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Colum Lynch reports that the United States is ready to support a “commission of inquiry” into alleged crimes against humanity in Burma. The move, he says, comes as the Obama administration recognizes that a policy of engagement is not working.
Make no mistake: this decision could be the first step in a long process that might eventually lead to the indictment of Than Shwe and the Burmese leadership for crimes against humanity. But beyond Burma, it could also set a new standard for how the United States can constructively help direct the work product of the International Criminal Court, even though the United States remains outside its formal structures.
To understand what “commissions of inquiry” might have to do with the ICC, consider the case of Sudan. In 2004, as news reports emerged of mass atrocity in Darfur, Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed a commission of inquiry led by the Italian jurist Antonio Cassese to investigate alleged war crimes in Darfur. When the Cassese report was presented to the Security Council in early 2005, it contained a number of damning allegations of war crimes, including a classified annex with the names of individuals suspected of having committed war crimes. Crucially, the report recommended that the Security Council authorize the International Criminal Court to investigate the alleged crimes.
The Bush administration did not much like the ICC, but it became politically difficult to ignore the report’s central conclusions about accountability. The non ICC members of the P-5 (China, Russia and the USA) abstained and let the measure pass. Like Sudan, Burma is not a member of the International Criminal Court. The only way that the ICC’s jurisdiction could extend to Burma is if the Security Council similarly authorizes the ICC to open an investigation there.
The first step of this process, though, is getting the investigation off the ground. The most obvious way to secure international support for a commission of inquiry is through the Human Rights Council, which the Obama administration joined last year. The Human Rights Council routinely appoints human rights investigators to look into alleged rights violations. Sometimes these investigations recommend the ICC intervene to provide accountability for war crimes. The most high profile of these investigations, the Goldstone inquiry into alleged war crimes in Israel and Gaza, recommended that the Security Council consider giving the ICC jurisdiction in Israel and Gaza should local judicial mechanisms prove unsatisfactory. That was obviously a non-starter for the United States–but it does go to show how the Human Rights Council can instigate an investigation, the conclusion of which includes a recommendation for ICC referral by the Security Council.
Should the United States successfully press the Human Rights Council to appoint a commission of inquiry for Burma, it is not unreasonable to expect 1) that after the inquiry, the commission recommends the Security Council refer the situation to the ICC; 2) that the Security Council obliges. (Remember: China is also an ally and trading partner of Sudan and Beijing did not offer a veto then.)
This kind of ICC bank shot is a good example of how the United States can constructively interact with institutions or treaty regimes that it may support, but in all likelihood will never formally join. These kinds of strategies are going to become increasingly relevant; treaties that were once considered uncontroversial, like the CEDAW and Law of the Seas, have in today’s political climate become suddenly contentious. Unless something radically changes in the Senate, the United States will have to navigate a future in which it is in permanent observer status to these conventions, treaties and institutions. Administrations that are supportive of these institutions in principal (as the Obama administration is with the ICC) will have to find a way to influence these structures from the sidelines.
It seems the Obama administration may have stumbled onto one way to potentially engage the ICC. Let us see where this leads. | <urn:uuid:09613da7-5d52-460a-984f-77431f6f2cde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.undispatch.com/commissions-of-inquiry-the-human-rights-council-and-the-icc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951878 | 773 | 2.125 | 2 |
|The River Ribble is a river that runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire, in the North of England. The rivers watershed also includes parts of Greater Manchester around Wigan.The Ribble begins at the confluence of the Gayle Beck and Cam Beck near the famous viaduct at Ribblehead, in the shadow of the Yorkshire three peaks.
It flows through Settle, Clitheroe and Preston, before emptying into the Irish Sea between Lytham St. Annes and Southport, a length of 75 miles.
The main tributaries of the Ribble are the Hodder and Calder which join the river near Great Mitton, the River Darwen which joins at Walton-le-Dale and the River Douglas which joins near Hesketh Bank.
The Ribble Way is a long-distance footpath which follows the river for much of its course.|
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|Species: Pike, Roach, Chub, Barbel|
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You must login/register to see the details of these reports. | <urn:uuid:4c67ac82-2aff-4139-aa9e-cbaa4dfced75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prebait.com/coarse_fishing_venues/England/Lancashire/721/Ribble | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929069 | 306 | 2.703125 | 3 |
That’s Random! A Look at Viral Self-Assembly
It should be noted that indeterminacy does not imply that God does not have foreknowledge of future events. Christians ought not to be uncomfortable with the idea of God interacting with his creation through chance.
Denis Alexander on Understanding Creation Theology
In this video Conversation, Denis Alexander asserts that contemporary Christians are not taking the early chapters of Genesis seriously enough.
Evolution, the Enlightenment, and Worldviews
In this video conversation, N.T. Wright discusses how the Enlightenment worldview -- which clearly separates God from the world -- has impacted our view of Scripture, and why cleaning the "spectacles" through which we view the world can help us see both Scripture and the world more clearly.
Where are the Transitional Fossils?
A common argument leveled against the theory of evolution is that scientists have not been able to produce transitional fossils that show the change of one species into another. In this podcast, we address a common misconception about what transitional fossils actually are.
Raising Children to Pursue Truth
In this video Conversation, Joel Hunter articulates the importance of raising a child that can garner knowledge from a variety of sources and to be able to study science with integrity—that is, to be able to pursue the truth to where it leads.
Scientists Tell Their Stories: George Murphy
During his seminary education, Dr. Murphy also gained a deeper understanding of Luther’s theology of the cross, and he realized that it’s really the best way to approach the science and theology dialogue.
Katharine Hayhoe: Evangelical Christian, Climate Scientist
As an Evangelical and a scientist, Katharine Hayhoe is already a member of a rare breed. As a climate change researcher who is also married to an evangelical Christian pastor, she is nearly one of a kind.
Series: It's an Old World After All
In our sixth BioLogos videocast, we take a look at the age of the Earth. We explain four methods scientists have used to determine that age: tree ring, lake varve, radiometric, and seafloor spread dating, and also offer some theological insight on how an old earth can fit with the first chapters of Genesis.
Series: From the Dust
In this series, Ryan Pettey offers several clips from his powerful documentary "From the Dust". This feature-length film is divided up into various sections, each of which wrestles with the difficult problems that arise when reconciling Scripture with the theory of evolution. A light of hope dawns on the science-faith conversation, however, as scientists and theologians engage in honest dialogue about tough issues such as the interpretation of Genesis, the nature of the Fall, and the idea of random design. Their profound insights are sure to enlighten all minds, raise deeper questions, and provoke new thought.
Series: Genesis Through Ancient Eyes
In this talk, originally delivered at the BioLogos President's Circle meeting in October 2012, Dr. John Walton discusses the origin stories of Genesis 1-3, and why their focus on function and archetypes mean there is no Biblical narrative of material origins.
Growing in Faith
As he endeavored to learn more, David was intrigued by Francis Collins book The Language of God because Francis did not present evolution as a rival theory to Christian faith, but as something that described God's method of creation.
Series: Shaping the Human Soul
In Washington DC, Church of the Advent teamed up with The Trinity Forum to offer a series of lectures exploring the synergy between modern science and Christian Faith. This presentation by psychiatrist Curt Thompson and philosopher James K.A. Smith addressed the process of Christian discipleship and spiritual formation through the lens of neuroscience.
The song is built around the image of a river flowing through a canyon it has sculpted—an image that can easily be played out as a picture of the way that the Lord has been at work preparing a path for us in the material world, complete with signposts to his former and present activity.
Using Film to Catalyze Conversations on Faith and Science
What are the best ways to spark productive conversations about science and faith? Certainly there are books, articles, blogs (like this one), and podcasts. But there are particular advantages to using film.
Saturday Sermon: Over and Above Naturalism, Part 2
Barkley suggests that material creation is not the end of our understanding (as Naturalists think), but a beginning that unveils the majestic and power of a Creator who loves us.
A Mediating Voice
In today’s video, theologian Dr. Chris Tilling discusses the need for a mediating voice in the science and faith discussion: "The problem is that not all Scripture wants to be read literally, and to do so is to bypass some of the truth contained in it."
Scientists Tell Their Stories: David Wilkinson
"If I have one criticism of my fellow theologians from time to time, it’s that they’re often stuck in the physics of the 19th century rather than the 20th and 21st centuries."
Possibilities and Second Chances
In today’s video, Dr. Rick Colling states that evolution is not merely the imposition of death and destruction and survival of the fittest. Rather, it is about second chances.
Saturday Sermon: Gloriously Functional
Is Genesis 1 describing material creation or functional creation? Pastor Richard Dahlstrom of Bethany Community Church beautifully articulates the insights he has received through John Walton’s book The Lost World of Genesis One and probes deep into the Biblical text with us.
Mystery and Faith
In today’s video, Michael Ramsden discusses the importance and meaning of mystery in the Bible. | <urn:uuid:2a214197-7fad-4291-a49c-a625e2054548> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://biologos.org/resources/find/sort-by-Newest/Audio,Video/any/Pastors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939866 | 1,185 | 2.109375 | 2 |
June 07, 2012
By BRIAN WITTE |
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — About 200 people honored the first Black graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at a memorial service Wednesday, recalling a man of courage who helped open doors for generations of minorities decades before the civil rights era.
Retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown, who died last month at 85, was memorialized as a trailblazer who shrugged off poor treatment by classmates to become the first Black to graduate from the military academy in 1949. His ashes were interred before the service in a columbarium on the academy grounds.
NASA’s first Black administrator, astronaut Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden, was among those lauding Brown’s achievement.
“I stand before all of you today as a proud child of Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown’s sacrifice,” Bolden told those attending the memorial in the academy's chapel.
Bolden, who graduated from the academy 15 years after Brown, said he knew no one who would claim to have a tougher first year at the school than Brown.
“While I had my own difficulties gaining admission to the academy in 1964, Wesley Brown’s 1949 graduation and the legacy he left behind helped paved the way for me and so many others,” Bolden said.
The number of minority students at the academy has increased significantly over the years. The graduating class of 2012, for example, had 277 minority students out of 1,099.
Those gathered recalled a friendly and persistent man who endured poor treatment by classmates with resilience and grace, well before the dawning of the civil rights’ struggle against racial discrimination.
Brown lived alone at the academy during his four years so he wouldn’t have to burden roommates with residing with the school’s only Black student, said Kerwin Miller, a 1975 academy graduate who spoke at the service.
“What he did for us is so much greater than what we could do for him,” said Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations. “He showed us that one person can make a difference.”
Brown was the sixth African-American student to enter the academy and the first to graduate. He ranked 370th out of nearly 800 midshipmen in his class.
Janie Mines, who graduated in 1980, described Brown as an inspiring person who continued to take a keen interest in the academy throughout his life. “He was a constant figure who did so much to contribute to our well-being,” Mines said of the Baltimore native.
Brown’s son, Wesley Brown Jr., played “Amazing Grace” at the service before a school portrait of his father set up on an easel.
Brown’s family is donating to the academy his class ring and his Reef Points book, which was issued to him when he entered the academy in 1945. Reef Points is the official handbook for midshipmen, outlining basic information and the academy’s mission and history.
At the academy, Brown ran varsity track and cross country and was a cross-country teammate of former President Jimmy Carter — also a midshipman in that era.
Brown went on to a 20-year career with the Navy. He helped build houses in Hawaii, roads in Liberia, facilities in the Philippines and a seawater conversion plant in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In 2008, the Naval Academy built the Wesley Brown Field House to accommodate physical education classes as well as the academy’s athletic programs. | <urn:uuid:d688dc39-ed17-492f-8287-9a7ab6a5cf0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lawattstimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=80:memorial-service-for-1st-black-naval-academy-grad&catid=11&Itemid=126 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976612 | 748 | 2.75 | 3 |
COI Funded Project: Barrier response to sea-level rise
Project Funded 2008:
Barrier response to sea-level rise:
Investigating the controls of overwash on evolution and stability
Andrew D. Ashton, Geology and Geophysics Department
Where there are beaches (or anywhere the shore is not made out of rock), the coast is not a ‘bathtub’, and rising sea levels do more than merely flood the coast as often portrayed. The response of coastal landforms to an increase in sea level, such as that predicted over the coming decades and centuries, will be complex and dramatic, as higher seas enable waves and storm surges to reshape the coast. Barrier systems, thin stretches if sand separated from the mainland, have responded to the slow sea-level rise of the last few millennia by moving landward in a conveyor-belt fashion. As storms overwash the barriers, sediment is moved landwards, from offshore to backshore, allowing the barrier to move up and retreat as sea level rises. While the initial perception of this overwash process is that it results in beach erosion, over time, this overwash is necessary for a barrier to maintain itself with rising seas.
This research, conducted with the support of the Gratia Houghton Rinehart Coastal Research Endowed Fund, consisted of fieldwork along the beaches of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard combined with development of a numerical model of barrier coast evolution. Given the current increased rates of sea-level rise and the dramatic predictions that, by the end of the century, sea-level rise will be at a rate unprecedented for the last several thousand years, a vital question is whether barrier systems will be able to withstand sea-level rise intact. Is there a threshold rate of sea-level rise beyond which barriers simple cannot ‘keep up’ and will drown in place?
Because of the important role overwash plays in barrier evolution, the first objective was to quantify the volumes of overwash fans. Using Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), a device which can be used to image subsurface sedimentary deposits, myself and undergraduate guest students surveyed overwash fans at Nauset Beach and along the southern coast of Martha’s Vineyard. These small barrier systems are ideal locations to study overwash as they are locations where sediment budgets can be reasonably constrained. The data, which consisted of dense 3-dimensional grids, were processed back at the lab, allowing us to quantify the volumes of the overwash fans. By comparing these volumes with the frequency of overwashing storm events, we are able to approximate the long-term rate of sediment transfer behind these barriers.
These overwash rates were then used to help constrain a numerical model which simulates coastal barrier evolution over the timescales of decades, centuries, and longer. The model considers two main components of barrier systems: the marine domain, or ‘shoreface’, which is constantly being reworked by waves, and the terrestrial system, dominated overwash. Model results suggest that overwash drives the long-term shoreface evolution. If overwash flux is low, coastal recession due to sea-level rise will be lessened, but a barrier will drown in place; correspondingly, larger overwash rates result in barriers that can maintain themselves, although with rapid shoreline retreat. Simulations reveal an interesting phenomenon: if the characteristic timescales of overwash and shoreface evolution are similar, instabilities in barrier evolution can arise. Even with constant forcing, barrier response to sea-level rise can be complex, with alternating periods of rapid overwash, followed by accretion as the shoreface responds, followed again by rapid roll-over and so forth.
The research conducted under this award provides an excellent example of a case where a ‘seed’ investment in research has lead to further research funding opportunities for the Coastal Systems Group in Geology and Geophysics. The results of this research formed the basis of a successful, multi-PI grant in conjunction with the Marine Policy Center from the National Science Foundation’s Coupled Human and Natural Systems to study how human impacts on overwash and sediment transport may affect the behavior of barriers over the coming century. Under another grant, from the Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Resources Development Program, we will study the impacts of sea-level rise on barriers fronting military installations, including Elgin Air Force Base Santa Rosa Island, Florida, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.*
*View this report with graphics by clicking on pdf file at right | <urn:uuid:f1714f55-3594-4b78-92b6-adc3e984a9b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=96769&tid=3622&cid=45106 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92764 | 937 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Friday, March 2, 2012
Lots of San Diegan's are getting on the Freedom train to help injured military veterans avoid falling into homelessness.
SAN DIEGO Lots of San Diegans are getting on the Freedom train to help injured military veterans avoid falling into homelessness. The Freedom Station provides transitional housing and recovery support to those who've served during the war on terrorism.
"We've got Marines and Navy living here and we're hoping to get some Army guys," said Retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Juan Cano.
He was the first person to call Freedom Station home last year. Gunny Cano, as he's often called, served 22 years in the Marine Corps before settling in San Diego.
"They're providing the care they would want to provide their family member. And that kind love comes over to us at Freedom Station and Balboa Naval Hospital," Cano said.
During deployments to Iraq, Gunny Cano survived multiple bombing attacks and was awarded a Purple Heart. He was treated for his injuries at Balboa Navy Hospital. "One of the best things I can say about Freedom Station is I come out and I've got 11 of my best friends as neighbors," he said.
Sandy Lehmkuhler has been a Navy wife for 31 years and the Freedom Station was her idea.
"You pull into a train station and you change the direction you're going in and that's what we want for our warriors," she said.
Lehmkuhler also credits the generosity of volunteers and businesses who've donated furniture, appliances, time and money. "Its a community effort, its all about San Diego and its all about San Diego taking care of San Diego warriors," Lehmkuhler said.
There are eight cottages and four apartments at Freedom Station, including wheelchair-accessible rooms for the disabled. Residents pay a portion of the rent and are encouraged to save the rest of their money for permanent housing.
Lehmkuhler believes this is the missing link to keep young injured vets from homelessness. She's looking at another site like this to expand the program with help from the community. | <urn:uuid:741e27e5-503f-494e-be71-3df7d924ffb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/mar/02/freedom-station-gives-injured-military-vets-place-/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980478 | 438 | 1.609375 | 2 |
B-town’s King Khan can’t just keep away from his smokes. He was recently spotted smoking a cigarette in the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur during an IPL match between his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals. This landed him in legal trouble with the Jaipur Cricket Academy whose director Anand Singh Rathore filed a complaint. This raises serious questions about security protocol according to which people aren’t allowed to take water bottles but allowed the Bollywood megastar to take in cigarettes and lighter/matches.
We realize smoking is a personal choice but SRK surely knows he is a role model for millions across the country if not the globe and his every move is aped by them. It can’t really be that hard to not smoke for a four hour period. Smoking is the leading cause of cancer and other chronic diseases. 1 out of 3 cancer-related deaths are caused due to tobacco use. If SRK needs help quitting he could try various smoking cessation techniques like gums, lozenges, nicotine patches or electronic cigarettes.
Tobacco use is estimated to have caused nearly 120,000 deaths across India in 2010, according to research carried out by the Toronto-based Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR) in partnership with Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital. Nearly 600,000 Indians die of cancer every year – over seven in 10 deaths (71 percent) takes place in the 30-69 age group, the most productive period of a person’s life, says the report published in the latest issue of the Lancet medical journal. The study points out that Kerala had among the highest age standardised cancer mortality rates per 100,000 for men in the 30-69 age group (158.5 for all cancers and 53.9 for tobacco-related cancers). | <urn:uuid:c99bf798-853a-4426-84ca-36d101a2018d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://health.india.com/news/why-cant-shahrukh-khan-control-his-urge-to-smoke-in-public/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952326 | 380 | 1.546875 | 2 |
DOG LEASHReturn to Search Results
Record 8 of 22.« Previous Product Next Product »
The Dog Leash is a grasping aid for the hand designed to provide a dog leash that is easy to release and lock by a person with weak hands or limited manual dexterity. The standard brass snap shackle fitting from a sailboat is fixed to the end of a 3-inch leather wrapped extension. There is a large ring attached to the plunger on the snap shackle for easier grasping. PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT: Designed by Andre Paquette for pet owners with reduced dexterity who have difficulty operating the fittings found on the end of pet leashes. This design is intended to more easily secure a pet.
Notes: Tetra is a voluntary organization which links persons with disabilities, technical volunteers, professional engineers, technicians, and tradesmen. Persons interested in this device, or companies interested in manufacturing this device for the commercial market should contact Tetra.
Price: Contact manufacturer.
This product record was updated on August 11, 2003.
This product is available from:
Tetra Society of North AmericaThe purpose of Tetra is to recruit skilled volunteer engineers and technicians to create assistive devices for people with disabilities. Volunteer engineers, design technicians, and health professionals work one to one with their clients to make assistive aids or modifications to their environments.
3077 Granville Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6H 3J9
Telephone: 877-688-8762 or 604-688-6464.
Link to more products from Tetra Society of North America
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Record 8 of 22. | <urn:uuid:c7b48aeb-4aed-4030-8d7a-a0a9a2b8d71c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pageid=19327&top=12960&ksectionid=0&productid=83097&trail=22,12691,12957&discontinued=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903659 | 347 | 1.523438 | 2 |
--Artist Used Digital Imaging and Thousands of Mosaic Tiles to Create Large-Scale Mural--
FLUSHING, NY, February 25, 2010 – “Electromagnetic Fall,” a three-story glass-tile mosaic by artist Carter Hodgkin, will be on view March 1 at the official opening of the newly expanded Remsen Hall on the campus of Queens College in Flushing, Queens. This permanent interior installation—visible externally through Remsen’s glass walls—was commissioned by the Percent for Art Program, which integrates site-specific pieces into construction projects funded by New York City. The expansion of Remsen, begun in 2006, was done by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects.
Building on the historic use of mosaic in public places, “Electromagnetic Fall” is expressed in a modern, digitalized vernacular that unites art and science. “Remsen primarily houses chemistry teaching and research labs,” says Professor Robert Engel, Interim Dean of the Division of Mathematics and the Natural Sciences. “So we’re delighted that the artist has created this dazzling work based on a science theme.”
Hodgkin employed a unique, experimental process to construct an artwork that is both evocative and whimsical. Using algorithms, she created a design simulating an atomic particle collision that occurs on the top floor of the glass atrium, causing the particles to fall dramatically three floors to the bottom. A torrent of thousands of small, colored tiles cascade down, forming loops and circular arrays of orbiting particles along the way. Silver, chromium, and gold tiles reflect light, conveying a sense of motion. Then Hodgkin united the interior architecture by creating mosaics for Remsen’s nine columns. Trajectories of particles wrap around each column, extending the design along each hallway.
The mosaic forms a bold emblem on the exterior while remaining intimate on the interior. Occupying 1096 square feet, “Electromagnetic Fall” incorporates 55,162 small mosaic tiles in 105 colors, with each tile corresponding to a pixel in the computerized design. Like the students and faculty of QC, the piece is multinational: the tiles come from Mexico, France, Italy, and China. The result is a work of complex color and texture.
Carter Hodgkin was born in Warrenton, Virginia. She holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and has received fellowships from the Pollock Krasner Foundation, the Gottlieb Foundation Emergency Grant, and the New York Foundation for the Arts (Painting, 1989, Digital/Electronic Arts, 2009). She lives in New York City and teaches at the Parsons School of Design.
Queens College of the City University of New York (CUNY), founded in 1937, is dedicated to the idea that a first-rate education should be accessible to talented individuals of all backgrounds and financial means. Its more than 20,000 students come from over 140 nations and speak scores of languages, creating an extraordinarily diverse and welcoming environment.
Located on a beautiful, 77-acre campus in Flushing, Queens College enjoys a national reputation for its liberal arts and sciences and pre-professional programs. Each year Queens College has been cited by The Princeton Review as one the nation’s 100 “Best Value” colleges, thanks to its outstanding academics, generous financial aid packages, and relatively low costs. In addition, U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges (2010) ranks QC among the top 10 public universities in the category “Best Universities—Master’s (North).” The college opened its first residence hall in August 2009. More info on Queens College at www.qc.cuny.edu. | <urn:uuid:9d7d3f5e-742e-467f-ba1c-009279f58d1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.qc.cuny.edu/communications/news_services/releases/Pages/NewsArchive.aspx?ItemID=1301 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913685 | 774 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Chinese bullet trains will be slowed from 220mph to 190mph as of July 1st. The reduced speed will allow for safer travel as well as a possibility of greater variation in ticket prices for travelers. Cheaper tickets will be issued for trains running at speeds from 125mph – 155mph and run on existing trucking rails rather than on main high speed commuter rails.
With 56,000 miles of passenger rail and nearly 3 million employees, China is home to the world’s largest train network. The Chinese train system is not just for transportation between China’s spread out communities, the immense rail system also serves a symbol of China’s technological expertise and growing wealth. China is building more tracks and faster trains than any other country in the world.
While held in extreme prestige, the Chinese rail system does have its critics. Chinese engineers have said that the operation of such high speed bullet trains is risky and there are fears that the fast and continuing expansion of the railroads is more due to local Chinese politics rather than an actual social need for high speed rail transportation. The high price of train tickets and the multibillion dollar price tag for rail expansion projects has also raised eyebrows in a country where millions of families live in poverty.
During the Lunar New Year holiday many Chinese working class travelers complained they could not afford high speed train tickets and that tickets for regular trains were sold out. A migrant worker became an internet sensation when he stripped to his underwear to protest outside a train ticket office after he waited 14 hours in line but could not get train tickets for himself and his family. China did overtake Japan last year as the world’s second largest economy after the United States. However, with 1.3 billion people, China barely places in the top 100 on the World Bank’s list of countries by average income per person.
The Chinese national audit office reported in March that $28 million had been embezzled from a major Chinese rail expansion project and that some bullet train lines are not operating at optimal speed capacities. A 72 mile high speed line linking Beijing with Tianjin cost $3.3 billion to build; yet the line is so short for the high speed train that the train hits its 220 mph cruising speed for only a few minutes before it slows for arrival at the train station.
With all their many faults, the Chinese bullet trains are a very successful form of clean energy transportation. The Chinese government hopes that successful technological leaps made in their rail system can be a jumping off point for China to transform into a worldwide creator of technology, rather than China just being an inexpensive place to manufacture goods.
Current Chinese government plans call for spending $106 billion on railroad building this year alone. Chinese officials say the high speed rail network will grow to 8,000 miles of track by the end of this year and 10,000 miles of track by the year 2020. That is in addition the already 56,000 miles of passenger rail, containing both high speed rail and regular rail, already in place. China also aims to have the fastest trains in the world, with speeds up to 1,000 KPH (620 MPH).
China’s bullet trains are based on German, French, and Japanese technology and recently a senior railway official said Chinese manufacturers might compete for contracts to build a high speed rail lines in California. News of a high speed rail system being established in California is nothing new and has been talked about for over 30 years. However, many American’s identify passenger rail with cultural values that they fear. Passenger rail is physically restrictive, requires a form of central administration telling the traveler when they will depart and arrive at their destination, and for better or worse it is how the Europeans and Chinese travel.
In a nation that is demanding to “take their country back”, America is actually at risk of falling behind other developed nations in economic output, quality of life, and now mobility. Less than a decade ago China was still operating steam locomotives and now by 2014 China will have twice as many miles of high speed, clean running, rail as the rest of the world combined.
Source: Yahoo News
Andrew Meggison was born in the state of Maine and educated in Massachusetts. Andrew earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Government and International Relations from Clark University and a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Northeastern University. Being an Eagle Scout, Andrew has a passion for all things environmental. In his free time Andrew enjoys writing, exploring the great outdoors, a good film, and a creative cocktail. | <urn:uuid:fca2bf09-102d-4286-9890-087a035d1fbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gas2.org/2011/05/02/china-slows-trains-on-safety-concerns/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967422 | 925 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Have you heard about the records retention quandary in Connecticut? How officials in Gov. M. Jodi Rell's administration were considering deleting 161 million e-mails stored on backup tapes after 60 days, and Gov.-elect Dan Malloy wants to make sure that doesn't happen?
Well, no e-mails will be deleted after all, but the backstory on the controversy is interesting: Backup tapes aren't supposed to be used for long-term retention in the first place.
In 2008, the state's Department of Information Technology (DOIT) procured and installed an archiving system. It was tested in 2009. The process of aligning it with the Connecticut State Library's record retention rules, however, resulted in a delay in its implementation, says DOIT spokeswoman Nuala Whelton.
In April 2010, the Connecticut State Library approved a policy, written by DOIT, to coincide with this new system. One of the rules in the (unimplemented) policy was that backups would be deleted after 60 days.
Hartford Courant columnist Jon Lender reported about this policy, noting that for it to go into effect, memorandums of understanding would have had to be signed and employees would have had to be trained. With Malloy taking office on Jan. 5, it's too late for the Rell administration to start that process.
Had the policy actually gone into effect, however, the new archiving system, upon being "turned on," would have captured every e-mail sent or received from that point forward. The backup tapes in question would have been kept until all outstanding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests were fulfilled, and then they would have been destroyed. But now, it's been determined that the thousands of backup tapes should be transferred into the archiving system -- and they're already being migrated over, says Whelton.
"The draft policy itself was an attempt to establish compliance with retention schedules established by the state library in June of 2009," says Whelton.
Ultimately this policy raises questions over how electronic correspondence needs to be retained and for how long. Transparency is a legally mandated and worthy aim, but there may be costs to keeping multiple records. So how do governments achieve transparency with what their systems and budgets can bear?
Technically, it's accurate that e-mails and their attachments are stored on backup tapes. The backup tapes, though essential, differ from e-mail retention, says Public Records Administrator LeAnn Power. Every night, an incremental backup captures what changed from the previous day, and at week's end, a full backup is transferred to the tape. The backup tapes used for recovery are stored offsite, and they are identical to a second set of tapes kept at DOIT.
"The backup tapes consist of backup media needed to restore systems and data in the event of loss of information," Power says. "They're a snapshot of the system at a particular point in time." Each agency has its own backup tape cycle, meaning that new backups are created so that if the system goes down in the event of a disaster, the system can be recovered. At this point, Whelton says, no backup tapes are deleted -- ever.
The state library's record retention schedule for e-mail has been in place since 1995, was revised in June 2009, and the state has no plans to alter it, Power says. According to the schedule, the preservation of governor correspondences includes both paper and e-mail records. "These records are permanent and will not be destroyed," Power says. "The governor's paper and e-mail correspondence records are and will continue to be retained in accordance with the retention schedule for governors' records, Schedule Number 92-4-1."
Other e-mail correspondence is retained based on content -- if the e-mail has information about agency function and/or business. According to a 2009 letter regarding management and retention of e-mail, e-mails with agency business are retained for a minimum of two years (longer for more important e-mails), then agencies can submit authorization to destroy records.
Though the state library has this retention policy and schedule, DOIT simply retains everything captured during the backup process, Whelton says.
An increasing dependence on e-mail to conduct state business -- more than 56 million e-mails from 25,000 accounts at 44 agencies in 2009 -- means more e-mails to backup and retain. DOIT is determining how to best handle the influx of data.
To store the Rell and soon Malloy administration's e-mails is expensive and labor intensive. Allocating staff to respond to e-discovery requests is currently a three-hour process that entails loading backed-up information on tape and onto DOIT's server.
"The new system will make it easier to comply with FOIA requests, that's going to lower costs associated with the management of e-mail. That ultimately is going to enable greater availability of information in a shorter period of time," Whelton says. "That is the primary benefit of archiving information, and that is the primary reason the system was procured in the first place. It's critical that the business requirements get taken into consideration, and those requirements were the subject of further discussions about the archiving system and how it would be implemented."
Due to the impending holiday, DOIT couldn't retrieve an exact cost associated with storing the millions of e-mails, among other digital items. Whelton did say, however, that the bulk of the cost is incurred through acquisition of the tapes, and various soft costs were associated with staff labor. "Costs add up," she says, "and the archiving system is going to take some of the pressure off of those costs."
If no backup data is ever deleted, DOIT would continue to retain two sets of the same information -- something one might contend is a waste.
And that is where the previously mentioned policy comes into play. Once Malloy is in office, this unimplemented policy will need to be addressed. If the policy is implemented, a system backup that's 60 days old would be destroyed. New system backups would still exist for recovery purposes. The archive on the soon-to-be-implemented system will be housed there -- indefinitely.
Using this new archiving system, agencies could perform many of their own searches, which will help DOIT realize improved operations. "We are eager to get this system in place and realize these efficiencies," Whelton says.
Transparency advocates, to be sure, should also be happy to know that even if this proposed policy goes into effect, they should be able to get their hands on any e-mails they want.
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to | <urn:uuid:b1cd3ea9-7374-4a43-b266-0e8ebf8c1471> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.governing.com/topics/technology/Demystifying-the-Connecticut-E-mail-Quandary.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971905 | 1,391 | 1.851563 | 2 |
In the last century, the electric power grid has grown from Thomas Edison's system that served one square mile in New York into three highly complex, interconnected systems that serve all of North America. The system was built service territory by service territory, each operated independently and isolated from its neighbors. As the systems grew, operators began cooperating with one another to share resources and tie together pieces of the grid.
In many regards, the system is still operated at the local or regional level without the benefit of information from neighboring systems or tools for overall, integrated planning and operation of the entire system. These weaknesses in the nation's ability to manage and protect the power grid became apparent during the Aug. 14, 2003, East Coast blackout that cost billions of dollars and affected an estimated 50 million people.
Drawing upon its expertise in electricity transmission and distribution, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory completed the Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center (EIOC) in June 2006 to provide a real-operations environment for researchers to develop, assess, test and deploy tools for managing the grid.
Located on Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's campus in Richland, Wash., the EIOC was created from feedback received from private utilities, technology vendors and research institutions who shared their views on the challenges and opportunities for the region's power grid. While some projects are regionally focused, such as those related to the Northwest's hydropower system, the results and new technologies developed in the EIOC will be transferable across the industry and address the national need to better manage and control the grid. | <urn:uuid:0e3d3170-5cfb-4456-a546-97224ac3a53c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eioc.pnnl.gov/history.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959437 | 312 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Detroit River, Lake Erie As the fall salmon run winds down, steelhead activity picks up. In the rivers, water levels are up a bit after all the rain. Those with a good current should hold a fair to good number of steelhead.
Detroit River: Walleye fishing in the upper river has been good. Also good for catch-and-release sturgeon fishing and muskie fishing.
Lake St. Clair: When boats can get out, fishing was very good. Good for perch off the Mile Roads, down to the Grosse Point Yacht Club and from Ontario waters. Very good for muskie.
Saginaw Bay: Perch anglers have done well near Spoils Island, in the old shipping channel and out near Buoy 18.
Saginaw River: Producing perch at the mouth and out from the Bay City Yacht Club.
Grand River at Lansing: Coho still are being caught but action has started to slow.
St. Joseph River: A good number of steelhead passed through the fish ladder at Berrien Springs. | <urn:uuid:ecf054a0-c1dc-4a82-a3c8-11828082fee5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.freep.com/article/20121025/SPORTS10/310250103/Fishing-forecast | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950476 | 223 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Part IV: The Role of the RBM Partnership
In many malaria-endemic countries, the growth of external funding for malaria has not been matched by a growth of national resources. For the medium and long term, donor funding must be sustained and national public resources must increase. But perhaps as important, the funds that are available must be used as effectively as possible. Effective financing processes and financial management are critical to meet the 2010 and 2015 global targets.
Effective global and local financing mechanisms can ensure that existing funds, both national and external, have the greatest possible impact. The biggest financing challenges and the recommendations for meeting these challenges are summarized below and detailed in this chapter.
Numerous challenges linked to financing need to be addressed to make funds available in a timely manner for malaria control and elimination activities.
Time-consuming processes. While unprecedented amounts of money pour into the fight against malaria, little time remains to achieve the 2010 global targets. One critical roadblock is the time-consuming disbursement process of some of the main international donor bodies. When these lengthy processes are followed by long procurement times, the result is an unacceptable time-delay between initial proposal acceptance and the final disbursement and distribution of interventions: approximately between 18-21 months in total. This time-consuming process will make it especially difficult for ACTs and LLINs to be disbursed in sufficiently high numbers to achieve the 2010 targets.Workshop: Tackling the challenge of rapid LLIN scale-up, Washington, D.C., World Bank, April 2008.
Inadequate ability to manage large amounts of funds. Many countries are overwhelmed when large funding donations arrive. Increasingly this will be an issue as countries prepare themselves to scale-up malaria control interventions. National Malaria Control Programs repeatedly pointed out that capacity building for financial management is needed to ensure funds are properly managed.
Difficulty sustaining predictable funding flows. Sustainable and predictable financing for the sustained control and elimination stages are essential to avoid resurgence of malaria due to relaxation of control efforts. To advocate nationally and internationally for sustainable and predictable financing, countries must have the tools to manage current funds and to track how they are used. These tools will support the development of sustainable mid- to long-term financing strategies which can be based on a realistic mix of external and national, public and private, resources.
As with most topic areas, priorities for the RBM Partnership differ according to the malaria stage.
Priorities for scaling up. The RBM Partnership recommends the following priorities be taken to meet these financing challenges in the scale-up stage.
A) Support negotiations with major donors. Coordination is needed among all donors within a particular country. For some high-burden and high-need countries, this could take the form of roundtables of negotiations between the major donors and the countries supported by the Harmonization Working Group (HWG), as is the case for Nigeria. (Support for the translation of country business plans into funding proposals is presented in Part IV - Chapter 4: In-Country Planning.)
B) Support disbursement processes. Timely disbursement of funds is important to ensure that the scale-up activities take place on time. Disbursement support will be coordinated by MAWG for approved funding proposals by building country capabilities for response to the Technical Review Panels and helping to resolve disbursement bottlenecks. This includes assisting countries in completing high-quality procurement and supply chain management (PSM) and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plans for Global Fund proposals, under the leadership of the PSM and MERG Working Groups.
C) Use existing tools to accelerate funding flows. To meet the 2010 goals, using the flexibility of the major donors (especially the Global Fund and the World Bank) needs to be encouraged. For example, these donors permit front-loading of disbursements linked to interventions, shortening the periods between disbursement phases, and amending previous projects used in the country's advantage. In addition, options such as direct payment could further accelerate the use of funds: donors could make direct payments to procurement agents, suppliers or fiduciary agents thus shortening the path to commodity procurement. This option could avoid time-consuming, in-country procedures for disbursements to procurement agents or suppliers, as well as reduce transaction costs (bank fees, exchange rate losses).The direct payment option has been used in about 14% of the malaria disbursements from the Global Fund from mid-2007 to mid-2008 in 19 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, India, Kenya, Mali, Nepal, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Source: Internal analysis conducted by Vestergaard Frandsen, 2008.
D) Establish innovative financing mechanisms for ACTs and LLINs. To ensure that countries are able to achieve their targets, the RBM Partnership must establish innovative financing and procurement mechanisms for malaria interventions. For ACTs, the RBM Partnership (under the leadership of the AMFm taskforce) is developing a mechanism which would make low cost ACTs widely available through the public and private sectors (See Box IV.2). Furthermore, the RBM Partnership is considering financing and third-party procurement options to ensure that finances are rapidly available to procure LLINs within malaria-endemic countries.
Box IV.2: Affordable Medicines Facility – malaria
The AMFm is an innovative financing intervention that seeks to make affordable ACTs available to patients in the malaria endemic world who use facilities run by the public or NGO sectors or who purchase drugs themselves.
The idea behind the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria (AMFm) emerged from a 2004 report by Institute of Medicine (IOM) “Saving Lives, Buying Time” that highlighted the risks of resistance emerging to artemisinin due to the widespread availability of artemisinin monotherapies in the private sector and the potential benefit of an ACT subsidy to promote wide-spread use of effective anti-malarial drugs. After the publication of the report, the RBM Partnership decided to examine further the ACT subsidy concept and began work with the World Bank to develop a detailed proposal for the design and operation of such a global ACT subsidy.
The core principles of the AMFm are:
- reducing consumer prices to an affordable level (approximately US$ 0.20 - 0.50 in the private sector) through price negotiations and a co-payment and
- ensuring the reduced price benefits those suffering from malaria by introducing in-country supporting interventions
The potential benefits of AMFm are considerable. This price reduction is expected to more than triple ACT usage to a projected 360 million treatment courses per year. In turn, this will reduce purchases of less effective treatments and delay the emergence of resistance to artemisinin by the malaria parasite. It is expected to save 175,000 to 300,000 lives per year, mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa.
Continued field research will be required after launch to ensure that the AMFm achieves these goals. For more information, please visit the website for the AMFm taskforce.
Priorities for sustained control and elimination. To support sustained control and elimination within countries, the RBM Partnership recommends a focus on capacity building and on medium- and long-term financial planning .
E) Continue support with funding disbursements. HWG will continue to support countries with the timely disbursement of funds. This includes advocating that international donors sustain financial commitments throughout the sustained control and elimination stages.
F) Advocate for and support medium- and long-term planning for financing. Malaria activities need to be included in national, medium-term planning efforts to increase clarity regarding future funding requirements, enable better funding predictability, and ensure that malaria is part of national priorities and receives an adequate amount of money. (See also Part IV - Chapter 4: In-Country Planning.) NMCPs require technical assistance for the development of medium-term financing plans and capacity building to reinforce their role on financial forecasting and planning.
G) Track expenditures for increased accountability. National Health Accounts (NHA) and malaria sub-accounts track spending on health care (amount and flows) including public, private, household and donor contributions. They are important to assist countries and donors in evaluating the effective expenditure of available funds and to increase transparency. Rather than being stand-alone tools, questionnaires for malaria should be integrated into existing household surveys and malaria indicator instruments, which would greatly reduce the cost of implementing sub-accounts. The RBM Resources Working Group (RWG) will assess these options and the outcomes of the ongoing malaria sub-account activities. As this will take years to institutionalize, NHA malaria sub-account preparations need to begin today to prepare the groundwork.
The key coordinating bodies for the RBM Partnership are the Resources Working Group and the Harmonization Working Group. Currently, different partners support countries with financing processes. HWG, other Working Groups, and individual partners provide support to countries with the disbursement of funds. RWG is closely involved with AMFm activities and supports recommendations regarding effective financing and tracking within countries.
Table IV.7: Summary of Financing Activities
|Reference to priority||Major actions||Completed by||Coordinator (bold) / Sub-coordinatorsa|
|C||Frontload financing from Globa Fund and WG grants for LLIN and provide voluntary 3rd party procurement service to enable global scale-up by 2010||Q1 2009||HWG, RWG|
|D||Establish AMFM as an innovative financing and procurement mechanism for ACTs to enable global scale-up by 2010 and reduce risk of counterfeits and resistance||Q4 2009||AMFm taskforce|
|B||Accelerate Global Fund funding disbursements by holding workshops with mock Technical Review Panels to build country capabilities to respond to TRPs||Q3 2008 and beyond||HWG, SRNs|
|G||Work on integrating malaria sub-accounts within M&E activities to track financial flows||2015||RWG, MERG|
a) Main coordinating group / body in the RBM partnership indicated in bold. Closely linked contributors within the RBM partnership are also listed. RBM partners are not listed explicitly as their involvement occurs through the Working Group. | <urn:uuid:45f5f01d-adde-47b1-9dac-77e9eae91ddd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/gmap/4-6.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91285 | 2,138 | 2.46875 | 2 |
It could be the spartan living environment, or perhaps growing up in the thin air nearly 3,000 meters above sea level -- or maybe it's the influence of a legendary local coach.
Whatever its secret, a remote mountain town in Ethiopia has produced a string of world-beating distance runners.
Three-time Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba is the current cream of the crop. Like many from her area, she was clearly born to run.
Her elder sister Ejegayehu was an Olympic silver medalist in 2004, while younger sister Genzebe was the 2009 world junior cross country champion and a younger brother Dejene is a promising 800m runner.
"Running is for me my job, but also my source of entertainment," the 27-year-old told CNN's Human to Hero series.
"It's because of running that I am well known around the world. For me, it's the ultimate thing."
Sporting excellence flows through the family genes: Dibaba is the cousin of double Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu, while she was also inspired by another cousin -- Bekelu, who she often calls her sister, and was an international distance runner.
They all hail from Bekoji, a town of fewer than 20,000 people set high in the mountains of the Arsi province, but with a freakish record for track and field success.
"Bekoji has produced so many great athletes starting from Derartu. In Beijing, Kenenisa (Bekele) and I brought home two gold medals each," Dibaba said.
"Bekoji has strong runners. Bekoji is great and can produce even greater athletes." | <urn:uuid:c5e4eda5-f8fb-4213-8184-d191954cbed0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wlwt.com/news/sports/Born-to-run-Ethiopia-s-golden-girl-Dibaba/-/9837968/17982232/-/h79ccf/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975635 | 354 | 1.609375 | 2 |
THE COLOR WHEEL, PART 3
A color that holds a position directly across the wheel from another is known as a complement. In the world of pigments and color mixing, the color pairs are: yellow-violet, red-green, and blue-orange. When pigment complements are mixed together, they result in a neutral gray, that is, a gray with no hue identity. This is all pretty familiar to anyone who has fooled around with paints.
But in the realm of afterimages, light mixing, and visual perception, the complement pairings are slightly different. Blue is opposite yellow, not orange.
You can see this for yourself with the diagram above. Stare at the middle of the colorful circle for 20 seconds. Then shift your gaze to the middle of the white circle and relax your eyes. The complementary colors should emerge. Note that the afterimage of blue is yellow and vice versa.
But if you were to mix that yellow and that blue as paints, you wouldn’t get a gray, you’d get a green. In fact, pigments can behave unpredictably when mixed. Intermediate mixtures don’t always land on the straight line drawn between the two starting colors.
How does this affect the way we design a color wheel? First of all, you have to decide whether you want to try to represent the practicalities of pigments or the behavior of color in an optical or a mathematical realm. In other words, your color wheel must either represent the ideal world of optical color or the physical world of paints, but no single wheel can accurately represent both color universes.
Many color wheels include the dimension of grayness versus intensity, known as chroma, also commonly called saturation. Here’s the traditional artist’s color wheel I made years ago, which goes to zero chroma at the center.
(By the way, which term do you use? Please vote in the poll at left). "Chroma," a term invented by Albert Munsell, is the degree a color ranges between neutrality and vibrancy or purity.
Tomorrow I'll try to take a look at that question posed yesterday: Are some colors really more primary than others?
Reviewing the posts in this series:
Part 1: Wrapping the Spectrum
Part 2: Primaries and Secondaries
Part 3: Complements, Afterimages, and Chroma
Part 4: Problems with the Traditional Wheel
Part 5: The Munsell System
Part 6: Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow
Part 7: The Yurmby Wheel | <urn:uuid:ea20e85e-7f9a-427d-8c3e-a3e53ab5aee4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/02/color-wheel-part-3.html?showComment=1266978507806 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930435 | 532 | 3.375 | 3 |
> Pascal Lamy’s speeches
Good morning and thank you all for joining us in this reunion to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Legal Affairs Division.
I will resist the temptation to start my intervention today with a joke about lawyers. Instead, I would like to tell you a little bit about how the GATT came to have a Legal Affairs Division.
Some thirty years ago, Arthur Dunkel appointed Hielke Van Tuinen as the first GATT Director of Legal Affairs. Van Tuinen’s appointment opened the way for the creation, a few months later, of the Office of Legal Affairs and eventually of the GATT Legal Affairs Division.
Mr Dunkel’s decision to create a legal office in the GATT Secretariat would not have been taken lightly, as the GATT community generally was resistant to introducing all forms of legalism. Fortunately, none followed the advice of Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare’s Henry the Sixth to ‘kill all the lawyers’. But it must be said that old-school trade diplomats were quite sceptical about having lawyers meddle in the interpretation of rules that had been so carefully negotiated. So Mr Dunkel was a brave man.
In a house no stranger to irony, the office of legal affairs was created on the condition that the head of the office not be a lawyer.
During the first years of the GATT, trade diplomats saw themselves as ministers of an exclusive, esoteric code. To a large extent, they were. The original GATT rules applied to a small group of countries and those rules were not always easy to understand by the uninitiated. As famously quoted by John Jackson, Senator Millikin — then Chairman of the US Senate Finance Committee — said in 1951 that ‘Anyone who reads GATT is likely to have his sanity impaired’.
Many of the GATT diplomats at the time had been personally involved in drafting the rules, so they had strong convictions about how they should be understood. When trade disputes arose, the emphasis was not on passing legal judgement on whether a measure violated GATT rules, but rather on finding politically-acceptable solutions. To ensure that outcome, disputes were referred to working parties comprising the countries directly involved. A working party report could be approved only by consensus, including with the acceptance of all parties to the dispute.
The approach was expedient and may have served well the GATT contracting parties for the initial years. But it soon became insufficient. New contracting parties joined the GATT and new diplomats replaced the original negotiators. It was not always possible to rely on the personal experience of trade diplomats to explain the sometimes rather obscure legal passages that their predecessors had crafted. More importantly, for the GATT to serve its fullest potential as a framework to promote trade and investment, it was important that the rules were applied in a transparent and predictable manner. This did not necessarily coincide perfectly with endeavouring to find a solution that was diplomatically acceptable to all parties.
And so came about Eric Wyndham White’s initiative in the mid-1950s to refer trade disputes to panels of experts, instead of the traditional working parties. From then on, panels would not include the parties involved in the dispute and panelists would be tasked with issuing objective and neutral rulings. The transition from working parties to panels may have seemed an insignificant technical step for the system, but it represented one giant leap in legal and political terms.
The evolution did not stop there, of course. Over the following decades, GATT contracting parties continued to introduce changes in procedures, moving to a dispute settlement system increasingly based on rules.
As trade law experts, you will be aware of the codifications, decisions and amendments adopted in 1966, at the end of the Tokyo Round in 1979, in the Ministerial Declaration of 1982, in the decision on dispute settlement in 1984, and in the decision on improvements to GATT dispute settlement adopted in 1989.
Most significant, however, were the bold changes that Members introduced at the end of the Uruguay Round, when they adopted the Dispute Settlement Understanding. As a result, WTO Members enjoy one of the most successful systems for dispute settlement on the international plane, one that has proved to be extremely robust and efficient.
In the 17 years since 1995, Members have brought 439 trade disputes to the WTO. Many of these disputes have been solved by direct consultations between the parties. Indeed, dispute settlement panels have only been composed in 206 cases, less than half of the disputes. This is despite the virtually automatic right to have a panel established whenever a WTO Member considers that consultations have failed to bring about a resolution to a dispute.
Of those disputes that move forward beyond consultations, many are resolved by the parties, either during the panel stage or the appellate review. In fact, panel reports have been adopted for only some 177 disputes so far, corresponding to around 40 per cent of all cases brought to the WTO.
Disputes about compliance have occurred in less than 30 cases, or less than 7 per cent of disputes overall. And trade sanctions in cases of non-compliance –or suspension of concessions, as we call them under WTO rules– have occurred in only 17 cases, which is less than 4 per cent of the total number of disputes. Again, this is particularly noteworthy as the suspension of trade concessions is an almost automatic right of Members in cases of non-compliance.
There is very broad confidence in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Ninety-eight Members have participated in one capacity or another, which is 63 per cent of the membership. Importantly, developing Members are just as active as developed ones. Six of the most frequent complainants are developing country Members.1
In a speech last year, Nigeria’s Ambassador Agah, former chairman of the DSB, noted that the WTO dispute settlement system is also ‘remarkably efficient.’ Indeed, the average timeframe for WTO panel proceedings is 11 months, excluding the time parties take to compose their panels and translation time. This compares quite favourably to the 4 years average length for proceedings at the International Court of Justice, 2 years on average at the European Court of Justice, 3 and a half years to complete an investment dispute before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes at the World Bank, and 3 and 5 years on average for NAFTA proceedings under Chapters 20 and 11, respectively.
Of course, there are areas where the dispute settlement rules can be clarified and perfected. These are being addressed in the current negotiations for the improvement and clarifications of the DSU. But Members are justifiably proud of our system, even in its current form. It serves a key role in assisting Members to find mutually acceptable solutions to their disputes; solutions that are in conformity with their obligations under the treaties they have so painstakingly negotiated.
In seeking to resolve trade disputes, GATT contracting parties and WTO Members have benefitted from the hard work and dedication of the Secretariat. Members regularly express appreciation during DSB meetings of the work of WTO staff members who ably and professionally serve panels and the Appellate Body. Indeed, we all owe a debt of gratitude to them and to the Directors that have guided them, most of whom are with us today. Chapeau to Hielke, Åke, Frieder, Bill, Pieter Jan, and Bruce. We also have in this room many past members of the staff of the Legal Affairs Division, some who have travelled long distances to be present at this reunion. May I say to them, welcome home. Finally, let me salute the current members of the Legal Affairs Division, who, under the able leadership of Valerie, have always shown remarkable dedication and professionalism. Without them, “the unsung heroes of the disputes”, the WTO dispute settlement mechanism would not continue to enjoy the outstanding reputation that it does.
During the last 65 years, we have witnessed a remarkable journey, from an obscure, minimalistic and at times hermetic trade agreement between a limited number of parties, to an ambitious, complex multilateral trade system that binds 155 members — so far! — through diverse and sometimes complex rules.
In this long and gradual journey, we have been fortunate to be guided by many eminent thinkers. One of them has done us the honour of joining us today. Professor John Jackson visited the GATT Secretariat in the mid-1960s as a researcher. The result of that early visit is contained in his seminal book, ‘World Trade and the Law of GATT’ first published in 1969. This was the first major, comprehensive effort to systematize the rules of the GATT and to translate them from the obscure language that, to quote Senator Millikin again, risked impairing the mental sanity of readers, into a coherent set of principles that could usefully guide government officials, international civil servants, private business, and students of GATT law.
More than 40 years later, we continue to be indebted to the work of Professor Jackson. Indeed, countless trade law practitioners, including Appellate Body Members, staff members of the WTO secretariat and delegates, many of whom are present in this room, had the privilege to study under John.
And we are lucky that John continues to stimulate our thinking on trade issues. After retiring from a distinguished career at the University of Michigan, Professor Jackson joined the faculty of Georgetown University, where he created the Institute of International Economic Law and founded the Journal of International Economic Law. He has also been a strong advocate of the multilateral system. He was part of the group of eight eminent persons appointed by my predecessor and chaired by Peter Sutherland to reflect on the Future of the WTO. In the final report of that group, the section on dispute settlement, coordinated by Professor Jackson, notes: ‘By most accounts and most measures, the operation of the [WTO] dispute settlement system… has been a remarkable success.’
It goes without saying that the success is owed in no small measure to scholars like John Jackson.
One of John’s many talents is the ability to translate complex rules into clear ideas: transforming these mind-boggling provisions, in fact, almost into children’s games. Indeed, the opening section of John’s ground-breaking book on trade law, ‘The World Trading System’, identifies some “puzzles” illustrating the complexities of international trade relations. So we thought we would return the favour. As a token of appreciation for his lifetime of work in support of the multilateral trading system and his invaluable contribution to international trade law, and for joining us today, I would like to present Professor Jackson with a special puzzle of his own as a souvenir of this reunion.
[Hands puzzle to Professor Jackson.]
I welcome you all to this reunion to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Legal Affairs Division and wish you a productive and enjoyable day of discussions.
Thank you for your attention.
1. Argentina, Brazil, India, Korea, Mexico, Thailand. Back to text
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GPS Anti-Jam Technology Revealed
- GAJT (GPS Anti-Jam Technology) optimizes battlefield performance by nullifying the effect of multiple GPS jammers.
Intentional jamming and unintended interference of GPS can completely deny a position solution and timing over a wide area. GAJT is a seven element controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA) that nulls jammers, ensuring GPS positioning capabilities are retained during combat, training or other vehicle-based missions.
Global Military Communications & COTS Market 2013-2023
As an externally mounted single-unit enclosure, no additional electronics are necessary inside the vehicle; only power and a single RF cable are required to connect to legacy GPS receivers. The simplicity of its design results in faster installation, minimal vehicle downtime and training, and makes the antenna easier to integrate into new platforms, or retrofit onto existing platforms or fleets and works with standard military and civil GPS receivers.
Cathy Kane, QinetiQ Managed Services Director of Technology Insertion said, "We are delighted to be partnering with NovAtel to bring this much-needed and exciting force protection product to market. I have been particularly impressed at the way the people from NovAtel and QinetiQ have brought their different skills together to form an effective team."
Michael Rittter, President and CEO of NovAtel stated, "GAJT is the first GPS anti-jam system that is small enough, and at a price point that makes sense to use on land-based military vehicles such as LAVs (light armoured vehicles)." Mr. Ritter added, "We are extremely pleased to have developed a game-changing product that will protect the positioning and blue force tracking of troops on the ground, and potentially save the lives of personnel who encounter jammers while in theatre."
GAJT is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product, providing short order lead times and enabling quick deployment to the field. Manufactured in Canada, and incorporating Canadian and UK technology, GAJT only requires Canadian and UK export approval, which means exporting to authorized customers in foreign countries is greatly simplified.
Source : QinetiQ Group plc (LSE: QQ.L)
Jun 4 - 5, 2013 - Washington, United States | <urn:uuid:f679b152-235e-4f7d-afea-ac2acfdbd8cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asdnews.com/news-36009/GPS_Anti-Jam_Technology_Revealed.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930033 | 470 | 1.757813 | 2 |
PSCI 442: Women in the Developed and Developing World
This course will explore the experiences of women in politics around the globe in developed and developing countries. Politics is broadly construed, including political rights, political involvement, and policy formation and implementation related to experiences both specifically female (reproduction, marriage, abortion) and societally gendered (gendered access to work, education, property, etc.). Specific topics are divided between advanced industrialized countries and developing countries. For advanced industrialized countries, representation, gendering of work, politics, health and inequity of employment access will be examined. For developing countries, demographic sex imbalances and inequity in access to education will be examined in addition to the other topics. We will use feminist political theory, feminist writing, and social science research on the status and place of women to understand the political and economic situation of women in Europe, the US, Africa and Asia. | <urn:uuid:5b2e8885-ddf6-4f4c-a79d-fb64b6b26d47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kenyon.edu/x22244.xml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936419 | 188 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Touting the Benefits of Health Reform at This Year’s State of the Union
President Obama Should Remind Congress That Reform Is Working
SOURCE: AP/Alex Brandon
President Barack Obama urged Congress to “get it done” during last year’s State of the Union address. He wanted Congress to work through unresolved conflicts and pass comprehensive reform of the American health care system. Less than two months later he signed the Affordable Care Act into law, which ushered in a series of significant changes in American health care.
Since then, the Department of Health and Human Services and other parts of the executive branch have begun to implement the new law. But health care reform remains a high-profile issue. The House of Representatives just voted to repeal the new law and the new patient’s rights and protections it contains. This would be a giant step backwards.
President Obama needs to remind senators and representatives why the health reform law was necessary in this year’s State of the Union. He can cite the many benefits the law has delivered for the American people.
Signature achievements that are already in place include:
- Establishing pre-existing condition insurance plans in every state so that individuals with health problems who cannot find coverage in the regular market have a reliable source of coverage
- Requiring employer-sponsored health plans to offer coverage to the young-adult children of policyholders
- Helping employers with unpredictable health care spending for retired workers
- Providing more than 2 million rebate checks to Medicare enrollees who incurred high out-of-pocket prescription drug spending in 2010
- Prohibiting health insurance plans from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions
- Protecting individuals with high health care costs from the financial risk of absurdly low annual and lifetime limits on their benefits
- Prohibiting health insurance plans from rescinding coverage when a policyholder gets sick
More changes are in store this year. The president should remind Congress of the improvements that came into place only three weeks ago:
Closing the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap. Seniors and people with disabilities who obtain prescription drug coverage through Medicare Part D now enjoy a new discount on brand-name and generic prescription drugs when they hit the so-called “doughnut hole” in their Part D benefits. Since the beginning of the program, enrollees have hit a gap in coverage when their total drug spending—including out-of-pocket costs and expenses covered by their Medicare Part D plan—exceeds a preset limit (currently $2,830). Patients then pay the total cost of their prescription drugs without help from their drug plan until their total drug expenses hit an upper limit and coverage kicks in again.
With the new discount, people with drug spending high enough to hit the coverage gap will save almost $500 on average this year, while people with very high drug costs will save more than $1,500.
Launching new prevention benefits for Medicare enrollees. Good coverage of preventive services helps seniors and other Medicare enrollees better manage their health. New benefits include coverage without cost-sharing for recommended preventive services (those that receive an “A” or “B” rating from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force) and new coverage for a personal prevention plan.
Increasing access to primary care. Medicare has begun paying primary care providers a 10 percent bonus payment, which offers a new incentive for physicians, nurses, and others to provide primary care services.
Requiring insurers to provide high value for premium dollars. This year, insurers will pay rebates to policyholders—individuals and employers—when plan spending on clinical services falls below 80 percent of premium revenue in the individual and small group market, and 85 percent of premium revenue in the large group market.
Health reform provisions that will help people every day will continue coming on-line through 2011. These include providing more consumer information on healthy food choices by requiring chain restaurants and vending machines to provide nutritional data no later than March, and improving long-term care by sending enhanced federal Medicaid payments to support new state investments in community-based long-term care services starting in October. Tangible improvements will continue beyond this year, such as fully closing the coverage gap in Medicare Part D and improving Medicaid coverage for preventive care.
The president should also remind Congress that the Affordable Care Act’s most striking impact will come in 2014 when new health insurance exchanges launch, premium subsidies become available, and Medicaid coverage expands to include all low-income individuals regardless of family composition, age, or disability status. At this point, affordable, high-quality health insurance coverage will be within reach for all Americans—an important step toward seizing control over growing health care costs.
These headline-grabbing changes are still around the corner. But President Obama can emphasize during this year’s address how many millions of Americans are already benefitting from the Affordable Care Act and the millions more who will receive better care in the near future thanks to the new law.
Karen Davenport is Director of Health Policy at American Progress.
Finding Realistic Deficit Reduction by Michael Ettlinger
Clean Energy Progress Without Congress by Daniel J. Weiss
Scale Back the Defense Budget by Lawrence J. Korb and Laura Conley
Exceptionally American Competitiveness by Sarah Wartell Rosen, Ed Paisley, and Kate Gordon
Smarter Enforcement, More Targeted Measures by Marshall Fitz and Angela Kelley
Outlining a Strategy for Peace by Caroline Wadhams
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202.481.8119 or firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:1709b787-3b75-4b6c-84e6-6ce370a09004> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/news/2011/01/20/8859/touting-the-benefits-of-health-reform-at-this-years-state-of-the-union/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930324 | 1,368 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The Good Men Project has taken on the daunting task of introducing, unlocking and dismantling the so-called Men’s Rights Movement in a special series of posts this week. My top pick, naturally, was Amanda Marcotte’s, in which she debunks the feminist-scapegoating delusions held by so many misogynist trolls men’s rights activists (MRAs), arguing that:
When you believe that we live in a female-dominated world where straight men are the most oppressed class, it tends to make you wrong about pretty much everything.
Ladies, do you ever find yourself jotting down a phone number or writing a check and thinking to yourself, “Gee, this pen makes me feel and look so masculine!”? Just holding a traditional pen can create the unflattering illusion of man hands. It’s an embarrassing but all-too-common problem. But now there’s hope, thanks to the good people at Bic: They’ve introduced a new line of pens–Bic for Her. Finally, no more messy and expensive grocery lists written in lipstick!
Bradley Manning, who’s currently awaiting a pre-trial hearing in “maximum custody” solitary confinement at the Marine Corps Brig, Quantico (Virginia) on charges that he leaked classified information to WikiLeaks, will be forced to be nude every night for the indefinite future. But forced nudity is a breach of the Geneva Conventions. Salon has more.
The Economist has a graph depicting the devastating effect child marriage has on women’s literacy. The problem is especially prevalent in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In Niger, 74 percent of women ages 20 to 24 were married before their 18th birthday, and 77 percent are illiterate.
Lindsay Beyerstein breaks down the straightforward but all-too-often misunderstood reason why private-sector workers should care about public-sector unions.
Six months after the U.S. officially ended the war in Iraq, the utterly devastating toll that the conflict took on Iraqi women and girls in particular remains largely unspoken: kidnapping, trafficking and forced prostitution, rape, a sharp rise in honor killings and economic destitution. H. Patricia Hynes and Yanar Mohammed of the the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) made the case for reparations at Truthout:
The United States owes reparations to the people of Iraq for this unsanctioned war of aggression, most of all to the women and girls who have lost their future.
In honor of this week’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Ryan O’Connell showed his solidarity with his list of 5 awful things that women have to deal with that men don’t.
From Change.org: A harrowing story about a shameful miscarriage of justice. Recy Taylor is an African-American woman who was gang-raped during the Jim Crow era in Alabama. Her confessed assailants never faced any consequences. In an interview, Taylor’s brother describes the event and the toll it took on his sister and tells why he’s speaking out about it now and what he hopes to achieve by sharing her story.
Above, Clockwise: Iraqi woman and U.S. soldier in Baghdad, from Flickr user expertinfantry; young bride in India, from Flickr user lonesome:cycler, Minnesota rally in solidarity with Wisconsin union protesters, from Flickr user Fibonacci Blue; U.S. soldier Bradley Manning, from Wikimedia Commons; a pen for a man, from Flickr user wetwebwork; Wisconsin pro-workers rally, from Flickr user WxMom; young mothers at the health post of the Sam Ouandja refugee camp, from Flickr user hdptcar. All photos courtesy of CC 2.0. | <urn:uuid:bce8b179-c01e-4ff8-9963-d3617586233b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://msmagazine.com/blog/2011/03/12/child-brides-femme-pens-and-misogynist-trolls-editors-picks-36-312/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937099 | 791 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Jay Searcy's 'The Last Reunion'
Jay Searcy, a good guy and terrific newspaperman, has written a book, "The Last Reunion," about growing up in Oak Ridge and the ties that bind -- many years later.
Here's a description of the book:
"There was a time when America was a team, when the free world had the tremors and looked to us for help. There was a time when we made sacrifices without complaint, supported our president without question and honored the standards of decency. There was a time of American patriotism and pride, of hope and love and humility. It was World War II and the nation was one.
"This book is about those days, specifically about Oak Ridge, Tennessee and the war at home; about the thousands upon thousands of everyday Americans who joined hands as strangers in a near classless society and secretly pulled off the greatest scientific experiment in history - the making of the atomic bomb. We, the Oak Ridge High Class of 1952, were their children and we, too, joined hands as strangers. We have never let go.
"We are in our mid-seventies now, among the last of the living to have witnessed wartime Oak Ridge. We came home for a last reunion in the summer of 2010 and brought our stories with us -memories of our working parents and neighbors and of the genius scientists who lived together behind a secret curtain and helped create the miracle of Oak Ridge, the womb of the Atomic Age. What did we see there, what did we hear there and whatever happened to them and to us?"
To read more about Searcy and/or to purchase the book, click here. | <urn:uuid:6050cc3d-3481-4886-bccd-3ee3ec033cc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2010/11/jay_searcys_the_last_reunion.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977365 | 343 | 1.625 | 2 |
U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Solar Energy Technologies Program – News
Residential Water Heaters can now Carry the Energy Star Label
January 7, 2009
DOE has announced that as of January 1, Energy Star-qualified residential water heaters are now available. Five types of residential water heaters will be allowed to carry the Energy Star label: high-efficiency, gas-fueled, storage water heaters; gas-fueled condensing water heaters; whole-home, gas-fueled, tankless water heaters; heat pump water heaters; and solar water heaters. After space heating and cooling, water heating is the second largest energy expense in U.S. homes and represents up to 15.5% of all national residential energy consumption. Energy Star-qualified water heaters can reduce residential water heating bills from 7.5%-55%. Over the next five years, the new water heater criteria are expected to save U.S. consumers $823 million in utility costs, avoid 4.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and achieve cumulative energy savings of more than 3.9 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 270 million therms of natural gas—enough energy to power more than 375,000 homes for a year.
Energy Star is a joint program of DOE and the Environmental Protection Agency that seeks to reduce air pollution through increased energy efficiency. More than 9,000 organizations have joined the Energy Star program as partners, and the Energy Star label appears on more than 50 kinds of consumer products. The new criteria for water heaters was released on April 1, 2008, to allow manufacturers nine months to partner with Energy Star and submit qualifying models for the Energy Star label. Energy Star-qualified storage, whole-home tankless, and solar water heaters are theoretically available now, while gas condensing and heat pump models will be available later in the year. However, the Energy Star Web site currently lists only whole-home tankless versions, which are available from five manufacturers in 56 models, including models fueled with either natural gas or propane. See the DOE press release and the Energy Star Web site. | <urn:uuid:8eaac3ac-af44-45c6-9254-eeef8e8769d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/sunshot/printable_versions/news_detail.html?news_id=12165 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93469 | 444 | 2.515625 | 3 |
A statement that was made by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic during visit to Moscow last week that the Serbian Parliament may consider the issue of recognition of the occupied territories of Georgia - Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region - was like a thunder from a clear sky. He also added that Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region can be independent states while Kosovo and Metohija cannot. Apparently, he thinks that’s how matters stand according to the international law.
Until September 7th, 2008 Tomislav Nikolic was a deputy leader of the Serbian ultranationalist Radical party that he practically led since leader of the party Vojislav Seselj has been detained by the Hague tribunal. In 1998 he became a vice president of the Serbian government of Slobodan Milosevic who is accused of crime against humanity by the Hague tribunal. Now Nikolic is a leader of the progressive party that he himself formed.
One thing is when the puppet regimes of Russia are recognised by countries that are barely visible on the world map and another when this is done by a state situated in the heart of Europe. Though Nikolic’s statement did not cause too much anxiety. Georgian diplomats showed restraint and assessed the statement of the Serbian President as misunderstanding. At the same time, hopes were expressed that this misunderstanding would disappear after official Tbilisi provides Belgrade with relevant information and consult with Serbia within the framework of the European Union.
In connection with the statement of Nikolic we can consider several interesting questions. First one that is most striking is that the Kremlin uses the same exact methods both with Nauru and Serbia. We refer here to "checkbook diplomacy". "Rapture" of Nikolic at the Russian occupation of the Georgian territories was due to the Kremlin's promise to provide an additional loan of 800 million dollars to Belgrade. The Kremlin also reminded that the year before the last 200 million dollars were already allocated. Apparently, Nikolic’s statement was an expression of gratitude to Moscow.
Undoubtedly, Serbia is an independent state and under international law it really has ability and right to consider a question of recognition of the occupied territories of Georgia. But the process cannot be based solely on rights and everybody, without exception, will have to take into account real-politics. And here things are relatively more complicated. Serbia is located in the heart of Eastern Europe, and is not adjacent to Russia. Serbia is surrounded by countries that share the ideas and values of the European Union. Against this background, 22 countries of the European Union that recognized Kosovo's independence will not allow Serbia to become "red". The first signs of that were voiced in congratulatory statements of the EU towards Nikolic. A statement of May 21st of the head of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and president of the European Council Herman van Rompuy contains a direct call to Serbia not to turn away from the European path, which primarily implies regulation of relations with Kosovo (independence of which was officially recognized by 88 states).
In this context notable is a speech made by Tomislav Nikolic on his inauguration ceremony to the presidential office in the Serbian parliament on May 31st. The President said that Serbia should become a full EU member without abandoning its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
"I want Serbia to be a country free from the fear of tomorrow, which will be a fully-fledged member of the EU and which will never give up Kosovo and Metohija," - said Nikolić and vowed to fight until Serbia becomes a "legal and fair democratic state. " And this, above all, implies recognition of the principles of international law (with which the former ultranationalist will have to get acquainted) that protect human rights, territorial integrity and sovereignty of countries, do not support legitimization of separatism and ethnic cleansing that has been carried out in Georgia by Nikolic’s partner - Russia and its puppets several times over the past 20 years.
Statements of Nikolic made in Moscow are devoid of any solid foundation in terms of present realities. First, the statement made by Nikolic in the rank of the leader of his party aimed at pleasing the Kremlin does not mean that he will be supported by his government in this, in fact - to put his statement into action he will have to overcome a major barrier in the face of parliament. And there the situation is not in favour of Nikolic, because his party, though has won more seats than other parties (73), still in the end may appear not just in the minority, but even in constitutional minority since its rival parties - the bloc of democratic parties of Serbia For Better Life led by the now former president Boris Tadic and the Socialist Bloc led by Ivica Dacic have won respectively 67 and 44 seats. Both of these blocks are planning to form a governing coalition. If they accept some small party into their coalition they will have a serious majority. It is difficult to say how the socialists will behave, but we know that Tadic is a follower of Western values and will not break the principles of international law in favour of Russia.
Another, and perhaps the most important question is how the recognition of independence of the Georgian territories can help the Serbs in return of Kosovo. It will not! It should be noted that, despite the fact that Kosovo's independence has been recognised by half of the world, Tbilisi has not recognized it, though few would have criticized this step. But it would not be right from a moral point of view, since Georgia itself has two territories that are occupied by Russia. Accordingly, the Serbian support of the occupation of our territories and separatist movements will further strengthen the independence of Kosovo. What moral may Serbs be led by if the question of recognition of our occupied territories will appear on their political agenda? In addition, they will have no political or economic dividends in terms of return of Kosovo. And money that Russia will allocate to them is a loan. It will evaporate before their eyes even before they themselves understand where it went and why they took such big political liabilities. Only Russia will benefit from this loan.
Thus, there is a very little chance that Serbia will consider the issue of recognizing independence of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region. Nikolic, I'm sure, understands this very well. So then why did he make this statement? Was it just to thank the Kremlin for the promise of the loan? We think that the statement of the Serbian President a clear example that the vector of confrontation between Russia and the West runs through Georgia today.
Some may think this statement an exaggeration, but the fact that everyone who sends a message to the world about their getting closer to Russia and in confrontation with the West, for some reason, threatens with recognition of the occupied territories of Georgia. When Belarus did not succumb to this adventure of Moscow, relations between Minsk and Moscow immediately deteriorated. The "Georgian issue" is gradually becoming means of affirming of loyalty to Moscow. That's what the Kremlin buddies – the leaders of Venezuela and Nicaragua do. With everything else Nikolić’s Statement was aimed at repaying the U.S. for Kosovo, which is the main core of the foreign policy direction of Moscow.
Against this background we should noted political impotence of today’s Europe. Just the fact that former ultranationalist, even if with slightly modified political aspirations, wins in the heart of Europe does not really has a good impact on the image of Europe. Recent tendency shows that the EU has broken off from the world's political processes, and is mainly focused on its own economic problems that could lead the European Union to absolute ruin. As a result very important decisions are made spinelessly, or an impression is created that it is governed by Putin. This is reflected difference between Europe’s attitude towards, on one hand, Belarus and Ukraine and, on the other hand, Russia. Towards the latter the European Union keeps silent about daily violations of human rights in Russia not to mention avoiding sanctions. Such behaviour on the part of Europeans has already returned Belarus into the sphere of influence of Russia, and Ukraine cannot shake off this influence. Strict policy against Serbia has caused the victory of nationalists in this country. All this gives Russia opportunity to act in relation to Europe as it pleases, to easily pursue its interests, to impose its position on Europe and to easily promote its own aggressive policy on the European arena. And if it is to last, it will be Europe itself they might appear under the threat of great reformatting, which can cause serious political upheavals in this part of the world. And it is not difficult to guess who might benefit from this... | <urn:uuid:1b8a7c10-8570-45a2-9d50-a429dd03ef8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eng.expertclub.ge/DesktopModules/ExpertNews/Pages/Print.aspx?cnid=11918&theme=Expertclub&mid=5956&tabid=2546 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973223 | 1,779 | 1.84375 | 2 |
On the back of growing economy, rising purchasing power, and strong consumer confidence, retail still remains as one of the rapidly growing sectors in the UAE. Favorable government policy frameworks and active participation by private sector have facilitated the retail sector growth in the country. Further, the expansion of retail space in UAE and the construction of new malls will help the retail industry growth in the coming years. In future, the retail sales are projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 3% during 2012-2015.
Research Analysis & Highlights
The report, “UAE Retail Industry Forecast to 2015”, which is spread in over 85 pages, is an outcome of an extensive research and thorough analysis of retail industry in the UAE. The report also covers both food and non-food retail sector analysis along with future forecast. It facilitates statistics and analysis of all prominent retail segments to provide deep and informative understanding of the market. In non-retail sector, our report covers the color cosmetics, hair care, perfumes, and footwear and clothing sales market in UAE with future market analysis. Besides, the future growth areas discussed in the report helps to analyze the emerging market segments.
Our study also covers a brief business description of prominent players operating in the industry to provide a balanced treatment of the analysis. Overall, the report will help clients analyze the driving forces and understand the opportunities existing in this industry.
Some of the key findings of the report are:
- Surging Demand for Luxury Goods in UAE retail market.
- Cosmetic and personal care market witnessing double digit growth in UAE.
- Consumer Electronics driving UAE retail Industry.
- Booming retail mall space in UAE.
For FREE SAMPLE of this report visit: http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM458.htm
Some of our Related Reports are:
- Indian Online Retail Market Analysis (http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM421.htm)
- Vietnam Retail Market Forecast to 2014 (http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM337.htm)
- Middle East Retail Sector Forecast to 2013 (http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM196.htm)
- South African Retail Industry Forecast to 2013
- UAE Retail Industry Analysis (http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM330.htm)
Check Related REPORTS on: http://www.rncos.com/Retail%20industry.htm
RNCOS specializes in Industry intelligence and creative solutions for contemporary business segments. Our professionals analyze the industry and its various components, with a comprehensive study of the changing market behavior. Our accuracy and data precision proves beneficial in terms of pricing and time management that assist the intending consultants in meeting their objectives in a cost-effective and timely manner. | <urn:uuid:779e1767-9d2a-4a92-b6d1-7c5f793b5ecb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://business.wesrch.com/paper-details/press-paper-BU187QOHYHFUH-retail-sector-in-uae-to-continue-witnessing-growth | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903356 | 577 | 1.570313 | 2 |
If you are responsible for maintaining an internet-connected mail-server, then you have, no doubt, come to hate spam and the waste of resources which comes with it. When I first decided to lock down my own mail-server, I found many resources that helped in dealing with these unwanted messages. Each of them contained a trick or two, however very few of them were presented in the context of running a real server, and none of them demonstrated an entire filtering framework. In the end I created my own set of rules from the bits and pieces I found, and months of experimentation and fine-tuning resulted in the system detailed in this article.
This article will show you how to configure a Postfix mail-server in order to reject the wide majority of unwanted incoming “junk email”, whether they contain unsolicited commercial email (UCE), viruses, or worms. Although my examples are specific to Postfix, the concepts are generic and can be applied to any system that can be configured at this level of detail.
For a real world example, I’ll use my server’s configuration details:
|Postfix configuration path||/usr/local/etc/postfix|
This configuration was written with two primary rules in mind:
- Safety is important above all else. That is, I would much rather incorrectly allow an unwanted message through my system than reject a legitimate message.
- The system had to scale well. A perfect system that uses all of my server’s processing power at moderate workloads is not useful.
It’s easy to experiment with Postfix, and it can be customized to your level of comfort
To these ends, several checks—that may have reduced the number of “false negatives” (messages that should have been rejected but were not) at the cost of increasing the number of “false positives” (legitimate messages that were incorrectly rejected)—were avoided. The more resource-intensive tests were moved toward the end of the configuration. This way, the quick checks at the beginning eliminated the majority of UCE so that the longer tests had a relatively small amount of traffic to examine.
When a client system connects to a mail-server, it’s required to identity itself using the
SMTP HELO command. Many viruses and spammers skip this step altogether, either by sending impossibly invalid information, or lying and saying that they are one of your own trusted systems—in the hopes that they will be granted undeserved access. The first step in the filtering pipeline, then, is to reject connections from clients that are severely mis-configured or that are deliberately attempting to circumvent your security. Given their simplicity, these tests are far more effective than might be imagined, and they were implemented in my
main.cf file with this settings block:
1 smtpd_delay_reject = yes 2 smtpd_helo_required = yes 3 smtpd_helo_restrictions = 4 permit_mynetworks, 5 check_helo_access hash:/usr/local/etc/postfix/helo_access, 6 reject_non_fqdn_hostname, 7 reject_invalid_hostname, 8 permit
Given their simplicity, these tests are far more effective than might be imagined
Line 1 is a fix for certain broken (but popular) clients, and is required in able to use
HELO filtering at all. The second line rejects mail from any system that fails to identify itself. Line 4 tells Postfix to accept connections from any machines on my local network. The next line references an external hash table that contains a set of black- and whitelisted entries; mine looks like this:
woozle.honeypot.net OK honeypot.net REJECT You are not me. Shoo! 22.214.171.124 REJECT You are not me. Shoo!
The first line in the table explicitly allows connections from my laptop so that I can send mail when connected through an external network. At this point Postfix has already been told to accept connections from all of my local machines and my short list of remote machines, so any other computer in the world that identifies itself as one of my systems is lying. Since I’m not particularly interested in mail from deceptive systems, those connections were flatly rejected.
Lines 6 through 8 complete this stage by rejecting connections from hosts that identify themselves in blatantly incorrect ways, such as “MAILSERVER” and “HOST@192.168!aol.com”.
Some administrators also use the
reject_unknown_hostname option to ignore servers whose hostnames can’t be resolved, but in my experience this causes too many false positives from legitimate systems with transient DNS problems or other harmless issues.
You can test the effect of these rules, without activating them on a live system, by using the
warn_if_reject option to cause Postfix to send debugging information to your maillog without actually processing them. For example, line 6 could be replaced with:
This way the results can be observed without the risk of inadvertently getting false positives.
The next step is to reject invalid senders with these options:
9 smtpd_sender_restrictions = 10 permit_sasl_authenticated, 11 permit_mynetworks, 12 reject_non_fqdn_sender, 13 reject_unknown_sender_domain, 14 permit
If the sender’s email address is malformed or provably nonexistent, then there’s no reason to accept mail from them
Lines 10 and 11 allow clients that have authenticated with a username and password or Kerberos ticket, or who are hosts on my local network, to continue onward. Lines 12 and 13 work similarly lines 6 and 7 in the “HELO restrictions” section; if the sender’s email address is malformed or provably nonexistent, then there’s no reason to accept mail from them. The next line allows every other message to move on to the next phase of filtering.
Recipient restrictions and expensive tests
By this time, it’s clear that the client machine isn’t completely mis-configured and that the sender stands a reasonable chance of being legitimate. The final step is to see that the client has permission to send to the given recipient and to apply the remaining “expensive” tests to the small number of messages that have made it this far. Here’s how I do it:
15 smtpd_recipient_restrictions = 16 reject_unauth_pipelining, 17 reject_non_fqdn_recipient, 18 reject_unknown_recipient_domain, 19 permit_mynetworks, 20 permit_sasl_authenticated, 21 reject_unauth_destination, 22 check_sender_access hash:/usr/local/etc/postfix/sender_access, 23 check_recipient_access hash:/usr/local/etc/postfix/recipient_access, 24 check_helo_access hash:/usr/local/etc/postfix/secondary_mx_access, 25 reject_rbl_client relays.ordb.org, 26 reject_rbl_client list.dsbl.org, 27 reject_rbl_client sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org, 28 check_policy_service unix:private/spfpolicy 29 check_policy_service inet:127.0.0.1:10023 30 permit
Many spammers send a series of commands without waiting for authorization, in order to deliver their messages as quickly as possible. Line 16 rejects messages from those attempting to do this.
Line 21 is critically important; without this line, the server would be an open relay!
Options like lines 17 and 18 are probably becoming familiar now, and they work in this case by rejecting mail targeted at domains that don’t exist (or can’t exist). Just as in the “Sender restrictions” section, lines 19 and 20 allow local or authenticated users to proceed—which here means that their messages will not go through any more checks. Line 21 is critically important because it tells Postfix not to accept messages with recipients at domains not hosted locally or that we serve as a backup mail server for; without this line, the server would be an open relay!
The next line defines an access file named sender_access that can be used as a black- or whitelist. I use this to list my consulting clients’ mail-servers so that none of the remaining tests can inadvertently drop important requests from them. I added line 23, which creates a similar blacklist called recipient_access for recipient addresses, as an emergency response to a “joe job”. Once in 2003, a spammer forged an email address from my domain onto several million UCE messages and I was getting deluged with bounce messages to “firstname.lastname@example.org”. I was able to reject these by adding an entry like:
email@example.com REJECT This is a forged account.
Although the event was annoying, this allowed my server to continue normal operation until the storm had passed.
Line 24 is the last of the “inexpensive” checks. It compares the name that the remote system sent earlier via the
HELO command to the list of my secondary mail servers and permits mail filtered through those systems to be delivered without further testing. This is the weak link in my filtering system, because if a spammer were clever enough to claim that they were one of my backup servers then my mail server would cheerfully deliver any message sent to it. In practice, though, I’ve never seen a spammer that crafty and this line could be removed without side effects should the need arise.
Lines 25 through 27 are somewhat more controversial than most of my techniques, in that they consult external DNS blackhole lists in order to selectively reject messages based on the IP address of the sender. Each of these lists have been chosen because of their good reputation and very conservative policies toward adding new entries, but you should evaluate each list for yourself before using their databases to drop messages.
SPF and greylisting
Lines 28 and 29 add Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and greylisting filtering respectively. SPF works by attempting to look up a DNS record, that domains can publish, which gives the list of addresses allowed to send email for that domain. For example, webtv.net’s SPF record is currently “v=spf1 ip4:126.96.36.199/19 -all”, which means that a message claiming to be from firstname.lastname@example.org sent from the IP address 188.8.131.52 is forged and can be safely rejected.
Greylists are pure gold when it comes to rejecting junk email. Whenever a client attempts to send mail to a particular recipient, the greylist server will attempt to find that client’s address and the recipient’s address in its database. If there is no such entry then one will be created, and Postfix will use a standard SMTP error message to tell the client that the recipient’s mailbox is temporarily unavailable and to try again later. It will then continue to reject similar attempts until the timestamp is of a certain age (mine is set to five minutes). The theory behind this is that almost no special-purpose spam sending software will actually attempt to re-send the message, but almost every legitimate mail server in existence will gladly comply and send the queued message a short time later. This simple addition cut my incoming junk email load by over 99% at the small cost of having to wait an extra five minutes to receive email for the first time from a new contact. It has worked flawlessly with the many mailing lists that my clients and I subscribe to and has not caused any collateral problems that I am aware of. If you take nothing else from this article, let it be that greylisting is a Good Thing and your customers will love you for using it.
If you take nothing else from this article, let it be that greylisting is a _Good Thing_ and your customers will love you for using it
I use the smtpd-policy.pl script that ships with Postfix to handle SPF, and Postgrey as an add-on greylisting policy server. They’re defined in my master.cf file as:
spfpolicy unix— n n — — spawn user=nobody argv=/usr/bin/perl /usr/local/libexec/postfix/smtpd-policy.pl greypolicy unix— n n — — spawn user=nobody argv=/usr/bin/perl /usr/local/libexec/postfix/greylist.pl
The messages remaining at this point are very likely to be legitimate, although all that Postfix has actually done so far is enforce SMTP rules and reject known spammers. Their final hurdle on the way from their senders to my users’ mailboxes is to pass through a spam filter and an antivirus program. The easiest way to do this with Postfix is to install AMaViS, SpamAssasin, and ClamAV and then configure Postfix to send messages to AMaViS (which acts as a wrapper around the other two) before delivering them, and line 31 does exactly that:
31 content_filter = smtp-amavis:127.0.0.1:10024
SpamAssassin is fantastic at identifying spam correctly. Its “hit rate” while used in this system will be much lower than if it were receiving an unfiltered stream, as most of the easy targets have already been removed. I recommend setting AMaViS to reject only the messages with the highest spam scores; I arbitrarily picked a score of 10.0 on my systems. Then, tag the rest with headers that your users can use to sort mail into junk folders.
ClamAV has proven itself to be an effective and trustworthy antivirus filter, and I now discard any message that it identifies as having a viral payload.
Unfortunately, the configuration of these systems is more complicated than I could hope to cover in this article, as it depends heavily on the setup of the rest of your email system. The good news is that literally less than 1% of junk email makes it this far into my system, and I’ve actually gone for several days without realizing that SpamAssassin or ClamAV hadn’t been restarted after an upgrade. Still, these extra filters are very good at catching those last few messages that make it through the cracks.
If you want more aggressive filtering and can accept the increased risk of false positives, consider some of the other less-conservative blackhole lists such as the ones run by SPEWS or the various lists of blocks of dynamic IP addresses. You may also consider using the reject_unknown_hostname option mentioned in the “HELO restrictions” section, but you can expect a small, measurable increase in false positives.
The ruleset described above should be sufficient on its own to eliminate the vast majority of junk email, so your time would probably be better spent implementing and adjusting it before testing other measures.
None of the techniques I use are particularly difficult to implement, but I faced quite a challenge in assembling them into a coherent system from the scraps I found laying about in various web pages and mailing lists.
It can be difficult to find a good compromise between safety and effectiveness, but I believe I’ve found a solid combination that should work in almost any situation.
The most important thing I learned from the process was that it’s easy to experiment with Postfix, and it can be customized to your level of comfort. When used in my configuration, the most effective filters are:
- DNS blackhole lists
- HELO enforcement
Greylisting has proven to be an excellent filter and I’ve deployed it successfully on several networks with nothing but positive feedback from their owners. Even the basic HELO filtering, though, can visibly decrease spam loads and should be completely safe. It can be difficult to find a good compromise between safety and effectiveness, but I believe I’ve found a solid combination that should work in almost any situation. Don’t be afraid to test these ideas on your own and make them a part of your own anti-spam system! | <urn:uuid:c5644b7e-1f8c-4d1b-8b1e-74c8e5e18b16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/comment/35701 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928308 | 3,478 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Teens are at the stage in their lives where they need to start thinking about college. The day draws closer to going to a new school, making new friends and starting their adult lives and supporting themselves financially.
But the truth is, not many teens know how to prepare for that day. About 20 percent of 58 students surveyed at Springville-Griffith Institute couldn't even guess at what the price of college was, only knowing that it was very expensive.
With the economy still doing poorly and the costs of college rising by the year, teens need to know some important facts to be prepared.
More than half of the students surveyed were savers rather than spenders. Putting money in the bank adds up quickly.
Investing in stocks is a long-term (albeit risky) alternative to increase savings. For example, if you hadn't bought a $200 iPod Nano back in 2006, but instead invested in $200 worth of Apple stocks, you could have $718, according to a study done by National Public Radio (NPR) in 2010.
"Every person has a different need for their money," says Joe Curatolo of Georgetown Capital Group. "Some people need it for daily expenses and some people save it for future expenditures like school tuition, vacation or other big-ticket items. In general I would say young people should try to save a good portion -- 20 percent to 40 percent -- for long-term saving. That could be for collage tuition or a Roth IRA.
"Where you park the money is another conversation. You can park this money in a bank saving account or a money market account, currently neither pay much interest, but that is OK for now," Curatolo said.
If you do decide to buy something, try to prioritize need versus want and limit the number of items you buy. Decide, do I need this now or can it wait until it's on sale?
Also, avoid using credit cards. According to financial guru Dave Ramsey, about 68 percent of college students charge items knowing that they can't pay the debt back. It seems so easy to just swipe a card and then magically get things, but you have to pay everything back, plus interest down the road. Make a general rule for yourself: If you can't pay for it, don't buy it.
There are still a lot of hidden costs lurking around the corner for teens: cellphones being the main one. It isn't the price of the phone; companies give out phones like candy. It's the price of the cellphone per month that hits people hard.
While a majority of students knew how much their cellphones cost per month, they probably don't realize that this is for a single line in a family plan. If you had to pay for just yourself in an individual plan, it would be almost $90 a month for unlimited text and talk through Verizon, and if you have a smartphone, that's another $30 a month, which may not sound like much, but it adds up quickly and can hurt in your quest to save for college.
Once you are on track for saving money, you need to think about how you will pay for college.
"I think you shouldn't work too much while you're in high school; you'll be doing that the rest of your life so enjoy the time you have," said Kirsten Smith, a freshman at Niagara Univeristy. "But definitely save up some money because college is very expensive, especially if you're dorming. Saving before will relieve some of the stress of college."
Even if you combine your savings with your parents', it still may not be enough. The cost of college has increased by 538 percent over the past 30 years, according to the October issue of Time magazine.
Many students are banking on receiving scholarships, but there just aren't enough for everyone. So, many students turn to their last resort -- student loans.
Loans can be useful but they are getting many graduates into trouble. The average student has to pay about $27,300 in loans plus interest, according to Mark Kantrowitz of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com.
According to the Time article, the class of 2011 has more debt than any other class in history, and the 2012 graduates are expected to surpass it, with two-thirds of college students taking out loans.
Loans follow you for the rest of your life and can really hurt 20 years down the road when you are still paying for college, especially because it is becoming more difficult for college graduates to find jobs.
Time's report showed that 41 percent of the people who began repayment on their loans in 2005 were late on their loans or had stopped paying them within five years. In 2008, only .04 percent of people who filed for bankruptcy due to student loans had their tuition fees dissolved.
You simply have to be a smart consumer when comparing the prices of colleges. Some private schools have endowments, and you can get grants to help take away from the steep prices.
This could be a wake-up call for many teens. However, it is never to late to begin learning about the value of items and the importance of saving money. Both are skills that you use throughout your life.
For more information relating to teens and their finances, check out: suzeorman.com and daveramsey.com, both of which have tips and more links for students.
Alissa Roy is a junior at Springville-Griffith Institute. | <urn:uuid:8bd91ce0-fe97-4485-8992-0f949cfa04ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111208/LIFE04/312089950/1306 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976324 | 1,126 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Apple just did something unprecedented: It released the names of all 150+ of its suppliers after several news stories — including a damning report from Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life — painted an unflattering picture of how the company’s suppliers treat their workers.
Why is this a big deal? The fact that nobody knew who Apple’s suppliers were meant two things:
First, it limited Apple’s bad PR to the few suppliers people knew about, like Foxconn. Apple did publish reports on internal audits, but the fact that its suppliers were kept secret meant the press couldn’t follow up with their own investigations. It’s almost certain that Apple will face increased scrutiny if stories of worker suicides and other labor issues start surfacing about other factories where Apple parts are made.
Cupertino was also extremely protective of this information because the press keeps a close eye on each factory for hints about future products like the rumored iPad 3. Now every order for a camera part or piece of touchscreen glass will be combed over for clues about Apple’s intentions.
The list comes as part of Apple’s Supplier Responsibility progress report for 2012, in which the company discloses it conducted 229 audits throughout its supply chain in 2011 — an 80% increase from the year before.
One of the most disturbing allegations from the This American Life segment was that Apple’s suppliers were using underaged labor. Apple eventually confirmed they did find some instances of underaged labor amounting to six active and 13 past incidents in five different facilities. | <urn:uuid:00013213-a5af-4800-a4c1-afe72de362a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techland.time.com/2012/01/13/apple-reveals-list-of-suppliers-for-the-first-time/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961533 | 320 | 1.84375 | 2 |
After Indian athletes threatened, and then ruled out, a boycott of the London Olympics, the Indian government has raised the issue of Dow Chemical's sponsorship of the event with organizers, the Economic Times reports.
Many Indians continue to blame Dow Chemical for the delayed cleanup of the site of the Bhopal gas disaster, and the low compensation paid to victims, following the company's acquisition of Union Carbide.
"We have written a letter to the IOA (Indian Olympic Association), asking them to take up the matter with the organisers of the London Olympics," a spokesman for India's sports ministry told Reuters.
Prior to its sale to Dow, Union Carbide settled its liabilities for the gas leak at its Bhopal pesticide factory with the Indian government, paying $470 million to victims in 1989.
The Indian government last year demanded more than $1 billion additional compensation for the victims of the gas leak from Dow Chemical, the paper said.
Activists say 25,000 people died in the immediate aftermath of the accident and in ensuing years, and about 100,000 people who were exposed to the gas continue to suffer today from ailments that range from cancer, blindness to birth defects. | <urn:uuid:51edaf19-17f3-4008-91e3-a159fd29fb89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/the-rice-bowl/india-protest-dow-olympic-sponsorship | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947965 | 239 | 2.328125 | 2 |
New trojan masquerades as Microsoft enforcement-ware
Threatens to destroy everything and sue the remains
Malware-makers have created a strain of ransomware Trojan which masquerades as a Microsoft utility.
The Ransom-AN Trojan claims that a user's Windows machine is running an unlicensed copy of Windows and threatens to cripple the victim's computer unless marks pay €100 to obtain an unlock code, which can be purchased via credit card via a scam website. The malware attempts to spook intended victims with entirely bogus claims that a criminal prosecution will be launched unless payment is received within 48 hours. In addition, the Trojan says that all data and applications on targeted systems will be "permanently lost".
The malware, which targets German-speaking users (as illustrated by a screenshot here), is being distributed via spam and P2P downloads. Panda Software, the Spanish net security firm which detected the threat, warned that the Trojan is difficult to remove manually.
"These types of Trojans are very dangerous because once they infect the computer it is extremely difficult to remove them manually, forcing users to pay the ransom or reformat their devices," said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs. "In addition, because Ransom.AN appears to come from Microsoft and threatens actions from authorities, many users believe what the Trojan says and make the payment out of fear."
More details on Ransom-AN, including an unlock code, useful in cases where users are unlucky enough to become infected, can be found in a blog post by Panda here.
Previous ransomware strains have encrypted files in a bid to force users into paying for getting infected. The tactics used by Ransom-AN Trojan are a more aggressive extension of the basic scam, using threats of prosecution and outwardly convincing screenshots supposedly from Microsoft to peddle the ruse. ® | <urn:uuid:aa48dc56-0dd8-4f0c-b733-1897b1c33b2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/07/ms_ruse_ransomware_trojan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941484 | 378 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Planning permission is not always required for particular building works or uses of land/buildings. You can apply for a development certificate if you need formal confirmation that a development is lawful.
A lawful development certificate is a legal document which states one of the following:
- that something you intend to adapt or build does not need planning permission
- that an existing building does not need planning permission
- that a change of use for an existing building or land does not need planning permission
- that a building or other works have existed for so long that planning permission is no longer required.
- that a use of a building or land has existed for so long that planning permission is no longer necessary.
You can apply to the council to check if the law will allow a certificate to be issued.There are two types of lawful development certificate (LDC):
- a proposed use or development
- for an existing use, operation or activity in breach of a planning | <urn:uuid:1c60d735-fd55-4b99-b84b-f1302b0aa6ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ealing.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=200342&documentID=659 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923675 | 195 | 1.78125 | 2 |
By Dow Jones Business News, February 21, 2013, 10:35:00 AM EDT
U.S. January Existing-Home Sales Rise 0.4%
WASHINGTON -- Sales of previously owned homes grew slightly last month, but the supply of homes for sale contracted to
the lowest level in more than 13 years, a sign of tightening conditions in a recovering housing market.
Existing-home sales increased 0.4% from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million, the
National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Sales were 9.1% above the same month a year earlier.
As the housing market turns the corner from the depths of the housing bust and fewer foreclosures are put up for sale,
the number of homes on the market continues to fall.
The inventory of previously owned homes listed for sale at the end of January contracted to 1.74 million, the smallest
supply since December 1999. That represented a 4.2-month supply at the current sales pace, the lowest level since April
2005. It took 71 days, on average, for homes to be sold in January, compared with 99 days last year, the Realtors group
Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist, said the thin supply of homes on the market can be relieved by increased
construction activity. But he argued that homebuilders are being hampered by Washington regulations that constrain
lending for building projects.
The monthly results were stronger than analysts' forecasts. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast
sales would fall by 1% from the originally reported December figure to a pace of 4.89 million.
The previous month's figures were revised downward to a reading of 4.90 million from an originally reported pace of
The median price of homes sold in January was $173,600, up 12.3% from $154,600 a year earlier. Compared with a month
earlier, sales grew in three out of four U.S. regions. They grew by 4.8% in the Northeast, 3.6% in the Midwest, and 1%
in the South, but fell 5.7% in the West.
The housing market helped pull the economy into the recession that started in December 2007, and was a drag on the
early part of the recovery. However, it has contributed to the economy for the past seven quarters, adding 0.36
percentage point to overall economic activity in the fourth quarter of last year -- a period in which the economy shrank
Many economists believe housing will be one of the main drivers of the economy this year as builders gradually ramp up
construction, which has been well below historical levels. Last year, builders started construction on about 780,000
homes, the highest since about 906,000 in 2008.
While foreclosures are still high, the share of delinquent mortgages has been declining over the past three years.
Lenders and other mortgage companies are also facing new processing requirements for foreclosures in some states, such
as California, that have led to further declines in foreclosed-property listings.
Still, foreclosures remain a drag on the market in many parts of the country. Plus, qualification standards for
mortgage loans remain tough and many potential buyers have too little home-equity to sell their current home and buy
-Nick Timiraos contributed to this report
-Write to Alan Zibel at email@example.com and Sarah Portlock at sarah. firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. | <urn:uuid:298c5ce3-7a0c-4a10-994b-523a84c74a57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nasdaq.com/article/us-january-existing-home-sales-rise-04-20130221-00969 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965232 | 792 | 1.546875 | 2 |
A modern dictionary of Catholic terms, both common and obscure. Find accurate definitions of words and phrases.
The embroidered or painted symbols or images on the front and back of the chasuble and around the opening of the cope. They were perhaps originally used to cover the seams, and though not essential, they became a prominent part of these liturgical vestments. (Etym. Latin aurum, gold + Phrygian.)
All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. | <urn:uuid:d05f6a31-4051-4fbc-a321-e386a4a8f2ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35324 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952398 | 115 | 2.390625 | 2 |
By Jerry Posner
More and more, I’m reading articles and scientific studies linking “happiness” to “gratitude.” This is pretty much a no-brainer: the more gratitude and thankfulness I feel, the happier I become. The more appreciation I express to others, the more happiness I spread. I don’t think we need too much research here – seems like obvious common sense to me.
But “common sense” without practice isn’t very practical … or powerful!
“Practicing” strongly suggests “doing something” – not just once or twice, but repeatedly. Eventually making skills or habits — habits of behavior, habits of thinking, habits of feeling, interpretation, perception, etc.
You’ve heard the cliche “practice makes perfect.” Well, practice doesn’t make perfect … practice makes habits! Repeatedly practice something the “wrong” way, and you get very good at doing something wrong! For example, you might know some folks who are absolute masters of negative thinking … self-pity … self-sabotage …
So, with regard to gratitude, what to practice?
FEELING GRATEFUL for the good things, the love, the laughs, the lessons, the people, the opportunities, the help, the stuff, the miracles, the food, the music, the technology, etc.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE for the good things, the love, the laughs, the lessons, the people, the opportunities, the help, the stuff, the miracles, the food, the music, the technology, etc.
How do you FEEL when you feel grateful?
Happy? Peaceful? Blessed? Centered? Generous? Secure? Calm?
Thinking and expressing thankful thoughts, and amplifying feelings of gratitude, can reduce stress … improve relationships … and minimize pettiness! Beginning a dinner or business meeting by going around the table and having everyone mention something they’re grateful for or happy about, can have significant positive impact.
You can’t lose with gratitude!
Sincerely thank your customers, coworkers, friends, and family. Thank your vendors, suppliers, supporters and fans! Be generous with your gratitude. Do it today. Do it all year round!
Write yourself some gratitude-oriented “focus phrases” (reminders) on cards and sticky-notes, and put them where you’ll see them every day. We NEED reminders! We’re human. We forget! We get distracted!
I CHOOSE TO EXPRESS GRATITUDE SINCERELY, GENEROUSLY AND LIBERALLY.
I EASILY AND REGULARLY GIVE THANKS.
I FEEL GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF MY GIFTS AND BLESSINGS.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE MAKES ME FEEL GOOD — SO I DO IT!
Here’s a fun and potentially enlightening “grati-tool” –- make a list of 10 people who have helped you get to where you are right now — 10 people you’re grateful for. 10 people who helped you succeed, taught you important lessons, loved you.
We might be reminded of that kind childhood neighbor, or high school guidance counselor whose caring changed the course of our life. When we remember how kind and generous people have been in our lives, we might be inspired to pass it on, or “pay it forward.” We might even reclaim some memories of our personal history that we’d forgotten. And … it just might make us feel happier! Revisit your list from time to time (weekly, perhaps), and keep adding to it.
So, thank the people! Show some appreciation for them. Send thank-you notes. Tell the people you love, that you love them. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
Another way to practice the practical power of gratitude is a one-minute stress-buster — THE GRATITUDE BREAK. First, select something specific about your life that you are truly, deeply thankful for (person, condition, or thing). Something or someone that you feel genuinely happy about. Then … close your eyes (not while you’re driving, please) and spend just one minute thinking about, and vividly imagining (if you can), that person, condition or thing. FEEL the gratitude and happiness as you visualize!
Try a gratitude break once a day, and see what happens! Twice a day would be an interesting experiment.
A favorite “grati-tool” that's been getting a huge amount of press is THE GRATITUDE JOURNAL (a.k.a. “Five Good Things”). Here’s what to do: every day (that would be DAILY), write down five things you are grateful for. They can be deep … shallow … serious … funny … spiritual … material. Just list five things you’re grateful for on paper or computer. Not in your head. Write them down.
Your mileage may vary! People who write a daily gratitude journal often report improved relationships, less stress, more patience, better decision making, feeling more secure … and more happiness!
During challenging times, regular focus on gratitude can restore much needed balance. Not to deny that there might be some adversity or challenges, but to remember that there are wonderful things and opportunities available as well.
Practice the practical power of gratitude, and make every day, a day of thanks-giving.
So many benefits … so small a cost!
And, thank YOU for reading my article! I appreciate it! | <urn:uuid:09332da5-b4c4-437e-b6ba-7a91e24173b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goodforyounetwork.com/blogs/good-for-you-guest/13-practicing-the-practical-power-of-gratitude | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902087 | 1,201 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Back in 1955, Providence High School (PHS) opened its doors to 81 eager female students. Even in its first few years, PHS was growing and changing in small but significant ways to meet the emerging needs of students. By 1960, the Board of Admissions and Relations of the University of California granted accreditation to PHS and the school has enjoyed continuous accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
In 1974, the school included boys in its education mission after discussions with the Archdiocese. Several large construction projects were completed to expand the school’s capacity to accommodate the new students.
In the 1980s, enrollment declined steadily as the number of Catholic schools grew in the area. By 1988, the Sisters of Providence decided to close the school, but a group of determined parents banded together with the school’s principal to stop the closing and improve enrollment. Some of the school’s current admissions programs are still in place today due to the success it had in 1988 and ever since in recruiting new students. It even laid the groundwork for the school’s current focus programs.
The 1990s were a time of continued growth for PHS, which celebrated the school’s recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the United States Department of Education.
In 2000, PHS held a groundbreaking ceremony for the planned student activity center and construction of the new facility, featuring a gym, conference room, snack shop, weight room and exercise room that opened in stages between 2001 and 2002. Shortly after, a new lunch/quad area was unveiled.
This year PHS was named a 2011 CIF Champion for Character School, and we saw the opening of our new science center for biology, physics and chemistry, a growing area of study here.
PHS has risen to every occasion and opportunity presented in the last 50+ years, and will continue to grow to meet the needs of its student community. | <urn:uuid:49a37523-f366-4916-83e6-ea89ec6f6d2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.providencehigh.org/OnlineServices/Pages/Take-A-Tour.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981386 | 396 | 1.515625 | 2 |
“Most of the corn is dried up. In some cases, some of the plants have died, like on hillsides. Most of the corn has done all it is going to do,” said Fourqurean. “For the most part, it’s a done deal.”
AccuWeather Forecaster Ken Reeves said that the month of July was especially arid for the area. “There has only been one-fifth of the normal precipitation for last month. This time of year, plants, crops and trees are in full growth and draw additional moisture from the ground contributing to even drier conditions.”
Fourqurean said that some areas of the county have been spared by rains from the spotty thunderstorms that arise in the late afternoon. “Some places will have a fairly decent corn crop, but it all depends on location. We won’t see yields like we saw last year due to the amount of moisture we have. It could be the entire State of Kentucky that sees this.” He declined to speculate on the decline in crops this year compared to previous harvests. “We won’t know until the combines hit the fields.”
Though forecasters predict temperatures could hit the 100-degree mark this week, Reeves said, “Because temperatures have been so dry lately, temperatures have only been, until now about a half a degree above normal during the day, and below normal at night. These are classical signs of dry weather.”
Is rain in the forecast? Read The Cadiz Record and see. | <urn:uuid:ad451f52-124c-4be5-99c9-74058581eec1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cadizrecord.com/pages/full_story/push?article-July+was+arid+for+the+area-+now+it%E2%80%99s+just+hot-%20&id=14818260&instance=left_column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966196 | 330 | 2.203125 | 2 |
The House today sent President Barack Obama legislation that would temporarily extend three Patriot Act provisions set to expire this Sunday.
The chamber voted 315-97 to keep in place the Patriot Act’s “lone wolf,” business records and “roving wiretap” powers until Feb. 28, 2011. The Senate approved the bill by voice vote last night. Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law.
House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) said the quickly-approaching expiration date for the authorities left the House “no other choice” but to renew the powers without any modifications.
“Please understand members that this extension is not the final word on the Patriot Act,” Conyers said on the House floor.
Both the House and Senate had begun work on long-term renewals, but the bills contained major differences.
The Senate Patriot Act bill would reauthorize all of the authorities. The House version would renew the records and “roving wiretap” powers but not the “lone wolf” authority, which the government has never used. The bills also would include new oversight for the authorities.
The Senate bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee last October and is awaiting floor action. The House bill, which won Judiciary Committee approval last November, is also awaiting floor action.
Here is a summary of the provisions that are due to expire:
- Lone wolf: Allows the government to track a target without any discernible affiliation to a foreign power, such as an international terrorist group. The provision applies only to non-U.S. persons. The government has never used it.
- Business records: Allows investigators to compel third parties, including financial services and travel and telephone companies, to provide them access to a suspect’s records without the suspect’s knowledge.
- Roving wiretaps: Allows the government to monitor phone lines or Internet accounts that a terrorism suspect may be using, regardless of whether others who are not suspects also regularly use them. The government must provide the FISA court with specific information showing the suspect is purposely switching means of communication to evade detection. | <urn:uuid:edb03356-0134-4351-9898-a2d80c1769fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/02/25/short-term-patriot-act-reauthorization-awaits-obamas-signature/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94671 | 444 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/32437
My Jack (poster)
The invention of lithography made possible printing in several brilliant colours and led to the foundation of many large poster-printing firms and the golden age of the British theatrical poster from the 1880s to the First War. The pictorial poster was much more striking for public display than the typographical poster, and outdoor advertising - the posters came in several sizes - became much more important. The poster for My Jack is like most theatrical posters of its kind in that it is for a touring company. The play by Landeck, a nautical melodrama which still survived as part of the Surrey theatre's repertoire was first performed there on September 9, 1889. | <urn:uuid:048a4717-22fa-4cdc-9b88-ef8e4b529c1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:3037?expert=subject%3A%22poster%22&exact=subject%3A%221890%22&f0=subject%3A%22Surrey+theatre%22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9662 | 167 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) doesn't expect Congress to move ahead with climate change legislation in the second Obama administration.
In his second inaugural address, President Obama promised to “respond” to the threat of climate change, saying the failure to do so would betray future generations.
"Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science," said the president, "but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms."
But President Obama shouldn’t expect any comprehensive legislation from Capitol Hill.
During his first two years on office, the then-Democratically-led House passed a cap and trade bill to reduce greenhouse gasses. The measure died in the Senate.
California Democrat Barbara Boxer doesn’t doubt the President will use his bully pulpit to push for action on climate change. But the chair of the Senate Public Works and Environment committee says don’t look for sweeping legislation to reduce greenhouse gases. | <urn:uuid:e6faeab9-3f66-4251-b4e3-cdaee506c174> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scpr.org/blogs/politics/tagged/president-obama_1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935097 | 210 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Barbara Baird is a freelance writer in outdoor and travel markets. A former small-town newspaper editor and reporter, she constantly hunts for news headlines you need to read. Barbara also publishes Women’s Outdoor News online and pens columns for the National Wild Turkey Federation and Shooting Sports USA. Hailing from the Ozarks of Missouri, this avid hunter is now mentoring the second generation of hunters - her own little bevy of Realtree-wearing grandchildren.
Kansas Kills Crossbows for Archery Season
In Kansas, the state legislature’s Senate committee voted 5-4 to table a bill that would have allowed crossbow hunting during archery season. Intended to aid in controlling the state’s burgeoning deer population, opening the bow season for crossbow users seemed to make sense, and of course, in the eyes of the legislature – cents!
According to an article in the Topeka Capital-Journal, “Opponents noted that the wildlife agency already has the authority to write regulations to manage the deer herd and said crossbow hunters would be more interested in taking trophy bucks than does, which has little impact on overall numbers.”
Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook stated that not only would crossbow hunters only be interested in trophy bucks, but that, “This is just giving people the ability to hunt in a season in a way they haven’t before. It's going to create lot of animosity. Bowhunters spend a lot of time training, and learning their skills. Crossbow hunters just do not have to have the same threshold. There’s lot more competition in bowhunting. It's a sport.”
It’s a sport? A sport?
Where I stand, hunting is a tradition. Archery is a sport.
The state’s Wildlife and Parks Department is opposed to the bill, because it prefers to manage the wildlife populations by wildlife codes, not by legislation. Supposedly, the department is looking at whether to allow crossbow hunting during archery season. For the record, Kansas allows exceptions and disabled persons may hunt with crossbows or locking draws, as long as they have special permits.
What do you think? Would you like to see crossbows allowed during archery season in your state? Or are they already? | <urn:uuid:2776af1f-71f8-4104-93f1-3aa60f4437bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.realtree.com/hunting/realtree-hunting-blogs/realtree-outdoor-news/kansas-kills-crossbows-for-archery-season | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957376 | 475 | 1.671875 | 2 |
What is Anne Carson doing on The L Word?
Anyone who watched the debut of The L Word, Showtime's highly anticipated drama about lesbians in Los Angeles, witnessed an oddly erotic exchange about a book. The book wasn't The Diary of Anaïs Nin, either. It was a scholarly work about ancient Greece called Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson, a middle-aged Canadian poet. Just hearing Carson's name makes Jenny, the show's sole straight heroine, blush with feeling. "I think those books practically changed my life," she tells Marina, a chic restaurateur, as the camera lingers on her wet lips. Minutes later, she and Marina are making out in the bathroom, unbeknownst to Jenny's boyfriend.
In the past five years, Anne Carson has somehow become a culture hero—the "anti-bourgeois" variety of icon that, as Susan Sontag once noted, appeals by being "repetitive, obsessive, and impolite." That Carson is serving as a catalyst for an L Word moment of erotic connection—and as a signpost for the audience the show plainly expects to draw—is not, for those who have been following her career, entirely surprising. But what vision of love and relationships is an invocation of Anne Carson supposed to telegraph, exactly—and how did it come to be noteworthy enough for television?
Once upon a time, Anne Carson was an obscure academic with a small cult following. Eros the Bittersweet, the quirky academic treatise that marked her debut, was published by Princeton University Press in 1986. It is a remarkable piece of writing: a wittily epigrammatic analysis of the role of Eros in Greek culture. Carson marshals examples from Sappho, Plato, and lesser-known Greek poets, deftly explicating their vision of erotic love as temporary, contingent, and characterized by a thrilling sensation of lack. (As Emily Dickinson pithily put it, centuries later, "So I found / that hunger was a way/ of persons outside windows/ that entering takes away.") Well-received among classicists, Eros quickly percolated into the living rooms of literary essayists—perhaps in part because it offers a plausible and pleasingly intellectual framework for a post-marriage society. Carson was singled out as a bracingly original writer by figures like Harold Bloom, Susan Sontag, and Annie Dillard.
Then, in the mid-'90s, Carson (in her 40s) published two utterly assured books of poetry in quick succession—Plainwater and Glass, Irony and God—and arrived like Athena full-born on the scene of English-language poetry, intriguing readers with her riffs on television and historical esoterica. Bloom chose one of her poems for an anthology and suggested that other poets plead for a "transfusion" of her wit. The poem, "The Life of Towns," uses fragments to explore "the illusion that things hold together somehow." It is characteristically gnomic—and oddly punctuated—but also characteristically ironic in style. (Take life in the Town of Luck: "Digging a hole./ To bury his child alive./ So that he could buy food for his aged mother./ One day./ A man struck gold.") In short order, Carson was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur genius grant. With the publication in 1998 of Autobiography of Red, a novel in verse, she also won crossover recognition: The book—not, in fact, a memoir at all—sold approximately 20,000 copies, charming readers with its coming-of-age story of homosexual love between a red monster named Geryon and a modern-day teenager named Herakles. In 2000, at the age of 49, Carson was adoringly profiled in the New York Times Magazine.
It's not hard to see why. The subjects that preoccupy Carson—sexuality, irony, the media—are trendy ones. So is her stable of reference—Gertrude Stein, Sigmund Freud, Antonin Artaud—and her approach: postmodern juxtapositions of the old and the new ("TV is hardhearted, like Lenin"), oblique hints at dark intimacies ("Show me yours/ and I'll give you something good") and Sapphic themes: She's not a lesbian, but Autobiography of Red sympathetically imagines the loneliness of having to cloak one's identity. (If Not, Winter, her most recent book, is a translation of Sappho's poems and fragments.) Predictably, all the attention inspired eye-rolling and worse among the more traditional academics and critics. In 2001, an essay in a Canadian magazine argued that her work must be a fraud, a kind of literary Sokal Hoax—the sententious concoctions of a writer intent on an exposé of excruciatingly allusive postmodern work. In 2002, when Carson won England's T.S. Eliot Prize for The Beauty of the Husband, a British critic, Robert Potts, set off a nationwide debate, attacking Carson in the Guardian as a tuneless mountebank whose book was merely a "self-pitying account of marital unhappiness."
This backlash is a shame. Carson certainly isn't a traditional lyric poet, and plenty of her work misses its mark. But at its finest—as in "The Glass Essay" and sections of Plainwater and Autobiography of Red, among others—it is much more daring and austere, even primitive, than any poetry merely propped up by postmodernist theory. It casts a cold eye on the wrinkled cloth of the human soul (a word she dares to use) and discerns a range of human maneuvers most of us never glimpse. It has a transparency whose levels of complexity are hard to parse.
On the one hand, here is a poet who seems to be an advocate of baring all. The manner is exposure and raw disclosure; the tone is clipped, detached, knowing: "When Law left me I felt so bad I would die./ This is not uncommon," she writes in "The Glass Essay." (Law is her lover's name.) On the other hand, her impulse to disclose is less a confessional outpouring than an icily penetrating inquiry into the impasse between the mind and the animal life of the body that encloses it: "Everything I know about love and its necessities/ I learned in that one moment/ when I found myself/ thrusting my little burning red backside like a baboon/ at a man who no longer cherished me." What is notable about these lines is the utter absence of complaint. They're not about a search for sympathy or solace. They're inviting us to face up to our human dilemma: "There was no area of my mind/ not appalled by this action/ no part of my body/ that could have done otherwise," Carson continues.
Given this impasse, Carson's impulse is to clear away mental space and solitude. Ultimately, the subject of "The Glass Essay" is this: Presented with the option to love, to be human, to be transfigured by love, it is best to walk away. In a sense, it's an alienating stance, yet invigorating because it goes against the grain of a culture that emphasizes emotional fulfillment as the route to individual happiness (and therapeutic cures for every existential woe). But Carson is fully aware that desire is addictive and that subjection is (literally) the most compelling state of mind, driving us toward something we can't grasp. It is—no surprise—an intellectual model as well as an erotic one. In her most autobiographical poems, one gradually realizes, Carson is interested in her own erotic life primarily as a way of accessing the sibylline recesses of the human mind— "The Glass Essay" is as much a reflection on the Romantic anger of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights as it is on the poet's loss. In the end, Carson, like the finest literary self-explicators, uses herself as a way explaining of the world, rather than vice versa. Hers is a stringent ethic of self-control as a means of comprehension.
This stringency is what's funny about The L Word's embrace of Carson. The show presumably alludes to her for two reasons. The first is a kind of literary pun. Eros the Bittersweet opens with an analysis of Sappho, the poet-mother of lesbians who seems to have charmed slews of important philosophers and poets with her impassioned poetry. Sappho, having reportedly slept her way through many men as well as women, fits to a tee the requirements of a show that has chosen to eschew representations of "butchy dykes" for "lipstick lesbians" living in a highly cultured urban niche. The second reason involves a misreading of Carson's primary subject. Her intensely pitched intimacies can make it seem that she is essentially a representative of boundary-challenging alternatives to domesticity—and a crusader for the right of women to be eccentric. Because Carson writes a lot about love, but not much about who's doing the fair share of dishwashing, she's become a kind of post-Plath for an age that's left the haunted housewife paradigm behind.
In this sense, The L Word mistakes Carson's expansive, anthropological interest in desire for its own self-dramatizing, gender-bending-as-identity-exploration, anti-commitment tack. (Jenny, the young woman whose life Carson "practically changed," justifies her infidelities as the natural outgrowth of being "interesting" and a "writer.") The mistake is easy to make: The energy of Carson's writing makes it look heroic that her characters are usually all alone in the end. But that's not its point. She may write about extremity, but she's not trying to justify to man the ways of alienated, self-regarding young women. Fortunately, unlike Jenny, Carson understands that the version of our life in which our happiness is more important than anyone else's is a fraudulent one.
Meghan O'Rourke is Slate's culture critic and an advisory editor. She was previously an editor at The New Yorker. The Long Goodbye, a memoir about her mother's death, is now out in paperback.
Illustration by Charlie Powell; still from The L Word by Carole Segal © Showtime. | <urn:uuid:7452b8f0-d030-4c8d-a6f2-5ad3e9c76ad0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2004/02/hermetic_hotties.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959337 | 2,159 | 1.71875 | 2 |
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
President Obama has already checked off one item on his State of the Union list of priorities, and that's providing an online scorecard for prospective college students. That scorecard is aimed at helping students figure out how much the schools they want to attend will actually cost.
The Department of Education launched the scorecard yesterday on its website. That information is something many college applicants want as they face rising tuition and the potentially stifling debt that goes along with it.
For more on the challenges the administration hopes this tool will combat, we turn to Goldie Blumenstyk. She's senior writer with the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Thank you very much for joining us.
GOLDIE BLUMENSTYK: Oh, glad to be here.
MONTAGNE: Well, first of all, this is not a new idea. President Obama proposed the college scorecard last year. Explain what it is exactly.
BLUMENSTYK: It's this interactive tool and what it does is it draws a lot of data from a very, very arcane data set that the Education Department runs. This is designed to be a little bit more user-friendly and helps people identify colleges either by name or by major and then look at the graduation rates, the net cost, and also the loan debt that they might have later on and what the monthly payment might be on that loan.
MONTAGNE: The Center for American Progress did a study with students using a draft scorecard. What did they find?
BLUMENSTYK: What they found was that some of the terms that the scorecard used weren't really very understandable to students. That report, I think, measured primarily traditional age students, which is not even the majority of students anymore. The scorecard uses the federal definition of a graduation rate, which is a six-year rate. Students who are coming right out of high school tend to think generally more of about a four-year graduation rate. So it's the standard measure that the Education Department and most everybody else in higher ed policy uses, but doesn't really measure the majority of students today.
MONTAGNE: What other issues do colleges(ph) have about a scorecard like this?
BLUMENSTYK: I think in general the colleges tend to be reluctant about having this kind of comparability because every college has a different mission and a different focus. Consumers like the accountability. They like the transparency, and in a lot of ways this kind of takes the transparency movement to a new level, which is helpful for students. Right now there's very little out there to help students compare these costs and get at some of the other issues.
MONTAGNE: There are websites, and publications for years have been putting out yearly rankings of different colleges - maybe the most famous, U.S. News and World Report's college ranking system. People actually look for that. So the federal government does what that is better than that or is different from that?
BLUMENSTYK: Well, in one respect the beauty of this new scorecard is that it can't be as easily gamed as many of those rankings are now. We've seen a lot of incidences recently where colleges are juicing their numbers by actually not reporting certain parts of their statistics, or recruiting more students to apply even though they know they'll never get in, just to make them appear more selective.
MONTAGNE: Right, which happened with the U.S. News and World Report...
BLUMENSTYK: Right. Or flat-out lying to U.S. News and World Report about their selectivity or about the grades of their students. This scorecard is based on sort of more objective data and in that respect it can't be as easily gamed as some of the other ones out there.
MONTAGNE: In the wake of some sort of series of horror stories about students getting stuck with degrees that are not worth much in the job market and have these huge crushing debts, there have been calls for the federal government to simplify the process for applying for aid and toward schools that serve low income students in particular. Are there other things the federal government is doing or can do to help with college affordability and usefulness?
BLUMENSTYK: Well, one thing that they have been doing is they've actually made some changes in the loan repayment systems with more income-based repayment systems. There are a lot of stories about crushing student debt. It's important to note that the average student loan debt is still only about $26,600. College leaders often talk about the cost of a car versus the cost of a college education. There's plenty of people in America who probably buy a car every year and have close to $26,000 in debt, and that's a car that will depreciate from the day you take it off a lot. Your college education hopefully will be of more value to you throughout your lifetime.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us.
BLUMENSTYK: Well, thank you very much.
MONTAGNE: Goldie Blumenstyk is a senior writer with at The Chronicle of Higher Education.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio. | <urn:uuid:6c964929-3933-40e2-bbcd-0b488933c3fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://app1.kuhf.org/print-articles/npr1360842370-Scorecard-Guides-Prospective-Students-With-College-Choices.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969455 | 1,139 | 2.203125 | 2 |
According to today’s headlines the Large Hadron Collider (not, as I believe the Times had it when it was switched on, the Large Hard-on Collider – and I apologise if it was not the Times, but rather some other quality paper) has created a Mini Big Bang. Aside from the obvious oxymoron, this is also not actually correct as when we read the article we find that the LHC has only allowed us to create the conditions a millionth of a second after the Big Bang, impressive as this is, rather than at the moment of the Big Bang itself.
This is not altogether surprising as one of the key things about the Big Bang is that as we theoretically run time backwards towards the big moment, all space and time are compressed into a singularity: a point of zero dimensions of infinite density and all our known laws of physics cease to operate, or rather cease to be predictable in any meaningful way because of the infinities in the equations. In other words we cannot understand the Big Bang, and thus even if the LHC were to create a mini Big Bang then we would still not be able to understand the maths. The whole question of what happened before the moment of the Big Bang is completely pointless, not just because according to many physicists time was created in the Big Bang and therefore there was no before, in the same way there is nothing north of the North Pole, but because we cannot know.
Also in today’s paper there is an account of unprovables in mathematics. It seems there are certain things that we are just not capable of knowing in any scientifically meaningful way. The correct scientific approach to this is to say, ‘We don’t know’, however the natural human response is to switch from physics to metaphysics and start pretending that we do, and many scientists are happy to do this and to pretend that the meta- is missing.
It was J.B.S. Haldane who said, ‘My own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose,’ and my own suspicion is that he was right. | <urn:uuid:880be286-0818-4ad3-b8f8-1b85c3cb2dd2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://my.telegraph.co.uk/lovealbatross/tag/metaphysics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975075 | 443 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Exit Poll Shows Latino Voters Go Big for Marriage Equality
BY Lucas Grindley
November 06 2012 9:24 PM ET
After President Obama announced his support for marriage equality in May, political pundits warned about its potentially negative effect on Latino voters. But exit polls should finally put that worry to rest.
ABC News reports that preliminary exit polls show Latino voters support states recognizing marriage equality by a wide margin, and they were actually more likely than other voters to back same-sex marriage.
The poll found that 59% of Latino voters backed marriage equality, compared to 48% of the general public. Polls of Latino voters conducted ahead of the election also found broad support for marriage equality, seeming to quickly dispel the notion that Latinos are more socially conservative on the issue than others.
The public at large is almost evenly split on whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to get legally married. About 48% of voters support it, according to exit polling, while 47% oppose.
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- Crime Police Seek Suspects Who Vandalized Chick-fil-A With Antigay Slurs June 19 2013 7:18 PM | <urn:uuid:42cdd1d8-b5ca-4788-960b-d139244d8fe7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2012/11/06/exit-poll-shows-latino-voters-go-big-marriage-equality | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909313 | 452 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
In the first half of the 20th century, the word universe was used to mean the whole spacetime continuum in which we exist, together with all the energy and matter within it. Attempts to understand the universe in this sense, on the largest possible scales, are made in cosmology, a science that has grown from physics and astronomy. During the second half of the 20th century, the development of observational cosmology, also called physical cosmology, led to a split in the meaning of the word universe, between observational cosmologists and theoretical cosmologists; where the former (usually) abandon the hope of observing the whole spacetime continuum, the latter retain this hope, attempting to find the most reasonable speculations for modelling the whole of spacetime, despite the extreme difficulty in imagining any empirical constraints on these speculations and the risk of declining into metaphysics.
The terms known universe, observable universe, or visible universe are often used to describe the part of the Universe that we can see or otherwise observe. Those who believe it is impossible to observe the whole continuum may use our universe, referring only to that knowable by human beings in particular.
Expansion and age, and the Big Bang theory
The most important result of cosmology, that the Universe is expanding, is derived from redshift observations and quantified by Hubble's Law. Extrapolating this expansion back in time, one approaches a gravitational singularity, a rather abstract mathematical concept, which may or may not correspond to reality. This gives rise to the Big Bang theory, the dominant model in cosmology today. The age of the Universe was estimated to be about 13.7 billion () years, with an uncertainty of 200 million years, according to NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe project (WMAP). However this is based on the assumption that the underlying model used for data analysis is correct. Other methods of estimating the age of the universe give different ages.
A fundamental aspect of the Big Bang can be seen today in the observation that the farther away from us galaxies are, the faster they move away from us. It can also be seen in the cosmic microwave background radiation which is the much-attenuated radiation that originated soon after the Big Bang. This background radiation is remarkably uniform in all directions, which cosmologists have attempted to explain by an initial period of rapid inflation following the Big Bang.
Size of Universe and observable universe
There is disagreement over whether the Universe is finite or infinite in spatial extent and volume.
However, the observable universe, consisting of all locations that could have affected us since the Big Bang given the finite speed of light, is certainly finite. The edge of the cosmic light horizon is 13.7 billion light years distant. The present distance (comoving distance) to the edge of the observable universe is larger, since the universe has been expanding; it is estimated to be about 78 billion light years (km). This would make the comoving volume, of the known universe, equal to cubic light years (assuming this region is perfectly spherical). The observable universe contains about stars, organized in about 10 billion galaxies, which themselves form clusters and superclusters. The number of galaxies may be even larger, based on the Hubble Deep Field observed with the Hubble Space Telescope.
Both popular and professional research articles in cosmology often use the term "Universe" when they really mean "observable universe". This is because unobservable physical phenomena are scientifically irrelevant; that is, they cannot affect any events that we can perceive, and therefore, it is argued, effectively do not exist. See also Causality (physics).
We live in the centre of the universe that we observe, in apparent contradiction to the Copernican principle which says that the Universe is more or less uniform and it has no distinguished centre. This is simply because light does not travel infinitely fast, and we make observations of the past. As we look further and further away, we see things from epochs (times) closer and closer to the limit of time=zero of the Big bang model. And since light travels at the same speed in any direction towards us, we live at the centre of our observable universe.
But some of the objects outside of the observable universe can, in principle, be observed indirectly. For example, it is theoretically possible to meet an observer located near the end of our observable universe, who in his past has observed some galaxies that left our observable universe because of expansion.
Shape of the Universe
An important open question of cosmology is the shape of the universe.
Firstly, whether or not the Universe is flat, i.e. whether the rules of Euclidean geometry are valid on the largest scales, is unknown. Currently, most cosmologists believe that the observable universe is (nearly) flat, with local wrinkles where massive objects distort spacetime, just as a lake is (nearly) flat. This opinion was strengthened by the latest data from WMAP, looking at "acoustic oscillations" in the cosmic background radiation temperature variations.
Secondly, whether or not the Universe is multiply connected, is unknown. The Universe has no spatial boundary according to the standard Big bang model, but nevertheless may be spatially finite. This can be understood using a two-dimensional analogy: the surface of a sphere has no edge, but nonetheless has a finite area (4πR2). It is a two-dimensional surface with constant curvature in a third dimension. A three-dimensional equivalent is the unbounded "spherical space" discovered by Bernhard Riemann, which has a finite volume (2π2R3). In it, all three dimensions are constantly curved in a fourth. (Other possibilities include a similar "elliptical space", and a "cylindrical space", where, in conflict with ordinary geometry, the two ends of the cylinder are joined together, but without bending the cylinder. These, also, are two-dimensional spaces with finite areas; innumerable others exist. However, the sphere has the unique and, perhaps, more aesthetically pleasing property that all points on it are geometrically similar.) If the universe is indeed unbounded yet spatially finite, as described, then traveling in a "straight" line, in any given direction, would theoretically cause one to eventually arrive back at the starting point after traveling a distance equal to the "circumference" of the universe (which is impossible to our current understanding of the Universe, as its size is much greater than the size of the observable universe).
Strictly speaking, we should call the stars and galaxies "views" of stars and galaxies, since it is possible that the Universe is multiply-connected and sufficiently small (and of an appropriate, perhaps complex, shape) that we can see once or several times around it in various, and perhaps all, directions. (Think of a house of mirrors .) If so, the actual number of physically distinct stars and galaxies would be smaller than currently accounted. Although this possibility has not been ruled out, the results of latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) research make this very unlikely.
Fate of the Universe
Depending on the average density of matter and energy in the Universe, it will either keep on expanding forever or it will be gravitationally slowed and will eventually collapse back on itself in a "big crunch". Currently the evidence suggests not only that there is insufficient mass/energy to cause a recollapse, but that the expansion of the universe seems to be accelerating and will accelerate for the whole of eternity (see accelerating universe). For a more detailed discussion of other theories, see the ultimate fate of the Universe.
There is some speculation that multiple universes exist in a higher-level multiverse (also known as a megaverse,) our Universe being one of those universes (lower case). For example, matter that falls into a black hole in our Universe could emerge as a "Big Bang," starting another universe. However, all such ideas are currently untestable and cannot be regarded as anything more than speculation.
Different words have been used throughout history to denote "all of space", including the equivalents in various languages of "heavens", "cosmos" and "world".
Although words like world and its equivalents in other languages now almost always refer to the planet Earth, they previously referred to everything that exists—see Copernicus, for example—and still sometimes do (as in "the whole wide world").
- Albert Einstein (1952). Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (Fifteenth Edition). ISBN 0-517-88441-0
- Richard Powell: An Atlas of the Universe, http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/index.html. A series of images at various scales, with explanations.
- Age of the Universe at Space.Com
- My So-Called Universe by Jim Holt, on various arguments for and against an infinite Universe and parallel universes.
- Parallel Universes by Max Tegmark.
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details | <urn:uuid:0e4e32a3-bea5-4953-a336-7c235e9a7de9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Observable_universe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934003 | 1,880 | 3.8125 | 4 |
Pope Benedict XVI has named six new cardinals as a "gesture of the universality of the Church" and "in the context of the New Evangelization."
The new members of the College of Cardinals, including one American — Vatican Archbishop James Harvey — will be appointed in an unexpected consistory, scheduled to take place Nov. 24.
Speaking extemporaneously Oct. 27 at the final session of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization, the Pope said the "little consistory" would "complete" a previous one held in February, at which 22 new cardinals were appointed. Many of those new cardinals hailed from Europe and Italy in particular. Ten were also cardinals of the Roman Curia.
The Holy Father said these six new cardinals do not come from Europe. This shows the Church is for "all peoples, speaks in every language," the Pope added. "It is always the Church of Pentecost, not the Church of one continent, but of the universal Church."
The Pope invited "everyone to pray for the newly elected, asking the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that they will always love with courage and dedication to Christ and his Church."
The new cardinals, whom the Holy Father announced at the end of his weekly general audience Oct. 25, are: Milwaukee native Archbishop James Harvey, prefect of the papal household (the Pope also said he plans to appoint Archbishop Harvey archpriest of the papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls); the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, His Beatitude Béchara Boutros Raï; Archbishop Baselios Cleemis (Isaac) Thottunkal, major archbishop of Trivandrum (Syro-Malankara rite), India; Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria; Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia; and Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila, Philippines.
Archbishop Harvey was born in Milwaukee in 1949 and ordained a priest by Pope Paul VI on June 29, 1975. He studied at the North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome before being trained as a Vatican diplomat at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and earning a doctorate in canon law. In 1998, he was named prefect of the papal household by Pope John Paul II, who later elevated him to the dignity of archbishop in 2003.
During his service in the papal household, Archbishop Harvey gained a reputation as a trusted and valued official, often seen at the Pope’s side on major occasions and responsible for arranging his audiences and other daily engagements.
Blessed John Paul II considered him one of his closest aides and would describe him as his "faithful collaborator in the Secretariat of State." And although he has spent 30 years as a Holy See official, he still keeps ties with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and will occasionally return there to preach.
Other New Cardinals
Patriarch Raï, 72, is a well-respected leader of Lebanon’s Christians who studied at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and worked in the Arabic section of Vatican Radio in the 1970s. Elected patriarch last year, he was praised for his organization of the Pope’s trip to Lebanon in September. He is seen as a unifying force among Middle-East Christians.
Cardinal-designate Thottunkal is the major archbishop of Trivandrum, India’s oldest Christian community. His appointment underlines the increasing importance the Pope attaches to India and its Christian rites. Speaking to Vatican Radio after his appointment, Cardinal-designate Thottunkal said he was only notified about the appointment the day before the announcement, but added it was "a great honor for the Church in India." At just 53, he will become the youngest member of the College of Cardinals.
Sixty-eight-year-old Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, has long been seen as deserving of a red beretta. Now that fellow Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze has turned 80, it’s also likely the Pope felt it important to have another voting cardinal from this leading African nation (only cardinals younger than 80 are permitted to vote in papal elections). Moreover, as Islamists continue to target Nigerian Catholics with weekly deadly attacks, his appointment will be seen as a sign of solidarity with the country’s suffering local Church.
Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, Colombia, 70, is known for standing up for the hostages of drug traffickers and for his work with the International Red Cross in Colombia. On his appointment as archbishop in 2010, he promised to focus on three priorities — "protecting marriage as the union between one man and one woman, saving innocent life in the womb and promoting peace in Colombia." Until his appointment, Columbia was lacking a cardinal of voting age, as three are now over 80.
Lastly, Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, 54, of Manila, Philippines, will be made a cardinal. Some have criticized him for showing support for the "Bologna School," which believes the Second Vatican Council represented a necessary break with Catholic Tradition and the beginning of a new Church more in tune with modernity. This is at odds with the Pope’s own view, which sees the Council as a hermeneutic of continuity and reform. Nevertheless, the Pope has shown trust in Archbishop Tagle and allowed him to take a leading role in the recent Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.
It is very unusual for a pope to call two consistories in the same year. The last time it occurred was in 1929, under Pope Pius XI. Pope John XXIII held two consistories within 12 months in the 1960s, but not in the same year (March 1960 and January 1961).
This will also be Pope Benedict’s fifth consistory, and with these appointments, he will have created 90 new cardinals. As of Nov. 24, the College of Cardinals will number 211 cardinals, of whom 120 will be eligible to vote in a conclave — in line with the limit of 120 set by Paul VI.
This means that of the cardinal electors nearly two-thirds have been created by Benedict XVI, making his own influence on the choice of his successor decisive. | <urn:uuid:986abd44-c0d9-47b5-a7ac-02b8e0af25e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/pope-benedicts-little-consistory/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976243 | 1,332 | 1.554688 | 2 |
While there are always advance warnings about the potential privacy risks of emerging technologies, it usually takes a “killer app” for people to take notice of the real dangers. For geotagging, that app is the rather aptly named creepy.
Photo geotagging — the embedding of geographical location information within digital photos — is becoming increasingly common as a side effect of regulation by the US Federal Communications Commission. By September 11, 2012, American mobile wireless service providers are required to provide precise location data to improve 911 emergency service. To meet this directive, more and more mobile phones sold in North America now have built-in GPS chips.
Often times, the embedding is automatic. If consumers take a picture with their GPS-enabled phone and haven’t specifically disabled geotagging, the coordinates where the photograph was taken become a digital record contained within the picture file. If enough of these location-tagged photographs are taken and uploaded to on-line sharing services, the aggregated GPS information can indicate a pattern of behaviour. If your picture gallery also contains a self-portrait, it becomes possible for strangers to track you down in person.
Creepy can harvest data from a dozen of the most popular photo hosts, including flickr, twitpic and yfrog, then illustrate any found location data with Google Maps. The result is a visual cluster of your usual whereabouts: your favourite park, your place of employment, or your home.
Have you checked your mobile’s camera settings for mention of geotagging or EXIF data embedding? If not, now is a good time to familiarize yourself with the configuration screen. Consider turning those “features” off, unless you have reason to do otherwise. | <urn:uuid:6eefe003-1805-4215-8ca8-9691fad38d3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.priv.gc.ca/index.php/2011/03/09/a-creepy-app/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928886 | 355 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Nelson-Denny Test FAQ
What is the Nelson-Denny reading test?
The Nelson-Denny reading test is a standardized reading test that measures the reading ability of high school and college students. The Nelson-Denny includes two parts: Vocabulary and comprehension. The first part of the test, vocabulary, is made up of 80-100 multiple-choice items, each with five response options. The time allowed for this part of the exam is 15 minutes. The second part, comprehension, requires students to read 5-8 passages and to respond to 36-38 multiple-choice questions based on the content of those passages. The time allowed for this part of the exam is 20 minutes.
How is the test scored?
The final score on the Nelson-Denny is made up of the total vocabulary questions answered correctly and double the amount of comprehension questions answered correctly. This means that the comprehension part of the exam is worth twice more than the Vocabulary part. After the two scores are added together, the score is then converted into a grade-level equivalent. Sample test scores might look like: 9.8, 11.2, 12.8, etc.
What do the test results mean?
If a student receives a final score of 9.8 this means that the student's reading ability is between the 9th and 10th grade reading level. The nine refers to 9th grade and the eight refers to 8th month of that year. Since many Nursing textbooks are written at the 16th grade reading level, students with Nelson-Denny reading scores below the 12th grade reading level might find the textbook too difficult to comprehend.
How do I obtain my test results?
The English department, located in Siena Hall room 103, will have your results 48-72 hours after you have taken the exam. Call Trisha O'Neill at ext. 6272 to get your test results.
What happens if I do not pass the Nelson-Denny Reading Test?
If you do not pass the exam, you must register for either ENG 090 or ENG 101. Your advisor will inform you as to which class you will have to take.
Can I retake the test if I don't pass?
No, you cannot retake the exam. Therefore, it is important that you are well rested and prepared on the date of the exam. If you do not feel well on the day of the test, take the exam on another day. Check the schedule for the upcoming test dates on our website.
How do I prepare for the Nelson-Denny reading test?
How does the Division of Nursing use the Nelson-Denny results?
The Division of Nursing uses the N-D results for guidance in placement in both science and nursing courses. Students must have minimum of a 12th grade N-D to take certain science courses and all nursing courses. In order to be admitted to the nursing dual degree program, students must have a minimum of a 14th grade N-D. Please refer to the Molloy College catalog for specific criteria to a particular course or program. | <urn:uuid:606da49f-ffca-4ab5-a9e4-803bbddda177> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.molloy.edu/admissions-and-aid/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/freshman-applicants/admissions-requirements/nelson-denny-test-faq | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943862 | 634 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Unstone (recorded in the Domesday Book as Onestune - originally called Unston until 1908 when the 'e' was added is even now pronounced with a silent 'e') is a small village in the north east of Derbyshire, that lies between Dronfield and Chesterfield and close to the hamlets of Apperknowle, Summerley, Hundall and West Handley. Originally, Unstone developed mainly as a commuter area for workers at Dronfield's numerous (now closed) coal mines.
The railway a former mineral line used to carry coal from the Unstone mines. Unstone railway station closed to passengers in 1951, finally closing for goods services in 1961. The line is now a nature reserve and forms part of the Unstone, Frith Wood and Summerley walk.
Through Unstone runs the River Drone and the Midland Main Line railway, although most through traffic circumvents the village fortunately via the Dronfield By-pass.
Unstone today is a very different area to that of its mining era. There is little in the way of employment in the village, the majority of the resident working population look to either Sheffield or Chesterfield for employment opportunities. | <urn:uuid:9217def4-f882-4141-9883-3b9d1d00a729> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dronfieldonline.co.uk/unstone-c300.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966091 | 247 | 2.375 | 2 |
July 22, 2011
In a July 19 op-ed published in the Opinion section of the Financial Times, Harvard Law School Professor Hal Scott reflects on the past, present, and future of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on the anniversary of its passage into law.
Scott asserts that the act has not been effective in providing solutions for the causes of the financial crisis, arguing that, in the long term, the act will have a negative effect on the competitiveness of U.S. institutions in international markets.
Scott is the director of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, which in May 2009 released a comprehensive report entitled “The Global Financial Crisis: A Plan for Regulatory Reform.” He is also co-chair of the Council on Global Financial Regulation and director of the Program on International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School. His books include the law school textbook “International Finance: Transactions, Policy and Regulation” (Foundation Press, 17th ed., 2010); and “The Global Financial Crisis” (Foundation Press, 2009).
Little to celebrate on Dodd-Frank’s birthday
by Hal Scott
America’s Dodd-Frank act is one year old on Thursday. The act made some useful corrections in the regulation of American financial markets, but it has failed to respond effectively to the root causes of the financial crisis and its impact on the global financial system. In the short term, it has hindered economic recovery. Worse, in the longer term, it has actually made future crises more likely, while potentially damaging the international competitiveness of America’s financial institutions.
The crisis resulted from a housing bubble fuelled by loose monetary policy and excessive risky lending by over leveraged banks, encouraged by pro-housing financial regulation. Yet Dodd-Frank did not rectify the low underwriting standards of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and failed to reverse the low levels of capital that Basel has required banks to hold for mortgages. Its creation of a Financial Stability Oversight Council to monitor systemic risk – a ten-headed hydra of largely independent agencies – will not be effective. ... Read the full article on FT.com (subscription required) » | <urn:uuid:d9f707a2-7730-4e88-9c5a-f86a7d9f864e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2011/07/22_scott-in-ft-little-to-celebrate-dodd-frank.html | 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 | 0.938318 | 443 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Are Flavored Cigarettes Aimed at Kids?
Are Flavored Cigarettes Aimed at Kids?
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 13, 2012
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from Jason Healy, President of blu Cigs:
Flavored cigarettes and to a lesser extent, electronic cigarettes, are a topic of much debate, so I'd like to examine both sides of the argument and add some more perspective to the discussion.
First, a question for each side - slightly tongue in cheek, but pertinent to the discussion nonetheless. At what age does one cease liking flavors? It may sound silly but I'll ask again. At what point does one stop liking chocolate, mint, strawberry or bubble gum? The obvious answer to the question is, never (in most cases) does one cease liking flavors. But more important than the question is the answer, which is core to the solution, and the main argument against anti-smoking groups' claims.
Let's remove cigarettes from the discussion for the moment, and place the same scrutiny on all products intended for adult consumption. As an adult consumer myself, let's take a look at alcohol. Alcohol is not intended for children and has similar restrictions to cigarettes when it comes to sales and advertising. If I place the same scrutiny on alcohol manufacturers that anti-smoking groups place on cigarette companies, then Samuel Adams and Smirnoff are the most blatant examples of companies attempting to attract children to products intended for adults. Let's be clear – I am NOT saying these companies are attempting to market their products to children. However, if we are simply attacking marketers of adult products based on their use of flavors, then the same must hold true for Samuel Adams and Smirnoff - with products infused with flavors like orange, blueberry, marshmallow, cinnamon, chocolate and strawberry. Aren't these also the same flavors available in candy bars, breakfast cereals and other products intended for mostly children, and marketed as such? Now I know many out there will say: yes, alcohol companies are also guilty of the same tactics. I disagree, but lets assume for a moment they are correct. Are we then saying that companies like K-Y are blatantly marketing to kids as well? They offer their jelly in similar flavors like chocolate and strawberry.
The point I am trying to make is that the use of flavors is not an attempt to attract children. Flavors are way of life from cradle to the grave. So if flavors are not the magic 'child' magnet, what leg do anti-smoking groups have to stand on? They'll continue to use flavors as their big 'ah-ha moment' against cigarette companies because it's 'easy' and doesn't require too much work. It sounds overly simple but yet it's true. That's because the real issue here is how and where products are marketed that are intended for adults. At the end of the day the 'anti' side of any argument will always gravitate to the easiest way to attack their adversary, while maximizing their ability to get others on their side. Put yourself in the shoes of the 'anti' groups and think about the huge undertaking of combating alcohol and cigarette companies. How do you get anyone to see your side of an argument or more importantly to agree with your viewpoint? It's simple - say the opposite side is hurting children! Gold! You win! No one wants to hear the anti-smoking groups' point of view if they merely take the approach of trying to change the choices of consenting adults for their own health. But claim someone is hurting a poor defenseless child? Chances are you'll get few more ears and a lot more wins.
I am in 100% support of any regulation or restriction that prevents a child from gaining access to cigarettes, electronic cigarettes and alcohol. But I take exception when such regulations attempt to limit the personal rights, choices and ultimately, freedom of an adult. I also take issue with governments and regulators attempting to create laws that are essentially parenting decisions. They would be well advised to stop taking on a job that should rest on the shoulders of the village and not the King, and undertake the far more difficult task of educating parents and adults so that they can protect their children.
SOURCE blu Cigs | <urn:uuid:0d1375c9-fbc8-4864-8e22-e94713f7f388> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/idUS147133+13-Feb-2012+PRN20120213 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960927 | 887 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Mexican cuisine is known for its varied flavors, wide use of spices and fresh vegetables, fruit and beans. Each region in Mexico offers its own traditional variety of food and flavors and they all differ greatly in cuisine and style of cooking. However, many of the Mexican dishes we eat outside of Mexico are often not the authentic Mexican cuisine. Generally it is a fusion of some kind and more often than not it has been adapted and Americanized to what we know as Tex-Mex.
I think I will classify my own dish in this category. It's not entirely an authentic Mexican dish but uses typical flavors and ingredients of Mexico. Quesadillas are something I often make to satisfy hungry mouths. They are versatile and can pretty much be filled with anything you have on hand. Quesadillas always come to the rescue when you are in desperate need of a quick dinner.
Being at the beginning of Summer Break we often have the house full of Soeren's buddies. Boys will be boys and are currently running wild like coyotes on the prairie. In between hockey games, Nintendo, bike riding and re-discovering the neighborhood they always come home hungry.
"Mum can: Ben, Tim, Tobias, Finn, Sebastian, Eric and Max stay for dinner?" Soeren asks innocently. I know if I peak around the corner, Ben, Tim, Tobias, Finn, Sebastian, Eric and Max are all standing waiting meekly for my answer. I have no choice.
"Sure they can!" my mind racing to answer the inevitable next question.
"What's for dinner?"
"Mexican!" it's always a crowd pleaser and this time it's no different. Eight happy faces run off with huge smiles all screaming "YAAAH!"
Me - I rummage in my pantry to see what ingredients I can forage that might qualify as Mexican.
Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadilla
Printable version of recipe here.
450g can black bean, washed and drained
1 large tomato - chopped
150g goat cheese, crumbled
1 medium sized red onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon red chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
handful cilantro/coriander leaves, chopped
sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 ripe avocados, pitted, peeled and cubed
juice of 1 lime
6 whole wheat tortillas
- Heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until fragrant and opaque - about 5 minutes.
- Add beans together with 1 teaspoon ground cumin, cinnamon and chili powder and stir to incorporate the spices. Throw in the chopped tomatoes and stir. Allow to cook for about 3 minutes to release the aromas of the spices, then add about 150 to 200 ml of water. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the water has evaporated - about 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Using the back of a fork mash just part of the bean mixture up to give a chunky mixture. Stir in half of the the cilantro/coriander leaves and season to taste.
- To make a quick guacamole put the avocado cubes, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, rest of the cilantro/coriander leaves and lime juice into a clean bowl and mash coarsely with the back of a fork or a potato masher. Season to taste. This will give you a nice chunky paste.
- To get the quesadillas going lightly brush or spray a skillet with oil and over medium heat place one of the tortillas in the skillet. Spread the black bean mixture over the tortilla, leaving about 1 com space along the edges. Scatter some crumbled goat cheese and cover with a second tortilla.
- Brown each side of the tortilla for approx. 2 minutes. Proceed in this manner until all the tortillas have been used. Cut the quesadillas into wedges and serve with a dollop of guacamole.
Serve this with a helping of this corn-coriander salad
Always a huge hit with the kids. They love the fact that they can simply pick these up with their hands and gobble them down without the unnecessary use of cutlery. They were scooping up the salad with the quesadillas! The next time I met a few of the mums, they asked what it was i served them for dinner. Their boys were craving the meal at home and wanted their mums to make it at home. I had to laugh when I went through the ingredient list and the mums looked at me, eyes wide open - "My son does not eat beans!" "My son does not eat avocados!" "My son never likes spices in his food!" "My son ate chili?". What can I say ladies "Yes you sons do eat all this stuff!" and here is the recipe for you to make at home.
It's not fiery hot - just piquant to give it a bit of oomph! The beans are creamy and the tomatoes gives the mixture a bit of tartness. The spices simply culminates the entire dish of perfectly.
As I am going over to Jenny's to the fiesta of the month I plan on taking a large batch of the black bean and goat cheese quesadillas with me. Hope you will join the Monthly Mingle party this month too. See you there!
You might like these from WFLH:
|Black Bean Chili with Saffron Rice and Papaya Guacamole||Cheese Quesadillas with Two Salsas - Fruity and Spicy|
All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2009 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First | <urn:uuid:198dadb6-455a-4463-bbd9-b97f1bea5823> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whatsforlunchhoney.net/2009/07/fiesta-time-black-bean-and-goat-cheese.html?showComment=1247260030310 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936352 | 1,218 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Commercial and Military Aviation
Newfoundland became a western terminus for a commercial transatlantic air service in the 1930s. Airports opened at Botwood and Gander, and by 1938 regular weekly flights linked North America and Europe. But it was the Second World War that triggered the greatest advances in aviation. The Canadian and American armed forces expanded the island's existing airports, and built new ones at Torbay, Argentia, Stephenville, and Goose Bay. The colony became a vital refueling stop for Allied aircraft transporting personnel and supplies to and from Europe, and an important link in the ferrying of military aircraft to Britain. Most airfields were later converted to civilian uses, although 5 Wing Goose Bay has remained under the control of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
|RCAF pilots at Torbay, 2 October 1942
Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada (PA-133271), Ottawa, Ontario.
with more information(61 kb)
Commercial aviation expanded after Confederation. Trans-Canada Airlines (today Air Canada) provided regular national and international flights, while local commercial airlines provided regional services within the province. As of 2012, international airports exist at St. John's, Stephenville, and Gander, and smaller facilities are scattered throughout the province. A variety of airlines provide regional, domestic, and international flights.
Transatlantic Air Service
At the Imperial Economic Conference held at Ottawa in 1932, Newfoundland, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Irish Free State agreed to establish a committee to investigate a commercial transatlantic air service. In 1935, government officials decided to build airports at Botwood and near Gander Lake to serve as western terminuses for sea and landplanes, respectively. Both sites were situated along the shortest air route between London and New York, known as the great circle route. Botwood also boasted a sheltered deep-water harbour, which was largely ice-free from June to November. The Gander Lake site was close to the trans-island railway and on a high, dry, and unobstructed plateau.
An experimental air service was launched in 1937 as a joint venture between the British Imperial Airways and Pan American Airways. From 3-6 July, a Pan Am Clipper III completed the first west-to-east voyage between New York and Foynes, Ireland, with a two-night stopover at Botwood. A British Imperial Caledonia aircraft completed the reverse voyage from 5-9 July. The service soon expanded to include weekly transatlantic flights, and the Gander Lake facility, known as the Newfoundland Airport until 1941, opened in 1938.
Second World War
The outbreak of war in 1939 interrupted the development of commercial services, but also triggered rapid changes in the colony's airport facilities. Newfoundland's geographic location made it of tremendous strategic importance to both the Allied war effort and North America's defence, but the Commission of Government could not afford to develop adequate military facilities. As a result, the Canadian and United States governments agreed in 1939 and 1941, respectively, to establish military bases at the colony. Canada expanded the Botwood and Gander airports, and built new ones at Torbay and Goose Bay, while the United States established large airfields at Stephenville and Argentia.
||Argentia Base, 1943
Photographer unknown. Reproduced by the permission of the Archives and Manuscripts Division (Coll. 109 5.01.004), Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL.
with more information (65 kb)
Work did not truly get underway until the spring and summer of 1940, after Nazi Germany had defeated France and occupied much of Western Europe. Worried that North America would be next if England could not hold out, the Canadian military obtained permission from the Commission of Government - with British approval - to station air and ground forces at Gander and Botwood in June.
Construction soon began at the two airports to accommodate visiting troops and aircraft. Workers at Botwood built a large concrete slipway and two seaplane hangars. Construction also started on a hospital, barracks, warehouses, repair shops, mess halls, a water supply, and various other facilities. At Gander, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) spent $1.3 million to install additional hangars, barracks, and storage spaces, and upgrade existing utilities. By 1945, the airfield consisted of four runways, more than 100 buildings - including barracks, hangars, and a hospital - and the most advanced communications system available. Canadian, American, and British troops all served there.
Gander's greatest wartime contribution was to the Atlantic Ferry Operation. Soon after hostilities broke out, Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) engaged American factories to build additional planes. Instead of dismantling the aircraft and shipping them by sea, the RAF decided to fly them across the Atlantic, using airfields in Gander and Goose Bay as stopovers. By the end of the war, Gander and Goose Bay had helped deliver approximately 10,000 aircraft.
Goose Bay was an unpopulated wilderness when construction began in September 1941. Two years later, it had become the largest airfield in the Western Hemisphere. Canadian, American, and British troops served there, although the base remained under RCAF command. Goose Bay played a major role in the ferrying of combat planes to and from Europe. It also contributed to North America's overall defence and was vital in the transporting of men, freight, and classified cargo to Britain.
The RCAF also built an airport at Torbay. Work got underway in the spring of 1941 and progressed rapidly. More than 400 labourers worked long shifts to drain swamps, blast rocks, and move earth. By the end of that year, two of the four runways had been completed, alongside a taxi-strip, hangars, a water supply, and various other facilities. Although less air traffic passed through Torbay than the colony's other Allied airfields, the base played an important role in hemispheric defence. For the duration of the war, Torbay helped provide air cover for convoys, patrol the North Atlantic for U-boats, and protect St. John's and Bell Island from enemy attack. It also served as a bad weather alternative for Canadian and American military aircraft.
In 1942, Canada and Newfoundland agreed to provide a commercial air service out of Torbay. The first flight took off on 1 May and was operated by Trans-Canada Airlines (renamed Air Canada in 1964). On board were five passengers and a three-member crew. The airport's first terminal building, a small wooden structure, was built in 1943.
|Lockheed 14H2, Trans Canada Airlines, Torbay, 1942-1948.
Photo by Marshall Studios. Reproduced by the permission of the Archives and Manuscripts Division (Coll. 137 5.04.008), Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University, St. John's, NL.
with more information (65 kb)
The establishment of an American air base at Stephenville during the Second World War transformed the largely French-speaking farming village into a booming and largely English-speaking garrison town. The site was officially named Harmon Field on 23 June 1941 in honour of Captain Ernest Emery Harmon, a pioneer in United States military aviation history who had served with the US Air Corps during the First World War. Construction of the base and its three concrete runways began in March 1941. It opened to emergency landings in 1942 and to heavy air traffic in August 1943.
Stephenville's strategic location in the north Atlantic, coupled with its nearly ideal flying conditions, turned Harmon Field into a vital refueling stop for aircraft transporting personnel and supplies to and from Europe. The base also accommodated three B-17 bombers that patrolled the Atlantic for German U-boat activity between 1942 and 1944.
The United States also built a large naval base and air station at Argentia during the war. Commissioned in 1941, the facility was fully operational when the United States officially joined the war in December of that year. The site consisted of three runways, each measuring 5,000 feet in length, more than 2,000 feet of wharf, a floating dry dock, hangars, storage space for 15 million gallons of gasoline and oil, and living quarters. Allied forces used Argentia for anti-submarine air patrols and task force escorts. The largest American task force in the Atlantic, made up of five carriers and more than 50 destroyers and patrol craft, was also based there.
At the end of the war some of the military bases found new roles, while others closed. The American Air Force used Stephenville as a site for the air defence of North America until it closed in 1966. When the Americans left the base, its facilities were converted to civilian uses. Transport Canada assumed operation of the airport and the provincial government took over the rest of the base. As of 2012, the airport provides daily flights to St. John's, and chartered flights to Alberta and Saint Pierre et Miquelon. It also serves as a refueling stop for international flights and as the official alternate to the Gander International Airport.
Argentia also remained an American naval base until the last remaining forces withdrew in 1994. The facility was handed over to the province, but was not converted into a civilian airport. It remained largely inactive until 2008, when the Canadian Forces' Air Cadet Gliding Program began using it for gliding operations.
Botwood ended its commercial seaplane service in 1945, due in large part to the growing popularity of landplanes. It was later converted into a historic site. The Goose Bay airfield is the only base that has remained under military control. Today known as 5 Wing Goose Bay, its mission is to support the training and operations of Allied, NORAD and Canadian Forces.
The Canadian bases at Gander and Torbay were converted into civilian airports after the war, and are today known as the Gander and St. John's International Airports, respectively. On 11 September 2001, Gander made aviation history by redirecting all westbound North Atlantic air traffic and landing 40 planes during the 9/11 tragedy.
||St. John's International Airport, 2008.
Photo by Jenny Higgins. Reproduced by permission of Jenny Higgins. ©2008.
Since the war, many commercial airlines have provided regional, domestic, and international services in Newfoundland and Labrador. Trans-Canada Airlines began providing daily national and international flights to Torbay, Stephenville, and Gander in 1942, while the Smallwood government subsidized local commercial airlines after Confederation to provide services within the province. Prominent among these was Eastern Provincial Airways, which offered regular flights between Labrador and the island.
Today, a variety of airlines provide regular flights from Newfoundland and Labrador, including Air Canada, Air Labrador, Provincial/Innu Mikun Airlines, Continental/ United Airlines, Porter Airlines, and WestJet. Alongside the three international airports at St. John's, Gander, and Stephenville, smaller airports, airstrips, and heliports are scattered across the province, at such places as Deer Lake, St. Anthony, Goose Bay, and Wabush.
Article by Jenny Higgins. ©2012, Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site. | <urn:uuid:4ded52c1-04dd-4628-815e-b78a3c60091a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/cm_aviation.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95886 | 2,303 | 3.46875 | 3 |
DISPLACEMENT OF BASEMENT ROCKS BY THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT [c3, p72-73]
The distribution of the Pelona-type schist (Figure. 3.9) has played an important role in many attempts to measure the slip on the San Andreas fault in southern California. In their classic report, Hill and Dibblee (1953) recognized the similarity of the Pelona Schist of the San Gabriel Mountains area to the Orocopia Schist east of the Salton Sea and postulated that these schists are offset 257 km from one another by the San Andreas fault. Crowell (1962) noted that the Precambrian rocks and Pelona-type schist of the Tejon area are separated from those of the San Gabriel Mountains area by the San Gabriel fault and that the Tejon, San Gabriel Mountains (Soledad), and Orocopia Mountains areas contain not only similar Precambrian rocks and Pelona-type schist but also similar Oligocene and other Tertiary strata. The similar lithologies and geologic histories of the rocks of these three areas indicated to him that these rocks once formed an east-west-trending belt which has been segmented and displaced by right-lateral slip of approximately 50 km on the San Gabriel fault and 210 km on the San Andreas fault. However, the validity of the concept that the Tertiary rocks of the San Gabriel (Soledad) and Orocopia Mountains areas once were parts of a single basin was questioned by Spittler and Arthur (1973), who believed that the Tertiary strata of these two areas were deposited in separate basins, consist of distinctly different flow rocks, and are dissimilar in age.
More recent schemes for measuring offset along the San Andreas fault in southern California have been proposed. Among them, Powell (1981) postulated that all major exposures of the Pelona-type schist are in the core of an antiformal fold and that they once formed a nearly continuous structure which subsequently has been disrupted by Cenozoic strike-slip faults ( Figure. 3.10). An Important part of Powell's palinspastic reconstruction of the antiform is an old east-west-trending fault that is a composite of the San Francisquito, Fenner, and Clemens Well faults. This fault is thought to have had 80 km of right-lateral slip, cutting the antiform, and later was cut diagonally by the San Andreas fault. The axis of the antiformal structure is a linear feature that can be used as a "piercing point" in measuring offset where the axis appears on opposite sides of a fault. On this basis, the axis in the San Gabriel Mountains (Sierra Pelona) area is offset 220 km along the San Andreas fault from the axis in the Orocopia Mountains area (Powell, 1981). The Transverse Ranges segment of the San Andreas fault was described by Matti and others (1985) as consisting of several old strands (Wilson Creek, Mission Creek, and Mill Creek faults) and a young strand (San Bernardino strand). The total displacement across all of these strands is thought to be 160+10 km (Matti and others, 1986), on the basis of exposures of a distinctive Triassic megaphyric monzogranite. The exposures of this monzogranite, which are on the northeast side of the San Andreas fault in the San Bernardino Mountains but on the opposite side of the fault in Liebre Mountain (lat 34°43' N., long 118°40' W.), are thought to represent displaced parts of the same pluton. | <urn:uuid:bf03ebdc-630c-4b12-9573-507431735e56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.johnmartin.com/earthquakes/eqsafs/safs_371.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934562 | 758 | 3.421875 | 3 |
SAFEGUARD OUR TREES
How to SAFEGUARD our trees?
The most important thing we can do to safeguard our trees is to assist the tree root zone (drip line) to obtain maximum water infiltration and also help it rejuvenate the soil microbial activity. On this page, we will tell you where to water a tree, how much water a tree needs based upon its size and the need to use non-chlorinated water and to build up the microbial activity in the soil.
· Symptoms of drought injury to trees can be sudden or may take up to two years to be revealed. Drought injury symptoms on tree leaves include wilting, curling at the edges, and yellowing. Deciduous leaves may develop scorch, brown outside edges or browning between veins.
· Evergreen needles may turn yellow, red or purple. They may also turn brown at the tips of the needles and browning may progress through the needle towards the twig.
· In continued drought, leaves may be smaller than normal, drop prematurely or remain attached to the tree even though brown.
First we must locate the tree drip line:
A tree’s drip line is a ring around the tree canopy on the ground level that receives most of the
Rainwater shed from the tree canopy. Feeder root locations go beyond the drip line to get moisture and nutrients being created from organic matter in and on top of the soil. Microorganisms transform the organic matter and create the useful nutrients taken up by feeder roots.
The tree canopy drip line is the beginning point of where the tree begins to get moisture from the soil.Tree root locations are opportunistic and will travel a distance equal to the height of the tree to get moisture. In a natural, undisturbed situation, treeroots go beyond the tree canopy easily a third the distance of the tree radius. Feederroots are concentrated in the upper 6-8in (152-203mm) of soil, where there is abundant oxygen and moisture. Here a relationship between microorganisms and the tree roots occurs where the microbes break down organic matter and convert it into forms that can be directly taken up by feeder roots. Roots under the tree canopy are mainly for support. Deeper roots are for support and they seek waterduring dry conditions.
Make the Soil around the drip line more Absorbent:
The drip line is the area directly located under the outer circumference of the tree branches is where the tiny rootlets are located that take up water for the tree. Trees should be watered here, not by the base of the trunk, or the tree may develop root rot.
A general rule for watering trees is to water deeply and infrequently rather than frequent shallow watering. Most trees being watered on the same schedule as thirsty turf grass will suffer. Sprinkler heads watering on or too near the tree's trunk should be redirected to the drip-line and beyond. A thick layer of mulch is always recommended to help retain moisture. If your tree is not mulched, especially in sandy soils, it's difficult to keep the soil properly watered.
Best Practice of Watering in non-drought conditions: Watering deeply means to saturate the ground over a long period of time such as 24 hours. Saturation should be done by setting the water flow out of the hose to a stream about the size of a pen or straw. Place the end of the hose within 2 to 3 feet of the drip line and allow the water to flow for three to five hours, and then move it to another area within the drip line area. Continue the process until you have saturated 2 to 3 feet on both sides of the drip line all the way around the tree. Watering this way allows the water to reach the roots at the bottom of the root zone and puts the water where the water harvesting roots are located.
THE SAFEGUARD PROGRAM USES LESS WATER AND HAS BETTER RESULTS:
To insure deep watering in times of drought and water restrictions, each droplet of water is so valuable. To maximize the water infiltration we drill a 2-3 inch size hole in the soil to a depth of 24 inches. We space these holes every 2 feet around the circumference of the tree. We fill each hole up with hollow sand. Since the hole is filled with hollow sand, there is no issue of the tree roots drying out or possible insect or rodent issues. The hollow sand is now a permanent installation in the root zone profile of the tree and will last for many years unless there is soil disruption due to plumbing or utility piping.
You May Ask ......Are you tearing up my tree roots with your program?
As you can see from the image to the left, the white roots are the ones growing n response to the cutting, they are only one week old.
What this means is when we make a permanent hole in the soil profile of the dripline of the tree, the new root shoots immediately grow into our hole where the hollow sand is placed. This allows each hole in the ground to act as a reservoir for water for the tree much like a straw in a glass, only we have a 3 inch diameter hole every two feet around the perimeter of the tree; Thus we may have 15 to 50 holes that the tree now utilizes to pull up its water as well as its nutrition.
Now when you water the drip line of the tree with this hollow sand method, all the water that your irrigation heads spray on the lawn areas is quickly absorbed by each 24 inch deep hole; each hole now acts like a super highway to get the water down quicker and more efficiently into the clay layer of the soil to rehydrate the clay or to hold valuable moisture inside the hollow sand in sandy soils. So now a shorter watering time can maximize watering the tree and less water is needed since the water is not running away on a sloped ground and not evaporating in hot dry drought conditions.
As you can see from the photo on the left , where you saw those little white roots in the photo above, 3 years later they have made offshoots of multiple roots. Remember, the hollow sand column is what these roots grow into, thus the SafeGuard Tree Program not only is a permanent solution to take water immediately to the root zone but it also acts as the primary food and water uptake from each hole in the soil profile.
After we Install Our SafeGuard Tree Program - We Offer a TEN YEAR WARRANTY that your tree will not die due to lack of water.
SOHOW MUCH WATER DO I GIVE MY TREE?
Because Trees require more water than the other parts of the landscape, we normally will also install a small drip irrigation system around the dripline of each tree and this will allow you to be exempt from watering restrictions since drip irrigation is exempt from outdoor water restrictions. We will set this up for you with our program as to how much water to give your trees.
A general rule of thumb is to use approximately 10 gallons of water per inch of trunk diameter for each watering. Measure trunk diameter at knee height.
Most people do not understand what their trees’ root system looks like.
Treeroot systems consist of large perennial roots and smaller, short-lived, adsorbing roots. The large, woody tree roots and their primary branches increase in size and grow horizontally. At least 90% are located in the top 12” inches of the soil. Root functions include water and mineral conduction, food and water storage, and anchorage.
In contrast, adsorbing roots, although averaging only 1/16 inch in diameter, constitute the major portion of the root system's surface area. These smaller roots grow outward and predominantly upward from the large roots near the soil surface, where minerals, water and oxygen are relatively abundant. The major function of adsorbing roots is the absorption of water and minerals. Large roots and small adsorbing roots occupy a large area underground.
Understanding the Water we Use
If you have a water well, then this does not apply to your situation. If you utilize water from your local City or MUD then you have chlorinated water. The water is chlorinated so it is safe for consumption to drink. Ideally, if you can water your landscape with non-chlorinated water you can have a much healthier and thriving landscape.
Do you ever wonder at how beautiful your landscape looks right after a rain shower rather than right after an irrigation cycle? Well if you use the right type of water in your landscape, then you build the ultimate thriving garden that grows the most beautiful flowers, grass and trees.
Part of the soil biology or the underground soil food web is a myriad of bacteria, protozoa, fungi and nematodes that harvest the soil and turn it into food for the plants and animals in the soil profile. Drought stressed plants need this active food web working to maintain their health and energy resources since the tree is under water stress.
Chlorinated Water kills this active underground food web. So now what you have is this big healthy tree and no soil biology or minimal soil biology. We will show you in the next section how to bring back this soil biology, but how do we get rid of this chlorine in the water?
Fill a reservoir with water that you are about to irrigate your lawn. Let the water sit for a few hours in the sun and all the chlorine will have dissipated and now you can use it to water your landscape. If you use this method you will need a pump to fill your water hose with pressure to water your landscape.
The other option is to filter your water with a carbon filter. This will remove the chlorine from the water.
But if neither is an option, go ahead and water with chlorinated water. It is better than no water at all.
How do we Build up the Biology Back in the Soil?
If you develop a strong microbiology in your landscape garden in the turf areas, gardens and around the trees, your landscape becomes extremely self sufficient and your reward is the enjoyment of having such a beautiful landscape. I am not kidding; your landscape could win Yard of the Month each month simply by changing your soil biology.
We make a freshly brewed compost tea/humate tea blend which you can purchase if you so desire. When you take this tea blend and introduce it to your soil profile and your issues with winter brown patch, insects, and health of plants is quickly cleaned up. The food web goes to work and it takes everything in the landscape and makes it more disease and insect resistant as well as most important drought tolerant.
You want to save your big trees in your lawn - don't you?
After we have installed your Hollow Sand columns in the soil around your tree drip line, we add our compost tea to the soil to allow you to build up the strength of the tree and nurse it back to health.
Yes, I said nurse it back to health because it is in drought stress and unless you have been watering plenty of water to your landscape or unless you have a strong microbial activity in your soil, then you are watching your prize tree have a slow death. ACT NOW!
Not doing anything is guaranteed loss of your tree. You can save it……
we can help you!
WE CAN SAVE THREE BIG SIZE TREES ( 24 INCH DIAMETER) IN YOUR LAWN FOR $62 PER MONTH.
OUR PROGRAM IS HALF THE COST OF CUTTING DOWN THE TREE.
Below is a video from the Texas Forest Service on how to water your trees in drought. If you follow our program as described above, you can save lots of time and insure that your tree will survive the drought. Or you can spend lots of time watering your trees following the Texas Forest Services recommendations.
Inquiries and Questions: firstname.lastname@example.org
Call Us Today: 281-842-2050 | <urn:uuid:38fffe30-4271-4f28-a24c-fac2f5333f19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deepwatertrees.com/SAFEGUARD-OUR-CANOPY-TREES.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941602 | 2,450 | 3.703125 | 4 |
UK high school hires proofreaders to check teachers' spelling mistakes
A school in Ipswich, England has hired proofreaders to check the spelling and grammar of its teachers.
The 1,720-pupil high school has hired "copy editors" to correct mistakes in pupils' school reports.
The school posted a job advert asking people to "check and amend the electronic reports to ensure that they are well written before being released to parents," the Mirror reported.
The school hopes to stop "spelling mistakes, poor or missing punctuation, incorrect capitalization [sic] and word spacing."
They will be paid 14.02 pounds an hour to work up to 20 days a year. Proofreaders will also advise staff how to improve their use of English.
"It's an insult to the teachers' intelligence that the county council employs proofreaders," Matthew Sinclair, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said.
"If, on the other hand, the teachers can't spell and produce good written English, then why are they being employed?" he said.
But David Hutton, head of Northgate High School, said the school's excellent exam results proved they had great staff.
"Between them they produce literally thousands of well-written comments each year that keep parents informed about the progress of their children," he said.
"Making a final quality check prior to publication indicates the high level of professionalism we strive to achieve," he added. | <urn:uuid:662cfc7b-7aca-490d-87fb-3329a9d5f5a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newkerala.com/news/newsplus/worldnews-106825.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966669 | 300 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Kumasi — THE seven major mining companies operating in the country last year contributed a total of $700 million, the equivalent of GH¢1billion to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), making the mining industry, the number one tax payer and highest contributor to the GRA.
The figure represents 27.61% of the total GRA collections in 2011.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr. Toni Aubynn, who was highlighting the mining industry's contribution to the government and by extension, the Ghanaian economy in 2011, during an interaction with the media in Kumasi on Wednesday, said the mining sector also paid $430 million (about GH¢645 million) in corporate tax to the government through the GRA, which figure represented 38.26% of the total company tax collected in 2011.
He said the industry also voluntarily contributed $29 million, amounting to GH¢43 million to communities in which they operated under corporate social responsibility.
The CEO further disclosed that by way of employment, the mining sector engaged 14,257 persons directly, including 0.83% expatriates.
Dr. Aubynn indicated that mining had been the leading foreign exchanger earner since 2000, and as a major contributor to the country's balance of payments, accounted for about 42% of the gross export in 2011.
He mentioned the posting of a $3.1 billion, representing 75% of mineral revenue over and above the 20% statutory of the foreign exchange earning into the country through the Bank of Ghana and the Commercials banks.
The mining companies, according to Dr. Aubynn, are leading the injection of Foreign Direct Investment since 1983, with an increase from $6 million in 1983 to $780 million in 2011.
Referring to value created by the mines beyond fiscal payments, the CEO said the mining companies which are transnational, attracted world class service providers in the area of banking and financial services, transport and logistics, hospitality and Catering, consultancy and engineering services, as well as manufacturing an fabrication who impact knowledge, skills and technologies through the local staff.
Dr. Aubynn said the mining must be properly seen in its potential as a catalyst for development, and as such be fully integrated into the local economy for sustainable development and, thereby making it meaningful to the local people.
He also called on the government to take steps to address the menace of galamsey mining to avoid loss of economic use of the land, most of which are not reclaimed after the illegal activities of the miners.
According to Dr. Aubynn, even though 30% of gold produced in 2011 in the country came from the small scale mining, there was the need to spend time to address the galamsey issue.
He said it was the responsibility of policy makers, law makers and all Ghanaians to passionately deliberate on the legalities and illegalities of galamsey operators and take measures to address the challenges for the benefit of Ghanaians as a whole. | <urn:uuid:2d7ef2c2-d922-41d3-875e-56bc71ed6252> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allafrica.com/stories/201207100281.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963331 | 618 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The Rt Hon Justine Greening MP, Secretary of State for Transport, announced this week the Government’s decision to go ahead with the High Speed Rail proposal, HS2. Phase one of the route between London and Birmingham should be up and running by 2026 with the routes to Manchester and Leeds ready for 2032/3.
The capital cost of these sections will be £32.7 billion with current estimates stating it will generate benefits of up to £47 billion and fare revenues of up to £34 billion over a 60-year period.
But is the time right for this initiative?
On the whole, budgets have become limited and funding more scarce. As our report, Access All Areas, shows, in such difficult economic times it is imperative that city centres can attract high value employment and overcome labour market spatial mismatches through a coordinated, integrated and improved transport infrastructure.
Unfortunately, many cities still need to vastly improve its local infrastructure to ensure efficiency and efficacy.
As a result, the largest benefit to people who live in cities and their hinterlands would come from local infrastructure improvements. This would fit nicely with the City Deals agenda in boosting cities’ economic growth and should, therefore, be the Government’s priority.
Furthermore, consistently delaying the decision on HS2 has led to budgetary uncertainty. By moving the HS2 decision back other much needed local infrastructure projects have lacked full government support and have been unable to begin. Now the decision has been made, will this financial commitment over the coming decades hamper arguably more beneficial local projects?
With this in mind, a faster rail link between London and the core cities should certainly be considered in the long term but only once local and regional infrastructure issues have first been resolved. | <urn:uuid:7df0d369-4b9d-4300-8920-0a140bbcc1a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://centreforcities.typepad.com/centre_for_cities/2012/01/hs2-plans-are-still-on-track.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945199 | 355 | 2.140625 | 2 |
The Port of Charleston in South Carolina reported container volume in April was 134,718 20-foot-equivalent units, rising 9 percent year-over-year and increasing 17 percent compared with April 2011.
South Carolina Ports Authority
14 May 2013
Nordic Cold Storage has reached an agreement with South Carolina State Ports Authority to terminate the lease on its warehouse facility in Greer, S.C., clearing the way for a $43 million inland port to be built in its place.
25 Apr 2013
Freight transportation leaders' testimony at a newly formed House panel suggests the federal government is moving forward on a national freight infrastructure strategy, even if it lacks the will to fully implement it.
17 Apr 2013
The last environmental hurdle to the long-delayed Savannah River Harbor Expansion Project was cleared Wednesday when the
17 Apr 2013
The Port of Charleston’s container volume rose 10 percent in the first nine months of the fiscal year that began July 1, 2012, according to the South Carolina Ports Authority.
09 Apr 2013
Newer engines and cleaner fuels have helped reduce total pollutants from port equipment and trucks, according to an air emissions inventory commissioned by the South Carolina Ports Authority.
02 Apr 2013
The South Carolina Ports Authority and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control have extended their air quality partnership through 2018.
19 Mar 2013
Container volume handled by the Port of Charleston jumped 11 percent year-over-year in February to 131,634 20-foot-equivalent units.
13 Mar 2013
The South Carolina Ports Authority has revealed that a refrigerated warehouse business that rents part of its property in
05 Mar 2013
Progress on a new inland port in Greer, S.C., planned by the South Carolina Port Authority, is moving forward, following a recent groundbreaking ceremony with more than 250 port users, stakeholders, community leaders and...
19 Feb 2013
The South Carolina Ports Authority reported that the Port of Charleston’s container volume was 121,286 20-foot-equivalent units in January, rising 7.7 percent year-over-year.
15 Feb 2013
The port truck replacement program run by the South Carolina Ports Authority has received $145,000 in additional federal grant funding to help further reduce air emissions across the Charleston area. | <urn:uuid:f193a25e-e931-4900-a559-10da3cbe1faa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.joc.com/port-news/us-ports/south-carolina-ports-authority?qt-webcasts_podcasts_whitepapers=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935165 | 467 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The 2004 election cycle saw the emergence of the internet—specifically blogs—as an essential part of any political campaign. By November 2008, the blogosphere and social media were old hat. So what technological leap defined the 2008 election cycle? Text Messaging of course.
Barack Obama's successful 2008 presidential election campaign relied upon SMS text messaging like no campaign before it. They recognized its myriad benefits and put the medium to good use. Text messaging for political campaigns can be leveraged to power:
Recent elections have shown, in tight races, turn-out can make or break a campaign. Text Messaging is the communication method of choice amongst members of the elusive 18 – 29 voting bloc, and thus should be an essential tool to any political campaign. Supporter text messaging databases built up over a campaign will become a pivotal GOTV (Get Out The Vote) tool come election day. | <urn:uuid:35be6def-93b1-454f-bc89-79411fd8ee27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clubtexting.com/groups/political-campaigns.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936471 | 179 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Ohaupo's Zac Leet-Guinan (17) admits he didn't think much of Shakespeare's writings when he was first introduced to them.
"But once the words became more familiar and I analysed the meaning behind them I developed a much better understanding."
Playing the role of Mercurio in a production of Romeo and Juliet also gave him an insight into "an amazing character".
Shakespeare's words now flow comfortably off the student's tongue and he rates the writer a 'genius'.
In a roundabout way Shakespeare has also provided Zac with "an incredible opportunity".
He is just one of 24 students selected from around 5500 candidates to be a member of the prestigious Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ Young Shakespeare Company next year.
Zac and his teacher (Jacqui Wheeler) from St John's College will travel to London for three weeks to take part in Shakespeare-themed workshops and activities.
"It's a little bit scary to think I'll be performing in the Globe Theatre, but I'm really looking forward to it."
Zac says he has technically been overseas before (as he was born in Australia), but he can't remember coming to New Zealand, so he counts going to England in July 2013 as his first big trip.
Before then he has to raise $8500 to cover airfares, accommodation etc, so he's hoping to get more shifts from his part-time employer, The Woodbox, and he's lining up some fundraisers such as sausage sizzles. | <urn:uuid:7fdae4ed-5282-41be-9f95-53e4cf126aff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/news/student-off-to-savour-home-of-shakespeare/1632462/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983489 | 311 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Lifting weights and other forms of resistance training can help shape up your brain as well as your muscles.
Canadian researchers found that strength and balance training improved thinking ability among a group of 28 older men and women with a history of falling who took part in a falls prevention program.
After six months, the participants, age 70 and older, showed a 13 percent improvement in high-level thinking skills. The skills of a control group of 24 people who also had a history of falling but received standard care deteriorated 10 percent.
According to researcher Teresa Liu-Ambrose of the University of British Columbia, the 28 whose brain function improved received regular visits from a physiotherapist who encouraged them to go through specific strength and balance exercises three times weekly and to walk at least twice weekly. Individuals in the control group were expected to initiate the exercise program on their own; none of them did.
The exercise program also helped reduce falls: After one year, 43 percent of the exercise group had repeat falls, compared with 67 percent of the standard care group.
Most research to date has focused on the benefits of aerobic exercise on the brain, but mounting evidence shows that resistance training also may help.
“The link between cognitive function and exercise is just beginning to emerge,” says Anne Shumway-Cook of the University of Washington’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in Seattle. “In addition to its many other positive benefits, we now see that exercise can also help maintain thinking skills as we age.”
The Canadian study, one of three recent trials on strength training and brain health, was published in the OctoberJournal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Nissa Simon is a freelance writer who lives in New Haven, Conn. | <urn:uuid:24a26a3d-a7b1-4922-9991-4475256aa566> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-02-2009/health_discoveriesstrength_training_for_your_brain.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971811 | 354 | 2.984375 | 3 |
One of the greatest hurdles a start-up company will face is getting customers before the company has even started. Many assume that a company just starting out may not have the resources necessary to fully perform, so why take the chance? This is a mentality that you must stop as a new business owner. There are a few universal tricks listed below that work well for a start-up company of any kind:
Tricks to Get Clients Hooked on Your Company
Market – A large part of bringing in new customers is your marketing. If you have the right kind of marketing, your customers may not even know you are a start-up company. If your website looks professional and you have knowledgeable employees, your customers will have no reason not to go with your services. Consider local marketing, it is often more cost effective and produces results. Have a marketing plan and the customers will slowly but surely start adding up.
Contacts – Another great way to nab those first customers is through family, friends, and any contacts you may have in your phonebook. Even if you think these specific people would not be interested, ask them to spread the word to everyone they know. Ideally, you would have a great email message to send out to everyone that your friends can forward to everyone they know. Through a ripple effect, this should give you plenty of exposure.
Promotions – Giving away discounts or free gifts is a great way to get new customers. However, be weary that there are a lot of companies out there that offer this and don’t follow through, leaving many customers skeptical of free gifts. A good idea would be to bring in new customers with the other ideas first, and then offer a gift if those customers refer someone else. At this point, you will have the people who know you are serious being offered the gifts, so the incentive should work better.
Network – Whenever you have the chance to go to any sort of community event (or personal event), attend and plan on discussing your new business. People are far more likely to take a leap of faith with someone they have seen face to face as opposed to an email (especially if the email isn’t personal).
Persistence – Getting a solid customer base is not an easy task, so you need to be persistent. If anyone expresses even a little bit of interest, you need to pull out every card you have to play. In other words, give potential customers what they want right away – in the end the payoff should outweigh the costs.
Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to home security systems. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including document software to small businesses and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation. | <urn:uuid:f49d0c15-0620-42c8-b84e-3bee5cba75e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alltopstartups.com/2011/08/05/the-secrets-to-getting-customers-before-youre-even-open-for-business/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965376 | 554 | 1.5625 | 2 |
North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance Ltd (NAILSMA) for
Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC) and the National Water Commission (NWC), 2012
- Indigenous Livelihoods: Summaries and Recommendations of Research Reports (PDF - 2,414 KB) | (Word - 3,403KB)
About this publication
This summary booklet on Indigenous Livelihoods is a synopsis of the NAILSMA coordinated projects under the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) Synthesis and Adoption Year and the Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment (NAWFA) Cultural and Social Program (2011-2012).This booklet aims to provide a brief summary and insight into the research projects under those programs, and to clearly state the key recommendations and findings of each project.
The TRaCK and NAWFA projects have built on the firm progress, accomplishment and lessons learned from the overall NAILSMA Water Resource Management Program; including the Indigenous Water Policy Group (IWPG), the Indigenous Community Water facilitator Network (ICWFN), the TRaCK Theme 6 (Sustainable Enterprises) Projects and the various water forums and events facilitated by NAILSMA. These forums have provided a platform for Indigenous people to participate in government land and water resource reform agendas, and to ensure Indigenous aspirations, issues and interests are articulated, encouraged and incorporated into any land and water management policy decisions, planning and water allocation processes in north Australia.
Note: This publication was jointly funded by the National Water Commission and the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. | <urn:uuid:13ead553-a37f-474e-8a82-93310c299e87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://environment.gov.au/water/publications/action/nawfa-indigenous-livelihoods-summaries.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908354 | 447 | 2.296875 | 2 |
In Minneapolis today, change is everywhere: the city is expanding its light rail system, widening highways, and building bridges. What will these infrastructure changes mean for the health and well-being of residents in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota?
That’s the kind of question central to the research of Yingling Fan, a McKnight Land-Grant professor who studies the health and social impacts of urban land use, growth management and transit improvement.
“Designers may focus on an individual building. Engineers may focus on an individual road. What I do as a planner is to be comprehensive, looking beyond individual trees, and seeing the whole forest,” she explains.
Parks for the public good
During a trip to Ikea, Fan noticed a balloon artist performing for children at the store. She wondered about the performer’s choice of venue. Why hadn’t he gone to a public park to reach families with children?
Fan’s McKnight research project focuses on designing green spaces in urban areas. She hopes creating better parks will lead to stronger families and unite struggling communities.
“How can we create parks that will serve a diverse population of urban residents? What features do residents look for in a public gathering place?”
In an effort to define the distinct needs of each community, Fan’s team is asking these questions of residents in lower-income Minneapolis neighborhoods.
The lab of everyday life
Effective socio-spatial planning requires a real-world setting. Fan doesn’t have the advantage of testing a hypothesis in a controlled environment. This makes her especially attuned to the complexities and impacts of her research.
“You’re dealing with an environment that people live in. So when we create knowledge, it’s important to be sensitive to the settings in which we carry out the study. It’s important to say A led to B, but this is contingent upon C,D,E,F.”
As a new mom, Fan now understands such complexities like never before. Raising her six-month-old son has led to a new appreciation of family and community needs — and how to plan accordingly.
When asked about the future of socio-spatial planning, Fan points to the following trends:
Shifting family structure: The prevalence of the nuclear family structure continues to shrink. Researchers estimate only one-third of today’s families fit the mold of the nuclear family. Therefore, researchers will adjust how they approach city planning and design. Urban planners will collaborate more closely with family studies experts to meet the needs of the changing family.
Transit and social equity: In the next 20 years, Minneapolis communities will experience rapid growth in transit opportunities. All eyes will be on the Twin Cities as socio-spatial planners examine how regional transit investments impact the economy, quality of life, and distribution of employment benefits among different income groups. | <urn:uuid:d457baa2-0980-46cd-9a38-42f34b360bfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://researchumn.com/2012/07/05/designing-functional-spaces-yingling-fan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928148 | 600 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Epilepsy Surgery Program
The University of Michigan Epilepsy Surgery Program is part of a collaborative partnership including the Department of Neurosurgery and the Department of Neurology, working together to provide hope to adults and children with epilepsy. In most patients, seizures can be adequately controlled with antiepileptic medications. However, for as many as 20% of patients with seizure disorders, the seizures are resistant to medical therapy. For some of these patients, surgery can provide a complete cure of their epilepsy.
Each patient under consideration for surgery participates in a thorough evaluation in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program before surgery to control seizures is offered. The electroencephalograms (EEGs) of patient candidates are often recorded and analyzed in the Epilepsy Monitoring Laboratory, which helps to classify the type and the locations of any observed seizures. In addition, brain imaging studies including MRI scans, PET scans, and SPECT scans may be used together with sophisticated analysis to determine which surgical procedure, if any, might be most beneficial.
The University of Michigan comprehensive epilepsy team has extensive experience in epilepsy surgery. The epilepsy surgery program has a national reputation for excellence in both patient care and research. We do between 70-100 epilepsy surgeries per year.
Appointment Number: 734-936-7010
A. Alfred Taubman Health Care Center
1500 East Medical Center Drive
Floor 2 Reception: G
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5338
Maps & Directions: | <urn:uuid:9bd9a1af-74da-49dd-8491-a20e4e381ad3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.med.umich.edu/healthcenters/clinic_detail.cfm?service_id=1126&hc_id=AATHC | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90765 | 302 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Heathertoes was one of the strange botanical names preferred by the people of Bree.
While heather is an element that appears in English real-life surnames, Heathertoes has no parallel in English.
Men or Hobbits?
However in the narrative the name is listed among those used by the Men, and Mat Heathertoes, who is named as one of the casualties of Bree during fighting there, appears to be listed among Men rather than Hobbits.
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 759
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Homeward Bound" | <urn:uuid:2625ebb3-db66-40a2-9b2e-36dcf4c23945> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Heathertoes_Family | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908487 | 210 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Program Description: The Mechanical Engineering major provides a solid foundation for service as a Coast Guard Officer, professional engineering practice, and further study in Mechanical Engineering or many other related fields. The major requirements develop the students’ ability to apply scientific principles in the design and analysis of mechanical and energy conversion systems. Students are challenged with design problems in most of the major courses, which provide opportunities for developing creativity in solving real-world problems. The program culminates with a hands-on capstone design project in which teams of students use their acquired knowledge to design, build, and test a practical device.
Accreditation: This program is accredited by ABET (www.abet.org ), the premier U.S. engineering accreditation agency. ABET accredits over 3,100 programs in more than 20 countries.
Outcomes and Program Educational Objectives (PEOs) for Mechanical Engineering
Upon graduation, U.S. Coast Guard Academy Mechanical Engineering students are expected to achieve certain “Student Outcomes” as defined by ABET and the program. The Mechanical Engineering major produces graduates who demonstrate:
The Coast Guard Academy and ABET also look ahead, several years beyond graduation. Program Educational Objectives provide the expectations for graduates early in their career. The Mechanical Engineering Objectives are to produce graduates who will:
- an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
- an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
- an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability
- an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams
- an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
- an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
- an ability to communicate effectively
- the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context
- a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning
- a knowledge of contemporary issues
- an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
- Attain professional competence as an engineer in a U.S. Coast Guard Operational or Mission Support role.
- Demonstrate evidence of intellectual growth in engineering such as engineering licensure, graduate education, publications and Coast Guard certifications and credentials.
- Attain recognition of professional accomplishment as a Coast Guard Officer in any field. | <urn:uuid:8354d1d4-140f-488c-af12-40a96c24a111> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uscga.edu/academics.aspx?id=364 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940426 | 519 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Affordable Housing Policy Needs Leadership
Mixing housing types throughout the city is crucial
John Kolkman, freelance
Back to Main News Releases Page
The provincial and city governments are talking a good game when it comes to the urgent need to build more affordable housing. So why is so little progress being made?
Edmonton is in a housing affordability crisis. Vacancy rates are very low. Homelessness is growing. Earlier this month, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported an 18.8-per-cent increase in average rents, the highest yearly increase of all major Canadian cities. Yet the pace of efforts to address this crisis is glacial.
The provincial government announced its response to the Affordable Housing Task Force last April. A 10-year plan to end homelessness was announced in October. While additional monies are committed, the pace of new construction has not increased.
The latest setback in getting things moving happened at a Nov. 20 public hearing held by Edmonton city council's transportation and public works (TPW) committee. The committee heard representations on an inclusionary affordable housing policy proposed by the city administration. Rather than making a decision that would have gone to city council in mid-January, the TPW committee opted to engage in more closed-door consultations with the development industry. The proposed policy won't even be back on the TPW committee agenda until early March.
The development industry's opposition to the proposed policy is disappointing. There have already been extensive consultations with developers, home builders and other stakeholders. Further delays are definitely not helpful.
Adopting an inclusionary policy is the single most important decision council must make if Edmonton is to reduce reliance on emergency shelters and avoid future "tent cities." The first goal of such a policy is to ensure that long-term affordable housing -- integrated with and indistinguishable from market housing -- is built throughout the city.
The second goal is to provide a source of funds for the construction of additional affordable housing units. Housing developers could build a minimum of five-per-cent affordable housing units into all major residential developments. Alternatively, builders could either contribute to a reserve fund dedicated solely to constructing additional affordable housing or allow the city to purchase five per cent of the units at 80 per cent of their market value.
The proposed policy defines housing as affordable if households earning less than 80 per cent of the median income pay no more than 30 per cent of their gross income on rent. Not nearly enough housing meeting this definition was getting built even when market conditions were more favourable, let alone in today's overheated economy. Therefore, government leadership is essential.
Unlike Ontario and B.C. where provincial legislation specifically allows for inclusionary zoning, Alberta is in a legal grey zone. The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association adopted a resolution in 2006 urging the province to amend the Municipal Government Act to include inclusionary zoning in their land use bylaws. The province's refusal leaves municipalities open to legal challenges.
Prior to 1979, the Edmonton required all new neighbourhoods to be built with at least five-per-cent social housing which -- combined with federal and provincial housing dollars available at that time -- ensured that low-cost housing was built in all older suburbs. Unfortunately, the policy was challenged in the courts and struck down.
The demise of this policy resulted in many newer suburbs being built without any affordable housing units. When combined with the almost total withdrawal of the federal and provincial affordable housing dollars in the early 1990s, this has directly led to the housing crisis we find ourselves in today.
Edmonton's proposed policy is a modest one. The five-per-cent affordable housing requirement in major residential developments is low compared to the 20-per-cent requirement in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver.
Finding suitable locations for new affordable housing will be considerably more difficult unless a mechanism is found to provide for it. Much of the affordable housing built in the past decade has been located in only a handful of neighbourhoods, mostly north and east of the downtown core.
Opposition to accepting more affordable housing is growing in these neighbourhoods.
Unfortunately, advocates for affordable housing have not always done their cause any favours. Let's stop using terms like "gentrification" to label residents of lower-income neighbourhoods that oppose affordable housing projects. This only gets people riled up. Both the city and affordable-housing providers need to do a better job communicating with neighbourhood residents before decisions on housing projects are made.
A failure to provide safe, affordable long-term housing means only one thing -- more Band-Aid solutions such as shelters. Ensuring that all Edmontonians have safe, affordable, long-term housing is essential.
Back to Main News Releases Page | <urn:uuid:05b2436b-2cd1-4fbc-88d4-e5f424cf7969> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca/content/view/281/256/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961231 | 948 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Mourners throng for Sihanouk's funeral
The lavish funeral of Cambodia's revered former king, Norodom Sihanouk, will begin on Friday, with officials expecting more than a million mourners to throng Phnom Penh's streets.
The body of the late monarch, who died of a heart attack in Beijing in October, aged 89, will be paraded through the city atop a golden float shaped like a mythological bird, from the Royal Palace to an ornate, custom-built crematorium in a city park.
Authorities have erected towering portraits of Sihanouk, repaired crumbling kerbs along the procession route and established road blocks around the palace and park, where the cremation will be held on Monday, away from public view.
Friday's ceremony is due to begin at 0000 GMT and will include a 101-gun salute and the procession, giving crowds the chance to bid a final farewell to their colourful king, who was placed on the throne by the French at the age of just 18 but developed into a canny political survivor.
A father of 14 children over six marriages, Sihanouk abdicated in 2004 after steering Cambodia through six decades, which were marked by independence from France, civil war, the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, his own exile and finally peace.
Many elderly Cambodians credit him with overseeing a rare period of political stability in the 1950s and 1960s, following independence, until the emergence of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.
"I am full of sadness that the king-father will soon disappear," 63-year-old Buth Nakry said as she prayed outside the Royal Palace on Thursday with a black ribbon pinned to her white blouse.
"It is a great loss for all of us. He brought peace to the country."
But Sihanouk's record is not without reproach.
After being ousted by the US-backed General Lon Nol in 1970 he aligned himself with the Khmer Rouge, only to be placed under house arrest as the communist regime terrorised the nation, killing up to two million people, including five of his own children.
Before the Vietnamese toppled the Khmer Rouge in 1979, Sihanouk took exile in China, regaining his throne in 1993, although his influence was greatly diminished.
Foreign dignitaries including French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Japan's Prince Akishino and a host of Asian leaders or high-ranking officials are due to attend the cremation.
After the ceremony Sihanouk's remains will be put in a gold-coloured urn that will be placed in a stupa inside the Royal Palace, in line with his wishes. | <urn:uuid:4a5718e1-92aa-4325-9886-d1f14a0d1b98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-01/an-sihanouk27s-funeral-to-begin/4496186?section=sport | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968953 | 561 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Healthcare IT Consulting on Rise with Concerns over ICD-10
With the looming implementation of ICD-10, the healthcare industry sees a rise in technology consulting to ensure the smooth transition of its systems. ICD-10, a system utilized by healthcare companies to classify and code all diagnoses, symptoms, and procedures recorded in conjunction with hospital care in the US, is scheduled to begin use on October 1, 2013.
“ICD-10-CM, like ICD-9-CM, is based on the International Classification of Diseases, which is published by the World Health Organization (WHO). The International Classification of Diseases uses alphanumeric codes to identify known diseases and other health issues. According to WHO, the ICD helps with the storage and retrieval of diagnostic information and in the compilation of national mortality and morbidity statistics. The ICD-10-CM revision has more than 68,000 diagnostic codes, compared to the 13,000 found in ICD-9-CM. The revision also includes twice as many categories, and it introduces alphanumeric category classifications for the first time,” according to Health IT News.
An independent study conducted by KLAS shows how leading providers around the country are hiring third-party IT consulting firms to help in the transition from ICD-9 (see graph).
KLAS reveals that “…providers rated EMR vendors Cerner, Epic and Siemens highest in their ICD-10 preparedness, whereas Allscripts and MEDITECH rate lowest.” The major benefit of using a third-party IT consulting firm is ensuring business continuity.
If you are a healthcare organization in the Boston, New York or Philadelphia area, are you prepared for ICD-10? Challenges that healthcare providers face will include staff readiness, system adoption and data transfer. Without an adequate backup system it is possible that sensitive and valuable data could be lost or exposed. Contact an experience IT consulting firm for a consultation regarding your needs.
Written by the IT technical staff at iCorps Technologies. | <urn:uuid:ecb5bf13-52f4-4d98-8eb8-1900421aa859> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.icorps.com/bid/143033/Healthcare-IT-Consulting-on-Rise-with-Concerns-over-ICD-10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923941 | 419 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Hello, everyone. Apologies for my absence — I was challenging John Krygier for the “most dormant map blog” award, before surrendering to his superior non-updating skill. Actually, I’ve just been occupied with my classes and work at UW-Madison, as I prepare for them to evict me from the security of graduate school and into the world of “unemployment.”
I found a copy of today’s map sitting in an office in the UW Geography Department. It’s a world wall map, about 36″ x 20″, and is marked as being produced by Portal Publications, Ltd, of Novarto, CA. They appear to have folded in 2008, after renaming themselves in 2007 to Innovative Art.
Mercator. On a world reference map. I’ve said this before, but I will repeat: Mercator is great if you’re a navigator, especially one in 16th century Europe. Its usefulness pretty much stops there. This map is not intended to be used for sailing from Japan to Taiwan, so I’m pretty sure another projection is called for.
The colors. Oh, the colors. You see, a lot of world maps have what you call hypsometric tinting — colors that indicate elevations. You’re probably familiar with the classic scheme of green lowlands, transitioning to yellows and oranges and browns as elevation rises, and finishing off with white for the mountaintops. On the other hand, I am wholly uncertain as to what is going on with the colors on the map above. The lightest areas are in northeast Russia, which is certainly not the tallest place in the world. So, perhaps instead of elevation, the colors are depicting land cover, and showing a snowy Russia? But then, why is northern Canada marked with verdant plains (in an area labeled on the map as “barrengrounds”)? And why is Europe completely free of green areas? It’s certainly got areas as lush as the east coast of the USA, which is marked green on this map, and it certainly has lowlands at the same elevation as other places which are marked green. I cannot make heads or tails of the color scheme, and there’s no key included. It’s like the uncanny valley of hypsometric or land-cover tinting — it’s close enough that it looks normal when you walk by without thinking, but then when you actually have a look at it, it starts weirding you out. I was going to tag this map as being unkind to those with color vision deficiencies, but I think it’s also unkind to people with normal color vision, so I’ll skip it.
While we’re on the subject of elevation, have a closer look at Asia:
Tibet, over in the lower right corner of the image, has some of the world’s tallest mountains, included Mt. Everest. You may have heard of it. However, on this map, it looks relatively flat compared to the giant peaks of west and central Russia, which are apparently about 30 miles high if you are comparing with Tibet. This may be because of the tinting again, and/or because of the hillshading, but I would not rely on the terrain representation to have much connection to reality. Unless you need a guide to a parallel Earth where most of Turkey is higher than Tibet.
That being said, I do kind of like the highly generalized, faceted appearance the terrain has. It’s not unnecessarily detailed, and lends a sort of “crystalline” aesthetic — almost like the map was carved out of rock, and then smoothed out a bit. Kind of like the actual Earth. I think it’s well generalized for the purpose.
Before I move away from this image, notice the Aral sea, in the center. It’s a different shade of blue than every other body of water on the map. A much brighter blue. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the artist had some outdated data on the Aral Sea (which has changed in size and shape considerably over the past few decades), and had to replace it at the last minute and somehow they couldn’t match the colors. It has an almost pasted-in appearance.
On to labels…
The labeling here is a vast mess of black ink.
On the image above, I count seven types of labels: Countries, capital cities, other cities, islands, individual mountains, mountain ranges, rivers, and seas. These very different things are being represented by very similar looking labels. It’s hard to see the label for Spain and the label for Serbia as being the same type of thing, and as being separate from whatever is represented by the label for “Rome,” for example. The label styles aren’t creating a hierarchy or establishing distinctions. Now, I know a little about Europe, so I know that Croatia and Italy are both countries. But if I knew nothing of Europe, this map would be pretty confusing, and I imagine I would be left wondering, in some cases, whether a label represented a country or a city. Look at Serbia and Belgrade — it looks to me like Belgrade is the country and Serbia the city. Using multiple colors for the labels would help, as would using something like small caps for the countries, or even another typeface. Admittedly, the terrain colors limit the options for label colors, which is perhaps another strike against them.
Speaking of countries, where are the borders for Poland? Or Switzerland? They’re pretty hard to see, both on the scan and in the print. The map labels all the countries of the world (which helps date it to the early 1990s, as well), but the borders rarely show up clearly. If it’s worth putting on the map, it’s worth putting on the map in a way that people can actually see.
The labeling would also be less confusing if it were not so dense, which means that it’s hard to associate a label with a specific feature, or place them very clearly and cleanly. I’m not sure why there are so many cities on this map. It’s nice to have them for a general reference map, but I imagine it would still look fine on your wall if it was missing Arad, Romania. Time to cut some out place out — simplify, to make things easier to read. You reach a point where adding more information simply obscures information already on the map, having a net effect of making your map less and less useful as you pile more data onto it.
Can you find the label that says “Alps”? I spent quite a time figuring out what the letter “A” was doing by itself in France, before I realized that it was part of a word that was so spread out that my brain stopped processing it as one word. While tracking out labels to mimic the area of a feature is a useful practice, it can be taken too far. Especially, again, if you’re trying to educate people who are unfamiliar with the relevant geography. If I didn’t know where the Alps were, or what they were called, I don’t think this map would tell me.
I’ll also briefly mention that I looked at a few cities in the USA, and their city dots are way off in their placement, so I wouldn’t necessarily trust it to point out where some of these places actually are.
One Nice Thing: I like their use of Tanaka’s illuminated contours:
Arguably, you can criticize it for its stair-stepped appearance, but I find the aesthetic interesting and attractive. It’s still requires painstaking manual effort, so it’s still rare, unfortunately. It’s rarer, still, in my experience, to see it on something other than a greyscale background. I think it does a nice job of bringing out the continental shelf.
Also, don’t know what’s going on with the little white trapezoids in the north. I think they represent the frozen nature of the north pole.
Special thanks to Jaime Stoltenberg at the Arthur Robinson Map Library for running this through the large-format scanner for me. | <urn:uuid:270f8fb3-f590-4bd1-8667-b560dfd627e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cartastrophe.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/the-uncanny-valley-of-color/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=5c0945c42e | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963828 | 1,756 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Matching 1 Tags
Did David Hume "Banish" Miracles?
“I flatter myself,” Hume triumphantly proclaimed, “that I have discovered an argument . . . which, if just, will, with the wise and learned, be an everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusion, and consequently, will be useful as long as the world endures.”
Miracles and Science: The Long Shadow of David Hume
In this paper, physicist Ard Louis, a "scientist who believes in the miracles of the Bible", looks at the implications science has on the acceptance of miracles.
Scientific Fundamentalism and its Cultural Impact
Giberson's essay makes the case that scientific fundamentalists are not merely arguing for the supremacy of science but also presenting science as a quasi-religious replacement. The agenda of the "New Atheists" is not merely to refute mainstream religion but to replace it. Unfortunately, the scientific community is poorly represented by these aggressive public figures.
The Language of Science and Faith: A Brief History
This book shares and even embodies the very inspiration that launched BioLogos—the desire to help people find answers to “Genuine Questions” about relating scientific accounts of origins to their faith in God as creator. | <urn:uuid:b1bd02c6-995f-4a82-b551-1d731bc2cb7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://biologos.org/resources/find/Essay,Book/any/Non-Believers,Divine+Action+&+Purpose | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923456 | 261 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Definition of Womb
Womb: The womb (uterus) is a hollow, pear-shaped organ located in a woman's lower abdomen between the bladder and the rectum. The narrow, lower portion of the uterus is the cervix; the broader, upper part is the corpus. The corpus is made up of two layers of tissue.
In women of childbearing age, the inner layer of the uterus (endometrium) goes through a series of monthly changes known as the menstrual cycle. Each month, endometrial tissue grows and thickens in preparation to receive a fertilized egg. Menstruation occurs when this tissue is not used, disintegrates, and passes out through the vagina. The outer layer of the corpus (myometrium) is muscular tissue that expands during pregnancy to hold the growing fetus and contracts during labor to deliver the child.Source: MedTerms™ Medical Dictionary
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM
Find out what women really need. | <urn:uuid:25aa334c-b502-4212-a61f-b6dc9e6c3b1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rxlist.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=8833 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924519 | 207 | 3.5625 | 4 |
In their own time journalists have weathered a lot of tempests, but navigating the Scylla and Charybdis of the digital straits requires an entirely new level of sang-froid and fortitude. While giant media corporations scramble to protect their profits in the face of declining advertising revenues, their employees and contractors engage in a high-stakes game of musical chairs. Correspondents moonlight as bloggers on the Web sites of their own programs and publications. Writers pack video cameras when they go out to report a story. Photographers tote digital recorders, and reporters who have mastered nut grafs and a few lines of computer code are the new must-hires at many Web ventures.
To negotiate the ever-changing landscape, journalists should check out “Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive,” by Mark Briggs, assistant managing editor for interactive news at The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington. Billed as a “digital literacy guide for the information age” and available as an online pdf in Spanish, Portuguese and English, “Journalism 2.0” is a handy compendium of concepts, emerging software standards, and equipment advice for the 21st century journalist, whether a dedicated amateur or a pro. Briggs’s writing has a very friendly tone, reassuring “traditionalists” that if they know how to write an e-mail or send an attachment, they, too, can prosper in an increasingly interactive news world. But in case the carrot doesn’t work, the not so subtle subtext is clear: “adapt or die.”
My guess is that “Journalism 2.0” works best as a survey course on multimedia for folks who still don’t have a lot of experience in the field. Practicing journalists are going to get the most out of this guide by picking one or two areas on which to focus and then delving deeper than an introductory text, such as this one, will take them. Without this kind of pick-and-choose approach, journalists are likely to feel panicked by all there is to absorb—editing audio, shooting video, and designing Web sites, to mention a few. Instead, the wise approach is to build on acquired skills and experiences and look for ways to increase their value.
For a print journalist, this might mean devoting six months to getting really good at recording and editing audio. What are the ambient sounds that allow your listeners to place the locale or mood of a story right away? What audio levels give the best results for a podcast or voice-over? By still relying on all of the same foundational skills of a print reporter—finding the right person to interview, ferreting out the unexpected detail—the one new element is to add sound to give the story being told a new dimension.
For a photographer, a goal might be to master the interactive slide show by learning how to mesh audio and stills with a low-cost program such as Soundslides. Which stories are best told in a single iconic shot and which demand expansion through a timeline? When does a series of still images deliver a greater impact than a video? While still dealing with light and mood and f-stops, voice and timbre are strengthened.
After a few months devoted to feeling more secure about the basics of podcasting or interactive slide shows, it is time to see what new media technology or other applications can be used to showcase your various journalistic skills. Every few months, as new programs and devices surface, be ruthless, this guidebook advises, about which ones will serve your purposes best. Another piece of good advice: Write up your top five “lessons learned” for your own blog or your employer’s Web site and watch comments—many of them helpful—pour in.
A trend I’m paying more attention to is convergence among computer programmers and journalists. Database reporting and Computer Assisted Reporting have been used for decades to cover election results, economic statistics, and social trends. (CBS News used UNIVAC I to call the 1952 presidential election for Dwight Eisenhower hours before the national results were in.) What is changing now is the ease with which databases can be generated and even compared to one another in so-called “mash-ups.” One of the best known examples comes from Adrian Holovoty, who figured out how to display crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department on Google Maps and now lots of news Web sites are using this technique to display such statistics.
Going forward, journalists will have to evaluate ever more databases, figuring out the right questions to ask and finding effective ways to gain access to available databases throughout the world. Or journalists can lead the way by developing and sharing their databases, as a team from Folha de São Paulo recently did in Brazil. Led by Fernando Rodrigues, Folha journalists collected government-mandated financial statements of every political candidate throughout the country. The newspaper transformed these raw numbers into a giant database that they used to compare statements across several years. By doing this, the Folha team discovered that being elected to office often increased a politician’s declared wealth by 90 percent or more. Work on this project cost the paper several hundred thousand dollars. With this kind of information in hand, Folha reported on the top national political races and then, in a brilliant marketing move (by which democracy also prospered), the newspaper opened the database for public consumption. Voters could check on their representatives, and regional newspapers filed stories on local candidates using the information Folha aggregated.
For those journalists who don’t excel at generating databases—or who don’t work for a news organization like Folha with the willingness to devote resources to such a project—partnering with a friendly programmer might be the best way to explore what’s possible. If the Web 2.0 environment for news has taught us anything, it is that we are better off not going it alone.
Christine Gorman, a 2008 Global Health Nieman Fellow, was a longtime senior health writer for Time magazine. She now blogs about global health issues and journalism at www.globalhealthreport.com and maintains her own Web page at www.cgormanhealth.com. | <urn:uuid:658e0414-b20b-48a4-b5d1-650fc21184ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/100100/Journalism-20And-Then-What.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943519 | 1,286 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Given the back-to-back defeats of Republicans in 2006 and 2008 that have resulted in the Democrats regaining control of the White House and both houses of Congress, there will be deep re-evaluation within the Republican Party about the direction in which they should go. Such evaluations, accompanied by vicious intra-party warfare, are normal for losing parties, especially if the defeats are big ones.
What made this year a little unusual was that the sniping started even before the election was over. The difference may have been due to the fact that this division was over the role of a person than the usual ones of issues or campaign strategy. Sarah Palin, a relative unknown until a few months ago, seemed to be the flashpoint for the early fighting, the dividing line separating the factions. But rather than focus on Palin the person, an admittedly fascinating topic that the media can’t seem to get enough of, it may be more helpful to look at what she represents.
To see how the Palin phenomenon came about and why the warfare within the Republican Party is so vicious, we need to go back a little in history. Modern Republican politics has had at its core the ‘Southern strategy’. This was developed following the bitter battles for desegregation in the 1950s and the early 1960s, many of them occurring in the South, that led to the golden age of civil rights legislation of the 1960s.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial segregation in schools, public places, and employment. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited states from imposing any “voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure … to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” Congress was outlawing the practice in some which southern states were preventing otherwise qualified African-Americans from voting by having them pass literacy tests in order to register to vote.
These laws were seen as direct rebukes to Southern whites and in signing the second piece of legislation, president Lyndon Johnson is reported to have predicted “There goes the South for a generation.” But the effects actually lasted even longer.
Richard Nixon pioneered the Southern strategy that won him the presidency in 1968 and 1972. It basically exploited the resentment of Southern whites against the Democratic-led civil rights legislation to seal Southern support for Republicans. Once they had secured that large bloc of electoral votes, they then used race and religion-based issues as wedges to divide the rest of the country along cultural fault lines to carve out winning majorities in the electoral college by bringing together two large blocs of people.
One bloc consisted of old-style conservative Republicans, the ones who used to be called ‘Rockefeller Republicans’. They consist of people who are pragmatic, technocratic, and managerial in their outlook, and less ideological. They believe in the rule of law, a small but responsible and competent government, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. On economics they favor pro-business, lower-tax, fiscal policies and balanced budgets. On personal matters, they tend to oppose the expansions of social welfare programs and be somewhat libertarian in their outlook and believers in individual freedoms. They tended to be well educated and had a sense of noblesse oblige, that although possessed of a sense of entitlement that they were properly the ruling class, they had a responsibility for the welfare of people not as fortunate as themselves.
Allied with this group was the second bloc, those people for whom social issues were paramount, people for whom issues such as abortion, gays, guns, god, and flag were important. These people were always the rank and file of the party, the ones who existed in large numbers in parts of the country and gave it voting clout but they were never the leaders. They were the infantry and junior officer corps of the army, not the top brass. They were thrown the occasional bone to keep them satisfied and in line, but their main role was to get riled up at election time and come out in large numbers to vote for the Republican party. This was done close to election time by raising issues like flag burning, abortion rights, gay rights, gun control, immigration and border fences, and the Ten Commandments. After the election ended and the furor was over, it was scarcely mentioned that nothing much had actually changed on any of these issues, so that they could be resurrected the next election if needed.
So we saw campaign after campaign fought on issues of abortion, god, gays, guns, patriotism, xenophobia, pitting church-going rural people against the supposedly multicultural, non-patriotic urban populations, and setting less-educated working class urban people against supposedly effete sophisticates. And race was always a subtext.
Next: The Southern strategy takes hold.
POST SCRIPT: How right wing talk radio operates
This is a fascinating article by a former local station news director on how right wing talk radio manages to plug away in a coordinated fashion day after day on selected topics and thus controls the political conversation. (Thanks to Digby.)
These radio hosts exploit and perpetuate the sense of victimhood of their listeners.
To begin with, talk show hosts such as Charlie Sykes – one of the best in the business – are popular and powerful because they appeal to a segment of the population that feels disenfranchised and even victimized by the media. These people believe the media are predominantly staffed by and consistently reflect the views of social liberals. This view is by now so long-held and deep-rooted, it has evolved into part of virtually every conservative’s DNA.
To succeed, a talk show host must perpetuate the notion that his or her listeners are victims, and the host is the vehicle by which they can become empowered. The host frames virtually every issue in us-versus-them terms. There has to be a bad guy against whom the host will emphatically defend those loyal listeners.
This enemy can be a politician – either a Democratic officeholder or, in rare cases where no Democrat is convenient to blame, it can be a “RINO” (a “Republican In Name Only,” who is deemed not conservative enough). It can be the cold, cruel government bureaucracy. More often than not, however, the enemy is the “mainstream media” – local or national, print or broadcast.
. . .
[T]he key reason talk radio succeeds is because its hosts can exploit the fears and perceived victimization of a large swath of conservative-leaning listeners.
The audience for these shows is a lot more diverse than is commonly thought.
The stereotyped liberal view of the talk radio audience is that it’s a lot of angry, uneducated white men. In fact, the audience is far more diverse. Many are businesspeople, doctors, lawyers, academics, clergy, or soccer moms and dads.
These hosts actually do get daily memos about what to talk about and what point of view to take, so that a coordinated message can be promoted.
Conservative talk show hosts would receive daily talking points e-mails from the Bush White House, the Republican National Committee and, during election years, GOP campaign operations. They’re not called talking points, but that’s what they are. I know, because I received them, too. During my time at WTMJ, Charlie would generally mine the e-mails, then couch the daily message in his own words. Midday talker Jeff Wagner would be more likely to rely on them verbatim. But neither used them in their entirety, or every single day.
You really need to read the whole thing to see in detail how the system works. | <urn:uuid:18ddf86c-5091-482d-87aa-9baf91d5d94e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2008/11/17/the-future-of-the-republican-party-1-the-southern-strategy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975934 | 1,582 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Alumnae Bulletin May 2008
Bryn Mawr's Bestiary
This gryphon is one of the Cloister's 40 animal gargoyles carved from limestone by Scots guildsman Alec Miller in 1910. (They are not properly "gargoyles" but "chimerae," grotesque, non-waterspout figures.) The designs, approved by M. Carey Thomas, were based on carvings at the Oxford colleges of Merton, Wadham and New, the Church of Saint Mary and the Bodleian Library. Thomas wanted a few gargoyles in place by May Day and for Commencement, which was to be held in the Cloisters, with an address by U.S. President Taft to celebrate the College's 25th anniversary. In the spring of 1910, Miller set to work making the scale models in clay of each gargoyle, which he and Thomas placed on the building in various locations, together deciding the best spot for each. Photo by Jim Roese.
See the 2001 Special Collections exhibit online: www.brynmawr.edu/library/exhibits/thomas/sculpture. | <urn:uuid:7cf00933-884f-40cc-8528-bff92e7803d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brynmawr.edu/alumnae/bulletin/may08/Lenses.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95935 | 240 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Updated October 27, 2010 04:55 PM CST: The oil company BP is appealing to the Kansas supreme court to reverse a civil judgment against them by the city of Neodesha.
The city, Wilson County, and landowners brought a class-action suit against BP alleging damages resulting from BP's on-going clean-up of a former oil refinery operation.
A jury had ruled in BP's favor following 17 weeks of trial.
But the trial judge set aside the verdict and entered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs.
BP's appeal is based on whether the district court had the right to set aside the jury verdict.
If the supreme court thinks that decision was wrong, a new trial could be awarded.
Posted June 18, 2010 05:57 PM CST
BP's response to Gulf oil spill doesn't surprise Kansas town in a legal tug of war with the company
By NATE HACKNEY
NEODESHA, KAN. - For some residents of Neodesha, Kansas watching the news of the BP oil crisis in the Gulf every day hits close to home.
Underneath their home to be exact.
"It's quite a tragedy, however, it's something that we've been dealing with for years," says Neodesha City Administrator J.D. Cox. "And some of the reactions of the BP officials are some of the same things that they've been saying here for years."
Residents in Neodesha, Kansas have been in a legal tug of war with BP for years over issues of contaminated groundwater.
In 2004 the city of Neodesha, Kansas filed a suit against BP. They claim the oil giant's inadequate cleanup of waste from a refinery has left half the city's groundwater contaminated.
The refinery closed nearly 40 years ago.
Officials say a jury originally ruled in favor of BP but the judge overturned the decision in favor of the city. BP is now appealing to the state supreme court.
"We have not been satisfied with the cleanup efforts that have been completed up to this point.," Cox says.
In addition to the obvious health concerns the city says that the oil has caused economic problems, like a softball field shut down because oil was known to seep up through the ground.
The news of BP's alleged negligence in the Gulf cleanup is disappointingly familiar to Neodesha resident Lucille Campbell.
"This Gulf is so much more horrendous but you see their mode of operation is the same," Campbell says. "They treated little Neodesha just like they're treating the Gulf."
She says that while she is outraged and saddened by the images she sees on national news it gives her hope that this time the whole world will notice.
"I would like to think that the truth will come out on this," Campbell says. | <urn:uuid:ead2f65f-aa56-4b3e-a51f-9692e0235d0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.koamtv.com/global/Story.asp?s=12674972 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977019 | 571 | 1.585938 | 2 |
There is no better way to learn a second language than hearing it from birth. Yet when parents set out to pass two languages on to their children, many find it more complicated than they had assumed. Children exposed to two languages often start to speak later, which can worry their parents. Children fluent in two languages will often refuse to speak one of them, because they realize it makes them different from others in their world.
Melissa Campos-Hernandez is just getting her first glimpse of what it takes to raise a bilingual child, and she has asked me to ask Motherlode readers for guidance. She writes:
My husband and I are both bilingual (Spanish/English) and are trying to raise our daughter to be the same. We’re taking the same approach our parents used: all Spanish at home until she’s two or three and then start teaching English. It worked well when we were growing up, and neither of us (nor our siblings) ever had need for bilingual education in school.
The differences this time around, though, are that we live hundreds of miles away from our families, our bilingual friends are either childless or live too far away to make weekly visits practical, and we live in a predominantly English-speaking suburb. The local playgroups and mommy-and-me classes are all English speaking, so our daughter (10 months old) never hears other children speak in Spanish. On top of that, she hears us speaking to other people in this strange other language.
So my question is, how do we deal with this dilemma? We’re not willing to abandon our plans to teach her Spanish first, especially since she’s already had 10 months of it, but we don’t want her to feel isolated from other kids, especially as she gets a little older. Any suggestions? | <urn:uuid:bebb3070-54ec-40ca-a9a6-8076efb99b97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/raising-a-bilingual-child/?apage=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974075 | 377 | 2.703125 | 3 |
This GPS cache was located in the Lane Cove National Park, in the lower-north suburbs of Sydney, NSW, Australia. It was Australia's first cache, planted 18th May, 2000. It has now become a "virtual cache" because of its unfortunate position (please read below!!!). DO NOT GO TO THE EXACT SPOT. There is nothing to see, and with the cache removed, and 7-metre accuracy, I can't even recognize the exact spot myself.
Note that it is illegal to plant caches in national parks. Something which should be obvious, but the sort of people who would hang around a newsgroup like sci.geo.satellite-nav are not necessarily experts at the bleeding obvious, unlike Sybil (ref: Fawlty Towers).
This spot was chosen because it was believed to be remote and uninteresting, so that no-one would ever stumble on it by mistake. Unfortunately, life isn't that simple. Some places in the park have been designated as remote places suitable for growing rare plants. I managed to place mine where they were growing Darwinia Biflora. Secondly, people normally stick to the walking tracks (as they are supposed to), rather than heading into the scrub. So placing the cache there provides unexpected attention to some normally undisturbed scrub. Thirdly, your shoes carry weeds from one place to another, and with cache hunters arriving from unexected directions, this causes unexpected problems. Fourthly, during bushfire season, backburning may be done, and the rangers need to know of unexpected people before they commit homicide! :-)
However, history can't be changed, and these are the coordinates of Australia's first geocache, and people still regularly go to it. Some consider it to be the Mecca of Australian geocaching, and indeed, it was the site chosen for the Australian gathering of the 10 year anniversary of geocaching.
I think there are a number of entrances to the National Park, but the one I used was at S33 47.5649 E151 09.3768. As of 2010, it costs $7 to enter the national park with your car. There are toilets and BBQ facilities in the park. I do hope that if you visit the park, you go to some of the nice areas instead of just the cache. The cache was deliberately hidden in a non-descript area and I hope this is not your only impression of the park!
The cache's position was averaged for about 30 minutes so has an estimated accuracy of 7m.
Since this cache is now virtual, please email me with the answers to the following questions:
1. How close can you get to GZ without leaving the track that goes around it? [hint - this also doubles-up as an incentive to stay on the walking track, because that's where the answer is, not GZ]
2. Nearby (S33 47.225 E151 08.801) is a set of stone steps that take you from the nearby road to the path that passes GZ. How many steps are there at this location?
Please do not put the answer to these questions in the log, otherwise I will encrypt the log. Also, since most people will get the answer right, if you don't receive a reply from me within 24 hours, you can assume that you are right and log the visit. Note that I operate on the honour system. I do read and validate the answers provided, but do not reply unless there is a direct request or question. So if you would like me to do something specific, please speak up. | <urn:uuid:a4119c7e-f6a0-4d78-bab2-b190691210cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC3E | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970004 | 741 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Insurance Industry Already Finding Ways To Game New System
The insurance industry's attempt to weasel out of one of the few provisions of the new health care reform law that took effect immediately is a harbinger of what's to come.
But far from being satisfied with a windfall of new customers and massive government subsidies, the nation's insurance companies appear to already be busy devising ways to game the new system. Their goal, as ever: Maximizing profits by paying out as little on actual health care as possible.
And next time they start to weasel, Congress and the White House -- and the media -- may not be paying attention anymore.
"This is what you're going to see as each element in this plan comes up for implementation," said Marcia Angell, a former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine who now teaches at Harvard Medical School. "This insurance industry is going to give up nothing."
In the short run, companies are expected to keep doing what they've been doing, which means, among other things, jacking up their rates. "There's nothing to stop them from raising their premiums, and that's what they're going to do," said Angell, a supporter of "single-payer" health insurance.
The new law's ban on discriminating against adults with preexisting conditions doesn't kick in until 2014.
"In the meantime, they can continue to cherry pick the healthiest customers, while foisting the sick into the new high-risk pool," said Wendell Potter, a former senior health insurance executive at CIGNA who went rogue and became a consumer advocate.
That's only the beginning, though.
"They also will continue to try to shift more and more of the cost of health care from them to the people that are enrolled in their plans," Potter said. That involves moving people currently in managed care, with its relatively modest co-pays, "out of those plans and into high-deductible plans that make people pay thousands of dollars before the company will pay a dime," Potter said.
"Managed care was last decade's silver bullet," he told HuffPost. "The new silver bullet for the insurance industry is the high-deductible plan. More and more people will not get a dime from their insurance companies."
And for people who can't afford to pay the full deductible, that's a lot like not having insurance at all.
What else will the industry do? "The companies will certainly be tightening up internal practices to avoid paying claims," Potter said. "One way to do that is to make it more burdensome on providers and make it more difficult for providers to get the reimbursements that they're due. They already are difficult to work with for a lot of providers."
The more burdensome the paperwork, the more likely a provider is to make a mistake. "And if they make a mistake, the claim is kicked out," Potter said.
In the longer run, companies will still be in a race for more profits. The trick will be coming up with ingenious new ways to avoid covering the sick.
One particularly ripe area of speculation concerns how aggressively and imaginatively the insurance companies will market themselves to attract profitable healthy clients and avoid the sick and the old.
"You can do little things with marketing materials," said John Gorman, chief executive officer of Gorman Health Group, a Washington, D.C.-based managed care consulting firm. "How you set up your Web site" could make a difference, he said; so could "where you put certain drugs on your formulary" -- i.e. which drugs cost how much.
"And the plans will play those games," Gorman said. "You're going to see a lot of marketing materials with rocket bodies on the cover."
Potter agrees: "They'll certainly be offering programs that will appeal to people that are younger and more likely or able to exercise and otherwise lead healthier lifestyles."
Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, told HuffPost he recently overheard a major insurance company executive joking about the prospect of being forced to sell plans to the elderly. "We'll sponsor dances and make our pitch at 11 p.m.," Aaron recalled the executive saying. Another possibility Aaron mentioned, only half joking: putting the company's offices on the second floor -- with no elevator.
But Gorman also noted that "at the end of the day, there really isn't any place to run and hide from these patients anymore," and that companies need to start preparing for an influx of clients who were "pre-existed" or medically underwritten out of the current system: "Very sick people with health and medical needs that have been unaddressed for years."
The new law, Gorman pointed out, does include some modest efforts at "risk adjustment" to level the playing field. The government will apply some sort of formula so that "based on diagnostic codes, the government will either tack on or take away a little money" from insurers, depending on how sick or healthy their clients are.
There is one provision in the new law that could limit insurance company revenue: It concerns the "medical loss ratio". (The industry considers the amount of each premium dollar spent on actual medical care to be a "loss".)
In 1993, 95 cents of the average premium dollar went to health care, Potter said. Now the average is closer to 80 cents, and as low as 75 cents for some major companies. The rest of the money goes to overhead -- and profit.
The new law requires companies to maintain a medical loss ratio of at least 80 to 85 percent.
But there are still ways to game even that limit. One is, paradoxically, to spend more on health care, either by offering more services or driving up costs. Insurance companies typically want to spend less on this stuff, but if the 80 percent slice gets bigger, so can the 20 percent slice. Another way, of course, is to label more and more company expenses as health care.
And Angell told HuffPost that come 2014, despite no longer being allowed to raise rates or deny coverage to adults explicitly based on preexisting conditions, insurance companies will still find a way to discriminate.
One provision she expects them to exploit is the one allowing companies to charge as much as 50 percent more for people who engage in unhealthy behaviors. "With anyone who's chronically ill, you can always find an unhealthy behavior," she said.
"So that's the new preexisting condition."
Angell also pointed out that there's been very little coverage of the fact that insurance companies will still be allowed to charge older people (over age 55) much more than younger people. Three times as much, to be precise.
As a result, people between ages 55 and 65 (when Medicare kicks in) who don't have enough income to pay high premiums will be left with two options: Not buying insurance and being hit with a fine; or paying premiums they can't afford.
"These people are not going to be the annoyance they might be now, because either they're going to pay through the nose -- or they're not going to buy insurance," Angell said.
"This is a bonanza. They get captive customers. They get to charge whatever they want."
The industry is also mobilizing on other fronts.
"The insurance companies have dozens if not hundreds of lawyers and lobbyists scouring this legislation for any possible loopholes they can take advantage of," Potter said. "They absolutely will look for any way they can to circumvent any part of the legislation that they think might make them spend more for medical care than they want to spend," he said.
"One thing in particular is they'll be trying to manipulate how regulations are written." The intent of the regulations is set forth in the law, but not spelled out; that job has been left to the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Potter said. "The industry will spend an enormous amount of money to try to influence how those regulations are written."
Potter recently attended a NAIC conference. There are 50-plus insurance commissioners. Potter was there as one of 29 consumer representatives. "There were 1700 representatives of the health insurance industry there," Potter said. "They converge on these meetings just as lobbyists converge on Capitol Hill."
And each state legislature has to implement the regulations individually, including establishing their own regulations for the new health-insurance exchanges, where people not covered through their employers would be able to comparison shop for insurance at competitive rates.
"A key question is how the 50 states are going to handle the implementation of the health insurance exchanges, which they are tasked to do," said Henry Aaron of Brookings. "Whether they will and what happens if they don't is, I think, going to be a very interesting thing to see."
Companies won't just be selling insurance on those regulated exchanges, either. And they may try to game that distinction as well.
"I think the worst-case scenario is they keep cheap customers in plans offered outside the exchanges, and leave the exchanges with high-cost customers, making it look like the exchanges are inefficient," Aaron said.
A lot of these dynamics would have been completely different if people had a so-called public option: A government-run insurance plan without the same toxic incentive structure. Then consumers would have had an alternative when private industry rates shoot up and services decline. But there is no such option in the new law.
And without it, the law's goal of reforming the insurance market is much more of a challenge.
"It's asking this industry not to do what it's set up to do," Angell said. "What it's set up to do is to profit."
* Do you work in the insurance industry? How is your company approaching the new law?
*Are you trying to get insurance for a child with a pre-existing condition? How's that going?
E-mail me at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Dan Froomkin is senior Washington correspondent for the Huffington Post. You can bookmark his page; subscribe to RSS feed, follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, and/or become a fan and get e-mail alerts when he writes. | <urn:uuid:397e4e5e-6d7f-4d9b-9092-76e31486c928> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/31/insurance-industry-alread_n_519503.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976522 | 2,124 | 1.625 | 2 |
1101 Market Street, 11th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: 215-238-6300 Fax: 215-238-1267 www.philadelphiabar.org
Philadelphia Bar Association Launches "Reporting Child Abuse" Public Education Campaign
The Philadelphia Bar Association has launched a “Reporting Child Abuse” public education campaign, as part of a statewide effort cosponsored by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and county bar associations. The program is designed to educate the public about Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law and the steps any Pennsylvanian should take to report suspected child abuse.
To download a copy of the public education campaign brochure, "Reporting Child Abuse," click here
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare:
- During 2011, there were 24,378 cases of suspected child and student abuse reported in Pennsylvania. Of those, 3,408 (approximately 14 percent) were substantiated.
- Last year in Pennsylvania, 34 children died from abuse and in 77 percent of these cases, the perpetrators were the parents. Another 41 children suffered near fatal abuse.
- A majority (2,691 or approximately 66 percent) of the 4,071 injuries in substantiated reports of child abuse were sexual in nature, including sexual assault, rape and incest. Additional injuries ranged from cuts and bruises to skull fractures and scaldings.
- Child abuse has no geographical boundaries. Reported and substantiated cases of child abuse occurred in all 67 Pennsylvania counties last year. | <urn:uuid:999ccf93-cb83-4904-bec8-46b0230ee0eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.philadelphiabar.org/page/NewsItem?appNum=2&newsItemID=1001234 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949081 | 305 | 1.570313 | 2 |
I think the fashion business is one of mankind's sillier creations. A massive industry is based on consumers (not customers) throwing out perfectly good clothes just so they can look like the anorexic models, both male and female, featured in the latest fashion shows and magazine ads.
The New York, Paris, Milan, etc, designers have created a paradigm of absurdity, yet cyclists have managed to exceed even their silliness. Not only do many cyclists strive to dress like Tour de France riders, but they pay absurd amounts for kit plastered with advertising. Think about it, the advertisers pay the pros to wear jersey's advertising plastic flooring (Quickstep), hearing aids (Phonak), early pregnancy tests and lotteries (Predictor Lotto), and TV channels (Discovery). Most riders, however, actually pay big bucks to buy the same clothes; in other words they pay for the privilege of advertising for these companies. Is this all in hope that they might be mistaken for Lance?
Beyond the obviously ludicrous, there is the question of stomping about in road racing shoes when stopping for lunch because MTB or touring shoes you can walk in aren't deemed cool on a road bike. Plus, many of us no longer look our best in tight fitting Lycra.
As usual, the Japanese are a bit ahead of the curve in this. As this International Herald Tribune article explains how bicycle fashion is being recreated by some Japanese designers.
Also in Nakameguro is a shop called Hosu, where the doorway is flanked by a beautifully assembled Italian bicycle and a heavy-duty, multitiered tool box. Like PedAL.E.D., Hosu's clothes are all originals and geared toward the fashion-conscious, urban bicyclist. Hosu designs are marked by an understated edginess, like tweed or wool-like pants that are, in fact, made from polyester (for fast drying and easy wearing). They come with small slap-on coils that go around the left hem of the pant leg. This is so the pant hem will not get tangled in or soiled by the gear chain. The coils attach to the belt loops with an attractive metal ring, also good for hanging keys and other paraphernalia.The PedAL. E.D. shop also creates clothes that work both around town and on a bike. But more importantly their clothes are made of organic cotton, hemp, and other "responsible" fabrics. If you watched the talk by Yvon Chouinard that I linked to a few posts back, you know that non-organic cotton may be the most environmentally destructive crop in the world. And most plastic clothes, Lycra, pile, polyester, are made from oil, yet recycled polyester is one of the least harmful fabrics. Even wool raised on non-organic industrial ranches is questionable.
There are also jackets that come with small, detachable buttons that glow in the dark and alert drivers that a cyclist is on the road.
Jun Kurokawa, 34, a Hosu fan and rookie cyclist, said: "Just because I'm into bicycles doesn't necessarily mean that I have to dress the part. I like Hosu stuff because you can't really tell they were designed for bike lovers. It's a little bit like being part of a secret society."
By the way, some of the best advice I ever received was: "Don't date women who wear gold shoes or say their hobby is shopping." And, "Style is not the same as fashion." | <urn:uuid:654be5f2-87d3-4850-98eb-0961dbce7b2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://velo-orange.blogspot.com/2007/09/velo-fashion.html?showComment=1190304960000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967989 | 726 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The MBA business project can take many forms but what we are talking about here is where an MBA student in the middle or at the end of their course perform a consultancy project for a business. In theory, they should be paid for this, and this would be a very useful help in funding your MBA course. But what this really gives the student is experience. Experience in a new industry, experience in finding out a customer's requirements and delivering to their expectations. Experience maybe in a new sector or in a new industry or in a new role or part of a business.
What the company that you perform the project for gets is something that will save them money and save them time. The business project should add value to the business - with a new perspective available on the organization, and this from someone who is high quality - familiar with the current academic business research and thinking. In many MBA programmes, the business project will be the final piece of assessed work. Students get the opportunity to apply the skills and the knowledge that they had gained during their time on the course. Students cannot get the famous three letters after their name without getting over the hurdle of the business project. They get to charge a lot more for their services once they have got over this hurdle - so it's worth it for them even if they don't get paid a lot for it.
On British one year courses, the time in which students will undertake the business project is between early in July and the end of September. Students need to look for projects from early Springtime onwards, and the earlier that you start to look for a business project the more chance you have to get a really good one. More importantly, companies should be encouraged to come to business schools early looking for students as then they will get the highest chance of finding the one that is most suitable to the needs of their business.
If you are a business and you know that you have a problem or a general issue that you feels is worthy of study, then you don't have to decide for yourself whether it is something for a business project. Instead, get in touch with a business school, and run the issue or problem by them, and see whether it is worthy of a project. Be aware that there needs to be sufficient analytical rigour in the solving of that problem for it to be acceptable as an MBA project. The business school can advise you on the best way to progress.
The Harvard MBA..
The Cass MBA..
Open University MBA's
The Oxford MBA..
The Wharton MBA..
The Cambridge MBA..
London Business School MBA's
The IMD MBA..
The Kellogg MBA..
An MBA in France..
An MBA in London..
What to look for at an MBA school..
Financing an MBA..
Tips for future students..
MBA admission criteria..
Top UK MBA's..
MBA job prospects..
MBA career path..
What is an MBA case study?
What is the MBA Business Project?
Why an MBA?
Why should I get an MBA degree?
What MBA program should I choose?
How Do I write an MBA essay?
Where can I get a past MBA exam paper?
How do I get Myself a Business Project?
What is the GMAT?
How does the GMAT work?
What are the different TOEFL sections?
Do you have any TOEFL Tips?
What is the best fair for the MBA?
What is the MBA world tour?
How do I get an MBA scholarship?
Why do I compete to get into an MBA school?
How does the MBA ranking system work?
What is the best MBA in the UK?
What is the Financial Times MBA ranking
What are the rankings for the part-time MBA?
What is the top MBA?
What is the best MBA course in Europe ?
What is an accredited MBA?
What is the EQUIS MBA?
Is there an Association for the MBA? | <urn:uuid:ce98e612-d520-4138-8e97-f4699d374713> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wisebizz.info/mba/business-project.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927266 | 817 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Israel’s embassy in Ireland got itself in hot water for an inflammatory posting on its Facebook page that embarrassed the Jewish state. The post stated that were Jesus and Mary alive today and walking around Bethlehem without security, they would be lynched as Jews by the Palestinians. When a controversy over the post ensued, it was soon deleted and an apology was issued. But the Dublin embassy is not getting off so easy. The New York Times quoted Haaretz’s diplomatic correspondent as reporting that this was just the latest though most egregious example of an aggressive stance taken by Israel’s envoys in Ireland. Apparently the embassy is guilty of speaking of Irish anti-Israel activists. It even had the temerity to re-post a satirical video about Irish media bias against Israel by the Latma comedy troupe.
All of this has brought down the opprobrium of Haaretz and the Times on the Dublin embassy. The Times even closed its piece on the subject by quoting a Palestinian response to the posting about Jesus and Mary that said that Christmas is freely celebrated in Bethlehem each year. But that remark, as well as much of the criticism of the supposedly undiplomatic behavior of the envoys, is off the mark. As much as it might have been wiser for anyone connected to the Israeli government to avoid any mention of the holy family or Christmas, their “offensive” post was primarily guilty of doing the one thing that diplomats are generally urged to avoid: telling the truth.
As the Times notes, Ireland has become a hotbed of anti-Israel incitement in the past few decades. Though Irish independence fighters and Jews struggling to free their ancient homeland once identified with each other due to their common British foe, the Irish Catholics now seem to identify more with the Palestinians while it is the Ulster Protestants who think of Israel as a role model for survival as a minority in a hostile environment. The Irish media is well known for its anti-Israel bias and agitation against the Jewish state that seems to be louder and nastier than in even neighboring Britain.
Perhaps that’s why Israel’s Dublin embassy has come to the reasonable conclusion that it needs to stop playing defense when it comes to correcting misperceptions about the Middle East conflict. In too many instances, Israeli diplomats and spokespersons have avoided getting into scrapes but in the process failed to adequately defend their country at a time when a rising tide of anti-Semitism has distorted the debate about the Middle East conflict in Europe.
More to the point, the embassy’s Facebook comments about Jesus, Mary and Bethlehem actually were very much to the point in dealing with that troubling trend. For decades, the Palestinian leadership has sought to portray Arabs as the true descendants of the biblical Jews. That serves the double purpose of delegitimizing Zionism and Israel while also allowing them to play upon the sympathies of Christians. Modern Christianity has embraced the notion that Jesus was a Jew as part of an effort to move away from a tradition of theology-driven anti-Semitism. But the Palestinians want you to buy into the anti-historical concept that Jesus was Palestinian rather than a Jew.
It should also be stated that the post did no more than state the obvious when it noted that Jews without security in Palestinian Authority-ruled Bethlehem are at grave risk. Indeed, Rachel’s Tomb, which is located outside the town, is often besieged by violent Palestinians seeking to take over that Jewish shrine.
In raising the subject, the embassy did the unthinkable and told the truth about Palestinian violence and prejudice. While that might have been considered undiplomatic, that is something that more Israeli diplomats as well as members of the media ought to be doing more often. | <urn:uuid:492e866e-f291-4c01-adbf-d75b2cf6b003> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/12/17/telling-the-truth-on-facebook-bethlehem-israel-palestinians/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979907 | 755 | 1.757813 | 2 |
This past weekend was the National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference in Washington, DC, and a theoretical physicist from Cal Tech gave a talk in which he laid out the many ways that the federal government impedes scientific research into the potential medical benefits of marijuana and then uses that lack of research to justify continued obstruction.
The most blatant example of this behavior came last year, when NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) blocked an FDA-approved clinical trial testing marijuana as a remedy for post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. It’s especially sad to note that the study participants were veterans, with PTSD deemed untreatable by other means. After 12 years of war, this is how we treat them. […]
As a physicist, I can assure you that this not how physics works. … We are all expected to act like grownups and accept it gracefully as experiments prove our favorite theories are false. In physics, unlike marijuana policy, we consider the right message to send to be the message that’s true. […]
Consider what American science might look like if all research were run like marijuana research is being run now. Suppose the Institute for Creation Science were put in charge of approving paleontology digs and the science of human evolution. Imagine what would happen to the environment if we gave coal and oil companies the power to block any climate research they didn’t like.
There is a bill in Congress that would remove federal oversight authority over marijuana research from the NIDA. I suspect it has about a zero chance of passing because the moment it came up our eager legislators would go all Reefer Madness on it. | <urn:uuid:c9313edc-5a8e-4255-b1ed-95c47faeab6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2013/02/28/how-the-government-impedes-scientific-research-on-marijuana/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961492 | 327 | 1.664063 | 2 |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Conservative Muslim and Roman Catholic countries and liberal Western nations approved a U.N. blueprint to combat violence against women and girls, ignoring strong objections from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood that it clashed with Islamic principles and sought to destroy the family.
After two weeks of tough and often contentious negotiations, 131 countries joined consensus Friday night on a compromise 17-page document that Michelle Bachelet, the head of the U.N. women's agency, called historic because it sets global standards for action to prevent and end "one of the gravest violations of human rights in the world, the violence that is committed against women and girls."
"People worldwide expected action, and we didn't fail them," she said to loud applause. "Yes, we did it!"
On Wednesday, the Brotherhood, which has emerged as the most powerful political faction in Egypt since the 2011 uprising, lashed out at the anticipated document for advocating sexual freedoms for women and the right to abortion "under the guise of sexual and reproductive rights." It called the title, on eliminating and preventing all forms of violence against women and girls, "deceitful."
Last week, Egypt proposed an amendment to the text saying that each country is sovereign and can implement the document in accordance with its own laws and customs, a provision strongly opposed by many countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
It was dropped in the final compromise drafted by the meeting's chair. Instead, the final text urges all countries "to strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and girls and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition and religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination."
When countries were polled on their views on the final draft, there was fear among the declaration's supporters that Egypt would oppose it, which would block the consensus required for adoption.
The head of Egypt's delegation, politician and diplomat Mervat Tallawy, surprised and delighted the overwhelming majority of delegates and onlookers in the crowded U.N. conference room when she ignored the Brotherhood and announced that Egypt would join consensus.
"International soldarity is needed for women's empowerment and preventing this regressive mood, whether in the developing countries or developed, or in the Middle East in particular," Tallawy told two reporters afterwards. "It's a global wave of conservatism, of repression against women, and this paper is a message that if we can get together, hold power together, we can be a strong wave against this conservatism."
Tallawy, who is president of the National Council for Women-Egypt, said she has told this to Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi, who came from the Muslim Brotherhood,
"I believe in women's cause. I don't take money from the government. I work voluntarily. If they want to kick me out they can. But I will not change my belief in women," she said. "Women are the slaves of this age. This is unacceptable, and particularly in our region."
A number of Muslim and Catholic countries including Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Holy See and Honduras expressed reservations about elements of the text — but Libya was the only country to dissociate itself from the final document though it did not block consensus.
Libya's top cleric raised similar concerns to the Muslim Brotherhood, rejecting the document for violating Islamic teachings. The Libyan delegation objected to paragraphs calling for sex education for all adolescents and youth, with appropriate direction from parents, and for priority to programs for girls' education so they can take responsibility for their own lives, "including access to a sustainable livelihood."
At the start of the meeting, Bachelet said data from the World Health Organization and other research shows that an average of 40 percent — and up to 70 per cent of women in some countries — face violence in their lifetimes, and she pointed to recent high-profile attacks on women in India and Pakistan. She said Friday that during the two-week session "countless women and girls around the world have suffered violence."
When the Commission on the Status of Women took up violence against women a decade ago, governments were unable to reach agreement on a final document because of differences over sex education, a woman's right to reproductive health, and demands for an exception for traditional, cultural and religious practices.
The final document approved Friday reaffirms that women and men have the right to enjoy all human rights "on an equal basis," recommits governments to comprehensive sex education, calls for sexual and reproductive health services such as emergency contraception and safe abortion for victims of violence, and calls on government to criminalize violence against women and punish gender-related killings. But it dropped references to sexual orientation and gender identity.
"We did make gains," said Francoise Girard, president of the New York-based International Women's Health Coalition. "This is the first time we have an agreed document recognizing emergency contraception as a necessary service to preserve women's health."
Terri Robl, the U.S. deputy representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, called the agreement an important step but said the text is "only a beginning." She expressed regret at its failure to state that ending violence must apply to all women, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity, or to refer specifically to "intimate partner violence."
While the document is not legally binding, Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said "it sets a certain standard by which all member states can monitor their performance and can be monitored by others." | <urn:uuid:6a3c24d0-37bb-4322-a56a-bfddf3bd6e79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/apexchange/2013/03/16/un-un-violence-against-women.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962829 | 1,125 | 1.75 | 2 |
From: "The World Peace Prophecies: The Unification of Science,
Religion, and Humanity," donated by its author, Monte Benson
Part 1: The Earth’s Age and the Science of Genesis 1:
Science supports an old Earth and Universe.
Mainstream Science and the Bible Actually Agree:
To unite science and spirituality, biblical history must be examined in great detail—although it might seem like an unlikely place to search for such evidence. Consider some of the main stories used to reject the Bible:
- The creation of the universe in six 24-hour days,
- Adam and Eve being the first humans,
- The flood,
- The confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel,
- The Exodus, and
- Joshua’s long day (Genesis 1, 2, 7, 11; Exodus 8-11, 14; Joshua 10:12-14).
Are not these stories simply superstitious myths? Well, actually they are not, once they are properly understood. The Bible does not teach what many Christians think it does. It is wrong traditions and incorrect translations that make these stories appear to be unscientific. The truth is that, in general, the Bible is supported quite well by science, archaeology, and history. And although many attacks have been made against the Bible, there is plenty of evidence to answer them with. 1
Why should I believe your interpretation of Genesis 1?
To start with, the interpretations in the next few chapters do not require the use of pseudo-science, and, more importantly, they resolve the major differences between science and scripture. In the past, these differences helped to cause strife and distrust in the world, so to begin to resolve them, this chapter harmonizes mainstream science with Genesis 1 in ways that even most Christians are unaware of. However, before I can do so, I must explain in detail why young-earth creationism is false, and the way I will do so is by presenting enough evidence to prove that the earth is about 4.6 billion years old. The reason I devote almost an entire chapter to this subject is because at least 30 percent 2 (some sources indicate about 45 to 47 percent) 3 of Americans still believe in young-earth creationism.
At the end of this section, the linguistic issues regarding the meaning of “day” (yowm in Hebrew) in Genesis 1, as in “on the first day,” will be addressed. This will show that the six days of creation may be seen, on linguistic grounds, as six periods of time, or eras. The arguments in this chapter will help to unite Christians, and they will also help to bring scientists to a belief in the Bible. But not only that, the information in this chapter will help to create more peace, and it will also help to bring more people to an awareness that we live in a spiritual universe. However, if you already know that the earth is about 4.6 billion years old, feel free to skip ahead to the final two sections of this chapter.
How can I possibly know that the earth and the universe are billions of years old? Well, the science is actually quite conclusive. Those who want to can find this out by simply comparing old-earth vs. young-earth creationist arguments. When these two conflicting views are compared and analyzed in a thorough manner, it becomes clear that only the old-earth arguments fit the facts. 4
Do young-earth proponents use scientific principles?
One reason young-earth arguments should not be trusted is because their proponents place their interpretation of the Bible above all other evidence. This causes them to force the truth, even to the breaking point, to uphold God’s word as they understand it. But this is not science. True science must test its claims again and again as necessary. Consequently, when a theory passes one test after another, it becomes more and more trusted. Believers in the young-earth interpretation of the Bible, on the other hand, refuse to drop any of their ideas even if the clearest science demands it; they think they know what God meant in the Bible and that is all the evidence they need. Little do they know that the Bible is in perfect harmony with the very science they fight.
Now, some Christians are uncomfortable because a number of atheistic scientists are in high positions in the scientific realm, which for many of these Christians casts doubt on orthodox science in general. They need to understand though that not all orthodox scientists are atheists. There are many scientists who believe in God and a 13.7 billion year old universe. It is also significant that even the best scientists admit that you cannot prove that God does not exist. However, Hugh Ross and a few other scientists have discovered how to scientifically test whether or not He exists, since only testable theories can become reliable. 5 The exciting news is that, eventually, these tests and others will withstand widespread scientific scrutiny.
So, what exactly do young-earth creationists believe? Well, one of the two main pillars of their argument is the idea that the geologic column (with its fossil record) was laid down in about one year, while the other pillar is the claim that the radiometric dating methods used to prove that the earth is 4.6 billion years old are unreliable. Thus they believe that the millions of sedimentary layers in the geologic column are not indications of yearly layers, but instead, were laid down in less than one year’s time during Noah’s flood. But, as you will see, both of these claims are false. 6
Has the speed of light decayed?
To disprove that the universe is billions of years old, young-earth Christians claim that the speed of light may have slowed down dramatically since creation. Thus we can see galaxies that are millions or even billions of light years away and still have a universe that is only about 6,000 to 12,000 years old. (A light year is how far light travels in one year.) One way to test this young-earth theory is to study pulsars, which can be used as extremely accurate clocks. By studying their light, scientists have determined that there is no time dilation effect upon the light they emit. (There would be if the speed of light had decayed.) We also know the speed of light has not decreased much because if it had galaxies would be rotating much faster than they appear to be—so fast, in fact, that at such speeds they would rip apart. Since this has not occurred, the decay of light theory is clearly false. Thus, if the speed of light had changed as much as some creationists contend, it would be easy to detect.
One way scientists have proven that there are astronomical objects far beyond 12,000 light years away is through trigonometry. Based on this method, supernova remnant SN1987A, first visible in 1987, is about 170,000 light years away. This is calculated without relying upon “standard candles,” which are objects of known brightness. This supernova thus occurred about 170,000 years ago since the speed of light has always been about the same. Thus the universe must be much, much older than this supernova remnant. 7
This is just one of many methods available to determine astronomical distances in order to prove that the universe is not 6,000 to 12,000 years old, but is instead many billions of years old. 8 Even considering the range of error (most are off by no more than about 15 percent with just a few off by up to 50 percent), the techniques for measuring interstellar distances still give results that rule out young-earth distance arguments. 9 For further information, I recommend Bjorn Feuerbacher’s excellent article found on TalkOrigins concerning the measurement of interstellar distances far beyond 12,000 light years (even beyond millions of light years). His article also answers creationist objections (see footnote). 10
Radiometric Decay Rates:
By studying gamma rays emitted by supernova remnants, scientists have proven that radioactive decay rates were the same in the past as they are now. For example, as just mentioned, the remnant of Supernova SN1987A is about 170,000 light years away, so light takes about 170,000 years to travel from it to the earth. By studying the light emitted by it, scientists have determined that decay rates were the same 170,000 years ago (when that light was emitted) as they are now. In fact, Supernova SN1991T occurred about 60 million light years away, and when its gamma rays were studied they indicated that decay rates were the same 60 million years ago as they are now. Light has even been studied from supernovas billions of light years away, and in each case, it indicates that the radiometric decay rates billions of years ago were the same as they are now.
Scientists have also tried to change decay rates, but, except for a small change of less than 0.2 percent, which would have no significant effect upon dates, they have been unable to do so. Not only that, calculations indicate that changes to the fundamental radiometric dating constants would affect different dating techniques in a manner that would give incompatible dates using different radioisotopes. Since this is not found, it is clear that radioactive decay rates have always been the same, or at least about the same. 11
Yet there are still other reasons scientists know that nature’s radiometric decay rates have always been the same, or nearly the same. For instance, the structure of stars would be noticeably affected. Since stars within 25,000 light years from earth still have the structure expected, we know that radiocarbon dating is reliable for dating things that are less than 25,000 years old. In fact, based on the change in decay rates proposed by young-earth creationists (an error of 4.6 billion years using present decay rates), the entire earth would have been molten at the time of Adam and Eve, and it would have remained so to this day! 12 Thus geological dating techniques such as uranium 238, uranium-235, and potassium 40 can accurately establish dates for rocks and strata on the order of millions or even billions of years. 13,14
It is thus clear that radiometric dating methods are accurate, including carbon-14 dating, which is reliable for dating things less than 25,000 years old. 15 Although carbon-14 dating does not have the built in check for contamination that other dating methods have, its accuracy is evident because the resulting dates are in good agreement with each other and with other ways of determining how old a sample is, such as dendrochronology, 16 varve 17 counts, various other archaeological dating techniques, and so on. 18 If contamination were a big problem, random discordant dates would prevail. And finally, it must be asked, why would God create radioisotopes in such a way that they could not be used to date archaeological and geological finds?
This topic continues in Part 2
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- John Argubright, Bible Believer’s Archaeology: Historical Evidence that Proves the Bible, vol. 1 (Longwood: Xulon Press, 2002) and vol. 2 (Longwood: Xulon Press, 2003)
- Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch, “Antievolutionism: Changes and Continuities,” BioScience, vol. 53, issue 3, March 2003, pp. 282-285.
- Michael Ruse, The Evolution-Creation Struggle: Ignorant Armies Clash by Night (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005), 249.
- Mark Isaak, The Counter-Creationism Handbook (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2007)
- Ross, Creation as Science, 1-284
- Glenn R. Morton, “Young-Earth Arguments: A Second Look,” God And Science.org, (1998), Retrieved from: http://home.entouch.net/ 29 October 2007
- Dave Matson, “How Good Are Those Young-Earth Arguments?” See: A6. The Distance to Supernova SN1987A and the Speed of Light, The TalkOrigins Archive, (1994), Retrieved from: http://www.talkorigins.org/, and “Rejoinder to Cliff Hanlon’s ‘Three R’s,’” Dave Matson’s response to criticism of his article on C-decay, August 3, 1998, (1995-2007), at: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/dave_matson/hanlon.html 19 November 2004
- Stephen Webb, Measuring the Universe: The Cosmological Distance Ladder (Cornwall: Springer-Praxis, 1999)
- Hugh Ross, Ph.D., Creation and Time (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1994), 96.
- Bjorn Feuerbacher, “Determining Distances to Astronomical Objects,” The TalkOrigins Archive, (2003), Retrieved from: http://www.talkorigins.org/ 19 November 2004
- Mark Isaak (Editor), “Claim CF210,” The TalkOrigins Archive, (2004), Retrieved from: http://www.talkorigins.org/ 24 January 2005
- Jim Meritt, “The General Anti-Creationism FAQ,” The TalkOrigins Archive, Retrieved from: http://www.talkorigins.org/ 24 July 2004
- Tim M. Berra, Evolution and the Myth of Creationism: A Basic Guide to the Facts in the Evolution Debate (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990), 37.
- Isaak, The Counter-Creationism Handbook, 143-146, 151-157
- Hugh Ross, Ph.D., “The Usefulness of Carbon 14,” Reasons to Believe, (1988-2007), Retrieved from: http://www.reasons.org/ 24 July 2004
- Dendrochronology involves the study of tree rings (a.k.a. growth rings) to determine the age of a tree and to infer climate changes during the life of a tree.
- A varve is a pair of thin layers of clay, silt, or sedimentary rock of contrasting color and texture that had its origin in the deposit over a single year (summer and winter).
- Daniel E. Wonderly, “IBRI Research Report (1996): Genesis 11 and Archaeological Evidence for Paleolithic Man,” Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute, Retrieved from: http://www.ibri.org/ 25 July 2004
Originally posted: 2012-OCT-13
Author: Monte Benson
Source: "The World Peace Prophecies: The Unification of Science, Religion, and Humanity," Chapter 4, at: http://www.angelfire.com/ | <urn:uuid:1da2286a-141c-4801-b8f6-c76e860d993a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.religioustolerance.org/benson01.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94684 | 3,111 | 2.75 | 3 |
Shakespeare’s line about lawyers from Henry VI — “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” — was gravely misguided, as least as concerns Pakistan. Like almost anyone who has spent time in Pakistan, I love the country and its people but am horrified at the direction it has been going. And the big problem, I think, is awful leadership. From General Zia on, Pakistan has mostly had particularly wretched leaders who combine arrogance, incompetence, corruption and indifference. Some have been a bit better than others, others worse, but there’s no one on the scene right now who inspires much confidence.
Yet we’re beginning at least to see a more assertive civil society that can check the rulers and hold them accountable. The news media are one element of that civil society, but perhaps the most important in the last couple of years has been the lawyers and the judiciary. One of the Bush administration’s great mistakes was that it didn’t back up the lawyers’ movement led by Aitzaz Ahsan, seeking the restoration of the Supreme Court chief justice, Iftikar Chaudhury (one of the few Pakistani elites who seems to care deeply about injustices suffered by the poor). Now the chief justice seems set to return, and that’s a great day for Pakistan.
The best thing for Pakistan would be a first-rate president. But if we can’t have that — and neither Asif Zardari nor Nawaz Sharif qualifies — then perhaps we can aspire to a second-rate president monitored by an independent judiciary and a vibrant civil society.
(UPDATE: some readers have noted that Shakespeare meant the line ironically. True. Likewise, I meant my headline ironically.) | <urn:uuid:c1c14389-dd58-44d5-96e5-f65103f8708c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/in-pakistan-shakespeare-was-wrong/?apage=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96907 | 365 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Still from David Wojnarowicz, "A Fire in My Belly," video, 1992.
On infrequent occasions a cause célèbre will arise that is a matter of concern and reflection on our society's enshrinement of free speech and expression. I do not believe the cases of censorship in recent decades came close to eradicating those key freedoms. Nor do the two current cases begin to bring us to that doorstep. Which does not render the dual stories involving Italian muralist Blu and the late artist-activist David Wojnarowicz (he succumbed to AIDS in 1992) uninteresting or unworthy of concern. One is really nothing more than an exercise in unilateral but nuanced civic mindedness; the other is an instance of genuine censorship. The comparison between them, particularly since they occurred at nearly the same moment, is instructive.
The rhetorical attack against a work that was on view at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. by Bill Donohue, president of the conservative and religious Catholic League, with support from Republican House leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor labeled Wojnarowicz's video "A Fire in My Belly" "hate speech" that was "not the first time the Smithsonian has offended [Christians]." The Smithsonian reacted by pulling it from an acclaimed exhibition, "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," the theme of which is gay and lesbian identity in art.
Regarding Blu's mural of caskets draped in dollar bills (rather than the Flag), which was removed by museum staffers, MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch is quoted in the LA Times: "This is 100% about my effort to be a good, responsible, respectful neighbor in this historic community... As a steward of a public institution... [I was] considering the sensitivities of the community... [Blu had] ended up working in isolation without any input." The reason for such sensitivity? The Department of Veterans Affairs building is directly across the street facing that wall of the Geffen Contemporary, and a few yards away stands "Go For Broke," a memorial to Japanese American servicemen. Far from seeking to stifle expression, Deitch owns the decision was his, and says he took it in the context of the curatorial process preceding opening of the much anticipated "Art in the Streets" exhibition that debuts next April. It would be a vast stretch to conclude that this was an act of censorship or even a gratuitous exercise of control.
The spiritual core of the Wojnarowicz action is a heart of darkness, and an all too familiar tactic of the right. Congressional Republicans used it to raise the cudgel of "hate speech," a transparent and hypocritical tactic, given that they have routinely offered only roadblocks to related hate crime legislation. The only malevolence to be seen is the bigotry of the accusers. The work itself is an intensely expressionistic manifestation of personal sadness and rage over the death of the artist's mentor and lover Peter Hujar.
But don't expect such facts to provoke one instant of reflection among people who possess no interest in the art whatsoever. This act is solely about power and politics; aesthetic insight and personal reflection are entirely beside the point. Much as Republican efforts to defund the National Endowment of the Arts on the basis of four artists' grants made a generation ago, this is all about inflaming the emotions of constituent groups whose wish is to eliminate such expression altogether. There is virtually no money at stake, nor is there any threat to anyone at all, but that does not matter to a demagogue.
Equally implicated, but in a wholly distinct way, is the Smithsonian, parent to the National Portrait Gallery, which immediately surrendered to the pressure. No defense was offered, either spirited or principled. In a letter to the Smithsonian's Wayne Clough, Warhol Foundation President Joel Wachs wrote, "Such blatant censorship is unconscionable." That the bigoted wing of the ideological right displays a capacity to act the scoundrel is one thing, but that high level administrators of one of America's most important cultural institutions cooperate seemingly without hesitation amounts to an absence of the sort of vigorous resistance that is a regular down payment for the preservation of freedom.
Still from video of MOCA staff removing Blu's partially completed mural from the Geffen Contemporary. | <urn:uuid:0ad0dffe-f548-4d0a-b1af-fd64e7f2bcbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-lasarow/censorship-and-civic-mind_b_800082.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949062 | 891 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Small businesses and individual health policy holders could face dramatic premium spikes this year, as some insurers file double digit increases and attribute the changes to the Affordable Care Act. The sticker shock is mostly the result of rising health care costs — and the prevalence of sicker beneficiaries in health insurance risk pools. The media, however, is blaming health care reform.
For instance, Friday’s Politico reported that premiums are increasing across the country as “All those new consumer benefits packed into the health reform law — birth control without a co-pay, free preventive care and limits on when insurers can turn down a customer — had to be paid for somehow.” Policy holders may experience 10 to 20 percent rate hikes, it warns, as insurers are “working the health reform law’s 2014 fees into their 2013 bills.”
So how much is Obamacare responsible for? Five, maybe eight percent? The answer is less than two.
Insurers are arguing that the costs of Obamacare’s annual fee on the industry, its requirement that companies contribute to a reinsurance program, and new benefits and regulations have to be passed down to consumers. “There’s a massive new health insurance tax that starts in 2014,” Robert Zirkelbach, the spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans told Politico. “For policies that are sold in 2013 and extend into next year, there’s going to be taxes imposed. … As a result, like all taxes, they will be reflected in premiums charged.”
There are new costs in 2014, but they have little to do with reform. Consider the insurers’ own rate justification filings, in which companies have to substantiate the raises. Aetna in Pennsylvania, for instance, seeks to increase rates by an average of 16.49 percent, but as it explains in its filing, 63.18 percent of the increase is attributed to the “cost of providing healthcare services to policyholders.” The Affordable Care Act is responsible for a tiny portion of the increase:
Impact of New Taxes and Fees
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes several new taxes and fees payable in 2014, including two that specifically apply to insured products — the health insurer fee and the reinsurance contribution. These new fees result in additional costs and are reflected in our updated rates for policies that extend into 2014. The overall impact of these costs on this filing is as follows:
* Health Insurer Fee: 1.0%
* Reinsurance Contribution: 0.5%
Washington & Lee Law School professor Timothy Jost predicted that “insurers in the individual market will benefit substantially from reinsurance payments” and will be “spared some administrative costs-notably the cost of underwriting which should be quite substantial.” ” The cost of new benefits should not be a big deal,” he continued, since “most of the costs of health insurance are for inpatient, outpatient, physician, lab, radiology, and pharmaceuticals, which virtually all insurers now cover.”
“I suspect that what is going on is a combination of legitimate concern about new costs, overestimation of what those costs will be and underestimation of offsetting savings, taking a chance to attack the ACA, and grabbing the opportunity to make some profit,” Jost added. | <urn:uuid:625b9eef-6de5-4366-9c06-6b1a89dc0ecc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/page/2/?m=20130111&mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958644 | 692 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Original article here:
Herkimer, N.Y. —
Just like any athlete, Scott Flansburg said he needed to warm up before working out. Before an assembly of about 700 students from several school districts in the Herkimer County Community College gymnasium, Flansburg did just that, but not by doing stretches or laps around the gym. He instead exercised his mind.
The first thing he did was add the number 0+1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9, and then multiplied random two-digit numbers picked out by students and did long division without the use of paper or a device.
Flansburg, known as “The Human Calculator®,” showed off his skills during Tuesday’s assembly.
Schools that had students attend the event included Benton Hall Academy, Dolgeville, Frankfort-Schuyler, Ilion, Mount Markham and West Canada Valley.
Flansburg, a Herkimer native and a West Canada Valley High School graduate, has seen international success with his ability to calculate mathematical problems. His nickname was given to him by former talk show host Regis Philibin, and he has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Ellen, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show and Stan Lee’s Superhumans on the History Channel. Flansburg is also the ambassador for World Maths Day 2011 and is a spokesperson for www.mathletics.com.
As Flansburg spouted out the answer to equations, Jean Smith, a math teacher at Benton Hall Academy in Little Falls, entered the numbers so the students and other teachers in the audience could see the correct answer. The screen was to Flansburg’s back so he could not see the answers.
Flansburg showed, too, he is faster than a calculator when computing the numbers given.
Because of this skill, Flansburg name is in the Guinness Book of World Records. Flansburg urged the students to start thinking like a calculator. “If you want to turn on ‘your’ calculator, you need to start at zero,” he said.
After having the students use “their” calculators for equations such as 3+3, he noted the answers they gave were more through memorization. “When you talk about math, you have to be calculating, not memorizing,” he said. “You have to turn on the calculator in your brain to feel fluent in math.”
The fourth- and fifth-graders eagerly participated in the event, clamoring for the microphone when it was passed around to give Flansburg the next set of numbers to calculate and shouted out the answers when he asked them a question.
Organizers of the event said the purpose of it was to get children excited about math.
“We want to get them early so that they’re interested in math and science,” said HCCC President Ann Marie Murray. “And to keep them engaged and entertained for the entire presentation, which was a whole hour, that’s a great thing for them.”
By HILARY LANE
HERKIMER, N.Y. (WKTV) – Imagine being able to calculate random numbers like 358+678+459, divided by 139 – all in your head within a matter of seconds.
There is one man that can do that and more and he calls himself “The Human Calculator®.”
Approximately 700 4th and 5th graders packed in to the gymnasium at Herkimer County Community College to see Scott Flansburg add, subtract, multiply, and divide in the blink of an eye with perfect accuracy.
The students in the audience called out random numbers and Flansburg calculated solutions in his head while a math teacher typed the numbers into a calculator that was projected for all the students to see.
With the recent developments in the arithmetic-based fields of engineering, information technology, and computer science, HCCC President Ann Marie Murray hopes this program gets students excited about math.
“I think this program will bring back some enthusiasm that will really help the faculty in teaching the students to be passionate about math,” says President Murray said.
Flansburg, originally from Herkimer and a graduate of West Canada Valley High School, is in the Guinness Book of World Records for adding any random number to itself more times in 15 seconds than a calculator could do in that time.
Flansburg says he would be even quicker, but he can’t speak the answers as fast as he can calculate them in his head.
He has also appeared on every major television network and has entertained audiences on the Oprah show, the Tonight show, and Ellen, just to name a few.
Students in attendance said they were extremely excited to see the “Human Calculator” in action right in their own backyard.
Thanks to WKTV.com for the great article! | <urn:uuid:34cf9e94-0f99-4136-80b7-421d43728a8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scottflansburg.com/category/past-events/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967907 | 1,042 | 2.265625 | 2 |
For Rodelinda, regina de’ Longobardi
Haym adapted a libretto by Antonio Salvi based on the tragedy Pertharite, roi des Lombards
by Pierre Corneille, the leading seventeenth-century French playwright. This good literary source helped to give the opera an unusually coherent plot and strong characterization. It was first performed at the King’s Theatre on 13 February 1725, and was revived twice by Handel. The kingdom of Lombardy has been taken over by the usurper Grimoaldo. Bertarido, the true king, has escaped to Hungary, but his wife Rodelinda and their young son remain behind in the usurper’s power. Grimoaldo wants to legitimize his rule by marrying Rodelinda. He accordingly declares Bertarido to be dead, and sets up a funeral monument to him. Rodelinda’s aria ‘Ombre, piante’ in Act 1 is sung as she and her son visit this memorial in the cemetery of the Lombardic kings. It is wonderfully expressive of her sad thoughts, the halting phrases in both vocal line and accompaniment being echoed mournfully by a solo flute.
from notes by Anthony Hicks © 1996 | <urn:uuid:cd1b27fa-d7be-4488-b1e9-f6e2534c12e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/tw.asp?w=W9853&t=GBAJY9586013&al=CDA66860 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967124 | 261 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Services & Collections
Languages CollectionBooks, magazines and newspapers are available in Chinese, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese at the Burien library.
Government PublicationsGovernment documents at Burien Library include a variety of documents of local interest, such as SeaTac Airport reports and environmental impact statements, municipal codes for Burien and Normandy Park, the Seattle Municipal Code, and the King County Code. The Revised Code of Washington, the Washington Administrative Code, and United States Code are also available.
Literacy and English as a Second Language MaterialsMaterials useful to students, whether they are learning English as a second language or working to improve reading skills, are available at the library. Quiet study rooms are available for use by students and tutors. These rooms may be reserved ahead of time. Lake Burien Literacy Program provides some of the tutors who use the library as a resource.
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February 26, 2013 | <urn:uuid:d8de47c2-6189-475b-9fec-83908733a963> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcls.org/burien/special_collections.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907139 | 186 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Musical Variety Program (1935-1953)
Meredith Willson was a popular conductor, composer, and radio personality. Although Meredith was on the air for almost two decades, these shows are mainly from 1940 and 1942, when he broadcast as a summer replacement for Fibber McGee and Molly. It features many popular tunes from the day.
Text on OTRCAT.com ©2001-2012 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved-Reproduction is prohibited.
In addition to his own show, Meredith and his work were featured on Good News, Maxwell House Coffee Time, Burns and Allen, and The Big Show. His style was known as "chiffon swing and one of his popularly heard commercials was one for Jello. As a creative touch, his idea was to have five singers imitate the texture of Jello through their voices on the commercial, "shimmering in unison. You needn't get out your chiffon to enjoy this program, however. Meredith Willson ensures you a toe tapping and ballroom swinging good time, whether you're in tails or corduroy. | <urn:uuid:055d6338-cea1-4313-86e3-94beb2d92d70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.otrcat.com/meredith-willson-musical-revue-p-1608.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978177 | 228 | 1.617188 | 2 |
November 14, 1900 - December 2, 1990
Aaron Copland is one of the most famous American composers of all time. Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, and went to France as a teenager to study music with Nadia Boulanger, who helped Copland create his own style.
Copland wrote music with a very ďAmerican" sound. Some of his most famous pieces are his ballets -- Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring. Billy the Kid and Rodeo are about the Wild West. Copland also wrote music for movies -- Of Mice and Men and Our Town, among others.
One of Copland's best known compostions is Fanfare for the Common Man. Copland wrote it after the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra asked several composers to write fanfares during World War II. Coplandís music has become a great part of American history.
See other composers from the Modern period | <urn:uuid:43e9717f-b396-4714-b5de-e091168b8fd2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.classicsforkids.com/composers/bio.asp?id=14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978776 | 195 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Nearly two years after the beginning of a civil war in Syria, an estimated 60,000 people have died. In a rare speech Sunday, President Bashar al-Assad refused to end the conflict. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
Updated at 4:52 p.m. ET: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday outlined what was billed as a new peace initiative that included a national reconciliation conference and a new constitution in a rare speech about the uprising against his rule, which has killed an estimated 60,000 people and brought civil war to the edge of his capital.
His foes reacted to the speech with scorn.
George Sabra, vice president of the opposition National Coalition, told Reuters the peace plan Assad put at the heart of his speech did "not even deserve to be called an initiative."
"We should see it rather as a declaration that he will continue his war against the Syrian people," he said.
Speaking before an overwhelmingly supportive crowd that interrupted his speech with chants and rapturous applause several times, Assad offered no concessions and even appeared to harden many of his positions. He rallied Syrians for "a war to defend the nation" and disparaged the prospect of negotiations. There was little to no acknowledgement that there are Syrians themselves who have taken up the fight.
"We do not reject political dialogue ... but with whom should we hold a dialogue? With extremists who don't believe in any language but killing and terrorism?" Assad asked.
"Should we speak to gangs recruited abroad that follow the orders of foreigners? Should we have official dialogue with a puppet made by the West, which has scripted its lines?"
In an interview with a Russian television channel, Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed to live and die in Syria, amid the 19-month old uprising against him. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
Assad said his initiative would not move forward until foreign funding for the rebels stops.
The European Union responded quickly, saying there can be no political solution until Assad steps down, a subject the Syrian president did not address in today's speech.
The State Department responded in a statement saying that Assad’s speech is “yet another attempt by the regime to cling to power.”
“His initiative is detached from reality,” the State Department said, and “would only allow the regime to further perpetuate its bloody oppression of the Syrian people.”
It was the 47-year-old leader's first speech in months and his first public comments since he dismissed suggestions that he might go into exile to end the civil war, telling Russian television in November that he would "live and die" in Syria.
As in previous speeches, he said his forces were fighting groups of "murderous criminals" and jihadi elements and denied there was an uprising against his family's decades-long rule. He struck a defiant tone, saying Syria will not take dictates from anyone.
At the end of the speech, supporters rushed to the stage, mobbing him and shouting: "God, Syria and Bashar is enough!" as a smiling president waved and was escorted from the hall past a backdrop showing a Syrian flag made of pictures of people whom state television described as "martyrs" of the conflict so far.
Insurgents are venturing ever closer to Damascus after bringing a crescent of suburbs under their control from the city's eastern outskirts to the southwest.
Assad's forces blasted rockets into the Jobar neighborhood near the city center on Saturday to try to drive out rebel fighters, a day after bombarding rebel-held areas in the eastern suburb of Daraya.
"The shelling began in the early hours of the morning, it has intensified since 11 a.m. (4 a.m. ET), and now it has become really heavy. Yesterday it was Daraya and today Jobar is the hottest spot in Damascus," an activist named Housam told Reuters by Skype from the capital.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights, a London-based group that supports the opposition, said it documented 76 deaths throughout Syria on Saturday, 35 of them in and around the capital Damascus. Reporting in Syria is severely restricted, and NBC News could not confirm these numbers.
Amid violence and chaos in Syria, 400 US troops have been deployed to Turkey with Patriot missile batteries to bolster defenses along the border. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.
Since Assad's last public comments, in November, rebels have strengthened their hold on swathes of territory across northern Syria, launched an offensive in the central province of Hama and endured weeks of bombardment by Assad's forces trying to dislodge them from Damascus's outer neighborhoods.
Syria's political opposition has also won widespread international recognition. But Assad has continued to rely on support from Russia, China and Iran to hold firm and has used his air power to blunt rebel gains on the ground.
Despite the estimated death toll of 60,000 announced by the United Nations earlier this week -- a figure sharply higher than that given by activists -- the West has shown little appetite for intervening against Assad in the way that NATO forces supported rebels who overthrew Libya's Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
But NATO is sending U.S. and European Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to the Turkish-Syrian border.
Channel Four Europe's Alex Thomson has the rare opportunity to meet some of Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops.
The United States military said U.S. troops and equipment had begun arriving in Turkey on Friday for the deployment. Germany and the Netherlands are also sending Patriot batteries, which will take weeks to deploy fully.
Turkey and NATO say the missiles are a safeguard to protect southern Turkey from possible Syrian missile strikes. Syria and allies Russia and Iran say the deployments could spark an eventual military action by the Western alliance.
Syria's war has proved the longest and bloodiest of the conflicts that arose out of popular uprisings in Arab countries over the past two years and led to the downfall of autocratic regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Chavez ally re-elected, cementing position as possible caretaker president
- 'Nobody helped us for an hour,' Indian rape witness says
- 'Strong young woman': Taliban shooting victim Malala leaves hospital
- ANALYSIS: Is peace really in the air in Afghanistan?
- Commemoration or deification? Pakistan embraces 'political goddess' Bhutto
- Drug-resistant malaria threatens deadly global 'nightmare'
- From alcohol to kites: An A to Z guide to the Islamic Republic of 'Banistan'
- UK police: Attackers dressed as Oompa Loompas beat man
- Vatican launches swipe-card security system | <urn:uuid:6a223f4c-6be8-48f7-a511-b6ebfc24aeea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/06/16376326-assad-gives-defiant-speech-as-syrian-rebels-edge-closer-to-damascus?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971496 | 1,387 | 2.375 | 2 |
Everyone in Spain is, sorry to tell you, not fútbol- or flamenco-obsessed. Not everyone in Spain loves jamón. Not everyone in Spain speaks Castillian. But, yes, everyone in Spain has a pueblo (and not-so-secretly loves it).
I learned this during my second year at IES Heliche. While discussing holidays (summer vacation for you gringos), I asked if anyone was going to a second home of theirs. Virtually all Andalusian families spend their summer months away from the sweltering cities at the hundreds of kilometers of coastline down here, so I expected to hear names of beaches within an hour’s drive (for the record, the lack of beaches is one of my extreme dislikes about Sevilla, along with the ever-shrinking airport and lack of live music – the good ones, I mean).
Nearly everyone in Olivares listed their summertime destination as Olivares. Like the ones below:
Ok, I assumed, there’s a financial crisis, and it’s likely that people are sticking around their hometowns, trying to stay in the shade. Qué no, the olivareños were simply moving house across town to their parcela – or little shack houses – with pools. Why leave your pueblo when all of your friends are around?
En fin, the pueblo is to Spaniards as our dogs are to Americans. | <urn:uuid:28674ee6-dfd6-4c3e-a922-815fec0c3819> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sunshineandsiestas.com/category/cazalla/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95471 | 305 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Texas Governor Rick Perry has been throwing some serious heat lately, of the sort not scene since the federal government wanted to make states let black folks vote, or since there was some suggestion that the federal government might curtail white people’s ability to own black people as chattel:
“I believe the federal government has become oppressive. It’s become oppressive in its size, its intrusion in the lives of its citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state. [...] “We think it’s time to draw the line in the sand and tell Washington that no longer are we going to accept their oppressive hand in the state of Texas. That’s what this press conference, that’s what these Texans are standing up for. There is a point in time where you stand up and say enough is enough, and I think Americans, and Texans especially have reached that point.”
— Governor Rick Perry, five days ago: Governor Perry Calls FEMA To Assist With Wildfires
— Governor Rick Perry, last month: Governor Perry Calls For 1,000 Troops To Be Sent To Border
— Governor Rick Perry, five months ago: Governor Perry Requests 18 Month Extension Of Federal Aid For Ike Debris Removal
Honestly, though, I agree with Mike Tomasky that if Texas wants to leave the union we should probably just let them go and I’d say the same for other southern states that feel oppressed by our efforts to use federal tax money to help them take care of their unemployed citizens. Back during the Civil War, the cause of keeping the union together was intertwined with the cause of fighting the great evil of slavery. But assume we just welcome migrants from the Republic of Texas with open arms if they want to flee north, there’d be no comparable problem with letting Texas leave.
Obviously, one advantage of large-scale secession of the most conservative states is that it would be a lot easier to pass progressive legislation. An aspect of Civil War history that people don’t tend to appreciate is that the temporary departure of the Dixie bloc of Senators allowed a huge flowering of legislative activity that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible. In addition to prosecuting the war, the Lincoln-era GOP took sweeping action on industrial policy, infrastructure, land reform, etc. much of which would have been extraordinarily difficult to accomplish had the southerners just stayed in their seats and used the considerable levers of obstruction that are available to legislative minorities. | <urn:uuid:c66a06ea-1283-4f18-856a-bdcc515fbaa0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2009/04/15/192546/rick_perry_leave_texas_alooooone/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969772 | 506 | 1.75 | 2 |
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Marriage Legislation.* 1a When a man, after marrying a woman, is later displeased with her because he finds in her something indecent, and he writes out a bill of divorce and hands it to her, thus dismissing her from his house, 2if on leaving his house she goes and becomes the wife of another man, 3and the second husband, too, comes to dislike her and he writes out a bill of divorce and hands it to her, thus dismissing her from his house, or if this second man who has married her dies, 4then her former husband, who dismissed her, may not again take her as his wife after she has become defiled. That would be an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring such guilt upon the land the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage.b
5c When a man is newly wed, he shall not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any duty be imposed on him. He shall be exempt for one year for the sake of his family, to bring joy to the wife he has married.
Pledges and Kidnappings. 6* No one shall take a hand mill or even its upper stone as a pledge for debt, for that would be taking as a pledge the debtor’s life.
7If anyone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite, enslaving or selling the victim, that kidnapper shall be put to death.d Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.
Skin Diseases. 8e In an attack of scaly infection* you shall be careful to observe exactly and to carry out all the instructions the levitical priests give you, as I have commanded them: observe them carefully. 9f Remember what the LORD, your God, did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.
Loans and Wages. 10When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, you shall not enter the neighbor’s house to receive the pledge, 11but shall wait outside until the person to whom you are making the loan brings the pledge outside to you. 12If the person is poor, you shall not sleep in the pledged garment, 13but shall definitely return it at sunset, so that your neighbor may sleep in the garmentg and bless you. That will be your justice before the LORD, your God.
14h You shall not exploit a poor and needy hired servant, whether one of your own kindred or one of the resident aliens who live in your land, within your gates.i 15On each day you shall pay the servant’s wages before the sun goes down, since the servant is poor and is counting on them. Otherwise the servant will cry to the LORD against you, and you will be held guilty.j
Individual Responsibility. 16Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for one’s own crime shall a person be put to death.k
Rights of the Unprotected. 17l You shall not deprive the resident alien or the orphan of justice, nor take the clothing of a widow as pledge. 18For, remember, you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD, your God, redeemed you from there; that is why I command you to do this.
19m When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; let it be for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the LORD, your God, may bless you in all your undertakings. 20When you knock down the fruit of your olive trees, you shall not go over the branches a second time; let what remains be for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow. 21When you pick your grapes, you shall not go over the vineyard a second time; let what remains be for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow. 22For remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; that is why I command you to do this.
* [24:1–4] This law is directly concerned only with forbidding a divorced man from remarrying his former wife, and indirectly with checking hasty divorces, by demanding sufficient cause and certain legal formalities. Divorce itself is taken for granted and tolerated as an existing custom whose potential evils this law seeks to lessen. Cf. 22:19, 29; Mal 2:14–16. Something indecent: a rather indefinite phrase, meaning perhaps “immodest conduct,” but possibly including any kind of objectionable conduct. By New Testament times Jewish opinion differed concerning what was sufficient ground for divorce; cf. Mt 19:3.
* [24:6] Since the Israelites ground their grain into flour only in sufficient quantity for their current need, to deprive a debtor of his hand mill was equivalent to condemning him to starvation.
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