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After the second world war, Hoogeveen (current population 54000), a town which was growing rapidly due to being the centre for many industries, became more and more car oriented. Space was made for wide roads on "American" lines. This happened in several places in the Netherlands.
These old photos show how Hoogeveen's main street, Hoofdstraat, changed over the years, and demonstrate the progression towards car orientation:
1945. Canal is still in use.
1951. The canal has been filled in to provide for more "traffic possibilities."
1960. More cars have appeared, but trees are still in the centre of the road.
1965. Space in the centre of the road primarily used for parking cars.
2010. It's no longer all about cars, and the water is back.
Here's a video showing how it looks now:
Note how not only are people and bikes back, but water has come back to the centre of the road as well in an echo of the situation 60 years ago - though of course it is not navigable as it was back then.
This space, like in the centre of Assen, is primarily for pedestrians and cyclists. Motorists are not central as they would be in shared space. The area allows cars for access, but doesn't encourage through journeys.
The best thing about wide roads like this is that they offer lots of opportunities to change them. Hoogeveen's centre no longer looks at all like it used to. You can also look at it yourself by using Google's Streetview:
Hoogeveen isn't the only place which changed to be more car oriented and then had to fight back to recreate decent living conditions. Nijmegen, Den Bosch, Groningen and Assen show similar transformations.
There are other before and after posts on this blog. | <urn:uuid:9bf4980f-c974-4b90-90b1-07ac82a7cdfe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2010/09/transformation-in-centre-of-hoogeveen.html?showComment=1283856591708 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973556 | 387 | 2.75 | 3 |
Encouraging Workforce Development in the Gulf States
Economic development depends on a trained work force. As Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama seek to expand their economies, employers will require highly literate workers with advanced technical skills. Businesses, factories, and other organizations that need workers must collaborate with local and regional high schools, colleges, and vocational institutions that train workers to ensure the right match between available jobs and applicants.
These nascent partners will require data and information as they forge new ways of working together and nurture a workforce for today and the future. Their success will mean improved educational and economic outcomes, as well as improved prosperity and quality of life for workers themselves.
RAND has conducted extensive research on vocational and continuing education in the United States and overseas, as well as K-12 education in the United States, as well as the role of education in workforce development.
Augmenting Skills of Current Workers: Vocational and Continuing Education
From the military to high-tech industries, the need for vocational education and training continues to rise. RAND has explored topics from how to encourage young adults to continue their education, to how to determine the appropriate mix of classroom and on-the-job training.
Young people making the transition from school to work face a very different world of work than their parents' generation. Policies that better coordinate educational and occupational institutions can improve the capacity of individuals to make effective transitions.
A cost-benefit analysis conducted for the US Air Force helped to determine the most cost-effective combination of initial skills training (IST) and on-the-job training (OJT), taking into consideration how productivity changes when IST course length changes.
Based on a case study sample from seven states and a national teacher survey, it is clear that the Vocational and Technical Education Act is having some positive affect but only within the framework of the greater influence of the individual states' general-education policies.
The tri-state region of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut remains strong in biotechnology and IT, but improved networking between industry and higher education institutions can help attract technical professionals.
The United States takes a market-based approach to workforce development, which has its benefits as well as its challenges. A review of this approach considers supply and demand for skills and concludes with a set of policy options for improving the market for workforce development.
Developing 21st Century Skills: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
STEM is the current trend in U.S. education, as high schools and colleges seek to prepare the next generation workforce. RAND research explores what skills are most needed to meet future human capital challenges, and how the development of these skills can be encouraged.
An assessment of skills test score differentials between the first and last year of college shows the degree to which college enrollment and education add to students' critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills.
England reformed its elementary math curriculum in 1999 to improve educational outcomes. Evaluations of the reforms were generally positive, but the evidence of success and value for money was more difficult to confirm.
Education and labor market initiatives are under way in four Arab nations -- Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates -- to address the challenges of developing the human capital of their populations for the 21st century global economy, though better evaluation of the implemented reforms will be needed to determine their efficacy.
An inflow of foreign students in the sciences -- as well as scientists and engineers from overseas -- has helped the United States build and maintain its worldwide lead in science and technology.
U.S. high-tech exports still lead the world by a large margin. U.S. manufacturing activities that have remained in the United States tend to be the most advanced and complex, which brings into focus the key problem of education and employment issues, particularly on the fields of science and engineering.
Preparing Tomorrow's Workers and Leaders: K-12 Education
Early childhood and K-12 education are the foundation on which future workforce development depend. They are also a key focus of RAND Education and RAND Labor and Population; our researchers work across geographic boundaries examining issues in the United States and around the world.
In the area of K–12 education, RAND Education partners with policymakers, school systems, practitioners, and other stakeholders to help improve education outcomes and systems and to increase access and equity.
In her testimony before the Council of the District of Columbia's Committee of the Whole, RAND Education researcher Lynn Karoly explained how providing high-quality learning opportunities for children in the P–3 years (preschool through third grade) can help to close "school readiness" gaps, build developmental skills, and better prepare them for success in school.
In 2002, Qatar began implementing a standards-based K–12 reform built on four principles: autonomy, accountability, variety, and choice. Early data reveal more student-centered classroom practices and higher student achievement, but many challenges remain.
The New York City Department of Education's test-based promotion and retention policy, which identifies and provides support for struggling students, has demonstrated positive effects for student achievement in fifth grade that continue into seventh grade.
An examination of the role of education and training in economic performance focuses on the long-run and international perspective of economic trends and education to present data on productivity and competitiveness and the contribution of education to economic growth. | <urn:uuid:6b530005-4845-457d-8a79-895566cb0c5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rand.org/gulf-states/policy-spotlights/workforce-development.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951342 | 1,090 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Revision r50 - 19 Jul 2008 - 08:24 - DaveChapman
Google Summer of Code 2008
Rockbox is officially accepted as a mentor organization for GSoC 2008: the project page is here.
Accepted projects for GSoC 2008
Information for students
If you are considering applying to Rockbox (or any other organization, in fact), you may want to have a look at this wiki page: http://code.google.com/p/google-summer-of-code/wiki/AdviceforStudents . It contains a lot of good advice about what you should expect during the Summer of Code and helps you create a good proposal.
Please use the template from GSoCApplicationTemplate2008 as a guideline when submitting your application to google
Add your suggested projects here to be reviewed by the applying students. These are only ideas and suggestions, students are free to make up and describe their own project when they apply.
NOTE: This is not a general wish list for Rockbox features. Don't add a project here without discussing it with the Rockbox developers first.
- Since virtually all new DAPs coming to market contain an ARM core, a well working ARM emulator would be extremely useful to future ports. An emulator could be used to help reverse hash/encryption algorithms used in many retail firmwares (such as Apple, Creative players), to help determine addresses of memory mapped hardware, and to optimize codecs by allowing more detailed analysis of memory/IRAM/etc.
- A simple but only semi-functional Windows emulator exists for the Sansa E200 series which emulates much of the PortalPlayer hardware. It currently can boot some builds of rockbox, but is not stable enough to be very useful. This project should resume work on the emulator (or pick another to use), first getting it to run rockbox or a retail (Sandisk, Apple, etc) firmware without instability. This would involve a process a lot like porting rockbox, but in reverse. Starting with the drivers in Rockbox, one would need to implement the hardware devices they interact with until rockbox (and hopefully the OF) could run as if on real hardware. These would include LCD controller, various internal memories, buttons, and DACs.
- Additional goals could include emulating the pipeline latencies of various ARM cores, emulating cache to allow memory profiling, porting to linux, and introducing a general framework that would allow for easy adaptation to the differing memory maps of various ARM cores.
- Another approach would be to have a look at SkyEye to see if we can build upon that. It is designed to emulate various ARM SOCs and could likely be improved to support a SOC used by rockbox. As an added bonus, it can already run Linux for ARM. Given the advanced state of SkyEye?, this is probably a very good place to start.
Rockbox as an Application
- Portable devices which allow third party applications to run within the retail OS are becoming increasingly popular. Convert Rockbox to an application that runs on a Windows, Linux or Apple based cellphone, PDA, iPhone, or similar device that allows third party applications.
- Alternatively, Google has proposed an Open Source mobile phone platform called Android which may one day run on many phones using a standard API. Rockbox could be ported to use Google's API and (somehow) linked to a C backend for decoding. An emulator and SDK is available to aid development, and Google has announced their intention to fund open source groups targeting their platform.
- Better suited than Android would be the OpenMoko project, which is a fully open source platform for mobile phones, that already exists and has strong community support.
Interested mentors: DaveChapman
Support for Media Transfer Protocol (MTP)
- This project would be to implement support for MTP, which is currently in the process of being standardised by the USB Implementers Forum as a USB device class.
- Other device classes can also be considered.
Interested mentors: FrankGevaerts
Integration with itunes
- Although not seen as a desired feature by many Rockbox developers, there is a significant number of Rockbox users who choose to use itunes to manage their music, and therefore have two databases and sets of playlists on their ipod. iTunes also stores album art images in this database.
- Rockbox doesn't currently have any knowledge of the database files created on an ipod by iTunes - but the Rockbox database will find the music files via the filesystem and index them via the tags contained in those files (which may or may not be the same as the information in the itunes database).
- This project would need to solve the difficult problem of making use of the information (and possibly writing information such as playcounts) in the itunes database, whilst at the same time not bloating the Rockbox codebase for users not interested in iTunes support.
- It should theoretically also be possible to trick itunes into syncing with non-ipods - e.g. other devices with a Rockbox software UMS driver could fake the identifying information and correctly respond to the itunes-specific SCSI commands.
- Remove most of the recursive makefiles to make builds faster (especially on cygwin) and more reliable (due to better dependency tracking)
- Fix the dependency flaws
- Fix the quirks with the generated files, like bitmaps
- Make a new distributed build-master script that makes use of all servers better until all builds are complete
Usability study and implementation
- Rockbox has become quite a complex piece of software. New users are often put off by the user interface and have trouble finding their way, but after a while most get used to it. Still it would be interesting to have someone take a fresh look at things and perform a study on how usability could be improved. Similar/related projects:
- The implementation part of this project would require the student to implement at least some of the recommendations of the study.
Port to a New Target
- Depending on what target, this can be way too much of a task for a summer student.
Implement Support for Apple Accessories
- Requires implementing a low-level serial port driver for the undocumented serial port in the dock connector (and remote connector on iPods which have one), and then integrating support for the higher-level Apple Accessory protocol into Rockbox.
- DavidHall is more than happy to donate hardware to anyone who gets this project from Google. Such products as:
Realaudio files can contain audio encoded with various codecs (RA1, RA2, G2/Cook, AC-3, ACELP, ATRAC3, AAC, RA Lossless) , most of which have open source decoders available as part of ffmpeg. This project (depending on the current state of similar work in ffmpeg) might need to include conversion of ffmpeg codecs to use fixed-point arithmetic. The project would be to add generic support for the Realaudio container, and implement as many codecs as time allowed.
Interested mentors: DaveChapman
Playback Engine Re-Write or Major Bugfix
- Would be biggest step towards a first SWCODEC release.
- Could also help unifying the HW-/SWCODEC playback engines.
User Interface (these screens need rewriting/ major work... might need to do more than one to make it a big enough project)
- Recording screen/interface
- Radio screen/interface
- WPS-ify the statusbar (i.e make the statusbar customizable like the WPS. either by using the WPS parser or just icons, or something else)
- quickscreen (viewport-ify it)
- pitchscreen (viewport-ify it)
- LADSPA-like architecture for audio plugins to process (reverb, filters) or display (tuner, oscilloscope) audio data from different sources (playback, rec, wave generator). This architecture could be used as a basis for an instrument tuner or realtime effects.
- Another idea would be to make plugins for all standard tasks like bass, treble, crossfeed, equalizer and then implement the "sound settings" as a plugin stack, where the user can choose just the plugins he needs to process the output signal.
- Note that if loading more than one plugin at a time is desired, like with the above effects stack idea, a DSP plugin project would also involve creating a relocatable plugin format, since plugins are currently statically linked to a fixed memory location in Rockbox's memory space. This might be a fair bit of work in itself.
Better Video Support
- Rockbox currently has a work-in-progress MPEG (MPEG-1 and MPEG-2) video player. Work to extend Rockbox's video playing capabilities could include: finishing the implementation of MPEG-1/MPEG-2 playback (see PluginMpegplayer for a to-do list), exploring the possiblity of other codecs (e.g. MPEG-4), optimisation of the video codec(s), and incorporating video playback into the core playback engine.
- Features wanted: Basic formatting, links, tables and images (for viewing Wikipedia articles or converting HTML, PDF files for Rockbox).
Port ScummVM to Rockbox.
- Will probably not be feasible on old Archos targets but should work fine on newer targets with larger screens, but might be the most fun on a colour display.
- Rockbox has a growing number of theme-related settings (colours, icons etc), some of which can be changed via existing settings, some of which require editing text files. A theme editor would allow users to change these on-target, as well as being able to present a more detailed preview of the settings than can be achieved via standard settings.
- The ability to modify a WPS in a higher-level way than modifying the .wps file in a text editor could also be included - there has long been a demand for a WPS designer application.
- An alternative to writing a plugin would be to write a standalone Desktop application to do the same thing - with the advantage of being able to create a richer UI, but the disadvantage of not being able to use it directly on the device.
Interested mentors: DominikWenger
Database Query Editor
- The Rockbox Database supports advanced customization via the tagnavi.config file, but this is only editable with a text editor and requires a user to enter the queries directly in a custom query language. This project would be to design and implement a user-friendly interface to this functionality.
Framework for localised plugins (plugin translations)
- Rockbox itself can be translated and adapted to the target by the lang file system. We need a similar system for plugin translation.
- For optimization testing (codec decode timing vs realtime, text draw speed for LCD optimizations, etc).
LLVM Compiler Infrastructure
- Make rockbox compile using LLVM to investigate if it's a viable alternative to GCC (doesn't have a m68k and sh1 backend yet).
A handy bit of advice for prospective mentors: http://code.google.com/p/google-summer-of-code/wiki/AdviceforMentors
Add yourself here if you are a very much involved Rockbox hacker who would consider to become a mentor for a Summer of Code student:
And when added here, apply "officially" using google's online application here.
Revision r49 - 29 May 2008 - 05:17 - TomRoss
Copyright © by the contributing authors. | <urn:uuid:136f7184-2009-4f9b-b410-8474ccf02048> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/bin/compare/Main/SummerOfCode2008?rev1=49;rev2=50 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912381 | 2,420 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Under the Institution for Transport Policy Study (ITPS)’s three-year project of “A Study of Transport System in a Low Carbon Society”, ITPS and project members have built backcasting scenarios of the world and five main regions of North and Latin America, Europe, India, Southeast Asia and China.
ITPS’ Global Scenario has grasped the rough image of the low carbon transport system in the world in 2050 although there was a limit to take into account the regional characteristics. Regional Scenarios have tried to capture the regional uniqueness but it was recognized that in order to achieve a low carbon transport system, each region needs to take intensive policies, some of which are globally common policies while some are different from region to region.
Towards the end of the project, it would be worthwhile to consolidate transport experts’ views in terms of the image of the ideal transport system in a low carbon society and to make a certain consensus what are required in order to achieve such a transport system. For this purpose, ITPS is going to conduct a “mini” research to see the ideal image of the transport system in 2050 and the required policy packages.
If you are interested in this survey, could you please spare about 20-25 minutes to answer the questionnaire? In order to join our survey, please visit ITPS survey site:
Once you finished answering, you can see the results of the survey including the answers and comments from other people.
Your participation is highly appreciated!
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Japan International Transport Institute Institution for Transport Policy Studies firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:21de4154-8c62-4b78-8c7d-c5a21d432da2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/node/6652 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925807 | 340 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Like a web-based guidance counselor, this cool tool helps K-6 classroom teachers leverage the power of learning preferences with their students. After students take an age-appropriate (K-2 or 3-6) preference profile in the computer lab, teachers can use:
1) Kidzmet’s breakout group app to segment compatible student teams on the fly based on personality type compatibilities, multiple intelligence preferences, and preferred learning styles;
2) individual Student Snapshots to develop IEPs or share with the parents of students so that they can become more engaged and effective members of students’ learning team; and
3) Class Roll-Ups that show the learning preferences of this year’s class mix and which are also clickable to lesson planning strategies, tactics, and approaches that will be most engaging for each type of learner.
Unlike many other inventories, the tools’ student profiles and research-backed recommendations are accurate because they’ve calibrated their profile with thousands of elementary-aged students against generally accepted personality type and VAK profile population percentages. Kidzmet continues to gain in popularity among educators and parents for good reason. It’s $24 per year for a Classroom Account, but get it for just $20 through 6/30/2012 by using the coupon code edtechdigest. | <urn:uuid:0cde2099-e864-4875-bbbf-96dd6521fba7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edtechdigest.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/cool-tool-kidzmet-like-a-web-based-guidance-counselor/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=8ef4095fcf | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92815 | 275 | 2.03125 | 2 |
In a study released in 2011 by the nonprofit Transportation for America coalition, many of the bridges supporting the city’s automobile network are on the verge of deficiency. The survey, originating from the federal government’s 2010 National Bridge Inventory, finds that in Los Angeles County alone, over 60 bridges have been deemed “structurally deficient,” with at least one of the three parts of each bridge identified by engineers as having a “major defect.” The defects indicated the necessity for general seismic upgrades, complete bridge replacements, and more, leaving many with an uneasy feeling about driving through the auto-centric metropolis.
The report’s grimmest news is not the sheer quantity of bridges under duress but the critical bridge locations at risk. The study’s geo-location graphic bleeds red at the most used sections of the Los Angeles freeway system. For instance two of the most traveled bridges near the downtown corridor are in dire condition: one at the 10 freeway and Normandie Avenue, and the other at the 10 freeway and South Central Avenue. Both bridges carry well over 300,000 people daily and are critical transportation links within the knot of downtown Los Angeles. Other key structurally deficient nodes include the bridge at the 101 freeway near the LA River and the 5 freeway and the 110 freeway intersection.
Courtesy Transportation for America
Angelenos bought into the dream of the automobile earlier than most of the nation, with a local freeway plan implemented in the 1930s. The plan grew to into a full-blown car addiction when the comprehensive freeway plan of 1947 created the modern highway network. With an average lifespan of 50 years, it is easy to see why its bridges are crumbling after such use. The early obsession with the automobile has led to the region’s current hangover of constant upkeep, rehabilitation, and replacement of its bridges and highways.
Understandably, given the 2011 Transportation for America report’s doomsday attitude, cynics might view the message as slightly exaggerated for the purpose of procuring funding for the cause. But other studies such as the recent ULI Infrastructure 2012 report back up the urgency for transportation funding, citing the global recession as the main culprit of declining infrastructural funds at local and national levels.
Compounded with the seismic vulnerability of the area, Los Angeles could be sitting on a ticking time bomb. After an earthquake all major intersections of the 10, the 5, the 405, and the 710 freeways could be closed due to seismic damage.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles has been focusing its attention on new, iconic landmark bridges and large-scale transportation issues like the 6th Street Bridge and the just-opened Exposition Line. But the most pressing issue seems to be the decrepit and neglected commonplace landmarks that we traverse daily. | <urn:uuid:450775e3-1124-424b-b7da-1f5a56a03382> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=6163 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930399 | 569 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The other night my lovely wife and I watched the 1961 movie version of West Side Story, the musical with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and music by Leonard Bernstein. It won 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, the most Oscars ever awarded to a musical. My wife had seen it before but it was my first time. I enjoyed it for the most part, although both of us felt that the last third of the movie was a little weak, both dramatically and musically. But I was struck by the way that Leonard Bernstein handled the music at the end of the film.
In the closing scene, [SPOILER ALERT] after Tony dies, Maria tells off the rival gangs and they begin to disperse, there is a pause in the underscoring before Bernstein begins his final chordal progression. It consists of high woodwinds and strings playing a D-flat major chord, punctuated with a G-natural (the tritone to D-flat) in the low bass. (Incidentally, this is the same progression that Stephen Schwartz uses in the closing bars of the first song and the finale of Wicked.) It contributes to the uneasy feeling of the scene: peace has been achieved, at least for the moment, but it isn’t pretty and it wasn’t won without a terrible cost. In the end, the high D-flat chord is played and rings out before dying away, but the bass is not resolved to a D-flat as you expect, leaving the music hanging on a consonant major chord but without a feeling of satisfying resolution.
(Start the video around the 5:20 mark)
However, at the end of the final credits, Bernstein repeats the same progression–but this time, at the end, he resolves the bass to D-flat as well, so that the movie does close with a satisfying and grounded resolution.
(Start the video around 4:15 to see the slightly amusing way Bernstein highlights his own name in the credits; the final progression begins shortly thereafter)
It’s a great way to illustrate musically the emotion at the end of the movie, while still providing a satisfying conclusion at the very end. | <urn:uuid:34a433bd-8063-4761-8ee7-c263d9d8d89e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelisteningblog.com/2011/06/the-end-of-west-side-story-leonard-bernstein/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968173 | 442 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Drinking Water Notification Levels
Last Update: March 30, 2012
Notification levels are health-based advisory levels established by CDPH for chemicals in drinking water that lack maximum contaminant levels (MCLs). When chemicals are found at concentrations greater than their notification levels, certain requirements and recommendations apply. The level at which CDPH recommends removal of a drinking water source from service is called the "response level."
Since the early 1980s, notification levels (known as "action levels" through 2004) for 93 contaminants have been established. Of those, 39 have gone through the formal regulatory process and now have MCLs (PDF).
Currently there are 30 chemicals with notification levels (PDF).
In addition, another 24 chemicals have archived advisory levels (PDF), which are also available for use.
State law (Health & Safety Code §116455) (PDF)requires timely notification of the local governing bodies (e.g., city council, county board of supervisors, or both) by drinking water systems whenever a notification level is exceeded in drinking water that is provided to consumers.
Recommendations from CDPH
If a chemical concentration is greater than its notification level in drinking water that is provided to consumers, CDPH recommends that the utility inform its customers and consumers about the presence of the chemical, and about health concerns associated with exposure to it. To provide consumer notice, the utility may want to consider using its annual Consumer Confidence Report, a separate mailing, or other method.
If a chemical is present in drinking water that is provided to consumers at concentrations considerably greater than the notification level, CDPH recommends that the drinking water system take the source out of service. The level prompting a recommendation for source removal is the "response level" of Health and Safety Code §116455, and depends upon the toxicological endpoint that is the basis for the notification level (PDF).
For chemicals with a non-cancer toxicological endpoint, this recommendation occurs at 10 times the notification level.
For four chemicals considered to pose a cancer risk—RDX, TBA, 1,2,3-TCP and TNT—this response level recommendation occurs at 100 times the notification level, which is established at a de minimis risk level (a theoretical lifetime risk level of 1 X 10-6, or up to one excess case of cancer per million people exposed daily for 70 years). Thus, the response level for these chemicals corresponds to a lifetime cancer risk of 1 X 10-4. The 10-4 value is at the upper end of the 10-6 to 10-4 cancer risk range. Exposures to environmental chemicals resulting in risks within the 10-6 to 10-4 range are generally considered by public health and environmental regulatory agencies to be "acceptable."
When the notification level for chemicals considered to pose a cancer risk is set at higher than the 1 X 10-6 risk, the response level—still at the 1 X 10-4 risk—occurs at a lower multiple of the notification level: For 1,4-dioxane, this recommendation occurs at 35 times the notification level, and for the nitrosamines NDEA, NDMA, and NDPA this recommendation occurs at 10, 30, and 50 times the notification level, respectively.
Additional Notification When Water Is Served above the Response Level:
When a drinking water system does not take a source out of service despite the presence of a contaminant in drinking water at a level confirmed to be greater than the response level, CDPH recommends the following:
- Notification of the local governing body (i.e., city council or board of supervisors, or both) that indicates water is being provided that exceeds the chemical’s response level, and the reason for the continued use of the source.
- Notification of the water system’s customers and other water consumers that the contaminant is present in their drinking water at a concentration greater than its response level, the level at which source removal is recommended by CDPH, and the reason for the continued use of the source.
- Whenever such a public "right-to-know" notice occurs, it should be provided to customers and to the water-consuming population in the affected area that would not directly receive such information, including renters, workers and students.
- Notification should be provided directly to consumers, for example by posted notices, hand-delivered notices, and water bill inserts.
- A press release from the water system should also be issued to the local media.
- Thereafter, CDPH recommends the following: (1) Monthly sampling and analysis of the drinking water supply for as long as the contaminant exceeds its response level, and quarterly sampling for 12 months, should the concentration drop below the response level. (2) Quarterly notification of the water system’s customers and other water consumers for as long as the contaminant is present at a concentration greater than its response level, using the methods described above.
NOTE: Should the water system refuse to provide additional consumer notification, CDPH may provide that notification. | <urn:uuid:738de1f4-eecf-4803-bf55-59d2ba612b58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/drinkingwater/Pages/NotificationLevels.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935919 | 1,039 | 2.5 | 2 |
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Relying on classroom teachers to conduct PE sessions is ludicrous. They are not trained in the developmentally appropriate PE activities that children need, and will instead rely on a "throw out the ball" approach.
The point is not to provide kids with exercise "so teachers can keep them focused in class," as the writer suggests. The point is to give children effective, planned movement and educate them about the need for lifelong physical activity.
A recent study pointed out that more than two-thirds of the states now have adult obesity rates above 25 percent. In 1991, no state had an adult obesity rate of more than 20 percent. In this climate, we need more time devoted each week to professional PE classes taught by certified PE instructors rather than gutting the entire program. | <urn:uuid:7105ddc2-c869-43b2-bca5-3fafaa42230a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/skadel/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971781 | 170 | 2.328125 | 2 |
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – A measure allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition in Maryland has been amended to require them to first attend a community college in the jurisdiction where they went to high school.
The Senate approved the amendment on Wednesday in a 26-20 vote.
Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George’s, says the amendment was needed to clarify the legislation. But Sen. E.J. Pipkin, R-Cecil, says the change was made to address a court case pending against Montgomery College for its long-standing policy of providing county tuition rates to all recent county public school graduates, regardless of immigration status.
Under the bill, illegal immigrant students who attend community college could then qualify for the cheaper in-state tuition rate at four-year universities.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) | <urn:uuid:15ca3687-db7c-455d-8449-731be1e387e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/03/09/md-senators-clean-up-immigrant-tuition-bill/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956299 | 182 | 1.5 | 2 |
Script Debugger 4.0
When Apple was touting Automator as part of the OS X 10.4 Tiger upgrade, some people wondered whether AppleScript would be needed anymore. Now that we’ve seen Automator, AppleScript may be needed more than ever. There are holes in the way Automator works for those applications that support it, and there are plenty of applications that don’t support Automator at all.
Script Debugger 4.0.4, Late Night Software’s AppleScript editor, is a ground-up rewrite of what was already an excellent product. Although Apple includes an AppleScript editor with OS X, Script Debugger is much more than just an editor.
For one thing, Script Debugger includes its own version of the AppleScript OSA (Open Scripting Architecture) component, which gives you the sort of debugging controls you would expect in a professional programming environment—including the ability to see your code run one command at a time.
In addition, each Script Debugger script window has its own drawer containing a result box, a stack list (so you can see which AppleScript routines are currently being called), a variable viewer (for showing the current state of variables being used), an expression area (where you can construct debugging code that gets evaluated at every step), and an execution clock (which lets you know how long your script is taking to run). If a variable or expression changes between steps, the new value shows up in red, making it easier to see the effects your code causes.
At any stage when a script is running, you can select expressions within your code, place your cursor over the selection, and wait; a tool tip pops up, telling you what would happen if the selected code were to run. As you step through a script, the left-hand margin highlights to indicate which lines of your script have been executed. This feature makes it a cinch to find routines in old code that aren’t being run anymore.
The debugging process has also been improved. You can now debug more than one script at a time, so it’s possible to watch the interactions between scripts. Moreover, there’s a new option called break-on-exception, which pauses your script when an error occurs, so you can see the state of the script at the time of the error. And if you’re interested in the nuts and bolts of how your script is running, there’s a contextual menu item that lets you see which line of your AppleScript code produced a given Apple event.
Of course, debugging an existing script is one thing—writing one is quite another. AppleScript’s great strength is that each scriptable application extends the functions available to you. This power can be elusive, however, since it’s often a pain to figure out the correct syntax for a command or object reference. Luckily, Script Debugger has always excelled at this—and in version 4, it’s even better.
Using Script Debugger’s Dictionary window, it’s possible to view the commands and AppleScript classes that each scriptable application understands. The Dictionary can be viewed as both textual documentation (similar to Apple’s own Script Editor) and an object hierarchy (a graphical way of showing which objects can contain which other objects). You can search dictionaries, too, either via the Dictionary window or from a script window’s contextual menu. To make things even easier, dictionary entries are attractively laid out as HTML documentation and include hyperlinks so you can jump to the entries for related terms.
For a more dynamic version of an application’s dictionary, you can switch to the Explorer mode. This lists all current objects for the application in question—so if you were examining the Finder, for example, you’d see a list of each open Finder window, the picture being used as the desktop picture, the location of your Home folder, and other relevant Finder details. If you find an object you want to script, you can simply drag and drop it into your script to have Script Debugger write the code for referencing the object. That way, Script Debugger saves you from having to endlessly experiment to find the right syntax for what you’re trying to do.
But no update is without some problems. The Script palette is missing from this version, as is the script menu for easily running saved scripts. Worse still, Script Debugger 4 can no longer be scripted.
As some compensation for this, the Clippings feature has been enhanced; when you incorporate a clipping into your script (such as a skeleton for producing an if, then, else expression), Script Debugger can automatically incorporate selected code into the new expression. But sadly, script windows no longer support split views, so editing larger scripts can be a bit frustrating. (The company says this feature is planned for a future update.)
Macworld’s buying advice
Script Debugger 4.0.4 is almost everything an upgrade should be. Late Night Software seems to have taken every opportunity to condense and simplify Script Debugger’s interface, while providing easier access to powerful tools and better debugging information. If you’re serious about scripting, buy it.
[ Richard Dyce is a database consultant, journalist, and programmer in Elgin, Scotland. This review was published in the May 2006 issue of Macworld UK .]With Script Debugger, you can dig down into your stack list to examine AppleScript routines.Script Debugger’s Dictionary browser allows you to navigate through Suites, Commands, Events, Classes, Records, Enumerations and Types. | <urn:uuid:dd6fbcfe-d67c-47d4-b119-d41144b3723a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.macworld.com/article/1053329/scriptdebug404.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919635 | 1,165 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Methodist Imaging Center - West Houston has a highly advanced ultrasound unit with the ability to perform the whole realm of ultrasound procedures, including non-vascular interventional procedures.
Two of the most commonly used types of ultrasound-based diagnostic medical imaging techniques are:
- Medical sonography (ultrasonography) – Used to visualize muscles, tendons, and many internal organs, their size, structure and any pathological lesions with real time tomographic (cross-sectional) images. The process is also used to visualize a fetus during routine and emergency prenatal care.
- Obstetric sonography – Commonly used during pregnancy, obstetric sonography uses high-frequency sound waves to form an image of a fetus or internal organs. Such usages contribute to it being one of the most widely used diagnostic tools in modern medicine.
Ultrasound imaging is relatively inexpensive and portable, especially when compared with modalities such as MRI and CT. Other types of ultrasound testing include but are not limited to:
- Small parts sonography
- Gynecological sonography
- Endorectal prostate sonography
- Abdominal vascular exams
- Assisting in soft tissue organ biopsies and fine-needle aspirations
- Tissue radio- and cryoablations | <urn:uuid:c36b9301-9ddb-41be-ad68-1627a42238a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.methodisthealth.com/basic.cfm?id=35180 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909201 | 259 | 2.671875 | 3 |
MaTouQin (horse-headed fiddle, aka morin khuur) is a faithful sample-based re-creation of one of the most representative traditional Mongolian instruments.
Matouqin is believed to be originated from the nomadic people during the Tang Dynasty (7th - 10th centuries), and became widely known circa Genghis Khan's reign. Nowadays, like many other Mongolian legacies, Matouqin has become an essential part of Chinese culture. With the unique sound character and playing style, Matouqin has become one of the essential music elements in today's China.
Besides the horse-headed pegbox, Matouqin is very recognizable for its unusual playing techniques and styles. Kong Audio approached Matouqin in pursuit of the indigenous flavour instead of the more Westernized playing style, and by delivering that flavour to the users, composers and musicians now have a chance to express and explore the authentic and original Mongolian flavour with ease. | <urn:uuid:1eaf77be-d4d8-4b5a-a082-d8c8c03e9305> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kvraudio.com/product/matouqin-by-kong-audio | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960016 | 205 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Kamarupa, also called Pragjyotisha, was the first historical kingdom in Assam that existed between the 4th to the 12th century CE. Ruled by three dynasties from their capitals in present-day Guwahati and Tezpur, it covered the entire Brahmaputra river valley and, at times, North Bengal and parts of Bangladesh. Though the historical kingdom disappeared by 12th century to be replaced by smaller political entities, the notion of Kamarupa persisted and ancient and medieval chroniclers continued to call this region by this name. Coins of en:Alauddin Hussain Shah called the region Kamru or Kamrud.
This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.
Media in category "Kamarupa Kingdom"
The following 8 files are in this category, out of 8 total. | <urn:uuid:f9f44780-6e6b-475c-9186-79e270897bd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kamarupa_Kingdom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948948 | 180 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Supreme Court ruled today that suspected foreign terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts and to confront their accusers.
The Court also slammed Congress for passing the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which set up the show trial military tribunals now in progress.
The Court held that even in times of war, and even with suspected terrorists, the Constitution controls.
Scalia and the other pro-torture judges whined in dissent that the ruling would make "the war on terror" tougher for the U.S., totally ignoring the ideas of the Founding Fathers that the Constitution should apply in wartime as well as peacetime and ignoring the fact that the world's leading experts on torture say that torture produces inaccurate and useless information.
Given that the Constitution has been getting mugged for many years now, this is an important decision which might shift the momentum away from fascism and towards justice and the rule of law. | <urn:uuid:979a3a15-713c-493a-93c6-af1c34556faf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://georgewashington2.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/supreme-court-slams-congress-upholds.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964185 | 206 | 2.046875 | 2 |
GOSHEN >> The controversial, confusing redrawing of Connecticut’s voting maps have not only split the tiny town of Goshen in two, or even cut Milton Road in two — it’s cut the Wright family in half, too.
This means the members of the Wright family that live on one side of Milton Road are slated to vote for a representative in the State House of Representatives in the 64th District, while the rest of the family votes for one in the 63rd.
All of which is creating confusion — and headaches — among voters and town election officials alike.
“I don’t even know which [district] I’m in,” Patricia Wright, 92, said Monday.
“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” added Wright, who first cast a vote in 1944, when World War II was raging and a frail President Franklin D. Roosevelt was running for reelection to his fourth and final term. “I think it’s ridiculous myself, but that’s what everybody else is saying, too.”
Indeed, “ridiculous” is a more gentle description of what everyone in Goshen and Torrington, which was chopped into three state representative voting districts, is saying about the remapping of the political landscape.
The redistricting was done last year by the Connecticut General Assembly’s Reapportionment Committee, as required by the state constitution, which calls for the districts to be reconfigured every 10 years. And despite legal challenges this past year, the unpopular changes remain.
“These guys got to come to their senses,” said Ed Wright, 66, Patricia’s eldest son, who lives on the other side of Milton Road — and now must vote in the 63rd district, not the 64th like his mother and brothers Timothy and Christopher.
“It’s only done for political reasons, to get more votes,” Ed Wright elaborated. “The majority party rams these [changes] through to fit their own needs. There’s no common sense to it.”
Election officials in Kent lobbied hard to join the 64th district, according to Roberta Willis, a state representative who’s running for reelection to a seventh two-year term in the 64th, which represents Torrington and eight other small towns in northwest Connecticut, including Goshen and Kent. Continued...
Once one town is added to a district, officials on the reapportionment committee were forced to add or subtract whole towns or parts of towns to other voting areas, Willis said.
Rather than draw up political boundaries based off roads or towns, the officials used markers such as power lines, like the grid that runs through Goshen, according to maps and various sources.
“Its certainly not the way I would have done it,” Willis told the Register Citizen last night. “I don’t think Goshen should have been cut in half, but that’s how they did it.”
So while election officials in Kent may be happy, their counterparts in both Goshen and Torrington are shaking their heads, absolutely mystified — and frustrated — that their municipalities were ripped to pieces.
“It was not our decision to split Torrington” into three voting zones — the state House of Representative’s 63rd, 64th and 65th districts — said Millie Waldron, the city’s registrar of voters.
She added that “our phone has been ringing off the hook” with “angry calls” from confused voters who don’t know what district they’re in — despite the fact that her office previously mailed voters postcards to tell them.
While the districts for voting for the U.S. Congress and state senate have remained relatively unchanged, the map for voting for candidates in the state House of representatives is “a mess,” she said.
“I’ve been [the registrar] for 36 years and I’ve never seen such a mix-up,” said Waldron, who understandably will be retiring after today’s election.
“Nobody asked us how it should be done,” Waldron continued. “Even the Secretary of State [Denise Merrill, who oversees elections] was here a couple weeks ago and she couldn’t believe how badly it was divided.”
For example, of Torrington’s 19,265 registered voters, more than 7,500 now assigned to the 65th district are required to vote at the city armory, according to Nan Gallicchio, the clerk at the registrar’s office. Continued...
“Parking will be a problem, although we’ll have a policeman there,” Waldron said. “People are going to have to be very patient.”
Conversely, another 369 voters in the 65th district will have to go to Coe Park’s #2 booth in order to cast their ballots, Gallicchio said. Coe Park, city hall and Torringford School all will have two voting sections, she said.
Similar to Milton Road in Goshen, some city streets are carved up into different voting districts, meaning neighbors on the same street will have to visit different polling booths to vote.
However, unlike Goshen, which only has a handful of roads split into differing polling places, up to 50 streets in Torrington have been divided into varying voting districts, Gallicchio said.
“Our worst one is Highland Avenue, which was split into four different polling places,” Gallicchio said, shaking her head. Voters on Highland will either vote at Coe Park, the armory or at one of two polling booths in city hall, depending on their respective district, she said.
Not that matters are any less complicated in Goshen, which only has 2,150 registered voters.
By splitting the town in two, voters are just as befuddled — and irked — as town election officials.
“It’s a pain in the neck,” said Nancy Howard, the registrar of voters in Goshen. “They don’t give you any say in it. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”
Goshen is a small town, Howard said, and the General Assembly’s reapportionment committee has “doubled our [election] budget.”
Election costs in Goshen, Torrington and other municipalities won’t be tallied for at least a week, when election officials determine how much it costs for added workers, ballots and other related costs. Continued...
“It’s an added expense for nothing,” added Barabara Breer, the town clerk since 1996. “I don’t like it. It’s been a pain in the rear for polling and absentee ballots.”
The redistricting plan, she said, was just thrust upon her and other election officials throughout the state.
“It’s like the General Assembly said ‘Here’s the redistricting plan, live with it,” Breer said. “It’s your headache for the next 10 years — deal with it.”
As Breer spoke, she began to wonder aloud what will happen to Goshen the next time state legislatures redraw the political maps.
“Who knows what they may do 10 years from now — split us in four?”
To which Erin Hurlburt, her assistant, quickly snapped: “Bite your tongue woman.”
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Guide to Religious Services
Note: All listings are paid advertisements.
Note: All listings are paid advertisements. | <urn:uuid:73637941-09a6-4b22-a500-63bea60626a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://registercitizen.com/articles/2012/11/06/news/election/doc5098aaf5ec688141414053.txt?viewmode=default | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961161 | 1,896 | 1.507813 | 2 |
This scenery covers all ionian islands including Corfu, Kefallonia, Zakynthos (Zante), Paxoi, Lefkada, Ithaka and Kithira.
All scenery regions were designed at a 0-2 resolution, in other words a satellite resolution of 0-2 meters which ensures the best possible portrayal in FS2004 while it also enables their application in FSX whose display capability offers better results.
The required hard drive space to install all the regions is about 6.5 GB in total while individual regions, for example the Dodecanese, require about 1.3 GB.
Where possibe, satellite imagery of certain sectors that contained objects such as forests and roads was replaced in some regions in a manner that rendered their portrayal accurately despite the cloud cover which made said imagery unusable.
These sceneries do not affect Flight Simulator’s frame rate as they replace their equivalent 256x256 Default Terrain bitmaps. There is an important functional difference, however, due to the new technique applied. Important information on how to tweak FS9.cfg for maximum performance and viewing pleasure can thus be found in Greek Airports Project’s forum.
The satellite imagery in our sceneries for Greece is available for free only for Flight Simulation purposes. If you would like to explore satellite imagery yourself you may use the well known and established Google, Google Earth or Microsoft’s Bing Maps programs.
Many aerodromes have been moved to their actual locations as can be compared to satellite imagery and other sources. The installers correct such aerodromes in their respective GAP scenery regions. For example, a scenery area which does not affect the HSP Base Scenery was created from scratch for the island of Skyros.
- Microsoft® Windows® 98/Me/XP/2000 (fully updated)
- PC with 1 Ghz processor
- 512 MB of system RAM for 2000/XP
- 1,3 GB available hard disk space
- 1256 MB video card
- Adobe Acrobat® Reader 8 or newer to read and print the manual | <urn:uuid:ff9a590c-ebf9-485f-8d23-89cd345aeeae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greekairportsproject.gr/site/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=23&Itemid=451 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908088 | 432 | 1.601563 | 2 |
It looks intimidating but...
It looks intimidating but this schematic reveals the secrets of retained accessory power. Copy it to a tee (especially the diodes' direction) and it will work. It can be used to power the whole accessory circuit but I advise limiting it to as few devices as necessary.
The basic turn signal-only version requires four SPDT relays, a two-wire flasher (if your fuse panel doesn't have an integrated flasher), and one latching SPDT on/off/on switch. A toggle or rocker will work; however, this setup is a great way to resurrect half-working turn signal switches. As long as at least one contact on both sides is good they'll work perfectly with these relays.
Naturally, you'll want to fuse all inputs. It bears mentioning that the relays will drive the brighter filaments (brake filaments) in dual-filament lamps.
If your fuse panel has a hazard output, feed it to terminal 87 on all four relays. If not, feed constant power to a flasher's input and connect its output to terminal 87 on all four flashers. Likewise, feed switched power (ignition) to the common (center) pole of the toggle or turn signal switch. One output leg of that switch feeds one pair of relays; the other leg feeds the other pair.
The clever high-beam relay...
The clever high-beam relay comes in several flavors for Porsche, Audi, Volvo, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz but the most popular and affordable is VW PN 111-941-583. It looks like a regular relay but its terminal pattern doesn't fit universal sockets. Wire it with individual push-on connectors.
A very slight modification will make that turn signal system operate as a four-way flasher. Simply feed constant power to a Double Pole Single Throw (DPST) latching switch and connect each of its output legs to an output terminal on the turn signal switch. The two sides remain isolated from each other when switched off; when on, it feeds power to both.
To make single-filament, front turn-signal bulbs operate as combination running lights/turn signals, connect the running light or taillight feed from the headlight switch to the front relays' 87a terminals. For a simple dash indicator light, connect one leg of a lamp to constant power and piggyback the other leg to the output side of the flasher module (the side that blinks).
RAP Anyone Can Like
I'm proud that the newest car we own is old enough to vote but a new car once made me jealous. Its radio and power windows remained operational after I removed the key and stayed that way 'til I opened the door.
Retained Accessory Power (RAP) made me actually consider financing a new car. Then I discovered www.the12volt.com, an automotive electrical site chock full of neat tricks and solutions. It has a relay network that recreates the RAP feature with three relays, two $0.50 1N5402 diodes, and door switches that are probably already in your car.
Connect terminal 56 to the...
Connect terminal 56 to the headlight switch. Connect terminal S to ground through a momentary switch. When wired this way you can flash the high beams even when the headlights are off.
The RAP relays require power from the accessory circuit and common door pin switches. The ones that trigger your dome or courtesy lights will work fine.
The system can be configured entirely with SPDT relays but its power will be limited to about 10 amps (which is still respectable). To increase its power, swap the first relay with a high-current SPST relay and you can probably power the entire accessory circuit if you wish.
The system energizes when the ignition switch reaches the accessory position. The accessories will stay on as long as the ignition is on regardless of door position. But as soon as the ignition turns off the accessories will stay on only until a door opens. Turning the key back to the accessory position (or starting the car) will re-energize the circuit and repeat the cycle.
Most relay coils don't care...
Most relay coils don't care which end gets power or ground but ones with diodes do so make a habit of using 86 as the coil power in and 85 as ground. Either and/or both side(s) may be switched. Terminal 30 is common, meaning that it can contact either 87 or 87a (if a SPDT relay). When the relay is in its neutral state, normally closed (NC) indicates a completed circuit with 30 (as in 87a); normally open (NO) indicates an open circuit (as in 87).
One-Touch Headlight Dimmer
Some of the German cars I grew up with had dimmer switches that operated much like GM switches: pull back once to activate the high beams; pull back again to go back to low beams. The Krauts' system differed in one novel way, though: rather than use a clunky mechanical switch that won't adapt to anything else, they used a relay that can be activated by any momentary switch.
As soon as I figured out how to use those relays I went about replacing floor dimmers with them and retrofitting turn signal stalks with tiny hidden grounding switches. Technically this relay doesn't fall within the definition of universal but it's just too good to ignore.
A quick reminder about terminal S: It works by grounding momentarily. Grounding it for more than a few seconds will overheat and possibly fry it. As a belts-and-suspenders type of insurance, consider splitting each output (56a and 56b) into two wires and route each leg through its own fuse. That will eliminate the likelihood of losing both headlights or beams if a problem arises in one circuit. Painless Performance carries a few stand-alone four-fuse panels, including the very affordable four-circuit ATO fuse center (PN 30002).
Mini SPST relays can handle...
Mini SPST relays can handle as much as 70 amps, perfect for simple, high-draw applications like fans. DPDT versions are usually rated by each throw. Relays like this with tabs are self-mounting so can use plain sockets (shown).
Micro relays are about half...
Micro relays are about half the size of mini relays. The flip side is that they handle less current-some as little as 10 amps. That's still fairly healthy, though; a 10-amp current at 12 V works out to 120 watts. | <urn:uuid:675044da-e677-4fcc-84a8-4339fc4bd3eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/techarticles/1106rc_basic_electrical_relays/headlight_dimmer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948149 | 1,376 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad steam locomotive # 3006 on dispaly. The Galesburg Railroad Museum. Galesburg Illinois USA. June 1985.
I took this photo in June of 1985 in the city of Galesburg Illinois.
Seen here facing east, located just east of the Amtrak passenger train
station in the city of Galesburg Illinois, is preserved 4-6-4 Hudson
type passenger steam locomotive # 3006 from the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy Railroad. Steam locomotive # 3006 was built by the Baldwin
Locomotive Works of Philadelphia Pennsylvania in the year of 1930. It pulled passenger trains over many parts of the C,B &,Q untill retirement in the
late 1950's. This locomotive was donated to the city of Galesburg Illinois
for dispaly in 1961. Today, this dispaly has grown to include a heavyweight
steam era baggage car and a silver Chicago, Burlington & Quincy caboose.
Locomotive # 3006's cab is open for dispaly, and entry is gained through
a stairway on the engineers side of the cab. A rope cord is attatched so
that visitors can ring the locomotives bell. There is also a small air
whistle hooked up to the cab, and is operated by an air compressor hidden
underneath the locomotive.
The Galesburg Railroad Museum is a fine example of Historic Community Preservation. | <urn:uuid:97c21278-d8bb-4cce-9ede-7bec7585e7c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eddiesrailroad.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-burlington-quincy-railroad.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947082 | 303 | 2.21875 | 2 |
By John Keller
Editor in Chief
I finally feel like someone is listening.
For years now, I and a select few involved in supplying high-reliability, high-quality electronics parts for U.S. and allied military applications, have felt like isolated voices in the wilderness when it comes to what might be the most dangerous and frightening development ever in the aerospace and defense electronics industry.
I'm referring, of course, to counterfeit electronic parts-integrated circuits, capacitors, amplifiers, batteries, connectors, and other electronic components that, despite some safeguards in place to prevent it, somehow can make their way into mission- and life-critical military systems where they can compromise quality, or wreak havoc much worse.
It's not too difficult to find the cause of counterfeit parts; like most things it boils down to money. Most military systems have to function in the field for decades, unlike commercial systems that run the courses of their useful lives in a few years before being replaced. The military doesn't have that luxury. It's too expensive to replace sophisticated military equipment every few years.
The problem involves maintenance, upgrades, and the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts purchased on the commercial market. In essence, the military is dipping into the same well as commercial systems designers who only have to keep the technology working for a few years before replacement. As a result, parts for military systems tend to dry up as parts manufacturers phase them out in favor of supporting the latest technology.
There is, of course, infrastructure in place designed to keep parts available for military systems. It largely involves aftermarket houses like Rochester Electronics in Newburyport, Mass.; Lansdale Semiconductor in Phoenix; and the Defense Supply Center Columbus, in Columbus, Ohio.
Despite this infrastructure, things fall through the cracks and crucial parts can disappear from trusted, authorized supply channels. That's where bad things can happen. Program managers under intense cost pressures start looking for replacement parts anywhere they can at a reasonable price, which often leads to the gray market or the black market where the counterfeit parts live.
A counterfeit part tends to be a cheap knockoff of an original part. It can look the same and fit the same, but its quality is suspect. Lots of counterfeit parts come from shady manufacturers here and abroad who are trying to make a quick buck. Some of them, however, may have more nefarious intentions in mind.
Counterfeit parts without the proper pedigree and documentation, which come from unauthorized sources, risk containing harmful software or hidden access that might enable an adversary to shut down an important military system, change the system's parameters, or turn these systems against their operators. It's a bad situation that can only get worse over time. Now, though, it looks like the people who have been warning about counterfeit parts might not be alone anymore.
U.S. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) are working together with colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee and launching an investigation into counterfeit parts in the U.S. Department of Defense supply chain. The committee released a statement in March that reads, in part, "Counterfeit parts pose a risk to our national security, the reliability of our weapons systems, and the safety of our military men and women. The proliferation of counterfeit goods also damages our economy and costs American jobs."
The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to call public hearings on the matter of counterfeit electronic parts in the military later this year. It's about time that a problem of this magnitude got the public attention it deserves. | <urn:uuid:ce615a11-5a91-46a5-997d-42da0876aae0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/print/volume-22/issue-4/news/trends/senate-committee-turns-up-heat-on-counterfeit-parts-in-the-military.html | 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 | 0.953148 | 736 | 1.75 | 2 |
Over 21 years, attorney J. Gerald Hebert handled more than 100 civil rights cases as the Justice Department's point man enforcing the Voting Rights Act. Now, he helps governments gain release from the law's central mandate.
Courtesy of J. Gerry Herbert
J. Gerald Hebert speaks to the Alexandria, Va., Democratic Committee in 2011. The attorney specializes in helping governments "bail out" from federal oversight of their local elections.
J. Gerald Hebert speaks to the Alexandria, Va., Democratic Committee in 2011. The attorney specializes in helping governments "bail out" from federal oversight of their local elections. Courtesy of J. Gerry Herbert
In election law circles, he's known as the "Bailout King." No lawyer has guided more counties and cities with a history of voter discrimination to "bail out" from federal oversight of their local elections. Hebert's prolific work was cited in a dissenting opinion by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Hebert, 63, uses a largely unknown exemption, or "bailout," in the 1965 statute to help communities that have closed painful chapters in their pasts.
"I'm helping jurisdictions that have a very solid, clean record of voting rights compliance; they have earned it," Hebert says. "I have never represented and never will represent a jurisdiction seeking a bailout that's not qualified. I didn't devote my life to the Voting Rights Act and civil rights to help jurisdictions that discriminate against minority voters."
Election Laws Under Fire
A national debate over voting rights has formed in response to controversial state laws that impose a range of election restrictions, such as photo ID requirements for voters.
States are fighting numerous lawsuits that claim the measures would violate the Voting Rights Act by disproportionately harming minorities. The Justice Department has used the law to block many of the initiatives, including the voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina.
Hebert represents plaintiffs suing both Texas and South Carolina over the laws, as well as plaintiffs suing to stop Florida's voter purge program.
At the heart of the controversy is the Voting Rights Act itself, particularly the mandate that communities with a history of discrimination must get federal permission or "pre-clearance" for election changes, redistricting or annexations.
Pre-clearance is enforced in some or all parts of 16 states, most broadly in the South. Many governments argue they are unfairly forced to comply after having abolished discriminatory practices many years ago. They also complain of the cost and inconvenience of submitting every proposed election change to the Justice Department.
The exemption would grant them relief if they show evidence of increased minority participation and 10 consecutive years of elections free of discrimination.
Once infrequent, the granting of bailouts has accelerated since a 2009 Supreme Court ruling loosened the requirements. Roughly 36 counties, cities, utility districts and other entities have bailed out in the past three years, the highest volume ever. Nearly every community exempted in that span is in the South.
The Justice Department says it is reviewing bailout petitions for at least another 100 jurisdictions across multiple states.
exemptions have been requested by only a fraction of the more than 12,000 U.S. jurisdictions that comply with pre-clearance. Many local officials, particularly in rural areas, don't know about the exemption, attorneys say. Other officials know little about the application process, or worry that it would be cumbersome and expensive.
Fear Of Backlash
"Jurisdictions are also a little hesitant to ask for the exemption just because the political sound of that isn't good," said Washington attorney Jason Torchinsky, who represented the city of Sandy Springs, the first jurisdiction in Georgia to bail out, in 2010. "When you are a local official, the last thing you need is to vote for something that's going to cause civil rights protests in your town."
The specter of history was a concern in Prince William County, Va., where minorities now make up 52 percent of a 419,000 population. In April, it became the largest jurisdiction in the nation to bail out.
"I've lived in Prince William for 20 years and I haven't seen any evidence of discrimination," says Keith Scarborough, chairman of the county's elections board. "But I've gotten to know a lot of people for whom it's not an academic issue. They and their parents lived through Jim Crow laws. I wanted to make sure it was far enough in the past."
Election officials sought support for the bailout from civil-rights activist Curtis Porter, chairman of the county's human rights commission, which has fought county crackdowns on illegal immigrants and played a key role in the preservation of black and Hispanic voting districts last year.
Porter was skeptical of the bailout. At age 55, he traces his ancestry in Prince William back to slavery and says he and his family remember the experiences of his uncle as one of the few southern blacks elected to local office in 1961 before the Voting Rights Act. "To many, the vestiges of legalized segregation and discrimination are no more than a history lesson. For me, it was a reality," Porter told the county board of supervisors last December.
Porter said in an interview that the commission decided to support the bailout after determining that minority voting power wasn't in danger of being diluted.
"It's become a decent place as far as race relations," Porter says. "We started looking at things that might have negative impacts on people. Once we began to talk about it, we didn't see a major impact." | <urn:uuid:500285bf-e2bc-4b77-898d-01f3a0ed5dfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.npr.org/2012/08/11/158381541/communities-find-relief-from-voting-rights-act | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971464 | 1,119 | 2 | 2 |
The goal of our research project is to improve the diagnosis and provede a better treatment for Moyamoya. This requieres improved test methods (neurocognitive test) in a way that children play and learn while their brain functions and disorders are measured. This supports the diagnosis and treatment enormously. Children affected by Moyamoya are also supported by our Little Orphan Elf program, which supports children affected by this disease and increases public awareness. Moyamoya disease is often diagnosed before the age of 10 and affects 1-9 in 100,000 people in EU (source: www.orpha.net). This disease is more common in Asia, especially in Japan (10 times more frequent), but it affects people worldwide.
Moyamoya is a rare cerebrovascular disorder caused by blocked arteries at the base of the brain. This results in an important oxygen deficiency which produces severe disturbances in the brain. To compensate the blockage, tiny vessels are formed to promote blood flow and keep oxygen transport. In japanese, Moyamoya means „puff of smoke“, which describes properly the maze of tiny vessels visible on Angiography (medical imaging technique used to visualize blood vessels). The first symptom to appear are stroke, weakness on one side of the body, impaired vision or slurred speech. These symptoms subside normally but in some cases remain permanently. Without treatment, Moyamoya can cause intracerebral hemorrhage and severe permanent disability.
The objective of this project is to fundraise diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for Moyamoya. We conducted it in close collaboration with Assoc. Prof. Dr. med. Nadia Khan (Neurosurgeon-specialist in moyamoya disease) at Children’s University Hospital Zurich.
PICTURE.- (Graphics from SVEN, Children’s Book Project) The best treatment option for Moyamoya is based on surgery. These pictures explain the treatment in an easily understood manner. To restore blood flow to the brain a bypass is needed, which is done using healthy blood vessels. This bypass provides additional blood to the areas of the brain deprived of blood. | <urn:uuid:3a7fdd2b-6a23-4416-8487-0a75c9c54ce5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moyamoya.net/index.php?file=20&lang=en&ses=b8b7c9711e17 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921861 | 438 | 3.109375 | 3 |
View, rate, and fact check the latest campaign ads.
Until this week, the last time Guam and Saipan were fought over was during World War II. However, as the GOP presidential primary season goes on and on and on and on, the caucuses held on Guam and Saipan, the main island of the Northern Mariana Islands, will loom surprisingly large.
Because of the strange delegate math the GOP uses, these relatively unpopulated islands in the middle of Pacific Ocean will combine to send six more delegates to the Republican convention in Tampa as the crucial early state of New Hampshire. This normally would make for a quirky factoid, paired with the fact that Guam is apparently home to the world’s largest Kmart, or that Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, took off from the Northern Marianas. But the increasingly fraught nature of the Republican race means that their presidential caucuses tomorrow will actually matter.
Romney has sent one of his sons, Matt, to speak at Guam’s caucus today after making an appearance on Saipan yesterday. The former Massachusetts governor has picked up the endorsement of Guam’s chief executive, Eddy Calvo. Rick Santorum’s campaign has also been active in the Pacific. Prominent Guam Republicans were enraptured over the fact that they had an hourlong conference call with Santorum, which was supposed to be only a half hour! But any contact with Republican candidates at all is a major improvement over 2008, when John McCain simply sent them a letter. Apparently, the Romney campaign's personal touch was far more successful than a conference call and the former Massachusetts Governor swept the Guam caucuses.
If the Republican campaign comes down to a contested convention, the decisive votes for the nomination could be cast by delegates who cannot legally cast ballots in the general election.
That voters on these remote islands are being so heavily courted shows the desperate state of the campaign at this point. Although the delegate hunt is not yet as intense as it was in Obama-Clinton Democratic primary of 2008, the fact that the GOP primary has already reached Guam is a sign that it is starting to reach that level.
There are also advantages to campaigning in the South Pacific, despite the extended plane flight. The weather is warmer, and the beaches more appealing than anywhere in mainland United States in late winter—not to mention a certain relief that the bare-chested men in grass skirts whom candidates encounter are actually dressed in a culturally appropriate manner. But it does raise concerns for GOP candidates, and not just because they risk running into a stray octogenarian Japanese holdout or being wrong-footed on the vital issue of brown-tree-snake policy.
There are five U.S. commonwealths and territories that are allotted delegates at the Republican convention. Besides Guam and the Northern Marianas, they are Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Combined, they will have 59 delegates, making them a more powerful bloc than a state like North Carolina, Tennessee, or New Jersey. However, they also combine to have zero electoral votes in November. If the Republican campaign comes down to a contested convention, the decisive votes for the nomination could be cast by delegates who cannot legally cast ballots in the general election. It would be a further embarrassment for a party that has suffered through a bruising primary season and would raise yet another round of questions about the Republican National Committee’s process.
But Romney’s son has been sent halfway across the globe to avoid such a predicament. After all, when else in American politics is a photo opportunity with bare-chested men in grass skirts the least embarrassing option?
London Soldier Reportedly Beheaded
In broad daylight.More
Suicide in France
Historian Kills Himself at Notre Dame
After anti–gay marriage rant.More
Bin Laden Photos Won’t Be Released
In a unanimous ruling.More
COME ON NOW
Gay Marriage Bill Splits Parliament
Cameron faces Tory rebellion.More
North Koreans Seized Chinese Boat
While Pyongyang fires off sixth missile in three days.More
On 'The Daily Show's first post-election episode, Jon Stewart questioned the Sunshine State's relevance. Sorry, Florida, we elected a president without you.
The Daily Beast’s map of the Electoral College results—updated live as they come in.
From Obama’s win to Akin’s defeat, Sullivan’s celebration to Rove’s meltdown, watch the most memorable moments.
Losing sucks—and healing is hard. Paul Begala offers advice to hurting Republicans.
Three of the most dramatic races ended in wins for Dems Elizabeth Warren and Maggie Hassan, and a loss for the GOP’s Linda McMahon.
It’s finally over! Mark McKinnon looks back on two years of big moments that changed the 2012 race.
Obama’s reelection is a victory for intelligence, reason—and, yes, hope.
As the candidates face off in the election, the books they’ve read recently and their professed favorites also go head to head. Who wins? | <urn:uuid:37777cc5-e894-4bff-80d3-9cba6f48e3cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/10/guam-and-saipan-make-tempting-targets-for-delegate-hungry-gop-candidates.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951034 | 1,051 | 1.734375 | 2 |
PDT Staff Report
FRANKLIN FURNACE — At the end of the 2011-12 school year, two Green High School teachers — Melissa Colyer and Tate Skinner — have received prestigious awards.
Melissa Colyer, intervention specialist at Green High School, received the Franklin B. Walter Outstanding Educator Award honoring educators who have made outstanding contributions to the education of children with disabilities.
“Melissa Colyer is one of the finest intervention specialists that I have experienced in my career. She exemplifies hard work with a ‘whatever it takes’ attitude toward student learning. She combines that attitude with knowledge of special education law and process and a knack for getting the paperwork completed in a timely and complete way. Melissa’s can do attitude includes being able to take students from their current level and scaffold the learning to the next level is what makes the students feel successful and learning to occur,” Green Superintendent Sandra Mers said.
Colyer is also an instructor at Marshall University, and teaches beginning special education course to pre-service teachers each semester. She has also has been invited to attend the Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children Luncheon on June 20 at the Villa Milano, in Columbus, to receive her award.
High School math teacher Tate Skinner received one of the 2012 Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics Outstanding Teacher Awards.
“Tate exhibits energy and passion for the mathematics classroom, his school, and his students. He is a teacher, mentor and published author. His book ‘Skinner Money’ is phenomenal and illustrates his passion for his classroom as well as his colleagues. Tate is willing to share his methods with his colleagues and help his fellow colleagues try to implement new ideas within the classroom. Working in a school system can be very challenging at times; however, Tate exhibits an endless supply of energy for his school. Tate videos each lesson and at the end of the day uploads those to YouTube so that students have the ability to reference the lesson anywhere,” Mers said.
Mers said the Green Local School District is proud of the accomplishments that Colyer and Skinner have made, and stressed that all of their teachers are a phenomenal collaborative group focused on students. | <urn:uuid:5ba311be-fc88-4fad-be34-db74618cb9dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/pages/home/push?class=&x_page=287&per_page=3&rel=next | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981782 | 459 | 1.648438 | 2 |
2pm, Sunday 29 May
It’s whale watching time again. Watershed Victoria is launching Winter Whale Watch 2011. At the launch you will be able to find out more about last year’s sightings, how to identify different whale species and where are the best whale viewing locations in South Gippsland.
You can phone/sms your sightings to the Whale Watch hotline: 0438 646 677
email completed form to the email address at the bottom of the form
The shearwater, or muttonbird chicks are leaving!
Watershed volunteers are getting organised over the next few weeks (Easter onwards) to protect the young shearwater birds leaving the Bass Coast for their annual migration to the Arctic (read more in Bulletin No11 on the Watershed website).
Training for monitoring around the plant and between Wonthaggi and Kilcunda Saturday 23rd April 2011. Meet at the Lower Powlett carpark at 6.30pm. Bring warm cloths, torches and good humor. Further details ring 0413 902571.
To read Watershed’s media release click here
Watershed Victoria released the following press release concerning their chalenge of the legality of the desalination plant Memorandum of Understanding between Victoria Police, DSE and AquaSure Pty Ltd in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Further details as to where to drop off forms if you see something and fill one in will follow shortly
Form to record Whale sighting. Download
Document to help you recognise and identify whale species. Download
Please click on the poster and print off copies to distribute to those you think might be interested
A quick look at Melbourne Water’s current and future energy use reveals some concerning facts, especially in the light of the need to reduce electricity use and carbon emissions. By clicking the image below you will see a breakdown of current energy usage in all aspects of Melbourne Water’s activities. The energy usage of the desalination plant will mean we will be using at least three and a half times as much energy once Melbourne Water starts sourcing water from the desalination plant. | <urn:uuid:847cf91c-9457-4730-a52f-d252b4de6e25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.watershedvictoria.org.au/content/category/uncategorised/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908513 | 438 | 2.171875 | 2 |
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Delay insensitive asynchronous circuitry provides significant advantages with respect to substrate noise due to localized switching. The differences between the substrate noise from NULL convention logic (NCL) and traditional clocked Boolean logic (CBL) are described and analyzed based on measured results. A test chip fabricated in the TSMC 0.25 μm process shows that a pseudo-random number generator implemented with NCL generates 23 dB less substrate noise compared to the equivalent synchronous design. In a larger scale digital circuit, the substrate noise improvement offered by an asynchronous 8051 processor over its synchronous counterpart was nearly 10 dB. The effect of this substrate noise on an analog circuit was explored with a delta-sigma modulator (DSM) example. The signal-to-noise ratio performance of a second order DSM was not affected by the substrate noise from the NCL 8051 processor while it experiences up to 15 dB degradation when the CBL 8051 processor is clocked near integer multiples of the DSM sampling frequency.
Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, IEEE Transactions on (Volume:20 , Issue: 2 )
Date of Publication: Feb. 2012 | <urn:uuid:ce5d3f83-5680-43e1-9178-998b58712bb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?reload=true&tp=&arnumber=5702262&contentType=Journals+%26+Magazines&sortType%3Dasc_p_Sequence%26filter%3DAND(p_IS_Number%3A6129939) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904909 | 241 | 2.109375 | 2 |
SAN FRANCISCO – The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) has launched a new video series to highlight case studies on energy efficiency and other sustainable winegrowing practices. The first four videos can be viewed at: www.sustainablewinegrowing.org/media.php, and cover efficient refrigeration, pipe insulation, aerator systems, and variable frequency drives for pumps that are being employed by Jordan Vineyard & Winery, Korbel Champagne Cellars, and Imagery Estate Winery. The fourth video covers planning and building an energy efficient winery at LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards.
“Through sustainability we are promoting the adoption of good winegrowing practices that deliver beneficial outcomes for business profitability, the environment and our communities, and peer-to-peer exchange of information has proven to be an effective way for growers and vintners to learn about these practices,” said Allison Jordan, executive director of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. “The videos feature California winery and vineyard professionals who provide details on using the practices and the cost and energy savings from installing new, efficient equipment.”
A new video will be posted at the beginning of each month so viewers can check back on the CSWA website often to learn about additional case studies on effective peer practices. Upcoming videos will cover the benefits of using solar thermal, measuring and tracking resource use to increase sustainability, employee incentives to promote sustainability throughout the organization, among other topics.
The collaboration that began in the fall of 2005 between CSWA and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) led to the development of workshops and educational materials focused on energy conservation and efficiency for California wineries and vineyards. In 2008, the workshops were expanded to include green building design, climate protection through reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy use, and winery process water and related energy. These workshops provided participants with information on PG&E rebates and incentives, while introducing a variety of PG&E online resources and tools to help reduce energy use and thereby improve the sustainability of their operations.
“PG&E commends California’s vintners and growers for their continued progress in adopting energy efficiency improvements,” said Tom Wilson, manager of customer energy solutions for PG&E. “Their commitment to preserving the environment and ensuring that their industry remains viable for generations to come is a valuable contribution to lowering emissions and fighting climate change.”
The collaboration between CSWA and PG&E has been effective. Since the fall of 2005, the two organizations have held 45 energy management workshops attended by more than 1,300 wine industry members from PG&E’s service area. During this period, PG&E recorded an increase in the number of annual energy-efficiency projects at California wineries and vineyards. Since 2001, 520 energy-efficiency projects resulted from 350 California wineries receiving about $37.6 million in PG&E rebates, saving over 200,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity and more than 4,000 therms of natural gas. This has resulted in eliminating more than 76,990 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of removing 12,918 cars off the road for one year.
Energy efficiency is one of 14 sustainable winegrowing areas that CSWA promotes through its Sustainable Winegrowing Program and Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices self-assessment workbook that addresses 227 best practices. In its 2009 Sustainability Report, CSWA reported marked improvement of Energy Efficiency scores since the 2004 baseline report, with vineyards increasing average scores in 7 out of 7 energy efficiency practices and vintners increasing average scores in 7 out of 10 criteria. See: www.sustainablewinegrowing.org/2009sustainabilityreport.php to download the report.
CSWA is a San Francisco-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization incorporated in 2003, created by Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers to promote the benefits of sustainable winegrowing practices, enlist industry commitment and assist in implementing its sustainable winegrowing program.
Journalists requiring further information should contact email@example.com or 415/512-0151. | <urn:uuid:5650aeb2-b3cb-464e-a011-58518b27f197> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wineinstitute.org/resources/pressroom/06062012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928025 | 861 | 2.25 | 2 |
The splurger’s guide to getting those extra 300 calories a day
By Kate Geagan, M.S., R.D.
We all know the saying, but are you really “eating for two” now that you’re sporting a baby bump? And, if so, do you have license to reach for a daily treat because “the baby loves chocolate cake?” Tempting, for sure—but wrong!
Although it’s true your baby’s fully forming in the first trimester, it isn’t until the second that her major growth starts. That’s when your calorie needs go up an extra 300 a day, a requirement that lasts for the remainder of your pregnancy. The goal, of course, is to get these extra calories from healthy, baby-building sources, rather than donuts and ice cream.
So, technically you’re not so much eating for two—you’re eating for one healthy, hungry pregnant momma. And considering that an increasing number of women in the United States are starting their pregnancies at higher-than-ideal body weights, keeping extra calories in check is more important than ever.
Fortunately, you don’t have to get too hung up on getting exactly 300 calories each and every day. “Some days you’ll be extra hungry and eat an additional 500 calories, and other days food might not seem that interesting, and you’ll only get an extra 150 calories,” says Frances Largeman-Roth, R.D., a new mom herself and author of Feed the Belly: The Pregnant Mom’s Healthy Eating Guide. “What matters is that you’re eating healthy, mostly unprocessed, whole foods over the course of the week, and getting an average of 300 extra calories a day.”
Of course, there’s a catch: Most of us have no idea what 300 calories of food actually looks like. So if you dig into your favorite indulgence in the name of baby, it’s likely you’ll zoom right past your target and increase your risk of gaining more weight than you need. Take a look at what 300 calories of your fave cravings look like, and then consider some healthier alternatives that let you nosh more.
Kate Geagan, M.S., R.D., is an award-winning dietician in Park City, UT, and author of Go Green, Get Lean: Trim Your Waistline with the Ultimate Low Carbon Footprint Diet. She does not recommend jelly donuts as part of your diet. | <urn:uuid:e5722ad2-538d-4524-a37f-61c6b1f90548> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pregnancymagazine.com/mom/magic-number/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927135 | 551 | 1.5 | 2 |
The first to be awarded the Air Force Medal of Honor was Major Bernard F. "Bernie" Fisher, for his heroism during the Vietnam War. The citation that accompanied his award reads as follows:
"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. On that date (10 March 1966), the Special Forces camp at A Shau was under attack by 2,000 North Vietnamese Army Regulars. Hostile troops had positioned themselves between the airstrip and the camp. Other hostile troops had surrounded the camp and were continuously raking it with automatic weapons fire from the surrounding hills. The tops of the 1,500-foot hills were obscured by an 800-foot ceiling, limiting aircraft maneuverability and forcing pilots to operate within the range of hostile gun positions, which often were able to fire down on the attacking aircraft. During the battle, Major Fisher observed a fellow airman crash land on the battletorn airstrip. In the belief that the downed pilot was seriously injured and in imminent danger of capture, Major Fisher announced his intention to land on the airstrip to effect a rescue. Although aware of the extreme danger and likely failure of such an attempt, he elected to continue. Directing his own air cover, he landed his aircraft and taxied almost the full length of the runway, which was littered with battle debris and parts of an exploded aircraft. While effecting a successful rescue of the downed pilot heavy ground fire was observed, with nineteen bullets striking his aircraft. In the face of the withering ground fire, he applied power and gained enough speed to liftoff at the overrun of the airstrip."
"Major Fisher's conspicuous gallantry, his profound concern for his fellow airman and his intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in the highest traditions of the United States Air Forces and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country." | <urn:uuid:53f80870-0532-4b76-9818-2b8a95758ae2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amcmuseum.org/history/medal_of_honor/major_fisher.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987374 | 396 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Washington, DC – The Corporation for National and Community Service announced $4 million in funding to recruit, manage, and retain more volunteers to meet address pressing social challenges today. The Volunteer Generation Fund, a new program authorized under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, is designed to expand opportunities for more Americans to serve while enhancing the capacity of nonprofits to have a sustained impact in local communities.
“Every day volunteers are finding ways to solve problems in their communities,” said Corporation CEO Patrick Corvington. “But to meet today's challenges, we need more Americans to get involved, and we need to do a better job of retaining those who have stepped up to serve. These funds will strengthen volunteer management across the country, making it easier for Americans to make a difference.”
While volunteering is on the rise amid these tough times, volunteer retention remains a significant issue. More than 35 percent of America's volunteers dropped out between 2007 and 2008, representing a huge loss of valuable human capital – about $30 billion a year, according to the Corporation's Volunteering in America research. The Volunteer Generation Fund will help plug this “leaky bucket” of volunteer attrition, grow the nation's volunteer pool, and create a sustainable infrastructure of volunteer connector organizations to increase the impact of volunteers.
Specifically, the grants will support activities to identify effective approaches to increase the number of volunteers, strengthen the capacity of volunteer connector organizations to recruit and retain volunteers, and develop strategies to effectively use volunteers to solve local problems. Applicants must provide evidence that such organizations have enhanced their capacity to fulfill the following requirements:
- Engage local partner organizations that use volunteers in a collaborative process of planning and implementation for increasing the impact of volunteers in meeting critical needs;
- Provide relevant, competency-based volunteer roles and opportunities that attract and retain high caliber volunteers;
- Develop the internal operational systems and financial management systems that will provide organizational sustainability; and | <urn:uuid:91eb34da-3a3d-41e1-8de5-b2611e6341de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nationalservice.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2010/national-service-agency-announces-funding-expand-retain-volunteers?tbl_pr_id=1689 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926277 | 394 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Photo: Welfare Beneficiaries and Drug Testing
Florida and Missouri have already passed measures that require some form of drug testing during the welfare application process, with Florida now requiring all applicants to be tested. A majority of voters nationwide agree with automatically testing all welfare applicants for illegal drug use.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 53% believe all welfare applicants should be tested for illegal drug use before receiving benefits. Only 13% support randomly drug testing applicants, while 29% believe applicants should only be tested if there is a reasonable suspicion that they are using illegal drugs.
Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed legislation, which took effect on July 1, 2011, requiring adults applying for welfare assistance to undergo drug screening. He defended the law saying that it is “unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction”.
But when it comes to those already receiving benefits, voters are more divided on the approach. A slight plurality (35%) believes recipients should only be tested when there is a reasonable suspicion of drug use. Thirty-one percent (31%) support random drug testing for welfare recipients, while 29% believe all recipients should be tested regularly.
A strong majority (70%) believes welfare recipients who are found to be using illegal drugs should have their benefits cut off. Fifteen percent (15%) are opposed to taking away benefits in this case while another 15% are undecided.
Of those who agree with ending benefits for illegal drug use, 58% say recipients who test positive for illegal drugs should lose their benefits on the first offense. Forty percent (40%) believe there should be one or more warnings before the benefits are cut off. | <urn:uuid:2b4f765f-1343-4d16-a9e4-e483528b283b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/poll-majority-of-voters-support-drug-testing-welfare-applicants/9058/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948463 | 337 | 1.898438 | 2 |
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This paper presents a timed coloured Petri nets based programming tool that supports modeling and performance analysis of distributed World Wide Web environments. A distributed Internet system model, initially described in compliance with queueing theory (QT) rules, is mapped onto the Timed coloured petri net (TCPN) structure by means of queueing system templates. Then, it is executed and analyzed using design/CPN toolset. The proposed distributed Internet systems modeling and design methodology has been applied for evaluation of several system architectures under different external loads.
Date of Conference: 20-22 Oct. 2008 | <urn:uuid:3a871afc-fa95-4c02-9f10-3ff7f1d01151> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=4747298&contentType=Conference+Publications | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917014 | 122 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Live Earth Announces 2010 Global Event
This is the web version of the October 15, 2009 Live Earth email to members. Click here to join and receive bi-weekly updates from Live Earth.
Live Earth is pleased to announce the largest worldwide water initiative in history to help combat the global water crisis. The Dow Live Earth Run for Water - to take place April 18, 2010 - will consist of a series of 6 km run/walks (the average distance many women and children walk every day to secure water) taking place over the course of 24 hours in countries around the world, featuring concerts and water education activities, raising awareness and funds to help solve the water crisis. Jessica Biel, Alexandra Cousteau, Pete Wentz, Angelique Kidjo and Jenny Fletcher will lend their names and their time in support of this global event.
Water scarcity is a a major issue affecting countries, communities and families all over the world. One in eight people don't have access to safe, clean drinking water. Communities in Africa, Latin America and Asia suffer 1.8 million deaths every year from diarrheal diseases and the death of 5,000 children each day due to inadequate water infrastructure. In these areas, women and children are forced to walk 6 km (3.7 miles) each day to secure water that is likely unsuitable for drinking. However, the water crisis is not only limited to developing nations. Adding to these existing issues, the affects of climate change are increasingly impacting both supply and quality of available fresh water throughout the world - shifting traditional rainfall patterns, altering water-shaping ecosystems and magnifying the effects of pollution.
In 60% of European cities with populations greater than 100,000, groundwater is being used faster than it can be replenished. By 2025, two-thirds of the world's population could be living under water-stressed conditions.
You can help solve the water crisis by participating in the April 18th event. Run/walk registration is now officially open! Sign up now at http://liveearth.org/run.
Not finding an event in your city? Those interested in organizing their own run/walks in their communities to support the Dow Live Earth Run for Water can register their run/walk as a "Friends of Live Earth" event at http://liveearth.org/friends. To date, Friends of Live Earth events are confirmed to take place in locations around the world, including: the Netherlands, Bogotá, Columbia; Eldoret, Kenya; and many more!
Interested in donating to help the cause? A cross-platform global fundraising effort will raise money to fund sustainable and scalable water programs. The Dow Live Earth Run for Water global network of NGO partners, including Global Water Challenge, A Child's Right, Fondo para la Paz, Indonesian Water Partnership, Lien Aid, Pump Aid and Wildlands Conservation Trust will fund sustainable water projects in developing nations around the world. For more information on fundraising, please visit http://liveearth.org/give.
Click here to invite your friends to Live Earth! | <urn:uuid:eb401057-d4a3-4084-b501-9855ac4a34a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://liveearth.org/es/liveearthblog/live-earth-announces-2010-global-event | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91722 | 625 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Note: Do everything that follows logged on as root.
There are three distinct stages that need not be followed in the order listed here (please feel free to use your imagination). Said stages are;
get and install X4.x
get and compile kernel 2.2.18 or 2.4.x (including mknod agpgart stuff)
nimbly tweak XF86Config
The first stage is of course listed only as a guide for those who have perhaps tried getting XFree86 3.3.6 working with the i810 and failed, or perhaps those who have not even heard that X4.x supports the i810 and have been struggling vainly with their XF86Config file. I suppose the majority of people who find these instructions useful will have already loaded X4.x. You lot can skip this bit. Anyway, if you do need to know, X4.x can be got from; ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/4.0/binaries
But before you rush ahead and download away you must first be sure which version of X4.x suits your system. So download Xinstall.sh on its own and run (from within the folder containing Xinstall.sh):
sh Xinstall.sh -check
The results will direct you to the correct folder within the above mentioned URL from where the appropriate files for your system can be downloaded.
For a basic installation and to save time downloading one needs only the following absolute necessities, without exception (the others are optional and when included in the install process, I feel, increase the chances of things going wrong for the unwary and inexperienced):
Now knowing which set of files are suited to your system you can go ahead and download whichever suits. Then install with the following command (from within the folder containing freshly downloaded files):
If you have been good everything will proceed smoothly. You will be asked some questions which the README file can explain/answer better than I. If something doesn't work as expected I refer you to the far more detailed, aforementioned README file, which you should definitely peruse. As a newbie I always read the readme files before downloading, installing, compiling and even getting up from my seat to go to the toilette. You can never be too sure.
That is the end of this stage.
You can get either kernel from ftp://ftp.kernel.com. Of course, read everything called README while you are at it. (In the README literature that comes with the 2.4.x kernel, there is an important note about where to unpack the source. Make sure you read it.) Put the kernel source file in /usr/src/kernels, and then run the following compile sequence, which I learned from a linuxnewbie article (to which you should refer if my directions are not clear enough for you, however it is specific to 2.2.x kernels). It can be found at the following address; http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nfh/intel/compiling/kernel_update.html. Of course, the location of the still-packed kernel is not really relevant, it only matters that it is unpacked to an acceptable location. OK, now for the commands:
tar -xzvf /usr/src/kernels/linux-2.4.x.tar.gz
or if you downloaded the better compressed bz2 version
bzcat /usr/src/kernels/linux-2.4.x.tar.bz2 | tar xv
and watch the screen spew out pages of information about what's happening. When it is finished it will have created a new linux folder.
OK, so, change to the new directory:
and begin the compile process proper...
There's also make xconfig, but you haven't got X running, or you wouldn't be reading this. So that won't work. And I'm embarrassed to mention it in such an imperfect fashion but there is also something like make oldconfig but I can't find any reference to it in my books. In any case I am not addressing it here, though I am sure the procedure for it is very similar to that which follows for make menuconfig, should you be awkward and want to use it.
Now, I have gone through three text based kernel compiles (make config) and know how long winded they are. I reommend make menuconfig instead, which requires only that ncurses be loaded (you don't need X) and you will be taken through the pretty face of kernel recompilation. I loaded ncurses during a custom install of Red Hat 6.1, but I forget exactly at which stage that option is available. Otherwise ncurses is, I'm sure, on your distro's CD in rpm format, so if issuing make menuconfig just produces errors, install ncurses and try again.
The most relevant stages of the make process for solving our particular problem are:
to select EXPERIMENTAL early on (by hitting return while the very first option is highlighted and then selecting the only suboption which is consequently revealed),
towards the bottom of the base options, to enter "Character Devices" and select (not as "M" but as "*") "/dev/agpgart (AGP) support" (only available if the above instruction has been followed), and
select the appropriate sub-option of "/dev/agpgart (AGP) support" (again not as a module "M" but as a static part of the kernel "*"), namely the "I810/I810 dc100I810e support" part.
Note: The above explanation assumes you have run make menuconfig and so a little thinkology will be required to map it to a situation where make has been issued instead. But only a little.
(It has been pointed out to me that loading these features as modules would be more logical, since they are not required until startx is run. I have not tried the 'loadable module way' yet and will ammend this section of the HOWTO after I have tested it. I recommend the static mode here because I ran this procedure on a test version of the 2.4.x kernel and it was suggested to me that loading statically was a safer and stabler way to go. Now that 2.4.x is officially out there, perhaps modules will be more sensible. I'll let you know how it goes. (Thanks to Heron Ordonez for this.))
When all is over and you feel calm enough, do this;
|make clean (not violently necessary but does no harm)|
|make bzImage (takes a while, this bit)|
Now have a look at the /boot directory. You will probably see that System.map is a symbolic link to System.map-[your_kernel_version] and vmlinuz is a symbolic link to vmlinuz-[your_kernel_version]. This arrangement is true for many distros, but not all. I think some store vmlinuz in /, while System.map resides in /boot. Whatever the case is, use your brain and apply these instructions accordingly. So, basically you need to remove the symbolic links like so:
Then new symbolic links need to be created to the about-to-be-copied-over-while-simultaneously-being-renamed, recently created files. It goes like this (assuming you have an i386 computer):
|cp /usr/src/kernels/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.x|
|ln -s /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.x /boot/vmlinuz|
|cp /usr/src/kernels/linux/System.map /boot/System.map-2.4.x|
|ln -s /boot/System.map-2.4.x /boot/System.map|
Tip: You don't need to use absolute pathnames if you are in /boot. But if you are the excessively cautious type and do use absolute pathnames, you just have longer names for your symbolic files. In fact the whole symbolic link thing here is only necessary if you want to play it that way. Essentially, minimalistically, you can have one kernel called vmlinuz and name all the others by their version number (or just trash them!), and swap all the names around when you want to boot another kernel. Or give each kernel a unique name, and have one entry per kernel in /etc/lilo.conf. It's up to you.
Now you need to edit /etc/lilo.conf. This is achieved thusly:
After editing lilo.conf you must do this:
so that the crisp, shiny, new linux kernel be made known to lilo, otherwise (I have experienced this) the new kernel will not be available for booting. Which would be silly. So after all this take a deep breath and reboot, select your new kernel and with fingers crossed, watch. It should work. If it does, go and celebrate a little. But don't let it get to your head because you have yet to mknod the agpgart module, a simple yet essential procedure done thusly:
|mknod agpgart c 10 175|
which basically creates the very essential character device (X won't run without it) driver which acts kinda like a 'go-between' for the i810 chipset and the X server. (Thanks to Heron Ordonez for saving me some embarrassment here.) Pretty scientic stuff. Sorry about that.
That was the end of this stage.
I've done a lot of this and it get's mighty tedious when it fails 23 times in a row I CAN TELL YOU, so pay attention and read very closely the man page (run man XF86Config at the command prompt). First of all I recommend running the in-no-way-user-friendly xf86config (observe case!) to genertate a base XF86Config file as the other tools seem to produce XF86Config files which are in my experience incompatible with X4.x. When you run through the questions xf86config asks and you reach the card section, there will be nothing for you to choose, so choose that very nothing. You'll be entering the right stuff later, after the base file has been created. Then, after answering all the questions as well as you can, save the file as /etc/X11/XF86Config.
So, finally, the all important addition is:
and it should be inserted in the Graphics Device Section. There should in any case be an existing "Device" section which you could edit if you prefer. From thereon you should, having defined the i810 for X, enter "i810" wherever you see a "Device" field. I am including a couple of sections from my XF86Config file as an example, and hopefully to make a little clearer what I mean:
|Identifier "Screen 1"|
|Monitor "Highscreen 17inch"|
As you can see I have only given X the option of "1024x768", and have a default colour depth of 24 bits, because I like it that way, and the i810 can easily cope with that resolution and depth on my 17" monitor. How that would work on a 21" I do not know. Experimentation will teach you.
I am going to be boring and say it again, but a more complete understanding than I can give here of the mysteries of the XF86Config file can be achieved by closely reading the man page (see above). This is really important if you want to have a chance of solving any problems that are bound to come up now and again, that have not been covered here.
That should do it. Now save XF86Config and run:
It should work. It did for me. You will be happy. If not contact me at <firstname.lastname@example.org> and I will endeavour to help you.
Note: This is a kind of a p.s. to this section but may be helpful. I had a wee problem when going through the XF86Config part of this HOWTO during a test run. It stemmed from having read but not fully understood some blurb about the i810 and X4.x not working at all resolutions with a buffer extension (or something like that). Anyway, I made no notes about this and cannot therefore remember exactly what I read. Because I remember this vaguely I can only say the following with certainty; you need the following stanza at the beginning of your XF86Config file:
# This loads the DBE extension module Load "dbe" # Double buffer extension # This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables # initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module. SubSection "extmod" Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension EndSubSection
So if X reports errors about a "shape extender" or "shape extension", you may well find that your XF86Config file is missing the above listed stanza. | <urn:uuid:4b66590a-663b-42ab-b87b-dc1bc2c74dea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/i810-HOWTO/x26.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916403 | 2,806 | 1.601563 | 2 |
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The fine motor skills of most young children take quite a while to develop. This means that little hands just aren't made to grab and hold small things. There isn't enough strength in the fingers to be able to pick up and hold such things as regular crayons. That is why Homeroom Teacher stocks jumbo crayons among our more than 30,000 teacher supplies. We want to be sure that every child has the chance to experience the thrill of putting colors on paper. Our jumbo crayons come in all the same vivid colors that regular crayons come in, but they are just the right size for young fingers.
Certain school supplies continue to bring a smile to the faces of children young and old year after year. Crayons is one of those items. A new box of crayons always brings excitement with it; and the younger the child, the more the excitement. So is there really any reason why a teacher wouldn't want to include jumbo crayons among their other classroom supplies? And, if you're a parent, don't you think you should start your child off with the excitement of learning to color at an early age? If so, you should be sure to check out the jumbo crayons that we carry at Homeroom Teacher. You'll be glad you did!
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Put safety first when it comes to supplying your young students with scissors.
Find your school easels and general education supplies at Homeroom Teacher.
Classroom Art and School Stencils to stimulate your students and inspire them. | <urn:uuid:4f990286-2be8-44f3-b611-e057a1343ec2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homeroomteacher.com/jumbocrayons.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951799 | 469 | 1.945313 | 2 |
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This question was recently posed to the ASU Lodestar Center’s “Ask a Nonprofit Specialist”:
A nonprofit Board of Directors has 2 essential financial responsibilities:
- Ensure assets are protected and used to support the organization’s charitable purpose in compliance with regulations and standards.
- Make certain the organization has sufficient resources to fulfill the organizational mission, otherwise known as fundraising and resource development.
The detailed review of financial statements is often delegated to a Board Finance Committee, but every member of the Board should be able to interpret financial statement basics. Training for members without financial expertise is essential for any effective Board of Directors.
An organization’s budget, financial statements and summary reports to Boards of Directors should all do the following:
- Set expectations (budget and/or prior year experience, plus acceptable variations to expectations);
- Compare actual activity to expectations (comparison of budget/prior year to actual);
- Present a picture of the financial health of the organization.
The numbers in financial statements are always relative to other numbers, and it is this relativity that gives the numbers meaning. Through a comparison of budget and prior year to actual, the Board should be able to answer the following questions:
- Does the organization have enough cash and receivables to meet our immediate and longer term cash and resource needs as defined by our budget?
- What is the trend of revenue, expense and other activities? How do these trends compare to expectations?
- Are changes necessary to accommodate changes?
- Are funds being generated and spent in alignment with internal and external expectations, restrictions and legal requirements?
- What is the overall financial health of our organization?
Nonprofit organizations come in all shapes and sizes—and with different challenges. Many ratios and other information can be derived from financial documents that are useful to interpretation. Some are critical to every organization and others are more particular to individual situations.
The Nonprofits Assistance Fund has a great resource that describes 14 different types of financial ratios. One of the most well known is the function expense ratio that illustrates administrative and fundraising expenses relative to program expenses. Other ratios include:
- Sources of revenue – useful to determine and monitor over and under reliance of different sources of revenue;
- Cost per unit of service – helpful in measuring efficiency of service delivery;
- Months of Liquid Net Assets - essential to determining the adequacy of liquid assets needed to cover upcoming expenses;
- Personnel Costs – monitors personnel costs relative to the budget as a whole, expectations and past experience.
Together with your Board, develop transparent strategies for focusing on agreed upon financial metrics, based on well defined expectations that reflect your organization’s unique needs. Limit the metrics to the most critical factors— those that truly reflect the challenges and opportunities for your organization.
The Lodestar Center’s Nonprofit Management Institute offers great training for nonprofit professionals and volunteers in its Financial Management classes, with courses later this month in Tucson and in July in Tempe. Check out our Frequently Asked Questions section on our webpage for information on financial management and other nonprofit management issues. You are also welcome to pose your own question to the Nonprofit Expert.
|Like this article? Get another!| | <urn:uuid:ed213916-b553-4119-93c1-e3e3bfe00fdc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.lodestar.asu.edu/2012/05/ask-nonprofit-expert-engaging-board-in.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931961 | 665 | 2.171875 | 2 |
And Then Bill Gates Said
As the founder and long time leader of one of the most successful companies, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of Bill Gates' predictions about computing and the future of computing.
Bill Said: "If something's expensive to develop, and somebody's not going to get paid, it won't get developed. So you decide: Do you want software to be written, or not?" in an interview in 1980.
Let's see. Linux, GIMP, OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, are all major software projects without people getting paid. And you know what? I seem to have fewer problems with those applications than I do with their Microsoft counterparts. My favorite example of this is Powerpoint vs OpenOffice Impress. Whenever creating a Powerpoint presentation, I tended to save a new version after adding a few new slides because I never knew when it would crash. Following one particular crash, Powerpoint insisted that my PPT file was corrupt and unreadable. I figured what do I have to lose - I started OpenOffice Impress and asked it to open my PPT. Not only did it successfully open the file, but as far as I could tell, all my slides and notes were intact. In your face Bill.
Bill Said: "640K ought to be enough for anybody." in 1981. However Bill does deny ever having said this. Needless to say you can't do anything with a PC today if it only has 640K of memory.
Bill Said: "To create a new standard, it takes something that's not just a little bit different; it takes something that's really new and really captures people's imagination - and the Macintosh, of all the machines I've ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard." at a Macintosh conference in 1984. I certainly won't argue with him on this one.
Bill Said: "I believe OS/2 is destined to be the most important operating system, and possibly program, of all time." in November 1987. While the initial versions were buggy and awkward, I loved the later versions of OS/2 and found it to be a far more powerful and reliable operating system than what Microsoft was peddling. With the advantage of hindsight, I think OS/2's undoing was IBM's decision to have OS/2 run Windows programs better than Windows. This capability was actually a disincentive for application developers to write native OS/2 programs.
Bill Said: "We will never make a 32-bit operating system, but I'll always love IBM." in an undated quote. All I can say is that I guess never has come and gone.
Bill Said: "There are people who don't like capitalism, and people who don't like PCs. But there's no one who likes the PC who doesn't like Microsoft." in an undated attribution.
Wow, I don't know what Mr. Gates was smoking when he said this. I recall a business program on the radio circa 2002. It was discussing product branding. The expert being interviewed was asked to name a company whose branding was a success. I believe that the company he named was either Federal Express or UPS. When asked why, he responded that while their competitors were bragging about how many planes and locations they had, Federal Express (or UPS) was emphasizing that they knew how important the package was to the customer and how important it was to get it delivered on time. In short, they were focusing on satisfying the customers needs. When asked to identify a failing company, without hesitation the expert said simply "Microsoft". When asked why, his response got a laugh of understanding from the interviewer: "Well, do you know anybody who actually uses Microsoft software because the want to?"
Bill Said: "There are no significant bugs in our released software that any significant number of users want fixed." from an interview in Focus Magazine in October 1995. Bad news does have a way of not traveling uphill.
Bill Said: "Sometimes we do get taken by surprise. For example, when the Internet came along, we had it as a fifth or sixth priority." in a speech at the University of Washington in 1998. I bet it was really their ninth or tenth priority.
Bill Said: "Spam will be a thing of the past in two years' time." in an interview with BBC News on January 24, 2004. Well that was three years ago and I get more spam than ever.
Bill Said: "We're responsible for the creation of the PC industry. The whole idea of compatible machines and lots of software.. that's something we brought to computing." in an undated quote. Yep, and Al Gore invented the Internet. Bill and Al must be drinking from the same trough.
Bill Said: "Understand that this is the last physical format there will ever be." regarding Blu-ray in an October 14 2005 interview in The Daily Princetonian interview. I wouldn't count on it.
Bill Said: "Microsoft is not about greed. It's about innovation and fairness." in an undated quote. This one left me ROTFL.
Bill Said: "Let's face it, the average computer user has the brain of a Spider Monkey." in an undated quote. Strange but that's what I've always thought about the folks who work at Microsoft, especially in their upper management.
I would like to close with a quote by Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who certainly has a way with words:
"The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate technology, led them into it in the first place."
For these and other Bill Gates quotes, visit http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Gates
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Copyright ©1999-2007, Astrodigital, http://www.astrodigital.org. All rights reserved. Direct questions, problems and update notification requests to Contact | <urn:uuid:5b43ec0c-1a52-43a4-b6b1-574fc74ebf85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.astrodigital.org/digital/billgates.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973418 | 1,258 | 2.125 | 2 |
*This blog entry brought to you courtesy of the back of the box of Kelloggs (insertcopywritethingie) All Bran with Yogurt Bites*
The time is now to pay attention to your digestive system. Located in the center of our bodies, it affects everything, but you probably dn't acknowledge it unless something goes wrong. If you are feeling bloated, sluggish, rundown, out-of-sorts, or a simple bullet away from escaping your home remodel (okay, I added the last part..) your body and especially your digestive system may be trying to tell you something.What Upsets the Digestive System?
*Stress- stressful situations (coughcoughhomeremodelcough), and in particular, continued(whenthehelldoesitend) stress may upset your digestive system.*Maturity- With age, the environment in the colon changes (getsfreakingsquishedfromhavingbabiessitonit), which increases the need for fiber to keep it in balance. And remember to drink plenty of water. Or mountain dew.
*Diet- Certain foods, especially those rich in fat and protein (andchocolateandflavor) can upset your digestive system. Rushing meals and eating on the go can also have an effect. (?!!)
My friend Jenn (Hi, Jenn) turned me on to this cereal, and I am here to tell you that this stuff works. If you need help getting the party started, um, below--then grab a box of this stuff. It tastes okay. I mean, its not Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, but it doesn't taste like the box it comes in either.
Just look at the lady on the box. Arms crossed over bloated and painfully distended abdomen. Gassy? No doubt. Look at the pained expression on her face.... "Hurry and take the mother-freaking photo, I have more gas than the Texaco." Notice her breakfast companion. Casual. Happy. Probably did his "business" twice already, and it isn't even noon.
Fiber--are you getting enough? | <urn:uuid:10d626e2-d0f1-42f7-a50a-a933b22de921> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shauntewadley.blogspot.com/2006/08/feel-great-with-fiber.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926821 | 441 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Libya: Law Restricting Speech Ruled Unconstitutional
|Publisher||Human Rights Watch|
|Publication Date||14 June 2012|
|Cite as||Human Rights Watch, Libya: Law Restricting Speech Ruled Unconstitutional, 14 June 2012, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4fdcb1932.html [accessed 22 May 2013]|
|Disclaimer||This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.|
The Libyan Supreme Court's decision on June 14, 2012, that declared unconstitutional a law that criminalized a variety of political speech is a landmark decision. The court ruled that Law 37/2012 was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.
"Today, the Supreme Court of Libya has shown what freedom means," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "By declaring this law unconstitutional, it has affirmed free speech for the Libyan people, even for critical and controversial views."
This is the first judicial review of a law issued by the National Transitional Council (NTC), which has been governing Libya since Muammar Gaddafi's fall in 2011. A group of Libyan lawyers challenged the law under the interim constitutional covenant, as well as international law. The presiding Judge, Kamal Edhan, declared the law unconstitutional, but added that the decision did not affect other pre-existing restrictions on speech, such as insulting Islam.
Law 37, which the NTC passed on May 2, criminalized a variety of types of political speech, including speech that "glorifies the tyrant [Muammar Gaddafi]," did "damage [to] the February 17 Revolution," or insulted Libya's institutions. Human Rights Watch had criticized the law as a violation of freedom of expression and called on the NTC to revoke it.
Human Rights Watch urged the NTC and any incoming new government to abolish all laws in Libya that restrict free expression in violation of international law. | <urn:uuid:ba76df8d-8e18-4dfa-86a5-5bf2d760c0d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=topic&tocid=4565c2252c&toid=&publisher=&type=&coi=&docid=4fdcb1932&skip=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946019 | 442 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Summary Question: If someone is leasing land from another person with the same last name and is presumably the one living next door, does that indicate they are related like father/son?
I have a marriage record from 1855 saying that my ggggrandfather Bartholomew Donovan married Isabella Mylrae in Lancashire and that Bartholomew was born in Ireland. The record also indicates that he was the son of a John Donovan.
I can't find him in the 1851 census, although there's one Bartholomew Donovan who is living in the area but married to someone that I can't find a record of death or original marriage. When I look at the Griffith's Valuation, there's one Bartholomew Donovan who leases his land from a John Donovan that is (presumably) living next door. Is that an indication that that John and Bartholomew are related? | <urn:uuid:fa4548e7-3337-4713-a237-4b32f3890518> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=tree&m=20778&p=localities.britisles.ireland.crk.general | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981965 | 183 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Animal Stories - People Talking About Spotted Green Puffer
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Spotted Green Puffer
The Spotted Green Puffer is a very popular attraction and the most commonly available freshwater puffer fish!
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Never let any metal be exposed to aquarium water, the rust is toxic. I got a cute little GS puffer and i didn't notice the rust until it was to late, but i did learn signs that show your puffer is sick. first his body will darken, his belly will turn grey, and it will become dificult to make out his spots. when he starts swimming slowly that means the end is near. don't let this happen to your puffer! if you recognize these signs change his water and try to find out whats wrong.
Green Spotted Puffer is a brackish water fish. they can live in fresh for a while, but they will die. i bought one thinking it was fresh water and he almost died. i ended up giveing him to a pet shop, and once i turn my tank into a brackish water im getting him back.
i just got a puffer yesterday and they are very fun to watch but they jump alot, so i say GET A LID. Yes, it scared me because it jumped at me! haha, but i have three and they all get along and i hope they have baby's...
I just bought a green spotted puffer today, and I was on a tight budget. I have put it in a tank with small pebbles and feed it shrimp pellets. It's the coolest fish ever. It seems to be more fascinated with the reflection of itself than anything else. I decided to name it Flash, because it's an incredibly fast swimmer.
I bought a gsp (named "PUFF DADDY") about a month ago and have him in a brackish 12 gal tank. I added a baby barracuda and a baby cichlid and he ate both of them. Next addition were 2 large o'opu but the o'opu were too territorial and chase PUFF DADDY. I now have a 3/4 inch o'opu(goby)in there and PUFF DADDY doesn't bother him. There are also 14 ghost shrimp in there but he isn't brave enough to get too close to them. He will only eat them if I they are dead or injured. All of them seem to be O.K. together. Puffers are great fish to have!
I had two little spotted green puffers. They were the most shy and enjoyable fish I've ever owned! They were so funny to watch how they swim (bobbing around)and watching them eat (especially snails, how they would kind of "circle" it before trying to eat it). Mine died a young age though because I didn't know you can't use copper with puffers (I do my reaserch on my fish, and never found a thing on it until recently) and my main water conditioner is made of copper! D: I feel so horrible that they died because of me. But I loved them. I really want more but no one sells them around here! I'm thinking about getting a couple dwarf puffers though, but they're not as much of a community fish as my green spotted puffer were. Oh well.
We just brought home two spotted puffers, they are SO fun to watch. I feed them brine shrimp and bloodworms right off of a plastic
spoon. They will come up and eat right from the spoon. One is VERY friendly and the other is alittle shy. The other people that said that you MUST feed them a correct diet is right. Sometimes they will not touch a flake at all even if they are hungry. They do nip at the other fish a little, but most are either big enough to take care of themselves or fast enough to swim away. They hide when they feel like it, not to often. They do see you come up to the tank and usually will greet you. I think I have already spoiled them....they wait for that spoon! They are amazing fish! I have noticed that sometimes they have a gray belly and other times it's ALL white. I have NEVER seen them puff up tho...I guess they don't feel threatened in our tank! Good luck to all. PUFFER POWER...lol!
I currently have two green spotted puffers ( Mr and Mrs puffpuff)and they are the best fish i have ever owned. The only problem is that they pick on my crayfish, but my crayfish is to big for them to hurt it. They are the best fish to watch, very picky on what they eat but as long as you feed them the proper diet they will be happy and healthy.
dont rely on regular fish flakes they will just starve to death. after a few puffers died i figured this out, i usually feed my puffers a diet of earthworms attached to a fish string. if the earthworm is not attached to a fish string the earthworm will bury itself in the bottom and die. so take care of your water, make sure you clean it religiously, and make sure they are fed correctly, and you;ll have a nice healthy puffer for years.
I love the the spots, i am going to purchuse the very soon. Theu are so cute, but their nipping isnt a good thing. Well yea, i love gupoies and humm, the Dragon Fish is my favorite. i love fish <3. | <urn:uuid:5b892753-d617-4087-bd2c-926194a5ad54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pet-talk.animal-world.com/Aquarium+Tropical+Fish/Puffer+Fish/Spotted+Green+Puffer&pagenum=21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968836 | 1,269 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Beijing on Friday said it "firmly opposes" a Pentagon report that supported maintaining tight restrictions on exports of satellites and related equipment to China.
The Foreign Ministry said the report slanders China by suggesting that the country achieved space exploration through "successful spying".
"The report recommending the maintenance of restrictions on exports to China, which was a policy formulated more than 20 years ago, does not comply with the consensus reached by leaders of both countries to strengthen bilateral cooperation on space exploration," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in a statement. He expressed the Chinese government's deep disappointment over the US proposal, which was released on Wednesday.
Liu emphasized that China's space accomplishments are due to the "pioneering, innovative and devoted work" of the Chinese people.
"All attempts to limit our space development or defame and abuse it are in vain," the spokesman said, adding that China will firmly adhere to the road of peaceful development and continue to promote the peaceful exploration of space by working with other countries on an equal and mutually beneficial basis.
The report also suggested the removal of hundreds of thousands of items from the US Munitions List of articles, technologies and services used for defense and space. Licenses issued by the US government are required to export any item on the list.
The US National Defense Authorization Act in 1999 gave the US State Department export-licensing jurisdiction over commercial satellites and related components, said Fan Jishe, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"In 1999, the US gave the military control over certain commercial industries and now they have made a reversal," Fan said, adding that the recommended changes of the rules governing US satellite exports appear to be a "relaxation".
"The Obama administration hopes for increased cooperation with China on space exploration. But pressure from lawmakers is significant and some in the US Congress are always obstructing Sino-US space collaboration."
For years, US lawmakers have been accusing China of obtaining US technology through commercial deals.
"It is crystal clear that over the past 10 years, while China has been making great progress in space exploration, there has been no tangible cooperation between the two countries," Fan said.
The satellite industry in the United States urged and welcomed the relaxation.
"The strength of our industrial base is important to sustaining and advancing the strategic advantage we get from space," Greg Schulte, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said at a news conference in Colorado.
He added that the changes, if approved by Congress, would help make the US industry more competitive internationally at a time when defense budgets are declining, Reuters cited him as saying.
However, Fan said he does not expect Washington to loosen the export restrictions targeting China in the near future.
"The tight restrictions have been implemented by some US lawmakers who feel threatened by China's economic rise. They don't want Washington's dominance to be challenged. However, lofty words without action are of no benefit to strategic development in space exploration for China and the US," Fan said. | <urn:uuid:19e9459e-fa38-48ca-be40-84af892b4b7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.china.org.cn/world/2012-04/21/content_25201489.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96132 | 619 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Misconceptions by Robert Browning
"Misconceptions" is a poem written by Robert Browning. This poem is about Browning having short flings with women by using his charms while wanting nothing serious with them. He is saying that he is saving his real self for the person he loves, "Love to be saved for it, proffered to, spent on!".
This poem is made up of only two stanzas. Each stanza has seven lines with the rhyme scheme of ABABBAA. All of the "A" lines of each stanza end with the same word: the first stanza "A" lines end with "to" while the second stanza "A" lines end with "on".
Misconceptions This is a spray the Bird clung to, Making it blossom with pleasure, Ere the high tree-top she sprung to, Fit for her nest and her treasure. Oh, what a hope beyond measure Was the poor spray's, which the flying feet hung to, - So to be singled out, built in, and sung to! This is a heart the Queen leant on, Thrilled in a minute erratic, Ere the true bosom she bent on, Meet for love's regal dalmatic. Oh, what a fancy ecstatic Was the poor heart's, ere the wanderer went on - Love to be saved for it, proffered to, spent on.
Next: My Star
Find out more information about this poem and read others like it.
Victorian, 19th Century | <urn:uuid:eb9857c8-6bc8-42b1-af6e-8b6df61a9ca2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.poemofquotes.com/robertbrowning/misconceptions.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933076 | 323 | 2.421875 | 2 |
[American Muslim Group for Policy Planning;] Another "Moderate" Muslim Group
by Daniel Pipes
Translations of this item:
Muqtedar Khan of the Brookings Institution has announced, in a recent article in the Daily Times of Lahore, the coming into existence on Dec. 13, 2004, of yet another organization of American Muslims claiming to be moderate. It does not lack for ambitions: "Now with the constitution of the American Muslim Group for Policy Planning, Moderate Muslims in America have a name and an address." Unfortunately, in its initial form, the AMGPP does not at all appear to be moderate.
Rather, it resembles the Progressive Muslim Union (which opened its virtual doors a month earlier, and which I have analyzed in a lengthy blog entry). The two organizations have overlapping personnel, some on the left (Ahmed Nassef) and others Islamist (Salam Al-Marayati). They share an American feel to them (in contrast to many other Muslim organizations, with their more immigrant-like quality). Their main difference seems to be that PMU is based in New York and AMGPP in Washington; this means that while the one has a regular feature on "Sex and the Umma," the other includes the phrase "policy planning" in its name. The one tries to be hip, the other to be influential.
AMGPP's naked bid for power is of particular note. On the one hand, it offers to help the U.S. government:
On the other, it seeks to extract maximum advantage:
In other words, only if the U.S. government gives us authority over issues we care about will we help it. The AMPGG's offer, which sounds more like a threat than an opportunity, raises the obvious question: what mandate can it claim to oversee policy?
Like the PMU and Islamist organizations, AMGPP persists in the stale, discredited notion that "Islam and Muslims are being demonised in the US, their civil rights situation is terrible and Muslims are routinely excluded from policy deliberations." Khan also carries on with the old trope of a "rising Islamophobia in the US." In reality, hate crimes and cases of provable discrimination against Muslims are extremely rare – numerically, for example, much fewer than anti-Jewish incidents.
Were AMGPP truly moderate, it would recognize, along with Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, that while not all Muslims are terrorists, "it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims." Al-Rashed insists that, as Muslims, "We cannot clear our names unless we own up to the shameful fact that terrorism has become an Islamic enterprise; an almost exclusive monopoly, implemented by Muslim men and women." AMGPP's owning up to this problem would point to moderation. Hiding it suggests the opposite.
Further, Khan does not criticize the regnant Islamist organizations in the United States but, in stating that many moderate Muslims "have been working as individuals or as part of mainstream American Muslim organizations," rather condones them. If there is any single requirement of a would-be moderate organization, it is to denounce, explicitly and specifically, the Wahhabi lobby that dominates the American Muslim scene.
Also disturbing are those individuals associated with the AMGPP in its initial stage, including Yahya Basha (president of the now-defunct American Muslim Council), John Esposito (radical Islam's leading academic apologist), and Hadia Mubarak (president of the Wahhabi Muslim Students Association).
The AMGPP's appearance comes at a time of increasing confusion as to who really is a moderate Muslim. I have proposed some questions as a preliminary test to distinguish between real moderates and the fake ones, and these already have one prominent success. But much more work is needed, for the separating of friend from foe cannot be done casually or quickly. It is the task of many anti-Islamist hands over many years.
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You can help support Daniel Pipes' work by making a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum. Daniel J. Pipes | <urn:uuid:bd13365a-7495-4fec-b8bc-37bbab177a0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.danielpipes.org/2315/american-muslim-group-for-policy-planning-another-moderate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951696 | 852 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Worlds of Truth: A Philosophy of Knowledge
March 2009, Wiley-Blackwell
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"This volume will be useful for specialists in pragmatism, but perhaps not sufficiently original for all collections." (CHOICE, October 2009)"Worlds of Truth develops an epistemology that accommodates science. It construes knowledge as advancing holistically. Because justification accrues through systematization, it is a property of theories, not primarily of individual sentences. Drawing on and contributing to the pragmatic tradition, Scheffler shows how a commitment to fallibilism is not a concession to epistemic inadequacy but an asset to understanding."
–Catherine Z. Elgin, Harvard University
"Israel Scheffler’s Worlds of Truth is a book that can be read with profit and enjoyment by the general reader as well as by the philosophical expert. In recent years both general readers and professional philosophers have tended to think of "pragmatism" as a fuzzy philosophy closely allied to postmodernism, and as in deep opposition to analytic philosophy, which is often seen as anti-humanistic. In this important book, and in clear and elegant prose, Scheffler performs a great service by showing in detail how to combine the antifoundationalism, the holism, and the deep fallibilism of the pragmatists with the respect for the notion of absolute truth, and the sharp distinction between being true and being warranted at a given moment characteristic of the analytic philosophers. The result is both an attractive and I believe largely right epistemological picture, and a portrait of the philosophical thinking of a significant philosopher, whose work deserves to be more widely known."
–Hilary Putnam, Harvard University
"Many things pass for 'pragmatism' these days that the original pragmatists would not recognize. It might well be said that the pragmatist tradition has lost its way. It is the perfect time for this book, which builds upon the groundbreaking work of the original figures, but does not hesitate to criticize their earlier discussions where appropriate and improve on them in the service of the development of a philosophically adequate pragmatic epistemology and metaphysics."
–Harvey Siegel, University of Miami | <urn:uuid:af496be1-983e-42cd-a459-954ddc8327dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1444310933,descCd-reviews.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932292 | 482 | 1.671875 | 2 |
I know “All About…”
7. super man
This is actually pretty similar to what my list would be.
My colleague Steph Tai at the law school wrote a long, amazing Facebook message to me about the question Cathy and I have been pawing at: when and in what spirit should we be listening to experts? It was too good to be limited to Facebook, so, with her permission, I’m reprinting it below.
Steph deals with these issues because her academic specialty is the legal status of scientific knowledge and scientific evidence. So yes: in a discussion on whether we should listen to experts I am asking you to listen to the opinions of an expert on expertise.
Also, Steph very modestly doesn’t link to her own paper on this stuff until the very bottom of this post. I know you guys don’t always read to the bottom, so I’ve got your link to “Comparing Approaches Toward Governing Scientific Advisory Bodies on Food Safety in the United States and the European Union” right here!
And now, Steph:
Some quick thoughts on this very interesting exchange. What might be helpful, to take everyone out of our own political contexts, perhaps, is to contrast this discussion you’re both having regarding experts and financial models with discussions about experts and climate models, where, it seems, the political dynamics are fairly opposite. There, you have people on the far right making similar claims to Cathy: that climate scientists are to be distrusted because they’re just coming up with scare models because these allegedly biased models are useful to those climate scientists–i.e., to bring money to left-wing causes, to generate grants for more research, etc.
So when you apply the claim that Cathy makes at the end of her post–”If you see someone using a model to make predictions that directly benefit them or lose them money – like a day trader, or a chess player, or someone who literally places a bet on an outcome (unless they place another hidden bet on the opposite outcome) – then you can be sure they are optimizing their model for accuracy as best they can. . . . But if you are witnessing someone creating a model which predicts outcomes that are irrelevant to their immediate bottom-line, then you might want to look into the model yourself.”–I’m not sure you can totally put climate scientists in that former category (of those that directly benefit from the accuracy of their predictions). This is due to the nature of most climate work: most researchers in the area only contribute to one tiny part of the models, rather than produce the entire model themselves (thus, the incentives to avoid inaccuracies are diffuse rather than direct); the “test time” for the models are often relatively far into the future (again, making the incentives more indirect); and the sorts of diffuse reputational gains that an individual climate scientist gets from being part of a team that might partly contribute to an accurate climate model is far less direct than the examples given of day traders and chess players or “someone who literally places a bet on an outcome.”
What that in turn seems to mean is that under Cathy’s approach, climate scientists would be viewed as in the latter category—those creating models that “predict outcomes that are irrelevant to their immediate bottom-line,” and thus deserve people looking “into the model [themselves].” But at least from what I’ve seen, there is *so* much out there in terms of inaccurate and misleading information about climate models (by folks with stakes in the *perception* of those models) that chances are, a lay person’s inquiry into climate models has high chance to being shaped by similar forces with which Cathy is (in my view appropriately) concerned. Which in turn makes me concerned about applying this approach.
Disclaimer: I used to fall under this larger umbrella of climate scientists, though I didn’t work on the climate models themselves, just one small input to them—the global warming potentials of chlorofluorocarbon substitutes. So this contrast is not entirely unemotional for me. That said, now that I’m an academic who studies the *use* of science in legal decisionmaking (and no longer really an academic who studies the impact of chlorofluorocarbon substitutes on climate), I don’t want to be driven by these past personal ties, but they’re still there, so I feel like I should lay them out.
So what’s to be done? I absolutely agree with Cathy’s statement that “when independent people like myself step up to denounce a given statement or theory, it’s not clear to the public who is the expert and who isn’t.” It would seem, from what she says at the end of her essay, that her answer to this “expertise ambiguity” is to get people to look into the model when expertise is unclear.[*] But that in turn raises a whole bunch of questions:
(1) What does it take to “look into the model yourself”? That is, how much understanding does it take? Some sociologists of science suggest that translational “experts”–that is, “experts” who aren’t necessarily producing new information and research, but instead are “expert” enough to communicate stuff to those not trained in the area–can help bridge this divide without requiring everyone to become “experts” themselves. But that can also raise the question of whether these translational experts have hidden agendas in some way. Moreover, one can also raise questions of whether a partial understanding of the model might in some instances be more misleading than not looking into the model at all–examples of that could be the various challenges to evolution based on fairly minor examples that when fully contextualized seem minor but may pop out to someone who is doing a less systematic inquiry.
(2) How does a layperson avoid, in attempting to understand the underlying model, the same manipulations by those with financial stakes in the matter–the same stakes that Cathy recognizes might shape the model itself? Because that happens as well, so that even if one were to try to look into a model themselves, the educational materials it would take to look into that model can be also argued to be developed by those with stakes in the matter. (I think Cathy sort of raises this in a subsequent post about how entire subfields can be regarded as “captured” by particular interests.)
(3) (and to me this is one of the most important questions) Given the high degree of training it takes to understand any of these individual areas of expertise, and given that we encounter so many areas in which this sort of deeper understanding is needed to resolve policy questions, how can any individual actually apply that initial exhortation–to look into the model yourself–in every instance where expertise ambiguity is raised? To me that’s one of the most compelling arguments in favor of deferring to experts to some extent–that lay people (as citizens, as judges, as whatever) simply don’t have time to do the kind of thing that Cathy suggests in every situation where she argues it’s called for. Expert reliance isn’t perfect, sure–but it’s a potentially pragmatic response to an imperfect world with limited time and resources.
Do my thoughts on (3) mean that I think we should blindly defer to experts? Absolutely not. I’m just pointing it out as something that weighs in favor of listening to experts a little more. But that also doesn’t mean that the concerns Cathy raises are unwarranted. My friend Wendy Wagner writes about this in her papers on the production of FDA reports and toxic materials testing, and I find her inquiries quite compelling. P.s. I should also plug a work of hers that seems especially relevant to this conversation. It suggests that the part of Nate Silver’s book that might raise the most concerns (I dunno, because I haven’t read it) is its potential contribution to the vision of models as “truth machines,” rather than understanding that models are just one tool to aid in making decisions, and a tool which must be contextualized (for bias, for meaningfulness, for uncertainty) at that.
So how to address this balance between skepticism and lack of time to do full inquiries into everything? I totally don’t have the answers, though the kind of stuff I explore are procedural ways to address these issues, at least when legal decisions are raised–for example,
* public participation processes (with questions as to both the timing and scope of those processes, the ability and likelihood that these processes are even used, the accessibility of these processes, the susceptibility of “abuse,” the weight of those processes in ultimate decisionmaking)
* scientific ombudsman mechanisms (which questions of how ombudsman are to be selected, the resources they can use to work with citizen groups, the training of such ombudsmen)
* the formation of independent advisory committees (with questions of the selection of committee members, conflict of interest provisions, the authority accorded to such committees)
* legal case law requiring certain decisionmaking heuristics in the face of scientific uncertainty to avoid too much susceptibility to data manipulation (with questions of the incentives those heuristics create for actual potential funders of scientific research, the ability of judges to apply such heuristics in a consistent manner)
–as well as legal requirements that exacerbate these problems. Anyway, thanks for an interesting back and forth!
[*] I’m not getting into the question of “what makes someone an expert?” here, and instead focus on “how do we make decisions given the ambiguousness of who should be considered experts?” because that’s more relevant to what I study, although I should also point out that philosophers and sociologists of science have been studying this in what’s starting to be called the “third wave” of science, technology, and society studies. There’s a lot of debate about this, and I have a teensy summary of it here (since Jordan says it’s okay for me to plug myself :) (Note: the EFSA advisory committee structure, if anyone cares, has changed since I published this article so that the article characterizations are no longer accurate.) | <urn:uuid:3159f70c-b930-49a3-98c8-b3a0a63f5b22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://quomodocumque.wordpress.com/tag/expertise/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95961 | 2,184 | 1.585938 | 2 |
And so, finally, I had a chance to play with my Flip Pal Scanner. If you read my last post, you will remember that in Spain we looked a box full of family photos. These photos dated from the 1930s to the 1980s mostly taken in Spain, but some from the 1960s and 70s when my father in law was working at the UN in New York. They had traveled back and forth across the Atlantic over time. My mother in law graciously offered us the chance to take some of them home, back over the Atlantic again to New Hampshire. My husband chose about two dozen nice photos of various subjects, and I knew that I would want to scan these first!
|In Spain, selecting some old family photos|
The first photo I chose was this one. My husband had taken a photo of this photo with his digital camera in Madrid, and had emailed it around to the cousins in the photo while we were still in Spain. Here is his camera version:
|a photo of a photo by camera|
|a Flip Pal scan of the same photo!|
no color correction or cropping
|My mother in law (front) worked at|
Morgan and Morgan publishers
on Fifth Avenue in New York in the 1960s
The third image was a faded color photograph taken at the New York World's Fair in 1964. My father in law was working for the United Nations in Manhattan, and my mother in law was the daughter of a Spanish Guardia Civil officer. When they attended the World's Fair, my husband was only three years old. They all posed with the Guardia Civil staff in the Spanish pavilion for this photograph. Unfortunately, over the years it faded to look like this:
|1964 NY World's Fair image scanned by Flip-Pal|
|the same image after using Restore Color|
from the Flip-Pal tool box
Within half an hour I had learned to scan, stitch, color correct, save the results to my own folders and delete from the SD card. Deleting was important because I kept hitting the green scan button on the side of the scanner when I picked it up to move it around on photos. After the fourth or fifth time I had learned where not to put my hands! Again, live and learn!
Now I am ready to tackle some real holiday projects for the Simple Gifts Genealogy Blog Hop!
Disclaimer - I was chosen by Flip-Pal to participate as a blogger in the Simple Gifts Genealogy Blog Hop event, and I received a Flip-Pal scanner to use and evaluate.
Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo | <urn:uuid:2b19dd2e-d008-44e4-a923-f4139063677e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/in-which-i-finally-get-to-play-with-my.html?showComment=1320932006037 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977886 | 534 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Credit Enhancement Program
The Minnesota Department of Education coordinates with Minnesota Management and Budget to administer the credit enhancement program established in Minnesota Statutes, section 126C.55. The program allows Minnesota school districts which have levy authority and intermediate school districts to issue statutorily specified debt instruments at a lower interest rate by extending the state’s credit rating to school districts.
School districts complete and submit an application that includes information needed to administer the program. In the event of a district default on debt service payment, the state will pay the amount due from available cash balances. The school board must pledge the full faith and credit and taxing power of the district to repayment of any amount paid by the state. | <urn:uuid:f019adbf-a852-4f16-ad42-de5df53bb67b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/SchSup/SchFin/FinMgmt/CreditEnhance/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919827 | 140 | 2.125 | 2 |
Here is a quote from a writer who lived on the Read more
Quick Budgeting Steps & Tips
The overwhelming issues surrounding your divorce include financial worries and a decrease in disposable income. Suddenly one, or the same income is supporting two households. Perhaps your support is inconsistent and often late. The goal here is to get your budget closer to a ‘balance’. You don’t have to be a financial wizard to take control.
Maybe, like I was, you were financially dependent on your spouse and have been out of the work force for several years, raising children. All of these circumstances lead to a great amount of stress during divorce. But if you get your finances under control you will have more energy left to deal with children and other requirements. Finances are also highly tied to our emotions and self esteem so if we have some measure of control here we feel a lot better about ourselves everywhere else. Take these simple steps to begin your financial independence to maintain less debt and more cash.
Quick Budgeting Steps
- If you haven’t already, open your own bank account and credit card. You want to establish your credit score.
- Draft a monthly budget by listing all of your expenses and all sources of income
- Do a quick analysis; what is the number you get when you subtract your expenses from your income? Is it in the minus? Is it in the plus?
- If your number is below zero; start cutting back expenses immediately
- If your number is above zero you can start a fund every month for legal expenses or emergencies
Where can you cut back on your expenses? How much per month can you put away into a fund for legal fees or emergencies? Getting your number above zero for the following month should be your immediate goal. Once you get your budget ‘balanced’ you can relax in knowing you’re not creating debt every month and you’re meeting your expenses.
Quick Budgeting Tips to Saving;
- Cut back restaurant eating
- Buy less in bulk (we don’t need boxes of Mr. Clean or Drano at the ready when one will do)
- Grocery shop smart (don’t go when you’re hungry, use coupons buy the specials)
- CD/book /clothes swap with friends (keep a fresh collection without spending $)
- Less spa treatments (i.e. 4x per yr instead of 12x per yr)
- Cut back cell phone plans (how many texts are necessary?)
- Pay credit cards on time to avoid late fees (late fees can cost $80-$100/month which is up to $1,200/yr! if you get charged late fees, call and complain they will remove them once or twice savings= $200)
- Check out online shopping and entertainment coupons
- Keep medical insurance plans up to date to avoid high costs for care
- Use cash only for a month of personal expenses (put $1,000 in an envelope and replace cash with a receipt until the cash is gone and the envelope is full of receipts. Upon review you’ll see where you are spending your money)
P.S. I don’t do all of these things but I try to do one or two…no one’s perfect
If you are entitled to child/spousal support and are not receiving it speak to a lawyer immediately about arranging a legal agreement with your ex in order to get your due support. Your support will assist you in meeting expenses and consequently alleviate stress. Remember you are in a state of transition at the initial stage of separation. You are likely trying to figure out your career options which might include upgrading. Upgrading your skills and education costs money therefore your support is key to getting back on your feet. If you feel overwhelmed take a deep breath and take one ‘bite’ at a time. There is no need to rush into any financial decisions especially if your ex is able to support you until you are established. Support can be long term as well if you were in a long term marriage (equal to 20 years or longer). Watch for my upcoming article “Deadbeat 911” to find out more about taking action to get your child support.
Financial independence can be overwhelming at first but once you sit down and take a look at the situation, it isn’t so difficult to harness spending and find a balance. But there will be unexpected expenses from time to time to throw you off. Like the time my hot water tank blew. Of course it was the middle of winter and I hadn’t been receiving any support so to pay an extra $500 was discouraging but I had no choice. I dipped into my savings. Then there was the time the starter on my truck went…well, you get the picture. Expect the unexpected.
Be cognizant of your finances, take action and finally enjoy the results of being in financial control. Financial independence is actually a great lesson and challenge of divorce. It is an important life skill. Remember, there is no perfect formula to money management as it is an evolving, lifelong process.
I recommended the book Jean Chatzky, Make Money Not Excuses It’s a great starter book for those of us who have not been economically independent.
What is your budget challenge? How did you learn to make “ends meet”? | <urn:uuid:83c5df7f-ed20-4cf7-baf1-3494673d3c4f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lisathomsonlive.com/quick-budgeting-steps-tips/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951589 | 1,109 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The new board of superconductor products developer Zenergy Power intends to cut costs in order to reduce the cash outflow and give more time to sign up commercial and strategic partners.
Zenergy needs global partners and it has already received interest from potential partners. Territorial and product licences are one way forward but there could be joint ventures and asset swaps. A strategic investor in the holding company is another alternative.
The board argues that an annual cash burn of more than £10 million is far too much for a company of Zenergy's size. The cost base is being reviewed.
Rebel shareholders removed the non-executive directors of Zenergy Power during April after they disagreed with the strategy of selling the company.
Chairman John Poulter and non-executives Keith Hodgkinson, Tony O’Reilly, Christopher Nash and David Jeffcoat have all left the board. They felt that it would not be in the interest of shareholders to enter into a public debate on the strategy, which was originally decided on because the board felt that the company was too small to be viable as an independent business. Karen Chandler recently stepped down as finance director.
The process of selling the company and/or its constituent businesses was still at an early stage. This process has been stopped. Nobody had started due diligence. The rebel shareholders believe that the sale would not have produced a valuation in line with the underlying value of Zenergy.
Simon Cleaver is executive chairman and David Whelan and Georg Oehm joined the board as non-executives. Whelan is chief executive of Cloverleaf, which owns more than 10% of Zenergy. Dr Oehm owns 1.7% of the company. Two more non-executives will be appointed in due course.
Zenergy is expected to lose money in 2011 and 2012 even though revenues should grow strongly. Broker Peel Hunt believes that there could be a cash call even though there was €15.8 million in the bank at the end of 2010. The existing cash may not last much longer than one year if the cost base is not as soon as possible.
12-month high/low: 87.5p/12p
Market cap: £10.1 million | <urn:uuid:0e8f47e0-b29a-48a9-8101-5c4dbadad1d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cleantechinvestor.com/quotedcleantech/index.php/brokers-views/925-broker-recommendations/418-new-directors-seek-partners-for-zenergy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978232 | 458 | 1.5625 | 2 |
With less than 24 hours left before officers from the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office officially evicted Carey [not her real name] and her daughter from the apartment they have lived in for more than seven years, Carey scrambled to find help, seeking anyone who might keep them from being locked out and cut off from their possessions.
Saddled with a number of issues, least of all the promised job that never materialized, Carey fell more and more behind on her rent. She kept hoping that the store she worked for earlier would re-open and call her back, or she could find another job elsewhere. But as the months passed, she found neither a job nor any other kind of help.
Even after being warned that she would be evicted, she hoped for a last minute reprieve, but when none came, she went to City Hall, where she was directed to the Bayonne Equal Opportunity Foundation. She hoped to take advantage of a state homeless prevention program, designed to keep people from being evicted.
But because Carey received monthly child support payments, she didn’t meet the criteria of the program. She was also too far behind on rent.
“The program is designed to help people who can’t make rent for a month or so,” said Freeholder Doreen DiDomenico, who was among a number of people who stepped in later to try and find a solution to the Carey’s problem. “She was so far behind that the money just wasn’t available.”
Carol Ann Wilson, director of Social Services for Hudson County, said her office sometimes will try and negotiate with the landlord to establish a payment plan to deal with the back rent.
But with no job or income, Carey wasn’t likely to get anything negotiated.
At that point, she still hadn’t reached any county officials, although several freeholders were already calling ahead on her behalf. She drove to Jersey City to plead her case before the directors of Family Services and Human Services departments, using up previous gasoline she still needed to seek work – only to find that when she arrived at County Plaza, the clerk downstairs would not let her upstairs to see either of the directors.
“This is not something new,” said Freeholder Bill O’Dea in response to the circumstance with the clerk. “We had several complaints about the same thing.”
By nightfall, Carey and her daughter were officially homeless. The apartment with their possessions in it was sealed off by sheriff’s officers, leaving them with only the clothing on their backs.
In the current economy, many families are struggling to survive.
At the Oct. 9 county freeholders’ caucus meeting, O’Dea called for an outside auditor to evaluate and find solutions for the challenges of the county’s homeless prevention system.
O’Dea said he knew a family that was likely being evicted on the very day of the caucus.
“They went to family services where they were evaluated and they were told they were eligible for $16 a month in food stamps,” he said. “And they couldn’t be helped with anything else. This person has physical limitations that limited how much he could work ... I’m not faulting the directors. I’m faulting the case workers, who say, ‘Sorry, you’re not eligible, have a nice day.’ That’s not what we should be doing when we have all this money that we’re supposed to be using on programs. If that family becomes homeless, it is finding them a place to get into an apartment that is even more difficult.”
O’Dea asked why county officials charged with homeless prevention aren’t more proactive in identifying some other sources of funding someone might be eligible for. He said the agencies that oversee these programs should be seeking alternative ways to help them, especially when they do not meet the criteria for some programs.
“Not all of my employees are social workers.” -- Ben Lopez
Workers not helpful
Freeholder Jose Munoz said he’s heard complaints in West New York as well. In one case, senior citizens called the city and were told that the person who speaks Spanish wasn’t there and that they should call back.
“They then hung up on the person,” Munoz said. “I have directed other complaints to [county welfare] Director [Ben] Lopez. Perhaps we should bring some professional to tell us what’s wrong and what is wrong and what is right so we can fix it, similar to what we did in Hudson County Correctional Facility.”
O’Dea agreed that have some group come in and do true efficiency audits on the programs and departments.
“These audits are very comprehensive and very detailed, they go in and they look to see if people are properly trained, are people providing all the services to client, and what they do when they are not able to address a client’s needs.”
Dublin said he had met with Lopez to discuss some of these issues and that Lopez has met with the staff.
“So there should be some improvement,” Dublin said. “But people who come there for service aren’t there because they want to be there. They are there because of their circumstances. We should always to take time to try and assist them as much as possible.”
O’Dea all the case workers need to be properly trained about all the programs.
“Let’s be realistic,” he said. “Most of the clients are the neediest of the needy, most clients don’t know what they are eligible for. They’re desperate. They’re just trying to get help and they expect when they come here to get every potential opportunity possible, whether it’s in our agency or referred to an outside agency we fund or may be even one we don’t fund.”
What happened to Carey?
As for Carey, she was able to get some help after she and her daughter were evicted.
With the help of Assemblyman and Bayonne Public Safety Director Jason O’Donnell, the two were housed at the Hudson Motel for the weekend, as public officials scrambled behind the scenes to see what kind of help they could provide as far as a long-term solution.
Monday came without a resolution.
The county had moved Carey and her daughter to a motel along Tonnelle Avenue in Jersey City, one about which a Jersey City councilperson had complained about to Freeholder Jeff Dublin because it was not well maintained. The entire corridor over the years has been cited for other problematic issues such as prostitution.
Rather than subject her daughter to these problems and have to drive from Jersey City back to Bayonne to bring her daughter to school, Carey arranged for a family member to house her daughter while Carey continued to seek out a more permanent solution, hoping she would be able to get back into her old apartment.
After a week went by, Carey again faced the prospect of having no roof over her head as public officials scrambled to make calls finally to charity shelters, eventually finding a slot in a women’s shelter in Jersey City.
Lopez argued that not all county workers are trained to handle the issues.
“Not all of my employees are social workers,” Lopez said. “If an individual is a general assistance recipient, if the client doesn’t tell the worker what their problems are, the worker only does a calculation, based on what the regulations are. That’s what they’re trained to do. They are not trained to be case managers. If a person has a case manager, he’s supposed to go to the case manager, not to the income maintenance worker.”
Freeholder Chairman Eliu Rivera said the county should work with the unions to allow workers to explore more options for clients. | <urn:uuid:3964a17c-a492-4a26-8c93-239e4abfa7f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/20518306/article-Almost-homeless-Is-enough-being-done-to-prevent-homelessness-in-Hudson- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980749 | 1,680 | 1.75 | 2 |
IN THE FIRST PLACE PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT I do not expect you to believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a recent experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London.
You would surely have thought that I had been detected in no less a heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown Jewels from the Tower, or putting poison in the coffee of His Majesty the King.
The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed before I was half through!--it is all that saved him from exploding--and my dreams of an Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, and a niche in the Hall of Fame faded into the thin, cold air of his arctic atmosphere.
But I believe the story, and so would you, and so would the learned Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, had you and he heard it from the lips of the man who told it to me. Had you seen, as I did, the fire of truth in those gray eyes; had you felt the ring of sincerity in that quiet voice; had you realized the pathos of it all--you, too, would believe. You would not have needed the final ocular proof that I had--the weird rhamphorhynchus-like creature which he had brought back with him from the inner world.
I came upon him quite suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. He was standing before a goat-skin tent amidst a clump of date palms within a tiny oasis. Close by was an Arab douar of some eight or ten tents.
I had come down from the north to hunt lion. My party consisted of a dozen children of the desert--I was the only "white" man. As we approached the little clump of verdure I saw the man come from his tent and with hand-shaded eyes peer intently at us. At sight of me he advanced rapidly to meet us.
"A white man!" he cried. "May the good Lord be praised! I have been watching you for hours, hoping against hope that THIS time there would be a white man. Tell me the date. What year is it?"
And when I had told him he staggered as though he had been struck full in the face, so that he was compelled to grasp my stirrup leather for support.
"It cannot be!" he cried after a moment. "It cannot be! Tell me that you are mistaken, or that you are but joking."
"I am telling you the truth, my friend," I replied. "Why should I deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so simple a matter as the date?"
For some time he stood in silence, with bowed head.
"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I thought that at the most it could be scarce more than one!" That night he told me his story--the story that I give you here as nearly in his own words as I can recall them. | <urn:uuid:3dc1e325-7aba-4a30-80a8-724c99f5e807> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://burroughs.thefreelibrary.com/At-the-Earths-Core/0-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98383 | 659 | 1.570313 | 2 |
But the philosophy to be found in the Tightwad Gazette struck home for me so profoundly because Amy Dacyczyn's family and mine are similar in a financial sense. I'm not raising six kids on a single modest income, as the redoubtable Mrs. Dacyczyn did. But I am free of credit card debt and other crippling sea-anchors that so many other households struggle with. I don't worry about meeting my basic needs from paycheck to paycheck. I've never had a financial, life-altering crisis. I really admire those who labor long and hard to get out from under mountains of debt. But I'm not in that position, so I come to the frugal lifestyle from a different place and with a different perspective.
Still, I hope that my experiences and my advice can be of use to a wide variety of people in a lot of different circumstances. Today, I'm going to focus on some tips for energy efficiency that can be of use to new homeowners and other money-saving tips for those who are just breaking free of debt other than the home mortgage. Credit card debt is obviously the single highest priority for those trying to make it into the black. If you're still carrying a balance on credit cards or other loans, I would urge you to skip these most of these tips (because most of them are going to require some outlay of money) and instead make a higher monthly payment. But if you've finally arrived at the point where your car loans, your credit card debt and your student loans are things of the past, congratulations! There must be a symphony of emotions for people in such a position: euphoria, pride, relief, gratitude, giddiness. And this is where I step in with some grounding, no-nonsense suggestions on how to use some of the money you've been putting towards paying down the debt each month, now that it's gone. Implementing these suggestions will cost money, but it's money that will be working for you for years to come. If the monthly surplus you have freed up by eliminating debt is tiny, then choose the cheapest of these tips to make a start. In time, the savings from each tip will snowball into a larger and larger saved amount, which can then be plowed back into more expensive cost-cutting measures or an extra principle payment on your mortgage. So dig deep and find the money to do these things early on.
- Change out your regular light bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs. These bulbs are more expensive than incandescents, but each one will save you 50 cents per month on average. If money is tight, buy just a few bulbs and put them in the lights you use for the most hours per day. Add more compact fluorescents as your budget allows. Do not install a compact fluorescent bulb in any light that is on a dimmer switch. The bulb will get burned out in seconds and you'll have wasted the money spent.
- Insulate your hot water pipes and your hot water storage tank. Long tubes of foam pipe insulation are cheap and easy to install. If money is really tight, start with the tank itself and the pipes in unheated spaces, closest to your water heater. Be sure to measure the diameter of your pipes and buy the smallest tubes that will fit them. Also be sure not to cover the thermostat on the tank.
- If you rely on forced air heat, make sure your ducts are well insulated. You can lose as much as a whopping 60% of your heated air if your ducts are passing through unheated areas of the house. You may need professional help to insulate and/or repair damaged ducts. But if you're relying on this form of heat, it's well worth the investment.
- Check your outlets and light switches that are mounted on the exterior walls of your home. Remove the plate covers and see if there's a piece of foam insulation there. If not, buy some and install them.
- Wash all your clothes in cold water. If you're not satisfied with the results, use an overnight soak before returning to a hot water wash. The average load of laundry run on a hot cycle uses 32 gallons of heated water, compared to 20 gallons for a hot bath. If you've been washing in hot or warm water out of habit, give the cold cycle a try and see if you can really tell the difference.
- Buy some clothespins and rig up a clothesline inside. You can use it anytime, despite rainy or cold weather. On average, it costs 50 cents to dry a load of laundry, and more if your dryer is electric. If your family goes through just two loads of laundry per week, that's $52 per year. No excuses here. There are plenty of suitable spaces for a line or two in most homes. Consider the attic or the basement if space is really tight. I have two 7-foot lines, one above the other, just inches from the wall in my small laundry room. I also hang socks and underwear right off the edge of my rubber-coated wire shelving in the laundry room. A collapsible drying rack handles the rest. If you can't abide scratchy towels or clothing, it is permissible to put the dried towels in the dryer on "air fluff" (or whatever the unheated cycle is called on your machine) for 5-10 minutes. That's really all it takes to soften fabrics up. So long as the clothes are already dry and you use the unheated cycle, the dryer will use an acceptably minute amount of energy.
- Add insulation to your attic if it needs it, and it probably does. Heat rises. So a poorly insulated attic is the equivalent of an open door during the wintertime. Same goes for crawlspaces. Though the expense is higher than for many simple fixes, this is one of the most cost-effective investments you can make to improve energy efficiency.
- If you live where the summers are hot, install an attic fan to vent hot air. These can be hooked up to sensors that only turn on when the space reaches a certain temperature. They can make an enormous difference to the overall temperature of the house, and thus to your cooling bill.
- Check with your local electric company about a home energy audit. Many utilities offer these for free. Heed their suggestions as your budget allows.
- If you rely on window unit air conditioners to cool your home in summer, place them on the shady side of your home. Or plant a fast growing shrub where it will shade the air conditioner. This also applies to condensers for central air conditioner systems. Operating in the shade can increase the efficiency of the unit by as much as 10%.
- Air dry your dishes, either in a drying rack, or by not using a heated drying cycle on your dishwasher. If you can time it right, the dishes in a dishwasher will still be hot enough to dry very quickly if the machine is opened and the racks pulled out for better air circulation.
- If you're going to be living in your home for years to come, consider replacing your windows with newer high efficiency models. Windows are often the biggest culprits in heating loss during the winter, losing as much as 25% of the heat in the home. Be sure to run a return-on-investment analysis if you don't plan to live in the house for years to come.
- When it's time to replace a major appliance or furnace, buy an EnergyStar rated model.
- Install a programmable thermostat, especially if you are out of the house for hours each day.
- Plug your electronics into power strips with on/off switches. Turn off the power on each strip when you're not using the appliances plugged into it. TVs, VCRs, DVD players, digital projectors, kitchen appliances and stereo equipment all continue to draw power when they are turned off. In fact, on average an astonishing 75% of the energy these appliances draw is consumed when the appliances are not in use. Power strips eliminate this problem by cutting all power to our gadgets. | <urn:uuid:b6846234-47e9-4216-8701-e51f686e5658> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/2007/02/sweating-smaller-stuff.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953534 | 1,676 | 1.671875 | 2 |
|Motto||"Leadership in Higher Education for Centuries"|
|Established||1453 and 1933|
|Rector||Prof. Dr. Yunus Söylet|
|Campus||Beyazıt, Vezneciler, Avcılar
Bahçeköy, Çapa, Cerrahpaşa, Kadıköy
|Founder||Mehmed II (1453)
Abdülmecid I (1846)
Abdülaziz I (1870)
Abdülhamid II (1900)
Mehmed V (1912)
M. Kemal Atatürk (1933)
Istanbul University (Turkish: İstanbul Üniversitesi) is a prominent Turkish university located in Istanbul. The main campus is adjacent to Beyazıt Square in the Fatih district, on the European side of the city.
It was founded as an institution of higher education named the Darülfünun (House of Multiple Sciences) on July 23, 1846; but the Medrese (Theological School) which was founded immediately after Mehmed II conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453 is regarded as the precursor to the Darülfünun which evolved into Istanbul University. Education in a number of sciences and fields (such as medicine, mathematics, astronomy, cartography, geography, history, philosophy, religion, literature, philology, law, etc) became available in these theological schools (medrese), and, until the 19th century, they were instrumental in educating the ruling cadres of the Ottoman society. However, when the medreses were no longer able to meet the needs of the modern world, a restructuring process began, and as a result, the institutions of higher education called "Darülfünun," the core of Istanbul University, were established.
An institution of higher education named the Darülfünun-i Osmani ('House of Sciences') was created in 1863, but suppressed in 1871. Its first rector was Hasan Tahsini, regarded as one of the most important Ottoman scholars of the 19th century. In 1874 the Imperial University (Darülfünun-i Sultani) started classes in law in French, but was closed in 1881.
The Imperial University, now known as Darülfünun-i Shahane was refounded in 1900, with the departments of theology, arts, mathematics, science and philology. In 1924, the faculties of law, medicine, arts and sciences were established in Istanbul University (Istanbul Darülfünunu), as the university was now called. Islamic theology was added in 1925, but in 1933 the university was reorganized without the latter.
The first modern Applied Physics courses were given at the Darülfünûn on 31 December 1863, which marked the beginning of a new period, and on 20 February 1870, the school was renamed as the Darülfünûn-u Osmanî ('Ottoman House of Multiple Sciences') and reorganized to meet the needs of modern sciences and technologies. Starting from 1874, some classes of Literature, Law and Applied Sciences were given at the building of Galatasaray High School, which continued regularly until 1881. On 1 September 1900, the school was renamed and reorganized as the Darülfünûn-u Şahane ('Imperial House of Multiple Sciences') with courses on Mathematics, Literature and Theology. On 20 April 1912, the school was renamed as the İstanbul Darülfünûnu ('Istanbul House of Multiple Sciences') while the number of courses were increased and the curricula were modernized with the establishment of the Schools of Medicine, Law, Applied Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics), Literature and Theology.
On 21 April 1924, the Republic of Turkey recognized the Istanbul Darülfünûnu as a state school, and on 7 October 1925, the administrative autonomy of Istanbul Darülfünûnu was recognized while the "Schools" (within the old Medrese system) became modern "Faculties". On 1 August 1933, Istanbul Darülfünûnu was reorganized as Istanbul University (İstanbul Üniversitesi) following the educational reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Classes officially began on 1 November 1933.
The university has seventeen faculties on five campuses; the main campus being on Beyazıt Square, which was originally built by Constantine the Great as the Forum Tauri and was later enlarged by Theodosius the Great as the Forum of Theodosius during the Roman period.
The main campus building with its landmark gate was previously used as the headquarters of the Harbiye Nezareti (Ministry of War) by the Ottoman government. Located on the grounds is the Beyazıt Tower, a 85 m (279 ft) tall fire-watch tower. The grounds were previously the location of the Ottoman era Eski Saray (Old Palace). Some Roman and Byzantine ruins are still visible on the grounds.
The university has a teaching staff of 2,000 professors and associates and 4,000 assistants and younger staff. More than 60,000 undergraduate and 8,000 postgraduate students follow the courses offered by Istanbul University every year.
- Turkish Presidents
- Foreign Presidents
- Turkish Prime Ministers
- Foreign Prime Ministers
- Turkish Ministers
- Masud Sabri – Pharmacist and former Governor of Xinjiang province in China
- Balkan Universities Network
- Famous Academicians and Persons of Istanbul University (German)
- List of modern universities in Europe (1801–1945)
- Istanbul University Observatory
- Beyazıt Tower
- Rüegg, Walter: "European Universities and Similar Institutions in Existence between 1812 and the End of 1944: A Chronological List", in: Rüegg, Walter (ed.): A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 3: Universities in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (1800–1945), Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-521-36107-1, p. 687
- Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Banknote Museum: 6. Emission Group – Five Hundred Turkish Lira – I. Series & II. Series. – Retrieved 20 April 2009.
- "Turkish journalist İlhan Selçuk died". National Turk. 2008-06-23. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Istanbul University| | <urn:uuid:8162bde8-a7da-4aec-a508-8d056f5b2348> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_University | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936875 | 1,395 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Hello, amigos! El soy quando agunto! Ella balloona balunga espanyo!
Did that sound Spanish to you? I bet that means something. And guess what? I've never had one lesson. It's just that I have a natural gift for Spanish. I was able to pick it up all by myself, "outside the system," if you will.
When I was a kid, I thought a foreign language would take a long time to learn. That's what society tells you, probably because of the anti-foreign attitude in America. They're trying to discourage people from going foreign, I guess.
Go to any bookstore. They have books for learning how to speak Spanish, books made up of Spanish words, dictionaries for figuring out what something means in Spanish. Can you believe people need books to learn Spanish? It sure came easy to me!
I remember how, in high school, Spanish was taught by Mr. Gomez, and you could spend years learning every single word. Forget that! I'm sure I've got the gist of it. I don't need any classes or books, because I can speak Spanish without all that. I mean, ¡Balunga el baguayo con blinko! Don't tell me that didn't sound Spanish! And it sure didn't take three years of high school to learn. Forget that, I've got a life!
I could see if Chinese took a long time to learn. I mean, look at it! But Spanish is pretty normal by comparison, with all those American letters and stuff. And, quite frankly, it looks real easy to speak. I've heard people speaking Spanish, and they're not doing anything I can't do. They're just talking! Ever watch Sesame Street? They have little kids speaking Spanish on there! Are we supposed to believe these little kids graduated from high school already? Even Alejandro, this guy I work with at the Cinnabon at the mall, speaks Spanish, and he's dumb as a stump! He's barely got English down, let alone a foreign language! I rest my case. ¡Alabunto quénto galoodi!
Also, I live near Taco Bell. In case you don't live here in Monroe, Taco Bell is this really good Spanish restaurant they have next to the yogurt place. It's so good, in fact, they opened another one at the mall. They only sell Spanish food there, so every time you go in and give your order, you're speaking Spanish! (Unless you're just there to ask for water like I sometimes do.) And since nobody goes to Taco Bell more than I do, that is another reason I can speak Spanish so well! Ellaquanto burritõs! Grandé baloobos! El hoolio!
But another important link in the chain of me speaking Spanish is that I've been watching tons of Univision lately, and I completely understand what's going on. Just yesterday, there was this soap opera on, called Ellabungo Juanita or something Spanish like that, and I was completely following it! This girl and this guy were in bed together, and this guy came in and was mad. Just from listening, I could tell that the girl in the bed was cheating on the guy who just walked in. There were no subtitles, I just figured it out! You folks reading this might have needed Spanish lessons to understand what was going on, but I'm on the fast track, Charlie!
The girls on Univision are really hot, which is another important use for Spanish. The girl in the apartment across the hall from me has dark hair and a dark complexion. I bet she's probably Spanish. One of these days, when I get a tuxedo and grow a little black mustache, I'm going to go over there with some flowers, and when she opens the door, oh, boy, that's when I'll turn on the Spanish! "Allabunto allaquento, Senorita!" As for what will happen next, well, I'll just leave that to your imagination. The girls all think Ricky Martin is so sexy, but that's just because he speaks Spanish. When Ricky gets a load of me, he's going to go running back to Spain!
So, until next time, my fellow Spanishers, "Ellaquanto paganyo balagoonda!" | <urn:uuid:d500768e-77bf-4d08-895b-1da9ff3487fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theonion.com/articles/i-bet-i-can-speak-spanish,10907/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983126 | 914 | 1.875 | 2 |
Print version ISSN 0256-9574
SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. vol.99 no.12 Cape Town Dec. 2009
Dear Aunt Ethel,
Since January 2007 I have occupied one of the specialist posts available to the major disciplines for the Outreach Programme based at Grey's Hospital, Pietermaritzburg. This is a programme of interaction between the tertiary hospital and the district hospitals it sub-serves.
A perk of the job is being accompanied to the hinterland by elective students, who take the first experience of a small plane in their stride and man the statistics clipboard with alacrity. Dr Jack (whose Polish surname has too many consecutive consonants to be user-friendly), veteran of Vryheid Hospital, greets our arrival: 'Dokkiterr Kaldi-val: again you have the company of beauty-full vimmen: why you so luck-key?'
Dublin-based Canadian students Ashley, Dena and Megan showed me their medical school journal, and set perceptive questions.
1. What is the population served?
There are three health areas in Kwazulu-Natal (KZN). Ours is Area 2, which covers the western half of the province and has been designated as a pilot area for liaison between Grey's Hospital and 20 district hospitals. The population is 3 million, mostly relying on public health services.
2. When was it established?
Stalwarts like Jim Muller (Internal Medicine) and Neil McKerrow (Paediatrics) have had Outreach in Area 2 on the go for 25 years. The formal agreement 10 years ago between the KZN Department of Health and the Red Cross Air Mercy Service put transporting on a firm foundation. In 2006 posts were created at principal specialist level in all the major disciplines specifically for Outreach.
3. How many specialists participate in the programme, and how is their participation organised?
Three posts are currently filled, with clinical, educational and communication responsibilities over a vast geographical region. Every district hospital should have a regular monthly visit with only one discipline per visit. The day should be structured, with clinical and teaching rounds and a formal tutorial for all medical staff.
It is not feasible for an individual consultant to achieve this. In a well-established department like Internal Medicine, where there are 14 consultants, the aim is therefore for each doctor to 'adopt' a hospital to visit regularly, or to rotate through different hospitals, especially if the consultant has a subspecialty. A majority 'buys in' to this concept: a minority does not. Currently there are half-a-dozen hospitals consistently under my care, one or two too many.
4. How is the programme funded?
Funding is from the KZN provincial health budget. This pays the salaries of the Outreach consultants and the transport bill. The programme is co-ordinated by Red Cross but overseen by a provincial committee. Organised air and road transporting is key to its success. The single turbo-prop Swiss Pilatus planes are robust and reliable, the pilots outstanding, and Kogie and her Red Cross team ever amenable. We have a Nissan X-Trail with a regular driver, for hospitals closer to Pietermaritzburg.
5. What are the goals of the programme?
Interaction between the tertiary hospital and the district and regional hospitals that fall into its area includes the development of support, with emphasis on clinical monitoring and educational activities. Goals include co-ordination of specialist services to ensure equitable distribution of all resources and achieve optimal patient care.
The theoretical side fits in very well with the government's 'BATHO PELE people first' principles: Consultation, Service Standards, Accessibility, Courtesy, Information, Transparency, Redress, Value for money, Innovation and reward thereof, Impact on 'customer', Leadership and strategic direction.
6. What are the major problems facing rural health care in KZN? What is being done to alleviate them? What more needs to be done?
AIDS/TB is a simple answer: South Africa is world champ for the combination. The government is now being proactive in combating the former.
The discrepancy between what is available at peripheral hospitals compared with central ones is stark, even though a primary health care system has long been successful in rural KZN. Outreach is part of the attempt to address this issue. Much more needs to be done: the surface is barely scratched. Political will and commitment to service delivery are vital.
7. What has been the impact of the Outreach programme?
Not sure yet, overall. However, regular visits improve the indications for, and the standard and ease of, referral. One sees a rise in morale and enthusiasm of recipient doctors within months.
8. Are there any success stories or personal experiences from the Outreach programme that stand out in your mind?
We established that it was a silent heart attack that caused an octogenarian to fall off her bicycle during her daily round-town jaunt. Last week granny was back on her bike, having walked for a month on doctor's orders.
At remote COSH Church of Scotland Hospital at Tugela Ferry, where XDR-TB reared its ugly head stability is ensured by three doctors whose combined service there exceeds 60 years. Similarly, at Emmaus Hospital an excellent young doctor has guaranteed tenure by marrying a local farmer.
Who will forget a sunset over the Drakensberg at Glenside while hoping that the remaining passenger will arrive before darkness prevents take-off? The airstrip's resident cat stalks Poppy, our felinophobic flight co-ordinator.
On our first arrival at Kokstad Hospital: a sister in casualty picks up the phone and yells: 'The flying doctors are here!'
Wow. Half-Wings-Physician Bigglesworth at your service.
I did get half-wings: at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Red Cross AMS/KZN-Health liaison. Although merely representative of those who fly with AMS, I was unexpectedly emotional about it. Something to do with a navigator uncle I never met because he was shot down aged 20: half-wings he could not land aeroplanes. And a father who had much Red Cross involvement as a mine doctor became a deputy commissioner shortly before he died. And another uncle who flew Lancaster bombers with a DFC to his name. On behalf of the family: and AMS flight co-ordinator Trish, who at 70 still looks after us, having volunteered for the Red Cross aged 14.
9. How has the HIV epidemic changed health care in KZN? How has it impacted on your career specifically?
In 1988 I had the dubious distinction of being in charge of the first female inpatient diagnosed with AIDS at Edendale Hospital. Within 3 years 70% of the occupants of that ward would have HIV-AIDS, and this now applies in public hospital medical wards throughout the province. Because doctors in peripheral hospitals are so accustomed to dealing with AIDS/TB-related problems, the patients we review often have other diagnoses, more familiar to physicians accustomed to First-World medicine.
10. How did experience overseas compare with medical practice in KZN?
These were locum hospital consultant jobs, mainly in the UK NHS. The level of sophistication is much greater than that of public health services in South Africa, and the government should be wary of introducing an unaffordable national insurance system before putting its own health service in order. That will take some doing.
Instead of jet-setting, one now prop-hops. Travel abroad confirmed the beauty and importance of South Africa, and how much further one might contribute here.
Now don't let that geriatric cyclist give you any bright ideas, Aunt E
Robert (Doc) Caldwell is a physician living in the mist-belt of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. After a quarter-century of private practice in Pietermaritzburg, he did locums round the world for six years. At the start of 2007 he exchanged jet-setting for prophopping, via Red Cross AMS flights. He writes erratically to his Aunt Ethel.
* Corresponding author: R Caldwell (firstname.lastname@example.org) | <urn:uuid:9010aba6-4ee6-4fc3-a6a8-b338f7e12305> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95742009001200009&lng=en&nrm=iso | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95427 | 1,711 | 1.601563 | 2 |
According to AEI author Mark Perry, there is another education-related “bubble” to worry about: the textbook bubble. He writes that this textbook bubble “continues to inflate at rates that make the U.S. housing bubble seem relatively inconsequential by comparison.” He continues, “The cost of college textbooks has been rising at almost twice the rate of general CPI inflation for at least the last thirty years.” Given that many students use loan money to purchase books as well as pay for classes, we might think of this as one of the many sources pumping air into the student debt bubble. But what choice do students (or professors, for that matter) have than to surrender to the textbook “cartel,” as Perry characterizes it? This bubble popping, while a bad thing for the textbook bubble-boys committed to the old, cartel-style model, could be a small relief and contribute to slowing the growth rate of the student debt bubble.
After a few semesters as a college student, I eventually caught on that textbooks can sometimes be a royal waste of money. Often they boil down the material to the most basic narratives, in many cases failing to rival the quality of Wikipedia. Worse, it seemed that every few years a new edition would be released, causing the resale value to plummet of the overpriced textbook I was required to buy but did not need to use. If the next year a class requires the 13th edition instead of the 12th—which, though it may have updated its bibliography, often has not substantially changed its content—then good luck getting your $90 back for that Intro to Whatever textbook that you will never open again. In many cases the resale value was only about 10% of the purchase price, unless one resold the book online rather than back to the school bookstore. In some cases the book would simply not be bought back; students were required to buy the new edition rather than make due with an older one and fumble through the different page ranges for assignments.
Instead of buying my textbooks right away, I would usually wait a few weeks to purchase them, once I could tell whether or not they were really needed for the class. In several cases I simply didn’t buy my textbooks, and I typically found this to be no disadvantage.
Thankfully, there are, in fact, even better solutions and more and more professors seem to be catching on, to the benefit of their debt-ridden students. Perry writes that “the free, Wikipedia-based principles textbook model … has now arrived.” In particular, he highlights Boundless Learning:
Once a student or professor creates a free account at Boundless Learning, they get free access to textbook materials that are organized to closely duplicate the material in a standard $180 textbook like Mankiw’s Principles of Macroeconomics on a chapter-by-chapter basis. In Mankiw’s chapter on “The Monetary System” he covers these topics: The Meaning of Money, the Federal Reserve System, Banks and the Money Supply and the Fed’s Tools of Monetary Controls. In the corresponding materials from Boundless Learning, they have comparable sections on Money, the Description and Purpose of Money, U.S. Central Banking, the Role of Banks in Money Creation and the Tools of the Federal Reserve.
He goes on:
As might be expected, the textbook publishing cartel isn’t taking this competition sitting down and they (Cengage Learning, Pearson Education, and MacMillan Higher Education) filed a lawsuit in March accusing Boundless of copyright infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition. Boundless has denied all of the charges.
So the companies that had unfairly captured a market are now suing because their product is inferior and unable to adapt with the times.
Thankfully, as Perry notes, it likely will not matter in the long run if these textbook bubble-boys win:
Whether or not Boundless Learning prevails in the lawsuit, its open-source, Internet-based, free textbook model is more likely to be the textbook model of the future than the status quo model of the traditional publishing cartel. And for that, students (consumers) of the future will be much better off, thanks to all of the “unfair” competition taking place today.
Indeed, among other creative solutions to the problem are Lander’s online introductory philosophy resource, as well as free texts on sites like archive.org, gutenberg.org, and Google Books. I know of a history professor who is able to gather all of his required readings from Google Books and a philosophy professor who makes use of Lander’s philosophy site and Project Gutenberg, both with the low price of $0 to their students.
The current character of American education raises many moral concerns, but this, at least, is a small one that in many cases ought not to be too difficult to remedy. For professors who are able, I highly recommend looking into similar resources for their own classes, not simply for the financial savings to students but for the common good.
As for the bubble-boys, I say let this bubble pop, and haste the day. | <urn:uuid:c4526902-96db-496f-a010-80b13d635d56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.acton.org/archives/46082-textbook-bubble-boys.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96019 | 1,070 | 2 | 2 |
Whenever there is a discussion about outsourcing any type of software development work, someone will always play the intellectual property card. How can you protect it, is always the question. Software is intangible and the IP is really in how a business process is implemented within the software. Business processes are very hard to patent or to protect otherwise legally. Also the majority of software implements operational processes that are not that different between companies. This post obviously does not cover speciality software that implements other types of processes that might very well be patentable.
Many companies are afraid that if they use a software development service provider, those guys will then either use the software they developed and claim it is their own or use the know-how they acquired when developing software for the next customer. The first is quite unlikely, because most of the service providers are quite happily just that and have neither the knowledge, motivation nor the resources to take the software and sell it as their own or use it to build the next big Internet service. The second is certainly true, the question is to what extent. It is highly unlikely that the next customer will ask for exactly the same piece of software. Sure some parts will be reused, but because developing software is a rather complicated process, most of the time it will be completely rewritten to fit the new application. Reality is that IP theft for software is really hard to prove (not copyright infringement which is easier to prove) and would need a lot of money to actually prove in a court. We used a simple Non-Disclosure Agreement to protect ourselves against the most obvious forms of IP theft and that was it. The biggest threat to a company’s IP is its employees because the can walk away with the software and the market knowledge that lacks most software development service providers.
When it comes to software, then copyright infringement is probably the bigger issue as most large software companies will let you know. There is also an issue with who gets the copyright in different countries. Some countries award the copyright to the contractor and not the company that hired the contractor. So it makes sense to look up the copyright law and make sure the contractor signs a legally binding document stating that he/she does not claim the copyright now and in the future for the software developed.
There is also a very interesting article in The Economist covering some of this topic: http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15479680
“Should you outsource software development” is a very hotly contested topic on the Internet. And again you have to whole spectrum of opinions, from the “we are all going to loose our job” blog posts to the “we can develop everything at any time at the best rate for you” emails. Reality is that offshoring, near sourcing or using local or even in-house developers are all viable solution in some circumstances. Fact is that you will get a lot more man-hours if you choose to use a lower cost destination. Whether this is going to save you any money is an entirely different question.
The deciding factors for us to outsource the development were the following:
- Lack of local Ruby on Rails expertise
- Limited financial resources and the price was right
- We have developed software before
- We develop alongside them and can see their code
- Due diligence finding an offshore partner (see three part post about our search)
- Matching our developemnt process with theirs
- Solid list of requirements
We can gladly say that for us it worked very well, we got a lot more bang for the buck than if we would have developed here. Here are the key points that we think were crucial to our success:
- We felt comfortable with the company we chose from the start
- We felt especially comfortable with the team lead, a highly skilled software engineer with excellent communication skills
- Skype was available at any time for them and for us. Communication needs to stay open.
- Using IM rather then calls for technical discussion keeps a log that could be referred to later.
- Because we kept on talking with the developers daily, a personal connection formed and they got more involved in the project
- Their ideas were treated the same as ours and many of them have found their way into the endproduct. This motivated them even more
- Using an agile development process also meant that we were all working on the same iteration and as such felt like we were in the same boat
- We responded to their question in the same time frame we were expecting from them
- A shared understanding that we will come up with more requirements as time goes by and a willingness on their side to change requirements and sometimes adding a requirement without charging for it
- Our acceptance of real change requests without a lengthy price renegotiation. It started as a fixed price project and the price and time frame were adjusted according to the extensions
- From early on using the developed software to track the project
And so far we still have not met a single person from that company.
We are not advocating offshoring. What has worked here for us can also work locally but in our case we had no real choice because of lack of local expertise and limited resources. What has to be taken into account in our case is that we only partially offshored as we were part of the development team ourselves. We believe that in order to reap the real benefits of outsourced development, a company needs a mixed team, some developers are local and some offshore and that are able to interact as described above. In the future we will build a local team alongside the offshore team we used so far.
Does your project management process match?
The best way to find out how a supplier actually manages a software project is with the STAR method. Simply asking do you use an “Agile approach†will in most cases be answered with a yes and is then often followed by a frantic search for documentation if in fact it wasn’t used before. Some processes are simply not compatible and trying to combine them will end in frustration for both sides. Try to combine an agile process with the CMM Level 5 certification. The other extreme is the supplier companies that rely on the process of the client; just think about how long it took the get the process to stick in your own company (if you are actually using a process). In the absence of a shared process or a process in general, many suppliers simply revert to the waterfall model which should never be used! In our case we looked for a company that followed the agile development approach close enough to match our own process.
Consider a small project first
If you can afford it, go with a small project first. Smaller projects, even if they are only one to two weeks in duration, will give you a very good understandig whether you and the supplier can work together. Define milestones, deliverables and acceptance criteria close enough to how you would do it in the larger project.
Don’t be dazzled by software development language
If you have ever dipped your toe into software development, you were, most likely, initially thrown back by the sheer amount of abbreviations and hype words that are used in this industry. The basic rule here is to play dumb and ask everyone to explain it in clear English to you (or your mother tongue if at all possible). The truth is that many people working in that area love to hide behind those big words. The rule here is clear, if someone can’t explain a concept to you in words you understand, then that person probably doesn’t understand it himself and has no business behaving as if. As matter of fact the STAR method is great at exposing someone just talking the talk.
Talking to the supplier and their references is crucial in understanding whether a supplier is suited for your project. Talking to the supplier’s sales contact is a start, but you also need to talk to the people who will work on your project.
Use behavioural interviewing (High) The basic idea of behavioural interviewing is this: future performance of a person is best predicted by understanding past performance in a similar situation. Focus is on experiences, behaviours, knowledge, skills and abilities that are job related. Ask the interviewee to use the STAR method to structure their answer. Using a combination of behavioural questions and the STAR method forces the interviewee to go beyond simple yes/no answers.
- S – Situation; background; set the scene
- T – Task or Target; specifics of what’s required, when, where, who
- A – Action; what was done, skills used, behaviours, characteristics
- R – Result; what was the outcome, what happened
More information here:
Talk to the whole supplier team (High) You want to talk to the people who you will be dealing with on a daily basis first; project manager, team leader or lead developer. But also talk to the rest of the team, if they are already known. Interview topics are: Past projects, technical understanding, project management process used and allow for a bit of friendly chit/chat. By using the STAR method, you should be able to get a pretty clear picture of how the team has approached similar projects in the past.
Do you get along? (High) This can’t be underestimated. If you don’t get along with the project manager or the team lead, request someone else to take the place. Sometimes it only needs is someone else who interfaces with you directly. During our search we encountered two project managers we were not sure about and raised our issues when talking to the references. In both cases our suspicion was confirmed and we went on to use another company.
Talk to references (High) Ask for several references, if possible in your country or area. Out of obvious reasons the supplier wants to connect you with a satisfied client, so asking for several specific references increases the chance of getting a more balanced review. Asking for a reference in our area helped us tremendously. We got honest feedback about suppliers and interestingly enough they got a mixed review. Follow up on all references; chances are that the work done in one of them resembles your own project. Make sure you get references for the type of application that you are planning and, if you already know it, for the technology you are using. Many suppliers are specializing in one technology but happily take other projects also. And again, ask the questions with the STAR method and you should get useful reviews.
After discarding the bids that are not realistic, the next step is to compare the bids that are still on the table. Here are the criteria we used and the weight we gave them in brackets:
Reviews posted on the freelance market places (Low) should minimize the risk of engaging with a fraudulent company. But these reviews have several issues:
- Reviews work best when the expectations of both parties are clearly defined: for example on Ebay, buyer expects delivery of the right product in-time and in working order, seller expects prompt payment. Deviations are penalized with a bad review.
- Reviews on a freelance marketplace reflect more on the relationship between buyer and supplier. The ability to post a bad review declines the better the parties get along. But this is not equal to a successful project.
- Writing a bad review is equal to admitting that you chose the wrong supplier in the first place.
- Most companies don’t bother to write a review and the standard review questions are too general.
- Suppliers can remove some of the negative reviews.
Profiles on freelance market places (Low) are sales brochures and have to be read as such.
Past work (Low – Medium) Most clients don’t give permission to use their applications as examples of work. Therefore advanced projects are hardly ever shown. Projects that have been developed a few months ago are often much more advanced than at time of delivery due to ingoing developement by the client. Sometimes really bad work examples are shown and that should acts as a deterrent.
Supplier Website (Low – Medium) If you are looking for graphical and user interface work to be done then the website can say everything. Just make sure they didn’t outsource it themselves! The website of a professional supplier company should contain information about who they are, where they are located and the services they offer. A quick call to the phone number in the contact us section can also be revealing. If they also offer completely unrelated products/services on their website, software development projects might not be their main focus.
Certifications (Medium) can give an indication of the processes used to deliver a project and certify the skill level in specific technologies. Certifications are only valuable if they can be verified and are recent enough. Skill certifications are generally per developer but are often used by companies. Certifications are indicators if you are looking for specific skills or process adherence like CMMI or similar.
We had tremendous interest for the project and the 10 bids originated from India, Russia, US, Romania and Australia. They ranged from detailed project delivery documents including time estimates per user story to simple one-liners like “We can do this for $X in the specified timeframe”. Needless to say, we did not follow up on one-liners.
In our case the lowest bid, besides the one-liner offers, was actually well put together. But the document fell apart on closer inspection and even though it seemed that the company had understood the scope of the project, their time estimates were off. During a phone call we were assured that the project duration was correct and that they were confident about their ability to deliver. Their estimated cost was only a quarter of the bid from a company located in the same area of the same country. This was a classic case of “low-ballingâ€.
In this context “low-balling†means that a company deliberately understates the cost of the project with the goal to beat the competition and get the project in the door. Once the project is in the door, every small deviation from the project requirements will be treated as scope extension and the additional effort will be charged accordingly.
The easiest way to spot a “low-ball†is by dividing the cost of the suspected “low-ball†bid with the time estimate of one or more reasonable bids from the same area or country. If the result is an unsustainable hourly rate, in our case it was $4/hour, then you can be pretty sure they either made a mistake or they are using a “low-ballâ€. The company we are referring to actually had decent enough feedback, no glowing reviews though, so they obviously had delivered in the past. But we simply didn’t get a fuzzy feeling when we talked to them and with that the lowest bid was off the table.
In our opinion, low-balling or low-bidding companies have significantly added to the negative perception of outsourcing. They make it harder for companies like us to find a suited supplier because we don’t want to be constantly hassled regarding rising cost and scope extension. They also make it hard for competing suppliers to justify their higher costs for a well planned project. Unfortunately reviews of past projects have only limited value to spot them. But putting the blame solely on the suppliers is not justified either, some companies see outsourcing as a source of cheap software engineering labour and with that actively encourage low-bidding.
If you don’t want to end up paying a lot more for your project than anticipated, due diligence throughout the selection process is really important. Cost should never be the only criteria.
In the next post we’ll talk about our selection process and list the criteria we used.
We posted our project on the two main freelance websites. As we would like this to be handeled as a project rather than hiring a bunch of developers around the world and do it ourselves, we decided against using a providers that specializes in individual contributors.
After creating an account with both of them, we posted our project. The project description was only 2 lines and included an Excel spreadsheet containing User Stories and some non-functional requirements. This was all the infromation on top of which we expected to receive bids. The only information regarding the User Interface was that we expect it to be Web 2.0 interactive and contemporary looking.
Now this all might sound quite foolish, but we are keeping the information deliberately broad. We are planning on using an agile development approach and as such we don’t want to define the project too narrow from the beginning. In order to find a company that is able to handle an agile development project, we can’t be too prescriptive but have to allow the developers to be invloved in the development process. In another post we will talk about why we think agile development is the right approach in this situation.
All bids have to come back within 2 weeks. More then.. | <urn:uuid:5371445f-7ddf-4218-bc69-91c9dd42ef02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.outfarm.com/category/agile-offshoring/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963803 | 3,524 | 1.992188 | 2 |
"Indie films are our best ambassadors to the world. They show the diversity of who we are and they travel without passports. If people were only forced to observe commercial cinema, they would think we all wore superhero costumes and carried assault rifles. These movies speak to our more expansive nature." So ends the article The Wrap released on Wednesday regarding the wonderful news that The San Francisco Film Society's funding from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation for artist grants shall go on indefinitely. And yes that's my quote -- but I am sort of paraphrasing my wife's grandfather, the producer Walter Wanger.
Read the whole article here. It's pretty great news: "This funding will allow filmmakers to afford to take creative risk away from day to day commercial concerns". But is that initial quote that keeps coming back to me.
Yesterday, drafting a new post, I penned: "all art crosses boundaries in a way that even a passport can not provide." If we want people to know us better, we have to get the great diversity of our work seen and heard.
I have been doing a lot of public speaking lately. I have started to often state: "Film builds bridges of empathy across vast divides of difference.". It is so true. Films are our paths to others' hearts and minds. Film is a community organizing tool. It is profoundly social and the cinema equation is not complete until their are audiences in the discussion.
It's not distribution we need, it is more diplomatic missions to send our ambassadors into far off lands. | <urn:uuid:f0883df0-c074-45ee-995f-8e429fd89967> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.sffs.org/hopeforfilm/?tag=Walter%20Wanger | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96105 | 310 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Some of you may be wondering why I am posting anything about school and education. The reason is simple:
Some of our most important ministry leaders are teachers.
The Roman Catholic Church is well known for its education. Many Catholic churches have their own school attached to it. The Catholic church has certainly had an impact on the way we teach and school our students. This is a good thing!
At the same time, there are those that argue that we need to re-think how we do school. I agree.
In this video, which I first saw on the Catholic Youth Ministry blog, the well-known author Seth Godin asks the very important question: what is school for? Once we have an answer to that, it should change the way we do school.
Question: What is school for? | <urn:uuid:3e40d6da-17d7-4542-bdab-0d46abf11b03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.realministry.org/what-is-school-for/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988613 | 165 | 1.882813 | 2 |
How badly are Canadian internet users getting spanked? It’s amazing they can sit, according to numbers from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Internet access revenues at service providers jumped by 17.5% in 2011, largely thanks to tiered usage plans, the professional services firm says in a new report.
“Canada’s broadband fees were lower than those in the United States in 2007-09, but as a result of large increases during the past two years, the average Canadian broadband subscriber paid 3.9% more in 2011 than the average U.S. subscriber did,” the report says.
But wait, there’s more. The average Canadian internet user can expect their bill to rise to $45 in 2016, from $38.43 in 2011. That’s another 17% increase. Overall broadband access spending, meanwhile, will grow by 9.9%, or nearly double the 5.5% in the United States. Ouch.
Why is this happening? There are two culprits. One is the fact that Canada ironically has a more competitive wireless situation than the United States. A few years ago, when the wireless new entrants – Wind Mobile, Mobilicity et al – were in the process of starting up, it was clear that was going to have repercussions on the wired side of things. With big incumbent cellphone providers set to start losing big bucks in wireless, logic dictated that wired customers would need to be milked.
As they say, you win some, you lose some.
It’s no coincidence that usage-based billing for home access started to become news at about the same time. Enter the second culprit for the steadily rising prices: the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. In the first part, the regulator accepted and condoned incumbent requests to use “economic measures” as an effective way to combat network congestion. In the second part, the CRTC also allowed those same incumbents to foist a watered-down version of this usage-based billing scheme onto smaller indie ISPs.
The actual existence of congestion was not proven in either situation. With monthly usage caps much larger in the United States despite the fact that incumbent ISPs there have considerably more users on their networks, it’s pretty clear that claims of congestion in Canada were largely exaggerated if not completely fabricated. Yet the CRTC swallowed them whole. Usage-based billing has always been a cash grab, plain and simple.
The gouging will continue, and really, why shouldn’t it? As I wrote last week, the regulator is too busy with make-work projects – like finding out whether subscribers are really getting 20 or 15 megabits per second – to focus on the real problems. This continued and increasing bilking of customers would figure high on that list. | <urn:uuid:441d31a2-fed4-4bee-873d-e4570fe66697> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wordsbynowak.com/2012/06/20/internet-prices-climbing-with-no-end-in-sight/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962987 | 576 | 1.632813 | 2 |
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The Enigma of Capital
Book Review by Jonny Jones, May 2010
David Harvey, Verso, £14.99
The Marxist geographer and social theorist David Harvey has become something of a sensation on the left in recent years. The onset of the economic crisis has led to a renewed interest in Marx's ideas and Harvey has been the focal point of this re-engagement for many radicalising young intellectuals.
He is the world's most cited geographer in academic texts. His online lectures on Marx's Capital have received over a million hits and were recently transformed into a very well received book (Books, Socialist Review, April 2010). Hot on the heels of that comes The Enigma of Capital. An ambitious book in its scale and scope, The Enigma of Capital is essentially an attempt to distill a life's work into a rigorous yet readable work. On that front it certainly succeeds.
The book begins with a dissection of the current crisis, which Harvey sees as stemming from the phenomenal build-up of debt that occurred in places such as the US throughout the 1990s. For Harvey, this was a response to the fall in profit rates after the long boom: capitalists sought to restore profitability by attacking labour's share of wealth, meaning consumption could only be maintained by credit.
Harvey goes on to build up an analysis of why crises occur under capitalism, before moving on to look at how capitalism evolves through time. He finishes with a chapter that paraphrases Lenin: What is to be Done? And Who is Going to Do It?
There are many strengths to Harvey's analysis. His attempt to integrate a spatial dimension into capitalism (derived from his 1982 classic Limits to Capital) and his discussion of the limits imposed upon capital accumulation by the environment are illuminating and valuable.
But in many ways this is a deeply frustrating book. His analysis of crisis effectively relegates Marx's law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall to a minor role, "rendered more than a little moot" by countervailing tendencies.
His discussion of how we can transform society is even more alarming. While he correctly identifies the movement against capitalism as arising from within it, he fudges questions of political organisation. Harvey is too often pulled to idealist and utopian conceptions of social transformation. These have more in common with Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's conception of the "multitude" than with Marx's stress on the centrality of class.
Reading The Enigma of Capital, I could not help but be struck by the similarities in its structure and subject matter to Chris Harman's last book, Zombie Capitalism. While Harvey's book is both interesting and accessible to activists, I would suggest that Harman's book be borne in mind as a corrective to its many shortcomings.
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Access to this website is free - help us keep it that way. Please make a donation. | <urn:uuid:1f99611f-fbb5-46d0-9d75-0dfabf1a4bcb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11263 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964872 | 619 | 1.710938 | 2 |
London, Jan 25 (ANI): The age-old saying that blondes do have more fun seems to be putting a dent on their career, a new study has revealed.
Britain's leading facial mapping team has revealed just how important looks are when it comes to success in the workplace, and it seems having fair hair doesn't actually fare all that well, the Daily Mail reported.
The research team, led by the UK's leading facial mapping expert Dr Chris Solomon, was tasked with analysing the facial features we associate with success and leadership in the workplace, and the results found that those with straight dark hair are considered most likely to succeed.
Respondents ranked faces in terms of perceived business acumen and leadership qualities, taking into account a range of facial features such as the shape, size and position of the head, eyes, lips and overall symmetry.
The findings revealed that the shape of the male jaw line is a key metric when it comes to perceived leadership qualities; indeed we associate "hyper" leaders with having a very strong jaw line.
Conversely, faces that get narrower towards the jaw line were perceived as weaker and less credible.
Interestingly, Steve Jobs and Peter Jones were cited as business leaders who fit the leader profile, and David Cameron and Nick Clegg most closely match the "leadership at work" prototypes.
Future leadership hopeful and current Mayor of London Boris Johnson scored lower for his down-turned eyes and fleshy jawline.
Steve North, General Manager of TV channel Dave who commissioned the research, said: "We all know that first impressions count but this is the first time that a study has actually delved into the facial traits that help us make those decisions." (ANI) | <urn:uuid:a36d2d2d-429a-4676-8eef-6c90741c314c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cricket.yahoo.com/news/blondes-suffer-job-prospects-having-too-much-fun-072630934.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976552 | 348 | 1.671875 | 2 |
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Incorporated in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was founded with the aim of instilling ethics and morals into the lives of young boys. A Scout is a "trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent," boy who, above all, strives to "be prepared" and "do his best." The highest order of these Boy Scouts are the Eagle Scouts, a rare group of young men who rise through the scouting ranks to earn 21 merit badges, serve for six months in a troop leadership position, and successfully complete a strict Eagle Scout board of review, among other requirements.
The first Eagle Scout to complete this training was 17-year-old Arthur R. Eldred, on September 2, 1912. Since then, more than 2 million Boy Scouts have earned the coveted rank. Here are some of the most famous of the honorable young men who made it to the top of the Boy Scouts program.
26 people in this group
NBC's popular singing-competition show, The Voice, has drawn comparisons to series like American Idol and The X Factor. Judges of the show, which is hosted by Carson Daly, have included Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and newcomers Usher and Shakira. "Vote" for your favorite celebrity judge of the show by examining Biography.com's Judges of The Voice group.
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Learn more about Erik and Lyle Menendez, the notorious brothers convicted of brutally murdering their rich parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. It was later proven that the Menendez brothers had planned the killings for weeks. At trial, Erik and Lyle unsuccessfully claimed self-defense and abuse, and were sentenced to life in prison in 1996. Get the details of the case, and peruse our biographies and videos, only at Biography.com.
2 people in this group | <urn:uuid:8cfcf70f-d7c8-4a92-bce4-cd53aa79de65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biography.com/people/groups/famous-alumni-of-university-of-toronto | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925871 | 587 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Our expectations were set up decades ago by the likes of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey and the computer of the U.S.S. Enterprise on "Star Trek." We've all been waiting for our computers to start talking and responding to us like real people. Real people with massive IQs and tremendous amounts of knowledge at their virtual fingertips, that is.
Even Apple had early visions of this voice-assisted future. In the late 1980s, Apple came up with a concept called Knowledge Navigator. The company produced a series of videos that showed people interacting with this fictitious system via a touch screen tablet and natural conversation. Its avatar looked and sounded perfectly human, and it could conduct a flawless conversation with you to help you plan your schedule, communicate with friends and colleagues, and access all sorts of networked information. They haven't quite reached the level of interaction and sophistication displayed in those videos, but with the release of the touchscreen iPhone and iPad, and now Siri, today's Apple has taken the first big step toward this futuristic vision.
Siri is a voice-activated assistant that mimics human intelligence and natural conversation. She interprets your voice instructions, and, when possible, carries them out. Siri can open apps, give you movie times and sports scores, make dinner reservations, call or send messages to people in your contact list and perform a host of other useful tasks. She doesn't just take your commands and silently perform them. She tells you what she's doing and prompts you with questions so that you have a chance to make choices and correct her if she misinterprets you. Siri is a far cry from the voice-recognition systems of yesteryear. | <urn:uuid:13c859ff-69f9-4d06-a4b0-7ad09bf27dd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/siri.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959352 | 342 | 2.75 | 3 |
Quick guide to student immigration categories
This page describes the different UK immigration categories for students, to help you decide which is the most appropriate for you. It also explains how a Tier 4 applicant should apply to study a 'pre-sessional course'.
Who can apply?
|You can apply as a child student under Tier 4 of our points-based system if you are between 4 and 17 years old. If you are between 4 and 15 years old, you must be coming to the UK to be educated at an independent fee-paying school.|
You can apply as a child visitor if you are under 18 years old and you want to come and study in the UK for up to 6 months.
While you are in the UK as a child visitor, you cannot 'switch' and apply to extend your stay as a Tier 4 (Child) student. If you want to study here under Tier 4 (Child), you will need to leave the UK and apply from the country where you live.
|You can apply as an adult student under Tier 4 (General) of our points-based system if you are coming to the UK for your post-16 education.|
You can apply as a student visitor if you are at least 18 years old, you want to come and study in the UK for up to 6 months (or up to 11 months to take an English Language course), and you do not want to work while you are here.
While you are in the UK as a student visitor, you cannot 'switch' and apply to extend your stay as a Tier 4 (General) student. If you want to study here under Tier 4 (General) , you will need to leave the UK and apply from the country where you live.
You can apply as a prospective student if you want to come to the UK to help you finalise the arrangements for your Tier 4 course of study (for example, by attending an interview at a university which has made you a conditional offer).
You will be able to switch into the Tier 4 (General) or Tier 4 (Child) category while you are in the UK.
Students aged 16 or 17 who want to study here for more than 6 months
If you are 16 or 17 years old, you and your approved education provider (also known as your sponsor) should agree whether you should apply under Tier 4 (General) or Tier 4 (Child) of the points-based system.
If you will be studying a course below National Qualification Framework level 3, you must apply under Tier 4 (Child).
If your course is at National Qualification Framework level 3 (or equivalent) or above and is longer than 2 years, we recommend that you apply under Tier 4 (General).
If you want to study for an English Language qualification at or above level A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), you must apply under Tier 4 (General).
If you are applying to study in the UK under Tier 4 of the points, based system, you can also apply to study an intensive English language course, or any other course, to prepare you for your main course of study here.
A pre-sessional course is a short course (such as an intensive English Language course) to prepare a Tier 4 student for their main course of study. If you want to study a pre-sessional course before your main Tier 4 course, you must apply for permission to study the pre-sessional course.
If you have an unconditional offer of a place on your main course of study, we may grant you a visa or permission to remain which covers both your pre-sessional course and your main course. We will only do this if your pre-sessional course will be:
- with the same education provider as your main course; or
- with a partner institution named on your education provider's sponsor licence.
Your education provider will need to assign you a single confirmation of acceptance for studies that covers both the pre-sessional course and the main course. The pre-sessional course must end no more than 1 month before the main course starts.
If you only have a conditional offer of a place on your main course of study, or if your pre-sessional course provider is separate from your main course provider, you must first apply to us for permission to take the pre-sessional course. If you successfully complete the pre-sessional course, you can apply from inside the UK to extend your stay under Tier 4 and study your main course. | <urn:uuid:3fdeb55f-62f7-481b-aa13-8c8531ab0efa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/studying/quick-guide/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942328 | 926 | 1.640625 | 2 |
JBL’s reputation in loudspeakers has always been greatly influenced by their studio monitors. At the beginning of JBL’s professional endeavors, the consumer speakers and monitors shared components and system designs. Eventually, these lines would diverge into distinct products with different design parameters. However, questions commonly arise on this forum as to the appropriateness of various monitors for home use. This post doesn’t address that issue directly. However, it does provide a history and context that will allow for a greater understanding of the purpose and application of these products.
One of the most common misconceptions about the origins of studio monitors is that they were initially designed for absolute accuracy. While accuracy is a critical issue, it is not the only one and historically it has not even been the most important issue. In its simplest terms, it is arguably more important that a monitor be predictable than neutral. To this day, the most common nearfield monitor is the Yamaha NS10. Just about every studio engineer hates them and realizes they are not neutral. However, they are all familiar with them so that they are a reference that everyone knows how to work with. This is important since engineers generally work in numerous studios. It is not easy to predict how a recording will sound if every monitor in every control room sounds different.
In North America, the standardization on specific monitors goes back to the Altec 604 in the mid 40's. This was the first relatively compact speaker with high output and reasonable bandwidth. Since it was a coaxial, it gave excellent imaging both midfield and farfield. For the next 20 years, it was the de facto standard in virtually all recording studios. However, the 604 was anything but neutral. It had a significantly rolled off high end and a noticeable midrange peak. This peak was considered useful by many engineers since it accentuated the critical vocal range.
The next industry standard was the JBL 4310/11. Not surprisingly, this speaker was purposely designed to mimic the sound of a 604, but in a bookshelf sized speaker. This system offered the flexibility of mounting nearfield on top of a console bridge, something that could not be done with the 604.
JBL came to dominate the studio monitor market in the 1970’s. It was entirely due to the rise of rock music. This genre pushed the demands for high level output. JBL met this demand with three and four-way monitors (4333, 4343, 4350). By using multiple drivers, it was possible to increase the power handling since each driver handled a narrower frequency band. They were also considerably flatter than the previous 604/ 4311 since the individual drivers were flatter over a narrow range and could be equalized more easily in the cross-over network.
The late 70’s and early 80’ saw the rise of the small nearfield monitors such as the Yamaha NS10. Nearfields have the great advantage of removing the room as a variable in sound quality. Every room colors a speaker’s output due to reflections from the walls, floor and ceiling artificially reinforcing certain frequencies and canceling others. Nearfields have very controlled dispersion. The listener is usually within 3’ to 4’ of the speaker with no boundaries except for the console face. This means that the listener has a high proportion of direct versus reflected sound with minimal room distortion. This makes the standardization of monitors even more effective, since the speaker itself is the main variable responsible for sonic differences.
The NS10 started out as a monitor to check out mixes in "real world" applications. In other words, it mimicked the inexpensive speakers found in most homes and car stereos. After recording, engineers checked the mix on these speakers to ensure they would sound reasonable on the lowest common denominator. However, the advantages of using these speakers as nearfield monitors during recording resulted in the NS10 becoming a standard session monitor.
By the 80’s, most large studios had two sets of monitors – the large soffet mounted main monitors such as the previously mentioned JBL’s, and nearfield monitors mounted on the consoles. Most monitoring was done on the nearfields, for the reasons cited above. The main monitors were relegated to a secondary role. They were only fired up to do bass checks (since the nearfields are bass restricted) and to "impress the clients". Nothing matches the high level, dynamic output of the mains to impress the artists on how their session went. However, they played a minimal role in actually monitoring and mixing the recording
Even relegated to their secondary role, main monitors evolved considerably in the 80’s. That time period saw the development of direct radiator midrange drivers that had similar output to the compression drivers and horns of previous main monitors. These drivers were considered more neutral sounding than horns. This led to the rise of such companies as ATC, Quested and Genelec as main monitor suppliers. However, horn based systems have not been entirely displaced. Main monitors based on Pioneer TAD horn and bass drivers are very common in some the top studios. They are very refined sounding compared to the horn systems of previous decades.
Absolute accuracy does have a role in one particular phase of the recording process. That is during final mastering. Here, subtle (and sometimes major) changes are made to finalize the mix. Critical monitoring is required to distinguish minor variations in mix levels, imaging and processing. The most common mastering monitor is the B&W 801 and it dominates the classical recording field. Other mastering monitor names should be familiar to high end audio hobbyists. Dunlavy, Wilson, and ATC all have their followings in some of the world’s most prestigious studios.
Nearfield monitors have progressed to the point that their sonic differences are not nearly so great. Therefore, the importance of standardized nearfields is beginning to disappear. In addition, the rise of the home "project" studio means that many involved in recording only work in one facility so that a standardized sound is not important to them.
Studios now sport a wide range of nearfields that are slowly replacing ubiquitous Yamaha NS10. Genelec nearfields seem to have garnered the greatest respect amongst engineers for accuracy and they are quite common. Other respected brands include Tannoy, JBL, Mackie, Alesis and many others. There are literally dozens of nearfield monitor manufacturers.
These nearfields still have attributes that differentiate them from home speakers. The most important are controlled dispersion and high output. Controlled dispersion is at cross-purposes to the design of many home speakers which are designed for a wide stereo sweet spot. Monitors only have to concern themselves with presenting an accurate stereo image at the engineer's listening position. Any wider, and you introduce the room problems mentioned earlier. High output remains in demand for popular music. This music tends to be recorded and played back at higher levels than other genres. Further, higher volumes make it easier to distinguish errors and defects in the recording process. Fortunately, the industry is finally recognizing the correlation between sustained high volumes and hearing loss so that high playback levels are becoming more the exception and less the norm (hip hop music excepted).
The other main distinction between home speakers and professional monitors is that the latter tend to be powered with built in amplifiers and electronic cross-overs. This is because it is easier to design a small, accurate monitor through bi or tri amping and internal amplification makes integrating them into the complex electronics of a studio easier and more flexible
And there you have a brief history course in the evolution and use of studio monitors. | <urn:uuid:c7967619-8ba5-470b-a9a4-93dc7da98095> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?3747-Studio-Monitor-Evolution-and-Use&p=34426 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967973 | 1,558 | 2.203125 | 2 |
— Josh Share Your Story Flag as offensiveThis park is a great gateway to Ohio's prehistoric past! Located in the gently rolling hills of south Central Ohio, the... read more
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
From about 200 BC to 500 AD, the Ohio River Valley was a focal point of the prehistoric Hopewell culture. The term Hopewell describes a broad network of beliefs and practices among different Native American groups over a large portion of eastern North America. The culture is characterized by the construction of enclosures made of earthen walls, often built in geometric patterns, and mounds of various shapes.The most striking Hopewell sites contain earthworks in the form of squares, circles, and other geometric shapes. Many of these sites were built to a monumental scale, with earthen walls up to 12 feet high outlining geometric figures more than 1000 feet across. Conical and loaf-shaped earthen mounds up to 30 feet high are often found.The park contains nationally significant archeological resources including large earthwork and mound complexes that provide an insight into the social, ceremonial, political, and economic life of the Hopewell people. | <urn:uuid:2327a577-8f8a-4bd2-aaf5-ce6c522fc978> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/hopewell-culture-national-historical-park?inline=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946898 | 235 | 3.859375 | 4 |
ON APRIL 24, 1900, a man called John Freeman, 78, was laid to rest in Melbourne Cemetery.
His had been a life well lived: he was an author, decorative painter and an elder of the Anglican church who helped save St James Old Cathedral from demolition.
But a new book tells how Mr Freeman took to the grave a huge secret, believed to have been hidden even from his wife.
By chance, author Jenny Sinclair discovered his real name was Edward Oxford, and that as an 18-year-old, in 1840, he was the first of seven people who tried to assassinate Queen Victoria, when he shot at her carriage.
The English authorities, keen not to stoke anti-monarchist conspiracies, didn't push for Oxford to be hung, drawn and quartered for high treason.
Instead, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and sent to Bethlehem lunatic asylum, better known as Bedlam.
After 27 years behind bars, the last three at Broadmoor asylum in Berkshire, Oxford was deemed sane, and a model prisoner.
The Queen agreed to his release, provided he sail to the colonies, never to return.
Oxford's friend, the Bethlehem steward George Haydon, had been an adventurer around Melbourne in the 1840s, and thought it the ideal place for a man to remake himself.
And so, on February 20, 1868, Oxford landed in Melbourne with a new name, John Freeman. Setting out to become a respectable citizen, Freeman joined the West Melbourne Mutual Improvement Society, rose to become a warden at St James, responsible for church property, and wrote articles under the name Liber for The Argus, about the city's slums, markets and racetracks. They formed the basis for an 1888 book, Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life.
In 1881 he married a widow, Jane Bowen, and was a loving stepfather to her two children. They lived in Albert Park.
Sinclair traced Jane's elderly great-grandson, who lives in Canberra, and he said the family was unaware of Freeman's notorious past. She found Freeman's book when Googling the phrase "shadows of Melbourne". She had been trying out titles for her own book on the city's culture, now called When We Think About Melbourne.
Freeman's book's entry in the National Library of Australia's online catalogue included a note that John Freeman was actually Edward Oxford who had tried to kill Queen Victoria.
Sinclair found that in the 1950s Haydon's descendants had given the library letters that Freeman had written to Haydon in England. She wondered how the royal assailant had become a pillar of society.
Oxford's trial records and 1840 newspaper articles revealed that his father had been a violent drunk. Before the shooting, Edward was too mentally unstable to work.
Yet somehow he righted himself. Asylum records depict a model prisoner: intelligent, sane and a keen student of French, Latin and painting.
Sinclair says he was smart enough to see Australia not as exile but a second chance.
She says Freeman's life has heroic qualities in that he rose above an appalling past. But many questions remain and she is doing a PhD about him.
In his letters to Haydon, Freeman regretted hurting his family and the Queen. "He wanted her to know that the foolish boy of half a century ago had done well for himself."
A Walking Shadow: The Remarkable Double Life of Edward Oxford by Jenny Sinclair, $20, Arcade Publications. | <urn:uuid:ea966a23-2a02-4684-8f73-6d1388818224> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/1194761/from-would-be-royal-assassin-to-pillar-of-society/?cs=12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981147 | 723 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Pakistan, India open talks on Iran gas pipeline
Iran-Regional, Politics, 9/8/2005
The Irsanian official news agency IRNA reported today that: Senior Pakistani and Indian officials on Thursday opened two-day talks on the proposed multi-billion dollars Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, a petroleum ministry official said.
Indian Petroleum Secretary SC Tripathy is leading a five-member delegation in the second Pakistan-India Joint Working Group (JWG).
Ahmed Waqar, Pakistan Secretary Petroleum is leading his side of experts.
The JWG would discuss issues relating to a framework agreement, land acquisition, reserve certification, gas demand in India and Pakistan, transit fee, project structure, gas pricing mechanism, pipeline size and other related subjects.
The 2,670-km $ 4.5 billion pipeline will bring gas from Iran's South Pars field to India via Pakistan.
Reports said that India is likely to submit a draft text of a framework agreement to the Pakistani side during the meeting. Both sides are expected to ink the agreement during the meeting.
Reports said that a delegation of Russian firm Gazprom will visit Pakistan early next month to begin discussions to lead a consortium for the construction of the pipeline.
Gazprom Chairman Alexey Miller Borisovich will lead the delegation to Islamabad on October 6 and remain there for three days to hold talks with the top leaders and officials of the Petroleum Ministry and Gas Companies.
It will be the first visit to Pakistan by the Chairman of Gazprom, considered as the world's largest gas company with over 20 percent share in global gas production.
Pakistan is apparently expecting to seek 8 to 21 billion dollars in transit fee over a period of 30 years for allowing use of its territory to lay the gas pipeline.
Gazprom, along with TotalFinaelf of France and Malaysian Petronas, is the major shareholder of Iranian South Pars field, from where Iran would supply gas to Pakistan and India through the trans-national pipeline.
The Russian energy giant has already held numerous rounds of talks with authorities in Iran and India to lead or at least become an active player in the consortium to lay the pipeline. Indian companies like Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and GAIL are also expected to join the consortium.
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Iran-India-China gas pipeline idea
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| Advertise on ArabicNews.com. MyFlowers.com sold more than $2700 of flowers in one month advertising on ArabicNews.com! Make your company, and products a success. Special rate for new and small business. Inquire!Advertising Info | <urn:uuid:29611ace-7bff-49f7-a0e6-b7fb6b1839cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050908/2005090840.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920485 | 610 | 1.671875 | 2 |
SF Fed confirms that they are a private corporation that pays dividends to shareholders
Recently Humboldt State University was visited by David Lang and Yelena Takhtamanova from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco where they presented some information about the Federal Reserve System.
I, along with the department, took video of this event. While I was unable to take footage of the entire event, I was able to get David Lang’s presentation as well as a short portion of a question and answer period.
There were also presentations from students from an Economics class. Each group had to play the role of a private central banking head for each of the 12 Federal Reserve Branch banks. They had to make policy suggestions for the Federal Reserve banking system going forward.
Some of the groups had the right idea with the suggestion to remove the extra 0.25% interest being paid on excess reserves held with the Federal Reserve. This is a big problem and those groups got it right.
David Lang presented first, and a notable point is that at the 14 minute mark in the video below he explained that the Federal Reserve banking system paid back $ 78 billion to the US Treasury in 2010. It needs to be noted that he did not discuss the interest that the Federal Reserve charges on the currency in circulation.
What about the $ 189 billion paid to FRB on interest to service the debt in 2010? Wiki, a much less reputable source than the GAO, reports this number as $ 164 billion. Regardless, it is more than double what the Federal government spends on education.
The fact that money, the US Dollar, a Federal Reserve debt note, an instrument of debt, is on the bottom portion of the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve, the liabilities side, is direct proof that each US dollar gains interest and that the Federal Reserve system is paid interest on that same debt, the national debt.
David Lang and Yelena Takhtamanova both specifically showed the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve banks, and ‘Currency in circulation’ can clearly be seen as a liability. As we know, the government does not have to issue debt in order to create currency but the Federal Reserve, in order to keep control over the debt slaves,(U.S. taxpayers) does anyway.
Another issue is the fact that while that curve for the currency in circulation looks reasonably tame, keep in mind that the fractional reserve banking system and how banks can lend out 10x(and more in certain cases) on each additional dollar in circulation.
The $ 100 billion printed in October of 2008 really amounted to $ 1 trillion of financial ‘stimulation’(really the weakening of the dollar) considering the ponzi scheme of irrational fractional reserve banking.
During his presentation, David Lang asked the audience if they could name who audits the Federal Reserve. No one in the room was able to answer except for me at 12:45 in the video. I answered with the GAO. I have reviewed many GAO reports to see the corruption hidden within the government, military, and private institutions.
At 28:25 in the video, an Occupy Humboldt protester asks important questions concerning the Federal Reserve, money, debt, the national debt, and inflation. I am not sure if he may have articulated himself as well as he wanted, but his concerns are very important, and were disregarded by the Fed reps.
David Lang even goes as far as to echo Yelena Takhtamanova’s simply explanation of what money is. I’m not sure if he was prepared for the many questions asked but, regardless, his weak non-answer to the Occupy protester proves he is just a pawn in the big picture of things at the Fed of San Francisco.
I then asked my question at 31:06, concerning the Federal Reserve bank of San Francisco and whether it was formed as a private institution. He confirmed that it is. He also confirmed that they pay dividends to their shareholders.
He then quickly reiterated the fact that the Federal Reserve banks paid back profits to the US Treasury. Again this was to cover the main point that the Federal Reserve charges and is paid interest on our debt.
Regardless, I was clearly able to capture video of a representative of a Federal Reserve bank confirming that they are indeed a private institution.
David Lang’s confirmation flies directly in the face of the lies being pushed by the ill-representing ‘FederalReserve.gov’ site.
‘FederalReserve.gov’ even goes as far as to say , “It is not “owned” by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution.” They are able to get away with this outright lie because the lines between the Federal Reserve Banking System and each of the 12 private central banks that make it up are sometimes muddled on purpose as we have seen.
Each of the 12 individual private Federal Reserve banks charge and receive interest for profit.
What’s even worse about this visit is that these representatives were giving audience information with the supposition that inflation and unemployment would be going down in the future. What they failed to tell the students and the rest of their audience is that their specific bank just posted a report forecasting a 50% chance of global economic recession by the end of Q1 2012.
I suppose that this important information wasn’t important enough to pass along to the students who will soon be out looking for jobs in the marketplace.
I am a Humboldt State University Class of ’09 alumni, School of Business with an empasis in Accounting, and I personally take offense to the Federal Reserve of San Francisco coming to speak with students and not passing this information along.
There were were also awake individuals from the community in attendance who asked many important questions during the question and answer session at the end of the presentation after I had stopped recording due to battery issues.
There was a gentleman who spoke about the Weimar Republic and the hyperinflation that occured there in the years after the turn of the last century, and asked what the Federal Reserve would do to prevent a similar situation. Yelena from the San Francisco Fed replied, “That is why we are in place.” This is specifically not the answer the gentlemen was looking for i’m sure.
I was able to ask a specific question but unfortunately received an irrelevant answer from Fed Rep. David Lang. I first told David and Yelena that I wanted to ask for their feedback on an alternative policy decision, as the presentations by the students were articulating different policy decisions that the Fed could take.
I explained to everyone that in Bill Still’s ‘The Secret of Oz’, Ellen Brown, the economist and author of ‘Web of Debt‘ presented a policy option. She proposed that rather than the government issuing debt in the form of interest bearing bonds for money, we could use the current authority granted to Congress under the Constitution to allow there to be a few trillion dollar-a-piece coins to be deposited into banks.
This would be creating money as an asset instead of a liability, a debt to be charged interest and repaid to the Federal Reserve. This would be stimulative to the economy and not require the Federal Reserve to buy up corporate and government bonds in it’s LSAP(QE) measures.
Instead of any kind of economic policy discussion, David Lang simply told me that this was a ‘legal’ question. A gentleman, more than likely like-minded to myself, quickly chimed in, ‘What he’s talking about is the US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, and it’s one sentence.”
I nodded my head in agreement. Still, David Lang stonewalled the discussion and persisted it was a legal issue. I did not want to press him or Yelena.
They are not specifically the problem. They are obviously a part of the problem, but do not seem versed enough on the truth behind the corporation they work for. And as this was a student hosted event, I did not want to aggravate any situation. There are hundreds of questions I could have asked these representatives, but I doubt they would be able to shed any light on most of them.
Fortunately, due to the efforts against the Federal Reserve from people like Ron Paul and Bernie Sanders, there have been audits and information revealed pertaining to some of the really unforgivable corruption being perpetrated by the Federal Reserve.
It would seem as if the global power structure is going to be changing quite a few things around with the next collapse and major restructuring, especially considering the fact that the Fed has been in talks with the ECB as we have recently seen. Even the Pope and the Vatican side of the global power structure has called for a world central bank.
Anyone who has been following economics or news information knows that the global economic collapse is imminent. As I said stated before, the Fed of San Francisco says it’s a 50/50 chance. Even though this was not communicated to the students, many people of all ages are awake to the seriousness of the approaching calamity.
I encourage everyone worldwide to continue their efforts against the control system and especially the unsound central banks like the Federal Reserve and ECB.
If you would like to contact the two representatives from the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve their respective email addresses are below.
This is the entire video footage that I recorded during the recent visit to HSU by two representatives of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. | <urn:uuid:7bb09f1c-1b61-437b-9e66-cfe8b700c860> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wearechangetv.us/2011/11/san-francisco-federal-reserve-employee-admits-fed-is-a-private-corporation-that-pays-dividends-to-shareholders/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97377 | 1,962 | 2.140625 | 2 |
First Aid for Non-Convulsive Seizures
You don't have to do anything if a person has brief periods of staring or shaking of the limbs. If someone has the kind of seizure that produces a dazed state and automatic behavior, the best thing to do is:
- Watch the person carefully and explain to others what is happening. Often people who don't recognize this kind of behavior as a seizure think that the dazed person is drunk or on drugs.
- Speak quietly and calmly in a friendly way.
- Guide the person gently away from any danger, such as a steep flight of steps, a busy highway, or a hot stove. Don't grab hold, however, unless some immediate danger threatens. People having this kind of seizure are on "automatic pilot" so far as their movements are concerned. Instinct may make them struggle or lash out at the person who is trying to hold them.
- Stay with the person until full consciousness returns, and offer help in returning home.
First Aid for Complex Partial Seizures
- Do not restrain the person.
- Remove dangerous objects from the person's path.
- Calmly direct the person to sit down and guide him or her from dangerous situations. Use force only in an emergency to protect the person from immediate harm, such as walking in front of an oncoming car.
- Observe, but do not approach, a person who appears angry or combative.
- Remain with the person until he or she is fully alert. | <urn:uuid:deb1044e-93c6-4d02-aebd-571405a23a3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/aboutepilepsy/firstaid/non-convulsive-seizures.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947279 | 310 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Getting insanely good at poker
Poker's not easy. It requires strategy, math, psychology, and intuition. This section will soon include articles, but the best thing you can do is practice and read a couple books. For practice, you can go back to the main page and try playing on campus or online. For books, there are a few consistently recommended ones that are almost guaranteed to improve your poker skills dramatically.
This is often considered the Bible of poker. It's got everything. Parts of it are pretty advanced, and good players usually suggest you reread this book once in awhile.
People really like this book. It's not quite as advanced as The Theory of Poker, but people report good results after reading it.
Another classic, this book is especially good for learning how to read other players.
That should do you for now... I'll be back later with more! | <urn:uuid:247fe927-dffd-496c-8fff-9c439f85f34b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://campuspoker.net/learn.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974139 | 182 | 1.5 | 2 |
Ayurveda is a Vedic science which, like yoga, has only one purpose: to expose the illusion and neediness of the mind and become free.
So, what does that mean? How about feeling free to love your partner, mom, dad or sibling fully, without holding back even just a little? How about feeling free to wear whatever and act however you like without concern for what people might think? How about not being addicted to sweets, chips, coffee, chocolate, money or shopping?
Ayurveda is the science that seeks to free you of all that, and let the real, delicate, vulnerable and powerful “truth of you” out so you can be fully content with just being you!
Such freedom is what the essence of Ayurveda can offer. So, let’s explore this amazing science!
It’s All the Mind’s Fault!
In Ayurveda, the mind is thought to be the origin of all disease. The mind creates protective patterns and belief systems that start early in childhood and shape your personality today.
As infants and toddlers, the mind is poorly developed and, thus, rays of purity exude from these amazing kids. Perhaps that is why we are so attracted to every precious gu-gu and ga-ga! But as we grow up and get hurt feelings on the playground, or figure out how to get mommy and daddy’s approval, or discover the euphoria of ice cream, each child creates a new, safer version of their personality based on these very unique experiences.
These childhood personality traits are often carried into adulthood and, while they served you as a child, they often don’t serve you as an adult. These protective emotional patterns are generally created to keep the child safe and out of emotional harm’s way, but as adults, they put significant stress on the body. Childlike worries of what people will think of you—am I pretty enough? Tall enough? Smart enough? Athletic enough? Do they like me?—all are interpreted by the body as stress.
Specifically, research now tells us that these emotional stresses are processed through the gut, causing the digestive process to break down first. This is perhaps best illustrated by the current gluten-free and dairy-free fad diets—shunning so-called “bad” foods which are just a touch harder to digest – that’s all.
Stress Breaks Down the Body
From stress-related digestive distress, a degenerative stress response is driven into every cell of the body. Depending on your genetic predisposition (or what Ayurveda calls your body type or dosha), your body will break down in its own unique way as a result of a compromised ability to process stress.
Additionally, though these emotional reactive patterns to stress or trauma are created in the mind, they eventually store in the fat cells as molecules of emotion. By purifying the body, these emotional molecules are released, setting the stage for deep mental, emotional, and spiritual transformation.
Ayurveda is a system of medicine designed to remove the imbalance of the physical body, while providing the mental clarity needed to change unproductive mindsets.
In Ayurvedic medicine, optimal health and even one’s spiritual growth starts with prevention. Prevention is based on a balanced lifestyle that is in harmony with the cycles of nature.
Ayurveda recognizes that all living creatures, whether human, plant, or animal, must live in harmony with nature in order to survive. Like the owner’s manual of your car prescribes maintenance schedules for the long-term health of your car, Ayurveda speaks of daily and seasonal routines that ensure maximal health, mental clarity, and longevity.
We tend to insulate ourselves away from much participation in the changes that take place from one season to the next. We don’t realize that, just like the birds, our survival depends on it, and that simply putting on or taking off a sweater and eating the same foods 365 days a year is not in keeping with the original human design.
Going to sleep and rising with the sun, eating seasonal foods for your region, and building your activities around the natural rhythms of the day are all simple and profound ways to stay in harmony with nature.
In Ayurvedic medicine, one’s individual nature is mirrored in their body type, or dosha. The doshas reflect three main governing principles of nature, called vata (air), pitta (fire) and kapha (earth-water).
Each person is a unique combination of these three principles or doshas, with different proportions of each existing within us. These three basic principles combine to make ten unique mind-body types.
Based on our body type, what we eat, how we exercise, when we sleep, and even where we prefer to live, will have its own unique blueprint.
Once you know your body type, Ayurveda provides protocols to align your internal nature with the larger cycles of nature, such as the daily rhythms and seasonal cycles.
Seasonal and daily routines include proper diet and a balanced lifestyle according to your type. Ayurveda then makes very specific recommendations for resetting digestion, restoring balance and function, and proper detoxification.
- Vata is the winter principle. Generally, vata types tend to be thin, hypermetabolic, and they think and move quickly. They typically have dry skin and cold hands and feet. They do not like cold weather because they already have many of these winter or vata qualities inherent in their nature.
- Pitta is the summer principle. Much like summer, Pitta types are hot, fiery and competitive, with a medium frame. They prefer cool weather. When out of balance, they may get heartburn, skin rashes, inflammatory diseases, or just “burn out.”
- Kapha is the spring principle. Kapha types are easygoing and have a slow metabolism. They will hold on to more weight and water and tend to develop allergies and congestion. Kapha types have more spring-like qualities in the same way that vata and pitta types carry more winter and summer qualities.
Once you know your body type, it’s like having a roadmap that points you in the right direction of becoming your best self, so that you can fulfill your potential and experience more joy.
EAT TO LIVE
What to Eat
We have made eating very complicated–there are more modern theories on eating than there are days in a month. While animals seem to balance their nutritional needs quite well without the technical knowledge of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, we incessantly count calories and measure grams of fat, only to find out about the latest study, which tells us that the rules of eating have changed once again.
In Ayurveda, the rules remain constant: as the seasons change and different foods are harvested, we change the foods we eat in accordance.
In winter, for example, squirrels eat nuts—a good source of protein and fat. This is a perfect food to help combat the cold and dry weather in the winter months (vata season). Grains, which are harvested in the fall and cooked in the winter, are also a perfect winter food. Cooked grains provide a warm, heavy nutritional base that helps us adapt to the cold of winter.
In spring, after eating heavy nuts and grains during the long sedentary winter, nature again provides us with the perfect food. Light, leafy green veggies and berries are the first foods harvested in the spring (kapha season) and are the natural antidote for the allergy season.
As the days get warmer in July and August, nature provides cooling fruits and vegetables to balance the heat of summer (pitta season).
How to Eat
Ayurveda understands that the cycles of nature will provide what we need at any given time. These cycles also provide the guidelines for a rhythm of life that is enjoyable. Unfortunately, our society has demanded that we rush, push, and shove our way through life in order to get ahead.
The biggest social violations of natural law revolve around our meals. We frequently race through or skip meals, eating as many as one-third of our meals in the car.
Crashing through our day, racing through lunch, and coming home to eat our biggest meal of the day at 7:00 PM when the digestion is the weakest, could not be going more against the powerful grain of mother nature.
Ayurveda recommends that all meals should be eaten slowly and calmly, and that the main meal should be at midday.
How to Eat: More Ayurvedic Recommendations:
- Aim to eat three meals a day without snacks in between
- Eat enough at breakfast to get you through to lunch, and enough at lunch to get you through to dinner. Eat a light dinner but enough to get you to breakfast without hunger pangs.
- Drink a 12 oz glass of water 15-20 minutes before each meal
- Sip water with meals
- Avoid cold drinks with your meals
- Eat until you are satisfied, usually about ¾ full
- Eat in a relaxed manner, without distractions (TV, reading, work, computer, etc.)
- Rest for 15-20 minutes after meals
Living in harmony with nature’s cycles is required for the body to enjoy the self-awareness needed to heal itself and then build the clarity needed to provoke deep emotional change in one’s life.
In Ayurveda, exercise is not only about losing weight, winning races, and staying healthy. Exercise provides a kind of physical stress that can be used to teach us how to deal with all kinds of stress (mental, emotional and social) with an internal sense of composure.
From the research in my book, Body Mind and Sport, I have integrated a specific nasal breathing technique I call “Darth Vader Breathing” into a basic exercise routine. Darth Vader breathing (Ujjayi Pranayama, as it is called in Yoga and Ayurveda) allows a deep sense of calm to co-exist with the movement and intensity of exercise, making it an enjoyable experience rather than a “workout.”
After learning nasal breathing, Billie Jean King told me that she has not enjoyed exercise this much since she was a child. I have used this technique with world class athletes like Martina Navratilova, with elderly people who want safe and enjoyable exercise, and as a therapy for people who have difficulty handling stress.
Simply breathing deeply through your nose while walking fast for twenty minutes can teach you to handle stressful situations. (Here’s a tip: while walking fast, if you have to breathe through your mouth, you are walking too fast!)
With 80% of all diseases linked to stress, learning how to take an experience of calm into dynamic activity is an integral part of Ayurveda. The ability to know exactly how much exercise is good for you and how much is harmful becomes more automatic as you learn to listen to your body. Nasal breathing during exercise provides numerous health benefits, including a natural experience of calm that we require for self-healing and growth.
Ayurveda believes that healing starts from within.
The idea of giving an herb to sedate you for insomnia, or a laxative to relieve constipation, is contrary to the Ayurvedic philosophy.
When fully balanced, living a lifestyle in harmony with nature and one’s type, stilling the mind with techniques like yoga, breathing and meditation along with proper diet, exercise and herbal support, as needed, one can set the stage for optimal health and emotional growth.
Ayurveda attributes 80% of all disease to imbalances of the digestive system and, therefore, much attention is given to its maintenance.
As the digestive system is also our detoxification system, when the digestion breaks down, so does the ability to detox.
Five thousand years ago in a non-toxic world, Ayurvedic experts thought it important even then to design one of the most sophisticated detoxification programs in the world, called Panchakarma. Today, with digestive-compromising stress and environmental toxicity at an all-time high, resetting digestive strength and regular detoxification are more important than ever.
THE ESSENCE OF AYURVEDA
It is clearly unique in this day and age to find a system of medicine that is over 5000 years old and still today one of the largest on the planet. Ayurvedic medicine, although in its infancy here in America, has over 300,000 Indian doctors in the All Indian Ayurvedic Congress, making it the largest medical organization in the world.
Perhaps the reason for it unrivaled longevity is its basis in truth.
Remember, Ayurveda is a Vedic science that is designed to uncover the truth of your life. Literally, veda means “truth,” and ayus means life.
While Ayurveda is generally viewed as a system of medicine for the body, all Vedic sciences—including yoga—are focused on a deeper truth. These sciences are designed to bring balance, harmony, and silence to the mental, physical, and emotional bodies so that we can be better equipped to act from our truth, rather than from protective patterns that the mind incessantly projects on the screen.
Ayurveda believes that the mind has us convinced that we must “act,” put on a show to be approved of or accepted. Just think of how much energy and strain goes into worrying about what others think of you. It’s the incessant worrying and unnecessary thinking that hammers your gut and, eventually, your body. Ayurveda is the science that seeks to free you of all that, and let the real, delicate, vulnerable and powerful “truth of you” out so you can be fully content with just being you! | <urn:uuid:91013ff8-b08f-4d6b-b1df-e9d184e1da72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lifespa.com/what-is-ayurveda/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952951 | 2,900 | 2.265625 | 2 |
To avoid breaking any hearts later on in this post, I’m going to put the restriction up top: This only works in San Francisco. You can cry now.
Today Postmates launched Get It Now, a service that will deliver anything that you want, to you, in under an hour. Think about that: anything, to you, now. The service has a network of couriers around the city, who will buy whatever it is that you desire, and hand it off to you.
Of course, your account on the service is then charged for what they picked up for you, and the delivery fee. Total cost to have something delivered? The company has a system in place that will price the delivery based on time of day, and how long it will take to deliver, but the average price is about $10. That’s about right, I think, as using the service will remain an impulse-level purchase.
According to Postmates, their private beta with a little over 1,000 users helped them scale up to 60 couriers. I fully anticipate that they will need more in the future. The service does have partnerships with other courier services in the area, so if it needs to scale quickly, it can with little disruption.
Of course, the service has competition from the likes of Exec, and TaskRabbit, and in a way, Zaarly. The space is certainly hot at the moment. Naturally, those aren’t direct and exact competitors, but the overlap is hard to miss.
Uber For Everything Else
The popular black-car-on-demand service Uber is well-known for its technology; the backend of Uber is robust, and helps to keep cars and drivers linked together. Postmates also has an algorithm that is used to ensure that as orders come in, the best couriers for the job (location, etc) is selected.
Users, and couriers each have a mobile application that they use to manage the order, and using digital signatures, each delivery is sealed. Here’s what an order looks like:
Of course, not doing something yourself will always carry a slight risk; you know yourself the best, and thus can cater to yourself the best. But the service, with its comically low price point, and (fingers crossed) battle-hardened product that leans on a small army of people on bikes and vespas, is a tool that can provide far more value than the risk that it presents. It’s cool, in other words.
Now, I’m in Chicago at the moment, and thus couldn’t give the service a spin, but I’m moving to San Francisco, and I honestly think that between Get It Now and Amazon Prime, I’ll never go outside again.
For fun, this is what your courier will hand you at the door, when you sign for the delivery: | <urn:uuid:389d68c1-4f9d-413e-ba91-b1627a81c45d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/05/17/postmates-launches-get-it-now-a-delivery-service-that-will-bring-you-anything-in-an-hour/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963942 | 601 | 1.53125 | 2 |
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Mon January 10, 2011
Congressman talks about security in wake of Giffords tragedy
Michigan Radio's Steve Carmody caught up with Michigan Congressman Hansen Clarke. Carmody asked Clarke about his reaction to the Giffords tragedy:
The annual North American International Auto Show in Detroit has often been a place for local members of Congress to meet and greet constituents.
But this weekend's assassination attempt on an Arizona congresswoman is raising questions about security.
Detroit Congressman Hansen Clarke says this weekend's assassination attempt on an Arizona congresswoman has affected his security plans:
"We are implementing some of the procedures recommended by the U. S. Capitol Police, but I feel confident that those will be adequate."
Clarke was sworn in for his first turn in Congress just days ago.
One of the first people he met was Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Clarke says the two talked about both being graduates of Cornell University.
He expressed sadness on the attempt on Giffords' life, but he says that danger is just a fact of life that all elected officials must face:
"I'm not going to change how I work. I'm going to be as open and available to the public. I think that's very important. I represent the taxpayers. I'm paid by the taxpayers. I'm hired by them to work for them. They need to know that their government is open and available to them." | <urn:uuid:d4fca5cd-dcef-412c-9197-4ae6b09805cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://michiganradio.org/post/congressman-talks-about-security-wake-giffords-tragedy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971727 | 303 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Posted by Depression Help | Posted in Chronic Depression | Posted on 11-09-2011
Before you ask your doctor for anti-depressants, you should be absolutely sure that you are clinically depressed. Chronic depression — never being able to shake off a feeling of hopelessness, despair, anger or gloom — can take many forms. You may simply have a dietary imbalance, or need more sunlight (the two can be related: vitamin D deficiency is being linked with many problems, including obesity, brittle bones, and depression).
Taking regular supplements will definitely rule out the dietary problems, but don’t expect to see much result for at least two months. It takes time to make up for a long-term imbalance.
Try to do things that make you feel good, not just in the moment, but long-term. Been making promises to yourself to go on holiday, upgrade your car, or get a wardrobe makeover? Don’t get into debt to do this (debt is another source of depression for many people), rather, save up until you can afford this special event. You’ll feel good for much longer than you expect.
Even if your doctor does prescribe anti-depressants, you might want to think twice before taking them. Many doctors are rushed and want to get rid of patients with psychological problems, which are notoriously hard to diagnose and almost impossible to cure.
If you are suicidal or so depressed that you can’t hold down a job, that is much more serious, but mild depression could be related to your everyday environment. Try to exercise more. Exercise releases endorphins, which are “feel good” drugs your body produces naturally. Even a brisk walk, jog, or bike ride can make you feel a lot better. Being fit of body helps you to be fit of mind. | <urn:uuid:da37f309-76d5-4514-ab15-7268512b8695> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://depressionmajordepression.com/chronic-depression/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951214 | 377 | 2.453125 | 2 |
If you have a jury trial, the first thing you will do at your trial is choose the jury. The process in which the parties and judge pick a jury is called “voir dire.”
During voir dire, each party can ask the jurors questions. The main purpose of these questions is to make sure the jurors can be fair and open-minded. It can be hard to tell if a person already has an opinion or prejudice. Spend a little time questioning every juror, to the extent the court allows.
To prepare for voir dire, before you go to court, write down some questions that will help you choose jurors for your case. Be prepared because this process takes time.
Also, the party that asks for a jury trial must pay the jury fees. They must pay for every person in the jury every day. If the people on the jury come from far away, the party that wanted the jury will have to pay their travel expenses. Every day before court begins, that party will have to deposit the fees and travel expenses for the trial.
Once a jury has been selected and sworn in, each side has the right to make an opening statement. The opening statement is intended to inform the jury in a jury trial, or the judge in a court trial, about the nature of the case and what you intend to prove. What is said in the opening statement is not considered evidence. It is just the opinion of the party (or lawyer) giving the opening statement.
Once the opening statements have been made, the plaintiff’s attorney begins presenting his or her case first. The plaintiff’s lawyer introduces the evidence supporting his/her case, and puts witnesses on the stand, and conducts a direct examination. The defendant has the opportunity to cross-examine the plaintiff’s witnesses.
Once the plaintiff is finished presenting the case, the defendant has the right to present his or her case. Like the plaintiff, the defendant can introduce evidence and witnesses, who can be cross-examined by the plaintiff after the defendant finishes the direct examination.
During the trial, both sides may object to questions or statements made by the other party or by a witness, based on the rules of evidence. The judge rules on those objections as they are raised.
Once both sides are done presenting their cases, each can then address the jury or the judge one last time in a closing statement. The plaintiff once again goes first. After the plaintiff is finished, the defendant has the opportunity to give a closing statement as well. The plaintiff may be given a last rebuttal (a chance to respond to the defendant’s closing statement) since the plaintiff has the burden of proof in the case. These are the last words the parties will direct to the jury (or, in a court trial, to the judge) before the jury goes to deliberate on a verdict or the judge makes his or her decision in the case.
At the end of a jury trial, the judge will give the jury instructions on how to apply the law. The jury first decides what facts they believe are true. Once they have determined the facts, they must apply the law as the judge gives it to them in the form of jury instructions. Then, the jury will go to the jury room and talk about the case. This is called “deliberating.”
In most civil cases, the jury must apply the “preponderance of the evidence” standard of proof. This means that, to win, the plaintiff’s lawyer must prove to the jury that the plaintiff’s side of the story is more likely than not. It does not mean that one side brought in more evidence than the other side. It means that one side’s evidence was more believable than the other. This standard is much less strong than the standard in criminal cases, where the prosecutor must prove that the defendant is guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
When they make a decision, the jury will go back to the courtroom. The clerk will read the decision. The jury can make a decision quickly, or they can take days if the case is complicated.
If the judge decides your case, the judge may make a decision on the spot or may need time to make a decision and announce the decision later. If the judge decides the case later, he or she takes the case under submission. The decision is mailed to the parties at a later date.
The decision of the jury or the judge is then entered in the court records as a judgment and it becomes official.
The party that loses the case may be able to appeal the court’s decision. Appeals of limited civil cases (cases for $25,000 or less) are filed in the appellate division of the superior court (the same court where your case was decided). Appeals of unlimited civil cases (cases for more than $25,000) are filed in the Court of Appeal for your district. Click to find out about appeals in civil cases.
Appeals are very difficult and have strict time limits and requirements. If you think you want to file an appeal, research the law and act quickly. Talk to a lawyer for advice about your options. Click for help finding a lawyer. | <urn:uuid:83c1a3f8-ad13-4469-9f5a-bb76a602cfc2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.courts.ca.gov/rules.htm/1308.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965783 | 1,075 | 2.734375 | 3 |
1 Beloved, believe not every a, but b the c whether they are of God: because many d are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby a ye the b of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the c is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is a: and this is that spirit of b, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the a: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God a us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby b we the c of truth, and the spirit of d.
7 Beloved, let us a one another: for b is of God; and every one that loveth is c, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not a not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might a through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he a us, and b his Son to be the c for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12 a man hath b God at any time. If we love one another, c d in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 Hereby know we that we a in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and do a that the Father b the Son to be the c of the d.
15 Whosoever shall a that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that a in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he a, so are we in this world.
18 There is no a in b; but perfect c casteth out fear: because fear hath d. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
19 We a him, because he first loved us.
20 If a man say, I love God, and a his b, he is a c: for he that loveth not his d whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not e?
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who a God love his brother also. | <urn:uuid:6ee4859d-fae7-4ffd-a582-186baa7d5a5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/1-jn/4.12?lang=eng | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97736 | 618 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Though recent governmental cuts have meant that some Modern Language departments have suffered. Rooted within the school of Arts & Humanities, Modern Language degrees have often been labelled as ‘easy’ by the cynics, stereotypically classing them as quite insular, academic and consequently, of limited use in the world of work. Is that necessarily the case? Choosing to study languages at university isn’t just for those wanting to go on exotic holidays or practising their linguistic skills with waiters abroad.
Employment figures for Language graduates are on the up, as those studying languages now and in the future will prove themselves to be an invaluable asset for their future employer. Even basic language skills, such as conversational French, can open doors in all sorts of jobs, as this article in The Guardian explains. Employers, big and small, wholly support language skills. Whether you’re looking to work in finance, engineering or even sales, languages are a key advantage to any CV as they allow you to get tailored work experience and, ultimately, move abroad if you so choose.
“If I hadn’t chosen French at university, I never would have been able to work as an intern for a publishing house in Paris, which wouldn’t have let on to me working in Publishing now in Nice”, tells Amy, a French and Politics graduate of 2008.
Gina Reay, French and Italian student at Bath University, concurs: “In today’s environment where there is a distinct lack of jobs for graduates, I know that my trilingualism will put me in good stead for getting on the career ladder. I’m hoping to interpret my language knowledge with another passion that has developed through my extra curricular activities at University. I became heavily involved with our university newspaper Bath Impact, becoming the Editor-in-Chief this year. I hope to get involved in the French media industry when I graduate next June.”
And it’s not just French students that can look forward to going up on the career ladder, thanks to their degree. German and Spanish are in high demand, too, with the merging of foreign companies being felt on a worldwide scale. Only last year, the British network provider O2 was bought by South American giant Telefónica, opening up new possibilities for Hispanic students. Government bodies are constantly recruiting language graduates, in order to create and maintain relations outside of the UK - Arabic, Farsi and Russian are just a few of the languages that can translate into diplomatic jobs, if that’s what you’re after.
So, with all that in mind, what are you waiting for? Even if it’s just an open unit, practising a language has many advantages; you can not only converse abroad but also gain confidence, analytical skills and become a fantastic orator, as you’ll become aware of the power of the spoken word as well as body language. Whether you're into your Paris fashion week or if all you’re after is a pub abroad showing the latest local match, asking the locals in their mother tongue will open doors, literally and perhaps even metaphorically - you never know where it might lead you in the long run! | <urn:uuid:e191a0a6-a92b-440a-a991-ece37f162922> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thirdyearabroad.com/when-youre-back/careers/item/508-why-study-languages-boost-career.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970209 | 667 | 2.140625 | 2 |
If elected governor next year, Republican Meg Whitman vows to suspend California's landmark initiative against global warming on her first day in office.
“As governor, I actually would place a moratorium on AB 32 by executive order until we fully understand the law's impact on our economy,” said Whitman, referring to the state law requiring a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming.
Carrying out her campaign promise may prove challenging for the former eBay chief executive officer, or for any governor convinced that potentially costly directives to control emissions will prolong the state's economic troubles.
Such a moratorium likely would be taken to court, particularly because a governor would be making a judgment call based on an ambiguous paragraph buried deep in the measure, say critics of her proposal.
Assembly Bill 32, passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, established almost unbridled authority for the Air Resources Board, primarily, to adopt a broad range of regulations aimed at reducing emissions. Targets range from cars to landfills.
To secure backing, supporters inserted language giving the governor leeway to slow down implementation, but only if warranted by “extraordinary circumstances, catastrophic events or threat of significant economic harm.”
“There's no evidence that says there will be significant economic harm. We'd be tied up in court and the governor would lose,” said Cliff Rechtschaffen, a state lawyer who specializes in emissions litigation under state Attorney General Jerry Brown. Brown, a Democrat and likely candidate for governor, is a supporter of AB 32 and its requirements.
Rechtschaffen said it would be legally difficult to prove economic disaster given the qualifiers of extraordinary, significant and catastrophic.
The push to slow carbon-based emissions has actually created jobs, Rechtschaffen said, adding that freezing the rules could scare off investment in alternative energy projects.
In contrast, Dorothy Rothrock, representing the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, said its studies show that the controls will be too costly, giving the governor evidence that intervention is needed.
“The threat of significant economic harm is certainly there,” Rothrock said.
The governor could issue a moratorium until a new comprehensive economic study is completed, Rothrock said. Several business groups have attacked the air board's thesis that the regulations will be a net positive, producing alternative studies that predict dire consequences.
“We could make a good case,” Rothrock said.
There are other considerations, critics of Whitman's proposal say.
A new governor will take office in January 2011 and can only issue moratoriums in one-year increments. The first round of regulations launches in 2010, raising the question of whether a freeze should apply retroactively. If it would, businesses investing in complying early could be punished while slow-acting competitors would be given a reprieve.
At the same time, some of the most far-reaching standards are being phased in, making it difficult to use up-to-date economic data to justify a delay. For example, the most publicized rule governing vehicle tailpipe emissions is in place, but will not shift into high gear until closer to 2016. | <urn:uuid:7477b4fe-df39-4176-ac7e-a4c150f777f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2009/oct/05/emissions-initiative-whitmans-cross-hairs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942375 | 653 | 2.015625 | 2 |
School Bus Pollution
24 million American children ride school buses daily. On average, these students spend an hour and a half each day in a school bus. School buses drive more than 4 billion miles each year. School buses are the safest way for children to get to school. However, pollution from older diesel vehicles have health implications for everyone, especially children. Clean School Bus USA (EPA based) brings together partners from business, education, transportation, and public-health organizations to work toward the goals of reducing the potential health impact on children. School districts, with the help of federal grants (and state grants in some cases) have been working to replace the oldest, most polluting buses, and to upgrade others with better pollution control equipment. (The Diesel Reduction Act was reauthorized for five years in December 2010, but it's unclear how much money Congress will appropriate to continue the program.) The way drivers operate the buses can also have a big impact on the air quality for kids.
School buses are a necessary evil despite some issues such as diesel pollution fumes.
Unnecessary school bus idling pollutes the air, wastes fuel, and causes excess engine wear. Fortunately, it's easy to implement practices that reduce school bus idling. This also applies to all of those people who drive their kids to school and let their cars idle in lines.
Idling school buses can pollute air in and around the bus. Exhaust from buses can also enter school buildings through air intakes, doors, and open windows. Diesel bus exhaust from excessive idling can be a health concern.
Idling buses waste fuel and money. When idling, a typical school bus engine burns approximately half a gallon of fuel per hour. School districts that eliminate unnecessary idling can save significant dollars in fuel costs each year.
Any bus built before 1998 should be considered a prime candidate for replacement because older vehicles are designed with higher air emission standards in mind. The ideal current goal is to have a fleet of buses built since 2007, when a new law went into effect requiring closed crankcases and advanced emissions controls to limit the emissions of soot and other harmful pollutants. On older buses, having drivers close the crankcase reduces pollution inside buses significantly.
Despite the air quality problems that persist in older buses, the bus is still the most efficient and least-polluting way to get most kids to school as well as the safest. If everybody drove to school there would be fifty vehicles for every bus spewing fumes and blocking traffic flow.
For further information: http://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/ or http://www.nj.gov/dep/stopthesoot/ or http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/school-bus-pollution-0721 | <urn:uuid:49a07e7d-d73a-4635-9c1e-6520cf7b61c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/43131 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960199 | 571 | 3.1875 | 3 |
History Of Charlie Bates Cottage - The Early Years and a little family history
The cottage is named after a previous early settler owner: Charles Melbourne Bates - A Farmer & Penneshaw Postmaster. Charlie was married to Nellie Bates who passed away in 1951, Charlie lived on until 1971. Charlie had the mail contract to deliver mail from Penneshaw to Cape Willoughby.
Charlies' original farm on Rifle Range road was called "The Kipsie."
Charlie also carted all the stone for the now restored Penneshaw Hotel
Charlies father was Joseph (Harry) Henry Bates. Harry arrived aboard the Melbourne in 1858 as a 12 year old. His parents moved to Penneshaw in 1860. In 1870 Harry began delivering the mail from Cape Jervis to Cygnet River once a fortnight. To do this Harry sailed a small sailing skiff called the Lilly May accross to the mainland, he then walked to the Talisker Silver mine to pick up the mail from Adelaide. Once back on Kangaroo Island he sorted the mail and deiivered it via his horse Champion to Cygnet River. For this arduous work he was paid about 98 pounds a year.
In 1876 Harry took up an area to the east of Penneshaw now known as Baudin Conservation Park. Charlie Bates continued the farming tradition in this area with some of his family members until the 1960's. Following the death of Vincent Bates the farming area was purchased
by National Parks and Wildlife SA. The park was officially dedicated in April 2002 We have a photo of his cottage and more information here
Charles father Harry was a son of Ephraim Steen Bates with whom Harry returned from Victoria on the 'Melbourne' Hence Charlie's second name. E S Bates and family arrived on the island in 1858 from England, spent a year at Cygnet river, went to Victoria and after a year there returned to KI. E S Bates was the first private landholder to take up farming land in the Penneshaw area purchased from the government.
The Bates family name is still associated with Kangaroo Island today.
Although not a relative the Bates name had been associated with Kangaroo Island since 1824 when George (Fireball) Bates arrived on the sealing vesel Nereus.
George was born at Old Saint Lukes London in 1800 and was living on Kangaroo Island before any official permanent settlement existed in South Australia.
George assisted Col. William Light when the South Australian Company official colonists disembarked from the Duke of York in 1836.
George was truely one of South Australia's first arrivals from England. | <urn:uuid:f25bead4-0b4a-4c47-b883-8ec4dd13c82b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.charliebates.com.au/charlie_bates_history.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969455 | 544 | 2.078125 | 2 |
The report's title, "A Thin Line," comes from a quote from Dr. Ben Raimer, a UTMB vice president and former head of the Correctional Managed Care Committee, and yes, he who recently received a $125K bonus. I was in the room back in 2006 when he told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, “Right now the [health care] system is constitutional… but we’re on a thin line.” Indeed, he'd been saying the same thing for quite some time, warning that further cuts would render TDCJ healthcare unconstitutional. Now, of course the Legislature wants to slash prison heathcare even further, UTMB wants to bail, and TCRP fears that thin line is about to be breached.
They've got a point: According to the Legislative Budget Board's estimates (House report, large pdf, p. 554), per-prisoner healthcare spending under both the House and Senate budgets would decline from $7.67 per prisoner-day to $5.82. That's not fat they're trimming, nor even muscle, but all the way to the bone, going from $2,799.55 per prisoner year to $2,124.30. This at a time, notes TCRP, when TDCJ's prisoner population is aging, with older inmates' healthcare costs far outpacing those of younger prisoners.
Citing various case law (some of it not applicable in the US 5th Circuit), TCRP argues that "Texas has adopted a managed health care plan, which can potentially violate the Eighth Amendment if financial considerations are placed above the medical needs of the prisoner." One issue raised that I don't see frequently discussed was:
the thick veil of secrecy kept over inmate deaths, denying public oversight, and increasing medical negligence. According to state law, nearly every report or inspection that could tell legislators or the public the truth about the state of prison healthcare is kept secret – including everything from inmate grievances “to publicly-funded medical experiments to state inspections of blood-splattered kidney dialysis offices.” It is impossible, for instance, for a patient to find out whether the dialysis machine he uses regularly is cleaned of biohazardous materials, like blood, whether he is in prison or in the free world – even though the state obtains that information for itself.Here's another notable excerpt on the remarkable lack of meaningful oversight or accountability for UTMB regarding the quality (or for that matter basic delivery) of prison health services:
Lack of accountability is one of the biggest problems in these contracts. UTMB and Tech are contractually rewarded for removing one of the most important sources of health care oversight and accountability: grievances filed by the inmates themselves. One performance measure included in these most recent contracts with UTMB and TTUHSC is the percentage of unsustained grievances: that is, grievances that are resolved against the inmate. The two providers are contractually obligated to sustain 10% or less of Step One medical grievances and 6% or less of Step Two medical grievances. This encourages providers to resolve even the most valid and pressing inmate grievances in favor of TDCJ rather than in favor of the inmate. If TDCJ employees feel they will be penalized for resolving valid grievances in favor of the inmate, then they will be encouraged to discard valid complaints, crippling the grievance system. The positive intent of this clause – to increase the quality of medical services so that fewer complaints are lodged – could be much more effectively reached by measuring the providers' reactions to and improvements following valid inmate grievances, which would reward improvement rather than unaccountability.In addition, the report raises an issue I've thought for years deserved more play than it usually gets - jail and prisons' role in the development of drug-resistant disease and infections: "Prisons have become incubators of infections. Uneven treatment produces drug-resistant strains of diseases, which can be introduced to the public when prisoners are released. Hepatitis, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and staph infections are among the most dangerous infectious diseases in prison. Each of these poses a serious risk to both prisoners and the public, and Texas prison health care must include proactive and preventative measures to prevent their spread." Well said; the harm from developing drug-resistant bugs spreads far beyond the prison walls.
The contract also allows a relatively high percentage of vacancies in medical provider positions. The 2010-2011 fiscal year contracts permit up to a 12% vacancy rate for unit-level provider positions: that is, physicians, nurses, and other allied medical health providers who work in the prison units. A 12% vacancy rate is not success; it should be considered unacceptable. More healthcare providers in prisons means fewer necessary high-cost hospital and specialist visits, and thus fewer transportation costs. It also means faster healthcare, better healthcare, and fewer expensive complications from simple, easily-treatable ailments. TDCJ should prioritize recruitment rather than accept by contract an insufficient number of providers.
Finally, the contract gives performance measures for what constitutes adequate and timely access to care that are ultimately too weak to improve the system. Prisoners who submit sick call requests must be “physically triaged,” or examined to evaluate the urgency of their complaints, within 48 hours (72 hours on weekends), and, if referred to a physician or other medical professional, must be seen by that professional within seven days of triage. Though these standards seem acceptable, the mandatory compliance rate is low enough to make these standards less meaningful: UTMB and Tech must comply with these standards only 80% of the time without penalty or additional monitoring. This means that for every five prisoners who submit sick call requests, one prisoner can go entirely without investigation of his or her complaint with no penalty to the medical providers. Since inmate self-monitoring is the primary TDCJ mechanism for identifying prisoner health problems, it is crucial that complaints are taken more seriously than this.
In addition, there are no standards for prompt treatment, only prompt evaluation of whether treatment is necessary. Even when a serious health complaint is observed, treatment of that complaint could be delayed indefinitely without the medical providers violating their contractual obligations. Monitoring of performance outcomes is a necessary addition to the contract and the only way to identify and address problems of the most important part of medical care: the success of medical treatment.
Moreover, the contract specifies no performance measures for access to care in emergency treatment for prisoners, only for cases in which a sick call request is submitted. A prisoner like David West, who collapses in the shower, obviously cannot submit a sick call request, but under current guidelines nobody is strictly accountable for failing to treat him.
In the end, aside from a rehearsal for possible future briefs in a federal civil rights suit, TCRP's report boils down to a plea to adequately fund prison healtlhcare during the budget crunch, reducing expenses if necessary not by by lowering quality of care but the number of inmates in the system, particularly those with high medical costs. It concludes with a sentiment I'd heartily endorse:
This legislative session, our leaders will face tough decisions. In a time when cuts to education and health care programs are likely, it will be extremely difficult politically to resist slashing prison health care budgets.I wasn't able to attend their press event, but Brandi Grissom at the Texas Trbune has initial coverage.
Fortunately, Texas can alleviate this serious problem by taking other, low cost, solutions. Parole non-violent offenders. Release the extremely ill on medically recommended intensive supervision. Closing a handful of prisons would both be politically easier than closing schools or hospitals, and help solve the prison health care crisis, without creating additional crime.
Times are tough now. But, if Texas is not careful, our prison system could end up in the same place as California’s: paying additional billions of dollars, under federal supervision, and being forced to release tens of thousands of prisoners. It’s time our legislators got “smart on crime,” not just “tough on crime.” | <urn:uuid:f292f10f-7104-4393-b01f-bb0dc955ff89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/02/texas-secret-death-penalty.html?showComment=1297558616124 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949866 | 1,652 | 1.765625 | 2 |
A margin call is issued by a broker to require a customer with a margin account to bring the funds in the account up to a minimum required amount to keep the brokerage safe from too large a loss.
Margin is the use of borrowed funds (borrowed from the broker) to invest in equities. This is leverage and can result in both great gains and horrible losses. A margin call is more toward the loss side than the gain side.
In allowing you to borrow money, the broker sets certain limits on how much the assets in your account must be worth. Those assets (e.g. the stocks in the account) are the collateral for the loan the broker is making to you. If the value drops below that limit, then the broker requires you to pay back enough of the margin (borrowed funds) to bring the value back up to that limit. This is a margin call. You must either deposit more cash into the account or sell parts or all of your holdings to generate enough cash to cover the margin call.
Danger, Will Robinson!
Of course, the reason the margin call happens is usually because the value of your holdings has declined, so the sale of those holdings usually comes at the worst possible time, after they've dropped in price. Oh, well. All the broker cares about is getting its borrowed money back. You must satisfy the call or the broker will sell the assets for you, without regard to the value or which individual ones, in order to recover its money.
To reiterate because this is a really important point: Be aware that notification of the margin call is a courtesy and not a requirement. Your broker can sell your securities without notifying you, getting your permission, or giving you time to put more money into your account.
Your brokerage will set the maintenance amount that must remain in your account, as a percentage of the total value of your securities. Since markets are volatile -- and the value of your investments could drop or rise significantly in a short period of time -- the maintenance amount could also drop or rise significantly in a short period of time.
Just because you're rich...
Owning a company or having a lot of money doesn't make you smart. There are several examples of people having to sell nearly everything to satisfy a margin call. One such is Aubrey McClendon, co-founder of Chesapeake Energy. It turns out that he was so confident in the future of his company that he borrowed heavily to buy even more shares of his company. When the stock price declined sharply in the latter half of 2008, he faced margin calls and ended up selling almost his entire position to satisfy them.
Related Fool Articles
- Fool.com: Fool FAQ - Margin
- When Margin Makes Sense
- Cash Account vs. Margin Account: What's the Difference?
- Should You Use Margin?
Recent Mentions on Fool.com
- Why Primero Is Poised to Bounce Back
- The First Cracks Appear in the Dow's Monster Bull Market
- The Biggest Threat to Your Portfolio
- Plan to Attend Chesapeake's Big Earnings Show
- Netflix Shorts Are Tough as Nails
- 10 Amazing Investment Quotes You've Probably Never Heard | <urn:uuid:b84a8ec6-446a-4842-9e11-32e1bce2864b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wiki.fool.com/Margin_call | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948847 | 664 | 1.851563 | 2 |
With fast internet, reliable technology and a strong dollar, Australians are increasingly shopping online, a topic that continues to dominate the news; especially in the context of international e-commerce sites trumping local retailers.
However, recent data from a Commonwealth Bank study points towards an emerging shift of Australian stores starting to gain back market share from international competitors.
The CBA study, created by retail analysts Andrew McLennan and Sam Teeger, reveals that domestic Australian retail now accounts for 60% of all sales, up from 55% last year. Ultimately, this means that not only are domestic retailers taking the larger percentage of all sales, they are also progressively increasing this market share.
Online domestic retail has grown 40% since last year, more than double that of international retail, which saw only a 17% increase in online sales growth.
CommSec's chief economist Craig James suggests the reason for this growth is that local suppliers are finally starting to satisfy the needs of Australian consumers. James believes this trend will "gain traction" over the next year, but is quick to point out that domestic retailers will need to work hard to keep these consumers long term.
The higher Australian dollar is making it more attractive to purchase goods directly from overseas. The conservative nature of Australian consumers and the ongoing shift to online spending will continue to hurt traditional retailers. Domestic store retailers will need to continue discounting in the current climate in order to entice customers.
It isn't just domestic retailers that are making headway in the latest round of data, the CBA study also shows traditional 'bricks and mortar' stores making a comeback against pure-play online retailers. How? By diversifying their channels and becoming multichannel.
It seems traditional retailers are increasingly understanding the need to have both a physical and online presence in order to succeed - and nearly all of the big players in retail have invested heavily in an attempt to enhance the shopping experience for their consumers. Myer, David Jones, Woolworthes, Coles: Consider most Australian retailers and the chances are that they have invested heavily in developing a greater online presence during the last twelve months.
This diversification into the online space, while still maintaining a traditional 'bricks and mortar store', seems to be working and James points to this being a positive sign for the future of retail.
This may be an early sign that the international trend of traditional 'bricks and mortar' retailers dominating the online channel is playing out in Australia. The online retail channel remains a significant issue for Australian retailers, but the latest trend suggests the local industry is finally adapting. This should be comforting for the many retailers who now have online as a strategic goal.
Overall, online retail growth in Australia is still increasing steadily as the market continues to mature. In the past year, 76% of Commonwealth Bank cardholders purchased from an online pure-play retailer at least once, which is up from 62% previously and the number of CBA customers consuming online also grew 25% in the same time.
It is clear that online shopping is only growing in popularity, so the question for the next twelve months is whether Australian 'bricks and mortar' retailers can maintain this fight for online market share?
[Image credit: danielbroche] | <urn:uuid:2e4cc811-3355-43e1-9957-0d1fdbff8a99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://econsultancy.com/ie/blog/10877-cba-australian-retailers-clawing-back-online-market-share | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946191 | 660 | 1.632813 | 2 |
When purchasing any kind of computer, most people would generally only be concerned about having a monitor and some sort of stand for their monitor. As long as you have the computer, monitor, and stand you should be good to go, right? What people sometimes do not even think to consider is that a monitor arm can be extremely beneficial to add to your new or existing computer setup. Many might speculate how much added advantage there is in purchasing a computer monitor arm which is why we can take a look at some of the benefits to help you decide if it is worth the investment.
Perhaps the most vital reason to have a computer monitor arm is the importance of working in an ergonomic environment. By working in an ergonomic environment every piece of equipment used, whether it be your office chair or in this case the monitor which you use, is tailored to be adjustable to fit the unique individual’s body. Monitor arms are specifically designed to easily adjust the height of your computer screen and can be brought closer or farther away from your face to find the optimum reading position. A good rule of thumb to correctly position your monitor is to make sure that the top of the viewable area of your display should be approximately at eye level, or in a position that is comfortable for you and does not cause you to strain your eyes in order to read what is on the screen. Ergonomic experts say that an arms length away is a good indication to a correct viewing distance, but this may vary from user to user. This type of movement and flexibility is impossible to achieve without the use of a monitor arm.
Another added benefit of monitor arms, is that they can be used by virtually anyone with any kind of computer. First and foremost, those with a desktop computer will always need to have purchased a monitor to begin with. But even lap
top users, like myself, can benefit from a monitor arm as well. A few months ago I found myself straining my eyes to read the tiny print on my 13” laptop monitor and knew I needed to find a solution before I compromised my vision. With the purchase of a large monitor and a monitor arm, I could easily attach the monitor through a port in my computer to make viewing text much less strenuous on my eyes. Increasingly workstations are shared between more than one user, especially for jobs that stay open all day with multiple shifts. If you share your station at work with another colleague, with a few simple movements the monitor can be easily adjusted to the height and depth suitable for that individual
Monitor arms are especially advantageous when trying to make room or save space on a desk. Most stands provided by manufacturers consume a lot of room on a desk, whereas an ergonomically designed monitor arm will typically clamp to the back of a desk or be attached directly to a slat-wall leaving the desk space completely clear. An office space or work place will look much less cluttered, more stylish, and more organized with the addition of a computer monitor arm. Some even come in stylish designer colors, such as white and silver, to further enhance the modern design.
In the long run, the monitor arm will not only add style and design to any work space, but it may also reduce work related injuries such as repetitive strain injury and chronic back pain if used ergonomically correct. Monitor arms are also built to withstand the test of time; generally if monitor arms are used 5 days a week for 8 hours a day you can expect it to last at the very least 5 years. While the move to a monitor arm may seem like a risk, the benefits vastly outweigh any disadvantages.
After making a flickr account today, I got the idea to take mass amounts of pictures of my workplace so everyone could see how Sitbetter operates and where us Sitbetter employees work everyday. So enjoy this short little picture tour I created and get to know us a little bit better!
What are ergonomic accessories, and how do we assess their value in an era when the “hot” term in the office is ergonomics? Everyone wants a piece of them, and everyone wants to charge a lot for them, but before you dive headfirst into “ergonomicafying” your office, let’s get a deeper understanding of what will and what can work for your work environment.
Ergonomic accessories can be classified into 3 general categories: Monitor Arms, Keyboard Trays, and Footrests. Some mice are included in this conversation, but only a few. Anything else is really an office accessory, including CPU holders, glare filters and task lights. While not disputing the fact that these office accessories are valuable, they are not focused at providing the same benefits to one’s body at work like the aforementioned 3 ergonomic categories.
Monitor arms became increasingly popular with the decrease in price of flat screen monitors – at first a tool for the hip, now a tool for comfort. Not only do they allow for more desk tabletop space by freeing up valuable real estate, but the true ergonomic benefit comes in the ability to position the monitor at the right height for the computer’s user. Ideally, the top of the monitor should be level to users line of sight – this dissuades slouching or leaning to read the screen. If you use two monitors, a dual monitor arm may be employed, and the second monitor should be aligned an arms length in front of you and to the right of the main monitor. If you have a laptop, you can still use a monitor arm – you’ll just need a monitor. By using a laptop tray, you can use your laptop monitor effectively without using a monitor arm.
What does “not slouching” do? Basically, your mother was right. (Funny how we always hear that as we grow older). The monitor arm prevents slouching, which means you are going to be in the optimal sitting position most of your work hours. Your back is going to be where it should be – leaning against the backrest. Why is leaning against the backrest good, aside from feeling good? Let’s look at the shape of the chair to the shape of your spine. Notice the S shape of your spine and how it rests against the S shaped backrest? Most ergonomic chairs will have such a shaped backrest, so leaning all the way back allows your back to appropriately meet the backrest.
Keyboard trays also encourage proper ergonomics by keeping your arms at an even level. This posture of your arms will reduce the strain on the wrists that is commonly associated with constant and repetitive typing. Keyboard Trays are becoming more popular and are usually a more commonly bought accessory – installation requires only a few screws and the benefits are immediate. There are many different types of keyboard trays – they all pretty much function the sames so quality is where the price differences arise.
So getting a keyboard tray is effective in relieving wrist related stress while typing, but like the monitor arm, it has a practical use as well – it frees up valuable desk space. While the paperless office has been attempted, lets face it, paper will always be around. Might as well have more room to spread your clutter!
You may be one of the many people that employ a laptop. As I write this from a laptop, I can tell you that having a laptop is no excuse to eschew ergonomics. There are utilities available to take advantage of a keyboard tray and monitor arm with a laptop, such as this nifty Laptop Docking Station (which is the one I use, by the way):
Lastly, the ergonomic footrests. What is the benefit of that? None if you don’t use it right. (Like anything). An ergonomic footrests is generally made for two purposes – one, to give users a place to rest their feet on high chairs or seating areas or two, as an accessory to encourage movement of the feet while sitting. This constant motion won’t burn many calories, but it will promote bloodflow, which in turn reduces fatigue. And that’s always nice. They even have some with massage balls – so you can get a nice massage in the workplace, provided your feet don’t, well, smell.
The idea behind ergonomic accessories is to add overall comfort to the user’s workplace atmosphere, and that is a goal that is not to be overlooked nor understated. The modern work lifestyle has evolved to the point where these items are not a luxury anymore- with people spending more and more time on a computer and on the Internet these days, being comfortable for a prolonged period of time is critical to overall well being.
Just think of how many hours a day you’d spend working in front of your computer, slouching forward and trying to make sense of the small text on the screen. (Make the font bigger, if you keep squinting!) A good monitor arm/keyboard tray/footrest combo will quickly and, if chosen right, inexpensively make your or your employees work days more efficient and better over the long run. All of the accessories sold at Sitbetter are quality items – nothing that will fail within a week or even a year, and if it does, it is a good thing you bought it here, because we have your back. It’s ok to drink our ergonomic kool-aid – we do.
So, you’ve finally decided to get with the 21st century and set up an ergonomic office! You might only have a few dozen questions or so on how to do it, why go to all that expense and where to go, etc, etc, etc!
Some great questions, because setting up an ergonomic office can not only be confusing, but expensive, so do it right the first time, not guessing about how to go about it and spending far too much on the wrong products!
I googled ergonomics, and I came across a particular ‘ergonomic’ e-tailer who was passing a chair like this one off as an ergonomic chair! Now, don’t get me wrong, this might be a perfectly great chair, but an ergonomic office chair?…. Not a chance!
So then you start looking around, and discounting the chairs which likely are not ergonomic office chairs, you start to see the price tags and the coughing, hacking and spasming starts!
After you wake up, drag yourself up onto your chair and sip some water…. let me explain to you just why it makes economic sense to set your employees up with as good of ergonomic office chairs and accessories as you can….
A recent study shows that the average employee, when outfitted properly with a sensible ergonomic office, chair, accessories and everything, is going to be 10-15% more productive.
Imagine that, figure if that employee is paid 40K a year, and gets even 5 % more productive…… (does math in head….. grrrr, not coming….. )…. carry the two…. ohhh forget it (grabs calculator)…. That’s 2000 more a year in productivity!
So figure, if a chair costs $800, keyboard tray, monitor arm, footrest and light another $600 or so…. (grabs calculator again…)… that setup pays for itself in 8 months! Or 4 months if you go with the 10 percent!
Quite simply, putting together an ergonomic office makes great business sense!
So how to do it? Well, you don’t have to take my word on it, you can look at Cornell University’s ergonomic website and see what they recommend. In short, however, a good chair, monitor arm, keyboard tray, footrest and task light. I’ll recommend the Freedom Chair as a great high-quality ergonomic office chair, and Humanscale’s keyboard tray, monitor arm and footrests are very good and quality pieces as well.
So, who to buy from?
Find someone who knows what the heck they’re talking about!
If their idea of an ergonomic office chair is like the one about…. ummm not likely a great place to shop!
Of course I recommend SitBetter.com, but heck, I’m biased!
(My apologies to all the simians out there who actually sit right!)
I do try to keep saying- there are other things to consider before purchasing an ergonomic chair, in fact you can buy the most expensive ergonomic office chair in the world, and if you don’t sit in it properly, it might just as well be a very expensive rock!….
Today, it will be monitor arms.
With todays flatscreen monitors, people found they have all sorts of new real estate on their desks, and despite the recent decline in real estate values, the sort that’s on top of your desk will always be in short supply!
Soooo, they take the monitor, put it allll the way to the back of the desk, put the keyboard right in front of it, and end up having to lean out of the chair just to see the monitor!
Remember that rock from yesterday? Yep, for all the good any chair is going to do you….
Try getting a monitor arm, they really do work.
Now some are better than others, granted, but frankly, any of them is better than none!
I use, here at work, a humanscale M4 monitor arm, (another crass commercial ad: Available at SitBetter.com!) and frankly, I love it! It gives me tons of desk space, it’s very stable and it’s highly adjustable.
I can put paperwork underneath it, swing it out of the way when I want to, and bring the screen up close when I need to use it (fine fine fine, I’m always on the computer so it’s always right there!).
In other words, monitor arms are great space AND back savers. | <urn:uuid:3e00324d-acf5-4cc6-99db-866a8ff065b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sitbetter.com/blog/tag/monitor-arms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949382 | 2,898 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Networking Tool Gives Students "UCAN" Succeed Job Advice
18, 1999 -- As University of Virginia students ponder
if they'll succeed in the working world, U.Va. officials have a
helpful piece of advice: UCAN.
can gain tips on job search strategies, career paths or internships
through UCAN, the University Career Assistance Network, which lists
approximately 15,000 alumni willing to offer their time and advice.
The database offers networking possibilities in careers and cities
across the country.
75 percent of all jobs are gained through networking," notes Cindy
D. Garver, associate director of U.Va.'s Alumni Association. "UCAN
is a networking tool that gives students information about industries,
companies and careers from people with common experiences and education
the volunteer career mentors, students can gain advice on more than
55 fields ranging from advertising and public relations to research
and development. Launched this fall by U.Va.'s Alumni Association,
UCAN has become a popular free service.
are finding it is particularly good to use UCAN prior to a job interview
with a corporate recruiter," Garver said. "Through the mentors students
can gain knowledge about what's happening in a field or sometimes,
a particular company."
UCAN is not a job placement or internship service, the mentors sometimes
offer to review r*sum*s or provide employment referrals. They enjoy
having the opportunity to offer advice and encouragement, Garver
allows alumni to give something back to the University -- at virtually
no cost to them -- and students gain information that is timely
and useful -- at no cost to them," Garver said.
can search the database in numerous ways, including class year,
U.Va. school, employer, industry or occupation. The information,
which is stored on a server, is also searchable by states and many
database allowed me to search by profession type and in a few minutes,
I was presented with a list of about 40 alumni who have agreed to
give career support," said Jonathan MORE 2 Muhlendorf, a fourth-year
student interested in a financial planning career.
what U.Va. officials say is an unusually large alumni database for
a public university, UCAN is also becoming a popular networking
tool among graduates. Graduates phone their requests for career
contacts to the Alumni Association, which sends them the information
at no charge.
help students and alumni know how to use the information they gain,
UCAN users are given tips on the best ways to contact the mentors.
Tips include a sample request for scheduling an informational interview.
tips suggest that UCAN users prepare for the interview by compiling
a list of open ended questions that will stimulate discussion. Such
questions include: "What degrees or credentials are required for
entry into this work?", "What types of prior experiences are essential?",
and "Can you suggest specific internships that might offer appropriate
can access the UCAN information in U.Va.'s Office of Career Planning
and Placement (OCPP) or at the Alumni Association.
help students become comfortable with the networking opportunities
available through UCAN, the Alumni Association and OCPP are holding
sessions where graduates and students meet to talk about a designated
career field. OCPP and the Alumni Association are also piloting
a program to give students practice in developing their networking
students can network appropriately, alumni will feel comfortable
giving them professional referrals," Garver said.
on the database was collected by sending a survey to alumni in October
1997. The Parents Program, a volunteer organization of parents who
raise money to improve the University experience of students, helped
underwrite the cost of contacting alumni career volunteers.
Cindy Garver, (804) 971-9721 or firstname.lastname@example.org, or Elly Tucker
in OCPP at (804) 924-6376 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:637085fe-8fb8-46ff-bb68-41e009edb1c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases/ucan-jan-18-1999.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937231 | 850 | 1.765625 | 2 |
by Rick Lazio.
Sometime late this afternoon the two co-chairs of the Congressional Super Committee, charged with coming up with $1.5 trillion in federal government deficit reduction, will announce that they are hopelessly deadlocked and are unable to come to an agreement. This announcement will be anti-climatic because for days the messages being sent by members of that committee have been pessimistic. The Super Committee failure is a significant disappointment. It was created as a way to get the hyper partisan Congress – and President – to do what they couldn’t do on their own. The process was compelling: anything reported out of the Super Committee would head for the floor of the House and Senate. No amendments would be permitted; only a simple up or down vote. Therefore, the bill would be protected from unraveling on the floor of either congressional chamber by irresponsible amendments that would make for good political theatre, but would poison the potential for a good outcome. The process was further advantaged by being protected by filibuster and other procedural obstacles. Instead of needing 60 votes in the Senate, only a simple majority would need to vote for the budget bill to be approved.
No doubt a subset of the 12 member Super Committee worked very hard to find an agreement. But without the President showing flexibility and bipartisanship, there was insufficient political cover to find common ground. In a sense, this shouldn’t be a shock. After all, the Super Committee members were selected by the same congressional leaders who themselves were unable to forge a budget agreement. Many of the House and Senate members who were selected were appointed because they represented the brand of partisanship of their larger caucuses. Reid, Pelosi, Boehner and McConnell refused to take the chance that a compromise would be offered which would put them in a position of using their own political capital to persuade reluctant members of their party to support it or accept the possibility that the need for partisan orthodoxy would result in a split party on a final vote.
The Super Committee failure, without doubt, is about the pall of political polarization and distrust which hangs over our federal government. Sadly, this reflects the mood in the larger body politic. But agreement was always going to be tough. The political battle lines are drawn over this fundamental fact: revenues are less and spending is more than the post WWII averages. For a few years, when I was in Congress, revenues grew and spending was restrained to the point where the federal government had several years of budget surpluses. The idea of surplus now seems positively quaint. But we were in surplus as recently as ten years ago. Then came September 11th. Spending began to quickly climb. Some of that spending was a result of national security needs, but much was because of the Medicare prescription benefit entitlement and other new domestic spending that was not offset with additional revenue. In fact, the economy went into shock because of the fear of terrorism and later the credit crisis; federal tax revenues fell. Under the Obama years, spending has skyrocketed. Low tax revenues resulting from a weak economy, coupled with a steep increase in new federal spending, has meant that budget deficits of more than one trillion dollars a year have been the norm since President Obama took office.
The postwar average of federal spending has been about 20% of GDP. The average revenues have come in at about 18% of GDP. The difference or 2% of GDP has been made up with borrowing. Now the spending is over 24% of GDP, a massive increase even on a relative basis. Interest payments on the debt, and entitlements that are growing at twice the rate of the broader economy, will make this spending challenge much worse. Federal revenue is now about 16% of GDP. Again, this is a historical low. The difference between the 24% of GDP being spent and the 16% of GDP that is being raised is what is causing this massive debt problem.
Some argue that the so-called Bush tax cuts caused the drop in federal revenues. But this is not true. The very same tax policies resulted in revenues of about 18% of GDP during the Bush years. The revenue shortfall is a result of inadequate economic expansion. At less than 2% growth , the economy isn’t adding jobs fast enough to reduce the unemployment rate. Historically, we should be growing much more quickly than we are. The average of the ten postwar recoveries was twice what we now have. And the deeper the recession, the sharper the recovery. If we had been growing at about the average rate of the last ten recoveries we would have added almost 12 million more jobs.
Republicans therefore don’t want to increase taxes because they believe that higher taxes will create even more drag on economic growth and job creation. Democrats, looking at growing disparity in wealth and income, don’t want to change the federal government safety net.
The answer is that entitlement spending must be restrained or the problem that the economies of southern Europe are now facing will visit our shores. With entitlements growing at twice the rate of the national economy, which is a proxy for tax revenues, the inevitability of financial crisis is incontestable. It’s also true that growth will be effected by tax policy.
But the stalemate in Washington is contributing to the economic uncertainty which also effects growth. What is needed is an agreement where both sides do a little of what they would rather not do to show the nation that we can make progress on the greatest economic threat this nation has faced in 80 years. This doesn’t mean that either side forfeits its ability to revisit those parts of an agreement that they don’t like at some later point. But the composition of the federal government requires some reasonableness if we are to reassure the people that we have a functioning government, which is as important as the political goals of both political parties. In the end, however, it’s more likely that the voters will solve this problem at the ballot box next November. We need a healthy and civil public debate and the people will need to decide what kind of America we will leave our children. | <urn:uuid:c011dceb-4962-4c9c-a5fa-6756363cf12e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ignitewithricklazio.com/post/13119514808/super-committee-stumbles-bring-in-the-voters | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978376 | 1,236 | 1.507813 | 2 |
European support to farm incomes has decreased substantially over the past 20 years, according to this report. Farmers earned 22% of total annual receipts from government support over the 2008-10 period, down from 39% annually over the 1986-88 period.
The decline is due to many factors, including high commodity prices, which automatically push down income support, as well as 25 years of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform outlined in the report.
» Read the full report online
» Briefing note: The EU Common Agricultural Policy post-2013 (pdf, 4 pages, 145 KB)
Despite the decline, CAP expenditures nonetheless comprised close to 45% of the total EU expenditures in 2010, or about EUR 53 billion. Overall farm support reached EUR 77 billion in 2010, as measured by the OECD’s Producer Support Estimate, which includes direct payments to farmers as well as the impacts of government policies on prices.
This report provides an overview of the main characteristics and structure of the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its developments in the last 25 years. It analyses the impacts of policy changes on production, trade, land use, farm structure, the environment and some aspects of rural development.
Recommendations of this report
The recommendations in this report for future EU agricultural policy reform include:
- Remove remaining impediments to the functioning of input and output markets; in particular more open access to the EU market, and transparent EU-wide markets for the sale and lease of land, production quotas and payment entitlements.
- Increase investment in agricultural innovation.
- Introduce an effective and comprehensive framework for risk management at EU level, though policymakers should steer clear of impeding areas where private sector solutions exist, such as production contracts, insurance and futures contracts.
- Make targeted efforts to improve the environmental performance of agriculture, including direct payments to farmers, when necessary, for provision of environmental goods and services.
Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2011: OECD Countries and Emerging Economies
Disaggregated Impacts of CAP Reforms: Proceedings of an OECD Workshop | <urn:uuid:79e1e110-7e7a-4901-ad4e-a5abd3c8ec74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oecd.org/agriculture/agricultural-policies/evaluationofagriculturalpolicyreformsintheeuropeanunion.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915919 | 420 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Cataracts: Your Evaluation
An evaluation will help your eye doctor learn more about vision problems you're having and whether cataracts are the cause. This evaluation includes a medical history, vision tests, and an eye exam. What the doctor learns will help him or her determine the best treatment options for you.
You will be asked questions about your vision and any other eye problems you may have. Your eye doctor will also ask about health problems, such as diabetes. Be sure to mention if you are taking any medications, supplements, or herbal remedies.
Your eye doctor will perform several tests to check your vision. This includes using an eye chart, and testing your vision under different lighting. If you wear eyeglasses or contact lenses, bring them to the exam. This lets your eye doctor check the prescription.
An Eye Exam
During an eye exam, the doctor uses a slit lamp and an ophthalmoscope to look inside your eye. In most cases, eyedrops are used to dilate (widen) your pupils before the exam.
Discussing Treatment Options
After an eye exam, you and your eye doctor will discuss treatment options. A new eyeglass or contact lens prescription may improve your vision for a while. But surgery is the only way to remove a cataract and replace your cloudy lens. If your cataract isn’t keeping you from daily activities, you may wait to have it removed. Together you and your eye doctor will decide what’s best for you.
Measuring the Eye
If you decide to have cataract surgery, the length and front curvature of your eyeball will be measured. This information helps your doctor choose a new lens to replace your cloudy lens. Measurement is done with special tools that may include an A-Scan, laser inferometry, or a keratometer. | <urn:uuid:765da681-f88e-47fc-9295-39f8daf3bbd9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fairview.org/HealthLibrary/Article/85461 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902191 | 381 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Nothing makes me happier than to read about individuals, volunteer groups and businesses helping others in need - especially helping with laundry. Laundry isn't a very sexy cause but having clean clothes and linens can boost your spirits when everything else is out of control.
I'm sure you are aware of P&G's Tide Loads of Hope that bring tractor trailers of washers and dryers and detergent to natural disasters to help. But there are many, many other groups that also serve. Take a look a laundry in Queens Village that is still helping those suffering after Hurricane Sandy. Or, the Faultless Linen Service that washes blankets and sheets for the homeless shelters in their area. And finally, the group in Chippewa Falls that gathers diapers and laundry detergent for those in need.
What can you do today?
Image: Dixie Allan, About.com Clip Art | <urn:uuid:91e3b3bf-3ba9-4d41-aeac-efd8bce367b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://laundry.about.com/b/2013/02/06/random-acts-of-laundry-kindness.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949209 | 182 | 1.578125 | 2 |
One afternoon early in my career, I was in my office when I noticed one of my direct reports coming back from lunch around 2:30 p.m. As I approached, I noticed he had been to the barber. I asked if he was just coming back from lunch and the barber shop. He responded in the affirmative. I looked at him quizzically, hesitated, frowned—then raised my eyebrows and said. “You got your hair cut on company time?”
One afternoon early in my career, I was in my office when I noticed one of my direct reports coming back from lunch around 2:30 p.m. As I approached, I noticed he had been to the barber. I asked if he was just coming back from lunch and the barber shop. He responded in the affirmative. I looked at him quizzically, hesitated, frowned—then raised my eyebrows and said. “You got your hair cut on company time?” Without missing a beat he responded, “Well, my hair grows on company time!” Hmmm. Ever since I have given a lot of thought to the question, what is office time? Common business practice usually dictates an eight-hour work day and an hour for lunch. Some firms choose four 10-hour days. Some firms work half-day Fridays and so forth. Knowing architects’ capacity for work, most “involved” employees usually spend quite a bit of time beyond regular hours AND weekends to complete or improve upon their work.
Yes, it’s true; most architects are workaholics. Most end up in very real terms making about $5 an hour (only a slight exaggeration) when their hours are divided into their salary! Because of the many hours logged some individuals feel justified in liberalizing normal office hours. Agreed. Take the time you need for personal things or just to rest. But keep in mind four important guidelines.
1. There is not necessarily a one-to-one ratio of compensation time; i.e., every hour of overtime a person labors translates into an hour off. Reality, however, is more like a half-hour for every extra hour worked. Architectural firms are not “punch-your-timecard” organizations. Most employees are salaried and interested in the success of the business and therefore give freely of their time. Hence there is seldom a one-to-one payback ratio even if that’s the official policy. Architects by nature tend to give their time lagniappe, which often leads to broad definitions of the workday.
2. Any compensatory time given for working excessive hours should be used within two weeks. This is because memory is short; time gets exaggerated. The next project comes along and so forth and all is forgotten.
3. The employee must clearly notify the office of upcoming time off—e.g., “I will be taking this Friday afternoon off. I worked last Saturday and part of Sunday. I can be reached on my cell or at home.” Recognize, however, that the world doesn’t stop because you are taking Friday afternoon off, therefore let people know where you can be reached.
4. Be liberal in your approval of such circumstances, even if the payback ratio is closer to one-to-one. Those who receive generosity almost always go the extra mile when called upon.
Our world is so overwhelming it’s amazing we get anything done. Cable guys give you a five-hour window. Can you imagine telling a client, “We’ll be there for our presentation between noon and 5 p.m.”? How can anyone give half a day to the phone guy or the furniture delivery guy? But you have no choice. Mortgage companies want notarized documents FedExed today. Well, I guess this also means you’ll need a notary. Your mechanic closes shop at 6 p.m., but he’s an hour and half away at rush hour, so you have to leave at 4 p.m. to make sure you get your car. Your tax guy is booked through April 15 so you can’t cancel—you have to go at your prearranged time! Your proctologist is overbooked, so your appointment takes twice as long! This is life. Your firm should allow you that life without guilt. If you really do office emails at 5:30 a.m. from home—that counts. If you were out to dinner until 11 p.m. with a client (not necessarily fun), that does too. While at home the next morning you need to collect your thoughts, check your home mail from the day before, communicate with your spouse, partner, kids, etc., and come in late. Just call in within 10 minutes of starting time and let the office know. If your office can’t deal with life, they are probably not very good architects, and you don’t want to work there. One exception is when you’ve worked until 11 p.m., but you have an 8 a.m. meeting. Don’t miss that meeting; come in late later in the week. All employees should feel comfortable about the time required to deal with their personal matters, but this begins with the attitude of the leader. Flexibility combined with responsibility on everyone’s part. Once upon office time, we should all live happily ever after.
The boss needs to call in too! It’s 20 minutes after eight. The office phones have been ringing since 7:45 a.m. A few people are meandering down the hall to get coffee. A few more are exchanging greetings just off the elevator lobby. The boss’s office is dark. The receptionist is still trying to boot up the built-in reception computer. The engineers have been at their desks since 7:30 a.m. The guys with projects in the construction administration phase are already on the phone. Not a single designer has shown up. Two people call in with the flu. Another calls in late to say he forgot about a parent/teacher conference, he won’t be in until 11 a.m. The designers have arrived, but it’s now 9 a.m. and still no word from the boss. Already, one client has called asking for him. A colleague has called to confirm lunch. Two people in the office need to see him right away. Another client calls. Everyone is
working. No boss! The receptionist
doesn’t know what to tell people. She feels guilty that she can’t give an appropriate response to callers. And everyone sees that the boss’ office is still dark at 9:30 a.m. They wonder if the boss passed away in the night!
We all like to think that age, experience, title, and money bring certain privileges. They do! But not calling in is not one of them. It doesn’t matter that you built this business, and you have been at a 6:30 a.m. breakfast meeting that went long. Or that you’ve been at home doing office email since 5:30 a.m. Or you had a colonoscopy scheduled this morning. It doesn’t matter.
YOU MUST CALL IN AND TELL PEOPLE WHERE YOU ARE, how you can be reached, and when you expect to be in—all within 10 minutes of your firm’s opening. No one really cares why you’re late, but a professional business needs to be able to respond with confidence as to your absence. Just picture your receptionist saying to a prospective client, “Oh, Mr. Big, I haven’t seen him today. I don’t know where he is. No, I don’t know when he’ll be here. Ten other people have called for him too. I’ll put you down as number 11! You know he had a reception last night. He could be hung over! That guy, he can really put ‘em down! Last time it happened his wife nearly divorced him! I wouldn’t blame her! Did he tell you about his colonoscopy?” Just what you want your receptionist telling a client!
The 10-minute rule applies to everyone, not just the boss. Make it clear that everyone needs to call in if they are not going to be in on their normal schedule. Remember, it is often your lowest-paid, least-educated person dealing with these absences. Train that person on how to gracefully handle these situations. But first, train thyself!
Dye is the principal in charge of the Stubbins Associates’ Las Vegas office. He is the former head of Disney Imagineering and former board member of the DFC. His new book is Five Potatoes: Things are as clear as Vichyssoise! Humor, Hubris, Humility and one Human’s Huge Hallucinations from un Homme de Terre!
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- BBC News - Climate change 'spurred modern human behaviour' http://t.co/pABYCHv51n@dinet May 22 14:11 pm
- Architecture Billings Shrink for First Time in 9 Months - Architect Magazine http://t.co/1b3pU3mHgT@dinet May 22 12:55 pm
- Architect Peter Marino named one of Fast Co's Most Creative People 2013 - Congrats! http://t.co/Tkz3vmJ4em@dinet May 22 11:46 am | <urn:uuid:00796266-3a79-4280-8eb3-643fe32a9c91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.di.net/articles/8-to-5-office-time-no-longer-applies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967921 | 2,072 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Globe University Medical Assistant Students Service Learning event at YMCA 2012
Students gain hands-on experience by taking vital signs of local citizens
Medical assisting students at Globe University-Woodbury campus take the classroom into the community by traveling to the local YMCA to take complete vital signs of citizens ranging of all ages. Working with members of the community helps students gain hands-on experience while learning how to communicate effectively with patients by reading both their verbal and non-verbal signs.
“This service-learning project is helpful because it allows me to step out of my comfort zone and learn how to work with real patients,” said Jerry Cassidy, Globe University-Woodbury medical assistant student.
The students also used Glo Germ™ to demonstrate germ communication by having community members rub Glo Germ on their hands and use a black light to illustrate how many germs are actually there. A student commented on how many people were in shock with how many germs were on their hands.
“The YMCA enjoyed hosting the Globe University Students. The students were personable and professional in their interactions with our members,” said YMCA Membership and Marketing Director, Heidi Bardwell. “Our members enjoyed having the services available and felt that it was an added value to their day. Heidi noted that she would be happy to partner with Globe University again in the near
Service and applied-learning is an initiative that has been developed in the past year to ensure that our students are giving back to the community while applying the skills they learn in the classroom to further their career training. Medical assisting student, Robyn Monson explains that service-learning helps her learn how to interact with the community members of diverse ages, cultures and genders while gaining the hands-on experience she needs to be successful in her career field.
To learn more about Globe University’s service and applied learning click here to read about what other programs and campuses are doing to give back to their communities. | <urn:uuid:33cd19c6-74a1-4756-ad06-5ae1dc39f8a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://woodbury.patch.com/announcements/globe-university-medical-assistant-students-service-learning-event-at-ymca-2012-60cd3cf6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974624 | 404 | 2 | 2 |
WAXAHACHIE (CBSDFW.COM) - In the month since the Magnablend chemical plant in Waxahachie burned, fire chief David Hudgins has suffered sleepless nights. It’s not because of the damage that was done, but what almost happened.
It was spectacular as fires go. A dark column of smoke rising into the crystal blue sky. Explosions sending balls of orange flames into the air. Then the aerial images of flames pouring out of the building, engulfing a fire truck as fire fighters scampered away.
The story fire chief David Hudgins tells is jolting. From an outside assessment, Hudgins knew the fire inside the magnablend plant was bad. But neither he nor any of the firefighters knew of a danger that was hidden inside. Huge vats called totes were filled with mineral oil. Hudgins says they were no match for the fire.
But here’s what the hidden danger was. As thousands of gallons of water poured into the building, it mixed with the mineral oil. The oil caught fire and began speeding the length of the building toward crews that thought they were a safe distance away.
The Ennis Fire Department had set up a cherry picker bucket. Two men were high off the ground in the bucket, still unaware of the stream of flames gushing their way. That’s when a fire safety officer happened to look inside the building. He gave a life-saving warning from his command position a quarter mile away, Hudgins had no idea how close the men had come to death.
KRLD’s L. P. Phillips Reports: | <urn:uuid:427a53cc-0bff-413e-b137-2dd410340227> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/11/07/fire-chief-recalls-dangers-at-waxahachie-chemical-plant/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973605 | 338 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Learning and Assessment Service
The Learning and Assessment Service (LAS) works with schools on a range of CPD support covering curriculum, assessment and leadership and management.LAS is also commissioned by the Local Authority to fulfill some aspects of its statutory duty including assessment, RE and SACRE, and NQT provision and support. We are working with national bodies such as NCSL and HTI to deliver leadership programmes and support.
Our current work includes:
- A range of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for all schools in Birmingham – bespoke programmes e.g. moderation / middle leader support, training courses and in-school CPD.
- Providing city wide programmes that are proven to be successful to develop the quality of teaching in specific areas of the curriculum such as Every Child Counts, phonics training for teachers, and briefings and forums for leaders on various aspects such as assessment and curriculum.
- Managing the statutory assessment duty in relation to EYFS, KS1 and KS2 on behalf of LA ( including moderation processes).
- Providing advice and support to schools in relation to Health and safety regulations in the context of PE and sport on behalf of Local Authority.
- Managing the support and monitoring requirement for Birmingham NQTs as part of the Local Authority ‘appropriate body’ status.
- Working with national organizations such as NCSL to lead and manage support programmes for school leaders in the city.
- Working with consortia and networks of schools on bespoke CPD with clearly defined outcomes.
New work streams will include:
- Supporting schools in the implementation of new national curriculum EYFS through to KS3 and KS4.
- Supporting groups of schools to develop inter-school moderation processes.
- Supporting schools in the implementation of new national assessments for KS2 and EYFS .
- Development of lead practitioner Quality Assurance process.
- Development of digital film resource – Reellearning.
- Partnership working with HTI, Prospect and Tribal.
Contact for Business Enquiries:
Telephone: 0121 303 8188 | <urn:uuid:740a6787-a774-4917-b7ed-5be6d32427ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Schools%2FPageLayout&cid=1223379705589&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper&rendermode=liveNmp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933679 | 430 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Unity Health Care
A Unity Health Care patient gets his ears checked.
A Unity Health Care patient gets his ears checked. Unity Health Care
Dr. Ilse Levin specializes in internal medicine, but you could say she really focuses on incarceration medicine.
Levin works at a community health center in Southeast Washington, D.C., that pays a lot of attention to treating people often left out of health care: newly released prisoners.
"I have patients who've been locked up for 40 years," Levin says. "They have no idea how to get refills, how to go to a pharmacy. Often, they don't know how to take their own medications, especially things like insulin."
When prisoners get out, they often don't have jobs and, therefore, don't have health coverage. The insurance piece could be changing soon, though.
The eligibility requirements for Medicaid are expanding in 2014 as a part of the health overhaul law. Right now, Medicaid in most states is mainly targeted toward children, families and the disabled. After the Medicaid expansion goes into effect, single adults who meet income requirements will be eligible, even if they don't have kids.
Some states and the District of Columbia have gotten a head start and rolled out the Medicaid expansion early. That means Levin can get reimbursed for the care she provides to patients like Keith Snowden, a D.C. resident who got out of prison last year.
Snowden had been dealing with uncontrolled high blood pressure for years, even before he went to prison in 2009 for selling stolen cars and counterfeit IDs. At his first post-prison visit to Levin's clinic, his blood pressure was off the charts.
"The hospital was right next door. They wouldn't let me walk next door," Snowden recalls. "I had to have the ambulance come pick me up. It was that bad."
Snowden says he had been taking blood pressure drugs for years to no effect. Levin conducted a barrage of tests and eventually discovered the culprit: a tumor weighing on his adrenal gland. Snowden had it surgically removed recently; now his blood pressure is back on the charts.
"It took the free doctor for me to go and figure out my problem," Snowden says. "I really owe my life to her for being so diligent and trying to figure this out."
Calling Levin a "free doctor" isn't entirely accurate. Her clinic is a federally qualified community health center run by the charitable non-profit Unity Health Care. Doctors and other caregivers there treat patients regardless of their ability to pay, but the kind of life-saving care Levin provided to Snowden costs money.
Levin says it's much easier to provide appropriate care now that Washington has moved forward with the health law's Medicaid expansion, allowing her patients to get health insurance.
"Now, everyone gets Medicaid," she says. "And suddenly I can get them their medications, I can get them to see a specialist, I can get the studies done. And it is amazing. It's completely changed my practice."
Not everyone getting out of prison will be eligible for Medicaid, however. The governors of at least half a dozen states say they won't participate in the Medicaid expansion because it's too expensive. | <urn:uuid:b5a03332-f92c-40b6-93c7-ada54b5823fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/09/17/160747534/medicaid-helps-washington-d-c-clinic-care-for-ex-prisoners?ft=1&f=1001 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980415 | 655 | 1.609375 | 2 |
- Assembly Panel Clears 10-Bill Package to Improve Internet Safety
- Beach, Greenwald, and Lampitt Urge Residents to Apply for ‘Senior Freeze’ Program for Property Tax Relief
- Assembly Bills to Update, Improve New Jersey’s Corporate Business Rules Now Law
- Assemblywoman Lampitt discusses her legislation to encourage in-state "green" technology manufacturing
SENATE PANEL CLEARS SCHAER/LAMPITT/COUTINHO BILL TO TEACH KIDS FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Legislation Would Create Pilot Program To Educate High Schoolers
On Sound Financial Practices
(TRENTON) – Legislation Assembly members Gary S. Schaer, Pamela R. Lampitt, and Albert Coutinho sponsored to initiate a pilot program to educate high school students on personal finance management so they can avoid irresponsible spending habits that lead to excessive personal debt and bankruptcy was released today by the Senate Education Committee.
“Too many young people have taken an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude to their personal finances, setting themselves up for financial hardship before they even get their college degree,” said Schaer (D-Passaic/Bergen/Essex), a professional financial advisor.
“We must do a better job of preparing students to be financially responsible adults.”
A 2005 analysis of credit card debt by student-loan provider Nellie Mae found the average college freshman carried a credit card balance of $1,585. That debt load ballooned to an average of $2,864 for college seniors.
LAMPITT/DeANGELO BILL PROMOTING NJ-BASED
SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY BUSINESSES ADVANCES
Bill Designed to Promote Clean, Energy;
Is Among Many Pushed by Assembly to Promote Alternative Energy
(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by Assemblywoman Pamela R. Lampitt and Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo to promote New Jersey’s solar and wind energy businesses was released today by an Assembly committee.
The bill (A-3616) would grant a preference to New Jersey businesses in the awarding of state contracts for solar panels, wind turbines and other solar and wind energy devices further supporting “green” businesses and jobs in the state.
It also would support projects that aim to use a majority of parts manufactured or produced in the state for the assembly of a final product.
The lawmakers noted a study by the Center for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts estimated New Jersey could create more than 57,000 jobs through investments in alternative energies.
“Investing in ‘green jobs’ not only will help bolster New Jersey’s reputation as home to cutting-edge technology companies, but will produce good-paying jobs for our world-class workforce during this economic crisis,” said Lampitt (D-Camden). “Creating and promoting new opportunities for investment will pay-off huge for New Jersey and its residents for years to come.”
Assemblywoman Lampitt talks about Governor Corzine signing her bill to allow local governments to create “green” jobs and save t
Assemblywoman Lampitt talks about Governor Corzine signing her bill to allow local governments to create “green” jobs and save tax dollars through energy efficiency projects
December 31, 2008
By Pamela Lampitt
In just a few years, NJ STARS has been wildly successful — almost too much so.
Over the past decade, New Jersey has faced a real problem — "brain drain." Many of our top students, the cream of our academic crop, have been leaving the state in droves, deciding to attend colleges in neighboring Pennsylvania, Delaware or New York, if not even farther out of state.
The Garden State was left with two choices: act, or watch even more students put down roots in other states.
It was with this problem in mind that the Legislature established the NJ STARS program.
Created in 2004, NJ STARS gives our best and brightest students merit scholarships to cover tuition at New Jersey's county colleges, with the opportunity to work toward a bachelor's degree from one of the state's four-year public colleges if they continue to achieve academically.
Top 20 percent
Currently, students must rank in the top 20 percent of their high school class and maintain a 3.0 grade point average throughout their college studies to be eligible for a STARS scholarship. This truly is an opportunity-focused program, with merit-based aid to students kicking in only after a student has exhausted all options for need-based aid.
December 30, 2008
By Courier Post Staff
A bill that would require state reports to be filed electronically, instead of being printed, has advanced in the state Legislature, a South Jersey assemblywoman said Monday.
The measure, recently approved by the Assembly, has been referred to a Senate committee for consideration, according to Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt, D-Camden, a co-sponsor.
"It's astonishing that in the age of electronic communications the state remains mired in a paper-and-ink mentality," Lampitt said in a statement. "The savings on postage alone could make this change pay for itself."
The measure would affect all periodic reports required by law to be presented to the governor or the Legislature. | <urn:uuid:609f2d49-217a-4037-a426-5cd4c10078fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kenncomm.net/lampitt/blog?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936829 | 1,110 | 1.828125 | 2 |
She loves to ride the elevator, which she calls “the alligator.”
We have a bath towel with a little hood on it. These are common silly middle class things: you wrap the child in a hood and she looks like an animal. I put the elephant towel on her the other night and suddenly she was reciting a little poem I’d never heard, complete with hand gestures:
The elephant goes like this and like that.I wish I could describe how it came pouring out of her. It wasn’t fast; her concentration was intense, but she was possessed with the need to recite the whole thing, pausing, utterly still, to recollect the next word. When she was done, she didn’t even look at me for praise. She just looked down, clearly amazed and deeply proud that she had done it. I waited, burst into applause, and she beamed.
He’s very tall and very fat.
He has no fingers, but he sure has toes.
And, goodness gracious! What a nose!
Last night, reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, she was deeply skeptical of the blue horse: “Horses can be white or brown or gray or black. But not blue, right?” Then, the second time through, she noticed a second oddity: “Birds don’t be red!”
Oh yes, they be, honey. Yes, they be. | <urn:uuid:9c8f1dea-613a-4d8d-9201-317bcfb51c53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fernham.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97496 | 311 | 1.617188 | 2 |
With 310 days of sunshine per year, Albuquerque is the ideal location for outdoor activities with four distinct seasons and fantastic year-round weather. With dependably sunny days, crisp mountain air and stunning vistas everywhere, Albuquerque provides attractive high-desert conditions for athletes of all interests. Mild winters and pleasant warm summers make Albuquerque a year-round destination.
The environmental heritage of Albuquerque’s natural landscape is marked by striking variations in terrain at elevations ranging from one mile in the cottonwood forest of the Rio Grande Valley to 10,678 feet at Sandia Peak. Elite athletes come from around the world to train here alongside locals and visitors who take advantage of the miles of hiking and biking trails that crisscross the metro area from the valley to the foothills of the Sandia Mountains on the eastern edge of the city.
The two-mile high Sandia Mountains provide excellent terrain for hiking, scenic trail rides and lift accessed mountain biking in the summer, and skiing or snowboarding in the winter. The city’s location in a high desert rift valley also lends itself to hot air ballooning, cycling, golfing, rock climbing, bouldering, geocacheing, bird watching, fishing, rafting, llama trekking, horseback riding and much more throughout the year.
Albuquerque is an active city for locals and visitors who participate in annual fitness events ranging from a winter sport quadrathalon in February (Mount Taylor quadrathalon) to a family friendly bike/run event each October (Day of the Tread). Century cycling events and marathons take place in Albuquerque each year, and recreational competitors can find a 5K almost every weekend. Visit www.itsatrip.org/outdoors for a list of fitness events in Albuquerque.
Outdoor Recreation Accolades
• Albuquerque’s Paseo Del Bosque Trail ranked a “Top 10 City Bike Ride” by Sunset Magazine in 2012.
• Albuquerque ranked 3rd in Men’s Fitness magazine’s “25 Fittest Cities” in 2012.
• Ranked #1 in “Top 10 Great Places to Ride a Bike” by Livability.com in 2011.
• Albuquerque ranked #3 for “Top 10 Great Hiking Trails” by Livability.com in 2011.
• #17 in country for “America’s Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities” by Bicycling magazine in 2010.
Paseo del Bosque Trail
Albuquerque has a vast network of paved bike trails throughout the city, including the gem of the network, the Paseo del Bosque Trail that runs north and south through the city for approximately 16 miles along the Rio Grande. The Bosque Trail winds through mature cottonwoods, wetlands and ample open space, where roadrunners, lizards and coyotes can often be spotted. Bike lanes on many of the city’s streets and miles of open road on the outskirts are more reasons that Albuquerque has earned a solid reputation as an excellent city for cyclists. View a trail map: www.cabq.gov/openspace/paseodelbosquetrail.html
Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry recently announced a plan to connect 50 miles of trails throughout the city to promote wellness and quality of life in the city. This will give bicyclists, walkers, runners, skateboarders and everything in between the opportunity to be a part of a healthier, outdoor-minded community.
Rio Grande Nature Center
Located on 270 acres of riverside forest and meadows, the bosque, as this wooded area is called in the Southwest, is home to 100-year-old stands of cottonwoods and a cattail marsh alongside a pond. Threaded throughout are more than two miles of trails offering a sense of isolation and tranquility. More than 260 species of birds make this their temporary or permanent home. The visitors center, built partially underground, houses a library and exhibits on the ecology, geology and history of the Rio Grande Valley. (505) 344-7240 www.rgnc.org
Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway & Ski Area
The world’s longest double reversible bi-cable aerial tramway, a glorious mountain setting and a varied recreational playground come together to make a marvelous getaway anytime of the year. The Sandia Peak Tram travels 2.7 miles from the base of the foothills northeast of Albuquerque to the 10,378-foot Sandia Peak. From the lower terminal, the tramcar travels suspended over rugged boulders and rocky mountain landscapes, and the city drops beneath you as you glide over the lush ponderosa forest. The view is one of deep rugged canyons, extinct volcanoes, distant mountains, unusual formations carved by erosion and a sensational desert landscape encompassing more than 11,000 square miles on a clear day. Tram riders may choose to take a hike or have dinner and then ride down, ski down the east side during winter/spring seasons, or ride the primary chairlift at the Sandia Peak Ski Area in the summer and fall.
During the winter, the Sandia Peak Ski Area is a popular destination among visitors and residents alike. In addition to the tram, you can also access the ski area via the Turquoise Trail to the Crest National Scenic Byway. Ski and snowboard rentals are available at the ski lodge, but skiers can also take equipment with them on the tram. In the summer, enjoy the cool temperatures and fresh mountain air while riding a chairlift or mountain biking on a series of trails across Cibola National Forest. Bike rentals are available at the base or the top of the chairlift. (505) 856-7325 www.sandiapeak.com
Petroglyph National Monument
Petroglyph National Monument contains more than 20,000 images pecked in stone. All of the images are inseparable from the landscape and from the spirits of the people who created them. The images carved onto these black rocks provide an opportunity for people today to share the cultures of those who long ago inhibited and traveled through the Rio Grande Valley. The monument provides a variety of hiking opportunities from basic nearly flat hikes to moderate hikes of several miles to discover hundreds of petroglyphs. (505) 897-8814 www.nps.gov/petr
Golf in Albuquerque
The Albuquerque high desert climate is perfect for golf with desert links, parkland and mountain courses. The region offers arguably the most diverse golf experience available in one area. The Albuquerque area offers 14 public and private courses in varying levels of difficulty, several of which are on Native American land. For additional information, check out page 17 or visit www.itsatrip.org/golf.
Wildlife West Nature Park
The 122-acre wildlife refuge and enhanced zoo features native New Mexico plants and animals. All the animals and birds in the enhanced zoo are non-releasable. The park is an educational project of the New Mexico Wildlife Association and is staffed by volunteers and members of the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps. The park offers educational programs, weekend cultural celebrations and space for private parties. (505) 281-7655 www.wildlifewest.org | <urn:uuid:0118a5e7-80c5-4ce7-8fd4-1c9749fc576c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itsatrip.org/media/media-kit/recreation.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91977 | 1,496 | 1.632813 | 2 |