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A Hard Lesson: Interpretation, Genomic Data, and the Scriptures
Today's entry was written by Arie Leegwater. Please note the views expressed here are those of the author, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation. You can read more about what BioLogos believes here.
Today’s post is adapted from an editorial introducing the September 2010 volume of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith (PSCF), the peer-reviewed journal of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA).1 The issue contains several articles of interest to the BioLogos Community, including one by BioLogos Senior Fellow Dennis R. Venema on the evidence from genomics for common ancestry between apes and humans.
Two other papers in the volume, by Calvin College Theologians Daniel C. Harlow and John R. Schneider, examine the historicity of Adam and Eve and original sin. Both authors suggest that the traditional Augustinian understanding of these doctrines must be reexamined in light of the many strands of scientific evidence pointing to the gradual creation of human beings through an evolutionary process.
While there is much food for thought in these two papers, we caution against pronouncing judgment too quickly, either for or against the ideas they contain. Certainly BioLogos supports accepting scientific conclusions where the science is clear. It is clear, for example, that the whole human race did not come from a single ancestral pair. What is not clear, however, is whether acceptance of an evolutionary view of creation requires rejection or substantial revision of these doctrines. (Denis Alexander’s recent BioLogos paper, while not the final word on the matter, demonstrates that historicity may, in fact, be embraced within an evolutionary framework.)
Harlow and Schneider’s papers have caused no little stir in some Reformed circles. Importantly, the question is not whether their ideas are heretical or even whether these doctrines should be open for discussion in the first place. Rather the question is how a given Christian tradition, the Reformed faith in this case, may determine the range of views consistent with its own creeds and confessional statements. As BioLogos is not affiliated with any single Christian tradition, we do not have identical concerns. Our interest is two-fold: we want to protect the integrity of both science and Scripture and create a place for Christians to engage in healthy dialogue on these difficult issues.
Dr. Leegwater’s editorial is important in the conversation for several reasons. First, he humbly admits that in reviewing new data in genomics and evolutionary science, some of his most cherished beliefs were challenged. It is a good reminder that encountering facts that conflict with our deepest beliefs is painful and disorienting, if not downright frightening. We should thus be charitable with those who disagree with us. At the same time, wrestling together is good for the church—iron sharpens iron—and it should not be avoided, for failing to seriously consider new data is not a satisfactory option for truth-seeking Christians. Second, Leegwater recognizes that we tend to oversimplify the issue of interpretation. Too often, he notes, a false dichotomy is presented: “Should science be interpreted by Scripture or Scripture by science?” Neither simple approach gives full integrity to the entirety of God’s Two-Book revelation. Finally, Leegwater observes that we are embedded in a rationalistic Western culture that elevates the methods of science in ways that invite unhelpful responses to Scripture. In reaction to the positivist edicts of science, he says, we tend to reduce Scripture to a collection of infallible intellectual assertions. In doing this we forget the richness of faith, for “faith has to do with promises and expectations, with the certainty of our identity as God-related creatures.”
Introduction written by Kathryn Applegate
Dr. Leegwater's Editorial
On a late April 2010 visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, I viewed a diversity of exhibits, particularly those in the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. To move from panel to panel describing and detailing the evolution of humans from primate forebears to modern humans, one is taken on a journey of over seven million years. This mind-boggling experience, coupled with a recent Science issue detailing the mapping of the Neanderthal genome and its genomic heritage in modern humans, and reading this issue of PSCF, devoted to the historicity of Adam and Eve, genomics, and evolutionary science, challenged some of my long-cherished positions. Such encounters call for a serious examination and reconsideration of certain crucial matters.
Speaking personally, it was a hard lesson to digest, as I suspect it may be for many readers of PSCF. What should we make of all the diverse anthropological evidence collected from several continents as well as the recently acquired detailed genomic data? Should we sweep it under the rug, considering it to be the result of a shameful misguided investigation, since it assumes a view that calls into question the “plain straightforward reading of Scripture”? Or should we dispute the science and suggest the data is open to multiple concordist interpretations? Neither of these positions would be fair to the nature of scientific practice. “Science in God’s world has its own proper task of giving joy, its own peculiar ministry of healing, its own God-given gift of serving up nuanced insight for one’s neighbor” (Calvin Seerveld). Nor would either position honor the role of hermeneutics in interpreting biblical literature.
Parenthetically, as an editor of PSCF, I have often hoped that I could keep these matters at a studied distance, because, in my opinion, there are many other pressing and important issues which the Christian community needs to address and which, due to the ferocity of the debates, frequently become emasculated. And secondly, and for perhaps far too long, a discussion of origins has functioned (for many) as the self-identity or touchstone of the ASA.
But, back to the matter at hand. If we accept the long-drawn-out saga of the evolution of living forms in creation, how must we then understand ourselves? Where and how do we humans “fit” in this development? That question is often the dominant theme in discussions about origins. As someone has perceptively remarked, “It is not the ‘fourth day,’ but rather the ‘sixth day’ that is in question.” To hold that the center and meaning of our life lies outside ourselves may be a posture that many persons and different religions share. But to honor this position as a Christian confession takes one on an eccentric and peculiar journey. In his Institutes, Calvin raised the classic question of human self-understanding, the question of how humans can know themselves. The answer that Calvin gives points us away from our desire to first examine ourselves: “Again it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself” (I.i.12). We, as humans, are essentially God-related creatures (Homo religionis).
While recognizing our human condition, we also need to tread carefully. The intense debates often assume the stage is set by positing “hard scientific data” to be in tension with our (systematic) theologies. In simple terms, the scene is portrayed as a battle between believing science and believing Scrip-ture. Should science be interpreted by Scripture or Scripture by science? We desire simple satisfying answers. To a large extent, however, we have simplified the issues. Putting the matter in this way, I think, will cause us to lose sight of the integrity of both the Bible and of science. If the reliability of the Bible as the Word of God is wedded to its scientific reliability, the “scientific” battles for an infallible Word of God have been lost from the start. We have then placed both on the same (scientific) level, and in the process, we will lose the reliability of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are not written as a historical research report, nor do they give a scientific account. Rather, they are a testimony of faith, albeit in the form of God-inspired literature. The Bible is part of creation which bears witness to the Word of God who was present at Creation. The Bible points us to Christ. The Bible is divinely inspired, but it is not divine. The Holy Scripture in its entirety is revelation, but it is not the whole of revelation. Reducing the Word of God to the Scriptures can be a form of bibliolatry. The revelatory Word of God for creation speaks to its reliability and trustworthiness.
Stating it differently, the Bible speaks in prescientific language and pictures. It employs the language of the day, reflecting the world-picture of the original audience. The language of the Bible is accommodated to the cosmological and historical awareness of the day. In our eyes, these cosmological world-pictures may seem hopelessly scientifically naive, but the Word and Spirit are able—the church confesses—to penetrate our hearts, regardless of our local customs and situations, or of the world-pictures we hold.
In addition, we often discount the philosophical and historical contexts that undergird many of our procedures of interpretation. We live in a westernized rationalist culture which probably reached its zenith in the Enlightenment, but is still clearly regnant in the practice of the natural sciences and the theological sciences. This historical context has shaped our view of the Bible and its interpretation: we like (or deem it necessary) to compare the scientific propositions of science with the propositional revelation (teachings) of Scripture. In an effort to counteract the rational infallibility of scientific propositions, Christians respond with the rational infallibility of revealed propositions. Consequently, employing the term “inerrancy” to describe the character of the Scriptures seems inherently tied to a rationalistic and positivistic position and plays into the hands of higher criticism. Our intellectual instincts tend to treat faith as basically an intellectual matter. But faith is much richer in its purview. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1, RSV). Faith has to do with promises and expectations, with the certainty of our identity as God-related creatures.
1. ASA was established in 1941 as a fellowship of those in science and related disciplines who prize both faithfulness to the Word of God and integrity in science. ASA members benefit from a robust dialogue about wide-ranging and pressing issues in science and faith through multiple blogs, publications like PSCF and the new God and Nature e-zine, and both regional and national events such as the upcoming 66th Annual Meeting, “Science-Faith Synergy: Glorifying God and Serving Humanity.” Interested in connecting with fellow Christians in science? It’s easy to join online.
Arie Leegwater is a professor emeritus of chemistry at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and editor of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, the journal of the American Scientific Affiliation. He received his doctorate in chemistry from The Ohio State University, where his thesis was on steric effects in organic chemistry. | <urn:uuid:ecef60c3-18ab-44f4-ae96-d3c932baaeb6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://biologos.org/blog/a-hard-lesson-interpretation-genomic-data-and-the-scriptures/P20 | 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 | 0.946783 | 2,356 | 2.5 | 2 |
President Obama has made clear that he’s determined to continue pushing his “progressive” agenda, regardless of constitutional limitations on his power. He aims to have his way by issuing more and more executive orders.
The most ominous sign of possible things to come appeared on March 16, 2012, when President Obama signed executive order 13603 about “National Defense Resources Preparedness.”
This 10-page document is a blueprint for a federal takeover of the economy that would dwarf the looming Obamacare takeover of the health insurance business. Specifically, Obama’s plan involves seizing control of:
* “All commodities and products that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals”
* “All forms of energy”
* “All forms of civil transportation”
* “All usable water from all sources”
* “Health resources – drugs, biological products, medical devices, materials, facilities, health supplies, services and equipment”
* Forced labor ( or “induction” as the executive order delicately refers to military conscription)
Moreover, federal officials would “issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources.”
Each government bureaucracy “shall act as necessary and appropriate.”
To be sure, much of this language has appeared in national security executive orders that previous presidents have issued periodically since the beginning of the Cold War.
But more than previous national security executive orders, Obama’s 13603 seems to describe a potentially totalitarian regime obsessed with control over everything. Obama’s executive order makes no effort to justify the destruction of liberty, no effort to explain how amassing totalitarian control would enable government to deal effectively with cyber sabotage, suicide bombings, chemical warfare, nuclear missiles or other possible threats. It’s quite likely there would be greater difficulty responding to threats, since totalitarian regimes suffer from economic chaos, colossal waste, massive corruption and bureaucratic infighting that are inevitable consequences of extreme centralization. Such problems plagued fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, communist China and other regimes. Totalitarian control would probably trigger resistance movements and underground networks like those that developed in Western Europe during the Nazi occupation. Totalitarian control could provoke more political turmoil than there was in the Vietnam War era of the 1960s. There would probably be a serious brain drain as talented people with critical skills escaped to freedom wherever that might be. Canada?
There’s nothing in executive order 13603 about upholding the Constitution or protecting civil liberties.
Obama’s executive order seems to assume that the next war will be like World War II or World War I, where vast armies of unskilled conscripts went at each other. But current trends suggest that future conflicts are more likely to involve smaller numbers of military personnel – highly-trained professionals, perhaps thousands of miles away from a battlefield, who remotely-control drones, pilotless combat helicopters, unmanned ground vehicles, unmanned ships, mobile security robots and related military technologies.
Even if Obama’s 13603 were no different than previous national security executive orders, it’s more worrisome because it was issued by the president who rammed Obamacare and runaway spending bills through Congress, who racked up $5 trillion of debt and surrounded himself with hardcore “progressives” hostile to the private sector and America as we have known it.
In what circumstances, one might ask, would a president try to carry out this audacious plan?
Executive order 13603 says with ominous ambiguity: during “the full spectrum of emergencies.”
Well, the United States is already in a state of national emergency declared by President George W. Bush on September 14, 2001 and extended last year by President Obama.
To better understand the potentially explosive impact of his plan, let’s take a tour through the dark world of executive orders, a type of presidential power that most people know little, if anything, about.
Many presidents have pushed to expand their power beyond constitutional limits, particularly during crises. Issuing executive orders is the easiest way to do it. A president doesn’t have to propose an executive order, debate the issues, endure hearings or solicit votes. An executive order can be issued in a few minutes — behind closed doors and away from bright lights. | <urn:uuid:98cb8d71-98ff-47ca-ac58-1d605353ad51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimpowell/2012/04/29/obamas-plan-to-seize-control-of-our-economy-and-our-lives/?commentId=comment_blogAndPostId/blog/comment/1822-144-220 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960536 | 880 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Call to end spies' FOI exemption
AUSTRALIA'S spies could be subject to increased public scrutiny if a top-level review accepts the advice of the Australian government's freedom-of-information watchdog.
Australian Information Commissioner John McMillan has called for Australia's intelligence agencies to no longer be exempted from federal FOI laws.
Professor McMillan and FOI Commissioner James Popple have made the recommendation in a 97-page submission to the review of FOI laws by former Defence Department secretary and diplomat Allan Hawke.
But the secretive intelligence community is unlikely to welcome an FOI spotlight and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has quietly wound back public access to historical counter-espionage records available through the National Archives.
All Australian intelligence agencies, including ASIO, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and the Defence Signals Directorate, are exempt from the operation of FOI legislation that allows the public and journalists to seek access to government records.
Professor McMillan and Dr Popple have argued that the long-standing blanket exemption for intelligence agencies is too broad and that ''exemptions applied on a document-by-document basis allow a more nuanced approach to managing appropriate information disclosure''.
''Merit reviews conducted by the [Office of the Australian Information Commissioner] indicate that the full exemption applying to intelligence agencies can have unintended or undesired impacts, obstructing consideration of otherwise reasonable information requests.''
The Information and FOI commissioners argue that such reform would bring Australia into line with the less secretive FOI practices of intelligence agencies in allied countries including New Zealand's Security Intelligence Service, the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States and Canada's Security Intelligence Service.
Professor McMillan and Dr Popple argue that existing provisions within FOI legislation provide ''appropriate protections for information held by intelligence agencies''.
The proposal to end the intelligence community's FOI exemption is likely to meet strong bureaucratic resistance and may find little favour with the federal Labor government.
When the government's first tranche of FOI reforms was introduced into Parliament in March 2009, then cabinet secretary Senator John Faulkner reaffirmed that the Australian intelligence community would remain exempt from FOI.
''Classified national security information must be protected by the government in the national interest. This is right, it is vital, and it is not going to change,'' Senator Faulkner said.
Since 2008, ASIO has also tightened public access under archives legislation to its historical records, apparently as a consequence of contemporary counter-espionage sensitivities, with information released five or more years ago now being routinely redacted.
For example, information previously released through the National Archives but now determined to be still security classified includes advice from the 1960s by the ASIO director-general, Sir Charles Spry, to prime minister John Gorton that the Australia's embassies in Moscow and Tokyo had been penetrated by Russian intelligence and that 60 per cent of Russian diplomats in Canberra were assessed to be intelligence personnel.
Release of this information, more than 44 years after the event, is now judged to compromise national security.
Dr Hawke is to report the findings of his review to Attorney-General Nicola Roxon by April. | <urn:uuid:f4b0bfb3-57fe-42a4-b85c-4a83fc430265> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/call-to-end-spies-foi-exemption-20121219-2bn8t.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933476 | 649 | 1.578125 | 2 |
George Ellison to give lecture
Published: Sunday, January 18, 2004 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, January 18, 2004 at 12:00 a.m.
ASHEVILLE -- Accomplished naturalist and writer George Ellison will host a slide-illustrated presentation entitled, "A Place of Refuge: Horace Kephart and the Making of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park" from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday at the North Carolina Arboretum.
Ellison's lecture will feature the life of Horace Kephart (1862-1931). A professional librarian, Kephart left his career and family behind in St. Louis to live alone from 1904-1907 in a cabin on the Southern Appalachian frontier, on a tributary of Hazel Creek in Swain County.
Kephart authored Camping and Woodcraft (1906), as well, as the classic Our Southern Highlanders (1913), considered one of the finest regional studies written by an American. Ellison, a naturalist and writer, wrote the biographical introduction to the latter work for its reissue in 1976. From the mid-1920s until his death in 1931, Kephart became a major part-icipant in the movement that culminated in the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Program fee is $6 for Arboretum Society members; $9 public. Parking is included in the fee and pre-registration is suggested.
To register for the course, or for more information, call the arboretum at 665-2492 or visit www.ncarboretum.org on the Web.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.
Comments are currently unavailable on this article | <urn:uuid:527682e7-7e9f-4cc9-8f65-bfa6c2b82275> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20040118/NEWS/401180322?Title=George-Ellison-to-give-lecture | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925893 | 378 | 1.898438 | 2 |
FHFA Ban on Private Transfer Fees Exempts HOAs
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has ruled to ban all fees on mortgages that are handled by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. The fees are encumbrances placed on mortgages by the property developer to generate fees every time a property is sold. Traditionally, the fees are used to cover expenses related to property improvements such as a community center, however in recent years there have been efforts to impose these fees for the sole purpose of generating income to the developers (and sometimes investors) through the creation of securities collateralized by the fee income, without any reinvestment of the proceeds into the property.
NAR generally opposes private transfer fees and has advocated they be prohibited since early 2010. In a series of letters to FHFA, NAR argued that private transfer fees increase the cost of homeownership and do little more than generate revenue for developers or investors and typically provide no benefit to homebuyers. NAR did acknowledge that such fees may be appropriate and supports the exception in the final rule for some organizations, such as homeowners associations, where there is a direct benefit to the homeowner, the fees are reasonable, and there is full disclosure. | <urn:uuid:654648bf-52f1-4542-b4cb-28087e6761b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gbreb.com/gbarsubpage.aspx?id=3765 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963394 | 252 | 1.640625 | 2 |
An under-construction hotel complex in Saudi Arabia will feature the world’s second-tallest building, topped by a clock six times bigger than London’s Big Ben.
The Mecca Royal Clock Tower will be made up of 662 metres (2,171 feet) of concrete structure and a 155-metre (508-foot) crecent-topped metal spire.
Combined, the two parts of the tower in the Muslim holy city of Mecca would be only roughly 11 metres (36 feet) shorter than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower at 828 metres (2,717 feet).
“The first part of the hotel will open at the end of June, while the clock will begin operating at the end of July,” ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin around August 10.
The German-made clock, billed as “the largest in the world,” will have 45-metre (147-foot) wide and 43-metre (141-foot) tall faces on all four sides of the tower, the hotel’s general manager said Tuesday.
He added that it will be visible from 17 kilometres (10 miles) away at night and 11 to 12 kilometres (six to seven miles) away during the day.
“Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time, this is the goal,” Mohammed al-Arkubi said.
He said the three-billion-dollar, seven-tower complex of hotels, called Abraj al-Bayt Towers, will contain 3,000 rooms and suites, the majority of which will overlook the Grand Mosque, which Muslims face for daily prayers.
The complex is being constructed by the Bin Laden Group, a giant real estate firm, on behalf of the Saudi government, he said.
The complex will be managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and its revenue will be placed in a “waqf,” or Islamic trust, devoted to the development and maintenance of Muslim holy sites, Arkubi said.
Source: AFPrelaxnews, 2010 | <urn:uuid:28e4ea0b-427e-4bf4-8a30-812ee1b6c9e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.luxuo.com/hotel/fairmont-mecca-royal-clock-tower.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932159 | 448 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Can't print? Internet down? Windows Troubleshooting can automatically pinpoint and fix common problems so you don't have to.
The Troubleshooting section of Control Panel includes more than a dozen troubleshooters for problems with networking, Internet, audio and video, and program compatibility. Troubleshooters aren't designed to solve every issue, but they can often save you time and headaches.
Troubleshooters can also help head off trouble by providing basic scheduled maintenance, such as cleaning up temporary files or scanning your hard disk for errors. If something suspicious turns up, you'll get a notification in Action Center.
Problems? Windows Troubleshooting can help. | <urn:uuid:9990090b-fa34-4b1d-b194-57f2890292ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows7/products/features/windows-troubleshooting | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91987 | 137 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Cigarette smoking increases the risk of a number of cancers (1
), and continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis has been linked with adverse outcomes for cancer patients, including treatment complications, diminished treatment efficacy, reduced overall survival, increased risk of second cancers, and poorer quality of life (QoL) (for reviews see (3
)). Unfortunately, a substantial number of people with smoking-related and non-smoking related cancers continue to smoke after their diagnosis. Estimates vary, with the highest rates reported for people with lung and head and neck cancers (with 24%– 60% smoking) (6
) and more modest rates among breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer survivors (7%–13% smoking (9
)). Population-based data suggest that approximately 20% of long-term cancer survivors smoke after their diagnosis (10
), with rates varying greatly by age and cancer site.
Smoking may also be a concern for family members who serve as informal caregivers while the cancer patient undergoes treatment. Smoking-related comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may comprise the health of family caregivers, diminishing their quality of life. In addition, smoking is linked with negative emotionality, depression, and history of psychiatric disorders in the general population (12
), suggesting that smoking caregivers may be a population at risk for poor mental health-related quality of life, especially in the context of increased stress associated with caregiving. Although one study of family members of patients with lung cancer found that symptoms of distress were actually associated with increased intentions to quit smoking (14
), findings from the general caregiving literature indicate that, compared with non-caregivers, caregivers are more likely to engage in unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (15
). This includes include greater frequency of smoking (16
), particularly if they are providing high-levels of care or experiencing high strain. This suggests that the stress and burden of caregiving might undermine smoking cessation efforts or that smoking may increase perceived stress and burden among caregivers. Research shows that cancer patients who smoke are likely to have family members who smoke (14
). One cessation trial recruiting smoking relatives of cancer patients reported that on average, cancer patients have two relatives who smoke (17
) and a recent study reported that 18% of family caregivers of women with lung cancer continued smoking after the diagnosis(18
It may be especially important to consider smoking in the context of dyads of cancer patients and their family caregivers. Continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis may be associated with guilt or blame about the cause of the cancer, particularly for cancers that are strongly associated with smoking, such as lung cancer. Patients and caregivers may experience increased distress after a cancer diagnosis if their loved one continues to smoke, particularly if they are not smoking, due to worry and increased recognition of the health risks for both partners(19
). If a cancer patient does quit smoking, continued smoking by family members may undermine the patients’ quit attempts (20
) and cause contentious interactions among family members. In a qualitative study of lung cancer patients, most of whom quit smoking after their diagnosis, Bottorff and colleagues (21
) found that many relationships with smoking family members were characterized by frequent stressful interactions regarding smoking and coercive attempts to get the family member to stop smoking. These types of negative interpersonal encounters would be expected to undermine social support and increase distress, thereby diminishing dyad members’ QoL. Despite the plausible mechanisms connecting cancer caregiver-patient smoking and QoL, few prior studies have examined whether the smoking of one dyad member is related to the QoL of both caregivers and their care recipients diagnosed with cancer. This study sought to build on the prior research by utilizing a large sample of cancer patients and caregivers recruited from multiple sites across the country that included patients with a cancer strongly associated with smoking (lung cancer) and one not commonly associated with smoking (colorectal cancer).
The first aim of the present study was to characterize patterns of smoking among recently diagnosed lung and colorectal cancer patients and their family caregivers, Second, we sought to characterize the context of smoking among lung and colorectal cancer caregivers by examining the association between caregiver smoking and psychosocial adjustment. As prior research has indicated that high-level or more intense caregiving is associated with more smoking among caregivers (16
), we hypothesized that smoking caregivers would report greater perceived caregiving burden and greater depression and anxiety. Finally, we examined the concordance of smoking between caregivers and cancer patients and concomitant associations with mental and physical QoL for both cancer patients and caregivers. Based on prior research indicating stronger associations between caregiving strain and emotional, rather than physical QoL(22
), we hypothesized that dyad members with discordant smoking status (one member smoked while the other did not) would report poorer mental health, but no difference in physical QoL. | <urn:uuid:d425117c-fff4-4ad6-b20a-9710bc86caf5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/articles/PMC3035926/?lang=en-ca | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967787 | 996 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Vatican: Cardinals still to arrive in Rome
First in series of general congregation meetings ahead of conclave to start Monday
The cardinals who will elect the new pope following the historic resignation of Benedict XVI are continuing to make their way to Rome, the Vatican said Saturday, with some likely to arrive only Monday or Tuesday.
The first of a series of meetings known as general congregations takes place Monday morning -- and a priority for the cardinals attending will be setting a date for the special election, or conclave, held to pick the next pope.
The Vatican has said it's not sure whether a date will be agreed on as soon as Monday.
If cardinals are still arriving as the general congregations start, the timetable may be delayed.
The cardinals will also hold important discussions on the future direction of the Roman Catholic Church, which has been beset by scandal in recent years, and the kind of leader they want to see at the helm.
All the cardinals attend the general congregations, but only cardinals who are younger than 80 are eligible to vote for the new pope in the conclave. They are expected to number 115, the Vatican has said.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Saturday that 75 cardinals normally live in Rome and another 66 have arrived or are in the process of arriving, making 141 in total.
Most of the cardinals who live in Rome are retired and/or over the age of 80, and therefore are not entitled to vote for the new pope.
It's not clear how many of the cardinals now in Rome are among those who can vote.
The Sistine Chapel, where the cardinal-electors meet for the secretive conclave, is not yet being prepared for the process, Lombardi said.
Tourists and pilgrims are continuing to visit the Sistine Chapel -- famed for the ceiling painted by Michelangelo -- at the moment, Lombardi said.
Benedict resigned Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in six centuries, and will probably never be seen in public again.
Now known as pontiff emeritus, he will spend the next few weeks at the papal summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, before moving to a small monastery within the Vatican grounds.
He spent the first day of his retirement reading and praying, following a good night's sleep, Lombardi said Friday.
Copyright 2013 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:2a16c99b-8348-46a6-9e6e-da65ddc7f2d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcci.com/news/national/Vatican-Cardinals-still-to-arrive-in-Rome/-/9357144/19150454/-/view/print/-/1164pof/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963529 | 515 | 1.6875 | 2 |
National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR)
Health Economics Information Resources: A Self-Study Course
Module 2 - Sources and Characteristics of Information Relating to Health Care Financing in the US
The U.S. health care financing systemIn this section we will be looking at a snapshot of the current health care situation. We will ask whether the U.S. health care system is really a system and will investigate how the money is spent, what are the health outcomes and how individuals access the system.
In the U.S. health care is financed, or paid for, in a variety of ways. Individuals may pay directly for services received. Others may have health insurance coverage as a tax free benefit from their employment. Military personnel and their dependents, as well as veterans, are provided health care coverage through the federal government. Older Americans depend upon Medicare and low income mothers and children, as well as some disabled persons in the U.S., receive health care assistance through Medicaid. Children who might not otherwise receive medical attention may do so through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
From this brief description, however, one point is very clear. The health care financing system is not so much a system as it is a crazy-quilt of programs that, when pieced together, cover to some degree, the majority--but clearly not all—of the American people.
Because there is such a wide variety of public and private insurance programs in the US, there is also great opportunity for researchers to study the tradeoffs between key issues. Most notable are issues related to spending, outcomes, and access. | <urn:uuid:37e3b22a-f05b-4ea9-b33e-bc86f446e186> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/edu/healthecon/02_he_01.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957307 | 343 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Feast of Tabernacles
Forerunner, "Bible Study," August 1996
In these studies on the holy days, we have seen God's plan unfolding. The process of salvation, revealed in the spring festivals, culminates in the Feast of Trumpets, picturing Christ returning to earth in power to crush Satan's end-time attempt to subjugate the world. Saints from all ages will be resurrected, or if alive, changed to immortality. For the first time in history, man will be totally at one with his Creator! Satan will then be bound for a thousand years, and his evil, destructive influence will be totally cut off.
The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the ensuing Millennium when the whole earth will rest. In Hebrews 4, the writer discusses the Sabbath as a day of rest. He uses Israel entering the Promised Land as a type of our entering into rest when Christ returns. If the week typifies the length of God's plan, we are now living on "Friday," the sixth day, as almost 6,000 years—a thousand years as a day—have elapsed since Adam's creation. Christians should be busy preparing for Christ's return and His coming Sabbath rest.
Comment: Man is proud of his powerful computers, satellites, modern scientific labs and medical discoveries. In spite of this, he fights with nature and other men. Crime, drug abuse, sexual perversions and all sorts of other evils escalate. The deaf and blind go unhealed. Man pollutes his air, water and soil because he does not know how to manage a civilization. With all his technological advances, man cannot get along with his neighbor.
The earth being "full of the knowledge of the LORD" means far more than "everyone will go to the right church"! God's knowledge is vast; He knows how to make a civilization work—even a high-tech one! In the Millennium, man will be at peace. Nations, neighbors and even spouses will not fight. Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, blindness and deafness will be eradicated. Eyeglasses and braces will be found only in museums. The deserts will produce bountiful harvests. The animal kingdom will peacefully co-exist with humanity. All this will be the result of an unprecedented explosion of knowledge in how to do things right!
Comment: As King of kings, Christ will appoint His faithful followers as kings and priests over the earth. They will have abilities as God has today. If a person considers an action that would hurt himself or someone else, the glorified children of God will teach them to choose a better course. At that time, people "shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain" (Isaiah 11:9).
Comment: After Jesus Christ returns, the survivors of all the nations will be gathered, and He will appoint the resurrected saints to rule over them. If they initially rebel against His rule, He will cut off all rain until they submit and keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
4. How will their keeping of the Feast of Tabernacles show submission to God? Zechariah 14:16-19.
Comment: During the Millennium, people will be required to go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles to worship the King, Jesus Christ. The Feast will be their primary reminder of where they are in God's plan and when they must secure their salvation. If they fail to keep it, they will reveal their refusal to accept Christ as sovereign and to cooperate with Him in His purpose.
5. What occurs at the end of the Millennium? Revelation 20:7-10.
Comment: God will release Satan for a short time when the thousand years end. The people, familiar with Christ and His kings and priests, will have lived in unprecedented peace, happiness and prosperity. They will have learned and lived God's way from birth. Surely, Satan could have no influence on them!
Almost instantly, however, he will raise an army of people "as the sand of the sea" out of "the four corners of the earth"! His arguments will persuade them that they should and can destroy Christ and his throne in Jerusalem. God, however, will annihilate them all in a blinding flash of fire from heaven and cast the Devil into the Lake of Fire, never to be freed again!
Comment: This rebellion at the end of the Millennium is often overlooked in the joy of considering Christ's wonderful rule. Satan's influence is so powerful he can influence millions of people to follow him seemingly overnight. Having drawn away a third of the angels from God (Revelation 12:4; Isaiah 14:12-14) and overcome Adam and Eve, he has wielded almost total control over man.
His present power will be greatly magnified very shortly when he is cast down to earth to begin the Great Tribulation. He would deceive the very elect if it were possible (Matthew 24:24). It is no wonder Peter instructs us to be sober, to be vigilant, to resist Satan in faith that Christ might establish us in the end! | <urn:uuid:df31da7c-86fc-443b-ad4e-88e7fbf53783> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.truegospel.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/BS/k/432/Holy-Days-Feast-of-Tabernacles.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954566 | 1,037 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Research topics: We are interested in how macrophages kill, how killing is regulated and why killing is not always effective. A medical-biologic perspective guides an effort to understand inflammation and host defense at genetic and biochemical levels and to put key hypotheses to the test of experimental interventions in cell culture, mice and sometimes clinical trials. Work on cytokines, the respiratory burst and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) over 40 years has evolved into the current projects, which involve macrophage interactions with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), including the enzymes of Mtb that help the organism resist sterilization by the immune system.
Lab Organization: Each student and postdoc has her or his own project, but at the same time the emphasis is on sharing within an interdisciplinary group whose members enjoy teaching and learning from each other. Lab members bring expertise in immunology, biochemistry, chemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology and microbiology. Our lab shares space with Aihao Ding's lab and works next door to Sabine Ehrt's and near to Kyu Rhee's and Dirk Schnappinger's, collaborating extensively. Each week, these labs join for a combined lab meeting called "I3" for inflammation, infection and immunity. Trainees present formally bimonthly, informally triweekly, and even more informally to the individual lab heads almost daily. The labs also share a weekly journal club and participate in Departmental, Graduate School and Tri-Institutional activities.
Past contributions: This lab has helped to shape our basic understanding of innate immunity and host-pathogen interactions. Original contributions include: that macrophage activation can be brought about by soluble proteins released by host cells (cytokines); that there also exists a cytokine-mediated process of macrophage deactivation (including what is now sometimes called "alternative activation"); that interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) is the major macrophage activating factor; that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and interleukin 10 are major macrophage deactivating factors (observations later extended to lymphocyte deactivation involving T-regulatory cells); that tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a powerful transcription-independent secretagogue for neutrophils; that cell behavior in the immune system is often controlled by binary signals from adhesion receptors (such as integrins) and cytokine receptors; that two of the major antimicrobial and antitumor effector systems of the innate immune system are the production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) and reactive nitrogen intermediates (RNI), a line of research that included identification, purification, characterization, cloning and knockout of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS); and that pathogens and tumor cells express genes with previously unrecognized capacities to confer resistance to ROI and RNI, including, in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, genes encoding peroxynitrite reductase/peroxidase, the proteasome and the Uvr DNA repair pathway. Clinical studies included the demonstration that IFN-gamma activates macrophages in humans, which represented the first use of a cytokine to treat a non-viral infectious disease in man (leprosy). | <urn:uuid:cd8a6372-6120-4d3a-b46d-3f6c29fcce62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://weill.cornell.edu/research/researcher/cnathan/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934879 | 683 | 1.953125 | 2 |
CADIZ Larry Newman -- a nationally acclaimed educator with more than 40 years of teaching, program administration and therapeutic experience -- recently spoke at the Presbyterian Church of Cadiz about the Masonic Model of Student Assistance Program.
Newman also consults regularly for school districts, along with local and state education, health and welfare departments.
He was joined by Joe Brancoccio as the two spoke with local educators and law enforcement about learning to identify children who are "at risk" at many different levels.
THE?PRESBYTERIAN Church of Cadiz staged a Masonic Model of Student Assistance Program last week. Larry Newman and Joe Brancoccio are pictured speaking to the audience.
The Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Ohio provided the training costs, materials, meals and lodging, if necessary, for the three-day workshop.
It was an ideal opportunity for educators and school districts to enhance their awareness to assist at-risk kids and put together an intervention program for those children who have been identified.
The first day of training focused on what has become a hot-topic for educators the country over, bullying.
Other topics covered included: Family dynamics, life skills for K-12, enabling and codependency, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, team work and group dynamics.
Newman asked those in attendance to consider some of these statistics about one day in the life of American's children.
- 110 teenagers attempt suicide.
- 20 teenager kill themselves.
- 202 children are arrested for drug offenses.
- 340 children are arrested for drinking of drunken driving
- 1,225 teenagers drop out of school
- 1,234 children run away from home
- 5,700 teenagers are victims of violent crime
- 7,945 children are abused or neglected
The MMSAP is a response to negative behaviors that interfere with the success of children and their school communities according to its website.
It helps to create a safe learning environment by reducing violence, abuse, self-harming behavior and addiction.
It's stated that schools that have successfully utilized MMSAP have: Increased attendance, academics and graduation rates while decreasing behavior problems.
Palmer may be reached at email@example.com | <urn:uuid:9ac9d323-fa7d-4bd2-bea5-b38d12cf84f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesleaderonline.com/page/content.detail/id/541635/Model-student-program-staged.html?nav=5016 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948401 | 459 | 1.992188 | 2 |
offers poor choice
for more healthful, lower cost food
who want to adopt healthy lifestyles often are at a disadvantage if they
live in rural areas where stores offering nutritious foods at a lower
cost are few and far between.
A study by the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public
Health examined the "nutritional environment" of a rural county to
determine the number and types of food stores, the availability of
stores and the price of a specific list of staple foods representing the
main food groups.
Researchers selected Orangeburg County in South
Carolina for the study. The rural county, which covers 1,106 square
miles, has a population of more than 91,500 people, of whom 63 percent
"Stores offering more healthful and lower-cost food
selections were greatly outnumbered by convenience stores, which offered
fewer healthy foods," said Dr. Angela Liese, an associate professor at
the Arnold School and the study's lead author.
"Very little is known about the nutritional
environment of rural areas, but 20 percent of Americans live in rural
areas," she said. "Our findings underscore the challenges that rural
residents encounter when they want to adopt healthier lifestyles."
The study is one of the first in the nation to look at
store choices in rural areas. The results are published in the November
issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Of the 77 stores located in Orangeburg County at the
time of the 2004 study, only 16 percent were supermarkets, and 10
percent were grocery stores. The remaining 74 percent of the stores were
Supermarkets were defined as stores with more than $2
million in sales annually and usually belonged to large chains; grocery
stores were defined as stores having less than $2 million in annual
sales and were generally smaller than supermarkets.
The county had seven stores per 100 square miles and
eight stores per 10,000 residents. Healthy foods were abundant in the
supermarkets and grocery stores if available, were more expensive at the
Among the findings:
- Only 4 percent of convenience stores carried
- Only 28 percent of any of the stores sold any of
the fruits or vegetables listed on the survey - apples, cucumbers,
oranges and tomatoes.
- Only 2 percent of convenience stores carried
low-fat or skim milk;
- Eggs were available in 29 percent of convenience
stores, and none of these stores carried ground beef (lean or high
fat), chicken drumsticks or chicken breasts;
- 98 percent of convenience stores had off-street
parking and only 36 percent offered handicap parking;
- Food stamps were accepted by all the
supermarkets, 63 percent of the grocery stores and 2 percent of the
The Arnold School study follows a report that the Los
Angeles City Council, concerned about the possible link between obesity
and fast-food restaurants, was considering a moratorium on the building
of new restaurants in south Los Angeles while city planners looked at
ways of attracting businesses with a greater variety of food choices.
"We clearly are seeing a move in this country to
better understand how availability and costs of certain foods affect
people's choices," Liese said. "Knowing the nutritional environment of a
community may be important in how we help the people living there make
better choices for their health."
Although the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are
intended for all U.S residents, Liese said that people living in rural
areas are at a marked disadvantage in being able to meet these | <urn:uuid:131283bc-484c-4211-ad40-25f12fd38641> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sph.sc.edu/news/foodstudy.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950706 | 738 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Plane makes emergency landing in Blenheim
Wed, 09 Feb 2011 2:37p.m.
By Deanna Harris and Lloyd Burr
An Air Nelson plane made a dramatic landing at Blenheim Airport this afternoon after its front landing gear failed to deploy and lock into place.
Senior Sergeant Naera Parata of Blenheim Police says the plane, carrying 44 passengers, was enroute from Hamilton to Wellington when the pilot was alerted to problems with the undercarriage.
The Q300 aircraft was then diverted to Blenheim Airport at Woodbourne where it made several passes over the airfield so the undercarriage could be viewed.
It then became apparent the nose wheel had not deployed.
"At 2.45pm the pilot made a successful emergency landing without the nose wheel."
None of the passengers were injured in the incident
Hundreds of onlookers, who had gathered around the airport to watch the landing, clapped as the plane came to a halt.
Earlier, emergency services at Wellington Airport had been put on alert but were later stood down.
Last year, on September 30, the same aircraft type made an almost identical emergency landing in Blenheim when the Air Nelson Q300 plane experienced a nose wheel failure.
Luckily none of the 48 passengers or crew on board at the time were injured.
Air Nelson, a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, has 23 Q300s in their fleet and use the plane on regional routes throughout Air New Zealand’s domestic network.
The Q300 is built by the world’s third largest aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier, in Canada.
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9/02/2011 6:16:57 p.m.
Please tell your broadcast scriptwriters that an emergency landing is NOT a crash! The pilots did a wonderful job, and the plane would have suffered minimal damage. In June 2007 a Beech 1900D had a gear up landing at Blenheim.
9/02/2011 6:09:49 p.m.
Give the pilot a raise and or a promotion, he deserves it for a good job.If John and Bill make as good a job of piloting the country as this pilot did with his aircraft we will be home and hosed and laughing in a couple of years.
9/02/2011 3:11:01 p.m.
great landing as it was really blowing here. got good footage.
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Copyright © 2013 MediaWorks TV. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:8727d0b5-f632-4c94-a35f-a0e4de16c789> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.3news.co.nz/Plane-preparing-to-make-emergency-landing-in-Blenheim/tabid/423/articleID/197744/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97224 | 592 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Alchemy isn’t software for creating finished artwork, but rather a sketching environment that focuses on the absolute initial stage of the creation process. Intentionally reduced to a level of functionality there are no undo, no selecting, and no editing features. Interaction focuses instead on the output of a great number of good, bad, strange and beautiful shapes.
Alchemy is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. A download is available for Mac 10.5, 10.6, Linux and Windows
A quick demo showing how an Alchemy sketch can be used inside ZBrush. Using the Alchemy sketch as an alpha mask, flat shapes are explored in 3d for a helmet or mech head concept piece. al.chemy.org | <urn:uuid:1cd03134-ea54-4341-88b5-334203fb8fc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://conceptdesignworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/01/alchemy008betarelease.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905142 | 171 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz trying to watch military manoeuvres through binoculars with the lens caps still on. Mr Peretz was inspecting troops in the Golan Heights with the Israeli army’s new chief of staff, Gen Gabi Ashkenazi.
According to the photographer, Mr Peretz looked through the capped binoculars three times, nodding as Gen Ashkenazi explained what was in view.
Analysts say it is a new blow for the embattled defence minister.
Mr Peretz’s popularity has fallen in the wake of last year’s war against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
But one Israeli paper pointed out that he is not the first prominent official to make this mistake.
According to daily Yediot Ahronot, US President George W Bush and former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have both done the same thing.
Technorati Tags: Amir Peretz, Middle East, Israel, Palestine
An open letter by a group of Iranian academics, writers, and artists regarding the Tehran Conference on Holocaust Denial
Over the past year or so a number of official and unofficial public statements have been made in Iran denying the genocide of Jews during the Second World War. The culmination of this trend was the widely publicized, so called “International Holocaust Conference”, held in Tehran in December 2006. Given the serious moral and practical implications of this trend, we, a group of Iranian academics, intellectuals, writers and artists, find it imperative to take a public stance on this issue.
- Today, several decades after the end of the Second World War, testimonies of the survivors and researches carried out by numerous historians have unequivocally confirmed the Jewish genocide during the World War. Besides the genocide of the Jewish people, historians have also spoken of the mass murders of the gypsies, the Slav people, potential and actual opponents of the Nazi regime, the disabled, prisoners of war, and even in the closing days of the war, the incapacitated German soldiers. These crimes were committed widely and in various ways, including through firing squads, starvation, long hours of forced labour in concentration camps, and massacres in the gas chambers of extermination camps. The extensive material evidence, the confessions made in the Nuremberg trials and other trials that took place after the war and the testimonies of the survivors establish the veracity of the accounts beyond any doubt. Moreover, the voluminous anti-Semitic and racist literature left from the Nazis shed light on the roots of this inhuman hysteria. The accuracy of the accounts has been acknowledged by many academic, political and religious authorities including the Catholic Church. They have all condemned these crimes. On the other hand, there have always been a few individuals who have denied the genocide of the Jewish people or questioned its significance, through casting doubt on the number of people murdered or the manner in which they were put to death. The majority of the speakers in the recent conference held in Tehran were from amongst those few. This conference did not meet the requirements of an academic forum. The speakers in such a forum should be chosen by specialists of the topic on which they are to speak (in this case, historians). In an academic forum both sides of an argument should be invited in order to engage in a discussion. Only in an open discussion involving all sides of a debate one can hope to see the presentation of substantiated claims. In the absence of such academic standards, in the conference held in Tehran, mere unsubstantiated claims were put forward, mainly for propaganda purposes. Moreover, the proponents of these claims were invited to the conference without paying any attention to their background which in some cases was outright racism. The presence and the appalling speech presented by a former Ku Klux Klan leader, a group infamous for its involvement in hate crimes against the African Americans, was a result of this recklessness.
- In the history of mankind, there have been dark events that have treaded upon human values and broken basic moral principles in such a way that make them distinct from other comparable events. The scars left behind on the face of humanity by these events are irreversible and talking inconsiderately about them can only be described as rubbing salt into the wound and exacerbating the pain. This is in particular true of the crimes committed during the Second World War, some survivors of which are still among us. The sensitivity of the issue could be seen in the reaction shown by the people and the governments of the Eastern Asian countries against the stance of the current Japanese government in regard to senior military officers of the War. Those who perpetuate the discourse on Holocaust denial ignore the feelings of the people directly affected by this event. These people include, among others, a group of our Jewish fellow citizens in Iran.
- One of the main claims put forward in this conference was that the Holocaust, as a historical event, has been used as a tool to justify the policies of the state of Israel. This claim was expressed in particular by a group of Jewish religious scholars who according to their reading of the Holy Scriptures opposed the existence of the state of Israel. Such claims are at best unhelpful to the cause of Palestine. The creation of the state of Israel on the lands of Palestine has its own history. No matter what political position we adopt regarding the creation of Israel and its further expansion, the historical evidence for the Holocaust remains intact. The fact that since the inception of the state of Israel many crimes have been committed against the Palestinian population does not provide moral ground for the denial or undermining of the genocide of the Jewish people. Acknowledging the Holocaust does not lead to the disavowal of the rights of the Palestinians, nor does its denial or undermining strengthens the case in their favour. The Palestinians, like all other nations, have a right to enjoy their livelihood in their own independent state. This right has nothing to do with the denial or acknowledgement of the Holocaust. Claims such as those that were uttered in the conference held in Tehran, can only work to the detriment of the rightful cause of the Palestinians and the efforts of the proponents of peace in Israel.
- Forgotten amongst all the sensationalism in the Iranian media accompanying the conference, was the bitter reality that the undermining or denial of human suffering for the sake of making political points – whatever they might be – will inevitably lead to moral degeneration: a moral degeneration that makes any judgment on the wrongfulness of the murder of the innocent dependent upon its political reverberations; a moral degeneration where by questioning the number of the victims, it fails to realize that “whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind”.
We, the signatories of this letter, are of the opinion that such “conferences”, more than anything, harm the academic image of the Iranian universities. We believe that conferences like this do not help the cause of the Palestinian people and only provide pretexts for the warmongers in the region. We are of the opinion that holding a conference in Tehran in support of the denial of the Holocaust has perpetuated an immoral stance that seriously endangers the culture of peace and the peaceful cohabitation of human beings.
- Babak Ahmadi, Writer and Translator (Iran)
- Emad Baghi, Writer (Iran)
- Kaveh Bayat, Historian (Iran)
- Maziar Behrooz, History Department, SFSU (USA)
- Mansour Bonakdarian, University of Toronto, Mississauga (Canada)
- Rama Cont, Columbia University (USA)
- Khashayar Dayhimy, Writer and Translator (Iran)
- Kaveh Ehsani, University of Illinois at Chicago (USA)
- Farideh Farhi, University of Hawai’i at Manoa (USA)
- Laleh Ghadakpour, IRIP (Iran)
- Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, Syracuse University (USA)
- Ramin Karimian, Translator (Iran)
- Arang Keshavarzian, Connecticut College (USA)
- Azadeh Kian, University of Paris 8 (France)
- Morteza Mardiha, Writer (Iran)
- Ali Moazzami, Writer (Iran)
- Mohammad R. Moeini, UMass Amherst (USA)
- Mehran Mohajer, Photographer (Iran)
- Hassan Mortazavi, Translator (Iran)
- Mohammad Rezai-Rad, Translator (Iran)
- Kian Tajbakhsh, Researcher and Sociologist
- Mehran Tamaddon, Documentary Filmmaker (Iran)
- Farzin Vahdat, Vassar College, NY State (USA)
Technorati Tags: Middle East, Iran, Holocaust Denial
Now here’s an idea:
[H]ow to prevent the situation in Iraq from getting even worse, without putting hundreds more innocent mothers through the agonies of bereavement? Well, here is the chance for the hawks of 2003 either to atone for their sins, or to demonstrate that they still believe they were in the right. Every politician in the United Kingdom and the United States (and Australia and Spain and Poland and Thailand and Honduras and Tonga and every other country in the coalition) who voted for the war, and every journalist or other public figure who supported it, should be sent to Iraq immediately. As each neocon senator or hawkish hack emerges blinking onto the streets of Basra or Fallujah, a legitimate grunt or squaddie or Royal can be sent home. I’m particularly keen to see Melanie Phillips dressed as Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now.
I wonder how willing this lot would be to sign up?
Technorati Tags: Middle East, Iraq, US, UK, Melanie Phillips, Euston Manifesto | <urn:uuid:1f72ae67-2bdf-4d9e-9b00-7415aa2b7f06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factsontheground.co.uk/2007/02/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949909 | 2,012 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services is seeking volunteers to serve as victim advocates in the McDuffie County area.
Advocates should be able to respond to McDuffie Regional Medical Center within 30 minutes of being called when a sexual assault case presents at the hospital. Training will be provided.
Sexual violence is a crime motivated by control. It is a breach of trust and safety that occurs anytime a person is forced, coerced and/or manipulated into unwanted sexual activity. This can include rape, incest, child sexual abuse, acquaintance rape, statutory rape, marital or partner rape, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, exposure and voyeurism.
As the most underreported of all crimes, it is more widespread than most people recognize. One out of three women and one out of six men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes.
Rape and sexual abuse are often labeled "crimes of silence" because of low reporting rates and social discomfort with their public discussion.
About Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services
Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services has been providing victim advocacy for 35 years in the Augusta area, and is preparing to expand those services to McDuffie County and surrounding areas. The Office of the District Attorney, Toombs Judicial Circuit; McDuffie County Sheriff's Office and McDuffie Regional Medical Center are working in partnership with Rape Crisis to establish services. Working under the auspices of University Hospital, the mission of Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services is to provide crisis intervention, advocacy, counseling and prevention education to men, women, and children.
24-hour Crisis Line
Advocacy and crisis intervention
Information and referral
Counseling and support groups
Children's prevention programs
Promotion of survivor's rights to know and choose possible courses of action
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer victim advocate or would like more information, contact Dinah Gunn at (706) 774-2746 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:fb82e639-dd31-4290-891d-ee6a0bedefba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mirror.augusta.com/stories/2010/04/29/new_575156.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933792 | 401 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Common sense should tell you that an insulin spray like Oral-lyn is more fiction than science. If Oral-lyn was real, Big Pharma would have snatched up the technology a long time ago. Instead, Pfizer lost millions with an insulin bong, and Al Mann, billionaire healthcare entrepreneur and MannKind's founder, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money to build another inhalable insulin device. For that kind of money, Mann could have bought Generex several times over. He didn't.
Dr. Paul Robertson, a diabetes expert affiliated with the Pacific Northwest Research Institute in Seattle and the past president for medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association (ADA), is a skeptic because absorption of insulin through the lining of the mouth is too erratic and potentially dangerous.
"If a diabetes patient has a sore throat, for instance, the insulin will be absorbed faster than if the patient's throat is normal," he says. "Having a consistent and known rate of insulin absorption is very important because without knowing when to take insulin or how much, the patient runs the risk for hypoglycemia."
David Kliff, a diabetic himself who runs the well-respected Diabetic Investor newsletter, has followed Generex for years and is more succinct in his appraisal. "Generex is full of crap -- always."Oral-lyn is approved as an alternative to insulin injections in Ecuador, India, Lebanon and Algeria, claims Generex, although the company has not yet recognized revenue from the product. Perhaps Oral-lyn will start producing revenue for Generex when it's approved in Syria and Iraq? I'm not making this up, by the way. Generex is trying to get Oral-lyn approved in Iraq and actually touts Oral-lyn's approval in these other countries as proof that it works. A phase III study of Oral-lyn is enrolling patients at centers in the U.S. and Canada, although it looks like most of the patients hail from Eastern Europe. In two years, Generex has only been able to enroll about half of the study's planned 750 patients. Generex does claim to have an agreement with the FDA to allow Oral-lyn to be used by U.S. diabetes patients who can't tolerate insulin injections. Generex has never disclosed how many patients might fit under that definition.
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- Options TV | <urn:uuid:866c4f51-131f-4eaa-a086-8ab66ec2c7c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thestreet.com/story/10706508/2/biotech-stock-mailbag-generex.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927122 | 826 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Group Training Program
Opportunity Fitness Group training program has been designed in a way that clients of differing fitness levels can improve together. The group environment makes exercise more affordable. The smaller groups allow for a element of specificity to your needs.
The program contains 3 sessions per week. 2 of these sessions are at a park. One of the park sessions is focused more on body weight exercises and intervals the other session is focused on strength and movement work.
The focus of the entirety of the training program is to develop your health and fitness through 3 key principles. 1) improving movement and posture 2) improving cardiovascular fitness and 3) improving or maintaining muscle strength.
The variety and balance of this training program should see you loosing weight, decreasing neck and back pain, improving endurance and improving muscle strength. You will likely have far more energy throughout the day and a better life because of it.
1) Improved Movement and Posture
Our muscles constantly adapt to the environment we place them in. This includes the way in which we move them and the length at which we use them at. At opportunity fitness we don’t claim to be physiotherapists. But we have a good understanding of the workings of the human body. As a result exercises are chosen to improve your posture and prevent injuries. There are number of common conditions that develop due to our lifestyle. We aim to turn these around and get your body moving better. We typically see tightened chest muscles and rounded shoulder posture leading to neck pain. Also the muscles surrounding the hip and pelvis have poor length relationships causing lower back pain and movement problems. Poor core and lower body strength also lead to running injuries or knee pain. Improving these areas is a key component of our strength and conditioning circuits.
2) Improved Aerobic Capacity
Our aerobic capacity or what most would call cardiovascular fitness has a large correlation with our risk of death. Being aerobically fit can decrease, our blood pressure, the chances of getting heart disease, stroke and diabetes. It has also been shown to improve our memory and brain health. Exercises like running, swimming, cycling, skipping and boxing all increase our aerobic health. These type of exercises should be done 2 times per week. Along with a good circuit and stretching program
3) Improved Strength
Strength is an important component of our health. Depending on the individual, strength training might play a more or less pivotal role. As we age one of the main reasons for a decrease in our activity levels is due to a loss in our strength and movement ability. This is why leg, core, back and shoulder strengthening should be done through out our life. The older we get the more important it can become. Men 20-35 years of age can do large amounts of cardiovascular exercise and no strength training but for other population groups strength training becomes more relevant to your health.
If you’d like to try our program for a week for free click here to organise a session. Check out the pricing section for costs or view our online timetable | <urn:uuid:ee120554-931a-4555-a564-b01223948a22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.opportunityfitness.com.au/group_training_program | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942234 | 614 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Ford's Electric Cars Will Talk to the Power Grid, Pick Least Expensive Electricity Rates
Ford Launches New Charging SoftwareSmart recharging will be extremely important for electric cars and plug-in hybrids. It would be pretty disastrous if millions of plug-ins started recharging their batteries during peak demand, which is why auto makers are working on systems that would allow the cars to be programmed to not only charge when electricity is cheapest, but also to communicate directly with the power grid via smart meters.
Flexible ChargingFord says: "When plugged in, the battery systems of these specially equipped plug-in hybrids can communicate directly with the electrical grid via smart meters provided by utility companies through wireless networking. The owner uses the vehicle’s touch screen navigation interface and Ford Work Solutions in-dash computer to choose when the vehicle should recharge, for how long and at what utility rate."
This is important because studies show (including this one by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory) that if electric cars and plug-in hybrids are charged at night, when demand is much lower than at peak, very few new power plants (if any) will be required to meet that demand. It's additional demand during peak use that must be avoided.
But with truly smart recharging software, we could do even better than that: Ford's vehicle-to-grid program allows the driver to "to accept a charge only during off-peak hours between midnight and 6 a.m. when electricity rates are cheaper, or when the grid is using only renewable energy such as wind or solar power." So not only could you minimize your electricity costs by charging only when its least expensive, but you could also minimize your CO2 emissions (if you don't already get 100% of your electricity from green power, that is).
Real World TestingFord has a plug-in hybrid test fleet (21 modified Escape SUVs) that has logged about 75,000 miles over the past two years, and they will be equipped with this new charging software/hardware.
Real-world usage and laboratory research is helping to accelerate the advancement of electrified vehicles. Ford and its research partners are now focusing on ways to make the recharging process easy and efficient for consumers. In addition to low-cost recharging at home through the use of a smart meter, Ford researchers say recharging away from home – whether at work, in a shopping mall parking lot or at a curbside station – needs to be as simple as plugging in and swiping a credit card.
More Ford Articles
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Ford Invests $550 Million in Michigan Plant, Says Electric Focus is Coming
More Electric Cars & PHEVs
Tesla's New HQ and Powertrain Facilities Will be in Palo Alto
How to Make Electric Cars Cheaper? Use the Same Batteries!
More Smart Grid
Q&A; With PJM President & CEO Terry Boston | <urn:uuid:7033b1f5-d9de-4a1e-b175-8080c01e0c7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/fords-electric-cars-will-talk-to-the-power-grid-pick-least-expensive-electricity-rates.html?dcitc=th_rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940823 | 608 | 2.828125 | 3 |
The 4-H Cotton Boll and Consumer Jamboree is a district competition where 4-H’ers use their consumer judging skills and decision making skills to compete.
This contest is sponsored by the Georgia Cotton Commission. The contest emphasizes cotton but allows 4-H members to use their judging skills when they judge four classes of items, which include one class on clothing, one on a consumer item, one on a foods item and one on a consumer service.
At this year’s competition the class items were: jeans, movie rentals, fast food menus and watches. The 4-H’ers were given a situation on each class and they had to choose from the four items in each of the classes, which one was the preferred pick or buy.
The junior team members also had to prepare and present a poster along with a 30 second commercial promoting cotton.
The senior 4-H team members had to prepare and present a 2 minute speech on some aspect of cotton.
If you would like more information about Gordon County 4-H contact our office at 706-629-8685 or visit our web site at www.ugaextension.com/gordon. | <urn:uuid:7c28478b-c743-4be7-9cb9-42085ad1754c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://calhountimes.com/view/full_story/20984121/article-4-H-teams-compete-in-district-?instance=home_local_news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963876 | 242 | 1.828125 | 2 |
October 2, 2012 | 1
A new study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has estimated the energy embedded in the U.S. water system. Kelly Sanders, a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at UT Austin, compiled and allocated energy consumption for various water-related activities in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. The study, “Evaluating the energy consumed for water use in the United States”, appears in the September issue of Environmental Research Letters.
Based on Sanders’ analysis, a little over 46 quads of energy (one quad is a quadrillion BTUs) are related to water. This means energy is used in one way or another to create steam for power generation (or other processes like sterilization) or for heating, cooling, or pumping water directly. Of the 46 quads, a majority (34 quads) of water-related energy is consumed for power generation (burning fuel to create steam to turn turbines), while just over 12 quads is used directly to heat, chill, pump, treat water, or in direct steam processes. For perspective, the total primary energy consumption of the United States in 2010 was 98 quads.
The studies results can be summarized in the following diagram:
“Although we’ve been saying for years that there is a lot of energy embedded in water, we really didn’t have a number to back that up. We wanted to know whether “a lot” was 5% of annual energy use? 10%? 15%? As it turns out ~13% is a lot,” Kelly Sanders explained in an email.
The study also identifies an interesting policy issue: roughly 25% more energy is used to heat, cool, or pump water than is used for lighting (in the residential and commercial sectors) in the United States – about 5 quads. So why are more efficiency policies and technologies targeted towards lighting and not water conservation? Walk in to any Home Depot or Lowe’s and you’ll see displays advertising the benefits of more efficient lighting. IKEA is taking this a step farther; the Swedish retailer will only be selling LED light bulbs come 2016.
Looking for low flow showerheads, faucet aerators, and water heater timers? These exist, yet they are a harder to find, even though these have the benefit of reducing water consumption and energy consumption (less water to heat).
Part of the issue, I think, is water pricing. Water is insanely cheap (at least in the United States), and conservation efforts like low flow showerheads only reduce revenue for those who make money by selling water. Saving water might be a good thing practically, but a utility generally sees its job as selling more, not less, or its product (like water). At least for some electric utilities, energy efficiency measures can be rationalized in terms of avoided kilowatts – eventually summing up to an avoided (and costly) power plant. What is the corollary for a water utility? As long as there is water in the reservoir, why not sell as much as possible? And if water is cheap for the end user, why spend money on conservation efforts?
As nearly every indicator suggests, water resources are becoming more strained. NASA’s Earth Observatory (big fan!) points out decreasing groundwater storage and dryer than normal conditions across most the country. Half the state of Texas was on fire last year. Idaho is on fire this year. There are countless more examples.
Water efficiency policy (which is also energy efficiency policy) needs to catch up with the reality that water resources are limited and becoming harder to come by, and that a significant amount of energy is used for water.
You can read the full paper here. | <urn:uuid:db4f4334-0c6e-4cb6-9122-24be53c84794> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2012/10/02/ut-austin-over-12-percent-of-all-u-s-energy-consumption-is-directly-related-to-water/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954829 | 771 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Launched in December 2008, Scientology-cult was the first website where eye-witnesses to corrupt practices within the Church of Scientology spoke out as Scientologists to decry such abuses and protect people from harm. As such, it introduced several ground-breaking ideas including,
Although these ideas were already inherent in Scientology itself, false data and a relentless barrage of propaganda had prevented most Scientologists from seeing the way out. With the launch of Scientology-cult, a wave of prominent Scientologists embraced these ideals and started speaking out first on Scientology-cult and later on Marty Rathbun's blog (which copied the pattern of Scientology-cult). And soon the Independent Movement was born. This new breed of Independent Scientologists not only wanted others to have the same wins and gains, but now they were doing something to prevent others from having the same loses and injury—two sides to the same coin.
Thanks to Scientology-cult, the crimes, corruption and abuses that stemmed primarily from the direct actions and orders of David Miscavige were understood to reflect his own harmful intentions and not the philosophy. For the first time it became clear that "Scientology" did not equal the "Church of Scientology."
Visited, studied and contributed to by hundreds of thousands with millions of hits, this dominant whistle-blowing website is itself an application of Scientology. It was designed to be a "multiple viewpoint system" to enable government officials, law enforcement and the media to get an accurate understanding of what the Church has been doing and who is behind it, by seeing the situation through the eyes of those on the ground. The multiple viewpoint system LRH Management Tech that he developed to run orgs but was subsequently abandoned by David Miscavgie.
The website was also designed to be a platform for running out the group engram of the destruction of the CoS by David Miscavige and his supporters by exposing what really happened and letting people talk about it. Its articles are the result of individuals looking at the Church and saying "it is a"—a therapeutic action called "itsa." Although the crimes revealed are ugly, the purpose is not to serve as the dramatization of victims, but the effort to protect the innocent, now and in the future.
Scientology-cult was named using what was at the time, the #2 most popular search phrase on the subject: "scientology cult." A cult is, of course, a criminal enterprise that operates as a religion.
The website contains more than 450 articles, videos and "knowledge reports" from reliable eye-witnesses to DM criminality. Here too is the popular Indie 500 list, designed to break the back of political disconnection used by the Church of Scientology to silence whistle blowers and stifle the exposure of crimes and abuse. In just 4 short years the site climbed to dominance and is generally within the top 20 websites (out of millions of search results) for "scientology," "david miscavige," "scientology cult," and many more.
Mike Rinder's Blog
The Church of David Miscavige is, under the guise of providing “freedom”, “happiness” and “human rights” doing precisely the opposite. That the Church of Scientology today is practicing “Reverse Scientology” and through threats, squirrel technology and an unwavering dedication to materialism it is not merely failing to free people, it is trapping them in a prison of lies, dogma and “command intention” enforced by threats of disconnection and the fear of entrapment in life's dwindling spiral.
The church of Scientology fosters a culture of lies. To the media it claims there is no enforced disconnection, there are 10 million members, there is no culture of violence, the success of the “Ideal Org” campaign and massive “expansion,” and that all reports of human rights abuses are lies generated by a “handful of bitter defrocked apostates.” Miscavige himself lies to Scientology staff and public at his international events, proclaiming year after year massive expansion all over the world that is not evident anywhere. His “Ideal Orgs” are failing, unable to pay their bills as the footsteps of the few staff echo in their empty halls. His “technical breakthroughs” are uniformly squirrel.
Mike has friends and family stuck in the trap, still hoodwinked by the lies yet scared to speak up or walk away. Unwilling to defy the thought police, they abandon friends and family for fear of incurring the wrath of the all-powerful church. The purpose of his blog is to,
RediscoverScientology features selected articles from Scientology-cult.com and Marty's blog as an introduction to CoS criminality for people already in the Church. Scientologists can start here and graduate to Scientology-cult or Moving On Up a Little Higher for the full-blown facts.
It is the little sister of Scientology-cult for Scientologists who still have an ingrained aversion to the word “cult.” For the record, the only reason the Church is a cult today is because David Miscavige made it into a cult for financial gain.
Site owner Steve Hall was the creative force and writer behind two decades of some of Scientology's best marketing campaigns.
Free and Able
Free and Able is a solution to economic warfare waged by David Miscavige against ex members of the Church of Scientology. If David Miscavige orders his lynch mob to string someone up, we can cut that economic noose by forming ourselves into a professional network of free and able individuals, helping each other to flourish and prosper. The website is based on a principle from an LRH lecture (paraphrased here), "All I ask is this: as you move up in Scientology, remember to take Scientology with you." We can take each other up.
Scientologists inside the CoS would envy the social and professional community we have in Independent Scientology. Real friends, genuine understanding, good communication, no financial stress, no connection to toxic groups, no "police" to censor your freedoms, and no body snatchers to recruit your kids only to have them disconnect from you. Here Independent Scientologists can advertise their services, products, skills or businesses to other Indies 100% FREE of charge. Here too anyone can find an auditor, Independent Scientology training center.
Site owner Steve Hall was the creative force and writer behind two decades of some of Scientology's best marketing campaigns. The Free and Able was suggested by a friend based on an article on Scientology-cult about Independent Scientologists, "We use Scientology and operate on LRH principles while remaining totally independent, free and able."
Friends of LRH
Created anonymously, friendsoflrh.org states that it was created by some of the most highly-trained auditors and case supervisors in the world. Their stated purpose is the preservation of Scientology and their website is excellent. Launched in early 2009 the site was threatened by the Office of Special Affairs and ordered to shut down and turn over ALL records to the church — documents, logs, data entry sheets, applications, registration forms, billings statements or invoices, computer print-outs, disks, hard drives, etc. They did shut down while consulting a legal team and in the end discovered the site was utterly defensible.
And so they came roaring back.
SaveScientology, another website created anonymously, claims to be created by a group of successful professionals who are highly trained in Scientology (ethics, tech and admin), OT, and who have made substantial contributions to the Church over the decades.
Its mission is to inform the Scientology community of the systematic destruction of all checks and balances put in place by LRH when he established the corporate and governing structure of Scientology organizations, and thereby to expose important vulnerabilities that can be exploited to depose Scientology's dictator and set things right.
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Rediscover hundreds of old friends and new on facebook. | <urn:uuid:937f3076-a17c-46b6-bbbb-7a258e24e90e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iscientology.org/links | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956093 | 1,830 | 1.609375 | 2 |
CrossLoop 2.82 Ranking & Summary
CrossLoop 2.82 description
Your friend needs help with a problem he has on his computer but you are not next to him to explain how to solve it? Now it’s simple! With CrossLoop, you will now be able to see their PC screen and control the keyboard and mouse. It is a free software product that helps you to have access on your friend’s, relative’s or colleague’s computer from any corner of the world. It is a web based secure remote support software allowing screen sharing. Now let’s take a look and find out more about this useful tool in this quick article.
In a nutshell, CrossLoop allows you to have access on other users’ computers. But this is not before he gives you the permission to access his system. The installation is simple. You must first download the setup. After you download it, a main window will appear in which you will select run. Once you launch the program, a registration page will appear. You will be allowed to skip the option. Before you start the program, an access code will be required. It doesn’t feature adware/malware or other programs bundled with it.
The interface of CrossLoop is very easy to use and simple. You will need an access name and a code. On the main window of the software, two tabs will appear. You will either access your page by selecting Join tab or share your access code with a friend allowing him to control your computer by selecting the Host tab. Both you and your friend will need to have CrossLoop installed to control each other’s PC. The interface is simple and can be used by beginners too.
Now, it is easy to give help or be helped by someone even if you are in two different locations. Everybody will be able to connect with each other from anywhere on the Internet. It will not be necessary to change the firewall or router settings. After you finish the setup, no signup will be required. Before you have access on another computer, you will first have to get permission from that person to control his PC. You will then have the possibility to control it by seeing his screen and being able to use the mouse and keyboard. You will now collaborate with your friends, colleagues, relatives or anyone in the world. You don’t have to worry about your privacy because CrossLoop takes care of this matter as it implements a high level of security.
I didn’t found any cons for this program. Perhaps a personal observation is that more skins would be welcomed in a future version of the program.
Some alternatives to CrossLoop include the following remote utilities: TeamViewer, LogMeIn, Windows Remote Desktop Connection, Windows Live Mesh, Ultra VNC, Imo instant messenger.
All in all, CrossLoop is a pretty easy to use and neat piece of software. It allows you to have access on another user’s computer and share your desktop screen with a remote computer. You can now collaborate with anyone you want in the world without any barriers. Quick and easy! Be sure that you check it out!
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Please contact us for consideration. | <urn:uuid:0b827d57-9780-4324-ac36-bd3da0abe1ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wareseeker.com/Network-Internet/crossloop-2.82.zip/8028a85a2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933848 | 696 | 1.578125 | 2 |
On the Death of Pope John Paul II
by Michael D. O'Brien
Of the myriad phenomenal gifts which God gave (and will continue to give) to the Church and the world through John Paul II, one in particular stands out for me as especially significant for our times. He was a living icon of holy fatherhood. In this great apostle, priest, teacher, and chief shepherd of the flock of the Lord, we experienced an image of Christ's love, and of God the Father as revealed in Christ Jesus. John Paul II embodied all that was best in human nature, irradiated with grace. An ardent priest, a philosopher, an artist, a sportsman, a man of sacrifice, a man of tender heart and nerves of steel, of wit and laughter and tears, he expressed the essential nature of what it is to be a fully-alive Christian—to be a person in whom Truth and Love are integrated. His qualities seem inexhaustible, his sanctity unquestionable, the legacy of his pontificate so rich that it will be centuries before we absorb it completely, if we ever do. The effects of this extraordinary generosity on the part of Heaven have already begun, yet there is more to come, perhaps centuries more, during which the light he brought to us "from above" will increase and not fade in memory.
A beloved father to us all, his passing into eternity has gripped the entire world as no other pope's death has done until now. It is a "death in the family," but in the sense of the family of mankind. We knew that he loved us; he fed us so well and protected us magnificently, yet he always challenged us to grow. He was a sign of contradiction from his earliest years, and during his time in the Chair of Peter he lived out this mystery to completion, moment by moment, day by day, for close to three decades, often with great personal suffering. We grieved when he died, yet this grief was mingled with a mysterious joy—the joy that he was Home at last, and that in Christ he has gone ahead to prepare a place for us.
As we all know, the man who will be the new Holy Father will have "very big shoes to fill." Yet, in the vast and mysterious plans of the Holy Spirit, it is probable that another great apostle will be given to us, for the times are gravely ill. As St. Paul says, "Where evil abounds, there grace also abounds." We don’t need to worry about the size of the feet that must fit into the shoes. We must pray earnestly for the man soon to be elected, of course, but there is nothing to fear. It is certain that the new pope will not
be big enough for those shoes, for the shoes are always
too big for any man to fill, and popes, generally, are the first to know this. John Paul II felt it on the day of his election, and it surely must have been a constant awareness for him. In this awareness, a genuinely apostolic pope opens his heart to Christ still further, so that Christ himself will fill the shoes.
My sense is that our next pontiff will feed the flock of the Lord amidst many tribulations, and that he will do so as popes must always do, by allowing grace to build upon his own unique personality and gifts. He will not be like John Paul in terms of public persona, but he will be very much like him in the order of grace, that is, he will be Petrus
, he will be our father in faith, the rock upon which the Church is built. He too will ask us to grow. He too will be a sign of contradiction to the spirit of the world, and to those voices within the Church that advocate a compromise with the world.
There can be no doubt that the configuration of world events have changed for the better in some major aspects under the hand of John Paul II, yet the war between good and evil will last until the end of time. As John Paul warned us so often, we must not assume that because the more brutal forms of Marxism have fallen, mankind will now right itself and a new world order of peace and prosperity will begin. He repeatedly told us that this was not so, and emphasized that the nature of the war had merely changed. He was particularly urgent about our tendency to misread situations by surface appearances. He taught us again and again that Materialism is far from dead and that it threatens in the long run to bring about a far more comprehensive destruction of souls than the destruction brought about under overt totalitarian regimes. This is the situation which the new pope will face.
But he will also inherit a generation of young people who were born and raised in the pontificate of John Paul II. He will inherit a dynamically orthodox Church growing in Africa and Asia. In the underground Church in China, for example, despite the ongoing persecution of Christians in that country, there are probably more true disciples of Christ than in all of Western Europe and North America combined (The Communist Party of China admits that there are between 80 and 100 million underground believers, all of whom at any moment may be forced to pay a terrible price for their beliefs.) He also will inherit a complex reconfiguration of what was once called Christendom. The waning of Christian influence in the governments of the West is a symptom of top-down social revolutions that are abusing democratic procedures to undermine democracy, and doing it in the name of democracy. The list of other geopolitical problems goes on and on. In each and every one of them, ranging from the last vestiges of Stalinism to the new globalist Capitalism (I mean by this a form of capitalism without conscience), the new Holy Father will need extraordinary wisdom and holiness. He will be called to speak the truth fearlessly, prophetically. Indeed, he may be called by God to live out the fullest dimensions of Simeon's prophecy, not only as a sign of contradiction to those forces and social philosophies in the modern world that would negate the whole truth about Man, but as a sign that will be rejected.
After a period of worldwide mourning (and surprisingly respectful media coverage) the dissemblers have recommenced their efforts to undo what John Paul II began, and to make it more difficult for the next Pope to continue the work of the Petrine charism. In societies where truth has become no more than a negotiable "value," where good is often called evil and evil called good, those who live and teach truth will continue to suffer much malice from those who do not know what they are really doing. The contempt which some “enlightened” media commentators heaped upon John Paul II during his lifetime, and now upon his memory (more or less mute for a week), is a symptom of hearts grown weary and cold, unable to believe in genuine fatherhood. At root it's a cry of pain from the fatherless who do not yet know themselves, a sad adolescent reaction, understandable within the context of the culture of death, but its time is nearing an end. The voice of malice will eventually fall silent because it is loveless and sterile. The memory of John Paul II will remain as a vibrant sign of love, fruitfulness, hope. His successor will continue to build the civilization of love, though he may have much to suffer until the culture of death has run its course. Regardless of his apparent victories or defeats, we will stand with him, for where Peter is, there the Church is, and where the Church is, there Jesus is.
+ + +
Michael D. O'Brien
April 12, 2005 | <urn:uuid:3d814ef5-8369-4009-ae7a-4fbc07c3529b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.studiobrien.com/reflections/on-the-death-of-john-paul-ii.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972172 | 1,573 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Your child may have chemotherapy or radiation therapy to get him ready for his BMT. The kind of therapy your child needs depends on his disease and health. Your child will start his therapies about seven to 10 days before his BMT.
Your child will have this therapy, even if he does not have cancer, because it:
- Stops your child’s bone marrow cells from fighting the new blood and bone marrow
- Kills any cancer cells, if your child has cancer
Side effects of chemotherapy include:
- Nausea or vomiting
- Loss of hair
- Mouth sores
- Poor appetite and diarrhea
Your child may need radiation therapy before his BMT to help kill any cancer cells and help his body accept the graft. This therapy uses strong X-rays aimed at your child once or twice a day for 10 to 15 minutes.
Side effects of radiation therapy include:
- Red skin, like a sunburn
- Sensitive skin to perfumes, soaps and deodorants
- Nausea and diarrhea
- Dry mouth | <urn:uuid:fbc57558-c569-4822-9a2a-3054b32ba7c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.choa.org/Childrens-Hospital-Services/Cancer-and-Blood-Disorders/Programs/Blood-and-Marrow-Transplantation/BMT-Process/Before-Transplant | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953362 | 218 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Stanley Baldwin was the first Conservative to employ the term “one nation” in a speech on December 4, 1924
Sir, As your correspondent rightly observes (letter, Oct 4), Disraeli never used the phrase “one nation”. But he famously deplored the existence of two nations, the rich and the poor, in his novel Sybil, published in 1845 (report, Oct 3). And 30 years later he introduced a few measures to improve the condition of the poor.
His great speech in Manchester 140 years ago, on which Ed Miliband lavished praise, was a brilliant defence of Britain’s historic constitution, cast in traditional Tory terms.
“The programme of the Conservative Party”, he declared, “is to maintain the constitution of the country”. He | <urn:uuid:166702e5-c275-4c7d-8c57-ddd765e68fb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/letters/article3558785.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938443 | 168 | 2.78125 | 3 |
(NEW YORK) -- After ABC News' “Real Money” piece last week on saving thousands on prescription drugs, many of ABC News' viewers inquired about how easy it was to use the money-saving apps suggested by expert Michelle Katz.
So, Katz, a health care advocate, joined up with the ABC News team again and Doug Hirsch, the CEO of the popular app GoodRx.
Here’s how the app works: Type in the drug and your location and the app will look for coupons as well as the best price for the drug in your area. Download the coupons to your smartphone or print them out from the GoodRx website.
GoodRx.com also provides the pharmacy’s number and gives directions to get there.
Using the GoodRx app, the “Real Money” team found that in the Santa Monica area, where California retiree Lynda Bezdek lives, prices ranged from nearly $15 to almost $150 for a 30-day supply of 40 mg of the generic brand of Lipitor.
“It’s shocking,” Bezdek said.
The “Real Money” team learned that medication prices depended on numerous variables, such as a pharmacy’s contract with each drug supplier, discounts and coupons.
Although the Food and Drug Administration monitors the products, Hirsch said the agency does not regulate price, so consumers have to pay whatever the pharmacy charges — at times a 20 percent to 80 percent price difference for the same drug.
Thanks to GoodRx, though, Bezdek was able to cut her prescription bills in half, saving $2,280 on her medication.
“I am not tech savvy and I think this [the app] is very easy to use,” she said. “That’s real money.”
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio | <urn:uuid:bbc5a9d7-2a6b-4d11-9e42-8eacb5f8261f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.670kboi.com/common/more.php?m=58&ts=1369486489&article=36439D4185E511E286DEFEFDADE6840A&mode=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941728 | 395 | 1.554688 | 2 |
May 10, 2010 -- People with diabetes who eat plenty of bran-rich whole grains appear to have a reduced risk of death from heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular causes, a new study shows.
Researchers from Harvard University followed almost 8,000 nurses with type 2 diabetes for almost three decades.
They found that women who ate the most bran had a 35% lower risk of death from heart disease and a 28% lower risk of death from all causes than women who ate the least.
Compared to people without diabetes, diabetic people have two to three times the risk of heart disease and early death.
The new research suggests eating a balanced diet that includes complex carbohydrates in the form of whole grains can help lower this risk, American Heart Association spokesman Robert Eckel, MD, tells WebMD.
Eckel is a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado in Denver.
"Many diabetics still believe they should limit carbohydrates, including complex carbohydrates," he says. "Certainly refined grains and simple sugars raise blood sugar and should be limited. But it looks like eating whole grains is not only safe, but beneficial."
An unrefined grain of wheat, rice, oat, corn, or any other cereal contains three parts: the tough outer bran layer, the middle endosperm, and the inner kernel or germ.
The fiber in grain is found in the bran, while bran and germ contain most of its vitamins and minerals.
Refined grain products, such as white flour and white rice, contain only the starchy endosperm. B vitamins and iron, but not fiber, are usually added back after processing.
In the newly published investigation, researchers examined data from the ongoing Nurses Health Study, which is one of the largest and most detailed studies of women's health in the United States.
Every two years, the study participants were asked to complete questionnaires examining their health and lifestyles, which included detailed information about the foods they ate.
A total of 7,822 women diagnosed with type 2 diabetes aged 30 or older were included in the latest analysis, which appears in this week's issue of the journal Circulation.
During up to 26 years of follow-up, 852 women died, including 295 who died as a result of heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular causes.
Using the food questionnaires, the researchers were able to estimate the women's daily consumption of whole grains, bran, germ, and fiber.
Women who ate the most bran ate more than 10 times as much each day as women who ate the least (9.73 grams vs. 0.8 grams).
After considering other cardiovascular risk factors, bran consumption was strongly associated with a reduced risk of death from heart attack and stroke, study researcher Lu Qi, MD, PhD, tells WebMD.
He says whole grains, especially fiber- and vitamin-rich bran, may protect the heart by reducing inflammation in the body.
Although the study included only women, Qi says the benefits of eating whole grains probably extend to men with diabetes. The Harvard researchers are conducting a similar study in men in hopes of confirming this.
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Your level is currently
If the level is below 70 and you are experiencing symptoms such as shaking, sweating or difficulty thinking, you will need to raise the number immediately. A quick solution is to eat a few pieces of hard candy or 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey. Recheck your numbers again in 15 minutes to see if the number has gone up. If not, repeat the steps above or call your doctor.
People who experience hypoglycemia several times in a week should call their health care provider. It's important to monitor your levels each day so you can make sure your numbers are within the range. If you are pregnant always consult with your health care provider.
Congratulations on taking steps to manage your health.
However, it's important to continue to track your numbers so that you can make lifestyle changes if needed. If you are pregnant always consult with your physician.
Your level is high if this reading was taken before eating. Aim for 70-130 before meals and less than 180 two hours after meals.
Even if your number is high, it's not too late for you to take control of your health and lower your blood sugar.
One of the first steps is to monitor your levels each day. If you are pregnant always consult with your physician.
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You'll find tips and tricks as well as the latest news and research on Diabetes.
Did You Know Your Lifestyle Choices
Affect Your Blood Sugar?
Use the Blood Glucose Tracker to monitor
how well you manage your blood sugar over time. | <urn:uuid:b6e5ae97-f295-48b5-bcbb-30684a20dbdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20100510/bran-reduces-heartdisease-deaths?src=rsf_full-news_pub_none_rltd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953933 | 986 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Tracking Seattle's Olmsted past and other garden news
Also, beginning this year, scientists are allowed to name plants in English, freeing us from the tyranny of tongue-twisting trinomials, says Natural Garden columnist Valerie Easton.
Local news partner - Plant Talk
Valerie Easton writes in her blog about gardens and the people who make them.
Our Olmsted history
finds a home
Seattle is rich in parks, private gardens and boulevards designed by the influential Olmsted Brothers firm responsible for New York's Central Park, among other iconic landscapes. Now the National Association of Olmsted Parks has received funding for an interactive, online database cataloging the Olmsted heritage here in the Northwest, with the hope it'll serve as a pilot project for the entire country.
Information on Washington's Olmsted landscapes (there are more than 220 of them) has been hard to track down, available only from the Library of Congress or the Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, Mass. Funded by $230,000 from the Washington Department of Transportation, Olmsted Online will make correspondence, drawings, maps and photos available to all.
It's hoped that this knowledge will inspire preservation of our own treasures, such as Seward and Volunteer parks, and landscapes open to the public like the Dunn Gardens, the University of Washington campus and the state Capitol grounds in Olympia. Project manager Linda Keenan would love to hear from people with letters, stories, documents and photos about Olmsted landscapes, at firstname.lastname@example.org. Olmsted Online is just getting under way; the plan is to go live by January 2013.
Botanical Latin headed
Ever since the Renaissance, botanists and taxonomists have used Latin to describe plants and differentiate global flora. But the International Botanical Congress in Melbourne, Australia, voted to relax the rules.
Starting this year, scientists are allowed to name plants in English, freeing us from the tyranny of tongue-twisting trinomials. Not only can scientists skip the Latin names even in scientific papers, they can publish electronically in an attempt to speed up the process of getting newly discovered plant species on record.
flowers for all
Last May saw the launch of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, our first-ever, fresh-from-the-farm flower market. Based on the Portland model, it was a big success from day one.
Now the market is open to all of us on Fridays. For the first time, we can choose from the dazzling variety of flowers, greens, pods, cones and branches ourselves. The public is welcome to shop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (with a $5 day pass) or just stop by to stroll the aisles and meet your local flower farmers. The market is in a historic Georgetown building at 5840 Airport Way S., Suite 201. For fresh sheets and farmers' bios, see www.seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com.
A food forest beckons
Seattle is making national news with plans for a unique community food garden. The concept came from a permaculture project, with the idea of mimicking a natural woodland ecosystem using perennial and self-sustaining edibles.
Friends of the Food Forest hope to plant seven acres supplied by Seattle Public Utilities adjacent to Jefferson Park on Beacon Hill. From strawberries and vegetables to chestnut, apple and pear trees, every plant will be edible. It's hoped that the neighborhood will forage for berries, plums and grapes, and perhaps tend individual plots in the forest.
Will the Beacon Hill community be able to manage a complex, living landscape for the good of all? The answer will determine if other projects go forward here and around the country.
Beacon Food Forest will start with a 2-acre trial plot; the rest will be planted if all goes well. For more, see http://beaconfoodforest.weebly.com/.
Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "petal & twig." Check out her blog at www.valeaston.com. | <urn:uuid:78b6cc96-ae70-4e95-a442-28c58f1bf851> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2018425863_pacificpgardener24.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919695 | 858 | 2.265625 | 2 |
On Tuesday, March 8, I will debate Dario Ringach, Professor of Neurobiology and Psychology, Jules Stein Eye Institute, Biomedical Engineering Program, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles.
The Use of Nonhuman Animals in Biomedical Research: A Moral Justification?
Professor Ringach will argue that we are justified in using animals in experiments; I will argue that we cannot justify animal use in this or in any other context.
The debate will take place in the Baker Trial Courtroom at Rutgers University School of Law, 123 Washington Street, Newark, New Jersey, from 6-8 p.m. Vegan refreshments will be served following the debate, which will be videotaped and made available here and on Professor Ringach’s site.
The debate will be sponsored by the Student Bar Association, the American Constitutional Society, and the Federalist Society. The debate will be moderated by John J. Farmer, Jr., Dean and Professor of Law at Rutgers University School of Law-Newark. Dean Farmer served as Attorney General of the State of New Jersey and as General Counsel of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (commonly known as the 9/11 Commission).
The debate will have the following format:
Professor Ringach will present a 20 minute opening statement focusing on the benefits of animal research and the moral justification for the practice. I will respond with a 20 minute statement that question the practical efficacy of vivisection but focuses primarily on the moral arguments.
We will each have a 5-minute rebuttal.
Professor Ringach and I will then have a question/answer session with each other with his asking me a question, my getting three minutes to reply; his getting 3 minutes to respond and my getting 1 minute for a sur-reply. There will be 4 of these exchanges, which will take approximately 30 minutes.
There will be a 40 minute Q&A with the audience. The event will last a total of approximately 2 hours.
All members of the Rutgers University Community are invited to attend, as are members of the public, but seating will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Professor Ringach and I disagree strongly with each other on this topic and I am confident that we will have a rigorous, provocative, but courteous and civil debate about a subject that is of increasing interest to the public and to educational institutions alike.
If you are not vegan, go vegan. It’s easy; it’s better for your health and for the planet. But, most important, it’s the morally right thing to do. You will never do anything else in your life as easy and satisfying.
The World is Vegan! If you want it.
Gary L. Francione
©2011 Gary L. Francione | <urn:uuid:f119ee8d-eed1-4684-aeff-14bf58be48a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/2011/02/ | 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 | 0.936677 | 584 | 1.53125 | 2 |
|Allah our Guide||Book researched and written in Holy Makkah by Dr Imran Khan Walnut California|
Humans are a complex creation. Not only have a brain which can hold more information then any computer in the world, the human brain can retrieve the stored information faster then any computer can.
The human computer can run, swim, climb mountains, survive in the hottest deserts, in the most humid rain forests dive in the sea, while a computer cannot do this.
The human computer can feel heat, cold, see and keep photographic details, smell and remember the event associated with the smell. Hear and remember the voice of the person.
The human computer can sense a problem before it happens, this is called psychic phenomena and each one of us has this. No man made computer can ever do this.
The human computer have a voice and tone control, it can become angry, show love, become emotional and cry, show sympathy and give advice or money while a man made computer cannot do this.
A human computer does not need to be connected to electricity or power source , its is self powered unit, working on sugars taken from food.
You never need a IT department to fix your computer, it repairs itself every night. So who could have built such a beautiful unit which is so small that it fits in the human skull. Yet it can see, hear, smell, feel, sense, have special senses and phenomenon to put a hex on others called evil eye. The One that built this brain is Allah.
Humans have only dissected a dead human body, medical science has never been able to explain evil eye its symptoms and how to fix a disease caused by evil eye. This is what this book is about.
This book a explains symptoms of evil eye how to improve your computer and feed it properly and maintain this unit.
A human PC has several other features not known by medical sciences. Like remote viewing, telepathy sending messages to any other human remotely.
Humans have a sprite, even after death the human body emits unique frequency. After reviving several dead people it has been found that they could still hear.
Humans have a sprite , a guardian angle and a Satan interconnected to their computer.
All healing is provided by God. This is what you will find addressed in this book ageing | <urn:uuid:9fc95769-8fde-4ebe-9bba-3a70cdba0aa8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cidpusa.org/quran.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957391 | 475 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Public Relations & Marketing
News and Events
SWOSU Students and Faculty Participate in Oklahoma BioBlitz
October 11, 2007
The SWOSU Department of Biological Sciences recently participated in the 7th annual Oklahoma BioBlitz, which was held at the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge near Lawton.
The Oklahoma BioBlitz is a rapid inventory of biological diversity hosted by the Oklahoma Biological Survey and conducted by volunteers from around the state and the region. As many plants and animals in a designated area of public land that can be identified in 24 consecutive hours are tallied. A total of 1,008 species were collected, according to SWOSU Department of Biological Sciences Chair Dr. Peter Grant.
Bioblitz has two main goals. The first goal—education—aims to inform people about the diversity of plant and animal life in a local area through hands-on experiences and nature interpretation. Grant said this was achieved by displaying many of the organisms collected by the biologists and holding special classes for elementary school students.
“Individuals who visited BioBlitz could actually collect some of the specimens counted in the survey,” Grant said. “This is how many of the insect specimens were obtained.”
The second component is scientific. The biologists who were involved in BioBlitz are specialists in their field. The specimens collected provide valuable information about distribution and abundance of these organisms, which can be used in the scientists’ research.
BioBlitz was invented in 1996 by scientists from the National Parks Service and inaugurated in Washington, D.C., by scientists from the National Park Service, the National Botanical Garden, and the Smithsonian Institution. BioBlitz of varying types have since been conducted in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, North Carolina, North Dakota and other states.
A total of 11 individuals were involved from SWOSU. Student volunteers included Mbarga Bodo, Nick Grant, Danielle Gross, Mandy Hayes, Melissa Johnson, Brittney Nix and David Supeck. Four Biology faculty led the SWOSU contingent: Drs. Jimena Aracena, Steven O’Neal (algae and plankton leader), Joseph Maness (herpetology leader), and Peter Grant (terrestrial invertebrate leader).
For more information about BioBlitz, visit the Oklahoma Biological Survey website at http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/biotiddly.html. | <urn:uuid:f84b18f2-a6d5-409c-a563-c1f121f5eb3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://swosu.edu/news/releases/2007/2007-10-11d.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945575 | 502 | 1.851563 | 2 |
mind :: my brain and yours
Librarians rock. (And so do writers)
Speaking of writers, this new book, Highway 89, is gorgeous. Written and illustrated by photographer Ann Torrence (one of her photos is in Life is a Verb!), it is a beautiful testament to Highway 89 in the U.S. As Ann said of it: "It isn't so much a travelogue as a transect of America that is changing so fast, and how people are working together to keep what they value in their world. I like to say that I took the same picture at Tucson's Mariachi conference, the Mormon Miracle Pageant and the Blackfeet Indian reservation. At first glance, they are all kids in cute costumes, but what those pictures are really about are the parents and grandparents who are using those activities to teach their children 'who we are.'" That's what art does–it teaches us who we are. Please take a look and support her art and work in the world.
Here are some other books to think about reading.
Art in Hard Times (Thanks to Maxine Rothman)
Home Fires: Something Worth Fighting For
body :: my place and yours
Need help with your kids' bedtime tantrums?
Exercises for better concentration.
I know where I'll be on March 5, 2010. (Thanks to Kaje Housman)
soul :: my heart and yours
The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
Some kind of love. (Thanks to Beth Patterson)
Sometimes hobbies are hard work.
Trust and influence–the real human currency.
A final thought :: The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials. -Lin Yutang
(image from here) | <urn:uuid:7e521b53-c4ab-4974-a8c6-afe8c23e2982> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.37days.com/2009/12/thinking-thursday-2-9.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957909 | 365 | 1.710938 | 2 |
By Alyssa Goldman, Cheapism.com
Maybe Earth Day is so yesterday, but it's still an opportune time to sort through boxes of old stuff. Aside from getting organized, you might find some items you would otherwise earmark for trash and create an unexpected treasure instead.
Reinvent used rain boots.
Cheapism turned to green bloggers for their wackiest repurposing ideas. Anyone with a little time and patience can try these out and end up with something cute, creative, and fashioned by you. Another positive byproduct: one less item added to the landfill or carted to the recycling facility.
Related: Cheap compost bins
1. Give old rain boots new life. After five years of wearing the same rain boots, the Creative Green Living blogger decided they were "done in" by holes and cracks in the rubber. Rather than disposing of them and buying a new pair, her repurposing idea called for several roles of zebra-patterned duct tape. She prepped the boots by patching holes and reinforcing weak areas and seams with
Read More »from 7 Wacky (But Possible) Repurposing Ideas | <urn:uuid:4efa4052-30c5-4f26-8b34-3f2e73a02d0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shine.yahoo.com/blogs/green/archive/2.html?.tsrc=yahoo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942795 | 238 | 1.75 | 2 |
From Sydney and Shanghai : Australian and Chinese women writing modernism
Carson, Susan J. (2009) From Sydney and Shanghai : Australian and Chinese women writing modernism. In Yao, Steven, Gilles , Mary Ann, & Sword, Helen (Eds.) Pacific Rim Modernism. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, pp. 173-198.
|Accepted Version (PDF 180Kb) |
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In the 1930s and 1940s, Australian women writers published novels, poems, and short
stories that pushed the boundaries of their national literary culture. From their position in
the Pacific, they entered into a dialogue with a European modernism that they reworked
to invigorate their own writing and to make cross-continental connections. My interest in
the work of Australian women prose writers of this period stems from an appreciation of
the extent of their engagement with interwar modernism (an engagement that is generally
under-acknowledged) and the realization that there are commonalities of approach with
the ways in which contemporaneous Chinese authors negotiated this transnational
cultural traffic. China and Australia, it has been argued, share an imaginative and literal
association of many centuries, and this psychic history produces a situation in which
‘Australians feel drawn towards China: they cannot leave it alone.’1 Equally, Chinese
exploration of the great southern land began in the fifteenth century, prior to European
contact. In recent times, the intensity of Australia’s cultural and commercial connections
with Asia has led to a repositioning of the Australian sense of regionalism in general and,
in particular, has activated yet another stage in the history of its relationship with China.
In this context, the association of Australian and Chinese writing is instructive
because the commonalities of approach and areas of interest between certain authors
indicate that Australian writers were not alone in either the content or style of their
response to European modernism. This recognition, in turn, advances discussions of
modernism in Australia and reveals an alternative way of looking at the world from the
Pacific Rim through literature. The intent is to examine selective Australian and Chinese authors who are part of this continuous history and whose writing demonstrates common
thematic and stylistic features via the vector of modernism. I focus on the 1930s and
1940s because these are the decades in which Australia and China experienced wideranging
conflict in the Pacific, and it is significant that war, both forthcoming and actual,
features as an ominous soundtrack in the writing of Chinese and Australian women.
I argue that, given the immensity of cultural difference between Australia and
China, there is an especially interesting juncture in the ways in which the authors
interrogate modernist practices and the challenge of modernism. The process in which
writing from the Pacific Rim jointly negotiates the twin desires of engaging with
European literary form and representing one’s own culture may be seen as what Jessica
Berman identifies as a geomodernism, one of the ‘new possible geographies’ of
modernism.2 My discussion centres on the work of the Australian women, to which the
Chinese material serves as a point of reference, albeit a critical one. The Chinese writing
examined here is restricted to authors who wrote at least some material in English and
whose work is available in translation.
Citation countsare sourced monthly fromand citation databases.
These databases contain citations from different subsets of available publications and different time periods and thus the citation count from each is usually different. Some works are not in either database and no count is displayed. Scopus includes citations from articles published in 1996 onwards, and Web of Science generally from 1980 onwards.
Citations counts from theindexing service can be viewed at the linked Google Scholar™ search.
|Item Type:||Book Chapter|
|Keywords:||australia , china, literature, modernism, comparative, pacific , rim|
|Subjects:||Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > LANGUAGES COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE (200000) > LITERARY STUDIES (200500)|
|Divisions:||Current > QUT Faculties and Divisions > Creative Industries Faculty|
|Copyright Owner:||Copyright 2009 University of Toronto Press|
|Deposited On:||01 Apr 2010 09:36|
|Last Modified:||01 Mar 2012 00:08|
Repository Staff Only: item control page | <urn:uuid:b90172df-b8cc-429a-98b7-24d9cb7bde22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eprints.qut.edu.au/31600/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907056 | 948 | 2.078125 | 2 |
May Day Protests: May 1, 2012 (Video)
May Day Protests: Occupy Wall Street Resurges
The #Occupy movement hasn't been in the news much lately, but that will change on May Day. Occupy Wall Street and its associated nationwide protests, along with various labor groups, are planning events and demonstrations for May Day 2012.
Occupy Los Angeles is calling for a citywide general strike, as are labor groups in San Francisco. You can see live video footage from Occupy Wall Street and its affiliates in the player below.
The Occupy protesters themselves have been training as well, coming up with ways to protect themselves against the often heavy-handed tactics used by police since the Occupy movement began.
What is May Day?
May Day is International Workers' Day, commemorating the Haymarket Affair of 1886, in which a strike for an eight-hour workday in Chicago degenerated into a massacre, with police killing protesters and each other. The Haymarket Affair was precipitated by a bomb thrown at police; nobody knows who actually threw it. | <urn:uuid:7e5affc8-0422-4316-a069-8966168e5d4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nowpublic.com/world/may-day-protests-may-1-2012-video-2922076.html?comment_sort=recommended | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971831 | 220 | 1.960938 | 2 |
TDGH - December 14
This Day in Georgia
- Ed Jackson and Charles Pou
- The University of Georgia
1793 Gov. George Mathews signed an act creating Screven
County as Georgia's 14th county. Created from portions
of Burke and Effingham counties, the county was named for Revolutionary
War general James Screven.
1809 Gov. David
B. Mitchell signed an act creating Twiggs
County as Georgia's 37th county. Created from portions
Wilkinson County, the county was named for Revolutionary War general
1827 Gov. John Forsyth signed legislation creating Meriwether, Harris, Talbot,
and Marion counties.
County, Georgia's 71st, was created from portions of Troup County and named for former congressman
and Indian commissioner David Meriwether.
County, Georgia's 72nd, was created
from portions of Muscogee and Troup counties and named for Savannah mayor Charles Harris.
County, Georgia's 73rd, was created from portions of Muscogee County and named for Gov. Matthew
County, Georgia's 74th, was created from portions of Lee
and Muscogee counties and named for Revolutionary
War hero Gen. Francis Marion.
1837 Gov. George Gilmer signed an act creating Macon
County as Georgia's 91st county. Created from portions
of Houston and Marion counties, the county was named for U.S.
Senator Nathaniel Macon.
1859 Gov. Joseph E. Brown signed an act prohibiting any slave owner from providing
for the slave's freedom in the event of the owner's death.
Georgia's great seal then in use contained no reference to the
United States, Art. 3, Sec. 2, Par. 9 of the Constitution
of 1861 directed that the General Assembly to "by law
cause the great seal to be altered." Accordingly, Gov. Brown
signed an act appointing two commissioners to work with the Secretary
of State in preparing a new state seal. Interestingly, the legislation
contained no instructions as to the new seal's design or wording
– leaving the matter entirely to the three officials.
Georgia State Seal Adopted in 1799 (left) and New State Seal Adopted in 1861
Supreme Court justice Charles J. Jenkins took office as Georgia's
first elected governor during Reconstruction. Born Jan. 6, 1805
in Beaufort, S.C., he attended the University of Georgia but graduated
from Union College. Coming to Georgia, he read law and was admitted
to the bar in 1826. In 1830, Jenkins began a political career
that would include terms in both houses of the General Assembly
(including four years as Speaker), state attorney general, and
superior court solicitor. Jenkins lost a close race for governor
in 1853, but he was named to the Georgia Supreme Court in 1860.
After Lincoln was elected president, Jenkins attended Georgia's
secession convention. After Georgia seceded, he supported Georgia
and the Confederacy – though he continued to serve on the Georgia
Supreme Court through 1866. Though a Democrat, he asked President
Andrew Johnson for a pardon after the war in order for him to
attend Georgia's 1865 constitutional convention. In Nov. 1866,
Jenkins was elected governor, taking office Dec. 14. A year later,
however, he was removed by Gen. Meade for refusing to authorize
$40,000 to pay for a constitutional convention meeting in Atlanta
in Dec. 1867. Before leaving office, Jenkins took $400,000 from
the state treasury (which he deposited in a New York bank), many
official books and documents, and the state seal (an action recognized in his official portrait that hangs at the state capitol.
For over two
years, Jenkins lived and traveled abroad, returning to Augusta
in late 1870 with the state's money, documents, and seal. Subsequently,
he retired to his home near Augusta, reemerging to chair the constitutional
convention of 1877. Jenkins died in Augusta on June 14, 1883.
1898 U.S. Pres.
William McKinley addressed a joint session of the Georgia General
Assembly as part of a Peace Jubilee to celebrate the U.S. victory
in the brief Spanish-American War. [See "In Their Own Words .
. ." entry below.]
1920 Future University of Georgia football great Charley Trippi was born in Pittston, PA. Trippi would star for UGA for two years in the early 1940s, before serving in the Air Force for two years in World War II, then returning to finish his career at Georgia. In 1946 he won the Maxwell Award as the best collegiate football player in the nation. He also had a very successful professional career, and is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1939 Clarke Gable,
director Victor Fleming, and many motion picture executives flew
into Atlanta for the world premier of "Gone With the Wind." Late
that afternoon, the film stars rode in a parade through downtown
Atlanta. That evening, the Atlanta Junior League held a gala ball
in the city auditorium. Among those present was young Martin Luther
King, Jr., who participated in the singing of spirituals with
the Ebenezer Baptist Church choir. Also present was NBC, which
broadcast the introductions of stars and officials to a nationwide
Ernest Vandiver sent 150 National Guardsmen to Albany. Dr. William
Anderson, president of the Albany Movement, asked former college
classmate Martin Luther King Jr. to come to Albany to help.
Georgia cities and towns first incorporated
by acts approved on Dec. 14:
In Their Own Words on This Day . . .
court recorder Thomas Christie wrote to James Oglethorpe (who
was then in England) about various problems being experienced
in Georgia, including the murder a slave and of one of the colonists:
"I have often spoke to Mr. [Noble] Jones
[the surveyor] to send you the plan and keep a journal of the
lands that he runs out, which I could never obtain. Indeed .
. . I believe little has been run out since your departure, 'till
very lately. The people have greatly complained of late for want
of knowing the bounds of their lots, for want of which they have
neglected fencing, so that most of the crop that was sowed last
summer have been eat up by the cows and horses. Another thing
I must not forget to mention: the corn and seeds, that was in
the Storehouse when you went away, was given to the people, was
musty, damaged or spoilt, so that it never came up. And it was
so long and late in the year before they got fresh seed that
it balked some, and other did not sow it 'till it was too late
in the year. . . . And indeed we have some people who never were
masters of any land and whose heads are turned no way but to
the alehouse, and others are so idle to think of nothing but
selling and running away. . . .
"We raise the envy of the people of Carolina,
by whom we suffer many aspersions and false reports although
we serve them for a bulwark against the Indians, a curb to their
Negroes, raise the price of their markets and the value of their
lands. And they get all our money into the bargain. They are
settling on the river May and all about us and, with the advantage
of their Negroes, report that we need not sow any corn or rice
for they will always undersell us. . . .
"[Indian trader Joseph] Watson has behaved
very ill since your departure and hath committed several irregularities,
has beat the Indians, presented a gun at Mrs. Musgrove's, proved
very dissaffected to the colony and unfit for a trader.
"The Indian Skee offering one day to
break open his storehouse in order to kill him, Watson escaped
out backwards. And they, finding him gone, in their mad freak
fell upon Justice, Musgrove's slave, and killed him. He is since
gone up in the country full of malice. . . .
"The unfortunate Mr. Wise, his effects
was sold except papers and manuscripts remaining in a trunk in
the store . . . . The manner of this murder was thus, which you
have no doubt been acquainted with. He lay over in the island
a considerable time in a very weak condition and kept [to] his
bed. He used to call for some water in the morning to wash himself
and White used to assist him in combing out his hair . . . .
Alice Riley [an Irish servant] by the direction and influence
of White brought a pail of water which she sat down by his bedside.
White came in also, pretending to assist him in combing his hair.
He usually wore a handkerchief about his neck and while he was
leaning over the bedside, instead of combing his hair, White
took hold by that handkerchief, which he twisted 'till he was
almost suffocated. Alice Riley at the same time took hold of
the poll of his head and plunged his face into the pail of water
and, he being very weak, it soon dispatched him. As to the rest
I refer to the proceedings of the Court. . . ."
Source: Mills Lane (ed.), General Oglethorpe's
Georgia: Colonial Letters, 1733-1743 (Savannah: Beehive Press,
1990), Vol. I, pp. 66-72.
Stephens, the Trustees' secretary in Georgia, was responsible for
keeping the Trustees informed on what was happening in their colony.
However, by this time, there were two Georgias – the area around
Savannah (where Stephens lived) and the military frontier to the
south (where James Oglethorpe and his British regiment were stationed
at Frederica on St. Simons Island). Stephens' journal entry for
today showed his concern about Oglethorpe's absence:
". . . Indeed his Presence among us was
much wished for now, as well on Account of this Representation
so warmly carried on, as because our Stores were near exhausted,
by Means of divers very large Quantities that had been drawn
out, by several Creditors, who had it in their Option to take
Provisions instead of Money, if they liked so to do; wherein
they acted variously, as they were well or ill affected, or as
their Necessities obliged them to support their own Credit: And
there being yet no Appearance how the Stores would be recruited,
gave a melancholy Prospect of what might happen. . . ."
Source: William Stephens, A Journal of the
Proceeding in Georgia ([no city cited]: Readex Microprint
Corporation, 1966), Vol. I, p. 356.
1864 From General
Sherman's memoirs for this day:
"We still had in our wagons and in camp
abundance of meat, but we needed bread, sugar, and coffee, and
it was all-important that a route of supply should at once be
opened, for which purpose the aid and assistance of the navy
were indispensable. We accordingly steamed down the Ogeechee
River to Ossabaw Sound, in hopes to meet Admiral Dahlgren, but
he was not there, and we continued on by the inland channel to
Wassaw Sound, where we found the Harvest Moon and Admiral Dahlgren.
I was not personally acquainted with him at the time, but he
was so extremely kind and courteous that I was at once attracted
to him. There was nothing in his power, he said, which he would
not do to assist us, to make our campaign absolutely successful
He undertook at once to find vessels of light draught to carry
our supplies from Port Royal to Cheeve's Mill or to King's Bridge,
whence they could be hauled by wagons to our several camps; he
offered to return with me to Fort McAllister, to superintend
the removal of the torpedoes, and to relieve me of all the details
of this most difficult work. General Foster then concluded to
go on to Port Royal, to send back to us six hundred thousand
rations, and all the rifled guns of heavy calibre and ammunition
on hand with which I thought we could reach the city of Savannah
from the positions already secured. Admiral Dahlgren then returned
with me in the Harvest Moon to Fort McAllister. This consumed
all of the 14th of December. . . ."
Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Marching Through
Georgia: William T. Sherman's Personal Narrative of His March
Through Georgia (New York: Arno Press, 1978), pp. 165-166.
For more, see This Week in Georgia Civil War History.
1898 Pres. William
McKinley came to Georgia to participate in a Peace Jubilee to
mark the end of the Spanish-American War. His address to the Georgia
General Assembly, however, was one of reconciliation over the
"Sectional lines no longer mar the map
of the United States. Sectional feeling no longer holds back
the love we bear each other. Fraternity is the national anthem,
sung by a chorus of forty-five states and our territories at
home and beyond the seas. The union is once more the common alter
of our love and loyalty, our devotion and sacrifice. The old
flag again waves over us in peace with new glories and sacrifice.
The old flag again waves over us in peace with new glories, which
your sons and ours have this year added to its sacred folds.
What cause we have for rejoicing, saddened only by the fact that
so many of our brave men fell on field or sickened and died from
hardship and exposure, and others returning bring wounds and
disease from which they will long suffer. The memory of the dead
will be a precious legacy, and the disabled will be the nation's
"A nation which cares for its disabled
soldiers, as we have always done, will never lack defenders.
The national cemeteries for those who fell in battle are proof
that the dead as well as the living have our love. What an army
of silent sentinels we have, and with what loving care their
graves are kept! Every soldier's grave made during our unfortunate
civil war is a tribute to American valor.
"And while when those graves were made
we differed widely about the future of this government, these
differences were long ago settled by the arbitrament of arms--and
the time has now come in the evolution of sentiment and feeling
under the providence of God, when in the spirit of fraternity
we should share with you in the care of the graves of the Confederate
"The cordial feeling now happily existing
between the North and South prompts this gracious act, and if
it needed further justification, it is found in the gallant loyalty
to the Union and the flag so conspicuously shown in the year
just passed by the sons and grandsons of these heroic dead.
"What a glorious future awaits us if
unitedly, wisely and bravely we face the new problems now pressing
upon us, determined to solve them for right and humanity."
Source: Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 15,
To the best of our knowledge, images on this site are either (1) in the public domain, or (2) qualify for educational Fair Use under federal copyright law, or (3) are used by permission. | <urn:uuid:dc28a3fe-f686-4a8d-b7dd-db6d1128ab09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/tdgh-dec/dec14.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963395 | 3,350 | 2.953125 | 3 |
It's not as if Germany has a monopoly on paperwork. If we eliminated useless paperwork in our own country, a third of all jobs would disappear. It takes a lot of personnel hours to ensure that other peoples' papers are in order.
But summing up a culture in a single sentence has its uses. The national and local scene has made a lot more sense to me ever since I stumbled on our sentence: "Will you look at that?"
It conveys the endless variety of American life. You can imagine it in any accent--Texas, New Jersey, Virginia Tidewater--expressing almost any emotion: anger, disapproval, lust. Why do people watch the Miss America Pageant? Why does the average 9-year-old like dinosaurs? What explains the success of "Cops"?
It's all about "will you look at that?"
The N.C. State Fair is a perennial monument to "will you look at that?"
When Richard Vinroot cites budget figures to attack state spending, he's saying, in effect, "will you take a look at that?"
Or take the candidate's goals in the presidential debates. Gore had to avoid seeming a know-it-all. Bush had to speak in complete sentences and not drool. Their common goal: to head off the wrong kind of "will you look at that?"
"Will you look at that?" is a tool for shoring up group mentalities. It's a demand that someone support your reaction. Share your outrage or disgust or obsession. In spire of the punctuation, it's not a question.
The next time someone says, "Will you look at that?" (or something like it), consider, for the sake of variety, responding with a real question, such as "Why are you looking at that?"
The drawback is it might lead to other questions. Why is government spending so unpopular, given that most of us use government services like schools and roads? Why is a major party fielding a candidate less articulate than the average 9-year-old?
The other drawback is it'll make things more difficult for me. Without my sentence to fall back on, I'll be back at square one figuring out what's going on. But my perspective, as my friends like to remind me, is a little biased. | <urn:uuid:5716e9af-248a-4403-b58e-f610d22a04f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/will-you-look-at-that/Content?oid=1182372 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971687 | 475 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Choosing children over choice
On the eve of Roe v. Wade's 35th birthday, the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) released new research on the number of children who never saw a birth day. An AGI survey of all known abortion "providers" in the United States brought some good news: The 2005 abortion rate-that is, the number of terminations per 1,000 women ages 15-44- was at its lowest ebb since 1974, the year after Roe, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. The 1.2 million abortions performed in 2005 were the lowest total since a high of 1.6 million in 1990, and a signal that the number of abortions overall is still declining.
But 1.2 million dead babies is also bad news. Tragic news.
America has had abortion going back probably to 1629, and a roller-coaster experience since then: a sharp rise in abortions in the mid-19th century, a decline during the late 19th century, then a slow rise to the 1950s. A sharp rise in the 1960s followed that. Then came Roe and an abortion skyrocket that peaked in 1990.
AGI, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, has chronicled the decline since then. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also tallies abortion totals, but AGI's numbers are considered more accurate because they survey both hospitals and all known stand-alone abortion clinics. The CDC relies on state health department reports, and some jurisdictions, such as California, don't report at all, creating a data gap of more than a quarter-million abortions, before the counting begins.
According to AGI's latest report, released Jan. 17, the number of abortions in America declined 9 percent between 2000 and 2005. The last year in which the number of abortions was lower was 1976.
One big reason for the decline may be the growth of pro-life pregnancy resource centers led by committed women and volunteers such as Wanda Kohn, WORLD's 2007 Daniel of the Year (see "Frontline dispatches," Dec. 15, 2007). Care-Net, the nation's biggest umbrella organization for such groups, has made development of urban centers a priority, and so has Heartbeat, another large group.
A constant over the centuries is that legal change has an impact on abortion, but cultural change probably makes even more of a difference. Abortion rose in the mid-19th century despite its illegality. In 1860, with the advent of large cities, abundant prostitution, and a substantial 19th-century New Age movement (then called "spiritism"), the United States in proportion to its population probably had as many abortions as it now has, perhaps 160,000 in a population of 30 million.
(One big difference between now and then is that most mid-19th-century abortions occurred among prostitutes, who probably averaged four per year. Nevertheless, the overall number surprises many. Interested readers should see Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America, a book of mine based on a year of research at the Library of Congress.)
The late 19th-century growth of abstinence movements, "rescue homes," and compassionate help, supported by stronger laws and tighter enforcement, reduced the incidence of abortion by at least 50 percent. Since 1990, the number of abortions has fallen 25 percent, and that trend should continue as abortion alternatives grow, protective laws (such as those requiring parental consent and waiting periods) become more common, and ultrasounds allow more parents to see their babies in the womb.
-by Marvin Olasky, with reporting by Lynn Vincent
Advocates of "comprehensive sex education" (read: not abstinence only) made much of December figures showing an increase in the U.S. teen birth rate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the birth rate for girls ages 15-19 rose 3 percent-from 40.5 live births per 1,000 females ages 15-19 in 2005 to 41.9 births per 1,000 in 2006. The increase follows a 14-year downward trend.
"Today's teens are the victims of a $1 billion social experiment: The national implementation of the abstinence until marriage policy," declared Cristina Page, author of How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America. "Abstinence-only programs have not only failed to persuade kids not to have sex, but have led many not to use contraception."
But is the birth-rate increase the result of more unprotected teen sex-or fewer abortions? The answer: It's too early to tell. Although the birth rate tallies are in, CDC's abortion reporting suffers a lag of more than three years; the most recent figures available are from 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, the teen abortion rate fell from 17 per 1,000 girls to 15 per 1,000 girls. The CDC won't know until 2009 whether such measures as parental involvement laws increased the rate of decline in abortions, producing more "Junos" per thousand-teen girls who, like the lead teen in the current hit movie of the same name, decide to carry their babies to term-offsetting the birth-rate increase between 2005 and 2006.
Donald Fehr, head of the baseball players union, had a moment of apparent contrition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Jan. 15: "Baseball's problem with performance-enhancing substances was bigger than I realized. The players association accepts its share of responsibility for what happened, and . . . so do I."
But moments later, Fehr griped about the prospect of baseball commissioner Bud Selig unilaterally imposing stiffer steroid policies and argued that collective bargaining was the only legitimate means to settle the matter. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., fired back: "This is almost surreal to me. Why should cheating be a matter of collective bargaining?"
Even in the face of a devastating report on rampant doping throughout the game, an indictment against baseball's home-run king, and congressional threats of intervention, Fehr still cannot seem to grasp that his resistance to transparency is hurting the players he tries to protect.
Scientists from four leading research institutions say they have isolated five DNA variants that can predict a man's risk of getting prostate cancer. The results, published in the Jan. 31 New England Journal of Medicine, will lead in coming months to a DNA screening for the disease that will cost under $300. Such tests will push patients and physicians to new dilemmas: The screening may help young men seek early treatment, but aggressive treatment also can lead to serious side effects: in the case of prostate cancer treatment, to incontinence and impotence.
Construction of new homes fell by 25 percent in 2007, the Commerce Department reported Jan. 17. It was the second-largest annual decline on record, exceeded only by a 26 percent plunge in 1980, a period when the Federal Reserve was pushing interest rates in an effort to combat an entrenched inflation problem. At that time construction fell for four straight years, but the runaway inflation and high interest rates of that time are not factors now.
The nation's toughest law on illegal immigrants, HB 1804 in Oklahoma, takes effect July 1. It denies government contracts to employers who fail to check workers' names against federal immigration databases. It also makes it a felony to transport or shelter illegal immigrants, and denies them public benefits such as rental assistance and fuel subsidies. With six months to go, workers around the state are simply disappearing. Same with schoolchildren, as illegal immigrant families leave Sooner country for states with less strict laws. Pro-1804 lawmakers are fine with that, saying the exodus will mean a lower tax burden for residents. But those who oppose the law predict economic disaster-and perhaps just as a presidential campaign focuses attention on national policy.
At 6:30 a.m. Jan. 14, Calvin College professor Gary D. Schmidt was preparing to teach an interim American lit class to Calvin students taking the three-week class in Concord, Mass., when he got a phone call from the American Library Association: Schmidt had won a Newbery Honor for his children's novel, The Wednesday Wars. The honor, among the most prestigious in children's literature, was his second. The English professor, 50, earned a Newbery in 2005 for his young adult novel Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.
"It's an incredible honor to get it once," Schmidt told the Grand Rapids Press. "To get another is just an incredible affirmation." The Wednesday Wars (Clarion Books, 2007) tells the story of Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grade boy who must learn Shakespeare while his classmates attend Catholic or Jewish lessons.
This year's top Newbery Medal winner is Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz.
President Bush concluded a trip across the Middle East Jan. 16 that included meeting with Palestinian leaders in their West Bank stronghold at Ramallah, visiting U.S. soldiers in Kuwait, and a session with King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia. A peace arrangement granting Palestinian statehood was the focus of the trip, a deal the president maintains can be signed by the time he leaves office. To that end he went to greater lengths than before to smooth not only political but religious divides. Speaking to Al Arabiya television on the eve of his trip, he declared, "I pray to the same God as a Muslim prays."
Dream vs. reality
Hillary Clinton's recent comment that Martin Luther King's dream needed the passage of President Lyndon Johnson's Civil Rights Act to come to fruition likely exposed more about her commitment to government solutions than anything about her views on race. But that didn't stop some members of the Barack Obama camp from fanning the race flame in hopes of cutting into Clinton's strong support among African-Americans.
Obama has since sought to distance himself from such tactics, offering conciliatory words Jan. 15 at the Democratic primary debate in Nevada: "What I am absolutely convinced of is that everybody here is committed to racial equality, has been historically."
That willingness to give whites the benefit of the doubt separates Obama from other liberal black politicians. Black conservative author Shelby Steele believes Obama's appeal among whites hinges on his dissociation from the politics of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, a requirement that may force the Illinois Democrat to further distance himself from his Chicago pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
A U.S. embassy vehicle was the target of a bombing on Jan. 15 that killed four people. The casualties were Lebanese, but an armored embassy SUV was damaged. The bombing took place just before a reception for U.S. ambassador Jeffrey Feltman in a Beirut hotel. Feltman is an outspoken critic of Syria, and Syrian troops stationed in Lebanon; he plans to leave the country at the end of January.
Separately the United States has begun a review of embassy security in Sudan following the killing of a U.S. diplomat, John Granville, in Khartoum on Jan. 1. An al-Qaeda-aligned website said Ansar Al Tawhid in Sudan claimed responsibility for the killings-the first claim issued by the group.
A prolonged Siberian snap across the Middle East has changed bird migratory habits-swans normally wintering in the north were spotted in the Jordan Valley-frozen pipes, and made driving hazardous in the normally temperate climate. It is also taking a toll on Israeli produce, a major export to Europe. At least half the Negev's potato crop, along with thousands of tons of avocados, bananas, flowers, eggplant, and other vegetables, have been destroyed. But retailers can take comfort: Sales of down blankets are up 50 percent, and tea and chocolate sales are up nearly 20 percent.
Colorado-based Compassion International reports that two child-development centers and one of its homes were burned during recent violence in Kenya. Office supplies and equipment also were looted when street violence spiked after contested elections Dec. 27. The violence has left 600 people dead and over 500,000 forced from homes and businesses. | <urn:uuid:c9049f33-9fe1-4b5c-a870-1caf8f2c5f24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldmag.com/2008/01/the_buzz_0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961795 | 2,478 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Reservoirs are man-made lakes, whose main purpose is to store water for domestic and industrial consumption, irrigation of agricultural fields, production of electric power, and flood control during extraordinary rain. In Puerto Rico, there are no natural lakes. Our reservoirs, except for the one in Fajardo, were built in mountainous areas to retain the maximum volume of water in the smallest possible surface area; therefore, our artificial lakes are deep and their banks have a precipitous decline. They are located in areas with geological stability to ensure seismic safety. The first reservoir was built in 1913: Carite, together with the one in Patillas and Guayabal in Juana Diaz (1914) made up the first irrigation system on the south coast.
The water in reservoirs comes from rain, a river, and its tributaries. Throughout the year, rainfall varies significantly, with a dry season that normally runs from January to March or April, followed by heavy downpours in May and June, and a second period of intense rainfall from September until the end of the year. Reservoirs are the most important source of water in Puerto Rico. On the island, there are 36 major reservoirs owned by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as well as several smaller private ones. Of the 36 public reservoirs, 21 are considered major in terms of volume and diversity of use.
Importance of Conservation
Reservoirs perform a variety of important functions. For example they:
Store water for domestic use and irrigation.
Serve as a refuge for birds and habitat for aquatic fauna (fish, shrimp and turtles); some lakes are designated as wildlife shelters.
Are recreation areas for:
navigation (kayaks, canoes and boats)
recreational and sports fishing: The DNER fish farm in Maricao reproduces sea bass and black sea bream which are later introduced in our reservoirs. In addition, you can catch catfish, tilapias and Peacock Bass in almost all reservoirs;
contemplation and recreation
they help control flooding
Threats to this resource
The following constitute a phenomena that threaten the functionality of our reservoirs.
1-Land erosions in the hydrographical basin of reservoirs, which produce sediments that reduce their water storage capacity.
2-The accumulation of pollutants, including nutrients.
3-The presence of invasive aquatic plants such as hyacinth, water lettuce and pokeweed.
4-The presence of invasive exotic animals, such as plecostomus which create cavities in lake slopes leading to erosion.
5-Extraction of water at a higher rate than what is safe for the reservoir.
Effects of reservoirs
Reservoirs could have a negative impact on native flora and fauna because dams interrupt migration of larvae and juveniles towards the estuary and from these to the mountains. Species of native fish need to be in touch with the estuaries during their reproductive stages, and reservoirs disrupt these connections because they store water where the fish are established. However, there are design and management measures that are used to minimize the impact.
The DNER regulates some aspects regarding reservoirs through special legislation, such as the Wildlife Law of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Environmental Quality Board has regulations that apply to water quality and protects this resource through projects such as reforestation of hydrographical basins and the presence of guards.
Version: 08032402 Rev. 1 | <urn:uuid:16f5c8e2-a6cd-4c05-bbe7-26009c6e8a37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enciclopediapr.org/ing/article.cfm?ref=08032402 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956209 | 704 | 4.09375 | 4 |
The world’s population is expected to reach 7 BILLION today. To put us in our place, the BBC have given us a calculator that, using our birth dates, will tell us what number of the current population we are.
There’s mine, at the top. I bet Number Six isn’t complaining now; at least people will remember him; try looking up 3226610530 in the phone book and see how quickly you become a minus number.
More people were born after me than were born before me. I find that depressing.
In the grand scheme of things, however, I am the 77,046,364,608th person to have lived since history began, which means I avoided Roman slavery, The Spanish Inquisition and George Formby. There’s always a silver lining.
The site also tells me that I will live 4.3 years longer than the Hub. Yeah! for the not expiring too soon, but what on earth will I do for head rubs?
I was on the site for about ten minutes. In that time the population grew by 2,159. All I can say is, Condoms, people! Condoms!
- Various ’7 billionth’ babies celebrated worldwide – The Associated Press (news.google.com)
- 7 Billion (kutarere.wordpress.com)
- No wonder I feel so crowded (brobrubel.wordpress.com) | <urn:uuid:7b40998e-3d4e-42d8-9f54-c04f6e38740d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/i-am-number-3226610530/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947256 | 303 | 1.78125 | 2 |
A Matter of Degrees: German Education Reform and Its ConsequencesPublished: April 07, 2009 in Knowledge@Wharton
Germans have long been considered one of the world's most educated people. Frederick the Great of Prussia launched the first general public education system in the world back in the 18th century. In the 19th century, the U.S. modeled much of its educational system on what American educators admired about the German plan, including compulsory attendance, kindergarten and vocational education. Yet, despite that proud legacy, German policymakers have become frustrated in recent years with a system that seems stuck in a number of ways.
At the grade school and middle school levels, some studies suggest that tracking intended to divide academically inclined students from those with a more vocational bent appears to favor upper-income children over poor and immigrant children, irrespective of ability. In the universities, a number of factors encourage students to delay graduation or to drop out altogether. And in advanced research institutions, the goal of creating a more egalitarian university system has led to lower international rankings and less cutting-edge research.
Knowledge@Wharton asked faculty members at Wharton and leading German universities, as well as German business experts, to explain what's changing at the post-secondary level and the consequences those reforms are likely to have on German businesses and the economy. "In general, it's been a good system," says Saikat Chaudhuri, a professor of management at the Wharton School who grew up in Germany. "The problem is that when something works well for a long period of time, people are reluctant to change it."
"Don't get me wrong," he adds. "Some of the work is good, especially in the natural sciences. That's why [German academics] win Nobel prizes still. But there are some other areas where you see weakness."
Triggered by a Europe-wide initiative to adapt higher-education systems to the Anglo-Saxon model, an ambitious effort to revitalize German education is underway. Policymakers hope that several changes in the system will lead to some fundamental improvements to German education and research.
In primary education, government support is increasing for early education along the lines of Headstart in the U.S., an early childhood education program geared toward helping underprivileged preschoolers become better prepared for the demands of grade school. Some states are shrinking the time it takes to complete the Gymnasium (academic secondary school) program from 13 to 12 years, partly by extending the school day throughout the whole day rather than ending at lunchtime, which was long the standard schedule.
At the university level, even more dramatic changes are on the way. The traditional five-year degrees are being dropped in favor of the Anglo-American style bachelor/master configuration, a three-year/two-year sequence that will align Germany with the rest of Europe. At the same time, the government is giving a few of the country's highest-performing public universities extra financial support, in the hopes that the investment will help the country's universities regain their once-high reputation for cutting-edge research.
From Diplomas to Doctorates
As influential as Germany's system was in many respects, its leadership did not extend to the structure of higher education. In higher education, the British bachelor's/master's/PhD system has become the dominant design of global education, perhaps because it offers more flexibility than the five-year German diploma degree, the Diplom-Kauffrau or the Diplom-Kauffmann, or perhaps because of the greater prestige American universities enjoyed as research institutions in the postwar era.
Germany is making the switch to the BA/MA/PhD system as part of its obligation as a signatory of the Bologna Process. Signed by 26 European countries, the 1999 accord set a goal of creating a single European higher-education authority. As of today, 46 countries have joined the process, the goals of which include making it easier to facilitate the mobility of students and faculty between countries and to increase access to high-quality higher education.
Before the birth of the European Union, the alignment of degrees mattered less. After all, a foreign customer probably didn't much care whether the engineer who designed an engine held a Diplom or an MS. Today, however, with labor inside Europe more flexible than ever and international competition more intense, many German policymakers have become convinced that the current conversion of German colleges and universities to a BA/MA/PhD system is a necessary step to keep the country economically and scientifically competitive.
The old five-year degree has several marks against it, critics say. Perhaps the most serious is the length. Because of the public service required of young men and the fact that students frequently stretch out the five-year program for a few more years beyond that minimum, graduates often don't settle down to their first job until they are 27 and sometimes as late as 30.
University education in Germany has followed a monolithic system, says Christian Homburg, president of Mannheim Business School, one that "does not meet the requirements of business practice anymore." This is assuming, of course, that students graduate. Drop-out rates from the traditional programs were as high as 50% at some universities, the result being that much of the investment made by society and individuals in higher education was lost. Shorter degree programs create more flexibility for students to join the workforce earlier, scholars and executives say, enabling them to change career paths midstream in ways that allow them to keep up with changing interests and respond to shifting demands of the marketplace.
"I am convinced that this new structure of university education will open more diverse options so that each student can individually design his or her way of studying," says Homburg.
One investment company president says the shorter study periods should be helpful to many people. "It's a waste of resources, forcing people into such a long study without any experience in any job," says Jan Friske, president/CEO of WestLB Trust GmbH. "I think the bachelor system increases the chances of not wasting so many resources."
Finally, simply being out of step with other countries has its own costs. The diploma system made it difficult for graduates to work outside the country to get the right amount of credit for their level of education, which foreign recruiters tended to misinterpret as the equivalent of the three-year English bachelor's degree. At the same time, scholars say, the diploma system also made it more difficult to make comparisons with schools outside Germany.
A Positive Change
For all of these reasons, the scholars interviewed seemed pleased with the change. "I think it's one of the most significant changes in the German educational system in decades," says Martin Fassnacht, associate dean and holder of the Otto Beisheim endowed chair of marketing and commerce at the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management.
The transition to the BA/MA system began several years ago. The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OEDC) estimates that 60% of the country's universities now offer BA/MA style degrees rather than the older diploma, and the transition is expected to be complete by fall 2009.
For employers, the new degrees seem to be largely positive. At Mannstaedt, a maker of specialty steel objects, the loss of two years of education is not crucial, since the company gives new recruits three years of advanced training after they are hired. "We need to educate people anyway because there are no lessons at the university that teach the specifics of our industry," saysJoerm Grossman, CEO of Mannstaedt.
At Goldman Sachs' Frankfurt office, too, the switch from five-year to three-year degree holders also does not seem to have made much difference. The only area where managing director Bernard Herdes finds new recruits now know much less than they used to is in accounting, but he says this is generally not a serious problem.
The other big difference for employers is that they are getting first-year recruits three or four years younger than they once did. That is helpful, according to Mannstaedt's Grossman because it is easier to integrate younger people in the corporate community. When they are older, he adds, they often begin to feel money pressure as they start to raise families, and they are more susceptible to poaching by competitors.
However, Friske thinks the older candidates may actually have been better able to focus on work because they are more mature. "These people are a little bit more adult. They know that they need to make money now and pretty quickly. That's a difference from people who are 22 or 23 who come out of the university" with a bachelor's degeree.
That said, however, Friske and other executives interviewed note that their companies have not really had problems with the new bachelor's degree recruits. One reason offered by Friske: A good portion of the fourth and fifth years in some of the old diploma programs focused more on theory than practical applications.
The reforms may be having other consequences as well. Herdes believes that fewer students are spending two years in an apprenticeship program at a bank, as he did before going to university. Those kinds of programs have become rare now with the new degree structure in place. He has mixed emotions about that change. "I think it was beneficial for most people I know who did that. The big question is, is it worth it to work two years, to get that first-hand customer experience?"
Whatever the experiential tradeoffs, adding workers to the job market earlier rather than later is likely to be beneficial from a macroeconomic view. Although prolonging education well into the 20s reduced unemployment, bringing 20-somethings in at a younger age makes it easier to fill the gaps left by the growing number of retirees, which demographers expect to see in the coming decades. The elimination of a 13th year of Gymnasium in some states and the move toward a three-year degree is likely to compensate somewhat for the country's extremely low birth rate and high rate of childlessness, which are both quite extreme compared to other European countries: Germany's birth rate was 1.3 in 2003, down from 2.1 in the early 1970s, and the childlessness rate is 25% overall and 30% among highly educated women. Thus, the average age is expected to rise dramatically over the next three decades. By 2050, one in three Germans is expected to be over 80, according to German news service Deutsche Welle.
But age by itself is less an issue than the ratio of retired to working, which stands now at one-to-three and is expected to rise to one-to-one by 2040. Starting to work earlier could help alleviate that pressure. "Workers who enter the labor force earlier reduce the training and education costs while beginning earlier payments into the pension and health care insurance schemes," wrote Ursula Lehr, a former minister of youth, family, women and health in Germany.
Pursuit of Excellence
Another line of reforms now being pursued by the government is the designation of certain universities as centers of excellence for particular fields. Over the years, as the government tried to push state universities to provide more egalitarian educational opportunities, German universities lost their spots in global education rankings. Their reputation for cutting-edge research declined. At the same time, many students went abroad.
The result was weaker research and a broad-based system in which the key question is not, as in the U.S. or the UK, where you went to school but what degree you had and maybe the name of your thesis advisor, according to Chaudhuri. For average students, this system has worked out well, he says, but ironically, may have hurt the country as a whole.
"What's perverse about this whole thing nowadays is that they created this system to have equality. But actually what happens is that those who can avail themselves of other opportunities -- a lot of the German elite -- come to study [in the U.S.] at top universities instead of sticking around in Germany. So in the end, it's not helping the system," he argues.
To try to restore some of the universities' lost luster, the federal government began moving a few years ago to select several universities for additional support to improve their research capabilities and reputation in global research. To American ears, such additional funding might sound innocuous, but the program actually sparked some controversy -- not just between schools and cities that won the competition versus the many that didn't, but because many Germans see elite schools as anti-democratic, a move that undermines the German republic's long-term commitment to educate all its citizens well.
"The dream of being equal is over for German universities," says Hans-Wolfgang Arndt, rector of the University of Mannheim, which has schools of business administration, economics and social sciences closely intertwined with the humanities, law, mathematics and computer science. Mannheim's success proves Arndt right: Numerous rankings, awards and evaluations express the quality of research and teaching at the university. "Applicant ... numbers continue to soar," says Homburg of the Mannheim Business School.
At a fundamental level, experts say, Germany is unlikely to ever want to emulate the kind of pyramid-shaped educational systems found in the United Kingdom, France and the United States.
Chaudhuri notes, for instance, that when private business schools began opening, there were actually protests. Some doubt Germany will ever develop a truly elitist system. "A real elitist system, like in the United States or in other countries, is probably nothing that you would find many people striving for, although we understand the point that we need some top performers in all areas," says Felix Gress, managing director of the Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar, a business development organization focused on the metropolitan region around the Rhine and Neckar, a southwestern region that includes Heidelberg, Mannheim and Ludwigshafen.
The reason, Gress says, is that Germany is deeply egalitarian and does not have the same kind of tradition of centralization as many other countries. "My personal reading is that we have had that for a long time because we are not a centralistic nation like, for example, France. If you look back into French history, the revolution in France was basically against the privileges of others, not against privileges."
Germans, in his view, are deeply suspicious of hero-worship and superstars of almost all kinds. Obviously, World War II exacerbated those fears, but even before that, Germans have always been afraid to follow a single leader. It's an idea deeply embedded in the German psyche, he says, going all the way back to the Middle Ages. Think of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, the legend about children who were led away from that city by a man playing an enchanted flute.
"We don't trust each other here, for historic reasons. That is why the individual, the hero, the superstar, and all of that -- we just allow that in sports and let's say in culture, in singing also," he notes. For Germans, he adds, victories are mostly the story of team players, not individuals. "Even the Nobel Prize winners would say this is the result of a team play. It's a little bit different than in other countries." | <urn:uuid:9f80d1b3-ee80-4b87-9b74-1216e8b70591> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2200&specialid=84 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975651 | 3,165 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Object styles were introduced in Captivate 5. While they aren't necessarily the coolest features in Capitvate, Object styles provide one of the fastest ways to update the look and feel of slide objects project-wide.
As I've continued to teach Captivate to new eLearning developers, one of my challenges is ensuring that object styles are used efficiently. Changing the way a selected object looks is fast and easy via the Properties panel. However, using the Properties panel to change the appearance of a single object can be problematic. For instance, let's assume you are working with a project that contains upwards of 100 text captions. You can update the appearance of a selected text caption with a few clicks on the Properties panel. Unfortunately, you'll quickly discover that the remaining 99 captions have remained unchanged.
In the image below, the Style being used on all of the text captions in my project is the default style called [Default Caption Style].
I wasn't happy with the font or font size used in any of my project captions. I selected a caption on one of my slides and made changes using the Character group.
The change took mere seconds. However, none of the other text captions took the change. In fact, it seemed that Captivate didn't appreciate the manual update on the Properties panel either. Check out the plus sign to the left of the style name in the Style drop-down menu.
The plus sign isn't necessarily good or bad (I guess it depends on if you see the glass half-empty or half-full). The plus sign simply means that the selected object isn't using the original appearance (or intent) of the style. In other words, there's a style override that has been applied to the selected slide object. In this case, since I wanted all of my text captions to look like the one that I had manually formatted, the plus sign was bad.
Fortunately, it's not difficult to turn the chicken into some awesome chicken salad. With the updated text caption still selected, a quick click on the Save changes to Existing Style command instantly updated all of the text captions in my project. | <urn:uuid:7f44ad59-4713-4345-932e-166afa084f1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iconlogic.blogs.com/weblog/2012/02/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940265 | 442 | 1.789063 | 2 |
The Administration of Medication in School
The State of New York mandates that the school nurse follow the procedures listed below:
1. All medication, including non-prescription drugs, given in school must be prescribed by a licensed medical doctor.
2. A written request from the physician must be on file. This request must indicate the dosage and frequency of the prescribed drug.
3. A written request from the parent to administer medication
must be on file.
4. The parent must assume responsibility to have the medication delivered to the Health Office in a properly labeled original container.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY TYPE OF MEDICATION TO SCHOOL WITH YOUR CHILD | <urn:uuid:9602739a-9679-46b5-9515-5de43b486d07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lancasterschools.org/Page/4078 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905179 | 137 | 2.375 | 2 |
Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- A court handed down a 20-year sentence Thursday for an Indonesian man convicted of helping assemble the bombs that killed more than 200 people in Bali in 2002.
The Jakarta court found Umar Patek, 45, guilty of taking part in premeditated murder and conspiracy to smuggle explosives and firearms for use in terror attacks.
Patek had faced a maximum penalty of death, and the courtroom was packed for the verdict delivered by a panel of five judges.
He stared at the floor and showed no emotion as the verdict was read. He shook the judges' hands and hugged his lawyer before he was escorted to a car waiting in the basement of the courthouse for transportation to a jail on the outskirts of the city.
Patek, who has expressed remorse for his actions, will consider appealing to a higher court, said his lawyer Asludin Hatjani.
Hatjani said he was "very disappointed" by the verdict.
"Umar Patek did what he was accused for because he was under pressure from his seniors, and he failed to convince them to prevent the attacks, although he already tried hard to do so," Hatjani said.
Patek was one of Indonesia's most wanted terrorists, with a $1 million bounty on his head from the U.S. government's Rewards for Justice program.
Three of the masterminds of the Bali bombings -- Imam Samudra, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron -- were executed in 2008. Patek was the last of the accused to stand trial in Indonesia.
The October 12, 2002, blasts tore apart two nightclubs in Kuta, a town popular with tourists on the Indonesian island of Bali. At the time, the country's police chief called the attack "the worst act of terrorism in the country's history."
Among the dead were 88 Australians and seven Americans.
Patek eluded investigators looking into the 2002 attacks for many years until his capture in January 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the same village where U.S. Navy SEALs shot and killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden several months later.
Patek was extradited to Indonesia in August.
He faced six charges, including premeditated murder, for his part in the Bali bombings, as well as helping build bombs used in a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000.
He also was accused of smuggling firearms from the Philippines to Indonesia and planning a militant camp in Aceh in 2010.
Patek denied all the charges but admitted helping mix a relatively small amount of the total quantity of explosives used in the Bali attack.
The first bomb detonated in the busy Paddy's Bar on Jelan Legian just after 11 p.m., according to a report from the Australian Federal Police.
Seconds later, as survivors fled the first blast, a second larger bomb hidden in a van exploded outside the crowded Sari Club. A third bomb went off later near the U.S. Consulate in Renon, a suburb of Denpasar, the Australian police said.
Hundreds were reported missing in the confusion that followed the blasts. Many of those killed were foreign vacationers, although some residents were also caught in the attack.
According to testimony given May 31 during his trial, Patek said that when he arrived in Bali, 950 kilograms of explosives had been combined, and he reluctantly agreed to mix the remainder.
"When I saw Sawada, aka Sarjiyo, looking exhausted and nervous, finally I agreed to helped him and both of us mixed the explosive ingredients that were less then 50 kg. I did it lazily because it didn't come from my soul and it was contrary to my conscience," he said, according to an English translation of his testimony.
Sarjiyo was sentenced to life in prison in 2004 for his role in the attacks.
During his trial, Patek asked for forgiveness for the bombings, which he said he "even suggested canceling."
After the attacks, he said, he felt "remorse and regret."
"I said that it was my last involvement on that kind of action in Indonesia. Please know that whether I came to Bali or not, the Bali bomb would still have happen(ed)," he said.
Patek's lawyer argued that his client was not directly involved in the planning of the bombings. He doesn't deny helping assemble the bombs but was unaware how they would ultimately be used, his lawyer, Hatjani, said during Patek's trial, which started in February.
Hatjani slammed the prosecution's case as "vague and far from the truth" and argued that an anti-terrorism law introduced in Indonesia in 2003 could not be used retroactively for the 2002 attacks. Prosecutors have used several articles under the penal code, the emergency rule law and the 2003 anti-terrorism law to charge Patek.
Patek is one of the last figures associated with a splinter group of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al Qaeda-linked terror group behind the Bali bombings and other attacks in Indonesia.
Many in that group, like Patek, trained and fought in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early 1990s and were deeply influenced by bin Laden's teachings.
Patek fled to Mindanao in the southern Philippines with several other Indonesian militants. One of them was Dulmatin, another former Jemaah Islamiyah member, who returned to Indonesia and helped set up a military-style training camp in province of Aceh.
He was killed in a police raid just outside Jakarta in October 2010.
Patek returned to Indonesia from the Philippines in 2009. Prosecutors allege that he was involved in preparing firearms for the Aceh training camp, a charge the defense disputes.
"Patek was only in transit in Indonesia and was not involved in training of firearms," Hatjani said. "He was there to attend a wedding and he didn't even see the firearms."
Indonesian authorities have tried and convicted hundreds of terrorists since the 2002 Bali bombings. The arrests of senior militants with combat experience have weakened the terror network and its ability to launch major attacks.
According to recent reports by the International Crisis Group, the terror threat in the country remains but has shifted to attacks on Indonesian authorities, with smaller groups or radicalized individuals targeting the police.
Journalist Rudy Madanir reported from Jakarta. CNN's Hilary Whiteman reported from Hong Kong. CNN's Kathy Quiano contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:c8350403-7a1f-44d4-8088-033905125326> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/21/world/asia/patek-bali-bombing-verdict/index.html?hpt=ias_c1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98185 | 1,360 | 1.53125 | 2 |
According to the so-called imprinted brain theory, the paradoxes can be explained in terms of the expression of genes, and not simply their inheritance. Imprinted genes are those which are only expressed when they are inherited from one parent rather than the other. The classic example is IGF2, a growth factor gene only normally expressed when inherited from the father, but silent when inherited from the mother. According to the most widely-accepted theory, genes like IGF2 are silenced by mammalian mothers because only the mother has to pay the costs associated with gestating and giving birth to a large offspring. The father, on the other hand, gets all the benefit of larger offspring, but pays none of the costs. Therefore his copy is activated. The symbolism of a tug-of-war represents the mother's genetic self-interest in countering the growth-enhancing demands of the father's genes expressed in the foetus—the mother, after all, has to gestate and give birth to the baby at enormous cost to herself.
THE IMPRINTED BRAIN THEORY
According to a recent New York Times Science Times article ("In a Novel Theory of Mental Disorders, Parents’ Genes Are in Competition" by Benedict Carey, November 10, 2008) Christopher Badcock and Bernard Crespi have presented a new theory that purports to resolve some long-standing contradictions in explaining mental illness.
Edge wrote to Badcock, an early member of the Edge community, to ask him for a summary of his new theory for our readers.
"At first sight," he wrote back in an email, "it would seem that no single theory could explain these seemingly contradictory facts—and certainly not an evolutionary or genetic one—but an attempt is underway to do exactly that which has just passed its first major test. In 2006 Bernard Crespi (Killam Research Professor in the Department of Biosciences, Simon Fraser University) and I published a paper in The Journal of Evolutionary Biology setting out the theory in relation to autism. Earlier this year Behavioral and Brain Sciences published a second paper along with 23 expert commentaries and the authors' replies which extends the idea to psychoses like schizophrenia. More recently still, Nature has published our essay on the theory ("Battle of Sexes May Set The Brain", 28 August 2008)."
CHRISTOPHER BADCOCK is a Reader in Sociology at the London School of Economics and the author of PsychoDarwinism and Evolutionary Psychology: A Clinical Introduction.
The Imprinted Brain Theory
What causes mental illnesses like schizophrenia and autism? We have long known that both tend to run in families and that if one of two identical twins has such a disorder, there is a much higher than average probability that the other will too. Autism is sometimes associated with genetic syndromes, such as Rett, Down, and Turner's, Phenylketonuria, and Tuberous Sclerosis. The clearest single-gene cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is Fragile X syndrome, with a wide range of severity in symptoms and 25-47 per cent of affected males meeting the criteria for autism. But neither autism nor schizophrenia obeys classical Mendelian laws of inheritance in the way that Cystic Fibrosis or some types of colour blindness do.
However, there is also good evidence for social, environmental causes of mental illnesses. Studies of the Dutch wartime famine and of the Chinese famine of 1959–61 reported increased incidence of schizophrenia among children born just after the events. And a study of 2 million Swedish children born between 1963 and 1983 revealed a significant link between schizophrenia and poverty in childhood. Those with 4 out of 5 measured indicators of hardship had an almost 3-fold greater risk of schizophrenia than those with none. Where ASD is concerned, the exponential increase in diagnoses since the 1980s has prompted some to suggest environmental or social causes: most controversially, childhood vaccines like MMR. Autism can certainly result from ethanol or valproic acid poisoning during the mother's pregnancy, and in the 1964 rubella epidemic in the USA, the rate of incidence of autism exceeded 7 per cent at a time when the normal rate of diagnosis was not much more than a tenth of one per cent. ASD can also be caused by thalidomide, where it affects about 5 per cent of those with birth defects attributable to this cause.
The figure illustrates the idea. According to the so-called imprinted brain theory, the paradoxes can be explained in terms of the expression of genes, and not simply their inheritance. Imprinted genes are those which are only expressed when they are inherited from one parent rather than the other. The classic example is IGF2, a growth factor gene only normally expressed when inherited from the father, but silent when inherited from the mother. According to the most widely-accepted theory, genes like IGF2 are silenced by mammalian mothers because only the mother has to pay the costs associated with gestating and giving birth to a large offspring. The father, on the other hand, gets all the benefit of larger offspring, but pays none of the costs. Therefore his copy is activated. The symbolism of a tug-of-war represents the mother's genetic self-interest in countering the growth-enhancing demands of the father's genes expressed in the foetus—the mother, after all, has to gestate and give birth to the baby at enormous cost to herself.
Mental disorders can be located along a dimension of mentalism (aka 'theory-ofmind,' 'folk-psychology' or 'people skills') defined as our evolved ability to comprehend others' actions and behaviour in purely mental terms (such as intention, belief, desire, emotion etc.). Autistics, notoriously, are poor where mentalistic skills like inferring intention or understanding false belief are concerned. ASDs therefore belong on the hypo-mentalistic side of the continuum. However, what we would now term psychotic spectrum disorders (PSDs) can be typified as hyper-mentalistic: paranoid schizophrenics, for example, symptomatically over-interpret intention either positively in erotomania (delusions that others are in love with you) or negatively in delusions of persecution. They also entertain bizarre false beliefs about themselves and others, and generally exhibit excessive mentalism, often enshrined in quasi-religious or mystical delusions. Indeed, the symptoms and signs of autism and psychoses like paranoid schizophrenia exhibit a remarkable pattern of antithesis:
The concepts of hypo- and hyper-mentalism readily explain the last item: age of onset. Typically, this is early childhood for autism but late adolescence or adulthood for schizophrenia: a difference which up until now has lacked an obvious explanation. But the fact that you have to develop normal mentalistic skills before you can over-develop them to the point of psychosis readily explains why the mentalistic deficits of autism are apparent in childhood and why the hyper-mentalism of psychosis can only become fully apparent much later. Mentalism appears to be the key to social behaviour because autistics are notably non-social in the sense that they typically lack social skills and have impoverished social lives with few if any friends, little interest in group activities, and muted emotional responses such as empathy and interest in others. Consequently their behaviour often seems callous, childish, or self-centred. However, mammals as a whole show a notable sex-difference in social behaviour to which human beings are no exception. In general, females have been found to be more sociable, co-operative, and nurturing than males — particularly among primates. This may explain why the mother's genes appear to promote mentalism in human beings and why the father's seem to motivate more self-interested behaviour. From an evolutionary point of view, every one of a mother's offspring carries an equal complement of her genes (half of them). But uncertainty of paternity—the bane of mammals thanks to internal, unseen fertilization—means that the genes of a father have no necessary reason to find themselves in any of a woman's other children: Mother's baby. Father's? Maybe! The result is that, from an evolutionary and genetic point of view, paternallyactive genes do not have the same self-interest in family cohesion and social cooperation that the mother's characteristically do. Why should the father's encourage his offspring to co-operate with those of the mother's other mates?
Nevertheless, paternal genes do have a more positive cognitive bias of their own: what you might call mechanistic cognition. This is the mode of cognition that we have evolved to interact with the physical, non-human, natural environment, and stands in contrast to mentalistic cognition, which evolved to facilitate social contact and cognition in relation to other people. Significantly, autistics often show compensations for their mentalistic deficits in mechanistic cognitive skills, one of the most common being calendar calculation (such as knowing the date of Easter in any year you care to name), rote memorization, and maths skills. Indeed, the attraction of like-minded people with mechanistic cognitive configurations is probably part of the explanation for the remarkably high incidence of ASD in Silicon Valley, California, and in the Cambridge area in the UK—both places with high levels of employment in maths-, computer- and science-based industries.
If we have evolved two parallel cognitive systems rather than just one, they appear to vary in the same way that vulnerability to ASD or PSD does: more paternal influence predisposes to mentalistic deficits, but mechanistic compensations; and more maternal influence is the converse. A counter-intuitive prediction of this model corroborated by some recent clinical findings is that hyper-mentalism should go with mechanistic deficits in exactly the same way that autistic hypo-mentalism goes with mentalistic deficits. Indeed, this model also suggests that if there are autistic savants with outstanding skills in mechanistic aspects of cognition, there ought also to be psychotic ones with the opposite, mentalistic ones. However, the very same excellence in mentalism would make such psychotic savants much less noticeable than their autistic counterparts, whose deficits immediately identify them as odd, socially-isolated, and eccentric. Psychotic savants, by contrast, can be expected to be deeply embedded in successful social networks, and found at the centre of excellence in such things as religious and ideological evangelism; literary and theatrical culture; litigation and the law; hypnosis, faith-healing, and psychotherapy; fashion and advertising; politics, public-relations and the media; commerce, confidence-trickery, and fraud of all kinds. The following table gives some idea of the inverted symmetry to be found between mentalistic and mechanistic cognition:
According to this way of looking at things, development can be pushed to either extreme by any factors that affect gene expression either before or after birth. Valproic acid is known to do this, as is thalidomide and other environmental causes of autism. Where purely genetic factors are concerned, the theory proposes that increased expression of paternal genes like IGF2 will predispose to autism—and expression of that gene is now known to be enhanced in individuals with ASD. This will result in the features listed in the figure: higher birth weight, an increased vulnerability to cancer (which is another expression of over-growth), and a larger brain in childhood with more white matter. Furthermore, increased nutrition would mimic the effect of genes like IGF2 and predispose to growth, perhaps explaining part of the recent exponential increase in milder ASDs such as Asperger's syndrome. Indeed, the fact that birth-weights of new-born babies in Vienna rose an unprecedented amount during the 1920s perhaps partly explains why Asperger was to discover the autistic syndrome named after him during the next couple of decades. And because all fathers are male the new theory can also be reconciled with the extreme male brain theory of autism, which persuasively argues that ASDs can often be linked to increased testosterone exposure in utero and to the more lateralized brain characteristic of males.
Significantly then, PSD—and schizophrenia in particular—are associated with the features listed on the other side of the diagram: low birth weight, a reduced vulnerability to cancer (despite schizophrenics smoking much more!), and smaller adult brains with less white matter. Correspondingly, just as increased nutrition in pregnancy and/or early life might mimic paternally-active genes like IGF2 to predispose to ASD, the contrary conditions—starvation during pregnancy and/or early life—could be predicted to increase the risk of PSD, as we saw they indeed do, at least in the case of schizophrenia. And because all mothers are female, enhanced expression of maternal genes also goes with reduced foetal testosterone and the less lateralized brain typical of women. Indeed, the fact that mammalian females have two X sex chromosomes (XX) by contrast to the male's one (XY) means that X chromosome gene expression is also implicated. In cases where an extra X chromosome is present: X trisomy (XXX) and Klinefelter syndrome (XXY), the presence of the additional X results in brain features similar to those found in schizophrenia, along with a notably increased vulnerability to psychosis, just as the theory would predict.
Another controversial and counter-intuitive prediction of the theory for which there is already much evidence is that, if ASD has increased in modern societies with higher standards of living as it so spectacularly has done, then PSD should be falling. Interestingly in this respect, rates of admission for PSDs like schizophrenia have decreased by between 10 and 57 per cent in England and Wales, Scotland, Denmark, Australia, and New Zealand. Indeed, even Bleuler, who coined the term schizophrenia, noticed a secular decline in his own lifetime, and a recent Canadian study showed a 42 per cent decrease in the number of first-admission schizophrenia cases over 20 years. It found that annual inpatient prevalence rates decreased by 52 per cent between1986 and 1996, with no corresponding change in outpatient rates, regardless of sex. Although total major affective disorders increased, this was due to an increase in major depression, not bipolar disorder, which is now thought to be much more closely allied to schizophrenia than was once believed.
Surprisingly as it may seem, the new theory can even encompass the finding that infectious agents can sometimes be implicated in causing schizophrenia. People infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii are three times more likely to suffer from schizophrenia than those not infected, and so too are catowners. The significance of the latter may lie in the fact that the parasite can only complete the reproductive phase of its life-cycle inside a cat. It achieves this by causing its principal carriers, rats and mice, to lose their fear of cats, and so be much more likely to be eaten by one. Inside the rodent's brain, the parasite attacks the amygdalas, which play the same role in triggering fear-reactions that it does in humans. But when infected rats are treated with anti-psychotic drugs like those given to human schizophrenics the rats' fear of felines returns. Men with Toxoplasma infection tend to be more reckless than normal, and infected people of both sexes are almost three times more likely to be involved in car accidents, and have measurably slowed reaction times. In mice, only paternal genes are expressed in the amygdalas and there is good evidence suggesting that the same is true in humans. This finding suggests the intriguing possibility that an explanation may lie in the parasite suppressing paternally-controlled brain systems like the amygdala to produce an overall preponderance of maternal brain function, which according to the new theory is the fundamental basis of psychosis in general and of schizophrenia in particular. T. gondii, in other words, could be another of those environmental effects portrayed in black in the figure, but one pushing development pathologically towards the psychotic end of the spectrum by sabotaging brain systems built by paternal genes.
Finally, what of normal development? The implication is clear: so-called normality represents a more-or-less balanced expression of genes and environmental developmental influences. However, the fact that all fathers are male and all mothers are female implies that the norms for the sexes are likely to be slightly offset. This would fit with the finding that ASD afflicts more males than females and that men typically do worse on tests of mentalistic competence than do women. Women, on the other hand, would be symmetrically offset to the more mentalistic side of the spectrum, and this might explain why rates of incidence of schizophrenia among family members of women with the disorder are higher than those among family members of men with schizophrenia. And although there is a slightly higher incidence of schizophrenia overall in men, erotomania appears to be a predominantly female pathology, with women suffering more paranoid delusions and hallucinations than men, particularly in late-onset cases.
The model appears to rule out anyone suffering from an ASD and a PSD simultaneously, and such co-morbidity does appear to be rare—but is not unknown. However, I know of cases of individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder who also show unmistakable signs of ASD during their non-manic phases. Indeed, I have research on one individual who suffers from severe gaze-aversion, autistic deficits in a sense of self and social anxiety most of the time, but who becomes comfortable with other people during manic episodes when his sense of self hypertrophies into megalomania with the feeling that he is the returned Jesus Christ! Furthermore, there is evidence of both ASD and PSD in Newton and Beethoven, and incontrovertibly so in the Nobel-prize winning mathematician John Nash. Here the theory predicts that the ASD must come first (typically in childhood) and leave a permanent savant-like basis later built on by hyper-mentalistic tendencies to produce an unusually broadened and dynamically-balanced cognitive configuration: that of true genius.
Such a far-reaching theory as this can be expected to be controversial, and much
remains to be done to work out its detailed implications. But the theory does have
one outstanding merit: it makes clear and profoundly counter-intuitive predictions
about which genes are involved, about how they should be expressed, and about
what effects they should be found to have in the brain and on behaviour. Twenty-three
experts are only the start: Nature's comment will be decisive and, thanks to
rapid progress in genomics and neuroscience, should not be long in coming. | <urn:uuid:b94a9221-b30c-443e-b728-45fba9ed8e93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/badcock08/badcock08_index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953872 | 3,784 | 3.203125 | 3 |
North Korea has agreed to temporarily suspend nuclear tests, long-range ballistic missile launches and other nuclear activities, including enrichment of uranium. U.S. and North Korean officials announced the surprise breakthrough after talks in Beijing.
The announcement came just a little more than two months after the death of the secretive communist state's supreme leader Kim Jong Il.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that while there still are profound concerns about North Korea's behavior, the announcement reflects progress. "On the occasion of Kim Jong Il's death, I said that it is our hope that the new leadership will choose to guide their nation on to the path to peace by living up to its obligations. Today's announcement represents a modest first step in the right direction," she said.
The White House also welcomed the announcement, calling it a "positive step," but stressed that the U.S. is looking for North Korea to follow through with action.
Washington says it is ready to move forward with plans to provide the North with 240,000 metric tons of food aid over a period of a year. The two sides still need to work out the details before deliveries of the aid can begin.
Floods and a poor harvest last year have caused widespread hunger in North Korea. In the 1990s, the impoverished state suffered a major famine, which is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of people.
U.S. and North Korean officials say that in addition to a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests, the North has agreed to allow United Nations inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency access to nuclear facilities so they can verify and monitor the suspension of uranium enrichment activities.
IAEA inspectors were kicked out of North Korea in 2009 when the country withdrew from the so-called six-party talks on ending its atomic weapons program.
According to the new agreement, Pyongyang will allow inspectors access to its main facility at Yongbyon and other nuclear sites. U.S. officials also say inspectors will confirm the disabling of the 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon and its related facilities.
A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity says the steps North Korea has now agreed to, open the door to serious negotiations and wider talks on ending its nuclear weapons program.
Pyongyang conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. It raised new concerns when it confirmed that it had a uranium enrichment program, in November of 2010. The uranium program could give the North another way to make nuclear weapons in addition to its longstanding plutonium-based program.
Analysts say that while the steps North Korea has agreed to are moving in the right direction, the announcement is not a significant breakthrough.
"A cynical take on it would be that the U.S. is paying additional economic benefits simply for North Korea's agreement to affirm previous agreements that it has already signed its name to three times in the six-party talks," said Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Washington D.C.-based Heritage Foundation. "That said, it does provide a means for perhaps re-opening the diplomatic route, but overall there is very little optimism in the Executive Branch and both parties in Congress and experts both within and outside of government that even a resumption of the six-party talks will be successful in the sense of getting North Korea to actually give up their nuclear weapons."
The announcement comes just days after U.S. and North Korean representatives met in China to discuss the resumption of the six-party talks. The meeting was the first since the authoritarian state transferred power to Kim Jong Il's untested young son Kim Jong Un. | <urn:uuid:860cd530-4980-4886-a685-67d7b77ad8cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voanews.com/content/us-says-n-korea-agrees-to-missile-uranium-enrichment-moratorium-140865073/152648.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96372 | 737 | 2.125 | 2 |
What Happens When They Are Caught?
An officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement makes an arrest.
By Ellen Thompson
“We are not the ones who enforce the immigration laws. If we encounter a victim or witness of a crime who is not documented we do not disclose their information,” a spokesman from the NYPD said.
“On the other hand, if the person engages in criminal conduct and we find out they are not documented they are held and reported to federal authorities, in which federal authorities then take over. But we encourage anyone, regardless of their status, if they have witnessed a crime to report it.”
The Department of Homeland Security has shown that when cases from local law enforcement are brought to their attention that the undocumented immigrants are typically detained and deported quickly and efficiently, a spokesperson with the department said, while Homeland Security tries to gain operational control of the nation’s borders.
Over the past four years, however, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has gradually budged open City Hall’s doors and has been waving to immigrant families to come on in, regardless of status.
In September 2003 Bloomberg issued Executive Order 41 ensuring all New Yorkers, including immigrants, access to the city services they need and are entitled to receive. Under the Executive Order undocumented immigrants no longer had reason to fear vital visits to the emergency room or applying for their children’s’ reduced school lunches, due to their status. Additionally, the Mayor’s order protects the information about a person’s sexual orientation, status as a victim of domestic violence, status as a crime witness, receipt of public assistance, and information in income tax records.
The Mayor’s powerful statement did more than allow undocumented immigrants a route to essential city services – it gave them an opportunity to drop their guard as their fears of being caught and deported slightly diminished.
In protecting information concerning immigration status, illegal immigrants are able to receive child welfare and foster care services, emergency shelter, immunizations and senior services among many others. If they are the victim or witness of a crime, or if they call or approach the police seeking assistance, police officers will not inquire about their immigration status. | <urn:uuid:d8ced82f-6629-4828-8c4f-519baecbddfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.queenstribune.com/guides/2006_TheImmigrantIssue/definingtheprobelm/whatiftheygetcaught.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966089 | 446 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Most developers know enough about refactoring to write code that's pretty good. They create short methods, and classes with one responsibility. They're also familiar with a good handful of refactorings, and the code smells that motivate them.
This talk is about the next level of knowledge: the things advanced developers know that let them turn good code into great. Code that's easy to read and a breeze to change.
These topics will be covered solely by LIVE CODING; no slides. We'll boldly refactor right on stage, and pray the tests stay green. You might even learn some vim tricks as well as an expert user shows you his workflow.
Topics to cover include: * The Open-Closed Principle * The types of coupling, and their dangers * Why composition is so damn great * A powerful refactoring that Kent Beck refers to as "deep deep magic" * How to destroy conditionals with a NullObject * The beauty of the Decorator pattern * Testing smells, including Mystery Guest and stubbing the system under test * The stuff from the last halves of Refactoring and Clean Code that you never quite got to :) organizers') Obviously, my credibility relies entirely on this talk being awesome, so come ready to laugh, learn, and enjoy yourself. | <urn:uuid:6d53c64d-646f-43de-b17c-52f0b8859065> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://confreaks.com/videos/1233-aloharuby2012-refactoring-from-good-to-great | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966959 | 261 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Psssst… you are being watched. That’s right—by those amazing little “sponges” known as your kids. They’re absorbing so much information from everything around them, and that includes what they learn from watching you. Why not put their keen observation skills to use with important lifelong lessons they’ll learn from you? Here are five things to consider showing your kids about the valuable lesson of organization.
1) Keep only what you can use.
When seasons change, so does your wardrobe, and it’s time to decide which clothing items you’ll keep and put in storage, and which ones you’ll donate. This same practice can be used when it comes to your kids’ clothing and other belongings, such as toys.
Label your storage boxes and identify the contents using Avery Full-Sheet Removable Labels and the Avery Design & Print Online program. Then when the weather changes, make a plan with your children to decide what items need to be packed away until next season, and what outfits the kids have outgrown that can be donated.
For birthdays and other occasions when kids receive several toys at once, you can pack away some of their new playthings into a box to prolong the “wow” factor throughout the year. When they’re ready for something new, ask them to donate a toy they already have before choosing a new one from the box.
2) Take care of your priorities.
How do you make a to-do list even more effective? Make it a prioritized to-do list, so you can take care of what’s important first. With these checklist templates, you can show your kids how to zero in on their tasks in order of importance.
New To-Do List Templates for Avery Shipping Labels 3-1/3" x 4"
Whether you create a new to-do list every day or once a week, set up a time (daily or weekly) with your kids and show them how you would put together your own list and help them create theirs. The next time you get together, you can go over their accomplishments from the last list before starting the next one.
3) Ask for help.
While kids like to feel independent, it’s important to let them know they can always ask for help if they need it. We can all use a little helping hand every now and then, even when we’re grown up, too—especially when we need a little help around the house!
Chores are a great way to give kids some responsibility, and it can demonstrate that everybody can do their part to help each other out. What’s an easy way to get the kids onboard without making it a huge ordeal? Make it fun by creating chore cards for them using Avery Adhesive Pockets with Card Inserts. Customizable with the free Avery Design & Print Online program, you can print the chore on one side of the card, and use the other side to print the day of the week the chore should be done, identify which child the chore is assigned to, or even add a reward they will receive when the chore is completed. Then stick the pockets up on a bulletin board in a common area of the house, and tuck the chore cards inside. Assign different chores each time for the element of surprise!
Avery Chore Cards Template for Adhesive Pockets with Card Inserts
4) Stay on track.
When your daily life has you juggling multiple tasks, it’s important to stay focused on what needs to be done. Having one central place for all your paperwork makes it easier to keep life organized, for both kids and adults.
Whether you have a big project to organize, such as a wedding or a home renovation, you’ll be organized from the start with an Avery Heavy-Duty Binder. And as you add your documents, such as official licenses, quotes, or notes, you can build categories inside your binder with customizable Avery Index Maker Dividers so you can easily reference your paperwork.
Your kids can appreciate the idea of having one go-to place for all their stuff, too! Get them started with an Avery Mini Binder, a pint-sized way for them to learn how to organize, and easy enough for smaller hands to carry. With Avery Mini Write-On Dividers they can categorize their class notes, journal entries, or drawings by writing on the tabs with a pen or pencil, and when categories change, they can erase the tab and write in the new category.
5) Take time out for yourself so you can tackle your tasks.
When kids get tired and cranky, a little naptime can help them get refreshed again. As adults, we don’t often get a chance to nap during the day, but it’s nice to take breaks and get refreshed, too.
So remind yourself to take five every now and then. Even if it’s a setting an alarm on your phone or putting it in your planner. You’ll appreciate the breather and be ready for whatever comes your way.
Showing your kids the benefits of organization is a lesson that can last a lifetime. So remember—lead by example, and help your kids learn how their organization efforts can go a long way. | <urn:uuid:821b4d81-d4b9-4f29-962c-542f303fff3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.avery.com/avery/en_US/Projects-%26-Ideas/Ideas-for-Home/Home-%26-Kids/Articles/Top-Five-Organization-Tips-We-Teach-Our-Kids.htm?Ns=Rank | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936072 | 1,110 | 2.0625 | 2 |
DrumBeat: December 2, 2006
Posted by threadbot on December 2, 2006 - 9:30am
Energy regulators from four U.S. Western states, saying they cannot wait for the Bush administration to act on climate change, signed an agreement on Friday to cooperate to promote energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
The move by the public utilities commissions of California, Oregon, Washington and New Mexico is likely to draw in other states in the West, officials said.
China's leaders recognise that tackling climate change is urgent and that reducing greenhouse gases does not mean slamming the brakes on growth, the author of an acclaimed report on global warming said on Friday.
The already sizeable footprint of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in global oil markets is set to become even bigger as the group prepares to enlarge its club with new members and with oil production from non-OPEC countries set to plateau within the next decade.
...Although the move would give OPEC more clout in oil markets buoying up oil prices, it could also slow investment by Western oil companies in the three countries, potentially hindering new supplies of crude oil coming to increasingly thirsty world markets, oil analysts said.
Scott Waterman of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation earlier this week spoke to three southern Kenai Peninsula audiences about the importance of finding new ways to get the most out of our energy resources. The presentation was titled “Peak Oil and the Economics of Energy Efficiency,” but the lessons were about responsibility and stewardship.
An Answer to the World's Energy Problems? - Bacteria Could Be the Source of an Unlimited Supply of Power
Leading experts predict that policy goal of 25% renewable production capacity by 2025 could potentially double.
Crude oil prices may fall 7.5 percent next year because of an increase in supplies from Russia, Brazil and Angola, said Bank Julius Baer & Co., Switzerland's largest independent money manager.
If Saudi Arabia "strangled" Iran's economy, that would also strangle Iran's capacity to fund its nuclear blackmail program, not to mention Hezbollah and other murderous proxies. And what was that the Saudi adviser said about cutting the price of crude oil in half? A Saudi-Iranian, Sunni-Shiite rift over Iraq sounds like a win-win situation for the United States, maybe even better than the Sino-Soviet rivalry of the Cold War.
Algeria's new fiscal regime on hydrocarbons will be "sensitive" to the size and profitability of foreign partners' investments, Algerian oil minister Chakib Khelil said Thursday.
Canada's energy trust sector has been left "in limbo", with firms not sure if they are allowed to make acquisitions under the country's plans to make trusts pay corporate tax, according to a income trust spokesman.
Any hopes the U.S. may have to loosen some of the control the OPEC cartel has on the crude market through increased oil development of Africa's crude and natural gas production may have been diminished by an announcement earlier this week by Angola that it wishes to join OPEC.
Video: Amory Lovins on Charlie Rose
According to Ken Brewer, head of the local food pantry, he and the 25 volunteers that assist the ministry have noticed a big increase in the number of families seeking help from them.
“I have been doing this for several years and this year has been the busiest,” Brewer said. “Even people who work and bring in a regular income are having trouble making ends meet.”
The reason, Brewer said, for that increase in need are the continually high utility and gasoline bills families are faced with each month.
LAS VEGAS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- When he takes control of the U.S. Senate in January, Harry Reid's agenda will include moving the country toward energy independence -- a U.S. security issue, he says -- which he blames the Republican Congress and president for hindering.
In an exclusive interview with United Press International in his Las Vegas office, the future Senate Majority Leader said Thursday he's astonished by how much oil the United States consumes and by the lack of attention paid to drawing down the crude habit.
CAIRO (Reuters) - OPEC ministers sent conflicting signals on Saturday on whether the group needed to reduce oil production further to bring markets back into equilibrium.
Libya's top energy official said markets seemed to be nearing a balance and he did not feel there was a need for OPEC to add to the 1.2 million barrel per day cuts agreed in October.
...But influential Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi reiterated the market was out of balance because of high fuel stockpiles and that 100 million barrels needed to be removed.
PARIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- As Resource Investor has been pointing out for some time a breakout in the crude oil market has had to come. Finally the data from the United States, combined with the cold weather in the northern Americas, has woken the market to the fundamentals.
That is that gasoline stocks in the United States – once presumed to at “record highs” – have slumped by 80% in just seven weeks. The momentum has all been about a draw down in the distillate stocks for the United States. | <urn:uuid:fe2a4159-eed9-497c-89f7-fc37af308c58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theoildrum.com/story/2006/12/2/83010/1552 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962038 | 1,078 | 1.609375 | 2 |
supports ICADV Primary Prevention Initiatives
We celebrate youth workers serving kids in clubs, youth groups, congregations, and after school programs across Indiana! As youth workers you have the credibility to influence and the opportunity to create environments where kids can learn about, observe and grow to expect healthy, respectful relationships.
In the past year, the Indiana General Assembly, Department of Education, and advocates have worked to support schools in implementing healthy relationship education and policies. Violence prevention education in schools is essential, but it’s just a starting point for creating a youth culture in Indiana where respect is the expectation and healthy relationships are the norm. If schools in your area have been able to implement healthy relationship education, it would be great if you could communicate with them to discuss ways that you can support and reinforce those messages. If schools in your area have not been able to incorporate this education, you might want to conduct prevention curricula in your program. We strongly encourage you to talk with your local domestic violence program or rape crisis center to get support for your work. You may contact ICADV to get information about the programs serving your area.
We believe that acts of teen dating violence (TDV) come down to an individual’s choice to behave in ways that are abusive and controlling, but that decision is strongly influenced by factors in that young person’s environment. Our kids witness abusive relationships on reality tv, the radio, video games, among their peers and maybe even at home. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of negative relationship messages in our culture. To get the job done in preventing TDV, we must be at least as present, vocal, and convincing in presenting positive modeling and messages. You can be part of the solution by educating your kids about healthy relationships, modeling these behaviors in your interactions with kids and colleagues, implementing policies that establish respectful behaviors as the expectation within your organization and helping the youth whom you serve to process the negative messages and abusive relationship behaviors that they see all around them.
Because we know about the destructive impact that TDV has on our kids, it is our responsibility to pursue strategies that prevent that violence from happening in the first place. For that reason, the focus of this site is on primary prevention strategy. Primary prevention initiatives seek to reduce and to ultimately eliminate the acceptability of violence by establishing healthy, respectful behaviors as the expected norm.
While the focus of this site is on primary prevention, we also recognize that, until the violence is ended, we must provide compassionate, supportive interventions to youth who are experiencing TDV. Accordingly, in the following pages we provide you with comprehensive information to foster prevention by creating healthy, safe environments and to offer compassionate interventions where incidents of teen dating violence are indicated. Thanks very much for your work in service to Indiana youth and for joining us in the movement to end teen dating violence! | <urn:uuid:95c5fd47-df32-4c16-b299-6d29b6045dad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icadvinc.org/prevention/for-youth-workers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959346 | 579 | 2.25 | 2 |
Simple 'standing up' test can predict mortality
The ability to sit on the floor before rising to a standing position is closely linked to all causes of death, according to a new study.
Researchers found that adults who needed to use a number of aids such as their hands and knees to get off the floor were six times more likely to die than those who didn't.
It supports previous research that found musculo-skeletal fitness is a strong predictor of health in the middle aged and above, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
Tests on more than 2,000 men and women in Brazil were 'remarkably predictive' or mortality rates.
"If a middle-aged or older man or woman can sit and rise from the floor using just one hand - or even better without the help of a hand - they are not only in the higher quartile of musculo-skeletal fitness but their survival prognosis is probably better than that of those unable to do so," study leader Dr Claudio Arazjo, from the Exercise Medicine Clinic in Rio de Janeiro, said.
The test was a simple assessment of the subjects' ability to sit and then rise unaided from the floor. It was performed in 2,002 adults aged between 51 to 80 years.
The subjects were followed-up from the date of the baseline test until the date of death or 31 October 2011, a median follow-up of
Be the first to comment. | <urn:uuid:a7c4cb23-376a-4578-9675-4baf1bc521eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.financialexpress.com/news/simple-standing-up-test-can-predict-mortality/1044903 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967153 | 301 | 2.78125 | 3 |
How to contact the police if you live in London, Scotland or Northern Ireland
London - Mayor Boris Johnson is the equivalent of a Police and Crime Commissioner for London. To ask him to prioritise road safety email him at email@example.com or tweet him @MayorofLondon
Scotland - Policing in Scotland has been devolved to the Scottish Government. Consultation on policing priorities for the Strategic Policing Plan ended on January 10th.
Northern Ireland - The Police Service of Northern Ireland has been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. To contribute to the consultation process on policing priorities, which closes on March 1st, contact Chief Inspector Michael Kirby by email (firstname.lastname@example.org) or by pone 028 9092 2373
Surrey - Thanks to all those who have already emailed from Surrey. CTC has now met with Surrey's Police and Crime Commissioner, Kevin Hurley, who has asked not to receive any more emails. | <urn:uuid:c8cec0f2-690b-4dea-831f-a3123d954855> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ctc.org.uk/article/cycling-guide/how-to-contact-police-if-you-live-in-london-scotland-or-northern-ireland | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933958 | 204 | 1.710938 | 2 |
By Gloria Feldt
It’s the sweltering heat of summer. We can count on seeing ads for escapes to the beach, reminders to wear sunscreen, and the extreme anti-reproductive rights, homophobic Operation Save America's annual attempt to turn up the political heat by mounting a media-circus demonstration at a high-profile women's health center that provides abortions. This summer from July 14 to 22, the target-of-choice is the New Woman, Every Woman Healthcare Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.
If the location and clinic name ring a bell, there’s good reason. In 1998, Eric Robert Rudolf detonated a firebomb of dynamite and nails at the clinic’s front door, killing police officer Robert “Sandy” Sanderson on his beat and seriously wounding clinic nurse Emily Lyons. In addition to sustaining first, second, and third degree burns covering the front of her body, Lyons lost her left eye and her right was seriously damaged. A hole the size of a fist was blown in her abdomen and her left leg was shattered—just for starters. | <urn:uuid:5aa17fbe-bc5c-4a51-a207-04e4f3cf3e49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://realwomenvoices.blogspot.com/2007/07/turning-down-heat-on-abortion-clinic.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945419 | 225 | 1.5625 | 2 |
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to Mexico has resigned after a public dispute with President Felipe Calderon over the handling of the war against Mexico's powerful drug gangs.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday that she and President Barack Obama had accepted Ambassador Carlos Pascual's resignation "with great reluctance."
The announcement came as a surprise just as Obama began a five-day trip to Latin America, where he is visiting El Salvador, Brazil and Chile, to shore up ties with the region.
The United States and Mexico have long lauded their close economic ties and cooperation on security issues, with more than $1 billion in U.S. aid being funneled to Mexican forces to battle the drug cartels.
But a diplomatic fight erupted after State Department documents published by WikiLeaks showed Pascual criticizing Mexican authorities' lack of coordination in operations targeting cartel leaders.
Calderon lashed out in an unusually critical newspaper interview on February 22, saying Pascual had shown "ignorance" and distorted what was happening in the country.
He also said U.S. security forces failed to coordinate their own efforts and saw each other as "rivals."
Calderon is facing increasing pressure in Mexico over his security strategy as the death toll from drug violence has climbed to more than 36,000 since he took office in late 2006.
In a visit to Washington earlier this month, Calderon reportedly requested that Pascual be removed from his post.
Pascual decided to resign "to avert issues raised by President Calderon that could distract from the important business of advancing our bilateral interests," Clinton said on Saturday.
Mexico and the United States trade more than $1 billion a day across their long border and in recent years stepped up intelligence sharing in operations to bring down major drug traffickers.
Calderon's office on Saturday said U.S.-Mexico relations remained solid despite Pascual's resignation and the two nations would continue working together to deepen their relationship "as neighbors and friends."
But the alliance has recently been soured by the public dispute between Calderon and Pascual and Washington's failure to stop weapons smuggling into Mexico.
A decision to allow unmanned surveillance drones to fly over Mexican territory has drawn criticism, with opposition politicians saying it violates Mexico's sovereignty. The killing of a U.S. immigration official in a suspected drug cartel ambush last month also raised tensions.
Pascual, a Cuban-born career diplomat with more than two decades of service, recently began dating the daughter of a senior figure inside Mexico's main opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
Calderon's conservative National Action Party (PAN) is struggling in polls ahead of a presidential election next year and the relationship may have raised concerns inside his team.
A cable signed by Pascual in 2009 remarked "the PRI party is in the ascendancy," and called PAN's prospects of winning the election "bleak."
(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Kieran Murray and Eric Beech) | <urn:uuid:6324dd98-965d-485a-89f1-45ee8cca6b19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://us.mobile.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE72J09F20110320 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968673 | 628 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Nik Welter (Mersch 1871 - Luxembourg 1951) was one of the first Luxembourg authors to achieve fame outside the borders of the Grand Duchy. A writer, poet, and playwright in the German language, he also forged a reputation as a connoisseur of French and Provincial literature.
His varied work is distinguished by a marked interest in Luxembourg history, mythology, language, and literature, on one hand, and by a profound sensitivity to human misery and oppression, on the other.
In lyric poetry, he made his name by highlighting in his verse the absurdity of war and by extolling the mining and metallurgical industry then booming in the south of the country. His autobiographical works of prose include, among other things, remembrances of childhood and of travel. His work "Griselinde" (1901) inspired the opera of the same name by Alfred Kowalsky and several of his poems were put to music.
A secondary education teacher, Director of Public Instruction, and Inspector-General of Primary Education, his contributions to the Luxembourg public school system were important at several levels. As a member of the Government during the crisis of 1918-21, he played a key diplomatic role in safeguarding the independence of the Grand Duchy.
Design and engraving by Pierre Schopfer, La Chaux (Switzerland) after a photograph taken in 1921 by the doctor and photographer Dr. Nicolas-Auguste Praum (1870-1928).
|Price of the series:||72 LUF|
|Design and Engraving:||Pierre Schopfer, La Caux (Switzerland)|
|Printing:||Engraved and offset combined by l'Imprimerie de la Poste Suisse, Bern (Switzerland)|
|Dimensions:||33 x 28 mm, 20 stamps per sheet| | <urn:uuid:90d61c4c-8f3c-47a4-b34d-a02117a6b91f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pt.lu/portal/op/pretelie/lang/en/Philatelie/stamps/pid/2945 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959168 | 387 | 2.40625 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — After an emotional debate, the D.C. Council gave final approval Tuesday to legislation that recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
Other political news of note
The vote is considered the first step toward eventually allowing gay marriages to be performed in Washington. Congress, which has final say over the city's laws, will get 30 days to review the bill assuming Democratic Mayor Adrian Fenty, a supporter, signs it.
If Congress takes no action, the bill will become law automatically. President Barack Obama and congressional leaders have not signaled where they stand on the D.C. bill. Obama generally supports civil unions but has said marriage is between a man and a woman.
"The march toward equality is coming to this country, and you can either be a part of it or stand in the way," said David Catania, one of two openly gay D.C. Council members.
Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa already allow gay marriage and lawmakers in several other states are considering whether to do the same. New York recognizes gay marriages performed in other states.
The D.C. Council vote was 12-to-1, with former Mayor Marion Barry casting the lone opposing vote. Barry, a longtime supporter of the gay community, called it an "agonizing and difficult decision" that he made after praying and consulting with his constituents and the religious community.
Re-examining federal law?
Catania called the issue one of fundamental fairness and said it's about acknowledging that his family is just as valid as anybody else's.
"The district has long been a place where we have tried to live under our motto of 'Justice for All.' And there is no justice so long as we recognize that some are more equal than others," he said.
Gay-marriage supporters greeted the vote with applause, but they were outnumbered at city hall by outraged opponents, including many black ministers.
The majority-black district is overwhelmingly Democratic, but public support for gay marriage is unclear. Exit polls in California indicated about seven in 10 black voters there weighed in against gay marriage in a November vote.
Video: Miss California: ‘Here to protect marriage’ The Rev. Anthony Evans, a pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Washington, vowed to make sure the legislation dies in Congress and said he will work to unseat every D.C. Council member who voted for it.
"They just kissed their political careers goodbye," he said.
The congressional review could be the new Congress' first opportunity to signal its appetite for re-examining the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and allows states to do the same.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is openly gay, said he expects Congressional opponents of gay marriage to rally to repeal the city's decision, but doubts they'll get very far.
"For this to be overturned, it'd have to pass both houses and be signed by the president, and that's highly unlikely," Frank said.
An overflow crowd filled city hall ahead of the vote, and more than 100 opponents from churches in the Washington region held a rally across the street on Freedom Plaza. Among them was the Rev. Derek McCoy from the Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md.
"Once you redefine marriage, you redefine family," he said.
Gay marriage supporters gathered outside the council hearing room included Ed Grandis, a lawyer who lives in Dupont Circle with his husband, J.D. Campos. The pair married in California last year during the time same-sex marriage was legal there, and they hope to have their marriage recognized in D.C.
"We don't have any interest in making their religious institution recognize our marriage or our relationship," Grandis said. Instead, Grandis said, it's about the government recognizing the couple's civil rights.
The district already recognizes domestic partnerships, but gay marriage supporters say that's not enough.
"It's an equality issue," said Sara Mindel, who has been with her partner for nine years and has a 10-month-old son. "In my mind, marriage, although it's a wonderful religious ceremony, ultimately gives you so many important states rights and legal rights."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:92eb4aab-6a46-429a-a134-c2e860213761> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30582120/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974343 | 899 | 1.8125 | 2 |
The Prince of Wales has spoken about how the prospect of becoming a grandfather is spurring his environmental beliefs, saying he does not want to "hand on an increasingly dysfunctional world".
Charles, who has long campaigned on environmental issues, told ITV's This Morning that he did not want the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's child, due to be born next summer, to ask him why he had not done more to tackle issues such as climate change.
In an interview at Clarence House with presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, to be broadcast on Monday, he said: "I've gone on for years about the importance of thinking about the long term in relation to the environmental damage, climate change and everything else.
"We don't, in a sensible world, want to hand on an increasingly dysfunctional world to our grandchildren, to leave them with the real problem.
"I don't want to be confronted by my future grandchild and [have] them say: 'Why didn't you do something?' So clearly now that we will have a grandchild, it makes it even more obvious to try and make sure we leave them something that isn't a total poisoned chalice."
Charles spoke as he backed This Morning's You Can Be Heroes Week, which aims to capitalise on the success of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and create a new army of volunteers across the UK.
He said in December he was "thrilled" at the prospect of becoming a grandfather, after William and Kate announced the duchess was expecting their first child. She spent three days in the private King Edward VII's hospital in London being treated for a severe form of morning sickness.
Charles has been a strong advocate of taking action to protect the environment for many years. In 2007, he set up The Prince's Rainforest Group to find a solution to save the world's threatened forests. He addressed a UN international climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009 and the following year gave a keynote speech to the Oslo climate and forest conference.
In a wide-ranging interview with the ITV daytime show, he also reiterated his worry about Prince Harry, who is serving in Afghanistan, something he also did at the "Millies" military awards last month.
"If you are a parent or relation to a loved one and that person is away in these incredibly dangerous and challenging circumstances, I know you worry all the time," he said.
"Certainly every night I worry. But he [Prince Harry] loves doing what he is doing and he is brilliant at it."
He added: "I constantly meet the families of those who have lost their sons, husbands, brothers or sisters … and I have some understanding at least of what they go through."
Backing the programme's campaign supporting volunteering he said events such as the 2012 Olympics, Paralympics and diamond jubilee "bring out the best in people".
An army of much-hailed volunteer "games makers" was created for the Olympics and Paralympics, helping events at the many venues run smoothly in their distinctive uniforms.
"A lot of people don't realise how so many of these people keep the whole show on the road," said.
"There is something remarkable in this country, I think, about the volunteering spirit." | <urn:uuid:75602e2c-9991-4a1c-8bbe-aa1c0e20e26f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/06/prince-charles-grandfather-green-beliefs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978409 | 671 | 1.625 | 2 |
In one of his characteristic conniptions about people who frustrated him, Theodore Roosevelt, progressivism’s first president, said of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, “I could carve out of a banana a judge with more backbone than that.” TR was as mistaken about Holmes’ spine as are various progressives today about Chief Justice John Roberts’.
They are waging an embarrassingly obvious campaign, hoping he will buckle beneath the pressure of their disapproval and declare Obamacare constitutional. The crucial question is whether Congress exceeded its enumerated power to regulate interstate commerce when it mandated that individuals engage in commerce by purchasing health insurance.
Justice Anthony Kennedy is generally considered today’s swing vote, but his acerbic first question to the administration’s lawyer during the second day of oral argument changed assumptions: “Can you create commerce in order to regulate it?”
Concluding that Kennedy might be disposed to overturn the mandate, some Obamacare defenders decided that Roberts’ vote will be decisive. They hope to secure it by causing Roberts to worry about his reputation and that of his institution.
Recently, for example, Vermont’s Pat Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, delivered a Senate speech defending the constitutionality of what he calls the “personal responsibility requirement.” (This is his Orwellian appellation for the mandate, whereby government coercion nullifies personal choice regarding insurance.) After 37 years in the Senate, Leahy probably no longer knows when he sounds insufferably patronizing, as he did when he said that during oral argument he thought Roberts “seemed well aware of the significance of [the Obamacare] decision.” And “I thought I saw a chief justice who understands the importance of this case to all Americans.” And Roberts “seemed to understand” the deference owed to Congress.
Leahy intimated that overturning Obamacare would be as momentous, as divisive of the nation and as damaging to the court as was Bush v. Gore, which he asserts “shook the confidence of the American people in the Supreme Court.” But surely a striking fact about that decision is how equably Americans accepted it. This testified to the court’s durable prestige, which is a function of the court’s immunity to pressures from politicians. Public approval of the court is above 50 percent, that of Congress below 20 percent.
Leahy unsubtly intimated that to avoid “another 5-4 decision” Roberts should emulate “the leadership that Chief Justice Warren provided in the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education.” It is, however, passing strange to compare the Obamacare case with Brown, implying that a less-than-unanimous decision would be dangerous.
The school desegregation case overturned the social order of an entire region and accelerated the transformation of the nation’s cultural norms. Obamacare is just an unpopular law enacted by grotesque logrolling (securing three Democratic senators’ votes with the “Louisiana Purchase,” the “Gator-aid” and the “Cornhusker Kickback”). Furthermore, Obamacare passed because grossly corrupt conduct by Justice Department prosecutors in the trial of Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska had cost him re-election.
Leahy tutored Roberts about “appropriate deference” to “the elected branch,” vacuously admonished him to be “a chief justice for all of us,” and absurdly asserted that the mandate is “consistent with the understanding of the Constitution” that “the American people have had for the better part of a century.” Jeffrey Rosen of George Washington Law School, writing in The New Republic, topped Leahy’s rhetorical extravagance by saying this is Roberts’ “moment of truth” because if the court overturns Obamacare 5-4, Roberts’ “stated goal of presiding over a less divisive court will be viewed as an irredeemable failure.” | <urn:uuid:e48e5164-ad8d-4654-8cbc-40ddb7b0a2df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/may/27/tp-george-will-a-liberal-squeeze-play/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961072 | 836 | 1.5625 | 2 |
This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on April 17, 2012.
Mormons, Buddhists and adherents of other religions are not “-isms.” They’re not even “-ists.” They’re people. So, for all their differences from us Evangelical Christians, they’re still so much like you and me. Moreover, as with us, their humanity shapes their approach to their faith traditions, just as their faith traditions shape them as humans.
While I find it refreshing and right to hold passionately to ultimate truth claims in a society where relativism is so prevalent, Christians must guard against approaching adherents of other religions in exclusively doctrinal terms. If we approach people in such singular terms, we miss vital connections with those of other faith traditions. Why? Many religions do not view themselves primarily in doctrinal terms. Of course, doctrine is very important to many Christian communities and should come into consideration when engaging adherents of other paths. After all, the Apostle Paul told Timothy, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). Still, we must learn to ask questions that reflect sensitivity to how these traditions view themselves in terms of their important stories, experiences and customs, even while discussing and making ultimate truth claims that bear on all of us, no matter the tradition.
I have learned this the hard way, when I have unwittingly imposed my categories on others. Do you know what it is like when people impose categories on you before even knowing you, presuming and perhaps even demanding that you respond in ways that fit their expectations? Such exchanges are very off-putting and demeaning. When I have operated in this way, I have missed out on interpersonal connections that should be intertwined with consideration of biblical truth claims. As a result of these missteps, I have often experienced painful reactions. Exchanges with diverse religious practitioners led to the volume, Connecting Christ: How to Discuss Jesus in a World of Diverse Paths (an excerpt from this forthcoming book was published in the April 2012 edition of Christianity Today [click on the search result]). These encounters have opened my Evangelical eyes to the vast complexities that must be accounted for in engaging people of other spiritual paths in relational terms. Some of those conversations are included in the volume.
Christians must consider the historical, cultural and experiential forces, including symbols, stories and rituals of the diverse traditions, approaching these religions from sociological and historical vantage points in addition to biblical, theological, and metaphysical categories. We also need to reflect upon our own traditions from these various angles. In fact, we must also ask the adherents of these diverse traditions to share with us how they experience our faith through us.
This last statement draws attention to other important matters. Asking good questions and listening well are essential components of effective inter-faith communication. So, it is important to ask our Mormon, Buddhist and Jewish friends to share with us how they view their traditions and religions generally. We should also ask them how they approach their faith personally, for they are not “-isms” or “-ists,” but particular, personal adherents with their own distinctive stories.
Hypotheticals and stereotypes might work well on paper, but not in life. I have never encountered a hypothetical or stereotypical person. And even if I think I have, it just indicates that I have not probed deeply enough. Hopefully, the more personally and particularly we engage diverse religious practitioners from the perspective of their experiential participation in their traditions, the more they will experience through us and hopefully for themselves how personal—not packaged—the Jesus revealed in the Bible really is. | <urn:uuid:8236a2bd-9e42-4b09-a7e0-88f6eb61d00f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.patheos.com/blogs/uncommongodcommongood/2012/04/mormons-and-buddhists-are-not-isms-or-ists-theyre-people/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961331 | 772 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Bharatiya Janata Party [ Images ] (BJP) leader and former Union minister Jaswant Singh [ Images ] says the core idea behind the NDA's bid for power is to provide a stable, efficient and result-oriented government where the commitments made are actually delivered. In a conversation with Aditi Phadnis, the senior BJP leader says the NDA will promise governance
We understand the agenda for governance for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has been finalised.
Yes, I was responsible for preparing this document for the NDA in 1998, 1999 and 2004. The 2009 Agenda for Governance was also entrusted to me. It was ready in January and has been circulated to various NDA partners and senior BJP leaders as well as Murali Manohar Joshi [ Images ], who is preparing the BJP manifesto. LK Advani [ Images ] will convene a meeting of the NDA and the document will be released before the nomination exercise is over.
What is the central thought behind the NDA's bid for power?
The core idea is to provide the people of India [ Images ] with a stable, efficient and result-oriented government where the commitments made are actually delivered. So, the thrust is on governance.
The three broad areas are security, especially internal security, where we have offered a variety of ideas, the spelling out of external priorities and how we will tackle economic challenges. There are significant suggestions regarding agriculture, health, water and encompassing food security . The Agenda is essentially about young India.
On internal security, what have you suggested?
Suggestions relate to anti-terrorism laws and expeditious delivery of criminal laws. Once adopted by the allies, the agenda suggests there should be uniform anti-terror laws across the state. There are also suggestions for reforming the intelligence and police.
Suggestions on this have been made by the reports produced by the Kargil [ Images ] Committee group of experts. Your government had plenty of time to implement them.
We did implement many of them in 2002 when the report was presented. But some of the recommendations needed time to be rolled out. Government machinery works creakingly. Also, in some, like intelligence reform, there is no full stop to reform. Improvement is not the destination. It is a process.
What does the agenda say on India's external relations?
It is not as if there is a whole thesis on the foreign policy. We are concerned about relations with our neighbours as developments there impinge on our security; then there are issues that affect foreign policy like food, water and climate change. Cross-boundary issues like these do require engaging with others: for instance, flood control. You cannot have a meaningful flood control policy without engaging neighbours like Bangladesh and Nepal.
The biggest challenge is climate change. Personally, I am of the view that just as the Amazon belt is a global factor in influencing climate change globally, the Himalayas are equally significant. Receding glaciers is just one part of this.
There has been a demand from some quarters in your party that India should develop a muscular foreign policy.
We are building muscle.
We believe 'one rank-one pension' must be implemented. We will also take forward reform like the contributory health scheme for the armed forces and accelerate housing: I am boastful enough to say that was my contribution when I was defence minister.
What about the economy?
We're faced with stagnation and deflation after trying to manage inflation earlier. Oil is back at $51 a barrel. We want to ensure jobs, production and purchasing power.
But we are also concerned about food security. The first charge of the national economy has to be of the disadvantaged. This is my personal creed and also of the NDA.
So the single big idea?
Governance. There are elements in the UPA that have power but no responsibility. To which profession does that quality belong? | <urn:uuid:ab7cd5dc-3c15-47ff-bec3-3c3a1eb33cb6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://election.rediff.com/interview/2009/mar/24/loksabhapoll-interview-jaswant-singh.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966195 | 803 | 1.710938 | 2 |
UCLA law students locate compound of Congolese militia leader wanted by the ICC
Bosco Ntaganda unexpectedly spotted in the town of Goma
"If our group from UCLA Law could stumble upon Ntaganda and locate his compound, then the Congolese government and the intelligence services of Western countries have surely located him as well."
By Lauri Gavel for UCLA Newsroom
A UCLA law professor and six of his students have located Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges, and obtained video of his compound.
Ntaganda, also known as "the Terminator," is alleged to have led a militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that massacred civilians and forcibly conscripted child soldiers. In 2008, the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest, charging Ntaganda with war crimes for conscription of child soldiers. He remains at large and is alleged to violently control much of the conflict minerals trade in Eastern Congo. Ntaganda was a close associate of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who was found guilty by the ICC today of recruiting and deploying child soldiers during a five-year conflict until 2003. An estimated 60,000 people were killed in the violence, part of much wider bloodshed in central Africa.
The group from UCLA School of Law, supported by the Sanela Diana Jenkins Rights Project, unexpectedly spotted Ntaganda in the Eastern Congolese town of Goma. Ntaganda was traveling on one of the town’s main roads in a convoy of three heavily armed jeeps, one with a mounted heavy caliber machine gun and the other two with soldiers carrying automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
After investigating, the group located what several reliable sources identified as Ntaganda’s compound on Avenue des Tulipiés, about 100 yards from the Rwandan border. The sources said that Ntaganda lives in the compound, which also serves as his operational headquarters, and speculated that the location was chosen by Ntaganda to facilitate escape into Rwanda if an arrest attempt were made. One source said that six houses between the Ntaganda compound and the border were controlled by him, facilitating his smuggling conflict minerals into Rwanda. A clandestine video taken from the street shows the compound and some of Ntaganda’s soldiers on guard duty.
UCLA Law Professor Richard Steinberg, a member of the faculty advisory board for the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and director of the Sanela Diana Jenkins Human Rights Project, led the group of students to the Eastern Congo for human rights field research unrelated to Ntaganda. "If our group from UCLA Law could stumble upon Ntaganda and locate his compound, then the Congolese government and the intelligence services of Western countries have surely located him as well," Steinberg said. "This shows that Ntaganda lives with impunity, and he does so while enriching himself through conflict minerals trade, injustices that continue to destabilize the Eastern Congo."
"It is our hope," Steinberg said, "that the United States government will press the Congolese government to arrest Ntaganda and send him to The Hague for trial."
Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | <urn:uuid:617beb3d-513f-4dc7-9c29-92733043a307> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.international.ucla.edu/asia/article.asp?parentid=125017 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979742 | 660 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Head and neck cancer
A cancer rehabilitation therapist explains to a patient how cancer treatment affected his ability to swallow.
A referral from your health care provider is needed before therapy may begin. For more
For an appointment with the cancer rehabilitation physician or nurse practitioner, call
The Head and Neck Cancer Rehabilitation Program is a collaborative effort between the Virginia Piper Cancer Institute® and Sister Kenny® Rehabilitation Institute to ensure the best and most coordinated recovery from the effects of cancer and its treatment.
Many individuals who are treated for head and neck cancers develop difficulty with eating, swallowing, stiffness, swelling (lymphedema) and weakness in the jaw, neck and shoulders.
Studies have shown that the risk of permanent disability can be reduced by rehabilitation therapies started early in the course of cancer treatment. Rehabilitation can be beneficial months or even years after cancer treatment.
The Head and Neck Cancer Rehabilitation Program is staffed by a physician, nurse practitioner, nurse coordinator and Sister Kenny rehabilitation therapists who specialize in the unique problems of individuals with head and neck cancer.
Sister Kenny speech-language pathologists are all certified in the use of the VitalStim®, utilizing the most advanced equipment, the Experia model.
VitalStim is a form of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), where a small, carefully calibrated current is delivered to the motor nerves of the patient's throat through specially designed electrodes, causing the muscles responsible for swallowing to contract.
Sister Kenny physical and occupational therapists are certified lymphedema therapists who also have expertise in neuromuscular conditions associated with cancer treatment.
A consultation with a physical medicine specialist or nurse practitioner in cancer rehabilitation is the first step in developing an individualized program for each patient.
This will be done by Nancy Hutchison, MD, Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Associates, medical director for the Cancer Rehabilitation Program; or Erin Swift, CNP, nurse practitioner. After the first evaluation, Connie Brenna, RN, nurse care coordinator, will set up an individualized treatment program.
Video swallow study
A video swallow study is recommended for entry into the Head and Neck Cancer Rehabilitation Program and will be ordered by a Sister Kenny provider. It should be completed at entry into the program as a baseline for treatment, even if a prior study has been done.
The study will be conducted by the speech-language pathologist and the radiology staff at the location where patients are receiving therapy. The speech services and radiology services for this study are billed separately.
Speech-language pathology and voice therapy
Based on the results of the rehabilitation evaluation and the video swallow study, speech-language pathology is provided one to five times a week. This therapy is set up by the nurse coordinator and is designed to address the entire process of eating, swallowing and nutrition as a whole.
During this therapy, the speech-language pathologist works on strengthening and mobility for the tongue, face, jaw and larynx (Adam's apple), and also addresses speech and voice.
Speech-language pathologists work with patients who need augmentative communication devices that aid in the production and /or comprehension of language.
Speech-language pathologists also deal with cognition: assessing and treating difficulties with thought organization, memory, planning, and problem solving in order to maintain safety in one's environment.
Lymphedema and musculoskeletal therapy
Physical and occupational therapy referrals are made after patients have been evaluated for weakness, pain, restricted mobility and lymphedema. Therapy takes place one to five times a week. Every effort is made to coordinate with the speech therapy schedule if possible.
Penny George™ Institute for Health and Healing
Referrals for acupuncture, massage, nutrition can be made as needed with Abbott Northwestern's Penny George Institute for Health and Healing (PGIH).
LiveWell Fitness Center
A cancer fitness package is available through Abbott Northwestern's LiveWell Fitness Center. Services include consultations with an exercise physiologist, nutritionist
and personal trainer for those individuals who need more personal assistance regaining strength and endurance. These services, to which the medical director or nurse practioner can make a referral, are not covered by medical insurance.
Insurance and billing
Patients will receive separate bills for services provided by rehabilitation therapies, PGIH services, and Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Associates physician practice fees. Patients should contact their insurance carriers to verify which providers and services are covered by their insurance. | <urn:uuid:28039bef-0898-4bcc-8d05-d263eb696c11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allinahealth.org/ahs/rehab.nsf/page/cancer_programs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932584 | 907 | 1.828125 | 2 |
A news report out of Colorado contained a lot of the same mistakes and mischaracterizations that others have made about online schools. However, it did one thing well: highlighted the need for Colorado to reexamine its school funding model to ensure funds follow students to the school of their choice anytime during the school year.
Currently, the state funds all public schools based on a single calendar year enrollment count date (October 1). This means that if a student needs to transfer to another school mid-year, after Oct. 1, the new school does not receive any funding to support the student. Also, by making “count day” the most important school day of the year, families are often compelled to jump through ridiculous hoops (see this article in Denver Post).
Asked by Channel 7 about Colorado’s funding model, I responded:
K12 agrees that Colorado should move away from a school funding model based on a single count date to a better model, such as an average daily membership (average number of school days that students are enrolled during the year), which is used in many other states. We agree that schools and school districts should not be funded for students who are no longer enrolled with them. Average daily membership funding models are fairer for the state, its schools and students.
This has long been a policy K12 has endorsed in both principle and practice. For example, in our partnership with the Colorado Virtual Academy (COVA), a public charter school authorized by Adams 12 Five Star School District, K12 invoices the school for student-related expenses based on the number of students who are enrolled each month, not based on the October 1st enrollment count.
The Channel 7 report also focused on the past performance of Insight School of Colorado, which at that time was operated by Insight Schools, Inc. (formerly owned by Apollo Group Inc., which runs U. of Phoenix, and then owned for a short time by Kaplan, Inc. a division of( The Washington Post Company).
K12 was not involved in Insight School of Colorado last year and had no window into its past operations or its employees, so there was nothing we could add to the news report. It wasn’t until three months ago, July 2011, that K12 became involved with the school following an asset acquisition from Kaplan. As I told Channel 7, since July K12 has worked closely with the program’s sponsor, Julesburg School District, and the Colorado Department of Education on an improvement plan for the school. Virtually everything -- administrators, teachers, curriculum, assessment and instructional programs, etc. -- has changed and substantially improved. We’re investing a lot of resources to help the school turnaround.
The Julesburg School District Superintendent and new Executive Director of Insight School of Colorado outlined all the changes made to the school in a letter to parents and students.
The report highlighted some of Colorado Virtual Academy’s positive results, but left others on the editing room floor. Here are a few more results from COVA that I sent to them in an email:
- COVA high school students demonstrated high achievement and high academic growth in reading based on state test data.
- The longer students were enrolled in COVA the better they performed on the CSAP tests.
- COVA exceeded the state average on the Colorado ACT in 2009 and 2010.
- In 2010, COVA graduated 100% of students on time (in 4 years) who were enrolled in the school since their freshman year.
- COVA students showed strong academic growth scores based on widely used and nationally-recognized Scantron Performance Series Assessments. COVA students exceeded the Scantron national norm group in math and reading.
- 84% of COVA’s parents were satisfied with COVA; 88% of parents were satisfied with their child’s teachers.
These results are encouraging considering the school is serving a growing number of academically at-risk students who chose to enroll because they were struggling or failing in a traditional school. In recent years COVA has seen a spike in new students who come in below grade level, behind in their credits and not on track to graduate on time. As the COVA Board wrote in this statement, outlining the problems with how the graduation rate is calculated, the challenge of serving a growing population of academically at-risk transfer students is unique for public schools of choice, especially for those that have the capacity to serve students statewide. It’s clear the COVA team is committed to helping improve performance for all students.
Children deserve options in public education, especially when they are failing in whatever school they were assigned to attend. It’s becoming more evident that parents in Colorado and across the U.S. want more options and the freedom to choose. That is a welcome trend and one that policymakers should embrace. After all, it is children and their parents who are the customers.
Colorado would do well to begin looking at ways to update their school funding model and student data systems to reflect the new dynamic of greater student mobility and parent choice. By shifting away from a count date, and removing any other barriers, students will have more opportunities to attend the school or program they need at anytime during the school year. While reforming the state’s funding model will not erase the challenge of serving academically at-risk students, it will make it fairer for the schools that accept these students and commit to serve them. | <urn:uuid:10e19220-cf50-4496-af2e-c34eb55eb3c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://k12choice.com/index.php?option=com_rsblog&layout=view&cid=24:moving-away-from-a-count-date-in-colorado&Itemid=77 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977619 | 1,116 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Pianists come in all shapes, sizes and styles, from keyboard assailants to those for whom the inner life of music is more crucial. Austrian pianist Till Fellner is one of the latter, as he eloquently demonstrated during his recital Tuesday at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society.
Fellner has the technique to produce sonic thunder, a quality needed in the final section, "Apres une lecture de Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata," in the second suite from Liszt's "Annees de pelerinage." But he is a musician who most often speaks in an articulate, nuanced voice, mindful both of detail and the big architectural picture.
The program Tuesday provided a glimpse into many facets of Feller's artistry. The repertoire ranged from the late 18th century (Haydn) and mid-19th century (Schumann, Liszt) to last year (Kit Armstrong). In everything, Fellner was a model of subtle observation and expressive acuity.
He applied individual touches to Haydn's Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI:50, that lifted the delicious material from the page. Fellner played with flair and discretion, relishing the writing for the newly developed piano, rather than fortepiano, as well as every unexpected turn of phrase and harmony. The inspiration of Fellner's teacher, the great Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel, could also be heard in the way he shaped the piece with utmost attention to form and texture.
Armstrong is another Brendel student who has begun seizing international attention. In his "Half of One, Six Dozen of the Other," the 19-year-old British-Taiwanese pianist and composer reveals a gift for layered themes, harmonic color and dramatic tension. Written for Fellner, who gave it an absorbing performance, the 15-minute work whets the appetite for more works by this prodigious talent.
Moving to the Romantic era, Fellner refused to bask in sentimentality in Schumann's "Kinderszenen" (Scenes from Childhood). Instead, he emphasized the direct, child-like emotions in each scene without neglecting the music's essential lyricism. Sometimes, he appeared to be saying, simplicity is preferable to overstatement.
The same sensitivity to line and nuance pervaded Fellner's account of the Liszt suite, likely programmed to mark last month's 200th anniversary of the composer's birth. Where other pianists stretch the music like taffy or go to extremes of sound and phrasing, Fellner was supremely alert to the heightened poetry in Liszt's reflections on life, art and religion.
Although the Dante lecture that ends the suite is a formidable technical and interpretive challenge, Fellner wasn't fazed by the fearsome demands. The octaves roared, but the Steinway grand escaped Lisztian assault. How welcome to hear this music played with such poignant and noble authority. | <urn:uuid:f1340e7f-c9cb-439e-9a33-c2779eae9f34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2011/11/fellner_review.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938339 | 609 | 2.109375 | 2 |
The Soldier’s Wife by Margaret Leroy
Fiction, Published June 28, 2011
ARC received from Hyperion Voice
Read: June 2011, 403 pp.
As World War II draws closer and closer to Guernsey, Vivienne de la Mare knows that there will be sacrifices to be made. Not just for herself, but for her two young daughters and for her mother-in-law, for whom she cares while her husband is away fighting.
What she does not expect is that she will fall in love with one of the enigmatic German soldiers who take up residence in the house next door to her home. As their relationship intensifies, so do the pressures on Vivienne. Food and resources grow scant, and the restrictions placed upon the residents of the island grow with each passing week. Though Vivienne knows the perils of her love affair with Gunther, she believes that she can keep their relationship and her family safe. But when she becomes aware of the full brutality of the Occupation, she must decide if she is willing to risk her personal happiness for the life of a stranger.
A novel full of grand passion and intensity, The Soldier’s Wife asks “What would you do for your family?” “What should you do for a stranger?” and “What would you do for love?”
First Impressions (Out of all the books I have to read, why this one?):
A few years ago I read and really enjoyed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Guernsey is a little island north of the coast of France, but is part of the UK. My favorite genre to read is historical fiction, pre-1900s, but since I loved all the people living on Guernsey island in Potato Peel Pie, I decided to give this one a try.
I really enjoyed the author’s style of writing. It was an easy and quick read, yet the lush descriptiveness made me feel like I was on the island right there with Vivianne. I’m glad the final version will have a map because I found myself googling the island to see where everything was taking place. The Soldier’s Wife is driven by the character of Vivianne, a thirty-something mother of two daughters and caretaker to her ailing mother-in-law, – her everyday life, her gardens, her trips around the island to visit friends, and even her view of the German soldiers who have taken up residence next door.
In The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, one of the main characters, Juliet, lives in London and communicates by letter to the islanders so the reader gets to see not only what is going on Guernsey, but also what is happening in London. In The Soldier’s Wife, none of the characters ever really know what is happening outside of their bubble world on the island. At the beginning of the occupation, they are allowed to use radios, but eventually these are banned, although one of Vivianne’s friends has hidden hers in a casket at the funeral home.
Vivianne has always yearned for a safe, cozy, known environment. I think that is one of the main reasons she ultimately decided not to put herself and her children on the small boat to leave the island before the German occupation. There was no news from London or anywhere, for that matter, and she did not even know if the boat would really make it across the water. All she knew was that so far the Germans hadn’t come and that maybe their little island would be overlooked. It was a desperate hope, but ultimately, Vivianne was wrong and I think she pays dearly for that decision especially with her relationship with her teen daughter Blanche. But was she really wrong to decide not to flee?
Throughout the novel, I really liked how the author uses the different fairy tale stories as well as the scenery and weather descriptions to signal foreboding and the slow, gradual accession of the German occupation. Vivianne reads fairy tales to her daughters and she even contemplates the fact that all the stories she is reading are about weary soldiers who have been gone to war for a long time and have to endure many challenges and even supernatural encounters to make it back home. I liked Vivianne and Gunther together, even if she was sleeping with the enemy! I really don’t know how they kept it a secret from the rest of her family. I never thought that Gunther would betray them and that they truly loved each other in their own ways. They both loved living in their own secret fairy tale world.
I think it is Johnny’s character that really puts the morale back into Vivianne’s step. He is forever hopeful that Britain will overtake the Germans and that the state of things will not last forever. I think many people, including Vivianne, have given into the Germans. It is a slow declination into poverty for the islanders and they often feel content and even grateful that things aren’t worse for them. For the most part, as long as they comply by a few rules, the soldiers leave them alone. It is not until the islanders start seeing the forced laborers and hear of the concentration camp, and especially for Vivianne when her daughter Millie gets directly involved, that she starts to really notice the reality of their situation and take action.
This would be a great book club book as there are many things to discuss. (Note to self: I need to start a book club so I have someone to discuss with!!) There are some great questions at the end of the book and the more I think about it, the more I love this book! It has a quietness to it that is very profound. I love the questions, too posed in the book blurb – How well do you really know someone?, What would you do for your family?, What should you do for a stranger?, and What would you do for love?
I loved fairy tales just as she does, enthralled by the transformations, the impossible quests, the gorgeous significant objects – the magic cloaks, the satin dancing shoes. And just like Millie, I’d fret about the people in the stories, their losses and reversals and all the dilemmas they faced. So sure that if I’d been in the story, it would all have been clear to me, that I’d have been wise and brave and resolute, that I’d have known what to do. (p. 4)
…where the princesses follow the pathway down to another world, a secret world of their own, a place of enchantment. (p. 5)
After tea, I read her a bedtime story that tells of a girl who married a creature as ugly as a hedgehog, and at night he took off his coat of spines and became a handsome man. (p. 94)
But however happy they were on Guernsey with their loved ones, they were obliged to return eventually to their homeland, under a contract written in blood that could not be disobeyed. Sooner or later they had to leave the people they loved and sail away. (p. 184)
I don’t like that ending. It’s sad. It’s not a good ending,” she (Millie) says.
I received a complimentary copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for my honest review. | <urn:uuid:fb224327-511c-42c7-9c54-8ec07d261ac8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://emmegailsbookshelf.wordpress.com/tag/guernsey/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981331 | 1,569 | 1.507813 | 2 |
David Biespiel writes eloquently of “the poet who engages democratic dialogue and political life.” But I don’t know exactly what this means. I know many poets, famous and obscure, writing in various styles, who—besides writing poems of which politics are a part—sign petitions and belong to the pta, things Biespiel says are increasingly rare in America. But these are “activism” and “volunteerism,” which he says he’s not talking about. Biespiel’s essay reminds me of Simone de Beauvoir’s account of traveling the us in the early fifties: “Most of the intellectuals I met in New York amazed me with their abstention from social and political questions.” That’s partly a Frenchwoman’s plea for better conversation. But for Beauvoir—and for many Europeans, who had just gone through a war on their own soil, a war about political and economic ideologies—political engagement was life, writing was life, all bound up together. Beauvoir finds it hard to understand Americans’ feeling of helplessness—I like to think it’s helplessness as much as laziness or pampered apathy—and estrangement with regard to politics. Implicit in her critique, I think, is a critique of capitalist liberalism—which is conservatism in the view of a person like Beauvoir.
I don’t think that’s the political context for Biespiel’s essay, but he makes me think he’d like a kind of worker-intellectual-communal-publishing endeavour along the lines of the postwar European left. I’m all for it, in theory, having all the romantic fantasies of a leftist born too late for the grand narrative. But that stuff’s not available in conservative, corporate-run America, and you just can’t get people excited about that sort of thing if you’re all about change from the middle of the road.
Few of us are given the opportunity to refuse a National Medal of Arts like Adrienne Rich, or to use a poet laureateship for political purposes. Fewer still are given the opportunity Dana Gioia had underthe Bush administration. Interesting to consider Rich and Gioia side by side. Rich’s response was principled activist rejection. Since no thinking person could possibly see the Bush administration in a positive light, and Gioia is a thinking person, he must have believed that the good he could do as head of the nea—and he certainly did good—outweighed the symbolic evil of agreeing to serve America’s most malignant administration ever.
Is Biespiel advocating for more politics in poems? Fewer arguments about poetics for the good of the nation? Arguments about poetics are good for poetry. And have nothing whatsoever to do with public life, whether your poetics are politically-grounded or not. Biespiel knows there’s plenty of politically-inflected poetry: I was lucky enough to be published by him in Poetry Northwest’s political issue a few years ago, and found myself in diverse company. But how does the “ability . . . to write poems that penetrate differencesand discover connection” make us “uniquely suited” for effective “political engagement”? I’m currently involved in stopping some illegal construction going on down the street from me, which might be civic engagement, or else bourgeois busybodying. This neighborhood struggle might get into one of my poems, but I can’t see how bringing a poem, or the fact of my being a poet, to a neighborhood meeting would get the builder to conform to zoning laws.
Would Biespiel have Emily Dickinson drop eternity to become a Bertolt Brecht, with his workers’ theaters and political vehemence? That would be as absurd as asking Brecht to be like Dickinson, who never wrote a word in favor of abolition or women’s rights, the two great radical causes of her time. It may be that American civic life “needs an honest broker,” in Biespiel’s words, but the characterization of “the poet’s core values of illumination, imagination, reflection, and sincerity” is an extraordinarily limited view of the variety of our poets. Frederick Seidel’s Ooga-Booga, for one, is a great book, greatly political—and seems to attack all of Biespiel’s core values.
Of course we should all work harder to make the world a better place. Some of us, occasionally many of us, try to do just that, in and out of poems. Resolving our poetic differences is irrelevant to public life, though. I’ll bet the formalist Marilyn Hacker and the Language poet Ron Silliman are pretty close, if not identical, in their politics. The idea of either one changing the way they write for the sake of some illuminating, sincere common ground seems appalling—a papering over of genuine differences, no healthier in poetry than in life. | <urn:uuid:3068d06d-583c-405e-926c-400c7bf013ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/letter/239474 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949013 | 1,089 | 2.015625 | 2 |
After Doug Wilder upset the odds by taking the “No Blacks Need Apply” sign off the door to the governor's office in 1989, I recall a big supporter of Attorney General Mary Sue Terry telling me, “Paul, we won't need your help in 1993, if Doug can win, any credible Democrat can win.”
As the saying goes, famous last words: Terry suffered the greatest margin of defeat in the modern era of gubernatorial contests, losing by 17.4 percentage points to Republican George Allen. After Barack Obama carried Virginia by a far greater margin than Doug Wilder 19 years earlier, my bet is that a lot of Virginia Democrats, not to mention national party leaders, had a similar thought: If Obama can win the Old Dominion, how can our nominee lose in 2009?
As the saying goes, famous last rites: State Sen. Creigh Deeds and his running mates suffered the worst electoral wipeout of any statewide ticket in modern times.
To quote Yogi Berra, these things are just too coincidental to be a coincidence. Because of Virginia's history, it's understandable that the election of the country's first black president would play with the political minds of otherwise sensible political types who probably never truly believed such a miracle could happen in their lifetimes, if at all.
To a greater degree than we all care to admit, what we think we know are products of perceptions that may or may not be close to reality.
Wilder's victory, then Obama's, apparently created successive impressions that there had been a sea change in Virginia politics. Things long presumed impossible had become reality. Logically, it would have seemed reasonable to presume such 2009 euphoria would have been tempered by the Terry defeat in the aftermath of Wilder's victory. Evidentially not. Perhaps Obama's sizeable margin of victory, compared with Wilder winning the closest gubernatorial race in history, led people to believe the past was not prologue. President Obama has a certain presence and charisma that is catching, not to mention his win was fueled in large measure by attracting 500,000 new voters to the polls.
This so-called Obama constituency, if energized to vote in unity in a gubernatorial contest, would in theory assure a landslide triumph to the lucky candidate of its choice. But only the naive or incompetent political strategist ever would assume such a circumstance would be possible in the real world of politics.
Yet apparently, too many Democratic leaders in Virginia thought all President Obama needed to do was command his voters to march: viola, 500,000 Virginians not otherwise interested in the election stampeding to the polls.
It was never going to happen. Such logic is based on a mindset that's very troubling. But even now many writers around the country are saying Deeds lost in part because the president didn't do enough to get his voters to the polls. First of all, these are not his voters, as if they are on a string awaiting his command. Rather, they're Virginians, like you and I, perfectly capable of deciding for themselves what is or is not in their best interests. What the president recommends, likewise for Sen. Mark Warner and Gov. Tim Kaine, are of course duly noted by their fans.
But the theory that any of them can wave a magic political wand and get Virginians to vote for Deeds, or any other Democrat, is wrongheaded.
How did so many otherwise smart people come to believe in what I call the plantation mentality — that a few people make the rules and then they tell the rest of us how and when to act? The essence of Wilder's win, and then Obama's, was making average people believe in their power to make change, to control their own destiny. The late Sen. Robert Kennedy often talked about how each of us might only be able to cause a ripple, but taken together, those ripples become mighty streams.
In 2009, Democratic leaders were right about a mighty tsunami coming — it just wasn't the flood of voters they expected. The truth is, Democrats took Virginians for granted, believing they had a majority simply waiting to be told what to do. Wilder and Obama ran to overcome this plantation mentality and they succeeded brilliantly — but their own party wasn't paying attention.
On paper, Deeds had all the right endorsements to win those voters who had fueled a terrific run of Democratic victories in recent years. But he and Democratic leaders had learned the wrong message, once again, a generation apart. It's good to have popular political friends. But far better to have a campaign of ideas, which is where the true power in politics comes: capturing the imagination of the people. | <urn:uuid:f20970f5-5129-4578-9a79-3a86f7a6afa0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/presumptive-politics/Content?oid=1380969 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975107 | 952 | 1.765625 | 2 |
That the figure Synecdoche, in which the part stands for the whole, is very familiar to the Holy Scripture.
Whatever then you say of the Lord Jesus Christ, you say of the whole person, and in mentioning the Son of God you mention the Son of man, and in mentioning the Son of man you mention the Son of God: by the grammatical trope synecdoche in which you understand the whole from the parts, and a part is put for the whole: and the holy Scriptures certainly show this, as in them the Lord often uses this trope, and teaches in this way about others and would have us understand about Himself in the same way. For sometimes days, and things, and men, and times are dep. 603 noted in holy Scripture in no other fashion. As in this case where God declares that Israel shall serve the Egyptians for four hundred years, and says to Abraham: “Know thou that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs, and they shall bring them under bondage and afflict them four hundred years.” 2588 Whereas if you take into account the whole time after that God spoke, they are more than four hundred: but if you only reckon the time in which they were in slavery, they are less. And in giving this period indeed, unless you understand it in this way, we must think that the Word of God lied (and away with such a thought from Christian minds!). But since from the time of the Divine utterance, the whole period of their lives amounted to more than four hundred years, and their bondage endured for not nearly four hundred, you must understand that the part is to be taken for the whole, or the whole for the part. There is also a similar way of representing days and nights, where, when in the case of either division of time one day is meant, either period is shown by a portion of a single period. And indeed in this way the difficulty about the time of our Lords Passion is cleared up: for whereas the Lord prophesied that after the model of the prophet Jonah, the Son of man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, 2589 and whereas after the sixth day of the week on which He was crucified, He was only in hell 2590 for one day and two nights, how can we show the truth of the Divine words? Surely by the trope of Synecdoche, i.e., because to the day on which He was crucified the previous night belongs, and to the night on which He rose again, the coming day; and so when there is added the night which preceded the day belonging to it, and the day which followed the night belonging to it, we see that there is nothing lacking to the whole period of time, which is made up of its portions. The holy Scriptures abound in such instances of ways of speaking: but it would take too long to relate them all. For so when the Psalm says, “What is a man that Thou art mindful of Him,” 2591 from the part we understand the whole, as while only one man is mentioned the whole human race is meant. So also where Ahab sinned we are told that the people sinned. Where—though all are mentioned, a part is to be understood from the whole. John also the Lords forerunner says: “After me cometh a man who is preferred before me for He was before me.” 2592 How then does He mean that He would come after Him, whom He shows to be before Him? For if this is understood of a man who was afterwards born, how was he before him? But if it is taken of the Word how is it, “a man cometh after me?” Except that in the one Lord Jesus Christ is shown both the posteriority of the manhood and the precedence of the Godhead. And so the result is that one and the same Lord was before him and came after him: for according to the flesh He was posterior in time to John; and according to His Deity was before all men. And so he, when he named that man, denoted both the manhood and the Word, for as the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God was complete in both manhood and Divinity 2593 in mentioning one of these natures in Him he denoted the whole person. And what need is there of anything further? I think that the day would fail me if I were to try to collect or to tell everything that could be said on this subject. And what we have already said is enough, at any rate on this part of the subject, both for the exposition of the Creed, and for the requirements of our case, and for the limits of our book.
Gen. xv. 13.603:2589
S. Matt. xii. 40.603:2590
Ps. viii. 5.603:2592
S. John i. 15.603:2593 | <urn:uuid:215f6ef6-84e0-4877-b573-4a63af8dd951> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/211/2111174.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976071 | 1,026 | 2.90625 | 3 |
When she was pregnant, Sara Doutre was screened to see if her child had Down syndrome. She knew to take folic acid to prevent her child from developing spina bifida.
But the real problem was a common virus the former special education teacher had never heard of.
Doutre did not know her daughter had become infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV) while in the womb. Daisy, now almost 2, recently became deaf because of the infection, which can also cause mental disabilities and death in some children.
The Willard mother is now pushing for state legislation that would require pregnant women be told about the virus and taught how to take precautions, along with other actions to raise awareness of CMV.
Doutre's mother, Rep. Ronda Menlove, R-Garland, is sponsoring the bill.
The virus is usually harmless to healthy adults and children who become infected. But it can cause serious disease in babies infected before birth. Nationally, 5,000 children a year develop permanent problems, most commonly hearing loss, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The virus causes more long-term problems and childhood deaths than Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome or neural tube defects, the CDC reports.
"It's an important public health issue that needs to be publicized," said Menlove.
HB81 would require the Utah Department of Health to create a public education campaign to inform pregnant women and women who may become pregnant about the virus, the birth defects it can cause and how to avoid it.
Pregnant women most commonly come in contact with the virus through sexual contact and through the saliva and urine of young children, according to the CDC.
The agency recommends precautions that include hand washing after changing diapers, feeding children, wiping their nose or drool and handling their toys. It also advises pregnant women not to share food, drinks or utensils with their young children, and to clean surfaces that come into contact with children's urine or saliva.
Menlove said the bill would also require that infants be tested for the virus if they fail two hearing screenings. Such testing is now recommended.
But some children who pass the screenings will go on to develop hearing loss due to CMV, according to Albert Park, a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist at the University of Utah who treats children with CMV and researches the virus.
Park, one of the doctors who treated Daisy, was unfamiliar with Menlove's bill and declined to comment on the specifics, though he agreed families should know more about it.
Park said the virus is believed to be the most common cause of hearing loss. Some 15 percent of children who are infected in utero will lose some or all of their hearing. Park estimated that 30 Utah children a year have CMV-related hearing loss, but currently just one to two are detected at birth.
The requirements in Menlove's bill would detect about 10 children, he estimated. To catch them all would require testing all newborns for CMV, which he estimates would cost Utah $6 million just for the saliva tests. He is seeking funding to study the costs of testing children at various ages for the virus.
Another national study, which is enrolling Utah women, is looking at whether pregnant women should be screened for the virus. That isn't routine practice now, and there is no consensus on how to treat infected women or whether it will help their babies.
The randomized trial will study whether infected women treated with CMV antibodies will reduce the number of babies infected with the virus.
So much research is going into CMV that Park suspects either screening women or newborns will eventually become routine.
He recommended women talk to their doctors about getting themselves or their newborns tested.
"If I was a parent, and knowing the existence of this virus, I agree I would [want] to be tested," he said.
When Daisy failed her two hearing screens, one after birth and another 10 days later, Doutre said, "No one mentioned anything about it [CMV] to us. I didn't know it existed at that point."
Months later Daisy was tested again and passed. She developed normally, babbling and cooing.
But she started to have ear infections when she was about 16 months old, and tests showed slight hearing loss. "I would open the door and come in her room and start talking," Doutre recalled. "Once she saw me she would be absolutely startled."
The family sought out an ear, nose and throat doctor to place tubes in her ears. The specialist suspected CMV after learning that an ultrasound while Doutre was 34 weeks pregnant showed enlarged ventricles in Daisy's brain.
An MRI when she was 2 days old showed Daisy did have cysts in her brain but would not have an intellectual disability. The abnormalities found in the ultrasound and MRI can be linked to CMV, but Daisy was spared such a disability because Doutre was probably infected later in her pregnancy.
"If I had known [about the virus]," she said, "I would have been much more careful" about hand washing and not sharing utensils with her then-toddler son.
Daisy tested positive for the virus, and an analysis of her newborn blood spot test showed she contracted it while in the womb.
Because CMV is a herpes virus, it remains dormant in the body for life, like the virus that causes cold sores. Children can have no symptoms for years, and then develop problems up to age 6.
Daisy lost her hearing quickly. Two months after the tubes were placed, she had lost all hearing in her right ear. A month later, in November, she was completely deaf.
There is no proven treatment for babies born with CMV. Antivirals are being used experimentally to prevent hearing loss and developmental delays, or to halt the progression of disease.
The CDC says vaccines are in the research and development stage.
Doutre said they sought out Park and tried an experimental antiviral treatment for Daisy, but it didn't work. She wonders if it would have, had she known from the beginning about CMV.
"Part of me feels like, had we known sooner, we probably would have been able to do something about it," she said.
She knows she is lucky: Her family had the insurance coverage to pay for cochlear implants, which cost $160,000. Daisy received them in December. Doutre was a special education teacher and, with her parents' help, she was able to quickly find resources such as speech therapy and parenting classes.
"She's got everything she needs and she got it really quickly," Doutre said, adding that she wants other parents to have the same chances by learning early about the virus. "Not everyone will have those resources."
It's common: Up to 80 percent of adults are infected by the time they are 40 years old.
Most healthy children and adults who are infected have no symptoms.
1 percent to 4 percent of women will first become infected during pregnancy, when the virus is most dangerous. Among those women, about a third will pass the virus to their fetus.
1 in 150 children is born with CMV infection; 20 percent of those children will develop permanent problems such as hearing loss or developmental disabilities.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | <urn:uuid:a0f9c467-9272-4916-bad9-5773a5c131e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55663401-78/virus-cmv-hearing-infected.html.csp?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983014 | 1,521 | 2.828125 | 3 |
14 August 2012 The recent mission of the Turkish Foreign Minister and senior officials of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to Myanmar’s state of Rakhine – which recently experienced deadly ethnic clashes that displaced thousands of people – was welcomed today by the top United Nations envoy to the Southeast Asian country.
“Such positive steps will help support Myanmar’s ongoing process of democratization and reform,” the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General, Vijay Nambiar, said in a statement on the fact-finding visit led by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoðlu, undertaken at the invitation of the Government of Myanmar.
Recent tensions between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine have left at least a dozen civilians dead and hundreds of homes destroyed, as well as at least 64,000 people displaced.
The Turkish delegation visited the camps of both Muslims and Buddhists displaced by the violence, where humanitarian aid provided by Turkey was distributed, representing the first such assistance accepted by Myanmar outside that provided by the UN, according to Mr. Nambiar’s statement.
“This has demonstrated the willingness of the Myanmar Government to cooperate with the international community to alleviate the suffering of its people,” Mr. Nambiar said, adding that he and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had been in continuous contact with authorities on the matter.
Last week, at the end of four-day mission to Myanmar, the Director of Operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), John Ging, warned of the rapidly growing needs faced by over half a million internally displaced persons in the Asian nation, and called on the Government to give aid agencies access to all areas of the country.
A series of democratic reforms in Myanmar, begun last year and led by President Thein Sein, culminated in April elections in which pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a position in the lower house of parliament and which Mr. Ban, in a visit soon after, called “a historic moment.”
News Tracker: past stories on this issue | <urn:uuid:2285102e-4a0e-4b50-b571-51ed05f18c23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=42683&Cr=myanmar&Cr1= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95491 | 435 | 1.757813 | 2 |
A miniature materials science boom is occurring as researchers scramble to poke, prod, and zap carbon nanotubes in every way possible. These pure carbon tubes with diameters as small as a nanometer have incredible strength and promising electrical properties, so enthusiasts talk of new types of nanodevices, chemical synthesis techniques, and electron beam sources, among many other ideas. A Japanese team reports in the 18 December PRL that they have filled nanotubes with metallofullerenes–pure carbon spheres enclosing metal atoms–hoping for a new way to control nanotube properties. Their paper gives the first evidence that putting molecules inside a nanotube can alter its electrical properties.
In 1998 David Luzzi and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania published images of “nanoscopic peapods,” nanotubes containing tightly packed chains of the spherical-cage-like “buckyball” carbon molecules. This work demonstrated a new way to exploit the open space in the tubes and possibly gain more control over their properties, but ordinary buckyballs were not expected to have much of an effect.
To look for an effect, Sumio Iijima of Meijo University and NEC Research Corp., Hisanori Shinohara of Nagoya University, and their colleagues, put buckyballs containing gadolinium atoms inside nanotubes. Gadolinium and other metal atoms were known to change the electronic structure of buckyballs, so they might also have an effect on nanotubes, the team reasoned.
They made single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and gadolinium-filled buckyballs (written as ””) using standard techniques, and then exposed the nanotubes to dry air at 420 degrees C to open the capped ends of the tubes. A sample of heated to a vapor easily penetrated and filled the spaghetti-like sample of nanotubes, as the researchers confirmed with electron microscopy. Their images show fullerenes lined up inside the nanotubes at about 1 nm intervals. The team describes these as one dimensional crystals.
Iijima and his colleagues probed the material with electrons (EELS technique) and showed that the gadolinium atoms had each transferred three electrons to their surroundings, just as they normally do in . Finally, Iijima and his colleagues found that the electrical resistance vs. temperature curves of their and SWNTs containing empty buckyballs were steeper than those of empty SWNTs.
No one has previously shown that molecules placed inside nanotubes can change the SWNTs’ electrical properties, says Luzzi. “This is the first signature that something is happening.” But Luzzi adds that, because of the disoriented state of the nanotubes, the researchers were unable to conclude anything very specific, such as whether the filled nanotubes were more or less conducting than the empty ones. “Nobody’s willing to bet salary” on this important question. | <urn:uuid:dd6d3a9f-772b-45a2-aa8c-28de6aec8b42> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://physics.aps.org/story/print/v6/st27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949883 | 624 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Background and Objectives:
This project builds on the Sustainable Colombo Core Area (SCCA) Project, which established partnership arrangements between the municipal councils, NGOs and communities to address the environmental planning and management constraints of the three municipal councils in the Colombo metropolitan area.
In Phase II, the project increased its city coverage from 3 to 13, whilst diversifying its environmental management focus to include participatory urban governance and gender inclusiveness. The current 3rd phase strengthens its pro-poor focus, and tests approaches to mainstream the Millennium Development Goals into city management practices and budgets in 18 cities, including four cities in the North and East.
The primary objectives are to assist 18 cities to:
Develop their capacities in participatory urban governance.
Develop capacities to prepare and implement pro-poor city Millennium Development Goals strategies.
Formulate and implement sustainable pro-poor urban development action plans.
The main activities include:
Creating system-wide capabilities at the national, provincial and local level to promote, coordinate and manage pro-poor Millennium Development Goals-targeted urban governance in cities.
Developing a replicable method of participatory governance and its application in 18 cities.
Deepening participatory governance through participatory budgeting and e-governance mechanisms.
Strengthening the capacities of partner training institutions and Non-Governmental Organizations to support local authorities in urban governance.
Preparing Millennium Development Goals profiles that identify critical disadvantages and define access to services by the poor, along with gender disparities in 10 cities.
Monitoring and documenting the processes and developing Millennium Development Goals toolkits to replicate the lessons learned and good practices.
Establishing an institutional support network at the national-level to influence policy dialogues.
The city consultation approach institutionalized “City Development Committees”, supported by a national Urban Governance Facilitation Committee for policy learning.
The adopted urban governance process applied in 18 cities supported by toolkits based on documented experiences, published for national replication.
Participatory budgeting and e-governance approaches tested in Colombo municipality, with lessons learned documented for replicating in other cities.
Nine Millennium Development Goals profiles prepared and discussed during broad-based city consultations, with follow-up action plans under finalisation, integrated into city budgets. | <urn:uuid:2948f64a-fde4-471a-93f4-4c5eff4bb89c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=4928&catid=574&typeid=13 | 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 | 0.905104 | 465 | 2.03125 | 2 |
THEOSOPHY, Vol. 51, No. 6, April, 1963
(Pages 138-141; Size: 12K)
(Number 12 of a 14-part series)
MONAD, Monads, and "monadic essence" are Theosophically-used terms that focus the mind on the basic concept of Unity -- in the Universe, of the Universe, throughout the Universe. Whatever the words, comprehension of the idea of Unity constitutes "the beginning, the middle, and the end" of meaning insofar as concerns the Universe in which we live, of which our movement is an intrinsic part, and whose Center is the "center" of every Being of whatsoever degree of consciousness, or grade of intelligence.
The importance of grasping this idea, of not being misled by terms, is indicated by H.P.B.: "Those unable to seize the difference between the monad -- the Universal Unit -- and the Monads or the manifested Unity, as also between the ever-hidden and the revealed LOGOS or the Word, ought never to meddle in philosophy, let alone the Esoteric Sciences." (S.D. I, 614.)
Is this not the primary reason why Proem begins with introduction of the Ancient Symbolism? Symbols speak to the aspect of mind that is not enmeshed in words -- the intuition. In the statement, "The one circle is divine Unity, from which all proceeds, whither all returns," the intuitive mind will perceive this inherent movement, and its subsequent inevitable phases, in the light of the "divine Unity" -- the unbroken circle, the One -- unaltered in its universal sense, continuous in its changing aspects.
This is the first idea presented in the Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan that is not "beyond the range and reach of thought." It is a stage within the "Universal Unit" and pertains to Stanza III, as shown by an introductory note:Stanza III. describes the Re-awakening of the Universe to life after Pralaya. It depicts the emergence of the "Monads" from their state of absorption within the ONE; the earliest and highest stage in the formation of "Worlds," the term Monad being one which may apply equally to the vastest Solar System or the tiniest atom. (p. 21.)The emergence from, or state of arising, following dissolution, or the state of absorption within the One -- in unceasing rhythm -- is the majestic pulsation characteristic of the Law of manifestation. The One Law, being universal, adapts to each "Cycle of Necessity" as the "tendency in the Universe to restore equilibrium." This continuous motion embraces the "natural impulse" toward evolutionary progression in the kingdoms of Nature below man, as well as the compelling "self-induced and self-devised efforts" of a higher stage. Without relation to Time as we know it, this Law governs on every plane in accordance with conditions, impersonally, and whatever is persists with its own form of continuity. Nations rise and fall, and mighty monuments perish in the course of Time, and yet, to quote The Voice of the Silence: "E'en wasted smoke remains not traceless. A harsh word uttered in past lives is not destroyed, but ever comes again," until conditions for the dissolution of that form of continuity are present. But always continuity underlies change.
Stanza III is dynamic. The Universe is no longer "concealed in the Divine Thought and the Divine Bosom" as in Stanza II. But what is implied in "the formation of Worlds"?
The "re-awakening" of the Universe to life is simultaneously the conditioning of Consciousness, and the building of a vehicle of life -- electric, magnetic, energic, to gain experience in life:Manvantaric impulse commences with the re-awakening of Cosmic Ideation (the "Universal Mind") concurrently with, and parallel to the primary emergence of Cosmic Substance -- the latter being the manvantaric vehicle of the former -- from its undifferentiated pralayic state. Then, absolute wisdom mirrors itself in its Ideation; which, by a transcendental process, superior to and incomprehensible by human Consciousness, results in Cosmic Energy (Fohat). Thrilling through the bosom of inert Substance, Fohat impels it to activity, and guides its primary differentiations on all the Seven planes of Cosmic Consciousness....In the language of the Archaic Stanza: "Father-Mother spin a web whose upper end is fastened to Spirit (Purusha), the light of the one Darkness, and the lower one to Matter (Prakriti) its (the Spirit's) shadowy end; and this web is the Universe spun out of the two substances made in one, which is Swâbhâvat...." (S.D. I, 83.)
There can be no manifestation of Consciousness,... except through the vehicle of matter; that is to say, on this our plane, wherein human consciousness in its normal state cannot soar beyond what is known as transcendental metaphysics, it is only through some molecular aggregation or fabric that Spirit wells up in a stream of individual or sub-conscious subjectivity. And as Matter existing apart from perception is a mere abstraction, both of these aspects of the ABSOLUTE -- Cosmic Substance and Cosmic Ideation -- are mutually inter-dependent. (S.D. I, 328-9.)
Each atom is "a part of the web," and each ... "becomes in turn a world." An atom -- a "concrete manifestation of the Universal Energy" -- has the potentiality of self-consciousness in it, and is a Universe "in itself, and for itself." The Web of the Universe is, then, a living, breathing (expanding and contracting), conscious Unity -- a Being. Formation, re-formation, transformation.
The simple, graphic imagery of the web as Universe is an illustration of how illusory ordinary "values" can be. With a tendency to categorize, we would perhaps think of Spirit as "good," or higher or superior or more important than Matter, and overlook the hidden factor in the analogy of the "web." Is the warp of the network of delicate threads spun by the spider more important than the woof? The "interlacing" constitutes the structure, becomes the texture, provides the usefulness of a field of experience to some form or forms of Intelligence. In the "trinity" of Spirit, Matter, and the Intelligences that work in, through, and upon the web of living Substance, Brotherhood is the fact of interdependent Unity.
Monad, Monads and "monadic essence" pertain to the dynamic development of every Being in the Universe -- spiritual evolution. "As the Monads are uncompounded things,... it is the spiritual essence which vivifies them in their degrees of differentiation, which properly constitutes the Monad -- not the atomic aggregation, which is only the vehicle and the substance through which thrill the lower and the higher degrees of intelligence." (S.D. I, 179.)
In The Ocean of Theosophy, William Q. Judge asks: "What then is the universe for, and for what final purpose is man the immortal thinker here in evolution?" He continues:It is all for the experience and emancipation of the soul, for the purpose of raising the entire mass of manifested matter up to the stature, nature, and dignity of conscious god-hood. The great aim is to reach self-consciousness; not through a race or a tribe or some favored nation, but by and through the perfecting, after transformation, of the whole mass of matter as well as what we now call soul. (p. 60.)Perhaps the most marked characteristic of developing intelligence is the irrepressible desire for freedom, though it means struggle and brings pain. Not simply being but awareness of being gives scope and depth to the life of Soul. Adaptation to environment in the lower kingdoms is achievement, in Man it spells conformity and revolts the Soul. Security that springs from surroundings of the familiar circumscribes the consciousness, and the Pilgrim-soul finds challenge in complexity of conditionings, adventure in Self-discovery and the perfection of understanding. What constitutes "emancipation of the soul"? This expression from Coleridge gives food for thought:The medium, by which spirits understand each other, is not the surrounding air; but the freedom which they possess in common, as the common ethereal element of that being, the tremulous reciprocations of which they propagate themselves even to the inmost of the soul. Where the spirit of man is not filled with the consciousness of freedom (were it only from its restlessness, as one struggling in bondage) all spiritual intercourse is interrupted, not only with others, but even with himself.Emancipation implies liberation from something that controls or dominates -- the "bonds of Karma." It also suggests a freedom which one's own judgment or conscience or intelligence decrees the course to be taken, the principles to be followed. Self-determination is the unique power of Soul, whereby it knows itself a solely responsible "Unit." The pivotal doctrine of the Esoteric philosophy "admits no privileges or special gifts in man, save those won by his own Ego through personal effort and merit throughout a long series of metempsychoses and reincarnations." Complete freedom is in complete identity with All. What is there to lose, or to gain, at the Heart of the Universe?
W.Q.J. said: "Through linked centers of life the self-conscious is born of the monadic."
COMPILER'S NOTE: The following is a separate item which followed the above article but was on the same page. I felt it was useful to include it here:
TO "TRY TO INDICATE"
The One is in truth beyond all statement: any affirmation is of a thing; but the all-transcending, resting above even the most august Divine Mind, possesses alone of all true being and is not a thing among things; we can give it no name because that would imply predication: we can try to indicate, in our own feeble way, something, concerning it.
(Part 13 of a 14-part series)
Back to the
series complete list of articles.
Back to the full listing containing all of the
"Additional Categories of Articles". | <urn:uuid:d393c9e4-4e45-4258-9ab8-67663228faa7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blavatsky.net/magazine/theosophy/ww/additional/PROEM-ToTheSecretDoctrine-Hints/SeriesNumber12-of-14.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935937 | 2,159 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Marine Conservation Institute is a leader in the global movement to protect and recover the integrity of vast ocean areas.
We use the latest science to identify important marine ecosystems around the world, and then advocate for their protection, for us and future generations.
Marine Conservation Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving our living oceans. We work with scientists, politicians, government officials and other organizations around the world to protect essential ocean places and the wild species in them.
Our goal is maintaining and recovering bountiful, diverse and healthy oceans now and for generations to come. We understand that marine ecosystems are essential for human survival, wealth and well-being. Because the oceans are the Earth’s biggest life support system, everyone has a big stake in maintaining their integrity.
Marine Conservation Institute identifies the most important and vulnerable ocean ecosystems, then advocates for protecting them. We identify key threats to places in the sea and then offer workable solutions to solve problems. We base all of our efforts on the latest understanding of marine science. And we benefit from decades of experience in conservation policy.
Our unique effectiveness comes from our vision, expertise and our willingness to partner with others to find sustainable solutions. Since starting as the vision of one person in 1996, Marine Conservation Institute has become a major catalyst in the effort to save our planet, the most pressing challenge of our time. | <urn:uuid:d60b052c-4928-4361-a333-cd7e47a30e94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marine-conservation.org/who-we-are/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919075 | 276 | 2.25 | 2 |
PSYCHOLOGY FINDS itself in the midst of a major media renaissance: bestselling books, popular magazine stories, blog posts that go viral. The public cannot get enough.
Yet among researchers, there is a dawning awareness of a potentially serious issue at the core of what they do. The experiments that offer so many insights and takeaways might be seriously flawed — the result of relying on too homogenous a sample. The engine of science runs on the fuel of experiments. If you are interested in conducting psychology experiments, you need people. And if you are a researcher at a university there is an obvious solution, the sea of undergrads right on campus.
One survey of top journals by a researcher at Clark University found that two-thirds of the studies used American psychology undergrads as their sole subjects. This means that grand claims about human nature are based on the behavior of a narrow group of educated, relatively wealthy people at a particular moment in their lives.
Put another way, the subjects of psychology are WEIRD — they are Western and Educated, and they come from Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic societies, says University of British Columbia scholar Joseph Henrich. Working with two colleagues, he has found strong evidence that human psychology varies around the planet in fundamental ways.
For example, one of the lessons of modern psychology is that people work hard, sometimes unconsciously, to maintain a positive image of themselves; another is that most people tend to rate their own abilities as above average. But when you venture into other societies, these effects fade or disappear. It turns out that in these ways, and in many ways, the psychology of Americans is at the extreme edge of a spectrum, and that the only group which is even more of an outlier is a strange tribe known as the American undergraduate.
Many studies use American psychology undergrads as their sole subjects — meaning that grand claims about human nature are based on a narrow group of educated, relatively wealthy people at a particular moment in their lives.
“If there was one group you wouldn’t want to use” to understand human psychology, says Henrich, “it would be American undergraduates.”
The differences run deep. The WEIRDos of the world differ in the way they conceive of themselves, in what they consider fair, in how much they value choice, and, quite literally, in how they see the world. There is a well-known illusion, in which one line appears longer than another, even though they are the same length. It was thought that the illusion was just a part of the way that perception works. But show it to someone like a San forager of the Kalahari, and there is no illusion. If something as basic as how the brain processes vision can be so different, one can only imagine the potential differences in, say, how someone makes a decision.
This is of more than academic concern. In recent years, there has been a commendable move to use the insights of the behavioral sciences to improve not only ourselves but our societies. The aim now is to improve institutions — to make public schools run better, for example, or to alleviate poverty and other social ills. But psychology’s WEIRD problem suggests that these practitioners must move ahead with extreme care. People in the real world may not react the same way as psych students at an East Coast university.
“These policies don’t just apply to undergrads, so that gives you an incentive to understand things more generally,” says Harvard University researcher David Rand.
Rand recently started to pursue a fascinating solution. He uses a software platform, Amazon’s “Mechanical Turk,” which allows people from around the world to sign in and perform easy tasks. This gives him an inexpensive way to run experiments online using volunteers from around the world. It’s not perfect — it only includes fairly savvy Internet users who speak English — but he tells me that in experiments on moral reasoning, he is already seeing hints that established results using American undergrads don’t hold up.
Clearly, though, psychology as a field needs to do more of the hard work of testing its ideas in other contexts, beyond the relatively fast and easy experiments you can do down the hall. And the fact that others think differently is not so much a problem for psychology as it is an opportunity — a chance to come to a deeper understanding of the diversity of the mind. | <urn:uuid:704f2940-53d8-42ae-8c16-5415d6f1e6e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/06/29/psychology-experiments-may-flawed-relying-too-homogenous-sample/IElKwUJad38ZrJdiH3zdZN/story.html | 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 | 0.960482 | 913 | 2.953125 | 3 |
For Immediate Release, June 13, 2012
Contact: Taylor McKinnon, (928) 310-6713
Dunes Sagebrush Lizard Denied Endangered Species Act Protection
Obama Administration Caves to Oil and Gas Industry Pressure
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— In a decision that ignores science and blatantly sidesteps the intentions of the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today denied protection for the dunes sagebrush lizard, leaving one of the nation’s most imperiled lizard species to rely on unenforceable, voluntary conservation plans. The ruling, which comes after heavy lobbying by the oil and gas industry and a Republican-fueled misinformation campaign exaggerating potential job losses, was blasted by the Center for Biological Diversity as a politically orchestrated detour around the powerful environmental law that, over the past four decades, has saved 99 percent of the species placed under its protection.
“This decision by the Obama administration to toss aside the Endangered Species Act and bow to the wishes of the oil and gas industry is not only bad news for this rare lizard but sets a dangerous precedent for other declining species,” said Taylor McKinnon with of Center for Biological Diversity. “In denying the lizard protection, Secretary Salazar is sticking his head in the sand and ignoring science.”
Today’s decision relies heavily on voluntary agreements to conserve the lizard’s tiny habitat — making up just 2 percent of Permian Basin oil and gas lands — even though there is no guarantee the agreements will ever be implemented or that they would be effective at saving the lizard from extinction, particularly once the threat of Endangered Species Act protection has been removed. Meanwhile, oil and gas development, livestock grazing and road construction continue to fragment and destroy what’s left of the lizard’s fragile habitat.
The Obama administration has touted voluntary measures as a way to skirt Endangered Species Act requirements to ensure species’ recovery. (One such agreement covering federal and state lands in New Mexico has been in place for 7 years.) The brand new Texas Conservation Plan, created this year, has not gained wide acceptance among oil and gas operators or private landowners, who assert that the lizard does not need any protection. About one-third of the lizard’s habitat is in west Texas.
“The Texas Oil and Gas Association told federal biologists that its members will not voluntarily conserve lizard habitat because it is too expensive,” McKinnon said. “They want to use the agreement as a get-out-of-jail free card.”
Earlier this year, the Center produced an analysis of the Texas plan, finding that it is unlikely to be effective because it lacks definite funding, is voluntary and prescribes vague measures lacking accountability. Indeed, Susan Combs, Texas’s state comptroller, has called that plan “purely voluntary.”
An analysis last year by the Center found that the Bureau of Land Management had put less than 1 percent of its Permian Basin land off limits to oil and gas drilling to protect the dunes sagebrush lizard, a finding that called into question claims by Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) that more than 4,000 oil and gas wells in the lizard’s habitat could be shut down if the lizard gained protection.
“Whether it’s in New Mexico, Texas, the Rockies or someplace else, if we leave the protection of endangered species to voluntary programs for individual landowners or to the whims of individual state governments, the species will always lose,” said McKinnon. “We can pretend that’s not the case, but our history — from the treatment of grizzlies to bald eagles and brown pelicans — proves otherwise. That’s why the law says decisions to protect species must be based on science, not convenience.”
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 350,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. | <urn:uuid:3bb5c386-f8ef-45c9-b53a-cd0c00ba23a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2012/dunes-sagebrush-lizard-06-13-2012.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932041 | 838 | 2.03125 | 2 |
I've started the design work on my next creation which will be a bit different than the last few I've built. This robot will be a Hexapod based on a circular body. Each leg will have 3 drive motors and will use a design similar to the old Odex I (look it up if the name isn't familiar!). All moving parts will be on bearings or bushings, there will be 24 per leg. Linear actuators drive two axis and the third uses a large gear motor.
I built a wooden version of one leg to validate the design,clearances and interferences. The CAD drawings were finished last night so the next step is cutting out the aluminum stock. Then it all goes into a CNC mill to make the parts!
I'm using Parallax parts as much as possible but some things like the linear actuators were ordered elsewhere. The HB-25 motor controllersl are used to drive the 12 volt motors and 6 custom propellor boards will be used to control the legs. These controllers will be networked together with a master prop board running the show. The goal is to get the mechanical parts for a single leg together before the end of the year and have the basic individual leg programming completed before spring. I expect the final weight of the robot to be around 125 pounds and it will stand up to a maximum of around 4.5 ft.
The rest of the legs will follow shortly after that (nice thing about a CNC is that design changes are easy to incorporate and reproduce!). I plan on using Rodney Brooks's behavioral programming ideas for this robot. So I have a lot of studying to do. My big goal is for it to be able to climb stairs with a minimum of input from myself. If I can do that, then it will be a success for me!
This is actually my second Hexapod using this basic design but with access to better machining (CNC) capabilities and more modern electronics I expect to have more success this time around (the original was built in the 80's and had very limited capabilities)
I'll add photos as I go along if anyone is interested. | <urn:uuid:eb7ad95e-27b6-471b-bead-fbe003047e17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/135857-Next-large-robot?mode=hybrid | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957144 | 435 | 1.625 | 2 |
Explaining the Basics, Debunking the Myths
Timekeeping: The Dive Watch, Deconstructed
It is ironic that, while watch companies are turning out more capable dive watches – helium release valves, absurd water resistance, innovative bezels – fewer and fewer SCUBA divers are wearing watches at all. Go on any dive boat and you’re lucky to find one person wearing anything besides a dive computer on his wrist. The fact of the matter is, dive watches have become anachronistic novelties to all but a few old school divers who still rely on memory and math skills to calculate no-decompression limits. But dive watches are more popular than ever for even those who will never dip a toe in the ocean. Perhaps because of this surge in their popularity, combined with their lack of real world use, dive watches suffer from numerous misconceptions. People love to wear them but don’t know a helium release valve from a no-deco limit. We’re here to help. This article explains some of the basics of the dive watch, debunks some myths and sets things straight.
Photos by Gishani for Gear Patrol
How Is a Dive Watch Used?
Even if you never plan to back roll into the Caribbean or explore a Great Lakes wreck, you should know how a diver uses a dive watch. For a diver, there are three primary pieces of data he needs to know at all times: his depth, his remaining air pressure and his bottom time. While all three can now be displayed on a modern digital dive computer, the traditional means is using gauges and a timepiece, the first two on analog “brass and glass” gauges attached to a regulator hose or strapped to a wrist and the latter via the dive watch. While the importance of remaining air pressure is easy to understand, depth and time are more theoretical and inextricably linked.
The deeper you dive, the more nitrogen from the compressed air you breathe is absorbed in your body tissue. As you ascend this nitrogen is released slowly but if you spend too long too deep, you have to stop on your way to the surface in order to decompress. Fail to decompress, or ascend too quickly and you risk getting the bends, which can be painful and even deadly. Scientists long ago devised tables that tell divers what the maximum times they can spend at each depth before they must decompress on their ascent. So knowing your depth and your time is vital.
In the early days of diving, the way to track dive time was to pull out the crown of your watch before descending, set the minute hand to twelve o’clock, push in the crown and then start the dive. Of course, this was clumsy and always meant having to reset the time once back on the boat. The introduction of the rotating elapsed time bezel was a big leap forward. Contrary to some misconceptions, the bezel does not track the amount of air in the SCUBA tank. The bezel allows a diver to twist the bezel so that the arrow, or descent marker, aligns with the minute hand. As time passes, the minute hand is read against the bezel markings to quickly tell elapsed dive time. Knowing his depth and this time, along with the no-deco limit for his depth, a diver can safely carry out his dive.
Why Does the Bezel Only Turn One Way?
On early dive watches, the timing bezel turned both directions. But now, it is de rigueur for all dive watch bezels to only turn counter-clockwise. The reason for this is so that if the bezel is bumped accidentally during a dive, it will only move one direction, subtracting time from the dive and prompting the diver to end his dive early. If there was the possibility of extending a dive (as a bi-directional bezel could) a diver could be in danger of surpassing the no-deco limit.
Why Are the First 15 Minutes of a Bezel Marked Differently?
On many dive watch bezels, the first 15 or 20 minutes of markings are colored – yellow, orange, red – and have individual minute markers shown. This is again a remnant from past usage. Upon ascent, if a diver needs to time a shorter interval with more precision, most likely a decompression stop, it is helpful to be able to reset the zero marker to the minute hand and use the more finely marked area to track his time. Some dive watches, such as the military versions that Rolex and Omega built for the British Royal Navy, display minute markers on the full bezel.
How Deep is Deep Enough?
The first dive watches of the 1950s from Rolex, Blancpain, Omega and others had rather meager depth ratings by today’s standards – about 100 meters. In the decades since, a sort of “depth race” began among watch companies and 1,000 meter depth ratings were seen on dive watches as early as the late 1960s. Today, there are some dive watches with ratings as deep as 12,000 meters. These ultra-deep divers appeal to watch fans for the same reason supercars with high top speeds appeal to car enthusiasts, displaying engineering prowess and ultimate performance. But for the vast majority of recreational or even professional divers, a 200 meter rated dive watch is more than enough. The International Standards Organization, or ISO, has a detailed standard for dive watches. The document specifies exactly how a dive watch’s water resistance is to be tested and says that to be called a dive watch, a timepiece must have a minimum water resistance of 100 meters and have a method to track elapsed time (see above). And no, moving your arms underwater does not significantly increase water pressure on your watch.
How Does a Helium Release Valve Work?
One of the most misunderstood aspects of a dive watch is the helium release valve. Along with extraordinary depth ratings, many modern divers feature them yet most watch owners couldn’t explain how they work. The fact of the matter is, for 99.9% of dive watch owners, the helium release valve is utterly useless. It was developed to solve a peculiar problem faced by a very small and elite group of divers.
Professional saturation divers are those who work at very deep depths for days on end. The air mixture that they breathe replaces nitrogen with helium, an inert gas that is harmless to breathe and doesn’t cause the narcotic effect that nitrogen does at depth. In order to continue to work for long periods of time underwater, these divers live in a dry, pressurized chamber suspended from a ship or platform at the surface. They enter the water to work via an airlock and breathe the same pressure and mix of air as they do inside the chamber. When their work is done, the chamber is hoisted to the surface and pressure reduced gradually for days until the divers can emerge to surface air and pressure.
The problem with helium is, while it is safe to breathe, its molecules are very small. They can penetrate inside a dive watch while the diver is in the dry chamber between stints in the water. As the chamber is depressurized, the helium molecules expand inside the watch and look for any means to escape. The quickest route is usually by blowing the watch crystal off, an obvious hazard to both man and watch. So Rolex patented a one-way pressure relief valve that will pop open to allow helium to escape safely. The valve, some manually unscrewed, some automatic, can be found on many dive watches nowadays. If you think you will ever need this valve, chances are you’re not reading this article right now.
Why Do Some Rubber Straps Look Like An Accordion?
Maybe you’ve noticed on many dive watches that the rubber straps have a section, typically near its attachment points on the watch case, which is rippled or vented. Contrary to some misconceptions, this is not to allow your wrist to breathe. Rather it allows the wearer to pull the strap tight over a wetsuit sleeve at the surface but remain tight as the diver descends. You see, neoprene wetsuits compress as water pressure increases. Even a strap that was tight at the surface will loosen up around this shrinking circumference causing the watch to flop around on the wrist. By pulling the vented strap tight at sea level, the vents will contract to take up the slack as the diver descends.
The Dive Watch is Dead. Long Live the Dive Watch.
Despite its absence from dive boats, the dive watch is alive and well, as a nod to history, an exercise in extreme engineering and a symbol of adventure. It is a talisman from days of exploration, when men descended into the sea for the first time to explore wrecks, discover reefs and do clandestine battle. And just as watch collectors are keepers of a tradition of a mechanical art, so too are dive watch owners keepers of a legacy of rugged instruments that accompanied man on some of his greatest adventures. Wear your dive watch proudly. And know how it works.
Photos by Gishani for Gear Patrol | <urn:uuid:63961c7b-2b28-4a01-839b-22969d39b81f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2011/07/20/timekeeping-the-dive-watch-deconstructed/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949214 | 1,876 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Dozens in Petaluma spend King Day volunteering
Published: Monday, January 21, 2013 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, January 21, 2013 at 9:22 p.m.
Although young, Rain and River Anderson, are no strangers to working on a farm.
Their mother, Molly Anderson of Petaluma, said her daughter Rain, 5, and son River, 3, help feed the family's ducks and chickens at home.
On Monday, the family, including 6-month old Reef in a harness on Anderson's back, spent their Martin Luther King Jr. holiday volunteering at Petaluma Bounty's community farm.
The older siblings loaded child-size wheelbarrows with mulch from a pile, pushed them over to a grassy area, unloaded and spread the dark ground cover around.
The Andersons were among about four dozen volunteers who, in the King spirit of “a day on, not a day off,” helped with seasonal duties at the nonprofit farm.
“Most people have the day off, but we wanted to come and help out,” Anderson said. “I'm teaching these guys at a young age that it's fun to volunteer and be part of a bigger community.”
The federal holiday marking the birthday of King was created in 1983. In 1994, Congress designated holiday as a national day of service and charged the Corporation for National and Community Service with leading the effort.
In Petaluma, that translated to a beehive of activity at the farm on Shasta Avenue off Petaluma Boulevard North.
Farm Manager Lennie Larkin pointed the glove-wearing volunteers toward projects to make compost, pull weeds, prepare beds for spring planting, fertilize the 100 or so fruit trees and more.
Petaluma Bounty is a nonprofit community farm formed in 2006 with a goal of providing healthy, local food at low cost to the community.
Every April, it holds a plant sale, its major fundraiser. Much of Monday's prep work was to get the farm ready for spring crops.
Many of those volunteering were from service groups, including Rotaract, a youth Rotary club, and high school students fulfilling community service requirements. Others were completing court-ordered volunteer time, said Project Manager Suzi Grady.
Phoebe Vernier Caceres and her husband, Alfredo, specifically sought out a King day of service event to volunteer for.
“Sometimes you need a special occasion to inspire people,” she said. “And this day is inspiring.”
You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 762-7297 or email@example.com.
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According to Pingdom (a website monitoring service), there were 107 trillion emails sent last year! Being of the internet generation, I always knew that the internet was something that was incredibly vast. It is a place that has endless expanses of information and accessibility jostling with undocumented caverns of pornography; a place that convinced us (me at least) if you didn’t find what you were looking for on the internet, it probably does not exist.
While most of us already knew of the internet’s prowess in terms of sheer scope and breadth, it becomes even more interesting when we have some data to play around with. Using this data perhaps we can gain a little perspective on this behemoth. Below are 2010′s stats for blogs, Facebook, Twitter, websites, emails, and users.
STATA! (Stats and Data) [copyright!]
First of all, let’s deal with that huge email statistic of 107 trillion emails sent last year.
Let’s now say that most of these emails were somewhat short and to-the-point, as they often are, and it only took you 1 minute to read each one. The time it would take you to read just 1 year’s worth of emails (though the number of yearly emails is sure to increase) would be 200 MILLION YEARS! In this time frame, you could witness the entire evolution, rein, and downfall of all dinosaurs while you read your emails.
What about if all those emails were made physical… Taking the average length of a commercially available envelope to be 6 inches, if we laid all of that mail end to end the result would be 10 BILLION MILES LONG! That’s only two orders of magnitude away from a light year (about 5 trillion miles).
With this enormous distance, we could make a paper trail that would stretch to the SUN and back 55 times!
And now for some more general internet STATA:
As of June 2010, there were 1.97 billion Internet users:
- 825.1 million in Asia
- 475.1 million in Europe
- 266.2 million in North America
- 204.7 million in Latin America and the Caribbean
- 110.9 million in Africa
- 63.2 million in the Middle East
- 21.3 million in Oceania and Australia
An average of 294 billion email messages from an estimated 2.9 billion email accounts worldwide were sent per day and about 89 percent were spam. That is like getting only one important letter in a heap of junk mail…that sounds about right. But in this case, 265 billion emails per day were sent directly to the “bulk mail” folder.
152 million blogs were estimated (that makes me feel tiny!).
THE INTERNET AT LARGE:
Again according to Pingdom, the total number of websites is 255 million, which is an increase of 21.4 million over the previous year. I wonder how much of that is taken up by a website made for every single movie released in the last 30 years, and fansites for every Hollywood actor and music flavor of the minute (the clock is ticking Beiber!).
- 88.8 million .com domain names
- 13.2 million .net domain names
- 8.6 million .org domain names
- 79.2 million country code domains such as .cn or .uk.
And for those of you who still refuse to use or just do not care about Twitter: Twitter added 100 million new accounts last year and had a total of 175 million as of September 2010, Pingdom said, adding that 25 billion messages, or “tweets,” were sent in 2010.
Facebook had nearly 600 million users at the end of the year with 250 million joining in 2010. Screw you Myspace! | <urn:uuid:cea9e38e-9000-4f65-b8c5-18a5245bf0b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/the-internet-in-2010/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961138 | 791 | 2.25 | 2 |
Quoting TooManyWordsToKnow=D:" Okay, thank you! Sorry if it was a dumb question. I think I'll go by what I see in the frozen food section ... [snip!] ... frozen food section as a guide! Well, any tips for the foods I can't freeze on making them last longest? Proper storage etc.?"
Keep tropical climate foods out, i.e. bananas, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado. It keeps them fresher a bit longer, and refrigerating can cause freezing, loss of taste, and cause them to go bad faster. Certain foods should never be stored together. Tomatoes should be stored alone. They give off gases that make food ripen/ go bad faster. Never store potatoes and onions together. So many. lol | <urn:uuid:7631ee32-8ff4-483c-b343-5f1cdd9a57d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.baby-gaga.com/about2405407.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930452 | 160 | 1.5 | 2 |
Arctic Ocean Ecosystem
The Arctic Ocean is one of the planet's most remote and formidable large ocean basins. Much of it is permanently covered by shifting sea ice. Half the year it is plunged into total darkness and it is buffeted by bitterly cold winds year-round. Despite this, life thrives in the far north, enduring some of the greatest extremes in light and temperature on the planet.
Polar bears roam the Arctic ice while pods of orcas hunt beneath the ocean surface. Supporting these top predators is a complex ecosystem that includes a wide variety of fish, birds, mammals, and other organisms. At the base of this web, supporting this surprising abundance of life, are the microscopic phytoplankton and algae that produce organic material using the sun's energy.[ MORE ]
The Arctic’s extreme environmental conditions have limited efforts to study this complex food web. Expeditions to the remote Arctic are difficult and expensive. When scientists can get there at all, it is usually only in summer. Such gaps in our observations have limited understanding of the Arctic ecosystem's intricacies and vulnerabilities—at a time when that system appears to be increasingly vulnerable.
Scientists know that warming temperatures are affecting the Arctic Ocean in countless ways, producing changes that may have cascading effects on the Arctic’s interlinked and delicately balanced ecosystem. Documented declines in Arctic sea ice is reducing the habitat for bacteria, viruses, unicellular algae, diatoms, ice worms and small crustaceans that live inside the ice. As the ice warms in spring and summer, these tiny organisms are released into the surface water, where they become food for a wide range of fish and shrimp, which in turn become food for larger animals.
Changes in the food web not only threaten life in the Arctic region, they also could have impacts on Earth’s climate. In addition to providing the base of the food web in the far north, populations of Arctic plankton also convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into organic matter that eventually sinks to the ocean bottom—effectively extracting a heat-trapping greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.[ LESS ]
Much of the ocean around Antarctica is ice-covered for half the year, and the temperature is near freezing year-round. Yet, the sea here is full of life, from microscopic algae to shrimplike krill to large predators that depend on them. In fact, this is one of the most productive oceans on earth, and its cycle of life is tied to the change in seasons.
Each winter in Antarctica, as the sun disappears and temperatures plunge, ice forms on the sea and extends outward from the continent to cover large areas of ocean. The ice is important to the ecosystem, because microscopic, single-celled algae—the same kinds that drift in the open water as phytoplankton—are trapped inside the ice as it forms and also grow on the ice’s underside. Young krill congregate under the ice all winter, and the algae provides critical food for them when there is not enough light to produce food in the open water. Instead of being a hardship, winter ice lets the krill survive until spring.[ MORE ]
In spring, the sea ice melts, releasing the trapped algae into the water. The algae—now living freely as phytoplankton—find all that they need to grow: open water, lots of nutrients (compounds like plant fertilizer, stirred up from deeper water by wind and ocean circulation), and intense sunshine.
What happens next is a bloom, or population explosion, of phytoplankton in the water. Animals, especially krill, consume this abundant food supply, and multiply to astounding levels. Scientists have estimated that the krill in the ocean around Antarctica weigh more than the entire world’s human population. The krill, which are rich in protein and fat, in turn become food for large numbers of animals further up the food chain, directly or indirectly feeding penguins, seals, and whales.
Scientists studying the Antarctic marine ecosystem now know that high productivity is largely confined to the edge of the sea ice and a few other areas, rather than occurring throughout the Southern Ocean. In addition, its high productivity may be changing, as the Antarctic climate warms and there is less sea ice to support the crucial base of the food chain there.[ LESS ] | <urn:uuid:505b12dd-f446-4561-9c25-2ece6df141d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=83539 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93354 | 897 | 4.21875 | 4 |
Matthews's title comes from one of Emily Dickinson’s delicious little poems, a stanza of which is cited at the beginning:
Rowing in Eden –
Ah! The sea!...
Wild nights should be
The eroticism of the poem is, in this context, gone, wiped out, erased. The wild nights of this title are not luxurious. They are ominous. We may not survive them.
This is an environmental jeremiad with a difference. There is no complaining here, no direct appeal for a harmony between humankind and nature. Anne Matthews’s eye is cold and clinical. Nature, she tells us, is everywhere, in the cracks in the walls, in the sewers under the sidewalks as well as in the meadows and the stars. Moreover, nature is not at risk. We are.
From Darwin's image of the tangled bank all modern Western environmentalism descends: the concept of the food web, the belief that nature is a complex community that humans can ignore, or deny, or exploit, but never escape.
In other words, nature's going to make it. Are we?
Wild Nights is a hard book to read in large doses. You imagine an author seated before several file drawers of three by five cards filled with facts. The cards are arranged more or less systematically. She writes down the facts that her files disgorge in endless succession. The facts, unfortunately, are not footnoted, and the acknowledgment at the end is a mere listing, without specific titles, of the professional literatures of urban ecology, urban history, urban and regional development, geography, wildlife biology, environmental restoration, architecture, political science, cultural studies, environmental science and environmental history, or from multisourced reports by major news organizations (207).
She goes on to list the UN, the US Congress, and the New York Academy of Sciences. That's it. One “big” footnote. The reader, apparently, has gotta believe. I'm disposed to believe. I've read enough footnoted material to suggest that she’s right.
Nature, Matthews tells us, has returned to New York City: foxes, coyotes, wild turkeys. A black bear in Chappaqua, deer, egrets, ibis, night herons and bitterns. As she says, "Nature/culture confrontation is becoming part of urban, suburban, and periurban routine." This isn’t exactly cute. It's rather a test, a test that most urban cultures failed. "Messing too much with the natural world generally hands an urban culture one of three outcomes: a transformed life, a lesser life, a long night" (7). Rome is her example of the long night.
A big city, she shows, is "far more friendly to wildlife than small ones, because the potential habitat is both immense and varied." (25). This seems a pleasant enough fact, as she tells us about the return to New York of the peregrine falcon. But there’s little to feel good about in the next chapter called "Unleashed." Here she catalogues the destructive impact of Canada geese on watersheds, the boldness of wild turkeys on Martha’s Vineyard, the growing coyote pack in the Bronx, the "jumbo-size" bears nourished on fast-food garbage, the bloody explosion of white-tailed deer onto highways everywhere. There's more, much more. "Unleashed" is a long, dismaying chapter.
Immigrant species furnish yet more disturbing news, and I think of the woods along the Sawmill River Parkway bent over and dying from their heavy load of kudzu vines. Matthews moves on to the scattered ruins of Penn Station lost in New Jersey’s swamps. She finds in these broken columns a local symbol of the ruin of cities. Native species are returning and will take over their lost ground. The penultimate chapter, “Rising Tide,” is her apocalyptic climax: global warming will chase out native species of trees and animals. Ocean levels will rise and cover large parts of the city, backing up sewers, to the joy of New York's overwhelming population of rats. Storms will be severe. And there is always the possibility of earthquakes, even a meteor strike.
The cursory list I have made hardly does justice to the rich specifics of Anne Matthews's catalogue of disaster. It is a catalogue that gives one pause. Wild Nights is a book worth reading. | <urn:uuid:320ff305-45f3-421c-a39a-75efdb5bf0cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/to_be_read/4381.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940647 | 935 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Rumsfeld: Iraqi Sunnis 'Made Big Mistake' by Not Voting
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2005 Iraq's Sunni Arabs marginalized themselves and fanned fractional discord when they largely boycotted national elections held in January, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told U.S. House of Representatives members at a Sept. 29 hearing here.
"The Sunnis made a big mistake in Iraq; they didn't participate in the election," Rumsfeld told members of the House Armed Services Committee. Sunnis received favored treatment during Saddam Hussein's reign and constitute around 20 percent of Iraq's 25 million people.
More than 8 million Iraqi voters selected 275 of their countrymen on Jan. 30 to form a national assembly, which is crafting Iraq's new constitution, slated for public vote during an Oct. 15 referendum.
The Sunnis now realize they should have participated earlier and more fully in Iraq's new political system, Rumsfeld said. Today Iraq's Sunnis are "participating in the drafting of the constitution and they've been registering in large numbers" to vote during the October referendum, the secretary said.
"And, my information is they intend to vote quite heavily in the election scheduled for Dec. 15," Rumsfeld said. More than 12 million Iraqis have now registered to vote.
Rumsfeld's observations about Sunni participation in Iraq's political system were prompted by a House member's query about possible civil war in Iraq between the country's ethnic and religious factions. Iraq's two other major ethnic groups, the Kurds and the Shiites, constitute about 20 and 60 percent of Iraq's population, respectively. Saddam's Sunni-dominated government had persecuted both these groups.
The insurgency in Iraq "is primarily a Sunni Arab insurgency," said Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, who accompanied Rumsfeld at the hearing along with some other senior U.S. officers.
Yet, "there are more people in Iraq trying to hold it together as a nation than trying to tear it apart," Abizaid said.
"It's very possible," the general said, for Iraq "to come together in the right way" to ensure peace and prosperity for all of its citizens.
Some Sunni Arabs are said to worry about the loss of their political and economic power under a new Iraqi government that would divide the country into a prosperous north and south populated by Kurds and Shiites, respectively, and a poorer central region populated by Sunnis. Iraq's considerable oil resources are located in its northern and southern regions.
Such an issue demonstrates that "the Sunni Arab community needs to be part of the future of Iraq and participate fully" in the new political system, Abazaid said. If the Sunnis do that, then "they'll hold the country together" and "move forward in a good way," the general said.
Increased peaceful and lawful involvement in Iraq's political affairs by its Sunni citizens would "eventually set the conditions that allow a substantial drawdown of American forces," Abizaid said, "provided the security conditions and security forces of the Iraqi armed forces continue to develop."
The concept that the majority of Iraq's Sunni Arabs would reject their country's new political system "is a dynamic that's unhealthy" for Iraq, Rumsfeld said.
"There needs to be a way to have a compact evolve over the coming period so that all elements in that country recognize that they have a stake in it and feel they have a future in it," he said. | <urn:uuid:1207121c-16ae-4f57-bfe2-fde6d964e939> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=17170 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97295 | 732 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Hiroko Tabuchi has an interesting article in the New York Times about an element of Japan’s economic recovery program that aimed at getting unemployed young people to go work on farms. Low-immigration Japan, after all, winds up with a shortfall of agricultural workers even while the recession creates large-scale unemployment in metropolitan areas.
Of course one can’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be smarter instead to try to tackle some of the structural issues in this area. Like all developed countries, Japan has agricultural protection policies that don’t make much economic sense. But my understanding is that Japan is the outlier in terms of going further than the United States or Europe does to try to prop up an agricultural sector that’s ill-suited to today’s realities. The ability of a structural labor shortage to coincide with high levels of unemployment seems to me to mostly just illustrate the point that the distortions involved in this make the Japanese economy less resilient than it otherwise might be. | <urn:uuid:762f1ffd-9fc8-4c83-87fa-da5cf861d1e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2009/04/18/192581/back_to_the_land_in_japan/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936282 | 206 | 1.679688 | 2 |
By McKinley Noble | 03-05-2013 | 11:30AM
Few other companies are anywhere near as comprehensive as the Red Cross when it comes to disaster assistance and preparation, and the company's American branch does well to present the group.
Joining the American Red Cross' already-impressive handful of Android apps, their latest Google Play release should help fill a critical niche in their library.
Simply dubbed "Tornado—American Red Cross", the new app should be most useful to Americans living in the central United States, an area that's most commonly known as "Tornado Alley" to most climatologists.
As described in the apps' profile, its primary use is education about tornado-related disasters and how to best prepare for them.
In the event that a storm is headed your way, the app will provide alerts and warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s system. There's also data provided that can tell you where the most high-risk areas for tornados are located, in addition to mapping shelters for emergencies.
Finally, there's all-clear alerts automated in the app, along with a feature specifically designed to let your family and contacts know that you're safe. If you're in a high-risk area, don't wait on downloading it for free right now to any device with Android 2.2 and up.
Other Stories You Should Read on NVision:
Links not working? Update to the latest version of NVision! | <urn:uuid:394df22a-bb5e-432b-bee2-db647f6cd4e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nvisionapp.com/latest/article/New-Red-Cross-App-Provides-Tornado-Alerts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95949 | 308 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Louis De FranceArticle Free Pass
Louis De France, byname Le Grand Dauphin, or Monseigneur (born Nov. 1, 1661—died April 14, 1711, Meudon, Fr.), son of Louis XIV and Marie-Thérèse of Austria; his death preceded his father’s (1715), and the French crown went to his own grandson, Louis XV. In 1688 he received nominal command of the French armies in Germany, led by Vauban, but throughout his life he depended on the favours of his strong-willed father and acquired a reputation for timidity, subservience, and—despite an education under the philosopher Bossuet—general mediocrity.
He married (1680) Marie-Anne-Christine-Victoire of Bavaria (d. 1690) and had three sons: Louis, duc de Bourgogne (1682–1712), who himself was dauphin for two years (1711–12) and was the father of Louis XV; Philippe, duc d’Anjou (1683–1746), who became King Philip V of Spain; and Charles, duc de Berry (1686–1714).
What made you want to look up "Louis De France"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:feeb8630-4011-48cc-8e3e-b78e3c839636> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/349174/Louis-De-France | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966735 | 282 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Can't wait to try out Google's Chrome OS on an actual netbook? You might have to contain yourself until the second half of 2010, as that's when Acer — the first company to announce the development of a Chrome-based netbook — plans to release theirs.
Digitimes reports that Acer has been developing the netbook since mid-2009. If you remember, Acer was the first company to launch a dual-boot Android/Windows netbook, a product that was quickly forgotten in part because Chrome OS arrived and kicked Android back to where it belongs: the smartphone world.
Chrome OS — Google's attempt to reinvent the browser as the operating system — has attracted a lot of interest, but we have yet to see how the users will react to it when they try to use it on an everyday basis. | <urn:uuid:99ae742e-5a55-4d47-92b1-a3188584d096> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mashable.com/2009/12/02/acer-chrome-os/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959493 | 167 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Originally Posted by dannyboi
OK, besides that...
I don't understand this followup question. That is literally all that is wrong with it. Make sure you add the missing closing braces. Just the class and the method itself; I'd remove the redundant open and close braces as well though.
Now other than this, you are mixing swing and command line components. This is bizarre to say the least, if you want to use a gui, then keep it all in the gui. Use the showInputDialog instead and try/catch an Integer.parseInt call. Otherwise, even packed as a jar you'd need to execute it on the command line every time in order to receive input. | <urn:uuid:d0eb282a-4804-443b-af75-bf5233074afc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.codingforums.com/showthread.php?t=269475&goto=nextnewest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957549 | 144 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Smith v Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Great Britain) ET/2407936/10
Date added: 27 June 2011
resignation or dismissal | religion
In this unusual case, a Mormon claimed that he was forced to resign from his Mormon Church-related position after he was excommunicated for engaging in extramarital sex with a member of the church.
An employer wishing to offer an employee the option of resigning rather than facing disciplinary proceedings must be careful. The company in this case handled the matter perfectly, putting no pressure on the employee to resign, and taking care not to prejudge the outcome of the disciplinary procedures.
Where an employee attempts to retract his or her resignation, there is no obligation on the employer to accept it. However, if the resignation was made in the heat of the moment, or if the employer put pressure on the employee to resign, a tribunal may find that the real reason for dismissal was termination.
Mr Smith was employed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Great Britain), which is a company incorporated for the purpose of furthering the objectives of the Mormon Church. All of the company’s employees are members of the Mormon Church, and Mr Smith’s contract provided that he had to be worthy of a “temple recommend” to remain in employment.
The church’s policies and procedures provide that any employee who is excommunicated from the church will be “terminated from Church employment”, and the company’s disciplinary procedure states that a failure to comply with “Church worthiness standards” constitutes gross misconduct. Sexual activity outside marriage is well known by members of the church to be unworthy conduct. As a former Bishop of the church, Mr Smith was aware of the disciplinary procedures and the possible consequences of a failure to maintain the standards required of church employees. He knew that extra-marital sex was likely to result in dismissal.
Around March 2010, Mr Smith, after separating from his wife, engaged in sexual intercourse with a female member of the church, outside marriage. Through unspecified means, the church became aware of this and excommunicated Mr Smith on 1 July 2010.
Mr Smith had considered resigning before the meeting of 1 July and, on 2 July, telephoned Mr Lucas (HR officer) to ask what his excommunication would mean for his employment, and what his options were. Mr Lucas informed him that the company would need to follow its disciplinary procedure, but agreed to explore possible alternatives. Mr Lucas agreed with Mr Smith’s line manager, Mr Whitehead, that they would offer him the opportunity to resign and receive three months’ pay in lieu of notice.
Later on 2 July, Mr Lucas telephoned Mr Smith to inform him of the option of resigning and receiving pay in lieu of notice. He did not say that Mr Smith’s dismissal was a certain outcome, but explained that any dismissal would likely be without notice. The conversation was amicable.
That morning, Mr Smith also spoke with Mr Whitehead on the phone. Mr Whitehead gave evidence in the tribunal hearing that, at that time, he felt that he would need to suspend Mr Smith and begin disciplinary proceedings, but did not discuss this with him. Mr Whitehead confirmed to Mr Smith the option to resign, and confirmed that he and Mr Lucas would visit late that afternoon. During this conversation, a colleague of Mr Smith, Mr Teal, who had come over to support him, gave him a piece of paper with the words “take the money” written on it. He was not acting on the company’s instructions, and believed that the offer presented to Mr Smith was a good one.
During their conversations with Mr Smith, neither Mr Lucas nor Mr Whitehead used the explicit words “resign or be dismissed”. Late in the morning on 2 July, Mr Smith decided to resign, and tendered his resignation by email at 11.23am, which Mr Whitehead accepted. Later that day, there was an amicable meeting between Mr Smith, Mr Lucas and Mr Whitehead, where Mr Smith handed back company property and signed a company letter accepting his resignation.
On the following working day, Monday 5 July 2010, Mr Smith sought to retract his resignation. The company refused to accept the retraction, and he claimed unfair dismissal and religion or belief discrimination.
The tribunal had to decide whether it was more likely than not that Mr Smith’s contract of employment was terminated by dismissal rather than resignation. It found that Mr Smith was not forced to resign, and that he was not dismissed. He had considered the possibility of resignation before 2 July 2010, and chose to resign rather than face disciplinary action. The choice of resigning or facing disciplinary action was a stark one, but it was freely open to him. No pressure was put on him to resign.
The tribunal also found that it was reasonable of the company to refuse to accept Mr Smith’s retraction of his resignation. The resignation was not made in the heat of the moment, and although Mr Smith was extremely upset about his excommunication, there was no satisfactory evidence that he was incapable of making a rational decision that day. He had the opportunity to reconsider and retract his resignation at the meeting on the afternoon of 2 July, and there was no suggestion that Mr Lucas or Mr Whitehead put pressure on him to sign the letter that confirmed his resignation.
Regarding the discrimination claim, the tribunal found that the appropriate comparator was a non-Mormon employee who engaged in consensual extramarital sex. It found that such a comparator would have been treated in the same manner as Mr Smith: he or she would have committed an act of gross misconduct and would face disciplinary proceedings with dismissal as the likely outcome. The tribunal also found that the discrimination claim was not well founded. The issue was one of conduct - that Mr Smith had engaged in consensual extramarital sex - not belief.
- Read more case reports dealing with purported resignations:
- Deal with difficult resignation issues the right way with our "how to" guides:
- Can an employee retract his or her resignation? Find the answer to this question in the XpertHR FAQs section. | <urn:uuid:d9dd44f2-883e-490c-85cb-0c41d81cf03d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xperthr.co.uk/article/109661/mormon-excommunicated-after-extramarital-sex-with-church-member-was-not-forced-to-resign.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988368 | 1,286 | 1.859375 | 2 |
AISB opportunities Bulletin Item
PhD scholarship in medical image processing for early response prediction of tumour therapy
PhD scholarship in medical image processing for early response prediction of tumour therapy Novel agents targeting growth factor receptors are broadening the armoury of cancer therapy. Promising results were e.g. obtained with the epithelial growth factor (EGF) blocking monoclonal antitibody (MAB) cetuximab in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). This still very expensive drug was cleared in Belgium for reimbursement in third line treatment (patients having undergone prior chemotherapy) for mCRC. However, less than 30% of mCRC patients will derive any benefit from it, but to date no reliable method for early response prediction has been validated. Molecular imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) using [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has been suggested as an early, sensitive marker of tumour response to anticancer drugs by monitoring the changes in glucose metabolism in tumours. Recently, FDG-PET has shown to be highly sensitive in detecting early response in other tumours. The main objective of this study is to assess the potential of FDG-PET for early prediction of response in mCRC treated with cetuximab in combination with chemotherapy. The medical image computing task within this project is to develop methods to accurately assess tumour evolution over time by comparing multiple PET and CT scans. This will be carried out using a combination of very accurate registration and segmentation methods, combining the information available in the pre-treatment and per-treatment PET and CT scans. Research will be carried out in the Medical Image Computing group of the Medical Imaging Center in Leuven, Belgium under the supervision of prof. Paul Suetens of the Medical Image Computing group and prof. Johan Nuyts of Nuclear Medicine. The Medical Imaging Center is a new interdisciplinary research centre with a central position in the University Hospital Gasthuisberg. The focus of the research lies on the clinical applications and the needs of a university hospital in the area of medical imaging and image processing. The centre is a joined initiative of the K.U.Leuven (faculties of medicine and engineering) and the University Hospitals Leuven. Over 80 engineers, physicians and physicists from Medical Image Computing (ESAT/PSI), Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, Cardiology, and Radiotherapy are working closely together on innovative applications. The research of the Medical Image Computing group focuses on 2D and 3D medical imaging with a focus on image registration and segmentation. More information can be found at www.medicalimagingcenter.be. The successful candidate holds a MSc in computer science, mathematics or related engineering sciences. Training in computer vision and medical image processing is a must. Excellent English language skills are mandatory. This PhD position requires good programming skills in Matlab and C++. The scholarship has a duration of 4 years with a net income of 1600-1700 Euros per month. Desired starting date: October 2008. Interested candidates should send a CV and application letter to Dominique.Delaere@uz.kuleuven.ac.be. | <urn:uuid:d3f234e7-07b0-473c-b207-f2b2fa0afacc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aisb.org.uk/index.php/news/82-bulletin/120-bulletin-item?event_id=327&bulletin_type=opportunities | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914729 | 666 | 1.539063 | 2 |
In Praise of Senator Ted Kennedy For His Contributions to Biomedical Science
Earlier this month, I had the tremendous honor of being asked to discuss Senator Ted Kennedy’s remarkable contributions to biomedical science at an event celebrating The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate that was organized by The Massachusetts healthcare and life sciences communities. Following are my comments:
As I studied the record of the Senator, it became apparent that few national leaders have had as significant impact on the current state of biomedical science and healthcare delivery. He has been foresighted in his leadership by championing inclusion of the disadvantaged into the healthcare system and at the same time strengthening biomedical research that advances the range and quality of treatments available.
Senator Kennedy was first elected to the Senate 46 years ago in 1962. Relating this tenure to my own experiences in science, he was a Senator when I graduated from high school and has shaped many of the opportunities in my life, even though at the time I was unaware of it.
The center of biomedical research and innovation in healthcare in the world is now in Massachusetts. This epicenter has grown over the 40 years of Senator Kennedy’s tenure and will create a large part of the future of healthcare. The foundations of this epicenter, with the addition of biotechnology in the 70s, were the universities such as Harvard, MIT, BU, Tufts, BC, and others—and the great hospitals such as MGH, Brigham and Women’s, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Children’s Hospital, and many others.
Senator Kennedy’s leadership in encouraging advances in biomedical research began with his election as Chairman of the Senate Health Subcommittee in 1971. In this capacity, he helped pass the National Cancer Act that established the modern National Cancer Institute and quadrupled the funds supporting cancer research. Senator Kennedy stated his support of biomedical research at the time as: “The conquest of cancer is a special problem of such enormous concern to all Americans.” In relating his feelings to those of the country, he further stated, “We can quote statistics. But I think every one of us in this body, and most families across the country have been touched by the disease one way or another.” I am sorry to say that this has certainly been the case for the Senator’s family.
The National Cancer Act has been important for biomedical research across the country and particularly here in Boston. It greatly strengthened the already-strong cancer research and treatment programs at the Dana Farber, MGH, and Children’s Hospital. In addition, this act radically changed the course of research in life sciences at MIT. For example, Professor Salvador Luria, subsequently a Nobel Laureate, convinced MIT to support his application to NCI for funds to establish a new center dedicated to research into fundamental aspects of cancer. David Baltimore took leadership in recruiting the staff of the center; this included yours truly, who joined MIT in 1974.
Research from the Center has been important in the development of several highly successful new targeted therapies. Perhaps more important in terms of the region, the success of MIT’s Center for Cancer Research either directly or indirectly led to the establishment of the Whitehead Institute, the Broad Institute, and the Koch Institute. These institutes, along with MGH and Harvard, have shaped the Kendall Square area with a large concentration of biotechnology companies. There are similar stories about the importance of the National Cancer Act at other universities and hospitals in Massachusetts. This act passed with Senator Kennedy’s leadership clearly initiated a revolution in cancer research and treatment across the country.
Funds for cancer research have grown over the intervening years with Senator Kennedy’s support ,and we pray that he will benefit from these advances in his current struggle. Although no one is satisfied with current treatments of cancer, significant progress has been made. The rate of age-dependent death due to cancer has fallen over the past decade by 25 percent. There are more promising new drugs and treatments under development now than at any time in history. We are making significant progress but the question remains, will it be fast enough to impact the coming epidemic of the disease as the baby boomers age?
AIDS is the worst pandemic of modern times, killing tens of millions of people around the world—and here again, Senator Kennedy’s statesmanship has been important. As the pandemic unfolded across this country in the early 80′s there was wide discrimination against individuals who contracted the virus. Senator Kennedy was instrumental, along with Senator Orrin Hatch, in helping to reduce this fear by passing the Ryan White CARE Act. This law made AIDS research and treatment a national priority, and, as a result, there has been a reduction in the prejudice against those infected. As you recall, Ryan White was a young boy who fought to attend school after being diagnosed with AIDS.
Due to the Senator’s action many drugs have been developed that markedly decrease the rate of progression of the disease, and we now consider AIDS a treatable disease. However, we have not mastered this scourge of mankind. The ultimate victory requires the development of a vaccine. In this effort, we have exhausted all of our current knowledge without success. The National Institutes of Health and drug companies have turned their focus to advancing the understanding of the human immune system for new clues for development of an effective vaccine. In spite of this disappointment, it is clear that Senator Kennedy’s leadership was critical in our current mastery of AIDS.
Innovations in healthcare are dependent upon a wise federal regulatory system that works in an open and effective manner. Senator Kennedy recognized this early in his career, and in 1976 authored an act to include medical devices in the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration, i.e. the FDA. He also promoted legislation in 1992 that increased the FDA budget by levying fees on drug companies to help with the cost of approval of new drugs. Another act championed by the Senator in this area was the Orphan Drug Act that encouraged companies to develop new drugs for rare diseases. The Senator’s leadership in regulatory affairs over the decades has been important for both healthcare and biomedical research.
As mentioned above, New England is the center of research and development of healthcare. Quoting from a 2006-7 study of this life science super-cluster, one in every six employees in the state works in this industrial sector. Every year, this cluster attracts over $2 billion of federal research funds from the National Institutes of Health, the highest per capital number in the country.
This level of Federal support reflects the excellence of the community. The future of this innovation in healthcare was greatly strengthened in 1998, when Senator Kennedy, along with others, helped pass the doubling of the National Institutes of Health budget. At the time, the initiative to sequence the human genome was in full swing and the insights gained from this information promised to lead to the development of means of controlling and treating many diseases. The Senator stated at the time, “We all had to fight to create the extraordinary medical innovations we enjoy today, and we have to fight as hard now to maintain that progress.” He followed this with a statement that is relevant today as federal support for the National Institute of Health decreases: “A culture of innovation and discovery and high-quality healthcare does not just happen. It must be nurtured or it will wither.”
Again, the Senator’s insights that led to doubling of the budget were correct. In the short five years since completion of the doubling that coincided with completion of the human genome sequence, there has been tremendous progress made in terms of understanding the causes of mental disease, the underlying nature of genetic changes in cancer, and even the nature of the aging process and aging-related diseases. This increase in funding will translate into better quality healthcare for the country and the world.
For 40 years, Senator Kennedy has been—as he will continue to be—a strong voice for the importance of biomedical research and healthcare. Our country has benefited enormously from his leadership. Further, New England’s pre-eminence in life sciences is largely a product of his enlightened work in the Senate. We sincerely thank him for his magnificent contributions. We also wish him a speedy recovery. | <urn:uuid:3f522a28-cbf2-49ca-b3d3-87c2822cc248> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2008/11/24/in-praise-of-senator-ted-kennedy-for-his-contributions-to-biomedical-science/?single_page=true | 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 | 0.970008 | 1,680 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Every moviegoer at the Cannes Film Festival is intimately familiar with the work of Henri Behar. Most have seen him as moderator of many of Cannes' high-profile press conferences, a gig he has maintained since the '70s. While Behar has worked as a journalist and critic for years, he makes his living as a translator for major auteur directors and newcomers alike. As Behar often points out, the challenge of creating effective subtitles is making them invisible to the audience. That goal calls for more than extreme humility.
Last week, Behar sat down with Indiewire to explain the painstaking translation and captioning process involved in creating the best possible subtitles for new movies, using his experience with this year's Cannes entry "Laurence Anyways" as a recent example. Once you encounter Behar's approach, you'll never look at subtitles the same way again -- or maybe you will, by not noticing them at all.
How the Subtitling Process Works
"The first thing you need when you go to subtitle a movie is the dialogue and edit of the movie. It has to be picture-locked. The first person who comes into the process is called a spotter, who spots the line as it is spoken. The subtitle is perceived to be wiped off the screen once the line is spoken. The key word is 'spoken.' If someone says, 'Well, hi, hon, huh?' you can stop at 'Hi,' or 'hon,' and if necessary you can include the 'huh.' The number of feet and frames give you the number of characters that you're allowed. You can go over by one, two or three characters, but that's it.
You rarely go over cut, because it's like something stable with something changing in the back. But if you do go over a cut, you don't go over a very bright cut to a very dark one. The subtitle can have maximum two lines and 40 characters -- less than one tweet.
The subtitler gets the spotting and the dialogue. Those are the two things you can't change and have to work with. If you work in dubbing, you can always say, 'The actor's going to say that line faster, because it's funnier.' In subtitles, you can't. If it's not read, you've missed the point, which is great in terms of mental gymnastics, because it forces you to read slower than you hear. It forces you to concentrate and go straight to the point: What makes this work? If it's a three-tiered joke, how close can I remain to the joke for it to work? If the director's not happy, fine. What's more important? The literalness of the translation or the fact that the joke works? It's a question of rhythm, tempo, and musicality."
Subtitling "Laurence Anyway" In Two Languages
"Xavier Dolan's film was an interesting challenge. I had to subtitle it from Quebecois French into metropolitan French, because some of the vocabulary is different and the accents are difficult. I was also subtitling it into English more or less at the same time. I worked with Xavier in late February and early March. Then he came to Paris to do his mixing, when stuff changed, the voiceovers changed. Some lines would slide up or down. That was part of the later process.
"It's a question of rhythm, tempo, and musicality."
The film takes place in Montreal and a province of Quebec. The leading lady and her family are locals. They have a very strong Quebecois accent and sometimes a specific kind of slang, particularly the way they swear. The male character is from Europe and says so in the film. He's from Belgium. Those two do not speak the same way. He teaches literature so he doesn't have as coarse a vocabulary as her. Then there's the mother, who has her way of speaking because she's a European painter. She would not say "you gonna" or 'you gotta.' It's not in her tone.
The lead character is very specific about not being gay. So you can't have words that belong to the crazy, flamboyant, queen, Quentin Crisp kind of language. He can't swoon. He's not a swooner. Anything Quentin Crisp-y is out. | <urn:uuid:e3b5241d-c4a7-4095-8004-4f32abf1fd95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indiewire.com/article/how-do-you-subtitle-a-movie-at-cannes-master-subtitler-henri-behar-explains-all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975968 | 901 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Mine is the generation that witnessed the digital revolution. When I was a kid a computer was called a mainframe and was the size of a house, a telephone answering machine at home was considered remarkable technology. Today I can write this blog on a handheld device, send it out via a cafe wi fi system, have it read by strangers in The Ukraine. My generation has mixed feelings about this change. We love it but also miss the time when nearly all human contact was face to face.
The generation being born now will witness the medical revolution, nano and gene technology will extend human life beyond our current imagination. As we learn to prevent bits wearing out or to simply replace bits as they do, there is no reason a life span of two hundred, three hundred, even four hundred years isn't possible. Of course this change will be welcome, I wonder if the generation that lives through it will feel some mixed emotions.
One of the glories of humanity is the urgency of mortality, it's the reason we get stuff done, it is at the heart of romance. Will humans with centuries to live have no sense of urgency, put everything off, decade after decade? Given two hundred years of working life will scientists pursue discovery now, right now? Will young people take no risks? With so much life at stake losing it early will be a terrible loss.
The fear of a life sentence meaning centuries in a cell should deter many crimes. The possibility of having a first child at seventy years old, then being around to see the first two hundred years of that child's life will free women to make easier choices about work and family.
Can you imagine a two hundred year love affair? Two hundred years of being healthy, strong, passionate? I'm guessing a series of relatuonships is more likely, married for life when there is so much time to change seems too weird. The poetry of living and getting old with one person will disappear, possibly poetry itself will die along with the urgency of mortality.
This next generation will see the start of a leap in human evolution. A species with all the knowledge of every previous generation at their fingertips and hundreds of years to learn and work will acheive things we can't even imagine. The sad beauty of a short life will be the price. Generations born after the medical revolution won't be aware of the difference, just the generation that lives through it.
Just as I miss aspects of the time before the digital revolution this generation will miss aspects of the past. No human can go home again, forward is the only direction possible. | <urn:uuid:612f8c91-c616-4e66-b13c-b21b19c46778> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kentparkstreetblog.com/2011/05/who-wants-to-live-forever.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951615 | 523 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Event Marks Salinas Valley Memorial's Heart Month
What: Exercise Challenge 2011
When: February 7th - April 16th
Where: Businesses and Organizations Throughout Monterey County
Background: Salinas Valley Memorial kicks off its annual "Exercise Challenge," a free, ten-week program designed to encourage people to get regular aerobic exercise.
To promote the benefits of an active lifestyle, Salinas Valley Memorial is encouraging the community to participate in this year's "Exercise Challenge." Any organization—except those who gather solely for the purpose of exercising— may enter with awards being given to those who excel in their category. Categories are based on the number of individuals participating from the organization. All individuals who exercise for at least 90 minutes per week for all ten weeks will be eligible for an array of prizes. Last year, 168 organizations and 3,644 individuals from throughout Monterey County participated in the event. The program is free and organizations may register by calling Salinas Valley Memorial's Health Promotion Department at 759-1890, or by going online to download the registration form at http://www.svmh.com/health/hp_exercisechallenge.aspx.
Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States and by taking proactive steps you can keep your heart healthy for years to come. One of the ways to help fight the odds is to lead an active lifestyle with plenty of exercise. The American Heart Association suggests that healthy adults ages 18-65 getting a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity 5 days a week. This doesn't mean you have to go to the gym; taking a walk or riding a bike counts too! | <urn:uuid:2b316e54-f3eb-4100-9799-18ab2d56cc11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.svmh.com/About/News/detail.aspx?story=6684 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932381 | 338 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Knowledge work, ideas and the like are like black boxes. We can't look into them. We are finding ways to open up these black boxes.
Increasing transparency in organizations and between organizations decreases risks and enables value-creation.
Oscar points to two cases in which they tried to increase workplace awareness using blogs and microblogs.
Oscar remarks that many of the legal issues we are now concerned with are the same as when email was introduced.
Usability issues leads to workarounds. Employees start to email everything, label everything as Confidential, copy (locally) to ensure access, share with USB sticks.
Lesson 1: There's a real challenge in finding the right balance between security and privacy.
Lesson 2: We need a balance between control and empowerment. Governance is good, but it should not tip over in such a way that employees don't feel empowered. Control and empowerment should walk hand in hand: policies vs. training, restrictions vs. tools, control vs. trust. If there are too many restrictions people will refrain from sharing.
Lesson 3: Transparency must go both ways. Transparency is good, but users should be explained clearly what happens to their information. Facebook e.g. is not transparent both ways.
A culture of trust is more secure than a culture of control. | <urn:uuid:e2f03a2b-2230-403b-9f58-d95badfb6afe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://info-architecture.blogspot.com/2010/10/transparency-double-edge-sword-e20s.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956195 | 273 | 2.265625 | 2 |