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July 13-15, 2010
University of Tennessee Conference Center
What do GPUs, FPGAs, vector processors and other exotic special-purpose chips have in common? They are advanced processor architectures that the scientific community is using to accelerate computationally demanding applications. While high-performance computing systems that use application accelerators are still rare, they will be the norm rather than the exception in the near future. The Symposium on Application Accelerators in High-Performance Computing brings together developers of computing accelerators and end-users of the technology to exchange ideas and learn about the latest developments in the field.
The symposium focuses on the use of application accelerators in high-performance and scientific computing and issues that surround it. Topics of interest include:
Want to stay informed about the Symposium on Application Accelerators in High-Performance Computing? Sign up for our newsletter and you'll receive periodic emails announcing the call for submissions, deadlines, and other important details. | <urn:uuid:3f191263-3d7b-4823-a0e0-978df2924f47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://saahpc.ncsa.illinois.edu/10/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911502 | 193 | 2.203125 | 2 |
UK communications regulator Ofcom has delivered guidelines for product placement to advertise within programs, ruling that viewers must be alerted by a black-and-white “P” displayed for three seconds at the start and end, as well as after commercial breaks. Ofcom has also decreed that ads for alcohol, medicines, cigarettes, gambling services, baby milk, weapons and salty or fatty foods cannot be placed.
Europe has been divided over product placement, with some countries, including Germany, reluctant to embrace it — unlike in the United States, where it accounts for about 5 percent of the total TV advertising market, or about $2 billion a year on the basis of various estimates. Some analysts predict that UK product placement within programs could quickly attain a similar 5 percent of the TV advertising market there, or up to £150 million (about €178 million) a year. However, product-placement spending may be at the expense of traditional spot advertising.
Ofcom has largely followed guidelines specified by the European Union in its Audiovisual Media Services Directive, following the EU stipulation that product placement should not be allowed within children’s programs, documentaries or news. However, the directive reflected divergent views within the European Union in some respects, for example, allowing individual member states to decide which products should not be allowed.
Product placement involves showing or mentioning a product or brand during a program, usually in return for payment to the broadcaster or content producer. If the product is highly valuable, however, it may be ruled to have been placed even if no money changes hands. Most European countries are relaxing rules on product placement under pressure from commercial broadcasters suffering from long-term decline in traditional advertising. Product placement is seen as a way of rejuvenating advertising by encouraging brand involvement in content and ultimately perhaps in funding production.
France has been the leading the European march toward product placement and will remain the largest market at least until 2014, when it will be worth about €207 million there, according to research firm PQ Media. | <urn:uuid:ef22a625-8035-431b-b462-a46c12ad6e25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://broadcastengineering.com/news/uk-regulator-spells-out-rules-product-placement | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959325 | 410 | 2.140625 | 2 |
The purpose of the Information Packet (IP) is to provide the City Council, city manager, department heads, staff and media with information pertaining to issues of concern for the City of Boulder. The various departments within the city government submit information to the office of the City Manager and updates on key issues and projects for the IP. Often, the material has been requested by the City Council. The primary purpose for the IP is to disseminate information to the City Council. Additionally, the IP regularly contains the current summary minutes of Boards and Commissions. The IP will be distributed in electronic form (via email) to staff and hard copies will be bound into final agenda packets for City Council and the city manager.
For further information, contact Dianne Marshall in the City Manager's Office at 303-441-3079 or mail to P.O. Box 791, Boulder, CO 80306.
Last Updated on Thursday, 17 January 2013 14:58 | <urn:uuid:a58c6ec1-bcb7-45a8-a449-067b0598e628> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=907&Itemid=357 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903173 | 192 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Temperatures are dropping, and for many people that means spending less time outside. But for others, the uncomfortable weather is an opportunity to raise awareness about homelessness.
A group of people are braving the freezing temperatures and sleeping in tents Thursday and Friday evening, to understand what it's like to be homeless. The tents are set up in John Dam Plaza in Richland.
Nicki Welch and her friends are participating in the annual Raise Your Tents event, and say helping the homeless starts with not judging them. "See what their story is. Talk to them. To look them in the eye, to have a conversation with them or to help out in any way you can," she said.
If you would like to help out, the Union Gospel Mission is always in need of food and monetary donations. They are also asking for winter clothes. All donations will go to help the homeless. Although the event ends Friday night, they need donations throughout the year. | <urn:uuid:22880531-c31f-4992-9940-b708f4293d99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcrightnow.com/story/20059761/people-sleeping-in-tent-to-help-the-homeless | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977792 | 196 | 1.679688 | 2 |
I decided to re-build the arm machine now that the funding can cover it. I plan on starting the production of the new machine in the next few weeks.
I don't have much code or plans yet because I am still deciding on the materials I will use.
As for the technical side. I plan to fabricate my own unique PCB that will run the stepper motors. The machine runs on the arduino language so It would be very easy to use other systems for this purpose. For example, my first machine was made using an Arduino Duemilanove in conjunction with an Adafruit Motor Shield. (This may be the cheapest way to get started) If you try my code, you may need to change the stepper motor controls for your specific setup. Other boards used in 3axis cnc systems (like the reprap or makerbot) may also be used but I have not tested them.
I have received a good amount of interest in the code for the wall mount model. I have included a link to the code required for the arduino and Processing.
The wall machine works by converting each incoming coordinate into a Polar system. It does this by running the Pythagorean theorem for each point. This figures out how long each belt needs to be to arrive at that point.
The machine is designed to be flexible. I have included a Processing Sketch that will take Vector SVG files and send one point at a time to the machine. (you will need the Geomerative library to use this sketch http://www.ricardmarxer.com/geomerative/ )
If you take a look at the code, you will see that the machine can work with just about any program that can send serial message in the correct format.
the format for sending coordinates to the machine is as follows, Ten digits, the first 5 being the X values and the second 5 being the Y values. If your sending a small number, add leading zeros so it will always be 10 digits. An asterisk will reset the previous buffered coordinate and expect a new set of coords after it.
sending "+" or "-" to the machine will alternate the servo to lift the pen off of the page.
I have tested it with Max/msp and Processing only, but I imagine that whatever language you prefer should work fine.
Let me know if you have questions. This is by no means a plug+play type system and you will need to develop the mechanism first. My coding skills are meager at best so if you have any suggestions I would be happy to hear them. | <urn:uuid:dd16b91a-f748-4af5-af86-e3dfb18d7293> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/notever/the-drawing-machine/posts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9311 | 535 | 2.046875 | 2 |
In a baby boom of unusual complexity, thousands of lesbians around the country are having children.
Most are living in lesbian relationships.
Some have lived together for more than a decade, wanting children but often blocked as adoptive or foster parents.
Now more of these women are choosing to have their own babies, most often by artificial insemination.
Although no one knows how many lesbian women are having babies, experts cite a number of indications of a boom.
Hundreds of women are attending a growing number of workshops for lesbians thinking of having children.
Informal networks have sprung up, enabling lesbians to find sperm donors.
Lawyers are formulating custody agreements to try to ensure legal rights for lesbian mothers, their female partners and the fathers of their children.
Support groups and social organizations are sponsoring picnics, parties and other events to keep lesbians with children from feeling isolated.
There always have been gay parents, and many homosexuals who have had heterosexual relationships maintain custody of their children from previous marriages.
Other gay men and women are able to adopt, raise foster children or enter into arrangements with surrogate mothers or sperm donors to have their own children.
This is the first time that large numbers of lesbians have been choosing to have children through artificial insemination, gay and lesbian groups said.
``It`s phenomenal,`` said Rhonda Rivera, a lawyer in Columbus, Ohio, who has many gay and lesbian clients.
She said she knew of at least 30 lesbian mothers in and around Columbus.
``Everybody that I know sees lots of people who are having kids,`` said Kevin Cathcart, a lawyer with the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders in Boston.
Dr. Richard Green, a professor of psychiatry and law at the University of California at Los Angeles, said that although psychological tests indicate that children raised by homosexuals are no more likely than other children to be homosexual themselves, the issue of children raised without a man in the family has not been sufficiently studied to be able to predict whether that could lead to other problems.
Some clinicians, however, speculate that in the long term, girls might have difficulty in intimate relationships with men, and boys might be uncomfortable with their role as males.
If lesbian parents are openly hostile toward men, these difficulties could be worsened.
There are other reservations. Sidney Callahan, a psychologist and ethicist at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., said that although it is ``natural and programmed`` to want children, she had ``deep reservations`` about lesbian motherhood through artificial insemination.
``The ethical objection is the informed-consent issue,`` Callahan said. ``You are getting a child that is totally different from all other children. Do you have the right to do that?
``As perilous as it is to be brought into the world in a normal family, this is one step beyond that.``
Many lesbian parents say their own chief concern is that their children, whether homosexual or not, will be victims of prejudice against gay people.
But such concerns have not stopped thousands of lesbians from becoming parents. Roberta Achtenberg, a lawyer in San Francisco who specializes in issues involving gays and lesbians, said that compared to a few years ago, she gets ``double, triple, quadruple the number of calls`` about homosexual parental contracts and rights.
When Achtenberg conducts workshops on legal issues for gay and lesbian parents, as many as 500 people show up.
About 40 percent of the women inseminated at the Sperm Bank of Northern California, a service run by feminists in Oakland, say they are lesbians -- twice as many as in 1982, when the sperm bank opened, said Barbara Raboy, the director.
Many lesbian women who use artificial insemination perform the procedure themselves without medical assistance.
R. James Fagelson, a director of the Gay and Lesbian Parents Coalition International, based in Washington, said a recent survey of the group`s 30,000 American members revealed that 5 percent of the lesbians had babies by artificial insemination.
Three years ago, the figure was 1 percent to 2 percent.
The group`s membership continues to be made up mostly of homosexuals who had children in previous heterosexual relationships.
A San Francisco lesbian said that when she and her partner went to a childbirth class at a local hospital recently, three of the 12 couples were lesbians.
The percentage of U.S. women who are lesbians remains open to question, ranging from the Kinsey Institute`s estimate of 6 percent, to up to 10 percent as estimated by some homosexual groups.
``It`s very hard to survey a group that doesn`t want to be surveyed,`` Fagelson said, adding that many lesbians avoid publicity.
Women are finding a variety of ways to have babies, said Kim Klausner of San Francisco, who with Debra Chasnoff made a film about lesbians. | <urn:uuid:3dc61044-7e18-4995-910c-146fdc25116f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1989-02-19/features/8901090959_1_lesbian-mothers-lesbian-relationships-lesbian-women | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969191 | 1,007 | 1.992188 | 2 |
John Gay (1685-1732), Poet and dramatist
Sitter associated with 11 portraits
John Gay was a poet and dramatist, best remembered for his hugely successful dramatic satire The Beggar's Opera(1727). Along with his friend Alexander Pope (1688-1744), Gay was a member of the Scriblerus Club, a group of like-minded men who exposed and attacked ignorance and pretentiousness in literature. Johnson did not rate Gay's poetry highly but credited him with the invention of the ballad opera.
Literature, Journalism and Publishing
Playwrights and dramatists | <urn:uuid:e4086632-9074-470a-b066-d27bc20a44a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp01741 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962954 | 129 | 2.65625 | 3 |
The Hotel of Doom
It was scheduled to be completed in 1989 in time for the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students.
But construction was abandoned in 1992 when North Korea suffered an economic crisis.
Its hulking, unfinished presence has long been an embarrassment for the North Korean leadership, analysts say.
It was voted “Worst Building in the History of Mankind” by Esquire magazine in 2008.
The American publication called it “hideously ugly, even by communist standards.”
There are reports of poor construction and the use of inferior materials.
The Ryugyong Hotel stand above the smog dominating the Pyongyang skyline in 2011 Work on the hotel was abandoned for 16 years
A delegation from the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea, which inspected the building almost 15 years ago, concluded it was beyond repair and its lift shafts crooked.
But in 2008 an Egyptian company, Orascom Telecom, which operates a mobile phone network in North Korea, began equipping the building.
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Click here for details. | <urn:uuid:0f43798b-875a-4a8b-a9c5-bf872bc5c1e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.standfirminfaith.com/?/sf/page/29625 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950142 | 238 | 2.328125 | 2 |
U14 Equipment List
Helmets - A certified race helmet is mandatory. These helmets include a full hard cover shell over the ears. Racers will not be allowed to race without it. As well we suggest a detachable face guard for slalom.
Mouth Guards - Either custom or Boil & Bite mouthguards are mandatory for training and racing.
Cross Blockers - These attach to the poles and protect the hands when skiing slalom and can be bought from our retail partners.
Shinners - Shinners are worn over the ski pants or skin suits to protect the shins and knees when skiing slalom.
Speed Suits - Speed suits are not mandatory however most K1 athletes are using them. Padded speed suits are strongly recommended.
Stealth - This padded vest or shirt is recommended for extra protection. It can be worn under a speed suit while racing or without the suit while training.
Forearm Pads - These are NOT recommended for K1 athletes as they promote bad habits for athletes just learning clearing techniques. These bad habits can be unsafe and difficult to correct.
Skis - K1 athletes will compete in 3 types of races. Slalom, Giant Slalom (“GS”) and Ski Cross. Two paris of skis are recommended ; GS skis for GS and Ski Cross and Slalom skis for Slalom races. If only one pair of skis is possible, it is best to choose GS skis for safety concerns.
It is the PARENT’S RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that their child has properly fitting and properly functioning equipment. | <urn:uuid:a3b7080a-087e-4175-8415-7d4b07166544> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ferniealpineskiteam.ca/resources/equipment_lists/u14_equipment_list | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906901 | 337 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Fred Wright (1907-1984) was one of America’s most renowned labor cartoonists. His career lasted from 1939 until his death in 1984. He is best known for his work as a staff cartoonist for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). In addition to his cartoons illustrating the union’s newspaper, the UE News, he designed leaflets, strike placards and animated organizing cartoons to contribute to the American Labor Movement.
Wright sold his first cartoon to the National Maritime Union (NMU) publication, The Pilot, in 1939. He continued to draw cartoons for the U.S. Army during World War II and was ultimately hired as a staff cartoonist for the UE in 1949. Throughout this time, his work was reprinted in labor and radical publications worldwide. In the spirit of the Labor movement, his cartoons criticized the Taft-Hartley Act, McCarthyism, and other government post-war attacks on labor unions.
Wright’s life experiences gave him a first-hand view of blue-collar struggles, both in America and abroad. As the child of a seamstress and a wheelwright in Derby, England, and the grandson of a founding member of the British Labour Party, he saw both the struggle of the working class and the political means to alleviate them. As a young man, he supported himself as a musician, playing in speakeasies and silent screen nickelodeons. It was while working as a saxophonist on Caribbean cruise ships that Wright saw the poverty of Central America. With input from the seamen onboard, members of the NMU, he gained the inspiration to begin drawing cartoons.
His grandfather also influenced him artistically, giving Wright his first drawing lesson at the age of five. He would later study at the Art Students League in New York City with John Sloan, an artist whose work focused mainly on poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods.
Contrary to the popular dark and realistic “ash can style” most cartoonists of the time relied on, Fred Wright was “one of the first cartoonists in America to introduce more of a cartoony style to political cartoons and place a big emphasis on humor, keeping in mind that none of the politics are diminished,” said Gary Huck, Wright’s successor as UE cartoonist. Wright was a working man and drew cartoons until he died in 1984. Even when he was too ill to come into the office he mailed his drawings to work. | <urn:uuid:90b88ff7-e44a-4da0-8ab9-632b84cca88b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://digital.library.pitt.edu/f/fredwright/bio.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981409 | 509 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Poinsettias have no sense of humor when it comes to cold weather
Mike McGrath, Garden Editor
Cut Christmas tree in the house? Check that water reservoir every day and make sure it stays filled. If it dries out completely, the tree won't accept new water afterward. To avoid that dreaded dropped needle denouement, consider buying one of the clever devices that allows you to do this chore without crawling on the floor.
My personal favorite is called "Santa's Magic Water Spout." It's available at lots of retail outlets. Click here for a webpage that shows how it works in detail.
Although symbols of the season, poinsettias are tropical plants that have no sense of humor about the cold. Make sure the shop wraps it well for its trip to the car, get it indoors fast (don't leave it the car while you do more shopping), keep it away from drafts or excessive heat when you do get it home and keep it well-watered ... these plants tend to dry out quickly.
Rosemary Christmas trees are great holiday plants, but they're always sold severely potbound, so replant it into a bigger pot (twice as big as the original) as soon as you get it home. Then it'll have enough soil around the roots to be able to hold water and stay alive through the holidays.
And the correct way to use mistletoe is to remove and discard a berry after each kiss is stolen under the plant. When all the berries are gone, no more kissing. And if you want a 'mistletoe romance' to last, you must destroy the plant by "Twelfth Night," which is either the evening of Jan. 5 or Jan. 6 (sources and experts disagree on this point). Tradition would have you burn the plant, but I would not recommend that for fake plastic mistletoe.
Gift List for Gardeners
Got a gardener on your gift list this season?
Good gloves always top the garden wish list, but most garden gloves are so bulky that gardeners quickly pull them off so they can feel what they're doing. The answer: Baseball batting gloves. Really ... they come in a huge variety of sizes and are super comfortable, yet they fit so tightly and are so flexible you can feel everything you're doing. They're the gloves that gardeners love to keep on. You should be able to find a nice selection at any sporting goods store.
Any good gardener would love to find a bag of worm castings or premium compost under the tree. You should be able to find either at a good local independent garden center that stocks natural products.
Or even better, get them a nifty compost bin made of recycled black plastic with a locking lid so they can make their own back gold out of shredded fall leaves and kitchen waste outdoors without fear of unwanted animal intervention. Click here for a model that I especially like.
Or if they just want to recycle their kitchen waste alone (and/or have little to no outdoor space) get them a nice worm bin, so that specialized redworms can transform their kitchen waste into castings -- one of the world's finest fertilizers! Click here for the one that I use. The multiple levels make it easy to add new kitchen waste and harvest the finished castings.
Really Live Trees Require Preparation
It's the time of year when many folks decide to get a really live tree for Christmas -- one with its roots all wrapped up in burlap that they hope to plant outdoors after the holidays. If that's your plan, dig the hole on the next nice day so you don't have to deal with frozen soil.
Cover the hole with plywood for safety and store the removed soil somewhere it won't freeze. Make it a wide hole, not a deep one (you want to see the root flare of the tree -- not a 'lollipop' -- after it's planted). Don't put the tree too close to the house (plan for the tree's final size, not the width it is now) and don't plant it where it'll grow underneath power lines. And be sure to remove and discard all the wrappings at planting time. Just the root ball goes into the ground.
Don't plan to keep the tree indoors for any length of time. If it stays inside for more than a few days, it'll break dormancy and could suffer severe shock when it goes into the cold, cold ground. If it must come inside, keep the room it comes into as cold as possible, and get it in and out fast.
Oh, and be sure to have lots of help on hand whenever the tree has to be moved. The rootball on a truly live tree can often weigh a hundred pounds-or more.
Winter Lawns = Hot Topic
I'm still getting lawn care questions.
Andy in Gainesville writes: "I have bald patches in my lawn that are due mostly to shade from deciduous trees. Can I sow a lawn seed designed for shade this late in the year? Or is that a waste of time?"
The soil is too cold for any kind of seed now, Andy. And no grass really grows well in areas where big trees throw deep shade and hog all the food and water. Your best bet to deal with those patches is to wait until Spring and install a shade loving ground cover. Or even better, moss. Moss stays green all year, never needs cutting and plays well with big trees. If you MUST try grass, you'll have to choose a really fine fescue and wait until mid-August to sow the seed. Just be aware that it's always a struggle to keep grass looking good under trees.
Amy in Falls Church writes: "We put grass seed down in early October and it seems to be doing well. We haven't mowed it, and I'm thinking I shouldn't mow it until spring. But should we put a winter fertilizer on it, or just leave that until spring as well?"
There's no such thing as "winter fertilizer," Amy. Plants don't take up any nutrients when the weather turns cold and they go dormant. Just make sure no whole leaves remain on the lawn over winter, and be ready to apply corn gluten meal in early spring -- that'll feed the turf and prevent new weeds from sprouting.
Your mowing question depends on the height. If your new grass is three inches or lower, let it be. But if it's gotten tall, cut it back to three inches high to protect against the possibility of snow mold.
(Copyright 2011 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
This cutie needs a new home. She's WTOP's Pet of the Week.
Doctors saved this boy's life with a medical first involving a printer.
Which big cat had some trouble coughing this up? (Photos)
French universities could say goodbye to this language in class. | <urn:uuid:6b921916-ebc4-41a6-be9b-9fa23ed4790e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wtop.com/902/2662942/Holiday-plant-care-checklist | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959333 | 1,418 | 1.679688 | 2 |
It’s 1849, and a Gold Rush is drawing thousands of American prospectors to California, which was snatched from Mexico only a year earlier . The lay of the land is still poorly surveyed, the risks and resources of the terrain as yet largely unknown.
So US President Zachary Taylor initiates a top secret government programme to speed-map the last piece in the puzzle of America’s Manifest Destiny. The plan is so hush-hush (not to mention ahead of its time) that it’s scarcely believable, even with the recently declassified evidence of its success right in front of our eyes, in public view for the first time.
Predating the launch of Sputnik by over a century , President Taylor’s task force, consisting of civil engineers and frontiersmen, constructs a rocket in the Californian wilderness, equips its payload with the most powerful camera known to humankind at the time - endowed with revolutionary colour-capturing capacity - and launches it skyward from the slopes of Mount Whitney .
The President’s Astro-Physical Expedition (APE) put California’s local flora to good use, hollowing out a redwood tree and stuffing it with gunpowder to create a giant firing tube. An incredible concatenation of good fortune conspires to bless Taylor’s APE with success: the redwood cannon does not disintegrate, the projectile survives its violent skyward thrust, and the camera mounted inside its body happens to be in the right angle for a shapshot of the mid-19th century Californian landscape.
Of course this is not what happened. But it’s a charming, steampunky backstory for this map, which purports to be a satellite image of California, taken in 1851. Both the map and the backstory were created by Mark Clark, a geographer who lives in California’s Central Valley and is fascinated by its past aquatic history:
“[The Central Valley] used to have a big lake and lots of marshes from water runoff from the mountains. Dams and irrigation stopped all that many years ago. But I’ve always wondered what it looked like around here before that.”
Surprisingly, a satellite picture in 1851 would have shown a large lake in the southern part of the Valley. Tulare Lake once was the largest freshwater body west of the Great Lakes, and its fish-rich waters supported local Indian tribes for centuries. Tulare Lake’s size varied widely, dependent on both rain and mountain snows for nourishment. At around the time this picture would have been taken, it would have measured about 580 sq. mi (1,500 km2). Thirty years later, it would have swelled to almost 700 sq. mi (1,800 km2).
“You could take a boat from Bakersfield to Stockton using the waterways as shown”, Mr Clark says. “A 50 foot schooner sailed the lake for many years and there were five piers for loading and unloading located around the lake. The current community of Alpaugh is located on what once was one of the islands you see depicted.”
But in a process reminiscent of the drying-up of the Aral Sea or Lake Chad , Tulare Lake was depleted by the diversion of its tributaries for the purpose of irrigation. By the early 20th century, the lake was largely dry.
Only very occasionally, when rains or snowmelt flood this area of the Valley, does a dim shadow of Tulare Lake return, to blame the humans for its death by designed desiccation…
Many thanks to Mr Clark for sending in this self-made map. And many thanks to former president Zachary Taylor for providing the diversion in the top part of this post...
The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) led to the Mexican Cession of 1848. This handover of Mexican territory to the US comprised almost the entire Mexican department of Alta California, and a western sliver of the Mexican territory of Nuevo México. That corresponds to the entirety of present US states of California, Nevada and Utah, a large part of Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.
Generally believed to the be first artificial satellite launched into orbit around the Earth, Sputnik was launched by the Soviets on October 4th 1957.
That being the highest point in what is now the contiguous United States (14,505 feet, or 4,421 m). At the time, the mountain was still unnamed.
The flat expanse in the centre of California occupies about 10% of its total surface, and consists of the Sacramento Valley in the north and the San Joaquin Valley in the south. It is a major agricultural area, which helps explain where all the water went.
The drying-up of Lake Chad was discussed on this blog in 2007 (#95). Has it completely gone by now? Another great lake no longer shown on contemporary maps is the Great Australian Inland Sea. But for a different reason: it only ever existed in the imagination of cartographers (#140). | <urn:uuid:ca09a0c5-8cbb-4ea5-87fc-6cccbf620dc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/557-the-first-satellite-map-of-california-1851 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955269 | 1,061 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Time for the Royals
text by Graham Hood
photos by Hans Lorenz
Zoom in for a closer look.(Requires Flash.)
Soon after the new capital of His Majesty's Colony of Virginia was founded and named in his honor in 1699, King William III took delivery of a new clock in London. It was no ordinary timepiece, even in the days when any timepiece was far from ordinary, for it towered more than ten feet and was spectacularly ornate. It was a creation of polished burl walnut, gilt ornaments, baroque finials, and silvered dial, fronting an advanced mechanism, all surmounted by a martial, female figure of gilt bronze.
It was fit for a king, though it ticked so loudly in his bedchamber at Hampton Court Palace that the misshapen, asthmatic monarch sacrificed its splendors to the cause of sleep. That, at least, is how a below-stairs tradition has garnished its history. After William's death a couple of years later, the clock ticked gracefully away in royal apartments for more than a century and a half until Queen Victoria presented it to her cousin, the second duke of Cambridge. Upon his death in 1904 it was sold at auction in London for a pittance.
It sold again a few years later, also at auction, and turned a nice profit, though in our world of glutted prices the sale figure now sounds ludicrously low. From there it went into a private collection, and thence to a swanky Bond Street dealer. At that point the "Record Clock," as it was then inscrutably called, undertook its first transatlantic voyage. It had attracted the attention of the American collector Francis P. Garvan, who bought it, shipped it to the United States, and lent it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He sold it in 1934.
I am struck by Garvan's ownership, though it is probably of no consequence to most readers, for I spent several happy years working with the first-rate collection of American decorative arts that he assembled and presented to Yale University in honor of his wife, Mabel Brady Garvan.
Twenty years later, the then-curator of Colonial Williamsburg, John M. Graham, heard from an English collector and author, and sometime dealer-agent, that the clock might be again for sale. It was thought to be perfect for the Governor's Palace. Had it not, after all, been made for one of King William's palaces? It would be expensive—£10,000, a mere bagatelle by today's standards—and there might be problems with the export license. There was none. Such matters never deterred Graham; they seem to have acted as a spur to his collector's instincts, which ran very deep. Over many governmental and private objections in England, regardless of the jeremiads and lamentations sent in the form of letters to the Times, Colonial Williamsburg bought the clock and subjected it to its second transatlantic journey. Despite widespread recognition that the clock was an English national treasure, the export license was obtained on the technicality that the clock had left England's shores once before.
In Williamsburg, it was placed in the Upper Middle Room of the Palace, where, proudly described as the "Tompion Clock" after the horologist who had made its works, it gathered attention, fame, and, slowly, notoriety. Younger and more literal-minded curators and collectors began to question how the clock could possibly be appropriate for the "authentic" Governor's Palace in Williamsburg when it had been made for the governor's royal master in London and for a royal palace there. It was removed from that setting in the early 1970s, to re-emerge, resplendent as ever, in the "Masterworks Gallery" of the new DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Gallery in 1985, where it has stood since, one of Colonial Williamsburg's greatest treasures.
Is it the most important piece of early English furniture in America? Perhaps. It is certainly one of them. And why is it called the "Tompion Clock," when that craftsman made only a small fraction of the great work of art you see?
What you do see has commanding presence: tall, rich, elaborate. It is more like the classical furniture of Louis XIV's France—amazing in its complexity and virtuosity—than typical English furniture of the period. This need not surprise us, for French émigré craftsmen abounded in London at this time, refugees from Louis's oppression of his Protestant subjects. The clock's case is a triumphant conjunction of highly figured burl walnut, boldly segmented and clearly defined with crisp moldings, and cast gilt-metal elements that accentuate the transitions and highlight the main section, like groups of instruments in a musical ensemble providing support and counterpoint to the principal themes.
Reading these metal elements from the base of the clock—the black-painted sub-base is a modern, protective addition—upward to its summit, we see bold, baroque scrolls curving into the corners, linked by deeply modeled swags of flowers and leaves, in the middle of which two cherubs hug. Exactly two-thirds of the way up the main case the scrolls reappear, now closer together and leading the eyes outward as firmly as the lower scrolls led the eyes in. Lovely little pieces of sculpture, they mark the transition between the long lower section and the detachable "hood," which surrounds and protects the works and is the culmination of this highly decorative piece. Identical scrolls and swags at the base and the upper scrolls are seen on another royal clock, made later for Prince George of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne.
This lower section—for readers who've been tempted to see what's behind the long door in the case, but never have—provides space for the long pendulum to swing and for the heavy clock weights to descend with gravity, pulling the wires which activate the mechanisms. "Rewinding" the clock pulls these weights back up.
The scrolls appear again at the apex, reduced in size and substance, and now placed horizontally. They lead our eyes to the little plinth supporting the gilt female figure, a perfect spot for the pierced, gilt-metal cipher of the intended owner, His Majesty. In contrast to the lower section, where the walnut figuring dominates, the upper section glitters with gold and silver, as befits a monarch. Intricately worked areas of pierced relief designs—horizontal and vertical panels backed with silk—and the triangular corner spandrels on the face all convey a sense of sophistication and richness. These relief panels serve an extra purpose. The wood behind them has been cut away to allow the sound of the bell that strikes the hours to emerge.
With such a large object one might expect to find that the detail is also broadly conceived—but not with this clock. The elaborate designs are intricate, and give the impression of being larger in scale. They are superb examples of the French baroque-inspired designs by the Dutchman Daniel Marot. Acting as "designer-general" to William of Orange, Marot was responsible for the royal palace at Het Loo, then followed William to England in 1694 and worked at Hampton Court Palace. His royal patronage made him popular, and his imaginative designs, published in book form, influenced English craftsmen for years.
At the summit of this towering work of art stands a gilt-bronze figure of a female deity, clad in armor and holding a spear and a shield. Four grand baroque gilt finials, ornamented with silvered swags, act as sentinels guarding the inclines and platform on which she stands in vigilant but easy stance. Often misidentified as Britannia, the figure is Minerva, goddess of war, defensive, that is, not aggressive like Mars, and of wisdom—attributes with which William may well have congratulated himself he was well endowed. Minerva is said to have leaped forth, mature and fully armed, from the brow of her father, Jupiter. Carrying on his family's implacable opposition to the imperial expansion of the Catholic Louis XIV, the Protestant William might have imagined that the same fate had been reserved for him. Minerva also presided over the useful and peaceful arts of men and women. All monarchs, even bellicose ones, like to be flattered that they are peace loving at heart.
Readers who are used to looking at antique furniture, including tall-case clocks, may be surprised that the dial of this clock lacks the customary identifying inscription, telling who made it and where. In fact, the dial is inscribed with the maker's name and the place where he worked, but it is partially hidden by the gilt molding around the face, and to a person of normal height it is not visible. It states simply THO. TOMPION LONDINI FECIT—Thomas Tompion of London made it. It is only partly visible because for Tompion to have engraved it boldly within the ring of numbers, as was the custom, would have struck his monarch as presumptuous, especially for a commoner, even if Tompion was no ordinary commoner.
Born in Bedfordshire in 1639, Tompion came from a line of blacksmiths and farriers. He presumably began work at that trade, for he was twenty-five before he was apprenticed to a clockmaker in London. By 1674 he had moved to the Dial and Three Crowns at Whitefriars and Fleet Street, where he worked for the rest of his life. That year he met Dr. Robert Hooke, physicist, curator of experiments for the Royal Society, and professor of geometry at Gresham's College. Hooke had already made remarkable discoveries and original observations, had invented the spiral spring for the balance of watches, and showed that gravity could be measured by utilizing the motion of a pendulum. An irritable polymath, he probably contributed much to Tompion's education. The tradesman impressed the professor in return. He was commissioned to construct an extremely accurate quadrant, which he did to the scientist's complete satisfaction. Through Hooke, Tompion was introduced to King Charles II, who in 1676 ordered from him the first clocks for the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.
Tompion became the first clockmaker in England to apply the spiral spring balance to watches, with such success that his patrons soon included the English and the French royal families. By the time he turned to our tall-case clock, he had patented an escapement with a horizontal wheel, created a clock that distinguished between solar time and mean time—an equation clock, which remains in the royal collection—and devised a clock driven by mainsprings that struck the hours and the quarters. The latter needed to be wound only once a year. Such was his fame by 1700 that a London newspaper announced he was making a clock for St. Paul's Cathedral, still under construction, that "is said will go one hundred years without winding up." Of this indefatigable timekeeper there is no further mention. In conjunction with Hooke again, Tompion experimented with barometers and made one of the first, still at Hampton Court Palace.
Returning to our redoubtable clock, you may be surprised to learn that all we have looked at thus far was the product of workshops other than Tompion's—even though he got, and still gets, the credit for the whole ensemble. The case, made of oak and veneered with walnut, was the product of an unknown cabinetmaker and joiner's shop. The relief elements were cast and fire-gilded by metalworkers in another unknown shop. The large figure of Minerva may have been cast in yet another shop, and the engraving on the dials probably came from another group, specialists in that genre. But the works—unadorned, fastidiously precise, meticulously functional—are undoubtedly by Tompion.
These works consist of a two-train striking movement, which lasts for three months on a single winding. There is a perpetual calendar that makes allowance for the leap year. Below the numeral XII on the inner dial is a silvered seconds ring. Behind two apertures above the VI are silvered dials that tell the month, above, and the date, below. The upper aperture also contains the signs of the zodiac and the number of the day in the month that the sun enters that constellation. Crosses engraved on the dial, between Roman numerals for the hours, show the position of the hour hand at the half-hour, and tiny crosses on the outer, minutes ring, defined with Arabic numerals, indicate the half-quarter hours. Barely visible today are engraved arabesques on the "ground" plate, beyond the 15, 45, and 60 minutes numbers.
On the inner dial, between the II and III numbers on the right and IX and X on the left, are round, shuttered apertures for inserting the key to wind the mechanisms. A little bolt is designed to open these shutters and at the same time to activate the "maintaining power," which keeps the clock running for three minutes while the key is turned to raise the pendant weights. After three minutes the maintaining power is released and the shutters, with a final virtuoso flourish, close automatically.
In the early 1680s Tompion started to number his products. He made eighteen to twenty tall-case and bracket clocks a year during a thirty-five-year career, and more than 150 silver and gold pocket watches each year—a prodigious output. His work was expensive and exclusive, the watches a gleam in many a pickpocket's eyes, as contemporary "Lost and Found" notices clearly show. It never occurred to me that a Virginian of that time would be up to the level of such an upscale consumer item until I saw the gold pocket watch that "King" Carter had owned, now on display at the Carter family museum at Christ Church, Lancaster County. A rich and heavy object, it says more about the social posture and ambition of that man than almost anything else I know.
So it was with surpassing interest that one day I read a letter from Sacramento telling us that another Carter family pocket watch by Tompion had survived. And it was most generously being offered to Colonial Williamsburg as a gift. What a fantastic complement to the great clock, should it prove right. It did. According to family tradition it had belonged to "King" Carter's grandson, also named Robert, who had lived in Williamsburg and at Nomini Hall in the northern neck of Virginia in the second half of the eighteenth century. Though it had been repaired and had had some parts replaced, compromising it from the strict collector's point of view, its repairs made it more interesting from ours. The gold outer cases bear the hallmarks for 1769, though the works are numbered 4215, showing that they were made about 1708. The later date may well have been when Robert Carter acquired it. Inside the cases are three rare "watch papers" from Virginia jewelers, showing a sequence of cleaning and/or repairs in the 1830s. These obviously support the family tradition.
As ornate within as the clock is austerely plain, the watch is a marvelous example of the treasured world of such sumptuous possessions. Gold and silver, chased and engraved, decorative and functional, the precious works, designed to be seen easily, explain why watches were among the most costly items in personal inventories of the time.
Conservators and horologists today are amazed at how little wear Tompion's mechanisms show, especially those that have been rarely moved and are presumed to have been kept going for most of their three hundred years. They were, indeed, brilliantly made. When the great craftsman died at the age of seventy-four, his fame was such that he was deemed worthy of burial in Westminster Abbey. For a farrier's son, that was not bad.
Graham Hood, Colonial Williamsburg's vice president for collections and museums and Carlisle H. Humelsine Curator until his retirement in December 1997, writes from his home beside the Chesapeake Bay. He contributed to the winter 2003-2004 journal "Lure of the Old." | <urn:uuid:41a5a076-d444-4127-8185-974f2fedf51d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/Foundation/journal/Summer04/clock.cfm?showSite=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974222 | 3,393 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Mobile overtakes internet cafes as primary access point
Indonesia, with rising internet penetration and ad investment, is following trends in other emerging economies, with early development concentrated firmly in cities. According to eMarketer estimates, overall internet penetration reached nearly one out of four people in the highly populous island-state in 2012. By contrast, data from Yahoo! and TNS found internet penetration in urban Indonesia reached 57% last year.
That figure propelled online access above newspapers, to become the No. 2 medium in the country’s cities, behind TV.
Unsurprisingly, the young and moneyed were the most likely to access the internet, but it was notable just how youthful online reach really was in Indonesia. Nine out of 10 teenagers between 15 to 19 years old went online, the highest rate of internet penetration of all broken out age groups. Internet activity remained fairly uncommon among the older population. Only one out of four of those between 40 to 50 years old went online.
In 2012, mobile phones became the preferred means of accessing the internet, with 62% of those in urban Indonesia going online via feature phones or smartphones.
Internet cafes lost reach, as more consumers adopted personal access points—if not by phone than from home. Less than half of internet users accessed at cafes last year, down from 83% in 2009.
Feature phones were the leading mobile device used to go online. At 86% penetration, their presence was more than four times that of smartphones, which reached 20% of the urban population. And while those accessing from home spent the most time online, at 11 hours per week, the amount of time residents spent online on mobile was not far behind. In 2012, the report found mobile accounted for 10 hours of internet time, up from 8 hours in 2011.
Regardless of whether internet users were on mobile or desktop, they have a penchant for social networking. Visiting a social networking site was the top online and mobile activity, with 90% penetration online overall and 76% penetration on mobile.
Instant messaging was the next most popular mobile internet activity in urban Indonesia, but by a much lower percentage, under half reported instant messaging over the mobile internet. Looking up information and accessing email each reached approximately two out of five mobile internet users, but the report expected those percentages to continue rising.
Online overall, residents were more likely to use the internet for research and email, but social networking and entertainment were still primary activities, a reminder that internet activity in the country remains the terrain of the young.
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Check out today’s other articles, “Google's Expanded Travel Info Revamps Marketer Landscape” and “Baby Boomers Lead Pharma Online Script Fulfillment.” | <urn:uuid:3658f268-a956-45ab-b4d3-b19feed3f8dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Indonesias-Cities-Mobile-Boosts-Internet-No-2-Media-Spot/1009637 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949977 | 593 | 1.734375 | 2 |
- Special Sections
- Public Notices
Our legacy will grow out of what we do this year. Matthew West’s The Story of Your Life raises some provocative questions about our future. “Is this the end or only the beginning? Is it the second chance you never thought you would get? The question is, will you do something with it? Or will you spend your days lost in your regret? This is the story of your life. You decide how the rest is going to be. This is your chance between the lines to redefine what legacy you will leave…is this the end or only the beginning?”
Many of us float from year to year without a plan or direction. One day we realize we are floating in a sea of regrets. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Whether in our personal lives, vocations, or avocations, we can create a direction that leads to a legacy that provides meaning, purpose, and accomplishments.
As a way of thinking about where we are and where we want to go this coming year, I would invite us to consider three factors that can help any individual or organization move from good to great. It may mean we need to change or revise our vision.
Jim Collins suggests that there are three interlocking circles that define our vision. Three questions help us focus our vision:
What are we most passionate about?
According to Wikipedia, passion comes from an ancient Greek word that means profound suffering. It is also a term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing.
Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or a desire for something. The term is also often applied to a lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love – a feeling of unusual enthusiasm or compelling emotion, a positive affinity or love, towards a subject.
Our passion is felt and expressed in many ways. We may be a passionate follower of our favorite basketball team and the beloved players. We all have strong feelings toward our family members. Some of us have passion for a particular political view or party. And some of us are passionate adherents to a specific religious or spiritual quest.
And all of this is as it should be. But sometimes our passions are misplaced. Are the things we are passionate about adding to our legacy?
Henry Ford, who was a fairly successful person, once said, “You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars.”
Passion and strong feelings about a cause are contagious. Passion starts with one person. Each of us needs to have a vision of where we want to be down the road. Before we can add to the legacy of an organization or family we must be clear about our own vision.
What are our strengths?
The second question we much wrestle with if we are to have a compelling vision is what, if anything are we better at or as good at as anyone else? What is our edge?
All of us possess unique personality traits, special interests and abilities. Coach Cal has found a way to make the UK basketball program attractive to the very best in the world. The Kentucky Derby draws the best horses in the world.
We can’t all be great like these are, but we can identify and use what we are good at. For example, we might possess great listening skills, or know a lot about social networking, or be a great encourager, or be a strategic thinker, or be extremely emotionally intelligent.
There are strength finders that can help us determine our strengths if we aren’t sure. We need to discover what we are good at and double our use.
What kind of support do we need to reach our vision?
The third question we need to answer in order to refocus a vision for our future is what supports or undergirds our work toward this vision.
In a for-profit business, this would mean identifying the streams of revenue that enable the business to realize its vision. Other issues such as people development, training, hiring the right people and making sure the right people are in the right jobs may help reach our vision.
For a nonprofit it might mean volunteers and streams of revenue such as donations. It might mean developing my strategic leadership skills or learning how to fund raise.
As an individual we might need a support system, or a coach. Perhaps we desire more education or training to reach our vision. We obviously need enough income to make ends meet, but maybe it would be helpful to find other streams of income. I have several friends who have increased their income and passion for health by using and selling Zija.
When businesses or we as individuals are failing or at least struggling to grow, there are two choices: cut expenses and/or raise revenue streams.
When I was the CEO of a small nonprofit counseling center, every year I would build a budget based on our expenses and income from the year before. That seemed like a credible approach, and it seemed to work. We barely made budget year after year.
Then, one year, our new board member, who had been a former client and was passionate about our ministry, said to me, “Why don’t you dream a little?”
She suggested that we decide first on our vision and priorities. In other words rather than looking at our current income and making a budget to break even, why not make a wish list that would allow us to do more.
We still had to be realistic, but from that day forward we began to grow and stretch.
Visions are about hopes, dreams, and aspirations. They’re about our strong desire to achieve something great or at least leave a legacy.
Here are some more questions that can move us forward toward a clearer vision:
In conclusion I would use Paul J. Meyer’s famous statement: “Whatever we vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon…must inevitably come to pass!”
And then 100 yearsfrom now our descendants will read our story and be blessed, grateful and inspired. It is up to us…
Is this the end or only the beginning?
Rick Underwood is minister at Hempridge Baptist Church and a performance consultant and managing partner of the Leadership Management Institute. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:4b6419db-758d-4c5d-b8b9-1203ee9e4214> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sentinelnews.com/content/underwood-what-will-your-legacy-be?quicktabs_2=1&mini=calendar-date%2F2013-04 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954444 | 1,322 | 2.0625 | 2 |
A couple years ago, I built the North Country National Scenic Trail
. Oh, it wasn't all me - I had some help. Actually, I helped build about 600 feet of the 4600 mile trail. Many sections of the trail still don't exist - but they will some day.
I acted. I did something. I put in some effort in my local community. And, I did it with the thought that it is a very small part of a much greater whole. Someone in New York and someone else in North Dakota also built a bit of trail. Their bits and pieces combine with mine to create something amazing. Now, one of my goals is to hike the entire trail in a couple years.
When we "Do a Good Turn Daily", we are making the world a bit more connected and a bit better. We are acting locally while we think globally. Good Turns are not heroic deeds. They are small things that, over time and repeated by many, can make a huge difference.
It's easy to think about what's wrong in the world and not do anything about the problems. The problems are so big, a single person can't change them. That is why each person needs to change his local world in whatever small way he can, while keeping in mind the good of the whole.
Walking or biking to work or the store, participating in a charity hike or run, volunteering for a CERT position, picking up trash along a trail - it doesn't matter so much what
you do, as long as you do something
Check this out about Making a Difference
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If you’ve lived in Vancouver long enough there are a few things that become a part of your everyday routine. At noon the O! Canada horns will sound at Canada Place, at 9:00pm the Nine O’Clock Gun will fire, and at around 5:30pm tens of thousands of crows will retreat to Burnaby from Vancouver.
I call it the “crow commute”. It’s as though 10,000 of the black birds pack their lunches every day and set out from the Willingdon area and head downtown, to Stanley Park, and surrounding beaches. A silent whistle blows at the end of the day and they all return home in one steady, ominous stream of black spots across the sky.
The Burnaby roost has been in use since about 1971. Prior to that, crows left the city for the evening. One roost was on Bowyer Island in Howe Sound. Crows from across the North Shore, UBC, and Stanley Park would make the late afternoon commute to the forested hills of Bowyer. A much smaller roost was somewhere up Indian Arm. Other roosts were in Richmond near the former dump along Highway 99. [Vancouver Sun, 2010]
When it comes to birds in the city, we have our share of french fry-stealing sea gulls and sidewalk-crowding pigeons along with photo-op worthy herons, owls, and bald eagles. Crows are low on the ‘nuisance’ meter for me but other West End residents didn’t always think so.
I was browsing the Vancouver Archives this week and discovered that on this day in 1903 crows were considered such a pain that the city decided to turn a blind eye to the firearm by-law in Stanley Park and allow sportsmen to shoot crows.
From Chuck Davis’ History of Metropolitan Vancouver: Crows made the news with a plan to allow sportsmen into Stanley Park “to exterminate the pest.” A bounty of “”ive cents per head up to 5,000 head” was offered and the park was closed to the public. Although a by-law banned the discharge of firearms within the park, officials said they would look the other way.
This wasn’t the first time that the people of Vancouver were fed up with crows. Chuck Davis also posted a piece from The Province from August 1900 where a letter to the editor states: “There are few residents in the city and particularly in the West End who are not disturbed in their slumbers from 5 a.m. by the fearful and nerve-killing noises made by the crows. A vote should be taken as to whether the people want crows or not.”
Over 100 years later, the immeasurable group flies over our heads every day, like clock work, perhaps to remind us of our past attempts to exterminate them. It seems like West End residents have finally learned to live peacefully with the crows or perhaps it’s the crows that have now accepted us. | <urn:uuid:64b47926-d524-437d-84e2-550fd65f4e11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.miss604.com/2012/11/vancouver-history-oddities-crow-commute.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973117 | 639 | 2.1875 | 2 |
‘Lost’ Jack Kirby comic unearthed … in France
Here’s a bit of lost comics history that presents a bit of a puzzle for Jack Kirby fans: A comic strip that was ghosted by Jack Kirby.
Writer and filmmaker Jean Depelley was chatting about Jack Kirby with comics historian Bernard Joubert after a screening of Depelley’s documentary Marvel 14: Superheroes vs. Censorship, when Joubert mentioned a Davy Crockett story by Kirby that had run in France in the 1960s. Depelley thought this might be the stories Kirby drew for Harvey Comics’ Western Tales in the mid-1950s, but Joubert insisted it looked like a daily comic. And indeed, after doing a bit of digging, Joubert has concluded that Kirby was the ghost artist for a three-week run of the syndicated comic strip Davy Crockett, Frontiersman, written by France “Ed” Herron and originally drawn by Jim McArdle.
After Kirby’s brief run, Jim Christenson took over the art. The Kirby strips are not signed, but Depelley concluded that they were penciled by Kirby and most were inked by him as well. Apparently they were reformatted and published in the French comic Zoom, and Depelley leaves it to collectors to unearth the original American strips. | <urn:uuid:4492d905-7784-4dd5-9787-cfcbd085fb04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2012/08/lost-jack-kirby-comic-unearthed-in-france/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979936 | 284 | 1.84375 | 2 |
That’s what’s up!
3D art is 2-dimensional artwork drawn on the street, wall, paper or somewhere else that gives you a 3-dimensional optical illusion from a certain perspective. This type of art is gaining much popularity these days, because it can be very realistic and breathtaking. It is not a surprise to see 3D art somewhere on the street, but have your ever seen 3d made on the paper at home?
As the US's first Deputy CTO, Beth Noveck founded the White House Open Government Initiative, which developed administration policy on transparency, participation and collaboration. She starts her talk by reminding us that in the old days, the White House was literally an open house. At the beginning of the 19th century, John Quincy Adams met a local dentist who happened in to shake his hand. | <urn:uuid:46d3fa30-8ae1-44e7-ac21-dcb4b538b6e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tekartist.org/2012/06/28/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967898 | 172 | 2.25 | 2 |
Posts Tagged ‘hair tips’
Following these simple tips for hair and capture everyone’s attention. For most women the hair is vital to feel beautiful and feminine, so mannerly healthy, strong, rich and shiny is the ultimate, the hair care is not complicated, you should only be satisfied when using beauty treatments, remedies or tips for hair.
Monthly emergence: One of the best and most basic tips for hair is that you go every two months to the hairdresser or beauty salon that will cut the tips, as well as avoiding the dreaded split ends, helps hair grow faster and stronger because it stimulates the hair follicles.
She gets dandruff: The most common and annoying hair is dandruff, so if you want to help counteract water boiled in half a cup of fresh parsley leaves, when the infusion has cooled apply on your scalp after using your dandruff shampoo. Read the rest of this entry »
It is very natural when considering the look you take during the summer season, as you comb them, and how to take the hair, especially if you witness daily to a swimming pool or the beach you followed. The hair a wet, sloppy and a bit stripped, is the trend that prevails in this 2011.
Night comes, you may begin to think where you will go out and take the hairstyle, starts to leave you no room to think, as all want to look gorgeous at all times of day. With this in mind the designers to make things easier when it comes to hairstyles, have gradually imposed the wet-hair trend this summer. Read the rest of this entry »
Before beginning a treatment for hair is important to consider the type of hair we have. Once we know the characteristics of our hair will know how to treat it. Every hair needs a shampoo and conditioner different.
First of all, we do not recommend washing your hair every day. And besides, do not abuse the hot water. Since, thus spoil the hair. With very hot water, hair and suffer damage, so we recommend washing it with warm water. Read the rest of this entry »
Touch up your hair with highlights or streaks, is a nice option to give light to all hair, but some care must be taken when choosing the color and if it is not correct, the result may not be what you want.
The secret as many stylists to remain the highlights or reflections to perfection , is conducted in a tone that credible, even though it has nothing to do with the base color or natural color of hair. Should be performed in the exact amount, not to look overdone, and that can get a natural and sophisticated. Read the rest of this entry »
If your hair has been dull, breaks easily and tends to fall more than usual, the best thing you can do is follow some simple tips, home and with good results.
If you possess a blond long hair, dyed with streaks , it is normal over time end up damaging the hair , by the contact with the sun, dehydration and leaves it brittle or simply the pool water in summer months , because chlorine closely affects the dyed hair and may even change from blonde to a tone greenish. For this reason, it is more advisable to wear a cap and after the relaxing bath, rinse your hair with normal water, and moisturize with the right products. Read the rest of this entry »
The vast majority of us usually have a problem with our hair that does not like us. We find it difficult to style and we see the ugly and a thousand other things. Today we are going to know some easy tricks to solve some common problems with hair.
For example, the curly hair is used to being very uncomfortable and we tend to pick it up because we do not like how it looks loose. The solution is a treatment very simple and economical. You will only need to prepare one liter of water mixed with a tablespoon of honey. Keep it always at hand when you shower and rinse with this preparation, leave it that act some minutes and then remove with warm water. Read the rest of this entry »
Iron the hair is an option for many people for hair perfectly smooth, but is it healthy to use the iron for our hair?
Iron the hair is not very convenient as the use of our hair straightening irons is very harmful to the hair. Abuse of heat can damage our hair making it weak and brittle, which is why we need space as much as possible the use of iron. Read the rest of this entry »
There are several factors that vary the result of those listed: haircut, color, amount of hair and you may have skill. Therefore, each collected will be different for every woman. However, here are some guidelines for you to begin to test which one best suits your style.
Many collected starting with a queue, especially if you have long hair. Depending on how high you want your bow, so you should make your queue. All you have to do is roll up on itself and secure with hairpins, tweezers or that what you have. So then you can decorate with nets, bows, ornaments or glitter. You can do the same with a simple braid. One option, for which you should have enough hair, is to fulfill the same procedure, but with two pigtails or braids. If you have bangs, you can play with it or pick it up with a fork. Read the rest of this entry »
There is good news for all those women who have wavy or curly hair. This season’s hair with waves of fashion and sets the trend. To have choices and can change your way of putting it’ll show you some hair with loose curls.
Today, hairstyles with curls are using a lot so if you want to take a defined wave it is recommended that you apply some hair gel to give structure to your curls or waves so you can keep the style.
To handle it better, put your hair between your fingers and massaging it and the heat will mold and be more manageable. Read the rest of this entry »
For many women it is very important to change hairstyles and hair color, but some changes you made to your hair make this to be ruined. So here are some tips to make your hair with ink the more healthy and beautiful.
At the time of going to a salon to change your hair color, please note that this must be of quality, where staff will take care of your hair is suitable in their work. When you decide to dye your hair you expose it to take greater porosity, alter capillary structure, there is friction loss, loss of strength and endurance, and possible irritation of the scalp area.
It is advisable to avoid much damage you do you dye the hair from root to tip every 6 months and every month you only touch the roots with the least color for hair abuse. Read the rest of this entry » | <urn:uuid:7e627cb1-08d3-4cec-8a1c-450a00e5cb7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://beautyrama.com/tag/hair-tips | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955961 | 1,418 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Everybody has a dream. After all, the celebs we report on all followed theirs and ended up in Hollywood right? So where do dreams start? Most of us would agree they start in school and that's exactly what film makers Kimberly Goodman and Henri Hebert sought out to portray in their documentary film, "Dream With Me."
October 5, 2009 (Los Angeles, CA) - Dream with Me – A Documentary About One Year in America’s Public Schools, will be featured on the Hollywood Dailies show on the REELZ Channel on October 8, 2009 at 4PM PST. Hollywood Dailies is known for their insightful stories that highlight the people who take movies from script to screen. This segment will focus on up and coming independent documentary filmmakers, Kimberly Goodman and Henri Hebert of FiveFold Productions and their inspiration and the challenges that surround making an eye-opening documentary about the American public school system. | <urn:uuid:84087116-e5c2-43d9-bc4f-84a358f803f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dreamwithme.org/press | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944986 | 188 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Lawrence University is one of the country’s most environmentally responsible colleges according to The Princeton Review.
The national education services company selected Lawrence for its new resource for college applicants, “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges.”
Developed in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, the “Guide to 286 Green Colleges” is a comprehensive guidebook focused solely on institutions of higher education that have demonstrated an above average commitment to sustainability in terms of campus infrastructure, activities and initiatives.
The guide profiles the nation’s most environmentally-responsible campuses and highlights each institution’s ecological commitment based on several criteria, including the USGBC’s LEED green building certification program, use of renewable energy resources, formal sustainability committees and recycling and conservation programs.
Lawrence was cited in the guide for its Green Roots program, a two-year-long environmental initiative launched in 2008 designed to establish a framework to develop institutional policies and procedures to promote environmental awareness on the campus.
Other factors in Lawrence’s inclusion in the Green Guide included the Warch Campus Center’s LEED Gold certification, the student-run sustainable garden that provides fresh produce to the dining hall, the composting of all food prep waste and the college’s vibrant environmental studies program that draws faculty from 11 different departments and focuses on research projects that lead to solutions for real world environmental problems.
More recently, Lawrence installed its first solar panel and placed ninth nationally among 346 colleges in the 2010 Recyclemania competition’s per capita recycling category.
“Over the past two years, Lawrence has made great strides in its efforts to improve our sustainability and instill environmentally sound practices, from reducing our water and natural gas consumption to dramatically cutting our paper usage” said Jeff Clark, associate professor of geology and faculty associate to the president for the Green Roots initiative. “It’s gratifying to have those efforts recognized.”
The 286 schools included in the guide were selected on the basis of their 2009 “Green Rating” scores in The Princeton Review’s annual college guidebook. The “Green Rating” is a numerical score from 60–99 based on several data points developed in conjunction with the USGBC. Lawrence’s green rating was 83.
According to a recent survey conducted by The Princeton Review, 64 percent of college applicants and their parents indicated information about a school’s commitment to the environment would impact their decision to apply to or attend it.
“Students and their parents are becoming more and more interested in learning about and attending colleges and universities that practice, teach and support environmental responsibility,” said Robert Franek, senior vice president and publisher of The Princeton Review. “We created this guide to help them evaluate how institutions focus on environmental responsibility so that they can make informed decisions as they move through the college assessment and application process.” | <urn:uuid:a9a453e8-2b65-44d4-b2cc-913cc217cc4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.lawrence.edu/news/tag/solar_panel | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945117 | 605 | 2.28125 | 2 |
I'm reviewing a Libertarian paper against Objectivism and found an argument that I am unclear on. The Libertarian argument is that a criminal should have the right to buy out his punishment. That is, if I shoot you in the leg, I should be able to offer to pay you to not press charges against me. If the sum is agreeable to you, the government will have no right to convict me of any crime. The Libertarian position is that this is no different than if I offered to pay you for the pleasure of shooting you in the leg in advance, you accept payment, and I then proceed to shoot you in the leg.
The paper argues that the Objectivist position would not allow this and that the government should prosecute for the violation of rights because of that person's danger to society independent of the will of the person whose rights was violated.
Is this the case? If so, why?
The libertarian paper cited by the questioner is in a sense correct -- the Objectivist position and the libertarian one are incompatible. Objectivism would deny that criminals have the right to buy off their victims. Leaving aside the potential for abuse -- organized crime is very good at intimidating its victims into refusing to press charges -- the libertarian position reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of crime and punishment.
The purpose of the justice system in a free society is to identify instances in which the initiation of physical force has taken place and to punish the initiators. Whether such initiation has taken place is a question which must be answered by an objective process of investigation. This is the purpose and justification of government, according to Objectivism: to place the use of retaliatory force under objective control. Allowing the alleged victim to short-circuit this process of investigation undercuts the objective controls placed on retaliatory force -- not by allowing retaliation where none is warranted, but by preventing retaliation where it is warranted.
Why would this matter?
What is the purpose of retaliatory force? It is not, contrary to the libertarian position, to compensate or 'make whole' the victim. A justice system which only required the criminal to make his victims whole would turn crime into a win-or-break-even gamble. If you steal a car and get away with it, you have the car. If you get caught, you make the victim whole by giving the car back and you're no worse off than when you started. (The notion of making the victim whole only has even superficial plausibility when dealing with crimes against property -- what would it mean to make a rape victim 'whole'? A kidnap victim? A murder victim?)
If the purpose of retaliatory force is not to compensate the victim, what is it for? It is to close the causal circle on the initiator of force. His willingness to resort to force exposes others to destructive consequences -- not only his actual victims but his potential victims. Retaliatory force visits those destructive consequences on the initiator, which is what makes retaliation just. The criminal, by choosing to use force, has placed himself outside the rules which allow society to function as a life-enhancing arrangement for its members. He cannot buy his way back in by paying off the immediate victim because his choice of force as a means of dealing with others poses an objective threat to all.
The libertarian position is a reflection of the subjectivism that infests their entire movement. From the subjectivist standpoint, the only person capable of deciding whether force has been initiated is the subject himself -- nobody else can say he's objectively wrong. The anarchist view that a government, with its monopoly on retaliatory force, is initiating force against anyone who wants a different enforcer is one expression of this. The idea that if the victim says no force was initiated then no force was initiated is another.
(I wanted to add a few words on why the libertarian position seems plausible. Individual consent does play a role in whether force has been initiated. If someone punches me in the face without my consent we have a criminal assault; if he punches me in the face with my consent we have a boxing match. The libertarian then asks, in effect, why it matters whether my consent is obtained before or after the punch is thrown? The answer: in the latter case the puncher is demonstrating that my consent is irrelevant to whether he will hit me or not. We know he is willing to hit me without my consent because he does so without knowing whether I will consent or not, and it is that willingness to use force absent my consent that makes him an objective threat.)
Speaking of using retaliatory force, John Galt said "I use it only to destroy destruction." This is why we punish criminals--to destroy evil in order to protect individuals from further rights violations. "Justice is the recognition of the fact . . . that every man must be judged for what he is and treated accordingly." Galt’s Speech, For the New Intellectual p. 129. If a man is willing to violate the rights of others, he is a threat to all rational men. The intentional rights violator thereby shows that he does not respect the principle of rights and is going to live on the level of an animal rather than as a human; we therefor treat him as one would a dangerous animal.
In other words, the punishment is not designed to somehow "fix" the past crime that occurred, but to protect against future rights violations. Compensation is an important part of justice and should be required by the law, but it is not the same thing as punishment which is in addition to any compensation. Thus, compensating the victim does not remove the need to punish--the criminal who willfully shot another person has not changed simply because the victim now has some money. He is still the same dangerous person who has demonstrated that he disregards the rights of others (i.e., he is, literally, a loose cannon).
Punishment "destroy[s] destruction" in various ways. In severe cases, the criminal is removed from society completely (e.g., death or life in prison). In less severe cases, the punishment may be simply designed to hurt the criminal in some way, making it more difficult for evil to thrive.
What does the author of the article you are reading put forward as the justification for punishment of criminals in general? If his only justification for punishment is the compensation of the victim, then how would punishment accomplish this in the vast majority of cases? If the criminal has nothing with which to compensate the victim, how does throwing him in jail or inflicting some other punishment (e.g., physical pain) compensate the victim? If you take compensation as the justification for punishment, a lot of crimes will have to go unpunished because they are simply not capable of compensation.
Now, if we are not talking about compensating the victim, but rather of using a monetary fine as one means of punishment, then that is a different story. What specific means one uses to punish is open for debate, and I see no reason why a monetary fine might not be preferable to a jail term or something like that in certain cases. The punishment should fit the crime, however (see Greg's article on that). | <urn:uuid:eb32aa61-261a-40b2-b941-6c6040ba1d4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://objectivistanswers.com/questions/5711/what-is-the-objectivists-position-on-punishment-for-criminals | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963788 | 1,460 | 1.742188 | 2 |
School's in session, leaves are turning brown, and I'm betting y'all have a whole new set of circumstances giving you grief. Well thank your god it's Friday. Ask Dad is here to help with what ails you.
My kid sucks at math but I suck worse. I was a high school dropout. We can't afford a tutor. How do I help her?
Ask Dad did great in English classes (as you can tell from the gorgeous poetry I compose here), but I was always horrid at math like you. It was the one class where I sat in the back with the stoners. Maybe we knew each other.
Part of it was lack of ability, but mostly I thought I was an artist, who couldn't be troubled by that confining class with its "right" and "wrong" answers.
A lot of us carry this into adulthood. We romanticize our stupidity and love our narrow-mindedness about technical stuff. But I've learned something recently, and I feel like the young me will appear and kick my ass for saying it:
Math is really interesting!
It's freaking fascinating! It all works out, it has beauty and elegance and little trippy bits that you can share with friends over drinks. Those of us who shunned it were just dead wrong. I want to go back and apologize to all my math teachers. Well, not Mr. McDonald. He was just a prick.
So first, you should pick up a book written for the general public. Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything has some great stuff for the layperson about math and science.
Danica McKellar (Winnie from The Wonder Years) has some good ones too. If their iCarly tone doesn't make you barf, you can read them secretly yourself before passing them on to your daughter.
These may not teach you specific things you need to help your kid, but at least it can boost your confidence and give you some enthusiasm, which can be infectious.
But let's get more practical. My dad, a teacher, always said you just have to be one day ahead of the students. You don't have to be a mentor. Pick up her math book when she's asleep, or go back to one from the previous grades if that's what you need (ideally you could take an adult school class, but that's a lot to ask of a busy mom). You can scramble and maybe pass by your kid.
But you don't even need to pass her. You just need to get into the same ballpark as her. Sometimes all a student needs is a fresh set of eyes looking at frustrating work. Your dumb questions -- which will probably be met with eyerolls at first -- can get her talking and thinking and figuring things out. I've seen it happen a million times. (I used to be a teacher, often on topics I didn't know anything about.)
This is why study groups work. And speaking of study groups, if your kid's school offers them, get her involved. If parents run it, offer to help. That may be better than any direct tutoring you can do. You can listen in and catch up. You might even use some of it.
How do you help your kids with homework on subjects you don't know much about? | <urn:uuid:339a27fd-fc51-4197-9fe7-fc6447f3c94d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/109667/ask_dad_i_suck_at | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980299 | 687 | 1.5625 | 2 |
THE perennial debate about religion and politics in America has a new point of reference: a bill passed a few weeks ago by a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives to permit the allocation of federal disaster relief money for the reconstruction of houses of worship damaged last fall during Hurricane Sandy. The bill is vigorously opposed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the organisation that distributes relief funds. The editorial board of the New York Times is against the proposed change, as is the American Civil Liberties Union. (The Anti-Defamation League initially objected to the bill, but has backtracked.) Opponents are worried that the move will breach the constitutional “wall of separation” between church and state—a metaphorical partition introduced to American jurisprudence by Thomas Jefferson in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists.
The dual religion clauses of the first amendment trace a tricky path for public policy. The Establishment Clause prevents the government from being too friendly toward religion: no endorsement of religious doctrines, no favouring specific faiths or religion over non-religion, no excessive entanglement between state institutions and religious organisations. The Free Exercise Clause, meanwhile, prohibits the state from obstructing religious practice, discriminating against religious organisations or showing hostility toward them. As the dispute over FEMA funds illustrates, the conduit of neutrality through these hazards can be quite narrow.
The ACLU critique of the House bill is predictable but oddly tepid:
FEMA's policy not only ensures that FEMA grants are used to rebuild facilities that provide the most critical services to the entire community, but also reflects an important constitutional principle. Religious liberty is one of our nation's most fundamental values and it starts from the precept that religion and religious institutions thrive when both religion and government are safeguarded from the undue influences of the other....longstanding precedent holds that taxpayer funds cannot go to construct or rebuild buildings used primarily for religious activities.
Platitudes aside, what actual harm to the constitutional order would ensue if FEMA helped to rebuild devastated houses of worship? Doesn’t it seem discriminatory to repair zoos and museums with federal funds while devastated synagogues rot? The ACLU anticipates this charge:
This principle is not discriminatory or hostile to religion. Rather, as James Madison forcefully argued centuries ago, and is equally valid today, it is one of the most fundamental ways we have to protect and defend religious liberty for all. It protects the conscience of each of us, ensuring that no taxpayer is required to fund a religious institution with tenets he or she may not believe in.
Admittedly, there is something to the complaint. It does seem odd to imagine woodcarvers crafting an ark for a synagogue and then cashing a cheque from the federal government. If the Senate passes the bill and the president signs it, taxpayer funds will flow right into the bricks and mortar of houses of worship. But is that a “dangerous precedent”, as the ACLU argues? If you buy the argument in James Madison’s famous “Memorial and Remonstrance” (1785) that forcing a citizen to “contribute three pence” in taxes to a religious organisation will grease a slippery slope toward full ecclesiastical establishment and the decimation of religious freedom, you’ll side with the ACLU. But on inspection, the claim lacks plausbility. There is no logic linking emergency aid to rebuild destroyed churches, mosques and synagogues with a plan to strategically fund other houses of worship in the future, just as supplying FEMA funds to repair a damaged zoo entails no commitment on the part of the federal government to build new zoos years down the line.
In an advisory letter to Congress defending the expansion of FEMA aid to religious institutions, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty points out a 2009 Sixth Circuit case in which government funds used to renovate religious buildings were found to be within first-amendment bounds:
The court noted that long-standing Supreme Court precedent allowed “churches, synagogues, and mosques” to receive “generally available benefits” like “police and fire-protection services” and access to “sewers and sidewalks.” The court reasoned that “[i]f a city may save the exterior of a church from a fire,” it could certainly provide equal access to government funds that “help that same church with peeling paint.” That conclusion is all the more true here, where the problem the government seeks to remedy is not peeling paint but complete devastation.
Consider the context. The damaged synagogue in Rockaway, Queens and the devastated church in Bay Head, New Jersey will not be built from scratch. These are not new institutions that will court fresh flocks of congregants. The construction contracts will not be motivated by a desire to inculcate religious values or to promote any particular religion, or religion at all. The idea is to help bring non-profits, including houses of worship, back to the status quo ex ante: the rough shape they were in before the winds and the water of Superstorm Sandy wreaked their havoc. It is hard to see how this assistance foretells the demise of religious liberty in America.
(Photo credit: AFP) | <urn:uuid:4b5870a8-87bb-41a0-ac97-8c0fa882de50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/comment/1917597 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938341 | 1,075 | 2.25 | 2 |
The largest museum collection of domestic dogs in the UK go back on display in the re-opening of Gallery 6 at the Natural History Museum at Tring today.
Eight months and 837 cleaned specimens later, the revamped Gallery 6 is now ready to show off its weird and wonderful collections once again.
The Victorian Museum, founded by Lionel Walter Rothschild more than 100 years ago, has outstanding examples of 19th century taxidermy as well as housing the world-class research collections of the Natural History Museum’s Bird Group.
'In Gallery 6, we’ve tried to retain the historical look and feel of Walter Rothschild’s important displays,' says Paul Kitching, Museum Manager. 'While making sure the information about each of the animals is as up-to-date and as accurate as possible.'
The lighting, colour scheme and signage have all been updated to bring to life information about this amazing collection.
New labels and information let visitors learn why dogs look so different even though they are all one species, or why ostriches don’t really bury their heads in the sand.
Visitors can now discover more about Walter Rothschild in a new section that focuses on his work and legacy.
There is a display showing how taxidermists prepare animals which includes a video that shows the details of how the job is done.
All the animals in the gallery have been painstakingly cleaned.
Marsupials, giant tortoises and a komodo dragon are some of the highlighted specimens. The tallest animal is a 3-metre high model of a moa that Walter Rothschild had made in the early 20th century.
There is a Tasmanian wolf, a species that is now extinct. And other mammals include Tasmanian devil, koala, anteaters, sloths, pangolins and otters as well as over 80 domestic dogs.
‘Gallery 6 is a great example of some of the more weird and wonderful treasures we have on display in our museums,' says Culture Minister, Barbara Follett.
'It is marvellous to see such emphasis being placed on imaginative and informative displays, and this can only bring more visitors through the doors.’
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Wolfson Foundation awarded the Museum an £87,000 grant for the works in August 2007. | <urn:uuid:0efb0566-b109-49b3-9dbe-a1fb94a14017> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2009/february/dogs-return-to-gallery-in-museum-at-tring27259.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93885 | 481 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Conventional wisdom holds that federal law’s conferring banking powers on national banks presumptively preempts state laws seeking to control the exercise of those powers. This conventional wisdom springs from a long-standing legal tradition, originating with McCulloch v. Maryland, that nationally chartered banks are federal instrumentalities entitled to regulate themselves free from state law, even when national law fails to address the risks that state law seeks to regulate. Incorporated into National Bank Act of 1864 by 19th century precedents but then abandoned by the New Deal Court, McCulloch’s theory of preemption is being revived today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) to preempt broad swathes of state law.
This article maintains that it is time to exorcise McCulloch’s theory from our preemption jurisprudence. Far from being sanctioned by legal tradition, McCulloch’s theory that national banks are federal instrumentalities offends a deeply rooted tradition in American political culture and law that I call the “anti-banker non-delegation principle. This principle has been manifest in campaigns against national banks’ immunities from political oversight ranging from Andrew Jackson’s 1832 veto of the charter of the Second Bank of the United States message to Louis Brandeis’ 1912 campaign against the “House of Morgan” as a “financial oligarchy.” Rather than accept McCulloch’s view of banks as impartial instruments of the federal government, the American political system and, since the New Deal, the federal courts, have adopted the view that federal law should not delegate unsupervised power to private banks to determine the honesty, safety, and soundness of their own operations. Accordingly, if federal regulators set aside state laws regulating banking practices, then those federal regulators must explain how federal law addresses the risks the state law attempts to control.
The most recent effort to eliminate McCulloch’s theory of preemption, according to this article, §1044(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act, which provides detailed standards governing the power of the OCC to preempt state law. This article argues that the OCC’s 2011 rules mistakenly revive McCulloch’s theory of preemption, contradicting not only §1044(a) but also the more general tradition of distrusting unsupervised delegations of immunity from state law to national banks. In particular, like McCulloch, the OCC’s rules draw irrational distinctions between states’ general common-law doctrines and states’ rules specifically directed towards banking practices, subjecting the latter to a sort of field preemption. Rather than accept such preemption, this article urges that courts ought to follow the ordinary principles of conflict preemption, barring preemption of state law unless the OCC has specifically approved the banking practice that state law forbids.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Hills on McCulloch, National Banking and Preemption
Posted by Dan Ernst
Roderick M. Hills, Jr., NYU Law, has posted Exorcising McCulloch: The Conflict-Ridden History of American Banking Nationalism and Dodd-Frank Preemption. Here is the abstract: | <urn:uuid:84f40fc9-5c63-46d1-94a1-bbd3a865f3c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/hills-on-mcculloch-national-banking-and.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928421 | 661 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Davidson tragedy prompts Positive Prevention Program
by Staff Writer
Since the deaths of Ray Harrington of Davidson in March 2012 and 9-year-old Nikko’Las Pinkney of Huntersville in October 2011, the fire department has received an increase in calls for information about carbon monoxide and its effects.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that can cause sudden illness and death. It is found in combustion fumes like those produced by cars and trucks, small gas engines, stoves, lanterns, gas ranges, heating systems and the burning of charcoal and wood.
The Davidson Fire Department will help install detectors, including those being handed out in connection with Nikko’s Smiling Heart Foundation.
Margaretha Pinkney started Nikko’s Smiling Heart Foundation in honor of her son, with the mission of making sure every home has a smoke and carbon monoxide detector, and has partnered with the Ada Jenkins Center for distribution.
To arrange a free detector inspection or installation of free detectors, contact the Davidson fire station at firstname.lastname@example.org or 704-940-9624. | <urn:uuid:fe49d770-8f97-4d79-a81b-6d6151a6bcbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huntersvilleherald.com/news/2012/7/6/5281/davidson-tragedy-prompts-positive-prevention-program | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927416 | 235 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Project: Re-build Central
In 2011, the Athens-Clarke County voters opted to pass the Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax, which allowed Clarke Central High School to remodel and rebuild.
Athens High School, originally built in 1951, was constructed in an “E” arrangement. Years after AHS became Clarke Central High School, the “E” has been changed and added upon.
Photo courtesy of the Clarke County School District
In the following years CCHS will again be renovated.
“What we are going to do is build new freshman and sophomore academies. Then take (the) old wing and completely renovate it,” CCHS Principal Dr. Robbie P. Hooker said.
Last year Athens-Clarke County voters opted to pass the Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax, a Georgia law that allows local jurisdiction to use sales tax as funding towards capital improvements. This will allow CCHS to make additions, and renovate the school.
“Right now we are sitting on $28 million (for the renovations) $9 million from SPLOST 3 and the SPLOST 4 will add the additional $19 million,” Hooker said.
In previous SPLOST projects the Board of Education decided to put all the received money into new construction. At CCHS, the projects included, in 2000, the new Media Center, the Terra Gladiatorum, E.B. Mell Auditorium, Miller J. Jordan Jr. Food Court and in 2006, the new west wing.
“We are still having things break down (in the old wing) constantly. We want to do (the renovations) in phases. Maybe start with the freshman academy then to the sophomore academy then move to renovate the old wing from the bottom up,” Hooker said.
A major reason why CCHS wants to build new freshman and sophomore academies in outer buildings is CCHS joining the International Baccalaureate Program, a program that will broaden a student’s education in a more global manner.
“We need the (freshman and sophomore academies) because we are going to be a part IB school the grades will be in different sub-programs,” Hooker said. “(The) eleventh and twelfth grade will be the diploma program, but the ninth and tenth will not be.”
The construction is projected to take three to four years to finish. CCHS expects to begin building the freshman and sophomore academies at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year and start moving classes into the rooms during the following years.
While the old wing is being renovated, the junior and senior classes will be moved into the newly constructed buildings. This way, when the old wing is being renovated students will not have to be placed in trailers.
“At one point, (the BOE) was talking about moving students into ‘educational cottages’ and there would have been as close as 39 to 40 ‘learning cottages’ out there, which wouldn’t have worked,” Hooker said.
The CCSD has also recently purchased the Dearing Ext., as well as Waddell St., roughly 200 yards away from the rear of the Miller J. Jordan Jr. Food Court, with plans to build a preforming arts center.
“(Waddell St.) is where (the) band, orchestra and drama (programs) will be placed and those people will have input on how that will be designed,” Hooker said.
The CCHS administration hopes the renovations will bring a greater appreciation for the learning environment.
“This (school) needs to be a state-of-the-art facility and I think it’s going to be,” Lanoue said. “I am really excited for this project to begin.”
More from Porter McLeod | <urn:uuid:18582ae0-6226-4d3f-818a-bacb60015b30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.odysseynewsmagazine.net/2012/02/02/project-re-build-central/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956428 | 822 | 1.5 | 2 |
Editor's note: Prof. Czer was asked to explore the question, what makes writing "Christian"? She answered from the perspective of her specialty, literature. The reader is invited to reflect on how her insights might apply to the similar question, what makes a movie, TV show, or other media production "Christian"?
Believing Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Reading and Writing Literature from a Perspective of Faith
by Prof. Ramona Czer
I need the poem to enchant me, to shock me awake, to shift my waking consciousness and open the world to me, to open me up to the world—to the word—in a new way. I am pried open. The spiritual desire for poetry can be overwhelming, so much do I need it to experience and name my own perilous depths and vast spaces, my own well-being.
Edward Hirsch, from How to Read a Poem
How is a Christian reader or writer elementally different from a non-Christian one? When I became changed through faith in Christ's redemption, my set of core beliefs changed, which now directly influences how I think, daydream, work, play, create etc. Remember when Alice told the White Queen, "One can't believe impossible things," the Queen answered, in a huff, "I daresay you haven't had much practice.... When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast"? That's just what we Christian do everyday of our lives—believe six impossible things before breakfast.
- thatthe all-powerful God of the Universe created me and all people in his own image,
- thathe loves me, wants a personal relationship with me, and when I exercise the free will he gave me and turn my back on him, he still loves me and all people, so much in fact that he offered us a way out of the dark abyss of our sin,
- thathe came to earth as man and as God, divinity clothed in human flesh, a living, breathing, feeling, hurting person just like me, just like all of us,
- thathe died on a cross, though sinless, to atone for my sins, and the sins of everyone,
- thathe rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven to prepare a place for me, and all believers, forever with him,
- thathe lives within me and all believers everyday, working in me his righteousness, making me his "new creation"—the God of the Universe is the Lord of my body and life! Amazing!
Because of these beliefs, I can't think like the world does any longer—the things of God are no longer foolishness to me, and I get the "big picture" in brand new way. I have what Amy Grant called in one of her early songs "our Father's eyes." This means that artful creations are different for me too, both those read and experienced and those I create myself. But I don't need art to complete or define me, I don't try to gain fame or notoriety with my art, and I will not allow myself to celebrate or create works that try to drive others to despair, violence, or doubt.
And here are the kinds of questions I ask about an artwork just because I'm a Christian:
- How might I find new ways to delight in God's amazing creation through this work?
- How does this work show people struggling with sin or searching for answers to their deepest spiritual needs?
- What can I learn from this work about my own sinful tendencies? Has my conscience been pricked in a new way? Is God whispering anything to my heart through this story today?
- Can I learn anything about the world-views of others from this work, how to live among them with love and honor, how to adjust to their foibles, how to brave confrontations with them about injustices, how to be as sly as a fox and yet as innocent as a dove when speaking or living my beliefs?
- Can I get any insights into the ways in which humans are fascinated by and use the story and truth of Christ's redemption subtly and overtly in their works? Can I see other religious symbols and motifs being used in ways that are revealing? How may God work through a work that reveals truths about him, even if it never meant to do that?
- What can I learn from this work about how to speak of spiritual matters more subtly with those who are hungry to confront and understand the bigger issues of life?
As a literature teacher, one of my goals is to help student readers discover ways to make spiritual connections with quality literary works, and eventually to create works themselves that embody everything they are, inside and out. In other words I strive to use our beliefs and values rather than shuffling them off to the side while we discuss works "objectively," and yet I also strive to scrupulously avoid didactic, sentimental, or moralistic mindsets. What a delicate balance that is! The Wonderland of Reading from a Christian Perspective of Literature is full of quagmires—dangerous ground. How do we wind our way safely? It's tempting to just not try, to stick to the safe, high ground and run essentially secular classrooms, allowing obviously religious motifs and content to come up now and then, when appropriate, but rarely encouraging anything more. You see, it's just too complex to both encourage "spirited," spiritual discussions and then, when students go too far, to have to rein in fanatical symbol-making, doctrinal witch-hunts, or author faith judgments. Do I want my classroom to become a training ground for open-minded, deep thinkers or a boot-camp for narrow-minded reactionaries? Surely those aren't my ONLY choices!
Literature forces us to confront our most basic natures through the fears, desires, failings, and whatnot in the lives of others we wear the skin of for awhile. This teaches us subtly with every book. We learn to be compassionate, to see things from various angles people who are nonreaders can't do nearly as easily and comfortably. I understand the southern belle mentality AND the freed-slave mentality from reading Gone with the Wind, just as I do Huck and Joe from Huckleberry Finn. Literature doesn't do this by teaching us though. It uses much more friendly means, softer means that remind me of how the Gospel works on our hearts rather than how the Law bludgeons our minds: it says, come along, stay with us awhile, play sing dance hurt die with us, notice what we notice, what we care about, change a bit because you are us and we are you, and then we'll say goodbye, and hope you had a nice time. Do authors hope for more? Oh, yeah. Hope to change minds, change lives even. But they don't insist and browbeat. Not the best of them. Sometimes they don't even know WHAT they hope happens, and maybe that's the best literature of all. At the very least, they hope to make us look bravely at the truth. Truth. Scary thing that.
People who brave the gales of literature battering their souls and minds are truth seekers, adventurers not too much unlike Bilbo, Frodo, and all the other unsung, bumbling heroes of history and myth. They don't set out to become wise and brave as they dive in, but the fact that they keep at the task, brave the things happening inside and outside of them, and allow DISCOMFORT to be their fellow-traveler, they come out changed, irrevocably. Frodo and Bilbo didn't want those changes, fought against them, but because of all that discomfort (the kind a huge long difficult but great piece of literature makes us feel on a small scale) they emerge, even if they had died en route, chiseled and newly sculpted into someone still humble but able to be bowed down to, respected, both by elves and kings. We also become in possession of a host of practical understandings for everyday life much more quickly than we could if we had to live those lives we follow in fiction and poetry and excellent nonfiction. We can learn from Jane Eyre how to remain true to ourselves and flee from the easy sensual relationship with a man too weak yet to be an equal and so help him become eventually (for us, or perhaps for someone else) our equal and our soulmate. We can learn from Jane Austen how NOT to propose to young women, like Darcy has to learn the hard way. We can learn about depression and suicide and drug use without having to live in a psych ward or shoot up. We can learn what it is to be hated or persecuted without living in Sudan or Israel. We learn empathy, humility, and courage by feeling and acting vicariously with and against the characters in works of fiction. They may not be true but they help us formulate our own truths to live by. Every day in a literature classroom can be an adventure in spiritual growth.
Questions to Grapple With about Overtly Christian Writing
How would you respond to the notion that Christian fiction belongs in the church library, not in the public library?
If some react negatively to "Christian fiction" as a label, what would you use instead? Discuss the assets and liabilities of "inspirational," "religious," and "spiritual."
How easy would it be to identify and classify books as "Christian" fiction? How would you do it?
Is Christian fiction just for Christians? How might such labeling be a barrier to potential readers who are not yet Christian?
How didactic or preachy is Christian fiction? In what ways might didacticism decrease the quality of the story? Does not all genre fiction promote values of some kind?
Who decides if a work can be thought of as spiritual or Christian? Would it be possible to develop guidelines for determining this or would such guidelines be detrimental or inhibiting in any way?
Are there any downsides of controlling art in specific ways? How much should the sensibilities of readers be considered when creating (or publishing) literary works?
Finally, we get to write things, like this poem I wrote in a journal several years ago, not intending to write anything faith-based, just following the vivid image that'd appeared in my mind. Yet, lo and behold, who I am in Christ intruded.
A scarred desk
floatingdown to rest in a desert—
whosits there, slumped, despondent?
Who can't see the glittering beauty,
thesmall mammals poised to delight,
Who can't feel the warmth
Not in health, but spirit.
The bush never blazes for him,
thesea never parts.
Egyptians beat Israelites daily,
sosay the papers,
andstill he sits unseeing,
surethat heÕs useless for God,
neverdreaming of small deeds done well,
ofstaffs made into magic with a word.
He writes his column
andthe words writhe,
butheÕs blinded to their life,
neversees in this graphite column
God has placed between his fingers
asnake to wow the wizards,
and proof that someone else
will do the work.
From "Christianity and Literature" by C. S. Lewis, 1939, in Religion and Modern Literature: Essays in Theory and Criticism, edited by G. B. Tennyson and Edward E. Ericson, Jr.
Whatever it (a work of art) chooses to do would have to be done by the means common to all literature; it could succeed or fail only by the same excellences and the same faults as all literature; and its literary success or failure would never be the same thing as its obedience or disobedience to Christian principles.
An author should never conceive of himself as bringing into existence beauty or wisdom which did not exist before, but simply and solely as trying to embody in terms of his own art some reflection of eternal Beauty and Wisdom.
A Christian and an unbelieving poet may both be equally original in the sense that they neglect the example of their poetic forbears and draw on resources peculiar to themselves, but with this difference. The unbeliever may take his temperament and experience, just as they happen to stand, and consider them worth communicating simply because they are facts, or worse still, because they are his. To the Christian his own temperament and experience, as mere fact and as merely his, are of no value or importance whatsoever: he will deal with them, if at all, only because they are the medium through which, or the position from which, something universally profitable appeared to him,
From "Novelist and Believer" by Flannery O'Connor, first given as an address at Sweetbriar college in Virginia on March 1963. Published inReligion and Modern Literature, 1969.
The artist penetrates the concrete world in order to find at its depths the image of its source, the image of ultimate reality. This in no way hinders his perception of evil but rather sharpens it, for only when the natural world is seen as good does evil become intelligible as a destructive force and as a necessary result of our freedom.
The serious writer has always taken the flaw in human nature for his starting point, usually the flaw in an otherwise admirable character. Drama usually bases itself on the bedrock of original sin, whether the writer thinks in theological terms or not.
From "The Relation of Theology to Literary Criticism" by Roy W. Battenhouse, originally from Journal of Bible and Religion, XIII 1945, now published in Religion and Modern Literature.
Poetry must continually deal with the follies, sins, imperfections and hardships which characterize experience in the present world. Bad poetry occurs, however, when these flaws and imperfections are not rightly seen and correctly assessed.
Christian revelation will not endow him with poetic talent when by nature he has none, nor will it give him good eyes when by nature he has poor ones, but it will offer him the important benefit of Ôfull light.Õ And if it is true that the light with which an artist sees inclines to affect the justness of his observations, the presence of full light cannot but clarify the issues of proportion and order. | <urn:uuid:07b19b87-6fcf-4edd-a98b-d79eab371435> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blc.edu/user&destination=/index.php?q=foundations-czer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965154 | 2,980 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Here in Vietnam, debates that we’re having back in the U.S. about journalism, media accuracy, corporate consolidaiton, credibility, blogs and citizens’ media all seem pretty remote. But it turns out there’s more going on below the authoritarian surface than you might think.
The Vietnamese media is state-controlled. There are no privately owned newspapers or TV stations. They’re all owned by government or Communist Party-controlled organizations. (Vietnamnet, a new online news service, is one exception, using its status as new media to push the boundaries. I’ll be spending the day with them tomorrow and will write more about them later, but they’re still subject to the same press restrictions as all other news media.)
Since Vietnam’s Chinese-style economic reforms started, Vietnamese journalists have more leeway than they used to have to cover economic and social issues, but still there are a lot of topics they can’t go near: political dissent, criticism of government leaders, many topics related to religion and treat ment of ethnic minorities, etc. Press coverage of countries like the U.S., Japan and China is tighly controlled to keep that coverage consistent with official government policy.
Into this context come organizations like the World Association of Newspapers, which has been conducting a seminar here in Hanoi this week on newspaper management: how to boost advertising revenue and circulation, how new technologies are changing the media markets around the world, how to be more responsive to your audiences, etc. Of course all these things ultimately come back to fundamental issues of content quality, the nature and purpose of journalism, and questions of what readers actually want to read.
That’s where journalism training comes into the mix. My friend Jessica Smith is here on a program sponsored by the Knight Foundation to help train Vietnamese journalists. Trainers don't deal with larger, more sensitive issues of the relationship between government and media, of course. But they do promote journalistic professionalism by focusing on things like: the importance of things like fact-checking, citing your sources accurately, double-checking facts and figures given to you by official sources, writing compelling headlines and leads. In other words, they’re teaching people how to do stories that are more credible, interesting and readable from the public’s point of view. Apparently, many young journalists here are very responsive to this training and are eager to improve their work because they want their work to be respected by readers and viewers. In a state-run system where journalists are expected to be the government mouthpiece, and whose job survival hasn’t been linked to the readibility of their stories, there hasn’t been much incentive to do good journalism – even within the allowed constraints.
From what I gather from talking to some Vietnamese journalists, they’d like to be part of a more credible and commercially viable press. They want more leeway to do more. So they welcome the training and hope that there will be more of it.
What about grassroots media? I don’t think we’re going to see blogs emerging as an alternative or opposition press any time soon. It wouldn’t be politically possible for a hard-hitting alternative news blog – like Jeff Ooi’s Screenshots in Malaysia, for instance – to emerge here. There is one Vietnam Journalism blog run by a local journalist as a place for journalists to discuss their profession. It’s categorized as a private site rather than a news site. But he has to be careful about what gets posted there. As for other blogs out of Vietnam, most are written by expats talking about their lives and travels. The most famous is Noodlepie, devoted to food.
On the other hand, Vietnam’s MSM (mainstream media) seems quite open to using participatory media tools to improve their content and strengthen relationships with their audiences. VietnamNet has a section devoted to contributions from readers, along the lines of South Korea’s OhMyNews. Today I met an editor from the country’s most popular newspaper, Tuoi Tre, or “Youth”. He says not only do they have very active reader discussion forums, but they also welcome readers to write articles that get posted online and sometimes even published in the paper. People get paid about $10–20 for stuff that gets used. The editor says that his journalists have gotten a lot of story ideas from readers. They’re also developing a team of editors to collaborate directly with readers/citizen-journalists on investigative stories.
Of course, the investigative reporting can’t go beyond certain limits without people getting into trouble and a reporter was recently jailed for a news scoop exposing corruption. But such teams can at least ensure that the paper’s coverage delves into issues and stories that its readers are most passionate about.
Emerging participatory media in Vietnam. Who wouldathunkit? | <urn:uuid:baddb23f-e863-43a8-bfdd-c3b752b186d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2005/04/journalism_in_v.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955114 | 1,023 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Cochin is basically a collection of islands and narrow peninsulas and can be divided into Ernakulam, Willingdon Island, Mattancherry and Fort Kochi. An international airport and seaport, connect Cochin to the rest of the world. The city also has an outstanding network of road, rail, backwater, and a modern communication system. Cochin was once an insignificant fishing village. When the backwaters of the Arabian Sea and the streams descending from the Ghats caused the separation of this village from the mainland and landlocked the harbour, it became one of the safest ports on India's southwestern coast. The port assumed a new strategic importance and began to enjoy commercial prosperity.
When the Portuguese penetrated the Indian Ocean in the late 15th century, they arrived at India's southwestern coast. Navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral founded the first European settlement on Indian soil at Cochin in 1500. Vasco da Gama, discoverer of the sea route to India, established the first Portuguese factory (trading station) in Cochin in 1502, and the Portuguese viceroy Alfonso de Albuquerque built the first European fort in India in 1503.
The city remained a Portuguese possession until the Dutch conquered it in 1663. Much Portuguese architecture still exists in the city. Always a tourist favourite, this city offers visitors plenty. Forts, palaces, museums, old churches, cool backwaters, palm fringed lagoons, beaches and the practicality of a contemporary metro.
Population: Approx 16.6 lakhs
Climate: Being situated very close to the sea, Cochin has a moderate climate. Heavy showers are experienced during the months June, July and August due to the South-West Monsoon. The North-East Monsoon brings light rainfall during the months of September, October, November and December. The months from December to February are pretty cool.
Main Language(s): Malayalam, English Time Zone: GMT + 5.5
Best Time To Visit: Between November and February
The Chinese fishing nets
These huge cantilevered fishing nets along the backwaters are the legacy of the traders from the court of Kublai Khan. Built of teakwood and bamboo poles, they are fascinating to see. Adjacent to the fishing nets is the Vasco Da Gama Square, a narrow walkway with little stalls that serve fresh seafood and tender coconuts.
St. Francis Church:
This Protestant church was originally built by the Portuguese in 1510 A.D. It is considered to be India's oldest European church. Today it is governed by the Church of South India (CSI). Vasco Da Gama was buried here before his remains were taken back to Portugal 14 years later.
Located on Rose Street, Vasco House is one of the oldest Portuguese houses in Fort-Kochi and is believed to have been the residence of Vasco Da Gama. Vasco House sports the typical European glass paned windows and verandahs, characteristic of the times.
A large wooden gate with the initials VOC engraved on it, the VOC Gate is a little way off from Vasco House, facing the Parade Ground. The initials correspond to the monogram of the once powerful Dutch East India Company, which had its office here for almost 150 years.
Santa Cruz Cathedral
Built by the Portuguese in around the 16th century, this Roman Catholic church is famous for the beautiful paintings on its ceiling. It was demolished by the British when they took over Cochin in 1795. Until a new building was commissioned in 1887, there was no church on the site for almost a 100 years. The Santa Cruz church was declared a Basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1984.
The lovely Cherai beach, situated in Vypeen, is just a 15 minute ferry ride from Fort-Kochi. Besides the sea, sand and the sun, a typical Kerala village with paddy fields and coconut groves nearby completes the idyllic picture that the beach paints.
Also known as the Mattancherry Palace, it was built by the Portuguese and presented to the Cochin Raja in 1555 AD. A fine blend of Indo-European architecture, it acquired the present name after it was renovated by the Dutch in 1663. In the center of the building is the hall where the Cochin Rajas held their coronations. This central courtyard also enshrines the deity of the royal family. Adjacent rooms contain 17th and 18th century murals illustrating scenes from Indian epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata. There are two temples on either side of the main palace, dedicated to Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva.
Situated close to the Mattancherry boat jetty, the Synagogue and the ancient Jew town built in 1568 A.D. is of great historical importance. The most distinctive features are its white willow-pattern tiles of which no two are alike. They are believed to have been presented by a merchant in 1763 A.D. You will find great scrolls of the Old Testament and the copper plates in which the grants of privilege made by the Cochin rulers were recorded. There are also numerous finely wrought gold and silver coins, gifted to the Synagogue by various patrons. Colourful Belgian chandeliers add to the beauty of the Synagogue. Instances from Jewish history and the hardships the Jews underwent are depicted through paintings.
Ernakulum and around:
Parikshith Thampuran Museum
This museum, adjacent to the Shiva temple was the Durbar (court) of the Cochin rajas. It features collections of 19th century oil paintings, sculptures in stone and plaster-of-paris, old coins and items of the Cochin royal family.
Museum of Kerala History
This museum at Edapally, is one of the best looks into the history of Kerala. Significant historic moments of the past 2000 years are depicted through life-size figures. There is also a one-hour commentary for each scene, along with a light and sound show.
St. George Forane Church
This Roman Catholic church, considered to be one of the oldest churches in Kerala, was built on a plot of land donated by the Raja of Edapally. The new church adjacent to it was built in 1080. It is a well known 9-day feast held every year in the month of May.
Situated on the palm-fringed Bolghatty Island, amidst 15 acres of lush green lawns, this palace was built by the Dutch in 1744. It became the official residence of the British. Today, it is a hotel run by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation.
The sprawling Hill Palace museum displays the erstwhile wealth and affluence of the royal family of Cochin. It has an interesting collection of paintings, antique temple carvings and other royal artifacts. Outside the museum is a botanical garden with exotic tropical trees. There is also a Deer Park in the palace compounds.
Keralites are mostly fish-and-rice eating people. Kerala cuisine is very hot and spicy, but delicious. The food is fresh, aromatic and flavoured. The land and the food are rich with coconut, though one can't imagine Kerala food without chillies, curry leaf, mustard seed, tamarind and asafoetida. Seafood is big in Kerala. However, the vegetarian fare is equally tasty. For the less adventurous, there are plenty of multi-cuisine restaurants to choose from: The Frontier Shanmugham Road Leaves Woods Manor Woodlands Junction MG Road Rice Boat Taj Malabar Willingdon Island Seafood Grill The Trident Willingdon Island Cheena Vala Yuvarani Residency Jos Junction Fish Market Quality Inn Presidency North Cochin Exotica Hotel Excellency Jos Junction Ernakulam Frys Village Near Mymoon Cinema Chittoor Road Kadaloram Abad Plaza MG Road Bubble, Taj Residency Ernakulam Multicuisine Regency Abad Plaza, MG Road Waterfront Cafe The Coffee Shop Taj Malabar Willingdon Island Coq-Dor Restaurant / Mando The International Hotel Cochin The Pallava / The Palm The Metropolitan, Near South Railway Station Cochin Princess Hotel Sea Lord Shanmugham Road Roof Top Sayana Hotel Sea Lord Shanmugham Road Jade Pavilion Taj Malabar Willingdon Island Mughal Hut Barbeque Paulson Hotel Carrier Station Road
Nishagandhi Dance Festival:
Held in February each year, this festival pays tribute to Indian classical dance. Visitors are treated to some of the most fabulous dance performances.
The carnival held from December 25-31, offers a kaleidoscope of performing arts, including Kathakali, classical dance, martial arts, and boat races.
This harvest festival commemorates a mythical time of social harmony, peace, and equilibrium. In the first month of the Kerala year, Chingam, (August-September) floral carpets, made by women, grace the towns throughout the state; adorned elephants parade in Thrissur and long decorative boats race the backwaters of Alappuzha.
Also known as Dussehra or Navaratri, this festival is held between September and October. It is celebrated throughout India but takes on special significance in Kerala. Young children are taken to the temples and are introduced to the letters of the alphabet in front of Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and learning.
This is the festival of Lord Shiva. It is celebrated between February and March. All night, people chant and pray in honour of the deity.
© Jet Airways (India) Ltd. | <urn:uuid:7ef3ad5d-99e4-4590-9c7e-40d10460d6a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jetairways.com/EN/ES/PlanYourTravel/CityGuide/Kochi.aspx?CN=Kochi | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948921 | 1,996 | 2.6875 | 3 |
I believe that I follow breach notification pretty closely. So I was surprised to learn that I had missed the passage of a law in Japan. Bird & Bird, Notification of data security breaches explains:
In Japan, the Personal Information Protection Act (Law No. 57 of 2003; chapters 1 to 3 effective May 30 2003 and chapters 4 to 6 effective April 1 2005) (the “PIPA”), establishes the basic principle regarding the fair handling of personal information and regulates the handling of Personal Information by business operators (“Information Handlers”).
A presentation by Morrison & Foster, “Data Security and Incident Notification: The Impact of Foreign Law” tells us:
You may have obligations under Japanese privacy law if:
- You are affiliated with a Japanese company or institution.
- You use or have access to employee or student information maintained in Japan.
- A Japanese institution with which you are involved, for example, in a study-abroad program enters into a contract with you, according to which you assume privacy obligations under Japanese law.
To date, I’m aware of breach disclosure laws in 38 US states and Japan. Are there others? | <urn:uuid:b4ee5663-6838-4f0e-b3c5-15f255de287c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://emergentchaos.com/archives/2007/11/japanese-breach-disclosure-law.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933841 | 242 | 1.78125 | 2 |
May 20, 2013
It’s Henry Paulson’s Move
Posted on Oct 10, 2008
By David Sirota
Is Henry Paulson a crony communist or a businessman? The answer could be the difference between economic disaster and recovery.
Understanding Paulson’s role in stopping—or fueling—the credit crisis requires a review of two axioms from Economics 101: (1) A credit crisis occurs when banks stop lending and (2) The amount banks can lend is a multiple of the capital in their vaults. Therefore, ending a credit crisis means prompting new lending—and that means maximally increasing bank capital.
Enter Paulson, the former Goldman Sachs executive and current treasury secretary. The bailout he fear-mongered through Congress aims to waste almost a trillion taxpayer dollars buying banks’ bad mortgages—a scheme all but ensuring a disastrous outcome.
If Paulson pays banks exactly what their mortgages are worth, he will not increase banks’ capital (or their lending ability)—he will merely convert one asset (mortgages) into another (cash), making no impact on the credit crisis. If, to protect taxpayers, he buys mortgages at lower prices than banks list them, banks will have to write down their capital and consequently contract lending—and the credit crisis will worsen. If Paulson overpays for mortgages, he may marginally augment bank capital, but also incur massive taxpayer losses when he later resells the mortgages at their real price.
The silver lining is a little-noticed provision in the bailout bill allowing Paulson—if he chooses—to buy ownership stakes in banks. According to Robert Johnson, the Senate Banking Committee’s former chief economist, this would cost roughly $375 billion less than the mortgage-buying plan—and, better yet, more aggressively attack the credit crisis.
This is where Paulson’s personal proclivities come in.
A crony communist looking to socialize risk and privatize gain would consider these options and choose to buy mortgages—that is, choose to ignore the credit crisis, reward discredited executives and permit banks to keep any subsequent profits—all while inhibiting a potential government-mandated housecleaning of Wall Street. Indeed, the Financial Times’ Wolfgang Munchau says Paulson’s mortgage-buying program is driven by “a wish to benefit the investment banks he once chaired, and which stand to gain handsomely from such a package.”
A businessman, by contrast, would limit taxpayers’ exposure, give us a stake in future gains and demand management control. He would, in short, treat taxpayers like Warren Buffett treats his Berkshire Hathaway shareholders when buying banks with their money.
This is how Sweden successfully confronted its banking crisis in 1992, and how England is addressing its own meltdown today. In fact, world leaders are citing our crony communism as a cautionary tale. “This is not the American plan,” said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in announcing his bank rescue. “We will have a stake in the banks—we are not simply giving money.”
The bailout bill’s failure to make this course of action mandatory should have killed the legislation in Congress. But banking CEOs and their lobbyists turned “should have” into “didn’t.” They love crony communism and hate government ownership stakes because, as financial analyst Luigi Zingales says, “Nobody likes to pay for their own mistakes—it is much better to have the taxpayers pay.”
Considering the opposition, then, it is a miracle any ownership stake language slipped into law. Whether Paulson now uses that language will signal how deep Washington corruption runs.
David Sirota is a bestselling author whose newest book is “The Uprising.” He is a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future and a board member of the Progressive States Network, both nonpartisan organizations.
© 2008 Creator’s Syndicate Inc.
New and Improved Comments | <urn:uuid:87d371b6-845d-4ab7-92b6-963f35bdc79a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081010_crony_communist_or_businessman/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949948 | 829 | 1.953125 | 2 |
It has come to my attention that patients showing up in Emergency Rooms with DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) papers in place are nevertheless being aggressively treated for their latest acute medical crisis. Sometimes the patient ends up intubated and on a mechical ventilator despite explicit instructions not to do so under any circumstances. Rationale for ignoring DNR documentation invariably circles around to the idea that DNR engenders too much of a "gray area" in terms of how medical professionals are to respect the individual's wishes. For instance, if a demented patient has a hip fracture and is in extreme pain, a daughter may decide to temporarily revoke her DNR-CC status and have the painful condition fixed. Or maybe the 94 year old guy in the passenger seat is rear ended by a pickup truck and slams into the windshield. He sustains a wicked scalp laceration and loses half his blood on the floor mats. The trauma staff in the ER wastes little time closing the wound and transfusing blood products. The tranfusions put him into failure and he is intubated. The next day he is weaned and extubated. He thanks the doctors and nurses for saving him. He goes home.
Clearly, DNR status is not always an inflexible, dogmatic guide to patient care. One needs to account for specifics and contingencies when composing DNR paperwork. Here is a sampling of my own attempt in a living will to outline a protocol for my care, accounting for circumstances. I have been as precise as possible only for the sake of clarity.
I, Buckeye Surgeon, being of sound will and mind on this day of November 12, 2012, make known my desires regarding the use and continuation, the withdrawal or withholding, of life sustaining treatment. If I am unable to give explicit instructions regarding the use of life sustaining treatment when circumstances find me in a terminal condition, it is my intention that this document should be honored by my friends and family members as a final expression of my right to refuse certain medical interventions in certain situations. I hereby declare that I am intellectually and emotionally competent to make this declaration.
If I am at least 85, but not more that the age of 99, and I suffer a severe cardiac event that results in multiple organ failure and my life hinges on the workability of various machines, please cease all efforts at trying to extend my life. If, however, I am over the age of 100, do not turn off those machines because I would like to have a chance at getting in the Guinness Book of World Records for "oldest living human" (although, as of now, I'm not entirely sure it would "count" if I was only being kept alive artificially, because wouldn't that allow frozen Walt Disney to get in on the game?). This avowal is declared null and void in the event my wife is still alive, due to the guilt I would have seeing her wheeled to my ICU bed every damn morning, all hooked up to oxygen and barely recognizing me anyway.
If I am between the ages of 20 and 50 and I foolishly decide to go daredevilling on an ATV, flip that ATV over, and crack 2 or 3 cervical vertebrae, thereby finding myself a quadriplegic, then you may take a loaded shotgun and insert the barrell into my mouth and fire at will. No, I'm just kidding. Besides, this document would not provide enough legal cover for anyone to carry out such an instruction. But seriously, do not put me in Christmas sweaters and shave my face and arrange for dental appointments to try to maintain the illusion of normalcy when everyone comes over for the holidays. I'm not saying for you to kill me or anything but please for god's sake don't dress me in khakis. Don't you dare try to make it seem like I have a body that needs 29 dollar pleated pants. I say, give me 18 months. Maybe I turn into one of those dudes who can blink out the great American Novel in some sort of ocular Morse code like that guy in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. More realistically, I'll be begging you to get me on my way. So the directive is this: you may only save my life at the time of the ATV accident if you agree to construct a device that allows me to self inject 50 mg of Morphine with my tongue or whatever, if in fact I so desire at the 18 month deadline.
If I am at least 77 years old and am out for a morning walk when I am suddenly attacked by a rabid dog and lose consciousness, please do not hesitate to inject me with the rabies vaccine ASAP. If however, I am attacked by a pack of rabid wolves and, in addition to being inoculated with the rabies virus, I end up torn to shreds with my liver smeared across my face like linebacker eyeblack, then please do not administer any life saving treatments, vaccine or otherwise.
If I sustain third degree burns over at least 90% of my body (car crash, airplane crash, kitchen mishap), you may save my life as long as I am able to weaned from the ventilator within 30 days and if and only if you promise to attire me like a Mummy, with fresh mummy wrappings applied every morning with little slits for my unblinking eyes. At least until someone figures out the stem cell thing and can make my body grow normal appearing Buckeye Surgeon skin.
If I develop pneumonia after the age of 85, and it gets to the point where the antibiotics are not working, and I am drowning in secretions, failing medical management, and need emergent mechanical ventilation, you may intubate and heavily sedate me. Then extract funds from my retirement account to have my near lifeless body shipped to Oregon where a "Doctor Carraway" will be on hand to inject me with euthanizing agents. I know it seems like a hassle. But I dont want to die by drowning. I think I'd rather light myself on fire.
Let's say I'm ninety. I hobble down my driveway to the mailbox. It's empty again. I look up into the sun and my thoughts wander, or rather they momentarily descend into incoherence. A few minutes elapse during this reverie. Suddenly a pack of vultures alights upon me, pecking away at my limbs and torso like some found carrion on the veldt. Perhaps they are fooled by my decrepit appearance and stillness into thinking I am actually dead. Even if I am brought to the ER with vital signs, I want no heroic measures taken. Morphine and versed is all. One must not fight the law of nature. When the worms and vultures come knocking, one is better off not fighting it.
Imagine I am 82. I have fallen in the bathroom and cannot get up. My head smacked into the toilet basin on the way down. Blood is everywhere. I can see my femur jutting out through the skin of my thigh. Two days elapse. I drift in and out of consciousness. I recall that I have installed a trap door in my bathroom for this exact situation whereby the floor swings downward and I fall into a pool stocked with poorly fed crocodiles. If anyone walks in once the trapdoor mechanism is activated, please do not disturb the reptilian feast.
What about dementia, in general? Well if I'm charmingly demented, can fake my way through encounters with people I've known for years and I am not regularly shitting my pants, then please administer basic life saving maneuvers, as long as the above declarations are followed. If, however, I am one of those obnoxious demented guys----like the ones who moan all day long, who spit at and/or bite the health aides, who tell loved ones to fuck off or go suck on something, who smear their own stool over their faces, then please please activate Extraction Plan C, as detailed in the affixed appendix (i.e. the one involving a mud hut in Hocking Hills, gas powered generator, and long exhaust tubing.)
How about decubitus ulcers? The circumstances that lead to the development of these unsightly open sores usually indicate some degree of generalized decreptitude. The following instructions are to be adhered to without fail: No surgical intern is allowed to swing by my hospital room once a week to roll me over on my side like a rump roast and whittle away at the dead and decaying tissue hanging off my sacrum. If at all possible, I hope that technology at that point would allow me to live a partly amphibious existence, suspended in some sort of flotationary liquid-based apparatus. If not available, then simply do the bare minimum to limit the odor emanating from my backside.
If I am sleeping more than 18 hours a day, do not wake me up for "health-ercize" sessions.
If I want a gin and tonic, do not deny me this last, simple pleasure, even if I have transformed into angry cussing demented guy.
Do not put PRAFO boots on my feet.
I will not tolerate sponge baths from male nurses.
When incapacitated, please keep my feet covered at all times with white tube socks. I am terminally uncomfortable with the appearance of my toes.
In the final days, someone has to check on me every couple of hours to make sure my mouth isn't gaping open while I gaze permanently at something in the left upper quadrant of my visual field. Either pull the covers up over my trap or tug my damn lips closed.
Do not bring young children around me in the following situations: rasping death rattle breathing, unmaskable smells, strained rictal facial expressions, clonic body convulsions.
This declaration may be amended as I deem fit. Please honor my wishes, in good faith, and use this legal document as a guide when my mind and body have inextricably failed me. Thank you. | <urn:uuid:7ea7c1b9-15dd-4141-a64a-c4f3338771fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ohiosurgery.blogspot.com/2012/11/dnr.html?showComment=1353592495270 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944676 | 2,073 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The Story of Rivers in Rio
The story of rivers in Rio during the Rio+20 Earth Summit is an inspiring one. From the occupation of the Belo Monte Dam site on the Xingu River to the session at the People's Summit about Debunking Dams as Clean Energy, International Rivers and our partners are on the ground to support the movement for healthy rivers and human rights, from the Brazilian Amazon to Turkish Anatolia. Executive Director Jason Rainey and Amazon Program Director Brent Millikan report back from Brazil.
Here's our story:
Letting the Xingu Run Freely, June 15, 2012 – Early this morning, hundreds of people began an occupation of the Belo Monte Dam site near Altamira, Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon. See photos and video of this historic event.
River & Rio+20 Dispatch: Green Economy, June 17, 2012 – Let me start by setting the scene. The People’s Summit is a steamy cauldron of the critical, the practical and the absurd. The Summit grounds stretch a kilometer or two along Flamengo Park, a ribbon of greenspace between a highway and white sand beaches.
Update from Rio: Strengthening the Alliance of River Defenders, June 19, 2012 – Today was another action-packed and memorable day in Rio. In the morning, we co-organized an event at the People’s Summit on debunking the myth of destructive dams as clean energy. Soon after the meeting ended, we headed out to an adjacent beach at Aterro do Flamengo to participate in a human banner.
River & Rio+20 Dispatch: Brazil Energy, June 20, 2012 – Today the UN Conference on Sustainable Development formally opens, yet the preliminary dialogue process, side events, and People's Summit that are all part of Rio+20 have been underway for days.
Stirring up the Streets of Rio, June 22, 2012 – The last two days in Rio have been more action-packed than ever. On Wednesday, the day of the global march of the People’s Summit, we met our colleagues from the Movimento Xingu Vivo at daybreak in the Sambadrômo – site of the Rio samba school parades where indigenous peoples and other popular movements are camped out.
Wrapping Rio, June 26, 2012 – I’m now back in California after the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development that played out in Rio de Janeiro last week. With weak participation from key governments – and strong “title sponsor” influence from mammoth energy and mining corporations including Vale and Eletrobras – it’s not so surprising that the final document from the official proceedings has widely been called a failure for people and the planet.
Statement by indigenous leader on occupation of the Belo Monte Pimental Dam site, June 30, 2012 – "Today we are in day 10 of the occupation.We had the meeting on Thursday with Norte Energia but did not reach any agreement. Construction on the coffer dam and in the work camp is still paralyzed..."
Indigenous Protestors Maintain Belo Monte Occupation, July 2, 2012 – Word came early this morning that hundreds of indigenous people continue to occupy the Belo Monte Dam construction site. Sunday marked the 11th day of the occupation, which began on the heels of the Rio+20 Summit.
Check out photos on Flickr:
More incredible photos and accounts are pouring in from Rio and being shared by our partners around the world. Scroll down to discover more.
- Check out our Facebook page to see more photos from the Xingu+23 encounter and Rio+20
- Photo Essay by Mitchell Anderson: Beautiful Resistance at Rio+20
- Photo blog by Amazon Watch: Living Art Resistance at Rio+20
- Bianca Jagger writes about Rio+20 and Belo Monte on Huffington Post World blog
- NYT Green Blog: how big oil, mining and the dam industry in Brazil sponsored Rio +20 | <urn:uuid:3538ad01-0bf3-434f-be68-d33ee087b805> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/the-story-of-rivers-in-rio-7528 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922796 | 823 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Discovery spurred by unique twist of fateFebruary 21st, 2013 in Cardiology
Varying images of calcific nodules stained in dark red with surrounding valvular interstitial cells in gray. Images B and D received the highest treatment of gentamicin.
(Medical Xpress)—As people age, or as a result of poor nutrition, heart valves can become damaged by the accumulation of calcium deposits within the tissue. This calcification causes a thickening and hardening of the tissue to the point that it limits normal blood flow.
Bioengineering researchers in Rice Associate Professor Jane Grande-Allen's laboratory analyze the biomechanics of heart-valve tissue and the underlying cellular and genetic causes of valve disease. One ongoing investigation pursued by her group looks into the roles cellular and matrix components play in normal valve biology and the degenerative processes that can cause the formation of calcified nodules in aortic valve leaflets.
"Very little is known about the intracellular dynamics among genes, proteins and the metabolic pathways that guide either normal processes or give rise to abnormalities," Grande-Allen said. "Accumulative efforts in our lab involve investigations into valve-cell morphology and disease from a more mechanical perspective. Specifically, we look for cues as to how alterations to cells and cellular environments are driven by mechanical stress of the pumping heart over many years."
In a unique twist of fate, Grande-Allen, graduate student Dena Wiltz and undergraduate student Aditya Kumar found that gentamicin, an aminoglycosidic antibiotic used to treat many types of bacterial infections, significantly reduced the number and size of calcific nodules formed by valvular interstitial cells.
The research, which was detailed in the journal Cardiovascular Engineering and Technology, was initially spurred by the lab's examination of various antibiotics for the occasional prevention of bacterial infections in cell cultures.
"Contamination of cell cultures is a consistent issue for researchers, said Wiltz, a sixth-year graduate student in the Grande-Allen lab at Rice's BioScience Research Collaborative. Wiltz's research in valve disease is supported by a grant from Baylor College of Medicine.
"Impurities not only adversely affect results, but vast amounts of time and money can be spent managing bacterial contaminates," Wiltz said. "Gentamicin is widely used for the in vitro prevention of cell- and tissue-culture contamination, but it has been reported to affect calcium levels in various cell types. So we decided to add it to our cultures—not to prevent contamination so much as to see if it regulated calcium mineralization by valve cells."
Their investigations paid off. "Not only did we find that dose-dependent increases of gentamicin caused alterations to cellular mineralization, but the findings, along with a literary investigation, spurred insight into the roles cellular components, such as lipids and mitochondria, might play in the development of pathological calcification," Kumar said. He is a senior and co-author on the research paper and has been a member of the Grande-Allen group since the summer of his freshman year.
Aortic valve tissue is made of trilayered connective tissues, and Grande-Allen and her students apply engineering analysis to decode how individual parts of this complex cooperate, respond to cellular signals and are influenced by overall valvular function, growth and the evolution of abnormalities.
"Through a bottom-up approach, we are looking at how valvular interstitial cells—the primary cells within these tissue layers—interact both biologically and mechanically with their surrounding environments," Grande-Allen said. "Although gentamicin has limited clinical use, due to its toxic side effects, our results might prove to be useful in connecting these processes and ultimately in the development of promising pharmaceuticals that curb the progression of heart-valve disease."
More information: link.springer.com/… 9-012-0114-6
Provided by Rice University
"Discovery spurred by unique twist of fate." February 21st, 2013. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-discovery-spurred-unique-fate.html | <urn:uuid:a5027eed-c09f-4a9f-a6d7-b8800b0cc149> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalxpress.com/print280651061.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951656 | 854 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades by Jonathan Phillips
It seems our fascination with the Crusades, and the temptation to draw parallels with current tensions between Christian and Muslim, and East and West, is as popular as ever with many new books on the subject. Of course we all know that these Crusaders had to travel via Byzantium …
” ‘A grave report has come from the lands around Jerusalem…that a race absolutely alien to God…has invaded the land of the Christians….They have either razed the churches of God to the ground or enslaved them to their own rites….They cut open the navels of those whom they choose to torment…drag them around and flog them before killing them as they lie on the ground with all their entrails out….What can I say of the appalling violation of women? On whom does the task lie of avenging this, if not on you?…Take the road to the Holy Sepulchre, rescue that land and rule over it yourselves, for that land, as scripture says, floweth with milk and honey….Take this road for the remission of your sins, assured of the unfading glory of the kingdom of heaven.’ When Pope Urban had said these things…everyone shouted in unison: ‘Deus vult! Deus vult!,’ ‘God wills it! God wills it!’ “
In this vivid-and hugely exaggerated-language, as reported by Robert of Rheims, Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade at Clermont in central France in November 1095. Four years later, having endured a journey of astounding hardship, the self-proclaimed “Knights of Christ” arrived at Jerusalem. On July 15, 1099, the crusaders stormed the walls and put its defenders to the sword to reclaim Christ’s city from Islam.
This excerpt from the Wall Street Journal continues here | <urn:uuid:2c52a386-1bb9-4878-af51-a1e4755d7fb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mybyzantine.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/holy-warriors-a-modern-history-of-the-crusades-by-jonathan-phillips/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956057 | 398 | 2.5 | 2 |
It’s the all-too-familiar statement that sales managers hear from their salespeople: “I need to give my client this discount or we’ll lose the job. We’ll make up the margin on higher volume from the client.”
While there are merits in what the frontline salespeople are saying in such situations, there is another aspect that needs to be considered. The sales manager should assess the overall situation, not only the numbers. After all, Plato once said, “a good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.” But the numbers also have to support the knowledge.
This article aims at exactly that: What the numbers are telling the sales manager based on simple economic theories? Should the discount be granted because the extra quantity is going to make up for the lost margin? If the price is increased instead of decreased, will the overall effect for the company be a net gain or a net loss?
There are simple but frequently forgotten rules that govern such sales and discount decisions.
What is Supply and Demand?
The first step for the sales manager to quantify whether to give a discount or not is to think about the first law of economics: the law of supply and demand. But what do we mean by supply and demand?
The supply of a product in the market is the aggregate amount supplied by individual firms. In other words, supply is the total quantity offered for sale under various market conditions.
Demand on the other hand is the total quantity customers are willing and able to purchase under various market conditions.
Along the same lines, a market is in equilibrium when the quantity demanded and the quantity supplied is in perfect balance at a given price. Surplus describes a condition of excess supply while shortage is created when buyers demand more of a product at a given price than producers are willing to supply. The market equilibrium price just clears the market of all supplied products.
Now that we know what economists mean when they talk about supply and demand, we can move to a new concept based on this foundation. This concept is referred to as elasticity.
Price Elasticity of Demand
As we have just learned, when the price of a good or service rises, the quantity demanded falls. But to predict the effect of the price increase on total consumption, we must also know how much quantity falls. The quantity demanded of some goods, such as salt, is not very sensitive to changes in price. Indeed, even if the price of salt were to double or to fall by half, most people would alter their consumption of it hardly at all. For other goods, however, the quantity demanded is extremely responsive to change in price. The price elasticity of demand for a good is a measure of the responsiveness of the quantity demanded of that good to changes in its price. Formally, the price elasticity of demand for a good is defined as the percentage change in the quantity demanded that results from a 1 percent change in its price.
The value of the elasticity tells us if giving the discount the salesperson is asking for is a good idea or not. Depending on the value of the elasticity, the total revenue can go down or remain unchanged.
Before the sales manager decides whether to grant the discount the salesperson is asking for, the sales manager ought to examine the performance of the price elasticity of the market.
The same thought process should be followed when the sales manager is contemplating a price increase.
Without considering the individual supply and demand functions, the sales manager can not decide what is in the best interest of the organization: a price increase or a discount.
It should also be noted here that this exercise is not a one-time exercise. Different types of customers can be on different parts of the demand curve. Some can drop out at a slight price increase while others may not even feel it. The sales manager should assess the price elasticity on each individual case.
Follow the Facts
The famous English writer Aldous Huxley once said “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” Sales managers and their salespeople should always strive to follow the facts dictated by basic economic principles. When deciding on very important sales leverages such as price increases or discounts, they should strive to gauge what the rules and facts are telling them, not to ignore them. The simple existence of price elasticity is one such fact that should never be ignored by sales professionals.
Ramez Naguib, P.E., is the President of Palatinco in Dallas. He has lived, worked and studied in six continents. | <urn:uuid:d4406510-4297-4f12-8957-1f21188109e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://salesandmarketing.com/content/discount-or-not | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956218 | 938 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Before a consumer can contemplate effects on their credit score, they have to understand what goes into calculating a credit score and what weight is given the data being used to formulate a credit score. Although all three consumer credit rating bureaus use different formulas to calculate a credit score, in general terms they use a formula incorporating the following data at the weight values given:
- 35% Payment history
- 30% Outstanding debt
- 15% Length of time with credit accounts
- 10% New credit information
- 10% Type of credit
Main Cause of Change
As outlined above, the payment history on an account has a great deal to do with the ultimate credit score. Over a third of the value of a credit score is based on payment history. But this is not reflective of only one account; it reflects the history on all the accounts listed with the credit bureaus. If a consumer has 10 credit reporting accounts and only one of those accounts reports a payment being made late, the overall effect will be pretty small. However, if five of the ten accounts report late payments, the effect will be substantial.
When creditors are categorizing the receipt of payments against the due dates for those payments, they use different terms to designate and identify where the payment sits in the full payment cycle of an account. A payment cycle is normally 30 days and if a payment is due on the 1st of the month, the period of 10 days after the due date is considered the “Due” period. Simply put, from day 1 to day 10 is the “Due” period.
Past Due Payments
After the first ten-day period elapses, there is a period of time when the payment that was originally due on the 1st is considered “Past Due”. Generally, this is the remaining period between the 11th day and the 29th day that the payment has not been paid. The payment may be considered “Reportable Past Due” for some companies and “Past Due” for others.
In many cases, until the 30-day period elapses, the payment that was due on the 1st of the month is not considered a reportable late payment until it has passed the 30-day window. At this point, the creditor will probably report the payment as late to the credit bureau. There are a few companies that wait until after this time period as oftentimes the payment has been missed by mistake. Rather than damage a good customer’s credit rating, these companies will exhibit patience and not actually report anything until the second payment is in the “Past Due” category or late also.
For credit card companies, the date a payment is posted to the account can be no later than 24-hours after receipt. In other words, if you mail or electronically pay a payment to a creditor, they have 24 hours after receiving it to show it has been paid on your account. Commercial accounts, installment agreements, and other types of credit-based accounts may take up to 72 hours to show a payment against an account as the payment made be received on a Friday, but not actually processed and posted to the account until the following Monday. Consumers should try to be diligent when making payments close to the 30-day mark to insure it is posted prior to the 30th day elapsing. This is especially true for payments made by check.
In certain, rare cases, a creditor will not credit a payment to an account until the check which pays the account actually clears the customer’s account. The reason for this delay is the possibility the bank will not honor the check and will return it to the creditor for processing. In some cases, the bank’s processing can take up to two weeks or more, before a creditor receives notice of an insufficient funds (NSF) check being returned. If the creditor applied the payment to the account and then, later, received notice that the payment was not valid, the creditor has to go through a series of actions to reverse the payment, re-age the account, and then proceed to collect the funds again and report the late payment.
If a consumer acquires more debt, by virtue of charges against a new credit card or credit account, then the consumer’s debt to asset ratio changes. In general terms, a consumer’s net worth, or the ratio of a consumer’s debts to their assets, determines the consumer’s availability of credit. While consumer credit rating bureaus don’t actually know about a consumer’s assets, they can estimate the amount of total debt a consumer can handle based on their payments with their current debts. If the outstanding lines of credit are maxed out, the result has a negative impact on their credit rating.
The Last Three Categories
The final three categories of concern for credit rating bureaus – length of time with credit accounts, new credit, and type of credit – total up to about 1/3 of a consumer’s credit rating. Keeping accounts open (even though the balance is paid off) is the best way to keep these categories positive. Retaining accounts even though there’s little or no activity shows an extended relationship with a creditor. Applying for new credit cards or credit accounts will affect the score and consumers should not “over-apply” for accounts if possible. Also, making sure there are a variety of account types (credit cards, open accounts, revolving accounts, installment agreements, etc.) insures a better score in the long run.
Music to Your … Credit
Maintaining good scores with the three consumer credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) is like conducting an orchestra; knowing which factors can produce what results helps a consumer stay in control and on top of their all-important credit score. | <urn:uuid:46492aef-587d-4067-821e-20c7cbae562e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aaacreditguide.net/credit-score/what-causes-changes-in-your-credit-score/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957604 | 1,196 | 2.625 | 3 |
D&D 3e/3.5e/d20The forum for conversations specifically related to the rules and procedures of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, 3.5 Edition, or any fantasy game using the d20 system or a variant thereof (commercially published or not).
After a fierce battle with Lycanthropes, the party healer tried to see which members were infected after being bitten. And we hit a wall. The Heal skill mentions treating disease, but not diagnosing disease. I went to the forums, of course, for guidance. The mighty Curmudgeon informed me that Heal cannot be used to diagnose specific diseases. Which led to
Originally Posted by Ianuagonde
That's...unexpected. Well, if specific diseases cannot be identified, that makes me wonder...
Q34 Can the Heal skill be used to see if someone is sick, as in, suffering from a disease?
I keep picturing this sick peasant who goes to the doctor because he keeps taking Strength damage.
-"Please fill in this chart, and we'll have you on your feet in no time!"
-"Are any of your family Shadows? No...Are any of your friends Shadows? No...Do you swallow Lich Dust at least once a day? No...Do you come into contact with Dragon Bile, either professionally or at home? No...Have you been stabbed by a Purple Worm in the last 24 hours? No..."
I hope someone can clear this up. Can the Heal skill be used to see if someone has a disease? If not, how do you tell if someone has a disease?
At a D&D level of technology, Heal typically means applying poultices, bleeding with leeches, and maggot therapy (yes, really). A few of the more advanced therapies involve washing of hands, clean water, healthy food, and ensuring adequate fresh air.
Given the above, non-magical diagnosis doesn't really go beyond "yep, he's sick".
Medical science in medieval times was rather primitive, even by Neolithic standards.
EDIT: Now, if you want something playable...
Any character who wasn't bitten or clawed should be safe. Conventionally, lycanthropy is spread by saliva, although there's usually enough organic detritus under claws that a claw wound could be infected.
You can't actually diagnose an infection without symptoms. Modern medicene allows diagnosis before symptoms show, but that involves blood chemistry laboratories, which are only just barely within the realms of modern technology as field kits, and only for a limited variety of diseases. By medieval standards, no symptom means no diagnosis.
The one symptom that *might* show up is a slight fever and/or swelling around the wound site. However, that won't prove it is lycanthropy; it could be just a regular infected wound (eg septicaemia). This won't show up immediately in any case. A diagnosis may be possible from 24 hours after the fight and later. Call it DC (25 - disease's Fort save; more virulent diseases are easier to detect the presence of, because the produce a stronger reaction) to detect that there is a mild infection at that point. That DC to detect the presence of "an infection" should drop rapidly as you approach the first Fort save at which actual symptoms occur.
Once ability score points are lost, detecting "an infection" should be automatic. Realistic: Identifying what specific disease it is though, is pretty much impossible when medical science literally lacks the vocabulary to do this. Cinematic: Call it a DC = disease's Fort save to identify the specific disease once ability points start being lost (harsher diseases tend to be rarer, making specific diagnosis harder).
Based on folklore, the only way to diagnose lycanthropy is to see the person transform.
Any kind of magical detect disease spell should be able to identify the specific disease and possibly even treatment, unless it is a "GM special" whose cure is a plot point, even if symptoms (ability point loss, etc.) have yet to appear.
Indigo is a much more appropriate colour for sarcasm, don't you think?
Blue is strictly for emphasis.
And grey is kind of like an aside to my main point. | <urn:uuid:adb2c27d-b295-417b-9d77-f35649cf7122> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=261912 | 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 | 0.945844 | 880 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Despite what the coal industry would have you believe, the days of cheap, affordable coal fired power are over.
That’s the conclusion of the Sierra Club’s most recent report Locked In, which analyzes the wide array of financial risks coal plant investments face. We decided to look into these risks because while the environmental and human health impacts of coal plant investments are increasingly well known, the financial impacts are not. What we found was eye opening – some of the world’s largest coal plants are on the verge of bankruptcy and an emerging ‘Organization of Coal Exporting Countries’ (OCEC) on the rise. As the title of our report suggests, avoiding locking ourselves into this risky environment is tremendously important because social and environmental damages aside – new coal plants are just lousy investments.
Here’s the biggest risks coal plant financiers face:
Plant construction costs are rising and increasingly unpredictable: Over the past decade, in the U.S. and abroad, plant costs have increased by up to 100 percent. Add to that lengthy design and construction periods (5-7 years) and you get cost projections that are wildly out of date and that significantly understate the cost of new plants.
Coal prices are volatile, increasing, and exposed to an emerging ‘OCEC’: Just like oil prices, coal prices have trended sharply upward around the world. Worse, just like the oil market, the international coal market is highly concentrated; The top two producers alone – Australia and Indonesia – are responsible for roughly 50 percent of all internationally traded steam coal. That leaves new coal plants at the whim of an emerging “Organization of Coal Exporting Countries” (OCEC) that is increasingly, directly or indirectly, acting to maintain high prices.
Competing clean, renewable energy sources are coming down in price further increasing market uncertainty: Most reliable estimates put the cost of new wind power between 5 and 10 cents/kWh – at or below the cost of new coal-fired power in the United States. The same is true for solar photovoltaic (“PV”) in the sunniest parts of the US where it now competes for peaking power applications with the cheapest fossil fuel – natural gas. While high in capital expenditure (CapEx) clean energy sources like wind and solar are not exposed to fuel price (OpEx) volatility. In essence, investors lock themselves into the ever increasing costs of coal while competitors increasingly offer attractive returns that are not just environmentally preferable, but also economically preferable.
‘Too Big to Fail’ coal projects like Tata Mundra can and should be avoided: Despite significant coal price increases many new projects routinely underestimate price volatility, the cost of construction and the risk of cost overruns. Way too often the optimistic scenarios predicted by coal proponents fail to materialize, leaving financial wreckage in their wake. For example, even before construction of the 4 GW Tata Mundra project in India is complete, coal prices are three times those cited in its bid. The problem is Tata Mundra is bound by a contract that fixes prices for decades to come forcing the government and investors to face billions in losses if they do not pass on significant price increases to average Indian consumers.
Ultimately, it’s quite clear to us that international coal markets are far riskier than most think. These risks are wide ranging – from soaring fuel prices to coal cartels – and they are not easily mitigated. Luckily a grassroots rebellion in the US and a growing clean energy revolution in the EU has helped avoid new coal plant lock in. But as the euro zone crisis rages and contributes to a slowing Chinese and Indian economy a significant lock in threat looms as investors seek to finance a new era of coal. But can these economies really afford to lock themselves into billions of dollars in financially risky new coal plant investments? The only rational answer to come to is a resounding NO.
Justin Guay is with the Sierra Club’s international program. This piece was originally published by the Sierra Club. Republised with permission. | <urn:uuid:24971db8-2108-44b9-9682-f8f9a46e69a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/why-cheap-coal-is-really-really-dead-26707 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949095 | 834 | 2.765625 | 3 |
U-M, PNNL study: Are plug-ins the next wave of hybrid vehicles?
September 25, 2007
RICHLAND, Wash. –
Is America ready for rechargeable cars? Teams of researchers at the University of Michigan and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) will explore this question and others with $2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s offices of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.
U-M’s Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute will coordinate efforts among several university departments, industry partners such as General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DTE Energy, and PNNL. The study will explore facets of the future of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The research will be conducted over two years, but a preliminary report will be available in January during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
During the study, researchers will explore:
• Americans’ willingness to buy PHEVs.
• When, where and how the PHEV’s battery would be recharged with grid power.
• How many PHEVs the current electricity grid could support and how mass adoption of them would influence the way the grid of the future is planned, built and operated.
• The greenhouse gas savings in trading tail-pipe for power plant emissions.
• The optimum design and features of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
“This program provides an outstanding opportunity to address the technical challenges as well as the social issues that will determine the viability of the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle,” said Gary S. Was, director of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute and a nuclear engineering professor. “The interplay between the vehicle, the nation’s electric utility grid and consumer attitudes and behaviors is a microcosm of the complexity of the world’s energy problem.”
“PNNL’s original study on this topic revealed that for the nation as a whole, about 70 percent of the energy needed to operate cars, pickup trucks, vans and SUVs could be supported using generating and transmission capacity that’s already available,” said PNNL energy researcher Rob Pratt. “The new study allows us to take this one step further and say now that we know there’s enough electricity, what other challenges, especially at the distribution level, do we need to address to make PHEVs a reality? We will also look at environmental and grid benefits that we can realize as PHEVs are adopted into the market place.”
PHEVs are considered by some experts to be the next logical step in cleaner driving. They are similar to today’s gas-powered electric hybrids in that both have a gas engine as well as an electric motor.
In today’s hybrid electric vehicles, the gas engine does most of the heavy lifting and an electric motor kicks in to assist during acceleration or to move the vehicle during stop-and-go low-speed driving. The battery that provides electric power can only move the car a short distance and is charged by switching the electric motor to act as a generator during braking.
Conversely, in PHEVs, a larger battery is charged by plugging the car in to a standard household outlet. The electric motor can then propel the car a much longer distance without using any gasoline, until the battery runs low and it reverts to standard hybrid electric vehicles operation.
As part of this study, U-M will utilize its unique expertise in behavioral analysis and consumer choice modeling currently applied for publishing the widely-cited national consumer confidence index. A consumer survey, conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research, will monitor the evolving attitudes of the American public toward PHEVs, and provide the first national-level empirical data on how driving behavior differs with these vehicles compared to conventional gasoline, diesel and hybrid vehicles. The project will be headed by ISR researchers Richard Curtin and James Jackson, director of the institute.
The Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute is charting a path to a clean, secure and affordable energy future by developing and coordinating energy research and education in the physical and social sciences at U-M. For more information, visit Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute.
This study will draw upon PNNL's expertise in energy systems modeling and energy systems reliability analysis. It builds upon previous research by PNNL to analyze the impact of PHEVs on the nation's energy system.
The secretary of energy has called upon PNNL to apply these capabilities in the analysis of the large-scale blackouts of 1996 and 2003. PNNL's energy research and development includes a focus on improving grid reliability and resilience with the help of information technology. The lab evaluates integrated energy systems that include energy generation, transmission, distribution and end use in industry, in the home and for transportation.
Tags: Energy, Environment, Energy Efficiency, Emissions, PHEVs, Renewable Energy | <urn:uuid:db18ebf4-3ce5-4cb5-a627-8378ee7cafa7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pnl.gov/news/release.aspx?id=272 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935838 | 1,025 | 2.359375 | 2 |
What is a geek?
By Mark "The Red" Harlan
Awhile back, when I was working in my overpaid hi-tech job, I was passed a copy of the nerd test. At first I was amused, but soon became borderline apoplectic when I learned I had outscored the large majority of my pals. To be clear, I beat those whose idea of "fashion sense" was wearing t-shirts tucked into jeans with a belt, freaks who spent all of their off-time (and a suspicious amount of work time) playing computer games, and lost souls whose sole idea of socialization was fighting about Java protocols over Internet Relay Chat. I even outscored my office mate who once owned a set of Spock ears. The only guy I did not outscore was a hardware engineer that spoke Polish, wore a cat suit the day after Halloween and consistently drooled on himself at lunch.
I was thrown into a massive depression that not even an excessive amount of business partner antagonization could cure. How could I be more nerdy than the unwashed mouth breathers I knew around the office? Why did I get penalized just because I can remember things like Avogadro's number off the top of my head? I mean, I had a life. A real life. I had been to Moscow without the proper tourist visa, I had flown the Goodyear blimp, I swam from Alcatraz, I took seven years to get a four year college degree, why I had even had sex once. And what about those people around the office? their skin was so translucent from CRT atrophy that it was like walking around with an army of "visible men" whenever we went out to lunch.
In heavy denial, I refused to accept the verdict of my electronic jury. "It doesn't matter what that test says," I thought, "I'm not a nerd." I'm not a nerd. I'm not a nerd. I refused to believe it.
At the absolute lowest point of my depression I was whimpering to a friend on the phone when I noticed my work extension -- 4335 -- had a double vowel in it when using the letters on the keypad: EE. "Hey, that's pretty good," I thought, "I wonder what it spells..." and as I sat there looking at it, the truth hits me: GEEK. My phone extension spelled "geek."
"This is horrible," I thought, "it MUST spell something else. So I sat playing with different combinations. Hmmm ... what else ... what else? HEEL.
That's just great. Geek and heel. This must be some kind of a sick sign. God's little way of saying, "you suck." I sat there feeling psychologically trapped. Mentally cornered. Virtually caged like an animal for slaughter.
And then I thought, "Wait a minute the word 'geek' is interesting..." It originally was a term used to describe old side-show folks who bit the heads off chickens. And it feels a little rough, a little alien. You know, if a nerd was talking in a movie theater, you'd probably slap him silly; but a geek, well that's a different matter. You might move down a few seats. You might hope he doesn't notice you. You might want to leave the theater altogether. Because in essence, a geek is unpredictable at his or her best and savage at worst. A nerd with fangs. A geek is the guy who took chemistry just so he could learn how to build better smoke bombs or the chick who dropped some loser because she could beat him at Space Invaders.
So i embraced it. I said, "Yes, I AM geek. Hear me mumble, or whatever." and things suddenly jumped into a fine focus. What once was uncertain now had a pure dodecahedral sort of clarity, and better still, I was no longer ashamed to admit the shape was dodecahedral. Sure, in my paranoid existence, the fight hadn't changed, it was still me versus the universe; but now the tables had turned and the universe would be rated as a slight underdog. To paraphrase Videodrome, it was the point where I now clearly had a philosophy, and that was what made me dangerous.
Furthermore, I have a certain sort of reassurance in being a geek: I feel that i'm not alone. I don't mean in the absurd X Files way, but more in the fraternity-but-without-the-booze-and-goofy-greek-letters sense. There are others out there, I can feel it. Probably lots. Kindred spirits in an otherwise boring world.
And what's funny is this means YOU are rapidly approaching a decision point in your life -- namely, are you a geek?
Your answer to the question means you can view this Web site one of two ways. You can definitively decide you are a geek and, finally, join your brethren (and sistern?) in our wild soiree. For those of you who fall into this category, I say, "Welcome Home," and offer you the best spot on my couch.
Or you can view this as a grand Internet sociology experiment -- a chance to live amongst strange, brutish apes without having to actually touch them. If this description fits you, remember to keep your hands behind the barriers and don't feed the animals.
Whatever the case, don't get stressed out by the name. Think of Geek Radio as a publication by geeks, for the planet; and since you're on the planet, this Web site is for you.
Welcome to Geek Radio, Josh Carter and I are truly glad you're here. If you like what you see, tell two friends; if you don't, tell us.
... And whatever else happens over the coming issues may you ultimately never think about the word "geek" in quite the same way you did in the past,Mark "The Red" Harlan
Publisher and Head Geek
The Geek Radio Network | <urn:uuid:cc425be1-7039-4c6e-be2f-be3abbc1df5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://geekradio.net/about/geek.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976858 | 1,252 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Guest blogger, Caroline Astley, writes…
This summer brought Shakespeare’s Globe’s performance of Hamlet to the Bodleian Library Quad. After a string of wet evenings, I ventured down to the open-air Old Schools Quadrangle in the hope that, weather permitting, I would be in for an evening of theatre in classic Shakespearean style; given that Hamlet is considered the Bard’s most popular and performed play, and the Bodleian provided The Globe with a majestic, historical setting with which to bring it to life, I was not to be disappointed.
The Shakespeare’s Globe season at the Bodleian is a well-lived tradition, now in its fifth year. The Oxfordian location is ideal, almost rivalling The Globe’s own Elizabethan-style theatre, famously situated on London’s South Bank. Completed in 1619, three years after Shakespeare’s death, the Bodleian Library’s Old Schools Quadrangle is a suitably epic setting for a production of the well-known tragedy. Hamlet‘s touring set was similarly designed to feel contemporary with a seventeenth-century aesthetic; although more bare and stripped-down in appearance than the decadent Globe, the modest staging served as a perfect backdrop to the dramatic performance of a play which, as the Globe’s own flyer puts it, is “the fullest expression of Shakespeare’s genius”.
As seats filled and the sun remained out, the players gathered on stage in true Globeian style, with a handful of instruments, and began to strum a simple tune. Tom Lawrence (Horatio) came forward, introducing the play with a cry of “we have played a rainy Portsmouth, a wet and windy Poole and a stormy Cambridge: and, now, here we are in sunny Oxford!” The relief among audience and actors was unanimous.
Yet, regardless of the miraculous sunshine, Dominic Dromgoole and Bill Buckhurst’s direction would have withstood any weather: fresh and fast-paced, it made the two-and-a-half-hour performance fly by, despite dropping temperatures as the evening wore on. Michael Benz was raw yet dynamic as Hamlet, perfectly capturing the frantic paranoia of the Danish prince. Refreshingly youthful, Benz sold the angst and insecurity of his character, exposing his vulnerability beneath a carefully-constructed veneer of bravado. Treading the line between madness and sanity, Benz agitatedly dramatized the grief, frustration, anger and hysteria of the young prince.
A tragedy in the traditional sense, the production remained light in the first half through plenty of witty humour; lines delivered in a smart, subtle fashion from Benz and Christopher Saul (Polonius) kept the audience laughing. A comic interpretation of the play within the play, The Murder of Gonzalo, saw the end of the first half and, also, an end to the humour. After a brief interval, in which members of the audience could peruse the Bodleian’s Hamlet display in the Proscholium (as well as a warm bar set up in the stunning Divinity School), the production turned into a spiralling descent of tragic death and despair. In quick succession, Polonius’s murder, Ophelia’s madness (played with poignancy by Carlyss Peer), and the demise of Hamlet himself were executed with a deft handling of the catastrophic drama.
In a perfect kick-off to the summer of Sprint for Shakespeare, Dromgoole and Buckhurst’s Hamlet did not fail to meet expectations of the much-anticipated performance at the Bodleian Library. An exciting rendition of a traditional classic, The Globe managed to breathe new life into Shakespeare’s most popular play while remaining stripped down to its bare essentials. Not to be missed.
Shakespeare’s Globe is on tour with Hamlet until 1 September 2012. | <urn:uuid:488c9d88-2757-4b33-a5ce-4fbb9fb9233e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shakespeare.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/2012/10/02/the-plays-the-thing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93422 | 825 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Diamond Trust Bank Kenya is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and has nearly 12,000 shareholders worldwide.The Network’s investment in sub-Saharan Africa’s private sector dates as far back as the 1930s and 1940s, when cooperative financial instituions were created. Thereafter, the scope was extended to other areas such as industry and tourism. Today, the project companies of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) are dedicated to promoting private initiative and building economically sound enterprises in Kenya and throughout the developing world. Surpluses generated by the Fund are reinvested in other economic development initiatives under the AKFED umbrella.
Incorporated in 1937, Jubilee Insurance is the oldest composite insurance company in Kenya with 70 years of experience. Jubilee transacts insurance business through its subsidiaries across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and is the largest provider of medical insurance across East Africa, protecting the health of over 65,000 people, including many of the region’s blue chip companies. Jubilee is the only composite insurance group listed on all the three East African stock exchanges – the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), Dar es Salaam (DSE) and Uganda Securities Exchange (USE).
Established 60 years ago, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has matured into a fully fledged commercial banking group in East Africa with branches in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. DTB Kenya is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and has nearly 12,000 shareholders worldwide. Its key shareholders include AKFED, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), which is an AKFED subsidiary, and International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Tourism Promotion Services
Tourism Promotion Services (TPS) promotes tourism by building, rehabilitating and managing hotels, resorts and lodges that contribute to economic growth in an environmentally and culturally sensitive manner. These investments are the result of close consultation with governments, with TPS often assisting them in the development of integrated tourism development plans for specific regions. TPS firmly believes in the development of sustainable tourism and is therefore sensitive and supportive to the natural environment and to the traditions and culture of the local populations with which it interacts. TPS’s reputation for environmental and cultural sensitivity and long-term investment has made it an attractive investor for governments wishing to start tourism activities.
The first hotel ventures in Kenya were launched in the 1970s, when tourism was in a nascent stage. Today, Serena operates seven hotels and lodges. Operating under the brand name, Serena Hotels, TPS owns and manages the Serena Beach Hotel & Spa in Mombasa and the Nairobi Serena Hotel, as well as six safari lodges throughout Kenya. TPS Eastern Africa is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
For more information, please see the Serena Hotels website.
Industrial Promotion Services
Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) was set up in 1963 to provide venture capital, technical assistance and management support to encourage and expand private enterprise in countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Its core sectors include food and agro-industries, printing and packaging, textiles, pharmaceuticals, leather and infrastructure.
Frigoken works with 35,000 Kenyan farmers to grow, process and export quality green beans for the European market..In Kenya, IPS companies include Frigoken Ltd., which provides agricultural extension services to over 35,000 farmers whose beans are processed and exported to European markets. Another IPS investment, Tsavo Power Company Ltd., is a major supplier of electrical power in Mombasa. It was Kenya’s first privately financed “open-bid” project and the first such plant successfully constructed under an updated and more stringent environmental law. Allpack Industries Ltd. manufactures high quality corrugated carton packaging and polypropylene bags for the agricultural trade. IPS has also made investments in wire products and agricultural tools, meat and vegetable processing, printing and packaging, leather processing and garment manufacturing.
Nation Media Group
The Nation Media Group, founded by the Aga Khan in 1960, is also one of Kenya’s most important companies. It has its origins in Kenya’s Taifa and Nation newspapers, which were set up to provide independent voices during the years just preceding the country’s independence. With headquarters in Nairobi, operations include English and Kiswahili national newspapers, a regional weekly, and radio and television stations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. A leader across East Africa, the Nation Media Group’s success in underpinned by state-of-the-art printing technology, investment in professional development and a highly-subscribed internet presence through its English-language publications.
© 2007 The Aga Khan Development Network. This is the only authorised Website of the Aga Khan Development Network. | <urn:uuid:24e3cdda-58bb-40b2-bb8e-15a0f7724087> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.akdn.org/kenya_economic.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942284 | 991 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Live discussion: California recycling fraud a costly problem
Recycling fraud in California is draining the state's $1.1-billion recycling fund. Fraud rings bring cans from other states to redeem deposits that were never paid, and some private recycling centers might claim more reimbursements than they're entitled to.
Times reporter Jessica Garrison will join city editor Shelby Grad for a Google+ Hangout at 12:40 p.m. PDT to discuss her weekend story on recycling fraud in California:
California's generous recycling redemption program has led to rampant fraud. Crafty entrepreneurs are driving semi-trailers full of cans from Nevada or Arizona, which don't have deposit laws, across the border and transforming their cargo into truckfuls of nickels. In addition, recyclers inside the state are claiming redemptions for the same containers several times over, or for containers that never existed.
The illicit trade is draining the state's $1.1-billion recycling fund. Government officials recently estimated the fraud at $40 million a year, and an industry expert said it could exceed $200 million. It's one reason the strapped fund paid out $100 million more in expenses last year than it took in from deposits and other sources.
"The law says California has to make it easy to recycle … so anyone with a devious mind, it's so easy, they can just go right in," said Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Dave Chapman, who has investigated fraud rings in recent months.
Under the state's 25-year-old recycling law, California charges consumers a deposit on most beverage containers sold within its borders. Anyone who brings empty containers back to one of about 2,300 privately run recycling centers can collect 5 cents for most cans and bottles and 10 cents for larger containers.
Only products sold in California are eligible. But a can is a can — and many recycling centers in California aren't that interested in where they come from.
Photo: In California, privately owned recycling centers accept bottles and cans from consumers and pay out the redemption value, then get reimbursed by the state. Above, Action Sales & Metal in Wilmington. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times | <urn:uuid:be75e738-c2eb-4071-96b1-772fa924ed10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/10/live-discussion-california-recycling-fraud-a-costly-problem.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942848 | 444 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Premier Assistive Technology is now Microsoft Vista compliant
On March 19, 2007 Premier Assistive Technology released new versions of all its products to accommodate Microsoft’s latest operating system “Vista”. Vista is a brand new operating system that function differently that it’s older operating systems. These changes will slow it’s adoption into the school system but we just wanted to ensure our users that we are ready when you are ready to make the switch.
In the process of making the products Vista compatible many of the products received enhancements, based on requests of many users. The following products will work on the new Microsoft Vista operating system.
* All new computers are shipping with the new operating system preloaded so home users and college students are starting to make the switch. Many of these individuals all the products available on the Premier AT Home website are also Vista compliant.
What is Premier AT Home?
Premier AT Home is a program that Premier Assistive Technology established in 2005 and it is a website that lets students login and download the software they use at school at home. Many school systems have realized that students struggles and challenge follow the student home. Premier At Home bridges the gap between school and home. This has proven to be very effective, because with anything the more you practice doing something the better you get at it. If a student has limited access to the technology their proficiency is going to be limited. Students get to use the technology all summer so when they get back to school in the fall they do not have to relearn how to use it, making the start of the school year that much easier for them.
For More Information about the Premier AT Home program go to
For more information on how to get the most recent version visit our websites
Contact us at:
Premier Assistive Technology
1309 N. William St.
Joliet, IL 60435
Premier Assistive Technology – Canada
PO Box 875, STN A | <urn:uuid:7f41a22f-95d8-4eb6-b482-760f0a2a70e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.readingmadeeasy.ca/news/News.php?article=16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927299 | 404 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Monday, January 23, 2012 10:27:25 PM
The United States government is a major supporter of widespread cloud computing, which it believes can reduce IT budgets and better prepare federal agencies for the future.
Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel, who replaced Vivek Kundra in early August, is at the forefront of universal cloud adoption among government agencies. Federal News Radio recently interviewed VanRoekel regarding the progress of federal cloud implementation and how he's helping Congress understand the vast benefits of several cloud services.
"I'm spending a lot of personal time talking to Congress about what the benefits are and carrying forward data," VanRoekel told the source. "The key here is showing people the real, live data and, if you think about cost benefit analysis, it comes down to people, it comes down to re-occurring costs, it comes down to other things."
VanRoekel, who previously worked for the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Agency for International Development, said the long-term impact of transitioning data and applications to the cloud is immense, as cloud adopters can pay one fee and continually receive upgrades.
Lawmakers recently forced the U.S. Army to halt its plan to migrate email users to a cloud-based service until a detailed project outline is examined by congress. According to VanRoekel, the situation provides him with a perfect opportunity to work with Congress and the Department of Defense to speed cloud adoption and increase knowledge among lawmakers.
"It's an opportunity for us to work with Congress, to work with the Army and the Department of Defense to think about this stuff," he said. "I think we have a great opportunity to work with industry on evolving the cloud and cloud technology to meet the needs of a 21st century government. I think we have an opportunity to continuously improve and drive this stuff forward."
VanRoekel's comments back up several reports that revealed the government's swift transition to the cloud. According to the Federal News Radio's recent survey of agency CIOs, 83 percent of federal organizations expected to meet the Office of Management and Budget's requirement of moving at least one IT function to the cloud by the beginning of 2012. The survey found that email and collaboration tools, data storage, data center consolidation and web hosting are among the IT tasks federal CIOs expect to transfer to the cloud this year.
Despite many survey respondents acknowledging their own security concerns in the cloud, most experts believe the cloud provides a more secure environment than traditional technology. Booz Allen Hamilton, a provider of strategy and technology consulting services, recently released the Cyber Power Index, which measured the success of digital adoption and cybersecurity among 19 of the world's 20 leading economies.
The report ranked the U.S. second to the United Kingdom in overall cyber power, although the the U.K. ranked only slightly better. According to the study, the U.S. receives high marks in commitment to cyber development, cyber protection policy, IT spending, security, ecommerce and e-government.
"When you look across the various countries, those who have really taken an interest in investing in the technology really seems to propel them higher into the list than those who maybe have not done as much investment," Dave Sulek, a member of Booz Allen Hamilton's advanced analytics team, told The Federal Drive.
Many American businesses have refrained from implementing cloud services due to perceived security risks, but government cloud adoption and cybersecurity recognition by outside analysts should eliminate that perception during the next few years. According to a TechTarget survey, nearly one-quarter of IT professionals expect their company to increase cloud expenditures this year.
-McAfee Cloud Security | <urn:uuid:c7618f0c-a97b-49dc-85e4-3639b07c9b35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcafee.com/us/solutions/cloud-security/news/20120123-01.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962819 | 751 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The prompt for Day 8 of Women’s History Month is
Did one of your female ancestors leave a diary, journal, or collection of letters? Share an entry or excerpt.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any letters or diaries. Between me and my 2 aunts, I’m not aware of any being in existence.
But, I do have a photograph of an old house, and on the back of the photo is info about the house, written by my 3rd great-grandmother, Susan William Lee (Martin) Kennedy (1843-1918). Pretty cool, I think!
“J. T. Stanley
Mrs Wm L Kennedy
Ownes This book”
The only problem is that this house is in Mineral Wells, Texas, not Grandview, Texas. Right owner, wrong location. Simply proof that every item of evidence needs to be thoroughly examined. Don’t assume anything! | <urn:uuid:cec0fe30-1aa0-4dbd-acbf-0b2ea704b0aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ruthsgenealogy.com/2010/03/08/womens-history-month-day-8-in-her-own-hand/ | 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 | 0.909913 | 196 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Days after the death of Osama bin Laden, two men were arrested in New York City as they attempted to purchase a hand grenade, guns and ammunition for an attack on a Manhattan synagogue while disguised as Orthodox Jews. It was one of at least 39 terrorist plots against the United States that have been foiled since 9/11. And though the attack was averted and bin Laden is lying dead in a watery grave, the terrorism threat remains, and much must be done to continue ensuring America’s defense in a post-bin Laden world.
The primary front in the global war against terrorists remains the war in Afghanistan. And as if the world needed another reminder of the challenges there, news came this morning that a roadside bomb killed four NATO soldiers in east Afghanistan today, the latest in a surge of violence brought on by the Afghan Taliban’s “spring offensive.” It is clear that though bin Laden’s death may have been a turning point in the fight against global terrorism, the Taliban, al-Qaeda and its affiliates will not dissolve immediately.
Retreating from Afghanistan would be a mistake. The Heritage Foundation’s Lisa Curtis explains the dangers of retreat and the best way forward:
Any arbitrary U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan would open the door for the Taliban to regain influence in the region and allow al-Qaeda and its affiliate organizations to regroup and revitalize. The U.S. instead needs to press its advantage in Afghanistan and demonstrate that it is committed to helping ensure long-term stability in the region.
Prosecuting the war in Afghanistan is not the only component piece of America’s continued battle against terrorism. As al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups will continue to stage plots against the United States, counterterrorism and law enforcement investigators will continue to need policies and tools to stop threats before they materialize. That includes ensuring the renewal of provisions in the PATRIOT Act and the Intelligence Reform and Prevention Act of 2004, including roving wiretaps, the disclosure of business records through FISA courts, and the power to track non-U.S. citizens acting as “lone wolf” terrorists.
Just as important is America’s leadership on the world stage. Unfortunately, for too long, President Barack Obama has led a public diplomacy apology tour all across the globe. The latest example came on Thursday during the President’s speech on U.S. policy in the Middle East, during which he glossed over major oppression in the Arab world, though lauding the “extraordinary change” in the region. Heritage’s James Phillips explains:
While [the President] talked at length about the violent regime reaction in Libya, he shortchanged discussion of the systematic repression in Syria and Iran and failed to announce concrete policies that would help beleaguered democratic forces in those countries to advance freedom and defend human rights.
A better move would have been to speak out strongly and unequivocally in support of the democratic movements in the Middle East and on behalf of dissidents who have been under government attacks, as Heritage’s Helle Dale writes in her paper “After bin Laden: End the Public Diplomacy Apology Tour.”
Following bin Laden’s death, there was great relief around the world, with wide condemnation of the terrorist leader. President Obama has an opportunity, as he begins a six-day tour of Europe, to reassert U.S. leadership on the global stage, rather than accept the notion that America is on the decline.
The death of bin Laden was the most significant victory in the war on terror since the 9/11 attacks, but it was not the last page of the story. Threats remain, and much work must be done to prevent another 9/11.
- President Obama sets out today on a six-day, four nation trip across Europe, beginning in Ireland. He will discuss the revolts in the Middle East and the global economy.
- The Taliban denied reports that its spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has died or has been killed, though Afghanistan intelligence says he has disappeared from his alleged Pakistan hideout.
- A powerful tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, on Sunday, leaving 89 dead and a massive swath of destruction in its wake.
- U.S. stocks are set to sell off at the open of the market today after ratings agencies downgraded Greece and Italy last week, leading to a drop in world markets.
- Want to cut America’s debt? Heritage’s Stuart Butler explains how in The Washington Post. | <urn:uuid:ce632413-374d-4683-bed9-8f28e43bbdc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.heritage.org/2011/05/23/morning-bell-after-bin-laden/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956233 | 935 | 2.203125 | 2 |
The BLS reports that state unemployment rates were mostly unchanged in June:
Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in June. Twenty-seven states recorded unemployment rate increases, 11 states and the District of Columbia posted rate decreases, and 12 states had no change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, while three states experienced increases. The national jobless rate, at 8.2 percent, was unchanged from May but 0.9 percentage point lower than in June 2011. | <urn:uuid:ca7b92e1-0e2b-44be-84f2-de63e227138b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.floatingpath.com/2012/07/20/nevada-highest-unemployment-rate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973123 | 118 | 1.875 | 2 |
I have a new Intell Q6600 and the Asus P5N-D mobo i will be installing it in. Rather than use the stock fan that came with the CPU I am getting the ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler (see link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... ). As you will note, the fan doesn't sit on top, it is on the side. I can't find any diagrams or any instructions on which way to orient the fan or if the 4 push pins on the heatsink only go 1 way on the mobo, but looks like it can be installed in any orientation. Was wondering if anyone had any ideas if the fan should face the RAM, rear of the case, to the top of the case or to the bottom. Any help is appreciated as I don't want to hinder any airflow in the case.
Some people will get mixed up on the airflow on a HSF.
When you see the fan face, it's usually the intake side, so air is going to pass through it, and you should feel air coming out on the other side of the HS.
Sometimes when I see an actual pic of their rig (when they are having temp problems) I can tell they have the airflow orientation backwards, or just wrong.
It's not usually practical, but if people are not sure how the air travels through the HS, they should try to figure out how to plug it in a power source, without it installed on the MB. For me, I have an external power source that I use to test fans, which was for internal HD that are hooked up externally to a USB port.
Or if they understand a PSU well enough to do the paper clip trick to test any/all fan(s) that way. | <urn:uuid:4ae5a063-9d95-4e98-8f1c-ded68ce0c880> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/251044-28-need-orientation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940685 | 383 | 1.578125 | 2 |
I began this technical article a week ago to synthesize different things I know about the digital camera pipeline and digital image formation. Photographers may be interested in learning what happens after they trip the shutter and before they import it into Photoshop. If you’re not at all technical, you still may enjoy several of the linked articles, some of which show off optical illusions.
How does a digital camera make an image? It seems like such a simple question with a really obvious answer: Light strikes a sensor which converts it to a grid of numbers that is written to a file.
Well, yeah. But how does that grid of numbers (the image) get formed? Recently I helped someone at work answer that question. The result was this chart:
Click for larger
Not every camera does everything the same way. It’s something of a dark art, really. Camera manufacturers do all sorts of secret, proprietary stuff to tweak images. It’s a fact that vendors don’t like to talk about at parties, but, contrary to popular belief, even RAW files don’t contain the raw sensor data. . . . But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s look at the various stages in image formation.
Capturing light with a bucket
To be honest, this is the part that I know the least about. There are hardware guys and software guys. I’ve never used a soldering iron and have probably broken Ohm’s Law on a number of occasions. But here’s the important thing to know. In a digital camera, light (energy) strikes a photosensitive material, which induces a current in a circuit attached to the sensor. More brightness, more energy. More energy, more current. Depending on the type of circuitry used, a separate analog-to-digital converter (ADC) turns the current into a count — CCDs need a separate ADC; CMOS sensors don’t.
The current gets counted at each of the millions of “buckets” on the sensor. In order to create a color image from colorful light, you need to break it down into its red, green, and blue components. The eye does this in a very sophisticated way. A camera is much simpler, separating light into three (sometimes four) components via millions of tiny filters, allowing the components to be individually counted.
“It goes up to 11…”
At this point, light has been converted into millions of counts, which range from 0 (no light) to some theoretical maximum. The count depends on the detector’s sensitivity, the ADC, the amount of light, and the color of light. The maximum possible count determines how many individual brightness levels can be recorded. Sensitivity is typically expressed as “bit depth.” An 8-bit sensor can record 256 (2^8) different levels of light. The more bits, the more distinguishable counts.
||Number of Levels
Not all pixels are created equal. Some buckets on the image sensor are defective and are always on (“hot”) or always off (“dead”). The sensor itself produces heat (“dark noise”), which it detects when recording the scene. And light “leaks” from a sensor before it gets digitized — imagine a bucket brigade that loses a little bit of water with each hand-off. Better sensors have fewer problems.
The result is noise. Sometimes its speckled (so-called “salt and pepper noise”). Often it isn’t uniform across the sensor. In every case, it should be corrected. Hot and dead pixels are averaged with their neighbors (to the dismay of astrophotographers if done on the image data). Another technique known as “dark subtraction” attempts to remove noise by subtracting the heat noise from the exposure. If the dead/hot pixels are known, they can be masked out. Often this happens before the “raw” image is recorded, making it impossible to get the actual sensor data.
Noise disportionately affects the dark parts of the image. Why? Camera sensors experience light differently than we do. If you double the intensity of light (as measured in absolute units, like lux) the light appears twice as bright to a human observer. As a result, when the intensity of light increases, there are larger gaps in sensor counts between equivalent perceptual changes. At the darker end of a scanner’s sensitivity perceived brightness may double every 32 or 64 values; while at the brighter end a similar perceptual change might require 1024 or 2048 levels. (Charles Poynton describes “gamma” in exhaustive detail.) Consequently, small numerical changes make big noise differences in the darker part of the image.
“This ain’t no image, no RGBG“
After digitization and noise removal we still don’t have a recognizable image. There’s no color to it yet and the brightness won’t look right either. Remember that millions of red, green, blue, and (sometimes) cyan filters cover the image sensor in order to provide color accuity. Each filter is only sensitive to one color — blue, for example — but if manufacturers use the right pattern for filters, an algorithm can calculate the the other colors (green and red) at the blue filter’s location. The sensor’s pseudo-image is known as a “Bayer pattern.” A “raw” file contains this pseudo-image along with the metadata needed to construct a final image.
Here is a typical color filter array (Bayer) pattern. Don’t blame me if looking at this image makes you have a seizure. If the image appears to be moving or breathing, well, that’s just a result of simultaneous contrast. It’s natural.
A number of different algorithms “demosaic” this pattern data into the RGB image we’re expecting. Typically, speed and accuracy compete to determine the “best” demosaicing pattern. Some algorithms handle images that contain a lot of pronounced edges better than others. In any case, these algorithm look at neighboring pixels to infer the other colors. Collecting these constructed RGB values into separate red, green, and blue color planes (or channels) expands the information content of an image by a factor of three. Adding information to an image post facto almost always involves subjective judgments about image quality.
After demosaicing, the image is more or less what you would expect a color image to look like but probably nowhere near the final state. Remember that the image contains intensity counts at each pixel location, which is not exactly how we experience image brightness or color. The image requires gamma correction and probaly appears dark. In addition, the color balance is probably incorrect, requiring a white point adjustment.
Gamma correction applies a nonlinear power function to the pixel values, making the pixel values match perceived brightness. Often a separate “tone response curve” is applied to each color channel. The power function — which takes larger numbers and creates smaller output values — has the effect of compressing the image’s effective bit-depth (and its dynamic range), as visually redundant information is squeezed out. Some camera vendors, such as Nikon in its D70 model, perform this gamma compression at an earlier stage in order to reduce RAW file size.
It’s not uncommon somewhere in this stage to remap an image’s values from its effective bit-depth to 8-bits or 16-bits. Image processing and image manipulation applications usually need this in order to display the image correctly. Unlike gamma correction, this is typically a linear remapping.
Making pretty images
Tone mapping adjusts the perceived brightness of image pixels but has very little effect on the color balance of those pixels. Several factors determine the color of image pixels:
- The individual red, green, and blue (R,G,B) pixel values
- The color of the “pure” red, green, and blue primaries
- The whitepoint — that is, the color of white
The primaries determine the color of the most saturated red, green, and blue colors that can be recorded or displayed. In an RGB system, every color is a combination of various intensities of these three primaries. If you change one primary’s definition, every other color is changed accordingly. If you’re having trouble with the concept of multiple “pure” red colors being called “red”, just consider what happens when you fiddle with the color controls on your monitor or television set. You aren’t changing the input values that are displayed, but different colors show up on the screen. Different devices have different red, green, and blue sensitivities; and it’s necessary to take the (R,G,B) values from the camera and put them into a well-understood color space where those particular (R,G,B) values have specific color meanings. Some of these color spaces include Adobe RGB (1998), ProPhoto RGB, and sRGB. Industry-wide adoption of ICC color profiles has largely standardized these color translations.
So how does the white point fit in? When you take your camera into a scene with a different color of light, the camera’s color sensitivity doesn’t change. But the human visual system’s sensitivity sure does! Our brains adapt to the scene’s white point, but the camera does not. As a result, the images that we saw and the camera recorded aren’t the same. A simple white point change corrects this problem. (Some cameras have the ability to record the color of the ambient lighting and store it in the RAW file for later use, which is pretty cool if you ask me.)
Digital cameras can store other information in a RAW file — we’ll get to those special files in a second — that help create “good looking” final images. Some cameras store mask information to hide low-quality portions of the image. Any system that samples data into discrete values introduces errors, which often appear as “steppy edges.” Specifying how much chroma blur to add reduces this unwanted effect. (Any image that is blurred — also a result of quanization — probably deserves some sharpening, too.)
Most mid-level and high-end cameras store the Bayer pattern “image” and the hints for reconstructing it in one of the many RAW file formats vendors have defined. Vendors stuff lots of other information there as well, possibly including a lower resolution lossy JPEG thumbnail and EXIF, XMP, and IPTC metadata. Many manufacturers perform lossless compression on the pixels to reduce the size of the RAW file, but this takes time to do. The possibilities and permutations are endless. DNG is a relatively new format whose proponents hope to unify these proprietary formats.
Now go outside and play
I hope you’ve enjoyed this (sort of) brief description of digital image formation and that you now have a better sense of the factors that impact “raw” images. The imaging world is finishing up its amazing transition from film to digital capture, but the image processing tools and digital pipeline are still evolving. Nowadays, knowing what goes into your raw images is akin to knowing how the Zone System impacts film-based photography. If you know of anything that’s out-of-date, please leave a comment. | <urn:uuid:1edb3eb9-0f14-4fa3-9c0e-8fef4a1b7578> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jeffmatherphotography.com/dispatches/2006/11/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910884 | 2,397 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Rank in the Kingdom
1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
2And He called a child to Himself and set him before them,
3and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
4"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5"And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;
6but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
7"Woe to the world because of [its] stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!
8"If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.
9"If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.
10"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
11["For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost].
Ninety-nine Plus One
12"What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?
13"If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.
14"So it is not [the] will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.
Discipline and Prayer
15"If your brother sins , go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
16"But if he does not listen [to you], take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.
17"If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18"Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
19"Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.
20"For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."
21Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
23"For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
24"When he had begun to settle [them], one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
25"But since he did not have [the means] to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.
26"So the slave fell [to the ground] and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.'
27"And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
28"But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and [began] to choke [him], saying, 'Pay back what you owe.'
29"So his fellow slave fell [to the ground] and [began] to plead with him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.'
30"But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
31"So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.
32"Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?'
34"And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
35"My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
<< Matthew 18 >>
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org
Matthew 18 Online Parallel Bible
Matthew 18 Bible Apps | <urn:uuid:6253ab2b-3ad4-4030-89fc-f50e50d1b854> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://biblehub.com/nas/matthew/18.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980831 | 1,203 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Prof. Daniels links Black Church to Christianity’s globalization
McCormick professor of church history part of Pentecostal delegation to Edinburgh 2010
In his plenary address at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s December 10-12 Shoemaker Conference - Proclamation & Presence: Learning from the Global Church 1910-2010, Dr. David Daniels, Professor of History at McCormick Theological Seminary, will shed light on the Black Church’s role in the globalization of Christianity in the 20th century.
Daniels’ presentation, “Honey in the Rock: The Global Witness of the Black Church, 1910-2010," lifts up the Black Church – defined here as African American Christianity – as the major non-European expression of the faith in the United States institutionally, theologically and missionally. Daniels suggests that the Black Church anticipated Christianity’s shift to the global south by becoming the first major non-European expression of the faith to gain recognition and acceptance in the West.
“There were other non-European expressions of Christianity arising elsewhere such as the Coptic Church or in Asian Orthodoxy, but the difference is that the Black Church was missionary in nature and went global in the 20th century,” -Daniels
The Shoemaker Conference is one of many events looking toward Edinburgh 2010, an ecumenical, invitation-only gathering from June 2 to 6, which commemorates the 1910 World Missionary Conference and explores new perspectives on mission for the 21st century. Organized and hosted by the Edinburgh 2010 General Council, the event seeks to draw 60 percent of its 250 attendees from the global south, 50 percent women, and 20 percent under the age of 30. A widely recognized scholar of Christian history and Pentecostalism, Dr. Daniels will be part of a Pentecostal delegation to Edinburgh 2010. He was recently honored at the Church of God in Christ’s 2009 Convocation in Memphis, Tennessee, by being awarded a Presiding Bishop’s Medal of Honor for his contribution to theological education as well being named Chair of the denomination’s Board of Education.
A full biography of Dr. David Daniels can be found at http://mccormick.edu/instructor/david-daniels-iii. For more information on the Shoemaker Conference at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, visit http://www.pts.edu. | <urn:uuid:c349310a-90ee-4c2e-8402-57b26326453a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mccormick.edu/news/prof-daniels-links-black-church-christianity%e2%80%99s-globalization | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938945 | 497 | 2.1875 | 2 |
The Sears Tower, lately unceremoniously renamed the Willis tower, is about to pioneer a kind of crazy-innovative window, one that produces power without obstructing the view or letting in appreciably less sunlight. It's way too complicated to explain in mere words, so hopefully this image will help. If it doesn't, feel free to be a troll in the comments, since that's the designated toilet for whatever sublimated rage you're feeling over your crumbling marriage.
At first the Willis tower will only replace windows on the south side of the 56th floor; eventually, the whole south face of the building could be slathered in glorious high tech energy generating windows, enough to generate 2 MW of power. The windows have the added benefit of keeping out the excess heat energy that plagues glass buildings.
As incredible as these windows sound, they're only a small part of a larger, $350 million initiative to reduce electricity consumption of the entire Willis tower by 80 percent:
There will be changes involving its exterior walls, mechanical systems, lighting, vertical transportation, water supply, hot water, roofs, operations and maintenance. The most visible changes will be noticed on the roofs of the building, which will consist of gardens, solar panels and wind turbines. | <urn:uuid:4f828cca-32b5-47e2-a157-6f5c084c92d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grist.org/list/2011-03-22-sears-tower-to-become-giant-solar-farm/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939131 | 258 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Paying More for the American Dream III, jointly published by seven regional policy groups, looks at how implementation of the CRA influenced the pricing of loans. The conclusions reveal that when banks and thrifts were obligated to follow the CRA, they made fewer high-cost loans. When unfettered by the CRA, their loan pricing mirrored the pilloried independent mortgage companies (i.e. IndyMac, E-Loan, First Franklin, or DecisionOne, among others).
Let’s review how the CRA works: banks and thrifts are examined by their lending to low and moderate income (LMI) borrowers or to borrowers in LMI neighborhoods. The law is enforced only in places where those banks have branches with deposits. BB&T has CRA obligations in Raleigh or Atlanta, but not in Philadelphia. Wells now has them in Charlotte, but it didn’t in 2007. Not a bank or thrift? Then there’s no obligation at all.
That sorts into three kinds of lenders: banks bound by CRA, banks operating where they aren’t, and independents. This table, from the study, compares their percentages of high-cost loans to LMI groups.
Charlotte lending supports the report’s theme: without CRA, low income families would be paying a lot more for their mortgages. | <urn:uuid:666ed451-e7d8-4678-b901-edc6f767f2ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/author/adamr/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961256 | 271 | 2.390625 | 2 |
d not run at nights, and it always happened that we halted in some uninhabited place, where nothing could be learned. Some of the cities we passed presented a beautiful appearance from the distance, temples, high towers and so forth all looking very white, some mud houses were two or three stories high and of blue mud color.
At one place, the only one point where we stopped in the day time, I went ashore to see what was called a sacred tree. A young Christian Egyptian of about sixteen years, whose acquaintance I made here told me that the sacred tree had great healing power, and sick people would come and ask its help, and when cured would drive a nail into the tree as a memorial. The tree showed a great number of nails of all patterns, and it must not be forgotten that nails here are even scarcer than money. It is a live tree and nothing nice to look at, it rises from the ground about four feet straight and then lays over horizontally for about thirty feet, after which it turns up and throws out branc | <urn:uuid:e168674b-0df3-410a-8d1c-a96fba339e95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://manybooks.net/titles/jacksonlouis3299532995.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983452 | 214 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Château De Ramezay / India House National Historic Site of Canada
Château De Ramezay / India House
Château De Ramezay / maison des Indes
Maison des Indes
Château de Montréal
Château de Montréal
le Château Ramezay
Links and documents
Listed on the Canadian Register:
Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
Château De Ramezay / India House National Historic Site of Canada is a private mansion situated on Notre-Dame Street east, in the Old Port of Montréal, Quebec. First constructed in 1705, the stone building was rebuilt after a fire in 1756. Surrounded by a small wall, the Château De Ramezay / India House is a one-and-a-half storey stone building to which was added an eastern extension with a conically- roofed tower in 1903. The site also contains the Governor’s garden, which was constructed at the rear of the building in 2000. Official recognition refers to the property of Chateau De Ramezay.
Château De Ramezay / India House was designated as a national historical site of Canada in 1949, because:
- it was built in 1705 by the Governor of Montréal, Claude de Ramezay;
- it contributed importantly to the political and commercial life of New France and of Lower Canada for more than two centuries;
- it was owned by the Compagnie des Indes occidentales from 1745 to 1763;
- it served as the official residence of the Governors-in-Chief of British North America from 1773 to 1844, except for the period between 1775 and 1776 when the site was occupied by American invaders.
The heritage value of the site resides in its political and mercantile affiliations. Château De Ramezay / India House was first built for Claude de Ramezay, who was the governor of Montreal from 1704 to 1724, and the acting Governor General of New France for three years (1714-1716). The construction of the building reflects the status and financial situation of Montreal’s governors who built their own private mansions that French crown did not provide them.
From 1745 –1763, the building was used by the Compagnie des Indes occidentales as a base of operations, during which time it was rebuilt and enlarged after a fire in 1756. The trading company played an important role in Canada’s economic life, benefiting from a monopoly on exported beaver pelts and on the imports of some textiles needed as exchange merchandise.
From 1773-1844, during the Lower Canada period, the Château de Ramezay became the official residence of the Governors-in-Chief of British North America, excluding the period of American occupation from 1775 to 1776, when it became the residence of successive American commanders. The importance of the site is thus exhibited in the continuity of its usage. In 1839, it housed the Executive Council and after 1849, the building was used for other government offices, courts of law and schools. In 1895, the mansion was converted into the headquarters and museum of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society of Montréal.
Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, 1949; 1970; 2007.
Key elements that contribute to the heritage value of this site include:
- its location on Notre-Dame street East, in the Old Port of Montréal, Quebec;
- any remaining exterior or interior architectural elements and features dating from the 1756-1844 period, including its formwork, materials and handicrafts;
- vestiges still present in the exterior architecture relating to the importance of the mansion, including impressive gable parapets, the freestone used in the ornaments, the quarry stones used in the walls, and the high stone chimneys;
- interior elements relating to the various periods of occupation, such as the vaulted basements;
- its link with the spaces and public institutions situated around the building.
Government of Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Act
National Historic Site of Canada
1756/01/01 to 1756/01/01
1775/01/01 to 1776/01/01
1773/01/01 to 1844/01/01
1756/01/01 to 1767/01/01
Theme - Category and Type
- Governing Canada
- Politics and Political Processes
- Governing Canada
- Military and Defence
Function - Category and Type
- Office or office building
Architect / Designer
Location of Supporting Documentation
National Historic Sites Directorate, Documentation Centre, 5th Floor, Room 89, 25 Eddy Street, Gatineau, Quebec
Cross-Reference to Collection | <urn:uuid:c52d3b52-34c9-47c6-a886-4e985907b1d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=15825 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916349 | 1,045 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Animal Diaries Archive
Our Roving Birds
6 August 2004When walking around the Zoo, if you hear a "hello" or a "bye bye" it may not necessarily be an Australia Zoo staff person. It may instead be a team member of a different kind; perhaps one of our cheeky Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, softly-spoken Major Mitchells or our loud and impressive Green-Winged Macaws.
Our roving birds love coming into the Zoo to say hello or even to make some special friends with our Zoo guests. The roving birds are always in training whether it's learning new and exciting behaviours, breaking old cheeky habits or working closely with new rovers.
The bird flight show is only new, and has currently been going for about three months now in the new Australia Zoo Crocoseum. We are constantly bringing new trained talent into these shows and at present we are training our two beautiful three-year-old Green-Winged Macaws Inca and Picasso.
Our roving area is growing all the time. Training new rovers in our wandering wildlife team is part of my job when it comes to birds. We need to introduce all our new rovers to all our gorgeous roving birds, so they can bring them out and into the zoo for everyone to meet.
Some of the birds love to wave as guests are walking by, dance to the didgeridoo that Matt James plays or even tell a tale or two. Most of all, though, they love to show off.
So keep an eye out for these beautiful but cheeky birds as you wander through the Zoo, and be sure to come up and say g'day when you see them.
Our Amazing Green-winged Macaws
Green-winged Macaws grow to lengths of up to 90 cm long and have a wingspan of up to 1.2 metres. They have a large curved beak that is used for cracking nuts a ...more | <urn:uuid:16d06ac9-7424-4a30-8b11-c5fba585ea1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.australiazoo.com.au/our-animals/animal-diaries/archive.php?department=09&month=august&year=2004 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953821 | 406 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Teachers from the Crane School of Music performed for Colonie Central High School students Thursday, Feb. 28, and Friday, March 1.
Photo by Zan Strumfeld.
COLONIE To Crane School of Music bassoon associate professor Carol Lowe, working in music education is like living on a swinging pendulum. Everyone sees value in the arts, but they are always easy targets when it comes time for budget cuts, she said.
“There have always been periods of, ‘We need more music, we need less music.’ The pendulum kind of swings back and forth. Right now, it’s definitely in the, ‘We need less music.’ It’s a scary time. I know there are a lot of places that are cutting back on positions, in the arts specifically,” said Lowe, who has been teaching at Crane for seven years. “But I think the people who have experienced music realize its value is so much more than someone who hasn’t had that experience can see.”
Lowe’s innate passion for music has driven her to pursue it as a profession for the past 30 years, when she started playing bassoon in North Carolina, eventually landing a job at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. Lowe joined several other Crane teachers at Colonie Central High School on Thursday, Feb. 28, and Friday, March 1, when they performed and gave advice to students about where they can go with their musical skills. Performances included concerts by the Crane School of Music Symphony Orchestra and the Potsdam Brass Quintet.
Although the pendulum is not currently in music education’s favor, Lowe told students she is optimistic for the future of passionate young musicians.
“If you love playing, there are always opportunities to play, if you really want to do it. You can find the time, find the energy,” she said.
Lowe said she began teaching after being inspired by “an absolutely fabulous, motivational band director.”
“He just made it look like so much fun. When I was on my own and teaching I saw the result of my words and how much I could help my students find what they wanted career wise, find their musical voice,” she said. “I love that moment when you can help a student find their passion. It’s so rewarding.” | <urn:uuid:bde3e772-2772-4b93-8ea3-64c8ec159fb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spotlightnews.com/news/2013/mar/06/crane-teachers-give-hope-music-students/?News | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977863 | 504 | 1.671875 | 2 |
RACV Energy Breakthrough
8000 revved-up primary and secondary students from more than 160 schools descend on Maryborough each year for the weekend's highly anticipated annual showdown - the RACV Energy Breakthrough .
Join us in November to see teams battle against each other in what is the pinnacle event of its kind in Australia.
A total of 300 teams compete in a diverse range of self-built, human and hybrid-powered vehicles, as well as more basic pushcarts based on the humble billy cart.
During the school year, students at schools across Australia in conjunction with teachers, parents and local industry, design and construct environmentally-friendly vehicles.
But the contest is not just about who is the fastest on the track; the aim of the RACV Energy Breakthrough is to get kids thinking about technology, and the impact of vehicles on the environment.
RACV Energy Breakthrough involves three stages - students' presentations to judges, scrutineering of vehicles and track events peaking with the 24-hour endurance race for secondary students.
Each team features eight riders and vehicles are fully equipped with lights for the night stage. One lap of the RACV Track is 1.3km and a top team can cover over 800km during 24 hours. Results from the two earlier stages are factored in to determine overall winners.
The event is free for spectators including a special Energy Expo where visitors can relax and enjoy the entertainment and fascinating energy efficient displays.
For further information please visit www.racvenergybreakthrough.net | <urn:uuid:e4e6c6e5-4065-4269-a929-7cdb3dd74c68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.centralgoldfields.vic.gov.au/?id=312010100FB72C675317DA391CA257616000A9E0D | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950423 | 317 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Birds of America
by Mary McCarthy
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 352 pp., $6.95
The title of Mary McCarthy’s new book makes clear that this is an ironical ornithology of certain American species on their contemporary feeding grounds in New England, Paris, and Rome. It is really an education of a young American bird watcher, Peter Levi. He is literally that. From boyhood his lonely, seeking mind is haunted by the lusts of the Great Horned Owl, the ancient knowledge of the cormorant. His talented twice-divorced mother, who is “perfect” in her divorce—no alimony—and who is “too good to be true,” is, for him, a rose-breasted grosbeak; the hard-drinking local Admiral with his horrible curries and his telescope has “the hoarse voice of a sea bird.” Not for nothing is the cormorant dying out. Not for nothing at the end of the book has young Peter Levi, lying in a fever at a Paris hospital, been injured by an angry swan in the Jardin des Plantes. Not for nothing in his delirium does he see his favorite philosopher, Kant, crawling up the coverlet with the news that God is dead—everyone knows that—but that Nature is dead too.
As a bird himself Peter belongs to the tame young American Candide group. Well-educated by elusive academic parents, intelligent, driven by conscience and maxims—Treat no one as a Means; Not to Care is a Sin—without vanity or conceit, trying to make up a virginal mind, Peter has, for the moment, the neutered air of his type. He has a much better brain than Candide had but he suffers from the fact that his bustling elders have gobbled up the store of family passion and vitality for the moment. All their passions have left him with is Reason.
Rosamund, his mother, the grosbeak, has had two Jewish husbands, the first an Italian historian, the second a German physicist. She has separated from them—one never hears what went on—and is seen early on scrupulously trying not to be married to her son. She will find a third partner and become a famous international harpsichord player. An old American story: the boy is left serious but happy in his loneliness, for personal relations have been disinfected. By the time he is nineteen, the youth has an elderly view of his mother. “Her faults pleased him,” but
…he had become cautious about her, not trusting her sweetness and unruffled temper. Besides her faults were no longer unfamiliar. He recognized them in himself. Her zeal to please had set him a bad example. It had made him placatory. Her scruples in him had become irresolution and an endless picking at himself like masturbation—a habit he had not completely outgrown and which seemed to him ignominious, even though she and the babbo [his father, the Italian Jew] had said it was natural in puberty; on that score he felt they had given him a wrong steer. Moreover her good qualities (she was generous to a fault) did not inspire imitation. Rather the contrary … | <urn:uuid:00142a0e-02a1-4d41-ba5f-619a8fb6dbdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1971/jun/03/ironical-aviary/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987077 | 688 | 2.203125 | 2 |
At 10 months, Kiowa, a black Labrador mix, has mastered the age-old greeting: the high-five.
Kiowa lifted a paw again and again recently as Vernon Hills High School students raised their hands in command, a favorite drill among teens who volunteer every week to train Kiowa as an assistance dog. Kiowa and his classmate, Tank -- a yellow Lab -- both sit, roll over and heel on command. Kiowa and Tank also will learn to open doors, switch on lights and navigate around a wheelchair. And the high-five trick? It's a way to learn to push an elevator button.
The school joined forces this fall with Canine Companions for Independence, a non-profit that trains and matches dogs with people who have disabilities.
Volunteers house and teach each puppy basic obedience and social skills. Nick and Colleen Breheny of Schaumburg are rearing Kiowa, and say the high school training helps get him used to different voices and commands, a requirement for any service dog. But the exchange seems to help the students, too, said organizer and school psychologist Nancy Skeffington.
"Teenagers try to be so cool and yet when they're with the dogs," she said, "I think they're more themselves."
Nick Breheny (left), a volunteer trainer, holds the leash of Kiowa, a Labrador and Golden Retriever mixed puppy, as he jumps onto the lap of Vernon Hills High School student Anna Szczurek. DAVID TROTMAN-WILKINS/Tribune PhOTO | <urn:uuid:fbd1df5a-d91f-4a3e-b93d-1948d2b82786> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-12-04/news/0812040690_1_assistance-dog-service-dog-labrador | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950251 | 322 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Collaborative Practice promotes respect and keeps the individuals, not judges, in control of the process.
What is Collaborative Practice?
Developed as an alternative to traditional divorce, Collaborative Practice is an option for divorcing couples to resolve disputes respectfully without going to court. It offers couples a humane, solutions-based approach to ending a relationship.
Collaborative Practice differs from the traditional process because it promotes respect and keeps control of the process with the parties, not a judge. Because clients agree not to go to court, this method is more open and less adversarial. The goal of the process is to enhance communication and to lay the foundation for a healthier relationship during and after the divorce.
Collaborative Practice is based on three principles:
- The parties pledge in writing not to go to court.
- Both parties engage in an honest exchange of information.
- Each solution takes into account the highest priorities of the parties and other related persons, such as children or other family members.
Collaborative Practice can Benefit Your Entire Family
- Better for your children. Children are given a voice in the process, minimizing potential trauma that can sometimes last for generations.
- You remain in control. Decision making is directly in the hands of the parties involved in the dispute rather than the hands of a third party, such as a judge who makes decisions based on a "one size fits all" directive.
- You enjoy confidentiality. Problems and assets are kept private.
- Solutions are mutually beneficial. The collaborative process recognizes and understands each client's needs, interests concerns and goals, while allowing all parties to be heard.
- Focus on the future. Collaboration changes the notion of a legal conflict from adversarial and win/lose to a problem-solving constructive process.
For More information on Collaborative Practice go to www.collaborativepractice.com | <urn:uuid:8703f59e-6846-483c-a007-0e6c1ddd4f17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abetterdivorce.com/about-cp.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933184 | 384 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Data: Which NE and IA counties have the heaviest drinkers?
The CDC released updated numbers on the leading causes of death in the United States in 2011.
Do you know the top causes of death in America? Here are the 15 leading causes of death based on Centers for Disease Control data from 2011.
Millions of dollars are being raised in the wake of the deadly Oklahoma tornado. | <urn:uuid:e8a733d5-4e76-4dac-888d-2a90093d14a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ketv.com/-/9675214/19302724/-/a23km7z/-/index.html | 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 | 0.915626 | 78 | 1.914063 | 2 |
‘We are fighting a losing battle,’ Philip Hensher writes in The Missing Ink, his funny, exasperated book in defence of handwriting.[*] He has no difficulty spotting the enemy. Consider the advice from the Indiana Department of Education last year that only proficiency with a keyboard would be expected of pupils in its charge. (Schools ‘can continue to teach handwriting if they want’.) Or an interview in the Telegraph with ‘a psychologist called Dr Scott Hamilton’, who suggests that if pupils know how to sign their name in a cursive hand, teachers should leave it at that. ‘The time allocated for cursive instruction,’ Hamilton goes on, ‘could then be devoted to learning keyboarding and typing skills.’ The rot must have set in with the typewriter. Hensher is appalled to record that the typewriter was invoked in the 1970s by a principal in London who couldn’t see why pupils needed to put pen to paper at all. No legible hand without an intelligent head is the moral for Hensher here.
Yet there’s some sense in children pottering up to the workstation before they form their first character. Joined-up writing is not the only way to acquire literacy skills and the mechanical mark inscribed by depressing a key is easier to execute than the sign traced with a pen or pencil. Our predecessors were never faced with the possibility, which haunts the thinking of people like Hamilton, that learning cursive script before your fingers rattle a keyboard might be like learning to run before you can walk. In a way the old guard were lucky: running was the only option. Even the biro was regarded as a sort of cheating that deformed a good hand.
But this isn’t Hensher’s point. He takes the view that we impress our individuality on a page when we make signs with a pen or pencil, that our culture is reaffirmed as we persist in the practice, and that the production of handwritten texts is a rich expression of both. If handwriting disappears, he warns, ‘some other elements of civilised life may die with this art, or skill, or habit.’ But maybe to focus on penmanship, as Hensher does, is to underestimate other clues about the arts of reading and writing that could help him identify the threat more clearly. If the aspiration to read is gradually superseded by the aspiration to write, for instance, then the culture Hensher wishes to preserve might soon be a closed book. There’s also the larger question of why societies neglect their assets or sidle past them with a sneer. A person who worries about the end of civilisation and finds time to deride Ruskin and Morris as ‘the original champagne socialists’ may not have noticed the extent of the ruins all about him.
Hensher is a reliable guide to the teaching of handwriting, which he picks up in the mid-19th century with the spread of copperplate in the US (‘upright morally, though rightward sloping graphically’)and brings to what he sees as a high point in the mid-1930s, with the publication of Marion Richardson’s Writing and Writing Patterns. Richardson, Hensher’s hero, was an art teacher at Dudley Girls’ High School in the Midlands, where she saw the pleasure children took in line and form and came to some shrewd conclusions about teaching them to write. When she produced her Dudley Writing Cards in 1928 she was billed in the press as the inventor of ‘zigzag writing’ after a remark in the introductory note by Edward Johnston, a founding father of modern calligraphy. Richardson’s ideas were ‘child-centred’ but she wasn’t a pushover. Pupils who forgot their paintbox were sent to sit in the garden (‘you can go to the devil for all I care’). Hensher loves her for the care she bestowed on the shaping of an accessible, modern hand.
He is very sharp on the dubious art of character inference, while airing prejudices of his own. ‘People whose handwriting is mainly round are generally nice. Generally, I said, generally.’ ‘Someone who uses the Greek E probably had an early homosexual experience. Might have had a homosexual experience last night too.’ His chapters are interspersed with material transcribed from conversations with ‘witnesses’ – friends and acquaintances who have anything interesting to say about handwriting. ‘You can know someone for years these days,’ Alan Hollinghurst observes, ‘and have no idea what their handwriting is like.’ That might be just as well. A poor or crabbed hand is unlikely to lead to a celebrity divorce in 2012, but it can still set our teeth on edge like bad table manners.
Hensher is a terrific reader who can open up Dickens like a plate of gleaming oysters, setting out the best passages about handwriting from Nicholas Nickleby to Great Expectations. He notes the erotic seethings that illegible handwriting occasions in Proust, and his disdain for a decipherable hand in the novel and the correspondence. The familiar face of the hotel manager in Balbec is dreary, the narrator decides, ‘nondescript’ and too easily grasped, ‘as intelligible as handwriting one can read’. He might not have agreed with Hensher that ‘handwriting is good for us,’ but he would have gone along with the notion of ‘a relationship with the written word which is sensuous, immediate and individual’.
Hensher is not the first to sound the alarm. Heidegger fretted energetically about the impersonal touch of the typewriter. Still, that’s no reason to set off for the Black Forest with a rucksack full of virgin postcards. Compositions at the keyboard often have the fluency of the longhand draft, the letter, the note penned in haste. Charles Olson welcomed the typewriter as an aid to composition, clunky yet precise, enabling poets to orchestrate ‘the breath, the pauses, the suspensions even of syllables’. ‘For the first time,’ he wrote in his essay ‘Projective Verse’, ‘the poet has the stave and the bar a musician has had.’ Derrida is encouraging too. As you’d expect, he sees handwriting as a technology like any other, but he confessed to La Quinzaine Littéraire that he’d been in the habit, when working on ‘the texts that mattered to me’, of laying aside his ordinary pen for a dip pen with an artist’s quill. Once the revisions were done, he typed up the text on an Olivetti. Eventually he fell in love with his ‘little Mac’. All the same he was unsettled by word processing and the ‘indefinite’ nature of a correction: sliding in the Tippex had felt more ceremonious and decisive. ‘With the computer, everything is rapid and so easy; you get to thinking that you can go on revising for ever.’ But so did Proust.
[*] Macmillan, 300 pp., £14.99, October, 978 0 230 76712 6. | <urn:uuid:3f28bb9f-5c04-480f-a7d7-9b45716af62d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n21/jeremy-harding/short-cuts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966549 | 1,552 | 2.421875 | 2 |
- Enter a word for the dictionary definition.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Glyptodon \Glyp"to*don\, n. [Gr. ? carved, engraved + ?, ?, tooth. See Glyph.] (Paleon.) An extinct South American quaternary mammal, allied to the armadillos. It was as large as an ox, was covered with tessellated scales, and had fluted teeth. --Owen. [1913 Webster] | <urn:uuid:809e60de-099d-4e83-b5ee-2a0e5577b732> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crosswordpuzzlehelp.net/old/definition/glyptodon | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903578 | 113 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Crew at Iowa City Landfill Begins Cleanup Process
By Hayley Bruce, Reporter
IOWA CITY, Iowa - A crew of four city employees has begun to clean up what's left of the landfill fire that cast a large, black plume of smoke over Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty at the beginning of the summer.
Though the fire is now largely under control -- with a few flare ups from time to time -- Iowa City Landfill Superintendent Dave Elias said Tuesday that the he expects the cleanup process to take several months and the city is renting equipment and looking to hire extra help to complete the job.
Elias said the crew began to cleanup the cell of the landfill affected by the fire at about 11 a.m. Tuesday morning. The process involves moving remaining hot ash away from parts of the landfill that are already settled, cooling it down -- to ensure it doesn't pose a fire risk -- and separating the ash from the dirt so the dirt can be reused to lower operating costs. After being cooled, Elias said the remaining ash will be disposed of in the landfill.
"The goal is for us to get this area back down to bare dirt so we know there's no fire left and so that we can assess what all we're going to need to do to prepare and restore the system," Elias said.
Elias also said the the city has already begun advertising to take on five temporary workers in order to take on the cleanup job at the landfill, as the current staff needs to be able to continue to operate the landfill so they don't fall behind. The city is also renting a small bulldozer, large backhoe, and water truck to complete the cleanup process. He said he expects the work to take several months, as the crew as anywhere between 7 and 9 acres to work through.
Though the fire has generally been contained in recent weeks, Elias said there have been numerous flare ups throughout the summer -- the most recent being July 29.
"Every time we kind of start another exploratory process we're watchign for that," Elias said. "but this particular pile had been set and stable for two weeks and nothing had caught and then last Sunday all of a sudden there was a 10 foot circle that was smoking and flaming and so we keep saying we got to stick with the plan and we've got to scrape the slate bare, you know."
Though engineers initially estimated the landfill damage would total around $5 million, with $1 million going toward control of the fire and clean up an $4 million going toward repairing the damaged cell, he said engineers this week say the repair costs may only be $2 million. That puts the total cost of the landfill fire at $3 million.
"We've paid for quite a bit of it already so we're hopeful that that cost will come down to that," Elias said. "But no guarantees."
What's On KCRG | <urn:uuid:83feecf2-a128-405e-a186-c4e63f5f41fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Crew-at-Iowa-City-Landfill-Begins-Cleanup-Process-164495756.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96822 | 592 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The historical record shows that the call for an independent assessment of the CIA's conclusions came from the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB--pronounced piffy-ab). But the fear-mongering and challenges to the CIA's threat assessments--known as National Intelligence Estimates--actually started with nuclear strategist Albert Wohlstetter, who laid down the gauntlet in a 1974 Foreign Policy article entitled "Is There a Strategic Arms Race?" Wohlstetter answered his rhetorical question negatively, concluding that the United States was allowing the Soviet Union to achieve military superiority by not closing the "missile gap." Having inspired the Gaither Commission in 1957 to raise the missile gap alarm, Wohlstetter applied the same threat assessment methodology to energize hawks, cold warriors, and right-wing anticommunists in the mid-1970s to kill the politics of détente and increase budget allocations for the Pentagon. Following his Foreign Policy essay, Wohlstetter, who had left his full-time position at RAND to become a professor at the University of Chicago, organized an informal study group that included younger neoconservatives such as Paul Wolfowitz and longtime hawks like Paul Nitze.
PFIAB, which was dominated by right-wingers and hawks, followed Wohlstetter's lead and joined the threat assessment battle by calling in 1975 for an independent committee to evaluate the CIA's intelligence estimates. Testimony by PFIAB President Leo Cherne to the House Intelligence Committee in December 1975 alerted committee members to the need for better intelligence about the Soviet Union. "Intelligence cannot help a nation find its soul," said Cherne. "It is indispensable, however, to help preserve the nation's safety, while it continues its search," he added. George Bush Sr., who was about to leave his ambassadorship in China to become director of intelligence at the CIA, congratulated Cherne on his testimony, indicating that he would not oppose an independent evaluation of CIA intelligence estimates.
Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Bush Support Team B
Joining in the chorus of praise, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Bechtel's president George Shultz also congratulated Cherne, implicitly adding their backing for an independent threat assessment committee. Led by several of the board's more hawkish members--including John Foster, Edward Teller, William Casey, Seymour Weiss, W. Glenn Campbell, and Clare Booth Luce--PFIAB had earlier in 1975 called for an independent evaluation of the CIA's national intelligence estimates. Feeling that the country's nuclear weapons industry and capacity was threatened, PFIAB was aiming to derail the arms control treaties then under negotiation.
Shortly after President Gerald Ford appointed Bush to be the new director of intelligence, replacing the beleaguered William Colby, Bush authorized PFIAB's plan for an alternative review. The review consisted of three panels: one to assess the threat posed by Soviet missile accuracy; another to determine the effect of Soviet air defenses on U.S. strategic bombers; and a third--the Strategic Objectives Panel--to determine the Soviet Union's intentions. The work of this last panel, which became known as the Team B Report, was the most controversial. As Paul Warnke, an official at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency at the time of the Team B exercise, wrote: "Whatever might be said for evaluation of strategic capabilities by a group of outside experts, the impracticality of achieving useful results by 'independent' analysis of strategic objectives should have been self-evident. Moreover, the futility of the Team B enterprise was assured by the selection of the panel's members. Rather than including a diversity of views . . . the Strategic Objectives Panel was composed entirely of individuals who made careers of viewing the Soviet menace with alarm."
Team members included Richard Pipes (father of Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum) and William Van Cleave, both of whom would become members of the second Committee on the Present Danger, as well as Gen. Daniel Graham, whose "High Frontier" missile defense proposal foreshadowed President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or "Star Wars." The team's advisory panel included Paul Wolfowitz, Paul Nitze, and Seymour Weiss--all close associates of Albert Wohlstetter. Although Richard Perle played no direct role in Team B, he was instrumental in setting it up. It was Perle who had introduced Richard Pipes, a Polish immigrant who taught Czarist Russian history at Harvard, to Sen. Henry Jackson, catapulting Pipes into a clique of fanatically anti-Soviet hawks. Pipes, who served as Team B's chairman, later said he chose Wolfowitz as his principal Team B adviser "because Richard Perle recommended him so highly."
Committee on the Present Danger Follows Team B
The Team B Report, released as an "October surprise" in an attempt to derail Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential bid, argued that "Soviet leaders are first and foremost offensively rather than defensively minded." The team had arrived at this conclusion of Soviet intent from an assessment of the USSR's capabilities, but they ignored evidence pointing to an opposite conclusion. Although it was true that the Soviets had been expanding their military capacity in the early 1970s, the USSR's military production--along with the Soviet economy in general--began to stagnate by the mid-1970s. Dismissing this new trend, Team B accused the CIA of consistently underestimating the "intensity, scope, and implicit threat" posed by the Soviet Union. By relying on technical or "hard" data rather than "contemplat[ing] Soviet strategic objectives," charged the panel, the CIA was setting up the United States for defeat in the cold war.
But as Anne Hessing Cahn establishes in her history of the Team B affair, some of the CIA estimates critiqued by Team B were themselves exaggerations, particularly the estimates of Soviet military spending. "With the advantage of hindsight," she explains, "we now know that Soviet military spending increases began to slow down precisely as Team B was writing about an 'intense military buildup in nuclear as well as conventional forces of all sorts, not moderated either by the West's self-imposed restraints or by the [Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT)]'." "But even at the time of the affair," continues Cahn, "Team B had at its disposal sufficient information to know that the Soviet Union was in severe decline. As Soviet defectors were telling us in anguished terms that the system was collapsing, Team B looked at the quantity but not the quality of missiles, tanks, and planes, at the quantity of Soviet men under arms, but not their morale, leadership, alcoholism, or training."
The Team B report paved the way for the second Committee on the Present Danger, which formed weeks after Team B had released its findings. The committee's first major policy statement, titled What Is the Soviet Union Up To? was written by Team B leader Richard Pipes, who along with other participants in the Team B exercise--including Foy Kohler, Paul Nitze, and William Van Cleave--were founding members of the Committee on the Present Danger.
Team B as Model for Post-Cold War Intelligence
Right-wing ideologues and militarists frequently cite the example of Team B as a successful model for challenging moderate threat assessments by the foreign policy establishment, particularly the CIA and the State Department. In prevailing over the CIA, Team B demonstrated that "strategic intelligence" based on a policy-driven analysis of an adversary's perceived intentions could triumph over fact-based intelligence. Through adroit organizing by hawks inside and outside of government, the Team B effort helped re-launch the cold war.
The end of the cold war did not bring to a close the long-running dispute between the national security alarmists on the right and the more conservative analysis of security threats by the CIA, the State Department, and the military itself. In the case of Iraq, the ideologues and militarists, following the Team B model, insisted on the primacy of strategic intelligence. Once again the U.S. government allowed a militarist policy by ideology and fear-mongering to trump facts and reason--at a tremendous cost to U.S. taxpayers as well as a mounting casualty list in the case of the Iraq invasion and occupation.
Tom Barry is policy director of the Interhemispheric Resource Center (online at www.irc-online.org), where this article first appeared. | <urn:uuid:18b89bf2-20b9-402f-b33b-c0dda4fb50a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb04/Barry0218.htm | 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 | 0.961533 | 1,748 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Most people don’t put farming and social media in the same sentence, but farmers are jumping on the Facebook bandwagon, whether they’re agri-tourism destinations such as Stade’s Farm in Johnsburg, specialty farmers, organic farmers such as Sweet Home Organics in LaFox and artisan producers of cheese, jams or natural soaps, fibers and wool. You meet them at your local farmer’s markets, providing advice and guidance on how to prepare their locally grown produce. They establish customer relationships that unfortunately go on hiatus during the winter months. Using Facebook or Twitter is a natural way to keep the conversation going year-round, and to keep learning and building trust between the farmer and his\her customers. It’s also a great and timely way to spread word of mouth about their offerings and availability throughout the growing season
I’m presenting at a social media workshop — Planting Seeds for Business Growth – Tuesday, March 29th and it’s sponsored by the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation and will be held at the McHenry County Farm Bureau (1102 McConnell Road, Woodstock, IL 60098). If you patronize farms or farmers markets, please spread the word to any farmers you may know. I have more details below. Thanks much. Michelle
Farmers and farm-based businesses will learn how they can deploy free social media tools to market their businesses, generate valuable word-of-mouth, attract new customers, strengthen current relationships, drive website traffic and support agri-tourism and the local economy. They’ll also learn about farms that already use Facebook, YouTube and other networks to connect with customers.
Social media evangelists Marla Pendergrast and Michelle Damico will make an informative and engaging presentation to demonstrate how using free social media tools can lead to real business results. Marla and Michelle have developed the highly successful digital properties for Twin Garden Farms and other local businesses. They will share their experiences and discuss which social media tools are right for you.
We will also discuss how interactive online communication, including Web sites, social media marketing, and video can help County farmers and farm businesses develop trade opportunities and open new markets.
Reserve tickets through the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation. | <urn:uuid:e1295e72-b763-443f-a755-64d306efdc80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.michelledamico.com/tag/farmer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930535 | 465 | 1.625 | 2 |
A heavy police presence on foot, on bicycles, in vans and on motorcycles prevented a small contingent of casseroles protesters, banging on pots and other metal objects, from taking their march onto the Burrard Bridge on July 11.
Around 9:30pm, about 50 Vancouver Police Department (VPD) officers lined the intersection at Burrard at Pacific, while the following message was played at two-minute intervals:
“This is the Vancouver Police Department. We respect your constitutional right to protest. To the individuals who are obstructing the roadway, under the authority of the Criminal Code of Canada governing blocking a highway and the offence of mischief, we are ordering you to clear the roadway and allow the unobstructed flow of traffic, or you will be subject to arrest. Please follow the directions of the officers who will assist those who wish to leave in a peaceful manner, and do not return this area.”
The scene was in stark contrast to the earlier street-party-like atmosphere on the Robson St side of the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG), where about 35 to 40 casserole participants gathered, played music, danced and distributed information flyers about their protest to passersby under the watch of a handful of police on foot and on bicycles.
When a smaller contingent of protesters left the VAG to march down several downtown streets toward the Burrard St bridge at 9pm, about 20 officers, and eventually two police vans, followed.
At least one officer filmed the protesters while a line of police blocked their entry to the bridge.
The casseroles protests began in solidarity with Quebec students facing first a steep tuition increase and now a law that stringently regulates demonstrations of more than 50 people. The protests have spread across various North American centres.
“It’s become about your right to speak; it’s become about your right to peacefully assemble, peacefully express yourself as is guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” participant Mathew Kagis told the gathering at the VAG.
“I’d like to wave at the officers filming me over there,” Kagis added.
Police officers present declined to be interviewed about the protest. Xtra
was told there were no police spokespeople available for comment on the road and was referred to the VPD’s department of public affairs.
VPD media spokesperson Lindsey Houghton told Xtra
July 12 that the police presence near the bridge was to prevent the protesters from taking over the bridge and blocking traffic.
“They were given five minutes to say their piece and get off the street, and they did, and they returned to the art gallery and everyone went home,” Houghton summarizes.
"I've never seen events as over-policed as the casseroles around the end of June," says Sasha Wiley-Shaw, who was arrested in June.
(Natasha Barsotti photo)
Asked why the VPD found it necessary to establish the level of presence it did, Houghton says there was “a level of violence that most people would find unacceptable” in the first two protests, noting there were threats to police officers and “even violence to police officers.”
Houghton says the protesters’ actions will create a reaction by the police. “We have to have enough police officers to ensure safety of not only the public and the protesters but police officers ourselves.” He says there’s evidence of protesters’ violent behaviour “on many videos that are online.
“But we still have to take significant steps to ensure their right to protest and facilitate that,” he adds.
Sasha Wiley-Shaw, an adult education teacher who was arrested and strip-searched at a June 27 casseroles protest, calls that experience “beyond shocking.”
She says she was arrested for demonstrating with others on a crosswalk outside the Main St police station in support of two people who were detained at the art gallery.
“[The police] alleged it was for spitting on a vehicle, which they said was some kind of vandalism or property damage,” she says. “I didn’t spit on a vehicle because it would look bad, because I’m not a spitter, because it’s just not in my character. But it happened near me, and so that was their excuse to come at me,” she says.
Wiley-Shaw says she was taken inside the jail, where, she alleges, police were “very violent with me.” She says she’s still recovering from injuries she sustained that day.
“We felt like we were seeing some testing of tactics,” Wiley-Shaw says, alleging that officers were initially aggressive toward the women protesting, then arrested anyone who responded in their defence. She says that when fellow demonstrators tried to help her find out why she was being arrested, they were also arrested.
“I’ve always thought of myself as a very careful protester. I’m really passionate about my causes, but I’m aware of my position as a teacher,” Wiley-Shaw says.
“We would deal with anyone who commits a criminal act, or is seen to be committing a criminal act — man or woman, it doesn’t matter to us,” Houghton says when asked if there was a gendered discrepancy in the way police were treating people. “Regarding her actions and her claims of injuries, there is an ongoing investigation into her actions, so we can’t speak to the evidence.
“My understanding of that evidence, including how she received her injuries, is actually quite different than what she has been claiming,” Houghton continues. “And from listening to her and other people in the media, the story seems to change on an almost daily basis, regarding her injuries.”
Vancouver police officers outnumbered protesters at the July 11 casseroles march.
(Natasha Barsotti photo)
Houghton says the VPD videotaped the entire incident from many different angles. “That will be used in any investigation, and we would encourage her, like we would encourage anyone, to file a complaint if she has concerns,” he adds.
“I am going forward with legal action,” Wiley-Shaw asserts. “I haven’t filed claim at this point, but it’s my intention to, and I have counsel.”
BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) policy director Micheal Vonn says the organization has been present from time to time at the casseroles and is at an information-gathering stage.
“As a pattern gets established, especially if we see a consistent number of demonstrators, it raises the question regarding what [police] might be doing with these very intensive deployments,” she says. “But it may be too early on to have a good sense of that.
“We would be very receptive to hearing people’s experience as demonstrators if they believe their rights have been violated,” she adds.
Wiley-Shaw continues to attend the casseroles despite her arrest. “I really like the dance-party vibe of it,” she says. “The idea of celebrating what we love about democracy and standing up for those rights is kind of the vibe of this.”
She says she’s been demonstrating since childhood, recalling an early Gulf War rally she and her friends attended. “I’ve never seen events as over-policed as the casseroles around the end of June.”
Globally, she notes, there’s over-policing to try and shut down anyone who’s protesting things connected to austerity.
“That’s what’s at the heart of [these casserole protests], is Quebec’s austerity budget, and that’s where the tuition hikes come in.”
The issue of access to education is important to her, Wiley-Shaw says, adding it’s tied into “all our other rights. If you’re going to be able to stand up for and exercise any of your rights, that takes a certain level of education.
“If policing tactics are coming before the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” she adds, “then I think we have to ask questions about our so-called democratic Canada.”
Wiley-Shaw says the VPD sent an officer to Montreal for training.
Houghton confirms that one officer went to Montreal to see how police “were working with the protests there.”
“This is a very normal thing,” he says. “Every police agency around the world, including the VPD, sends people everywhere to see how police departments do things.” | <urn:uuid:47a8656e-ae80-46cf-a171-63a5e9ea5649> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/Is_Vancouver_overpolicing_the_casseroles_protests-12310.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97455 | 1,873 | 1.6875 | 2 |
We’re sending a TARDIS into space!
November 23, 2013 is the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, and we’re extremely excited. So excited, in fact, that we almost don’t know what to do… almost. Actually, we know exactly what to do: We’ve built a replica TARDIS and we’re sending it into orbit. Yes, really! We’re not talking about sticking a little, plastic TARDIS on top of a model rocket and shooting it really high into the sky (although that would bewicked cool). And we’re not going to tie a TARDIS to a weather balloon (which, by the way would also be pretty flippin’ awesome). No, we’re putting a TARDIS into the payload bay of a real, actual, honest-to-goodness, rocket, and launching it into a Low Earth Orbit.
Low Earth Orbit is where satellites need to be to actually “orbit” the Earth, not just fall back down. So, we’re talking about sending this thing, really, really, high… space high. The international space station is in Low Earth Orbit. Seriously. The guys on the International Space Station will be able to look out their windows and say: “Check out that police call box floating by.”Here’s one of our rewards. For a $45 pledge you’ll receive this shirt and have your name and your message added to the TARDIS satellite.
How far along are we?
Pretty far, actually. The TARDIS is built. That’s right. We’ve completed the satellite. The satellite is constructed from really light weight aluminum (because weight is a huge issue) and it is a scaled-down version of the actual TARDIS. Our satellite is only about 1 foot tall - because again, weight is a major factor. However, the light on top functions (powered by solar cells in the windows.) And that means that when we put this thing in space, there will be a TARDIS with a blinking light orbiting the Earth. SWEET!
But then we thought, what if we put some other stuff inside? So, we did. There is a camera, a GoPro Hero 3, regularly recharged by the solar panels, which will take photos of the Earth from orbit. It’s not the Hubble or a spy telescope, but it should give us some pretty sweet pics. A magnetic, passive attitude control system is in place which will keep the TARDIS’s camera pointing toward the planet. The hard drive has also been installed, and is ready to be uploaded with information, and we’ve installed and tested the processors that will operate everything. NOTE: We may change our memory storage system to SSD cards since they are more durable and there is less chance they could be damaged during the turbulence of launch.
Now all that is left to do is take the TARDIS to Interorbital Systems, the aerospace company that will be carrying it into space. We will pay them for the launch, based on the size and weight of our satellite, and that’s it. One TARDIS in orbit. But, we have to pay them. That’s why we’re here on Kickstarter. Putting satellites in orbit can be expensive.View from the top of the TARDIS showing the hard drive mounted just above the solar panelsA peek inside the TARDIS. This is our motherboard, and it controls all the on-board operations.Modified TrollPro 3 housing for our camera (a GoPro 3) because, well again, weight is everything.
If we reach our funding goal, the TARDIS that you see in the video will be the one that we send into space. Now, of course, we’d like to put a full-size TARDIS into orbit, but that’s an even more expensive proposition. There is limited physical space inside the rocket, and as we’ve already mentioned, weight is an issue. If, however, we receive more funds, we can build a bigger TARDIS, possibly even full size.
What if we get more money?
We’ve already said this, but when you’re talking about putting stuff into space, your primary concerns are size and weight. The bigger it is, the more space it takes up inside the rocket. The heavier it is, the more thrust you need to get it into space. So, what will we do with more money? Build a bigger TARDIS.
Every dollar over the $33,000 means that our TARDIS can be a little bit bigger. We could put a full size TARDIS in orbit with $382,000. It’s a crazy amount of money, we know, but it’s not out of the question if we got a lot of support. And weare talking about a full-size TARDIS…in space…
Can we really put a satellite into orbit for only $33,000?
Good question. First, let’s just say that we couldn’t do it for that price if the TARDIS were the only thing inside the rocket. You may not know this, but rockets arereally expensive!
Our TARDIS will not be the only thing inside the rocket, though. We are sharing payload space with other satellites which are being put into orbit by universities and research groups and private companies. These satellites are designed to monitor weather patterns, and track migratory animals, and do zero-gravity experiments, you know, really serious stuff that’s nowhere near as cool as launching a TARDIS into space. So, we’re sharing the cost of the launch. That’s why we can do it for that price.
As if being a part of putting a TARDIS in orbit were not cool enough, we’re giving away some pretty nifty rewards, too. See, there will be a hard drive (see above image) inside the TARDIS satellite. And on that hard drive will be all the information about our backers. That’s right. There will be a TARDIS orbiting the Earth, and inside will be your name, your personal message, and even your photos or videos… In space! How awesome is that?
Our production company will be filming the entire project for a short, documentary film, and that film will also mention our backers in a special thanks at the end. We will set up a web site where people will be able to watch the film about the orbiting TARDIS. We will also post images taken from the TARDIS itself - pictures from space. The site will also have all of the information that is stored on the TARDIS’s hard drive. So any time you like, you can visit the web site and see what’s in that TARDIS. Cool, huh?
How will we do it?
The first step is building the TARDIS, and that’s already been done. We based our construction on the specs from the original show, and used light-weight materials to ensure that our finished satellite would be as easy as possible to get into space.The blue print for the blue box
The second step is putting this blue box into space. That’s the tricky part, and we’re going to leave that to the Rocket scientists… literally. We have contracted with Interorbital Systems, an aerospace firm that does this sort of thing all the time. The launch that will carry our TARDIS into orbit is already scheduled and there is still payload space available. All we have to do is raise the money to “pay for our ticket” as it were.
Interorbital Systems use a new generation of low-cost, rapid-response, orbital launch vehicles based on the NEPTUNE Modular Series of rockets. The NEPTUNE Modular Series rocket system is an evolved version of a similar system under development by OTRAG. Lutz Kayser, the former head of the OTRAG team, is an important consultant on this project.Test firing the rocket that will take our TARDIS into space.
That’s it. As crazy as it sounds, it’s a pretty simply project, really. The TARDIS satellite is finished, and the launch is scheduled. Now, we just need your help to make it happen.
Risks and challenges Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
As you can see, the TARDIS satellite is done, so the only risk in completing the project will come with the launch.
Of course there are always concerns with a rocket launch. After all, the whole thing could explode, but these launches happen all the time without incident. There are thousands of satellites in the sky, and more and more are added every time we turn around, so it isn’t exactly “risky.”
I haven’t seen a post about this yet, but wouldn’t it be awesome? What better way to celebrate than 50th anniverary other than putting a TARDIS into space! So even if you can’t contribute even $1, spread it, and we may just reach $33,000 by the end of this month!
My conspiracy theory project- Is The Doctor Real?
Hell Yeah he is.I had to explain all of Doctor Who that I needed my class to understand in less than 2 minutes, because then I had to convince them he was real in less than three after that.
I am VICTORIOUS! I know there may be some mistakes about The Doctor himself in here but take into account it might be on purpose because the teenagers of my class know nothing. Enjoy.
ALL OF MY FOLLOWERS BETTER FREAKING REBLOG THIS SHIT BECAUSE MY FRIEND CONNER WORKED HER ASS OFF FOR THIS DAMN PROJECT, IT WAS AMAZING AND IT GAVE HER A REASON TO FANGIRL IN CLASS.
IT’S THE SONG OF MY PEOPLE!! | <urn:uuid:aafbf2c8-a092-4418-be79-c2432cdc6660> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://keytothe-tardis.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937242 | 2,084 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Since the first traces of oil are just now showing up in the Florida Straits, how do you explain its magical appearance here - large seagulls airlifting it? Teleportation?
Every single day, tens of thousands of gallons of oil enter coastal waters.
Boats sink. Unscrupulous people dump barrels of contaminated oil into the ocean. Careless marine mechanics use too much grease that drops into bilges and get pumped into the ocean.
Talk to anyone who swam at the East Coast beaches in the Forties and Fifties and they'll tell you how tarballs were as common as seashells because of tankers seeping oil after being sunk by the Germans in the early Forties.
Tarballs on beaches are far better than floating oil entering marshes. Tarballs are the result of nature's oil absorbers. And no, these could not have come from the current BP leak in the gulf. How fast do you think that current flows?
More information about formatting options | <urn:uuid:86bf9aad-1191-4b2b-9c9f-26b2577f213a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wwaytv3.com/comment/reply/22850/109800 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966444 | 205 | 3.03125 | 3 |
In the Canterbury Quakes section of our website (here) there is a tab called aftershocks.
|Aftershock Forecast Map|
Probabilities are calculated using a background of geological and earthquake information and all of the earthquakes that GeoNet records are looked at. For each event the probability that it will be followed by an earthquake large enough to cause strong shaking is calculated from the known behavior of aftershocks. The shaking that would be produced by such an earthquake is then predicted from the known relations between earthquake size and shaking patterns. The likelihood of that shaking is then added to the background probability on the map.
More detailed info here
Below the map are a few tables:
The top show the number of afershocks that have occured (vs how many were expected) and then there is a
table that shows a one month forecast of expected aftershocks of magnitude 4.0-4.9, and 5.0 +.
Dr Matt Gerstenberger produces these aftershock probabilities for one month ahead and they cover the entire aftershock zone, which extends from Sheffield in the west to Rangiora in the north to Lincoln in the south, and right across Banks Peninsula.
NB: We are currently looking into extending these forecasts (covering a few months, rather than just one) on our website, shortly.
These longer range forecasts are where the figures in todays news came from. And as far as today's news, the figures for Christchurch metropolitan area are roughly one quarter of the figures given to CERA. So 23% probability for Canterbury becomes 6% probability for Christchurch.
In rough terms, it means the quake probability for Christchurch has become similar to many other parts of NZ such as Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Wanganui, and Poverty Bay where quakes are more frequent. The initial driver of this increased activity was the September M7.1 quake. It started an aftershock sequence that will continue for many months, these aftershocks will gradually get less frequent, but there is still a small chance of a larger aftershock for a while yet.
And.... Its not saying there will be another large event, its saying what the probabilities of one occurring are - there is a difference, and they may not happen. All you can do is be prepared, it is the earth we are talking about here! | <urn:uuid:6e732075-4011-4830-8ae0-5a72ed513213> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://geonet-shakennotstirred.blogspot.co.nz/2011_05_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961823 | 486 | 2.75 | 3 |
U.S. farmers can keep eyes on South America through Crop Watch
A new project from Agriculture Online will help U.S. growers keep pace with major developments in South America that are impacting production and prices for soybeans and other crops this year.
South America Crop Watch will feature on-site reporting from a correspondent, Laura Karlen, an Iowa-based crop consultant.
Karlen is travelling in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela through the winter, covering crop conditions in those nations, including weather, potential yields, and developments with Asian soybean rust. She is visiting with farmers, agronomists, researchers and others who are close to the ground in key crop regions of the continent.
In other updates, Agriculture Online Markets Editor Mike McGinnis will focus on the big picture of events in South America that are helping drive the markets in the U.S. and around the world. Freese-Notis Weather will provide daily updates on crop weather conditions in South America and the U.S.
A major initial theme of SA Crop Watch will be weather, which has shaped up as a big market mover this winter, says David Brew, a grain broker for Brasoja Corretora de Cereais, one of the oldest trading firms in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. "Currently, climate has to be the most important issue, with dry weather affecting not just parts of Parana [in Brazil], but also stretching into Paraguay and Argentina," Brew told Agriculture Online in late January.
The weather situation may be most critical in Argentina currently, Brew said.
"It will be interesting to see how badly their crop is affected because normally they sell big time at harvest, in part because storage at the port is limited," he said. "With a smaller crop this year or with a poorer quality crop, perhaps their sales frenzy will be smaller."
Interest in South American weather and crop conditions has increased with the acreage grown on the continent, says Harvey Freese, Freese-Notis Weather. Soybean production has expanded beyond Rio Grande do Sul, which has a wetter climate than the U.S.
"In the past a typical 'weather market' in Brazil consisted of a few weeks of drier weather in this region, and once it rained the concern ended, or heavy rains occurring at harvest affected the harvest conditions," Freese says. "Now the soybean planted acreage has expanded north and south into more variable climatic zones, so naturally there are more areas to watch and forecast, and more areas to be concerned about during the entire growing season."
Another theme in SA Crop Watch will be the status of soybean rust -- how it's impacting the crops and how farmers there are fighting it. Karlen will talk with leading rust researchers, farmers, and agronomists and bring back reports that will add to the practical knowledge of U.S. farmers.
Other issues in store for Crop Watch coverage: Are the Chinese manipulating the CBOT soy prices through South American purchases? Are South American farmers likely to expand soybean acres next year? What new technologies are being used by American farmers in Brazil? | <urn:uuid:521bace1-0209-494d-b501-60aa6436acbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agriculture.com/successful-farming/business/US-farmers-can-keep-eyes-on-South-America-through-Crop-Watch_121-ar210 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952233 | 656 | 2.34375 | 2 |
We’re fans of the existing Raspberry Pi developer board’s around here. These little things can be used for all sorts of purposes, including little HTPC computers and much more. As useful as these little developer boards are, there some users out there who have been clamoring for better performance.
Back in September, Raspberry Pi announced a new Turbo Mode that promised to squeeze 50% more performance from the little machine. Turbo Mode allows the processor to be overclocked as high as 1 GHz for more performance. More processor speed is a great thing, but Raspberry Pi says that one of the most common requests is extra RAM.
Raspberry Pi has now addressed that request for more RAM with the announcement that the Model B of the little developer board is now shipping with 512 MB of RAM. Previously, the little board had 256 MB of RAM. Versions of the board running 512 MB of RAM are expected to arrive in customer’s hands today.
The company says that it will make a firmware upgrade available “in the next couple of days” allowing users to access the additional memory. That would indicate that right out-of-the-box even though there’s 512 MB of RAM present, the Raspberry Pi boards won’t be able to access more than 256 MB. Combining more RAM with Turbo Mode should broaden the use of this tiny little developer board. | <urn:uuid:4db15716-ded8-40ab-bc79-2d37b072fd2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slashgear.com/raspberry-pi-model-b-gets-512-mb-of-ram-15251847/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944688 | 283 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Does the Bible Contain a Mathematically Incorrect Value for "Pi"?
by John D. Morris, Ph.D.
Does the Bible contain errors in math? If it does, this calls into question its moral and spiritual authority. Much is at stake. Let's carefully examine one of the most frequent charges of error.
When describing Solomon's Temple and its fixtures, Scripture tells of a great basin cast of molten brass "ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, . . . and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about" (I Kings 7:23).
The circumference, c, of a circle is related to its diameter, d, by the ratio "pi" or "P" according to the equation c = Pd. Mathematical derivatives have calculated the precise value of P to many decimal places, but for most applications the approximation 3.14 is sufficient.
Inserting the value of circumference and diameter given by Scripture into the equation yields a value of P to be 3, and it is this apparent error which gives Bible detractors such glee.
Construction techniques in those days were surprisingly advanced. We can assume that their mathematics was precise and measurements handled with care. Notice that the basin "was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies" (v.26). A "hand breadth" is an inexact distance of about four inches, but sufficient for this general description. The whole basin flared out at the top, much like a lily. So, exactly what do the dimensions given really represent?
The diameter of the basin would be the inside diameter, measured from side to side. But the circumference would be measured by placing a cord around the outside, then measuring the length of the cord. Furthermore, at what elevation along the tapered basin was the measurement taken? Obviously, these are not intended to be precise, but to give the overall impression of great size and beauty.
Engineers have adopted a technique to insure that reported measurements are properly understood. To do this they use the convention called "significant figures." The number 10 is quite different from the number 10.0 or 10.00 in the precision it implies. To an engineer the number 10 can actually mean anything between 9.5 and 10.5. Likewise, the number 30 can actually mean anything between 29.5 and 30.5.
While the number P is accurate to many decimal places, the other two numbers do not have this precision. When one precise number is multiplied by an imprecise number, the product should be reported with no more precision than the least precise factor. Multiplying the diameter, 10 (i.e., 9.5 to 10.5) by P, is properly understood as implying a circumference somewhere between 29.8 and 33.0.
When constructing an object for which extremely high precision is needed (e.g., the space shuttle), numbers are designed, reported, and fabricated to several decimal places, but to expect such precision in a lay description of this huge basin cast from molten brass is not only improper, it shows lack of understanding of basic engineering concepts. Properly understood, the Bible is not only correct, it foreshadows modern engineering truth. | <urn:uuid:0c30ad6b-5579-4bee-bd3e-e6499dfec254> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icr.org/articles/view/524/302/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952618 | 674 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Introduction to slate grey patches:
Several years ago, I met a little girl who had been taken from her parents because authorities noticed that her body, especially her buttocks, was covered with large, deep bruises. She and her parents were ripped from one another for her own good. I can only imagine what they each felt. Child abuse charges were eventually dropped when these “bruises” were correctly diagnosed as slate grey patches.
What are slate grey patches?
Slate grey patches (also known as “Mongolian Spots”) are nothing more than dense collections of melanocytes, the skin cells which contain melanin, the normal pigment of the skin. When the melanocytes are close to the surface, they look deep brown. The deeper they are in the skin, the more bluish they look. Either way, they are not related to bruises or any other medical condition. They do not predispose to skin cancer or any other problem.
Who gets slate grey patches?
At least one Mongolian spot is present on the great majority of babies of Native American, African, Asian, or Hispanic descent. They are also present in about one in ten fair-skinned infants.
Despite the name, Slate grey patches have no known anthropologic significance, except for being more common in darker-skinned infants.
What are the symptoms of Slate grey patches?
These flat birthmarks can be deep brown, slate gray, or blue-black in color. They do sometimes look like bruises. The edges are often, but not always, indistinct. They are most common on the lower back and buttocks, but are often found on the legs, back, sides, and shoulders. They vary from the size of a pinhead to six inches or more across. A child may have one or several.
Are Slate grey patches contagious?
How long does Slate grey patches last?
Slate grey patches are present at birth, and most of them fade (at least somewhat) by age two. Most have completely disappeared by age five. If Slate grey patches remain at puberty, they are likely to be permanent. Fewer than five percent of children with Slate grey patches still have any by the time they reach adulthood. Those who do tend to be the ones with multiple, widespread spots, or with spots in unusual locations.
How are Slate grey patches diagnosed?
Mongolian spots are usually diagnosed by their appearance.
How are Slate grey patches treated?
No treatment is necessary.
How can Slate grey patches be prevented?
No prevention is necessary.
Related A-to-Z Information:
Baby Acne, Cradle Cap, Diaper Rash, Erythema Toxicum (Baby rash), Hemangioma, Inconspicuous Penis, Labial Adhesions, Lanugo, Milia, Miliaria, Moles (Nevi), Port Wine Stain, Salmon Patches (Stork bites)
Last reviewed: May 04, 2011 | <urn:uuid:b1cde83d-726f-4bab-a1f4-52e35240349c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drgreene.com/articles/slate-grey-patches/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958283 | 613 | 2.625 | 3 |
Fundraiser spotlights arthritis awareness
Arthritis is arguably the most common disability in the United States. To help bring needed attention to the disease and its growing presence, the Massage Envy spas in Peachtree City and Newnan on Sept. 19 will hold the “Healing Hands for Arthritis” fundraiser to benefit the Arthritis Foundation.
An estimated 50 million adults in the U.S. have self-reported, doctor-diagnosed arthritis, according to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). To make matters worse, the study projects that 67 million adults will have doctor-diagnosed arthritis by 2030. And when it comes to children, an estimated 300,000 have juvenile arthritis, according to the Centers for Disease Control, with the disease affecting girls twice as often as boys.
The prevalence of the disease and the need to bring it more into focus is the aim behind the Healing Hands for Arthritis fundraiser, said local Massage Envy owner Kelly Phillips.
“Last year we decided to switch our fundraising efforts to the Arthritis Foundation because so many of our clients have arthritis,” Phillips said. That effort was the object of similar fundraisers in the 800 Massage Envy spas across the country where nearly $500,000 was raised during the one-day event.
Phillips said $10 from every massage and $15 from each facial will be donated to the Arthritis Foundation.
“Arthritis effects so many people, including children, in so many ways, like with pain and joint damage,” Phillips said. “And there’s been no spotlight on it like there is with things like cancer.”
That will change if Phillips has her way.
“Partnering with the Arthritis Foundation was a natural fit, as we both share a common understanding about the seriousness of the disease, the power of massage therapy to relieve certain symptoms and what must be done to prevent, cure and control it,” Phillips said.
The Healing Hands for Arthritis fundraiser will be held at the Fayette County and Coweta County Massage Envy Spa locations on Sept. 19. The introductory 1-hour massage is $49, with $10 going to the Arthritis Foundation. The introductory 1-hour facial is $59, with $15 going to the Arthritis Foundation.
The Peachtree City store is located at 1215 North Peachtree Parkway in the Kedron Village Shopping Center. The Newnan store is located at 238 Newnan Crossing Bypass. For more information call the Peachtree City store at 678-216-1000 or the Newnan store at 770-252-3000. | <urn:uuid:7c28f7a8-e5bb-432c-8b8f-261f4b877a38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecitizennews.com/articles/09-07-2012/fundraiser-spotlights-arthritis-awareness?quicktabs_3=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939344 | 552 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The boat market does not forgot about kids, there are several kids boat models that are extremely fun for the little ones, most of them are inflatable and are designed to bring comfort, color and fun of course. Obviously these models are just for floating and playing on a swimming pool, nevertheless security equipment is always recommended both on a kids boat or on real ones.
When you travel on a real boat with kids security becomes even more important, for example the Australian government enacted two laws that began functioning from 1 November 2010, they say:
From 1 November 2010 children under the age of 12 years must wear lifejackets in the following circumstances:
As you can see, those are good regulations, so take a look at the regulations on your own country and in case your country does not have them, you can apply the Australian. Kid's skin is also different and more sensitive than adult's, so it is very important that they wear proper clothes to not suffer sunburns, as well as hats, sunscreen and sun glasses.
It is also very important to teach your kids to behave inside a vessel, they should keep all the body inside the boat as long as it is moving, and avoid playing and running, also teach them to use their lifejackets and what to do in case they have an emergency, if they are old enough to understand what you say, you can explain them how to handle some tools like the radio, flares or lights, indicating how important they are and the fact that they can use them only on emergencies. | <urn:uuid:454231f4-fd67-4a70-b883-6b8281e66a29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boatsdepot.org/holiday-activities/kids-boat/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9802 | 311 | 2.015625 | 2 |
The National Rifle Association did not have a good election last fall — a mere 0.83 percent of the campaign cash it donated went to races with the outcomes it wanted — and yet the political clout of the gun lobby is accepted as veritable fact. One gun-rights group leader told The Hill that if North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan votes for gun control, "we’ll go after her with both barrels." But if the 2012 elections are any guide, the gun lobby needs more target practice.
The NRA has long blocked discussion of gun regulations with its reputation for being able to sway elections, and this has given it the power to deliver real legislative results. In 2001, with the inauguration of President George W. Bush, Fortune crowned it the most powerful interest group in all of D.C., citing a narrative that's been repeated for more than a decade:
Although city slickers might be aghast at the ascendancy of the NRA, this is a highly focused, well-financed organization. Despite high-profile school shootings and unrelenting pressure from gun-control advocates, the NRA has held gun-control legislation at bay. How? By electing its supporters to Congress and, last year, to the White House. In particular, the NRA was pivotal in defeating Al Gore in Arkansas, Tennessee, and West Virginia--all states that usually vote Democratic. If Gore had won just one of them, he would now be President.
Nothing inspires zealotry like a threat, and few people feel more threatened than gun owners, more and more of whom are finding comfort in the NRA. It has 4.3 million members, up one million since last year, and two million since 1998.
The wide belief of the NRA's power to sway elections — particularly to defeat gun control-supporting Democrats — has lead to a wave of policy victories: The NRA got Stand Your Ground laws passed in more than 20 states. When the ATF wanted to track AK-47s and AR-15s being smuggled into Mexico by requiring gun dealers to report multiple sales of those weapons in 2010, the NRA stalled the plan. "The gun issue is so incendiary and fear of the NRA so great that the ATF plan languished for months at the Justice Department," The Washington Post reported, describing its sources like political dissidents: "In the past few days, the plan has quietly gained traction at Justice. But sources told The Post they fear that if the plan becomes public, the NRA will marshal its forces to kill it."
Measuring political clout is a tricky thing. Projecting the image of power is often all one needs to have very real influence. But when it comes to actual examples of the NRA mustering political power, by say defeating a defiant incumbent, examples are difficult to come by. After last year's elections, the Sunlight Foundation calculated the portion of money the NRA put into races that had outcomes the group wanted as a political "return on investment": the tally was just 0.83 percent because the group's biggest spends were $7.4 million to defeat President Obama and almost $1.9 million to back Mitt Romney, donations that had a return on investment of zero. The NRA objects to this analysis because the races it spent money on were "where it counted in amounts that could have made a difference" and supporting candidates who believed in their issues was "the right thing" to do. That may be true and in keeping with the democratic spirit of a contest of ideas, but it does not amount to political clout.
A recent example of the NRA trying to flex its muscle came in June, when the NRA demanded that the House Democrats it supported vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over Fast and Furious. It had lobbied for an investigation into Holder for a year and a half, and said it would score the vote -- meaning a vote not to hold Holder in contempt could endanger a lawmaker's endorsement. Seventeen Democrats voted to hold Holder in criminal contempt, but 11 Democrats refused. They were Reps. John Dingell, Tim Holden, Tim Ryan, Kurt Schrader, Michael Michaud, Henry Cuellar, Ben Ray Lujan, and Heath Shuler. Reps. Joe Baca, Dennis Cardoza, and Sanford Bishop did not vote. Of those 11, seven are still in office. Two of the Democrats lost to other Democrats, and two didn't run. None were ousted by an NRA-backed Republican challenger.
Much of the decline in the clout of the NRA is traceable to what has changed in American politics generally and the Republican Party in particular. The NRA is often cited as the reason the Democrats suffered massive losses in the 1994 midterm elections, by both reporters and even Bill Clinton. But a lot has changed since 1994. Democrats may have lost most of the South in those midterms and those southern Republican states are still where the NRA is strongest. As The New Republic's Nate Cohn explained, "pro-gun voters are lost to Republicans, and probably for good." Put simply: no one thinks NRA members would vote for a gun-toting Democrat. The NRA's political fortunes are tied up with the Republican Party's and the NRA's campaign donations reflect this: it supports vastly more Republicans than Democrats. (A comment from an October 2012 Hot Air post: "I’m still PISSED because the NRA endorsed Harry Reid. There’s ‘stupid’, and then there is ‘absolutely stupid’." The endorsement, in that case, does not appear to have delivered a vote.) And yet since the NRA's asendancy, Democrats have still managed to win national elections and congressional majorities. When Obama won Ohio and Virginia, it was by focusing on the cities and suburbs, not rural voters. "To win nationally, Republicans will need to reclaim the socially moderate suburbs around Denver, Washington, and Philadelphia where gun control is at least a neutral issue, if not a real asset to Democrats," Cohn writes
The Gallup chart at right shows a big partisan split over gun ownership. The top 10 most-armed states, according to The Daily Beast, are not swing states. They are Kentucky, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, West Virginia, South Dakota, North Dakota, Arkansas, and Alabama. (The Democrat senators most openly skeptical of new gun laws -- Heidi Heitkamp, Max Baucus, Joe Manchin -- are from those states.) An NBC poll finds that 41 percent of Americans see the NRA positively, and 34 percent see it negatively. If you sort for gun owners, the divide is more stark: 62 percent of gun owners see the NRA favorably, while only 25 percent of non-gun owners do. And while the NRA has 4 million members, that's a tiny percentage of gun owners and the electorate..
Research published in the British Journal of Political Science found that an NRA endorsement was worth 2 percentage points for a Republican challenger in 1994 and 1996, but very little impact for other candidates. In 2012, Paul Waldman said his analysis of the 2010 elections found similar numbers, and so "there were few races in the last four congressional elections where such a boost from an NRA endorsement would have made a difference – only four races, in fact, out of the 1,038 times the NRA endorsed House candidates."
As the Wire has pointed out, most of the headline-making public statements the NRA has made since the Newtown shooting are not new ideas, but old slogans their fans have passed around a while. These include "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," and that Obama is a "hypocrite" for having Secret service protection for his daughters but is skeptical of armed guards protecting "our kids." While rallying the fan club might be good for membership, it has not had much effect on the outcome of elections.
Let's look at the most recent high-profile race in which the NRA did pick the winner: the Republican primary between Sen. Dick Lugar and Richard Mourdock. Lugar voted for the Brady Bill in 1993 and pushed to renew the assault weapons ban in 2011. The NRA spent almost $169,000 opposing Lugar in the primary, and Lugar lost. But no one is claiming the NRA is why Lugar lost -- not in The Washington Post's campaign autopsy, not in The National Review's. They blame Lugar's age, disconnection from Indiana, poor campaign, even lack of interest. And in the end, the NRA's support only led to a worst outcome for the group because Mourdock went on to lose to Democrat Joe Donnelly. The Lugar case is a good example of how the NRA's power is slipping. As with some Tea Party candidates, the NRA focuses more on what makes its fans cheer than what might win over people in the middle. The Indiana Senate race was already tighter than you'd expect, given how easily Mitt Romney was beating President Obama in the state, before Mourdock made a rape comment that cost him the election.
The NRA is able to get what it wants from Congress and the federal bureaucracy because it has a reputation for being able to swing elections. But that reputation is overblown. How can the NRA can't demand politicians block wildly popular legislation if it can't punish politicians for disobeying its orders? | <urn:uuid:2bd78558-7849-40be-ae6c-9d68507400f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/01/whats-nra-really-packing/61141/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970902 | 1,897 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Every year, the website Edge poses a big, open-ended question to leading scientists. This year's query—"What is your favorite deep, elegant or beautiful explanation?"—received 191 answers covering a wide range of ideas, with Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution receiving the most replies, reports Reuters. Some interesting responses:
- "Darwin's natural selection wins hands down," writes Richard Dawkins, unsurprisingly. "Never in the field of human comprehension were so many facts explained by assuming so few."
- Einstein's Relativity: "This central idea has shaped our ideas of modern cosmology (and) given us the image of the expanding universe," writes one theoretical physicist.
- The human brain's fundamental irrationality: "An ancient brain system called the basal ganglia, brain circuits that consciousness cannot access" control our major life decisions, one neuroscientist writes.
- Group polarization: Interacting with others does not mellow our opinions, but pushes us to extremes in politics and other issues. "The surprising thing is that the group as a whole becomes more extreme than its pre-discussion average," writes a psychologist. | <urn:uuid:22750ecc-b752-4be9-b513-f55d0f4ded47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newser.com/story/137565/most-beautiful-theories-in-science-include-relativity-and-theory-of-evolution.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93365 | 237 | 2.234375 | 2 |
TheBoy – Dad!! TheGirl is on the coffee table!
Me – Tell her to get down.
TheBoy – She said she’s going to jump
Me – Talk her down!!
TheBoy – Too late…
Let the good times roll…
“Señor Brandon, that was a PISS, POOR, PERFORMANCE!” I can still hear my high school Spanish teacher’s voice in my head telling me I was a TRIPLE-P for not properly using ustedes or nosotros in the proper form. Yes, it was a shot at my oversized ego, but for some reason I knew later in life I would be able to use her saying and expand on the term.
I have come to the conclusion as a parent and observing other parents, we are all TRIPLE-P’s or PISS, POOR, PARENTS. Allow me to explain (before I get a lot of SHIT for this) and give you my definition of PISS-POOR-PARENTING. Like most parents, I don’t have eyes on the back of my head. I allow my children to roam the pastures to explore – I let them be kids. Sometimes, if I get distracted with Facebook, Twitter, lunch making, cleaning, or anything where I don’t have a constant eye on TheKids, a loud boom or cry can be heard across the Great Plains of our house on a regular basis. After galloping up or down the stairs jumping over Legos, cars, and dolls to survey the lay of the land and question, “What the hell happened?” I realize I failed as a parent by not being there in the moment of the crisis. Therefore, I was a PISS-POOR-PARENT (PPP).
My wife and I have come accustomed to razzing, poking, and making fun of each other when it comes to the follies of our parenting. We are team and when either one of us screws up, we both screw up. We are not perfect; we screw up – WE ARE HUMAN. But, we learn from our mistakes (sometimes) and move on to the next chapter of parenting.
When TheWife would take the kids to the park, store, or anywhere for the matter, she would return home with a story. 99.99% of the time she would start out with, “So, (insert story of how TheGirl busted her lip, or how TheBoy fell from a 10-story building (exaggeration)). I would calmly listen to the story, chuckle, shake my head in disappointment, and tell her the events were PPP at it’s finest.
Until recently, I have had a clean track with zero PPP deductions and I was proud of my record. The other day I was cleaning the kitchen when TheBoy came running upstairs from the basement to tell me he was going to his room to play with his Legos (not that there aren’t enough on the other 3 floors of our home to play with). He ran to his room with a purpose and I continued to clean. As I was cleaning, I could hear TheBoy playing with his Legos and failed to remember TheGirl was downstairs in the basement still playing. It was eerily too quiet. TheGirl is a rambunctious 2-year old who is rarely silent. I made my way down the stairs and saw her playing with scissors. Needless to say, my walk turned into jumping every other step. With scissors in hand she tells me she’s pretty. I agreed she was pretty and took the scissors from her hands and noticed a pile of hair on the ground. As I’m looking at clumps of hair on the ground – I lost it. I didn’t lose my cool with my daughter, but I realized I was a PPP at it’s finest. My daughter was playing with scissors, she cut her hair, and I was too “busy” cleaning.
I immediately sent a e-mail to TheWife to let her know I was going to take TheGirl to get a haircut (it was that bad). When it comes to our daughters hair, TheWife has absolute power. Here is the e-mail:
SO…Today has been PPP day. We are off to get TheGirl a hair cut since she felt it necessary to cut hers (it’s bad). The sofa cushions are in the laundry with permanent marker marks on them. I need beer, lots of beer…
Am I a PISS, POOR, PARENT? Yes, but I’m also a great parent. We all live and learn. There is no trying to be a parents – Do or Do Not, There is No Try (Yoda). We all fail, but it is how we tackle the situation and teach our kids the right way, even when we have a PISS, POOR, PERFORMANCE. | <urn:uuid:9a253eb7-f798-44c0-939f-fd918093866b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thefunnyconversations.com/category/laughing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977245 | 1,048 | 1.5 | 2 |
In the sacred city of Bubastis on the delta of the Nile River, hundreds of thousands of ancient Egyptians gathered once a year to celebrate their cat-head goddess. The Greek historian Herodotus describes their festive gathering in these words: "They go by river, men and women together, a great number of each in every boat. Some of the women make a noise with rattles, others play flutes all the way, while the rest of the women and the men sing and clap their hands. . . . But when they have reached Bubastis, they make a festival with great sacrifices, and more wine is drunk at this feast than in the whole year beside." Those folks knew how to party!
The word for "festive gathering" in Herodotus was panegyris (pan A guh riss). It was also used to describe the national Greek festival at Olympia, where they had athletic contests, feasting, dancing, drama, and glorious oratory. In broader usage, the word meant " a place where people go and enjoy themselves."
God is not opposed to festive occasions, but there was a time in Israel when He said He would put a stop to their religious celebrations because the people had corrupted them with idolatry (Hosea 5:21; Amos 9:5). Then fifty years later God made a happy announcement through Isaiah. In the coming messianic age, He planned for people to "rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her" (Isaiah 66:10). Another hundred years passed and God promised through another prophet that in the New Jerusalem people would celebrate "the festivals and the appointed feasts" (Ezekiel 46:11). In these four passages the Greek translation of the O.T. used forms of the world panegyris.
In the New Testament panegyris is found only once. It is the "joyful assembly" of Hebrews 12:22. (Let the Egyptians or the Greeks try to match this panegyris!) Christians have come "to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God . . . to thousands of angels in panegyris." Now these are the folks who really know how to party! | <urn:uuid:3a555c8d-e668-4b2f-8212-371b5d357040> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://occ.edu/Alumni/default.aspx?id=3219 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954859 | 451 | 2.640625 | 3 |
[Editor's note: Powerful charting compares official stats to reality for the agricultural "ecosystem refugees" who find themselves in the city. Related: US Census releases data on geographic mobility for 2008.]
Republished from the Economist.
Until China breaks down the barriers between town and countryside, it cannot unleash the buying power of its people—or keep its economy booming.
ON THE hilly streets of Chongqing, men with thick bamboo poles loiter for customers who will pay them to carry loads. The “stick men”, as they are called, hang the items from either end of the poles and heave them up over their shoulders. In a city where the Communist Party chief, Bo Xilai, likes to sing old revolutionary songs, these workers should be hymned as heroes. Yet few of them are even classed as citizens of the city where they live.
Most of the stick men were born in the countryside around Chongqing. (The name covers both the urban centre that served as China’s capital in the second world war, and a hinterland, the size of Scotland, which the city administers.) Since 1953, shortly after the Communists came to power, Chinese citizens have been divided into two strata, urban and rural, not according to where they live but on a hereditary basis. The stick men may have spent all their working lives on the streets of Chongqing, but their household registration papers call them “agricultural”.
The registration system (hukou, in Chinese) was originally intended to stop rural migrants flowing into the cities. Stick men were among the targets. In the early days of Communist rule in Chongqing the authorities rounded up thousands of “vagrants” and sent them to camps (vagrants, said Mao Zedong, “lack constructive qualities”). There they endured forced labour before being packed back to their villages.
Rapid industrial growth over the past three decades has required tearing down migration barriers to exploit the countryside’s huge labour surplus. Hukou, however, still counts for a lot, from access to education, health care and housing to compensation payouts. To be classified as a peasant often means being treated as a second-class citizen. Officials in recent years have frequently talked about “reforming” the system. They have made it easier to acquire urban citizenship, in smaller cities at least. But since late last year the official rhetoric has become more urgent. Policymakers have begun to worry that the country’s massive stimulus spending in response to the global financial crisis could run out of steam. Hukou reform, they believe, could boost rural-urban migration and with it the consumer spending China needs.
In early March 11 Chinese newspapers (it would have been 13, had not two bottled out) defied party strictures and teamed together to publish an extraordinary joint editorial. It called on China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), which was then about to hold its annual meeting, to urge the government to scrap the hukou system as soon as possible. “We hope”, it said, “that a bad policy we have suffered for decades will end with our generation, and allow the next generation to truly enjoy the sacred rights of freedom, democracy and equality bestowed by the constitution.” Not since the Tiananmen uprising in 1989 had so many newspapers simultaneously cast aside the restraints imposed by the Communist Party’s mighty Propaganda Department, which micromanages China’s media output. | <urn:uuid:9f5957af-a1a3-4dd3-a1d9-b6197aaf576e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kelsocartography.com/blog/?tag=agricultural | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968178 | 738 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Agricultural practice is strongly seen within the history of Ethiopian culture. Sorghum, wheat, maize and barley are produced. People in the South such as the Gurage farmers routinely growensetplant, also known as “false banana.” Carbohydrate-rich food is used from the plant to make unleavened bread or porridge. Herdsmen and craftsmen are also a part of the Ethiopian culture.
Wonderful culture is also seen in the many types of clothing worn by the various ethnic groups of Ethiopia. Traditional dress made from white cotton is commonly seen among rural women. Men wear long trousers, snug fitting shirts, along with shamma (loose wrap).
Many Harar Muslims wear colorful attire within the region. Men generally wear short trousers, along with a colored wrap. Fine dresses in red, black, and purple are worn by the women. Oroma people wear leather, beaded dress representing their culture in working with livestock.
Festivals and ceremonies surround Ethiopian lifestyles, and showcase national dress styles. It is a beautiful sight to see when people wear finely woven dresses made of cotton, along with decorated wraps. Rural people within different Ethiopian groups wear distinctive jewelry, various hairstyles, and carry unique embroidery styles of dress.
Ethiopian culture is also rich in singing and dancing. Secular music can be heard, along with spiritual music.
In discovering delightful Ethiopian culture, traditional instruments are used to make music. They include the massinko (violin of one string), the krar(lyre, six strings), washint(flute), as well as Ethiopian drums. Generally, three types of drums are seen: the negarit, the kebero, and the begena.
Not only can you explore the wonderful colors in dress and attire, surrounded by traditional Ethiopian music, but you have the opportunity to discover the delightful scenery of animals and landscaping. The area is full of ancient history and archaeological sites. | <urn:uuid:55406926-86f2-4983-a167-ba38aeeed25a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.govisitethiopia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=227&lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961313 | 403 | 3.390625 | 3 |
The intersection of technology and art is a bit of a frontier: No matter how much it's discussed, it's still largely uncharted. This week, the third annual VIA Music and New Media Festival will turn Pittsburgh into a site for art-and-tech exploration. It's not just a music and art festival, but something more akin to a classroom with parties that happen after video-game class. You may have no idea who the hell Lafidki is, or how plants can make sound, but that's kind of the point — it's more about discovery than anything else.
"In our third year, we really wanted to take on the challenge of programming a whole week," says VIA co-founder Lauren Goshinski, "but doing it in a way that's digestible because we're realizing that there's a lot of people in Pittsburgh who have different comfort levels."
VIA's goal has always been to engage as many kinds of people as possible … although with headliners like Detroit house legend Moodymann and the spooky soundscape duo Demdike Stare, it can sometimes seem as if the roster of artists was chosen with only the investigative nerds in mind.
"At this point, not everyone will know every name on [the lineup]," says Tom Cox, a member of the dance-music label and performance group Pittsburgh Track Authority, which has performed at several VIA Presents events. "But I think the trust level has been built up so much. They're providing something that, even if you have no clue whatsoever, if you just show up, it's going to be something special."
While music tends to be the biggest draw for festival-goers, it's all of the surrounding activities that set VIA apart from other music festivals. Some of the non-music elements began earlier this week: Monday featured a 3-D graphics exhibit including work that's been screened at MoMA, Sundance and at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Tuesday welcomed esteemed filmmaker and theorist Jonathan Walley, who gave a lecture at Carnegie Mellon titled "Not to Make Films: Dismantled, De-materialized and Unmade Cinema." And before the synths and mixers are plugged in and the monitors turned up on Friday, the first part of a hands-on arcade-game-construction workshop called Babycastles will take place. All of this for free, and generally kid-friendly.
"Whether you're a person with no money, whether you're a person who has kids, whether you're a person who wants to party for three days straight, every single person has an option," says Goshinski. "Even if you're a more heady academic person and you're not comfortable with people grinding around you."
Aiming for that breadth of programming doesn't just speak to VIA's goal of engaging as many people as possible; it also aligns with the organization's goals to educate a younger audience. Di-Ay Battad, a video artist who's been a part of VIA's A/V performances since its first year, is an arts educator whose students range from middle school to early high school. "No matter who they are," she notes, "I can say, ‘VIA: producers, DJs, arcade games, code, tech stuff.' I can throw out all those words and it would all appeal to them."
And as a CMU graduate who blended art and technology through a degree in electronic and time-based art and an academic concentration in computer science, Battad is all for championing VIA's unofficial mission: to demystify technology.
"There's actually a lot going on in Pittsburgh at Assemble [Gallery] and the Children's Museum where they're producing ways for people to access technology," says Battad. "It's not that hard. Technology isn't a mysterious black box that people make it out to be.
"And VIA is about connecting Pittsburgh to experimental scenes around the world. They're not just doing electronic music: They're about changing the atmosphere of Pittsburgh."
At least some part of the lineup will read like Greek to festival-goers. VIA is not about to cater to a fickle crowd with trendy musical acts. The substance is in the fact that you have to probe the program a bit, and maybe look a few things up.
"That's always the best way to get a knowledgeable fan base," says Cox. "If you spoon-feed them too much, then they're just following."
Look at it as a challenge, with really great parties for four nights straight. And in the end, the experience will have produced not a bunch of followers, but a crowd of curious people looking for more.
VIA FESTIVAL 2012 takes place in various location all week. Some highlights:
Wed., Oct. 3
Halloween comes early at Melwood Screening Room, where Demdike Stare will rescore the scandalous French horror film La Vampire Nue.
Thu., Oct. 4
Head over to 6119 in East Liberty for edgy club music offered up by Night Slugs' Girl Unit, who's known for flipping techno into pop remixes with unmatched skill.
Fri., Oct. 5
Planet Mu may have made it trendy, but juke and footwork have been around for a while. Spinn & Rashad will be offering the best of those frenetic styles of dance at 6000 Penn.
Sat., Oct. 6
The man, the myth, the legend — Detroit's Moodymann will be playing at 6000 Penn with some unlikely cohorts. | <urn:uuid:054edcb5-6c71-47fb-b93e-d95622b4c5b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/audio-visual-festival-returns-for-year-three-with-a-challenging-but-rewarding-lineup/Content?oid=1572374 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970531 | 1,147 | 1.539063 | 2 |
www.Linguascope.com with login and password detailsschool learning
www.linguascope.com is a website that is designed for schools to enhance
their foreign language curriculum. The website offers interactive
activities in five different languages: French, Spanish, German,
Italian, and English. For a low cost subscription fee per year, schools
can access these activities for usage in their language courses. After a
subscription form has been successfully submitted, the school can
usually access its account within 24 hours. There is only one
subscription plan, and it includes all five languages and all the
student activities associated with them.
Both teachers and students from a participating school can gain access to the school's linguascope.com account from home and even from their mobile phones, iPhones, or iPod touch. The site offers students numerous activities to choose from in over 90 topics. Each language has activities in different levels, from beginner to intermediate. Linguascope can also save time for language teachers with its powerpoint presentations, worksheets, and flashcards, all of which teachers can easily use for their classroom lessons. Additionally, teachers can use the linguascope resources together with their class through an interactive whiteboard. A popular feature of linguascope is the LinguaTrivia, which can be used to stimulate student interest through language challenges and competitions. If teachers would like to add additional activities, they can create their own using the Activity Builder feature.
Linguascope is available to schools all over the world and accepts payments in cheques as well as credit cards. Each subscription is valid for one year. At the end of the year, linguascope does not automatically renew the subscription. If a school wishes to continue using linguascope, it must renew its license. As such, it is recommended that a school processes a renewal at least two weeks before the expiration date. Once an account has been activated, no cancellations can be accepted. | <urn:uuid:29a1e4cf-17e4-4c83-a8bc-471d9e4dd6f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://webguide.org/en/e/289/www-linguascope-com-with-login-and-password-details/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951925 | 405 | 1.765625 | 2 |
1. "I might not really be an orthodontist."
As Americans become ever more vain witness the surge in popularity of plastic surgery and Botox treatments it's no surprise that orthodontic procedures are on the rise. In 2002, the most recent year for which figures are available, orthodontic specialists treated some 4.6 million patients, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics a 15% increase from 1998.
The real number is probably even higher, since that figure doesn't include patients who get orthodontic treatment from general dentists. Indeed, there is no law that prevents any old dentist from practicing orthodontics, and more and more dentists have been taking on orthodontics as a way to increase their business and client base.
the group's Web site.
2. "My fees are negotiable . . ."
Getting orthodontic work done isn't cheap. Minor adjustments, which might require treatment for three to six months, can cost between $600 and $1,500, but the median fee for full-scale treatment is $4,400 for a child and $4,800 for an adult even more in pricey areas like New York City. If you have only partial insurance coverage or pay out-of-pocket, your bill can run high.
The good news, though, is that orthodontists offer a variety of payment plans. Many allow patients to pay through monthly installments with no interest, and with some orthodontists, you can negotiate the fee itself. Last spring Lisa Madsen, 39, sought the opinion of two orthodontists when she wanted to correct her bite. She felt more comfortable with the diagnosis of the first, though his treatment was more expensive. "I took the lower quote to the [first] orthodontist and said, 'Can you work with me?'" says Madsen, a stay-at-home mom in East Windsor, Conn. The result: He reduced his price by $300.
Some orthodontists will give a discount, usually 5 to 10%, if you pay the total in cash or with a credit card at the beginning of treatment. One woman even said her orthodontist offered a family discount of $300 per patient after the first one was treated.
3. ". . . but your final payment may not be so final."
Most orthodontists charge an all-inclusive fee, which covers appointments and appliances from the beginning of treatment to the finish. But often patients end up shelling out hundreds of dollars more for broken appliances, retainers and appointments that extend beyond the scheduled treatment time. Orthodontists can also charge extra for X-rays, molds and missed appointments.
Just ask Marianne Eagan. After her son finished with braces four years ago, his orthodontist installed a permanent retainer on the back of his bottom teeth. But when it cracked a year and a half later, Eagan, 47, a research assistant in West Lafayette, Ind., had to pay $130 for a new removable retainer. When that one wore down, she had to pay for a second one. Not long after, she got braces herself and applied what she'd learned: When her orthodontist prescribed a splint to relax her jaw, she asked that the cost of a second splint, made to her new corrected teeth, be included in the contract and the original fee. Her advice: "Make sure you have everything written down in your contract." Also, read the fine print for extra costs and leave a few hundred dollars in your budget for unforeseen bills.
4. "My treatment might not be the right treatment."
Even orthodontists admit that straightening teeth is not an exact science. There are often clear approaches for common conditions, such as buck teeth and cross-bites, but more-complicated cases may involve judgment calls: whether it's necessary to pull teeth, for example, or to perform jaw surgery. The wrong approach could prolong treatment or make the problem worse.
In fact, if you go to two different orthodontists, you will very likely hear two different opinions about how to treat your teeth. If the orthodontist suggests invasive treatments, like pulling several teeth to create more space or jaw surgery, and you don't feel comfortable, it's a good idea to seek a second or even third opinion. In some cases there may be a less invasive treatment polishing off some of the enamel between teeth, for example, to create more space. Be sure to inquire about alternative treatments and the possible risks each option poses. And ask the orthodontist if you can see pictures of cases similar to yours that were treated in the same manner. Or better yet, talk to former patients: Some orthodontists keep a list of people who have gone through the same treatment and are willing to talk to potential patients about their experience.
5. "Your child won't die if he doesn't get braces by age seven."
The American Association of Orthodontists recommends that all children see an orthodontist by age seven. Advocates of early treatment argue that skeletal problems, such as a severe cross-bite or narrow jaw, are much easier to correct when the jaw is still growing, making a second treatment often required when patients are in their teens easier and quicker. Orthodontists sometimes recommend early treatment of severe cases of buck teeth or crowding, for example, on younger kids who feel embarrassed or are teased at school.
But some orthodontists say that not every child should be treated so early. Often, later treatment is still needed, which can drive up the total bill. And early treatment does not guarantee easier treatment later on. Sometimes adult teeth can grow in a way that creates a whole new set of problems. "Kids are such moving targets," says William Gray Grieve, a Eugene, Ore., orthodontist. Early treatment, he says, "may or may not make it easier later on."
If the orthodontist suggests preventative treatment, ask for a clear explanation of the treatment and why it can't wait. Also, assess the maturity of your child. Is he going to be cooperative? Can the child handle the possible pain?
6. "There's no guarantee your teeth will stay straight."
As anyone who has ever worn a retainer can attest, orthodontists' pleas to patients to wear one often go unheeded. But without the use of a retainer, teeth can very quickly begin to revert to their old positions sometimes within a week. And since orthodontists don't offer warranty-type programs, if the teeth move back, patients have little recourse beyond getting back in the chair and opening up their mouths and their wallets again.
Ten years ago, Debbie Michel, a 36-year-old journalist, wore braces for a year and a half to correct her overbite and crooked teeth. After getting her braces removed, she diligently wore her retainer for a year but then slowly started lapsing until she wasn't wearing it at all. Eight years later her teeth had shifted so much that she had to get braces again. The second treatment took seven months and cost $1,000.
Many orthodontists put permanent retainers on the back of their patients' lower teeth, but such fixtures don't work as well on the upper teeth. Most agree that to keep teeth in place, patients should wear their retainers regularly almost all the time for the first two to six months after the braces come off, then every night for the rest of their lives.
7. "Someone might have worn these braces before you did."
Some orthodontists use professionally sterilized and remanufactured brackets that have been worn by other people. Ortho-Cycle, a Hollywood, Fla., company that recycles brackets, bands and other orthodontic attachments, says it sells its products to about 2,000 U.S. dentists and orthodontists, who can save about 50% by using the recycled brackets.
Still, many orthodontists say that although there is no health risk in the practice, they opt to use new brackets because of the "gross out" factor. "It's more psychological than scientific," says Terry Pracht, president of the American Association of Orthodontists. If the idea of wearing used materials bothers you, ask your orthodontist if he or she uses recycled brackets.
8. "Braceless options are trendy, but they may not be the right choice."
Invisalign, a teeth-alignment system that uses clear, thin, removable plastic aligners to move teeth, debuted in 1999 and has become popular in the past few years for obvious reasons: It is less noticeable than braces, and treatment typically lasts only for nine to 15 months.
But think twice about this option. It's expensive ranging between $3,500 and $5,500, it can cost 25% more than braces and it's not always the best treatment for many patients. Some orthodontists don't recommend it for complicated treatments like jaw realignments, though parent company Align Technology says that orthodontists and dentists who have more experience are starting to use it for increasingly complicated cases. And while Invisalign is removable, it still takes dedication: Patients have to wear the aligners at all times, except when eating, drinking, brushing or flossing their teeth.
Additionally, many orthodontists still aren't practiced at it. Lisa Madsen, the patient who negotiated her fee, had her heart set on Invisalign, and her primary dentist was ready to prescribe it for her. But when she found out he had handled only two cases before her, she balked. "I didn't want to be a guinea pig," she says. Madsen sought opinions from two orthodontists both of whom said standard braces were better for her teeth.
9. "This process could take much longer than you think."
Orthodontic treatments generally last anywhere from six months to three years, with most patients finishing within two years. Orthodontists typically set an estimated time frame at the beginning of treatment, but it can run longer than expected. This may be due to a misdiagnosis on the orthodontist's part, to the patient's failure to adhere to instructions or to an atypical growth pattern that may cause a teenage patient's teeth or jaws to move differently than anticipated.
When Brian Weiler's son Zac, now 16, started with braces four years ago, the orthodontist prescribed a straightforward 18-month treatment to correct his crooked teeth and slight overbite. But when one of Zac's adult teeth didn't come in on its own, he had to go through oral surgery midtreatment. The time frame also extended four months past the original estimate, costing Weiler some $250 more. "The whole experience was not pleasant emotionally and financially," says Weiler, of Duluth, Ga. "I felt like I was getting ripped off." His orthodontist blames the extra time on missed appointments and Weiler's delay in scheduling the surgery.
To best avoid such delays, adhere to the orthodontist's instructions. Also, if your child is being treated, ask your orthodontist to do a growth study: Taking X-rays of your child's hands and looking at the parents' and siblings' jaws can help gauge future growth speed and patterns.
10. "Oh, and by the way, this is going to hurt a lot."
It's no secret that orthodontic treatment can be painful. In most cases, the pain goes away two or three days after braces are put on or tightened, but some people are extremely sensitive to the pain. Just ask Robyn Perry, a stay-at-home mom in Loveland, Ohio. Seven weeks after getting braces put on, she had lost seven pounds because eating was so uncomfortable. "There have been days when I've been in tears telling my husband, 'I want them off,'" she says.
Soreness can generally be relieved with over-the-counter pain medicine, but you can also ask your orthodontist to tighten the bottom and upper braces at different appointments. Chewing sugarless gum, too, can help by stimulating ligaments in the teeth.
A possibly even more painful form of treatment is lingual braces, which attach to the backside of the teeth and which are popular among adults. But lingual braces can tear up the patient's tongue, and some patients also find it difficult to talk and may speak with a lisp for the first month of treatment. Within five days of having lingual braces put on, Javier Avila, a 45-year-old teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y., says his tongue had been scraped raw and his students had to ask him to repeat himself. His solution? He called his orthodontist's emergency number and had him remove the braces on a Sunday morning. | <urn:uuid:416e0629-7757-402a-bf9f-1a7666a5c258> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/family-money/10-things-your-orthodontist-wont-tell-you-16478/?link=SM_mostemailed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969811 | 2,705 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Yes, it has been about four weeks since you sat down and made those New Year’s resolutions and the big question is: Are you still adhering to them?
It is a known fact that 50 percent of New Year’s resolutions go by the wayside within six months. Therefore, my hope is that after only four weeks you are still hanging in there.
New and healthy habits do not form overnight and that is why the longer you keep up with these habits, the more likely you will be to having a whole new healthy outlook and perspective when the summer months come around.
The take away from this first tip on how to stick with your changes is for you to actually stick with them. The longer you bring your lunch to work instead of going out to lunch, the more likely it is to become a habit and part of your everyday routine. You will forget that you ever went out to lunch, and making and bringing your lunch will simply be part of who you are.
That brings me to another tip — change your routine up to avoid or distract yourself from the “old” habits that you want to change. Find new ways to do things, just like I said about making your lunch instead of going out to eat every day.
On the same level, if your family used to eat out at fast-food restaurants three times a week, make this a once-a-week treat and stick with that new routine.
You can also change up your routine to avoid temptations or pitfalls to reverting back to old habits. For example, if you always came home after work and got a snack and sat down to watch TV with your kids, now you can come home, change your clothes and head out the door. Just being outside in a different environment will assist you in establishing these new routines. It cuts out getting a snack and also involves some outdoor activity. Maybe you don’t do this every day, but gradually establish this new routine and, before you know it, it will be your routine.
The third thing I want to address is self-control, the will and determination to avoid temptation. Everyone has this; they just need to find a way to bring it to the surface. A surefire way to establish s-control is simply by avoiding the things that tempt you.
As I previously mentioned, bring your lunch to work instead of going out to eat. If you aren’t at the restaurant, you won’t be tempted by that burger with fries. Out of sight, out of mind comes into play here and self-control will be built. These truly are things that can help you stick with your new health habits.
There is one more thing that I have found to be of personal use on so many occasions and that is to be accountable. In other words, ask others to make these changes with you, and the best place to start is with your family. If your kids are looking forward to going to the park after work and school, you don’t want to let them down, so as soon as you get home head to the park and run, jump and play until it is time to go home and cook a healthy meal with your kids’ help and input.
Friends or co-workers can also be of assistance with this. Recruit someone to go for a walk during the day or a friend to eat out with on the weekends and commit to order healthy choices.
All of these tips are intended to assist you in keeping up all the good work that you have done so far in this New Year. Happy New Year and good luck.
Dr. Kirsten Lupinski is an assistant professor at Albany State University in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department. She has a B.S. in Nutrition from the University of North Carolina, an M.S. in Health Education from the University of Kentucky and a doctorate in Education from the University of Cincinnati. She has worked in the health education field in various capacities (corporate health, community health, college health and wellness and university education) for more than 15 years. She and her husband have three young children (5-year-old twin sons and a 2-year-old daughter). | <urn:uuid:23b63804-3683-4db4-a56d-5f57d3896fa6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2013/feb/02/keep-good-work-sticking-changes/?news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973905 | 866 | 1.976563 | 2 |
9th Annual BMRP Investigator Meeting - Abstract
Role of Mycobacterium Paratuberculosis (MAP) in Family Members with Crohn’s Disease: Genetic Link and Environmental Influence
Saleh A. Naser1,a; Hamza Boukhriss1, Sammer El-Wasila1, Manuel Perez2 and John F. Valentine3
1Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida (Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.); 2Nanoscience Technology Center, Department of Chemistry, University of Central Florida (Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.); 3Department of Medicine, University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A.)
A total of 21 families consisting of 16 biological families and 5 non-biological families participated in this study. A biological family consisted of a parent and a sibling where as a non-biological family consisted of husband and wife. Blood samples from each subject were investigated for the presence of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (MAP) by MGIT-PCR and for comprehensive genotyping of NOD2, ATG16L1, IRMG and 9 loci of IL23R genes. In Biological family groups, MAP was detected in 56% (9/16) of the members with CD and in 25% (4/16) of healthy family members (P<0.05). Three families were negative for MAP. In the non-biological family groups, MAP was detected in 4/5 (80%) partners with CD and absent in all healthy partners (P<0.05). The incidence of NOD2 gene polymorphism in both groups was rare compared to a much higher rate for ATG16L1, IRMG and IL23R mutations in all subjects. ATG16L1 [T300A (898A>G); rs2241880] mutation occurred in 11/16 CD (5/11 MAP+) compared to 8/16 (4/8 MAP+) healthy biological family relatives. IRMG [-4299C>T; rs13361189] gene mutation occurred in 7/16 CD (4/7 MAP+) compared to 4/14 (0/4 MAP+) healthy biological family relatives. Similar results were observed for non-biological family members. Of the 9 IL23R loci investigated, [IL23R (T>G); rs11465804], [IL23R (T>C), rs1343151], and [IL23R (1142G>A), rs11209026] had neither association with CD or MAP detection in both family groups. The mutation incidence in association with MAP presence in the remaining six IL23R loci occurred similarly in both CD and healthy family members.
In conclusion, MAP association with CD is real and significant. The association of key genes’ mutation with MAP presence in CD patients compared to controls is not significant. The genotyping results and the life style data (diet, exposure to animal farm, etc) had no significant impact on the occurrence of MAP in CD patients in biological or non-biological families.
a Principal Investigator | <urn:uuid:65f9521e-01a5-4455-9cb2-50dd7ccebf13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://broadmedical.org/about/annual_meetings/2011/Abstract-Naser.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914629 | 673 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Written by Victoria Caruso-Davis Friday, 05 February 2010 00:00
Thirteen residences on 14th Street between Meyers and Burns avenues were without potable water as well as gas for three days after a fallen power line struck a gas service line box, sending a 14,000-volt electrical charge through the gas service line and back through the gas main, on Sunday afternoon. `
According to water district officials, at around 2 p.m. Jan. 31, a high-voltage tension line fell to the ground and hit a gas valve box, charging the underground gas line before traveling down the street where it came into contact with a water main and shorted out, resulting in a water service line leak. The electric charge from a fallen wire caused a hole in the gas main and the water service line where it crossed, introducing water into the natural gas line.
Members of Hicksville’s Water and Fire departments, along with officials from the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and National Grid were immediately called to the scene. At the onset of the incident, volunteer firefighters were concerned that two nearby homes would ignite, but a fast response by both LIPA and National Grid emergency crews prevented that from happening.
The water district requested bottled water from the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management and the Hicksville Fire Department assisted in the effort. Additionally, volunteer firefighters also surveyed residents for special needs.
Nassau Red Cross volunteers arrived on scene to provide assistance to those who may have needed assistance as a result of the cold temperatures and their gas being shut off. Additionally, Red Cross volunteers provided hot beverages, water and snacks to emergency officials and utility crews as they worked in frigid conditions to repair the leak and restore services. Also, temporary shelter and a feeding station were set up at the William P. Bennett Community Center in Hicksville.
National Grid crews worked around the clock and natural gas service to a little over 100 homes was restored by 3 a.m. Tuesday morning following the installation of new gas lines. Water district crews remained on site, working around the clock to purge the system and flush out contaminants found in the water supply. As of 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, water service had been restored to all 13 homes on 14th Street.
Before introducing water back to the homes, the water district, stated Schuckmann, “flushed out all service lines in the meter pits, then installed new water meters to each of the 13 homes. We are continually flushing the water from the neighborhood hydrants.”
Schuckmann commended the efforts of his workers over the course of the four days, stating that crews “worked around the clock to remedy the effects of this unfortunate accident.”
Nicholas J. Brigandi, chairman of the Hicksville Board of Water Commissioners, stated he was grateful to Superintendent Schuckmann and the water district’s crew for the “fine job” they did in restoring potable water to residents. Said Brigandi, “Their hard work during this incident was greatly appreciated …” | <urn:uuid:47f77526-4652-4e2b-b4c3-7a160031b0eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.antonnews.com/hicksvilleillustratednews/news/5901-utilities-work-to-restore-service-to-14th-street-homes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966392 | 636 | 1.625 | 2 |
Attractions in Kyiv cannot be described briefly. During its long years history the city has built countless sights that are worth mentioning. If you want to get acquainted with this marvelous city you won’t need any public transportation but strong legs will be of good use.
To start with a tourist needs to understand that Kyiv is divided into two parts by the river Dnepr. It also stands on the hills, that’s why it has lower city and the upper city. So prepare to walk a lot because if you start, you will want to see more and more.
One of the best architectural and historical sights in Kyiv, one of top 10 places to visit is Golden Gates. The monument was built about a 1 000 years ago during the reign of Knyaz (prince) Yaroslav the Wise whose monument stands on the right side of the Golden Gates. The gates used to be the only entrance to the city and were designed to inspire its citizens by its mighty and frighten enemies by its strength and impregnability. The main part of the monument consists of a 14 meters perforated tower. From the outer envelope the monument has an additional “Little tower”. The entrance through the gates is overlaid by the wooden railing and from the other side by the gate leafs which were designed by the example of ancient gates. The barbican church was recreated as a one domed temple; its floors are decorated with mosaics and frescos. Today it works as a museum and is one of the most popular cultural spots in Kyiv. Next to this historical place there is a one of top pubs which is called Golden Gate Pub. After a little excursion around Golden Gates, enjoy nice atmosphere in the pub.
Another great sight in Kyiv is Mariinskiy Palace. Together with the Anderw’s church that is one of the churches and cathedrals of Kyiv it was built by the order of the Russian empress Elizabeth in 1744 when she visited Kyiv. It was designed by the famous Italian architect Rustrelli and constructed by Michurin. The main front piece is faced to the Mariinsky park which itself a masterpiece. From the other side the place is faced to the Royal gardens which were established in 1743. Palatial complex was constructed in a luxurious Baroque style: the main two-floor corpus one-floor side annexes form a vast garden. The main artistic elements of the palace are ornamentally decorated items, furniture, lusters, painting, beautiful fountains and everything that is connected with a fascinating style Baroque. Presently, this touristic attraction is a governmental residence and is often called “President’s residence”.
The best example of the developing city is its architecture. One of the most popular spots that represent modern architecture is the House with Chimaeras. This building was constructed by the polish architect Gorodeckyi in 1903.It took him only two years to build one of the most stunning places in Kyiv. The architect explained that: “the building might be weird but there will be no person who could pass it by without looking at it.” And, indeed, it’s true; the House with Chimeras is extremely interesting: each part of the building is decorated with some extraordinary figures of animals and other creatures. The inside is even more surprising, décor and style, everything is above imagination. The House of Chimaeras is currently open for visitors as a museum-cultural center “Treasures of Ukrainian Art”. Because of the large steam of people, the visit should be booked ahead. | <urn:uuid:d60992e0-42e7-4990-8efc-787e98d4aa5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kyiv.com/cultural-spots-kyiv/historical-attractions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974595 | 750 | 1.96875 | 2 |
The week before Christmas of 1982, our family dog, Popcorn, of 14 years died. My mother was heartbroken. Knowing my mom wasn't ready for another real dog, my dad and I went out to buy a stuffed animal to temporarily fill the void.
My father thought we should get one that closely resembled Popcorn — not an easy assignment. Popcorn was a white, fluffy, 50-pound mixed breed mutt with shades of terrier and poodle.
After trudging through store after store in search of his likeness, we finally hit the jackpot at a card and party store (no longer there) below what is now Burlington Coat Factory, near The Cake Lady in New London.
This beautiful white fluffy stuffed dog happened to be a musical toy. As would make sense, Dad and I thought the song would be something like, "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?" We didn't bother to try it; we just wanted to get home to wrap it and put it under the tree.
On Christmas morn, we saved "the gift" for last, hoping to bring tears of joy to my mom who was still glum and missing her big dog, Popcorn.
As she unwrapped the ribbons and bows and parted the tissue paper, the white fluffy stuffed dog was uncovered. She cradled the dog in her hands, all the while crying over her recent loss.
Here I came to save the day!
"Mom, don't be sad. It's a wind-up toy with a cute little song," I said. Much to our surprise, the song started playing: "Where, oh where, has my little dog gone?"
Lesson learned: Wind up the toy in the store before you bring it to the register. | <urn:uuid:09079909-7618-44a4-8fce-1b9c74d85d5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theday.com/article/20101224/NWS08/101229910/-1/NWSholidaymemories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967532 | 366 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Aside from the feeling of accomplishment I get when I see plants in the garden blooming my next favorite thing about gardening has to be bug watching. My neighbor's and family think I'm nuts and if I were to come across a guy laying on the ground staring at something I couldn't see I'd probably think he was crazy too.
But really the joke is on them because they don't get to experience these little wonders of nature that visit the various plants in my urban garden. I've been watching these little flies hovering around flowers and resting on foliage and finally got a photo of one of them. I asked for an identification on a gardening forum and I am told that this is a Hover Fly.
A Google search has yielded the following information:
Hover Flies are pollinators.
They've evolved to mimic wasps and bees.
Hover Flies are being recognized as an important part in biological control of plant pests.
The larvae of some species pray on garden pests like leafhoppers (that spread some diseases like curly top) and aphids.
You can encourage them to visit your garden by planting alyssum, parsley and yarrow among others.
Hover Fly on Wikipedia. | <urn:uuid:9fcef7b8-29b0-447e-9fe9-57e2ad455337> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/2007/06/hover-fly-in-garden.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975668 | 247 | 2.09375 | 2 |
- Posted August 13, 2012 by
This iReport is part of an assignment:
Romney's VP pick
- The Philippines held Automated Midterm Elections this Year 2013 -- Part 2
- The Philippines held Automated Midterm Elections this Year 2013 -- Part 1
- This Year's Automated Midterm Elections in the Philippines
- My Message To All The Girls And Women Who Are Aspiring And Striving To Get Education Right Now
- Education Would Give A Girl Or A Woman The Opportunity To Have A Stable Career And An Assurance Of Economic Well-Being In The Near Future
Ryan Can Be An Asset To Romney, But Obama Now Has A Greater Chance of Getting Re-elected To The White House
- hhanks, CNN iReport producer
As a non-American, I’m very excited about what’s happening in the ongoing campaigns of Romney and Obama to win the coming US presidential election. I know that the result of such would-be election would have a great impact to the whole world. I’m really observing hard on what’s going on in both Romney and Obama camps. It’s like watching the 2012 London Olympics on television. I’m an ‘excited spectator” on what’s happening in both Romney and Obama campaigns.
I was a little bit shocked that Romney picked Paul Ryan as his running mate. I thought Romney is going to choose the moderate Tim Pawlenty, but he surprised many people when he announced to the whole world that Ryan is his VP-pick. Ryan is quite young and a very enthusiastic Fiscal Conservative. Romney and Ryan have many similar ideas on gay rights, gender equality, budget-cuts, pro-choice advocacy, and US-Israel relations. Besides, Romney and Ryan look good together on television.
Paul Ryan will surely attract young voters to the Romney campaign and enhance Romney’s image as an expert on economic matters. But I think Obama now has a greater chance of getting re-elected to the White House after Romney picked Ryan to be his running mate. Ryan has an image of being a “radical” when it comes to proposing budget cuts for the government. He proposed big cuts on government’s programs that will help poor people. He has endorsed huge tax cuts for wealthiest people in America. Ryan also has voiced out a plan that may curtail Medicare. Hence, such proposals may turn-off many “Independents” from voting Romney in the coming US presidential election. Such proposal will really turn away “Independents” from supporting the Romney campaign.
Both Romney and Ryan have very liberal views on gay rights and pro-choice advocacy. Hence, Social Conservatives are not that happy with such a tandem. That means Romney and Ryan would really have a hard time convincing Social Conservatives to support their campaign. Both Romney and Ryan don’t have clear stances on the issue of immigration in the US. Yes, the Obama administration may have not done enough to improve the U.S. immigration system, but at least Obama has some clear ideas on how to reform immigration in America.
Romney and Ryan would have a hard time getting support and votes from Social Conservatives, Hispanic Americans, and Independents. Hence, Pres. Obama now has a greater chance of getting re-elected to the White House. But that doesn’t mean Obama would have a sure victory and Romney would be easily defeated in the coming US presidential election. Romney may still win if he can deliver a clear message to American voters that his economic plans would really work wonders in solving the current economic problems of the United States. Team Obama must convince American voters that the Obama administration has really worked hard in the last 4 years in trying to solve America’s economic problems. Obama must point out the facts on how his administration made strides in making the US economy become better through the years. Team Obama must deliver a clear message to American voters that the Obama administration had successes in healing the US economy, and that Obama will work harder to ensure that the US economy will recover fast and become very healthy once again if he gets re-elected to the White House. | <urn:uuid:a31a1dcd-8b3f-433b-9959-78b534b7dac4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-828347?ref=feeds%2Foncnn | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960595 | 851 | 1.515625 | 2 |
How to Open a School in India?
In today’s competitive world, education is one of the most substantial factors of a country’s growth and development. So, to ensure a consistent progress, quality education is very important. This is because, what a child learns during her early stages of life plays a valuable role in the development of her brain. Although children learn their first lessons at home, parents must also understand the importance of sending their children to a preschool, because such schools not only focus on the their education, but also contribute to their physical, emotional and social development.
Due to the growing importance of preschools in India, many people are opening their own play schools and kindergartens. Moreover, opening a school is a profitable venture and also earns you respect in the society. In case you want to start a school in India, go through the easy steps given below.
How to Start a School in India?
- The first step to start any kind of business is to make an estimate of the capital investment. To open a school in India, a budget ranging between Rs 5 lakhs and Rs 6 lakhs will be required.
- Once the budget is decided, the next essential step is to acquire a land which should be preferably located in the residential area free from pollution and having lush green surroundings. The land chosen should be spacious enough to accommodate school furniture, play equipments and rides for children. Thus, a minimum of 2000 sq. ft. of land would be sufficient.
- After the construction of the school is done, the most crucial step is to promote your school through advertisements and marketing campaigns which could be quite expensive.
- The curriculum of the school plays an important role in boosting up its standards to great heights. So the curriculum adopted must be such that it ensures a stress free learning.
- The success of the school largely depends upon the people running it. So, last but not the least, hiring of qualified and responsible professional is very essential. You also need to hire aspiring teachers who have successfully completed the NTT course and have a passion for being with children.
Starting a school in India on your own might be a little troublesome. So, the simplest way out is to own a franchise of a renowned brand. By doing so, you can automatically get attention from the people. SHEMROCK is one of the oldest and well established preschools chains in India as well as abroad. SHEMROCK provides a fruitful opportunity for those who are willing to work in the education sector. So, join hands with SHEMROCK and open a school in India with ease. To start with, click on the link given here and fill the franchise application form.
Click Here for :
Information on Shemford Schools, an upcoming chain of 10+2 Schools
Delhi Public School Hostel admissions
- Steps to Start a Play School in India
- How to Open a Pre-School in Haryana?
- How to Open a Play School?
- How to Open Pre-School in Kerala?
- How Can i Start a School? How Can I Open a School?
Tags: how to start a school in india, Open a School, open a school in india, start a School, start a school in india | <urn:uuid:542da3da-520d-47ab-acc8-5763bf68aaf7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shemrock.com/blogs/how-to-open-a-school-in-india-how-to-start-a-school-in-india/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964499 | 673 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Parazynski and fellow spacewalker Doug Wheelock left the International Space Station at 5:03 a.m., and spent about an hour and a half riding the station’s robotic arm out to the torn array – about 165 feet down the station’s truss and 90 feet up to the damage.
Once there, Parazynski cut a snagged wire and installed homemade stabilizers designed to strengthen the array’s structure and stability in the vicinity of the damage. Wheelock helped from the truss by keeping an eye on the distance between Parazynski and the array.
They completed the repair just after 10 a.m., and then stood back to watch for complications as flight controllers on the ground finished the deploy, which began on Tuesday. The delicate deploy sequence called for the array mast to be deployed one half bay at a time. Fifteen minutes and 13 computer commands later, the array was fully extended.
“One of the most satisfying days that I’ve ever had in Mission Control,” Derek Hassman, lead station flight director, said of the operation.
Parazynski and Wheelock then made their way back to the station’s airlock, to end the spacewalk at 12:22 p.m.
The array repair became the priority of space shuttle Discovery’s mission on Tuesday, after two tears were noticed during the array’s unfurling. Teams on the ground worked around the clock to develop a plan for the repair, and the crew spent much of the past two days studying and making tools.
With that task behind them, the shuttle’s crew will prepare to leave the station. They’ll complete final transfer work, say their farewells, and close the hatch between the shuttle and the station at 12:43 p.m. CST Sunday.
Monday will be another busy day with undocking scheduled for 4:32 a.m. followed by a fly around of the station and an inspection of the shuttle’s heat shield. | <urn:uuid:eabc2010-654b-4309-9de2-3b683941f6d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.astronautix.com/details/sts83574.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960023 | 420 | 2 | 2 |