto a piece of waxed paper. Now, find something, anything, in your kitchen that you can wrap the fondant around to give the crown a round shape. I used a can of whey protein, about 4 inches wide. Tape the waxed paper to the object and let the crown dry. Once dry, airbrush or brush with gold sheen food coloring. Affix the jewels with piping gel.
Tip: If you can’t find gold sheen food colouring, just use yellow. Close enough!
Tip: Use a fondant/gumpaste mixture to decrease the drying time.
To make the ears, roll out a piece of fondant about 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick and cut out two triangles, keeping in mind the size you would like for your pig’s ears. Use a cake tool to make indentations in the fondant to resemble wrinkles in the inside of the pig’s ear. Curve the bottom points of the triangle in so they are touching and create somewhat of a cone shape. You may need to trim off some of the fondant to get the shape you want. Once you are happy with the shape, slip the ear onto something cone-shaped to dry. I made cones out of a cereal box and covered them with waxed paper.
Tip: Try making a pattern out of paper to get the proportions you want prior to cutting your fondant.
Tip: If you are not using an airbrush, be sure to colour your fondant beforehand.
Pre-made sugar jewels are available online but it is always more fun to make them yourself. If you do, you will need isomalt crystals and a silicone jewel mould. Using the medium-high setting, heat 1 cup of isomalt crystals and 1/3 cup of distilled water in a saucepan. Whisk until dissolved. Use a pastry brush and water to wash down the sides of the pan to prevent crystallisation.
Once the temperature reaches 280, you can add the food colouring. Start with one drop then add as needed. When the temperature reaches 315, remove from heat and fill your mould. The sugar will be VERY hot, be careful! After 30 minutes you can remove your jewels from the mould.
Tip: Use Cake Play isomalt sticks. They come in several colours and you can warm them up in the microwave.
Tip: If you don’t want to mess with isomalt, see what candy you can find at the supermarket. I am sure you could find something that would work.
The platter is easy. Dab some piping gel on your foil covered cake board. Roll out some fondant so it covers the cake board and trim off the excess. Use a cake tool to give it some detail. Use the extra fondant and roll into a “worm” to make the handles. Attach the handles to the platter with piping gel.
Airbrush with silver sheen food colouring or brush it on.
Or just use your mum’s silver platter and forget about the cake board and fondant all together.
Stack your cake layers. The tricky part here is that you have to carve the cake but you still need support so it doesn’t fall over. Keep this in mind when cutting your cake boards that go in between each layer.
Begin carving!! I started with the jaw and worked my way back. Make sure you carve out the facial details as well, such as the eye sockets. Keep a picture of the pig next to you when carving to use for reference.
You can see one of the cake boards in this shot.
Once you are happy with the shape of your piggy’s head, frost with buttercream.
Roll out a large piece of fondant about 1/4″ thick. Cover the pig’s head. It is ok if the snout isn’t covered. This can be added later.
Add wrinkles by gathering the fondant with your fingers. Cut pieces to cover his snout if you didn’t get it on the first go.
Cut a round piece of fondant and use a cake tool to create his nostrils. Use piping gel to affix the nose to the pig’s snout.
Small Pig Head
The small pig head is made out of rice cereal treats. Just squash a bunch of them together and mould it until you get the basic shape. Don’t worry about the ears. Those are made of fondant. Cover the head with fondant and use a cake tool to create the wrinkles.
Roll out a piece of fondant about 1/2″ thick and cut out two triangles. Use your hands to form the ears of the pig’s head and put them on the head with piping gell. As you did with the larger head, create the nose and attach. Cut two small ovals for the eye lids and use the cake tool to detail. Roll tiny bits of fondant in the palm of your hand to create warts and attach with piping gel. Use an Xacto or knife to cut his jaw open so you can add the apple.
Pig’s Head/ Ears
And now the ears. Position the pig’s ears and VERY carefully push the ears into the cake to help with stability. Add a piece of fondant around the bottom to help soften the edge. Add the warts and the eyelids and add any other details you think the pig needs.
Coloring the Pig’s Head
Airbrush the pig’s head as you see fit. If you don’t have an airbrush it is easier to colour the fondant before you roll it out rather than trying to brush the entire cake due to size.
Place the head on the platter. Once I had the shape of my cake, I cut the bottom cake board down so it was easier to hide. Add a piece of black fondant to the bottom jaw to represent the inside of his mouth. Place the small head on the platter. Fasten the crown to the pig’s head with piping gel.
Use a ball of fondant to mould the small apple. Poke a hole in the top and roll a tiny “worm” out of fondant for the stem. It’s probably easier to make the larger apple out of rice cereal treats and then cover with fondant, but you can use a giant ball of fondant as well. Once you have shaped the apples, use petal dust to colour.
Tip: If you don’t have petal dust, just colour your fondant or brush on food colouring.
Tip: Make sure not to make the apples too big. They need to fit in the pig’s mouth without breaking its jaw.
Slingshot and Leaves
Take some fondant and roll into a big worm for the slingshot. Make one end of the worm thicker so you can make a cut to form the “Y”. Use a cake tool to add detail and colour if needed. Roll out some green fondant about 1/4″ thick and cut several leaves. Use the leaf veiner to add detail (or use the cake tool if you don’t have a veiner).
Stick the apples into the piggies’ mouths and add the leafs at the base to cover the cake board.
Add the slingshot to the platter. Roll some worms out of red fondant and add to the slingshot. Take some light brown/tan coloured fondant and make the sling part of the sling shot. Don’t forget to make the pellets for the slingshot too!
Use a small amount of rice cereal treats to create an egg shape with a flat bottom. Remember, these birds will be sitting on the pig’s ear so be sure they are small enough so all three can fit. Cover each with blue fondant. Cut out wings, crown and a tail and attach with piping gel. Roll tiny ball of black fondant to make the eyes and a cone of yellow fondant to make the beak. Also use the yellow to make the feet. Just use three small worms to make each foot.
Red and Yellow Birds
Create the larger birds the same way you did the bluebirds. Use cake tools to add texture to the wings and use a dark petal dust for detail.
Don’t forget to shape some eggs out of fondant and add them to the platter. Use piping gel to keep the birds in their place.
All done! Time to cut the cake and celebrate! Click on to see some close ups of the finished product.
There you have it Caketaku! Special thanks to Kelli Watkins for her step-by-step walk through on how she made her “Furious Fowl” cake! If you ever attempt an Angry Birds cake or any other video game related cake after reading this guide make sure to send us some pictures! | <urn:uuid:f9ff41b5-ac44-461d-8522-9798e028bfa3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/08/how-to-build-your-own-angry-birds-cake/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90985 | 2,381 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Crime Magazine is about true crime: organized crime, celebrity crime, serial killers, corruption, sex crimes, capital punishment, prisons, assassinations, justice issues, crime books, crime films and crime studies.
These photos of whites torturing and lynching black men present a side of U.S. history that most history books ignore. They provide one of the many reasons why blacks (and Indians) hold a different view of U.S. history than whites. Notice the carnival atmosphere prevailing as these crowds of U.S. citizens watch the completely lawless and most inhumane executions imaginable.
In the U.S. we often pass judgment on people in other countries: Germany, for the Holocaust; Japan, for its war crimes in Asia; Stalin for his purges.
We conveniently forget our own past, however. A past in which we enslaved hundreds of thousands of blacks -- beating them, working them in inhumane conditions, and killing them.
There are many photographs, showing crowds of U.S. citizens attending the most inhumane butchery imaginable, and getting away with it. If you'll notice, they seem to be enjoying themselves.
This page is a reminder that the beast dwells within all of us -- Americans, Germans, Japanese, Russian and all other nationalities. The urge to participate in butchery is not unique to any nation -- it is a universal affliction.
If we forget that fact, the beast may prevail. | <urn:uuid:2a5d3363-4bcd-4509-9035-5300ac67aae6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crimemagazine.com/american-lynchings-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936061 | 298 | 2.34375 | 2 |
There is a really elegant cheat involved
Go to Weasners ETX site and look at the Sun as asteroid section
( I would give you an URL but PlOptus still blocks the site for me )
Basically, a very clever sod generated an asteroid that is an exact copy of earth, but out of phase by 1/2 a year
Thus, every time you "goto" it, the bl#&dy sun is in the way.
It still only tracks at sidereal rate, so minor tweaks are required to keep it centred, but its very accurate.
As to a solar finder, a bit of 25mm PVC pipe ( say 50mm to 75mm long ) and some masking tape is perfect.
Tape the pipe to yr OTA ( or use a fancy holder if you want )
Put masking tape over the front of the pipe with a pinhole in the middle.
Put masking tape over the rear
Once lined up on the sun, use a texta to draw a cross on the rear tape
where you see the projected image of the sun
Works perfectly and cost nothing. | <urn:uuid:40f4e24c-c22c-4a79-9c2f-1c3f8b889bb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=52243 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933757 | 235 | 1.75 | 2 |
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In this paper, we introduce two improvements on ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm: route optimization and individual variation. The first is an optimized implementation of ACO, by which the running time of ants routing is largely reduced. The results of the simulated experiments show that the improved algorithm not only reduces the number of routing in the ACO but also surpasses existing algorithms in performance in solving large-scale TSP problems. In the second improvement, we introduce individual variation to ACO, by which the ants have different routing strategies. Simulation results show that the speed of convergence of ACO algorithm could be enhanced greatly.
Date of Conference: 14-17 Oct. 2007 | <urn:uuid:fa7dfab8-4c3f-4164-bbe3-7224f963ad3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=4375636&contentType=Conference+Publications | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927163 | 140 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The Community Chest and Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area records contains reports (both annual and research), minutes,
by-laws, and other administrative materials that document the higher level functions of these non-profit organizations during
formative phases of their history, the late 1920s through the early 1960s.
The Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area, sometimes referred to as the Los Angeles Community Federation, was incorporated
on March 12, 1924, to serve "as a central bureau through which all funds for charity, relief, and welfare work may be solicited,
collected, held and disbursed." Shortly thereafter, on May 29th, 1924, the Los Angeles Community Chest was incorporated, with
the backing of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, after two years of conflict among leaders of private social service agencies,
many of whom feared that the future of welfare services in the region was likely to be controlled, through the Chest, by Los
Angeles' business community. The first 27 volunteer directors of the board of the Welfare Federation were philanthropic leading
citizens, with some experience in the administration of charitable institutions, who stepped forward at a critical moment
when other leadership had failed. On January 2nd, 1925, with an encouraging fund of $2.5 million raised in the Chest's first
campaign, the Welfare Federation began operations.
The use of archival materials for on-site research does not constitute permission from the California Social Welfare Archives
to publish them. Copyright has not been assigned to the California Social Welfare Archives, and the researcher is instructed
to obtain permission from the copyright holder to quote from or publish manuscripts in the CSWA's collections. | <urn:uuid:ac18a558-4e44-4813-9e57-8b8c794bb3dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt6z09s3k5/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949292 | 339 | 1.796875 | 2 |
By proposing that "every penny" of prospective budget surpluses be placed in a "reserve" to help ensure Social Security's long-term solvency, President Clinton has seized the budgetary high ground. He has also struck a responsive chord with the American people, who understand that something needs to be done today to avert fiscal meltdown when Boomers retire.
Unfortunately, the closer one examines the President's proposal, the less there is to it. The key word "reserve" consists of nothing more than a promise that, for now, future budget surpluses will not be reduced by changes in legislation. These surpluses in turn will pay back some of the national debt. While economists agree that this would make Social Security's future cost burden easier to bear, the public finds the argument hard to follow. There is, moreover, no commitment to pay back any specific sum, much less the vast sum that would be required to "save" Social Security.
In the end, a proposal so confusing and arbitrary may lose out in competition with plans to cut taxes or increase spending. Can't we think up something better?
Up For Grabs
Let's be clear: Paying down the national debt is sound policy. Not only would it increase future national income by increasing national savings, it would prefund some of Social Security's future costs. In effect, the President proposes to buy back bonds from the public now so that Treasury can resell those bonds to the public starting in 2012, the date the Social Security trust funds are due to begin running operating deficits.
To be sure, the President's proposal would not extend the "solvency" of Social Security beyond 2029. That solvency already presupposes the trust funds can cash in several trillion dollars of Treasury IOUs that are unbacked by any economic savings. The proposal would, however, ease the burden of Social Security on the rest of the budget in the years before bankruptcy.
Some cynics say that the President's proposal is just a ploy to keep Republicans from cutting taxes. But that's unfair: The proposal seeks to raise the bar for all policy initiatives, spending hikes as well as tax cuts, that would reduce currently projected budget surpluses.
The real problem is that merely promising to save what's left over when all other policies have been carried out does not itself constitute a policy. By definition, a surplus is the excess revenue not needed to meet prior commitments -- and so will always be up for grabs.
A Small But Real Step
OMB Director Franklin Raines insists that the President's proposal is the best we can do. There is, he says, no way to build a "lock box" for Social Security.
But of course there is. Congress could establish a new program -- following the President, let's call it the Social Security Reserve -- to which funds would be appropriated to pay down the national debt. These funds would be committed in advance, just like those for any other program. How much should be allocated to the Reserve? Congress could, of course, set the annual funding equal to currently projected budget surpluses. But why not do something at once more ambitious and easier to understand? Why not set it equal to the full amount of Social Security's trust-fund surpluses?
There's one hitch: Congress might prove no more willing to exclude the Reserve's investments from its deficit calculation than it is the investments of the Social Security trust funds. To ensure that it adds to national savings, the Reserve could be set up as a quasi-public entity that is not just off budget, but entirely outside of government. In this case, funds would be invested in private assets instead of buying back the national debt.
Alternatively, Congress could allocate funds pro rata to a system of personally owned worker retirement accounts. Such a reform, however, should ideally be part of an overall plan to create a fully funded Social Security system, and thus could take years to implement. In the meanwhile, let's not dismiss the lock box idea. It would be just a small step toward preparing for the coming age wave. But it would be a real step.
FACING FACTS AUTHORS: Neil Howe and Richard Jackson CONCORD COALITION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Martha Phillips | <urn:uuid:7da74ef8-7c74-40e8-9c4c-b3f76bc27505> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.concordcoalition.org/print/publications/facing-facts/1998/0210/how-lock-surplus | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945962 | 873 | 1.898438 | 2 |
New adventures in digital painting: artists who are transforming brushworked art
- — 30 September, 2010 13:29
If you thought digital painting was purely the preserve of dodgy fantasy art involving clichéd depictions of elves and dragons, think again. A wave of artists is harnessing technological improvements and frankly ridiculous levels of talent to transform the medium, creating works that combine the richness and human feel of painting with a slickness that could only be digital.
It’s easy to see the appeal: “I like the flexibility,” explains Sam Gilbey. “I can decide in a moment if I want to try a different technique, and if it works, great, but if it doesn’t, I can go back to where I was without having to redo my artwork from scratch.” He adds that digital painting is mess-free.
However, digital painting has long been a niche technique. The fact that Photoshop – the key package of most creatives – had only basic tools meant that many simply never got around to experimenting with it, while the clumsy efforts that crowd many fantasy art sites did nothing to aid digital painting’s reputation.
All that is set to change. Over the years, painting packages such as ArtRage and Corel Painter have developed into powerful tools and attracted a dedicated following.
Painter in particular offers incredibly sophisticated naturalistic painting tools and features such as pressure sensitivity, which allows creatives to use the styli of graphics tablets as though they were paintbrushes. Many traditional painters have crossed the fence to digital, lured by the increasing responsiveness of graphics tools.
Now, the new Photoshop CS5 boasts vastly improved painting capabilities, while the iPad is touted as a portable, tactile canvas, with a raft of high-end painting apps available. Prepare yourself for an explosion of work in the next couple of years as more digital artists start experimenting.
Digital painting is uniquely demanding, requiring advanced drawing, composition and colouring – essentially fine-art skills – as well as the technical savvy to get the effects right. Get it wrong and it can be really dire; get it right and it’s totally sublime. We spoke to five artists who lead the field today – with not an elf or a dragon in sight. | <urn:uuid:1a93291c-e689-4578-bb4e-72897e6894e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/362803/new_adventures_digital_painting_artists_who_transforming_brushworked_art/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968495 | 466 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Poor, poor Siri. Apple’s (AAPL) virtual personal assistant was welcomed with open arms when it was unveiled last year, and the new feature was also credited with being the driving force behind Apple’s record iPhone 4S sales. But in tech, new features quickly lose their luster and in recent months, complaints surrounding Siri have mounted. Several lawsuits have even been filed against Apple claiming that its Siri commercials are “misleading and deceptive” when they portray the virtual assistant as being easy to use and quick to respond. There is no question that Apple’s personal assistant needs work — I’ve had my fair share of disagreements with Siri (NSFW) — but an article titled “The Stupidity of Computers” published in a recent issue of n+1 magazine helps explain just how impressive Siri really is.
Media and analyst coverage of Siri has become increasingly critical these past few months. Articles along the lines of The New York Times’s recent piece “With Apple’s Siri, a Romance Gone Sour” are growing increasingly more common, and even notorious Apple fanalyst Gene Munster gave Siri a D grade following an exhaustive series of tests he and his team conducted last month.
When Apple responds to lawsuits with suggestions like if you don’t like it buy a different phone, it’s easy to be rubbed the wrong way. Apple’s frustration is understandable, however, when you consider just how much work goes into products like Siri and the new voice search features introduced in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Forget about how spectacularly complicated it is for a device to translate the human voice into a language computers understand — the process of taking those questions and commands, and then acting on them is a feat of immense proportions.
From n+1′s article:
Computers are near-omnipotent cauldrons of processing power, but they’re also stupid. They are the undisputed chess champions of the world, but they can’t understand a simple English conversation. IBM’s Watson supercomputer defeated two top Jeopardy! players last year, but for the clue “What grasshoppers eat,” Watson answered: “Kosher.” For all the data he could access within a fraction of a second—one of the greatest corpuses ever assembled—Watson looked awfully dumb.
Author David Auerbach goes on to describe just how complicated personal computing is, and he focuses at great length on search and the complexities involved with what he describes as “the problem of logically representing language.”
The problem was twofold. First, a program had to resolve the ambiguity inherent in a sentence’s syntax and semantics. Take the fairly simple sentence “I will go to the store if you do.” For an English speaker, this sentence is unambiguous. It means, “I will go to the store only if you go with me (at the same time).” But to a computer it may be confusing: does it mean that I will go to the store (how many times? and which store do I mean?) if you ever, in general (or habitually), go to the store, or just if you go to the store right now, with me? This is partly a problem with the word if, which can be restrictive in different ways in different situations, and possibly with the concept of the store, but there are lots of words like if and lots of concepts like the store, and many situations of far greater ambiguity: uncertain referents, unclear contexts, bizarre idioms. Symbolic logic cannot admit such ambiguities: they must be spelled out explicitly in the translation from language to logic, and computers can’t figure out the complex, ornate, illogical rules of that translation on their own.
Second, a program analyzing natural language must determine what state of affairs that sentence represents in the world, or, to put it another way, its meaning. And this reveals the larger problem: what is the relation of language to the world? In everyday life, people finesse this issue. No one is too concerned with exactly how much hair a man has to lose before he is bald. If he looks bald, he is. Even the legal profession can address linguistic confusion on an ad hoc basis, if need be. But when reality must be represented in language with no ambiguity (or with precisely delineated ambiguity, which is even harder), we’re stuck with the messiest parts of the problem.
Auerbach’s piece is a fantastic read, and is highly recommended to anyone looking for some insight into just how complicated a problem companies like Apple and Google (GOOG) are looking to solve. And, of course, Auerbach only scratches the surface.
Personally, I don’t use Siri very often and when I do use it, I see mixed results. Sometimes Siri doesn’t understand my question or command, sometimes it jumbles words, and sometimes it gets stuck processing my query indefinitely until I cancel my request. Most times though, Siri gives me exactly what I’m looking for. And the truth about Siri is that this is just the beginning.
Apple’s Siri personal assistant and Google’s voice search will continue to evolve and improve, and technologies like these — as well as motion control like the tech touted by Leap Motion — will change the way we interact with smartphones, computers and eventually household gadgets, cars and more. The technology is painfully complex and growing pains are inevitable, but the endgame is a digital revolution.
Article by Zach Epstein (c) BGR: The Three Biggest Letters In Tech - Read full story here. | <urn:uuid:28d087f1-748a-4f44-8e66-cdb92dae5e96> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newstech24.com/2012/07/the-truth-about-siri/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95662 | 1,190 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The front servicable Led Signs are designed to have certain advantages over the traditional type sign. Led signs run off 5V DC within the sign which saves energy and raises efficiency of power comsuption. The compostion of led signa.Modules- Main makeup of the sign where the LEDS are placed
in a formation to light up the display according to the information programmed into the sign. The moduels that are used for full outdoor signs are fully enclosed and individual. This allows
the modules to be replaced easily and without any extra coating,slicon, or addtions to ensure its outdooor usability.b. Power Supply- The pwer supply takes in the 110Vor220V
into the sign and converts it to 5V to be used within the sign Very efficient lower power consuption.c. Controller- Main unit that controls signals and information sent the LEDs.
The controller also serves the memory of the sign and is the most hgih tech/expensive unit inside the sign.d. Automated Fans- Fans that are set to turn on at a specific
temperature. Fans are necessary to prevent overheating in hotter areas. The fans are needed to allow air flow within the sign.e. Wires connecting power and ribbon cables connecting signals
between moduels-- These wires are used to connect the electricity and data being sent within the sign.
The fornt serviceable sign is made up of these basic electrical components. With any electronics being used outside there is always the possibility for a component to go bad. With propwer diagosis and instructions on how to replace the parts it is a very easy process to get inside the sign. | <urn:uuid:5518e295-2141-4f82-a3ce-e979d7657f3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.krsled.com/Front_service_Led_Signs.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915502 | 345 | 2.40625 | 2 |
One of Taiwan's best night markets
The Miaokou Night Market 廟口夜市, is a very famous and popular night market in Taiwan, to be precise in Keelung, which is the biggest city on the northern coast of the island. The name "miaokou" means "temple's entrance". That's because the market is located near the famous Dianji temple (奠濟宮). Personally this is really one of the best night markets I've seen in Taiwan so far and I'd not hesitate to visit it again. Most of the food there is from the nearby sea, because Keelung has a big harbor. Besides the famous seafood, the market offers a plenty of other dishes, some of them are very unique and amazingly tasty.
MY IMPRESSION: This market is unique and you see that already from afar, when those famous lanterns appear and you know you're at the place to be. The crowds are drawn to this market and the closer you are, the bigger they get. What I like is the main alley, which is nicely decorated with yellow glowing lanterns and has a unique to mark the food stalls. Above each is a signboard with information in multiple languages (Chinese, Japanese and English), so you can easily read what kind of food awaits you there. Same as at other popular tourist night markets (such as the one in Shilin), there are masses of people everywhere, which means you have to push your way forward from stall to stall. Although they call the customers to eat at their stall, they're happy if you finish fast and leave, so that more and more people can eat, too. Maybe that's the reason, that the chairs are small and uncomfortable. Well, some stalls don't even offer chairs, you just buy your snack and eat it standing. Don't expect too much comfort, this is not Côte d'Azur.
WHAT KIND OF FOOD IS COMMON: The food mostly comes from the nearby sea and is very fresh and delicious. For those, who love this kind of food, Miaokou is food paradise. You have all kinds of fish, crabs and other inhabitants of the sea offered in cooked and fried versions. But there are also many other kinds of foods, such as glutinous rice 油飯 (yóufàn), salty crispy chicken
鹽酥雞(yánsūijī), fried sandwich 營養三明治 (yíngyǎng sānmíngzhì), one bite sausage
一口香腸(yīkǒu xiāngcháng), pao pao ice
泡泡冰(pàopàobīng), Taiwanese tempura 天婦羅 (tiānfùluō), non-fried spring rolls 潤餅卷 (rùnbǐngjuàn) and many more. Let me show you some of these foods and the atmosphere in this famous night market.
MUST-TRY FOOD AT MIAOKOU NIGHT MARKET: You need to try the fried sandwich, a dish invented in Keelung and one of my favorite little eats. I also recommend you the one-bite sausage and the pao pao ice. These three dishes represent the quintessential Miaokou experience.
Common are these metal tables with small chairs. Don't expect too much comfort.
POPULAR SNACK: GLUTINOUS RICE 油飯
The first dish we tried was glutinous rice 油飯 together with a soup 綜合羹湯 (zònghé gēngtāng). The rice was not bad, but not so special. The soup was very delicious, I loved it.
POPULAR SNACK: SALTY CRISPY CHICKEN 鹽酥雞
This stall sells all kinds of fried food, from meat (usually chicken) to vegetables. The fried food is called 鹽酥雞 in Chinese, which actually means salty crispy chicken, but it became a common name for all fried foods with the same way of cooking and similar flavor.
POPULAR SNACK: FRIED SANDWICH 營養三明治
This is a famous stall that sells fried sandwiches called 營養三明治 in Chinese. They first fry the bread, then cut it open and put tomatoes, pickled cucumbers, ham, stewed eggs and lots of mayonnaise inside. You'd be amazed how fast they do it.
My girlfriend is getting our sandwich. Excited!
POPULAR SNACK: ONE BITE SAUSAGE 一口香腸
This small sausage is called 一口香腸 in Chinese, which means one bite sausage. It reminded me of the yummy sausage I had in Wulai, the taste is similar, but the size is smaller.
POPULAR DESSERT: PAO PAO ICE 泡泡冰
This stall sells a famous Taiwanese ice cream called 泡泡冰 in Chinese ("pao pao ice" or bubble ice). They put ingredients in a big bowl, add the flavor you want and then use a spoon to mix everything until the ice is full of tiny bubbles. I tell you, they mix so fast, it looks as if they're in a factory.
We ordered kiwi flavored pao pao ice and it was really soooooo delicious. If you ever go to Miaokou, you need to try this ice cream. Read more about it here>>
VARIOUS SEAFOOD DELIGHTS:
This hawker sells big octopuses with tentacles. I haven't tried this one.
If you are brave enough, you can try a blowfish. Somehow it reminds me of the famous Porky the Pig from Wulai, don't you think? I shall name it "Blowy the Fish".
These are so called butter crabs.
POPULAR SNACK: OYSTER OMELETTE 蚵仔煎
POPULAR SNACK: RABBIT SOUP
POPULAR SNACK: TAIWANESE SPRING ROLLS 潤餅卷
This is a kind of a spring roll, but it's not fried. Taiwanese call it 潤餅卷 (rùnbǐngjuàn), which means a moist rice cake roll. It can be filled with meat and vegetables. It's similar to the Malaysian popiah.
POPULAR SNACK: CHICKEN FEET 雞腳
POPULAR SNACK: CHICKEN FEET 雞腳
Those chicken feet were very yummy. We ordered some for home. Goes well with beer.
HOW TO FIND MIAOKOU NIGHT MARKET? CHECK MY MAP:
Go to from the Keelung Main station and walk along the water, then turn right to the wide Aiyi Road and then left to the Rensan road 仁三路 and walk a little more and you're there. You'll need about 15-20min to reach the market (Click on photo for Google Map).
IN CONCLUSION: This is definitely one of the finest tourist night markets in Taiwan. There's so much I haven't tried, but from what I've seen, there are many tasty dishes waiting for me, I have a lot to explore. But from what I've tried, I highly recommend the fried sandwich, which is my favorite dish there, the one bite sausage, the spring rolls and the pao pao ice. I think trying the seafood is a must and I heard the Taiwanese tempura is really delicious there. Buy a portion of chicken feet for home, they're a great snack for an easygoing evening. This night market is probably the best thing in Keelung, so don't miss it, if you find yourself at Taiwan's northern coast. | <urn:uuid:becdc37f-f76b-4ac6-a186-c6499b6b95e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mykafkaesquelife.blogspot.com/2010/05/miaokou-night-market-keelung.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953185 | 1,738 | 1.5 | 2 |
What is in this article?:
- Pecan industry cracking health food market
- Pecans as a health food
- In spite of continuing drought conditions across much of the nation, agricultural forecasters predict the pecan industry will recover some from last year. Production is expected to rise and prices are expected to remain strong, fueled in part by a continuing high demand for pecans in China.
With the holidays closing in and pecan harvest well underway in most pecan producing states, USDA and the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC) are predicting a good year for the U.S. pecan industry. Export demand remains high while domestic consumption shows signs of growth as more consumers turn to the nut as a high value health food.
U.S. commercial pecan production was reported in 14 states last year, and overall the United States produces more than 80 percent of the world’s pecans. Of that, three-fourths of U.S. pecans were produced in the states of Georgia (102 million pounds), New Mexico (61 million pounds) and Texas (32 million pounds). The total U.S. pecan crop was valued at about $550 million, down considerably from 2010 because of extreme drought conditions. In 2010, U.S. pecan production was 293.7 million pounds and was valued at $674.8 million.
(For more, see: California pecan industry the 'comeback kid')
In addition to commercial crop pecans, according to the 2008 Organic Production Survey (NASS 2010), the United States had 46 farms certified for organic pecan production. Those farms raised 1.3 million pounds of pecans and 45 farms reported sales totaling $2.3 million.
In spite of continuing drought conditions across much of the nation, agricultural forecasters predict the pecan industry will recover some from last year. Production is expected to rise and prices are expected to remain strong, fueled in part by a continuing high demand for pecans in China. U.S. fresh/dried pecan 2010-11 exports were valued at $300.5 million for a total of 157.1 million pounds sold. This represents substantial increases over 2006-07 exports levels, which were 70.1 million pounds valued at $172.8 million.
China represents the fastest-growing export market, with 2010 U.S. pecan export volumes exceeding 3,008 metric tons.
The marketing season for U.S.-grown pecans begin in October and harvesting is complete by the end of March. Of tree nut consumption in the United States, pecans rank third behind almonds and English walnuts. Interestingly, pecan per capita consumption has held nearly constant over the past several decades, ranging from 0.38 pounds in 1968 to 0.45 pounds consumed per person in 2009. | <urn:uuid:81bd57bf-a98b-42a7-8190-fac20cda9ca9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westernfarmpress.com/tree-nuts/pecan-industry-cracking-health-food-market | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95071 | 585 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Friday will mark two years since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the worst accidental oil spill in history. One would hope that an accident like this would lead to monumental changes in safety regulations, but sadly that is not the case.
Today, we released a report card that grades the failures of the United States government and the oil and gas industry after the oil spill.
“Politics continues to triumph over common sense. It’s outrageous that so little progress has been made to make offshore drilling safer,” said Jacqueline Savitz, our senior campaign director. “It appears that the government has done little more than require actions that were already being done voluntarily, even on the ill-fated rig – it’s as if they are letting the industry regulate itself.”
We gave the grades based on how well the government and industry followed recommendations they were given after the spill. They received “F” grades in most of the categories, but in three instances the government did make small but ultimately unsatisfactory efforts, earning “D” grades.
Overall, “both industry and government get ‘F’s’,” Savitz said. “Without stronger regulations, and better inspection and enforcement, oil companies will continue to put profits over safety and there will be more problems. It’s not a matter of whether there will be another oil spill, but when.”
For more information about Oceana’s campaign to stop new offshore drilling, please visit www.stopthedrill.org.
- Oceana's Michael LeVine Testifies Against a Reckless Offshore Oil Bill Posted Wed, June 12, 2013
- Puffins Are Struggling with Warming Waters Posted Thu, June 13, 2013
- Scottish Government Welcomes New Wind Subsidies! Posted Thu, June 13, 2013
- Oceana Testifies in Support of MA Seafood Labeling Bills Posted Fri, June 14, 2013
- Meet the Faces of the Ocean Hero Junior Awards! Posted Fri, June 14, 2013 | <urn:uuid:7530acae-b114-4ca0-b3a2-68520041eb56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oceana.org/es/blog/2012/04/government-fails-on-offshore-drilling-report-card | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958596 | 439 | 2.15625 | 2 |
In this section
Are you looking for new ways to promote and support active living, healthy eating or breastfeeding where you live, work or play? By following a few simple steps, you can create your own “customized action plan” built on the same goals, strategies and activities that form the foundation for the Nebraska Physical Activity and Nutrition State Plan.
It’s a simple process:
- Choose your interest area(s) and setting(s) for action
- Select from evidence-based strategies proven to work
- Choose an activity (or more than one) you want to implement
- Name your plan so you can save it and return to it later
Once you make your selections, the website will generate a brief guide for each selected activity, identifying the related goal and strategy, and providing you with a list of potential partners, resources, and success measures to assist you in your work.
Use this “customization tool” to meet your unique needs. Focus on one activity or build a more complex plan - it’s all up to you. The more you narrow your selections, the more targeted your plan will be. If you are interested in several different areas or settings, you might want to build a separate plan for each, in order to make them easier to use and share with others.
Now, pick your passion and go for it! We’re excited to have you on the team. | <urn:uuid:1abc51a0-4c4b-41b0-9dbf-e4cc12c53cc2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.partnersnhealth.org/index.php?option=com_users&view=login&Itemid=294 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925771 | 295 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The German peace movement: an American student's view
Recent articles in the popular American press have tended to give the impression that the current peace movement in West Germany is anti-American and inspired by the Communist Party under the control of the Soviet Union. There have even been hints that the movement is tainted by a resurgence of the old German nationalism that brought about World Wars I and II. It sometimes seems that the authors of these articles wish to conjure up every possible negative image or association that comes up in connection with the words ''German'' and ''antiwar protesters'' in order to discredit the very legitimate and exciting movement that has been growing so rapidly in Germany.Skip to next paragraph
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My encounters with Germans during the last year, when I was studying in Freiburg, were overwhelmingly positive; far from sensing any significant anti-Americanism among the German people, I was impressed by how friendly most Germans are to Americans, and how eager they are to speak English and learn about our country. One of my most moving memories is of an older woman who broke into tears while she was telling me about her gratitude to Americans for the CARE packages they sent to Germany after World War II. While the younger people in Germany do not remember the war, they learn about it in school, and they too are aware of and grateful for the help the citizens of the United States furnished them in a time of desperate need.
What is bothering the Germans right now is not the Americans. It is the American government. There was great concern in West Germany last year when Ronald Reagan was elected, and Mr. Reagan has done nothing to diminish it. To understand the Germans' concern one must remember that Germany is one of the countries most ravaged by war in the 20th century.
After World War II German leaders pledged that no war would ever again start on German soil. The leaders of the German peace movement remember this pledge, and they intend to hold West Germany's leaders to it.
Moreover, many Germans remember with shame the virtual lack of resistance to Hitler during the Nazi period. Young people ask their parents what they were doing from 1933 to 1945, and it can be a very embarrassing question, since usually the parents were doing nothing, or at least nothing they could be proud of. Because of this it is not surprising that there is a certain lack of understanding between the younger and older generations.
The German peace movement is in no way dependent on the Soviet Union for support, although there are Communists in it. But these Communists are few in number and insignificant in proportion to the total movement. The DKP (German Communist Party) never gets more than 1 or 2 percent of the vote in national elections, and it is safe to say that the German populace is decidedly anti-Communist. The West Germans have no reason to love the Soviet Union, and they know perfectly well the drawbacks of the system that 20 million of their countrymen across the border in East Germany live under.
The extraordinarily strong importance of religious beliefs in German politics has almost totally escaped notice in the US. Germany is an overwhelmingly Christian country, and the Germans take their religion seriously. The strength of the peace movement is due in large part to the support it has received from organized religious groups. These groups have increasingly called attention to the Fifth Commandment and the Sermon on the Mount in accusing national and international leaders of ignoring the basic tenets of a religion they pretend to believe in.
If a war breaks out, the Germans know that they will be the first to be engulfed in and destroyed by it. Ronald Reagan can talk about the possibility of a limited nuclear war, but the Germans can't because for them any nuclear war whatsoever means apocalypse.
Mr. Reagan ordered the production of neutron warheads after Secretary of State Haig assured the Germans that this was not in the offing. At the same time , Germans were told to follow the American example and spend less on social programs and more on the military. (Helmut Schmidt appropriately reminded President Reagan that the US has no mandatory military service, while Germans have been required to serve in the German army - and thus to serve NATO - for over 25 years.)
Germans are also disappointed by the failure of SALT II. If the world can already be destroyed many times over by both sides, they ask themselves, why are more nuclear weapons needed?
The unrest is healthy and democratic, since it represents the desire of a people to avert nuclear war. The wonder is not that there are protests and demonstrations in Germany but that there are not more in America. | <urn:uuid:56dbf6d0-1e09-4685-b29c-fae5f3bd1422> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0210/021024.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974322 | 926 | 2.359375 | 2 |
East Asian Art
Reeds and GeeseMade in Korea, Asia
Kim Jin-Woo, Korean, 1883 - 1950
Ink and color on silk; mounted as a twelve-fold screen
Currently not on view
2001-86-1Purchased with the Hollis Family Foundation Fund and the Henry B. Keep Fund, 2001
LabelNine of the twelve panels of this screen contain a distinctive poetic reference to geese. According to the artist's inscription on the last panel, he gave the screen to an elderly friend as a gift. The Korean pronunciation of the characters for "reed" and "old man" are the same (no), as are the words for "geese" and "comfort" (ahn); thus, traditional Korean paintings of reeds and geese represent a wish for a peaceful life in later years. | <urn:uuid:d27b70f1-af2d-47b5-b7a3-ee5ad9753e75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/106092.html?mulR=22250%7C2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926024 | 173 | 2.375 | 2 |
One method of dealing with a potentially endogenous variable (a right hand side regressor that doesn't meet the orthogonality condition - like bike lanes in a biking regression) is to find some other source of variation that is correlated with the potentially endogenous variable (bike lanes) but uncorrelated with the unexplained variation in the dependent variable (bike riders). That data is then used to 'instrument' the potentially endogenous variable - basically to use this new source of 'clean' variation to identify the true causal effect.
In the bike lane example we would need something that is correlated with the amount of bike lanes but uncorrelated with the unexplained variation in biking. I can't think of anything good but you might. FOr example, suppose some cities have bike lobbies that successfully get more bike lanes - well the presence of, and political power of, these lobbies is probably a function of the number of bike riders so it doesn't work as an instrument.
Another method is to find a natural experiment. These are usually not as natural as we would like but the approach is probably more promising in this case - find some exogenous change in bike lanes (a sudden expansion of lane provision due to some unexpected surplus budget in the dept. of transport, for example) and see if such a sudden increase in bike lanes leads to a sudden increase in bikers.
Anyway, my point below is that it seems pretty obvious that bike lanes will lead to more biking, but it is devilishly hard to show it convincingly in the data.
You may ask, if it is so obvious, why do we need to show it statistically? Well, it is important because there will always be questions about how much money to devote to bike infrastructure. The answer to this question relies critically on the biking response to bike infrastructure. If your goal is to increase biking you need to know by how much riding increases with new bike lane miles. In econo-speak, you need to know the bike lane mile elasticity of bike ridership.
So send your good ideas along and if any seem promising, we'll see about testing them. | <urn:uuid:0d6b67e1-116a-437f-8576-cd9d7745d756> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oregonecon.blogspot.com/2012/04/note-about-finding-causality-in-data.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961503 | 433 | 1.734375 | 2 |
San Francisco hopes a pilot program linking parking spaces in the city with sophisticated metering will help reduce the amount of time drivers spend looking for parking, while unclogging streets and reducing auto emissions.
The project won't increase the parking supply - as the city's long-standing policy is to reduce reliance on cars - but the goal is to cut the time it takes drivers to find parking by micromanaging spaces.
"As SFpark is envisioned, parking rates would be adjusted based on time of day, day of week and duration of stay. People would be able to pay not just with coins, but with credit cards, prepaid debit cards and even by cell phone. If a meter is set to expire, a text message could be sent to the driver. More time could be purchased remotely."
"People also would be able to check parking availability before arriving at their destination via the Internet, handheld devices such as BlackBerrys, or cell phone. Sensors would be embedded in the asphalt to keep track of when a parking spot is empty."
"The technology isn't new, but San Francisco would be the first American city to apply it on such a broad scale. That's one reason federal transportation authorities took an interest and decided to help pay for the experiment." The federal government will be paying $18 million of the project's $23 million budget.
"'The idea is to give people more choice, more convenience and to reduce congestion,' said Mayor Gavin Newsom."
Thanks to Andy J. Wang | <urn:uuid:4f1458f3-f7e4-4550-ace3-220626cdfb36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.planetizen.com/comment/13168 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96503 | 305 | 2.59375 | 3 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: December 14, 1995 Christine Baker (415) 557-1304
SAN FRANCISCO - The California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation is pleased to announce that it is developing a comprehensive listing of workers' compensation and health and safety related courses offered by state colleges, universities and community colleges to be posted on the Internet.
The first of its kind, this service will provide the name of the college or university, information on degree and certification programs, course names and descriptions, schedule of classes, tuition costs (if any), and referrals and/or instructions on how to obtain additional information. In addition, the Commission will also provide a compendium of this data base information in printed form for those members of the public without access to the Internet.
The program will be updated each semester to incorporate additions to and changes in classes and schedules.
The Commission anticipates that this project will be up and running for Winter and Spring 1996 courses. This course listing will be available on the Commission page under the Workers' Compensation and the Division of Occupation Safety and Health categories of the DIR (Department of Industrial Relations) Home Page at Internet address www.dir.ca.gov.
The Commission, created by the workers' compensation reform legislation of 1993, is charged with overseeing the health and safety and workers' compensation systems in California and recommending administrative or legislative modifications to improve their operation. The Commission was established to conduct a continuing examination of the workers' compensation system and of the state's activities to prevent industrial injuries and occupational diseases and to examine those programs in other states.
Further information on this project may be obtained by writing to Christine Baker, Executive Officer, Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation, 30 Van Ness Avenue, Room 2122, San Francisco, California 94102, by calling (415) 557-1304, or by faxing a request to (415) 557-1385. | <urn:uuid:93a90461-a9b9-46bf-a1ba-742eaac65d24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dir.ca.gov/Chswc/info_bulletins/Dec_14_95.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 | 0.918559 | 399 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Figure 6. Soil "creep," or downslope movement of soil on a slope, will cause tree trunks to tilt toward the base of the slope. As a moving tree continues to grow, the trunk will curve as the tree tries to right itself and grow toward the sun. Landslides will also cause tree trunks to become curved.
Last updated on October 6, 2005 | <urn:uuid:a19b2ac9-8f34-45a6-bb1f-b49629f0171d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.state.me.us/doc/nrimc/mgs/explore/hazards/landslide/facts/slide-6.htm | 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 | 0.970393 | 80 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Does Time Fly When You're Getting Old?
Everyone seems to think so.
The letters I received from husband's grandmother - then in her mid 90's - had two recurrent themes. The first was that she was tired, and that the days seemed to run together. The second was that time seemed to be rushing by with ever increasing speed.
William James would agree. In the 1890's, James' writings on age-related differences in the experience of time reflects both these themes. He wrote that in childhood
, experiences are novel and distinct but in adulthood "each passing year converts some of this experience into automatic routine which we hardly note at all, the days and weeks smooth themselves out in recollection, and the years grow hollow and collapse."
According to Dr. William Friedman, who has spent his career exploring developmental changes in the perception of time, this is the first of four major classes of theories used to explain the widely reported phenomenon that older people experience the passage of time much more quickly than do younger folks.
- Theory 1 Fewer New Things Happen: We mark the passage of time by the number of novel events that occur. For example, when we're busy time seems to fly by. When we are bored, with nothing to do, time drags. As we get older, fewer novel events occur because we've already experienced so many new things. In addition, memory problems make it harder to recall novel events that do occur. Therefore, when we look back and judge the passage of time, what we judge to be one year because one year's worth of expected novel events have ocurred, is actually a much longer period of time. In other words, we feel that one year has passed, but objectively it is a much longer period of time. Thus time seems to fly.
- Theory 2 Years are Proportionally Smaller: As we get older, each year is a smaller proportion of our lives. For example, a year is 1/10 of the life of a 10 year old, but 1/70th of the life of a 70 year old. Therefore each year feels shorter relative to all the time we've lived and thus seems to be going by faster.
- Theory 3 Our Biological Clock Slows Down: As we get older, many bodily processes slow down. As our internal clock runs slower and slower compared to the external calendar, time passes much faster than we expect it to.
- Theory 4 We Can't Pay Attention to Exernal Cues: We judge time in the short term by paying attention to external clues like clocks, sounds in the background, changing events outside, etc. This is one reason why time really does fly when you're having fun - and drags when you're bored. If you're really concentrating, you don't notice the external world - you focus on what you're doing. As you get older, you have fewer cognitive resources and thus have fewer attentional resources left to focus on external cues to keep track of the passage of time. Because of this, time seems to fly by, just as it does when you're really concentrating.
Great Theories in Search of a Problem?
These are all great theories. But the question is, does the phenomenon they're trying to explain really exist? Is there any evidence that people's perception of time speeds up as they get older, or is it an illusion?
Lab studies. Despite 120 years of theorizing and speculation, few psychologists have actually studied this phenomenon empirically. In addition, most of the people who have, have studied people's judgments of time for short periods that can be manipulated in the laboratory - like 20 seconds. For example, people are asked to hold buttons down for what they think is 20 seconds or to estimate how long a sound lasts. These tasks are convenient for studying time perception, because people's internal clocks can be manipulated in various ways, further testing the theories.
Unfortunately, these experiments have two major problems.
- First, no clear pattern of age differences in time perception emerges from the data. These studies provide no evidence that older people judge time's passage to be slower.
- Second, it turns out that our judgments of very short periods of time are unrelated to our subjective experience of how fast longer periods of time - days, weeks, months, years, or 10 years - go by. Thus, elegant as these studies are, they tell us nothing about people's judgement of the passage of weeks, months, or years.
In other words, these are interesting studies, but tell us nothing about the phenoment we're really interested in.
Time in the real world.
Interestingly, no one had systematically asked large samples of younger and older people how they experienced time until 2005, when Wittmann & Lehnhoff did just that. They asked 499 German and Austrian participants aged 14 to 94 how fast time usually passed for them: specifically how fast time (generally), the previous week, the previous month, the previous year, and the previous 10 years usually pass.
What did they find?
VERY LITTLE, but then again, quite a lot. There were no age related differences in the experience of time generally, the last week, the last month, or the last year. The only significant difference (accounting for 9% of the variance) was in how older people experienced the past 10 years. Here older folks reported time passing more quickly than did middle aged or younger participants.
If you're trying to document a folk belief that seems historically and cross-culturally pervasive, that's not very encouraging. Was the German sample just odd?
Friedman and his colleague, Steve Janssen, replicated this research in a sample of 1865 16-80 year olds from two countries. This work was recently published in Acta Psychologica. They tried to test three theories used to explain the reported age differences in the experience in time.
The studies are elegantly designed, experimentally manipulating people's judgments of time (to test the Theory 1 about our flexible ruler of novel, memorable events), used news events to evoke salient memories, measuring time pressure (when you can't get everything done in a day, you feel time is flying by), and examining difficulty of recall and the number of novel events that had occurred in people's lives.
The results were both clear and surprising.
First, the busier you are, the faster time seems to fly by. These results are robust across all ages.
Second, EVERYONE feels time is flying by. On average, on a scale from -2 (very slowly) to +2 (very fast), people of ALL AGES judged time to be passing fas t (rating it higher than 1).
Third, age differences were very small, and almost entirely limited - as had been found in the previous study - to the perception of how fast the last 10 years had gone by.
These findings - and those of another study currently under review from another large sample carried out in now a fourth country - all come to the same conclusion:
Does Time Fly When You're Getting Old? Not really, no. But it does fly by when you feel rushed and can't get things done.
When asked why, then, older people seem to feel like time was rushing by faster now than it was when they were younger, Dr. Friedman had two answers. First, he suggested, this is such a strong folk belief that people report what they think they're expected to feel. More importantly, perhaps, he suggested that maybe as we get older, we just don't remember how rushed we felt when we were young.
Or perhaps, we're ALL just getting busier all the time.
© 2010 Nancy Darling. All Rights Reserved
This post is based on the Aging and the Speed of Time presented by Dr. Friedman on 10/14/2010 at Oberlin College. | <urn:uuid:93bfed90-1bef-4224-8c29-f2ac5bf81aac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thinking-about-kids/201010/does-time-fly-when-youre-getting-old | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975232 | 1,609 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Torres Strait Islander people
'Mask' 19th century
Torres Strait Islander art and culture are distinct from mainland Aboriginal Australia. The Indigenous people of this region have had long-term contact with their immediate neighbours to the north in Papua New Guinea and to the south in Cape York, and they have also undergone immense social, political, religious and environmental changes since contact with Europeans and Christianity in the 1800s. These changes are reflected in the cultural practices, material culture, art, language and visual iconography that originate from this region.
Whereas masks are rarely made by Aboriginal artists, they are one of the main features of the Islander artistic repertoire. This Mawa mask probably originated in the north-western part of the Torres Strait, possibly Saibai Island or even a nearby coastal village in Papua. The majority of Torres Strait Islander masks are used and worn during sacred and secular ceremonies, initiations, sorcery and other customary rituals. Historically, the performance of rituals is a critical factor in maintaining relationships with the spiritual realm and also was a way of competing with and challenging and provoking other clans within the region.
Nineteenth-century Torres Strait Islander objects are rarely found in Australian collections, largely due to the destruction of cultural material that occurred with the arrival of Christian missionaries. Nevertheless, there are a small number of similar wooden masks held in major public collections in Australia and overseas.
Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2010
From: Franchesca Cubillo and Wally Caruana (eds) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art: collection highlights National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2010
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The term was used originally in 1949 by Werner Meyer-Eppler in a book title, and was used for many years as a synonym of the electroacoustic musical work of the so-called Cologne School of the 1950s. Elektronische Musik was redefined regularly in its early years until 1954 when the term was used solely for contemporary works. It referred to music that was created at the radio broadcasting studio facilities involving electronic sound generation for radio plays, etc. The sounds could not have been generated by electronic instruments, nor could they involve so-called concrète material. Herbert Eimert’s view was that “elektronische Musik” was not ‘just’ music, but in fact serial music. | <urn:uuid:b387e022-796e-4c6b-8829-cbd2439bdfcb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ears.dmu.ac.uk/spip.php?rubrique1381&order=A&cLang=es | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970449 | 156 | 2.71875 | 3 |
IV. China's Path of Peaceful Development Is a Choice Necessitated by History
IV. China's Path of Peaceful Development Is a Choice Necessitated by History
Taking the path of peaceful development is a strategic choice made by the Chinese government and people in keeping with the fine tradition of Chinese culture, the development trend of the times and the fundamental interests of China, and it is also a choice which China's development calls for.
-- Peaceful development carries forward the Chinese historical and cultural tradition.
The world has been believed to be a harmonious whole in the Chinese culture ever since the ancient times. This belief has a lasting impact on the thinking and acts of the Chinese nation, which is an important value that the Chinese people follow in handling interpersonal relationships, the relationship between man and nature and relations between different countries.
The Chinese people have always cherished a world view of "unity without uniformity," "harmony between man and nature," and "harmony is invaluable." This belief calls for the fostering of harmonious family bond, neighborhood harmony and good interpersonal relationships. Under the influence of the culture of harmony, peace-loving has been deeply ingrained in the Chinese character. The world-renowned Silk Road, for example, was a road of trade, cultural exchanges and peace, which testifies to the pursuit of friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation with other peoples by the ancient Chinese. The famous Ming Dynasty navigator Zheng He made seven voyages to the Western Seas, visiting over 30 countries and regions across Asia and Africa. He took along with him the cream of the Chinese culture and technology as well as a message of peace and friendship.
Imbued with the belief that one should be as inclusive as the vast ocean which admits hundreds of rivers, the Chinese nation has embraced all that is fine in foreign cultures. This has forged strong cultural ties, leaving behind much-told anecdotes about the cultural interactions between China and the world. The Chinese have a strong collective consciousness and sense of social responsibility. We believe that "you should not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you." We respect different cultures and views, treat others in the same way as we expect to be treated, and do not impose our will upon others. We treat all foreign countries with courtesy, foster harmonious ties with neighbors and make friends with distant states.
The Chinese people have inherited the fine tradition of Chinese culture of over 5,000 years and added to it new dimensions of the times.
-- Peaceful development is determined by China's basic national conditions.
China has a large population yet a weak economic base. It has to feed close to 20% of the world's population with 7.9% of the world's farmland and 6.5% of the world's fresh water. What has been achieved in its social and economic development must meet the need of 1.3 billion people, which presents a great challenge to China. China's per capita GDP in 2010 was about US$4,400, ranking around the 100th place in the world. Unbalanced development still exists between the urban and rural areas and among different regions; the structural problems in economic and social development remain acute; and economic growth, which excessively depends on resource input, is increasingly constrained by resource shortages and environmental problems. All this has made the shifting of the growth model a daunting task. China's capacity for independent innovation is weak, and it is at the low end of the value chain in both international division of labor and trade. The standard of living of the Chinese is not high, and China's social security system is inadequate, lagging far behind those of the developed countries.
China's modernization involves one fifth of the world's population and will be a long-term process. The scale and magnitude of the difficulties and problems involved are unprecedented in the present world and rare in human history. China will remain a developing country for a long time to come, which means that China must dedicate itself to advancing its modernization drive, promoting development and improving its people's livelihood. This calls for maintaining a peaceful and stable international environment and conducting international exchanges and cooperation. China could become strong in the future. Yet peace will remain critical for its development, and China has no reason to deviate from the path of peaceful development. China's basic conditions, its cultural traditions, its fundamental national interests and its long-term interests -- all these factors have created the innate force driving China's peaceful development.
-- Peaceful development is a choice that represents the global trend.
Peace and development are the two major issues of today's world. Peace, development and cooperation are part of the irresistible global trend. The world today is moving towards multipolarity and economic globalization is gaining momentum. There is a growing call for change in the international system and the world is facing more historical challenges. To share opportunities presented by development and jointly ward off risks is the common desire of the people of the world.
Economic globalization has become an important trend in the evolution of international relations. Countries of different systems and different types and at various development stages are in a state of mutual dependence, with their interests intertwined. This has turned the world into a community of common destiny in which the members are closely interconnected. Another world war would be disastrous for the whole of mankind, and no one would emerge victorious in an all-out conflict between big powers.
Global challenges have become major threats to the world. Common security issues are becoming ever more severe. They include terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, financial crises, natural disasters, climate change, and security of energy, resources, food and public health, and the list is growing. These and other global problems have a major impact on human survival and sustainable economic and social development. No country can handle these issues on its own, which should be addressed by all countries together. If these problems are not addressed through comprehensive and sustained international cooperation, world peace and development will run into huge obstacles and could even suffer disastrous setback.
The global trend towards multipolarity is irresistible. The emerging economies, regional groups and Asian and other regions are becoming stronger, and various non-state actors are growing fast, which, taking advantage of economic globalization and the information age, expand their influence and have become an important force in various countries and in the international arena.
The global trend is surging forward: those who go along with it will prosper and those who go against it will perish. The international community should reject the zero-sum game which was a product of the old international relations, the dangerous cold and hot war mentality, and all those beaten tracks which repeatedly led mankind to confrontation and war. It should find new perspectives from the angle of the community of common destiny, sharing weal and woe and pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation, exploring new ways to enhance exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations, identifying new dimensions in the common interests and values of mankind, and looking for new ways to handle multiple challenges through cooperation among countries and realize inclusive development. We want peace and not war, development and not stagnation; dialogue and not confrontation; understanding and not misunderstanding. This is the general trend of the world and the common aspiration of all people. It is against this historical background that China has chosen the path of peaceful development. | <urn:uuid:719844b6-8330-4a9e-97c6-c3e6d6f09216> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.china.org.cn/government/whitepaper/2011-09/06/content_23362786.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956384 | 1,469 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Tony Addison and Miguel Niño-Zarazúa
China and India are making immense strides in development. Growth in both countries has been impressive. But there is now much concern about whether impressive growth rates are yielding enough poverty reduction. The present debate about their poverty lines is a reflection of this. In this second part of a two-part article (first part featured in January’s Angle), we focus on more inclusive growth in these two Asian giants.
India and, especially, China have enjoyed rapid economic growth, with a median growth rate of 6% and 10% in the 1980-2010 period, respectively. This has catapulted the impressive growth in per capita gross national income (GNI) in the two countries: in 1980, the GNI per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP) was in the order of US$430 in India and US$250 in China. By 2010, the two countries had increased their per capita income up to US$3,560 and US$7,570, respectively. The high growth rates in China are largely explained by the high gross capital formation over the past 30 years, which as a percentage of GDP fluctuated around the median of 38%, vis-à-vis 24% in India, although the investment gap between the two countries has narrowed in recent years.
A significant part of the domestic investment in China, about 20% of GDP, has gone to infrastructure projects, which is nearly 10 times more than the share of GDP invested in infrastructure in India. That has facilitated the accelerated rate at which the Chinese economy has transited form agricultural to manufacturing production. In India, the transition has been towards the IT off-shore service industry with as much as 60% of the labour force remaining engaged in traditional farming activities.
Economic growth is a necessary condition to rising per capital income, but it is nonetheless insufficient to guarantee a steady trend towards poverty reduction. In China, for instance, the relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction is far from being linear, with episodes of high economic performance in the 1990s accompanied with increases in the poverty rates (see Figure 2). In India, since the late 1990s the country has experienced the fastest economic growth, and yet the speed at which poverty is being reduced has decelerated. This tells us about the importance of public interventions in making growth more inclusive. Indeed, it is now well understood that policies that are designed to maximise growth can only trickle down to the poor if they are accompanied by wealth redistribution, employment opportunities, investments in human capital, and the provision of social protection for the most vulnerable groups in society.
Spatial inequalities are particularly evident across China, with western and interior rural communities experiencing much weaker effects from economic growth than the eastern coastal provinces. UNU-WIDER’s World Income Inequality database shows that the Gini coefficients in China, which measure the income inequality ranging from zero for ‘perfect’ equality to one for maximal inequality, have been consistently higher in rural areas than in urban areas, despite the observed growing inequality in urban areas largely attributed to unregistered migration from the countryside to the cities. This, in combination with the fact that the national Gini coefficients are higher than both the rural and urban Ginis, indicates that the rural–urban divide is driving the growing levels of inequity in the country. In India, the Ginis have been consistently higher in the urban areas, with the rural–urban divide also growing over the last two decades. This is illustrated by the ratios of the rural to urban consumption expenditure that have declined from 0.63 in the early 1970s to 0.58 in the mid 1990s.
Fiscal policies have a lot to do with wealth redistribution. Tax rates in China and India are low, with most revenues coming from indirect taxes. This also reflects the low share of government revenues as percentage of GDP, which oscillates around 20%. This is in contrast with the average of 50% observed in OECD countries. Tax systems in both countries remain limited to maximising redistributive policies, and to a large extent, they will also limit the capacity of these countries to tackle extreme deprivation in the coming years.
China and India also face significant challenges in terms of employment generation. Rising unemployment is a driving factor in the incidence of poverty in urban areas in China, which has been exacerbated by market-oriented structural reforms and large migration flows of unskilled workers from rural areas to the cities. Migrant workers face exclusion from formal employment arrangements and state benefits such as housing, health and school subsidies, as well as income support from social protection schemes.
But the capacity of China to continue absorbing a larger share of the global consumer goods markets is becoming increasingly limited, with other emerging markets, including India, aggressively competing to get a share of the market. By the same token, it is unclear the extent to which the growing IT industry in India will be able to be the catalyst for a sustained growth, given the large unskilled labour force in the country that remains poor and disconnected from the booming economy.
China and India have made important progress in public service provision, which is associated with the reduction in the poverty rates observed in the two countries. The most recent Human Development Report (2011) shows that the respective Human Development Index (HDI) for China and India has grown at an average annual rate of 1.73% and 1.51%. But challenges persist. In rural China, for instance, accessibility to healthcare is largely financed by out-of-pocket expenses that absorb a large share of household expenditure among poor households. In India, there are serious concerns about the quality of public services, which are very low by international standards. When desegregating the HDI by its components, we also observe that in India both health and especially education indicators fall behind countries with similar per capita incomes. Evidence of schools without books and teachers, and health clinics without doctors and drugs is vast and disturbing. It also shows the importance of increasing public expenditure on the social sectors to improve the accessibility to, and quality of, health and education, and ultimately, reduce poverty.
Social protection in the two countries remains highly fragmented. In China, the Minimum Living Subsidy Scheme, (also known as Di Bao) was introduced in 1997 to support the urban unemployed poor who had been affected by the market-based structural reforms. The programme remains limited as it excludes those who although in poverty are not registered in the civil affairs department office. As pointed out earlier, these are by large migrant rural workers who move to the city in search of livelihoods. In the mid 2000s, the Di Bao was gradually extended to the rural areas to cover nearly 42 million rural people, but the size of the transfers are unlikely to reduce the incentives to migrate to the cities. The rural Di Bao, together with the urban Di Bao, cover nearly 150 million people, which represents the second largest social protection programme worldwide in terms of scale and coverage, just behind India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
The NREGS provides a guarantee of 100 days of waged employment per year to unemployed unskilled workers, currently covering nearly 48 million households, or about 240 million people. In fact, India’s social protection system is complex but incomplete. It spans from categorical and means-tested age and disability pensions, and income transfers for schooling and healthcare accessibility, to unemployment schemes such as the NREGS that rely on self-selection for the identification of beneficiaries and therefore exclude those who due to disability, illness, or age are unable to particulate in the scheme. The programmes are also unevenly distributed across the country, with many states and communities yet to be covered.
More co-ordination and institution building are clearly needed, but at the same time, social protection will only provide a sustained process of poverty reduction if it is supported by growth, redistributive policies, improvements in public service provision and employment opportunities. To the extent that the two countries will be able to address these challenges, poverty reduction will be significantly achieved on a global scale. The redefinition of the poverty lines gives us positive clues, but the final outcomes are yet to be seen.
Tony Addison is Chief Economist-Deputy Director, UNU-WIDER.
Miguel Niño-Zarazúa is a Research Fellow, UNU-WIDER. | <urn:uuid:93d03997-9abb-4e83-860b-7625d0f4463a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/newsletter/articles-2012/en_GB/03-2012-Addison-Zarazua/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959784 | 1,707 | 2.625 | 3 |
Foreign Service Institute
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The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States Federal Government's primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats as well as other professionals to advance U.S. foreign affairs interests overseas and in Washington. FSI provides more than 600 courses — including over 70 foreign languages — to more than 100,000 enrollees a year from the Department of State and more than 40 other government agencies and the military service branches. The FSI is based at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia.
The Institute's programs include training for the development of United States Foreign Service and Civil Service professionals, and for Foreign Service Nationals who work at U.S. posts around the world. Ranging in length from one day to two years, courses are designed to promote successful performance in each professional assignment, to ease the adjustment to other countries and cultures, and to enhance the leadership and management capabilities of the U.S. foreign affairs community. Other courses and services help family members prepare for the demands of a mobile lifestyle and living abroad, and provide employees and their families with important information about such critical and timely topics as emergency preparedness and cyber-security awareness, among others.
The Director of the Foreign Service Institute is equivalent in rank to an Assistant Secretary of State, and is appointed by the Secretary of State. The current Director of the Foreign Service Institute is Ambassador Nancy McEldowney.
The Foreign Service Institute was initially authorized in Title VII of the Foreign Service Act. The issuance of Departmental orders fulfilling this section of the Act were delayed by the need to first resolve certain administrative issues. The orders were ultimately issued and, on March 13, 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall announced the establishment of the Foreign Service Institute.
A number of different training schools and programs preceded the Foreign Service Institute, including the Consular School of Application (1907), the Wilson Diplomatic School (1909), the Foreign Service School (1924), the Foreign Service Officers' Training School (1931) and the Division of Training Services (1945).
The Leadership and Management School (FSI/LMS) offers mandatory and elective leadership and management training for supervisors and managers from entry to executive levels; roundtables and policy seminars for senior leaders; and crisis management training overseas and at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center.
The School of Language Studies (FSI/SLS) offers instruction in more than 70 languages and proficiency testing in over 100 languages. Enrollments may be 8–44 weeks, depending on the difficulty of the language and the individual's proficiency objectives. The Foreign Service Institute's School of Language Studies also maintains a network of language field schools in Taipei, Yokohama, Seoul, and other regional programs in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia where a further 44 weeks of instruction is offered overseas in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic. Programs and courses of study also include self-study, early morning classes and distance learning courses.
The School of Professional and Area Studies (FSI/SPAS) offers training in foreign affairs specialties, such as consular, management tradecraft, political and economic affairs, public diplomacy, curriculum and staff development, office management, and orientation programs. It also offers guidance on the socio-cultural patterns, politics, economics, and international relations of world regions and individual countries.
The School of Applied Information Technology (FSI/SAIT) is divided into four broad generalities: training to improve the business application skills of all employees, training in the technologies employed across the Department of State for IT professionals, IRM tradecraft courses that provide IT managers with broad IT management skills, and training for new Information Management Specialists and Information Management Technical Specialists to prepare them for initial overseas employment with the Department.
The Transition Center (FSI/TC) prepares employees and their family members for effectiveness in the foreign affairs community throughout, and after, their careers. The Transition Center provides: insights and information on all domestic and overseas posts; workshops and courses on Foreign Service life skills and security training; and training, counseling, and other assistance for Department of State and foreign affairs employees from other agencies leaving U.S. Government service.
The Office of the Executive Director for Management (FSI/EX) is responsible for the management and operation functions in support of training programs.
See also
- Defense Language Institute – military counterpart for language instruction
- Language education
- National Technical Information Service - US Government sales source for FSI language material.
- 1 FAM 290
- "2012 National Audiovisual Center Collections". NTIS. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- "Foreign Language Courses Produced by the Federal Government". National Audiovisual Center. 1989. pp. Introduction Letter.
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THE STORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE PITTSBURGH VA ADMINISTRATION AND THE SPECIAL PATHOGENS LABORATORY
The Pittsburgh VA Closes the Special Pathogens Laboratory*
July 10, 2006- The Pittsburgh VA administration unexpectedly and abruptly closes the Special Pathogens Laboratory - an internationally-recognized infectious disease reference laboratory.
Appeal Letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs, R.J. Nicholson
Dr. Yu asks for right of appeal to VA Central Office to forestall this questionable decision. He notes that the Special Pathogens Laboratory was created by VA Central Office and given its accomplishments, should not have been terminated so abruptly (48 hours) without due consideration.
The Pittsburgh VA Special Pathogens Laboratory is Honored Following the American Legion Convention in Pittsburgh
Ironically, on July 16th 2006 (the anniversary of the first outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Philadelphia), a Pittsburgh newspaper ran a story honoring the contributions of the Special Pathogens Laboratory to the study and prevention of Legionnaires’ disease. The contributions of Janet E. Stout, Ph.D. and Victor L. Yu, M.D. were highlighted.
Front Page News! Closure of the Special Pathogens Laboratory*
Three days later, the newspaper must regrettably announce the closure of this preeminent laboratory. The report noted that when the lab closes “…hospitals across the nation might be hard-pressed to find a laboratory to test for the deadly bacteria found in tap water.”
Justification of Closure of the Special Pathogens Laboratory by the VA**
A rebuttal to claims laid forth by the Pittsburgh VA administration to justify the closing of the VA Special Pathogens Lab demonstrated that the reasons for the closure were unfounded. This point-by-point rebuttal demonstrates that all of the alleged points are incorrect and are countered with documentation (note that no documentation to support their allegations was provided by the VA administration.)
Should the Pittsburgh VA Allow the Special Pathogens Laboratory to Complete the Legionella Cultures and Inform the Hospitals of the Results? A Humanitarian Plea.
Dr. Victor Yu advises the VA administration that important information would be lost if incubating cultures were not completed. He offers to move the cultures to another lab to complete the work. The VA refuses.
of a patient***
The Destructive Ripple Effect Following Closure of the Special Pathogens Laboratory
The fate of the Special Pathogens Laboratory, taken in the context of other decisions by the Pittsburgh VA administration, appears to indicate declining support for excellence in microbiology at the Medical Center.
Destruction of the Entire Collection of Legionella and Other Pathogens: A Senseless Tragedy***
Incredibly, this same administration ordered the destruction of a priceless and irreplaceable collection of microorganisms and human specimens that had been collected by Drs. Yu and Stout over the previous 25 years. Dr. Stout had been working with the Director of the VA Research Department to transfer the collection to a qualified laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh when this action occurred. | <urn:uuid:a2a17b17-0c08-441d-867c-ccfddf5da754> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.legionella.org/vasplhome.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919716 | 627 | 2.234375 | 2 |
One wants simpler food after the belly stretching richness of the Christmas Day banquet, maybe sandwiches or the sharper, hotter tastes of foreign food. It's a day to use up leftovers, turkey sandwiches, turkey curry!
This savoury 'rainbow' cake would be a great 'carrier' for leftovers. I've done this Smorgåstårta with traditionally Scandinavian ingredients such as smoked salmon, fish roe, fish roe paste from Kalles and pickled cucumbers. But do use up whatever is in your fridge!
My version is made out of Chorley Wood style sandwich bread, a nice slice of Warburtons or Kingsmill, which, though nutritionally deficient, can sometimes hit the spot.
This is also a very indulgent recipe, it's far from low fat, I used shed-loads of butter.
Processed bread is soft and difficult to butter when untoasted. I have two tips for you:
- Whip up the butter in a food processor. I used unsalted butter and added Maldon's salt.
- Use a rubber spatula to spread it, it won't break the bread. (Sandwich bar trick that!)
I decided to make a round cake to make it look like a wedding cake but it's easier to make a square or rectangular sandwich cake because of the shape of the bread.
|Top Left: the 'crumb' layer of cream cheese icing. Bottom Left: I did a hack by taping a small cross piping nozzle to a tube of Kalles caviar.|
2 loaves bread, one brown, one white, crusts cut off
3 packs of Philadelphia cream cheese, whipped
1 pack of butter, whipped (or for a lighter feel, use mayonnaise on one side of the bread)
1 cucumber, cut finely
1 punnet of cress or alfalfa sprouts
1 jar of cod's roe
1 large pack of smoked salmon
1 tube of Kalles caviar (available from Ocado and Totally Swedish)
3 eggs, hard boiled, sliced finely
I jar pickled cucumbers
2 spring onions, sliced thinly into lengths
1 bunch of dill
You could also add prawns, thinly sliced cheese, cold cuts, feathery dill sprigs, radishes, thinly sliced red pepper slices. Get creative!
Cake tin with removable bottom
Piping nozzle in a star shape
First of all prepare your ingredients: cut off crusts with a sharp knife, whip the cream cheese and butter, cut up the cucumber and eggs.
On a cake stand (you may as well go for the full camp birthday cake look) start to assemble your bread, buttered both sides.
Do one layer with white bread, fitted together tightly, add your sandwich filling, mine was pickled cucumbers.
Then do the next layer with brown bread, position the slices so that they overlap the white slices underneath in a different direction. My next layer was smoked salmon.
I added a white bread layer with alfalfa sprouts then a brown layer with egg and salmon.
On each layer make sure you butter the bread both sides, this helps the cake to stick together.
You could use mayonnaise if you want it to be lighter.
Then place a round cake tin over the top and cut, with a very sharp knife, around the inside of the cake tin, cutting through the layers to get a round shape. This is admittedly a bit tricky, you might have to push the slices together a bit if they start to pull apart.
Discard the cut away corners or give them to hungry children/guests lurking about.
Then, again using a rubber spatula, with the cream cheese, lay what is called a 'crumb layer' around the sides and top of the 'cake'.
Then cling-film the cake and cake stand and put it in the fridge for an hour or so to chill and harden.
When you've done that, add a thicker, smoother layer of cream cheese around the cake sides and top.
I then started to decorate the cake using:
- Shaped cucumber slices placed around the sides and top
- Piped Kalles fish paste
- Strips of spring onion
- Dill sprigs
- Strips of red pepper. | <urn:uuid:b5825264-66c0-4407-a16c-96544ca1a913> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marmitelover.blogspot.com/2012/12/boxing-day-recipe-smorgastartasandwich.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906014 | 910 | 1.5 | 2 |
Established in 1964 with the goal of "liberating Palestine in its entirety," the Palestinian Liberation Organization has for years been fronted by one of its most outspoken and notorious members, Yasser Arafat. Born and raised in Cairo, Arafat has undergone a radical transformation from a fugitive terrorist leader to a passionate and respected advocate for the creation of a Palestinian homeland. Then why did Arafat reject a plan for Palestinian statehood in 2000, after crusading for this long-standing ideal for close to forty years? Was it a bargaining ploy, or a reflection of a deeper reluctance on the part of the Palestinian leadership to genuinely commit itself to peace with Israel?
Offering the first comprehensive account of the collapse of the most promising peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, historian Efraim Karsh argues that Arafat is less interested with the liberation of the West Bank and Gaza, or even with the establishment of a Palestinian state, than with the PLO's historic goal of Israel's destruction. Karsh details Arafat's efforts since the historic Oslo Peace accords in building an extensive terrorist infrastructure, his failure to disarm the extremist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Authority's systematic efforts to indoctrinate hate and contempt for the Israeli people through rumor and religious zealotry. The result is a level of violence unmatched in scope and intensity since 1948, a Palestinian campaign of terror that has included suicide bombings, drive-by shootings, stabbings, lynchings, and stonings, and has resulted in thousands of casualties.
Arafat has irrevocably altered the Middle East's political landscape, and while his place in history has yet to be written, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict will always be Arafat's War.
Author: Efraim Karsh | <urn:uuid:daf57e9d-4525-4565-bf9a-b1e011fdbad0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lancerpublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=778 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945686 | 362 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Walker Brothers consisted of brothers Daniel & John Walker of New York City. In about 1828, Daniel Walker was listed as being in partnership with his father-in-law William Geib, operating under the name of Geib & Walker. The firm was a larger retailer of musical instruments and sheet music, and they also manufactured pianos.
John Walker also worked with the firm for several years throughout the 19th Century.
Gieb & Walker was dissolved sometime around 1843, and brothers Daniel & John Walker formed the firm of J & D Walker. J & D Walker was fairly successful, building quality instrument, until sometime around 1871 when Daniel Walker died. After the death of Daniel Walker, the firm was reorganized as Walker Brothers, which continued building instruments well up until the turn-of-the-century.
Daniel Walker is fondly remembered as one of the original founders of the New York Philharmonic.
J & D Walker Advertisements
19th Century Advertisements For J & D Walker Piano Company, New York City | <urn:uuid:5f8d0c2f-035b-4697-ac5d-6d9fad6e5e69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://antiquepianoshop.com/online-museum/walker-brothers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970248 | 212 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Time now for Eye on Your Money with Financial Advisor Bryce Matteson of the local Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. office. This week we're talking about ways to use your tax refund. Many Americans do get a tax refund check. And while we may be tempted to go and spend the money right away, you may wish to consider ways to put the money to work for your financial future.
Here are three ideas:
1. Pay off credit card debt if you have it. Let's say you have $2,500 on a card that charges 18.5% interest. If you only paid the minimum monthly payment, it would take you 30 years and $6,500 dollars in interest to pay off the card. It would be a good idea to use your refund to pay down or better yet, eliminate credit card debt and save yourself hundreds or thousands of dollars in interest by doing so. | <urn:uuid:7ffb5d81-5068-4e35-a7f2-9259ab57aa28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.kwch.com/2007-04-30/tax-refund_24075967 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953372 | 183 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Thursday, Mar. 2, 1933
LOCAL BANK ACTS ON WITHDRAWALS LIMIT
The State Bank of Greentown acting in harmony with most of the banks of the state, imposed a limit on withdrawals Monday morning. The action came as a surprise to the community, but no great stir was created by the announcement locally. Most every one took it as necessary step for protection of depositors over the state, feeling that the limit would soon be taken off. The action of the local bank was forced by the action of the Indianapolis banks who took the lead and orders from banking commission Luther F. Symons, left it to the banks whether they would follow suit.
Large withdrawals from the banks of Indianapolis is given as the cause of the action, which in turn effected the out state banks because of their clearing house connections.
The limit placed on withdrawals is 5 per cent of the deposit as of Saturday, February 25. All deposits made after that date will be handled in the usual manner and may be drawn upon at the option of the depositor. The length of time the limit will be on is not known, but it is not expected be more than a few days.
Some inconvenience has been experienced locally as a large share of the business in Greentown is done by check, which contributed to a shortage of cash in local business circles. However, everybody is taking it as a matter of course, feeling that if it necessary they might just as well go through it now as later. As soon as the proper adjustments are made the limit will be lifted, and that it in no way reflects upon the soundness of the local banking institution.
BANKS OF NATION CLOSED UNTIL FRI.
President Roosevelt’s Proclamation Declaring Four Day Bank Holiday Being Observed.
Expect to Lift restrictions Friday - Issuing of Script Thought To Be Administration Plan.
The State Bank of Greentown failed to open its doors Monday morning in compliance with a proclamation issued by newly inaugurated President Franklin D. Roosevelt and State Bank Commissioner, Luther F. Symons. The President’s proclamation declared a bank holiday from Monday to Friday during which time banks were forbidden to transact any banking business of any nature without consent of the Comptroller.
This order was modified Tuesday to allow banks to open to meet pay rolls and other emergency service on a limited basis, with withdrawals being prohibited.
The local bank complied with the proclamation without comment and await the next move of the national administration in the working out of a plan to stabilize the banking system of the country. The people hereabouts received the news without any antagonistic gestures and are calmly awaiting the outcome of the present national banking emergenck action designed to protect depositors and to safeguard the bank reserves of the nations financial institutions.
The Michigan bank holiday started the holiday plan in the states and the action of the largest financial institutions in New York and Chicago last week brought the situation to a head shortly after President Roosevelt was inaugurated on Saturday. His prompt action in the matter is cause for much confidence on the part of the people.
[transcribed by Lisa A. Stout 2008 February 4]
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There are no known living heirs who would hold the rights to the accessioned Greentown Gem newspapers. Newspapers published before 1923 are in public domain. Permission granted to view and print items from this digital collection for personal use, study, research, or classroom teaching. | <urn:uuid:1a74def1-3ec7-42e6-bdb1-6230ecda0dba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cdm15078.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p1819coll9/id/46/rec/4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96112 | 715 | 2.125 | 2 |
The One Big Idea
DoSomething.org seeks to create a worldwide movement of young people kicking ass on causes they care about and making the world a better place. Because, let's be honest: apathy sucks.
Check out our recent quarterly dashboard to read about our success. We don’t like to brag--so we let the numbers do it for us.
11 Facts About DoSomething.org in 2012
- 2.4 million young people took action through our campaigns in 2012.
- We have 1,666,208 members doing badass stuff to improve their communities and the world.
- Our 977,781 mobile subscribers take action and text us all about it.
- 329,361 people like us on Facebook.
- 610,271 people follow us on Twitter.
- We gave young people $240,000 in scholarships in 2012.
- We increased our campaign signups by 590% from 2011 to 2012.
- Our members collected 1,020,041 pairs of jeans for homeless youth through our Teens for Jeans campaign.
- Our members recycled over 1.2 million aluminum cans through our 50 Cans campaign.
- Our members donated 316,688 books to school libraries through our Epic Book Drive.
- 67,808 members stood up to bullying through our Bully Text campaign. | <urn:uuid:ee3e4678-2557-4e0a-8f03-0796fc174c9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dosomething.org/print/about/stats | 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 | 0.909938 | 283 | 1.78125 | 2 |
We can just imagine. Mary and Joseph are one day out from Jerusalem, knowing that Jesus is with friends and family. Then there’s their increasingly uneasy realization that Jesus is not in fact with friends and family. There’s been no communication, before or during the event of his disapperarance, and there are no communication devices, no phones or email or pagers. There is the rush back to Jerusalem. There are three days more of searching. And then they find him. God the tweenager. In response to Mary’s admirably restrained question, “Why have you treated us like this?”, Jesus responds. (Here we can supply our own “Duh”.) “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house.” Of course, Joseph, his legal father, the one who married the pregnant Mary and gave a name and protection to a child not his own, was standing right there. “They did not understand what he said to them.” indeed.
The gospel writer spares us as to how Jesus and his parents actually got back from Jerusalem to Nazareth. The next thing we learn is that Jesus became obedient to his parents. And the next thing we know, Jesus is growing in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. So God the tweenager does grow up.
This is the only story recorded in Scripture about Jesus’ life between his birth in Bethlehem and the beginning of his ministry. For all the make-nice interpretations, it is not a flattering story, and Mary “treasured all these things in her heart” after they were safely over. But that may be the gospel writer’s point. For all Jesus may indeed have been God, he still had to live and grow as a human being also to be truly human. As true human beings, we often learn through our mistakes. Jesus here is shown as he makes a big mistake: it’s not his being in the temple and learning from the teachers; it’s certainly not his growing relationship with God and his own abilities. The mistake is his treatment of his parents as if they don’t matter.
Jesus learns from his mistake. While Mary is clearly upset, his parents do forgive him and take him home; Jesus honors his parents with his obedience. And as he learns, Jesus grows in wisdom, and years, and in divine and human favor.
It could have gone another way. If Mary had made a different choice. If Joseph had made a different choice. If Jesus had made a different choice. Our choices are shaped by what we learn. The noted ethicist Beverly Wildung Harrison, now retired from Union Seminary, wrote about the power of our learning from one another: “we have the power not only to create personal bonds between people, but, more basically, to create personhood itself. And to build up ‘the person’ is also to deepen relationship, that is, to bring forth community. … Because we do not understand love as the power to act-one-another-into-well-being we also do not understand the depth of our power to thwart life and to maim each other. The fateful choice is ours, either to set free the power of God’s love in the world or to deprive each other of the very basis of personhood and community. … that which is most human and most valuable and most basic of all the works of love [is] the work of human communication, of caring and nurturance, of tending the personal bonds of community.”
Fortunately for the rest of the story, Mary and Joseph chose to find their son, to communicate the issues involved in his little jaunt, and to take him home to live together again. Fortunately for the rest of the story, Jesus chose to learn from his mistake, and he was able to learn in this particular way because he grew up in a family where love and forgiveness were practices of living together. So Jesus grew into the kind of person who taught the work of communication, who taught caring and nurturance, who taught tending the personal bounds of community. Love God with all that you are and love your neighbor as you love yourself, he taught. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Love your enemies. Be merciful. Do not judge or condemn. Forgive so that you will be forgiven. And finally, from the cross itself, Jesus taught forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
Jesus did not call people to a set of beliefs. He called people to a way of life, to a way of being together with God, self, and neighbor, to a way of actions and practices that would encourage and strengthen them as individuals and as communities in the face of life’s challenges.
The writer of the letter to the church at Colossae understood this. The letter is addressed to a community in struggle with challenges to its faith, from disagreements within the group and pressures from the surrounding culture. To live together, to love together, to thrive together as God’s holy and beloved, the Colossians will need to act one another into well-being. And so the writer of the letter encourages the Colossians to practice compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. In our sons’ gymnastics room there was a poster: “Practice makes better.” The writer encourages them to practice compassion, kindness, meekness, and patience. The writer also encourages them to bear with one another, to forgive as they have been forgiven; encourages them to love, to be thankful, to teach and admonish one another in wisdom.
2,000 years later, this may not be what we want or expect to hear. In our own culture we glorify the individual, and look upon the communal with suspicion. We are wise in the ways of what Walter Wink calls “the myth of redemptive violence”. We hear calls for retribution justice against those who hurt us, not calls for kindness or forgiveness or patience. We are inundated by advertising, that tells us we need to have power and unrestrained freedom, we need to control, we need the breaks we deserve because we’re worth it, and we need them now. Compassion, kindness, forgiveness, patience – these don’t sell very well. Humility and meekness don’t sell at all. Part of this is due to the history of words like these, as we in the church know all too well. They have been used to coerce and abuse people, and to support systems of greed, and marginalization, and power over instead of power with. If we do forgive, as followers of Jesus and for our own sanity, we may not forget, lest the abuse continue or happen again. In our use of these words, we often walk a very fine line between holiness and corruption.
And. And. And. Like the Colossians, we struggle with conflicts in the communities of which we are a part: in our families, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our churches, our nation, our world. And like God the tweenager, we often have to learn for the first time, or again, what it is to be human. The story of Jesus, the letter to the Colossians, are included in the Scripture in part so that we know that we are not alone in our conflicts and our mistakes and our learning and our growth. God the tweenager does grow up, grows up into Jesus the Christ, who learned how to forgive and how to be forgiven, the one who calls us to the same way
of life, the same way of hope out of the madness and hurt that we and our world so deeply desire, the same way of love: the one who calls use to the actions and practices of communication, of caring and nurturance, of tending the personal bonds of community. That is why the writer of the letter to the Colossians ends the encouragement with this: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
The little phrase, “in the name of”, is important. In the Biblical sense, to act in someone’s name is to act in their authority and stead, with their power, according to their command, and as is consistent with their nature and character. So to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus means to do it with his authority and power, as he would do it. That is the great safeguard. That is the protection against coercion, and the allowance of abuse. That is also the great encouragement: as Jesus learned to love not just God but himself and his neighbors, (even his parents), we can learn to love too.
Today is the last Sunday of 2009. It is the end of the calendar year. But it is also in the beginning of the Christian year that started with Advent. And soon it will be the beginning of the new calendar year as well. We have made our mistakes over the last year. We may be in conflict with ourselves, or with the communities of which we are a part, or even with God. But it is not too late to love God and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. It is not too late to communicate, to teach and admonish one another. Not too late to forgive each other, or just another, as we have been forgiven. Not too late to let peace rule in our hearts. We can begin again. It is not always easy, to act one another into well-being. It is simple – maybe as simple as holding open a door – it is simple, and, it is not always easy. So today we are given the story of God the tweenager, the God who loves us enough also to take on the risks of human growth and change. We are not alone. Thanks be to God, and a Merry Christmas
to us all. Amen.
~ The Reverend Victoria Hart Gaskell,
Chapel Associate for Methodist Students | <urn:uuid:e4041f92-1288-4f85-b612-57dd9881978d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.bu.edu/sermons/2009/12/27/god-the-tweenager/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977931 | 2,103 | 2.234375 | 2 |
A simple recipe using roses from the garden in the kitchen.
3 cups water
1-1/2 tbsp green tea leaves (about 3 tea bags)
1/4 cup assorted organic small rose petals.
Bring the water to a boil and remove from heat. Pour over tea in a ceramic teapot. Fill Popsicle molds loosely with rose petals. Steep tea for 5 minutes and strain into Popsicle holders. Freeze in the freezer for 30 minutes, then place the wooden sticks in the center of the Popsicle holders. (This is a good time to spread the petals throughout the mold evenly.) Freeze until solid and serve immediately.
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By uploading a photo, you attest that this photo belongs to you. If you are uploading a photo that does not belong to you, please provide documentation that you have permission to use the photo to FBRblog(at)yahoo.com or the photo will not be approved. | <urn:uuid:a502cfb0-ea9e-4aa1-b7de-65a94f0a3bc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chickensintheroad.com/farm-bell-recipes/green-tea-and-rose-petal-popsicles/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920307 | 240 | 1.53125 | 2 |
I am trying to get my congo puffer to take red wiggler worms... I have starved her for 7 days now.. she still resist... She is really hungry cause she's begging for food everyday.. but she just won't take the worm.. Should I just give up? How many more days should I try? Will I starve her to death?
I would try soaking the worms in garlic first, if that fails feed it's favourite foods until it gets excited and pop a bit of worm in inbetween as it might accidentally munch it lol. Have you tried putting part of a worm right infront of it's face with tongs?
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
When I purchased my Congo puffer I'd already stocked up on earthworms to feed him while I battled to get him to eat frozen dead food, he wouldnt eat them!!! The worms were practically crawling into his mouth and still he didn't want to know lol, this went on for nearly 2 wks so then I managed to find some frozen prawns that weren't cooked and straight away he ate it. I did try worms again when he'd settled into a good eating pattern but they ended up in my compost bin. I have come to the conclusion he just doesn't like worms
I did not have a good experience with my congo. First he didn't eat anything and I tried and tried, still nothing. I had too try live food which he loved, but thanks to that idea he got sick. I had too give him away
So now he lives happy with PufferPunk
"Lost time is never found again" Benjamin Franklin
Auriglobus silus ---------Died during transport. Figure Eight Puffers -----Sold and or traded Dwarf Puffers ------------Traded Congo Puffer ------------Traded South American Puffers -Traded Carinotetraodon lorteti --Died under my supervision :(
If your congo is buried, then put the live worm right on his face. Leave for ~10mins and check to see if the worm is eaten or dead. Take out the worm if its dead. Also take out the worm if there are still pieces of it left :p
"olivia" (my congo) will not touch them! never has, probably never will she'd probably starve first be sure to remove any uneaten food before it disappears & decays beneath the surface, as earthworms will "burrow" in..........
"I plan ahead. That way, I don't have to do anything right now!"
Thanks for all the replies! I gave up! I guess she just doesn't like worms! I tried wiggling the worm right in front of her face for at least 10 mins.. I tried hanging the worm and it just annoyed her so much that she would bit the worm off the hook but not eating it.. I also tried soaking it in garlic.. no luck!
Try leaving the worm in front of your congo and hiding somewhere in the room (or totally leaving the room). When I left a red wriggler worm in the tank, the worm didn't bury into the sand. The worm keeps struggling and eventually died (from drowing?).
I guess I was very lucky with my Congo puffer because He will eat just about anything live. Earthworms mainly, small crayfish, and even rollie pollies. But From what alot of the other owners say about their's, they can be very fussy eaters. Ever tried stick feeding it? And gutloaded ghost shrimp is a great live food also. So not many Congo puffers with eat anything other then live feeders but no goldfish though.
He who knows best knows how little he knows - Thomas Jefferson | <urn:uuid:4d85715d-d2ec-4583-96ed-e55a9422dcb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=329268 | 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 | 0.979053 | 783 | 1.609375 | 2 |
OMAHA, NE – Less than a year ago, the Omaha City Council passed an ordinance passed an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and public accommodations. The ordinance is currently in full effect, but literature from Omaha’s Human Rights and Relations Department is not yet updated to include sexual orientation and gender identity, so just because you don’t see it on the brochure doesn’t mean it isn’t covered. IT IS COVERED!
This is a basic overview of Civil Rights in Omaha dealing with Employment Discrimination. What is employment discrimination? Omaha law prohibits unfair or unequal treatment in employment practices and policies such as:
- Job advertisement
- Hiring practice (application forms, interviews, selection)
- Referral by employment agencies
- Salary, job classification, work duties, working conditions and fringe benefits
- Promotion, demotion, suspension, layoff, recall or termination
*Exemptions include religious or denominational organizations who may give preference to individuals of the same religion for certain types of jobs.
The unfair act must be based on a person’s: Race, Sex, National Origin, Creed, Religion, Disability, Color, Marital Status, Age, Retaliation, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity.
Who is regulated?
- Employers, with six or more employees, located in the City of Omaha.
- Employment agencies and placement services.
- Labor organizations.
Job applications and interviews. The law prohibits pre-employment practices or policies which:
- Ask information from applicants (prior to employment) concerning the applicant’s race, sex, national origin, age, religion, color, creed, disability, marital status, sexual orientation and gender identity.
- Result in the disproportionate screening out of members of such protected groups.
- Are not relevant to successful job performance.
It is the employer’s right to establish job related requirements and to seek the most qualified individual for the job. Therefore, the employer should only ask those questions necessary to determine the applicant’s eligibility for employment. Examples of prohibited pre-employment questions include:
- Are you married?
- What church do you attend?
- How many children do you have?
- What year did you graduate from high school?
- What is your native language?
Employees with disabilities.
The law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for a qualified employee with a disability. An accommodation is reasonable if it does not impose an undue hardship on the employer’s business. Examples of reasonable accommodations are:
- Job restructuring or job sharing.
- Adjustments to the work environment, such as raising desks to accommodate wheelchairs.
- Providing qualified readers, interpreters or assistants.
The law prohibits employers from a failing to hire an applicant because she is pregnant, or discharging or penalizing an employee in the terms, conditions and privileges of employment because she is pregnant.
1. Employers must make “reasonable accommodations” such as: allowing the pregnant employee to sit, instead of stand, while working; excusing from or providing assistance for lifting tasks; allowing time off for doctor’s appointments.
2. Employers are also required to provide leave, with or without pay, for a reasonable period of time for disabilities due to and resulting from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. A “reasonable period of time” is that determined by the employee’s physician with regard to her physical condition and her specific job requirements.
3. Such employees have return rights to their original jobs or to positions of comparable status and pay (without loss of accumulated service credits and privileges).
The law requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious practices unless an undue hardship would result. Two examples of accommodating religious practices are:
- Allowing the employee to observe a religious holiday by trading work days with a voluntary, qualified co-employee.
- Granting flexible work schedules.
Sexual harassment at the workplace.
The law defines sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other visual, verbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature. This may include many forms of offensive behavior such as:
- Unwanted sexual advances Offering jobs, promotions or benefits in exchange for sexual favors.
- Threatening to demote, fire or withhold benefits if an employee protests, refuses or ignores sexual advances.
- Unwanted leering, making sexual gestures or displaying sexually suggestive objects, pictures, cartoons and posters.
- Unwanted derogatory comments, slurs, jokes, suggestive or obscene letters or notes.
- Unwanted touching, assault, impeding, or blocking of movement.
Employers are liable for acts of sexual harassment committed by themselves, their agents or supervisory employees. They are also liable for sexual harassment committed by other employees or non-employees, if they know, or should have known, of the conduct and fail to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
**Most of the information in this article is taken directly from a pamphlet from Omaha’s Human Rights and Relations Department. I just included sexual orientation and gender identity because the current pamphlets are not yet updated. However, if there are any inconsistencies, the rules, Omaha City ordinance and Nebraska law will control.
For more information on your rights and other aspects of employment discrimination you can contact the City of Omaha Human Rights and Relations Department at 402-444-5055.
Omaha Douglas Civic Center
1819 Farnam St. Suite 502
Omaha, Nebraska 68183 | <urn:uuid:5d891314-2908-46b9-b93e-d22eb4c6d81f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://progressiveoasis.com/2013/01/14/civil-rights-in-omaha-employment-discrimination/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913185 | 1,151 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Building Name: Pitch House
Architect: Iñaqui Carnicero Alonso-Colmenares
Technical Architect: Manuel Iglesias
Contractor: Antón Iakobiny Pitch S.L.
Location: Los Peñascales, Madrid, Spain
Project Year: 2005-2009
Photographs: Courtesy of Iñaqui Carnicero
Minimalist home design has a strong appeal and suitable with modern lifestyles. Here is a minimalist house designed by Architect Inaqui Carnicero Alonso-Colmenares, this house was built in Los Peñascales, Madrid, Spain. This is one of the modern minimalist homes designed by leading architects in spain. This house has a unique relaxing room in the bottom of which was facilitated by transparent glass walls for enjoyed the charming views on the hills area.
The house name is Pitch House, built in the hilly area that has a large slope to the south. This house has an underground section that also serves to break down the slope, this is done to ensure the safety of buildings. There are two granite and one of them connected to the house, the bottom ceiling level also serves as a floor that is used to downstairs and built the living room.
Solid wall visible in almost all parts on the side up of home, this is certainly different from the situation on the ground floor. The upper floors tend to use more of the solid wall with several glass windows to keep the sun’s rays can still get into the house. This house has been prepared to maintain the temperature during the winter and still comfortable to use when summer comes.
For more information about Pitch House please visit Inaqui Carnicero. | <urn:uuid:98b79938-fe18-46c3-81fa-0507828d3d84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homecreat.com/2011/09/08/minimalist-home-architecture-design-madrid-by-inaqui-carnicero/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950834 | 346 | 1.664063 | 2 |
July 26, 1948 – Harry Truman signs Executive Order 9981,
integrating the Armed Forces
A close look at this 501(c)3 shows that it's VERY judgmental and partisan in its views, not only on gays in the military, but feminism as well:
It sounds like something Pat Robertson would love to preside over:
(July 13 - Concerning the upcoming battle with Washington)
Donnelly and Sgt. Maj. Jones will expose the extent of real damage that will be done to the culture of our military if these groups are allowed to win. We cannot stand by and allow the full force of mandatory social engineering to be imposed on our men and women in uniform.
CMR has the facts, sound principle and common sense on its side, but faces large, well-funded activist groups that are devoted to one radical goal: repeal of the 1993 law, which is constantly mislabeled "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
This piece is from their statement of support for military policies:
Here are some past articles. The titles alone give you an idea how right ring (excuse me, bi-partisan) they are:
Obama Disingenuous on Dissent - Flag Officers Could Risk Promotions if Opposed to Gays in the Military (April 22, 2008) SLDN Bashes Straw-Man on Capitol Hill - By Tommy Sears, CMR Executive Director (March 10, 2008)
Who Will Confront the “LGBT Left?” - Presidential Candidates Support Extreme Agenda (February 5, 2008)
Political Consequences of 1992 Push for Gays in the Military - Voters Rejected Bill Clinton’s “Cultural Liberalism” (January 29, 2008)
And here is Donnelly's Op-ed piece in the Right-Wing Washington Times (conceerning the repeal of DADT):
Add to this scenario public resistance that would hurt recruiting, potential abuse of subordinates living in close quarters, plus higher risks of HIV infection, which increase the numbers of non-deployable personnel. The result will be unprecedented disciplinary problems that detract from morale and readiness.
We cannot afford a San Francisco military.
In 1992, Republicans helped Mr. Clinton to win by not debating this issue — in the same way that some Republicans are avoiding the issue today. Will a presidential leader emerge who is prepared to defend the culture of the only military we have? The one who does so first could become president of the United States.
But Donnelly didn't fare so well in her debate with Congress:
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 23, 9:40 PM ET
"You're saying you don't trust our military professionals to serve openly with people who might be different," Murphy said angrily to Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, a nonprofit that says it promotes certain military personnel policies.
Donnelly contended that if the law were repealed the number of HIV-positive service members would probably increase.
, D-Ark., a and medical doctor, called that comment "so inappropriate" and suggested that Donnelly advocate for the military to recruit only lesbians, who he said have a low incidence of HIV. | <urn:uuid:e4c84415-7b07-44cf-b6cf-7e5746ac1b2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thedevilanddanvojir.blogspot.com/2008_07_26_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948911 | 664 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Daniels still shakes up state status quo
When he left Indiana’s governor’s office after eight tumultuous years of dramatic change, there was some speculation that Mitch Daniels might settle into a more sedate routine. It seemed to be confirmed when he accepted the position as president of Purdue University.
During his tenure as governor, the former business executive and one-time White House budget director led the state through several changes — streamlining the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, taking the state off daylight saving time, leasing the Indiana Toll Road to a private company, putting caps on property taxes and others. The changes were all the more remarkable because they had been talked about but never acted upon for decades.
Becoming the president of a major university in Indiana, however, is markedly different than being the governor of a state. Change does not come easily on college campuses. Until now.
Earlier this month, Daniels shook up the academic world in general and the Purdue establishment in particular when he announced a two-year freeze on student tuition. If there are inevitable things in this world other than death and taxes, tuition increases rank right at the top. At Purdue, tuition has increased every year since 1976.
A college education has been placed out of reach for many students, even at a state institution like Purdue. Although student aid is available in most instances, the cost just to attend classes often puts some graduates deep in debt before they have even drawn a paycheck.
Daniels’ action was dramatic and given in typical fashion. He announced the decision before the Indiana General Assembly had approved a budget that would give college administrators a clue as to what they would receive.
Said the Purdue president in his rookie year, “It doesn’t matter what the General Assembly does. It is the right thing to do, and we are going to do it.”
Unless Purdue and the other academic institutions in Indiana get a sudden windfall from the General Assembly, that phrase, “we are going to do it,” would indicate that the ball is in the court of the Purdue family. In order to afford the freeze, it would appear that the university is going to have to make some difficult budget decisions internally — a challenging process given the institutional reluctance to give up any advances made in the past.
Daniels has put the matter in stark terms. For the next two years, there will be no reliance on tuition increases to cover mounting costs. As far as a great many parents are concerned, that is a decision that is long overdue.
— The Tribune, Seymour
Fewer dollars for higher ed is troubling
A well-known trend in higher education funding is having more of an impact on students who attend Indiana’s state universities than at those in other states.
The trend is toward a lowering of state support. A study called the State Higher Education Finance report issued by the State Higher Education Executive Officers revealed that state support across the country is at a 25-year low. Tuition for students has risen sharply as a result.
The uniquely bad news for Hoosiers is that state support is about $1,000 lower than the national average, while tuition accounted for about $1,800 more for Indiana’s state institutions.
The raw numbers are instructive.
In 2012, state dollars per full-time student amounted to $4,869, according to the study. In 1987, the amount was $7,887. Last year, net tuition revenue for each full-time student in Indiana was $7,019 compared to $3,915 in 1987.
The total of those two categories of funding has stayed about the same, but in 1987, 59 percent of the sum of those two numbers came from the state. In 2012, that number has dropped to 41 percent.
That illustrates the bind in which Indiana University and other state universities find themselves.
More and more young people are attending college because they recognize they need to continue their formal education if they are going to be competitive in the job market.
At the same time, state dollars per individual student are simply not keeping pace. Still, lawmakers and other state officials moan about the expense of higher education and discourage universities from raising tuition.
That formula would not work in even a basic math course.
IU officials often point to the four ways the university can gain revenue: state support, tuition, research grants and philanthropy. IU has had good success with the latter two, but increasing dollars through grants and philanthropy, plus cost efficiencies, are not enough by themselves to offset per-student reductions noted in the study. Utility costs and health care benefits continue to rise as well. Thus, tuition has to increase or quality will suffer.
The study showed this indeed is a national issue. But it also showed the disparity between lower state support and rising tuition is worse in Indiana than many places.
While there are no quick fixes, admitting our problem is worse than other states’ is a place to begin.
— The Herald-Times, Bloomington | <urn:uuid:1f6577f7-8194-4f53-94d9-d7aeaaa45966> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsandtribune.com/columns/x1499308127/THEIR-VIEW-Opinions-from-other-newspapers-for-March-21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97237 | 1,031 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Uganda has produced a host of famous artists in recent generations, despite experiencing a political rollercoaster and huge social upheaval. How did they do it?
Uganda has a long history of formal art education. Under British colonial rule as a Protectorate, it was seen as being of less strategic importance than Kenya and this allowed the establishment of art as a school subject. By contrast, art was only taught in white-only schools in Kenya.
Art was extended to degree level through the efforts of Margaret Trowell, who founded the Fine Art school at Makerere University in Kampala. Her courses emphasised the importance of building on existing artistic practices, but introduced new techniques such as silkscreen printing. This echoed the British style of administration in protectorates, that of 'indirect rule' where colonial power structures used existing forms of government. Students came from all over eastern Africa, from the Sudan to Zimbabwe.
Early students at the Margaret Trowell Fine Art School include the sculptor Francis Nnaggenda, a Kenyan, and the painter Sam Ntiro from Tanzania. Exhibitions of outstanding students' work were held in prestigious London galleries. Some went on the study at London art schools or the Royal Academy. Many such students became lecturers at the school and helped nurture the talents of younger artists.
When the East African countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania achieved independence in the early 1960s, they formed the East African Community. Part of this structure involved sharing university facilities. Uganda, with its fine art school, continued its tradition of providing art education for much of East Africa.
However, all this changed in 1971 when a coup d'état brought Idi Amin to power. Kampala had been the centre of Uganda's intellectual life, but in a very short time this fertile artistic environment had evaporated and all public debate was stifled. Many prominent artists went into exile and those that remained lived a very precarious life indeed. The University lost many outspoken tutors, included its Vice Chancellor who 'disappeared'. An entire generation was traumatised by fourteen years of civil war.
The Fine Art school miraculously stayed open throughout this dreadful time. The old patrons of Kampala's élite and middle-classes were replaced with new patrons from the military, producing not only medals and insignia but commissioned sculpture and paintings for those rising fast through the army ranks. It managed this by employing recent graduates as lecturers. In a way, this gave the school a new lease of life by providing opportunities for innovative young artists and breaking links with those whose training was based on the colonial system.
Current resident artists and lecturers include the sculptors Lilian Nabulime and Rose Kirumira and painters Godfrey Banadda and Paul Lubowa. Their work has been featured in definitive texts on African art such as 'Contemporary African Art' by Sidney Littlefield Kasfir, and also in ground-breaking exhibitions such as 'Seven Stories of Modern Art in Africa' (1995-6, London, Sweden and New York). Guruve has developed excellent relationships with such senior artists, and with many of their most promising students. We promote these artists and their work as part of our mission to raise the profile of contemporary African art in the UK.
This text is copyright (please see statement on our homepage) and is the intellectual property of Guruve Ltd and must not be reproduced without our permission and attribution to www.guruve.com | <urn:uuid:4445678e-911a-4ade-ac10-0325c0636848> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guruve.com/discover_/uganda.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974522 | 708 | 3.265625 | 3 |
MS. REBECCA SHEIR
Sometimes you come to a place to visit, but you wind up coming to stay. And many of the people we'll hear from next, well, they did just that. Over the years, the D.C. region has attracted quite a few nationalities and cultures, including Salvadorans. In fact, we have the second largest Salvadoran population in the country. For the past 30 years, primarily men have been coming over and sending money to family members back home.
MS. REBECCA SHEIR
And that money has helped pay for the education of a number of young women. But here's the thing, even with an education, these women often have great difficulty finding a job in a country whose economy is struggling and whose culture -- well, whose culture pretty much traditionally favors men. So increasingly, these women are heading north. Many plan on just sticking around long enough to save some money then return home. But Kate Sheehy introduces us to some women who have come to the area and stayed here in hopes of improving their lives and their communities.
MS. KATE SHEEHY
Sonia Umanzor says she remembers the civil war in El Salvador like it was yesterday. The year was 1980. She was a nurse traveling around, helping the injured.
MS. SONIA UMANZOR
When we head into the city, we saw many bodies. Oh, my God, that was terrible thing.
Umanzor fled the war and illegally crossed the U.S. border in 1981. Now, she works with young Salvadoran women as a patient advocate at the Mary's Center in Northwest D.C., a clinic providing maternal and childcare for immigrant women from Central America. When you walk through the front door, Umanzor is the first person you see, greeting everyone with a warm smile at the front desk.
Umanzor says, only two other women traveled with her to the U.S. 30 years ago. But today she says, young women in El Salvador are restless.
They don't know what to do because there's so many people getting education now. They economy is not able to take them and put them to work.
Which might be why roughly 17 percent of women, compared with 11 percent of men, are coming to America from El Salvador with some college education. That's according to the Inter-American Dialogue, a not for profit think tank in D.C. focusing on U.S. relations with Latin America. Umanzor is a leader in the local Salvadoran community and seeks to get other women involved. She directs D.C.'s chapter of the Salvador and political party, FMLN. Although she says, she is the only woman to lead a committee in the party, she's proud to report that a number of companeras or women attend her meetings.
One of these companeras is Norma. She does not want to use her last name because of her illegal status. I meet her one evening at Umanzor's apartment in Takoma Park, Md. The two women discuss the immigrant rights and political campaign posters laying in the hallway while Norma's 3-year-old son, Nelson, hangs on her legs. Norma came to the U.S. in 2005. She tells me how she stopped in Monterrey, Mexico on the way. Umanzor translates for her.
They think that because I was a woman, I was a Latina, I am somebody who do not speak English and who do not have right, they can decide whatever they want, even the salary, even everything and how they treat me.
Norma washed dishes for a catering company for five years until she quit when her employer brushed aside her request for a regular lunch break. But many Salvadorans say women find more respect in the U.S., such as 28-year-old Edgar Villalobos who's working on a brand new Honda civic at the mechanic shop he owns with his father and uncle in Northeast D.C. He migrated from El Salvador in September 2001 and says before he came to the U.S., he thought of women only as mothers and caretakers.
MR. EDGAR VILLALOBOS
Then when I came here, there's a lot of women working. They're, you know, supervising or they have their own companies.
Next door, Efrain Merino runs a body shop. Merino works with Sonia Umanzor in a non-profit called, FOSSALEX or Fondo Solidario Para Los Salvadorenos En El Exterior. The organization raises money for people in need in the local Salvadorian community. He says once in the U.S., some men learn to see women differently.
MR. EFRAIN MERINO
We learn a lot of things about this culture. The respect that you got to have to the women, you know, they equal.
But sitting inside Sonia Umanzor's apartment, Norma says women struggle for the opportunity to have their voices heard even in America.
I really think that the woman rights are not respected yet and they continue struggling.
She says she will go back to college here after she learns English. She's taking a class four nights a week. Both Umanzor and Norma say they hope to see the day when El Salvador changes, enough to encourage people to stay and leave. That is if they want to not because they feel they have no other choice. I'm Kate Sheehy.
Transcripts of WAMU programs are available for personal use. Transcripts are provided "As Is" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. WAMU does not warrant that the transcript is error-free. For all WAMU programs, the broadcast audio should be considered the authoritative version. Transcripts are owned by WAMU 88.5 FM American University Radio and are protected by laws in both the United States and international law. You may not sell or modify transcripts or reproduce, display, distribute, or otherwise use the transcript, in whole or in part, in any way for any public or commercial purpose without the express written permission of WAMU. All requests for uses beyond personal and noncommercial use should be referred to (202) 885-1200. | <urn:uuid:d57d6fc1-49a7-4c3e-966c-af336558ff7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wamu.org/programs/metro_connection/11/03/04/a_new_life_salvadoran_women_in_dc_transcript | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961601 | 1,314 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Blessing In Sorrow
Do we trust God only when he is bringing us good stuff, and not also trust him when bad things happen in life? Is God good only when he causes things to happen which make us happy? Is God not just as good when pain and loss enter life?
If we believe God, and take pain with the same confidence as the pleasures of life, then the darkness will be as rich with blessing as the light, and sorrow will bring us as close to God as joy.
All Things Possible
It seems as though the words “possible” and “probable” have become synonymous. But there is a very real difference between the two. Many things in life may not be probable, their possibility being very slim — but they are still possible. Nothing is ever accomplished by giving up.
Working for and with God is no different. When probability is at its lowest, God is at his best. Where else is a miracle found than in the improbable, the unexpected, and the impossible? If it is expected, then it becomes no more than an act; then where is the miracle? If it is a counted on result, then were is the victory in the face of defeat; cure of the terminal illness; resurrection of the dead? As improbable as those might be, with God, all things are possible — and therein lies the miracle.
Joy In Sorrow
For the Christian, one of the most difficult tasks is to find joy in the midst of sorrow. Yet, if we trust God’s promises, that is exactly what is found.
Afflictions come upon us in life, but God does not mean to hurt us through them. Heavy disappointments are often God’s appointments, and what God sends us as growth may look more like misfortune. Even that which appears as outright evil can contain inside it a rich compensation when we allow God to work it out.
The old time preachers used to say: “Beyond sorrow’s Jordan’s green fields lie” That is still true today.
God Calls Each
Each generation that inhabits the earth is brought forth according to God’s great plan. When the appointed time has come, each appears on the stage of history; and when the time for their dismissal comes, he sends them away.
The time of our appearing is now. Our ancestors have left vacant their place and gone down into the dust — as did theirs before them. Now is our time to be permitted to act out our part freely, without restraint or reservation. So we proceed, steadfast in the knowledge that there is not a day in our life, nor an event in a day, that is unforeseen by God.
Trust And Move On
Many people deal with feelings outwardly; they share them with others in hopes of finding sympathy or resolution. But this type of sharing is also nothing more than self-involvement. By opening to another, we speak about ourselves and thereby become engrossed on our own situation.
Christian’s are to submit themselves to God’s will without complaint. By doing so, the Christian is more balanced in character, healthier mentally, and capable of dealing with a vast range of emotions which life brings.
Those who talk about themselves dwell on themselves. Those who quietly trust themselves to God move on from their problems.
The End Is Thanks
When the seasons of our years give us a warning that our duration on earth is short, it behooves us to look toward God, and remember by whose hand our life was made. Then, in all humility, it is right and proper to thank God that we have been permitted to partake so long in the wonderment of life. It is God who has endured our incitements against Him; our ugly behavior; and in spite of it all, still shared with us the grace of Himself. So it should be that not just in faith and hope, but gratitude as well, that we commit unto Him the trust of our soul.
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for my eyes have seen thy salvation.” —Luke 2:29
(God bless you A.R. Go in peace.)
The Tyrant’s Downfall
The history of the world shows that tyrants, dictators, and oppressors have always failed to understand the fear of God which is contained in the heart of the believer. Such is the power and providence of God that men and women have long stood against and defeated transgressors such as these. Those who would wield pain, suffering, and fear upon a populace bring with them great power, but so strong is the person whose faith rests upon God, that no power on earth can force it to break.
Many people, and Christians are among them, think of forgiveness as a common, ordinary thing. Forgiveness is seen as a way to be excused from punishment, an avoidance of the consequences for doing wrong. But true forgiveness must be much more.
If forgiveness is to be more than just not facing consequences, then what is it? It is the hostility which results from wrong, gone away. It is trust restored. It is reconciliation in the highest form. While the president may pardon a criminal, that person is still a criminal; but when God forgives, the sin is gone completely, and the person becomes a new creation in Christ.
Trust Comes First
Before we can have any kind of a meaningful relationship or friendship with a person, trust must exist. Doubt digs great chasms between people, and distrust builds high walls which keep us apart. Trust is what overcomes these obstacles.
The same is true for having a relationship with Jesus. In order to know and to be near him, there must be trust. However, the rewards for such trust is beyond belief. Whether walking through calamity or joy; whether experiencing the heights or the depths of life, we remain calm, secure, and unbroken in our faith.
To wait quietly while remaining steadfast is very difficult but extremely important. It is not unusual for God to speak into the life of an individual the path or principal to follow. Yet, the rest of the world, the best of friends, the most competent of colleagues advise otherwise.
The Christian must listen for God, discern the right course, and stand firm against all who would detract. God will come, and lead you forward. Only then will the world see the truth of your stance.
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” Psalm 130:5 | <urn:uuid:74f263b6-b306-46a2-a9f1-19db91be2778> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dailypotpourri.tumblr.com/tagged/Trust | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967463 | 1,366 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Most examinations of government energy subsidies don’t factor in what economists call “externalities,” side effects or consequences of activities that affect other parties without being reflected in the costs involved. With energy production, some of the biggest externalities are the social, health, and environmental effects of pollution.
The question is not whether fossil fuel, nuclear, and renewable energy industries are government subsidized, but how much, how equitably, and at what cost to the environment, and to taxpayers’ pocketbooks and health.
The ostensible purpose for government subsidies is to achieve social goods and services that the private sector is unwilling or unable to provide. The political purpose may or may not be the same.
Subsidies are necessary because the social good or service desired might not be profitable to a business. The federal government has subsidized industries and facilities since its inception. The dredging of ports, giving away millions of acres of land to get railroads built, and the home mortgage interest deduction are all government subsidies.
Government subsidies may take several forms, including the funding of basic research. For instance, we wouldn’t have PV modules on earth if not for NASA needing them in space. Most libraries and airports are government-run, which is a subsidy to private citizens or private industry. Subsidies can also be grants, tax breaks, or tariffs on foreign goods to protect domestic manufacturers.
Of course, when there is not general agreement on the worthiness of a subsidy, such as public libraries, one person’s wasteful government subsidy is another’s wise government investment. Whether government subsidies make sense depends upon the subsidy and on ideology. Should government be picking winners and losers?
As to which energy sources are being subsidized and by how much is a matter of perspective. Below, some of the most recent critiques are surveyed. Collectively considering all of them results in relatively good comparison of subsidies between various energy sources.
A report prepared for the nuclear industry by Management Information Services (MIS), an economic research and management consultancy, analyzed federal energy incentives (aka subsidies) to the oil, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric, nuclear, renewables (primarily wind and solar), and geothermal industries over the past 60 years (see “Summary” table). They identify six categories of subsidies:
Tax policy includes special credits, deductions, allowances, and exemptions available only to a particular energy industry. As examples, wind and solar get tax credits, while the oil and gas industry receives special allowances—such as more rapid depreciation for tax purposes than is allowed for other industries—for resource depletion and intangible drilling costs.
Regulation includes “gains realized by energy businesses when they are exempt from federal requirements that raise cost or limit prices” and “costs of federal regulation that are borne by the general budget and not covered by fees charged to regulated industries.” The nuclear power industry couldn’t afford to pay the insurance premiums needed in the event of an accident, so the federal government relieves them of the obligation.
Research and development is also for demonstration programs. Neither the nuclear or solar industries would have gotten off the ground as they did without federally funded research. Perhaps PV modules would have come about by private firms seeking profit that would have been available had fossil fuels not been subsidized, but perhaps not—and certainly not as early as fossil fuels did.
Market activity “includes direct federal government involvement in the marketplace.” Safety airbags in automobiles became commonplace after the federal government required them for its own fleets.
Government services include “all services traditionally and historically provided by the federal government without direct charge.” For example, infrastructure investments like the deepening of ports for bigger ships to haul coal, oil, or liquefied natural gas. | <urn:uuid:4f3a8084-1780-4bb2-b8e7-101ee2ccf34e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homepower.com/articles/home-efficiency/electricity/subsidy-game | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953548 | 773 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Calming environment activity
Your baby is used to a calming environment from the time when he was in his mother's womb. There are little things you can do to try and replicate that calming environment for your baby.
To create a calming environment for your baby, try:
To choose colours in the nursery that are soothing, soft and neutral so that it is visually calming for your baby
To limit exposure to very noisy environments as this can upset your baby.
To give your baby a back rub which can be very calming and reassuring.
Slow rocking and rhythmical movements that will be enjoyed by your baby. | <urn:uuid:711a91ff-9f99-42a2-ad09-88f145a7f10a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/Baby-Games+13/Calming-environment-activity+11321.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967686 | 124 | 2.796875 | 3 |
- Published on Tuesday, 20 September 2011 15:40
- Written by Michael Coveney
It was almost like old times. On the way in, you are handed a piece of cotton wool to stuff in your ears. The actors strip naked and cry openly at the accompanying music. They insult the audience and abuse the Belgrade festival-goers as "Serbian pussies."
But this wasn't some Pip Simmons re-heat from 1969, or a nostalgia jag for the New York avant-garde. It was a tough, raw, stunning piece of new Slovenian theatre called "Damned Be the Traitor of his Homeland" and it itemised the grievances and hurt of the wars that ripped former Yugoslavia apart in the 1990s. | <urn:uuid:21e219cc-3d75-4c2f-9353-33c44b9b56ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://balkanchronicle.com/index.php/arts-a-culture/entertainment/theatre | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965212 | 154 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Fluoroscopy uses X-rays to provide real-time images of the area being examined. It is often used to examine various body systems, including skeletal, digestive, urinary or reproductive, as well as organs such as the heart, lungs and kidneys. Fluoroscopy is commonly used to examine the intestines and large bowel, and is most often performed using a contrast solution to make tissues and other structures more visible.
This technology is often used with other diagnostic or therapeutic procedures to provide visual monitoring and guidance for procedures such as:
- Cardiac catheterization
- Image-guided injections | <urn:uuid:6911f8ff-c6d1-4444-a229-c9f5fbb58281> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shandslakeshore.com/medical-services/fluoroscopy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95648 | 123 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Optimization goals are fueling a trend across vertical markets among IT managers who are remapping their data centers. The concept eliminates islands of technology, such as groups of servers, storage systems and network resources formerly dedicated to a single department or enterprise operation.
Instead, these managers are taking a more holistic view of IT and creating pools of resources designed to boost utilization rates and enable on-the-fly resource provisioning.
Hardware consolidation, extensive virtualization and balanced mixes of on-premises and cloud implementations are important elements in data center optimization efforts; however, these ambitious strategies often go beyond the technologies themselves. IT managers also can more effectively use available physical space and fine-tune power and cooling systems for greater efficiencies and less cost.
IT managers start with virtualization . The widespread server virtualization efforts of the past few years have helped many enterprises reduce physical hardware requirements, increase the utilization rates of remaining devices and alleviate skyrocketing power demands.
Now organizations are looking beyond consolidation to the next big wave of virtualization, says Greg Schulz, founder of the Server and StorageIO consulting group. “The goal is to enable higher productivity.”
Schulz cites the hypothetical example of a server that supports a mission-critical database application.
“The conventional thinking in the consolidation game is that this resource can’t be virtualized,” he says. Why? Because a database’s performance demands require dedicated computing power. But that may be required only during regular office hours.
“Instead of having that server sit idle at night, an organization can use virtualization to move other processes, such as reporting, analytics or backups to the server after hours. Then during the daytime, the critical application goes back to the server and gets all the resources it needs,” Schulz explains. “The result is that you are using the server more effectively, and you are increasing overall productivity.”
In a similar way, organizations can use virtualization to dynamically shift loads across various servers to perform upgrades without incurring downtime, and enhance operations continuity and disaster recovery efforts, he adds.
Virtualization provides similar load shifting and uptime benefits for storage systems. In addition, optimization-minded IT managers are looking to unified storage technologies to provide added value.
Unified storage systems support both block and file storage and the relevant protocols in the same unit, often along with redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID), load balancing and other management capabilities. As a result, IT shops can take another step toward optimization by reducing the range of technology they have to purchase and support.
Networking technology is following suit with virtual, software-based switches that create opportunities for hardware consolidation and dynamic resource allocations.
Virtualization in all its forms isn’t the complete answer for data center optimization. IT departments also need tools to ease the management of resource pools. A number of options are becoming available. For example, Symantec’s ApplicationHA provides application monitoring to help maintain high availability and reduce service disruptions for applications in virtualized environments.
“These technologies are helping organizations take the risk out of virtualizing more of their critical applications,” says Mike Reynolds, product marketing manager for Symantec’s Storage and Availability Management group.
IT managers can use ApplicationHA to monitor applications and receive immediate alerts in consoles such as VMware vCenter if a program crashes for any reason. The solution will restart a failed application if possible or it works with native high-availability tools to ensure that it fails over to a healthy virtual machine.
To help optimize storage systems and facilitate rapid provisioning of storage resources, Symantec offers VirtualStore. The technology creates a standard image of Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) files that can be re-used when new virtual machines are created. Because provisioning virtual machines is fast and easy, administrators can proactively or reactively create them based on business requirements; however, creating a VMDK for each virtual machine can quickly eat up storage space, Reynolds says. The golden image created by VirtualStore can help organizations reduce VMDK storage requirements by up to 90 percent, according to Reynolds. | <urn:uuid:957019b8-7796-4fd1-9ed8-a2905456a748> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biztechmagazine.com/print/5896 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915863 | 853 | 1.648438 | 2 |
by John Williamson, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Op-ed in VoxEU.org
October 2, 2009
The Special Drawing Right (SDR) was created by the IMF in the late 1960s as its very own gold substitute and first allocated to IMF members in 1970. Subsequent issues in the following two years were agreed at the same time, and then a new three-year period of modest allocations occurred in 1979–81. Despite the laughably ambitious aims for the new asset that were voiced by the Committee of Twenty in 1974, it subsequently went into a deep hibernation from which it was only woken recently as a consequence of the decision of the London G-20 meeting to recommend a $250 billion allocation (Reisen 2009). Together with the call by the governor of the People's Bank of China to consider creating enough SDRs to allow countries like China to diversify some of their dollar holdings (Zhou 2009), this has rekindled interest in assessing whether the SDR could play a useful role in reforming the international monetary system to fit it for today's world (Rodrik 2009).
Lots of difficult and ambitious reforms of the SDR, such as making it an asset that the private sector would be allowed and anxious to hold, are periodically proposed (Aiyar 2009). This column, based on a longer piece, does not presume any of these reforms. It merely argues that the world would be a better place if a substantial portion of the demand for holding additional international liquidity were to be met by creation of more SDRs instead of exclusively by expanding reserve currency holdings, as in the recent past. (By a "substantial portion" I mean perhaps half, which—to judge by the additions to reserves in the period 2002–06—would imply SDR allocations of over $400 million per year; see Williamson 2009 for details.)
There are four differences in satisfying the increased demand to hold reserves by allocating SDRs rather than permitting countries to hold increased quantities of reserve currencies, which means principally dollars.
Most of us can think of other reforms to the international monetary system that we would like to see. But it is quite difficult to think of other reforms that promise equally profound benefits to the world and that demand so little in the way of change. SDR allocation involves merely making use of what already exists, not making big and difficult reforms. Yet grasping this opportunity offers the surest way of reducing the inconsistency in payments objectives that currently looks to be the biggest obstacle to a strong recovery in the global economy in the post-Lehman world.
Aiyar, Anklesaria (2009). "An International Monetary Fund Currency to Rival the Dollar?" Washington: Cato Institute.
Humpage, Owen F. (2009), "Will special drawing rights supplant the dollar?" VoxEU.org, 8 May.
Reisen, Helmut (2009), "Shifting wealth: Is the US dollar Empire falling?" VoxEU.org, 20 June.
Rodrik, Dani (2009), "Why Don't We Hear a lot More About SDRs?" Debate: Macroeconomics, a Global Crisis Debate, VoxEU.org, 4 February.
Williamson, John (2009), "Why SDRs Could Rival the Dollar", Peterson Institute Policy Brief, Number 09-20.
Zhou Xiaochuan (2009), "Reform of the International Monetary System". Beijing: People's Bank of China.
Working Paper 13-2: The Elephant Hiding in the Room: Currency Intervention and Trade Imbalances March 2013
Policy Brief 12-25: Currency Manipulation, the US Economy, and the Global Economic Order December 2012
Policy Brief 08-7: New Estimates of Fundamental Equilibrium Exchange Rates July 2008
Working Paper 12-19: The Renminbi Bloc Is Here: Asia Down, Rest of the World to Go? October 2012
Policy Brief 12-19: Combating Widespread Currency Manipulation July 2012
Policy Brief 12-7: Projecting China's Current Account Surplus April 2012
Working Paper 12-4: Spillover Effects of Exchange Rates: A Study of the Renminbi March 2012
Op-ed: Taxing China's Assets: How to Increase US Employment Without Launching a Trade War April 25, 2011
Op-ed: Why the World Needs Three Global Currencies February 15, 2011
Policy Brief 10-24: The Central Banker's Case for Doing More October 2010
Policy Brief 10-26: Currency Wars? November 2010
Congressional Testimony: Correcting the Chinese Exchange Rate September 15, 2010
Op-ed: New Imbalances Will Threaten Global Recovery June 10, 2010
Article: The Dollar and the Deficits: How Washington Can Prevent the Next Crisis November 2009
Policy Brief 09-21: The Future of the Dollar September 2009
Policy Brief 09-20: Why SDRs Could Rival the Dollar September 2009
Policy Brief 07-4: Global Imbalances: Time for Action March 2007
Working Paper 11-14: Renminbi Rules: The Conditional Imminence of the Reserve Currency Transition September 2011
Peterson Perspective: Legislation to Sanction China: Will It Work? October 7, 2011 | <urn:uuid:3da98a1d-5f60-4a0d-b756-37ce49918bd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://petersoninstitute.org/publications/opeds/oped.cfm?ResearchID=1307 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9197 | 1,074 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Options trading is an advanced form of investment which works by giving the owner the right to buy or sell an asset at a certain price and for a certain amount of time. Like a contract, options trading provides the potential for ownership if certain guidelines are followed. However, there are many aspects to options trading strategy which might be too complex for a beginning investor. Here, we’ll take a look at some pros and cons.
Pros of Options Trading
One of the biggest benefits to successful options trading strategy is the ability to leverage capital without tapping into funds from a larger investment portfolio. This gives traders the ability to still engage in significant trades without having to sacrifice a large amount of money. Alongside this flexibility comes limited downside risk because experienced traders are able to stay in tune with the cadence of the market, allowing them to make educated options trading decisions. One of the biggest upsides to this form of investment is that there are many options trading strategies which can be put into place in nearly any market environment. Investors are able to use options to suit their needs, provided they are able to read the market well and decide which strategy works best with their overall investment portfolio. Options trading brings with it the potential for big gains in a short amount of time for experienced investors who understand options principles, so if you are well-versed in finances and the specifics of options, this form of investment could be a huge opportunity for you.
Cons of Options Trading
Like we mentioned before, options trading strategy is complex and should not be pursued by beginning investors. Options can get exotic with all of their different permutations and combinations of spreads that are imaginable. Compounded with the fact that there are less than 20% of options contracts being exercised, making educated decisions is essential if you are looking to make any sort of return. The majority of options contracts are bought or sold to close positions, with the remaining portion of contracts expiring worthless. These are all important things to keep in mind if you are going to venture into options trading. While it can prove to be very profitable for experienced investors, it is always best to explore your options and educate yourself before committing any funds from your financial portfolio.
Are you interested in options trading strategy? Learn more at InvestorPlace today! | <urn:uuid:5b43f948-88b7-4d41-adac-0979b5338687> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://investorplace.com/resources/options-trading-pros-cons/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957792 | 456 | 1.539063 | 2 |
I like to carry an Avira Rescue CD with me because it is one of the tools I use to clean up infected machines. I like it because:
1. It is based on Linux (most of the machines I clean are Windows so having Linux scan it makes it a good defense).
2. Scanning while not booted to the Operating System that is infected increases the chance of being able to get the virus.
3. It will updated itself if it can recognize the NIC. It works flawlessly on Intel cards - never had it work on an Wireless.
OK. If it updates itself that is cool, but since it can't always, I have download the ISO repeatedly to keep as current as I can a CD with me. This is really not hard, just sometimes inconvenient and I am burning through a lot of CDs.
So I decided to make a USB that boots AVIRA instead of a CD. I am sure that there are multiple ways out there to do this, well, maybe not - I do know of two:
1. I followed the directions found here: Dave's Computer Tips.
2. The other I sort of stitched together myself using a utility I download from the Ubuntu site. In their web site they show you how to create a Live USB version of Ubuntu. You can go there are read it, but the utility you want is at Universal USB Installer. The utility really is for creating a number of bootable USB Linux Distros.
Option 1 I tried and while the process was flawless, my USB drive did not boot. I created it while using Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I did not think this would make a difference, but maybe it did or maybe it was my USB drive. It was a cheap 1 Gig model that I had laying around. From past experience some USB drives just don't work no matter what you do.
So after failing with option 1, I decided to try using the utility I had used before to create bootable Ubuntu USBs. If you run the utility you will notice that it has selections for a large number of different Linux Distributions, and this includes the "other". Which means you just have some version not listed.
So here are the steps:
1. Download Avira rescue CD.
2. Insert your USB drive (Remember the process is going to totally destroy any data on it).
3. Run the Universal USB Installer.
4. For the type of Linux, I chose "Try Unlisted Linux ISO (New SysLinux)
5. Choose the drive letter that belongs to your USB - do not check "show all drives"
6. Point to the downloaded AVIRA Rescue CD ISO.
7. Select Format drive.
8. Go for it.
See a screen shot of the selections mentioned above:
There you go. | <urn:uuid:7001d3ed-e0e9-4d39-9cbd-8e2ef0f6775c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techbytes.wuz-up.com/2011/07/making-avira-bootable-from-usb-stick.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957562 | 585 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The gallbladder is found under your liver and releases bile through the common bile duct to help digest fat. When bile hardens into stones made of cholesterol or bile salts, this obstruction in the common bile duct can cause the gallbladder to swell. Nausea, vomiting or sharp pain in your abdomen, in your back or under your right arm may indicate the need for your gallbladder to be removed.
Novant Health surgeons can remove an infected gallbladder using laparoscopic surgery for less pain and the fastest recovery time.
Recovery is rapid and may allow you to go home that day or the day after surgery. Most people can resume their daily activities within three to seven days. | <urn:uuid:ac308804-eea5-4dc1-9b67-15b75494508c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.presbyterian.org/Home/Services/Surgical/SurgicalSpecialties/GeneralSurgery/GallbladderRemoval.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936612 | 148 | 2.453125 | 2 |
The Global Campaign to Stop VAW in the name of "Culture" (VNC Campaign) extends our unequivocal solidarity with the Ugandan lesbians, gays and other progressive citizens that continue to fight against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda. The Bill is explicitly anti-human rights and anti-democratic and contravenes the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and other international human rights treaties to which Uganda is a party. National dialogue and understanding of homosexuality in Uganda is widely known to being strongly influenced by American Evangelical Christians, some of whom visited the country and took part in an anti-homosexuality conference that immediately preceded the filing of the anti-homosexuality bill in the parliament in 2009. David Kato, the LGBT rights activist whose extra-judicial killing caused worldwide public outcry was one of the main advocates campaigning against the bill, and received numerous death threats for his activism.
The Violence is Not out Culture campaign condemns the brutal murder on 26 January 2011 of LGBT human rights defender, David Kato, of Uganda and extends its condolences to his colleagues at Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). David was a long term activist for rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Uganda, and was a highly respected and admired human rights defender within his community and worldwide.
Human rights activists have warned that the lives of gay people inUganda are in danger aftera newspaper published a story featuring the names and photographs of 100 homosexuals under the headline: "Hang Them". At least one person named in the story has been forced to leave her home after neighbours pelted it with stones, and several others have been verbally abused, according to the campaign group Sexual Minorities Uganda.
Religious women make change happen, whether it’s by seeking peace or inciting war. Strong beliefs can inspire social justice or block a woman's access to freedom or equality. Join the International Museum of Women as they explore the relationship between faith and politics in the lives of women around the world.
In her urgent call to action concerning “the wind of state homophobia [that] has swept over the African continent”—particularly its most “draconian” manifestation in Uganda’s anti-homophobia Bill—Cesnabmihilo Aken’ova remarks, “One cannot but wonder where the new bill is coming from.” In addressing this question, we need to pay attention to external as well as internal forces. Not surprisingly, we find lurking behind homophobic panics and public morality crusades, in Africa as elsewhere, a complicated mix of neocolonial, economic, and domestic policing agendas, writes Rosalind P. Petchesky*
Hate has no place in the house of God. No one should be excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern because of race or gender, faith or ethnicity -- or because of their sexual orientation. Nor should anyone be excluded from health care on any of these grounds. In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights. We knew this was wrong. Thankfully, the world supported us in our struggle for freedom and dignity.
Leading African clergy and prominent individuals, as well as more than 60 civil society and human rights groups from 10 sub-Saharan African countries have endorsed a statement calling on the President, Government and Parliament of Uganda to reject the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in its entirety.
Nous représentantes de diverses organisations de la Société Civile Africaine réunies au Forum Mondial pour la Revue de Beijing 15 ans après et représentant les voix des millions de femmes et jeunes filles Africaines, Apres avoir eu des consultations avec différents acteurs avant et pendant le Forum Mondial des ONG sur les progrès enregistrés dans la mise en œuvre de le Déclaration et la Plate Forme d’Action de Beijing en Afrique,
29 March to 27 April 2010 (Global): The witchcraft epidemic in Africa is fueled by religious extremism. Practitioners of traditional African religions, traditional healers, witch-doctors and Christian missionaries and religious leaders incite witch-hunts on this continent. There are comparisons to be made between Africas current witch-craze, European Inquisitions and American witch-hunts. Perhaps the lessons to be learned in Africa are the same as those that needed to be learned by Europeans and Americans; there is no culture without human rights. All men and women, including Witches, have the right to live without being falsely accused, assaulted, persecuted or murdered.
08/03/2010: We need to understand what it means to be heterosexual as well as homosexual, and that our sexualities affect whether we live or die. During this 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on the occasion of the 15+year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform, the Coalition of African Lesbians (“CAL”) reinforces that: LGBTI rights are human rights, that we are not claiming or asking for “special” or “additional” rights BUT that we call on our African governments to condemn the violence perpetrated against sexual minorities, to refrain from engaging in this violence and to take all measures to ensure the protection of sexual minorities, in particular, lesbian and transgender women subjected to violence. | <urn:uuid:061d6064-a7cb-42f0-b0cf-9e75969b3003> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wluml.org/taxonomy/term/165?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909014 | 1,157 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Confusion around names and identity features can undermine professional standing, but it can be avoided by carefully managing one’s online personal and professional identity. It is advisable to routinely check hits on one’s name online to be sure desired information is not clouded by mistakes or misinformation or overshadowed by another with the same name. Professionals should create personal e-portfolios and tie them to LinkedIn and other appropriate social networking sites. Active participation on those sites helps boost search returns tied with one’s professional identity. Promotional websites such as Vizilibity.com can be made more effective by adding keywords to highlight interests and achievements, while MyWebCareer.com evaluates one’s networking profile. By customizing privacy settings, one can limit access to personal information. Managing personal information takes time but is critical to be sure online information accurately represents your identity.
Bulletin, December/January 2012
Managing Your Online Professional Identity
by Teresa D. Jones and Deborah E. Swain
Your professional web identity says a lot about you. But do you know what it is? How often do you Google your name to understand what your professional identity is? Since 2005, when 75% of search firms regularly used Google to investigate job candidates, that habit by potential employers has increased now to 90% . So your name on the web is important. But is your information clear and accurate? What can you do to enhance searching and better control your identity? According to James Alexander, founder of Visibility.com, about 2000 people on LinkedIn share names with persons on the FBI’s most wanted list . What can you do if this confusion is true for you? There are steps you can take to ensure that the real you stands out on the web.
When you want to improve your personal identity search, you can add keywords that are specific to your address or job such as title, work place, city or state. Then, you should do a quick evaluation from the point of view of the employers or collaborators you want to work with so that you can be sure to list what you found that they would like to read about you. Also, did you find anything you didn’t like about you? Date and summarize in a log your professional Internet identity. Make it a habit to check periodically and use different browsers to find as many web identities as may be out there for you. Setting aside a time once a month or quarterly to maintain this identity allows you to manage the information and control the knowledge about you . We will give you tips below to change your identity.
Basic Tips for Managing Your Professional Online Identity
On each site you have a presence be sure to maintain a level of professionalism that emphasizes your skills and interests in a positive light. Correct any mistakes, such as spellings of emails and name variations on any site, especially on your employer or institution’s website . Minor typos can prevent your being located or correctly identified.
For your basic personal identity, you may already be using social networking tools such as Facebook, MySpace, Flickr or Twitter. But for your professional identity set up a career-based social network page through tools such as LinkedIn. Also, consider creating an online portfolio. This step can be done by taking your resume and converting it into an electronic format, with links to publications, research papers, presentations and other samples of accomplishments. There are cost-free tools for creating an e-portfolio that do not include ad displays, for example, Pbworks, Google Sites and WordPress. Minimal fees are charged for maintaining more detailed sites. Then to be sure your portfolio is used and that you are found by searchers, add links to it from your social pages: LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and Twitter. Finally, on all these social pages, develop a profile and update it periodically .
A special note about LinkedIn: As a social networking site for sharing career information and establishing a professional identity, LinkedIn has become very successful and preferred by many Internet users connecting with others in their profession. Check it and become active on that network by accepting invitations and monitoring what associates and colleagues are doing. Keeping active and current in LinkedIn will also help bring your professional profile and preferred identity to the top of searches on most search engines .
There is more that you can do to affect results of web searches. For example, you can register on promotional websites such as www.vizibility.com. Vizibility.com supports tools that make it easier for people to find you online. You can provide specific keywords that highlight new degrees or trainings, list subject areas from recent publications or presentations and emphasize old or new research interests. For example, use the tools provided by Vizibility.com to help others find you on the web. Also, you can effectively use the “SearchMe” link button to lead people directly to your web identity by adding them to your resumes, business cards or email signatures . This way, you are ensuring that when employers and other professionals search for you, they find the information you want them to find. Your professional, online existence is essential. In this technology-driven society, you are expected to maintain a professional online presence. Otherwise, you might run the risk of being overlooked or seen as not progressive enough .
Another option is to sign up for sites such as www.MyWebCareer.com. This website evaluates both your social and business networking profiles. MyWebCareer tools also review and critique your overall network presences and define your search engine footprint to generate a personalized career score. Changing the score and controlling your professional identity on the Internet are up to you.
Using social networking to your advantage and doing what is required for personal knowledge management can depend on you and the time you take for social networking. First, you can use LinkedIn and other social sites to network and build connections among others in your field of study or work. Just as you network by attending conferences or taking courses for professional development, you can network on the web. Someone may know of a grant, research project or job that would interest you and further your career. To keep in touch, you might add the URL link for your LinkedIn profile to your contact information on your curriculum vitae and online portfolio, thereby making you clearly available .
However, you also need to protect yourself and your connections. So first of all, customize your privacy settings. You never know if a friend or a friend of a friend could become one of your potential employers . If you are on Facebook, where a new version of Facebook has been released, it is advisable to create a new list on Facebook for your professional friends. You should customize it so that professional friends and associates can only see what you want them to see. Mainly, you want to manage online knowledge about your professional self, so be sure your Facebook profile is private if you don’t want others browsing your personal updates, photos and non-business comments. Keep updating to polish and control that identity .
Knowledge is gained from doing activities. In this paper, we offer a few suggestions for real knowledge management of your online identity. Organizing your social network connections to manage your professional online identity starts with searching and analysis, “Who am I online?” Next, you can build profiles and portfolios and then possibly code descriptors to enhance your brand on the web. No matter your profession, your web identity has become an important aspect of who you are. Managing personal information and knowledge about yourself is a never-ending task, but we think it can start at a simple level and be creative. Most of the tips and suggestions we provide here were shared during a workshop presentation at the 2011 ASIS&T Annual Meeting and are intended as hands-on activities as well as introductory information.
Resources Mentioned in the Article
Salpeter, M. (2011, March 30). How to improve your online identity. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2011/03/30/how-to-improve-your-online-identity
Grant, A. (2011). 10 smart ways to use social media in your job search. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/slideshows/10-smart-ways-to-use-social-media-in-your-job-search
Teresa D. Jones is a graduate MLS student at North Carolina Central University in Durham. She is concentrating her studies on digital and special libraries. She also enjoys conducting research on various library topics. Teresa can be reached at td_jones<at>live.com.
Deborah E. Swain is an associate professor at North Carolina Central University’s School of Library and Information Sciences in Durham. She has also taught at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Campbell University and has over 20 years experience in research, process engineering, business and technical training, and managing information projects for corporations, such as IBM, AT&T and Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies. She can be reached at dswain<at>nccu.edu.
Articles in this Issue
Managing Your Online Professional Identity | <urn:uuid:da4a3747-a7e4-4c3f-984a-8f8eca616f8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Dec-11/DecJan12_Jones_Swain.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934358 | 1,912 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Friday, September 28, 2007
Methyl Bromide has been used by the hundreds of thousands of tonnes to sterilize soils before crops are planted. It’s devastating affect on our Ozone layer is well documented.
Methyl Iodide maybe approved as a replacement for Methyl Bromide today by the EPA. Methyl Iodide was researched as long ago as 50 years.
Both compounds are known to be toxins to humans and animals but, methyl Bromide is thought to be far more devastating to the ozone.
Methyl Iodide has been proven to be equal to, and in many cases better than, Methyl Bromide in the control of many detrimental organisms living in the soil. Why, when this compound seems to be a safer alternative, to the Ozone layer was Methyl Iodide not being used for the past 30 years?
Why then has the world used Methyl Bromide instead?
The nature of Methyl Iodide causes it to dissipate far faster in the air than the methyl bromide, a few days rather than several years. It’s properties cause it to be used in a liquid form rather than gas, like Methyl Bromide; an advantage that makes it potentially less dangerous to use during application.
Interestingly enough there are claims by the USDA itself that the lack of the iodide portion of the compound is a major cause of mental illness in the world…..DOH! Is it really that easy?
The USDA also states unlike bromide, iodide is a recognized plant and human nutrient. Why would we continue to float this Methyl Bromide into our earth’s atmosphere for some 50 years, knowing there may be a suitable substitute that might even be good for us?
Good farming practices went out the window with the coming of the industrialized age. There was a time when plowing a crop under after harvest and rotating crops were the norm. The Hebrew Scriptures (the old Testament) even give detailed instructions as to how to successfully and with good stewardship cultivate the soil. How did we get so far off the track of nourishing the soil and in doing so our bodies? Follow the money.
At some point in our industrialized evolution someone got the bright idea that farming could and should be a mega profitable venture. Mechanized harvests, mechanized fumigation, mechanized fertilization became the mechanics for the mega bottom line profits of farming.
One look at the ever evolving ‘food pyramid’ and the volumes of food recommend for a balanced diet only proves there are fewer and fewer nutrients in the foods we eat. I’m not even speaking of processed and refined foods. Fresh, wholesome fruits and vegetables now days need to be eaten in quantities that are bordering on the ridiculous. Why? Because these foods are grown in void and vanquished soil. Over farmed, over worked and over sterilized.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that to produce nutrient rich food from the earth, the earth needs to be nourished. Sterilization does not enrich. Fertilizing with lab made compounds does not nourish.
The only thing that has been truly nourished on our earth in the last 60 years has been the bottom line of the commercial ventures.
Photo: World Ag Expo-Tulare CA.USA
Labels: Agriculture, EPA, Environment, Global Warming, Methyl Bromide, Methyl Iodide, Ozone
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Methyl Iodide May Be Approved by EPA Today
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
When you count all the things that are known to cause damage to the earth’s protective Ozone layer Methyl Bromide is 50 times more destructive! In fact Methyl Bromide is a deadly neurotoxin. Methyl Bromide has also been linked to gene mutation, chromosome damage, and DNA damage.
More conservative estimates rate this compound at 3 to 5 times more damaging than CFC’s but, in either case if there were alternatives to the use of this agent…why in the world wouldn’t you use them?
Methyl Bromide is injected into soil before many crops such as grapes, almonds, strawberries and others are planted. The Methyl Bromide sterilizes the ground before crops are planted. After harvest this chemical is used to decontaminate products and storage product areas. It kills nematodes, insects, rodents and weeds. Methyl Bromide also kills the Ozone.
Here we have a deadly neurotoxin, a chemical that is classified as a category 1 compound by the EPA, the most deadly category of substances that is still being used, by the millions of tons, today. Yet in 93% of the applications of Methyl Bromide there are less toxic alternatives available. Why is it still being used?
Though this chemical has been banned under the Montreal Protocol, and there are other products that could be used as an alternative; the U.S. ask for and was granted ‘critical use exemptions’ by the Montreal Protocol. How much Methyl Bromide does the U.S. use?
The entire developed, in 2006 used 5,000 tones of Methyl Bromide. The U.S. received an exemption to use 8,000 tons. While fewer and fewer nations are requesting ‘critical use exemptions’ for its use, the U.S. continues to cry, “We need’, “We have no other choice”. The U.S. is submitting requests into the year 2009.
The U.S. is looking more and more like ‘Audry II’ from ‘The little shop of horrors’, screaming “Feed me”, and like O.J. still looking for the ‘real killers’, the U.S. seems still to be looking for ‘alternatives’ to Methyl Bromide use that other nations have apparently been able to locate.
This is bad stuff folks. Another enormous hole in the Ozone is growing over the Antarctic this week. In the past 2 years a hole the size of Europe has opened researchers fear that as spring comes to the southern hemisphere, so too will more holes in the Ozone.
Follow the money! If there are alternatives available why wouldn’t you use them?
The U.S. claims, affordable alternatives are not yet available.
Can we afford the alternative of giving the U.S. everything it cries for?
As Janos Mate of Greenpeace International points out, Italy, Greece and Spain have nearly eliminated their agricultural use of Methyl Bromide.
Photo: USDA.gov nematodes
Labels: Agriculture, EPA, Methyl Bromide, Ozone, Toxin, USA, neurotoxin
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Methyl Bromide the Ozone and the USA | <urn:uuid:cf22b7c1-8680-4002-a354-10f8c5bb99c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pacificspirit.org/news/labels/agriculture.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945987 | 1,435 | 2.78125 | 3 |
There is a great blog called Heroes of Capitalism. What is the blog about? The authors say "What is a hero of capitalism? Someone who used private property* to produce wealth."
*Private property includes the tangible (like land) and intangible (like ideas).
Here are links to their posts on baseball people they have honored:
John A. "Bud" Hillerich
Hal Richman (inventor of the table top baseball game Strat-o-matic, which simulates the performance of actual major league players)
Daniel Okrent, Robert Sklar, Steve Wulf and Glen Waggoner (creators of Rotisserie League baseball, the forerunner of fantasy baseball)
Okrent has also written baseball books, including Nine Innings: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game in which you can learn alot about baseball and its history through his analysis of a single game, bewteen the Brewers and Orioles on June 10, 1982. | <urn:uuid:c85e825e-a17a-487a-92a5-cdaf36dcc86c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cybermetric.blogspot.com/2009/05/some-baseball-pioneers-are-heroes-of.html?showComment=1243811025989 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942598 | 197 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think. Marc Hauser. Henry Holt and Co., 2000. $25.
Anyone writing about animal psychology for a general audience is confronted at the outset by an obstacle: the popular view of animal minds. "Nature red in tooth and claw" is not that view. In the public mind, animals are like people—but better: kinder, gentler, furrier and more cuddly, even wiser. Is any other branch of science stuck with this problem? Although non-physicists and non-chemists have intuitions about physics and chemistry, anybody interested enough to pick up a book on either of these sciences is surely willing to suspend disbelief and at least listen to a new argument. In the realm of animal cognition, it isn't as clear that there is an audience for anything that goes against the flow.
Stephen Budiansky, in his 1998 If a Lion Could Talk, raged against the popular over-interpretation of animal accomplishments. He opened his book with a cute anecdote of animal ingenuity and empathetic behavior. A boy falls into the gorilla pen at a Chicago zoo. The boy is knocked unconscious by his fall, but a female gorilla, Binty, picks him up, protects him from the other gorillas and carries him to safety. The point of this story, for Budiansky, lies solely in its demolition. The boy was in no danger from the other gorillas, keepers held them back with fire-hoses, and, in any case, they were little interested. Binty, far from expressing a spontaneous desire to care for the helpless boy, was doing what keepers had been training her to do in the hope of improving her mothering skills. Not content to rest with the gullibility of journalists, Budiansky goes on to harangue those scientists who he sees as complicit in the over-interpretation of their results. With Budiansky, you know where you stand.
With Marc Hauser and Wild Minds we are in less blunt company. Hauser, professor of animal psychology at Harvard, is certainly not an uncritical consumer of animal anecdotes; his own research is among the most critical and carefully designed in primate cognition. But he is far less willing than Budiansky to alienate the reader who comes to his book with a popular conception of smiling furry beasts. Budiansky's opening example crops up in the final chapter of Hauser's book, but the treatment this time is quite different. Hauser is seemingly unaware of the circumstances surrounding the event—for him there is only the problem of how to interpret this apparently altruistic act:
Although there is no ambiguity about what Binty did, there are many possible interpretations of her thoughts and emotions. Did Binty realize that the boy was unconscious? Would she have acted in the same way to other novel objects, a conscious boy, a cat, a teddy bear, or a bag of potato chips? ... The most intriguing aspect of Binty’s behavior, of course, is the possibility that she acted altruistically.... Did Binty act out of the goodness of her heart, showing kindness to another creature, investing herself in its well-being and ultimate happiness?
Wild Minds's midsection, "Nature's Psychologists," is the most satisfying. Here Hauser discusses recognition of others, self-recognition (which he is careful to distinguish from self-awareness), social learning, imitation and education, communication and deceit. He is a good guide through this material, largely but not exclusively from primate research.
"Universal Knowledge," the book's first major section, divides the understanding that all animals share into three parts: the material world, number and spatial dimension. This is a rather odd choice of "universal" forms of knowledge, as little comparative research exists on the number sense. Spatial and material knowledge have been studied somewhat, although whether it has been enough to qualify as "universal" is an open question. Those old favorites for universal learning mechanisms, classical and instrumental conditioning of the Pavlovian and Skinnerian schools, are not mentioned. In discussing number, Hauser ignores the now substantial work done on number sense in rats and pigeons. He seems to think that laboratory training can expose abilities that have no meaning in the world outside the lab. Left unspecified is why animals should demonstrate abilities in the lab that they would not use in the real world.
The final section, "Minds in Society," explores two qualities more human than animal: language and the moral sense. Hauser, for my taste, is too easily impressed by the communicative abilities of nonhuman primates. For example, vervet monkeys are more likely to give alarm calls when they are with their juvenile daughters than with unrelated juvenile females. Does it therefore follow that they have "voluntary control" over their alarm calls? I am less than convinced.
My real beef with Hauser comes in his conclusion on language. He compares most animals to Gregor Samsa, the character in the Franz Kafka story "The Metamorphosis" who wakes up one morning as a giant insect: "They are Kafka-creatures, organisms with rich thoughts and emotions, but no system for translating what they think into something that they can express to others." This claim is bizarre. Even allowing for a caveat that follows ("I do not mean that animals, lacking a human language, have the kinds of thoughts that Samsa-as-beetle has"), it is still unimaginable (not to mention beyond experiment) that animals could evolve thoughts that they could not express. Hauser believes that "the earliest humans were endowed with a formidable mental life, but had to wait patiently for the arrival of a new tool, the gift of language." Language, in turn, "emancipated a mind that was humming along with its own private thoughts." Why or how a mind could "hum along" with inexpressible thoughts I cannot conceive.
Perhaps it all depends on what you mean by "thought." Here, despite the book's subtitle, Hauser is surprisingly silent. In his prologue, he tells us that he considers the question of whether animals think to be "unhelpful," although he does comment that "scientists who think that animals are mindless and irrational ? incorrectly conclude that there can be no thought without language." Where does this leave scientists who think that animals are mindful and rational and nonetheless conclude there can be no thought without language? Other than denying that language is required for thought (a position he feels no need to defend), Hauser has nothing more to say on the topic.
Hauser's book will entertain and educate many people. Witty illustrations add to an enjoyable and stimulating package. That some (like myself) may often disagree with him is not to say that his companionship through the upper reaches of nonhuman cognition is not agreeable and profitable.—Clive D. L. Wynne, Psychology, University of Western Australia | <urn:uuid:632f4900-5622-45fc-826d-e8e6ce615e37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/id.2738,content.true,css.print/bookshelf.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966183 | 1,423 | 2.8125 | 3 |
I’ve spent the last week putting together a final revision for my book. The book was originally written for my friends, and starred them as characters. Everything about the story was fictional, but since it starred my friends, I forced some things to happen (and not happen) because I thought it would be rude to, say, kill one of them off in the story. “Hey I wrote a book with all of us in it. You die on page 10. Sorry.”
Now I’m transforming the story into something that will be public facing, and in the process the true story is coming out. As it turns out, one of the characters simply needed to die. I knew they had to die when I wrote the book originally, and I simply ignored the urge to make it happen. Again, I didn’t want to be rude to my friends.
So I sat down to write the scene today. I didn’t think it would be a big deal, I mean, it’s just a fictional character, right? I had already changed the names so it wasn’t even my friend’s name. It should be easy. Boy was I wrong.
The death unfolded slowly in the rewrite. In reading it, the scene probably takes about half a minute to get through. But writing it took what seemed like an inordinate amount of time. Killing off the character really brought about an emotional reaction. I was creating the character’s demise while at the same time saying in my head, “No! Somebody save him!”
It’s a very strange feeling; to destroy a character that you’ve worked very hard on (over a year’s worth of writing and rewriting). You miss the character right afterward, like you would a real person. But then it feels good to have the scene written and the way it should be. Like a final piece of the puzzle put in place.
Just thought I’d share how I was feeling about this. I don’t know if other writers have this same feeling when they write (if they do, Steven King must feel awful), but if you’re a writer I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. | <urn:uuid:ddf2615a-fcb4-4ff7-b376-8d74b4d37caf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brandonandersen.com/2013/01/saying-goodbye-to-characters/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976304 | 469 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Posted 09 January 2009 - 09:24 PM
here's some funtime reading! ---
this is from another mc board....
Here is an overview of the detoxification stages during a juice fast. The time periods are a general estimation.
Stage 1 (Day 1 To Day 2)
On the first day of fasting, the blood sugar level drops below 70 mg/dl. To restore the blood to the normal glucose level, liver glycogen is converted to glucose and released into the blood. This reserve is enough for half a day. The body then reduces the basal metabolic rate (BMR). The rate of internal chemical activity in resting tissue is lowered to conserve energy. The heart slows and blood pressure is reduced. Glycogen is pulled from the muscle causing some weakness. The first wave of cleansing is usually the worst.
Headaches, dizziness, nausea, bad breath, glazed eyes and a heavily coated tongue are signs of the first stage of cleansing. Hunger can be the most intense in this period .
Stage 2 (Day 3 To Day 7)
Fats, composed of transformed fatty acids, are broken down to release glycerol from the gliceride molecules and are converted to glucose. The skin may become oily as rancid oils are purged from the body. People with problem-free skin may have a few days of pimples or even a boil. A pallid complexion is also a sign of waste in the blood. Ketones are formed by the incomplete oxidation of fats. It is suspected that the ketones in the blood suppress the appetite by affecting the food-satiety center in the hypothalamus. You may feel hungry for the first few days of the fast. This effect is temporary. The desire to eat will disappear. Lack of hunger may last 40 to 60 days, depending on whether you are on water or juice.
The body embraces the fast and the digestive system is able to take a much-needed rest, focusing all of its energies on cleansing and healing. White blood cell and immune system activity increases. You may feel pain in your lungs. The cleansing organs and the lungs are in the process of being repaired. Periodically, the lymphatic system expels mucoid matter through the nose or throat. The volume excreted of this yellow-colored mucus can be shocking. The sinuses go through periods of being clogged, then will totally clear. The breath is still foul and the tongue coated. Within the intestine, the colon is being repaired and impacted feces on the intestinal wall start to loosen.
Stage 3 (Day 8 to Day 15)
On the latter part of an extended fast, you can experience enhanced energy, clear-mindedness and feel better than you have felt since childhood. On the downside, old injuries may become irritated and painful. This is a result of the body's increased ability to heal during fasting. If you had broken your arm 10 years before, there is scar tissue around the break. At the time of the break, the body's ability to heal was directly related to lifestyle. If you lived on a junk-food diet, the body's natural healing ability was compromised.
During fasting, the body's healing process is at optimum efficiency. As the body scours for dead or damaged tissue, the lymphocytes enter the older, damaged tissue secreting substances to dissolve the damaged cells. These substances irritate the nerves in the surrounding region and cause a reoccurrence of aches from previously injured areas that may have disappeared years earlier. The pain is good as the body is completing the healing process. The muscles may become tight and sore due to toxin irritation. The legs can be the worst affected, as toxins accumulate in the legs. Cankers are common in this stage due to the excessive bacteria in the mouth. Daily gargling with salt and water will prevent or heal cankers.
Stage 4 (Day 16 to Day 30)
The body is completely adapted to the fasting process. There is more energy and clarity of mind. Cleansing periods can be short with many days of feeling good in between. There are days when the tongue is pink and the breath is fresh. The healing work of the organs is being completed. After the detoxification mechanisms have removed the causative agent or render it harmless, the body works at maximum capacity in tissue proliferation to replace damaged tissue. While a short fast will reduce the symptoms, a longer fast can completely heal. Homeostatic balance is at optimum levels. The lymphatic system is clean except for a rare discharge of mucus through the nose or throat. After day 20, the mind is affected. Heightened clarity and emotional balance are felt at this time. Memory and concentration improve.
Stage 5 (Breaking the Fast)
The sticky, toxic, mucoid coating on the intestinal wall is loose, and the first meal frees it from the intestinal wall. Toxins enter the blood through the colon. The gallbladder dumps its waste in a heavy discharge of bile. This can cause an instant bowel movement upon eating followed by intense diarrhea. | <urn:uuid:ff98884f-daf9-4f6a-a22a-d973e484dfd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gatheringofthevibes.com/forum/topic/46-the-master-cleanse/page-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94915 | 1,036 | 1.851563 | 2 |
How quaintly old-fashioned it looks, the advertising agency depicted in television’s Mad Men, circa 1963, when the men were men and the women were secretaries. But many of the gender conflicts common to the workplace since men and women started to work side by side still exist. And some new ones have been born.
Hardly anyone worries anymore about whether cubicle neighbors should date or whether men should hold the door for female coworkers. But the enduring differences in how men and women communicate still have ramifications that range from hurt feelings to missed promotions and fewer pay raises.
No news here: Men are supposedly blunter and more aggressive and appear self-confident even when they don’t know what they’re talking about. Women are more tentative in voicing their opinions and appear unsure of themselves even when they know very well what they’re talking about. As bosses, men tend to be more authoritarian and women more collaborative. Men don’t give much feedback; women want too much feedback. Men are thought not to ask enough questions; women are thought to ask too many questions. And so forth.
Deborah Tannen, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University, wrote a book in 1994 about the different ways that men and women communicate in the office. In the almost two decades since her Talking From 9 to 5 was published, Tannen hasn’t seen a lot of changes. If women don’t sound accommodating enough, “they’re seen as too aggressive or too pushy,” and if they come off as too accommodating, “they’re seen as too timid,” she said. “Women are also more inclined to say, ‘I’m sorry that happened,’ which is more likely to be seen as weak. They’re seen as lacking confidence—but that doesn’t mean they are actually lacking confidence.” In other words, women who are indirect aren’t necessarily insecure, but they may be perceived that way.
Despite the many advances—and the surge of female leaders in business and politics around the world—this misperception isn’t going away. A study in 2004 conducted by Melissa Thomas-Hunt of the University of Virginia and Katherine Phillips of Columbia Business School found that women are less likely to be viewed as experts than men are, even when they have the requisite knowledge. In an experiment, 143 undergraduate business students learned about Australian bushfires and then ranked 12 items in order of importance related to surviving one. Then they were randomly assigned to groups of three to five individuals, usually a mix of women and men, to share expertise.
“Men are being told they can’t just boss people around, but have to inspire people.”
Not only were women’s opinions more often disregarded than men’s, the researchers found, but women who had no particular bushfire know-how were viewed more favorably—by men and women alike—than women who knew more, because they tended to agree with the predominant view instead of challenge it. And women tended to evaluate themselves more harshly then men on equivalent performances. “It’s not actual expertise,” the researchers concluded, “but perceived expertise that conveys power and status.”
Communication per se isn’t the problem, according to Linda Carli, who lectures on psychology at Wellesley College and coauthored Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders. Women, she argues, carry a double burden—of proving their competence and also coming across as warm and caring. “But they can’t be too nice or too warm or too competent,” she said.
If so little is changing in workplace dynamics, what’s the answer? Give up and build the cubicle walls higher?
Nope. What’s crucial, experts say, is to bring these differences into the open—not to denigrate but to understand. “Raising awareness,” as Tannen put it, “is the most important thing.” Simply knowing that men tend—tend—to be more authoritative and brusque and that women tend to prefer collaboration and indirection can help both genders work together.
Consider an experiment conducted at Case Western Reserve University in 2008 on the willingness of men and women to forgive another person’s mistakes. Given a scenario in which someone acted wrongly, men generally judged the transgressor more harshly than women did. But when men were asked if they had ever misbehaved similarly, they suddenly became more forgiving. Women, in general, didn’t.
In the workplace, men are twice as likely as women to be rude and uncivil, and they respond more quickly and directly to coworkers’ rudeness, management professors Christine Porath and Christine Pearson concluded in their book, The Cost of Bad Behavior. “But that doesn’t mean women won’t get even,” Porath, who teaches at Georgetown, pointed out. “They tend to respond passive-aggressively, such as withholding needed information, spreading rumors, or the silent treatment. We learn these ways of coping very young on the playground and, sadly, they stick.” Women tend not to confront incivility head-on or to complain to a colleague or boss. Thus, the offender isn’t reprimanded or coached on a change in behavior, Porath said. “This reinforces the inequality.” | <urn:uuid:07159691-6b50-4da9-9071-9b011875a1dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-economy/vive-la-diff-rence-still--20120309?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970762 | 1,145 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Activities: The Envelope Trick
Teach your kid math magic that'll amaze you!
- Little Houdini:Your kid.
- Volunteer:Your kid's audience.
- A "magic envelope":Just a plain old envelope will do the trick. (No pun intended!)
- A pen
- A piece of paper
- With his audience giving him rapt attention, have your kid secretly write down the four-digit number that is double the current year. (For example, if it's 2007, he'd write 4014.)
- Have him put the paper in a blank envelope and seal it.
- Then get your kid to ask for a volunteer. (Even if it is an audience of one—asking for a volunteer makes the trick official!)
- Have him ask the volunteer to write down the following four numbers on a blank piece of paper:
- The year she was born.
- The year of a significant event in her life (i.e., the year she started middle school, or the year she discovered her first gray hair—it all depends on the audience).
- Her age. (In whole numbers, she can't say she's "10-and-a-half" or "30 and holding" or else the trick won't work.)
- The number of years that have passed since the important event.
- Have the volunteer total the numbers. (Help or check her math to be sure it's correct.)
- When the volunteer has her number, have your kid open his envelope. Presto! The number he wrote down will be the same as the number the volunteer came up with! How? It's magic!
- Give your kid an edible magic wand to perform his tricks with Nick Jr.'s Magic Wand Cookies recipe. | <urn:uuid:f8d1d63b-f2f3-42ea-8aef-b7197bfb7f0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parentsconnect.com/parenting-your-kids/activities/the_envelope_trick.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951716 | 371 | 3.984375 | 4 |
Unfortunately, this time it is more serious. A dog owner in Chicago was recently attacked and killed by her mastiff.
I’m not sure there is anything political to discuss in relation to this sad incident. I do think a case could be made for why such dogs – or even any dogs - should not be allowed on public sidewalks or in public parks. That’s political, of course. But this case relates more to personal wisdom since the dog in question killed its owner on private property. So I have to honestly ask why people think it is a good idea to have a
horse 140 lb non-human in the house. Live and let live, fine. My preferences aren’t yours, fine. But it just seems like a bad idea despite the admittedly low risk of a deadly attack. They slobber, they shed, and they often stink. And don’t get me started on people who have such large animals around little kids. Most importantly, dog bites are not rare. According to the American Humane Association, there are 4.7 million dog bites a year in the US alone and 800,000 lead to medical attention. I, myself, have been bitten twice (once by a Rottweiler, causing me to require medical care) while my cousin was scarred on the face for life by a dog.
One thing that really drives me nuts is when people allow their dogs to run leashless in the park, on the sidewalk, or in any other public space – and often even if there is a leash law since dog owners are almost always breaking the rules and then constantly telling others that their dog doesn’t bite (as if this justifies the violation). I often frequent a natural swimming hole in the woods that has a clear no dog rule. Yet it is a rare occasion when there isn’t a dog there, always unleashed and always scaring children.
Here are my suggestions for dog owners:
- Enjoy the company of your dogs at home and on your fenced private property. Don’t allow them to bark with abandon, especially at night.
- Don’t assume that other people like dogs as much as you do; respect their preferences just as you expect them to tolerate yours.
- Care for your animals well and don’t leave them chained in the hot sun (as my in-laws neighbors used to do in Phoenix, AZ!) or outside in cold winters. Don’t abandon dogs even if you do not want them or cannot afford them. Treat animals humanely and with respect.
- Eliminate nasty dogs from the gene pool.
- Don’t allow your dogs to urinate and defecate on the private property of others; the fact that they are animals is no justification. If you wouldn’t do something on another person’s property, don’t allow your dogs to do so.
- Don’t bring your dogs to public parks and other public spaces (with the exception of specific dog parks) even with leashes.
- Don’t allow your dog to sit on your lap while you are driving. I see this more often than you might expect, especially among the older set.
- Don’t bring your dog to work and impose negative externalities on your colleagues.
- Keep your large dogs away from children – period!
- And don’t act like your dog is a child. It really, really bugs the heck out of the rest of us, especially if you seem to have an aversion to ACTUAL children. It is great to love animals – but they aren’t people and there are a lot of real people around you who yearn for your attention.
Here is what the AHA recommends for dog owners:
Twenty-four percent of fatal dog attacks involved loose dogs that were off their owner’s property. Dogs that are allowed to roam loose outside the yard may perceive your entire neighborhood as their “territory” and may defend it aggressively. By obeying leash laws and taking care to properly fence your yard, you will not only be respecting the laws in your community, but you will also be helping keep your dog safe from cars, other dogs and unforeseen dangers. | <urn:uuid:62a47325-c5ed-48f7-9158-e9d770795047> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pileusblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/dogs-again/?like=1&_wpnonce=28e8071d88 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968735 | 878 | 2.203125 | 2 |
updated 07:40 am EDT, Mon July 4, 2011
Sony may start PS4 late 2011 with motion control
An unconventional rumor on Monday has Sony being much closer to the release of the PlayStation 4 than once thought. Foxconn and Pegatron would reportedly start production in late 2011 with the expectation of a launch sometime in 2012. The system described by Digitimes' supply chain sources would copy Microsoft and introduce a Kinect-style full body control system.
The exact release schedule hasn't been detailed but would have 20 million systems ship in 2012.
Accuracy for such a rumor is uncertain. Sony has publicly insisted that the PS3 was just hitting its peak and has tried to downplay the hint of a future system. Historically, however, Sony has regularly denied new console models or other plans only to confirm them weeks or months later.
Sony has given few clues as to its plans but has started dropping the earliest clues as to its plans. The PS4 is still likely to have an optical drive both because of the sheer size of games but also to appease game retailers.
A full-body controller would be unusual and casts doubt on the rumor, since Sony already has PlayStation Move. | <urn:uuid:b75217bc-fcb3-410c-ba53-4d24ec61e6af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/07/04/sony.may.start.ps4.late.2011.with.motion.control/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978416 | 241 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Whooping cough reaches epidemic levels in Colorado
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says babies are very susceptible to whooping cough, an epidemic that continues to surge in 2013, especially in Weld County.
The number of whooping cough cases in Colorado is spiking to epidemic levels and public health officials are urging families to get vaccinated.
As of August 11, 2012, 715 whooping cough cases had been reported.
That’s compared to an average of 158 cases at the same time the last few years.
Though the increase is widespread, the largest numbers of cases have been reported from Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver and Jefferson counties.
It’s a pretty scary situation for Sherri Wright. Her five year old son Brooklyn can’t get the vaccine because he is allergic to it. She hopes other people will get vaccinated, so that he can remain healthy.
But seven percent of Colorado families now opt out of immunizations. Public health officials say babies are most at risk from whooping cough, also known as pertussis.
Dr. Chris Urbina, chief medical officer and executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said, “Infants are particularly susceptible to severe disease due to pertussis and have much higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths due to pertussis. Infants are too young to have received all the doses necessary to protect against pertussis, so immunizing people who care for infants and who spend time around infants is key.”
Kids ages 11 to 12 should also get a booster. | <urn:uuid:e8082dfd-8410-4afb-90c1-3af9ce730ca1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kdvr.com/2012/08/27/whooping-cough-reaches-epidemic-levels-in-colorado/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960942 | 328 | 2.375 | 2 |
Cleaning with pure water technology
Why we use pure water technology?
Pure water technology is suitable for both business and residential/domestic window cleaning applications, resulting in cleaner windows for longer. Usually water contains impurities which it has absorbed from its surroundings but by passing fresh water through our purification system those impurities are removed. So, how does it work? Well, the pure water will now readily absorb impurities it comes into contact with – so as it runs down windows or other surfaces it absorbs dirt that builds up from the environment.
Also because no chemicals or detergents are used in normal use, we can use the system to clean window frames, fascia, canopies, PVC and other materials that previously may have been discoloured or damaged by chemicals.
We’ve found the Reach and Wash™ pure water system to be so effective over the years and we know you will to.
- Purified water cleans with greater efficiency.
- Cleans frames as well as glass.
- Cleans Atria, Paneling, Canopies, Fascia and PVC.
- Complies with health and safety legislation.
- Operators work from the safety of the ground.
- Eliminates most needs for ladders and high access equipment.
- Reduces expensive access costs.
- Eliminates damage to buildings from ladders.
- Reduces disturbance.
- Maintains privacy.
- Environmentally friendly, no detergents or chemicals are used.
- No detergent residue means that windows stay cleaner for longer.
- Reaches previously inaccessible windows with ease.
At Excel we use the Reach and Wash™ system to deliver pure water through a hose and pole system. Our system allows us to operate at up to 200m from our vehicle and the telescopic poles can deliver the cleaning efficiency of pure water up to a height of 70ft. | <urn:uuid:73038a53-bddf-48f5-bc16-0dd5888e21c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.excelclean.co.uk/cleaning-with-pure-water-technology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920456 | 390 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Bad economy, 'good' recruiting might hinder gays' re-enlistment efforts
Stars and Stripes
NAPLES, Italy — Jeremy Johnson didn’t want to get out of the Navy in 2007. He was a petty officer first class with a shot at making chief. But he also didn’t want to live a lie.
So after dealing with what he called a hostile command environment, Johnson, 34, told his commander in a letter that he was gay, and was discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Now, Johnson is one of an unknown number of gay troops discharged under DADT who will seek to re-enlist since the policy ended Tuesday. But it’s unclear whether there will be room for these men and women in an environment of full recruitment quotas, troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan and a concerted effort to drastically cut defense spending.
Recruiting has been robust recently. Each branch of the military, active duty and reserve, has met or exceeded its recruiting goals so far this year.
“Recruiting is as good as it’s ever been,” said Tom Goering, a retired Navy recruiter who now runs the blog navycs.com. “There’s just no seats available.”
And with unemployment nationwide stubbornly lingering near 10 percent, “the economy’s not helping,” he said.
Johnson was a mass communication specialist before being discharged in 2007. He sought help from U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., this year to find out from the Navy how he could re-enlist and do his old job once the DADT repeal took effect.
But, according to a March letter to the lawmaker from Navy Recruiting Command — provided to Stars and Stripes by Johnson — Johnson’s mass communication specialist rating currently is overmanned at 104 percent. So Johnson will be unable to re-enter the Navy doing his old job.
“If (Johnson) still desires re-accession in the Navy, he should begin reviewing other rates available that are of interest to him,” the letter states. “Due to recent successes in retention, decreased attrition, and planned reductions in end strength, vacancies in the United States Navy are very limited.”
Re-enlistment options for any Navy veteran discharged under eligible categories “are based on the needs of the Navy,” Navy Recruiting Command spokesman Jeffrey Nichols said in an email. “Prior service applicants are encouraged to consider other ratings in addition to the rating they held before leaving the Navy. The greatest needs are in the most challenging career fields such as nuclear power, Navy diver, air rescue swimmers, explosive ordnance disposal and Navy SEALs.”
While a sailor’s discharge paperwork would contain certain classifications if they were discharged for homosexuality, Nichols said it is unknown how many sailors were discharged under DADT, and how many are now eligible to re-enlist or plan to re-enlist.
When he heard his old job was overmanned, Johnson said he considered other ratings, but that some of them have an age limit that disqualified him.
“A lot of us have been handicapped by age,” he said.
Sailors discharged under DADT will not receive preferential treatment if they attempt to get back into the Navy, Nichols said.
“Members separated under DADT who want to return to the military will be evaluated according to the same criteria and requirements applicable to all others seeking re-entry,” he said.
For now, Johnson is setting his sights on the reserves as he gets ready to graduate from college in May.
After that, he said, he’s considering the officer route in order to get back into uniform and “into the rhythm again.”
When he came out in 2007, he didn’t think he’d ever have the chance to get back into the Navy.
“It’s not like I was failing professionally,” Johnson said. “I never really wanted to leave.” | <urn:uuid:f2efd6d2-17c9-46d0-ae87-768cca19a085> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/don-t-ask-don-t-tell/bad-economy-good-recruiting-might-hinder-gays-re-enlistment-efforts-1.155655 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973051 | 879 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Occasional sleepless nights are bearable and can cause little to no effects on the human body. But if short sleeping hours become a habit, chances are negative effects will be experienced. Here are some tips on dealing with chronic insomnia.
Do not entertain worries and problems when you are inside your bedroom. Keep them outside since you can’ do anything about them till the next day, anyway.
Make the last hours of your day as relaxing and comfortable as possible. Read your favorite book, take a warm bath or listen to soothing music to keep your mind peaceful and at ease. This will also help you in blocking off any negative thought or concern till the following day.
Go to bed and get up at your normal time. Try not to take long naps during the day since this will make you feel more rested and alert by evening time.
Do not overstimulate your mind and body before going to bed. Refrain from doing crossword puzzles and intensed discussions since these will keep your mind alert and unable to entertain te idea of sleep. Avoid physical exercise as well since the sudden surge of adrenalin while exercise can prevent you from feeling tired and sleepy. | <urn:uuid:4706ba49-67b3-45c7-aadf-7e0312f422f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lifespy.com/2011/how-to-deal-with-insomnia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955784 | 238 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Commenting on the revelation that the UK government has been colluding with arms sales to Sri Lanka, Symon Hill, the new associate director of the think-tank Ekklesia, declared:
“UN officials estimate that 20,000 civilians were killed in Sri Lanka in five months. Yet while the UK government was calling for a peaceful solution, they were allowing arms dealers to profit by filling Sri Lanka with even more weapons."
He added: "This illustrates the sheer cynicism that lies at the core of the officially-sanctioned commercial arms sales. It is not just unethical behaviour by MPs and the parliamentary system that needs changing, but the whole way government is routinely enmeshed in a trade that breeds corruption and destruction."
[Note to editors: Symon Hill was previously involved in NGO legal action against the government concerning the Serious Fraud Office's failure to act over corruption allegations involving BAE and Saudi Arabia] | <urn:uuid:d5c8d372-ab8e-4738-9e70-58e12ed4448e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/9575 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96951 | 187 | 1.585938 | 2 |