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AFRO-NETS> Impressive use of cell phones for TB compliance
- Subject: AFRO-NETS> Impressive use of cell phones for TB compliance
- From: Leela McCullough <email@example.com>
- Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 11:10:40 -0500 (EST)
Impressive use of cell phones for TB compliance
[From the Moderator: If you want to contact Dr. Green directly,
mailto:firstname.lastname@example.org as he is not on the AFRO-NETS mailing list.
CASE STUDY SERIES ON ICT-ENABLED DEVELOPMENT: AFRICA
An initiative of IICD and bridges.org
The bridges.org/IICD Case Study Series on ICT-Enabled Development
sets out to illustrate how ICT contributes to development in Africa.
The aim of this series is to help ground level initiatives imagine
the possibilities of what can happen if they use ICT successfully to
overcome development obstacles, and to contribute to the existing
body of knowledge on the digital divide. For more information about
the case study series, go to:
The Compliance Service uses SMS technology for TB treatment
Initiative: Dr. David Green's Compliance Service uses the Short Mes-
sage Service (SMS) to alert tuberculosis (TB) patients to take their
medication. The initiative has led to a significant increase in the
recovery rate of patients and could lead to savings for healthcare
Dr. David Green, a qualified medical practitioner and consultant in
Cape Town, South Africa, through his company The Compliance Service.
Funding or financial model:
Commercially driven. A pilot project has been sponsored by the City
Council of Cape Town.
Timeframe: Started in 2002.
The population of Cape Town is divided along race and class lines.
White people generally have access to middle and high-income jobs,
good municipal services, and private healthcare, and they can afford
comfortable housing. Coloured, and especially black citizens of Cape
Town generally have low paid jobs or are unemployed, live in informal
settlements where housing is often substandard, cannot rely on good
municipal services, and have to use the overburdened public health-
care system. Cape Town's Mediterranean winters are cold and wet, and
this poses an additional health hazard for people living in informal
settlements. Large areas of these settlements are built below the wa-
terline and are flooded during the winter months. Due to this combi-
nation of factors, poor black people are more prone to contracting
TB. Unemployment countrywide is estimated at 41.5% and the GDP per
capita is estimated at US$ 8,500 (Global Insight, an international
The development problem/obstacle addressed:
Cape Town has one of the world's highest incidences of TB, largely
due to socio-economic and climatic factors. TB patients must strictly
follow a difficult drug regime -- four tablets five times a week for
six months -- and they often forget to take their medication. Non-
compliance with the drug treatment has exacerbated the high occur-
rence of TB and has created difficulties for the local, overburdened
healthcare service. Precious medicines are wasted when people do not
take their medication on schedule, and non-compliance causes the TB
virus to become increasingly drug resistant.
How ICT is used to overcome the problem:
Evidence suggests that TB patients often do not take their medication
simply because they forget. So, Dr. Green uses SMS (Short Messaging
Service) -- a text message service that enables short messages of up
to 160 characters to be transmitted between cell phones -- to alert
patients to take their medication.
Healthcare professional were skeptical whether the uptake of cell
phone technology was high enough to justify the project. However, Dr.
Green found that over 50% of people in the Cape Peninsula had access
to cell phones. At the clinic where the pilot study was conducted,
71% of TB patients had access to a cell phone.
Dr. Green enters the names of TB patients onto a database. Every half
an hour his computer server reads the database and sends personalised
messages to the patients, reminding them to take their medication.
The technology that he uses to send out the messages is extremely
low-cost and robust: an open source software operating system, web
server, mail transport agent, applications, and a database. Currently
Dr. Green charges the City of Cape Town ZAR 11.80 (ca. 1.3 US$) per
patient per month to send out SMS messages.
Initially the SMS message sent to patients read: "Take your Rifafour
now." When patients complained about the boring message, Dr. Green
sent them a variety of alerts, including jokes and lifestyle tips
with the result that he now has as database of over 800 messages that
he changes on a daily basis. Of the 138 patients involved in the pi-
lot, there was only one treatment failure.
The World Health Organisation has cited the project as an example of
"international best practice". The City Council of Cape Town has de-
cided to extend the pilot project to other City clinics where the
cell phone ownership of patients are high, while the South African
Government is considering the technology for nationwide use. The sys-
tem is also being investigated for use with HIV treatment.
Geographical area targeted:
Currently Cape Town, South Africa, with the potential for future ex-
pansion across South Africa.
Dr. David Green
The Compliance Service
II. Gauging Real Impact
Has this use of SMS messaging in the treatment of TB had a Real Im-
pact at ground level? How does it compare to the best practices es-
tablished by other successful initiatives? We used bridges.org's 7
Habits of Highly Effective ICT-Enabled Development Initiatives as a
framework to highlight what this initiative has done well.
1. Implement and disseminate best practice.
Dr. Green did a lot of research on compliance and adherence to medi-
cine while doing his PhD in Pharmacology which led him to the in-
sights on which this project is based.
2. Ensure ownership, get local buy-in, find a champion.
Dr. Green convinced the City of Cape Town's health directory to run a
pilot at one of the City's clinics and so spurred on the public use
of his technology, instead of selling the service to private doctors.
He ensured buy-in from patients by acting on their feedback.
3. Do a needs assessment.
Dr. Green was aware of the need for interventions that increase TB
medication adherence, and especially so in Cape Town, which has one
of the highest rates of TB infection in the world.
4. Set concrete goals and take small achievable steps.
Dr. Green first tested the reminder messages on his mother to take
her hypertension medication. He then convinced the City of Cape Town
to run a pilot at one clinic. On the back of that success a Random-
ised Control Trial has been launched, involving South Africa's Medi-
cal Research Council (MRC), the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Dr.
5. Critically evaluate efforts, report back to clients and support-
ers, and be prepared to adapt.
MRC and UCT are providing a critical, independent review of the pilot
project. The outcome of the trial will be published in four research
papers that will be subject to peer review.
6. Address key external challenges.
The biggest external challenge that Dr. Green had to face was the
preconceived ideas of health professionals regarding the uptake of
cell phone technology in Cape Town.
7. Make it sustainable.
Dr. Green's company, The Compliance Service, is based at the UUNET
Bandwidth Barn which provides small IT businesses with affordable of-
fice rentals, shared office facilities, and reduced Internet connec-
tivity costs. He deliberately kept the price of his service low so
that more people can use and benefit from the technology. His choice
of technology has enabled him to provide his service at a very af-
III. The Story
A Cape Town doctor has dramatically helped the fight against tubercu-
losis (TB) by introducing a SMS service to remind patients to take
Dr. David Green, a consultant in Managed Care, Disease Management and
Information Systems, became so frustrated when his mother constantly
forgot to take her medication for hypertension, that he started send-
ing her SMS reminders -- and it worked. Thanks to research he did for
his PhD in Pharmacology, he was able to take his idea further and ap-
ply it to public healthcare. Dr. Green's reading eventually led him
to two important insights. Firstly, he concluded that interventions
designed to prevent non-compliance of treatment was not effective be-
cause it was applied indiscriminately. He concluded it was necessary
to identify those patients who were non-compliant and find out why
they were not taking their medication. Secondly, he was struck by the
overwhelming literary evidence that suggested people were not taking
their medication simply because they forgot.
It did not take him long to make the connection between the effec-
tiveness that his SMS messages had on alerting his mother, the high
incidence of TB in Cape Town, and the possibilities that bulk SMS
messages could present. However, when he wanted to pilot his innova-
tive idea with TB patients at a local clinic in Cape Town, he met
with resistance. Healthcare professionals were skeptical about the
number of patients who would have access to cell phones. Not de-
terred, Dr. Green went back, did research and persuaded them with
statistics which indicated that over 50% of Cape Town residents have
cell phones. In addition, he found that 71% of patients at the clinic
he earmarked for the pilot had access to cell phones. The local
health authority eventually agreed and paid R11.80 per patient per
month to run the SMS reminder service. The results of the pilot have
been outstanding: of the 138 patients involved in the pilot, there
was only one treatment failure.
The Medical Research Council of South Africa and the University of
Cape Town has now embarked on a Randomised Control Trial to compare
the cost-effectiveness of the SMS-reminder service against the cost
of non-compliance to TB treatment. In the mean time, the pilot has
been so successful that the World Health Organisation has singled it
out as example of "Best Practice".
The initiative not only uses technology to address a real need effec-
tively, but it does this in a simple, affordable and flexible way.
Dr. Green uses a server, free software and a bulk SMS provider to
send out the SMS messages. His system costs very little because he
uses freely available open source software. In addition, his messag-
ing system is flexible. When patients complained that the initial
message ("Take your Rifafour now") was too drab, he added jokes,
pearls of wisdom, and tips about lifestyle management to light up
their day -- but it still reminded them to take their medication.
Date: 23 January 2003
The International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD)
is an independent non-profit foundation, established by the Nether-
lands Minister for Development Cooperation. IICD assists developing
countries to realise locally owned sustainable development by har-
nessing the potential of information and communication technologies
(ICT). IICD works with its partner organisations in selected coun-
tries, helping local stakeholders to assess the potential uses of ICT
in development. For more information on IICD:
Bridges.org is an international non-profit based in South Africa with
a mission to help people in developing countries use ICT to improve
their lives. Its main focus is to enable informed policy decisions,
which affect people's access to and use of ICT. Bridges.org also gets
involved in ground level projects to study the effects of policy de-
cisions and relay lessons learned to the international development
community. It brings an entrepreneurial attitude to its social mis-
sion, and is committed to working with, instead of against, govern-
ment agencies and the business community. For more information on
This initiative is supported by the Building Digital Opportunities
Programme (www.iconnect-online.org) which is funded by the UK Depart-
ment for International Development (DFID), the Directorate General
International Cooperation (DGIS), and the Swiss Agency for Develop-
ment and Cooperation (SDC).
Dr. Leela McCullough
Director of Information Services
30 California Street
Watertown, MA 02472, USA
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Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org | <urn:uuid:71df9d76-3152-4b05-b8ee-da36658ce744> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.afronets.org/archive/200301/msg00088.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931723 | 2,870 | 1.90625 | 2 |
The 1911 .45 ACP pistol has a mystique that is unmatched by any other pistol. Its owners are devoted to it. It continues to be chosen by SWAT, special forces, and competitive shooters despite challenges by newer designs and technologies. It is a cultural icon and symbol of America at its combative best. Yes, it’s a combat sidearm, not a pocket gun or a concealment piece. It was designed for the Army in an era when the cavalry rode into battle on horses. Created by John M. Browning at the turn of the Twentieth Century, the 1911 was the climax of a series of autoloader designs which culminated in the adoption by the Army of the M1911 in the year from which it took its name. It is perhaps the most loved, studied, and enduring pistol design of all time. This site is a celebration of all things M1911 – enjoy!
Comments, suggestions, contributions? Let me know | <urn:uuid:d702c0fa-35a7-4cad-9526-5ca5a1638090> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sightm1911.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973751 | 198 | 1.585938 | 2 |
SOURCE: Time (7-11-08)
Francesco Bandarin, the director of the World Heritage Center, , insists it does. The List is part of a convention adopted by UNESCO in 1972 meant"to recognize and protect the world's most significant cultural and natural sites," he says."Over the last 36 years, the Committee and UNESCO have continued to work in line with its original mission." The benefits of getting on the list, he says, include increased visibility, more funding, and access to UNESCO's"knowledge and experience." Including private donations, the WHC has an annual budget of about $20 million; most countries are expected to implement and fund their own protection plans. The mere designation as a World Heritage site, of course, can be a boon: when the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, was accorded World Heritage Status in 1986, says Stuart Smith, a former director of the museum there,"People suddenly realized they were living in an incredible site. They started to appreciate it and respect it." | <urn:uuid:dae027e1-79c1-4d6a-8e98-c167f8b714ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hnn.us/node/52230 | 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 | 0.96677 | 211 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Indonesian National Police chief, General Satanto, chairman of the National Narcotics Agency(BNN) says execution of traffickers on death row should be speeded up because the only thing that will teach drug offenders of the folly of engaging in drugs is to be killed. Of course, if they are killed, they really can’t change their behavior.
General Satanto said: “Drug traffickers must be executed immediately as a warning. That is why the BNN is coordinating closely with the Attorney General’s office which is responsible for the executions.” According to the general, putting them in prison doesn’t do much good because all they do is transform a nice pleasant jail into a center of drugs. “International drug trafficking syndicates have been controlled from jails. Imprisonment has failed to stop drug cases.”
There are now 72 people on death row awaiting execution and only 3 drug traffickers have been killed. Drug cases rose from 17, 355 in 2006 to 22,630 in 2007. If the history of prisons and crime has any relevance to the general, there is absolutely no evidence that crime goes down if more are executed. Has he considered legalizing drugs or education as alternatives? | <urn:uuid:115736f2-3e5f-4b12-9609-437c74781730> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theimpudentobserver.com/tag/bnn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962299 | 248 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Modern Engineering: Availability, Capacity, and Volume
A comprehensive review of modern engineering, covering the challenges of volume, capacity, and availability, should include engineering work done for 'The River' and 'The Cloud'. Whether the topic is Mississippi River flood control or cloud computing, there have been important engineering accomplishments and spectacular failures. The Mississippi and the Internet remind us that capacity and volume can define success for a flood-control system or a transaction-processing system.
During the timesharing era, the solution for limiting workloads was a busy signal and the inability to login. That's not acceptable when high availability is a requirement, such as when substantial revenue is lost due to a database or website falling over.
'The Cloud' and 'The River'
Clusters and cloud computing gained traction by ensuring the continuous availability of applications and databases. This became important after some highly publicized system outages, such as those that cost Merrill Lynch and eBay million of dollars. The online transaction processing (OLTP) system at Merrill Lynch could not keep up with a day of heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Being unable to scale resulted in the firm paying millions in fines. The failure at eBay was prolonged database server outages that cost the website millions in lost revenue. The server problem was eventually traced to human error. The data center staff had failed to apply updates to the Solaris operating system of the database servers.
Today's flood control systems are a successor to efforts to control the Mississippi River that date back to building the first levee at New Orleans in 1718. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has played a role in building levees since the 19th century. The levee system along the Mississippi River is longer than the Great Wall of China, spanning from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico.
Whether we're talking about high-volume web commerce or Mississippi River commerce, the economics of availability can be measured in millions. In addition to lost revenue, when eBay's database server fell over, the price of eBay shares fell. The inability to utilize the Mississippi River for shipping costs the U.S. economy $275 million per day.
Clearly, there's a financial incentive to put in the engineering work to ensure capacity and provide availability, even in times of an extraordinarily high volume — of water or transactions.
What Do We Mean By High Volumes?
In an average year, the flow of the Mississippi River at New Orleans is 600,000 cubic feet (17 million liters) per second. Recently the flow was measured at 2.3 million ft3 per second at the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana. Spillways have been opened at three locations along the Mississippi, with the goal of limiting the river's flow between Baton Rouge and New Orleans to 1.5 million ft3 per second. The flood control plan for that segment of the river assumes that, even at 250% of the average flow of the river, the levees will hold.
In the context of processing data and transactions, today's computer systems are also seeing record volumes. Researchers at Yahoo used Hadoop on 3800 nodes to sort a petabyte of data in 16.25 hours. The 27 instances at Salesforce.com routinely process a daily aggregate (on weekdays) of more than 400 million transactions against SQL databases. The Teradata data warehouse at eBay has grown to exceed a whopping 10 petabytes of data. Organizations such as Wal-Mart, Dell, and Bank of America also have data warehouses with data volumes that exceed the petabyte mark.
Amazon.com and eBay are well-known examples of large-scale OLTP, but there are other high-volume websites. Social networking sites, such as Facebook.com and Twitter, have a user population measured in hundreds of millions.
Today it's often unacceptable to have systems, networks, or websites that are not available on a 24x7 basis, with 99.95% or better uptime guaranteed with service-level agreements. That calls for web-scale database architecture with scalability and sufficient capacity to ensure a site does not fall over during times of heavy volume. In addition, research has shown that web users will turn away quickly from websites that are slow and unresponsive.
Availability and responsiveness require web-scale thinking to develop solutions for application workloads, query processing and database-related work, such as data replication. The system architects of high-volume sites, such as eBay, Amazon.com, and Facebook, were pioneers of web-scale thinking. They crossed a new threshold of user activity and data volume that required creative solutions for high-availability and scalability. They looked to architecture, not just application-oriented performance tuning, to reduce query execution time. | <urn:uuid:f573786f-42f1-4162-9396-e6ccba171922> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drdobbs.com/parallel/modern-engineering-availability-capacity/230800092 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937963 | 961 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Unlike the thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4), most T3 is converted enzymatically from T4 in the tissues rather than being produced directly by the thyroid gland (see monograph titled “Thyroxine, Total”). Approximately one-third of T4 is converted to T3. Most T3 in the serum (99.97%) is bound to thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG), prealbumin, and albumin. The remainder (0.03%) circulates as unbound or free T3, which is the physiologically active form. Levels of free T3 are proportional to levels of total T3. The advantage of measuring free T3 instead of total T3 is that, unlike total T3 measurements, free T3 levels are not affected by fluctuations in TBG levels. T3 is four to five times more biologically potent than T4. This hormone, along with T4, is responsible for maintaining a euthyroid state. Free T3 measurements are rarely required, but they are indicated in the diagnosis of T3 toxicosis and when certain drugs are being administered that interfere with the conversion of T4 to T3.
Triiodothyronine, Free has been found in Davis's Lab & Diagnostic Tests
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View these free topics online now. | <urn:uuid:e327667c-4e23-4635-98cd-34e2260d9ce1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/ub/view/Davis-Lab-and-Diagnostic-Tests/425347/1/Triiodothyronine__Free_ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925738 | 338 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Historic Diaries: Marsh, 1834
Moral Dilemma on the Des Moines
It was a common practice to rise early, travel during the cool of the morning, and rest during the heat of the day. The journey would then resume in the hours before the sunset.
Since Indian women performed most of the manual labor, the illness of his guide's wife was a significant concern.
Fri. eve. had a high fever after I lay down to rest, which lasted a considerable [part] of the night and prevented me from sleeping much. This morn (Sat.) felt tolerably well and before sunrise were on our march. Weather very warm during the day, but my umbrella was an excellent protection against the heat.
Che-moak-a-pin's wife very sick and unable to assist in working the canoe.
Felt unpleasantly, in view of the manner in which I must pass the approaching Sabbath. If I stop, the Indians will hunt all day and this will probably annoy me; but if I tell them they must not, then they will expect me to pay them for their time which I have not the means of doing. And I cannot leave them, as I am in a wilderness and cannot get along with my luggage should I let them go on. In view of these things I have concluded to keep on and spend the time in reading and devout meditation and pray when opportunity might offer.
In the eve about 5 o'clock we encamped under a bluff and I spread my mat etc under the shade of a bass wood tree, and rested quietly during the night. | <urn:uuid:51944a28-4c5e-453e-9880-1f844cbbb0de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/diary/002298.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983227 | 330 | 2.5 | 2 |
Katie Moore, manager of Marine Mammal Rescue and Research for the International Fund for Animals (IFAW) posted a message on the Feb 24 edition of a marine-mammal news digest called MARMAM updating subscribers on “the protracted mass stranding event of common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) along the shores of Cape Cod, MA USA.” Many people had no doubt already seen news coverage of the event, Moore wrote. “We wanted to provide you with information directly from the lead response team.”
Moore’s main points: After 36 days — Jan 12 to Feb 16, 2012 — the strandings finally seem to have ceased. During that time, 179 dolphins stranded in the tidal mud flats along Cape Cod’s crooked-arm, inner shores. Of that total, 108 dolphins were found dead, 71 were found alive, 53 were rescued and released, the rest didn’t make it— and researchers still don’t know why it happened.
Here’s something else most people probably don’t know: what it took for IFAW’s staff and trained volunteers to save the 53 dolphins they did rescue — what grueling, exhausting, cold-wet-dirty work went into reaching, treating, transporting and releasing Every. Single. One.
See for yourself. It’s all here in the following three short IFAW video reports. The first, starting at about 48 seconds in, provides an initial close-hand look at some of what these humans undertook and endured to try to help these dolphins. No fun, that’s for sure. To watch this 4:30 video, click the image below:
The second video conveys a more intimate sense of what this experience was like for these dolphins. Look into their eyes, listen to their breathing and see if you aren’t near tears by the end. To watch this 3:50 video, click the image below:
The third video offers the fullest sense of what this experience was like for both species: one ocean-going, one land-dwelling; both big-brained, intelligent, self-aware, family-oriented, socially sophisticated, air-breathing mammals — so different and yet so alike in so many ways. To watch this 5:22 video, click the image below:
Each video offers something the others don’t. Together, they’re extremely powerful. What can anyone who cares about dolphins say after watching them except:
Thank you, IFAW staff and volunteers. Bless you….
You give being human a good name.
• To learn more about IFAW, click here.
• To learn more about IFAW’s Marine Mammal Rescue and Research group, click here.
• To read more news reports about the stranding and sign up to train as an IFAW MMRR volunteer, click here.
• To see more moving photos of the humans and dolphins who were brought together during this event, click here. | <urn:uuid:b70dcc23-b34a-44c9-9655-5639d81d0f2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ginisnaturenews.com/2012/02/26/dolphin-lifesavers-heroes-at-work-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948505 | 631 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Unfortunately, we have all had to work with someone that we can’t stand at one point or another. It is particularly frustrating when that person is either: your boss, a family member, or a colleague. Psychology Today provides insight about how to handle working with someone that has a drastically different personality than you. The following are the take aways:
Resist recruiting allies. It’s reassuring to find evidence that “I’m not the only one who thinks our boss is a disorganized mess.” But the more you bond over the negative, the larger that negative looms in your own life.
Focus on strengths. Remind yourself of the contributions your adversary does make—to the team, to the company, and especially, if you can find it, to your own work. This will take the edge off your annoyance.
Get out of the way. Some personalities push buttons so personally sensitive that you are able only to cringe. If you can’t diminish the intensity of your reaction, at least reduce your contact.
Look in the mirror. Not everyone at your office is as affected by the other’s personality as you are. If you can figure out your role in the dynamic or the source of your response, you’ll learn something important about yourself.
When Personalities Clash – [Psychology Today] | <urn:uuid:6551eb0c-64e1-450d-8afa-868a54f7593d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/when-personalities-clash.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94962 | 279 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Push for Basics in mathematics
August 28, 2008 · Updated 1:39 PM
by Christine Haight Johnson
Pershing County, Nevada
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Seattle. I was energized to read about your Push for Basics in mathematics referred to in a Nov. 14, 2006 New York Times article. For years some of us have been saying the same thing. Maybe now that more people are speaking out we perhaps will begin to make a difference.
I am a math teacher in a small high school in Nevada. My classes range from Proficiency Math to Math 96 at the Community College. While not a mathematician by formal training I think of myself rather as a mathlete I enjoy solving math problems.
Over the past twelve years I have watched my students stagger and fall behind more each year in math. My lesson plans and goals for the classes have to be lowered by eliminating some of the chapters or assignments. Why? Some of the blame must go to block scheduling, which means students go to a class every other day for 80 minutes instead of every day for 50 minutes. There is no consistency or daily routine for learning with this kind of schedule. In education classes in college we were taught that 20 minutes is the average amount of time a student can concentrate. Block schedules mean I lose 100 minutes of teaching time every two weeks yet am still trying to teach the same amount as if there were 50 minutes a day.
Additional blame for lowering class learning standards is the fact that I have to teach or re-teach the basics or even introduce them for the first time. Students in grade schools (the ones I soon will be getting) are getting fuzzy math, often confused, perhaps purposely, with fuzzy logic. Fuzzy math emphasizes process over content. Fuzzy logic deals with reasoning approaches used in higher physics where one must deal with complex sets of probabilities. The two fuzzies are not equivalent and should not be linked.
Kids taught fuzzy math are inundated with new terms, definitions, concepts, etc. The result too often plays out like my exchange with one fifth-grade student when I asked what she learned in her (fuzzy) math class. We learned about ratios and statistics, she said proudly. I said great, now can you tell me what three times twelve is? She couldnt tell me without using a pencil and paper and taking way too much time. Many of my students havent learned or cant remember adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with fractions, decimals, or even integers. So, we re-teach.
I keep telling my students that practice makes perfect or better yet, practice makes permanent (working problems over and over again until it becomes easier). Math does not get harder it just gets longer. We still add, subtract, multiply and divide. But, the problems may involve more than one of these operations.
For example: 6x-5 = 3x-10
SUBTRACT 3x from both sides
6x-53x = 3x103x
And you get 3x5 = -10
ADD 5 to both sides
3x5+5 = -10+5
And you get 3x = -5
DIVIDE both sides by 3
3x / 3 = -5 / 3
And you have the answer x = -5 / 3
If these arithmetic operations are not understood this problem could be very difficult. An algebra problem may take much paper and writing when figuring out the answer. But, you solved the problem . the mystery. And, you should feel great. Just like practicing to make a basket at basketball practice. You make a point, a couple of points, and then a three-pointer. ]]]
The children we teach have developing minds. They need a strong foundation in math to be successful as they grow. For example: How can you read words if you dont know the alphabet? Here is my mathematical way of explaining the sequence:
c+a+t = cat letters to words
yellow + cat = yellow cat words to phrases
The + yellow cat + sleeps. words and
phrases to sentence
sentences to paragraph
paragraphs to story/article/book
So, 1+1=2, then to subtraction, multiplication, and division to algebra, to geometry, to algebra II, to trigonometry, and then to calculus.
Math can be fun. If you know the basics, like practicing with training wheels, the rest becomes easier and easier. The training wheels come off very quickly, and you are ready to adventure on to rougher terrain.
My hope is that together we can get our children and students back on the solid path to success in math.
Christine Haight Johnson teaches math in Pershing County, Nevada. | <urn:uuid:6921e100-9be7-496c-ade8-e869941726b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marysvilleglobe.com/opinion/27603009.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952666 | 983 | 2.75 | 3 |
In 2001, Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill famously coined the acronym “BRIC” to describe four of the world’s most populous countries—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—each of which boasted great economic potential. Since then, China has enjoyed breakneck GDP growth while making very little progress on economic or political reform, and Russia has devolved into a petro-autocracy dangerously reliant on global oil prices. As for Brazil and India, they have reaped consistent accolades for their commitment to democracy and economic stability.
The differences between Brazil (population: 195 million) and India (home to 1.2 billion) are too numerous to count, yet the countries also share certain broad similarities. Both are rising democracies with rapidly growing middle classes. Both have a history of promoting dialogue and cooperation with developing countries. Both have a foreign policy establishment that has traditionally been somewhat hostile to the United States. Both remain reluctant to speak out for democracy and human rights abroad. Both have aroused suspicion and resentment among their smaller neighbors. Both continue to embrace protectionist economic policies.
And, of course, both are critically important to U.S. interests in their respective regions.
Yet while Washington has recently cultivated a strategic partnership with India (largely because of concerns over Chinese military strength), it has made significantly less progress in boosting bilateral relations with Brazil. The Brazilians are especially upset that President Obama has backed a permanent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seat for India but not for Brazil. Of course, if Obama did voice support for a Brazilian seat on the UNSC, he would anger many Latin American countries that are wary of Brazil’s burgeoning influence. (In a 2011 Foreign Affairs piece, former U.S. official Russell Crandall quoted one Latin American diplomat as saying, “The new imperialists have arrived, and they speak Portuguese.”)
As Obama prepares to host Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff at the White House later today, he should review the many ways (short of endorsing a UNSC seat) that Washington could improve ties with the South American giant. A 2011 Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) report listed several smart options. For example, the United States could push for a bilateral tax treaty, which would help increase two-way investment. It could also establish a National Security Council (NSC) director for Brazil and a State Department Office for Brazilian Affairs, which would enhance interagency coordination of U.S. policy. Right now, as the CFR study noted, the NSC has a director for “Brazil and the Southern Cone,” and Foggy Bottom has an Office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs, but neither has a director or office devoted exclusively to Brazil. Given the country’s growing prominence in world affairs, it is well past time to create a Brazil-only NSC director and a Brazil-only State Department office.
President Obama could also make a splash by publicly advocating a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). The president took a step in that direction last March, when he and Rousseff signed an Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation, the type of accord that frequently is a precursor to an FTA. While Brazil has often complained about U.S. protectionism, it was pleased to see Congress eliminate a controversial import tariff on Brazilian ethanol last December. By touting a formal FTA, Obama would demonstrate that he is serious about taking U.S.-Brazil relations to a new level.
Brazil could do its part by tearing down its own protectionist barriers. (The World Bank’s 2012 Ease of Doing Business Index ranks Brazil below the likes of Russia, Uganda, and Swaziland, though ahead of India.) In terms of foreign policy, Brazil would be viewed as a more responsible and trustworthy power if it took a harder line on Iran and stood up for democracy in Latin America. Two years ago, former Brazilian president Lula da Silva effectively sided with Tehran against Washington on the nuclear issue by negotiating a meaningless uranium deal that undermined U.S. efforts to tighten sanctions. Thankfully, his predecessor has adopted a much cooler approach to the Islamic Republic. In January, an Iranian presidential adviser said Rousseff had “been striking against everything that Lula accomplished” and had “destroyed years of good relations.”
By getting tougher on Iran, Rousseff has helped repair some of the damage that Lula did to U.S.-Brazil ties. Yet she remains disappointingly hesitant to champion human rights in Cuba and Venezuela. That is no big surprise. Brazil has seldom been a reliable defender of hemispheric democracy. Back in the 1980s, for example, Brazilian officials launched the multilateral Rio Group, which sought to resolve the Cold War conflicts then raging in Central America. Yet the organization proved anything but a neutral and objective mediator. Instead, it worked to defend the Nicaraguan Sandinistas and Salvadoran FMLN guerrillas, both of which were Marxist-Leninist outfits that rejected liberal democracy.
The Reagan-era civil wars may now seem like ancient history, but Latin American democracy is still being threatened by populist autocrats. Unfortunately, when asked in 2008 about the dictatorial Hugo Chávez, Lula hailed him as “Venezuela’s best president in the last 100 years.” Indeed, Brazil’s coziness with Chávez and the Castro brothers remains a huge impediment to stronger relations with the United States. Hopefully, President Rousseff will be reminded of that during her visit to the White House.
Jaime Daremblum is director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the Hudson Institute. | <urn:uuid:0be5b813-1110-4e1e-8b96-af72eaef5caa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/blogs/india-latin-america_635528.html?nopager=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964503 | 1,158 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Programs and Services
Benchmark Behavioral Health Systems serves a diverse population of adolescent and young adult males, ages 13 - 20. By providing cognitive-behavioral therapy, psycho-educational interventions and a wide array of therapeutic services we offer our residents a program that is effective and successful. Benchmark is committed to developing youth who can return to their communities more prepared to lead pro-social, productive lives.
Benchmark programs include:
- Adolescent Sexual Misconduct
- Young Adult Sexual Misconduct
- Developmentally Delayed Adolescent Sexual Misconduct
- Youth with Behavioral Health Issues
All programs deliver a comprehensive scope of services that provide a multi disciplinary approach to quality care.
Upon admission to the facility, each patient is assigned a primary therapist. The therapist is responsible for working with the patient and the treatment team to develop an initial treatment plan. The treatment plan is then adjusted monthly and any changes made to the plan are reflected in the monthly progress summary which is available to all members of the treatment team. Individual therapy sessions, facilitated by the primary therapist, address goals and objectives which are identified in the youth’s individualized treatment plan. Therapy sessions may also address issues that arise in day-to-day life at the facility. Each patient receives at least one hour of individual therapy per week. As part of the increased therapeutic interventions, each patient on Enterprise unit receives two therapy sessions per week.
Group therapy is an essential treatment component at Benchmark. Each youth at the facility will attend at least three group therapy sessions per week. Group sessions cover pre-selected, specific treatment components and may cover the following concepts: cognitive distortions, criminal thinking, victim empathy, substance abuse, healthy sexuality, victim of abuse issues, pro-social identity development and other restorative justice treatment areas. Group therapy sessions also process day-to-day treatment issues as they arise in the treatment milieu. The Enterprise unit staffing includes a nurse, who is specifically assigned to the unit, whose job duties include facilitating group sessions.
Each patient is offered phone-based family therapy sessions as required by individual contracts. These sessions focus on family communication patterns and dynamics, problem solving, conflict resolution, parent-child relationship issues, identifying goals to be included in the treatment plan, processing progress in treatment and addressing any/all family issues identified in the treatment plan. The phone-based family therapy sessions are supplemented by face-to-face, on-campus family therapy sessions which usually include an informal visitation time and possible off campus visit following the family therapy session. There may be opportunities for additional visits for those families who are able make their own travel arrangements. All visits are approved by the youth’s treatment team which includes referral team members, the primary therapist, Benchmark’s Clinical Program Administrator and the individual’s psychiatrist.
Group Skills Training
Each patient is expected to attend daily skills training groups which are led by trained, qualified mental health workers. These psycho-educational groups cover areas such as social skills, anger management, problem solving, independent living, transition, and other daily living areas. | <urn:uuid:3d5f7e2d-d065-4481-8c31-d3b0b3b7f915> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbhsnet.com/programs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940274 | 628 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Cell phone theft prevention plan in the works
By Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter | Tuesday, April 10, 2012 (permalink)
View more posts for Smart phones
Cell phone theft is becoming more and more prevalent and to help combat the issue Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile have teamed up with the FCC to create a database to help block a stolen phone from being used. Within the next six months the carriers will develop individual databases of phone IDs, which will be merged to form a national database within 18 months. The idea behind the database is that when a phone is stolen with a registered ID, if someone tries to use it or activate it on another carrier it wont work. When a cell phone is reported stolen to the carrier they can then disable the phone so it cant be used. | <urn:uuid:8861f26e-791e-47d8-a306-5f9c783d0916> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.letstalk.com/blog/post.htm?blogId=1743&artcatId=39 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907308 | 167 | 2.1875 | 2 |
What are the odds of getting a Shea Tree to grow in South Carolina, USA? Temperatures here in SC range from mid 30s (occasionally around 40) Centigrade in the summer to -10 at the coldest days of the winter. There is usually consistent rain so that oaks, peaches, and apples grow easily. The soil is mostly mildly acidic clay and sand. There is a eucalyptus tree in our yard which grows fine but not terrifically.
In gardening (nearly) everything is worth a try (IMHO). If you're successful you will learn a lot! and enjoy great satisfaction. Even if you're unsuccessful you will still end up learning a lot! from the experience.
That said, the tree you wish to grow is of good (final) size, won't be able to bring it inside during your cold winter months, and will take many years before producing nuts that can he harvested (if that is your ultimate goal). Also your growing conditions are going to be very! different from its native habitat "West Africa".
Before making a final decision on whether you wish to invest the time into such a project, I would seek some expert advice from horticulturists that are located in your specific area of the country. Since moving to the USA I have found local (cooperative) extension offices to be an excellent place to start:
Here's a (other) reason why you might want to contact your county (local) and/or state government or local Cooperative Extension Office and seek their advice:
I am not for one minute saying your particular situation, or county and/or state government falls under the above. I'm just making you aware of something I heard one more than one occasion. | <urn:uuid:93a6f54d-bab7-4fda-b4e3-bc65a3734763> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/1194/what-are-the-odds-of-getting-a-shea-tree-to-grow-in-south-carolina-usa | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96147 | 358 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The Vasari Corridor
The Vasari Corridor is a kilometer long passageway that connects the Uffizi Gallery to the Pitti Palace. Today, the corridor still connects the two buildings but it is set up as a small museum separate from the famous Uffizi Gallery.
The entrance to the Corridor is located on the first floor within the Uffizi Gallery behind an unmarked door. It is likely that most visitors that crowd the Uffizi everyday don't even know that behind that featureless door stands a great treasure.
The Vasari Corridor can be visited only upon reservation on a guided tour, organized by associations, agencies or workers of the Museum itself. The idea of entering an inaccessible, almost mysterious place makes the visit to the Vasari Corridor thrilling and intriguing.
Once you've entered the Vasari Corridor it looks like have stepped onto another dimension since the atmosphere is quiet and silent, almost unreal and completely different from the rest of the Gallery.
Works are still displayed according to guidelines issued in 1973 by a past director of the Uffizi Gallery. The collection of artwork displayed along the Corridor's walls are mostly works from the 16th and 17th centuries as well as a special and unique collection of artists' self-portraits, including works from Andrea del Sarto to Chagall. The collection is one of the most complete in all Europe, first started by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici in the 17th century. Many paintings and self-portraits that are a part of the collection are actually not on display for lack of space along the corridor's walls.
After you've taken just a few steps into the magical atmosphere of the Corridor this atmosphere is interrupted, even if just for a few meters, as you reach the area that was heavily damaged by a terrorist attack commissioned by the Italian mafia in 1993. During the night of May 26, 1993 a car full of explosive was set off next to the Torre dei Pulci, located between via Lambertesca and via de' Georgofili, and 5 people died. Many others were injured and several houses were heavily damaged, including this section of the Uffizi Gallery and the Vasari Corridor. In the Corridor, several artworks were destroyed by the explosion. These paintings, even if hopelessly damaged, have been pieced back together and placed back on their original spot to serve as a reminder of the horrible attack.
Passing over this part of the Corridor which reminds us of this important yet sad piece of Florence's history, youre once again brought back into its magical atmosphere.
What impresses one the most of the Vasari Corridor, in addition to the magnificent works of art on display, is the elevated and privileged position that gives you the opportunity to pass through some of the most beautiful areas of Florence's city center, walking over the heads of the people below. Sometimes you feel as if you're spying on the people walking by in the streets, especially as you look down through the small round windows that look out to the Arno river and to the city center. This was actually one of the main initial purposes for the construction of the Corridor for the Medici: the possibility to move freely and safely from their home in Palazzo Pitti to Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of government, passing and observing the people below while remaining unnoticed.
The central part of the Corridor that goes over Ponte Vecchio is the most beautiful panoramic point of view. Exactly halfway over the Ponte Vecchio, Benito Mussolini in 1939 ordered the Corridor's small windows be enlarged so that he could admire the great panorama over the Arno to Ponte Santa Trinita. The windows were to be ready for Adolf Hitler's official visit to Florence: It said he was so impressed by this magnificent panorama over the Ponte Vecchio that he ordered the bridge be saved from German bombing during World War II as they began their retreat from Florence. All the other bridges in Florence were destroyed.
After you've crossed over the Arno, you have a special view of the Church of Santa Felicita. In fact, on the left as you walk toward the Pitti Palace is a large window (today covered with a grate but still permitting a view) onto the balcony that looks directly into the church. From here, the Medici attended Holy Mass from a strategical and privileged point of view.
The current tour ends next to the famous Grotto of Buontalenti inside the Boboli Gardens.
Visits are generally reserved to groups of a set number of people because of the passage's small size.
A brief history
The Corridor called Vasari after its architect, was commissioned in 1565 by Cosimo de' Medici to celebrate the wedding of his son Francesco I with Joanna of Austria. The passageway, started in March 1565, was finished in just 5 months on time for the wedding celebrated on December 16th.
Thanks to this elevated passageway the Medici made sure they could move freely and and safely between their residence in Palazzo Pitti to Palazzo Vecchio, the government's headquarters.
Vasari's project included small windows over the streets and the Arno. Up to this point, Ponte Vecchio housed butcher shops since it made it easy for the waste to be thrown into the river. Not a pleasant view... or smell! Since the Corridor was planned over these shops, all the butcher shops were ordered off Ponte Vecchio and were replaced by jewelry shops, shops that still characterize the most famous bridge in Florence.
To build the Corridor several medieval towers located along its way were quite literally crossed. All owners were forced to consent to give the space through their properties for the passageway.... all consented except for the Mannelli family that firmly opposed having the Corridor pass through his home. It seems that Cosimo appreciated the courage the family had to stand up to him and thus permitted them to withhold entrance into their home but the Corridor still needed to connect! Vasari was forced to go AROUND the obstacle - if you look closely from below, you'll see the Corridor does go around the Mannelli tower placed at the end of Ponte Vecchio where it meets Via Bardi and Via de' Guicciardini.
For at least 200 years the Vasari Corridor was used only as a passageway back and forth between the two residences. The route, even if it was just one kilometer, wasn't just done on foot - a small carriage for two passengers took the Medici and guests back and forth. It is also likely that the Corridor had several benches along the way so that it was possible to rest.
When the Lorraine family took over Tuscany and the last will of the the last Medici, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, took effect the Uffizi Gallery became private property. The Corridor then lost its function of an exclusive passageway.
Over the centuries some areas were also unfortunately destroyed. In particular, during the bombings of World War II, the Corridor was heavily damaged in some areas. A beautiful bathroom decorated with frescoes and marble was completely destroyed while the end of the passageway that connected Ponte Vecchio to the south bank was bombed to prevent crossing over the river.
Future of the Vasari Corridor
In 2009 an announcement came out that the Vasari Corridor would shortly be closing down for restoration work. It was then open for "extraordinary" visits until last December. In 2010 it seems restoration has begun; work should be completed by 2013.
The renovation project includes the possibility of using the Corridor as a permanent passageway open to the public between the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Pitti but we'll see if this indeed is put into effect.
About Cristina Romeo
Born in Florence at the end of the fabulous '70s, Cristina has always lived in the famous "cradle of the Renaissance". She's in love with her homeland, but also enjoys traveling and discovering new places. Cristina is married and mum to a lovely almost 3 year old girl, to whom she hopes to pass on all the passion and love of our precious, wonderful Tuscany.
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If happiness came in a bag (and it wasn't chocolate) I do think it may be googly eyes. There is just so much one can do with these little guys. It being fall and all and almost Halloween I think a little extra googly eye fun is in order. Yesterday's post is a perfect example of how easy it is to play with these kooky things. Today, I want to show you how delightful a pack of eyes, a few toothpics, glue and paper punches or scissors can be. Viola...googly cupcake toppers! So, what are ya waiting for? Whip up a batch of pumpkin cupcakes or gingerbread muffins and while they are baking, let your kidlets loose to make all sorts of spooky-fun toppers. It's an impromptu party! Yay for Halloween!
*scrap paper, printed paper, newspaper
*paint of your choice
*cup o water
*glue and/or glue stick
*various paper punches or scissors
To make the same style of toppers I made here, set out newspaper or phone book pages and watercolors or other paint and have your wee ones paint away. Set aside to dry and let them give a stir or two to whatever cupcake or muffin you are baking. I made gingerbread cupcakes from this recipe. Make sure to work in an area that is happy for spills and mess, use a splat mat or wax paper to protect your table top if you need to.Once dry, use a large scallop punch to punch out newspaper shapes, set aside. You can let your kidlets go to town here or you can give your paper a couple of folds and punch out multiples at a time. Use a smaller circular punch to cut out shapes from your printed or scrap paper. A solid page would be better for this but you can use whichever you want. Colored paper would be nice, and/or cardstock. I used an old library brochure.Use the gluestick on the back of the scalloped circles and sandwich a toothpick between two of the. I found it easier to use a large gluestick and to put the circle on the gluestick rather than glob the gluestick all over the back of the circle. If your tots are going to use the gluestick like a pen, use a sheet of wax paper underneath to prevent extra sticking. Next up, repeat the gluestick process with the smaller circles, one circle per topper. You can do both sides but you don't need to.Finally, use a small dab of glue to anchor a googly eye or two to the center of each paper circles combo (try saying that three times fast). Lay flat to dry.When cupcakes are cool and yer ready to serve, plop a google-eyed topper into each cake and admire. Yay for impromptu party fun! | <urn:uuid:d0603733-2a8d-4ecd-bc87-fcfc651cb96e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scrumdillydo.blogspot.com/2010/10/fun-with-googly-eyes-part-two.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933392 | 610 | 1.625 | 2 |
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Save the planet: Swap your steak for bugs and worms
WAGENINGEN, Netherlands |
WAGENINGEN, Netherlands (Reuters Life!) - All you need to do to save the rainforest, improve your diet, better your health, cut global carbon emissions and slash your food budget is eat bugs.
Mealworm quiche, grasshopper springrolls and cuisine made from other creepy crawlies is the answer to the global food crisis, shrinking land and water resources and climate-changing carbon emissions, Dutch scientist Arnold van Huis says.
The professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands said insects have more protein than cattle per bite, cost less to raise, consume less water and don't have much of a carbon footprint. He even has plans for a cookbook to make bug food a more appetising prospect for mature palates.
"Children don't have a problem with eating insects, but adults with developed eating habits do, and only tasting and experience can make them change their minds," Van Huis said.
"The problem is psychological."
Van Huis has organized lectures, food tastings, and cookery classes with a master chef who demonstrates how to prepare a range of recipes using bugs, worms and grasshoppers, all bred -- or raised -- at a Dutch insect farm for consumption.
To attract more insect-eaters, Van Huis and his team of scientists at Wageningen have worked with a local cooking school to produce a cookbook and suitable recipes.
Chef Henk van Gurp, who created recipes for mealworm quiche and chocolate pralines with buffalo worms, sees no reason to disguise the ingredients, and sprinkles mealworms on top of the quiche filling and onto the chocolate buffalo worms as protein.
"I try to make my food in a way that people can see what they eat," he told Reuters. "Once international leading chefs begin preparing this food, others will follow."
Grasshoppers are considered a tasty snack in Asian countries including Thailand and Vietnam, but are not a feature on the Dutch menu. Van Huis says Europeans should consider insects an alternative source of protein because they can contain up 90 percent protein, compared with 40-70 percent for beef.
"Meat consumption is expected to double from 2000 to 2050. We are already using 70 percent of our agricultural land for livestock and we cannot afford to spare more," he said.
Plus raising cattle is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gases emissions.
Insects are already bred as food for birds, lizards and monkeys at the Callis family's farm near the university, and now the owners see a chance to sell bugs for human consumption.
"It is good food, of high nutritional value, and very healthy for elderly people," said Margot Callis. Though she cannot eat insects herself because she is allergic to them.
Duyugu Tatar, a 24-year old IT consultant who attended a recent lecture and food-tasting at the university, was less effusive about the mealworm quiche.
"The taste was not that awful, but the idea of eating them horrified me. It was crispy. The taste was not like normal food. Not like meat, vegetable, or fruit. Maybe something like cornflakes," she said.
"It took a lot of courage to eat it, I usually smash them (insects) when I see them. I am not used to eating them. I don't know if I would eat it again."
(Editing by Sara Webb and Paul Casciato)
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OHSU’s Brian Druker Wins ‘America’s Nobel’
09/13/09 Portland, Ore.
Knight Cancer Institute director will receive Lasker Award, a prize widely regarded as the most prestigious medical research award in the United States
PORTLAND, Ore. — Brian J. Druker, M.D.,whose research led to the development of Gleevec, the first targeted cancer pill to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy tissue unharmed, has been honored with one of the most distinguished awards in biomedical research — the Lasker-DeBakey Award for Clinical Medical Research.
"I am extremely honored to receive this recognition. We are making significant progress in the fight against cancer and are providing hope to millions of patients and their families," said Druker, director of the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research at OHSU. "We are well on our way to making effective and non-toxic therapies a reality for all cancer patients."
The Lasker-DeBakey Award for Clinical Medical Research is one of three awards given annually by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. The awards, which often foreshadow future recognition by the Nobel committee and are often referred to as "America's Nobels," honor scientists and clinicians who've made major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure and prevention of human disease.
Druker shares the 2009 award with Nichols B. Lydon, Ph.D., formerly of Novartis, and Charles Sawyers, M.D., of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. This award recognizes Druker's decades-long quest to identify and develop a clinical therapy that targets a molecular abnormality in cancer. Druker and Lydon developed Gleevec, the critical reagents that helped identify imatinib, or Gleevec, as a drug that inhibits cancer cell growth, and were responsible for moving the drug into clinical trials; and Dr. Sawyers determined how to overcome resistance to the drug.
Druker began working on abnormalities that drive the growth of cancer cells in the mid-1980s. He developed a critical reagent to help identify drugs that inhibit cancer cell growth. In 1993 he began testing compounds to kill CML cells without harming normal cells and identified Gleevec as the compound he was looking for. After completing extensive laboratory studies, he convinced Novartis to move this drug into clinical trials. He then led the highly successful clinical trials of Gleevec.
The molecular targeted drug Gleevec works by turning off the signal generated by an abnormal cancer-causing protein, thereby shutting down the growth of leukemia cells. Prior to Gleevec, standard treatments for the disease were bone marrow transplantation, which carries significant risks for patients, and interferon, a drug that kills healthy cells as well as cancer cells and produces side effects can that can be severe.
Clinical trials of Gleevec began in 1998 and produced remarkable results. Approximately 98 percent of CML patients saw their white blood counts return to normal in a matter of weeks with little or no side effects. Patients in hospice facilities who were expecting to die in weeks or months were discharged and went on to lead normal, healthy lives. This unprecedented success launched a new era in cancer research and treatment. The result would be development of drugs that kill specific kinds of cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. The outstanding results for CML patients could eventually be duplicated in patients with many other kinds of cancer
"I can't think of anyone more deserving of this prestigious award than Brian. His brilliance, hard work and dedication have provided me and thousands of cancer patients around the world with renewed hope and a new lease on life. Brian's achievements are truly inspiring, and I have no doubt his best work is still to come," said Rob Shick, 48, who, diagnosed with CML in 2005, is living a normal, healthy life with no side effects, watching his three children grow up, thanks to Druker's groundbreaking work.
"OHSU's goal is to improve the health and well-being of all Oregonians. Dr. Druker's achievement is an exciting part of the work being done by hundreds of others at the Knight Cancer Institute and throughout OHSU who are developing new cures, sharing their work and improving care for patients in this community and throughout the world. This is one of the achievements of Oregonians' investment in biomedical research through the Oregon Opportunity and significant private donor support," said Joe Robertson, M.D., M.B.A., OHSU president. The Oregon Opportunity is a nearly $600 million public-private partnership to advance biomedical research at OHSU
Although initially developed and FDA-approved in 2001 for the treatment of CML, Gleevec now is FDA-approved to treat six other cancers, including pediatric CML. Researchers at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital were the first in the world to test the effectiveness of Gleevec in children, and their findings helped prompt the first FDA approval of a new pediatric cancer drug treatment in more than a decade.
Today, more than 120,000 patients with CML and 28, 000 patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) — and eventually thousands more — will live longer and better lives thanks to Dr. Druker's transformative research. As director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, Dr. Druker has set a goal of treating all cancers with drugs like Gleevec. He believes through the Knight's ongoing faculty recruitments — funded by the generous support of private donors, including a recent $100 million gift from Phil and Penny Knight — Oregon will continue to be one of the best places in the nation to receive cutting-edge cancer care.
Druker is the second Oregonian to receive a Lasker Award. Cardiologist Albert Starr, M.D., was the 2007 recipient. The Lasker awards will be presented on Friday, Oct. 2, in New York City.
Chronic myeloid leukemia is one of four common types of leukemia that primarily affects adults aged 50 to 69. CML is characterized by too many white blood cells. Normal cell counts range from 5,000 to 10,000. Patients with CML may have cell counts that range between 50,000 and 500,000. Some 5,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with CML each year. Prior to Gleevec, the average life expectancy for patients with CML was three to five years. With Gleevec, the five-year survival is close to 90 percent.
About the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute
With the latest treatments, technologies and 300 research studies and clinical trials, the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is the only cancer center between Sacramento and Seattle designated by the National Cancer Institute — an honor earned only by the nation's top cancer centers. The honor is shared among the more than 500 doctors, nurses, scientists and staff who work together at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute to reduce the impact of cancer.
Oregon Health & Science University is the state's only health and research university, and Oregon's only academic health center. OHSU is Portland's largest employer and the fourth largest in Oregon (excluding government). OHSU's size contributes to its ability to provide many services and community support activities not found anywhere else in the state. It serves patients from every corner of the state, and is a conduit for learning for more than 3,400 students and trainees. OHSU is the source of more than 200 community outreach programs that bring health and education services to every county in the state.
About the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation
The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation fosters the prevention and treatment of disease and disabilities by honoring excellence in basic and clinical science by educating the public and by advocating for support of medical research. Founded in 1942, the Lasker Foundation presents the prestigious Lasker Awards, which recognize the world's leaders in basic and clinical medical research, and individuals with outstanding public service. For much of the 20th Century, the Foundation was led by Mary Lasker, who was America's most prominent citizen-activist for public investment in medical research. She is widely credited with motivating the White House and the Congress to greatly expand federal funding for medical research, particularly through the National Institutes of Health.
About the Lasker Awards
The Lasker Awards are among the most respected science prizes in the world. Recipients of the Lasker Medical Research Awards are selected by an international jury chaired by Joseph L. Goldstein, recipient of the 1985 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The Public Service Award Selection Committee is chaired by Harvey V. Fineberg, President of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science. Lasker Laureates receive a citation highlighting their achievements and an inscribed statuette of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Lasker Foundation's traditional symbol representing humanity's victory over disease, disability, and death. Seventy-six Lasker Laureates have received the Nobel Prize, including 28 in the last two decades. More details on the 2009 Lasker Award recipients, the full citations for each award category, video interviews and photos of the awardees and additional information on the foundation are available at www.laskerfoundation.org. | <urn:uuid:931cc194-5704-40af-933a-aed26026d279> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/about/news_events/news/2009/ohsubriandrukerwinslasker.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954544 | 1,958 | 1.835938 | 2 |
HANNAH, CALVIN RICHARDS
HANNAH, CALVIN RICHARDS (1872–1940). Calvin R. Hannah, obstetrician and gynecologist, the son of David and Nancy Jane (Richards) Hannah, was born on May 2, 1872, in Chrisman, Illinois. He was one of the youngest children in a large farming family. He attended Chrisman High School, De Pauw University, and the University of Illinois, and graduated on July 5, 1904, from the Illinois College of Medicine. That year Hannah went to Mexico to serve as an intern at the American Hospital; he was later assistant surgeon of the Mexican Central Railroad at Aguascalientes. In 1905 he moved to Dallas, Texas, where he set up a private practice and became assistant city health officer.
In 1907 Hannah began a long association with Baylor Hospital when he became its obstetrician in chief. The following year he became a member of the advisory board of the hospital and a professor of obstetrics at Baylor University College of Medicine (now Baylor College of Medicine). He also served as chief of staff and a member of the advisory board for Parkland Hospital from 1918 to 1920 and again from 1922 to 1935. Throughout his career he maintained a private practice, for a time in partnership with Warren E. Massey. During the decade preceding his death, Hannah's office was in the Medical Arts Building at the corner of Pacific and St. Paul streets.
He was elected president of the Dallas County Medical Society in 1914. He was the organizer and first president of the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 1930 and was appointed that year by President Hoover to the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. Hannah served as chairman in 1935–36 of the Commission on Maternal and Child Health in Texas and was a charter member and vice president in 1936–37 of the American Association of Obstetricians, Gynecologists, and Abdominal Surgeons. He was a member of the Texas Medical Association and served as its president elect in 1936–37 and as president in 1937–38. Other professional organizations to which Hannah belonged included the American Medical Association, the Dallas Southern Clinical Society, the American College of Surgeons, and the Theta Kappa Psi medical fraternity. He performed volunteer work as an instructor for the Red Cross during World War I and as president and board member of Hope Cottage. Hannah was an Episcopalian and Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Dallas Rotary Club and Hella Temple Shrine. An avid golfer, he belonged to the Dallas Country Club and Dallas Athletic Club.
Hannah published over two dozen papers in local and national medical journals. They deal with the problems of childbirth, recommendations for prenatal and postnatal care, and the broader issues of medical ethics and education. As an obstetrician and gynecologist, he was chiefly concerned that the medical profession was focusing too heavily on surgical solutions rather than basic nutrition and prophylaxis. A colleague asserted that "his greatest usefulness in the field of gynecology was in preventing needless operations." Medicine, as Hannah saw it, was a team effort. He believed that if doctors joined to promote better education, both of the public and of medical students, the rewards would be material as well as moral. He saw socialized medicine as a threat to the profession and argued that physicians must address the broader needs of public health lest the government step in. Peer pressure, he believed, should be used to get recent medical graduates to set up practice in rural areas and to get small communities to build hospitals and share the use of expensive equipment.
On March 7, 1923, Hannah married Katherine C. Duvall. The couple was without children when, on December 16, 1940, he suffered a heart attack and died in Dallas at Baylor Hospital.
Sam Hanna Acheson, Herbert P. Gambrell, Mary Carter Toomey, and Alex M. Acheson, Jr., Texian Who's Who, Vol. 1 (Dallas: Texian, 1937). Texas State Journal of Medicine, June 1938, February 1941.
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Steven R. Davis, "HANNAH, CALVIN RICHARDS," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fhaek), accessed May 26, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. | <urn:uuid:d0ab8ffd-b9f9-4cd6-a367-60de34126ecd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fhaek | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975815 | 928 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Browsing 90 - 100 results of 117 programs from 2010
Watch the process of a deceased monitor lizard providing energy for other organisms to live in this time-lapse video. Look for this exhibit in the museum, upstairs in the Traits of Life area. Do your lessons sometimes fall flat? Staff educator Modesto Tamez explains how to be a good salesperson and get students engaged. Get a special sneak peek at the Exploratorium's lab. Living Systems' Caitlin Johnson shares this space where public is not allowed. Today's Live from the Lab highlights the museum's "warm room," where plants are grown, eggs are incubated, and zebrafish are farmed.
Th Exploratorium's lab is an unusual museum feature, allowing a greater variety of programs and exhibits about biology. A highlight of this After Dark evening was Thee Oh Sees, one of the Bay Area’s best underground bands, who created a playful aural disorientation while playing in front of “visual music” by the late experimental filmmaker and musicologist Harry Smith.
Staff educator Tory Brady performs a bit of theater, demonstrating the roles of the star players in the immune system. On March 1st, we connected live with scientists aboard the scientific drilling vessel the JOIDES Resolution off the coast of Antarctica. Meet geologists Rob Dunbar, Carlota Escutia, and Christina Riesselman and learn about their historic expedition to Antarctica that is helping reveal the history of Earth's climate and teaching us about our climate future. Science of Cocktails presented the artistry of master mixologists shaken with the science behind the craft. Taking an in-depth, interactive look at the physics, chemistry, and biology of cocktails, this first-time Exploratorium fundraiser engaged guests in an exploration of their favorite libations like they've never experienced before. Newton wasn’t really ready to believe that light was a wave, and so he didn’t see what was in front of his eyes. Staff physicist Paul Doherty tells how to do the same experiment that Newton did back in the 1650s to see the wave nature of light.
In this gem from 1990, we get a brief peek into the flourishing mind of German-born composer/sculptor Trimpin, a MacArthur "genius" award winner and the subject of a recent feature documentary. He chronicles his unique adventures through sound and music making, takes audience questions, and stages modified versions of his musical installations in front of the live audience. For three days in February 2010, the Exploratorium showcased the innovations and outlaw aesthetics of custom computer culture. An outgrowth of the hacker community, personal computer modding was born from the need for speed and personal style. | <urn:uuid:4b53f3a6-4846-4b0c-b3bd-99858e987b2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://exploratorium.edu/tv/archive.php?presentation_type=&type=0&content_category=0&year=2010&start=90 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94037 | 560 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Talk about the zodiac signs and you have to talk about Pisces. Pisces is a zodiac symbol that is represented by two fish. If you look up into the stars at the right time of the year you can even see the fish clearly in the stars. But why are there fish in the stars, and why are there two fish and not just one? As with most zodiac signs and constellations, the story has a basis in the ancient world, and in this case there are a few different worlds that have stories about how Pisces began, including, of course, the Greek world.
In the Greek myth, the constellation of Pisces is a fish that is connected with the goddess of love, Aphrodite. Aphrodite and her son, Eros, were trying to escape the god of fire, Typhon. In order to do so they transformed themselves into fish. They did not, however, want to lose each other, so in order to make sure that they did not they tied a cord onto their tails. In order to save them, Zeus placed the fish into the stars and kept the cord tied to their tails, as they were when they escaped Typhon.
If you’re looking for Pisces tattoos, there are a few options available for you. One thing that you can do, and it is something that many people do, is to have two fish placed on your arms. Often people use Koi fish, as these are beautiful fish and very easy to tattoo for most artists. If you do not want to have fish on your body you can, instead, us the Pisces tattoos symbol, which is a unique symbol that you can find online. Either way, having a fish tattoo on your body is definitely a great way to show that you’re a Pisces. | <urn:uuid:6d7bd733-b8a4-43a8-9a2e-df37b952aea4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://choosetattoos.com/tattoo-designs/pisces-tattoos | 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 | 0.981281 | 372 | 2.359375 | 2 |
When looking into Zeitgeist's claim about three kings/wise men/whatever visiting Horus, all I could find in the source book was a reference to stars pointing at other stars, which has absolutely nothing to do with actual physical men visiting Horus on the day of his birth. Wouldn't that make the Zeitgeist claim false?
Well, that's not a dichotomy given that the Egyptians believed that the stars were embodiments of the "souls", or b3w(Bas), of both the gods and the deceased kings who had been resurrected and transfigured into gods.
But more to the point about three kings adoring the infant Horus (called Harpocrates by the Greeks), this seems to be implicated on the following magical gems pictured below. They depict Harpocrates/baby Horus arising out of a blooming lotus that is stationed within a barque. To the left are always three falcons, one of the major symbols of the kings of Egypt as well as of Horus himself (obviously), Horus being the god of kingship, the living king being believed to be the embodiment or avatar of Horus.
There are always three falcons, and as you can see on gem "A.", these falcons are each bearing a hedjet crown, the crown of Upper Egypt, indicating kingship. So here we have the infant Horus accompanied by three symbolic "kings". We also see Horus accompanied by three scarabs, three rams, three uraei, and three crocodiles, all of these animals are also symbols of the kingship of Egypt, and all are here depicted in triads, so clearly the number three is being given conspicuous significance here and is not just some arbitrary detail thrown out there to fill up space.
As scholar Dr Pieter Johannes Sijpesteijn wrote in his article Remarks on Some Magical Gems
Anno 69, No. 1/2 (gennaio-dicembre 1989), pp. 119-121:
Dr. Sijpesteijn wrote:
One is reminded of intaglios representing. Harpocrates seated on a lotus (in a papyrus boat) and surrounded by three crowned hawks, three snakes, three crocodiles, three goats and three scarabs (cf., e.g.,. C. Bonner, op. tit. nos. 203ff.; A. Delatte-Ph.-Derchain, op. cit. nos. 147ff.)
On gem "B." only the uppermost falcon is wearing the crown, but notice what is above its head.
So obviously here these three symbols of the king are not only being associated with the infancy/birth of Horus, but they are also being associated with the appearance of a star.
Everything seems to be lining up so far.
We see the star again with the three falcons in gem "C.", and this time both the uppermost and the middle falcon are wearing crowns, and this time it is the deshret crown of Lower Egypt.
No crowns on the falcons of gem "D.", though nevertheless, like the other animals, they are still well known symbols of kingship, and are still in a triad, and still accompanied by a star. No Lotus this time either.
Gem "E." has all three of the falcons bearing deshret crowns and again we see the star.
In Gem "F." we have some interesting additions. Again we have three deshret crowns making the falcons three symbolic kings, and this time we have Horus surrounded by four stars, and beneath his barque, three stars.
It is conspicuous that we have three stars, again keeping up the significance of the number three here.
Perhaps the four stars surrounding Horus, given their positions, are alluding to the four cardinal points of heaven & earth, East, West, North, and South.
But that much is purely speculation on my part, and that only assumes the four are distinct from the three and not part of a group of seven, perhaps indicating Pleiades or something like that.
Anyway, the point is, here we do have some strong evidence indicting a motif of the infant Horus (Harpocrates) being signified by a star and three "kings" or three symbolic kings. | <urn:uuid:626facbb-2d95-491a-8cec-b0e8f20ec64b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.freethoughtnation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=22053 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962768 | 886 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Saudi industrial sector grew 5.5 percent in 1999
Saudi Arabia's industrial sector recorded growth of 5.5 percent in 1999, while industrial investments totaled more than $60 billion, Saudi Industry Minister Hisham bin Abdullah al-Yamani said Tuesday.
"During 1999, the Saudi industrial sector had growth of 5.5 percent ... while investments in industrial projects totaled $64 billion up to the year 2000," Yamani said in a statement from the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC).
He said that the value of Saudi industrial products, mainly petrochemicals, reached $22 billion in 1999, of which around a quarter represented the kingdom's industrial exports.
"The contribution of the industrial sector to gross domestic product (GDP) has risen from five percent in 1980 to 10 percent in the year 2000 ... and should reach 20 percent over the next 20 years," the Saudi minister added.
The seventh five year plan for economic development (2000-2005), agreed in August by the Saudi government, predicts annual growth of 3.16 percent in GDP. — (AFP, Riyadh)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com) | <urn:uuid:a3ecbb4b-65d4-40e3-b83a-ebc20d5bd17f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.albawaba.com/business/saudi-industrial-sector-grew-55-percent-1999?quicktabs_accordion=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920296 | 246 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Things have changed so much in teaching, and they change so frequently, that it might be reassuring to reflect that the teaching of writing has changed almost not at all since Ancient Greece.
There have been some changes, essentially in three areas:
- Technology, from an increasing emphasis on written instead of oral language (Ancient Greece, remember?) to the inclusion of keyboarding and writing for the web.
- The pendulum swing from freewriting to boilerplate and back. This has been going on for centuries, as I learned from Thomas Cahill’s entertaining book How the Irish Saved Civilization , and it is still going on today.
- The means of presenting the writing process and organizing the students’ practice. Hardly any of us smack students with rulers, and most of us don’t pull individual kids out for writing conferences any more, either.
But overall, effective writing lessons still involve three things:
- Examining excellent models. It can be good to work with student writing, too, but writers improve their writing by reading good writing. Sounds like a tongue-twister, but it’s true. Keep stacks of good literature on hand to use as examples of points you’re teaching. For example, instead of telling students not to use “said” as the only verb in their dialogue and posting a list of alternatives, grab Michael Hoeye’s Time Stops for No Mouse and read a page aloud. Have students write down all the alternatives to “said” that they hear — there are plenty.
- Practice. There is no way to improve writing without doing lots of writing. Many teachers have increased their writing assignments to the point where students groan at the idea of doing something interesting because they know that they’ll have to write about it later. One thing that helps with this is an attempt to have a purpose for writing as often as possible. Write stories to read to the kindergartners. Write letters telling grandparents about the interesting thing you did in class. Write entries at Wikipedia. Just make some communicative point to the writing as often as possible.
- Feedback. Once students have written something, they need feedback on it, so they can improve it through rewriting and building on it for next time. Peer review, notes, and group edits are all good ways to do this. Make a class rule to say what you like about a paper as well as ways it can be improved, agree that all writing can be improved, and lavish praise on the improved product to help students learn to accept this feedback.
If your writing lessons have these three elements, your students will improve. | <urn:uuid:de62ee05-b637-4a37-bb9f-722bd0c3f276> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myfreshplans.com/2011-01/writing-lesson-plans-getting-started/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963832 | 546 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Groundwater is instrumental in slaking California's thirst. In average years, underground basins, known as aquifers, supply about 35% of the water used by the state's cities and farms, and in drought years, that figure can jump to 60% or higher.
Many areas of the state rely exclusively on groundwater for their supplies, while other areas use groundwater to supplement their surface supplies or to meet needs when surface water is not available.
California has a long history of managing groundwater resources through locally controlled programs. While many of these programs have been very effective, the array of challenges on the horizon will demand even more of local agencies and require a greater commitment to sustainable management.
As surface water deliveries continue to be constrained, California is relying more and more on groundwater to meet needs. The shift to greater reliance makes effective management a critical challenge as the state works to implement historic legislation enacted in 2009 to improve water supply reliability and ecosystem health.
Locally controlled groundwater management is effective because it is best able to respond to the particular circumstances of – and significant differences in – each groundwater basin. Local expertise and direct reliance on the resource ensures immediate response to problems and trends, and provides the strongest basis for collaborative regional approaches.
Groundwater management plans developed under AB 3030, SB 1938 and the Integrated Regional Water Management Planning Act offer prime opportunities to enhance effective management and incorporate strategies that can help address the potential consequences of a large-scale shift to groundwater, whether cyclical or permanent.
Local agencies with these plans and other local management strategies in place are stepping forward to monitor groundwater elevation levels to help track seasonal and long-term trends in groundwater basins as required by the 2009 legislation.
Given the significant differences in groundwater basins, ACWA believes the one-size-fits-all approach of statewide regulation would be counterproductive. But that is not to say there is no role for the state. ACWA believes the state should encourage and support local management by embracing polices that reflect California’s hydrologic diversity, by working collaboratively with local agencies to address impediments and by incentivizing the expansion of sustainable practices.
Ultimately, for sustainable groundwater management to succeed, California must also invest in conveyance improvements in the Delta, additional surface storage and groundwater storage to optimize both water supply reliability and ecosystem health, and substantial investments in local water resources development.
Read about ACWA's landmark policy document, "Sustainability from the Ground Up: A Framework for Groundwater Management in California." | <urn:uuid:25248cb3-d088-4170-8cd2-b7055693086c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acwa.com/content/groundwater/groundwater | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920745 | 507 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Allergen Avoidance Overview
Once your allergist determines the specific substances that cause your symptoms, you should then reduce your exposure to those allergens as much as possible. This is the most fundamental starting place, especially when symptoms are the result of allergy to materials present in the indoor environment. In some cases, exposure can be eliminated or decreased to the point that no other treatment is necessary. In other cases exposure can be decreased only partially, making other types of treatment necessary. But even in those situations, less treatment will be required, and it will work better if you have first decreased exposure.
When thinking about decreasing exposure, it is useful to keep in mind the analogy between the level of an individual's "allergic threshold" and the capacity of a glass. If too much water is poured into the glass, it will overflow. This happens regardless of whether all of the water came from a single pitcher, or whether some water was poured in from each of several pitchers. If the total amount if water exceeds the capacity of the glass, the glass will overflow.
Similarly, if an individual is allergic to one or more substances, the sum total of exposures at a given time (the "total allergen load") determines whether or not the person's threshold will be exceeded and symptoms will result. The goal is therefore to get exposure below the threshold if possible.
Successful allergen avoidance does not necessarily mean lowering exposure to zero. It does, however, require making significant decreases in exposure, to get the level of allergen in your environment below your allergic threshold. The following information explains how you can lower your exposure to specific allergens: house dust mites, animal dander, and mold. | <urn:uuid:5edcdcf0-2bc2-4bc3-aea6-7fce7e5375d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.missionallergy.com/?fuseaction=page.display&page_id=54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920787 | 347 | 3.375 | 3 |
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10 years of iPods
In October 2001, Apple introduced iPod, a digital music player with a distinctive white body and headphones. In the 10 years since, the company says it has sold hundreds of millions of the devices. Below, some milestones in the evolution of the most popular digital music player. | <urn:uuid:6259021f-e58d-4943-a03d-37a83b770f9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/ct-biz-ipod-evolution,0,588909,email.photogallery?index=chi-20011024-ipod-photo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918425 | 67 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Current serials and newspapers are located on the lower part of the first level of Davidson Library, near the Reference collection. Here you will find current issues of most journals, magazines, and newspapers that we receive in print format. Current issues of many of our journals are online only, and others are housed in special locations such as the Arts Library and the East Asian Library, so it is important to check the library catalog.
Current Journals and Magazines
Current journals and magazines are shelved in call number order. Use the "journal titles" search option in the catalog to find call numbers for specific titles.
Check the library catalog or the list of electronic journals to locate current issues for online journals.
Back issues of journals and magazines are bound and shelved by call number in the library stacks. See the library catalog for complete holdings, call numbers, and location information.
Newspapers are shelved in alphabetical at the end of the "Z" call numbers in the current serials area.
We have online access to newspapers through many different subscription databases. See our subject guide for more information
Back issues of selected newspapers are kept on microfilm. See the library catalog for complete holdings, call numbers, and location information.
Finding Articles on Specific Topics
To find articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers on a specific topic, use an article databases. To determine which database to use, try: | <urn:uuid:03f12a9c-d390-433d-a267-fd491c93206f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.library.ucsb.edu/current-serials-newspapers | 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 | 0.922968 | 286 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Cobalt Chloride has been classified by IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) in Group 2B which states Cobalt Chloride is a possible carcinogenic to humans. Cobalt Chloride is very toxic to aquatic organisms and may cause long term adverse effects in the environment.
Blue Indicating Silica Gel:
The most common use for Cobalt Chloride is in a type of Desiccant
named Blue Indicating Silica Gel. This product is in bead form and
will turn from Blue to Pink when full absorbed. This is one of the
most widely used indicating desiccant products and poses health
risks and environmental issues. | <urn:uuid:c0ff308f-da4c-43fb-9da7-a341c286a19d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.desiccantpacks.net/cobalt-chloride-blue-silica-gel/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91192 | 139 | 2.625 | 3 |
All the news and personalities that we see using Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace makes us think that everyone is into it. The Harris Poll, however, revealed that half of Americans (51%) do not use Twitter or have a MySpace or facebook account. Just under half (48%) of adults have either a MySpace or Facebook page with 16% of adults updating their page at least once a day. Only 5% of Americans are currently using Twitter.
The nationwide survey of 2,220 U.S. adults surveyed online between March 31 and April 1, 2009 by Harris Interactive also revealed that:
- Three-quarters of those aged 18-34 years old (74%) have a Facebook or MySpace account but this quickly drops off the older one gets. Just one-quarter (24%) of those 55 and older have an account;
- Tweeting is also slightly more prevalent among the young, but not by much; 8% of 18-34 year olds use Twitter, 7% of those 35-44 use it, 4% of those aged 45-54 and just 1% of those 55 and older;
- While men and women use Twitter at the same levels (5% each), women are more likely to have a Facebook or MySpace account (52% versus 45%); and,
- There is also an educational difference in usage of social networking sites. Two in five people with a high school degree or less (40%) have a Facebook or MySpace account compared to 55% of those with some college and 52% of those with at least a college degree. | <urn:uuid:43724c10-fd27-4b7f-ab26-db9c992481c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blogherald.com/2009/04/16/just-under-half-of-americans-have-facebook-or-myspace-account/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962108 | 322 | 2.703125 | 3 |
The Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) is the committee at the European Medicines Agency that is responsible for preparing the Agency's opinions on herbal medicines.
It was established in September 2004, replacing the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products' Working Party on Herbal Medicinal Products, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 and Directive 2004/24/EC, which introduced a simplified registration procedure for traditional herbal medicines in European Union (EU) Member States.
- See the full overview of the HMPC's role.
The members of the HMPC are scientific experts in the field of herbal medicines.
The Committee has one member and one alternate member nominated by each of the 27 EU Member States and by Iceland and Norway. The chair is elected by serving HMPC members.
Up to five additional members may be co-opted to contribute additional expertise to the HMPC. These are European experts nominated by the Member States or by the Agency. Currently, the Committee has co-opted members with expertise in:
- clinical pharmacology;
- experimental / non-clinical pharmacology;
- paediatric medicine;
- general and family medicine.
The HMPC also has observers from the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Healthcare (EDQM) and from Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey as part of the EU enlargement programme.
- See the full meeting plan for the HMPC.
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15 ratings5 ratings0 ratings4 ratings7 ratings | <urn:uuid:3f2bf32c-76a5-4d7a-a261-e4eacf536d02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.emea.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/about_us/general/general_content_000264.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac0580028e7c | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939431 | 340 | 1.96875 | 2 |
SEOUL — The young man who took the helm of North Korea following his father's death last December has been formally declared the country's top military leader.
North Koreans had been alerted an hour in advance to tune in at noon for important news. The previous time there had been such an announcement was on December 19 last year to announce the death of leader Kim Jong Il.
So anticipation was high, not only in North Korea, when the announcer opened the noon newscast.
The announcer said “a decision was made to award the title of Marshal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to Kim Jong Un, the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army."
The 45-second announcement was followed by state radio playing the song “We will defend General Kim Jong Un at the Risk of Our Lives.”
Kim is believed to be 29 years of age.
The promotion for Kim, previously named a four-star general and who already holds almost all top military and party positions, comes just days after army chief Ri Yong Ho was removed from all of his posts supposedly due to “illness.”
An obscure general, Hyun Yong Chol, was named Tuesday to replace Ri as vice marshal.
Kim came to power seven months ago following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, who was the son of North Korea's late founder Kim Il Sung.
Kim Jong Il, who was also a marshal, was promoted in February, two months after his death, to generalissimo.
The changes are seen by analysts as an attempt to cement the hold on power by the third generation of the Kim family. But some analysts say the events of the last several days indicate conflict between the ruling family and the military - or even within the military, which has more than one million active personnel, making it the world's fourth largest army.
Baek Seung-joo is a senior researcher at the South Korean government-funded Korea Institute of Defense Analyses.
Baek says he thinks Kim was given the new title to solve issues from internal conflicts in the military and quell complaints or questions about whether he is really able to control the army. Baek adds it is timed to show North Koreans their young leader has absolute power and to demonstrate his status to the outside world.
Rival South Korea has not officially reacted to Kim's military promotion.
The publicly-funded Yonhap news agency, quotes unnamed South Korean officials as saying the decision appears to be an internal matter and no unusual moves by North Korea's army have been detected following the announcement. | <urn:uuid:7aeceb7e-600a-4c02-8051-30e5d57ea8b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voanews.com/content/north-koreas-young-leader-gets-new-title/1418645.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982668 | 530 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Category: Breaking News
Published on Tuesday, 06 November 2012 09:00
Written by The Grio
Supporters listen to US President Barack Obama during a campaign rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 4, 2012. (Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
Many pundits and pollsters predict that President Barack Obama is poised to win re-election on November 6th, but what if he loses? And how will black America respond?
On the eve of the presidential election, two major polls show President Obama as the favorite to win. And the prediction markets give him somewhere between a 70 percent and more than an 80 percent chance of winning. And yet, the only poll that ultimately matters is on Election Day. Anything can happen, and black America could wake up to a Mitt Romney victory on November 7.
An Obama loss would almost certainly disappoint African Americans, and could engender any number of emotions, including hopelessness and gloom. The racial polarization of this election cycle—combined with allegations of voter suppression against minorities and other groups– could also lead to resentment if blacks believe the election was unfairly administered, if not stolen. However, such circumstances could also embolden black voters and create a sense of urgency that it is time to rebuild.
For black voters, the stakes are high.
“This is the most significant political season we have seen in a long time,” said Rev. David Bullock, head of the Detroit Chapter of Rainbow-PUSH. “Malcolm X said something very important in that there are only two ways to change America. You will only change America by saying ‘Give me liberty or give me death.’ Or you will change America by entering the ballot box.”
Rev. Bullock told theGrio this election is about national priorities, and whether the country spends more on national defense or education.
Turnout by the base could prove decisive for an Obama victory. “Hopefully, before he loses, black people will do everything they can to ensure that the best person–and I do think that out of the two that President Obama is the best–is the president of the United States,” said Phillip Jackson, the executive director of the Black Star Project, a Chicago-based educational program providing mentoring to thousands of students and parents through its Saturday University program. “I would hope that he would win and that the community would be energized,” he added.
Jackson also thinks an Obama loss would be devastating. “Black America is already in trouble, so that would be compiling those feelings of hopelessness, those feelings of weakness. We’re already in trouble. We’re already the most challenged ethnic group in this country. And so now, you’re talking about losing an African-American president? It would be devastating. You would almost see African-Americans crying in the street,” he said.
Further, some in the community fear black voters lack an awareness of what is at stake. An issue of concern to one African American leader is complacency and apathy among black voters, a lack of interest in being engaged in the electoral process.
“Some of y’all sitting here right now know you ain’t voting. That’s how we ended up with [Michigan Gov.] Rick Snyder. Some of y’all voted for him,” said Rev. Charles Williams III, president of the Michigan chapter of National Action Network. Rev. Williams believes the black electorate must make a concerted effort to retake the White House.
“Here we are in 2012. We have Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, cell phones, iPads, iPhones and we still can’t seem to get together on how we’re going to do this thing,” Williams said. “Fannie Lou Hamer… was beat up in a jail cell because she was trying to register folks in Mississippi to vote. Medgar Evers was slain in his driveway….There ain’t no dogs biting you. There ain’t nobody shooting at you. Ain’t nobody beating you up, and you’re just too lazy and selfish to get up, get out, and vote? It’s time to get up,” Williams admonished a crowd at a voter rally in Detroit.
Despite the gains made since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s—including civil rights and voting rights legislation and the nation’s first black president—race remains the elephant in the room. Moreover, racism has worsened in the age of Obama–reflecting a white backlash–and politics have become far more racially polarized. Militia groups have mobilized in due to the economic recession and their hatred of the president, as the Tea Party and birther movements have painted Obama as a foreigner and therefore an illegitimate leader.
A recent AP survey found that 56 percent of white Americans harbor anti-black sentiments, up from 49 percent during the 2008 presidential election. Further, the poll found that racial prejudice alone could cost President Obama five points in the election, while pro-black sentiments could add three points, for a net loss of two points.
“We would be disappointed because Obama has done his best,” said Rev. Samuel Mosteller of an Obama defeat. Mosteller is assistant pastor of Atlanta’s Good Shepherd Community Church and president of the SCLC Georgia chapter. “People have forgotten where we were before Obama’s administration. He has made monumental decisions and changes that have benefited the American people.”
“If he loses, it’s because a great number of people don’t like the fact he’s African and American,” Rev. Mosteller concluded.
Another possible reason for an Obama loss is voter disenfranchisement, say some observers. Civil rights organizations are concerned that Republican-controlled state governments around the country have enacted voter ID requirements that they argue place a higher burden on voters of color, the poor and the elderly.
A prominent Romney donor was hired by Pennsylvania’s Republican governor to create ads for the state’s draconian voter ID law, which a court halted for the 2012 election.
The Tea Party group True the Vote is accused of intimidating minority voters at the polls.
Florida Governor Rick Scott has reportedly purged eligible voters from the rolls, and Democrats have filed an emergency lawsuit to extend early voting, as some voters complained of waiting as long as nine hours to vote. Meanwhile, an RNC-linked firm is accused of voter registration fraud in battleground states such as Florida and Virginia, including the dumping of voter registration forms into the trash.
In addition, hacked electronic voting machines are causing concern as well. “In Georgia, the [Diebold] voting machines used to cast votes are susceptible to less than honorable intentions,” said Rev. Mosteller. “And with the emotions surrounding President Obama, it is quite possible someone would try and cheat.”
Black Americans cannot help but draw similarities between the voter suppression tactics used against blacks by white Democrats in the Jim Crow South, and the strategies employed by the Republican Party in 2012. If Obama loses, African Americans may conclude the election was stolen from them—a conspiracy.
“If they try to take away the ballot, all we have left is the bullet. So when the Tea Party says they’re here to take their country back, we’ve got to say no! I don’t want to go back,” said Rev. Bullock.
“Given the history of race and disenfranchisement in the United States, it is perfectly understandable for civil rights groups to be suspicious and to try to seek to hold those pushing for these laws accountable to history,” said Andra Gillespie,political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.
“If we were not witnessing all the unnecessary attacks on the right to vote, then people would be fine,” said Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia State NAACP. “But what we’re observing in the lead-up to the election are tactics to reduce or deny African-Americans access to the right to vote, which should be guaranteed in the Constitution.” DuBose added that an Obama reelection loss should prompt a conversation regarding the attack on voting rights, and the strategies used to disenfranchise voters.
Given the questions surrounding voter ID and voter suppression, Sidmel Estes, a media strategist and adjunct professor of journalism at Clark Atlanta University, expects major backlash in the black community if Obama loses.
“So, if Romney wins, a lot of people will ask “who is this guy? There will also be a lot of suspicion that a man who is little known on the national scene could unseat a sitting president, unless there was deliberate voter backlash,” said Estes. “That is what will anger people, the fact that they will believe it is a racist attack and that Obama wasn’t given a chance.”
Rev. Catherine Jackson, who hosts a social justice ministry called a Prophetic Service Agape Leadership Ministry, thinks an Obama defeat would be crushing, and could lead to fear of voter suppression. “I do have that fear, because of people’s own state of hopelessness. Because the reality is, in some parts of our community, there might be people that feel like ‘what difference does that make?’” she said. “Things going on in your own individual lives, sometimes that feels like a cancer and you may feel like there’s no hope, and when people feel like there’s no hope, people don’t get up and people don’t move.”
Rev. Jackson also told theGrio that an Obama loss would encourage people to organize and build a better infrastructure in their families and communities, in the same way that organization among black people secured an Obama election in 2008. Others agree.
The representative black voices who spoke with theGrio reject the notion that an Obama loss would spark violence, despite the anger, desperation and hopelessness his defeat would create. They believe the battle is to be fought in the political arena, through activism and the ballot box rather than through physical confrontation.
“I don’t think there would be violence because black people are used to disappointment in America,” said Rev. Mosteller, who encourages his congregation to vote.
“At the end of the day, we do not want to have to fight any body with bullets. We have to fight in the ballot box,” said Rev. Bullock. “We have to take our souls to the polls. We can’t just do it on Facebook. We can’t just do it on Twitter. We’ve got to go to our churches and our mosques, and our synagogues and tell people it’s time to go to the ballot box and stand up for the American dream.”
“I think black America would feel the pinch of going back to things the way they used to be under the Republicans…and the progress that President Obama has made will go to waste,” said David Lowery, Jr., president of the Far South Suburban branch of the NAACP in Chicago. Lowery also noted that with high unemployment, black people have always been under the struggle.
“It should really be a motive that ignites us and inspires us. It should fire us up. It should really make us mad that we have sit around and let this society conduct business as usual, which is corrupt. It should invigorate black people. This loss should invigorate the Civil Rights Movement in such a way that this doesn’t happen again.”
Phillip Jackson believes that if Obama is unsuccessful on Election Day, black America will have to redouble their efforts.
“So Obama will not win, but that doesn’t take away my power. And that’s what we have to teach our children. So this is going to be a lesson for our children, for our teachers. If we will work to help Obama win, we will move heaven and earth for him to win, but if he doesn’t win, that doesn’t mean that we should just give up, become hopeless and roll over. We should get back to work and work even harder.”
Meanwhile, if the president is reelected, Jackson—not unlike other African American voters—has high expectations of Obama.
“I want President Obama to be different in his second term than he was in his first term. I want him to be more responsive to the African American community in his second term than he was in his first term. But I know that we have to work incredibly hard, the African American community, to get him to a second term.” | <urn:uuid:590e52c5-dd15-48f8-a1a9-03e8aa56988e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.michronicleonline.com/index.php/2011-08-04-18-06-26/rss-feeds/189-breaking-news/8437-how-would-black-america-to-an-obama-loss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964381 | 2,672 | 1.625 | 2 |
3:41 PM CDT, October 4, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- At the intersection where Capitol Hill policy, technological innovation and musical creativity meet, tensions spilled over at the two-day Future of Music Summit while government officials washed their hands of the mounting chaos.
Count it as a mixed blessing, for what artists -- inherent outsiders and rule-breakers, if they're doing their job well -- want politicians telling them how to do their business?
But there was frustration aplenty with federal copyright laws that many artists and lawyers contend are impeding creativity.
The annual conference of cutting-edge artists, tech heads, law buffs and entrepreneurs, which concluded Tuesday, provided a window into the struggles of a music business still in the throes of a decade-long revolution. Digital distribution has made intellectual property a new hot-button issue on Capitol Hill, but a congressman and a federal copyright officer who delivered keynote addresses at the summit took the slow, steady approach, as if reading from the same script.
It was not what many of the 450-plus, mostly progressive-minded conferencegoers wanted to hear, especially with the lightning-speed changes in the way music is distributed, shared and reconfigured in the last decade. "Technology is leaping ahead exponentially and the legal system is lagging behind exponentially," said Dean Garfield, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council.
The disconnect between the culture and the law has led to a world of marooned artists, who must choose between illegal activity that can't be officially sanctioned and business as usual, where artists get paid last, if at all.
"I wish there was a way to blow up" current copyright law and start over, said Jessica Litman, a law professor at the University of Michigan.
U.S. Rep. Goodlatte (R., Va.) and Maria Pallante, the federal register of copyrights, were not about to blow up anything, nor were they particularly eager to take more aggressive action against alleged copyright infringers the way certain overseas governments have been. Their tiptoing-on-eggshells discourse left unresolved the huge disconnect between federal law and the way people actually interact with music in their own file-sharing networks.
France mandates that Internet Service Providers warn consumers about infringing activity and cut off on-line access to repeat offenders. In the last decade, the Recording Industry Association of America has sued thousands of citizens in an effort to combat copyright infringement, yet today more Americans than ever are consuming music, much of it through channels deemed illicit by federal law.
Pallante and Goodlatte said that while the government would prosecute consumers who blatantly infringe on artist copyrights, they urged private-sector solutions to combat rogue file-sharing. Goodlatte said it's up to companies that depend on copyrighted songs for their existence to create legal platforms that are as convenient and high-quality as illegal alternatives that command most consumers' allegiance. He also said that copyright law won't undergo a major reform to reflect new digital realities that have made the artistic manipulation and recontextualizing of copyrighted material more accessible and fluid. Instead, he underscored artist copyright as a fundamental right that must be protected while adapting gracefully to Internet innovation -- a "sweet spot," as Pallante called it, between sometimes opposing impulses.
Entrepreneurs were busy trying to advance solutions, introducing platforms with applications to social media and cellphones that would actually (theoretically, anyway) pay performers, and received approving grades from a panel of artists and managers. With streaming rapidly overtaking downloading as the preferred method of accessing music via cloud-based storage lockers, artists were cautioned to secure their public-performance royalties. Yet collection agencies such as ASCAP and BMI were denigrated on a panel that examined licensing of intellectual property, for their lack of transparency and their high overhead, with little money trickling down to middle- and lower-tier artists. In addition, current copyright law with its costly and time-consuming icensing procedures ensures that most of the revenue accrued winds up in the hands of "behemoth" corporations instead of artists, Litman asserted.
"People with power continue to take power," said Erin McKeown, a fiesty singer-songwriter.
Selling recorded music "is like pitching pennies," added another songwriter-producer, Ivan Barias. The culture is moving in the direction of "microwave music," as consumers use it as background for social settings. It is then more easily disposed and fewer long-term artists are developed.
The best solution against a slow-moving Congress and corporations happy to cling to 20th Century copyright laws is for artists to sample, remix, reconfigure and innovate "and hope Congress and business let that happen" without litigating, Litman said. "But that's a risky proposition."
One of the few pools of significant revenue available for artists in the current climate is that derived from live performance. A panel of concert-industry executives heatedly debated the shifting terrain of the touring business: flexible ticket-pricing, which allows the price of a concert ticket to ebb and rise with demand; the troubling paradox of increasing revenues even as fewer tickets are actually sold; paperless ticketing as a way to cut off scalpers while restricting the ability of genuine fans to sell or even give a ticket to someone else; and the boon or bane of the burgeoning secondary-ticket market. The latter is here to stay, according to even those executives who oppose it, with even giant Ticketmaster in the business of reselling tickets at a significantly higher price for in-demand shows.
The perils of a life lived on the road were put into stark perspective by Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen and manager Dave Frey. At a panel surveying the band's career, Nielsen described how he and his bandmates barely survived the Ottawa Bluesfest last July when a storm brought the 50-ton roof of a temporary stage crashing down on them.
"I felt like I was in a Buster Keaton movie when the building falls down on him," Nielsen said. "I ran forward looking for the equivalent of daylight."
Nielsen and his bandmates were saved when the roof's fall was broken by the band's equipment truck parked in back of the stage, allowing them to escape even though their equipment was destroyed.
The collapse was one of four-weather related accidents at concerts over the summer when temporary stages collapsed either while or just before bands performed, resulting in 12 deaths and dozens of injuries. After the panel, Nielsen and Frey were on their way to Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation that would create standards for temporary stages, similar to how amusement rides are subject to oversight at carnivals.
"We want to make sure something like this doesn't happen again," Frey said.
Though no match for that live-or-death drama, the challenges facing artists were more complex and offered less clear-cut outcomes. Chicago hip-hop artist Rhymefest spoke of a culture that rewards artists who conform to a stereotype.
"Ninety-eight percent of what (mainstream) rappers talk about is a product. It's like a commercial," he said. He added that in running for 20th Ward alderman earlier this year "the arts was put on trial" and as a hip-hop artist he was stigmatized. "I don't know Lil Wayne, but I had to answer for all his songs."
Even some fellow artists didn't support his efforts because they were put off by his association with hip-hop, a genre they didn't enjoy or understand. "There is a generational and cultural disconnect betwen artists," he said. To grow and learn, he said he discovered, artists have to appreciate different means of expression from all sides of culture.
But there were small glimmers of hope. The National Endowment for the Arts is actively trying to foster dialogue in cities about better integrating the arts into the community and economy. For Dan Lurie, a former Chicagoan who is a senior adviser at the NEA, the idea is to empower artists and inform politicians so that they recognize "the impact of art in the life of the city." The underlying message of the Future of Music Summit was that until that connection is more tangibly understood in government, technology and culture, artists will continue to be outsiders, whether they choose to be or not. | <urn:uuid:5710ea48-c4b5-4647-84d1-2414cbbfcfd7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kansascw.com/kscw/thecrew/theplaylist/chi-future-of-music-summit-wrapup-fmc-2011-wrapped-up-20111004,0,6245225,print.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972119 | 1,713 | 1.554688 | 2 |
What does it mean to be a Republican in Tennessee?
With the Republicans already controlling 85 out of the 132 available seats in the General Assembly — and potentially more after this fall’s election — this question may be better asked with the future tense:
What will it mean to be a Republican in Tennessee?
Will Tennesseans get more of Gov. Bill Haslam’s education reform? Or more of the guns-everywhere, “Don’t Say Gay” agenda?
Consider this timeline, beginning in June 2012, when U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan applauded our state’s “commitment to leading the nation in education reform.”
A few weeks later, county Republican parties across Tennessee began openly criticizing their own Republican governor for hiring a Muslim woman and not firing openly gay employees.
A few weeks after that, Debra Maggart, chairwoman of the House Republican caucus, was defeated in the Aug. 2 primaries — by another Republican — after Maggart had fought certain pro-gun legislation. (The National Rifle Association spent at least $75,000 to defeat Maggart.)
So, which is it?
I put the question to Bo Watson, Senate pro tempore and a Republican from Hixson, over coffee last week at Chattz, the Market Street coffeehouse. Watson is well-respected within government and outside of it; during our 90-minute conversation, he was articulate, open to divergent opinions, referring to the Second Amendment one moment, and the poet Robert Frost in the next.
It’s unfair — and illogical — Watson said, trying to corral every Republican idea in one unifying statement. The divide between urban and rural Republicans can be pretty wide in this state. For some, guns matter. For others, not so much.
“Approx. 6% of total time spent on handgun issues,” he texted me later in the day.
In June 2009, Times Free Press reporter Andy Sher totaled up the number of minutes House and Senate members spent on the floor (from February to May) discussing major gun bills. In the House: 4 hours and 55 minutes, or 6 percent, out of 74 hours. In the Senate: 58 minutes, or 2 percent of the total floor time.
Watson said the media crafts public perception that legislative discussion is dominated by guns-and-gays social issues. As compared to the House — where social issues often emerge — legislators in the Senate, he said, are more interested in crafting larger-issue legislation: education, employment, health care.
“We spend a whole lot more time contemplating these issues,” he said.
He spoke for a long time about education, mainly the Complete College Act of 2010: Universities are funded based on “performance-based” graduation rates, not student enrollment, he said.
“No other state is doing this,” he said.
He called the classroom teacher “the most important person in the room,” and decried the lack of respect we — as citizens, and governments — afford them.
I challenged him: a heavy emphasis on standardized testing sends the exact opposite micromanaging message. He didn’t disagree.
Bringing in more businesses depends on whether our education system can provide qualified scholars and workers. With more business comes more funding and jobs. For Watson, it all hinges on education.
Here’s to education in Nashville, and all of Tennessee.
Tuesday’s online-only column is based around sharing a meal or drinks with someone in southeast Tennessee or North Georgia. Contact David Cook at email@example.com or 423-757-6329. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter at DavidCookTFP
David Cook is the metro columnist for the Times Free Press, working in the same building where he began his post-college career as a sportswriter for the Chattanooga Free Press. A graduate of Red Bank High, Cook holds a Master's Degree in Peace and Justice Studies from Prescott College and an English literature degree from University of Tennessee-Knoxville. For the last twelve years, Cook has been a teacher at the middle, high school and university ...
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Some issues dear to the hearts of Tennessee social conservatives have been front and center in the Republican-led General Assembly, ...
Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey on Friday named Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, as the next speaker pro tempore, one of ...
NASHVILLE — While Senate Republicans largely support a statewide law banning collective bargaining for teachers, some of their House counterparts ... | <urn:uuid:f4bc045c-a1c5-40eb-aa74-05869ccd950a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/aug/28/cook-what-does-it-mean-be-tennessee-republican/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94751 | 989 | 1.570313 | 2 |
NORWEGIAN major Statoil is set to push ahead with development of the 31-year-old Mariner discovery east of Shetland in what will be the UK’s biggest offshore oil project in more than a decade.
The £4.3 billion investment will create more than 700 jobs, including 200 onshore posts in Aberdeen. Production is set to begin in 2017 and is expected to run for about 30 years, reaching a peak of 55,000 barrels of oil per day.
The announcement was hailed as a major milestone by industry body Oil & Gas UK, which said the decision to pull the project off the shelf was possible following recent tax breaks from the UK government for marginal and difficult fields.
Statoil and its junior partners – JX Nippon Exploration and Alba Resources, a unit of Cairn Energy – have been discussing Mariner’s revival for several months. Mike Tholen, economics director at Oil & Gas UK, said the magnitude of the investment reflected the industry’s “crucial role in boosting Britain’s economic growth”.
He said: “The largest offshore development in the UK for a decade, Mariner requires pioneering technology and will bring hundreds of high-skilled, long-lasting jobs across the country, hundreds of millions of pounds in additional tax revenues as well as crucial security to our energy supplies.”
Discovered in 1981, Mariner was left dormant because of low flow rates and other technical challenges that would have made it unprofitable. However, new technologies, rising oil prices and a more favourable tax regime have revived its fortunes. Lars Christian Backer, executive vice-president for international development and production at Statoil, said Mariner was a “good strategic fit” for the company.
The announcement followed Thursday’s decision by the group to dust down another decades-old project, the Dagny field in Norway, which was first uncovered in 1974.
“We are the world’s largest offshore operator and have a portfolio of attractive projects in some of the most prolific basins in the world,” he said.
“The North Sea is a core area for Statoil, and we look forward to taking a leading role in further developing also the UK part of this basin.”
Statoil took over the Mariner licence as operator in 2007, and has a 65.1 per cent stake in the project. JX Nippon has a 28.9 per cent interest in the field, and Edinburgh-based Cairn has a 6 per cent stake.
Cairn acquired its interest earlier this year via the £414 million purchase of Nautical Petroleum, a deal aimed at boosting the Scottish explorer’s near-term production levels.
Nautical also gave Cairn interests in the Arctic, where Statoil holds a 30 per cent stake in one of Nautical’s Greenland exploration licences. JX Nippon took over its interest in Mariner in a deal with Italy’s Eni that was finalised earlier this week. The Japanese oil and gas firm paid an undisclosed sum for stakes in 17 producing fields, and has vowed to quadruple its production in the UK Continental Shelf by the end of the decade.
Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing said the Statoil announcement was “tremendous” news for the sector. Statoil will decide whether to go ahead with a similar heavy oil field development at Bressay, located in waters near Mariner, sometime next year.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Temperature: 3 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: North west
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: North west | <urn:uuid:b01692f1-4bdd-4617-ad20-10b3cad4ffd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scotsman.com/business/energy-and-utilities/statoil-s-mariner-project-will-be-largest-in-north-sea-for-a-decade-1-2703967 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954969 | 798 | 1.585938 | 2 |
A Union Man in Richmond Personal recollections of the Great Rebellion by a Man on the Inside.
BY A NATIVE VIRGINIAN.
Copyright, 1899, by the Publishers of THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE.
[author continues his narrative discussing his time spent
in Staunton. This was not transcribed.]
Kilpatrick’s raid around Richmond in 1864 created,
seemingly, more consternation in the city than did the seven days’ battles with
McClellan around Richmond. Every bell rung out long and loud. It was understood
that Kilpatrick proposed to liberate the Federal prisoners then confined on
Belle Isle, - some 15,000 in number, - but the Confederates in large numbers,
from Fredericksburg, caused Gen. Kilpatrick to retire without succeeding in his
Capt. Grimes, of Grimes’s battery, accompanied by my
cousin, Capt. John Clarke, called on me just before that event, and the next
morning, Capt. Grimes, with his battery, was sent to oppose the advance of Gen.
Kilpatrick, and was killed by a shell just west of the city. I had known Capt.
Grimes in Portsmouth several years before.
The Pawnee war, so-called, create the greatest excitement
in Richmond. It seems that the Confederates had seized some powder at Norfolk
just before the war, and the report came that the vessel containing the powder,
then on the way to Richmond, was being pursued by the U. S. gunboat Pawnee, with
the purpose of bombarding the city.
Col. Tom August, with all the troops and artillery that he
could muster, marched to Rocketts and took possession, while hundred of people,
armed with pistols, old muskets, and scythe-blades, brought up the rear. I
followed, and on arriving at Rocketts took position upon a large pile of oyster
shells, and looked on at the show.
An old lady who shared my seat upon the oyster shells asked
my opinion as to the situation, and I told her, just for the fun of it, that the
city was just as good as destroyed; that the Pawnee was an awful man-of-war,
and carried about 100 guns that throw shot and shell seven miles; with that she
rolled clear down the pile of shells to the bottom, after which I gracefully
departed, seeing that she was not injured; but just as I departed a mighty cry
arose that the Pawnee was coming.
A vessel of some sort was seen coming around the bend, and
while August and his people sprang to arms, the thing came in full view; - it
was a little tugboat, which was used for towing purposes. The Pawnee war was
[author gives more description of his time in Staunton, and
a vignette on how “Mud Wall” Jackson got his. This was not transcribed.]
After the secession of Virginia an amusing lot of curious
people were developed in Richmond, who afforded so much entertainment that I
hasten to repay by giving them a “notice.” These people were those who had been
Union men and also those who had been nothing - neither fish, flesh, or fowl.
They secured small places with the Confederate Government and heartily approved
of all Confederate acts; abused the sound of Union men, bowed low to officers,
sneezed when Jeff Davis did, took a drink when Judah Benjamin did, hugged and
kissed the Dispatch and Enquirer, etc. And their conduct reminds
me of a story, as Lincoln would have said, as follows: [author gives a story, in
negro dialect, of a slave going to a different church to watch the congregants’
behavior. Not transcribed] I feel that I have penned these “Recollections” with
a view to moderation and propriety, and while I have endeavored to entertain and
amuse at times, I apprehend that I have given but little cause for serious
offense to sensible persons, north or South. I confess that my bitterness would
have been more apparent had I have written soon after the war.
Some three or four months previous to my leaving Richmond
in 1863, for the purpose of making my way through the lines to the North, I took
rooms with a friend on Main street, and went to boarding. The institution was
kept by a most amusing old maid, Miss M-. Now, Miss M- was a charming lady, in
her way, and was perhaps 45 years of age.
I had two rooms with my friend - we will call him George. I
said: “George, where do we get our ‘grub’ to eat?” “Why, bless your soul, I
shall take you at once to Miss M-’s. I get my meals with her, and we get on
finely.” George was a bachelor of 35 years, and was entirely invulnerable to the
charms of women, and regarded them all, especially the unmarried ones, as a
fraudulent deception and a snare. He was a master mechanic, and made from $20 to
$35 per day at his trade, but taking little contracts, repairing
sewing-machines, etc., and he religiously exchanged it every Saturday for gold
at the broker’s nearby. George was a Union man, and he did not care to be seen
buying gold, so he sent a boy who worked with him, to transact the financial
business with the broker, and at that period was paying about nine for one; he
paid more later, however.
Going to the landlady, I was duly introduced by George as
“Prof. D-, Miss M-!”
“Charmed to see you, Professor; George has mentioned the
fact of your coming.” Miss M- calling my friend “George” seemed to augr well,
and we were all happy.
“Pray, what are your charges per week?” I asked in gentle
“Twenty dollars per week,” she replied, and then looking as
if she were going to cry, said: “It is the most trying and distressing time of
my life, just now, having to charge such a price, when formerly I only charged
$5 per week.”
Now, this was my first experience at a regular boarding
house. At dinner, I was with much ceremony introduced to Miss Sophronia
Melville, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Tanglefoot, and last, but not least, to Old Jones. He
was not called Old Jones then, nor was it old Jones’s boarding house just then;
but we shall see later.
Now, old Jones kept a tin and stove store just over the
way, and it was not difficult to note the fact that old Jones and our landlady
were in love. Miss Sophronia was also casting many sheeps’ eyes at Old Jones ,
who was reported to be mighty well off, I tell you! Who was Miss Sophronia? None
could tell with any degree of certainty. Miss M-, our landlady, told y friend
and myself, confidentially that a very pleasant old gentleman had brought her
there and introduced her as his niece, adding that she desired to remain in the
city until he could put his farm in order, which had been damaged during the
progress of the battles around Richmond, and had paid four weeks’ board for his
niece, in advance. That settled the matter. A person whose board is paid four
weeks’ in advance is entitled to superior consideration; that is clear. For
several reasons, I rather suspected Miss Sophronia to be a Confederate spy.
One day not long after this, Miss M- and old Jones got out
of a carriage at the door - they were married. They had quietly gone to a
minister’s and had the knot tied. The whole household was agitated; and Miss
Sophronia immediately left for her “uncle’s.” She had no uncle, though, as one
of our “spotters” - we had “spotters” you must know - and she was, beyond doubt,
a Confederate spy, as I had surmised. The Confederates used these “smart
Sophonias” to pick up news at boarding houses, and “spot” persons speaking
unguardedly for the Union, which was accounted “treason” by the Confederacy.
Thus, our boarding place became old Jones’s boarding house after all. But there
was more trouble ahead for old Jones. The Confederate officers collared him at
his very dinner table and carried him off triumphantly for his bride of a week.
We all really liked old Jones and his wife, and were indignant at the arrest,
but we could do nothing.
Old Jones was allowed to select an arm of the service he
desired, and he selected the cavalry and was sent to Danville; but he was never
in an engagement, as Gen. Lee surrendered before he reached Danville. However,
it was charming to have Madam Old Jones read extracts from old Jones’s letters
from Danville. He told her that he so missed the music of her voice; her
pleasant surroundings; her beefsteaks, and strong, hot coffee. We had never seen
any coffee at the table, by all that’s good. When people, visitors particularly,
would ask Madam Old Jones what arm of the service her husband was attached to,
she would reply with the most delightful complacency, “My husband belongs to the
“calvary,” whereat there would be many exchanges of winks and nudges; but she
never seemed to have the slightest suspicion that the word “calvary,” used in
that connection, had such a queer sound. On these occasions, just before she
left, Miss Sophronia would softly exclaim: “Good Lord!” when “Madam Old Jones”
would ask: ‘Did you ask for anything my dear.” | <urn:uuid:b66b5ece-8b6a-4cf2-9d4e-95919721013e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mdgorman.com/Written_Accounts/National_Tribune/national_tribune,_9_14_1899.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982084 | 2,215 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Miami, FL (PRWEB) September 25, 2012
The National Jewish Memorial Wall is proud to introduce http://www.njmw.org. This site is dedicated to commemorating, organizing, and sharing a family’s legacy with relatives, friends, and the next generation. From fond memories, career and life achievements, to family recipes users are able to learn and discover new aspects of their loved ones life.
“With the National Jewish Memorial Wall, no-one will be forgotten”, says Steven Allen, Executive Director of Bet Breira Samuel Or Orlom. “We are thrilled to be part of this venture which will greatly benefit the entire Jewish community across the US."
The National Jewish Memorial Wall takes the best of the digital photo sharing and family history preserving websites and combines them into a unique site that will commemorate and preserve memories for future generations. Our goal is to help families bridge generations by providing a platform to remember understand their heritage.
About National Jewish Memorial Wall: The National Jewish Memorial Wall merges present day technology with traditional Jewish rituals. It is a widely observed Jewish tradition to commemorate the passing of a loved one by purchasing a plaque in memory of. The National Jewish Memorial Wall provides a location where relatives and friends, separated by physical location can interact and perpetuate the life of one who has passed. | <urn:uuid:658272bd-b5bd-4ceb-8b92-23a604e2cd3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prweb.com/releases/njmw0924launch/09/prweb9938904.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929081 | 274 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Nov. 4, 2010 Can you forge an emotional bond with a brand so strong that, if forced to buy a competitor's product, you suffer separation anxiety? According to a new study from the USC Marshall School of Business, the answer is yes. In fact, that bond can be strong enough that consumers are willing to sacrifice time, money, energy and reputation to maintain their attachment to that brand.
"Brand Attachment and Brand Attitude Strength: Conceptual and Empirical Differentiation of Two Critical Brand Equity Drivers," a study published in the November issue of the Journal of Marketing, is co-authored by USC Marshall's C. Whan Park, Joseph A. DeBell Professor of Marketing; Deborah J. MacInnis, Vice Dean of Research and Charles L. and Ramona I. Hilliard Professor of Business Administration; and Joseph Priester, Associate Professor of Marketing; along with Andreas B. Eisingerich, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Imperial College (London) Business School; and Dawn Iacobucci, E. Bronson Ingram Professor in Marketing, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, indicates that brand attachment has much stronger impact on consumers than previously believed. In fact, the study suggests, brand attachment can even be strong enough to induce separation anxiety when favorite brands are replaced.
The study advances existing brand research in consumer psychology and goes beyond the existing paradigm, indicating that traditional measurements such as brand attitude strength do not adequately explain consumers' intense loyalties to the brands they love -- that they fail to explain how brands capture "consumers' hearts and minds." Brand attachment, the authors claim, does exist, is predicated on a brand/self-relationship and can better explain what drives consumer behavior and their loyalty and commitment to the brands.
It is brand attachment that explains consumers' devotion to the iPod, fans' intense reaction at celebrity deaths and the torment of teenagers who are denied their favorite brand of jeans. Through brand attachment, the USC Marshall study suggests, consumers see the brands as an extension of themselves.
The authors first developed a two-factor brand attachment scale that examines brand-self connection and brand prominence, groundbreaking distinctions made by the study. The authors then tested the scale by surveying consumers of several prominent brands: Quaker Oats oatmeal, iPod, and a university. Using the results to fine-tune the scale, the authors tested their hypotheses through a series of four studies: the impact of brand attachment on consumers' purchase behavior, their likelihood to engage in "difficult-to-enact" behavior, brand purchase share (or the real estate the brand has within the consumer's heart and mind compared to competitive brands), and brand need share (the use of the brand compared to brands in other product categories that could be substituted).
Overall, the research suggests, the greater the attachment, the greater sacrifices a consumer will make to connect with or remain connected to the brand.
The study's key findings include:
- The more strongly a consumer's attachment to a brand, the more willing they are to forsake personal resources to maintain an ongoing relationship with the brand. They are willing to engage in difficult behaviors -- "those that require investments of time, money and energy, so as to maintain or deepen a brand relationship."
- Highly attached consumers are more motivated to devote their own resources in the process of self-expansion, including paying more, defending the brand, derogating alternatives, and devoting more time to the brand through brand communities and brand promotion through social media.
- Attachment represented by both brand-self-connection and prominence is a significantly better predictor than brand attitude strength of actual behaviors.
Based on their research, the authors suggest that managers have much to gain through efforts aimed at building stronger brand attachment. In addition, managers should incorporate brand attachment in brand-evaluation matrices, which would provide a more detailed picture of how current brand-management efforts relate to future sales.
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
- C. Whan Park et al. Brand Attachment and Brand Attitude Strength: Conceptual and Empirical Differentiation of Two Critical Brand Equity Drivers. Journal of Marketing, November 2010 [link]
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:30cbc9ee-0404-4abc-8cb6-bcd471c6a98f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101104154549.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941939 | 874 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Published on 5 - July - 2012
Retailers lead the way to greener goods"Truly ground-breaking" is how the head of the environment at the British Retail Consortium has described a new collaboration involving retailers and suppliers in a bid to cut the environmental footprint of the goods they deal with, from food to DIY products.
Participating retailers are hoping to reduce the carbon footprint of the goods they sell
The Product Sustainability Forum (PSF) has been set up under the umbrella of government waste reduction body WRAP and brings together more than 80 organisations to reduce the harmful waste of everyday products. These are responsible for an estimated 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the BRC.
The new forum, unveiled today, will measure products' impact for the first time across a range of sustainability targets - carbon, water, use of raw materials, energy and waste - and identify how best to make them more environmentally friendly. According to the BRC, this co-ordinated approach will allow industry to make far more significant progress on environmental targets than can be ahieved by businesses working alone.
BRC head of environment Bob Gordon said: "Retailers have made substantial progress in reducing the environmental impact of their businesses, addressing everything from how they heat their stores to the type of packaging goods are sold in. But the biggest prize is something retailers don't have total control over - cutting the overall impact of the goods they sell.
"This new collaboration will help businesses find the best ways to manufacture, transport, store, display and dispose of a wide range of products so they have the smallest possible impact on the planet. It's truly ground-breaking."
DIYWeek.net does not edit comments which are submitted directly by our users to express their own views. Please report abuse of our comment system here.
© Datateam Business Media Limited 2012. DIY Week.net news articles may be copied or forwarded for individual use only. No other reproduction or distribution is permitted without prior written consent. | <urn:uuid:a769e30c-9d29-40bc-9d09-053755b35c6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.diyweek.net/news/news.asp?id=15677&title=Retailers+lead+the+way+to+greener+goods | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940443 | 411 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Karvirpitham - Dr. Kurkoti
Notes by Swami Jnaneshvara (bio)
What I am writing here
is not intended to be controversial, though I acknowledge it probably
will be to some people.
Much of the
biographical information of Swami Rama describes that Swami Rama was
initiated as Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham around 1950 and that he was
successor to the current Shankaracharya at the time, who was also known
as Dr. Kurtkoti. This was said to be in Nashik, India, and was
supposedly a fifth Shankaracharya mutt (monastery) not listed with the
four most known mutts.
During the late 1990s I
traveled to the area of Nashik and was looking for the mutt of
Karvirpitham. What I found was the home of Dr. Kurtkoti and about 5-6
families who had been his students. Most significant of these was a man
in his 80s who was Dr. Kurtkoti's lawyer of many years, a Mr. Dixit.
It was explained to me
by these various families that during the early 1930s Shankaracharya
Kurtkoti was traveling away from the mutt, and that when he returned he
had been replaced by a new man. The raj (the Indian man in charge of the
region) and the British government officials had not approved of
Kurtkoti's most progressive actions, which included bringing an end to
the practice of young women being brought to the monks for sex, women
being permitted in temples, and arranging marriages between Indians and
foreigners. I cannot, and do not wish to prove or disprove these points,
but am only sharing what I was told by the followers of Dr. Kurtkoti.
Swami Rama was not
known to any of the people I met, other than the lawyer, who remembered
him as Bhole Baba and Yogeshvar. Dixit explained to me that Bhole Baba
was "the most beautiful human being I have ever met", that he was
initiated by Kurtkoti as a dandi swami around 1950, and was given the
name Dandi Swami Sadashiva Bharati. He explained Bhole Baba's incredible
mind, and said that at the time of the dandi swami diksha, he recalled
from memory the names and addresses of some 2,000 people to be invited
guests, while a clerk transcribed in writing. Mr. Dixit, while aged when
we spoke, seemed very clear of mind and explained that there was no
history of Sadashiva Bharati having been initiated as shankaracharya.
Kurtoti was actively fighting in court for the reversal of his being
replaced as shankaracharya, spending most of his personal family fortune
on legal expenses up to the time of his leaving the body in 1967, but at
the time, he was officially not shankaracharya and therefore not
authorized to pass on this position. I have found it fascinating,
however, to be told years later that the prerequisite to be installed as
a shankaracharya is to first receive diksha (initiation) as dandi swami.
He said he had not seen or heard from Sadashiva Bharati since he left
Nashik without notice in the early 1950s. The lawyer, Dixit explained
that much of Sadashiva's time was spent in Bombay where Kurtkoti and he
wanted to set up teaching centers, which never fully came into being.
I was told that
Shankaracharya Dr. Kurtkoti left the body in 1967, and that after many
years of negotiations surrounding his estate, that was finally settled
shortly before my visit. I visited and stood at the samadhi shrine where
his physical remains are entombed. There is a childrens' school within
about a hundred meters, which continues in his name, and I spoke with
the teacher, who was aware of the stories about the shankaracharya and
his life. There is also a two-story building there, which was not being
used at the time. Supposedly, trustees were exploring uses of the
I was only in Nashik
for a few days, and did not have time to explore further, and did not
formally meet with the trustees, which would be a next logical step for
one trying to follow through on this. The samadhi shrine of Dr. Kurtkoti
is several kilometers outside of Nashik and should be easy to find by
anybody wanting to search this further. From there, one could likely
find people with more information. It is also important to note that
there is a Kurtkoti library open to the public, and this is in Nashik.
I have no explanation
for the inconsistencies about Swami Rama and the position of
Shankarachara of Karvirpitham. However, over many years when I read the
bios of Swami Rama sitting in this regal position for several years, and
then leaving because he got tired of the streams of people coming daily
to touch his feet, it never made sense to me that it would have taken
Swami Rama so long to figure this out. Afterall, I am a virtual nobody,
and it is obvious to me that this is no way for a sincere aspirant, let
alone an adept, to live. What seemed very likely, however, was his
connection with Kurtkoti. As I heard from people about him, I became
more and more impressed; this was a man of tremendous values, who was
far beyond his times. That the Swami Rama I know would want to spend
time with him, to work with him on serving humanity, made perfect sense,
regardless of any official title. Clearly, in the spirit of service,
Swami Rama acted as successor to Shankaracharya Dr. Kurtkoti, regardless
of official status of either of these two great men.
I showed Mr. Dixit a
copy of a newsletter from the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust in
Dehradun, which was created by Swami Rama. I told him about the hospital
campus, and what I knew of the plans for it to be a full status
university. I told him about the many countries where Swami Rama had
personally taught may thousands of people, and had influenced millions.
As we both sat there together, each with a tear or two in our eyes, I
told Mr. Dixit that I think Swami Rama carried on with the work that
Kurtkoti was wanting to do; he agreed.
I personally took the
above photograph of Shankarachara Dr. Kurtkoti from a picture that was
hanging in the school near the samadhi shrine.
This site is devoted to
presenting the ancient Self-Realization path of
the Tradition of the Himalayan masters
in simple, understandable and beneficial ways, while not compromising
quality or depth. The goal of our sadhana or practices is the highest
Joy that comes from the Realization in direct experience of the
center of consciousness, the Self, the Atman or Purusha, which is
one and the same with the Absolute Reality.
This Self-Realization comes through Yoga meditation of the Yoga
Sutras, the contemplative insight of Advaita Vedanta, and the
intense devotion of Samaya Sri Vidya Tantra, the three of which
complement one another like fingers on a hand.
We employ the classical approaches of Raja, Jnana, Karma, and Bhakti
Yoga, as well as Hatha, Kriya, Kundalini, Laya, Mantra, Nada, Siddha,
and Tantra Yoga. Meditation, contemplation, mantra and prayer
finally converge into a unified force directed towards the final
stage, piercing the pearl of wisdom called bindu, leading to the | <urn:uuid:ff581410-ca2e-463a-bd87-5473af4ef021> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swamij.com/kurtkoti.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978624 | 1,738 | 1.664063 | 2 |
In his book, The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins argues that religious belief iswhat else?delusional. He mocks the irrationality of believing in something that you cannot subject to scientific scrutiny; he rails against the so-called immorality of the Bible, like the sanctioning of slaveryuntrueand the alleged way that religion, especially Christianity, stands in the way of scientific progressalso untrue.
Just in case his readers are not convinced, however, he then pulls out the really big gun: Religious belief is a kind of child abuse.
By child abuse Dawkins is not, at least not principally, referring to the scandals involving sexual misconduct by Catholic priests. He means that teaching a child about Christianity can damage them psychologically and emotionally.
According to Dawkins, however odious sexual abuse is, he suspect[s] that it may do them less lasting damage than the mental abuse of bringing them up Catholic in the first place.
The mental abuse Dawkins refers to is the result of teaching children that nonbelievers will spend eternity in Hell. Dawkins calls this doctrine an extreme threat of violence and pain and mental terrorism. He rhetorically asks, If you can sue for the long-term mental damage caused by physical child abuse, why should you not sue for the long-term mental damage caused by mental child abuse?
Obviously, what Dawkins writes about Catholicism is equally true about any Christian tradition whose teaching is grounded in Scripture.
Dawkinss accusations of child abuse are so absurd that it is hard to take them seriously. But someone will, so it is important to correct the record.
Yes, Christianity teaches that there is a Hell and that the unrepentant wicked will spend eternity there. But it also teaches that through His death and resurrection, Jesus freed those who believe in Him from that fate. To leave Jesus saving work out of any discussion of Hell is a distortion of Christian teaching.
What is also unfair is to criticize Christianity for its teachings on the afterlife without discussing the atheistic alternative presumably preferred by Dawkins and the other new Atheists: that is, when we die, we become worm food, and the universe soon forgets that we ever existed.
Now, thats the stuff of real childhood nightmares! The idea that there is nothing beyond the grave is the stuff of countless anxieties. And, as Dostoevsky wrote, without belief in a God who judges us, human evil goes uncheckedthat is, there is no justice.
In addition, Dawkinss account of the effects of religion on children is, to put it mildly, incomplete. Surely, there is more to religion and children than teaching them about Hell.
There certainly is: Sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton studied the impact of religious practice on American teenagers. They found kids who were described as devoted or regular participants in religious activities did better than their un-churched counterparts. They did better at school; they were more active in the community; and, contrary to what Dawkins says, they scored higher on measures of emotional well-being.
In other words, Dawkins is completely wrong about the impact of faith on our kidsso wrong that, if he were consistent, he really might call atheism a form of child abuse.
This is part three in a five-part series.
From BreakPoint®, October 10, 2007, Copyright 2007, Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with the permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or distributed without the express written permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. BreakPoint® and Prison Fellowship Ministries® are registered trademarks of Prison Fellowship | <urn:uuid:d9c05ec7-8ba0-4f5a-adbe-f1d1bcecf06d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/is-religion-child-abuse-29660/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957466 | 739 | 1.898438 | 2 |
On the road to democracy in the Middle East, Egypt’s Mubarak regime has once again declared an all-out war against my country’s small contingent of liberals.
Small in number as these liberals may be, five of them — including myself — recently declared their intention to run in the presidential elections scheduled for September. They are challenging President Hosni Mubarak to amend the constitution to allow for direct competitive elections. The reformists are also demanding term limits for the president, an end to a quarter-century of martial law, freedom of the press, and the right to freely establish political parties and civil society organizations.
Egyptians reformists have been emboldened by the recent Palestinian and Iraqi elections, which some of them participated in as observers. One group, the Egyptian Popular Movement for Change, has defiantly organized rallies, marches and demonstrations against the Mubarak regime.
As these acts of collective protest have grown, the regime’s nerves have gotten noticeably more edgy. Anyone questioning to what lengths the Mubarak government is willing to go to silence dissident voices need only look back on the brutal methods it has employed during the last 20 months.
In August 2003, Reda Helal, a prominent journalist with the semi-official Al Ahram daily, was kidnapped from his apartment in a Cairo suburb and has not been heard from since. Close associates claim that Helal’s forced disappearance was caused by statements he made about Gamal Mubarak, who is being groomed to succeed his father as Egyptian president.
This past November, the executive editor of the Al Arabi opposition weekly, Abdel Halim Kandil, was abducted late at night by four masked men and taken in an unmarked van to an isolated desert area 50 miles outside Cairo, where he was stripped naked, beaten and abandoned. Kandil — who has been a fiercely vocal critic of Mubarak running for a fifth consecutive six-year term — wandered in the desert until he found a military police unit that administered first aid, gave him clothing and contacted his family. Egypt’s press syndicate strongly condemned the incident, demanding an immediate investigation. When the regime dragged its feet on the matter, several voices in the opposition papers and on independent Arab satellite networks pointed accusing fingers directly at Mubarak.
The most flagrant assault on democracy activists, however, took place January 29, when Egypt’s rubber-stamp parliament was convened in an emergency session in order to suspend the parliamentary immunity of one of its members, Ayman Nour. He had not been notified beforehand of any wrongdoing or of a request to suspend immunity. The regime justified its request by the need to investigate allegations of forgeries related to the registration of the Al Ghad Party, which Nour heads.
The emergency session was over in fewer than 30 minutes. As Nour was leaving the parliament building, he was arrested by the notorious State Security Agency. With unprecedented judicial speed, a prosecution order was issued detaining Nour — not for the normal four or the unusual 14 days pending interrogation, but for 45 days without bail.
Mubarak’s wrath, according to the influential English-language Al Ahram Weekly, had been incurred by a recent meeting that Nour and other Al Ghad Party members had held with former American secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former congressman Vin Weber, and because of Nour’s active lobbying in parliament to amend the Constitution. The Mubarak regime is quite touchy about both matters.
The government is keen on presenting Egypt to the West as having only two alternatives: a Mubarak or the Islamists. With people like Nour and his new but fast-growing Al-Ghad Party, a third peaceful, liberal alternative has been looming on the horizon for all to see. That is why Mubarak is determined to eliminate Egypt’s liberals.
But Mubarak may have miscalculated the reaction to the heavy-handed incarceration of Nour, much like Syrian President Bashar Assad did in Lebanon and Saddam Hussein did before the American invasion of Iraq. The protestation was swift and intense, both at home and around world. Though relatively unknown, Nour’s case provided an opportunity to settle long-standing accounts with the Mubarak regime.
The most vehement reaction came from the United States. Mubarak’s move came days after President Bush, in his inaugural speech, made promoting liberty and democracy in the Middle East the cornerstone of his second term’s foreign policy. Mubarak appeared to be directly challenging the American president — in the words of The Washington Post, “Mr. Mubarak is no longer testing Mr. Bush; he is spitting in his face.”
The administration’s anger was hard to conceal. The joint press conference held in February by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, was icy at best. Soon afterward, Rice canceled an official visit to Cairo scheduled for early March.
While pressure from abroad was building, small but steadily growing demonstrations took place with increasing frequency — in clear defiance of the martial law in effect since 1981 and of the State Security Forces’s fierce anti-riot squads. The demonstrations made it clear that Mubarak’s out-worn excuses for delaying political reform were being dismissed both at home and abroad.
Presumably to placate his critics, Mubarak announced to the Egyptian parliament on February 26 his belief in the need to amend the Egyptian constitution. Presidential elections, he declared, should be open and competitive rather than the one-party rule and uncontested referenda that have been Egyptian politics for the last half-century.
Most Egyptians hailed the announcement as a victory for democracy. But as they began to read the fine print, it became clear that Mubarak’s move was no more than a ploy in which a few handpicked contenders with no access to state-controlled media would graciously lose to the incumbent.
A better indicator of the president’s views on political reform is last week’s arrest of about 100 demonstrators from the banned Muslim Brotherhood. The detentions, coming a day after 84 Brotherhood members were picked up by police across the country, is a reminder of Mubarak’s long-standing strategy of scare politics. Islamic militants, he has warned in both words and deeds, are always ready to take over power.
Every six months to a year, he makes a move sure to focus world attention on the Brotherhood’s presence in Egypt. It plays into his strategy of “either me or the Islamists.” In the battle between autocrats and theocrats, Mubarak has shown, time and again, there’s no room for democrats. | <urn:uuid:64abab97-9b35-4873-b9f2-978e34a03f14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forward.com/articles/3229/hosni-mubarakes-all-out-war-against-democracy-in/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974872 | 1,359 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Gamers With Disabilities Battle Indifferent Industry
- 7:00 AM
Chuck Bittner would love to saddle up and lasso some lawbreakers in Red Dead Redemption. But the videogame’s controls are impossible for him to use.
Bittner has quadriplegia, a type of paralysis that limits the functionality of his arms. His hands can only reach certain buttons on standard Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game controllers — he can’t use two joysticks at once, for example.
It’s not that Bittner, a New Hampshire resident who grew up on Nintendo and Sega, can’t play games at all. The 36-year-old gamer can do battle in Bethesda Softworks’ first-person shooter Brink, for example, which is just as complex as Rockstar Games’ Wild West adventure.
Why? Unlike Red Dead Redemption, Brink allows players to fully remap the game’s control scheme, the layout that determines which button is assigned to a certain action. It’s a common feature of PC games, but not so much on the Xbox.
By tweaking the button layout in Brink and other games that allow such customization, he can hold the controller in his hands and push the buttons with his face.
Relatively simple and inexpensive to implement, button-customization functionality is just one of many ways gamemakers can make their products more accessible for players with physical disabilities. And it’s not just people born with medical problems who could potentially benefit from the implementation of accessibility standards: Genetic diseases and injuries can affect anybody at any time.
“We have ticking time bombs in our DNA,” said Mark Barlet, co-founder of AbleGamers, a nonprofit that has been agitating for gamers with disabilities. “A bad day at work or a split-second at a stoplight on the way to the store and your life could change.”
Barlet, who has limited use of his legs because of a spinal cord injury he incurred while on active duty at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C., says button remapping is just the tip of the iceberg. As games get more complicated, poor design choices can make them difficult even for gamers without disabilities.
“So many games are using button combinations that make it almost impossible for all but the most practiced able-bodied person to play a game, much less a disabled person,” Barlet said in an e-mail. “Just because you can use all the buttons at once does not mean you should.”
Pushing for Accessibility
Brink player Bittner is doing his damnedest to raise awareness about the difficulties faced by disabled gamers and has started a petition to get game developers to add accessibility features.
He’s probably the most high-profile gamer calling for increased accessibility. A fellow gamer even wrote a song about him, immortalizing Bittner’s quest in a YouTube video (above). “You see our friend Chuck/He dreams of Kinect/But he suffers from the quadriplegic effect,” sings the songwriter, who goes by Typhoon Boon.
Despite the obvious benefits to disabled gamers, it’s not that easy to get developers to commit to the cause.
“These are not features that nobody has ever done before, or features that need lots of exploration and research,” said game designer Matthew Burns, who has worked on titles in the Call of Duty and Halo series, in an e-mail. The problem, he says, is that accessibility options are often the first thing cut during crunch time, when time and money are at a premium.
Another oft-requested accessibility feature is closed-captioning. Most games include subtitles for spoken dialog, but that’s only half of the auditory experience. In many games, nonverbal sound cues can be essential for success. AbleGamers’ Barlet says text-based representations of a full spectrum of sounds and visual cues would be immensely helpful for the hearing-impaired.
Game designer Reid Kimball, who has worked on titles like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Tony Hawk: Ride, said it’s sad how rare closed captioning is in games.
“It’s cheap to develop compared to other game technology,” Kimball told Wired.com in an e-mail. “The players love having it as an option and there’s tons of opportunity to innovate in this space.”
It can take from two weeks to a month for a full-time, professional development team to create a closed-captioning system, which Kimball says is inexpensive for large studios. Portal 2 creator Valve, for example, adds closed captioning to all of its games.
“The technology can be used in subsequent games across the entire studio and it doesn’t age, unlike expensive graphics-rendering technologies,” Kimball said.
But there are still snags in the process, says Matthew Burns, now the head of Shadegrown Games. The detailed nature of closed captions usually means a game must be completely finished before developers can add them, he said. By that point, there’s often no time left in the schedule.
“Most of the games that I have seen finish with barely enough time to put all of the audio in, let alone [closed captioning] on top of that,” he said.
Advocates for accessible games face a tough battle. Even if they can convince a game studio to consider closed captioning or button remapping, those features will likely be the first things to get scrapped when deadlines loom and developers start working 10- to 12-hour days to finish games.
As the industry matures, developers are becoming more aware of accessibility challenges, but it will take more than awareness to cause an industry sea change.
“It will continue to be piecemeal and slow unless a large, influential company took a stand and made a conscientious effort to be better about this stuff across the board,” said Shadegrown’s Burns. “That would be the turning point.”
AbleGamers’ Barlet says hardware makers hold the most power. Should Microsoft mandate that all Xbox 360 games ship with certain accessibility options, developers would have no choice but to make them a priority. But he doesn’t see this happening.
“We have high-level contacts at one of the big [hardware makers], and they have shown little interest beyond lip service at pushing content producers to think about accessibility,” he said.
Still, the issue’s not going away.
“What game creators do not truly understand is that as we get older, we are more likely to be disabled,” Barlet said. “We have two wars going on, and our soldiers are not all coming back in the same condition as they left. Those men and women are gamers.” | <urn:uuid:5f12a8e1-b2d6-4c7c-ac6d-6de507767707> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/07/accessible-games/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953312 | 1,464 | 2.171875 | 2 |
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All you need to know about Home broadband and mobile broadband
by Kimberley Howson
Home broadband and mobile broadband are two very different methods of gaining access to the internet. Many people get confused by the technical jargon surrounding these terms, and often don’t know the full extent of what each broadband type can offer. In order to assess which would be more suitable for your needs, and to find the best package available, it is essential to know the differences between the two types of broadband.
Home broadband is broadband that is installed in your home for the use of one or more computers.
Home broadband is relatively easy to set up, with all that you need and instructions on how to set up included in the box you receive once ordered. Home broadband has recently become very cheap, with some packages costing as little as around £5 a month. Home broadband packages charge a monthly fee for your connection, and require you to sign up for a fixed contract of anywhere between 1 month to 18 months. How much monthly line rental you pay depends on the type of package you are receiving; many broadband providers are currently engaged in a price war, trying to offer customers the most in their broadband package for the cheapest price – which is good news for the customers.
This means that you can get a high download allowance and fast broadband speeds for under £10 a month. Most Home Broadband providers offer at least (up to) 8Mb broadband speeds, which is adequate for most broadband users. One thing that confuses a lot of people is the download allowance – each broadband package offers a different download allowance (for example 5Gb), depending on how often you use the internet, and how much data you intend to send and receive. To put it into perspective, 5Gigabytes (Gb) a month download allowance will let you do all of the following:
That’s quite a lot you can do for only 5Gb of download allowance, considering that many broadband providers are trying to offer ‘unlimited’ download allowance as standard – just imagine what you could do with that!
If you are looking for cheap broadband to use in the home for one or more computers/ laptops, then home broadband is perhaps the best option, however if you have a laptop are looking to gain internet access on the go, just for yourself, then you might want to look at mobile broadband.
As you can see, there is no need for the idea of choosing a broadband package to fill you with fear. Once equipped with the necessary information on both types available and what they have to offer, you can go and look for the ideal broadband package to suit you, safe in the knowledge that you are equipped with all the information you need.
About the author:
Kimberley Howson is a writer for Top 10 Broadband, the UK’s no. 1 comparison site for broadband and mobile broadband.
Copyright © 2000-2013 Hints and Things
Hints and Things cannot be held responsible for any information given on this site nor do they necessarily agree with, or endorse, the views given by third parties. | <urn:uuid:0a75d24d-c5bf-4edc-bc9f-f7aa91228d9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hintsandthings.com/office/broadband.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953984 | 649 | 2.015625 | 2 |
A Discussion Group (Not a Bible Study)
Although we do discuss the Bible, this group is not a Bible study; it is a discussion group.
(If you are looking for a Bible study, there is a good one every Sunday morning at this link: http://www.meetup.com/DFWChristianSingleAdults/)
We discuss different topics regarding religious faith, practice and experience including Christian theology, the Bible, Atheism, Islam, Mormonism, Charismatic theology, Calvinism and Reformed Theology, Dispensationalism, King James Onlyism, Mysticism, Separation of Church and State, ethics, etc. Topics of discussion are usually decided by those in attendance so bring a list of your favorites.
Everyone is welcome to join the group. A variety of beliefs and perspectives are represented ranging from born-again Christians to Atheists and other non-believers. We have spirited discussions and debates but we do so in a manner that is friendly and respectful to all.
You are welcome to participate in the discussions or just listen. Be prepared to be challenged (so come with a thick skin). And feel free to challenge the beliefs, assumptions and thoughts of others in a respectful way.
A Note to Christians
This is your opportunity to meet actual unbelievers who are asking you to present the Gospel and your beliefs to them. This is a great forum to practice witnessing and putting forth a defense of your faith. You may find that defending your faith and presenting the Gospel to real live unbelievers is a bit different from reading books on witnessing or just talking about witnessing with other Christians at church. As the New Testament indicates, the Gospel is an offense to unbelievers so we should not be surprised when the unbeliever reacts out of that offense. Set your expectations accordingly. It may be difficult at first but this group will give you excellent preparation for sharing the Gospel and defending your faith. This group is not for the fainthearted (but neither is biblical Christianity).
Being prepared to defend our faith is the duty of the Christian according to the Apostle Peter:
1 Peter 3:14-17 - 14b Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. | <urn:uuid:00ef55e1-9d92-4931-9e4a-ecabb26c5ef9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.meetup.com/theology-1/events/102613152/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933225 | 545 | 1.539063 | 2 |
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Check out upcoming events by this organizer, or organize your very own event.
Introduction to Low Cost 3D Printing
Monday, April 30, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM (BST)
Coventry, United Kingdom
WMG are hosting a one-day, free to attend workshop on 3D Printing for local SMEs.
The workshop is intended for those who have little or no experience of 3D printing systems, and will cover low cost software packages for 3D modelling and inexpensive 3D printing systems that are within the reach of a smaller company. The programme will include demonstrations of software and 3D printing equipment, as well as sessions presented by WMG academics and industrial contributors.
Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
When & Where
WMG SME Team
WMG SME Team
WMG, University of Warwick has a dedicated SME Programmes Team that links SMEs directly with the research and emerging technologies available within the International Digital Laboratory and the new International Institute for Product and Service Innovation. WMG has a long tradition of working with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to help them access new technologies and become more competitive.
Services and Expertise
The team offers a range of services including expert consultancy, workshops, technology demonstrations, access to research and development, access to funding, access to students and graduates.
We have expertise in a range of areas across digital technologies, materials, manufacturing and business management. Current key themes incude: smarter social media, cloud technologies, e-business models, mobile apps, product and service evaluation, visitor experience technology, energy usage initiatives, smart materials, plastic electronics, sustainable polymers and composites, virtual reality, informatics and visualisation.
Via: Twitter: @WMGSME or firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:d271fc90-a082-40c6-91de-3c0abd979e59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lowcost3dprinting-eorg.eventbrite.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907039 | 392 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Piano Adventure Stories Help Kids Overcome Piano Challenges
Now Playing: Piano Adventure Stories Help Kids Overcome Piano Challenges - Parents know that piano lessons are valuable for young children. Lessons help children learn
*Key Reading and Math Skills
*How to Set Goals to Achieve their Dreams
*The Need for Persistence in Learning
*How to take Responsibility for their success
However, children must overcome many obstacles to this success. Most young children have worries and performance fears, have trouble developing good practice habits, and have a hard time understanding that they need to be patient and nurture their skills over time.
Piano Adventure Bears Resources help parents aid their children in overcoming these challenges.
visit PianoAdventureBears.com to learn more. | <urn:uuid:c0d44e2d-8215-480c-b82b-4a725aed787c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hipcast.com/podcast/HT7NJb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917259 | 150 | 2.953125 | 3 |
OXFORD REVISITED - Peter Phillips
The first concert I ever directed took place on 3rd November 1973, in the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Oxford. Since the programme on that occasion was entirely of renaissance sacred works (by Lassus, Ockeghem, Josquin and Obrecht) and since four of the ten musicians involved in the concert (Philip Cave, Julian Walker, Ashley Stafford and myself) are still associated with the group, I think it is fair to describe this event as the starting point of The Tallis Scholars.
Concerts continued regularly throughout my years at Oxford. In 1976 we gave our first concert in the Chapel of Merton College and we made our first commercial recording there in 1980. Over the next six years a further eight recordings were made in Merton, culminating in our Gramophone Record of the Year. Thereafter the demand for new recordings could not be satisfied by the limited availability of Merton and we moved to the tranquil location of Salle Church in Norfolk.
The Chapel of Merton College is the ideal venue for this recording made to celebrate our 25th anniversary. It is one of the few buildings in the world which provides such beauty of acoustics with so perfect a setting for the contemplation of renaissance sacred music. One of the merits of the sound in Merton is that it is both reverberant and yet retains an essential clarity. It is true to say that the hall-mark sound of The Tallis Scholars was significantly affected not only by the experience of working in this building in the formative years, but also by listening to other groups singing there. This sound took many years to perfect, but it was based on the mixed choirs in Oxford and Cambridge which I heard as an undergraduate in the early '70s. The most influential of these was The Clerkes of Oxenford, who made pioneer recordings of Tallis and Sheppard. What inspired me then was the surface beauty of the Clerkes' sound, which had the power to entice the listener into the music. Since renaissance music is of its nature intricate it seemed important to me that the initial impact of any performance of it was seductive, capable of holding the casual listener's attention, while the complexities underneath the surface of the music began to weave their magic. I believe that the international success of The Tallis Scholars has been made possible by the particular combination of quality of sound and quality of music. It seems that anyone listening to this music with an open mind can find it attractive and even life-enhancing.
I am frequently asked if it is not restricting to concentrate on one repertoire to the exclusion of all others. I reply that this one repertoire ran for nearly 200 years, flourished in the leading cultural centres in Europe and produced an inexhaustible supply of masterpieces. In the early years of the group we kept more or less to the music of the late renaissance, to Palestrina, Victoria, Lassus, Byrd and Tallis, with a fair sprinkling of Anglican music by Gibbons, Weelkes and Tomkins. This repertoire was always likely to draw the biggest crowds, and perhaps still does. However it was our first foray into mid-renaissance writing - two masses by Josquin des Pres - which unexpectedly launched our work as high-profile international concert artists. The recording of these masses (Pange lingua and La sol fa re mi) won the Gramophone Record of the Year Award in 1987, which as it turned out was the prelude to both The Tallis Scholars and renaissance sacred music becoming accepted as normal concert fare.
We gave our first tour to the States in 1988 (where we have now given almost 200 concerts). Our first tour to Japan followed in 1989 (where we have given more than 60 concerts). We had already sung in Australia in 1985. Europe, from Estonia to Greece, has yielded many more opportunities, including those in Rome in 1994 firstly to sing in Santa Maria Maggiore to mark the anniversary of Palestrina's death, and then, two months later, in the Sistine Chapel to mark the unveiling of the newly-cleaned Michelangelo frescoes. We have continued to sing Josquin, of course; and in recent years have explored even earlier writing, in the music of Eton Choirbook composers such as John Browne, some performances of motets by Dunstable and a recording of a mass by Obrecht, and two masses by Johannes Ockeghem to mark his anniversary in 1997.
In these last projects we have properly realised my ambition to perform music from the whole gamut of 200 years of renaissance writing. I intend that we should continue our pioneering work, which has already included discs of music by such composers as Cardoso, Alonso Lobo, de Rore, White, Brumel and Sheppard. In almost every concert we give there is likely to be a masterpiece by some neglected writer, probably alongside a little-known work by a more famous name. On this disc one could instance Obrecht's Salve Regina and Mundy's Vox patris caelestis (which we first brought to public attention by recording it in Merton in 1980). As interest in this repertoire intensifies, the opportunities for exploring it yet further look ever more promising; and for me continuing pleasure in striving to create a beautiful sound which can then be applied to some of the finest music ever written.
©1998 Peter Phillips
THE MUSIC - David Skinner
Born in Ghent, Jacob Obrecht, occupied the greater part of his musical career in the employment of churches in his native land and, despite his great musical talent, only briefly managed to acquire a position in the Italian courts. In 1485 he was dismissed from the Cathedral at Cambrai for his inadequate care of the choirboys and for keeping poor finances (in that year the chapter accepted some of his compositions to cover the deficit of his accounts). Owing to ill health Obrecht retired in 1500 and remained largely in Bergen op Zoom. In 1504 he travelled to Ferrara, where in the following year he died of the plague. Obrecht's musical style is both inventive and spontaneous, and his control of immense sound structures is masterful. The sumptuous six-part Salve Regina is constructed on a monumental scale and stands among the most beautiful settings of this popular prayer. The work is thought to have been composed in the 1480s and is interspersed with short sections of the traditional plainsong melody, which liturgically is designed to be sung after Compline from Advent to Candelmas.
Obrecht's genius was second only to that of Josquin des Prés. A pupil of Ockeghem, Josquin spent his early adulthood as a singer in Milan Cathedral before serving as a member of the Papal Chapel. From the 1490s he was in the service of Duke Ercole d'Este at Ferrara, and from 1503 spent his last years as Provost of the collegiate church at Condé-sur-l'Escaut, where he is buried. Josquin's musical career was a long and productive one, and his music survives in greater quantity than that of any other composer of the period (with the possible exception of Isaac). The four-part Gaude Virgo Mater Christi is thought to be a small-scale study for his Ave Maria [virgo serena], which was chosen by Petrucci to stand at the head of his first published collection of motets in 1502. Absalon fili mi, a meditation on David's lament, is perhaps Josquin's best known work and has been long held to be a classic example of his mature style. Its authorship, however, is now uncertain, and Joshua Rifkin has proposed Pierre de la Rue (c.1460-1518) as a possible composer. The music of John Taverner represents the final flowering of musical development in the pre-Reformation English church. Nothing is known of Taverner's early musical training but it is likely that he spent his youth in or near the town of Boston, Lincolnshire. By 1524 he was a lay clerk at the collegiate church of Tattershall, and in the following year accepted the post of Informator in Thomas Wolsey's new foundation at Oxford, Cardinal College (now Christ Church). Taverner left Oxford in 1530 and spent his remaining years employed at the parish church in Boston, where he seems to have abandoned composition. The majority of Taverner's surviving music was probably written for his choir at Tattershall, especially his large-scale antiphons among which Gaude plurimum is arguably his finest. The work incorporates many of the structural elements inherent in earlier antiphon settings such as are found in the Eton choirbook: each section begins with passages scored for two or three voices which drive towards a climactic entry for full choir. However, Taverner's stylistic methods are more refined. Imitation plays an essential part in construction and, still more evident is the sense of strong harmonic direction and resolution.
Such grand-scale music-making became obsolete with the Henrician dissolutions of the 1530s and 40s, though musicians were now able to experiment with new forms and styles. The English anthem was born, and Continental influence became more prominent in the works of the next generation of composers. With the accession of Mary I in 1553, music continued to be set to Latin texts and psalm-motets had become a popular alternative to the earlier votive antiphon. William Mundy was one of the first exponents of this new musical form. Adolescentulus sum ego takes its text from Psalm 118, vv. 141-44. Sections of the same psalm were also set by Tye, White and Parsons, thus suggesting the possibility that these works were composed in collaboration and intended to be performed in succession (such is the case in the setting of In exitu Israel which Mundy had composed jointly with Sheppard and Byrd). Devotional antiphons were still being produced, although the choice of subject matter needed to be carefully considered. In commenting on the use of particular texts in the reformed English church, one anonymous author stated that "rotton rythmes of popery, and supersticious invocation or praying unto Saints doth not give greater cause of vomit to any man than to myself ... so that I thus far agree with the greatest adversaryes of our profession, that I would not admit any other matter than is contained in the written word of God, or consolable there unto".
Still, the last of the great Tudor antiphons were being produced as late as the 1550s. Perhaps the best known example from this period is Tallis's Gaude gloriosa Dei Mater, which with John Sheppard's Gaude Virgo christiphera seems to have been the inspiration for Mundy's monumental Vox Patris caelestis. Here Mundy's harmonic and melodic eloquence shines, representing a final tribute to one of the most versatile musical forms ever conceived for the church in Tudor England.
With Mary's death in 1558 the Latin rite was officially defunct in England. Nonetheless, the young Elizabeth (herself a skilled musician) maintained Catholic sentiments and encouraged the continued composition of Latin-texted music, even though such works could never be officially sung in the church. In 1575 Elizabeth granted Thomas Tallis and William Byrd full privilege and licence for twenty-one years 'to imprint any and so many as they will of set songe or songes in partes, either in English, Latine, ... or other tongues that may serue for musicke either in Churche or chamber'. The collection, containing seventeen pieces by each composer, was reputedly presented to the Queen on Accession Day in 1575 on 17 November in the seventeenth year of her reign. Tallis's selection was apparently retrospective, with Salvator mundi given pride of place at the head of the publication. Byrd's contribution included the monumental Tribue, Domine, the longest of his early works, which is printed in three sections successively in the Cantiones. Here Byrd expertly sustains variety and contrast throughout by employing homophony, antiphonal writing and two-, three-, five- and six-part polyphony, while paying close attention to the meaning and expression of the text, as he invariably did in his later Latin works.
© 1998 David Skinner | <urn:uuid:2f23e753-9d12-4904-b03d-958ba9627408> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gimell.com/recording-live-in-oxford.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973886 | 2,574 | 1.6875 | 2 |
American Millionaires Show Tough Love to Heirs: Here's Help, But Make Your Own Way
Leaving a legacy includes money, but it's about much more than that, PNC survey finds -
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- More than four in five (82 percent) of American millionaires agree that each generation should be responsible for creating its own wealth, up significantly from the 65 percent who said the same thing in 2007, according to a new survey from PNC Wealth Management.
In another post-recession scenario, one third (31 percent) of millionaires anticipate a decline in the wealth they expect to pass on to the next generation, according to the ninth annual Wealth and Values Survey. This number has more than doubled since this topic was addressed in a previous Wealth and Values survey in 2007. However, 49 percent report that they expect to pass on at least $500,000 of wealth to their heirs. More than eight in 10 (84 percent) say raising successful, hard-working children is their most important goal, an increase from 75 percent from five years ago.
"It is human to want your children to have a better life than you have had, but too much financial support might, at some point, have negative longer term consequences," said Steve Pappaterra, senior vice president and managing director of wealth planning for PNC Wealth Management. "It is important to communicate early and often with children and grandchildren about their goals and expectations, both in terms of financial and life achievements. Ultimately, parents want their children to make their own way in life."
In addition, the survey examined the notion of leaving a legacy, which goes beyond the simple step of transferring financial assets to the next generation. Nearly half (46 percent) of American millionaires said it means being remembered and passing on important family traditions. About two in 10 (19 percent) mention property as the biggest part of their legacy while 15 percent say the idea of leaving a legacy is an outdated notion.
The Wealth and Values Survey by PNC, which is among the nation's top 10 bank-owned wealth management firms, also revealed insights about the following issues:
- What, me wealthy? Three quarters (75 percent) said their financial situation growing up was "average," while 12 percent said they grew up poor and an equal number said they grew up well off or wealthy.
- Leaving a financial legacy: Millionaires expect financial aspects to be a significant component of their personal legacies. Nearly nine in 10 (86 percent) intend to leave something tangible for the next generation. They intend to do this in a variety of ways: passing on property, family heirlooms, or ownership/participation in a business. More than four in 10 (46 percent) millionaires expect to pass on assets through a trust fund.
- Help is there: Millionaires acknowledge they received some help (67 percent) from their own parents and they are doing more for their own children (91 percent). Not surprisingly, in light of the rising cost of education more than eight in 10 (84 percent) say they have or expect to provide financial support for higher education. Millionaire parents also strongly support basic purchases such as a car (61 percent) and down payments on homes (45 percent), as well as other general expenses.
- Transfer of wealth: A vast majority of wealthy households have taken some steps to plan for their ultimate transfer of wealth. Most have wills (82 percent) and some have established trusts (52 percent) and/or estate managers (52 percent). But nearly one in five (18 percent) do not have a will and seven in 10 (70 percent) do not have a formal financial plan. Among wealthy business owners, surprisingly few, only 15 percent, have a formal succession plan in place. Among those who already have set up a will, estate or trust plans, few have gone so far as to put in place any stipulations on how heirs access that inheritance (20 percent of millionaires).
An online media kit containing survey highlights and background information are available on PNC's website at http://www.pnc.com/pncpresskits.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (www.pnc.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services organizations providing retail and business banking; residential mortgage banking; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. Follow @PNCNews on Twitter for breaking news, updates and announcements from PNC.
The Wealth and Values Survey was commissioned by PNC to identify attitudes about wealth among high-net-worth individuals, how it affects their lives and their needs in managing wealth. Artemis Strategy Group conducted the online survey in August and September 2012, 1,115 interviews were completed nationally including 560 millionaires with assets of $1 million or more. Sampling error for 560 respondents is +/- 4.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. DISCLAIMER: This report was prepared for general information purposes only and is not intended as specific advice or recommendations. Any reliance upon this information is solely and exclusively at your own risk.
The survey was designed and managed by HNW, Inc. (www.hnw.com), an integrated marketing and technology firm with a focus on financial services and understanding and connecting with the affluent. The survey was supported by Artemis Strategy Group (www.ArtemisSG.com), a communications strategy research firm specializing in brand positioning and policy issues.
This report has been prepared for general informational purposes only and is not intended as specific advice or recommendations. Information has been gathered from third party sources and has not been independently verified or accepted by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, assumptions, analyses or conclusions presented in the report. PNC cannot be held responsible for any errors or misrepresentations contained in the report or in the information gathered from third party sources. Any reliance upon the information provided in the report is solely and exclusively at your own risk.
SOURCE PNC Wealth Management
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Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Navy/DoD
Watch the video of Senator John Cornyn discussing the following article on the Senate floor on October 6, 2011
A unicorn is a beautiful, make believe creature. But despite overwhelming evidence of its fantastical nature, many people still believe in them. Much of China policy is also underpinned by belief in the fantastical: in this case, soothing but logically inconsistent ideas. But unlike unicorns, our China policy excursions into the realm of make believe could be dangerous. Crafting a better China policy requires us to identify what is imaginary in our thinking about China. Author James Mann captures some in his book.
"Our China policy excursions into the realm of make believe could be dangerous." Here are my own top ten China policy unicorns:
1) The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. This is the argument that has the most purchase over our China policy. Treat China like an enemy, the belief goes, and it will become an enemy. Conversely, treat China like a friend and it will become a friend. But three decades of U.S.-China relations should at least cast doubt on this belief. Since the normalization of relations with China the aim of U.S. policy has been to bring China "into the family of nations." Other than China itself, no nation has done more than the United States to improve the lot of the Chinese people and to welcome China's rise peacefully. And, rather than increase its deterrence of China--a natural move given the uncertainty attendant to the rise of any great power--the United States has let its Pacific forces erode and will do so further. We may soon go through our third round of defense cuts in as many years. Here is just one example of how unserious we are about China: As China continues to build up its strategic forces, the United States has signed a deal with Russia to cap its strategic forces without so much as mentioning China. Unless Beijing was insulted by this neglect, surely it could take great comfort in an anachronistic U.S. focus on arms control with Russia. But despite our demonstrations of benevolence, China still views the United States as its enemy or, on better days, its rival. Its military programs are designed to fight the United States. The self-fulfilling prophesy is far and away the most fantastical claim about China policy and thus the number one unicorn.
2) Abandoning Taiwan will remove the biggest obstacle to Sino-American relations. Since 2003, when President Bush publicly chided then-Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian on the White House lawn with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at his side, the United States has been gradually severing its close links with Taiwan. President Obama's Taiwan policy has been the logical dénouement. Arms sales have been stalled, no Cabinet members have visited Taiwan since the Clinton years, and trade talks are nonexistent: there is essentially nothing on the U.S.-Taiwan policy agenda. The reaction from China? Indeed, it has moved on. But rather than bask in the recent warming of its relationship with Taiwan, China has picked fights with Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and India. It does not matter what "obstacles" the United States removes, China's foreign policy has its own internal logic that is hard for the United States to "shape." Abandoning Taiwan for the sake of better relations is yet another dangerous fantasy.
3) China will inevitably overtake the U.S. and we must manage our decline elegantly. This is a new China policy unicorn. Until a few years ago, most analysts were certain there was no need to worry about China. The new intellectual fad tells us there is nothing we can do about China. Its rise and our decline are inevitable. But inevitability in international affairs should remain the preserve of rigid ideological theorists who still cannot explain why a unified Europe has not posed a problem for the United States, why post-war Japan never really challenged U.S. primacy, or why the rising United States and the declining Britain have not gone to war since 1812. The fact is China has tremendous, seemingly insurmountable problems. It has badly misallocated its capital thanks to a distorted financial system characterized by capital controls and a non-market based currency. It may have a debt to GDP ratio as high as 80 percent thanks again to a badly distorted economy. And it has created a demographic nightmare with a shrinking productive population, senior tsunami, and millions of males who will be unmarriageable (see the pioneering work of my colleague Nick Eberstadt).
The United States also has big problems. But we are debating them vigorously, know what they are and are now looking to elect the leaders to fix them. China's political structure does not yet allow for fixing big problems.
4) (Related to 3). China is our banker. We cannot anger our banker. In fact, China is more like a depositor. It deposits money in U.S. treasuries because its economy does not allow investors to put it elsewhere. There is nothing else it can do with its surpluses unless it changes its financial system radically (see above). It makes a pittance on its deposits. If the U.S. starts to bring down its debts and deficits China will have even fewer options. China is desperate for U.S. investment, U.S. treasuries, and the U.S. market. The balance of leverage leans towards the United States.
5) We are engaging China. This is a surprising policy unicorn. After all, we do have an engagement policy with China. But we are only engaging a small slice of China: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The party may be large--the largest in the world (it could have some 70 million members). We do need to engage party leaders on matters of high politics and high finance, but China has at least one billion other people. Many are decidedly not part of the CCP. They are lawyers, activists, religious leaders, artists, intellectuals, and entrepreneurs. Most would rather the CCP go quietly into the night. We do not engage them. Our presidents tend to avoid making their Chinese counterparts uncomfortable by insisting on speaking to a real cross section of Chinese society. Engagement seen through the prism of government-to-government relations keeps us from engaging with the broader Chinese public. Chinese officials come to the United States and meet with whomever they want (usually in carefully controlled settings, and often with groups who are critical of the U.S. government and very friendly to the Chinese government). U.S. leaders are far more cautious in choosing with whom to meet in China. We do not demand reciprocity in meeting with real civil society--underground church leaders, political reformers and so on. China has a successful engagement policy. We do not.
6) Our greatest challenge is managing China's rise. Actually, our greatest challenge will probably be managing China's long decline. Unless it enacts substantial reforms, China's growth model may sputter out soon. There is little if nothing it can do about its demographic disaster (will it enact pro-immigration policy?). And its political system is too risk averse and calcified to make any real reforms.
7) China's decline will make our lives easier. China's decline may make the challenge for the United States more difficult for at least a generation. It could play out for a long time even as China grows more aggressive with more lethal weaponry (e.g., what to do with surplus males?). Arguably both Germany and Imperial Japan declined beginning after World War I and continuing through the disaster of World War II. Russia is in decline by all useful metrics. Even so, it invaded a neighbor not too long ago. A declining, nuclear-armed nation with a powerful military can be more problematic than a rising, confident nation.
8) We need to extricate ourselves from the "distractions" of the Middle East and South Asia to focus on China. This is a very popular unicorn among the cognoscenti. But how would this work? As Middle Easterners go through a historic revolution that could lead to the flowering of democracy or the turmoil of more extremism, how do we turn our attention elsewhere? Are we supposed to leave Afghanistan to the not-so-tender mercies of the Taliban and Pakistani intelligence? This view is particularly ironic given China's increased interests in the Middle East and our need for a partnership with India to deal with China. There is no way to create the kind of order we wish to see in Asia without exerting a great amount of influence over the oil producing states in the Middle East and by allowing India to become tied down in a struggle in South Asia. We are the sole superpower, our foreign policy is interconnected. "Getting Asia right" means "getting the Middle East and South Asia right."
9) We need China's help to solve global problems. This is further down on my list because it is not really a fantastical unicorn. It is true. What is a fantasy is that China will be helpful. We do need China to disarm North Korea. They do not want to, and North Korea is now a nuclear power. The same may soon be true with Iran. The best we can get in our diplomacy with China is to stop Beijing from being less helpful. It is a fact that the global problems would be easier to manage with Chinese help. However, China actually contributing to global order is a unicorn.
10) Conflict with China is inevitable. A fair reading of the nine "unicorns" above may lead to the conclusion that we are destined to go to war with China. It may be a fair reading, but it is also an inaccurate one. Sino-American relations will be determined by two main drivers; one we can control, the other we cannot. The first is our ability to deter aggressive Chinese behavior. The second is how politics develop in China. The strategic prize for Washington is democratic reform in China. Democracy will not solve all Sino-American problems. China may be very prickly about sovereignty and very nationalistic. But a true liberal democracy in China in which people are fairly represented is our best hope for peace. The disenfranchised could force their government to focus resources on their manifold problems (corruption, misallocated resources, lack of social safety net). The United States and the rest of Asia will certainly trust an open and transparent China more, and ties would blossom at the level of civil society. Historically, the United States has almost always been on China's side. It is waiting patiently to do so again.
Dan Blumenthal is a resident fellow at AEI | <urn:uuid:e45b9eec-236b-4cc3-9e23-6bb454299b1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aei.org/article/foreign-and-defense-policy/regional/asia/the-top-ten-unicorns-of-china-policy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957123 | 2,199 | 1.765625 | 2 |
A pioneering new study finds that a specific type of computerized cognitive training can lead to significant neural and behavioral improvements in individuals with schizophrenia. The research, published by Cell Press in the February 23 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals that 16 weeks of intensive cognitive training is also associated with improved social functioning several months later and may have far-reaching implications for improving the quality of life for patients suffering from neuropsychiatric illness.
Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric illness that is associated with severe clinical symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, as well as substantial social and cognitive deficits. "Schizophrenia patients struggle with 'reality monitoring,' the ability to separate the inner world from the outer reality," states senior author, Dr. Sophia Vinogradov. "Although there are drugs that reduce the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia, current medications do not improve cognitive deficits. In addition, conventional psychotherapy has not proven to be successful, and there is a pressing need for new therapeutic strategies."
In the current study, scientists from the University of California, San Francisco, took a unique approach to enhancing behavior and brain activation in individuals with schizophrenia. "We predicted that in order to improve complex cognitive functions in neuropsychiatric illness, we must initially target impairments in lower-level perceptual processes, as well as higher-order working memory and social cognitive processes," explains senior study author, Dr. Srikantan Nagarajan.
The first author, Dr. Karuna Subramaniam, who conducted the study and analyzed the data, found that when compared with pretraining assessments, schizophrenia patients who received 80 hours of computerized training (over 16 weeks) exhibited improvements in their ability to perform complex reality-monitoring tasks, which were associated with increased activation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The mPFC is a critical brain region that supports successful reality-monitoring processes. "We found that the level of mPFC activation was also linked with better social functioning six months after training," says Dr. Subramaniam. "In contrast, patients in a control group who played computer games for 80 hours did not show any improvements, demonstrating that the behavioral and neural improvements were specific to the computerized training patient group."
"Our study is the first to demonstrate that neuroscience-informed cognitive training can lead to more 'normal' brain-behavior associations in patients with schizophrenia, which in turn predict better social functioning months later," concludes Dr. Vinogradov. "These findings raise the exciting likelihood that the neural impairments in schizophrenia—and undoubtedly other neuropsychiatric illnesses—are not immutably fixed, but instead may be amenable to well-designed interventions that target restoration of neural system functioning."
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | <urn:uuid:feb3c7f8-dae3-447a-b36b-6fe42f2d64e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/cp-rrt021612.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949629 | 594 | 3.046875 | 3 |
You are to draw 26 monsters that are featured in the Final Fantasy series. There is no time limit. The point of this challenge is to test and improve your skill as an artist.
After 26 pictures/literature, who wouldn’t be better?
1) Pieces should be of own artistic ability. You may not edit photos, or break any other rules set out in the DeviantART.com etiquette policy. Your pieces can be anything from sketches and doodles to great masterpieces. Just have fun with it.
2) The list below may be placed somewhere in your journal for others to see:
a) That you are in the challenge
b) What you have completed
3) Make sure to update this list with a link to your deviation.
4) Only one creature per letter
5) The challenge can be completed in any order, you do not have to start with the letter 'A' and finish with 'Z'
6) Use any creature from any of the series as long as it's from Final Fantasy!
7) Use the letters below to write the name of the creature you are going to be drawing: | <urn:uuid:9d67ccdf-47d4-4627-92f3-e41ff6771a58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.ffshrine.org/f9/artists-final-fantasy-bestiary-challenge-82216/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921423 | 238 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Monday, January 23, 2012
One of my dreams, which I hope someday soon will become a reality, is to take a trip on the Orient Express. There has always been something appealing about long train trips for me, but the Orient Express combines my love of many other things: the unsettling process of travel, the promise of solitude, time for contemplation, historical enquiry and an abiding appreciation of quality.
The Orient Express has been the silent participant and witness of history. It has seen the signing of Germany's surrender in World War One, and in turn, France's signing of defeat by Hitler in World War Two. It has heard Josephine Baker sing a tune in the aftermath of its bombing and read Agatha Christie's literary homage in Murder on the Orient Express. It experienced famous Art Deco artists lovingly decorate its interiors with a quality, attention to detail and love for the arts which is lacking today in our bland and cost-effective trains. Its routes were halted during a divided Cold War Era, and yet it became a symbol of transcendence of borders and unity as Communist Europe came crumbling down.
The Orient Express is also a symbol of other forms of transcendence. Historically, it has put all manner of people from different social classes, nationalities and backgrounds together within its confined space, compelling a movement beyond social and personal borders. In its cosy rooms and sparkling dinning areas, I picture conversations that would otherwise have never occurred, secret romances between strangers who were never to meet again and intrigue facilitated by the throwing together of people.
The Orient Express is like a time capsule of history, but a changing and malleable one. Its history is not preserved behind inaccessible glass in a museum, but is constantly moving. It's a symbol of productive nostalgia: a nostalgia that doesn't seek to freeze the past as a single image or data, but rather one that highlights that history is constantly changing.
The sensation of the train rocking the many bodies it carried as it lulled them to sleep reminds us that their bodies too carried traces of history which they left behind in each compartment. History is embodied, not abstract fact. I imagine myself sitting within the train's interior and reenacting the same feelings experienced by all the lovers, people and travellers of the past. We will share something across the expanse of a moving history, and they will impart me with fragments and traces of the past via our common sensations.
But the most alluring aspect of the Orient Express is its introspective space. Within its interiors, you can imagine a process of closing-in on yourself, removing the mundane borders of everyday life, and being given the gift of doing nothing. It's like a movement within, into yourself; an elaborate process of contemplation that is inaccessible in the busy hum of work, grocery shopping and to-do lists. The Orient Express is like a small encapsulation of the process of travel itself: the freedom to interact with the world and with yourself without reminders of productivity. There's only pleasure.
Image credits: all images are from here and here, by Hotze Eisma photography. | <urn:uuid:7f264973-1c0e-43ab-93b6-feb313132f32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hila-lumiere.blogspot.com/2012/01/orient-express.html?showComment=1327791006609 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962908 | 633 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Exploration and Settlement
The region of Newfoundland and Labrador was the first stretch
of North America's Atlantic coastline to be explored by
Europeans, but it was one of the last to be settled in force and
formally colonized. The Norse arrived from Greenland about 1000
A.D. and established settlements here during the following
century. There is legendary evidence that other Europeans chanced
upon the island during the Middle Ages. John Cabot certainly
reconnoitered the area and claimed it for the Tudor monarchs of
England in 1497, and West European fishermen began to visit the
Grand Banks during the summer months on a regular basis shortly
An ocean-going vessel, likely similar to other Portuguese ships which
visited the Grand Banks during the 16th century.
Photo taken from W. P. Cumming, R. A. Skelton and D. B. Quinn, The Discovery of North America (Montreal: McClelland and Stewart Limited, ©1971) 24.
Detail from the Livro das Armadas, a set of drawings made after 1566, housed in the Academia das Ciências, Lisbon. Courtesy of the Academia das Ciências, Lisbon.
It was not, however, until the second half of the 18th
century that a considerable population came to live permanently
in Newfoundland and to expand by natural growth; and it was not
until the beginning of the 19th century that the formal
institutions of church and state were securely planted. This odd
contrast between the early importance of the region to these
European maritime empires and the late date at which it was
effectively occupied is one of the defining features of the
There were numerous different settlements established on the
Newfoundland coast, chiefly by the English and French, during the
17th and 18th centuries. Some of them, such as
Cupids and Ferryland, were formally planned; others were composed
of over-wintering fishermen and developed on their own.
||Baltimore Coat of Arms, Ferryland.
This coat of arms belonged to Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who established a colony at Ferryland in 1621. Calvert himself came over in 1627 but abandoned his possesion after only two years because of the harsh winter climate. Later he founded another settlement in Maryland.
Photo courtesy of John de Visser. Taken from Harold Horwood and John de Visser, Historic Newfoundland (Toronto: Oxford University Press, ©1986).
case, however, did governments lend much support, and the
combination of thin soil and naval raiding prevented these
settlements from growing at the same pace as European colonies on
the mainland. Only after 1760, did a combination of circumstances
rooted in the disruption of European fisheries as a result of the
American and French Revolutions and the Napoleonic Wars make
Newfoundland seem like an attractive place to settle permanently.
Migrants from England's West Country and from southeast Ireland
moved here during those years, and created the basic population
mix that persists in Newfoundland and Labrador to the present
©1997, Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site Project | <urn:uuid:92f01519-f771-4c38-afbf-5c65db86d410> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954358 | 667 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Hon. Frank McGowan, a valued member of the state legislature of California, now practicing law at the bar of San Francisco, has spent his entire life upon the Pacific coast, and the enterprise and the progressive spirit which are the dominant qualities in the development of this section of the country are manifest in his professional career. He was born on the 4th of September, 1860, in Steilacoom, Washington. His father, Terrance McGowan, was a native of Ireland, and became one of the pioneer settlers of the territory of Washington. He was a merchant tailor by trade, following that business for many years in order to provide for his family. At the time of the Civil war, however, he put aside all business and personal considerations in response to the call of the president for men to aid in the defense of the Union. He joined the army, serving from 1861 until 1865. He married Miss Ann Rigney, also a native of the Emerald Isle. Coming to America she settled in Maine, and it was in the Pine Tree state that Mr. and Mrs. McGowan were married. Their union was blessed with a family of seven sons and two daughters.
Frank McGowan pursued his education in the public schools of San Francisco, coming to this city in early boyhood days. He was also a student in the public schools of Humboldt county, California, and when sixteen years of age put aside his text books to enter upon a business career. His father had died the year previous, and it was necessary that Mr. McGowan provide for his own support. He continued his studies, however, for some time under private instructors, for it was his desire to enter upon the practice of law and he wished to make thorough preparation before beginning his professional career. When he had broadened his literary knowledge in this way he entered upon the reading of law in 1881 under the direction of J. D. H. Chamberlin, who remained as his preceptor until he was admitted to the bar before the supreme court in 1883.
Mr. McGowan entered upon his professional career in Humboldt county, California, where he opened a law office and continued in active practice until 1886. In the meantime he had become a recognized leader in political circles in his locality, and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, nominated him for the office of a representative in 1886. At the election it was shown that he was the choice of the public for the position and he became a member of the assembly of California. In 1888 he was elected to the state senate and was re-elected in 1892 and again in 1896. He proved a capable member of the law-making body of the commonwealth, giving to each question which came up for settlement his earnest consideration and supporting strenously every act which he believed would contribute to the general good. He held the office of chairman of the judiciary committee during six years of his service. He was the author of the county high school law, also the law giving preference in appointments to ex-soldiers of the war of the rebellion, and the author of the pure butter law, designed for the protection of the dairy interests of the state. He was also identified with the passage of bills in behalf of the labor classes, and his service in the house and senate awakened high commendation throughout California. He is a recognized leader in the ranks of the Republican party in this state, and has taken an active part in campaign work since 1882. Throughout these years he has served as a delegate to local and state conventions, and was an elector on the Republican presidential ticket in 1900. Mr. McGowan took up his abode in San Francisco in 1896 and entered upon the practice of law at that time, since which he has been an active representative of the legal interests of this portion of the state. He is now actively connected with the profession which has important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any section or community and one which has long been considered as conserving the public welfare by furthering the ends of justice and maintaining individual rights. He was identified with the defense in the celebrated criminal case of Cordelia Bodkins, and has been connected with other important litigation of both the criminal and civil courts. He has been attorney for public administrator John Farnham.
In September, 1889, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. McGowan and Miss Lena Blum, a native of Humboldt county, California. Her parents were pioneer settlers of this state, having located here when the work of progress and improvement along modern lines had scarcely been begun. To Mr. and Mrs. McGowan have been born two children: Blaine, who is now eleven years of age; and Gertrude C., a maiden of eight summers, both being pupils in the public schools of San Francisco. Mr. McGowan belongs wo the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, to the Sons of Veterans, to the Improved Order of Red Men and to the Masonic fraternity. The favorable judgment which the world passed upon him in his early years has never been set aside nor in any degree modified. It has on the contrary been emphasized by his careful conduct of important litigation, his ability and fairness in the presentation of a case, his zeal as an advocate and the generous commendation he has received from his contemporaries who united in bearing testimony to his high character and superior mind.
Return to California AHGP home page
Return to Sacramento County AHGP home page | <urn:uuid:1ff5fd89-23b5-4e90-8776-370196590027> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ca/state1/biographies/fmcgowan.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990779 | 1,116 | 2 | 2 |
Faith, as they say, can move mountains. But apparently $3.5 billion and an ambitious Chinese developer can flatten 700 of them. It's all part of a bold plan to create a metropolis called Lanzhou New Area on 500 square miles of arid land in China's Gansu province, reports the Guardian. Led by China Pacific Construction Group, one of the largest private companies in China, the Lanzhou project is hoped to pump billions to the area's economy by 2030.
Not everyone in China is enamored of the plan. Lanzhou is in northwestern China, in a less developed and highly polluted part of the country, and already is facing big water shortages for its 3.6 million people. Economists complain that there just isn't any demand for a new city in that part of the country and environmentalists say it doesn't have the resources. But China Pacific rejects those criticisms. "Our protective style of development will divert water to the area, achieve reforestation, and make things better than before," says a spokesperson for the developer. | <urn:uuid:b6bd9850-d400-4ae1-a464-c42c4ed6ddb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newser.com/story/158932/to-build-desert-city-china-will-level-700-mountains.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957804 | 215 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Local Land Charges
Local Land Charges is a statutory service whose main function is processing Local Authority Searches.
A Local Authority Search is part of the Conveyance process as a search reveals any charges that the council holds against a property or piece of land. These include such things as Planning Decisions, Tree Preservation Orders and Listed Buildings. A lender requires a search to make sure there is nothing untoward on the property. A Local Authority Search is made up of two legal documents. The first is the LLCI which covers the LLC register. The second is the Con 29 form. This has specific departmental questions, i.e. 'Is the road adopted?' Both these forms are usually submitted together and constitute a 'standard search'. They can be submitted individually as well as a 'Con 29 Part II' which has specific extra questions for an extra fee or and 'Additional Enquiry' which is a solicitors/conveyances own question, once again for an extra fee. (Please see Fees).
Local Land Charges is also responsible for maintaining and processing searches on the Common Land and Village Green register. You need a Con29 Part11 form and select question 22 to search this register.
Searches must be submitted on appropriate forms solicitors will have copies of these forms or they are available from law stationers. | <urn:uuid:c866034a-52fc-4d27-8637-f8c88ef29e39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=859 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946646 | 270 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Weighing In takes on the "obesity epidemic," challenging many widely held assumptions about its causes and consequences. Julie Guthman examines fatness and its relationship to health outcomes to ask if our efforts to prevent "obesity" are sensible, efficacious, or ethical. She also focuses the lens of obesity on the broader food system to understand why we produce cheap, over-processed food, as well as why we eat it. Guthman takes issue with the currently touted remedy to obesity—promoting food that is local, organic, and farm fresh. While such fare may be tastier and grown in more ecologically sustainable ways, this approach can also reinforce class and race inequalities and neglect other possible explanations for the rise in obesity, including environmental toxins. Arguing that ours is a political economy of bulimia—one that promotes consumption while also insisting upon thinness—Guthman offers a complex analysis of our entire economic system.
More in this topic | <urn:uuid:bc5309d9-9c47-4444-ba5c-99dcc186eb5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.akpress.org/weighingin.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964995 | 195 | 2.71875 | 3 |
A young boy with special needs was attacked by a gang of bullies at his junior school who beat him so severely he ended up in hospital.
McKenzie-Graye Evans spent three nights in hospital after he was kicked and punched by three other boys who had followed him to the toilet in between lessons.
The 11-year-old, who suffers from a range of disabilities, including Asperger’s syndrome, was put in hospital on the last day of term at Edge Hill Junior School in Stapenhill, Staffordshire.
As well as Asperger’s, McKenzie-Graye suffers from dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyspraxia.
His parents claim their son has been badly bullied by the boys since he started at Edge Hill four years ago and say staff at the school has failed in their care of duty.
After the attack McKenzie-Graye was bruised so badly that it caused severe infections and bleeding under his skin, and doctors said they were concerned for his health as there was a high possibility that the infection could spread into his bones.
His father Shane Robinson said: ‘He came home on his last day of school and could hardly walk because he was in so much pain.
‘He spent three nights in hospital before being discharged and he’s at home on medication now, but he still isn’t right at all.”
Mr Robinson said the bullying began with typical name-calling, pushing and shoving, but the physical abuse started last year.
‘Because of his special needs McKenzie-Graye will react – never in a violent way, however – and they laugh at his reactions.
Earlier this year the physical abuse became so severe that his son was refusing to go to school and threatened to kill himself.
‘It was horrendous to hear our boy say that he wanted to end his own life.
As a result his parents pulled him out of school for two weeks while the situation was taken care and after the time away McKenzie-Graye returned on half-days to avoid coming into contact with the bullies.
Edge Hill Junior school in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire where McKenzie-Graye Evans was attacked on the last day of term
His mother Nadine Evans said the attack on her son at the school in Stapenhill, Burton-upon-Trent had broken her heart.
‘He doesn’t deserve this. He’s seen as an easy target because he’s vulnerable.
‘To see him upset, distressed, panicking and with physical injuries where yobs have attacked him is not what any parent ever wants to see.
‘He only went to that school because we struggled getting him into a special needs school.
‘It makes me so angry to hear my boy talking about suicide at his age.
Victim: McKenzie-Graye was punched and kicked so badly his parents took him to the hospital
Ms Evans said the family have made endless complaints to the school but I feel the school was not listening.
‘I think it’s totally unacceptable.
‘These bullies have not only attacked him but hospitalised him and it’s shocking that this has taken place in a junior school.
‘McKenzie-Graye has been left anxious, scared to go anywhere and he has no self-esteem whatsoever. These lads have made his life hell for four years.’
A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said an assault was reported and that they have visited the three alleged attackers in their home.
‘We gave the boys and their parents suitable advice and this course of action was agreed by the victim’s mother.’
Michael Manger, head teacher at Edge Hill Junior School, says the issue of bullying is taken very seriously and says the school was unaware of the attack.
‘This incident was not reported to any member of staff on the day or subsequently and I am very sorry to hear the news that one of our pupils has been taken into hospital as the result of an incident.’
He added that any incidents of bullying are dealt with promptly and rigorously by the school and that in McKenzie-Graye’s case the school has been working ‘closely’ with him and his parents. | <urn:uuid:8ca50eec-ddbe-4cb8-aaa8-ea4a02560a67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://specialedadvocate.org/boy-11-with-aspergers-spends-three-days-in-hospital-after-being-viciously-kicked-and-punched-by-gang-of-school-bullies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991023 | 903 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The brand new issue of Digital Arts is out now and we're exploring how you can help to change the world.
As a creative person, you care more than most. You’re passionate and empathetic -- which comes through whether you’re creating a personal project or a piece for a client. So with many tragedies and injustices happening in the world around us, it’s no surprise that creatives are heavily involved in trying to make the world a better place.
In this issue, we speak to artists and designers who’ve worked on some truly amazing projects, from helping reduce infant mortality in Uganda to providing assistance to disadvantaged people in Asia. The need to make a difference isn’t just driven by events on a global scale -- it can be local and personal too. It’s not just about charitable projects either -- design can affect social and political change too. Getting involved in such projects is a great way to make a difference, and the results will flow back into the rest of your work and help you progress creatively too.
If you’re in need of inspiration, look no further than our extensive graduate showcase -- these are the illustrators and a designers whose work you're not going to want to miss.
This issue includes a wealth of arts and design techniques revealed by some outstanding practitioners – and a new feature type called How-To, where we focus in on a specific topic that affects many Digital Arts readers and provide advice from some of the most experienced professionals around. In our first of these, we look at how to win that commission.
DESIGN FOR CHANGE
Creatives are becoming ever more active on behalf of good causes, raising funds for disaster relief and making their talents available to charities. Lisa Hassell finds out why
Check out the best designers, illustrators and other hot creatives from this year's graduate shows, including the D&AD's New Blood and New Designers
Conjure up images that evoke the wonders of space by sampling astronomy photos, as Adam Ismail demonstrates
3D WITHOUT THE PAIN
You don’t need tedious calculations to create accurate isometric art. Mark Oliver reveals how, and introduces a brilliant retro look to boot
AS GOOD AS ONE'S WORD
Nicolas Monin-Baroille and Alastair Temple create a convincing blend of type and abstract shapes through effective use of a 3D suite
You can make photos crisp and punchy without resorting to indiscriminate sharpening, as Tigz Rice shows
Kervin Brisseaux, a leading light of the Depthcore collective, uses motion blurs, gradient fills and other effects to turn a static hero into one that positively races
THE BEST NEW DESIGNERS
Brinley Clark and Lucinda Ireland discuss their award-winning work
How imbuing type with liquid behaviour led to amazing 3D forms
CREATIVE FREEDOM: DEAD PIRATES
How music for an animation led mc bess to launch his own band
Apple Final Cut Pro X
Autodesk Maya 2012
Adobe Flash Professional CS5.5
Samsung NX11 camera
£300 of stock images
Stylish images from Photostogo. Many of this month’s images are portraits of men and women in dance and motion. All the images are around 3,000 x 2,500 pixels in size.
(These are provided to purchasers of the magazine only through our Download Zone, so are available to both readers of both the print and digital edition). | <urn:uuid:75844a3c-dad9-4515-aa01-2c09a80c3617> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/illustration/digital-arts-september-on-sale-now/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907127 | 724 | 1.554688 | 2 |
A look back at the Sears and Roebuck empireby Cathy Wurzer, Minnesota Public Radio
Minneapolis — Richard W. Sears of Sears and Roebuck department store fame was born on Dec. 7, 1863 in Stewartville Minnesota. Tuesday would have been the 147th birthday of the retailing pioneer.
Sears' start in retailing was a bit odd. It began at a rail station in Redwood Falls and wound up at the old Sears Store on Lake Street in Minneapolis: a building that is now known as the Midtown Global Market.
Sears stores also spread across the nation and Sears became a retailing giant.
Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer and historian Annette Atkins met up at the Midtown Global Market to talk about Mr. Sears and his retailing empire and how the Minneapolis Sears store has morphed into a rich tapestry of businesses.
- Morning Edition, 12/07/2010, 8:45 a.m. | <urn:uuid:357c0f1b-5882-4cf4-883a-78acc11707f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/12/06/sears-roebuck-history | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952249 | 198 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Top Counterfeited Items In The US
If you thought money was the only counterfeited item, well you may be wrong. According to Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection, hundreds of millions of dollars of counterfeit goods are sold in this country every year. What are the biggest counterfeited items you ask?
Here’s their list from Daily Finance of the top 10 product categories that are counterfeited the most in the U.S.
2) Consumer electronics
3) Handbags, wallets, and backpacks
6) Computers and hardware
7) DVDs and CDs
8 ) Pharmaceuticals
10) Toys and video games
What else do you think is counterfeited? | <urn:uuid:44af0dec-8805-4d55-bb6a-636477996f70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lite987.com/top-counterfeited-items-in-the-us/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914085 | 143 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Rome (AsiaNews) – I am thankful to Asia News for organizing this press conference and I thank you all for joining this conference on behalf of the National Commission for Justice and Peace, which is a human rights body established by the Catholic Church in Pakistan working since 1985. We engage ourselves in advocacy for rights of religious minorities, labour and women in our country. I have worked with the organization ever since its inception and I am the National Director since 1995.
The particular concern that brings my colleagues and me to Europe is religious extremism and the situation of religious minorities. We would like to inform international public opinion about the institutional injustices against religious minorities, in particular against the Christian community in Pakistan. We would also like international civil society to realize the dangers involved in divorcing the state of affairs in Pakistan.
In August and September 2009, the media world, including Italian print and electronic media, carried news regarding attacks on Christians in different places in Pakistan. On March 9th, a Church was attacked in a village near Gujranwala by a mob and a Christian woman lost her life as a result. On April 22nd, a Christian settlement and a Church were attacked by armed men in Taisar Town, Karachi. Again, a Christian youth was badly injured and died due to injuries.
On June 29th, a whole Christian settlement in a village near Kasur was set ablaze, affecting more than 60 houses and 100 families. Again on July 30th, about 60 houses belonging to Christians in the village of Korian were turned into ashes by a mob. On August 1st, in the town of Gojra about the same number of houses were burnt. Seven Christians, including women and children, were set on fire while an eighth died due to a heart attack after the mob attacked his house and settlement. On September 11th, a Christian settlement and a church were attacked; in the middle of the night of September 14 and 15, a Christian youth was extra judicially killed in a jail. He was accused of desecrating the holy Qur‘an.
I was a frontline team member of our organization; therefore, I am privy to the destruction and despair as a member of the fact-finding team and a witness to these incidents. There are certain common features to these incidents of extreme and organized violence. First, certain groups and organizations are orchestrating a hate campaign against the Christians (about 3 million in Pakistan). Second, the government is usually aware of building tensions but fails to control violent attacks. Third, certain laws and policies breed hatred and are used to cause religious frenzy among the people. Fourth, mosque loudspeakers and forums are used to gather and plant misconceived ideas in people with regards to blasphemy.
Blasphemy laws include Article 295, Sections B and C, and Article 298, Sections A, B and C, of the Pakistan Penal Code. These laws were incorporated into the criminal justice system between 1980 and 1986 by then President of Pakistan Zia-ul-Haq, supposedly to ensure respect for the Prophet Mohammed, his Companions and the Holy Qur‘an. These laws are unique in the contemporary world because they allow dubious charges to be brought against people who have been subjected to extra judicial killings, arson and destruction of their property.
From 1986 to October 2009, at least 966 persons were accused under the blasphemy laws, 50% were Muslims, 35% Ahmadis, 13% Christians, 1% Hindus and 1% with no known religious background. At least 33 persons have been killed extra judicially after allegations were made against them; 15 were Muslims, 15 Christians, two Ahmadis and one Hindu.
These laws were freely used against Muslim and non-Muslim citizens alike. Whole communities or villages were completely devastated because everyone was made to suffer as a result of the abuse of such laws. The number of Muslim victims was high not because blasphemy laws are equal for all citizens, but because various Muslims sects used the law against one another. Nonetheless, the laws are highly discriminatory in terms of their text and scope because they are religion-specific. It is also true that, given their size in relation to the total population, minorities have proportionately suffered more.
My organization has helped many individuals who found themselves in situations where they were accused of blasphemy. Its work involves providing legal aid, sheltering victims and their families, and speaking to the authorities. I speak from experience when I say that these laws have been misused.
It is time that terror and injustice in the name of religion should end. The international community has a role to play to persuade the government of Pakistan to take the necessary action to stop discrimination and violence against religious minorities. To repair the damage, the government of Pakistan should go beyond the repeal of the blasphemy laws. It should move to build a culture of interfaith harmony and peace. It is time the government should prove its claims in action.
* P. Emmanuel Y. Mani, Director of National Commission for Justice and Peace | <urn:uuid:2b8a9a43-7346-4403-97c7-7c2aecf1da05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Blasphemy-laws-and-religious-discrimination,-an-attack-on-Pakistan%E2%80%99s-future-16823.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982206 | 1,015 | 1.53125 | 2 |
[ietf-dkim] protecting domains that don't exist
dotis at mail-abuse.org
Wed Apr 16 16:30:19 PDT 2008
On Apr 15, 2008, at 7:33 PM, Frank Ellermann wrote:
> Douglas Otis wrote:
>> This is still assuming use of DNS in conjunction with some future
> Yes, ADSP is published using DNS, and it's about "mail", the
> abstract says. ADSP flags in Fido nodelists for the purposes of
> Fidomail is not discussed in RFC 5016 (sorry, couldn't resist after
> you forced me to figure out what "PNRP" is ;-)
>> It seems using DNS to assert policy necessitates use of DNS by all
>> possible transports.
> When I mentioned missing domain literals I meant it, but in essence,
> yes, the format of mail addresses in 2822upd is for DNS lookup, not
> for Fido, UUCP, or X.500.
Since it is impossible for domain literals to represent a signing
domain for DKIM, it would seem obvious literal addressing is a matter
not covered by ADSP.
RFC2822 specifies "Internet Domain". While the term Internet Domain
infers a single name space, name spaces within corresponding services
resolving addresses and services could be introduced under differing
TLDs. PRNP was given as an example, since this scheme resolves
address structures needed to navigate through gateways and tunnels.
While this scheme is proprietary, existence of an enhanced name
service represents a current need being fulfilled. PRNP allows groups
to assign "friendly names" with unique identifiers which may overlap
DNS name space. Even so, this name space could be defined in a
complaint manner using a scheme like name._group for example. With
ADSP imposing "existence" requirements, now only DNS determines what
is an Internet Domain.
>> Unless consensus surrounding ADSP being forever linked to SMTP/DNS
>> can be established, an assumption of 'existence' checks seems
>> rather dubious.
> DKIM isn't bound to SMTP, and existence checks for something that's
> no domain might not need DNS. But the discussed ADSP draft wants us
> to look up _adsp._domainkey.example. in DNS if example. exists in
> DNS (swapping steps 1 and 2).
Agreed, DKIM is not bound to SMTP. The suggestion is to avoid
conflicts by binding ADSP policy assertions specifically to email
addresses _suitable_ for SMTP/DNS. The current ADSP draft requires
RFC2822 Internet Domains "exist" within DNS, which is not currently
required. ADSP stipulates DNS. ADSP is to benefit SMTP.
> Let's solve problems with completely different technologies later,
> and after we've seen that ADSP makes sense for email, that will take
> more than a year.
Agreed. So limit the scope of the policy assertion to just SMTP/DNS.
Consensus should be reached about what ADSP "existence" requirements
>> The NXDOMAIN existence check also ignores issues related wildcards
> There are no wildcard issues I'm aware of. Nothing outside of a
> zone, neither below nor above it, can create wildcards affecting the
> zone. Please correct me if that's wrong, and give an example of
> what you have in mind...
When the ADSP existence scheme depends upon an NXDOMAIN, this will
fail to offer protections when either a network or TLD provider
introduces wildcards, or when the domain itself uses wildcards. By
depending upon NXDOMAIN, ADSP protections just not possible when
wildcards are introduced.
>> It is rather ironic a well considered alternative policy scheme
>> depended upon use of wildcards and publishing records at every node
>> blocking the wildcard.
> ...dunno what you mean. A single existing node blocks any wildcard
> above it for the complete subtree where it is the root, doesn't
> it ? If you are interested in domain.example. make sure that it has
> an A or MX or whatever, and there is no wildcard that could affect
> anything below domain.example.
> Skipping your 2821bis rant, I supported you as good as I could, when
> Keith gave up the battle was lost from my POV.
Perhaps pride inhibits an ability to impose necessary discipline,
similar to a proud parent ignoring their misbehaving child. It is
ludicrous to suggest domains publish bogus MX records to avoid
undesired SMTP traffic, but those implementing SMTP can not be
expected to publish valid MX records. This is shameful.
More information about the ietf-dkim | <urn:uuid:33d846d6-7f81-49d8-94a9-20f18ae1b4a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mipassoc.org/pipermail/ietf-dkim/2008q2/010022.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910893 | 1,027 | 1.828125 | 2 |
According to Mary Poppins, "A spoonful of sugar helps the
medicine go down in a most delightful way." A new report suggests
that the equivalent of a spoonful of cinnamon a day can significantly
lower blood sugar, cholesterol and lipid levels, which is
most delightful news for people with - or at risk of developing
Sixty people with type 2 diabetes were divided into six groups;
three groups received daily doses of cinnamon (1, 3 or 6 grams,
respectively), while the other groups received placebo capsules
containing wheat flour. The cinnamon was consumed for 40 days,
followed by a 20-day washout period. Blood glucose, triglyceride,
LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol levels were all significantly
lower in patients receiving cinnamon compared to those given
While adding cinnamon to the diet won't cure a person with
diabetes, it may help protect diabetic patients from some
of the worst complications that arise from the condition,
such as blurred vision, heart disease and kidney failure.
There are a variety of ways cinnamon can be incorporated
into a person's diet, such as adding it to coffee or cereal,
or making a tea out of boiling water and cinnamon stick.
Khan A, Safdar M, Muzaffar Ali Khan M, et al. Cinnamon improves
glucose and lipids of people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes
Care December 2003;26, pp3215-3218.
For more information on herbs, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/tellmeabout/herbs.html. | <urn:uuid:90623c42-affa-41ac-877a-19c3950df558> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/nutrition/herbs/spoon.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909789 | 329 | 2.75 | 3 |
Successful Man's Wife
( Originally Published Late 1800's )
Wife, mother! The two most significant ideas of our modern civilization. The bare mention of the words causes the eye to kindle and the heart to throb; while the threatened safety or happiness of either stirs the deepest emotions of the human heart. How the thought of the one softens and subdues us! What a world of tender memories cluster around the name of the other! What a restful feeling comes to us as we return to the place that womanly hands have made beautiful and her toil has brightened! How the rough strife of life is forgotten! How the knots fade out of our brows, and anxiety out of our faces, and care out of our hearts as the wife welcomes us home to the brightness of the evening fireside. Then, truly, we feel that life is more than the toil of it, and that the reward of living is vastly greater than the trouble and work of it.
It was always mother that smoothed the rough places of our youth. It was she who dried our tears and healed the wounds of childhood. It is her kind face that dwells in memory still and which the crowding memories of years cannot efface. She may be old and gray and wrinkled now; her once graceful form may be pinched and racked and bent with age; she may be just ready to go and dwell with the other angels before the face of the Father; still her face shines with heavenly beauty when you go home to see her and she is still, in the hands of the wasting years, the fairest among women.
Wife and mother! The two brightest spots in the life of man. None can take the place of mother; none can be loved and honored so well as the wife. Nothing on earth can hold a man so long and so firmly as the love which he bears his mother and his wife, and when he loses these then he is lost indeed. It is probably no exaggeration to say that upon the sanctity of these two ideas and the relations which they represent depends the permanent good of this republic. Nor do we exaggerate when we say that in careless indifference to these two ideas and the relations which they involve lies the future damnation and destruction of this and every other republic. For the republic rests upon the union of States; the State rests upon the family, and the family upon marital and filial respect in the household.
When mother becomes less to a young man than the sorceress that tempts him from the sweetness of home to the graveyard of her enticements; when wife is no more to the husband than other women are; then, that man has gone back to barbarism, and his homelife has no power longer to keep him from drifting into the maelstrom of bestiality and a ruined life. There is no more hope for him as a man or a citizen. And again, when wife or mother forgets the high privleges, high duties, and high opportunities thrust upon her by virtue of her position; when she shuffles off to the shoulders of hired servant and hired nurse the care of helpless children; when she re-fuses to be mother to the children she has borne; when she sneaks away from her noble work; when, in laziness, extravagance, and waste, she gives her husband reason to institute a comparison between her and other women; when he comes to see that he must toil hard to support her in idleness; then he will think less of her than of other women. Then she has lost her opportunity. Then woe to home-life ! Woe to the happiness of that blasted house-hold ! Woe to the peace of husband and children ! Woe, woe ! a worm is eating at the root; the family-life is ruined, and a gloomy skeleton is all there is left of fair features and angelic grace. Oh, the sore hearts and crushed lives that struggle out to the light from the debris of the fallen temple of home-life ! When once that temple falls, there is no greater wreck in the universe.
The successful man's wife is doubtless the crowning factor of his success. If true to her womanly trusts, and he be true to his, she is the greatest power behind him to urge him on to manly deeds and high endeavor. Next after those native qualities of mind and soul that constitute a successful man, stands the wife of similar fiber of character, and the twain are one flesh. Before their united power the difficulties of a life-work vanish like fleeting demons from the presence of Omipotence. | <urn:uuid:85fb2c57-cd65-4619-9e76-9ea8a00971ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldandsold.com/articles29/life-54.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971006 | 952 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Mobile coupled with the web and social media becomes a powerful tool. From the Occupy movement to the Arab Spring, mobile has been playing an unparalleled role in expressing opinions, organizing individuals and distributing information. Mobile gives enough power to the people to disturb, topple, and change lives.
Consider these statistics and trends around mobile technology:
- As of 2010, more mobile devices are sold worldwide than PCs.
- By 2013, mobile will overtake PCs for worldwide web access.
- Global mobile data traffic is almost tripling every year.
- Over 40 percent of U.S. cell owners have smartphones.
- Typical smartphone usage in the U.S. is about 80 minutes a day.
I am sure you remember the question of the mid-90s: Why should I put my organization on the internet? And then again a couple of years ago we were asking: Why should we have a social media presence? And now: Why should we go mobile? Because that’s where your users are getting together and hanging out. Mobility, always-on access, and dropping costs are ultimately driving people to access the web through mobile.
One important thing to consider is that mobile interaction is not the same as your desktop experience. Josh Clark in his book Tapworthy characterizes mobile user experience as – on the go: one hand, one eye, one big blur.
Mobile users are always distracted. (Credit: flickr - Yourdon / CC License: NC-SA)
At a desktop, users can dedicate their full attention to a task at hand. On mobile, the user is walking in a crowd, talking to someone, riding a bus, looking for a book, buying wine, waiting for a movie to start. Either the user is half distracted because they are performing another task and/or their environment is distracting them.
Distraction is a basic fact of mobile that you have to work with. The key takeaway here is that mobile apps or websites need to be a small focused subset of the content or service you would normally offer on your full website.
So, armed with this understanding, what are some strategies for nonprofits going mobile?
Strategy 1: Update your existing platform to mobile
Scenario: You are a organization that has a small web team which consists of… just half of your time. Your task is to update a blog and maintain some information pages. You have a Facebook page and a Twitter feed that you also update periodically.
Many popular blog platforms offer mobile display options. If you are running WordPress, you're in luck: there are a number of easily installed plug-ins that will make your site look good on a mobile device. The plug-in will detect when the user is using a mobile device and serve up the a mobile version automatically.
If you have a static site that you’ve been updating manually, maybe now is the time to think about moving your site to a blog platform. Online services such as WordPress, Blogger or Tumblr all allow you to use your organization’s URL, are easy to customize, and have mobile themes you can install or enable.
Another low hanging fruit is creating a mobile template for your email newsletter. Traffic to your website from mobile devices may still be growing stage, but your email newsletter is a different story. In looking at our own email newsletter stats, over 40 percent of users opened our email on iPhones alone. (This is a striking number even if perhaps overinflated by the fact that iPhones re-load images which leads to higher recorded open rates). Users with smartphones regularly check email from their devices on the go, and trying to zoom into teeny text while standing on a moving bus or train is not fun. Zooming requires both hands, whereas on a mobile-friendly email you can read and flick through without much effort. Most major email newsletter services like MailChimp offer mobile email templates or you can create your own.
Strategy #2: Create a mobile website
Scenario: Your site is powered by a Content Management System (CMS) that you’ve invested a lot of time, money and effort into. All your content resides in this CMS, and an upgrade or redesign with mobile in mind doesn’t seem like an easy option.
You need to figure out what is your high value content. To do this you can apply the 80-20 rule, where you identify the 20 percent of the site that meets the broad needs of 80 percent of the users that come to the site. The hard part is focusing on the high value content or service – not from your organization’s perspective, but for your user. If you can’t provide value or utility, they will leave or even go to your competition.
With the content that you’ve identified, you can create a small mobile site that is simple and focused, with clear design and branding. Use code to auto-detect whether your user is viewing the site from a mobile device and serve up the simple mobile site. You can still have a link to full site in the footer, should the users want to access features not offered on the mobile site.
Strategy #3: Employ responsive design
Scenario: Just when you finally have a manageable decent site, you now see iPads, Galaxy Tabs and Amazon Fires flooding the market. How are you going to handle all these proliferating devices and screen sizes?
Responsive design is a way to make your site look good on multiple screens sizes. Check out the Boston Globe site. Pull the corner of the browser and make the window smaller. As you do this, the layout dynamically adjusts to be optimized for the screen real-estate. If you look carefully, you’ll notice that there are actually three layouts: full desktop-size with three columns, tablet-size with two columns and smartphone size with a single column.
Responsive design: Aspen Ideas Festival
To make your site responsive, you’ll need to invest in first figuring out how content and interaction should be optimized for each screen size group (smartphone, tablet, desktop PC), and then do some custom coding to make this happen. You also need to consider touch screens. The good news is that many platforms such as Drupal and WordPress have responsive design themes that you can customize to fit your site’s design.
Strategy #4: Create a native mobile app
Scenario: When you see so many organizations with dedicated iPhone or Android apps, you start to wonder if you need one too, but not sure whether a native mobile application is worth the investment.
Before you start down the path of developing a native mobile app you need to be clear about why you need one in the first place. I would argue that most organizations don’t need a dedicated iPhone or Android app. So naturally the first question to ask is mobile web app or native app? A mobile web app runs in a mobile web browser whereas a native app you download from the App Store or Android Marketplace. Now that the line between the two in terms of functionality and design are beginning to get blurred with web apps performing higher-level functions such as video, gestures and GPS integration that have been classically been the realm of the native app. You also see hybrid apps which are web apps wrapped into a native app.
The following considerations may help in your deciding whether you need a native app or web app:
- A native app is harder and more costly to develop than a web app.
- Web apps have a larger reach whereas native apps are limited to the platform for which they are deployed (iPhone, Android, Blackberry etc.).
- Native apps are harder to maintain and require users to download updates, whereas, from the users’ perspective, web apps are always up-to-date.
- Native apps can store data locally. They don’t require a live connection to the internet.
- Native apps can be more complex and rich in its interactions, and larger in file size.
- Native apps provide prestige and convenience. Your app’s icon will occupy screen real estate on your user’s phone.
In the end it boils down to the users. Do you have a user base that is dedicated and focused that will benefit from having a targeted native app? Some examples may be: a lookup/diagnostic app that needs to work where internet connectivity is limited; an app that allows a tight-knit community to more effectively connect and share information; a game app that provide training in a fun and engaging way.
Another hard decision is whether to go iPhone or Android? (There is also Blackberry, Symbian, Window Mobile and Bada). Once again this decision depends on who your audience is and what they are most likely to be using.
Most organizations build mobile apps for the following reasons:
- To provide access timely info and services on the go.
- To support a specific campaign, initiative or training purpose.
- To build marketing/branding and awareness.
I would argue that most of these requirements can be fulfilled with a web app, and that there needs to be a clear reasoning for going down the path to develop a dedicated native app.
Carefully consider your needs, the needs of your audience, and your budget. Leverage the content that you already have. Use ready made tools. But if you want to create dedicated experiences, choose higher options.
Thinking about mobile is a good opportunity to really think hard about what is your organization’s most important content or service that you should be presenting to your audiences, and also what your audiences consider most valuable. When you only have a few distracted seconds on a small screen knowing this becomes crucial. So much so that many experts including Google are talking about a Mobile First strategy, where you think first about your mobile users and their core needs, and then additively make the experience richer as you look towards larger screens.
Nam-ho Park is Director of Mobile Services for Forum One Communications. Nam-ho has a passion for connecting nonprofits and government agencies with internet and mobile technologies that further their impact and reach. | <urn:uuid:0dd0dfed-35c9-418b-b836-caef7ca8d981> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nten.org/articles/2012/four-strategies-for-going-mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936356 | 2,072 | 2.015625 | 2 |
“I do not believe in angels because I cannot think of anything that they do that the Holy Spirit could not do instead.”
I thought his reasoning was confused at the time and still do. Essentially, he did not believe in angels because he did not think them necessary. Of course, the fault in his logic is that nothing created exists by necessity. All creation exists by the will of God and nothing can lay claim to necessity. Creation does not need to exist.
It is also correct to say that God does not need to exist – there is no necessity in God – His existence is pure freedom.
To speak of things as unnecessary or of God’s lack of necessity is very troubling. We often have an interior sense that things which do not exist by necessity may therefore not really exist at all. It is only natural for a child to have a sense of fear and insecurity when they come to an age to realize that their own existence not only had a beginning, but that they need not ever to have existed. It’s similar to the fear of death.
The lack of necessity in God is quite similar. Most arguments for the existence of God are a search for such necessity. Arguments that win and become persuasive are generally grounded in some form of necessity. The argument for God’s existence is not only that He does exist, but that He must exist. Of course if there is no necessity in God, if we cannot say, “God must,” then believers can find themselves deeply unsettled, thinking that if we cannot say “God must,” then perhaps we can say, “God isn’t.”
Such things are logical problems and the fear of them is rooted deep in the fears that haunt humanity.
At the heart of these problems is the problem of freedom. St. Paul says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” 2 Corinthians 3:17. We are also taught in the Scriptures that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). These are not separate understandings – for there is no love except love exists in freedom. That which is by compulsion is not love. Believers are invited into an existence that is rooted in love and freedom not necessity. Such an existence is the very basis of what it means for us to exist as persons.
All of this sets us in a place that can feel very insecure. We frequently prefer necessity to freedom and compulsion to love.
Those who argue against the existence of God remind me of my friend who found the existence of angels unnecessary. Many people have the experience described by St. Paul in Romans 1, in which the existence of God is easily inferred from the very existence and order of creation. But St. Paul does not describe such an experience as “necessary.” In our modern world such “necessity” would not always seem obvious. Moreover, such necessity is not immune to doubt.
The movement from a necessary existence to an existence grounded in freedom and love is a difficult journey for most people. The lack of compulsion (which is also a lack of violence) seems untenable in the world. People fear that without compulsion the world becomes far too dangerous. Compulsion can restrain evil, but it cannot make evil be good.
To use the word “unnecessary” with regard to God is not to say that we can exist without Him. It is to say that to exist with Him, in the fullness of life to which we are called, is to live beyond necessity and to embrace God in freedom and love.
Forgive my clumsy expressions.
Author comments have a tan color background for you to easily identify the posts author in the comments | <urn:uuid:99a5e577-45d0-407f-a428-6c896be2b364> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://glory2godforallthings.com/2011/07/11/the-unnecessary-god/ | 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 | 0.971563 | 769 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Millions of deceased Americans spring back to life each year in the hands of cybercriminals.
Fraudsters use the identities of deceased people to apply for credit cards.
Monitoring credit reports for one year after a death can help prevent fraud.
The identities of nearly 2.5 million deceased Americans spring back to life each year in the hands of cybercriminals bent on financial fraud, according to a new study.
Fraudsters intentionally manipulate the identities of the dead more than 2,000 times every day, Dr. Stephen Coggeshall, chief technology officer of ID Analytics, told SecurityNewsDaily. Over the course of a year, that's more than 730,000 identities being resurrected to apply for credit cards, cell phones and a host of other services.
Using its own real-time network that scans the flow of applications for credit cards as well as retail and financial services, ID Analytics derived its data by comparing the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of 100 million Americans to data in the Social Security Administration's Death Master File in the first three months of 2011.
In addition to blatant financial fraud, the San Diego-based firm discovered that identity thieves "inadvertently used the SSN of a deceased person" in approximately 1.6 million applications annually. ID Analytics estimated that out of the entire annual volume of applications for credit card products and services submitted in the United States, nearly 6.8 million have "at least a partial match" to the Social Security number of a dead person.
The problem isn't strictly six feet under: ID Analytics found that the personally identifiable information of several hundred thousand dying people also is compromised each year.
"While this is clearly a problem for businesses, surviving family members can also be the victims of this identity fraud as they are left to manage the estates of their deceased loved ones," Coggeshall said. "Businesses often have strong defenses" against these types of cybercrime attempts, Coggeshall told SecurityNewsDaily, while individuals may be more vulnerable and left wondering how they can effectively combat identity theft on their own.
Coggeshall told SecurityNewsDaily he recommends monitoring the identities, including credit reports, of the deceased for at least one year after death, and shredding any documents that contain a person's Social Security number. | <urn:uuid:5a6a8f2b-ee5b-48d8-a926-6b01a71455e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.discovery.com/tech/identity-theft-120426.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950594 | 472 | 2.125 | 2 |
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - The opening of the upscale Royal Oasis Hotel in Haiti on Wednesday ushered in a new phase in the country's post-earthquake reconstruction, while providing a sharp contrast to the plight of hundreds of thousands still homeless almost three years after the disaster.
The elite Oasis hotel in Petionville, a business and social hub in the hills south of Port-au-Prince, is part of the Occidental hotel chain and is the first in a string of international brand-name hotels opening in the coming months.
A Best Western Premier is scheduled to open its doors in January, and the newly reincarnated El Rancho is set to follow in February under the management of the Spanish group NH Hoteles.
A Marriott hotel, opening in partnership with telecom service provider Digicel, will have its official groundbreaking next week in downtown Port-au-Prince, and Comfort Inn is already in the process of taking over management of an existing hotel in the southern tourist city of Jacmel.
The Oasis boasts 128 rooms and suites, restaurants, retail shops and a conference center. An evening in the Royal Club Presidential Suite will set you back well over $1,000, with butler service included.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, still struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake in January 2010 that killed an estimated 250,000 people and left more than 1 million homeless.
Some 358,000 earthquake victims were still living in camps and makeshift settlements as of October 2012, according to the most recent survey by the International Organization for Migration.
The Oasis by Occidental is the first international hospitality brand to operate in the troubled country in years, a faint echo of Haiti's heyday in the 1950s and 1960s when the Caribbean island was a hip destination for international celebrities.
Haiti was previously home to a Club Med, a French resort chain that operated on a palm-lined strip of beach north of Port-au-Prince, and a Holiday Inn in the capital's teeming downtown.
The return of major hospitality brands sends a strong message, says Ulrick Emmanuel Noel, director of investment for the Ministry of Tourism.
"It shows that we're open to international partnerships ... (and) that we're preparing to be a serious international destination," Noel said. "Private investors are starting to trust the Haitian state."
According to the Ministry of Tourism, about half of the capital's roughly 1,600 hotel rooms were lost in the January 2010 earthquake. By mid-2013, metropolitan Port-au-Prince will have some 3,500 hotel rooms.
While the Oasis hotel project was six years in the making, it benefited directly from post-earthquake reconstruction funds. Investors group SCIOP S.A. was awarded $7.5 million in financing by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation and more than $2 million by the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, headed by former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund recently announced that it would cease operations at the end of 2012.
The hotel opening comes at a time when the Caribbean country is struggling to recover from a difficult year that saw its fragile agricultural sector badly battered by more natural disasters, including Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed crops and sparked protests over the cost of living.
Following a recent visit, the International Monetary Fund released a statement on Monday warning that "heightened domestic political and social tensions - fueled by pervasive poverty and lack of progress in improving living standards - and natural disasters could impede the fragile recovery and constrain Haiti's growth prospects."
(Editing by David Adams and Eric Beech) | <urn:uuid:0a17782a-a34c-4744-a646-2b3614ce461a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shawconnect.ca/NewsArticle/Travel/6442518510_199/New_hotel_offers_rare_sign_of_new_construction_in_Haiti/story.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948637 | 754 | 1.539063 | 2 |
From Clinton to Kerry: Keep the promise to women, youth
After four years at the helm, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s last day is Friday, when her successor, Sen. John Kerry, will take the reins. In her wake, she has left the State Department a legacy of strong leadership on women’s and girls’ empowerment, youth engagement and LGBT rights.
Clinton has tirelessly advocated for advancements in women’s and girls’ rights. As she has so often said, “If half of the world’s population remains vulnerable to economic, political, legal and social marginalization, our hope of advancing democracy and prosperity is in serious jeopardy. The United States must be an unequivocal and unwavering voice in support of women’s rights in every country, on every continent.” Whether it’s the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, the Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence, or Guidance on Promoting Gender Equality to Achieve our National Security and Foreign Policy Objectives, Clinton’s commitment to the world’s women and girls is clear.Continue Reading
Perhaps less well known is her attention to young people. During her tenure, she created the first-ever Office of Global Youth Issues and hosted 59 town halls around the world. From Tunis to Tripoli and from Phnom Penh to Pristina, she listened as young leaders expressed their concerns about the economy, political participation, global health and everything in between. Her State Department also helped achieve a bold and progressive declaration recognizing youth sexual and reproductive health and rights at the 2012 United Nations Commission on Population and Development. As she has stated, “When young people can claim their right to education and health — including sexual and reproductive health — they increase their opportunities to become a powerful force for economic development and positive change.” Coupled with the United States Agency for International Development’s new Youth in Development Policy, her leadership has helped build the momentum we need to elevate and expand our focus on the largest generation of young people in history.
Her leadership didn’t stop there, however. From an “It Gets Better” video to her 2010 Pride speech in which she declared, “Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights, once and for all,” Clinton has been an outspoken proponent of LGBT rights. Her International Human Rights Day speech announcing the Presidential Memorandum on International Initiatives for LGBT Persons is the most well-known expression of her support, but she also led the department in supporting efforts at the U.N. to recognize sexual orientation and gender identity as a human right, established new funding opportunities for LGBT organizations, and publicly condemned homophobic laws.
No one can doubt the indelible impact she has made on advancing the rights of women and girls, young people and LGBT individuals around the world. The question now becomes — what will Secretary Kerry do to build on these accomplishments? | <urn:uuid:c5fb3a2d-d1ca-4979-a820-eb050072b68c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/from-clinton-to-kerry-keep-the-promise-to-women-youth-87005.html?hp=r20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954927 | 607 | 2.46875 | 2 |
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Name: Janet Marie Conrad
Title(s): Professor of Physics
Assistant: Jeanne Glasheen (617) 253-2361
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Area of Physics:
- B.A. 1985, SWARTHMORE COLLEGE
- M.Sc. 1987, OXFORD UNIVERSITY
- Ph.D. 1993, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Selected Awards and Honors:
- American Physical Society Fellow
- American Physical Society Prize
- Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
My work focuses on the lightest known matter particles, the neutrino. Their number far exceeds the atoms in the universe. Yet we know surprisingly little about these particles. It is only within the last decade, for example, that we came to realize these particles have mass, albeit very tiny. This became clear when neutrinos were shown to live a double life, transforming from one type into another through the quantum mechanical effect of neutrino oscillations. This effect requires neutrino mass.
Neutrino mass is the first "chink" in the surprisingly resilient theory of particle physics called The Standard Model. The purpose of my research is to exploit this opportunity through further study of neutrinos. . First, now that we know that neutrinos have surprising new properties, I am involved in tests to see if they have more unexpected "features". Second, we must develop a model for particle physics that incorporates neutrino mass, and I am contributing by searching for predicted but as-yet-unseen oscillation modes.
My studies using neutrinos as probes for new physics involve the BooNE experiments. The first generation of these experiments was the MiniBooNE experiment, which searched for a new neutrino beyond the three types known in the Standard Model. This was motivated by an oscillation result from the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) experiment at Los Alamos, which indicated an oscillation wavelength inconsistent with other experiments, perhaps pointing to the existence of a fourth neutrino species. MiniBooNE provided a strict test of this hypothesis, and ruled out the explanation of a fourth type of neutrino. MiniBooNE continues to take data at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
However, while one neutrino anomaly has been resolved, another has sprung up. At low neutrino energy, MiniBooNE detected an excess of events above the Standard Model expectation and inconsistent with neutrino oscillations. Its source remains a mystery, which is best explored through a more sensitive detector. To this end, I am involved in the MicroBooNE experiment, which is developing a state-of-the-art detector that makes use of liquid Argon. The MicroBooNE detector will have bubble-chamber-like resolution of particle tracks. This experiment will run in 2013 at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
At the same time, I am also involved in exploring for unobserved transmutation modes. While many combinations of oscillations between neutrinos have been observed, there is one which is yet to be seen. The purpose of the Double Chooz experiment, on which I collaborates, is to observe, for the first time, this rare transmutation of anti-electron neutrinos. This experiment will begin taking data in 2010. The results will help us flesh out our newly-forming model of particle physics which incorporates neutrino mass.
Janet Conrad received her B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1985, M.Sc. from Oxford University in 1987, and Ph.D. from Harvard in 1993. She began as a postdoctoral associate at Columbia University and was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1996. Most recently, she was the Walter O. Lecroy Professor of Physics at Columbia University.
Publications from inSPIRE (with links to the arXiv).
Last updated: 04.01.2013 | <urn:uuid:d5cebf2f-e570-42bd-aeb5-0fc8a50ba42b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://web.mit.edu/physics/people/faculty/conrad_janet.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912528 | 887 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Children's Health Care
Our Pediatrics Unit is staffed by professionals with a special interest and training in family centered focus of care. Family members are encouraged to remain at the bedside of the child and will be provided with an extra bed, if available. Also, an extra meal tray (at each meal) will be given to a family member to enable them to stay with the child during meal times. Volunteers can also make regular visits to provide companionship for the children and to assist them in learning or play activities.
Partners with Helen DeVos Children's Hospital
McLaren Central Michigan has joined Partners in Children's Health, becoming one of 22 hospitals to affiliate with Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in an effort to enhance the care of children and families throughout the state. The Partners in Children's Health Network brings hospitals together to improve access to pediatric specialty services and continuing professional education.
"It is important to build special capabilities for children who may have special health care needs. Mt. Pleasant is not as big as other metropolitan areas, but children in Mt. Pleasant and the surrounding communities still deserve the best care possible," said Bob Connors, M.D., President, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. "We do not want to be selfish with our resources. If we discover something that works, why not share it with others?"
Visit www.devoschildrens.org for more information. | <urn:uuid:7b6eee33-3855-45a1-a604-e5433d7c7620> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irmc.org/centralmichigan/ChildrenPediatricscm.aspx | 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 | 0.964888 | 281 | 1.515625 | 2 |
As oil spread, did BP battle to contain the media?
Thursday, June 3, 2010
NEW ORLEANS -- At first, it seemed that a British company might be trying to keep an American journalist off an American beach. Ted Jackson, a staff photographer for the Times-Picayune, drove two hours to Port Fourchon, La., to shoot photos of tar balls on public property but was stopped 100 yards from the surf by harbor police. After 30 minutes of phone calls to higher authorities, Jackson said, the police allowed him 15 minutes of obstructed photographing, out of view of workers who were taking samples from the beach.
Last week, Jackson was also unable to book a flight over Grand Isle from a charter plane company in Belle Chasse, La., because the owner could not obtain permission from BP's command center to enter restricted airspace. BP, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Coast Guard were refusing access to planes carrying media, according to Southern Seaplane's secretary-treasurer, Rhonda Panepinto, who fired off a three-page letter to Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) on May 25.
"We strongly feel that the reason for this massive [temporary flight restriction] is that BP wants to control their exposure to the press," she wrote. "We are all at the mercy of BP, a British-owned company."
This week, things got better. The FAA sent two special operations managers to the Gulf Coast on Tuesday to oversee flight access, according to Panepinto, whose company flew Jackson around Chandeleur and Ship islands on Wednesday and is fielding requests from other media outlets, with no grief from authorities.
"It's almost like there's a new sheriff in town," Jackson said.
Perhaps the gulf operation is smoothing itself out after a month and a half of oil gush and media crush. Authorities had weathered criticism for a series of minor run-ins that gave the impression that BP was calling the shots.
Last week a Mother Jones reporter was told she couldn't see Elmer's Island without being accompanied by a BP representative, because it's "BP's oil." Two weeks ago Coast Guard officials cited "BP's rules" when demanding that a CBS News crew leave a beach area. (Representatives from CNN, ABC and local CBS affiliate WWL-TV in New Orleans said last week that their journalists had not encountered significant obstacles while covering the oil story.)
"Neither BP nor the U.S. Coast Guard, who are responding to the spill, have any rules in place that would prohibit media access to impacted areas and we were disappointed to hear of this incident," said Rob Wyman, a lieutenant commander for the Coast Guard, in a statement responding to the CBS episode. "In fact, media has been actively embedded and allowed to cover response efforts since this response began, with more than 400 embeds aboard boats and aircraft to date."
On Saturday, a University of North Carolina energy blog titled Powering a Nation posted images of a BP contract that barred owners of vessels it chartered from making "public statements." A BP spokesman said the company has standard contractual language designed to protect proprietary information, and that it has allowed media to cover its Vessels of Opportunity program, which employs local boat owners in cleanup efforts.
The FAA responded to initial criticism over air traffic restriction by citing security concerns and asserting that BP employees and contractors were not involved in those decisions.
Hundreds of media outlets are demanding access to a highly mutable, complex situation, and local, state and federal officials say they are working together -- under the majestic heading of Deepwater Horizon Unified Command -- to streamline the responses to both reporters and the public.
"With regards to media, we follow an incident command system, a tried-and-true way of responding to crises," said a spokesman for BP from the Unified Command's headquarters in Robert, La. "You have public information officers and you have a joint information center that includes the responsible party, BP, as well as government agencies who have involvement and oversight for this spill, the Coast Guard being the federal on-scene coordinator. We have state people, NOAA, representatives from Transocean [the company that owned the rig that created the spill]. We've had MMS. What we do is use information that comes in through our operations and create, if you will, the message to share."
That message, right now, is that the authorities want to provide access to the story while maintaining the proper safety parameters for both cleanup workers and the environment itself. But there might be more obstacles down the road if the situation intensifies, according to Chip Babcock, a trial lawyer specializing in media and First Amendment cases at the Houston legal firm Jackson Walker, which brought suit against FEMA when it blocked journalists from covering the removal of dead bodies in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina.
"There's going to be, I think, a natural hesitancy to let journalists show images of the horrific scenes that are going to happen purely in the next few weeks," Babcock said. "You'll see these beaches clogged with oil, and animals suffering, and I think -- human nature being what it is -- there's going to be some people who don't want those images shown." | <urn:uuid:230bb79c-ce66-4eb8-bd58-7ac9bbcbe6ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060300848.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968667 | 1,074 | 1.914063 | 2 |
From Alexandra Morton’s blog…
The New York Times did what I was not allowed to do – tell you there has been a second diagnosis of Infectious Salmon Anemia virus in wild BC salmon, this time in the Fraser River itself, the biggest wild salmon river in the world. The fish the New York Times is talking about is one that a small group of us picked up, sampled and sent to the world reference lab for the ISA virus. It was a beautiful coho salmon, in first blush of spawning colours. The salmon had navigated the river as a tiny fry, entered the sea as a fat and sassy little smolt eating everything insight. It traveled north and west in search of the saltiness of the ocean and in doing so passed millions of European salmon in pens. Whether it got infected then or on the way home carrying the richness of a life at sea, her body shut down infected with a virus her ancestors had never had a chance to prepare her for. We found her drifting down stream passing Harrison Mills. We scooped her up took a sliver of her heart and gills and sent them to one of the world authorities on ISA virus.
We did this because we want to know how widespread the European ISA virus is, in BC waters and I don’t see anyone else out there trying to map the damage. The lab never reported back to me, muzzled I suspect, but the truth got out. We now have two diagnoses, 600 km apart, in two different species, of two different generations.
I don’t know how no one could see this coming. We are the buffalo racing for the cliff, even as we watch videos of buffalo falling off cliffs. EVERY COUNTRY WITH SALMON FARMS has taken this path. I am so exhausted with trying to explain this to Ministers, bureaucrats, streamkeepers, environmentalists, fishermen. People just don’t want to believe it. It is easier to write me off than deal with this.
Look, it is simple. Salmon farms break the natural laws and viruses, bacteria and parasites are the beneficiaries of this behaviour. If you move diseases across the world and brew them among local pathogens, in an environment where predators are not allowed to remove the sick – you get pestilence. There is no other outcome.
The reason I can see this and where we are headed is not because I am particularly bright, it is because I have taken great care not to allow myself to become dependent on anyone’s money. I am not climbing any social ladder. I don’t want to be a politician, academic, or CEO of a save the environment company. I just want to be able to live between Kingcome and Knight Inlet and not watch it die.
Obviously I have failed in the mission that has consumed my life. I wish now I had put the blinders on and continued studying whales, because it does not matter how the fish die, whether by sea lice, or viruses, they will be dead. While the Norwegian companies who are doing this to our ocean used drugs to suppress the lice for a few years, there is no drug for ISA virus. It cannot be recalled.
Let me tell you where this is going. Government is going to hide and deny this for as long as possible, because so many of them played a role in this crime against humanity. Fisheries and Ocean Canada presided over the loss of one of earth’s most generous food supplies – the North Atlantic cod. They pulled this off by not listening to their own scientists. As soon as the cod were gone, the Hibernia oils wells went onto the Grand Banks – the waters that produced so much food early sailors reported they only had to lower a basket into the sea to catch the nourishing cod. No one in DFO was held accountable even though they openly suppressed their own scientist – the late Dr. Ransom Myers who tried to warn them. As a result, they feel confident they can be reckless, careless or much worse and nothing will happen to them. So they are doing this all over again on the west coast of Canada. I think they have forgotten their children are going to suffer along with the rest of us, as a result of their actions.
Government is also going to hide and deny this because the ISA virus ending up in the North Pacific is an externalized cost of world trade. In the document below, the highest offices of Fisheries and Oceans say BC has to accept Atlantic salmon eggs from a foreign hatchery that does not meet the Canadian Fish Health Regulations:Download 2004 Fish Health1.pdf (2176.3K)
"Failure to provide permission for egg importation may trigger a trade challenge under the World Trade Organization, because Canada’s requirements are more stringent than recommended by the World Animal Health Organization.
Additionally, DFO could also be viewed as causing a competitive disadvantage of the aquaculture industry by denying them access to alternate strains"
So there you have it folks, we are road kill, an impediment to shareholders somewhere on earth who have more rights than life on earth. Our home waters were put at risk because the aquaculture industry might be at a competitive disadvantage with their own farms in Chile or elsewhere. Who thought this stuff up! It is a form of insanity.
Next, the salmon farming industry and their expert baffle-gabbers are going to tell you, Morton is wrong, the most deadly virus known to salmon did not come here in their 30 million eggs. I know this because Chile just went through this. They found a scientist in Norway to beat on, who tried to tell them ISA virus travels in the eggs. Eventually science traced the Chilean epidemic to an industry hatchery on the central coast of Norway. Chile wanted to sue Norway, but that went away quietly.
The salmon farming industry is going to say, it is not us and by the way if we just had more sites we could spread our farms apart, prevent disease and save your wild salmon. Wild salmon are market competitors for farm salmon. Have you ever heard of corporations benefiting the competition? I don’t think their corporate laws allow them to. Protect life on earth and you are probably breaking corporate laws. All of you little enhancement groups accepting money from the Norwegian, just try to test your fish for ISA virus – I will bet you will be obstructed. Their money is buying your silence. Bill Proctor of Echo Bay summed is up nicely. When fish farmers offered his little enhancement society money he told them he would "rather pick shit with the chickens."
And thus the European salmon and their European virus will flourish on our silence and like the BP oil spill, the virus will pour unchecked into waters that once fed the people and everything they love about their homes on this coast. The virus will mutate and become increasingly virulent as it has everywhere else. The industry will destroy itself here as it has done elsewhere with ISA virus. Our government will make us pay to bail the fish farm corporations out, as they did when ISA virus hit eastern Canada and when the shareholders aren’t making enough money on all this, they will invest in degrading another ecosystem and we will need to learn how to eat jelly fish, because jelly fish seem to like the way we change the ocean.
An independent board of people could step forward who are all volunteers, free of purse strings and begin testing the entire eastern Pacific for ISA virus in a scientific manner. The fish farms have to lose the right to prevent testing of their fish. Farm salmon need to be tested so that liability for this can come out of their pockets. No one is going to fix this, but if we are really smart and use everything we know we could give wild salmon and herring a chance. All these fish farms need to close down now. The only compensation should go to the fish farm employees.
ISA virus becomes increasingly virulent in captive environments – this means fish farms and hatcheries. Painful, I know, but read the literature. The only hope is to turn off the source, stop crowding fish together and let this thing burn through the wild Pacific like a forest fire and extinguish itself. That’s it, there is no other option. But I can tell you we won’t do this unless every man, woman and child who cares raises their voice in every way they legally and peacefully can in defense against this influenza-type virus.
Senior management in Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Province of BC have to be tried in courts and be held accountable so that this stops now. One thing the Cohen Inquiry did for me was let me read the conversations between the bureaucrats we are paying to manage salmon farms and protect wild salmon. They are not protecting the public interest. I can tell you they are frantically writing and rewriting "media lines" right now. That is why we have heard nothing from the perpetrators of this. They can’t figure out how paint this so they come off looking clean.
People ask me all the time "What can I do?" In answer look inside yourself and figure out the most brilliant, peaceful, powerful thing you can do, because I don’t know what you are capable of. What I can tell you is we are going to live with this disease for the rest of our lives and we bequeath it to our children. There is no going back. All that is left is the future and we can run off the cliff or look up, see where we are going and refuse to go.
I am going to continue testing the fish of the BC coast with whatever funds you give me. We need to set up a lab on Vancouver Island because it is extremely expensive to ship fresh samples across Canada. Please contact us if you are seeing fish dying, sick or simply missing and we will try to figure out if its the ISA virus. firstname.lastname@example.org Here is some of the crew that found the ISA virus in the Fraser River. Thank you to Brad and Sandy for generously taking us out in your boat so we could net the dead fish, Nicole for taking notes in the pouring rain, Anissa for doing this work without reservation.
To pay for testing go to the right-hand side of the page of SalmonAreSacred.org
Or mail check to Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society, Box 399, Sointula, BC V0N 3E0 | <urn:uuid:eff56fc1-5671-47d1-87b4-1a0233e15451> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://responsibleaquaculture.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/pestilence-loosed-upon-bc/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966183 | 2,142 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The bus is one of LBCC’s many valuable resources. I’ve come to enjoy its relaxing atmosphere during my 20 minute commute. However, there are a few rules of etiquette of which all bus passengers should be aware – just to keep from disturbing the peace.
First of all you do not, under any circumstances offer other people food on the bus. It’s a questionable practice. Granted, the food I was offered was only a humble stick of gum, but the guy who offered it was sweaty, and the gum package was smashed. I didn’t even see where he got it from. Was it his back pocket? No thank you!
But, there are other less overt ways to disturb the bus peace; it doesn’t have to be direct contact with another person. Often the quiet peace of the bus is disrupted by someone talking on the phone. For example, during a bus ride home a few days ago I could hear, through my headphones, another student talking on his phone. From the time we left LBCC until we reached his stop in Corvallis, he was telling his unfortunate listener everything from the (oddly specific) attributes of each of his instructors, to what he was feeling upon each encounter.
Lesson: You can talk about whatever you want on the phone, but limit the more personal conversations for a less public time and place.
Also, the bus is not the latest networking outlet. It is a transportation method. Remember that some people are, more or less, forced to take it. The passengers are in close quarters, and they are usually counting the minutes until the next stop. I would even say that most of them are not up for an engaging conversation. I know I rarely am.
But, maybe some people would enjoy talking. How do you know? There are signs that can be easily recognized upon entering the bus. Headphones, opened books, closed eyes – all of these things are clues, meaning: Do not disturb. They are weary from long lectures, or working with other students, and want to be left alone.
On the bus I’ve been asked my phone number, to hang out, to go to a frat house and of course if I wanted gum. All of which I politely declined, due to the awkwardness of the situation. It’s okay to want to meet new people, or even casually compliment them or state something in passing, but it’s not okay to overdo it or impose yourself into their personal space.
LBCC campus is a great place to meet people. The bus is just a convenient way to get there. So, next time you’re on the bus (sitting so close to me that you can read my book) and you want to be friendly – just smile. I will smile back, and make a mental note that you are a polite and conscientious bus rider…not someone to be ignored. | <urn:uuid:552f193b-aaf0-4e99-9ea3-36edb52540df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lbcommuter.com/2011/10/10/common-knowledge-the-bus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978397 | 608 | 2.125 | 2 |
A number of 9 News viewers have been asking us about weather radios with the recent tornadoes and warnings of a dangerous storm season for 2012.
A weather radio is a great idea, as it will sound an alert well before sirens go off, giving you advance warning.
And if a tornado is approaching, it can be a lifesaver, because it goes on automatically, even waking you in the middle of the night.
Top brands to buy
Neither Consumer Reports Magazine nor the National Weather Service endorse specific brands, but recommend you get what's called a "NOAA" weather radio which meets all government standards.
Popular brands, which meet NOAA standards, include Midland, Motorola, Radio Shack, and First Alert, which puts the First Alert name on radios made by other companies.
Features to Look for
But the one essential feature to look for is a wall power cord plus battery backup. This feature is missing from the cheapest radios, which have either a wall plug or battery, but not both.
One more option on some weather radios that's also nice to have: A hand crank on the side. That way if the power goes out, or your batteries are dead, you can still power it up.
Weather radios are sold at hardware, sporting good stores and some retail stores for around $25 - $50.
Top-rated radios by Amazon.com include:
-Midland WR 120IS, $39
-Midland ER102, $59
-Midland WR300, $79
-Eton Hand Cranked, $40
Weather radio apps
Finally if you've got an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch -- there's a great new app that acts just like a weather radio.
It's called iMap weather radio. You put in your location, and it alerts you on your phone when there's dangerous weather heading your way. It is $9.99 at the iTunes store.
While you're at it, download the WCPO 9 News weather app, for the most local coverage.
As always, don't waste your money.
Don't Waste Your Money is a registered trademark of the EW ScrippsCo.
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Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
John Matarese has a warning about some repair companies that pop up in Google searches | <urn:uuid:0feb36f3-3de7-4b98-8d5c-f140f4561b6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/money/consumer/dont_waste_your_money/best-weather-radios-to-warn-of-approaching-storms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911856 | 507 | 1.679688 | 2 |
I remember discussing difficulties managing work days with another new assistant professor who had observed professors more closely than I had. He said: “Your problem is that you are not hiding enough.”
At the time I did not think this was a comprehensive enough answer and I did not fully understand it. But it has come to me now, decades later. I am definitely not hiding enough. You have to hide yourself to get work done. I have been procrastinating on grading by doing service today and it was a bad idea.
The problem with service is not that it is bad in itself or that it does not need doing — those things must get done and someone must do them. The problem is that it is antithetical to hiding, you have to deal with all these people and details, and this is exhausting and also disorienting.
All the advice about getting writing done that people give, does not make sense to me as advice for writing because it is not news. In my case, difficulty with writing is never with writing, it is always a sign of an underlying problem of project design or fatigue, it always means there is in fact something I should do first.
But the writing advice — try just 25 minutes, do a small part of it and then take a break, remember that if you do not start, you will not finish — it applies perfectly, but perfectly to grading.
This is in part because the papers have so many unforeseen problems that it is hard to know what to do, it is intimidating. But one must keep on keeping on starting. Take a short break and start again, but keep that break short.
Grading is antithetical to hiding because it is actually an intense involvement with someone else’s minds, or many other minds. That is why you have to hide to do it — you are already dealing with enough people and thoughts on paper, and more cannot be added.
I always said that this was not an academic blog but it appears to have turned into one. | <urn:uuid:5a6f6838-738b-4907-8776-44b1bc436b24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://profacero.wordpress.com/2012/09/24/you-are-not-hiding-enough/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984139 | 412 | 1.515625 | 2 |
While the well-publicized growth in U.S. tight oil production has the potential to significantly alter long-standing relationships in international crude oil markets, domestic price divergences resulting from this growth have already had a major impact on the U.S. refining sector. Monthly data for May from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirm two trends: U.S. refineries continue to run at high levels, and disparities in the regional economics of the U.S. refining market persist. U.S. refineries have run 330,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) (2.3 percent) more crude oil year-to-date through May in 2012 compared to 2011 (Figure 1). This increase in crude runs has been concentrated in the Midwest, Gulf Coast, and Rocky Mountain regions, areas which have access to discounted land-locked crude oils or which have refineries with substantial upgrading capacity.
In 2012, the U.S. refining sector has generally been refining more barrels of crude oil than at any point since the large drop in petroleum prices in 2008. In May, U.S. refineries as a whole ran 15.2 million bbl/d of crude oil, a 3-percent increase compared to a year earlier. With the addition of the May data, 2012 year-to-date crude runs at U.S. refineries have averaged about 14.7 million bbl/d, the highest runs during the first five months of the year since 2008, and 220,000 bbl/d (1.5 percent) higher than the five-year average. Looking only at the national level of U.S. refinery runs, however, reveals just part of the picture. There are significant regional disparities in the underlying economics leading refinery runs to vary greatly among regions.
Refineries in the Midwest and Rocky Mountains are running at record-high levels to take advantage of lower-cost feedstocks available as a result of surging tight-oil production in those areas, along with some capacity expansions which have allowed for the processing of more heavy, sour Canadian crude. In 2012, the refiner acquisition cost of crude oil (RAC) for the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains has averaged $11 per barrel and $15 per barrel, respectively, below the U.S. average RAC. This price advantage has resulted in increased margins for refiners with access to the discounted crude oil, encouraging persistently high crude oil runs and refinery capacity utilization. Midwest refineries have run an average of just under 3.5 million bbl/d of crude oil through May in 2012, a 5.7-percent increase over 2011 and an 8.6-percent increase over the average from 2007 through 2011. In April, Midwest runs were the highest of any month since July 2000. Runs have been particularly high in Kansas and Oklahoma, where refineries are closely linked to the Cushing trading hub for West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which has been discounted for much of the past two years compared to global benchmarks such as Brent. Although they have a much smaller total capacity, refineries in the Rocky Mountains have run 559,000 bbl/d of crude oil in 2012, a 4.7-percent increase from 2011. | <urn:uuid:4f3c5f47-af52-425e-9599-989789013139> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/markets/energy/crude-oil/Refineries-continue-to-run-at-high-levels-in-the-central-US-164636876.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953375 | 663 | 1.75 | 2 |
The Learning Community International is an accredited private school offering a K-12 program in Maryland, as well as nationally and internationally.
- Has graduated over 1,100 students since 1984
- Accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
- Oversees educational programs in Indonesia, Korea, Egypt, Trinidad
- Committed to continuous improvement in our program, methodology, technology, materials
- We select students who are self-motivated, adventurous, independent learners and who are willing to engage in reflective learning.
- We are committed to remaining a small private school so that each student receives deserved individual focus and commitment from our educational team.
- We attract students worldwide who have a dedicated passion requiring a significant time commitment. Our students have: attended college at age 12 and gone on to medical school at 16, become Intel Finalists, played professional soccer in high school, mastered an art or skill, published scientific research or a book, pursued an entrepreneurial endeavor, learned multiple languages, traveled internationally, and successfully dealt with a physical disability.
- The world is our campus. Students do not need to sit in a classroom to have a superior educational experience.
- Propose and complete a rigorous curriculum, master the art of reflective learning, and keep a journal
- Meet regularly face-to-face with our educational team and are held accountable to achieve mutually agreed goals
- Question themselves, what they learn, and the choices they make, and to adjust accordingly
- Engage in self-evaluation and self-correction
- Complete a minimum of 24 credits to graduate from high school
Our Educational Team
- Customizes courses and individualizes the curricula
- Focuses on critical and analytical thinking and reflective learning
- Conducts parent and student strength and talent assessment and coaching
- Encourages students to master practical skills such as time management
- Makes students aware that their knowledge and behavior can make a difference in the world
TLCI's collaborative, reflective learning experience is an ideal educational path for self-motivated students looking for a customized, rigorous program that meets high standards. With 21st century technology, TLCI advisors, coaches, and tutors are with our students anywhere in the world. | <urn:uuid:3a627b9e-5620-4810-95f7-c0f799b08659> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tlci.us/contact_us.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951384 | 453 | 1.515625 | 2 |
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In the heart of America, on a deadly inland sea that has claimed as many as 6,000 vessels and 30,000 lives, a way of life exists that few ever witness. Men who breathe diesel fumes and watch every step they take on shifting decks. Men who battle the elements, wrestle with runaway vessels, fight fatigue and sometimes risk all in the struggle to make a living.
They are tugboat men, sailors in constant combat with the deadly storms and hazards of the Great Lakes. They are men who work against the clock, fighting thick ice forming in every direction under treacherous winter conditions, including winds that could knock an entire crew off deck in the blink of an eye. For some, it’s part of their family heritage. For others, it’s a lifelong dream. But for all of the Great Lake Warriors, it’s a life-on-the-line mission to get the job done and make it back home alive.
Learn more about their story when the series “Great Lakes Warriors” debuts at 10 p.m. July 19, on the History Channel. | <urn:uuid:56dc6205-a194-4a27-8687-665408df60f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.macombdaily.com/article/20120718/NEWS/120719590/-great-lakes-warriors-debuts- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942441 | 235 | 2.171875 | 2 |
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A unique ball puzzle. Sold in small quantities online.
A very interesting and unusual design. Six curved sections are joined with pivots end-to-end to form a continuous loop.
Each section contains two rows of three coloured beads. The sections can be twisted to align in different ways.
There are six distinct alignments where the outer 18 beads can be cycled through the sections.
The puzzle is solved when all the beads are in the correspondingly coloured halves of the sections.
The puzzle was only ever sold online, marketed directly by the inventor through the now defunct site www.astrolabacus.com and through eBay.
A well thought out, solidly constructed, challenging and rare puzzle. The movement is incredibly fluid for something so solid.
Thank you to the following people for their assistance in helping collect the information on this page: MaxWiz. If you have any information or images that you would like to contribute to this entry, please click the apropriate add () or edit () icon above, or use the following links to modify this item, add a recent sale price or to add a new link. | <urn:uuid:f5fdcb5e-8b4d-4607-8ec4-9657a9c0fe6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.twistypuzzles.com/cgi-bin/puzzle.cgi?pkey=825&sortfield=pp.Contributors&sortorder=ASC | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923163 | 244 | 1.53125 | 2 |
John Muir's Mount Hood
"The Ruling Spirit of the Landscape"
By Ronald Eber
Mount Hood is the symbol and image of Oregon. In John
Muir's words, it is "the pride of
Oregonians," their "mountain of mountains." It's awesome
beauty reminds us of Oregon's unique
livability. It guided Lewis and Clark and countless
settlers on the final leg of their journey down
the Columbia to the "Eden at the end of the Trail." Today,
it inspire's Oregonians to rethink how
best to protect it from all those who love it so much.
Some now advocate that Mount Hood National Forest be
redesignated as a National Scenic
Recreation Area. In evaluating this goal, it is important
to understand what John Muir and other
conservationists thought of the mountain and about their
efforts protect it.
John Muir was inspired by Mount Hood and his early writings
furthered it's reputation as the
"glory of the country." From the "heights back of
Portland" in 1888, Muir could see the summits
of Mounts Hood, Jefferson, St. Helen's, Adams and Rainier.
But Mount Hood captured his
imagination and held his eyes "in devout and awful
interest." "There stood Mount Hood," he
wrote, "in all the glory of the alpine glow looming
immensely high..." Muir's vision captured the
special presence that Mount Hood brings to the Oregon
"It gives the supreme touch of grandeur to all the
main Columbia views, rising at
every turn, solitary, majestic, awe-inspiring, the
ruling spirit of the landscape."
Such sentiments were not new to Oregonians. The Oregon
Alpine Club (later the Mazamas) was
founded in 1887 and led many outings and climbs to the
mountain. Efforts to protect the forest
lands surrounding Mount Hood and throughout the Cascades
began in the Oregon Legislature as
early as 1889. The first Forest Reserve (later National
Forest) established in Oregon and one of
the first in the country was proclaimed in 1892 around the
Bull Run Watershed. President
Harrison set aside 142,080 acres to protect the City of
Portland's water supply. The rest of
Mount Hood and the Cascades were reserved from private
claims by President Cleveland in 1893.
The Cascade Range Reserve covered over four million acres,
and stretched from Mount Hood to
Crater Lake. The Oregon National Forest was separated from
the Cascade Reserve in 1908 and
renamed Mount Hood in 1924.
Unfortunately, early surveys to establish National Parks
and Monuments overlooked Mount
Hood. It's beauty was all too common when compared with
the early parks and monuments
created in the Pacific Northwest: Mount Rainier, Crater
Lake and the Olympic Mountains. But
interest in its beauty and forests did not diminish.
Efforts to reduce the Cascade Reserve were
protested and stopped by the Mazamas and Sierra Club in
1896. The Clubs's resolution stated:
"These reservations [should] be extended rather than
diminished even to the
extent of prohibiting the sale to private parties of
any portion of forest land
included in the public domain."
With protection from private claims secured, recreational
activities gained greater public interest.
The Sierra Club's first outing outside of California was a
joint venture with the Mazamas to climb
Mounts Hood and Rainier in 1905. As Oregon grew, so did
interest in the outdoors and the
forested slopes of Mount Hood and the Cascades. No longer
did Mount Hood just "loom up' on
Millions came to the mountains to climb and camp and for
rest and solitude. The Mount Hood
Primitive Area (later wilderness) was established in 1931.
Timberline Lodge was built in 1937
and cabins were available in the Olallie Recreation Area
(designated as Scenic Area in 1969).
Both provided new attractions and access to the mountain.
Again there was interest in creating a
National Park around Mount Hood. In 1938, the National
Park Service found that the Cascade
Range in Oregon and Washington included areas suitable for
either "one great national park--or
two parks" with "one in Washington and one in Oregon." The
Report noted that large tracts of
the Cascade Range were already designated as recreational
areas because "their value for
recreation exceeds their value for commercial utilization."
From Mount Baker in the north to
Mount Hood on the Columbia and on south to the Three
Sisters, the proposed new park would
"reserve some of the finest and most spectacular scenery of
the country, and would preserve areas
whose best uses are for watershed control, game
preservation, and education and recreation."
Unfortunately, World War II erupted and the proposals were
set aside and lost in the coming war.
After WW II, a frantic building boom brought industrial
forestry and the "fierce storm of steel" to
the Cascades. With this, the intense conflict between
logging and wilderness recreation began in
earnest as well as efforts to protect the remaining
wilderness around Mount Hood.
When the Wilderness Act was enacted in 1964, the 30,000
acre Mount Hood Wilderness area,
one of the first in the country, was designated around the
mountain summit. An additional 17,000
acres of forest land was added in 1978. Wild and Scenic
River designations are now in place for
the Clackamas, White, Salmon and Sandy rivers and in 1984,
four additional wilderness areas
totaling over 141,000 acres were established. These are
the Columbia (now Hatfield), Salmon
Huckleberry, Badger Creek and Bull of the Woods. In the
1987, the Columbia Gorge National
Scenic Area provided additional protection to the flanks of
Mount Hood along the Columbia
Gorge including Multnomah Falls which Muir believed "worthy
of a place beside the famous falls
of the Yosemite Valley."
Despite this long history of interest and protective
efforts something seems missing. Mount Hood
is more than just a mountain to climb, source of timber and
water, forest, wildlife sanctuary,
scenic, recreation or wilderness area. The multitude of
planning designations and varying
protective efforts have fragmented Oregon's "the mountain
of mountains." Its future protection
requires a new unifying vision of it's place in the region
if it is to remain, as John Muir wrote:
"the ruling spirit of the landscape."
To read more about John Muir's impressions of Mount Hood and Oregon, see:
Ronald Eber is free-lance writer about Oregon's conservation history.
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Australian Bureau of Statistics
1330.0 - Education News, Aug 2007
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 30/07/2007
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ABS Education Services
How does your local area compare? It is now easier than ever for students to find information about their local area. In coming months ABS Education Services will be adding specific Census activities for the classroom onto our webpages. But you don't have to wait until then, over the next few editions of Education News we'll discuss different ways you and your students can access Census 2006 data that is of interest to them.
When looking for Census data, QuickStats is a great place to start. It provides a snapshot of an area, your postcode, the whole of Australia, your state, your local government area - in fact there are 18 different geographies you can use. QuickStats presents population by age groups and sex, country of birth, religion, language spoken at home, type of dwelling, marital status, family characteristics etc, and compares the area to the whole of Australia.
Here's how to do it:
If you have any queries about how to use Census 2006 data, you can call the ABS National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, or email email@example.com.
Education Services Webpages
The new Education Services webpages were launched on 2 July. You can now directly access the Education pages using www.abs.gov.au/teachers, or www.abs.gov/students, where separate areas for Teachers and Students have been created. Resources include statistical games; ABS data sets that have been designed for use in the classroom; classroom activities for Mathematics, Geography and Economics; statistical stories; and much much more.
Let us know what you think of our new pages. You can call on 1800 623 273 or email firstname.lastname@example.org
Use CensusAtSchool Data in 2007
CensusAtSchool data is available online through the Random Sampler for use in the classroom throughout 2007. Check out this FREE and invaluable resource.
ABS Education Services has recently produced a professional development DVD which provides an insight into the CensusAtSchool project and contains all the information you'll need to get started with CensusAtSchool. Obtain your FREE copy by contacting ABS Education Services (see contact details below).
CensusAtSchool - have your say
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Recently Released Publications
Australian Demographic Statistics, December 2006 (cat. no. 3101.0)
Quarterly estimates of total population for states, territories and Australia. Includes the most recent estimates of the population in five-year age groups; numbers and some rates of births, deaths, infant deaths, and interstate and overseas migration.
Voluntary Work Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 4441.0)
Information about participation in unpaid voluntary work through an organisation or a group. Includes data about the types of organisation with which the voluntary work is associated, the types of activities carried out and time spent volunteering. Also information about givers of monetary donations to organisations.
Corrective Services Australia, March 2007 (cat. no. 4512.0) .
Contains national information on persons in custodial corrective services in Australia. Quarterly information is presented for each state and territory. Statistics
are presented by open and secure custody and periodic detention, for all prisoners and for Indigenous prisoners.
CONTACT ABS EDUCATION SERVICES
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This page last updated 11 September 2007 | <urn:uuid:33f70eca-410d-403b-84fc-be79a561dcae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/1330.0Main%20Features1Aug%202007?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=1330.0&issue=Aug%202007&num=&view= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921856 | 795 | 2.40625 | 2 |
GABRIEL VII, ninety-fifth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (1525-1568). Gabriel VII was born about 1476 in Minshah or Manshiyyat Abu ‘A’ishah, near DAYR AL-MUHARRAQ, west of Al-Qusiyyah in the province of Asyut. He was known by the name of Ibn Muhanna.
His father, the hegumenos Jirjis ibn Rufa’il, was the parish priest of the famous church of Saint Mercurius (ABU SAYFAYN) in Old Cairo. At an unknown date, Ibn Muhanna entered DAYR AL-SURYAN in the desert of Scetis and took the name Rufa’il, like his grandfather. Shortly after he became a priest, then a HEGUMENOS.
A note in the manuscript of Saint Antony, numbered Theology 209, describes Gabriel VII as a tall, quiet man, strongly inclined toward an asceticism that included fasts, long prayers, and stringent austerity.
On 5 February 1524, JOHN XIII, the ninety-fourth patriarch, died. After deliberations that lasted nearly twenty months, the bishops and ARCHONS of the community chose Rufa’il as patriarch. He was consecrated on 1 October 1525.
One of the colophons in Coptic Vatican 9 notes that on 29 November 1525, just two months after his consecration, Gabriel acquired from master Barsum ibn Mikha’il Tayy Ibn Bisadah this manuscript, now in the Vatican, which contains the four gospels in Bohairic and Arabic (Hebbelynck and van Lantschoot, 1937).
Gabriel did much to restore a number of monasteries, especially those in the Eastern Desert near the Red Sea. They included Saint Antony's (DAYR ANBA ANTUNIYUS), Saint Paul's (DAYR ANBA BULA), and DAYR AL-MAYMUN. He rebuilt entirely the monastery of Saint Antony, then called Dayr al-‘Arabah, which, although it had been destroyed by the bedouins, thereafter began to bloom. Unfortunately, the refurbished monastery of Saint Paul was again destroyed by the bedouins during Gabriel's lifetime. To his credit, Gabriel also restored parts of Dayr al-Muharraq, the monastery near his native village.
These restorations required a great deal of money. Moreover, the taxes demanded by the state became increasingly heavy. For these two reasons, Gabriel sought to raise funds. But the faithful in Cairo subsequently accused him of being a materialist, a calumniation repudiated by the fact that at his death, his cell was found totally
In 1561, Pope Paul IV (1559-1565) sent two Jesuits to Gabriel in the hope of reestablishing a union between the two churches. The two envoys, Fathers Christophore Rodriguez (Spanish) and GIAMBATTISTA ELIANO (a native of Egypt), were received by the patriarch in November 1561. Their ultimate goal was to join the Copts to the Church of Rome. In this connection, the pope was asking that the patriarch send a representative to the Council of Trent, that he delegate a group of young men to go to Rome to be instructed in the Catholic faith, and that he should write a letter of submission.
The idea for this mission had originated with a certain Ibrahim al-Suryani (alias Abram), who several years earlier had introduced himself in Rome as the envoy of Gabriel. He had submitted letters alleged to be from the patriarch, which indicated that Gabriel recognized the primacy of the Roman pope. It later became clear that the letter from the patriarch was nothing more than a letter of recommendation. The others had been forged by Abram.
Initially, the Jesuit fathers appeared to be attaining their goal. The patriarch promised to send someone to the Council of Trent. He avoided sending a group of young Copts to Rome by saying that the Turks would view such a move negatively. At first, he seemed disposed to offer allegiance to the Roman pope, but in the end he
changed his mind on the unfavorable advice of the Coptic bishop of Cyprus.
The patriarch charged Abram and a certain George to discuss everything openly with the Jesuit fathers and to work out positions acceptable to both sides. When the patriarch was ready to sign, a young man named Gabriel, the future GABRIEL VIII (1586-1601), intervened, counseling the patriarch against signing a document he
considered heretical. The young Gabriel, who exerted considerable influence on the eighty-five-year-old patriarch, was described by the two Latin delegates as being an intelligent but fanatically obstinate youth.
The patriarch was benevolently disposed toward the delegates. The proof is that he willingly allowed the two fathers to travel throughout the country, baptizing whomsoever they pleased among the faithful who, by and large, were much neglected by the native bishops and clergy. In fact, throughout their journey the two priests
were astonished by the observation that baptismal fonts were empty and in disrepair.
Convinced of the uselessness of their efforts, the two delegates finally returned to Cairo and thence to Rome. According to them, the whole scheme was a mistake from the beginning, due not only to misinformation but also to the obstinate stand of the young Gabriel.
This first official Catholic mission to the Copts paved the way for a long series of pontifical missions to a number of successive patriarchs. All failed. Although at the beginning of the eighteenth century Rome renounced its attempts at global unions, some dialogue was established with small groups of Copts, thus giving birth to the Coptic Catholic community of today.
In 1568 the sultan taxed both Christians and Jews very heavily in order to defray costs of the army sent to conquer Yemen under the leadership of Sinan Pasha. Unable to gather the required sum, Gabriel decided to retire to his favorite monastery of Saint Antony. On arrival, however, he died surrounded by his monks, on 26
October 1568. He was transported to Cairo on 25 November and in the presence of eighty-five bishops and priests was buried in the Church of Saint Mercurius (Abu Sayfayn) in Old Cairo. These events are attested by two inscriptions: one, an inscription on the wall of the Chapel of Saint Antony; and another, the manuscript Liturgy 391 at the same monastery.
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Manhasset, NY (Vocus) March 30, 2010
Scientists at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have embarked on a national search for sisters.
The SisSLE (Sisters of Women with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) research study is looking for sisters: one with a diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease and one (or more) who does not have lupus. Betty Diamond, MD, and Peter Gregersen, MD, designed the study to understand how individuals may progress to lupus. By following sister(s) of a lupus patient the hope is to identify the disease in its earliest, pre-symptomatic stage and track its progression over time. The pilot study will enroll 400 sisters over a 2-year period. Scientists will be able to identify auto-antibodies that play a role in lupus and study other changes in blood serum that may help predict disease. They will also be trying to figure out how auto-antibodies may interact with environmental factors to play a role in the development of lupus.
Lupus is nine times more common in women and the autoimmune disease can attack many different organs and tissues of the body. Lupus has a significant genetic component. The risk of developing SLE is .1 percent in the population and twice that in females. In first degree relatives the risk can be from 4 to 8 percent.
Feinstein’s Dr. Diamond, a world-renowned lupus research and director of the Center for Autoimmune and Musculoskeletal Disorders, is teaming up with geneticist Peter K. Gregersen, MD, who is director of the Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics. They want to understand how people progress from the start of the autoimmune process to end up with severe disability. What scientists know about the epidemiology of the illness is this: If they follow 4,000 sisters with a sibling with lupus that 80 of them will develop the autoimmune disease at some point in their lives. They also know that some sisters with anti-DNA antibody in their blood will never get lupus. The question is why. Ultimately they want to figure out who those people are and whether the auto-antibodies in their blood can reveal something about why they got sick or not. Then, what if they can begin treating people at risk for lupus before the disease causes organ damage? Could they stave off more serious symptoms and provide people with a better quality of life? They are hoping that this study will be able to help fit these puzzle pieces together.
This study will be a collaborative effort nationwide. There may be more than half a million lupus patients and more than half will have been diagnosed before their 35th birthday. By crude estimates, it means that there are 300,000 people who got lupus in their 30s. If 70 percent have a sister that means that they have a population of 200,000 potential recruits for the study. They are ultimately looking to recruit 4,000 sisters. The plan is to also mine the genome to identify genes that put families at risk and start to link the various genes to the different symptoms of the disease.
The sisters who have anti-nuclear antibodies but no signs of disease will also help tell the story of how the body’s immune system fends off this autoimmune disease. Can they identify markers of progression to disease? Who will get lupus and when? “The healthy person will help us understand the disease,” Dr. Diamond said.
Women who were diagnosed with lupus between the ages of 10 and 35 are invited to join the study if they have a sister or sisters (also between the ages of 10 and 35) without a diagnosis of lupus. Half-sisters are welcome to join the SisSLE study as well. For more information call Bonnie Gonzales, RN, or Sally Kaplan, RN, at 877-698-9467 or email SisSLE(at)nshs(dot)edu or visit the website http://www.SisSLE.org .
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Partnership central to China’s AIDS response
16 July 2007
Leadership, commitment and ensuring the involvement of a wide range of partners in the AIDS response– including people living with HIV –have been underlined as critical to progress on AIDS in China, during a week-long UNAIDS mission to the country (15 – 20 July).
Heading the mission, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot stressed the need for all those working on AIDS to be fully involved in the development and implementation of the China’s response. He also highlighted the need for focused HIV prevention programmes to reach the people most at risk and the continued need to reduce AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in the country.
The mission travelled through Henan, one of the provinces most affected by AIDS – visiting Shangcai county and the provincial capital Zhengzhou. According to Chinese government estimates, some 66,000 people are thought to be living with HIV in the province.
Key discussions with provincial leaders and visits to a health clinic, a primary school, a centre for AIDS orphans and two households of people living with HIV gave insight into progresses being made and ongoing challenges faced.
Henan has a comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, care and support system with over $100 million invested by the provincial government over the last 4 years. Free antiretroviral treatment and treatment for opportunistic infections is available in hundreds of villages and towns across the province. During the mission, healthcare workers in the province stressed the importance of ensuring second line treatment is made available and addressing the potential reality of emergence of drug resistance. They also underlined the need for expanded availability of opportunistic infection treatment.
“There are 129 free drugs for treatment of opportunistic infections. But we still hope that some more drugs, such as drugs for hypertension treatment will become free of charge,” a member of the staff told UNAIDS at the health clinic in Nanawu village.
Despite increased attention to AIDS in the province, the involvement of non-governmental, community based organizations and people living with HIV within the response has been rather limited. Addressing this issue, the UNAIDS Executive Director held special discussions with a group of civil society representatives – including representatives of media, non-governmental organizations and people living with HIV to explore ways of strengthening their active involvement in the response to AIDS in Henan. Coordinated action and the issue of stigma and discrimination were high on the agenda, with participants underlining that some progress has been seen on reducing AIDS-related discrimination but that more was needed to ensure civil society and people living with HIV can have the opportunity and space to be active within the response. “There is still a definite need for improvement,” said one non-governmental organization representative.
Visiting households of people living with HIV, Dr Piot emphasized the critical role individuals have to play in ensuring an effective response to AIDS. “People living with HIV should be at the very centre of the response. Your voices must be heard,” he said, urging them to participate in HIV prevention and anti-discrimination campaign s and reach out to others in the community.
Young people, their role in the response and the need to raise their awareness on AIDS issues was also highlighted through discussions at the Nandawu Village primary school and the Red Ribbon Care Center for AIDS Orphans.
Joining the children in the Red Ribbon Centre in their daily sporting activities, Dr Piot stressed the critical role of the school system in increasing AIDS prevention, anti-discrimination and life skills education as well as vocational training. He also called for provincial and educational leaders to give more attention to children and young people on AIDS, as they are among the most vulnerable to HIV infection.
Following the Henan mission, Dr Piot travelled on to the Chinese capital Beijing. Over the next days he will meet with Chinese government officials and hold talks with Chinese AIDS experts and activists.
More information on China
Visit the UNAIDS China web site | <urn:uuid:fd85b8e3-38f9-4927-86a4-e100df83f322> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2007/july/20070716partnershipcentralchinaaidsresponse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962667 | 813 | 1.84375 | 2 |
WIT, v.i. [G., to know. See Wise.] To know. This verb is used only in the infinitive, to wit, namely, that is to say. [L.]
WIT, n. [See the verb and Wise.]1. Primarily, the intellect; the understanding or mental powers.Will puts in practice what the wit deviseth.For wit and power their last endeavors bend t outshine each other.2. The association of ideas in a manner natural, but unusual and striking, so as to produce surprise joined with pleasure. Wit is defined.What oft was thought, but neer so well expressd.Wit consists in assembling and putting together with quickness, ideas in which can be found resemblance and congruity, by which to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions in the fancy.Wit consists chiefly in joining things by distant and fanciful relations, which surprise us because they are unexpected.Wit is a propriety of thoughts and words; or in other terms, thoughts and words elegantly adapted to the subject.3. The faculty of associating ideas in a new and unexpected manner.4. A man of genius; as, the age of Addison abounded with wits.A wit herself, Amelia weds a wit.5. A man of fancy or wit.Intemperate wits will spare neither friend nor foe.6. Sense; judgment.He wants not wit the danger to decline.7. Faculty of the mind.8. Wits, in the plural, soundness of mind; intellect not disordered; sound mind. No man in his wits would venture on such an expedition. Have you lost your wits? Is he out of his wits?9. Power of invention; contrivance; ingenuity. He was at his wits end.
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The recent experience of virus researcher Mila Parkour highlights the risks of storing files via cloud hosting services. Parkour’s blog tells how popular file sharing site MediaFire suspended access to her paid account – for 3 consecutive copyright violations.
The copyright violations related to 3 files she hosted on MediaFire (linked to from her blog) and resulted from DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) Takedown Notices issued by a French copyright watchdog company called LeakID.
1 of the 3 files was a free and widely available Microsoft Office patch (security fix) – very unlikely to infringe copyright for sharing it. The fact that it included MS Office 2010 in the filename is likely to be the reason why it was wrongly assumed to be suspicious (e.g. a ‘crack’ for Office).
However, the other 2 files were encrypted zip files containing a malicious PDF attachment (for virus researchers). As they were encrypted there is no way they could be ‘read’ by LeakID to ascertain potential infringement of copyright. Even if they could be read, only an agent acting on behalf of the owner could claim copyright infringement – and nobody is going to admit to being the ‘owner’ of malicious code…
Therefore it appears that at least 2 of the 3 DMCA notices were totally groundless – so MediaFire would reject them, yes? No. They accepted each claim ‘as is’ and stopped those files from being shared. Even worse, because 3 consecutive claims were received, they suspended Parkour’s account – locking her out of all her 34GB+ of hosted files, not just the 3 in question.
MediaFire absolved themselves from all responsibility, putting the onus on their customer to counter-claim directly with LeakID – “If you file a counter-claim the reporting party has 10 days to respond If they do not we can restore the file“. So even if you are totally innocent your files will be unavailable for up to 10 days…
According to Sophos, MediaFire’s Director of Support claimed “The circumstances of your case related to a 3rd party notice are unfortunate. Like all online service providers, we are compelled by law to suspend content upon the receipt of a complete DMCA Notice”.
Read that last bit again – ‘we are compelled by law to suspend content upon the receipt of a complete DMCA Notice’. Even if the notice is provably false and you have not violated anything, if you are wrongfully accused of copyright infringement by a third party (even in another country), those files will still be suspended.
Is this the fault of LeakID, MediaFire or DMCA?
LeakID and other such companies almost certainly use automated bots to trawl the net looking for files infringing copyright and the nature of automation means that a large number of innocent files may be caught up in the sweep – files where LeakID is most certainly not authorized to act on behalf of the owner.
If they knowingly ignore that fact it could even be construed as perjury – Parkour notes that the DMCA filing rules state “under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed“.
MediaFire haven’t covered themselves in glory by refusing to act on behalf of their (paying) customer – going so far as to suspend her entire account. Even a cursory inspection of the files would have revealed that 2 were encrypted – as they could not be read (and were malicious files anyway) it should have been impossible for anyone to claim copyright infringement.
However, it is the US DMCA legislation and its Takedown Notices that are the biggest culprit for this ridiculous “guilty until proven innocent” state of affairs. As Parkour notes “Apparently, anyone can contact any file sharing service and claim DMCA violations and make them suspend any file you don’t like”.
This isn’t the first time I’ve discussed DMCA – last month I wondered if Microsoft were using DMCA Notices to punish negative Windows 8 stories.
Such a scattergun automated approach to takedown notices is an indication of the dangers that DMCA poses to free speech – Google noted back in 2009 that:
“more than half (57%) of the takedown notices it has received under the US DMCA 1998, were sent by business targeting competitors and over one third (37%) of notices were not valid copyright claims”.
It appears not much has changed. Companies can fire off notices like buckshot in the (usually correct) expectation that smaller website owners will not have the resources to take legal action against malicious or incorrect notice requests…
The last words go to Mila “For me it is a black mark on all cloud services and a reason why I would be hesitant to recommend using cloud services for companies who are concerned about ownership of their files”.
I couldn’t agree more. Whilst there may be a place for cloud file hosting as a backup medium, relying on it for sharing files can be a risky undertaking – at least whilst DMCA remains so biased against the innocent party. | <urn:uuid:815562d7-be3f-4b3c-a6c5-bc89ee3edc6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techlogon.com/2012/09/11/mediafire-dmca-response-exposes-risks-of-cloud-file-hosting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961934 | 1,062 | 1.507813 | 2 |
What Does Cable Mean?
Slang used among forex traders referring to the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the British pound sterling. Because it is the norm in forex for most major currencies to be quoted against the U.S. dollar on a regular basis, “cable” is a commonly used term.
“Cable” can also be used to refer simply to the British pound sterling.
For example, you may hear someone dealing with the forex market saying, “The cable is up today,” or, “The cable has been trending lower lately.”
The origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as “cable dealers”. | <urn:uuid:661687da-68c0-46b7-aaa2-194da3d0ddf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fxprofessional.net/blog/forex-trading-terms-cable | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965037 | 177 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Glass block windows are one of the architectural features often used in homes and businesses, designed to fit within a masonry wall. They are made up of 8 x 8 inch blocks that can be used on the exterior and interior of a building, often use as a natural light source when no ventilation is needed. The function of having a glass block window is to provide privacy and light source. It also creates a feeling of openness in a space that a regular window doesn't provide. Glass block windows come in 8 x 8 inch units so that they can be laid on a regular concrete block. Unlike sheet glass, glass blocks are hollow and heavy. Recently, glass block windows can now be made using acrylic glass so that they are more lightweight and affordable on your pocket. A regular glass block has to be laid individually like bricks in order to make the design of a window. Acrylic glass block is now available as a pre-assembled unit in a window form so it doesnít require any masonry skills to combine the glass windows to the concrete blocks. The benefits of having a glass block window installed are the sense of privacy while natural light is still permitted to enter the room. Glass block windows are thicker and durable than the regular glass. They are also resistant to any breakage and vandalism, making it a best choice for any unsupervised area. It is also a great alternative to ceramic block applications for they are non-porous and easy to clean. They are also energy efficient for they keep your home more comfortable because of its size and construction. | <urn:uuid:4ad02ae8-4978-4bf7-9403-b682f9bf1f26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pointcom.com/TX/Lubbock/business-search/Glass%20Block%20Windows/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961829 | 311 | 2.484375 | 2 |
And Now For Something Completely Different
By Larry Gilhuly, director, Northwest RegionJuly 7, 2011
There have been several articles written that discusses the importance of differentiating between regular golf course conditions and course conductions at national championships. However, the recently completed APL Championships at Bandon Dunes on the southern Oregon coast displayed some completely different sets of circumstances not usually seen at our other national championships.
- All fescue, all the time. Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of Bandon Dunes has been the near 100% use of fine-leaf fescues on all of the playing surfaces. The greens for both championships were a combination of red and chewings fescue maintained at a .200” mowing height. Any other grass maintained at this height would cause unacceptable green speeds. However, the green speeds for both courses ranged from 10’6” to11’3” (Old MacDonald and Bandon Trails) based on the difference in wind at the two sites. Regardless, this mowing height range allowed minimal watering and hand watering due to the deep root systems in this dune sand site.
- Old MacDonald outside green perimeters. While the playing of national championships on a fescue golf course is uncommon (only Chambers Bay with the 2010 U.S. Amateur has fulfilled this criterion), there is a different approach to putting green mowing practice at Old MacDonald. Rather than doing a ‘clean-up’ pass on the green perimeters, the greens were simply mowed with no distinct edge. This idea was prompted to minimize wear damage to the fescue on the green perimeters, but it led to the most unique aspect of these two championships.
- Old MacDonald and Bandon Trails green definition. Since there was no identifiable perimeter at the greens at either of the two golf courses, the decision was made to use white paint and dot the edge every few feet. When completed, every few days the players and rules officials could then make the proper ruling as to whether the player was on or off the putting surface.
- You take the pull carts where! One of the weaknesses of fine-leaf fescue is its susceptibility to traffic wear. To eliminate this problem on the areas around the greens, it has been a common practice for years to allow wide-tire pull carts to cross over the greens. With sand as a base, deep roots, no trees and massive putting surfaces, this different approach has worked well.
- Divot filling in the fairways. A common practice at Bandon Dunes is the filling of divots. However, the difference is how they do it. Because they desire to avoid driving on the fairways (generally, power carts are not allowed at Bandon Dunes), wide-tire pull carts are required, and 5-gallon buckets are used to fill these blemishes.
- Everyone knows it’s windy! Bandon Dunes is not unlike any links golf course when it comes to wind, but when it blows hard from the north, certain bunkers need to be worked on. Three times during the practice rounds and in competition, a hard north wind (gusts to 25-30 MPH) moved so much sand in 3-4 bunkers that more than a foot of sand needed to be shoveled back over the base. As noted in the photo, the base was not sand, which led to the next unique aspect of this championship.
- Stones are not always stones. Although stones in bunkers is a problem on many golf courses, and is addressed in the Rules of Golf (Appendix 1, Part b, Item 5), the issue at Bandon Dunes was different. The “stones” at both courses are comprised of the native soils found under the sand. This soil (red shot) is highly compressed, but it can be broken by hand. Since it looked like stones, the decision was made to classify this soil as such, with players allowed to remove them from the many bunkers on both courses.
Championship conditions should always be different from regular playing conditions. At Bandon Dunes they truly were different!
Larry Gilhuly is the Northwest Director of the USGA Green Section. For more of his completely different perspective he can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.org or call his office at 253 – 858 – 2266. | <urn:uuid:ee209764-dd09-474f-9445-18d09b9a5e90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/northwest/And-Now-For-Something-Completely-Different---July-2011/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966991 | 907 | 1.8125 | 2 |
WOODS HOLE, MA--For the giant Australian cuttlefish, mating is a complicated undertaking complete with fighting, sneaking, and deception. In this week's issue of the journal Nature, Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) senior scientist Roger Hanlon and his colleagues demonstrate that for this species, deception while mating pays off.
Hanlon and his team present behavioral and genetic data demonstrating that small male cuttlefish that dramatically alter their appearance to look like females are highly successful in tricking their often larger male competitors and fertilizing the female's eggs. While the sexual mimicry that the cuttlefish employ has been widely reported in nature, this is the first time fertilization success in an animal using this strategy has been documented.
Hanlon and his colleagues studied the cuttlefish (Sepia apama) in a remote coastal area of the Australian outback. For ten days they painstakingly observed and filmed the intense mating competition between the females and their suitors, including large "guard" males, smaller "sneaker" males, who attempt to mate with females as the guard fights other males, and males who mimic the appearance of a female. In contrast to some other animals, whose ability to mimic is part of their genetic makeup, giant Australian cuttlefish use neural control to instantly change their skin patterning, posture, and tactics. According to Hanlon the cuttlefish can switch between a male and female appearance 10 to 15 times per minute. "In the blink of an eye they can pull out of it and go back to being a male," he says.
Using DNA fingerprinting, Hanlon and his team found that the mimickers were successful in fertilizing females 60 percent of the time. The results, they say, are surprising since female cuttlefish of this species reject most mating attempts by any type of male 70 percent of the time. "This is not an easy behavior to study," says Hanlon. "But we hope that our paper will engage other behavioral ecologists to go out and study mating systems of other animals to refute or support what we found."
Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
If you think you can do a thing or you think you can't do a thing, you're right.
-- Henry Ford | <urn:uuid:7da74d04-185d-4b2e-9ddd-56b9f8be6cf2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2005-01/mbl-nrs011905.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96936 | 491 | 3.03125 | 3 |
United Water announced February 3 that water should be flowing through the new pipeline to Greenridge customers on Monday, February 6. The company that connects to the .
Prior to the construction of the new pipeline, .
“We are delighted to be able to provide our customers with a new reliable supply of clean, healthy water,” said Michael J. Pointing, vice president of United Water. “Since we became responsible for the Greenridge system in 2008, we worked hard to get our customers a new water supply as quickly as possible… When we open the pipeline on Monday, these families will have water that meets all standards for drinking water safety.”
Pointing noted that Greenridge customers may notice a change in the taste of the water.
“That is due to the addition of chlorine to disinfect the water,” he said. “Chlorination is necessary to ensure that the water is safe for drinking. We expect that customers will adjust to the difference in a short period of time. In the interim, they may wish to chill tap water in a clean container in the refrigerator. This will help reduce the chlorine taste." | <urn:uuid:3dd22e7d-b341-4927-b708-d6aa547f3c30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brookfield.patch.com/groups/editors-picks/p/clean-water-to-flow-in-greenridge-monday | 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 | 0.965976 | 235 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Everybody loves a train wreck. This one started when Jonathan Lethem came barreling down the tracks with an essay in Harper’s called “The Ecstasy of Influence,” in which most of the lines were cribbed from other sources and then ingeniously stitched together to argue in favor of appropriation and against the tired old 20th-century notion that an artist owns what he or she makes – that dinosaur known as copyright. Then right behind him on the same tracks came David Shields with last year’s sensational freight train of a book, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, an expanded echo of Lethem’s themes made up of a pastiche of Shields’s own words and the words of many other artists. Among Shields’s words: “Reality-based art hijacks its material and doesn’t apologize.”
Then suddenly – watch out! – along came the little engine that could, Marco Roth chuffing down the tracks in the opposite direction with an essay in the journal n+1 called “Throwback Throwdown,” in which he set out to derail the two speeding locomotives. He called Shields’s book “an authentic act of copying” that fits snugly into the “pervasive and growing fantasy of the writer as hip-hop DJ.” Roth added, “To a certain kind of white writer, engaged in the increasingly professionalized and seemingly ‘nice’ work of churning out novels, poems, essays and reviews, the rapper DJ comes to stand for this brazen, unapologetic appropriator, regardless of whether actual rappers think of themselves as heroes of ‘copyleft,’ Proudhonists of the ghetto.”
Once the collision took place, as you can imagine, there was a lot of twisted metal on the tracks. But before the smoke cleared, an actual rapper, the superstar Jay-Z, plowed into the debris with a book called Decoded that cleverly turned the train wreck upside-down by showing how a master of an art form built on appropriation uses old-school literary techniques and a quaint thing called imagination to write lyrics that bristle with originality and socially potent meaning. For good measure, Jay-Z tells the story about the time he stabbed a rival for stealing his music. Train wrecks don’t get any more perfect than this.
Which brings us to the fun part. Now we get to sift through the wreckage, counting bodies and looking for survivors.
I just found a survivor. It’s Michel Houellebecq, the baddest bad boy in French lit today. All this racket about copyright and appropriation (or bricolage, sampling, collage, poaching, rip-off, homage, plagiarism, call it what you will) – it bloodied him a bit but he’s actually in excellent shape. His latest novel, The Map and the Territory, was an instant smash – until someone pointed out that Houellebecq had lifted several uncredited passages almost verbatim from Wikipedia and other websites, including an entry on how flies have sex. The bad boy went ballistic when the word “plagiarism” was uttered. “If those people really think that (this is plagiarism), they haven’t the first notion of what literature is,” he fumed. “This is part of my method. This approach, muddling real documents and fiction, has been used by many authors. I have been influenced especially by Perec and Borges… I hope that this contributes to the beauty of my books, using this kind of material.” The novel wound up winning France’s prestigious Prix Goncourt.
Sitting next to Houellebecq, also battered but in remarkably good shape, is a German teenager named Helene Hegemann. Her novel about Berlin nightclub kids, Axolotl Roadkill, was a best-seller in Germany last year and was nominated for a major prize at the Leipzig Book Fair. Then word got out that she had lifted passages from several other sources. After admitting to “thoughtlessness” and “narcissism,” an unrepentant Hegemann told Die Welt newspaper: “But for me personally, it doesn’t matter at all where people get their material. What matters is what they do with it. If my novel is interpreted as representing our times, then it has to be recognized that the novel was created in accord with what we saw in the last decade – that is, with the rejection of all those copyright excesses and the embrace of a right to copy and to transform.” The newsmagazine Der Spiegel agreed, comparing Axolotl Roadkill to Naked Lunch and Manhattan Transfer: “Everything from newspaper articles to ads to all kinds of other texts are embedded in these foundational works of literary modernism.” In a statement released by her publisher, Hegemann added, “There’s no such thing as originality anyway, just authenticity.”
James Frey is slumped in a seat across the aisle. He’s not going to make it. As far as Shields and Lethem are concerned, his fatal mistake was not that he fabricated much of his “memoir,” A Million Little Pieces; it was that he went on TV and apologized for it and, to prove his contrition, allowed Oprah to pillory him publicly. He forgot the First Commandment of the 21st Century: “Reality-based art hijacks its material and doesn’t apologize.” Frey is toast.
Jay-Z came through without a scratch, of course, which brings us to this train wreck’s central irony. The makers of popular music have been brazen and fruitful plunderers for many years because, let’s face it, there are only so many ways to arrange a simple melody and only so many ways to say “I love you” or “It’s over” or “You tore my heart out and stomped that sucker flat.” While blues and jazz artists and practitioners of other more saccharine forms of pop music have been borrowing for years, hip-hop DJs were perhaps the first to revel in their piracy, though they made a point of dressing it up with the lofty word “sampling.” Being a pirate, an outlaw, a gangsta has always been central to the rapper’s pose. Jay-Z didn’t need to do a lot of posing, it turns out, because he was an industrious purveyor of cocaine long before he transformed himself into a one-man corporation.
The source of Decoded‘s fascination, for me, is not the author’s projects-to-the-penthouse biographical arc, nor his tales of hustling drugs and hobnobbing with Russell Simmons and Bono and starting his own clothing line and helping turn Cristal champagne into a bling brand. The book’s fascination comes from three very different and very surprising sources.
First, it’s beautifully made – lavish illustrations, clever layouts and ingenious use of fonts, quality paper, plus a Warhol on the cover. Second, and most importantly, the book allows us to peek into the tent of Jay-Z’s creative process. He begins with his epiphany, the day he heard a kid named Slate rhyming couplet after couplet before a rapt, clapping audience at the Marcy projects in Brooklyn. Jay-Z writes that he “felt like a planet pulled into orbit by a star.” That day he started writing rhymes feverishly in a spiral notebook and poring over the dictionary to expand his vocabulary. (This brings to mind Lewis Hyde’s contention: “Most artists are converted to art by art itself.”)
Decoded illustrates its author’s creative process by laying out song lyrics on one page, then on the facing page letting Jay-Z deconstruct (decode) the sources and meanings of the lyrics through elaborate footnotes. It’s a revelation. On one drug-selling run to New Jersey, for instance, here’s how he describes his crew watching television while they work – Watchin Erik Estrada baggin up at the Ramada. In the corresponding footnote he writes: “There are a lot of motel references in my songs. Hotels are where a lot of our work got done, where we bagged our powder.”
There’s a telling reference to the made-up selves of rappers. The lyric “They’re all actors” is limned like this: “When I say that rappers are actors, I mean it in two ways: first, a lot of them are pretending to be something they’re not outside the booth; second, it also means that those who are being real often use a core reality as a basis for a great fantasy, the way a great method actor like DeNiro does.”
Street slang is dissected. “Spike Lees” are “the best seats in the house – in this case whether it’s at the arena or in the jet.” “Sprees” are “custom rims that have internal discs that spin when the car stops, named after Latrell Sprewell… Fun for kids, but for grown-ups, a sign that you might be trying too hard.” Sometimes the reader absorbs the method without aid of footnotes, as when the words “breakfast,” “Lexus” and “necklace” cozy up to each other in a single couplet. Jay-Z freely acknowledges that he plundered his parents’ vinyl record collection, floor-to-ceiling stacks of Motown, pop, R&B, soul and funk, but the act of plundering led to his creative birth, not to mere mimicry. “We were kids without fathers,” he writes, “so we found our fathers on wax and on the streets and in history, and in a way, that was a gift. We got to pick and choose the ancestors who would inspire the world we were going to make for ourselves… Rap took the remnants of a dying society and created something new. Our fathers were gone, usually because they just bounced, but we took their old records and used them to build something fresh.”
The book’s elaborate footnotes demolish twin misconceptions: that rappers are merely brazen, unapologetic appropriators with nothing original to say; and there’s no longer such a thing as originality, just authenticity. Jay-Z, for one, does not see himself as a hero of “copyleft” or a Proudhonist of the ghetto. As he puts it, “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.” He’s also a writer in the purest, oldest sense of the word – that is, he’s someone who uses his experiences, his influences and his skill with language to say something original and new.
I agree with what Michiko Kakutani wrote recently in the New York Times: “In the end, Decoded leaves the reader with a keen appreciation of how rap artists have worked myriad variations on a series of familiar themes (hustling, partying and ‘the most familiar subject in the history of rap — why I’m dope’) by putting a street twist on an arsenal of traditional literary devices (hyperbole, double entendres, puns, alliteration and allusions), and how the author himself magically stacks rhymes upon rhymes, mixing and matching metaphors even as he makes unexpected stream-of-consciousness leaps that rework old clichés and play clever aural jokes on the listener (‘ruthless’ and ‘roofless,’ ‘tears’ and ‘tiers,’ ‘sense’ and ‘since’).”
To say that rappers possess originality and that they rely on traditional literary devices is not to say that they don’t – or shouldn’t – borrow from other sources. And it’s not to say that writers of prose and poetry shouldn’t borrow from other writers of prose and poetry and, for that matter, from rappers and jazz musicians and newspaper reporters and advertising copywriters and absolutely anyone else. All art comes from art. To admit this is not to concede that there’s no such thing as originality any more than it’s a license to borrow without attribution and then call it your own. William S. Burroughs freely admitted that he cut up texts and re-arranged them and inserted the results in his novels. Michel Houellebecq is free to be influenced by Perec and Borges and Burroughs (and anyone else), but I think he’s making a mistake if he thinks copying from Wikipedia adds to the beauty of his books. He’s too good a writer to make such a lazy claim. And while I agree with Helene Hegemann that what matters is not where artists get their materials but what they do with them, I believe all artists need to give up the cheap crutch of claiming that since it’s all been done before, all they can hope to do is rearrange the familiar in some unfamiliar way and then call it “authenticity.” That trivializes art. And it’s stupid and wrong.
Back in 1992 Cormac McCarthy told an interviewer: “The ugly fact is, books are made out of books. The novel depends for its life on the novels that have been written.” That’s not to say that writers do nothing but steal from other writers; it is, rather, to admit that literature comes to us not through a writer’s unfiltered experience of life, but through that experience as filtered through the things the writer has read, as well as the things the reader has read.
In “The Ecstasy of Influence” Lethem writes, “The kernel, the soul – let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances – is plagiarism. For substantially all ideas are secondhand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily used by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral caliber and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing. Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote.”
Of course we all quote. But if quoting is all we do, then we don’t do very much. Shields and Lethem seem to acknowledge this without fully admitting it, because they do so much more than merely quote in Reality Hunger and “The Ecstasy of Influence.” As Roth put it in his essay in n+1: “Art may be theft, as Shields likes to quote Picasso, but it doesn’t follow that theft is art. Art is not ex-nihilo, but neither is it all ‘ready-mades.’” Precisely.
Lynne McTaggart, who won a plagiarism lawsuit against Doris Kearns Goodwin, acknowledged in the New York Times in 2002 that all writers are “relentless scavengers.” Then McTaggart added, “Writers don’t own facts. Writers don’t own ideas. All that we own is the way we express our thoughts… But it is important not to excuse the larger sins of appropriation. In this age of clever electronic tools, writing can easily turn into a process of pressing the cut and paste buttons, or gluing together the work of a team of researchers, rather than the long and lonely slog of placing one word after another in a new and arresting way.”
I think she’s right. Shouldn’t we expect novelists to do more than cut and paste Wikipedia descriptions of how flies have sex?
The third and final source of Decoded‘s appeal is the revealing story Jay-Z tells about what happened the night of December 1, 1999 at New York’s Kit Kat Club. His album Vol. 3, Life and Times of S. Carter was not due to be released for a month, but bootlegged copies were already selling on the street. This infuriated Jay-Z. After all, he’s a business, man. He believes that he – and he alone – should get paid for the music he makes. When a rival record producer showed up at the club and admitted that he was behind the bootlegging, Jay-Z stabbed him twice.
This violent outburst left no doubt about Jay-Z’s opinion of people who hijack his material and don’t apologize – and take money out of his pocket while they’re at it. You might argue that bootlegging is more invasive than sampling, and that it goes way beyond the relatively benign forms of plagiarism Lethem and Shields so ingeniously espouse. In fact, Lethem admits as much in the closing lines of his essay: “Don’t pirate my editions; do plunder my visions. The name of the game is Give All. You, reader, are welcome to my stories. They were never mine in the first place, but I gave them to you. If you have the inclination to pick them up, take them with my blessing.”
It’s a seductive bill of goods, but you simply can’t have it both ways. You can’t say Pay me for what’s rightfully mine and feel free to rob me while you’re at it. Jay-Z, who understands the workings and the worth of originality, isn’t buying this bill of goods. Neither is Marco Roth. Neither am I. | <urn:uuid:00d713ce-9d16-4919-a9e3-1732214615cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.themillions.com/2011/01/jay-z-is-not-a-proudhon-of-hip-hop.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963192 | 3,845 | 1.625 | 2 |
If you work remotely, or have to handle corporate files on the road, then chances are you’ve used a specific type of proxy and may not even be aware of it. In fact, proxies are used by workers all over the world in the form of a VPN. A virtual private network is one specific type of proxy which provides you with the ability to work remotely and securely. But what is a proxy exactly, how does it work, and what are some of the advantages it can give not only a remote worker, but anyone who wants an extra layer of privacy? Here’s a look at the various types of proxies and a review of one particular service which provides you with proxies on steroids.
How proxies work
Basically, a proxy is a point to point connection between you and a remote location on the Internet. If you’re in a hotel in Seattle and you work for a large corporation down in Dallas, then opening a VPN to your corporate office means your computer will create a permanent connection between your own system and a dedicated device at the corporate office called the VPN server. This connection provides you with a tunnel through which all further communication will pass. This is the first and most well known quality of a VPN. All of your traffic, whatever it is, will be encrypted inside that tunnel, going from your current location to the VPN server, and then be resent on your behalf to the wider Internet. What this means is that anyone listening nearby, or trying to see the packets going from your own system, will see nothing but static. In fact, they won’t even know which websites you visit, because everything is encrypted. This is an even stronger security mechanism than SSL, since with SSL people can still see the headers and know which sites you surf to.
But a VPN, or any other type of proxy, provides quite a few more benefits. Whether you use a VPN, which relies on a protocol like PPTP to encapsulate your packets securely, an SSL proxy, a Socks proxy, or even a simple web gateway (which doesn’t actually provide you with any encryption) they all have a couple of features that are similar. The basic principle is that the server is relaying those packets for you, and stripping the originating address. Instead of your own IP address, they only see the proxy server’s. That also means if you connect using the previous example, instead of thinking you’re in Seattle, every site you connect to will think you’re sitting right there in the Dallas corporate office.
Of course, people use proxies for other reasons as well. One example is trying to access region-restricted content. For example, someone in Canada trying to see Hulu content won’t be able to, because Hulu restricts videos to U.S. users only. But if they connect to a U.S. based proxy first, they can bypass that restriction. The same thing applies if you live in the U.S. and want to see BBC content through their iPlayer. You would need to connect to a UK proxy to do it.
Criminals also make heavy use of proxies to obscure their actual locations. They can even chain proxy servers together to increase the difficulty of being tracked. But proxies are used for a lot more than just to watch the latest Family Guy, or commit crimes. A lot of people use them simply for safety. If you have a slow Internet connection, you could use a proxy server with a lot of bandwidth, and malware threats roaming the net trying to find unpatched systems, or launch potential denial of service attacks, would find only the proxy. Security researchers also love proxies. When you’re trying to infiltrate the criminal underground, the last thing you want is to give them your home address.
One such service: HMA
As you can see, proxies provide security and anonymity that can be very handy. If you don’t have a corporate VPN you can use, there are a lot of services that offer some alternatives. One of the most popular right now, and the one I’ve used, is called Hide My Ass. While the name may sound strange, I’ve had some good success with it. One of the things I like about it is that, first, it provides a very easy-to-use client software. Instead of having to configure the proxy settings manually, you simply install the client, and it keeps track of your connection status, allowing you to set preferences. Then, it also has a massive amount of 36,000+ IP addresses all over the world. This means you can connect to any of those servers and appear to be from that location. The service isn’t free, but at around $10 a month, it’s not bad.
Proxies still require trust
Finally, there are some things you need to keep in mind when using proxies. First, remember that while a proxy server will provide you with security and anonymity, the proxy itself has to decode your traffic to send it through. This means it can see everything you’re doing, unless you use SSL connections. So you need to trust it. A lot of people use TOR, which is a free anonymity network run by volunteers, or some go to underground channels to get so-called “private” proxies, but the problem is you never know if you can trust those servers. It may end up being worse than not using a proxy at all. Popular commercial services like Hide My Ass base their business on providing this service, so personally I have more faith in them. Don’t think of using them for criminal acts however, since they do state clearly that they cooperate with law enforcement. Because again, the proxy server is the one party that knows what your real IP address is. Also, using proxies will typically slow your connection down, since you’re basically transferring all your data to another location around the world before it goes out to the Internet. As you attempt to connect to various proxy servers, you may find very big differences in speed, so it’s a good idea to try them out. Whether you want security, anonymity, or both, proxies provide a good way to surf the net.
Do you have any tips to share about using a proxy server? | <urn:uuid:d952c9a4-4300-4220-a887-172197f39ee9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/the-basics-of-using-a-proxy-server-for-privacy-and-security/8762 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956945 | 1,290 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Public Could Sway Gay Marriage Ruling
Published: Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 12:29 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 12:29 a.m.
WASHINGTON | California's ban on gay marriage is likely to fall soon because of a pair of developments in the past week. What remains uncertain is whether same-sex marriage will become lawful in just a score of "blue states," or the norm throughout the nation.
Public opinion on marriage for gay and lesbian couples has shifted with almost unprecedented speed for a major issue. Even without a court ruling, that shift could doom restrictive marriage laws in liberal states such as California. It is also likely to have an effect on the court itself, in particular with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and possibly Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Throughout his long career, Kennedy has been willing to make major changes in the law on issues including the death penalty, gun rights and gay rights. Kennedy has been a strong, steady proponent of constitutional principles such as free speech, individual liberty and limits on government power. But before signing on to major changes — abolishing the death penalty for young murderers, for example — he has wanted to feel comfortable that the change was in line with public opinion and the trend in the law.
"Among all the justices, he is most concerned about public opinion," New York University law professor Barry Friedman said of Kennedy. "The more there is a groundswell of support for gay marriage, the more it is likely he will vote to support it."
Kennedy, along with others on the court, probably would also resist going too fast. The current justices, both liberals and conservatives, say the court of the early 1970s made a mistake by striking down all state laws on abortion and capital punishment. Both decisions appeared to trigger a backlash, and the death penalty was soon restored to law.
Better to move in line with — or just slightly ahead of — shifting opinion, they believe.
In California, public opinion clearly has shifted since Proposition 8 passed in 2008 and banned same-sex marriage. A Field Poll showed that California voters, by a nearly 2-1 margin, now approve of allowing same-sex couples to marry, a finding in line with states that legalized gay marriage in November's election.
With that shift, lawyers supporting same-sex marriage have offered the justices a range of options they could use to rule in favor of gay rights.
Solicitor Gen. Donald Verrilli Jr. drew on arguments he had filed with the court just a few days earlier saying the justices should strike down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to legally married gay couples in states such as Massachusetts. He advised the court to say that discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation is highly suspect, akin to gender bias. It can be justified only if a state can show a strong need to treat gays and lesbians differently than other citizens, the administration argued.
Verrilli's brief filed Thursday applied that same approach in the Proposition 8 case. It argues that because California and seven other states — Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island - already have given gay couples full legal rights, there is no justification for denying them a right to marry.
This is what some lawyers have dubbed the "eight-state solution."
Already, nine other states and the District of Columbia authorize same-sex marriage. If the Supreme Court were to adopt the administration's view, it could raise the total to 17, mostly in the Northeast and on the West Coast.
While this would be a significant ruling, it would not require Justice Kennedy and his colleagues to mandate gay marriage in the "red" states where majority opinion continues to oppose it.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:88049601-f99a-4101-91fe-daf2fe7b685f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theledger.com/article/20130303/MCT/130309852/0/goldengarland?Title=Public-Could-Sway-Gay-Marriage-Ruling- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964141 | 804 | 1.6875 | 2 |
This is the first issue of PHONE+ since the massacre at Virginia Tech — some 45 days after the event. I point this out on purpose because the monthly magazine cycle stands in sharp contrast to electronic journalism. But even TV and online dailies are no match for the “youwitness” variety that characterized the most recent campus tragedy.
TIME magazine (the hard copy version I like to read on Sunday mornings) recounted some of the first-person coverage:
- A graduate student used his camera phone to film police drawing guns near Norris Hall as he ran toward the scene. The video tape was uploaded to CNN.com.
- Students posted news on Facebook.
- Students shared details of the shooter’s writing assignments on AOL.com.
- The shooter’s own “famous last words” delivered to NBC News included 27 QuickTime videos a la YouTube.
As a journalist, I have mixed feelings about this emerging trend. On the one hand, it’s immediate and unvarnished. But on the other hand, it’s immediate and unvarnished. Context and fact checking are nowhere to be found. (In the Virgina Tech case, death and survival reports posted online by “insiders” later proved false.)
As a technology journalist, I am fascinated by the apparent impact that Web 2.0 is having on the way we respond to and experience events — even tragedies. This is particularly true of the MySpace Generation — those with no pre-Internet experience — that are typical of the students at Virginia Tech and most colleges and certainly all U.S. high schools.
Web 2.0 describes tangible advances in the applications we use and how we use them. Analysts at Forrester Research define Web 2.0 as: A set of technologies and applications that enable efficient interaction among people, content and data in support of collectively fostering new businesses, technology offerings and social structures.
One aspect of this, of course, is the social networking of the always-on generation. But it’s not just a way to hook up or share music files. It’s a new order in the way we work. Forrester analysts describe Web 2.0 as having two parts — social computing and information workplace.
To thrive in an era of social computing, Forrester researchers say “companies must abandon top-down management and communication tactics, weave communities into their products and services, use employees and partners as marketers, and become part of a living fabric of brand loyalists.”
The “information workplace” is the digital workplace of the future, they say, explaining this is characterized by a seamless, guided, visual, role-based, contextual and multimodal work experience. Say what? I think the definition is purposefully vague so as to allow it to encompass an assortment of technologies, present and future, that will enable a social computing environment.
This is not a hypothetical scenario. One of the largest companies in the technology world, Cisco Systems Inc., is restructuring around the principles of social networking by delivering the technologies that enable this form of collaboration. Chairman and CEO John Chambers says tools like unified communications and TelePresence will drive the next wave in productivity. “It opens up almost unlimited opportunities for us,” Chambers says.
And, for channel partners. VARs, systems integrators and agents are going to be on the frontlines evangelizing and teaching companies about this transformation — how to profit from it and how to enable it. As the graduates of Virginia Tech and other universities make their way into the workforce, the indoctrination will be less (if not un-) necessary.
As the power shifts to the people, to the user, many unyielding institutions may be brought to their knees — closed systems makers are high on that list. So too, might be the press. So while I think there always will be a call for the filter a journalist provides, the era of user-generated content is forever changing how we define ourselves, our sources and our readers — the lines between which are growing fainter by the day. | <urn:uuid:35aedf7d-bec2-4d76-9222-a579b840712e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/articles/2007/05/tragedy-2-0.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931001 | 853 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Dandruff is the most widespread hair problem especially among men. If you ever had it, also known as scurf, you know what it’s like – irritated scalp and itches, flaky skin and constant wondering whether to wear black or not. Many people are to believe that it is caused by dry skin, frequent head washing or poor hygiene. These popular myths can lead to ineffective and often – inappropriate treatment and even worsen the situation.
Dandruff has a negative impact on one’s self esteem, and people suffering from that condition are usually more sensitive about their appearance than the rest.
It is caused by a type of fungus – Pityrosporum ovale. Upon a normal organism state is does not cause any problems.
However when the skin pH balance in the hairy part of the head is broken and the environment is alkalized, the fungus starts to breed faster and due to the more frequent change of skin cells it leads to peeling.
The cause of the accelerated fungus growth has not been found, but the most probable causes are increased fat secretion by the organism, hormonal dis-balance, stress, different ill-conditions of the nervous system, suppressed immune system, oversensitivity to the fungus itself or even inherited susceptibility to dandruff. In rare cases dandruff can be a manifestation of an allergic reaction to some of the chemicals in hair gels, hair sprays, hair oils or other hair products.
Very few people know that there are two forms – external and internal.
- External dandruff is caused by excessive use of hair products – sprays and gels, improper use of hair-coloring products, excessive use of hair curlers or hair straighteners, cold weather, dry indoor heating, stress, infrequent shampooing of the hair or inadequate rinsing of the scalp.
- Internal dandruff can be caused by hormonal imbalance, emotional stress, poor health, poor hygiene, allergy to some foods, lack of rest, excessive consumption of sugar, fat and starch and hereditary predisposition.
Even though there is a lot more to be found about dandruff, what is unquestionably known about it is that it is a medical, rather than a cosmetic problem.
- white, oily flakes of dead skin
- itchy, scaling scalp
- too dry or too oily hair
- greasy skin covered with flaky white, or yellow scales.
In most cases it is not necessary to consult the presence of dandruff with a physician. It is a chronic condition which can almost always be controlled, even though it requires patience and persistence.
It is always recommended to use a special medical shampoo which can be found in your local pharmacy.
There are several types of commercially available shampoos, containing active fighting ingredients. However there are not enough convincing researches related to them so they are not registered as medical products, but as cosmetic shampoos.
The most anti-dandruff products contain active ingredients such as:
- Sodium bicarbonate
- Zinc pyrithione
- Salicylic acid
- Selenium sulfide
- Tea tree oil
The most effective substance, and most recommended by dermatologists worldwide, is ketoconazole – also known as Nizoral (most often in 2% concentration) which is known in the area of medicine with its wide specter efficiency in treatment and prevention of seborrheic dermatitis, lichen planus and other fungus skin diseases.
The effect of ketoconazole has been repeatedly and thoroughly researched. Researches of its efficiency against different types of fungus show that ketokonasol breaks the fungus cell wall, which leads to its extermination.
What to use
Ketosal could be the answer. It is a medical shampoo with 2% content of ketokonasol that can keep your dandruff under control, so you won’t be constantly checking on your shoulders. Ketosal can stop the fungus breeding cycle.
Once the fungus is under control – so is your problem. Besides it has all the benefits of a “regular” luxurious shampoo – nice fragrance, silk sensation in your hand and washes your hair perfectly.
Ketosal also has no negative impact on dyed, white or treated hair. Use it twice weekly to treat your hear and your hair will be shiny, easy to shape, vigorous and with volume. And of course – dandruff free!
- It is due to the excessive shedding of dead skin cells from the scalp.
- sometimes it may be a symptom of seborrhoeic dermatitis, psoriasis, fungal infection.
- When using shampoo be sure to leave the shampoo on for at least five minutes — this allows the ingredients time to work.
- In general, mild scaling can often be helped by daily cleansing with a gentle shampoo to reduce oiliness and cell buildup.
- Sometimes scaling can occur anywhere on the scalp, in the hair, on the eyebrows, the beard and can spread to the neck and shoulders.
If your dandruff is mild, wash your hair regularly to remove the excess flakes.
- When you apply the shampoo, massage your scalp with your fingers to remove dead skin and improve blood circulation.
- Avoid prolonged sun exposure, especially in mid-day – ultraviolet rays can damage your hair.
- Always wash your hair with clean water after you have been to the pool or in a natural basin with contaminated water, even the sea.
- A diet that provides enough zinc, vitamins and minerals, and essential fatty acid may help prevent dandruff. | <urn:uuid:4722e5d3-c3b8-49b2-bf4f-46858514b360> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.beauty-advices.com/hair-dandruff-how-to-control-it/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940304 | 1,158 | 3.03125 | 3 |