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(Rogersville, Mo.) -- The farm bill extension passed this week will not include new assistance for farmers suffering through drought.
That might discourage producers who sold off cows earlier this year. But a mild winter might mean that greener pastures are in store for livestock producers and hay farmers like Aaron Crosby, who runs James River Farms in Rogersville.
Crosby said the nine month extension doesn't inspire much confidence when planning for the next year.
"Prioity-wise, agriculture is not a priority," he said. "It's something that's brought out around election time, briefly."
The extension will keep food prices from hurting consumers but there's still no relief to the drought that stunted his hay production this summer.
"We only produced two-thirds of our normal amount of hay," he said.
Despite the grass shortage, it's been a pretty good winter for Crosby and other hay producers like Jim Kooinman. Koinman said livestock farmers are starting to feel more confident about maintaining herds.
"The majority of my hay bales are already being sold," Kooinman said.
Cattle producers in particular are taking advantage of a mild winter that has kept many pastures intact. Kooinman said he and dozens of other farmers are advertising hay on Craigslist with good results.
"If they can feed them they are doing very well with them," Crosby said. "And as long as they can feed them we can continue to supply them with hay."
The farm bill won't change much for drought stricken farmers. But hay sales could indicate a healthy cattle market.
"The cattle market it is tremendous," Coinman said. "The cattle supply is low, so I think the cattle market's going to be great in the future. It's just costing farmers a little more to feed them through this winter."
In fact, Kooinman said he doesn't even need hay to feed to his own cows because the turnips and late season grasses he planted as forage have lasted through the cold.
Crosby said the rising cost of cattle has inspired a sort of cautious optimism.
"I don't want to be overly confident because the economy's still not good," he said. "There are a lot more people that are getting out of the cattle business because of their age or because of the economy."
If a mild winter leads to a wet spring, he added, it could give farmers tools to plan for the next year. | <urn:uuid:145fad91-664b-427e-b4e0-a087fa4e6f11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=749912 | 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 | 0.977206 | 513 | 1.507813 | 2 |
"Square has sides of length 1. Points and are on and , respectively, so that is equilateral. A square with vertex has sides that are parallel to those of and a vertex on . The length of a side of this smaller square is , where , , and are positive integers and is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find ."
I've tried to draw my version of this diagram, but I'm not so good at paint, so I'll try to do my best in explaining how I interpret this problem.
There is this square with an inscribed equilateral triangle, and a smaller square. Because the smaller square's sides are parallel to that of the larger one, and is a vertex for the smaller square as well as a point on , then I get the following equalities.
Let be one side of the smaller square and let be one side of the inscribed triangle. Then it follows that:
Equating these two expressions and solving for , I get that , which is incorrect. Thoughts? | <urn:uuid:d9b1ec82-3d25-4423-8207-b903a4398b77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathhelpforum.com/pre-calculus/2506-aime-2006-ii-6-a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959912 | 207 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Initial observations of a population of Mitchell's Rainforest Snail Thersites mitchellae Cox 1864
Andrade, L, Klootwijk, A, Parkyn, J & Specht, A 2011, 'Initial observations of a population of Mitchell's Rainforest Snail Thersites mitchellae Cox 1864', Australian Zoologist, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 590-598.
Mitchell's Rainforest Snail Thersites mitchellae Cox 1864 is listed as 'endangered' under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, as 'critically endangered' under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and is on the IUCN Red List. Over the last 30 years, fewer than 20 live snails have been formally recorded in Museum and National Parks records. From the discovery of shells of the species, and a known habitat at Stotts Island in the Tweed River, it is understood that the species is highly specific in its habitat preference, occurring in 'Lowland Rainforest on Floodplain' and the margins of Melaleuca quinquenervia swamps in northern New South Wales, Australia.'Lowland Rainforests on Floodplain' is itself listed as an endangered community. In this paper an initial description of the behaviour of the first substantial population discovered beyond Stotts Island is described. Like many land snails it was found to be nocturnal and sensitive to light. It appears to be highly sensitive to atmospheric humidity, and while active was mainly found on logs and leaf litter. Suggestions are made for profitable future studies that would provide a better understanding of its behaviour and habitat requirements, and consequently facilitate further discovery of the species and contribute to its conservation. | <urn:uuid:d78a740a-1a90-473f-bea4-9c2ce9b39c70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://epubs.scu.edu.au/esm_pubs/1350/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930821 | 358 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Musician shares sad ballad of addiction with teen boys
Originally published May 2, 2011 at 8:18 p.m., updated May 2, 2011 at 9 p.m.
Singing the blues can be tough when, on the inside, you don’t feel a thing.
Lisa Mann said she spent years that way — playing music for pay and not really caring about it. A bass player since age 11, she was gigging by her teen years — playing in the band, regurgitating punk or rock or top-40 pop or whatever style was bringing in the fans.
“I would have ideas, too,” she said. “I wanted to make my own record. I wanted to have my own band. But I never finished anything. I couldn’t finish writing a song. I couldn’t get it together.”
Why not? Alcohol and drugs. They dulled her focus, clouded her mind, dampened her ambition. “When I was drinking and using, I would think, ‘Someday, I’m gonna do this,’” she said. “‘Someday I’m gonna have my own band, make my own records. When the conditions are right.’”
Conditions never were right, of course, until Mann made them right.
“Put the plug in the jug,” she said. “That’s when I started feeling a lot of strong emotions. And I had to do something with them.” That’s the blues, she said: the sadness, frustration and anger you must let fly — because it’s all so real.
Mann brought those blues, in words and music, to Daybreak Youth Services, a secure Vancouver addiction treatment facility for teen boys, on April 20. Accompanying herself on the six-string electric bass, she launched into “Someday,” a catchy, original anthem of empowerment and hope — or is it a tease about putting off life’s hard work?
“Someday, I’m gonna get it together, gonna get my life on the line / Someday I’m gonna make it better, gonna make the best of my time,” Mann sang in a strong, clear voice. “One of these days I’m gonna wake every morning and get on my knees and pray / Someday I’m gonna live my life, I’m gonna live my life someday.”
With a little coaxing, a 15-year-old named Cory submitted his own lyrics to her tune: “Someday I’m gonna be so numb I’ll feel no pain. Inhale so many chemicals I’ll have no brain. F--- this life, I’m done I mean. Right now it’s time to get clean.”
“You write from the heart, man, hope you keep it up,” Mann told him.
She will perform with her band at a dinner-auction fundraiser for Daybreak that’s set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Heathman Lodge. Tickets are $75; call 360-635-4120 or visit http://www.daybreakinfo.org to learn more.
‘That first drink’
Mann started getting into booze at the tender age of 8.
“I’d let myself in the house from school,” she said. “I would raid my parents’ cabinet and watch “Gilligan’s Island.” That was my entertainment as an 8-year-old.”
That early chapter of substance abuse lasted for about a decade, she said. Then, at 19, she managed to sober up. It was partly thanks to a boyfriend whose father was a substance abuse counselor — and partly because her own older sister was even more out of control than she was.
“I never got into a lot of trouble. My sister did a lot of the getting in trouble for me. It was like, ‘Now I know what not to do,’” she said.
That sister ran away from home multiple times, she said, and wound up in substance abuse treatment. It helped Mann see there was a better way to live — but it also pulled the spotlight off of her.
“There were no consequences for me. My addiction didn’t get the attention it deserved,” she said. That may be why she was able to quietly use, quietly recover and quietly fall apart again. She’d married the drummer in the band she was in, she said, and the marriage was falling apart. She was in a fragile emotional state, and one night at a local brew pub gig she figured there couldn’t be any harm in trying some little tasters of beer.
That was all it took, she said, to plunge back into years of substance abuse.
“It’s all about that first drink,” she said. “It’s not the last one that gets you, it’s the first one. I still want to drink now, and I think, couldn’t I just have one? But I know it’s the first one that’ll sink me.”
Some sunken, strung-out characters star in a song called “Chemicals” — old Charlie Ray, living in a smoky haze on the streets, and young Donna Jean, who can’t manage to go visit her mother, and even a fictionalized president of the United States, hiding out in the john — all of whom “got to get the chemicals, get the chemicals inside / Gotta spoon feed ’em and needle bleed ’em, either way he’s got to get high / He thinks he’s got a plan, doesn’t understand that sweet by and by / He’s gonna die.”
“I was almost there,” Mann said. “I was really sick. I was yellow from jaundice.”
Change in attitudes
Mann recalled a particularly brilliant guitar player and singer and jokester she used to play with. In addition to all those wonderful things, she said, he was also a heroin addict.
He was so talented he could have had all the success he dreamed of, Mann said — but he used to call her from a hidey-hole under a bridge and beg for help and cash. She used to drop everything for him, she said, but eventually she stopped responding.
“I’m not going to do that anymore,” she said. “You can only do so much.” She thinks her brilliant friend resorts to petty crime sometimes so he can get arrested, land in jail and sober up.
Mann attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and said there’s a growing clean-and-sober musician community these days. When she played in the late Portland bluesman Paul DeLay’s band, she said, the stage was always littered with bottles of O’Doul’s — that’s the premium non-alcoholic beer.
“Attitudes have really changed in the music business,” she said.
Speaking of music business — the boys showed passing interest in her story of addiction and recovery, but they were fascinated by her six-string electric bass.
How much? Not for sale. (But probably worth about two grand, she said.)
“I’ve had this bass longer than you’ve been alive,” she said, and then she checked her assumption. The boy said he was born in 1995. Her bass was purchased in 1993.
She had one hard — but hopeful — observation for the dozen or so boys who were listening to her stories and songs: Recovery is hard and temptation is endless.
“I hate to say it, but statistically a lot of you guys might not make it,” Mann told them. “You have to decide, is that going to be me? If you do fall off the wagon, you can come back.”
Scott Hewitt: 360-735-4525 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:5e549095-2d38-4514-a771-3f9888fcd6dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/may/02/musician-shares-sad-ballad-of-addiction-with-teen/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974838 | 1,772 | 1.601563 | 2 |
This childhood chant is familiar to many of us in a different context, yet I thought of it as I pondered the long history of Ireland and the struggles it has had over the centuries with conquerors and foreign tongues.
Words, it seems, do have the power to hurt a person - and to hurt a people.
Since I have a limited understanding of the full historical context of the struggles of the Irish language, I was happy to find a book that provided firsthand, through primary sources, a look at the relatively recent history of the language and its troubled life.
Tony Crowley's The Politics of Language in Ireland 1366-1922: A Sourcebook is a compilation of texts covering six centuries worth of Irish lingual history. From the Statute of Kilkenny in 1366 to the constitution of the Irish Free State in 1922, these historical documents provide a glimpse into the complex history of Ireland and its language.
Crowley states in the book's introduction:
The story of the relations between the two main languages of Ireland over the past 600 years is quite as complicated as the history of the political relationship between Ireland and England (and later, Ireland and the United Kingdom). Quite as tortuous and characterised just as much by rivalry, confusion, misapprehension and bitterness, as well as fascination, apparently inevitable attraction, and striking achievement.
It is, by any standards, an extraordinary history and the aim of this collection is to provide access to it.
In the case of the history of the relations between the languages of Ireland, however, the intent of the selection [of primary sources in the book] is to show that the reality has been much more difficult, convoluted...and complex, than has often been thought.The history of language in Ireland is an important topic with much application to modern events today. We all have a lot to learn. | <urn:uuid:6cead424-afc6-4dfc-b6e2-81c982acc5db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tierneyhistory.blogspot.com/2008/04/sticks-and-stones-can-break-my-bones.html?showComment=1209591840000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968019 | 380 | 2.71875 | 3 |
AAM launched its 'Should Be Made in America' campaign as Congress considers a $109 billion, two-year transportation spending bill, which the government hopes will give a boost to the economy and generate more jobs.
A powerful U.S. manufacturing group launched a campaign Monday to lock Chinese suppliers out of large U.S. infrastructure projects, saying Beijing does not reciprocate market access.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing kicked off the campaign by blasting California's reliance on China to supply thousands of tons of steel for the $7.2 billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge eastern span, which is nearing completion.
AAM unveiled huge billboards near the two ends of the span, reading on a background of China's red flag, "The Bay Bridge: 100 Percent Chinese Steel," and a link to the group's "Should Be Made in America" campaign.
"It is a symbol of what not to do ... as our country begins to invest in infrastructure," said Scott Paul, executive director of AAM.
"We need to make sure that our federal laws and our state laws give an appropriate preference to domestic firms for large-scale infrastructure projects."
By singling out the Bay Bridge project, which was contracted out in 2006, he said AAM is aiming to make officials and the public understand "what is at stake."
"There is a capacity to do this work in the United States," he told AFP.
The campaign was launched as Congress considers a $109 billion, two-year transportation spending bill, which the government hopes will give a boost to the economy and generate more jobs.
It also comes as both Democratic President Barack Obama and the Republicans vying to challenge him in the November presidential election both spotlight China -- and its huge trade surplus with the United States -- as the source of many of the country's economic woes.
In January, Obama took direct aim at China's huge trade surplus with the United States when he ordered the creation of the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center to expedite unfair trade complaints from U.S. business.
The administration also has boosted its actions, in recent weeks hitting or threatening to hit Chinese exports of solar cells, steel wire, chemicals used for making paper, and even kitchen sinks with anti-dumping and counter-subsidy duties.
Paul said that because China has not signed on to the Government Procurement Agreement of the World Trade Organization, the United States is free to cut Chinese suppliers out of infrastructure projects.
"With respect to China, we would be perfectly within out rights to completely close our markets to Chinese bids."
The campaign is not aimed at locking all foreign content out of U.S. projects, Paul said.
"We do have reciprocity with a lot of countries. We have open procurement," he said.
"We certainly don't have it with China and some other countries that have not signed onto the GPA."
The campaign plans to put a spotlight on a new project each week that AAM says unnecessarily used foreign -- mainly Chinese -- content.
The aim, Paul said, is to open up China's procurement policies for its own projects while "ensuring that there is less Chinese steel in American projects."
- "Rising Chinese Wages a Headache for U.S. Firms"
- "Chinese Manufacturing Slows, Spurring Growth Fears" | <urn:uuid:23215efe-b220-4881-902a-9ce44b4efc37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.industryweek.com/global-economy/alliance-american-manufacturing-keep-china-out-us-infrastructure-projects | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965352 | 684 | 1.632813 | 2 |
MIO was founded by the Salm brothers (Isaac, the numbers guy and Jaime, the design guy) with the objective of combining business rigor with environmentally and socially progressive design. MIO's success is the result of Jaime and Isaac's vision and the contributions of hard working and creative designers, interns, manufacturers, engineers and business professionals.
MIO is a design company dedicated to creating the most sustainable and innovative design experiences in the market. Serving the needs and desires of our loyal customers and consulting clients guides our design, marketing, manufacturing and consulting activities.
Based out of Philadelphia ("the workshop of the world" in the late 1800's) MIO builds on a strong local manufacturing base and a diverse pool of creative individuals that is ever present in the city.
Since our founding in 2001, we have encouraged our customers to grow into a greener, healthier, happier and more profitable future. Our design focuses on the needs of people today and aims towards the technologically advanced and responsible product experiences of tomorrow.
Guided by the company's philosophy of "Responsible Desire" MIO has introduced design that strategically harnesses the most eco-intelligent aspects of conventional manufacturing, marketing and distribution methods. This approach has resulted in the integration of existing technologies and industries into a profitable value-added system that is both socially and environmentally responsible.
Green = Desire
Addressing both needs and wants requires the merging of responsibility and desire. MIO delivers design solutions that fit our fast paced, innovation-driven culture and economy, while holistically addressing needs and wants.
People = Culture
Accessible design is the result of everyday life informing the creative process. Individuals shape culture through thought and action. Responsible product experiences must embody culture shaped by those individuals in order to thrive.
Context = Relevance
Origin provides users with story, meaning and value. Context builds physical, emotional and intellectual connections between a design and its audience.
Awareness = Intelligence
Products that address every stage of their lifecycle provide customers with built-in environmental choices and functional benefits. This kind of eco-intelligence is sought after not only for its social significance, but also for its practical and aesthetic merits.
Our Philosophy @ Work
All of our products use materials that can be easily recycled with existing infrastructures, fit into closed loop manufacturing systems available today or fit seamlessly with natural ecosystems.
- Materials, processes and manufacturers are carefully matched for optimal efficiency and environmental benefits. We evaluate factors such as product durability, embodied energy, affordability and ease of recycling to develop our designs.
- Our products are designed for ease of disassembly, shipping, recycling, re-using and composting.
- We only work with companies that adhere to socially responsible business practices.
- We find new uses for technologies and adapt industries to fit sustainable market opportunities.
- We make customers participants in the lifecycle of designs through information and technology. | <urn:uuid:ca062d56-181a-4462-8913-9982fa1cbd48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dwell.com/organization/mio | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941555 | 594 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The trombone is a middle, or ‘tenor’ voice in the brass family. It is most commonly pitched between the cornet and the tuba, but the trombone can cover a range of some 5 octaves from the bass to high tenor ranges.
What sets the trombone apart from all other instruments however, is its primitive slide mechanism—dating from medieval times—whereby the player changes the length of the tubing, thus allowing the instrument to play all the notes of the scale. Since the slide is not stopped or notched on a fixed pitch, the characteristic trombone sound is that of the sliding note, or ‘glissando’ or ‘smear.’
Kid Ory’s Tailgate Trombone
This sliding capability of the trombone enables an especially expressive voice for the blues, in which the ‘blue notes’ are ‘moving targets’ and not limited to a fixed pitch as in, for example, the piano. So the most blues-oriented players of the trombone in early jazz—Kid Ory, Jack Teagarden, J.C. Higgenbotham and others—produced a vocal blues tonality that was very close to that of the great blues singers of the day, Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey and Bessie Smith.
Edward ‘Kid’ Ory was a monumental figure among the first generation of New Orleans jazz men. He had tremendous star power in his band of 1910— with both King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Ory would become one of the key inventors of the trombone style known as ‘tailgate,’ a term inherited from the days of fierce street competition among early bands who advertised by playing on the beds of ‘ballyhoo wagons.’
The New Orleans ‘tailgate’ style consists of a rhythmic, blues-y, sliding support of the clarinet and cornet, incorporating elements of both tenor counter-melodies and bass notes. The tailgating trombone is an important characteristic element of the jazz polyphony—’many sounds’ or multi-voices—we have come to know as the traditional New Orleans sound, and which was echoed in the Swing Era sound several decades later.
This Week on Riverwalk Jazz
To celebrate pre-WWII jazz trombone styles, Riverwalk Jazz joins forces with leading players active today. Though all of them claim Jack Teagarden as a major influence and model for their playing, some have taken a special interest in the playing of other lesser-known but important historical figures of the trombone world.
California native Dan Barrett and current JCJB trombonist Kenny Rupp pay tribute to the distinctive style of star soloist Vic Dickenson. The muscular, high-energy West Coast trombonist Abram ‘Abe’ Lincoln inspired former Jim Cullum Jazz Band member Mike Pittsley, Chicago’s Russ Phillips and Floridian Bill Allred. And the angular solo style of Bix Beiderbecke cohort Miff Mole gets a nod from Bob Havens.
1930s’ Trombone Innovations to Bebop
Two players of the 1930s were especially innovative. Jack Teagarden greatly expanded the capabilities of the trombone while still exploiting the blues potential of the slide. Tommy Dorsey, also deeply rooted in the blues, pioneered and perfected an upper-register ‘singing’ approach that spawned generations of stylists.
Players in the post-WWII ‘modern jazz’ style of trombone almost completely abandoned tailgating and—like their stylistic comrades on the other instruments—avoided sliding blue notes in favor of a far more dexterous, highly-articulated fixed-pitch approach more suitable for playing the complex, fast-moving lines of bebop masters such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
Photo credit for Home Page and Recent Radio Broadcast Page: Trombonist Kid Ory. Photo courtesy Last.fm
Text based on Riverwalk Jazz script by Margaret Moos Pick ©2011 | <urn:uuid:ac2dc5c4-5eb1-4f16-b3e6-9b22c4445bc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://riverwalkjazz.org/2011/06/02/slipping-and-sliding-jazz-trombone-at-its-best-jazznotes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936547 | 867 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Vaccine Stops Tumor Spread in Mice
SUNDAY April 18, 2010 -- A new study in mice suggests that a transcription factor normally found in male germ cells could become a target for cancer vaccines.
A transcription factor is a protein that controls the transfer (or transcription) of genetic material from the DNA to messenger RNA. This particular factor, known as Brother of the Regulator of Imprinted Sites (BORIS), promotes tumor growth.
Scientists were able to develop a vaccine from BORIS that was effective in helping stop the spread of a breast cancer-like tumor to other parts of the body, a process known as metastasis.
The vaccine "is capable of inducing strong and effective antitumor immunity, but the efficacy of this [strategy] could be even better if one could eliminate immune suppressor cells," lead researcher Michael G. Agadjanyan, head of the department of immunology and professor at the University of California, Irvine's Institute for Molecular Medicine, said in a press release.
Researchers tested the value of a mutated virus using the factor on mice with a form of cancer similar to breast cancer found in humans. They delivered the vaccine into the body by using immune cells known as dendritic cells, whose treelike branches form connections with other cells in the body.
The factor delivered by dendritic cells "elicited strong antitumor cellular immune responses in tumor-free mice," Agadjanyan said. "More importantly, therapeutic vaccination dramatically inhibited both tumor growth and the number of metastases in the lungs of tumor-bearing mice."
He cautioned, however, that the BORIS-based vaccine did not entirely eliminate tumors or stop the spread of cancer. For that reason, it should be combined with other strategies that enlist the immune system to combat cancer, he said.
The study findings were scheduled to be released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington D.C.
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has an A-to-Z list of cancer types.
Posted: April 2010 | <urn:uuid:793abd7a-bb2d-482a-b378-a86660f51578> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugs.com/news/vaccine-stops-tumor-spread-mice-23878.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950651 | 430 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Worcester Arts District
The Arts District is a public/private project that makes the direct link between art and economic development. It is intended to serve some of the needs of our arts community and revitalize this disinvested area of the City by promoting the reuse of underused and vacant properties for artist live/work space, affordable housing, performance venues, galleries, and other creative commercial and retail enterprises. The successful development of the Arts District and the creation of a major destination point for the region is one of the City's economic development priorities as documented in its current five year strategic plan and is also one of the major goals of the Worcester Cultural Coalition, the unified voice of Worcester's cultural community.
Arts District Master Plan
The Master Plan for the Worcester Arts District presents a variety of recommendations on physical design improvements, cultural and economic development opportunities, in the context of an overall urban design vision for the district. Read more about the master plan.
For further information on the Arts District Contact Erin Williams, 508-799-1400 X265, email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:62da8c02-41be-4c0d-bc65-3f45e3423756> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worcestermass.org/arts-culture-entertainment/arts-culture/worcester-arts-district | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914506 | 226 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Snow, Sleet and Freezing Rain
The Metro Area is often on the borderline between snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain when winter storms take shape. Depending on the storm track, we could see all snow, all rain or a wintry mix. This is because of the unique geography that exists in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
The truth is all precipitation falls from the clouds as ice crystals where temperatures are cold enough to support ice. In a "normal" atmosphere the temperature gets colder as you increase altitude. So in this case, the column of air that extends from the cloud to the ground remains below freezing the entire distance than the ice crystals will fall as snow. Even when surface temperatures are above freezing snow will still fall under the above circumstances. Snow is the easiest to deal with since it can be both plowed and shoveled.
If a portion of the column of air between the cloud and the ground is above freezing, than that presents a new host of problems. If there is a narrow column of air above freezing just above the ground, where temperatures are below freezing, than the ice crystals - or snowflakes - melt into raindrops but then freeze again when they come into contact with the ground creating freezing rain.
If the column of air with above freezing temperatures is higher above the ground than the flakes melt into water droplets and then refreeze into sleet before hitting the ground. Sleet can accumulate like snow, but tends to be heavier than snow because the water content is higher which suppresses accumulations. So, freezing rain falls as a liquid and freezes on contact with the ground, trees, power lines etc and sleet falls as a little ball of ice that bounces off your windshield. | <urn:uuid:ec28d5aa-6f63-4ab8-bba2-0a43d2102cb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=243229 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933373 | 351 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Last week, I helped launch a peer exchange Webinar for Packard Foundation for Children’s Health Insurance grantees with Spitfire Communications (creators of the SMART chart). The focus is how to effectively integrate social media channels and measure and learn. Two grantees that work on Children’s Healthcare at the national level and have experience using social media as part of an integrated campaign were co-presenters. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner co-founder of Momsrising and Bruce Lesley, President, of First Focus. (I learned so much that I enough material for several blog posts, my first post is here – it is about content curation.)
While this Peer Exchange starts off with best practices on Facebook, it is a means to a higher end: how to apply and integrate those principles into the organization’s broader children’s health communications strategies. Organizations can get comfortable with implementing one channel and expand to other channels as part of their maturity of practice model. Capacity building that takes an incremental approach and is a balance of strategy and action leads to capacity building that sticks.
We launched this project just as Google + open its doors to a limited field testing and was being touted as a Facebook or Twitter killer by early adopter geeks and Silicon Valley insiders. No surprise that Principle #1: Avoid being seduced by Shiny Object Syndrome generated great insights. My colleague Geoff Livingston says that “Shiny Object Syndrome” makes nonprofits and individuals to adopt the latest cool social tool based on peer pressure, buzz, or a strange desire to be one of the first.
I’m not recommending that all nonprofits should immediately just say no (or yes) to the latest technology tool that is capturing the imagination (and time) of geeks. But, it is important to have a framework like Gartner Technology Hype Cycle to think it through. There are three choices:
Early Move: Willing to combine risk taking with an understanding that risky investments don’t always pay off.
Moderate Approach: Understand the argument for an early investment but will also insist on a sound cost/benefit analysis when new ways of doing things are not yet fully proven.
Wait for maturation? If there are too many unanswered questions about the impact of the technology platform, better to wait until others have been able to deliver tangible value.
Momsrising is an early adopter of online tools currently exploring the Google + platform and discussing it in team meetings. However, as Kristin points out “we use a cost/benefit analysis as we go along.” They have several staff persons testing the connectivity to other people and trying to understand the potential, mostly as individuals talking about their professional work. Kristin notes that they ask staff members to carefully track their time. “This type of exploration should not become a time suck or get in the way of established organizational priorities.”
It is easier for Momsrising to explore new platforms because they’ve already established a strong presence on many social media platforms and are using mobile. Kristin says, “If Momsrising haven’t already built strong networks on platforms like Facebook or Twitter – which are known to work for nonprofits – we’d be focusing our time and energy there first.”
Bruce Lesley said his organization takes a moderate approach with new platforms as an organization. Bruce notes, “I was one of those people who said, not too long ago, that we’d never be on Twitter. But I decided to become a leader, not a barrier.” Bruce’s individual participation and organizational presence on social media is part of an integrated strategy that has brought value, particularly in reaching influencers. In general, they tend to wait until the kinks in the platform are worked out and there is less risk involved investing staff time.
Right now Google + is still in the very early stages of development and has potential to add a social layer to the Web as David Armano points out. The early adopter love fest has given way to some rants about the platform and what isn’t working. People are also discovering what the social etiquette is around “circling” people, the google + way of friending people. But, it is important to point out that the Google + team is listening and improving features – with its “Feedback Friday” so the landscape is changing rapidly.
Can Google + be a good platform for social change activists? Short answer: too early to tell.
I’ve been noticing that I tend to get more engagement on technology posts than social engagement posts, although when I worked hard at stirring the pot, there have been a few productive conversations. The problem with Google + as it stands right now (and it will be changing) is that lack of community features and mainstream adoption. The community features – open circle lists – allows activists to sustain conversations which is important to organizing and to the serendipity to discover new people who may have interest in your cause. (A few early adopters have hacked some tools for us social activists and nptechers reminding me of the early hacks that people did on Twitter before they launched Twitter Lists.)
Jeremiah Owyang has a good analysis of what features Google + needs to go mainstream. He talks about the importance of Google implementing brand pages.
What are the potential uses for nonprofits? Ivan Booth is doing a meet up and live stream for the Philly Netsquared meet up on August 2nd at 6:00 PM EST about Google +. You can find the information for the meet up in my collection of Google + and Nonprofit Links.
Just for giggles, I started a thread on Google + to do an interview with nonprofits and social activists exploring Google + as part of some preparation for an interview with Alison Fine for the Social Good Podcast. The following is framed with one disclaimer: We’re in the days and this could all change.
What struck me most about the conversation is that consultants, early adopter nonprofits, and free agents all agree that the platform is evolving fast and there is still too much uncertainty for nonprofits to invest a lot of time and resources in Google +. Nedra Weinreich says, “Until we know whether G+ is going to attract more than just us social media types, I’m hesitant to recommend that any organizations invest too much time in it. I think pulling people off Facebook is going to be a challenge.” Shawn Ahmed, a free agent fundraiser, concurs, “We don’t know what the space will be for social change activists.”
Nonprofit organizations that have been early adopters of social media are exploring, like Momsrising, carefully. Danielle Bridiga, from the NWF, says “I’m still not sure if it’s going to hold out and join Twitter and Facebook but I think it’s certainly kept my attention a bit longer than other flash in the pan platforms.” NWF is in the “imaging” stage of what the potential is for the platform. Manny Hernandez from the Diabetes Hands Foundation shares that he is listening and playing, but adds similar advice to Kristin from Momsrising, “If my nonprofit wasn’t an early adopter, I would not start here too much territory to explore yet and too many intangibles still.” As Marc Pittman and others note, many nonprofits are overwhelmed or set in their ways on Facebook to energize to change habits.
Here’s quick summary of points from the discussion:
- Nonprofit folks are exploring Google + as individuals and talking about their organization’s work and building relationships with influencers like technologists and journalist early adopters on the platform.
- They are eager for the platform to gain critical mass so the promise of Google + for social activism can be realized
- A few activists for privacy rights have had active conversations. Take for example the conversations Jillian York is having on the platform.
- The Google Hangout (Group video chat) has some potential to be useful for learning. I’ve experimented using it bring in a couple of remote experts to join the conversation. It could also be used at conferences. I also did a hangout with my 90 year old dad who said it was more entertaining than watching Jeopardy.
- The privacy features allows organizations to have conversations with specific groups of people. This could be useful for donor cultivation or working with small groups – much like some organizations have used “secret Facebook” groups to interact with brand or issue ambassadors.
- Some have seen some early benefits of getting web site traffic
I’m not ignoring it, but I’m carefully establishing efficient habits. I’m using a combination short blog posts, participating on other people’s threads, and using it as a source for curating information. The best of the best about the platform and nonprofits, I’m adding to my curated list in Scoop.it, because the platform lacks bookmarking and filtering features. I’m not abandoning my other networks on Twitter, Facebook, or SlideShare, but looking at how to best build relationships and conversational bridges between communities and people I interact with on the different platforms. I am avoiding spamming all three networks with cut and paste streams. I am also experimenting with techniques for network weaving across platforms and curating content related to effective practice of networked nonprofits.
Update: Will You Leave Facebook for Google+? – Brian Solis provides an analysis of its users and growth.
Have you been exploring the potential of Google+ for your nonprofit or social activism? What do you think? | <urn:uuid:de002283-d939-4bc5-ad73-4ce8a36f37f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://share.commongoodvt.org/entry/6948c6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950331 | 2,004 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Integrated Emergency Response
Nov 19, 2012 12:09 PM, By Don Kreski
New tools and tactics for the modern emergency operations center
Room-combining within one room
Another challenge Pappenfus faced was a need to provide a degree of flexibility far beyond anything in an ordinary meeting center.
Much of the work during a crisis is done by staff members grouped at four work islands or around a conference table in the main room of the CDOC. Workgroup members can share files with each other via the computer network, the group leader can take over one of the large-screen displays as they work, or they can use one or more displays to share material with another team or the whole center during a crisis. The CDOC is designed, in fact, to be used for multiple simultaneous crises, and each of the workgroups can function independently or combine in various ways with other groups.
“What makes this possible, on the one hand, is the Crestron AV switching system, but there’s also a room-combining audio system that isolates the sound from workstation to workstation—even though there are no walls separating them,” Pappenfus explains.
The first part of this audio system is straightforward: Program audio from the Crestron switcher plus audio-only sources feed into a BSS Soundweb London BLU-160 digital signal processor programmed for room-combining. “We have six discrete zones of audio,” Pappenfus says, “the room as a whole, the four work islands, and the conference table.”
Next, Fluid Sound technicians created crossovers in the DSP that isolate the frequencies used by the human voice, then feed them into highly directional Panphonics ‘Sound Shower’ ceiling speakers mounted above each work area. Because there are no low tones, the resulting audio is hyperdirectional, allowing workers in one area to listen to voice communications from a microphone, teleconference, radio, or a TV news feed while others—sitting just a few feet away—can’t hear them at all. “The system would be terrible for listening to music,” Pappenfus notes, “but that’s not its job.” A sound-masking system muffles the voices of those speaking at any distance, helping each workgroup focus on the task at hand.
Video processing, video capture, and simplified control
The innovative design work did not stop with these systems. Although there are only six large-screen displays, staff can use them to monitor up to 12 video and computer feeds via two Crestron DVPHD multi-window video processors, which also give them the ability to annotate live or freeze-frame video. “Someone might freeze an image from the news or the TouchTable showing a fire line, write notes on it, send it to SitCell, and show it on one or more of the displays,” Pappenfus explains.
The chapter is also able to create full 1080p video press releases using a Crestron Capture HD coupled with an automated Sony camera. To use this setup, a spokesperson would typically assemble maps or graphics from SitCell and video from the field into a presentation on a computer. Then, at the touch of a button, he or she can begin recording, explaining the situation while switching back and forth from a ‘talking head’ to the video and graphics. “Once they’ve captured their message, they can move it to a server for partner access or push it out to the news media, all without the need for a production crew,” Pappenfus explains.
The final step in creating the CDOC technology was designing a simple way to operate it without confusion during a crisis. To do so, Fluid Sound used a large, 24in. Crestron V-Panel coupled with a Crestron processor and DGE-2 graphics engine. “Because we drive high-definition preview images to the touchscreen, users with little or no training can route images from any source to any output.”
Although major crises are relatively rare, the CDOC is used on a daily basis. “We take part in roughly 300 operations each year, most involving only a handful of people,” Hinrichs says. Because Red Cross chapters share personnel and other resources in any large emergency, the CDOC was used throughout the Hurricane Sandy efforts. The Red Cross used the center to track the path of the storm and, after it made landfall, to produce maps of the affected area based on data from several sources that included FEMA, the State of New York, local governments, and other agencies. According to Andy McKellar, director of Disaster Services for the American Red Cross San Diego/Imperial Counties, the chapter created a multi-layered map of area hospitals, power outage information, shelter locations, fixed feeding sites, food distribution sites, and realtime local traffic conditions, and was able to produce mapping products to share with partner agencies.
“Over the past few months,” McKellar explains, “the CDOC and SitCel have proven to be very effective tools. In response to several localized wildfires, we were able to select shelter locations and deploy material and personnel far faster than in the past. In one instance, for the Shockey Fire in rural eastern San Diego County, we were able to set up a shelter at the local high school in about 30 minutes. Before the advent of these systems, it would have taken us approximately two hours to accomplish the same task.”
“We’re excited about the place,” Hinrichs adds. “It has moved us forward light years in our ability to handle an emergency.”
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:c0105ee4-d47e-4681-adc8-426f6b7965bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://svconline.com/corporateav/integrated_emergency_response/index1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938971 | 1,207 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Reporting Anthony Silva
BOSTON (CBS) – Manufacturers are growing and expanding, according to a new study just released by the Boston Foundation and Northeastern.
The study finds that productivity, employment, output and exports have all grown.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030 New England Business Editor Anthony Silva reports
Thursday’s announcement was made at precision manufacturer AccuRounds in Avon. President and CEO Michael Tamasi tells me his company makes a wide variety of items. Among them are parts that go into semiconductor fabrication equipment, and parts that go into medical testing equipment. Tamasi says 80% of the flu vaccine in the world goes through AccuRounds’ shafts. He says they’ve also made gold and silver pieces that go on high-end flutes. According to Tamasi, this area is a hotbed for flute manufacturers.
Tamasi says AccuRounds competes internationally, and wins. He says the company has doubled employment and tripled revenue over the past ten years, despite the recent recession.
Tamasi is planning to almost double the size of his manufacturing plant, and he says he’s hiring machinists. He says AccuRounds will add equipment as it adds floor space.
Massachusetts officials say the state will add funding for job training, more community college offerings, and easier financing.
Assistant Secretary of Innovation Policy Eric Nakajima tells me the traditional factory has gone hi-tech in Massachusetts. He says baseball bats and baseball gloves are being made in Massachusetts. He says they’re more efficient, their designs are better, and they’re more productive and competitive because they’re using better equipment.
The study finds manufacturers are bullish about the future. Nakajima says that 70% of those responding say they plan to hire in the next five years; 65% say they’re going to invest in expanding their plants. Nakajima says there will be 100,000 job openings in manufacturing in Massachusetts over the next 5-10 years, both through new hires and replacement of those who are retiring.
Nakajima says the biggest challenge is finding enough highly trained and qualified applicants. | <urn:uuid:6213459d-65ee-446a-bc0b-8d9b96613bb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/09/13/mass-manufacturing-sector-sees-growth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964485 | 449 | 1.578125 | 2 |
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The SHRIMP instruments have applications in both research and in economic geology, as well as paleo-environmental analysis of oxygen isotope levels. Specific economic geological applications include oil exploration, in which the SHRIMP can provide data on sediment provenance as well as timing of fluid inflows into reservoir rocks. These are described in more detail in the SHRIMP IIe and SHRIMP IV papers here.
The Alphachron™ has been developed in response to a demand for an automated means of determining the thermal history of sediments. It has applications in both research and economic geology, particularly in determining the history of secondary ore deposits, location of kimberlite pipes for diamond exploration and in analysis of hydrocarbon sediments. The Alphachron™ can determine if a sediment has exceeded the retention temperature for gas or for oil, and hence whether a potential reserviour is prospective. The Alphachron™ provides a highly productive and cost-effective alternative to fission track dating of minerals such as zircon and apatite, with researchers adding to the range of applicable minerals.
The RESOchron extends the capabilities of the Alphachron, allowing rapid double dating of samples which allows 'hot zircons' to be rapidly identified in large sample sets.
Technical notes on the application of the Alphachron to diamond exploration, assessment of sites for nuclear repositories, petroleum exploration and tectonic research are provided on the Download page.
ASI manufactures leading-edge instrumentation for geochemistry, including the SHRIMP IIe and SHRIMP IV ion microprobes, the Alphachron automated thermochronology instrument, and the RESOchron double dating instrument. The instruments are based on research undertaken at the Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES) at the Australian National University (ANU), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Curtin University, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and elsewhere. » Learn More | <urn:uuid:62ecac24-55ec-4ff1-9e3a-b809461f2ad6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asi-pl.com.au/Applications.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906695 | 431 | 2.90625 | 3 |
ďAnd the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs
, and closed up the flesh
in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.Ē Gen 2:21Ė22
These simple statements have profound implications. They put a limit on the amount of diversity we should find in people living today. The Bible clearly says the human race started out with two people only. But how different were these two people? There is an intriguing possibility that Eve was a clone of Adam. The science of cloning involves taking DNA from an organism and using it to manufacture an almost perfect copy of the original. Here, God is taking a piece of flesh, with cells, organelles, and, importantly
, Adamís DNA, and using it to manufacture a woman. Of course, she could not be a perfect clone, because she was a girl! But what if God had taken Adamís genome and used it to manufacture Eve? All he would have had to do was to leave out Adamís Y chromosome and double his X chromosome and, voilŠ, instant woman! | <urn:uuid:0bbe1e31-a241-4231-9127-bca5c3d8dae2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bibleforums.org/showthread.php/238277-Adam-Eva-Noag-en-moderne-genetika | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985074 | 253 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Today something is bothering me, it has been bubbling away since I wrote this post “The Awful mess of Local Plans online” and I can’t contain it anymore.
Cumbria as a geographic area I think has a lot of online maps and they all vary in quality and usability. Sometimes it looks like the people who are operating them haven’t told other departments what they are doing…. to be fair they probably have but red tape has got in the way…
Lets take Sedbergh (yes I used Google Maps!) for example, if I want to see what services my local authorities’ provide on a map I can go here for Cumbria CC services but if I want to see their Public Rights of Way mapping (and the two national parks), I have to go here. Now Cumbria also has a Historic Environment Record and their mapping is here (seriously slow & doesn’t always work).
Now here’s the fun bit, bins, building control and libraries are dealt with by South Lakeland DC . Ah, but if I want to see my local plan online rather than via PDF I have to go to the Yorkshire Dales online GIS here. Oh and if I forget what Local Authority I’m in Eden DC provide some mapping for part of Sedbergh too.
All these maps provide detailed OS Mastermap level mapping. Some are symbolised quite well, others not so well, I’ve always liked Barrow’s online GIS which South Lakeland seem to use, but that’s because it’s a bit technical and I hear open source [PDF]. I also worry when watermarks aren’t done well.
As a resident I shouldn’t have to check 5 different online maps to check out what’s happening in my area. I certainly shouldn’t have to learn how each one operates! (look I used bold and underline I must be serious)
I can’t help wondering why no one is trying to get a national government mapping organisation whereby everyone gets the same online mapping frontend/interface but is in charge of their own data. A bit like the Planning Portal but for publishing data not just receiving it. If people think this can’t be done, I think people working on the EU’s INSPIRE directive might say otherwise.
What I would like to see is web mapping become central not just an after thought to local and national government websites. Yes there is a place of localisation (depending on usage, tourism, history etc…). But a national web mapping site is needed so we can seamlessly browse geographically adjacent datasets. This would be great not just for residents but also policy makers, politicians and professionals. Imagine for example, seeing planning statistics and local plans for neighbouring authorities on one seamless map? Local councillors could see how neighbouring areas with similar demographics are doing. Think how easy consultation with neighbouring councils could be!
Enough of my musings, I’m off to make a map for a local authority in Iraq….
Update : the title was changed to remove the word fight as web mapping is not worth fighting about…
A little post on the dangers of relying on your favourite web mapping sites too much. I’ve just come from a nice holiday in the Highlands of Scotland and we were staying near a place called The Royal Burgh of Tain. As you can see Google Maps (my web mapping of choice) doesn’t have it…. Bing does though.
|Tain is only here according to Google|
|The town of Tain is here on Bing but not labelled on Google…. uh oh|
Courtesy of blogger comes several new ways to view GeoPlanIT….. (all blogger blogs are enabled I think as long as the site feeds are enabled fully)
- Flipcard: available at www.geoplanit.co.uk/view/flipcard
- Mosaic: available at www.geoplanit.co.uk/view/mosaic
- Sidebar: available at www.geoplanit.co.uk/view/sidebar
- Snapshot: available at www.geoplanit.co.uk/view/snapshot
- Timeslide: available at www.geoplanit.co.uk/view/timeslide
They look quite good I think but will they make it easier to read the site? I’m not sure what do you think?
|My new phone
(image from HRC)
Update: Uh oh @mapsgirl has kindly pointed out that if you use Disqus for your comments on blogger then you won’t be able to get comments to your posts via disqus on the mobile site (the default blogger comments system seems unaffected)
Just a quick news item that if you are visiting this site with a mobile/cell phone you will see a specially formatted site!
How did I do this miracle of modern wizardry you ask?
|Use a barcode scanner|
Simple I switched my blogger dashboard (goto draft.blogger.com) to draft and then under settings – Email & Mobile checked the following:
Yes, show the mobile version of my template on mobile devices.
|Quite easy really…|
Whilst I’m still hosting this blog on blogger.com, I thought it time to have my own domain name, so here it is : www.geoplanit.co.uk inspired yes?!
I thought I might write a quick post after what I thought was a pretty limited interest piece on my Kindle. Okay it was about some hidden features, but really I wasn’t expecting this. I thought a quick summary of my website statistics was in order.
So up until yesterday my most popular post was this one :
HP DesignJet 500 and Windows 7: Yes it does work even without the HPGL2 card!
It had about 420 pageviews in its life time (I keep getting comments on this post, which is nice).
Now my post yesterday :
Kindle 3 some hidden features
This got over 4500 pageviews, yesterday alone.
All I can say is wow, I thought this was a bit odd so I did some checking…. I have a “who’s among us” (see bottom of page) counter and had a look earlier today at the history:
As you can see at the height of yesterdays visitations I had 114 visitors on my site at one stage.
Now I know that statistics for websites aren’t an exact science, but I guess this post hit some interest nerve in people (and hit the right website listings!). I do have referral information and it seemed traffic came from some ‘technical’ sites and news boards. I also saw that if you type in “kindle 3 hidden” in Google this site is third on the list, hurrah!
Well that’s it, I just thought it was interesting to see how the correct content can drive visitors to your site. A big thank you to all those who visited and left comments, it’s really appreciated! I hope future posts of mine can be deemed as interesting and of value to people.
As you will have noticed I’ve changed the look of my blog again to keep it fresh and hopefully make it easier to read. Please let me know if there are any improvements that could be made or display issues. I’m still using Artisteer and can I just say its a joy to use
Okay I quite like Twitter, it’s allowed me to find websites articles and professionals that I wouldn’t otherwise be aware of. Anyway I saw that one of my more the blogs I visit more often on the web (digital urban) had placed these nice retweet buttons on each of its articles. So I asked “how do I do that?” on my favourite search engine.
For those of you interested I found this site to be most useful (it’s just case of copy and paste) for those of you using blogger: | <urn:uuid:033f7de5-a35a-4b60-90e0-eb47d389d1bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geoplanit.co.uk/?cat=35 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946748 | 1,683 | 1.570313 | 2 |
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Fallen tree delays trains between Worcester and Cheltenham
TRAINS have been delayed by more than an hour after a tree fell on the line between Worcester Shrub Hill and Cheltenham.
A large conifer tree had fallen on the track causing a blockage betweenCheltenham and Abbottswood Junction.
Three Cross Country services were at a standstill but engineers are on site working to re-open the lines as soon as possible.
A Network Rail spokesperson said: "The driver working a CrossCountry Cardiff to Nottingham service reported a fallen tree near to Abbotswood Junction (north of Cheltenham) which blocked the down line and obscured the up line.
"Offtrack staff attended and removed the tree but delays were caused to CrossCountry services from Birmingham to Bristol and the West and to First Great Western services between Worcester and Bristol." | <urn:uuid:a1734460-3520-4717-b3eb-099a446d816f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/10281349.Fallen_tree_delays_trains_between_Worcester_and_Cheltenham/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970303 | 202 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Four Ways Our Family Says
NO to GMO!
GMO – Genetically Modified Organism
By Scott Morefield
Guest Writer for Wake Up World
One of the most important issues of our day, an issue that directly affects the health and well-being of everyone on our planet, is an issue most people have never heard about genetically modified organisms (GMO) in our food supply. The ‘why’ is a topic we encourage everyone to research. Start here, then do some Google searches. Research both sides, then decide for your family if foods containing GMO are something you feel comfortable with your children consuming on a regular basis.
We strongly believe that removing genetically modified organisms (GMO) from our diet is one of the most important things we can do for our health. Here are a few steps our family has taken to do just that. Sure, it’s impossible to completely eliminate GMO, but we can minimize it, educate others, and fight the contamination of our food supply. Voting with our wallet is a great first step!
One of the most widely produced and used franken-engineered crops, GMO corn is in everything from processed foods to ethanol (watch Food Inc. to see just how many products corn is used in, as well as the tactics of Monsanto and their ilk). The geniuses at Monsanto altered the DNA of corn to be resistant to pests (hey, why spray the pesticide ON the corn when you can grow it IN the corn!) as well as resistant to their herbicide, Round-UP. Who needs weeding when you can dust your entire field, corn and weeds alike, with a deadly herbicide?
One ‘small’ detail, the fact that humans actually EAT the pesticide and herbicide laced corn that’s in almost every mainline food item they buy, is doubtless not lost on the psychopaths at the franken-engineering firms. What’s collateral damage when you can make a few extra bucks? Folks, you don’t need a pressure-canner to CAN this toxin-filled corn!
However, avoiding GMO corn isn’t easy because there are no labeling laws (within the USA) and, as stated before, corn is in SO many things. We found a frozen brand at Sam’s that is voluntarily advertised on the package as non-GMO. The other day we passed a farmer’s roadside stand with a sign that said ‘organic corn.’ Buy in bulk, eat a ton, freeze or can the rest. Making connections with local farmers is huge. Talk to them about GMO. Many of the smaller farmers you meet will be very aware. Don’t buy from the ones who aren’t. As always, avoiding non-organic processed foods is important. Read the labels – if it has corn syrup,high-fructose corn syrup, corn oil, corn starch, malt, maltodextrin, maltose, maltol, ethyl maltol, mannitol, malt syrup, dextrose, dextrin, polydextrose, etc., don’t buy it or at least minimize consumption of these products.
2. Sink Soy
Processed, non-fermented soy is not only GMO, but has lots of other health ramifications as well. Like corn, soy is in almost every non-organic processed food. Textured soy protein (TSP), hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), textured vegetable protein (TVP), textured soy flour (TSF), lecithin, meat analogs, structured protein fiber (SPF), and soy protein concentrate are few of the GMO soy based ingredients you will find lurking in processed food. Avoiding soy isn’t quite as difficult as corn since corn is a widely used ingredient AND a vegetable most people love to eat (although some people eat soy burgers, soy milk, etc. – because of the health issues above this is not recommended). It really just comes down to avoiding non-organic processed foods.
On their website, Monsanto insists, “’There is no need for, or value in testing the safety of GM foods in humans.” Wonder why?
3. Shake the Sugar
These days more than half of non-organic white sugar isn’t from beautiful green sugar cane fields somewhere in the Caribbean, but from franken-engineered sugar beets developed in a lab somewhere by mad scientists who get high off thinking of ways to poison the food supply so farmers won’t have to weed.
The best all-around advice (although we don’t follow nearly enough!) is to avoid sugar altogether. No need to make a case here – we all know it’s not good for us. However, the Morefields like a sugar fix as much as anybody, so when we do, we like to buy organic cane sugar produced from those green sugar cane fields and sold at EarthFare. It’s a little more work to scoop it from the bin into bags, label it, and haul it home, but the peace of mind is well worth it. And, of course, sugar is in most non-organic processed foods and drinks, so avoiding those is a must as well.
4. Replace Canola Oil with Peanut, Olive, and Coconut Oils
Sorry folks, no catchy phrase here, unless you can ‘crush’ canola oil. Canola oil is not only used in most households to cook, but is also found in many processed foods you find at the grocery store. Completely replacing such a major GMO product with non-GMO has lots of positive ramifications, especially for a family that cooks from scratch as much as ours. Virtually every dish has some sort of oil in it, so getting the GMO out of the oils we use, if we are careful in other areas, will get it out of lots of the dishes we cook and consume.
For everyday baking, we buy bulk peanut oil at Sam’s, refilling a smaller, handier container in our kitchen from it. It’s a little more work, but quite cost-effective. Organic virgin and extra virgin olive oils can be found at health food stores like EarthFare, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s, although occasionally you can find them at closeout stores like Big Lots for a fraction of their original price, and even at discount retailers like Ross and TJ Max. Note: Be careful what oil you use because not all olive oil is olive oil.
Coconut oil is harder to find, but can be found online or at health food stores. Although Trader Joe’s is probably the least expensive, coconut oil is still more expensive than the other oils. There’s a reason for that – it’s also the best for you! We can’t afford to use coconut oil for everything we cook, but if we could we probably would.
Does anyone see a pattern here? Almost all GMO ingredients can be ‘conveniently’ found all in one place, the middle aisles of mainstream grocery stores! These are the convenience items, for families that just don’t have the time to cook from scratch, ‘conveniently’ laced with potentially deadly GMO ingredients for young and old alike. When shopping at mainline grocery stores, stay on the edges and avoid the center aisles. If you must buy processed foods, it’s worth a few more dollars to buy organic. (Just be sure it’s labeled ‘USDA Organic,’ or you might not be getting what you paid for.) The Non-GMO shopping guide is a great place to start!
About the Author
Scott is a blogger, writer, and researcher whose primary focus is how to raise healthy kids despite a system and status quo that makes it as difficult as possible. He and his wife, Kim, live in the hills of east Tennessee with their four small children. He holds an MBA from East Tennessee State University. Scott has written over 20 articles for the natural health website NaturalNews.com. In addition, Scott and Kim blog about parenting, marriage, healthy lifestyle, nutrition, and homesteading at amorefieldlife.com. Connect with them on Facebook at facebook.com/amorefieldlife. | <urn:uuid:1a5d82e8-137d-4567-a05f-ff97444eac97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://biosil.wordpress.com/category/food/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947397 | 1,724 | 2.015625 | 2 |
|<< Proverbs 5 >>|
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
My son, give ear to my wisdom and incline your ear to my sayings
2So that you heed counsel and your lips will keep knowledge.
3Because the lips of an estranged woman are dripping honey and her words are softer than oil.
4But their end is of bitter wormwood, for they are sharper than a double-edged sword
5And her legs marry to death; her walk causes men to recline in Sheol.
6And she treads not in the way of life, for her paths lead them astray and they are unknown.
7Therefore children, hear me, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
8Remove your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house
9Lest you give others your power and your years to those who are merciless
10And foreigners will be filled with your power and your labor enter into the house of strangers
11And your soul moves you to regret in your old age when the flesh of your body is wasted
12And you will say, “Why have I hated instruction and my heart has despised reproof”
13“And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, and to my instructors have not turned my ear?”
14“I have been in almost every evil in the assembly and in the congregation.”
15Drink waters from your well and running waters from your spring,
16And let your waters overflow in your streets and let them travel in your streets.
17And let them be to you alone, and let not estranged males be sexual partners with you.
18And your fountain shall be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth-
19An affectionate hind and an affectionate mountain goat; learn her ways always and think on her love.
20Do not go astray, my son, with an estranged woman, neither embrace the bosom of an estranged woman.
21Because the ways of a man are in front of Lord Jehovah and all his paths are open before him.
22The evil man will be held captive in his debts and he will be bound in the cords of his sins.
23He will die without instruction and in the abundance of his error he will be led astray. | <urn:uuid:e670740b-e79f-48d4-9a99-d4e21404d195> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://biblehub.com/aramaic-plain-english/proverbs/5.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956606 | 488 | 1.875 | 2 |
Force Requirements in Stability Operations
Military requirements for the post-Cold War environment are the central question of a large, somewhat disorganized, debate. The concept of conducting frequent and extended "peace operations" has produced a significant effort to understand both their political context and their military requirements. One category of peace operations, interventions to restore and maintain order and stability, continues its prominence as current news and as a recurring theme in nightmare visions of the future. This article investigates the numbers required for stability operations, both for entire countries and individual cities, and explores the implications of those numbers for deployment, rotation, readiness, and personnel retention.
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Non-RAND
- Paperback Pages: 11
- Document Number: RP-479
- Year: 1996
- Series: Reprints
Originally published in: Parameters: U.S. Army War College Quarterly, v. XXV, no. 4, Winter 1995/96, pp. 59-69.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation reprint series. This product is part of the RAND Corporation reprint series. RAND reprints present previously published journal articles, book chapters, and reports with the permission of the publisher. RAND reprints have been formally reviewed in accordance with the publisher's editorial policy, and are compliant with RAND's rigorous quality assurance standards for quality and objectivity.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. | <urn:uuid:d17b50d1-08c4-450b-bb8e-f4d22fead5f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/RP479.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924233 | 314 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Everybody has encountered that instance when they’re sitting on the couch before the TV and the remote is just somewhere you can’t reach. It is during this time when most folks have wished that they were able to lengthen their hand like the Fantastic Four’s Mr. Fantastic. As it turns out, technology hasn’t advanced that far, but you can instead use grabber tools, the next best option.
Pick-up tools are simply extensions of the hand which enable you to take hold of stuff that would typically be in places that are impossible to reach. A good scenario would be bird feeders, which normally hang from tree branches or are perched on specially designed posts. The elderly or the differently abled can’t use a step ladder or stool to get hold of it, which is where grabber tools come in.
Grabber tools are generally constructed from aluminum and are basically long sticks that possess claw-like tentacles termed ‘grabbers’. These grabbers normally stay in the ‘open’ position, and when you would like to grab an item, all you have to do is grip the trigger, which shuts the grabbers. By using this device, you can pick up an object as minuscule as a toothpick or as wide as a soda can.
Returning to the bird feeder, it is normally the case that people can’t reach them without climbing onto a ladder or a stool. That being said, persons with handicaps and the elderly are unable to climb on a ladder or climb on a chair due to the risk of slipping and hurting themselves in the process. All they ‘d have to do is to reach up with their grabber instrument, secure the bird feeder tray, and bring it down to their level.
Protecting Feeders from Cats
The bird tables that you installed in your patio draw in birds, and small birds are some of the ideal meals for cats everywhere. Normally, you may not be able to place the feeder tray on a rather high place, while cats can usually reach this to seize the poor birds. Nonetheless, with the a proper grabber tool, you can hang the bird feeder practically anywhere you prefer.
The biggest selling point of grabber tools is simply that they are rather low priced. They normally cost less than short ladders, and by spending a few more bucks, you could finally get that coveted peace of mind that stems from the reduced risk of injuries resulting from falls from stools or ladders. In addition, this benefit makes it a suitable gift for people who no longer have the capacity to move around as much as they would want to.
Another reason why it would make a fabulous present is the fact that you could also get an extended-reach grab tool that can be used as a a walking stick–thereby hitting two birds and whatnot. For more information and facts, you can visit ehow.com/about_6519576_flexible-claw-pick_up-tool.html or pickuptool.hubpages.com/hub/Pick-up-and-Reaching-Tool-Extended-reach-Tool. | <urn:uuid:5459ce0f-7305-4fbd-9aea-d40ef12bee6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thebitbot.com/product-reviews/2012/06/extended-reach-grabber-gadgets-and-how-they-can-make-things-easier-for-you/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960242 | 652 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Anna Spiegel outlines the process by which the pardoned turkey was chosen:
The selection process began in June with a whole rafter, or flock, of turkeys. National Turkey Federation chairman Steve Willardsen chose a farm he owns in Rockingham County, Virginia, as the birthplace. Forty eggs were selected and incubated together. Once hatched, the poults moved to their own barn. Turkeys are naturally skittish, but the select group was trained to be what the National Turkey Federation describes as "media-savvy." Handlers familiarized the turkeys with human contact and played music around the clock so the turkeys got used to loud noises and human voices.
The final bird, and its alternate, were picked "based on the birds’ ease with handling, physical health, and superior looks."
(Photo: The National Thanksgiving turkey and its alternate are seen during a press conference November 20, 2012 at the W Hotel in Washington, DC. By Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) | <urn:uuid:9acb4254-fbbd-421c-bd1e-18d941cf98aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2012/11/22/the-other-november-election/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97079 | 208 | 2.140625 | 2 |
In Psalm 32:8 God tells us how He wants to direct us. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or
Blog Post by Guest Contributor Betsy Price
Does that surprise you?
Now please do not misunderstand. The fact that I am not a perfect mom, and I am glad about it does not mean that I do not try to become a better mom.
For instance, each day I attempt to practice I Corinthians 13:4-8a in loving my child.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (ESV)
Betsy is patient and kind….um, not always, but I do remind myself that is what love is. And the fact is it is hard not to boast when you have a child as intelligent, beautiful, talented, and as godly as mine! I do often insist on my own way, and I do get irritable when I have to explain the same math problem five times. Sometimes, I really do wonder if I can bear it.
You can see just from that passage alone, I am far from a perfect mother. I am glad that I am not! Let me explain why.
- It shows my child that no one is perfect. There will be many Christians along the way who seem like they have it all together. They do not. What a relief to know that behind everyone’s Sunday Mask, they are real people with foibles and failures. Even adults can struggle.
- Confession is a part of the Christian life. Even after you are saved, you will need to confess your sins. Jesus washed us with his blood, but our feet continue to get dirty during our walk in life. We need to make sure to wash our feet.
- Grace-ful forgiving. Forgiveness comes through God’s grace. We all need His grace and to give grace to others. It is not grace if we earn it.
- Restoring relationships. If my sin or imperfection hurts another, I need to restore the relationship. That means if I lost my patience during that math problem, I need to ask my child to forgive me. I need to demonstrate humility and honesty.
- It is a process. Sure, we have positional sanctification, but that progressional sanctification can sure be a challenge. Regardless of our age, we should desire and strive to be more Christ-like. There is always going to be something we can work on or an area in which we can grow.
All those are good enough reasons on their own. I have one more reason however, why I think me being imperfect is good for my child.
If I were perfect, she would not need to look to her perfect Father.
If I loved her perfectly, never failed her or others, and always met her needs the way they should be met, then she would not have as much need to seek God. When I fail her, He will not. When I am not there for her, He will be. Though I may not make the right choices, He has a perfect will for her. My deficiencies can lead her to seek out her all-sufficient God in a meaning way.
It is not just me telling her she needs God. It is me showing her in both my positive (and negative) actions that she needs God.
And that I still do, too.
Betsy Price is a stay-at-home wife & mom and homeschool teacher and she enjoys it all (most of the time!). NO, she doesn’t get bored! And what is her purpose? “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever!” | <urn:uuid:e36c5365-8a6e-422a-b5bd-8271175debf1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teachmagazine.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972532 | 854 | 1.5 | 2 |
Calling octopuses intelligent beings might seem like a stretch. After all, the eight-armed invertebrates count the everyday garden snail among their close evolutionary cousins. But octopuses are experts in camouflage, can deter predators with poisonous bites, engage in play, solve complex problems, and can squeeze themselves into tiny crevices when threatened. Such observations indicate that the octopus is without a doubt smarter than the average snail, but the nature of this intelligence remains unknown. Considering that our branches on the evolutionary tree are separated by more than half a billion years, can the intellect of an octopus bear any comparison to that of a human? City University of New York philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith has begun a unique collaboration with a team of Australian marine scientists to examine this distinctly philosophical question using biological research.
Godfrey-Smith spends nearly every summer in his native Sydney. His love of diving in the city’s harbor bore scientific fruit when he captured a rare photograph of gloomy octopuses (Octopus tetricus) mating and published his observations of the event in a short paper with marine biologist Christine Huffard of Conservation International Indonesia (Moll Res, 30:81-86, 2010). Godfrey-Smith started teaching himself about octopus biology, focusing on their nervous systems and brains.
Most invertebrates have ladderlike nervous systems with knots of neurons connected by nerve fibers. Vertebrate nervous systems are instead dominated by one big clump of neurons—the brain. Octopuses, along with their cephalopod cousins squid and cuttlefish, seem to be an evolutionary in-between. Their nervous system retains some knot architecture—more than half of their 500 million neurons are distributed throughout their eight arms—but they also have a large central brain.
“It is fascinating to think about cephalopod cognition, since they are mollusks,” says Jean Boal, a biologist at Millersville University in Pennsylvania.“Their ancestors are clams and snails and slugs, which are not very bright. The environment has pushed them toward evolving cognition that looks and functions a lot like vertebrate cognition.”
Part of the point of philosophy is to try and address life’s mysteries. Biologists do the same thing. I think there should be a stronger connection between the two fields.—Peter Godfrey-SmithGodfrey-Smith decided to connect this biological concept with his interest in the philosophy of mind, particularly in nonhumans. In 2010, he began a project with Alexandra Schnell, a graduate student at Macquarie University in Sydney, to conduct behavioral observation studies that address whether octopus intelligence differs from that of other species. Do octopuses learn differently? Does the decentralization of neurons mean cephalopods have multiple minds or competing consciousnesses?
“When you watch an octopus, it does look like the arms engage in independent exploration, they feel around individually,” says Godfrey-Smith.
In early experiments, conducted in the summer of 2010 at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Godfrey-Smith and Schnell noticed peculiar behavior in an octopus in an unfamiliar tank with food in the middle. “When the arms reached the food, it seemed as though they were hauling the octopus toward the center while [other of its arms] were pulling to keep it in the corner,” as if there was a “tug of war” occurring within the animal, the philosopher recalls. The researchers later realized that too much light shining in the tank might have influenced the reaction.
That same summer, they popped gloomy octopuses into aquaria with a high-definition TV positioned alongside one wall. They screened a video of a human hand unscrewing the cap on a jar with a crab claw inside to see if the octopuses could mimic the movement. The experiment was designed to uncover clues as to how they may learn.
According to Godfrey-Smith, initial observations yielded potentially promising results, with the octopuses showing hints of learning by mimicry. Unfortunately, before conclusions could be drawn and follow-up studies arranged, the octopus learning trials were cut short when the Sydney Institute of Marine Science started renovating all of its aquarium facilities earlier this year. Godfrey-Smith and Schnell are currently searching for a new research facility, and they hope to reboot the learning trials this month.
“I think it is a big advantage having an interdisciplinary team, because there are different ways of thinking when coming from a dominant scientific or philosophical educational background,” says Schnell. “The project has benefited from our unique union, and I have learned to take a more eclectic view of science due to his philosophical perspective on addressing questions.”
Godfrey-Smith is hoping to see more collaboration between philosophers and researchers to address scientific questions. “Part of the point of philosophy is to try and address life’s mysteries. Biologists do the same thing. I think there should be a stronger connection between the two fields,” he says. | <urn:uuid:271fa6d2-baa4-474c-bd94-537f590dd969> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/31091/title/Octophilosophy-/flagPost/61428/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956599 | 1,042 | 3.46875 | 3 |
|Uploaded:||December 10, 2007|
|Updated:||June 9, 2010|
Werewolves are legendary creature of the ancient times. The word 'were' means 'man' in Latin. This clearly states 'manwolf'. A werewolf is a man or woman that transforms into a wolf at the stroke of full moon. There are lots of examples of werewolves. Some stories state that there is a cure to the werewolf curse. When a human is attacked by a werewolf, that person gets poisoned and slowly transforms into a werewolf. Its final transformation is their first full moon. Some stories say that one will stay a werewolf forever, others say a person would transform into a wolf whenever they wanted to, and others say that they transform into a werewolf at full moon. Werewolves are known to be an aggressive killing machine. Sometimes werewolves can control their temper. In this lesson, I will teach you "how to draw a werewolf", using step by step instructions. Even though this is an old lesson, when it comes to drawing a werewolf, this is the kind that pops into your mind when you are sitting there visualizing, what one of these beast should look like. So sit back and relax because I'm going to take you on one howling of a journey. Peace out my peeps! | <urn:uuid:3629b150-75a1-4775-8d89-8735d219acbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/96/2/1/284/how-to-draw-a-werewolf-step-5.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948565 | 274 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Friday 22 April 2011: Early morning doorway
This door is just outside la porte de Cassan, one of the four historic gateways into the fortified village in the Middle Ages. Here, outside the ramparts were the barris (in Occitan), the medieval suburbs, and the road past this building leads down to the river and eventually to the stepping-stone crossing which was the old route towards the Chateau de Cassan and Roujan, the next village.
I was out at 8 this morning (unusually early for me) to catch the sun before it disappears, as it's doing now, and found my planned balcony wasn't in the sun at that hour - I'll have to blip that another time. It was interesting, though, to see the village in early morning light.
When I started blipping just over two years ago, I anticipated a fairly impersonal sharing of photos and comments on photos, but I quickly found that it's the people who make Blip - thank you all for your company!
And thanks to all who work at Blip, constantly improving this wonderful phenomenon. | <urn:uuid:882020bb-c5b6-410c-994b-24eccc49ae80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1105436 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975111 | 228 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Kiladis, G. N., and K. M. Weickmann, 1992: Circulation anomalies associated with tropical convection during northern winter. Mon. Wea. Rev., 120, 1900-1923.
Lagged cross correlations between outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and National Meteorological Center global analyses are utilized to isolate the preferred upper-level and surface circulation anomalies associated with tropical convection during northern winter. Three intraseasonal time scales are studied: 30-70, 14-30, and 6-14 days. In the 30-70-day band, the upper-level circulation signals are zonally elongated, with zonal wavenumbers 0-2 dominant. Higher-frequency signals are dominated by zonal wavenumbers 5 and 6. In the 14-30-day band, convection over the eastern hemisphere is associated with upper-level anticyclones in the subtropics and appears to be linked in some cases to midlatitude wave trains. The strongest signals are for convection over Africa, Australia, and the eastern Indian Ocean. Only weak signals are seen for convection over Indonesia. In these regions of upper-level easterlies, OLR anomalies peak prior to the maximum anomalies in wind, suggesting forcing of the circulation by tropical heating.
In contrast, 14-30-day and 6-14-day convection over the eastern tropical Pacific, eastern South America, and central South Pacific is primarily associated with the intrusion of troughs in the westerlies originating in the extratropics. These are regions of mean upper level westerly flow, or where upper-westerlies lie adjacent to tropical convergence zones overlain by only weak easterly flow aloft. The large amplitude of these troughs prior to the OLR anomaly is indicative of the forcing of the convection by these disturbances. | <urn:uuid:3c655d40-b733-4724-af7c-8729d09e917b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/pubs_cdc/1992/details/kiladis_02abs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909112 | 384 | 2.515625 | 3 |
FLORA. ILLINOIS, FRIDAY. JANUARY 17. 1908.
liaa learned that it pays in his business, to have the BEST and he aims to have it.
Oood Norses eat no more than poor ones; they can do twice the work and always tind sale at good prices.
Well bred stock earns money for its owner. Low grade stock eats its head otf and produces nothing.
Good poultry, properly taken care of. multiplies, lays eggs and produces wealth; cheap poultry does just as mutch scratching, and just as much eating, but is not productive and does hot earn the owner
Good Buildings, clean and warm and well painted indicate thrift and prosperity; they save food and make mone.v; shacks and tumble-down structures, onen to wind and storm, cluttered and dirty and rotting, not only Indicate lack of thrift and consequent poverty, but they help to produce it.
ip-to-date Machinery saves labor and makes farm work easy. The prosperous farmer seeks tlie best. He knows that shoddy or cheap machinery is dear at any price.
Must Be Collected.
And So With Fencing
Tiic successful farmer isgivinj? tlii-. -^'iliii^ot .^ii'rion.s th»)uglit and at- te.ition and is coming to dcinanil ihi' lic-l llmt s!;ill and ingenuity can build. He has grown away from the old -I'lit rail, which takes up valuable room, and is vortii niorc money »¦ | <urn:uuid:7a6071a3-4350-4b54-bbc4-561de8d148aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/fpl01/id/6920/rec/14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916207 | 350 | 1.851563 | 2 |
But that would change with the creation of a two and a half year permanent “President of the EU” position. The proposal could only see fruition if the Lisbon Treaty, where the job was born, is ratified in autumn, and that is dependent upon Ireland’s vote, and the Czech Republic. Specific details about duties and powers of the new post are significantly missing in the treaty. It’s expected that the job description and its powers will be developed on an “as they go along” basis.
Originally opposed by Britain’s Gordon Brown and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, both have now decided that Blair would be the best man for the job, Brown even going so far as to admit that Blair is their man as top engineer of the coming “new world order.” And with the unofficial endorsement of Madam Secretary Clinton of the United States, and private sessions with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Blair’s coveting of the new post may be reached.
For himself, Blair says he wishes to build a bridge between Europe and the new Obama administration through the EU presidency. That’s correct terminology to boost anyone’s acceptance on the global scene. In the Philippines he recently gave a talk entitled, “The Leader as Nation Builder in a Time of Globalisation,” sure to garner extra brownie points with the elitist global crowd. No wonder then, that he has become the anointed one.
One fly in the ointment could be Germany’s Angela Merkel who, if not re-elected in September, desires the job for herself and would seriously campaign for it. Another could be Blair’s total ineffectiveness as Middle East envoy for the last couple of years. But one suspects that ineffectiveness would give the globalists barely a pause in their feeble objections to Blair as EU superman, and architect of the coming "new world order."
Photo: AP Images | <urn:uuid:8649ad45-b228-40d5-b9f6-f216387fc775> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/8430-blair-covets-permanent-eu-presidency | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961013 | 407 | 1.921875 | 2 |
My father used to say, “We’re not snowed in. You’re snowed out.”
Everyone wants to be the last one in with a set of keys to keep everybody else out, you know? But the reason they’re coming here is because of those values, those relationships that develop and a community with a town square with shops and a courthouse. Hopefully new residents keep that same spirit and value system.
Certainly the maple festival has been around a long time, but I don’t think there was ever much maple syrup produced here. It’s mostly produced in the farms surrounding us.
My great-grandfather was a barber by trade. He got into undertaking full time in 1909.
My parking lot, right up on the hill, seems to get more snow than any other place in Chardon.
That’s how you can tell if someone is local. If they don’t remember where that big rock used to be, they’re not from here. You’re not considered a local until the last person who remembers you moving to town dies.
There are only like four places in the world that have our snow, true lake-effect snow.
Air comes across an open body of water, immediately goes into a high elevation, where it dumps.
I was asked once, “Wasn’t Chardon better when you were growing up in the ’50s?” My answer was, “Yeah. I could walk down Main Street, knew all the shops, knew everyone on the street.” But if you could have asked my father if Chardon wasn’t better when he was growing up, he would have said, “Oh yeah. You walk down Main Street and you know all the stores, know all the people; it was way better in the ’30s.” And then if you ask my grandfather in the teens if Chardon wasn’t a better place, he would have said the same thing.
My youngest son is graduating in 2010. His great-grandfather graduated in 1910. So that’s a hundred years of our family being in our schools, graduating from our town.
They trusted great-grandpa, then trusted grandpa, then trusted dad, trusted me and hopefully they’ll continue to trust my son as we go on. That feels good.
The guy who snowplows our place, my dad knew his dad and their dads before that. | <urn:uuid:8a9e845f-acc2-42e1-ad3a-ef5d77424488> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clevelandmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=1578600D80804596A222593669321019&tier=4&id=6D01E80130B946729519AF8F708AABF6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973891 | 526 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us. Rodney A. Brooks. x + 260 pp. Pantheon Books, 2002. $26.
The late 1980s to early 1990s was one of the most exciting periods in the short history of artificial intelligence (AI). A mild war had broken out between representatives of the AI establishment and a growing band of dissidents. The former were custodians of an essentially Cartesian view of what AI was and how it should be practiced: Intelligence was to be largely understood in terms of manipulating carefully constructed internal models of external reality; hence the quest for intelligent machines should focus on ways of building models of the world from sensor data and the development of algorithms to "reason" about the world using these models. The dissidents rejected these assumptions, regarding the major part of natural intelligence to be closely bound up with the generation of adaptive behavior in the harsh, unforgiving environments most animals inhabit; thus the investigation of complete autonomous sensorimotor systems that were strongly biologically inspired—"artificial creatures"—was seen as the most fruitful way forward, rather than the development of disembodied algorithms for abstract problem-solving. Vested interests were threatened, emotions ran high, insults were traded.
At the center of these skirmishes, as one of the leaders of the dissidents, was the combative figure of Rod Brooks. A decade later, Brooks, now director of the feted AI laboratory at MIT and chairman of iRobot Corporation, is one of the most important and influential people in AI. In this excellent, highly readable book he explores past, present and future relationships between humans and robotic technology.
Brooks's thesis is that we are about to be simultaneously hit by two technological revolutions that together will fundamentally change our nature and the way we live. The first, the robotics revolution, will unleash intelligent autonomous robots, descendants of the artificial creatures mentioned above, into our everyday lives, changing our society and the ways we interact with machines. The second, the biotechnology revolution, will transform both the ways we use technology in our own bodies and the way we build machines. Thus "our machines will become much more like us, and we will become much more like our machines."
In the hands of many other authors, such a provocative starting point would signal yet another farfetched trash-science potboiler. Instead we are treated to a considered and thought-provoking work that clearly acknowledges the limitations of the current state of the art and the huge leaps that still have to be achieved.
The first half of the book is mainly concerned with Brooks's views on AI, vividly illustrating how they developed. It takes us from his beginnings in Adelaide, South Australia, growing up "a nerd in a place that did not know what a nerd was" (by the age of 12 he'd built his first successful game-playing computer), to his current position as international science star. This engaging story takes in Hollywood, the toy industry, space exploration and various classics of science fiction. Most important, it challenges much of "classical" AI as being misguided and opens out Brooks's vision of a widespread use of artificial creatures that will force many of us to reevaluate the way we view our relationship with technology—and indeed our sense of self as highly sophisticated machines.
The second half is more confrontational. Brooks tussles with the likes of Roger Penrose, David Chalmers and John Searle, who have all famously argued, in different ways and to different degrees, against the likelihood of AI, as it is currently practiced, producing "truly" intelligent machines. He claims that at the heart of their arguments is an emotional tribalism, a raw appeal to "how can machines ever be like us—we are special" sentiments. Although he is careful to qualify his arguments and double-check himself, Brooks has a tendency to lean toward computational views of intelligence, as if the schoolboy who lusted after the IBM mainframe in the financial district of his home city cannot quite be kept at bay. Hence, although he is very clear about his belief that our current understandings of intelligence are missing something fundamental (the "juice," as he calls it), it seems he more than half agrees with those who argue that "the amount of computational power in a personal computer will surpass that in a human brain sometime in the next twenty years."
Many of us in AI, and many more neuroscientists, do not buy this argument, indeed regard it as nonsensical. Not enough is yet understood about how nervous systems work to be able to make any kind of meaningful comparison. However, recent discoveries in neuroscience are starting to reveal a complex picture involving subtly interwoven electrochemical processes employing various levels of modulation and reconfiguration. It is very likely that over the next few decades important new principles underlying the brain's organization and its behavior-generating mechanisms will be found, but there is no compelling reason to believe that any of them will be computational. However, it is probable that our best chance of discovering "the juice" is for increased collaboration between AI and neuroscience. This is bound to lead to a diminished role for the idea that intelligence is computation.
The final chapter muses on possible developments that will let us physically merge much more closely with technology; potential advances include artificial retinal implants, and robotic limbs fully integrated into the nervous system. In the closing pages, plausible future uses of biotechnology to generate organic body-machine interfaces are discussed. However, an alternative technological future would see fundamental breakthroughs in the massively funded biosciences unlocking the secrets of development and regeneration. In this future, worn out or damaged body parts could be regrown. Advanced integration of bodies and machines might then be used only for rather sinister purposes. But as Brooks rightly states, "It is too early and the present too murky to see where all this leads."
This is the best kind of popular science book: The ideas are clear and accessible but not dumbed down. It is a very welcome antidote to the rash of recent works claiming that our world will be taken over within the next 20 years by robots of superhuman intelligence. It is far more visionary than that.—Phil Husbands, Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex, United Kingdom | <urn:uuid:72db0748-8b38-4a31-b756-dea321879738> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/id.2267,content.true,css.print/bookshelf.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958449 | 1,261 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Servolution – Retooled
When you think of serving what comes to mind? Jesus set the perfect example by simply kneeling at the feet of the disciples, teaching them by exampl...Download
clcKIDS is a children’s ministry uniquely designed with your child in mind! Kids, birth through fifth grade,
experience safe, age-appropriate environments where the Bible is taught in a creative and relevant way. Join the fun and experience a world where kids meet Jesus on their level!
As you enter our kids spaces, your first stop will be at one of our Check-In Stations where a friendly volunteer will check your child into our database system. Our Check-In stations open 30 minutes prior to the start of each worship experience. Once your family is checked in, one of our volunteers will be happy to show you the age appropriate room we have created for your child.
You and your child will be given matching identification tags that are exclusive to your family and your visit. Your child will need to wear the name tag portion of your matching identification tags which bears a code that is matched to your portion during checkout at the end of the service. During checkout, you will return to your child’s room and show your tag in order for your child to be released back to you.
Please be sure to ask any of our amazing volunteers or staff if you have questions about our values,
policies or procedures.
On your way home, be sure to ask your child: “Did you have fun?” and “What did you learn today?”
If for some reason your child were to need you during the worship experience, your family identification code would appear on the screens in the auditorium. We would ask that you exit the auditorium immediately and look for a staff member who will direct you to your child’s room.
The Bible is the most amazing book ever written! We strive to bring its stories to life through activities and discussions that keep children engaged in a way they understand. We want all children to love God’s word and understand the value of applying it to their lives.
Birth – Walking
Walking – 3 Years
God loves them and is with them
4 Years – Kindergarten
Trust – they can trust that God is real and they can count on him.
1st – 5th Grade
Experience – begin to experience and live it in their daily lives | <urn:uuid:48c64232-4e7d-4af7-9b95-1edc6b8afc03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://clcrolla.com/ministries/kids-central/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954239 | 502 | 1.507813 | 2 |
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Travel Through Five Continents:
Out Of The Western Door
The Hawaiian Islands
The Island World
Scenery Of New Zealand
Natural And Social Peculiarities
Sydney In Particular
The Southern Metropolis
Sights And Scenes In Australia
A Brief History
A General View
Sights In Colombo And Madras
From Madras To The Himalayas
Among The Mountains
Glancing Over India
In And About Calcutta
Up The Ganges Valley
Delhi To Bombay
India To Egypt
Alexander To Jerusalem
Round About Jerusalem
Jerusalem And Bethlehem
Homeward And Backward
( Originally Published Late 1904 )
The aboriginals of Australia, like those of Tasmania,, and indeed of every other country of modern discovery, are vanishing. They are for the most part gathered on reservations under government protection and care. Their color is black, though they are distinct from the African races. In a general sense they are perhaps rightfully regarded as being very much degraded, yet in some respects they show a remarkable degree of shrewdness and sagacity. The men of these tribes are employed by the detective service as "black-trackers," because they can discover and follow a trail where a white man would never succeed. The efforts to educate and Christianize them have been crowned with but a small degree of success. They do not seem, however, to be any more averse to receiving evil than other savage races. They have made some efforts to repel the encroachment of the white men into their country, and in doing so have manifested ingenious cruelty. But their weapons and methods have been utterly futile before the arms and power of the Europeans. They have very justly become famous for their use of the boomerang. This implement of war is a thin, slightly crooked blade of hard wood, which is thrown in a manner wholly inexplicable, but by which it is made to do its intended work, and then return to the thrower. Those who are expert in the art can hurl it forty yards and back again with an accuracy that is surprising. Their other weapons consist of the " waddy," or war club, and a wooden spear. For habitations they have only broad pieces of bark set up against a pole. In their native state they subsist on the most disgusting objects, such as snakes and other reptiles, worms and beetles, or apparently anything upon which they can feed. Opossums and kangaroos, as well as fish and edible roots are also eaten, but the former articles are by no means objected to, especially because they are most easily obtained.
One fact that encourages and almost compels them to this degrading diet is that Australia produces indigenously hardly any fruits or nuts that are edible. This seems not a little strange when we consider its proximity to the islands which are covered with cocoa, banana, and other nutritious food products, planted and grown by nature herself. So far as T know, about the only exception to this statement is the so-called wild cherry, which grows on a species of ti-tree. It is about half as large as the ordinary red currant. First on the stem comes the little stone, then back of that, and almost distinct from it, is a, little mass of rather pleasant-tasting pulp. Thus it will be seen that the wretched natives have a bard chance for life, and we do not wonder that their diet should include things against which our appetites revolt.
But although nature does not supply the plants, she is ready to support that which men may plant, so now fruits of all kinds may be obtained in the markets of the large cities. Victoria Market, in the heart of Melbourne, is one of the sights. It is open two mornings of each week. It covers two blocks, and its buildings consist mostly of long rows of sheds far enough apart to allow horses and carts to be backed up to a low platform on either side. Produce wagons begin to arrive the previous evening, for some come long distances. All night they are coming in, and at an early hour the sale begins at a given signal. By six o'clock the streets are a surging mass of humanity.
Winter is, in some respects, the most interesting of the seasons. It is then that cattle enjoy a rich pasture. The frequent rains and cool weather encourage the growth of the grass, and the paddocks are covered with living green. The more hardy vegetables flourish then, as well as the different varieties of flowers. The calla lily, so carefully reared and watched in our Northern cities as a house-plant, grows rank and blooms by the thousand in the hedges. Trellises of brighthued geraniums growing over fences or walls, are to be seen on every hand.
The government of Australia is vested in the people to an extent that includes everything in the way of individual liberty. Although the country is a part of the British empire, and as such is amenable to the British throne, the relation is one of mutual interest, in which there is no interference with rights or privileges. Up to the beginning of the century the Australian colonies had maintained separate political lives, with no other organic relation than that of different members of the same great family. While they had many interests in common, they preferred to ignore them in order to obtain the advantages that they might gain from an independent course. Until that time intercolonial borders were practically national lines, over which customs duties were collected, and postal and other internal regulations did not extend. But for some years a party was growing up which favored the union of the colonies into a commonwealth. The demands of this party were for a long time withstood by those whose judgment or selfinterest led them strenuously to oppose federation. But finally bills were passed through the various parliaments submitting the question of uniting to a popular vote. In the principal colonies the proposition was carried by strong majorities. In Queensland and West Australia there was much hesitation, and the measure was finally carried by small majorities, while New Zealand preferred to remain outside the federation altogether.
A Federation Bill was drafted by a convention, submitted to all the colonies, and after various modifications was accepted by New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, very gingerly by Queensland, and after a great deal of persuasion finally by West Australia. It was then sent to the London government, and endorsed by the British Parliament, signed by the Queen, and became a law. This bill formed the basis of a new government known as the Commonwealth of Australia. By joining the compact the colonies now became states. The general government was drafted very much on the lines of that of the United States, with an adherence to British forms and names. The Governor-General is the appointee of the British crown. His salary is paid by the commonwealth. He represents the home government, and signs all legal enactments as the representative of the king. The general parliament is composed of two houses, the upper being the senate, and the lower the house of representatives. These are elected much as in the United States.
The real executive head of the government is the premier, who is, with the rest of the governor's cabinet, a member of the lower house. Under the compact the states are united in much the same manner as are the different states that compose our federal union. The postal and telegraph business is conducted by the federal government, and the customs are collected by the same authority, thus doing away with interstate protection. A certain amount of the duties collected are returned to the individual states. The national defence is also a federal department, and efforts are now being made to establish a federal judicial tribunal.
The various states retain control of their railways, all of which are public property. The control of the railways by the government is not an unmixed blessing by any means. Many are the vexations that grow out of such an arrangement. The idea of competition is put out of all consideration. Every employee is a public servant for life unless something extraor dinary happens to dislodge him. He does not feel particularly under obligation to the public, whose servant he is supposed to be. One sometimes gets the impression that he imagines that the people are his servants, and he carries an if-you-don'tlike-it-go-afoot sort of air. The railways as a natural consequence are slow plodders in the way of introducing improvements. The express which runs between Sydney and Melbourne is quite a fine train, however, and makes the distance of 617 miles in about sixteen hours running. Unfortunately the different colonies adopted different gauges, and it becomes necessary for both passengers and freight to change trains at the borders, except between Melbourne and Adelaide.
The first to hold the office of governor-general of Australia was Lord Hopetown, who had formerly been governor of Victoria. He was sworn into office at Sydney at the beginning of 1900, and that event marked the inauguration of the new government. His salary was fixed at ten thousand pounds sterling a year, a sum almost equal to the salary of the president of the United States. But in a few months he found that this was inadequate to support a representative of the king, and, as the people refused to sanction an increase, he resigned, and was succeeded by Lord Tennyson, son of the great poet, who was governor of South Australia. The ship of state has already had plenty of rough water, storms, shallows, and narrow seas, and has been beset with all kinds of trouble, but so far it keeps on its way, and is likely to do so, though those colonies who stand on the outside are growing fat on the thought that they are not in the muddle. But eventually order will come about, and so far as earthly prospects go to show, there seems to be a great future before the young commonwealth.
Generally speaking, there has been an effort to separate church and state in the colonial governments, but at the present time there is a tendency on the part of quite a large body of church people to unite them in a measure at least,-not by way of establishing some particular church, but by establishing certain principles upon which most of the churches can unite in asking the state to enforce. In other words, they have imbibed the prevailing spirit that the church should broaden its sphere of operations, and instead of giving so much attention to personal religion and the salvation of individuals, should seek to Christianize the nation, and thus bring in the reign of the gospel.
It requires no very great degree of astuteness to perceive in this movement the same kind of zeal and the same tendency to religious persecution that characterized the course of the church in the Dark Ages, when men were burned at the stake or put on the rack because they did not conform to the prevailing ideas on religious questions. Underlying the whole undertaking is the great mistake that men can be compelled to become good, and that if moral suasion is not sufficient to produce the desired change in their lives, then the law should be invoked to compel them to do as the majority think they ought to do. | <urn:uuid:a9556459-6e90-4b4f-be21-9a078a4c801b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldandsold.com/articles04/ls15.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975185 | 2,298 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Figures from 2011 emphatically confirmed that Germany is one of the most popular travel destinations in Europe. From the coastlines in the north to the Alps in the south, the country is the most popular travel destination among the Germans themselves with 330.3 million overnight stays recorded last year. What's more, Germany is also the second most popular travel destination for Europeans. Positive trends in the markets of China, India and Brazil played a significant part in achieving the 63.8 million overnight stays recorded by international visitors in 2011. In 2012, the German National Tourist Board is continuing to promote Germany around the world with a special focus on the themes 'wine heritage and nature' and 'business travel'. | <urn:uuid:de36f1a6-7cea-4681-95b8-285bc03421be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.germany.travel/pt/news/news_detail_1-34574.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954246 | 138 | 1.835938 | 2 |
- Diagnosis &
- Family Building
- Support &
- Give Back
- Get Involved
Premature ovarian failure is defined as the cessation of menstrual periods before the age of 40. It occurs in 1 in 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 29 and 1 in 100 women between the ages of 30 and 39. The average age of onset is 27 years. A family history of POF is found in about 4% of the women experiencing the condition. Premature Ovarian Failure may occur abruptly over one to two months or gradually over several years. Some women may experience symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, no menses, and vaginal dryness. Usually, if a woman has POF, she begins to have irregular periods which will eventually stop. Either her cycle day 3 FSH or her estrogen levels may be elevated. In most cases of POF, no cause is ever identified. Pelvic surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy can cause POF, as can uncommonly severe pelvic inflammatory disease. Premature ovarian failure is a difficult and disturbing diagnosis for most women.
Premature ovarian failure may be caused by factors occurring prior to birth or after the onset of puberty. Factors occurring prior to birth may be related to defects in the ovary, oocyte, or ovarian follicle. These defects usually occur as a result of a chromosomal abnormality in the fetus, as seen in several inherited disorders, one of which is Turner's syndrome.
Factors that result in ovarian failure after puberty or in the late 20's and early 30's may be associated with specific disorders, such as ovaries that are resistant to the hormones necessary for ovulation and menses. A biopsy of these abnormal ovaries will show follicles that do not respond normally to the hormones FSH and LH.
A rare syndrome is associated with a defect in the enzyme 17 hydroxylase, which affects the formation of hormones necessary for ovulation and also results in premature ovarian failure.
Destruction of eggs from radiation of the ovaries occurs during cancer therapy and results in permanent loss of menstrual periods. Several anti tumor drugs, such as cyclophosphamide, are also associated with ovarian failure.
Unfortunately, there is no proven method of stimulating the ovaries if POF is diagnosed. However, when the diagnosis of premature ovarian failure is made, therapeutic regimens are considered.
With the new in vitro fertilization technologies using donor eggs, pregnancy has been achieved in women with premature ovarian failure who until recently had no hope for conception. Donor oocyte IVF is performed with an egg from an anonymous or a designated donor (friend, relative) and is fertilized with the sperm of the ovarian-failure patient's partner or donor. The resulting embryo is placed back into the patient's uterus after appropriate priming with estrogen and progesterone. | <urn:uuid:e560d9dc-03ce-4c80-b6b7-8556a1788489> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.resolve.org/diagnosis-management/infertility-diagnosis/premature-ovarian-failure-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951176 | 581 | 2.953125 | 3 |
In the 1980's, arguably the three biggest names in the action figure world were G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Masters of the Universe. But they were not alone. There were other popular toy lines, which, while perhaps not quite achieving the same level of popularity of the big guns,managed multi-year successful runs, a considerable presence in the toy stores, and more often than not, decently popular animated series.
Certainly one of the main contenders in this "second-tier" of action figure series that is very well regarded to this day would be M.A.S.K., which stood for "Mobile Armored Strike Kommand". Okay, so they weren't the greatest spellers in the world.
Produced by Kenner, the line debuted in 1985. The toy line was a very clear effort to emulate the success of two Hasbro products, both G.I. Joe and Transformers, in that the concept had teams of human heroes and villains, that made use of vehicles that were capable of transforming. The name "MASK" (I'm sorry, I'm just not going to keep typing all those periods) was derived from the fact that both the good guys and the bad guys wore special helmets or masks, each of which had its own distinct property. Everything from the ability to shoot lasers, a flamethrower, enabling the wearer to fly, to the truly bizarre like the ability to shoot an impenetrable bubble to one that could even shoot miniature totem poles.
The lead characters in the concept were the heroic Matt Trakker, and the villainous Miles Mayhem. According to the most accepted origin story, the two of them developed the MASK technology together, although Mayhem would steal it for his own evil purposes, founding the organization called VENOM (which stood for "Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem" - points for spelling in this case, anyway).
Of course, many characters on both sides were introduced, and were just about as well-rounded as any other 80's animated characters. Matt's adopted son Scott tended to steal the show on more than a few occasions, accompanied by a robot called T-Bob that looked faintly like R2-D2 and was just about as cowardly as C-3PO.
Other good guys in the cast of heroes included the likes of Bruce Sato, Alex Sector, Dusty Hayes, and Gloria Baker.
VENOM didn't have much use for kids, but some of the more prominent characters on their side of things would include Sly Rax, Cliff Dagger, Vanessa Warfield, and eventually, Miles Mayhem's brother, Maximus Mayhem.
The G.I. Joe vs. Cobra similarity is obvious, but in all honesty, it didn't go quite as far in practice. The MASK team was not affiliated with the military. Conversely, the VENOM organization was less inclined towards global domination and more interested in making as much money as possible through high-level criminal endeavors.
The animated series ran for 75 episodes, and the toy line had a healthy run of three or four years, which is better than a lot of toy lines today, and not to shabby for the time, either, given the competition.
So, why do I bring all of this up in a G.I. Joe review? I'm getting to that.
In the mid-1990's, Kenner was merged with Hasbro. This obviously included the rights to properties that Kenner had produced. This, obviously, included MASK, which had not been based on any previously existing concept, such as Star Wars or Indiana Jones. In the mid-90's, there was little thought of bringing MASK back.
Technically, there still isn't. However, if one wishes to get into a little fictional speculation, it could probably be argued that, much like comics companies have characters which exist in their own "universes", such as Marvel and DC, with occasional crossovers, it could just as easily be argued that there is some sort of "Hasbro-verse" out there. We've seen G.I. Joe cross over with the Transformers. The European-based Action Man character was given a 3-3/4" G.I. Joe action figure in one special set several years ago. One of the COPS, a Hasbro action figure line from the late 1980's which was set at some unidentified point in the 21st century, had a file card that contained background information that identified him as the son of one of the G.I. Joe team members (The COPS member was Checkpoint - his father, if you did a little research, was Beach-Head.) Clearly there was a certain amount of "common universe".
Might it extend to Kenner, though? There didn't seem to be a lot of reason to ask the question. An d yet it did come up every so often. MASK, conceptually, certainly shared elements of G.I. Joe and Transformers. The TOYS weren't compatible. MASK figures, while decently made, were barely two inches in height. But there was still a sense of "What if...?"
Which brings us to today, and the modern G.I. Joe action figure line. Hasbro announced a while back that MASK founder MATT TRAKKER would be joining the G.I. Joe team! Okay, that's really cool in my opinion. I love this sort of unexpected crossover. I knew that when Matt Trakker, officially dubbed "Specialist Trakker" on his package, came out, I would have to have him.
So, let's start with the packaging. With this line, which started during the Real American Hero's 25th Anniversary in 2007 and has since become known as "25th-style", referring to the figure format as much as anything, Hasbro has tried, for the first time since the original line ended in 1994, to recapture the original package design. And they've done a good job of this.
The package card is mostly black, with a red, yellow, and white explosion effect around a painted image of the character. The G.I. Joe logo is at the top, the figure is packaged to the right, and the illustration is to the left. The back of the card bears a smaller version of the G.I. Joe logo, small illustrations of figures currently available, along with the figure's file card. Really, it's very nicely done.
Needless to say, seeing a MASK character on such effectively "retro" packaging, underneath a G.I. Joe logo, was pretty wild in and of itself. Seeing the MASK logo itself in the upper right corner of the package, just above the G.I. Joe logo, was something even wilder. To be fair, it's not QUITE a duplicate of the original logo. The word MASK is not present. Instead, the entire acronym has been spelled out - MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND - but everything else is completely identical.
Let's consider the character of Matt Trakker with a run-down on his background:
Son of Andrew Trakker (MASK Episode 39, Green Nightmare), Matt Trakker was a millionaire businessman, who's work spanned from oil drilling (Ep 46, Secret of the Stones) to Military Aircraft Contracting (MASK episode 23, Vanishing Point). He's also the head of the charitable Trakker Foundation, which makes various humanitian works all around the world.
Matt Trakker is an accomplished pilot, and all around adventurer, having traveled all over the world.
M.A.S.K. was formed under the Peaceful Nations Alliance or P.N.A. Originally under the joint leadership of Matt Trakker and Miles Mayhem, as well as Matt Trakker's younger brother Andy, they sought to work for world peace anonymously.
Miles Mayhem grew dissatisfied with working this way, and believed that they could make a fortune if they were paid for their efforts.
Andy Trakker, Matt's younger brother, was a brilliant engineer who had designed masks and transforming vehicles in order to aid in their fight. As these plans were being finalized, Matt Trakker set up a meeting with the two brothers and Mayhem.
Matt Trakker arrived late to the meeting, only to find the office in flames. Andy died in Matt's arms, revealing that Mayhem had betrayed them, and stole half of Andy's plans.
Mayhem would use these plans to create VENOM, while Matt would use the remaining plans to found MASK. (Flaming Beginnings Mini-Comic, packaged with early toys. Supported by episode For One Shining Moment.)
While M.A.S.K. was not military, in all versions of the story, they work with the Peaceful National Alliance to some degree. Matt Trakker does reveal in the episode Vanishing Point that he does work with U.S. Air Force as a civilian investor in military aircraft -- which leads pretty closely to his current G.I. Joe connection, as you'll see when I get around to the file card.
So - how's the figure? Well, he's about twice the size of his ancestor, for one thing. But that aside, Hasbro has done a really impressive job here. The original Matt Trakker was dressed in a pale grey bodysuit with red trim. His headsculpt showed a heroic, square-jawed individual with blonde hair. Those attributes have been superbly duplicated here, although the grey is a paler color than the original MASK figure, and the blinde hair is a little more muted from its original "straight yellow"
Trakker is wearing a chestplate that nicely emulates the design of the original figure, which was actually part of the mask. The somewhat loose- fitting straps on the harness that the new figure is wearing are an amazingly good match for those molded and painted on the original Matt Trakker.
Articulation is excellent, although I've never been especially pleased with the loss of waist articulation and the substitution of the mid- torso articulation. I just don't think that it works all that well on G.I. Joe figures. That sort of thing works well if it can really be incorporated into the design of the figures themselves. It works okay on Clone Troopers. It can work on super-heroes if you're careful about it. It just doesn't seem to work terribly well - or anyway, look that good - on G.I. Joes. Fortunately, in Trakker's case, the chestplate conceals it rather nicely. Trakker is otherwise articulated at the head, arms, elbows, wrists, legs, knees, and ankles - which is a lot more than the original Matt Trakker could say, who was only poseable at the head, arms, and legs.
Matt Trakker comes with a helmet which is a superb match for the original, obviously enlarged for scale. This is based on Matt Trakker's main MASK, which was called "Spectrum", which actually had several powers. It had the ability to shoot a laser, create ultra-sonic waves, and a feature that would let him hang glide using electric waves.
I have to believe that this figure was something of a "labor of love" for someone at Hasbro, someone who was a longtime fan of MASK, saw an opportunity to do a little tribute for a toy line and a character that are unlikely to come back in full force, and work him into a concept that has remained highly popular for over a quarter of a century.
Trakker does not come with any of his original vehicles, obviously. He does come with a helicopter backpack. It is admittedly an odd-looking thing, and the predominantly bright green coloration, unlike anything Trakker himself is wearing, hasn't helped the overall impression. Still, for what it is, it's a decently deigned little device. According to some reports, Hasbro has said that the color scheme was a nod to a MASK vehicle called "Condor", which oddly enough did not include a Matt Trakker figure.
One of the biggest treats is the file card, which not only gives Matt Trakker an entirely reasonable speciality on the Joe Team, but incorporates both MASK as well as VENOM into the G.I. Joe universe very effectively. It reads as follows:
ADVANCED VEHICLE SPECIALIST
File Name: Trakker, Matt
Primary Military Specialty: Vehicle Designer
Secondary Military Specialty: Advanced Technology
Specialist Trakker leads a secret unit which develops ordinary-looking vehicles that convert into advanced combat vehicles. Joining forces with the G.I. Joe team, the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (M.A.S.K.) team battles V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem), the unit Cobra formed to construct its own converting vehicles. Specialist Trakker uses his next-gen technological devices to preserve peace throughout the world and stop the corrupt forces that are using the same technology to amass power in a quest to control the world.
"We have a responsibility to use our ingenuity and advancements to help the world - and stop the power-hungry despots and criminals who hunger for their own glory."
What does the future hold here? Who knows? Hasbro has said there are no plans for further MASK characters, and clearly, their emphasis at this time is going to be on the forthcoming live-action movie, which certainly has no MASK elements in it. On the other hand, once you start something like this, it's a little hard to stop, and I know any number of people - myself included - that would at the very least like to see a Miles Mayhem figure out of this.
What's my final word here? Whether you collect the current G.I. Joe line extensively or not, if you, like me, remember the 80's, and have even the slightest fond memory of MASK - you need to get this figure. It's one of the coolest toy crossovers I've ever seen, the figure is well made within the current G.I. Joe format, and it's a nice tribute to a concept that has perhaps been not as well-remembered as it should be.
The G.I. Joe (MASK) SPECIALIST TRAKKER figure definitely has my highest recommendation! | <urn:uuid:736b4160-6def-4235-a603-e5dc9c780d80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mastercollector.com/articles/reviews/trakker-review.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981001 | 3,017 | 1.648438 | 2 |
A History of Technology, vol. 5, Oxford Univ. Press, p. 355, states the
problem: There was an upper limit of around 300 ft. on the length of a wooden
ship because wood couldn't provide a rigid bow-to-stern connection, and tension
from wave-action increased as the length grew. The British Shipbuilding
Industry From 1870 to 1914, pp. 13-4, said pretty much the same thing, while
Alexander Laing's American Ships, pp. 409, quoted a shipwright as to the
opinion that the six-master clipper ships (region of 330 ft. in length) were
My response to this critique is to say that yes, there is some upper limit on
wood-hull construction boats, but that the 300 feet citations above are guesses
and opinions based on the observation that few attempts were made to build
wooden ships over 300 feet. The reason why not was that by the time that
expanding commerce in the second half of the 19th century would have demanded
larger vessels, iron was becoming a cost-effective material to use in hull
construction. So, the necessity to build larger wood vessels and/or improve
wood-hull design was not present.
However, there were some wood-hull ships built over 300 feet: from Famous
American Ships, by Frank O. Braynard, 1956, p. 75, the Hudson river steamer
"New World" (1848) was 371 feet long. This early steamer probably did not have
iron bar supports in the frame, since the text appears to say in the third
paragraph that "Metropolis" (345' long, 1854) was the first steamer to have
them [the page from Original American Lloyd's Registry implies that iron bar
supports were required for long wood vessels after the mid-1850's].
Also in the above Lloyd's are specifications for other American wood-hull
steamers (though all probably with iron bar strapping): "Dean Richmond" (348',
1865), "Adriatic" (ocean-going, 350', 1856), "Golden City" (ocean-going, 340',
1863), and the "Great Republic" (ocean-going, 334', 1853). The "Wyoming"
(Laing, p. 408) was the last of the six-master clipper ships, and was 330'
long, built in 1909. Laing's quote of the shipwright Rockwell shows that the
criticism of the six-masters was something other than that they wouldn't float.
Page 23 of Ancient Ships, by Cecil Torr, 1964, says that Callixenos reported a
40-banked (oar banks) ship that was 420' long and 57' wide. There is no proof
that this ship existed, however.
Of course, the issue of construction is not a very strong argument for the
atheist, since it is by definition an argument from the negative. Also,
"practical" commercial construction was expected to last 20 years or more,
while Noah's ark had to last only 1 year, and did not need to support any masts
or handle engine vibration. Finally, the correct proportionality of the ark
for stability is an argument in favor of its historicity (unlike the ark in the
Gilgamesh epic, which was 120 cubits by 120 by 120). I.e., did the Bible guess
the dimensions needed by a ship of this size? (I included a page with the
illustration of the iron-hulled "Preussen" that was close to the dimensions of
A footnote to this discussion is that there is some disagreement over how long the ancient cubit was. I would suggest being careful not to lightly assume the longer definition so as to allow enough space in the ark for all the animals, else the durability problem becomes too big. | <urn:uuid:9179ec0a-6b7f-48d9-809a-828843f6b104> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://christianthinktank.com/bigark.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965836 | 833 | 3.078125 | 3 |
After some great feedback following the launch of our Windows 8 in education eBook, we are thrilled to announce the launch of our Windows 8 in education UK microsite.
The microsite is designed to help surface, excuse the pun, some key Windows 8 in education assets that look closely at our new OS specifically through an edu lens.
In addition to the eBook, a key new asset that has literally just been added to the microsite is our Windows 8 in education video. The video showcases how both UCL and Hartsbrook E-Act Free School are using Windows 8 to build 21st skills and create more emotional connections with learning.
I was involved in the filming of this video and both institutions are doing some amazing work with Windows 8, and technology in general. I personally loved the impact that Windows 8 had on the primary age students at Hartsbrook, though. Seeing the look on the young students faces when a picture they had just taken on their Windows Phone seamlessly synced to SkyDrive on their Windows 8 classroom PC's was awesome! Charlotte Beckhurst, and the rest of the team at Hartsbrook, are doing some fantastic work and I can't wait to see her share her experiences on our stand at Bett next week.
If you are coming to Bett and want to check out Charlotte's session, our full Learn Live Theatre schedule is available via our Bett 2013 microsite. We hope to see you there!
Windows 8 apps also sit front and centre of our new Windows 8 in education microsite. With a rapidly growing selection of education apps from the likes of Pearson, RM and Autology, the education category in the Windows Store has definitely been one of the most dynamic and innovative areas since launch.
Our app showcases offer a detailed overview of specific apps combined with screencasts, screenshots and information to allow you to learn more about how the app can help directly within your institution.
The intention is not to list every education app in the store, but offer a curated overview of a selection of UK apps available both today and over the coming months.
We will be adding fresh content, especially around new apps, to the site on a regular basis so be sure to come back regularly and keep up to date with what is going on. We hope you find the site useful and informative look forward to sharing additional updates over the coming weeks/months.
If you have a favourite education app, we would love to hear more in the comments below. Also, if you are attending Bett 2013, make sure you pop over and say hi. We are on stands D270 and E270. | <urn:uuid:935587a7-5db7-4336-bc16-253be46ce819> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ukfe/archive/2013/01/24/windows-8-in-education-microsite.aspx?Redirected=true&title=Windows%208%20in%20Education%20Microsite | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956567 | 526 | 1.75 | 2 |
In an email sent to Vudu subscribers today, the company stated that there was a break-in at one of their brick and mortar offices and a number of hard drives were stolen. Unfortunately, these drives contained sensitive information on accounts including:
“…customer information, including names, email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers, account activity, dates of birth and the last four digits of some credit card numbers. It’s important to note that the drives did NOT contain full credit card numbers, as we do not store that information.”
The email goes on to state:
“While the stolen hard drives included VUDU account passwords, those passwords were encrypted…”
This begs the question; why didn’t the company have the foresight to encrypt the entire drive? I have worked for small and large companies who make it a habit for drives to be encrypted – just in case. Although most have the policy for portable devices, some also extend the policy to fixed systems. Somehow it just makes good sense.
Consumer confidence is hard to win but easy to lose. Events like this are a blow to online purchasing community no matter they be streaming videos or the latest fashion. Security compliance officers MUST protect their most valuable asset: their loyal customers’ sensitive personal data.
Keep Pushing Forward. | <urn:uuid:7ec2d86a-0a3f-4d9e-9500-38d439c26fd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jviptv.wordpress.com/category/connected-home/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960839 | 273 | 1.984375 | 2 |
From April 29th to May 15th, 2011, Slovakia will be hosting an IIHF World Championship for the first time in its history.
A round-robin will see each team compete against the others in its group – constituting three games per team. The group's three best-placed teams will then move on to compete in the Qualifying Round, while the last-placed team goes to the Relegation Round.
Split into two groups, the twelve teams will play on – constituting a further three games for each team.
The four last-placed teams will continue to play in the Relegation Round. The two relegated teams will be determined by round-robin.
Following the Qualifying Round, the four best placed teams in each group will compete in the four Quarter-final games. The two last-placed teams in each group drop out of the tournament.
The winners of the Quarter Finals will compete in the two Semi-Final games.
Bronze Medal Game
The two losers of the Semi-Finals will play each other for third and fourth place, and the Bronze Medal.
Gold Medal Game
The winners of the Semi-Finals will compete in the ultimate game for the World Championship title. | <urn:uuid:f9e63fb9-0f57-4a9a-8a5a-326d3684b810> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iihf.com/channels-11/iihf-world-championship-wc11/home-oc/the-tournament/tournament-information.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940784 | 253 | 1.671875 | 2 |
A sustained monetary overhang in the United States is likely to create bubbles in various asset classes globally. This article discusses the concept of monetary overhang, its implications on the economy and asset classes and the investment strategy in a prolonged period of monetary overhang.
MZM is a good measure of the liquid money supply in an economy. It is particularly useful as it represents the money readily available in the economy for spending and consumption. I start off with the explanation of MZM as it leads to the primary discussion on monetary overhang.
The chart below gives the MZM as a percent of GDP from 1981 to the second quarter of 2012.
MZM as percent of GDP has increased from 28.9% in 1981 to an all time high of 70% in the second quarter of 2012. The MZM as a percentage of GDP has been significantly above its long-term trend-line after the financial crisis leading to a long period of monetary overhang.
With the fed fund rates expected to remain at near zero levels at least until 2014, the monetary overhang will sustain for a longer period. Sluggish economic growth will lead to more quantitative easing and further contribute to an increase in MZM.
The positive impact of the excess liquidity on GDP growth is a debatable point. In all likelihood, the monetary overhang will not positively impact GDP growth.
There is some evidence of this point if we look at the GDP growth and MZM as a percentage of GDP in the same chart.
MZM as a percentage of GDP has been surging in the recent past and is way above its long-term trend-line. During the same period, GDP growth has been muted and struggles to remain above its long-term trend-line. This trend can be observed clearly from the year 2000 and not just in the current crisis.
Going forward, I expect that GDP growth will continue to be sluggish with MZM remaining robust and increasing further.
Since MZM represents the money readily available in the economy for spending and consumption, it would be interesting to analyze the flow of this money if it does not get channelized towards spending and consumption (which can boost GDP growth).
I am not very optimistic about spending and consumption growth as the U.S. consumers remain overleveraged and the jobs market remains weak (with record high duration of unemployment). Both these factors will not encourage consumers to spend as freely as they did during the housing bubble.
At the same time, banks have been tightening lending standards and liquidity might not be as easily available to consumers as it was before the crisis. The important point to mention here is that banks and financial institutions have been hoarding cash or putting the cash to use in trading various asset classes. Companies have also been building on cash in these times of uncertainty.
In the discussion below, I will try to point out certain asset classes where the excess liquidity will flow in the medium to long-term. Needless to say, investment in these asset classes will generate robust positive returns (when adjusted for inflation) for investors.
Gold or Treasury Bonds -
There has been a continued debate on gold or Treasury bonds being in a bubble. The current bull-run in Treasury bonds has lasted nearly 30 years while the bull-run in gold has been 12 years old. I believe that the Treasuries are near the end of the bull market and the Treasuries trade is already overcrowded.
The fact that 45% of the outstanding amount of marketable potentially safe assets is invested in AAA/AA OECD government securities is an indication of the overcrowded government bonds trade. Compared to this, only 11% of the outstanding amount of marketable potentially safe assets is invested in gold.
I would therefore look to invest in gold than Treasuries for long-term and wait for the best part of the rally in gold. Physical gold is always a better investment option. However, investors can also invest in gold through the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD).
Real Estate in United States or in Asia -
In one of my earlier articles I had discussed real estate investment in the U.S. as an attractive option in some regions due to the attractive rental yields.
Besides this, I remain bullish on real estate investment in some Asian countries (including India and China). The rapid level of urbanization will continue to create new investment opportunities for investors and I see significant excess liquidity flowing into real estate in Asian and other emerging markets.
The iShares FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Asia Index Fund (IFAS) is one option to consider exposure to real estate in Asia. The fund has an expense ratio of 0.48%. As of July 2012, 54.63% of the fund was invested in real estate holdings and development, 22.88% in retail REITs and 12.07% in industrial and office REITs.
Investment in Industrial Commodities and Oil -
Another important characteristic of the current investment environment is swift movement of liquidity from one asset class to another. In other words, the period of transition from oversold to overbought conditions will be relatively smaller.
I mention this point as I expect commodities to be pretty volatile in the current investment environment. At the same time, I do believe that meaningful amount of excess liquidity in the system will flow into some commodities and oil. I am particularly bullish on crude oil and copper in the industrial commodities section for medium to long-term.
I did discuss the reasons for being bullish on crude in my earlier article and the monetary overhang is one of the important reasons. As discussed in the same article, I personally would prefer to be positioned in crude through quality companies in the oil exploration and production business like BP Plc (BP), Total SA (TOT) and Eni SpA (E).
From a fundamental perspective and demand-supply scenario, copper looks very interesting and will attract investments in the foreseeable future. I am not just talking about investment in copper as a commodity but also investments flowing into copper mining companies.
An average single family home uses 440 pounds of copper. With 500 million Chinese and 540 million Indians expected to move to cities and towns over the next 2-3 decades, the demand for copper will be significant.
The iPath Dow Jones UBS Copper Tota (JJC) can be considered for copper investment. The ETF seeks results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Dow Jones-UBS Copper Total Return Sub-Index. The index is composed of Copper High Grade futures contract traded on the New York Commodities Exchange.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) is also a good option to consider exposure to copper. FCX is primarily involved in copper, gold and molybdenum mining. FCX is also the world's largest publicly traded copper company. Among the Company's assets is the Grasberg mining complex in Indonesia, the world's largest copper and gold mine in terms of recoverable reserves. FCX does look attractive with a TTM PE of 10.05 and a healthy dividend yield of 3.7%.
Farmland Investment -
A significant amount of money is flowing into farmland and is expected to flow into farmland investment in the long-term. The rising population, uncertain weather conditions, water scarcity and low global food inventory are some of the biggest positive triggers for farmland investing.
Investors can consider direct purchase of farmland as one option. Other options include investing in farmland or agriculture related stocks and ETFs.
A relatively risky, but interesting option for investors can be Adecoagro S.A. (AGRO). As of December 31, 2011, AGRO owned a total of 293,423 hectares of land, consisting of 23 farms in Argentina, 13 farms in Brazil and 1 farm in Uruguay. The company primarily engages in planting, harvesting, and selling grains, oilseeds, rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, and sunflowers to grain traders.
The PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking (DBC) would be another way to consider exposure to the agriculture and farmland sector. The fund tracks an entire basket of agricultural commodities including corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, sugar and coffee.
I don't foresee a bubble scenario in equities anytime soon. The global sentiments will keep swaying from bullish to bearish and this will keep equities relatively volatile. Having said this, I do expect the equity markets to trend higher in the medium term. Also, fundamentally good stocks will continue to outperform the markets. In line with this, I will look to consider exposure to equities on any meaningful correction. For me, the financial sector would be an avoid for long term (it might present good trading opportunities).
Easy money will continue to create bubbles in different asset classes around the world. Investors need to be positioned in asset classes, which have a fundamentally strong outlook. Also, it is best to avoid trading these markets as the flow of money from one asset class to another can be really swift. The new investment environment will make it more challenging for investors to generate superior returns. The key to success still lies in fundamental investing and patience.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. | <urn:uuid:b746cb48-5181-455f-99c0-1cc3ff7f119f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seekingalpha.com/article/766191-monetary-overhang-will-continue-to-create-bubbles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946306 | 1,917 | 2.59375 | 3 |
The upcoming session of the Indian Premier League (IPL), India’s glamour-packed cricket tournament, will see a sartorial anomaly come to life — cheerleaders wrapped in saris.
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s IPL team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, has decided to cover their cheerleaders in one of the most traditional Indian outfits — a marked departure from their 2008 wardrobe when a lot of skin, from midriff to thighs, was on display.
All these sari-clad cheerleaders would be “local hires” and will dance to classical Bengali music in between boundaries and fall of wickets. The team management is of the opinion this will help connect with Bengali cricket fans and improve ticket sales.
This is not the first time an IPL team has shunned short skirts and pompoms for a more conservative costume. Last year, the newest addition to the IPL franchise — Pune Warriors — had classical dancers, called ‘cheer queens’ in ethnic clothes. The owners had said these ‘cheer queens’ would showcase India’s rich and diverse culture on an international platform.
But could it be that this change in attire has less to do with a new-found respect for Indian culture, and more with economics? Since the 1920s, some analysts have believed that during times of economic hardships, hemlines drop dramatically. The theory, known as the hemline index, has been put to test recently. In recession-hit 2008, full-length dresses had been in vogue. In 2010, as stock prices rose, mini-skirts made a comeback. | <urn:uuid:21109cf0-79dd-40d0-bbca-9250325a877c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/india/tag/hemline-index/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961313 | 341 | 1.851563 | 2 |
The capital of African-American culture in the United States for decades, Harlem has inspired all sorts of musical tributes.
Pianist Art Tatum's speed and harmonic imagination often left other musicians astonished, inspired, or in despair. Here are some who dared to keep up with him.
Rifftides blogger and jazz eminence Doug Ramsey hipped readers several days ago to a Sunday, April 6 broadcast of Benny Carter’s rarely-heard “Kansas City Suite.” It’s at 1 p.m. PDT on KPLU.org…
Carter wrote jazz standards, mastered two instruments, opened doors for black composers in Hollywood, and served as a mentor to many young jazz musicians. | <urn:uuid:9de081e2-30a6-4767-ae65-6a75587be306> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/tag/benny-carter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940804 | 149 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also obligé
- (transitive) To constrain someone by force or by social, moral or legal means.
- I am obliged to report to the police station every week.
- 1749, John Cleland, Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure Part 3
- Tho' he was some time awake before me, yet did he not offer to disturb a repose he had given me so much occasion for; but on my first stirring, which was not till past ten o'clock, I was oblig'd to endure one more trial of his manhood.
- (transitive) To do someone a service or favour (hence, originally, creating an obligation).
- He obliged me by not parking his car in the drive.
- 1719, John Harris, Astronomical dialogues between a gentleman and a lady, page 151:
- In the mean time I have another trouble to give you, if you will oblige me in it; and that is to get me a sight of the famous Orrery, which I have heard you and others so often speak of; and which I think was made by Mr. Rowley, the famous Mathematical Instrument-Maker.
- (intransitive) To be indebted to someone.
- I am obliged to you for your recent help.
- (intransitive) To do a service or favour.
- The singer obliged with another song.
Derived terms
Related terms
to constrain someone by force or by social, moral or legal means
to do someone a service or favour (hence, originally, creating an obligation)
to be indebted to someone
- IPA: /ɔbliʒ/ | <urn:uuid:d6f49c82-d352-4fbd-b6f5-eaf56c2a61fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oblige | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944444 | 372 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The Sin-eater: A Breviary
|Thomas Lynch (with photographs by Michael Lynch)|
Page Count: 82
Publication Date: Thursday, June 21, 2012
Cover Artwork: Sean Lynch
About this Book
The Sin-eater: A Breviary, Thomas Lynch’s fifth book of poems gathers together two dozen, twenty-four line poems - a book of hours - on the life and times of Argyle, the sin-eater and includes two dozen black and white photographic images by the author’s son, Michael Lynch, and a front cover watercolour by his son, Sean. The poems and images are situated on the West Clare peninsula in Ireland where the author keeps an ancestral home in the townland of Moveen between the North Atlantic and the River Shannon estuary. The poems are prefaced by an “Introit” which examines the nature of religious experience, faith and doubt, communion and atonement.
In The Sin-eater, Lynch once again brings together his intricate knowledge of the body and the soul, and the result is a luminous, humane collection that sees religion as a question mark, not a period. Chicago Tribune
The Sin-Eater is a wonderfully conceived work that has moments of keen insight and great humanity, Lynch uses the distinctly Christian categories of agape love and divine grace to call into question the distinctiveness of the Church. The New Oxford Review
This book offers a splendid melding of language, vision, voice and agape love. It is a gift—a richly imaginative work tinged with rascally humour and suffused with those “doubts and wonders” that produce awe: a reading that is both entertaining and profound. Prairie Schooner
These poems are ripe with physicality and sensuality, fittingly so, given the primitive world Lynch evokes. The language, too, is textured, Saxon and Gaelic, full of curt nouns that can cut your mouth (gob, sup, gulp, lust) balanced by legato, Latinate verbs that fairly sing (anointing, avenging, inquisitioning). Lynch’s poetic lexicon brilliantly conveys the complex history of Christianity in the British Isles—the legacy of ancient tribal languages forming the f oundation of our modern English, then softened by the elegant overlay of church Latin. We hear, as well as see, ourselves in Argyle’s words, for his speech is our own…. Thomas Lynch’s poems revivify the ancient Christo-centric practice of “sin-eating,” effectively presenting it to us in a guise we may not recognize, at first—but it is, nonetheless, Eucharist, by any name. Through the agency of Lynch’s powerful poetic language and deep imagination, we glimpse Christ in the Sin-Eater, as well as ourselves, and come to know him in the breaking of the bread. Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, AMERICA
(The National Catholic Weekly)
Lynch crafts a story of transgression and forgiveness, but, in the end, the true beauty lies in the ambiguity of who has committed the transgression and who has been forgiven. DarkSky Magazine
Thomas Lynch is the author of four collections of poems, three books of essays and a book of stories, Apparition & Late Fictions. The Undertaking won the American Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His work has appeared in The Atlantic and Granta, The New Yorker and Esquire, Poetry and The Paris Review, also The Times (of New York, Los Angelus, London and Ireland) and has been the subject of two documentary films, Learning Gravity by Cathal Black and PBS Frontline’s The Undertaking. He lives in Milford, Michigan and Moveen, West Clare.
About the Photographer: Michael Lynch is an avid traveller and photographer. He is a graduate of Wayne State University’s Department of Mortuary Science and, like is father and grandfather, is a funeral director. He manages the Lynch & Sons Funeral Directors locations in Brighton and in Milford, Michigan where he makes his home.
About the Artist: Sean Lynch is an artist and songwriter. His recorded work under the moniker, 800Beloved includes, Bouquet (2008) and Everything Purple (2010). Before joining his father and brother in the family firm, he studied fine arts at the College for Creative Studies, Detroit. He lives and works in Milford, Michigan.
Read a sample from this book
Argyle the sin-eater came the day after—
a narrow, hungry man whose laughter
and the wicked upturn of his one eyebrow
put the local folks in mind of trouble.
But still they sent for him and sat him down
amid their whispering contempts to make
his table near the dead man’s middle,
and brought him soda bread and bowls of beer
and candles, which he lit against the reek
that rose off that impenitent cadaver
though bound in skins and soaked in rosewater.
Argyle eased the warm loaf right and left
and downed swift gulps of beer and venial sin
then lit into the bread now leavened with
the corpse’s cardinal mischiefs, then he said
“Six pence, I’m sorry.” And the widow paid him.
Argyle took his leave then, down the land
between hay-ricks and Friesians with their calves
considering the innocence in all
God’s manifold creation but for Man,
and how he’d perish but for sin and mourning.
Two parishes between here and the ocean:
a bellyful tonight is what he thought,
please God, and breakfast in the morning.
Copyright © Thomas Lynch 2012 | <urn:uuid:c4957b73-717c-4595-828a-7bda51bb83ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=265&a=226 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938094 | 1,227 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The U.S. Small Business Administration on Tuesday announced proposed measures to simplify the application process for its loan programs, including eliminating the maximum for collateral and revising rules related to affiliations with other companies.
“The changes are the latest steps to reduce paperwork burden, with our eye on the larger goal of expanding access to capital and giving entrepreneurs and small-business owners the financial resources to grow and create jobs,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said in a statement.
Among the proposed changes is the elimination of the personal resource test in which borrowers are required to obtain a maximum level of personal finance resources for a 7(a) or 504 loan.
Another proposal revises rules that disqualify some companies as small businesses because of their affiliation with other companies. It also would streamline 504 applications and reduce paperwork for 7(a) and 504 applications, SBA officials said.
A third change would eliminate a restriction that businesses only include 504 project expenses for nine months prior to submitting a loan application.
A fourth would increase the accountability of certified development companies’ boards of directors on 504 projects.
The SBA came up with the proposals after consulting with lenders and borrowers, officials said.
“Specifically, these proposed regulations will provide greater access to capital through our two largest loan programs, while also reducing risk to taxpayer dollars,” Mills said.
(c) 2012 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:a194966f-be96-4339-b307-f5c194720a45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?size=2&aID=194144 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945489 | 311 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Household income in thousands of 2000 dollars
- $41,532 median household income (2008 dollars), low for Southeast and low for the county
- In Los Angeles County, Hollywood, Exposition Park and Florence-Firestone have the most similar household incomes.
- The percentages of households that earn $20,000 to $40,000, $20,000 or less and $40,000 to $60,000 are high for the county.
- 4.0% of residents 25 and older have a four-year degree, low for Southeast and low for the county
- In Los Angeles County, Maywood, Florence-Firestone and Florence have the nearest percentage of residents 25 and older with a four-year degree.
- The percentage of residents 25 and older with less than a high school diploma is high for the county.
Ancestry and immigration | <urn:uuid:0bad0068-ea12-458b-b281-755b43c1f3ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/bell-gardens/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918648 | 180 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Managing diabetes is sometimes scary—but it doesn’t need to be. This book cuts through the confusing and sometimes conflicting information about diabetes and lets you know the most important factors in staying healthy, eating right, and living well with diabetes. With an attractive, eye-catching, 2-color design, this book teaches you everything from picking the right doctor to testing blood sugar to working with an insurance company to get better diabetes care. Every tip is described in a short, easy-to-understand chapter. The author, Kathleen Stanley, is an expert with nearly 20 years experience in diabetes care. This is an invaluable resource for everyone with diabetes who wants to make their lives a little easier—and a lot healthier.
Softcover, 6 x 9
Embed On Your Site Or Blog
Share this item with your family and friends and join the millions to help Stop Diabetes®.
* Minimum sizes are Width 300px and Height 230px | <urn:uuid:569bd435-e22d-4309-954a-8d9b091026ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shopdiabetes.org/130-50-Things-You-Need-to-Know-About-Diabetes.aspx?loc=a1c | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918809 | 193 | 1.625 | 2 |
|David Schnarch Diets Alan Sroufe Linda Bacon Mary Jo Barrett Mindfulness Couples Couples Therapy Attachment Theory Community of Excellence Etienne Wenger The Future of Psychotherapy Ethics Symposium 2012 CE Comments Mind/Body Clinical Mastery Narcissistic Clients Attachment William Doherty Clinical Excellence Trauma Wendy Behary Future of Psychotherapy Gender Issues Great Attachment Debate Men in Therapy Brain Science Challenging Cases Anxiety|
|Clinicians Digest Jan/Feb 2007 - Page 2|
The Most Discredited Therapies
With the increasing focus on evidence-based therapies, psychologist John Norcross decided it would be worthwhile to identify some of the most discredited therapies. Along with current American Psychological Association President Gerald Koocher and doctoral student Ariele Garofalo, he combed the literature and asked hundreds of mental health professionals to nominate what they considered "discredited treatments and tests that have been used professionally within the last 100 years for mental health purposes."
After the list was compiled, a panel of 101 researchers, journal editors, and therapists were asked to rate each method on a 5-point scale from "not at all discredited" to "certainly discredited" (raters could also choose "not familiar with"). Using the Delphi survey method, which Norcross believes yields results with a strong consensus, his team then sent the panel members the results of the survey, minus those techniques that less than 25 percent of the members had rated, and asked them to rate them again. In the end, the expert panel rated 89 treatment and assessment methods.
Part of the list of discredited methods, presented in the October Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, reads like an amalgamation of medical horrors and New Age ideas: prefrontal lobotomies, crystals, and pyramids. Other treatments listed comprise an historical tour of psychotherapy: Freudian dream analysis, Jungian sand trays, past lives, future lives, primal scream, Erhard Seminar Training, Bettleheim's model for treating childhood autism, family therapy for schizophrenia based on the double-bind theory, marathon encounter groups, and holding therapy for attachment disorders.
More recent controversial treatments on the list that garnered highly discredited ratings were reparative therapy for homosexuality, rebirthing, and Thought Field Therapy. Other recent therapies, like EMDR for trauma, psychosocial therapies for AD/HD, thought-stopping for excessive rumination or worry, and laughter or humor therapy for depression, were deemed credible. Several older methods, including J.L. Moreno's psychodrama and Wilfred Bion's psychoanalytically oriented group analysis, also garnered respectable ratings.
Norcross stresses that a discredited ranking of any treatment should primarily be construed as a call for more research on it, not as a condemnation, that experts "can and have been wrong," and that therapists shouldn't be afraid to be innovative and trust their intuition. Nevertheless, he says, the study has generated considerable controversy, including protests from many psychotherapists who pointed out that they themselves have successfully used some of the most "discredited" treatments like the Luscher Color Test for personality assessment. "I don't know how to answer them," he says. "If something's helped them, I want to be respectful of their experience. At the same time, we know from research that placebos work about a third of the time." | <urn:uuid:3b316311-a0c1-448e-893f-0c1b6bef7db2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psychotherapynetworker.org/symposium-2011/240-107-finding-your-writing-voice?start=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940431 | 687 | 1.617188 | 2 |
No double-dip recession in sight — yet
It’s amazing what a difference a few weeks makes. Just a little more than a month ago, the nation’s economists seemed to have turned decidedly pessimist, with a few indicating the U.S. economy had already entered a double-dip recession. Even those who were not quite so bleak in their assessment were throttling back on their GDP forecasts for the second half of this year, with many suggesting economic growth in the 1 to 2 percent range.
And what brought about this nasty change of heart, when just a short time earlier these same analysts were anticipating a 3 percent or better second half expansion? Basically, a number of bad reports came out for August. The employment report showed (initially) no gain in total payroll employment, initial claims for unemployment insurance started to trend upward again and consumer sentiment and spending seemed to point to tepid growth.
But then the economic clouds parted and the overcast skies turned partly sunny. The September employment numbers showed a gain of better than 130,000 in the private sector, even as public sector employment continued to track downward. What’s more, those seemingly depressing numbers for August (and July) were revised upward to show jobs growth of nearly 100,000 above what had initially been estimated. As well, the consumer sector showed that it still had some life. As a result, the nation’s tea-leaf readers reversed direction and bumped up their GDP forecasts again. On Thursday, we’ll get to see which of these faces of indecision seem to be correct when the third quarter advanced GDP figures are released. For my part, the growth forecast for the second half remains unchanged since the beginning of the year, that is, the July-December months will likely see the economy grow by a very modest 2.0 to 2.5 percent.
If all of this turns out to be anywhere near the mark, the U.S. economy will once again have shown a remarkable resilience that many analysts seem to underestimate, as their outlooks seem to change with the monthly flip of the calendar. And why does this happen so often? Unfortunately, economists seem to forget some basic statistical theory.
For each set of economic data released by the government, there is always a “margin of error” and a “level of confidence” associated with the information. That’s a fancy way of saying that the data are simply estimates, subject to revision and with the possibility that the survey-based figures may not prove particularly accurate. When added to a process called “seasonal adjustment” (to remove seasonality from the information collected), it means that great care should always be taken when interpreting the likely meaning of the estimated data. Sadly, these cautionary efforts are often ignored.
On the other hand, basic economic theory (which allows us to move beyond individual data gyrations) should provide some clue as to what the future may hold. And when examined on this basis, the possibility of entering a double-dip recession is certainly not passed. Much will depend on a number of factors that will unfold between now and year’s end. For example, as of Dec. 31, two factors will revert back to their original status unless Congress acts; both of which could have a sizeable influence on consumer spending. When the Times Square Ball falls, the two percentage point reduction in the Social Security tax rate that private sector workers have enjoyed in 2011 will end and they will once again pay their full 6.2 percent into the system. As a result, for everyone impacted, after-tax income will drop by 2 percent and potentially cause consumer spending to falter. On that same date, the ability of unemployed workers to move into higher extended federal unemployment insurance categories will end, and within weeks/months, the funds some families currently depend upon for spending will halt.
Beyond the uncertain outlook for people, businesses may also cut back on operations as their tapped-out customers take a breather. In part this behavior is currently being exhibited, as companies continue to stockpile cash to survive another potential downturn. Finally, the biggest current unknown of all is the outlook associated with the European sovereign debt crisis. Should the issue explode into a Greek default, European banks would be placed at risk, liquidity could dry up and another worldwide financial market panic could ensue.
All-in-all, it seems there is still plenty of opportunity for economic growth to falter, even to the point of toppling back into recession, though likely not anytime this year.
Dr. James Newton serves as chief economic advisor to Commerce National Bank and is an auxiliary faculty member in economics and statistics at OSU-Marion and OSU-Newark. Dr. Newton’s views do not necessarily reflect those of Commerce National Bank or OSU-Marion/Newark. | <urn:uuid:680657a7-d182-448d-b82a-6b1637d12598> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://delgazette.com/2011/10/no-double-dip-recession-in-sight-8212-yet/?wpmp_switcher=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965666 | 996 | 1.601563 | 2 |
There's only one thing people can't steal from you...
Sentence above is one of my all-time favorite motto given by former high-school principal of Santa Ursula Catholic Girls School and the author of THINK: Notes of An Educator, Sr. Francesco Marianti OSU during freshman parents' briefing.
It was the first and the most undebatable argument when few parents were whining about how expensive the school-fee costs. At that time, IDR 12 million ($1,300) was subjected as entrance fee and IDR 350,000 ($39) as the monthly fee.
I admittedly didn't have that much money, and for that I'm very grateful to be able to spend my 3-year-senior-school there; a school with a very good reputation of discipline and achievements of the alumnus. Generally, most of Catholic Schools provide cross-subsidy for lower middle class student who has a good potential, so you don't have to be afraid to apply at the first time.
Well, expensive school fee doesn't guarantee you it's a good school, but I'm sure a good school will cost you pretty expensive. Don't forget to consider the facilities given e.g. computer lab along with super-fast internet, science lab, amphitheater, gymnasium, and so on.
Gee, sorry, I didn't mean to give lecture how-to-choose-school-for-your-children. My point is, there's a price for a quality.
I believe that to broaden knowledge I can't just take it for granted. There's an ironic fact I can't deny myself; most people are willing to splurge for leisure, but not to education. Lately in my contemplation, I ended up shaking my head and throwing a grim smile, thinking... Why do I need to take a long time to buy books (unless I have to) and not to magazines? It applies the same way too on movies, gourmet, fashion & beauty shopping cos I love them so much. A-ha! Stupid me.
Fortunately some people have reminded me how important to bring education to life. I think so. Thanks guys!
Anyway I've found 2 great seminars that I really wanted to attend; "BRANDING YOU" by Mario Teguh, my favorite business consultant, and 2-day-seminar "Shout it Loud: Women in Leadership Festival 2008" by Meutia Hatta, minister for women empowerment, and other great speakers like Betty Alisjahbana (Former CEO of IBM Indonesia), Josef Bataona (Director of Unilever), Sari Narulita (Editor in Chief of Star Media), and many more. The show will be hosted by former Miss Indonesia 2004, Artika Sari Devi.
I missed Mario Teguh's seminar on April 2 due to my classes at university, and also the price of the ticket; IDR 1,25 million ($138). Regret always come late.. BTW, if you want to see his summary of Business Art talkshow in O Channel, you can download the PDF file (in Indonesian) or just want to read it here.. for free.
As for the Meutia Hatta's, it will cost me IDR 1,2 million ($133), not so different from the first one. I really want to, unfortunately I really don't have that much money currently. Besides, I also have classes to go before my mid-session running next week.
Any advice, anyone? | <urn:uuid:3a27e84a-a981-4165-b3a1-f9970b08f790> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://devigirsang.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970592 | 735 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette, Lauren Holly, David Ogden Stiers. Subtitled or dubbed. Disney (2002, US).
Decent Films Ratings
|?Teens & Up*|
Content advisory: Pagan-influenced fantasy storytelling with nature-gods and spirits interacting with humans; some frightening situations and characters; recurring menace to a child.
Buy at Amazon.com
By Steven D. Greydanus
Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is a work of pagan imagination. So are the works of Homer and Sophocles. In all these works there is much for Christian audiences to take exception with as Christians, but also much to marvel at as audiences. Though the works of Homer and Sophocles may commend themselves to us on historical and cultural grounds as well as aesthetic, any Christian reader capable of enjoying The Iliad as a story, the way it was intended to be enjoyed, can in principle understand a critical Christian moviegoer sitting in wonder at the astonishing imaginative force of the pictures Miyazaki puts on the screen.
Miyazaki is best known to American audiences as the creator of Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro. To many aficianados — including director John Lasseter of the Toy Story movies, who oversaw the preparation of Spirited Away for its American theatrical release — Miyazaki is possibly the greatest animation filmmaker of all time.
Spirited Away, Miyazaki’s 2001 follow-up to Princess Mononoke, offers ample evidence for this estimation. The effortless visual virtuosity of his imagery can make even the strongest animation coming out of Disney or Pixar seem timid and uninspired by comparison. I love the quirky character design in Monsters, Inc., but the mythic power of the imagery in Spirited Away makes Monsters, Inc. look like child’s play.
It must also be said that the pagan influences in Spirited Away make the most overt pop-spirituality influences in American animation look like child’s play. New-Age flavored movies like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Atlantis: The Lost Empire merely dabble in Eastern-style religious motifs streamlined for Western consumer culture. Spirited Away is the real thing. It’s like putting the Jedi-knight pop mysticism of Star Wars next to the Wudan spirituality of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Yet Crouching Tiger was critical of its cultural roots in a way that Spirited Away isn’t. Like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away has an essentially animistic sensibility, seeing gods and spirits in all things.
River gods, dragons, radish spirits, flying oragami birds, rolling, muttering decapitated heads, twin witches, and spirits of all imaginable shapes and sizes roam the countryside of a mystical landscape into which a young modern-day girl named Chihiro (Daveigh Chase, Lilo & Stitch) stumbles when her cloddish parents take a wrong turn on their way to their new house. Those accustomed to American animation conventions should feel right at home with yet another depiction of clueless, unsympathetic parents — though it’ll probably be the last time they feel at home in this surreal film.
Like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, Chihiro finds herself in a bizarre reality in which eating the wrong food or not eating the right food can have disastrous consenquences, and a domineering queen-like figure threatens to kill her.
It’s also a world in which people utter invocations such as "In the name of the wind and water within thee, unbind her" and "Evil be gone" (this with a ritual spell-breaking gesture); in which humans are viewed in a very dim light; and in which practically every character she meets seems at one point monstrous or hostile and at another point benign and helpful, sometimes with no real explanation. Everything is ambiguous and shifting and threatening; it’s all but impossible to know for sure who to trust or what to believe.
Fortunately, Chihiro’s soon aided by a mysterious guardian: a confident, capable young man named Haku (Jason Marsden), who tells her what to eat, when to breathe, and how to stay alive in the spirit world. The most important survival tactic he give her is to ask for work in the spirit world’s bath house, where the spirits come to "replenish themselves." As long as she persists in asking for work, Haku assures Chihiro, no one will harm her, though the work may be hard.
This principle shapes the story of Spirited Away in a queer way. Myths and fairy tales often contain rules that must be followed for safety’s sake: Don’t touch the walls in the enchanted castle; avert your eyes from the bathing goddess; don’t answer the knock of a stranger.
But this particular rule — keep asking for a job no matter what — introduces an odd dynamic into the story. Chihiro’s meeting with the witch Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), who runs the spirit bath house, turns into a kind of job interview. Likewise, the girl’s encounters with various hostile or ominous spirits take the form of negotiating confrontations with snide coworkers or waiting on difficult or unpleasant customers with bad breath or unpredictable behavior.
At first Chihiro has trouble adjusting to this workplace dynamic ("Have you ever worked a day in your life?" a coworker chides her); but eventually her success with one particularly difficult client makes her an office hero. All the while, though, Chihiro labors under an oppressive contract with the witch Yubaba, by which Yubaba has taken away her name and given her a new one. In fact, she’s actually in danger of forgetting who she really is. "That’s how Yoruba controls you," Haku warns, "by taking away your name. If you ever forget it completely, you’ll never get home."
What’s up with all this workplace stuff, especially in connection with a child protagonist? Does it simply reflect the Japanese work ethic? Is it meant to expose young viewers to adult concepts and experiences in a way they can appropriate? I don’t know.
A lot more could be said about the film’s underlying themes and subtexts, notably, for instance, its environmentalist message. The most striking thing about Spirited Away, however, is its arresting visuals.
Some of these reflect archetypal cultural referents: a silent phantom with an impassive mask-like face; a glittering, ribbon-like dragon undulating across the sky. Others seem to represent Miyazaki’s own inspiration: a train gliding across the surface of the sea to an unknown destination; scurrying little balls of enchanted soot that take on a life of their own in more ways than one; an animated lamppost that hops along on a gloved hand; and a pair of diminutive characters who materialize in the film’s final act and display such show-stealing physical comedy as to show up the whole history of obligatory animal sidekicks in the modern Disney era.
On the moral level, there are positive elements as well as negative. Although Chihiro begins the story as something of a whiner, her experiences give her a sense of perspective, and as the story goes on she displays courage, grace under pressure, courtesy, compassion, integrity, and other virtues.
Because of its non-Christian spiritual overtones, not to mention its unfamiliar story rhythm and logic, I don’t recommend Spirited Away for casual or uncritical viewing. Nor can I recommend it to Christian parents for young children whose imaginations are still being formed. For mature, discerning viewers, however, Miyazaki’s latest film offers a fascinating window into an imaginative world that is in many ways alien to a Christian frame of reference, yet in other ways remains well worth approaching on its own terms. | <urn:uuid:6b4ecc74-7b0d-4526-8c76-300585674937> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.decentfilms.com/reviews/spiritedaway | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930228 | 1,682 | 1.695313 | 2 |
2012-11-16 16:18:49 - Cell culture market to increase at a CAGR of 9.3%
The global cell culture market has been forecast to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3% over the next six years, increasing from a value of $3.4 billion in 2011, to hit a market value of $6.3 billion in 2018.The cell culture market is growing continuously due to increased demand for biopharmaceutical products. The introduction of biosimilars across various geographies in the forecast period on a large scale will boost the cell culture market, rapidly. Despite concerns about low flexibility for manufacturing quantities and other factors, the higher efficacy of the end products will drive its growth in the future.The growth in biopharmaceuticals is creating an unprecedented increase in demand for cell culture products. Cell culture techniques
have been used in biological sciences for more than 50 years; however, cell culture techniques have been applied to production systems for only the last 26 years or so. The cell culture industry, which began in the late 1980s from the utilisation of recombinant DNA technology and cell hybridisation, is today a major underpinning of the biopharmaceutical market.The development of recombinant methods involves genetic manipulation and restructuring of DNA or genes. Genetic recombination usually takes place in a biological environment, while DNA recombination occurs either during a repair response or experiments using in vitro studies.This is also known as genetic engineering technology and was developed at the end of the twentieth century. This method was further developed for large-scale cell culture production and was found to be helpful in protein synthesis processes, such as insulin production.The cell culture market has more than 90% of its products manufactured by a small number of players, including EMD Millipore, Life Technologies Corporation, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. A significant number of small players are also entering into the market, especially in emerging countries. However, tough industry regulations limit the speed at which these companies can progress.The introduction of biosimilars across various geographies on a large scale through to 2018, will boost the cell culture market, rapidly. Despite concerns about low flexibility for manufacturing quantities and other factors, the higher efficacy of the end products will drive its growth in the future.For more information on the cell culture market, see the latest research: Cell Culture MarketFollow us on Twitter @CandMResearch
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Companiesandmarkets.com is a leading online business information aggregator with over 300,000 market reports and company profiles available to our clients. Our extensive range of reports are sourced from the leading publishers of business information and provide clients with the widest range of information available. In terms of company profiles, Companiesandmarkets.comâs online database allows clients access to market and corporate information to over 100,000 different companies. We provide clients with a fully indexed database of information where clients can find specific market reports on their niche industry sectors of interest. | <urn:uuid:08184c94-0eee-484a-a8a5-6df921f14e94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reports.pr-inside.com/cell-culture-market-to-increase-at-r3480288.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938595 | 673 | 1.625 | 2 |
|Latin America and the Caribbean|
||To celebrate World Habitat Day, the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Buenos Aires, organized a workshop titled, “Integrated Response to the Housing Problem in Argentina”. The main themes discussed were the urban land reform; the right to the city; human settlements; social, economic and environmental sustainability; the housing shortage and the current housing laws in Argentina. Among the participants, were the Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Argentina, the dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Buenos Aires and a representative from the International Alliance of Inhabitants.
|Brazil||The Brazilian Institute of Architects (Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil - IAB), a Habitat Agenda Partner, will hold a round-table session about the Architecture of the City, in celebration of the World Habitat Day on 2 October.|
Several activities took place in Cuba on the occasion of World Habitat Day. The main activity was organized by the National Institute for Housing where WHD speeches of the United Nations Secretary-General and UN-HABITAT's Executive Director were read. Other interventions were from UNDP's Deputy Resident Representative and the director of urbanisation from the Institute for Physical Planning. The highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of the National Habitat Awards. The event was widely covered by local television and radio.
In the city of Santa Clara, a conference was held at the Centre for Capacity Building Agenda21. Local academics and other officials discussed human settlement subjects such as urban sprawl, migration, environment and water.
As in the previous years, the World Day of Habitat in Cuba will be celebrated by a central activity that consists of a special meeting of the National Committee of Habitat. The preliminary program of this meeting includes: reading of the Message of the ED of UN-Habitat; speech from the Resident Coordinator of United Nations; information on the Campaigns of UN- Habitat in Cuba; information of the Programs of UN- Habitat in Cuba and awarding of the National Distinction Habitat.
||Forums and roundtables were organized in Costa Rica on the occasion of World Habitat Day. Among the main themes discussed were the need for action to attain the Millennium Development Goals at city level; urban viability; sanitation and slum upgrading.
In Bogotá, a workshop on this year's theme, "Cities, Magnets of Hope" was organized to mark World Habitat Day. The focus of the workshop was the analysis of the current status of Social Housing in Colombia by several of its actors and stakeholders including the government, academia and developers. Among the speakers, were the Vice Minister for Housing, representatives of local Universities and other institutions involved in social housing promotion, financing and development as well as the UN-HABITAT Programme Manager.
In Quito, the inhabitants of the Vista Hermosa neighbourhood with the help of the NGO Quito para Todos (Quito for all) and UN-HABITAT, used the opportunity of World Habitat Day to strengthen their campaign to claim back public space by organizing a cultural event. Activities included tree planting in the park, local artists teaching children, flea market and a musical and puppet show. The event was attended by the neighbours of Vista Hermosa, local authorities and was covered by national media.
The event was also an opportunity to publicize one of the campaign's recent successes, the rehabilitation of a local street as a public space. The street was being used as a parking lot. Future projects include road safety improvements by reorganizing current traffic patterns.
See Press Article
In coordination with UN-HABITAT's Programme Manager, activities lined up to celebrate this year’s WHD in Ecuador include movies highlighting urban issues as well as artists’ impressions in the informal settlements aimed at sensitizing the local population about the value of public space and the need to act as a community in order to improve. The works are also intended to stimulate authorities’ assistance to neighbourhoods through a demonstration of people can do.
There will also be a Cooperation agreement between the cities of Esmeraldas and Cuenca. The objective is to promote cultural and commercial exchange between a city with mostly "amerindian" population (Cuenca) and a city with mostly "afro-ecuadorian" population (Esmeraldas). Expected participants include association of migrant populations.
||In Guatemala, more than 3,000 people demonstrated in the streets of Guatemala City. The demonstrators chanted slogans against forced evictions and advocated for the formalization of "illegal" settlements. The march arrived at the "Palace of Justice" where a delegation of the protesters entered the National Congress Premises and delivered a proposed housing and land reform bill. The proposal includes the creation of a Ministry of Housing financed by 5 per cent of the national budget. If the bill is implemented it is expected that the housing deficit gap can be closed in 20 years.
|Mexico||The President of Mexico has been lined up to award a Habitat Prize as part of the celebrations marking this year’s WHD in Mexico City. Also to give out a prize is the minister for social development who will hand the Habitat University award. In the works is a proposed publication on Local Economic Development as well as a videoconference with Ministers of Latin America to discuss gender and habitat. The celebration in Mexico is coordinated by our Habitat Programme Manager.| | <urn:uuid:54fee99b-dde0-414b-8e5b-f090c94f8b79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unchs.org/content.asp?typeid=19&catid=490&cid=3640&activeid=3478 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950638 | 1,124 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Owner of Young's BBQ in Middletown, Keith Young, said that mobile food vendors are unfair competition for small restaurants and that he has lost about 20 percent of his business over it.
"Whether it's barbeque, pizza or coffee, it's not good for the structural integrity of small business," he said.
In January, Young went before Middletown mayor and council to address his concerns.
He then drafted an ordinance that would limit mobile food vendors and submitted it to the town.
Young, who has been in business for about six years said that he feels that he is doing something right since he weathered the recession.
On Monday, a public forum will be held at town hall to review the legislation and open it up to comment from business owners and residents.
What's Being Said
Young said that his competition isn't about who's food is better, but it's about the way it's being done.
He refers to the mobile barbeque unit that operates occasionally across from the Valero Gas Station on Main Street.
"It should be done on an equal playing field," he said. "Let him get a restaurant and what I'm doing, and do it right, and see where he stands after that."
This is one of the issues Young raised with the town – that mobile vendors have an unfair advantage over local small businesses because they don't have to pay rent, he said.
"While he still might have gotten a license from the town or may be insured by the Board of Health, it's not the kind of structural integrity small business is built on," Young said.
In the last year, two men went through the process to have their mobile food carts approved by the town.
One was approved and the other withdrawn.
Last December, mayor and council unanimously approved Clint Johnson's request for permission to operate a BBQ food trailer on the corner of Wood Street and West Main Street.
"He's out there cooking outside and I'm in a building with a license and insurance," Young said. "This isn't about who's food is better, it's about the way it's being done."
Johnson's unit does not operate on a daily basis.
Middletown Police said that the location was concerning to them because the particular intersection is busy and that the truck creates a hazard.
Police Chief Henry Tobin also noted that the mobile unit creates a lot of smoke.
In June, Jose Flores, owner of the 13 N. Broad Street business, spoke on behalf of Eduardo Torres Sierra for permission to operate a mobile food unit called "Taco Loco Express" in the parking lot.
Limited parking in the lot Flores requested raised questions by council and the request was withdrawn.
Later that month, a New Castle man was issued a criminal summons by Middletown Police for operating an unlicensed taco truck in the unit block of Anderson Street.
Police said that Jose Moratin, 28, was operating a taco trailer in town without a business license.
What's Being Done
The town of Middletown will be holding a public hearing Monday to review an ordinance that would amend part of the town's zooming code relating to mobile food vendors.
The legislation will be open for public comment and feedback and may be altered before its scheduled vote Nov. 5.
In it's opening graph, the new code, as currently written, says that vendors from temporary vehicles do not pay town property taxes are not otherwise invested in the town and its long-term success.
The drafted ordinance would require mobile vendors operating on private property to maintain public write-of-way with written permission from the property owner and to properly dispose of all grease and trash in accordance with the town's laws.
A conditional use permit will not be required by ice cream trucks or vehicles operating during festivals or celebrations approved by the town. | <urn:uuid:9acfd7ad-c3b7-4889-b77b-d9a875979350> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.middletowntranscript.com/article/20121009/NEWS/121009784/0/homepage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979614 | 795 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Creating Fictional Characters—Part 6: Putting the Right Words in Their Mouths
July 16, 2009 by Lillie
Table of contents for Creating Fictional Characters
I’ve learned about dialogue since the first draft of my first novel. When I’d finished about half the book, a writer friend read it. When she returned the manuscript to me, she said, “Do you realize you don’t have one word of dialogue in this entire story?”
My characters talked—there was just no dialogue. I wrote things like Debbie asked Jake to fix her breakfast. He told her he’d be glad to.
I started writing dialogue but decided not to edit the first part of the manuscript until I finished the first draft. My mother, who was a reader but not a writer, said, “I don’t know what it was, but the second half of the book was a whole lot better than the first.”
In Make Your Words Work: Proven Techniques for Effective Writing-For Fiction and Nonfiction, Gary Provost says “Dialogue is real speech’s greatest hits.”
Listen to a normal conversation. You’ll hear a lot of nothing.
“How are you doing?”
“OK. How about you?”
This kind of conversation won’t move your story forward or reveal character. It will simply bore your reader.
Rather than a mirror of real conversations, dialogue is:
- Two or more characters talking with purpose, not just chit-chatting but talking for a reason
- Something artificial that appears real—realistic, not real, without all the uhs and you knows and boring information
To create dialogue that works:
- Use real speech rhythms
- Include implication and evasiveness as real conversation
- Eliminate the trivial and banal
- Include the unspoken (body language) as well as the spoken
Dialogue has several purposes:
- Characterize – to prove what you said about the characters is true
- Give information – but only information that would naturally be exchanged in conversation
- Advance plot – move action forward
- Convey tension – shortcut to conflict
Conversations in fiction can be described in three ways:
- Summary – brief description of what was discussed: John told Susie about his argument with Joe.
- Indirect dialogue – description of what was said without quotation: John told Sue that he and Joe had an argument and almost got into a fight. She asked what caused the argument, and John said … This is how I wrote dialogue when I first started, and even my mother thought it was boring.
- Direct dialogue – verbatim quote:
“Joe and I got into an argument at the pool today. I thought he was going to hit me,” John said.
“Oh, dear, “Susie said. “What in the world brought that about?”
Use direct dialogue for important conversations:
- Don’t waste direct dialogue on inconsequential discussion or exposition. If the reader already knows the information and the only purpose of the dialogue is to provide the information to another character, summary or indirect dialogue is probably better than dialogue.
- Set off dialogue with quotation marks with a comma between the spoken words and the tag.
- If the tag comes after the spoken words, the comma goes inside the quotation marks: “I went to town yesterday,” he said.
- If the tag comes before the spoken words, the comma goes after the attribution: He said, “I went to town yesterday.”
- Put each speaker’s words in a separate paragraph. Although it’s best to break up the dialogue so one speaker doesn’t give a monologue, if one character talks for a long time, break up his or her words into short paragraphs. In that case, put quotation marks at the beginning of the paragraph only and do not close the quotation marks until the end of the speaker’s words.
Use dialogue tags for attribution of speakers:
- Avoid using a tag if it’s clear who’s speaking. If there are only two characters in the conversation, each of them can speak a few times without attribution. The reader can follow a few exchanges between two characters without losing track of who’s speaking.
- Said is transparent and should be the tag used most often. Writers often think said is boring, but readers hardly know it’s there.
- Use other tags—answered, explained, replied, stated, etc.—sparingly. Dialogue isn’t improved by using many different tags; in fact, readers find it distracting.
- Never use a verb that is a physical impossibility—smiled, chuckled, grimaced, grinned. A character can smile before or after he speaks, but he can’t smile a word or chuckle a sentence. The title of the book Shut Up! He Explained: A Writer’s Guide to the Uses and Misuses of Dialogue (now out-of-print but available from used booksellers) shows the wrong way to write dialogue.
- Don’t add explanation or adverbs
- If the dialogue is strong, you don’t need them: He stormed out of the room and slammed the door angrily. If he stormed out of the room and slammed the door, the reader can figure out he’s angry.
- If the dialogue is weak, strengthen the dialogue: He left the room angrily is not nearly as strong as He stormed out of the room and slammed the door.
- Use action tags – beats: “Hurry or we’ll be late.” Toni gulped down the last of her coffee and tossed the plastic cup in the sink. “Today’s going to be a busy day.”
- To complement the dialogue—in the example above the actions reinforce the words that Toni is in a hurry.
- For variation—people talking are not disembodied voices. They are doing things as they speak, and so should your characters.
- For pauses— an action tag varies the pace.
Give your characters distinctive voices. In Creating Characters: How to Build Story People, Dwight Swain writes
The words you speak, what you say and how you say, it reveal you as a particular person. … These are things the writer must think about, be aware of. If the words he puts in his story people’s mouths are out of character, he’ll be hard put to rise above them.
- Gender—in general, women strive to make connections and men negotiate to see who’s on top of the ladder.
- Age—a teenager is likely to use a lot of slang; an elderly person is apt to speak more formally.
- Education/literacy level—a high school dropout usually doesn’t sound like a college graduate.
- Background experiences—where someone lives, events they have experienced, people they associate with all have a bearing on how they talk.
- Attitude and self-image—a self-confident person will sound different than a timid person with low-esteem.
- Favorite topics—your characters’ conversations will reflect their interests and activities. A race car enthusiast will sound different than someone who loves to read classic literature.
Different characters have different speech patterns.
- Characters can use slang or proper English, short or long sentences, complete sentences or fragments.
- Use contractions to sound natural unless the speaker is pompous or not a native English speaker.
- Don’t use strange spellings to signify dialect; use rhythms, word choices, and word placement instead.
- Don’t worry about proper grammar—write as the character would speak.
- Don’t have characters repeat the other person’s name. Normally when you are talking to a person individually, you don’t call them by name. On the other hand, if several people are in a conversation, you might call a specific person by name if you wanted to talk to him or her.
Characters talk to themselves:
- Interior monologue is what goes on in the character’s head: unspoken thoughts.
- Direct thoughts are shown in italics: The world has gone crazy.
- Use the Q trick—state the thought in the form of a question to avoid attribution: Had the whole world gone crazy?
Here’s an example of how not to write dialogue:
“Jane, do you remember that your father died last year and left his entire estate to your brother Carl?” Kay asked.
“Yes, Kay, I do.” Jane answered. “We suspected that Carl knew something about the mysterious secret in my father’s past and that he bribed our father to leave him the estate.”
“Your cousin Marvin agreed with us,” Kay responded. “Now it looks like we may be finding out what really happened, Jane.”
“Marvin’s mother was my father’s sister. They had a falling out years ago, and no one knows why. Have you found out something, Kay?” Jane demanded.
Leave a comment and tell me everything you find wrong with this poor example. | <urn:uuid:d40b598e-fba5-47e9-8959-7a6bad25e59a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lillieammann.com/2009/07/16/creating-fictional-characters%e2%80%94part-6-putting-the-right-words-in-their-mouths/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940693 | 1,965 | 2.96875 | 3 |
To guide and support the continuous improvement of a high quality instructional program
We will accomplish our mission through:
A Focus on the Seven Correlates of Effective Schools
Sunnyvale School District uses the research-based Seven Correlates of Effective Schools as the framework for continuous improvement. Our professional development is designed to provide staff with the skills and processes necessary to implement the Seven Correlates in the classroom and throughout the school with an emphasis on distributed leadership. The Effective Schools research clearly indicates that strong instructional leadership shared by the administrators and teachers is essential to becoming a high achieving school and district.
Professional Learning Communities
All schools function as Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) built around 3 Big Ideas: Create a Culture of Collaboration with a Focus on Results to Ensure Students Learn. Collaborative grade-level or course-alike-teams meet on a scheduled basis to examine student work generated from common formative assessments.
As we collaborate to improve student learning results, we ask 4 Questions: | <urn:uuid:7b67da05-456e-4e62-afc9-7b696ee17b18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sesd.org/education/dept/dept.php?sectiondetailid=559 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928127 | 203 | 2.359375 | 2 |
April 17, 2008
Holidays, happiness and hope for Sderot
In only a few weeks, the Los Angeles native, currently studying at Yeshivat HaKotel in Jerusalem, decided to organize a Purim carnival for the town of Sderot -- a reprieve from their harsh reality for a day of festivity, spirit and celebration. He galvanized support from the Jewish communities in Los Angeles and Israel, despite warnings from his yeshiva that he was embarking on a dangerous mission.
Platt wrote a letter requesting financial support for his plan and sent it to everyone he knew, including Rabbi Elazar Muskin of Young Israel of Century City, where Platt and his family belong. Muskin helped circulate his message and the community responded in kind -- donations poured in from local community members, including Baruch Littman and The Jewish Community Foundation. Platt raised nearly $20,000.
The result of Platt's efforts was a lavish Purim carnival with all the holiday trappings: music, booths, dancing, apple-bobbing, arts and crafts and games.
Grateful for the generosity of the community here and in Israel, Platt wrote the following thank-you note to the people who helped support his vision:
Being that Purim and the month of Adar is about being marbim b'simcha [increasing joy], I felt that a carnival was what the doctor ordered. The Sderot carnival on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 was a huge success; it was an event that really confirmed what Am Yisrael is about: a total of 170 volunteers -- overseas and Israeli students -- participated in the event, and a staggering 400 children from Sderot enjoyed the Simchat Purim.
"With some of the remaining funds we were able to give the children of Sderot other gifts; things for the schools and games for when the children are forbidden to leave the building when the Qassams fall.
"The most amazing achievement of the day was the interaction between the students from all the various yeshivot and seminaries across the country with the children of Sderot, as well as the feedback from the community saying that because of our carnival they were able to have a Purim sameach. Sderot is not some desolate place, but a city filled with 18,000 residents like you and me.
"It really has been a remarkable achievement the way so many Jews from across the world united together to show our support for Sderot, to show our support for Eretz Yisrael and Am Yisrael. We have learned to appreciate that no matter where or what is happening in the world, we will always be united and we will always share each other's hearts, thoughts and dreams. | <urn:uuid:ea5bd88e-b9fa-4d4c-bacf-7aa46c113253> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishjournal.com/circuit/article/holidays_happiness_and_hope_for_sderot_20080418 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970875 | 577 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Filipinos in Australia
The latest Census in 2006 recorded 120,540 Philippines-born people in Australia, an increase of 15.9 per cent from the 2001 Census. The 2006 distribution by state and territory showed New South Wales had the largest number with 57,720 followed by Victoria (27,340), Queensland (18,710) and Western Australia (6,830).
The final dismantling of the ‘White Australia Policy’ in 1975 and the declaration of martial law in the Philippines in 1972 led to rapid growth in the Philippines-born population in Australia over the next two decades. During the 1970s, many Filipino women migrated as spouses of Australian residents. Since then most of the Philippines-born settlers have been sponsored by a family member. Making them one of the fastest growing overseas-born populations in Australia, China (114,041) being the highest among Asian countries followed by Vietnam (63,722).
Most Filipino migration occurred during the 1980s, peaking in 1987- 1988. In the 1990s, settler arrivals began to decline and the growth in the Philippines-born population slowed. The 2001 Census recorded 103,990 Philippines-born living in Australia, making up 2.5 per cent of the overseas-born population and 0.6 per cent of the total Australian population.
In Blacktown, people born in the Philippines comprise 5.9% (16,129) of the total population making them the largest directly-born ethnic group in the city.*
The figure shows the total number of Filipinos in each city council based on the 2006 Census. | <urn:uuid:72ade0e5-4fbc-44e9-97af-11b94e929497> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kalatas.com.au/demographics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93745 | 322 | 2.25 | 2 |
Windows hardware challenge draws on resources
Things get heavy
Project Watch: Microsoft 2008 Here's a question for you: what hardware does it take to run an entirely new, pre-release Windows operating system and 1TB-worth of SQL Server 2008 community technology preview?
This question seems simple to answer, but the challenge comes in locating the requisite hardware. One problem that always arises when using any beta operating system is: no hardware manufacturer will certify kit to run the new operating system before that operating system has reached its release code form, because last minute changes may interfere with the certification process.
But, while full certification is often a problem, behind the scenes, the hardware manufacturers are working closely with the operating system provider and often know what servers are going to be certified when the time comes.
How willing they are to impart this information varies between companies. The trick comes in tapping the right OEM: I didn't find IBM particularly obliging but Dell, on the other hand, was extremely helpful. So, we have a Dell.
The big question in these scenarios then usually becomes one of whether to go with a 32-bit or 64-bit architecture. Given the size of our data files the only answer was the latter. So we settled on a 64-bit Dell PowerEdge R900 with four, quad-core Intel Xeon processors running at 2.93GHz. That is essentially 16 64 bit processors. For RAM we settled on 32Gb and the disk space. To quote Rolls-Royce on the power output of its motor vehicles, our output was "sufficient".
The PowerEdge is a ferociously noisy beast with multiple fans. It's also a heavy one. Having shifted the machine around the building several times I was moved to bring in a set of bathroom scales and on discovering that it weighed six and a half stone I decided it wasn't shifting again.
We haven't done any benchmarking for speed as yet but it's very quick. At tick-over Windows 2008 Server uses 2Gb RAM and it's coping admirably with the load put upon it.
The setup has been running for about ten weeks as I write. It has shown the fabulous reliability that any modern server should. As I said in the last Project Watch about the software stack, short of making up some drama, there's nothing to report. | <urn:uuid:610403f0-fdd0-4263-9678-48fdbf613700> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/19/project_watch_five/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95799 | 474 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
Related Artists/CompaniesRichard Strauss
About the Work
Richard Strauss cut his teeth in the art of musical storytelling through his extraordinary sequence of tone poems in the last years of the nineteenth century. In a way, they provided the ideal preparation for his career as an opera composer. And it was from this experience that he drew to craft the unforgettable musical characterizations of Der Rosenkavalier, which range from boisterous parody to subtle psychological nuance. Strauss also had the benefit of working with one of the most marvelously crafted librettos in the literature, thanks to his partnership with the poet/dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who had recently launched their legendary partnership by furnishing the libretto for Elektra, the (shockingly different, as it were) opera immediately preceding Der Rosenkavalier.
Set in mid-18th-century Vienna, Der Rosenkavalier was originally conceived as a period comedy inspired by Verdi's Falstaff as well as the comic panache of Molière's satires. The story's comic aspects center around the loutish, self-centered Baron von Ochs (a German name that means exactly what it sounds like in English) and his quest to win the beautiful Sophie von Faninal as a trophy bride-and his ticket to the sizeable dowry promised by her nouveau riche father. But the Baron's plans are foiled by the young Count Rofrano, known as Octavian and cast as a "trousers role" ( i.e., for a female singer, like Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro). Octavian himself falls in love with Sophie (immediately reciprocated) when he meets her as bearer of the "silver rose" to announce Ochs's engagement. In fine comic fashion, the young count then orchestrates a plot to unmask his rival's true character.
But Octavian must also come to terms with his love for an older woman, the Marschallin, an aristocrat trapped in a loveless marriage, with whom he is engaged in a passionate affair at the very start of the opera. The Marschallin introduces an entirely new dimension of pathos and psychological nuance into the comedy and becomes its true central character, revealing Strauss and Hofmannsthal's desire to emulate the bittersweet emotional complexity of Mozart's Figaro. In fact it is she who arranges for Octavian to deliver Ochs's engagement token, thus securing her lover's first introduction to the younger woman she already intuits will become her own rival. The perceptive Marschallin has decided to save Sophie from suffering the same fate that befell her at that age and is eager to thwart Ochs's scheme.
Strauss wrote the score for Der Rosenkavalier between 1909 and 1910, and the opera was premiered in January 1911. It made the already rich and famous composer into an even more wildly successful celebrity, becoming a phenomenon well beyond the opera house and generating an avalanche of "tie-in" merchandise. Der Rosenkavalier has also found a life in the concert hall. Along with its gestures of Mozartean homage, the score draws on the orchestral mastery Strauss had inherited from Wagner. This aspect comes to the fore in the purely instrumental suite we hear, the best known of numerous suites that have been extracted from the score over the years (most of which were not arranged by the composer himself). Strauss's own role in preparing this particular suite is murky; around the time it was introduced in New York, in 1944, he was fashioning a different suite of his own drawn mostly from the opera's waltzes. Conductor Artur Rodzinsky, who led the Rosenkavalier Suite's first performance, is usually cited as the party responsible for actually splicing it all together-though the composer likely consented to its publication the following year.
The Suite opens forcefully with the Prelude's jubilant, masculine horns, which evoke the teenage Octavian's passion for the Marschallin (who is approaching middle age). The music, alternately lush and heroic, includes one of the most graphic depictions of sex in the literature as the horns work to a climax, followed by a rosy, postcoital afterglow woven from leitmotifs representing the Marschallin and her reflections on aging. This jump cuts to the stunning scene in the second act that gives the opera its title ("The Knight of the Rose"), as Octavian undertakes his mission to present Baron Ochs's silver rose to Sophie. (Despite what the Viennese tourist industry would have you believe, this magnificent ceremony-given a genuinely silvery, glistening orchestration by Strauss-was a Symbolist invention by Hofmannsthal.) But the young pair themselves fall in love to music of rapturously soaring ecstasy.
A brief, chaotic interlude signals the intrusion of the lecher Ochs, who then dances with fatuous self-satisfaction to one of the waltzes that are such a recognizable part of Der Rosenkavalier's sound world. Ever since the opera's premiere, pedantic critics have noted that the waltzes pervading the score are "anachronistic" for its mid-18th-century setting. But they never feel out of place amid Strauss's time-traveling homage to the great music of the past-including parodies of Tristan and yes, loving nods to the (unrelated) "waltz king"-but all filtered through Strauss's unmistakable style.
If the waltzes showcase the opera's comic side, the great Trio near the end of the third act (which follows) is the epitome of Der Rosenkavalier's bittersweet wisdom. How fitting that Strauss actually decelerates the waltz's natural pace for this music, where the Marschallin, who had earlier been shown trying to stop time, renounces her lover. She acknowledges that Octavian and Sophie will be happier together, while they meanwhile marvel at their newfound love. After the Marschallin's graceful exit, the pair continue with a duet of simple, fairy-tale charm. Capping the Suite is another of Ochs's hedonistic waltzes from earlier in the act, which features some of Strauss's most delirious modulations. | <urn:uuid:d1275183-8dae-48bd-9b91-8957fedbbe19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://livingresearch.vsarts.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2754 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956691 | 1,327 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Petras Klimas ( pronunciation (help·info), February 23, 1891 - January 16, 1969) was a Lithuanian diplomat, author, historian, and one of the twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania.
Klimas attended law school at the University of Moscow. After graduating, he returned to Vilnius and served on the Lithuanian Central Relief Committee. He was elected to the Council of Lithuania in 1917, and signed the Act of Independence in 1918. Klimas went on to serve as the Lithuanian diplomatic envoy to France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Luxembourg.
During the Interwar period Klimas published a number of scholarly works in Lithuanian and German language, including Russisch Litauen (Russian Lithuania), a study of Russian rule of Lithuania from 1795–1915; Der Werdegang des litauischen Staates (The Development of the Lithuanian State), describing the emergence of the Lithuanian state from 1915–1918; and Lietuvos žemės valdymo istorija (History of land ownership in Lithuania).
While he was serving on a diplomatic mission to Paris in 1940, the Lithuanian Legation was turned over to the Soviet Union. The Nazi occupational authorities in France arrested him in 1942, and he was sent to a concentration camp until 1943. He was released for a short while and returned to Lithuania, but was re-arrested in 1944 during the second Soviet occupation of Lithuania. This time he was sent to a concentration camp in Siberia and spent ten years there. His health was permanently impaired until his death in 1969. He was buried in Petrašiūnai Cemetery.
- (Lithuanian) "Lietuvos nacionalinis muziejus; Petras Klimas (1891–1969)". Retrieved 2010-12-11.
- "Klimas, Petras". Encyclopedia Lituanica III: 142-143. (1970–1978). Ed. Simas Sužiedėlis. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. LCC 74-114275. | <urn:uuid:fe16e5f8-13c2-42dd-b006-4d3b5c0898aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petras_Klimas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930226 | 446 | 2.5 | 2 |
President Truman Championed Military Integration
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008 The idea that President Harry S. Truman would integrate the armed forces in 1948 was counterintuitive.
Truman, after all, was the product of a segregated society in Missouri. He served as an artillery captain in the segregated World War I Army. He had a reputation as a machine politician who didn’t rock the boat.
There was really nothing in his biography to suggest he would champion integration.
Yet less than four months before the 1948 presidential election, Truman signed Executive Order 9981.
“It is hereby declared to be the policy of the president that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin,” the July 26, 1948, executive order read in part.
The sweeping change virtually guaranteed that Truman would not win the so-called “Solid South” in the elections. The Southern states were reliable wins for Democratic politicians at the time. Truman’s stand on race relations caused many politicians to bolt the Democratic Party and run as “Dixiecrats.”
Strom Thurmond -- who later would represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate for almost a half century -- opposed Truman in the election, garnering 39 electoral votes as the candidate for the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party.
New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican nominee, was considered a shoo-in for election. Thurmond took four states that normally would have voted Democratic in the November election, but Truman still won.
Through the next four years, Truman battled with military and civilian leaders to ensure they carried out Executive Order 9981. The Truman order was a landmark in American history. It intimated that separate was not equal five years before the Supreme Court agreed. | <urn:uuid:60bea2bc-1651-4a83-bf10-3854bfda2c12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=50561 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978238 | 394 | 3.171875 | 3 |
St. Eulampia and her brother, Eulampius
Commemorated on October 10
Saints Eulampius and Eulampia were brother and sister and lived at the beginning of the fourth century in the city of Nicomedia. Eulampius became upset after reading the decree of Emperor Maximiam (284-305) sentencing all Christians to be executed. Eulampius was horrified that the emperor was persecuting his own people rather than fighting the enemies of his country.
Eulampius was brought to trial and commanded to renounce the Christian Faith. When he refused, they raked him with iron hooks and then placed him upon a red-hot bed of coals. Eulampius suddenly expressed a wish to visit the pagan temple. The judges were delighted thinking they had turned him from Christianity. In the pagan temple of Mars, the saint approached the idol and cried out, “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I command you to fall to the floor and crumble into dust!” The idol immediately crashed down to the floor and was destroyed.
The people exclaimed, “The Supreme God is the Christian God, Who is great and mighty!” St. Eulampius was again taken away for torture. This time his sister, Eulampia, appeared before the judges and declared that she also was a Christian. Eulampius told her, “Sister, do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul.”
The martyrs were tortured and thrown into a red-hot furnace, but the Lord protected them from the fire. Finally, Eulampius was beheaded, but Eulampia died from her torments before she could be beheaded.
Troparion (Tone 4) –
Your holy martyrs Eulampius and Eulampia, O Lord,
through their sufferings have received incorruptible crowns from You, our God.
For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through their intercessions, save our souls!
Kontakion (Tone 3) –
Let us honor the noble martyrs,
brother and sister in the flesh, wise Eulampius and Eulampia;
for they put to shame the devices of tyrants
through the power of the Crucified one.
Therefore, they have been declared declared the glory and boast of martyrs.
By permission of the Orthodox Church in America (www.oca.org) | <urn:uuid:de566c75-b6f3-4526-846b-b499c6854389> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.antiochian.org/node/16810 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978905 | 540 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Now Robert Grenier, who headed the CIA’s counter-terrorism center from 2004 to 2006 and was previously a CIA station chief in Pakistan, has told the Guardian that the drone programme is targeted too broadly. "It [the drone program] needs to be targeted much more finely. We have been seduced by them and the unintended consequences of our actions are going to outweigh the intended consequences," Grenier said in an interview.
"We have gone a long way down the road of creating a situation where we are creating more enemies than we are removing from the battlefield. We are already there with regards to Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said.
Grenier said the strikes were too indiscriminate and causing outrage among the civilian population in the country, lending support to Islamists and seeing a growth in anti-US sentiment.
"That brings you to a place where young men, who are typically armed, are in the same area and may hold these militants in a certain form of high regard. If you strike them indiscriminately you are running the risk of creating a terrific amount of popular anger. They have tribes and clans and large families. Now all of a sudden you have a big problem … I am very concerned about the creation of a larger terrorist safe haven in Yemen," Grenier said.
I guess this is a follow-up to what I called a "belated revelation" last month when James Traub at ForeignPolicy.com wrote "The danger of producing more militants than we kill in Yemen hardly seems hypothetical." Way to get on the bandwagon, was my general message. Experts in the area have been singing this tune for a very long time. Grenier was based in Pakistan, but now that the news is very much focused on the expanded campaign in Yemen, I’ll reprint a compiled list of expert opinion on this blowback question:
Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen expert at Princeton University (who Traub actually quotes), recently wrote, "Body bags are not a good barometer for success in a war like this. I would argue that U.S. missile strike[s] are actually one of the major — not the only, but a major — factor in AQAP’s growing strength."
Jeremy Scahill, reporting for Nation, exposed in February after visiting Yemen how U.S. airstrikes that kill civilians and those ill-defined as militants – along with support for the brutal Yemeni government - foments anti-Americanism and fuels international terrorism.
As Charles Schmitz, a Yemen expert at Towson University in Maryland, told the Los Angeles Times, "The more the U.S. applies its current policy, the stronger Al Qaeda seems to get."
"U.S. involvement is far more than ever in Yemen. We have no evidence that all those being killed are terrorists," Abdul Salam Mohammed, director of Abaad Strategic Center, told CNN. "With every U.S. attack that is conducted in Yemen al Qaeda is only growing in power and we have to ask ourselves why that is happening."
"Drones are a weapon of terror in many ways, and the kind of hostility this is going to breed may not be worth the counter-terrorism gains," says Barbara Bodine, who was U.S. ambassador to Yemen from 1997 to 2001.
It’s notable that Grenier was a top CIA "counter-terrorism" official under the Bush administration. Most Bush officials have come out as stalwart defenders of Obama’s foreign policy, but this one notably is concerned he has gone too far. We’re at a point now where Obama is counting "all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants," as administration officials told the New York Times, "unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent." If anyone thinks we won’t be garnering any new enemies with that kind of policy, maybe its time they applied for a gig at the CIA. | <urn:uuid:424084ad-10e5-45c6-8f6d-2eb5a7f56f14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blogfrommiddleeast.com/?xstart=b&new=88691 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969686 | 808 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The report begins with an introduction section, defining the entry level, mid range and high end servers in the market, wherein it lists down the crucial technological aspects of these individual servers. The typical characteristics and aspects of an ideal server is also chalked down so as to enlighten readers. "Basically, key attributes such as the performance, scalability, route to market, support and services, choice of operating systems, features and the price are the primary aspects to distinguish an ideal server," noted publisher.
Server market overview of the report talks about the Indian server market as a whole and lists down important factors driving the market, briefs about the competitive scenario and illustrates the server spending and shipment figures in India since 2010. Further, the illustrations provide forecasted growth figures till 2015. The section then moves on to the discussion of the major market segments. "Market segments considered for the report includes 'Vendor Share', 'Price Range', 'CPU Type' and 'Form Factor'," added Publisher. The report graphically represents these individual segments with figures pertaining to the market scenario in 2011. It also explains the market in context of these segments, thereby providing clear insights to readers. SMB market overview section deals entirely with the SMB server market in India. It elaborates on various aspects such as the growth drivers and preferred servers in the market amongst others. SMB server shipment and spending figures have been represented graphically which in turn provides clear understanding about the SMB market scenario in 2011. The section further list down crucial aspects such as the key strategic decisions and purchase preference of SMBs.
Import and Export overview section talks about the EXIM trade carried out in the Indian server market. The section presents figures pertaining to the total import and export of servers since 2008-09 to 2011-12 (Apr - Jun). Top five importing and exporting countries for the last four years have also been listed along with the individual shares of individual countries.
Server technology section basically talks about cloud and virtual servers in India. It explains the individual technologies, working procedures and also lists down their various benefits. For a better understanding the report covers an in-depth SWOT analysis of the individual technologies and further lists down real-life case studies so as to provide an essence of the real-world application of cloud and virtual servers. The Indian Government has put forward certain norms which indirectly affects the server market. These norms have been explained under the Government regulations section. The section also lists some recent developments in this regard.
Market influencers section primarily talks about the prevailing drivers and challenges for the market. An analysis of the drivers and challenges explains the drivers including growth in the number of data transactions, demand for real-time transaction and high end computing. Whereas, factors identified as a hindrance to the market are maintenance costs and server downtimes.
Market opportunity is a section in the report which talks about the key server adopting industry verticals, their growth and IT investment scenario, drivers for server adoption and server penetration. It further features a portion wherein market opportunities by virtue of business segments, region and industry type has been illustrated. This section has focused especially on the SMB space wherein top 40 cities has been listed along with their respective population of SMBs and total server shipments has been tabulated, which in turn can be utilized by vendors to target specific regions in the country and garner a better foothold in the India server market.
Purchase criteria features a comprehensive set of points which are dedicated to facilitate appropriate server selection criteria for client organizations and enterprises. The section can be utilized as a checklist for prospective server buyers. Market trends identified comprise of growing popularity of cloud and virtual servers, incorporation of ARM based servers and shift towards green servers. The section features real-life examples of the trends so as to facilitate better understanding amongst readers.
Key server vendors have been profiled in details within the report which enables readers to get a clear picture of the current competitive scenario. The section lists the basic details of the players such as corporate information, business highlights and key members. The section also features financial analysis of key vendors which in turn provides us with the financial health of players.
Key channel partners by metros and non metros section lists down the major channel partners operating in the server space across major cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata and Cochin to name a few. The section serves a value added database containing names and addresses of some of the top channel partners in India.
The report concludes with a section on strategic recommendations which comprises of an analysis of the growth strategies of the server market in India. "SMB specific strategy and reliable storage services offerings will bring forth greater customer attraction and will lead to enhanced revenue generation,"
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Market Research Reports provides a customized set of reports from reputed Publishers, built on the intelligence available within organizations and leverages on our motto of “Intelligence Redefined”. | <urn:uuid:a1a01d41-e8d2-438d-be2e-d9fb458e4f4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prlog.org/11840267-server-market-india-2012-industry-report-now-available-from-marketresearchreportsin.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932112 | 1,105 | 1.625 | 2 |
Serbo-Bulgarian WarArticle Free Pass
Serbo-Bulgarian War, (Nov. 14, 1885–March 3, 1886), military conflict between Serbia and Bulgaria, which demonstrated the instability of the Balkan peace settlement imposed by the Congress of Berlin (Treaty of Berlin, July 1878).
Both Serbia and Bulgaria felt that the Treaty of Berlin should have awarded them more extensive territories at the Ottoman Empire’s expense. Under the Berlin settlement, Eastern Rumelia had been separated from the enlarged Bulgarian state created by the Treaty of San Stefano (March 1878) and had been returned to the Ottoman Empire. But on Sept. 18, 1885, Bulgarian nationalists in Eastern Rumelia mounted a coup and declared the province’s unification with Bulgaria. Serbia was opposed to this strengthening of its rival, Bulgaria. After the coup, the Serbian king, Milan Obrenović IV, who also hoped that an aggressive foreign policy would relieve his domestic problems, demanded that Bulgaria cede some of its territory to Serbia. In spite of active international diplomatic efforts to discourage him, Milan declared war on Bulgaria on Nov. 14, 1885. Although a swift Serbian victory was expected, Prince Alexander I of Bulgaria won the decisive battle at Slivnitsa (Nov. 17–19, 1885), defeating the invading Serbs and subsequently pursuing them back into Serbia. He accepted an armistice only when Austria-Hungary threatened to enter the war in Serbia’s defense.
The Treaty of Bucharest (March 3, 1886), which concluded the war, reestablished the prewar Serbo-Bulgarian border but left Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia united. Milan’s position was damaged beyond repair by the defeat; he abdicated in 1889, passing the Serbian crown to a regency in the name of his son Alexander.
What made you want to look up "Serbo-Bulgarian War"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:344bdbc4-92eb-497e-87f8-c7a6db2f5f4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/535402/Serbo-Bulgarian-War | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956775 | 405 | 3.71875 | 4 |
I was at the cinema recently and saw a preview for Liam Neeson’s new film ‘Unknown’. Predictably, to me at least, it seems that Mr. Neeson plays one of his two stock roles; arch-nemesis or, as is in this case, driven character either in a situation of peril or jeopardy or seeking a close relative in such state. His character in this film apparently wakes from a coma to find that someone else has stolen his identity and not even his wife believes him.
Like the plot for this film, identity as an issue seems to crop up every couple of years. Like the critics’ opinions on Mr. Neeson’s latest adventure, there’s a mixture of responses as to what the answer to the tricky issue of identity and identity theft ‘should’ be.
What is clear is that there are a number of commercial and large-scale projects ongoing around the world that are trying to address this in a concerted fashion; far more concerted it has to be said than in previous years. What is interesting is looking at why this is happening and what people feel about this. There’s no doubt that with the increase in life online, there’s a battle for ownership of identity.
Money Never Sleeps?
Like all consumer technology advances these days, two of the main drivers in the consumer space when it comes to identity seem to be from Facebook and Apple. Did you miss those? You may well have done. Recently, Apple godfather Steve Jobs announced in the iPad 2 launch event that there were now something in the region of 200 million credit cards stored in the iTunes/App Store. A financial link to a user is obviously an incredibly powerful way of validating who that person is (unless the card is stolen, in which case, that identity will either be short-lived or the person using it to purchase goods or services will soon be relocating to a secure facility). Given the fact that less than 25% of people alive today have a bank account, this isn’t necessarily the best way of validating identity.
At the same time, in late February, Facebook rolled out Facebook Comments. Billed as an attempt to enable sites to clean up their comment spam, those wishing to comment on an article with Facebook Comments enabled now have to sign in either using Facebook Connect or Yahoo! ID. This obviously impacts on whether or not you’d wish to associate yourself with a comment on the site. With over 550 million users, one would think that this identity provision would scale. Facebook is obviously keen for people to be who they say they are, as advertising revenue increasingly funds its growth and success and the value behind that is the real-life data gathered in the biggest Truman Show experiment ever.
Both of these models seem based on the individual as a consumer and the value of that consumer to the ecosystem around the devices (in Apple’s case) or the platform (in Facebook’s case). The first is tapping in to the cash that can be directly extracted from the consumer through providing very simple one-click verification of a transaction, however small. The second is tapping into the value around the transactions – both financial and interaction-based – that the consumer undertakes and how that impacts on their friends, family and associates.
Whilst not describing themselves as identity solutions, the implicit aspect is that this is what they are intended to be. But these systems are built on transactions – What do I buy? What am I commenting on? – inside their own ecosphere. This isn’t useful outside of that particular walled garden – there’s no personal continuity presented; how someone acts and the persona they are on Facebook may be completely different from whom they are at work. Indeed, again, people are modifying their behavior when it comes to commenting using Facebook Comments.
Both solutions seem to be changing habits and activity (buying more things, commenting less) online, rather than driving understanding of what people actually need to do (have control over my credit card spending, making an anonymous snarky comment about something to let off steam right now). This is forcing change on people through a technology service dependent on the moral structure of the service provider. Many people feel fine about this; they live their lives in public and don’t understand why people might not wish to do the same as a default. Even reading articles about being stalked on FourSquare don’t seem to deter them. The problem is that when choice seems to be taken out of the equation as controls get more and more confusing for normal people, the default setting of privacy becomes ‘off’ because it’s too hard to set to ‘on’ and there’s an assumption that if something happens, it will be resolved by the service provider.
Cue the Sun!
In a time when the US government is seeking to encourage people to have a unique online identity in order to interact with Government services online, and having recently sat down with both Jobs and Zuckerberg at lunch, the drive towards online identity is front of mind for Governments. It’s not just the United States.
The question is, will the systems that are chosen (driven by commercial organizations) inevitably change the individual? Will we all, like Liam Neeson, wake up one day from a coma to find out that our identity has been taken away from us? Not by another individual, but by a system that has been introduced as ‘best fit’, that changes who we are by changing what we do because of the lack of flexibility and individual control that we have being represented by that identity system?
Let’s hope there’s enough time to think this through. I may just have to go and see Unknown now to see how Hollywood has it ending. I’m certainly hoping it’s more Truman Show than Brazil. | <urn:uuid:a384a00d-37e9-4116-9576-53bf6c243c3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telnic.org/blog/tag/identity-management/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96743 | 1,217 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Everywhere from the White House to the local White Castle people are heavily promoting broadband as an antidote to economic woes. But what if a local economy is so far in the tank it appears to be on life support with no hope for resuscitation, even with broadband? At Broadband Communities Magazine’s Broadband Summit this week in Dallas, broadband and economic development become almost interchangeable. A whole track of sessions addressed how broadband is improving economic conditions.
However, extreme poverty in a number of rural and urban communities presents special challenges to some of today’s solutions being offered. As those with the highest hurdles grapple with and [hopefully] overcome their challenges, more fortunate communities should pay attention to what solutions bubble up. There could be lessons in innovation worth copying by everyone.
When you can’t get there from here
Danville, Va., one of the communities represented on a Summit panel yesterday, was at 19 percent unemployment when the city began pursuing broadband. There are areas seeking broadband deliverance in much worse shape. Forty percent of the population in one such county in the southeast U.S. lives below the poverty line. Everything resembling an industry has left or gone bust. High school dropout rates are off the charts and college is merely a dream for many.
When this far gone, a community should stop trying to save what’s left of a dying economy, and instead create a completely new economy in which broadband is the local industry. Hunter Newby, CEO of infrastructure builder Allied Fiber, states, “this approach is more than valid, it’s a necessity.”
So how does a community get there? Three main factors contribute to growing a local economy: 1) better education of future workers while enhancing skills of current workers; 2) improving existing companies’ ability to grow; and 3) maintaining and improving the health of the workforce.
Grants can build a network. But to financially sustain it so a community can tackle these factors that impact the economy demands sizable on-going revenue from individuals, businesses and other subscribers buying broadband services. That’s hard to do if half of your population lives below the poverty line. Here is where you create a broadband economy.
When broadband becomes the industry
This is a radical concept, but if a town is dying and the schools are merely holding pens until students fade away, replace much of the education system with programs that train future workers to become a digital workforce. Though more challenging, refine this training for unemployed adults. Some will drop out of such programs, but others will stay the courses if designed and presented effectively.Recently we published a story about a program worth replicating that gives over two thousand students a year hands-on long-term training that builds business-level proficiency in digital media skills. They graduate from training to become technology instructors, editors, music producers, paid interns, and managers and staff for the program. The students even created a company to provide online digital media consulting services to clients around the country. Broadband becomes the means of training as well as the vehicle for telecommuting to jobs outside the community until they bring more jobs closer to home.
Broadband can entice new businesses to town, but even the best results require time to cultivate. Focus initial broadband efforts on current constituents, while leveraging high-speed access to recruit future companies. As recruitment succeeds, use broadband to spawn new local companies to support incoming companies. Russ Brethower, Fiber Optic OSP Manager for Grant County (WA) Public Utilities Division and a Summit speaker told the audience how Quincy, Wash used their network to attract seven data centers to town. Besides construction jobs as well as sizable tax revenue, he expects a tech ecosystem of maintenance and service workers and companies to spring up.
Aggressively train small business owners with the goal of getting every business in town online. As much as possible, transform local regular and home-based businesses to support larger tech industry companies remotely and then locally. Corrie Teague, Marketing and Research Manager for Danville’s Office of Economic Development observes that “their network enticed technology companies to start up here or move to the area. This in turn created a positive spiral effect as this high-tech presence grew. Organizations such as Noblis, which is a nonprofit science, technology and strategy consulting organization is bringing a supercomputer to the office it opened in Danville.”
Addressing medical and healthcare, one of Danville’s largest employers is the Danville Regional Medical Center. It has several clinics around town that use broadband to move a lot of data among the facilities. This results in a quality and quantity of medical services that make Danville Regional a major draw for businesses looking to re-locate to the town.
The final word from the Summit is, if they talk the talk of broadband and economic development, communities have to walk the walk. If there’s no path, make one.
Craig Settles is a consultant who helps organizations develop broadband strategies, host of radio talk show Gigabit Nation and a broadband industry analyst. Follow him on Twitter (@cjsettles) or via his blog. | <urn:uuid:06e2bd58-41d3-470a-83b6-8b5922f0638a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gigaom.com/2012/04/26/what-if-broadband-cant-save-your-economy-create-a-new-one/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94609 | 1,052 | 2.28125 | 2 |
This is my first time ever working with anything database related and I am having problems. I am trying to access a Microsoft Access Database that is stored locally on my machine, read some tables and extract the data. The code worked fine initially using DAO but I have been tasked to convert it so something not deprecated and I thought this ADO was the correct option.
I have been using the following article as my reference since it is the only one I found that speaks in C++ terms.
I have attached my ADO "wrapper" classes for reference. Pasted below is a code excerpt of me trying to open the database, access a table and extract some info. I am unable to connect to my database, what am I doing wrong? Any constructive advice is welcome, thank you. | <urn:uuid:c0f2e6f0-a265-4d61-aaef-952414d645c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.codeguru.com/showthread.php?469156-RESOLVED-Using-ADO-in-VS2005&p=1803585 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965341 | 160 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Scientists are reporting development of a new approach for dealing with offensive household and other odors — one that doesn't simply mask odors like today's room fresheners, but eliminates them at the source.
Their research found that a deodorant made from nanoparticles — hundreds of times smaller than peach fuzz — eliminates odors up to twice as effectively as today's gold standard. A report on these next-generation odor-fighters appears in ACS' Langmuir, a bi-weekly journal.
Brij Moudgil and colleagues note that consumers use a wide range of materials to battle undesirable odors in clothing, on pets, in rooms, and elsewhere. Most common household air fresheners, for instance, mask odors with pleasing fragrances but do not eliminate the odors from the environment. People also apply deodorizing substances that absorb smells. These materials include activated carbon and baking soda. However, these substances tend to have only a weak ability to absorb the chemicals responsible for the odor.
The scientists describe development of a new material consisting of nanoparticles of silica (the main ingredient in beach sand) — each 1/50,000th the width of a human hair — coated with copper. That metal has well-established antibacterial and anti-odor properties, and the nanoparticles gave copper a greater surface area to exert its effects. Tests of the particles against ethyl mercaptan, the stuff that gives natural gas its unpleasant odor, showed that nanoparticles were up to twice as effective as the gold standard — activated carbon — at removing the material's foul-smelling odor. In addition to fighting odors, the particles also show promise for removing sulfur contaminants found in crude oil and for fighting harmful bacteria, they add. | <urn:uuid:f5bd6de6-5c70-4d53-9ff6-14b9c05a8498> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.azom.com/news.aspx?newsID=25417 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937724 | 357 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Feeling safe, itching to drive: pre-driver and learner perspectives on driving and learning
|Publisher:||Department for Transport|
|Publication type:||Research report|
|Published date:||7 May 2008|
|Mode/topic:||Roads, Road safety|
Research with pre- and learner drivers, parents and driving instructors on the origins and influences on attitudes and behaviours towards good driving and their expectation and/or experiences of the learning process.
The following content is available from the Department for Transport web archive. | <urn:uuid:4a15e394-e569-4773-83aa-1004be3a54fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120607055411/http:/www.dft.gov.uk/publications/rsrr-theme2-feeling-safe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909848 | 113 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Greater DOF with secondary electron imaging is largely a matter of working distance--defined as the distance (in mm) from the objective lens to the top of the sample being imaged. Of course, the lenses in this type of instrument are electromagnetic (not glass) lenses, and can effect different crossover (focus) points based on current supplied to the lens coils.
The longer the WD, the greater the DOF, (but this entails other tradeoffs as with every operating parameter). Of course, this is a familiar principle to any photographer; the closer you move to an object, the shallower the DOF is.
The WD I used for this shot was 28mm, which is considered very long. I also use a tilt of around 30 degrees. This adds an additional sense of depth. If you were trying to convey the three dimensionality of a sphere, or ping pong ball for example, the worst way to photograph it would be from directly above. Better to come in obliquely from the side.
The protozoa (protists is a better word) that live in the guts of lower termites are often very large, and this presents a challenge for DOF. This one in question is about 40 microns long, but others can be up to 300 microns long. We beleive that they have evolved large size in order to engulf the relatively large wood fragments that make their way to the hindgut after being chewed by the termites jaws.
Focus stacking is something I've never tried, but for some large cells, I've taken multiple images with different portions in focus. If someone can point me to a tutorial for focus stacking, in Photoshop (I use CS2) I would appreciate it!
Thanks very much for this explanation. Never worked with or read about this kind of equipment before so I still didnít quite get it. Due to that I asked to Mr. Google who provided the following reference. Of course there could be a lot of different SEMs but the key details that caught my eye were:
ďThe scanning electron microscope has many advantages over traditional microscopes. The SEM has a large depth of field, which allows more of a specimen to be in focus at one time.Ē http://www.purdue.edu/rem/rs/sem.htm#2
My next question is: does a SEM require a light source? The shading on the image you displayed is so delicate it made me wonder how one could position one or more lights to produce the result on such a small object.
We believe that they have evolved large size in order to engulf the relatively large wood fragments that make their way to the hindgut after being chewed by the termites jaws.
Any time a case for selection can be exemplified that is pretty cool! I guess itís a completely different discussion but I have to ask: Are only the larger protists found in adult termites? Do they grow in size as the termite does?
This is all way outside of my experience, so I hope you donít mind some questions.
WRT focus stacking, there are a few here who have a lot of experience with focus stacking software. I think that kind of technology might be very useful for this kind of work.
Remember us when you get a Nobel for your future work! <big toothy grin> | <urn:uuid:8197b1fa-fc76-4562-b21d-a175d8d77214> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=69556.msg550645 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964142 | 693 | 2.703125 | 3 |
|Library binding 2009||
|In Stock. 5-7 business days|
Fun and Effective Home Learning Activities for Every Subject
As a homeschooling parent, you're always looking for new and creative ways to teach your child the basics. Look no longer! Inside this innovative helper, you'll find kid-tested and parent-approved techniques for learning math, science, writing, history, manners, and more that you can easily adapt to your family's homeschooling needs. And even if you don't homeschool, you'll find this book a great teaching tool outside the classroom. You'll discover fun and educational activities for kids ages 3 to 12, including how to:
-Create maps based on favorite stories, such as "Treasure Island or "The Wizard of Oz
-Make letters out of French fries as an alphabet learning aid
-Explore architecture by building igloos, castles, and bridges with sugar cubes and icing
-Review spelling words by writing them on the sidewalk with chalk
-And many more!
This comprehensive collection of tried-and-true--and generally inexpensive--ideas provides the best-of-the-best homeschooling activities that can be done anywhere, anytime, and by anyone.
About the Author :
Linda Dobson has contributed to The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500] Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3- 12 as an author.
Linda Dobson, author of "Homeschooling: The Early Years, The Homeschooling Book of Answers," and "The Art of Education," is the news editor and columnist for "Home Education Magazine." She is also a member of the National Home Education Network. The mother of three homeschooled children, she lives in Saranac Lake, New York.
|Title:||The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500] Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3- 12||Publisher:||Three Rivers Press (CA)|
|No. of Pages:||360|
* The book summary and image may be of a different edition or binding of the same title.
* Book reviews are added by registered customers. They need not necessarily buy book.
* These books are NOT available for reading online or for free download in PDF or ebook format.
* Price can change due to reprinting, price change by publisher or sourcing cost change for imported books.
www.infibeam.com/Books is the biggest online bookstore in India for sale of books at best price - fiction, literature, audiobooks, study guides, novels, story books, rare books, textbooks and books by popular authors. These are available in various editions and bindings e.g. paperback and at best discount.
Safe & Secure Shopping | <urn:uuid:7fae1f4d-2248-4c27-af4f-0810f9574a78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infibeam.com/Books/info/Linda-Dobson/The-Ultimate-Book-of-Homeschooling-Ideas-500/0761563601.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914478 | 568 | 2.59375 | 3 |
[cap-talk] Understanding capabilities in a web-desktop setting
david.hopwood at industrial-designers.co.uk
Wed Aug 13 15:44:51 CDT 2008
Tony Finch wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Aug 2008, Jonathan S. Shapiro wrote:
>> You explain how things should *not* be described, but you have not
>> clarified for Ben how they *should* be described.
>> Can you do so? He needs a term, not a paragraph.
> I have heard promises described as data-flow variables.
The meaning of "dataflow variable" is a little more specific:
# A concurrent logic variable is similar to a promise, but is updated
# by unification, in the same way as logic variables in logic programming.
# Thus it can be fulfilled more than once with unifiable values. In the Oz
# programming language, a concurrent logic variable is called a dataflow
I haven't heard "dataflow variable" used outside the context of
concurrent logic programming (or systems inspired by Oz, even
if those are not strictly logic programming systems).
Mark Miller wrote:
> Scheme DELAY & FORCE, the typical use of terms such as "delayed
> evaluation" and "call by need" all refer to "lazy evaluation"
> mechanisms. Haskell is lazy by default. Scheme is call-by-value by
> default, but DELAY and FORCE are patterns for building lazy from this.
> E's eventual-sends and promises are *not* lazy evaluation mechanisms.
> They can be described by the term "delayed evaluation" I suppose, but
> shouldn't be since people will assume this means lazy.
> So, E's eventual-sends and promises are eager -- not lazy -- but
From the same Wikipedia page as above:
# To implement implicit lazy futures in terms of promises requires a
# mechanism to determine when the promise's value is first needed (for
# example the WaitNeeded construct in Oz). The ability to implement
# transparent forwarding objects (as supported by E and Joule) is
# sufficient, since the first message sent to the forwarder indicates
# that the promise is needed.
More information about the cap-talk | <urn:uuid:3a2f0e05-6d05-4582-ac60-eb994e9fe9eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eros-os.org/pipermail/cap-talk/2008-August/011335.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910917 | 478 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Varying Treatment Intensity in a Home-Based Parent and Child Therapy Program for Families Living in Poverty: A Randomized Clinic Trial
Journal of Community Psychology
This study addressed the question of whether increasing the intensity of a parent and child therapy program would improve results for young children with significant behavior problems from families living in poverty. Children were randomly assigned to either a standard condition or an intensity condition that provided 50% more treatment over a standard 8-week treatment period. Based on multiple parent-report, direct observation, and clinician-report measures of the children and their caregivers, both groups improved on all measures from pretest to posttest and from pretest to follow-up. No differences in outcomes were found between the standard and intensity groups at posttest or follow-up. These counterintuitive results are discussed within the parent and child intervention literature. Also, the heuristic potential of this study to encourage continued research with this challenging population is addressed. | <urn:uuid:97f319c2-ec36-4b5d-9073-ebb82579ec6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://epublications.marquette.edu/edu_fac/213/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926745 | 192 | 1.984375 | 2 |
|Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Geologist David Szumigala examines the Casadepaga Schist at the "Glaucophane Volcano," Solomon Quadrangle, Seward Peninsula. Photo by Melanie Werdon, ADGGS.
STATEMAP receives funds through an annual competitive grant process. Every Federal dollar awarded to a State Geological Survey is matched by a State dollar.
The primary objective of the STATEMAP component of the NCGMP is to establish the geologic framework of areas that are vital to the welfare of individual States. Each State Geologist determines the State's mapping priorities in consultation with a State Mapping Advisory Committee. These priorities are based on State requirements for geologic map information in areas of multiple-issue need or compelling single-issue need and in areas where mapping is required to solve critical Earth science problems.
Each STATEMAP project focuses on a specific area or issue. Although the individual projects last for only one year, they frequently build
upon the results of previous years' mapping activities. Employees of the State Geological Surveys conduct the geologic mapping and frequently
work closely with EDMAP students and their professors, as well as with FEDMAP geologists who may be mapping within the State.
Federal Mapping (FEDMAP) Projects
Missouri Geological Survey and Geology and Land Survey Division Geologist Chris Vierrether examines
huge slump block of Ordovician age St. Peter Sandstone.
The NCGMP is currently funding 127 projects from 45 states. These projects include both bedrock and surficial geologic
mapping, and digital compilation of geologic maps.
In recent years, STATEMAP efforts have focused primarily on geologic maps that address water, aggregate, and mineral
resources; and landslide and earthquake hazards. As shown in the chart, these maps are used less widely to address issues
such as flooding, radon, and mine subsidence hazards; and ecosystem and wetland issues.
State Mapping (STATEMAP) Products
Each year, State Geological Surveys conduct geologic mapping with the help of both NCGMP funds (STATEMAP and
|Portion of the 1:12,000-scale geologic map of the northern Carlin trend, Nevada, the nation's premier gold-production area. Moore, S., 2002, in Thompson, T.B., Teal, L., and Meeuwig, R.O., eds., Gold deposits of the Carlin trend, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 111, 204 p.
The New Mapping section of the National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB) contains information about geologic maps currently being produced for STATEMAP, as well as for FEDMAP and EDMAP.
The main Geoscience Map Catalog of the NGMDB is continuously updated to include information about published STATEMAP geologic maps and how to obtain them.
Back to Top | <urn:uuid:5407b0f9-d842-4323-84b6-c27f0b981cb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncgmp.usgs.gov/about/statemap.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906603 | 607 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Learn something new every day More Info... by email
Metaphase is one of the stages of mitosis and meiosis, which are the two types of cell division. During mitosis, cells are produced that are genetically identical to the parent, or clones. It is used for asexual reproduction, growth of multi-cellular organisms and for repairing and replacing damaged tissues. Meiosis is the cell division that is used to produce cells for sexual reproduction. Mitosis happens in all cells, while meiosis only occurs in the sexual organs of an organism, e.g. the testes and ovaries of mammals or the ovaries and anthers of flowering plants.
Both mitosis and meiosis are continuous processes, but they are each described as a series of stages. During mitosis, there are four stages – prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase, which occur in that order. Meiosis has two divisions, meiosis I and meiosis II, each made up of the same four stages as mitosis. There is one further stage for both processes called interphase. Interphase occurs before the dividing stages and it is when the cells grow and prepare to divide by replicating their DNA.
All cells have a cell cycle that starts when they have been produced through cell division and ends when they divide to produce identical cells. Mitosis is the period of cell division and the rest of the cell cycle is interphase. Interphase is commonly referred to as the resting phase, but is a time of much cellular activity. During this phase, the cell grows and produces organelles and proteins. The DNA in the nucleus is replicated in preparation for mitosis and it continues to grow and produce duplicate organelles.
During prophase, the chromosomes in the nucleus get shorter and thicker, condense and become visible. Each chromosome appears to have two chromatids that are joined together by a centromere. Centrioles form and move to opposite ends of the cells where microtubules develop to form a star-shaped structure called an aster. Some of the microtubules, or spindle fibers, cross the cell from end to end to form the spindle. Lastly, the nucleolus and nuclear membrane break down so the chromosomes are free floating in the cytoplasm.
The next stage of division after prophase is metaphase. During this stage, the chromosomes line up along the middle of the cell. Each of the chromosomes is attached to a spindle fiber at their centromere. The chromatids are then pulled slightly apart due to the contraction of the microtubules. Anaphase and then telophase follow on from metaphase.
During anaphase, the spindle fibers are completely contracted so the separate chromatids of each chromosome are pulled to either side of the cell. Once the chromatids reach the poles of the cell, a new nuclear membrane forms around them, indicating the start of telophase. The spindle fibers break down, the chromosomes uncoil and elongate, the nucleolus reforms and, finally, the cell divides into two ending the mitotic division.
Meiosis is similar to mitosis, but two divisions take place. It involves the division of the chromosomes followed by two divisions of the nucleus and cell. Meiosis I differs from mitosis during prophase, but meiosis II is a typical mitotic division, as described above. The end result of meiosis is four new cells that have half the genetic information of the parent cell.
The key difference in meiosis I occurs during prophase I when the chromosome pairs come together to form a bivalent instead of each chromosome forming a chromatid. During metaphase I, the bivalents randomly line up along the middle of the cell to be separated. This random orientation leads to increased genetic variety. Each chromosome of the pair has genes that determine the same characteristics, but they are not always the same gene. The random distribution and following independent assortment of the chromosomes creates new genetic combinations in the cells.
The chromosomes are pulled to opposite ends of the cell during anaphase I, and a nuclear membrane forms around them in telophase I. The resulting two cells now have half as much genetic material as the parent cell. Meiosis II follows the same process as mitosis, where the chromosomes form a pair of chromatids joined by a centromere. They line up along the center of the cell and are pulled by their centromeres to the opposite ends of the cell. Once they reach the poles, cell division completes resulting in four new cells, each with half the genetic material of the original cell. | <urn:uuid:0ebb6569-1994-4b77-a388-1f77f40e6c78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-metaphase.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947752 | 953 | 3.890625 | 4 |
>Well folks, ornithischian "hair" seems to be a
>reality. HP Michael Schmidt was kind enough to send me
>several nice photos of the integuments on a
>Psittacosaurus (?sp). The first word that came to mind
>was "porcupine." Whether or not the structures
>actually represent quill-like objects, they do seem to
>be thicker than I would imagine. I'm reluctant to
>presume all ornithodirans, or ornithischians, have
>this feature. I'm curious as to why this animal
>evolved the "hair" only on the dorsal surface of the
>tail, the rest of the body seemingly bare. Hopefully
>someone that has viewed other non-avian integumentary
>structures could comment on this specimen....
Amazing!!!Would you be able to scan these pictures? Thanks!
Robert Kiely, email@example.com | <urn:uuid:80a37846-9336-4c18-8053-1e7f44e8d8ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Aug/msg00691.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911988 | 210 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Alcatel-Lucent announced the commissioning of its 200th radio site powered by solar energy. The site – including base station, microwave and all other electrical components – is completely powered by the sun, providing telecom services to remote communities on the island of Bettenty and surrounding Saloum islands, in Senegal.
Alcatel-Lucent’s GSM solution, with its minimal power requirements, has made it possible for the people in these communities to have affordable access to the wireless network.
The company has a long history of developing power efficiency and today offers a GSM solution with power consumption levels up to 40% less compared to other vendors with no decrease in traffic flow or extent of coverage.
In a site like Bettenty, the low power consumption of the Alcatel-Lucent GSM Base Station was critical in enabling the service provider to use solar power as the only source of energy for the cell site. The base stations low power consumption means that only a few solar panels are required, making the site very affordable to deploy.
The commissioning of this 200th solar powered cell site is an industry landmark for the use of eco-sustainable power solutions. The company recently signed the United Nations Global Compact “Caring for Climate” initiative to further strengthen its commitment to increase energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of its activities. Alcatel-Lucent’s 200th solar-powered radio site also illustrates how Alcatel-Lucent is helping to bridge the digital divide and favor social and economic development in high-growth economies through its Broadband for All program.
“Thanks to Alcatel-Lucent power performance, mobile operators around the globe can reduce their network energy consumption costs and extend the radio coverage of their networks to remote areas. This is part of Alcatel-Lucent’s innovative approach to reducing the cost of the network. Autonomously powered radio sites are an absolute necessity to extend the reach of mobile telecom networks to areas not covered by electricity grids. In sunny regions, solar power is an affordable, reliable and eco-friendly alternative to traditional diesel generators, whose dependency on the oil market makes operating costs expensive,” said Laurent Cruchant, Alcatel-Lucent’s Vice President for GSM business. | <urn:uuid:dcfb062a-b155-4a8f-b83c-bb81566f78f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.soft32.com/alcatel-lucent-installs-its-200th-solar-powered-radio-site-in-senegal_6040.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946396 | 465 | 2.453125 | 2 |
MASON LABPeggy Mason
Department of Neurobiology
University of Chicago
At the Mason Lab we are currently interested in the presence of empathy and helping behavior in rats. Recently we showed that rats help a cagemate who is trapped in a Plexiglass tube by deliberately, intentionally, and rapidly opening the door to the tube and liberating the cagemate. Rats do not open the door of either an empty restrainer or one containing a toy rat. This tells us that rats are not opening the door just because it is there (the "Mt. Everest" explanation), or because opening the door per se is rewarding (the motor mastery explanation). Furthermore, rats open the door to liberate a cagemate even when the setup is modified to prevent the two rats from playing together afterwards. This tells us that playing together (aka social reward) is not required to motivate helping. In conclusion, in the same vein as the duck test (if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is probably a duck), the rats appear to motivated to help from an experience of empathy for the distress of the trapped rat. That being said, just as we can never know another's feelings (and are hard-pressed to accurately assess our own sometimes), we do not know how a rat experiences empathy, probably in some way that is unimaginable to humans.
In an effort to assess the value of empathic behavior, we tested rats who were devoted chocolate chip-eaters: when given a bowl of 20 chips, they ate more than 7 chocolate chips on average. These rats were placed in an arena with two restrainers, one containing 5 chocolate chips (less than a complete meal for these rats) and the other containing their trapped cagemate. We did not know what would happen. As it turned out, they opened both restrainers. And in no particular order! This finding told us that releasing a cagemate has a value on par with chocolate. Amazing! Finally, we noticed that the free rat did not eat all of the chocolate chips. So we went back and looked at videos to determine how many chocolate chips each rat ate. It turned out that the free rat ate only 3.5 chips on average, leaving 1.5 chips for his cagemate. This remarkable result told me that these rats are far more generous with their chocolate than my sister-in-law. | <urn:uuid:f099cee1-e6cc-4f66-acd3-801c89c49bf7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://masonlab.uchicago.edu/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959484 | 495 | 2.984375 | 3 |
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) - Adam Lanza used an AR 15 semi automatic assault rifle to kill 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th.
But Virginia's new school safety task force, set up by Governor Bob McDonnell in the wake of Newtown, won't even be considering a ban on assault weapons.
"This is not a gun control task force. It's a school safety task force," said McDonnell.
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is pushing for an assault weapons ban in his state.
Yet the worst mass shooting in our country's history happened on Virginia soil. Seong Hui Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. Despite that fact, there is no support among Virginia's Republican leaders for any gun control measures.
"I think banning particular types of guns doesn't approach the mental health problem. It doesn't fix Adam Lanza. It doesn't solve Cho," said Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
Gun control legislation may have more support on Capitol Hill, but it will still be a tough fight. Gun control supporters call many measures "common sense."
"Background checks. If you're on the terrorist watch list you ought not to be able to buy explosives and guns yet you can today," said Virginia Congressman Jim Moran (D-District 8).
Moran is hoping the President's support for an assault weapons ban will take hold in Congress quickly.
"For an assault weapon that is intended for military combat, we have no business letting that be on the street. You are 19 times more likely to be killed by a firearm in this country than any other place in the civilized the world," said Moran.
" This is just wrong. If we don't do something now, we're never going to get it down because the public's attention is very limited and time is on the side of the NRA," said Moran.
A new Washington Post poll shows 58 percent of Americans support reinstating the assault weapons ban.
And even in households that have guns, 86 percent support mandatory background checks on all sales at gun shows.
Between 40 and 50 % of all gun sales are private, many at gun shows, and do not go through background checks. | <urn:uuid:16977a01-c253-4355-88db-b8ed22d11770> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wusa9.com/news/maryland/article/238196/189/Virginia-Site-Of-Worst-Mass-Shooting-Not-Likely-To-Pass-Gun-Control-Measures | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959674 | 457 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Let the Records Show!
Now that another school year is well underway, you may be wondering what records are necessary and how to document your teen’s courses and extracurricular activities. On the other hand, is recordkeeping still on the back burner of your mind—something you know you should do but keep putting off? Since you are your teen’s school record keeper, now is a good time to set up a system. Staying on top of this responsibility will spare you from panicking when it is time to create your teen’s transcript. He or she will bless you for your efforts especially when compiling a resume or completing a college or job application.
Why Keep Records?
Although no one may ever ask to see the records we suggest you keep, they are important nonetheless. “Legally, recordkeeping enables you to demonstrate that you are providing an appropriate education for your child,” writes HSLDA Chairman Michael Farris in his book Home Schooling and the Law. “Whether it is true or not, courts often assume that good records equal a good education.” Colleges, employers, scholarship committees, the military, and others may ask for varying information. Recordkeeping also allows you and your teen to take note of the progress that he or she is making while heading towards high school graduation.
What Records are Necessary?
The records you maintain depend on a number of items. Check the HSLDA homeschooling legal analysis for the state in which you reside. Some states require you to track days of attendance, hours of instruction, or curriculum used, while others have few requirements. HSLDA members may contact HSLDA’s legal department with questions they may have. If you are enrolled in an umbrella or oversight program, be sure to ask the oversight group what records it deems mandatory.
Since you put much time and effort into the courses that you teach, it’s a good idea not to rely solely on your memory for the course work your teen completes. Take a few minutes when you receive your curriculum each year to compile this information. We provide you with a handy 4-year plan form to track your teen’s progress by logging courses already taken and penciling in future courses.
We suggest you note for each core academic or elective course:
- Curriculum, books, and resources used.
- Scope and sequence of the course (Summarize major concepts covered or if a high school textbook is used, simply make a copy of the table of contents.)
- Grading guidelines (may include tests, quizzes, papers, projects, daily assignments, etc.).
- Credit awarded for each course.
These details should be kept for parent-taught, online, dual enrollment, or co-op classes that your teen completes.
All of this academic information will enable you to create your teen’s transcript. Simply put, a transcript is a record of the academic courses your teen completes during high school. No need to fear it! We’ve made it easy to create this document by providing samples, step by step instructions, and an explanation for calculating a grade point average (GPA). Resist the urge of waiting until the senior year to begin working on the transcript.
In addition to the academic details, it is a good idea to catalog information relating to your child’s extracurricular activities such as sports, music, community service, job experience, or internships by jotting down:
- Hours participated (weekly or monthly)
- Skills acquired
- Instructor, coach or employer’s name and contact info
When your teen wins an award, acquires an honor, takes part in performances, recitals, or tournaments, you’ll want to briefly chronicle this information. Not only will you wish to retain the memory, but colleges, employers, and others are interested in your students’ outside interests and talents.
Scores from achievement tests, PSAT, SAT, ACT, CLEP, AP, and career tests (if taken) should be kept in one place so they are accessible when needed. Our website has info regarding these tests and how to register for them.
HSLDA’s brochure, Recordkeeping for High School: Simplifying the Process, summarizes these tips. You may request a hard copy of the brochure by calling 540.338.5600, or emailing email@example.com, or simply printing it off our website to refer to during high school.
Is Recordkeeping an All-Consuming Task?
No, it doesn’t have to be. The key is to design a simple system that works for you, and then regularly input your information. For example, set up a file folder for each high school subject you teach. Include a cover sheet with the info noted above, major tests, quizzes, or papers, as well as a sampling of daily assignments. The folder can also include a simple grading sheet to record grades. Your teen can be part of the process by filing his coursework into the proper folder as soon as it’s completed or on a weekly basis. Then pinpoint a specific place to keep all these files. It can be a file drawer, a plastic storage bin, the infamous milk crate (!), or a cabinet in your kitchen. One strategic aspect to good recordkeeping is being able to put your fingers on that information at a moment's notice.
Others of you may want to keep records on your computer. In that event, don’t forget to back up your records.
There are also a variety of recordkeeping products and software available for purchase , and free helpful printable recordkeeping forms online that may make your task easier.
Who Will be Interested in Your Records?
Colleges, employers, scholarship committees, military recruiters, and others will be interested in your teen’s high school records. In fact, we receive phone calls from parents who have been asked to produce details of their teen’s high school record many years after the teen graduated. For example, high school records may be important when gaining additional certification, being promoted at work, or applying for admission to a police academy. It is possible to gather this information many years later, but it will be a very time-consuming task. Trust us—gray hairs, sleepless nights, and queasy stomachs can be kept at bay by being diligent in documenting vital details in a timely fashion.
What if I’m “Record-Challenged”?
For some of you, just the thought of recordkeeping makes you nervous. We understand. That’s why we encourage you to begin now, this year. Ask your spouse for uninterrupted time (maybe 30 minutes a week) for the task. Requesting that a friend hold you accountable to stay on top of your records can motivate you. Soliciting ideas from your most organized friend may help you stay the course. Or call us to chat about your questions!
An additional tip to control your recordkeeping and keep it manageable is to de-clutter. Every quarter or semester, enlist your teen’s help to weed out papers or miscellaneous items that can be thrown away. We can hear you now—what can be thrown away? The article, “Recordkeeping: Is It Worth the Trouble?” in the 2009 issue of the Court Report magazine, will give you information on what records to retain in your files, especially those records that you should keep permanently for your children.
Be encouraged and don’t give up on recordkeeping. You’ll benefit from developing a systematic and efficient plan.
Join us next month as guest writer Dean Sandra Corbitt of Patrick Henry College shares her tips for preparing homeschooled high schoolers for college.
Rooting for you as you dive into the records,
Becky Cooke and Diane Kummer
HSLDA High School Consultants | <urn:uuid:dea9bf6e-e3b1-4c5f-91e5-12d909b33db8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hslda.org/elert/archive/2011/10/20111006101306.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940954 | 1,644 | 2.3125 | 2 |
SLC Catalyst: Learning About Causal Systems in Complex Domains
National Science Foundation, subgrant with Auburn University
Causal learning is a topic of interest and importance to K-16 education and learning research in several scientific and technical disciplines. This project has two goals: to develop a prospective synthesis of the state of research on complex causal learning across disciplines, and to identify gaps in the knowledge base that past research has built up. This effort draws from multiple disciplines, including cognitive science, computer science, engineering education, machine learning, psychology, and science education.
Project outcomes will include a workshop on complex causal learning and a comprehensive research report. | <urn:uuid:7b20a18d-27cb-4343-8452-3831a024403d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.compassproject.net/info/completedProjects/slc.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936993 | 131 | 1.78125 | 2 |
UK mobilises aid as cholera sweeps Sierra Leone
THE UK government has activated a £2 million emergency plan to help tackle a cholera epidemic sweeping through Sierra Leone.
The Department for International Development (DfID) says it is using a network that includes private businesses and specialist aid organisations to deliver emergency medical, water and sanitation assistance to affected people in the west African state.
So far, some 200 people have died and 12,000 have been infected by the water-borne disease, which causes severe vomiting and diarrhoea and can kill within hours if left untreated.
It is the first time the UK has used the network, called the Rapid Response Facility, since it was established in March.
Save the Children, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, Concern, Care International and the British Red Cross have mobilised as part of the emergency response.
The DfID plans to help provide clean water and sanitation to nearly two million people as well as direct treatment for up to 4,500 people affected by the disease. Anti-cholera drugs and water purification kits will also be shipped to Sierra Leone.
DfID Secretary Andrew Mitchell said: “The cholera epidemic in Sierra Leone is fast becoming a crisis, with millions potentially at risk.
“The UK is – for the first time – activating the Rapid Response Facility, its network of private sector and aid experts to make sure we get aid to where it is needed, fast.
“We will monitor closely to make sure every penny of British aid supports those in dire need.”
The department’s private sector partners will supply the majority of the aid organisations’ relief supplies and logistics in the coming days.
Cholera has spread quickly across West Africa, getting significantly worse in the last few weeks, with almost half those infected in Sierra Leone – the worst epidemic in the country for two decades. The outbreak has been most severe in the capital, Freetown, which has a mix of poor sanitation, high population density and limited health services.
Save the Children said aid agencies face a race against time to get preventative measures in place before the crisis reaches its expected peak in three weeks’ time.
It said ten of Sierra Leone’s 13 districts are affected by the disease and it is responding by assisting government treatment units, providing clean water and increasing the number of community health workers.
Heather Kerr, Save the Children’s country director for Sierra Leone, said: “If we can’t get this outbreak under control quickly and comprehensively, it has the potential to kill many more children. Children die very quickly from cholera if they don’t receive immediate medical help.
“The sheer volume of people who are contracting the disease means that aid agencies need more funding now to respond more efficiently to this devastating outbreak.”
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Weather for Edinburgh
Friday 24 May 2013
Temperature: 3 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North east
Temperature: 7 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: West | <urn:uuid:2cc757d6-fe3c-4375-b231-daa0608fb856> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/uk-mobilises-aid-as-cholera-sweeps-sierra-leone-1-2490183 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94484 | 654 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Everyone knows billiards as the default example for teaching classical dynamics, but is ten-pin bowling a better choice, especially for getting kids interested?
My wife (who is a primary school teacher) and I are always on the lookout for teachable moments with our kids: those hiccups in time where a situation aligns with a child’s attention and interest to provide the perfect opportunity for learning (the term itself is a buzzword, painfully showing that the realm of education is almost as bad as business when it comes to trendy names for simple concepts). With both our boys becoming regular league bowlers, we’ve found a variety of teachable moments in the ancient game opening up significant opportunity to discuss the wonders of the physical world from the very simple to the very complex.
To begin, there are the simple dynamics of the ball and the pins, angles of impact and deflection. When you start out bowling with house balls (which are solid-cast plastic), the correlation to the billiards examples we all learned in basic science are very clear: roll the ball straight, hit the pocket at a specific angle with enough force, and the resulting succession of impacts will knock everything down.
That’s an excellent place to start, but as your kids’ aptitudes for both the game and the science matures, so do the lessons the game has to offer. When they’re ready to graduate from house balls to owning “professional” equipment, suddenly materials science and some higher-level dynamics get thrown into the mix. For example, the better balls you can buy are not solid plastic, but have specialized, shaped-cores to help get the spin and hook needed to really knock those pins flying.
In fact, most of these higher-grade bowling balls come with guidelines as to how to drill the finger-holes to achieve different results in play, based upon what kind of bowler you are.
Then there’s lane conditions, and the mathematics of the curves to be used to deliver the ball to the pin pocket. Did you know that the lanes are oiled up to about 10 feet from the pins, and then are dry the rest of the way? That’s how the pros achieve those astounding, last-minute break that tear into the pins.
As with any family activity, the best part of going bowling is getting to spend quality time together, enjoying a shared interest, but when handled well, the opportunity for geeky education is vast. I encourage all of you Geekdads out there to keep looking for those teachable moments in everyday activities; there’s a world of them out there!
- Installing Virtue OLED Board & Laser Eyes in Dye DM9 Paintball Gun
- Bridging Digital and Physical Worlds With SixthSense
- Official Angry Birds 3 Star Walkthrough Theme 3 Levels 1-5
- HTC Schubert
- Hook Your Guitar to Your iPhone and Rock Out with iRig
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- powered by SMF physics projects | <urn:uuid:c6e02ccf-2255-422b-b4b6-bbdc82e47d36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thatsbadass.com/teachable-moments-the-physics-of-bowling-geekdad-wayback-machine/ | 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 | 0.938959 | 703 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Humans are quite remarkable when it comes to determining sizes. We can estimate how many people it will take to complete a job. If blindfolded, we have the skills to determine whether we are in a large amphitheater or small room. We can estimate the size of an airplane by its approaching sound. But music is the ultimate deceiver, isn’t it?
Hypothetical and literal size are beautifully separated in the newly released album of music byPeter Garland (b. 1952), Waves Breaking on Rocks. The album consists of his piano work, “Waves Breaking on Rocks (Elegy for All of Us),” and his piece for tenor and chamber ensemble, “The Roque Dalton Songs.” Garland is an American composer whose works have often been considered post-minimal.
Waves Breaking on Rocks pairs two very different compositions. The topic of deceptive “sizes” of the pieces spawns from the size of their instrumentation: “Waves Breaking on Rocks (Elegy for All of Us)” is for solo piano while “The Roque Dalton Songs” employ many musicians—but their impressions reflect the opposite. The piano work is expansive and watery, conjuring large images and panoramic landscapes. The songs for tenor travel in a narrower path—tribal in their percussion, gospel-like in their tone pairings, and purposefully targeted, they give off a small, focused vibe. Both of the pieces benefit from their aural sizes, and create an album of sounds that is attention grabbing and varied. Deceiving isn’t always a bad thing.
“Waves Breaking on Rocks (Elegy for All of Us)” is a suite of elegies. Divided into six parts, the suite commemorates six different people that Garland has lost in his life. It is composed almost entirely of chords, and creates more of a space than a linear narration. Each section might not get stuck in your head, such as a certain sentence from a lost one might not, but the overall ambiance of that person can be surfaced with subtle things, and this piece creates those moods.
Pianist Aki Takahashi could not have performed the piece better—she keeps the serene lines of the suite flowing and consistent with the stories being told. The last piece in the suite, “Waves Breaking on Rocks 2/Autumn (Again),” shows her control and ability to avoid even slight dynamic rises that would break the tranquility of the piece.
The suite begins with “The White Place,” referring to the limestone formations in Abiquiu, New Mexico called Plaza Blanca, and commemorates the photographer Walter Chappell. Beautifully piercing, monumental chords set up the foundations for each phrase of the piece and are followed by smaller, controlled hills of hushed tones. The entire suite utilizes ostensibly simple chords, but when listened to they create a dreamy story that is complex in the way nature is seamlessly intricate.
Through each of the pieces, the chords unravel into wandering and separated lines. Significant change comes in “A House in Island Bay,” composed for poet Alan Brunton. The listener is reminded of small rocks rippling on a lake as still as glass. It progresses to the intense solidity of previous chords. The last two sections of “Waves Breaking on Rocks” are Americana in their own ways—“Sierra Madre,” composed for composer Lou Harrison, is homey and nostalgic and is the only section to use violin, and appropriate and comfortable addition. “Waves Breaking on Rocks 2/Autumn (Again)” is a still and jazz-tinged piece, and is almost impossible to listen to without stopping for a minute (or five minutes and forty six seconds) and being absorbed by it.
“The Roque Dalton Songs,” the second collection on the album, is a collection with much more of a landing spot than “Waves Breaking on Rocks.” Though the instrumentation is larger, it is less expansive, and this isn’t a bad thing. The listener’s brain follows the music in a more direct line—if “Waves Breaking on Rocks” was a walk in a meadow, “The Roque Dalton Songs” are a hike through a specific path. Roque Dalton was a Salvadorian poet and revolutionary who was executed during El Salvador’s civil war. Five of Dalton’s poems were set to music by Garland in this piece. The poems range from free verse to dialogue to prose (“he was a really super cool guy” is probably my favorite line), and they seem very human, like Dalton can be seen scribbling the words onto paper right in front of you.
The chamber ensemble, Santa Fe New Music, is comprised of percussion, harp, piano, trumpet, bass clarinet, and violins. The ensemble is successful in layering the very obvious sheets of sound—the percussion, piano, and harp construct a stable foundation, the bass clarinet and trumpet create the walls, and the violins occupy the figurative room of sound. The tenor John Duykers keeps a triumphant tone throughout the entire collection, and conquers the sometimes out-of-the-blue high notes. The music keeps a dance rhythm, resolving itself at the end of each phrase, and doesn’t really break free of this except for the second piece, the smooth and sly “Como La Siempreviva,” and inside the fourth piece, “History of a Poetic.” The final piece, “Como Tú,” employs the harp in a refreshing way by retaining the previous piece’s dance like feel. However, it makes it more of a sensual one, like a dance between two people in privacy.
A piano is one object. A chamber ensemble is many. But sound is one idea, and Peter Garland’s album Waves Breaking on Rocks enforces that. Deceived or not, these are waves worth listening to. | <urn:uuid:46a3e595-8cd9-4d8e-8013-f293595f8f83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chambermusiciantoday.com/cd-reviews/posts/Waves-Breaking-on-Rocks3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958597 | 1,275 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Japanese nunchaku or nunchaku in English is popularized by Bruce Lee. This weapon is somewhat difficult to master but fun to play with. A nunchuck is a traditional weapon of Kobudo. It is consist of two sticks connected with a chain or rope. Gungfu has chain and chord nunchucks for weapon demos, training and practice. | <urn:uuid:95d1002f-9ec0-4a64-9cdb-c9bc31ee9105> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gungfu.com/htm-weapons/japanese-weapons/weapons-japanese-weapons-nunchakus.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957746 | 73 | 1.84375 | 2 |
NZ dollar pushed down in the "battle of the uglies"
The falling New Zealand dollar will be welcomed by most people: the reasons for the fall are less encouraging.
The New Zealand dollar has fallen from $US0.75 to $US0.70 in three weeks, and looks headed for the mid $US0.60s.
“We needed this fall as part of rebalancing the economy for growth, but the fall is because the global picture doesn’t look too flash,” says ANZ National Bank chief economist Cameron Bagrie.
Part of the reason is what he calls “pygmy trading” - currency investors are headed for the least unattractive currencies, which, because the United States dollar took its punishment earlier, is the greenback at the moment.
Westpac market economist Michael Gordon calls this “the battle of the uglies” and says the greenback “is not gaining on its own merits”.
The Australian dollar has fallen further than the New Zealand currency – meaning New Zealand exporters across the Tasman could see profits squeezed – but this may be short lived.
“The big driver is the global fall in commodity prices: oil, industrials, metals and minerals are the main ones,” Bagrie says.
“But we haven’t really seen it reach us in terms of what commodities New Zealand produces yet.”
The past month has seen, at an international level, signs of a global slowdown, even in those surging emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil; and, locally, confirmation New Zealand has been in a recession for the first half of this year.
But there are silver linings. The fall in oil prices, in particular, is a source of relief for New Zealand. The risk of the fall in the New Zealand dollar leading to a rush of imported inflation, mostly in the form of higher fuel costs, could have put the Reserve Bank in an extremely awkward position as it plans further interest rate cuts.
A downward shift in the New Zealand currency has been long predicted: it was seen as over-valued, given the New Zealand likely economic performance over this year, and the main factor keeping it high was seen as being the “carry trade” of investors in places such as Japan.
The “unwinding” of the carry trade though has yet to take place in any significant numbers.
“The Japanese housewives still seem loaded up to the hilt,” says Bagrie.
The other change this week has been the altered outlook across the ditch. The Reserve Bank of Australia surprised many this week by signalling a shift towards easing interest rates.
“That’s led to a sharp fall in the Aussie dollar,” says Gordon.
“There’s been a significant turnaround in views on the Australian economic outlook – even a month ago the discussion was about their bias towards lifting interest rates, and suddenly they signalled they would probably cut next month.” | <urn:uuid:9a1c28cc-d1d5-4238-bbc1-529a643bbf14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/nz-dollar-pushed-down-battle-uglies-33918 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959097 | 631 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Karen Pritzker is a volunteer and philanthropist with a passionate belief that education can break the cycle of poverty. For the past 15 years, she has devoted her energies to building and supporting Providence St. Mel, a model K-through-12 college preparatory inner-city school in Chicago. As a member of the board, Karen managed a highly successful fundraising campaign and raised community awareness of the school’s achievements in providing a first-class education to some of the city’s most disadvantaged students.
The child of a Foreign Service officer, Karen lived in Martinique, Liberia, Haiti, Jordan, Switzerland and France. She developed her interest in education through her extensive travel and immersion in many different cultures.
After attending Tufts University for two years, Karen transferred to the University of Chicago, earning a B.A. in American History in 1983. She is married to Daniel Pritzker, whom she met while a student at Tufts. Dan Pritzker earned a B.A. from Tufts in 1981 and a J.D. from Northwestern University Law School in 1986. Karen and Dan are trustees of the Jay Pritzker Foundation, a philanthropic fund that created the Pritzker Challenge at Tufts with gifts of $10 million. The Pritzker Challenge is designed to encourage members of the Tufts community to establish endowed or term scholarships for underprivileged minority students.
Karen Pritzker was elected to the Tufts University Board of Trustees in 2003.
Last updated: December 2008 | <urn:uuid:a3536409-3616-4ef2-9600-068ff1fa0bfb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://trustees.tufts.edu/info/bios/pritzker/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959431 | 313 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Research & Commentary: Retail Health Clinics
Some critics claim these clinics sacrifice quality for expediency, and collectively pose a threat to high standards of care offered in a traditional doctor’s office setting.
However, this Research & Commentary package demonstrates:
- Retail health clinics actually help doctors’ offices by decreasing the burden associated with treatment of uncomplicated or very minor illnesses and routine check-ups;
- Nurse practitioners at retail health clinics are trained professionals who can quickly and efficiently offer quality care for most common ailments; and
- With the rise in consumerism in health care, retail health clinics offer an excellent way for patients with health savings accounts (HSAs) to receive quality care in a cost-effective way. | <urn:uuid:55580330-c169-475f-a3e7-beb8190300f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://heartland.org/policy-documents/research-commentary-retail-health-clinics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944703 | 148 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Science with PRIMA
Phase referenced Imaging
Extra galactic astrophysics
Quasars and active galactic nuclei (AGNs)
Their lights distribution is very well suited for interferometric observations, with a high flux small source surrounded by a not too faint environment. PRIMA could be able to determine relative contributions of circumnuclear starburst and compact nuclear source to the nature of AGNs, to measure the size and inclination of the dust torus, and to give indications about the velocity field.
For quasars (cf spectrum of QSO HE2217-2818 just below), PRIMA could discern details like starbust knots in their host galaxies and resolve emissions cones and reflection nebulae.
PRIMA could observe a wide variety of objects in these clouds: bright variable stars, small planetary nebulae, clusters... in the same way as these objects will be observed in our galaxy.
The closest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are very small compared even to the Magellanic clouds. Their study is comparable to the study of globular clusters or very dense open clusters. The imaging of their core, probably containing a black hole, is very interesting and would be acessible to the VLTI ATs (we can see a picture of Centaurus A taken with the FORS2 instrument just below).
Globular and open clusters
Both astrometry and imaging modes of PRIMA could be used to study the clusters dynamics.
It will be an important target for both imaging and astrometric modes of PRIMA. It will be possible to search for a counterpart of the radio source Sgr A*, usually difficult due to severe field crowding. Spectral classification of the galactic center clusters stars would help to determine its mass function, age distribution, and star formation history. At higher spectral resolution (R~2000), radial velocities can be determined.
Late type stars
The VLTI milli-arcsecond resolution will allow to study the immediate vicinity of far-evolved stars and of their surfaces. This concerns giants on the asymptotic giant branch, long period variables, proto planetary-nebulae phase stars, and supergiants. PRIMA is necessary to track the fringes on a nearby star, the visibility of late type being too low to track on. One can expect at least about 2000 stars with apparent diameters larger than 1 mas and declination of less than 40 degrees; roughly 400 of them have diameters larger than 10 mas. Star diameters, limb darkening, pulsation, mass loss and dust-shell properties could be measured with PRIMA. The planetary nebulae surrounding low mass evolved stars are also easy targets for PRIMA thanks to their compactness and luminosity.
Stellar surface features
Surface inhomogeneities, or "hot spots", have been observed on late type supergiants. They could be observed on Red Giants or main sequence stars with PRIMA.
Interacting binary systems
PRIMA Imaging will make it possible to observe the shape of the individual interacting stars, amd to built a precise 3D-model of their shapes. This will give important clues about the atmospheres and internal structures of the stars.
Compact stellar objects: (white dwarfs, pulsars, black holes in binary systems)
Interferometry is currently the only technique which can make observations on the surface of these stars and measure their extremely small angular diameters. The observation of their environment, influenced by the large magnetic and gravitationnal fields, is also of great interest.
Circumnuclear dust disk and ejecta represent an essential step in the formation of planetary systems. But the high contrast between themselves and their host star, and their size, larger than the Airy's disk makes them very difficult targets, even with phase referencing.
Extrasolary planet systems
Planets could be detected in the imaging mode by observing the star at two wavelengths, outside and inside molecular absorption bands (2 and 10 µm). One should observe a very small displacement of the photocenter due to the presence of a planet. This is a challenging application of PRIMA with respect to the phase measurement accuracy, instrument stability, and bias calibration.
Cataclismic variable stars: (novae, supernovae)
The field of interest for imaging with PRIMA would be the imaging of the binary system during the outburst and the evolution of the ejected material with time.
Solar system: (asteroids, occultations, Pluto and Charon, comets)
PRIMA could image asteroids and comets, time precisely occultations and easily resolve the Pluto-Charon couple (cf the picture below taken by NACO).
Gravitationnal microlensing: (MACHOs, galactic center black holes)
Gravitationnal microlensing splits a background star into 2 images, separated up to some milli-arcseconds and with large intensity magnifications. The VLTI will be able to resolve this splitting. However, the lensed stars are faint, so PRIMA is needed to reach the required magnitude. The measurement of the phase is not required. The micro-lensing problem could be solved only with measurements of the visibilities as a function of the spatial resolution. The VLTI is a unique tool for such a study thanks to its modular baseline structure and high sensitivity. The critical point is to make several baseline measurements in a short time (some days).
Extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs
Interferometric astrometry is a complementary method to radial velocity technique for extrasolar planet detection and characterization. Firstly, the radial velocity gives only an evaluation of the planet maximum mass. Combined with astrometry, it gives its exact mass. Secondly, the applicability domains of both methods are complementary, astrometry being limited to nearby stars but being able to detect Jupiter-like planets far from the star while radial velocity is not limited by the disturbance to the system but can only detect planets close to the star.
Considering the simple case of a binary system with a star and a planet, both the star and the planet are turning around the mass center G. However this system is translating. Thus the position of G is oscillating around the line of translation of the system, this oscillation is called "the wobble" and is in this case sinusoidal (cf fig.1).
By observing the wobble (PRIMA allows performing it on Jupiter-like planets), we can determine the presence of a Jupiter-like planet and its mass. If there are some other planets around the star, the wobble isn't sinusoidal anymore. Combined with the radial velocity techniques, the wobble's observation and the shift of the wavelengths due to the Doppler effect (cf fig.2) allows determining the orbit plane inclination and the planet exact mass.
An astrometric measurement acccuracy of 10 µas would allow the detection of Jupiters around pre-main-sequence stars up to a distance of 240 pc, Uranuses up to 44 pc and 10 Earth-mass planets up to 1.5 pc. But a 50 µas accuracy provides already very interesting science with Jupiters around pre-main sequence stars up to 48 pc, brown dwarfs arround all M dwarfs to VLTI sensitivity limit and Uranuses up to 9 pc.
Fig. 1: The wobble of a binary system
Fig. 2: The wobble's observation
Gravitationnal micro-lensing events
Gravitationnal micro-lensing events splits the background star image into two spots separated by some mas with large intensity differences. The image photocenter moves as a function of the relative position of the lensing body and the background star. The amplitude of the photocenter movement depends mainly on the lensing body distance from the observer and on its mass. Thus astrometry can be used to discriminate between micro-lensing due to Magellanic cloud faint stars or to MACHOs, in our own galactic halo. There is indeed a factor 30 between the astrometric effects of both bodies, reaching several hundreds of µas, for the MACHOs and only some tens of µas in the case of Magellanic cloud lensing body. Astrometry can also be used to determine the mass and Einstein's radius of lensing objects when looking toward the galactic center and to discriminate them as stellar mass black hole or ordinary star.
Both programs need only 100 µas astrometric accuracy to bring first results. The critical point is the limiting magnitude. Toward the galactic center, the sky coverage will already be good with a limiting magnitude of 16 for the faint object and 10 for the fringe tracking one, a level that can be reached easily by the ATs. Toward the Magellanic clouds, the sky coverage will not be good at this level but will anyway bring some events per y ear. If the faint object magnitude can be increased to 18, the sky coverage would be much better.
The VLTI has a large advantage relative to other astrometric interferometers: it is located in the southern hemisphere, with the galactic center passing by the zenith and with access to the Magellanic clouds during most of the year.
Binary stars and open clusters
Full orbits of spectroscopic binaries can be used to determine the masses of the two components and the precise distance to the system. There are a number of astrophysical applications of such measurements, including tests of stellar evolutionnary tracks and the role of convective overshoots. Astrometry, combined with single-lined spectroscopic observations, will give a full solution of this problem for a large number of stars.
In open clusters, the determination of binary frequences and their orbital characteristics has a thorough impact on the scenarios of star formation and the evolution of stellar systems. For stars with masses ranging from solar-type stars to early M dwarfs extensive work has been carried out using radial velocity measurements. However, almost no data are available for massive stars, whose duplicity statistics knowledge would certainly have an impact on our understanding of star formation. Many young open clusters up to a distance of about 1 to 2 kpc can be selected as potential targets to look for binarity in massive stars. This kind of work will need the ultimate accuracy of PRIMA.
Globular clusters and the galactic center
The globular clusters are very important systems to understand fundamental dynamical processes such as relaxation, mass segregation, core collaps, tidal effects and so on (you can see a globular star cluster just below).
Measurements of proper motions, combined with radial velocities, would give access to 3D space velocities. A strong improvement of our understanding of internal dynamics of such objects can therefore be expected. The internal motions in globular clusters are of the order of 5 to 10 km/s. So we need to reach a 1 km/s measurement accuracy, i.e. a 10 µas/yr accuracy at 10 kpc, giving access to all galactic globular clusters.
In the same order of ideas, 3D space velocities in the central 0.1 pc of our galaxy would give a much better picture of its dynamic and would provide a strong argument for the presence of a massive black hole in its center. In addition to further constraining the mass distribution, these measurements would also provide clues about the history of the galactic center cluster.
In principle, trigonometric parallaxes with 10% errors can be derived with PRIMA for targets out to a distance of 10 kpc. There are 2 major difficulties, however: the need to find a bright star guide for phasing the interferometer, and the relative nature of parallaxes measured over small fields. The first issue is not a problem for intrinsically bright objects (i.e. Mira variables). The conversion of relative parallaxes into absolute parallaxes may in some cases be accomplished through the careful choice of the reference object(s).
Extra galactic astrometry
The astrometric mode in PRIMA will also provide a unique possibility to determine the so-called AGN Dance-centroid due to SN explosion predicted by the Starburst model, events occuring roughly once per year. The AGN centroid would appear to move by a few tens of µas, within the nominal sensitivity of PRIMA, as long as reference bright star can be found in the isoplanatic patch. | <urn:uuid:16fbfb38-4813-409a-bc89-97d00956d8fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vlti/instruments/prima/science_prima.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912478 | 2,588 | 3.09375 | 3 |
This week the eyes of everyone concerned with the continuance of limited government were riveted on the Supreme Court. For three days the nine Justices heard arguments by the Solicitor General in favor of ruling the individual mandate which is the keystone of Obamacare constitutional. They also heard the representatives of twenty-six States argue that it is unconstitutional. This is the first time that a majority of the States have combined to protest an act of Congress. Now We the People must wait while the fate of our Republic is decided in secret by our Black Robed rulers from whom there is no appeal.
How did we get here?
We elect our representatives and they enact laws which are supposed to be within the framework of the Constitution. It should be the expectation of Americans that those we entrust with our delegated sovereignty would craft laws in accordance with our wishes as expressed in the founding document of our government. These laws should reflect our desire for limited government, personal liberty, and economic freedom.
And the unicorns danced with the elves until the cow jumped over the moon.
The perpetually re-elected who control the two houses of our legislature make law with no regard for the limits, the spirit, or the letter of our Constitution. In this case they have decreed not participating in Commerce is commerce, and that a penalty is not a tax, that is a tax, and then isn’t again. After years of stepping so far over the line they have forgotten there was a line. The Party of Power has finally legislated us to the point of no return. If the court of last resort gives this power grab the green light what limits are left?
Since the law was passed over the overwhelming rejection of the voters its validation would cement the dictatorship of the Party in the transformation of America from what we have known into what we would never choose. The Court appears to be our last line of defense. But where does the Supreme Court get its power?
The Supreme Court is principally occupied in a task that has no basis in the Constitution. The nine justices spend their time judging what is constitutional and what isn’t through a process known as judicial review. However, when the delegates of the thirteen original States drafted the Constitution they decided after much debate not to delegate such a power to the judicial branch or any other branch of the new Federal Government.
If the Constitution doesn’t give this power to the Court how did they get it? The surprising answer is that they assumed it unto themselves, and since no one stopped them they just kept doing it. The process began in 1794 when for the First time they declared an act of Congress unconstitutional. Then in 1803 they used a minor case Marbury v Madison to outline their justification for the process. Since that time the belief that the Supreme Court is the ultimate judge of the constitutionality of anything and everything has become such a cornerstone of the American System that the average person erroneously believes the power was granted in the Constitution. Thus the first power grab has become our last defense against what could be the final power grab.
In other words we who want to see the rebirth of limited government are hoping the Supreme Court will use an unconstitutional power to save the Constitution. We stand hat in hand waiting patiently to find out if the Commerce Clause can be stretched to give the central government unlimited power or will we step back from the precipice and wait for the Party of Power to try again.
Across the country we have watched as everything from abortion to gay marriage has been imposed upon us by the black robed tyrants of the Federal Bench. We have watched as popularly passed referendums were overturned, and common sense laws such as Arizona’s immigration statutes cast aside by activist jurists determined to force our nation into their mold. Unelected and almost unaccountable these imperious lawyers on steroids hand down pronouncements from Olympus on the Potomac as the sons of pioneers meekly accept the rule of tradition and the arbitrary decrees of men instead of the rule of law our ancestors fought and died to establish and preserve.
Now the arguments are over. The talking heads endlessly dissect what was said telling us what it means. For months we will hear rumors and hints as we wait until June for the word from on high. Is not purchasing insurance commerce? Does the government have the power to compel a citizen to enter into a contract? Is a contract made under duress valid? Does Congress have the power to make the purchasing of a product necessary to maintain the status of a law abiding citizen? If the answer to what should be rhetorical questions is not a resounding “NO!” we have strayed beyond the pale of liberty and are adrift in the seas of arbitrary power.
As we look to an unconstitutional process to save the Constitution perhaps we should reflect on the state of our Republic. I would also recommend a deep study of the works of our Anti-Federalist fathers. Since we are living in the world they predicted maybe we should take a second look at what they recommended as an alternative to what we have become?
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the Historian of the Future and the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2012 Robert R. Owens email@example.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens | <urn:uuid:e7e42df2-07f6-42f8-9bea-7dabe67bbc9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/11823754-where-does-the-supreme-court-get-its-power | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964073 | 1,107 | 1.734375 | 2 |
I was originally going to post Part 2 of an interview with Dr. Sanford Miller, a senior fellow at the University of Maryland Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy. A new lettuce recall will delay this post by a day. (Click here to read Part 1.)
The Nunes Co. of Salinas, California, has initiated a voluntary recall of green-leaf lettuce designated by the code 6SL0024, which was sold Oct. 3–6 under the Foxy brand. This lettuce may be contaminated with E. coli, the company states, although no illnesses have been reported.
The lettuce was distributed in Arizona, California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. It was sold to retail stores and distributors who may have sold it to restaurants.
The recall was initiated when company reps discovered that water used to irrigate the lettuce may have been contaminated with E. coli. Subsequent investigation indicated the problems were caused by temporary use of a secondary water source, initially testing positive for E. coli.
Consumers who have bought the lettuce are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Those with questions may contact the company at (800) 695-5012.
“This is a precautionary measure based upon the recent events in the produce industry and our concern for our customers,” company president Tom Nunes Jr. told the Los Angeles Times. “No other products except green-leaf lettuce are a part of this recall.”
Nunes supplies organic bagged vegetables under the Foxy brand—broccoli florets, broccoli slaw, broccoli/cauliflower vegetable medley, among others—to supermarkets, but they are not part of this recall.
The FDA issued the following statement yesterday: “Based on current information about the scope of this E. coli contamination, FDA views the firm’s prompt action as commendable, because it is better to be cautious than to potentially put consumers at risk of contracting a serious foodborne illness. As FDA becomes aware of additional information about the contamination of the water supply that triggered the current voluntary recall, including the results of additional ongoing tests, the agency will make this information available to the public immediately.
“Fresh leafy greens grown and consumed in the United States are safe,” the FDA adds. “Every year there are many thousands of pounds of fresh leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach grown in the United States and consumed by the public with no consequent illness. However, outbreaks do occur, such as the recent E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to raw spinach, and there is a need to do everything possible to minimize the likelihood of further outbreaks and prevent serious illness. For this reason, FDA has taken a number of actions in recent years, in partnership with its sister agencies, to improve the safety of fresh leafy greens and is working on additional steps. From farm to table, everyone has a responsibility to ensure food safety, including growers, processors, distributors, retailers and consumers, and government.”
Our Complete Coverage (Chronological)
- Spinach and E. Coli Outbreak
- Spinach Woes
- Shopping for Bagged Greens
- Is It Safe to Eat Frozen Spinach?
- Organic Farming and E. Coli Outbreak
- Preventing E. Coli Infection
- Spinach Ban Modified, But Consumer Caution Advised
- E. Coli Outbreak and Our Contaminated Food Supply
- FDA Announces E. Coli Outbreak Findings
- New Sensor Quickly Detects E. Coli
- Will the Spinach Industry Recover?
- Food Contamination Incidents Likely to Increase (Part 1) | <urn:uuid:08a64f2c-2be8-4a7a-be5a-9bb668c7d281> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/organic-food/new-lettuce-recall/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950501 | 762 | 2 | 2 |
Zulaikha Mallah is the most intelligent girl in her class. It was only a year and a half ago that Zulaikha, then 6 years old, would come to this school regularly not to study but to sell carrots to the students during break time. Her poor parents could not afford to pay for even the most basic necessities required to send a child to school, in addition they needed the few pennies Zulaikha raised from selling carrots to supplement the family income.
Recognizing how bright little Zulaikha was, the teacher met with her parents and insisted that she start attending classes immediately. “Of course, she would be permitted to sell carrots at break time,” she told the parents.
Zulaikha wants to grow up to be a doctor and serve the poor needy village. | <urn:uuid:446366a2-745d-47ba-93f8-7bf8c73ab9da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yourdil.org/InfoPage.aspx?id=Read-Zulaikha | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977752 | 170 | 2.3125 | 2 |
I don’t usually refer to medical documents on this blog, but I thought this was a fascinating discovery from the neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC), and well worth linking to. Their studies showed that readers who are able to read especially quickly are relying on a ‘visual dictionary’ in their heads, which helps them immediately recognise common words. These findings are contrary to the long-held belief that our brains work on phonics, ‘sounding out’ words while reading in our heads.
How exactly did they discover this? Through a series of fMRI scans performed while test subjects were reading texts, and keeping track of which neurons were firing when each word was encountered.
Glezer and her co-authors tested word recognition in 12 volunteers using fMRI. They were able to see that words that are different, but sound the same, like “hare” and “hair” activate different neurons, akin to accessing different entries in a dictionary’s catalogue. “If the sounds of the word had influence in this part of the brain we would expect to see that they activate the same or similar neurons, but this was not the case, ‘hair’ and ‘hare’ looked just as different as “hair” and “soup”. This suggests that all we use is the visual information of a word and not the sounds.”
This reminds me somewhat of the well-known study performed by researchers at Cambridge University, wherein they showed that so long as the first and last letters of a word were recognizable, you could scramble the other letters in the words of a sentence and the brain can still comprehend the meaning. For example: “Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.”
“One camp of neuroscientists believes that we access both the phonology and the visual perception of a word as we read them and that the area or areas of the brain that do one, also do the other, but our study proves this isn’t the case,” says the study’s lead investigator, Laurie Glezer, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow. She works in the Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience at GUMC, led by Maximilian Riesenhuber, Ph.D., who is a co-author.
“What we found is that once we’ve learned a word, it is placed in a purely visual dictionary in the brain. Having a purely visual representation allows for the fast and efficient word recognition we see in skilled readers,” she says. “This study is the first demonstration of that concept.”
This study also gives a somewhat more elegant explanation for dyslexia – the brains of dyslexic people have a much smaller or less effective ‘visual dictionary’, and so they generally find reading a slow and laborious process – especially for words that they haven’t come across before. However, due to the findings of this study, it could be possible to help improve these skills at a younger age and thus offset the reading difficulties experienced by those with dyslexia. | <urn:uuid:66388656-e4ba-4bcb-bea3-0eda9207069c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.languagetrainers.com/blog/2011/11/22/study-shows-better-readers-rely-on-a-visual-dictionary-to-read-quickly-and-accurately/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96317 | 729 | 3.375 | 3 |
NY State Museum to display Apollo 17 moon rock
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The New York State Museum is marking the 40th anniversary of Apollo 17 by exhibiting a moon rock collected during the mission.
The state's rarely-displayed fragment will be on view in the Albany museum's lobby from Wednesday through Feb. 10.
The 3.7 billion-year-old rock is the only one in the state's collection.
It's one of the "goodwill" rocks from a sample President Richard Nixon ordered divided up and given to the U.S. states and the heads of 135 countries in 1973. New York's piece was presented to Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.
Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the moon.
Location, ST | website.com
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Vito Ciccarelli talks about Trojans and the things they do in their communities.
Join Rafi Topalian as he discusses the past, present and future Armenian news, stories and related issues that effect not only the Armenian Community in the Capital District but non-Armenian readers alike. | <urn:uuid:57ea6b3a-6382-44c5-8cb7-e33d347636bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2012/12/18/news/doc50d070b521c9b060965823.txt?viewmode=default | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90964 | 416 | 2.0625 | 2 |
According to CPU World, Intel will be introducing a number of new Ivy Bridge processors for desktops and mobile systems during the week of April 22-28, becoming available April 29. Originally the 29th was set as the quad-core desktop launch but now both versions of the chips will be debuting at the same time.
These new chips should give Apple more options for upgrading their higher-end Macs (iMac and MacBook Pro). The lower power chips more suitable for MacBook Air will not arrive until June 3rd.
The core i7-3720QM and 3820QM chips that are released on April 29th appear to be good successors to the ones in current high-end 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pro units. Apple has reported that they will be slimming down the 13 and 15-inch models, so its not determined as of yet, how these changes will affect cpu decision making.
The launch on June 3rd expands the mobile computer front, adding six dual-core Core i5 and Core i7 processors, as well as a pair of ultra-low voltage dual-core chips. In the third quarter of 2012 there will be lower-end Core i3 processors to follow.
Use this QR code in a QR reader application on mobile to open quickly on a mobile device | <urn:uuid:53117d90-e9bb-4a61-a04a-c78d93bb5d74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tech-stew.com/post/2012/03/28/Ivy-Bridge-Quad-Core-Desktop-and-Mobile-CPUs-launching-on-April-29.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952809 | 266 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Just imagine ...
Ten years ago Tony Benn became prime minister. As he prepares to step down after a decade at the helm of Britain's most socialist government of all time, it's timely to assess what his administrations have achieved.
The renationalisation of the railways, carried out in the first months of the Benn government, has been a great success. Britain now has an integrated public transport network whose standards are up to European levels, (buses were also bought into public ownership) with the billions of pounds of subsidy that were being paid to profiteering private companies being invested in the network.
The government has also saved taxpayers money by cancelling the costly private finance initiative and by bringing "in house" all the services contracted out by the NHS and other government bodies. The renationalisation of the privatised utilities has also proved popular with the public, with prices of water, gas and electricity all dropping now that there's no fat cats to siphon off the profits. The nationalisation of North Sea oil and the setting up of a State Petroleum Fund to invest in long-term projects augurs well for Britain's future prosperity.
The Benn government set out to drastically reduce inequality, and has achieved this by the reintroduction of a new top rate of income tax, the introduction of new wealth tax on unearned income, a land tax and by generous increases in old age pensions and the minimum wage. Thanks to such redistributive policies, the gap between the rich and poor is now at historically low levels.
Britain's amicable withdrawal from the EU has saved the taxpayers billions of pounds too and prime minister Benn's idea of a "Commonwealth of Sovereign European States", with countries free to decide their own domestic policies, but agreeing to cooperate on matters of mutual interest has become increasingly popular with the millions of Europeans disenchanted with the undemocratic and overly-bureaucratic EU.
Benn's government's introduction of a fully elected second chamber has reinvigorated democracy, as have bi-annual elections, and the greater use of referenda. With more decision making power being restored to people themselves, voter turnout has returned to its highest postwar levels.
As impressive as its achievements on the home front have been, it's in the field of foreign policy where Benn's governments have arguably had their greatest impact. In 1999, it was Britain's implacable opposition to Nato military action that led to a peaceful solution to the incipient civil war in Kosovo. And in 2003, Britain aligned itself with France and Germany in opposing US plans to illegally invade Iraq. President Bush threatened to go it alone, but in the end, deprived of British support, he was forced to back down. Hans Blix's weapons inspectors finished their job and a costly and potentially catastrophic military conflict was averted. We will never know how many innocent lives were saved by the British government's anti-war stance. It could have been hundreds of thousands. | <urn:uuid:371b478b-570a-4a68-8500-34a3249c9a7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/may/02/thebenndecade | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975838 | 598 | 2.078125 | 2 |